Disclaimer: I do not own the canon Harry Potter characters. They are JKR's. I'm just borrowing them to amuse myself.

A/N: Sorry for the long delays, life does not always cooperate with the keyboard, but now I am back, and with a vengeance. I hope to have this story completed soon, along with all of my others save one. Happy Reading, SpiritChild

Chapter Four

Books and Packing

Althea smoothed her robes out and pulled up her hood. With a frown, she let it slide back enough to show a vague outline of her face. A quick glamour charm concealed her tattoo, and she blinked to make sure her contacts were in place properly. "Rico." She lifted the coverlet and reached under it to haul out the sleepy python. Giving him a gentle kiss on the head, she held him up so he could slip around her neck. With her hood back the way it was, he hung his head out and rested it just under her chin like some sort of strange clasp.

"Are we really ready for this, Rico?"

She could swear that if he had shoulders he would have shrugged at her. "How should I know? I'm just a snake."

"Smartass."

"I need to have some sort of talent."

She rolled her eyes and pocketing her shrunken belongings, left the room.

"Good morning, Professor Montrose."

She spun to find Ginny closing the door to her own room. With a smile, she nodded at her. "Good morning to you as well. Ginny, right?" Ginny nodded. Althea motioned for her to walk with her. "I was just on my way to breakfast. Cannot stand to Floo on an empty stomach. Actually, that is an understatement; I cannot stand Flooing at all. Portkeys are even worse, though."

Ginny gave a laugh. "So you're leaving this morning, Professor?"

"Mmm." Althea gave a curt nod. "I need to get my classroom in order. I hope that the supplemental tomes I ordered in specially will have arrived there by now. Some of them were quite rare. If they haven't arrived by the start of the term I may need to alter my lesson plans."

At the mention of rare books, Hermione seemed to appear out of thin air. "Which books would that be, Professor?"

Althea laughed heartily. "Such enthusiasm! Do not fret, Miss Granger. I will allow you to borrow them if you wish."

Any forthcoming comments from Hermione were cut off by the loud crash of the troll's leg umbrella stand and the ensuing shrieks of Mrs. Black. They all traded looks of amusement.

"Tonks."

Harry blinked at the fuzzy surroundings of the bedroom. He could vaguely hear Mrs. Black's portrait having one of its fits. He groped for his glasses and sighed as everything came into focus. The two spare beds had been removed, just leaving the one he shared with Draco. He sighed again at the thought of his boyfriend. Who would have thought they would end up this way?

Something had changed in Draco over the summer. He was still as Malfoy as ever, but it seemed as though he had lost his...vindictiveness. Harry frowned. He wondered what had happened to the blond wizard within the Death Eater ranks, to bring about such a change. As if cued, Draco strode out of the bathroom and into the bedroom wearing only a pair of belted grey trousers, his hair loose about his shoulders. Harry smiled indulgently. Draco had never looked more enticing to him, even if the stubborn blond did not think so himself.

"Fantasizing about me again, eh Potter?" Draco drawled.

"Only you could be so conceited, Malfoy." He responded with a grin.

Draco scoffed and flipped his hair. "Oh please. I know I am perfect. You can't help but fantasize about me." He crossed his arms over his chest and winked at Harry.

Harry laughed and rolled his eyes at the Slytherin's antics. Their banter had become quite comfortable to them. He watched as Draco came over to the bed and held out his left hand to help him up. "Come on you lazy Gryffindor. It's time to get out of bed."

It was Harry's turn to scoff as he grabbed the proffered limb and slid out of the bed. As his gaze traveled upwards, he caught sight of the Dark Mark burned into the pale flesh of Draco's arm. He had seen it only a few times, when Draco's guard had been down. Most of the time the blond Slytherin had managed to keep it from view.

The first time had been shortly after his arrival. Draco had been asleep, no doubt recovering from whatever he had been through. Out of curiosity Harry had gently pushed up his sleeve when he had went to check on him. He had probably sat there staring at it for several minutes before Draco had begun to stir. Righting the material quickly, he had then soothed the traumatized blond back to sleep.

The second time had been when they had made love for the first time. Harry had pinned his arms above his head and paused to look down. Draco had been stunningly beautiful in his possessiveness earlier, but the submission he saw then, was beyond words. He had stopped to let his eyes take in the sight, fully loving the fact that Draco had made him get contacts. He must have frozen when he encountered that familiar black tattoo, because when he had looked back at Draco's face, the blonde's eyes were wide in fear.

'He had expected me to reject him upon seeing it!' Harry saw it in his eyes, and felt the tension building, almost as though the Slytherin were bracing himself for a blow. He had known he needed to diffuse the situation quickly. He let go of Draco's arms and instead started caressing his face and neck, leaning in to kiss him softly. "Calm down, Draco. It just startled me is all. It is not what I see when I look at you. I am not going to leave you."

Coming back to the present, he ran his thumb over the tattoo, feeling a slight tingle as his skin brushed it. Hearing Draco's sharp intake of breath, he looked into his lover's eyes. "I will kill him."

He felt Draco tremble at the intensity of his tone. "I know, Harry. Believe me, I do."

"He has taken too much already. I want us to be free." Reaching up, he threaded his hands into Draco's silky hair, caressing his jaw line with his thumbs. He leaned in closer, caught up in the slowly darkening grey eyes. "I love you, Draco Malfoy. You have become my strength, my reason for getting up each morning, and the only person that truly makes me feel like I can have a home someday. Not just a place to stay, but a real place I can belong."

Draco's breath hitched at Harry's words. "Merlin, Harry. I love you too." Both boys stared at each other, basking in the afterglow of saying that for the very first time. "Kiss me, please."

Harry smiled at the whispered plea. "Anything, love." Resting his hands against the nape of the blonde's neck, he pulled him closer. He trailed his fingers up the back of Draco's neck, and then feathered them lightly through his hair, teasingly rubbing his scalp. Harry smirked at the soft gasp that fled Draco's slightly parted lips. Using his other arm, he drew the pale body closer to his own, both boys moaning as their bare upper bodies touched. He loved the feel of Draco's silken skin. Pulling his hand free from the blond locks he had entangled it in, he began teasingly tracing over the boy's face, knowing full-well it would only be a matter of moments before Draco was an incoherent mess.

"Merlin, Harry. Stop teasing me." Draco whimpered.

"Yes, love." Leaning in, he bestowed the kiss Draco had asked for. His tongue dueling fiercely with Draco's as he ran his hands through the soft blonde hair. He knew how sensitive his lover's scalp and face were and he intended to make use of that information.

Somewhere along the line, he forgot said lover was a Slytherin. Although when the fingers brushed teasingly down his spine, he remembered quickly. He moaned loudly, pressing harder against Draco. Smirking into the kiss, Draco ground his hips forward into Harry's revealing in no small way just what the dark-haired boy had caused.

"I really must learn to knock." A voice replied dryly from the doorway.

Harry broke the kiss and turned his head, smiling sheepishly. "Hello Moony."

"Indeed. I was just going to tell you that breakfast was ready and you should come and bid Professor Montrose farewell as she is Flooing on to Hogwarts afterwards." Remus replied.

Draco chuckled. "We may be a little late. Could you give our sincerest apologies for being tardy?" Harry gaped at him in shock.

"But of course, Draco. I shall also make a note to take a rolled up newspaper with me when I die." Remus turned to head back down the hallway.

"Why?" Harry asked slowly, as if afraid of the answer.

"So I can swat Padfoot with it. He should be the one to deal with all of these awkward parental moments, not me." He replied conversationally as he disappeared down the hall.

Harry merely blinked in shock and Draco looked at the spot where the werewolf had stood with an odd expression. "I think I feel sorry for my godfather. Moony sounded quite serious about that."

Draco shook himself and glanced back at Harry. "Now where were we?" He purred.

Breakfast went off without a hitch, a very flushed Draco and Harry showing up a half an hour later. Remus grinned at the two of them knowingly while taking a sip of his tea. Harry smiled at Althea, reaching into the hood of her robe and removing Rico with a calm expression. Proceeding to have a pleasant morning conversation with the python, he began filling his plate. "Did you sleep well, Rico?"

"Indeed I did. You were with your mate this morning."

The blunt statement caught Harry off guard, but he managed a soft laugh. "That I was. Can you blame me?"

Rico turned to regard Draco for a moment, who was glaring at Harry out of the corner of his eye. "No, I suppose not. He smells very nice."

"That he does." Harry added with another snicker. "Could you pass me the jam, Draco?"

The blonde picked up the jar and handed it to him, at the same time seizing his free hand and pointedly placing it in his lap. "What have I told you about Parseltongue, Harry?" He whispered into his ear. Harry responded with a blush and a shiver.

Althea smiled at the two and chuckled softly to let them know she was amused as the smile would not be visible to those at the table. "Rico really enjoys having someone to converse with, I'm sure. I hope once the school year starts up, you'll come by and chat with him on occasion. He's not going to appreciate the cooler climate here, I'll bet. Perhaps having a way to voice his needs will help with that transition."

Harry smiled at her and nodded. "I would love to, he's very sweet." He arched a brow at Draco before adding. "After all it will keep me in practice with my Parseltongue." That earned him a slight growl from the blonde and soon the entire table was doing their best not to snicker.

Breakfast finished up and soon Althea was standing and bidding her farewells. Rico returned to his spot around her neck, and she made her way over to the fireplace, Molly holding out the pot of Floo powder for her. "Take care, dear. It was wonderful meeting you."

"The same to you, Molly. Hopefully I'll have some time around the holidays to visit again." She gave Tonks a fierce hug, even though Tonks would be joining Remus at the school, it would not be until almost Halloween. "As for the rest of you. I'll see you in a week at Hogwarts." With that she disappeared in a flash of green flames.

Draco watched in amusement as Harry crawled about under their bed, apparently looking for something. Unable to hold in the question any longer, he crossed his arms and focused on the squirming lower half of his boyfriend. "What in the name of Merlin are you doing?"

"Packing."

He felt one of his eyebrows inch up at Harry's explanation. "I beg your pardon, but how exactly does this qualify as packing?"

"I can't find my wand." This was followed by a sneeze.

"Ah. Why are you looking under the bed for it?" Somehow, he knew he would regret asking that particular question.

"Aha! Got it!" Harry cried. Draco watched in amusement as the slightly dusty Gryffindor emerged with another sneeze. "Now, Draco." Draco's eyes widened slightly at the silky tone to Harry's voice as the raven-haired wizard sauntered over to him. "You of all people should remember just what we were doing last time I had my wand." Harry tapped his wand on the tip of Draco's nose and winked before swaying slightly as he walked across the room to his open trunk.

He smirked. "I really love your Slytherin tendencies."

"I know you do."

The door burst open moments later to let in a very excited Hermione Granger. "Our book lists have arrived!" She waved three envelopes in front of them. Handing one to Draco and the other to Harry, she proceeded to drop herself onto the boys' bed and tear hers open. With a shrug and a glance at each other, they joined her. Most of them were the expected course books for seventh year students. Hermione read each one off, adding a comment about them. The last three books caught their eye. "Herbology, 'A Guide to the Aquatics' by Velinda Minsk. We must be doing water plants this year."

Draco nodded slowly. "I would have though it would be highly dangerous plants as it was last year." He looked up at them and they shared a shrug. "Look at this one. History of Magic, 'The Lost Years of Merlin' by Haverius Crown."

Hermione blinked at the list. "Merlin? We're to be learning about Merlin this year?"

"It would seem so." Harry muttered softly. "This last one is assigned by Professor Montrose. ' Wizarding Law through the Ages' by..." He paused and swallowed softly. "It's written by Albus Dumbledore." He wrapped an arm around Hermione, hearing a soft sniffle from her. "I'm sure he'd be honored." He caught Draco's hand in his own as the blond looked away from the two. "Don't blame yourself, Draco. Only blame Voldemort." A slight nod was given and Draco rested his head on Harry's shoulder.

Althea hummed to herself as she organized the volumes she had ordered on the bookshelf. She had forgone her outer robe, merely wearing her elbow-length gloves, black satin flares, and a form-fitting blue shirt with Nightwish emblazoned in silver holograph on the front. Stopping to hop down from the stool she was standing on, she took a moment to glance about the room. The students would be arriving that evening, with classes starting first thing in the morning. So far, she was quite pleased with how the room was looking. Padding barefoot across the cool stone floor of her office, she exited into the classroom.

Rico was basking in the sun on a windowsill. She paused to give him a light stroke and a kiss on the top of his head. He seemed rather unamused at the coolness of the stone and environment. She had promised to use a warming charm on the floors in their rooms for him.

The classroom had been cleaned from top to bottom by the castle's house elves over the summer. Upon her arrival, she had asked for several of them to help her locate items she would need. Large pillows lay in a pile in one corner for the dueling practices. Maps and charts detailing magical creatures and the realms they inhabited covered the walls. Veela, Incubi/Succubi, Merpeople, Vampires, Centaurs, Werewolves, Pegusi, Unicorns and Bicorns, as well as Dragons just to name a few.

The rustle of feathers caught her attention. Six owls swooped in the high windows bearing a load of books. She motioned them to a desk where they dropped their burdens. Giving each a treat and a drink, she soon ushered them off with their payment for delivery. She sat down and pulled out her wand, quickly unshrinking the books until the pile covered the desk. She then turned and began sending them across the room to the large shelving units she had set up previously that day.

Mentally checking each off her list, she was soon quite pleased that all but three had arrived on time. If necessary, she could tweak her syllabus around a bit and would not need them until the start of second term. She turned around to make a few notes in the small spiral notepad she had laying out on the desk next to her when she heard a small cough from the direction of the doorway. Looking over at the doorway, she smiled to see Headmistress McGonagall watching her.

"I trust everything is going well, Althea?"

"But of course. I'll need to tweak my syllabus a bit, but that's nothing new. I was actually expecting it." Her tattoos were covered by a glamour charm and for a moment, she thought she could see a hint of wistful sadness cross the elder witch's face.

"Albus would've loved to see you here again. He felt terrible about the way things turned out, you know." The headmistress settled herself on the edge of Althea's desk.

"I know. I never blamed him, nor any of you. There was little that could have been done that would've made a difference. Dwelling in the past blinds us to the future." She gave a slight smile and changed the subject. "So my course has earned your approval?"

"Absolutely, my dear. I am impressed with how you put it all together. Using one of Albus' books just added the right touch. I am sure your students will all do well this year. I expect to see high scores on those NEWTs and OWLs."

She laughed. "A Ravenclaw wouldn't dare disappoint on that, Headmistress." McGonagall gave a chuckle and patting her on the shoulder left her to her work.