Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

A Curious Nature	By : CondemnedForLife Category: Harry Potter Crossovers > Slash - Male/Male Views: 28002 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own the Harry Potter world or its characters, or the Twilight world and its characters, and I make absolutely no profit from writing this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Summary: For the Black-Lupin family, Forks is a second chance at life and at love for a group of war-damaged teenagers and their parents. Post-War. Harry/Jacob

Pairings: Jacob/Harry, Remus/Sirius, Seth/Draco, Embry/Theo, Hermione/Blaise, Ron/Neville.

Category: Harry Potter/Twilight

Genre: Romance/Family

Rating: M/NC-17

Warnings: Mature themes, slash, gay (male/male) relationships, some angst, drama, gay sex, crossover, canon for books one to four and AU after that.

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Dull light poured onto the tousled bedcovers, waking the occupant of the bed closest to the window. Harry moaned in discomfort as his eyes burned at the sudden light and opened them hesitantly, wondering blearily why on earth his retinas were attempting to retreat into his brain. The answer came to him quickly. They had never got around to putting up curtains in his and Ron's room. Mostly because he was rather reluctant to have the view blocked by cloth. There was also the fact that he and Ron were simply to lazy to look for curtains, never mind hanging them up.

The Black-Lupin family had been living in La Push for almost a week now, but despite this the teenagers of the family had yet to leave the house, much to their annoyance. Moving took a lot more work than Harry had ever imagined. In the days after their move from Grimmauld Place to Old Willow their new house had been immersed in utter chaos. Although every box and piece of luggage had been labelled with a name, mistakes still occurred and most of them spent the next few days going from room to room trying to discover whose belongings they had and who had theirs.

Some cases were more easy than others. If it was orange in colour then it was most likely Ron's. The plants were almost always Neville's and any books were taken to Hermione, Remus or Theo who usually knew who the books belonged to if it turned out that it wasn't theirs.

Harry and Ron, on the other hand, were baffled when they opened one of the boxes in their room only to find roughly a half a dozen lamps in it. Sirius, who had been walking by at the time, tumbled into the room, happily exclaiming that he had been looking for his lamps everywhere.

The teenagers were gifted with perfect blackmail material when Neville accidentally opened a trunk that he believed was his, only to find that it was filled to the brim with chocolate of both the muggle and the magical variety. While Ron and Blaise were more than eager to dive in, looks of glee clear on their faces, they were stopped when a blushing Remus came in and quickly dragged the trunk out. They could later hear their other guardian berating the werewolf about his 'obsession'. Though Sirius sounded more amused than anything else.

Remus' secret stash, or not so secret stash, aside, things began to slowly settle down as everyone began to become more at ease with their new surroundings. However, it became clear quickly to the young wizards and witches that Remus and Sirius had no intention of letting them wander around outside whenever they want. Something that they protested quite vehemently against. After finally moving to a safer place, away from the threats that Britain posed, they were still not free to live their own lives. However, their guardians were insistent that until they had the wards around the house completed, the young wizards and witch were not allowed to take even a step outside.

Harry, albeit reluctantly, understood this. Even though the war was over, there was still several of the Dark Lord's followers who remained uncaught and longing for vengeance. The black-haired boy also knew that they would be among the top on their list for revenge. After all, he was the Boy-Who-Lived. Hermione was a muggleborn and one of his best friends. Ron and Neville were 'blood-traitors'. Theo, Draco and Blaise had all turned their back on their families and the Dark in general. Remus was a werewolf and a member of the Order of the Phoenix as was his husband. Quite a bounty they all made if any Death Eater should find them in La Push.

After three more days had passed and the wards were very close to being completed, they all asked once again to be allowed outside presuming that their adoptive parents would agree. But after exchanging wary looks, Sirius told them that it was pouring rain and they would all catch colds.

"What?" Harry hadn't been able to stop himself and even Remus' disapproving gaze hadn't been enough to deter him. "A cold? We've been through a war and you're worried about a cold?"

"Harry." Remus had admonished softly with a quick, concerned look at his mate.

Sirius looked equally as defiant as his godson and even more uneasy. "I don't want to be nursing you all with Pepper-Up Potion when you get sick from the rain."

"It rains here all the time Sirius." Harry knew his tone had been unnecessarily harsh and he internally flinched at the hurt look on his godfather's face But he had waited so long to finally be free. First from his relatives and then from the Wizarding World, and now he was being told that he was once again a prisoner. This time in his own home. Furious and upset, feeling unable to be in the same room with them any more Harry had fled to his own room.

That had been two days ago and Harry hadn't spoken more than two words to his guardians since then. He knew he was being childish, but having freedom dangled in front of him and then told he couldn't have it was almost more than he could bear. Wasn't that the reason they had come here in the first place? So that they could finally live their lives as they pleased, without the restrictions of the Wizarding World?

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Sunlight. Harry's half awake brain told him that this was somehow strange and as he propped himself up on one arm, still blinking sleepily it hit him. Sun. Forks. It rained nearly everyday of the year in Forks! Which meant. . .

Harry set up in bed so fast that he felt dizzy but he didn't wait to adjust as he staggered out of bed towards the window. The entire back garden was bathed in sunlight. It wasn't a strong golden light, more like a faint yellow colour but it was still there. Harry smiled happily and restrained himself from bouncing on the spot by remembering that everyone else was most likely still asleep.

He dressed quietly so as not to disturb a loudly snoring Ron and tiptoed out of the room with his shoes in his hands. It was almost compelling to peek in every door before he went downstairs.

During the war they had gotten into the habit of leaving their doors opened. It saved time when you had to get up quickly because of an attack. After the war it became a mutual agreement to leave your door open so that they could come to one another's aid if someone was having a nightmare. The habit had yet to leave them and the only ones who kept their door closed at any time now was Remus and Sirius. Harry preferred to keep his thoughts away from why their door was kept closed.

Draco and Neville were still deeply asleep and Harry shuddered at the thought of waking the blond before he wanted to be woken. Draco was notorious for hating mornings, claiming that they disrupted his much needed beauty sleep (Ron had long since learned that making jokes about this was not an intelligent thing to do). As usual Neville was lying completely still while sleeping. He had given many of them scares when it appeared that he wasn't breathing in his sleep and they had long since learned to check his pulse before panicking and waking everybody else.

Harry frowned when he peered into Theo and Blaise's room. Blaise was sprawled across Theo's bed with the latter curled into the crook of his brother's arm and clutching his t-shirt in one hand. The small Slytherin had had a nightmare then. Not an unusual occurrence but an unfortunate one nonetheless. The young wizard then spotted Hermione curled in the middle of Blaise's bed, his pillow clutched tightly to her chest.

Satisfied that his family was suitably alright for the moment and not daring to venture into Sirius and Remus' room for fear of what he might see, Harry made his way to the kitchen.

Fetching the eggs, sausages and bacon from the fridge Harry flicked his wand at the frying pan and with a wave, breakfast was cooking. While keeping an eye on the sizzling food, the young wizard started putting bread into the toaster as well as pancakes for those who wanted them. Although Harry had hated cooking for his relatives simply because he had no choice in the matter, cooking was something that he found surprisingly relaxing. He knew that several of those still sleeping would be drawn downstairs by the smell of food.

Sure enough, even as he began to place the plates on the table Ron staggered into the room, still looking half asleep. Like Draco, the Gryffindor appreciated his sleep. However, in a toss up between food and sleep, food won hands down for Ron.

"M'ning, H'ry," Ron mumbled eagerly reaching for the plate of food Harry was already holding out.

Harry chuckled, "Morning Ron."

The red-head was soon followed by Sirius whose hair was, as usual, askew in the morning. His greeting was interspersed with yawns and like Ron he accepted his plate of food with enthusiasm.

Everyone else began to slowly traipse in after that. Blaise, Hermione and Theo appeared, the latter two probably only because Blaise had woken them. Neville trailed in soon afterwards looking slightly more bushy-tailed than the rest of them, though not by much, but Harry at least got a coherent greeting out of him.

The rest of them were already finished and everyone except Sirius had left the table when Remus appeared in the kitchen, fully dressed. He greeted Sirius with a kiss and Harry with a hair ruffle. Although he was a werewolf, Remus tended to have a smaller appetite than the rest of them at times and the dark-haired boy often worried about how little he ate. The black-haired boy placed a cup of tea and a pile of toast on the table in front of the werewolf, as well as a prescribed magical tonic.

"Thank you, Harry," Remus smiled gratefully, while unfurling the Daily Prophet that Hedwig had just delivered. They had all felt it necessary to keep up with the news in Britain even if it no longer concerned them.

Harry busied himself tidying up the kitchen as Remus read out parts of the news in the Prophet and Sirius dryly commentated on them. The young wizard was bidding his time and gathering his courage so that he could confront hid guardians. However, scrubbing the dishes could only take so much time and after his third time rinsing them off, Harry took a deep breath and turned to face Sirius and Remus.

"Can we go outside today?" The words were rushed and breathless but no less clear and Harry sighed in relief. There, he had said it. Even as he thought that Harry caught a glimpse of the back of Draco's head as the blond quickly retreated from the kitchen, obviously not wanting to take part in the impending conversation. Coward, Harry thought.

"No." Sirius' reply was firm and he didn't look up from his breakfast as he uttered it.

"Sirius-"

"I said no, Harry. I already told you that I didn't want you all coming down with the flu."

"But it isn't raining outside," Harry protested, resisting the urge to stamp his foot like a child.

Sirius looked up from his coffee and frowned at the window when he realised that Harry was correct before looking back at his ward.

"Even so, it looks cold outside and-"

"Why can't we go out?" Harry eyes were narrowed in anger and his fists were clenched.

Sirius stood abruptly. "Because I said so!" he roared.

Harry flinched and dropped his gaze quickly, not seeing the look of remorse that crossed his godfather's face. Sirius had never shouted at him before and he blinked furiously at the burning sensation in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sirius. I won't ask again," Harry whispered. He walked quickly towards the door but was stopped when Sirius grabbed a hold of his arm. The flinch the teenager gave at the touch had Sirius closing his eyes in pain and pulling him closer so that he could wrap his arms around the frail form of his godson.

Harry cringed away from the embrace for a moment before sinking into it, holding onto his godfather tightly and blinking away tears.

The animagus buried his nose in the shoulder length mess that was Harry's hair while trying to keep his own tears at bay. "I'm so sorry, Harry," he murmured softly, making a soft rocking motion at the boy's soft sob. "I'm sorry for yelling at you." He knew how much Harry hated being yelled at and the fact that he had done it because the boy had asked a question was entirely too reminiscent of what the Dursleys had done.

Sirius looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder and smiled waveringly when he saw Remus in front of him with a concerned frown on his face.

Harry looked up when he felt a hand under his chin and met Sirius' eyes. "I know it may seem. . . foolish to you," Sirius began, "but I can't just allow you to go outside unprotected. Remus and I have watched you all fight in a war. Each time there was a battle or a raid we never knew if we were going to see one of you again and the thoughts that ran through my mind. . . That day that we returned from another raid and we were waiting in the Hospital Wing trying to help in whatever way he could. When I saw you and Ron walk up and Blaise was. . ." Sirius closed his eyes tightly against the memory and Harry knew why.

On this day, the Death Eaters had staged several different raids at the exact same time in different locations across Britain. Their plan had been to get the Order of the Phoenix so widespread that they would be too weak to stand against them. The Death Eaters had underestimated the Order's numbers and in most areas they had been annihilated. However, several of the towns had been completely overrun with Inferi and the Order hadn't had enough strength to fight back. They'd had to retreat.

One of these places was where Harry, Ron and Blaise had been sent out to. It had been clear from the start that they hadn't had a hope to win this battle. Harry could still remember clearly the pain in his eyes from the ash of the burning houses, the screams and sobs of people from both sides of the battle, the smell of rotting flesh as the Inferi waded their way through dead bodies, mindless of anything except the urge to kill.

The three of them had become separated early on in the fight and Harry had been fighting Rodolphus Lestrange alone when the alarm to pull back had sounded. With a final immobilising curse, Harry had left Lestrange on the battle field and made his way back to the apparating point. He had met Ron on his way, looking bloody and bruised but not fatally injured and together they had stumbled through the wreckage and bodies, cursing the entire time. They had nearly been there when the sound of pain-filled screams had reached them and Harry had been unable to go forward without attempting to help who ever it was.

He had never before been so grateful for his saving-people-thing. They had rounded the corner of an alley to see Bellatrix Lestrange and Amycus Carrow torturing Blaise. A well aimed hex to break her arm had been enough to send Bellatrix on her way with Carrow hot on her heels, sporting a deep gash across his face that Harry took pleasure in knowing for a fact that it had scarred.

Both wizards had nearly collapsed upon seeing the mangled mess that Blaise was. He was barely recognisable beneath the blood and ash. Pulling themselves together they had quickly and carefully carried him between them to the apparition spot. He was seen to immediately upon arrival at the Hospital Wing and after an hour of trying to keep him alive, Madame Pomfrey had pronounced that he had five broken ribs, a broken leg and a dislocated shoulder along with a deep laceration running from his right shoulder to his left hip. The several rounds of Cruciatus curse he had undergone also had to be treated and it had been a long four days waiting from him to wake up so that they could find out whether or not he would be mentally damaged.

Neither Sirius or Remus had left his side the entire time. There had been other incidents during the war in which one of their wards had been hurt badly, but never as bad as Blaise had been that day.

"I remember," Harry choked, tears thick in his voice. "I remember."

Sirius nodded, grateful that he did not have to voice it. "I had to watch for two years as you were all hurt again and again and I could do nothing about it. I am never going to be that helpless again."

Harry smiled at the sheer determination in Sirius' voice. "Sirius, we're not in a war anymore." Harry stared at him when Sirius opened his mouth to speak until he closed it again. "Yes, I know there are Death Eaters still out there and I know how dangerous it is. But I don't want to have to live every day of the rest of my life afraid to go outside, constantly looking over my shoulder. I want to be able to have fun now that the war is over. I want to be free. To live. Isn't that why you brought us here in the first place?"

Sirius gazed at him before chuckling heartily and turning to look at Remus. "When did our boy get so smart?" Remus smiled softly at them both.

Harry grinned at him before looking back at Sirius. "Even if the war is over, do you think we can't protect ourselves anymore? Moody has Constant Vigilance so engrained in me that I'll still be peering around every corner when I'm an old man."

Both men chuckled at the thought of the limping, scarred ex-Auror and his rather unique brand of teaching.

"I've been stupid haven't' I?" Sirius looked sheepish now. Remus and Harry nodded simultaneously before the younger hugged Sirius again.

"I wouldn't want you any other way," Harry whispered in his ear, before letting go and hugging his other guardian. He ran out the kitchen door, only to reappear a second later.

"Uh, we're allowed out right?"

Sirius and Remus exchanged looks before nodding at him. They received a beam in return before Harry ran out again.

"People, we have freedom!" A chorus of cheers and whoops met his announcement and the two men in the kitchen chuckled at their wards happiness.

Sirius watched as Remus sat back down at the table to resume reading the newspaper. He walked up behind his lover and wrapped his arms around the werewolf's shoulder, chin resting on one of his arms. "Why didn't you tell me I was being foolish?" he whispered into his husband's ear, revelling in the shiver he received.

"I thought you should figure it out for yourself," Remus murmured, eyes scanning across the election poll for the new minister.

Sirius sighed and removed his arms so that he could finish cleaning up the kitchen. It was only a matter of minutes before the young wizards and witch came tumbling downstairs dressed warmly and with looks of excitement on their faces.

Sirius stood in front of them, checking that they were all suitably dressed for the cold weather. "Everyone has their wands?" A murmur of assent. No reason to keep them inside then. "Go on then," Sirius sighed.

They all practically bounced outside and Sirius grinned when Ron's shout of, "Look, its grass! Actual grass!"

Remus joined in his laughter. "I think they were inside for quite long enough."

Sirius grumbled an inaudible response.

The werewolf stood up and rolled his eyes, approaching his mate, whose eyes were fixed upon their gambolling charges. "Besides, what could possibly happen?"

The black-haired man crossed his arms across his chest and didn't answer. His eyes widened as he felt two strong arms wrap around his waist from behind and a soft kiss placed on his neck.

"Can't you think I've anything better to do when we have the house to ourselves apart from worrying about seven overly trained wizards?" His last words were emphasised with a long lick across his cheek.

The seven happy teenagers were quickly forgotten about.

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Harry laughed happily as he watched Blaise chase Hermione around the garden with an handful of wet leaves. He shrieked when Ron shoved another pile of leaves down the back of his coat.

"Ron!" The red-head chuckled at the indignant cry and took off running in the other direction leaving Harry to grumble and pull the leaves out on his own.

The vast gardens that surrounded their house were even more spectacular when you were in them. The back garden was wide and spacious. Perfect for Quidditch games, was the first thought on most of the boy's minds. Huge, towering trees of all kinds silhouetted the boundaries with the only trees inside the gardens being willow trees. Various shrubs and flowers interspersed the garden here and there.

Harry smiled when he saw Neville off to the side from everyone else examining one of the bushes with a curious expression on his face. Leave it to the Gryffindor to want to know exactly what type of plants were residing in the garden he would soon be working in.

Hermione squealed when Blaise finally caught up with her and began pleading with him not to dump the leaves on her. While the Slytherin seemed to be considering it, Hermione swiftly changed into her animagus form, a red panda, and clambered up Blaise's arm where she started chewing on the leaves he had been planning to throw at her. Everyone else burst out laughing at the suprised expression on Blaise's face.

Learning to become an animagus had been something that Sirius had insisted upon when the war had gotten to its height. It was to be a hidden talent, kept between the seven of them, Ginny, Luna and their guardians. Becoming an animagus was something that had fascinated Harry ever since he had learnt that his father was one. But actually becoming one was not as much fun as he had imagined. It took a lot of hard work, some parts that they could thankfully by-pass due to Sirius' knowledge on the subject, and the first transformation turned out to be rather painful.

Hermione, who had transformed first, had been intrigued by her form. A red panda, native to Asia and a separate species yet related to the giant panda. The intelligent witch had quickly gone to the library in order to read up everything she could about her animagus form.

After Hermione, the transformation had come quite quickly to the rest of them. Blaise had given them quite a scare when they admittedly tall boy had begun to grow upwards until he had changed into a large bear, an Asiatic black bear according to Hermione, who after her own transformation, had come equipped with an encyclopaedia of animals to every animagus lesson

Following Blaise the bear had been Neville the horse. The shy, young man had altered into a majestic painted stallion with a long, flowing tail and mane. One who had given in rather reluctantly to Hermione and Ginny's pleas to ride him. After he had changed back Neville had spent the next day and a half with a bright blush on his face. Despite this, Harry could tell how proud he was of his achievement.

Draco and Ron accomplishments had been the source of hysterical laughter in the group when the two had changed into a lion and a snake Hogwarts house reference was not lost on any of them. The red-headed boy's animagus had been an African lion and majestic to behold. Draco had become an Emerald tree boa, something he had been rather smug about for several days afterwards.

Theo, despite his quiet and even timid manner, had a lot of inner strength and Gryffindorish bravery that had been only slighlty suppressed by his time with Greyback. Therefore, no one questioned it when they were faced with a Theo turned Bengal Tiger in the middle of the classroom one day. They merely congratulated their brother like they had everyone else and kept their fierce pride in him secret.

Harry, contrary to everyone else, had been a puzzle when he first transformed. He could still remembering the feeling like it had only happened yesterday. They had studying Charms in the common room or at least they were supposed to be. In other words Hermione and Theo were studying Charms, Blaise was studying Charms simply because Hermione was. Draco and Ron were playing Exploding Snap in the corner, away from Hermione's watchful eyes. Neville was examining a new plant with fascination and Harry was going over the steps of the animagus transformation.

By now Hermione, Theo and Blaise had transformed and they had all explained the feeling of changing to him, which is why he recognised the strange prickling feeling moments before his body began to feel like the skin was being stripped away.

A pained cry had everyone in the common room turning towards him before and the last thing he saw was their concerned faces before everything went black. He came to seconds later hearing muffled voices. While he was adjusting to his strange new vision that brought everything into startling focus, despite the fact that it was in black and white, someone had conjured a mirror and placed it in front of him.

Harry yelped at the reflection in the mirror and blinked in astonishment when it came out as a small yip. What was he? He shook his furry head and turned his head to the side curiously, blinking when the small black animal in the mirror did the same. Looking closer he gave a guess that he was some sort of fox. But he had never seen a black fox with a speckled black and white tail before.

Smalls paws scrabbled at the floor as he was lifted from the ground and into a pair of arms. Nose sniffing curiously he identified a smell that even in his mammal brain he linked with Ron. Even if it was his best friend Harry did not want to be lifted. His demand to be let down came out as a series of barks and whines.

Ron laughed and stroked his head with one finger. Harry whimpered and closed his eyes in pleasure. Alright maybe he didn't want to get down. The redhead's next word quickly had his mind changing though.

"He's so small." Ron yelped, pulling his fingers out of range of small, sharp teeth. "And mean!"

Draco and Blaise, who were standing behind Ron, chuckled. Theo glared at them, plucked a whining Harry out of the Gryffindor's arms and carried him over to where Hermione and Neville were flicking quickly through her encyclopaedia.

"Maybe he's a type of wolf," Neville suggested, glancing at Harry and holding out a hand which the unknown animal licked, then leapt from Theo's arms into Hermione's lap. "A smaller version."

The witch gave a small wince at his weight but continued to flip through the tome like book at a rapid speed that Harry didn't even bother trying to follow. "No, I don't think he's a wolf. Even if his nose resembles one slightly. A fox maybe, but I've never heard of a black fox and the bits of white. . ."

They all glanced at the young woman who was staring into the distance with a sudden look of realisation on her face. Snapping out of it, Hermione began to turn back in her search.

"We've already looked through all those pages," Neville pointed out, looking rather afraid of this sudden frantic Hermione.

Harry knew the feeling. A frenzied, obsessive Hermione with a sudden realisation, equalled a very scary Hermione.

"Yes, but we weren't looking for the right thing. Harry's animagus is an artic fox."

Harry flopped his head to the side to look at his equally confused friends. Ok, so maybe it hadn't been such a good realisation.

"Um, Hermione. . . Harry's black not white," Ron said cautiously.

Hermione levelled them all white an annoyed look. "Not at the moment no. However, seeing as its summertime and artic foxes change the colour of their coats from white to black during the summer." She turned the book around and pointed to the picture of two foxes, one with a white coat and one with a black one.

Hermione turned out to be correct when, once winter came, Harry's animagus form grew a thick and fluffy white coat.

A loud growl indicated Blaise's own transformation and with a chatter Hermione jumped off and dived under a bundle of leaves. Seeing the others change one by one, Harry made his own transformation, taking a moment for his sight to adjust before leaping forward and yanking on Ron's waving tail with sharp teeth. A roar of anger had Harry scampering in the opposite direction as fast as he could, all the while cursing the fact that it wasn't winter. Blending in with the snow while being pure white came in quite handy at times.

An impromptu game of tag was soon initiated with Theo as 'it'. Neville and Draco waited on the sidelines as the teenagers played, acting as referees of a sort. With hoofs instead of paws it made it difficult for the herbologist to play tag and Draco was more likely to get crushed underneath a lion or a bear than anything else.

Harry barked at Draco, who was wrapped around one of Neville's long legs, when he ran passed in an attempt to escape from Ron who had been tagged by Theo. The beautiful green snake returned a laughing hiss. Something that had surprised Harry when he had first changed with the rest of them was that he could understand what they were saying even in animal form. He was unsure whether this was an animagus thing or if all animals could speak to each other like this, but it came in helpful when. . .

"Behind you!" Draco hissed.

Harry yipped and took a sharp left turn, barely missing Ron's outstretched paw. He gave a yapping laugh at the growled curses the lion spewed at Draco and hurried away as fast as he could.

An hour later found all seven animagi slumped out in the middle of the garden in the shade of one of the willow trees. Harry was curled up on Neville who was lounging on the grass and eating it at the same time. Yawning sleepily, Harry lazily opened one eye when he heard an annoyed growl and found Theo batting away a fly while Ron snored away beside him, lying on his back.

The loud sound of tearing bark had Harry's ears twitching. One part of being an animagus that he could honestly say he was not fond of was the enhanced hearing. Glaring with his one opened eye had no effect on the big bear who was sharpening his class on the bark of the tree and Harry was not about to approach his brother he was roughly fifty times his size.

A hiss from above them indicated that Draco was none too happy about Blaise defiling the tree he was resting in either. Unlike the rest of them who would rather remain on the ground (apart from Harry whose instincts were telling him he should be in his den) Hermione and Draco were happier taking their afternoon nap in the tree.

"Playing 'tag' again?" came an amused voice from behind them.

Remus was greeted with a series of growls, barks, hisses and yips. "You're all going to be exhausted for the rest of the day."

Harry went to tell him that he forgot to mention bruised but remembered that Remus wouldn't understand him just in time. Instead he turned over on his back, tail over his tummy and closed his eyes. He felt that should be the universal sign in both animal and human world for 'sleepy, go away'. Apparently this was not the case because his guardian continued to talk.

"Alright then, I'm going to try and find a shop. We're running out of a few things and we need to go exploring at some point. Anyone want to, or should I say is anyone able to come with?"

Theo perked up and in a fluid movement shifted from a tiger back to a wizard. "I'd like to," he responded shyly and Remus smiled at him happily.

Blaise grumbled a bit, but dragged himself away from his claw sharpening to join them.

"Anyone else?" At the silence, interrupted only by more loud, growling snores from Ron, that greeted him, the former professor rolled his eyes. "Alright then, Sirius is taking a nap upstairs-" Remus flushed slightly but hurried on (Harry tried not to think about why Sirius would be tired in the first place), " so if you need him just call him."

Harry waved his tail lazily at his guardian and two of his adopted siblings when they made their way towards the car at the front of the house and happily snuggled into Neville while he dozed off.

The young wizard awoke a while later when Neville began to stand up. Yawning and blinking sleepily Harry stretched out, yipping an apology when his claws accidentally scraped the horse's back, causing Neville to startle. A glance behind him showed that the rest of them were still happily sleeping under the tree or in Hermione and Draco's case, on the tree.

They reached the back of the house quickly and Harry jumped down hurriedly, feeling dizzy from the movement of Neville's large paced walking. He changed back after hitting the ground, reaching into his back pocket to check for his wand out of habit. He had never moved his wand from his back pocket no matter how many times Moody had given out to him about it.

"Sorry," Neville apologised when he had turned back, "I wasn't tired and I was getting really bored. I forgot that you were on my back."

"'S okay," Harry replied, still feeling sleepy but waking up quickly. During the war they had gone through long periods of sleep deprivation and they had eventually adapted to it.

Neville grinned at his sleepy answer, then began walking up and down the flower beds that ran along the wall. They were empty for the most part with a few flowers still growing here and there, but they were largely overrun by weeds. Something Harry easily recognised from the amount of times he had spent pulling them up from his aunt's garden.

"Anything you recognize?" Harry asked when the other boy bent down to touch one of flowers. He himself was already lounged out on the grass again, basking in the heat. Quire contrary to his animagus, he thought in amusement.

Neville nodded slowly. "All muggle plants. There's some dahlias left, a few petunia's and some rose plants. It's mostly weeds though. There's a few nice rose bushes out there." He gestured vaguely towards the garden behind them. "But they haven't been properly trimmed in years."

Harry chuckled at the affronted tone in Neville's voice. To him, neglecting plants was the highest taboo. The black haired boy compare it to insulting the Chudley Canons around Ron or books around Hermione or Remus. It was nothing less the scandalous. He was the only one , however, who had any idea what Neville was taking about when he started rambling on about plants. Everyone else listened politely, but Harry could always contribute to the conversation, at least a little bit. He hadn't learnt nothing after spending years in Aunt Petunia's garden.

Neville had taken out his wand and summoned his garden gloves and a shovel while Harry had been musing. The brown haired boy tugged on the gloves and set about pulling up the weeds.

Having nothing else to do Harry conjured his own pair of gloves and joined him, instinctively knowing which ones were weeds and which ones weren't but letting Neville point them out to him anyway.

"Are you going to plant magical plants as well?" Harry huffed out, struggling with a rather persistent weed.

Neville frowned, then smiled when he saw Harry fighting with the plant. "I am, but not in the front garden. If we ever have muggle visitors and they see a Tancula or a Grumbly Bush, they're sure to know something's not quite right."

Harry chuckled, still yanking at the weed. "I think they moving branches or glowing flowers would probably give it away." Scowling, he gave one ferocious tug that had the weed removed from the ground and him covered in dirt. Growling angrily he cast a cleaning spell and brandished his wand at the other boy who was failing to withhold his laughter.

"Shut up," Harry griped, throwing a handful of mud at his adopted brother who was completely unbothered by the mud covering his shirt. Not surprising really considering the amount of time he spent covered with the stuff.

The worked in comfortable silence for several minutes broken only by Ron's earth shattering snores. Harry smiled softly when he watched Neville throw Ron furtive glances over his shoulder every few minutes.

"Hey Nev, when are you going to tell Ron how you feel about him?" Harry's voice was casual and he never looked up from his de-weeding, but he could feel Neville tense beside.

"W-what?" The wizard's voice shook and Harry took pity on him.

The Boy-Who-Lived turned to face his friend and placed a hand gently on his shoulder. "Its ok, Neville. I know. I see the way you look at him. It's the way Sirius looks at Remus. That sappy, love struck expression." Harry's voice was equal parts disgusted and curious.

Neville obviously heard the disgust and mistook it for disgust for his feelings for Ron. "I-I know its wrong but I-," a sharp intake of breath followed by a soft sob had Harry lunging forward and grabbing Neville in a hug.

Harry sighed softly. Neville's low self-esteem was something he sincerely hoped Ron could help with. They had all been so damaged by the war that it surprised him that they were still able to function at all.

The black haired boy pulled himself away from his friend and shook Neville lightly by the shoulders. "Nev, calm down." He waited until the other boy was looking him in the eye before he spoke again. "I think that you liking Ron is really cool."

Neville blinked rapidly, then looked at him shocked. "You do?"

Harry grinned and shrugged. "Sure. I think you'd be good together. And Ron needs someone to balance him out. I think you'd be perfect."

A bright blush covered the gardener's face. "Really? But what about-" Neville paused looking uncertain but continued when Harry gave him an encouraging smile. "Don't you need him right now? I know how close you two are and with everything that's happened I thought. . ."

The wizard shook his head, suddenly looking more serious. "Ron is my best friend. He's always been there for me and I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't had him during the war," Harry paused for a moment looking thoughtful, "but now that the war is over I need to start looking out for myself. Ron won't be able to be there all the time and he needs his own life too."

Neville looked much more assured, but there was still a hint of hesitancy on his face. "What if he doesn't like me back?" He sounded miserable at this thought.

"How will you know if you don't try? Besides I've seen Mr. Weasley sneaking some looks at your fine behind on occasion so he can't be too averse to the idea." A waggle of his eyebrows accompanied this statement and he yelped at the punch in the arm he received.

"Shut up," Neville laughed, dodging the kick aimed at him.

With a battle cry Harry launched himself at the other boy and caught him around the middle. A wrestling match ensued that woke up their adopted sibling just as Sirius called them in for lunch.

-------------------------------------------

Embry Call caught the ball being tossed at him by one of his pack mates and quickly threw it as Paul. Lounging outside his mother's café/shop had become a new habit for the La Push werewolf pack. There had been no new vampires in their territory of late and the Cullens were, as usual, keeping an extremely low profile.

The vegetarian vampires as they called themselves had been concerned when teenagers in La Push had begun changing into wolves again and the Elder's council had decided to update the treaty. Embry couldn't see the difference. The still had the boundary line and the Cullens were still under oath not to attack any human or else. . . The only difference was that the pack had agreed to inform the leeches if they caught the scent of any vampire in Forks and vice versa. The wolves had also promised not to attack any vampire they saw with golden eyes. At least not without getting an explanation first. Most of them were the kind to rip apart first and ask questions later.

"Anyone seen the new people yet?" Embry's head shot up at the inquiry, which had come from Jake and he noticed that he wasn't the only one who did so. Quil, Paul and Jared who were with them all looked interested as well.

Everyone shook their head all looking equally curious and wary. The new family who had moved into the Old Willows had been a big part of recent gossip on the reservation. The house they had bought was famous for having being unoccupied for at least a decade now because it was so expensive, meaning that the people who had bought had to be from big money. There was also the fact that no one had seen them because they had yet to venture out of their new home in the two weeks they had been there.

"Well we saw those two older guys last week," Quil pointed out. "Besides they're probably still packing all their stuff away."

Jake nodded but looked uneasy. "Though that dude with the amber eyes was weird. I thought he was a vampire at first, it was only that he doesn't smell or look like one apart from his eyes that stopped me from attacking him. He smelled nearly exactly like us."

Embry nodded in agreement. He had been there that day and although he hadn't sensed anything from the man and had even spoken to him, Jake and Sam's weird reactions to the guy were enough to convince him. They were pack after all and you trusted each other in the pack.

"I don't think we have to worry about our newest residents' seclusion anymore," Quil said, tossing the ball at Jared.

"Why?"

"Because they're standing over there." He pointed towards a black car that had just parked across the road from them. Standing beside it was the golden-eyed man that Embry had spoken to the first time and two teenagers.

"Think they finally needed food?" Jake suggested, producing laughs from everybody.

The two teenagers were obviously not siblings despite they're obvious closeness. One was tall and muscled with chocolate skin of a deeper shade than the reservation's people. His hair was close cut and a small hop earring hung from one ear. The other was smaller and more lean. Embry found himself admiring the shoulder length dark brown curls that clung to the stranger's neck as he turned around and the shapeshifer found himself staring into deep, grey eyes.

Embry jerked as a warmth spread through him, lighting up places that had been ignored these past sixteen years because he had been missing from his life. This boy, so beautiful, so perfect, was his everything to him now. There was nothing else. There never had been anything else and there never would be anything else because all he needed was this boy.

"Theo. Theo! Why are you just standing there?" Blaise tugged at his brother's arm in confusion then followed Theo's eyes to where they lay transfixed on a group of boys sitting on chairs outside the shop they were about to go into. One of the boys in the group was staring back, looking equally spellbound.

The boys were big, Blaise noted. Both tall and muscled. They would be able to break Theo in two if they tried. He would have no protection against them physically whatsoever. Scowling, he pulled Theo close to him and wrapped a possessive arm around his waist. He might not feel romantically towards Theo but he'd be damned before he allowed someone to look at him the way that boy was doing.

"Come on Theo." The captivated boy shook his head as though in a daze and allowed Blaise to steer him into the shop not seeing the devastated expression on the face of the boy he had been looking at.

"Embry!" The boy remained unresponsive to his packs calls. Jake knelt in front of him and shook by the shoulders trying to coax a response out of his friend.

A hand on his arm stopped him before he could shake Embry again. "Jake stop it. That's not going to help."

Jake whiled around to glare at Quil, who had spoken. "Well we have to do something. There's something wrong with him!"

"There's nothing wrong with him," Quil replied looking frustrated. He pushed Jake out of the way and picked Embry up without breaking a sweat. "He's imprinted."

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Um, hello? This is the part where I plead apologies because, believe it or not, my sister's rabbit chewed clean threw my charger for my laptop and those things are not cheap! Nice huh? Anyway, I'm very sorry for the long wait and it will not happen again. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the little bit of pack/wizard interaction we had. There's much more of that to come! :D

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A Curious Nature