The Bonds That Tie
Just as Harry had told Severus it would happen, Albus called an order meeting at the Hog's Head in Hogsmead Village. The meetings had to be moved from Grimmauld Place since Harry forbade Dumbledore to be in what was considered as Harry's house, so Albus chose his brother's bar in a back room that was sealed off from the public and charmed so that people couldn't wander by the room and overhear. Severus found himself rather bored and trying not to eye the clock too much, but it was nearing the time he had to deceive everyone by faking a summons from the dark lord. The entire order had come, including the junior members, which Severus couldn't even believe Albus allowed students under seventeen to come out past curfew for this. Currently, it was 10:45 pm and Albus was on his concerns for Harry's sway to the dark side, not that the man mentioned he had attacked Harry before the holiday.
"Are we losing him, Albus?" Minerva frowned. "Is Potter truly defecting to the dark?"
"I won't hear it." Molly refused. "Harry's a good boy and he'd never join the dark lord."
"No one is saying that he's joining Voldemort, Molly. But we are saying that Harry's become a recluse and very defiant. He seems convinced I'm out to get him and won't listen to reason." Albus stated.
"We've had no luck talking to Harry either," Hermione frowned. "I miss my friend."
"Harry's spoken to Luna and I, said he wasn't angry at us." Neville Longbottom informed.
"Harry's not angry with us either," Fred and George said together.
"He's only mad at those who turned his back on him when it came out he was a vampire." Luna stated softly. "Mad at those who believed he'd changed and become a monster."
"Well, it was a bit of a shock to learn your best mate became a vampire and hid it for an entire year." Ron scoffed.
"Look at how you reacted when you found out, Mr. Weasley…" Severus drawled. "Your reaction wouldn't have changed if he told you a year ago."
"Severus, how goes breaking through the protections on his door? I tasked you with finding out just how strong they are," Albus questioned.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Headmaster, they're bloody strong ones." Severus lied. He knew the secret to them, but wouldn't betray Harry's trust in revealing things. "I've used everything in my arsenal, including the darker magics. Nothing comes close to breaking through. I believe that there is no way to know what he's used as protection, but it's strong enough to keep both me and you out. I used things I learned from the dark lord himself when I first joined his ranks, and not even those can touch the wards on the boy's door."
"So you're saying a sixteen-year-old with an incomplete education erected protection wards that neither Severus nor you, Albus, can break through?" Alastor questioned.
"That seems to be the case," Albus nodded.
"His friends opened his door no problem earlier," Ginny chimed in. "I went by the dungeons to talk to him and I saw Malfoy and his goons at Harry's door, they knocked and Draco was able to open the door fine. I tried to walk in behind them, but there was a barrier blocking me. Harry said something about his friends having been invited in." She explained. "Even Professor Snape had been able to walk in when I still couldn't."
"Severus, you were allowed in Harry's room?" Minerva asked.
Damn meddling girl, what was he supposed to say? "Potter asked me to come by for assistance with a potions assignment." He prayed it would work.
"You're not the potions teacher anymore…" Albus reminded.
"Perhaps not, Headmaster, but Potter has informed me he prefers me over Slughorn. Something about Horace being too cheerful and always having stories, Potter feels like he gets too much credit in the class, that Slughorn praises him too much and makes him seem like a star in potions." Severus said.
"His grades show that he's doing splendidly in Potions. In all his courses, actually." Minerva mentioned.
"I don't argue with requests from my snakes. Harry is one of them, if he asked me for help, I was not going to deny him." Severus stated.
"I've never heard you call Harry by his first name…" Hermione pointed out.
"Unlike the rest of you troublemakers, my snakes have earned the right to be called by their first names." Severus scoffed.
"And you apparently don't like people in the dungeon…You threatened to take points from Gryffindor earlier if I didn't leave when I wanted to talk to Harry…It was before curfew." Ginny huffed.
"Mind yourself, Miss. Weasley…Junior Order member or not, I'm still your teacher…" Severus warned. "Harry made it quite clear that he was not interested in whatever it was you wanted to discuss with him, though from what I heard; you were trying to take him on a date in Hogsmead this weekend." Ginny flushed. "He told you no several times and that he wasn't interested in dating you."
"He's just confused about what he wants." Ginny said.
"Continue to deny the truth and you will be the only one hurt in the end, Miss. Weasley." Maybe he should take his own advice about denying the bond and stop doing that. "However, on the matter of removing you from the dungeons…You were only there to speak to Harry and while he didn't want to converse with you when you had no business being in the dungeons after being told no. You were dismissed, hanging around beyond that is what most would call stalking and harassment and I can't allow you to do that as a teacher, and also head of Slytherin House." Severus told her. "You will leave Mister Potter alone."
Ginny folded her arms and huffed, mumbling something about how she'd talk to Harry again. Severus checked the clock as it was 10:55 pm. He'd run over slightly, and it was perfect timing that Albus was going to speak again. "Now…" Albus began. Severus jerked slightly and clamped a hand over his arm with a slight hiss. "He's calling?" Severus nodded. "Go…Don't keep him waiting." Albus stated.
Severus stood up and backed away from the table before apparating away with a whooshing and crack sound.
. . .
It was easy to get out of the castle with most of the staff busy and the major members away at an Order meeting. Draco led his friends to the whomping willow and through the passage way into the Shrieking Shack.
"Harry?" Pansy asked in a whisper.
No answer. "I thought he said he'd meet us?" Theodore mentioned.
"Perhaps he got held up…" Draco shrugged. "Either way, looks like he left us our way to get to the manor," He revealed the white marble that swirled with red.
Blaise got the note and unrolled it. "Harry says the marble is a portkey that will take us right to the manor as soon as we touch it. He mentions he knows it's small, so one person has to touch it and hold on while the rest connect securely. Handholding is advised."
"Alright then," Gregory shrugged. "Draco, you take it and we'll hold onto you,"
Draco set his hand over the marble, but didn't touch it as his other hand held Pansy's. Pansy, Theodore, Blaise, Gregory, and Vincent connected hands and then Blaise completed the circle by holding onto Draco's shoulder. Draco looked at them as they nodded, ready, and then he closed his hand over the marble and it sucked them through to the manor.
. . .
At Malfoy Manor, Severus arrived promptly at 10:59 pm and joined the rest at the table.
"Severus! So glad you could come." Voldemort greeted. "Where are Harry and the others?"
"I don't know, my lord," Severus replied. "I was in an Order meeting…"
"Then how did you know to come here for 11 since I couldn't call you?" Voldemort questioned. "That's usually how Dumbledore allows you to leave, is my summoning you."
"Harry told me to wait until 10:50 pm, then hold my arm and make it look like you were calling me. Dumbledore didn't even question it." Severus replied. "From what I understand, Harry said he would bring the others after they met in the Shrieking Shack."
It was a second later when Draco, and his five friends appeared in the room, all landing awkwardly on the ground and groaning. "There they are…" Bellatrix mentioned.
"O-Ow…" Pansy whined.
"Stupid portkey travel…" Blaise groaned.
"Portkey?" Lucius asked. "Severus just said Harry was bringing you."
Draco got up, using his wand to move the marble into a pouch and then moved to sit between his parents. "He said he would meet us at the shack, but when we got there…All we saw was this marble and note saying it would take us to the manor. Haven't seen Harry since we left his room earlier." Draco explained.
"So it was an unauthorized portkey?" Severus arched a brow. "What was he thinking? There's serious punishments for that."
"He's only in trouble if he gets caught," Narcissa shrugged. "I think you forget that the only way that would trace back to Harry is if he used his wand and we all know he doesn't use that much."
"Are we waiting for him, my lord?" Corban Yaxley asked.
"His presence was required for tonight's meeting, so yes…We'll wait. In the meantime, Severus, anything to report at the meeting before you came here?"
"It's Albus complaining that he thinks Harry is swaying to the dark side and that Weasley girl nearly blowing my cover." Severus stated.
"Doesn't the Order know you spy for them?" Antonin Dolohov remarked.
"Yes, they think I'm on their side and spying on our lord for them. But she was there tonight when Harry pulled us into his room to talk about this meeting, so when Dumbledore asked me if I was able to break Harry's wards and saying I couldn't get through the door, she ratted me out that she saw me go in his room while a barrier kept her out." Severus informed.
"What wards?" Voldemort asked.
"Harry has wards up on his bedroom door at Hogwarts," Draco interjected. "They're wicked strong."
"And you can't break through them, Severus?" Lucius questioned.
"No. Not even Albus can." Severus chuckled. "It's kind of comical, actually. The wards on Harry's room are incredible, and only Draco can bypass them as family. And his friends can get to the door to knock, but can't just open it even with every unlocking spell out there. I can reach the door to knock as well, we've all been keyed into his wards to reach the door. But opening it? Harry has to let us in, by invitation."
"Harry said his wards were-," Pansy's voice cut out as she covered her mouth, not understanding why she couldn't talk about them.
"You're not a secret keeper, Pans…" Draco rolled his eyes. "The only people who can reveal the information are the keepers of the secret, so me and Harry."
"Can you tell us, son?" Narcissa asked.
"If Harry says it's okay," Draco nodded. "I could, but I promised I wouldn't betray his trust."
"That's fair," Bellatrix shrugged.
"Now what?" Theodore wondered.
"I suppose we can start the parts of this that don't necessarily need Harry," Voldemort mentioned.
The meeting began with basic updates and some introductions to the new members meeting the old ones. It was about 11:45 pm when a bat flew into the room and struggled to stay in the air, then finally a red cloud encased the bat as it transformed, leaving Harry now standing in its place, instantly staggering on landing and ended up dropping to a knee when he couldn't balance.
"What the bloody hell?" Bellatrix said quickly.
"What?" Harry asked.
"You…You were a bat!" Bellatrix informed.
"That observant, are you, Aunt Bella?" Harry snarked. "Yes, very good."
"Harry…?" Draco went over to his brother. "What's wrong?"
"Weak…" Harry mumbled. "I need to feed, it's been a couple months since last time."
"I feed you every week!" Draco exclaimed.
"And it works for a bit, but it doesn't satiate the hunger." Harry struggled to stand after getting help from Draco and Gregory.
"It's not his mate's blood," Lucius remarked. "That's why it's not feeding him, we said this before." He added. "I told you that it would be as effective as animal blood to him, which lasts at best, a day, or a couple hours. Harry needs your blood, Severus."
"He's only going to get weaker without it." Narcissa added.
"Wait, Professor Snape is…Harry's mate?" Blaise blinked.
"We'll explain later," Draco muttered. "It was kind of an…Unexpected thing."
"You should have told me you needed my blood, Harry…" Severus sighed.
"You told me to leave you alone, so I have been." Harry gave him a glare as he got to a chair and sat down on the other side of Narcissa, who was a chair away from Severus.
"And you need to not go without feeding, some come over here and feed. Don't be difficult." Severus told him.
"Oh, I'm being difficult? Says the stubborn git who can't accept what happened." Harry countered. "Sorry I'm late, I got held up at the school because of a certain girl who can't take no for an answer."
"Is this the Weasley girl I keep hearing about?" Voldemort asked.
"Indeed…" Harry mumbled.
"What did she do now?" Theodore sighed.
"She tried to kiss me. Like actually pushed me against the wall and leaned right in." Harry stated.
"I hope you shoved her back." Draco rolled her eyes.
"I lightly pushed her away and then we argued for thirty minutes, her trying to tell me all the ways we'd be a perfect couple. And I'd like her if we kissed and the only reason I'm into men is because I've never kissed a girl before, so I should give it a try…" Harry uttered.
"She didn't give up, did she?" Blaise questioned.
"Nope. In fact, that was one of the argument bits. What if I did kiss her and it still didn't change anything. She said she wouldn't give up because we belong together. You heard her before, I think Albus put her up to it." Harry said.
"You think Albus is using the girl to get to you?" Severus asked.
"Ginny herself said that Albus told her that it would be our love that saved the wizarding world from the dark lord…And that I was supposed to be with her." Harry stated. "So yes, I'm rather convinced he's done something. Compulsion charm, maybe a love potion…Who knows. But if not and it's really just her obsessed with me? It's becoming annoying."
"She seems convinced you two are getting married too." Vincent reminded.
"Tomorrow, I will assign her detention for being out after hours and run a diagnostic on her…See if there's any charms of potions in effect." Severus stated.
"You can't give her detention, Severus. You left the Order meeting at 11:00 to come here and she started giving me trouble at 11:30. How would you have been back in the school to know she was out of bed, and out of the tower?" Harry informed. "It wouldn't work. The order meeting didn't let out until 11:30 pm, that's when I saw Ron, Hermione, Neville, and Luna at the castle entrance with Albus, and Minerva."
"I'll find some reason, but that's serious if she's under the effect of a potion or charm, Harry," Severus told him.
"Don't worry about it. I can take care of myself…I've been doing it for a long time. Yes, it annoys the hell out of me, but at the end of the day; she can't do anything to make me love her or be with her." Harry sat back with his arms folded.
"If it makes you feel better to check, Severus, how about tomorrow morning I came to see you and report that Ginny was banging on my door after hours and when I opened it to tell her to go away, she pushed me against the wall and tried to kiss me, then she spent the next thirty minutes complaining about why we should be together until I finally got her to let go and lock myself back in my room. You could use that to give her detention, saying she shouldn't have been out of bed after hours and harassing another student." Harry told him.
"You told her before you were with someone, didn't you?" Pansy inquired.
"Yeah, and you saw how much more she got worked up over it. That was another part of the fight, she wanted to know who I was with and I wouldn't tell her." Harry rolled his eyes.
"I'm telling you, Harry…One good toss and she'd probably get the picture," Draco scoffed. "Seriously. Send her ass back with that throwing charm you used on the dark lord."
"At my power level? Yeah, right. I'd hurt her. Then again…That could be wrong. If I weren't a vampire, I could hurt her because I'm marked as the dark lord's equal when it comes to power. As a vampire, a spell of that caliber would kill her. It's not worth it…" Harry sighed. "No. I won't do anything to her other than continue to tell her it's never going to happen. If I ever physically retaliated to get the message across, it would get me into trouble…" Harry mumbled. "You need to understand, brother, that I'm on everyone's watch list. I'm watched as the boy who lived, the famous Harry Potter who is prophesized to destroy the dark lord. I am also being watched because I'm a blood-sucking vampire. Everyone is watching me and waiting for me to screw up by attacking someone. Not to mention…It's highly frowned upon for ANY man to hit a woman, magic or not. So I won't put my hands on her unless it's for lightly removing her from my person and push her back. That's about all I can do without going to the department of magical law enforcement to get a restraining order, but I'm not at the point of needing that to make her back off yet. If she keeps it up, or tries anything foolish, I will."
"You're a good boy," Narcissa smiled.
"Also, what I did to Tom over the summer wasn't even full power, Dray." Harry remarked.
"It wasn't?" Voldemort stared.
"No, not even half…" Harry shrugged.
"Put it at a percent, one-hundred being full?" Severus questioned.
"Against Tom back in August? Maybe twenty? Twenty-five?" Harry replied.
"What would have happened if it were at a hundred?" Bellatrix questioned.
"He'd have gone through the wall, or walls and possibly ended up dead. I don't know, there'd be some damage done, though. I haven't tested out full power yet…" Harry muttered.
"Good to know." Voldemort said calmly.
"If you do desire to go that route, son, let me know. I've got friends in that department who could help get an order like that in the works." Lucius stated. "For getting an order on Ginerva to leave you alone." He told Harry.
"I'll keep that noted, but again…Not quite there yet. If she excels to trying to cast anything on me or slip me a potion, then there might be cause to think she's trying anything to get me." Harry informed. "But that's after Severus checks if she herself is under the influence of anything. If she is, we can find a way to prove it was Dumbledore and get him in trouble. If she's not and it's just her obsession, I'll take action against her." He said. "Now…Can we drop this and get on with the meeting? Why was I needed, Tom?"
"Well, now that you're here…We can get down to business." Voldemort nodded.
"Then let's get down to business." Harry told him.
"Can we first discuss how the hell you learned to finally turn into a bat!?" Harry's friends asked together as Harry just chuckled slightly.
"Later…" Harry informed.