A/N:

Happy Holidays everybody!!! I've had this chapter ready to go for a couple weeks, but I thought I posted it then, so I'm sorry about that. Either way, I hope you guys like this chapter, and since we're coming up towards 7th year, things are gonna start to slow down within the chapters.

Quick recap: 6th years Harry, Neville, and Hermione, team up with Severus to look into ways to destroy the horcruxes. Dumbledore is on the look out for the items as well unrelated to their search. Voldemort is attempting to regain his power though many of his followers have either defected, died, or are useless to him at this point. Our heros have a bit more time on their side, but Harry and Severus are advised to make their engagement official before the worst comes to pass. We find them at Gringotts, ready to seal their new engagement bond...

-Xenia

Chapter 29: Tricks

"Right this way Mr. Snape, Mr. Potter-Dunhill." Jorgug said in a hushed manner, motioning for the two to follow him.

Harry almost froze, but followed along, only looking to his mate in confusion. Severus had put a glamour on him, how could the goblins see who he was?

"Magic, my dear mate, is only allowed in certain forms. In order to protect identities, glamours work within the bank, but everyone who comes and goes is recorded." They were ushered into a fairly big room, complete with a desk and two chairs. Once they were inside, Severus helped his mate into the seat furthest from the door, and finished his explaination. "We arrived together as the only two at the first connected floo, thus Jorgug knew who he was speaking to without risk of outing you."

The teen let his mate guide him by the hand into the seat, but blushed, realizing that this was what gentlemen did for their significant others. He smiled at his mate, simply patting the seat next to him before taking the mans hand into his own.

"Griphook will be here momentarily." Jorgug spoke, watching the two interact. He had been the manager of the Prince family account for decades, and never had he seen Severus acting so kind or accommodating to another being. The man was not human, this Jorgug already knew, but watching the two begged the question of how Mr. Potter-Dunhill had managed to get on the dragons good side.

Soon enough, the silence was broken by a knock at the office door, and Griphook made his way in. After the second goblin had situated himself, the two got down to business.

"Mr. Dunhill, Mr. Snape," Griphook greeted. "Before we get into why you are here today, I must insist that Mr. Dunhill accept his inheritance."

The teens eyes opened a bit wider. He had assumed that he would only get his inheritance after the age of 17.

"As you are aware, being of creature blood, you are able to accept your parents and Godfather's will as well as any and all monies or properties owed to you through familial ties."

Harry looked positively stunned, before pulling himself together and asking what was required of him to obtain it. He hadn't known what his family left to him, or if there was anything other than what he already had.

It made the teens chest tighter, and gave Severus cause to rub his back until he was calm again.

Griphook walked Harry through the process of claiming his inheritances, including the Potter, Black, and Gryffindor family fortunes, three smaller properties-- a town home from the Evan's side, one two story cottage from the Potter's side, and Grimmauld place from his godfather-- as well as two Manors on his fathers side, a castle from his godfathers side, and a castle on from the Gryiffyndor side. As for properties left to him by both parents, he was the sole owner of the house on Godric's Hollow.

It had been left to the bank and Ministry until he was of age, and had been sectioned off as an untouchable monument. The goblin warned that the state of the home had hardly changed from that one Halloween night, but had been cleared of debris and was still structurally sound.

Finally Harry was left with two extra vaults from his parents and Sirius, which he decided not to combine. He also had the trust funds given to him by the Dunhill's, and his smaller Potter vault that held his school funds which he did have combined into one vault.

He had to do blood tests, and read over then sign various documents in order to have it all done, but in the end he was more than glad for it. He was given the lordship rings of his family lines, as he was by blood related to the Black's through his grandmother, and inherently the final closest descendant in line fit to take over the lordship.

Lucius wasn't a Black, and thus he would have never gotten the titles or money, and while Narcissa, Bellatrix, and Andromeda were Sirius' cousins, the family was purely patriarchal. Draco may have had a chance, but he had been disowned by his father, thus striking him from the Malfoy family tree. Making him, for lack of better words, a bastard child. And the Black's rules prevented children without their full family line from claiming the title.

It was convoluted and discriminatory, but Harry would be able to change some of those rules as the new head of the estate.

The Potter's had similar rules in place for the line of inheritance, and was more open to female heads of estate, but only as regents and placeholders until the next male was of age. Harry was the only Potter left, and after his marriage to Severus, he wasn't sure if he would still use his current surname.

He wasn't sure of quite a few things, but looking towards his mate, the teen was reassured that the man held nothing of this new wealth against him. Severus could only smile at his mate and inform him that as the last descendant of the Prince family, he was also a Lord, with vaults and properties, so he had no reason to feel negatively towards Harry. His father held no titles as he refused to assume a human form to properly marry Eileen in the wizarding word, so Severus was simply granted his fathers extensive horde after he vanished. As well as the earnings from his own work as a professor and Potions master, and he wanted for nothing. It made his mate relax, and stopped the ever present buzz of uncertainty coming from the teen.

"Now that that has been settled," Griphook stated, sending all of the proper documents to be filed in their system as well as the Ministry. "What can we do for you today?"

Severus leaned back in his chair, "We are here to have our betrothal legally recognized." His lips slipped into an easy smirk as his account managers eyes widened. The goblin was a close acquaintance and while he and Jorgug hardly had the time to speak in recent years, he knew the goblin had truly never seen this day coming.

The room was quiet as the goblins got the paperwork in order. "Of course, Severus." Jorgug smiled full on, his teeth on display. "When is the engagement party?" He teased.

"Undecided, but you will be invited." Severus smiled just as widely, the two looking almost menacing. Harry wasn't worried as he knew his mate had a dark look about him and any smile he wore was on the spectrum of devilishly handsome to downright demonic.

Harry and Griphook shared a humorously exasperated look, before the tension broke, and the two other men got seamlessly back to business.

"Yes, well we will need to perform tests to make sure neither of you are being coerced by potions, spells, or under threat."

Harry wanted to giggle, the way the two spoke to one another showed the teen that his mate was very capable of making friends. It was endearing.

The two stood and as they were being assessed, Harry felt his cheeks heat up.

They took a drop of blood and placed it on a sheet of parchment. It was a full body assessment on him, and while Griphook knew of his blood, neither goblin knew of his bodily changes. The two were professional however, skimming over that section towards the potions and spells in the two dragon's systems.

"Ah..." Griphook intoned, looking closer at the parchment that appeared on the desk from Harry's assessment. "It seems that there is a constant detection spell on the two of you." He began. "As well as a dark bond on you Mr. Dunhill."

"We already know of Severus' dark mark, and are looking into it, however this is completely different from what we can tell." Jorgug added.

Harry explained that the bond was to Voldemort through his scar. It was forced on him as an infant and that he was currently researching it as well.

From then on the goblins found the nature of the detection spells, dismantled them, and got ready to act as witnesses to the temporary engagement bond.

"Sign here, here, and initial here. Afterwards you will need to use this dagger to prick your ring fingers and place the first two drops of blood beside each of your names."

Severus was told to sign first, as the older fiance, and more dominant of the two. He signed with a flourish, before passing the quill to his gem. Harry was right behind him signing his name happily, and moving towards the dagger. Once he had it in his hand, he pricked his older mates finger and watched as Severus added his blood besides both his name and Harry's. Next the dragon pricked Harry's finger, and looked into his eyes with a content smile.

Harry smiled back, and silently added his blood beside his mates. The two goblins added their names as well as blood before letting the contract join the others in the two dragons new joint file.

Jorgug instructed them to heal each others hands, and let their magic recognize the start of the newest bond.

However when the two healed one another, they found that their magic was more than ready for something different. For as soon as they spoke, their magic shot out of their wands and surrounded them both in a visible dance. Harry's magic was purple in hue, changing from deep plum to light lavender as it twisted around Severus' shock of deep blue magic.

They were caught in a flash of light as their magic formed a pattern akin to dna strands, before then healing them both by gently skimming along the top of their wounds. Finally the colors merged into a shimmering twilight blue and retreated into their chests rather than their wands or simply dissipating in the air.

Harry could feel his mate unlike ever before. The mans heart beat felt as though it too was in his chest. He felt incredibly warm and a sense of astonishment that was not his own made him look up from his chest and hands towards Severus.

The man carefully took the teens hand into his own, turned it over and kissed his palm. The entire situation felt as though more than just an engagement bond took place.

'And you would be correct, my mate.' Severus spoke within Harry's mind. 'We are not only bonded by wizarding law, but also mated by draconic tradition.'

'But what's the difference between the two?' The teen questioned, pulling his mate back to their seats.

"Simply put, it is that we are no longer just two souls with compatible magics and an engagement. We are all but married in the eyes of all creature races. However, we are still only engaged and courting in the eyes of the Ministry and wizarding kind."

"Oh." Harry nodded. So that meant he could call Severus his husband in the privacy of his dorms, as well as with his friends and family, just not to the rest of the general population. He would still have to call his mate his fiance until they could; One, get married officially by wizarding law, and Two, announce to the world around them that they are bonded mates.

Their magic had bonded, their souls were bonded...

They only needed to wait a little longer, then have a wedding officiated at the ministry, before nothing could separate them.

Harry jumped up, a happy chirping sound escaping him. He had wanted to kiss his mate, but decided he'd already made enough of a fool of himself.

He attempted to calm down, but was only able to do so after Severus kissed him instead.

Once the teen had let out his energy, and sat back in his seat, Severus moved away and asked his final questions.

"Was it known who put the detection spells on us? When it happened or why it was done?"

The goblins then explained what they found, stating that only one detection spell was placed very recently. For Harry it was tracked back to Hogwarts, but as it was not a harmful spell, and placed by a minor, they could only track it so far. It had only been in place for a couple of days, but even still he had visited his mate in that time.

As for Severus, the spell was placed by Albus Dumbledore around 16 years ago, and the dragon became agitated. So from the moment he was told by the wizard to aid in his friends murder, he had been being tracked.

As Jorgug continued his explaination, Severus reluctantly calmed down. The detection spell was weaved into a protection spell, which was the main intent. Speaking of intent the two could tell that the spell placed on the dragon was not malicious in any way. However the one placed on Harry was very obsessive in nature.

Severus then spoke to Jorgug about retrieving something from his vault, in response to which the goblin smirked. The shorter of the two had the taller place his vault key against an unremarkable door, before opening it to reveal Severus vault. It was a quick way to allow private trips to the vault, but the door only worked when the wizard trying was who they claimed to be, or given legal access by the vault holder explicitly.

Any deceptions resulted in the wizard being banished from the bank, and possibly injured by what they usually kept behind that door. If a goblin is present and unable to see through the deception they lose their position. If they are attempting to aid in the theft, then they are killed. It was a simple system that worked amazingly at keeping betrayals at bay.

Severus disappeared into the vault for only a moment, taking three items before placing them in his pocket and leaving.

With that settled, Severus went back towards the office's chairs and helped his shocked minx up, "May your gold overflow." Was his parting words which were echoed seconds after by Harry, as they left. "May your horde never empty." The two goblins replied back.

Harry's lordship rings were in a small pouch given to him by Jorgug, and was hidden from view by his cloak. He was glad for it, as he could not process anything at the moment.

Someone was so obsessed with him that they took to using spells on him? The only thing that saved him from hyperventilating over the situation, was that since the spell was placed on him, he had only been in his mates quarters once, and that was this morning. The other few times was restricted, and only within the mans office, which Harry could easily write off as detentions or extra classes they were forced into by the Headmaster.

'But why was the spell from Dumbledore dismantled as well?' The teen asked between them. He was still so giddy that they could finally speak to one another through their bond. He had been waiting on this moment for so long that he was tempted to use it all the time.

'Our magic will protect either of us in times of emergency. There would be no use in keeping his spell. Especially since we are connected mentally as well, no matter where one is or in what state, we will be able to find one another, or simply use magic to heal the other from a distance. The healing party would be a bit more vulnerable, but otherwise it should be undetected by outsiders.' The man explained, leading his mate out of the building.

"We will be going to muggle london for breakfast, before visiting your parents Rie. Hold on so I can take us there." Severus spoke softly, holding his mate securely before apparating them away.

Harry held onto Severus' waist tightly, closing his eyes as they were sucked into a vacuum type tunnel. He hated feeling like he was being pulled through a spinning straw, but it was over in mere seconds. Taking in a deep breath, the teen made sure nothing about them was missing, then let go of his mate. He missed the warmth from holding the dragon close to himself, but Severus hadn't moved his arm from around her waist, which was just as good.

Severus led his Siren through the streets until they found the small diner where they could have a bit of privacy while eating. The two had just walked in the door, and immediately Harry spotted the perfect place to sit. Making their way to the booth, Severus let his mate usher him towards the corner of the building.

The diner was fairly small, but clean. With a white and baby blue color scheme, it held several nicely cushioned booth seats, a covered outdoor dining area, as well as a bar with cushioned stools, so that the customer could be closer to the kitchen or server. Music played softly around them and the tapping of their shoes on the tiles also served as a calming feature.

Once at their seats, they were greeted by a smiling teenager who placed a menu in each of their hands before leaving to help a large group find somewhere to sit.

The two perused the items on the menu, before Harry decided he would order for his mate today.

"I'll order it." He stated. Severus looked at his young mate in mild confusion. Harry rolled his eyes and elaborated.

"You've always had my meals set up for me, so I want to do the same for you." It was a simple request, so Severus smiled and acquiesced.

"Anything you want Rie." Was his answer, and as the teen came back to their table Harry smiled at his mate and ordered their food, making sure to get his mate a black coffee with two sugars, and himself a coffee with cream.

It was already creeping up on 8 o'clock, and the two had only been away from the castle for an hour and fifty minutes or so. It hadn't taken long to get done at Gringotts, so the hybrid felt that they were making good time on their day.

As they waited for their food, they spoke in hushed tones about their visit to the bank. Harry had a few more questions, and in the quiet of the diner he felt that they could speak on it a bit more.

"So what will our bond protect us from exactly?" He whispered after discreetly casting a muffling charm around them.

"Most spells, not including the killing curse. It does not mean we become invincible, so do not go out unprotected. It will simply alert the other party immediately so we can perform the counter and stave off any lingering side effects. It is the same with potions, though there is a potion that will mute the affects of harmful potions, thus giving us time enough to act. That part of the bond is only a preventative measure that will help us to protect one another."

"So what about our engagement ceremony? Why did our magic choose then to bond?" The teen wondered.

"That I cannot answer. Perhaps it had been waiting until the right moment to bond us. Or perhaps it has to do with Ms. Lovegood's advice."

"She did look anxious when she told me..." Harry agreed, feeling a bit apprehensive himself. He hoped that whatever it was that led to today was enough for whatever Luna saw in the future.

HPSSHPSSHPSS

The two spoke about the horcruxes and their connections to the snake scarcely. Neither wanted to be caught out speaking on this sensitive topic, so it didn't last very long.

Breakfast was a quieter affair after that, neither really speaking much in favor of finishing their meal. Harry was a bit excited and apprehensive about going to his parents gaves with his mate. His father and Severus had never been on the best of terms, even after reconciling their pasts, as his mate had put it. About an hour before leaving the privacy of their secluded booth and silencing charms, Harry voiced his concerns, namely what his parents might have thought of him being the dragon's mate.

"They knew it was a possibility long before they died."The man revealed, leaving Harry dumbfounded. "Dragons have a bonding system within their herds, that should the parents be in immediate danger or under threat of harm, we will bond with the whelp to ensure they do not grow up alone."

Harry placed down his cup, too intrigued with the conversation to bother with it.

"Near on a month or so before their deaths, I was asked by a-- very persistent-- young dragon to tuck him in. Upon touching his hand when he pulled at me, a bond was formed."

"Did you know what bond it was from the beginning?" Harry asked. He had to. It was one of those thoughts that would nag at you until you gave in and asked it. For better or worse he let the words out, waiting anxiously for his mate to answer.

Severus looked at his mate with an exasperated fondness. A small smile on his lips as he continued. "When a bond such as that one forms, it is ambiguous. I was not able to tell exactly what bond it would form into until well after you started your time in Hogwarts." He sighed.

They were speaking quietly, Severus noted that a few of the muggles seemed to be interested in their booth, but Harry called his attention back to him with a warm hand placed atop his own.

Please leave a review if you liked it so far! Much love to all of you 3
-Xenia