A/N:) Here it is! Enjoy!

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Chapter 8: Planning ... And A Lack Of Important Things

At first nothing happened. Then, slowly, they could see lights flashing through the edges of the bedroom door. Not a constant light, or a growing glow, but flashes. Like sparks randomly jumping off the end of a lighter. They started slow at first. Then they grew in intensity and frequency. Every now and then, a pop or crack or long hiss could be heard from the room beyond.

Everyone held their breathe. It seemed to go on forever, but they all felt that any move could endanger their friend. Finally, it died down, stopping in half the time that it had taken it to build up. Harper looked at his watch again. 12:09:13. The longest 9 minutes of his life.

No one made a move at first, but Derrick eventually rose and moved toward the door. He flung it open and marched in, quickly turning towards the bed. He gave a surprised gasp and almost everyone in the corridor tried to squeeze their way into the room at once. Harper, Koga and Tyr managed to make their way to the front of the group.

"Holy shit…"

Harry was trying to sleep. The key word here is 'Trying'. The sun had to have a grudge against him though, because it seemed to be focusing all its light onto his face. It really wasn't helping his headache. He turned over and tried to pull the covers over his face. Only… there weren't any covers, just the sheet. He groaned. What in the world had they done last night that he'd been too out of it to cover up properly?

'I swear,' he thought, 'If Telemachus spiked my drink again, I'm going to curse his dick off.' What had he had to drink last night, anyway? Or for dinner? He didn't think he'd had anything other than…..

He bolted upright as a picture of Tyr holding out a potion vial flashed through his thoughts – only to fall back as a wave of dizziness struck him.

"Take it easy Harry, Your alright. Drink this." Derrick sounded calm enough, so Harry figured everything had turned out okay. He felt an arm sliding under his back and slowly propping him up, then the tip of a vial was pressed against his lips and he opened his mouth drinking the viscous and disgusting potion. Two more potions later and he was feeling much better. He was able to sit up on his own and had managed to keep his eyes open, though only after Derrick had closed the curtains.

As he was sitting up, Harry felt his hair shifting against his back and realized that his hair had grown considerably. Reaching up, he pulled a bunch of it over his shoulder to study. It was down to about his waist now, and had a silky texture. It gleamed in the low light in the bedroom and moved like a river over well-worn rocks. Harry Idly thought to himself that he had gotten it grown out and dyed for nothing.

"Okay there?" asked Derrick from his place in a conjured chair by the bed.

"Yeah, it's just strange to have my hair this long." Harry replied, grimacing at the memory of aunt Petunias obsession with keeping his hair short. "I don't feel any different really. Do I look different? Other than the hair of course."

Derrick smirked and held out a mirror. Harry took it, suspicious of the look on his friends face. In his short time here he had learned that a smirk on any vampires face was more than enough for a sane person to lay low for a few hours. Finding himself suddenly nervous, he took a deep, steadying breath and raised the mirror.

What he saw amazed him. It was still him, but different. Other than his hair being longer, his complextion was a shade or two darker - barely noticeable, but there - the dark circles that had been present under his eyes for years were completely gone and even his scar had darkened so that it was less noticeable. It also looked like it had shrunk a little, something he hadn't dared hope for. His eyes seemed a bit larger, the pointed ends on either side of his face having moved just a half-centimeter upward. It made his reflection look exotic.

Harry stared at this new version of his self, mentally cataloguing the changes. Like how his eyes had become a lighter shade of green and seemed to glow. Or how his lips (while still the same pale pink) were fuller. Even his fingers seemed elegant from where they were wrapped around the handle of the mirror.

Something occured to him and he tossed the mirror towards the end of the bed before throwing the covers off himself. Turning to face the nearest post on his canopy bed he was frustrated to find that he was looking at the same section of wood that he always did. 'Damn' he thought, trying to ignore Derricks chuckles when the older man realized what he had been doing.

"So, what am I?" he asked the still grinning man after a few moments.

"Ironicly, your a sub-species of vampire." Derrick said as he stood and walked towards Harry.

"Really? I didn't know there were sub-species for magical creatures."

"Oh theres alot of them actually. Though most of them are just different types of Fae. You happen to be an incubus."

"... as in 'male version of a succubus'?" Harry flushed and could feel a sense of dismay and panic start to overcome him. 'Of course this would happen to me. I couldn't have family that loved me, its just the icing on the cake that I can't have normal realationships. Thats all incubi are, isn't it? Just sex-crazed demons.'

"Hey, calm down kid. Its not what you think." Harry felt warm arms wrap around him from behind and closed his eyes, taking slow deep breaths. "I'm sorry, Harry. I should have known that all you've heard about succubi and incubi is bad. You should know that, just like it is with what you've been told of vampires, you haven't exactly gotten the full story."

Harry, much calmer now, slowly nodded his head. "alright, so why don't you fill me in on what I missed?"

"I'd be happy to. Lets see, where to start? As a subspecies of vampires, they feed on the life force of humans. In muggle stories they do this by seducing someone and feeding on the resultant lust. However, Thats only partly true. The Lillim - what they are actually called - are just like anyone else until they come-of-age. There is no muggle or magical way to tell if someone is one. You either have to already know, or find out when everybody else does."

"You seem to know alot about this for someone who didn't know what I was going to turn into a few hours ago."

"Well, once the change was finished and we had identified what you are we made it a priority to learn as much as we could. ANd like I said, the Lillim are a subspecies of vampire so we actually have a fair amount of knowledge about them. There are books upon books in in the library on creatures similar to us. I'm surprised you hadn't come across them yet."

"I've been sort of focused, ya know."

Derrick nodded his head in understanding and continued. "What else can I tell you? Well, the change that happens when a Lillim matures is one of the most arduos in existance. In most magical inheritance cases, a persons appearance will change, or they will gain a new ability or two. In the case of incubi, your body is changing at the most basic level. It has to adapt itself to process your new dietary requirments. Now, your -"

"Speaking of dietary requirments!" Came Koga's voice from the now open door. A tray containing two potion vials and 16 bottles of a thick red liquid that looked suspiciously like the blood he had seen them drinking at meals. "I can't believe your just getting there Derrick. It should have been one of the first things you covered!"

"Lectures aren't really my thing. We looked up alot of information, its not like I took the extra time to write a speech about it."

"Yeah, but seriously? He'd have died of starvation before you got to it."

"Are either of you going to tell me what 'It' is?" Harry asked, trying to stem the upcoming argument.

"I will and while I do you need to take these." Koga handed the two potions to a grimacing Harry. "I don't know if our fearless leader has told you yet, but the stories about incubi seducing and feeding on random people aren't exactly true. They are empathic creatures and they do feed on the feelings of their mates. Lust just happens to be a particularly powerful emotion in the mating bonds of many magical creatures, So it is one that they will feed on often. As an incubus you will have empathic abilities that will develop slowly, so as not to overwhelm you. When they start to develop you will find that you can gleen some small amount of energy from the others' feelings, but it won't be nearly enough to sustain you. Only the emotions of your mate will be able to do that." He accepted the empty vials from Harry and started to pour a little bit from a small group of the jars into eight glasses, setting each glass in front of the bottle that the fluid in it had come from.

Eyeing the glasses warily, Harry couldn't help but ask, "And what will I eat until I find my mate?"

"Blood."

*Sigh* "I was afraid of that. Seriously though, I don't have to drink ALL that do I? Cause really, I'm not that hun.. er, Thirsty?"

"No, you don't have to drink all this. They are just for you to try and figure out which blood type you like best. You are expected to drink two jars of your favorite though. Your body IS still recovering from the change and you need all the energy you can get."

Harry soon discovered that he favored O-. He also discovered that he was a lot hungrier than he had thought and quickly drained both bottles. Yawning as he handed the last empty bottle back to Koga, Harry lay down and barely registered the covers being pulled up or the light kiss that was placed on the top of his head before sleep claimed him.

Derrick closed the door behind himself carefully not wanting to wake the sleeping boy inside. "I never thought I'd see you looking paternal." He didn't have to turn around to see Koga's smirk.

Giving a shrug he replied, "Harry's a good kid. He deserves to be pampered."

A shadow fell across his friends face and the light teasing in his voice vanished, "He deserves alot more than just pampering." *sigh* "Unfortunately, It may be awhile yet before things start to settle down for him. An Owl just arrived. Seems Voldemort is getting antsy. We can expect a 'representative' to arrive in a few days to set up an official meeting."

"When?"

"Thats the bad news. He doesn't specify."

"Fuck." Derrick rubbed his forehead, trying to waylay the dull throbbing that was trying to take root. "Okay, I'm running down to the kitchens to drop this stuff off and get myself something to eat. You gather Kurt, Roarke, Axis, and Telemachus in my office. We'll go over the details of the letter and see what we what to do."

"Just those four?"

"For now. There's no need to freak anybody out. Once we've made a decision, we'll inform the appropriate people. Until then no one speaks a word of this."

"Got it."

Koga immediately headed towards the main lounge where the others were most likely to be located, but Derrick found himself hesitating. He glanced at harry's door before shaking his head and heading towards the kitchens. The kid needed his rest and this would only worry him.

15 minutes later ~~~~

Derrick was sitting behind his desk when the others arrived. When they were all present and the door had been secured, he nodded at Koga to begin the meeting.

"Okay, we all knew this was coming. I had hoped that we could have had a little longer, but it's just not in the cards. We've gotten an owl from Voldemort. He's going to be sending a representative to 'arrange' a meeting. The big problem is that he doesn't give a specific date or time. It's pretty much safe to assume that he has figured out that we are trying to stall. That means the next move is ours."

"What does it say exactly? We may be able to pick up some clues from his wording." asked a bemused Axis.

Koga pulled the scroll from the sleeve of his Turquoise shirt and handed it to Axis, thinking not of its contents, but of the kind hearted boy that had bought the shirt for him merely because he had walked him home. The boy who - despite the caution he had shown when first they met - had so easily opened an already wounded heart to creatures that he had been tought to hate and fear. 'No matter what hell Voldemort will drop us into if he finds out - WHEN he finds out -, we have to protect Harry.' He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Axis's voice.

"Dearest Derrick,

I'm afraid that I must impose on you. I'm sure you have heard by now how busy I have been and though I know that being Master of a coven as old and strong as yours is no small task in itself, I have but a small window of opportunity in which I can meet with you. And so I must insist that we arrange a meeting immediatly. To this end, I have sent a representative to your manor. He is traveling by muggle means to appear less conspicuous and will be arriving in a few days. I hope that the outcome of this meeting will prove that I can still call you ally.

Humbly, T.R..." Axis's voice trailed off when his eyes landed on the initials at the bottom of the page. He, like all of them, remembered all too well the changes that had overcome their friend. When Things had really started to get bad, Tom had stopped calling them his friends. They had become his servants and he had expected them to treat him as their lord and master. He had also stopped signing his letters thus, opting instead to place a Dark Mark.

"You might have mentioned that, Koga." Derrick said.

"We were going to be discussing the letter anyway, I figured it was just as well that everyone find out together. Besides, we'd just be going over the same arguments as last time."

"Now hold on a minute," chimed in Roarke, "We all know good and well that Tom hasn't signed letters like that since before the curse. This could mean-"

"-That he's trying to lure us into a false sense of security." Koga said with exasperation coloring his voice. "Look I want to believe that he's really back just as much as you, but the fact remains that its just too dangerous to assume anything but the worst at this point!"

"Let me play devils advocate for a moment." This time it was Kurt who had spoken. "Lets say we DID believe that Riddle was back. If we're wrong, its not like we couldn't defend ourselves. As for being judged by the wizarding world, their opinion can't get much worse than it already is. Even the Muggles and humans in our ranks are well trained and have the rest of the coven to help protect them."

"The Shadows is a powerful and ancient coven, but let me ask you: Can we take on an army?" the confused faces of his friends prompted Koga to continue, "What happens when his Death Eater gets here and sees Harry? You know as well as I that he would have every follower and ally of his here and armed to the teeth with curses and potions before nightfall. And if that didn't work, he would have one of his followers leak the information to the ministry and Dumbledore. Every Wizard in Britian that knew so much as a binding spell would be at our gates. And when our defenses fell? Voldemort would swoop in and snatch Harry right from under that fool of a headmasters nose." Silence reigned in the room as the others heard the truth in his words.

"...Then what are we supposed to do? The scroll only says that he will be traveling by muggle means, not arriving. What if they still have one of those emergency portkeys from last time? All of the strategically placed Death Eaters had one, it is plausible that one could have been missed when they were supposed to be retrieved. Its not like any of us thought he would be coming back." Kurt replied. He felt ashamed that he had failed to consider the kids safety. Even worse that he had failed to consider it at such a time when he was particularly vulnerable. The Kids magic would need time to return to full strength, and even when it did he would have to use most of it to control his developing thrall. He was practically defenseless right now. "Or apparation? We still have people out there, if someone were to be caught... Well, Riddle has proved in the past that he knows enough about us to coax information from the unwilling. He could use one of them to find out how to get through our wards."

Derrick pulled out a quill and some parchment, writing as he spoke. "We'll need someone to check the records, see who was responsible for the portkey collections. I'll have to contact all the remaining members who have not arrived, make sure everyones alright. Also new portkeys will have to be made. I don't think we can wait any longer for them to get here by the regular means. And I wan't the Wards renewed TONIGHT, and they will need to be renewed once a month now instead of once a year."

"And we still need to decide how to deal with our uninvited guest. No matter How unlikely it seems, we can't rule out the possibility that he WILL arrive by muggle means. Even when he gets here, how will we keep Harry away from him?" Everyone nodded, understanding Axis'concern.

"C'mon guys! That's the easy part. We just tell the kid to stay in his room while the guy is here. No problem!"

"...You have really got to spend more time with him Telemachus. If you had, you would know that he's been locked up far to often in his life. And more than once he's been told that it was 'for his own good'. Besides this is as much Harry's home now as it is ours. I'm not going to hide him away like he's a dirty secret."

"Well, what about-"

"-and before you say it, no we are not going to spike his blood with a sleeping draught." Derrick continued, giving Telemachus a firm glare. "Not to mention I promised him that after his birthday he could help out with the search for the descendants of the last Archive Master and FOR THE LOVE OF THE GODS WILL YOU TWO JUST STOP EAVESDROPPING AND COME INSIDE?!"

"...uhm, we can't. The doors locked." A muffled voice answered.

"Oh, dear lord. Koga, if you would?" Everyone watched as Koga unlocked the door and in walked Harper and Tyr.

"Ummm...Sorry?"

"Well you've already know what's going on. You've been out there long enough. Got anything helpful?"

"Actually, yeah. Tyr promised Harry that if he did have an inheritance and it was something that had a destined mate, then he would take over his training. He should be alot better by tomorrow, right? Tyr always starts a beginner out with lessons on meditation and the history of various fighting styles, so if they start tomorrow it wont be a struggle for him to keep up like the more physical lessons would be right now. And after they're done with that ... well I've sort of been wanting to introduce Harry to the wanders of Manga!"

"NO!" Everyone jumped at Telemachus' Shout. "You can't let him! He is NOT allowed to teach the kid about that stuff! I don't care how dire the situation! One rabid manga fan is enough! More than that, its too much! Hell HALF of one would be TOO MUCH! I can't handle two. I just can't! I mean it would be alright if it were only things like Dazzle, Skip Beat, and Crimson Hero - but its not!"

"... Are you okay?" a stunned Roarke querried.

"NO! NO I AM NOT OKAY! HE left one of his fricking guy-on-guy books on the table in the lounge! It was open to a VERY explicit page!"

"...and?"

"And Beka was teasing me! She had bent over in those black leather pants of hers and got me hard! I happened to glance down at the table just as she was standing back up and she thought I got a boner because of the picture of a guy taking it up the ass! BECAUSE OF HIM I HAVEN'T GOTTEN LAID IN THREE WEEKS! NO MATTER WHAT I SAY, SHE WON'T BELIEVE ME! EVEN THE FACT THAT WE ARE DESTINED MATES AND THERE IS NO WAY I COULD BE ATTRACTED TO ANYONE ELSE HASN'T HELPED! I CAN'T STAND THE THOUGHT OF THOSE THINGS BEING LEFT ALL OVER THE PLACE!"

"...So, I believe we have our plan." Derrick started saying, resolutley ignoring the whimper from Telemachus' position hunched down by the fire place. "Koga, I'll need you to organize a group and get them up to speed on the Archive Master search. Its too important to just drop, even in current circumstances. Roarke, you'll be in charge of setting up a watch shift. If this guy arrives by muggle means we need to know immediately. Kurt will get our most experienced wizards and strengthen the wards. Don't for get to set up a rotating schedule to renew them monthly. On second thought its probably best if you have it renewed at odd intervals."

"You mean like renew it once after 29 days, then 23 days after that, and 30 after that?"

"Exactly, we can't let our enemy think that we are predictable. That particular trick will be used later. Axis, we need portkeys that haven't been linked to a destination yet. You are authorized to use any means necessary to get them out of the ministry, but do try to not kill anyone. Our position is precarious enough as it is. Telemachus will be helping me to contact our members en-route. The ones travelling alone will apparate back with us, and those in a group will lay low at a safe house until we can get a portkey to them. Everyone understand their jobs? Good. Then lets get to work!" He watched everyone file out before getting up to follow. He happened to glance in the direction of the fireplace and couldn't help but have a niggling feeling that he was forgeting something. Hearing Telemachus call out to him, he shrugged it off and and hurried out.

A/N:) You like? Its not up as soon as I had hoped it would be but at least its a decent sized chapter. Please Reveiw!