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Fragmented Soul	By : StrawberryGirl87 & Bickymonster Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Fenrir Views: 79703 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 10
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or anything in the fandom. no money/profit is made.

Chapter List
- 29
- 30
- 31
Fragmented Soul
Chapter 30 - Mini-Alpha
Jenson growled, a low rumble of annoyance echoing from his throat as his head was repeatedly pecked by a rather impatient owl with a death wish. It was still dark; it was that early in the morning and the infernal bird was trying its best to rouse the Beta wolf from sleep.
Jenson cracked one eye open, glaring at the creature, ready to throttle the thing and then eat the corpse for breakfast… until he saw that it was trying to deliver a letter. A letter that had the Hogwarts seal, a sight that made his blood run cold and his heart race. The pups hadn’t been gone that long, why would the school be writing to them?
Callie had hardly slept a wink all night, feeling too unsettled with the absence of their daughter, so Jenson shifted carefully so as not to wake her as he accepted the letter from the infuriating animal, which flew off before he could inflict physical harm on it. Apparently it did have a few brain cells in its tiny head and knew when to get the hell out before it was mauled to death.
Glaring at the tail feathers of the retreating bird, the Beta took the letter in hand, horrified that it was addressed to him and Callie. He looked at it dumbfounded; fear and panic flooding him as he thought about everything and anything that could have happened to Romy over a single night away from the territory that would warrant a letter to be delivered to them so early and with such urgency.
“You too?” Damon asked quietly as another two birds, who had taken it upon themselves to wake him, took flight before they were decapitated by a scowling Micha, who had been asleep in his arms. Damon, who had been registered as the legal guardian for both Harry and Clay, was the proud owner of two letters of his very own. Jenson wasn’t sure whether to feel relieved or not that Damon had also received the worrying letters.
“Isn’t it a little soon to be getting letters of complaint from the school?” Micha grumbled as he attempted to snuggle back down into their blankets and hides, trying valiantly to take Damon with him. He did like his morning cuddles, though they had yet to accept each other as mates vocally it felt right to fall asleep curled up together. Micha actually found it rather comforting to have Damon’s arms wrapped protectively around him.
Jenson and Damon opened the letters carefully, as if they might explode and cause them physical harm. Damon quickly scanned over the contents of his and sighed in relief that both Harry and Clayton were fine, just causing mischief. He hadn’t expected it to happen so soon but at least it was predictable and they weren’t hurt.
“It seems that Harry and Clay added dung bombs to some fireworks and set them off at the welcoming feast last night,” Damon said trying to hold back his laughter at the antics of the two teenage boys. “How did they manage to rope Romy into that one?”
“They didn’t,” Jenson said, his voice sombre. “Callie and I will have to go up to the school,” he said, scanning over the contents of the letter for the third time.
“Why, what’s wrong?” Damon asked with concern as Jenson turned to Callie and began to gently rouse her from sleep. The others too were starting to stir now, the conversation having disturbed them from their own sleep. None of them were too happy about this if the groans and mumblings were any indication.
“The headmaster needs to see us, something about Romy’s biological parents getting in contact and wanting to see her,” he told them in a rush once Callie was awake and alert enough to listen and understand. “The letter doesn’t explain much but he’s asked us to be at the school at half nine.”
“Do you want one of us to come with you?” Damon asked hesitantly; he would have very much liked to see his son and he knew that Fenrir would have taken any opportunity to see Harry too.
“I doubt turning up mob handed would help the situation; Romy’s parents are muggles, they won’t understand.” Jenson remembered how Jack had always snatched the muggle girls, knowing that once they were bitten they would die. It had been pure coincidence that he had taken a muggle born witch that night.
“Be careful,” Fenrir grunted as he sat up in bed, clearly not happy at being woken up before the sun had started to rise. Lukas, however, was already several steps ahead of them all and was pulling on his shoes to go and fetch some water so as to caffeinate everyone.
“Yes, my Alpha,” Callie said as she pulled herself out of bed and began to change into some suitable clothes; her mind was racing, thoughts of losing her little girl rushing around in her head, terrifying her with the idea. Romy had never spoken much of her biological family, only to say that they had never been close and that they were muggles.
They all felt that there might have been more to it than what she let on but no one had ever pushed her to talk more about it. They had been more focused on what had happened to her after the kidnap and healing her from that. No one had questioned the decision she had made not even to contact them and let them know that she was safe.
She was a werewolf and she belonged with them, there had been no question of that; she could never had gone back to living with muggles after being bitten. However, that she hadn’t contacted them to let them know what had happened to her and that she was safe was apparently about to come back to bite them in the arse.
FGHP
Harry had decided that the Hogwarts beds were evil, he was sure he was going to burn it before the year was out. It was cold and lonely sleeping in the darn thing and it was too soft to find a comfortable position. Though, most of all, the one thing it really lacked was Fenrir. Though it did amuse him somewhat as he doubted the large man could have come close to fitting into the teenager sized single bed.
He had dragged himself out of bed and to the showers just as the others were beginning to stir. Draco was the first to join him and then Theo shortly after that. Everyone was modest and Harry found that he felt comfortable with that, unlike at the pack where it was completely normal to walk around starker's, particularly Fenrir who was a bit of an exhibitionist.
“For the love of Merlin, Blaise, put it away,” Theodore Nott said as Blaise Zabini walked into the showers wearing nothing but his skin. It was purely instinct but at Theo’s exclamation everyone had turned to see what he was complaining about and caught an eyeful.
Now, as it went, Blaise had nothing to be ashamed about, his arrogant stride showing that he knew this too but Harry was a werewolf and because of this he had been around a fair few naked men in his time. He had to withhold a snigger as he thought that compared to Fenrir, Blaise was minuscule.
“No one wants to see that, put it away,” Draco drawled as he stepped from the shower cubicle, towel secured tightly round his waist.
Despite being up earlier than the rest of them Harry was only just exiting the shower cubicle as Draco did, the luxury of having hot running water and a shower was enough to make him stay under the stream of hot water longer than was necessary. There was no comparison to the magically heated stream that he had become accustomed to using in the clearing. He was going to have to talk to Fenrir about installing showers, though he knew it probably wasn’t a practical idea.
“I’m sure Harry doesn’t mind,” Blaise said, leering at the new addition to their dormitory. “I bet he’s loving it.”
Harry looked to Blaise disparagingly; he looked up and down the naked body of the five foot nine teenager, his dark skin reminding Harry of chocolate but he was no Fenrir Greyback that was for sure.
“I’ve seen bigger,” he said, sounding completely unimpressed with what he was looking at, before turning on his heel and walking out of the showers to a riotous uproar of laughter from the other Slytherin boys who were all laughing at Blaise, who was scowling hatefully after Harry.
“That was brilliant,” Draco said, following Harry back into their bedroom, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes.
“I speak only the truth,” Harry said; he had already pulled on his boxers and trousers by the time Draco got there. When the rest of the Slytherin boys joined them he was in his shirt and struggling with his tie. Draco watched out of the corner of his eye while he got dressed and it was becoming quickly apparent that Harry had never put on a tie before.
Once Draco was all dressed, apart from his own tie, he decided to take pity on Harry. “Have you even worn a tie before?” he asked quietly as he moved around his own bed to stand closer to Harry.
“We don’t exactly do the whole formal attire thing at home, and never needed to when I lived with my Dad,” Harry told him with a shrug.
Draco sighed and snatched the tie that was in Harry’s hand. “It isn’t very complicated; I’ll show you how when I put mine on, but I hope you’re a quick study because while I will help you today, I am not your house elf. Who did it for you yesterday?”
“Romy,” Harry said with a shrug, “she did Clay’s too and I don’t see the Gryffindor’s helping him. They seem rather hostile.”
Draco snorted at that. “Hostile, that is one word for it,” he agreed, as he flipped up Harry’s collar and looped the tie around his neck.
“What was with that anyway?” Harry asked curiously. He had expected a few strong reactions to his presence in the school but none quite like the one that they had seen on the train. “It isn’t as though they even know anything about me, Clayton or Romy.”
Draco made quick work of looping one end of the tie around the other, threading it back on itself with practised ease, as he used the time to think what exactly to say to answer that question.
“I imagine there are several factors,” he said, tightening Harry’s tie and flipping his collar back down. “It is probably largely due to the insinuation by the Daily Prophet that Longbottom was little more than a fraud but I doubt it helped matters that you were found in my company,” Draco admitted, reaching for his own tie. “Now, pay attention,” he instructed firmly as he placed it around his own neck.
“It’s hardly as though I like the rubbish that newspaper prints about me,” Harry said a bit grumpily, watching Draco as flipped his own collar up and aligned the green and silver tie so that the end which was wider was slightly longer.
“Weasley is not precisely an expert on rational or logical thinking,” Draco said a bit dismissively. “Now pay attention,” he told Harry bossily.
“I am,” Harry insisted, waving his hands for Draco to get on with it.
Draco raised an eyebrow but proceeded none the less. “There are several different knots that you can use, but…”
“Just show me the simplest one,” Harry interrupted.
“That was what I was about to suggest,” Draco said dryly. “Shall I continue?”
Harry said nothing but made a hand gesture for the blond to proceed. “For the simple knot all you do, is wrap the wider end around the other once, or twice if you would rather, and then pass it through the back and then thread it through the front of the knot,” Draco told him, completing each motion as he described it.
“That’s it?” Harry asked, watching as the taller boy tightened the tie and flipped his collar down.
“That’s it,” Draco confirmed, pulling on his jumper and then his robes.
“They have to keep it simple enough that the likes of Weasley don’t accidentally strangle themselves,” Theo said as he walked passed them.
“Thanks,” Harry said as he grabbed his jumper and robes, and pulled them on. “I’m starved, let’s go grab breakfast.”
Nodding his agreement Draco grabbed his book bag and motioned for Harry to lead the way. Theo, Crabbe, Goyle and a rather unhappy looking Blaise, who was still rather embarrassed about what Harry had said in the showers, trailing after them. Blaise was really starting to not like Harry Prince.
FGHP
“You didn’t have to wait for me,” Harry said as he emerged from the dungeons and saw Romy and Clay hanging around in the entrance hall waiting on him. Though Harry did think it rather amusing that Romy seemed to have just finished adjusting Clay’s tie.
“And sit with those Gryffindor’s instead, no thanks,” Clay said with a scowl on his face at the suggestion. It had been bad enough that he had had to share a room with them; he was only glad that they had all been asleep when he had got back. Thanks to being unable to sleep, he had got up, showered and left before they’d even got out of bed too.
“We were going to just go and sit at the Slytherin table but figured that would raise less questions if we were sitting with you rather than by ourselves,” Romy explained. She had found Clayton sitting at the bottom of the marble staircase, scowling at the red and gold tie he was holding in his hand, when she had come down for breakfast; she had also not slept a wink. She was just grateful that neither Harry nor Clay had commented on her skirt this morning. However, one Draco Malfoy seemed to have given her a look of appreciation upon first seeing her this morning, something she wasn't sure how to take.
“Can we hurry this along please,” Clay asked, as no one made a move towards the Great Hall. “I need coffee and I need sugar! Do you think they serve brownies for breakfast?”
“Even if they do, you’re not eating them,” Romy scolded. “Either of you,” she added with a glare at Harry who had had a hopeful expression on his face at the thought of brownies.
“Yes, Mum,” Harry muttered rolling his eyes.
“I can have coffee though, right?” Clayton asked her hopefully.
“One cup, and only if you actually eat something healthy first. That goes for you too, Harry,” Romy informed them sternly and meaning every word. Crabbe and Goyle, ignoring the gathering in the Entrance Hall, had already gone ahead into the Great Hall to get started on their breakfast.
“Why the rules and regulations,” Draco asked, rather amused and even slightly impressed by the way the younger girl had simply laid down the law and that Clayton had even gone so far as to ask her permission to drink coffee. It was a question that had been on the tip of Blaise and Theo’s tongues too, confused as to how she could have so much control over the older teenagers.
“Trust me, you do not want to see Clayton highly caffeinated, let alone after he has been at the brownies,” Romy told the three Slytherin boys that had been eyeing her curiously, her tone very matter-of-fact.
“It’s a lot of fun, he sings and everything,” Harry said, “...badly, but he really, really puts his heart and soul into it, right, Romy?” Harry said giving her a knowing look.
“Exactly why I don’t think we need a repeat performance,” Romy said as they made their way into the Great Hall, the other Slytherin’s following after them as they all headed to the Slytherin table. “Especially this early in the morning.”
“I don’t know, I think I’d like to see this, sounds like it could be fun,” Theo said with a thoughtful expression.
“For you maybe,” Romy muttered under her breath.
“Do they serve brownies for breakfast?” Harry asked curiously, after his terrible night’s sleep he could have used a double chocolate pick me up with a side of black, heavily sugared coffee.
The group of them took their seats at the Slytherin table; Pansy and Daphne were already there, waiting for them along with Crabbe and Goyle who were already stuffing their faces.
“No, but we can get some,” Draco said, with a smirk. “I know where the kitchens are.”
“Get what exactly?” Daphne asked curiously, eyeing Draco with concern, after the display she had witnessed from Harry and Clay the previous evening at the feast she was worried that they would be getting Draco into trouble, which was the last thing she wanted.
“Brownies,” Harry told her with a grin.
“I think I’ve just found my second best friend,” Clay said, flinging an arm around a rather startled Draco who wasn’t used to people touching him all the time and these werewolves tended to get rather up close and personal.
“Can we at least save getting your second detention until after you have served the first one?” Romy requested with exasperation, fairly sure that even that might be asking too much from her pack brothers.
“We won’t get detention for visiting the kitchens, everyone does it,” Draco assured her. He watched in amusement as Clayton poured out three mugs of coffee, loaded them with sugar and then proceeded to drink them all in quick succession. “Merlin, you must have an iron stomach!”
“Clayton!” Romy exclaimed in horror. “I am just glad that I won’t have to sit in a classroom with you all day,” she added, shaking her head in disbelief. Her main worry was that a hyper Clay was even more likely to drag Harry into all sorts of trouble, which would only mean more detentions for the two of them.
“It’s justified this morning,” Clayton grumbled unhappily. “I didn’t sleep.”
“Me neither,” Harry said as he too grabbed for the coffee. Tea was just going to make him feel more homesick this morning, he didn’t want to start thinking about Lukas and being back in the territory with his pack not when he was missing Fenrir so desperately.
Romy seemed to be having a problem with the tea too; having taken a sip of it she looked at in disgust and put it down. “I think Lukas has spoilt tea for me now, anything less than his perfectly brewed masterpieces taste awful,” she said, pouring herself a glass of juice instead.
“Just give in to it,” Clayton said with a grin as wide as a Cheshire cat, as he waved his mostly empty fourth cup of coffee in her direction “have some coffee.” He regretted this a split-second later though, when Romy’s quick reflexes allowed her to snatch it from his hand and place it out of reach.
“No, and I think you’ve had enough,” Romy said, before turning her gaze to Harry who very quickly moved his mug out of her reach. Draco watched the exchange with amusement, admiring how feisty the young werewolf was.
“It's my first cup, I swear,” Harry said insistently when she held out her hand and narrowed her eyes at him expectantly. She didn’t look entirely convinced, but took her hand back and return to serving herself her own breakfast none-the-less.
“You two are so whipped,” Blaise said, entirely amused as he looked between Harry and Clayton.
“Because they have the good sense to be,” Romy said, looking at him pointedly, not liking the way the boy had spoken about her pack brothers, glowering at him in warning.
“Romy is bloody scary; it’s best for our health to at least pretend to listen to her,” Clayton said with a smirk, nudging Harry with his elbow.
Harry chuckled in amusement, but then caught Romy’s eye across the table and swiftly gave Clay a clip round the head. “That’s from Romy,” he told him, grinning at his pack sister who nodded her approval.
“I’m so going to need my helmet,” Clay mumbled under his breath as he rubbed at the back of his head. With his free hand however he made a grab for Harry’s coffee, taking his friend by surprise and managing to take it from him with a smirk of triumph. “That’s for hitting me,” he said childishly, poking his tongue out before downing the coffee before Harry could take it back. Draco could only roll his eyes, it seemed that things would never be boring with these three around.
“Good morning,” a dreamy voice said as the owner, a blond Ravenclaw girl, still wearing her radish earrings sat down beside Romy, giving her a soft smile as Romy smiled back and greeted her. She liked this girl; Luna was a little strange and somehow seemed to just know about what she was but Romy didn’t mind that because the rather odd girl just didn’t seem to care.
“Are we suddenly adopting strays?” Pansy sneered as the Ravenclaw girl sat down with them; they weren’t used to so many non-Slytherin’s sitting with them. They had always been the house that was feared and avoided, now, all of a sudden they had two Ravenclaws and a Gryffindor in the mix and it just didn’t sit right with her.
“Oh, shut up, Pansy,” Daphne said as she watched Astoria move her way up the table; her little sister taking a seat with Romy and Luna, the three girls seemingly getting along quite nicely.
“Luna’s pretty cool,” Astoria said, which made the blond Ravenclaw smile, “she can come and sit with us whenever she likes.” Pansy glowered at Daphne and Astoria, two girls that were supposed to be her friends and agree with her, not gang up against her. Her response, however, was stopped before it could even begin, with the appearance of one of their teachers. She very quickly shut her mouth, having to make do with a dirty look in their direction.
“No wonder I couldn’t find you,” a rather squeaky voice said. They turned to see a distinguishably short wizard, with a shock of white hair and dressed in dark green robes. “Miss Howard, here is your timetable.”
“Thank you, Professor Flitwick,” Luna said, accepting the piece of parchment from the professor and handing it to Romy, who gave them both nods of thanks. He didn’t seem to mind in the least that she and Luna weren’t at the appropriate tables; he, at least, didn’t say anything about it before he moved off back towards the teachers table.
Another Professor was moving along their table towards them; he was a fat, bald and seemingly rather old man, his belly so large that his waistcoat seemed to be struggling to contain him. He had rather prominent gooseberry coloured eyes and his face was rather dominated by a large silvery walrus-like moustache. Harry assumed him to be the head of Slytherin house, Professor Slughorn.
He was the potions professor here as far as Harry knew and he had also been the Professor who had been looking at him as if he were a possession at the start of term feast the previous evening. Harry had already decided that he didn’t like him very much at all. Never the less he accepted the piece of paper detailing his timetable that Slughorn handed him, before the portly man headed off in the same direction as Flitwick.
“Mr Danes, is it too much to ask to find you where you’re supposed to be one of these days?” Professor McGonagall said as she came over to the Slytherin table looking grim faced, thrusting his timetable towards him, which he accepted. “Yours and Mr Prince’s detention will be tonight, in my office after dinner, don’t be late.”
“Thank you so much, professor,” Harry said sarcastically, before switching his tone to sound a little flirtatious. “I’m really looking forward this,” he told her. “I anticipate that we’ll be spending lots of time together and I can’t wait to see where this goes between the two of us.”
“For both of our sakes, I hope not, Mr Prince,” McGonagall said with a stern look to the two new students, though there did appear to be a glimmer of amusement in her eyes as she was faced with Harry’s unique brand of cheekiness.
“Don’t worry, professor,” Clayton told her with a huge grin. “I’ll make sure to always get detention when Harry does, so that I can protect you from his devious ways.” He added a wink in her direction as he attempted to stop himself from laughing.
“Judging by the state of him I believe it is Mr Prince who needs protecting from devious ways,” Minerva said, motioning disapprovingly at Harry’s neck where the purple marks were showing no sign of fading.
“Oh, I can assure you, professor, I didn’t want protecting,” Harry said with a grin, remembering fondly how much he had wanted it.
“Though with you it’s the older the better. Right, Harry?” Clayton asked. “I suppose it means a lot more experienced, which must be a bonus.”
“He isn’t that much older than me,” Harry said with a tone of exasperation as though he was tired of repeating this point. Minerva stood looking startled at the exchange between the two boys and not entirely sure that she wanted to remain listening to it. However, she knew that Albus would be most fascinated to know what the two of them were talking about, so she toughed it out.
“He’s almost thirty seven, that’s twenty two years. How old are you professor?” Clayton asked, turning to his head of house and looking at her as if considering what the answer might be. Romy sighed in utter disbelief at what they were doing and rested her head down on the table; her pack brothers really were unbelievable sometimes.
“Old enough to knock some sense into the two of you,” she said sternly, realising from Romy’s reaction that this was how the two teenage boys tended to behave.
“I am not sure even you could manage that, professor,” Romy mumbled under her breath.
“Do not underestimate me, Miss Howard,” McGonagall said sternly, and Romy sat up with an apologetic grimace when she realised she had been heard. “I have seen far worse than your cousins at this school.”
Harry rather thought he saw a twitch of a smile on the professor’s face, which was quickly suppressed, before she turned and walked away encouraging a few stragglers who were only just arriving for breakfast to hurry up and eat, lest they be late for class.
“I think she likes you,” Luna said as she watched the transfiguration teacher leave. Harry quietly agreed; though the professor was clearly stern and a stickler for the rules most of the time, she could at least tell that he and Clayton were harmless, even if more than a little troublesome.
“I think it’s a miracle you didn’t both get detention,” Blaise gripped.
“...Again,” Pansy appended.
“Perhaps we should keep you two away from Peeves for a little while,” Draco said.
“Who’s Peeves?” Clayton asked curiously.
“You just had to say something, didn’t you, Draco,” Daphne said with a sigh. They probably could have gotten away without Harry and Clayton finding out about the school poltergeist, but that was no longer an option. If Romy was right about just how bad the two teenage werewolves could get, then introducing them to Peeves would probably be disastrous.
“Now I’m curious,” Harry said. “Who or what is Peeves?”
“The school poltergeist,” Luna told them happily. “He’s always causing trouble, it is rather amusing.”
“Sounds like our kind of poltergeist,” Clayton said with a grin and Romy grimaced, they were enough trouble just the two of them without adding a poltergeist into the mix.
“Where do we find him?” Harry asked, eager to meet this Peeves.
“I’m sure he’ll find you before too long,” Draco said. “You’re big news here, Harry.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to be,” Harry mumbled as he looked down at his timetable to see how bored he was going to be. As it was a Tuesday his first lesson was History of Magic, which was bound to be pretty dull.
“Hey look,” Clay said as he pointed between his and Harry’s timetable, “we’re in all the same classes. Awesome.”
“The teachers must have a death wish,” Romy muttered as she glanced at her own. She had potions this morning, which would be easy enough for her.
“Well this is going to be dull,” Harry said surveying his timetable, ignoring the others. “Dad taught me up to N.E.W.T level in all of these already, I know all of the stuff we’re going to cover, except for Astronomy and History of Magic. We never bothered much with those subjects.”
“Good, you can help me,” Clay said. It wasn’t the case that he had been incapable of learning when Damon had sat him down for lessons but more his impatience to do other things. He was fine if it was a practical lesson with wand waving or potion brewing but anything that required him to sit still for more than fifteen minutes and he was going to get fidgety. He knew that he was at the right level for the average fifteen year old but that meant very little here.
“You need psychiatric help more than anything,” Romy said, “but I’m not sure Harry is qualified to give you that.”
“We’ll all need psychiatric help if we can’t find a way to get a decent night’s sleep,” Harry said, keeping his voice low so that only Clay, Draco, Daphne and Romy could hear him. He didn’t want the others to overhear and start asking questions.
Thankfully Pansy had turned her attention to Theo and Blaise while Luna and Astoria were busy chatting amongst themselves. This was not a conversation that they wanted anyone who didn’t know what they were to overhear.
“There isn’t much we can do about that; the teachers aren’t going to let us sleep outside,” Romy said, her voice a whisper also as the five of them drew closer together. The three werewolves hoped that by including Draco and Daphne in the conversation that they might be able to help them figure out what they could do.
“I don’t know if it helps,” Draco said, “but Umbridge booted out our old divination teacher last term and Dumbledore got a centaur in to teach.”
“How does that help us?” Clayton asked, confused.
“Dumbledore turned one of the downstairs classrooms into a makeshift forest,” Draco explained. “Maybe you could do the same thing somewhere. You wouldn’t be outside but it might be better than being in the dorms if you hate them that much.”
“Are there any abandoned classrooms where we could do that?” Harry asked thinking that even though it wasn’t perfect that it was certainly an improvement. It would never be home but Draco was right, it would be better than the dormitories. "Without being caught preferably."
“Loads,” Draco told them.
“But it will be the not getting caught that you will have trouble with,” Daphne told them. “The castle is pretty well monitored at night between the portraits, ghosts and teachers.”
“Not to mention Mr Filch and his cat,” Draco added with a sneer of disgust on his face. “He might be a squib but he and Mrs Norris patrol the hallways as if it’s a life or death mission.”
“I don’t really think some little cat is going be causing us any problems,” Clay said, knowing it would probably run a mile as soon as it figured out that they were werewolves. Animals like that were confused by the scents that they gave off as werewolves and tended to be wary and leave them alone.
Then, not needing to continue their more private conversation, they drew back a little so as to include the others again. “I thought this castle was supposedly filled with ghosts,” Harry said to those that were closest to him, thinking on the other things Draco said they might have to get around if they were going to start sleeping in a transformed old classroom. “I haven't seen one yet," he added looking around as though expecting to spot one. "I am starting to think that you don't really have any."
“Oh there are quite a few; they sometimes show up for meals, but they generally keep to themselves most of the time,” Astoria explained. “I was kind of surprised that none of them came to the feast last night, but I suppose when you have seen as many feasts as they have they would all get a bit boring.”
“Some of the ghosts really are very lonely,” Luna told them, earning a few strange looks.
“Anyway,” Draco said, brushing over Luna’s comment; he didn’t really feel that now was the time to be getting into the mental health of Hogwarts' dead residents. “It is the teacher’s patrols that you want to look out for, but a few good warding spells could probably hide a classroom if done right.”
“What are you planning now?” Blaise asked. “You’ve been sneaking off a lot, Draco, it’s not gone unnoticed.”
“We’re not planning anything,” Harry said, jumping in before Draco could. “I like to go walking at night, helps me sleep; I like to sit and think too so I was making the effort not to be caught.”
“You’re such a freak, Prince,” Blaise said, though his tone made it sound more like a jest than an insult but it didn’t stop Clay letting out a low warning growl, nor Romy glaring at the dark skinned boy.
“We should get to class,” Draco said to defuse the tension. He had History of Magic with Harry and Clay. He hated the class and normally had no desire to arrive anything other than exactly on time but today he could make an exception.
“We’ll come with you,” Harry said, standing up when Draco did, Clay following suit, though grabbing a couple more slices of toast before he did, and Romy not wanting to be left behind did the same.
“Romy, wait up, I’m with you in potions too,” Astoria said, following after the other four. Romy obliged the girl and stopped to wait so that she could catch up, glad that she’d have a friend in her class.
As they reached the entrance hall they knew that they would have to go their separate ways; it didn’t feel right for either Harry or Clayton to have to leave Romy alone and unprotected but they had to trust that she would be fine. But that was when her head of house, Professor Flitwick, called the youngest pup over to him.
Automatically, whether they were wanted or not, Harry and Clayton went with her, flanking her like bodyguards. Flitwick looked at the two unwanted teenagers somewhat disparagingly but he didn’t say anything about their presence. Clearly he wasn’t going to kick up too much of a fuss.
“Miss Howard, the headmaster has asked to see you,” Flitwick said.
“Oh,” Romy said, a little shocked. “Sure, of course. Right now?”
“Yes, Miss Howard,” Flitwick told them. “I’ll show you the way.”
“What’s this about, professor?” she asked, trying to figure out what she might have done to prompt a meeting with the headmaster already, but she honestly had no idea.
“I expect we will find out soon enough,” Flitwick said, and Romy had the impression that the tiny wizard didn’t have much more information than she did at the moment, and so she nodded her agreement; there was only one way to really find out what this was about.
“We’re coming too!” Clayton said at once as Professor Flitwick went to lead the way up the marble staircase, Draco and Astoria watching the exchange curiously.
“Mr Danes, this is a school, I assure you that she is perfectly safe,” Flitwick said tirelessly. His instructions had been to fetch the young girl, not her two cousins.
“And we’re supposed to believe that?” Harry asked dubiously. “Two students have died here within the last five years.”
“We’re coming with her!” Clayton said again, more determinedly this time.
“No, Mr Danes, you are not,” Professor McGonagall said behind them, having just exited the Great Hall and heard the conversation. “The headmaster has asked to see Miss Howard; you and Mr Prince will go to class," she told them as Flitwick began to lead Romy away.
Clayton went to protest, but Harry elbowed him to the ribs, shaking his head. There was no use arguing with the stern woman. Thankfully, however, their history of magic class was up the stairs in the same direction that Flitwick was now taking Romy. Harry had worked that out, even if Clayton had not.
“Of course, Professor,” Harry said, trying to sound agreeable and as if they were actually going to do as they were told when in reality they had no intention of going to class at all. They might have been able to get around Flitwick but he knew they would never get past McGonagall.
Flitwick and Romy were already a little way ahead of them which meant that if they had any hope of following and protecting her then they needed to go quickly. Harry didn’t trust the headmaster one bit and he wasn’t about to let Romy have a meeting with him without them there.
“You make sure that you do,” McGonagall said, watching them as Harry, Clay and Draco started to make their way up the marble staircase, having lingered for so long in the entrance hall that Blaise and Theo had caught them up.
“You’re going with her anyway, aren’t you?” Draco asked once they were out of earshot of the transfiguration teacher.
“Of course,” Harry said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “Cover for us with Binns?”
“Sure,” Draco said with a shrug, not entirely sure what he was going to do. The History of Magic teacher wasn’t exactly on the ball with things and he thought it likely that the two of them might just get away with it.
“Where are they going?” Blaise asked, watching as Harry and Clay took off at a fairly impressive run in the direction in which they were certain that Romy had been taken. It would be difficult to track her with scent as there was so many in the school. It was therefore fortunate that they had their pack sister’s scent committed to memory, making their job a little easier.
“Family business,” Draco stated, leading the curious Slytherin in the other direction to their class.
“That you just happen to be privy to?” Theo asked suspiciously as they went on their way.
“Not entirely,” Draco retorted vaguely. Apparently everyone was curious about the three new students and why Draco had been so welcoming and friendly with them. Draco, however, would keep their secret though he knew that it wasn’t likely to be a secret for long, not in this school.
FGHP
Jenson wanted to pace and had only been able to resist the urge so far because it was so obvious that Callie needed him to literally lean against at the moment. Romy had been their daughter for more than two years and they would not give her up; not unless it was obviously what she wanted, but neither of them thought that was likely to happen. Honestly, the idea that Romy’s family might come back for her had not really occurred to them.
The whole pack, but particularly Callie and Jenson, had, of course, been aware that they were out there somewhere and that they didn’t know what had happened to Romy. However, the way she had avoided talking about her birth family, and how she had adamantly refused to contact them, had told them all they needed to know and they hadn’t pushed the issue.
The headmaster was sitting behind his desk, his fingers knitted together, as they waited for Romy to arrive; he seemed to be watching them very carefully, something which unnerved the werewolf couple. Jenson was stood with his back to the wall where he could see both the door, the fireplace and the headmaster, Callie in front of him leaning back into her mate, needing the comfort that having him so close provided. They were half wishing that they had taken up the offer of having someone come with them. Both would have felt better with either Damon or Fenrir present to back them up if needed.
They both jumped when there was a sharp knock to the door and, after the headmaster had bid entrance to who ever it was, a tiny wizard slowly entered the room with Romy trailing behind him looking a little apprehensive about what was going on.
“Mum, Dad!” the teenage girl exclaimed happily upon seeing her adoptive parents, dropping her book bag on the floor she ran to them. It had only been a single night but the two of them were the most wonderful sight in the world to her in that moment.
Romy was in her parent’s arms a fraction of a second later, being hugged and kissed. If they had tried this on almost any other day then she would have been rolling her eyes and trying to get away, but not today; she was just so happy to see them, to have the chance to hold them close.
With a wave of his hand and a curt nod, the headmaster dismissed Flitwick, who did as he was instructed and left before Callie and Jenson had stopped reacquainting themselves with their adoptive child. On his way out the tiny wizard completely failed to notice two teenagers stood under notice-me-not spells, eavesdropping at the door.
“Please take a seat,” Dumbledore said kindly to the three werewolves in front of him, his blue eyes twinkling as he surveyed the little family with interest.
“We’ll stand,” Jenson said curtly and Callie and Romy nodded in agreement, the pup clinging to her father as her mother stood protectively at her back.
“What’s going on, why am I here?” Romy asked, sounding a little scared.
“Your parents have been in contact with me,” the headmaster said simply.
“These are my parents,” Romy said adamantly, clinging to Jenson tighter still.
“Your biological parents,” Dumbledore clarified.
“How, I mean, they’re muggles. I don’t understand…” Romy said, rambling a little as the news sunk in. She honestly hadn’t believed that they would have cared much or missed her at all. To know that they had been looking for her, it was a shock. She had also assumed, perhaps foolishly, that she was safe from them in the wizarding world, apparently she was wrong.
“You have an Aunt who is a witch, she saw your picture in the prophet and informed your parents. With her help they wrote to me. They would like to see you,” Dumbledore explained, his tone giving them the impression that he considered himself to be explaining this to mentally restricted idiots.
As these words left Dumbledore’s mouth, Romy said nothing and found that she couldn't do anything except gape at the old man as if he had suddenly sprouted an extra head or produced wings and declared he could fly. The thought that her biological parents wanted to see her enough to enlist the help of her magical aunt, who had always been shunned from the family was astounding to her.
“But… why?” Romy finally managed to ask.
“I imagine, Miss Howard, because you are their daughter,” Dumbledore said somewhat impatiently.
“Mum,” Romy said breathlessly, clinging to Callie desperately. “Dad…”
“It’s alright,” Callie said, trying to sound reassuring, “Do you think that you might want to see them?” she asked, trying to sound reasonable. She wanted to give Romy the choice; she was a fourteen year old girl who had a mind of her own. Callie would have to trust that she knew what was best for her when it came to her biological family.
Romy began to shake her head. It had been almost three years since she had been kidnapped; Jenson had rescued her eight months later and that was when they had joined the Greyback pack. She had never felt as if she belonged anywhere until that day when she had woken up being tended to by Jenson and Callie, it was the first time she had felt as if she was wanted and was somewhere she needed to be. The pack quickly became the best home she had ever know and when Jenson and Callie started to bond over their caring for her, they became the family she had always dreamed of being part of.
The decision not to contact her birth parents had been one she hadn’t regretted once in the time she had been with the pack and the fact that they wanted to find her now completely stunned her. Her big brother had always been the favourite, she had been the mistake; she thought that they would have been glad to be rid of her, especially considering their dislike of anything magical.
“You need to talk to us, Romy,” Jenson said kindly. “What are you thinking, kiddo?”
After a moment where it became clear that Romy was still struggling to find words, the headmaster stepped in for her. “They are on their way here, insisted on catching the train apparently, they’ll be here tomorrow.”
“They’re coming here?” Romy gasped in shock, her mind spinning with this revelation.
“They want to see you,” Dumbledore said matter-of-factly.
“Dad, Mum…” she said looking desperately at her parents. “What should I do?”
“That isn’t our choice, kiddo,” Jenson said softly, clutching his mate and his little girl close to him, “you have to make that decision for yourself, just like you decided not to contact them after you came to us.”
“We’ll stand by you, whatever you decide, sweetheart,” Callie said, still holding her little girl close to her, the thought of losing Romy hurting her heart.
There was a moment of silence. Romy considered everything, wishing that it wasn’t her choice to make, that someone else could make the decision for her but she knew that it couldn’t be that easy. They were her family and it was up to her. She had been the one too cowardly to face them, thinking that they wouldn't want her back. She wouldn't have been able to cope if they just hadn't cared that she'd been missing. She had found a life for herself, found happiness and she wasn't going to lose that now.
“I’ll see them,” she said softly, “so they know that I’m okay, they deserve that much at least; but I don’t want to live with them, I couldn’t… not now. I belong with the pack.”
Dumbledore had been about to say something when a loud cheer came from outside of the door followed by a oomph, which was clearly a second person hitting the first. The headmaster sighed somewhat tiredly. “Mr Prince, Mr Danes, would you come in, please.” He had thought that perhaps the other two werewolves would have had the good sense to go to class as they had been instructed to do, however, apparently they were both rather lacking in good sense.
The office door opened and the two teenage boys shuffled their way inside, Clayton rubbing the back of his head, clearly where Harry had hit him. Both of them looked a little sheepish at being caught, though Harry was glaring at Clayton, seeing as it was his fault.
“You should really be wearing your helmet,” Jenson said, clearly highly amused at the sight of the eldest two pups. It was good to have seen them, it might only have been a single night but he knew that both Damon and Fenrir would be glad to know that they were all right and still up to their old tricks.
Ignoring Jenson’s comment, the headmaster glowered at the two boys. “May I ask what it is you are doing here when you were supposed to be in class?”
“We didn’t want Romy going off on her own,” Harry said, looking directly at the headmaster, completely unabashed, “we wanted to make sure that she was okay.” Jenson and Callie couldn't help but smile at this, looking proudly at the eldest two pups who had been so determined to protect their pack sister.
Dumbledore, however, didn’t share the same enthusiasm for their protective actions. He frowned at the way the two oldest werewolves in the room seemed to be rather happy with the actions of the pups and even more disapproving that they were smiling at the two teenage boys with approval, even Romy seemed glad that Harry and Clayton were there.
“I think it’s time the two of you went back to class,” the headmaster told them firmly. His priority was Harry and ensuring that he was prepared for the coming war. The teenager wouldn't come close to being able to defeat Voldemort if he was insistent on not going to class.
“They can stay, as long as Romy is happy for them to be here,” Jenson said. “The decision will affect them in some ways too.”
“I have no problem with them being here,” Romy said with a shrug; she’d never admit it but she was actually very grateful that they had risked getting into more trouble to follow her so that they could watch out for her.
“I don’t think it wise,” Dumbledore said, “considering the boys already have detention tonight, that they start missing classes too.” This was not something he wanted Harry involved in; he wanted Harry to be focused on the hunt for horcruxes and defeating Voldemort; this was supposed to keep Romy busy and away from Harry not tie them together further.
“Harry and Clayton are my nephews,” Callie said. “The detention aside, I do not believe that missing one class will disrupt their studies, both of them are more than capable of catching up and Harry is already well beyond the level of his peers, I assure you.”
Dumbledore tensed, realising that he had no say in the matter and that wasn’t a feeling that sat right with him. “Very well,” he said somewhat stiffly, “I propose that Miss Howard is given the opportunity to see her parents on some evenings and weekends as long as it doesn’t have an adverse effect on her school work.” Romy nodded her understanding as Harry and Clay went to stand beside her so that effectively she was surrounded by those that loved and cared for her.
“Headmaster, perhaps we can have a word with Romy, Harry and Clayton in private?” Jenson asked, trying to at least make the effort to be nice, he even managed a smile but he wasn’t going to be foolish enough to trust the old man.
Dumbledore looked rather irritated by this but nodded rather curtly regardless. “I shall leave you to discuss whatever it is you need to discuss,” he said irritably, standing up. He was more than happy to leave them in his office because then he wouldn’t necessarily miss out on the conversation they were about to have.
Only once the headmaster had left them alone did the five werewolves feel free to finally talk to one another. All of them were aware that Albus Dumbledore was not a man to be trusted. Just to look at him was to know that he had an alternative agenda.
Jenson had always prided himself on being an excellent judge of character, especially after his brother had taken over his former pack. He had known then that it would never end well for them as a group and he had been right. It was the whole reason he had spent so much time away from them, studying and travelling, though he would forever feel guilty about that. If he hadn’t have spent so long away from his former pack then they might not have spiralled to a point where they had kidnapped Romy; and if they had, then he still might have been able to save her sooner. It was a thought that haunted him and part of the reason why he was so protective of her.
“How are we going to manage this?” Clayton asked at once. “She can’t see them!”
“Calm down, Clayton,” Callie chastised her nephew gently. “Panicking isn’t going to do anyone any good.” He nodded his understanding but they could all see that he was struggling. His feelings for Romy were no secret, in fact he made sure to shout about them to anyone who would listen. It didn’t feel right to allow her to meet with these people, blood relations or not.
“They won’t know what I am,” Romy said sadly. “They won’t know that I’m a werewolf, to be honest they weren’t even coping very well with the fact that I was a witch, they won't know how to deal with anything else.”
“That is one thing you shouldn’t tell them,” Jenson said, knowing the prejudice against their kind, it was best all round that that piece of information wasn’t divulged too soon. “At least not yet.”
“Agreed,” Callie said, reaching up to stroke her daughter’s hair, trying to comfort her with the action. “They need to see you, to know that you’re alright, that you are safe and happy.”
“I don’t belong with them, I never did,” Romy said, her voice echoing just how unhappy she had been. She remembered the unhappiness she had felt in that house, how much she had felt like an outsider who was unwanted and simply tolerated.
“Do you want to explain that to us?” Jenson hedged, knowing that Romy might not feel comfortable divulging her past to so many of them at the one time. She had kept it quiet for so long, never telling anyone anything. They all knew the abuse she had suffered at the hands of the werewolf pack that had kidnapped her but they knew nothing of the life she had lead before that.
“There isn’t much to tell,” Romy said with a sigh. “I have an older brother, he was always the favourite. I was the mistake that they never meant to have. I wasn’t treated all that differently to him but I just knew that something wasn’t right. When I got my Hogwarts letter when I was eleven things got bad though, they didn't understand and they didn't want to.”
“Bad, bad how?” Jenson asked, his fists clenching, the idea that anyone would hurt his little girl made him want to lash out. He certainly didn’t want them to be given the opportunity to do anything to her again.
“Nothing like that,” Romy reassured him. “They got cold, distant, more than they were before I got my letter. They were muggles, they didn’t understand. My mother’s sister, she was a witch too but no one ever talked about her; I guess she was the aunt the headmaster mentioned.”
“And you want to spend time with them, seriously?” Clayton asked, not liking the idea of Romy spending any time with these people any more than Jenson did. Only Callie and Harry seemed to really understand.
“She has to,” Harry said to his friend gently, trying to make him understand why it was that Romy couldn’t just turn her back on them, “they’re still her family. I’d do anything to see my Dad again, or to see my mum at all.”
“It’s only partly that,” Romy admitted. “The pack is my real family now, but they deserve to know what happened to me and that I’m happy now, happier than I could have been with them. Then at least they can focus on my brother and forget about me.”
“You never mention him by name,” Callie observed, looking at her adoptive daughter carefully. She liked to think that she could read people well, not really being a very outspoken person, she had learnt to observe and therefore was able to pick up on things that the others wouldn't.
“We didn’t get on,” Romy said simply, trying to hide the grimace that had come when her mother had noticed that she struggled to say her brother's name.
“Are you going to explain why?” Jenson asked, feeling as if he should know this, however it was clear with a shake of her head that she really didn’t want to talk about it.
“He was an arse,” She said. “Sorry,” she added at the scowl she received from Jenson at her language. “He was the favourite, he got everything and I got his hand-me-downs. He had loads of friends, liked football, averagely smart; I was the little odd ball who sat in her room all the time with her nose in a book.” Her tone was a little bitter as she said this and Harry looked at her in confusion, sensing that there was something more there.
“Did he ever…” Harry began but her head snapped up to glare at him and Harry knew better than to go against one of those looks. “Sorry,” he said quickly.
“Did he ever what?” Clayton asked at once, clearly infuriated that he didn’t understand what they were talking about, however he did noticed that Jenson had tensed up more than ever and Callie was almost holding her breath.
“It doesn’t matter,” Romy said, clearly uncomfortable talking about it.
“It does matter, kiddo,” Jenson said, taking every ounce of strength he possessed to keep his voice calm and himself in control. “But if you don’t want to talk about it, we’ll respect that,” he said, shooting a warning look at Clayton who had clearly been about to protest.
“Thank you,” she said weakly. “It’s fine, let’s just get it over with, then we can move on. I won’t be leaving the pack, you guys are my family now. That is all that matters to me.”
Everyone nodded their agreement. Romy clearly had issues with her family that she wasn’t willing to talk about. If she needed to talk about anything then they would all be there to listen but they wouldn’t, and couldn't, force her.
It was Harry to break the silence next. Fidgeting and looking a little awkward as he looked to Jenson and Callie, not quite knowing how to phrase his question without sounding entirely pathetic. “Fenrir… does he… is he…?” he asked.
Callie smiled fondly at young boy in front of her, finding it sweet that he was clearly missing the Alpha as much as the Alpha was missing him. “He is… okay,” she told him. Callie didn’t want to lie and say that everything was fine because it very clearly wasn’t but she didn’t want to make Harry feel terrible about it either. It was a difficult line to tread and she knew that she had to be tactful about it.
“Oh, okay,” Harry mumbled, and he knew instantly that Fenrir wasn’t. He wasn’t sure how he knew, maybe it was the mating mark that they shared or perhaps simply the tone of voice Callie used but he knew that Fenrir wasn’t okay, neither of them were. “Tell him that I miss him.”
“He already knows that, little one,” Jenson said with a smile as he pulled Romy into a tight hug, knowing that this goodbye was possibly going to be worse than the previous one. “You be careful, kiddo,” he said. “We’re not far, we’ll come here if you need us to.”
“Thanks, Dad,” she said with a smile, hugging him back. “With these two goofballs watching out for me I think I’ll be fine.”
“I’m glad you’re looking out for each other,” Callie said, looking between the three pups, “Damon and Fenrir will be relieved. Though I’m not too sure about this detention.”
Harry and Clayton both grinned at that, but Callie was frowning at them with disapproval. “Dad told us to make a good first impression, what better way of doing that than with fireworks?” Clayton asked.
“That stank of rotten eggs,” Harry added and the two of them laughed, Romy only rolled her eyes as she gave her mother a hug, trying not to tear up as they bid each other farewell for the second time in two days.
FGHP
It was with heavy hearts that Jenson and Callie flooed back to Lukas’ house, where the younger wolf was hard at work, trying to tackle his way through a small mountain of paperwork that had built up surprisingly quickly. They didn’t stay long, despite Lukas’ offer to make them tea, not wanting to disturb him and so the two of them left him to it as they apparated back to the territory.
They knew that there would be questions and not just about what had happened with Romy but also about how the other two were getting on. Despite knowing this they hadn’t expected for Fenrir to be sat against a tree close to the apparition point waiting for them to return; they could only hope that he hadn’t been there since they had left.
“The pups are all fine, my Alpha,” Jenson said with a gentle smile, placing his hand on Fenrir’s shoulder before the man could even get to his feet and start demanding information.
“Harry…”
“Misses you, but otherwise completely fine,” Jenson interrupted, trying to stop himself from looking too amused at the Alpha’s predictability.
“You should be proud of Harry and Clayton, all of them really; they are doing a great job of protecting each other,” Callie told the Alpha, as she stayed holding onto Jenson’s hand; she wasn’t quite ready to let him go just yet given everything going on with their daughter.
“The boys were caught eavesdropping on a private conversation, which they were doing because they were worried about Romy,” Jenson explained. “Not that Romy minded, I think she was rather flattered that they’d risk a second detention by skipping class to look after her.”
“But he’s okay?” Fenrir asked, now on his feet, towering over his Beta wolf. He wanted Harry safe, but honestly he liked that the teenager was missing him; it was how it should be.
“As okay as he can be,” Callie told him honestly; she hated to think how she would feel if she had no choice but to live away from Jenson and she was neither newly mated, nor fifteen years old.
“And what of Romy’s blood family?” the Alpha asked. Now that he had confirmation that Harry was okay but wishing he was at the territory, he wanted to hear news of the other pups.
“That is another issue,” Jenson said, his voice deep and heavy; it was obvious that what they had heard at the school was not welcome news.
“Will it cause trouble?” Fenrir asked seriously; that would really the last thing they needed, and if it was going to prove to be that much of an issue then he would bring the pups home no matter what Harry had to say on the matter. They would find another way to get him his answers, even if it took longer.
“Possibly,” Callie said, a thoughtful and concerned expression on her face. “There is something that Romy can’t or won’t tell us about her brother though.”
“Harry actually seemed to have some kind of guess about what it might be, but one look from Romy and he was saying nothing. I didn’t want to press the issue, certainly not when we knew we would have to be leaving so soon.”
“Talk to her at the full moon,” Fenrir said. “If she won’t talk then I’ll find out from Harry.” Callie had to withhold a snort of amusement at this, she didn’t think that the Alpha was going to get anything out of the stubborn teenager if Harry didn’t want him to know; not that she would ever say such a thing to Fenrir. It wouldn't have been wise to point out the Alpha's weakness when it came to his young mate.
“Of course, thank you, my Alpha,” Jenson said, finding a rather strong urge to just spend some time with his mate for a while, away from the others. He tugged lightly on her hand and she looked to him and smiled, thinking exactly the same thing.
Damon had looked over to them hopefully, wanting news on his son, Jenson gave a small smile and a nod to show that he was alright before disappearing in the opposite direction with Callie. If Damon wasn’t so relieved that his son was okay then he might have been slightly disgusted that the Beta wolf was dragging his sister off for some alone time. As it was he had cuddled up by the fire with Micha and wasn’t in any position to do anything about it.
“I shall assume that nod means that all the pups and the castle are both still in one piece,” Damon said, burying his nose in Micha’s blond tufts of hair and enjoying the comforting scent. He hadn’t really thought that anything would have happened to the three pups, but it was nice to have confirmation of it. “Any news about what is going on with Romy?” he asked, as the Alpha moved over and took a seat a short distance away from them.
“Jenson didn’t say,” Fenrir stated.
Damon nodded in understanding. “I’m sure they will explain when they get back,” he said. “But it can’t be that bad if he didn’t tell us straight away,” he reasoned.
“They probably just needed some time alone,” Micha said, glancing in the direction that the Beta pair had gone. “They’ve just had to say goodbye all over again, and they are dealing with their daughter’s birth parents suddenly showing up, that would be enough to stress anyone out.”
“Smart and sexy,” Damon whispered into Micha’s hair as he placed a kiss on the submissive's head. Fenrir quickly realised that he wasn't going to be able to stay sitting beside the fire, there were too many happy kissing couples around him; it made him miss Harry all the more.
As he went to wander off, Micha tore himself out of Damon’s grip and followed after the Alpha male. Fenrir, however, wasn’t exactly in the mood to be followed. “Micha…” he said sternly not turning around to even look at the submissive he could hear and smell was following him.
“I just wanted to…” Micha started, only to be cut off by a rather irate Alpha.
“Micha, go back to Damon,” Fenrir said, his voice remaining stern. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with anyone.
“I will… only... I was just going to suggest that you maybe build something for Harry while he is gone,” Micha said quickly before the Alpha could interrupt again.
The Alpha stopped walking and turned to glare at the submissive who was definitely starting to get his confidence back after what had happened to him, though it seemed be accompanied by a stubborn streak to match Harry’s now. He was beginning to agree with the consensus that Micha was spending way too much time with Harry and, worse still, the two of them seemed to be encouraging each other and becoming more stubborn and argumentative for it, which wasn't really a good thing for anyone. Though it was particularly bad news for their respective mates.
“Come on, trouble,” Damon said, having appeared behind the younger man, wrapping his arms around Micha and giving the Alpha enough time to escape from the stubborn submissive. To begin with Micha struggled, wanting to follow Fenrir and talk to him more, but when Damon’s lips began caressing his neck, the younger wolf couldn’t help but melt into the embrace.
“Keep doing that and I will come,” Micha said, before clapping his hands over his mouth as if suddenly realising what he had said. He had thought it but he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how the thought had translated into words.
Damon had stopped what he was doing and was looking at the younger wolf in surprise when Micha slowly turned to look at him, looking adorably nervous at what the dominant's reaction might be to what he had said.
“I didn’t mean…” Micha began to say but Damon was quick to cut him off.
“I know, trouble,” Damon said gently, placing a kiss on his temple. “Your mouth getting ahead of your brain, I take it?”
“Something like that,” Micha said a little shyly. “Can we just pretend I didn’t say that?”
“Pretend you didn’t say what?” Damon said with a smile, nuzzling into him, he would never get enough of holding Micha in his arms, being able to inhale his scent and touch him like this was pure heaven.
“Thank you,” Micha said quietly nuzzling the older wolf right back.
“I’m going to go and talk to Fenrir, will you be alright on your own?”
“You worry too much, marshmallow,” Micha said with a small giggle. “What could possibly happen while you’re gone and besides I have Tessie to keep me company.”
Damon looked over to Tessie who was curled up by the fire with a blanket draped around her shoulders reading a book that Lukas had lent to her. “Tessie,” Damon said and she looked up at him questioningly, “look after Micha, I’ll be back soon. Make sure he doesn’t get into any…”
“Trouble?” Micha put in helpfully with a grin.
“Sure,” Tessie responded but neither of them were paying any attention to her.
“Exactly,” Damon growled as he gave a soft kiss to Micha’s cheek that made the submissive let out a low irritated growl.
“When are you actually going to kiss me?” Micha asked with a small pout. “And I don’t mean cute kisses either, I mean full on proper kissing like…” Damon needed very little excuse as he had wanted to do this for a very long time but he hadn’t wanted to push Micha too far too soon but hearing his adorable ramblings he just couldn’t help himself.
Closing the gap between them he pressed their lips together and instantly Micha’s parted, allowing Damon to deepen the kiss. Briefly tongues battled for dominance before Micha submitted, moaning into the kiss.
“I’m your mate now right?” Micha asked as the kiss broke, having left them both a little breathless.
Damon chuckled a little. “Yes, you’re all mine, trouble.” He placed another kiss to Micha’s lips but pulled away before the submissive could deepen the kiss again. “Stay here and behave.”
“Course, marshmallow,” Micha said with a goofy smile as he was placed next to Tessie by the fire and she accepted him under the blanket, happy to take care of the submissive while Damon made his way after the Alpha.
Fenrir hadn’t gone far; just outside of the clearing Damon found his friend. Now he would never say that his Alpha was one to sulk but there was no better word for what he was currently doing. It was an understandable sulk but it was a sulk nonetheless.
“Micha suggested I build Harry something,” the Alpha said as Damon approached.
“It’s not a bad idea,” Damon told him. “You don’t like it?” Fenrir grunted in a very non-committal way and Damon sighed. “What are you worried about? Harry, in fact all of the pups, are more than capable of taking care of themselves; and it’s not like Harry’s going to run off with someone else.” At the glare that Fenrir gave him as he said this, even as a joke, he realised that this might be one of the problems. “He won’t, you know,” Damon said gently, apparently now was not the time for jokes.
“Others will want him,” Fenrir growled, anger and disapproval in his voice. He hated the thought that there would be others vying for the attention of his mate; Harry was his and yet they were separated and if others showed that they were interested in him then there was nothing that Fenrir could do about it.
“Possibly,” Damon said, he had to admit that it was likely that others would be attracted to Harry; even if only for his power and reputation. Fenrir glared at him and he realised there was no point playing it down. “Okay, probably, but Harry won’t be interested in them,” he insisted.
“He’s fifteen,” Fenrir growled.
“You don’t trust him? He accepted your mating mark knowing full well exactly what it meant; he wanted it just as much as you and insisted on biting you back, doesn't that tell you something?” Damon asked, watching his best friend carefully.
“That he is frustratingly stubborn,” Fenrir grumbled under his breath, as he reached up and ran his fingers over his mating mark at the nape of his neck.
Damon just ignored the Alpha’s mumbling and ploughed on. “And if you were really all that concerned you wouldn’t have done it. I am afraid that boy isn’t going anywhere, you are stuck with him now; stubbornness and everything. I might feel sorry for you if you hadn’t literally asked for this.”
“You have your own stubborn mate now too,” Fenrir said, turning to look at Damon with a hint of a smile playing on his lips. His best friend had thoroughly enjoyed teasing him whenever Harry was being difficult, it had the potential to be amusing now the shoe was on the other foot.
“Just as stubborn as Harry,” Damon said fondly, “though I think Harry encourages him a bit, not that I mind. Micha is just… impressionable. I think he tries too hard to make everyone like him,” he said with a sigh, “hopefully I can help him realise that we like him just fine as he is.”
“You’re good for him,” Fenrir stated; he was glad to see his best friend so happy and Micha with someone that they could all trust to do what was best for the young werewolf.
“I hope so. After everything Harlan put him through,” Damon paused, even thinking about what that bastard had done to Micha made him angry and frustrated. “He just needs something simple I think, and with someone who he can trust.”
“Simple,” Fenrir mused, thinking that simple was not something that either of them were going to get with their submissive mates. “At least Micha’s here.”
“Harry will be back, and making you pull your hair out again before you know it. Also, it’s the full moon in two weeks, I know it’s only a night but it’s something and you’ll get to see him. Though we might have to have a word with him and Clayton about how they managed to get a detention on the first night they were at school.”
“It is a sign of things to come, I’m sure,” Fenrir said with slight amusement in his voice.
“Knowing those two, certainly,” Then when there was no response Damon realised that their conversation was over. “Think about what Micha suggested, keep yourself busy,” he said, knowing that he was pushing his luck a little. The Alpha male grunted in response to this but made no other sound of commitment.
Damon retreated back to the clearing where he reclaimed his, now mate, from Tessie who had been reading to him, something that seemed to calm and relax him. He took a seat close to Tessie so that she might continue to read aloud to them both. He pulled Micha onto his lap, wanting to feel close to him as he once again buried his nose into the soft blonde hair, inhaling the scent and placing a sweet kiss there.
FGHP
Gideon read over the most recent letter from Tessie, which mostly just ranted about Brade and Keres nearly blowing her cover with the pack; her story matched up with what they had heard from Jack, but the Alpha still was dubious about the sincerity of her spying. Not that they had a lot of alternatives at the moment given how badly the impromptu attack had gone.
He was a hell of a long way from forgiving Jack for that mess and he was still short on numbers. He clenched and unclenched his silver hand, remembering the pain he had suffered when he had told Voldemort of their deaths; pain he had ensured Jack felt tenfold upon his return. It had taken days for the little runt of an omega to wake up after that beating, but it had done wonders for his mood. The rest of the pack had enjoyed it too; it wasn’t as though they had many options for entertainment.
“Alpha,” Axlar said as he took a seat next to Gideon. “The pack is restless, could we not consider attacking them?”
“The last idiots that went off half cocked got themselves killed; we wait,” Gideon said without turning to look at his Beta wolf. The man would, like all the rest of them, learn some patience.
Voldemort had promised him more wolves and until they arrived they would stay put. He still had some hope that Tessie’s letters were genuine and that she might give them that advantage they needed, but that would take time. It wasn’t even as though the little submissive boy was there at the moment according to the Dark Lord.
For now their job was to ensure the Greyback pack stayed put and didn’t try to leave or run. Maybe he would suggest to Voldemort that he just start providing them with suitable wizards that they could just turn themselves; at least that might keep his rebellious pack members entertained for five minutes.
They would be victorious in the end; they would capture Harry, Fenrir and the rest of the pack; Voldemort clearly believed that the they could be used against one another, that the lives of the pack members would be leverage to buy the little submissive’s cooperation. Honestly, Gideon no longer cared what happened to any of them; they would all die in the end, one way or another.
FGHP
Having decided to skip dinner, the three pups were wandering the castle looking for alternative sleeping arrangements. The castle was almost peaceful in the absence of the majority of the students and teachers. At lunch Draco had shown them where the entrance to the kitchens was and how to gain access; the house elves had been rather accommodating to them and, much to Romy’s horror, had practically force fed Clayton several chocolate brownies, not that he had needed the encouragement.
Fortunately he hadn’t started singing again, but it had led to a great deal of hilarity during their afternoon class of double transfiguration with Professor McGonagall, who was swiftly turning into their favourite teacher to harass. Clayton had already been struggling to sit still when, in an impressive display of magic, Harry transfigured the Professors desk so that it actually had real legs and kept running away from her.
Clayton had actually almost squealed with glee at the sight of it; Harry couldn’t stop laughing at his best friend who was hopping from foot to foot holding out his textbook, demanding it be turned into a Cowboy hat. Ignoring the protests from the head of Gryffindor house, Harry obliged and could only watch on as a rather hyperactive Clayton attempted to mount the rather boisterous desk in a very amusing impression of a cowboy.
A lot of the students were nearly crying with laughter as the professor had followed both Clayton and the desk around to room with her wand out, attempting to subdue them. Harry could still hear the cries of “Mr Danes, stop this behaviour this instant,” ringing in his ears, and the memory still made him smile.
Of course, Professor McGonagall had not been anywhere near as amused; though she could admit that it was some impressive use of magic. However, considering that the two mischievous boys were already in detention with her this evening, she decided to make do with adding an additional half an hour to how long she would be keeping them and deducting twenty points from both Gryffindor and Slytherin for their inappropriate behaviour.
The majority of the Gryffindors in the class had been less than amused at their antics, though the Slytherins had found it hilarious. Ron had glowered at them as the points had been deducted; Dean had looked equally as unhappy, but Seamus had been fighting to hold back his laughter. Hermione it seemed had taken a liking to Clay and seemed to clam up a little when they were in the same room, however she had watched him carefully in the classes they shared, which unfortunately was almost all of them.
Harry was currently keeping an eye on the time to ensure they weren’t late for their detention, which was well deserved and something they were a little proud of. Clayton wasn’t much bothered about making it on time, he didn’t see the point, thinking that McGonagall ought to get used to them being late or frankly just not showing up at all. Romy, however, didn’t share this same outlook and was determined that they were both going whether they liked it or not.
“We want something fairly out of the way,” Harry mused as they wandered down a completely empty corridor. They wanted to at least have found a possible option or two for a classroom to convert before the rest of the students left dinner and started wandering the castle again.
“We are still going to have to look up some wards,” Romy pointed out. Draco had been right about what he had suggested at breakfast; they would need the right warding spells to put on the room to keep the school staff from finding them at night. “Plus I don’t know about you, but I don’t have much experience with transfiguring forests inside.”
“Be fun to learn how though,” Clay said. He wasn’t much for academic things but he still liked playing with new spells, especially with Harry; though, possibly, they should try not to make things explode this time.
“Shouldn’t be too hard,” Harry said, with a smile. “If Dumbledore can do it we can,” he said with an arrogant confidence, puffing out his chest a little. He was determined to find somewhere that they could be together. It wasn’t that he hated the Slytherin common room, it just wasn’t what they needed. If the headmaster wouldn’t let them sleep outside then they would find a way around that.
“I’ll look up the spells in the library while you guys are in detention,” Romy said. “I could probably use the distraction anyway.” It had been a long day, with far too many memories she thought were behind her being dragged up. She would have preferred never to see her biological family again after what had happened but if this was what it took to ensure that she never had to even think about them again then she could accept that and deal with it.
“I’ll distract you if you like,” Clayton said with a waggle of his eyebrows, grinning at his cousin, which only made her shake her head with a mixture of exasperation and disbelief at his interesting idea of flirting.
“I think I’d prefer the library to distract me, thanks,” Romy said pointedly.
“You’re breaking my heart here, Romy,” Clay said, clutching at his chest in mock agony making Harry laugh. He never could get over the antics of the two other pups. Harry would never understand how Romy had resisted for so long but here she was still holding off his advances and it was actually rather amusing to watch.
“You’ll survive,” Romy said with a roll of her eyes.
“Besides, we will have Professor McGonagall to keep us company this evening,” Harry teased, remembering the conversation that he had had with her and Clayton at breakfast.
“She’s more your age bracket than mine,” Clayton pointed out, giving his friend a nudge to the side and a suggestive wink.
“Yeah but I don’t do the whole boobs thing,” Harry countered. “You do though, she’s all yours.”
“Will you two stop! I don’t know if you’d noticed but I’m not one of the boys and I am definitely not in the mood for your stupid bickering or talk about who gets to shag McGonagall, because seriously that’s just gross.”
“I’d noticed,” Clayton said, slightly taken aback by her snappishness.
“You said you wanted to be distracted,” Harry pointed out with a shrug, before wrapping an arm around her back. “How are you doing, anyway?” he asked, with concern clear in his eyes.
“All jokes aside,” Clay said, keeping pace with them on Romy’s other side, “you know you can talk to us, right? I might be a lot to handle, but I do seriously care about you.”
“I know that, Clay,” Romy said, reaching out and squeezing his hand for just a moment but quickly withdrawing it when he went to take it further by linking their fingers together. It wasn’t something that she wanted with him… at least she didn’t think it was. Either way it was not happening here or now.
“Then you should just give into my charms already,” he said, with his grin firmly back in place. He had been momentarily taken aback but the affectionate gesture, which she had very quickly taken back, though his impish replies were quickly revived to cover for this.
Romy scowled; so much for joking aside, she thought to herself, realising that Clayton would always be Clayton no matter what. “Funny, Clay,” she said sarcastically. For a moment there he had actually been kind of sweet, which was obviously something that would never last. He was attractive and quite the charmer but he was a child to the core and she doubted that that would ever change no matter how old he got.
“I try,” Clayton said proudly, taking what she had said as a compliment despite it not being one and him knowing that.
“We’ll be with you if you want us there,” Harry reassured her, trying to steer the conversation back to what Romy was clearly avoiding trying to talk about, “when you meet with your parents, I mean.”
“I think this is something I have to do myself,” Romy said with a sigh. “But thank you, I appreciate it. Though I’m not sure I’d want to introduce my parents to Clayton, it might be too much for them to handle.”
“Clay’s too much for anyone to handle,” Harry said with an amused chuckle as Clay looked indignant of this fact, though he didn’t exactly rush to deny it.
“Romy can handle me any time she wants,” Clay retorted, which only made Harry laugh harder, especially when Romy gave him a playful swat on the arm as if to show him exactly how she would handle him before deciding that it just wasn’t enough as he stuck his tongue out at her.
“Seriously, no more brownies for you,” Romy said giving her cousin a clip round his ear, having had enough of all his innuendos. “Ever,” she added with a glare.
“He has a valid point,” Harry said with a shrug as he decided to start trying doors in the corridor they had just turned into. They weren’t going to get anywhere with their quest to find an empty classroom if they didn’t look in a few after all. “You are the only one who can handle him,” he said over his shoulder as he realised the first door lead to nothing more than a storage cupboard full of old dusty boxes.
“Don’t you start as well Harry, otherwise Clay won’t be the only one in need of a helmet,” Romy said with a frown as she followed his lead and opened the door across the hall from him. It was a bathroom that had clearly not been used much in recent years, but she made a mental note of it in case they found an old classroom, to use for their makeshift forest, nearby. It had a shower, a sink and a toilet so it would be enough for the three of them to share if they found somewhere to sleep that was close.
“You know you can’t resist me forever,” Clayton said confidently, leaning over her shoulder to peer into the bathroom she had found and wrinkling his nose in disgust. It was in serious need of a clean that was for sure.
Romy swatted him away and closed the door, following after Harry who had already opened and closed another door a bit further along the corridor. “How you managed to seduce a girl into sleeping with you I’ll never know,” Romy said, though Harry didn’t miss the undertone of bitterness in her voice. If Clay noticed it then he gave no indication but Harry was sure that he had missed it, he wasn’t exactly fluent in the art of subtlety and things like that; unless it was truly obvious, he tended to miss things, much like Damon and Micha's blossoming relationship.
Clay smirked at her as he jogged ahead and pulled the next door open. “Half an hour alone in this classroom and I’ll show you how,” he said before he disappeared through the door, motioning for Romy to come with him but she met his gaze with a disparaging look. As he stepped inside, he looked around at a rather dusty and clearly unused room.
“Such a charmer,” Romy said, as she and Harry both came to see what Clayton had found. “If you plan to woo me, or in fact any girl with more than two brain cells, with dust and broken furniture you’re going to die old and alone,” she said, looking around at the abandoned classroom.
“It might not be much of a romance spot but it may be exactly what we need,” Harry said interrupting the banter of the other two.
“Well it certainly doesn’t look like anyone has been here in a while,” Romy agreed as she cast a scouring charm on one of the windows and peered out. It was difficult to see much given it was completely dark outside but, as expected, they seemed to be on maybe the second or third floor and she could just about make out a patch of such darkness that she was sure was the lake.
“The rest of the corridor didn’t seem like it had been used much either,” Clayton commented as he copied his cousin and cast a scouring charm on the large chair behind the desk at the front of the room. It wasn’t a perfectly cast spell but he just dusted it off a little with his hand before sat himself down, repeating the spell on the desk before putting his feet on it and lounging back.
He watched as Romy joined Harry over by a bookcase. “It looks like rather a lot of books on ghosts and poltergeists,” Harry told Romy with a shrug, handing her one of the texts he had already dusted off and picking up another from the shelf. “Wonder if they used to have classes on the subject at some point.”
“The subjects have varied with each headmaster,” Romy explained, “so I suppose that it’s likely that it was taught at some point; not in a long time though, if this classroom is anything to go by.”
“Well it’s perfect for us,” Harry said with a grin, looking around again and almost laughing at how at home Clayton had made himself already. “Was that a bathroom you found down the corridor too?” he asked his pack sister.
“Yeah, needs a clean like this room but it would work,” Romy confirmed.
“Oooooh, new students,” a cackling voice said behind them.
Startled, the pups turned to see who had spoken and were confronted with a floating man with pale white skin, orange eyes and black hair. In his hand were ink pellets, several of which he threw at Romy’s freshly cleaned window, splattering it with the stuff.
“You must be peeves,” Harry said, trying to sound completely unimpressed.
Clayton swung his feet of the table and made his way quickly across the room to the two younger werewolves. He found himself strangely protective of Romy, moving her behind him a little as he surveyed the poltergeist, trying to ascertain whether or not he was a threat to them.
“Ink pellets are a little old hat, aren’t they?” Clay said, eyeing the remaining handful that the poltergeist had, completely unimpressed by it.
“If you want to have some real fun sometime, you let us know. Excuse us, Peeves,” Harry said, throwing an arm over Romy’s shoulder as he turned and headed for the door. This was a tactic they had come up with after they had been warned all about the troublesome poltergeist. They needed for Peeves to respect them but to get to that they had to earn it.
“What does Potter and his cronies do for fun then?” Peeves asked. Harry glared at the infuriating poltergeist, not least for the use of the Potter name again, but chose to hold his tongue for the moment, not willing to be goaded into a battle.
“Oh, so no-one told you about the fireworks at the start of term feast?” Clay said, pretending to look surprised. “Well I guess they didn’t want you to feel bad for being outdone by a couple of kids,” he added with a dismissive shrug.
“It’s nothing to boast about!” Romy chastised, ignoring the thoughtful hums and nods of approval that the poltergeist was giving them. “It was foul, I’m not even sure how you managed to get them to smell that bad.” Then Romy gasped suddenly, realising just how much time must have passed as they had been searching for the classroom. “You two had better get to that detention…”
“Detention,” Peeves sang in a horrid sing song voice. “Already? The ickle new students really do like trouble.” His cackling laugh reverberating in the barely furnished room.
“That’s how we roll,” Clayton said with a shrug.
“Naughty, naughty, but you got caughty,” Peeves taunted laughing as he dropped the remaining ink pellets on the floor next to them, splattering them with dark ink, as he swept away.
“Charming,” Harry said, looking down at his now dirty robes, which admittedly were already a little dusty from their exploring. “Tergeo,” he said, pressing his wand against the worst of the inky patches, drawing the liquid out of the material.
Romy did the same to her own robes and then showed Clayton how to cast the spell himself. Their robes were hardly perfectly clean but it might at least be enough that McGonagall wouldn’t ask difficult questions.
“Now go,” she told them firmly. Being late to their first detention would not help them endear either of the boys to the professor and Romy was entirely of the opinion that they had created themselves quite enough of a reputation to be getting on with. “I’ll be in the library, I’ll meet you there when you’re finished,” she instructed.
“You worry way too much,” Harry said fondly, placing a kiss to her temple, which made her smile. “Leave the worrying up to me in future, okay.”
“You really are a mini Alpha,” Romy giggled as she ducked out of the way as Clay attempted to plant a kiss on her lips. She gave him a pointed look and he sighed, making do with a kiss to the cheek. “Go,” she said again before watching the boys run off out of the room. She turned to follow them and, as she stepped out of the room, attempted to figure out which way it was to the library.

Review responses:
Jan - Indeed, it is a difficult time for the pups (and for the pack that is missing them) but yes, Micha and Damon are finally starting to work things out between them.
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Fragmented Soul