`WDA: Hey All! So. Long time no see? Yeah, I have no excuses. Just regrets and shame.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I might be willing to sell a kidney for money to pay my debts. I am not making money from this. It is for entertainment purposes only. You can't get blood from a stone and all that. So no suing. PLEASE!

Chapter 11:

Severus felt the body beneath his go limp as he slipped his fangs from Harry's neck and his cock from the younger man's body. He cast a few more cleaning charms and rearranged their positions on the bed so that he was laying on his back with his new mate curled into his side, head resting on his chest.

Starring down at the delicate features of his partner, Snape could not help but be dazzled that he had been handed this bright jewel as a mate. He was a true treasure. Responsive and beautiful, and with a brilliant mind as well, if anything he had been told tonight was true. He winced as he remembered the harsh insults and bitter accusations that he had flung at the boy in the past. He had let his experiences with the boy's father color his attitude and he hoped he would be able to make it up to him. He had not only let down his mate, but himself as well. He'd underestimated Harry and he had learned the hard way that underestimating someone was deadly.

Guilt overcame him as he thought of the last time he had underestimated someone. Hell, they had all underestimated Dumbledore, self-proclaimed leader of 'The Light' side of the war. They had thought that he was too far up on his high horse to use such tactics. How wrong they had been! They should have known - HE should have known - that the old man was too obsessed with power and fame to let it be stripped from him. Tom had paid the price for their folly.

The thought of his other mate made the corners of his mouth lift slightly in a pale immitation of the smiles that used to grace his lips. Tom would love Harry's responsiveness, the old letch! Yes, when the mood struck him right, polite and prim Tom Riddle could be quite the nympho. Many times Severus had had to beg off meetings because he was simply too exhausted. Oh, and the boys mind! He had always loved debates. Had said the thrill was the same you get from an intense chess match, blocking and parrying your opponents moves until you had them backed into a corner. Perhaps they would even be able to change his mind about being the sole leader of the English Magical community. That alone could bring them so much more support. People had grown wary of dictatorships in the last century, with good reason. They were often not far off from a monarchy.

Even more than all that, however, more than the benefits in bed and the support he could bring their side, Tom would love HARRY. He would approve of his sense of loyalty and be drawn to the bit of naivete that shone through when he got excited - as he had in the library. And they both could understand some of the hardships that he had faced already in his young life.

Laying there, holding Harry in his arms and thinking of Tom, he longed for that feeling of being WHOLE that he had yet to experience. For a moment he wondered if perhaps he was being hasty. In the library he had jokingly claimed the right to 'I told you so' should things go wrong, but in truth he was the one that was pushing to hurry things along. Now that he had found his other mate, he wanted to introduce them to each other. Also, Tom was vulnerable right now. The thought of that old man or one of his lackey's getting their hands on him was almost too much to bear. It was only a hunch, a gut feeling that told him not to wait. What if it was wrong?

No. No, he couldn't start second guessing himself now. They needed to get this taken care of. Not just for themselves, but for the ever increasing number of victims left in the wake of the power-hungry and often insane death-eaters who thought they were doing their masters will. Utilizing meditation techniques he had learned decades ago, he cleared his mind and relaxed his body, allowing sleep to overtake him.

The Next morning Severus woke Harry up early to give him a lesson on reeling in his thrall.

"Close your eyes, take slow, deep breathes, and relax. Just like any wandless magic you need to envision the desired outcome. Now imagine the air around you holding a charge, sending out sparks - red, blue, green, etc. They can be any color you want. You can feel them, a slight tingle as they dance around you. Good. You're doing fine." The potions professor intoned as he watched his student. He could feel the wave that hit him as Harry concentrated on his thrall for the first time, only immune because of the mating bond they now shared. "Now imagine that all those sparks are frozen mid-air. Just little bits of light hanging there." He waited until he recieved a nod to continue. "Pull those bits of light towards you. Don't use your hands - else we'll be here all day - rather think of yourself as a siren. The lights are drawn to you."

"Like a magnet!" Harry suggested.

Severus raised his eyebrow (even though Harry couldn't see it) and asked "What?"

"A magnet. It's a piece of metal that attracts certain other metals. They are actually pretty vital when it comes to muggle technology."

The older 'hmm'd, nodding his head. "I'm aware of what a magnet is. Try to stay focused. Whatever is easiest for you to imagine will work best."

Taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling, Harry concentrated on the images in his head. He always had trouble with wandless magic. Hell, he sucked at wandless magic. Hermione had been teaching him and Ron about it late 3rd year and at the beginning of 4th - before things went all wonky again. Any spare time they'd had was devoted to practicing, even though their classes had only just started introducing the main concepts of it last year. He had only mastered Alohamora and a basic cleaning spell. Ron knew the same spells as well as five others - all spells that they had learned in first year, and Hermione knew many more of course. Eventually, however, he did manage to pull his thrall in and imagined putting it up in one of the lockers he had used when he was still in muggle school. He even put one of those old combination locks on it.

Heaving a great sigh, he pushed the locker to the back of his mind and opened his eyes. He was greeted with the sight of Severus smiling at him. Honest to god smiling. And wow did he look so much handsomer like that. Harry blushed when he realized he was starring. "So, uhh, I take it it worked?"

"Quite. You did very well." The other replied, dipping his head in a nod. "Now, before we go to join the others, you should probably have breakfast."

"Um, isn't it a little early for...?"

Seeing Harry's blush deepen and spread to his ears, Severus only took a moment to understand what he was thinking. He found it impossible to control the chuckle that followed. "That's not what I mean, though Tom was always particularly fond of... 'early morning exercises'." he said with a smirk, "But what I meant was... Hmmm. Harry, how much do you know about incubi feeding habits?"

"I know that they - I guess I should say 'we' now huh? - are empathic creatures, feeding off the energy left behind by those emotions. We feed mainly from our mates because the bond formed by mating allows us direct access to the source of the emotion. It's like, the emotions we feel from others are diluted, where as the emotions we feel from our mates are 100% pure. Before we find our mates we feed on human blood. We also get energy from the emotions of those around us, but even with that it's still not an ideal situation. Incubi only get the basest of their dietary needs filled that way, there is no way that one of us can be healthy on such a diet. That's why most incubi mate young - because to stay on that diet for more than 2 years at most would kill us." He found the raised eyebrow he recieved after his mini-lecture faintly insulting. "What? I may not like to study, but this is important. I needed to know more about what I am."

Severus gave an accepting nod. Harry just kept surprising him. Although he was glad that at least something he thought he knew about his young mate was true - he never had seemed like one for studying. "You are correct about that, of course, but what you won't find any books are what happens to incubi with more than one mate. Actually you wont find any books on multiple matings that are specific to any species. The wizarding world considers such things to be 'unnatural'" the sneer curving his upper lip was proof enough of what he thought about that idea. "I only know myself because of conversations I've had with a group of incubi that aided Tom last time."

"Do incubi normally live in groups?"

"No. The group didn't live together, they just met up regularly. Once a week I believe it was. They generally discussed how to teach their children about their inheritances and difficulties they had had since they learned that they were incubi. I listened to a few meetings before I approached them. Now if I may return to the matter at hand?"

"Sorry."

"It's not like I don't understand your curiosity, but I was trying to make a point. That point being that since you have two mates, things are a little different for you. While my emotions provide you significantly more energy than other peoples, I can not provide you with enough to be completely healthy. You will still need to drink blood, though not nearly as much. About twice a week, I should think. Our situation means that you shouldn't have to do it more than once. I would like that once to be from me. It would help cement our bond. Drinking from a mate is a very intimate thing for a vampire."

"Oh. Okay." Harry stood up from his seat on the bed. "Where should we...?"

"Over here is fine." he replied, pulling the slighter man into his lap as soon as he ventured close enough. Tilting his head just enough to allow the other access, he pulled Harry's mouth closer. Holding his wand in his free hand - pointed towards the ceiling oddly enough - he muttered a spell that Harry wasn't quite able to catch, before putting the tip against his neck and dragging it down a bit. The skin split in a clean line, blood welling to the surface. An increase in pressure from the hand on his head urged him forward and he obliged, sealing his lips over the wound.

As soon as the blood touched his tongue, he moaned. He felt himself harden in his pants and began squirming in the other man's lap trying to relieve the pressure. It would be so much easier if he were straddling him, but he couldn't bring himself to pull away from the taste of his mate. Thankfully, Severus understood what he needed (had even expected it, though he wouldn't tell Harry that) and a hand pressed against the bulge visible through his clothes, starting up a slow massage.e

Harry whimpered against his neck at the pressure, his hips jerking forward in short, sharp movements as he tried to thrust into his mates hand. Within a few minutes, he was cumming in his pants and licking the wound. Drawing back he was amazed to see it close and heal before his eyes.

Severus must have read the astonishment on his face, saying "It's part of the natural magic of all vampires. Our saliva can heal any injury, as long as it can be completely coated in it. Speaking of, you should NEVER go to the far east. Their magical community has a large black market devoted to harvesting different parts of magical creatures and, as you can imagine, vampire saliva is in high demand." If he noticed Harry clinging to his shirt as he cast a cleaning charm, he didn't comment. "We should probably join the others." He stated as they stood to straighten their clothes and start towards the kitchens.

He hides his surprise when Harry says "I guess Tom isn't the only one who likes 'early morning exercises'." as he passes under Snapes arm and through the door.

"To what do you refer?"

"Oh please! You can't honestly expect me to believe that you weren't expecting that. I WAS attatched to your neck and i know for a fact that you didn't look down to see why I was squirming and there is no way you could have seen ... that area the way that we were sitting." Harry tried to cover his stutter and hide his blush. He wasn't a virgin anymore dammit! And he was 15! Aren't teenage boys supposed to be able to say 'dick' or 'crotch' or 'groin' without blushing?

After a few minutes, he realized that Severus hadn't answered him. This worried him. He had thought the older man would be okay with a little teasing. Their interaction since the discovery had been - if not more amiable - then at least less volatile than any before. What if he had taken offense? Harry liked the Snape that he had seen this morning. What if he didn't like to show affection in public? Harry didn't want to feel like someones secret. He didn't know how things at Hogwarts would work out but he refused to live like that. But if the potions professor felt differently...

A nervous glance sideways gave Harry no answers. If anything, it only confused him more. The look on his new mates' face was indecipherable to him. "Severus?" he asked cautiously.

The man stopped walking and pulled him into an impromptu embrace. Surprised but pleased Harry returned it.

"I want to thank you, Harry." He said, "I know I've made your time in the wizarding world worse than it had to be. I can't take back anything I said or did, but you still accepted me so easily. Letting your resemblance to your father and the sins of a his youth make me consider you an enemy will always be one of my biggest regrets. You can not know how much it means to me that you are so willing to forgive. Because of my preconceptions I missed so much about you that should have been so obvious... I should have been helping you, not making things worse."

"Sooo ... you were wrong?"

Severus chuckled, "Yes, brat. I was wrong. Don't expect to hear that often." Turning serious again he continued. "Don't expect emotional speeches and tears from me Harry. This was something long overdue, but it won't happen often. Tom told me all the time that while I was more open in private, I could still be an 'aloof bastard'. I don't want you to expect flowers or chocolates from me. I'm just not that person."

Stiffening a little, he raised his head from Severus' chest and said "I won't be a secret. Even at school. I've had enough of those."

"Of course not, that's not what I mean. I just mean the 'lovey dovey' stuff." The older man actually shuddered, surprising a laugh out of his young mate. "I may not be very 'open' in public but make no mistake that everyone will know you belong to me, even if they can't know about Tom yet. We are both very possessive. I will share you with him and him with you, but no one else." To drive his point home, he took the others lips in a fierce, dominating kiss.

When they pulled apart, Harry's lips were swollen and red. "I can live with that." But his brow furrowed as he thought, "How is that going to work at school though? Won't you get fired?"

"No. The rules for relationships between professors and students for Hogwarts were set long ago. By the founders themselves actually, and can only be changed by a majority vote from the heirs of the four houses."

A broad grin stretched across the heir of Gryffindor's face. "Brilliant."

"Indeed. Now that that is all sorted, I rather think we should head to the kitchens before they decide I've kidnapped you." Severus said with a raised eyebrow.

"Hmmm," was the young mans reply as they seperated and started moving again. "It's not like I don't have my reasons, you know. For giving this a go." at the head tilt he recieved, he continued, "It sounds stupid but this whole mate thing is sorta like a dream come true for me. For as long as I can remember, I've dreamed of... being good enough. For- for someone to love. At least that's what I used to think, when I was younger. Eventually, I realized that the Dursley's would never feel that way about me and then that it wasn't my fault. They had always felt that way." A warm smile was aimed up at the older wizard. "And now I have two people whose destiny it is to love me unconditionally."

"You do." was all the other man could say. Never had he seen more clearly how young the other was. He knew what it was like to be that young and feel unloved. So did Tom, come to think of it. They really did fit together quite well, didn't they?

They reached the kitchens in short order and found seats at the crowded head table, greeting and being greeted by the others that had already arrived.

"Place is packed today. I'm guessing the rest of the Shadows arrived?" Harry asked.

"Yeah." Derrick was the one to reply. "They all made it okay. Rare event this, us all being here, safe and sound. Especially since things are so tense in the wizarding world right now."

"Well, no ones ever accused Fudge of being smart." Axis intoned with a smirk.

"True." Derrick agreed, "Regardless of his reasoning - or lack there-of - I'm thankful for it. I'm only sorry that I can't take the time to introduce you around, but time is short so instead I'd like you to meet me in Vault 1. It would be best if you had full control of your empathic abilities before you go anywhere near those deatheaters. Too much negative emotion can drive an inexperienced empath mad, not to mention how Toms current state could affect you."

"But they haven't developed yet. Well, not fully. Not to the point that I can conciously control them, anyway."

"I have a potion that can speed things up. It's not ideal, but-"

"Not ideal?!" Severus interrupted, Harry was surprised to see his mate looking so angry. He'd only seen him this furious a handful of times. "It's dangerous! If not made and administered properly, it could leave him magically and physically drained for days! You expect me to assume your competence in this matter and let you pour a probably ill-prepared potion down my mates throat? I think not! Even if I wasn't concerned about his health at your foolhardy hands - which I most certainly am- we don't have the TIME to wait for him to recover from such a thing."

"We also don't have the time to wait for them to develop naturally either! The potion was made by a master, he'll be fine."

"I'm not letting you endanger my mate!"

"We can't just-"

"HEY!" The two looked over at the boy in question in shock. "I don't really think this is the right place to discuss this." he spread his hands out to indicate the packed dining hall. "We need to meet with Koga anyway to see how the search is going. We can have everyone gather in one of the sitting rooms to go over everything then. Agreed?" he shot them both looks as they nodded reluctantly. "Good. Please pass the hot chocolate."

His mate lifted an eyebrow but complied, amused at the sight of the avaricious gleam in Harry's eye as he filled his goblet to almost overflowing. He noticed that when the pitcher was set back down, it was kept close, close enough that he'd be able to stop anyone from snatching it. That and the double handed grip the younger man kept on his drink - liberally mixed with memories of watching him eat in the great hall - put an unsettling thought in Snapes head. He had seen people act like that before, always having been deprived of food. The habits formed in such times were always extremely hard to overcome. He'd had personal experience in that matter. The thought of Harry suffering the same sat heavy in his belly, souring his own desire for food.

The older wizard sat back and watched Harry interact with the other inhabitants of the table. It was obvious that he had been accepted here, something for which Severus was grateful for. He and his Hogwarts House hadn't made life at Hogwarts easy and with hindsight being what it was he was beginning to understand that Harrys home life away from Hogwarts hadn't been as glamorous as he had deluded himself into thinking over the years. It eased his mind a little that, here at least his little mate had found peace. He took note of the people Harry talked to the most and those that he just seemed to be acquainted with. It was while he was doing this that he noticed that Telemachus, A tall, muscled man ignored the younger wizards existance to the best of his ability. He would have to watch out for him. His mate was happy here and he would not allow anyone to change that.

When breakfast was finished, Severus, Harry and Derek went to Derek's office and made themselves comfortable while they awaited the arrival of Dereks inner circle. One by one they trickled in, exchanging greetings and making conversation until things could get started.

Koga, the last to arrive, spoke first, presenting them with a moving picture of a man with shaggy blue hair and a slightly crooked smile. "This is Kevin Siriano, the descendent of the last archivist of the old council. He did indeed have the archives stashed away and has agreed to allow us access to them, giving the circumstances. Yes, we did tell him about Tom and the raid that made everything go south, we didn't have much choice if we wanted to see anything of use. The only foreseeable problem is that it might take awhile to find what we are looking for. The Archives are protected against anything magical (well, except for an Everlast spell) with what has to be hundreds of spells of varying degress of strength and complexity, so it will have to be found by hand. Even with the archives being fairly well organized, we ARE talking about innumerable years of magical discoveries. Thankfully, Mr. Siriano has informed us that all spells, curses, etc. were very carefully recorded. It seems that all details available were documented, including: The date the discovery was made, who discovered it, how it was discovered, testimonials on it's effectiveness from people who'd used it, notes and sometimes journal entries or even whole books from the discoverer, how to do perform or create it, the first time it was purposefully used by anyone with full knowledge of what it did and a clear goal in mind, mistakes commonly made with it and their effects, And any counter-spells, counter-curses, cures, etc. that had been created or discovered for it. This of corse means that if we find the spell that was used, we won't have to search through the archives even more to find its counter."

He stopped and seemed to hesitate for a moment before continuing, "That being said, I don't want anyone to get their hopes up. This could all still come to naught. If our efforts to find a solution last time around proved anything, it's that this was a very complex work of some serious magic. Even if it was created during the rule of the old council, it had to have been done near the end of their reign. The groundwork and theories of basic magic wouldn't existed yet otherwise, and even then it would have had to been discovred by someone who was years ahead of their time. Add in the possibilities of it having been made in the final days of the council and them not having time to archive it at all, or that there wasn't time for anyone to create a counter spell, and this is as much a shot in the dark as anything else we've tried." Koga took his usual seat, signalling he was done and leaving it for open discussion.

Harry quite liked how these meetings were set up. It was efficient and gave everyone a chonce to share their point of view. He made a mental note to write it down in his journal later. He hadn't written in them for a while actually, not since before he left the dursleys. Everything had sort of eploded into one action or discovery after another after that. He should really fix that tonight. He shook himself out of his thoughts and began paying attention to the meeting again.

"I'll gather up some volunteers and have them report to you before you leave tomorrow." Derek was saying. "as for 'getting our hopes up' I think everyone here is aware of our chances on this endeavor."

Telemachus snorted from where he was sprawled in his chair, "Tell me about it! Whose plan was this again?" he remarkded, gaining a rather terrifying glare from Tyr and cool glance from Snape, who was secretly adding a note to the list of passive agressive slights that Telemachus had perpretated against Harry. Given that he had only started the list two hours earlier it was worrying that he already had six notes on it. Harry's plan might not have been perfect, but it was the best they had had to go on since the last war.

"Mine actually and even if we don't find the spell, we will have access to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of spells, potions, curses, charms, magical theories and more. Most of which haven't been used or even thought of since the old council fell. That will not only give us a MAJOR advantage in the war, but may very well help us find a cure for Tom's problem anyway." Harry was very calm in his rebuke of Telemaxchus's disdainful comments. It made Snape smirk, proud of the younger wizards collected demeanor.

"Harry's right." Axis chimed in. "Even if we can't cure Tom and wind up having to fight against both the 'light' and 'dark' sides of the war, this will give us an amazing advantage. If their healers don't know what their dealing with, then once an enemy is out of the fight, they'll be out for good. Or at least for a very long time."

"Thats right." Roarke this time, "And who knows what kind of shielding and healing spells are in that archive. Heh heh, It might be best if you just make an anouncement to the whole coven, Derrick. If we could get a few people looking up some spells like that we could start teaching the coven how to use them and be well prepared for an attack should we be discovered by either side."

After afew moments, he got a reply. "I'll make an announcement tomorrow, after Koga's left with his new volunteers. We don't know how many people this Kevin Siriano is willing to have poking around in the archive his family has no protected for generations. It would be best if Koga had an oppurtunity to speak with him about it first. Even if he doesn't want all those people in the archive there is still alot to do that we can get everyone working on." Everyone nodded or mumbled their agreement with the decision.

Harry stood and started explaining the disagreement Snape and Derrick had had that morning. "I would like to get everyones input on this." He said when he was done. "I don't know much about the potion or the development of empathic abilities, so I thought I'd see what you guys had to say about it. Things are a bit rushed, so understand Derricks desire to speed things up. We've only got three weeks till the students will return to Hogwarts and I have a few things I'd like to do before then. However, I can't exactly go out in public without having control of my empathic abilities. Though, from what I understand, there is no set time frame for these things to happen. Everyone develops at their own rate. This potion could speed things up or unnecessarily keep me down for days."

"Days?" Tyr grunted.

"The potion uses the drinkers own magic to speed up the development of special inherited abilities. As a result, the user is drained for a while afterwards; how long exactly is dictated by the users magical ability. The stronger the user the faster they regain their magic, but they do need to be seperated from other people until the fluctuations in their new ability settle down." The coven leader supplied.

"Harry is fairly powerful. His magic would probably recover quickly." Stated Koga.

"I don't like the idea of the confinement." Kurt spoke up for the first time. "The kids a major player in the war right now and if we were to come under attack it woud take far too long to get him out of there." Turning to Derrick, he asked "I assume you would be using one of the Vaults?" Receiving a nod, he continued, "Much too difficult. We need to be able get him out fast if anything happens."

Harry tamped down the automatic denial at that statement. He didn't like being treated like he was special. It made him feel uncomfortable and unworthy, but the simple fact was that - in this case at least - he did have some signifigance. If he could help heal Tom, if he could expose Dumbledore for the coniving bastard he was, the war could be ended with a minimum of violence. Lives could be saved. He curled his hands into loose fists at his side and started repeatedly rubing his thumbs over the sides of his index fingers. It was a habit he had picked up when he was younger. It helped keep him from freaking out when he was stressed. What he didn't realize was that he was being closely watched and his habit had not escaped the watchers gaze.

"I don't think there is enough time to have him out of commission for days. If It develops naturally, then most of the control he needs will come naturally as well. I don't think we should mess with that. He's doing amazingly well so far, though I suppose that could be attributed to him having a mate find him so quickly." Axis shook his head. "We have too much to do to have anyone who knows all the details of our current situation locked away. Harry's the only one here who knows what potion was used to give Voldemort his body back, he's still training with Tyr, he knows all the secret passages in Hogwarts, and has been studying the governing rules of Hogwarts that were put in place by the founders. You know, the kind that can be used against Dumbledore if broken? Add to that whatever it is that he needs to do before the new school year and I'd say it's not a good time to be a man down. We've got what? 19, 20 days? Less than three weeks to get everything done. It's not a risk I want to take."

"True." Koga remarked, "I think, Derrick, that it is safe to assume the majority rules against the potion."

Derrick nods his assent. They had made good points and the final decision had never been up to him anyway. He saw Harry's shoulders relax a little and felt a twinge of guilt for suggesting it. He hadn't meant to make the boy uncomfortable.

"Harry," Koga continued, "Would you mind terribly telling us what all you would like to get done before returning to Hogwarts? Perhaps we can set up a time line to help insure that everything pressing gets done."

"Oh, of course." The younger mans brow furrowed as he organized his thoughts, "I'd like like to find Remus Lupin, a werewolf friend of my fathers and godfathers. Don't scowl, Severus!" he scolded, "I know you don't like him but he was the best Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher we've had since my first year and the students need to have a good handle on at least the basics of defense. They walk through those halls under Dumbledores scrutiny everyday! Who knows what he is capable of doing to them if he thinks it will save his hide?" He turned his glare away from his very-obviously unhappy mate and continued. "He also may know the whereabouts of my godfather, Sirius Black. While finding Sirius isn't a priority, I would very much like to let him and Remus know whats going on. They fought in the first war and deserve to know the truth about their 'wise and fearless leader'.

"Next, though also not a priority, I would like to go to The Burrow and find out if they might be amenable to the truth. I would have to be careful, what with Mr. Weasley working at the ministry and the families history with the old man. I would like to discover if Hermione would believe me at least. If she does it should be easier to convince Ron, and in turn the rest of the Weasley's. But if nothing else, Hermione would be an asset to our efforts in the archives. She loves to study and is very efficient at finding the information she needs.

"Then there's the stuff that includes Hogwarts itself. I would like to get moved into Severus' rooms, if thats alright?..." He peeked through the curtain of hair that had started to fall over his face, smiling shyly at his mates pleased grin and nod of assent. "I'd like to work on being allowed to have a guard while I'm there, one of you would probably be best, but if you are all unavailable I'd understand. I'd like to arrange for me to have an active role in all decisions made for the school by the teachers or headmaster. I'm not going to let him have free reign over that place anymore. The magic is too old to allow him access to. Not to mention the necessity of minimizing the Ministry's influence in the school, integrating magical creatures into the school, remedial(?) classes for muggleborns to help them acclimate to wizarding culture, I can work on increasing inter-house cooperation after everyone arrives..." By this point Harry had started pacing and mumbling under his breath, having completely forgotten the others in the room.

"Huh-hmm." Someone clearing their throat brought him back to the present, a light blush settling over his cheeks as he realized what he'd done.

"Sorry." He said, "The main things that need doing are as follows: Present myself to Hogwarts staff as the heir of Griffyndor(?), Locate Remus, Get one of you in the school under the guise of my body guard, Reduce headmasters and Ministry's influence on school, and Move into Severus' rooms. Most of the rest I can work on while I'm at school. The rest, you guys pretty much know already: try to heal Tom, getting the deatheaters under control, etc." He finished, relieved to be able to return to his seat.

There was a short silence as everyone thought over what he had said before Kurt spoke, "I don't like the idea of more people knowing about our plans. No matter how it's presented to them, anyone would be shocked by disparity between what they've believed for so long and, well, the truth. Even if they did believe us, there is no guarantee that they would be willing to help and every person that knows of this and doesn't contribute is an unacceptable risk."

"And you want to tell a whole fricking family. Why not put a beacon over the castle and invite the Minister of Magic over for tea and a massacre." Telemachus again of cours.

Tyr actually growled this time, making his displeasure known. He had also been keeping track of how Telemachus' annoyance with Harper and Harry had grown into open disdain and disrespect. He would be having a talk with the younger man after the meeting. This open mockery of the boys ideas was the last straw. He didn't let those under his command act this way and while Telemachus wasn't technically under his command, he DID out-rank him on the coven totem pole, as Harper liked to call it. This would not stand. "I think it's only natural that he should want his friends to know how close they are to a dangerous man, though I'm afraid I'll have to agree with Kurt that we can't have that many people aside from us know whats going on." he said apologetically, "But, I do believe that telling the two friends you mentioned would be alright if it was done carefully. And it would definitely be a good idea to have this Remus Lupin in on it if he's going to be teaching there this year. An extra set of eyes, especially on the staff would not go amiss."

"And Sirius black, at least, was part of Dumbledores little organization during the last war. If the old man tries to reform it, he could be an invaluable source of information." Axis seemed rather smug as he continued, "And I have an idea about how to let your friends in on our little secret, if this Hermione is as good as syou implied?"

Harry was leaning forward in his seat, excited by the possible solution. "She definitely is." he assured the spymaster/assasin.

"Good. Then the answer is rather simple: let her discover it for herself."

"Huh?"

"You already know we have several accounts of the attack, unknown spell and Toms subsequent change into Voldemort in our library. You wanted to get some things settled with Hogwarts anyway, which would definitly require you to leave early. What if you stayed with one of your friends' families for the last, say, week before the new school year starts. If you were to take a journal that recounts the attack with you and told them you bought it somewhere, you would be able to read it for together and no doubt your friend Hermione would want to verify the information. You could get a feel for how they respond to the new idea and if all goes well then you could reveal your incubi heritage to them and tell them what you know."

"Reveal my heritage? It's not like they won't be able to see that something is different." He pointed out.

"They won't with this." Axis tosses a small silver object to him. "Its a called a suppressor. They are made out of pure silver and using a fairly labor-intenssive process, are worked into the desired shape. Certain charms are used on it, based on what the desired affect is, and voila': suppressor. That one," he points at the one in Harry's hand. "Has an illusion charm on it. It's an ear-clasp. Just slip the cartilage of the top of your ear into the slit and slide it to the position you prefer. I've already set an image of you into the charm so you should look pretty much the same as you did the last time they saw you."

"Cool! Tha- Wait, where did you get a picture of me?" Harry asked.

"Your trunk."

"Hey! You went through my trunk?"

"Oh, its not like it hasn't been gone through before. And will be again, at that."

"Are you saying someone regularly goes through my things?"

Axis gave him a look. "Harry. Do you really think Dumbledore doesn't get a full report on what you bring to Hogwarts from the house elves?"

"Oh." He heaved a great sigh. "I guess I have to start warding my trunk now too. Great!" Using the knuckle of his index finger, he started to massage the space between his forehead.

"Harry?" He turned to find Severus looking at him with a slightly raised eyebrow that somehow managed to convey his concern.

The younger man smiled back at him. "I'm fine. Just a headache." His mate accepted the short answer with a quick nod and a look that said they would discuss it more later.

"So," Koga cut in, dragging everyones attention to him, for which Harry would be eternally grateful. "With your friends taken care of, we are left with the Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, whom we all agree could be very useful." At their collective nods, he continued. "Is there anything you can tell me about them that could help with the search?"

"Well, Professor Lupin is a were-wolf. When he was teaching us in third year, he used a wolfsbane potion to keep from hurting anyone when he changed during the full moon. And Sirius is an animagus. He transforms into a Big Black dog. He sort of stalked me for a little while, and I thought he was the Grim. Sirius, obviously, is also a wanted for murder. Does that help?"

"Very much so. Lupin may well be taking sanctuary with a pack and given the Ministry's treatment of them, I doubt they would have a problem with hiding someone from them. Especially if one of their own vouched for them."

"You think they could be together?" Harry asked, liking the idea of them having each other to lean on.

"Harry, they almost definitely are." Snape replied.

"Why's that? I know they were friends in school, but they were apart for a long time, too. And Remus believed that Sirius was guilty, all those years ago. They didn't exactly have time to have a real conversation about it two years ago."

"They will most likely be together because they are mates Harry. Thats why Lupins wolf was so deformed when he transformed during your third year. It's what happens to wolves when they are without their mates for long periods of time."

"Oh. I guess they didn't really have time to explain the whole mate thing either." He was quiet for a few moments, obviously thinking hard about something, before he seemed to shake it off and changed the subject. "So, we have a plan for Hermione and Ron, we've decided to leave the whole of the Weasley family out of it for now, we'll be looking into locating some wolf packs to at least find Professor Lupin. Concerning which, mentioning his nickname, Moony, might help. I think that about covers it. Anything else will have to wait until I'm at the Weasley's or Hogwarts."

"Yes, that's as well as we can do with the situation as unstable as it is." Derek agreed, before turning to Tyr who started talking about the rotations for the gaurd patrols around the estate and training schedules.

The rest of the meeting was pretty much the same. The members of Derek's inner circle standing to present reports on one thing or another. When they adjourned for the day, it was approaching noon.

Harry stopped by the owlery to send Hedwig with a message to the Ministry of Magic records department with a request for all records on the original Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Code of conduct, Rules, Power given to the different peoples and positions employed by the school, proper procedures for changeing the rules, Changes that had been made to them over the years, etc. to be sent to his vault at Gringotts. He couldn't risk asking them to send so much information here, but he would have free access to it if it was in his vault. Attaching a the request and a copies of the papers he'd recieved proclaiming him the legal heir of Gryffindor, he pet her beak a few times before watching her fly out the window. The next few weeks were going to be the worst kind of crazy...

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AN:) Finally! There's chapter 11. I hope it's long enough for you. Things start really happening in the next few chapters so Harry should be at the Weasley's by no later than chapter 14. Hope springs eternal that I can keep my muse well fed!