Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

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
- 30
- 31
- 32
Fragmented Soul
Chapter 31 – Seducing Slytherin
Between Ancient Runes and Potions the following morning, it was made very clear to Harry that he was going to be extremely bored in his classes and that he was going to have to devise some way of entertaining himself. Severus had taught him up to O.W.L level three years ago; he was more than competent at the magic that they were going over in class.
Clayton needed some help with it all though. Damon had taught him well enough and he even seemed to know most of what they were covering; but it was getting the fidgety pup to sit still and pay attention long enough to hear what the teacher was saying that was the challenge. He hated sitting in one place for the ninety minute lessons, which was made worse when they had a double period.
When the two boys reached the entrance hall, where Romy normally waited for them so that they could have lunch together, they found Astoria there but Romy was conspicuously absent, which was odd to say the least. Daphne’s little sister seemed to be a little on edge though, as if she had something to tell them and immediately Harry and Clayton rounded on her, demanding to know where their pack sister was. This didn’t help the situation at all because apparently when the two male werewolves were feeling protective they could get rather scary and intimidating.
“Girls bathroom, first floor,” Astoria managed to say through her fear, her voice shaking as she pointed them in the right direction.
Just as the two boys were starting to run off in search of their pack sister, Daphne appeared. She looked more than a little annoyed at finding her little sister in tears and glared fiercely at both Harry and Clayton’s retreating backs as she wrapped her arms around Astoria and tried to comfort her. Harry and Clayton, however, barely noticed, let alone cared; they just wanted to find Romy and make sure she was okay. Apologies could come later when they knew that she was safe and well.
Apparently this area of the castle wasn’t as well trodden as the others and the two teenagers were easily able to pick up their pack sister's scent. They both smiled as they realised that this was probably one of the reasons she had picked to come here. They were the only two that would have been able to locate exactly where she had hidden herself away.
“I told you Romy meeting her parents was a bad idea,” Clayton said, as they followed Romy’s scent as it headed down another corridor.
“We don’t know if there is even anything wrong yet,” Harry tried to tell him, but Clayton just gave him a sceptical look. They both knew full well that Romy wouldn’t be off hiding somewhere in the castle unless something was seriously bothering her; and given that she had been supposed to go meet her parents that afternoon, it was actually a pretty reasonable assumption that it was related.
“Harry… what were you going to ask her?” Clayton asked a little hesitantly as they rounded another corner and started down another empty corridor; her scent was stronger and they knew that they were close.
“What?” Harry asked, turning to look at his friend in confusion, not quite certain what Clay meant; though admittedly he did have an idea and he wasn't sure he was going to like where this was going.
“In the headmaster's office,” he clarified. He had been kind of wanting to ask since that first moment, but he hadn’t been sure how to; and honestly, he knew it was none of his business but it wasn’t as though he could just stop caring about her. He loved her and it was eating at him that her own family might have done something to hurt her.
“Clay,” Harry said with a sigh. He did understand why his best friend had felt the need to ask, but that didn’t stop him from really wishing he hadn’t. “I love you, you’re pretty much my brother, but you know that I can’t tell you that,” he told him firmly, though there was an apologetic tone to his voice too.
“I love her,” Clayton reminded him; he was sure he was falling more in love with her every day. He thought that Harry could understand that; Clay had seen how much Harry had come to love the Alpha in such a relatively small time. “If someone hurt her…” he said, unable, and not needing, to finish his sentence.
“I don’t know if anything happened,” Harry pointed out with a glare, a little annoyed that his friend was trying to push the issue. “I can’t tell you what I don’t know. I get that you love her but it’s her story to tell, you can’t force her to tell you any more than you can force her into feeling something for you.”
“That was harsh, Harry,” Clayton said, genuinely hurt.
“I know, I’m sorry,” Harry said earnestly with a sigh. He felt bad for throwing that in Clay’s face but his friend had to get the message. Whatever it was that Romy wasn’t telling them was her secret to keep or share, not his, even if he did know anything. “I didn’t mean it like that, I’m just worried about her, I miss Fen,” he admitted, not that this was news to Clay. “And honestly, it’s been one day and I hate it here.”
“Me too,” Clay admitted as they came to a stop outside the girls’ bathroom door. The scent of Romy was strong enough to indicate that this was where she had come.
“Being here, at Hogwarts I mean, it’s my thing, Clay,” Harry said looking at his friend, “I wouldn’t blame you if you took Romy and just… went home.” He hoped they wouldn’t but he wouldn’t blame either of them if they decided to and he felt bad that they were stuck at the school for his sake.
But Clayton didn’t think much of the suggestion and this time it was Harry’s turn to receive a clip round the ear; something Clayton took great pleasure in doing. “Don’t be a prat,” he said, glaring at the Slytherin boy, though it held no malice. “We’re in this together, all three of us.”
Harry smiled at him, no words able to say how grateful he was for his best friend in that moment. Sure they had had their differences but they were brothers and nothing, not even a few fist fights and disagreements, could change that.
“Then let’s make sure we get through this together,” Harry said, opening the door to the girls bathroom and motioning for Clayton to go in head of him.
As the eldest of the three pups took the cue to go ahead, he turned back to Harry with a smirk on his face. “Besides,” he said, “Fenrir would skin us alive if we left you here on your own, wouldn’t want to risk that.”
“Twat,” Harry said with a laugh as he followed Clayton into the bathroom where they could distinctly hear crying. The laughter and the jokes died on their lips as they rushed to the cubicle where Romy was sat on the closed toilet lid, her head in her hands, sobbing.
At once Harry and Clay were on their knees in front of her, their arms wrapping around her and just holding her. Their scents enveloped her, comforting her as she cried. She had never been more grateful for her two goofball pack brothers in her life.
“Clay, go and tell Dumbledore that Romy won’t be seeing her parents today,” Harry instructed, taking on the most Fenrir tone of voice that he was able. He wanted to talk to Romy on his own; he needed to ask the question that she had stopped him asking the day before.
“But…”
“No buts, Clay, please,” Harry said a little more forcefully this time.
Clayton gave his friend a disparaging look that made it very clear that he didn’t want to go anywhere; however, in the pack hierarchy Harry was above him and it was his instincts as a werewolf that told him to obey. It may have been a joke yesterday when Romy had called Harry a mini-Alpha but essentially that was what he was while they were here.
With a curt nod Clayton got to his feet, placed a kiss on the top of Romy’s head and headed for the door; he glanced back at Harry and Romy before heading out into the corridor. Harry gave his best friend a few moments to leave, not wanting him to have the opportunity to eavesdrop on what was bound to be a very difficult and personal conversation for Romy.
“Romy,” Harry began, speaking softly. He leaned back against the cubicle wall so that he wasn’t crowding her, but he took one of her hands in his and gave it a squeeze in support. “What happened?”
“I can’t…” she began, looking up at him with genuine fear, shaking her head as she wiped away some of the tears that had fallen. She had panicked when she had realised that she was about to come face to face with the family she had thought she had escaped from.
“We’re going to take care of you, Romy,” Harry promised her, squeezing her hand again, when she went to pull away from him. He wasn’t about to let her hide from him now; she was family and he loved her like a little sister or cousin or something, and he would do whatever it took to help her through this. “But we need to know what we’re up against here…” he explained.
“Harry, please, don’t make me…” Romy pleaded with him, looking at him desperately.
“It’s just you and me,” Harry said, understanding that she needed to feel safe before she would even consider saying a word. “I won’t say anything, not even to Clay, but please talk to me. You’ve clearly held on to it for so long.”
“They didn’t believe me,” Romy said quietly. That had been a horrible day, she remembered it far more clearly than she wanted to; it had taken so much courage and talking herself into it, before her confession to her mother and then to be dismissed as though she was telling tales... it had hurt her deeply and caused a rift that they would likely never be bridge.
“But I will,” Harry said confidently, “whatever it is, I will believe you. I love you so much, Romy, I hate to see you like this. You’re so strong, whatever happened, we’ll get through it together and it won’t happen again.”
Romy gave a short, almost forced laugh. “I wouldn’t let it happen again,” she said with certainty. “It’s just that it happened at all.” The pack had given her strength that she had never known she could have, she was never going to let anyone hurt her again; not that her Dad, or any of the pack to be honest, would ever let anything happen to her. Knowing that she could protect herself if it came down to it though, that was what gave her the strength to just keep going; hell, she had killed a man who had attacked her, she knew that she could take care of herself now.
“What happened?” Harry asked, making sure that he kept his voice gentle.
Romy looked down at the floor, really not wanting to have to say it out loud; last time she had done that her own mother hadn’t believed her and while she didn’t think that Harry would call her a liar, there was still that fear. “It sounds so stupid.”
“No,” Harry said at once. “Whatever it is, if it’s bothering you, it’s not stupid and no one who is worth anything will think that.”
It was difficult and as much as she trusted and loved her pack brother, telling him something of this nature was uncomfortable; she felt weak, like she had failed herself, that she should have been able to protect herself like she would do now. But this was Harry, he was stubborn enough to keep asking and kind enough to keep caring. “It was my brother,” she said after a few moments of silence.
“What did he do to you?” Harry asked gently.
“It was nothing close to what those wolves did,” Romy told him quickly; she wasn’t sure quite how much he actually knew about what had happened to her in Gideon’s pack after they had kidnapped her but it felt important that she made that clear. “It’s just… he was my brother and… my parents, they didn’t believe me when I told them what he did.”
“What did he do, Romy?” Harry asked again, it was no great surprise that she was reluctant to talk about it but that her parents hadn’t believed her, that was incomprehensible to him. “Do you think that I wouldn’t believe you?”
“No, it’s not that, it’s just that… I have put it behind me, Harry,” Romy said, finally managing to look up and meet his eyes, that were pleading with her for the truth. “Do we really have to talk about this?”
“Romy, I hate to be pushy about this, but we found you hiding in here crying,” Harry pointed out. “That doesn’t sound like it’s behind you to me.”
Romy sighed; Harry made an excellent point. She honestly had believed it was in the past, that it no longer affected her, but, with the unexpected return of her birth family and the pressure of seeing them again, it had all come back to her. The idea of facing her parents, let alone her brother, had shaken her a lot more than she had believed it could.
“He made me touch him,” Romy said rather suddenly and Harry stared at her in shock, not knowing what to say. He had suspected what it might be but to hear it directly from her, in such blunt words, was still painful and it made both him and his wolf rage inside. “Are you happy now, is that what you wanted to hear?” she demanded fiercely; her eyes, though furiously daring him to call her a liar, were wet with unshed tears.

“Romy!” Harry said sharply, stopping her angry words, words that were directed to him. “Stop okay, I believe you.” He gave her a smile and the expression on her face told him that despite all she had said, she hadn’t expected him to.
“You do?” she asked in surprise. She remembered having this conversation with her mother, that her mother had turned her back and said that she was being ridiculous. Her brother was the golden child who could do no wrong in their mother’s eyes and so of course Romy had been presumed to be lying.
“Of course I do,” Harry told her. Romy wouldn’t lie to him, certainly not about something like this; she wouldn’t lie about anything without a very good reason, he was sure. “I can’t believe that they didn’t, you’re their daughter.”
“And he was their son,” she said sadly. “I remember when I was a little girl, I used to sit and read in my room and my favourite book was Matilda. She never belonged in her family either and when my magic started playing up and we didn’t know what it was, I really thought that I was her, a real life Matilda.”
“They’re muggles… right?” Harry queried, wondering what it must have been like to grow up not knowing about magic or the wizarding world, never feeling as though you fit; he might have been kept away from their world most of the time, but he had still been around magic his whole life.
“Yeah, after I got my Hogwarts letter, they didn’t really know how to act around me. My dad just didn’t talk to me,” Romy explained, remembering how they had looked at her as though she had betrayed them. “I figured that they would be happier without me, so after I was kidnapped I just stopped fighting to survive. When Jenson rescued me… it was a chance to start again.” A small smile lit up her face; those first days after she and Jenson had joined the pack had been hard, she had a lot of healing to do both mentally and physically, and yet she felt wanted more than she had ever done before. “A life away from them and I took it and I didn’t look back. I have not once regretted my decision.”
“You did the right thing,” Harry said, drawing her into a tight hug, which she happily returned. He was so glad to have her in his family, she was so precious to him and the rest of the pack; they would protect her from anything and everything. “You’re so strong, Romy; after everything you’ve been through, you’re the most amazing person I know.”
“We live in a pack of damaged werewolves with magical powers,” she pointed out as she pulled back from their hug and gave him a sardonic smile. “I hardly think I’m the most amazing person you know.”
“But you really are,” Harry said confidently. He knew that, despite what everyone else had been through in their lives, Romy was still only fourteen and she had an inner strength to be proud of; despite all the things that had happened to her she still managed to hold up her head and just keep going.
“Please,” Romy said, staring into Harry’s eyes “don’t tell Clay,” she requested. The eldest pup would take it badly, she was certain of that and his reaction would only make it worse for her. She felt mean asking Harry to keep secrets from his best friend, but she had confided in him and she just hoped he could understand that she wasn’t ready for others to know yet. “I couldn’t bare it if he knew,” she told him with a sad shake of her head.
“Of course not,” Harry said reassuringly; it was still her secret and he wouldn’t betray the trust she had shown in him by telling anyone. “It’s up to you to tell him, when you’re ready. I won’t tell anyone unless you want me to; it is up to you who hears about this,” he promised.
“I haven’t even told Mum and Dad, it’s just…” she hesitated. “I just don’t want him to know. I think he might kill my brother if he found out.”
“I think he might to,” Harry conceded, wincing as he realised this was probably true. Clay, for all his joking around, seemed to really seriously love Romy; there was probably nothing he wouldn’t do for her and that Romy’s brother had abused her like this… It was just better that Clayton didn’t know, at least not any time soon. “You like him, don’t you?” Harry asked, giving her a bit of a sly smile. “I won’t tell him, I swear, but you do.”
“Yeah well, it can’t hurt him to fight for what he wants for a change,” she said, managing a small smile. She had been happily in denial about it, but it was proving more and more difficult to lie to herself in regards to her feelings; apparently Harry wasn’t entirely fooled either; at least he had no plans on telling Clayton, Romy definitely wasn’t ready to open that particular can of worms. Besides, it wasn't as if she had had a lot of contact with boys her own before coming to Hogwarts and despite his obvious keen interest, she was starting to think that maybe Clayton wasn't the only boy she was interested in.
“I’m coming with you when you see them for the first time. You know that, right?” Harry told her; there was no way that he was going to let her face her family alone now, not after all he had heard. Romy just nodded, she hadn’t expected anything else after her confession.
“Thank you,” she said earnestly. “It doesn’t have to be today, does it?” Her eyes suddenly flashed with panic; she was sure with Harry there she would be able to see them, but right at that moment it was all too raw again and she wasn’t ready.
“Nope,” Harry told her, “it doesn’t have to be today, tomorrow or this week even. It’s whenever you’re ready,” he promised. No matter how much Romy’s parents wanted to see her, they would have to wait until she was ready; he was determined on that matter.
“The Alpha’s right,” Romy said, causing Harry to give her a rather confused look. “You really are special.” Her words made him smile and even blush a little, he had never believed that he was special, though he was happy to let Fenrir think that; Fenrir could think nice things about him all the time and Harry would never complain.
“I think he’s biased because I’m sleeping with him,” Harry said with a grin and Romy couldn’t help herself as she burst out laughing, which had of course been the desired effect.
“I really hope that’s Fenrir you’re talking about,” Clayton said as he returned to the bathroom, “otherwise this could be a really awkward moment I just walked in on.”
He was very glad to see that Romy was doing much better; he wished that he could have stayed and help her through it, but whatever Harry had talked to her about seemed to have helped. And he had to admit that all but storming into the Great Hall and telling Dumbledore that Romy would not be coming was kind of fun; particularly given the expression of annoyance that the headmaster had worn.
“Unlike you, Clay, I don’t sleep around,” Harry retorted and Romy giggled. Clay didn’t mind the teasing; he’d put up with anything if it meant seeing Romy smile and hearing her laugh like that.
“One girl is hardly sleeping around,” he said indignantly, crossing his arms over his chest. He didn’t really want Romy thinking he had been with lots of girls; he didn’t exactly regret sleeping with that girl but she had never really meant anything to him, it had been a heat of the moment thing.
“And what was her name?” Harry asked innocently, with a knowing smile.
“Oh… it was… umm… June, Jane… something beginning with J, I’m sure… Janet… no, umm, Julie, yeah that was it, Julie, I’m sure it was… though maybe it was Juliet.” Clay rambled, trying desperately to think of what she had been called and prove Harry wrong. The fact that he genuinely couldn’t remember what she had been called really did make him feel bad.
“Case in point,” Harry said somewhat smugly. It wasn’t that he wanted to show up Clay in front of Romy but he did enjoy making her laugh and watching Clay squirm uncomfortably managed to achieve just that.
“Oh, shoot, what time is it?” Romy asked suddenly practically jumping to her feet as she realised that they were all probably late for their first afternoon class. Just as the bell rang, signalling that it was time to go. “All my blubbering and we’ve missed lunch,” Romy said giving the other two werewolves apologetic looks, as Harry also got to his feet.
“You two are lucky I love you so much,” Clayton said, handing Romy some sandwiches that they hadn’t noticed that he was carrying. “Dumbledore was in the Great Hall so I grabbed these on the way out.”
“Thank you,” Romy said, accepting the food, giving Clay a smile and a kiss to the cheek. “I have Arithmancy then potions, I’ll meet you in the library afterwards, I think I found some spells yesterday that might help us,” she told them as she lead them out of the bathroom.
“We’ve got Defence against the Dark Arts and History of Magic,” Clay said. “Should be fun,” he added with sarcasm. History of Magic had to be one of the most mind-numbingly boring classes he had been forced to sit through yet and the worst thing was he had to sit through ninety minutes of it twice a week. He felt as if gouging out his own eyes would be worth the pain just to have an excuse not to sit and listen to Binns drone on and on about Goblin wars.
“Defence against the Dark Arts though, that’s with that Lupin guy, the werewolf,” Harry stated, sounding a little concerned as he too took the rest of the sandwiches offered from his best friend, as they followed Romy across the bathroom. He was grateful for the sustenance as he really was very hungry. The upcoming Defence class had been concerning him a little, unsure about how he felt that it was another werewolf that would be teaching them.
“I had him yesterday,” Romy said. “He didn’t pay me any more attention than anyone else. He didn’t even seem that interested in me, to be honest, but then I’m not the special one here.” At this she gave a rather pointed look at Harry who glared at her. “Just please be careful, Harry,” Romy pleaded, as the three of them exited the bathroom.
“I’m not leaving him for a second,” Clay reassured her. He wasn’t going to leave anything up to chance, not when there was a strange werewolf in their midst. Romy had been right when she had said that Harry was the special one, he was the one that needed to be protected.
“I don’t think he’s a threat to us,” Harry told them; he had been thinking about it and he wanted to give Lupin a chance; until they knew more he wasn’t really sure what to make of the man. “I think he’s loyal to Dumbledore but he won’t hurt us; he’s a teacher for goodness sake. We just have to be careful about what his motives are,” Harry said before taking a mouthful of his sandwich.
“I don’t care where his loyalties lie, I don’t trust him,” Romy said as they came to where they would have to part ways. “Both of you, be careful,” she said eyeing them both sternly, her eyes still a little red from crying. “Oh and Harry… thanks.”
“No problem,” he said with a smile before they bid farewell and headed off to their separate classes.
FGHP
Lukas was feeling rather guilty that he still hadn’t used the number that the nice muggle girl, Nell, had given to him. He had kept it folded and tucked in his jean pocket since she had given it to him. The fact was that, however much of a pretty girl she was and how tempted he was to call her, he had been in two minds about whether or not he should.
She was a muggle after all; he didn’t have a problem with that and he didn’t think that anyone else in the pack would either, however a werewolf forming a relationship with one was frowned upon. Muggles were more delicate than wizarding folk and it was a less than ten percent chance that they would survive a bite. Some of them also found it difficult coming to terms with the knowledge that werewolves actually existed, if they were ever told. All in all it was probably a very bad idea but Lukas couldn’t stop thinking about her.
He had been sat in his little house all morning and he had struggled to make any progress with the amount of work he had to do. She had been on his mind far too much as of late, especially now Damon and Micha had finally got over whatever had been holding them back and were finally a couple.
Lukas wanted that too. Tessie was nice enough he supposed but he didn’t see them being anything other than friends. Not when thoughts of Nell just wouldn’t leave his mind. Now he wasn’t stupid, he knew that it would never work and that the relationship was doomed before it even began. Not to mention the reaction that Fenrir and the others would have if they were to ever find out; they would undoubtedly have serious concerns about the dangers of having a muggle around a pack of werewolves. But that was why he was going to make sure that the Alpha never found out because he was going to do something for himself for a change; he was going to call her.
Venturing outside, because he didn’t actually have a phone in his house, he attempted to locate a pay phone. This was the first hurdle, one that was overcome quickly enough. The second hurdle however was far more complicated; he had a few sickles and knuts in his pocket but the damned thing didn’t like them and seemed to want muggle money. This was something of a problem as he didn’t have any.
He was half tempted to take out his wand and make the damned thing work for him but he had to remind himself that this was a muggle town and he couldn’t go waving his wand about recklessly, no matter how much of a bad temper he was in at his lack of knowledge on muggle phones; besides, given that it probably ran on muggle electricity and knowing his luck, the whole thing might explode if he tried to use magic on it anyway.
Feeling rather frustrated, he decided enough was enough and that he would just go and see her again. He knew where she worked, after all, and it wasn’t exactly far from here. It certainly seemed like a far more personal option than calling her on the telephone thing that refused to work for him. He just had to hope that she was working today.
Walking the short distance to the off license, Lukas took a deep breath before entering, not knowing what kind of reception he was going to get. It had been five days after all and she might have just forgotten about him. He didn’t consider himself to be a very memorable man. He didn’t even know the etiquette; how many days was too many days to wait to get in contact after a girl gave you their number?
He hadn’t been this nervous since he had told his mother he wanted to move to London and that hadn’t exactly gone according to plan. He hadn’t spoken to her since that particular argument. Though if talking to Nell went the same way then maybe he would be able to get over her at least.
He knew it was cheesy but his heart practically skipped a beat when he saw that she was stood behind the counter. Her beautiful auburn hair was pulled back in a ponytail once again and she hadn’t looked up from her magazine when he had walked in. He stopped, not knowing what to do. It took a few moments for his brain to kick in and realise that he really should say something. Though, even after this realisation dawned on him it took a while to form the words and actually speak.
“Hello,” he finally said feel extremely nervous, dreading the reaction that she might have. He was a little surprised that as she looked up, her dark brown eyes went wide as she recognised him. He waited for her to shout at him, to demand that he leave but she didn’t.
“Lukas,” she said, breaking out into a smile. She couldn’t believe her luck. She honestly thought that she would never see or hear from him again; to see him standing in the shop again amazed her. Most guys she spoke to ran a mile; she genuinely couldn’t believe that he had come back.
“I’m sorry I didn’t call,” he began but she waved it off, as if it were nothing. It really was nothing, because she hadn’t expected him to.
“I wouldn’t have blamed you if you didn’t, I always say the wrong thing and I thought I might have put you off… there I go again, sorry,” she said sheepishly, unable to control the words that fell from her lips. She always did tend to speak first and think later.
“Don’t be sorry,” Lukas said, grinning at her, “I actually find it rather endearing.”
“Really, you do?” she asked, sounding a little sceptical.
“I was wondering if you would like to have coffee,” Lukas asked, his words a little rushed and in all honesty he hadn’t really thought it through. He was a man who planned everything to the last detail but not with her it seemed. He had overlooked the one flaw in his plan. He didn’t have muggle money.
“I kinda can’t leave, I have to work, but I have a kettle in the back… I know it isn’t the most romantic but, we could have coffee now… except I don’t have coffee,” Nell rambled nervously. “I don’t really like it much but I have tea, do you like tea?”
“I love tea,” Lukas said, smiling even wider, somehow her own anxiousness seemed to ease his; plus it was really adorable.
“Oh, wow, great,” she said, still rather flustered and not really having expected him to actually accept the offer; though she was definitely delighted that he had. “Do you have a preference or are you happy with Earl Grey? I have a few types, do you know about the blends, most people don’t and they think I’m a little crazy… I’m going to shut up now.”
Lukas, finding it sweet how she seemed to ramble when she was nervous leaned over the counter, taking her by surprise as he captured her lips in a sweet kiss.
“What blends do you have?” he asked as he broke their first kiss.
“Earl Grey, Chai and Assam…” she listed off, before pausing to think for a moment. “I might have some English Breakfast tea too.”
“What’s your favourite?” Lukas asked; he couldn’t quite believe that this beautiful girl was also a fan of tea, as if he wasn’t already attracted to her enough.
“I really like Chai,” she admitted.
“Then that is what I’ll have,” he told her. He hadn’t had any chai tea in a little while anyway so he would enjoy the change, besides seeing Nell drink her favourite would almost certainly make it worth it.
“Okay, what’s your favourite?” she asked as she went into the back of the shop to boil the kettle.
“Ceylon,” he said, leaning on the counter and looking at the large display of spirits and liqueurs that were on display there; some of them really were quite expensive. He smiled as he listened to her moving around in the back room as she found mugs and tea bags, the kettle humming as it began to bubble.
“Not had that one much, will have to get some for the next time we do this,” Nell said, but then she suddenly went quiet and her head poked out from the back room. “That was a bit assumptive, sorry,” she said, with an apologetic half smile.
“It’s quite alright. That certainly bodes well for me, doesn’t it? So I am hardly complaining,” Lukas told her with a small chuckle. It was definitely a good sign that she was already thinking about meeting him again.
“I guess it does,” she agreed a little shyly, disappearing back into the back room as she heard the click of the kettle boiling. “Milk, sugar?” she called out.
“Just a dash of milk, thanks. And how about next time I bring the tea bags?” he suggested, already he was envisioning a tea tasting session with her some time; it had been a while since he had drunk any with someone who actually appreciated a quality cup of tea.
He was doing his level best to tutor the rest of the pack; however, after Jenson’s admission that they all tasted the same to him, he was starting to believe that they were lost causes. Though he was rather proud that he had switched them all, apart from the Alpha, from coffee to tea; even if Damon and Clay still had a preference for the former.
“That sounds like a plan,” she said as she reappeared carrying two mismatched mugs and putting them both down on the counter. “If you want to, that is.”
“Why would I not?” Lukas asked; Nell really did seemed convinced that he shouldn’t be interested in her and he couldn’t understand why. She was certainly attractive and her love for tea just astounded him.
“I tend to scare people off,” she told him with a shrug; she had lost count of how many guys had said they would call her or had seemed interested until they started actually talking to her. “My mum always says I talk too much,” she admitted.
“You are going to have to do better than that to get rid of me,” Lukas said toasting her with his cup of tea, before taking a sip.
“What if I don’t want to get rid of you?” she asked nervously. So far she definitely wanted to see him again.
“Then I think we’re going to get through a lot of tea,” Lukas said with confidence; perhaps with both of them being nervous and bad at this whole dating thing then they might be able to actually make it work. At least they knew they could drink tea together.
“I’ll have to stock up then, every blend I can find,” she said with a smile, taking a sip of her chai tea. It felt nice, relaxed just talking to him. She really hoped that she didn’t scare him off because she could see herself falling for him in a big way.
FGHP
Remus Lupin was a man who had not aged well; it was clear that his Lycanthropy had taken its toll on his body, almost as if he had spent his entire life fighting against it, rather than embracing it. Though far too slight in his frame for a werewolf, he was an impressive height at six foot and two inches; he probably would have been an impressive man if he had embraced his wolf and taken care of himself.
His hair was a light shade of brown, though flecked with grey due to age. His eyes were a light shade of green and the instant Harry had walked into his classroom they had found him. On his way to class, Harry had decided that he wouldn’t be paying the Professor much attention, but as he entered the classroom, and the distinguished scent of another werewolf hit him, he was too curious to ignore the older man.
There was something familiar and comforting about the scent too, though he was struggling to place why he felt this way. The curiosity seemed to be a mutual feeling between Harry and the professor; something that Clay had taken note of and didn’t like very much. He dragged his friend to the back of the classroom, as far away from the professor as possible so that they could take their seats and remove their books from their bags, ready for the start of the lesson.
“Clay,” Harry whispered as the rest of the class began taking their seats, “Does he smell… familiar to you?” He certainly wasn’t about to tell Clay that it was comforting too, as he was sure that would not be a welcome concept.
The classroom was much like a battle zone once everyone had taken their seats, the Gryffindors on one side and the Slytherins on the other, a clear divide down the middle of the room. The only one who had dared to cross that line was Clayton, who was proudly sitting with the Slytherin students
“We’ve met him before,” Clay reminded his friend, really not wanting Harry to get curious about the professor; knowing that as soon as Harry got curious it would mean getting to know the older werewolf, which was something Clay was hoping to avoid.
“I never caught his scent before, it’s only just starting to get better after the potion. This familiarity though, it's something else and I can’t place it,” Harry tried to explain.
“I think I get what you mean,” Clay said after taking a moment to inhale the air around him. “I can’t place it though.”
“Something to ask Fenrir when we go back,” Harry said with a shrug. Fenrir was the one who seemed to have a real talent for identifying scents, so hopefully he would be able to give them some of the answers they were looking for. “I wonder what he does for the full moon,” he pondered; did the man have a pack? Surely he didn’t stay near the school when he transformed, not with all these children around.
“Who cares,” Clay said with a shrug, eyeing the Professor with distrust. The way Harry was talking about him, made it sounds as though his best friend actually did care what happened to the professor; for all Harry’s stubbornness, he still had far too kind a heart in Clayton’s opinion.
“I care, Clayton,” Harry told his friend firmly in a hushed voice. “The whole point of being here is to get answers, what if he can tell me something?”
“Fine, just… just don’t go sneaking off to talk to him in private without me or Romy with you okay?” Clay requested. He knew that once Harry had his head set on a course of action, then trying to change his mind was a waste of energy that would be better used on trying to make sure Harry just at least stayed as safe as possible while running head first into trouble.
“I don’t need…” Harry started to argue back but the unforgiving glare that Clay gave him stopped him short. “Fine… no going to talk to Professor Lupin on my own,” he agreed a little grumpily; somehow he thought the man was going to be more reluctant to give him answers while his pack brother or sister were around.
“Thank you,” Clay said, glad that Harry had agreed, though not being stupid enough to believe that he wouldn’t just go and do it anyway; he was going to have to make sure that Harry kept his promise.
Looking back to the front of the class where Lupin was talking about conflict avoidance, Harry sighed. He had thought that maybe Defence Against the Dark Arts would have been far more interesting than this. He didn’t see how learning about avoiding conflict would help when conflict usually came looking for him and was seemingly unavoidable.
His mind wandered to home, where Fenrir would be, and the stray wolves that were encroaching on their territory. That was unavoidable conflict; no amount of time sitting listening to a Professor drone on would be able to stop that coming to a head at some point. Though thinking about anything relating to his home made him miss it so he instead focused on Clay who was already doodling on his parchment, clearly bored.
Grinning to himself he grabbed hold of some parchment of his own and began to fold it into shapes until it resembled an elephant. Then with a wave of his wand the paper creature began to move. Following suit, Clayton began to fold his parchment too until it looked a little like a giraffe. With Harry’s help that too was soon moving around their desk. They soon had their own little paper zoo gathered on their desk.
Harry chuckled as Clayton marched the animals down one of the legs of their table and across the room, heading straight for where the Gryffindors were all seated. It looked so sweet to see the menagerie of miniature paper animals parading down the aisle that divided the two halves of the classroom.
A few of the other students had started to notice, though the Slytherins were decidedly more amused than the Gryffindors seemed to be. Ron was glaring daggers the little paper animals as they approached him, and started circling his chair.
“He looks seriously pissed,” Harry whispered to Clay with amusement.
“That just makes this even more amusing,” Clay retorted as he aimed his wand and shot a spell at the animals making them rather more vocal than they had been a moment before.
The Lion and tiger starting roaring, the elephant trumpeted, monkeys whooping and chattering, the bear growling and the couple of sheep were bleating. Grinning happily and loving the quiet laughter coming from Harry in the seat next to him, Clay started to make the monkeys climb Ron’s chair which made the Gryffindor jump up from his seat, squishing the elephant in the process.
“HEY! You squished my elephant,” Clayton yelled suddenly, getting to his feet.
“Mr Danes, Mr Weasley,” Lupin said sternly turning around from where he had been writing their assignment onto the board, glaring at the two boys who were both standing.
“Your stupid animals were attacking me,” Ron shouted back at Clayton across the room, looking smug as he very deliberately stood on first the giraffe and then the lion.
“We were just having a laugh, Weasley,” Harry said, jumping to his friend’s defence. “What’s your problem?”
“So like your father,” Harry heard Lupin mutter and he thought there was a hint of affection mixed in with the exasperation. He was a little confused by the remark though given he didn’t think his and Clayton’s prank was anything like something his Dad might have approved of, let alone done himself.
“You’re my problem, Prince!” Ron yelled back as Dean got up to defend his friend. Seamus flopped forward, hitting his head on the desk in frustration. Bickering in corridors was one thing but in class, in front of teachers, he couldn’t believe it.
“Enough,” Lupin said sternly. “All of you, sit down, now!”
Still glaring at one another the four teenage boys did as they were told. The last of the paper animals that hadn’t been squashed by Ron’s large feet deflated and lay lifeless on the floor. In one final act of hatred towards the new students Ron aimed his wand at them and set them ablaze.
Clay had been about to return the favour on the red-head’s robes when Harry put a hand on his arm and shook his head. He could see what his friend had been about to do and he didn’t think that it would be wise to incinerate a fellow student, no matter how annoying they were.
Professor Lupin had gone back to teaching, having finished writing up their assignment on the board and instructing them to get started. He was watching the two warring groups carefully, just in case more trouble was to start but they seemed to have settled down somewhat and he had noticed that it had been Harry that had stopped it from escalating. It seemed that there was a small part of Lily in him as well but there was no denying that he was James’ son through and through.
FGHP
As it was Wednesday Harry and Clayton, along with the other fifth years, had Astronomy that evening; however they had five hours to kill after the end of dinner before they had to be in the Astronomy tower for class. The previous evening Harry and Clay had been in detention and Romy in the library, so tonight they were going to have some fun.
It had rubbed a few of the Slytherins up the wrong way to have a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw in the their common room but they were reluctant to say anything when they were hanging out with Draco Malfoy and Harry Prince, who between them were two of the most respected boys in the whole of Slytherin House.
“Which one of them do you think will attack me first?” Clay asked Harry in a hushed whisper as he took in the scowling faces all around them.
“Oh, they aren’t really the attacking type, they like to leave that to the Gryffindors; this lot are more likely to poison your morning pumpkin juice,” Harry explained looking rather amused.
“Good job I don’t drink pumpkin juice then,” Clay said smugly, crossing his arms over his chest and smiling at the Slytherins as though daring them to try something; Harry couldn’t help but think that there really had never been an alternative other than Clayton being a Gryffindor.
“I don’t think they are above spiking your coffee,” Romy said, determinedly not looking even a tiny bit phased by all the displeased students around them; it was pretty easy considering she found the disapproving scowls more amusing than worrying.
“They aren’t,” Astoria agreed, pulling Romy over to the sofa to sit down next to each other, “so I would just recommend sitting with the friendly… well… friendlier faces at breakfast; if you’re still planning to carry on sitting at the Slytherin table I mean, of course.”
“I did warn you that bringing them here wouldn’t be a popular move,” Draco pointed out to Harry, from where he was comfortably sat reading in a chair opposite the two younger girls.
“And I told you that I didn’t give a crap what they thought about it, I was still going to spend my evenings with Romy and Clay whether they like it or not,” Harry said firmly; it wasn’t as though he had anything to fear from a bunch of teenagers.
“Don’t take it out on me,” Draco told him, not liking the rather aggressive tone Harry had taken with him. “I’ve got no problem with them being here; the three of you… let’s just say you make life more interesting,” he mused and Harry gave him a mildly apologetic smile.
“I think I know how we can make this evening more interesting,” Clayton said, already bored of standing around being glared at. “Harry, how do you feel about a game of pool?”
Harry turned and grinned at his best friend; Clayton always needed to be doing something. It was a good idea, in his opinion but there was one small flaw in the plan. “It would be great fun but would also require a pool table,” he pointed out with a sardonic smile.
“Like that will be a problem, we have wands after all,” Clay said with a huge grin.
“You’re actually suggesting we transfigure a pool table?” Harry asked in surprise; it wouldn’t exactly be an easy thing to get right given how level and even the surface needed to be, not to mention the size of it.
“And what exactly are you proposing to use for this transfiguration, Clayton?” Romy asked knowing better than the think her cousin was actually joking with his suggestion.
“Coffee table,” Clayton suggested. “It’s already a table after all, so I figure that means it is already half way there.” Harry couldn’t help but roll his eyes a little, thinking that perhaps Clay needed to spend a little more time paying attention in their transfiguration classes.
“You should use one of the large study desks over there,” Draco said without looking up from his book as he pointed vaguely across the room. “It is larger and therefore more similar in mass, should make for an easier transformation.”
“This is ridiculous,” Blaise grumbled; Pansy next to him nodded her agreement to the sentiment. “Are you seriously going along with this, Draco?” At which the blond simply looked up long enough to meet Blaise’s eye and shrug before turning his attention back to his book.
Harry grinned. He knew he had been right to think he had found a friend in Draco; while the blond wasn’t quite as enthusiastic about their antics as Clayton, he had a brilliant mind and seemed perfectly happy to go along with them, as long as they didn’t land him in trouble of course.
“I can’t believe you even let them in here,” Pansy huffed, though she was largely ignored by the others.
“Quit whining, Pansy, it is not attractive,” Daphne said, with slight amusement at her friend’s discontentment.
“You’re going to help, right, Romy? I don’t think I trust Clayton not to mess up the transformation,” Harry teased as Clay gave him a playful shove. He had rather wisely worn his helmet this evening, predicting that an evening with Harry and Romy would require his head to be somewhat protected.
“You want me to help you two steal money from Slytherins? I am brave, Harry, not stupid,” she said earning herself an amused smile from Draco.
“Steal?” Harry asked with mock horror. “There will be no stealing,” he assured her. “I shall simply win my entitlement to their precious funds through legitimate victory over their feeble skills.”
“You do realise that pool is a very muggle game, right?” Romy queried, giving Harry a pointed look. “I would be surprised if there was a single person in this room who knew how to play.”
“As long as they’re not too scared to learn, it isn’t exactly hard, not if Clayton learned,” Harry mocked, receiving a roll of the eyes from Romy and a glare from Clayton.
“What is this, pick on Clay night?” the eldest of the three pups asked in a huff as he crossed his arms over his chest, though his irritation was half hearted at best, never able to stay mad at his fellow pack members long.
“It’s always pick on Clay night,” Romy said with amusement. “Usually because you deserve it.”
“Come on Romy, give us a hand, I’ll buy you something pretty with my winnings,” Clay said wiggling his eyebrows at Romy in a suggestive way that she thought just made him look ridiculous, and so she just glared at him. “Oh fine, I’ll buy you a book with my winnings,” Clayton conceded, knowing the true way to Romy’s heart.
“You think you will actually have winnings after playing against Harry?” Romy asked him with a sceptical expression; she had heard the stories about the previous times they had played often enough to know how likely that was.
“Okay, okay, fine, HARRY will buy you a book with his winnings,” Clayton amended.
Romy grinned. “That’s more like it,” she told him happily.
“Hey, I never agreed to that!” Harry protested, even if he didn’t really mind one bit. He would happily spend half the contents of his Gringotts vault on books for Romy if it would make her happy.
“Do you want my help?” she asked, looking to Harry who had moved over to the study desk that Draco had motioned to and was taking a closer look at it, mainly to see how level the surface of it was before conceding that it would suffice, but only if Romy helped him with it.
“A new book it is,” Harry agreed moving back to where his pack sister was sitting, holding out his hand to help her up from the sofa.
“Any new book I want?” Romy hedged sceptically.
Harry rolled his eyes, “Any new book you want,” he agreed, though judging by the tone in his voice he knew that he might live to regret that decision later.
“Interesting bargaining techniques,” Astoria said as Romy was pulled to her feet.
“So what is this game you want to play? It is a game, right?” Draco asked, his interest piqued as he watched over the top of his book as the three werewolves moved over to the table they were planning to transfigure and easily chased off the couple of younger students who had been working there.
“It’s a muggle game, usually played in bars where there’s drinking,” Clay said, almost longingly, as he moved the table into a more central position, scattering a few students in the process as they ran to move out of the way before they were squashed, not that Clayton seemed to care about this.
“They’ve taken over the whole common room,” Pansy bitched, her arms folded over her chest in a clear huff at what the three new students were doing.
“Come off it Pansy, lighten up, this could be fun,” Theo said, watching as Harry and Romy looked to each other, clearly trying to figure out how they were going to do this. “Are you going to tell me you would rather be doing Binns' essay?”
“Fun, how could it be fun? It’s just some muggle game,” she complained, though she could admit, to herself at least, that anything would likely be better than studying for History of Magic. What she couldn’t understand though was why Draco, who was usually the most arrogant, pompous, self-important of all the Slytherins, was okay with a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw helping Harry Prince take over.
“Give it a chance, Parkinson,” Clay suggested. “You never know you might actually have enough fun to manage a smile,” he taunted. “Though perhaps work up to that, we wouldn’t want anyone dying from shock.”
Draco laughed and everyone turned to look at him, no one had heard him laugh in… well it had been a very long time. “Clay has a point, Pansy,” Draco said with amusement as he closed his book and finally got up to join in. “So how do you play?”
“Clay and I will have a go first,” Harry said, giving Clayton a subtle look and he nodded in return. “We’ll explain as we play.”
“Ready when you are,” Romy said to Harry, and they both raised their wands in a matching motion as they began to cast the required spells.
It didn’t take long before there was a full size pool table in the middle of the Slytherin common room, and they made quick work of transforming other smaller pieces of furniture to create cues and balls. And there was quite an audience by the time Harry and Clayton started to play. The two boys knew exactly what they were doing, of course; the first game that they played they both downplayed their skill level. Even though Harry still ended up winning, they didn’t want to give away exactly how good Harry was, at least not yet.
“So who wants to challenge me first?” Harry asked, looking around at the gathered students expectantly.
“I’m up for it,” Draco said.
“Brilliant,” Harry said, glad that the blond would at least give it a go; it would likely make the others a little more willing to give it a try as well. “Shall we say one galleon a game, winner takes all?”
“One galleon?” Blaise questioned,.“You may as well be playing for sickles, let’s make it interesting for us at least,” he suggested.
Romy gaped at him, unable to believe that one galleon wasn’t enough to lose. Harry was going to be raking in the money with these Slytherins and they wouldn’t know what hit them. Though as long as her pack brothers didn’t introduce poker she wouldn’t be too worried. Harry hadn’t really had a talent for the card game but Clayton had and that fact worried her, a lot. She was wishing that she hadn’t taught them now. If they were gambling on games of pool it wasn’t a great leap to gambling with cards.
“Then how about whatever you want to wager, Draco, up to you, how much do you want to lose?” Harry asked with a challenging grin on his face.
“With that cocky attitude I’m going to enjoy kicking your arse,” Draco told him confidently. How hard could it be, it looked easy enough when Harry and Clayton played. “Two galleons.”
“Let’s see the money then, I don’t want any I.O.U’s,” Harry insisted, he wasn’t going to let the blond worm his way out of paying up later; he knew how these Slytherin minds worked.
“You too,” Draco said as he delved into the pocket of his robes and brought out two shiny gold coins; he held them up for Harry to see before stacking them neatly on the edge of the table.
“Oh, and no wands, this will be no fun if people start cheating,” Harry said as he placed his own two galleons on top of Draco’s before handing his wand to Clayton; Draco scowled but handed his over to Daphne a moment later. With four galleons on the table, Draco watched as Harry set up the balls.
Romy took a seat to watch and Astoria came over to stand just behind her, playing with her hair. “You’d look so pretty if you did something to your hair,” Astoria said, leaning forward, taking one of Romy’s curls in hand, examining it almost.
“She doesn’t need to do anything, she’s pretty just the way she is,” Clayton said over his shoulder, glaring at Astoria.
Romy rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile when Clay turned back around to watch the game that was about to start. Astoria was giving Romy a knowing look but she chose to say nothing, she’d quiz the girl later, when they were in a more private setting.
The boys and the pool table had managed to attract quite a crowd by this point, Blaise, Theo, Pansy, Daphne, Astoria, Romy and Clay at the front of the group, all of them watching intently as Harry and Draco shrugged off their robes and rolled up their sleeves. Romy couldn't take her eyes off Draco as he removed his robes, carefully placing them on the back of her chair, she was almost certain that he had done so purposefully just for the opportunity to smile at her.
“Seeing as you’re a virgin at this, I’ll break,” Harry said with a grin and a wink, which had Draco sending him a half hearted death glare.
“Go right ahead,” the blond said, handling the cue with interest, he had no idea but he was doing it rather suggestively. His movements were making Romy blush as all sorts of thoughts rushed through her mind and she quickly had to look away or else give herself away.
Bending over the table, Harry took aim and sent the white ball towards the triangle of other balls. “When you take a shot, it’s a lot like wanking off a guy standing behind you,” Harry said as he potted one of the yellow balls off the break. “Like this,” he added as he bent down to take another shot, rocking the cue back and forward a few times to make his point before hitting the white.
“Not something I have a lot of experience with, Harry,” Draco said with amusement as he watched Harry sink a second yellow ball into a pocket.
“Blaise, come stand behind me, I’ll demonstrate,” Harry added, receiving a death glare from Blaise, who took several steps away from Harry making the others laugh. “Oh, not going to go shy now are you?” he teased. “You were so keen to have my attentions yesterday morning.”
“Cut it out, Prince,” Blaise said a bit snappishly.
Looking amused, Harry turned his attention back to Draco.“I wasn’t exactly experienced when Clay’s Dad first taught me, but practice makes perfect,” Harry said as he potted a third ball. “And my boyfriend certainly never complains.” He missed the shot on the fourth and motioned for Draco to take his turn.
“Ewww, Harry," Clay protested, scrunching up his nose in disgust. "If you are going to make sex jokes, can you leave my Dad out of them? I know you have the whole older man thing going on… but seriously, he is practically your other Dad too.”
“Sorry, Clay,” Harry said as he watched Draco take his turn with a keen eye. “You have to try to pot the reds now and you don’t want to put too much force behind it, Draco; you just want to nudge it in the right direction,” Harry instructed. “The balls will do whatever you want them to, all you’ve got to do is hit just the right spot.”
“Will you stop,” Draco said, with a glare in Harry’s direction. “All your sex talk is very off putting.”
“Is he deliberately making it sound as dirty as possible?” Daphne asked Clay in amusement.
“Probably,” Clay said with a shrug. “I’ve heard him and his boyfriend going at it; he knows what he’s talking about.”
“I’ve heard them too, let’s just say Harry isn’t the only one screaming in pleasure,” Romy added. Clayton raised his eyebrows in surprise at what she had said, she just shrugged at him, as if to say, two could play at that game. “According to my parents anyway, his boyfriend REALLY misses him,” she added with a smirk as Clay snorted in amusement.
“That should have gone in,” Draco protested when, on his first shot, he managed to make the white hit the red ball Harry had told him he had to try and pot, but missed the pocket in the corner.
“It’s always hard the first time but at least you didn’t shoot too soon,” Harry told him with a wide grin and a wink, which made Draco grumble under his breath as he shook his head. “Just watch this. Blaise, you sure you don’t want to help me demonstrate?”
“One more suggestive remark from you Prince and I’ll make you sorry,” Blaise growled in irritation.
“Promises, promises,” Harry said grinning, as he quickly sunk two more yellow balls in quick succession. “I should warn you though, I like it rough.”
“I’ll give you rough,” Blaise threatened before realising how it sounded.
“Now you’re getting into the spirit of things,” Harry said grinning with triumph. “Just stand there, look pretty and watch my arse,” he said as he bent over the table to take another shot. “As if he could look away, it really is a great arse,” he added looking over at Draco who was standing with Clay.
“Oh if your boyfriend could hear you now,” Clay said with amusement.
“He’d probably have heart failure,” Romy said; though if he had been there then Fenrir would have picked Harry up and walked off with him by now in her opinion; either that or sat Harry down on his lap to stop anyone else from being able to ogle him.
“He is old enough,” Clay retorted, he could only imagine what reaction the rest of the pack would have to their antics this evening. He could well imagine that there would be a lot of eye rolling, tutting and attempts at making them stop.
“He isn’t that old,” Harry said, sounding exasperated. “He has no problem keeping up AND talk about stamina, he could last for hours!” He obviously wasn’t quite paying attention when he tried to pot the next ball because the yellow bounced off the side of the pocket.
“Though Micha would probably be highly amused by this,” Clay added happily thinking of how much better their pack brother was doing lately and how much he would have enjoyed listening to their jokes and watching them make fools of a group of rather stuck-up students.
“By my boyfriend having heart failure?” Harry asked pretending to be offended, before breaking out in a smile as Draco missed the red ball all together, meaning that it was a foul and therefore Harry would get an extra turn.
“No by all this,” Clay explained, gesturing to the pool table and the students. “Particularly by your ridiculous attempt to seduce the whole of Slytherin in one go.”
“In some instances it looks to be working,” Harry said with a not so subtle wink at Blaise, who was glowering at Harry in fury, as he easily potted the last two yellow balls, one after another. He was so going to enjoy torturing the boy; Harry had his suspicions that Blaise was gay, or at least bisexual, but rather than ask him outright he was just going to continue to flaunt his own sexuality and tease him instead.
It was with practiced ease that Harry potted the black ball and won the game, having only allowed Draco to take a handful of goes at even attempting to hit his red balls. With a good deal of grace, Draco admitted his defeat and shook Harry’s hand; apparently the game was a good deal trickier than he had anticipated. Harry, however, was looking far too pleased with himself as he pocketed the four galleons.
“Blaise, you know you want to play with me,” Harry said with a suggestive waggle of his eyebrows. “We could have so much fun with you fondling your stick and potting my balls.”
“Not a chance, Prince,” Blaise growled, glaring at the other Slytherin rather hatefully, not appreciating that he was the brunt of the innuendos most of the time.
“Come on Pansy, what about you? You seem like a girl who knows her way around a pool cue, why don’t you show us that you don’t suck at potting balls?” Clay said as he began to set up another game. He was rather enjoying this; it beat studying and sitting in Gryffindor common room with Ron and his cronies that was for sure.
“Don’t bet too much, Pansy,” Draco said, “he’s a demon with that cue.” The blond sounded rather unhappy about this but he hadn’t gone off in a sulk; quite the contrary, he was leaning against the arm of the sofa awaiting another contender. He was feeling rather determined to watch a few more games and then try and win his money back.
“He’s gay, of course he knows how to handle a cue,” Clay said with a laugh as he finished setting up the red and yellow balls in their little triangle.
“And the balls; trust me, I really know how to handle the balls,” Harry added as he wrapped his fingers around his cue stick, moving his hand up and down as he said this, looking into Blaise’s eyes the entire time, smirking at him suggestively.
“I can take him,” Pansy said with confidently as she too shrugged off her robes. Some of the straight men were rather pleased with this seeing as the skirt that Pansy was wearing seemed to be rather shorter than some of the other girl’s. Theodore was eyeing the backs of her thighs rather appreciatively from where he was reading, doing his very best to ignore the commotion; but Pansy bending over a pool table in a short skirt was just too much to resist.
“All of him?” Romy asked; she wasn’t Pansy’s biggest fan and was more than happy to make a fool of her.
“Probably, he is only little,” Pansy bit back with a glare, rolling up her sleeves and accepting the cue stick from Draco. Harry grinned at her, happy to have another challenger whom he could wipe the floor with. He was looking forward to the next Hogsmeade weekend so he could spend his well earned winnings.
“She’s probably had enough practice with the rest of the Slytherin boys,” Astoria muttered to Romy, causing both of the younger girls to burst into a fit of giggles. Harry and Clayton joined in, though most of the others hadn’t heard what Astoria had said, it was only the werewolf hearing that had allowed Harry and Clay to eavesdrop on the muttered comment.
Once he had stopped laughing, Harry just couldn’t help himself. “You aren’t man enough for me Pansy, Blaise on the other hand…” he said, deliberately making a show of fluttering his eyelashes in the other boy’s direction.
“Shut it, Prince,” Blaise bit back, already tired of Harry’s flirting.
“Yeah, you’re right Blaise,” Harry said with an exaggerated sigh. “I’ve seen you naked and you’re not big enough to satisfy me.”
“Are we going to play or not?” Pansy demanded, getting awfully sick of Prince flirting quite outrageously with Blaise and wanting to just get on with the game.
“Oh, we’re going to play,” Harry said grinning, “What’s the bet?”
“Five Galleons,” she said confidently placing the five gold coins on the edge of the table, smiling widely Harry matched the bet so that there were ten galleons on the table.
“Do you want to break or shall I?” Harry asked, looking at her and grinning, already thinking about the wonderful things he could buy with all those galleons. He was already certain that Romy would be getting more than one new book out of this.
FGHP
After quite a few more games of pool, all of which Harry won, including Draco’s failed attempt to win back his galleons, Harry and Clayton, along with the other fifth years, had gone off to astronomy. Not wanting to remain there without them, Romy had retreated back to Ravenclaw common room with the aim of completing her homework.
As it happened that didn’t take her long at all. This meant that she could devote the rest of her evening to carrying on with her research so that they could clean up the old classroom they had found and turn it into a forest sanctuary for them to retreat to; she really hoped that they would feel more comfortable there and actually be able to start getting some decent sleep again.
She wasn't so concerned about creating the forest as Harry had seemed fairly confident on that front, but the wards, on the other hand, were proving to be slightly more tricky. There had been several wards around their territory, which she had asked her mother about, but they wouldn’t be very appropriate for just around a classroom; plus there was the additional complication that there were already wards on the castle and some wards really didn’t react well to be put inside others. They also didn’t want to use the more obvious wards, thinking that any patrolling staff members would spot them far too easily.
“You not with your men this evening?” Luna asked as she came to sit beside Romy on the sofa in the Ravenclaw common room.
“They aren’t my men but no, not this evening, they have astronomy,” Romy responded, not removing her nose from the book it was currently buried in.
“Clayton is definitely your man,” Luna said dreamily.
“He may think that he’s my man but I haven’t agreed to anything,” Romy said with a hint of amusement, finally looking up from her book to look at the rather odd blond girl whom had befriended her and somehow seemed to just know her secrets; it was a little disconcerting but Luna had been nice about it so far.
“Why would you say no to him?” Luna asked gently, with what sounded like genuine curiosity.
“You have neither heard him sing nor seen him after eating a whole box of brownies. Believe me, it’s very easy to say no,” Romy said; though her lips twitched a little at the memory. He was a complete dork and an idiot at times, he drove her crazy, but she was reluctantly fond of him really.
“I might like to,” Luna said brightly. She thought it might be quite amusing to see sometime; she kind of liked how uninhibited Clayton was, so many people worried too much about what others might think.
“Believe me, you really wouldn’t,” Romy said. As amusing as it had been, once was definitely enough for her and she just hoped she wasn’t around for the inevitable repeat performance, whenever that happened; not least because she didn’t want to become the target of his serenading. “It’s just… there are no words to describe how terrible a singer he is.”
“But his looks make up for that,” Luna pointed out.
“No amount of good looks or charm can make up for what happens when he eats enough sugar to put himself into a sugar coma,” Romy insisted, though Luna noticed that the girl didn’t deny that Clayton was attractive.
“I wouldn’t have thought that sugar would have had the same effect on… you guys,” Luna said thoughtfully and Romy was glad she at least had enough discretion not to use the word werewolf.
“When it comes to Clayton, nothing is normal,” Romy said with a sigh.
“Harry too?” Luna questioned.
Romy nodded. “They are best friends for a reason,” she told the blonde girl. Though perhaps it was why their family worked so well because honestly she didn’t think there was one amongst them who would qualify as normal by anyone’s definition.
“You’re very lucky,” Luna said suddenly, looking a little wistful.
“Lucky?” Romy asked, turning to look questioningly as her friend. She thought her family was amazing, and there were definitely things she really liked about her life, but she probably wouldn’t have referred to herself as lucky given everything that had happened to her in her life so far.
“To have so many people that love and care about you,” Luna explained. She had lost her own mother years earlier, and though she loved her father, she still sometimes found herself wishing that she had more relatives around. “Your umm… family, how many of you are there?”
“Ten right now,” Romy told her. “It is nice but sometimes it can be a bit stifling.”
“Is Harry… I mean… is he single?” Luna asked suddenly.
Romy couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped as she turned to look at Luna like she was crazy. “Not even a little bit,” Romy told her with a grin.
“So one of those ten…”
“Yep, his boyfriend,” Romy informed her and Luna genuinely looked a little shocked at this. “Believe me if you’d been in the Slytherin common room earlier that wouldn’t surprise you in the slightest.” Of all the things for Luna to have failed to pick up on, Harry’s sexuality and unavailability would not have been what Romy would have expected; they just seemed so glaringly obvious in her opinion.
“Do you like Clay then?” Luna asked, suddenly steering the conversation back in another direction.
“Sometimes,” Romy admitted after a thoughtful pause. “When he isn’t being a complete goofball,” she added, wanting to make it perfectly clear that despite her bouts of affection for the boy, she wouldn’t be starting anything with him any time soon. She just didn’t need the kind of insanity, that followed Clayton around, in her life. She needed someone calmer, someone solid, someone like Draco. Though she quickly shook that thought from her head, not wanting to go down that particular path.
“Hermione likes him too,” Luna informed the young werewolf. “I’ve heard her talking to Lavender and Parvati.” Romy looked at her questioningly, wondering how she could have overheard such a private conversation without being noticed. “People tend to ignore me or pretend I’m not there,” Luna explained. “They find me rather odd.”
“Imagine that,” Romy said, half amused. “So Hermione, the Gryffindor girl with all that bushy hair?” she asked and Luna nodded. “She likes Clay?”
“That’s what she said, they were all in agreement that he was very attractive.”
“Interesting, very interesting,” Romy said to herself as she started to think it over, a small smile gracing her lips.
“Why is it interesting?” Luna asked curiously.
“Luna, I think it’s time I demonstrated why the sorting hat almost put me in Slytherin,” Romy said with a devious smile that Harry or Micha would have been proud of.
“Oh, this could be fun,” Luna said enthusiastically.

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Jan - We're glad we were able to make you laugh ^_^ Hope this one amused as well
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Fragmented Soul