More Than Just A New Beginning

Chapter 18


Derek clenched his hands into fists, nails biting into his skin, as his Beta shift took prominence. He'd always had trouble with control as a teenager, but nowadays? He had complete control, to not was to put himself in danger. To put him and his sister, who he'd thought was all he had left in danger…it couldn't happen, he couldn't let it happen. Now though? Now it would be more than one person he'd be endangering, it would be Peter, Malia, Cora and his mate.

No. He thought, inhaling sharply, forcing calmness upon himself, the fresh air trickling in from the street – charmed so that the smell of pollution couldn't get in – easing him somewhat. Slowly his nails receded, as his Beta shift began to fade away, leaving behind a human looking werewolf, his dazzling hazel eyes.

Was there ever going to be a time where he didn't screw up? He thought, his mind going to a dark place that he hadn't really left since Kate. He wasn't worth the effort; he wasn't sure why Harry was wasting his time on him.

He just got everyone he loved killed. What was he doing here? Walking towards the window he slid it up and stood there, ready to leave once and for all. Cora, Peter, Malia and Harry were safer without him around. He had one leg out of the window, and he froze.

He couldn't force himself to do it, he couldn't leave them. What if they got hurt looking for him? if he told them not to, they'd still look. Snarling bitterly, he wanted to punch something, anything, but the pain wouldn't last long. It would disappear within seconds.

He was a selfish bastard, he acknowledged, turning and staring at his mates' bedroom. The door was closed, but the words Harry had said echoed in his mind. If there was one thing, just one thing, he would have preferred for his mate not to have this in common with him.

Don't let the Argent's take anything else away from you…Peter's words whispered in his mind, sounding just as steely and strong just like Peter's personality. Regardless of what happened to Peter, he refused to let the world break him. He just got back up, brushed it off and continued on. Never, ever letting anyone see him vulnerable. Took what happiness life offered and was never surprised by anything happened.

He wished he was more like his Uncle Peter right now.

His stomach twisted, what had happened to Harry? He couldn't stand the fact that Peter knew something he didn't. Knew something so fundamentally important about his mate, what had happened to him?

Sighing resignedly, he closed the window again, turning around he wandered over to the door. Standing there, his hand hovering over the door handle, unable to force himself to go further. If it was him…he wouldn't want anyone to keep him company. Ah, but was that true? How often had he desperately wanted Laura's comfort? His Alpha's comfort only to find her working? Or suppressing every single werewolf trait she had. She'd locked down a side of herself after the fire, and refused to even bring it out to give her only Beta – her brother – the comfort he sorely needed.

He might try and deceive himself in thinking he wanted to be alone. It wasn't true, sighing softly, he opened the door a crack, finding Harry on his bed, facing away from the door.

"I'll be there in a moment…" Harry stopped talking when he noticed it was Derek and not Peter like he assumed or Cora come to that. He didn't attempt to stop his eyes widening in surprise though.

Derek could say though, that he was so, so relieved not see tear tracks on Harry's face. Otherwise, it would have made him feel even more shitty than he did, which he honestly didn't think was possible. Licking his lips, at a loss of what to say to his own mate. "Don't move." He said, it sounded more like a demand than request, and he internally winced at the gruffness of his own voice. "I'm sorry." He added, shuffling uncomfortably, not quite meeting Harry's eyes.

Harry sighed nosily, "Come here," he said, stark contrast from Derek's gruff tone, patting the bed at the same time. A look of indecision on his face, as he watched Derek. He was still growing into his looks, tall and lanky, with a bit of a muscular build that all werewolves seem to have.

Derek stiffly walked forward; his entire countenance screamed he really wanted to bolt.

"I'm not the one who bites…" Harry said dryly, surprising a genuine laugh out of Derek, his eyes were twinkling, for the first time he actually looked his age.

It's just a shame it never lasted, as always, the laughter bubbles away, as if Derek was still punishing himself for what happened when he was a child.

Harry smiled when Derek slid onto the bed, propping his legs up and crossing them. He sprawled out somehow looking ready to do a photoshoot. Which probably gained him a lot of attention he'd rather not have. Glancing to his left to see Harry better, leery as Harry had ever seen him, and he had seen Derek in every position by now surely? Hell, he'd ran away the very first time they'd looked at each other.

"I'm sorry," Harry admitted, green eyes filled with shame. "I…should have been more diplomatic, careful with my words. The shock of hearing her name along with her location likely came as a big shock." He didn't even let Derek get his wits together before he lamped the suggestion that maybe a trap being set up for her would be a good thing.

Derek blinked, staring at Harry as if slightly baffled, as if he didn't understand the words.

"I had a rough day, it's no excuse but I wouldn't have treated anyone else that way, and I had no right doing it to you." Harry finished, before he asked, both on the bed, on their side, looking at each other. "Do you think you can forgive me?"

Derek relaxed hearing that, it was good to know that he wasn't being condescended to. Or made to feel as though his thoughts and feelings didn't matter. The fact of the matter was, just hearing her name had been enough to terrify him to the core. Even trying to say her name had him choking up. Two years, two years and he was still affected by what she did as if it had just happened. "Yes," he agreed, his mate truly was just trying to help, and had admitted he was wrong and that truly was enough.

"Thank you," Harry said softly, shuffling closer, truly grateful for the second chance. "This, okay?" he asked pausing in his shuffling to make sure it was.

Derek smiled a little, and put his arm around Harry's neck and shoulders and brought him closer. Closing his eyes, he just relished the smell of Harry's base scent, it could calm him even after the worst of shocks. "It's good," grateful to be asked though.

Despite it not being late evening, both of them ended up falling asleep in that position. They both needed it, frankly, well, Harry more than Derek. Only just, because while it was fun to entertain his cousin all day…it had been a day of drawing blood let's just say that. Must be awfully freeing though, no worries or cares…but that wasn't really true either was it? Malia had been through just as much as the rest of the remaining living Hales. It was like they were cursed really.

The next thing Derek remembered was jerking awake when he heard the door going. Half expecting Harry to be leaving room. Yet, he could feel Harry sleeping against his chest, clearly startled by his movement.

"Dinner," was all Peter said quietly, putting the tray of food on the end of the bed before retreating. He had no idea if they'd sorted everything out or not, but judging by their sleeping position it did look as though it was fixed.

Derek stared startled; he couldn't get used to the fact his defences had been so low he hadn't heard Peter in the kitchen. He hadn't even woken to the smell of the food permutating the air. Turning to Harry, "Hungry?" he asked, crossing his legs and sitting up, reaching over and with a single claw pulled the tray towards them.

Harry's stomach grumbled loud enough, "Starving, I'm afraid I was sick this morning…and I couldn't stomach anything for lunch."

Derek nodded, "I'm sorry you had a tough day," still unaware of what had happened, but given the fact the that whatever was in the folders had caused Peter to pale that way? To stop him seeing? It had to have been a very bad case.

"Children's cases always are," Harry murmured taking his own plate and cutlery, taking a small bite, just to make sure his stomach was equipped to handle it. "I'm lucky I don't have too many of them." He'd been watching those horrific memories of all the things the children had gone through. He'd need to make sure whoever views them next…does not do so alone. The memories truly were the stuff of nightmares.

"You found the little girl, that's a good thing, she'll get better with her pack." Derek pointed out.

"I didn't just find her, Derek," Harry confessed, a haunted look on his face. "I found a lot more children than anticipated, one of them was four-years-old and they all experienced torture at the hands of first-generation hunters, who were testing to see if they could make children change early, and if they can stop the change." It made Kate Argent's presence baffling, why was she there? Was it an Argent enterprise? And what they'd let them do as they pleased to begin with or found them after? That was entirely possible, he'd find out tomorrow. He was going to make sure they all got revenge for what they'd been through.

Derek's own stomach churned at that news, no wonder it had been a bad day all around. "And She's involved in it?" feeling like a little kid unable to say a bloody name. Torturing a four-year-old. Why? They had codes, they should keep to them, they were children who couldn't possibly do any harm. Human and very, very vulnerable.

"Up to her eyeballs," Harry nodded, "Not sure what they're trying to accomplish, but I never really do." These people were the lowest of the low, people he wouldn't want to be able to think like. They were mental, completely and totally mental.

"When you're visiting Laura, I'm going to head to the forest," Harry said, which is what he called the magically concealed – and largened – area that everyone supernatural who wants freedom during the full moon to run. "I'll talk to anyone that appears, reaffirm everything we've told them…and I'll get my guys to search every school in New York for any 'teachers' that has left, gone missing or been recently murdered. It might help narrow down which school she's targeted and which family."

Derek frowned pensively at that, neither Cora or Peter elected to go. It was just him, and for some reason he felt reluctant to face Laura alone. He couldn't abandon her; not like they'd done to their Uncle Peter. At least not until Laura began to get better. She'd be there until the mind healers thought she was recovering well enough, and once she took on three Beta's and he wasn't to be included in the total.

It was terrifying that she had targeted others, how many carbon copies were there of him? How many fucked up kids were out there orphaned?

"Have you spoken to any of them?" Derek asked pensively, as he picked at his food, hungry, yet not really hungry with the conversation that they were having.

"Yes, we have," Harry said quietly, gazing at Derek, crossing his legs, "Would you like me to give them your number?" someone to understand would go a long way in helping Derek…might actually get through to him that it wasn't his fault. Some were luckier than Derek, and some of their family survived and banded together. Other's had worse luck, and all the family died.

Derek scoffed, twisting the food in his hand, before eating it, "Yes," he agreed, despite his actions and huffing.

Harry nodded silently, squeezing Derek's knee and rubbing his thigh in comfort. There was nothing sexual about it at all. "Then I'll inform them." He promised, although it might not be for a while yet, he had too many cases, he might need to add a few more members to his team.

"You know my history…isn't it time I heard yours?" Derek queried, "I should have guessed, you were a little too understanding of everything I had been through." And most definitely should have figured the truth was real, when Harry had said they were more alike than he could fathom.

"And that's what prevents true empathy," Harry said wryly, "One of humanities weakness, curiosity, a deep abiding need to know everything. Whether it has anything to do with you or not, doesn't seem to matter. People are inherently curious."

Derek flushed red, embarrassment suffusing him, but not enough for him to look away. He did however, "We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." he vowed, he'd like to know but he wasn't going to push Harry.

Harry smirked a little, "Something you'll learn, I'm too stubborn to give in to pressure. If I didn't want to talk about it, I won't." which will happen a lot with his work, he didn't want to bring it home with him. it wouldn't be fair, to keep reminding the Hale pack – his pack – just depraved the world was. Let them see the good for a bit, they'd already experienced the bad.

"Me too," Derek said, he took stubbornness to a whole new level.

Harry sighed, finishing up the food, Peter knew how to cook, it was delicious. He made a mental note to himself to thank Peter, nobody should be taken for granted, not even House-elves. "You done?" Harry asked gesturing to the plate, Derek nabbed the last of the steak chips and put the plate on the tray.

Harry levitated it over to his desk of drawers, and let it hand on top of the old paperwork he had stashed there. Sighing softly, he shook his head, "You know, I've not spoken about this since the trial." He confessed, switching positions to get himself comfortable.

"You made sure they were legally punished?" very happy to hear that, he only wished he had the courage, "What age were you?" both of them huddled together, sharing secrets, part of him felt like a kid again, and it felt so good.

"Seventeen," Harry said face to face with Derek, their breaths mingled they were so close to one another. "I was Seventeen, I'd just graduated Hogwarts and was set to marry what I genuinely believed was the girl of my dreams." Hogwarts ended just before his birthday which was in the summer.

Feeling Derek stiffen, he gave the guy a wry smirk as if to say 'Still want to hear this?'

"We spent every single moment of the summer holidays together, anything she asked for, looked at, suggested I buy…I bought without hesitation. Nobody, absolutely nobody, thought it was strange that I, who was so frugal with my money, would start spending it like it was going out of fashion." A frown marring his features, everything constantly reminded him of what she'd done, it's why he never returned to the UK.

"It didn't start off too badly, dozens of weekly magazines, buying bundles of chocolate out of Honeydukes, broomstick repair kit, clothes, then came the specially tailored dresses, clothes, hats, bags, you name it she wanted it. She managed to spend the entire contents of a vault in a single sitting, buying jewellery, a bloody blue diamond tiara, and matching wedding rings, bracelet, necklace, anklet, hell, after a few days when she gained confidence that it was working at full capacity, she was asking for anything that she saw." Shaking his head tiredly, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Merlin only knows why…but someone must have told her men were only interested in sex or something…because every night, without fail, we'd fuck." He was not going to say 'make love' because that was the last thing they did.

Derek flinched a bit, but whether it was at Harry's crudeness – which shouldn't be a problem when it comes to werewolf's no privacy – or just remembering his own situation. Harry didn't pause to wonder or think it through. He needed to get this spoken about now otherwise he would never get it out.

"I continued to make the wedding arrangements, after confirming them with her of course. I was nothing but a puppet on strings, you see, when you're under a love potion that strong…it re-writes your sexuality, your personality, your very being, your thoughts…nothing is your own. I'm comfortably gay, but with that potion? It was as if I had always been bisexual. Nothing I liked or wanted to do after I left Hogwarts suddenly mattered. All my thoughts obsessively circled around Ginny. I wrote to her three times a day, sometimes more, I sent her anything she wanted, obsessively got a house for us, decorated it, imagined life with our children, going so far as to name them. It was almost like some sort of fantasy, not mine of course, but still. My best friends visited often, and all I did was talk about Ginny and it didn't seem to ring any alarm bells, nothing. I barely cared about my own godson. When she suggested I become an Auror to continue saving people, that…that was her downfall."

Derek didn't need to ask what an Auror was, he already knew. He knew quite a lot about the magical world all things considered.

"I'm not surprised she didn't know about the tests, none of her family had been an Auror so everything about them is probably unknown to her. I smashed through the tests, it was just after a war, and it was an advanced course, to get as many Aurors as they could to patrol the streets and find the remaining Death Eaters. Followers of the Dark Lord Voldemort, who I had killed. Ron was there, but I levelled way passed him within weeks, I wanted to make Ginny proud." Grimacing in distaste, honestly, even now his thoughts made him want to heave.

"Ron was my best mate from when we were eleven and began Hogwarts together, along with my other best friend Hermione Granger, one-year older same year. Seven years they'd known me, and Ginny, the girl who did it, was Ron's little sister. They were…for all intents and purposes the only family I've ever known. They all but adopted me, I was close to them all, the entire family." The pain in his voice had Derek reaching for him, he couldn't imagine losing family twice, he'd already endured that agony once…the thought of losing his pack now…he'd rather die. "I um…got the testing done, Kingsley, the Minister for Magic, he was acting really weird…he had to all but drag me to get the potions purged out of my system, I'd been set to head out to meet Ginny you see."

Derek didn't even know her, not really, but he wanted to strangle her.

"The moment the potions were purged…it devastated me to the core. The betrayal of not only Hermione and Ron but Ginny too. Although, the real loss is yet to come. I pressed charges, of course, I was going to! She'd used an illegal potion on me for Merlin's sake. The sheer violation doesn't come into it, it makes me feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it." Harry confessed.

Derek didn't need to talk, he nodded, he understood, oh, how he understood. He'd enjoyed everything Kate and he had done, as illegal as it was, now? It made his skin crawl with revulsion, and he now just wanted to scrub his skin raw in the shower despite the fact no trace of her lingered. He knew, he could smell everything around him.

"I explained everything to the Weasley's after Kingsley initially told them why Ginny was taken into custody. I wasn't sure what I was expecting, but to be immediately asked to drop the charges…I should have expected it really." Harry perched his chin on Derek's shoulder. "It actually got to the point of violence, but I didn't press charges against them though. What was the point really? Of course, they'd pick their daughters side…their sisters' side, I didn't even bother pressing charges where the money was concerned. I could have you know, and I would have won, the only thing they had was some land and a house. I could have taken that from them…but it was toxic that anger and I didn't want it consuming me whole."

"How?" Derek questioned pensively, how did Harry stop that anger? Some days it was all he felt, the best he'd felt was when Harry.

"And let them dictate the rest of my life? No, I learned my lesson, I took precautions, safeguarded myself. It wasn't easy, took me a long time to trust my own team, I trust them, I do but I don't think I could trust them the way I used to trust people." Harry murmured, "Bloody hell I would have walked through fire for them, died for them, and they all stabbed me in the back."

"There's a difference between knowing and knowing what humanity is like, isn't there?" Derek agreed fully. He'd followed Peter around in hero worship for years, of course, he was going to know more than his parents wanted him to. Peter had actually saved him from hunters when he was a pup at least twice. Yet being told about hunters – that should have been nightmare fuel that – and experiencing it was two different things. Knowing, well, it was just stories, wasn't it? experiencing and knowing from personal experience…soul destroying.

"That, yes," Harry agreed wholeheartedly. Glancing at Derek, "Still hungry?"

Derek blinked, an amused look appearing on his face, just imagining his Uncle Peter's reaction if he heard. "I could eat." Hell, he could have eaten three or four times that actually without pause. "I can go get more," already half way off the bed, Peter will have more than enough for a second helping, probably even three. They were werewolves, they ate a lot. Although, lately, his meals were significantly improved.

"Not what I meant," Harry said, shaking his head, before reaching under his bed for his treasure trove of chocolate. Grinning as he impishly brought it onto the bed, and opened it up. It was a mixture of Mundane and Magical sweets from both the UK and USA. Some things he couldn't help but have imported. "Take your pick."

Derek shook his head, "They never taste right to us," his nose screwing up a little. The taste of the rubber, the metal of the conveyor belts and machines they're wrapped with still remained it was disgusting and the sweets were mostly cloying.

"Try the magical chocolate then, residue isn't left on that sort of thing, we literally make them on thin air." Harry said wryly, smirking as he opened the pack up and flung a piece of chocolate from Honeydukes.

"How long did she get?" Derek asked pensively, as he tried the chocolate, the taste of it pleasantly melting on his tongue. It was nice, it was much better than the disgusting lot he'd eaten on the way to New York. Everything had tasted disgusting, like ash, and cardboard, and he reckoned it wasn't fully his taste buds taking there.

"Life," Harry admitted, as he chewed on his share, pleased and happy that Derek seemed to like his lot. He handed half the bar over; he'd known Derek would like the magical supply of chocolate. Less contamination in magical sweets. "She'll never be freed from Azkaban as long as she lives." What a waste, all of that for what? Some clothes? Money? Ironically enough, if they had asked…if they had just asked, he would have given money over to help them. At least he thought he would…there was no saying whether he would have done. Or maybe he wouldn't have…people had to make their own way, and it wasn't as if the Weasley's were that bad off that they weren't able to pay their way. Having the newest everything wasn't the most important thing.

"And that's what will happen with…her?" Derek asked, giving Harry a sideway look.

"If she survives," Harry said, eyes glittering darkly, nobody would give a shit if she died, if anything it would please a whole lot of people including him.

Less paperwork.


soooo I actually think I've killed her in every scenario that comes about in my stories...can't deny it's not fun :D hehe so what do you think we should do to her in this story? Hmm also contemplating when to R&R please x