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
- 31
- 32
- 33
Fragmented Soul
Chapter 32 - Family
With the three werewolves having wandered off to find something to do with their classroom and wards to go around it, Draco had finally found an opportunity to revisit the room of requirement and the vanishing cabinet that was giving him so much trouble.
He had hoped that the time away from the school over the Christmas holidays would have given him a fresh perspective; however, that didn’t seem to be the case as he stood before the infuriating piece of furniture none the wiser on how to fix it than he had been before the holidays. The breakthrough that he thought he had had, ended up not helping much at all.
He hadn’t been back since term began, two days previously, as the arrival of Harry and the other two had been a fair distraction and they had kept him rather busy, and amused too. They certainly made life interesting, that was for sure. The girl, Romy, had sparked his interest too but he wasn't sure that that was a good thing considering the fact they were already sidetracking him from his aims to rescue his mother and brother from the Dark Lord.
Harry was smart, stubborn and headstrong; Clayton, goofy, protective and loyal; Romy, intelligent and the perfect calming influence for the other two. Draco found that he actually really liked the three werewolves, much more than he thought he really would. After Harry had accosted him in an alleyway in Hogsmeade and threatened him, he hadn’t thought that the two of them would hit it off, but apparently he had been wrong.
Draco had reached a predicament however. He had information that he knew Harry needed to know but he wasn’t quite sure how to broach the subject or even get him alone long enough to tell him. Harry was always with someone, usually either Clayton or Romy; in fact, he was always with one of the two of them, if not both.
He knew that Harry would want to know about the fact that Severus was alive; though Draco just wasn’t entirely sure how his fellow Slytherin was going to react to it. Harry was under the impression that his father was dead; to find out the truth and to learn that he was alive but suffering, it was almost worse than him being dead. He wasn’t even sure if he wanted to be the bearer of such bad news. He would find a way soon enough, he just needed to wait for the right opportunity.
After meeting the teenager, who was supposedly the saviour of them all, he was still a little dubious about whether or not he would be capable of taking down Lord Voldemort. Harry was still a fifteen year old werewolf after all. He wouldn’t take it on faith, like everyone else, that Harry was capable of doing it and Draco knew that he still needed to make sure that his mother and brother had their escape route. The one thing that Draco had learnt was that there were no certainties in war, or ever. All he could do was fight and protect what he believed in and loved.
Sitting down on the floor in front of the cabinet he began to compose a letter for his mother, wanting to tell her of what had happened since they had been parted. Each word had to be carefully crafted and put together just in case it fell into the wrong hands. He needed to word it so very carefully so not to incriminate either of them and the entire process was exhausting.
He really hoped that Harry really was as amazing and as powerful as the Daily Prophet, as Voldemort and as Dumbledore believed him to be. The wizarding world was in desperate need of a hero but to hang all their hopes on a fifteen year old just didn’t seem like a logical thing to do, at least in Draco’s eyes; but then who was he to judge?
It was even more doubtful given how resistant to that role Harry was; Draco was sure that Dumbledore had a plan to force Harry’s cooperation, probably using Severus, but it had become clear to Draco that their supposed saviour wasn’t going to be an entirely willing participant in the war. They would just have to wait and see; there were too many people all trying to come out on top to predict what the next year, or even the next few months, would bring.
FGHP
Thursday saw the pups make a failed attempt at erecting wards around their abandoned classroom; as Romy had predicted, the warding spells clashed with the magic of Hogwarts and quickly crumbled around them. It looked like she was going to have to look up some more specialised spells after all; she had already told the boys this, of course, but they had been eager to try anyway, with what she had learned so far.
The three of them had also discussed at length what they were going to do about Romy’s parents, which was a problem that wasn’t going to just go away. Late on Thursday evening she had gone to the headmaster and agreed that she would see them the next day. She would have Astronomy that evening anyway which would give her a good excuse to duck out early if things got too much.
She knew that she had to see them and putting it off would only make it worse but that didn’t mean that it felt right. If she wasn’t in class or doing her homework then she threw herself into researching the wards for the classroom so that the three of them would have somewhere to retreat back to that was just theirs, where they couldn’t be touched.
If the boys hadn’t been so used to seeing their pack sister with her nose buried in a book then they might have been worried but, as it was, they understood that she was stressed and this was how she coped; the best way to deal with that was to let her get on with it. She knew that they would listen if she ever wanted to talk.
Clayton had figured out fairly quickly that Romy had shared what had happened with her biological family with Harry. However, he had taken the high road on this; he knew it didn’t mean that she liked his best friend more than him, just that it was easier to talk to Harry. He also didn’t mention it to his best friend; one of them would tell him when they were ready to do so. Though that didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt a little bit that they had sent him away so that they could talk.
His mood wasn’t helped with the fact that he wasn’t sleeping. He was surprised how difficult it was to adjust to sleeping inside the castle and in a bed again and, on top of that, he just didn’t feel comfortable letting his guard down in the Gryffindor dormitory, where the his fellow Gryffindor fifth years were liable to jinx him while he slept. Something that was contributing to how apart and distant from Harry and Romy he was feeling.
Harry had his friendship with Draco, Romy was hanging around with Luna and Astoria; of course he was never unwelcome with Harry and Draco but the two of them were constantly chatting away about things that he didn’t really understand. He truly felt like a third wheel with the two of them when he was supposed to be Harry’s best friend.
The final straw for Clayton was during Muggle Studies, their first class on Friday morning. It was a subject that Severus hadn’t focused too heavily on seeing as they lived in the muggle world most of the time, so it was a subject that Harry actually wanted to pay attention in. Clayton, on the other hand, didn’t see any need to learn anything from this particular class; he could function perfectly well in the muggle world if it was needed of him.
“Will you just sit still, Clayton,” Harry said a bit impatiently; it was extremely difficult to concentrate with Clay fidgeting beside him. He was starting to wish that he had sat besides Draco instead.
Clay turned to glare at his friend; he had been sitting still, or at least he thought he had been, but he was bored out of his mind. “Come on, Harry, we really need to make this class more interesting.”
“We need to actually listen so we might be able to pass the exams that we have in six months,” Harry hissed at him, scribbling down some notes as he did. His father had always been such a stickler for Harry’s education and he didn’t want to disappoint him by failing, especially something as dismally simple like muggle studies.
“Seriously?” Clay asked, astounded at Harry’s determination to concentrate. “You actually care?”
“Yes, Clayton, I actually care,” Harry said without bothering to look up from his parchment, still scribbling his notes furiously.
“Come on, Harry, you’ll pass easily, let’s set her hair on fire or something,” Clay suggested hopefully, indicating towards their professor; he even reached for his wand.
“No,” Harry said sternly, stopping Clay’s arm as it made to grab his wand from his bag. “Just shut up and pay attention,” he snapped as Clay straightened, looking at Harry in confusion.
Clay just couldn’t figure out what had happened to make Harry so upset and not sure what he had done to deserve to be spoken to in that tone. “What the hell’s crawled up your arse?” he asked huffily.
“You probably know even less about this than I do, Clayton, you could at least try to learn something,” Harry told him, feeling tired of his best friend interrupting his thoughts, when he was attempting to listen to the professor.
“Fine,” Clay said grumpily, turning his attention back to Professor Burbage, who hadn’t even looked in their direction despite their bickering.
The two of them spent the rest of the class in silence and then when they were dismissed, trailed their way to Defence Against the Dark Arts without a single word to each other. Clay had his helmet on and skateboard under one arm, his school bag flung across his body, and seemed to be resisting the urge to storm off.
He was unhappy and he didn’t even get what he had done wrong. He glanced at his supposedly best friend, who was walking next to him; it seemed that Harry wasn’t saying anything because he was reading over the essay that Professor Lupin had asked of them for their homework. Clayton was fairly sure that Harry really wasn’t paying attention to his sombre mood; in fact, Harry didn’t appear to think that anything was wrong at all.
Clay scowled at his best friend’s obliviousness; it really hurt. Normally Harry was able to know what he was thinking almost before he did; it was making him wonder if Harry’s talk about being in different houses not being enough to separate them had been just that; talk. He hadn’t felt so disconnected from Harry since they had first become friends, when they were just ten years old; it was worrying him.
He decided he had had enough of being ignored in favour of studying, and not wanting to lose his temper and say something he would really regret, Clayton dropped his skateboard to the floor. He stepped onto it and pushed off down the corridor, without even a glance over his shoulder to see if Harry had noticed or cared.
“What the hell, Clayton?” Harry mumbled to himself under his breath, having stopped and looked up in surprise at the thud of the skateboard against the stone floor, just in time to watch his best friend rushing off without him. He didn’t understand where Clayton was going without him in such a hurry, they had the same class next after all.
Not having a skateboard, nor the ability to actually use one without falling off and making a fool of himself like the last time, Harry had no way of catching up with his friend and so Clayton was already sat down by the time he reached the classroom. His best friend didn’t even turn to look at him as he entered the room; Theo, however, who Clayton had unexpectedly sat next to, turned and shrugged his shoulders in Harry’s direction to show that he had no idea what was going on either.
Draco was already sat with Daphne and so Harry, feeling confused and a little hurt, took the only remaining empty seat that wasn’t surrounded by Gryffindors. Though this did place him at a table with Blaise.
“Trouble in paradise?” Blaise asked him with a sneer and a nod of his head towards Clayton.
“I just really wanted to give you the privilege of sitting next to me, Blaise,” Harry said smoothly, turning and grinning at him sweetly.
“Some privilege,” Blaise grumbled. He really didn’t understand why Harry decided to start teasing him, and flirting with him; it was most disconcerting. It wasn’t as though he had any interest in boys at all in that way, and certainly not Harry, who was supposedly spoken for already anyway.
“You don’t have to play hard to get, handsome,” Harry told him as he very slowly got his books out of the bag he had placed on the floor, deliberately displaying his arse for Blaise to see.
“Draco,” Blaise hissed, a little urgently, trying not to look when he realised what Harry was doing,. “Switch with me.”
“What? Why?” Draco asked, turning to look over his shoulder, just as Harry sat himself back on his chair, innocent smile firmly in place.
“Because Prince keeps flirting with me,” Blaise told him impatiently; like there was anyone in Slytherin who didn’t know about how Harry was mocking him.
“Yes, because you’re just so irresistible,” Harry said dryly.
“Switch with me,” Blaise said insistently, reaching over his desk to grab Draco’s arm as the blond went to turn back to face the front of the room.
“And miss the opportunity to watch Harry make you squirm?” Draco asked. “Not a chance. Shouldn’t you be flattered, anyway?” he asked, as he pried Blaise’s fingers from his arm. He had to turn back to face the front to hide his smile as Harry winked at him; that boy really enjoyed messing with Blaise far too much.
Changing tactics, Blaise leaned back. “Theo, switch with me,” he almost ordered.
“And have Prince flirt with me, no thanks,” Theo said sternly, shaking his head.
“I should be offended,” Harry said with mock indignation as Remus walked in. “Looks like you’re stuck with me, gorgeous.”
“Just keep your hands to yourself,” Blaise warned under his breath, glaring at Harry, who was still smiling at him sweetly.
“Oh Blaise, if I didn’t have a boyfriend I wouldn’t be able to stop myself,” Harry said with mock sadness, shaking his head. “And you wouldn’t want me to, trust me,” he added, suddenly breaking out into a salacious grin, which he topped off with wink.
Blaise groaned and dropped his head onto the desk. He was starting to regret ever starting this flirting nonsense. He hadn't expected it to ever escalate this far, certainly not to the point where he would happily throttle the boy to make him stop.
“Mr Zabini, is something the matter?” Professor Lupin asked with such genuine concern that Harry and Draco both had to cover their mouths to hide their laughter. Harry hoped that Clayton was amused too, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself by turning around to check.
“No, Sir,” Blaise said quickly sitting back up and sending a glare at Harry as soon as Lupin looked away, turning back to the board.
Harry was definitely worried about what was going on with Clayton, but even if he couldn’t sit with his best friend, he would still make the most of it and distract himself from his concerns until he could speak with Clayton about it; and winding Blaise up really was a lot of fun.
FGHP

By the time class had finished, Blaise was suitably wound up, having kept Harry and Draco amused for the duration of the lesson thanks to the teasing at his expense; Harry had hoped to talk to Clay and find out what was going on with him but, before he had the chance, his pack brother had taken off on his skateboard again. Clay had dashed out of the classroom the moment the bell had rung leaving Harry and Draco to walk alone to the Great Hall for lunch.
He became even more confused upon reaching the Great Hall, when he discovered that Clayton had sulked off on his own to actually sit at the right house table. He had his head down, picking at his food in a very un-Clay like way and Harry didn’t even get a chance to catch his eye as Draco veered them towards the Slytherin table, declaring that he was starving.
“Why is Clayton sitting with the Gryffindors?” Romy asked with a concerned look at her cousin over her shoulder as Harry and Draco took seats opposite her and Astoria at the Slytherin table. Blaise and Theo were suspiciously absent from the group.
“Well he IS a Gryffindor,” Pansy sneered.
“Shut up, Parkinson,” Harry and Romy chorused.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Harry told his pack sister, glancing over at his obviously sulking best friend, before looking back at Romy. “He took off on his skateboard after Muggle studies, didn’t sit with me in Defence and now this…”
“I know he hasn’t exactly been making friends like we have,” Romy said, looking worried, “but it doesn’t make sense that he wouldn’t sit with us. Are you sure nothing's happened with you two?” she asked. It wasn’t at all like Clayton to chose not to spend time with Harry; Romy wasn’t sure she could actually remember it even having happened before, the two were usually inseparable.
“Not that I can think of,” Harry said, trying to think back over their day. Clayton had been a bit stressed that morning, but who wouldn’t be if they had to share a dormitory with those Gryffindor boys and that was something they were working to fix. “I mean I told him to sit still and pay attention in muggle studies,” he told her, “but that’s it.”
“Why does it matter? Theo and Blaise aren’t here and we’re not freaking out; he’s only sitting across the hall,” Pansy said, not understanding why they were so worried; it was where he was supposed to have been sitting in the first place and it wasn’t like they didn’t know where he was.
“Well clearly we care more about Clayton than you care about your friends,” Harry snapped at her. He was worried about his best friend and the last thing he needed was to listen to her bitching.
“Maybe he just needs time to get his thoughts together about whatever it is that is bothering him. Why not try talking to him after lunch?” Draco suggested as a very pink Dolores Umbridge approached the miserable looking Gryffindor.
“Maybe,” Harry said distractedly, watching rather intently as Umbridge clearly gave Clayton a stern telling off, judging by the way she was pointing at the skateboard he knew what it was about. The furious expression on Clay’s face, as Umbridge walked away, made Harry think that his best friend had just been given another detention.
“We have Care of Magical Creatures next, which is always good for a laugh,” Draco told him, thinking Harry just needed to be distracted for a while; Clayton would probably come around and it wouldn’t do anyone any good to have Harry moping around for the rest of the day. “Quidditch practice is this evening. You do play Quidditch, right?”
Harry immediately turned to look at Draco when he mentioned Quidditch. “Of course,” he responded, “ever since I was seven and my dad got me my first broom and snitch,” he said proudly.
“You’re a seeker then,” Draco said, sounding impressed. “You any good?”
“Not bad,” Harry said with a shrug; honestly he didn’t know how he compared to others given that he had only really flown with Clayton before. But he had been told for years by Damon and his Dad that he had a knack for it, so it would be interesting to see if they were right. “Can I try out for the team?”
“I don’t see why not, I’m the seeker at the moment but I fancy being a chaser,” Draco explained. He had started playing many years earlier when he had been much younger and smaller; he had mostly stayed in the position because no-one else had been better at it than he was; if Harry could outplay him, then all the better for the team. “Spot’s yours if you’re good enough,” he told him.
“When is it?” Harry asked curiously; he was definitely interested in seeing if he could out fly the blond.
“Tonight,” Draco said, “after dinner, six till eight.” They hadn’t been planning on trying out anyone new for the team, but he didn’t think the others would object to giving Harry a chance; they all wanted to win after all.
Harry, however, looked to Romy, knowing that he couldn’t go; she was meeting with her parents and there was no way he would leave her to face that alone. “I can’t, I promised Romy…”
“Clay will come with me,” Romy reassured him quickly; she knew without a doubt that Harry would pass on Quidditch to support her, but she knew how much he loved to fly and she didn’t want him sacrificing a possible place on the Slytherin team for her. “With everything going on you deserve some fun,” she said with a smile.
“No, Romy, I promised you I’d be there,” Harry argued back; if it was a choice between Quidditch and Romy, his pack sister would win hands down every time.
“Harry, I love you but stop being so self sacrificing,” Romy chastised. “Between everything that’s happening and… your boyfriend being so overprotective, you need to do something just for you.” She had only just managed to catch herself before she called Fenrir ‘the Alpha’; that was not a slip up that she could afford to make in present company. Pansy wasn’t the smartest of witches but even she would pick up on something as blatant as that. “Clay will come with me, I doubt either of us could stop him really.”
Harry hated to leave her to face this with only Clayton, who seemed to be otherwise preoccupied at the moment; especially after what she had told him about her brother. However, he was desperate to fly again in human form, he missed it. Granted he had flown briefly as a falcon but it just wasn’t the same as being on a broom.
“I don’t want to just leave you to…” he tried to argue, but Romy was having none of it.
“Harry,” she said sternly, interrupting him, “if you don’t try out for the Quidditch team I’m telling your boyfriend all about your flirting with Blaise.”
“You wouldn’t,” Harry said with a gasp, his eyes wide in abject horror. He couldn’t believe she would manipulate him in such a way, but he didn’t even want to think about how Fenrir would react to such information.
“Do you really want to test that theory?” Romy asked, raising an amused eyebrow, she had assumed that Harry knew better than to test how far she was willing to go. The sorting had considered her for Slytherin for a reason.
Harry took a breath, about to say yes when he saw the determined glint in her eye. “Fine, no, I don’t.” There was no way he was going to see if Romy was bluffing, because he honestly didn't think that she was.
“Why aren’t you in Slytherin?” Astoria asked, looking at Romy in amazement.
“Because she’s too much of a know-it-all for her own good,” Harry teased her, sticking out his tongue at his pack sister, who only rolled her eyes in response to his immaturity.
“I’d rather be a know-it-all than get into a fight over a paper zoo...yeah, I heard about that.” Romy said with a stern and disapproving look to Harry who couldn't hide his smirk in time at the memory, wishing that Clayton was with them to share in it.
“I have a question,” Astoria said, interrupting the light hearted bickering. “Why don’t you ever say your boyfriend's name?”
Harry looked to Romy, Draco and Daphne, all three of them knew exactly why they couldn’t mention the name Fenrir Greyback. It was a well known name after all and it would instantly out them for what they were, something they couldn’t risk happening.
“Oh he’s very famous,” Harry said with a grin, “world renowned.”
Romy rolled her eyes and shook her head with a laugh. “Harry just can’t risk making himself a target by letting people know who he’s dating,” she said, joining in on his game. Draco just snorted in amusement at their antics, Daphne just looked at them disapprovingly. She didn't think that making light of a man such as Greyback was appropriate behaviour, especially not in front of her little sister.
“Our relationship is very private, he wants to keep it out of the press you see. We’re never seen in public together. I’m his dirty little secret,” Harry told her, his tone of voice making it clear that he was rather proud of this fact.
“I don’t think he even exists. Honestly, who famous would want to date you?” Pansy asked with a sneer, looking at Harry as if he were something she had stepped in.
“I wouldn’t be so sure, Pansy,” Draco said, though he hardly blamed her for thinking that way; he probably would have come to the same conclusion himself, if it wasn’t for the information he was privy to. “He’s told me who he’s dating, believe me when I say that he’s telling the truth.”
“You know who it is?” Pansy asked, turning to the blond with a look of surprise. She knew Harry and Draco had become friends, but apparently closer friends than she had believed if Harry was confiding such details in him when he wanted to keep it a secret. “How do you know he isn’t lying?” she asked with obvious scepticism.
“This isn’t something anyone would make up,” Daphne told her; there were plenty of people worth claiming to be seeing and she definitely wouldn’t have put Fenrir Greyback anywhere on that list.
“You know too?” Pansy exclaimed with disbelief, turning to glare at the other girl.
“Unfortunately,” Daphne grumbled; the mental pictures, that had come with the knowledge of exactly who the young werewolf was mated to, were reason enough to wish she didn’t know.
“Tell me!” Pansy demanded.
“No,” Daphne told her sternly; she wasn’t exactly sure why Harry had trusted her with the knowledge, probably because of her friendship with Draco, but she wasn’t about to betray his trust on this. He was clearly a powerful ally to have, and she would rather have him with her than against her.
“Why not? We’re meant to be friends,” Pansy insisted, feeling rather indignant that she had been left out.
“If you two ladies, and I use the term loosely, are done arguing over my boyfriend, we have to get to class,” Harry said, standing up and offering his hand to Romy, who took it and got to her feet. He wasn’t particularly happy that Daphne knew their secrets; he didn’t exactly trust her but he had made a mistake on the train when he hadn’t known that she would recognise Fenrir’s name; at least she seemed willing to hold her tongue for now.
Pansy and Daphne looked positively offended at Harry’s comment, though Draco seemed to be highly amused by the whole exchange, as Romy and Harry headed out of the Great Hall, arm in arm, Clayton glaring at their backs as they left.
FGHP
Damon had really hoped that the Alpha would take on board his suggestion and keep himself busy, but Fenrir had shown no inclination to build something for Harry, or actually to do anything other than sulk. Damon was starting to think that his friend was seriously going to sulk for the full two weeks the pups were going to be at school.
He wasn’t the only one who had noticed either. Jenson too was a little concerned that the Alpha was just going to continue with his bad mood, snapping at anyone who dared go anywhere near him. Callie had become too scared to even take him food and that was the point where they all knew that something had to be done.
“I’m going to go and talk to him,” Jenson said with determination. He had chosen to take his opportunity while the Alpha wasn’t brandishing his axe.
Damon looked up from where he was pouring himself some tea; he had been vaguely wondering where Lukas was. The intelligent young werewolf had been spending an awful lot of time away from the clearing lately; he claimed he was working but Damon was a little suspicious, particularly given the way he had seen the younger werewolf smiling to himself occasionally when he was hiding behind a book or thought no-one was looking. Damon, however, wasn’t going to question it; he was glad that Lukas was happy, whatever the reason.
“You sure that’s wise?” Damon asked, looking over to where the Alpha male was skinning a few rabbits that had been caught in their traps, so that Callie could cook them for dinner.
“Not at all,” Jenson said with a grimace as he placed his tea down, “but it has to be done. He can’t keep going this.” Just as Jenson began to make his way over to Fenrir he was beaten to it by Micha, who had a determined look on his face and what looked like a photograph in his hand. “Umm… Damon,” the Beta said hesitantly.
“Yeah, what is it?” Damon asked looking over to Jenson and then following his line of sight almost dropped his mug when he saw Micha talking to the Alpha. “Oh for the love of…”
“He’s got guts, I’ll give him that,” Jenson said with admiration.
“I take my eyes off him for one second,” Damon said, heading over towards them to fetch Micha back; but Jenson stopped him, putting a hand on his shoulder.
“Fenrir won’t hurt him, let’s see if he does any good,” Jenson suggested.
“If you and I can’t get through to him what hope does Micha have?”
“Hey, he’s your mate, have a little faith in him; he’s stronger and more stubborn than you want to give him credit for,” Jenson said, giving Damon a nudge. He knew their relationship was new but that didn't give Damon the right to underestimate the submissive.
“And apparently smarter too,” Damon said a little softly as Micha turned and started heading towards them with a huge smug grin on his face. The Alpha, he noticed, was heading off into the woods; he wasn’t sure exactly where he was going, but he was doing something and that was more than either he or Jenson had achieved.
“See, you should have just let me talk to him days ago,” Micha said proudly, as he tucked himself into Damon’s side.
“Where’s he off to?” Jenson asked, gesturing to where Fenrir had just disappeared out of sight through the tree line. He was curious as to what Micha had said to make the Alpha jump into action, or what he had shown him. Whatever Micha had been holding when he had spoken to Fenrir was mysteriously hidden away.
“Off to chop himself some trees down to start building with,” Micha said, shrugging as though it was no big deal. It had been both frustrating and amusing to watch Damon and Jenson struggle to make progress with the Alpha, but he was definitely feeling pleased with having so easily accomplished what they could not.
“How…?” Damon asked, looking absolutely astounded.
“Submissive werewolf secrets,” Micha said, tapping the side of his nose. “Harry helped me,” he told them a little cryptically; his fellow submissive had really reminded him how to take control of a situation. He had so much respect for how much natural self-confidence Harry seemed to have and he doubted he would ever be able to match it, but he was starting to find his own two feet again, especially now he had Damon at his side too.
“Harry?” Jenson asked curiously, wondering how the pup could have had anything to do with this when he was all the way at Hogwarts; though he wasn’t exactly surprised that Harry had the capabilities to meddle even when he wasn’t here.
“Yep, he gave me some leverage over the Alpha,” Micha said with a huge grin; he actually thought the picture of Fenrir and Damon practically curled up asleep together was incredibly cute, but the Alpha had been less than impressed with the suggestion to show it to the rest of the pack.
“That pup is a terrible influence on you,” Damon said with a sigh. “Though admittedly, if it gets Fenrir out of his grump then I am not complaining.”
“Do I dare ask what this leverage is?” Jenson asked; he thought that he had seen Micha holding a photograph, though he couldn’t imagine what Micha and Harry could have captured in a picture that could sway the Alpha.
It conjured images of Fenrir doing things so out of character that it would have destroyed his reputation. He certainly wouldn’t have put it past Harry to have something like that and to give it to Micha to keep Fenrir in line. His first thoughts had been of something really peculiar like the Alpha in a pink tutu, but he was fairly sure that not even Harry could have talked Fenrir into wearing something of the like. But that did nothing to dull his curiosity.
“You can dare, doesn’t mean I’m going to show you,” Micha said with a satisfied smirk, thinking that the photograph was going to be kept just for him and Harry for the moment. He thought that he might show Damon, but not yet; it was too priceless to just show to everyone.
“You really are trouble,” Damon said as Jenson, realising that the couple were going to have a moment, edged his way over to the fire where Callie. She was sitting and talking to Tessie, having picked up where the Alpha had left off with the rabbits; he much preferred the idea of talking cooking with the two of them than being the third wheel with Damon and Micha.
“You love it,” Micha said, his amethyst eyes glinting in triumph as he turned himself in Damon’s arms so that he was looking up at the dominant older man, smiling at him happily.
“It isn’t the only thing I love,” Damon said, before he realised what he had just implied. “Shit, I didn’t mean that,” he told him quickly, trying to backtrack.
“You didn’t?” Micha asked, looking a little stunned. He had hardly expected for Damon to actually love him; he hoped, that was for sure, but he hadn’t dared believe it was possible and so for his mate to imply it, and then take it back a second later, confused him. He didn’t know what to think now.
“I did…” Damon said, realising what it must have sounded like. “But I didn’t, not like that,” he tried to explain, stumbling over his words and quite certain that he was making it all worse, but Micha was smiling at him again, and so that, as least, was a good sign.
“Your mouth getting ahead of your brain?” Micha asked, mimicking what Damon had said to him a few days previously.
“Something like that,” Damon said with slight amusement. He did love his mate, he had for some time, but it was too soon for Micha to hear such things, he was sure; he was just glad that his mate had understood rather than freaked out over it. Micha had actually been more concerned when he tried to take it back, he realised.
FGHP
Since the deaths of Keres and Brade, about a week and half ago, there had been a steady stream of new additions sent to the pack; they were mostly mindless brutes, though one of them seemed to be nearly as insane as Axlar and another was a devious little shit who was always whispering with Jack.
They were of very little interest to Dean, Russ or Aiden, none of who had actually even tried to learn their names; the new pack members spent most of their time training with Gideon or Axlar, and that was fine with everybody.
Aiden had no desire to integrate into the group any more than was necessary. Dean and Russ were loyal to Gideon not to Voldemort, the others, well, their motives were very unclear. Some seemed to be doing it because they held grudges or desired power, but mostly it seemed to be because they had a desire to spill blood. Aiden couldn’t get on board with any of this; he just wanted his family safe and if that meant that he had to endure the squalor that they were currently living in for a while longer, then so be it.
Dean and Russ were nice enough and they were the closest thing that Aiden had to friends in the pack but he would kill them to stay alive and save his family, there was no question about that. This was nothing like what he was used to from his pack. In his old pack they had been family by blood and acted like it; though, he had known other packs whose members weren’t related but still acted as if they were without question. This ragtag group of men was more of a gang than a pack and he hated it.
From the way that Russ and Dean complained about the way things were, he got the impression that it wasn’t always this way, that once they had been a real pack; now it was just an insult to werewolves everywhere.
“Has Gideon always been your Alpha?” Aiden asked curiously as the three of them sat drinking very weak black coffee, their supplies had been dwindling for a long while.
“No,” Dean said. “His father was the Alpha once.” Silence descended for a moment, Aiden knew what that meant. When Alpha’s were challenged it was to the death.
“We were a normal pack back then, a proper pack,” Russ said bitterly. He was starting to wonder why he even stayed; but Dean was the closest thing to family he had left since Roderic’s murder and, although Gideon had clearly lost his way, there was some degree of loyalty he still felt towards him.
“Ever since Gideon took over,” Dean said through gritted teeth, “since he aligned with Voldemort...” The rest didn’t need to be said, both Russ and Aiden understood. The three of them looked around at the pack they were part of now; Axlar had a few gathered around him while he spoke with passion about his kills, Jack off whispering and plotting with his new little friend.
“The sooner this is all done with the better,” Russ grumbled, the other two nodding their agreement.
“I don’t like hunting our own kind like this,” Dean muttered, knowing that he couldn’t afford for any of the others to hear his complaints. “It just doesn’t feel right.”
“Yeah but what they did to Harlan... I mean I never liked the guy but that was just sick.” Russ had seen the battered corpse of the werewolf when he had helped the Alpha dig out a hole to throw him in; there had been no mourning or emotional bullshit about the spy’s death but it still was awful to see Harlan's body in such a state. There was no doubt that he had suffered and it made Russ wonder what he could have done to piss Greyback off that much, or if the famous werewolf really was just that much of a bastard.
“What about what Axlar did to all those women, what he tried to do with my cousin?” Aiden asked. Hearing the stories had nearly made him empty his stomach the first time; he liked a good fight as much as the next werewolf but that kind of thing was just disturbing. “That isn’t exactly right either,” he pointed out.
“I guess we’re all fucked up,” Dean said, it wasn’t like there was anything they could do about it, and he had to admit the violence of some of it did have its appeal. But he would never consider himself on the same level as Axlar or apparently Greyback, if Harlan’s body was anything to go by. “Still doesn’t feel right,” he told them; he was proud of being a werewolf, but what they were doing sometimes felt like a betrayal of their kind.
“I know what you mean,” Russ said. “Despite what they did to Harlan, I don’t like hunting our own kind; they have pups too.” He would do what he had to do, of course, and he would see Jenson’s head removed from his shoulders for what the bastard had done to Roderic, but he would never be able to enjoy the slaughter of werewolf pups. Sure he could admit that torturing that little submissive might have been fun, but he wouldn’t have wanted to kill him; that would have been a terrible waste anyway.
“We do what has to be done,” Dean said adamantly, and he meant it. They would complete their mission and then they could work on restoring their pack to what it was meant to be. “We’re stuck. This is where we are, we don’t have a choice anymore.”
“Gideon may not be a great Alpha but I’ve known him all my life. Even if I wanted to leave, I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Russ said, feeling utterly hopeless.
“The Dark Lord has my youngest cousin hostage; as long as I stay here, and Tessie keeps acting as spy, she’s safe. If it wasn’t for her then I’d go.” Aiden admitted quietly, being careful to keep his voice low so that none of the others overheard what he was saying.
“Your old pack,” Russ began, looking to Aiden. “Was it nice there?”
“Yes,” Aiden said with a fond smile as he recalled the many happy years with his family. It was bitter-sweet though, with the knowledge that they were mostly dead and gone; but it give him the strength to fight for Tessie and also for Jilly. “My Uncle was Alpha, we were a small pack, all of us were related by blood but it was nice… I miss it.”
“What happened?” Russ asked, though he was sure that he could hear the same regretful longing in Aiden’s voice that he felt about his own fallen family.
“The Dark Lord, he killed them all,” Aiden said, his voice cold and even. “All of them but Jilly, Tessie and me.”
Dean and Russ both nodded their understanding but said nothing; there was nothing to be said. Gideon and their pack were all Dean and Russ had ever known but now it was just the two of them and the Alpha that were left from the original pack, everyone else had left or been killed. The two of them really had nowhere else to go and knew no one who they could turn to.
Dean had briefly considered the idea that the three of them should leave a form a pack of their own, away from all the orders and death, but there was no doubt that Gideon would hunt them down, and with the pack he had loyal to him now they would be dead within days at most. So they would stay and finish this; at least Aiden was halfway to sane and probably more decent than anyone else in the pack was; Dean and Russ agreed that he made reasonable company in the face of a lack of other options.

FGHP

The screams were keeping her awake. The Dark Lord was taking out his sadistic pleasures on her sister again and, what was worse, Narcissa could do nothing to stop it. Cowering in her nursery, cradling Brax, trying to comfort him; her younger son was often woken by the screaming. It was punishment from Lucius for not returning to their marital bed, he had managed to remove the sound barriers of her wards and was working on the rest.
Brax was the one reason she carried on; exhaustion plagued her but she slept when she could and cared for her baby, looking forward to when Draco would write to her. His most recent letter had seemed different from other correspondence that he had sent, happier, at least she thought so. The arrival of Harry Prince seemed to have ignited something in her eldest son. It seemed like he finally had hope but perhaps that was just her wishful thinking.
She knew that her time in the nursery was running out but she already had a plan. Brax was still young and he still woke several times during the night to feed, so she would insist that their infant son be in with them and hopefully it wouldn’t take long for Lucius to be driven to distraction with the sleep deprivation. He hadn’t coped with it well the first time around with Draco and now he was older and under more strain. She was hopeful that he would permit her to return to her safe haven.
She was only sorry that she couldn’t help her sister. Bellatrix, however, was beyond help, mainly because she didn’t want it. She was under the delusion that the Dark Lord loved her in his own special way and nothing that Narcissa, or anyone else, could say would change Bella’s mind on that front. Not even the way Lucius treated her was as bad as the things that Tom Riddle was doing to her big sister. Narcissa had seen the scars left by their master and it had taken all her resolve not to show utter revulsion at the sight of them.
Bellatrix wasn’t going to survive the war, not this time, Narcissa was certain of that much; though she didn’t know whether it was Bella’s enemies or the Dark Lord that would finally get to her. But judging by the screams, she knew who she would put her money on.
Family meant a lot to Narcissa but there didn’t seem to be anything that could be done for Bella who seemed to have lost her self-respect, her dignity and her sanity too, though she had been slightly lacking on all counts her entire life anyway. That didn’t mean that Narcissa loved her any less but her children would always come first.
FGHP
Harry had not managed to get Clayton alone all afternoon, much to his frustration, so he still didn’t know what was going on with his best friend and he was downhearted when Clayton sat at the Gryffindor table again at dinner time.
“I wish he would just talk to me,” Harry told Romy as the two of them stood just outside the door to the Great Hall after they were done eating.
“I know, Harry, but Draco was right about just giving him some time,” Romy told him. “I’ll see if I can wrangle it out of him this evening, it will give me something else to think about anyway.”
“Are you really sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Harry asked again; he had been asking her repeatedly at every opportunity since she and Draco had talked him into going to the Slytherin Quidditch practice at lunch time.
“I am really sure,” she insisted; it was really good to know he was serious about being willing to drop everything for her sake, but she did wish he would just do this for himself without all the fuss. “You better get going to practice; with the obvious mood Clay is in, he isn’t going to come over until you and Draco are gone, and I would really rather not be late for this meeting.”
“Okay,” Harry agreed with a sigh, still reluctant to leave her, ever if it was in the capable hands of his best friend. “You know that I love you, right?” he asked, pulling her into a hug and placing a quick kiss to her cheek. “No matter what happens, or what they say, or do or anything, that isn’t going to change.”
“I know,” Romy agreed, wrapping her arms around his waist and breathing in his calming scent. She really did know, and loved him too; he was family to her now, far more than the people that she had to go meet in Dumbledore’s office. “Now go, before you make me cry or something,” she said sternly, pushing him off of her.
“Come on, let’s get going before Clayton comes over here and rips your head off or something,” Draco muttered, giving Harry a nudge and nodding his head towards the Gryffindor boy.
Harry turned to look and noticed that his best friend was indeed glaring daggers at him. Harry sighed with frustration, wondering if this was for the same reason as why he had been avoiding him or if this was about hugging Romy; either way, it was ridiculous in Harry’s opinion. He just wished that Clayton would get over it already and just talk to him, and preferably remember that he definitely had no interest in Romy other than her being like his cousin or maybe little sister.
Romy watched as Harry and Draco made their way towards the door out of the castle, that would take them towards the Quidditch pitch; but she wasn’t alone for long before she sensed and smelt Clayton join her in the entrance hall.
“Where's he going?” Clay asked, eyeing his friend and the blond sceptically.
“Quidditch practice, he’s trying out for the Slytherin team,” Romy said, turning to look at her pack brother curiously, trying to figure out what was wrong with him. She could normally see right through him, however whatever was bothering him this time wasn't as transparent as normal.
“Well that’s charming,” Clay bitched. “You’re going to meet your parents and he’s going flying; fuck sake, we’re supposed to be a family.”
“Clayton,” Romy said in surprise, “we are a family.”
“Funny,” Clayton said with a somewhat sarcastic snort of amusement. “Doesn’t seem like Harry believes that, he’s choosing Quidditch over you.”
“And you’re being an absolute twat,” she said glaring at her cousin. She had no idea what Harry had done to upset Clayton, but it was obvious that Harry had no idea either; perhaps if Clay tried actually talking about it rather than going off in a sulk then they could have moved passed this already. Honestly he was being far more childish than Romy thought she could ever remember being herself. “If you’re going to carry on acting like a baby then I’m going to go to this meeting on my own.”
“You can’t, I won’t let you,” Clayton told her stubbornly, looking at her in surprise at the suggestion.
He knew how worried she had been about the meeting, how much it had been stressing her out, and no matter what was going on with him and Harry, she wasn’t going through with it alone. For one thing, Jenson would skin him alive for letting that happen, but for another, he cared far too much about her and would always do what he could to support her.
“Watch me!” she snapped at him. “I don’t want you to come with me if you’re going to act like this.”
With these words Romy stormed off, heading up the marble staircase. Clayton stared after her in shock before realising that there was no way he was going to let her go into this meeting on her own, not without anyone backing her up, and so he charged after her, running to catch her up. When he finally found her again they were on the third floor, about to ascend up a staircase that had just moved into position to take them where they needed to go.
“I’m serious Clayton, I don’t want you coming with me if you’re going to act like a complete and utter jerk,” she said without looking at him.
“I’m sorry,” he said, hoping that that might at least keep her from running away from him again.
“What’s up with you?” she asked, as they continued to make their way towards the headmaster's office.
“Not important,” Clay said dismissively. “Let’s get you through this first,” he suggested. His issues with Harry really felt unimportant compared to what she had to deal with; he wasn’t sure how he would feel if he had to ever face his birth family, though he knew that was a little different, given he didn’t even remember them.
“No Clay, that isn’t how this works, we’re family remember, talk to me,” Romy insisted.
“You’re just trying to avoid talking about this meeting,” Clayton said grumpily, crossing his arms over his chest, not really even knowing where he would even begin to start explaining.
“Maybe I am,” Romy admitted, though she hadn’t realised it. It certainly wasn’t the whole reason she wanted Clayton to talk to her, but maybe he had a point about it being a good distraction from who she was about to go see. “So can you just indulge me on this, please?” she pleaded; honestly if it got him talking she was happy to go with what he believed.
“I just don’t like the fact that Harry left you to go and play Quidditch,” Clayton told her. He didn’t really know how to explain why he was so upset; it all felt a bit stupid when he tried to put it into words but it wasn’t really one thing in particular; it was a collection of little things, he supposed.
“He didn’t, I told him that he had to go or else I’d tell Fenrir about him flirting with Blaise,” Romy explained, looking a little pleased with herself. “And that isn’t the reason, you were unhappy with Harry this morning. He told me he snapped at you in muggle studies; is that what this is about?”
“Give me some credit,” Clay said with a snort. He was hardly going to fall out with Harry over one snappy comment. He wasn't five after all; no matter what the rest of the pack believed, he had slightly more maturity than that.
“I think I’ve given you all the credit you deserve,” Romy retorted a little harshly.
“I’m just not sleeping very well alright. I’ve not slept more than an hour at a time since we got here," he explained. "The sooner we get our room sorted the better; I don’t feel comfortable in the Gryffindor common room, let alone the dormitory.”
“And you’re sure that’s all it is?” Romy asked dubiously, not believing it for a moment.
“Yeah. How are those wards coming?” Clayton asked, happy for a change of subject. He honestly did believe that a good night's sleep away from the Gryffindors would fix most of his problems, even if he and Harry had a few things to work through between them.
“They’re coming, shouldn’t take more than a few weeks to find a combination that won’t interfere with the wards around the school," Romy told him. "It will take weeks though, Clay and you need to sleep before then.”
“Let’s get you through this first,” Clayton said as they came to a stop outside of the giant gargoyle that concealed the entrance to the Headmaster's office. “Then we can worry about me sleeping.”
“I love you; you know that, right?” Romy blurted out.
“I know,” Clayton said with a smile, though it hurt him a little to know that she didn’t mean it in the way he wanted her to. “Whatever it was that happened in the past, I’m not going to let them anywhere near you.”
“Just promise me something; nothing inappropriate, just try not to be you for a couple hours,” Romy asked, her tone pleading as she thought of how much worse it could get if Clayton either started making jokes; either that or picking a fight with one of her parents. She just really needed him to behave for once.
“You know, I know it's hard to believe, but I’m not entirely incapable of normal human interaction,” Clayton told her with exasperation. He knew he was rather… difficult at times, but for Romy’s sake he would hold his tongue as best he could.
Romy gave him a look that said that she wasn't entirely convinced. “I’ll believe that when I see it, now let’s just get this over with,” she said with a sigh.
“Remember, we can leave at any time; just let me know and we will walk away,” Clayton assured her; he kind of hoped she would just decide to not see them at all, but understood that she needed to find that closure with her birth family, at the very least.
“I know,” she said with a smile, giving him a quick kiss to the cheek. “Thank you,” she told him, lacing her fingers together with him as the stone gargoyle started to move, revealing a staircase to them without a password being uttered.
“I guess they’re expecting us,” Clayton said with a wry smile as they headed up the stairs towards the door to the headmaster’s office. As they reached the door, Romy was trembling, her breathing ragged and uneven. “I’ve got you,” Clay reassured her. “If you walk through that door or turn around and walk away, I’m with you.”
“I can’t walk away… not now,” she said trying to calm herself. “Don’t let me go, okay?” As she said this she squeezed his hand and he returned the gesture.
“Never,” he reassured her as he knocked with his free hand.
The door swung open and permitted them entry to the large circular room. As they stepped inside they could see that it was a beautiful space and, despite her nervousness, Clay could see Romy’s hands itching to get at the truly remarkable book collection. High on the walls were portraits of many elderly witches and wizards, who Romy knew to be the headmasters and headmistresses that had come before Dumbledore. The room was littered with numerous spindly tables that held delicate instruments and Clayton wouldn’t even have known where to begin guessing at what they might all be for.
An enormous claw-footed desk took pride of place in the room and Albus Dumbledore was sat behind it, watching the two young werewolves closely as they entered. By his side was a perch, and upon it a fiery phoenix, whose black eyes were watching them almost as intensely as the headmaster’s blue ones. But neither the headmaster nor his phoenix, nor any of the other contents of the room, held their attention for long as their eyes were drawn to the three muggles that were present.
In one chair sat a woman; she was perched on the very edge, her hands in her lap, clutching at a handbag somewhat nervously. Just like Romy she was petite, her light brown hair in tight curls to her chin. She was wearing a hideous powder blue blouse with frills and a grey skirt that was longer than her knee, there were even pearls around her neck. A greying older man stood behind her wearing a suit, his hands in his trouser pockets. He was looking around the office disapprovingly, as if it was all beneath him; his nose in the air as he surveyed some of the magical instruments around him, his black moustache flecked with grey.
There was also a teenage boy, who was probably about seventeen or eighteen to look at him. He was slumped in a second chair looking bored and far too pleased with himself. He had the same light brown hair that Romy did but it had been cut short and spiked up with more gel than was entirely necessary. He was sporting some kind of attitude, as if he had been greatly wronged and this alone made Clayton want to punch him; however, as promised, he didn't let Romy go.
Romy edged further away from her brother, leaning into Clayton and clutching at his arm tightly, fear filling her heart and mind. All eyes were on her and she didn’t feel right; she had always hated being the centre of attention, much preferring to fade into the background. Clayton took an instant dislike to these people just going on Romy’s reaction to them.
“Ah, there you are, Miss Howard,” the headmaster said with a kind smile, that Clayton thought had a distinctly mocking edge to it, which he didn’t approve of in the slightest. “Though we didn’t expect you to bring your cousin with you.”
“Like I was going to let her come alone,” Clayton hissed at the headmaster.
“Clay,” Romy whispered softly, warning him to back off and he gave a subtle nod of his head to show that he had understood and said nothing more. He was going to do his level best to ensure that he didn’t do anything to make this evening worse for her.
The funny thing was, Clayton had expected her family to be relieved, to hug her and kiss her, to be so grateful to have their daughter back and yet they had barely acknowledged that she had even walked into the room. Instead they surveyed her with interest as if she hadn’t been kidnapped and taken from them at the age of eleven.
“You seem… well,” the man said, his voice stiff as he looked at his younger child.
“I am,” Romy said somewhat formally considering she was addressing her father, looking at the man as if he were a stranger to her. When she had got her Hogwarts letter he hadn’t really spoken to her much at all; it seemed strange that he would be the first to speak to her now that they had been reunited.
“Where have you been living, sweetheart?” her mother blurted out, causing Romy to switch her gaze to the woman who had given birth to her. Callie was her mum now, not this woman, not anymore; the ‘sweetheart’ nickname sounding sickening false from the woman’s lips. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at her brother.
“With my family, the people that rescued me,” Romy told them a little coldly. “You don’t need to worry about that now,” she informed them; she would not let them hold any delusion about her returning to them.
“And this includes your… cousin?” her mother asked, having picked up the headmaster’s words, as she looked Clayton up and down with heavy disapproval.
“That’s right,” Clayton said firmly, not liking the way this woman was looking at him; it took some effort but he kept himself from saying anything further and just remained at Romy’s side, holding on to her hand tightly as she clutched desperately to him.
“These people chose to be stuck with you?” Romy’s brother asked incredulously. It was the first time that he had spoken and the words out of his mouth did very little to improve the first impression Clayton had got about him when he had first walked in the room.
“You must be Romy’s brother, she never bothered to tell me your name though,” Clayton said with a sneer of disgust; as much as he didn’t like Romy’s parents, he really loathed this obviously vindictive boy. “And yeah, I’d do anything for this girl, we’re not stuck with her, we love her.”
“She belongs with her real family,” Jennifer said curtly standing up as if that was going to settle the matter. “She’ll be coming home with us, won’t you Rosemary.” The use of her full name, a name she had never shared with any of the pack before now did very little to endear her biological family to her. She had always hated her full name and never told anyone what it was. As soon as this was over she was going to make Clayton swear under pain of death to never repeat it to anyone.
“No, Jennifer, I won’t,” Romy told her. “I already live with my real family and I’m staying with them; they are more of a family to me that you ever were.”
“She is your mother,” Romy’s father told her, clearly horrified by the casual use of his wife’s name by their daughter. “You will address her properly, young lady.”
“She isn’t my mother, Adam; just like you aren’t my father,” Romy said angrily, glaring at the man. “Did you even bother looking for me when I was taken?” she asked, looking between her biological parents questioningly. There were so many answers that she needed from them but she knew that there was very little she could do as it wasn't likely they would answer them satisfactorily.
“Of course we did,” Jennifer said, horrified at the accusation that she hadn't bothered to look for her own child when she had gone missing. “We wanted you to come home, Rosemary, sweetheart, we still do.”
“Do you want to know what they did to me?” Romy asked, glaring at Jennifer. “How they beat me, tortured me, raped me? I was ELEVEN years old. They tied me up and took turns with me, a whole… group of them!”
Her family looked horrified, even Jake looked slightly sickened by her words, and the expressions on their faces were actually delightfully satisfying for her; she had wanted to shock and horrify them with the admission of what had happened to her before she had been rescued and it had clearly been successful. Clayton, however, was unwavering at her side, though he had stiffened somewhat as she had spoken, hating hearing what Romy had gone though.
Romy had nearly slipped and said pack though, she was lucky that she had caught herself in time as she didn’t want to get into the whole werewolf issue with these people, it was honestly none of their business anymore. Besides, they were muggles, they wouldn’t have understood about magical creatures; they had enough issues dealing with the fact that their daughter was a witch.
“How long were you with them?” Jake asked with sick curiosity.
“Almost a week before my Dad rescued me,” Romy told him, smirking at the gasp of shock her mother let out. “My real Dad, the one who actually loves me,” she added, with a pointed look at Adam, who seemed ready to protest. She didn’t care if the man had an issue with her calling someone else Dad; as far as she was concerned Jenson was her Dad and she wouldn’t hesitate to call him that, not for anyone.
“I take it this name you are using... Howard was it? That is this... man’s name,” Adam asked, with obvious disapproval.
“Yes,” she said stiffly. “Now...You know I’m okay, you know I’m safe and happy, I don’t want to go back with you, I don’t want anything to do with any of you. You can go back to whatever you were doing before the newspaper article came out and forget you ever had a daughter.”
“You’re our child, sweetheart,” Jennifer said, trying again to placate Romy’s obvious anger. Jennifer had been so surprised when her sister had found the picture of Romy in that weird wizarding newspaper and, even if they had never been as close as they would have liked to be with their rather strange daughter, Romy was still their child. “How can you just expect us to walk away?”
“Stop with all the sweetheart rubbish,” Romy said, getting tired of the pretence that these people cared about her. “You don’t even know me; you didn’t know me when I was eleven and you certainly don’t know me now.”
“She doesn’t even want us here, Mum,” Jake protested, starting to get to his feet, before his father put a hand on his shoulder and made him sit back down. He hadn’t want to come here in the first place; Romy was here in this school filled with weirdoes just like her, why couldn’t she just stay with them. She didn’t belong in their family, she was just too much of a freak.
“He’s right, for once,” Romy said determinedly; she knew that Jake’s reasons were probably selfish and horrible, but she didn’t care what he thought any more. She was long past the point of wishing her birth family loved her; she didn’t need that from them now that she had her pack. “I don’t want you here,” she told them, meeting Jennifer’s eyes.
“You won’t speak to your mother in that tone, young lady,” Adam raged, taking a step towards Romy, glaring at her. Clayton let out a low warning growl, telling him to back off. He may have agreed to hold his tongue for Romy's sake but he wasn't above attacking this man if he dared come any closer to her.
“Mr Danes, that is hardly necessary,” the headmaster said sternly. Up until this point the elderly man had been quite happy to just sit back and watch, saying nothing. Apparently Clayton embracing his inner wolf was a reason he might need to step in and intervene. “If you carry on then you will be asked to leave.”
“We just want you home, sweetheart,” Jennifer said again. “You were never meant to come here; come home with us.” She had never been happy with the idea of her daughter coming to some school for magic, and she certainly didn’t feel comfortable being there herself, so the idea of having to leave Romy here now, with these… people, just felt wrong.
“Name my favourite colour,” Romy insisted suddenly, looking to her parents expectantly.
“Excuse me?” Jennifer asked, taken aback by the sudden question.
“My favourite colour, what was it, before I was taken?” Romy asked again, determined to prove her point. She was fairly certain none of her birth family would be able to answer such a question as she didn’t even remember them ever having discussed it with her.
“What does it matter?” Adam asked, brushing it off as if it were nothing.
Romy glared at him hatefully. “It matters,” she said through gritted teeth.
“Pink,” Jennifer answered after a moment. “Your whole bedroom was pink,” she recalled, still confused about why Romy was asking her such a thing.
“You painted it pink because that was what you wanted it to be, it was never my favourite colour,” Romy said sadly; she hadn’t expected Jennifer to be able to answer the question, but it was still painful. “What’s my favourite thing to do?” she queried.
“Oh for goodness sake, this is preposterous,” Adam said with exasperation but this time he was ignored.
“Do… oh, you used to love to draw, you were always doodling,” Jennifer said, feeling a lot more confident in this answer.
“I’ve never loved drawing, I’ve never even expressed an interest in it,” Romy stated. She thought that her birth mother’s seeming disinterest couldn’t affect her any more, but apparently she was wrong; she felt unexpectedly angry about it and just had to remind herself how great Callie and Jenson were as her Mum and Dad now. They had given her a great life these last few years and were her real parents just like she had told Jennifer and Adam; but the contrast was really hammering it home. “What was my favourite food?” she asked them.
“How should I know that?” Jennifer asked, starting to sound annoyed. “You barely ate anything when you were at home with us.”
“Clay…” Romy said, looking up at her cousin who smiled at her and nodded.
“Her favourite colour has always been purple, the thing she loves to do more than anything else is reading, usually there is nothing you can do to prise the book she's reading from her hands and her favourite food is waffles,” he said without even thinking. He knew Romy, there was no doubt there; and he still wanted to get know more about her every day.
Jennifer and Adam looked astounded by this, Jake just seemed bored. "Well he has lived with you for the last few years, of course he has more up to date information," Adam told her impatiently, not liking this superior attitude that Romy was taking with them, as though they were to blame for what happened to her. If she hadn’t been so careless and gotten kidnapped then she would still have lived with them and they might know these things.
“He hasn’t actually, it’s only been a few months but I think that's exactly the point," Romy told them. Maybe now they would realise that they weren’t her family anymore; they shared genetics but nothing more. "Why would I leave a family that knows and likes... no... loves me,” she amended, “for one that barely seems interested in me?”
“Then give us a chance to get to know you now,” Jennifer said softly.
Romy looked to Clay who shrugged, he didn’t like it but he knew that it wasn’t up to him. “It has to be your choice,” he told her, trying to sound encouraging, giving her hand a squeeze.
Romy bit her lip as she thought it over; they would never be her family again, but she still wanted to give them a chance to prove themselves. Or rather, she wanted to give Jennifer a chance; Jake certainly was beyond redemption in her eyes, and Adam probably was too. “I have one condition then,” she said, after a few moments. “I don’t want Jake there.”
“Oh for goodness sake,” Adam said with frustration. His wife had told him the tall tale their daughter had spun about things Jake had supposedly done. “This can’t be about…”
“Don’t,” Jennifer said stiffly; she would not have such a… disgusting insinuation mentioned, particularly around these other people. “It never happened but if that is what Romy wants then I think we can manage that.”
“Ridiculous,” Adam said with irritation.
“If Jake doesn’t come then I think you can do the decent thing and meet us without your… cousin,” Jennifer said. Clearly this boy didn’t like her family and was only going to be a hindrance to her attempts to get her daughter back. “I don’t think that that is too much to ask.”
“Like hell,” Clayton snapped, not liking that idea one bit. He suspected that Harry and the rest of the pack wouldn’t be keen on letting it happen either.
“Mr Danes,” Dumbledore said, warningly, “this is your last chance.” He didn’t want to turn the young werewolves against him, as it would likely complicate things with Harry but if his plan was to go the way he wanted it then Clayton was going to have to be calm and not make things more difficult with Romy and her parents.
“It’s okay, Clay,” Romy said, placing her free hand on his arm. It would probably be for the best if Clayton wasn’t there when she and her biological parents tried to get to know each other again. “As long as Jake isn’t there I can agree to that,”
“Romy…” Clayton said, looking to her in surprise. He might not like the idea, but it was her choice and he wouldn’t fight her on it, if it was truly what she wanted. He just hadn’t thought that she would be comfortable with that.
“It’s fine,” she said with a smile, before turning back to Jennifer. “I can give them a few more hours of my time.”
“As long as your school work doesn’t suffer, Miss Howard,” the headmaster chimed in needlessly. As if Romy would have ever let these people hinder her chance to learn; she had been sorted into Ravenclaw for a good reason after all.
“Don’t make it sound like such an imposition,” Jake sneered at her. They were the ones that had come out of their way to find her after all, he didn’t see why she was acting like it was such an effort on her part.
“Well it is an imposition on me,” Romy snapped at him, rage knotting in her gut. She could have quite happily gone the rest of her life without seeing any of them again, and actually she would have preferred it that way, particularly when it came to Jake.
“Wish you’d never been found, things were better without you,” he snapped at her.
“Jake!” Jennifer said, horrified at what her son had said. Adam said nothing at all, only moving to stand by his son, putting a hand on his shoulder to calm him. It was important to Jennifer to re-established a relationship with Romy; she seemed to be the only one who thought that way, but she wouldn’t let Jake ruin that for her.
“At least he is honest about what he thinks,” Romy told them. “I have seen nothing to make me think that that either of you actually care about me,” she added, gesturing between Jennifer and Adam. She thought back to how her Mum and Dad had been after just one day away from her, hugging and treasuring her, and compared to that, Jennifer and Adam’s reaction, after years, was just so cold.
“And I’ll honestly put my fist through his head,” Clayton muttered, the hand that wasn’t holding Romy’s clenching into a fist.
“Clayton, you promised,” she whispered, turning to him with wide eyes; she was genuinely a little worried that he might seriously attack one of them if they weren’t careful and to be honest, if he did, she wouldn’t have blamed him in the least but she didn’t want him getting in trouble because of her.
“Sorry,” Clay mumbled, though only Romy heard him. He really hated these muggles, but he would hold back for Romy’s sake alone.
“Perhaps we should adjourn for this evening and agree to meet another time,” the headmaster supplied helpfully. The last thing that any of them wanted was things to turn into a brawl, something he definitely wouldn’t put above either Clayton Danes or this rather vindictive young man who was Romy’s brother.
“There won’t be another time,” Clayton hissed at the headmaster. “Not unless Romy has either me or Harry with her,” he insisted. He was glad that Romy didn’t want anything to do with Jake but that didn’t mean he trusted Adam or Jennifer with her either; there must have been a good reason why Romy hadn’t ever wanted to find them.
“Aww, does the baby need to be protected?” Jake mocked. “Always were more trouble than you were worth.”
“And you wonder why Romy doesn’t want him here?” Clayton demanded of Adam and Jennifer angrily. He was an only child, but he couldn’t imagine saying something so hateful to a sibling. There was obviously no love at all between Jake and Romy, and Clay couldn’t help but wonder how things had gotten so bad.
“They’re siblings, of course they bicker,” Adam said dismissively.
“That isn’t the reason and you know it, Adam,” Romy said, glaring at her birth father.
“And that doesn’t even qualify as bickering; I know bickering, hell me and Romy bicker all the time, but I have NEVER said anything half as hurtful or spiteful as the crap coming from his mouth,” Clay added, finding it harder and harder to control his temper, no matter what he had promised his cousin.
“Stay out of this, boy,” Adam said, glowering at Clayton.
“No,” Clayton said, squaring up to Adam while still managing to hold on to Romy’s hand; they might want to be Romy’s family, but he already was and he would keep her safe whatever it took. “If any of you come near her or try to hurt her…”
“That’s enough, Clay,” Romy said softly, interrupting him; there was no hint of threat or authority in her tone as she tugged him back away from her father. She was glad he was there and standing up for her, but it wouldn’t help matters at the moment if they descended into a fist fight.
“You’ll do what exactly,” Jake said with a laugh, he wasn’t scared of some little wizard. “Wave your pointy stick around, don’t make me laugh.”
“Oh I’ll do worse than that,” Clayton told him, his voice deep as a growl started to escape his throat.
“Mr Danes!” the headmaster exclaimed suddenly; he had known this was a potentially volatile situation, but he would not tolerate a direct threat to the muggles in his care, no matter how vaguely it was implied.
“I think we should go, Clay,” Romy suggested quietly, tugging at his sleeve. She knew there would be no calming him down while they were still in the same room as her biological family and things were only likely to get worse if they didn’t leave now.
“I could just give him a quick nip, it would be so easy,” Clayton whispered to her as he turned away from the family to try and regain control, taking a deep breath before wrapping an arm around Romy’s shoulders and guiding her out of the room.
He could hear the protests from Romy’s birth parents, and the headmaster’s placating remarks that they would organise another opportunity for them to see her again; but Clayton didn’t care, nor did Romy it seemed, given she allowed him to walk her back through the door and down the stairs.
“You’d probably have killed him if you did that, he is just a muggle after all,” Romy said, with exasperation. “I can’t deny that maybe he’d have deserved it but I couldn’t have let you do that; he isn’t worth you getting into trouble.”
“I was joking… mostly,” Clay told her, with a soft smile, laughing when she released his hand from hers and clipped him around the ear for it. She did however link their hands again once she was done and he accepted it without faltering for a moment.
“With you I can never tell,” Romy said fondly.
“Keeps things interesting though,” Clay said with a smile. However, after a moment's hesitation, he added, “What happened with them… with your brother?” He was desperate to know; he needed to know what had set Romy off like that in the headmaster’s office. He had defended her without question, he always would, but he needed to know why.
“I can’t tell you that, Clay,” she told him sadly. It wasn’t that she didn’t feel comfortable telling him, she honestly felt as if she could tell him anything, but it was more what his reaction might be. She didn’t want him getting in trouble on her account, not when Jake really wasn’t worth it.
“But you told Harry,” Clay said, sounding hurt; he hated that she had told his best friend and not him. He wanted to be the one that she came to when she needed to talk, not Harry.
“Harry isn’t liable to go off and kill anyone for me though. You would,” she told him with absolute certainty. When he didn’t respond Romy gave him a small smile. “You’re not denying it.”
“No, I’m not. Is it too late to go back and bite that little bastard?” he asked, trying to lighten the mood a little but his tone said differently. He would have done it for her because he loved her. If he thought it would help or make her feel better then he would have done it without even thinking.
“Yes, Clayton, it is,” Romy told him firmly, getting a grip on his arm when he moved to head back towards the headmaster’s office. “And you wonder why I won’t tell you?” she asked, half to herself, shaking her head. She knew that she had been right in keeping it from him. She had suffered through so much worse, what her brother had done wasn’t unimportant but it also wasn’t worth getting worked up over, not when there was nothing that could be done about it now.
“But you will tell me eventually?” Clay asked, knowing that if he knew that in time she would feel able to confide in him then he would be able to accept the fact that she couldn’t do so now; he hopes that eventually she would be able to talk to him the way that she talked to Harry.
“Maybe it just isn’t something I want you to know,” Romy told him; she was certain that she didn’t want the entire pack knowing about. Telling Harry was one thing because he wouldn’t react badly and go off and get himself into trouble; Clayton on the other hand would.
“Why?” Clayton asked, sounding indignant, as if it were a personal attack against him. He knew that he wasn’t always the easiest person to sit and talk to but he thought that maybe Romy could have seen past that and known that he would be there for her whatever she needed, even if what she needed from him was to sit down and shut up so that she could talk to him.
“Maybe because I don’t want it to change how you feel about me.” Her voice was soft, almost like she didn’t want Clayton to hear this admission of how she felt about him, however indirect it might have been.
“Nothing is going to make me change how I feel for you,” Clay said adamantly. There might not have been much that he was sure on nowadays but on that fact he was certain. Ever since he and Harry had arrived at the pack and he had first laid eyes on her, he had known that she was the girl that one day he was going to marry. Even if werewolves didn’t traditionally get married, he would marry her just because he wanted to.
“I wish that were true,” Romy said a little sadly, thinking about everything she had been through. She much preferred books and studying to romance or anything relating to matters of the heart. She just wasn’t that kind of girl, she never had been. She would take jeans, sneakers and oversized hoodies over dresses, skirts and heels any day. Fairy tale romance wasn’t meant for her. Whatever Clayton believed that he felt for her, it wouldn’t last; he would get bored eventually.
“Romy, you can tell me anything. I’m always going to love you and not just in a family way either,” he told her, trying to sound reassuring. He needed her to know. He had told Harry that he was in love with her and he had shown her so many times; though he didn’t think that she had really caught on to just how much he cared, he needed to tell her so he was sure that she knew.
“You don’t love me, Clay,” Romy said quietly. She didn’t believe in love, it was something that children dreamt of, true love with princes and castles; it wasn’t something that belonged in reality.
“You can refuse to tell me stuff but you can’t tell me how I feel about you,” Clay said, sounding angry. He wouldn’t have her tell him that he didn’t love her, not when he knew for certain that he did. There was nothing he wouldn’t do for her, she was his whole world and he wasn’t going to stop until she believed that.
Romy sighed. “If you say so,” she said, knowing that he would soon give up, as soon as something better came along and he realised that she was never going to be enough for him. She believed herself to be too broken, too damaged to love like that.
“I really do. I love you, Romy, and I get that you don’t feel the same way, but just do me a favour and don’t just dismiss my feelings, okay?” he asked, actually sounding pretty pissed off about the whole thing. He was okay with the fact that she might never feel anything close to what he felt for her but he wouldn’t have her dismiss what he felt like it was nothing.
“Yeah, sorry, I didn’t mean it like that,” Romy told him apologetically. She honestly hadn’t meant for it to sound as if she were disregarding how he thought he felt, she just didn’t believe that he could feel that way.
Clay sighed, not having meant to snap at her. “We’re going to get through this; whatever it takes, we’ll get through it,” he said, trying to sound reassuring when he really wasn’t so sure any more. Before coming to this school he would have believed that the three of them could face anything together but now he wasn’t so sure.
“All three of us?” Romy asked, knowing that Clay wasn’t exactly thrilled with Harry right now, she needed to know that it wasn’t just the two of them, no matter what was going on with her pack brothers the three of them were still a family.
“Yeah,” Clay said after a moment's hesitation, “all three of us.”
“So you are over being all grumpy with Harry?” Romy asked hopefully; she hated that they were bickering and she also hated that only Clayton seemed to know why. She got that he wasn’t sleeping and that he didn’t get on with the Gryffindor’s but she didn’t know why that meant he was unhappy with Harry.
“I didn’t say that,” he said, giving Romy a pointed look. He wasn’t going to just forget everything; he was annoyed at his best friend and that wasn’t just going to go away because Romy wanted it to.
“Clayton…” she said with exasperation as they walked.
Clay was determined that he was going to walk her back to the Ravenclaw common room, where he knew that she would be safe, before going back to Gryffindor tower, where he would try and get some sleep before the others joined him in the dormitory.
“I’ll do almost anything for you Romy but I can’t just get over this,” he told her, wanting to be truthful with her at least even if he couldn’t tell her why he was so angry at Harry.
“Then tell me what it’s about,” she asked desperately. She wanted to try and fix things so that they could get back on track. She really didn’t like it when they were arguing like this. They were meant to be a family and support each other, all three of them needed each other no matter what the boys thought.
“No,” he said bluntly, really not willing to discuss it with her; it was something he and Harry had to sort out between themselves, though he wasn’t ready to talk to Harry just yet either.
“Fine, be that way, I was only trying to help,” she snapped irritably. After what she had just suffered through she wasn’t in the mood to deal with cryptic nonsense. She had never been so infuriated by another human being in her entire life.
“Don’t be mad,” Clayton pleaded, not wanting for his pack sister to be angry at him. He had just told her that he loved her, this wasn’t exactly how he had envisioned the rest of this conversation going. It was rather infuriating that suddenly it was going very, very wrong.
“Oh I’m not mad, I’m pissed off. Go and sit with your new Gryffindor friends away from us all you like, I’m sure Hermione is dying to fawn all over you,” Romy told him bitterly; it hurt a little every time she saw the Gryffindor girl making eyes at him; more than a little, if she was really honest with herself. It was frustrating because she didn’t know what was setting those feelings off, especially not when Draco was setting off similar feelings. The two mixed emotions colliding to make her extremely confused.
“Hermione…? Where is this coming from, Romy, what the hell?” Clayton asked, sounding genuinely confused; he didn’t think he had said more than five words to Hermione ever, and he certainly did want to spend time with her.
Admittedly, Clay’s confusion about her reference to Hermione did make Romy feel a little better, but she was still angry at him. “When you’re ready to act like a grown up and talk to us you know where we are, Clayton, until then go and act like a toddler and sulk all you like.”
“Romy…” Clay called out as she started to storm off down the Grand Staircase without him.
“Goodnight Clayton,” she called back, glad that he had at least got the message and wasn’t trying to follow her; she really needed to find Harry. She really wanted to cuddle up between her Mum and Dad at the territory but a hug from Harry was the closest thing available at the moment. She was hoping that he might be willing to share the Alpha blanket, which she knew that he had, for a little while because she really needed the comfort.
FGHP

Harry had had a brilliant time and he had been offered the position of seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team. He was on an absolute high as he headed back to the dungeons with Draco, laughing and recounting some of the moves he had done. As they reached the entrance he stopped, the laughter dying from his lips when he saw that Romy was sat outside of the portrait that served as an entrance to the Slytherin dormitory.
Instantly he was on his knees in front of her, completely panicked at what had happened. It was clear that she had been crying too and he was overwhelmed with guilt at having left her to go and play Quidditch. He knew that he should never have left Clayton to watch over her when he was in such a funny mood.
“Are you okay?” he asked her. “What happened? Please tell me that Clay didn’t just leave you to face it alone. I’ll kill him if he did. Talk to me Romy, are you okay?”
“If you would stop talking for half a second, I would do, idiot,” she said affectionately, with a small chuckle, as she pulled him into the hug she desperately needed.
“Sorry,” he whispered back, wrapping his arms around her.
“Clay came with me, it was just emotional and difficult,” she told him. “We had a fight afterwards though, told him to stop sulking like a toddler.”
“Perhaps we should move this inside?” Draco suggested, feeling a bit awkward standing there while the two small werewolves hugged each other in the corridor.
“Draco’s right, come on,” Harry said breaking the hug and pulling Romy up and on to her feet. The blond spoke the password and the portrait swung open. Harry put an arm around her shoulder and guided her inside.
Giving a knowing look to Draco, Harry took Romy straight through to their dormitory, which was still empty considering that it was only just after eight in the evening. He sat her down on his bed so that they could talk; he was stinky, sweaty and in desperate need of a shower but Romy came first. She wrapped the Alpha blanket around her shoulders with Harry’s help, gratefully inhaling the comforting scent; it smelled of home.
“Tell me what happened,” he said, seating himself beside her, though her nose wrinkled in disgust.
“Your scent might be comforting normally,” Romy told him, leaning away from him a little, “but right now you smell terrible.”
Harry laughed. “Sorry but I have been doing manly sport like things this evening,” he told her. He thought it was likely that no-one would smell good after that long flying.
“Go shower,” Romy told him firmly, she wanted to talk to him, but she could at least wait until he didn’t smell quite so terrible.
“Talk to me while I do,” Harry said, though when she gave him an amused look he added, “oh it isn’t anything you haven’t seen before. And besides, I’m not asking you to join me. No offence but you’re really not my type,” he pointed out with a wink.
Romy laughed. “No; big, muscled Alpha men are your type,” she teased.
“Oh yes and I don’t just like any big muscled Alpha men either, they have to be very well hung too,” he added with a wink over his shoulder.
“I so didn’t want to hear that,” she said as she got up to follow Harry to the showers as he removed his Quidditch robes.
“I didn’t want to hear it either,” Draco said having just walked in; he shook his head at the pair of them and walked back out again. He could wait a short while for his shower if it meant not listening to Harry talking about his boyfriend naked; he also wasn’t too keen on showering in front of Romy, even if he did find her attractive. If anything, liking her in that way made showering in front of her less appealing. He really wasn't the type of guy to flaunt himself like that, not like Blaise.
Harry snorted in amusement at Draco’s reaction but just carried on his conversation with Romy. “You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed,” he said as he turned on the water wearing just his boxer shorts. Seeing Harry topless was nothing new to her, though she was impressed with the staying power of the love bites that Fenrir had left Harry with. They were doing a rather good job of standing out and making the mating mark fade into obscurity by comparison.
“I don’t make a habit of checking out our family members naked, Harry,” Romy said pointedly, feeling slightly guilty about standing in the boys showers and preventing them from showering; though Harry seemed to be completely unfazed by it as he pushed off his boxers. “Geez Harry, is that a love bite on your bum?”
Harry laughed in amusement. “Fenrir likes to mark what’s his,” he said with a grin. “Though, I thought you didn’t check out family members naked. If you look at my bum, I bet you’ve checked out Clay.”
“I don’t want to talk about him right now,” Romy said, crossing her arms over her chest in a huff as Harry stepped into the shower. She averted her eyes, ensuring that she looked nowhere that would cause embarrassment; she didn’t want to know where else the Alpha male had marked Harry as his.
“Okay… so what happened?” Harry asked as he began to soap himself up, ridding the sweat and grime from his body. He really did miss not having hot showers in their territory.
“It was horrible, as expected; my brother was there. I think I should be grateful that Clay didn’t punch him, to be honest,” she said. Thinking back on it she knew that her cousin had only shown that restraint because it was what she had asked of him. It made her feel a little bad about yelling at him and storming off, though admittedly he had been acting like a child and therefore deserved it but still, she had been a little harsh with him after what he had just done for her.
“By the sounds of it, I am too,” Harry said as he rinsed the soap from his body, sticking his head under the steady stream of hot water and washing the dirt out of his long, out of control hair.
“The worst bit is that I have to see them again but at least Jake won’t be there,” Romy admitted as she leaned back against the wall, staring determinedly at the tiles on the opposite wall from her, arms still crossed over her chest.
“You need me to be there with you for that?” Harry asked as he added shampoo and began to vigorously rub it into his scalp. The only thing that could have made this shower better was if Fenrir were here to enjoy it with him. However, he very quickly had to think of something other than his mate because otherwise he was going to have a whole other problem. Romy might not have been bothered about seeing him naked but naked plus an erection might have been going a bit far.
“No, I should be fine, I promised that it would just be me and them,” she responded as Harry began to rinse the shampoo from his hair. The bathroom was steadily steaming up, the mirror getting coated in a layer of mist and fogging up. She felt utterly miserable and couldn’t wait to have her cuddles with a clean, dry Harry. The only thing that could have made the cuddles better, aside from being back in the clearing with the rest of her pack, would have been having Clay here with them now.
“So what happened with Clay?” Harry asked tentatively as he turned off the water, finally deciding that he was clean. Romy quickly grabbed a dark green towel from the stack of them and handed one over so that Harry could wrap it around his waist.
“He told me that he loved me,” Romy said as the two of them made their way back into the dormitory where Draco was lounging on his bed reading, apparently waiting for the two of them to be done so that he could take his turn and have some privacy. He was rather fond of the werewolves already but showering with them crossed a line in their newly formed friendship.
“It’s all yours, Draco,” Harry said in amusement as the blonde gave him a grateful look and vanished into the shower room. When they were alone again Harry turned back to Romy, who had climbed back onto his bed. “He finally admitted that to you, huh,” he said with a soft smile at her. It was something that he had known for a while but he knew that Clay had never told her before.
“Yeah but something is bothering him,” she said as she took Baloo bear in hand, stroking the soft fur. “He says he isn’t sleeping and I know he’s missing home but I have no clue why he’s pissy at you and he was reluctant to tell me too.”
“Just Clay being Clay, I guess,” Harry said as he pulled on his clean boxer shorts and pyjama bottoms. Digging around in his chest he found a spare pair and a t-shirt of Clay’s that had got mixed up in his stuff and handed them over to her.
“Why…?” she asked, accepting the clothing from him.
“You’re sleeping here tonight,” he said with a smile. “I think you could do with the company and to be honest, so could I,” he said as he pulled a t-shirt on over his bare chest; normally he would be happy just sleeping in his boxers but out of respect for Romy he was prepared to be fully clothed.
Harry erected a screen for her to change behind; it might have just been the two of them in the dormitory currently but he shared with five other guys, one of which was in the showers next door, he wanted to give Romy some privacy to get changed without worrying about being walked in on.
Draco returned from his shower, and Blaise and Theo came up to bed, just as Romy had finished changing and was climbing into Harry’s bed. The latter two boys looked startled at the sight of the third year girl in their dormitory, settling down to sleep in the same bed as Harry. As far as they were aware Harry was gay and had no interest in Romy, so seeing her sleeping so blatantly in his bed was a little bit of a shock. Draco was a little surprised to see that she was planning on sleeping in their dormitory too, but had resolved to not let anything the werewolves did faze him anymore.
“Umm… Harry… something you want to tell us?” Blaise asked in amusement; after all the taunting and flirting Harry put him through he wasn’t about to pass on an opportunity to return the favour.
“Nope,” he responded as he climbed into bed beside her. He honestly didn’t care what they thought about Romy’s presence there; it was about comforting her and everything else was irrelevant.
“You have a girl in your bed,” Blaise pointed out rather stupidly.
“Jealous?” Harry teased causing Blaise to scowl at him.
“So you’re bi then?” Theo hedged somewhat nervously, as he tried to remember whether or not he had ever heard Harry actually state that he was gay.
“Nope,” Harry said with high amusement.
“Then why…?” Theo asked with confusion; Harry Prince and his friends were very confusing. Though it didn’t seem to bother him nearly as much as it did Blaise, who was glaring at Harry and Romy as though they had personally offended him.
“They’re friends,” Draco snapped, getting annoyed with the idiocy of his fellow Slytherins. “Shut up and let them get on with it; it’s late, I’m tired and listening to the lot of you arguing isn’t helping me get to sleep.”
Romy snuggled down under the blankets, cuddling into Harry beside her as he tucked the Alpha blanket around them. Baloo bear nestled between them and Clayton’s scent lingered on the t-shirt that she wore so it was almost like he was there too, in a way. The two of them fell asleep cuddled up in each other's arms and it was the best night's sleep that either of them had had since they had arrived at Hogwarts.
FGHP
Unhappy and very alone, Clayton trudged back towards Gryffindor tower. That wasn’t how he had expected the conversation with Romy to go after telling her that he loved her. He resented that she had dismissed how he felt and then called him a sulking toddler. Things really weren’t going according to plan.
The only bright side was that tomorrow was Saturday, no classes. Though he did have detention. That horrid Umbridge woman had told him off for skateboarding in the halls at lunch and told him that he had to have another detention, this time with her; it wasn’t something that he was particularly looking forward to. However, he did think it fairly amusing that his Dad would be getting another letter from the school.
Reaching the portrait of the Fat Lady, he spoke the password and entered. Normally he would either come straight back after dinner or stay out so late that he didn’t have to see his fellow Gryffindor’s but he had timed his arrival in Gryffindor tower all wrong this evening and the common was packed with hostile faces.
He skirted the edge of the room, not in the mood to deal with the snide comments and remarks that Weasley and his friends would likely throw his way the moment they noticed him. He paused by the notice board, reading over the numerous pieces of parchment that had been pinned there; mostly they were of no interest, requesting the return of lost items, the meeting schedule for the gobstones club, an announcement of the date the upper years would be allowed to visit Hogsmeade; however, there was one that caught his attention, which had a list of dates for Quidditch practices.
Clayton could easily admit that he didn’t have Harry’s natural talent at flying, but years of playing one-on-one games against his best friend had left him with a fair ability. He would never have the patience for seeking, but he always thought he would enjoying playing chaser; though beater might better suit the mood he had been in the last few days.
“You can forget it, Danes,” Ron said suddenly, apparently having spotted Clayton and come over to see what he was looking at. “The Gryffindor team has a strict no Deatheaters rule.”
“Good thing I’m not one then,” Clay snarled at the red-head, not appreciating the insinuation that he was one of the mindless followers worshipping Tom Riddle. Deatheaters were the ones after Harry, attacking his pack, keeping Tessie’s sister hostage. He was fighting against them to protect those that he cared about.
“You hang round with them, makes you one of the club,” Ron retorted hatefully. In his eyes all the Slytherins were in league with the Dark Lord, if you associated with them then you were as good as being one yourself. One thing that Ron Weasley couldn’t tolerate was Deatheaters, he hated them.
“You want to be that small minded, then fine, but you aren’t going to win a single match against Slytherin now anyway, not with Harry as seeker.” He had grown up playing Quidditch with Harry and that boy had some serious talent on a broom. None of the other school teams would have a chance against him as the Slytherin team seeker.
Not wanting to enter into a verbal sparring match with the irritating red-head, Clay turned on his heel, heading for the stairs up to the boys dormitory; however, at the base of the stairs, huddled together was a group of boys, probably a year below him judging by their size. Normally he would have ignored them and just gone on his way but not tonight, because tonight they were talking about his cousin.
“Isn’t Romy kinda weird,” the tallest of the boys said. He was looking at one of the other boys, who had mousy brown hair, like he was completely mad.
“No, she’s adorable,” the boy insisted, a joyful smile on his face, seemingly oblivious to the disapproving expression on the faces of those around him.
“Smart too,” a blond boy added, shrugging at the dirty look that earned him from the first boy. “Least she isn’t a Slytherin,” he pointed out.
“Sits with them though and she’s friends with that Potter kid,” the first boy retorted.
“So? I’m still asking her,” the brown haired boy insisted.
“Asking her what exactly,” Clayton growled threateningly at the three boys huddled together. They hadn’t even noticed that Clay had been standing there and looked positively shocked to see him standing over them, glowering at them.
“What’s it to you?” one of the boys asked, turning to glare at Clayton for interrupting their conversation.
“She’s my cousin,” he pointed out to them. Romy was family and he didn’t want any of these Gryffindors around her; they had been nothing but trouble so far.
“Well that’s not her fault, we won’t hold it against her,” the tallest boy taunted. Clayton really didn’t like him one bit.
“You had better stay away from her!” Clay warned.
“Leave them alone, Danes!” Ron said having followed Clayton across the common room.
“Sod of, Weasley,” Clay said with exasperation.
“Leave him alone, Ronald,” Hermione said, glaring across the common room at him.
“Shut up, Hermione, just because you fancy him,” Ron snapped at her and she flushed a bright scarlet and suddenly Romy’s earlier comment to Clayton made sense.
“Butt out, Granger,” Dean told the bushy haired girl.
“Why do we always have to fight with him,” Seamus mumbled. “It’s getting boring Ron,” the sandy haired Irishman said as he went back to his homework barely having bothered to move at all from where he had settled down with his parchment and quill.
“Because he thinks he's a Gryffindor,” Ron said with a disgusted sneer on his face.
“The hat sorted me here,” Clayton told him firmly, squaring up to the red-head. “Do you think I would spend one second in your company if I had a choice about it?”
“Deatheaters don’t belong here,” Ron shouted angrily.
Rolling up the sleeve of his robes, Clayton bore his forearms to all the Gryffindors that were staring at the building fight. “Do you see a dark mark here, Weasley? No, I’m not a Deatheater. Draco and Harry don’t have them either, I assure you! If you want to check the rest of my body go right ahead and while you’re at it kiss my arse, you small minded twat.”
“Enough,” a tall, dark skinned girl said, having had enough of the petty fight. She was rather beautiful, Clay thought, with dark hair and she seemed to be flanked by two identical boys, both with red hair and brown eyes.
“Honestly, Ronnikins,” one of the twins said with a mocking sigh as the other shook his head and tutted in disapproval.
“Such a naughty boy, what would our mother say?” the other twin said.
Apparently Ron wasn't as prepared to fight his these older students like he was Clay, because he and Dean went back over to sit near Seamus. Clay tried to ignore the way Hermione was still watching him. Though, now that one of the twins had mentioned it, he could clearly see the family resemblance between them and Ron. He wondered just how many family members Ron had at the school, though he remembered, from the article about Ginny Weasley all those years ago, that they were a large family.
“Thanks,” Clayton mumbled as he moved past the beautiful girl and Ron’s twin brothers, heading for the stairs that would take him to bed.
“You’re Clayton, right,” the girl said, stopping him by taking hold of his shoulder gently, he turned to see that she was smiling at him. “My name’s Angelina, this is Fred and George.”
“Umm, hi,” Clay said, feeling a little awkward.
“If he keeps giving you bother, you come and talk to us,” the twin that Angelina had said was called George, said with a grin.
“We’ll sort him out,” Fred added, grinning just as much as his brother.
“Great,” Clay said thinking that it wouldn’t matter what they said or did, he still had to share a dormitory with the boy and he still wouldn’t be sleeping a wink because of it.
“Great prank at the start of term,” George said as Clay went to leave again.
“What else you got?” Fred added as Angelina rolled her eyes.
“You two shouldn’t be encouraging him,” she said sternly. Honestly, the twins were quite capable of creating mayhem on their own without a new accomplice. Though, given the prank at the start of term feast, it didn’t seem like Clayton needed much in the way of encouraging either.
“I’ve got plenty more; Harry and I have a few tricks up our sleeve,” Clayton said with a shrug. Ignoring the slight twinge in his chest at the reminder that he and Harry weren’t exactly on planning-a-prank-together terms at the moment. “Why?” he asked, suddenly suspicious of the two boys, sure that they must have some kind of motivation for wanting to talk about his and Harry’s plans.
“We’ve got a few tricks up our sleeves too,” Fred said a little cryptically. Though both twins were smirking happily at this and Clay was sure that it would be interesting to see, whatever it was they had planned.
“Let us know if you need any pointers, or help,” George added. “Bring Harry along too, could be a laugh.”
“We could teach you a few things,” Fred added.
Clay just looked at them in amusement. “Maybe Harry and I could teach you two a few things,” he said with a wry smile and it made the twins laugh.
“I didn’t see or hear anything,” Angelina said, walking away from the three of them shaking her head. Last thing she wanted was to be implicated in one of their crazy schemes.
“It’s nice to know I might have one or two allies here, after all,” Clayton told them, managing a half smile. “So, yeah, don’t take this the wrong way, but I am going to go make the most of the empty dormitory to sleep safely.”
“No offence taken,” George told him. It wasn’t hardly a secret how badly Ron had taken to Harry, Clayton and Romy’s arrival at the school, and so he understood that Clayton would want to make the most of the time when Ron and his friends weren’t around.
“We’ll keep Ron occupied for a few hours,” Fred offered kindly. He could see that Clayton was something of a kindred spirit and the boy was a true Gryffindor when it came down to it and that was enough for him.
Clay looked more than a little surprised at the suggestion. “You don’t have to…”
“Well don’t deprive us of a really great excuse to prank our baby brother,” George interrupted quickly, a grin on his face.
Clayton laughed. “Have fun with that,” he said, saluting the twins as he turned and headed up the stairs. He really wished he and Harry were on better terms right now, because he was fairly sure that his best friend would take a liking to the obviously troublesome Weasley twins; not to mention he could really do with an ally to prove to the red-heads exactly who the better prankster was.

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