Ferinus Consanguinitas

A/N god I hate all these conversation chapters, I don't think I pull them off very well, any advice would be welcome, and if you would like e-mails when I update, just put it in your review for me :)
Now Beta'd by Night the Storyteller

Those who had viewed the pensieve were now sitting silently around a circular table in the study by the entrance hall. Only a few of the Order members stayed behind to see the memory, the rest left to their jobs and homes with the promise of a swift update. The only Weasleys at the table were Ron, Bill, and Arthur, as Fred, George, and Charlie had not been present at the morning meeting. The twins went to work, while the dragon tamer had been up all night and refused to wake even when Mrs. Weasley sent in one of her famous howlers. The Weasley matriarch was currently planning out her eldest son's wedding in the manor gardens, Fleur and Ginny fought with her about almost all of the arrangements.

"What do you mean we weren't in our realm?" Kingsley finally broke the silence, he was the only person there that was not currently living in the manor.

"Lyra said shadow demons aren't from our realm, that they live in a world beside ours. I think that was where we were in the last part of the memory, in the forest and the meadow."

"Why are werewolves there, is it the full moon in the other realm?" Tonks was leaning close to Remus as she spoke.

"It is where the werewolves come from, Tonks. Lyra said when the shadow demons first came to our realm; they brought some of their animals with them. The animals went crazy and bit the humans, turning them into the first lycanthropes." Remus' eyes widened and he leaned forward, folding his arms on the table

"What else did she say about the werewolves Harry?" Moony's voice was quiet but insistent.

"She said the reason why you turn on the full moon is because the space between the realms is smallest, and that werewolves were used to hunt the shadow demons down. That is all I can remember her saying, but she can tell you a lot more than I can Professor." The werewolf nodded his head and smiled

"Call me Remus, please Harry"

"Sorry, Remus." Harry said with a smile, Kingsley was tapping his fingers on the table trying to get everyone's attention back to the matter at hand.

"We will have to talk to Lyra later to find out more about this other realm and find out if it can help in the fight against You-Know-Who, but right now does anyone have any clue on how she got to where Draco was, and how does Lyra know Snape?" Moody looked around the table, his normal eye stopped at Harry's head of house.

"Well we don't know they know each other, Snape was probably just trying to help Malfoy." Ron was looking between Moody and Professor McGonagall, the tension between the two ran high.

"He called her by her name Ron, and he knew to put her in the shadows so she could leave." Hermione gave Ron an exasperated look, and he blushed.

"Oh, right."

"Minerva, I know you are bound by an oath not to talk about Lyra, but is there anything that you can tell us?" Mr. Weasley's voice was pleasant but Professor McGonagall pursed her thin lips, making the wrinkles on her face more pronounced, it was a few moments before she spoke.

"Lyra apprenticed under Severus last summer, she had already gotten her potion's mastery the year before, and she wanted to learn how to teach potions. She was supposed to continue working with him through the school year, but when Albus let Severus take the DADA position, she returned to her old school to work under her previous teacher there. Albus tried to get her to stay on and work with Professor Slughorn, but she wouldn't have it." The occupants of the room were silent for a few minutes, processing this new piece of information.

"Did she know he is a death eater?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"Yes, she knew the entire situation with Severus being a spy, or at least what we thought the situation to be. Albus tried to convince her to join the Order prior to her leaving, saying that her unique abilities would be very useful in bringing down You-Know-Who. But Severus and I fought him on it, we thought she was too young and using her abilities takes a lot out of her, as her current condition can attest to. She came back after hearing about.... about Albus' death, she felt personally betrayed by what Severus had done. Albus and her had become very close over the summer, I think like most of his students, she thought of him like a grandfather." Silence fell over the table, the shock of the Headmaster's death had long ago worn off, but the sorrow was still lingering.

"So now we understand how Snape and Lyra knew each other, were they close?" Mr. Weasley finally broke the silence, sniffling a bit.

"Yes, I managed to see Seve...Snape smile around her a few times over the summer, and they kept up correspondence during the school year." McGonagall was subdued in her answer.

"Were they romantically involved?" Moody always asked the blunt questions, and the golden trio all looked a bit sick at the thought of anyone being romantically involved with the greasy git.

"No, they were not." the tone of her answer left no room for discussion.

"Do they still communicate that you know of?" Tonks asked.

"She said she hadn't talked to him since a few days before the attack on Hogwarts."

"Alright, so Snape killed one of You-Know-Who's favorites to save his godson and his protege, are we sure that is the only reason?" Hermione looked around the room, seeing if anyone could think of anything else.

"I have given up on trying to guess that man's intentions, I think that if he hasn't already been killed by You-Know-Who for his actions last night, he should still be treated as any other death eater, capture if possible, kill if not." Moody's swirling eye swept the people around the table slowly, as if challenging someone to disagree.

"I agree," said Kingsley. "We will wait for Lyra to wake before discussing how she found Draco in the first place, it would do us no good to waste time on theories at this point. Likewise for how her abilities can help us in the future, agreed?" Everyone nodded their assent, then Moody placed a copy of his memories of the discussion for the other members to see so there would be no need to explain again, and the meeting was soon over with few pleasantries. Tonks and Remus left with Kingsley to the ministry, both looking very happy, though strangely a bit nervous, and Harry was told they were going to get their marriage license today. McGonagall went back to Hogwarts, Moody glared at her until she apparated away. He was quite angry of her for holding back information from the Order. The golden trio made their way back to Harry and Ron's room, Hermione grilling Harry on all he had learned about Lyra and the newly dubbed 'Shadow Realm'. They finally made it back and ate a hearty lunch sent up by the house elves. Harry left shortly after they ate, he felt very uncomfortable being around Ron and Hermione lately, it was difficult to be the third wheel. They gave a quick goodbye as he closed the door behind him and turned to leave the hall, but he didn't step forward. Instead he looked back over his shoulder towards the room that Draco was now sleeping in.

'I wonder if they would let me see him' Harry thought, but he wasn't sure if he was ready to admit how he felt about the blonde. He had decided to write off the dreams and "wanking incident" to guilt related stress, but taking that step towards his door would mean it was something more than just stress. He was saved from his deliberation by Charlie, who was quietly easing the door to Lyra's room closed.

"How is she Charlie?" Harry questioned, and Charlie jumped at his voice.

"Damn Harry, don't sneak up on people like that." Harry smirked knowingly.

"Sorry Charlie, didn't think a dragon tamer would be scared so easily." His tone was joking and Charlie rolled his eyes as they made their way towards the staircase, Harry a step behind.

"She is doing fine, her leg was pretty messed up, but Madam Pomfrey said it will be healed by the time she wakes." Harry nodded as they walked down the steps.

"So, are you two dating?" Charlie looked back at Harry then down to the floor and shrugged his shoulders.

"I really don't know Harry, I mean we had a great time when she came to visit the dragon preserve, but we have only talked a few times since."

"A great time hmm?" Charlie's smile grew big as he turned to look at the younger man, both stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

"A gentleman does not kiss and tell Harry." Charlie gave him a self satisfied smirk before continuing.

"Oh, dad said something about a memory of Lyra's that he wanted me to see, would you happen to know where I could find him?" It made Harry happy to hear Charlie say "dad", and not "my dad," it made him feel like he was really a part of their family.

"I don't know about Mr. Weasley, but the pensieve is in the study by the entrance hall."

"Oh thanks Harry." He flashed Harry a bright smile and turned towards the door that led to the entrance hall.

'Nice ass.' Harry thought as Charlie walked away. As soon as he realized what he was doing he splayed his hand across his face, shaking his head in disbelief that he had just checked out his best friend brother's butt.

'Okay, so maybe I am attracted to guys and this thing with Draco isn't just a fluke.' He started searching the house for Ginny, maybe seeing her would answer some of the questions that had been plauging his mind lately.

*-------*

Harry didn't find Ginny and was force to take her place with Mrs. Weasley setting up wedding decorations. He helped until dinner which Mrs. Weasley insisted on making it herself since her entire family would be joining them (minus Percy of course), and since she had such a big crowd to feed and no daughter in sight to help her, Harry was once again enlisted. Dinner was a loud event, once again all sat around the large table recounting the events of the night before and that morning, that was until Blaise showed up and the conversation shifted to Bill and Fleur's upcoming wedding as well as Remus and Tonks' problem of getting a marriage license at the ministry. According to the new werewolf registration act passed by none other than Dolores Umbridge, the future spouse had to go to classes, so that they understood the dangers of a union with a werewolf before they could get a license to wed. Remus was ready to call the whole thing off, but Tonks had already signed up for the class and hopefully they would obtain their license within the week. Harry noticed Charlie was silent throughout most of dinner, only talking a little bit with Ginny when she wasn't chatting with Blaise. Perhaps Charlie didn't like what he saw in the pensieve. After dinner everything was blissfully uneventful and Harry fell into a deep sleep soon after he got in bed.

*-------*

"Merlin Harry why is it so dark in here?" Ron's voice cut through his dreams, which were once again about the blonde Slytherin sleeping a few doors down the hall. Ron was standing at the door of their shared bathroom, he was already dressed for the day, wand in hand.

"Give me a sec Ron and you can turn on some light." Harry cast the spell on his eyes after muttering a quick cleaning spell on his boxers. Ron flicked his wand and the curtains covering the tall windows opened, letting in the bright sunlight.

"Come on Harry, Lyra woke up this morning and Hermione is already there asking questions before Pomfrey shows up." Harry got dressed quickly, putting on a blue short sleeve muggle t-shirt and over sized baggy jeans, silently reminding himself to go shopping for clothes that fit him at the first opportunity. He brushed his teeth and splashed some water on his face before donning his glasses and following his red headed friend out the door. Lyra's room turned out to be the last room on the left, right beside Draco's. Harry could hear Hermione already in the room as they entered.

Lyra's room did not have the common room that the others did, it was only a bedroom with two doors leading out of it, one seemed like it would go right into Draco's room. The owner of said room was currently reclining on a queen-sized four-poster bed, with black and silver bedclothes and drapes. She was dressed in a rather tight white t-shirt with the covers wrapped up around her stomach, and her long black hair was plated in two braids that fell over her shoulders. Hermione was sitting on the bed beside her, leaning on the headboard and Charlie was on her other side sitting in a chair beside the bed, Lyra's small hand wrapped in his. They all looked up at the new arrivals and Hermione motioned them to close the door and have a seat. Harry sat on the end of the bed while Ron pushed Hermione up from the headboard and sat behind against it pulling Hermione back to his chest. Both Ron and Harry smirked at Charlie and Lyra's joined hands, but he only smiled and tried to pretend he didn't notice where they were looking.

"So shadow demons can't actually hide their wings, only glamour them?" Lyra looked exhausted, there were deep black circles under her dark eyes, and her normally pale skin was tinged a bit gray. Hermione didn't even seem to realize how tired the girl beside her looked, her own eyes were bright and she had a parchment perched on her knees, quill moving fast, taking notes.

"Correct." Lyra managed a small smile at Hermione's enthusiasm.

"Wow you must be really good at glamor spells then, I can't even tell you have them." Hermione was trying to pat the air around Lyra's shoulders, which caused the ailing girl to laugh.

"Actually no, my wings never came in, you really have to need the wings for them to appear. Usually when a shadow demon child reached the age of thirteen, they would be thrown from a fledging tower that was always built in the city squares." Lyra looked down at her and Charlie's joined hands as she spoke, softly stroking his fingers with her thumb, Harry was starting to feel left out again, fifth wheel to the two couples, but Lyra's words snapped him out of his musing.

"Fledging tower? They threw their kids off towers?" All eyes were now on Lyra with looks of disbelief.

"Just like a baby bird that gets pushed from the nest to get them take flight, it is the need to fly that gets them to open their wings, and all non-winged shadow demons are called fledgling's, hence the name fledging tower. Not that shadow demons can actually fly, but when they jump from that high they can glide for a long time." Hermione went back to writing, but the three males in the room were still looking strangely at the pale girl.

"Oh come on Harry, they wouldn't intentionally kill their children, that is why I never got the chance to jump, they were worried that I wouldn't have wings, not being a pureblood. Not that I didn't try myself a few times, but I always had my broom with me, so I guess my mind knew that I really didn't need the wings." Charlie squeezed her hand a bit when her voiced turned a bit sad.

"It seems a bit strange for a race to have wings if they can't actually fly" Hermione was muttering to herself as she wrote, but Lyra was able to hear her comment.

"Well in some of the villages on the southern continent they still can use their wings to truly fly, but up north we gave up the ability for the silver in our veins."

"What do you mean?" The self-inking quill was once again posed over the paper, its owner looking intently at her source of information. Lyra seemed a bit scared of Hermione's enthusiasm and Ron and Harry snickered.

"In the south they don't have the wolves, so they didn't need the protection the silver offers, but in the north we were almost completely wiped out by wolves, the silver in our blood helps protect us from attacks." Harry opened his mouth to asked if Lyra meant werewolves but Hermione was already asking more questions.

"You actually have silver in your blood? But wouldn't that kill you?" Hermione never looked up from her page, and Ron was leaning over her shoulder to see what she was writing.

"Yes, the process of developing a potion able to add silver to our bloodstream was very deadly. It was hundreds of years before the time of the Egyptians when the first experiments were done. It all happened in secret, entire villages would go missing. At first it was thought the wolves killed them, hundreds at least, possibly thousands were taken, and when they found out what was happening the entire world went into an uproar. But by that time the technique was perfected and soon the people responsible were seen as heroes to most of the northern population. They saw the losses of those villages as acceptable for the gains the research provided." Oh no, Harry could see another S.P.E.W.-like rant coming on and both he and Ron braced for the onslaught.

"Thousands of people used as lab rats were acceptable?" Hermione’s voice was harsh, like it was Lyra's fault that all those shadow demons died thousands of years ago.

"It was sad that they died, but many more would have been killed if not for their sacrifices, the werewolves had begun to take over, and my ancestors were their favorite food. Our race had just begun migrating to the southern continents to try and escape the wolves, but only the young and strong adults could make the flight, so the fledging children and elderly would have been left behind. Many did leave, but those that remained took the potion to infuse silver into their blood. The metal in bloodstream made them too heavy to fly but they could use their wings as shields, wrapping them around their bodies when the wolves attacked." Lyra's voice remained calm, her head was bowed and she looked like she was about to fall asleep, Hermione once again didn't seem to notice.

"Why didn't they just apparate to the south? We saw you do it in the memory." The tone was getting worse and Lyra’s lips were forming a tight line, Charlie was glaring at Hermione as well, his fingers were brushing over Lyra's hand.

"Because they didn't know about apparation or any kind of magic you have in this realm. So they did what they had to do, after the first generation took the potion, the ones that came after were born with the protection. Though even now, we still smell good to most lycanthropes, and they will attack any of our kind without silver wings to protect them." The calm was gone from Lyra's voice and Hermione finally looked up from her note taking and posed her next question without the animosity of her previous ones.

"But doesn't the silver in your body keep them away?" The males in the room let out a sign of relief as the tension that Hermione's questions had caused starting to ebb away, Lyra next answer was a bit sarcastic, but not angry.

"It is in the blood, so blood has to be spilled to do any good, and since most werewolf bites are fatal, the silver doesn't serve as much protection."

"Does a person who survived the bite change?"

"No, we are immune. And before you ask, no Harry, the potion that I gave you will not make you immune, nor will you start smelling like dinner to a hungry werewolf." Harry already had his mouth opened to ask, and closed it with a smirk when she spoke.

"Out all of you, I told you not to wake her until tomorrow, but who ever listens to the mediwitch?" Madam Pomfrey strode into Lyra's bedroom like it was her infirmary, and everyone jumped off the bed and quickly left, except for Charlie who stood slowly and gave Lyra a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.


A/N I know, no Draco yet, but don't fret, he will be in the next chapter a lot :).

mis Yeah I know Harry was kinda being a little weenie in these last few chapters, but I'm trying to show him a bit insecure about his feelings right now, and still in mourning for Dumbledore, I'll try to work on him getting back his Gryffindor bravery soon :)