Dedicated to PrincessKay who was the only person to realise that I had already mentioned the reason for Harry's illness all the way back in chapter five – Blissful Days.
Last Time
He retched into the toilet and he couldn't stop, he shivered as a wave of cold gripped his very bones and made his eyes roll into his head. He let out a distressed call, noting that it was higher pitched and more shrill that usual, before his head bounced on the tile floor, knocking him unconscious. The last thing he heard were roars and the splintering of heavy wood from the bedroom.
Chapter Thirty-Seven – Blind Panic
Nasta shot up from the bed as soon as the first vibrations of Harry's distress call reached his ears. He heard the shrill, panic stricken call a fraction of a second later and his wings burst from his back in a shower of blood, his claws ripped from his fingers and his fangs tore through his gums as he ran faster than he ever had before to reach Harry that little bit quicker.
He heard the bedframe behind him splinter and took a moment to look over and see that one of Max's bright blue wings had taken half a bedpost with it when its owner had shot up in the bed.
He wrenched the bathroom door from its hinges and threw it behind him, even though it had been halfway open already and it was then that he saw Harry, slumped on the floor, his lower legs trapped under his body. He had most probably been on his knees and had fallen backwards onto them when he lost consciousness. He took in the vomit in the toilet and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Harry must have woken up with an upset stomach and had passed out on the bathroom floor.
Nasta carefully scooped Harry into his arms as Max brushed past him to get to the airing cupboard to find a clean flannel. The large man wetted it under the tap before he dabbed at Harry's sweat soaked and vomit flecked face as Blaise flushed the toilet of its contents.
The lot of them were calming down now that no intruder had been found harming their submissive, now that they understood that Harry's panic had most likely come from vomiting so violently that he had passed out.
Max led the way back to the bedroom and snatched his wand from the bedside table, giving it a casual wave and repairing the bed with a soft incantation. Blaise pulled the duvet back onto the bed and folded a corner so that Nasta could lay Harry down carefully before the smaller dominant covered Harry up and tucked him in.
"We'd better call a Healer." Nasta sighed as he run an adrenaline shaking hand through his black hair. "Harry has a bad bump on the back of his head, probably from hitting it on the tile floor when he lost consciousness."
"We can't risk anyone finding out that he's a Dracken." Max fretted. "A Healer could figure out what he is in a minute flat with a simple blood spell!"
"We could always call the Healing Halls for the on duty Healer." Nasta pointed out quietly.
"They're for serious emergencies." Max answered.
"They're there for whomever needs them." Nasta corrected. "We can't go to a normal Healer with this and I'd much rather that Harry be seen by someone."
"Madam Pomfrey already knows." Blaise offered instead.
"But where does she go for the school holidays?" Max asked wringing his big hands together as he looked, stricken faced, at their little lover unconscious in the big bed.
"I…I don't know. She must live somewhere though; surely we can find a floo address."
"Unless she's taken herself off of the floo network for a summer of peace." Max answered.
"You stop being so pessimistic." Nasta ordered of Max. "You calm down." He directed at Blaise. "If anyone will know where she is, it's Dumbledore and as Headmaster and close friend of Harry's he gave us his floo address. We'll ask him and if that fails, then we will call the Counsel."
Nasta left the other two to care for Harry, or rather just watch over him as there wasn't much else they could do, as he trekked down to the living room and made an urgent floo call at half past two in the morning to the Headmaster of Hogwarts.
Harry woke up with a groan. He was in bed and covered with at least two duvets and another three or four blankets. He was sweltering hot and every inch of his body was coated with sweat. He was sticky and uncomfortable and the only thing he wanted was a nice, long shower so he could feel clean again.
He shoved the mountain of blankets off of himself and cupped his baby bulge, though to cup something indicated that it was small and fit in the palms of his hands, his bump did no such thing. His baby boy was either so big he was making Harry look like a whale, or he really liked his room to move about as Harry looked utterly ridiculous no matter what his mates said to contrary.
Putting his feet onto the floor, Harry carefully padded to the bathroom and stripped off the fleecy pyjamas he was wearing, they were his winter pyjamas, entirely too hot to wear in the middle of July! He hopped right into the shower and started washing the gelled sweat from his lower back.
He didn't stay in there too long, just long enough to wash his body clean and to give his hair a quick shampooing. He dried himself and dressed himself back into the fleecy pyjamas, the only clothes he had because he had forgotten to pick any up in is haste to reach the shower.
He was feeling very tired again, like he had only slept for an hour or so when he knew it was probably more than that. He shoved several blankets off of the bed and found their main duvet. He rubbed it against his face and a feeling that he recognised all too well by now came over him. He had to get the duvet to his nest. It had to be there, it smelt like all of his mates, all their scents mingled together.
He could hear voices downstairs, he couldn't go down that way, he'd be caught and his nest found out. His gaze went to the window and he slid it open easily. He climbed out and let himself fall before unsheathing his wings and fluttering them to rise again. He landed on the roof with the duvet and he threw it into his nest, which had grown considerably, to sort out later when h had more time to do so, the house was awash with activity and he couldn't risk being caught.
He flew back into the window, tucking his wings in at the last possible moment, but he miscalculated and he caught a wing bone against the window frame and he tucked himself up and rolled on the floor biting his lip to keep in his scream of agony. Hell that had hurt! That had hurt so fucking much! It felt like he had been shot.
He shut the window and crawled to the bed and lay down in it, tucking just the one blanket over him as he rocked himself slowly as the pain tapered off to a lingering soreness and he fell asleep quickly, thoroughly worn out from his quick and sporadic flight to his nest.
Max tilted his head as he heard a thump from upstairs, no one else had seemingly heard anything, he couldn't smell anything out of place, but he couldn't just let it drop, what if something was wrong?
He looked around the kitchen and noticed with a sigh of irritation that Caesar and Sanex were missing. If they were ripping up anymore of his carpet he'd gut the both of them. A loud laugh had him looking over to his Dad and Aneirin Delericey, who were thoroughly enjoying themselves.
He caught Nasta's eye and indicated that he was going to check on Harry. He jogged up the stairs; he heard Caesar and Sanex giggling like children in the living room. If they had done anything to Harry…
The bedroom door was open and he felt his large body clench like a giant fist. He pushed it all the way open and saw Harry still fast asleep like Madam Pomfrey had said he would be, but the blankets that were bringing up his core temperature were in a large pile on the floor.
He growled and went about covering Harry back up. It was as he was tucking Harry back in under all of the blankets that he realised that the main duvet was missing. He checked under the single blanket that had remained on Harry, under the bed and in the wardrobe before realising that it was missing. If this is what Caesar and Sanex were giggling about he'd break their little bodies. They knew as well as the rest of them that Harry needed to remain warm!
He stalked to the living room to find it abandoned with no sign of the missing duvet. He went into the kitchen and again the two were missing.
"What's wrong?" Nasta asked him, noticing his agitation and growing anger, which brought everyone else's attention to him.
"Where are Caesar and Sanex?" He hissed.
"They decided to floo to Sanex's apartment." His Mother told him. "Why?"
"They decided to strip Harry of all of his blankets and steal away the main duvet before they left."
"They did what?" Nasta growled leaping up and pacing, his fists clenched.
"I can't see them doing that." Kimberly stuck up for the missing men. "They know how sick Harry got, they know that he needs to remain warm, they wouldn't do something to deliberately harm Harry or to hinder his recovery."
"As much as I hate to say it, my brother wouldn't have done anything to make Harry sicker and I don't think Caesar would have either, he has his own mate, a pregnant mate, he knows how dangerous uncovering Harry would be." Nasta answered after he had calmed down and thought more rationally about the situation once his Dracken had been pushed to the side.
"I wouldn't have thought they would have either." Draco answered. He got on well with both of the other men and he couldn't see anyone in this house doing such a thing to Harry.
"They were giggling in the living room as I went up to check on Harry, a bit convenient that they left before I came back down."
"This is the second time that you have accused your brother of stealing something, Maximilius." Myron said in his guttural voice from the kitchen table. "First the curtains and section of missing carpet that Caesar swears blind that he never took and now your duvet, have you ever stopped and considered that perhaps it is Harry stealing these things, all of them fabrics, to build his nest?"
Max blinked. "We would know that he was building a nest, he'd tell us."
Myron chuckled and he was joined by both of his mates, Aneirin, Kimberly and Alexander.
"You have a lot to learn, Maxie." Alexander laughed at his clueless grandson. "A submissive will not tell their mate that they are building a nest until it is completed. It's a territorial thing. Harry's nest is his. It's his sanctuary, his birthing place, his creation. Even when he tells you he has a nest he will not tell you where it is and you will certainly not be permitted entrance to it."
"What if we stumble upon it by accident?" Blaise asked.
"If by some slim chance you actually do find his nest before it's completed then Harry will destroy the old nest and start building another one in a different location, this can be quite dangerous as no place will ever be as perfect for his nest as the first place he starts building it. If he has nested close to your home, in your boundaries then he is safer than if he hadn't, if Harry can't find another suitable place on your grounds then he will search for one elsewhere, without the protection of the wards you have around your home."
"So you really think that Harry is building a nest? He was fast asleep still when I went up to check on him."
"I'm not saying he definitely is." Myron answered diplomatically. "Just that he could be, which is a better explanation for your missing fabrics than Caesar and Sanex stealing them. But remember that whatever you boys do, you do not speak about this within earshot of Harry. You definitely don't become foolish enough to outright ask him, you don't follow him if he goes off on his own, just leave him be. If you 'accidentally on purpose' find his nest, he will still move it and he will be angry about it, very angry."
"That goes for everyone in this room, Caesar and Sanex when we see them next as well." Alexander warned. "It doesn't matter who stumbles upon his nest, if it is found, it will be moved."
Everyone nodded seriously, but Max felt burning curiosity build inside him. Was Harry building a nest? Where the hell was it? Was it in the orchard? Perhaps the small cave that he had found a month or so after he had moved in? He was so curious to find out, as was everyone else, but he swore he would not go looking for Harry's nest if he was building one. Harry would tell them as soon as he was finished, long before he would give birth, that he had a nest. He would hunt for it then when Harry wouldn't move his nest if they found it.
But by the looks on Blaise and Draco's faces he would have to watch them, he caught Nasta's eye and nodded to their two younger subordinates. Nasta nodded back, he had seen the looks on their faces as well, they would both watch the younger two and stop them if they even so much as started scenting for Harry's nest.
Harry groggily slipped down the stairs on his bum, moving slowly and keeping a death grip on the banister rungs to balance himself out and to stop him from toppling down the stairs headfirst.
He reached the third from the bottom step and hauled himself up using the banister, his feet firmly on the bottom of the stairs. He let out a heavy sigh and straightened up, heading for the kitchen and the gorgeous smells emanating from it.
Max was happily cooking at the oven, stirring a large pot of something, he was wearing a dark green apron, Harry smiled at that. Nasta was sitting in a chair at the table, a bunch of paperwork around him. Blaise was once more translating his book, he looked extremely frustrated as he bunched up a piece of parchment in his hand and thumped it on the table top repeatedly.
Harry looked to Draco, who was looking back at him. Relief shining through those silver eyes at seeing him standing there. Harry wondered how long he had actually been sleeping for.
Draco stood up and drew attention to himself but the blond didn't care as he rushed around the table and scooped him into a large bear hug. Harry laughed and held onto Draco tightly. He loved the affectionate side to Draco, the side he had never seen when they were younger. Harry supposed that the blond had gotten the soft side of himself from his Mother, who had seemed to enjoy holding her son close. Where ever Draco had gotten it from Harry was certain that it hadn't been from his Father.
"You're awake!" He said happily.
Harry hummed in agreement, nodding his head. "Who decided to bury me alive in blankets?"
"Madam Pomfrey and Severus Snape did." Max answered as he watched them with a grin. "Your core temperature dropped to thirty-three degrees Celsius."
"That is a serious drop in temperature for a Dracken, Harry." Nasta told him. "Because our core temperatures are averagely higher, we can't drop below thirty-five degrees without becoming very sick. That you are heavily pregnant with a child makes the situation a lot more dangerous than if you hadn't been pregnant."
"Oh. Why did my temperature start to cool down?"
"We don't know. Severus suspected extreme exposure to the elements, but Madam Pomfrey believes that the combination of vomiting and the cold bathroom air, not to mention the freezing bathroom tiles you were lying on caused your body to go into shock, lowering your core temperature."
"Is the baby alright?" Harry asked, cupping his belly again feeling the fluttering movements inside.
"The baby was never in any danger, Harry, you were. You could have slipped into a coma."
Harry shivered feeling cold right through to his spine that he was sure was the gravity of what he had just been told, but he was wrapped in a thick blanket and settled onto Nasta's thick thighs nonetheless as Max served up five bowls of steaming soup and a basket of freshly baked bread that was still warm.
Feeling famished Harry ate as quickly as he could without choking, making sure to keep his arms and elbows from knocking Nasta's arms so they could both eat before the soup went cold.
After the soup Max served them Spaghetti Bolognese, this time being accompanied by slices of garlic baguette. His mates watched him in slight awe as he polished off his food and Max gave him a second plateful, which he again ate everything, doing his best to clean the plate without resorting to licking it clean with his tongue.
Max chuckled happily as he pulled a searing hot black cherry crumble from the oven and gave Harry a big spoonful, covering it with warm custard and watching as his mates, his family, ate the food he had spent the afternoon making and cooking for them. True he liked cooking for himself and he often had his family around for odd lunches, but cooking every meal day in day out for people who enjoyed it, for people he loved and who loved him, it just felt right. He couldn't wait until they had a house full of kids that he could feed and perhaps teach to cook as well.
After his second bowl of crumble Harry began feeling sleepy again. He turned in Nasta's lap and snuggled into his blanket tighter, curling up as best as he could against that large chest, he drifted into a light doze. He could feel the movement under and around him, he could hear the soothing voices of his mates around him, it was relaxing and comfortable.
One small word ruined that peace and contentedness, one small word had his eyes snapping open and alertness flooding into his body. He looked at Blaise who had mentioned the word and he could hear his heart beating a thousand times faster, they couldn't know, surely they couldn't know.
"What did you just say?" He asked, his voice sounding groggy even though he felt wide awake.
"I didn't mean to wake you Harry." Blaise told him apologetically. Harry didn't want to hear apologises.
"What did you say?" He repeated.
"I was just asking the others if maybe you had told them if you had felt the urge to build a nest yet."
"Oh. No I haven't." Harry lied, settling down. They didn't know. He breathed a bit easier; they didn't know they were just curious. Curiosity he could live with, as long as they didn't find out about his nest.
"Go back to sleep, love, I'll make sure the others remain quiet." Nasta soothed, rubbing his back lightly, pulling him back to sleep.
As soon as Nasta was sure that Harry was sleeping again he glared at Blaise.
"That was an incredibly dangerous thing to say! You were told not to mention it within earshot of him! His Dracken will pick up any mention of you-know-what, no matter how small!"
"I didn't realise." Blaise defended himself. "I thought that if he was asleep it would be alright."
"Well it's not. No one mentions it at all from now on, we can't risk him overhearing us or mistaking something we have said as a threat to his 'special place'. From his reaction just now we can guess that he has started building one and he is extremely protective of it, we can't risk him moving it, no one goes looking for it, no one mentions it, Harry will tell us when he's finished, until then we leave it be."
The three other dominants nodded and went back to their various tasks, Blaise translating his book, Max was washing and putting away the dishes, Draco was practising a spell, using a book he had placed on the far side of the kitchen as a target and Nasta was watching Harry sleep, one hand on the baby bump that was growing inexorably as Harry moved into his sixth month. He hoped desperately that all of their plans didn't go to waste and that Harry didn't start nesting before his seventeenth birthday in a week and a half's time. It was a race now to reach Harry's birthday before Harry finished his nest. They had put a lot of effort into it to make Harry feel special. The birthday party was also doubling up as a baby shower sort of party at Mrs Weasley's insistence; she wanted to gift Harry all of the baby clothes and things that she had knitted for him in one go. Nasta just hoped that Harry wasn't too overwhelmed by it all, nothing brought on the start of a labour quicker than a surprise party, except perhaps a vindaloo curry.
A/N: I hope you've all had a wonderful Christmas! I've edited this chapter several times and it still seems too choppy to me. I've tried to smoothen it out, but I don't think it worked too well. It's short, as you all would have figured out by now, but really what did you expect, I've been enjoying Christmas too you know!
The top news is of course the release of The Rise of the Drackens: The Scaled Bits, which those who have read and reviewed have loved! It made a few of you cry, more of you sob and for your hearts to go out to Nasta, but many of you cheered up when you remembered that he gets Harry in the end. But seriously 24 reviews for one chapter that was only a thousand, five hundred words long. That's amazing! The second one-shot will be out soon!
I also want to say hello and thank you to all the new readers we received over the Christmas season! All of you are very welcome! I can't believe one of you is from Belgium! I visited Belgium once and loved it!
I love cliffhangers! I think the only time I hate them is when I'm reading a brilliant story and it ends on a cliffhanger and I'm waiting for months and months with no update, or when you read a story, you reach the last chapter and it's a cliffhanger and you look at the update date and it hasn't been updated in about a year. It leaves you wondering, thinking about what happened, what the author would have written next, it makes it feel incomplete. This level of wondering keeps a reader interested and thinking about a story, but if it goes on too long then that's it, the reader won't get back into the story and the cliffhanger just ruins it. So hopefully I have made a good medium and I've left you on a light note!
Big thanks to Cazzylove who was our 4,700th reviewer! Hell we're almost at 5000! How fucking mad is that? I wonder if we can get 5000 by my birthday that would be an amazing present!
when spells go wrong: No, the nesting instinct overrules everything as it's so important for Harry to have a safe, well-built nest over everything else. Usually his instincts would have urged him to dress up warmer, but as he stole away from his mates' bed in the middle of the night his instincts urged him to rush and get back before he was discovered missing and his mates' found his nest.
Liria Nai: No, Harry will never use the same nesting location twice. He will always scout out a new one with each pregnancy for the very fact that his mates will know where it is and if they know then they could possibly let slip to a family member, who could tell a friend, who could tell whoever and then a possible threat would know, so he will always nest in a different location.
thedragonninjamurcury: Two submissives wouldn't nest next to each other. There aren't enough of them to get cramped together and as you can see many submissives nest on the land of either their mate or a family member. If any Dracken got near to Harry whilst he nested, male/female, dominant/submissive, he would react hostilely and if they got close enough he would attack them. Another pregnant submissive wouldn't go near him due to the danger it would put their baby in. Harry will scent mark his nest when it's completed warning other Drackens that he is there and will attack if they come too close.
xXMoonFlower369Xx: Ah. But Voldemort is dead now, they don't need to discredit Harry and if they tried they would face a public backlash from the witches and wizards that love Harry because he defeated the dark lord. It would be foolish to try and get Harry for anything when he is hailed as a saviour by the wizarding world. It would be political suicide.
As for Umbridge, yes she will get her comeuppance because I hated that she practically got away with abusing children in her care, if you can call being hoisted away by a herd of angry centaurs getting away with it. But then she was never pulled up on it and actually went back to work at the Ministry, so she will be prosecuted and harshly for her crimes upon the children in her care.
Chouji09: Woah calm down! Harry fainted because he couldn't pull in enough air to keep himself conscious after vomiting so violently, he vomited because of a combination of his core temperature dropping too low, a drop in his blood pressure from soaring up to the roof and then back down again in a short amount of time, which is also why when he stood up after cleaning himself off that he went very dizzy, this made him vomit.
Hopefully your second question about Harry not telling his mates why he was nesting was answered in this chapter, as well as your question on Harry being alright, as you can see he's going to be fine. No he wasn't bleeding, he just had a bad bump which went down with a few charms from Madam Pomfrey and yes Draco knows about the Dursleys and their treatment of him.
SnowTigerQueen: I love that idea. I think Harry would adore anything that his parents had so much as touched when they were alive. I'm thinking that maybe Harry gets anxious to see the place he had spent his babyhood the closer to birth he gets, or even after the birth as he holds his son he decides he wants to see where his parents used to hold and play with him. The idea of him finding a long lost baby treasure in the wreckage warms me. I hope you don't mind me using and expanding on your idea.
candy3314: Teddy isn't born. In fact Remus isn't even with Tonks. I'm not sure if I'll put them together in this fic, though I suppose the both of them need a bit of loving as well.
Dolphindreamer: None of his mates have seen his nest because really, who goes outside and looks up at their roof? I think the last time I looked at my roof was when that bloody bird lodged itself outside my bedroom window. If they don't know it's there then they won't look for it.
Yes I will be including everything Harry had to go through in his life which includes Hogwarts, because really a twelve year old taking on a sixty foot snake is about as extraordinary as one can get. I agree that the school messed up big time, but I have a loop hole to why Harry was never given a psychiatrist check-up. Can I ask what an in-depth physical is? Why would Harry have been given one when he arrived at Hogwarts?
The Tri-wizard tournament is going to be something the school and the teachers won't be able to avoid and an angry Max and Nasta are a nasty Max and Nasta. I really do think that the wizarding world reinforced the Dursleys treatment of Harry; it's probably why he doesn't think too much on it, both in the books and in this fic.
Now you have me thinking on if he'd still have the 'I must not tell lies' scar because the quill was a dark artefact. I don't think so, as even though it's dark, it's not because of a curse or anything, it's because of the nature of what it does, so no, I think that scar would be healed with the Dracken inheritance.
The Order are chasing down the few remaining Death Eaters after Harry defeated Voldemort. The few that have managed to escape Azkaban are in hiding or are on the run. They seemed removed from the war because there isn't a war, Harry has already defeated Voldemort.
evildarkkitten: No, Harry won't give birth in secret though he will be alone. As soon as his nest is completely built he will tell his mates that he has one and they will know immediately when he goes into labour.
Fire Dolphin: It's common knowledge that he will, at some point, build a nest, but not when or where. He will keep it a secret until it's built and then he will start discussing it because, as I made mention to in Chapter Thirty-Five – Homecoming Welcome, he takes great pride in his nest and he will brag about it, but only once he's finished it.
lilbunny2247: If his mates found out he was making one, but not where it was then Harry would watch them very closely, if it looked like they were searching for it then he would move it as a precaution or make a decoy nest, which wouldn't be as lavish as his actual nest. If they leave it alone, then Harry will keep his nest where it is but be very cautious about how he got materials into it.
If Harry's mates find his nest after he's moved it, he will move it again. He will always have time to move it because he's only five months pregnant, he has another two months left, one and a half at least before he gives birth. If they keep searching for it, not letting him build a new nest without finding it, right up until he's seven months and in labour then Harry will have the baby wherever he's located. He will be angry and hostile to them, he won't have any of the things he's supposed to have for the baby at hand, he won't have his mate's blood near him, he won't be in a comfortable, safe environment, he will essentially give birth on a floor somewhere, which is dangerous to the baby as he won't have any umbilical cord clamps, he won't have anything to clean or dress the baby in and he will have a deep, open wound in his abdomen as he won't have his mate's blood to close it, so I doubt any of them will intentionally look for his nest, at least not to that point, they actually want Harry and the baby to survive afterwards.
ChocoholicWriter: No offence taken! I know nothing about the law and I don't pretend to so thanks for the correction, any help you can give me on how Harry's case would go would be incredibly welcomed! So Richard should be a Barrister? Would Richard go to court with the Barrister if he was a lawyer? I have no clue what Richard would specialise in as I didn't know he needed a specific area, though I probably should have guessed, hindsight and all that. I suppose I'll take your recommendation on making his area of speciality Criminal Litigation and Family Law. Thanks for the help!
Brigthhalk: I hope this chapter answered your question. Harry's hiding his nest because it's his. He's very protective of it.
Sparklillian: Ron is at the Burrow. He is currently being beaten on by his brothers and his sister. His parents aren't best pleased with him either. If you want I can include a one-shot of Ron's punishments in the Scaled Bits story.
As for Draco, he is feeling a bit down because his parents don't seem to want to accept Harry as his life partner, having your parents disapprove of the one you love always hurts.
Arthur had taken Ron home before Harry came onto the Muggle platforms so that there weren't any fights or arguments where the Muggles could see them.
You will find out about all of the mates and their hidden secrets over time, let's just say that Nasta wasn't always so serious and broody, he used to be fun and silly as well, though he never had a secret boy club with his brother like Max did.
Not too many questions at all. I love all of these questions and I will take the time to answer any questions any reader has, you've taken the time to think them up, I'll take the time to share the answer in any way I can.
I never stop if I get stuck on a chapter; if I stop when I'm stuck then I procrastinate for days over it and I'd end up getting writers block, though writing for two hours a day is a stretch for me when I'm working, I don't get that much spare time so I'd have to sacrifice one of the big B's (Bath or Bed) or food and I don't want to do that, I haven't been sick at all this year and I wanna keep it that way. Though perhaps half an hour a day would help, but when I'm off I can spend up to six hours writing, I get absorbed and I forget the time. I often finish a chapter on a Wednesday, my main day off work, then I'll proof read it until I'm happy and then publish it.
GrasshopperKnight: A Dracken can't use their own blood to heal because the damage is done to their bodies. I guess it would be down to the different antibodies that they're taking in but it's also because they're mates, they are closely bonded together so it just works better. Any dominant can give blood to heal a submissive, but a dominant needs either a submissive that's bonded to them to heal the cuts, a dominant that's bonded to them or a dominant family member.
Mate blood is more potent because those sharing blood have a close bond together so the blood is accepted immediately by the one taking it in; there is no chance of it being rejected. As for the sub getting better quality body fluids if they have a stronger bond, no, as long as he's mated to the dominant in question then the quality of the body fluids is the same. He could be in a relationship with the most foul, abusive mate in the world, but as long as he still got fluids from him he and the baby would still be healthy.
As to the Dracken parent giving the human/wizard offspring their blood, no it wouldn't work, it's purely a Dracken thing and before you ask, they can't give blood to heal their Dracken child under sixteen either. They have to have actually come into their Dracken inheritance in order for the blood healing to work.
Yes, when Harry has finished building his nest then he will tell them that he has a nest, but not where it is located, they'll have to find it on their own. No they won't patrol around like animals. They will check up on him and one of the mates will always be with him at all times, but they won't hover over him, Harry won't allow it, but it'll only be Harry that turns feral, his mates will be fine, like Caesar.
Harry wasn't reprimanded for coming down the stairs on his own because he always does it and he has shown his mates a thousand times that it's safe and he's fine doing it, it's a trust thing. They trust that Harry will use his common sense to get down the stairs safely because Harry values his independence, though they won't let him go up the stairs on his own.
Crecre: Max is my favourite, but I don't have a least favourite. Draco looks like it because he has the worst background. Add in who his parents are, what he did to hide his Dracken form in the beginning and his natural personality then it just makes him look bad.
The Philosopher's Queen: I love OMC's. I love Harry/OMC stories the best, but the majority of them are just so badly written that I often can't read them. So I wanted to write my own, when I was gifted this fic it was the perfect opportunity to use OMC's. I especially love when Harry is in a different school, usually one for magical creatures, and is with an OMC from the new school he goes to; there are very few well written or believable stories with those stipulations.
ellprincess94: This has been answered by a previous chapter. What specifically did you want to know about what happens to the baby on heat? Nothing happens to the baby, the baby is fine.
Gojyo_lover20: I have already shown that a dominant female can have children with submissive females in Chapter Twenty-Nine – A Very Secret Society.
unneeded: It is his Dracken instincts that make him hide his nest yes. It's a territorial thing, a prideful thing. He won't share it until he's ready to.
Charlie2323: You've read it ten times over? Wow. As for the Mummy and me classes, I'm thinking of making a mention in the actual story whilst putting the actual scenes in the Scaled Bits one-shots.
PrincessKay: No offense taken! I was laughing! I think Nasaxdraisery is brilliant myself. I've never actually heard of OTP before, but I suppose my OTP would be Harry with nearly any male character, I don't have one specific pairing that I search endlessly for, though I do love Dean/Sam from Supernatural, though if it was a crossover with Harry Potter it'd be Dean/Harry/Sam.
Harry does still have his little dragon and when he unearths it he will gift it to Nasta, who will love it a lot more than Harry and his memories of being gouged by bronze spikes.
blackroses77: No, none of them know about what Harry had to face, not in full at any rate. Blaise and Draco know that Harry had to go through the Tri-Wizard tournament, but not what the second and third tasks entailed, that he had no support and had to go through it basically alone and flailing.
StarLight Massacre. X