Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Rise of the Drackens	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 769456 -:- Recommendations : 71 -:- Currently Reading : 219
Disclaimer: I own nothing. All rights for the creation of the Harry Potter novels go to J. K. Rowling. I make no money from this piece of fictional writing

Chapter List
- 98
- 99
- 100
A/N: This chapter is for every single one of you. Today we celebrate four amazing years of dedicated writing on my part and dedicated reading and reviewing on your part, lovelies. It has been four years to the day since I started this fic and over those four years, we’ve had a LOT of mishaps and obstacles to get over, but we have persevered together to overcome it all. I am truly honoured to have shared this experience with you all, lovelies, whether you’re new readers or old who have been with me from day one, thank you for always trusting in me and thank you for always sticking by me, no matter what. Thank you.
Warning: This chapter contains scenes of a bloody, gory and distressing nature that may upset some readers. Please, please proceed with caution and navigate carefully through the scenes if you are easily upset or have certain triggers.
Last Time

Harry laughed happily and went to see what Farren was up to as Calix played with his Dad Blaise by peeking his head out from under the coffee table and then ‘hiding’ by ducking his head back under it, laughing at Blaise’s, very fake and exaggerated, surprise every time he stuck his head out.
He was going to enjoy the next four days, where he didn’t have to go to court and as Farren included him in his game of block building, Harry hoped that being at home all day for the next four days reassured his children, especially Farren, that though he might leave them for a few hours, he would always come home for them, because nothing, nothing in this world, would ever keep him away from his children. Nothing. Not ever.

Chapter Ninety-Nine – Temper Tantrums

It felt nice to have a lie in for once, Harry thought lazily as he rolled around in the large bed that was abandoned except for him, luxuriating in having it all to himself for a change. He settled back down and he let out a deep, disgruntled sigh as the warmth of the bed became slightly stifling now that he was awake. It was almost June and the sun was streaming through the edges of the curtains warming everything up. He was too hot and he was sweating under the heavy duvet, likely the reason that he’d woken up in the first place.
He knew that it was gone breakfast just from the feel of the house. It was too quiet and there was no one rushing around anywhere, no screeches or giggles from small children and no shouted questions to mates in other rooms. It was completely silent, peaceful. If he had to guess, he’d say that it was midmorning and the kids were all down for their naps.
With a groan he sat up and pushed the heavy duvet away from his body and swiped his sweat soaked hair back, away from his face. He slid from the bed and he padded barefoot to the bathroom to relieve himself, brush his teeth and have a quick shower, but not the usual dart it, get wet and get back out routine he usually kept to with so many babies clamouring for his attention that he had to look after.
He cleaned himself up, taking the time to thoroughly clean himself and luxuriate as much as he could in the shower, he did prefer baths, but showers were still very nice when he’d been as sweaty and grimy as he’d been when he’d woken up. He dressed himself in whatever came to hand first from his drawer in their shared dresser, after a quick spell to dry himself off of course, before he went down the stairs, peeked into the empty kitchen, before going into the living room. He found Draco stretched out across the settee, sat up reading his book in the living room, but no one else.

“Where is everyone?” He asked with a grin. “I feel like I’m in the wrong house.”

Draco startled in surprise and looked up from his novel.

“Well the kids are down for their nap, Max was recalled to sort out the aspiring potions apprentices, minus the one who actually caused the accident yesterday, and Nasta went to work an hour early to check on his Caronwyn.”

“Blaise?” Harry asked as he went to lie down on the settee, resting his upper body in Draco’s lap and keeping eye contact with him.

Draco pushed his hand, attached to his newly bandaged arm, through Harry’s hair to get it out of his eyes and Harry moved and stole a morning kiss from his blond mate.

“Blaise went to talk to the goblins at Gringotts.”

“Was he okay?”

“Nervous, but he’s excited too. He really wants this to work.”

“He’s damn good at it!” Harry said passionately. “He should be able to set up his own business in this. It’s not like he has any competition!”

Draco smiled and bent forward to kiss him, before wrapping his good arm around his back and pulling his upper body down to rest against him. He went back to his book and Harry yawned and rested on his mate, letting himself rest some more while allowing his brain to wake up slowly.
When he wanted his first cup of tea for the morning, he pushed up and kissed Draco again before he wiggled away from his body and stood up to stretch. He went into the kitchen and boiled the kettle while he got down two mugs and a bowl so that he could have some cereal. Nasta would kill him if he didn’t at least try to eat breakfast and he really wanted cereal, it made him sigh. He really was in the fifth week of his cycle, just four more weeks and he’d have a heat period. He really needed to tell his mates about that soon.
He made tea for himself and Draco, scoffed his cereal and washed up his bowl, before taking the tea into the room, handing one cup off to Draco, who thanked him gratefully.

“Were the kids okay?” Harry asked, smiling apologetically as Draco put down his book yet again. He rarely had the time to read it, so Harry was loath to interrupt him, he just couldn’t help it when it came to his babies.

“They were fine. They’ll all be awake soon.” Draco told him. “They all ate their breakfasts and even Farren went down for his nap. Blaise was on the night shift and he said that there were no problems and that he only had to get up at three to feed Eva and Ave and the once for Leolin at four. He checked on the other kids too and they were all fine. Tegan was wet, so she had a change, but Calix was bone dry.”

“So no rashes?” Harry asked.

Draco shook his head. “He still wants to crawl around naked though.”

Harry chuckled. “If he wants to crawl around naked in his own home, let him.”

Draco hummed, but he didn’t answer and he cheekily stuck his legs into Harry’s lap. Harry just laughed and started massaging his calves, knees, ankles and feet as he sat quietly on the settee and lost himself in his thoughts with his cup of tea, leaving Draco to his book as they enjoyed the comfortable silence that they both knew wouldn’t last for much longer.
He knew that Draco had a problem with the kids being naked, he believed that it was inappropriate and that they’d be hurt easier if they didn’t have a protective layer of clothing on. The accident with Eva had only solidified his belief, because if Eva had been naked yesterday, her burns would have been a thousand times worse than the small patch of reddened skin that she had gotten. But Harry firmly believed that they couldn’t live in fear of accidents that could happen. He recognised and understood that they couldn’t protect the kids from every single little accident or injury that might happen and he also knew that he couldn’t wrap his children up in cotton wool and stand on guard over them for the rest of their lives. They needed to learn and to grow, to come into their own persons and a part of that was taking an injury or two. It was as Nasta said, what was childhood without a few grazed knees?
Draco needed to learn that the kids would get hurt, it was inevitable. Of course none of them would ever wish their children to be hurt and Harry shuddered at the nightmarish thought of having to deal with his first broken bone or serious injury to his little babies, but he also knew that there was nothing that he could do to prevent it. If it was going to happen, and it would sooner or later, then it was going to happen and he just needed to prepare to act when it did happen. Swaddling his children was going to achieve nothing but them despising him or even making a situation or injury a million times worse as his children would have never had to deal with such a thing before and they would panic and could easily injure themselves even worse. No, he needed to be prepared to act, his mates needed to be prepared to act and his sweet little sons and daughters would get bumped heads, grazed knees and knocked elbows. As much as he hated, absolutely hated, the thought of his babies being hurt, he knew that it was going to happen one day. It really was completely inevitable.
They stayed there in the silence, Harry thinking about anything and everything as Draco read, still having his feet and legs massaged by an almost mindless Harry. It was as Harry was thinking of maybe broaching the topic of his approaching heat period when a soft rustling came over the baby monitor that was sat on the coffee table and a baby made a small grunt.

“Mummy?” The sleepy, tinny voice came over the monitor and Harry smiled, stopping his massages and patting Draco’s legs to move them as he stood up and went to fetch his wakening children.

He found Regan blinking hazel-gold eyes at him, his face creased from his nap, but he was sat up in his cot, or at least he was until the door opened and Harry walked in, then he pulled himself up and he lifted his arms up.

“Mummy, up.”

“Good morning, Regan. Did you have a good nap?” He asked softly.

Regan nodded his head as he fisted at his sleepy eyes.

“Do you want teddy?” Harry asked as he picked up the teddy that Regan used as his comfort toy after his traumatic fall down the stairs months before.

Regan nodded his head again and reached out a hand for the teddy and Harry checked on the other napping children before taking Regan back out into the living room, being extra careful on the stairs.

“Is it only Regan?” Draco asked.

Harry nodded. “At the moment, yes. Farren seems to be deeply asleep, was he alright during the night?”

“He was fine. He’s just catching up on all the missed naps over the last few days. We had to take him into the bedroom and show him that you were still in bed for him to go to sleep.”

“I didn’t hear a thing.” He frowned.

“Nasta put a silencing bubble around you so that Farren wouldn’t disturb your much needed lie in.”

Harry sat back down and cradled his seventeen month old son in his arms, holding the teddy too as Regan was very attached to it.
Draco put his book down and shifted so that he could see Regan. Harry smiled at them both as they started talking to one another and Regan seemed to come out of his sleepy shell without any other baby in the room with him, especially his fraternal twin, Tegan, who definitely liked taking control of everything and everyone around her.
Harry handed Regan over to sit on Draco’s lap as he had an idea and he bent down into the pile of toys by the side of the settee that he was sat on and lifted out what he wanted.

“Regan, what colour is this?” Harry asked as he held up a blue shape.

“Bue.” Regan told him and Harry clapped his hands as Draco praised their son.

“What colour is this one?” Harry asked as he held up a yellow block.

“Ellow.” Regan said clapping his hands as Harry did.

“Well done, Regan.” Draco told him, kissing the back of his head, nosing into his jet black hair.

“Do you know this colour?” Harry asked him, holding up a red car.

“Red.” Regan told him and Harry grinned, bending forward to kiss Regan’s forehead.

“This one?” He asked holding up a green car this time.

“Geen.”

“Primary and secondary colours, he’s coming on so well.” Draco smirked proudly as he listened to Regan.

“I don’t think he’ll know purple or orange.” Harry frowned. “We haven’t done those colours as much.”

He reached down and picked up one of the shapes from Braiden’s old shape sorter and held it out.

“Regan, what’s this?” Harry asked, holding up an orange shape.

“Ronge.”

Harry and Draco shared a look and Harry grinned. “That was close enough for me.”

Harry found something purple, a scrap of fabric that looked to have come from one of Tegan’s dolls, and he showed it to Regan.

“What’s this one?”

“Bue!” Regan screeched and clapped his hands.

“No. No, Regan. This one is purple.”

“Bue.” Regan insisted.

“No, this one is blue.” Harry told him, picking up the blue shape again and putting it next to the purple fabric so that Regan could compare them. “This one is purple.”

“Purpa.” Regan frowned as he reached out for the scrap of fabric and stared at it. “Purpa.” He repeated as he petted the fabric.

“Close enough.” Draco chuckled as he pulled Regan further back onto his lap.

Regan was having none of it, however, and he shifted himself forward and then climbed down to the floor and he started playing, only every time he picked up a toy, he’d say the colour that it was and look to them for praise, which they readily, and enthusiastically, gave to him.
It was only five or six minutes later when a snuffle came over the baby monitor and a soft and sleepy, slightly confused exclamation of ‘Ma’ was heard.

“I think our Faerie baby is calling for you.” Draco told him.

“He’s going to want a bottle, can you boil the kettle for me please?”

“Of course.” Draco answered as he stood up and stretched his back and shoulders as Harry left the living room to go and collect Leolin from his cot, in his own separate nursery.

Harry opened the nursery door, to the room that was directly opposite their bedroom. He walked to the cot and he smiled down at the sleepy scrunched up face of his Faerie baby, lying flat on his back and unable to move.

“Ma! Ma!” Leolin chanted happily and his little arms lifted themselves slowly as if they were actually leaden weights, but still he lifted them for a hug.

Harry lifted him up and cradled him close to his neck, feeling teeny, tiny hands clenched into his skin, tiny nails biting in, but he didn’t mind.
He hugged Leolin tightly and he picked up the fleecy blanket from the cot before he carried Leolin down to the living room. There was a bottle made up and ready on the coffee table and Draco was trying to pull a brush through Regan’s hair while he was distracted with his toys.
Harry sat down on the edge of the settee and he turned Leolin gently down into the crook of his arm, being very careful with his tiny wings.
He checked the milk against his inside forearm, mostly out of habit instead of any distrust that Draco hadn’t cooled it properly, before he rubbed the teat over Leolin’s cheek and he watched as his baby son turned his head to wrap his lips around the teat, taking as much of the bulb into his mouth as he could before he started suckling.
Harry watched him, completely entranced, as Leolin stared at him with his gold eyes as he drank. Harry drew in a deep breath and he let it out again happily as he watched his son feeding.
He was disturbed by a cry over the baby monitor, but it was Draco who hefted himself up to go and get the awakened babies, leaving Harry to finish feeding Leolin while keeping an eye on Regan, who was playing very happily now that his Daddy Draco had stopped dragging a brush through his hair.
Harry looked up when Draco came back in, herding their remaining children. He had to smile as he saw Braiden up on his feet and walking, clutching onto Draco’s leg.

“I carried him down the stairs.” Draco assured him as he set Calix and Tegan on the floor. “But he wanted to go down as soon as we’d passed the stairs.”

“Where’s Farren?” Harry asked when he realised that one was missing.

“He’s actually still asleep.”

Harry frowned. “Is he okay?”

“There’s no sign of fever and I couldn’t scent anything out. I think the last few days have just taken it out of him and he’s just catching up with some needed sleep.”

“Okay, but I’ll check on him in….”

“Mama!” Calix interrupted loudly and enthusiastically, crawling to his legs and sitting back on his knees to reach up to him. “Mama! Mama!”

Leolin did not like the disruption and he turned a glare onto his older brother, even as he continued feeding, though at a much slower rate than he’d been suckling at before.

“Good morning, Calix.” He greeted with a smile. “Did you have a good nap?”

“Mama, pick up!” Calix beseeched him.

“In a minute, Calix.” Harry said gently. “Your brother needs his milk, first.”

Calix pouted and when that didn’t work, his lower lip started trembling.

“Draco, he’s going to start crying.” Harry warned as Calix’s eyes grew damp with unshed tears.

Draco looked over and took four large strides before swooping Calix from where he’d slumped onto the floor. A belly tickle and an upside down trip over Daddy Draco’s broad, muscular shoulder and Calix was giggling in happiness and clapping his hands together and Harry was able to resettle Leolin and re-establish eye contact to get their bonding moment back while Leolin fed, going back to larger mouthfuls and a faster pace of suckling.
With all the other babies though, playing, screeching, giggling and playing, Leolin got distracted much more easily and he was frowning at all of the noise and he soon abandoned his bottle and refused to drink any more. Harry sighed after Leolin turned his head away from the bottle teat once again and he gave it up, putting the bottle on the coffee table and hefting Leolin over his shoulder to wind him.

“How much?” Draco asked him.

“Three and a quarter ounces.” Harry shook his head. “Ave drank more than that last night.”

Draco looked worried too. “He’s seventeen months old. I know he’s a Faerie, but can we realistically expect that he’s going to be completely fine drinking just three ounces of milk several times a day? It just doesn’t seem enough! It’s like us living off of a bowl of soup a day!”

“Nasta said its fine.” Harry replied. “I know that none of us were expecting Leolin and I know that Nasta, or Aneirin, have never had to care for a Faerie baby before, but I trust them to know what they’re doing. Dain and Kailen said that he’s eating fine too and they were alive two hundred years before the Ministry of Magic was founded! I trust that between the four of them, that they have the right information to care for Leolin because the only alternative is that we’re caring for him wrong and we could be doing him irreparable harm and I can’t believe that.”

“Any sign of a tooth?” Draco asked hopefully.

Harry carefully pushed back Leolin’s lips and checked his pink gums for any dot of white that would signify an emerging tooth or even just a red area of inflamed gum which would be a clue to him teething, but there was nothing and all rooting around in Leolin’s mouth did was make him scowl heavily.

“No, nothing.” He said as he shook his head. He sighed. “Nasta did say from about eighteen months was the normal average.”

“Next month then.” Draco said with a nod. “At this rate, Eva and Ave will be teething before him too.”

Harry grimaced and put Leolin down on the settee, propping him up against the arm of the settee and a stack of cushions.

“Do you want tea? I’m going to make one while I log Leolin’s feed down in his book.” Harry asked.

“Sure. I’m going to try and get their hair into some semblance of order.” Draco sighed heavily as he looked around at the mass of bed heads.

Harry grinned. “Good luck with that.”

Harry went into the kitchen and started boiling the kettle before he opened the counter drawer and found Leolin’s book and he flipped it open. He noted that Leolin had taken an ounce at four in the morning before he’d gone back down to sleep for four hours, that he’d taken just half an ounce at eight in the morning before going back down to sleep and then Harry filled in his information. That Leolin had woken up at ten past ten in the morning and he’d taken three and a quarter ounces.
He bit his lip and nibbled on it. Draco was right, it just didn’t seem enough when Leolin’s log book was compared to Eva or Ave’s, but he pushed it out of his mind, his girls were Drackens and Leolin was a Faerie. There was no fair comparison between them.
He made a cup of unsweetened white tea for Draco and his favoured honey tea for himself before heading back into the living room to hand Draco his cup. He was wrestling a brush through Braiden’s hair and it made Harry smile as Braiden wriggled and squirmed away from him, batting at Draco’s hands and the brush and being very vocal about his dislike of the brush.

“This could be their punishment when they’re older. Misbehave and suffer five minutes of Daddy Draco brushing hair.” Harry laughed.

“You’re not funny.” Draco huffed.

“I am. I’m hilarious.” Harry said with a grin as he sat back down next to Leolin, who was surprised that he was sat completely upright. “Draco, look at his face!” Harry chuckled.

Draco shifted away from Braiden to look at Leolin’s surprised, yet very pleased face.

“Where’s that camcorder?” He asked. “Where did Max leave it?”

“I don’t know.” Harry frowned. “Is it in the sideboard?”

Draco went to the wall cabinet and went through the drawers and he made a sound of triumph and he pulled out the camcorder. He set it up overly cautiously, still not that used to using Muggle technology, but he now knew how to turn the TV on and how to flick it through the cartoon channels for the kids and how to get onto the Muggle news channels. He was learning and Harry was very proud of him.

“There!” He said happily. Harry had to smile at him.

“So, this is our Leolin at seventeen months old, and sitting completely upright for the first time.” Harry narrated to the camera with a smile.

He turned back to Leolin and smiled at him, getting a grin back. “Ma! Ma!” He cried happily.

Harry took his tiny hands and he bounced on the settee, making Leolin move. He made a soft, fearful noise, but Harry stroked his thumbs over Leolin’s tiny hands and smiled to reassure him. He bounced again and Leolin, still looking unsure, watched him.
As Harry bounced more, Leolin got used to it and he let out a huffy sounding giggle.

“Try and get him to bounce with you.” Draco told him.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Harry said. “It’s one thing for me to bounce, but another thing to get him to do it. He isn’t that steady.”

“Hold him under the armpits.” Draco encouraged. “That way if he does go to fall, you can catch him.”

Harry nodded and he slipped his hands from Leolin’s and up under his armpits. He barely moved Leolin as he made him bounce on the settee. Leolin actually squeaked and it made Draco laugh and Harry smile.

“That’s a new noise.” Draco said.

“He’s never been bounced before.” Harry said with a smile.

“He enjoys it, do it again.”

Harry laughed and this time he bounced with Leolin, who let out more of his huffy giggles.

“You’re growing stronger every day!” Harry praised his tiny son. “You’re growing and developing and as soon as you start teething, we’ll try you on some mushed up fruit puree.”

“I can’t wait until he’s on something, anything, other than formula milk.” Draco said.

Harry nodded his agreement. “I know what you mean. It’ll be such a milestone for him.”

The floo flared green and Harry smiled as Blaise stepped out gracefully, well aware of how many steps he could take upon landing to avoid colliding with the fire guard.

“Daddy Bway! Daddy Bway!”

Blaise’s face broke into a huge, gorgeous smile as he stepped over the fire guard and swept the clamouring babies into a hug with his long arms.

“I missed you all too.” He said softly before he realised that one was missing. “Where is Farren?”

“Still down for his nap. I’m going to go and check on him now.” Harry said.

Blaise came over and sat next to him, nuzzling into his neck and kissing his face. Harry chuckled and turned his body to put his legs over Blaise’s lap and he pulled his mate down into an impassioned kiss.

“Hey! That’s enough in front of the camera, we aren’t making dirty recordings!” Draco complained as he turned the camcorder away and switched it off.

Harry burst out laughing and Blaise joined him, followed by several babies who copied them.

“Speak for yourself.” Blaise said with a cocky smirk. “Harry and I are much more open minded, aren’t we, Bello?”

Harry couldn’t stop laughing, but he nodded regardless. He calmed himself and took in a deep, gasping breath.

“Hello, Leolin.” Blaise greeted as he saw Leolin behind Harry. “He looks so strange sitting up like a proper baby. I’m more used to seeing him from above as he’s usually always on his back.”

“I know, but he’s doing so well. He’s propped up firmly and he isn’t flopping over. His core muscles are getting so much stronger.” Harry pinched Leolin’s cheek so gently it was more like he was resting his finger and thumb on his cheek, but Leolin giggled regardless.

“What are they having for lunch?” Draco asked as he put the camcorder down on a side table.

“Max left their lunch menu on the corkboard.” Blaise told him.

“How was the meeting at Gringotts?” Harry asked him.

“Frustrating and productive in equal measure.” Blaise replied with a sigh.

“Does that mean that they agreed with your proposal?” Draco asked interestedly.

“I really think I won them around.” Blaise said with a smug grin. “Trying to get gold for an investment off of a goblin is difficult, trying to wrangle the start-up money for a new business venture is near impossible, but I really think I managed it.”

“Well done, Blaise.” Harry said, hugging him and giving him a solid kiss. “I’m so proud of you.”

“Nothing is set in stone yet!” Blaise tried to protest.

“I don’t care, you’ve done so well and you’ve done exactly as you wanted to and you’re not going to give up on this venture. Even if you have to start out from this very room and selling on word of mouth alone. You’re damn good at what you do and as soon as you get started, your business is going to grow and then all of us together can set you up in a permanent residence. If the goblins don’t see this as the amazing venture that it is, then we can set it all up for you and prove how wrong they are.” Harry said sincerely.

“Merlin, you make it sound so simple.” Blaise laughed.

“It is simple.” Harry told him, pulling him into a kiss. “Now, I’m going to start lunch for these little toe rags, but first, I’ll go and check on Farren. Keep an eye on Leolin and make sure that he doesn’t fall forward and when Eva and Ave wake up, put them in the playpen for a bit, they need time alone to wake up without the older kids being rough and boisterous around them.”

Harry did as he had said he would and he climbed the stairs and he went into the second nursery that housed his five oldest children. Farren was still asleep in his red cot, blanket over his chunky legs and his arms wrapped around a stuffed giraffe.
Harry rested his folded hands on the side of the cot and he smiled as he watched Farren sleeping. He sighed as he soaked in the peace before he stood up again and reached into the cot to stroke Farren’s dark brown hair out of his face.

“Farren, love. Do you want to wake up?” He called out gently.

Farren made a small, soft noise and he shifted and Harry had to smile widely at him as he woke up slowly from his extra-long nap.

“Muma.”

“I’m here, Farren.” He said gently.

Farren blinked open his greeny-blue, teal coloured eyes and shifted around some more in his cot and Harry just watched him as he woke up slowly, in his own time, and got his bearings back.

“Muma, up.”

Harry smiled wider and he picked up his hefty boy and cuddled him into his neck. He was glad that he was off for four days now. It would help him to reconnect with his children and it would go a long way to reassuring them that even if he left for a couple of hours, he would always come back for them.
He carried Farren from the nursery and down into the kitchen. He checked the corkboard and found Max’s baby menu and he couldn’t help but smile as his always fun-loving, childish mate had drawn little pictures of food around the edge of the menu. He chuckled and shook his head. He was missing Max and Nasta, he hadn’t seen them at all today and though he knew that they had more than likely kissed him before they’d left, he’d been asleep for it and had no memory of their kisses. He just really wanted to hug them and give them each a kiss.
He kept Farren with him, cocked on his hip as he got all the ingredients out and started preparing them, putting Farren’s bottom on the counter when he needed to use both of his hands, but keeping his son snuggled against his chest.
Farren soon woke up properly and he was very curious about where he was and what was going on. Harry let him handle the food, especially the onion, which Farren tried to get into his mouth and couldn’t.
Harry prepared the food, keeping the one knife that he was using well away from tiny little fingers, all the while Farren was picking everything up and even taking bites out of things, as he found out when he picked up the red pepper and found tiny teeth marks in it.

“Did you eat my pepper?” Harry asked in a high, questioning voice.

Farren looked up at him and shook his head and Harry had to laugh.

“We must have mice, then.” He joked as he pulled Farren into a hug and went back to cooking lunch.

He was almost done when Blaise brought Leolin out for his own lunch.

“Watch him with that knife.” Was Blaise’s first comment.

“Must we keep the knives away from him?” Harry asked, a hard edge to his voice. “I thought I’d teach him how to use one early.”

“There’s no need to be so passive aggressive, Harry, I was just saying.” Blaise muttered.

“I am their Mother!” Harry told him. “Don’t you think I know not to let them near the damn knives?”

Blaise sighed and held up his one hand in surrender. He boiled the kettle and Harry went back to wrestling an unused carrot from Farren’s mouth as his son chomped on it with his teeth.
Harry didn’t know why he was being so crabby, but then, thinking about it, it was likely a combination of missing Max and Nasta and his looming heat period. A month more and he’d be thrown into a heat period and he would potentially end up pregnant. His hormones were surging in preparation and he was experiencing some mood swings, particularly being quicker to anger. His coming heat was weighing very heavily on his mind now the closer it got and it didn’t help that the court case might not be over at that time. How was he supposed to handle that stress and frustration while in the early stages of pregnancy? How did anyone expect him to deal with all of that?
He sighed as he dished up several plates of food and he shifted Farren to his booster seat and took his little plastic plate of food over too, so he wouldn’t fuss while he wrangled up the rest of the babies.

“Draco, lunch is up.” Harry told him as he quickly picked up Calix and Regan and made his way back to the kitchen, just in case Farren choked.

“You made food for us too?” Draco asked.

“Yep, it’s lunchtime for us too.”

“Technically it’s breakfast for you.” Draco told him.

“It’s not. I had a bowl of cereal while I was making the tea.” Harry told him with a grin.

“That could only be considered brunch.” Draco sniffed.

Harry chuckled as he settled Regan into a booster seat to see how he handled it and clipped Calix into his highchair.
Blaise finished feeding Leolin and settled him into the bassinet for another nap while he wrote in the baby log book. Draco carried in Tegan and Ave while Braiden was walking behind him, his arms outstretched for balance. He looked so happy being up on his feet and walking that Harry had to smile at him.
Harry clapped his hands and swept Braiden up, kissing him and praising him before settling him into his own booster seat. He went back into the living room for Eva and settled her into her highchair too. She and Ave were eating a smooth paste that had just been heated up, at four months old, they weren’t eating proper solids yet, but they were having their first tastes. Today they were being spooned a pale orange goo that was nothing but blended sweet potatoes, pumpkin, broccoli and carrots made lovingly by Max a few days before.
Harry tried to feed the both of them together, but it was difficult when Calix was doing his best to paint with his pasta Bolognese. He flinched again as a tiny little cube of carrot and red pepper and a lot of sauce splattered up his arm.
Blaise wrestled the spoon from Calix and then started feeding him normally, so Calix’s food didn’t end up as an artwork instead of actually in his mouth.
Lunch was always messy and each child looked like they’d bathed in their food instead of eating it once they were done and they started ‘talking’ to one another, content to stay where they were for a moment, leaving Harry, Draco and Blaise to eat their own lunches.
Harry finished first, having scoffed his lunch as quickly as he could, and he just smiled at the state of his babies before he gave them a bowl of berries and a small spoonful of natural yoghurt each for dessert before he went back to his twin girls.
He cleaned off Eva and Ave as best as he could before peeling off their clothes and taking them to the downstairs bathroom to bathe them both quickly. He dressed them in clean leggings and different coloured smock tops before he carried them to the living room, leaving Blaise and Draco to wrestle with the five older, messier, kids. He went and got a sleeping Leolin from the kitchen and put him into the living room bassinet before getting onto the floor and playing with his two girls.

“Mama.” Eva cooed at him from where he’d put her, propped up against a stack of cushions. He had Ave propped up against his own body.

Harry dug out a soft toy that his girls both loved. Thankfully they both had one as their Uncle Caesar and Aunt Amelle had sent one each over to them from America.
They were butterflies, though apparently they were supposed to be fireflies, but every part of the stuffed creature was made in a different colour with a different fabric, from felt, to soft, fluffy fleece, faux fur and even a fabric that was crinkly. The girls just loved touching and gumming on their butterfly slash fireflies and it helped that it had things attached to it, from a little mirror, to a cord that had a plastic teether on it and little rings that Ave in particular liked twisting her fingers around. It also squeaked when it was squeezed, which was Eva’s favourite part of the soft toy as she bashed it around and giggled at the squeak, squeak, squeak that it made.
Harry joined in with their play and clapped his hands at everything and anything they did, from making the toy squeak, to putting the teether into the little pocket on the wing of the butterfly and taking it back out again and squeezing the one wing that made the crinkly noise.
The floo flared and Harry automatically moved his arm to shield Eva as he shifted in front of her and Ave, but he jumped up with a happy, excited exclamation when Max stepped through. He’d tackled his mate into a large bear hug before he’d even fully regained his bearings, the fireguard between them, and Max laughed deeply, happily, as he squeezed Harry back tightly, automatically shifting his head down to aim for a kiss.
Harry craned his head back and kissed Max passionately for long minutes, trying to convey how much he’d missed him and how much he’d wanted to see him, hold him and kiss him over the course of the day.
They broke apart, Harry panting and Max laughing breathlessly.

“I missed you too, love.” Max told him huskily.

“I didn’t like waking up to find you, Blaise and Nasta not here. I like my morning kisses and cuddles.” Harry said with a grin.

Max swung him up and kissed him again. When they broke apart this time, Harry was sitting on Max’s lap on the settee, their girls at Max’s feet with their butterfly/firefly things.

“It’s too quiet, where are the rest of them hiding?” Max asked. “Have they had their lunches or do you want me to go and…”

“Sit back down.” Harry ordered as Max went to stand up while still talking. “We’ve all had our lunches, Eva and Ave loved their orange goo that you made for them and I gave them their bath and changed their messy clothes and currently, Draco and Blaise are giving the older kids a bath…giving them Bolognese sauce to play with was definitely going to be a messy experience.”

Max laughed and relaxed back on the settee and pulled Harry to crush him against his chest, kissing his forehead and then his face, before catching his lips.
They broke apart when one of their girls, Ave, started giggling. They both looked down at her, to see her and Eva holding hands and rocking back and forth, their soft toys abandoned to either side.

“They are so adorable. Where’s that camera?”

“It’s over there somewhere, Draco had it on Leolin earlier.”

“Was he being cute too?” Max asked as he shifted Harry to the side and hefted himself up to get the camera.

“He was.” Harry said with a smile. “You can see after you’ve recorded a bit of the girls.”

Max saluted him and aimed the camera at the girls, who were still holding hands and rocking back and forth, giggling.

“They have tremendous skills to be doing this at four months. I know they’re almost five months old now, but still.” Max chuckled.

“Is it because they’re Drackens?” Harry asked.

Max nodded. “That definitely helps. They’re stronger than human babies, so they’re able to do things like this.” He said, waving his hand at the two girls playing. “Ave’s already trying to get up on her feet, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were walking at eight months.”

“But Braiden wasn’t really walking until he was much older and Farren still isn’t really walking and they’re both Drackens too.”

“That’s because Braiden was more interested in learning to speak than getting up on his feet and Farren’s a happy chunk. These two girls just want to be motoring around and it helps that they can see their older brothers and sister up on their feet, because they’ll try their best to copy them. I think that’s how Ave got up onto her feet in the first place, even if she did tip a teapot over Eva and Draco in the process.”

“I hope you realise that you just called Farren a chunk on camera and he’s going to see those tapes one day, when he’s older.”

“Bollocks.” Max cursed.

Harry laughed and he had to laugh harder when Max turned the camera to face himself and started talking into it.

“Farren, I’m sorry baby, I didn’t mean it, okay? You’re a gorgeous little chunk and I love you. Stop laughing, Harry!”

Harry couldn’t stop though and he hunched over, holding his middle.

“What’s the matt…oh. I should have guessed that you were home from the noise.” Draco said as he put down a bathed and clean Braiden and Calix. They were both just wearing nappies.

Even as they watched, Calix sat down and tugged at the ties of his nappy, pulling them off and he started off crawling again, leaving his nappy behind.

“Please tell me you got that?” Harry asked with a giggle that he couldn’t entirely suppress.

Max nodded with a chuckle. “Yeah, I got our little boy stripping on camera.”

“Don’t say it like that.” Draco demanded furiously.

Draco picked up Calix and tried to cover him back with his nappy, but Calix squirmed and cried out.

“He doesn’t want it on, Draco. Just let him go and let his skin breathe.” Harry told him.

“I don’t want him naked on camera.” Draco insisted.

“He’s our child, Draco. What do you think we’re going to do with these tapes, sell them?” Max demanded as he put the camera down. “Merlin, you need to learn how to just calm the fuck down and have some fun once in a while. Try taking the stick out, that might help.”

“If you’re going to start fighting, get the hell out of this house.” Harry demanded, ice cold and furious. “Our babies are in this room!” He added as he hauled Calix into his own arms and putting himself between Max and Draco and Braiden, Eva and Ave.

“It’s not going to come to that, is it, Draco?” Max asked, putting emphasis on Draco’s name that made the blond’s jaw and fists clench.

“Get out in the garden and cool off, now!” Harry ordered.

“You are not the dominant in this relationship!” Draco exploded. “I tell you what to do, not the other way around!”

Harry tried to control himself, but he was hurt by that comment and unbelievably pissed off by it.

“Get out.” He hissed. “I don’t even care where you go, just leave, now.”

Draco snarled at him and his silvery-blue wings popped out and Harry stooped down to put Calix behind him and brought out his own white, multi-coloured scaled wings. He launched for the bassinet to try and get the sleeping Leolin out of the way, but Draco shoved him before he could grab his baby.
Max intercepted Draco and threw him back and away from Harry and the babies. Harry just gaped as Draco went through the door and out into the hall way, taking part of the wall with him.

“What the fuck is going on down there?” Blaise roared from up the stairs.

Harry gasped and hunched over his babies as Draco flew back at Max, debris from the wall flying with him as Draco knocked through the now damaged wall. Harry felt wood and bricks hitting his back and he flinched, smelling blood.
He was desperate to reach Leolin, but it was when the bassinet was knocked off its stand that he became frantic and panicked as he watched his tiny Faerie baby roll out of the bassinet and onto the floor where his two dominants were fighting. He scrambled on his hands and knees to where Leolin lay in a crumpled heap, crying, and he saw stars when a fist connected with the top of his head and then a knee jawed him into biting through his tongue and lip. He cradled his son to his chest, managing to get away when Max threw Draco into the bookcase.
He couldn’t pick up all five of his babies and he couldn’t leave two of them in the room unprotected as Draco and Max fought behind him, one of them going through the coffee table this time, splinters of wood stabbing into his body, making him clutch at his babies tighter. One of them cried out in pain and then started crying hysterically and Blaise flew into the room and he took a moment to look around in utter shock at what was happening and he immediately went to try and split Max and Draco up.
Harry took the small lifeline to shift himself and the babies into the furthest corner of the room and he pressed himself against them, shielding them, wrapping his wings around the sides of them as he listened to the snarls and screeches behind him as his two injured babies cried.
A crack and a meaty thud and Harry couldn’t stop himself from looking over his shoulder to see Blaise spread eagled on the floor and Max launching a new, ferocious looking attack at Draco, whose knuckles were bloodied and swollen.
Harry screamed long and loud, calling to any and all family members for immediate help. The first to respond to him was Nasta, Harry felt his responding call reverberate deep in his belly and he felt so reassured. His top dominant was coming back to him. He’d put a stop to this.
Something smashed on the wall over his head and he screamed again in fear, calling out again to all family members as he heard something heavy tip over. Too many calls to count reverberated back to him and he cried out in pain when something sharp dug at his exposed wings.
He flinched and curled around his babies tighter for fear of something happening to them, but as he did so, a horrible pain flared in his leg and he whimpered. He called out for help a third time. He just needed his babies to be safe, he could hear his three other babies crying for him from up the stairs and he couldn’t move to reach them. He couldn’t leave his other five unprotected to reach the three left upstairs.
Someone pressed against his back and curled around him and the babies and he heard shouting and more growls than there should have been as he tried to shush his hysterically crying Braiden. Leolin had gone quiet.
He peeked out and caught sight of dark green wings with slightly paler green scales. Alexander. He risked peeking out into the room and found Myron…no, Xerxes wrestling with Max and the twins, Nico and Ceph, wrestling with Draco. It was comforting to know that even though he’d almost killed Cepheus, he still came when he let out a distress call.
Alexander’s face was like carved stone and when he turned his head slightly when Richard, dressed in a jumper and jeans, arrived just a heartbeat before Myron, who was in a smart suit and tie overlaid with an expensive robe, Alexander’s eyes glinted like stone. Richard jumped right into trying to restrain Max alongside the struggling Xerxes, Myron took a moment to remove his robe and tie first, before he joined his brother and his mate in restraining Max, doing better than the both of them as he gripped Max around the chest and flattened him to the floor with his own, considerable, body weight, pinning him down and restraining his arms while Xerxes grappled with his kicking, thrashing legs. Richard went to sit by his head, trying to talk him down as Nasta finally arrived home. He froze to the spot, looking at Alexander shielding him and the children against a wall in the corner of the room, to Max still snarling and Draco still fighting with the twins and the living room in ruins.

“What happened?” He asked in a soft, quiet voice that thrummed with his anger and authority.

All activity stopped and Harry huddled down into himself to prevent his dominant from seeing him. He’d never known Nasta to be so angry before, he could feel that anger, he could practically taste it in the air.

“I asked a question!” He exploded, his voice echoing off of the broken walls of the living room.

Harry huddled down further, shifting his aching, hurting body behind Alexander, who was holding him and protecting him still.

“We heard Harry’s call and responded accordingly. Max and Draco were already fighting when we arrived and Harry was here, curled up against the wall protecting the children. We don’t know why the fight started or how.” Alexander answered.

Nasta nodded before he spotted Blaise, knocked out on the floor and partially covered in debris and he strode to him, kneeling down and checking his pulse before shifting broken bits of wood and brick off of him and hauling him into his lap.
Standing up, Nasta deposited the unconscious Blaise carefully onto the one settee that was still standing, even if it had been knocked out of place.

“I will not ask again.” He snarled gratingly, directed at his mates this time. “What happened?!”

Max bucked under Myron and growled back at Nasta, still in his feral state and Draco went to launch himself at Max, sensing an easy target as he was already pinned down. Nasta caught him around the waist with one arm and used his other hand to grip that blond hair, forcing Draco’s neck to his teeth, sinking them in over the jugular vein.
Nasta threw the blond to the floor in a heap.

“WHAT HAPPENED?!” He shouted furiously, his voice echoing off of the broken walls, looking completely deranged with his mouth smeared with Draco’s freshly spilt blood.

“It’s Harry’s fault!” Draco shouted at him.

Harry felt rage build within him so quickly that he didn’t even think.

“How dare you try and blame this on me!” He screamed, ripping himself from Alexander’s hold and moving to confront Draco. “I was trying to protect our babies!”

He took two angry steps forward before his left leg folded on him and he hit the floor. He was almost sick with shock as he saw the state of his left leg. There was a large, sharp splinter of wood stuck right through his lower leg and he could see the bone.

“Get out!” He screamed at Draco. “You get the fuck out and don’t come back! How dare you do all of this and then try and blame it on me! It was all you! Why do you always have to pick a fight? Look at what you’ve done!”

Harry swept an arm to encompass the whole room before he pointedly turned his back on Draco and crawled back to his babies to check them over now that the fighting had been stopped. He was hyperventilating and close to tears because of his anger. The pain of his injuries hadn’t hit him just yet, he was still thrumming with adrenaline and he was in shock.
He saw red however when he found the open, profusely bleeding gash on his baby Braiden’s leg. He screamed in fury, enough to rattle the windows, and he got his feet under him and he launched himself at Draco, getting in two good swipes before Draco hit him back. Feeling the stabbing sensation of claws digging into his belly, Harry hit the floor and then Nasta was there, throwing Draco through the front window.
Unable to contain the fury of Max, who was enraged by being forced to helplessly watch as his submissive was gutted in front of him, Myron was thrown off of him and Max followed Draco through the window to restart their fight on the front lawn.
Harry tasted iron on his tongue and he gagged, spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the already ruined carpet.

“Shit, you really need a Healer.”

Harry looked up at Xerxes, who looked so much like Myron and he tried to speak, only to spray out more blood.

“Myron, go and get Julius and Claire.” Xerxes ordered his youngest brother. “Nico, floo call Saint Mungos, Harry’s Healer is called Almus, if I remember correctly.”

“Maximilian Almus.” Alexander confirmed as he used his own shirt to put pressure on the gash on the sobbing Braiden’s leg.

“Ceph, we need boiled water and towels.” Xerxes carried on.

“Baiden.” Harry spluttered, trying to reach out for his crying son.

“He’ll be fine, just stop trying to move and stop talking.” Xerxes ordered. “Myron, go and break those boys up, quickly. The last thing we need here is a fatality.” He added when Myron appeared back in the living room with his shocked brother, Julius, and his sister-in-law, Claire, who gaped at the sight before her before brushing it off and getting to business. “Julius, get upstairs and look after the three up there, take those three babies with you and send Aneirin back down to help outside.” Xerxes carried on.

Julius nodded and picked up the two girls and the still naked Calix and took them up the stairs, leaving Alexander with the crying Braiden and a shocked, scared looking Leolin, whose golden eyes were as wide as saucers with fear. The little Faerie was as stiff as a board and he was completely silent and still, like a statue, as his tiny chest rose and fell rapidly as he hyperventilated.
Aneirin didn’t even bother coming down the stairs, he jumped out of the window and flew to where Max and Nasta were trying to beat Draco into submission and Myron and Richard were trying to stop them and calm them down. They were too far gone into their feral mind sets to even recognise anyone around them, which was only adding fuel to the volatile fire.
Healer Almus arrived next and he froze on the spot as he took in the damage, to Harry dribbling blood from his mouth and the bleeding baby. Claire had taken one look at Harry’s wound and she’d sent Nicodemus straight to the Counsel Halls to get the senior Healer, Alfred Grant.
Healer Almus went to Braiden and removed the shirt to see the gash underneath as the sounds of growls, snarls and roars from outside trailed off into an eerie silence.
Harry gagged on more blood and Xerxes wiped it away from his chin without comment with his own sleeve as Claire did her all to stem the blood from Harry’s belly wound with a damp towel that Cepheus had rushed to give her.

“Someone put out a floo call to Jasper Cole.” Healer Almus told them as he caught sight of Leolin. “This baby is in shock.”

“Leelin.” Harry choked out, spraying more blood everywhere.

“Stop speaking.” Xerxes told him sternly, shifting him on his lap and wiping his mouth again.

Another Healer arrived and Harry peered blearily up at the ancient looking man, with his fluffy white hair and his withered skin. Harry had never actually seen a Dracken so old, but the Healer still moved as well as a man half his apparent age as he bent down quickly to take over from Claire, barking out orders to her. His knees hadn’t even clicked all that much and his hands were very steady as they prodded around his open belly.
Nasta was back and he looked no worse for wear, but Harry could almost see the visible haze of anger around him as he dropped down in front of him and raised a hand to stroke his cheek so gently. It was at complete odds to the way that he looked, but it went a long way to reassuring him that Nasta wasn’t angry with him.

“Are you his dominant?” The elderly Dracken asked, his pale green eyes narrowing on Nasta.

“I am.” Nasta replied strongly, glaring at the Healer before turning soft eyes back onto Harry.

“I would suggest giving him your blood. It’s not going to completely fix him at this stage, but it’ll help with his back, head and facial injuries. I want him fit enough to travel to the Healing Halls.”

Nasta used his already bloody fangs to tear into his blooded arm and he held it out to Harry. Harry tentatively latched on and sucked. It took moments for the tightness in his face to relax as his bashed up face was healed. It barely made a difference to his belly wound or his ruined leg, but it did help a little.

“You, take this young man to the Healing Halls.” The Healer directed at Xerxes.

“Braiden. Leolin.” Harry babbled. “They got hurt too.”

Nasta looked over and Harry saw his eyes flash dangerously in anger. He got up and went right to where the two babies were, with Healer Almus and Healer Cole.

“What happened to the two babies?” Healer Cole demanded.

“I tried to protect them and I couldn’t.” Harry sobbed. “I couldn’t cover all of them and Braiden got hit with bits from the coffee table and Draco knocked Leolin’s bassinet off its stand before I could get to him. I couldn’t protect them.” He sobbed, feeling useless and worthless.

“You need to get to the Healing Halls. Maddison, get him there now.” The elderly Healer demanded again, standing up with more clicking of knees before giving Xerxes several kicks to get him moving.

“My babies!” Harry called out in protest.

“They have enough family members to look after them, you are going to die if you aren’t treated. Your stomach and intestines are hanging out of the gaping wound in your belly and you’re losing too much blood.”

The Healer didn’t even try to sugar coat anything and Harry tried to look down, only to have his head pinned back by Xerxes and he felt the sickening sensation of Apparation. He vomited so hard upon landing that he blacked out.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Nasta was pissed. He had never been so absolutely angry before in his life and as he surveyed the damage done to his home, he felt a flare of rage build up within him again.
Two of his sons were injured, Leolin had been rushed to the hospital by Healer Cole, Claire going with them to keep a familial eye on him as well as to offer a helping hand. Xerxes had rushed Harry off to the Dracken Healing Halls with Healer Grant and he was in a really bad way and Blaise still hadn’t regained consciousness. Healer Almus was worried about a bad concussion and possible brain damage as not even a strong revival spell was stirring him.

“He needs to go to the hospital too.” Healer Almus told him sternly. “He’s not waking up, he needs to have a fully body check, particularly his head. This is not a good sign.”

Nasta felt sick as he looked to the huge, blossoming bruise on the top of Blaise’s forehead. It was going purple and it was bleeding underneath the skin where blood vessels had burst from the force that he was hit with. Harry’s insides were hanging out and Blaise might be brain damaged and he wasn’t waking up.
He closed his eyes and tried to keep himself calm.

“Take him to the hospital, contact me if you need any relevant paperwork signed, his Mother is indisposed.”

“We really need his Mother to do the paperwork, you aren’t married, so it’s a muddied area…”

“She’s on a heat period and doesn’t even know that her son might die!” Nasta hissed, glaring at the Healer. “You will accept me as his guardian and allow me to make all of the decisions regarding his care or I will kill you and eat your remains to dispose of your body. I will not have my subordinate mate die because of you and your stonewalling. It’s a ridiculous fucking law and everyone knows it! You will not stand in my way of looking after him…I will not let you stand in my way.”

No one said a thing, they just stood there, staring at him in a new light, but he didn’t care. He meant what he’d said. He would not lose Blaise because of stupid hospital regulations that failed to recognise their mateship and thus needed Blaise’s parents to sign everything. It had been the same with Draco when he had been sick and unconscious in the hospital too and he would not put up with it. Not now, not in this dire situation.
Blaise’s Mother was a Dracken and on a heat period to boot and Maximiliano was dead. He would not allow Blaise to die just because his parents were unavailable to sign the necessary hospital forms for him. He’d take matters into his own hands if he was forced to, but he would not let his family crumble in this way. He would not allow Blaise to die because of mere hospital regulations.
He sent his Father with Blaise and he went to see Braiden, who had dried tear tracks on his face and dried blood on his leg still, where a piece of wood had gashed it. He picked his son up from Alexander’s arms and he sat on the settee that Blaise had just been taken from.
He calmly took a wet wipe out of the changing bag, it had been kicked halfway across the room during the fight from its usual place under a side table and it was liberally covered with plaster dust from the ruined walls. He carefully and gently cleaned off the blood from Braiden’s healed leg, being extra gentle and comforting his son with soft, soothing words and encouragement. There wasn’t a scar or even a mark to speak of on him, but Nasta’s memory could clearly bring up the sight of the bleeding gash that had opened up Braiden’s leg. He didn’t blame Harry one bit for launching himself back at Draco after seeing it, the one person that his submissive saw as the reason for Braiden’s injury. That in itself was very telling. Harry’s submissive blamed the fight solely on Draco.

“Daddy.” Braiden sniffled, holding his chubby little arms out for a hug and Nasta’s anger surged, making him go light headed as a ringing noise filled his head, even as he pulled Braiden to his chest, holding him close.

Little arms hugged around his neck, little hands curling into his hair, even as Braiden dribbled over his neck, either from his mouth or nose, Nasta didn’t care as he held the hurt little boy in his arms.
Max strode back in, his bare chest displaying his wounds of battle as he wiped at the bleeding cuts with a towel.

“Is Blaise okay?” He asked gruffly.

“Blaise is at the hospital. He hasn’t regained consciousness, not even with a revival spell and Healer Almus is worried about brain damage. Harry’s insides are on the outside and Leolin’s in the hospital.”

Max’s face went bloodless and his legs went like jelly as he collapsed down to the floor, right where he was standing.

“What happened?” Nasta asked with an edge to his voice. “Draco said it was Harry’s fault, but Harry said it was all Draco.”

“I’ve been wondering about that myself.” Myron said as he folded his arms over his chest.

“It was Draco and probably me as well, with likely a touch of Harry.” Max answered. “I was recording the girls on the floor and Draco brought in Braiden and Calix. They were both in just their nappies as they’d just been bathed. Calix took his straight off, he didn’t want it on and Draco took offence to me recording Calix while naked. I felt like I was being accused of something, especially after the start of our mateship and being accused of paedophilia while with Harry. Draco tried to dress him again, but he didn’t want his nappy on and Harry told him to leave Calix alone and things got a bit heated and Harry told us to go out in the garden if we were going to fight.”

“What happened to that idea?” Nasta demanded.

“You know that you do not fight around your submissive or your children.” Myron growled.

“I’ll deal with this!” Nasta hissed at him aggressively.

“Draco started, that’s what happened.” Max interrupted before his Father and his top dominant could start on one another and yet another fight broke out. “He told Harry that he was only a submissive and to know his place. That he had to do as he was told and not give the orders. Harry was visibly hurt, but then he just clenched his jaw, got a murderous look on his face and he demanded that Draco left. Draco brought the hostility up by snarling and bringing out his wings. Harry put Calix down and behind him and brought his own wings out to protect the kids and he tried lurching forward to get Leolin from his bassinet, but Draco launched at him too, forcing Harry to move back and I intercepted Draco and threw him away bodily. I don’t remember much of what happened afterwards, my Dracken took over.”

“One of you knocked Leolin’s bassinet over before Harry could get him out and he landed in a heap on the floor and Harry almost had his head kicked in trying to get him to safety. Someone went through the coffee table and the fragments of that are what gashed Braiden and a splinter of the table went right through Harry’s lower leg.”

“This wasn’t meant to happen.” Max sobbed. “Harry and I were getting on just fine until Draco got involved. Why does everything with Draco have to be a fight?”

“Harry said something similar.” Nasta sighed. “I think its past time that Draco went for those anger management classes. If this ever happens again, I’ll kill those who were involved. Our children were injured today, Blaise and Harry might die from what happened here today. How can that not be a wakeup call?”

“What do you want to do about the house?” Alexander asked as he cradled a tearful Tegan in his arms.

Nasta looked around sadly, at the ruined furniture, the destroyed walls and the smashed photo frames and he shook his head.

“The foundations need to be checked before we even think of repairing it and with Harry, Blaise and Leolin in the hospital, I don’t even want to think about it. The build of the new house is finished. I was waiting until the end of the court case to move in, because I didn’t want Harry to be stressed by the move as well as the court case.”

“I think he’ll be more stressed with the repair of this place and having to come back here with the memories of the fight and the injuries.” Max said. “Let’s just pack up some things for us and the kids and move in, we can move Harry and Blaise back in when they’re released from the hospital.”

No one mentioned, though all of them were fully aware of, the underlying ‘if’ that followed that statement. None of them wanted to be the one that said it aloud, even though all of them were thinking of it…seeing Harry with his insides hanging out of his belly and Blaise not even responding to revival spells, there was a big chance that one of them, perhaps even both of them, were not going to be coming home.
Nasta buried his face in his baby boy’s hair and he inhaled deeply. When he’d heard the distress call from Harry, he’d dropped everything and he’d run to the Apparation point at the Dragon Reserve. Hearing two additional distress calls, he had never run so fast in all his life and when he’d arrived back to find his home in the state it had been, when he’d seen his mates fighting and his submissive and children cowering in a corner…he’d lost it. His anger was so paramount that he couldn’t even breathe properly. He still couldn’t get a handle on his anger, even now he was struggling and it was pounding inside of him, trying to find a way out, trying to find a release.
He inhaled deeply again and controlled himself. He’d already had his outburst, now he needed to control himself. He needed to face Draco again and he needed to keep his head or he’d end up killing his subordinate for what had happened here today.

“I’ll go and pack up the kids’ stuff.” Max said as he stroked the back of Braiden’s head before getting up and swiping his bloodied towel back over his bleeding chest and arms.

“Come here first.” Nasta ordered, he bit back into his own arm and held it out.

“I deserve these…”

“Drink my blood, immediately. I am holding onto my anger by a thread, do not push me.” Nasta growled dangerously.

Max responded to the growl and submissively cocked his head back, exposing his throat for a handful of heartbeats before he followed the issued order and sealed his mouth around the four puncture holes in Nasta’s forearm and sucked.
His smaller wounds closed up after the first swallow of blood and after several more mouthfuls, his larger, deeper cuts had all closed up, leaving him in perfect condition once again. He licked Nasta’s arm and thanked him softly and then he left to go and pack up their children’s nursery.
All of the toys and things in the living room would have to be disposed of and they needed a new bassinet for Leolin after…after the one downstairs had been broken. He felt sick as he thought of his little Leolin being knocked flying. He lost the battle with his stomach and he rushed to the bathroom to vomit.
He didn’t even try and stop the tears from falling as he sobbed. He should have tried to control the situation better, he should have grabbed Draco and dragged him out of the house before things had gone that far…hindsight truly was a curse as he thought of a hundred different ways that he could and should have controlled the situation better as acting top dominant.
He pulled himself together as best as he could and he went into his bedroom and got out several suitcases and, using magic, he packed as much into them as he could, which considering they were magically expanded, was more than enough room. He left the full suitcases on the landing and took the others into his babies’ nursery to pack up all their things ready to move into their new house.
This was supposed to be a happy occasion. Nasta had started the plans for this house just months after mating to Harry. He had found out about it all by accident, after he’d come home early one afternoon to find Nasta in talks with an estate agent about buying a massive plot of land just outside a quaint little neighbourhood and Nasta had let him in on the plans and had even allowed him to adjust any designs of the house that he wanted. Of course he’d gone and given himself a much bigger kitchen and made the utility room separate and he definitely made doubly sure that Harry had a lot more room in each of the planned rooms.
The official build had been started a month after the design had been finalised and they’d gotten the planning permission that they needed and Max had been so excited, but Nasta had made him swear not to tell any of the others. It was going to be a massive, joyous surprise.
The house had finally been finished at the start of the year, just after the girls had been born and he and Nasta had gone to survey it and check it over. It was absolutely perfect and he couldn’t wait to get into his new, massive, kitchen and start cooking for his growing family.
He and Nasta had decorated and furnished the house themselves and they’d set everything up ready for them to just pick up and leave, all they needed were their clothes, the kids toys and all of their homey, sentimental possessions. It was going to be the best surprise to Harry ever. Only now they were moving in because this house had been ruined thanks to Draco. It took the magic of it away.
Max hated Draco, and himself, for ruining this surprise for Harry. Harry who had been begging for a bigger house for almost a year now. It had taken all of their persuasion skills to keep Harry from looking for a house on his own, and to keep their own mouths shut about the house that was being built especially for him and their growing family that backed onto a small forest and was situated on the edge of a beautiful, friendly neighbourhood.
The more Harry asked for a bigger house, almost begging on occasion, the more they felt terrible about keeping the house from him. Perhaps if they’d told him about it before now, regardless of the stress of the court case, they wouldn’t have had to have ruined their own surprise. But now Draco had ruined it for them. Almost two years they’d kept this secret, all throughout the designing and the planning and then the actual build and the final viewing, through the papering and carpeting, the furnishing and the final clean-up. The house was perfect and ready for them to move in, but they had decided to wait until after the court case to minimise the stress on Harry and now Draco had ruined two years of planning because of one stupid fight over Calix crawling around their own home naked.
He piled the rest of the suitcases on top of the other ones and levitated all of them down the stairs and he put them down gently by the fireplace, ready to be transported to the new house.

“All of our clothes are packed up.” Max told Nasta subserviently. The last thing anyone needed right now was a clash between dominants because Nasta, as the top dominant, thought that he wasn’t showing enough respect.

Nasta nodded. “I packed up some of the things that could be salvaged from this room. Especially the photos, the food in the kitchen needs to be moved too.”

Max nodded. “I’ll go and do that.”

Nasta watched Max go and fisted at his own hair. He had the feeling that he was going to be grey through stress very soon. Braiden had fallen asleep and he’d given him over to Richard to hold as he packed up what he could save. He was just thankful that the wards that Blaise had put on the incredibly rare and delicate book were strong enough to have saved it from being damaged in the fight. Blaise would have been completely devastated if the book had been in any way damaged.

“You never mentioned that you had a new house, though I knew that you boys were planning to move.” Alexander said as he calmed down the sniffling Tegan, who had been brought down from upstairs with Farren and Regan.

“It was going to be my gift to the mateship.” He answered softly. “I had it planned out and I bought the land. Max found out early on, when he came home early to find me finalising the deal with the estate agent over the land that I was buying. So it became a joint project. It would be our gift to our much younger mates. He looked over my initial design and altered and improved it and then we got the planning permission that we needed and then the building started. It was finally finished earlier this year, in early February. We were waiting until after the court case to tell the others, it was going to be a surprise for Harry after the stress and bad memories of the court case.”

“I’m sure he’ll love it.” Richard said. “He’s been begging for a bigger house since Braiden’s first birthday and now he’s almost two and you have twins on top of that now too. I did say to Myron that you boys were beginning to look more and more like sardines in an ever shrinking tin.”

Nasta couldn’t bring himself to smile. He just put the bags he’d packed on top of the suitcases that Max had prepared and he tried to figure out how he was going to get all his children to the new house safely. Dain and Kailen were going to be livid when they found out that Leolin was in the hospital due to a fight between his Dracken parents. The court were going to be right on his back and he’d have to deal with them too. Damn Draco to hell for putting them in this position.

“Nas? Do you want me to start taking everything over?” Max asked him quietly, submissively. It wasn’t Max, not his Max, and he hated it. He cursed Draco for that too.

He pulled Max into a kiss and held him tightly.

“It wasn’t your fault.” He told Max strongly. “You only entered the fight to protect Harry, as you were supposed to.”

“I should have handled it better. I’m thirty-two and I was acting top dominant in your place! I should have just grabbed Draco and dragged him outside before Harry and the kids were ever put into such a position of danger.”

“Hindsight and such.” Nasta said with a humourless smile. “I understand, you did what you could at the time. We need to pull it together for the kids. The new house was baby proofed, wasn’t it?”

Max nodded. “I covered all the sockets and put the cupboard and door locks on myself. The baby gates need to go up, though.”

“We’ll get the kids to the house first, then we’ll take it in turns to get the stuff and move it.”

“If you need any help, boys, all you need to do is ask for it.” Alexander offered as he cradled a now sleeping Tegan.

“Help would be appreciated, thank you.” Nasta replied. It would stop him from blowing up or hiding himself away. Not to mention that it gave everyone something to do other than agonising over what had happened this afternoon.

“Where are we going to first?” Richard asked. “We didn’t even know that you had this massive project going on, let alone where exactly that it is.”

Nasta took a hold of Richard and Myron’s arms, after Richard had given a sleeping Braiden to Max, and Apparated them to the driveway of the house and he finally broke a smile at the looks on their faces.

“This…this is incredible!” Myron said astonished, looking up at the three storey, absolutely beautiful house.

“It’s four storeys if you include the attic space, five if you include the basement too.” Nasta told them as he led them into the house, tapping the lock with his wand to open the door in lieu of his key, which was in an envelope back at the old house along with the deeds and all the relevant paperwork.

“You had this built?” Richard asked.

“From the very foundations. It was just a huge grassy plain when I bought it, overgrown and derelict. No one wanted it because of the half a mile area of forest that surrounded the field of grass on all three sides, but for me, for us, it would be perfect. The council here were thinking of making it a picnic area as no one was interested in buying it, but it’s too far from the actual neighbourhood and they already have a children’s play park, so the plans fell through as it would have likely been rarely used. They were overjoyed when I told them that I planned to build a house, without cutting down any of the forest and thus ruining the natural landscaping. They gave me planning permission almost immediately. I made sure to have runes and wards layered through the entire foundations and around the property line. It’s as strong, as private and as safe as I can make it.”

“This is amazing. It’s huge!” Myron said as he looked at the hardwood flooring in the hallway.

The front door led straight into a massive, wide corridor and he could see that it led all the way down to the open kitchen at the back of the house.

“I can see what Maxie meant.” Richard laughed. “Does that kitchen take up the entire back of the house?”

Nasta smiled a bit. “Almost. The family room is on the left and there are two empty rooms that are going to be studies on the right from where we’re standing. There’s an empty room to this side of the house, a small room that’ll be a home gym and a storage closet and this room is a massive downstairs bathroom and the beyond that is the living room.” Nasta told them, pointing right and then left to the doors set to either side of the corridor they were standing in.

“Right, where do you want the kids? We can stay with them while you get what you need to.”

“The family room isn’t connected to the floo, only the living room next door to it is, so while Harry, Blaise and Leolin are in the hospital, I want to stay close to the floo connection.”

Nasta walked down the corridor to where it branched off into two more long corridors on either side. The corridors were actually set in a cross shape in, near enough, the middle of the ground floor, leading to more rooms on either side of the house.

“The stairs to the upper levels and down to the basement are down that way.” Nasta told them, pointing down to the right corridor. “As well as the small gym that Max wanted.”

They went down the left corridor and passed another door. “This is just another entrance to the bathroom and this is the living room.”

They came out into a massive sitting room with an empty fireplace and plenty of windows, there were three settees and a gorgeous rug, but other than a coffee table and an empty bookcase, it was quite bare.

“It’s not lived in yet and it’s hardly homely, but eight babies and Harry will soon sort that out.” Nasta said as he took out his wand and ignited the fire.

“Where does that door lead?” Richard asked, pointing to the closed double doors on the right.

“That door leads into the larger family room. I did worry that it was too big, but Max loves the space. Then I think he’s just happy that the kitchen is the biggest room in the house. Though he did want to make the master bedroom bigger, but I beat him down on that. Harry likes the bedroom to be smaller and cosier, more intimate.”

“I like how Harry thinks.” Richard laughed. “Now, let’s get those babies here. You can make the rounds at the hospital then.” He added more seriously.

The three of them Apparated back to the living room of the old house and nothing much had changed. Max was cuddling a naked Calix and Farren to keep them both off of the debris strewn floor and the twins, Nico and Ceph, had their arms full too.

“Take those two to the new house, Max.” Nasta asked before taking Eva and Ave into his own arms and Apparating after Max.

He landed directly in the new living room and put the two girls down onto the floor. Max had done the same to Farren and Calix and the naked Calix screeched in excitement and he was off exploring the new space excitedly.
Myron arrived holding Regan and Alexander’s arm. The older man still had a sleeping Tegan, and now also a sleeping Braiden, cuddled into his chest.

“This room is beautiful.” Alexander complimented. “Harry will love it.”

Nasta nodded and he felt his chest tighten. He furiously pushed away thoughts that Harry and Blaise might never see this house. That they might never get to bring their Leolin here.
They watched Calix for a while as he crawled around everywhere, pulling his naked self up to look into everything before he sat knocking on the door that led into the family room.

“Well, he’s much happier. They can actually move around now and have their own space to play in without getting in each other’s way.” Max said as he took a suitcase from his Uncle Nicodemus, who had been Apparated there by Richard along with Cepheus.

“This is definitely a massive step up from the old house. It’s so much bigger.”

“I’m going to go to the hospital and check on Blaise and Leolin. Then I’ll go and see Harry at the Counsel Halls and I’ll be back.” Nasta said, unable to wait any longer. “Max, the kids need their dinner, it’s getting late. If you don’t feel up to cooking, just give them jars, but we can’t break their routine when they’re in a new house, the routine needs to stay the same to help comfort them.”

Max nodded his understanding as he watched Nasta leave through the floo. He still couldn’t believe that this had happened. It hadn’t quite sunk in yet as it all seemed too surreal. He just wanted to go back to that morning and redo the entire day all over again. He wanted to fix this and do things completely differently to prevent all of this from ever happening. It really should never have happened.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Aneirin sat next to the nearly comatose nineteen year old and he sighed heavily with anguish. He looked to the serious bruise taking over Blaise’s face and head, which had had to be shaved with a spell. Draco had not only punched the front top of Blaise’s head, he’d also punched him in the side of the head, right on one of the fault lines of his skull. That was the reason that Blaise wasn’t waking up.

“How is he?”

Aneirin shot up, nearly on complete automatic as he heard Nasta’s voice, and he pulled his son into a tight hug.

“How are you?” Aneirin asked.

Nasta just shook his head. “Leolin seems to be alright. The preliminary tests are all coming back good and there’s no damage done to his head, neck or back. The Healers were worried about spinal injuries, but those worries were unfounded. He’s alright, he’s just in shock. Healer Cole is keeping him in for observation and more tests, just in case, but everything’s looking alright for him. I told them to do anything and everything that they could to help him and keep him safe. How is Blaise?”

“I’m so sorry, Nasta.”

Aneirin watched as Nasta’s face went as pale as chalk.

“What’s wrong?” He asked breathlessly.

“It seems that Draco hit him on a fault line of the skull, right between the two plates at the top side of his head. As you can see, the Healers had to shave his head in order to do a close scan without his hair in the way of their wands and he’s already been force fed several potions.”

“They never asked me to sign anything.”

“I signed it.” Aneirin assured him. “You frightened Healer Almus into compliance, so he let me sign the needed paperwork to get it done and Blaise treated as soon as possible. Blaise had swelling to his brain and a slow bleed too, the Healers need to work quickly. It was a hell of a punch, Nassa, right to the side of the skull and to the top front of his head. He might still be brain damaged and he might have amnesia as well.”

Nasta put his head into his hands and sobbed. “I can’t…I can’t believe this.”

“How’s Harry?”

“In a bad way. He blacked out after being Apparated to the halls and he hasn’t regained consciousness either. There are three of them working on him right now and I couldn’t stay for long.”

Aneirin comforted his son as best as he could, but there wasn’t much that he could do or say.

“At least Leolin is alright.” He settled for saying and Nasta nodded and sucked in a deep breath and pulled himself together visibly.

“I need to go and tell Max.”

“How is Max?”

“He’s being really subservient and submissive.”

“He’s trying to make things less stressful for you by staying out of your way.” Aneirin told him shrewdly. “Just be fair to him and don’t take your anger or frustration out on him without just cause and he’ll start poking out of his shell again soon enough. He’s wary of you at the moment because of the situation, he’s expecting your anger and a punishment, so he’s trying to lessen it by behaving himself and rolling over for you.”

Nasta nodded and dried his eyes, sniffing hard. He cleared his throat and went to Blaise and he kissed his slack lips. He hated that all he could think about as he kissed Blaise was that he’d been drinking too much coffee again as his lips were really dry and chapped. He hated more that it was the most normal thought he’d had since that morning.

“I’ll stay here and watch over him, you just do what you need to.”

Nasta nodded and handed over a small slip of parchment. “Our new floo address. The old house is ruined, physically and in our memories. We’ve got the kids at the new house and it’s where we’ll be waiting.”

Aneirin nodded and read the slip of paper. “I’ll give it to Healer Almus and to Healer Odell, who’s in charge of Blaise, when I next see them, so they know where to find you if it’s needed.”

Nasta nodded and left again, going back to check on Leolin before going back to Harry and then finally back to the new house and to Max.
Aneirin sat down and looked back to the battered nineteen year old lying in the bed and he sighed. Blaise was too young for this sort of horror, unfortunately it was a typical situation for Drackens. This sort of occurrence was commonplace and it was devastating for those left behind when they came back from their feral mind set and they finally realised what they’d done in its entirety. Draco was going to be distraught when the weight of the situation finally settled on him. Aneirin just hoped that he was apologetic as well for all that he’d done today, because if he wasn’t, then he might not ever be forgiven.
He looked back at Blaise lying straight and floppy in the bed, his head shaved and his face severely bruised. He had to wonder that even if Draco was genuinely apologetic, would any of the others ever forgive him for this.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Max found himself lost in thought as he rolled the vegetable and fish mixture he’d cooked up into small balls. He’d mashed up sweet potato and mixed it up with a bit of cooked onion, sweetcorn, peas, grated carrot, flaked white fish and vegetable stock soaked risotto rice and he was in the process of rolling the mixture into small balls before egg washing them and rolling them in breadcrumbs.
The familiar act of cooking was working to settle him down, but the joy he had been dreaming about for nearly two years, of finally cooking in his brand new kitchen, was absent. He was worried, upset, stressed and he felt sick and miserable. His heart was pounding with worry for Leolin, their fragile, delicate little Faerie baby. For Harry, his sweet, strong Harry whose guts had only been held in by his Uncle Xerxes’ hand. For Blaise, who had bravely jumped in between him and Draco and was only trying to split them up. He didn’t deserve what was happening to him, none of them did.

“Max!”

He jerked and almost put his hand through the porcelain bowl. He cursed and turned to see his Dads’ behind him, looking concerned.

“What is it?”

“You’ve been spaced out for nearly ten minutes.” His Dad, Richard, told him worriedly.

Max sighed and wiped his forehead with his shoulder and he went back to making little balls with his mixture.

“What did you want?” He asked gruffly, his throat emotion clogged.

“Are you sure you want to cook?” His Dad, Myron, asked.

“I’m sure.” He answered tersely. “Has Nasta come back yet?”

“No, I’m sure you would be the first person that he seeks out when he does come home.”

They fell into silence as Max finished coating the last ball in breadcrumbs and he got a clean frying pan out of the cupboard and splashed a little bit of oil into it.

“This kitchen is amazing, Max. It’s huge.” Richard said to break the awful silence that had descended. “It’s beautiful too, the entire house is.”

“We wanted it to be big and beautiful for Harry.” Max said in a rather fragile voice.

Myron strode forward and turned his slightly shorter son into a tight hug, pressing a kiss to his worry wrinkled forehead.

“I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that everything is going to be fine, because it’s not going to be.”

“Myron!” Richard snapped.

“No. You and I both know that this is a delicate situation sitting on the edge of a knife blade.” Myron replied sternly. “Harry and Blaise are in a very bad way. Leolin was knocked from his bassinet and was in a heap on the floor and that’s before we get to the situation with Draco.”

“Don’t mention his name.” Max snarled.

“You’ve just proven my point exactly, Max. I cannot lie to you and say that things are going to be fine when you can’t even bear to hear your subordinate mate’s name. Things have changed now, they’re different and none of you can go back to how you were before.”

Max took a moment to absorb that before bursting into tears, which startled both Myron and Richard, who rushed to comfort him.

“You’ll get through this, love.” Richard told him, rubbing his son’s back.

“How?” Max sobbed. “How can I get through this when everything has fallen apart?”

“I’ll get you through it.”

Max looked up as a new set of hands pulled him into a tight hug and he all but fell onto the shorter Nasta and inhaled the comforting scent that surrounded him.

“How are they?” He asked, all but begging for news.

“Leolin is going to be fine. Healer Cole says that he’s no worse for wear and though he’s staying in overnight, it’s only a precaution as he is in shock. He’ll be home tomorrow morning.”

“Oh, thank Merlin! Miracles do happen.” Max clutched harder at Nasta and tried to absorb some of his amazing strength. He didn’t understand how Nasta was so put together when he felt like he was falling apart at the seams. “What about Harry and Blaise?”

“Sit down, Max.” Nasta told him.

“No. No.” Max shook his head in denial. “No, tell me that they’re both alright!”

“Just…sit down. Please.” Nasta coaxed him as he pulled him to their new kitchen table and got him sitting down.

“Harry blacked out as soon as he arrived at the Healing Halls.” Nasta started gently. “He’s in a bad way, but he’s being well looked after. He has three Dracken Healers around him and two trainees and Claire playing runners for anything that the Healers need. I’ll go back after the kids are in bed and check up on what’s happening, but I was told just now, in the last five minutes, that they expect Harry to make a full recovery after a lot of rest to recuperate. His abdominal muscles have been all but destroyed, so sitting up and even moving is going to be impossible for him for some time, so we need to prepare for that.”

Max’s head hit the table and felt his eyes welling up, even as he breathed a sigh of relief. He didn’t care if he had to carry Harry around for the rest of his life, just so long as he was going to survive.

“It’s Blaise, Max.” Nasta told him, cutting his relief short. “The blow to his head was with such a force that it caused his brain to swell inside his skull. He has a slow bleed into his brain too, Draco hit him where two plates of his skull meet together, right on the fault line. There is a high chance that he has amnesia, brain damage, or that he just won’t wake up at all.”

“He was….he was only trying to break us up.” Max said weakly. “He was trying to get between us to split up the fight. He wasn’t even a part of it.”

“I’m going to go back and see what’s happening a bit later.” Nasta said, taking Max’s hands and squeezing them. “I’m going to get us through this, Max. Just keep yourself calm and keep the kids happy. They know something is wrong and they’re already calling for Harry, just…just feed them, keep to their routine and then get them into bed and then we can do what we need to.”

“I need Firewhiskey.” Max warbled.

Nasta nodded. “I have a bottle. It was going to be for the first night that we moved in, a house warming present for all of us to share. When I bought it, I was imagining all five of us sharing it together, laughing and joking, our kids in bed as we tried to sort the packed boxes out to get our new house into some semblance of order as we started a new chapter in our lives. I never thought that we’d be drinking it in this house, our son and two mates in the hospital and one mate gone.”

“So that’s it, Draco’s gone?” Myron asked.

Nasta sighed heavily. “That’s got to be up to Harry, we are his mates first and foremost and if he feels that he can move past this, then the rest of us can work on it too, but it’s Blaise that I’m most concerned about. Draco almost killed him and he still might have yet. I don’t think Harry would forgive him if anything more serious had happened to Leolin and I can’t see him forgiving Draco if Blaise dies as a result of this. But on top of that, if Blaise can’t get over what happened to him, I can’t see Harry siding with Draco over Blaise. So it depends on what happens now and how Blaise and Harry feel once they’re out of the hospital and back home.”

Max swallowed painfully and he nodded his understanding. He stood back up and put the food balls into the now searing hot frying pan and he browned them off.

“Get the kids in here. They need their dinners.” He said with a lump in his throat.

Max put five of the fried balls into each plastic bowl and put them on the table as Myron and Richard set up the brand new high chairs and booster seats.
Max went back to the boxes of food that he’d packed up and brought from the old house and he dug around in them to find what he wanted. He finally dug out a pot of natural yoghurt, a lemon and vanilla essence, finding the small bottle right at the bottom of the box that had come from his top cupboard.
He got out another bowl as his babies dug into the new food that they were trying. Of course Calix thought his food was a projectile and he was using his Great-granddad Alexander as a target.
Braiden was very morose however and he was just squashing his rice balls up in his hand, watching as it oozed out between his fingers. Nasta sat next to him and cleaned off his hand before he sat and encouraged Braiden to eat, cooing at their son to get him to try his food, smiling and being so happy that Max wanted to shake him and demand how he was keeping it together, how he could be so normal in this situation.
Getting out a baking tray, he lined it with baking parchment and using a teaspoon, he made drops of the yoghurt mixture onto the parchment and once he’d filled it, he shoved it into the empty freezer in the absolutely massive double doored fridge freezer that he’d picked out for his kitchen himself.
He stood and he washed everything up, keeping his back to the happy kitchen, to his happy, giggling babies who didn’t know that their parents’ mateship had all but fallen apart in the space of an hour.
Hearing Nasta laughing was the last straw and he made a quick escape down the corridor and into the huge downstairs bathroom. He slumped to the tiled floor and he cried. Huge wracking sobs that shook his entire body as he tried to breathe, but thinking of Harry and Blaise had his misery overflowing again and he almost choked on his own tears.
Someone sat next to him and pulled him bodily into a hug and he inhaled Nasta’s scent. He turned into Nasta and crushed him in his arms, sobbing hysterically.
Nasta murmured to him continuously in Welsh until he was more calm and Max swallowed heavily and huffed through his sobs, trying to breathe as normally as he could to regain control of himself.

“I was…I was only…only trying to…to protect them!” He sobbed into Nasta’s neck.

“I know, Cariad. I know.” Nasta soothed him. “You did as you were supposed to, to protect our Harry.”

“I want this to be a nightmare. I want to wake up now.”

Nasta closed his eyes and hugged Max tighter to himself.

“Me too, Max. Me too.” He murmured as he stroked Max’s hair and planted a kiss on his temple, holding his mate crushingly tight. “I love you and we will get through this, one way or another and do you know why?”

Max shook his head miserably.

“Because we have children to think of.” Nasta told him sternly. “We have eight little babies to look after, Caru. We cannot abandon them just because we’re upset.”

Max swallowed heavily and his arms clenched around Nasta, his muscles bulging, even as he buried his face in Nasta’s neck. Neither of them cared that he was wiping his eyes on Nasta’s shoulder.

“We can break down later, Max.” Nasta promised. “We can sit in front of the fire, restlessly and fearfully waiting for a fire call to come through as we share a bottle of Firewhiskey and bawl our eyes out with our misery, but for now, we need to pull it together. I need you to pull yourself together, because our children need us to. We have to look after them and we can’t make them any more unsettled than they already are.”

Max sniffed hard and he sat up, wiping the last of the tears from his gritty, red raw eyes. He pulled up his best smile, dipped at the edges, dimmed at his eyes and wet from his tears, but it was the best that he could manage.

“Then let’s get back to those kids. They need something for dessert.”

“What about that yoghurt stuff you made up?”

Max shook his head. “Those are snacks for tomorrow. They need some apple slices or half a nectarine for today.”

Nasta stood up and held out both hands to Max, who took them and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He walked to the sink and washed his face, using his shirt to dry himself as they didn’t have any towels out yet. He took a deep breath and turned back to Nasta.

“I’m not sure how long I can keep this up.” He admitted.

“That’s okay, Max. Stay strong for as long as you can, we just need to wait a few more hours and then they’ll all be in bed and we can do what we need to. But if you can’t keep it up for a moment longer, then don’t…I’ll be strong enough for us both if needs be.”

Max pulled Nasta into a final hug. He was so grateful to Nasta for being here, for being so strong when he himself felt like a complete wreck. His love and appreciation for Nasta had just jumped up tenfold.

“I love you.” He said with a passion that was completely unbridled. “I’m so glad that you’re here.”

Nasta kissed him and they left the bathroom, back into the kitchen where their children were just finishing off their dinners. The next several hours were going to be incredibly trying for them both. They just needed to get through the next two, to see their babies safely into their cots and then they could focus on just getting through the night. They would drink Firewhiskey while waiting for a devastating floo call from a Healer, they would sit and support one another, even if he had to have Max resting on him all fucking night, he didn’t care. He would get them both through this trying time and whatever the outcome, he would always support and protect his family.

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Aneirin was shocked out of his deep thoughts by a siren sounding by his head and with wide eyes he looked beside him to see that Blaise’s chest had stopped moving. Blaise had stopped breathing.
Before he could really react, the room was bustling with people and he was shimmied out of the room by an orderly in her pale yellow robes as the room was flooded with Healers in lime green and nurses in pale blue. He swallowed heavily and he closed his eyes, sending out a heartfelt prayer for Blaise, a plea that he was going to be alright.
He walked down the corridor and, like he was in a daydream, he went into the office of the head Healer on Blaise’s ward and he flooed to the new house, the one that he hadn’t seen before. It was late, the kids were all in bed and Nasta looked to be getting ready to leave. Aneirin ignored the open bottle of Firewhiskey on the coffee table. Some situations called for a bolstering drink and this was definitely one of them.

“You’re supposed to be with Blaise.” Nasta accused him. Aneirin could see the panic in his son’s eyes. The recognition of what it meant that he was here and it terrified his son. There was nothing that he could do and no way to soften the almighty blow that he was about to administer. It would hit both Max and Nasta like a hammer, right to the rib cage over their hearts. He hated to be the one to deliver it, but they needed to know.

“I’m so sorry, Nas. I was pushed out of the room, the Healers needed the space.” He said gently.

“What’s happened?” Max asked him so quietly and weakly that Aneirin barely recognised him.

“I’m sorry, Blaise has flat lined. He just stopped breathing.”

There was silence. The awful kind of silence where it was so sudden and shocking, that it left the ears ringing and feet frozen to the spot. No one wanted to move, clinging to the hope that if none of them moved, if none of them acknowledged the words that had been spoken, then it would mean that they weren’t real…that they weren’t true.

“He’s dead?” Max asked in a whisper, finally breaking the stunning silence.

“When I left, yes, he was. I came to tell you immediately. I thought that you’d like to be with him.”

Nasta took Max’s hand and pulled him, almost dragged him as Max refused to move his feet properly, to the fireplace and they flooed away together. Aneirin took a deep, steadying breath and sat with Myron, Richard, Alexander and the recently arrived Caesar.

“Is it…?” Richard trailed off a little unsurely.

“It’s not looking good.” Aneirin said with a sigh and a twinge of pain in his heart as he thought of his son-in-law, Blaise.

“He just stopped breathing?” Myron prompted.

Aneirin nodded. “Out of the blue. The Healer had just been by to check on him, reported no change and then ten minutes later the sirens started going off and Blaise had flat lined.”

“Has the swelling in his brain gone down at least?”

Aneirin nodded. “Yes. The potions worked to lessen the swelling and the senior neurological Healer was able to stop the bleed. Things had been looking good until this point. The boys are going to be devastated.”

“Did Nasta tell you that Leolin is going to be fine?”

Aneirin nodded. “Yes, at least that’s one weight off of their minds. How is Braiden? Nasta said that he was doing alright.”

“He was a bit fussy over dinner and very clingy when Max tried to put him to bed, but he eventually went down and he hasn’t woken up again. Or at least, he hasn’t yet.”

“Where is Draco?” Caesar asked.

“I escorted him to his parents.” Aneirin told him emotionlessly. “He was half dazed and the boys had done a number on him too, but I explained the situation to Lucius and Narcissa and they understood enough. They definitely weren’t pleased to have their son returned to them in such a state though.”

“I don’t think I would be either.” Myron said. “I’d understand, but that doesn’t mean I’d want to see my son beaten half to death.”

Aneirin nodded. “It’s difficult to understand what has actually happened here. I knew they were a volatile bunch, five men living together in one small, four bedroomed house, how could they not be? But this situation has gone beyond anything I would have expected from any of them.”

“What did happen? I don’t really understand what triggered them.” Caesar said with a frown. “Max doesn’t lose control like that for no good reason. He’s always exerted control over himself and his Dracken, ever since we were kids. I just don’t understand how he lost it so bad with Harry and the kids in the room.”

“Draco went to attack Harry, Max leapt in front of him and intercepted him and the fight went from there.”

“Draco tried to attack Harry?!”

“Draco’s the one who gutted Harry.” Myron said in a bass growl. “He did it right in front of us, while we all watched.”

“I don’t understand what was going through his head.” Richard croaked out, the scar tissue on his throat tightening with his rising emotion.

Myron’s arm shot out and curled around Richard’s shoulders, pulling him closer as the other hand rose to massage the front of Richard’s neck, easing away the tightness and making the scar tissue suppler to help Richard breathe easier. He pressed a kiss to Richard’s temple and pulled his mate and Husband even closer, silently urging him to rest against his body.

“The boy has anger issues.” Alexander growled. “To attack Harry in such a way, he could have killed him if his claws had perforated Harry’s intestines or stomach! He may have already killed Blaise and to do all of that in a room full of babies….I don’t know what that boy was thinking.”

“Things could have been so much worse.” Aneirin said, thinking of Leolin and Braiden. “How are Calix and the two girls?”

“The girls are restless and Calix is acting out more than normal. He hit out at me when I tried to put him to bed.” Myron sighed unhappily.

“He kicked me in the ribs when I was dressing him for bed.” Richard added.

“It’s hardly surprising.” Aneirin said thoughtfully. “Not only did they have the upheaval of today, but they’re in a new environment too.”

“They’re going to be unsettled for a while.” Alexander nodded his agreement.

“They’re coming up to two years old as well.” Caesar added. “Nora has been acting out lately too. She scribbled over the wall with her crayons, put her blocks in the fish tank and painted Beatrice’s head with tomato sauce.”

“She takes after your Father.” Myron snorted.

“I’ll have you know that I was a perfectly well behaved child!” Richard huffed.

“And I was born with three feet.” Myron answered.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me that?” Cesar demanded, his face the picture of seriousness.

Richard started laughing and Aneirin couldn’t prevent the chuckle of amusement that had built inside him. Myron just sighed heavily, as if he was fighting a losing battle.
Looking at Alexander, Richard and Caesar laughing at Myron’s expense, Aneirin could well believe that Myron was well outnumbered.
A shrill cry came over the baby monitor that was sat on the solid wooden coffee table between them all on the settees.

“Mummy!” A little voice called out before screaming again. “Mummy, pick up!”

Aneirin expelled all of the air in his lungs as he watched Myron immediately move to go and collect the distressed child, who had to have been Braiden. He had been expecting this, it would have been too good to be true if they didn’t have a bit of trouble with the kids after the day that they’d had and as another, shriller cry came over the baby monitor signifying that Braiden had woken up at least one of his other siblings with his screaming, all Aneirin could think was ‘It has begun.’ The hard night from hell was about to start and they’d all need to pull together and support one another to make it through. Draco had been told to stay the hell away, Harry was in a bad way, Blaise was currently dead and was being furiously worked on by a room full of Healers, Max and Nasta were emotionally battered and drained and now the children were going to start too.
Aneirin couldn’t really blame them as Myron brought a tear stained Braiden into the room with a thrashing Calix being held securely on his other shoulder. The trauma of the fight and Braiden being injured and in pain too, he was surprised that Braiden had even gone down to sleep at all.
He mentally prepared himself to stay awake all night. His son needed him, his grandchildren needed him and like all the others in this room with him, he needed to be a pillar of support for Max and Nasta when they eventually came home and he needed to be a soothing presence for his grandchildren, who needed all the comfort that they could get at this moment in time and as another cry came over the baby monitor, it was he who stood up to go and collect the unsettled child. It was going to be a very long, devastating night for them all.

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A/N: Happy fourth anniversary, lovelies. It’s still hard for me to come to terms with the fact that I’ve been writing this fic for exactly four years today. It’s been a long, heartfelt ride and it’ll only become more so as there are at least another 100 or so chapters to come!
I know this chapter is very emotional and heart breaking, but please continue to trust me as you have done over the last four years. I’ve never steered you lovelies wrong before and I don’t plan on starting now. I’ll get us all though this, I’m like Nasta, just trust me, I always know what I’m doing, for good or for worse, I’ll get you through to the other side.
kstutz: My use of some when instead of some time has actually come up before. I had no idea that it was considered wrong in other places, as I have always used some when. So I’m going to have to go with it being a cultural thing. I’ve always used some when and it actually feels wrong and stilted if I try and replace it with some time, as I tried to do when the issue first came up. It just doesn’t flag with me that it’s a mistake and sometimes I don’t even notice it, so it would be impossible for me to actually change it or to even catch all my uses of it, besides the fact that I don’t actually see it as any kind of mistake. I hope that made sense and that I explained it properly? Just let me know if I didn’t and I’ll try and reword it.

Malfoy-Potters: If you want me to email what information I can to you I will, just give me your address, but if you’d prefer, all of the information that I’ve currently revealed is on the Wikia page. http://riseofthedrackens.wikia.com/wiki/Children

Thank you to all of you for reading and for sticking by me, I really appreciate it. Our massive milestone marker of chapter 100 will be out very soon, as I don’t want to leave you hanging, especially with this ending, so I’m aiming for about 2 weeks, maybe 3, but no more than that. I’ll see you all very soon,

StarLight Massacre. X
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The Rise of the Drackens