Holy bejeezes! It's been how long since I've updated this beauty? Gosh! I guess time really does fly by when you're having fun. Anyway, time to say this, just so you all know and I can get the guilt off my chest before it eats me alive.

This story isn't abandoned, nor is it on hiatus, but what it is on, is a very slow update schedule. I've got a few other stories on the go as well, and I've been pumping my short little fingers to get out as many chapters as I can for each of them, and then I keep thinking about abandoning - or even taking down a few, because really, I can't get to all of them at once. It's like being bitten by a mosquito in several places and not being able to get all the itches. Annoying, and frustrating as heck.

So, I was thinking about just getting updates of this story out every once in a while - like maybe a week or two in between each, instead of months, while I get on with my other stories. I don't know why, but I'm just losing inspiration for this story the longer I let it go on, and the more my mind dwells on it, the more stressed I become because I really love this story and I want to continue it so bad. But I can just tell that it's not going to be good for me when I try and force myself to write a chapter, it'll all get so muddled and the timeline's already screwed up - evidence of stress already. I can't even grasp what day I've got it on in the story, so I can't even remember how long until Hogwarts will resume.

You guys don't know how much it pains me to say that this story is actually really close to being either put on hiatus, or just plainly abandoned / put up for adoption.

But don't worry, if I continue writing for my other stories, I'll maybe get some inspiration for a chapter and come zooming back to this. I just wanted you guys to know that if I don't update in ages, it's because I'm stressing about writing a chapter for this and I just can't, so I'm writing up other stories. And this time, those stories are not being posted until they're finished.

Thank you guys for the continued support! It keeps me smiling every day!

Enjoy!

-oOoOoOoOo-

In the Forbidden Forest, revelations of a darker kind were being made just as well as in the Headmaster's office in Hogwarts. The wind whistled wildly through the treetops, and with it, heralded the entrance into a small clearing through a tightly clutched grouping of trees. An entrance, in which one beastly man rocketed through, dodging the branches that seemed to snap down at him with the wind expertly. As the figure rounded the proud and tall trees, it let loose a teeth shattering roar that alerted those in the clearing of his appearance.

"WHERE IS HE?!" Roared Fenrir, tearing furiously into the underbrush of the tight clearing with single minded determination. His glowing blue eyes screamed murder as they scanned the cowering mass of people, all of which had bowed their heads and whimpered their fear at his ferocious mood.

The infected men and women were no strangers to Fenrir's terrible temper, and most of the women in the groups were still injured from the last time they'd been subject to his 'affections'. Many still bore deep gouging teeth marks in the meat of their arms, legs and stomachs, but there was hardly anything they were able to do with it, but let it happen and then hopefully heal quickly. It was only a matter of time before they were summoned to attack Potter anyway, and they all knew the results of that. Instantaneous death. It was why so many of them threw themselves so whole-heartedly at the missions - it was the only way to escape Fenrir Greyback's mad Pack.

Quietly, a scantily clad and dirt smudged woman shuffled timidly forward from her clutch of Packmates, head lowered and neck bared in submission to Fenrir's whims. She didn't look at her cowering peers, for she knew that they wouldn't do a thing to stop Fenrir if he decided that her head didn't belong on her shoulders. "Where is whom, Alpha?" She asked tentatively, shoulders held high around her ears.

Fenrir snapped his teeth together and whirled around, his hulking figure easily towering over all present. "The coward we dragged in with the first lot. Where is Eric?!" Fenrir snarled, stomping into the whimpering mass of bitten Werewolves with a merciless force, shoving the unlucky men and women aside when they were unable to get away quick enough. Suddenly, he halted before a fallen woman and tilted his head high, his crooked nose viciously huffing in the scented air for the man he was searching for. He let out such a threatening growl, that almost instantaneously, a wave of necks were bared before him and heads were bowed. He was Alpha. "His scent is weak, he has been gone from our Packground for too long. Where has he gone skulking off to? I've heard from our little mole in Hogwarts that he was there, but surely he isn't stupid enough to ignore a direct order and try to run away."

The woman brave enough to speak in the face of Fenrir's rage, ducked her head down even further. "I - I think he went with the others, Alpha," she said tremulously, knees almost caving in with fear when she felt those feral orbs focus on her. "He - he wanted to die. He didn't want to be a Werewolf anymore, Alpha. He threw himself before Potter and was captured - taken to the castle in a sack."

"So the mole was correct, and Eric is now dead! The fool! He was not ordered to attack Potter!" Fenrir growled furiously, dirty, whiskery face thunderous and stormy with rage. "He was to remain in the Packground until taken by Portkey to Bellatrix. He has ruined everything we have worked for!"

"We - we have reason to believe Eric betrayed us, Alpha," the woman whimpered, collapsing to her weak knees as Fenrir loomed closer, his figure a threatening shadow that threatened to snuff out her existence. "Some of us heard talk of a plan - a plan to escape to Hogwarts and tell Potter what we're doing here. I didn't believe it, no one would dare go against you, Alpha! It was all talk!"

"And yet Eric is no longer here, and you are throwing yourself at my feet. Why did none of you inform me of this so-called plan? It is the fault of your selfish, pathetic hides that we now have no advantage, no protection against the Light wizards that by now know each and every one our plans!"

The woman let out a little sob, lowering her head until her forehead was flush with the grass and the whole of her neck was bared. She daren't move another muscle. "It was just once, Alpha, only one time!" She cried. "I tried to find the traitor - but they only did it one time!"

"YOU ARE ALL TRAITORS!" Fenrir roared to the darkened sky overhead, and then sent his foot swinging into the sobbing woman's ribs as hard as he dared. The woman tumbled to a stop feet away, screaming in gut-wrenching pain as her ribs were obliterated and splintered into her lungs and flesh. No one came to her defense, and no one dared to move - hardly even to breathe other than to whimper and cry.

Fenrir leveled them all with a feral smirk full of crooked and sharp, yellow teeth, one that spoke of endless horrors and pain to come for them. But still, no one dared to move - to get away from their deaths that were close at hand.

"It seems I need to get myself a new Pack, this one's utterly pathetic," Fenrir sneered to himself, sauntering jaggedly to where the half-naked, wheezing and sobbing woman lay. A foot slamming down on the base of her neck shut her up, and Fenrir gave another little sneer at her dirty body. He kicked it away from him in disgust, upper lip curled to keep his teeth in display. "A waste of flesh and magic," he mused. "Well, we'll have to rectify this and find others more deserving of this honor. Who wants to die first? You? Oh, yes, you're just gaggin' for it. Smile for me, pretty boy!"

Screams echoed throughout the dark forest, heard only by the young Werewolf that skulked between the two opposing sides. With a flutter of black robes in the wild wind, the figure disappeared back through the shrub and trees, face deathly pale in the moonlight as he retraced his steps back to the castle. He knew when it was a bad time to offer information up, especially to an irate Fenrir Greyback. And so, he began to bide his time back at Hogwarts, sponging up information before it was time to flee to his Alpha's side.

There was only so much time before he was called away, and he awaited that time very eagerly. So far he was safe in the midst of the Light, for who would suspect the poor loyal Hufflepuff Werewolf of being a spy?

No one, thought Ernie smugly. Not even Harry bloody Potter.

-oOoOoOoOo-

"What will happen when the other students come back here?"

The question was uttered so quietly that Draco had a hard time hearing it, even with his newly improved senses and the lack of noise in the room. He drew Harry in tightly, pulling the Valerian's back flush to his chest, and rested his chin on the back of Harry's soft neck with a quiet sigh, pressing a light kiss to the silky skin - which he delighted in watching give a shiver at the contact. "I don't know," he answered truthfully. "Greyback could attack at any time and their parents need to be cautioned, but -"

"I don't mean about that," Harry mumbled. "I mean, what if the younger kids set off our instincts by accident and we attack them? What if we. . . lose control?"

Draco shifted until he was leaning up on his elbow and was looking down at Harry's face, unguarded by the lack of people there to see them, and so distraught, Draco wondered how he didn't know he was upset in the first place. "What brought this on?" He asked, eyebrows drawing up in concern. "Did Granger say something to worry you? You shouldn't listen to her so much, she doesn't understand what you're going through right now. Her logic opens and shuts with a book, don't pay her any mind."

"She didn't say anything," Harry mumbled, very decisively not looking up at him, despite the blonde being so close. "Well, the students'll be coming back soon, and we're both so different to what we both were before . . . I'm just worried that I've changed too much to be around them all," he admitted, and immediately looked very sore for saying so. "I never really had any control over my life before the change, and what little control I did have, it was only what I was allowed. I couldn't react in the way I wanted, because there was always someone there manipulating me from the wings. But now? I could attack someone - I could kill someone just because they offended the Valerian in me! I don't know how to handle this - I can't just think about the positives and wipe away all the bad, I've done that for too long as it is, and it just keeps coming back to bite me in the arse. I just - I don't know how to handle this. There are no books, no records, no other people like me to help me. I'm literally alone in figuring this out, but I don't want to be . . . I - I need someone else to help," he whispered.

Draco's frown melted into a tender smile at the very reluctant confession, and a small seed of pride bloomed in his chest at the mere thought of his mate talking to him about such a serious problem. He knew just as well as anyone that Harry Potter is an intensely private person, so to be gifted in such a way . . . Well, he almost preened like a peacock. "You always were a worry wart," he said knowingly, despite his voice deepening with arousal. He was heated and flustered, especially at the declaration that Harry needed help - his help. It made the Vampire in him purr and want to pounce.

Fierce green eyes glinted up at him very sharply in the soft light of the crackling fireplace, harsh enough that Draco felt a wave of reluctant goosebumps rise up on the skin of his torso. "Don't tease me about this, Malfoy," he said crisply. Draco concealed a wince. "I'm trying to be serious -"

"When are you never serious, Harry?" Draco countered pointedly, brushing a hand over the soft skin of Harry's stomach, and smiling smugly as the muscles there rippled at his very touch. But then he looked at Harry's defiant expression, and his smile faded. "You're always frowning, and when you're not, you're always so quiet that you seem upset. It's like the world weighs down on you all the time, and you're growing into an old man way before you should. You need to learn to relax -"

Harry abruptly flipped onto his back and raised himself up on his own elbows, dangerously dark clouds brewing in his eyes. "In case you hadn't noticed, I actually did have the weight of the world on my shoulders, I could never relax because there was someone always out there trying to kill me!" He growled into Draco's startled face. "You were just too damn childish to realize it!"

A growl thundered from the middle of Draco's chest, and suddenly, he had Harry pressed heavily into their bed before either could so much as blink, fangs descending in his mouth and baring in the low lighting at the challenge his mate had issued. His eyes had taken on a more red tint than before.

Harry was frozen in place, staring up at the blonde with wide eyes and an 'o' shaped mouth at that. His anger was slowly drained away by the sight, and Draco took the opportunity to say his piece.

"I may have been childish in concern to the Dark Lord's fixation on you, but I had no idea he was that intent on killing you - that everything boiled down to the two of you finally killing each other off," he snarled, not even slightly caring that he was probably scaring Harry with the sudden appearance of his fangs. In his primal mind, his mate had insulted him, and he was acting out of defense. "I was only a child, and unlike you, I was raised by my parents knowing that I was safe from the Dark Lord's attention. I had no idea he was so insane until last year, when Father finally voiced his doubts of the Dark Lord's competence. So you can stop with the prejudice against my family right this second, because I will not tolerate it!" He hissed.

The overwhelming shock from his sudden rant was wiped away from Harry's face in the instant he stopped talking, and red hot anger once again crowded it. Those green eyes fired up once again. "Stop twisting my words into something they're not!" He hissed, so thoroughly outraged that he barely registered that his hands had latched onto Draco's shoulders and were squeezing quite painfully. "You were there just as much as Ron and Hermione were when Voldemort attacked, each and every year you heard the stories and saw the aftermath of their passing! And did you not find any shred of truth to the tales? The Basilisk in Second year, the Stone in First, Voldemort's bloody resurrection in Fourth? You were so childish that you didn't even understand what was really happening around you, in your own bloody school!"

Draco stared down at Harry blankly. "Those - stories were so ridiculous that one so intelligent would sincerely doubt they truly happened," he said flatly. "Why would I believe that my rival did so many fantastically dangerous things and survived, only to keep what happened secret and to hide away from the attention? One would think that you would exploit your adventures to reap more fame, as your attention-seeking habits would decree."

"Then thatsomeone wouldn't know me at all," Harry rebuked steadfastly. "Why would I tell everyone what happened when I wanted to forget them just as much as they wanted to know?"

"I thought you were an attention seeking prat," Draco pointed out, feeling the need to say it once more. "Why would I think you were modest when all you did was show us all up in almost every bloody regard? Quidditch, and some of our classes."

Harry arched an eyebrow up at him, blinking languidly. "If you're still sore from that Hippogriff lesson in Care, you really need to let it go," he said. "I only got to ride Buckbeak because I followed the instructions, while you outright defied everything Hagrid said and even went on to insult him! You deserved that scratch, just as much as Buckbeak did those ferrets for scratching you."

Draco allowed a small huff of indignation to escape him. "That bloody chicken deserved what he got," he mumbled, dipping his head to press his nose into the crease of Harry's delectable neck and just breathe in that scent. Even when confronted with such a delicious thing, he still had enough mind left to grumble, "Why could you get it to do something special, when I couldn't? It wasn't fair then, and it's not fair now. The whole thing was rigged from the start, I say. You had private lessons before that."

"No, I didn't. But he's alive, you know," Harry told him, dragging slow fingers through the blonde's hair and tilting his head for Draco to continue nuzzling him. It was getting him a bit hot under the collar, but he knew it couldn't progress any when everything was still so tense. "Hermione and I freed him before Macnair could kill him. He was innocent of the whole thing and didn't deserve to bloody die, and you know it. You're the one that insulted him, and as a Hippogriff, pride is everything. He just reacted in kind."

Draco sighed and pressed a small kiss to Harry's soft skin, minding the fangs that were slowly disappearing now that the anger was gone. He slowly let himself slide to the side of his mate's body, an arm winding over that soft stomach out of habit. "Why are we talking about the overgrown chicken?" He asked, sighing once more.

"Beats yelling at each other," Harry muttered back.

"Well, with our history, a bit of yelling isn't anything out of the normal. It's probably going to be a normal thing from now on," Draco said, laughing slightly. "Better than hitting each other though. I know some couples that fight all the time, and they're stronger than anything. Not like those weak relationships where there are unequal standings."

"I don't like it," Harry murmured, eyes slowly falling shut as he shifted closer to the blonde at his side and cuddled in. "I just escaped from a life of fighting, I don't want our relationship to be a battleground to fight on. 'specially if we have children."

Draco smiled softly at him, not that Harry noticed, and pressed a tender kiss to the top of his head. "Then it won't be," he whispered against the soft skin. "I won't let you get hurt, least of all by me. The past is the past, and we are who we are now. Together, in body and in soul. I will fight for you, by your side in anything, but never with you, ever. I promise."

"M'kay," Harry mumbled into his skin, rubbing his face against the blonde's clavicle tiredly, but still affectionately. He hardly registered what his mouth was saying, let alone the fact that his words seemed to freeze Draco in his tracks. He was practically asleep anyhow. "Love you, Draco."

Draco stared down at the dark haired Valerian in his arms with wide eyes, mouth slightly slack with shock, and very much awake. "I . . . love you, too, Harry," he whispered back, struck dumb.

"I love you," he said in a voice a little less than a whisper, sounding so very surprised and awed, that it took him a moment to realize that he was talking to a very much dead to the world Harry. He wanted to shake the Valerian awake to tell him, to shout it from the rooftops - to say it to anyone who would listen, but for right now, he was comfortable just lying in bed with his Soulmate in his arms.

The man that he loved, and was going to go to war fighting beside - fighting for.

"I love you," he whispered, and pressed another tender kiss to Harry's head, before relaxing back into the bed and drifting off to sleep with the biggest smile he'd ever felt stretched across his face.

And just for that moment, the world was an incredibly happy, beautiful place, just for the two of them.

They didn't know how soon war was going to come knocking on their door, and just how close the snake in the bush was.