Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Different Kind of Hero	By : JunjouSlashGirl Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 53264 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters. All rights belong to J. K. Rowling. I do not earn any money with this story.

Chapter List
- 19
- 20
- 21
Chapter 20: New Plans for the Order
HP
Harry groaned as he tried to shift to a more comfortable position and his muscles protested. This seemed to pull his friends out of their shocked stupor at finding Lucius Malfoy in bed with him. It probably was more the fact that the aristocrat had been there in the first place than anything else, because Lucius had luckily been fully dressed again and had sat next to him and not laid.
"Oh Harry!" Hermione exclaimed and rushed over to him to help him turn onto his side.
Ron also climbed onto the bed and asked: "What happened? I thought you can't have visions anymore?"
Gasping, he tried to answer: "Not a vision... only feelings. Angry...he is angry...as if, I feel it myself and... I believe...he is hurt." He wasn't sure if his explanation made any sense, but his friends seemed to get the gist of it because they lay down next to him, like they had done so often in the past. Hermione took his shaking hands and held them firmly, whilst Ron wrapped an arm around him.
"You are so cold," Hermione said and rubbed his hands between her own.
His muscles cramped again, as a new wave of anger swamped over him.
"Harry, have I ever told you the story of how Quidditch was invented?" Ron asked suddenly. It usually was like that when he was too distressed by a vision he had just witnessed, or a nightmare of the Dursley’s or the graveyard to participate in a conversation: One of his friends would start to tell a story, it was always a funny one, or an adventures one, like a fairytale, but never something serious. It helped him to concentrate on something positive and relaxe again.
"No," he answered, shaking his head.
Ron smiled and lay down behind him, saying: "Then I will tell you the story. The name of the family isn't known anymore and neither how many sons they had exactly, but they were all in love with the same beautiful girl," the redhead started. "It was the youngest of them, who had won the heart of the young witch. He went to the nearest city and bought an impressive diamond ring to confess his feelings to her and ask her for her hand in marriage."
Hermione giggled and stopped for a moment to massage his strained hands. She had found out that his whole body started to relax as soon as the stress was worked out of his hands.
"However, his brothers intercepted him as he returned to their family manor to change into his most expensive robes and being jealous, one of them hexed the diamond ring to fly away, but the younger brother was determined to win his love and quickly summoned his broom to capture the ring."
Harry smiled slightly. He didn't believe that this story was actually true, but it was a beautiful story and it fulfilled the job of distracting him from Voldemort's feelings. Quidditch was something he liked and something he could easily concentrate on and Ron really was a good story teller.
"When the others saw him leaping into the air, they grew even angrier and started to hex all kinds of objects to try and blast him from his broom. Some, they just shot into the air with a spell; others were charmed to follow him. But the young brother, being very talented with a broom, avoided each one of them and finally captured the ring," Ron continued.
Harry felt his eyes slowly drooping, but he wanted to know how the tale ended: "How did the story end, did he marry the girl?"
His friend shook his head behind him. "When the young man went to her, he found her kissing someone else. The girl had been after their money, and deceived not only him, but all his brothers as well. He went home again and reconciled with his brothers. It didn't matter to her which one she would marry, as long as she married into their rich family. The brothers were so happy that none of them had married that false girl that every year on the same day they hexed the ring again and tried to capture it as a way of reminding themselves that they nearly had destroyed their relationships over a witch."
His friend lowered his voice as he told the end of the tale, apparently noticing that he was falling asleep. "The game became tradition and with time people exchanged objects with balls and formed teams to play against each other. It still took about a hundred years before they added goals for balls for those who tried to knock the players off of their brooms."
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LM
Lucius entered the big, hall like throne room, where the Dark Lord usually held his Death Eater Meetings. Severus was striding behind him, his mask covering his face, but he knew that it would have shown nothing, even without the white covering. He himself had finally gotten a grip on his raging feelings, but it had been difficult. As Harry's dominant he should be by his side, but Severus was right: It would not help Harry if he lost his role as a spy.
The doors in front of them opened automatically and for a moment he was surprised to see the room empty with the exception of the Dark Lord and a quivering muggle at his old master's feet. Blood was running from the half dead person's mouth and he could see the tale tell signs of overuse use of the Cruciatus Curse.
"Finally!" The hissy voice spoke and in the next moment the pale wand of their cruel master was pointed at Severus and he hissed: "Crucio!"
Lucius didn't flinch when his best friend fell to the ground, writhing in agony, but no sound left the Potions Master's mouth. He, like Lucius himself, was too proud to scream. Lucius also didn't show any sign that he had seen a slight tremor in his ‘Lord's’ wand hand.
After half a minute the curse was lifted and Severus stood up again; on much less shaky legs than usual, he noted, and assumed that the curse had lost its power as well because of his change for Severus.
The Dark Lord made a motion and they crouched down to kiss the hem of his robes in greeting, mumbling: "My Lord."
He wrinkled his nose; how could he have ever bound himself to a man who demanded that they had to grovel at his feet, his Malfoy pride should have prevented that. Absentmindedly he thought that Harry would never want one of his followers getting to their knees in front of him, and yes, he knew that Harry would deny vehemently that he had followers, but he did.
"Potter!" The Dark Lord finally began to explain the reason for their summoning. "That little nuisance! Not enough that he had somehow persuaded my familiar to bind herself to him..." Lucius wanted to snort; there had not been a lot of persuasion needed to convince Nagini that Harry was nicer than her captor.
"...now he has also fallen in love!" This time, Lucius had to restrain himself to not flinch. How had the mad wizard found out about their love?
"Not a silly school boy crush, but actual love! I could feel his happiness," Voldemort spat out and Lucius suddenly remembered the rumours the Dark Lord could neither stand the feeling of love, nor of happiness. Supposedly, it was like torture for him, like physical pain and that would explain his shaking hand earlier. Apparently, Harry had more power over the evil wizard than he knew.
"Sectum Sempra!" Voldemort shouted again, this time not even looking at which of his two ‘most loyal’ followers he was hitting with the curse. Severus went down again and Lucius winced mentally at the sight of the blood splashing from his friend’s side. This would naturally not kill Severus, but the man would need his first blood soon after such a loss. He would have to take Harry to his father when they were back to Hogwarts in order for his little mate to feed his last relative.
Severus pressed his black robe onto his side, making it look as if he was trying to stop the bleeding, but Lucius knew that he was hiding the fact that he had already stopped bleeding completely.
"You two will try and find out who the person he had fallen in love with is," the Dark Lord continued when he had ended the curse. Lucius nearly sighed in relief; apparently the wizard had no idea whom Harry was intimate with.
"Yes, my Lord," Lucius and Severus said in unison, heads bowed. Personally, Lucius didn't know how his friends could have kept this charade up as a spy for so many years. Now that he finally saw the Dark Lord’s flaws, he wanted to rip his head from his bony shoulders.
"I personally, would recommend you keep an eye on the young Miss Weasley first. In the meantime, we will attack the families of students who sympathize with Potter. He must have too much free time if he has fallen in love and it will be good to add some more guilt to his conscious," the Dark Lord said.
"Yes, My Lord. We will keep an even closer eye on him," Severus promised and bowed deeply, his friend’s voice not betraying the hatred he felt for the other wizard.
"You may return to Hogwarts, I have no further use for the two of you today," the Dark Lord said dismissively.
They bowed again and then turned to leave, a bit miffed about the fact that they had been dismissed after barely twenty minutes. At the door their ‘Lord’ stopped them once again: "And I expect results when I next call you, or one of you will have to keep an eye alone on Nagini in the future."
Lucius did not speak until they had apparated back onto the Hogwarts grounds, neither did Severus. Only when they were a few steps away from the Hogwarts gates did Lucius speak up:
"We have to warn Harry, or the Dark Lord's plan to weaken him mentally might succeed."
Severus nodded in agreement. "We will, as soon as he is awake. I believe he has a free period in the morning, maybe we should plan for a small Order meeting."
"What I do not quite understand, is why the Dark Lord could feel Harry's emotions, or why Harry could feel his for that matter," Lucius mused. Mind magic was really not his specialty, he was a brilliant Legilimence, but he never was very subtle or had bothered to learn about all the delicacies and complexities there were when it came to someone's mind and magic. Usually, he entered a mind and searched for what he needed to know, without concerning himself over the mental state of his victims after he had finished. As a Death Eater, he had never needed to keep track of someone's mental health.
His friend sounded thoughtful when he answered. "I have to enter Harry's mind to say for sure, but it is possible that the link made by the Horcrux has been so strong, that it could not heal completely after we removed the piece of soul."
"If you are right, then it is even more important that we teach him Occlumency as soon as possible," Lucius said as they entered the school.
Severus sighed. "This weekend at the latest; we are lucky that the Dark Lord had only gathered some feelings from Harry and no actual pictures. By the way," Severus smirked, "congratulation on your love confession."
"Thank you my friend," Lucius drawled with a small, but very smug smile on his lips, not wondering how his friend had found out. Their cuddled position and the Dark Lord's fury had probably been explanation enough.
"I am not sure if I should be astonished that it took my son so long to fall in love with you, as Gryffindors are usually emotional fools, or if I should be surprised that he realized it so quickly, seeing as he is often very thick headed," Severus chuckled.
Turning left into the corridor that lead to Gryffindor Tower, Lucius said: "I cannot give you the answer either. Did you need a password earlier?" He asked nonchalantly when the door to Harry's rooms came into view.
"No, I think the wards noticed my relation to Harry. I presume you didn't either?" His friend asked.
He nodded as he entered Harry's chambers and then frowned at nothing in particular: "I hope Granger and Weasley have been able to help Harry. It seemed as if it was not the pain that caused the most distress this time."
"It is more complicated to transport physical pain over such a distance and even the Dark Lord’s magic cannot cause as much pain as before without the mental connection of the Horcrux, sadly this doesn't apply to feelings," his friend explained.
"I would like to know whether the Dark Lord only received the feeling of love from Harry, or ‘more’," Lucius smirked evilly.
Severus eyed him with a crooked smirk and then asked: "What exactly were the two of you doing?"
"What do you suspect normally follows a love confession? Let’s just say that if the Dark Lord has a good connection to my mate, he might have suddenly cum in his pants," He grinned evilly and pushed Harry's bedroom door open, only to freeze in shock:
First, he thought that only the Weasel and Granger lay cuddled together on the bed. One arm of the girl lay on the redhead’s hip and vice versa, but then he saw the small, still half naked figure protectively snuggled between them.
His vision went red and a low growl started to vibrate deep in his chest. Severus gave him a warning look: "Lucius! Don't be stupid; these three are like siblings and I am sure that they have already helped Harry many times. Don't take something this important away from him."
Gritting his teeth, Lucius conjured an armchair and let himself fall into it and tried not to think of the words Ronald Weasley and spooning in the same sentence. "You are right. I even believe that Weasley and Granger have a thing for each other and Harry and I are mated; nothing can destroy such a bond. I should spare my anger for those who are really making advance towards my little mate and not waste it on them."
Severus conjured a chair as well and they both simply watched the teenagers in front of them.
"He is still so small," Severus said suddenly, remorse heavy in his voice. "He should not have to go through all this, he is still too young and at the very least I should have been by his side."
"You had no chance of knowing," Lucius reminded his friend.
"I know," Severus just answered. They both knew that what Lucius had said was true, but that also did not lessen the feeling of guilt.
"At least I now have an eternity to make it up to him," Severus added, his eyes on his sleeping son.
Harry looked much more relaxed than hours ago when they had left, but both men had seen him even more relaxed before. You could still make out slight frown lines on his forehead and his body shivered from time to time.
"I cannot even imagine how the Dark Lord's anger must feel," Lucius said.
"Me neither," his friend agreed, his dark eyes fixed on the sleeping form of his son, huddled between his two best friends and then added: "Sometimes I fear what we will find hidden in his mind. What dark and horrible memories he hides with his wide smile and bright green eyes."
Watching his sleeping submissive for a moment, Lucius, for the first time in his life, found himself hoping for something that was far too unrealistic to happen: That Harry's life had not been as bad as they feared. "I hope we will find nothing," he confessed. "But I fear we will find out soon enough. How much can the heart and the soul of a child endure before both break?"
His friend shook his head sadly: "I don't know. My father was abusive and it nearly broke me, but then I met Lily on a playground one afternoon and she saved me. Even years later, her memory has saved me countless times."
Lucius glanced over at the man who was normally as closed off as he himself was. What they knew about each other they had learned by years of watching; not during long, lazy evenings in front of the fireplace with a few bottles of red wine, whilst laying open their hearts. "I never was a man who cared much about friends and I know you were exactly like me," he mused. "But Harry has taught us both the value of friendship and love in less than a month."
Severus sighed next to him, a lost expression on his face: "Sometimes he reminds me so much of his mother; you were right back in Harry's kitchen that day," the man confessed. "He has the same warm heart and the same bright smile, but then again he is so much more fragile and stronger than her at the same time. Sometimes I fear he might shatter at the slightest breeze and other times I know that he will survive storms, neither his mother nor any of us would have come out of alive."
Nodding, Lucius said: "I know what you mean. Sometimes he is very fragile, even for a submissive. With his past and his young age he needs even more attention and care than normal vampire submissive’s need. And then, it suddenly bites him and I ask myself how destiny could have thought that the boy might be a good submissive. When I arrived at Grimmauld Place, I honestly had doubts."
Chuckling, Severus replied: "You should have seen him in Dumbledore's office. Everybody could see his distress, but he kept himself upright, threw everything he wanted to say at Albus and demanded the leadership of the Order."
Smirking, Lucius agreed: "I would have liked to see that. It must have been a sight."
"It was." his friend said and then added suddenly: "Never take them away from him."
Frowning, Lucius followed his friend's gaze to the two older Gryffindors and without hesitation he nodded. He understood by now that Harry drew a lot of his strength from his friends and they had lived through a lot together. Regardless of how much he would try, as a mate he would never be able to replace a good friend. He was much older than Harry and he was no Gryffindor, but his little submissive needed some stupid Gryffindors in his life to balance all the hardship he had to go through.
They fell into a comfortable silence then, neither saying a word for the rest of the night, they simply watched the one person they both loved more than anybody else in the world. In the morning, they had to figure out a plan to rescue probably all the families of Halflood and Muggleborn children and most likely even some of the Pureblooded Gryffindor students; and that all between teaching. The next day would be a long one.
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HP
"Hey Harry, wake up, it won't take much longer anymore!" Harry's bedroom door burst open for the third time that night (or was it already morning) and Harry groaned at the loud voices of Ron's twin brothers. Next to him Ron and Hermione groaned as well and two even deeper sounds could be heard from a bit further across the room. Opening his eyes, he saw his mate and father just waking up from their spots in two big armchairs, where they had apparently fallen asleep after they had returned to Hogwarts.
"Did we interrupt something?" Fred asked with a grin and George added: "A ‘three-something’?"
"I believe if that were the case, you would find your brother and Miss Granger less thoroughly dressed!" his father snapped in irritation and the twins, who had not noticed the two teachers before, spun around.
"Oh shit!" Fred cursed and took a step backwards towards the door.
Harry watched his mate sitting up, having composed himself very quickly; he was a Malfoy after all and drawling with a smirk: "So, Mr. Weasley, what will happen at any moment?"
"Nothing!" George said with a frightened look and whispered quite audibly into his brother's ear: "Can we stop it?"
"Stop what?" his father asked, but the question was answered when a loud crack sounded and Albus Dumbledore suddenly appeared in the middle of his bedroom, a colourful bathing cap on his head, naked with the exception of an equally colourful towel, that was thankfully wrapped around his lower body and a one of those brushes to scrub his own back in one hand.
"That," Fred winced in explanation and took a step back, grinning sheepishly.
Harry stared in utter bafflement at his nearly naked headmaster, who only smiled and said:
"How nice to see you all this early in the morning my dear boys."
Sometimes, Harry honestly wondered what the old wizard mixed in his tea every morning, whilst Ron, Hermione, his father and mate, all wore the same gaping expression. Of course, it was not so easy to tell with his father and Lucius, but he had seen the widening of their pupils.
"At least, we do not need to go up to the Headmaster any longer," Lucius drawled and then added: "Would it be possible for you to get more decently dressed, Headmaster?"
"Of course, my boy" Albus smiled and Harry could practically feel his mate's desire to rip the old wizard's head from his shoulders. With a flick of his wand, which had been safely hidden under the bathing cap, Albus transformed his towel into a dark purple robe.
Albus’ face grew more serious then and the perceptive wizard asked: "Something new from our dear friend Tom?"
Harry immediately sat up straighter; with Fred and George's sudden appearance, he had almost forgotten that his mate and father had been summoned last night.
"Are you two hurt?" he asked with concern and scanned their bodies with his eyes, but luckily he found no traces of bigger injuries, which would have been difficult with vampires in the first place, but that did not change his worry.
"We are fine, but it might be wise to discuss this in your living room," his father said impressively.
"Oh..okay..." he answered and climbed off of his bed.
Lucius stopped him with a pointed look and said: "We will go ahead and I will call a house elf to bring some breakfast up. You father mentioned that he is quite starved," before striding out of the room, the others following closely behind. None of the others had asked why Severus stayed behind with him, as they all followed the aristocrat into his large living room.
"You...need blood?" He asked his father as soon as the door had closed behind Ron.
To his surprise his father only nodded. He had assumed that the man would try to refuse politely, not wanting to bother him with the matter, but he only explained: "Yes, I would have been able to go without for another few days, but the Dark Lord hit me with a nasty curse and I have bled quite a bit."
Scanning his father again, he thought that Severus had probably lost a lot of blood and this time he noticed that his father's skin had gained an unhealthy, greyish tint.
"You don't need to justify your hunger. I am happy that I can help you. You are my father," he simply replied with a bright smile and waved him over. "So, where would you like to drink from? My neck?" He watched his father sit down a bit hesitantly and shake his head: "No, that spot is for Lucius alone, I would not feel comfortable drinking from your neck. Your wrist will suffice."
Harry blinked a few times in confusion and then blushed. He had not realized that there might be arteries on him that where more ‘intimate’ than other ones. Maybe the one at his loins, sure that was a very intimate spot, but his neck? He could not see the intimacy there. Maybe he would understand it when he was a bit older, he thought.
Scooting closer to his father, he held his wrist out and was a bit surprised, when he was lifted into Severus’ lap. The position held nothing sexual, instead, he felt for the first time like a little child sitting comfortably on his daddy’s knees, which he was. He leaned back against his father's right arm and watched curiously as Severus lifted his offered appendage to his lips, his fangs flashing in the morning sunlight.
A flicker of hesitation crossed his father's eyes, just when he had been about to sank his fangs into his skin and he asked: "Can I?"
"Just drink as much as you need," he replied and practically shoved his wrist into his father's mouth. His father chuckled, shook his head and finally sank his fangs in.
He shuddered a bit when the long fangs pierced his skin and sank into his flesh and a warm feeling spread through his body, but as his father had promised him, the sexual reaction didn't occur. His muscles relaxed with every mouthful of blood that was sucked from his body and a soft melody, like an inaudible lullaby hummed through his veins. This was so different from how Lucius made him feel, but equally good. Leaning his head against Severus shoulder, he closed his eyes and relished in the feeling of being connected to his father.
Magic was humming between them and he imagined that the connection between mother and child would feel like this. Sadly, he would never experience it himself, but for now he was content with what he had, it was much more than he had ever expected.
His father combed caringly through his hair and Harry found himself wishing that he could have experienced this kind of love years ago. What would it have been like to snuggle into his father's arms and listen to a story every evening before falling asleep? Or how would it have been, if he didn't have to go to school alone every morning, but would have been taken there by his father, like all the other kids?
Images of dreams he had long tried to suppress resurfaced in his mind, together with the warm feeling of parental love and without being aware of it, silent tears started to roll down his cheeks.
Even now, where he finally had a father, Severus could not just take him to the Hogwarts express at the end of summer and kiss him goodbye. They had been forced to say their farewells in the parking lot so as not to draw suspicion.
His father had noticed his sadness, maybe because of his body, which was shaking violently by now, or maybe his blood had carried his sadness to the man and he was pulled closer into the protective embrace.
He didn't want to be sad, he wanted to be happy for his father and for his mate and because life had really given him much in the last few weeks, but it still seemed so little in comparison to what had all been taken from him, right now.
A last mouthful of blood was sucked from his veins, before his father pulled his fangs carefully out and closed the two little wounds with a swipe of his tongue. In Harry's opinion, they had separated far too soon and without thinking he turned around and flung himself into his father's arms, burying his face into the black robes.
"Hush, Harry, we have each other now and you will defeat the Dark Lord with our help and after that, we can still fulfil all your dreams," His father whispered and stroked soothing patterns down his back.
"How do you...?" He sniffed and looked up through tear filled eyes.
"The bond between parent and child can be strong, especially during an intimate moment like sharing blood. You blood is your essence, it never forgets," his father explained with a small smile.
Sniffing again, he asked: "Would you really do all that for me? Would you take me to the train and pick me up there after the term again?"
Severus chuckled: "It might defeat the purpose a bit, seeing that we will see each other every day even during the school year, but yes, I would take you to the train and pick you up again."
His heart jumped happily and a wide smile spread across his face, all tears forgotten: "Thank you dad!" He exclaimed and threw himself around his father's neck again. Severus only chuckled and pat his back for another moment, before carefully detaching Harry from his robe and placing him back on the ground: "We should join the others now. A lot has happened last night."
Nodding, Harry turned to leave, but suddenly his father held him back once again: "Thank you Harry, I cannot even begin to tell you what this has meant to me," he whispered and pressed another kiss to his cheek before letting him go again.
He answered his thanks with a smile, he could not find the right words either, but if it was anything like it had been for him, then he knew how much the experience of sharing blood meant to both of them.
His father stood and straightened his robes and together they left his bedroom.
They found the others in his living room, animatedly chatting with the five famous portraits, the tea trays in front of them all but forgotten. Harry could see that Slytherin was very happy to finally meet someone from his own house; he assumed that a horde of Gryffindors really could be annoying for a Slytherin, given their very different personalities, but as soon as he and his father entered, the conversations died down and everyone sobered up once more.
He saw Lucius inconspicuously sniffing the air and he assumed that his mate could still smell the dried tears on his face, but when the aristocrat gave his father a pointed look, Severus only shook his head, indicating that he didn't need to worry. Lucius nodded, but Harry knew that he would ask later on.
When he had sat down, he sighed and then asked: "How was the summons?"
His mate and father exchanged a look and then Lucius said:
"It was different than any other meeting. Normally, the Dark Lord prefers to summon at least the whole inner circle to relish in the power he has over so many powerful wizards, but this time Severus and I were alone with him."
Harry blinked a few times. At the first this did not sound very important, but with Voldemort, every single detail had specific meaning: "Do you know why he summoned no one besides the two of you?"
"Yes," this time it was his father who answered. "I believe he would not feel very comfortable to admit to all his followers that he was greatly...affected by a twelve year old boy that evening."
"What do you mean?" Harry asked in irritation.
"Your father means, that the Dark Lord received strong feeling of love from you last night. Could it be possible that you used your private quarters to meet secretly with your mate?" Lucius lifted a single eyebrow and gave him a disapproving look, like he had to as a teacher.
Flushing, Harry tried not to meet Albus' twinkling gaze, or Ron, Fred and George's wide grins, as if he had just earned the title of ‘greatest Casanova of Hogwarts’.
"Hm..." Albus mused. "I would have thought that the use of Harry's blood in his resurrection ritual would have made Tom more resistant to Harry, but maybe only to his touch, a mental link is much more complicated to block."
Hermione bit nervously on her lip and then asked: "But Sir, I thought that the connection is gone after we extracted the Horcrux from Harry."
Harry looked over to his father, who shook his head: "Harry lived nearly his entire life with a very powerful piece of souls in his body and it was put there when he was still very young. It is possible that some kind of link remains, but luckily it seems far weaker than it was before, or he would have felt more physical pain than he had."
"I don't understand..." Ron said.
"It is much easier to transfer feelings. They are not physical like the pain and damage of the Cruciatus Curse he had experienced this summer," Lucius told him.
Ron and Hermione and the twins gasped in shock and Harry realized that neither of his friends had realized that it had been the Cruciatus Curse which had caused him so much pain during his visions. He himself had only learned about it in the night at Privet Drive, but he had never mentioned it to them. The twins did not even know that he suffered not only from nightmares, but also from visions. He and his friends had kept that information a secret, worried what harm it could bring to them, when the information got leaked to the wrong people.
"Harry, you have visions?" George asked in shock and he merely nodded.
"The Cruciatus Curse? I never realized that the link was that strong..." Hermione gasped.
"Yeah, we always thought you were so distressed about what you saw in those visions, which just caused you to cramp. Otherwise we would have gotten more help... Pomfrey or someone," Ron sounded pained.
Shrugging, Harry mumbled: "I didn't realize it until this summer either and Pomfrey couldn't have done much." He should have felt bad for not having told them before, but it was just the opposite; their worried faces told him that it had been right to not tell them how bad his pain really had been.
"Well, this is not the most important thing right now," his father ended their conversation, bringing their attention back to the main topic.
"So, Voldemort got angry, because of the feelings he received from me, feelings he could not endure and grew angry, am I right?" Harry repeated what he had been told to make sure that he had understood everything correctly.
"Yes. Your feelings hurt him physically; I believe I saw his wand hand shaking as we arrived," Lucius told him.
"What does he expect from you and Lucius now, Severus?" Albus asked, his years as the Head of the Order giving him the ability to know what questions needed to be asked, something Harry had yet to learn.
"He wants us to find out who Harry is in love with and bring ‘her’ to his Manor."
Harry flinched visibly, but his mentor only nodded slowly.
"In the meantime," his father continued and his closed off expression told him that the really important information was now coming, "...he plans on attacking families of students who sided with you, Harry."
A heavy stone dropped into his stomach and he gulped. Voldemort planned to attack families, only because they supported him? He knew Voldemort too well to realize that it meant he would attack every family who was not on his side, even when he didn't know one of them. He would not let that happen.
"We have to do something," He stated, without having any idea what to do.
"That will be difficult. There are too many families to protect and we have no idea when exactly the Dark Lord will make his move. With a bit of luck, your father or I will be able to get at least that information, but the other problem remains," Lucius said neutrally.
"I won't accept that," He said sternly and crossed his arms, he may not be able to save every one of them, but he would at least try and he would make sure that the Order tried alongside him.
Dumbledore tapped at his chin with a long finger and then mused: "I do not believe that he will attack every student from a non-dark family. He does not yet have the resources to do so. Many of his old followers are still in Azkaban and he has not yet had much time to recruit new ones."
"But even if we narrow the list of possible victims down, we still do not have enough Order members to guard every family," Lucius argued once again and Harry started to ask himself whether Lucius even wanted the families to be rescued.
"You are right; the ministry will not help us either. Fudge still denies that Voldemort could be back," Harry saw the flinches at Dumbledore's mentioning of the Dark Lord's name.
"Then we will have to bring them to a safe place," He decided, not planning on giving up on saving those people.
"And where do you think we will we find a place spacious enough to house so many people?" His father asked snidely, the situation making him cranky.
He thought for a moment; he was Lucius’ mate now and the official Heir to the Potter and Founders line, he had to own a place big enough to house so many people, or at the least, many enough. Suddenly an idea struck him:
"How huge is the Potter Manor? Would the wards be strong enough?"
Seven pairs of eyes blinked in surprise at him and after a moment, Albus said:
"The Potter Manor would certainly be huge enough, but you would have to ask Sirius and Remus about the wards, I myself was never there."
Not waiting for another comment, he went over to the huge, marble fireplace and was glad to find a bowl with floo powder. He tossed a hand full of powder into the flames and shouted: "Number 12 Grimmauld Place!" He stuck his head into the flames, about to shout for Sirius, when he froze at the sight in front of him. Just to his left was his godfather kneeling on the old sofa, one leg on the old piece of furniture, the other still on the ground and beneath him, laid a very flustered looking Remus. The werewolf's cheeks were red, his lips looked slightly swollen and a slightly surprised expression on his face.
With horror he saw Sirius leaning down and he quickly cleared his throat; he didn't need the image of his two former guardians making out. That would haunt him a lifetime and considering his vampire status that would be an awful long time.
The two men sprang apart, visibly shocked and now Sirius looked flushed as well.
"Harry...what are you...have you seen something? Sirius stuttered and he quickly shook his head in denial, not wanting to have to talk with them about this. Remus and Sirius sighed in relief and came over to kneel down in front of the hearth.
"Do you need something? Or did you just want to say hello?" Sirius asked, his eyes quickly flashing over to the couch and Harry hated that he had to interrupt their bonding process.
"I need your help; maybe it would be best if you came over for a moment." He saw that Sirius wanted to protest, but Remus shoved him harshly in his side and said: "We will be there in a minute."
Pulling back from the fireplace, he stood up, still a bit flustered. Luckily Ron, Hermione, the twins and Albus hadn't caught up on it, but Lucius and his father raised their eyebrows simultaneously.
"Nothing," he said at their questioning expressions, "Just interrupted a bonding moment."
His father's brows rose further, and he could clearly see the question ‘bonding or mating’ in his face.
"Bonding!" He all but exclaimed, drawing more questioning looks too him. Luckily his fireplace flared up then and Sirius, closely followed by Remus, stepped out of it. The Marauders looked around in surprise at the fairly large gathering of people.
"What happened?" Sirius asked and flopped down in an armchair.
"Voldemort happened, what else?" grumbled Ron and glared at the still untouched tea tray in front of him.
"Did he attack?" Remus asked and Harry shook his head hastily: "Not yet, but he plans to attack families of students who sympathize with me."
Remus and Sirius exchanged worried looks.
"Do you already have a plan?" Sirius inquired; no trace of joking in his face any longer.
"I have an idea. Seeing that we will not have the method of defending so many families, I thought of bringing them to a safe place and that is why I called you," Harry explained.
The two men nodded and motioned to him to explain further. "I thought we could use the Potter Manor; Albus said it will probably big enough, but we don't know if the wards could keep Voldemort out."
"The wards would be strong enough. It is a very old family Manor and those wards grow stronger with every generation that has lived there," Sirius said.
"But Harry, you cannot go to those families and tell them to hide for who knows how long in your Manor and the moment the Death Eaters attack, we will have not enough time to take them all there," Remus said apologetically.
"But Lucius and Severus..." Harry began, but his father cut him off:
"We cannot promise you that Voldemort will tell us any more details of his plan. We will not be able to join in the attack and he has never told me as much as his other followers in the Inner Circle, due to my proximity to Albus. It will not be different with Lucius now. I am sorry Harry, but I don't think that we will be able to do much for these people." His father extended a hand to him in an offer of comfort, but Harry avoided the touch and glared at them all. He was about to say something really nasty; something about that it was no wonder that the war was still going and that so many had already died, when no one was ready to go out of their ways to help, when Fred's tentative voice spoke up:
"I think, George and I might be able to help."
"How?" Harry asked. His heart finally started to flutter in hope. He really had started to believe that nobody took his wish to save everybody seriously. Maybe he was a foolish Gryffindor, but someone had to set goals in his life in order to achieve them. Without goals, you would never start to do anything.
"Our little prank might come in handy," Fred added, a grin spreading over his face.
"Your prank?" Severus sneered, but refrained from throwing any nasty insults.
"You see, we brought Dumbledore here with some kind of Portkey we invented," Fred went on, immediately gathering all the attention.
"One object functions as the trigger and another as destination. You place the second object in the room, where the person should arrive and as soon as someone touches its counterpart, he or she will be brought there. In contrast to normal Portkeys, these have nothing to do with time."
"So, if we place a destination object in Potter Manor, then people who have such a trigger only have to touch it and they will be brought to safety?" Harry made sure.
"Exactly," George grinned.
"That is quite genius," Lucius admitted.
"I think we could manage to link all triggers to one destination object," Fred mused.
"How fast could you produce these things?" Harry asked curiously.
"Hm...How many do we need?" the twins asked in unison.
Albus conjured a fairly long list and gave it to Harry: "Would you mark every student who you know personally?" Albus asked and conjured a quill as well.
Harry took the items and started marking. "Do you think that Neutral Pureblood families from Gryffindor will be attacked?" Harry asked his mentor.
"No, Tom needs to concentrate on your supporters; he does not have enough followers to attack more people than necessary. As long as they are neutral, Pureblood families will be fine. But those, who are clearly on the Light Side, are in as much danger as Muggle families."
Harry skipped through the names of Gryffindor House and then marked a few others from other Houses; in the end he counted twenty eight names. Albus took the scroll back and marked some more, then waved his wand over it and said: "We have 21 families with a total 75 people."
"We might have to put some in the old House Elves and servant’s quarters in order to house everybody," Sirius mused.
"Could you and Remus go there to check in what state the Manor is?" Harry asked and the two men nodded.
"We need to go there as well," George said. "To place the destination object and key it to the wards."
"You cannot key something to the wards of someone else's home," Lucius huffed, but earned only two very amused grins from the twins.
"If they ever decide to become thieves instead of pranksters, then I will move out of this country," Severus grumbled.
Bringing the topic back on track, Hermione said: "That will be too much keep an eye on... Grimmauld Place, Privet Drive and Potter Manor."
"You're right, Mione. How will you manage all this?" Ron asked.
Harry shrugged, but then a second brilliant idea for the hour struck him: "The Marauders map!"
"What? The map shows only..." Ron shut up with a look at the professors.
Harry ignored him, he was too excited. Instead he jumped up and hopped up and down in front of Sirius and Remus like a small child in front of the Christmas tree: "Can you draw a new one? One that shows Hogwarts, Grimmauld Place, Privet Drive and Potter Manor on one parchment?"
The two pranksters blinked in surprise: "We would have to go to every place and it would take us some time, but it should be manageable," Remus said slowly, with a look at his partner in crime.
"But why Privet Drive?" Sirius asked.
"I want to make it into a second headquarters. Grimmauld Place is getting too small and we will have more young members, who will surely like to have a place without..." Harry broke off and blushed.
"Yes, Harry?" Lucius asked pointedly, but it was Ron who glared at the aristocrat and said: "Old people like you, Malfoy."
Harry saw his mate’s face redden in anger, but his facial expression showed nothing, only boredom and Harry knew, that the flush was not visible to his friend’s eyes.
Luckily, Albus seemed to be as keen about an argument as he was and said: "Gentleman, if everything is set for now, I believe we all have classes to hold, attend, or at least paperwork to do."
Severus conjured a tempus and they all noticed with shock how late it was. Hermione gasped and exclaimed: "Herbology starts in 15 minutes!" and rushed from the room.
"See you soon, man," Ron waved and followed their panicked female friend at a more leisurely pace.
Sirius and Remus set a time to meet after classes with Fred and George to discuss their future plans and left through the floo, whilst Albus strode out with a happy little tune on his lips.
Harry turned to his mate and father as soon as he heard his quarter doors close and crossed his arms. He was angry at the men who had promised to help him to the best of their abilities, but suddenly didn't seem to believe in him one bit.
"Harry," his father started, but Harry cut him off with a glare, he was so angry:
"I thought you wanted to help me. Telling me that I will not succeed is not the way to do so."
"Harry, please," his father tried again, but once again, he gave him no time to say much: "Do you not believe in me after all?"
"We are Slytherins Harry. It is not as easy for us to believe in miracles as it is for you," Lucius declared and stood up. Harry watched him coming closer warily. When Lucius pushed his head up to face him with his index finger, he merely glared at his dominant, but didn't move away. Lucius sighed and then leaned forwards to brush softly over his lips:
"I am proud of you. You were a true leader and I wish I could have your bravery to try the impossible," Lucius whispered into his ear.
Harry's heart fluttered at the compliment and he wrapped his arms around his mate’s middle, suddenly appeased. "Thank you," he mumbled and leaned his head against Lucius’ firm chest, or more his firm upper belly, because he could not reach higher. A warm hand settled on his shoulder and when he looked up, he saw his father look down at him with pride shining brightly in his red-ringed eyes:
"You really are a hero. A stupid, foolish, Gryffindor-hero, but the best hero I ever met my little vampire brat."
Loosening one arm from around his mate, Harry drew his father into the embrace.
"Oh please no! No group hug!" His father protested with indignation, but didn't really resist and after a moment, returned the hug with a long sigh.
"Oh Sev, you would do this for your son," Lucius teased with a smirk.
They stood like that for a moment until Severus suddenly said: "And now hurry or you will be too late for class and no son of mine will be late for his lessons."
"Yeah, dad," Harry grinned and ran off, followed by a muttered: "Cheeky brat!"
Harry got ready in record time, but he, Ron and Hermione still arrived ten minutes too late. His vampire speed had helped a lot and in contrast to his friends, he looked immaculate, but Ron and Hermione's slightly dishevelled and very tired look was the source for many flying rumours until lunch time. Their fellow students were sure that they had ‘hooked up’ the previous night; they only argued about the place where it had happened. The girls, tended to a romantic tale about the Astronomy Tower, where stars took an important part, whilst most boys believed in a more adventurous story, in which Hermione had been overcome by the wish to ‘make Ron feel good’ (in numerous ways, of course).
Harry felt slightly guilty that he was the reason why his two best friends were the subject of so many ridiculous rumours, but was for the most part happy that he for once was not even mentioned in the Hogwarts gossip mill. That, of course, didn't stop the many (mostly lustful) gazes that followed him these days.
Ron and Hermione reassured him, that the rumours were no big deal and that nothing as stupid as a castle full of gossiping teenagers would stop them from helping their best friend. The school day turned out to be very busy. They had not yet started to practice new spells, like always the first week would be filled with mostly theory, but that didn't mean that they did not have to listen. His muscles also still ached from his night-time torture, but he didn't feel lonely and cold the whole day and no chair seemed to stare at him, so his mood improved with every passing minute, despite running stressed from one end of the castle to the other and in the end they had not even had time to talk about the eventful morning until classes had ended for the day.
Hermione had insisted that they go to the library to start on their first assignment, but it took only five minutes until she had cast a privacy barrier, silently admitting that they all wanted to talk about the events:
"I never imagined, that You-Know-Who would plan on attacking so early in the year," she sighed and put her quill down for the moment.
"Well, he is not directly going after Harry, so it doesn't really count, does it?" Ron shrugged.
Harry shook his head. "Maybe you would have been right last year, but know I am the Head of the Order and every attack concerns me directly," he commented drily.
"Guess you are right, man. That really sucks!"
Harry lifted an amused eyebrow at his friends; it was always fun to point out when Ron succeeded in phrasing something in the worst way possible. The redhead spluttered and quickly tried to save the situation: "I mean...not you being the Head of the Order...but the attacking!"
Harry grinned for a moment, but then sighed: "You are right, it really sucks. Why can't he go on a nice, long holiday and die in a Pacific Storm?" That really sounded too good to ever become true, he mused.
"Because he would instantly get sunburned with his white complexion and will therefore never go on holiday in the Pacific," Hermione snorted.
"An ice bear would be fine with me as well," Ron chuckled and for a moment they all relished in many different images of Voldemort dying in a holiday accident.
"This really will be a tough year for you Harry, with all these houses you have to keep an eye on. How will you manage all those places? Even if you can check them on a map, you cannot just disappear every day from school grounds. Even if Dumbledore trusts you and would give you the freedom to do so, he can't, or he might get into trouble himself," Hermione said, honestly sounding exasperated for Harry.
Harry thought that she was probably right. He did not regret his decision concerning the Order, but it turned out to be an even larger responsibility than he had imagined. He had forgotten that his workload would increase with every new member and every family they took in to protect.
"I honestly don't know, but I will manage," he replied confidently.
"You really should get a personal House Elf," Ron joked. "You could key him to Hogwarts and he could run all kinds of errands for you, like delivering important messages."
"Yeah, but I have no House Elf and even if there are still some in Potter Manor, they will be needed there," Harry said.
Shrugging and with a careful glance at Hermione, Ron said: "Maybe it is better if you have none; at least Hermione won't rip your head off for supporting slavery." He chuckled.
Harry winced, he had almost forgotten about Hermione's obsession over House Elf rights; last time he and Ron had made the mistake of mentioning the topic, she had told them that she planned to open a Society for House Elf Rights and that she had already a name for it: ‘puke’ or something equally ridiculous.
"Maybe, that is not such a bad idea," Hermione suddenly said.
Harry and Ron snapped their heads around in utter surprise.
"Who are you and where is Hermione?" Ron exclaimed and jumped up. Harry too, was not so sure that this really was their friend, not after her passionate speech about equal rights for every creature in the wizarding society, even for House Elves. This was just too big of a change of mind, so he carefully tucked his wand from his trousers pocket, just to be sure.
"Oh please Ron! I am not an imposter!" She huffed and pulled him back down, before explaining: "You two are right, I don't like ‘slavery’..."
Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation, but kept silent; he had learned that every word on this topic was the wrong one.
"...but Harry really needs a way to communicate safely with all the people in the different houses and we all know that the Floo System is not safe enough for delicate messages. We should not even use the Floo very often at all, or one of You-Know-Who's followers at the Ministry might find a way to get a way into those houses after all."
Harry and Ron still stared at their friend in disbelief. After a moment, Harry carefully said:
"But I still have no House Elf and I don't know how to...’hire’ or buy one either."
"Well, I know where you could buy one and if you promise me to treat him fairly and pay him at least a bit, then I will tell you where you could get one," Hermione said, worrying her bottom lip.
"Does she mean it?" Ron whispered in Harry's ear, but he could only shake his head in disbelief. This went totally against all Hermione's beliefs.
"Look, I know this does not sounds like me and I would prefer it, if you would really just try to ‘hire’ a House Elf, but I also know that a House Elf which is bound to you cannot betray you and the safety of our whole world is more important, especially if you promise me that you will treat him or her well."
Harry finally came to the conclusion that Hermione was serious about the matter and finally pocketed his wand again and said: "Of course I will promise you that. You know that I would never treat a House Elf like Lucius Malfoy had treated Dobby!" His eyes widened as he realized how cruelly he had just spoken about his beloved mate and his heart started to clench in agony. He gasped and clenched his chest for a moment, trying to calm himself down; after all, Lucius really had been a cruel man back then.
"Hey Harry, everything alright? Is it You-Know-Who again?" Ron lay a concerned hand on his shoulder. Closing his eyes, Harry waited for a moment until the punishing pounding of his heart had subsided: "Everything is fine, it was...just like a short flash," he said, thankfully using the given excuse.
"Okay, if you say so," Ron said, but his friends still looked very concerned.
"You really don't need to worry, the feeling is already over and we have more important matters to deal with."
Hermione threw him one last concerned look and then looked at her watch: "We should go now," she said.
"Go where?" Ron asked.
"To the Ministry, that is the only place you can legally buy a House Elf," Hermione explained with a roll of her eyes. "Really Ron, as a Pureblood, you should know that."
"Well, it is not as if my family could ever afford a House Elf," Ron huffed.
"I am sorry, Ron," Hermione mumbled. Harry sighed; money was a delicate topic for Ron. The redhead loved his family, but he had always suffered under the insults of the richer Purebloods, who looked down in disgust at his second hand clothes.
Knowing, that they needed a change of topic, he asked: "But won't we break a million rules by leaving the school?"
Hermione smiled at him, it was her evil smile, when she had worked out an especially good plan with her huge brain: "Not if we argue right. Underage students are not allowed to leave the grounds, unless they are accompanied by someone, who is already of age."
"And I am off age," Harry grinned as well.
"Exactly." Hermione gathered up her things and Harry and Ron quickly followed her example.
"We should probably change into something different to our school robes, or we will draw to much attention," Hermione said and swung her bag over her shoulder.
"Are students even allowed to have a House Elf?" Ron asked, as they left the library.
"Usually not, but Harry is the owner of Hogwarts and I am sure Dumbledore will realize that he would never buy one only because he is too lazy to clean his quarters up himself. As long as he keeps the matter quiet, he will surely overlook it. He has overlooked much worse things in the past," Hermione said confidently.
"Will we Floo from my fireplace?" Harry asked, wondering, how they would get to the Ministry.
"Yes, we will Floo to the Leaky Cauldron and go from there. The Ministry has fireplaces as well, but they are only for their employees."
"What would we do without Mione?" Ron asked.
"Shaking his head, Harry answered: I don't know. We likely would not have been able to stop Quirrel, or the Basilisk, or even pass most of our exams."
They separated in front of Gryffindor Tower and Harry quickly changed into his red outfit. Justitius, who had woken up when he had entered, fluttered over to him and sat down on his shoulder with a happy chirp.
Harry stroked him quickly, before he pulled his money pouch from the drawer of his night stand and checked its content, only to realize that he probably did not have enough money on hand to buy a house elf. Worrying his lips, he thought about going to Lucius’ private quarters to see if his mate had some more cash. He didn't like the idea of just taking Lucius’ money, but the aristocrat had told him often enough that they had more than enough money and that he could spend as much as he liked. Maybe not with those exact words, but he had certainly never told him to be careful to not spend too much, and he could not take Ron and Hermione to his vaults. It would take too much time and they were not exactly safe without any Aurors for company and even if Voldemort and all his Death Eaters were not hot on their heels, he still could not go with them into the Malfoy vault.
Sighing, he quickly made his way to the new door which lead to Lucius’ rooms and entered carefully. Everything was silent, but it was possible that his mate still had a class to teach or was just visiting Severus.
Lucius’ private quarters was of course much smaller than his own, but well furnished. Harry had the suspicion that his fancy mate had ordered one of his House Elves to bring some of his own furniture over to Hogwarts, because the black leather couch looked much too expensive to be something that would normally belong to a teacher's quarters, so did the antique desk he could see in a corner in the next room. Scanning the living room quickly and finding nothing that even remotely looked like a money pouch, he went into the study. Many people kept their money in their study, often in their desk drawers.
Pulling at the top drawer of said antique desk, he cursed when it was locked. With a sigh, he pulled out his wand, pointed it at the desk and whispered: "Alohomora!" The drawer nearly sprang out of the desk as it shot open with a loud ‘bang’. Harry winced when he saw that the expensive drawer now hung askew on their runners. His muttered “Reparo” made it even worse when the drawer only slammed back into the desk, scattering small splinters of wood everywhere. Frustrated, he shook his wand like muggles did with a broken device. Maybe he needed a bit more practice with his new wand. Somehow, it had felt as if too much magic had flown through the Elder Wand...maybe it could channel ‘more’ magic at a time? Did that even make sense?
Regardless of the reason, he did not have the time to think about it now. Pulling the drawer carefully open again, he sighed in relief when he saw a small chequebook. He picked it up and noticed that it had two free spaces: One, where someone had to fill in their name and one for the amount. He pocketed it quickly and left Lucius’ quarters again, making a mental note to apologize for the ruined desk.
"Hello little master, how was your day?"
"Much too busy," Harry responded. "And now I have to go to the Ministry."
"The Ministry? What do you have to do there?" Nagini lifted her heavy head and made a expression that looked very close to a frown, or as close to a frown that snakes could make, that was.
"I want to buy a House Elf."
"I already wondered why you have any. You are rich and powerful, every rich and powerful wizard has at least a couple of House Elves," Nagini hissed.
"I am only now allowed to buy one;" Harry explained.
"Because you are mated now?"
"Not exactly. I can now buy one because I am now an adult. But without my mating, I would still be considered a child," Harry told her.
"Shall I accompany you?" his snake asked.
It probably was a good idea to take her along and maybe it would even ease his mate and father's temper when they found out that he had sneaked out of Hogwarts with his friends. This way, he could at least say that he had not left without protection and the paper had reported about his bonding to Nagini, so they should not cause too much of a panic.
"Yes, that would be good," he answered and motioned for Nagini to wind herself around his body.
"Are you planning on taking her with you?"
Harry spun around at the voice of Hermione. He was not used to not hearing someone approach anymore, but he had watched the beautiful scales move as his familiar slithered around his body and had not been listening at all.
"She will keep us safe," Harry shrugged and went over to his fireplace to hold the bowl with floo powder out to his friends. Hermione still frowned and eyed the huge snake.
"I guess it is a good idea," she said and grabbed some powder.
"Of course it is. You-Know-Who has Death Eaters in the Ministry, but they will think twice about attacking us with Nagini at our side," Ron said.
"Or they will attack us because their Master wants her back," Hermione commented.
"We will take our chances," Harry cut her off, before this could grow into an argument. Apparently his new place in the Order had gained him some more say in such situations at least, because Hermione only nodded and stepped into the fireplace.
"I will go next and catch you on the other side," Ron winked and followed their friend.
"Have you ever floo’ed before?" Harry asked Nagini as he took some powder as well.
"No," Nagini hissed.
"It is not a pleasant experience," Harry warned her, before shouting: "The Leaky Cauldron!"
The loud chattering in the pub died down as soon as Harry stepped out of the floo and the wizards and witches at the bar and the tables saw him arrive with Nagini. Nagini shook her head in irritation, hissed something about stupid fire riding and slithered to the ground so that Harry had more freedom to move.
"Let's go before they decide to panic," he said and gestured with his head to a group of tables. His friends nodded and they quickly made their way onto the busy street. The Ministry was located in the muggle part of London, a fair walk away from Diagon Alley. Hermione, ever the clever witch cast an illusion spell over Nagini quickly to make her look like a dog for all muggle eyes; with that done, only Harry still drew attention to them.
Feeling uncomfortable, Harry quickly stepped between his two best friends. Sometimes it really was annoying to be a submissive. He tended to quickly get nervous when many alien eyes stared at him, especially when his mate was not at his side. Hermione pat his shoulder reassuringly, having guessed what was wrong with him, whilst Ron, ever the perspective one, had not noticed anything at all.
"Well, your clothes look kind of extraordinary, even for most wizards," Hermione said quietly.
"I know but I still like them. They fit me and I feel comfortable in them."
His brainy friend smiled softly at him: "They do fit you."
Ten minutes later, Ron and Hermione stopped in front of a small, shabby looking telephone box. Harry had nearly continued to go down the road, but Ron had grabbed his arm and stopped him.
"We are here man," he said and pointed at the telephone box.
"A telephone box?" Harry asked sceptically, eyeing the shabby looking thing; wizards really had the strangest ideas sometimes.
"Yes, it is the entrance to the Ministry. They couldn't just build a huge building in the midst of Muggle London with a fancy entrance, so it is underground," Ron explained.
"But Grimmauld Place and the Leaky Cauldron are in the midst of Muggle London as well," Harry frowned.
"Those buildings are much smaller than the Ministry is," Hermione said and pushed Harry into the Telephone box. "Let's hurry, before we become even more conspicuous," she said and picked up the handset.
With Nagini, Ron, Hermione, himself and an excited Justitius in the small box it was quickly getting uncomfortably crowded. He caught his little bat, who had decided that fluttering hectically about was a brilliant idea and tried to shift far enough to the side to get Ron's elbow out of his ribs.
"Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and business," the voice of a woman came out of the receiver and Hermione answered: "Ronald Weasley, Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, we are here to buy a House Elf."
"The office of House Elf affairs is located on the 8th floor as part of the Department for the Control and Regulation of Magical Creatures, please take the badges and register your wands at the security point," the voice said again. Ron grabbed into the telephone slit for the change and gave Harry a silver badge, just before the entire phone box started to lower into the ground.
Harry had not imagined that the Ministry would be so full of people. He had nearly gotten run over as he stepped out of the box and a Ministry Worker, with a stack of parchments, ran past him.
"Be careful man, they are all a bit crazy here, guess you become like this if you work for someone like Fudge," Ron said and quickly pulled him to the side before the man could actually knock him from his feet.
"You realize that your father is a Ministry Employee as well?" Harry snorted dryly.
"I would never argue that he isn’t a bit crazy sometimes, with his crazy love of muggle stuff," Ron replied.
Harry had to agree with his friend on that point and wisely said nothing more, instead turning to their bushy haired friend.
"I think the elevators are over there, behind the security point," Hermione interrupted them and pointed at the far end of the huge entry hall they had landed in.
"Then let's go," Harry said and hissed in Parseltongue: "Stay close or you might get lost," to Nagini. His snake made a huffing noise, but said nothing and just followed him. They passed a gigantic, golden statue with a golden wizard and a witch, who were surrounded by a Goblin, Centaur and House Elf, who stared up at them in awe and adoration.
"This really is sick," he commented and Hermione nodded in silence: "As if any creature is more or less worthy than another one. Even a Squib or Muggle has the right of honour and dignity and Goblins, Centaurs and House Elves also have their own powerful magic; we certainly would have a problem if even one of those groups would decide to start a war with us. House Elf magic for example is really different from ours, that is why they can enter many warded areas and deliver mail without any problems," Hermione whispered back.
"Fudge placed the statue here," Ron explained silently. "When dad started working here, it showed the same creatures and the wizard and witch, but they all sat around a huge table, that supposedly looked like the Round Table King Arthur constructed on Merlin's advice. Now we have this; it is a shame to our honourable history!"
Harry looked at his friend in surprise, he had never heard Ron speak so patriotically about Wizarding Britain, but he was certainly right, this statue was a shame and as far as he had read about Merlin and as far as he could rate the man after getting to know his portrait, he was sure that he would never have agreed to such a piece of art. Merlin had been all for equality.
They arrived at the security point and Hermione motioned for him to go first. He placed his wand in front of the security wizard on the counter and waited for the registration. The man didn't even look up, as he placed his wand on a strange device and then read out loud:
"Elder Wand, materials: Elder-Wood and core of Thestral tail-hair. Owner: Harry..." The security wizard broke off and lifted his head to stare wide eyed at Harry: "...Potter," he ended weakly and Harry feared for a moment that the young man in his twenties might pass out from awe, fear or simply shock, he could not say.
"That is correct" Harry said quickly to pull the man out of his trance, even though Dumbledore had never told him which materials the Elder wand was made from, but he supposed that the magical device would be right. When the man still didn't move and continued to stare he stretched his hand out: "I would like to have my wand back."
"Of course, Mr. Potter, sir," The man stuttered hastily and gave him his wand, before stepping to the side to let him through.
"Thank you," Harry said and hurried to get the hell out of the checking point.
The registration of Ron and Hermione's wands went much smoother.
"Did you see his face when he turned to watch where we would be heading and he saw Nagini next to you?" Ron snickered.
"No," Harry answered and turned around again, only to see the wizard lying on the ground, unconscious. "I guess, she gave him a break," he snickered and pressed a button on one of the many elevators.
"Harry, Ron, you are unbelievably! It is mean to say something like that;" Hermione huffed.
"Don't spoil our fun, Mione," Ron huffed and went into the elevator first. Harry saw a couple of witches and wizards wanting to follow them, but as soon as they saw his familiar, they quickly stepped back again.
"Humans have uncomfortable ways of moving," Nagini hissed in irritation as the elevator started to move upwards."
Being able to relate to her, not with elevators, but at least with many other wizarding travelling methods, Harry tried to sooth her: "It will be over soon."
"What is she saying?" Hermione questioned and looked down at her curiously.
"That we have weird ways of moving," Harry answered, just when the elevator stopped on the 8th floor. Still not knowing what he had to do exactly once he was in the department, he asked his all knowing friend: "So, how will this go?" and motioned to the door where written in big, red letters , it announced: "Department of House Elf Affairs."
"As far as I know, House Elves who need a new job can come here and register," Hermione told him. "I believe they will be in a common room where you can talk to them to find out which one will fit into your needs the best. Then you go to the Ministry Worker, do the paperwork and pay for him or her."
"Do you think there will be many? I always thought that it was difficult to get a House Elf," Ron mused.
"Well, it is rare that House Elves need a job. They are usually born into a family and will serve there. But sometimes a family has too many or is no longer rich enough to afford all of their Elves; you have to provide for their means of living after all and it can surely get expensive if you have ten or even more of them. Just think about how much a child eats, then you know how much an Elf eats," Hermione explained.
Harry pushed the door open and they indeed found themselves in a room with about eight House Elves. The little creatures sat on wooden benches which were lined against the walls. The first thing he noticed was that seven of the eight Elves sat all to their left, staring at another Elf opposite of them. They all wore disapproving looks, disdain or wrinkled their nose at their comrade. When Harry eyed the elf who was sitting alone, he instantly saw how much smaller he was, not even half the height of Dobby he guessed, and he was silently sniffling and wiping tears away.
Without sparing the other Elves a glance, he went over to the sad creature and kneeled down in front of him. Somehow, the Elf reminded him of himself with his small, thin build and his hunched posture. He had often sat like this in his cupboard, or later on his bed in Dudley's second bedroom, where the Dursley’s had locked him in for days. But then he had gone to Hogwarts and this summer he had finally found a person who protected him and took care of him.
"Hey little one, what is your name?" he asked carefully, in order not to startle the elf. The little elf started of course regardless.
"O...Oscar, sir," the creature sniffed and looked at him with huge, bright blue eyes, even brighter than Dumbledore's. From the direction of the other house elves came disapproving coughing sounds, but Harry simply ignored them.
"Why are you crying?" he inquired gently.
"No one wants Oscar, sir," the Elf explained.
"Why not?"
"Oscar is only 75 years old, sir."
Harry blinked in confusion, what did his age have to do with a getting a new job?
"That is really young, Harry, he probably is barely educated, he would not have had the chance to learn much yet," Ron explained from his spot where he stood just behind him and eyed the elf critically.
"House Elves get really old, much, much older than a wizard, that is why they are only considered adults and fully educated after 200 years of age," Hermione added for his benefit.
"Normally it is dishonourable to throw out such a young house elf, because they really have a hard time of getting a job. Usually, the other elves of a family educate their children or the young newcomers, but I guess his former family went bankrupt," Ron told him.
The young elf nodded his head fiercely, confirming Ron’s theory.
Harry supposed that Oscar really was still very young, but in his opinion that didn't make him a lesser House Elf, so he asked: "How long have you been searching for a new job?"
"Four months, sir." Oscar answered, evoking malicious snickers from the other Elves.
Standing up, Harry spun around and glared at the other Elves who instantly shut up at his angry glare. Without another word, he turned to the door with the label "Office" on it and went determinedly over.
Ron came after him: "Harry, think about it, you will have to teach him everything," he tried to stop him.
"I know," he just replied and glared at his friend, he hated that kind of prejudices. No person was at fault, only because he or she was born smaller, or without magic, or to muggle parents, or with a different skin colour; this was the same crap.
"There are seven well educated elves, pick one of them, you have enough on your mind without him."
"He deserves a chance," Harry said and yanked his arm out of Ron's grip.
"But,.." Harry just shook his head and cut the next argument of his friend off and sighing, he thought that maybe he needed to explain his reasons more clearly; his friends didn't know his complete past history after all: "You don't understand; he is just like me. I got bullied for years because I was small, my family didn't want to look at me, because I was different- because I was a freak. I am still small, but now I have friends and a family who protect me and they don't care if I am the wizarding world's hero or not, they love me for who I am and everybody deserves such friends."
Ron’s eyes softened: "You’re right Harry, I am sorry and I guess he will love you."
Hermione, who had followed them sighed and leaned her head against Ron’s shoulder, a soft smile on her lips.
"I will hurry," Harry said and knocked on the office door.
"Enter," A male voice said and he stepped into a very small room, where a rough looking wizard in his fifties sat behind an old desk.
"I want to buy one of your House Elves," Harry said and sat down on the chair in front of the desk, it creaked suspiciously, as if its shaky legs would give at any moment.
The man looked up and then asked dryly: "Hey kiddo, are you sure you can afford a House Elf? They cost more than a rabbit or even an owl."
Harry bristled in indignation. He had thought that after the two articles in the Daily Prophet every witch and wizard would recognize him; even with his new look and even without being famous and filthy rich, the man's words would have been rude.
"I am sure, Mister," he answered equally dryly.
"If you think so," The man replied in a voice that clearly suggested that he could always destroy the purchase contract when Harry finally realized he could not afford the House Elf after all.
"Which one do you want to buy?"
"Oscar," Harry answered.
The wizard raised an eyebrow: "You know that he is still young?"
"Yes, I am aware of it."
"We will not give you any warranty," the wizard told him and scribbled something on the purchase contract, before signing it with a dramatic gesture. "That makes 10, 522 Galleons. He is a bit cheaper because of his age," the wizard grinned waiting for Harry to withdraw from the purchase, but Harry only pulled out his mate’s chequebook and asked: "Can I borrow your quill? I forgot to bring one along," and filled in the sum before signing the piece of paper and handing it to the stunned wizard.
The wizard read his signature and then gasped: "Mr. Potter, I didn't recognize you!"
Not wanting to talk to the man any more than necessary, Harry replied: "I noticed," and stood up.
Back in the main room he kneeled down in front of Oscar again and said: "My name is Harry, I hope you will like to work for me."
The elf looked up, his eyes even wider than before: "Has sir bought Oscar?"
Harry nodded and stretched a hand out to help the little elf from the bench, noticing for the first time that he was naked.
"We will stop at a store and buy you a uniform." At the panicked expression on Oscar’s face, who had thought that he was already jobless again, he quickly added: "That is not sign that you are getting sacked, I just don't want you to go around naked or clad in an old pillow case."
"Then let's go to Madame Malkins," Hermione said, nodding in approval and they made their way back to the exit.
On their way to the elevators, Oscar eyed Nagini a bit fearfully and so Harry explained: "This is Nagini, she is my familiar and that little fellow," he pointed at Justitius on his shoulder "...is Justitius, he is a Phoenix Foundling."
Oscar’s eyes widened in awe: "Sir must be a well known and rich wizard."
"Your new master is Harry Potter," Ron told the little Elf helpfully, who started to tremble in awe: "The great Harry Potter? Oscar is honoured!" The Elf squeaked.
Harry threw Ron a disapproving look; there really was no reason to introduce him like a hero. "I am just a normal student," he replied, stepping back into the phone box, but his friend only snorted.
"Yeah, only a student and only the Heir to Hogwarts and only You-Know-Who's greatest opponent," Ron scoffed.
"Well, the last thing is not my fault," Harry blushed.
"If you weren't powerful, then you would not be his greatest nemesis," Hermione cut him off simply and he could not really argue with that.
Casting another illusion over the elf as they left the Ministry again and changing the topic, Hermione told him: "You will have to tell him his duties and what you expect from him when we are back at Hogwarts. It is also important, that you tell him everything important about your life and give him clear orders about which things he can share with others and what has to be kept secret."
"I will do that," he said, smiling down at the little Elf, who was walking next to him with huge, disbelieving eyes.
Madame Malkins was luckily empty as they entered. The plump witch came bustling over to them and greeted them with a warm smile. Harry had the feeling that she recognized him, but being a businesswoman she knew not to annoy her customers.
"How can I help you three?" she asked, her gaze only quickly flickering down to Nagini, but her friendly smile never faltered.
"This is Oscar, he will work for me, but I don't like the idea of him running around in a dirty pillowcase. So I thought that maybe you could tailor some white button down shirts for him and black trousers." Harry looked Oscar up and down. "Do you know my school uniform?" he asked the witch after a moment.
"Yes, they were bought here," she said, not naming the person who bought them, like it was proper for a good shop keeper.
"I would like him to have the same ties I wear, they have part of my family crest on them," Harry explained.
Madam Malkin nodded in understanding and motioned for Oscar to stand on a little chair, not in the least bit affronted by providing a House Elf with new clothes.
"How many sets of clothing shall I tailor for you, Mr. Potter?"
Thinking a second, Harry answered: "One for each day of the week."
He and his friends decided to wait for the clothes and sat down on a couple of chairs. Harry thought that he was slowly starting to understand what Lucius had meant back in Muggle London. His mate had told him that with a family name came duties and those duties would influence someone. Back then he had not believed in his words, but now he did. It was not necessarily his marriage into the Malfoy family, but more his own personal inheritance: To find out that he was the Heir to Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Gryffindor and even Merlin had started to change him slowly. He realized that even if the threat of Voldemort was some day gone, he would still be a household name in the public.
His standing in the society he had received due to his marriage was different from the one the Hogwarts Inheritance gave him: The first one made him politically powerful; the other gave him more of a sort of social recognition. The Founders and all Headmasters of Hogwarts had been wise people and were often considered counsellors for all kinds of people, even though their direct political power was fairly limited. Dumbledore's own political power came from his seat in the Wizengamot and of course it helped that his advice was almost always considered pure wisdom, but that was something he had earned for himself.
In the last month he had successfully sneaked his way into many important aspects of the wizarding world: He was not only in the midst, but the Head of the warfront against Voldemort, he was the one who had the power to change the education of young wizards and witches essentially and he had become the Bloodmate to the last council member of Britain.
Without having noticed it at first, he had started to live a life like a true Pureblood from one of those Noble Families. He had first imagined that he would always stick out like a sore thumb at the start when he had been mated to Lucius, but he was adapting very quickly. Only a few minutes ago, when he had ordered the ties with his family crest had he realized how much he was already changing. That didn't mean that he was suddenly a spoiled bastard, but he considered thinks differently.
He just could not live the life of a foolish, stupid teenager when he had all these responsibilities and when every mistake he made would reflect on his mate. He really wanted to be the perfect mate for Lucius.
Knowing the answer, but wanting to find out how obvious it was, he suddenly asked: "Guys, do you think I am changing?"
"Yes and no," Hermione said hesitantly.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked her, frowning.
"When we parted at Kings Cross after the last term," Ron mused thoughtfully "...you were this typical Gryffindor: You didn't care about your looks, you were reckless, and you didn't care what would be considered proper in wizarding society. Not that I do, for that matter."
Hermione continued for him: "It seems as if you have grown up, even though you were never really childish, but since you have found your mate, you seem to be more thoughtful about how you look, how you behave and yet you are still the same boy with the messy hair: You still believe that every person is equally valuable, regardless of their family background, you are still a Gryffindor through and through and you can still be unbelievably thick headed. But I guess you had to change in some ways with everything," she shrugged.
"It is not bad," Ron said. "Dad always said that Dumbledore had once told him that the key to a successful society would be ‘accepting diversity’ and that he believes in it as well. In some way, you are above us all, even above Dumbledore and it is good, because we need people like you as much as we need the witch who sells the Daily Prophet in front of the Leaky Cauldron."
Harry blinked at his friend; he had never heard Ron say something as wise as this before.
"I hope," Ron grinned at him, honesty shining in his eyes: "that you will be able to connect the upper class with the middle class and lower class; that you can make them all more understanding and accepting and I believe, if anybody will ever succeed with a miracle like that, then it will be you, because you know both sides."
Not understanding what his friend meant, he asked: "Both sides?"
"Yes Harry," Hermione explained: "You have grown up treated worse than most House Elves, with too little food as well as physical and mental abuse. Then you entered Hogwarts and you became a celebrity of sorts, but still without real social standing, at least no legal one, you were still too young to be considered the Potter Heir and then you found your mate, who apparently is a council member and you found out that your family line goes directly back to Merlin himself, and that gave you the legal backing to your fame."
"Everything done!" The voice of Madame Malkin interrupted their quiet conversation and as they all looked up, they saw a hesitant, but smiling Oscar stepping out in front of them. He was now clad in a short-sleeved white button down, the Hogwarts tie around his neck and his legs were covered by black trousers, which reached his knees.
"You look good," Harry smiled and the little creature blushed.
"How much do I owe you?" He asked Madam Malkin, before paying with a second cheque.
"Thank you, Mr. Potter, have a good day," she said as they left.
The rest of their journey was rather short. They went to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry was the first to floo back, but when he stepped out of his fireplace, he knew that he was in big trouble.
"There you are," His father glared down at him, his arms crossed in front of his chest, whilst Lucius was just growling.
"You forgot your snake man," Ron said, stepping out of the hearth behind him, but then went silent at the sight of the two enraged wizards in front of him.
"I would advise you to go back to your common room, Mr. Weasley," Severus sneered, just when Hermione arrived with Oscar. She set the Elf down, who took in the scene in front of him with huge, fearful eyes, but stepped in front of Harry protectively.
Not wanting the situation escalated, he quickly said: "It’s okay Oscar, the left one is Lucius Malfoy, my Professor and the right one is Severus Snape, my father. Maybe you could find yourself a room and put your new clothing away?"
To his relief, Oscar nodded and disappeared with a last sceptical look at the two men.
"Well, we will better go then, too," Hermione said and pulled Ron hastily from the room.
As soon as they were alone, his father snapped: "Do you have any idea how completely stupid and reckless it was to sneak out of Hogwarts?"
"I wasn’t alone; Ron, Hermione and even Nagini were there with me as well," Harry tried to defend himself, but he knew that it was a weak argument.
"Last night, Voldemort had gotten so enraged because of you, that he transferred his feelings to you even without a proper link, and today you sneak away to buy a House Elf?" Severus snapped.
Harry winced, seeing it from that angle it sounded much worse and his mate was still growling. He didn't even dare to look at the enraged face of Lucius.
"But I need help if I want to watch over all those houses and we didn't break a rule!" he huffed, crossing his arms. He knew that he had acted a bit rashly and that it really had been a more dangerous trip than he had realized, but he would stick to his decision. He was not a child anymore (at least by law) and he was the Head of the Order; he had responsibilities.
"Then you should have talked with one of us! And Mr. Weasley and Miss Granger are not yet educated enough to provide the same protection Lucius or I could give you. Not to even mention what you have done to your mate!"
That comment stung and Harry finally looked closer at Lucius. Rage was not the only thing glittering in his currently completely red eyes; there was panic as well.
Guilt crashed down on him like a huge wave and without being able to look his mate in his face any longer, he mumbled: "I am sorry, I didn't think..."
"No you obviously did not! You did not think about how your mate would feel when he finds you missing, without a sign as to where you have gone just a few hours after the Dark Lord has sworn to take revenge on you! We didn't even know if you just gone off to go shopping, or if one of the Death Eater children had somehow managed to kidnap you! Lucius nearly went on a rampage through the castle, blowing all our covers into the wind and to get him even this calm took all my calming droughts!"
"I...I am sorry," Harry mumbled, voice weak and shuffled closer to Lucius; he had never wanted to hurt his mate, he had not even known that a mate would go this mad when their counterpart was missing. Carefully he grabbed one of Lucius’ hands, hesitatingly, because he was not sure if Lucius wanted to even see him right now. But Lucius snatched him up and hugged him close to his strong chest, as if he was nothing more than a small doll.
"I don't know if I should punish you for leaving or throw a party out of relief because you are back and uninjured," his mate growled and buried his nose into Harry's neck.
"You," his father spoke up again "...will go to your library, conjure every book you can find about Bloodmates and mates in general, read them and write an essay about the relationship and deep connection between mates and it better be long and good enough to be worth publishing as well!"
"Yes, daddy," Harry mumbled, feeling very ashamed and thoroughly scolded.
"I will leave you two alone then," his father said and stormed off.
Lucius instantly took him to the sofa, where he sat down with him. Now, without his father there as a distraction, he could feel and smell the panic and desperation radiating from his mate. A croaked mewl tore from his throat and he wrapped his arms around Lucius’ neck, before starting to purr soothingly. Lucius’ whole body was tense; Harry could feel the muscles clench beneath him and the man was also shaking.
"I am so sorry, I didn't realize..." he croaked out, but went silent when Lucius spoke up:
"I thought that the Dark Lord somehow got you, I thought that you were being tortured," his mate’s voice was no more than a whisper and sounded as strained as the body beneath Harry felt. Harry didn't know what to say, or how he could even begin to make it up to Lucius.
"I feared that I had lost you, Harry," Lucius said and then suddenly spun him around, so that he had to face the hurt in his mate’s eyes: "I know it is not your fault that you know so little about mating bonds. Harry, we are soulmates, do you know what that means?"
"That we are destined to fall in love with each other?" Harry asked carefully; he really had no real idea what soulmates were, he only knew that they were rare and that it was a great honour to find his soulmate.
Lucius shook his head sadly, Harry assumed at his lack of knowledge. "Soulmates are not only meant for love, they balance each other, and they complete each other. No being is perfect, you are caring and understanding, but you miss some traits that I possess. Finding your soulmate means finding the one person who has strong traits where you have weak ones, even their magic is in harmony with one another. When two of those souls find each other, they connect and form an entity, they grow so close that it is often said that only one soul is living in two soulmates. To lose your soulmate, would mean that your soul would be torn apart, that half of you dies, whilst you are still alive and have to stay behind on this planet."
Harry felt a lump in his throat, he had had no clue. Tears pricked at his eyes and he buried his face into Lucius’ chest:
"I am so sorry," he sobbed, the extent of what he had done to his mate finally sinking completely in. "You are so important to me, how could I not have realized?"
Lucius sighed and slowly stroked through his hair: "The soul only connects slowly to its counterpart, it takes time, it is a complex process and for someone who is still as young as you and who does not yet have a lot of experience with their own magic, it is not so easy to notice at first. Some of it you have already experienced; that you have fallen in love with me is a sign that our two souls are already connecting and that you are slowly starting to realize it, at least on a subliminal level. Just promise me that you will tell me next time when you plan to go and buy a House Elf and stay in my sight for the rest of the day," his mate said and pressed a kiss on top of his head.
Harry looked up through watery eyes: "Are you still mad at me?" He didn't want his mate to be mad at him, he hated it; it made him all the more aware that he had hurt Lucius.
"I was at first, but the relief that you are back and unharmed is stronger and to be honest, Severus and I knew that you lived with muggles and that you know next to nothing about the magical world; we should have explained our bond more thoroughly to you, after all, you are still the child in this, regardless of your legal status."
"I promise," Harry said and snuggled closer to Lucius; he was so relieved that he had not ruined everything between them, only because he had once again been a typical, reckless Gryffindor, who didn't think.
"And now," Lucius said, sounding much more at ease again "...tell me about the House Elf you bought. He still looks quite young."
Huffing, Harry sat up a bit straighter and crossed his arms: "Don't start like Ron, or the Ministry Worker; Oscar is great, I believe in him!"
Lucius lifted an eyebrow in amusement: "I never said he would be a bad House Elf. I realize that many wizarding families don't like the extra work a young House Elf brings in the first few years, but the Malfoy family has always hired their Elves at a very young age. They are still fairly untainted by former masters at that age and you can educate them more thoroughly to fit your needs and they often grow more attached to you."
Harry winced at the thought of what Hermione would say to the bit about ‘educating House Elves to fit your needs’: "Don't let Hermione hear you speak like that, she only agreed to tell me where I can get one under the promise of treating him well, I think I will even have to pay him..." he huffed.
"Miss Granger will never understand that House Elves work for us not because we forced them to do so, but because it is what makes them happy. But then again, I don't expect Muggleborns to understand those subtle things about our world," Lucius drawled.
Harry glared at him; Lucius really could be a bastard at times. "You know, I might not be Muggleborn, but I am Muggle raised, I didn't understand it at first, especially because the first Elf I met was Dobby, who was certainly unhappy working for you and ironing his hands."
"It is common practice to punish House Elves," Lucius replied unfazed, but then sighed:
"Would you like to know more about how I grew up?"
Harry blinked at his mate in confusion, how had he moved from the topic of House Elves to his childhood? But that didn't really matter as long as he learned more about the aristocrat.
"I would like that," Harry grinned at him and sat back comfortably in Lucius’ lap.
"My father, Abraxas Antonius Hesperos Malfoy was the first Malfoy, who was opposed to the Dark Arts. He was a Master at Dark Spells of course, but he tried to avoid them as much as possible, believing that no living being should be tortured and hurt in the way Dark Curses are able to. He married a beautiful witch, whose family origin laid in Germany, Rosa Antoinette Grünwald. The Grünwald’s sent all their children to Hogwarts and they were all Slytherins, but when the Dark Lord rose, they started to educate their children at home, wanting to protect them from the evil wizard’s influence."
Harry was intriguing by the story; he had always believed that the Malfoy’s had been evil wizards until he had mated to Lucius, but apparently not.
"I do not exactly know where my parents first met, but I know that they were already fairly old at the time, at least at Pureblood standards. My father had somehow managed to avoid every marriage to a woman his own father, a loyal follower of the Dark Lord and a true Dark Wizard, wanted to arrange for him. He fell in love with my mother instantly and my grandfather, relieved that his son was finally willing to marry, agreed after he had done some research about the Grünwald line. I was born only a year later and my childhood was one of many contrasts:
My father taught me that every being had its own value, even a squib or a House Elf; he was also the one who told me that children, regardless of who their parents were, were the most valuable thing in the world, because without children, there is no future. His words were the reason I woke and promised to help you that night at Privet Drive."
"But how is it possible that you became a Death Eater, when you had such an understanding father?" Harry asked bewildered, thinking about the things he had learned so far about his mate.
"I told you, my life was one of contradictions: My grandfather was still the Head of our family and he raised me in the traditional way. He told me about family honour and the power Dark Magic gives a wizard. At times, I felt literally torn in two. Maybe I would have had the strength to choose a different path with the help of my parents, but they died in an accident when I only was in my fifth year at Hogwarts. After that, I fully lived the life of a Malfoy Heir and my grandfather's influence grew even stronger. By the time I turned seventeen, it did not even enter my mind to refuse my grandfather’s wish to join him in the Dark Lord’s ranks and even if I had wanted to, I would not have had the power to deny him: the Malfoy family is ruled like a monarchy with the family head as the king, his word is absolute."
Harry's heart clenched at the sad story. His mate’s parents sounded like amazing people, they had not deserved such an early end, it would have saved Lucius many hardships, he was sure.
"I would have liked to get to know your parents; I would have liked them, I am sure," he mumbled with a small smile.
"And I would have liked to introduce you to them, especially my mother, she would have loved you, she was very kind-hearted and had always wished for a bigger family, a family full of warmth and love," Lucius said. "But sadly, I cannot even show you their portraits; something must have gone wrong with their soul transportation charm, because they never came to life after their death."
Harry was at a loss about what to say; his mate had not deserved to lose his parents so early, as someone who had grown up as an orphan for nearly twelve years, he knew how horrible it was to have no parents to turn to for advice or comfort and somehow he believed that his mate did not have a better life with his grandfather than he had had with the Dursley’s.
"I am sorry," he said for the thousands time that day, his heart feeling heavy.
"It is fine Harry. And now tell me about your new House Elf. What was his name again?"
Harry smiled at his mate, understanding that Lucius wanted to leave that topic, but now he understood his mate much better. He had always wondered how he had been able to let go of his Death Eater ways so fairly easily, but now he knew.
"His name is Oscar and he is 75 years old," he told Lucius and gave him a brief kiss on his cheek to distract him a bit after the emotional story. "His former family went bankrupt, that was why he was looking for a new job."
"How long has he been searching for a new family already?" Lucius asked, one hand coming up to trace soft patterns over his back.
"For four month; I really can't understand why, he seems nice and loyal."
Lucius nodded. "He does, he reminds me a bit of you, my little submissive," his mate said affectionately.
Blushing furiously, Harry admitted: "That is kind of the reason why I bought him; he reminded me of myself when I was younger. I always dreamed about someone who would come and pick me up and take me to a better place. And then that one person came," he smiled and pressed his lips against Lucius’. Lucius sighed into the kiss and for a few moments they kissed gently, before parting again.
"I think it was a good idea to buy a House Elf considering your plans of a second Headquarters and an asylum for your friends’ families."
"Hermione said that as well; I think that was the main reason why she agreed to the House Elf thing, but it was actually Ron's idea, I never even thought about House Elves," Harry explained.
"I can even imagine that; you are still quite uneducated in the customs of Pureblood Society," Lucius mused and then added: "You should call your House Elf now and introduce him to his new job."
"Okay," Harry agreed and then called: "Oscar!"
Oscar appeared with a very quiet pop, only enough to alert him, but not the deafening sounds most of the other house elves made.
"What can Oscar do for Master Harry Potter, sir?"
Harry didn't answer for a moment, instead he watched his mate eye Oscar sceptically.
"I must admit," Lucius said after a moment "I like the idea of uniforms, it has more style."
"Thinking about it," Harry mused, whilst Oscar still waited patiently "...it is a bit odd: Purebloods are all about being classy, looking their best and making a good impression, but they clad their servants in rags."
Lucius chuckled: "You know, my father told me the same once. I was only six and didn't understand what he meant back then."
Harry turned back to Oscar and motioned for him to sit down as well. Oscar hesitated for a moment, but then climbed onto the arm chair opposite from him, fumbling with his twig like fingers nervously.
Harry glanced one last time over at his mate, feeling a bit unsure; he had never owned a House Elf before after all, but when Lucius just nodded, he started: "I want to tell you a few things about my life and the work you will have to do."
Oscar nodding eagerly, but Harry was once again at a loss for words.
"Um...where do I start?" he asked blushing and with a second hesitant look over his shoulder. Lucius chuckled again, before advising him: "Start with your name, your family, those type things."
"Okay...My Name is Harry Severus James Potter, my mum was Lily Evans, a Heiress to the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff line and my father is Severus Tobias Snape, a Heir to the Slytherin and Ravenclaw line, which means that I am the Heir to the Hogwarts Founders and to Merlin, who was their great-grandfather."
Oscar gasped and slapped his hands over his mouth, before exclaiming: "Oscar knew that Mr. Harry Potter sir was the Heir to Hogwarts, but not that he is also a descendant of the great Merlin!"
"Well, that last bit is not yet widely known," Harry mumbled, feeling a bit flustered, he had never been good with all that fan-like attention.
"Is it a secret?" Oscar asked. Harry thought about it for a moment and came to the conclusion, that there really was no reason why his connection to Merlin needed to be kept a secret. He would not shout it out to the world, but he would not deny it either:
"No, you can tell the people if they ask, but you need to keep the identity of my father a secret. Only Lucius, my friends you met earlier, Albus Dumbledore the Headmaster..."
"Oscar knows who Albus Dumbledore is, sir!" Oscar exclaimed and then grew beet red to the tips of his ears: "Sorry sir, Oscar didn't mean to interrupt."
Smiling at the childish Elf, Harry replied: "It's okay," before picking up his train of thought again: "You will come to know a couple of people, who belong to the Order of the Phoenix, they all know about my father, but no one else is allowed to know."
Oscar nodded as a sign that he understood.
"The man I am sitting so comfortably on is my Bloodmate Lucius Malfoy."
"Oscar knows the name Malfoy as well," Oscar squeaked.
"Oscar, do you know what a Bloodmate is?" Harry asked, making his voice a bit sterner sounding.
The House Elf shook his head. Harry slowly let his glamours go and watched Oscar closely. The Elf's eyes widened and he squeaked a bit in surprise. Harry could see the fear in his eyes and the shaking of his body and wondered whether unmated vampires only drank from humans.
"You don't need to fear us," Harry tried to calm him down again. "Lucius and I are Soulmates, Bloodmate is only a different term for the same thing. It means that we can only drink from each other, nothing else satisfies our hunger and even though we do enjoy other blood, we don't need it, or go crazy without it. My father is a vampire as well, but he and my mother were Bloodmates and since she is dead, he drinks from me as well."
Oscar seemed to calm down a lot and settled back down: "Oscar will trust Master Harry Potter."
Harry nodded and smiled at him, before continuing: "No one besides my father and Albus Dumbledore knows about our transformation into vampires and it is important that it stays that way. Under no circumstances are you allowed to talk about this with anybody besides me, my father, my mate and Albus."
"So he really knows?" Lucius asked without any real surprise in his voice.
"Albus? Yes, I found out when he told me about my extra classes," Harry confirmed.
"I thought as much. The man is too intelligent for his own good," his mate grumbled.
Harry turned back to Oscar, who took in all of the information with great eagerness and was by now slightly bouncing in his armchair. "This summer, I became the Head of the Order of the Phoenix; it is a group who fights against Lord Voldemort."
Oscar flinched, so did Lucius, but the man was too controlled to let any of it show; Harry only noticed it because he was sitting in his lap and felt the quick tensing of his muscles.
"The Order actually has one headquarters, but will get a second one soon and I also plan for a safe house, where people who get attacked by Death Eaters can hide. But being a student, it is difficult for me to keep an eye on all those places; this is the main reason why I bought you: You will deliver mail and orders to the people and the House Elves. I don't yet know how many other Elves there will be, I only inherited my family fortune a few weeks ago."
"Then Oscar will be Head Elf?" Oscar asked excitedly, but Harry didn't know what a Head Elf was.
"A Head Elf, is like the chef over all other Elves you own. Considering that you are in charge of not only the Potter and Hogwarts Elves, but also the Malfoy Elves, it would make sense to give the post of the Head Elf to your Personal House Elf," Lucius explained.
Nodding, Harry told Oscar: "You are the Head Elf."
The little creature nearly bounced from his chair in joy. "Harry Potter makes Oscar so happy. Oscar was nothing, sitting four months in the Ministry without a job and now he is Head Elf! Thank you Harry Potter, sir!"
"I think this is all for the moment, or have I forgotten something?" Harry asked with a glance at his mate.
"I do believe you have covered the most important aspects for now, the rest will occur in the next days," Lucius agreed.
"Can Oscar ask a question, sir?"
"Sure," Harry answered with a shrug. "You don't need to ask. If you have a question, then ask; you are still new here and have a lot to learn."
"How shall Oscar call you, sir?"
"He means a title," Lucius instantly clarified, knowing by now how Harry's upbringing gave him problems in understanding things in the wizarding world.
"Do I even have a title?" Harry questioned.
His mate snorted in disbelief. "Of course you have one, I will buy you a formal letterhead so that you can always look up your many titles," Lucius drawled.
Scoffing Harry grumbled: "That still doesn't help me."
"You can call yourself the Heir to the Merlin line, which would include all Founders, or the Heir to the Founders, which would be mostly the same thing, if you want to show that you feel especially connected to a specific Founder, you can call you his or her Heir..."
"This is still not very helpful," Harry muttered.
"I am aware of what you mean, I just wanted to make sure that you understand your own name," Lucius smirked arrogantly. "You can rightfully claim the title Lord, but I do not think that you will be very comfortable with that. Master might be an alternative."
Harry sighed in exasperation; his mate could get really annoying when it came to things like title, birth status and so on. "Then I will stick to ‘Master’," he announced with a roll of his eyes.
"Oscar will call you ‘Master’, then, Master Harry Potter, sir"
"Have you found a room for yourself?" Harry asked, wanting to change the topic.
"No sir, Oscar was not sure if he had heard right, a whole room for Oscar?"
"Yes, I have enough guestrooms in here, as long as you don't choose one of the Founder rooms, it is okay."
"Then Oscar will go now," Oscar said excitedly and popped out of the living room again.
"He will be a fine Elf," Lucius said. "He has the right motivation; you made a good choice by picking him."
Harry beamed at the compliment and then yawned.
"Time for bed, it is late enough and you had a rough night," Lucius ordered softly, but without any space for arguing.
Harry really didn't want to go to bed just yet, he had seen his mate for only a short while today and he wanted to cuddle a bit more. "Only if you come with me," he whined and gave his mate his best puppy eyes look.
"I need to mark essays," Lucius frowned.
"Then take them with you," Harry urged him. "Please? We couldn’t cuddle the entire day."
"I do not cuddle, Malfoy’s never do something as childish and Gryffindorish as cuddling," Lucius huffed indignantly.
"Yeah of course not. Then we have not had a chance to lie next to each other with arms wrapped around one another," Harry teased back.
"That sounds better," Lucius agreed and then called "Oscar," giving in to Harry's request. Harry frowned when there was no pop.
"Why doesn't he come?" Harry asked in irritation.
"You made him your Personal House Elf, but you never told him to listen to me. He is only bound to you." Harry winced at the annoyance in his mate’s voice; he was probably not used to House Elves ignoring his call.
"Wait a moment," Harry said hastily and called Oscar himself. This time the elf didn't need a second to appear.
"Oscar, I forgot to tell you, but I want you to listen and help my mate and father as well; they are my family."
Before Oscar could reply in some way Lucius ordered him: "You will find a stack of essays on the desk in my private office, bring them to me."
Oscar, probably having noticed that Lucius was not as lax as Harry was, hastily popped out to retrieve the parchments.
Suddenly, Harry remembered his accident with Lucius’ work desk. He fidgeted nervously and looked shyly up to his mate: "Um...Lucius?"
His mate lifted an amused eyebrow: "Yes Harry?"
"I borrowed your chequebook today..."
"You did?" Lucius smirked, apparently not angry yet.
"Yes...and when I tried to open you desk, I might have...destroyed the upper drawer a bit..." he fidgeted again, only to be stilled by his mate: "No fidgeting, it is too late in the evening for you to get me aroused."
Harry flushed. He always forgot the rule. Fidgeting was one of his nervous habits; he had always fidgeted, even as a small kid. The Dursley’s were probably to blame for his habit.
"You are aware, that the desk was from the 17th century?" his mate asked, making Harry feel even guiltier. He had expected that the desk would have been expensive, but it was also an antique.
"Well I guess I will have to order one of my House Elves to bring me another one from the attic, or the vault in Gringotts. Luckily I own a House Elf who is quite talented with furniture; he will be able to fix it, so no need to worry."
"It's really okay?" Harry asked carefully, not sure if Lucius had wanted to tell him that with his long speech.
"Yes, Harry. It is fine, we are wizards, such things can be repaired unless you burn them to ashes and you did not manage that, did you?" Harry shook his head.
"Good," Lucius said and lifted him up to carry him into his bedroom, where he proceeded to spell his clothing from his body.
"Much better," Lucius smirked.
"Hey, Oscar will come back soon!" Harry exclaimed and grabbed for the blanket.
"And?" his mate only asked.
"He will see me naked!"
"He is an Elf, nakedness is nothing strange to them," Lucius drawled.
"Well, I still feel uncomfortable." Lucius actually rolled his eyes then, a gesture that was so un-Malfoyish that Harry could only gape in shock, until a silent pop pulled him from his frozen state.
"Here are the essays Lord Malfoy wanted Oscar to bring," Oscar announced.
"Lay them on the night stand," Lucius said dismissively.
When the Elf was gone again, Harry wrapped his blanket tightly around his body and wobbled over to Justitius, who fluttered demandingly in front of his bat treats, making little high-pitched sounds every so often.
"A snake, a bat, an owl and a House Elf; I hope you don’t plan on buying a cat or a dog, or we might have to open a zoo," Lucius drawled as he stepped out of his trousers.
"You were the one who gave Justitius to me," Harry pointed out, opening the Honey Drops and giving one to his little familiar.
"So I did," Lucius replied nonchalantly.
Turning around, Harry was happy to see his mate already sitting in his bed, propped up against the headboard and naked with the exception of his boxers. Lucius stretched his right leg out and pat for Harry to lay down. Not needing to be invited twice, Harry climbed onto the bed and settled down between Lucius’ legs, his head on Lucius’ outstretched thigh.
The rest of the evening he relished in the closeness of his mate and watched Lucius correcting essays. He loved watching his mate and stayed awake much longer than he had thought. From time to time, Lucius would stop for a moment and trace patterns over his bare back or comb through his hair, but eventually, he fell asleep.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
Later in the night, long after Lucius had joined him in his dream, Harry awoke suddenly feeling cold and shaky. The cold feeling which he had thought had disappeared after Lucius had joined him at Hogwarts was once again back, stronger than ever before. It felt like the cold hand of death. Suddenly panicked his eyes searched for his mate in the dark room and found him lying peacefully next to him, or was Lucius too peaceful?
Not waiting another moment, he shook his dominant who instantly jolted up right, the man's silver eyes looking as panicked as his own.
"Harry, what is wrong? Did you get some feelings from the Dark Lord again?" His mate asked worriedly and pulled him into his lap.
Slightly relaxing at the contact and at the knowledge that his mate was indeed still alive, he shook his head, suddenly feeling stupid. How could he explain his sudden fear and the feeling?
He shook his head again, not able to put into words what he was experiencing for the third or fourth time now.
The coldness around his heart really felt like death itself, but Lucius was not dead, at least not deader than already.
An awful thought suddenly came to his mind: Could vampires get fatal diseases? Not the typical wizarding ones, they were immune to them, but illnesses only vampires could get.
Hoping that he was inconspicuous, he sniffed carefully, but Lucius smelled like always: Strong, and powerful and incredibly sexy. And then the face of his mate's son flashed in front of his inner eye once again. What was the meaning of this? What did his instincts want to tell him? Frowning, he looked down at the strong arms that were wrapped around him. This all made no sense. His mate was there, he should not feel lonely and he had no connection to his mate's son. Glancing upwards, he tried to find out if Lucius looked especially sad right now, as if he was mourning his son in this moment, but Lucius only looked concerned for him. Should he ask his mate? But then again, he would hate to rip wounds open, which might have started to heal slowly. No, he would not concern his mate any more than necessarily. He could still ask him if he hadn't figured out what this feeling meant in a few days, but for now he would keep silent.
A warm hand grabbed his chin and turned his face up.
"Harry, please talk with me, what is wrong love? Is it the Dark Lord?"
He forced himself to answer, to calm his mate’s nerves, but his voice sounded hoarse as he said: "No, it was just a normal nightmare."
Lucius watched him for a second longer and then sighed, pulling him flush against the stronger male’s chest. After a moment, Lucius let go of him and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead, saying: "Everything is fine, Harry. I am here, nothing will happen."
Harry smiled weakly and laid back down, somehow knowing, that nothing was fine, because the cold feeling still lingered and didn't seem to leave. His mate joined him again and spooned protectively behind him. Normally, he fell asleep within seconds when his mate lay next to him, but this time, the sun was almost rising before he drifted off again, still shivering and feeling lonelier than he should with Lucius at his side.
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A Different Kind of Hero