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Restoration of Magic	By : Bickymonster & CelticKitsune Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 10396 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: We do not own Harry Potter or any concepts or characters associated with it. We are not making any money from this this story.

Chapter List
- 16
- 17
- 18
First a huge thanks to Emily for beta reading this for us, as always :D
Second, we would like to apologise for how long it has taken to get this chapter up for all of you! Please see end of the chapter for explanation. Enjoy!

Chapter 16

January 4th 1996

It was the day before the full moon, and Remus and Sirius had informed the four boys that they would be going to stay with Frank for the duration. Blaise still wasn’t quite sure how he felt about this, but Frank had been nice enough to them the few times they had seen him, and the man was apparently responsible for ensuring that they had been able to remain in the care of Sirius and Remus.

But as much as Blaise liked Frank, he wasn’t thrilled about going to another new place. They were finally settling in, getting used to their new home, and none of them wanted to give that up, not even for a couple of days; not to mention, they would once again be surrounded by unfamiliar wards made from corrupted magic. Blaise didn’t want to think about how that was going to affect Harry.

Draco had been particularly resistant to the idea of going, and had even tried to insist that he should stay, in the hope that he might be able to actually help Remus with his transformation. Theo had, of course, been adamantly against that idea, as had both Remus and Sirius, and the temper tantrum that had followed had been impressive, with Draco going so far as to lock himself in his room.

As far as Blaise knew, Theo and Remus were still attempting to coax Draco out. With Sirius once again at work, though only for a half-day, it was left up to Blaise to make sure Harry was packed and washed up, after they had spent the morning outside.

“Are you nearly done?” Blaise called out in the direction of the shower.

He could hear the water still running and dreaded to think what Harry could have been distracted by enough to be in there so long. Harry had apparently heard him though because a few moments later the water shut off, and he could hear the sound of movement from the bathroom.

Blaise folded another tunic into the bag he was packing for his mate and turned to the door in time to see Harry wander through it. He nearly choked on the air he was breathing when he saw what Harry was, or rather wasn’t, wearing.

His mate was covered only by a towel, which was being held around his waist by one hand. It looked as though Harry had barely made much of an attempt to dry himself, trickles of water dripping down from his hair, over his bare chest and soaking into the slightly rolled top of the towel.

“Blaise?” Harry asked after a few seconds, when his mate just continued to stare at him blankly. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Blaise said quickly, turning his back on Harry. “You should get dressed. I’m almost done packing your bag.”

“I hope you didn’t pack my favorite tunic!” Harry exclaimed, hurrying over to stand next to Blaise, looking into the bag to see what his mate had packed.

Blaise glanced down at Harry, his eyes widening when he realised that Harry had lost his towel in his dash across the room. As Harry leaned over the bed to grab at one of his tunics that Blaise had yet to pack, the teen had the sneaking suspicion that Harry was doing this on purpose.

“Would you like some help getting dry before you put that on?” Blaise asked, leaning over Harry’s back, unable to resist the chance to get a little closer to his mate.

“Blaise,” Harry laughed, unable to move with his mate pressed so close against him, “I’m dripping all over my clothes.”

“Maybe you should have thought of that before you came in here naked and wet,” Blaise told him, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist, and pressing a kiss to the back of his neck. “Do you know how tempting you look like this?”

“I have some idea,” Harry said smugly, pressing back against Blaise just enough to feel how he was affecting his mate, and Blaise let out a surprised laugh, not having expected the moment of bold honesty from his mate.

“You know I’m not going to let you go now, right?” Blaise asked, one of his hands slowly moving up Harry’s chest, feeling the other boy shudder.

“You have to,” Harry said, turning his head to look at Blaise. “My bag still isn’t packed, and Remus will get mad if he finds us like this,” he pointed out.

“Perhaps you should have thought about that as well, before coming in here and teasing me like this.” Blaise bit gently down on Harry’s neck, leaving a small red mark. Harry let out a small gasp of surprise, but made no attempt to move away, and the sound became a soft moan as Blaise’s hand moved down his chest.

“Blaise… we can’t,” Harry protested weakly, sounding not at all convinced by his own words.

“Again, you should have thought of that, before coming back in here,” Blaise said, removing one of his hands from Harry to wave it at the door, closing and locking it. He had no intention of being interrupted this time.

“Blaise…” Harry bit his lip when his mate’s hand moved lower again. He could feel Blaise’s excitement, physically and mentally, and knew that Blaise wasn’t going to stop. And Harry didn’t want him to. He wanted to keep feeling his mate’s lips against his neck, kissing and biting at him, his hands moving over his chest as they traveled downward.

“If you want me to stop, tell me now,” Blaise said breathlessly. He wasn’t going to let Remus get between them, but if Harry truly didn’t want this, then Blaise would make himself let go. However, he needn’t have worried because Harry shook his head and pressed back against him.

Licking his lips in nervous anticipation, Blaise lowered his hand yet further, until it brushed against Harry’s own erection, and he couldn’t help but smile a little, pleased to have so easily drawn such a reaction from his mate.

Harry gasped, his hips bucking instinctively in search of more friction. His hands scrunched up around the fabric he was leaning on, though he neither knew nor cared whether it was clothes or bed covers. He felt Blaise’s other hand tighten on his waist, pulling him back against the stronger body. Harry bit down on his lip harder, not wanting to be too loud, however he was unable to stop the small whimper from escaping as fingers curled around his aching cock.

Between his own arousal and the waves of it he could feel coming off his mate, Harry felt disoriented. It was good, better than good, it was amazing, bordering on far too much all at once, yet he wanted more.

Blaise was rocking his own hips forward, grinding against Harry as he worked his hand slowly over his mate’s cock. Harry was losing himself in the feelings far too quickly; however, there was something leaking through his bubble of pleasure, and everything practically shattered around him when he heard the sound of a door slamming down the hall. Remus and Theo had managed to get Draco out of his room.

“Blaise…” Harry moved to stop his mate, his hand wrapping around Blaise’s wrist, stopping him from moving. “Blaise… w-wait…”

“Shhh, I got you, Harry,” Blaise whispered, squeezing his hand around Harry’s cock, pulling a startled moan from his small mate.

“N-no… Blaise, we… we have to stop,” Harry said, trying to find the willpower to actually pull away. It was harder than it should have been. He didn’t want Blaise to stop, and he certainly didn’t want him to let go.

A sudden shove of his magic was all that it took; Blaise stumbled backward, crying out in shock as Harry threw a small barrier up around himself.

“I’m sorry!” Harry cried as he sank to his knees. “I’m sorry! We can’t! We promised…”

“I don’t give a fuck what we promised, Harry! You’re my mate! You said you didn’t want to stop,” Blaise said accusingly, and Harry could feel the frustration and anger coming from Blaise.

“I don’t!” Harry turned to look at Blaise, “I want to keep going. I don’t want you to stop...but we have to, we promised…”

“No, Harry, YOU promised,” Blaise pointed out sternly, huffing in frustration. “And you promised to try, nothing more.”

“And I am trying, Blaise,” Harry told him a little tearfully, not sure how to process the whirlwind of conflicting emotions that his mate was feeling “And you promised me that you would help me, that we would keep that promise together.”

“I don’t like being told that I’m able to look at, but not touch my mate, especially when you come in here the way you did!” Blaise bit out. “You deliberately dropped the towel. You knew what you were doing when you bent over the bed.”

“I’m sorry,” Harry exclaimed, actual tears on his face as he grabbed a tunic and the closest pair of trousers from on the bed and all but ran for the door. He cried out in frustration when he yanked on it but it didn’t move, held closed by Blaise’s spell.

“I’m not going to let you lead me on like that anymore,” Blaise went on. “You either want me or you don’t. So maybe you should decide what’s more important, your stupid promise or me.”

Harry couldn’t even find the words to reply to that, tearing down Blaise’s locking spell as quickly as he could, before running from the room, his clothes clutched tightly against his chest as he darted down the hall and back into the bathroom. Sinking down to the floor, he tried to sort out the overwhelming emotions battering against his shields.

He tried to block it all out, reinforce his shields like he had been taught, but it was too much. He felt dizzy and disoriented from it all, unable to even tell which emotions were his own anymore, but the more he tried to focus, the more his head swam. As his gut gave a protesting lurch, Harry rolled to his knees, and managed to get his head over the toilet bowl before his stomach clenched violently, emptying into the loo.

“Harry?” The door to the bathroom opened slowly, as Draco’s head poked through the gap. “Harry!” he gasped, hurrying into the room when he saw him sitting naked, throwing up into the toilet. “What happened?”

Harry just shook his head and sobbed again, before throwing up once more. He didn’t have the words to explain. He didn’t even really understand it himself, and he just wanted it all to stop. Draco’s hand pressed against his back, rubbing in circles, and Harry focused on the concern that his friend was feeling, letting it start to ground him. He didn’t notice Theo standing in the doorway, a disapproving scowl on his face.

Harry was calming down enough that he could now get his shields up properly again, though he was still unable to stop his tears, or how much it had hurt to have Blaise so angry with him. What made it so much worse was that Harry knew his mate was right to be angry; he had known what he was doing when he had teased a reaction, and he had still continued because he had enjoyed the way Blaise was able to focus on nothing else but him.

“How about we get you dressed?” Draco suggested softly, still rubbing gentle circles on Harry’s back. Harry just nodded meekly, as Draco reached for the tunic that had fallen to the floor.

Theo watched on as Harry raised an arm enough to help Draco start to dress him, before turning from the room. Now that he knew that Harry was safe and calm in Draco’s hands, he could go deal with what, or rather who, he suspected to be the cause of Harry’s state.

“What did you do?” he demanded to know, as he slammed open the door to Harry’s bedroom.

Blaise turned to look at Theo, narrowing his eyes at his best friend for a moment before turning his back on him. Theo clenched his hands into fists.

“I’m only asking because you’re my friend. Now what did you do?” he asked again.

When Blaise still didn’t answer, Theo strode forward, grabbed the other teen and turned him around roughly while he swung his fist, satisfied when it connected with Blaise’s jaw.

“What the fuck did you do to Harry?” Theo snapped.

“I didn’t DO anything,” Blaise snapped back, rubbing the sore spot where Theo had punched him.

“Really?” Theo asked skeptically. “So I suppose he was just in the bathroom naked and throwing up because he’s feeling a little under the weather then?”

Theo was holding his own anger back, but just barely, and only because he knew Blaise. He knew that his friend would have never have forced Harry to do anything he didn’t want to. However, right now he could only think of the few conversations he and Blaise had had about how difficult things were between him and Harry, and how Harry’s empathy made it really hard to stop if things started going too far.

Blaise stared up at Theo, a look of guilt crossing his face before he looked away. Theo breathed in deeply, his magic practically sparking in the air around him.

“You had better start talking in the next thirty seconds, before I decide for myself what happened, and punish you accordingly,” Theo hissed.

“I didn’t do anything!” Blaise said. “Well, nothing Harry didn’t want anyway...at first.” Blaise growled in frustration, running a hand through his own hair.

“Explain.”

“I got angry at Harry. He came in here and started things with me, then I don’t know what happened! He just stopped… no worse than that! He used his magic to push me away!” Blaise huffed. “And… maybe I said some things I probably shouldn’t have… but damn it, Theo! I’m sick of this!”

“But you didn’t do anything? After he pushed you away,” Theo clarified, needing to know for sure. Harry was like family to him, and he wouldn’t let anyone, not even Blaise, hurt him.

“Of course I didn’t,” Blaise told him dismissively, “but I was so angry. He should never have made that stupid promise. And he shouldn’t act like he wants to take things further if he doesn’t!”

Theo just hummed vaguely. To him, it sounded like both Harry and Blaise were partially responsible, but he wasn’t going to say that; this was for them to work out.

“Is he okay?” Blaise asked after a few seconds, taking a seat on the end of Harry’s bed.

“Draco’s with him. I would suggest you give them both some space for a little while,” Theo told him. “Harry will just need time, and given that Draco is already irritated about not being allowed to stay here for the full moon, you probably don’t want to test his temper. Unless you fancy a matching bruise on the other cheek.”

“I think this one will be enough for now, thanks,” Blaise said dryly, raising his hand again to feel where Theo had hit him. “You didn’t have to hit me so hard though.”

“I’ll apologise if you can honestly say you didn’t deserve it,” Theo said, looking Blaise in the eye for a moment, smirking when his friend kept his mouth shut. “That’s what I thought.”

The two of them fell silent again, and Theo took his time to glance around the room. “Why don’t you bring our bags downstairs. I’ll give our mates another few minutes to get themselves sorted, and we’ll meet you down there.”

Blaise sighed. “I suppose hiding in here for the next few hours isn’t an option? I’m not really in the mood to talk to Harry yet.”

“So don’t talk to him. I’m not going to hold your hand through this one Blaise; you two have to find out what works for you.” Theo said. He wasn’t expecting an reply from Blaise, but waited a moment to see if his friend had anything to say. When Blaise remained quietly thoughtful, Theo left the room, heading back to the bathroom to check on Draco and Harry.

He knew that none of the others were happy with being sent away for the full moon. Theo, however, was looking forward to it; he was hoping to use this as a much needed distraction from the drama that now surrounded their lives, even if it was only for a few days. He would never regret leaving the Fae city; however, he was starting to miss how relatively peaceful their lives had been there.

---------------x

Frank and Alice’s house wasn’t as large as Sirius and Remus’, but they had two spare bedrooms, three if they included Neville’s, but Frank wouldn’t dream of letting anyone but Neville stay in there. Sirius had advised him that the boys would likely all end up in one bed together anyway.

He finished dressing the beds in the two spare rooms, using a handy spell, before heading downstairs. Alice was exactly where he had left her, sat in her chair in the back room, gazing out of the window. Glancing at the clock, Frank let out a small sigh. The boys would be here soon, and even though he had talked to Alice about it, she had had no reaction to the news.

“Alice,” Frank said, moving to stand next to where his wife was seated, “they’re going to be here soon.”

Alice glanced away from the window long enough to look up at him, then toward the door before she returned her gaze out the window.

Sighing again, Frank gently patted his wife on the shoulder before walking through his house once more. Sirius had warned him that if he didn’t want the boys to get into anything, he should put it in a secure place. There had been a few artifacts that he had already locked away, but it wouldn’t hurt to check and make sure he hadn’t missed anything.

He knew that he was simply looking for something, anything, to do in order to pass the time, but he hadn’t anticipated how shaken he would feel at the idea of having the boys there. He was far too aware that they were Neville’s peers, that these weren’t the children he and Alice truly wanted in their home; not that he didn’t want to give the boys a home, he was glad to be able to help, but it ached more than he’d expected.

When the floo flared green a little over ten minutes later, he was both glad that the wait was done and nervous, not least over how Alice might react to their presence.

It was Draco and Harry that stepped through first, accompanied by Sirius, who moved the two teens out of the way of the fireplace. Sirius flashed Frank a smile, but the two boys’ eyes were darting around the room in curiosity, before landing on him. Theo and Blaise came through only moments later, before Frank had a chance to welcome them to his home.

“No Remus?” Frank asked curiously when the flames of his fireplace returned to their usual glowing mix of reds and oranges.

“He wasn’t feeling up to the trip,” Sirius told him casually. “You boys all remember Frank?” he asked, despite knowing they would. It was hardly a subtle change of subject.

“Of course,” Theo answered for all of them. “Thank you for letting us stay with you.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Draco grumbled under his breath, though not quietly enough given the look that Theo shot him.

“I assume you remember everyone?” Sirius ploughed on with determination, the question directed at Frank.

“I do,” Frank assured him with a nod, before leading the group further into the house. “Though I would like to introduce you all to my wife, Alice,” Frank told them as they reached the back room.

A rather frail looking woman turned her head and watched with a blank expression as the room filled with people. The four of boys stared at her for a moment before sharing concerned looks.

“Boys, this is Alice, my wife and… Neville’s mother,” Frank introduced, motioning toward where she was sitting. The woman just blinked slowly. “And Alice, this is Blaise, Theodore, Draco, and Harry.” Frank pointed out each boy as he said their name, and wasn’t the least bit surprised when it was Harry who moved forward first.

“Hi!” Harry greeted happily, smiling at the woman who just sat there and stared at him. Harry tilted his head curiously. “Um… hi?” he tried again, when he got no response.

Alice opened her mouth as if she were going to say something, only to snap it shut again, turning wide-eyes up toward Frank.

“Alice, this is Harry, James and Lily’s boy. Remember? I told you that we had found some of the missing children?” Frank asked, kneeling down in front of his wife, resting his hand over hers. “They’re going to be staying with us for a couple days during the full moon.”

“What’s wrong with her?” Blaise asked, frowning as he watched the strange display. Frank shook his head, squeezing Alice’s hand gently before he stood up to look at Blaise.

“It’s a long story,” Frank said evasively, maintaining eye contact with his wife. “Things have been difficult since Neville was taken, and time has taken it’s toll on Alice more than most.”

“Is that why she’s so sad?” Harry asked, and Frank turned to look at him in surprise. Blaise, on the other hand, appeared to be determinedly holding his tongue.

“Harry,” Theo said warningly.

“What?” Harry turned to look at his friend. “She’s really sad, and I was just wondering if it was because Neville was taken.”

“I think something like that would be obvious. Most of the wizards here seem to have some degree of sadness concerning the fact that we, and the others, were taken,” Theo said.

“Theo’s right,” Sirius agreed. “It was kind of a big deal for everyone.”

“Neville will come back to you eventually,” Harry told Alice kindly, wanting to ease some of her sadness. He smiled at her broadly as he felt a swell of hope from the woman.

“How are you so certain he’ll come back?” Frank questioned, jumping on the fact that Harry seemed willing to talk.

“Because Rosario told us they were never going to keep us there; that we had a job-” Harry was cut off when Draco covered his mouth.

“No, please,” Frank said imploringly. “This could be helpful.”

“We don’t want to talk about it,” Blaise told him grumpily from where he stood a little way back from the others with a sour expression on his face.

“Leave them be, Frank,” Sirius said, when it looked like his fellow Auror was about to insist. “They aren’t going to tell you anything if you push them. Besides, you don’t want to go making enemies out of these boys right before you have them in your house for two days,” he added with a somewhat wry laugh, trying to lighten the tension.

Frank looked as if he were still going to press the issue, but stopped when Alice reached out and took hold of his hand.

“So,” Sirius said, after a moment of quiet had settled over the room, “I’ll leave you boys in Frank’s capable hands because I have a rather irritable werewolf to get back to.”

“Yes, yes,” Frank said, forcing himself to look away from Alice for the moment, though he didn’t let go of her hand. The gesture was too rare and precious for him to relinquish it so soon. “We’ll be just fine; don’t worry. Let me know when you are ready for them to come home.”

“Don’t worry; I am sure Remus will be demanding to have them back the moment we are out the other side of this,” Sirius assure him, knowing that his fiance wasn’t coping half as well as he was pretending to with the idea of the boys being away from them.

Harry turned to grin up at Sirius at that. He had felt just how conflicted Remus had felt about them leaving; he thought it might be half of why Remus hadn’t come along, not sure that he would actually be able to leave them there. He had no doubt that Sirius and Remus would be back for them soon.

“Behave yourselves,” Sirius said firmly as he wrapped each of the boys in a momentary hug, leaving both Draco and Blaise rather stunned, Theo looking touched, and Harry grinning from ear-to-ear.

“We always do,” Harry fibbed. Sirius laughed loudly, ruffling Harry’s hair.

“That’s my boy,” Sirius said proudly, turning to head back toward the other room where the floo was located while Frank stepped forward.

“Come on, I’ll show you four to your room,” Frank said. He put a hand on Draco’s back guiding him out of the room, seeing how fixated on Alice the young Malfoy boy seemed to be. The way he was looking at her made him slightly uneasy.

Glancing back to make sure that the other three boys were in fact following him, he led them up the stairs to the room he had prepared. Pushing open the door and gesturing inside, Frank watched as Harry hurried into the room first, with Draco just behind. Theo and Blaise followed a bit more slowly. Frank hovered awkwardly in the doorway for a moment as each of them explored the room.

“I’ll leave you boys to get settled. I’ll call you when it’s time for dinner,” Frank said, leaving the door open as he turned and left.

Theo walked over to the door, looked out into the hallway and listened to Frank’s steps as he descended the stairs. Sure that their host was gone now, Theo turned to look directly at Harry, the other teen sitting on the edge of the bed.

Harry knew he was in trouble, but once again wasn’t sure what he had done wrong. So he waited for the door to close, and for Theo to turn toward him before asking. “What did I do?”

Theo sighed, “Nothing.”

“I can give you a list!” Draco piped up. “You weren’t shielding, again.”

“I was!” Harry protested, looking over at Draco now. “I swear I was! She was just that sad…”

“Okay fine, so you were shielding, but you were still rude just blurting something like that out. There is obviously something more going on here-” Draco stopped in his rant toward Harry when Theo placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down, Draco, neither of those things are that important, considering it’s Harry and he can get away with stuff like that on occasion,” Theo said before turning to give Harry a pointed look. “But perhaps we should keep the information about our appointed ‘job’ to ourselves for now. We don’t know if the wizards are going to react favorably to the idea of changing how they do things.”

“So we really can’t tell them anything?” Harry frowned.

“For now, no, I don’t trust them yet,” Theo said.

“But they’ve been so nice…” Harry pouted.

“Nice, and trustworthy are two different things, Harry,” Blaise sighed.

“Fine. I won’t trust them then,” Harry huffed, crossing his arms over his chest. “But I still want to help them, and maybe we can start with Alice.”

“We don’t even know what happened to her,” Theo pointed out. “Almost anything could be behind her current state.”

“It’s Fae magic,” Blaise said, and all three of the other boys turned to look at him in confusion. “There was lots of magic around her, but it wasn’t all wizard magic. There was Fae magic there too.”

“Fae magic? Like ours?” Draco asked curiously, and Blaise nodded.

“Exactly. It is like it is wrapped around her, tightly,” Blaise explained. “But there are hints of wizard magic too. Like powerful spells were cast on her at some point that have left their mark.”

“And you’re certain it was Fae magic?” Theo questioned, looking thoughtful as he considered this.

“Of course. I was already getting fairly good at visualising the magic around us before we left the city,” Blaise told them, unable to keep from sounding a little smug about that. “It isn’t that hard to tell wizard magic from Fae magic. They just look so different.”

“If it’s Fae magic, does that mean you can actually fix her, Draco?” Harry asked hopefully, almost unable to hold himself still in his eagerness.

“I won’t know until I can sit down with her,” Draco said, a thoughtful expression on his face as he mulled over the possibility. “And it may take some time to find out what spell was used.”

Theo looked momentarily uncomfortable, casting a furtive glance in Blaise’s direction. “Do you think....?”

“That this is what was mentioned in the folder? The complication…? Yes, it has to be,” Blaise agreed easily.

“Complication?” Harry asked, looking between Blaise and Theo with suspicion. “In the Fae’s folders? What did it say?”

Theo gave a weary sigh and ignored the look of warning that Blaise was giving him. “In Neville’s folder, it said there was a complication when he was taken. That his mother was home, and that they had to use memory and compulsion spells on her.”

“Well that would narrow down what I am looking for,” Draco admitted.

“So you’ll try?” Harry asked happily, jumping up and throwing his arms around the blond. “Thank you, thank you. I know you can do it.” Harry said, kissing Draco’s cheek and laughing when his friend let out a loud protest.

“Yuck! Blaise! Get your mate to stop molesting me!” Draco demanded.

“Yeah,” Blaise said dryly, “he does that. Give him a moment; he’ll get bored.”

“Harry, Draco,” Theo spoke up quickly, wanting to keep Blaise and Harry from arguing, at least while they were guests in someone else's house. “Why don’t you two go back downstairs. See if you can talk with Alice. I want to speak to Blaise alone for a moment.”

“But…” Harry protested, rather hurt by Blaise’s remark, and the dismissive attitude that he had had from his mate all day.

“Just go,” Blaise interrupted insistently, his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his face. Harry fell quiet.

“Harry, Draco, please,” Theo implored, his hands on Harry and Draco’s shoulders, edging them back towards the door.

“We’re going,” Draco said huffily, throwing a glare over his shoulder in Blaise’s direction, as he took Harry by the hand.

Harry could feel how annoyed Blaise still was, and it was like an itch or a headache that just wouldn’t go away, even as he tried to focus on Theo and Draco’s protectiveness instead. So he was almost relieved when Draco all but dragged him from the room, away from his mate. He was happy to let Theo deal with Blaise if Blaise was going to be like this.

----------------x

January 5th 1996

Sirius watched as Remus viciously attacked his plate of scrambled eggs with a fork, going so far as to have actually bent the prongs a little. He had seen his fiancé’s pre-full-moon moods more times than he could count, but it was more this time; Remus missed the boys. Sirius would have been a bit more openly amused by this, if he wasn’t worried about getting his face ripped off.

“Stop laughing at me,” Remus snapped.

“I didn’t say anything!” Sirius insisted defensively.

“You don’t have to, I can smell your amusement from here,” Remus growled.

“You can? I showered this morning,” Sirius said with a grin.

Remus snorted in amusement, despite himself. “I’m aware,” he told him. “You were definitely making the most of our empty house, parading around in the smallest towel we own. Pretty sure that wasn’t even a towel; it looked a lot more like a flannel.”

“It wasn’t that small,” Sirius protested, “besides, you were NOT complaining.”

“The towel was small enough for some of you to be hanging out beneath it,” Remus told him with a lust-filled snart.

Sirius smirked. “And you were pretending not to look.”

“I’d seen it before,” Remus told him with mock dismissiveness and a shrug of his shoulders.

Sirius gasped in outrage. “We’ll just see if I let you see it again,” he told him pompously. And at that, Remus gave a real laugh, ringing with obvious disbelief. “Hey! I could totally keep myself clothed for… at least a week,” Sirius insisted, but he paused, considering. “...Maybe... Okay, a couple of days at least.”

“Of course, love,” Remus said, sipping his tea and picking up his paper. He was feeling much more like himself now; it never failed to amaze him how easily Sirius could manage that. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Sirius trying to hide a smile and knew that it had been entirely deliberate.

“Did you take the last of your potion?” Sirius asked, not really wanting to break the happy moment between them, but knowing that they needed to discuss the upcoming evening. Even after twenty-four years of transformations, Sirius still felt the need to ensure that Remus got through them okay.

“Of course. That’s not something I’m likely to forget,” Remus said, not even bothering to hide the bitterness in his voice. Sirius knew better than to take it personally at this point.

“Just double checking,” Sirius said, pushing away from the table before standing up. He started clearing away the dishes that he and Remus were finished with.

“I know,” Remus told him. “I do appreciate that you put up with me month after month like this.”

Sirius smiled at him. “At least your time of the month can be mostly controlled by a potion,” he pointed out. “Remember how vicious Lily could get,” he said with an exaggerated shudder.

Remus chuckled, shaking his head. “Maybe it is me that has to put up with you,” he pointed out.

“Could be!” Sirius agreed unrepentantly. He had always rather thought that was the case. “But we both know you have a masochistic streak a mile wide, otherwise you would never have survived even one year of friendship with me and James.”

“I was so glad that anyone even wanted to talk to me that you could probably have been the darkest of wizards and I still would have followed you around like a sad little puppy,” Remus pointed out, his tone suddenly wistful.

Sirius gave up on the dishes for the moment, and moved to take a seat next to his fiancé. “That’s nonsense, and you know it,” Sirius said stubbornly, taking Remus’ hand in his own. “You have far better standards than that. That you have agreed to marry me is evidence of that.”

“This is why we have to have such a big house, so your ego can fit,” Remus said dryly.

“One of many reasons,” Sirius agreed earnestly. “Such as housing random teenagers I bring home from the ministry for you to look after.”

“Yes, and as much as I’m enjoying having the four boys here, I hope you don’t plan to make it habit, bringing random teenagers home with you. Someone might start asking questions,” Remus said with a teasing smile.

“You make me sound like some pervert!” Sirius gasped. “I’ll have you know the only person I want to do anything of that sort with is you.”

“I know that. I just meant that OTHER people might ask stupid questions,” Remus pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

“Well I have no current plans to bring home any other kids,” Sirius assured him. “Though I make no guarantees. There are still forty-five other kids left to be brought home, and a fair few of them might need some place to stay for a while.”

“Let’s at least get through today first,” Remus pleaded with a resigned chuckle. “We have enough to worry about right now with the full moon. Our current kids are safe, we have the house to ourselves, and I intend to make the most of having you all to myself today.”

“I like the sound of that,” Sirius all but purred, leaning in close to press a kiss to Remus’ jaw. “But first, I should finish washing those dishes; they’re not going to clean themselves,” Sirius said, standing up and moving to go back to the sink to finish the chore he had started.

Remus stared at his fiance in mild shock, before a low growl worked it’s way out of his throat. Standing quickly enough to send his chair falling to the floor, he crossed the kitchen in two steps, grabbed Sirius from behind and spun him around to pin him against the counter.

“You KNOW better than to tease me during the full moon!” Remus’ voice had taken on a rough, animalistic tone as he pressed more firmly against Sirius.

“And yet, I still do it every month,” Sirius smirked, pulling at his hands, only to have Remus grip his wrists more firmly, letting out another low growl. “Bring it on, Sweetheart. Give me all you’ve got.”

Remus knew well enough by now to take Sirius at his word, and leaned forward, forcefully pressing their lips together. He pressed the length of his body against Sirius’, adrenaline flooding his body as he dominated his mate.

Sirius moaned wantonly, and Remus could feel the evidence of how much they both were enjoying the moment. This, as much as anything, had been a reason to remove the boys from the house a little early, knowing that they needed this time to get fully acquainted with each other before the night settled in and the moonlight changed him.

Remus growled again, instinctively, as he lowered them both to the floor. His inner wolf always relished these moments when Sirius willingly submitted to him, and this time was no different.

-------------x

Draco was already regretting the promise he had made the evening before, that he would try and help Alice. Because now that he had made a start at it, he was determined to make some kind of progress. However, the spells that had been used on the woman were far too strong, making it difficult for Draco to even tell if there had been any damage done to her mind or not.

It was also becoming a little unnerving, having Alice sitting there, staring at him, and occasionally glancing over to where Harry had seated himself nearby. She made no other movement, and Draco was starting to become annoyed with the whole situation.

“Did you want to take a break?” Harry asked, picking up on Draco’s annoyance.

“No, for the tenth time, I do NOT want to take a break,” Draco snapped, keeping his focus on Alice, who blinked slowly at him. “I want to undo at least one of these spells! It shouldn’t be this hard!” Draco huffed, running a hand through his hair.

“She knows what we’re doing,” Harry said, trying to offer some kind of help to his friend; however, he was no healer, and had very little knowledge about how to undo binding spells.

“How do you know that?” Draco demanded, looking away from Alice so he wouldn’t have to see her staring at him anymore.

“Because she’s hopeful,” Harry said, as if it should have been obvious. “Are the spells on her really that strong?”

Draco let out a long sigh. “Originally, no, I don’t think they were, but there’s evidence that they’ve been tampered with. I can feel the magic out easily enough, and with enough force I could rip it down, like I did with the wards back at Wit’s End,” Draco explained.

“So why don’t you just do that? It would break the spells, wouldn’t it?” Harry questioned.

“It would,” Draco agreed, “but it could do more harm than good. If her mind is already damaged, and I just ripped the spells away from her, I could kill her… and I, for one, don’t want to explain THAT to Frank.”

“Yeah… don’t do that,” Harry agreed.

“Trust me, I had no intention to,” Draco told him, turning back to Alice again. She was still staring at him eerily. It was too much. “I’m giving up for now. I need to find Theo,” he said, going to look back over his shoulder towards Harry. However, he was startled by a tight grip on his arm, and he heard Harry gasp behind him.

Alice was still looking at him, but her expression had changed, now desperate and wide-eyed, and her hand had wrapped around his wrist. It was the only reaction he had seen from her in all the hours he had spent working.

“She’s panicking,” Harry said softly, and Draco’s sense of helplessness grew.

“I’m not giving up,” Draco told her stubbornly. He was already feeling determined, but he hadn’t really stopped to consider how much it might truly mean to Alice herself, who had been presumably stuck in her own head for the best part of a decade and a half. “I just need a break to clear my head.”

“Great idea. Why didn’t I think of that?” Harry giggled, rolling his eyes at his best friend.

Alice slowly let go of Draco’s wrist, her expression fading back into the blank stare she had had before, as she turned her attention away from Draco and Harry, looking out the window she was sat in front of. Draco felt like he should say something more, convince her that he really wasn’t going to give up; however, a soft noise from Harry caught his attention and he turned to look at his friend again.

Harry was rubbing at his eyes, trying to get rid of the tears that had formed there. “It’s not me,” Harry said when he saw Draco looking at him worriedly. “It’s Alice,” he explained.

“That’s it. We both need a break,” Draco said. Going over to Harry, he grabbed the other teen’s arm and pulled him from the room.

“She was just so…” Harry trailed off into nothing as he struggled to find the words to explain.

“Desperate?” Draco guessed, as he led them into the kitchen. Frank had told the boys to make themselves at home, and had shown them where all the snacks were. Draco knew that they both needed a distraction right now.

“Sort of,” Harry agreed hesitantly. It had been more complicated than that, but desperation was definitely part of it. Whatever she had been feeling though, it had been overwhelming. “I was blocking as best I could, so some of what I was feeling from her was a bit muffled.”

“About that,” Draco said as he pushed Harry into one of the seats at the table and fetched a bowl of grapes from the fridge, placing it in front of his friend, “I have a stupid idea.”

“That’s usually my job,” Harry told him with an exaggerated pout, snagging a grape as Draco took a seat across from him. “But I wanna hear it anyway,” he assured him, popping the grape into his mouth and watching his friend expectantly.

“What if you lowered your shields,” Draco suggested. “And I know,” he added before Harry could protest, “Blaise and Theo probably won’t like the idea… and honestly I am not convinced on how smart it actually is, myself…”

“Then why?” Harry asked.

“Because you can feel what she feels, and right now, that’s the closest we can get to hearing what she has to say,” Draco pointed out with barely restrained excitement.

“It’s just emotions, Draco,” Harry told him with a frown. “I can’t hear her thoughts.”

“I know that.” Draco waved him off dismissively. “But it’s still better than nothing. I mean, you knew that she understood, and that she was scared when I went to leave.”

“I suppose,” Harry said a little hesitantly. He knew it would take quite some convincing to get Theo and Blaise on board, and they had no idea what Harry would feel if he took his barriers down fully, so, despite his usually dive-in-head-first attitude, he wanted to be sure that this was the best course of action. “Will that actually help?”

Draco shrugged. “Not sure, but it has to be worth a try. What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Erm… That I get a head full of seriously twisted, messed up emotions and get so completely overwhelmed by it that I can’t put the shields back up?” Harry suggested with a wry grin.

“This isn’t the Fae city, you’re not going to get overwhelmed. And if you do, I’ll just take you out of the room where you can focus more away from Alice, and get your shields up,” Draco said, he made it sound simple enough that Harry found himself agreeing.

“Alright,” he said, moving to stand up.

“Where are you going?” Draco questioned.

“To tell Blaise and Theo,” Harry said, as if it was the most obvious thing.

“You do realise if you tell them, they won’t let us try this,” Draco said. “And they may even tell me to stop trying to help Alice.”

Harry frowned. He truly felt that something like this should be talked about with their mates first. The night before had been tough enough with Blaise apparently not wanting to sleep next to him; he had still been awake when Harry had gone to bed, and had woken up before him, so Harry wasn’t even sure where he had slept. So while Blaise was still so angry at him, Harry didn’t want to give his mate another reason to not talk to him.

“Besides, this is your choice, Harry,” Draco insisted. “We don’t need their permission to do anything. You’re the one who would have to deal with whatever Alice is feeling, not me or Theo or Blaise.”

“That’s true,” Harry admitted, looking for a hole in Draco’s logic but not finding one. “And Blaise is only just outside if we need him.” Harry bit his lip, glancing out toward garden, where he knew both of their mates currently were.

“Exactly,” Draco said happily, knowing that he had all but persuaded Harry now. “And won’t it be easier to focus on Alice’s feelings if everyone else is further away?”

“It would,” Harry agreed, popping another grape in his mouth, mulling it all over as he ate it. “Okay,” he said when he was done a few moments later, “we can give it a try.”

Harry laughed when Draco grinned widely at him and shoved a few grapes in his own mouth before standing up. “Let’s go try it now!” Draco said excitedly.

“Right, right now?” Harry frowned. “I thought we just came out here to take a break…”

“And we’ve had one. Besides, I want to try this before Theo and Blaise come back inside,” Draco insisted, grabbing a few more grapes before grabbing Harry’s arm and pulling him to his feet again.

“...is this how you feel every time I get excited about something and drag YOU everywhere?” Harry asked, allowing himself to be led back out of the kitchen.

“Probably,” Draco told him happily, “though that’s often accompanied by a sense of dread, because I KNOW you are going to land us in trouble.”

“I don’t always,” Harry grumbled half-heartedly. “And I am dreading Blaise’s reaction when he finds out we did this,” he added under his breath. He knew that Draco was right, that this was his choice, but he was still a little unsure about not talking to Blaise about it first.

“We’re helping Alice. How mad can he get about that?” Draco asked rhetorically. Harry opened his mouth to answer, but then they were already in the back room of the house and Draco was standing him in front of Alice. “So I’m going to stand over the other side of the room so that I don’t distract from what Alice is feeling.”

Harry nodded vaguely, watching as Draco backed up over to the kitchen door they had just come through. He felt suddenly rather alone in this, and had to resist the urge to grab his friend by the hand and drag him back over, keep him close. But he knew Draco was right; this needed to be done with minimal distractions.

Harry tried not to let his sudden unease show as he looked at Alice. Forcing a smile, he held a hand out toward her. “We’re going to try something that might help,” Harry explained, knowing that Alice could understand him, even if she couldn’t respond verbally. Alice lifted her own hand taking Harry’s.

“Alright,” Harry said taking a deep breath. “Let’s do this.”

Harry closed his eyes, the lingering doubt in the back of his mind once again telling him that this was probably a really bad idea. But he had agreed to it, and he did want to help Alice as much as Draco did. Deciding it was now of never, Harry dropped his shields.

He was dimly aware of Alice’s grip tightening on his own hand as his body tensed up with the sudden loss of all his mental shields. Emotions came at him from everywhere, hitting against him like a physical tidal wave. He had no idea how he remained standing; though truthfully he was so detached from his sense of self that he wasn’t certain that he had.

It was too much, and his first instinct was to tell Draco, but he couldn’t think clearly enough to remember how to work his voice, how to shape his mouth to form words. He was thankful that his lungs seemed to be drawing air of their own accord, out of pure survival instinct, because he wasn’t certain he could remember how to do that.

Draco watched Harry and Alice closely from where he stood across the room, it was only now occurring to him that he had no idea how to tell if Harry had dropped his shields or not. He assumed that his friend had however, after Alice took Harry’s hand and Harry fell eerily silent.

“Harry?” Draco asked hesitantly. He didn’t want to interrupt, but it seemed to be taking longer than he had expected for Harry to snap out of it. Something was definitely off.

But Harry didn’t react, and continued to stare at Alice, his body rigid and his breath coming in short gasps. He seemed completely oblivious to Draco’s presence, which only alarmed Draco further. He was thinking now that this had been a terrible, terrible mistake.

“Harry!” Draco called louder, demanding his friend’s attention.

When Harry still didn't move, Draco’s panic rose further, his heart hammering in his chest. Hurrying forward he grabbed Harry’s shoulder, pulling him away from Alice and turning the far-too-still boy to face him. Harry, however, continued to stare straight ahead, eyes wide and unblinking.

“Harry, look at me!” Draco ordered.

The only reply he got was a deep shuddering breath and a small whimper before Harry fell silent again. Draco was truly panicked now; he had to get Harry out of this room, away from Alice, and hope that he hadn't just caused his friend any lasting damage.

Glancing toward Alice, Draco suppressed a shudder. He had to force away the mental image of Harry stuck in the same state as this woman. He couldn’t, wouldn’t let himself think like that. Harry would be fine.

Draco tugged on Harry’s arm, thankful when Harry followed the movement, taking a step forward. He would have bodily dragged his best friend from the room if he had had to, but was glad that Harry was at least this responsive. He wrapped an arm over Harry’s shoulder, holding his arm, and guiding him carefully towards the living room, where they had come through the floo into the evening before.

Harry went with him, and Draco sat him on the sofa, crouching down in front of him.

“Harry?” Draco said, his voice wavering fearfully. He shook his friend by the shoulders, trying to break him from his trance now that they were further from Alice. “Harry!” he shouted, hoping to shock some kind of reaction.

Harry let out a muffled noise as tears started rolling down his face, his whole body was visibly trembling.

“Harry, it’s okay, I’m right here,” Draco said, trying to coax more of a reaction from Harry, and calm him down at the same time. He reached out, putting his hands on Harry’s shaking ones, wanting to comfort his friend. The change in Harry was instant, the smaller boy jerked almost violently away from Draco, curling himself up into a corner of the sofa.

“...Blaise…” Harry’s voice was so soft that if Draco hadn’t been paying close attention to him, he might have missed it.

“I’ll get him,” Draco promised, realising that he and Harry needed help. “Stay right here, don’t move,” he said, knowing even as he did, that it was a redundant instruction; Harry didn’t look like he was capable of standing right now, let alone anything more. But he was worried about Harry, and flustered, so he wasn’t thinking clearly at the moment; if he had been, he would have called for Blaise and Theo sooner. “I’ll be right back.”

Draco didn’t even wait for a response. Not wanting to waste more time, he turned and hurried for the back door, running out into the garden.

“I broke Harry!” Draco yelled hysterically.

Frank and Theo, who were talking with Blaise at the far edge of the garden, both turned to face him. Blaise, however, didn’t hesitate, he was already running across the small garden, hurrying past Draco and straight into the house. Draco turned to stare after Blaise for a moment, and by the time he turned back, Theo was at his side.

“What happened?” Theo questioned, reaching out and pressing a hand to his mate’s arm.

“It’s Harry,” Draco said, looking up at his mate, willing himself not to completely breakdown and just beg Theo to fix it.

“Yes, we established that,” Theo said calmly. “I need a little more detail than that. What were you two doing?”

“We were sitting with Alice; I was trying to see if I could help her, and nothing was working!” Draco said, his voice still had a panicked edge to it, but he didn’t seem so close to a breakdown anymore now that he was with Theo, and Blaise had gone inside to see to Harry.

“And how did you helping Alice affect Harry?” Theo questioned.

“What were you doing with Alice?” Frank demanded. He didn’t sound cross, just concerned that Alice might also have been hurt.

“Nothing I did was working, so I asked if Harry could help by lowering his shields,” Draco admitted.

“What?!” Theo exclaimed, before huffing out a breath, obviously reigning in the frustration and worry for Harry he was feeling. “Draco....”

“I know, I know, it was a stupid idea,” Draco said before Theo could actually start lecturing him on it. “But we both really wanted to help Alice, and we needed to know what was going on inside her mind, even if it was just Harry telling me what she was feeling… I want to help her, not hurt her,” Draco explained quickly.

This was apparently all Frank needed to hear because the man quickly moved past the pair of them, hurrying into the house, presumably to check on his wife for himself.

“So what happened then when Harry dropped his shields?” Theo asked, his attention still fully on his mate.

“He just… froze,” Draco choked out, leaning against Theo’s side when his mate reached for him. “I don’t know what happened, not exactly. I think it must have been too much because he stopped responding to me. For a moment I thought I had made him like Alice too.”

“You really should have known better than to tamper with Harry’s shields. You were there when he didn’t have them after his magic was taken,” Theo said. “I’m not trying to lecture you, but I need you to consider the consequence of your actions. Was your ambition worth the risk?”

“I never thought it would do this to Harry,” Draco insisted. “I’m so sorry.”

Theo pulled Draco into a hug, offering comfort to his mate. “Next time, just come get me, and we’ll talk about it before you do something so reckless.”

Draco leaned into the hug, nodding against Theo’s chest. “I promise, I’ll think things through a bit more next time.”

“Good, now let’s go inside. Blaise should have had enough time with Harry to calm him down, and hopefully get his shields back up,” Theo said. Keeping an arm around Draco, he led the other teen into the house.

Harry was still sat on the sofa, only now he was curled up into Blaise’s side, clinging to his mate as he cried and rambled on about what had just happened, about all the emotions he had felt from not just Alice, but from everyone. Blaise for his part, sat there, running soothing circles on Harry’s back, allowing the other teen to have the breakdown he needed now that his shields were up again.

Blaise turned his attention toward Theo and Draco for a moment. “He’ll be fine,” he said, before returning his full attention toward Harry.

Theo nodded, “Come on Draco, let’s go get some lunch. Blaise and Harry need some more time alone.”

TBC

So, some of you might already know as you follow both of us on Facebook. But for those of you who don’t, we have spent the last few months planning our wedding! (Yes, to each other).
Of course things are a little more complicated than that as we have a lot to do to get Celtic over to the UK on top of planning the wedding.
So while we do apologise for things coming to an alarming halt, we hope that once things have settled a little in the new year, we can get back to writing and updating this regularly.
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Restoration of Magic