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The Rise of the Drackens	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 769456 -:- Recommendations : 71 -:- Currently Reading : 219
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
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Last Time
He looked at them, playing and screeching on the floor, all of them growing and coming into their own. He loved them more than he could ever put into words, and he smiled as he watched them all. This was the life he had always envisioned for himself, if not perhaps how it had actually turned out. He had always wanted a family, he had always wanted children…but even he would never have imagined he’d end up with four other men, nor that he’d be the who would be getting pregnant and birthing their babies. It felt so right now, perfectly normal to him, ever since he’d come into his Dracken inheritance, and he wouldn’t change any of this for the world.
Chapter One Hundred-Twenty-Five – Catch Up
Taren was eight days old before Ezrah came for a visit. Harry had missed him more than he’d thought he had, as they sat in the family room, with Ezrah cradling Taren in his arms, and watching him obsessively, while Harry relaxed and held Leolin. Leolin who was very, very pleased that he was the only one snuggled up in his ‘Ma’s’ arms and that the new baby was with someone else.
Max had had to go to work, very unhappily as all he wanted was to stay home with his family. Draco had gone to visit his parents with Farren and the twin girls, and Blaise had a check-up with Healer Odell, and Nasta had gone with him, leaving Harry at home with all of his babies, which was the main reason that Max had gone to work unhappy that morning, as none of them had wanted to leave him home alone, not even for a measly hour, but Harry was feeling fine, though he was very glad that Ezrah had come over to keep him company.

“Are you sure that I’m holding him right, Harry?” Ezrah asked worriedly.

Harry wanted to kill every single Faerie in that city who had ever made such a gentle person like Ezrah second guess everything about himself.

“You’re holding him fine, Ezrah. See, he’s still fast asleep and very content.” Harry assured him.

“He’s such a tiny babe.”

Harry had to smile at that. “He’s the biggest one I’ve had yet.”

“He is the youngest I have seen thus far.” Ezrah said with a smile. “To me he is very tiny.”

“Ma!” Leolin shrieked.

Harry looked down at that frowny face, and kissed his boy.

“Ah, he is getting to be rather demanding now, is he not?” Ezrah grinned.

“Oh he is.” Harry agreed. “He really doesn’t like having a new brother. He’s at the stage where he realises that Taren will get more attention than him and he is very jealous.”

“This is never a good stage for infant Faeries.” Ezrah told him. “Lathen tells me that having two babes so close together is just inviting trouble. Twin Faeries are the hardest to handle, as they are in the exact same phases together and can be difficult to manage. Then I have yet to even conceive.”

Ezrah looked so sad that Harry reached out to hold his hand.

“You are out of that toxic city now, Ezrah. Aren’t you feeling better about that?”

Ezrah was forced to smile. He nodded. “Yes, I feel better that we have our own home, that I can live together in peace with the Valkyrie I fell in love with. I just…I really wish I could give him a babe of his own.”

“I know that feeling.” Harry said, looking to the floor where his babies were generally making a nuisance of themselves. “I have nine children now, but Draco doesn’t have any children of his own yet. I…I feel that I should have been able to give him a baby of his own by now, we’ve been together for three years. Yet, he is the only mate who I haven’t given a baby. Even Blaise only has the one, our Braiden, and out of all of the other babies, eight of them are split between just Nasta and Max, they have four each now.”

“Surely they don’t mind?”

“I thought they didn’t.” Harry said. “I found Draco in the bedroom the other day. He was upset, and it turns out that he was feeling bad because he doesn’t have his own child yet. It made me feel terrible. I have no control over which one of them gives me a baby, but I still feel like it’s my fault.”

“Did he make you feel that way on purpose?” Ezrah asked him.

Harry shook his head. “No. I know that he’d feel ten times worse if he knew what I was thinking, which is why I didn’t tell him. He wouldn’t confide in me ever again if he thought he had upset me in return. But Draco and me will have a child one day, I know we will, just give yourself some more time, Ezrah. Maybe forget about the baby for now and just focus on being with Lathen, going out for dates and enjoying yourselves. You never know, you might have so much fun that when you realise you’re already two months pregnant it’ll come as a nice surprise for you both.”

That made Ezrah laugh. “It would be like we were courting again.” He said excitedly. “I was so shy back then!”

Harry wondered exactly how Ezrah could have been even more shy back during his courting days than he was now, when he tried to curl into a living ball when Harry’s mates tried to speak to him directly, but he decided not to ask.

“Sometimes it’s nice to go back to the early days and just have some fun, to fall in love with them all over again.” Harry pointed out. “We’re going to do it in three days. Max’s parents are taking the kids, and we’re going to go out on a date and pretend we’re all young lovers again.”

“But you are all young lovers!” Ezrah pointed out with a laugh.

“We’re not all Faeries here.” Harry grinned. “None of us, save for our little Leolin, will ever reach the age of seven hundred, we could maybe hit four hundred if we’re lucky. But I truly feel old.”

“You do?” Ezrah asked with a confused frown.

Harry nodded. “Our heat periods really take it out of us, plus having so many babies so close together, and pregnancy after pregnancy. It does end up taking its toll.”

“Is there any way to just…stop?” Ezrah asked him, looking fretful again.

Harry shook his head. “No. Nothing works. Most of the contraceptives are burned out of our systems when the heat hits, or they don’t last long enough to cover the whole heat, and if I or my mates sought to surgically stop ourselves from having children, it would be permanent. At our hearts we are Drackens though. We will always crave a larger and larger family. I’m sure that’s why Draco is upset with himself the most, because when it comes down to it, though our family is growing so well, he’s not really contributing to it. Not yet, but I know he will. We have more than enough time to have more children.”

Harry was so sure of that he would have staked his life on it. He hoped that it was sooner as opposed to in several years’ time, but regardless of when it was, Draco would have a child from him. Several if their Dracken genetics had anything to do with it. Harry would be fertile for another one hundred and thirty years, which could add up to a lot of babies, and truly several of those babies would have to be Draco’s, especially now that he was on fertility potions.

“I commend you, Harry.” Ezrah told him seriously. “I wish with all of my heart for a babe, but I don’t know how I would cope with nine of them.”

Harry laughed. “Imagine having four Lathen’s to help you.” Harry pointed out.

Ezrah pinked up a bit, obviously not thinking about four of Lathen helping him with babies, but for something else entirely. Harry hid his smile and didn’t mention it.

“I suppose that that would make it a little easier to juggle them.” Ezrah said eventually, after he’d stopped fantasising about having four Lathen’s around him.

“It does. Five people are much better at juggling babies than two. We’re not even at two babies per person yet, so we’re doing well.” Harry laughed. “That’ll change with the next clutch though.”

“You…you’re not pregnant again are you?” Ezrah asked him, wide-eyed and a little horrified.

Harry would have laughed, but he and his mates had form on that already, he hadn’t long given birth to Braiden when he caught for the quintuplets, there was only four measly months between them, so he couldn’t really blame Ezrah for asking.

“No, not yet. We haven’t even been intimate since before this little one was born.”

Harry reached forward and stroked Taren’s plump cheek. The lack of screams from Leolin alerted him that his Faerie baby was asleep. He looked down and sure enough Leolin was fast asleep and breathing deeply. He had to smile as Leolin had fallen asleep with his scowl firmly in place.

“Let me put him in his bassinet so he can spread out a bit. Do you want another cuppa?”

“Please.” Ezrah smiled, holding Taren as gently as he could manage, while still holding him securely.

Harry stood and eased Leolin into the bassinet, covering over his waist with the little blanket. He was definitely growing, but he was still so very tiny. They had all gotten used to it over the last few years, but looking at him objectively, Leolin did not look anything like the two year old boy he should have been.
Harry went out into the kitchen and filled the kettle and set it to boil. He got the actual teapot out and popped in several teabags. Taren was due a feed too, so he set up a bottle. Once boiled Harry made up the bottle first, then poured the remaining water into the teapot. He carried the tray to the living room and placed it on the coffee table and made Ezrah a cup, then himself and he sat back with a happy sigh.

“Should you be doing such activities?” Ezrah asked him concernedly.

“It’s not so bad now. I’m feeling more like myself.” Harry said softly, shooting Ezrah a smile. “The pain has all but gone, I just get a few twinges in the morning, but it’s nothing a good potion won’t get rid of. I’m being careful, but this isn’t too much for me, despite what my mates think.”

“Are they coddling you still?”

Harry laughed. “Oh yes. Though coddling is probably too weak a word. Smothering is more like it.” Harry grinned to show he was kidding.

“A bit of smothering is nice now and then.” Ezrah chuckled.

“It’s not now and then, it’s constant, though they’re not as bad as they were last week. Between me and you, I think they’re too tired after dealing with Taren all night. Leolin too, as he’s started waking himself up at two in the morning to compete with Taren.”

“Has he? That’s strange behaviour for a Faerie.” Ezrah told him.

“We asked Dain and Kailen about it, and they believe that he’s doing it on purpose. He doesn’t want Taren to have any attention during the night, while he sleeps, so he’s waking up purely for a cuddle. He’ll fall back to sleep, and then wake up for his four am feed as normal.”

“How are you handling that?”

“Easy, he might be waking himself up, but he’s still very tired, which is why he’s napping more through the day, so whoever is on night duty grabs the shirt I was wearing the day before and tucks it under Leolin’s face and he doesn’t know that it’s not me because he doesn’t open his eyes. Then he gets rocked back to sleep by who he thinks is me, but never is.”

Ezrah laughed. “I will have to remember that trick if I ever have babes and I send Lathen to feed them during the night.”

“Think positively, Ezrah. You will have your own babes. Focus on having some fun, and just enjoying yourself, and enjoying Lathen too.” Harry gave Ezrah a wicked smirk, which made the Faerie pink up again. “Why not enjoy some human entertainment? A movie, a zoo, a theme park.”

“What if I say something that outs us as Faeries?!” Ezrah demanded in shock.

“Humans don’t notice that sort of thing, they’ll never be able to guess that you and Lathen are Faeries, and they’ll just think you’re a weirdo, or quirky, and just brush it off. You might get a few odd looks, but mostly people just mind their own business. I recommend going out for a least a nice meal together.”

“I’ve never been to a restaurant before!” Ezrah said excitedly. “I was never allowed in any of the ones within the city.”

Harry hated the Faeries all over again, with a furious, burning passion. He saw himself in Ezrah, and maybe that was why he liked him so much.

“Then you should definitely try all of the restaurants you can, to find one that you like, and take Lathen for several dinners. Forget about having sex to conceive, and have sex instead to just enjoy one another.”

Ezrah surpassed pink and he went red, and he giggled nervously. “I think I can manage that.”

“I know you can.” Harry smiled and winked.

Taren interrupted the adult talk, when he squirmed in Ezrah’s arms.

“Ah, right on time. Do you want to feed him?” Harry asked, reaching for the bottle he’d made up ready.

“Can I?” Ezrah asked with a look of longing.

“Of course.” Harry tested the bottle, then handed it over.

“How…how do I ask Lathen to go to dinner?” Ezrah asked him. “I…I have never asked him to take me places before, what if he doesn’t like me doing it?”

Harry gave Ezrah a reassuring smile and reached out to touch his elbow.

“Hasn’t he always been so happy to see you express your wishes? He likes it when you get all confident and tell him what you want. He’ll jump on the chance to take you to a restaurant if you just tell him that you want to go.”

Ezrah watched Taren feeding, and Harry drank some tea. He didn’t want to push his Faerie friend too hard, he didn’t want to all but force Ezrah to do something that might end up being traumatising for him, but it was well overdue for him to start voicing his own wants and wishes, especially with his bondmate, who adored every single inch of him.

“I’ll do it.” Ezrah said suddenly. “I’ll ask Lathen to take me to a restaurant, and then we can have fun like when we were bonding. There will be no mention of babes of our own, nor of conceiving. I will enjoy him tonight, without that thought hanging over us.”

Harry smiled and reached forward to squeeze Ezrah’s hand.

“I’m proud of you, and I know Lathen will be too. Remember to dress up nice for the occasion, any clothes that you really like and make you feel comfortable and desirable.”

“I still have the trousers my mother made me for our bonding.” Ezrah said shyly. “I have always considered them special.”

“Then they’ll be perfect.”

“I don’t think I could do this if it wasn’t for you.”

“Well I am here.” Harry said firmly. “I’m happy enough to keep giving you a few nudges too. It’s about time that you came out of your shell, and left your comfort zone behind.”

“I…I’m afraid, but I’m willing to try. I would do anything for Lathen.”

“He would do anything for you as well, which is why I know he won’t mind taking you to any restaurant you wanted, you only have to pluck up the courage to ask him.”

“I will.” Ezrah insisted, with a determined look in his eye. That reminded Harry of himself as well, going after something that he wanted.

The floo sounded and Ezrah looked over his shoulder nervously.

“It’ll only be one of my mates.” Harry said soothingly. “They don’t mind you being here.”

“Harry?”

Harry smiled. “Other room, Nas.”

Nasta escorted Blaise in, and both were looking pleased, which meant that Blaise’s appointment had gone well.

“I see you’re feeling better.” Harry teased. Blaise had been rather nervous for his check-up with Healer Odell that morning.

“Healer Odell says that I’m doing better than expected.” Blaise reported happily. “He’s pleased with the progress I’ve made. Hello, Ezrah.”

“Hello.” Ezrah said quietly, shyly.

“Can we steal your tea?” Nasta asked Harry, touching the teapot and realising it was still hot.

“Sure, but you’re making the next round.” Harry replied.

“How’s Taren?” Blaise asked, peering at the feeding newborn.

“He…he’s feeding well.” Ezrah reported. “He has been asleep for all of my visit until a little while ago. Do…do you want him back?”

Harry gave Blaise a stern glare, but his mate didn’t even look at him. “No, I’m on the night shift tonight, so I’ll have more than enough of feeding him during the night without taking him from someone willing to feed him for us.”

Ezrah smiled a little and snuggled Taren back to his chest, continuing to feed him. Taren fed really well, and in that way he reminded Harry of Farren.
Things were a bit boisterous, the kids were having snacks that had been prepared by Nasta, and Harry stayed talking to Ezrah, who had burped Taren like a professional and then rocked him gently back to sleep.
It was Lathen who came calling next, and he looked faintly worried, until he saw Ezrah perfectly fine on the settee with Taren in his arms.

“Here you are, my love.” He exclaimed. “I was looking for you.”

“I apologise, my love. I had not realised the time had passed so quickly, or that I would not be home before you finished work, or I would have left a note for you, for when you arrived back home. Was your day peaceful?” Ezrah asked his bondmate.

“As much as it could be within the city. Yours?”

Ezrah smiled and looked down at Taren in his arms. “Very peaceful.” He said gently.

“I’m sorry for just barging in.” Lathen told them. “I…”

“Think nothing of it. If I had gone to your home, my mates would have done the same. Depending on which one it was, they wouldn’t even apologise for it either.” Harry waved off. “I’ve said it before but both of you are always very welcome here.”

“Thank you, Harry. You are always very kind.” Lathen said.

Harry blushed a little and ducked his head.

“Daddy, want more berry.”

Harry had to smile as Braiden became the ice breaker of the awkward moment. Harry still couldn’t really take a compliment.
He watched as the two year old held a plastic bowl out to Nasta.

“Do you want more berries, annwyl?” Nasta asked him.

“Yeah.”

Nasta carried the bowl back into the kitchen and Braiden stood waiting patiently like the cutie he was. He smiled so widely when Nasta brought the bowl back in, and handed it to him.

“I’ve added it to their diaries.” Nasta informed.

“I think they’ve had enough fruit for the day now. Veggie sticks are the next snack.” Harry said. “Though I am glad that they’re all good little eaters.”

“We should be heading off.” Ezrah said, gently indicating for Harry to take Taren. He gave Harry a little wink, and Harry understood.

“I’ll see you soon though, won’t I?” Harry asked, as he accepted the baby back.

“Of course. I like spending time with you and your babes.”

Harry stood and put Taren into his bassinet, and he went to hug Ezrah.

“Go and get the sex that you want.” He whispered into his friend’s ear.

Ezrah laughed, and went a bit pink. “I will.” He said firmly, with more confidence than he’d ever shown before. “Come, Lathen. I wished to ask something of you.”

Lathen blinked, and looked at his bondmate in stunned silence. Damn, Ezrah hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he’d never asked anything of Lathen before.

“Of course, Ezrah, you can ask anything of me, always, I assure you.” Lathen insisted, taking Ezrah’s hand and allowing his bondmate to pull him to the floo.

“Do we want to know?” Blaise asked him once their guests were gone, noticing Harry’s wicked smirk.

“Ezrah has never asked anything of Lathen.” Harry said, sitting back down. “He’s always been too shy and beaten down, because those damn Faeries had him banned from every public area and made him feel terrible for asking for the smallest thing. So I’ve convinced him to ask Lathen to take him to a restaurant, because he’s never been to one before.”

“That’s really nice, Harry.” Blaise said, coming to sit beside him.

“I just want him to gain a bit of confidence, and I think the best way to do that is by using Lathen as a sort of positive reinforcement. Lathen wants Ezrah to be more confident, and to ask for things, so the moment Ezrah does he’s going to be all over him.”

“Look at you playing matchmaker.” Blaise teased.

Harry chuckled. “Can it still be matchmaker when they’re already together?”

Blaise shrugged.

“Anyway, enough about those two, they’ll sort things out now that I’ve given Ezrah a little shove, how was your appointment?”

“As I said, Healer Odell is very pleased with my progress. I haven’t had any little slips lately and only the one headache. He thought I was lying.”

“He didn’t say that.” Nasta sighed in exasperation.

“It’s what he meant though.” Blaise argued. “I’m still a Dracken, so I guess I’m healing faster than expected, he’s a Healer, he should know that.”

“He hasn’t had much cause for healing Drackens before, Blaise.” Nasta put in, always the voice of reason. “Of course he was going to be amazed at your rate of healing.”

Blaise scoffed and Harry changed the subject. He didn’t want anyone getting upset, and he certainly didn’t want any tension or arguments.
They were expecting Draco and the kids back before Max, who was stuck in work until later in the afternoon, but Harry couldn’t wait until all his mates were home. He never felt quite as settled, or as happy, as when he had a full house of his entire family.

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

They had a steady stream of visitors all coming around to see Taren now that they were both a little more recovered from the birth, but Harry didn’t mind. His Dracken rather liked showing his baby off to people. He was sure if his Dracken could it would be cawing out ‘look what I made’, or thrusting poor Taren at every visitor and telling them ‘look at this little bundle of perfection, I made this’. Sometimes his Dracken side, and the instincts that went with it, were embarrassing, but as Nasta always soothed him, they were pretty much all Drackens in the family, and with the exception of the Malfoys, and everyone that Harry knew, everyone else, even those who were human, had grown up with and around Drackens.
Hermione had found the time in her busy schedule to come to see him, even if it was just for an hour, as had Ginny and Missus Weasley, Remus had dropped in with a very, very boisterous Teddy, who had made a beeline for Braiden. The two boys had been nearly inseparable for the entire visit. Braiden had even cried and thrown a tantrum after his new friend was taken away from him.
Today it was Dumbledore who had come for a surprise visit and Harry was so happy to see him.
Of course his children were all curious of Dumbledore’s strange robes, which were dark blue with silver and gold stars on them that actually twinkled. Leolin was enraptured from the moment he first saw them.

“It’s been a while. I miss our afternoon talks.” Harry said, as he made up tea and handed a cup to his former Headmaster.

“I found a spare moment to come and see you, dear boy.” Dumbledore told him, even as he reached out to touch curious faces, and smile at the shy peeks he was getting from Harry’s less curious children. “I heard that you had had your ninth child and decided I was overdue a visit.”

“Taren.” Harry said, looking over his shoulder to the baby in the bassinet. “He’s ten days old today. He’s doing very well. He is actually a dream come true. He can get a bit fussy when he doesn’t want to be put down, he prefers being held by a person, but other than that he’s wonderful. Very energetic for a newborn though, he likes stretching out all of his limbs and thrashing them about, we’re sure that’s the Dracken blood.”

“He’s showing advanced movement beyond his age?” Dumbledore queried.

Harry nodded. “Our girls were doing it too, the both of them were moving before they really should have been, but Taren is another level. He’ll scream the place down if we dare try to swaddle him, he won’t even have a shawl around him. He likes to be free to move.”

Harry took a sip of tea, looking down at Leolin in his lap, checking on him, but his Faerie baby had yet to take his eyes from Dumbledore’s robes. His gold eyes were tracking every little star that was twinkling in and out of sight. He was scowling, but not the forced frowning he did when he was unhappy or stressed. They called this his resting Faerie face and it showed that Leolin was currently relaxed.

“He seems to find great fascination with my robes.”

“Who wouldn’t?” Harry teased. “But anything to do with colour, or flashing lights, and Leolin can stare at it for hours. He’s very sensory, not so much towards noise, but he likes things he can touch, and anything that lights up can keep him occupied for days. We’ve found that sight is definitely his favourite sense.”

“Are his eyes more sensitive because of the colour?” Dumbledore asked him, looking curiously at the gold eyes that refused to stop tracking the twinkling stars. “He seems to know which stars will light up before they have.”

Harry frowned at that and watched Leolin more closely. It took him a moment to see what Dumbledore had, but Harry caught that Leolin would shift his gaze to a star a moment before it actually blinked on the robes. He would watch it until after it had winked back to darkness, and then he shifted his gaze to another star, eerily just before it lit up.

“I don’t know. That’ll be something to add to the list to ask the Faeries.” Harry mused. “Sometimes they don’t know what’s different between Faeries and Drackens, or even humans, so they don’t mention something which will later turn out to be vastly different and relevant to Leolin, like him needing to take a bit of time a few times a week to be outside, to touch nature. We didn’t realise that he would need that chance to go outside, and we were cloistering him inside and keeping him wrapped up for fear of him getting sick. He started to get really, really grumpy, much worse than usual, and we found out that we should have been taking him outside every now and then.”

“As is the case with most different species, we often find that we mishandle something.” Dumbledore told him gently. “The biggest takeaway from this is that you learnt how to handle it, and haven’t fallen back to previous behaviours.”

“Yeah, we try our best for Leolin. The Faerie court already think he should be taken from us and raised by a Faerie couple.” There was an edge to Harry’s voice, and he worked hard to suppress his Dracken side, but they were both in agreement. They would die before anyone took any of his babies.

“To destroy Leolin’s bond with his parents would be a devastating occurrence for him. It would likely set back his development, and his sense of safety if that were to happen.”

“We will lay down our lives before that happens.” Harry said viciously. “No one is taking my babies anywhere.”

“Who said that they would?” Nasta’s voice came from the kitchen. “Harry, are you talking to yourself, love?”

Nasta came in still damp from the bath he’d taken, but he calmed himself when he spotted Dumbledore.

“Sorry.” He said. “I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“Nonsense, dear boy. Harry and I were just speaking of Leolin.”

“And those damn Faeries who would give anything to see us fail, or to take Leolin away from us.” Harry added darkly.

Nasta dropped a hand to his head and ruffled his hair gently. “It would never happen, Caru. I would never let it.”

“Daddy, we play outside.” Braiden rushed over to insist, clamouring at Nasta’s legs.

“Play ball!” Calix agreed, coming to back his brother up, clinging to Nasta’s other leg.

Nasta looked at Harry, who shrugged. “Half an hour won’t do them any harm, surely?”

“I’ll dry off and get their winter gear.”

Dumbledore chuckled. “I believe they are ruling the roost now?”

Harry laughed. “Oh, almost certainly. They’re little terrors when they don’t get their own way, but they do like being outside. Do you mind?”

“I may be old, Harry, but I can handle sitting outside for a while.”

Harry grinned. “Are you sure? I don’t think Professor McGonagall would be too happy with me if I had to tell her you’d frozen over.”

Dumbledore laughed, but reached out to cup Harry’s hand. He sobered and sighed heavily, looking like something heavy was weighing upon his shoulders.

“What is it?” Harry asked, and immediately his mind went to Voldemort, his heart hammering in his chest, despite knowing that he’d killed that monster for definite in the Ministry atrium after he’d foolishly gone to the Ministry to save Sirius in his fifth year, dragging his friends into mortal danger alongside him.

“I…I have been meaning to come to see you for a while, but I felt I couldn’t face it. I read the articles about your court appearance, and the details that had emerged from that. Harry, you brave boy, I am truly sorry for everything that happened to you. If I had known…it’s easy to say now that it is all over and done with, but I swear to you I would have put a stop to it if I had known what they were doing to you.”

Harry looked down at the carpet and battled with dual feelings of relief that it was nothing to do with Voldemort, and the stress and upset he still sometimes felt when the Dursleys were brought up.

“It…it’s over and done with now. They’re in prison and I got the justice I needed. I left only a few hints, but they’d had me so brainwashed into thinking no one cared, I…I became blasé about the entire thing. It almost became normal to me, why would I say anything when it was normal? They wanted it that way, so I wouldn’t tell anyone. They had everyone in the neighbourhood convinced I was some violent, mentally subnormal, delinquent, so they all avoided me. They wouldn’t have believed me if I’d gone to them for help, and that was the point. They made me see that no one was going to believe me, that no one would help me, and it was only recently that I’ve realised that they made me feel that way on purpose, to stop me from telling everyone I met, and maybe finding someone who would believe me.”

“It saddens me that you felt you couldn’t trust me enough to say something, but I understand why you wouldn’t have. The other Professors and I have gotten together to try to ensure this never happens again, that we never again miss such signs of abuse and neglect in any of the students.”

“That means a lot to me, that you’re going to look out for the students so it doesn’t happen again. I don’t want anyone to have to go through what I did.”

“We hope we never allow another child to suffer as you did. We have all been taught to see the silent signs of abuse, so we hope that it never happens again. We are just truly sorry that it happened this time.”

Harry smiled. “Thank you.”

“Harry, are you coming outside?” Nasta asked, coming back in with an armful of coats.

“Yes, some air will do me some good, and Leolin can have a Faerie moment. Taren could use some air as well. He’s been cooped up since he was born.”

“I’ll get his pram then, so he can be somewhat sheltered from the wind.” Nasta said, dumping the armful of coats onto a spare seat.

Harry stood up and Leolin cried out.

“I could take him, if you didn’t mind.” Dumbledore offered immediately.

“Of course not.”

Harry handed Leolin over, so that he could remain enraptured with the twinkling stars. He would have to remember to bring up the debate on Leolin’s eyes, and if they were more sensitive because of their unique colour.
He started the process of getting the kids all dressed up in their puffy winter coats, and they were getting more excited as they realised they were going to get some outside time.
Nasta brought in the pram, and one of the old snowsuits, clearly for Taren.

“We haven’t had a chance to buy him his own yet.” Nasta smiled, as he picked up the ten day old baby and started dressing him to keep him warm.

“I suppose that’s the good thing about having so many kids, there’s always hand-me-downs.” Harry grinned.

“We go out now?” Braiden asked.

“Go and get your wellies first.” Harry told him, and Braiden ran off to fetch his little wellies.

Harry was forcing Eva’s arm into the sleeve of her coat when Braiden ran back with his wellies, one in each hand.
He sent each of his children to get their wellies, as he finished zipping Eva up and sat Braiden down on his lap to tug on the wellies. Thankfully Nasta came to help him once Taren was dressed up or he would have been swarmed by wellies.
Harry left Nasta to it and he went to try and get the winter coat on Leolin. He liked having his hands free to touch everything around him, but the downside to that was his fingers got very cold, very quickly.
Harry left Leolin with Dumbledore, as Leolin pretty much directed where they went by making grabby motions at a particular tree or bush. Harry pushed the pram up and down the garden, over the frosty grass, as the kids ran riot, screeching and laughing. It brought a smile to his face as he watched them. As he watched Nasta dig out several footballs and kick them down the garden for kids to chase and kick back. Not that they were any good at kicking the balls. In fact they were rather dreadful at it, but they were having so much fun.
He stayed with Eva and Ave, as they played on the frozen playground equipment. He checked on Taren every couple of minutes, just in case, but he was fine, a little red cheeked from the cold under his woolly hat, but he slept peacefully still and the fresh air would do him good.

“There you all are! I was beginning to think I’d walked into the wrong house!”

Harry was grinning before he even turned to look at Max, who was still in his work robes, and smiling from the back porch.

“The kids wanted some outside time.” Harry yelled back.

“Do any of them need a warm up?”

“Probably all of them, but can you come and get Taren? He’s due a feed soon and I don’t want him out here too long.”

“Sure thing. Hey, Albus, how are you?” Max called out, as he came down the porch steps and saw Dumbledore with Leolin. Their Faerie son was clenching the branch of a frozen bush in both tiny hands.

“Wonderful, dear boy. Just wonderful.” Dumbledore replied happily.

Max picked up Taren and the newborn grunted in his sleep. Harry was always awed by the ease in which Max could fold down the pram one handed, and then lift it and carry it in one hand as he headed back inside the house, talking to the sleeping Taren as if the newborn was both awake, and aware enough to understand him, of which he wasn’t.
This now left Harry free to play with the girls, jogging around after them, and catching them as they slid down the little slide.

“Mummy, ball!” Calix yelled out.

Harry looked down to see the ball close to him. He booted it back down the garden and the kids all screeched and ran after it. He grinned as he watched them, before turning back to his twin girls. They were only thirteen months old, and they weren’t really on their feet yet, despite being able to pull themselves up with furniture. It wouldn’t be long before they were walking, but for the moment they were still cruising the furniture.
They were so strong, though, as he watched Ave, who was much better on her feet than her sister, pull herself slowly up the ladder to the slide. She was thirteen months old. Harry hovered behind her, just in case, but he allowed her to climb herself, even if his heart was in his throat the whole time.
Ave just giggled as she reached the top, sitting down and then sliding. Eva however needed a bit more help traversing the ladder, and Harry held her under the arms and gave her the helping hand she needed to reach the top.
They only stayed outside for another twenty minutes, before Nasta called a stop to it, and started herding the kids back into the house.
Harry was carrying a sleepy Eva, while Nasta grabbed the equally sleepy Ave and threw a protesting Calix over his other shoulder.
Dumbledore still held Leolin, but he was fast asleep already. Max had made fresh tea, and hot chocolate for the kids, who got excited all over again for the very rare treat. It even calmed Calix down and stopped his tantrum to go back outside in its tracks.

“Thank you for the lovely afternoon, Harry.” Dumbledore said, as he passed the sleeping Leolin to Nasta. “It was truly wonderful to catch up with you again.”

“Please feel free to come around at any time.” Harry insisted. “I love our catch ups too.”

“It is rather difficult to find the time with the needs of the school, but I’m sure Minerva won’t mind taking over for a bit every once in a while.”

“She can come too, whenever she wants.” Harry insisted. “I miss her ginger newts.” He added with a grin.

Dumbledore chuckled warmly. “I will be sure to tell her.”

Harry saw Dumbledore through the floo with a sad sigh. He really would miss him, but it was nice to catch up. He walked back to the larger family room, and sat down with a sigh.

“Here you go, Harry.”

Harry smiled as Max handed him a cup of hot, honey tea.

“You’re the best.” Harry declared, before taking a very large, deep swallow.

“Oh, I already know that.” Max grinned, but it fell soon after. “So, I couldn’t help but notice Draco and Blaise are absent, where are they?”

“Don’t look so worried.” Harry grinned. “They were getting a bit…frustrated, so Nasta took them up after the kids had lunch for some adult play time. I believe he tired them right out and they’re having a nap time of their own.”

“That’s what I was worried about!” Max declared, frowning.

“How about I make it up to you after dinner, Cariad?” Nasta whispered to him, coming to hug him from behind.

“I’ve had a hard day in work, I deserve it.”

Nasta chuckled and Harry grinned up at them both.

“I’ll make sure you’re well rewarded.” Nasta insisted.

“Good…I…wait, Harry, what about you?”

Harry gave a small smile. “I’m still not feeling it. There is zero urge to have any of you slobbering all over me just yet.”

“Slobbering over you? Damn, you have such a way with words.” Max laughed, breaking away from Nasta and coming around the settee to sit beside him.

Harry giggled. “I’m just still a little sore. Taren was only born ten days ago.”

“We know.” Nasta assured him, ruffling his hair. “You take as much time as you need. You know the healers don’t want you being intimate until at least six weeks after birth.”

“Only a little over a month to go, my dearest love.” Max teased.

Harry laughed again. “If I’m feeling like I am now when the time comes, it’ll be another month on top.”

“Whenever you’re ready.” Nasta said, dropping a kiss to his head and then going around to take off the kids’ winter coats.

“Yeah, what he said.” Max said with a grin. “Whenever you’re ready, just jump us. We’re going to be more than ready for you at that time.”

Harry laughed. “Well at least I know you won’t be all tired out from having one another all the time.”

“Never.” Max declared firmly. “We’ll be anxiously waiting for you to give us the green light to start slobbering all over you again.”

That made Harry laugh…hard. Max smiled to have made him laugh, and threw an arm around him and tugged him into a hug.

“So, do those two need to get up, or are we just leaving them in bed?” Max asked. “They won’t sleep later if they have too long now.”

“I’ll call them in five, Draco was on the night duty last night, and it’s Blaise’s turn tonight, they could use the extra sleep. Leolin is already down for his nap, so I’ll take him up to his cot.” Nasta said, as he took the armful of coats back out to the hallway, and to the coat cupboard they had at the bottom of the stairs.

“Did Taren have his bottle?” Harry turned to ask Max.

“Yeah, he fed fine. He’s really gutsy, he reminds me more of Farren in that way, even if he does look like Leolin’s chubbier twin.”

“Oh, that reminds me, Dumbledore said something interesting. He thinks that Leolin might be able to see things that we can’t, and wondered if maybe his eyes are more sensitive because they’re gold. I was watching him, and Leolin seemed to know which of the stars on Dumbledore’s robes would light up before they did.”

“We should ask Dain and Kailen about it.” Max said.

“Do you think it’s another instance of them just not knowing that humans, or Drackens, are different? I remember when I came into my Dracken inheritance, and it completely wiped out my bad eyesight. I could see things I hadn’t known was there before. I spent the first, I dunno, ten minutes maybe, after my inheritance, just staring around me at all these things I could just suddenly see. Do you think maybe it’s like that? That Leolin can just see things we can’t, because his eyes are more sensitive?”

“We’ll ask them. I think we were going to ask if he would recognise people with the same eye colour.” Nasta said as he hovered behind them, obviously having listened to their conversation.

“Yeah, when we found out that he could recognise us by our eye colour, we wanted to know if he would see Regan and Tegan as the same person, because they’re eyes are the same. Eva and Ave too, he might really struggle to tell those two apart because they’re identical.”

“I’ll call them, and see if they might not like to pop over for a visit tomorrow morning.” Nasta said, and Harry smiled. Nasta was trying, and Harry approved of it.

“I’m sure they will. They love coming to see you.” Max told Nasta. “The kids too, but I always got the feeling that you were the most important person they wanted to see.”

“I always got the feeling that they came for Leolin.” Nasta put in savagely.

Harry shook his head. “They were introduced to you again, when they didn’t know how to get back into contact after so long, via Leolin, but I also got the impression that it wasn’t all about Leolin. Maybe they understand Leolin more, because he’s a Faerie, and they’re rather hopeless with Drackens, and even humans, but they want a relationship with you too. You, Sanex, Aneirin, Idris, Nerys, all of you. They want to reconnect with their family, all of their family, it’s just that Leolin was the opening they needed to get back into contact.”

“Is that how it comes across to you both?” Nasta asked them.

Harry nodded seriously, and he felt Max nodding too.

“Leolin might be a Faerie, Nas, but you’re their grandson too. You’re family. They’ve spent so long being alienated from you all, they just needed a reason, an excuse, to come back into your lives. Don’t forget that outside of the Faerie city, their relationship with Trefor was a secret, that’s why you’re all Delericeys, and not Talarins, or Aldarens, I forget which one you’re related to.” Harry mused, thinking hard.

“They’ve never said, I believe they think that we’ll shun the one we’re not technically related to.” Nasta said.

“But…we’re Drackens, we have family members we’re not technically related to.” Max said, looking offended at the thought. He bent down and picked up Tegan who had been playing by his feet and he gave her a squeezed hug. “This little girl is as much mine as she’s yours.” He directed at Nasta. “All of these kids are mine!” He added with a hint of a growl.

“They’re Faeries, Max.” Harry soothed, stroking his cheek. “Maybe in the Faerie city they shun kids that aren’t their own? Maybe Dain and Kailen were an exception and they were ridiculed for it. There’s more we need to ask of them. There’s still so much we don’t know about the Faerie city, and the culture they have there.”

“But how could they think that we’d shun one of them for not being directly related to Nasta when we have kids that we love as our own?”

“Fear isn’t always rational, my love.” Harry said softly. “They probably don’t mean to offend anyone, but they’re scared of getting to know their family, then perhaps one of them being denied that chance for the purpose of not being technically related.”

“So, we reassure them that won’t happen and then straight out ask them? I…do you even want to know, Nas?” Max asked.

Nasta shrugged. “It doesn’t really make a difference to me.”

“Would you prefer not to know? We won’t ask if you don’t want to know.” Harry insisted.

“Ask them.” Nasta said. “They might like it if we show an interest in their children.”

Harry nodded and he sighed, looking at all of the kids happily playing, some of them settling down for naps after their high activity of that afternoon.

“Go and call those two, they’ve had enough of a nap.” Harry said with a smile.

Nasta chuckled and picked up Leolin and took him upstairs to put him in his bassinet. He would also shake Blaise and Draco awake.

“I’ll make them tea, or a strong coffee in Blaise’s case.” Max chuckled. “Do you want more tea, Harry?”

Harry nodded. “Please.”

Max kissed him and stood, and Harry smiled as he touched all the babies who were actually still awake…Tegan, Braiden and Ave, on his way out to the kitchen.
Harry stayed where he was, and watched the kids playing. He was happy, and relaxed. Tomorrow was going to be a little bit stressful, it usually was when they invited Dain and Kailen around for a chat, but they’d deal with it. As long as they were gone before their Valentine’s Day meal, which Harry was sure that they would be, everything would be fine. He hoped that everything would be fine, because the last thing any of them wanted was an upset Nasta going into their special meal. Harry sighed, he had to hope that everything went well, and that the Faeries didn’t tell them that something was wrong with Leolin, because that would be his worst nightmare.

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A/N: I’ve definitely gotten into the flow with this fic, and I am tentatively hoping that I can reach chapter 130 before I move onto something else, hopefully The Black Heir, but maybe Tainted Blood too. But for the next month at least I am staying with this fic, and only this fic.
Cami (guest): I did see your artwork, it’s absolutely amazing, thank you so much. I especially love the picture you did of Farren, it’s perfect!
Right, this was all for now, lovelies. I’ll be seeing you all again soon, in exactly a week, with chapter 126 – Valentine’s Curse, which will be covering Valentine’s Day, a little late to match up with real life, but all the same, it’s probably a good thing considering what actually happens, but shh, no spoilers.
StarLight Massacre. X
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The Rise of the Drackens