Harry Potter 1. The Dracken Mentality

A/N: An Alternate Reality of my The Rise of the Drackens universe where Myron was never chosen by Ashleigh and Richard as their second dominant mate, so Max was never born. Myron is unmated in this series.

Also Harry had a bit more faith and trust and he confided in Dumbledore before he mated with Blaise in October 1996, so they were never introduced to one another and never mated, thus no Braiden either, which does make me sad, but it's only for this series, I still have him in the main fic, so that's okay.  
Some additional information that you should be aware of, Myron is still 52 in this chapter, I will not change his age to fit in with anything or anyone else's preferences, he is still the same man he is in the main fic, he's just never been mated, never been a Father and he's kept himself in shape to attract a submissive mate instead of getting comfortable and going a little soft.

There are **FOUR **removed scenes from this part. If you wish to read in full, please head over to Archive of our Own, where this series is posted in full, under the same title and author.

* * *

The Dracken Memoirs

Part One - The Dracken Mentality

"Sir, I'm not really sure how to say what I need to tell you." Sixteen year old Harry James Potter said softly, staring at the desk rather than at his Headmaster. He couldn't bring himself to even make eye contact. He kicked his legs in the chair nervously as he tried to gather his errant thoughts together so that he could organise them into some semblance of coherency.

"Take your time, my boy." Dumbledore insisted as he pushed a cup of Harry's favoured honey tea towards him, picking up on his apparent nervousness and trying to put him at ease.

"Well you see, Sir, I had some sort of…" Harry groaned and fisted his hair tight, closing his eyes and just taking the plunge to get it out. "Something happened on my sixteenth birthday, Sir."

Dumbledore's shrewd blue eyes narrowed and he hummed thoughtfully. "Would this something have included a creature inheritance?"

Harry nodded, relieved and very glad that he hadn't had to come out and say it in layman's terms, he still wasn't sure he should be saying anything about it after all, because of what the book had said about Drackens being outlawed and hunted by the Ministry and by illegal poachers, but he couldn't do this on his own, he understood that much. He didn't know what to do now that he knew he was some sort of illegal, dark creature, he had no clue how to go about getting a mate as the book he'd read had told him that he needed one, or even several, but it hadn't told him how to go about getting one and as he took a deep drink of his tea, he couldn't help thinking that he'd made the right choice in coming to the Headmaster, but then it wasn't like he had any friends he could confide in anymore, not after the way he'd killed Voldemort and right in front of them too.

Ron and Hermione hadn't been able to take it and Neville still went pale around him so Harry kept his distance, the only ones who still treated him the same were Luna and Ginny, the both of them a year younger than Ron and Hermione, who had made the decision to leave him behind and on his own to cope. Yet because Luna and Ginny were a year younger, despite them still being on friendly terms, he hardly got to see them, so most times; he truly was on his own and left to his own devices. He got really, really lonely most days and had been spending a lot of time either with Hagrid, in the kitchens with the house elves or up in the Owlery with Hedwig.

"There are a few creatures that I know of that have inheritances at sixteen, do you know which type of creature you are or would you require a blood test? As far as I can recall, the Potters do not have any creature blood, but you are related to the Black family through your paternal grandmother and the Black family has a multitude of creature bloods, some of which skips whole generations and some which only show up once in a century."

"I think that I'm a Dracken, Sir." Harry admitted, biting the bullet and just going for it.

"Are you sure?" Dumbledore asked calmly, just asking with no hint of an accusation, denial, suspicion or disbelief. That made Harry feel so much better and more secure about carrying on this conversation with what little he knew.

Harry nodded. "I have scales…and wings."

"Fangs and claws too?" Dumbledore nodded when Harry did. "Well I'd say you are definitely a Dracken. Now what colour are your wings Harry, if I may ask, the colouring is significant."

"White." Harry said softly.

"Then you are a submissive Dracken, you will need to have a meeting to find a dominant Dracken to become your mate, or life partner if you prefer."

"I knew that, I just don't know how to go about getting a mate or holding a meeting, I just don't know. I…I want children, the urge is very strong, but what if I choose wrong, Sir? This will dictate the rest of my life and if I choose wrong…I can't do this!"

"If you do not feel ready, then I will request for your meeting to be held back, if you allow it I will act as your guardian and consult with the Dracken Counsel on your behalf."

"They have a Counsel?" Harry asked a bit weakly.

Dumbledore nodded. "Oh yes and all sorts of laws and regulations, I will see about getting you some books if you'd like them to better understand the laws and the culture."

"Yes, thank you, Sir. How long can I hold my meeting back?" Harry asked softly.

"For as long as you wish, but a few months to a year is normal, I would not advise you to hold your meeting back for any longer than two years at the most however, your Dracken side may react adversely to the extended period of becoming active and going without a mate and children."

"So it's not abnormal to hold a meeting back?" He asked a little uncertainly.

"Not at all, most submissives do not feel ready at sixteen to start a very committed relationship and to inevitably fall pregnant with their first child. You are still in school, Harry and with major examinations coming up, so it's only normal that you would want to hold it back for a little while, especially when you have been thrust into this revelation only very recently. You need time to come to terms with this new inheritance first."

Harry breathed out a sigh of utter relief. "Thank you Sir, I feel better already, the book I read was saying all sorts of things, some of them really horrible and it even said that Drackens are illegal, dark creatures, but I don't feel any different to how I was before my inheritance, only the wanting babies' urge is new."

Dumbledore sighed heavily. "What you need to remember Harry is that the Ministry, especially our Ministry, has a heavy prejudice on all magical creatures and beings, so Ministry sanctioned books on creatures are going to be heavily biased, they will paint the creatures within its pages in the worst light possible and because of that they are likely to have the wrong information. So we'll get you some books written by actual Drackens with the correct information that isn't biased against so called 'dark' creatures that will tell you everything you need to know to help you.

After all the werewolves are treated as lesser, as dark, evil creatures, the centaurs are treated as inferior to humans for the sake of being labelled 'half breeds', the vampires too are seen as beneath magical humans, though none of them are inherently evil Harry, but all are classed as lesser beings, as dark creatures or half breeds. They're seen as subjacent because the Ministry fears them, the same is true of Drackens, but you are not evil just because you are a Dracken Harry, like Remus is not evil just because he is a werewolf, but that doesn't mean that there aren't evil Drackens out in the world who do evil things, but being a Dracken doesn't make you automatically evil now that you have come into your inheritance, do you understand? You are still you and it is still your choices that affect who you are, not what you are."

Harry smiled and nodded, feeling very reassured and relieved. "I understand."

"Now, the Dracken species has a collective meeting in May I believe, I'll see about getting you an invite so that you might…scope them out so to say."

Harry grinned. "Doing recon on the Drackens. I like it, Sir."

"Reconnaissance, yes." Dumbledore said with a twinkle and a stroke to his beard. "Until then, I'll see about sorting you out with some information, you may have one of the Elders coming to visit you to make sure that you're treated well and are cared for, but other than that, put focus on your studies."

Harry nodded and he left Dumbledore's office feeling much better than when he'd decided to go and visit him that morning, stressing over if he should even say anything at all. But he felt so much more settled and secure now after his talk with Dumbledore and he was actually looking forward to finding out about Drackens now that he knew he could put off his 'mate meeting' and his inevitable first pregnancy. For a little while longer at least.

* * *

A full month later and Harry had to go to some stranger's house so that they could have an informal 'chat' with him to make sure that he was alright and that he was being taken care of properly as a lost member of their society. He had been told the bare minimum of information about this stranger, so all he actually knew about him was that he was a Dracken Elder who Dumbledore had requested especially for him, that he was a mated dominant with older teenage children and that he was going to help him adjust and help him with his meetings.

Of course he had to show this stranger, a Dracken Elder no less, how inept he truly was as he face planted the floor after flooing from Dumbledore's office directly to the Elder's house. He couldn't have been more mortified or made a bigger fool of himself if he'd tried.

"Oh!" A voice exclaimed in surprised shock. "Come here lad, are you alright?"

"I think so, I hate floo travel." He groaned as he rubbed at his aching forehead.

"When Headmaster Dumbledore said he had a submissive at his school I never once thought he'd meant a male submissive. It didn't even cross my mind to ask." The Elder said as he helped Harry to his feet with ease, his huge hand swallowing Harry's completely as he wrapped it around his whole hand and his wrist as he pulled him back up into a standing position.

"Sorry to be so much trouble." Harry grunted out bad temperedly, his face was on fire from his poor landing in front of this important man.

He looked up to the Elder and then up and up and all the way up to his face and he swallowed hard. The man was tall, perhaps six foot four or five and he was so bulky with muscle that he looked taller just from that and with his jet black hair, smooth black skin and very firm handshake, Harry wondered if coming here alone was a mistake, but when he looked into those calm, peaceful brown eyes, he found something within him easing and he relaxed insurmountably.

"I am Elder Jacob Midate. I am also a submissive chaperone and I would be honoured to assist you when you decide to have your meeting. It _was_ your decision to hold your meeting back, wasn't it?" The man asked with a curious look as he made a gesture for Harry to sit on the soft, comfortable settee.

Harry nodded as he sat down, shifting a little awkwardly to get himself settled comfortably. "Yes. I…" He licked his lips and gathered his thoughts before trying again. "I had no idea that I was a Dracken, so this has all come as a bit of a surprise really, so if I can hold back being mated until I know just the basics of being a Dracken and what that entails I think I'd feel happier about it all. Oh and I'm Harry."

"It's nice to meet you Harry, truly, but that's all I care about, your happiness and your wellbeing and if that means holding off on your meeting, we'll do just that. You can call me a liar if you want to, but that's the truth and while you are in my care, my priority is your health and happiness over everything else. While I am your chaperone, from now until you are happily mated to however many dominants you need, you are my priority. Now, your Headmaster has told me that you expressed interest in the Dracken meetings we hold yearly?"

Harry nodded his head. "It'll be a chance to observe other Drackens at a distance and see for myself how they act around others. I've been reading a lot of books when I'm not studying for my lessons, but I think having the chance to go and see them in person and be able to actually talk to them would help me come to terms with everything that has happened and make me a little more relaxed about finding out that I'm suddenly a Dracken and that I have to be mated to dominants and have this huge, unending string of pregnancies and babies."

"You are much more mature than most submissives I have to deal with; this will make everything a lot easier."

Harry shrugged a little uncomfortably. The Elder looked at him strangely, as if expecting an answer, and then grinned widely.

"I think that it's going to be an absolute pleasure to be your chaperone, Harry."

"I don't…from the books I read its…well to be absolutely frank these mate meetings sound like they're played out in the same way that feeding time at the zoo is handled, only the starved pride of lions are let out to chase the injured zebra until it just can't run any longer. I don't want that, I need space and time to think and observe without distractions, this one decision will affect my entire life, it will be a huge, major part of my future, I want to make my own decision carefully after long, serious consideration and thought, not be bullied into anything or hounded into the ground until I have to give in because I just can't take it anymore."

"If that's how you truly feel about it then I'll make certain that there is extra security at your meetings and with your permission I'll enlist the help of two other chaperones if it'll make you feel more secure, but no unmated dominant is allowed in your private rooms Harry, not even for a moment and your bedroom will be next door to mine." The Elder told him as he bent forward and wrote down 'extra security' and 'contact additional chaperones' on the notepad on the coffee table that Harry could clearly see and could read with little difficulty from where he was sat, he rather thought the Elder had done it purposefully to put him at ease and to prove that he wasn't writing anything about him on his notepad.

Harry let out a heavy breath; this was turning out much better than he had been imagining it would be like, or rather how his mind had been tormenting and torturing him with as he lay awake at night trying to get images of being chased and hunted around a never-ending wilderness as faceless men tried to catch him and mate to him as he screamed and pleaded with them not to.

"So they won't be able to touch me or…or grope me or anything?"

"How about I make you a deal, Harry, I'm known as a hard arse, excuse my language, but those dominants know that if they mess with me, they're going to get a punch in the head, so you say the word and I'll sit them on their arses for touching you inappropriately."

Harry let out a burst of surprised laughter. "That sounds brilliant."

"I'll pull in Elder Trintus and Elder Kirrian too, those dominants will be too afraid to make any sort of move on you between the three of us."

"I just don't want to be pawed at like a piece of meat with no thoughts or feelings or opinions; I'm not only good for sex. I have a mind too and I want to use it and if I tell them to back off, I don't want them ignoring me or brushing me off because they think they can. I can think of nothing worse than being in a room of men all touching and pulling at me, I don't want that for myself and anyone who treats me like that is going to be discounted immediately."

"I will make your wishes perfectly clear and I will ensure that those dominants don't do anything you don't want them to, you can exile them from your meetings too, you say the word and they're gone, but be careful because they may not come back if you change your mind at a later date. But while we're on this subject line, Harry, have you had sex or any sexual contact, your scent says no, but there are always spells and potions to mask a scent. I need you to be excruciatingly truthful here Harry, no matter how embarrassed you may be over it, it is very important."

Harry nodded. "I read the books the Counsel sent me, I know that if I've slept with a non-Dracken then I'll be unable to have children, but I haven't. Slept with anyone that is. I'm a…a…"

"A virgin." Elder Midate nodded when Harry blushed and stuttered, unable to get the word out. "That's a good thing Harry, a very good thing. Some of these submissives are so into themselves that they don't even want to become pregnant, so they sleep with humans early, before they're of legal age to consent to it even, just so they won't have to deal with a body altering pregnancy when the time comes. Then when they actually choose a dominant, or even more than one if they need them because she believes she's entitled to a dominant mate even though she's selfishly made herself barren, then she's entrapping those dominants to a life with no children when the only thing that that dominant could have wanted in life was a child of his own. Drackens are very family orientated creatures after all, though there are always exceptions."

Harry pulled a face. "That's part of why I wanted to hold my meeting back, I don't feel ready…I don't feel _old _enough to have sex yet and that probably makes me sound pathetic, but I'm unsure of the whole thing and nervous about it too."

"It's natural to be nervous and even afraid of sex when it's been so far from your mind you haven't thought about it before, I assume that that's what has happened?"

Harry nodded. "I've never…I just don't think about it." He said. "It's not something that's ever popped up in my mind and my friends either don't do it or they don't feel the need to tell me about what they've done and I'm thankful for that, but until my inheritance, sex and babies was the furthest thing from my mind, but now it's all I can think about because they're such a huge part of Dracken culture."

"That's alright Harry, in the coming weeks and months now I'll help you through any worries or fears you may have. By the time you decide to hold your meeting you'll feel so ready for it that you'll be chomping at the bit to get to those dominants so that they can get you pregnant."

Harry laughed at that and grinned.

"I hope so, I just feel so unsure and nervous about it at the moment and I am scared of having a room full of dominants with their attention on me, it would be nice to feel excited about it, but at the moment, I just can't, all I feel is fear and nervousness and absolute dread over the very thought of it."

"Which is completely understandable, some submissives are scared going into their meetings and they've known that they're Drackens and that they'll have to have these meetings for most of their lives. I can't believe how well you are handling all of this after being thrust into it so suddenly and unexpectedly; you are a very mature and amazing young man."

"I've sort of had to be." Harry said sadly.

"How do you mean?"

Harry blinked and struggled back and forth between telling the Elder or not, warring with himself and the decision and then he decided that he had to take the plunge, it could help the Elder to protect him better at his meetings if he knew exactly who he was chaperoning, so he lifted his thick fringe and flashed the red, lightning bolt scar that made him a famous, household name.

"Holy fucking Merlin! I'm going to kill that Dumbledore." Elder Midate hissed. "I'm definitely getting you that extra security now; I'm afraid to say that if this information gets out then some of the dominants are going to want you only because you're famous and they may try underhand tactics or even force to get you as a mate. They'll lie, promise you the world, hide their true selves and tell you anything and everything you want to hear, don't fall for it, question them and then question them again, hound after them, dig out all the details and uncover their lies and then discount those that have dared try to trick you and lie to you."

"I sort of figured that could happen which is why I showed you my scar." Harry sighed. "I'm used to it happening though, people lie to me to befriend me, to get things from me, even if it's just a photo in the newspaper of us shaking hands, so don't worry, I can look after myself."

"You'll have me there with you too." The Elder said with a solid nod. "I won't let anyone take advantage of you."

Harry smiled at that. "Thank you."

"Right, are there any questions you want me to answer? Anything that's been rolling around in your mind that you haven't read in the books you were sent yet?"

"No, I think I'm alright for now." Harry answered with a nod.

"Okay then, you can always owl me if you think of something or you don't understand something that you've read and feel free to floo call me if you need to talk about anything face to face or you feel like you can't wait for a reply. I'll be around to see you again soon and I'll take you to meet Elder Kirrian and Elder Trintus in the coming weeks so that you're used to them as well. I'll be by to pick you up for the meeting in a few months too so that I can escort you there. I think that covers everything for now."

Harry nodded feeling much more reassured and happy as he flooed back to Dumbledore's office, of course face planting the floor upon his landing and almost crushing his own nose. He really, really hated floo travel.

* * *

The Dracken meeting halls were utterly spectacular to Harry and safely in the escort of Elder Midate, Harry was protected and he felt safe, at least until the dicks came skulking out of the woodwork.

"Is this your son, Jacob? A bit too pale to be yours isn't he?" One man laughed loudly at his own racist joke that had Harry staring and gaping at him, utterly aghast and thoroughly disgusted. "I thought only your daughter was a Dracken, your sons can't be any good for him. Pass him here; I'll break him in for you. I'll take real good care of him."

"This is a newly emerged submissive and he is under my care and my protection. He doesn't need you anywhere near him Brotherton and if you dare touch him, I'll kill you myself." Midate said tightly as he pulled Harry away quickly. "Bloody vile vultures these people, remember what I told you, Harry. Do not get drawn into agreeing to anything with anyone."

Harry nodded. "I remember. They might try to get me into a contract with their sons or daughters, even if I don't want to be and it could even be without me knowing about it, which does scare me. Anyone who has to trick me into a mateship like that is not someone who I'd ever want to be mated to."

"Exactly, so don't get bullied into anything and agree to nothing if you think it's worded funny or sounds awkward and strange. Now I'm going to leave you to your own devices, but you can see the guards standing around the room, they _will_ help you and I'll be around, you've met Elder Trintus and Elder Kirrian, they'll be on the lookout for you too, but you should be okay, our species are civilised for the most part. My only fear is that they'll think you're so irresistible that you won't be completely unmolested by the end of the night and I know that's something you wouldn't like to happen."

"I'm confident that I can control the situation now and I'm very happy to know that I can give them a curse or several if I need to."

"Damn right, if you need to use your wand, then you use it, the guards have guns also, so you can go to them if you need a shield."

"I'm not going to use _people_ as a shield!" Harry said heatedly.

"It's what they're paid for Harry, to protect the children and the submissives at any and all costs. They will protect you, besides they have guns and your attacker won't, they'll have the upper hand."

Harry nodded and then he was on his own two feet, lost in a sea of people and wonder as he tried to look at everyone and everything he passed all at once. His feet led him to a corner crèche where he spotted three little girls who were sat at a tiny table trying to unsuccessfully bead one another's hair, the scene made him grin before he turned and walked over to the bar.

"What can I get for you cutie?" One unmated dominant all but panted at him, his eyes wide and roving over his upper body, the most he could actually see of it that was while his lower body and most of his abdomen was hidden by the solid bar top.

Harry shrugged. "Juice?" He asked curiously, not really sure what they served here, but there were children at the meeting, they had to have something for them to drink, so juice was a good bet.

"What kind?"

"Any." Harry replied and stumbled around for a juice. "Apple?"

"Coming right up gorgeous. Don't go anywhere."

Harry didn't move, but he accepted his drink and he was thankful that the bartender was called away to serve someone else as he observed the room of happy, laughing, talking people.

It took about fifteen minutes before word spread to everyone in the halls that there was an unescorted male submissive walking around the meeting hall, and an unmated one at that, and Harry had the urge to just find Elder Midate and hide behind him for the remainder of the night, but he squashed down that urge and held his head high, these dominants couldn't do anything to him.

"Hi, I'm Nicodemus Maddison. Let me just say that you are absolutely stunning."

Harry turned to the side to see the tall, handsome blond man with jet black eyes. It was such a strange combination that it made Harry stare at him for a few seconds too long and the unmated dominant, Nicodemus, must have taken that for interest or permission as he crowded into Harry's space and slid a hand down to cup one of Harry's bum cheeks, squeezing hard and lifting his hand to grope Harry more thoroughly.

Letting out a soft snarl, Harry drew his fist back and punched him right in the mouth, watching with satisfaction as Nicodemus stumbled back and Harry stormed off angrily before Nicodemus could recover, bristling at the insult of it all.

"That was brilliant, boy!"

Harry turned and smiled at Elder Kirrian, who clapped him on the back happily.

"I thought for sure you would let those Maddisons walk all over you, like cockroaches they are! Hard to shake off, damn near impossible to kill and just as numerous! Makes me wonder why the hell I'm friends with them."

Harry chuckled. "That one deserved it!" He answered. "Laying his hands all over me like I'm some sort of toy."

Elder Kirrian nodded. "You show 'em boy, don't let them make you a toy. Now off with you, you're supposed to be mingling."

Harry grimaced at that as he was shimmied away and back into the open waters where the sharks were waiting, lurking, ready to take a bite out of him at the first opportunity.

He stuck to the edges of the room, not his brightest plan as he ran into a huge group of people and low and behold, there was the man he'd hit just a few minutes before.

"He's absolutely fucking gorgeous too!" He was telling a group of other men about his age, some older and some younger, but they all looked about thirty to forty, though he'd learnt that physical appearance and age were very deceptive when it came to Drackens, but what was worse was that they all resembled the dominant, Nicodemus, in some way, they had the same eyes, the same blond hair, some had the same height or build, they were all related.

"So there is an unmated male submissive here?" One older man asked.

Nicodemus nodded enthusiastically. "He's amazing! I only met him for a few minutes and he's so unlike the other submissives that it's like the difference between night and day, he's brilliant!"

"Was this assessment made before or after he punched you in the face?" The tallest man Harry had ever seen, outside of Hagrid of course, spoke up in a deep, gruff voice. It sent shivers down his spine.

"He has a hell of a right hook on him." Nicodemus laughed. "But it was worth it just to get a squeeze of those plump, pert cheeks, what I would do, what I would _give_, just to have a nibble of them."

Harry was horrified, mortified and enraged, so naturally he didn't think before acting or speaking and it didn't cross his mind that this must be the 'cockroach' Maddison family that Elder Kirrian had mentioned minutes before. He didn't care.

"Say that again and I'll aim for your nose next!" He hissed, which drew the attention of everyone stood near Nicodemus. There had to have been at least thirty of them and that was only the family standing in this one group.

"Wow, Nico was right for once, you're fucking stunning." What looked like a mirror image of Nicodemus said with wide, lusty black eyes, they could only be identical twins.

One of the men, the biggest one, gave his…brother? a hard smack to the back of the head and hissed at him about respect and decorum. Harry liked him even more just for that.

"Oh come on My, you can't tell me that you don't want to get him on his knees and fuck his brains out. I won't believe you." Nicodemus said, roving his eyes all over Harry until it made his skin crawl and his stomach to twist in disgust and shame. He'd never been treated like this before, ever. He didn't like it and he wouldn't accept it.

Harry took four steps forward, moved under the arm that rose to block him and punched Nicodemus in the mouth again with a solidly clenched fist. Instead of it getting him an arse kicking, the group around their brother laughed so hard that some of them had to double over.

"I apologise for my son's disrespectful manner." The oldest man there said as he came forward to give Harry a soft hug. "I tried my best with him, but with that one the lessons just went in one ear and out the other. There's nothing in between to catch the words."

Harry laughed happily. He felt so safe in the arms of this man that he actually hugged him back before he realised what he was doing.

"Now, I take it that you are underage? Which makes my son's actions all the more deplorable, but where are your parents? I wouldn't have thought for a moment that they'd leave you alone in all of this." He waved a hand to encompass the room and its inhabitants. "Unmated female submissives get hounded; to have an unmated male submissive wandering around after so long…if you were mine, you wouldn't have left my side, let alone my sight."

"Oh, no, I am sixteen; I'm holding my meeting back because I don't feel ready for it. I only found out I was a Dracken in July when I woke up on my birthday." Harry said with a nod.

"You weren't told?"

Harry shook his head. "No one knew. I had to do a test to find my last Dracken ancestor and it was my great-grandfather through my paternal grandmother. No one was expecting it, least of all me."

"That must have been a terrible shock for you." The tallest man there said with concern.

"It was weird waking up being able to see for once, I used to wear glasses. That clued me in straight away that something was very different and then seeing the tiny scales all over my body…"

"Did you find your wings?"

Harry nodded with a grimace. "And the fangs and claws. Lots of blood and slimy stuff. I was very freaked out at first."

"Then what happened?"

Harry shrugged with a small blush. "I got the urge to have babies and the fear went away."

"Why?" One of the unknown men asked.

"Why what?"

"Why would the urge to have babies take away the fear and not increase it?"

Harry sighed. "I was orphaned very young. When you've grown up without a family, the one thing you want is a family, so anything that helps get that family is very welcome." He explained, before he excused himself and walked away.

He found Elder Midate and his family and he hugged the man and his submissive, a lovely woman who always fed him cookies when he flooed over to chat to her mate about anything and everything that popped into his mind.

"How are you finding it here? Anyone I need to hurt for you yet?"

Harry shook his head. "I got groped once by someone called…"

"Let me guess, Cassander Maddison?" Midate rolled his eyes with an exasperated sigh.

"No, but he was a Maddison, Nicodemus. Just how many of them are there?"

"Too bloody many." Midate grumbled. "Cassander is by far the most touchy feely of all of them, though it doesn't surprise me that one of those terror inducing twins got a feel of you too. What happened?"

"I punched him in the mouth." Harry admitted with a wry grin.

Midate threw his head back and roared with laughter. He clapped Harry hard on the back. "I told you that you'd be absolutely fine, I bet that rankled his cage too."

"I found him again, just after I hit him. I ran into Elder Kirrian first and then I wandered off and he was telling his family about…about what he wanted to do to me, some of the things he was saying were absolutely vile as well…so I hit him again."

Elder Midate clapped his shoulder yet again. "I love you, you're like a chip off the old block and I'm proud to know you. Don't let any of these bastards push you around."

"Oh I won't."

"Off you go now sweet darling, try and make some friends." Elder Midate's mate, Bertha, encouraged as she fussed over him, straightening his collar even though Harry was pretty sure it was already straight.

Harry grimaced. "If I have to."

Harry wandered away, he got himself another drink, avoiding the last bartender who had served him and got near enough the exact same treatment from the new bartender, who even went as far as to stare at him so completely that he overfilled Harry's drink and got the edge of Harry's dress robes wet.

He got into a few conversations with some lovely older gentlemen who all tried giving him advice on a multitude of different things such as how to incapacitate an attacker, their mates and wives laughed and smacked at them and told him how to keep his dominant in line and they gave him tips on how to care for a baby before he made his escape and he all but ran into an absolute dick who grabbed him and refused to let him go and when Harry lashed out and hit him, he actually hit him back!

"Let go of me, now!" He snarled furiously as he was pulled forcefully towards the exit.

"I want you; you'd be perfect for me, to carry my children. I've been unmated for so long."

"Maybe because you're an absolute fuckwit?!" Harry said angrily as he yanked on his arm, trying to get it free.

"Stop struggling and give me a kiss."

"That's disgusting!" Harry hissed, struggling harder to free himself and twisting his head around and away from the man's worm like lips that were trying to catch his own.

The next thing Harry knew his attacker was on the floor groaning, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and the huge Maddison was holding him carefully, asking him if he was okay as he checked his bruising wrist over before cupping his chin and looking at his cheek where his attacker had slapped him hard with an open palm. It stung more than it hurt.

Harry blinked at the sudden change of situation and he grinned happily as what had happened suddenly filtered through. "Yeah, I'm fine, thank you. He was a real creep."

"I'm Myron."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Harry."

"Let's get you a drink and see about some ice for your wrist and cheek." Myron said in a no arguing tone as he wrapped an arm around Harry's shoulders and led him to the bar area.

Myron even picked him up to sit him on the bar stool as he demanded ice and a glass of water, which the bartender rushed to get for him, not even lusting over Harry or mentioning that there were likely several people in front of them in the queue.

Harry hid a smile, he found himself actually liking this man. Myron made it seem like anything he wanted, any whim he had or took a fancy too, even something utterly ridiculous or completely outlandish, all he had to do was ask for it and Myron would snap his fingers, bark out an order and he'd have people running to do what he'd asked, not because they were afraid, but because they respected him. Oh yes, Harry very much liked Myron Maddison.

Of course it helped immensely that he was also very handsome, devastatingly so and that tight, muscled body wrapped in a set of dark blue dress robes looked like it should have belonged to a man half his age. Harry licked his lips and looked away before he made a fool of himself as Myron wrapped some ice cubes in a tea towel and pressed it gently but firmly to Harry's bruising wrist as he encouraged him to drink some water. He was told that he needed to keep himself hydrated, just in case he went into shock.

Gorgeous, fit and caring, not to mention absolutely huge, intimidating and very well respected. It seemed Myron Maddison had everything anyone could want in a dominant Dracken, so why was he still unmated?

If Harry found out it was because his wings were smaller than average or he had yellow-lime green scales, he was going to go kicking submissives. Myron seemed perfect to him, even if he found out at a later date that Myron only had one wing after a fight or a tragedy, he would still be the gorgeous, caring man who had knocked out his attacker before he was sexually molested and had iced his wrist for him.

"Does that feel better?" Myron asked in his deep, gruff voice that seriously made something pool low and deep in his gut that felt warm and pleasant.

He nodded without thinking, his mind still on that pleasurable squirming in his gut, not even remembering that Myron actually meant his bruising wrist.

He looked up as Myron let out a deep chuckle, to the same jet black eyes that that bastard Nicodemus had had, only they were paired with chestnut brown hair instead of blond. Myron was smirking at him as if he knew exactly what he was thinking. He gave a small embarrassed smile and averted his eyes again.

Myron's huge, rough hand cupped his chin and pulled his head back up to face him, Harry knew his blush had deepened because he felt it as his cheeks heated up further, even if Myron was only checking on his injured cheek, though with his blush he doubted Myron could even tell where he'd been initially slapped.

"Never be embarrassed about your feelings."

"You're not…insulted?" Harry asked.

"Insulted?" Myron questioned, genuinely confused.

"I'm a teenaged boy lusting after you like an uncontrollable girl with a fanatical crush."

Myron smirked widely and moved closer, slipping his one arm around his back and this close, Harry could smell him, a subtle musky scent with a hint of something citrusy and woodsy that he definitely recognised from the forbidden forest, right after it had rained. It was like a drug and he couldn't inhale deeply enough as he shifted even closer to Myron.

"I'm very flattered actually." Myron whispered into his ear, breathing down his neck and Harry shivered as all of his hairs stood up on end and goosebumps chased themselves down the full length of his spine. He bit his lip as Myron carried on. "It has been a long while since a submissive has actually been physically attracted to me."

"But you're gorgeous!" Harry burst out in shock and then clapped a hand over his mouth and looked around embarrassedly to see if anyone had overheard him.

"As are you." Myron whispered before pressing a scratchy kiss to Harry's smooth cheek, Myron had a hint of stubble that he hadn't noticed until he'd kissed him, just a subtle roughness around the lower half of his face. He liked that too.

"Are you alright Harry, dear one?"

Harry looked over, startled, to see Elder Trintus looking at him with worry and all but glaring at Myron. He nodded quickly and he was surprised to realise that he just wanted the Elder to go away as quickly as possible so that Myron could go back to breathing down his neck.

"Yes, I'm okay. Myron was just sorting out my wrist for me, another dominant wouldn't let me go and was trying to force himself on me as he dragged me through the hall, but Myron dealt with him for me." Harry said with a smile.

Elder Trintus nodded, but he gave a stern look to Myron, who stared right back.

"Well, I'll leave you be, but if anything's the matter…"

"I know." Harry interrupted loudly, and rudely, as he nodded his understanding. He didn't even care, he just wanting the man to go well away from them already so that he could go back to smelling Myron's scent and touching him and being intoxicated by his very presence.

Elder Trintus nodded a little, looking like he was torn between going away or staying to keep an eye on him, but in the end he gave a last considering look to Harry, a last hard stare to Myron, before he finally left them alone and he was swallowed up by the crowd, but he was heading in the direction to where Harry had last seen Elder Midate and his mate, Bertha.

"I don't think he likes me very much, which is strange, he usually does. I'm one of the more respectful dominants and I don't go around groping and molesting submissives like a pseudo-rapist." Myron said and then he chuckled darkly. "He must like you a lot more than he does me."

"All of the Elders I've met like me." Harry said happily. "I like them too…most of the time."

"How many have you met?" Myron asked curiously.

"I met Elder Midate first, back in October, he's going to be my chaperone when I decide to finally have my meeting, but because I don't want to be groped and molested by pseudo-rapists, he said he's going to bring in extra security for me and two more Elders, so I've met Elder Trintus and Elder Kirrian too, they're also going to be at my meeting."

"I prefer Quinlan Trintus to his brother Quintalus. He's more tolerable." Myron told him conversationally.

"Are they twins?" Harry said with a face.

Myron snorted. "No, they're two of a set of quintuplets; Quintalus, Quinlan, Quinsy, Quinby and Quintin."

Harry looked at Myron, half hoping that he was joking.

"You're not even joking, are you?" He said in a soft sort of horror after a silent pause where Myron didn't laugh at his expense for being a gullible little schoolboy.

"No, I'm afraid not, that's what they were honestly named. Only Quintalus became an Elder though, which makes the other four more tolerable, but Quinlan is the only one who doesn't strut around with a stick up his arse, looking down his nose at everyone."

"Did their parents not know any other names or have any imaginations at all? Those poor boys."

Myron looked at him with a smirk. "They're all sixty-seven."

"I don't care; they should never have been given such uncreative names, I feel bad for the boys they used to be, having to grow up together with those names. At least try to let them have separate identities and personalities. So they're quintuplets, that doesn't mean you have to name them all the same, and with the letter Q as well! They have to try and _live_ with those names."

Myron smiled then and Harry smiled back at him a bit bemusedly, wondering what he'd said this time.

"What did I say?" He gave in and asked curiously.

"I like that you want to give your children separate identities. Have you thought of any baby names?"

Harry shook his head. "Until recently I wasn't even thinking babies, let alone names. Why, do you have any baby names?"

Myron shrugged and looked a little uncomfortable, which Harry hadn't thought possible, but he mentally hit himself, of course even the strong and gorgeous Myron Maddison was susceptible to the emotions of all sentient beings, he was being ridiculous putting the man on a pedestal, of course he had emotions, thoughts, things that made him uncomfortable, fears and dreams, just like everybody else, he probably just didn't show them often or to a lot of people, which made Harry feel honoured and all soft inside that Myron had chosen to show the real man inside his hard exterior to him.

"Maximilius. I've always loved the name and I would like my first born son to be Maximilius. If I ever get around to having any that is, I'm fifty-two now."

"You're fifty-two?" Harry asked, rearing back in utter shock.

Myron's face closed off immediately. He nodded once, sharply. "Yes, I am." He said with no hint of embarrassment or shame, almost glaring at him and daring him to say anything about it.

"You don't look a day over thirty! How do you do that? Is it a Dracken thing? I know there is a…delay of sorts, but I didn't think it would be so glaringly obvious." Harry asked as he traced his eyes all over Myron's fit, young looking body. He really wouldn't have put Myron at a day over thirty-five at an absolute maximum.

"It's a Dracken thing." Myron said with a smirk.

"Holy hell that's going to be brilliant! Does that mean I'll look as good as you when I'm fifty?"

"You'll look even better. I'm sure of it." Myron said huskily as he nuzzled into his neck.

"What are you…oh!" Harry sighed and wrapped his arms around those huge shoulders. "That feels strange…good, but strange."

"No one has ever touched you before have they?"

"Of course not!" Harry all but snapped. "I'm only sixteen! I'm no slut."

"I meant no offense to you and likewise I wasn't calling you a slut or even thinking such a thing, I was more saying aloud what I was thinking, I just like knowing that you haven't been touched before, it's a prideful, possessive thing, that's all. When are you seventeen?"

"In July."

"So two months from now."

Harry nodded against Myron's chest.

"You don't like that I'm sixteen, do you?"

"You can't help that." Myron told him. "But truth be told, no, it does make me feel a little uncomfortable."

"Do you think it'll be better when I'm seventeen?"

"You'll be a man then."

"But I'm of age to give consent for sex at sixteen." Harry pointed out curiously.

"I think I'd like for you to finish school first."

"You'll be in for a long wait then; I've got another year left after this one, I don't graduate until a year this July."

Myron growled at him then for the first time and Harry gave him a hard stare.

"I can't help how young I am!" He said with a furious, stubborn bite. "Just like you can't help how old you are. If that's your problem with me then you're never going to find a mate because you will age every year and the submissives never will! They'll always be sixteen or seventeen at the most."

"The boy's very intelligent, Myron, you should listen to him."

Harry turned to see the older Maddison ordering two drinks just down the bar from where they were talking together, Myron standing, Harry still sitting on the bar stool.

"Father, I just…"

"Shut your mouth and open your ears! He is trying to explain something that seems to keep slipping over your head. You are not a twenty year old boy any more, you're a fifty-two year old man and you're getting older and the submissives stay at around about the same age. Are you going to end up like your brother Cassander? Or, Merlin curse me, will you end up like your brother Benedict? I have eyes and I have a gut and both are telling me that this little cutie actually likes you, he actually likes you and if you do anything to hurt him I'm going to smack you upside the head."

Harry laughed. "I like you too."

"You're a breath of fresh air in this stuffy, stuck up clique of submissives who think they're all Queens that should be deified for eternity."

Harry smiled and turned to take a drink of water and checked on his hand.

"I just want to be normal, or as normal as I can get after finding out that I'm part dragon."

"A bit difficult." The man said with a nod. "I'm Alexander by the way, Father to the stubborn mule that you're trying to talk to."

"It's nice to meet you Alexander, I'm Harry."

"It's lovely to meet you too; I hope that soon you'll be joining my family, if this twit pulls his head from his arse that is." He told Harry before turning to his son. "I love this boy. You, you damned stubborn donkey, your Mother wants to see you happy, so pull your head out of your arse and ask him out to dinner!" He demanded, pointing a finger at Myron.

Harry gaped after Alexander as he took his drinks and left the bar.

"Will you?"

Harry turned back to Myron. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Would you like to go out to dinner?"

"Is that allowed?"

Myron chuckled. "I'm a Maddison; no one is going to say anything to me."

Harry laughed. "Okay, but I feel very uncomfortable in fancy places and honestly that looks like the only place you'd actually go to."

Myron smirked at him. "Leave that to me. Come on."

"Now?" Harry asked, his eyes widening.

"If we can sneak past your Elder guards."

Harry laughed. "Come on then, I'm sure we can sneak out."

Myron took his hand, supported him as Harry pushed himself to the floor from the high bar stool and pulled him gently towards the huge front double doors that were thrown open into the outside hall that led to the floo banks, the toilets and the baby changing rooms. Harry was surprised when they actually managed to do it and Myron pulled him close and held him protectively and lovingly as they walked casually past the two guards to the three fireplaces.

Myron held him tightly as he threw in a pinch of floo powder and called out their destination in the bright green flames. Harry would have hit the floor if it wasn't for those huge, strong arms around him.

"Sorry, I'm not too good with floo travel." He said apologetically. "I even caught my head on Elder Kirrian's coffee table when I fell out of his fireplace. He threw it out the front window."

Myron chuckled. "I'll have to make sure I buy a padded rug for when you come over to my home."

"Oh, a bit confident that this date will go well then?" Harry teased.

"Very. My Father is right, I like you and I'm not going to let something as ridiculous as age stop me from pursuing you. You're honestly the only person to have held my attention for more than a few minutes in several years now; you're a wonderful person, unlike some of the submissives I've met over the years, so I hope to get to know you much better."

Myron tugged him, being mindful of his bruised hand, out of the pub they'd landed in, down the street lined with strategically placed benches, they crossed over to the buildings on the other side and finally walked into a lovely restaurant, which _was_ a really fancy place.

The only reason why they weren't sticking out was because they both already had dress robes on from the Dracken meeting. At least it looked like there wouldn't be four forks and a dozen spoons at each place setting, he counted that as a plus at this point.

"Do you have a reservation?" A stuffy, stiff backed Maître d' asked them primly, looking down his nose at them, one hand on the register in front of him.

"No." Myron said simply.

"Name, Sir?" The man sniffed, as if he had to face this same situation several times a night.

"Myron Maddison."

"Oh Mister Maddison! Right this way, Sir!" The man's demeanour chanced so significantly that Harry blinked as he immediately warmed up to them and started profusely licking Myron's arse. "I apologise for there not being a hostess tonight, Sir. She has flooed in to say that she cannot make it for personal reasons, so if you'd like to follow me to your table." The man grabbed two menus from the stack he had underneath his podium which held the restaurant reservations and walked further into the warm, cosy restaurant, he and Myron following sedately.

Harry grinned as Myron turned and winked at him with a smirk. He was very, very curious now as to how Myron had earned his respect and how he got a table in this sort of restaurant without a reservation when one was so obviously needed.

They were seated at a small, intimate table with two chairs and a small, discreet cluster of three slim candles surrounded by a low, elegant nest to cover the holders. It was lovely, but small enough so it didn't obscure Harry's wonderful view of Myron sat across from him.

"Is this too fancy for you?"

"I'm horrified that you know anywhere even fancier than this place!" Harry said with a smile as he looked around, at all the tasteful art work, the obvious effort put into the lay out and the aesthetics of the room. "It is lovely here though."

Someone touched his hand and Harry turned back to smile at Myron, who was cupping his hand in his own.

"Are you hungry? My treat." Myron said with a sly smile. "If you've already eaten then there's always…_dessert._"

"Why do you make it sound like there are two meanings to dessert?"

Myron chuckled. "There are and I'd be very happy to show you both if you'd like."

"I did eat before I came, so just dessert sounds like heaven, unless you want to eat?"

"Dessert sounds perfect to me." Myron said with a sly smirk that said he meant more than he was saying. Harry was completely bemused.

A waiter rushed to them and he smiled politely, until he caught sight of Harry. He was at the perfect angle to see his scar under his fringe and his wide, shocked eyes went from Harry to Myron and then back again, obviously taking in exactly who Harry was from his scar and the obvious age difference between him and Myron and their clasped hands on the table top. Harry lifted his free hand self-consciously and flattened his fringe down to his forehead.

"A slice of your finest chocolate cake." Myron ordered, giving the waiter a very solid, intimidating glare as he handed over the menu, Harry watched the ripple in those huge shoulders and arms as he did so and so did the waiter as he gulped audibly.

"A slice of vanilla cheesecake for me, please." Harry said with a grin as he watched the waiter be frightened and cowed by Myron's glare.

"You can have anything you want mind." Myron told him seriously.

Harry checked the menu once more and he actually took note of the prices this time. The vanilla cheesecake happened to be the cheapest dessert on the menu and Myron thought he was doing it purposefully. He grinned wider.

"I love a good vanilla cheesecake." Harry said. "Besides…we can always share." He gave a naughty wink to Myron and the waiter went redder than red as he took the menu from Harry's hand as it was held out and rushed away to Harry's laughter.

"You're a very naughty boy; I'm going to have to teach you some manners."

Harry's grin widened. "I learn best through fun, strenuous, pleasurable ways."

That startled a laugh from Myron, a deep, very pleasant sound that made Harry shiver for reasons that he'd never shivered from ever before.

"I'll have to remember that well then." Myron rumbled huskily.

Seriously, Myron's voice was something else, he could sell sex with just his voice and Harry rubbed his arms as they broke out into goosebumps.

Their cakes came quickly, before the silence between them could become strained or awkward, but long after Myron had noticed the effect his voice was having on his young dinner date.

Harry sliced his vanilla cheesecake with the side of his fork and he took a bite. He moaned as he chewed and swallowed.

"That's gorgeous, I really love vanilla cheesecake." He said and then looked up to see Myron staring at him. "What? Did I get some on my face?" He asked a bit concernedly, his cheeks heating up with embarrassment as he rubbed at his mouth discreetly with his hand.

Myron chuckled. "You didn't get anything on your face."

"Then why are you staring at me?" Harry asked curiously.

"I like seeing how much you enjoy eating your cheesecake." Was all Myron said as he continued to stare at him.

Harry gave him a look and went back to eating his dessert. He looked at Myron from under his lashes and he grinned softly.

"This really is good, here, you have to try it." Harry said, offering out a forkful of the cheesecake to Myron.

Myron smirked at him, seeing right through him, not that Harry was trying very hard to hide his intentions as Myron slid his mouth over the fork and slowly slid the cheesecake off with his lips. Harry's stomach tightened and he went a little hard in his formal trousers. That had never happened before and he was a little startled that he was getting aroused by this older man and in a posh, cosy, quiet restaurant of all places!

"That is good, but I still think mine is better, here."

Harry had the tables turned on him as Myron offered him a large bite of rich, dark chocolate cake. Too large. Harry managed to take it into his mouth, chew and swallow, but not without getting the sticky, chocolate ganache topping on his lips.

He licked them to clean them, watched almost avidly by Myron, who followed the line his tongue made around his lips.

"You're right, that's gorgeous, but very rich, I doubt I would have finished a whole slice."

"Not by yourself." Myron said with a smirk and a pointed look to the second forkful of cake he was offering out.

Harry grinned and took this piece into his mouth, again getting the thick, sticky chocolate ganache on his lips. He did the same, licking his lips to clean them.

"You missed a spot." Myron told him.

Harry licked his lips again.

"Did that get it?" He asked softly.

"No. Here, let me."

Harry was startled and almost frozen in his seat as Myron stood, cupped the back of his head and pulled him into a soft, chaste kiss, a strong, warm tongue flicking out over his upper lip before Myron pulled back and sat back down.

"There, all clean."

Harry laughed, a bit worried to hear that his voice had gone deeper. That had never happened before either. He was so hard in his trousers that the seam to his zip was cutting across him, but he didn't want to adjust himself because it would be noticeable and very rude in such a quiet, posh setting filled mostly with older couples, who kept sending the both of them either curious or supercilious looks. He wriggled a bit and sunk his teeth into his bottom lip as that just seemed to aggravate the situation. This had never happened to him before; he didn't know how to deal with it, he didn't know what to do to make it better. He even tried picturing Dumbledore naked, then when that failed as he'd never actually seen Dumbledore naked, he tried thinking of McGonagall and Flitwick kissing, but all he could see and think about was the drop dead gorgeous, amazingly sexy man opposite him and he throbbed against that zipper seam and bit back a gasp of pain.

"Are you alright? Your cheeks have flushed." Myron pointed out, which of course just made Harry flush all the more.

"I'm fine." He squeaked out.

"How about I show you the second way to have dessert?" Myron asked, his black eyes all but burning in desire.

"Okay." Harry agreed before he even really knew what he was agreeing to, he just wanted to get out of this restaurant as quickly as he could so that he could adjust himself.

Myron hailed a waiter and paid quickly for their two cakes before Harry could even formulate an argument about splitting the bill equally and he grabbed Harry's hand, laced their fingers together and walked out of the restaurant.

"Hold onto me tight." Myron instructed and Harry felt a flash of fear and a mental scream of 'what the fuck are you doing?' but they were both overshadowed by the heavy throb of arousal and desire that shot through his body as he slipped his arms around Myron's waist and held on tight, inhaling that intoxicating scent that clung to the man he was holding.

A moment later they landed on the soft, lush grass of a front lawn that led up to an absolutely huge, stunning manor house.

"Is this all yours?" Harry asked with a stunned gasp.

"The house, the grounds, the lake and waterfall out back and the surrounding fields. All mine." Myron told him before he pulled Harry's head to his and kissed him hard.

Unlike the peck to the cheek at the bar and the naughty, but chaste kiss to the mouth in the restaurant, this kiss was deep, passionate and very wild. Harry was caught up in it and helpless to resist as Myron plundered his mouth with his tongue, their lips pressed together hard and then Harry realised that in order to reach Myron's mouth he either had to be on a ladder, or Myron had to be on his knees.

They broke apart for breath and Harry looked around, only to find himself plastered to Myron's front, one huge, muscular arm was wrapped around his upper back, the other was supporting his bum and he was over a foot higher than he should have been. Myron had picked him up when he had been distracted with the electrifying kiss.

Myron pulled him back into another toe curling kiss and Harry's chest heaved. When they broke apart this time they were both panting and the air felt too thick to draw in a proper breath. Myron walked with him to the front door of the house and Harry couldn't wait any longer, he had to have another kiss, so he initiated their third 'proper' kiss and tried to let his enthusiasm overtake his glaringly obvious inexperience. Myron didn't seem to mind in the least as he pressed Harry to the wall of the small enclosed doorstep and kissed him back hard and deep, still fumbling for his house keys.

He broke away from the kiss and cursed, looking down at his pockets, trying to remember through his lust thickened brain which bloody pocket he'd put his damn keys in. His hand encountered his cheque book and he snarled angrily and then Harry's mouth was on his neck and he gave up looking for them as he threw himself back into kissing Harry, loving the feeling of those legs wrapped around him, though Harry seriously could stand to gain a couple of stone. He obviously had no problems with eating, not even indulgent desserts and he hadn't excused him to go to a bathroom where he could have made himself vomit, so it was unlikely that he had an eating disorder, so perhaps it was just genetic or he was merely in the gangly stage of being a teenager where nothing he ate had any effect on his weight, but either way he would feed Harry up a little, his mate wouldn't starve while with him, he just would not allow it.

It took perhaps four seconds before what he had thought filtered through to his conscious mind and he pulled back sharply from a dazed, glassy eyed Harry. Seeing the picture of utter lust he made almost sent Myron straight back to feeding from his small, pliant mouth, but if what he thought had happened had actually happened, then they no longer had a choice in the matter.

"I think I've chosen you as my mate." Harry told him with a slightly breathless slur.

Myron blinked. He'd just been about to say the exact same thing and he smirked.

"Do you mind?" He asked, his voice thick and deep with arousal.

"No." Harry said, shaking his head for extra emphasis and Myron couldn't wait, not even the minute it would take to dig his keys out of whatever pocket they were hiding in as he took Harry to the front lawn and sprawled him out over the grass, still warm from the sun, even if evening was rapidly turning into night.

"I swear I will find my keys and take you up to a proper bed, even if I have to dig out my wand and break into my own house, but I don't think I can wait, it's been too long since I last did anything remotely like this."

Harry's response was nonverbal, but as he surged upwards and pulled Myron down by his head, kissing him all the way, Myron took it to mean that Harry didn't actually mind the unromantic, rushed setting.

* * *

**Removed scene!**

* * *

He didn't move much as he was already feeling the twinge of overexerted muscles, but he did dig through all his pockets to find his elusive keys, before gathering up all the robes and ripped, scattered garments and he moved to his knees to cradle Harry oh so gently against his chest.

He carried his precious submissive mate back up to the porch and to the front door, where he used his located keys to unlock his front door and bring Harry into his house. He couldn't even bring himself to call it his home; it was just so empty, always empty. He'd most definitely thought when he'd first bought it that he was preparing for the future, and he'd believed fully that he would have been mated with a horde of children, maybe even grandchildren too, by his age, but things hadn't worked out that way and he found himself burying himself in his work, just so he didn't have to come home to this giant, empty, silent prison that he'd bought for himself two decades ago.

He looked at Harry and tenderly brushed a sweat soaked lock of jet black hair out of his closed eyes. Perhaps now that he had Harry he could finally cut back on his work load, take the mass of accumulated holiday time he'd built up over the years and he could finally have the family he'd dreamed of for so long. Harry wasn't like the usual submissive Drackens and he was male too, which was an added bonus in his books, but he could find himself easily loving Harry, he was so very easy to love, he'd already witnessed that himself, his own parents had fallen for Harry after meeting him for only a few minutes earlier that evening.

He carried Harry up the stairs and into the master bedroom and he grinned. He needed a large bed because he was a large man; he couldn't wait to see Harry writhing around on the sheets of _his _bed, but first he'd let Harry sleep and recover, honestly speaking he needed the recovery time too, that orgasm had knocked him for six and he needed to get his breath back so to speak.

He went into his en suite bathroom and cleaned himself up; his knees were absolutely filthy and covered in mud and grass stains.

He went back into the bedroom with a cloth to clean off Harry's feet, his heels were filthy too, covered thickly in mud and had broken blades of grass stuck to them and he carefully cleaned him up and he lay down next to Harry, just watching him in his unconsciousness. He was getting hard again, just from seeing Harry, naked on his sheets, knowing that this young man was his submissive mate and all they needed now to make it official was Harry's heat period, which would hopefully be soon now that they had bonded together.

Harry came to a few minutes later, his nose scrunched up and his eyebrows crinkled. Myron had already cleaned Harry up and there was a glass of water waiting for him too.

"Are you alright?"

Harry cracked open his eyes and peered up at Myron and he grinned tiredly.

"I'm fine." Harry croaked out through a screamed raw throat.

"Come here, have a drink." Myron encouraged as he slipped an arm around Harry's shoulders and lifted him up so that he was able to sip down some water.

"Thank you."

"You're not in any pain, are you?" Myron asked.

Harry shook his head. "No, I'm okay."

"You'll be feeling an ache or a soreness soon, not enough time has passed yet. It's normal to feel it, especially as it was your first time, but sharp pain or unbearable pain is not normal and might mean that I've caused you an internal injury, so don't hide it away."

"I'm sure I'll be just fine, stop your worrying." Harry laughed, cuddling into Myron and resting on him as his tender lower body twinged slightly.

"I'm worried now that your Elder guards are going to come looking for you." Myron sighed.

Harry laughed. "Not until tomorrow at the earliest, they made sure I knew how to make a distress call before they allowed me to go to the meeting and I was assured that if I wanted to leave at any time, then I could use the floo connections to get back to Dumbledore's office at Hogwarts."

Myron threw his head back and laughed before he rolled on top of Harry and kissed him deeply, loving that Harry's own laughter cut off with a soft, surprised moan.

Still naked from their tryst down on the lawn, it didn't take much for them to both be wound together and rubbing their bodies together again.

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

Harry woke up and blinked as the events of last night rushed back to him as his lower body twinged with remaining soreness. He looked around the unfamiliar bedroom, every sight throwing him back into a vivid flashback of everywhere in the room that he and Myron had had sex and in all the various positions too.

He rolled over in the bed, looking at all the love bites and fingernail scratches and the various other marks and bruises he had from Myron on his body and he grinned. He felt loved, reassured, comforted and he felt like he actually _belonged_ to Myron and as strange as it seemed, he liked those feelings very much.

He sat up in the bed; he could see the sun being blocked by the blackout curtains, the golden glow around the edges high and bright. It was at least midday.

He got out of bed and found his boxers on the floor, pulling them on sluggishly and with a bit of difficulty as his legs felt like jelly and his lower back spasmed with pain before he went looking for Myron, leaving the rest of his clothes off despite how self-conscious that made him feel as he was completely exposed. He didn't think his back would be up to the challenge of bending so often so soon after it had been so thoroughly pounded.

Of course if he'd known that Myron had company over then he most definitely would have hunted down every last sock and struggled and forced himself into the rest of his clothes despite the pain and discomfort it would cause him, just so that he was dressed fully.

"So much for you not knowing where he was, eh Myron?" The devilish grin the man gave Harry had him blushing hard.

"He was sleeping and I didn't want you bothering him." Myron said as he pulled the tee shirt off of his own back, revealing a vest top underneath, and he handed the tee shirt to Harry, who tugged it on quickly and smoothed down the warm fabric so he was covered to his knees.

"Aw, I was enjoying the love bitten view."

"Shut up, Julius." Myron snapped.

Harry ducked his head away and when Myron's arm wrapped around him, Harry cuddled into Myron's offered bulk.

"So…is he legal?"

"Of course he's legal!" Myron burst out furiously.

"Was he willing?"

Myron was so furious he growled roughly, looking like he would kill his…brother? Was this man another brother, an Uncle? Perhaps he was a cousin.

"Yes, I was." Harry answered with a glare.

"This is a whole new can of worms you've opened Myron. The Elders have been frantic to find him after Albus Dumbledore contacted them to say that Harry never arrived back at the school. They think he was whisked away by a dominant…looks like that much was true at least, but they think he's been kidnapped, raped and mated against his will."

"I haven't." Harry hissed.

"Myron is much older than you, he knows how he's supposed to act, what's expected of a dominant Dracken of his prestige, he should have had more control over himself, you're going the way Ben did!"

"Do not compare me to Benedict!" Myron growled furiously. "He was lonely, he lost his job, he had nothing left and he snapped because of it."

"You're telling me that you were entirely in control and completely lucid when you whisked an unmated, orphaned, virgin submissive to your house to have sex with him?" The man Julius scoffed. "Myron, this looks bad…no, this looks absolutely terrible! You could face death for this!"

"What?! No!" Harry shouted as he held Myron tighter. "Why is Myron fully to blame? I was a part of this too, I agreed to it, doesn't that count for _anything_?"

"Fortunately for Myron, yes, it does count and as it seems you've bonded together willingly, that'll count too, but you know, Myron that before you've fully mated then the Counsel can execute you with the full backing of the Elders and within the law. The new law passed last year only covers mated dominants Myron, and you're not mated yet."

"I know and if they do decided to execute me then I'll still stand by what I did, it was worth it to know Harry for even one night."

"Looks like you did more than 'know' him for a night Myron. Really, deflowering an unmated submissive after stealing him away from under the Elders' noses, it's a move that Cassander will be deliriously proud of. What in the name of Merlin were you thinking?"

Myron remained silent and the man opposite threw his arms up.

"You had better hope that you're let off Myron, for our parents' sake. Have you thought what this will do to Mum? You saw what she was like after Benedict, how could you have done this? To her of all people if you don't care about your own life."

Harry felt terrible. In fact he felt evil for causing this family so much pain and to find out that Myron might be executed for having sex with him, he wanted to be sick. He knew that dominants could be executed for rape and for acts of unneeded violence, he'd read the books he'd been given carefully, but he'd had absolutely no clue that they could be executed if he was very much a willing partner! He'd have never of even agreed to leave the Halls with Myron if he'd known that little tidbit of information!

He clutched at Myron tightly and he felt the heavy, reassuring arm of Myron rub at his back.

"It's going to be fine Harry, Julius is just scare mongering. They wouldn't dare execute me, for your sake as much as my reputation and prestige, you're new to the Dracken culture, they wouldn't dare risk sending you running for the hills."

"That's true at least." Julius nodded before he sighed. "Damn it Myron, couldn't you have just waited until Harry had his first meeting?"

Myron chuckled then and large fingers that had touched every inch of his body, inside and out, rose to caress his cheek lovingly.

"No, I couldn't have waited a moment more. Our connection was almost instantaneous. I would have gone mad with the wait and Harry would have started his heat without me."

"Wait…you bonded while in the meeting halls?" Julius asked, his mouth gaping and his eyes popping from his head.

Myron nodded. "Within minutes of me touching him for the first time. I had hoped merely to make a good impression. Especially when I saw that scum fuck, Leighly, slap Harry across the face as he tried to drag him off to rape him. Some people shouldn't be allowed in the meeting halls."

"So you bonded through that? Not later?"

Harry shook his head. "I felt the connection, though I didn't know what it was, I just thought it was instant attraction, though that was part of it. Myron took such good care of me that I couldn't help it."

"Well that's going to help your case insurmountably." Julius said with a sigh. "Well, time to get this over with, Dad's been frantically searching for Harry, you made a good impression on him and he likes you."

Harry blinked as he remembered the kind man he'd barely spoken to the night before. For him to be frantically searching for him, Harry rather thought that that spoke more to Alexander's amazingly caring personality rather than anything he'd done himself last night, but Myron and Julius just laughed at him when he pointed that out to them.

"Oh I love him, you make sure you stay alive Myron, I want him to be a part of our family; parties, events and get togethers are going to be so much more interesting with him there, and get him with a baby too, you know how Mum loves to fuss."

Myron rolled his eyes and shoved his brother towards the fireplace.

"Alright, alright I'm going. Just don't have any more sex with him, Dad will be over here as soon as I'm gone, then the Elders will be around and he's got school tomorrow, his Headmaster might be around too."

Harry groaned and buried his face in his hands.

"It's too late to be embarrassed now. You should have thought of that before you gave yourself to my baby brother."

Harry peeked out curiously then. Myron did look younger, but he was so big and broad that he looked older.

"Yes, he's the youngest of our family. So you better not hurt him because he has thirteen very protective older brothers and seven very over protective older sisters and that's before our Mum and Dad get involved."

Harry smiled at that. He liked that Myron's brother was warning him off, despite Myron being fifty-two years old and very capable of looking after himself, especially with those muscles of his.

"You're supposed to be terrified! Not grinning like a loon at my threat." Julius pouted.

"I don't have any brothers or sisters or any parents. It's nice to see how you're so protective of each other, I like it." He said softly.

"Aw, kid, come here." Julius hugged him tight and Harry grinned as he heard Myron's soft, possessive growl. "I really want this one in the family. I need a brother-in-law I can actually stand to be near for extended periods of time. Or would he be a sister-in-law, you know as he's the submissive and going to be the Mother of your children?"

"Go away before I hurt you." Myron growled as he pulled Harry back into his own arms and pulled him into the kitchen.

He sat Harry on an island bar stool and put a magically warmed plate of food in front of him and Harry ate, not fussy about what he was actually eating, though there was a huge variety, including bacon and eggs, buttered toast, a blueberry muffin and a bacon roll. He was surprised to realise he was completely famished and he ate as fast as he could without turning into another Ron. He didn't want Myron to be disgusted with him.

Two tiny, single dose bottles of potion were placed by his hand and Harry read the labels on them as he took another big bite of his bacon roll. One was a pain reliever and the other was a muscle relaxant, they both had Slug and Jiggers Apothecary written on them at the top of the label, a shop Harry knew sold potions ingredients, readymade potions and full potions kits for school students.

He ate the rest of his bacon roll, swallowed both potions, one after another, with the glass of pumpkin juice that Myron handed to him, even as his mate gulped down a mug of strong, black coffee like a lifetime addict and he smiled, he liked this.

Harry went right back to eating his bacon and eggs with his toast and ignored that Myron watched him, he did take note of the clock though, it was early afternoon, just gone one O'clock, no wonder people were looking for him, he should have been back in Hogwarts by now, people were going to ask questions, especially his house mates who he shared a dorm room with, even if one of them was Ron and they hadn't spoken to one another for over a year now.

He was just finishing his breakfast, the gorgeous blueberry muffin, when Alexander Maddison rushed into the kitchen, he looked from his son, who with as big as he was took immediate focus of any and every one who entered the room, to Harry who was sat at the island still, holding a glass in hand, muffin in the other, very obviously wearing Myron's shirt and staring back at him.

"Oh I didn't want to believe Julius, how I didn't want to believe him. Harry, are you alright?"

"Of course I am." He said bemusedly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well…Julius said that you and Myron…is it true that you've bonded?"

"It is true. To your question and the one that you couldn't quite manage to say." Myron said simply as he took another gulp of coffee. His second mug since Harry had woken up.

"I'm going to have to pull major strings here Myron. After Benedict I would have hoped that my remaining sons and daughters would use their brains, that they'd take more care! I don't want to have to go through what I did with Benedict for a second time, isn't losing a son and two daughters enough?!"

"I'm sorry." Harry said softly and hoarsely as tears threatened to clog his throat, his guilt welling up again as he hunched himself over.

Myron came around the island and threw that arm over his shoulders.

"You knew I wouldn't regret this, your tirade has done nothing but upset Harry and we both know that he has nothing to be sorry for or to feel guilty over, neither of us do."

"This is…Myron, you're my son, my youngest son, I can't lose you."

"You're not going to. I don't know what you think happened or what Julius has told you Dad, but Harry and I were both consenting, I didn't push him, I didn't pressure him and I certainly didn't force him."

"I just don't understand how this has happened; I brought you up better than to sleep around."

Harry didn't know whether to be offended or not, but he must have shown some sign as Myron's hand tightened on his shoulder and Alexander reared back in surprise.

"I'm not suggesting for a minute that you do sleep around Harry, of course not, that would be ridiculous, but this has all happened so very fast, you said you only found out you were a Dracken in July, not even a full year ago and now my idiot son has broken your virginity and bonded to you."

"I was…"

"I know, I know, you were willing, but if they wanted to the Elders could call this foul play, they could pull Myron's age into it, how you had no idea beforehand that you were a Dracken, they could try and claim that you didn't know what would happen…"

"I did know, besides I bonded to Myron in the meeting halls."

"You did?"

Myron nodded. "Almost as soon as I touched him I started to feel the irresistible pull towards him that you said you felt towards Mum. I couldn't stop touching him, I wanted him close by, I had to smell him, I needed to bond to him before anyone else did…I couldn't wait."

"So you dragged him to your house and had sex with him." Alexander deadpanned, his eyes flashing his anger.

"No, we went and had dinner first." Harry told him. "Like you suggested."

Alexander eased down when he heard that and he deflated a little, his eyes softening.

"You did?"

"Yes, we did." Myron nodded. "I took him to the Garnet Swan for dessert."

Alexander sighed. "Well at least you were considerate to some degree."

"What happens now?" Harry asked as he looked between them.

"I suggest you going and getting dressed first and foremost; I'm going to go tell the Counsel Elders that you've been found before they accuse some poor innocent dominant of your murder. They'll be around here as soon as I tell them where you are."

Harry sighed and nodded, leaving the room and going back up the wide stairs to Myron's bedroom. He got the wrong door twice before he found the master bedroom again and he was in the process of getting dressed when Myron came into the room, the look on his face and in his eyes had Harry's breath catching in his throat.

Myron caught him up in his arms and pulled him all the way up to his mouth and Harry's arms found their way around Myron's neck and they kissed passionately. Harry moved his tongue into Myron's mouth, playing with Myron's tongue, in a way that was becoming more familiar with him after having had zero previous experience before yesterday.

"I wish we had more time." Myron growled when they broke apart for air. "I want you so much."

Harry's legs clamped around Myron's waist, his leg muscles aching with the combination of the girth of Myron's thick waist and his short legs, but he didn't care as he used his hands in Myron's hair to line their mouths up again, tilting his head to the side so their noses didn't get in the way and he nibbled at Myron's lips, moving his own as he kissed Myron slowly, teasing his mouth open so that he could push his tongue back into that soft, wet mouth and taste Myron. He couldn't get enough of Myron.

A huge palm cupped the side of his head, thick fingers cradling the back of his skull so they could twist in his hair and force his head at a sharper angle to create a deeper kiss and Harry couldn't stop the weak, almost tortured moan that sounded from the back of his throat as his arms and legs tensed uncontrollably, getting him a spine tingling growl from Myron that vibrated inside his mouth.

"Fuck the Elders." Myron snarled, the first time Harry had ever heard him being so disrespectful to the Elders, who he obviously held in high regard at any other time.

"I'd rather you fuck me." Harry said back softly, his lips a mere hairsbreadth away from Myron's.

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

Harry was subject to checks and tests and sniffing, a hell of a lot of sniffing, when they woke up and took down the wards, opening the bedroom door and then wandering down, following their ravaged bellies that were roaring for food to the kitchen.

Five Elders, six mated guards with guns and Alexander Maddison greeted them when they made it to the kitchen. Myron was immediately seized by a guard, forced to his knees with his hands held behind his back, the muzzle of a rifle held at the base of his neck, right on his spine by another guard. One shot was all it would take to kill Myron with the gun pressed to his spine; it would all but decapitate him.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Harry screamed in a harsh whisper as loudly as he could, which as he had lost his voice, wasn't very loud or intimidating as he rushed to Myron.

Elder Midate turned quickly and scooped Harry from the floor with an arm around his waist, checking him over and sniffing at him, even as Harry kicked out.

"What are you doing?!" Harry tried to shout again, stressing his voice until it almost squeaked.

"I'm just checking you for injuries Harry." The Elder said softly as he placed Harry back on the floor, but held him around the shoulders, blocking him from getting to Myron.

Harry however, wasn't interested in his Elder Chaperone; he was interested in what the one Elder was murmuring to Myron, he couldn't hear them clearly.

"What is he saying?" He squeaked out, his voice an angry, strained whisper as he tried to get around Elder Midate to Myron.

"Leave Elder Vipond to speak to the younger Mister Maddison, Harry. Come and speak to me." Elder Midate tugged him, protesting with his lost voice, digging his heels in, but Elder Midate was huge, strong and a much more powerful man and he tugged Harry easily into the living room, despite Harry fighting every step of the way.

"Let go of me!" Harry wheezed angrily.

"Just sit down for a moment and tell us what happened Harry, this is incredibly important and we need you to be very, brutally honest."

"You're a moron! Is that brutal enough?!" Harry forced out of his abused throat.

Elder Midate sighed and indicated the severe looking man behind him. "This is Elder Sesto Messana, Harry."

"I would like to speak to you about what has transpired here." The Elder said in perfectly pronounced, overly eloquent English, but he still had a hint of an Italian accent that he seemed determined to bury.

"Don't you dare hurt Myron!" Harry hissed, glaring.

"Please sit down Harry, we won't kill anyone in the kitchen of their own home, they'll be taken to the Counsel Halls to be formally judged and charged. The gun is merely for protection and to prevent anyone from losing their tempers." Elder Midate assured him.

"How do I know he's still out there?!" Harry demanded. "How do I know if you haven't already taken him away as soon as I was out of the room?!"

"Elder Kirrian, Harry wishes to know that Myron Maddison is still in the kitchen." Elder Midate called out loudly.

"I'm still here, Harry." Myron grunted back. He sounded angry. No, he sounded absolutely fucking pissed and Harry grinned. Nothing good for these Elders would come from his mate being that angry, he knew that even after such a short amount of time.

He sat carefully on the dragonhide settee and shifted minimally to prevent any pain in his bum or back and he glared at both the Elders who were looking at him, scrutinising him really.

"What do you want to know?" He snapped when they just continued to look him over, going back regularly to the, very high, love bite on his neck that would only be hidden if he wore a turtle neck or a scarf, both of which would be impractical in the warmth of May, not that he had any desire to hide Myron's love bites.

"Start with yesterday night, Harry. I know your throat must be feeling raw and painful, but this is incredibly important." Elder Midate told him seriously as he sat in the matching dragonhide armchair adjacent to him.

"Myron knocked out the bastard who…"

"No vulgar language, please." Elder Sesto Messana cut in smoothly, his cultured voice making Harry want to punch his teeth down the back of his throat.

"Fine." Harry hissed angrily. "Myron knocked out the disgusting pig that thought he could grope, molest and rape me and he looked after me."

"I hardly think sequestering you away in his bedroom can be classified as 'taking care of you'."

Harry really, seriously, was considering hitting Elder Messana. Hard, very, very hard.

"He took me to the bar and got me some ice for my wrist!" Harry bit out, showing them the thick, dark bruise around his left wrist. "Elder Trintus saw us and Alexander did, the bar staff would likely remember us too, we sat there for a while, talking."

Elder Midate took his wrist gently and probed at it. He nodded. "This will heal soon enough; it's not broken or sprained, just bruised. What happened next? Elder Trintus came to find me after he saw how close you and Myron were getting and when we went back to the bar to find you, you had both gone."

"Myron took me to some fancy restaurant…the Garnet Swan or something?" Harry said.

"So he didn't bring you straight here?"

Harry shook his head. "We went to the restaurant first."

"Then where did you go after that?"

"Here."

"To where he proceeded to have sexual relations with you." Elder Messana said.

Harry narrowed his eyes, he got the feeling he was being led into a trap. He didn't like it.

"You say too many words." Harry said as he glared at the Elder. "We came here and we fucked. Several times, including once on the front lawn because we couldn't wait even the short amount of time it would have taken to unlock the front door and get up to the bedroom. It was the fucking this morning though that made me lose my voice, Myron stole it from me."

Harry very much enjoyed the scandalised, horrified look on Elder Messana's face. Elder Midate coughed to hide a laugh and Harry gave him a smug smile. He definitely liked Elder Jacob Midate more than Elder Sesto Messana.

"Listen to me carefully, Myron and I bonded in the meeting halls, while he was being so caring and thoughtful towards me, he was so very gentle as he was tending to my wrist. I didn't know what I was feeling then, I still can't say what I was feeling or thinking in a way that anyone else would understand, but I can't describe the longing I felt, the trust, the utter, all-encompassing need to just have him and him alone. I've never felt that way before and I had to touch him, smell him, I wanted to hold him, to kiss him…I just needed him, all of him in any way I could get him. It's difficult to explain, but I felt connected to him, drawn to him."

"You're describing a premature bond that is in its formative stage." Elder Midate nodded. "How do you feel about him today Harry, this morning?"

Harry thought about that question seriously. "I want him…I _need_ him. I don't want to be more than a few feet away from him at any one moment. Just sitting here when I know he's in the next room is agonising, I just want to be near him." He shook his head. "I don't know how to explain what I'm feeling, I just want him."

"You've bonded fully with him." Elder Midate said with a sigh.

"Why is that a bad thing? I was exposed to all those dominants last night and I liked Myron more than them, why is that a problem?"

"You're required to have a meeting." Elder Messana told him pompously. "It is one of the mating rules."

"Fuck your ridiculous rules! Technically it was a meeting." Harry said with a rough, painful sounding growl. "It even had unmated dominant Drackens in attendance. I only liked Myron, out of all of those dominants in that hall, it was only Myron I was drawn to; if people have a problem with that then it's fucking tough! I am not some prize to be raffled off, I don't care if some dominant in the far corner of the world gets upset because he didn't bother going to the social meeting and we never met. I like Myron, I want him, if you don't like that then you can fuck off too, because I don't care, you have no opinion when it comes to choosing _my_ life partner."

"I've heard enough." Elder Midate nodded. "Come on; let's get you a glass of water for your throat, Harry."

Harry was led into the kitchen and he eagerly craned his head to look for Myron, who was sat at the kitchen table with the other Elder he didn't know. Elder Vipond. The gun was no longer at the back of his neck, there were no guns out in the open, but the guards with the guns were still there and they still had their hands inside their light jackets, touching those horrid guns.

"Myron says that he courted Harry, no matter how briefly, before they arrived at his home." The Elder said as soon as he saw them enter the kitchen.

Harry opened his mouth, but Elder Midate shoved his hand over it and squeezed Harry's nose between his thumb and the side of his index finger. Harry looked at him with eyes that were spitting fire.

"Harry says the same." Elder Midate told Elder Vipond. "Myron took Harry to the Garnet Swan."

"Myron says the same."

Harry understood then what was happening, they were comparing their stories to see if they matched or not, the bastards.

"Myron then said that he brought Harry here where he proceeded to have sexual intercourse with him several times over the course of the night and once more this morning, the reason why we couldn't get into the bedroom when we first arrived."

"In Harry's own words they both came home and they fucked several times, including once out on the front lawn because they just couldn't wait the short amount of time it would have taken them to go up to the bedroom, though we were assured that it was the session this morning where Harry lost his voice."

Harry wanted to die, he was sure that he would die of embarrassment. He wanted the floor to open up and swallow him completely whole so that this humiliating, mortifying experience would end.

Alexander laughed first and Elder Vipond chuckled. Elder Messana looked like he'd swallowed a bottle of concentrated lemon juice his face was that pinched, which made Harry grin, even though his cheeks were on fire.

"Harry assures me that, though he didn't understand what he was feeling, that he did feel a longing for Myron that he didn't feel for any other dominant in the meeting halls, he felt drawn to Myron and he wanted him."

"A child's lust is not a basis…"

"You were stood with me, Elder." Elder Midate cut right in. "You heard how Harry described his thoughts and feelings at the time he was with Myron in the meeting halls, do you deny that they sound just like a premature bonding process?"

Elder Messana said nothing.

"Our priority will always be the safety and the protection of the submissive, Elder Messana." Elder Vipond insisted. "But there is a line that we have no right to cross, where if we do, we will go from protection to needlessly cruel. The methods of this bonding are…unorthodox, certainly, but do we now break apart a bonded couple just for the sake of a bit of rushed physical intimacy?"

"You just try to keep me from him." Harry growled, glaring at the Elder who looked back at him with the stunned shock that only came from someone doing something completely and utterly unexpected.

"I don't believe you understand who I am, which can be forgiven as you were lost to us for so long and know little about us and your own heritage. I am Anthanaric Vipond, Head of the Elders of the Dracken Counsel."

"I don't care who you are! This is my life, my future family and my potential mate that you are thinking of taking away from me! Talking about ruining the budding relationship between us so casually, as if it's of no consequence to you! You say you're here for the protection of the submissives, yet you're stood there discussing taking away the one man that I actually feel a connection to, but that's alright though isn't it? It's not your life you're ruining; it doesn't actually affect you at all does it? No! It's my life you're fucking around with! You don't get to tell me who or what I can do, if I want Myron and he wants me, then what the hell is the problem?!"

"Well, I certainly don't believe the boy was at all coerced or forced into this bonding, regardless of age or how long he's known about his Dracken heritage." Elder Kirrian said simply.

"Of course I wasn't! Dear fucking Merlin, is this going to happen every time I want sex?" He burst out, his voice still missing, making his outburst more humorous than serious.

Elder Midate snorted and Alexander muffled a burst of laughter with a hand.

"We were worried, Harry." Elder Vipond told him with a smile. "This time it was nothing, but sometimes dominants do force submissives and they do rape and then blackmail them to keep their mouths shut, we can't take the chance of that happening, we had to check even if we do think that there is no basis for any suspicions, just on the off chance that a submissive is being abused and hurt. I did notice your wrist when I first saw you."

"Some idiot thought that he could drag me around by my wrist, trying to touch me and kiss me as he tried to pull me out of the meeting halls for who knows what reason. Myron knocked him out for me when he realised what was happening."

"Is that how you met him?"

Harry smiled. "Yes, but I saw him once before that, when I punched his brother in the face for the second time for saying lewd things about me."

"I really, really like you." Elder Kirrian cackled.

"Well, I don't think Harry has been at all coerced or pressured." Elder Vipond said authoritatively. "You have balls of solid steel, I'll give you that much."

"They feel like it." Harry mumbled under his breath. Only Elder Midate heard him and he almost choked himself laughing.

"Your Headmaster is waiting for…"

"I don't have to be back in school until tonight!" Harry cut in, feeling panicked that he would be taken away from Myron so soon after this catastrophe had been dealt with.

"He is waiting for your arrival today, though he expects you back before dinner."

Harry breathed deeply and calmed his racing heart.

"Perhaps it isn't going to be the best idea to separate them before they have mated." Elder Trintus, who had remained mostly silent up until that point, said concernedly.

"I could easily take the time off of work to prevent the anxiety of being apart from one another with a new bond. Headmaster Dumbledore would undoubtedly prevent any and all behaviour he believes is inappropriate with me at the school."

"Of course he would, he sees me as a Grandson after everything." Harry said with a shrug.

"I don't think letting you into a school with a sixteen year old boy is appropriate." Elder Messana said.

"You shut up!" Harry said as loudly as he could, which hurt the back of his throat, but he didn't care.

Myron stood then and when no one stopped him he came to Harry and wrapped an arm around him. The effect was almost immediate as all the tension in Harry drained away as he inhaled Myron's scent deeply, he rested on Myron and wrapped his arms around his waist and nothing else mattered as Myron held him back tightly.

"They've definitely bonded, and strongly too."

"We have already established that; now please go away, I very much want to go back upstairs with Myron." Harry told them with a look that got them moving quickly. It was a wide eyed, very lusty look and it had them flustered and saying hurried goodbyes in next to no time.

"I thought they'd never leave." Myron rumbled deeply. "Now what's this about getting us back upstairs?"

"Only if you're up to it, I wouldn't want to tire you out." Harry laughed.

"Yet you're the one with no voice."

"That doesn't mean I'm not ready for round eight." Harry said with a grin as he pressed his hardening cock against Myron's solid thigh.

Harry found himself being carried up the stairs in less than half a heartbeat, his arms wrapped tight around Myron and his legs around his waist. He was very, very glad that the Elders weren't going to try to keep them apart, he would have hated going against the Counsel so soon after finding out he was a Dracken, but no matter how much he hated the thought of it, he would have done it, for Myron he would have fought until his very last breath.

* * *

The next few weeks were a torturous hell. Harry had been given his own rooms, in which Myron stayed all day and night, while Harry was forced to attend lessons he really, really didn't want to bother with.

Hermione had tried to sidle closer to him, but he ignored her. It had been over a year since he had last spoken to her, he didn't want to start now just because she was all interested in the fifty year old man he brought to meals with him. That ship had well and truly sailed.

Everyone was interested and _concerned_ over the fact that Harry was with Myron, but Harry ignored them and Dumbledore said he was perfectly able to withstand the jibes in the papers over his ineptitude as a Headmaster for allowing a sixteen year old student to have a relationship with a fifty-two year old man within the school.

Despite the hissed comments by the students and the articles in the newspapers, Harry couldn't remember ever being so happy, of course Myron was stern and a little strict, but he was so passionate, always greeting him with a searing kiss after he got back to their rooms after his lessons, holding and kissing him randomly throughout the day and of course the sex was just phenomenal, both in the night before they went to sleep and when Myron woke him up at six in the morning with a blow job only to fuck him and make him scream himself hoarse before they went down to breakfast. He loved it.

Though the knowledge that he had to have an actual mate meeting once his first heat period was over with did put a damper on things, he had hoped with all his heart that he'd only need Myron, but unfortunately he needed a second mate as well and it was driving all sorts of horror scenarios in his head and bringing out the uncertain, slightly fearful, little boy that was hiding inside of him.

"I'll be right there with you." Myron insisted as he caught sight of Harry's face, sitting down next to his young mate and throwing an arm around him, pulling him to rest against his muscled bulk.

"I know, but what if I don't like any of them? Or if I do like one but he doesn't like me back?"

Myron sighed heavily. They'd been through this several times before and he just had no idea how to reassure Harry that everything was going to be alright.

"If you don't like any of them then you'll pick the one you like the most and we'll deal with it and I've told you before, there is absolutely no way that any of the dominants coming to this meeting will be anything short of completely ravenous to get to you. Elder Midate told you as such, which is why your meeting will be heavily guarded."

"I know, I just can't help worrying." Harry said nervously as he nibbled on his bottom lip.

"Stop that, you'll make it bleed again." Myron told him, easing his tortured lip out from between his teeth and then bent to kiss it softly.

"When will my breeding cycle start?" Harry asked curiously.

"It could be any day now or as far away as another several months; your breeding cycle is unique to you. Though you will be going on a heat period to bond me fully to yourself, that's normal and you may get pregnant from it."

Harry looked down at his tiny, concaved belly and Myron grimaced at it. He hated how very thin and bony Harry was, it didn't make him any more or any less attractive in his eyes, but it did make Myron wonder how Harry might look pregnant or if Harry would even be able to carry a baby to full term. His mate was not at a healthy weight for his age or size and he swore to Merlin that he would rectify that, even if it was just giving Harry an extra portion at every meal, because Merlin knew his mate did eat and he ate well, he just didn't gain any weight.

"It will be your baby, won't it?" Harry asked. "I'll already be pregnant with your baby when I need to have the meeting for a second mate, won't I?"

"You could be, but if you're not then that's fine." Myron murmured, though he hid exactly how much he wanted Harry to be pregnant with a baby that would assuredly be his, not a fifty-fifty chance between him and whoever Harry chose as a grounding mate. Harry didn't need to know that though.

"I want to have your baby though." Harry said softly.

"You will, even if the first several babies aren't mine by blood, one day, I will get you pregnant and you will carry and birth my baby."

Harry smiled at that and rested against him, his hands falling from where he'd been petting his own stomach and his young mate sighed wistfully.

"I've always wanted a family. When I came into my inheritance, I was so scared, I didn't know what was happening or even what I was, but the thought of having babies calmed me right down, until I craved it, I craved pregnancy and it was all I wanted. Then I met you and…well that craving went away. I craved you instead and I know now that that utter need for pregnancy went away because you will get me pregnant, I know that and my Dracken knows that, I don't need to crave it because I know it'll happen, does that make sense?"

"It does." Myron nodded. "Why do you need to crave something that's an assured inevitability?"

"Exactly!" Harry said, sitting up excitedly with that infectious grin.

Myron chuckled darkly and pulled Harry back down to rest on his body, he liked the feeling of having Harry rest on him.

Harry did him one better and sprawled over him, resting his upper body in his lap and looking up at him through those huge, gorgeous eyes that he could stare into for absolutely hours on end.

"Why do Drackens crave pregnancy and babies so much, Myron? Does anyone know?"

Myron lowered a hand and petted Harry's wild, unruly hair gently, combing it through his fingers as he pondered the question posed to him.

"It's likely because our numbers are so low." He said consideringly. "We number only three hundred or so and that's worldwide, the craving for children is a deep rooted need to boost numbers by having as many children as possible."

"But if every Dracken mateship has a hundred babies, why is the urge still a part of us? Why hasn't it been phased out?"

"Not every baby we have will be a Dracken, Harry."

"Oh. What's the percentage on average?"

"It differs from mateship to mateship. I've known mateships to have two hundred children and only several have been Drackens, I have a friend who's got sixty-eight children and none of them are Drackens and there's one mateship who currently have twenty-three children and fourteen of them are Drackens. The Dracken genes choose the baby, much like a wand chooses its master, but no one knows why or what it looks for or how it even tells which baby to choose."

"It seems like a lot of luck and happenstance to me." Harry said with a frown, those perfectly plump, kissable lips pouted up at him and Myron threw his head back. He felt like a damned teenager again with Harry around.

"It likely is luck and happenstance, all we know is that the babies chosen show the traits wanted and needed to support a Dracken mentality."

"But don't people change when they grow older? Lifestyle and events happen after the Dracken genes have chosen someone that could affect the traits needed to be a Dracken or to support the mentality or whatever."

"Which is why even though we're essentially handpicked by the genes themselves, we still have rotten, selfish Drackens who lie, cheat, murder and rape. We may have been born as perfect Dracken material, but circumstances and lifestyle after we're born all count as well, even things out of our control such as disasters and tragedies can change us from what we were originally meant to be."

Harry frowned harder, those pouted lips pushed out further and the thin, small nose scrunched up adorably.

"But if we change so much through disasters happening, then what if we no longer have the traits needed to support a Dracken mentality? Say for example a woman was abused as a child, violated and taken against her will and then she comes into her Dracken inheritance, why would she then want to have children of her own with a near stranger?"

Myron sighed. "You do know that if a submissive, male or female, or a female dominant, has sex with a non-Dracken then they will be completely barren, don't you? Even if they were forced or didn't know."

"Elder Midate told me, but like you said, Drackens are capable of rape too."

"The Dracken mentality would push our hypothetical woman to have children of her own, even if she didn't want to, but the trauma of that and what she went through if she hadn't gotten therapy afterwards would likely mean that her mind would snap and she would kill her dominant mate, her children and likely herself too. It's why we carefully monitor any Dracken who has been through such a thing."

Harry nibbled on his lip and averted his gaze and Myron narrowed his eyes on him.

"Harry, were you abused as a child?" He asked, his quick mind circling around how thin and bony Harry was despite how much he'd seen Harry eat. His stomach had turned to liquid just thinking of Harry being hurt, frightened or in any way abused.

"I…" Harry coloured and Myron felt a fierce, bone deep rage well up inside of him and he yanked Harry up to his chest to cradle him fully in his arms.

"Who did this to you?" He demanded furiously, his voice bass deep and gravelly in his rage.

Harry shook his head. "It doesn't matter; it's over now, Myron."

"It's not over until they're dead!"

"I don't want them dead!" Harry told him angrily. "Do you think I want my lover, my _mate_, the Father to my soon to be children to be a cold blooded murderer?! _Do you_?! Whatever the fuck they did to me, however they treated me, it's in the past. I do not want them murdered and I do not want you to become a murderer over _them_. I'm stronger that that Myron. I don't need them dead; I just need you to still love me."

"Of course I do. I wouldn't stop loving you for something so far out of your control!" Myron hissed.

Harry smiled then and it took the anger from Myron's heart. "That's all I need Myron. I need to be loved. What happened, happened. Killing them won't change that, it still happened. Just love me."

"Always." Myron declared strongly and sincerely as he cradled Harry gently, pulling him up to kiss him deeply.

"What if I go onto heat while I'm in a lesson?" Harry asked worriedly when they broke apart.

Myron shook his head and he couldn't help but laugh. "Then your classmates had better get the hell out of my way because I'll be mating you over your desk."

"My uniform might be a problem." Harry said with glazed eyes.

Myron shook his head. "I'd tear it from your body; a few scraps of fabric will not keep me from sinking into your luscious body."

Myron watched as those green eyes dilated and the pupil expanded to push that gorgeous dark green iris to an outer ring around the blown pupil. Myron's body reacted instantly to Harry's desire and he hardened under Harry's body.

Harry, who felt him harden, sighed softly, the tip of his tongue peeking out to wet his lips as his breathing picked up a faster pace.

"You're so beautiful." Myron told him in a strangled voice as he scooped Harry up and kissed him as he moved his way through their living room and into their bedroom, climbing the stairs to get to the bed that was on a small platform near the vaulted ceiling of their bedroom, underneath a huge skylight.

Myron crawled onto the bed, still kissing Harry passionately and furiously, moving his mouth over Harry's, thrusting his tongue into his mouth and groaning as Harry's flicked, licked and stroked over his invading tongue, welcoming it into his mouth as he spread his body on the bed, letting Myron do anything and everything he wanted to him.

He loved that about Harry, he let him be a dominant without making himself a doormat and he submitted to him without making Myron feel like he was either taking advantage, like he was under pressure to perform or like he was the only one interested in sex, Harry was very much a willing and very enthusiastic bed partner, submissive or not. Everything was so simple and easy with Harry. It was like he had only started living when Harry had come into his life.

* * *

Harry's heat hit him suddenly, in the middle of the night. One minute he had been fast asleep, the next his eyes had snapped open and he was fever hot, wriggling around on the bed and panting as his body sweated furiously. He wriggled out of his clothes and tossed them aside, flipping onto his belly and then back onto his back and then onto his belly again as he realised he wasn't comfortable in any position he tried.

Myron was sleeping next to him, on his side and facing away from him, but Harry could hear him inhaling deeply in his sleep, his Dracken side could smell his heat pheromones. He would be awake soon, but it wouldn't be soon enough, Harry needed him right now!

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

Harry blinked open his eyes and blearily looked around. He was lying in his bed, on clean, crisp sheets and his body felt scrubbed clean. He was sore though, oh hell was he sore.

He went to sit up, only for pain to rip through his body and he grunted and fell back to the mattress. His lower body felt like it had been crushed under a great weight and everything below his hips wasn't working, but he really, seriously needed to take a piss or he was going to wet the bed.

"Myron!" He croaked out in a hoarse, strained whisper. "_Myron_!"

He tried to wet his mouth, swallowing to try to dampen his bone dry throat as he tried to get himself up but his spine was just a shaft of burning agony right down his back and into his arse and he groaned. Where the hell was his mate when he needed him?

He managed to force himself up and he hobbled down the stairs, each step a new, fresh, burning agony on his already taxed body and he finally made it to the bathroom and he had to sit down on the toilet to empty his bladder as his legs just could not support him upright any longer and he all but fell into the sink as he washed his hands. He was going to find Myron and then kill him.

He made it to the living room to find Myron missing and he ignored the clenching in his chest as his heart missed several beats and he lay on the settee and he waited. Myron would come home, they loved one another too deeply for him not to and when he did, if he didn't have a good excuse for leaving him like this, anything short of his Mother dying or a family emergency, then Harry was going to force himself up off of this settee and he would kill him.

He dozed lightly, waking up suddenly with every small movement as it sent a lance of pain through his body and Harry groaned. He knew Myron was a big man, but he hadn't realised exactly how much Myron had been holding back when they had had sex before. Now he knew.

Harry blinked awake when the portrait door to their rooms opened and he looked at Myron, who was staring back at him.

"I didn't think you'd be awake so soon." Myron said as he dumped something that was wrapped up in what looked to be a bed sheet and he came to hunch in front of him. "How do you feel?"

"Sore, tired still and I need a drink, but I can't move."

Myron bent forward, brushed his hair out of his face and kissed him before he stood up quickly and moved to the kitchenette to get him a glass of water, but he boiled the kettle while he was there to make tea and coffee before he came back and handed Harry the water, supporting him upright and helping him sip at the cool fluid.

"Where did you go?" Harry asked as he pushed the glass away, happy that his voice sounded better now that his raw throat had been soothed.

"I didn't expect you to wake up so quickly, so I went to the Forbidden Forest and I caught a stag for you. I would have caught something bigger and more dangerous, but I didn't want to go too far away from you."

Harry smiled, that was a good enough reason for him and with Myron's help, he got onto the floor and he was devouring a skinned stag happily and with relish, he hadn't realised how very hungry he'd been when he'd woken up, but now everything fell to the wayside in favour of eating until he was absolutely stuffed.

He fell back happily and rubbed at his distended stomach, groaning as the swell of it hurt pleasantly.

"I hope that in a few months your belly looks like this from you carrying my baby and not just from me feeding you."

Harry smiled. "Did I have a ten day heat period?"

Myron nodded. "But remember I told you that you would, six days is non-fertile, ten days is fertile or a bonding heat. This was a bonding heat, so you may or may not be pregnant."

"I hope I am." Harry said softly. "I want your baby."

Myron smirked at him and pulled him into his arms and they cuddled right there on the floor, Harry still completely naked.

They spent the day just recovering, Harry couldn't even think of the nine days of lessons he'd missed, though he did know that the school had a rumour of his 'illness' spreading through it when Dumbledore had told McGonagall about his illness within earshot of a group of Hufflepuff fifth years. It had been through the whole school by dinnertime the next night.

"Are you in any pain? I owl ordered some potions in preparation, if it's at all intolerable, tell me and you can swallow some potions for it."

"It's not intolerable." Harry said softly. "When I woke up it was a little…surprising I think is the word I want, I wasn't expecting it, then I didn't really know what to expect that being my first heat period after all, but I'm not sure if it was pain, soreness or just recovering from the heat period that left me unable to move properly, though my lower spine feels like it's been jackhammered."

Myron shook his head at Harry's description and he went to get the potions regardless. Harry swallowed the two of them without complaint, drained his honey tea to take away the vile taste and he just relaxed, his tensed muscles melted, his pain vanished and the furrows in his forehead eased away.

"Better?" Myron asked as Harry went boneless with a happy groan, spreading himself out on the settee.

"Much. I didn't even know I had that much tension in me."

"I could see it." Myron told him with a sigh as he took Harry's cup and went back to the kitchenette and remade some more tea for Harry and another mug of coffee for himself.

"You're the best." Harry declared as he accepted the cup and took a scalding hot gulp, not even wincing, before he calmly sipped at it.

Myron had no idea how Harry drank the watery, delicate tea. He needed something with more substance, more flavour, which is why he drank strong, black coffee. He always did prefer bitter tastes to sweeter things.

He eased Harry up off of his back and sat down before laying Harry's head and shoulders into his lap, he stroked Harry's unruly hair with one hand, his other holding the mug of coffee that he sipped on every now and then as Harry dozed on him.

He couldn't believe how much his life had changed in such a small amount of time, all because he had taken a chance on a young boy who had looked at him like he was the most gorgeous man in the world.

He pressed his hand to the top of Harry's head and smiled down at his napping mate, who was as adorable in sleep as he was when he was awake, only when he was asleep, Harry looked more at peace, less worried as his features smoothed out and everything relaxed, but when he was asleep, Myron couldn't see that gorgeous smile that lit up his face and made those stunning eyes sparkle like stars and he did so love seeing Harry's smile and his beautiful eyes.

"I can feel you staring." Harry said sleepily, his face still relaxed and his voice sleepy.

"Sorry love, I can't help it sometimes."

Harry smiled in his lap then. "I woke up because you stopped playing with my hair."

Myron smirked and started moving his fingers through the soft, silky tufts of hair once more; he knew a hint when he heard one.

Harry moaned softly and wiggled in his lap to get more comfortable.

"That feels so good." He praised and Myron soaked it up, he was learning every day about Harry's likes and dislikes, about what made him feel good and what made him flinch or grimace and he hoped that Harry was learning the same things about him. He loved Harry, he loved his mate, but he wanted to be loved by his mate in return.

* * *

The exams were hard on them both, Myron was pushing him to always revise, always testing him and pointing out how he could make his answers better, fuller and he understood that Myron wanted him to do well for himself, but hell did Harry just want to fucking hit him sometimes.

Thankfully Myron had had to go into work to sort out a major deal for the company he had taken over from his Father, Alexander, twenty-five years ago when Alexander had wanted to retire and had taught Myron the running's and ins and outs of the business. Myron was proud that he'd managed to keep the company afloat at just twenty-six years old and that over the years it had grown and thrived with him at the head. Alexander was proud of him too from what he gathered and Harry was proud of his mate too, he revelled in his mate's successes.

But with Myron gone he could just take a day for himself and relax a bit. He was still revising, but without Myron hanging over his shoulder, watching him, prodding him and testing him, but the silence of the room was a bit disheartening and stifling, so he went to the study session that was going on in the Great Hall. It was quiet, but not as quiet and reverently hushed as the library would have been, but he just didn't know where to sit, even with the group of his Gryffindor housemates sat at one table.

He thought about just sitting on his own as it was the silence he didn't want to deal with, he didn't necessarily want any company, but before he could sit down on the bench with a large gap at the table between groups of studying students, he heard his name called out over the quiet conversations and muted chatting.

"Harry! Over here!"

He looked over to the call and smiled at Ginny and he made his way over to her, she was sat beside the group of his year mates, who all turned to look at him as Ginny drew attention to him and he was relieved to see them smiling.

"How are you? I barely see you anymore you dope." Ginny greeted, hugging him and yanking him down by the collar of his tee-shirt to give a wet, sloppy kiss to his cheek.

She was only an inch or so shorter than he was, she hadn't needed to pull him down anywhere, but it did make him laugh, which he supposed was her intention.

"Then again, if I had a boyfriend as gorgeous as yours then there is no way I would be leaving those little rooms you share with him. He is just gorgeous, so handsome, and those muscles! Is it true that he's really the business tycoon Myron Maddison?"

Harry's head reeled from the rapid fire questions and conversation as he sat down beside Neville, across from Seamus and Dean.

"Yes, that's him." Harry agreed when Ginny looked at him expectantly.

"It's also true that he's fifty-two. Everyone knows the Maddison family." Ron quipped from a bit further down the table.

"Yes, that's true too." Harry said, ignoring the tone that had been used and instead answered calmly as he flipped open his Herbology revision. "Can you help me with this Neville? You're amazing at Herbology and I just can't get my head around it. How the hell do I know what soil a bedding Valerian needs? Can't you just shove it in any sort of soil?"

Neville looked aghast so Harry assumed that no; you could not shove the Valerian plant in any old soil.

Harry batted away questions about his love life, about Myron, about how they had met, when they had met, when they had started being romantically involved with one another by focusing on his revision and with Neville's expert help he was understanding a little more about his Herbology work.

"Come on Harry, mate. You have to admit it's a little strange." Seamus tried to coax eagerly.

"It's no one's business but Harry's." Neville defended him hotly. "He came down here to revise in peace with his friends, for the first time since I don't even know when, leave him alone or you're just going to make him hole himself back up on his own."

Harry smiled at Neville and subtly squeezed his knee under the table in thanks.

"It is strange." Harry admitted. "But only if you don't know me. I…it was easy to fall for Myron. I've read all the articles in the Daily Prophet, it's not because he's older, though that is attractive to me I guess, it's not that he's powerful or this hugely successful businessman, or anything stupid like that that I've seen, I fell for him because he saw me, just me. He liked the person I am, not the built up mask that stories and the media have made me, he didn't once see the Boy-Who-Lived, he didn't see the defeater of Voldemort, he saw me. He looked past all those stories and tales to see who I was underneath. Yes I defeated Voldemort, I survived a horrible tragedy at an early age when I wasn't supposed to, but I'm still just a sixteen year old who's shitting himself over these damned exams, just like the lot of you."

"Not like me." Dean said with a shake of his head and Harry felt queasy, if his year mates, boys he'd grown with, had lessons with, laughed, joked and had fun with, people he counted as his friends didn't even see him as like them… "Sorry Harry." Dean continued. "I hate to tell you this but you and Neville are the only ones in the school who are still sixteen in our year, well you, Neville and Malfoy, but no one cares about him, but out of those, you're the baby of us."

"By one day!" Harry complained, his heart lifted as he realised that Dean had been teasing him.

"Doesn't matter." Neville said with a grin as he caught onto the teasing. "I'm still a whole day older than you are, that makes you the youngest of our year."

Harry huffed and rolled his eyes. "Remind me why I bothered coming down here to be subjected to this?"

"You love us really." Seamus said with a grin. "And we love you, more for the fact that you flattened Ravenclaw for us last month and won Gryffindor the Quidditch cup again."

Harry chuckled at that. That match had been just a week after he'd met Myron and he'd flown furiously, ridden his broom harder than hard and any and all feelings that had been lingering in the deep recesses of his mind had been dealt with while he was in the air, pushing himself as fast and as hard as he possibly could to win that match, knowing that Myron was watching from the teacher's stand where he was sat with Dumbledore, primitively wanting to impress his mate, to show that he wasn't useless and when he had caught the snitch and landed, hefting the Quidditch cup over his head as his team surrounded him in buoyant joy, he had felt nothing but peace.

"Myron's wonderful." Harry said softly. "He looks after me and cares for me. Not like a Father either." Harry said as Seamus opened his mouth. "I don't need a Father, despite what the papers claim. I needed a lover, someone who would love me and regardless of age, gender, appearance or anything else, I was always going to fall for someone who could love me for who I am, not what people expect me to be. Myron did that, he still does. I'm just Harry to him and I adore him for it. He does care for me and look after me, but I do the same for him. That's what love it, that's what an equal partnership means, he doesn't expect anything of me, he just gives me what I need, he always knows what I need and I don't expect anything of him either. If you can't accept that I love him and that he loves me, not for some gimmick or publicity media side show, but because we generally care for and love one another, then I don't think I'll be able to stand being around you."

"I think it's sweet." Ginny said breaking the strained silence that was growing longer by the torturous minutes. "I know you Harry, you needed to be loved, you have a huge heart and if you've found someone to share that heart with, then I'm more than happy for you, regardless of Mister Maddison's age, status and gorgeous body."

Harry blushed and dropped his head to his hands with a groan as Ginny broke the tension too and Seamus, Dean and Neville laughed.

"I think it's wrong." Ron said from a foot down the table. "A fifty-two year old man has no business being with a sixteen year old still in school."

"Stop quoting shit you've read in the Daily Prophet!" Ginny snapped at her brother. "What's the matter; you can't formulate your own opinion so you have to go with whatever the papers are saying? Love is love Ron, with whoever you find it with, as Harry said age, gender or appearance doesn't matter, what counts is personality and connection and with an attitude like yours, not to mention the lack of personality and lack of a fully functioning brain; you're never going to find anyone to love you!"

"Hermione…"

"Hermione is so intelligent that she makes most Professors look like lackwits, when she opens her eyes and realises what a bitter, narrow minded little shit you are, she'll leave you behind in the dust of her brilliance and success. Did you actually expect a girl like her to be with a twit like you forever? When she's going to leave Hogwarts as one of the most acclaimed students ever, when she'll get a high paying, confidence boosting career and meets likeminded, intelligent men?" Harry demanded. "Hermione is going to rise to success and her own fame in whatever career she chooses. She'll be celebrated, nurtured and coveted; she's not going to have time for a person like you after she graduates."

"She hasn't even spoken to you in a year!" Ron burst out spitefully, his face as bright as his hair.

Harry shook his head. "She's tried to." He said which seemed to throw Ron for the loop as his aggressive stance deflated as he lowered his shoulders. "Nothing you or she can say now, can ever make up for the pain I felt at your abandonment when I needed you both the most. I was left alone to deal with what had happened, with what I'd done; do you have any idea how painful it was going through what I did completely alone? I struggled and I almost lost myself to depression during that summer, but I broke through and I clawed my way back up to my feet inch by tiny inch and I relearnt how to deal on my own without yours or Hermione's support." Harry shrugged a shoulder and sighed. "When Hermione first tried talking to me, I cut her off through anger and lingering hurt that I hadn't quite managed to get rid of, she didn't try again until after I found Myron and by then, I didn't need her or you. That ship has sailed, there is far too much water under the bridge now and I have Myron to support me, to love me and that's all I need now, I don't want to reconcile with either of you, not after how you both treated me when all I wanted was my friends."

"You still have us." Neville said firmly, with a nod to Seamus and Dean and then another to Ginny. "If you need us, just come and find us."

"I think Myron has that covered for me." Harry said with a smile. "But thanks Neville. If there's ever anything that I can't talk to Myron about, though I can't imagine there being anything at this moment, or for some reason there's something he can't understand, then I'll definitely take you up on that offer."

"Right, enough of this serious stuff. We're here to revise." Ginny said with a grimace. "There is no way I'm going to pass."

"You will." Harry said. "Don't sell yourself short; you're definitely an intelligent girl. One of the most intelligent here despite being a year younger than any of us."

"Young woman if you don't mind." Ginny said with a grin, flicking him with the end of her quill.

Harry settled and relaxed, there was no more talk of him and Myron, about their relationship or about anything that had been printed in the newspapers and magazines that were currently all over his love life.

It was nice, to be around people his own age and that wasn't a slight to Myron or his age, but sometimes he wanted to be a little childish and the light banter and teasing of his friends was just what he needed as they revised together, groaned and moaned about the amount of homework they had been set and complained and ribbed at one another about the exams and how they expected each other to do.

At least until it was almost time for dinner and then they packed all of their school work up and shoved their bags onto the floor by their feet and they sat, waiting for food as the rest of the school trickled in and the top table started filling out with more Professors than the two who had been overseeing the study session and helping students out where they could.

Hermione came into the Hall from the library and sat beside Ron before she noticed that Harry was amongst the group to her left and she just looked at him, opened her mouth to say something, before Ron caught her attention and dragged her into a heated conversation that sounded like several little fires were having water dripped over them. It wasn't the first time that Harry had likened Hermione to an angry goose in his mind.

Harry ate voraciously. His mood greatly improved from the afternoon with his friends and he was slightly surprised when Myron came and sat next to him as Harry was halfway through his second slice of treacle tart.

He immediately stopped talking to Ginny and he greeted Myron with a kiss. It wasn't tongue duelling passionate, but neither was it a chaste peck to the lips, but still Harry had to endure the ribbing and teasing and the hassling of his small group of friends.

"Knock it off." He said with a grin.

He checked on Myron, because they hadn't actually sat with anyone at mealtimes before, but Myron seemed fine enough, but Harry wasn't going to ignore him in favour of his year mates just because they might be uncomfortable with his relationship.

"How was the meeting?" He asked casually as he took another mouthful of tart.

"Intolerable." Myron retorted. "Almost painfully so. I got the deal signed and filed, but having to endure the verbal molestation of Gribbons and Fabrice all but subjugating themselves on the floor in front of me was something I'd rather not have to do again."

Harry chuckled and scooted closer to Myron, loving that his mate automatically wrapped an arm around his shoulders and started lightly drumming a tuneless rhythm on his ribcage with his fingers.

"Did you already eat?"

Myron grimaced. "Yes. Corporate dinners, another thing I could have done without. They're not too bad, nothing special, but still fit to eat, but my dining companions left a lot to be desired."

Harry couldn't stop the grin he tried to hide from Myron, but the squeeze to his side let him know that Myron had seen the grin. He pushed his plate away and stretched.

"I'm about done; do you want to head up to the rooms?"

Myron nodded and Harry stood. He picked up his school bag, which was taken straight from him and flung over Myron's shoulder and he rolled his eyes before turning to his friends.

"Thanks for all the revision help, I needed those tips and all the insight you gave to me. Especially with the Herbology, Nev."

"Hey, you helped me back with that Defence Against the Dark Arts homework; everyone knows you're the go to guy for Defence, especially after the DA, you're the unchallenged top of the year for that subject."

Harry actually blushed before he laughed it off. "We'll have to do this again sometime; I'll see you guys in lessons!"

Harry gave them a wave and then walked out of the Great Hall, ignoring the whispers, the staring and the pointing as Myron kept an arm around his shoulders and led them back up to their rooms.

"What's the DA?" He asked him curiously. "I've never heard of it before."

"Oh, it was a Defence club that Hermione set up last year with me as the teacher to help people learn how to defend themselves because that utter, evil bitch Umbridge was teaching us useless theory and not actually showing us how to do the spells in practice. I managed to instruct over thirty students in Defence, I got them understanding and casting the spells, I got them all to pass the exams that year with the highest marks of their year groups and I even taught several of my students how to cast a corporeal patronus, some of them as young as fourteen." He said proudly.

Myron looked at him with so much pride that Harry thought his heart would swell and burst with it as he preened under his mate's positive attention.

"I still can't believe you can cast, and could cast at thirteen, a corporeal patronus. I've seen it with my own eyes and I still can't believe it."

Harry grinned and if he strutted a little down the last corridor to their rooms, well who could blame him with the praise he was getting from his beloved dominant mate?

* * *

A/N: So what did you lovelies think? As I said on Facebook, this plot hasn't left me alone for months now, so I decided to write it and this is the result, so I hope you liked it as much as I do.

Part two won't be up now for at least a month to make the gap between part two and three seem shorter, as part three isn't even halfway written yet. This is planned to be four/five parts long only, but as each part is around 30,000 words long, it takes time to get it written and it'll end up as a very long ficlet.

The next part…the summer months and Harry has his meeting for his grounding mate.

But until then, I hope you enjoyed this first part, lovelies,

StarLight Massacre. X


	2. The Dracken Mates

A/N: There are four missing scenes that total up to 6,000 words that have been removed from this version of this story. The full versions can be found at Archive Of Our Own and Adult Fanfiction.

Part Two – The Dracken Mates

It was official. He was no longer a sixth year student and as he dropped onto Myron's comfy settee, he was happy that that year was finally over and done with.

He and Myron had been together now for a little under three full months and Harry hadn't even stopped to take a breath to think about it when Myron had offered him a bed at his home over the summer, naturally that bed came with Myron in it, so he really hadn't once thought about saying no.

Harry had just automatically said yes, then once that assurance was out of the way and he'd had some time to think, he'd gone on to babble that he couldn't believe that Myron had actually thought to ask him and of course he was going to stay with Myron that summer, no matter where they happened to be staying, he had tacked on an uncertain 'If you want me there that is…if not then…' which had been as far as he'd gotten in his insecure back tracking before Myron had silenced him with a searing, toe curling kiss that had taken them both straight to the bedroom for the next couple of hours.

Myron came into the house carrying Harry's trunk under one arm and he placed it on the floor and dropped Hedwig's empty cage on top of it, she had been released at Hogwarts and would be here in a day or two as Myron had Apparated them back to his home, though he had gone back to get Harry's things after dropping Harry off and telling him to make himself at home and to 'dear Merlin, boil the damn kettle for a coffee.'

Harry grinned as he'd done just that and Myron's coffee, bitter and black with not a drop of milk or a granule of sugar, was waiting for him on the coffee table next to Harry's honey tea. Myron had bought a squeezy bottle of honey just for Harry and he loved opening Myron's kitchen cupboard and seeing it there on the shelf, knowing that it was purely his and that it had been bought just for him. It signified to him that he lived here too now and that his things were welcome. It might just be a bottle of honey, but to him it meant something special, that his and Myron's lives were being integrated together and he loved that thought and it made him equal parts fluttery and aroused.

Myron dropped onto the settee with a groan and jolted Harry out of his thoughts and as that huge arm wrapped around him and tugged him onto Myron's body, a kiss being pressed lingeringly to his temple, he felt at home and he loved it.

"Did I do it right?" Harry asked as Myron took a huge gulping swallow of hot coffee.

Myron hummed, took another gulp and sat back with a sigh. "Perfect. Thank you, Harry."

Harry sat back with his own cup of tea and he lapped up the calm silence as they both sat on the settee, cuddled up together and savouring their respective drinks. Harry felt so relaxed and at peace that he just didn't want to move, of course that mentality didn't last very long, not with Myron around.

"How about we go and rechristen the bed?" Myron asked with a sexy smirk pulling at his kissable lips. "It's been cold and empty for three months."

Harry grinned and instead of answering verbally he leapt up and ran for the stairs, swinging himself around the bannister and racing for the bedroom. He heard Myron pounding the floor behind him and he laughed joyously as his mate chased after him, they were both acting like desperate teenagers, but Harry didn't care as he made it to the bedroom and belly flopped onto the bed, rolled immediately over onto his back before he jerked up and started stripping himself off.

Myron made it to the bedroom just as Harry was flinging off his last sock.

"Took you long enough!" Harry teased with a wide grin. "You need to go to a gym if you can't keep up with me up a single flight of stairs."

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

Harry was naturally nervous as he let one of Myron's numerous sister-in-laws, Claire, feel around him, pressing into his stomach and then waving her wand over him.

She was Julius' Wife and a Healer, she had trained under a Counsel sanctioned Dracken Healer once she had married Julius, so she knew all about Drackens and their physiology and biology and how to treat and care for them, so she knew what she was doing, Harry was just nervous about what she would find, or rather what she wouldn't find, from her examination of him.

It was his seventeenth birthday and he had been woken up to a blow job and three rounds of amazingly tender, loving sex that had curled his toes and blown his mind and he was continuing the celebration at Alexander's home and he'd met several of Myron's brothers and sisters and he was a little intimidated by them. Every single one of them were tall and broad, even the women were tall, though not quite as broad as their brothers. Myron's Mother was named Kimberly and even she was tall, she had to have been five foot nine, which was taller than him by four inches. It was like being thrown into a world of giants.

He was almost glad to be taken into a spacious living room to be checked over by Claire. He had been feeling a little queasy lately and he and Myron were both hoping that that meant that he was pregnant.

There were lots of children around the Maddison home, though very few of them were running around and playing as many of them were clamped in their Mother's arms. Harry had been shocked and a little horrified to see the other submissives wrestling with their own children to keep them in their arms. He never, _never_, wanted to act like that with his own children, with the older kids, he could see the frustration, the anger in their young eyes and he never wanted a child of his to look like that towards him.

"Well Harry sweetheart, I think I'm right in congratulating you and Myron, you're pregnant. Six weeks along."

Harry couldn't stop the grin that spread over his face and he pressed a hand over his flat belly.

"Everything is going well, you're progressing well and you seem to be in relative good health, you could stand to gain a little more weight though and I would like you to eat a little more to support your pregnancy, but other than that, go and share the good news, sweetheart." She urged and Harry jumped up and rushed to go and find Myron.

He was out in the garden, standing with a group of his older brothers and Harry barrelled into his back and slipped under his arm and around his body, clinging to him.

"Are you alright?" Myron asked seriously, holding his shoulders tightly, bending slightly to get more on Harry's eyelevel. "Julius didn't get to you did he, or Nico or Ceph?"

Harry shook his head. "No, Claire offered to give me a check-up. I'm pregnant. Six weeks along, I conceived on the nineteenth of June."

Harry expected shock or a verbal comment, but Myron just pulled him into a deep, passionate kiss, his hands cradling his body and pressing them together tight and Harry happily raised his arms and wrapped them around Myron's neck and then he was up in his mate's arms and looking into those sparking, jet black eyes and he found that Myron's smile was infectious as he couldn't stop grinning. This was the best birthday present he could have ever received.

"Congratulations to you both." Myron's oldest brother, Xerxes, told them with a smile. Harry remembered him more than the others because he looked like Myron's identical twin, only older and shorter.

Harry beamed at him and snuggled into Myron, kissing his jaw, his chin and then, when Myron moved his head to face him, his lips. He was so happy, he'd hoped that he would get pregnant from his heat period, he'd hoped for Myron's baby and he had his wish, now he just had to survive the mate meeting he was going to have next week that started in the second week of August.

"Did I just hear correctly, Harry sweet one, you're pregnant?" Myron's Father, Alexander asked him.

Harry nodded happily. "Six weeks." Harry accepted the tight hug and the kiss to the cheek from Alexander, who had happily taken him from Myron's arms.

"I have to tell Kimberly, do you mind Harry?"

Harry shook his head. "Of course not, I'd scream it from the roof if I knew that Myron wouldn't have a panic attack and then turn me over his knee."

"You're damn right I would." Myron growled protectively. "If you even think of going anywhere near a roof top…"

Harry laughed and when Alexander put him firmly and safely back on the floor, he went back to his mate and hooked an arm around his hip and snuggled into him, Myron's hand fell to his belly and Harry grinned, he liked having Myron's hand there, knowing that he was pregnant with his baby. He would have Myron's baby in just five and a half months if he carried to full term. He was due on the first of January. He was going to have a New Year baby.

Myron didn't leave him alone, he trailed after him if he went for a walk, he escorted him to the tables to get food and drinks and when Harry cut his birthday cake, Myron was stood at his shoulder as Harry grinned and had his photo taken by Kimberly, who was so excited that her 'baby boy' was finally becoming a Father.

Harry was glad that Myron didn't even try to follow him to the bathroom, he would have had to put his foot down at that, but he was strangely pleased that Myron was being so protective towards him. He wasn't being overbearing about it or an utter dick, he was just there, offering protection and support and Harry enjoyed that and it pleased him and his Dracken side, which was preening with the confirmed knowledge that he was going to have a baby, his mate's baby.

Myron seemed to know what would cross the line and what wouldn't, he always backed off just when Harry might have snapped or gotten angry, like not escorting him to the bathroom, not helping him sit down in a chair or anything of the like, but when they were stood together, he liked that Myron's arm wrapped around him, he liked that Myron cupped a huge hand around his belly and held him close, him and the baby.

They'd only known about his pregnancy for a few hours and already Harry felt like a little glass figurine, treated like he'd break not only by Myron, but his brothers and sisters and his Mother and Father too. He didn't mind, he didn't complain, though he knew that a few months of this treatment would have him angrier than a Blast-Ended Skrewt on acid, but right now, he was happy, content and very much enjoying the attention and the sense of protection he was feeling from Myron and his family.

* * *

The eighth of August came all too quickly for Harry's liking. He admitted he was being a little…childish about the whole thing, declaring that he didn't want to go, telling Elder Midate to leave him alone and rejecting all of his floo calls. It seemed that since he was pregnant, the worse he felt about taking another mate, after all, he was pregnant already, why did he need another mate?

Myron was having none of it though and he'd picked him up and carried him here, to this huge, horrible room in the Counsel halls.

He had come early to scope out the rooms and where he and Myron would be staying with Elder Midate just next door. Harry was feeling more secure about staying in this place with Myron next to him, but he still wasn't happy about choosing another man to spend his life with, he only wanted Myron.

Why couldn't Myron have been enough for him? He didn't think he was that powerful magically, he just wasn't! He shouldn't need two mates, not when Myron was utterly brilliant with a wand and could blast a man through a wall with a mere stunner it was that powerful, as Harry had witnessed on his seventeenth birthday when Myron's brother, Cepheus, had slapped Harry right on the arse, it had not only hurt and left a large, red handprint on his skin, but Cepheus had made the mistake of bragging to his twin brother, Nicodemus, and their older brother, Cassander, about what he'd done, how Harry's bum had felt under his hand and how it had 'jiggled' perfectly when it had been hit.

Myron had just about gone bat shit crazy when Harry had showed him what his demented brother had done, the red handprint was vivid against his pale skin and Myron had gone stalking his brother, only to find him laughing and bragging about what he'd done to Myron's pregnant submissive. Cepheus had gone through the wall, taking half the window with him and when Myron had shouted at his parents what Cepheus had done they had stopped berating Myron and started shouting at Cepheus, who was a little dazed but otherwise unhurt from his trip through the wall. Harry was sure the overreaction had come from them only finding out that same day that he was pregnant, or maybe Myron hadn't liked seeing someone else's mark on his body, either way Harry had been stunned to watch the power that Myron had, he'd picked a good, strong mate.

"You're thinking too hard." Myron rumbled deeply.

"I just don't want to be here." Harry said softly with an imploring look to his mate. "Can't I just…"

"No." Myron cut him off sternly. "You need a grounding mate, Harry. I will not have you left wanting or needing and you need another dominant mate, no matter how much you don't like it."

"And you're okay with that?" Harry said with a look.

Myron's hand cupped his still flat belly. "You are already carrying my baby, nothing else matters, not even if you needed four other dominant mates, I have already staked my claim on you, I am your dominant mate and that is enough for me, that and knowing that you are carrying my baby, what more could I want? I'm a jealous man, a greedy man, but despite that I would never put you or your health at risk. I love you too much to do so."

"You love me?" Harry asked with a hopeful heart, jumping on the words that hadn't been voiced between them before.

Myron smirked at him and pulled him into his arms, he nosed around Harry's cheek and throat and his lips teased at his chin and mouth.

"Of course I love you." He said gruffly. "I don't believe in love at first sight, but there was definitely lust and attraction there, we had a chemistry between us and over these last three months, I have come to love you and that love is growing larger and deeper every day that I spend with you."

"I love you too." Harry said softly as he pushed Myron back, his mate let him push him as there was no way he could have pushed Myron by himself, but Myron sat in the chair and Harry crawled onto his lap and straddled him.

"I can see the love shining in your eyes; every time you look at me, it's there." Myron said with a smile. "I didn't realise that you couldn't see the love for you in my eyes, but then you are young, I should have realised that you'd need the verbal reassurance sooner."

"I like hearing that you love me." Harry said as he cuddled into Myron's massive chest. "And I'll be sure to tell you how much I love you too. I just don't want to be here."

"I know, but you have to be, love. We need to do this right and we've waited to the tail end of how long we can wait to hold this meeting back, you're having your heat period in just two weeks and you need your grounding mate before you have that heat period."

Harry nodded with a sigh. "I know, you and Elder Midate have said, I just…I didn't want to need a second mate, you know?"

Myron nodded. "I know, Harry. But you do need one, so the sooner we get this done and over with, the sooner we can get comfortable with the man you choose as your grounding mate. Instead of thinking about all the bad things that could go wrong, thinking on if you won't like the man you choose, why don't you think about if you do like him, if we both like him and we end up as one big, happy family."

"What if I choose wrong?" He fretted.

"You won't." Myron said with such conviction and confidence that Harry couldn't help but believe him.

"Then let's get this introduction over with, the sooner we're done for today, the sooner I can get you into bed." Harry said lustily.

Myron smirked widely and he couldn't help but laugh and he kissed Harry deeply, even as he stood up and carried Harry to the door to their rooms.

Myron put Harry down; made sure he was on his feet before letting go, took his hand and led them out of their room, just as Elder Midate came through the main door.

"I was just coming to get you both." The Elder said with a smile.

"How…how many of them are there?" Harry asked with a slight waver that he tried to bury.

Elder Midate grimaced. "More than a hundred and they're still arriving; it seems news of you being at the gathering in May has travelled very fast and a lot of unmated dominants have turned up very quickly. They've been waiting for the announcement of your meeting; even snubbing a submissive's meeting last month, just in case it coincided with your own."

Harry's hand clutched at Myron's reflexively.

"It'll be alright." Myron told him, pulling him in tight to his side and reassuring him with a tight hug. "I'll be right there with you."

"I can't imagine what this would be like if I didn't have you with me." Harry said softly as he turned into Myron's body and clutched at him. "I'm…I'm scared now, I can't imagine how much worse it would have been without you here with me."

"The mated dominants we have called in for security are all in place for your meeting, Harry." Elder Midate told him kindly, reassuringly. "Elder Kirrian is laying down the law to the unmated dominants and you have Myron with you, you're going to be just fine Harry, I promise you."

"They know that he is pregnant?" Myron asked as his hand fell to Harry's very slightly rounded belly.

"They do and any dominant found to be acting in a way as to harm Harry or the baby will be banned from this meeting and exiled from attending any meeting with a pregnant submissive in future. If they do actually manage to harm you or the baby, then they'll be pulled up in front of the Elders and tried by us and the offender could be executed, but I very much doubt that they'll get the chance to harm you or the baby between me, the other Elders, the security and most importantly, they'd have to get past Myron and between you and me Harry, I don't think that's going to be happening."

Harry nodded with a smile as he looked to Myron's determined face and he took a deep breath and shook himself off, taking his place next to Myron again and taking his hand, instead of clinging to him like a terrified toddler going to playgroup for the first time.

They followed Elder Midate down to the meeting hall and the din of the dominants inside could be heard before they even reached the bottom of the stairs. Harry swallowed and worked on forcing his face to remain an impassive mask. He could do this, sure it sounded scary and he had to go and present himself like a bitch in heat to over a hundred heckling men, and some women, but he had security, he had three Elders to look after him and most of all, he had Myron by his side. He could do this, he had faced so much in his life, this should be easy compared to that, but it just wasn't.

He hadn't been this scared going up against Sirius when he'd thought he was a mass murderer who had sold out his parents to Voldemort, he hadn't felt this bad when facing a hundred Dementors, the Tri-wizard tournament came close to the level of panic he was feeling at the moment, when he'd been in the tent alone waiting to face the dragon for the first task, but it fell a little short to this he thought as he lay a hand on his pregnant belly that was just starting to show and he hadn't felt this stressed or frightened when he'd gone up against Voldemort in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic. This took the cake and he hated it.

He squeezed that huge, rough skinned hand and felt the reassuring squeeze back. He could do this and he wouldn't embarrass himself or Myron. He was happily pregnant, joyously so, he had Myron to love and cherish, who loved and cared for him back, hopefully by the end of this week, he would have a second man to love and care for…well, he wasn't so naïve as to think they would love one another instantly or even easily, but perhaps, like with Myron, there would be an instant attraction and desire and that it would take just a few weeks for them to become comfortable with one another, to start settling into a routine when they knew what the other was doing and he hoped, just as much, that not only did this new mate love him, but he would come to love Myron too and that Myron would love him in return. He wanted them to be a big, happy family, just as Myron had planted the fantasy in his head, he wanted it.

They stepped into the hall and Harry's heart beat several times faster as over a hundred pairs of eyes turned to look at him. He breathed in deeply, maybe a little shakily, and he felt Myron's thumb stroke over the side of his hand to calm and reassure him, his mate was with him and wouldn't leave his side. He was going to be fine.

"Now, this is Harry and his mate Myron, as you have already been told. Harry is in the early stages of pregnancy, any of you who dare try to harm Harry or the baby will face severe consequences." Elder Trintus said in a hushed growl.

"Is there anything Harry, that would force you to exclude anyone from your meeting?" Elder Midate said in a carrying way that reached every corner of the room.

Harry had talked to Myron about this at length and in depth. It was ultimately his choice as the new dominant would be his mate, not technically Myron's, but he wanted Myron to be comfortable with the mate he chose too, so he had sat down and asked Myron for his thoughts and opinions on everything.

"If any of you are already married, have a long term partner or children with a partner or a lover, then I have to ask you to leave." Harry said as loudly and as steadily as he could. "This does not include any of you who have children from a previous relationship or from a deceased partner, I don't mind taking on children that aren't my own, as long as you are not in a current relationship."

There was murmuring and some very unhappy dominants left the room and Myron stroked his hand again to silently support him.

Elder Kirrian handed Harry a clipboard with several sheaves of parchment and Harry took it and looked over it. It was a list of all the dominants in the hall, their ages, their wing span and the colour of their wings and scales. It was completely random, so Harry assumed that it was the order in which they had arrived in and not in any sort of special order used just for these meetings, like age order or even by wingspan length.

"What do you want to do now, Harry?" Elder Midate asked him.

"I want to go home." Harry whispered softly. "But I suppose, as that isn't an option, I could start by meeting and greeting them?"

"If that's what you want to do, you and Myron can go and speak to them, but be aware that they will try to surge at you to get your attention and they will try to covet all of your time. They won't let you talk to the other dominants."

Harry nodded and he stepped down from the small platform with Myron hovering over him and he went to the first man he saw and held out his hand. A huge mistake it seemed as he was dragged into an almost crushing hug and was subjected to a hearty sniff.

Myron had to dig him out and once done, he put Harry behind him and swung a powerful punch at the dominant who had grabbed at him, knocking him clean off his feet and left him on the floor, flat on his back, unconscious.

"That went well." Harry said as he peeked around Myron.

Some of the dominants who had heard him chuckled, but one bold, handsome man stepped forward and held out his large, strong hand. "I'm Declan, Declan Yates." He introduced confidently. "I'm twenty-seven."

"It's nice to meet you Declan, I'm Harry, seventeen years old." Harry said, answering Declan how he'd been addressed, which made Myron chuckle, which in turn made Harry grin for having amused his mate.

"I'm a lawyer; I have my own firm and my own hand-picked team. I often spend my time working, but…"

Harry was astounded as he was subjected to a litany of word vomit in which he could barely retain any information, he remembered that Declan was late twenties, that he was a lawyer, but that was about as much as he remembered from the spiel he was being forced to listen to. It was just too much information for him to take in in one go.

Every single man he met from then on out was the same, he was either grabbed and groped or exposed to several men that just wanted to talk about themselves and he was not only getting angry, but he was getting upset too.

"I think I want to call it a day." He told Myron and immediately Myron blocked all the dominants from talking to him and led him back to the front of the room, he made an indication to the Elders and Harry found himself quickly in their private rooms.

"Are you alright?" Myron asked him concernedly.

"I can't…I just can't believe how selfish and self-centred they are!" Harry said with shock. "They didn't want to know anything about me, or about you! They just wanted to talk about themselves!"

"They have a very limited amount of time in which to impress you, Harry." Myron explained to him calmly, sitting him down and going to make them both a warm drink.

"They would have impressed me more if they'd asked if I was alright, or how my education was going or even how my pregnancy was progressing." Harry snapped angrily.

Myron turned to hide a smile, but Harry caught it anyway and he flung a cushion at Myron's back.

"It's not funny!" He demanded. "I can't remember anything, and I mean _anything_, that any of those dominants told me! I do know one was a Healer and that one was a lawyer, maybe that was that really skinny dominant, what was his name? Jaime? Or was that the one who worked for that library in Amsterdam? I don't know! I didn't like any of them regardless of who they are or what they did." He declared with a huff as he accepted his cup of tea from Myron and the kiss to his lips.

"You only met twelve of them, don't paint them all with the same brush just yet, you may find a shy, quiet dominant hiding away in a corner of the room somewhere."

Harry considered that as he sipped on his tea, enjoying the smell of Myron's coffee, even if he didn't like the strong, bitter taste. At least he could enjoy it for the moment; he was sure that next month he'd be throwing all of Myron's coffee into the bin.

"Maybe tomorrow we should go hunting in the corners then. Is that where you used to stand?"

Myron shrugged. "Sometimes, but it was hard to miss my family though, we would stand together and as there are a lot of us who were unmated, we made a big group. I have some very fond memories of a few meetings, Sandor and I would stand with our sister Kyra, almost shoulder to shoulder, Cassander, Nicodemus and Cepheus would be acting worse than lecherous children over a scantily clad little girl and we three would just wonder what humiliating thing the submissive would do or say next. Some wore slutty heels so high and thin that they couldn't even walk, they would fall, slip, roll an ankle, and as…perhaps inappropriate as it was, we used to laugh so hard when they did something to humiliate themselves."

Harry chuckled. "I don't blame you, love. I would have wet myself laughing if I'd seen that happening in front of me."

Myron grinned. "We can have a morbid sense of humour together then."

Harry kissed that smile and he pulled back to look into those jet black eyes. "I love you." He said softly.

Myron put down his cup and took Harry's from him and set them both onto the coffee table before he tugged Harry into his arms and snuggled him to his bulk, sitting Harry on his lap and pressing their cheeks together. Harry grinned, he loved times like this, where he and Myron cuddled together and he found himself relaxing, the tension from the past few hours just draining away and leaving him calm and boneless.

"That's better." Myron said as he rubbed at Harry's arms. "I like you smiling and laughing. I like you relaxed and happy."

Harry's smile almost split his face. "I'd say I didn't like it when you were grumpy either, but I do. Especially when I can turn you from grumpy to happy just with a single look. I really like that look aimed back at me too."

Myron gave him a look then and Harry's knees went weak and wobbly, he was glad he was sat down as he kissed Myron, placing the flat of his hand against Myron's stubbled cheek.

"Yes, that's the look that I love." He said as he pulled back to stare into Myron's eyes. He rubbed that strong cheek with his hand and he grinned as it rasped against his skin. "I love a stubbled man too."

Myron chuckled. "I can grow a bit of stubble for you, I don't mind, but I refuse to have a full beard. I don't like the irritation it causes and I think it just looks scruffy."

Harry pulled a face and stuck out his tongue. "A fan of stubble, not so much a fan of beards or moustaches."

Myron laughed but they were distracted by the door to their rooms opening and suddenly they were no longer alone as the three Elders joined them.

"Harry boy, how are you?" Elder Kirrian asked, which sounded more like a demand than an actual question.

"Fine." Harry said with a shrug.

"Did you like any of them?" Elder Midate asked him, sitting down on an adjacent settee.

Harry shook his head. "Not a single one of them."

"None of them stood out at all for you, dear one?" Elder Trintus asked sounding a little upset and concerned at that fact.

Harry shrugged. "Nope, I can't even remember which one was which, what jobs they had and some of them I can't even remember the name of."

"Do you want to carry on what you were doing then, or do you think a change of tactic might work more in your favour?" Elder Midate asked him.

"Being pulled here, there and everywhere, having men shouting at me and demanding my attention when I'm trying to listen to someone else, trying to remember a litany of information and names spewed at me…I can't do it. I think it might be best if I did one on one with them. Or rather two on one as Myron will be there with me, so maybe I can speak to them for five, ten minutes on their own without so many distractions, I think that might be a better idea, today was a disaster."

Elder Midate nodded. "We'll do that then, for tonight, why don't you review the list that you've been given with Myron and see if there are any…_qualities_ that you would find unattractive; it may help you to pick a mate if you start with those that you like first and if you discounted those who you aren't attracted to."

"I'm not going to discount any of them because they have a small wing span, pink scales, scars or even one bloody wing, I won't do it. That's a hideous and shallow way to pick a life partner. As long as they're kind and treat me and Myron well and don't care that there will be babies that aren't theirs and they treat the kids all the same as if they were their biological children too, then I'll be happy."

The three Elders shared a look and Harry could almost feel the beaming pride coming from Myron.

"What?!" He demanded. "What did I say?"

"You're just incredibly compassionate, Harry. We've come not to expect it from the submissives we chaperone."

"Maybe you should not only expect it, but teach and encourage it as well. More submissives need to be like my Harry." Myron said, the pride Harry could feel aimed at him was lacing his tone of voice and the declaration of possession made him feel warm inside, that Myron would actively, verbally, claim him as his, to show that he was unashamed of him, he loved it and his Dracken preened inside of him.

"Perhaps we should." Elder Trintus managed to say before Elder Kirrian cut over him.

"I already do!" The elderly man burst out. "Why do you think that wanker Vipond doesn't assign me to many submissives these days? They all bloody complain about me because I tell them to stop dressing up like a street working, skank and to keep a civil tongue in their heads."

Harry laughed. He couldn't help the long, hard burbling laugh that spilled out of his mouth and he wrapped his arms around his torso and he just laughed.

"I take it you enjoy my education process?" Elder Kirrian asked.

Harry nodded, brushing away actual tears. "That's brilliant. I would pay to watch you stick it to some of the submissives I've seen, especially that one that's mated to your brother Myron, what was her name? The one mated to Oliver? She almost tore my head off because I was playing with little Heidi."

"Kelly." Myron said with a grimace.

"I remember that meeting." Elder Kirrian said. "Elder Shawn Keller took hers, I remember him complaining like a baby about her and her demands, never understood why one of your lot would want her."

"Oliver was enamoured with her silvery blonde hair." Myron shrugged. "That and her pretty brown eyes that he actually wrote her poems about. He couldn't see past her appearance, so he ignored all the bad qualities despite us trying to enlighten him."

"Maybe he thought you were trying to get rid of him so that you could have a better chance at her?" Harry offered with a frown.

"That's exactly what he thought." Myron said with a roll of his eyes. "He wouldn't believe that we were just looking out for him and trying to stop him from mating to an airheaded monster."

"I hope you gave him a smack to set his head back on straight." Harry huffed.

"I didn't, but Enrique did and he's not even a Dracken. He got so fed up of Oliver gushing about how Kelly looked that he hit him."

"I liked Enrique. He and Oliver are two of quadruplets, yes? I'm not surprised that Enrique hit him." Harry said with a smile. "I like Keanu, Edward, Xerxes, Claire and Aurelia too, they're all so nice to me. I'm going to need to get more used to Cassander, Sandor, the twins and Kyra. Kyra scares me."

"That is one woman I am proud to know." Elder Midate said with a grin. "There ain't no man on this planet or another that is ever going to walk over the lovely Kyra Maddison."

Myron puffed up proudly at that and Harry smiled and laced their fingers together. Myron was always proud of his older brothers and sisters and he loved it when they got recognition for things they did, especially the positive things they did, he reprimanded them fiercely if they were recognised for negative actions, as if he were their Father. Myron was going to make a brilliant Father, he would be strict, there was no question of that, but he was also very loving. Harry placed his hand over his belly; he couldn't wait to see Myron with his own baby.

Harry stayed for half an hour longer, talking less and less as a plan started to form in his mind before he excused himself to go to bed. He warded the bedroom and put up silencing charms to help them keep their privacy as he stripped down and crawled to lay naked on top of the duvet. Myron wouldn't stay with the Elders for much longer; Harry knew it and he needed some comfort and reassurance after today, so he set to touching and playing with himself ready for when Myron came into their room.

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

They both collapsed together and Harry weakly and tiredly wrapped his arms around Myron to keep his mate pressed to his body.

"I love you too." Myron grunted hoarsely when they were breathing with some semblance of normalcy again.

Harry chuckled sleepily and snuggled into Myron tighter. His mate was heavy, almost crushingly so, but he was so warm, he was sated and he felt safe and secure. Comforted, he was comforted by the heavy weight of his dominant mate, his first love, his first lover and the Father to his growing child, lying heavy and warm on top of him. He yawned and rested back against the mattress, his eyes slipping closed. He murmured and moaned when Myron moved to get off of him, to pull himself out of his body.

"I need to get the duvet." Myron told him.

Harry shook his head. "Not that cold." He said sleepily and to his great pleasure, Myron gave up moving and lay back on top of him, they were still joined together and Harry refused to let his arms fall from around Myron's shoulders and he fell asleep like that, happy, comforted, feeling secure.

It was then that Myron eased out of his mate and moved to the bathroom to clean himself off before bringing back a warm, damp cloth to clean off Harry before he climbed back into the bed with his lover and cuddled into him. Despite Harry insisting that it wasn't that cold, Myron still lifted him up and snuggled him back under the duvet with himself.

Tomorrow was a whole new day, a day they had to spend looking for Harry's grounding mate, despite him not wanting one, but Myron couldn't get the image of Harry playing with himself out of his mind, it was like the images were burnt into his eyes and into his memory. He would never forget what had transpired in this room tonight, deep in the Counsel meeting halls no less. Every time he came to this building now, he'd think of this night, these memories, the stunning, arousing picture Harry made as he lay on this bed, touching and playing with himself while three Elders were just outside their door.

He cuddled him closer and laid a kiss to his head, Harry snuffled a little, but didn't wake up. Myron sighed and closed his eyes. He was already pleasantly sore in certain muscles and he smiled with his eyes closed, both he and Harry were going to be walking funny in the meetings tomorrow.

* * *

Harry shifted uncomfortably on the settee he was sat on as he entertained yet another dominant who was telling him about his business successes, Harry had forgotten what the man actually did for a living already as every time he shifted he was reminded of exactly what Myron had done to him last night.

Myron was no help either. He just kept snorting or chuckling under his breath, looking all pleased and smug with himself as Harry shifted on his throbbing bum again and again.

"Are you even listening to me?" The young dominant demanded arrogantly.

"No, I actually started tuning you out when all you wanted to talk about was you, you wouldn't even shake Myron's hand! You were immediately discounted. I can't even remember your name." Harry replied as he played with the hair on Myron's forearm, running his fingers up to Myron's inner elbow and playing with the crease in the skin there interestedly.

"You can't just ignore me and then discount me!"

"Can and did." Harry said. "Can we get the next one in please; I think this meeting is concluded. He's not my mate."

Myron kissed him then and stroked his cheek.

"Don't go getting upset." He told him.

"I'm not upset." Harry denied.

"You are, I can see it. Don't let them get to you."

"It's just…difficult." Harry replied softly. "I don't like any of them, we've been doing this for four hours, it's almost one in the afternoon, I've spoken to twenty-four dominants already and not one single man or woman has stood out to me. None of them have made me want to pick them, not like you did when we met. I wanted to get to know you, I wanted you to want to know me and you wanted to get to know me too, so we spoke together, we actually had a conversation! Not this…this whatever the hell this is where I'm forced to listen to an emotionless list of all their supposed achievements, awards, trophies and medals. What do I care about that shit? Well I _care_, obviously, I like that my mates have worked hard to achieve something, but you don't boast about it before you even know their name or if you've asked if they're alright! God, what is fucking wrong with people today?!"

"Language." Myron chastised him gently, even as his hand played with the hair at the nape of his neck.

"I don't care anymore. Find me someone who isn't going to speak about themselves! I want to talk about my baby." Harry said insistently.

"I think we'll take a break after this next one." Myron said firmly and Harry nodded his agreement. He was getting hungry.

The man that came in was all confident swagger and cocky smirks, Harry hated him before he even sat down. Myron snorted.

Harry looked at him curiously as Myron and this new dominant looked at one another and he took notice when the new dominant backed down and averted his gaze.

"Paul Trento, thirty-three." The dominant said softly.

"Am I missing something?" Harry asked curiously.

"He works under me at my company. I suspect that he realises that he can't lie to you or inflate or exaggerate the truth when it comes to his salary or his role in my company." Myron said and the dominant, Paul, flushed.

"I wasn't going to lie!" He said indignantly.

"I'd certainly hope not. Well, I'm Harry and this is Myron, we…"

"I already know Myron." Paul cut in and Harry scowled at the sulking dominant for interrupting him. "Well I suppose I don't need to tell you that I don't make nearly enough or anywhere close to what Myr…Mister Maddison makes."

Harry grimaced as Paul called Myron, Mister Maddison. How the hell was he supposed to live with two mates where one called the other Mister Maddison for fucks sake?

He tuned out the self-centred spew of awards that Paul had apparently won, as he was focusing on his personal life and not his work one as Myron would likely call him on any bullshit he tried to serve to Harry about his achievements in work, or lack of them it seemed.

"I've had enough. I need the bathroom." Harry said as he cut into Paul's tirade and he stood up.

"I was just telling you about my taekwondo trophies." Paul said astounded, as if he couldn't imagine why Harry wasn't hanging on lustfully to his every word or how he could possibly want to leave the room at this very moment.

"I'm two months pregnant; I need to use the bathroom now." Harry said as he glared at Paul. "I don't need your permission to use the bathroom now, do I?" He asked sarcastically.

Paul aborted a sneer halfway through but Harry sucked in a breath and gaped at him.

"You do! You think I need your fucking permission to go to the _bathroom_!" Harry said incredulously. "My god, I'll have a fucking piss whenever I damn well want one! Myron, love, I want him gone before I get back, please."

Myron watched Harry walk away and he turned an evil smirk onto his underling. "So you show your true colours. I always knew you were a little shit, but really, expecting your own mate to ask you for permission to use the bathroom, that's just inconceivable. What a lowly slug you really are, you deserve to be unmated and alone."

"I'm…I'm going to be fired, aren't I?" Paul asked.

Myron actually laughed. "No. No, I couldn't justify it with the union, unfortunately. You'll be in work on Monday, report to my Secretary. I find myself in need of a new aide."

"That's far below my skill lev…ah. I'm not being fired, but I am being double demoted."

Myron's grin was an evil flash of white, even teeth. "Oh I think you'll find it's a little more than a demotion Trento, you'll be wishing that I'd been able to fire you by the end of the week. That you dare to think that my submissive mate, that any submissive really, should have to ask permission to have a basic human right such as going to the bathroom, you disgust me. Get out."

Harry walked in a little under five minutes later and Myron could see that though he was angry, he was also upset. He cuddled Harry on his lap and into his body.

"That meeting didn't last very long, would you like to meet one last dominant before we break for lunch?" Elder Midate asked them softly.

Harry shrugged and then nodded. "I might as well, twenty-sixth dominant lucky?" He chuckled mirthlessly at his own bad humoured joke.

Harry slipped off of Myron's lap and sat next to him yet again, he hoped that this next dominant was at least better than Paul, but at this point, he just wasn't holding out much hope of ever finding a grounding mate to join his and Myron's little family and with his heat period coming ever closer, he was running out of time to find the mate that he needed to stay healthy.

Harry was definitely not expecting the young boy who came slouching into the room. He looked like he'd been trampled into the ground and then kicked repeatedly and Harry immediately took notice of that.

"I'm Henley Jackson, sixteen." The boy introduced, holding out a large, awkward hand and Harry took that hand and shook it, surprised by how…depressed the boy looked and sounded. Surely others took note of that as well; surely someone was helping him, investigating why he was this way and doing something to help him through it, he was _sixteen_, what sixteen year old was this depressed without anyone asking why and doing something about it?!

Henley held his hand out to Myron too and Myron's hand all but swallowed Henley's as they shook politely. They were both dominant's, but they were both different kinds of dominants, clearly.

Harry considered the young boy in front of him, he was all awkward angles and gangly limbs, but he would grow and Harry could see the potential he had, he was just…downtrodden. Like everything that made him who he was had been stripped and peeled away from him until he was bare and then he had this ill-fitting mask layered up on top of all that raw, bare nakedness and Harry didn't like it. It felt wrong, Henley felt wrong.

"How are you, Henley?" Harry asked concernedly.

"Okay, I'm fine." Henley said quickly, and then, as if he'd been told exactly what to say, he started talking about his schooling and how he was expecting to do well with his exams because he'd gotten all O's in his mock O. last year and how he hoped to become a banker.

"Henley, I get the feeling that you've memorised what to say." Harry interrupted. Usually he was content to let the dominants dig themselves out of a mate just by talking, but Henley felt wrong, he didn't like it, his Dracken didn't like it. He wanted to do something, he wanted to help.

Henley blinked and he flushed, so Harry knew he was right even with the embarrassed, stammering denials.

"Why don't you just be yourself?" Harry questioned as he moved from beside Myron and went to join Henley on his settee opposite.

Henley mumbled something into his chest. Placing the side of his finger under Henley's chin, Harry lifted his head to look at him square in the eye.

"I didn't quite hear that, why don't you be yourself?"

"My Dad said that submissives don't want to know the real me, they just want to hear what I've got or what I plan to do and how much money that will earn for her…or him, I meant him too, I know not all submissives are female, obviously."

"Your Dad is a tit." Harry told him. Henley's head snapped up, his mouth was open and he was mouthing like a fish. "No, he is. No Father should say that to their sons, no real Father would tell their sons to ignore who they are and act and pretend as someone who they're not just to get a mate. That's not how you get a mate, Henley. How do I know if I'll come to love you or not if you don't show me the real you?"

"The real me is annoying." Henley said sadly.

Harry's hands clenched. He took Henley's hand and squeezed it. "You can't please everyone Henley, not everyone will like you, some people won't like you for the most ridiculous of reasons, some will even hate you for absolutely no reason at all, just from looking at you they will make the decision to hate you, but there will also be people who care for you, who love you just for being you. Those people can't do that if you hide yourself away from them, they can't love the real you if they don't even know the real you, Henley.

Not everyone will like you, but those who do are the only ones who matter Henley. Don't act or pretend to be someone who you think will interest other people, be you and if they don't like you then fuck them and leave them behind, you don't need them. You don't see me acting like some puffed up pompom demanding that everyone has to fall at my feet and worship me." Harry shrugged. "I've got people who have never even met me hating me, just for who I am, because they think I'm something I'm not, because I have Myron as a lover, or just merely because I like men and not women, it doesn't matter. I'm happy; I want you to be happy with yourself too, because if you can't be happy for you, how can other people be happy with you?"

Myron was doing that puffed up, smug thing again. Harry wouldn't be surprised if Myron was holding a sign over his head declaring Harry as his to all and sundry. Harry could feel that look boring into his back, but he only had eyes for Henley, who was looking at him with wide, bright, hopeful eyes.

"So, why don't we try this again Henley. I'm Harry, I'm seventeen. I'm currently pregnant and I already have one mate, this is Myron, he's fifty-two and I love him very much."

"I don't mind. My Dad wanted to drag me straight out of this meeting because Myron is older than he is and you were already pregnant, but I didn't want to leave. I don't want to be a banker either, I want to deal with rare gems, I want to be one of the gem collectors for Gringotts, but my Dad said that submissives don't like their dominants to have such unpredictable, unstable, unlocated jobs as I'd have to go all over the world, to where the gem sites are, for Gringotts."

Harry was stunned that Henley could talk so fast without needing to stop for breath, but the change in him was visible as he started grinning and using his hands as he spoke, making expressive gestures and he just looked so happy that it made Harry happy as he listened to Henley.

Unlike the other dominants, who talked about shit that he was sure they were just making up to try to impress him, Henley spoke about his family, his school, Quidditch, the hot springs his school had that he loved swimming in, Henley assured him that he was a very good swimmer and Harry was just enjoying listening to Henley speaking.

He was so excited, so happy, he was enjoying talking and Harry was feeding from that excitement until he was happy too. This was the real Henley that was hidden under that mask that was making the poor boy depressed the more he was forced to wear it and Harry liked the real Henley a lot more than the morose boy who had shuffled in twenty minutes earlier.

"…And that's why I like toffee over chocolate." Henley finished and he was grinning. "How about you Harry, what's your favourite, toffee or chocolate?"

"Oh chocolate, definitely. I have a particular craving for chocolate fudge."

"Chocolate covered fudge?" Henley said confusedly.

Harry shook his head. "No, its fudge flavoured chocolate. They do it special at Honeydukes; it's my favourite thing ever." Harry slid his gaze to Myron, who looked back at him amusedly.

Harry started glaring and Myron held his hands up. "Okay, I'll buy you some of the chocolate you want. I was planning on it anyway, I overheard you telling your friend Neville that you'd run out after your exams and I was there when you were guzzling it through your revision."

"It helps me keep away the stress!" Harry huffed. "The baby likes it too." Harry added on with a grin.

"That baby will have a sweet tooth before they're even born." Myron teased.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You see the abuse I have to put up with!" Harry told Henley, pointing to Myron. "He's mean to me and our poor unborn baby."

Myron chuckled. "You get everything you want and more, and I'm the mean one?"

Harry nodded. "I'm glad that you agree with me."

Myron chuckled again, shaking his head. "You are well cared for."

Harry smiled softly. "I know, you take such good care of us." He said laying his hand over the slight swell of his belly.

Harry's stomach growled loudly and ferociously and he blushed. "I think that's the cue for lunch. Baby needs feeding."

Myron nodded and he stood, stretching his huge, powerful body. Harry's mouth went dry, he was still hungry, but for his mate's body now more than food.

"Food first, everything else later." Myron told him. "Say goodbye to Henley and let's get something to eat and we can review if this process is working for you or not."

Harry hugged Henley. "Off you go Henley, go and get your own lunch and I'll see you again."

"You…you will? You want to see me again?" Henley asked with a shocked look.

Harry reached up and kissed his cheek. "Yes, I want to see you again. Now off you go, this baby needs to be fed before we both shrivel up."

Henley bounded off like a jackrabbit on meth and Harry blinked after him, he cut a look to Myron after Henley was gone and they both just laughed.

"Oh I liked him." Harry said as he and the Elders, who had been silent, but observing in the back corner of the room, sat down and had their food appear on the table via house elves.

"Do you think he might be your grounding mate?" Elder Trintus asked him.

Harry pondered that as he ate a steamed stick of carrot. He shook his head. "No. I don't think he is, but I do like him, he'd be a brilliant friend."

"But not mate material?" Myron questioned as he cut up a chicken breast and popped a bite into his mouth.

Harry shook his head, covered his mouth and chewed his own torn chunk of chicken, he swallowed. "No, no he's not mate material, I feel too protective of him, like I imagine I'd feel over a child and that's not fair to Henley if I pick him as a grounding mate, but I do want to see him happy, I want him to show the real him to everyone around him, to everyone he meets, not hide himself away like he should be ashamed of who he is inside, I want him to gain some confidence, some self-esteem, he needs it and I want to help him get that."

"That's why I love you." Myron said softly as he took Harry's hand in his own and kissed Harry's cheek. "You have so much love inside of you, so much compassion and care and kindness, I love you."

"I love you too, now let go of my hand because I need it to eat and I'm hungry."

Harry winked at Myron and they both laughed as Harry went back to scoffing his lunch. He'd forgotten how hungry he'd been while listening to Henley speak and now that he was reminded and he had the food in front of him, he wanted to scoff as much of it as he could in as short amount of time as possible. He was so hungry!

"Slow down or you'll choke." Myron warned him. "The food isn't going anywhere."

Harry did as his mate had advised and he did slow down, marginally. He still ate until he just couldn't any more, though he prided himself on having at least some table manners, unlike his ex-best friend Ron, who still had absolutely no table manners whatsoever, or any manners at all for that matter.

"Do you feel better?" Myron asked as they finished with their desserts.

Harry nodded. "Much, much better."

Myron picked him up and sat him back on their settee before going to get tea and coffee. Harry smiled at his back as Myron had picked him up and had moved him without even asking and he had gone to get him a cup of tea without having needed to be told. He was learning more and more about Harry and the things he liked to do and how he played out his daily routine. Like the cup of tea he always drank after he ate a meal.

Harry accepted the cup of honey tea from Myron and sipped at it. It was exactly how he liked it too and everything got better when Myron sat next to him with his cup of coffee and Harry inhaled the scent of it deeply as he slipped to recline on Myron's side. This moment was a perfect one.

"I'm exhausted already." Harry said as he rested his head on Myron's shirt covered chest; listening to the strong, even thump-thump of his heart.

"We won't take as long now, just two, two and a half hours then we'll call it a day and have dinner and then we'll retire to our room." Myron told him and Harry sighed, but he nodded.

He only liked Henley so far, but it was just his damn luck that the only one he actually liked just wasn't mate material for him. Henley couldn't be his mate when Harry felt so protective over him. It was for the dominant to protect the submissive, not the other way around, the submissive protected the children while the dominants protected the submissive, that Harry felt so protective over Henley meant that he saw Henley as a child, not as an adult, not as a potential mate and for that reason, he wouldn't pick Henley to be his grounding mate. It wouldn't be fair to either of them.

* * *

Three days. Three days he had been searching and not a single person in these damned halls was mate material. Harry was beginning to despair that he wouldn't find his grounding mate before he went on his heat, which started in just a week and a few days.

He was frustrated, Myron was frustrated and angry and the Elders couldn't calm them down or soothe them. This meeting was a disaster and it was getting worse the longer they were forced to continue with this charade.

"Just…get the next one in, there can't be many more left now." Harry said with a sigh as he rubbed his head and a mated dominant who was playing security wrestled with the unmated dominant who was screaming at him that he was earning fifty thousand Galleons a year.

"I don't care how much you earn, you're a dick!" Harry shouted back. "Now fuck off so I can carry on this train wreck of a meeting!"

Myron pressed against him and Harry huffed out a breath. If he'd had feathers he would have ruffled them to resettle them as he puffed up indignantly.

"How dare he tell me that he 'deserves' to have me like I'm some fucking reward for good behaviour! I don't care how hard he's worked or how much money he's earned! If you hadn't grabbed onto me I would have torn off his fucking face with my damn teeth!"

"That's exactly why I stopped you, love. You didn't want to put any part of him in your mouth, he'd have made you sick and I don't want you to retch or vomit because of him. Think of our child."

Harry laughed happily at that and he cuddled into Myron.

"Thank you, for stopping me from mauling him and making myself sick, for being you, for making me laugh and feel better and for thinking about the health of our baby."

Myron smirked at that and pulled him into a kiss. It turned into something more and they were almost mauling each other on the settee then, Harry in Myron's lap, when a throat cleared and Harry blushed at the amused looking, very handsome, dominant man sitting opposite.

"I'm going to curl up and die now." Harry declared softly.

"No need for that, I assure you." The man told him, his dark eyes were staring intently at him and Myron, tracing every line of both of their faces and Harry liked that. He liked that Myron was being subjected to such an intent stare too, that this man wasn't just looking at him, but he was looking at Myron as well, like he knew they were a package deal and wasn't even thinking of splitting him and Myron up or trying to come between them, in fact, it looked like he very much liked them both as a package deal. Harry wanted him.

"I'm Nasta Delericey, thirty-seven."

Myron shifted then. "I knew I recognised you from somewhere, Aneirin Delericey's youngest." He gave a short nod of recognition.

The man, Nasta, nodded back. He didn't speak very much and only said what needed to be said and if he could get away with a nod or a hand gesture, he would. Harry got the feeling that Nasta was nervous and he wanted to help ease the man, he wanted to hear his voice, he wanted to know what Nasta had to say, what he did, where he lived and exactly what those looks to him and Myron had meant and what he'd thought as he looked on them.

"I'm Harry, seventeen and this is Myron, he's fifty-two."

"I know." Was all Nasta said and he continued looking at them as if he was committing them to memory, every single line of both of their faces, he even looked at Harry's belly, as if he could see and memorise the bump as well.

"What do you do?" Harry asked, getting the feeling that Nasta was not going to just sit there and talk endlessly about himself like everyone else had.

"I'm a Dragonologist at the Brecon reserve in Wales."

"Dragonologist? Is that like a Dragon handler?" Harry questioned with a frown.

"A Dragon handler is a level below a Dragonologist." Myron told him as Nasta just nodded without explaining. "He is technically a Dragon handler as he still deals with the dragons, but he knows more about them, he'd be part of the senior team now, which implies that he's a hard, relentless worker and he's qualified to diagnose and treat the Dragons too, as well as look after the newly hatched dragons."

"That's amazing." Harry told him.

Nasta looked uncomfortable and he scratched at the thick, black stubble on his chin.

Myron chuckled. "He doesn't say very much, don't take it personally, I've known him for a while, his Father too, Aneirin is a good friend."

"That doesn't bother you?" Harry asked.

Myron shrugged a massive shoulder. "I never expected or thought I could potentially be mated to the same submissive as Nasta, but I'm not adverse to the idea."

"Good." Harry said as he turned back to Nasta. "Do you like working with Dragons, my friend Charlie works with Dragons in Romania, he's always covered with burns, do you get burnt often?"

"You're friends with Charlie Weasley?" Nasta asked.

Harry blinked and nodded. "How did you know?"

"There's only one Charlie who works at the Romanian reserve." Nasta said with a smile. "We all know one another in this business, we deal with trading and exchanging juvenile dragons for breeding purposes, the Romanian reserve is too hot a climate for the Welsh Greens, they don't like it, but we've been trying to breed them with the Romanian Longhorns, so we have to send a juvenile buck from our reserve for the Longhorn's breeding season and then monitor him and his temperament and at the slightest change, we bring him back. It's dangerous as the buck could get sick, but the Greens and the Longhorns are quite compatible with one another for breeding purposes and Longhorn numbers are still falling due to the disgusting, barbaric trade of its horns for potion ingredients and so called _medicine_."

"I think that's the most I've heard you say, I like it when you speak, tell me more about the dragons." Harry insisted as he picked up his tea and went to sit next to Nasta and he cuddled in without even thinking about it. "You didn't answer my question about the burns either."

"I do get burnt, everyone who works with dragons gets burnt and those who work with the hatchlings, fledglings and juveniles can expect to be clawed at and bitten too, but because I'm a Dracken, my scales absorb the burns and they never leave permanent scars and they don't last for more than a few days, the bites however can be bad based on the breed, but we stock potions for those though, so there are rarely any complications from a little nip from a hatchling or juvenile."

Harry sat and just listened to Myron and Nasta talk above him, he loved hearing about the dragons and Nasta had even asked Myron about his job, which made Harry insanely happy for reasons he couldn't name but had everything to do with Nasta accepting Myron as a potential mate as well as Harry himself. They could be a family with Nasta, a real family, not just him with two separate men and children with each, but a true family and he actually felt teary at that thought.

Harry whined when his back touched something cool and he automatically raised himself, arching his back to remove as much of the coldness as possible as he latched onto the burning warmth at his front.

Someone chuckled and he squinted open one eye to see Myron above him, holding him and trying to lower him to their bed.

"S' cold." He complained.

Myron flicked his wand from his wrist holster and he spoke an incantation that Harry's sleepy brain couldn't make any sense of, but the next time Harry was pressed to the bed it was lovely and warm, all toasty and he happily rolled over those sheets and sighed.

"I love magic." He said softly as he spread himself out on the bed. "What happened to the meeting? I think I fell asleep."

"You did, on poor Nasta who didn't know what to do about you drooling all over the front of his robes."

"I do not drool!" Harry said heatedly. "I didn't mean to fall asleep, I've just been worried about these meetings and with you sexing me up morning and night, I hardly get any sleep, not that I mind, but I have been more tired lately. Oh I can't believe I fell asleep on him! He's not going to want me as a mate now that I've humiliated myself! Myron, what do I do to make this better? I need to make this better!"

"So you do like Nasta?"

Harry nodded and bit his lip as he sat up in the bed and wrung his hands together. "I've spoilt everything!"

Myron took his hands and kissed him until his teeth let go of his lip.

"You haven't spoilt anything, Harry. Falling asleep on him was actually a huge compliment."

"How can it be a compliment when I fell asleep and drooled on him when he was talking?!"

"I thought you said you didn't drool." Myron said with a smirk.

Harry glared at him before he ducked his head. "How could I have been so inattentive? I liked him a lot, Myron, he's the only one I liked and I went and fell asleep on the man!"

"It is a compliment, listen to me." Myron said, putting an inflection of a demand in his voice and Harry stopped fretting for a moment to listen to his mate fully. "That you fell asleep on him is a compliment, to both me and him, it meant you felt safe around him, safe enough to sleep, trusting that he wouldn't hurt you and that I would protect you if anything had happened. That you felt safe enough with Nasta after meeting him just once is a good sign that he could be your grounding mate, you can choose him or discount him as you please, but your Dracken likes him."

Harry smiled. "My Dracken really likes him. He just seems like a really nice man, a bit quiet and not very talkative, but that's okay because it doesn't feel awkward with him, just…quiet. Do you like him?"

"You know it doesn't matter if I do or…" Myron started but Harry cut him off harshly.

"You know that your opinion matters to me! You know that I want to include you in this and that I want you happy with my choice of grounding mate as well, I told you as such before we even came here, if I didn't want your opinion then I wouldn't have invited you to join in on my meetings. I want us to be a family, I don't want to go from your bed into his and vice versa, I want us all in the same room, in the same bed, all cuddled together like a real family! You will not treat his babies any differently to your own and he won't treat your babies any differently to his own, I won't accept anything else, so you'd better just deal with it!"

Harry huffed and crossed his arms as he finished his rant. He had his head turned away from Myron, so he missed the flash of desire in his eyes and the proud smirk, he couldn't however miss the body that gently knocked his own over onto his back and he gasped in surprise at the action and he couldn't miss it as Myron pressed his mouth over his own and kissed him hard.

"What was that for?" Harry asked as he panted, breathless once Myron broke them apart for air.

"For being amazing, compassionate, loving, feisty and a million other things that make you stand out brightly against everyone else. I love you more and more each day, with every show of your temper and spirit and with every little detail that I learn about you. True not all of it is good and there are some things that I don't like as well, but they're a part of you and I love you, so I adapt and get over it, I'm learning to accept you as a person and I've found that I truly love the person that you are."

"What don't you like about me?" Harry asked with an upset frown, worried and quite put out to realise that his mate didn't like some things about him.

"Only little things, like your cold bloody feet on my back when I'm sleeping."

Harry laughed. "But you're always so warm! I need your warm back and thighs to keep my feet from withering and falling off."

"Which is why I let you do it and put your feet between my thighs even when they're stone cold." Myron said with a grin. "I love you, but if I thought you were perfect, I wouldn't be seeing the real you and that's unfair to you and our mateship, I'm sure there are some things I do that you don't like or find annoying too."

Harry grinned. "When you flick your dirty, sweaty socks at me when you settle down for the evening."

Myron laughed and lay down, pulling Harry into his chest. "You make me feel young again."

"Well there is a saying about that."

"What saying?" Myron questioned with a confused frown.

"You're only as young as the man you feel." Harry said with a wink and then he laughed. "That would make you considerably younger to be on par with me."

Myron chuckled deeply. "I like feeling you too." He said as he roved his hands over Harry's clothed body.

Harry ruined the moment by yawning. "Sorry, I don't know why I'm so tired." He apologised. "I do like you touching me, honestly. I just can't stop yawning."

"You haven't been getting enough sleep, obviously. I think we should just get an early night for once, we could both use the extra energy tomorrow, I suggest more time with Nasta tomorrow, so we can both get to know him properly, perhaps this time without drooling on him."

"I do not drool!" Harry said stubbornly.

"Whatever you say, love." Myron said, not being drawn into a debate or argument as he stripped off, helped Harry strip off and they lay down together under the duvet.

Harry pouted for a bit, but then decided to just get some sleep, so he rolled over to face Myron and he cuddled in, burying his nose against that bare chest and yes, he slid his stone cold feet right between Myron's burning hot thighs, grinning sleepily as Myron hissed in a breath and his arms clenched around his back.

He let out a soft, sleepy giggle. "Night Myron."

"Good night, you little pest."

Harry fell asleep with the grin from that teasing comment still on his lips.

* * *

Harry was happy to walk around a national park, hand in hand in hand with Myron and Nasta. One on either side of him as they walked a woodland trail reading strategically hidden sign posts with information on the woodland animals, the trees and the various plants they could see on their walk. The three Elders were walking several paces behind them, there to chaperone even though Harry had Myron with him, they still had to accompany him as apparently this was still an official meeting and he hadn't actually chosen a grounding mate yet, so by the laws made up by the Elders decades ago, he had to be accompanied wherever he went while he was having a mate meeting.

After they walked the woodland trail, which took a surprisingly long amount of time, they followed a path down to a pebble beach. Harry had never been to a beach before, pebble or otherwise, and he told his mates as such without thinking, he didn't see their shared look as he picked his way carefully through the rocks, stones and tiny little pebbles until he reached the edge of the ocean.

It was the very first time that he'd seen the ocean in person and he was overawed by it. A massive expanse of water that was a brilliant blue all the way to the horizon, but was crystal clear when he reached the shoreline, he was looking at all the little pebbles and shells through the water and he immediately kicked off his shoes and socks, he was so thankful that he had worn combat shorts instead of jeans today as he went wading into the water up to his shins.

"Careful Harry, the stones are going to be slippery in the water because of the build-up of seaweed." Myron warned him.

Harry nodded but he was engrossed by watching the water lap around his legs, brushing higher when a wave rolled in and he giggled, actually giggled in pure joy as he watched it.

"Don't go too far out." Nasta cautioned him. "The waves get more powerful and they could knock you over."

Harry took that to mean that they were worried about the baby and his hand rose to touch his belly softly. He patted himself gently before he bent down and picked up a shell.

"I want to keep it." He told them seriously, not giving them time to answer or reject his wish as he thrust it out at them.

Nasta smiled and took out a plastic carrier bag. Harry looked at him curiously.

"Whenever I go to a forest or a beach, I always bring a carrier bag with me, just in case I find something I want to keep. I've done it since I was a young child, my sister started it."

Nasta let Harry drop the shell that he liked into the bag and then with near enough permission to collect shells and little pebbles, Harry did just that, digging in little rock pools and even finding several crabs that he watched happily. They moved funny.

With a bag almost half full of shells, pebbles, smooth stones and fossils that Harry had liked and wanted to keep, they walked back up the pebble beach, Myron holding onto Harry's hand as he slipped and stumbled uphill over the loose stones, being laughed and pointed at by a group of teens about twenty feet away who were watching the three of them. He ignored them; he was too happy to care and too worried about falling and hurting his baby to let their childish behaviour affect him.

The three Elders were sat talking on a bench on the grass, there was a bench every several feet away on either side of the path they had walked down, they were sat on the one right at the edge of grass just before the pebble beach sloped down to the ocean.

"Did you have a good time?" Elder Midate asked.

Harry nodded. "I've never seen the ocean before, it's beautiful and awe inspiring."

The Elders all shared a look and Myron gave a subtle nod, all that went on over Harry's head as he had turned to look back out over at the ocean, glittering like a precious jewel under the high afternoon sun.

They walked back down the path they had walked and the Elders again fell behind them, talking about who knew what, but Harry didn't care, all his attention went onto Myron and Nasta and how excited he was to be near the ocean until he was babbling as bad as Henley had when they'd shared breakfast that morning, much to the disgust of the room full of dominants who had been vying for his attention for the last several days.

They stopped on a massive expanse of grassland that had groups of friends, families and couples all sitting on towels and blankets, soaking up the August sun, letting the kids run riot with footballs, tennis sets, Frisbees, though most of the kids and preteens were crawling over the massive adventure playground off to the one side and Harry watched them with an indulgent smile as they laughed infectiously and ran around, tiring themselves out.

Myron bought them all an ice cream from the bar, even though Nasta grimaced a little, he still ate it and the Elders handed them a blanket, which they spread out and sat on while the Elders sat on their own blanket further back, still observing, but giving them their needed privacy to try and form a bond.

Harry was feeling lazy and he lay back, the ice cream that had melted over his hand had made it sticky, his mouth tasted sweet when he licked his tongue over his lips and the cloudless sky with the sun beating on him made him feel very content and sleepy. He loved it.

"Look at the ugly little boy with his freaky two Dads!"

Harry's eyes snapped open to see that a Frisbee had landed close to their blanket and a sniggering teen was staring at him cuddled between Nasta and Myron on their blanket. He squeezed both of their biceps. He recognised him and the group of laughing teens a few feet away as the same group who had been laughing and pointing at him on the beach.

"Actually these are my two lovers, sweetheart. If you're going to attempt to insult someone, try and get the insult right." Harry said as nonchalantly as he could manage even though he could feel the well of rage bubbling just below the surface.

The boy's face blanched pale and he stuttered several times before he finally managed to get out a sentence…well, almost a sentence. "That's sick! It's disgusting!"

"Why, because you don't like it?" Harry demanded as calmly as he could. "Why don't you try and realise that you are not the centre of the universe and people will not conform to what you want or like. I'm happy, I'm in love, there is nothing wrong about what I'm doing and I think it's sad that you think that there is, just because you happen to dislike it. I happen to think women are very sexually unattractive and unappealing. I don't even want to think of their lady parts, but I assume that that's what you like, so I respect that and I'll leave you alone, why don't you grow up, grow a pair of balls and do the same for me like any normal, decent person would?"

The teen just gave him a weak, almost confused look and ran back to his group of friends.

"Bloody dick." Harry spat as he lay back down.

"I think you handled that well." Nasta told him with a smile.

"I wanted to break him in half like the gangly twig that he is." Myron rumbled. "But you did handle him very well, I'm proud of how mature you are."

"I'm just insulted that he thought you were my Dads! You're both older than me, I like that and it excites and arouses me, but I don't look that young!"

"You cheeky little sub." Myron hissed and hunched over him and tickled the breath right out of his body.

"You're not ugly either." Nasta told him as Myron pulled back and Nasta took his place. "You are very beautiful and some bigots just can't see past their own insecurities and hang ups."

"You think I'm only beautiful? Love, I'm stunning!" Harry teased, flicking his messy hair out with a brush of his hand.

"That you are, love." Myron told him, kissing him on the mouth.

"I'm hungry, Myron. The baby is hungry; I need a little something more than ice cream now."

"How is the baby doing today?" Nasta asked.

"The baby's fine, they made me increasingly uncomfortable last night as I couldn't stop sweating, which made me wriggle and twist in the bed so much that Myron actually threatened to kick me out of the bed! Can you believe that? His own pregnant mate, kicked out of our bed to go and sleep on the settee in the common room! But other than that, everything is fine and progressing well I imagine, I'm having a scan soon, you'll both be there, of course."

"Harry, I'm not…"

"If you want to be, I want you as my grounding mate. I really like you, Myron likes you, if you want me too, then it's a done deal, I want you as my grounding mate."

"Of course I do!" Nasta said as he pulled Harry into a hug. "I've been wanting to do this since I first met you."

Before Harry could ask what it was that Nasta had been wanting to do, he was kissed, softly, passionately and deeply, in a kiss that didn't want to end as they broke apart with their lips still touching, just to drag in a breath so that they could kiss some more.

Nasta finally pulled back and Harry's lips tingled and they felt kissed swollen, he licked them, chasing the faint traces of Nasta's taste from his lips and he grinned.

"I like you even more now." He laughed and tilted his head back for Myron and his first mate bent down to indulge him in a more tender, chaste kiss.

A Frisbee caught Harry's shoulder and he flinched from it with a gasp. One arm automatically going to his belly even though it hadn't hit anywhere near the baby. Nasta had him on his lap and turned away from the direction the Frisbee had flown from and Myron was just gone, Frisbee in hand and Harry watched as the pleased grins on the group of teenagers faces slipped.

They definitely had not realised how big Myron actually was when they'd seen him reclining on the blanket from a distance and seeing a six foot ten inch man striding towards them with death in his eyes, his powerful body tensed in rage that made his sculpted muscles stand out in stark relief even under his light, summer clothing, Harry was actually surprised that they didn't run for the hills, but then he supposed they all looked like they'd shit themselves and reasoned that they'd likely been frozen in terror.

"He's going to kill them, isn't he?" Harry said softly, surprised to find that he was very unconcerned at that small fact.

"No. Not here, not in public, be he is definitely threatening them from his stance and body language."

Harry watched as his big, powerful mate took the Frisbee in hand and snapped it clean in half, and then in half again before he dropped it to the floor so that it lay in four mangled pieces.

"I love that man so much." Harry sighed. "I like you too, but it would be an insult to say that I loved you so soon after we met, there's more depth to you than that and I'm going to relish digging it out so that I can eventually fall in love with every part of you, because I will, I'm sure of it, but it'll take time, is that okay?"

Nasta nodded and kissed his neck, the scratch of his newly grown stubble made Harry shiver.

"I do love your stubble though." He said with a grin.

Myron stalked back to them and Harry was shocked to see he'd left the teens pale and one of the girls actually looked like she was crying, her shoulders rising and falling rapidly with her sobs, her face buried in her hands.

"Let's get you some food, I need to get away from those idiots before I snap and cave in their stupid faces."

Myron hauled Nasta to his feet and they both supported Harry up and they told the Elders where they were going and why, not that they needed to know the why as the three unhappy Elders had seen what had happened themselves.

The three of them crossed the field to the collection of buildings next to the almost full car park. There were toilets, novelty shops, an ice cream bar and the one they wanted the most, a café.

They went inside and the instant relief of being out of the high, glaring sun and in an air conditioned room was blissfully fantastic.

"Oh I hadn't realised how hot it was outside, oh this is like heaven!" Harry moaned happily.

Myron chuckled and went to the counter to order them some food and Nasta took him to an empty booth where they could sit in relative peace and privacy.

"This is one of the best days ever." Harry sighed happily.

"It makes me happy to know that you're having a good day." Nasta told him with a smile as Myron slid into the booth opposite them; Harry looked at him aghast and indicated the seat he'd left free on the other side of himself.

Myron chuckled and moved again to the other side of the table this time and he bumped Harry's shoulder with his own.

"Is baby alright?" He asked quietly, almost breathing the question into his ear what with them being in a café full of Muggles.

"Perfectly fine, love. Just hungry."

"It won't be long; I ordered us chicken salads with a side of fries." He nodded to Nasta, who smirked back. "I think we've had enough treats for one day with your binge this morning on that chocolate I got you."

Harry grinned. "I love fudge chocolate so much."

"So I've noticed." Myron replied dryly.

Harry grinned at him, but turned to start up a conversation about his school work with Nasta, bringing the man up to date on his current level of schooling, with input from Myron about the exact number of hours he had actually revised for and the level of stress it had caused in them both as Harry exaggerated the former and downplayed the latter.

Harry just laughed at his mate, he didn't get a chance to reply though because their food arrived at their table via a happy, bubbly, blushing young woman, who seemed to be looking at them all as if she were imagining them having sex on the table, with one another, not herself, which seemed a nice change, so Harry smiled at her and winked and the light staining to her cheeks turned into a full flush of bright colour and she stammered out a memorised 'We hope you enjoy your meal, I'm Shell and I'll be your waitress for your visit today' and hurried back to the safety of the counter.

"I like her; we're leaving her a big tip." Harry said before he dug into his large, fresh salad complete with two whole, chargrilled chicken breasts and crunchy croutons, picking at the basket of fries that was placed between him and Myron, as Nasta refused to touch the fried, salty food, but he didn't bitch at them for eating it because they were still eating salad and grilled chicken.

When they were finished with their food they ordered a coffee and two glasses of water, which was again brought over by their waitress for the day, Shell, who was very flushed and looked like she'd been daydreaming about the three of them going at it like rabbits while she'd been away.

Harry made sure to leave her a huge tip and gave her an extra treat as he made sure she was watching before he tongue kissed both Myron and Nasta passionately in turn before grabbing their hands and walking back to their blanket.

"You couldn't resist, could you?" Nasta asked with a smirk.

Harry grinned and shook his head. "No. She was sweet, in a voyeuristic, please have sex in public so that I can watch you, way. Sure she wanted to see us naked and fucking each other's brains out, but I'll take that over idiots calling us names, saying that we can't be with each other or love one another and throwing things at us just because we're all male. There need to be more people like Shell in the world."

"On that we agree." Nasta said with a nod as they made it back to their blanket.

"Did you boys have any more trouble?" Elder Trintus asked kindly.

Harry shook his head. "No, everything was fine, Elder. Thank you. I don't need to carry on my meetings either, Nasta and I are meant for one another." He said with a grin to Nasta, whose smirk widened.

"You have chosen Nasta as your grounding mate?" Elder Midate asked.

Harry nodded.

"Are you sure, there are still thirty-seven dominants that you haven't yet met."

"That's okay, no one is going to better than Nasta, he's amazing and I like him very much. I want him as a mate and he has agreed to accept me. Thank you for all of your help and for getting me through these meetings and through everything else, I couldn't have done it without you, so thank you."

"You're welcome, boy. See, I told you I liked that boy." Elder Kirrian told the others. "He turns around and actually thanks us, how many of those submissive bitches have ever done that?"

Harry laughed. "I like you all too and I'm proud to have manners and common courtesy. It takes nothing to say thank you to those who deserve it and you three do deserve it for looking after me."

"Let's get you boys back then so you can go and enjoy yourselves." Elder Midate said with a wink. "You leave the other dominants to us, you can go on ahead back to Myron's, you don't need to see or hear the backlash of them all being rejected in favour of Nasta."

"Oh I saw enough of that yesterday." Harry said darkly as he watched Myron folding up the blanket to hand back to the Elders.

"We have problems with him every meeting." Elder Midate said with a sigh. "If he's not careful he'll snap soon, no offense Myron."

"None taken Elder, I know what happened to Benedict and I know why everything afterwards had to happen, there was no other option that the Counsel could have taken after what Benedict did and I accept that, as did he."

"Can you tell Henley Jackson that I'll see him soon and that I'll owl him, please? I don't want him to just be rejected so soon after I worked so hard to bring up his confidence."

"He knew." Elder Midate said with a smile. "He knew he wasn't your mate and he accepted that, I saw him telling his Father to stop accompanying him to his meetings as well, the boy has had four now and his Father has ruined two of them outright. He really needed the boost in confidence that you gave him Harry, thank you for being so kind to him."

Harry smiled. "He's lovely and he'll make a brilliant dominant one day, he's just a little rough around the edges and there's nothing wrong with that. He needed to know, he needed to _believe_ that there was nothing wrong with him, so that he could then prove to others that there's nothing wrong with him." Harry said with a nod. "He wasn't my mate, but he will be someone's mate, very soon I'd bet too. I was waiting for Nasta."

"That was sappy as hell." Elder Kirrian told him disgustedly and Harry laughed loudly as he wrapped his arms around Nasta's chest and rested on him.

They made sure that they had left nothing behind before they all walked together back down the forest paths to a secluded spot in the woodland trail, where they checked that no one was around, before they Apparated away, Myron holding on tight to Harry and with an arm on Nasta's elbow, side-along Apparating Harry to his home, but merely guiding Nasta to where he needed to go.

They were finally home after a week of staying at the Counsel halls and Harry could not wait to start _exploring_ with Nasta. He grinned and subtly fell behind his mates so that he could check Nasta out, oh he definitely could not wait to get him into bed. Him and Myron both, tonight was going to be very, very fun if he had anything at all to do with their bed activities for the night.

* * *

They gave Nasta a tour of the house first and let him know that this was as much his house now as Myron's and Harry's. It hadn't taken Harry very long to get used to where everything was and adding his, admittedly very few, belongings to the house and they both encouraged Nasta to do the same, before they relaxed in the less formal living room.

The formal living room was decorated to the back teeth, all thick, pristine carpeting, dragonhide upholstered armchairs and settees (Which Myron absolutely assured Nasta came from shedded skin and not the murdering inch thick flesh that was carved out of a living dragon and left it for dead, he even proved it with legal documentation that he'd had the chairs custom made and that all the skin had come from the Hungarian reserve and it was signed happily by a Dragon Handler that Nasta knew well.)

"When it gets a little torn or ratty I make another donation to the reserve and they send me more skin, which I then send off to an expert who reupholsters the chairs for me with the donated skin, it works out more expensive, but I am a Dracken and I am not heartless enough to kill an animal for mere decoration or furniture and it's not like I can't afford the extra expense of it."

There were solid wood, high gloss varnished tables and side boards, all with crystal lampshades and a crystal decanter and tumbler glass set, a bookshelf filled with rare and coveted titles, pricey artworks and pottery and a very ornate fireplace that was connected to the floo.

None of the rest of the house looked like this room except for the room that connected to the formal living room, Myron's work study, which was decorated in much the same way as the formal living room. Myron explained to them that they were the only two rooms in the house that he used to entertain business associates and that he was expected to play the part of rich, wealthy businessman, even if it was a lie and all the ornaments and trinkets and little crystal decorations made him uncomfortable. Then Harry reasoned that if you were six foot ten and eighteen stone of mostly muscle, little delicate crystal things would make you uncomfortable. He wondered how often Myron had had to practice walking in those two rooms to ensure that he didn't knock into anything or have a clumsy moment over one of the thick rugs.

He sipped on his tea as he reclined on Nasta and draped his feet over Myron's lap. He was very happy and very content. More so when Nasta started playing with his hair, he started making noises that were all but purring.

Myron chuckled deeply. "He loves having his hair played with, don't do it too much though, it sends him to sleep."

"No, I can't be sleeping just yet." Harry agreed with a dopey smile.

"Why not?" Nasta asked him curiously as he tugged on Harry's hair gently, tipping his head back to look at him.

Harry grinned. "We have to rechristen the bed with you in it this time." He told Nasta seriously.

"You're pregnant." Nasta blurted out.

"Yeah, how do you think I got in that condition in the first place?"

"He's worried that he'll hurt the baby." Myron said. "Most dominants who have never had a child before are worried about harming the growing baby and because the baby is mine, he doesn't want me to think that he's trying to harm my baby to replace it with his own."

"That's ridiculous, Myron and I have sex very often, the baby's still fine. You might have a big cock, I don't know yet, but I very much doubt that it's big enough to come close to touching the baby, you're not going to poke the baby in the eye or something from having sex with me."

Myron snorted. "Eloquently phrased, love."

"Eloquent my hairy arse." Harry muttered.

"You don't have a hairy arse." Myron told him. "You've got soft downy peach fuzz."

Harry tried to look stern at Myron as he heard that, but his lips kept threatening to pull into a grin, until he couldn't hold it back and he started laughing hard.

"Way to make me feel like a man, love." He said, giving Myron a double thumbs up.

"Man or not, you're never going to grow in hair, you don't have a single curl on your chest or chin, you need to face up to the fact that you're never going to get stubble like Nasta and I, we're virile, hairy men, you're peach fuzz at best."

"I think I'm offended." Harry sniffed, crossing his arms and turning away from Myron.

Myron grabbed him, dragged him back and kissed him hard, inserting his tongue into Harry's mouth.

"I'm not offended anymore." Harry said breathlessly. "No, wait, I am…you'll have to kiss me some more."

Myron and Nasta laughed and Myron picked him up and kissed him again, cradling him in his arms. He hadn't realised they were moving until he was suddenly dumped on a bed and the short fall had him flinging out his arms and legs in an ingrained reflex somewhere in the back of his brain.

"That was mean." Harry declared, before he grabbed a hold of Nasta and dragged him on top of himself.

They kissed hard and Harry put his all into that kiss was he was rewarded by Nasta making a soft sound and crawling onto the bed more fully, planting his knee in the mattress to kneel over Harry so that he could kiss him more thoroughly.

"Strip, both of you." Myron growled demandingly.

Nasta gave a slight show of defiance, pulling back slowly from their kiss, waiting a few moments before he crawled off of Harry, but he did start pulling his clothes off…slowly.

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

Harry woke up slowly, blissfully. His body was humming pleasantly and he was sore in the best kind of way. He blinked open his eyes and sighed softly. The sun was ripping through the partially opened curtains and landing right on his face, it was no wonder he had been woken up.

He sat up, yawned and stretched and then he grinned as he saw that Myron was spooning a naked Nasta, whose arm Harry had been using as a pillow. Myron was still inside Nasta, they must have fallen asleep right after the sex too.

Harry got up and tugged the curtains fully closed so his mates didn't get woken up by the intruding sun and he went into the bathroom to clean himself up.

He didn't bother dressing; he just went down the stairs to the kitchen and started making tea and coffee for him, Myron and Nasta, who was going to have to suffer with normal black tea until they could get in his preferred green tea.

He started making breakfast because he was famished; he placed a hand over his swelling belly and stroked it gently.

"It's okay baby, I'll get some food to you soon." He promised as his belly growled again, ferociously.

He cooked up a packet of bacon and toasted an almost full loaf of bread to make toasted bacon sandwiches, he didn't know if Nasta preferred brown sauce, red sauce or no sauce in his sandwiches, but he did know that Myron had his covered with a generously thick layer of brown sauce and he licked his finger as he finished buttering the toast and he put the sizzling bacon onto the toast, lined it with brown sauce, sandwiched it shut and then took a massive bite from it.

He moaned in relish as he tore at it like an animal. There was something about the first meal after being thoroughly fucked that just made it taste a thousand times better.

"You'd better have made some for us too." Myron growled as he cuddled Harry's naked body to his clothed one as he robbed a freshly made bacon sandwich and sat by the cup of coffee that was now the perfect temperature to drink.

Harry rolled his eyes and handed a plate with two toasted sandwiches to Nasta with an almost shy smile.

"I didn't know if you liked brown sauce or red." He admitted a little nervously.

Nasta smiled at him softly and pulled him into a hug and a kiss.

"These smell absolutely wonderful, Harry and for bacon sandwiches, it has to be brown sauce." Nasta told him with a wink.

Harry grinned as he put the tomato sauce back in the cupboard, he finished off the last of the sandwiches he was making and gave another two to Myron and another one to Nasta and he kept the other one for himself.

"You need more than that." Myron insisted.

"I've eaten three already." Harry said with a grin. "I've been eating them as I was making them, they're better hot and fresh from the frying pan and baby's enjoying them too." He said, patting his belly happily.

"Is the baby doing well today?" Nasta asked.

"Definitely, the baby and I are very happy, very well sated and now full of toasted bacon sandwiches too. Can't get happier than that." Harry said with a grin.

Myron smiled at him and Harry grinned back.

"We have a scan soon. I'm so excited. You'll be happy with either sex, won't you?" Harry asked a bit concernedly.

"Of course I will. I'm not some interbred Pureblood that demands a son and Heir from my spouse elsewise I'll get rid of them both and try again with a new one."

Harry chuckled as he thought of Draco Malfoy, who was definitely looking more than a little sickly lately. He wanted to go nosing into that reason, but he stopped himself, Malfoy's business was his own, if he was sick he was sure that Lucius Malfoy of all people would have taken his only son and Heir to Saint Mungos already, he had two mates now and he was about to become a mother, he couldn't go prying into unknown, potentially dangerous situations that were really none of his business anymore, he wasn't that boy any more.

"What are we doing today?" He asked instead to take his mind off of Malfoy and his mysterious, sudden illness.

"I am going to help Nasta move in here while you can get on with some of your summer homework."

Harry groaned. "Can't I just help with the moving?"

"Absolutely not, some of the things I have are heavy and they all have to be packed into boxes and carried out, not everything I own can be messed around with magic."

Harry huffed. "Forcing me to do school work in the bloody summer."

"It's the middle of August, it'll be September soon and then you'll be left with a last minute scramble to finish it all, which means you won't do it properly. Don't let your good marks slip now just because you can't be bothered to do it."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Fine, though I want it known that if you catch your fingers or drop anything on your foot, I'll be sure to laugh."

Nasta chuckled and hid his smile behind his mug of tea. "I'm sure we won't injure ourselves moving some boxes." He said placatingly.

So that was how Harry found himself sitting at the living room coffee table, his summer homework spread all over it, listening to Myron and Nasta move boxes of books and clothes and fuck knew what else as Nasta had visited countries that Harry hadn't even heard of before and had trinkets and souvenirs from all of them.

Which reminded Harry of his shells, fossils and smooth stones that he had picked up from the pebble beach on what was really his first date with both Myron and Nasta. They'd carefully cleaned and dried the shells and Myron had let Harry place a few of the bigger, prettier shells on the bookcase. Harry hoped that Nasta's souvenirs were displayed as well, not just left in boxes in the attic to collect dust, he wanted Nasta to remember his past, but he also hoped that they went on more holidays, on more day trips and they made their own memories together and got souvenirs that they all could look at and remember past memories fondly.

Harry took a break around lunch time and he had a cup of tea and a cup of coffee ready for when Myron and Nasta came home with another load of stuff from Nasta's small, one person apartment. He started making pasta with a simple tomato sauce. He didn't think anyone would be able to handle a heavy lunch in this heat and both of his mates were sweating like pigs after their morning of high activity.

Harry had all of the windows and doors thrown open and he was still sweltering hot as there wasn't a breeze to speak of.

He heard Myron and Nasta floo back into the house and he smiled. It was a dopey smile too, the kind that made him look like he'd been heavily dosed with a love potion, but he did love them. Nasta was very easy to live with and very easy to love and he couldn't wait for his heat period next week so that he could fully bond Nasta to him permanently. Then perhaps after this baby was born, he could get pregnant with Nasta's baby. He'd like that.

"How one man can amass so much stuff, it's unbelievable." Myron was grousing as he came into the kitchen, kissed Harry deeply and then snatched up his coffee, only to drain the entire mug without stopping for a breath.

"I'm sorry. We don't have to bring it all, most of it can stay where it…"

"No, I want it all here. I want you to get rid of that horrible little apartment; you live here now, with Harry and I. You don't need to keep the apartment, not even as a storage facility, when we live in a house as big as this. It's just finding a place to put it all. We're going to be doing full scale redecorating at this rate."

"If that's the case then I vote we change the bathroom from white and green to white and blue." Harry pitched in with a grin as he chopped up fresh tomatoes and added them to the basic tomato sauce he'd made.

"I told you, white and blue is clichéd." Myron said, bumping his hip into Harry's side.

"I don't care if it's clichéd, it looks nicer." Harry huffed as he stirred the pasta.

"Fine, we'll change the bathroom colour scheme whilst we redecorate." Myron shook his head, but he was smiling.

"You don't mind redecorating for us?" Nasta asked, for what had to be the seventh time since Myron had suggested it.

Myron pulled him into a hug with one arm and kissed his stubbled cheek.

"Not even a little bit, it'll do this old place some good to have some fresh ideas and perspectives thrown into it. It's too me and not enough us."

"It's all about compromise." Harry put in with a nod as he tore up a few basil leaves and threw them into his sauce before he drained the pasta into a sieve over the sink, patted it with a piece of paper kitchen roll and then dumped the lot into the sauce and stirred.

He made a small side salad, more for variety than anything else, before he spooned the pasta onto the plates, garnished it with a few more basil leaves and served his mates with a flourish.

"I'm not the best cook in the world." He said with a grin. "But I know how to make things that taste good."

"I'd have to disagree with you there, this is stunning. To me, who can barely cook the basics to keep myself alive, you're the best cook who has ever lived." Nasta told him with a smirk and a wink.

Harry laughed happily before he shoved more food into his mouth, chewed and then swallowed, all in quick succession only to repeat at a fast pace. He was starving and the more he ate, the more his belly was rumbling for food.

"I don't think this is going to touch the sides." He said with a frown as he finished all of his food and patted his belly, which still felt hollow.

"I have some apple tarts in the freezer." Myron told him with a shrug and Harry grinned as he got up, dumped his plate into the sink and went digging out the apple tarts. There was a full box of six and Harry happily put them all into the oven and dug out a tin of custard.

He went to wash up while he waited for them to cook, but Nasta chased him away with a tea towel and started washing up himself. Harry shook his head as Myron started making tea and coffee for them. It was all very domestic, moving Nasta in, eating a meal that Harry had made together at the same table, doing the dishes, making the tea and coffee that each person preferred. It was peaceful and Harry sighed happily, almost dreamily. He loved this so much and he didn't understand why exactly he had held his meeting back for so long. He could have had extra months with Myron and Nasta; he might have even had his first baby by now if he hadn't have been so scared of everything.

He pressed a hand to his pregnant belly and he smiled softly. He couldn't wait to meet his very first little one. He dreamed about holding his baby in his arms and he couldn't wait for the day that he gave birth, just so that he could hold and kiss his baby for the first time. He wondered yet again if he was having a baby boy or a baby girl.

"Myron, where are we going to put the nursery?" Harry asked suddenly, breaking off the conversation Myron and Nasta were having about Myron's upcoming business meeting.

"There's a small room adjoined to our bedroom, it's through the door beside the bed that I thought would be perfect for a nursery. It's empty at the moment if you'd like to have a look at it. If you don't like it then there is a spare room directly opposite our bedroom door that's also unused and would be suited as a nursery."

Harry nodded. "I want to see. We have to start thinking about sorting it out. I'm going to be busy enough as it is without worrying about where my baby is going to sleep when we bring them home after graduation and I refuse to let a man who thinks white and green looks better than white and blue in a bathroom sort out my baby's nursery without supervision."

Myron snorted. "I told you it's because white and blue is clichéd, not because I think it looks bad, but if that's what you want to do, then we can help Nasta unpack first and then spend some time doing up the nursery."

Harry nodded his agreement to that schedule. "I just don't want to have the baby around December, only to come home for the holidays and not have anywhere for the baby to sleep or anything ready, you said I could give birth as early as November, and with me being in school, we have to buy some things that the baby will need, even if it is very early and I haven't even had a scan yet. I'll be back in school in just under three weeks and I haven't gotten a single thing for the baby yet."

Harry was almost panicking by then as he realised the extent of the problem he was faced with. He needed to be able to focus on his school work, this was his final N.E.W.T year, these exams really mattered if he was at all going to get a decent job once he graduated, he had to focus on them and do well, but he didn't even have anywhere for the baby to sleep or even a simple carry cot for the baby. If he was so focused on his school work, then he couldn't then take the time he would need to pick out things for his baby, which was something he really wanted to do, even though he was only two months pregnant, if he didn't do it now, then he'd never have the time.

"Calm down, Cariad, we'll go to Diagon Alley and we'll buy some things today if you want." Nasta held him tightly and soothed him. "It's only lunch time and I've had enough of packing and unpacking my stuff for one day."

"Cariad?" Harry asked curiously.

Nasta smiled a little that boarded on a smirk. "It's Welsh for lover."

Harry chuckled. "I like it."

"Let's get some of Nasta's essential things unpacked, like his toiletries and some clothes, and then we'll go." Myron said as he came to hug them both, kissing them each in turn on the forehead.

"I want to see the rooms that could be nurseries too, and they have to be specced out, I can't buy nursery furniture that won't even fit in the room!"

"I think you're underestimating the size of the room, love." Myron told him seriously. "I'm sure a fully kitted out nursery will fit with enough room left over that it doesn't even look cramped."

Harry smiled at that and he just had to go and see the room for himself, so he scoffed his apple tart and custard before rushing to climb the stairs, Myron and Nasta following behind him with a few boxes of Nasta's clothes to place into the huge, walk-in, wardrobe that Myron had. It was almost as big as their en suite bathroom and they had a huge en suite bathroom too.

Harry left his mates to pick out a section for Nasta's clothes, just as he and Myron had done for all of Harry's clothes, not that many of them even deserved to be hung up as the ratty, torn and worn clothing weren't even fit to be called rags.

He went through the door that he had seen, but hadn't gone into yet and he grinned. The room was about the same size as the en suite and it was completely bare basics in there. It had wallpaper, carpet and curtains over the netted windows. That was it, nothing else was in the room and the huge space was beautiful and open and Harry wanted it immediately as his baby's nursery.

"What do you think?" Myron asked as he checked in on him.

"I love it; this room will be our baby's nursery. I don't like the stone beige colour though."

"We can change the colour easily enough." Myron told him. "Do you want a themed nursery or do you not care as long as it all matches?"

Harry shrugged. "I've never seen nursery furniture before, I can't see me wanting a themed room, maybe when the baby is older and can choose for themselves what they like, but I think as long as it's all safe, sturdy and that it matches at least a little, I'll be very happy."

Myron nodded and led them out of the nursery and they got ready to go out to Diagon Alley. Not only were they going shopping for baby things for the first time, but it would also be the first time that they had been out in wizarding public since Harry had chosen Nasta, the papers tomorrow morning were going to be interesting to say the least.

* * *

The first thing Harry noticed when he went downstairs after waking up the next day was that there were people talking, too many people talking.

He frowned and detoured towards the noise and found that the living room was full of people. He recognised some of them as Myron's family; Alexander was there, Julius and Claire, Xerxes, Sandor, Lydia, Kyra and Aurelia were also in the living room, but there were two men that he didn't know and one sad looking woman that he didn't know, but she looked so much like Kyra that they had to be identical twins, except really for the height difference, so he assumed that she was Kyra's identical twin sister, Kyrie.

"What's going on?" He asked as he moved closer to Myron and tucked himself into his mate's side.

"The papers printed those pictures of us shopping yesterday." Myron told him. "Nasta's family saw it before he had a chance to tell them that he'd mated."

Harry made an 'O' of understanding and looked to the two new men.

"So you're Nasta's Dads?" He asked.

At once everyone started laughing clamorously; even Nasta himself chuckled as he came to stand beside him.

"What? Why does everyone always laugh at me when I say something? What did I say that was so uproariously funny this time?" He demanded.

"That's my Dad and my older brother, Sanex, Harry." Nasta told him with a grin.

Harry blushed so hard he felt lightheaded and he wanted the floor to open up wide and swallow him whole so that he didn't have to deal with the embarrassment and humiliation of his latest foot in mouth comment.

"I am so sorry, you just both look near enough the same age and I thought that you…"

Harry was drowned out by another round of, louder, laughter and he buried his face into his hands as he realised that he'd well and truly stuffed his foot in his mouth with that comment. This was his first meeting with Nasta's family and he was making himself come across as a brainless, insensitive moron to them. He could have screamed with the frustration he felt at his runaway mouth.

"I'm just going to stop talking." He declared as he turned and buried himself into Myron's robes.

Myron wrapped him in a hug and stroked his back gently with his huge hands as the laughter died away.

"I think I'm highly insulted that your baby mate thinks that I'm twenty years older than I am, Nas."

"I rather think he was complimenting Dad, Nex. After all, you look forty, Dad doesn't look sixty."

"You're sixty!" Harry gasped, turning around to look at the man he thought looked slightly older out of the two, before realising that he could have made that a third strike for his runaway mouth and he buried his face back into his hands to prevent anything more coming out of his mouth.

The man he'd spoken to nodded with a chuckle. "I am."

"This is my Dad, Aneirin." Nasta introduced, forcing Harry's head from his hands to drag him forward to introduce them together.

"Nice to meet you." Harry mumbled embarrassedly.

"Aww, he's gone all shy!" Nasta's brother, Sanex, cooed. "He's so cute, Nas. Whose cradle did you rob to get him?"

Harry went from embarrassed to pissed off in a heartbeat. He didn't need to do anything though as Nasta gripped a hold on Harry's hand in silent support and Aneirin cuffed Sanex around the ear.

"What was that for?" Sanex asked as he raised a hand to rub at his sore spot. "I was just curious."

"Stop being so rude, Sanex." Aneirin told his son. "We've just met Harry and you're already angering him."

"He's cuter when he's angry. What I'd imagine an irritated kitten would look like if you took his toys from him."

Harry didn't even think about what he was doing, he took out his wand from his sleeve and he hit Sanex with a full body bind curse. His arms and legs snapped immediately together and the force of Harry's spell knocked him onto his back, four feet behind where he had been previously standing.

"You deserve that." Nasta told his brother as he moved Harry out into the kitchen to get him some tea. "Ignore him Harry; he is very…childish at heart."

"Why does he look about as old as your Dad?" Harry asked curiously. It had been increasingly bothering him the more he gave thought to it.

"Sanex is human, Harry. My Dad is a Dracken. So my Dad is aging slower and Sanex is aging as normal."

"Does that mean that your brother will look older than your Dad in several years?"

Nasta frowned. "I never thought of it, possibly, but then he may not. As Drackens we do age, just slower than humans, so when Sanex is sixty, my Dad will be eighty, and he won't be looking like a forty year old anymore when he's eighty, love."

Harry nodded and accepted the tea handed to him. The first gulp made him feel instantly better.

"Is it alright? I think I'm getting better at making it how you like it."

"It's perfect, love. Thank you. Are you happier now that you picked up your green tea?"

Nasta smiled at him and nodded. "I am. My brew this morning tasted extra wonderful because I've been drinking black tea for the last few days."

Harry put his cup down, reached up and cupped Nasta's face and pulled him down for a kiss.

"I forgot to give you a morning kiss with everyone here. Myron hasn't had one either. I don't like that."

Nasta's smirk could have won competitions for smugness as he wrapped his arms around Harry's back and pulled him into a deeper, longer, more lingering kiss.

"Good morning, Harry." He greeted softly. "I love you."

Harry's grin almost split his face. "I love you too, even if it has only been a few days. You've convinced me that I definitely made the right decision in picking you and I feel as strongly for you as I do for Myron, maybe a little more possessive of you at the moment though, as we aren't properly bonded yet."

Nasta chuckled. "I feel the same, I just want your heat to come so that I might finally settle down and come to realise that you're mine and no one will be able to take you away from me."

"Not ever." Harry declared strongly as he went onto his tip toes and kissed Nasta soundly.

He did wonder if he had a tall person fetish though, or at least a turn on. Nasta was six foot six, above average for males, and Myron was six foot ten, well above the average and bordering on impossibly, gigantically tall.

He loved them both and he loved that they were both tall and broad, but though Nasta looked less bulky, Harry had felt the strength in his body and he knew that Nasta had hidden muscle where Myron's muscle was more obvious to the naked eye.

Harry went back down onto his feet and he smiled at Nasta, before he picked up his cup of tea and went back into the living room. Everyone was sat down now and Sanex looked thoroughly chastened as he sat next to his Father.

Harry ignored everyone, sat next to Myron and leant over him to kiss his mouth.

"Good morning, love."

Myron smiled as he realised what Harry was doing. They'd kept the same morning ritual of greeting each other with a kiss that it was already becoming a habit.

"Morning, Harry." He rumbled back. "How are you and the baby?"

"Perfectly fine. I still haven't felt the baby move, but you said that I'd need to be about three, four months for that, yes?"

Myron nodded. "We need to have your first scan before your heat period too."

Harry nodded. "Two days. I floo called Saint Mungos yesterday."

"When did you do that?" Nasta asked curiously.

"When you and Myron were upstairs, cursing and banging around trying to set the cot up without using magic."

Myron nodded. "We got it set up though, didn't we?"

Harry smiled and nodded. "Yes, you did. Thank you for doing that."

"You bought a cot? Oh what does the nursery look like?" Kimberly said softly.

Harry stood up. "I'll show you if you'd like."

He led his Mother-in-law up the stairs and into their bedroom and then through to the nursery. He loved it. It was all handpicked by him and all the furniture was handmade and expertly crafted. They'd bought an entire nursery set and they had been photographed buying said nursery set and it had appeared in the Daily Prophet that morning.

The walls were white and pale blue and the large, solid, walnut wood, curved sleigh cot that he had fallen in love with was in the middle of the left side wall, there was a gorgeous soft blue rug in front of it that Harry loved, the carpet was white, the matching changing table was opposite the cot, a dresser beside it, there was a toy chest beside the cot and a wardrobe on the wall opposite the door, next to one of the huge windows, the curtains were also blue.

The set had come with a gorgeous solid, dark wooden rocking chair and footstool and the matching bassinet that were both padded with white fabric, the cushion and back padding tied onto the rocking chair was very thick and looked amazingly comfortable.

The mattress in the bassinet was thick and spongy, the sheets were white, the bedding was white and the side padding was white, it looked amazing altogether. The bassinet was going to stay in the nursery until he actually gave birth, they had two of them, both the same and the one was still flat packed as it was going to come to Hogwarts with them as he was definitely going to give birth before he graduated.

"Why is the room accented with blue sweetheart, I didn't realise you knew you were having a boy." Kimberly said.

"Oh, I don't. None of us are much fans of pink though, and I figured that this soft, dainty shade of blue is suitable enough for a boy or a girl. It's not like very many people are going to see the nursery and we're not going to be dressing our baby daughter in dungarees and ball caps, so I thought it wouldn't matter. I like the colour blue and Nasta and Myron did too, so we all decided on this one as an accent."

"I think it's lovely." Kimberly said with a smile. "I wish I'd thought of it when I was having my children, it would have been much easier to keep the same colour scheme, as it was I redecorated with every pregnancy, it drove Alexander crazy with worry." She laughed delicately. "He was always worried that the paint fumes would make me faint or damage the babies."

"Myron and Nasta were the same." Harry nodded. "I wasn't allowed upstairs until the smell of the paint had been vented out. It was freezing up here because all the windows in every room were wide open and despite it being a hot day, it got cold when the sun went down."

Kimberly laughed and they headed back down the stairs.

"What made it worse." Harry told her. "Was that we bought special non-toxic paint that is safe for use by pregnant people, and I still wasn't allowed upstairs to help with the painting."

That made Kimberly laugh harder as they went into the living room. Alexander was beaming at his laughing mate as she trailed off into soft giggles.

"What is the nursery like?" Alexander asked his mate and his Wife as she sat back down next to him.

"Oh it's beautiful Alex." Kimberly sighed. "Harry has picked it out wonderfully; the cot alone is a work of art."

"Okay, now I have to go and see it." Xerxes said with a wink. "Can I go up and look?"

"Go right ahead." Harry said, gesturing to the door.

He stayed downstairs with Kimberly and Nasta as Myron went to show his brothers and sisters, his sister-in-law, his Father and Aneirin and Sanex the nursery they had spent the afternoon and evening of yesterday shopping for and then putting together, with much cursing and growls of frustration from his mates as he hadn't actually been allowed to do anything, he'd just supervised and happily pointed out where they were going wrong as he tested out his new rocking chair as he watched them struggle and toil over getting the flat packed nursery furniture put together safely and securely.

The rest of the meet and greet went well after the initial bumps and by lunch time, they were left alone again and Harry rested back on the settee. He was only two months pregnant, he knew that, but he was feeling a slight strain from the pregnancy all the same, he cupped the slight swell of his belly and tried to gauge how much weight it was. He'd put on a little bit of weight himself and he was ecstatic about missing his usual summer starvation diet of living on cold tinned soup, maybe a slice or two of bread and maybe a piece of overripe fruit if he was lucky.

He could see his mates were worried about what he had gone through, he knew Myron would have shared his worries with Nasta over what Harry had told him when they'd first mated. Harry didn't want to think about back then though. He was happier now than he'd ever been, he was in love for the first time, he was pregnant and he had both of his mates with him for the rest of their lives. He didn't want to think about the Dursleys now at all, they were out of his life and he was never going back to them, he'd never have to ever see them again and he was even starting his own family and he didn't need them anymore. Everything was going smoothly, perfectly even and he was happy.

* * *

Waiting in the hospital was torturous as he sat between his two mates and bounced his knee rapidly against the floor. His heart was beating a mile a minute and he hadn't been able to eat anything that morning.

He didn't know why he was this nervous, he had been near enough this nervous when he was fourteen, sitting in that tent alone, waiting for his turn to face a nesting dragon. There was no risk to his life from this though; all he was waiting for was the first scan of his two month old baby growing in his belly. He didn't know why that made him as nervous as he had felt as a fourteen year old waiting to face a dragon.

He'd told his mates just that as well as he sat between them, bouncing his knee. He even told Nasta about how he had gotten past his dragon without injuring her or her eggs, as Nasta had heard that half of a clutch of eggs had been destroyed in the task and he had refused to buy anything related to the Tri-wizard tournament in his own personal protest of them using dragons for the games, so he hadn't known who had been responsible for hurting a dragon and needlessly killing off unborn dragons for mere sport.

"Mister Potter?" An Orderly in yellow robes called out.

Harry's hands reflexively clenched around both Nasta's and Myron's hands and he swallowed around his suddenly dry throat. He took a deep breath and stood up and he dragged Myron and Nasta with him as he followed the Orderly into a room where a Healer was ready and waiting. He did wonder if that was normal, didn't the Healer usually wait until he was undressed and lying down before entering the room?

Myron didn't like it either it seemed as he gave the Healer a look and then turned to help Harry take off his shirt and get up onto the bed.

"I understand that this is your first scan?" The Healer said, holding his professionalism around him by the skin of his teeth after Myron's look.

Harry nodded. "Yes, I'm a little over two months pregnant, I conceived on the nineteenth of June."

"Oh, you know the exact day you conceived? That's unusual, but it helps make my job easier." The man smiled. "If you'd like to lie down."

Harry lay back and dragged Nasta up by his head and held his hand and breathed easily and deeply.

"It'll be alright, Cariad." Nasta breathed into his ear softly. "We won't let anything happen to you."

Harry relaxed a little and swallowed, turning to look at Myron who was stood shoulder to shoulder with Nasta, hovering over his bump as the Healer took out a big bottle of gel.

"This will be cold." He warned right before he squeezed the bottle and Harry about jumped out of his skin as the cool gel touched his warm skin.

Nasta's hand reached over him and brushed his cheek and hair, cupping his face and kissing him and Harry eased down again.

The transducer was rolled through the gel and then all over his belly and it was dug in quite deeply, which worried Harry. Was the Healer supposed to press so hard into his belly?

It took a long while before the Healer found anything and Harry was getting more and more worried as the time slipped by and not even Nasta by his head could calm him as he became twitchy.

"Ah, there we go." The Healer exclaimed and Harry craned his head to look at the screen. He saw black, a lot of grainy grey and a tiny prick of white in the middle.

"What am I looking at?" Harry asked confusedly.

"This black area is the sac in which the baby is held; the grey areas are your body, the little white speck near the middle, that is your baby."

"It's so small. Is it supposed to be that small?" Harry asked panicked.

The Healer was nodding before Harry had finished the question. "You're two months pregnant, this is perfectly normal, baby often looks like a shrimp at eight weeks old, but if you look, this lighter, little speck in the middle, that's the baby's heartbeat."

Harry stared hard at that little spot that was the size of a pinprick and he grinned. That was proof that his baby was alive and he was happy to see it.

"There's nothing to worry about?" Myron asked.

"Nothing, the baby is fine as far as we can tell at the moment, the heartbeat is strong, an average one hundred and sixty-two beats a minute and there are no abnormalities in the sac or the placenta. Everything looks good."

Harry laughed in relief and Myron wiped the gel from his belly with a soft, clean towel that the Healer had held out and Nasta helped sit him up and Myron helped him with his shirt that he'd been holding.

"It was nice meeting you, Mister Potter."

Harry nodded and then he was gone, dragging Myron and Nasta with him again, pictures of his baby in Nasta's hand.

"I never want that Healer again." He said as they made their way to the bank of fireplaces. "He gave me a weird, creepy vibe. I didn't like it."

"I think he's a fan of your alter ego." Nasta said.

"Alter ego?" Harry said, looking over his shoulder at Nasta. "What am I, a superhero?"

"To some people you are." Myron told him seriously.

"I don't want to be."

"We know and I hope that you know that we don't see you like that at all."

"I wouldn't have picked either of you as my mates if you had." Harry said seriously. "I murdered someone. I think it's wrong that everyone is not only congratulating me and hero worshiping me for it, but that I was encouraged to be a murderer in the first place. It's disgusting. I was fifteen. I became a murderer at fifteen."

Harry went through the floo before either of his mates could say anything and he was in the kitchen boiling the kettle when first Nasta and then Myron joined him. Harry's jaw was clenched and his body tensed, his hands shaking as he set out three cups on the counter.

Myron pulled him into a firm hug, pressing the lengths of their bodies tightly together and Harry started full body shaking, holding back tears that he didn't want to let fall and he had no idea where they had come from. He had not once shed a single tear over destroying Voldemort as he had, why now?

"You're not a murderer. You're not a hero either. You did what you were pressured into doing by people who should have known better and who should now be ashamed of themselves."

"I killed a person at fifteen!"

"You shouldn't have had to." Nasta told him seriously. "It shouldn't have been you…but I don't think he was a person Harry. He had no humanity, nothing that made him human inside of him; I think if you didn't think of him as a person, then you'd stop hurting yourself so much over what happened."

"He needed to die." Myron said simply. "Nasta's right, it should never have been you, or even your responsibility just because he targeted you as a child, but it was you, you did kill him, but he also needed to be killed."

"It had to be me. There was a prophecy, it said that I either had to kill him, or he had to kill me because neither of us could live together. The exact wording was 'neither can live while the other survives.' It always had to be me, ever since he came to my house that night when I was just a baby and gave me this." Harry's hand rose to his forehead and touched his scar. "He marked me that night and our fates were tied together from that night, it had to be me or him."

"Then I'm glad that you killed him." Myron said dispassionately. "I love you and I'd rather have you here, than have him here."

Harry blinked and then he cocked his head to the one side thoughtfully.

"If I hadn't of killed him, then he'd still be here." Harry said slowly.

Nasta nodded. "And with you gone and named in a prophecy as the only one who could kill him…"

"There'd have been no one to stop him."

"Which is why he targeted you and only you, you were the only one who could stop him and he knew that."

"I feel…strangely better about it."

"How did you kill him?" Nasta asked softly.

Myron glared at him.

"He might need to talk it out if it was a traumatic way!" Nasta defended and Myron eased down as he realised that Nasta wasn't asking just through curiosity, but because he wanted to help Harry overcome these long buried feelings of guilt and pain.

"He possessed me, in the Atrium of the Ministry. Only he couldn't understand the love I held…for my friends, my family even though they were dead, for my Godfather Sirius, he underestimated me and how much I wanted for him to just be gone. I held onto him, anchored him to myself, even though I knew it could kill me too, I wouldn't let him leave my body as I poured all of the love I felt for those around me into him. He was writhing in agony, his skin blistering as I seared him to death with the love that I felt and that he couldn't understand, that he could never understand and he was writhing around inside of me, screaming. My magic did that to him and I held him there, as his skin peeled away and his flesh fell away from his bones, cooking and crackling from the power and love of my magic. All he could do was curl up inside of me as I killed him, screaming himself hoarse in agony, before he just died."

Myron held him tightly from the front and Nasta wrapped him up from behind and they just held him.

"You should never have had to experience something like that." Myron said before kissing his head. "But I love you just the same and nothing will ever change that."

"He wasn't human, Harry. He was killing people just because of who they were born to, because they wouldn't join him, because they didn't agree with him. He killed his own followers; he killed babies, pregnant Mothers, children, just to punish their family members, just because they wouldn't join in on his madness. He needed to be stopped, love and he would never have left you alone if he'd been left alive. Can you imagine him being alive now? With you two months pregnant and with all the children that we are going to have in the future? Because with that prophecy, he never would have stopped targeting you, Harry."

Harry shivered and hugged his mates tighter.

"I'm glad that I killed him when I did. I'm glad that I took the first chance I had to kill him, not just for myself, but for all the people he would have killed had I not killed him then and there."

"That is why I love you so much." Myron declared. "Now let's get you a cup of tea and we can sit down and agonise over if we think the scan photos look like were having a baby boy or a girl even though it's impossible to tell yet."

"Personally, I think the scan photos look like we're having a squashed baby octopus." Nasta said seriously and Harry and Myron looked at him aghast. He shrugged nonchalantly. "At least you know it's definitely Myron's baby."

Harry laughed. He laughed until tears fell down his cheeks and he laughed harder when Myron swore that he would tie Nasta down, spank him until his bum cheeks were glowing and then fuck him until he couldn't even scream.

They were settled on the settee with tea and biscuits, flipping through the scan photos and Harry realised that he didn't actually feel bad about having killed Voldemort anymore. He snuggled into his mates tighter and he rested on them, so very thankful that he had them both.

He felt like a huge weight that had been crushing him into the ground had been eased off of his shoulders and now he could finally stand up straight again. He loved Myron and Nasta more for helping to ease that weight off of him, for telling him that it was alright that he had destroyed Voldemort, for reassuring him that they still loved him, despite the manner in which he had killed Voldemort. He hadn't realised that he'd even needed to hear it from them, but he had and they had given him exactly what he needed, told him exactly what he'd needed to hear from them and they still loved him afterwards, he could never repay them for the immense pressure and guilt that they had pulled off of him.

That's really all he could have wanted, even if he'd never have asked for it from anyone, it had been given to him freely and he had taken it and he loved that his mates had done that for him and that they'd told him that what he had done was for the best, that they still loved him and he felt like he could breathe easier knowing that despite the evil deed that he had done at fifteen years old, regardless of whether or not it had been warranted or needed, that it didn't affect his mates love for him.

Anyone else he could have dealt with, other people who didn't matter to him could say what they liked about him and he wouldn't have cared a toss, it was the opinions of his mates that counted to him and knowing that they didn't care at all allowed him to lay all of those bad feelings to rest for good. His mind found peace when thinking about the death of Voldemort and his hand in it for the first time and he would be forever grateful to Myron and Nasta for giving that to him freely.

* * *

Harry woke up two days after his first scan already panting heavily and writhing on the bed. He flung both arms out and he realised then that he was the only one in the bed. He whined softly and rolled around on the bed, curling up, then stretching out and then twisting himself onto his back and then onto his belly. He sat up, but that made him feel worse, so he lay back down and spread himself open. He was glad that he was already naked; his clothes would have been restricting and he didn't want them on his body, not at all.

He let out a distress call, screaming for his two mates. He needed them both. He was already pregnant, but he needed to bond his second mate to him, he wanted his second mate to be here. He let out another, louder call for his second mate.

* * *

**Removed Scene!**

* * *

Harry woke up and he felt so much better than the first time that he'd woken up off of a heat period, but he really, really needed a piss. As in desperately, like if he didn't get to a toilet, or even a bucket very soon, then he was going to have an accident, bad.

He leapt out of bed, ignoring his screaming, protesting muscles and even his aching bones, as he raced to the en suite bathroom and though he didn't exactly make it in time, he only trickled a little bit of wee over his leg before he managed to reach the toilet. He really hated this part of the heat periods and he was overall very glad that he wouldn't have another one now until after he had given birth near January.

He caressed his belly and sighed as he continued weeing, on and on and on until he thought he was going to lose half of his baby bump with the amount of fluid he was excreting.

He finally finished, stood up, flushed the toilet and washed his hands in the sink. He was clean and pink skinned again, after what he was sure was a hideous mess that had been left behind from the heat period.

He wobbled his way out to the bedroom and he sluggishly tugged on a pair of boxer shorts that looked like they were Nasta's. He slouched down the stairs and went into the kitchen and he climbed onto the first seat he found, uncaring that it was already occupied with Nasta's Father, Aneirin.

A big arm was wrapped around his waist and he rested on Aneirin, leaning back against him bonelessly as he listened to soft voices around him.

A cup of tea was pushed in front of him and the subtle smell of honey had him falling on the cup and draining it. He ignored the laughter around the room that that action had gotten him. He just didn't care.

He did whine however when he was picked up by Myron and sat on his lap instead. The fact that he was cuddled in that warm bulk made it all worth it in his opinion as he yawned widely and curled himself up as much as he could in Myron's lap.

It took him a few moments to realise that he wasn't being rocked, but shaken and someone was trying to get his attention.

"Leave the boy sleep, Myron! Honestly." Alexander's voice sounded stern and chastising, but Harry still blinked open his eyes and looked up at Myron.

"Uh?" He grunted in a farce of a question.

"I asked if you were hungry, love."

Harry pondered on that and he shook his head. "I want more tea." He said almost pleadingly.

"You heard him, get him some tea, Myron." Alexander sounded like he was having far too much fun winding up his son and Harry smiled as he was shifted over to another body, who smelt very much like Nasta, and he was cuddled back into big arms.

"I'm not sure I like these heat periods." Harry complained as he snuggled in tighter to Nasta, feeling a sharp twinge in his lower spine that had him hissing.

"You don't have to have another one now for several months." Nasta murmured into his hair, giving him a kiss.

Harry nodded. "Good."

He accepted the second cup of tea from Myron and he sipped at this one as he rested his battered feeling body.

"Are you hungry now?" Myron asked him.

Harry shook his head. "Not yet, I think I 'ate' more than enough on that heat period."

"Ah, of course. Pregnant heats, he would have taken sustenance from your bodies." Aneirin nodded. "I remember a friend of mine telling me about her heat period when she was pregnant and bonding to her third mate. She drank their blood, licked their sweat and she felt better than she had from her first two heats."

Harry nodded. "I remember doing the same. I felt…invigorated and energised, not at all drained like I had during and after my first heat."

"So you're not hungry because you're full of blood?" Nasta asked and Harry pulled a face.

"That's a horrible way to say it, but yes. I…it's hard to explain, but I've fed from your bodies, so the baby and I are well fed for now. I'm sure that'll change once I've woken up a little and normal function has resumed."

"Normal function." Myron snorted a laugh and Harry grinned at him.

"Myron and I were ravenous when we woke up." Nasta told him.

"Probably because I took all that blood from you both." Harry reasoned with a nod.

"More than likely." Myron agreed. "I wanted red meat, the rarer the better and I had a particular craving for oysters, which I've only tried once in my life time and didn't actually like."

"Oysters are very high in iron." Nasta said. "Something our bodies would have both been craving after losing so much blood to Harry's feeding."

"I think I instinctively knew how much I needed to take against how much you could both lose." Harry said thoughtfully. "I knew just when to stop and which mate I needed to take blood from."

Nasta squeezed him and gave him a kiss, his hand pressing against his baby belly gently.

"I think we'll leave you boys alone." Aneirin said with a smile as he got up and hugged them all goodbye, even Myron, who looked a little shocked as he was hugged tightly by the shorter man and then by his own Father, who also left them to themselves and only then did Harry breathe in deeply and he happily splayed himself more fully over Nasta, uncaring that he was in just a pair of ill-fitting boxer-briefs now that their visitors had gone.

"Better?" Nasta asked him with a very sexy smirk.

Harry nodded. "More comfortable at least." He grinned.

"Do you want to go into the living room then, so you can spread out on the settee?" Myron asked him.

"I want to be on that gorgeous new rug you bought." Harry corrected as Nasta stood up, Harry in his arms and he was carried to the living room, where Nasta slipped to his knees to lay him on the rug in front of the fireplace as gently as he could.

Harry winced when one of Nasta's knees popped before he was suddenly on the thick, plush rug that Myron had bought recently after witnessing Harry face planting the floor and skinning the palms of his hands on the carpet.

"Are you alright? I heard your knee clicking from over here." Myron asked Nasta.

"I'm still a little stiff." Nasta chuckled. "Just let me work out the kinks in my body and I'll be fine."

"I like you better when you're stiff." Harry said with a straight face as he stretched out on the rug in front of the fire, which wasn't lit as it was already sweltering hot and it was only just past midday.

Myron smirked and Nasta chuckled as he bent over Harry and kissed him hard and deep. Harry heard a smack and Nasta's body jolted forward and he looked up curiously only to realise then that Nasta's bum had been in the air from where he'd bent over Harry to kiss him and Myron had walked over and slapped those perfectly positioned cheeks with an open hand.

He laughed hard and pulled Nasta down and kissed him again, putting his mate's bum back up for Myron's hand to take advantage of, which it did with another open handed slap.

"I don't think more sex right now would make any of us feel better." Nasta said softly.

"It might." Harry said with a grin. "You never know if you don't try."

Nasta rolled Harry gently onto his side and he gasped sharply in pain. Harry was laid back on the rug and had Nasta's 'I told you so' face staring at him from above.

"Okay, so I'm not quite ready to put my body through such abuses just yet, doesn't mean I don't want to watch you both together."

"Abuses? Abuses he says!" Nasta chuckled, looking to Myron in amusement.

"I heard him." Myron nodded as he sat down with them on the rug. "I think we should take his advice, if he dislikes our abuses so much."

"I never said I disliked it." Harry said with a cheeky grin as he stretched out on the rug as much as his cramping muscles would allow.

"Make up your mind."

"I have, I like your brutal abuses."

"Oh, it's brutal now too?" Myron questioned.

"You definitely are, and I love it." Harry said. "I don't much like walking like a constipated penguin the next morning, but I do like the screaming orgasms. Very, very much love those screaming orgasms."

His mates laughed at him and Myron pressed a solid, huge hand to his belly and Harry smiled at him softly, putting his much smaller hand over the top of it and held it to his baby belly.

"It's gotten bigger." Myron said softly with a hint of gruff in his throat.

Harry nodded. "You haven't seen it properly in eleven days, the heat is about one thing only and I slept for a full day afterwards if that paper I spied on the table has the correct date on it. It looks a lot bigger now than when the heat started."

Nasta nodded and he added his own hand to the pile, covering Harry's and Myron's hands, before he bent yet again, this time to kiss his baby bump.

"This baby is going to be the most cherish child ever born." He declared. "At least until we have a second child that is, then they'll just have to share the love and care given to them."

Harry smiled at that.

"We won't be spoiling them." Myron said strongly. "I will not let our family be disrespected and dishonoured by having spoilt brats for children that think they can walk all over us and treat us and other people like dirt."

"I completely agree." Nasta said with an assuring nod.

"No child of mine will ever act in such a way." Harry sniffed.

His mates shared a look and then looked at him and he detected a hint of worry or maybe concern in their gazes.

"I'm not being conceited or disillusioned." Harry told them as he thought he might have figured out what the problem was. "I had nothing growing up and I mean nothing, not just missing luxuries like games consoles or books or masses of toys. I would have sold my soul for a piece of bread on some days; I used to wish that I had clothes that were actually mine that fitted me properly. Sometimes I just wanted the pain to go away or even someone to talk to. I had nothing, so I know it'll be hard for me to curb my desires to give absolutely anything and everything to my children, everything I was never allowed to have, but I've also seen what giving into a child's every desire and whim does, what it turns them into, I won't allow a child of mine to act like my cousin used to. I know I'll be able to toe the line between indulging every now and then and outright spoiling them."

They shared another look and Nasta bit his lip and Harry's eyes narrowed on them.

"What, damn it? What's with all the looks?! Just talk to me like a person, like an equal lover in our mateship, don't send sly looks to one another over my head!"

"You've just told us that you had absolutely nothing as a child and would have sold your soul for a piece of bread." Myron growled.

Harry shrugged. "It's all over and in the past."

"How bad did it get?" Nasta asked quietly.

"What do you mean?"

"He means what he said." Myron said in a growl. "How bad did it get for you?"

Harry nibbled on his lip and shrugged. "I wasn't hit often if that's what you were thinking."

"What did they do?" Myron asked through gritted teeth. Despite his obvious anger though, his hands remained relaxed and soft and comforting on Harry's belly.

He sighed heavily. "It was…" Harry growled himself and tugged at his hair. "It was mostly neglect, okay? After I got into Hogwarts they mostly just ignored me, which was…it was horrible. To have them act like every chair I sat in was empty, having no one to talk to at all, it was brilliant at first, but it got depressing after a while and I did start talking to myself, but it was rare that I was hit or actually physically touched, they thought that I was contagious."

"That's disgusting." Nasta growled as he lay down and cuddled next to Harry. "You didn't deserve to be treated that way."

"Does anyone ever deserve to be treated that way?" Harry asked softly.

Nasta shook his head and Myron grunted out a strong 'No' as he bent to kiss Harry's stomach.

"You are so sweet and so kind." Nasta told him. "You may have a temper, but that's not a bad thing, you're entitled to be as feisty as you please, you shouldn't have been hurt in such a way and I'm honestly amazed that you are this kind, happy man, even with your temper, after being subjected to such treatment."

Harry shrugged. "It wasn't my personality they hated; it was that I had magic. I was dumped on their doorstep, left for them to raise as they saw fit on the same night that my parents were killed. They never liked magic and I shouldn't have been left with them, but they were the only living family I had left…so where else was I supposed to go? I couldn't be given to a magical family, I was being heralded as the Boy-Who-Lived, they were toasting me and celebrating me as I was packed off to live with people who hated me just for having magic after having lost both of my parents. It had to be Muggles, but Muggles who knew of magic because of any accidental outbursts I might have had…so where else was I supposed to go?"

His mates both clenched their fists and teeth, but Harry knew they understood what he was saying. It was a terrible situation made worse by his supposed fame and celebrity status. There had been nothing else that could have been done, no one else who could have taken him in.

"You can't hate the way that I was brought up." Harry said, breaking the silence of the long pause that had followed his last statement.

"The hell I fucking can't!" Myron burst out angrily.

"You can't, Myron, it made me the person I am today. You can't hate my upbringing without wishing that I was different."

Myron growled and Harry found himself being hugged tightly.

"I love you, I love who you are, but I hate that you were treated in such a way. I can't change how I feel about that, I will never be glad or thankful that you were treated in such a hideous, heinous way."

"It's fine." Harry insisted firmly. "It's in the past and I don't want to think about the past, I want to focus on my future, on _our_ future." Harry grabbed Nasta and Myron's hands as he said this and laid them back on his belly. "We don't need to deal with this, we have a baby on the way, I have major exams coming up and I'm not bothered by a bit of neglect. I never, ever have to see them again, I have the both of you with me now and our baby, I'm happy. Please don't ruin that."

"We should at least prosecute them."

"I don't want to." Harry said angrily. "I haven't spoken to them for over a year now and I never have to see them again, that's more than enough for me, I promise."

"If it emerges that they ever did anything worse to you…" Myron trailed off and ground his teeth together.

Harry sighed. "Like I said, I was rarely hit, only if I actually had a magical outburst."

"Even when you were a child?" Nasta demanded.

Harry shook his head. "No, only after I got into Hogwarts, when I was younger it was mostly just neglect, ignoring me, not giving me toys or clothes of my own."

"You were given enough food, though, weren't you?"

Harry shook his head and then indicated himself. "Do I look like I was fed regularly as a child?" He asked. "I got enough to live on, bread, soup, maybe some overripe fruit, but I was always glad to get back to Hogwarts so I could stuff myself with treacle tart."

"You will never go without food ever again." Myron swore. "I will hunt every single day if that's what it takes."

Harry smiled. "Thank you, both of you. I just want to be loved; it's all I've ever wanted."

"We do love you. Deeply and dearly." Nasta said as he snuggled Harry into his body tighter.

"That's all I want. I promise." Harry said softly.

Their moment was ruined by the gurgling of Harry's stomach and he looked down at it as the noise finished and he chuckled.

"I think I'm hungry now. The blood you so kindly donated to me has run its course." He joked with a smile.

Myron picked him up and got to his feet, groaning.

"You're not that old!" Harry told him, swinging his legs happily as he was carried back into the kitchen.

"I am." Myron insisted. "I feel especially old after a heat period."

Harry laughed. "It's because you've been waiting for me for so long, you've gotten dusty."

Nasta about choked on his laughter as he followed them into the kitchen and Myron growled playfully at him.

Harry happily sat down and he watched as Myron took out the ingredients for a simple, easy meal of beef, pork and chicken sandwiches.

"Do either of you even know how to cook?" Harry asked as he was handed his first sandwich and he took a huge bite out of it, almost too much for his mouth to get around, but he was suddenly very, very hungry.

"I can cook the basics." Nasta said with a shrug. "Pasta, stir fry, salad, I can just about roast meat, but that's about it."

"I'm the same. I can do everything separately, but if I had to do it all together as one meal, something would be burnt; something else would be cold or just forgotten and something else would be near enough raw. I can't make a full meal even though I can do it all separately."

Harry rolled his eyes. "You two are so lucky that I do know how to cook. I make a mean lasagne."

"Has to be better than cold chicken sandwiches." Myron said with a smirk as he ate his own sandwich.

"How can you just not know how to cook? What have you done all of these years, starve?"

Myron had the grace to look a little embarrassed. "My Mother sends dishes over."

"So you've never really had the kick up the arse you need to try and do it on your own." Harry nodded. "Well no more, I cook now and though I'm a better baker than a cook, I can still do both."

"You can bake?"

Harry nodded happily around a bite of rare beef sandwich. It was so pink and tender that even though it was cold, he craved more.

"I sometimes have a sweet tooth, not often, but sometimes I just want cookies, or I want little cakes or something, so I'll make them. Can we swap?" He asked as he held out a chicken sandwich to Nasta, who had just picked up a beef sandwich.

Nasta smiled at him and handed over his sandwich and he took Harry's chicken and Harry moaned around the big bite of thick cut, beef.

"Whoever made this beef is definitely the best at doing meat."

"That would be my Mother." Myron said with a smirk. "She cooked a joint of pork and beef and a whole chicken and gave them to my Father to bring over for us. She didn't know what either of you two liked, so she just gave us a selection to choose from."

"Definitely the beef. I'm going to have to beg her to have her show me how to make beef like this. It's too good not to learn how to make it."

"I'll let her know, she was always trying to drag us into the kitchen, but most of us just didn't want to know." Myron said with a reminiscent smirk. "We all regret it now that we're older and have to beg her to get scraps; we're often over there for dinner or lunch anyway, at least us single ones are."

"Excuse me, ex-single person I'll think you'll find." Harry said with a smile.

Myron nodded. "It's going to take a while to get used to finally being mated, but I'm very glad that I have you both."

"Three with the baby." Harry said with a smile and a pat to his belly.

"Three with the baby." Myron agreed as he stroked Harry's belly.

"Have you done all of your homework?" Nasta asked him.

Harry nodded. "Yes, I've finished it all now and it's packed into my bag, which is in my trunk all ready for Hogwarts tomorrow. You don't mind coming with me?"

"Of course we don't, we're not going to leave you there all alone while we stay here without you." Nasta assured him.

"I've had enough of this big, silent house. I don't want to be here if the both of you aren't, if it can be at all helped." Myron said and Harry hugged him.

"I don't want you to stay here, I was just worried that you might not want to come to school with me and lounge around doing nothing while I was in lessons."

"I still have a job and responsibilities to the dragons under my care." Nasta told him. "I'll be going to work while you're in your lessons."

"I'll be observing my company and doing paperwork, I might have a few meetings, but I'll have enough to keep me occupied while you are in lessons and Nasta is in work."

"I can't believe we missed your Dad's birthday." Harry said after a few minutes of quiet.

"He more than understood, the amount of missed birthdays and events we've had over the years because of heat periods." Myron shook his head. "No, he understood and he's just happy that I finally have a mate of my own and that we and Nasta are now bonded together and are a proper family."

Harry smiled at that. "I like us being a family. Now we just have to survive the next year of school and then our lives together can truly start, with the baby of course."

"Of course with the baby, you'll be nesting over Christmas and giving birth in late December, early January."

"I'm going to miss Christmas too, aren't I?" Harry said sadly.

"It is very likely." Myron nodded.

"Our first Christmas together and I won't even be there with you both to celebrate it." He said sadly, looking down at his lap.

Nasta cupped his chin and pulled him into a kiss. "There will be other Christmas', but you'll be giving us both the very best present that I could ever imagine, Harry. You'll be coming out of your nest with our baby."

"Nasta's right." Myron nodded. "We love you and we'll be with you as you nest, we just won't be there in the actual nest with you and you won't remember us being there and you definitely won't want us there with you, but we will be there."

"Nesting in the bloody cold." Harry sighed. "You had better get a blanket ready for me when I come back home."

"Of course, with a hot cup of tea and a hot meal too. We'll take care of you." Myron insisted.

"I'm not sure about the hot meal part; I actually want to live after hacking open my own body to get the baby out."

"You cheeky little bastard, that deserves a spanking." Myron growled and Harry laughed.

"You know that's not going to be a punishment, Myron. I enjoy it far too much."

"He's right about that one." Nasta smirked.

"What's your method of punishment?" Harry asked his new mate curiously.

Nasta actually looked a bit abashed and Harry looked at him eagerly. "Come on, what is it? Will I enjoy that method of punishment too?"

"I have a…a thing for biting." Nasta admitted with the same tone that he might use if he had seduced a virgin priestess from her temple and defiled her on an altar in front of an audience.

"That's it? I get two mates and my punishments are a choice between biting and spanking? You know that you two are never going to get me to behave, don't you? You'll be trying to punish me and you'll end up just turning me on and making me hard."

Myron smirked at him. "Only because we've spanked and bitten you in the middle of foreplay, you'll feel differently when it's done as a punishment rather than to pleasure you. They're different mind sets."

Harry pulled a face. "Yeah, maybe. I can see how that might change things. Well damn, I'll just have to be good and force you both to bite and spank me for pleasure."

"I'm sure we'd love nothing more." Nasta said with a smirk and pulled Harry into a hug. "Now go and make sure that you have absolutely everything."

"I do!" Harry protested.

"Go and make sure." Nasta insisted, backing Myron up.

"It's not like you can't come back and get something even if I do forget anything!" Harry huffed, even as he went to check his trunk yet again to be sure that he'd packed all of his new books, his school robes and all of his homework and other things he needed for his seventh, and final, year of Hogwarts.

He'd gotten brand new robes in Diagon Alley on Myron's behest, ones that would allow for his pregnant belly without him needing to buy new sets of robes every time his bump grew. He couldn't wait until this new school year was over, but before then, he was going to have his first, beautiful baby over Christmas, that was going to be the next big event in his life. Or at least it was the next big _planned_ event in his life.

* * *

A/N: Here is part two for you lovelies. I hope you have enjoyed this because Part three is months away, so savour this part for a while.

We got over a happy 100 reviews for Part One, thank you all of you for helping me to achieve this wonderful, early milestone and to **Shiva-J** for being the **100th reviewer**.

**Shiva-J**: Yes, Sirius died the same as in canon; Harry killed Voldemort in the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic just after he fell through the veil.

**Herald of Dreams**: I never gave much thought to Amelle in this AU as Caesar isn't in it. If you want her to be alive, then yes, she could still be with her first mate, or otherwise you could think that she died with her first mate and first child, it doesn't matter; she won't come into this little AU.

**Lady_Arachne:** Ashleigh's friend still sold her out and because Myron wasn't chosen as her second mate, he wasn't there to save her and Richard from the poachers, they both died along with their other mate. The only thing the baby will have in common with Max will be the first and last name, even his middle name will be different and he'll look different too. Elder Getus and his grandson, Dominic will not be in this one, Dominic stole Henley's mate Anabel, because she would have been their first meeting because Harry wasn't there for their first meeting. Draco will be mentioned in this fic, Blaise just missed out on Harry's meeting, he was one of the thirty odd dominants who didn't get to meet Harry.

**ccarson89:** I loved your review, pure and simple. Thank you very much and thank you for giving my other fics a go, even though you didn't think you'd like the fandom. Also the last paragraph, the fleas of a thousand camels…yeah, that made me laugh so hard I had tears. Thank you lovelie.

I think that's all, please enjoy and I'll see you all soon, next week in fact, with a Scaled Bits chapter that I thought of recently and wanted to do, I hope you enjoy that too,

StarLight Massacre. X


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