Notes:

I'm so sorry about the wait guys but life has gone and scr$wed me the last months. First, the place I volunteered in asked me to work another day, which I was willing to do. Second, I was stuck in the ritual. I WANTED to make it big and dramatic, but couldn't get it. I must of rewritten it 50 times and wasn't happy, still aren't. I probably will rewrite it again later. Third, the place I volunteered at got 'new management' who are idiots and care only about the business side of things and what THEY can get out of employees and us volunteers, and decided to INCREASE our hours, half and hour work days and TWO AND A HALF HOURS on weekends! So far THREE other workers have quit due to "family issues", huh, funny that. One of those who quit was an elder employee (getting paid) and I heard her talking to another about the state it was getting and how "Centerlink keeps telling me I should quit". If THEY are telling you to quit, how bad is it? Lastly on the 7th of October, six days before his birthday my father, who I've been extremely close to for the last year or so died suddenly of a heart attack. He was found on his knees in the spare bedroom in my parents home, leaning against the bed, dead, by my mother when she came looking for him to ask if he wanted a cup of coffee. I may have had a hard time with him in my youth, but since he'd been on mood-stabilizers, he'd never hesitate to wrap me in a hug, tell me he loved me and that he was proud of me, as far as he was concerned, I was very beautiful person. Just a couple of weeks ago I thought I was over it, I was back at 'work' and feeling more normal, had almost finished this chapter, when I had an 'incident'. I was sitting down going through a bag of donations and remember thinking "I'm glad that nightmare is over, when I get home, I'm going to give dad a big hug." As you can guess I lost it. I don't remember much of that day after that. Anyway enough of my problems, he's the next chapter, sorry for the wait.

Chapter Text

The young man, a scarred red head, blinked at the werewolf wizard once, twice, a third time before his face changed minutely, a slight widening around the eyes "Remus, Remus Lupin, sir?" When the werewolf wizard nodded he spoke quickly "mom and dad told me you were in hiding with Hari. What and WHY are you HERE?"

A voice behind the young man spoke as none other than Cassander Hellios stepped into the room "they are you clients, child." The boy frowned "clients? What do you mean? I'm here to remove a loyalty curse from a werewolf and help removing a soul-piece from a child."

"Look around the room, child, and tell me what those enhanced senses of those tell you."

The young man frowned and looked at the three already in the room, eyes intense.

Dominic could sense both the boy's magic and senses flaring out, seeking, his power the burning light of the sun, but with a sense of purity to it, but at the same time tainted just very slightly by something dark, something malicious.

Something with EXACTLY THE SAME signature as the werewolf wizard.

He reached out with his own power and subtly probed the young man, seeking, trying to find out his own answers.

The boy had the heightened senses and perhaps the spirit animal of the wolf, but he was NOT one, he couldn't take the form-whether willingly or against his will, he was a werewolf-or Lycan-without the form. And the signature was the same as the other, the same monster had attacked both as children, only the difference was the boy had been 'saved' before the right amount of damage could be done. He had received a shallow version of the magic that caused the change to set in the body, the disease, but because of the help he had received in time it had not been strong enough fully change him. He was essentially a carrier but himself didn't show symptoms.

Interesting.

The healer-the Dark One-had shared his theories and ideas with in about the origin of the werewolves, aided by the legend the other had told him he had learned, if they could get samples of blood and tissue to a good source-Gabrelle and the others-and then have him sit down so both Gregori and Francesca could do an in-depth examination of him, his memories of that day included, they may be able to find a way to not only help the werewolf wizard but everyone else out there trapped in this life.

Monsters like this Fenrir Greyback would loose their power if the entire reason they held such fear became unimportant, trivial, curable or at least controllable. A werewolf able to control his change and who was able keep control during a full moon was no longer a threat to friends and family, meaning his entire threat of turning someone into an uncontrollable killing machine every full moon became void. Essentially he was turning them into a puppy every full moon. Yes he could still maim and kill them, but what was once seen as a "fate worse then death" became an "inconvenient animagus transformation".

According to the male, many werewolf societies lived as they did, on the cuse of nature, the fringes of society, because they either saw no other way or their land had rejected them-as in England. Many in Greyback's pack were trapped there, with no choice of what they could do, be a monster he made them, or the monster their society saw them as. However if they took away the element that made them seen as monsters...

They took away monsters like Greyback's power over others of his kind, his entire power-base would be at the least shaken, at the worse removed. And if they removed his power-base, they removed one of the powers of this threat to his great grand-niece.

And if they found a CURE it would not only be their weapon, but seen as salvation to all those trapped in a life they didn't want.

All it would take is this young man's help and some skilled people with the right knowledge, both on the human and magical side, and the right funding. He was sure one of their own would be willing to do so, including himself. After all, what if one of the lifemates in the magical world of one of their males was trapped in such a life? While the conversion MAY override and wipe out such a curse, there was just no way of knowing just HOW such a thing would react to Carpathian blood.

They couldn't risk it.

The young man suddenly narrowed eyes on the other male "Mr Lupin?! You are...?!"

He nodded "since I was four years old."

"But how could that happen?! I never...they never..."

"You never noticed it until now because of how The Headmaster was controlling everyone. He made you and your family blindly loyal to him and things around you, around US. The same man who attacked ME also attacked YOU. He was known for attacking children, so when their families rejected them for what he made them, he could take them in and brainwash them to his beliefs. We were both fortunate our families refused to reject us. It was because of mine and many others attack and Severus experimental potions along with your family driving him off on time that you were not forced to endure the full force of the curse."

The young man blinked at him, face blank, but NOT as if he was being controlled, more like, trying to comprehend what he was hearing.

"I am here for a reason" Cassander said "OUR Minister Of Magic has learned about this situation through these two and the Goblins. Remus Lupin is my godson, making him, and therefore by default, MY FAMILY. I have now appointed Remus as not only legally but by blood my son, so anything that happens or HAS happened to him is MY business, including his being used by this...old fool. He will pay. However the violation of his blood and life by this...creature is my top priority."

The young man's head snapped up to him "what are you saying?!" he snapped.

"I'm saying I spoke with the goblins and they agreed to for a certain amount of gold...lend your services to us for a while. You are the only know case of someone attacked by a werewolf who shares aspects but not the curse. Something in you could provide the cure for all those trapped in a life with no choice."

"Me?"

"Yes, you. Something about your genetics, blood, the treatment they used, SOMETHING made it so you were not trapped in their life, and if we locate that and can replicate that, we can help save lives and make the lives of others so much better, easier." The red headed young wizard opened his mouth to speak but a male voice snapped "NO!" all eyes snapped over to the werewolf wizard, who glared at the two of them before looking at the red head "don't let them manipulate you into doing this!"

The red head blinked at him and opened his mouth, so did Cassander, but the werewolf glared at him "I know what you are going to say. His family owes us a life debt. You are NOT GOING TO PRESSURE HIM INTO THIS! He owes Hari and I, if anyone, NOT you, no matter if you claim me as family or not, and we DO NOT wish it!"

When the older wizard opened his mouth again the werewolf wizard glared at him "no, you know I am right. I refuse to force someone, even by manipulation or guilt-tripping them, into doing something so life-changing."

"We would not require much from him at first" Dominic said "Gabrielle, Gary and Ivory would only require some blood and other samples at first from you both, plus samples of the potion and perhaps some of the same samples during the full moon from both. Their research could take weeks, months or even years. It would mean, except for the occasional new sample from him, they would not need him to do anything."

Something in the werewolf's shoulders relaxed slightly. However he still didn't take his steely eyes from his 'uncle' (or was that supposed to be father now?) who didn't make a move to assure or deny anything to him. When the man continued to refuse to speak the werewolf's anger grew.

However a small whimpering noise caught everyone's attention, the wolf's head snapping down and everyone following his eyes to see the child with her head lowered, one hand pressed to her forehead and body shaking.

Dominic tensed. He could feel the tang of evil on the air, the darkness of the thing in his great niece's head gaining strength through their negative emotions. Magicals magic reacted to their emotions, less so when they were older and got their wands, however it was still known to get out of their control with an particularly strong surge. The werewolf wizard, baring the soul of a beast like their kind, was especially susceptible to this. This...thing, the soul fragment, was gaining strength every time his great niece was exposed to such a negative emotion.

And the situation she came from before the werewolf wizard and dark elf rescued her would have been a hot-bed of power for it.

Was that it? Was that the reason or part of it WHY this supposed light wizard paid the humans to abuse his sister's reincarnation? Did he know about it and was planning on strengthening it, why? What did he gain from strengthening the shard? Did he...?!

One of the theories he had heard was the 'Headmaster' was displeased with the the fact his popularity had lagged in the last fifty years or so and was trying to start another war, HAD started another war to become famous again, being responsible for the 'hero who ended the Dark Lord' when he had been partly responsible for him in the first place. With this Dark Lord dead, if he had left a shard of himself implanted inside his great niece that could-if given enough negative power-grow strong enough to possess the child then there would be a NEW Dark Lord, but that would only be if she wasn't the person she was. He doubted that she would become such a thing. A lifemate to a Carpathian male was pure, he doubted his sister's reincarnation would give in to someone elses' power, even that young, the child was powerful and he didn't know if it was a combination of her bloodlines or her reincarnated soul or both.

He was just SURE she would not give in.

He frowned as he looked at her. She wouldn't give in, but it would destroy her. She would have died\been destroyed by both the abuse and the fragment and been reborn again.

He would have missed this fragile, beautiful life.

And risked her lifemate's current reincarnation greeting the dawn-or going vampire-by his own account, he was close when he heard her.

The idea of his sister's reincarnation being forced to face her lifemate-gone-vampire didn't sit well with him.

His eyes narrowed as they continued to argue, despite his great niece's obvious pain and he knew he had to do something about it, they didn't seem inclined to stop any time soon. Gathering his power and alpha about him he sent the command into the air with his barked word of "ENOUGH!"

All talking ceased and three sets of eyes turned to him "you will cease this now! This subject has NOTHING to do with the current situation and your negativity is feeding the fragment! Look!"

All eyes turned to the child.

"Hari!" the werewolf wizard cried, kneeling by her side so he could take her carefully in her arms, gently trying to pull her hands away from her face. But she refused, making a small sound mixed between a sob and a protest. "Hari what's wrong?! What is it?!"

Dominic grit his teeth, his teeth reacting to what he smelt under her hands "I suggest we get this done NOW. There is no more time."

The red head nodded and drew himself up fully walking further into the room "place her inside the centre of the runes. Take the place of her guardian" the red head frowned at him "who are you?"

"Dominic Dragonseeker" he bowed slightly "the child is my great niece."

"What do you mean?" he shook his head "no, this isn't the time, tell me afterwards" he motioned at another ward "stand there, family." The Carpathian glided to his spot and waited. The red head moved to another then looked at the last figure in the room "and your relationship in this?"

"Remus Lupin is my godson, making the child my official\unofficial granddaughter. PLUS she has same ability of my line, making her one of my department, one of MY people." The red head looked at him strangely then motioned at another spot before placing an item-a crystal with tiny runes engraved into it-in the centre of the rune circle across from the child but connected to her by the lines of the runes.

Once he had moved around and positioned and lite the herbs and candles around the room he took his own position.

"I need you all to concentrate on the crystal" he said "push your magic into it and the runes."

The three males nodded and did so, the two wizards using their wands, the Carpathian pushing his own strength into it, a measured amount at a time. After all, this was a wizard ritual, there was no telling how his own would affect this. While they did so the red headed curse-breaker began the chant to draw the shard from the child and into the delicately engraved crystal.

A darkness began to gather, accompanied by the child's slowly growing whimpers, a darkness that seemed to being pulled forcibly through the mark on her forehead, no matter how it tried to stop it. However the presence was strong, shrieking in an disembodied fury and denial, and their efforts were causing the child pain as they tried to force it from her and the soul shard tried to remain by digging itself deeper inside her, blood streaming from her scar and now starting from her eyes, nose and mouth.

Before Dominic could move there was something else, another presence, a light gathering around the child and flowing up her body to her head and along to it reached the scar. The light touched the darkness and it SCREAMED! in agony, fear and fury. When the light encompassed it BOTH the light and darkness took a vague humanoid shape-the light a female and the dark a male, and Dominic KNEW the light.

No, not knew it, he knew the feel, family. The female shape was definitely a Dragonseeker, she had the same feel of his line, in fact she felt more like himself, his sister and parents then any of the current Dragonseeker-or Shonski as they called themselves. The female's head turned to look at him for just a second before both her and the darkness met, like two warriors of old.

Without hesitation Dominic threw his strength and will into her, everything he had and was as an Hunter of their Prince, and through the bonds of family he sensed the others doing so too, even the females, all giving her the strength of the purity of their unconditional love and hearts to the spirit of the slain one of their own, trying to save the youngest of their line, a mothers loving soul protecting her beyond death.

What followed was a battle of light and dark as the shard of the evil wizards soul refused to leave his great niece's body and the spirit of her mother refused to let him remain a moment longer. At one point it almost got free and headed back, but he narrowed his eyes "no you do not. You do not belong here" and with a surge of power he leashed the piece and with the light reinforcing his cage of power, FORCED it out completely and into the crystal, strengthening the runes in it with the strongest ones he knew. He was an Ancient Carpathian of a powerful line with knowledge of magic no others knew or had long forgot.

With one last shriek the dark evil presence was moved into the stone, forced out of the child's scar, echoed by her pain-filled cry. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw the werewolf wizard's grip on his wand tighten, the look in his eyes showing his need to run to comfort and help his adopted daughter, however forcing himself to stay still, knowing that at this time it was vital to stay were he was and continue what he was doing. The red head continued his chant in Latin, voice firm and more intense, sealing the spirit inside the crystal, not giving it an single way to escape.

The female spirit turned and looked at them, momentarily looking completely solid for a second. He heard the wolf suck in breath and whisper "Lily" before the spirit locked eyes with Dominic for a few long seconds, memories not his own flashing behind his eyes, and the spirit turned, leaning over to kiss the child on the forehead-directly over the scar-and then disappeared.

After the red head had finished and the runes slowly stop glowing they waited the half a minute for the last of the effects of the power to fade before the wolf rushed forward to catch the child as she started to topple, unconscious, from the small platform she was on.

As he eased her down lengthwise on her back, Dominic moved forward to touch her small delicate face "Allow me to scan and heal her." At the werewolfs' nod he shed his body and checked the damage and her core, making sure the traces of the evil was gone and could no longer contaminate her in ANY way.

Finding the damage done from the bleeding from the scar, as well as some minor damage that had caused her to bleed from the eyes, nose and mouth left from the fragment's dark power bursting blood vessels, he healed it carefully, checking her entire body for any other damage or problem before finally pulling back to his own body, surprised to find a goblet of fresh human blood being held out to him by the werewolf "the Goblins brought it for you. They knew you might need it."

After a brief inhale to ensure the blood was still good and untainted he tipped the contents into his mouth and swallowed.
And realised, by the brief flash of magic and strength, he had been given MAGICAL blood.

Picking the child up he followed the others to another room, the werewolf 's godfather leading and the red head following, eyes and face set and serious.

Once inside he laid his great niece on the bed there and stood by her side where everyone sat down, preparing to tell the red head what was going on and what they learned, after all, this boy was one of the family of nine prepared to swear loyalty to his great niece and her guardian, his family.

Once settled the red head spoke "explain."

"What did your mother tell you about the potions and loyalty spells that had been put over your family?"

"She told me to go see Gringott's about them. After they were removed she sent me a long letter ranting about Headmaster Dumbledore and how DARE HE do that to our family and how we owe both you and someone called Jarius Gryphon a life boon for leading to our freedom. What happened? I was told by him that you had kidnapped Hari Potter and to tell him IMMEDIATELY if I saw either of you. I know you DO have her now, what's going on?"

"HE told everyone Hari was with a good family, being spoiled rotten, he lied" the werewolf looked pissed "in reality he was stealing from the Potter vaults and using THEIR money to pay her uncle and aunt-who hated everything magical-to beat and abuse her. He wanted her submissive and afraid, willing to do anything for a little positive affection when the time came, HIM. He would have himself a little soldier and victim with all that money and heritage willing to do ANYTHING for him, ANYTHING he asked, no matter what it was, just for a bit of kindness. Severus and I got sick of his excuses and tracked her ourselves. When we saw what those excuses for humans had done to her..." he swallowed "we HAD to get her out of there. Severus held him and the Order back while I escaped with her. I ran, I knew if I went back then she would immediately be put back in their hands."

He looked at the red head "your mother and father were there that day, trying to stop us."

The red head looked shocked "but mum and dad would never..."

"EXACTLY!" the werewolf exclaimed "the Molly and Arthur Weasely I knew would NEVER let a child go back to that sort of situation, no matter how much respect they had for that man. I couldn't do anything about it though, I had to remain ahead of anything that he tried, to constantly move to keep her safe. It worked, until I appeared here." The red head frowned "what do you mean?"

"I booked a room for us in the local inn and took Hari with me into the wilds, looking for a spot away from campers and hikers where I could set up an apperation point and wards for the full-moon. On the second night here we were attacked in the clearing. Something hideous, something truly EVIL." He looked at the red head, eyes haunted "he made Voldermort feel and look like a kitten."

Before the red head could speak he went on, voice tinged with those emotions he was feeling at the time, fear, fury, horror. "He took Hari from me, he moved so fast. Before I could stop him he had bitten her neck" his face twisted in fury and his hands clenched in an attempt to control the wolf with the remembered emotions. "I lost it. Moony has NEVER seen Hari as prey or a threat, in fact, he sees her as his cub and to see her blood, her pain and hear her cry..." he forced himself to regain control "I never remember being so filled with fury and fear. The next thing I know I woke up in a bed inside a cabin with Hari handing my a Wolfsbane potion to me."

The red head seemed hooked on the tale "what happened?"

Dominic answered this "one of our hunters, Jarius Gryphon, heard the child's cry when the wolf faced the evil one. Our kind know our mates from first meeting. That can be hearing their voice, seeing them, etc. Hearing her voice the hunter knew her to be his mate so he moved to rescue her...and found them together in time to destroy the evil and take them to a safe house."

The red head blinked "you have creature blood in your line?"

"Not just our line, our entire people our race." As the young male opened his mouth to question the werewolf hurriedly said "think of them as a mix between the elves, veela's, us, vampires and werewolves. They are like us except they have a different culture and magic type like the elves, live off blood and burn in the sun with incredibly long lives like vampires, but they also have a inner animal and can take the form of an wolf like werewolves. The difference is they are connected to nature more than even the nature elves and can take the form of any animal or even insect on earth and even talk to nature itself like an intelligent being-unlike the nature elves who just CLAIM to."

"And because you're this separate race, this male knew Hari was his mate?"

Dominic nodded "our females to us are the most important things to us. Once found our entire existence revolves around them and making them happy and any family that comes afterwards." The red head blinked "sounds like Veela's."

"Which is why I said they are like them." The red head shrugged and turned back to look at them "go on."

"The male healed us both and it was while he was doing so to Hari that he located the soul shard inside her scar. He told me the next night he would bring his people's healer with him to examine her further, since the man had previous experience himself removing such a thing from someone."

The red head frowned "if your people could do so already, why did you come here to pay the goblins for it?"

"We discussed it and decided that the one you call Headmaster MAY already know about the soul-shard. He placed the child in the abusive household, ensuring she was treated as such so after she destroyed the current threat to your world, her abuse would drive her to become the next, giving him a chance to be the hero once again by killing her. He would use the soul-shard as proof of her contamination, as well as a way to his end. IF things didn't go his way and she struggled out of her abuse and became an truly good soul, he could just proclaim her as a Dark Lady in disguise and use the soul-shard as proof of this. IF we removed it ourselves, it would be our word against his."

The werewolf added "but if we had documented proof through Gringotts, INCLUDING a witness to the act as in the very Curse-Breaker who removed it, someone from a purely light family..."

"I understand" the red head nodded and werewolf continued "I had no idea it was you though, I thought you were still in training."

"Gringotts has trained me in this previously, so I was asked to do this one. Probably so I can report what you say to mom and dad without suspicion." He looked at them intently before looking at Dominic "how did you learn about each other? HOW could you be related?"

The werewolf spoke out to him as he didn't look away from the the Carpathian "Lily, Hari's mother, wasn't a Muggleborn."

"WHAT?!" the young man's head snapped around to him "what do you mean? Mom told me all about them! That her father was the last Potter Heir, James Potter, her mother was a Muggleborn witch called Lily Potter nee^ Evans! What do you mean, she wasn't a Muggleborn?!"

"Rose Evans was the descendant of an Squib and her father was NOT Jason Evans, rather a man named Razvan Shonski, one of THIS race. Or rather he was a half-blood, half wizard, half THEM." The red head blinked "half wizard? So she was a half breed herself since her mother was a squib."

The werewolf nodded.

"That means Hari is a pure-blood, like us."

The werewolf nodded again.

"When Lily first came to Hogwarts she was obsessed with researching something, a mark, a mark she was born with and that burned every time there was a threat to her. She had the idea it was some sort of inherited mark, a sign of a wizarding bloodlines maybe. She never found anything. But that was because she was looking for something in WIZARDING Britain."

Dominic spoke "the dragon birthmark is a symbol all females of the Dragonseeker clan bare. The female PLUS her child BOTH had and have such a mark."

"How did this happen? How did one of YOUR KIND become a magical line? Who was this wizard who was Lady Potter's true father's father?"

The werewolf looked to the Carpathian who nodded, giving his permission. "Dominic and his sister are\were the last two pureblood of the Dragonseeker line. His sister Rhiannon was one of a group of their people who were part of a school-like Hogwarts-being taught our spells by an wizard, one of triplets, named Xavier. What they didn't know was the triplets had an ulterior motive. For some reason he was looking for a certain someone, a child of power. The Dragonseeker line-I'm told-is a powerful one. They have had seers and can see the magic around them. As the only female left he wanted Dominic's sister. The trouble is, Rhiannon had a lifemate."

The red head looked at him "I have a bad feeling about what you're going to say next."

"He conspired with the evils of their race-the same as that THING that attacked us-to attack the male, to wear him down enough so he could then kill him. Once bonded to their lifemate, a female dies if they do so Xavier used dark magic to keep her alive, but that's not all."

"No."

"Yes. He forced himself on her, forced her to get pregnant, to conceive triplets to him and then killed her as well, so she couldn't interfere."

"We have no idea why he was stuck on triplets" Dominic said "he was more than upset that his grandchildren were only twins, not triplets."

"Three is one of the numbers of power in the Wizarding World" the werewolf explained.

Dominic nodded at this "The three children, two females and a male, were raised by Xavier, however once they were old and powerful enough, the two females helped their brother escape. However when he did, he took with him an important item, an item his father would hunt him for."

The wizards looked at him "what item?"

"A book, a book locked by the blood of four creature races."

The three wizards shuddered "Black Magic" the twist to their faces showed they were in NO WAY interested in it themselves. "What happened to the male?"

"He went on the run and at some point hid the book. During his travels he encountered his lifemate, his Carpathian blood allowing him to sense her. He took her clan name as his own and they lived together, settling down and having children."

"Let me guess, his father caught up to them, and killed him."

The werewolf and Carpathian nodded at the same time "and his mate, and took their children, raising them as his own, but using them and their skills in his own way. The female was used to invent new spells, the male, strategies."

The red heads eyes widened "the female was a spell-Smith? Those are extremely rare these days. The last child born with the talent to weave and create successful spells was a century ago!* And this male was Lily Evans real father?"

They nodded "the male helped his twin escape their father at one point, bargaining himself to protect her. Their grandfather used him as a experiment for various dark spells, even taking control of his body, but the worse thing he did was use him to rape a woman, a woman, we found out, was NOT a muggle but the descendant of a squib."

The red heads eyes widened "Rose Evans, and he used the Imperious!?"

The werewolf nodded "when his spells told him the rape didn't produce a baby, he obliviated her and left her alone. However for some reason his spell was wrong, she WAS pregnant and since she had no memory of the rape..." The red head understood shaking his head "they assumed the child was theirs in every way, hence being Muggleborn."

"Exactly."

"What line was these brothers from?" he frowned as he asked.

The werewolf shifted and handed the red head a piece of parchment, face serious.

Opening it the red head started to read, eyes widening further as he read. "He...the..."

"I know what you're thinking, Bill, but it turns out Salazar Slytherin WASN'T the guy the Headmaster tells everyone he was. It turns out THE TRIPLETS were the evil ones, when Salazar refused to join them, they murdered him and then used a type of Polyjuice potion to disguise themselves as him to ruin their elder brothers reputation. Salazar KNEW about what Xavier had done to the female and was trying to stop him."

"What do you mean?"

"They were friends, Bill, Rhiannon Dragonseeker and Salazar Slytherin. They were childhood friends. More than that, they were childhood sweathearts. However when she found her lifemate he did the good friend thing and no matter how it hurt he stepped back and let them be together. According to his diary from his vaults, he'd rather be Rhiannon's best friend then be forced to never see her again because he was trying to interfere or break them up. When his own younger brother killed her lifemate and did THAT to her, you can imagine how he felt."

The red head looked furious and nodded.

"He broke in to his brothers base and tried to rescue his childhood best friend, but he couldn't free her, the spells and such he had around her were too complex and dangerous, they would endanger both their lives and despite loosing her mate, Rhiannon still felt the love she had for her friend and didn't want that for him, so they organised a plan together, something that would ruin his brothers plans. He never mentioned what they did, but the end result was Rhiannon was killed after her children were born by Xavier so she would not be able to influence them away from his plans, but they still ended up defying him, Xavier murdered his brother, but discovered the fact he he had created what he THOUGHT was a weapon hidden away in the Chamber Of Secrets, and was forced to take his appearance so he could try and unsuccessfully get inside."

"And that's when he destroyed his reputation" the red head guessed.

The werewolf wizard nodded "the four founders were the best of friends, Bill. What do you think would have happened-they would have done-if their friend turned up like that then suddenly disappeared? Especially with what we know of our house founder."

"They-or he himself-would have done anything to find him. They would have thought something was wrong and tried to help him."

"Exactly, so by acting like a bastard made it seem as if he had "let power and influence go to his head" and ensured they not try to find him, and find out their friend was murdered long before, and either try to avenge him, or reveal the triplets actions and betrayals to the rest of the magical-and possibly non-magical world."

The red head DID NOT look happy.

"But don't worry, even though the real Salazar was murdered, both he and Rhiannon had set out their own plans."

The red head perked up "what did they do?"

"Slytherin disowned his brothers, meaning they couldn't claim ANY of his or their family belongings ever, no matter what, and sealed his accounts in such a way that any of his descendants WOUD NOT be able to claim his true fortune or artefacts. The Gaunt and Slytherins afterwards, despite their blood, only got the small part of his inherited belongings-ensuring any of his future descendants corrupted by his brothers or having anything to do with them, couldn't use anything of his. This also meant the one claiming to be his heir would NOT be able to get the so-called weapon from the Chamber Of Secrets."

The red heads eyes widened "but I thought..."

The other wizard shook his head "apparently not. The new theory is whatever IT is that killed that student before was PROTECTING the weapon, or rather the chamber, and whoever it was was just there at the wrong place, at the wrong time." The younger man looked thoughtful "meaning that someone opened it and either took the student with them as a shield-just in case, or they happened to be in the room, or enter it, just as it was opened."

The werewolf wizard nodded "while Slytherin locked away his vault from his descendants, he ensure only ONE person would be able to enter it, only one being. Only to one being would the full glory of his vaults and property be opened too."

"Who?" the red head.

"Himself, and yet not himself. Himself and his best friend, his childhood sweetheart."

The red head frowned in confusion at his words, trying to understand, and as he moved his hand the parchment made a sound. Almost like he couldn't help himself he looked down at it again. It was while his eyes were running over the names again that it occurred to him and his eyes began to widen as it began to dawn on him. His head snapped up and his eyes searched the child's face for long seconds before rising to search Dominic's own, his eyes almost impossibly large by now "Her, Hari, she's your sister, isn't she, your sister with Salazar Slytherins magic!" When Dominic nodded slowly and added "And our own version of magic combined" he continued-part excited, part exhilarated "that's what protected Lily in the womb when her mother was pregnant from the man! Magic is sometimes sentient and does what it wants, Slytherin would have wanted the child protected so the child he wanted could be born!"

"Perhaps" Dominic commented, not so sure about that, but knowing it was possible. It was as the red heads eyes trailed back to see the child that it happened, he frowned, "what's that?"

The others frowned "what's what?"

The red head rose, headed for the child "that mark, where her scar was."

"Was?" the two other male wizards exchanged looks before rising from their chairs with Dominic as well. "Yeah, under the blood. Any water so I can clean it?" Cassander handed him a clean handkerchief and the other a glass of water.

Dipping the cloth into the water while Dominic gently moved the hair away from the spot the younger wizard began to gently dab at the spot, slowly clearing away the blood that had dried there. To reveal something completely unexpected.

Instead of a jagged looking zig-zag lightning bolt scar they found something beautiful.
It resembled a tattoo, but more, full of such detail you thought you were looking at the real thing.

A miniature picture of a tree, shaped like a higher case Y, as in the truck-straight and tall, with two branches coming from the top together perfectly straight and diagonally wide. The two branches were covered in leaves, but only Dominics' sharp eyes could see resting in the very centre of the tree and hidden among the leaves, a snake curled protectively around a closed eye.

He had a feeling that eye would be metallic green, his sister's eye, they eyes of their line.

There was something about the pattern of the leaves, something uniform, and looking them over closely he saw it. There was a pattern to all of them, exactly the same, as if the pattern-or maybe a symbol, was there multiple times for some reason. It resembled an star, but without the left and right point, except made up of two diagonal leaves touching tips with another on top vertical intersecting the same point of the others.

"Those are Witch runes" came a voice in his head. This he spoke out loud. "What do you mean?" they asked "The mark is hiding ancient rare runes once thought lost to time, three of them. The tree is hiding the symbol for woman-traditional abilities and characteristics-but also healing, being a healer, the home, creativity, nurturing, caring for others and being a mother. Things we see as female, or lifemate."

"Yes, but also COULD symbolize her mother" Cassander pointed out.

"The eye you see means 'lifting the veil', seeing the unseen, focus, psychic abilities, visual abilities and witnessing" he repeated this and they frowned "what eye" which he also pointed out. "Psychic abilities-OUR abilities could be seen as such" he looked at the older wizard "or\and your sight."

"The leaves look like romance-love and relationships, deep emotional connections, soulmate, harmony in the relationship, being in love with someone who loves you back."

"Lifemates. HER lifemate. Love and relationship and deep emotional connections COULD mean family and friends."
"And the snake?"

"Not a part of it. By the fact that it's curled around the eye, I assume it's protecting it, and HER."

"Salazar Slytherin was known by symbolized as snakes. Maybe it's his magic protecting her and the most vulnerable part of her" the werewolf wizard suggested. Dominic spoke out "there is also her connection to us and OUR connection to nature."

The werewolf wizard nodded "the tree and snake could symbolize that."

"Why are the 'leaves' colorless?" Bill asked curiously.

The group didn't know.

It didn't take long for them to discover the use of the leaves. That night when Jarius came around to visit his lifemate. He looked her over closely, solemnly, a gentle hand stroking her cheek comfortably murmuring soft words of comfort and dedication, his promise to always protect her. The child smiled tiredly at him, comforted and he gently stroked the hair from her face, looking closely at this mark Dominic had shown him in his memories.

As he touched it, one of the three-connected leaves started to change, first one leaf, then another, then-as he watched-the colours from both leaves seemed to bleed through and combine into the third. Frowning he examined it closely, immediately reporting it to the healer through their mental link.

Later on that evening both the healer and the older wizard turned up. With the healer came his twin children who ran over and immediately climbed onto the couch beside their friend, talking excitedly, asking her about what had happened while the two Carpathian males and wizard discussed the new happening. It took seconds before one of the girls cried "isa (father), look!" Spinning they found the twins pointing to the mark as another two sets of leaves changed, however while one was joined by a second colour, it wasn't blending together into the third and the second lot was alone, no joint colour.

The three approached, Jarius kneeling in front of her, the healer by his side and the wizard standing, leaning over to look closely.

It was the wizard who figured the colours out "aura" he whispered.

"What?" they asked.

"Every person has their own aura, their own personal pattern. This one" he pointed to one of the leaves "is HERS, and this one" he pointed to the one opposite it "is YOURS" he looked at Jarius. "So logically THIS ONE" he pointed to the top joint leaf...

"Is our aura's blending, as lifemates, What it would look like when we fully mate" Jarius said and remember what the leaves symbolise romance, love and relationships, deep emotional connections, soulmate, harmony in the relationship, being in love with someone who loves you back.

They nodded "your connection as lifemates" Cassander motioned at the twins "and her friendship and relationship with the girls opened her up-or rather THEM up to it."

The healer frowned leaning forward to look closer "meaning one of my daughters already has a lifemate somewhere, someone she knows-or has an emotional bond with."

"Except for her lifemate, she has NOT met an unmated male yet, meaning either her mate is human, or..."

"Magical" Cassander said. They all thought this over, trying to think of an male who had touched the child with skin contact who was NOT mated, human or magical. The one who had that night the magicals first found them was out, he never came close enough and he had no sort of relationship with the child. The healer reported that the young male who came around to help the child had NOT touched her. Apparently he had only to tell her what to do, then watch over her or guide her sometimes and she was fine.

When they looked at the older wizard he shook his head "both times I have touched her, I wore dragonhide gloves." He looked at the werewolf wizard "and it is NOT his."

"Could someone have brushed against her when we were on our way to Gringott's?" The werewolf wizard asked.

"No, they symbolize friendship and love, RELATIONSHIP of some sort. She has to have sort sort of feelings for them."

"William Weasely?" Cassander suggested with a frown but the Carpathian males didn't think so "even though his family are now Vesssels, she has no emotional relationship with them yet."

"The only others I can think of are mated males." Jarius, who was thinking deeply suddenly spoke "there is TWO other single males she has or HAD an emotional link with, had past skin touch with, and both are magicals, one more recently than the other."

Every one looked at him exactingly.

"The one you call Sirius Black when she was a baby and toddler and the other, the potion master."

"Severus" the werewolf wizard breathed "Severus is a Dark Elf, or rather his mother was descended from one and his father was non-magical. His kind have mates as well. IF she is his, he'll accept her and become very possessive and protective of her. They are kind of like your people, and the Veela's. Because their mates are destined, not chosen, they know it's the perfect match for them. Even IF his father was non-magical, when he reached maturity the Dark Elf blood burned away his human, making him a Pureblood. He knows from his mothers journals what to expect, even IF his mothers line deny his existence-or rather did."

"What do you mean 'deny his existence?'"

"Severus' mother didn't even wait for her mate, she developed a crush on Tobias Snape and immediately denied every thing she was, hid her magic and what she was, dropped out of Hogwarts, married him and moved away, ignoring her parents and family. This in essence not only shamed her family-their Pureblood daughter marrying an non-magical-but doomed her Pureblood mate, so they did the only thing they could do, they disowned her. When Severus was born and the drinking and abuse from Tobias started due to loosing his job, she became deranged in a way, refusing to let her family have anything to do with him, telling him all his life how her family had cut her off for falling in love with her husband, so on. It wasn't until after his parents deaths when reading his mother's diary that Severus learned the truth, and that he is really a Lord, thanks to his grandparents, though he doesn't acknowledge it right now. With everything going on he can't and he also feels he doesn't deserves it, but as Hari will be Lady Hari Potter-Black when she is of age, he is Lord Severus Tobias Prince."

The older wizard grinned at the healer "your daughter's lifemate is a Lord in our society." Before the Carpathian male could speak, the werewolf wizard did "also a healer in many ways." Eyes snapped to him "what do you mean by that?"

"He's a Potions Master, the best of our century so far, you don't get that without knowing how to heal, extensively. In order to use potions, to CREATE potions, you need extensive knowledge of herbology, biology, chemistry, that sort of thing AS WELL AS healing. You have to know what potions are used for, how best to utilize them, how they affect the body-especially with so many magicals out there with magical creature blood in their line and who could awaken that at any time. While normal wizard potions masters don't understand chemistry and biology past what potions do and so on, Severus studied extensively. He wanted to know everything he could to make it easier to create what he wanted and envisioned."

"So he studied human ways as well as magical" they asked and when he nodded the older wizard spoke out thoughtfully "it explains the Wolfsbane potion. He was able to do something with it no one else could, even the original creator. He must have used his knowledge of the original, human biology and perhaps true wolf biology" he looked at the werewolf wizard "it may explain how your wolf is in balance with you during your human time, the potion is able to balance the two sides coupled with you accepting the wolf. Since the majority of the wolfsbane burns off during the change, leaving only...whatever he did to it to affect it during your full moon. Whatever he did, I wish to know, very few things affect a werewolf during a full moon.

"You would have to contact Severus about that. He is very closed-mouthed about his potions. He gave us the first years so Hari could use it, but anything useful to you would be later years and more. I don't know if he ever intends to let her have the ones only a master would use. He won't even publish them. I don't even know if his masters potions are written down, as far as I know, they are all in his head."

The older man looked thoughtful, he seemed to be thinking through ways to get to or trick the potions master to him.
The werewolf wizard narrowed his eyes at the man, looking like he wanted to beat him, he KNEW what the man was thinking.

Notes:

I had a thought guys. I originally intended having Minerva being a lifemate, but she is too old and set in her ways, no matter what she is too...different, so I had another thought. She can STILL have a mate though, what do you think of CASSANDER being her mate? I said he was an older wizard, but not how much and I think he would be a good match for her. They certainly would 'feed' off each others stubbornness. Also We all know WHO Anya's lifemate is, but who do you think should be her twins? It would have to be a magical male, but I-for some reason-don't see one of the students. Maybe and older male. Remember, the Carpathian Males are old, ancient, I mean a certain someone implied he had met Jesus! that's more than 2000 years! So having her mated to say someone Lucius or Remus' age would be no problem. For some reason I find the thought of her being mated to Sirius hilarious. I think it's the whole he-would-end-up-Severus'-brother-in-law thing. What do you think? One more chapter as Hari at five, then we skip about two years, and then the awaited Hogwarts years!