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
- 20
- 21
- 22
Chapter 21: The Unwilling Third One
HP
The next day Harry found himself sitting in front of an old table in his bedroom, trying to do his homework and even more importantly: trying to ignore the cold feeling that was still nearly as strong as it had been the previous night. Furthermore, the essay about ‘The Theory Behind the Transformation of Living Creatures’ was immensely boring and it certainly didn't help in distracting him.
Lucius had luckily believed his excuse that he had merely been plagued by a nightmare and it was a huge relief because he still had no idea what this feeling meant; only that it was somehow important. After thinking about every event at which he had felt the coldness, he no longer believed that he was feeling his mate's sorrow. Sure, Lucius was sad, but it wasn't the reason behind his own distress. No, somehow that theory didn't fit because the coldness had grabbed his heart when he had entered Hogwarts, the place where he had always fought with Draco and the second time it had happened in his father's classroom, where he had always sat in the same room with the boy as well. Furthermore, as soon as Lucius had joined him, he had only seen Draco's face in front of his inner eye, not his mate's anymore. That was why he now believed that his instincts, or maybe his Soulbond wanted to tell him something; but why him and not Lucius who was the dominant and so much wiser than himself, he couldn't say.
Sighing in frustration, he threw his quill down on his parchment where it left huge, black ink-blotches and buried his face in his hands. He needed to find out what this all meant, he thought as another shiver went down his spine. That this was happening to him was frightening. Not only was it not normal to see the face of a dead person in front of his inner eye, this morning he had also woken up feeling much weaker than he was used to, as if an illness was slowly eating away at his body. But he was a vampire; there shouldn't be any illness with the power to affect him like this. Regardless whether it was an illness or not, he needed to find a solution before Lucius could get affected or infected as well. And he needed hurry before his observant mate could notice anything.
A shadow appeared in the doorway and it could only be one of two people because he heard everybody else approaching, even before they could enter his private quarters. As he looked up, he saw his mate leaning against the door frame.
"Lucius," he greeted with a small smile, his eyes fixed on the perfect figure of his dominant mate. Lucius had left his elegant cloak he usually wore to classes in his rooms and wore only his tight black trousers, a white button-down shirt, and a silver waistcoat, which clung to every muscle of his perfect upper body. It provided a sight which was finally able to tear his mind from his gloomy thoughts and his eyes happily roamed his mate's body.
Lucius really was perfect, but sadly he was not the only student who had noticed it. He growled quietly at the thought of all the Slytherins, boys and girls alike of just about every age, following his mate with lust filled eyes. Pansy Parkinson especially, watched every movement of his dominant as soon as he entered the great hall or appeared in the same corridor as her. The students from the other houses were not as bad; sure, many girls giggled, but they were also weary of Lucius' rather dubious reputation.
"Is something wrong?" Lucius asked with a raised eyebrow, but Harry didn't hear him, he was too transfixed by the sight in front of him. He wanted to touch, lick and kiss this perfect body in front of him and he wanted to be touched in return. Lucius would surely be able to take away the coldness that clawed at his body and soul with its fiery passion, or at least distract him for a blissful moment.
‘What was stopping him?’ he wondered, why was he not unbuttoning his mate's shirt? Lucius would surely appreciate his attention; in fact, Harry was sure that the aristocrat wanted much more than Harry was ready to give just yet.
He seemed to stand in slow motion, feeling oddly detached from his body whilst every fibre of his being urged and itched to feel the skin of his mate, to press against him and take in his delicious scent.
Slowly he walked over, not saying anything and only stopped when he was almost touching the aristocrat. He laid his right-hand flat against the muscled abdomen and whispered pleadingly:
"I...want to touch you."
Lucius didn't answer him, but as he looked up into those silver-red eyes, he saw a carnal desire flashing in those orbs. Without breaking the eye contact, he started to open one button after the other; first those of his mate's waistcoat, then of his button-down until he could finally touch bare skin.
He groaned at the sensation of his mate's body heat seeping into him and placed his other hand on the body as well. Lucius' heart was pounding beneath him, making his blood rush wildly through his veins. He traced soft patterns over every single, well-defined muscle of his mate’s six-pack, no longer jealous of this body, but relishing in the fact that it was his. He, Harry, was the only one who would ever lay a hand on Lucius Malfoy again and he had been right: The cold feeling was already fading and not as bad anymore.
Stepping even closer, he pushed the waistcoat and shirt to the side, making it slip from his mate's shoulders, before placing his mouth on his soft skin. His mouth traced small patterns over Lucius' upper stomach and his heart fluttered in ecstasy as a shiver ran down his mate's spine. Lucius liked this, he was making his mate feel good and he was almost feeling better as well. His hands stroked down his dominant's sides before clutching his shoulders and pulling him down a bit so that he could reach those small nipples, which were the same pale colour as the rest of his wonderful dominant's skin.
He stepped on his tiptoes so that he was able to lick over one of the small buds with his tongue and purred in delight when it hardened instantly, going stiff beneath his wet muscle.
"Harry," Lucius gasped, but he only continued to tease the erected flesh. When he had the feeling that the nipple could not stiffen any further, he went over to its twin, finding it nearly as hard as the one he had already kissed and pleasured.
He carefully bit down, not knowing if his mate appreciated pain as much as he did, but still hard enough to draw a small trickle of blood. Lucius gasped and shivered again when he sucked the nipple into his mouth and gathered the blood, which had leaked from the small wound. Lucius had only once sucked, licked and bitten on one of his nipples, but it had made him come on the spot. It seemed his mate liked it as well.
Letting the nipple go, he kneeled down and carefully opened the button on Lucius' trousers. He waited a moment, but when his mate didn't stop him, he proceeded with the zipper and then pushed the black pants down, revealing long, but strong muscled legs. He had never seen a man with legs as perfect as his Lucius' before. They were bare and smooth and unyielding like steel.
Leaning forwards, he nuzzled the hairless skin of his mate's left thigh, before nuzzling the clad erection quickly as well. His mate was already burning hot and pulsing beneath him and he could only imagine how the long, thick flesh would look: extremely masculine and a very pale; a pink colour, unlike his own cock, which still looked very much like the sex of a boy rather than the phallus of a man and often grew nearly lilac when he got especially aroused.
"Your skin is so soft, but your body is so hard," he breathed and placed a kiss on the thigh he had been nuzzling before.
"So perfect," he hummed, wanting to worship his mate's perfection. Slowly and carefully, he tugged the black boxers down, revealing the treasure behind it. A gasp escaped his lips when his eyes finally landed on his mate's shaft for the first time. It was even more beautiful than in his imagination. There was no hair surrounding the strong flesh, which stood tall and strong. Harry could smell the heavy scent of his mate's sex and started to purr instinctively. His eyes were transfixed on the soft rosy colour and the urge to kiss the cock, to show his appreciation for his mate became unbearable. How was it possible that he deserved to have such a god as his mate?
Slowly, very slowly he leaned forwards until the tip of his tongue could reach Lucius’ penis and gathered the precum there. It tasted bitter and strong and held the very essence of his mate and he could feel Lucius’ pulse quicken under his tongue at his touch; but he didn't have much time to contemplate the taste or his dominant’s obvious excitement, when he was suddenly yanked from the floor like a puppy by its neck. He could feel his mate's claws piercing his skin, as he was roughly lifted and carried over to the bed. The skin of his neck stretched under Lucius’ grip but didn't tear. His submissive side hummed appreciatively at the control his dominant exuded over him, it stirred something in him he was only slightly aware of.
He knew that he needed his mate to balance his submissive nature, that he needed orders and that he liked to give up control, but only now did it sink in that he quite literally needed to be dominated. Something his father had said directly after their transformation came back to his mind: Vampire dominants were often brutal. Severus had not only meant the scars Lucius inflicted on him during a passionate or loving moment, but quite literally, brutal force during intercourse and he found himself not the slightest bit afraid at the thought.
In the next moment, he was tossed onto his bed and a wave of magic washed over him, making the last traces of the coldness go away and pulling a gasp from his throat. It only took a glance down his own body to realize that Lucius had dispersed his clothes, and then his mate was on him.
His face was pressed into the mattress with a brutal force he had never experienced. Blood was dripping from the deep wounds on his neck and the claws which now held his head in place pierced his skin there too. He gave a submissive mewl, which was swallowed by the mattress beneath him, but it was enough to enrage his mate further. Enrage was really not the right word because no anger radiated from Lucius, only wild, all-consuming passion and the need to dominate and take what was his and Harry felt honoured to be Lucius' and to give up his body for his mate’s pleasure.
A mouth descended on his neck, first gathering the flowing blood and then starting to bite and nip at the sensitive place. He gasped and his cock hardened at the feeling of long fangs piercing and bruising the area. The mouth wandered down his spine, marking a trail all the way down to his hips, where Lucius stopped for a moment, before sliding his hot tongue between his arse cheeks, licking a hot trail along his crevice.
He gasped as the tongue glided for the barest of moments over his pucker and his already hard cock started to pulse in need. Angling his hips a bit, he tried to rub himself against the mattress, but Lucius growled warningly and the grip at his head tightened even more, making him whimper; but apparently the sound was not apologetic enough because Lucius bit harshly and punishingly down on his right hip. Mewling sounds poured from his mouth. Why was he so young? If he had been older at his transformation, he would surely understand better how a submissive was to behave when its dominant claimed it. But as it was he had to learn by experience and Lucius had to bear the burden of an inadequate mate.
His mewls grew louder and more desperate at the thought of being inadequate for his dominant and finally his mate's anger subsided. A tongue soothingly closed the bite wounds and Lucius answered his distressed sounds with a reassuring purr before the aristocrat turned back to marking his body.
Harry's need had not subsided during his short panic attack, but he now lay still and just enjoyed the attention he was given. Lucius then shifted behind him and brushed his thick cock against his arse. Stiffening in fear he waited for his dominant’s next move. He was not yet ready to take that huge step again, but he would not be able to deny Lucius anything. He would neither have the strength, nor the willpower knowing that it was the aristocrat's natural right to take him whenever and how often he wanted, even without his consent. But Lucius made a calming noise and pressed a soft kiss to his neck, before sliding his cock between his arse cheeks and starting to thrust slowly.
He gasped once again, when the motion rubbed his cock against the bed sheets providing him with the friction he so desperately needed. Lucius quickened his pace and shifted again, only slightly, but suddenly his shaft rubbed over his opening with every motion, teasing it and sending small shivers of pleasure through his body which combined with the shivers of pleasure emanating from his penis. He lost himself in the astonishing sensations of being used and dominated by his mate and in the frenzy that grew with every moment between them. Soon Lucius was pounding his crevice, drawing blood as the friction intensified. The pain was only a small sensation in the back of his mind, which intensified the heat inside his body. He moaned, mewled, purred, and gasped without control, switching from one pleasure filled sound to the next. His balls tightened, his cock throbbed and his hole tingled under the onslaught of sensations. Only a moment later, his orgasm was ripped from his body, surprising him as hot semen coated his lower abdomen and the covers he was still pushed against. Lucius moved him through his entire release, but as soon as his cock grew limp, he was yanked around by his hair and his mate's thick shaft was thrust into his mouth.
He was much too enraptured and in awe at the sight in front of him to be shocked: Lucius had intertwined his fingers into his bangs, tilting his head upwards, whilst the claw of his thumb pressed into the flesh of his forehead. He could see the thick flesh sliding in and out between his lips whilst Lucius fucked his mouth relentlessly and brutally. He could also see the strong thighs of his dominant on both sides of his head, his mate's heavy balls, and for the first time, Lucius' own crevice and hole.
Harry had not thought it possible, but Lucius increased the pace and the force of his thrusts once again, driving his cock with every inward thrust against the back of his throat, bruising it. His mate, usually so calm and collected, groaned and gasped in his own pleasure and a moment later, his head was yanked upwards, pressed against his mate's crotch and his dominant's hot semen exploded into his awaiting mouth. He swallowed it eagerly without a second thought and sucked at the shaft, milking every last precious drop from it, whilst his mate rode out his orgasm.
When Lucius' cock was limp again, he was released from his mate's grip and his head fell back onto the mattress. Licking his lips still in awe of the experience, he watched his mate slowly calm down. The aristocrat’s cold silver eyes with their red ring had changed completely to the colour of blood, but as they returned to their original colour, he could see the instincts of Lucius retreating back into the background of his mind.
Something flickered in his mate's eyes when he looked down at him and Harry, guessing what it was, said:
"You didn't hurt me."
They both knew that he didn't mean his words physically, but that he wanted to reassure his dominant that he hadn't gone too far. Lucius' eyes shone in relief and he leaned down to kiss him. Purring, he wrapped his arms and legs around his dominant, pulling him down on top his body. He finally felt warm again.
Their tongues caressed each other for a moment and when they parted he, for the third time whispered: "I love you, Lucius."
"And I love you, my little submissive," Lucius whispered back and hugged him to his body. "For a second I was scared that I had gone too far. My lust for you is so strong sometimes, but you are still so young and I do not wish to hurt you."
"I'm not ready for real sex yet," Harry mumbled shyly, sometimes he really felt bad about his immaturity, "but we can still satisfy our instincts... I know..." he broke up and blushed heavily, sex was still an embarrassing topic for him to discuss, even though as a vampire he should be more comfortable with it. "I know..." he said again "that you need to dominate me and I need to be dominated. As brutal as you were just now, I...I.." he blushed even fiercer and cleared his throat before finally admitting: "I like to be used by you, my body is all yours. If you need me for release, I will be as happy as when you make slow love to me. To be a sex slave for you is not the slightest bit worse than being your lover."
Lucius stared at him for a long moment, his silver eyes huge with an emotion Harry could not decipher. Then, the aristocrat kissed him again, deeper and more passionately this time before saying: "That means so much to me. You are right; I need both sides of you. I need you as my lover and I need you as my bitch sometimes; vampires are like that, but I will never love or respect you less when you go down on your knees for me to let yourself be used for my physical satisfaction."
Harry smiled softly at his mate: "I know Lucius and I need it as well, I will not feel degraded when you use me like that."
Lucius started to absentmindedly comb through his hair and he could see that his mind had wandered far away, debating something. Confident that his mate would tell him as soon as he was ready, he closed his eyes and snuggled comfortably against the older vampire.
He couldn't say how long he had lain like that when Lucius finally said:
"I have been taught certain rules and behaviours."
Nodding, Harry said: "You mentioned that before, it's about how a man should treat his wife or his submissive, am I right?"
"Yes, Harry. My instincts often go against everything I have been taught. Sometimes, when I am stressed after class, or after I have read a particularly annoying letter from one of the stupid fools at the ministry, I feel the urge to go to you, shove my cock into your mouth or your arse, and fuck you until all my anger has been released or relieved by you."
Harry thought about his mate's words for a moment; that sounded similar to what he had experienced when he had been without Lucius at Grimmauld Place. Of course, the action Lucius’ instincts demanded were quite different, but it still sounded as if he needed something only his mate could give him. Hesitantly, because he really wasn't sure if he understood the whole issue with their mating bond as well, Harry asked: "Could it be that you need to be balanced as well?"
Lucius blinked at him: "Balanced? You mean like you need me to balance your submissive side?"
Harry nodded: "When I was alone at the headquarter, I felt confused and as if I needed something only you could give me, what you just said sounded the same."
He could see his mate's eyes widen in sudden understanding: "Of course! Magic and bonds are all about balance; there truly never is any aspect more powerful or important in a soul bond. How could there ever be when our united souls are the absolute opposite and complement of each other? It's only more obvious with submissives because they break much more quickly under pressure."
"I am glad that you need me as much as I need you, I had the feeling that you would not get much out of our relationship," Harry smiled happily. "You provide me with clothes, you protect me, and you hold and comfort me..." he broke off, realizing how true his words were. The feeling had been mostly subconscious, but they were there.
"Never think that again!"
His head snapped up at his mate's angry voice and he gasped when he met cold, angry eyes.
"You warm my body, you give me much more blood than you get in return, and I see the effort you make to learn about how to fit into my world and to appeal to me. You taught me what real love is, you brought back the memory of my parents and lifted a huge weight from my conscience, so do not say that I won't get as much from our bond!"
Harry could only stare in shock at the outburst; he had never added Lucius' changes in character to his list of accomplishments, but apparently his mate had.
"Harry, promise me!" Lucius commanded harshly.
"I...I promise," He stammered and gave one of his apologetic sounds.
"Good," Lucius smiled and pulled him closer.
Nodding, he mumbled against his mate's chest: "Next time you feel those urges, just come to me and I will be happy to help you."
"I'll do that," Lucius promised and he sighed contently.
For a moment they lay like that, content in each other's arms, and Harry was about to drift off into a peaceful slumber when Lucius suddenly asked: "And now tell me why you looked so worried when I came in."
And with this, the coldness came crashing down upon him again. His heart suddenly ached like it had half an hour earlier, but he determinedly shoved the sensation away and said. "I was only worried about my essay, I couldn't really concentrate."
"Why not?" Lucius enquired and started to comb through his hair.
"I..." he started and quickly searched for a good excuse. "... was daydreaming about you," he said and turned his head to smile at his mate. Unfortunately, Lucius didn't seem convinced.
"Harry, if something is bothering you, you can always talk to me. There is no need to carry your worries on your own any longer."
Not able to look his dominant in the eyes any longer, Harry averted his eyes, before mumbling: "It really wasn't anything else, just the essay." He knew his excuse sounded weak, but he had sworn to himself that he would not worry his mate unnecessarily; the man already had enough on his mind with being a Professor, a spy, and a Ministry Employee.
"If you..." his mate made a pause as if searching for the right words to phrase what he wanted to tell him”...realize that there is something else worrying you after all, you can still come to me, I will not be angry with you for your... excuse, at least, not overly so," Lucius finally said and to Harry's relief his mate's voice sounded soft and understanding. He knew of course that Lucius would be at least a little angry for having been lied to if he ever decided to tell his mate about the strange feeling, but the aristocrat had told him as much.
"If I have any problems, I will come to you," he said quietly and turned on his other side to nuzzle even closer to Lucius and hide his blushing face in his mate's strong chest. He needed a few minutes to fully relax again, but soon Lucius’ gentle combing through his hair reassured him that his mate indeed was not angry with him and the content silence fell over them once again, until a voice disturbed them.
"Harry?"
He stiffened at the sound of Hermione's voice.
"Harry, where are you?" Ron shouted.
"Next time, we will ward your quarters," Lucius grumbled and sat up.
"No!" He whined when his mate distanced himself from him. "I want to cuddle a bit more!"
"Harry, how often do I have to tell you that Malfoy’s do not cuddle?" Lucius asked irritably and flicked his wand. Suddenly he was clothed again. Pouting, Harry stood up from his bed and smoothed his coat.
"Go to them and I will be able to sneak out," Lucius ordered and he submitted to the fact that he would not be able to continue his cuddle session.
"I'm here!" he shouted and stepped from his bedroom with one last glance back at his mate.
"Oh, did we wake you?" Hermione asked when she saw him.
"You look disheveled, man," Ron added helpfully with a grin.
"Yeah," hey faked a yawn and rubbed the back of his neck, only to stop in irritation, when Hermione gasped.
Retrieving his hand, he saw the blood on his fingers and realized what his friend must have seen. His wounds on his neck from being lifted like a puppy had apparently been too deep to be closed completely by his mate's saliva and his body didn't heal marks inflicted by his mate very quickly either. They would probably close in the next hour but stay there for a few more days.
Ron, who had now seen his neck as well stared, horrified, at him. "Has Nagini attacked you?" The redhead asked, but before he could give an answer, Hermione exclaimed:
"Oh Harry, this is even worse than last time! You must put an end to this! This... this can't be good for you! I know you told me how you got them the last time... but this is too much!" she said vaguely, knowing that it was the wrong time to tell Ron that he indeed had a male mate and was the submissive.
"What's too much? Who injured Harry?" Ron asked in confusion, looking from Hermione to him and back to Hermione.
"There's no need to worry and it's not your place," he said, meeting his friends' concerned eyes.
"But, Harry..."
"No!" He stopped her; he would not let his friends interfere with his mating bond. His bond to Lucius was something sacred, it had to be, and fate itself had given Lucius to him and him to Lucius. Their souls had been made to complement the other; no one was allowed to interfere in their relationship.
"Harry, please!" Hermione pleaded, but he only glared at her.
"No! You know I tell you and Ron everything, but this I will not share and I will not justify anything either! You can tell me why you came here or you can go," He declared.
Hermione looked as if she wanted to protest, but Ron stepped in between them: "Hermione, if this has something to do with his mate then he is right. It is not our place, you should know that there are the oddest courting rituals, you read all those books about creatures and mating after all."
Hermione sighed and said: "I'm just worried."
"I know, but there's really no reason to be," Harry reassured her with a smile and then asked: "So, why did you two come here?"
"I thought, we could go to your library and start researching other possible Horcruxes," she answered.
"Albus said that he will help me as well, he is collecting memories. I don't think that it will make sense to start researching already."
Ron groaned as their brainy friend pursed her lips and announced: "You can never start researching too early."
Knowing that it would not help to argue with her, Harry sighed and said: "I can take you to the library, but I need to do my homework first before I can help you." This seemed to appease her. Exchanging a knowing look with Ron, they followed their friend who was the only one who knew which of the many doors lead to the library; he himself had still not been there, too occupied with everything else.
"I had hoped that you could talk her out of this, two hours homework was enough for the day, at least you had some rest," Ron grumbled, making Harry blush at the thought of his rest.
"This is it," Hermione said and stopped in front of a door in the middle of the hallway, her cheeks flushed. Rolling his eyes, Harry followed his brainy friend into the room, only to gasp in shock. Hermione had tried to describe the library to him, but he had not imagined that the room could be so beautiful.
It really was as if he had stepped into a high tower with books lining every inch of the walls up to its roof. Every so often he could see a wooden gallery and a spiral staircase that seemed to float on its own and connected the different levels. He saw small sitting spaces with one or two wingback chairs and small coffee tables. To his left stood an escritoire and further to the back a long work table.
Going over to the escritoire, he found the list for the translation spell and swiftly added Ron, Hermione, his father, his mate and Albus to it. Apparently, the spell would end as soon as he crossed one name out; at least, he believed that that was the reason why so many names on the old list had been crossed out.
"This is awesome!" Ron exclaimed. The redhead stood in the middle of the room, looking upwards.
"It is," he agreed, but at the thought that he would have to read every book about mating bonds in this room, he felt his stomach clench uncomfortably. It would be days until he would be able to help his friends. Sighing, he went over to the huge work table, where Hermione was already accio’ing books.
"Oscar!" He called and his little servant popped in with only the barest of sounds.
"How can Oscar be of help for Master Harry Potter?"
"Could you bring me my Transformation essay and some quills and ink?" He asked.
"Of course, Master Harry Potter. Oscar will be right back," the creature agreed and disappeared again.
Next to him, Hermione huffed in disapproval: "You didn't need to call him for that," she berated him.
"I know, but he likes to help me," he merely replied and took his things from Oscar as he came back.
To his surprise, he noticed that he was nearly finished with the essay. He had been rather distracted before and apparently had not noticed how much he had written after all. Ron joined them and sighed heavily before taking a random book from the many stacks around them.
"What are we looking for?" he asked.
"Albus said that Voldemort would have used meaningful objects," he told his friend.
"Meaningful, like valuable?" Ron questioned.
He shrugged: "Probably valuable and personally meaningful."
"How should we know what might be valuable to him personally?" Ron huffed in irritation.
"Just look for special objects and we will figure out if they could have a connection to him later," Hermione said and took a book as well.
Turning back to his essay, Harry dipped his quill into the ink and started to write. After only twenty more minutes he was finished and sighed in relief.
"You're finished?" Hermione asked with a look at his parchment. "Then you can help us with the research."
"I can't," He said and shook his head. "I have to write another essay as punishment for my sneaking out of school."
Ron winced: "Snape is a really stern father, isn't he?"
"He was really worried," he shrugged.
"Well, it's good that he cares so much. A punishment is never nice, but you would feel worse if he didn't care enough to get angry," Hermione said wisely.
Nodding, Harry lifted his wand only to stop mid air. He could not just say "Accio books about mating bonds and Vampires," that would give too much away, but luckily an idea struck him and he quickly wrote a short note, before calling for Oscar once more.
"Can you bring me all books you find on this subject?" he asked and gave the elf the piece of paper.
Oscar's eyes widened in realization and, with a snap of his spidery fingers, dozens of books floated from the shelves and piled around Harry on the floor.
Harry groaned in desperation, he would have to try to find out how fast he could read with the aid of his vampire powers, or he wouldn't be finished by the end of this school year.
"What are these for?" Ron asked in horror.
"I have to read them, dad told me to find all books in my library about a certain topic and read them, before writing the essay."
"That's crazy, man!" Ron exclaimed and even Hermione looked slightly frightened at the number of books.
"Well, I'll just start," Harry shrugged, took the first book, concentrated to block his friends out, got a feeling for his supernatural body, and then began reading. The letters flew by and every few seconds he could turn a page. Harry was too deep in concentration and too overwhelmed by the absurdity of his abilities and the written text to notice his friends' incredulous looks. He hadn't even noticed that Oscar was handing him one book after the other and that the stacks of the unread books grew smaller and smaller, whilst the ones he had finished grew bigger and bigger.
To be honest, the books were fairly interesting. Lucius had told him the basics after his visit to London, but he still devoured the details. Harry had not known that a strong mating bond would never completely stop maturing and that some creatures started to feel strong emotions from their mates, like panic and worry, so that they could come to their aid; he also found out that their assumption that Lucius needed him for balance as well was in fact very true: While submissive creatures withered away in despair and loneliness when their mate didn't satisfy their needs, dominants grew mad with lust and pent up energy until they went on a rampage and had to be stopped, which often ended in their elimination.
The soul of two soulmates was described like a lock with its fitting key, or two intertwined hands.
Even more interesting were the specific details about vampires: How their mating bond worked, depended on the age of the wizards and witches. Young men and women experienced an increase in their sexual needs and desires, whilst older people often continued their relationship like it had been before. Harry found that it sounded very logical; he could not imagine Dumbledore suddenly developing a strong appetite for sex.
To the effect of a transformation, he found only theories, because vampires had fairly early in history agreed to not change people under the age of 21, to make sure that the new vampires were fully developed, because it was assumed that the lack of many hormones and the inexperienced state of mind of a child would at least make the life of the turned child more stressful and might even lead to complications.
Harry had, just today, experienced that there was a draw back to his early transformation. Often, his instincts were quite thorough, but sometimes he was at a loss.
Suddenly, a strong hand pat him on his back and he was interrupted in his reading. When he looked up, he saw Sirius smiling down at him.
"Padfoot!" He exclaimed and hugged his godfather.
"My, you really were distracted. Can you teach me how to read so quickly or is it a creature thing?" Sirius asked.
"It's a creature thing," Harry admitted with a grin.
"But it looks handy," Remus commented from behind his godfather.
"Can Oscar bring Sirs’ something to eat or drink?" Oscar asked from where he stood hidden behind a huge stack of books.
Remus and Sirius jumped in surprise at the words.
"You own a House Elf?" Sirius asked and went around the stack.
"Yes, his name is Oscar, I bought him only yesterday," Harry told them.
"He looks quite young," Remus said, but his smile was soft and approving. Being a creature himself, the werewolf knew what it was like to be an outcast.
"He is," Harry admitted. "He sat in the Ministry for months and no one wanted to take him in."
"Does Sirs want tea?" Oscar asked again.
"We would like some tea," Remus calmed the small creature who instantly popped out.
From behind her own wall of books, Hermione suddenly asked: "Have you already created the map?"
"Oh, you're here, too? Didn't see you," Sirius joked.
They could hear Ron huff in annoyance and then mutter: "Well, she has gone a bit overboard." The redhead levitated the books in front of him to the ground and came into view.
"We need another day or two, but the main work is done," Remus said in answer to Hermione's question.
"How do you create such a complicated map?" The girl asked curiously, making Sirius smirk lopsidedly: "That's a secret. Maybe we'll tell Harry before our passing on, or we'll just take the knowledge to the grave."
Harry crossed his arms over his chest, not liking the topic, especially not with the coldness getting stronger inside of him again.
"If you only want to tell me before you die then I don't want to know."
"Just joking, kiddo," Sirius winked and Remus rolled his eyes exasperatedly in the background.
Oscar came back and placed tea cups in front of everyone, only Harry got a goblet with the blood mixed pumpkin juice.
"What are you drinking? Looks awful," Ron eyed the goblet wearily.
"Blood orange, I really love it," Harry lied and took a sip, groaning in pleasure when the liquid touched his tongue.
"We can hear it," Hermione scoffed and rolled her eyes.
Licking his lips, Harry only grinned at her; his friends would never be able to understand how much someone could start enjoying food when nearly everything tasted like paper.
"It smells really bloody," Remus mused and sniffed the air, but luckily the strong scent of the pumpkin juice seemed to irritate his nose slightly and he couldn't really distinguish the smell. Maybe Harry should be glad that the wolf had never trained his abilities, or he would be having a much harder time right now.
After taking another sip, he moved the topic away from his drink: "So, you just came by?"
"Yes, we thought you might be happy to see your two godfathers," Sirius grinned.
"How far are you with the map?"
"We have visited Privet Drive, but sadly your family was hiding somewhere," Sirius pouted and Remus poked him in his ribs.
"Ouch, Moony!" Sirius complained, but the werewolf only rolled his eyes and continued: "We were also at Potter Manor with the twins and at Grimmauld Place; we actually did the necessary spells there the same evening you asked us to make another map."
"And..." Sirius’ grin broadened even more, but Harry wasn't sure if his grin was a good one when he heard Remus groan.
"You will be able to have more control over that evil bastard, because..." Sirius puffed his chest, whilst Harry wondered which evil bastard he meant "...I convinced Remi to sneak into Malfoy Manor!"
Harry stared at him in shock, not that it wouldn't be useful to see his new home on the map as well, but what had his godfather been thinking?
"How did you get into Malfoy Manor?" Ron asked baffled. "My father once told me that it's the most warded place after Hogwarts, Privet Drive and probably You-Know-Who's home."
The animagus chuckled. "I am a Black and the Blacks are still keyed into the wards."
"Lucius will have a fit if he finds out," Harry groaned in exasperation, he could only imagine the temper tantrum his mate would have. Hopefully, his godfathers had been sneaky enough and had not left any signs of their intrusion.
Instead of scolding them, because that had obviously not helped in the last thirty years, he popped one of his Blood Drops into his mouth and asked: "Do you know how far the twins are with those special Portkeys?"
"We placed the destination object in the entrance hall of Potter Manor when we were there yesterday, but they still have to find a way to produce so many Portkeys in so little time," Remus answered.
Harry grinned, not really worried: "I'm sure they will have a solution by Sunday at the latest."
Remus nodded. "They will. They are really excited that they're finally allowed to help in the fight against Voldemort. I think it was a good idea to take them in, they are a big help already."
"I can understand why Molly doesn't like to see her children fighting," Hermione mused. "But we need all the help possible if we want to succeed and it’s better that they get a specific task than taking the risk that they will someday blindly run head-first into a fight."
Sirius sighed: "You are all close to Harry or another Order member; sadly there is no real chance of keeping you out of the whole war thing. Fred and George are in nearly as much danger as you three are." The animagus watched the three of them and then changed the topic by asking about their first few school days.
"It's boring like always in the first week," Harry shrugged.
"I still can't believe that Malfoy followed you to Hogwarts, I bet he only did it to annoy you, or me, or both of us," Sirius huffed irritated.
Shrugging, Harry only replied: "He's a good teacher, so I won't complain and it means more help at Hogwarts."
Remus lifted a questioning eyebrow at his comment and looked at his friends for affirmation. Hermione and Ron shrugged before nodding.
"He really is a good teacher, but still a bastard," Ron said.
"He certainly will know what we can expect from Voldemort," Sirius sneered and glared at the door as if Lucius stood just behind it.
"I still think that his reason for changing sides sounds somewhat like a lie," Ron mused, arms crossed and glaring at the same spot Sirius did. "Voldemort has always killed his followers or their relatives whenever the bastard felt like it and Lucius Malfoy is not stupid enough to have not realized that."
Sirius nodded in agreement: "Exactly. Something smells foul with the whole issue. Harry, are you sure he's not a spy for Voldemort?"
Feeling affronted for his mate’s sake, Harry glared back at his godfather, only saying: "I am."
Hermione, who was obviously not sure which side to take in this argument, chewed on her bottom lip and then said: "Harry, have you ever told them how Lucius saved you at Privet Drive?"
Harry knew that Hermione had only asked to make him tell the story; she knew that he had not told anybody else aside from her and he didn't really want to because he didn't believe that it would help. So he said: "No I haven't and I don't see the point, they won't change their opinion."
"You can't know that," his friend replied and glared at him.
"I can, because I know Ron and Remus and Sirius," Harry huffed in indignation.
"Pup, Mione is right, you can't know that until you try," Sirius prodded him, but Harry clung stubbornly with his decision. Hermione, who knew him well enough to recognize the hard gleam in his eyes shook her head and said: "Well if you won't tell the story, I will."
That made Harry angry. He had told her the story, trusting that she wouldn't give his secrets away to anybody else. He bared his fangs, an instinctive gesture and started to growl threateningly. His friends and guardians froze in shocked surprise and Harry saw Remus again sniffing the air, but his glamours, together with his status as a blood-mated submissive vampire, gave him enough protection and the werewolf only looked confused after a moment; but his instincts must have warned him of something, because he cleared his throat and said: "If Harry doesn't want us to know, we should respect his wish."
Suddenly, Harry felt very guilty, as if he had just behaved like a stupid child. Sighing he said:
"I had a vision during my two days at Privet Drive."
His guardians and Ron gasped and Sirius asked: "Was it bad? What did you see?"
"I witnessed Voldemort torturing his followers. It was really bad. He cast the Cruciatus simultaneously on all of them and I could feel their pain. But Lucius used Legilimency to enter my mind and erected a shield there. He saved my mind."
Harry watched the two Marauders and Ron exchanging looks, obviously not sure what to say. Finally, Ron asked carefully: "Maybe he just helped you to earn your trust?"
Hermione shook her head: "He could have done nothing and You-Know-Who would have most likely won the war, so that doesn't make sense."
"Okay, maybe he is not as evil as I thought, but he is still a sick and twisted bastard and I don't like him and I still believe that you should be careful when you deal with a Malfoy. They only think about their own wellbeing; they would sell their own mother to the devil," Sirius said and Harry had no idea how to reply. He knew that his mate could be ruthless, but in contrast Sirius didn't know why he was safe with Lucius, so he just agreed: "I will be careful.
"Thank you, pup," Sirius said and kissed him on his head.
Sirius and Remus stayed for another hour before leaving again. He and his friends worked until dinner and another hour after that. When they finally left, Harry refused to even look at another book and took a long bath in the whirlpool before going to bed to meditate for another half an hour before his second class of DADA the next day.
The meditation had become more confusing with each day. Harry had understood that he would start to see a shadow, which would morph into a shape and then at last into the picture of his animal, but up until now only many fuzzy shadows danced in front of his eyes whenever he started to meditate. He had wanted to ask his mate; Lucius would surely have been able to tell him what he was doing wrong, but he had forgotten and now it was too late. Hopefully, they would meditate for another few classes, so that it would not be so bad that he hadn't asked earlier.
When he was finished, he undressed and hoped that his mate would join him soon. They had not discussed whether they would actually share a bed every night, but Harry had simply assumed it, they both craved the contact.
The little silver bell around his flaccid cock made a little sound as he stepped out of his trousers and climbed into his bed. He touched the soft silk band for a moment, smiling at the thought that this was his collar. Turning onto his side, Harry closed his eyes, but as soon as he had done so, loneliness joined the growing coldness in his bones. Nagini slithered onto the bed and curled up in front of him, joining him. Fortunately, he was too exhausted by the day's events to be kept awake by these feelings, and so, shivering and shaking, he slowly drifted off. He was almost asleep when the bed dipped and a warm, naked body slid in next to him and pulled him against a strong chest.
"Sleep well, my love," Lucius’ deep, baritone voice whispered into his ear.
He only succeeded to mumble a tired "love you," before he finally drifted off to sleep, content in his dominant’s arms.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
Harry woke up before the alarm could go off. Still feeling lazy, he turned onto his side and scooted a bit closer so as to snuggle back into Lucius. In his drowsy state it took him a while to realize that his mate was apparently not there anymore. Frowning he sat up and rubbed his eyes, before scanning the room tiredly.
He found Lucius sitting on the far edge of their bed, still naked like the man had climbed in the night before, but he seemed to be crouched over something.
"Lucius?" He called out silently, not wanting to startle his mate. He had never seen the strong aristocrat like this: His back was bent, his shoulders slumped and his head hung down. Worriedly, he pulled the cover from his legs and scooted over and sneaked one arm around his mate, but it seemed as if Lucius didn't even notice him. Pain and anguish were radiating from the aristocrat, calling out for him and with horror, he recognized the cold feeling of pain, anguish, and loss which emanated from the older male and leaked through their bond, mixing with his own and grabbing at his heart again. And then he felt it; felt their soul bond quiver, before a small piece crumbled off of it, dying forever.
His heart clenched painfully and panic overtook him. With their bond dying, they were dying as well. Lucius, his one and only love was dying. His heart clenched painfully again. He could not let this happen, his beloved dominant couldn't die. His own death would mean little to him as long as Lucius could live on, but they were connected through the bond. And their bond was dying and pulling them along into a cold and lonely grave. Following his instincts, he scooted even closer. Maybe together they could fight this feeling of death off. They needed to, otherwise they would be doomed; he just knew it. Another picture of Draco flashed in front of his inner eye and as he carefully leaned over Lucius' shoulder to find out if his dominant was distressed for the same reason as he himself, his eyes landed on a small picture frame with three pictures in it:
The first showed a much younger Lucius, stern like always, but with pride shining brightly in his silver orbs as he held a small, blond toddler on his knees. The second picture showed Draco with a huge trunk in front of a dark wooden front door waving happily at his parents as he was about to go off to his first year of Hogwarts. The last picture showed a much older Draco, sitting lazily on a patio lounge in a beautiful garden, an old tome on his knees, a delicate teacup in one hand and smirking arrogantly into the camera, but not as arrogantly as he knew the older boy from Hogwarts could be.
A searing pain went through his heart as he looked down at the picture of the dead blonde and his sad mate and suddenly everything clicked into place, as all the little dots and hints his instincts had given him throughout the last few days, connected into a picture. Maybe he still did not understand the whole gravity of what was happening, but enough to realize one thing:
Draco's death was indeed the source of their anguish. Why the loss of the blonde boy left such a gaping hole in their souls, he didn't quite understand, but then again, Draco had been his soulmate's son; he could only imagine how torturous the pain of losing one's child must feel.
And to be honest, the exact reason didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was the fact that the death of the youth was ripping their souls apart and that it would continue if he didn't find a way to stop the process. It didn't matter that he had never liked the boy, or that he still didn't, because he knew suddenly that he would move heaven and hell and everything in between to bring Draco back and to mend his and Lucius' dying soulbond. He didn't dare to think about what it could mean that their soulbond was affected by this; he would not consider the only logical explanation, because it would just be too crazy and scary and he could not afford the luxury of panicking even further, not when Lucius needed HIM this time. Not when his instincts told him that he was the only one who would be able to make everything right again because the submissive's duty after all was to keep the family together.
His mate had still not moved or noticed him as Lucius' well suppressed pain washed through their bond, threatening to overwhelm him. Sudden panic grabbed his heart and mind and he scrambled to his feet, nearly falling from their soft mattress as he desperately tried to get away from the scene in front of him and tried to think rationally at the same time; an attempt, he utterly failed at. Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, but he refused to cry, he needed to be strong right now, this was not the time to be a whining submissive.
He ran out of their bedroom, someone must be able to help him. He knew so many wise and powerful people, someone...
"Boy, what has you so upset?" a harsh voice stopped his racing thoughts and his frantic search at the same time.
Looking up, he realized that he had fled into the living room. Merlin and all four founders stared with concern down at him, but to his surprise, it had been Salazar who had spoken.
"I...I need to do something! I need to bring him back! It hurts so much, we are hurting so much!" He exclaimed, not making any sense to the portraits.
"Hush my boy," Merlin said, grandfatherly concern shimmering in his green eyes. "Take a deep breath and then tell us what happened. You have the five most intelligent and powerful wizards in history in front of you, we will find a solution to your problem."
"He does not breathe," Rowena muttered, but Harry tried to calm down nonetheless. Merlin was right, panicking would get him nowhere.
Between stutters, stammers, sobbing and sniffing he told the story about Voldemort's curse and the murder of Draco. He had told them about his and Lucius' transformation before, but he had never mentioned Draco until now. The portraits grew more worried by the second; Merlin, Helga, Godric and Salazar glancing over to Rowena as if needing to affirm an assumption, and every time the witch gave a curt not.
"...I...I just don't know what to do, Draco is dead and no one can bring the dead back, but I have to!"
He ended his short tale. The tears which had threatened to spill a moment before had dried and instead a determined fire had replaced them in his eyes. He would not give up, not until he had tried everything possible and everything impossible as well.
Merlin looked thoughtful. The old wizard was stroking his beard and musing loudly: "Bringing back a dead person? That is quite the task, my boy." Harry watched the wizard exchange a look with Salazar and Godric, who both nodded.
By now very nervous, he shuffled absentmindedly back and forth, making scratching noises with the claws of his toes on the expensive wooden floor.
"Now, now lad, calm down," Salazar said and Harry's head instantly snapped up.
"Do you know something?" He asked hopefully, and a feeling as if the weight of the world was lifted from his shoulders overwhelmed him, when all three portraits nodded.
"We may have a solution to your problem if you are lucky, that is, but Gryffindors are always unbelievably lucky," Salazar said and the other two portraits nodded again.
Not daring to trust his ears, Harry blinked in confusion. Had he heard right? Did Merlin, Godric, and Salazar know a way to bring a dead person back to life?
Merlin took his disbelieving look as his prompt to elaborate; luckily the man didn't like to keep people waiting like Albus did:
"There is an old artefact that might be able to help you, together with a ritual, but I have to warn you: it is dark blood magic and we have never actually tried it, we only developed a theory about the topic."
Harry nodded, willing to try anything, only as long as it would give him and Lucius Draco back. Or Lucius at least, he was still not sure why he needed Draco, currently he assumed that he just needed the blonde because he was Lucius' son and that he himself was only indirectly affected.
Merlin continued then and he quickly concentrated back on the wizard: "In the last gallery of the library tower, you will find a locked cabinet. Tap it with your wand and take the book with the stone archway printed on the cover. The last chapter should be helpful."
Trusting the three old wizards, Harry nodded and went to the library and started to climb up the endless spiral staircase. The feelings of loss and anguish still echoed through the bond and it became more difficult by the minute to say which feelings came from him and which from Lucius, but his determination kept him upright and going; he would not be overwhelmed by this, he would find a solution and bring the blonde boy back, regardless of his personal feelings for him, and to be honest, right now he could not even clearly say anymore what he felt for Draco. How could he still hate Lucius' son as his school nemesis and wish so desperately to bring him back?
His feelings were swirling and confusing him, so he decided to push them to the side for now and just do what had to be done. Realizing that he would need hours to climb up all the stairs if he didn't use his vampire speed, he picked up his pace.
The height nearly made him dizzy with every new step, but at last, he stepped onto the last landing. It was a beautiful balcony that greeted him, but he currently had no appreciation for the comfy looking armchairs or the breathtaking view the tower provided.
He found the cabinet to his left in a corner and quickly went over. It was not very big and about only ten books were locked inside. Pulling out his Elder Wand, he tapped the doors which swung open soundlessly. Merlin had said that he should look for a black book and luckily the cabinet held only three black books. Pulling them all out, he found the right one quickly. It was the thinnest of them and it had no title, only the picture of the stone archway as an indicator. Locking the cabinet again, he returned to the living room, thinking that he would most likely have questions and would need to come back down anyway.
The portraits watched him as he sat down on the cream-colored leather sofa and skipped to the last chapter. At first, he didn't understand anything he was reading about even though it was written in Parselscript. It described some kind of ancient veil, a huge stone slab and a gruesome ritual with sex, blood, and magic, but Merlin had already warned him, that the ritual was a dark one. It needed 95% of the blood of a submissive magical creature, an amount not even a Veela would survive. The submissive had to be taken forcefully and cut during his or her climax and he would need Draco's bones; hopefully, Voldemort had not killed the boy with fiend fire or there would be no bones left.
This almost all sounded like the resurrection ritual he had witnessed just before summer.
Suppressing a shudder, he asked: "Where did you get this book? Who wrote it?"
"It is a collective work of myself, Godric and Salazar," Merlin explained. "You are lucky that you are a vampire, or you would not survive the ritual.
"Will you try it?" Salazar suddenly asked with a challenging gleam in his eyes.
Crossing his arms, he answered: "I will," before calling Oscar. His little servant had the best chance of finding Draco's bones without suspicion due to his different magic; and furthermore, this way he would not have to disappear from school grounds again.
"What can Oscar do for Master Harry?"
Only hesitating a moment, he asked: "Oscar, can you try to find a skeleton for me? But it has to be complete, not even a single bone can be missing." He chewed nervously on his bottom lip as he waited for a reply from his little servant. If Oscar told him that he would not be able to find Draco, then his plan to get the blonde back ended even before it had really started.
Oscar tilted his head and asked: "What kind of skeleton, Master Harry Potter, sir?"
"The skeleton of Draco, Lucius' dead son," he explained.
"Oscar will have to go to Malfoy Manor and retrieve an item which belonged to the late young master. Is Oscar allowed to do that?"
Harry nodded, he was sure that Lucius would not be angry about the removal of a brush or shirt or something, especially if he succeeded.
His servant nodded fiercely: "It will be a difficult task but Oscar will try his best, Master Harry Potter, sir!"
Taking the small leather book from his coffee table he asked: "And can you try to find this stone slab as well?" He pointed at a picture and Oscar nodded again.
Smiling in relief, he ordered him: "Come to me as soon as you have everything."
"Oscar will do that, sir!" Oscar disappeared and he slumped back onto the sofa, all adrenalin suddenly leaving his system. Closing his eyes for a moment, he tried to pull himself together.
The extent of what he was trying to do slowly started to catch up with him. He had no doubt that he would try everything to make the ritual possible, but if he succeeded, it would undoubtedly have a huge impact on his relationship to Lucius.
Draco surely would not be happy to find his school rival mated to his beloved father; the next few weeks would not be easy. But as he thought about it, the excitement mixed with a strange, fluttery feeling in his stomach, as if he was about to find a mysterious treasure.
Frowning, he decided he would not dwell on the matter right now, just to make sure he would not back out of it suddenly, he stood up with a huge sigh and turned to Salazar, Gryffindor, and Merlin: "Thank you for your help. I will try my best."
"I hope you will succeed. As I said, we never actually performed the ritual, it is all merely a theory," Merlin admitted, but Salazar only huffed: "None of our theories have ever been wrong."
"Don't be so arrogant," Helga scolded him. "There is always a first time."
"Well, he is right," Godric defended the other man with a glare, obviously wanting to see the outcome of this and not letting him be discouraged by one of the witches.
He smiled at the bickering portraits and conjured a tempus. With some shock, he noticed that he had only had 10 minutes until he had to be in Flitwick's class and he was still naked and dishevelled.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
"Thank you again!" he exclaimed and ran back into his bedroom. When he entered, Lucius was just tying his tie around his neck, looking as if nothing had happened this morning, but the sadness was still radiating through their bond.
"Are you feeling better?" he asked carefully and a look of surprise flashed over his dominant's face.
Knowing that Lucius still hated to admit any weakness, even to him, he hastily said: "You seemed upset, so I left you alone for a moment and went to the library." He decided then that he would not yet tell his mate about his plan, only when he had all items he needed to actually perform the ritual would he do so, and maybe not even then. If he could convince his mate to take part in the ritual without having to explain, he would actually prefer that, because then Lucius would not be disappointed if it failed after all in the end.
Lucius' shoulders relaxed at his words and his mate lifted an elegant eyebrow and scanned his still naked body: "You went to the library like this? I hope you mean your private one."
Flushing, Harry scoffed and turned to his cupboard, muttering: "I would never go out like this perverted old man!"
Lucius merely chuckled and pressed a kiss to his head, sounding almost happy as he said: "I will go ahead," but Harry knew better.
"Okay," he answered and pulled out a clean set of school robes. His mate left and five minutes later he was dashing down the corridors to his charms classroom.
"Hey man, did you oversleep? We waited for you, but when you didn't come we went ahead," Ron greeted him.
"I did," he admitted falsely and fumbled with his small velvet sack to get one of his blood drops. With dismay, he noticed that he only had a handful left; he would have to ask his father to make him new ones.
"Really Harry, you should be mature enough to not oversleep as soon as you live in your own rooms," Hermione scolded him.
Flitwick opened his classroom door then and they went inside to take their usual seats.
"Well, I am still on time and I never eat with you anyway, so everything is fine," he replied dryly.
"Did you at least eat something in your quarters or did you sleep so long, that you didn't even have time for breakfast?" his friend asked sternly.
"I ate," he huffed, not saying when exactly the last time was that he had eaten.
"Good morning!" Flitwick chirped and thankfully interrupted their conversation. Hermione instantly turned her attention to the small professor and Harry did the same with a roll of his eyes. Really, she was always consistent when it came to some topics. It wasn't even worth bothering to try and change her mind.
"This year we will start with a bigger project, so you should all listen attentively because it will be a big part of your score for the first trimester." Flitwick flicked his wand and the headline: Magical Artefacts appeared on the black board.
Hermione gasped in excitement: "Ron, do you think we will charm our own Magical Artefact?" Ron only shrugged, not very interested in the apparently very interesting topic, at least if you asked Hermione, and Harry had to snicker. Sometimes it was a mystery to him how Hermione could have fallen for Ron of all people, but then again, she certainly needed him as some kind of balance or she would work herself to death someday.
"We will start with the theory of the Charms part, but later on this class will be combined with your Transfigurations class because a Magical Artefact always consists of a Charm and a Transfiguration. Please take notes," Flitwick instructed and then asked:
"What is the difference between a Magical Artefact and a Charmed Object, like the dancing teapot you charmed last year?"
Hermione's hand shot up and without being asked she answered: "A Magical Artefact is an object which holds its magic on its own, whilst a Charmed Object only contains magic for a defined period of time or in some cases only as long as you hold up the spell actively with your wand."
"Correct, Ms. Granger, 5 points to Gryffindor!" Flitwick squeaked and went on with his lecture.
The lecture was surprisingly interesting considering that Harry hated the theoretical part of his classes. It made him twitchy to just sit for two hours in one spot, but now he at least knew that it was a side effect of his young age, it had gotten even worse after he had gained so much knowledge magically this summer, because most of the time the Professors couldn't teach him anything new nowadays.
With a long sigh, he finally tried to concentrate. He succeeded in not drifting off to the memories of this morning, but the pained feeling never left him, even though it grew weaker as his mate was obviously distracted with his own lesson as well.
After Charms, he and his friends went to Transfigurations.
"This was so interesting!" Hermione exclaimed as soon as they had left Flitwick's classroom. "Can you imagine what we will be able to create with this knowledge?"
Harry shrugged. Sure, it was interesting to learn how Magical Artefacts were made, but he honestly had no idea what artefact he would like to make and considering the experience he had with the Philosopher's Stone and Voldemort's Diary, no one could blame him.
Hermione, obviously only seeing the positive side of their last lesson, babbled on: "Especially you, Harry!"
"Why me?" He asked astonished, not seeing the connection.
"Because you are so powerful and intelligent, I am sure you will be able to create something special!"
"Maybe," he answered without commitment.
They stepped into the corridor where their Transfiguration classroom was located and Ginny, who obviously had her next lesson in the classroom next to theirs, came over to attach herself to his arm.
He sighed in a mixture of irritation and annoyance; he really didn't need the girl clinging to him after the morning he had:
"Ginny, let go of me please!" He pleaded, trying to tug his arm away.
"Don't be so shy, Harry! Malfoy isn't even around," she giggled and somehow managed to scoot even closer, making him feel as if she was trying to somehow fuse with him, it was rather uncomfortable.
"Ginny, I don't think it has anything to do with being shy and more with him being mated," Hermione said sternly and gave Ron's sister a rather disapproving look.
"He isn't mated yet," Ginny huffed and tightened her grip on his arm. Getting annoyed, Harry tugged again, but to no avail.
"But he will be as soon as he turns 17, you have no chance, Gin," Ron tried to reason, but Ginny didn't even listen. She had seen a small group of four girls, obviously friends of hers and waved them over: "Hey, I promised to introduce you to Harry!" she shouted and the girls instantly ran over to join them, only one girl with long blond hair sauntered more slowly behind, it was the girl they had met by the carriages, Luna.
"You know, I never noticed before, but you're a real Cutey!" One girl with black curls gushed and another girl squealed:
"And as soon as you grow a bit more, I am sure you will become damn hot!"
To Harry's shock, Luna said: "But he won't grow," in a dreamy voice, but luckily none the three girls nor his friends spared her a single glance. Luna really was an odd girl, like Albus she seemed to know things, only she was even more mysterious; sadly Harry had no more time to figure her out because the black haired girl suddenly offered: "If you aren't interested in Ginny anymore, you can always come to me,"
"Or to me, if your taste goes to blonds," Ginny's honey-haired friend suggested.
Something was definitely wrong with these girls if they offered themselves to the supposed boyfriend of their friend he decided and tried again to get free. By now not only Ginny was clinging to him, but the girl with the black hair as well, whilst the blonde laid an arm around his shoulder and the third one, a brown haired and very tall girl, laid her hand on his back, far too low for his taste. Lucius would certainly rip their heads off if he could see them right now.
Having enough, he finally exclaimed: "I am not in a relationship with Ginny! And I am not interested in any relationship!" but his second sentence was drowned out by the excited squeals of his annoying additions, who jumped up and down excitedly whilst still clutching his body, yanking him back and forth.
"Please, guys!" he pleaded with a look to his friends, panic seeping into his eyes and voice. He was honestly starting to feel suffocated and his body and mind were starting to scream for his mate.
With a violent tug, Hermione and Ron freed him of the two girls clinging to his arms and shoved them away. A nasty glare of the brainy witch was enough to scare the third one away as well, but Ginny only glared right back.
"Ginny, I am your friend, but if you don't leave Harry in peace I will tell his guardians about this, all of them!" She snapped, making Ginny flinch; they all knew who she meant by all of them, even though she could not speak Severus's name out loud in the middle of a corridor in Hogwarts.
"You'll see, Harry will end up unhappy and it will be your fault!" Ginny snapped, but turned and went back to her own classroom just in time with her friends, before the rest of their classmates arrived and McGonagall opened her door. Harry quickly straightened his robes, which had gotten rumpled, and quickly fled into the classroom, Ron and Hermione hot on his heels.
He slumped down into his seat, relieved that he had gotten away from the girls. Professor McGonagall started their lesson with a short lecture and the collection of their essays, but luckily started them on their practical practice portion after half an hour.
"Please try not to forget to raise a barrier on your desks before you get your mice," she reminded them and levitated a huge terrarium onto her desk. "I do not want to catch white mice the whole afternoon."
"Ernie McMillan told me that there was an accident in their Transfigurations Lesson yesterday," Ron had lowered his voice to a whisper. "Apparently McGonagall assumed that they would cast a barrier, which of course no one did," the redhead snickered and earned himself a stern look from their Head of House.
Harry snickered as well but pulled out his wand to cast the barrier, but instead of conjuring a translucent barrier where his spells would be able to go through, a thick wall, which looked like it was made of bricks of light, suddenly surrounded his desk top. Frowning, he dissipated the barrier and cast the spell anew with the same result. He had never had problems with this particular spell; it was a common tool in all their classes. Thinking about it, he realized that this was not the first time his magic had behaved oddly.
"Hermione, could you cast the barrier for me, please?" he asked and ended the spell again.
Hermione had already opened her mouth to lecture him about proper concentration in class when her eyes landed on his barrier for a moment before it vanished. With a frown of her own, she cast the spell for him and then asked: "Could it be that you put too much magic into your spell?"
Shrugging, he answered: "I did nothing differently, but I noticed some problems since I began to use the Elder wand. It is possible that the Wand channels more magic?"
Hermione shook her head: "Normally not. The magic that goes through a wand depends on the strength of the wizard it belongs to, but the Elder Wand is no normal wand. You should probably keep an eye on it."
Sighing, he went over to the Terrarium and collected three mice for himself and his friends, before returning to their places and placing one on each desk.
"What kind of animal do we have to transform them into again?" he asked and watched the mice carefully sniffing around on his desk.
"A chicken, Harry," Hermione answered and lifted her wand.
Harry was just about to do the same when a silent pop sounded suddenly and Oscar appeared with a rather huge and heavy looking leather bag next to his chair. He jumped in surprise and McGonagall gave him a stern look: "Mr. Potter, students are not allowed to bring House Elves to Hogwarts and especially not into my classroom!"
"Sorry, Professor, I think I phrased my order wrong. I've never had a House Elf before," Harry quickly apologized and turned to Oscar.
"Oscar has everything! And he has found the stone slab!" Oscar squeaked proudly.
"Thank you, Oscar, would you please take everything back to my room and keep an eye on it?" he quickly asked with a look at McGonagall, whose scowl deepened.
"Of course, Master Harry!" Oscar exclaimed and luckily disappeared with another pop.
He tried his best not to grin widely. Oscar had found Draco's bones and the stone slab as well, the chance that something would go wrong from this point on was small; this meant his and Lucius' bond might be fixed by this evening, the cold feeling would be gone and his mate's son back. They would get Draco back, he could just feel it. Nothing would go wrong.
Suppressing an excited squeal, he looked down at his desk where the mouse was still sniffing it's surrounding. He felt so giddy, his instincts were purring in pride and his soulbond was humming happily, he just wanted to run to Lucius and throw himself around his mate's neck, he was that happy.
"Well, if Mr. Potter finally has time for his classes again, we may continue," McGonagall said with a pointed look at him and his curiously watching classmates, her lips pressed into a thin line.
Harry forced himself to concentrate back on the task at hand, even though it was difficult. If he could, he would just go to the stone slab and the archway, wherever they were, and do the ritual, regardless of how gruesome it sounded, but he had to be patient.
Next to him he could feel his friends' questioning gazes on him for the rest of the Transfiguration Class, but they knew better than to ask their questions when others were likely to listen in on them, but as soon as they were seated at the Gryffindor table in the great hall an hour later for lunch, Hermione cast a Privacy Barrier around them and they both started to question him about Oscar’s sudden appearance:
"Harry, why did Oscar come to you in the middle of class?" Hermione started.
With a sigh, he admitted: "I needed him to find something for me and made the mistake of telling him to come to me as soon as he had gotten the items. I didn't think that he would be so quick." He was careful not to say bones because that would send Hermione straight into a lecture about all the evil things wizards needed bones for and she would not be far from the truth.
"Did you tell him to find a pile of gold? What heavy stuff was in that bag?" Ron asked curiously.
"No, it wasn't gold," he replied and chewed on his bottom lip. He just didn't know how he should tell his friends what he was planning to do, maybe this evening already. Finally, he said: "If you could bring someone..." but he broke off, sighed again and then took his goblet in frustration; he couldn't tell them. They would never understand why he was willing to not only participate but play the virgin sacrifice in a Dark Ritual, especially not if it was for Draco Malfoy's benefit.
"I can't tell you right now, but maybe you will already see it tomorrow."
"Harry, we understand that you have to play a different role now, but we are still your friends, we would never betray your secrets!" Hermione told him and placed a hand on his.
"I know Hermione," he said truthfully. "But you wouldn't like what I am about to do and you would try to stop me and I can't let that happen."
"Can we at least accompany you?" Ron asked before their friend could argue some more. With guilt heavy in his stomach, Harry shook his head: "I need to do this alone." He took a sip of whatever the liquid was in his goblet and his eyes widened at the taste of fresh and still slightly warm blood. He groaned in satisfaction; this was so good, it even had a slight magical spark, indicating that it hadn't belonged to a normal animal, he would thank Oscar later.
As he looked up again, he saw his two best friends looking at him in amusement.
"Someday you will have to tell me what tastes so good that it makes you orgasm from one sip alone!" Ron snickered and earned himself a slap on the head from an indignant Hermione.
"Ron!" she exclaimed, her cheeks pink.
Harry snickered at her expression, but said: "You wouldn't like it, trust me."
"I will only believe that after I tried. It has to be good stuff," Ron grinned.
‘I know better stuff’, Harry thought and gazed over to the head table, where Lucius and his father looked at him from the corner of their eyes.
Their last class for the day was potions. He had finished reading the potions book his father had given him and was now about to brew his first potion this year. Severus had given him a piece of parchment with instructions for a Mild Pain Potion and he went into the storeroom to retrieve the necessary ingredients.
He was too distracted with searching for the things he needed and it was too noisy in the class, so he didn't notice Pansy entering behind him until she shoved him into the shelf to his left:
"Out of the way, scar head! What are you trying to pull off this year? You will never be as beautiful as a real girl so just stop trying!"
He glared at her and his Gryffindor character quickly got the upper hand over his skittish submissive side: "I would never want to look like a girl, these are traditional school robes for the Heir of Hogwarts and my other clothes are from the Council!"
Pansy huffed. "As if any of that is true! You always were Dumbledore's golden boy; he probably got you both positions even though you deserve any of them!"
"Keep being jealous, if I had a shitface like you I would be jealous of everyone as well," he countered with a very Malfoyish smirk.
Pansy's face grew red and Harry could see her clenching her hands into fists. He decided to add another insult; no one who tried to get their filthy hands on his mate would get away easily:
"You are hot for Malfoy, aren't you? Do you really believe you have a chance, I heard he's into boys."
"Of course I have a chance. He needs a Heir again and the alliance with my family will be good for him, the Parkinson’s are nearly as old as the Malfoy’s, but you will never understand what it means to be a true wizard!"
Harry wanted to roll his eyes at the platitudes; Parkinson just wasn't fun, Draco at least had been somewhat quick-witted. At least he would have a proper rival again soon if everything went well. Snorting, he replied: "A true wizard? You are no more a true witch than I am a true wizard; thinking about it, you are rather weak for such an old Pureblood family. Too much incest maybe?"
He realised that he had maybe gone slightly too far when Pansy suddenly pounced on him and shoved him back against the Potions Ingredients shelf. Glass vials rattled and some fell to the ground with a loud crash. But the girl had no chance of harming him further because it didn't take even ten seconds before his father was there, his black eyes with the inhuman red ring flashing in anger:
"Potter, Parkinson, what is going on here?" he snapped.
"Potter insulted me, Professor," Pansy said much too sweetly and let go of him.
He huffed and snapped: "You were the one who just shoved me into the shelf!" He knew that his father could not defend him openly, but he would at least make sure that Severus knew the truth.
"Enough! Out, both of you!" his father snapped and repaired the shattered vials with a flick of his wand, before levitating the right ingredients to his and Pansy's desks.
"That will be twenty points from Gryffindor, Potter!" His father announced as he stepped back into the main classroom, but the malice with which he had eyed him in the past was not there.
"What happened man?" Ron asked him silently when he sat back down in front of his cauldron.
"Pansy happened," he growled in annoyance.
"She is taking on the spot of the Slytherins' leader," Hermione said matter of factly.
"I know, but she isn't even nearly as much fun as Draco. He at least was intelligent enough and had his wits together," he grumbled and started to slice two daisy roots. Oh, the girl would have an unpleasant awakening when Draco found out that she had just jumped to his father as soon as he had been dead. Thinking about it, had Draco and Pansy been a couple? Well, it didn't really matter; he was not really interested in the prat, only so far that he needed him back to save his soulbond.
"She even called me scar head just like he always did!" He suddenly spat and then halted with his slicing. He wasn't interested in Draco Malfoy further, was he? No, he decided that he surely wasn't. But why was the whole issue upsetting him so much? He had the feeling as if those words belonged to him and Draco and that no one other than the blonde boy should ever use them to insult him.
Well, he probably was just stressed out with the whole resurrection issue, because he really didn't like the blonde boy and wasn't interested in him. There was no reason for him to be.
Ron gave him a confused look and then pulled him from his muddled thoughts by saying: "She is just stupid, man," the redhead said helpfully and turned back to his own cauldron.
"I know," he replied as soon as his friend's words had registered in his mind. Not really paying attention to his work, he brought his knife down with much more force than necessary, cutting the slat into two as well.
"Potter!" His father snapped and came over to glare down at him, but Harry could see worry hidden in his eyes. "Stay after class," he finally commanded and left again.
Sighing, Harry went to get a new slat and threw the old one away, not thinking about just repairing it with a Reparo, before forcing himself to shove all that had already happened today to the back of his mind and concentrating again.
Unfortunately, the depressing feelings he received through the bond from Lucius grew stronger again, maybe his mate had a free period right now and was not able to distract himself from his sorrow anymore. It got harder and harder for him to concentrate again. As if it hadn't been hard enough before.
He worked in a daze and was surprised when his Potion turned out the exact right colour despite everything and was only slightly thinner than it should have been. Proud and satisfied with himself he filled a glass vial with his Potion at the end of the lesson and waited for the others to clear the classroom before going to his father. Pansy gave him a smug smirk, obviously confident that she had gotten him so agitated that he now had to stay for detention and scrub cauldrons, whilst Ron and Hermione told him that they would wait for him in his library.
As soon as the last student was out of the door, his father locked and warded it and waved him over. Harry rounded the desk, but stared in shame at his feet; he shouldn't have provoked Pansy so much, he had just behaved like a typical Gryffindor and he knew that his father didn't like it.
To his surprise, two strong hands lifted him into his father's lap, where he was cradled against the man's strong chest. Severus sighed deeply, before asking:
"What was this all about? Even you are normally not this agitated, not even in Potions."
Shyly, Harry mumbled: "This morning... something happened and I think it threw me off more than I realized," and snuggled into the comforting embrace, he had missed the closeness of his father.
"What happened?" his father asked and started to comb through his hair.
Frowning, he tried to find the right words to describe his feelings and all that had happened, but he had never been good at putting such things into words.
"Tell me, Harry. I wish to help you, I am your father," Severus urged him softly.
Harry's heart fluttered happily as he realized that this would be the first time where he could go to his father with his worries. He had never done anything like that before.
"I...started to feel this cold feeling..." he started hesitantly, hoping that it was the right point to begin his tale.
"When did you get this feeling? Was it because of Vo... Voldemort?" his father asked softly and Harry could hear how much courage it cost him to speak out his former master's name.
"No, it has nothing to do with him at all. It has more to do with Draco..."
"With Draco?" his father echoed in astonishment.
"Yeah," Harry confirmed with an uncomfortable feeling. "I first felt this... coldness when I entered Hogwarts. It suddenly pulled at my heart and I saw images of Lucius and Draco in front of my inner eye. The castle felt so awfully lonely that evening," his voice broke at the end of his sentence and he sniffed. His father started to rub his back soothingly and waited patiently until he felt strong enough to continue. Just speaking about the loneliness he felt since Monday made him so sad again and the joy over having found Draco's remains vanished from his heart.
"At first I thought the feeling would disappear after Lucius came to Hogwarts," he finally continued silently.
"But it didn't?" his father asked.
He shook his head. "No, it didn't. It grew even worse. One night ago I woke up because I suddenly felt as if someone had died next to me, but Lucius was alright and then this morning..." he broke off again, unable to tell his father what had occurred that morning, it still frightened him.
"Harry, what happened this morning?" his father asked calmly and hugged him closer against his firm chest.
"I..." he tried to tell him, but his voice left him and he buried his face into the black folds of Severus robes. "I... could feel our... our soulbond dying..."
Harry felt his father's arms tighten around him, they both knew what a dying soulbond meant; it was a sure death sentence, even for vampires if no one could find a way to stop the process. Gathering all his strength he forced himself to continue speaking.
"These last few days, I always thought about what the feeling was and what those pictures meant... and then suddenly, when I looked at Lucius holding the pictures of his son... it all made sense. He saw his father's eyes widen in something like disbelief, but the man only asked: "What made sense suddenly?"
Instead of answering directly, Harry asked a question himself, needing to know the answer, because he would not be able to do anything if his father disapproved of his plan:
"What would you do to save the one person you love?"
"Everything," his father answered without missing a beat.
Sighing in relief, Harry explained further: "I don't know why, but I can feel that our soulbond is dying because of Draco's death. Maybe it's because he is Lucius’ son and he is in pain..." he broke off, looking up at his father again, who was now frowning deeply.
"I cannot answer the question either, but normally your bond should not be affected, at least not unless..." his father shook his head.”Forget what I said, it doesn't make sense. It can't be possible, not even for you..."
Harry only nodded and sneaked his arms around the Potions Master's middle. After another moment in which his father seemed to ponder on saying something or not, he asked: "What do you want to do? Do you want to search for a way to stabilize your bloodbond?"
Shaking his head, he answered: "I found a way to bring Draco back. It is a ritual, invented by Merlin, Godric, and Salazar."
His father stiffened beneath him: "Harry, you are aware that this will most likely be Dark Magic?"
Closing his eyes for a moment to gather all his strength, Harry replied: "You told me yourself that you would do anything to make the person you love happy again and I have to do this. Lucius and I will both wither away and die a slow and horrible death if I don't do the ritual."
He met his father's worried look with a stern one, not willing to yield in this matter until Severus sighed and hugged him even tighter. "I am proud of you, my son."
Harry's heart skipped a beat at the praise and he returned the hug equally forceful. "Thank you dad. Thank you for being so understanding."
"How couldn't I, if I would have done the same to bring your mother back?" his father whispered, nearly inaudibly.
Sitting back again, Harry frowned and then said: "But Draco isn't my soul mate."
His father hesitated a moment and then said: "But I would even have done this ritual to bring James back if she had asked me."
His father had looked as if he had wanted to say something else, but Harry would not pressure him, instead he said: "You are the best, daddy, you know that?"
Severus chuckled amusedly: "I know that I am a slimy bastard and the dungeon bat and a greasy git, but I didn't know that I am the best."
"But you are!" Harry grinned and gave his father a kiss on the cheek, before hopping from his lap: "Thanks for listening, I will send you a message when we start, now I have to go to Ron and Hermione, or they will start to believe that I have to scrub old cauldrons after all."
"Cheeky brat!" His father teased and shook his head.
"I know, but I am your cheeky brat and you love me."
"I do," the man agreed and opened the classroom door with a second flick of his wand.
At the door he stopped again, remembering his nearly empty candy sac: "Dad?" He asked, his eyes huge and pleading.
His father snorted at his all too innocent look and lifted an eyebrow. "Yes, Harry?"
"Can you make me some more of those candies?"
Severus smirked and asked: "A preferred taste?"
Shrugging, Harry admitted: "Not really, but I liked the ones from magical animals better."
"I'll try to find the time after class."
"Thanks!" Harry exclaimed and was halfway out of the door when his father stopped him again:
"Let me come with you this evening or whenever you plan on performing the ritual."
Nodding, Harry promised: "I will send Justitius to you." He could understand that his father wanted to be present when he planned on doing such dangerous magic.
After a last wave, he ran up to his rooms and sneaked into the living room to talk to Oscar before he joined his friends. He called the little elf and asked him: "So you found everything?"
"Yes, Master Harry, Oscar found every single bone. It was not an easy task because the bones were buried near an evil house, Oscar could feel it and he was trembling all the time in fear, but Oscar found every one of them."
Harry winced; he had not wanted to force Oscar to do such a scary task. "Did anyone notice you?" He inquired worriedly, thinking that Oscar had indeed gone to Voldemort's hideout.
"No sir, no one had noticed Oscar. Oscar is a good elf!"
"And the stone slab and the veil? Where are they?"
"Stone slab and veil are at the Ministry in the Department of Mysteries, sir."
Harry frowned, that sounded like a department where the Unspeakables would work. Hopefully, Lucius would know a way to get in there. Taking the Black Book from the coffee table where he had left it, he scanned the pages again, checking whether he had everything: "I need a ritual dagger made of pure silver as well. Can you get me one?"
"Of course, Master Harry Potter, sir," Oscar answered.
"Then ward the bag with the bones, before you go and get the dagger," he told Oscar and the little creature left with a bow.
Following a strange urge, he stood up and went to his bedroom. The huge, but fairly innocent looking leather bag stood there in front of his bed. Slowly, as if in trance he stepped closer until he stood directly in front of it. The bones inside seemed to call out to him and without thinking he opened the back and grabbed inside. A spark of magic went through his body as his fingers came in contact with the pale skull that looked nothing like the proud blonde. Looking into those black, empty caverns where once ice-blue orbs had resided, he stroked the head softly. How he had hated those eyes only two months ago. They had always looked at him with disgust, but right now he wanted nothing more to see them once again.
"I will bring you back," he said softly and then snapped from his daze. Realizing where he was and what he was doing, he nearly let Draco's skull fall to the floor. Hastily he put it back into the bag and practically ran from his room. What had he been doing? Caressing Draco Malfoy's lifeless skull? A shiver ran down his spine and he shook his head in disgust.
Quickly deciding that he needed to join his friends, he went into his library. He couldn't do anything before it was evening and the Ministry was emptier regardless. The time till dinner was spent with research on Ron and Hermione's part and working on the essay for his father on his. Hermione wanted to continue researching after dinner for at least another two hours, but Harry told her that he had promised to meet with his father, but instead of going down into the dungeons, he used the door in his quarters to find his mate in his office, the book with the ritual in one hand. Hopefully, he could convince Lucius to go with him to the Ministry without a lot of explanation; he still didn't want to tell him too much, in case the ritual didn't work in the end.
He was careful when he opened the door just in case a student was just visiting the aristocrat, but to his relief no one was there with the exception of his dominant who sat behind a new desk and was marking homework.
Harry knew that the man had heard him, but was pondering what he would do. So he went over and slung his arms around Lucius' neck, hugging him from behind.
"Lucius?" he asked, leaning his head against his dominant’s strong shoulder.
"Yes, Harry?"
Biting his lower lip and mentally crossing his fingers, he asked: "If I were to ask you to do something without asking why, would you do it?"
"I trust you with my life, Harry," Lucius answered, honesty in every word.
"Then would you go with me to the Department of Mysteries this evening?"
Lucius turned around with a raised eyebrow and a thousand questions in his eyes, but all he did was nod curtly and say: "I will."
Harry smiled brightly at him and pressed a soft kiss to Lucius' lips. He had feared that Lucius would demand more information, that he would not yet trust him enough to follow him blindly, but he did and it made him so unbelievably happy.
"Then meet me in 20 minutes in my living room and until then, read this, but only the marked pages. I trust you," he said, pressing the small book into Lucius' hands and gave his mate a second kiss. This one quickly grew deeper, their tongues dancing with each other and he could smell arousal in the air. With a last lick of Lucius' tongue he stepped back; he wanted to go this evening and if they didn't stop now they would go nowhere before tomorrow and he could not bear the feeling pain and the coldness of death which was slowly destroying their bond any longer.
With a wink, he left again and called for Oscar once more when he was back in his own rooms.
"Did you get the dagger?"
"Yes sir, Oscar brought family dagger," Oscar announced and gave him a heavy, silver dagger with an emerald embedded into its handle and an elegant M engraved into the base of the blade.
Harry eyed the dagger in astonishment: "Where did you get it?"
"Master Harry Potter is bound to Master Lucius and Oscar is bound to Master Harry. Oscar can enter every estate and Manor that belongs to young Master!" the elf answered happily.
That sounded logical; after all, house-elves often fetched items for their masters.
"Would you accompany Lucius, my father and me to the Ministry?" he asked.
"Oscar will carry heavy bag. Master Harry does not need to carry it himself and neither does his mate and father!"
Sitting down at the coffee table, Harry quickly scribbled a note for his father and called for Justitius. The little bat needed a few seconds to flutter around the corner and land on the desk in front of him.
"Are you ready for your first delivery?" He asked with a smile and watched his bat puffing out his tiny chest. Chuckling, he carefully attached the note to his leg and then said: "This is for my father, he lives in the dungeons."
Justitius fluttered away, probably back to his bedroom where Harry always left a window open for him. Watching his little familiar disappear around the corner, it occurred to him that he was planning something huge; hopefully, it would be successful as well. A fluttering feeling spread in his stomach as he once again thought about what it would mean to be successful. It was a mixture of nervousness and something else which he didn't dare to examine closer.
Luckily, only ten minutes later soft strides announced the arrival of his father and Severus entered the living room, not giving him much time to wind himself up.
"So, where are we going?" His father asked with a raised eyebrow.
"We will go to the Department of Mysteries. Lucius is coming as well," Harry answered as nonchalantly as possible, but he was nervous. Severus disliked anything that could be called Gryffindor rashness and stupidity and gaining entrance into the department that was meant to be secret, clearly belonged to both categories.
His father groaned: "Is there no way to do the ritual elsewhere?"
"No, only if you can bring a huge stone slab and archway inconspicuously to Hogwarts," Harry smirked cheekily.
"But why the Department of Mysteries of all places? Sometimes I believe you are a magnet for trouble," Severus said exasperatedly.
"Maybe I am," Harry huffed in mock offense.
Sighing, his father flopped rather ungracefully down into an armchair. "Then count yourself glad that you have a mate who sometimes helps the Unspeakables out and has access to the department. You know, your godfather and his pet wolf would either kill me for allowing you to go on such a stupid mission or throw me a party for acting like a true, stupid Gryffindor."
Harry grinned, but corrected him: "I think they would black out from the sheer shock of finding out that you accompanied me in the first place."
"Well, then I should consider telling them. Do you think the chance of shocking them into a heart attack is high?" his father snickered and Harry grabbed a pillow to throw at him. Severus caught it mid-air and glared unconvincingly at him.
A second set of silent footsteps announced the arrival of Lucius and they both stood up before the blonde vampire could enter.
His mate's eyes landed on him and he could see the turmoil in those silver orbs. Without preamble, his mate asked: "You know that this means that we will have to have sex?" holding out the book Harry had given him. Harry saw how tightly Lucius was grasping his snake cane.
Harry stiffened, he had been so overwhelmed by the anguish of Lucius’ feelings, his own and the slowly dying bond, that he had not realized it, but didn't hesitate a single moment before saying: "I know," sounding much more confident than he actually felt at the thought of actually having sex so soon again.
"You said you were not ready to take this step again," his mate said sternly.
Harry gulped, he would not back out of this; they needed to do this if they didn't want to come to a horrible end. He would not let the loneliness and coldness destroy them both and the grasp death already had would continue to eat away on their bond until nothing would be left, he could not let that happen.
So he just met Lucius stern gaze with his own determined one, whilst his father watched them silently.
When his mate didn't budge, Harry declared: "This is more important." His voice was so steady and his look so fierce, that Lucius finally sighed and said:
"Then I will perform a spell on you which will make the intercourse as blurry as our mating, you deserve something better than this as your first time memory." The aristocrat shook the book agitatedly, a disgusted look of nausea on his face.
Despite the gravity of the situation, a small smile appeared on Harry's lips; Lucius really tried to make everything perfect for him, or at least as good as some things could get.
"That's okay," he said and went over to Lucius and gave him a quick, but deep kiss. His father was still silent in the background only watching them, and for a moment, Harry got lost in the sensation and he forgot that Severus was even there. He needed a moment and the kiss to calm his nerves, needed the heat of his dominant seeping into him and needed to feel Lucius’ strength under his hands as he laid them against the older vampire’s chest.
When they had finally parted again, Lucius handed him a rather fancy looking black cloak with some sort of silver fur at the hem and the sleeves and ordered: "Put this on."
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
At his questioning gaze, Lucius said: "We have to get you into the Ministry without someone noticing that it is you, especially none of the Dark Lord’s followers should see you in my presence outside of Hogwarts or they will ask me why I didn't take you to him."
That sounded rather logical, so Harry pulled the cloak on and fastened its silver clasps, despite the sweet heavy scent of perfume clinging to it.
His father wrinkled his nose and asked: "Did it belong to Narcissa?"
"It did, even though she had not worn it in the last 19 years," Lucius answered without any expression on his face, before stepping in front of Harry and pulling the hood up. To Harry's surprise a black veil lowered in front of his face.
"I feel like a woman," he huffed and conjured a mirror only to add: "Forget that: I look like a woman!"
It was true, with his high boots, his small posture and the elegant cloak he really didn't look like a boy any longer, but he could see why Lucius had given him the disguise: No one would be able to recognize him. The cloak reached down to his knees, where his high boots started and the beautiful veil with a flower pattern hid his face.
"That is the purpose. This is a courting cloak. Young witches use it when they get courted by a prominent Pureblood. It is rare, but a marriage contract can still be broken off by the wizard if he deems the young witch inappropriate, so it is common for witches to hide in these cloaks to spare themselves the shame if the marriage does not take place at the end of the courting period," his mate explained.
Harry couldn't say that this piece of information made him feel any better. "So everybody will think that you are courting someone?"
"Yes," his father answered with a scowl.
His mate sighed. "I do not like the idea either, but everything else is too much of a risk."
Knowing that Lucius was right, Harry nodded reluctantly. Hopefully, someday they could bring their relationship out into the open.
Lucius grabbed his snake cane, which he had leaned against the sofa when he had pulled the hood over Harry's head, and stepped in front of the fireplace. "We will floo to the Leaky Cauldron," he said and disappeared into the green flames. Without a word Harry followed him and a few seconds later exited the fire at the other end. His father was only a step behind him, and so was Oscar who carried the leather bag, then Lucius offered him his arm like someone would do for a lady. Feeling odd, Harry placed a hand lightly on the aristocrat's arm, he had read about this in one of the two books about House Ladies.
The pub was full and many eyes followed them on their way out, but as usual when a Malfoy was involved, no one dared to speak and Harry was thankful for it. Maybe, he thought, his life would get quieter as soon as he could start to live with his mate officially.
The streets in muggle London were already very quiet, only the sound of his mate's cane echoed through the street. It was too late for the usual customer and too early for the young folk who would come out to have fun in the many clubs and bars.
"Severus, do you know exactly how we can enter the Ministry?" Lucius asked nonchalantly. Severus gave his friend an incredulous look, which made the blonde huff: "I never used the visitor's entrance. I am an employee and normally floo directly from the Manor, and when I was younger, my father took me on the same way; we Malfoy’s have always worked for the Ministry, it proves to be rather useful."
Harry snorted: "I can imagine what you mean by useful."
Lucius huffed and looked pointedly down at him: "You already experienced the advantages of having a mate who works at the Ministry."
"Really?" Harry asked, but his grin was lost behind the black veil.
"Remember," his father said. "Lucius was the one who signed the adoption papers. It would have been a very long and tiring matter if I had been forced to prove that you are indeed my son."
Harry blushed and mumbled: "I forgot about that," before falling silent.
Oscar trotted silently behind them as they took the way Harry had already taken with Ron and Hermione two days earlier. Finally, they reached the little telephone box and his father opened the creaking door.
"I hope you are joking, Severus," Lucius sneered and pulled Harry to a stop before he could enter the telephone box.
"He isn't. This is the visitor's entrance," Harry explained calmly. Sometimes it was a real hassle to be mated to a Malfoy.
"I will get you an employee badge as soon as everybody is able to know about our bond," Lucius sneered and finally let Harry enter the box.
The same female voice from two days ago greeted them: "Welcome to the Ministry of Magic, please state your name and business."
"Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy," Severus' eyes flickered over to Harry before saying: "and Minerva McGonagall. We are here to fetch some documents for Albus Dumbledore." Harry snorted rather unladylike at his cover name and grinned up at the tortured looking face of his beautiful mate. With a fond sigh, he quickly nuzzled Lucius arm, even though a veil, a cloak, and a white button down separated their skin, but the appreciative purr he got in return was reward enough.
"Please register your wands at the security check point."
The silver badges fell into the money slot and a moment later the box started to lower itself into the ground. The entrance hall was empty this time of night and even the security point was vacant.
"Where is the department?" Harry asked but Lucius only made a shushing sound and led him to the elevators. Severus pushed the button of the first in the row and when it arrived and the door slid open Harry was glad that he wore the long cloak with the veil. A plump wizard with gray hair stepped out and greeted them with a nod. His small blue eyes darted from Lucius over to him.
"Minerva McGonagall, ha?" the man said pointedly and Harry could feel his small blue eyes trying to get a glimpse of his face, but the veil was probably enchanted and his mate quickly led him into the now empty elevator, whilst his father graced the man with one of his nastiest glares for good measure. The wizard squeaked and quickly made himself scarce. As soon as they were inside his father pressed the button for the 13th floor and Harry let out a sigh of relief.
When they reached the last floor, the elevator door stayed closed and a light appeared on it. Lucius pulled his wand out and pressed it against the door, which instantly slid open at the touch.
Harry stared in wonder as he found himself in a round room, with many identical looking doors. As soon as the elevator had closed again, the door looked exactly like all the others and in the next instant they started to spin around. He could not have said through which one they had entered, let alone which one they needed to take to get to the stone slab, but Lucius went confidently to a door a bit to their left and they stepped into the next room.
Harry's eyes instantly spotted the stone slab under the stone archway. Something like a black veil seemed to float in a non-existent breeze and on the ground, encircling everything was a rune circle.
"This is it," he breathed in awe, his skin tingling from the magic that radiated from the artefact or whatever the archway was.
"Yes, indeed," His mate confirmed. "I have no idea what powers these objects have and as far as I know even the specialists of this Department know fairly little, but I assume that you got more information from the book?"
"Merlin told me about the veil, he wrote the book with Godric and Salazar," Harry answered, still in a kind of daze and took a step closer. Severus kept staying outside the runes and leaned against a wall. A strong hand lowered on his shoulder and when he looked up, he saw Lucius looking down on him with concern: "What is so important, that you are ready to... do this... or who?"
Harry only shook his head, he would not explain anything; Lucius had promised to help him without explanation and he didn't want to disappoint his mate in case the ritual would not bring the results it was supposed to and he would stay firm to his decision.
The aristocrat sighed and gave a curt not.
"Oscar, place the bones on the stone slab so that they are in the right order again," Harry ordered and with a snap of Oscar's fingers a whole skeleton lay on the ritual stone slab. Harry avoided the sight in front of him as he pulled off the heavy cloak, he didn't want to think about whose bones laid there. They were unnaturally white, considering that they had lain in the cold earth in front of Riddle Manor for only a month.
Turning his back to the stone slab, he proceeded to undress. He would take on the role of the submissive sacrifice; the fact that the vampire magic made him an eternal virgin would only help his goal. Oscar took the cloak, his high boots, and all the other garments, whilst his mate only had to take off his own cloak and dragon hide gloves. It was important that Lucius as the initiator stayed dressed to show his power over the sacrifice, but he had to touch the ritual dagger with his bare hands, so that the magic between Harry, the stone slab and himself could flow later on.
"Severus, are you sure you want to watch this?" Lucius asked his friend, who only nodded.
"We are vampires, I neither have a problem with watching you fuck my son nor with the spilling of blood; those are human concerns which we have all overcome by now."
Harry watched his mate’s gaze flicker over to the stone slab for a split second, before asking: "Do you know whose bones are laying there?"
Severus' eyes flickered over to Harry as well, who shook his head in a pleading gesture. He had told his father what he would be trying, but even if he hadn't the man was intelligent enough to have it figured out by now.
"I know who it is, but Harry asked me to not tell you."
"Then let us begin," Lucius said and raised his wand and that was the last thing Harry clearly thought before his mind grew fuzzy and Lucius’ spell took effect.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
LM
Lucius did not want to do this. For one thing, he hated having sex with Harry so early again when his little submissive was not yet ready for it, but at least the spell would protect his little submissive's mind. Their intercourse would feel like a muddled dream, Harry would only know what he had done, but not how it actually had been and that at least lessened the sickening feeling a bit that he was about to rape his submissive. He really should not do this, his duty was to protect his mate and right now he was doing the opposite, but Harry had asked him and he knew that the boy would lose trust in him if he backed out now. For another thing, he still didn't have his raging jealousy completely under control. What had made his mate want to do this horrible ritual? He could not understand it and he did not even dare to think about what would be the cause for their visit to the Ministry, or who, after all there was a skeleton lying in front of them.
He would not hesitate to kill the person if one of Harry's ugly relatives were to come back to life at the end of their ritual. Pushing the thought to the side, he reminded himself that even his good-hearted submissive was not good hearted enough to bring one of those ugly excuses for human beings back.
But who could it be then? A former lover? No, that was impossible; his little mate had known nothing about relationships or physical pleasure before their bonding. But maybe a former crush, someone he wanted to bring back now that he was more educated in love affairs?
Jealousy bubbled like a poisonous potion in his gut and he had to quickly push those thoughts away before he could do something immensely stupid. Harry was counting on him and he would not disappoint his beloved mate, regardless of who was laying on the stone slab.
He carefully nudged Harry and the boy turned around as if he was a mindless puppet. As Lucius glanced into those emerald green eyes he loved so much, they were glazed over as if the boy was sleepwalking. At least his virgin mind would be protected.
Taking a deep breath he did not need, he shoved Harry roughly against the stone slab. Generally, he liked the idea of taking Harry roughly, but not like this, not when he would have to cut his mate at the end and let him bleed like a pig being slaughtered.
Harry did not even groan as his frail body collided with the hard surface. With one fluid motion, Lucius unzipped his trousers, freed his cock and slammed Harry's face forcefully into the stone slab top, before entering him with one, violent thrust. Harry gave a muffled sound, a mixture of a pain filled scream and a lust filled moan and the tight channel around his pulsing flesh tightened even further.
Until now he had not been able to produce more than a semi-hard erection, too disgusted by what Harry wanted him to do, but as he forced his thick flesh into his little submissive and Harry's tight channel gripped around him, he had a hard time not coming on the spot. Moaning loudly and unrestrained, Lucius wondered in his lust hazed mind how anyone could be so tight. Had he not known better, he would have guessed that not even a finger would fit in the child's rear end and as he looked down, he saw a thin stream of blood trickle onto the floor whilst lilac bruises were already spreading between Harry's arse cheeks, but fuck it felt so good! How had he not remembered this feeling? It made him want to pound into his cute little submissive after all, and despite the circumstances, lust was quickly building up inside of him and it threatened to cloud his mind.
He slid a hand to Harry's front and noticed that his invasion indeed had been enough to make his mate hard. Groaning again, he moved slowly out and adjusted his angle before thrusting back inside. He would need to be careful, because in contrast to Harry, he was not allowed to come during the ritual. Lucius suspected that it had something to do with the execution of power over a submissive. He as the dominant would force the weaker being to climax, regardless of his willingness, whilst he himself stayed clear of the embarrassment of a forced and unwanted orgasm. That the sacrifice in this case was his mate and that his cock was pulsating with the wish to come, did not matter.
Harry started to moan and arch beneath him as he hit his young mate’s prostate with every thrust and the magic of the veil began to swirl around them as his little submissive neared his climax with rapid speed.
Lucius was not too disappointed that Harry would not last long, because with every thrust he made, he came closer to the edge and the danger of coming grew. He was a controlled man, but being back inside his beloved mate after so many weeks just felt far too good. Lucius had not been prepared for the tight, pulsing heat around him or the way Harry clutched his penis as if the boy wanted to draw him in even deeper. How had he been able to restrain himself in the past? How had he not given into the urge to push his little mate against the next wall and take what was his by right?
A gasp alerted him that Harry was about to climax and with a trembling hand he brought the ritual dagger up in front of the boy’s unprotected throat. It took only two more thrusts and Harry exploded onto the stone slab. As soon as Lucius felt Harry's channel tighten even further around him, he slid the blade across his mate's throat, cutting him wide open. Harry screamed in agony, the magic of the artefact stopping the quick healing ability. Lucius watched in horror as blood sputtered out of the deep cut and Harry's head which, now only hung barely onto his neck, rolled limply to the side. With a quick reflex, he grabbed Harry by his bangs and held his head up, whilst forcing himself to not push it back down onto the gaping wound so that it may close quicker. They had come so far, this was so important to Harry and the boy was beyond noticing the pain as he sagged lifelessly in his arms; he would not ruin their efforts now.
Lucius barely realized that he had grabbed Harry around his waist to at least keep him upright, or that he had pulled out of his unconscious mate, as he watched in fascinated horror as his beloved's blood pooled around the skeleton and muscles and flesh began to form. Still, dead eyes formed in the empty eye sockets of the skull just as Harry sucked in a gasp. He took that as his sign to let go of his head so that it could start to connect again with the rest of his body.
The jealousy for the person Harry was ready to endure this torture for came back with a vengeance, as he finally realized that they had indeed brought somebody back from the dead or were at least in the process of doing so and it was obviously none of Harry's relatives.
His rage that was rapidly building inside of him came to an abrupt stop when a slightly familiar scent reached his nose. He knew this scent, or he had known it, but he could not distinguish the scents of the people he had last seen as a human very well; his senses had not been keen enough to memorize the details needed to distinguish people by only their smell back then. As skin started to stretch over the gruesome looking body, his eyes roamed the young and lean form in front of him and a new growl formed in his chest as the sex became visible: It was a boy or a young man.
The youth's body seemed at first glance nearly perfect: well defined, parallel abs were forming on the male's stomach, his legs were long and muscled and his shoulders, even though not as broad as his own were strong looking as well, and the pale skin looked immensely soft.
Despite the slightly familiar smell, his growl grew louder, his vision went blood red and he was about to step closer and kill the young man on the stone slab again. But in the next instant his growl quickly died once again and his vision returned back to normal, all jealousy disappearing from his system when the person suddenly sat up and he came face to face with someone he had never imagined seeing in his life again, someone he could never feel jealous over: his former late son, Draco.
Lucius nearly dropped Harry's still lifeless body as the realization hit him: Harry had seen his anguish this morning and obviously searched for a way to bring him his son back. But why? Had Harry done this merely for him?
Draco looked utterly confused; his normally cold, ice blue and guarded eyes were wide open and showed a thousand emotions rushing through him, mirroring his own feelings.
How Lucius could not have recognized him earlier was a mystery to him, but then again, he had never watched his son undress or in the shower.
"Father?" Draco asked, only to gasp as his face suddenly contorted in pain.
"Draco?" Lucius croaked out, sudden fear that something might have gone wrong and he would lose his son yet again gripped his heart. Following his instincts, he took in a breath to find out what was happening with his son and the second shock of that evening hit him, as his brain put the information of Draco's scent and what was happening together to form one unbelievable picture:
Draco screamed in anguish as long fangs broke through his upper gum and for a moment his blue eyes went completely red, before the colour retreated with the exception of a thin red ring around the ice-blue orbs. His son's hands cramped as his nails morphed into claws, whilst his body stretched until he was taller and more masculine than he had been before his death, his heart stopped beating for a moment as Draco died once again, only to start again at a much slower, sluggish pace; his skin grew even paler and the shadow of a mark like the one on his and Harry's hands appeared and finally his scent grew stronger, taking all lingering doubts from Lucius: Draco was Harry's second dominant, they were all bloodmates.
Lucius saw his son opening his mouth to say something, but in that moment Harry's body twitched in his arms and suddenly their little mate jumped him and attached himself to his throat to drink hungrily from his veins.
For a moment he was in a state of frozen shock, not able to take everything in that was happening around him, but then Draco's shaky and slightly panicked voice pulled him out of it:
"Father, what is the meaning of this? Why is Potter here? Why is he naked and why... what is he doing?"
For the first time in his life, Lucius felt totally overwhelmed and looked helplessly over his shoulder to his friend for help.
"Draco," Severus started, hesitant to explain, his eyes leaving his son's frame only reluctantly. "The Dark Lord murdered you and cursed your father and Harry."
"Why are you calling scar head by his name? Why haven't you brought him to our Lord?" Draco sneered and Lucius winced inwardly at his son's current thick-headedness. Had he not yet picked up on the scent? Were Draco's instincts not yet strong enough? But then again, his son's brain had always stopped working as soon as the young hero of the wizarding world appeared on the horizon. Meanwhile, Severus had stepped next to him with a face hard as stone:
"You will not talk like that about him. When your father was cursed to become a vampire, Harry turned as well due to a connection with Lucius, he went through a lot these past weeks and still he moved heaven and hell today to bring you back from the dead!" Neither Lucius, nor Draco had ever heard the man sound so angry and Draco flinched visibly, but being a Malfoy, he quickly composed himself:
"I owe him nothing. I did not ask him to bring me back to life and he had no reason to!"
Severus sneered. "Oh, he has. He and your father are soulmates and apparently, you are the third part to this mating bond!" The man pointed at Draco's hand where their mating mark had appeared as a sign of their connection. It was still more gray than black, due to the fact that they had not yet consummated and completed it.
"Me, soulmate of Harry bloody Potter? Together with my father? Never!" Draco sneered. "We should take this opportunity and take him to our Lord, we could finally win and he would reward us highly!"
Lucius sighed inwardly, they would need a small miracle to get his son over the animosity between himself and Harry, and it probably wouldn't be much easier with Harry. Speaking of his little submissive: he was still gulping down his blood and Lucius was slowly getting dizzy from the amount of blood the exhausted and drained child had already consumed. He quickly tugged on Harry's hair to signal for him that it was enough and to his relief Harry let go of him with only a protesting sound, before slumping weakly against his chest, his eyes drooping.
Severus came over and took his son from him so that he could concentrate better on Draco, but he still pressed a soft kiss on Harry's forehead before letting go of him. Harry had been so brave and he probably had saved their two souls, because a soulbond needed to be complete, or the participants would slowly wilt away. Had Harry known that they needed Draco, or had he brought the boy back only for his sake? Lucius could not answer that question and right now was not the right time to dwell on it either.
Sighing, he nonchalantly tucked himself away and closed his trousers again, before opening his mouth to explain the situation further, but Severus stopped him: "You will not betray Harry's secrets as long as your son wants to hand him over to the Dark Lord. Right now his mate status doesn't count. His instincts are not yet strong enough to show him the truth of your words. They will need a while before they will be able to overcome this denial."
"I am not in denial!" Draco snapped with an angry glare at his godfather and supposed mate.
Sadly, Lucius suspected that Severus was right, Draco was unpredictable right now. His transformation had been even more unnatural than his own or Harry's; the fact alone that their souls recognized each other as bloodmates, even though Draco had been turned weeks after them, should not be possible. Normally bloodmates only arose when the mates were turned simultaneously, but then again Draco had been brought back with Harry's blood and Harry was prone to defying the odds.
Instead of giving an explanation he finally said: "Let's go Draco, we will have time to talk at Hogwarts, this is not the right place."At his son's questioning look he added: "We are in the Ministry, in the Department of Mysteries, to be precise; certainly not the right place for any discussion."
Luckily he still had a say in his son's life and Draco climbed from the stone slab without asking further questions for now. Lucius asked himself how their relationship might change now that they were not only father and son, but also mates. Why was there a second dominant in their mating bond in the first place? And how did he feel about it being Draco? Was he jealous? Did he have a problem sharing his little submissive? He could not honestly say that he was jealous because his heart had already accepted his son, knowing that there was a reason why Harry would require two dominants; he only had to find out why fate thought that Harry would have the need for more than one powerful dominant.
He watched Oscar giving his son a long cloak, which would cover his entire body before the elf snapped his fingers and magically putting Harry's clothes back onto his now sleeping form.
Lucius could not imagine how exhausted his little mate must feel right now, and he wished that his son would appreciate what Harry had done for him.
Harry had been exhausted a few times before, after the Knowledge Ritual and after the Purification Ritual, but this time he had pushed his body to its very limits by letting himself be drained of nearly all of his blood.
Had Harry known that Draco was also a part of their soulbond and that they would never feel truly complete without him? The question kept returning to the front of his mind, regardless of how often he pushed it away again.
Submissives were often more susceptible to the subtle feelings and shifts in a bond, their duty was to keep the bond together from the inside, whilst the dominant protected it from the outside. Maybe for once, a visit to the meddling old coot of a Headmaster would be in order, as loathe as he was to admit that. Next to him, Severus's thoughts seemed to wander along the same lines because he said: "We should hurry, we have a lot to discuss before this night is over."
Draco glared once again at Harry, who was oblivious to it and only cuddled closer into his father's embrace.
"I understand that you have a lot to deal with right now, but do not forget that we are Malfoy’s," Lucius advised, and to his relief his words had the desired effect on his son: Draco's features smoothed out and he gave a curt nod, before they all made their way back to the elevators. Draco would not make a scene in the midst of the Ministry; he would at least keep himself together until they were back at Hogwarts and that left time for Lucius to think about the question of if he should treat him like his son, or more like the mate and the equal dominant he now was.
That Draco clearly ignored Harry the whole way back to Hogwarts and did not spare him a second glance, only added to Lucius’ irritation. He wanted to snap at his son for treating his mate like this, or more accurately for treating their mate like this whilst his instincts were quite happily humming in joy at finally having the last part of their blood bond back. He could not deal with conflicting emotions, mostly because he rarely experienced them. He was a man who made up his mind easily, or just did what was necessary without regretting something afterwards. Not that he was currently regretting having his son back, but he would have appreciated a little warning from his slumbering submissive.
They stepped out of the telephone box and onto the small side street in muggle London and hurried to get back to the Leaky Cauldron. Luckily the pub by now was nearly empty and Tom, the barkeeper, quickly went into the backroom when Lucius stepped in first and gave him a look that could not be misunderstood.
"You go first," Lucius commanded his son, who glared at him and asked: "Where shall I go?"
"The Founders Quarters of Hogwarts."
A smug look crossed Draco's features, and he didn't need to guess to know what his son was thinking. What would he say when he found out that he was not the owner of the quarters, but that Harry Potter had outmanoeuvred them all? He motioned for Severus to follow his son with Harry next, before stepping into the floo as well. As soon as he stepped into Harry's living room, an all too happy voice greeted them:
"Ah, my boys, and good to see you again Draco." Albus Dumbledore sat in one of Harry's armchairs; a tea set in front of him and his eyes twinkled happily up at them, whilst Draco was glaring at the wizard and he himself wanted to throttle the grinning old fool at the moment. Sure, he had planned on paying the man a visit and asking him some questions (slyly of course, because Malfoy’s never needed to ask anybody, especially not old coots of a Headmasters), but only tomorrow after he had settled things with his son and his mate and after they all had gotten a good night's rest.
Severus grumbled something about meddling, all knowing old fools and threw the Headmaster an annoyed look, but gave in with a sigh and sat down with Harry still in his arms on the armchair opposite Dumbledore.
To Lucius’ surprise, Harry had opened his eyes, but a look of complete shock marked his features.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
HP
Harry had forced his eyes open again when the sound of Albus had reached his ears. He felt so tired, but he had the feeling that he needed follow this conversation, but as soon as he had turned his head a peculiar smell invaded his nose. Frowning, he sniffed actively and tried to figure out why this scent seemed so special. It reminded him of his mate, not only that it was quite similar in itself but it also seemed to have the same significance.
Suddenly it hit him like a bludger to the head: A scent similar to Lucius' could only come from Draco, and the significance in their similarity could only mean...
Harry's mind blanked for a moment. Holy fuck! That was not possible, fate could not be so cruel; Draco Malfoy could not also be his mate, that couldn't be! That was just wrong; he already had one dominant and didn't need a second one and especially not Draco Malfoy. But sadly, his instincts were quite clear, so was his soulbond, which was humming contently.
Still, this was Draco Malfoy, he had not brought back the ferret to find himself bound to him; he had done it for Lucius because his mate had been sad and that had made him sad and their soulbond had been dying, not because he wanted a second mate. How should he even have guessed that the boy would turn out to be his second soulmate? He didn't want him as his second soulmate.
Sighing, Harry took another sniff. As little as he wanted to have to do with Draco, he had been a vampire long enough to realize that it would not be that easy. They would not be bloodmates if fate didn't think that they needed each other and were perfectly matched.
Pushing his usual dislike for the boy aside, he tried to examine the situation more neutrally:
Maybe Draco would be more similar to his father than he currently thought, after all, his scent indicated as much. Focusing his vision a bit more, he tried to find the similarity of Draco's and Lucius’ scent in their appearance:
The last time he had seen the blonde boy, he had been a head or two smaller than he was now. Maybe his dominant vampire genes had helped him with that, but Draco was almost as tall as Lucius, maybe only a one and a half inch shorter. His legs were as endless and strong as his father’s as well, but he was a bit leaner, not as broad shouldered as Lucius, but still much broader than Harry, which wasn't really surprising.
Draco's hair was still rather short, with a few longer bangs hanging sexily in his eyes, which were the same shape as Lucius' as well, but more of an ice blue than silver. Harry could also find the high and very aristocratic cheekbones, but his chin and nose were a bit more pointed than his father's.
Looking downwards, Harry's attention was caught by the gray mating mark, which confirmed his suspicion; it probably would become darker and more noticeable after they had consummated their bond, or rather if they consummated their bond. His hands also looked similar to Lucius'; long and elegant with well-kept nails. The biggest difference Harry could detect seemed to be their auras:
Whilst Lucius was the embodiment of calm and aloof, Draco's feelings seemed to be closer to the surface. Of course, he had mastered the Malfoy mask perfectly as well, but his eyes shimmered and flashed with his feelings and mostly his anger, but maybe that was only an impression won by his past experiences with the young blonde.
Frowning, Harry remembered something Lucius had told him shortly after their mating: Draco was already 17 and he could certainly see it: He was no longer as clumsily tall and disproportioned as Ron or many other boys in their year and he surely was not as childlike as Harry himself anymore. Draco's face was one of a young man whose body had formed well due to the years of Quidditch and his Veela genes. Thinking about it, he still did not know how Lucius had gained his perfectly muscled body.
So, he thought after his secret inspection, at least he could see some physical similarities between his two mates. That gave him a bit of hope, but he still didn't know Draco at all; for all he knew, he could be the total opposite of his father, even though that sounded highly unlikely.
Then there was the point that his two dominants were indeed father and son, how would they feel about the fact and how was he feeling about it? Frowning again, Harry came to the conclusion that he would have no problem with having a relationship with father and son, as long as Lucius and Draco could live with it.
What would a relationship with the two of them be like? Would they share a bed, or would he have to sleep one night with Lucius and the other with Draco? That sounded very odd and he honestly could not believe it, after all: He was their blood mate and that meant that Lucius and Draco were as well and besides, he still wanted to have time to stay at least one night the week over at his dad's place. But the sleeping arrangements were not all they had to consider. Blushing, Harry wondered if Draco and Lucius would kiss, not like a peck on the cheek a father would give his son, but a real kiss, with tongue and everything. Were they first and foremost mates or relatives? This was all so confusing! All Harry could do was hope that everything would fall into place automatically.
Lucius motioning for Draco to sit down, which he luckily did without another rant. Really, the older boy should just accept their fate; they would not be able to stand against their destiny after all.
His father narrowed his eyes at Albus, who continued to smile and said: " You see, Severus, as the deputy head of the Wizengamot and the keeper of the Department of Mysteries, I have quite the inside connections."
At least that explained why the Headmaster had awaited them, Harry thought, and made a mental note to ward all his doors before he left his quarters the next time. As much as he liked the crazy man, he didn't need him waiting for him in his living room close to midnight.
He also could see how much will power it cost Lucius not to rant and sneer at Albus' smiling face, but Draco had either extreme self-control, or just didn't care, Harry thought the last option sounded more likely.
Neither of them had the chance to begin the conversation or ask one of the many questions which surely swirled around in all their minds, when the Headmaster opened his mouth again, having obviously anticipated their need for answers:
"It is quite rare to find a soulbond that consists of three people. It normally only occurs when the dominant male is so strong, that he needs two submissives to sustain his magic. Blood Drops?"
Harry almost snorted at the irritated look Lucius and Draco gave Albus as he pulled out a candy bag from one of his many pockets, but after a moment it seemed not only to dawn on Harry what the old wizard had just implied and all stares settled on him, even Draco's, only that his stare quickly twisted into a sneer,
"Are you implying that Potter might be magically strong enough to need a second dominant?" Draco scoffed and his face twisted into a sneer that was a mixture of disgust and delight to hear that Harry Potter needed to get it up his arse. But to Harry's and the young blond’s surprise, it only gained him low and very threatening growls from his father and godfather. Somehow it calmed Harry down that both men would protect him from Draco's insults and snide remarks.
"We will see," Dumbledore said sounding rather joyful, a feeling Harry currently did not share with his mentor.
An uncomfortable silence stretched over his living room then, but luckily the Headmaster possessed the gift of endless chattering and continued: "We will need a believable story to explain Draco's return, but I think the story that you, Severus," Albus gave his father a pointed look, whose arms tightened in annoyance around him, "...found him still alive and thought that Tom spared him on purpose to ensure the old and very noble Malfoy bloodline, will be the best way to go about this," the old man ended his little story with a wink at everybody.
The Slytherins were scowling heavily, but nodding regardless; Albus had the talent to phrase things in a way that left no place for arguing.
But to be honest, it actually was a good story: Voldemort could keep his face in front of his Death Eaters, or more precisely: would be forced to keep his face, because otherwise the ugly snake man would have to admit that he had overlooked the fact that Draco had still been alive and they could also tell the students that the blonde needed recovery time from an illness, which would be close enough to the story they would tell the evil wizard to not make the parents of the Death Eater children suspicious.
"Very well, Albus," his father said and looked down at him. Harry could feel the concern radiating from the dark man and sure enough a moment later he announced: "If that would be all then I would like to take Harry to bed."
"Actually, my boy, that is not all," Albus smiled, turning back to Draco, and Harry could actually see the urge to throttle the Headmaster in Lucius' eyes. His mate was not an impulsive person, but Harry suspected that the older dominant wanted some peace to clear the mess their mating bond had become.
"As I see it, we should find a way to provide young Mr. Malfoy with his own private quarters," Albus continued with a look at Draco's pale mating mark as if he didn't notice the tightly clenched jaw of Lucius.
"It would be suspicious if he suddenly starts to sleep elsewhere, but luckily the current head boy had been found in a very inappropriate situation with..." Harry found the suddenly flustered look on Dumbledore's face fairly funny: This was something new, nothing had ever made the old Headmaster blush, not even finding his twelve-year-old favourite student bound to two older mates, but as soon as he continued, Harry could understand what had the man so embarrassed: "...with Mrs. Norris."
Harry gasped in shock: "The head boy was found with...Mrs. Norris in a compromising situation?"
His two mates seemed too shocked themselves to even gasp and his father muttered something about unhealthy kinks.
"Quite right my boy, but let us forget that quite disturbing incident and return to the matter at hand."
They all nodded in unison, even Harry and Draco agreed in this particular instance and Dumbledore continued after he had turned back to the young blonde and a sip of tea: "As you are already of age Draco, I would offer you the post of Head Boy. It would give you more privileges, like a later start of the curfew, entry to the prefect bath and of course your own room. What do you say, my boy?"
Harry absentmindedly wondered if Dumbledore actually called everybody who was under the age of 100 my boy, but pushed the thought away in favour of listening to his new mate's answer, even though he could already predict it; a Malfoy never disregarded the chance of more glory and respect and Head Boy was most likely an important first step.
"Of course sir, I could never refuse such a request," Draco drawled smugly and took the silver badge Dumbledore handed him. Harry couldn't suppress his bemused snort at the Slytherins sudden politeness, which earned him another nasty glare; he didn't even start to count them all, even before Draco's resurrection it had been the only expression with which the blonde ever looked at him.
"Good. I will let the House Elves prepare the room; until tomorrow evening, maybe you could stay with your father or mate, or maybe both of them tonight?"
Lucius, who apparently knew in which direction his son's answer would go, quickly interjected: "We will find a place for him, Headmaster."
"Then I wish you all a good night," Albus said and finally left the room with a last twinkle and wink at Harry, who was only able to stare back, too tired and too overwhelmed by everything.
As soon as they heard the door shut behind the annoying fool, his father let go of a loud groan: "Finally! I thought he would never leave!"
"Yes, the Headmaster is certainly not known for his convenient timing, but at least he cleared up some questions," Lucius agreed and Harry watched him coming over to him, but before his mate could take him into his arms and kiss him Draco's angry voice interrupted them:
"I will not stay with Potter! And I cannot believe that you would voluntarily spend more time than necessary with him father!"
Harry wanted to groan at the restart of the rant he had to endure back at the Ministry, but at least now they were in a private setting. Lucius openly defended him:
"Draco, besides the fact that we both are Harry's bloodmates, there is no other place for you this evening. I have no second bed in my private quarters and Harry's rooms are certainly big enough, I am sure he will let you stay in Slytherin's old quarters, so cease this complaining, it is unfit for a Malfoy!"
Harry was just about to open his mouth and tell his new mate that he could of course have Slytherins quarters, when said mate sneered and snapped: "I will not take anything from scar head!"
Sighing, Harry rolled his eyes in exasperation; this evening they would get nowhere if it continued on like this. Weren't Malfoy’s supposed to be more logical and less hot headed than Gryffindors? In some way, Harry could even understand the blonde, that was the reason why he had stayed so calm until now, but it was starting to get on his nerves.
"Draco! You will at least cease insulting our mate; I can understand that you do not like this situation right now, but..." Lucius was cut off by Draco's scoff:
"Not like this situation? Mother and I have been murdered by our Lord because of your betrayal and when I somehow come back a few weeks later, you are fucking Harry bloody Potter and tell me that I have to do the same!"
"The Dark Lord does not care about the lives of his followers! You should know that better than I! When he murdered you and your mother he had no possibility of knowing whether I had actually betrayed him or not and in fact, he even killed you before I even decided to change sides!"
"That still doesn't change anything! Mother is still dead!" Draco snapped and Harry could see the hurt in both of his mates' eyes. Deciding that he needed to interfere before any more hurtful words could fall, he cleared his throat:
"You... you can have my rooms for the night, I will just leave for now," he said and motioned to Severus in way of explanation. His father still held him in his arms, rather protectively since the argument had started, but at his words he sighed in relief, even though it was clear that Lucius didn't like the idea very much. To be honest, Harry would have liked to stay and settle things at least with his older mate as well, but they all knew that Draco would not be able to be reasonable with his father about anything as long as Harry was still in the room and was provoking him with his mere presence.
"Thank you for everything," Lucius whispered softly, his voice conveying all the feelings he could not put into words right now and with two steps he was back by his side. "I love you. Sleep well and try to recover." Ignoring the glare from Draco, Harry coiled his arms around his older dominant’s neck and accepted the soft kiss he had yearned for the past hour. Lucius' lips were soft but firm against his and unbelievably hot because his skin was still colder than usual after his immense blood sacrifice.
He was so exhausted, but he had needed this so desperately and Lucius' touch was always so comforting. He sighed into the kiss and opened his mouth to let his mate's tongue slide inside. This was like heaven, Lucius' hot muscle caressing his, his soft but demanding movements.
Harry's heart gave a little flutter at the reassurance; he had been scared that everything would change now that they had a rather unwilling third mate in their bond.
Draco was Lucius' son and he knew that the older dominant loved him, but that also meant that Draco could drive them apart if he wanted, but this loving kiss and Lucius' defence of him earlier had calmed his nerves.
Lucius parted far too soon from him, but Harry did not yet let go of him, instead whispering: "I love you too, Lucius."
The mood was interrupted when a loud snort came from behind them. Sighing, Harry said his goodbyes and was hoisted up a bit higher in his father's arms again.
"Sleep well," Lucius said with a look of regret on his face; he did not want to spend the night apart anymore than Harry himself.
"Good night," Harry smiled, before letting his eyes shift to the fourth vampire and adding "You too, Draco."
Draco had not graced him with any sort of reply, but Harry was honestly not expecting any and only shrugged, before snuggling deeper in his dad's billowing robes. They left the living room together and Severus carried him silently through the dark hallway, where a pale moon was visible in the night sky.
"Take this door, it's a short cut," Harry said as they reached the exit and pointed to one of the three extra doors, he would have to add a fourth one for Draco, but not today.
"Ah, I wondered where the new door in my quarters lead to, but I thought better of it than to go through a corridor to an unknown destination in a magical castle," his father drawled.
Harry only snickered: "It makes things easier."
"It certainly does and less suspicious," Severus added, pushing the door to his rooms open as they arrived at the other end.
"So, how are you feeling?" his father asked as he carried Harry into a comfortable living room. Harry didn't answer, instead he looked around and was seeing the rooms his father was living in for the first time:
It was rather gloomy, with no windows and only some candles and the fireplace illuminating the quarters, but the candles bathed everything in a soft golden light, giving the otherwise cold looking room with the stone walls and dark wooden floor a warm appearance. To his left stood a small sitting area, with a small coffee table, a black wingback armchair, and a matching sofa. He saw a soft looking blanket in one corner of the couch; it looked rather odd in the otherwise neat room.
"Your mother made the blanket herself when she was 13," his father explained and followed his gaze to the colourful crazy quilt.
Harry grinned. "I wondered why you had a blanket with so many gold and reds," his eyes lingered on the blanket for a while, before he examined the many bookshelves and cabinets with what looked like ancient or especially expensive cauldrons and potions utensils. He saw a golden cauldron and even one that looked as if it had been carved out of a gigantic emerald.
"This room looks like you, it's beautiful," Harry said happily.
"Really? Minerva always says it looks too much like an office," his father huffed.
"No, it doesn't. I can see you living here," Harry said, his eyes landing on a small chest where some photos of a much younger Severus and a girl with fiery red hair stood.
"I would never have guessed that I would find so many things from my mom in your private quarters, at least not before I got to know you better."
"She is still very important to me," Severus said, his eyes fixed on his own faded mating mark. "I miss her, but I am also extremely glad that she gave me you."
A single tear rolled over Harry's cheek at his father's words. "Thank you, dad," he whispered, his throat dry.
"Come on, I will take you to bed now," Severus said and carried him to a door at the far end of the room. The bedroom had a similar feeling to the living room, but instead of a sitting area, there was a huge four poster bed, a cupboard, a drawer and a silver framed mirror hanging on the wall.
His father laid him down, transformed his clothes to a long nightshirt and went back into the living room, only to return with the quilt, which he unfolded and handed to Harry.
Harry snuggled into the comforter; it was even softer than it looked.
"And now tell me how you are feeling," his father prompted as he transformed his own robes and slipped beneath the quilt as well.
"I...I honestly don't know," Harry said truthfully and turned onto his side to snuggle closer to his father. "My instincts have already accepted Draco, so I guess I will give him a chance, but to be honest, I am not thrilled. I didn't like Lucius either, but we had not seen each other a lot before our mating, so there was not as much animosity between us," he sighed tiredly.
“I don't see you two getting along very soon either. Draco can be as childish and impulsive as he can be mature and composed. He is not as balanced as Lucius and for him, there is not just animosity between you," Severus mused.
"What do you mean?" Harry frowned.
"Draco is one of the richest people in the wizarding world and comes from an old and respected Pureblood line, but the shadow of Lucius is huge and he always was envious of your fame. Draco has always had the feeling that he never got the attention he deserved."
Harry frowned and thought about his father's words.
"And then he comes back from the dead, not only to find me having stolen his father but also mated to me, his biggest rival as well?"
"Yes, he will probably think so," Severus confirmed.
"But if he was always so envious of me, why did he offer me his friendship at the beginning of our first year?" he wondered, watching his father lift a questioning eyebrow.
" Did he?"
"He did. We first met at Madame Malkins and then a second time on the train," he explained.
"Why did you refuse his offer?" his father asked.
Harry shrugged: "He insulted Ron."
"That explains a lot," his father smirked, but Harry didn't understand what he meant and frowned. Sighing, Severus elaborated: "You have most likely crushed his ego quite thoroughly; I don't believe that he had ever been rejected before. Furthermore, you would have made a good acquaintance and Lucius would have been proud to hear that his son had managed to form such a good alliance on his first day at Hogwarts, but with your refusal, he lost the chance to make his beloved father proud."
Harry thought that his father's explanation sounded rather Slytherin and wondered if most of them functioned like that.
"What kind of relationship do Lucius and Draco have?" Harry wondered out loud.
His father was silent for a moment, obviously thinking how to phrase what he wanted to tell Harry, but finally he said:
"Lucius and Draco always had a very close relationship, even for father and son. Lucius loves his son like nothing else; at least, it was like that until your bond with him formed. Draco adored him like a god, especially when he was younger and he did everything to get praise from his stern father. Lucius' demands were always very high, but it never scared Draco off, he saw it as a challenge and I think he still thinks like that." His father stopped again for a moment, before continuing: "There was never anything sexual between the two, they are both too dominant, neither would have been able to take on the submissive position which is needed to make a couple, and as humans it wouldn't have been proper, but it honestly does not surprise me that they are soulmates as well, it rather fits that they are both your dominants."
Harry sighed, that sounded as if he had no chance between father and son, not if they really had such a close relationship.
His father interrupted his depressing thoughts sternly: "Do not worry. They do not love each other in a sexual manner. As mates they will probably kiss and be more intimate, but they both need you and they will both adore you, Lucius already does and Draco will as soon as he realizes that you two are indeed soulmates."
"Are you sure?" Harry asked, still feeling sceptical.
"Yes, they will never be real lovers, they will always hang in a state between father and son and lover," Severus reassured him.
"That sounds odd and complicated," Harry mused.
"A bit," his father admitted.
"So, they will be like father and son who have a bit too close of a relationship to call it proper?"
"Yes, I think that is a good description and now you should try to sleep, you need the rest," his father ordered and extinguished the lights with a flick of his wand.
"Sleep well, dad," Harry said and stretched to place a kiss to his father's cheek.
"You too, my little impossible vampire brat. Really, going to the Department of Mysteries to bring Draco Malfoy back... I am immensely proud of you. You honestly have your mother's heart."
Harry chuckled and nuzzled Severus's neck, before laying his head down on his shoulder. An arm lay protectively down on his hip, and Harry closed his eyes contently.
Sadly, after fifteen minutes he was still not asleep and shifted nervously. The scent of his father's blood teased his nose and he could feel his stomach rumbling in hunger. Even after the amount he had taken from Lucius, it had obviously not been enough to satisfy his hunger after his blood sacrifice.
Severus’ blood didn't smell as sweet as Lucius' or Draco's, at least as far as he could tell without being anywhere near the blonde boy. His father's scent reminded him of herbs and the man's beloved potions.
His hunger grew and his tongue flicked out without his permission, licking over the spot where his father's carotid lay hidden.
"Harry, are you still hungry?" his dad's voice asked softly.
Harry answered with a pleading mewl and as Severus turned his head to the side to give him better access, he sank his teeth into the vein.
The Potion Master tasted as Harry had imagined: tart and like herbs and, with the blood, a feeling of coming home flooded his system. Sighing contently, he took another gulp and another, until his hunger was finally sated. By then Harry felt utterly relaxed and ready to fall asleep on the spot. With his last strength, he pulled his fangs out again and closed the pinprick wounds. The last thing he noticed before drifting off to sleep was a soft kiss being pressed to his cheek.
°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°°ºooº°
LM
As soon as he heard the front door close for the second time that evening, Lucius finally rounded on his son:
"I do accept that you cannot yet accept this situation, but you will refrain from insulting our mate." Normally, he saw himself beyond physical actions, but he grabbed Draco by his cloak that was still covering his body and pulled him to his feet: "Whether you like it or not, Harry has brought you back because he felt the anguish of our bond. I certainly know that it is not an easy task to grow accustomed to the new body of a vampire, or the fact that you are not human anymore, or mated to someone you always saw as an enemy, but I will not stand by and watch you hurt him!"
He saw that his son wanted to say something, but he gave him no opportunity and instead conjured a mirror and shoved Draco in front of it:
"Look at you. You are not a stupid teenage boy anymore! You are 17, an adult and you are a Malfoy. Malfoy’s respect their spouses and treat them with the uttermost care, regardless of whether it has been a love marriage, an arranged marriage, or a mating. I expect you to start behaving worthy of the family name you carry!"
"So, do you just play the lovey-dovey couple because of your sense of honour?" Draco asked and glared at him through the mirror.
"Now, I love Harry with all my heart and you will as well as soon as you realize that he is your bloodmate!" Lucius snapped.
His son only snorted: "I will never love that ugly scar head"
"Ugly?" Lucius sneered. "Do you really think that?" sadly, his son didn't rise to his bait.
"I hate him!" Draco spat and his face contorted into an ugly mess. "He is not worthy to share a bed with either of us!"
"You will not speak like that about the person who brought you back to life!" Lucius tried another approach.
"I did not ask him to bring me back and I owe him nothing!"
"But you do, we all do," Lucius replied and watched the young man, who was so similar to him, not only in his appearance but in his magical power also:
The only reason why he had been able to overpower his son right now was due to Draco's exhaustion after his resurrection and transformation. Even for Malfoy’s, they were extraordinarily similar. A test of Draco's magical power before his fourth year had shown that his son would have the exact magical power as he himself had, and Lucius assumed that the release of the dominant vampire genes had already given his son access to all his powers; something which normally required a few years after maturing, to ensure the safety of their submissive.
"I cannot believe that you fell for Potter," Draco sneered, interrupting his musing.
"You will soon come to understand," Lucius answered confidently and ignored the irritation in his son's eyes, he was certain that Draco would soon enough see how lucky they were that Harry was their mate; his son's instincts would hopefully soon drive him in the right direction. "I will show you where you can sleep tonight," he said, ending the conversation for the evening, it was late enough.
Draco followed him silently to the door opposite of Gryffindor's quarters, where Harry usually slept and he would stay tonight. That his beloved submissive would not be there bothered Lucius more than he was currently willing to admit in front of his son.
"Oscar will bring you clothes for the night and for tomorrow, sleep well," he said, his strength drained for the night as well; never had he been so tired since his transformation, he could not even start to imagine how his little submissive felt right now.
"This will be the only night I will stay here," Draco sneered behind him.
"We will see," he only drawled in answer and left his son alone.
Once in Harry's room, he slumped onto the bed, burying his face in his hands. What had Harry done? Sure, he was happy to have his son back and to have their mating bond complete, even though he had never really realized that something had been missing to be honest; the thought that there might be a third person involved in their bond had never even occurred to him. This was a mess. His feelings went in thousand different directions and he did not know on which one to act: he wanted to embrace the son he had thought lost forever and greet the other dominant with a kiss, whilst he wanted to rip Draco's head off for his attitude towards Harry; all at the same time.
After a moment he decided to just lay down and go to sleep, he was never one who believed that the next day would be better only because the sun had set and risen again, but hopefully, tomorrow would bring some clarity and peace to their bond.
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A Different Kind of Hero