Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Rise of the Drackens	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 769941 -:- Recommendations : 73 -:- Currently Reading : 222
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights for the creation of the Harry Potter novels go to J. K. Rowling. I make no money from this piece of fictional writing

Chapter List
- 103
- 104
- 105
Last Time

He had had more than enough of others interfering with his mateship and enough was enough, he would not take it any longer. He was the top dominant for his mateship and he would pull them all back into order and keep them there while blocking any attempts by any outsiders to interfere, whether that was the Faeries, Marianna or anyone else. It was his job to sort out this mess and he would sort it, in his own way and to hell if anyone didn’t agree with him or his methods and Merlin help anyone who tried to interfere, because now, after today, it would not be accepted or tolerated. He was done and things would be handled his way from now on, and those who disagreed with him could damn well leave them all alone. It was no one else’s business but their own, they were all grown men and Harry was right, they could make up their own minds about what to do and they had made up their minds. It wasn’t for anyone else to try and change them now.
Chapter One Hundred-Four – Faerie Friction

Harry was feeling great the very next morning and he was sat down on the floor, Leolin in his lap and a massive pad of paper on the extended coffee table in front of him, several boxes of crayons around him as he encouraged his kids to scribble and scrawl over the paper. Even Leolin, who was fascinated by the bright, bold colours and the thick, chunky crayons that were easy to grip and hold, was joining in and it made Harry’s heart burst to see him enjoying himself as he made doodles with his brothers and sister.
Nasta had gone to the Faerie city to escort the Faeries who were coming to visit them to their new home, so that they didn’t have to go to the old, ruined house and see exactly what Leolin had been caught up in. Not to mention the old house had been blocked off to everyone bar family since the fight.

“Ma!” Leolin cooed, turning to pat at him before looking back at his white page with the brightly coloured lines all over it.

“I can see your wonderful picture, Leolin. You’re brilliant, my sweet one.”

Harry heard the hushed hiss of the floo from next door and he held Leolin tighter, making sure that his Faerie baby’s back was to his front to support him.
Max looked up and he breathed deeply, making sure that he was in the prime position to protect Harry, Leolin, Blaise and their other children from the Faeries if it was needed.
There was one more Faerie than they’d been expecting…Dain and Kailen were first through the door after Nasta, their stances were angry and they immediately scanned around the room, but Harry’s back was to them and he was hiding Leolin with his own body, even as he looked at their guests from over his own shoulder. Eitri, the golden Fae who looked so much like Draco, wandered through the door next, relaxed and neutral, his peaceful face giving away nothing, and behind him came Warren, the Faerie guard.

“Where is Leolin?!” Dain snarled, his body tensed and bunched up with a barely concealed fury.

“Hello to you too.” Harry sneered back over his shoulder. “Sit down and greet us like normal people or you’ll be leaving as quickly as you’ve come! Don’t forget that you are only here, in our home, at our invitation, and that that invitation can be revoked at a moment’s notice!”

Eitri snorted in amusement. “Good morning, Harry Potter. Thank you for welcoming us into your very lovely home.”

“Welcome, please call me Harry.”

“Splendid. Please call me Eitri. May I?”

He indicated to a free space at the coffee table, opposite Harry and next to Braiden, who was scribbling with all the concentration he could muster.

“Feel free.” Harry insisted.

Eitri walked around to the free space and he sat at the table and it was only sitting opposite Harry that he saw Leolin for the first time, sat upright and drawing just like his brothers and sister.

“This is never Leolin.” He exclaimed in shock. “The same babe that you brought to see the court? He shouldn’t be this…he’s seventeen moon turns, isn’t he?”

“That’s right. He’ll be eighteen months in a few weeks.” Harry said with a smile as he kissed Leolin’s black hair.

“Ma!”

“I know sweet one, I can see.” Harry cooed back.

Dain and Kailen moved with Warren shadowing them so that they could see Leolin for themselves and they all but gaped.

“Are you holding him upright or is…is he…” Warren asked, completely stumped.

Harry moved backwards a little and Leolin was sat up on his own, unsupported for a moment before Harry moved back and slipped a hand over his lap as he wobbled a little.

“He can stay upright for only a moment.” Harry said proudly. “After that he’ll list off to the side and fall, but he can support his upper body on his forearms when he’s on his tummy and he loves his crayons.”

“He’s…I can’t believe it! He’s only seventeen moon turns.”

Leolin caught sight of Nasta and held his crayon out to him. “Da!” He declared before putting the crayon back to paper and drawing more squiggles.

Nasta bent down and kissed Leolin’s black hair.

“He’s better than fine.” Eitri declared. “May I?” He asked, holding his arms out.

Harry pulled a face.

“Only for a moment.” Eitri insisted and Harry sighed.

“He won’t like it.” Harry warned as he passed Leolin over gently. Those gold eyes narrowed as his underdeveloped brain registered movement and Leolin looked up at the person holding him and gold eyes caught gold eyes and the scowl that took over Leolin’s face was his worst ever and he hit Eitri with the crayon in his hand repeatedly.

“Ma! Ma! Ma!” He called out, wriggling until he could see Harry and then he reached out to him. “Ma! Ma!” He carried on, kicking with his legs at Eitri until, with a laugh, the Fae had to hand Leolin back.

“A true little Unseelie.” He complimented with a happy smile.

“He is very attached to Harry.” Nasta said as he sat behind Harry and framed his body with his own as Harry got Leolin settled back onto his lap.

“Ma.” Leolin cooed as he looked up to make sure that the eyes he was looking at were green.

“I’ve got you, sweetness.” Harry murmured as he tapped the paper to get Leolin’s attention back onto it.

Leolin dropped the crayon in his hand and picked up the bright blue one and he drew more scribbles onto the page.

“Mummy, look!” Braiden called out, thrusting his picture at him.

“That’s lovely, Braiden. Well done!” Harry praised heavily.

“May I see?” Eitri asked from Braiden’s side.

Braiden looked at him and then frowned. “Daddy Dayco?” He asked, as if knowing that it wasn’t his Father, but not knowing who else it could be.

“This is Eitri, Braiden.”

“Eatery.”

Max snorted with supressed laughter, but Eitri took it all in his stride as he smiled and took the paper that was handed to him. It was a mess of lines, swirls, squiggles and blocks of colour, but he smiled as he handed the page back.

“That is wonderful work.” He praised easily. “You are very talented.”

Braiden squealed happily and he stood up, clambering onto Eitri’s lap before seizing his perfectly golden, curly hair and giving him a wet, dribbly kiss. Harry wondered if Braiden still thought that Eitri was Draco as he delivered this show of affection or if their oldest son truly was that affectionate towards strangers.
Eitri laughed then, happily, naturally, and the three Valkyries sat behind him looked at him as if they’d never seen him before as Eitri trailed off to a high, girlish giggle as Braiden rubbed noses with him.

“Is this little one seventeen moon turns old too?” He asked, those gold eyes sparkling like the true precious metal.

“No, that’s our Braiden, our oldest. He’s twenty-two months old. His second birthday is the beginning of August.”

“He is remarkable, truly remarkable.” Eitri praised genuinely as he listened to Braiden talk to him like a real, miniaturised person. “He is speaking! Truly speaking to me.”

“He wants an answer from you too.” Harry told him as Braiden looked at Eitri expectantly.

“I…oh.” Eitri said, looking a little blank as he looked at the tiny boy, who he hadn’t expected to be speaking, much less requiring an answer.

Harry laughed. “Go back to your drawings, Braiden.”

“Okay.” He said as he turned and picked up more crayons.

Leolin screeched and stabbed his crayon down onto the page and scored it down the paper, creating a nice big, bold line. He looked at it, utterly fascinated with the stark colour against the white paper. He giggled and then repeated the process, stabbing and scoring the paper with his blue crayon, before dropping it and picking up the red one.
A cry from one of the bassinets startled their guests, but Max turned and picked up one of his identical daughters.

“That’s never one of the ones that were newly born?” Kailen asked. “She’s so big!”

Max smirked. “Yeah, they’re Drackens so they get bigger quicker and these ones, at just four and a half months old, are already mobile.”

“Truly?” Eitri asked, his eyes glimmering with happiness.

The baby in Max’s arms, who had settled down as soon as she was picked up, wriggled and squirmed like a snake.
Max rolled his eyes and then put the baby girl, Ave, onto the floor. She cooed and then got her arms under her and she pushed up with her maximum effort. She commando crawled across the floor, kicking her feet, digging them into the carpet to propel herself forward, but she mostly crawled with her elbows until she reached her favourite toy. She grabbed it and then rolled onto her back so that she could play with it, gumming and gnawing on the hard plastic.

“She is amazing.” Eitri complimented genuinely. “To see such a tiny baby, only four moons old, moving so…so…she’s brilliant.”

Harry puffed up automatically with pride and he couldn’t stop grinning. Eva soon woke up and she wanted to join her sister on the floor and they moved around like babies twice their age as Eva immediately crawled to the three Faeries on the settee and flumped onto their feet.

“Oh, oh! She’s fallen! Dain, is she alright?” Kailen fretted as Dain automatically surged forward to pick Eva up and his frantic eyes visibly checked her over.

“That wouldn’t have harmed her at all.” Blaise insisted calmly as he sipped at his coffee on an adjacent settee.

“So…so she’s fine?” Kailen asked as he took the little girl from his lover and cradled her softly, gently, as if she were the most delicate, precious thing in the world.

“She’s fine.” Harry smiled.

Leolin threw his crayon away and turned in Harry’s arms. “Ma.” He declared.

“What’s the matter, love?” He asked.

Leolin forced himself upright and he lifted his arms as if they were weighted down. Harry hugged him and wrapped his arms around his youngest son’s back, being careful of his little wings.
Leolin kissed him, he still couldn’t pucker his lips, so he mouthed wetly across Harry’s lips. Harry helped him out by puckering his mouth and kissing him repeatedly and then blowing raspberries on him. Leolin let out the amazing, huffy giggle that Harry adored hearing from him.

“Is he…laughing?” Eitri asked, stunned.

Harry looked at the Faeries with his own grin. “Yeah. He laughs when he’s really happy or amused.”

Harry blew another raspberry on Leolin to be followed by another round of huffy giggles that had Harry laughing too, just from the shared joy of hearing Leolin giggling.
Calix crawled over and he hefted himself up using Harry as a support. Harry held a hand out to help him and then Calix popped his head over to look at his baby brother.

“Leo kiss.” Calix cooed, bending to kiss his brother.

Leolin remained neutral. No huffy giggles, but he wasn’t glaring as usual and that was progress in Harry’s books.

“How are his wings?” Eitri asked him.

Harry smiled. “Much better now that they’re covered over.”

Harry sat Leolin on the floor and he pulled off his little shirt and his little bottoms too before laying him down and unpopping his bodysuit and tugging that off gently, leaving Leolin in just a nappy and Harry shifted him away from the table and he placed him on the carpet on his belly.
Leolin squirmed on his belly and he looked around. Harry looked to the little wings on Leolin’s back and Eitri aborted a move to touch those tiny wings.

“They are beautiful.” Eitri said. “No Faerie has ever had such a colouring. Our wings are usually brown, green or yellow. I can’t fathom where such a colouring came from.”

Harry grinned and he pulled out his own wings, being careful not to knock into Nasta. “From me, and Nasta too.” He said happily as he looked to Leolin’s tiny white and gold wings.

“I see. He will be highly coveted for those colours. You’ll need to keep a very close eye on him.”

Harry nodded as he tucked his own wings back in and he looked to Leolin, who was frowning as he laid on his belly, his head turned to the side.
Harry chuckled at him and he slipped his hands around Leolin’s hips and pulled his bottom into the air. Leolin giggled as he flattened himself out again and Harry repeated his actions and pulled Leolin’s hips back into the air just to hear him giggle.

“Mummy.”

Harry turned to see Calix beside him still and Harry swept him up and kissed him, to much stronger baby giggles.

“Are you okay, Calix?” He asked.

“Want bicket.”

“You want a biscuit?” Harry corrected.

“Yuh.” Calix replied, looking at him expectantly.

“I got it, it’s about time they had their snacks.” Max said.

Of course Farren, having understood what was going on, stood up and he ran out after Max, causing the rest of them to chuckle.

“He…he just ran! I saw him running!” Eitri said, utterly amazed.

“They can all stand up and when they want to, they can run.” Harry explained. “The obvious exception being Ave, Eva and Leolin, of course. Calix does prefer crawling still, and Regan won’t stay on his feet for long, but other than that, they are all very mobile.”

Farren preceded Max into the room, biscuit already in hand and a beaker in his other and Max came back in behind him with a grin on his face and a tray of biscuits, beakers and tea cups. He was using his good set of china, gifted to him as a joke by Caesar that Max actually loved. It was bone white with silver accents and embellishments, the matching pattern was meticulously inlaid with real silver and Max only brought it out when they had company around to entertain.
He left the Faeries to make their tea how they wished, using the matching sugar bowl and milk jug, as he handed out beakers of juice to their five oldest with a biscuit each.

“Ma.”

Harry turned back to Leolin, who was still on his belly, but even as he reached for his Faerie son, to sit him back up on his lap, Leolin used all his strength to push up his upper body, lifting his head so that he could see around him.
Harry grinned proudly as the four Faeries gawped at him like they’d never seen anything like him before in their lives.
Harry placed a hand under Leolin’s chest, to catch him when he would inevitably fall, but he allowed Leolin to remain holding himself up, strengthening himself, until he couldn’t any more.
It took about a minute before Leolin fell and Harry caught him and swooped him up to kiss him and praise him.

“Baba in, eh cana abba.” Tegan babbled.

“That’s right, Tegan. Baby Leolin held himself up for longer than he ever has before!”

Tegan clapped her hands together and Harry grinned at her. He was sure that she understood everything that they were saying, she just didn’t say words as they understood them. She had her own language almost. He was starting to notice it more and more as her brothers started saying recognisable words, but despite having an arsenal of words that only she understood, Tegan also knew a dozen more words than her brothers did and she used them as if she were having a proper conversation with them. Which again was more than her brothers did, as though they were saying recognisable words, they could only string two or three words together in a sentence where Tegan would use five or six of her own words and though they couldn’t really understand her, Tegan knew what she was saying and she was, in her mind, having a proper conversation with them.
Leolin was exhausted from his tummy time and when he yawned and drifted off to sleep in his favourite position, against Harry’s chest with lots and lots of eye contact, Harry handed him over to Kailen to have a cuddle.
He was under the effects of one of his milder potions, so he wasn’t aching just yet, but as he looked at the clock, he knew that it wouldn’t be long before the grinding ache came back and he’d have to live with it for the next couple of hours, until lunchtime, and then he’d be able to take another potion to relieve the pain.
Harry stayed where he was, even as his babies got bored of their colouring and crawled off, looking for their toys to play with. He did collect up all their scribble pictures though.

“You’re not going to keep those, are you?” Max grinned.

“They’re proof of their development!” Harry said seriously as he took a pencil and wrote a name and a date on the back of the pictures. “Of course I’m keeping them. I’m putting them in their own little boxes.”

“Is that what those things are?” Blaise asked.

Harry nodded. “Yes, and these pictures are going straight into each box.” He said proudly.

Nasta kissed the side of his head and Harry smiled.

“I love you.” Harry said easily.

“Love you too, Cariad.” Nasta replied, before he got distracted by their children, who were toddling around beside and behind him.

“Is he truly okay?” Kailen asked as he cradled Leolin, refusing to give him up to Dain.

“He’s absolutely fine and we have taken rather extreme measures to ensure that it does not happen again.” Harry said seriously.

“I notice that one of your lovers is missing. Where is Draco?”

“At his parents’ home.” Harry said mildly, giving nothing away and not willing to air his dirty laundry in front of the Faeries.

“What happened? You were very vague in your letter.” Dain asked.

“What happened is in the past.” Harry said firmly. “We can’t change what happened, no matter how much we all want to. It is already going to take years to get over this and it will never be forgotten without anyone else getting involved. It is our business and our business alone and we have dealt with it.”

“Leolin was injured…!” Dain started but Harry cut him off with a loud, aggravated growl.

“He was not injured!” He hissed. “There was not even a scratch on him. He went to the hospital as a precaution, because we were worried, not because he was injured. You can see him for yourself, he is fine, he is happy, he is growing well and he’s developing so fast that even you are surprised by how well he’s coming on! I will not have it said that he was injured when he wasn’t.”

Nasta nuzzled into the back of his head and kissed him.

“Harry’s right. Leolin wasn’t injured, his overnight trip to the hospital was a mere precaution on our parts to make absolutely sure that he was alright as we’ll take no chances with his health. It was an accident. No one, absolutely no one, set out to purposefully harm or injure him in any way and I am sorry to say that accidents do happen.”

“We more than understand.” Eitri said diplomatically. “It was a mere coincidence that led to us losing eleven babes in our very secure city. Such a thing was thought to be impossible, yet it has happened. It was a devastating accident, but an accident nonetheless. I suppose that we are all so…upset over this incident because Leolin is one of just three babes we have left to our knowledge and he is still the youngest. We want for him to be safe and happy and for him to reach adulthood. The entire city is sending up prayers of health for him and the other two remaining babes.”

“So…” Max began, bringing the attention to himself with Regan climbing his back and Farren sat happily between his legs. “You’re saying that because there are only three Faerie babies left to keep an eye on, that you now have more time to bother us about Leolin?”

Everything was silent for a moment and then Harry laughed and there was suddenly no tension to speak of. Harry could always count on Max to rid the room of any stress or tension. Harry loved him for that.
The Faeries blushed a little and Harry sent a covet wink to Max, who kissed the air in return.

“We just like knowing that he is well and thriving and he is.” Kailen said as he lowered his face to Leolin and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead. “We were so scared when we got the letter that said that he was in the hospital. We thought that…that…”

Kailen trailed off and Harry knew exactly what he’d thought. Leolin being in the hospital had already brought back memories of the first time he’d been admitted. When their little boy had almost died. The two Faeries, who were Leolin’s several times great-grandfathers, had obviously been thinking the worst and Harry understood that.

“He’s going to be fine.” Harry said soothingly. “He went to the hospital as a precaution, you can see for yourselves that there is nothing wrong with him.”

Kailen nodded happily as he gazed at Leolin’s peacefully sleeping face. Dain finally managed to get a cuddle when Kailen was distracted by Tegan clambering up the settee with one of her books and Kailen allowed Dain to take Leolin so that he could quickly hover over Tegan. It made Harry smile before he rested back against Nasta.

“How are you feeling?” He whispered softly. “Are you in pain?”

“A bit.” Harry said easily. “But it’s manageable.”

“Are you sure?” Nasta asked seriously.

Harry just nodded as he smiled at all eight of his children as they played, or slept in Leolin’s case, all around him. He was just so happy and so grateful that they’d all come through that horrifying event with no lasting damage done. It could never, would never happen again. He would die first…though he’d come awfully close to dying this time around and his children had been hurt and terrified. He shook his head. It shouldn’t take him almost dying for them all to realise that what had happened was unacceptable. Thankfully it seemed that his mates had all worked it out on their own while he and Blaise had been hospitalised. They knew that this couldn’t happen again, that they couldn’t risk their children in such a pointless, blatant way. In the end, what had they achieved? Heartache, pain, loss, guilt and what for? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. It had been a pointless fight about nothing and it had led to this…never again.
He would do his all to make it so that they could let this fight go, so that they could remain together as a family, as he’d always wanted, but he’d be damned if this ever happened again. Not to his precious children.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Stretched out on the living room floor with napping children tucked into every part of his body, Harry was able to just relax, even if the Faeries were still hanging around because they weren’t ready to leave just yet.
He didn’t mind. Dain and Kailen were okay, he supposed, but Eitri was hilarious and Harry was truly enjoying his company. Even now his head was pillowed on Eitri’s lower leg and the Faerie didn’t complain at all, instead he was fussing over Tegan, tucked into Harry’s neck, the top of her head touching Eitri’s knee.

“Is he asleep, Eitri?” Harry heard Nasta ask.

A slim hand touched his face, but Harry was content to just lie there.

“I cannot tell.” Eitri answered.

“Harry, love?” Nasta called him softly.

Harry just hummed happily.

“Oh, you are awake.” Nasta said happily. “It’s time for your potion, do you want to be extracted, or would you rather wait a little longer.”

“I’m happy here.” He insisted. “At least for a little while longer.”

“Are you sure?”

Harry just hummed again and he smiled when Eitri’s soft hand slipped into his hair and petted him for a bit before he turned back to Tegan, whom he’d taken a particular liking to after she’d plonked herself in his lap with one of her books and had ‘read’ a story to him. She, like Braiden, had also confused him for Draco for a little while, before realising that Eitri was not her Father, but she liked Eitri all the same. He was someone new for her to read to.

“Harry?” Eitri asked softly, seeing if he was awake but if he wasn’t, he didn’t want to wake him up.

Harry hummed again in question.

“Are you truly going to have more babes very soon?” He asked, as if the possibility was so farfetched that he couldn’t believe it.

Harry hummed again in agreement. “I have a heat period during the first week of July.” He said quietly. “I could get pregnant from that, but if not, it’ll be another two months before I have another heat period. That’ll carry on until I do actually fall pregnant. A heat period every two months.”

“I…could you have another set of five?”

“I bloody well hope not.” Max answered for him and Harry chuckled.

“I could do, yes, but as Max said, I bloody hope not. I believe, when we talked it over, that we wanted nothing more than twins this time.”

“We’d stretch to triplets.” Nasta teased.

“No, my love, I would stretch to hold the triplets.” He joked to a round of genuine laughter.

“We love every single child that you stretch with, that you birth for us.” Blaise insisted from where he was sat on the one settee still.

He was being bribed with coffee and his favourite biscotti and chocolate frogs to keep him sat down and still on that settee. He knew exactly what Max and Nasta were doing now, he’d cottoned on incredibly quickly, and he was playing them at their own game as he made to stand up yet again and, as he’d known that he would, Max leapt up and asked him if he wanted another coffee and more biscotti.
Blaise would sit down again and Max would bring in his coffee and biscuits, a handful of chocolate frogs on the side and it would keep Blaise occupied for at least half an hour while he ate and drank his treats.
It wouldn’t last for much longer and Harry assumed that Blaise knew this too, as Harry could almost see Nasta twitching to take the treats away, he could feel him stressing over how many coffees Blaise had had today, which had to have been in the double digits by now, and paired with the almost full box of chocolate frogs and pack of biscotti that he’d eaten with all those coffees, this would likely be the last time that Blaise got away with his little game. Harry had no idea how he hadn’t needed the bathroom yet with all of those coffees, Blaise must have had a bladder of steel.
Harry grinned as not half an hour later Blaise stood up and he stretched.

“No more coffee today.” Nasta said immediately as Max went to automatically offer it.

“I don’t want anything more.” Blaise said. “I need the bathroom.”

With that he walked out easily and without strain, but then it wasn’t his body that was broken, just his memory and despite that little hiccup, Blaise was perfectly fine to get up and behave as normal. If only their other dominants could understand that beyond their primary response of panic and worry for their injured mates.
Harry did doze off then and he woke when Farren did, as his little boy rolled onto him and pinched his skin between his hand and the carpet. He hissed through his teeth and Nasta was immediately there, gently picking up Farren and handing him over to Max before sorting him out.

“Did he touch your wound, are you okay?”

“No, he didn’t touch the wound, thank god. He caught my skin between his hand and the floor and it pinched.” Harry said drowsily.

“You’ve gone an hour over your time for the potion. How is your pain level?” Max asked him.

“It’s actually not bad.” Harry said consideringly. “I can feel it more now than I could before, but it’s not overwhelming or blinding.”

Max beamed at him proudly and his grin was infectious, Harry couldn’t stop himself from smiling back, even though he was a bit sleepy still.

“It’s a good sign that you can go over your dosage time without feeling too much pain, but I don’t want to push you, so we’ll wake you up with this lovely cup of tea, get you a bit of a late lunch and then you can take the potion before the pain becomes too bad.”

Harry nodded and he carefully sat himself up with Nasta’s help, avoiding all of the still sleeping babies. He was picked up and sat on the settee next to a napping Blaise with a cup of honey tea for him to sip on.

“Did the Faeries leave?” Harry asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Yes, love. They had a prescheduled meeting for one in the afternoon, they left a bit after you finally fell asleep, then Blaise went to sleep too in the quiet. It gave me and Max some more time to get to the old house and move stuff over, though one of us was always here, in this house.” He assured quickly, as if Harry would tear him a new one for leaving him, Blaise and the babies sleeping on their own…actually, thinking on it, he probably wasn’t that far from the truth. The thought of being left alone with only the one, injured, dominant while he, also injured, and his babies slept, it made his belly flip over and his Dracken growled inside him.

“Good call.” He said instead with a small smile.

Nasta pulled him into a hug and kissed him on the mouth. “Neither of us felt comfortable leaving you both. We know that you’re both capable of protecting yourselves, but…”

“But neither of us are at full health or full strength.” Harry pointed out as he drank more tea. “We both know it and we needed the extra, awake and alert, support of you and Max. Thank you.”

Nasta kissed him again before taking his drained mug from him and ushering him into the kitchen, where Max was putting a bowl of soup on the table for him, Farren clamouring around his knees, begging for a biscuit.

“Where’s my gorgeous boy?” Harry cooed.

“Right here.” Max said with a very serious face. “How can you not see me? I’m right in front of you!”

Harry scoffed and rolled his eyes, but he smiled too.

“Muma, bisky.”

“You want another biscuit?” Harry cooed and Farren nodded his head at him, coming to pester about his knees instead. “How many has he had today?” Harry asked Max and Nasta.

“Two.” Max answered immediately.

“Three hours until their dinners. One more won’t ruin his appetite.” He insisted as he went to the cupboard, Farren following him, clamouring to be picked up, but Harry couldn’t quite manage to pick up his biggest, heaviest baby, not just yet.

He took the rusks out of the cupboard and opened the box, Farren getting more and more excited as he realised that he was getting a biscuit after all. Harry handed him the rusk and Farren immediately jammed it in his mouth, gnawing on it with his teeth, biting hard.

“What do you say, Farren?” Harry prompted. “Thank you for my biscuit, Mummy.”

“Muma, ta.”

Harry shook his head, but he smiled and bent slightly, as much as he was able, to kiss Farren. Idris had taught the kids to say ‘ta’ instead of thank you. Nasta had told him that it was common in Wales to say ‘ta’ in place of thank you. Harry thought it was adorable.
He sat down to eat his own lunch, a simple bowl of soup, and he was only eating that because he needed to eat something to line his stomach so that he could take his potion.
He was surprised that the pain he felt was not much worse. It was actually rather manageable today and he was doing well, but Max was right, he did not want to push himself. Tomorrow would be another day and if today was just a fluke, then he would pay double for not taking his potions when tomorrow the pain would likely hit him like a two ton weight.
He ate the soup, all of it, and he was so proud of himself that he went in search of praise and love like a toddler himself. A small, simple bowl of soup it may have been, but it was still the very first thing that he’d been able to finish since the incident.

“Well done, love.” Max said happily as he took his empty bowl from him and replaced it with his potion.

“We’re very proud of you.” Nasta told him, knowing exactly what he wanted to hear. “We love you, Harry.”

He grinned like a fool, at least until he swallowed down his potion and gagged on it. Both his mates rushed to ease him through it, lest he ruin his, very recent, accomplishment by throwing up the potion and the food he’d eaten.
One hand rubbed his belly, another his back and he had a hand on his shoulder and another on his neck, two men whispering soothingly to him, calming him down as his gorge kept rising and threatening to undo absolutely every little milestone that he’d made thus far.
Thankfully he managed to calm himself down, with the help of his two dominants, and he kept his stomach where it was meant to be. He felt wrung out and drained afterwards though and he was tucked up on the settee, opposite Blaise, and he was encouraged to rest.

“That could have gone better.” He rasped.

“Shush, you’re doing just fine.” Max told him, placing a cup of tea down on the table and holding out a glass of cool water.

Harry took small sips of water, letting it sooth his throat and stomach. He sighed happily.

“Better?” Max asked with a small, worried frown.

“Better.” Harry agreed.

Max kissed his mouth before putting the water on the table and offering the tea instead.

“Just stay still for me, love.”

Harry nodded and he curled himself back into the settee with his cup of tea and he rested, testing his belly with small sips of tea before he was able to drink it more normally when it didn’t aggravate anything or cause the urge to vomit to rise again. He was getting better, both he and Blaise were recovering and getting better and they were making progress with Max and Draco. It helped that they still loved each other very deeply. This incident had damaged their trust, but it had not ruined their love, not completely, not yet and if Harry had his way, then not ever. This would not ruin them, he wouldn’t allow it.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

When his heat drew closer, his Healers were there twice a day to assess him and his recovery, making sure that he wouldn’t do more damage with his heat. It could be held off for a few days, but he would feel like he was caught in an open fire…he remembered the last time that he’d had his heat held back by potions, when he’d almost lost Braiden and he had needed to have his heat held off to stabilise his unborn baby, and he refused to go through that again.
So he had little choice but to sit down and rest as much as was possible. He could browbeat his mates into letting him up and wander around, into letting him hold and play with his children. The Healers on the other hand would not be cowed or moved by his pleading and he couldn’t use sex or allure to move them either. Trying to get up when Healer Alfred Grant was there…Harry shook his head, he had a better chance of being voted the public face of the Drackens of Britain.

“Stop moving.” Jackson Moore ordered.

Harry stared at the man, horrified. “I was just shifting my weight!” He complained.

“Don’t.” The Healer told him sternly as he checked more readings from whatever diagnostic spells he’d already cast.

Harry huffed and he sat perfectly still…for all of a minute.

“Harry, stay still.” Healer Moore looked up to tell him.

“I’m uncomfortable.” He admitted.

The Healer’s eyes narrowed, trying to discern if he was lying or not, but he wasn’t. Jackson stood up and helped Harry to move, lying him down and putting him in the most comfortable position.

“Is that better?” He asked and Harry nodded. “Good, now don’t move.”

Harry couldn’t wait until the Healer left, but Nasta had started taking direction from them and with him, Max followed. He was back to being stuck on a settee and having anything and everything done for him, though he absolutely refused to allow anyone to help him go to the bathroom. That is where he had drawn the line and he would not have it crossed. Not even the strict Healers had been able to curb him of that as he point blank refused them all.
He fell asleep. It seemed all he was doing lately was bloody sleeping, but apparently this was a good thing as blood and sleep helped him to heal much quicker. It didn’t help that it was incredibly boring lying down and not being able to move. He’d tried to watch TV too, but daytime TV was so fucking boring that it often put him to sleep much quicker.
When he woke up again only an hour had passed, but Healer Moore was gone, that was something at least.

“Nasta?” He called out uncertainly. “Max? Blaise?”

“Right here, love.” Max answered, bending over the settee to smile at him. “You look stunning all sleepy and tousled.”

Harry smiled tiredly. “I can’t believe I’ve woken up even more tired than when I went to sleep. It’s not fair.”

“You’re healing, gorgeous. We want you back to full sex strength as soon as possible.” Max winked.

Harry burst out laughing and it tugged on some still sore muscles in his belly. “Oh ow.” He complained, but he was still laughing.

“See! We can’t ravish you like you deserve in this condition!”

That made Harry giggle more, before he rubbed his face and lifted his arms up.

“Tea?” Max guessed.

“Tea.” Harry agreed with a small nod.

Max picked him up, straining no more than if he’d picked up a teacup yorkie, and Max carried him to the kitchen where Blaise was slumped on the table holding his head with Nasta sat beside him looking worried.

“Stop fussing.” Blaise said, his voice very gravelly and rough.

“What happened? Max asked.

“You’re supposed to be watching Har…oh.” Nasta sighed, seeing him in Max’s arms. “Are you okay, Harry?”

“Yes. Blaise, are you okay, love?” He asked.

“I’ve got a bad headache, it made me sick, which made the headache even worse.” Blaise told him.

Max placed him next to Blaise and Harry snuggled in, kissing Blaise’s cheek before using his slim fingers to massage his mate’s temples exactly how he knew Blaise liked. His first mate groaned happily.

“I tried that and made it worse.” Nasta said.

“Harry’s fingers are smaller and he naturally has a lighter touch.” Blaise explained.

“So…you’re saying I have the magic touch?” Harry said with a grin.

Max laughed, muffling himself in respect for Blaise’s headache. He put two cups of tea on the table and tempted Blaise’s head up with a coffee. Nasta gave him a hard look, but Max ignored him. It seemed his oldest dominants were at odds with one another…again.
Harry had had enough of them being at each other’s throats over such stupid things. Such things never mattered. What truly mattered was love and family. The bond they had with one another, with their child…ren.

“Where are the kids and who is watching them?” Harry asked.

“In the smaller living room with Aneirin, they’re all playing happily.” Max told him. “You have time for a cup of tea and then you can have a second in the room with them. I’m going to get dinner on now that you’re awake.”

“Have they all…”

“They’ve all eaten very happily, nothing new today, and Leolin has taken his bottle, though he left rather a bit, so once he’s seen you, I’ll see if he wants a bit more.” Max explained, nodding to the little bottle on the counter.

“I can get him to eat more.”

“The Healers said not to lift any of them, not even Leolin.” Nasta said softly.

Harry curbed the automatic desire to shout, scream and rage about the very thought of not holding or feeding his own children, but out of love and respect for Blaise he didn’t. Instead he thought of a solution, something they could do to help Leolin to actually eat, but didn’t upset his mates over his recovery and he had an epiphany.

“What if you or Max sat behind me and held Leolin, so that he can see me feeding him and believes it’s me who’s holding him?” He asked almost in a whisper, half expecting to be automatically shot down on principle.

It was quiet for a moment, as Harry remained massaging Blaise’s temples.

“I think that might work.” Nasta said after several silent minutes. “It might just trick Leolin if he hasn’t developed enough to realise the difference between your arm and someone else’s, especially as he’ll be against your chest and looking at your face and eyes. He always looks at your eyes, he loves the colour of them.”

“We all love the colour of them.” Max corrected as he kissed Harry’s temple as he walked past, going to the fridge.

“What’s for dinner?” Harry asked.

“Something light.” Max insisted. “Poached salmon, steamed new potatoes and green veg. I’m making a lemon and parsley sauce for it too. You’ll only have a little portion.” Max assured him as he caught sight of Harry’s face. “Farren’ll have eaten more than you today, I promise.”

“You know the absolute worst thing about all this is?” He declared several minutes later, when he’d finished Blaise’s head massage.

“You can’t play or pick up the kids?” His first mate said.

“Okay, the second worst thing.” Harry grinned.

“No, what?” Nasta asked him.

“I can’t stuff my face like usual.” He lamented. “I can’t have biscuits, I can’t have cakes, I can’t eat my chocolate. I can barely stomach normal food, let alone all my yummy treats. At least I can still have honey tea, otherwise I would have hit the roof.”

His mates laughed and shook their heads at him, but he felt better for having made them laugh. It’s what was needed now, in the last leg of their recovery…laughter, and plenty of it.
Harry finished his tea and Max made him another one and carried him through to the littler living room, to find Aneirin on the floor, babies all around him playing. Harry laughed and it immediately drew every single person’s attention to him.

“Mummy!”

“Muma!”

“Ma!”

Of course Leolin was the most demanding in his calls, but the other children were mobile, so they could come to him whereas Leolin couldn’t. When Harry had to hug and kiss every child before him, Leolin got very jealous and he started to cry furiously, when Harry finally got to him and picked him up, he got a hard smack to the face for his trouble.

“Ow!” Harry hissed as Leolin caught his eye.

Max had the baby straight off of him and hefted him over a shoulder, ushering Harry to sit down.

“That might even bruise!” Max declared with a growl that he couldn’t entirely help.

“Bloody Faeries.” Harry chuckled. “That’s what I get for picking him up when I’m not allowed to.”

“Damn right.” Max tried, then frowned at himself and shook his head. “No, I can’t even make light of it…it’s too close to what happened, anything that hurts you, even minorly, I can’t stand. Just…just sit down and let me hold you for a moment.”

Harry did as was asked and he allowed Max to hold him, blocking out Leolin’s cries and screams of anger and frustration as Max pinned him gently in place over his shoulder.

“Let me see him, don’t punish him when he’s too young to understand, Max.” Harry said gently and Max nodded, took a deep breath, before he turned Leolin down in his arms and shifted himself behind Harry, pulling him to rest against his chest and laying a kiss on top of his head, even as his arm held Leolin to Harry’s chest.

Leolin’s brain registered movement and he stopped crying. He slitted open his gold eyes, his eyelashes clumping together with his tears. He saw who was above him and his eyes fully opened. When gold met green he grinned and lifted both hands up to him.

“Ma!” He exclaimed.

“Yes, love. You hurt me so Daddy Max took you away.” Harry told him sternly. “That was naughty and you mustn’t do it again!”

Leolin blinked at him, registering his different tone of voice, and he lowered his arms. He stopped grinning and he just looked at him, before looking down at his own hands.

“I think he truly understands what you just said!” Aneirin said in amazement.

Harry, a little disturbed by this, nuzzled Leolin’s face.

“I love you still.” He said with a smile and once he’d registered that he’d been forgiven, Leolin grinned too.

Max nudged him with the bottle of warmed milk and Harry took it, remembering why they were doing this. He offered the milk to Leolin and encouraged him to drink it, all the while telling his little Faerie how much he loved him.
Leolin fell asleep on the bottle and Harry took it out of his gummy mouth gently and handed it back to Max before he tried to snuggle his son as much as he could when he wasn’t actually holding him.

“Come here, I have an idea.” Max said as he slipped out from behind him with Leolin.

Harry was pushed and dragged until he was lying down and then Leolin was laid over his chest and Harry grinned so widely, so happily, that Max smiled and kissed him.

“Have your cuddle, but then he’s going into his cot. He needs to get used to it.”

Harry nodded his understanding. It had been his idea after all, to put Leolin in his cot, though the entire thing was warded to prevent his tiny son from slipping down the side, between the mattress and the cot bars.
It had been his idea to put the little potty in the middle of the room too. He looked at it and he smiled to see it surrounded by toys and teddies. It was so that his children could get used to it without it being demonised or seen as a horror when the time came to teach his babies how to use it. Braiden would be the first, because he was getting shy about people changing him and he had started to hide when he was filling a nappy, behind chairs, under tables, behind curtains, in the toy box…it was time to get him potty trained.
Harry fell asleep himself, only for ten minutes, but when he woke back up, Leolin was gone and the kids were all gone too. He looked at the time just to make sure that several hours hadn’t passed. They hadn’t.

“They’ve been taken upstairs for their bedtime story.” Aneirin told him, seeing him awake and coming to clue him in.

Harry nodded and waved his arms in the air, one of his non-verbal signs that he wanted to sit up. He’d gotten much better at it now that he was coming to the very end of his recovery and he’d been told that if he did everything that he was supposed to then it would be two weeks at the very most before he was back on his feet and able to bend and lift…it would be some weeks more after this before he was fully back to normal though.
Aneirin chuckled and lifted him up gently and snuggled him into the corner of the settee, resting him back against the arm of it. Harry yawned and rubbed his eyes.

“I was only asleep for ten minutes, how can I be so groggy?” He complained, even when he knew it was the fault of his potions.

“Do you want some tea? Max is in the kitchen.”

“Pumpkin juice, please?” Harry asked. “My throat is really dry.” Again this was the fault of his potions.

“Of course, let me get it for you, love.”

Harry had to wait just two minutes for Aneirin to come back with a tall glass of pumpkin juice and Harry gulped it down in hard swallows, he was that thirsty.

“Do you want another glass?” Aneirin asked him with a smile.

Harry nodded. “Please. I’d get it myself, but I’d probably have my head served to me on a platter.”

“I don’t mind.” Aneirin assured him. “We just want you to be better now.”

“I want that too.” Harry insisted. “It’s just…it’s hard not to automatically pick up my children…when I can’t even hold or hug them. I don’t like it.”

“It won’t be for much longer.” Aneirin insisted. “A month or two and you’ll be back to running around and wrestling and whatever else you do that I have no wish to know of.”

It took Harry a moment to realise what was being alluded to and then he laughed.

“Yes, that is off the cards since Blaise and I got into trouble. Do you know that since then we haven’t been left alone with one another? You’d think that we were sex crazed nymphos or something that rut with one another as soon as their backs are turned.”

Aneirin laughed then too.

“The thing is they’re not entirely wrong.” Harry said with a grin. “As long as I’m in the mood and Blaise is too, of course. It’s usually the beauty of having four mates, if you want sex, there are four of them to ask. If one doesn’t want sex, the chances are that one of the others will. But like this, with Draco at his parents and Max and Nasta treating us with kid gloves, I only have Blaise to turn to. If he doesn’t want sex…I have no one else to turn to.”

“When do I ever not want sex?” Came Blaise’s voice and Harry grinned as his mate came around the side of the settee and into his line of vision.

“It can happen.” Harry replied.

“Not often.” Blaise snorted.

Blaise sat next to him on the settee and pulled him into a tight hug.

“I’ll get you that pumpkin juice, Blaise do you want one too?”

Blaise nodded. “Please. I could use a drink.”

When Aneirin was gone, Blaise turned back to him. “So, when have I ever refused you sex, Bello?”

“There have been a few times that you’ve said no.” Harry reminded him.

“Hmm, I suppose I’ll have to make up for this. I cannot have you going around saying that I do not completely satisfy you.”

Harry laughed and wrapped his arms around Blaise tight.

“As soon as we’re both better.” Harry insisted. “I can’t do anything until my heat period in two weeks. If I compromise any part of my recovery now then it could mean that the heat period is painful and damaging, I can’t risk it. I’ve had enough of this slow, steady recovery, enough of being treated like an invalid. I can’t stand it.”

“I know.” Blaise told him gently. “I feel the same and I wasn’t even sliced open as you were.”

“How is your head now?”

“Much better. The headaches are the worst, yet…if I could change one thing it would be the lapses of memory. I have always prided myself on my intelligence, on my grades and on my memory. I hate saying something when I know that I mean to say something else, when I know what I’m trying to say, but it won’t come out properly or I can’t form the thought into words in my head. It’s so frustrating.”

“Healer Odell is happy with your progress, even if you aren’t.” Harry told him. “We love you and we will always support you through anything and everything. We’re mates, we’re bonded closer together than any marriage. Us four, me, Max, Draco and Nasta, we will always be with you, Blaise. We will always hear one another’s distress calls, I will always call to the four of you on a heat period, we are always going to be a family. This little bump of ours will not change that, we’re all going to recover, given some time, and we’ll all get over it because I said so!”

That last made Blaise go from serious faced, to laughing. “I suppose it helps that I don’t remember anything.” He said once he’d calmed down. “I don’t remember that day, I don’t remember the fight or what happened, to me or to you. I’m angry at Draco for what I’ve heard he’s done, because I can see the aftermath of it.” Blaise said hovering his hand over where Harry’s wound was. “But…but any true emotions linked to the event are not first hand. It would have been much more…much stronger if I’d have remembered, I know that. Whatever emotions I felt that day, throughout the fight, are lost to me and I hope that I never remember. What use are those thoughts and emotions to me now?” He asked.

Harry snuggled in closer and he nuzzled his lips over the fading bruise on Blaise’s head, which was still slightly bumped from the powerful blow it had taken. It was healing, slowly, but it was still healing, as he himself was.

“Are you two okay?” Max asked, bringing in two glasses of pumpkin juice.

“We’re okay. Where did Aneirin go?”

“He was paged so he had to go.” Max said. “So I get to go back to looking after my two beautiful mates.”

Harry grinned at him and took his glass of juice and gulped it down again.

“Aneirin said that you’d done that the first time, are you okay?” Max asked worriedly.

“Just thirsty.” Harry replied. “Those potions taste so disgusting that I don’t really like drinking anything now. So I’m drinking less.”

Max’s eyes widened as he realised the truth of that and he came to hunch in front of him.

“I’m okay.” Harry insisted quickly. “I just hate those vile potions.”

“I never noticed that you were drinking less. As a trained Potions Master I knew that this is sometimes a side effect of prolonged periods of taking potions and I didn’t even notice it in one of the people closest to me. I should have seen it.”

“It’s fine.” Harry insisted.

“I’m going to keep a closer eye on you now that I know.”

“I don’t actually think that’s possible.” Harry said.

Blaise laughed, but Max remained silent and serious.

“I’m not going to take any chances with your health.” He said. “I need to watch your fluid intake now.”

“Why, what’s happened?” Nasta asked as he came into the room.

“Harry’s been drinking less because of the potions.”

Nasta came and kissed his forehead. “We’ll keep an eye on it, but Max, I think dinner’s burning and if I try to help then you know that I’ll only make it worse.”

Max cursed and he leapt up, hurrying into the kitchen.

“I think dinner was ready five minutes ago. Come on.” Nasta smiled, picking Harry up and assisting Blaise.

They were ushered through the hallway, carried in Harry’s case, and they were settled at the table while Max plated up the food, thankfully none of it had burnt or been overcooked, and he served them. He gave Harry a third full glass of pumpkin juice and this time Harry sipped it and savoured it as he ate.
As he was promised, he had the smallest piece of salmon, the smallest amount of potatoes and the smallest serving of peas, broccoli and green beans, but still he struggled to eat everything on his plate. He hated that too…that he couldn’t eat as he wanted to, or even what he wanted to, as he’d said earlier, he couldn’t afford to fill himself with empty calories, such as cakes, chocolate or other sweet treats, he had to fill up on normal, nutritious food as it was all he could eat at the moment. He sighed and played with the few little morsels left on his plate. He couldn’t eat any more or he’d be sick and lose everything that he’d already eaten, but he didn’t want to leave such a small, paltry amount on his plate.

“Give this to me.” Max said, taking his plate from him. “You don’t want it anymore and I don’t want you to torture yourself looking at it.”

“I want to eat that last little bit, you know I hate wasting food, but I’m going to be sick if I do eat it.” He sighed.

Max put the plate down and he used his fingers to eat the last few bits on the plate and Harry was so shocked that he just watched him in silence until he was done and the plate was clean…then he laughed.

“There we go, no more wasting food and you haven’t stuffed yourself to the point of being sick.” Max said with a wide, smug grin at having helped Harry out of his predicament.

“Thank you.” Harry said genuinely.

“No problem my beautiful, little lover.” Max said happily. “Do you want tea or a quiet sit down?”

“I need a quiet sit down for now, please. Just leave me here, I feel like if I’m going to be sick if I move too much.”

Max sighed heavily and he brought down his potions’ case. Harry heard the tinkling and clinking of numerous vials being nudged around as Max’s large hands looked for a specific potion and when it was put down, Harry saw from the neat little label on the front that it was a stomach settler.
Max helped him to drink it down and though it made him gag, it made him feel so much better as it got to work and it got rid of the bubbling feeling in his belly that was making him feel so sick, as if merely moving was going to have him bringing up his dinner.
Max moved him then to the smaller living room with Nasta and Blaise. They were snuggled up in the settee nest and Max placed him down gently and Harry crawled over to snuggle up with his mates. Max joined them only a moment later and they all cuddled up together, Blaise was already dozing, partly asleep, Harry was not too far behind as he was dosed up on potions. It was nice, but not normal and he needed normal more than anything, especially with his heat period just two weeks away.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Draco had had a small slip up with his anger management classes. It was only a small blip, but it still hit Harry hard. He had known that it was never going to be plain sailing, that none of this was going to be easy, but when he saw how hard Blaise was trying to recover, when he saw the stress and strain on Max and Nasta as they tried to do everything that needed to be done while still holding down high demanding jobs, when he knew exactly how hard he was pushing himself to recover, he shook his head in disappointment. It still felt like a blow to the gut…of which he now knew felt incredibly painful.
Draco had gotten up and walked out of one of his classes because he’d gotten so angry that he’d lost all reason it seemed. With his heat period just days away, the blow came more powerful than if it had happened a few weeks ago right at the beginning. Likely because he’d been so happy, so excited for this heat period, hoping that it could mend them all and bring them closer together, now that hope seemed as distant as the moon. Nasta was furious with Draco and Max snarled if his name was mentioned. What was worse was that Blaise was now angry at Draco, because he could remember this incident, he knew how much Draco needed these classes and Draco had just upped and left one.
He was angry himself, but he needed things to be better, so much so that he was trying to calm everyone down and get them to see that a small slip didn’t mean much.

“You’re deluding yourself, Harry.” Max snapped. “If he doesn’t love us enough to do these classes then he doesn’t deserve a family!”

“He walked out of one class!” Harry shouted back. “He walked out of one class and he sent an owl to apologise and insist that he’ll be there the next time! We knew it wasn’t going to be easy for any of us, but he’s had one slip up! You’ll see when he comes tomorrow, you’ll see that he’s better!”

“He’s not coming tomorrow.” Nasta told him.

That knocked the wind from his sails and he blinked, before panic seized his heart and he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Wha…you can’t do that! You know he looks forward to seeing us twice a week, you can’t tell him that he can’t come!”

“I’m not rewarding his lack of progress.” Nasta said sternly. “He walked out of a class, he doesn’t get to see us.”

“You can’t punish him like this, it’s cruel!” Harry raged, his breathing coming faster, his heart hammering in his throat.

“I’m not going to reward him for walking out of a class.” Nasta growled. “He knew the deal, if he went to all his classes and actually learnt from them, then he could come and see us, he’s up and walked out of one, Harry. The deal is broken.”

“My heat period is in a few days.” Harry whimpered.

“Which makes his timing all the worse.” Max declared. “If he can’t man up and go to these classes and stick with them, I’ll never forgive.”

“Please.” Harry begged.

“No.” Nasta said and Harry’s heart rate picked up until he could feel the blood rushing through his ears.

He let out a soft pleading noise.

“No.” Max echoed Nasta.

All his muscles contracted all at once and though his heart was hammering, he couldn’t breathe, his mouth was open, but he couldn’t draw in any breath at all. He made another soft sound, this one of confusion, before his vision blurred, and then blacked out as he fainted, hitting his head on the solid wooden coffee table before his startled mates could even try to catch him.
Harry woke up to soft voices and gentle, experienced hands checking him over. He was used to this and he knew that his mates had called to the Dracken Halls for a specialist Healer.

“Harry, can you hear me?” Came the soft, patient voice of Georgio Alessandri. It felt like he was seeing more of the man than his mate, Clara, was.

“Grawp.” Harry smiled, his eyes still closed.

“You see what you’ve done!” Came Blaise’s angry voice little above a whisper. “You’ve made him knock himself stupid! I can’t believe that you both let this happen!”

Harry blinked open his eyes and he hissed as the bright sunlight seared his eyeballs, even as he immediately screwed them closed tight to try and block out the pain.

“Hmm, I suppose that answers the question of whether or not you’re sensitive to light. How is sound for you? Am I speaking too loudly?”

Harry shook his head slowly and carefully.

“How about now?” And Georgio sounded like he’d yelled right in his ear and Harry flinched away, staring at him in utter betrayal. “I’ll take that look as a yes.” He said, back in his soft, quiet voice, noting it down on the clipboard resting on one of those huge, tree trunk thighs.

“What happened?” Harry whispered himself.

“You had a panic attack, Harry.” Georgio explained. “You fainted from lack of oxygen and you’ve hit your head on the table.”

Harry slitted open his eyes for a third time, trying to see past the glare of light and it took a bit of time, but his eyes finally adjusted and Georgio sighed.

“His pupils are different sizes. He has a concussion.” He explained as he wrote something else on his clipboard.

“I feel sick.” Harry said.

“Another sign of serious concussion.” Georgio directed at his mates angrily as he put the clipboard down and rolled him onto his side, conjuring a bucket to put under him. Not a moment later Harry was retching into it. “He has a heat period in a few days.” The Healer said in a furious whisper. “How could you have been so stupid as to deny him access to one of his mates when he’s so close to a heat period?! You’re lucky he just panicked and passed out and didn’t just outright kill you!”

Harry breathed deeply once he’d finished vomiting and he let out a broken sob from the pain in his head and the rawness of his throat.

“There we go, Harry. It’s alright.” Georgio soothed calmly and gently and it actually made him feel better. Wanting more of this nice, calm comfort, he held his arms out to Georgio and the huge dominant pulled him into a soothing hug. Harry clung to him like a limpet, or like a small child who was trying to hide from the monsters under the bed.

Georgio stood up, holding him closer. “Under article nineteen of the Submissive Protection Act, I, a Healer of the Counsel Halls, am hereby stripping you of the care of this submissive in question, Harry James Potter.”

“You can’t do that!” Max burst out, his face stark white.

“Until such a time that you can prove that you can actually care for him and not abuse him, it is my right to remove him from your care if I feel it is necessary. Good day.”

The floo trip made Harry moan, but he soon found himself changed into light pyjamas and tucked up in a soft bed.

“What has happened? It didn’t seem so serious when Mister Delericey called.” Alfred Grant asked Georgio, having followed him from the fireplace in the Healing Hall reception area.

The big man gave him a grave look as he settled Harry down, petting his hair and stroking his face until he drifted off into sleep.

“Why have his mates not come with him?” Aelia Robins, a young trainee Healer, asked cautiously.

“I have stripped them of the care of this submissive, under the Submissive Protection Act.” Georgio explained heavily.

“They’ve had a few downhill slides, but surely this is extreme, Georgio.” Jackson Moore declared.

“They caused him to have a panic attack, their own submissive.” Georgio sighed, scrubbing a hand through his hair. “I just…how many incidents have this one mateship had in just a little over a month? I can’t see him suffer anymore.”

“I’ll send the guards to collect his children.” Alfred Grant sighed.

“I’ll set up the nursery.” Aelia said, turning around to set up six cots and two bassinets in the closed off room that led from the one they were currently in. Georgio had placed Harry in one of the biggest rooms that were always reserved for Submissives with children.

“I suppose I had better go and tell Elder Vipond that he has a guest.” Jackson said, turning and following Alfred Grant out of the room.

“I’m sorry for this, Harry.” Georgio said softly to the sleeping boy. “But you’ve been hurt so often and I just can’t see you hurt again. I’m hoping that this is the kick they need, but if it’s not, then you’ll be better off without such abusive dominants. You’re such a sweet boy, but if you stay with them then I’m so scared that you’re going to end up dead. They need to learn that just because you’re a male, that doesn’t mean that you aren’t still a submissive. They can’t treat you like you’re another dominant because you’re not. Just…just rest now, we’ll get your babies to you soon, the Elders are being informed, everything will work out. I promise.”

Georgio watched Harry sleep, until a group of pinch faced Elders came hurrying into the room.

“What has happened?” The Head Elder, Anthanaric Vipond, asked.

“I have removed this submissive from the care of his dominants until such a time that they learn to look after him properly.”

“Harry, oh sweet one.” Elder Quintalus Trintus gasped. “What has happened, Georgio?”

“They caused him to have a panic attack and he hit his head on the table. I just…I can’t keep seeing him hurt. Something in their mateship is seriously wrong or twisted if they can keep doing this to one another. I would die before I caused my submissive to have a panic attack, I would cut off my own hands before I hurt her…what is wrong with these dominants that allows them to hurt Harry and keep hurting him over and over?”

“They will all go for assessment and we will find the problem.” Elder Vipond said sternly. “Henry, you are likely the best man to get that sorted out…I will inform Myron Maddison myself of his son’s behaviours. Aneirin Delericey and Marianna Lychorinda too. None of them will be happy.”

A group of a dozen guards came in, carrying softly sleeping children, and they were immediately placed into the cots or bassinets. None of them had been awoken.

“How did the dominants take the removal?”

“Badly, as always, but they did not impede us in any way, they knew it was coming and they gave us a bag of things for the children.” One guard, the group leader, answered. “The youngest one begged us not to take them, pleaded for us to bring Harry back. He was held securely by his own dominant. They are all shaken and bone pale. I think this has hit them hard.”

“As I wanted it to.” Georgio nodded. “They can’t keep hurting him or there will be a fatality the next time. It was already too close with his stomach wound, but the way he clung to me when I gave him a kind word, the way he clutched at me as if I were the only raft in the ocean, he didn’t feel safe with them and I don’t blame him.”

“You did the right thing, Georgio. We cannot leave any submissives in an ‘at risk’ home. Those dominants will not get him back until they all pass their assessments.” Anthanaric insisted.

“I’ll go and sort that out then, the sooner the better with the boy’s heat period approaching.” Henry Kirrian said, his face furious and grave. He sent the tiny boy in the bed one last protective look before he turned and stormed out.

“I’ll go and inform the families of what has transpired. With some luck they will be able to cow their children into realising how serious this is before the assessment takes place. If they all pass, then Harry will be back with them soon, if that is what he wishes, of course.”

Georgio was left with Harry and eight very young babies, all under two years old. He sighed and he did feel terrible for removing Harry from his home and from his mates, the children from their home and Fathers, but this couldn’t continue. They couldn’t continue to have a report in about Harry getting injured every week or so and continue to do nothing about it.
Those dominants needed to learn how to look after their submissive properly, or very soon there was going to be a death within their mateship, and, looking to Harry in the bed and the eight babies sleeping peacefully with their Mother, if it was any one in this room, Georgio knew that he would never have forgiven himself if he hadn’t done this and had left Harry and his children in that house and one of them had been killed. This was the best solution…the only solution in his mind, even if it was as temporary as a few days separation.
They all needed to know that this was unacceptable and that they couldn’t treat Harry in such a manner or he would be removed from them and it would be a permanent removal now if they had to invoke the Submissive Protection Act for a second time concerning their mateship. None of them wanted to see that come about to any mateship in this sort of situation, but that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t do it if they felt that it was needed for Harry’s, or his children’s, protection. This could not keep happening, not while he was the one who had to mop Harry up and keep healing his injuries afterwards. It was disgusting sometimes, seeing the damage that dominant Drackens could and did do to their own submissives and their children. He wouldn’t see the same happen to Harry, he was going to nip this in the bud, here and now, before it ever reached that point. Hopefully, after all of this, those dominants would never raise a hand to Harry ever again and they would never cause him such distress as to give him a full blown panic attack either. He had done the right thing, this situation could not be allowed to continue and now, it wouldn’t continue, he had prevented that and everything was going to turn out just fine, of that he truly believed.

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A/N: I just can’t seem to be able to prevent myself from torturing these poor boys. On the last leg of their journey now, though. Harry’s heat period is in the next chapter and that’ll help get them all back on track.
Don’t worry about this little assessment, Georgio was doing it more to prove a point than through any real fear of Max or Nasta being abusive. That Harry felt safer with him, in his arms, as opposed to his own dominants, that is what made up his mind. He’s come to care for Harry a great deal through looking after him, then his mate’s baby brother is one of Harry’s friends too, but he just couldn’t see Harry being hurt anymore, this concussion was the last straw for him after Harry was almost gutted. He never wants to see such an injury on Harry ever again, so he’s nipping it here and now, for good.
Anyway, let me know what you lovelies think, I’ll be back soon with another chapter, but another Scaled Bits chapter first, though before that Lycanthrope Factory, see you then, lovelies,

StarLight Massacre. X
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The Rise of the Drackens