Hybrid Destiny

Chapter 14

Silence reigned in the room for all of two seconds. That, of course, is when Harry exploded. “What do you mean only a fae’s mate can see through a natural glamour? There is no way in hell I can be mated to two people. Besides, maybe it’s more of a weeding out process than proclaiming a mate. Fae’s only have one mate. I am absolutely positive I read that in that little book.”

“I don’t know what to tell you. There is just so little actually known about the fae. Maybe your elf and fae have to agree on a mate,” said Remus.

“I’m leaving. I can’t deal with this right now. Let me know if you find something new. Otherwise, I’ll be in the library,” said Harry rushing from the room. He headed straight for the library and started searching for some answers. He didn’t care if it took him all night or all week, he was going to get a detailed explanation about what was happening to him.

Back in the Room of Requirement, three men were staring at each other uncomfortably. Draco finally broke the silence. “That was real cute. You couldn’t have broken the news any better than that? I happen to agree with Harry, though. Maybe the feather thing is just weeding out unfavourable prospects. You have to admit we haven’t really tested theory seeing as how only six people touched the tattoo and of those six, two felt feathers. The odds that Father and I are the only ones able to feel feathers is not that great when you look at it in that angle,” reasoned Draco. “Now, I am going to find my little elf and help him find an acceptable answer to this crisis you have incurred.”

Once Draco was out of the room, Remus turned to Lucius with a confused look on his face and said, “His little elf? Exactly how close are they?”

“It doesn’t really concern you, does it? After all, if Harry is correct, Draco is a potential mate whereas you are not,” said Lucius before turning and stalking out of the room. He decided that he needed to a little research as well. It would hardly benefit his already precarious situation if a rift were to occur between his son and him over this.

“I really need to learn to keep my mouth shut,” said Remus to the now empty room. “Oh well, may as well join in the quest for the oh so elusive information.” With that said, he set out for Dumbledore’s office. Albus may have other suggestions on where to find those needed answers.

Draco found Harry in the library at his favourite desk pouring over a pile of books. He walked up quietly to stand behind him and said, “Would you like any help? After researching those elves, I’m a pro.”

Harry jumped at the sound of a voice and turned to look behind him. Seeing Draco standing behind him, he just smiled and gestured towards the chair behind him. Fidgeting slightly, he said, “I hope you weren’t offended by my outburst back there. It’s not that the idea of you being my mate that is abhorrent. I just don’t like the idea of having more than one significant other in my life.”

“I wasn’t offended. I was angry with Remus for his thoughtless words, as was my father I believe,” said Draco soothingly. “So you wouldn’t mind me being your mate, huh?” he said teasingly.

Harry blushed at the teasing words. “I think you already know the answer to that. I certainly haven’t done any of that with your father, or anyone else for that matter,” he said quietly.

“I know. I like knowing that I am the first to experience that with you. Hopefully, I’ll be the only to experience that pleasure with you,” said Draco seriously leaning over to press a soft kiss to his elf’s lips. “Well let’s find those answers.”

“Thanks, Draco,” said Harry.

Draco and Harry read through at least six books researching about fae mates. Most of the books they had found only had three or four paragraphs in the entire book dedicated to the fae and even less information on a fae’s mate. Harry was mainly afraid that fae and elves would suffer death or insanity without their mate. He really wasn’t looking forward to dying because he couldn’t survive with only one mate.

“Ah ha!” shouted Draco suddenly startling Harry and almost causing him to fall out of his chair. “I may have found what we’re looking for.”

“Well what is it?” asked Harry impatiently.

“This book compares and contrasts elves and fae because they are descended from one line but the line branched out somewhere along the way. They are both nature-based creatures but elves control the plant and animal aspects while the fae control the elemental side of nature. Both races also have pointy ears but elves have a more noticeable point. The fae have jeweled toned eyes and long hair while elves have various lengths of hair but coloured power markers streaked through it. Technically you really should be taller because both races tend to have an average height of 6’4. I imagine your lack of height has something to do with your malnourishment as a child,” said Draco referencing the book as he spoke.

“Elves usually just feel drawn to a specific person, but the fae have several steps to determine a mate. Fae have two types of glamours: the natural glamour, like your tattoo, and spelled glamour. A spelled glamour is several times stronger than a wizard’s glamour because the fae are masters at casting glamours. They would have to be to live amongst muggles and wizards and still remain unknown. Several potential mates can see or feel through a natural glamour but only a true heart mate can see through a spelled glamour though this is usually one of the last steps of the weeding process. The fae also go by scent to a degree though this is usually the second stage. Once the list has been severely decreased, the fae uses scent to basically sniff out any more imperfections. This can be anything from a weakness of the body to weakness of magical strength. The fae are notorious for going after the strongest, healthiest mate available. The last stage is the spelled glamour test. It takes a lot of power to see past that kind of glamour,” said Draco finishing the passage.

“So what you’re saying is that now I just have to sniff out any imperfections on both you and your father and go from there,” said Harry skeptically.

“It should be a natural instinct. You’ve had your nose buried in my neck often enough to know, right?” asked Draco. “Have you noticed anything off with me?”

“Do you things would have gotten as out of hand as they did if I had?” asked Harry with his semi-permanent blush on his face once again. “No I didn’t smell anything bad about you at all, just the opposite in fact.”

“So I guess I’ve passed two stages. You just need to learn a spelled glamour and see if I can see through it,” said Draco. “You have felt drawn to me, correct? At least I assume you have.”

“Obviously, Draco, I have felt drawn to you. I’ve never done those things we did in my dorm with anyone else, especially after less than a week. That indicates to me a strong draw towards you,” said Harry in a mildly sarcastic tone.

“Good point. So I meet the elfin requirements and two of the fae requirements. I would say I’m ahead of the game,” said Draco smugly.

“Don’t get too cocky now. Someone better may come along at any time,” said Harry teasingly.

“Not unless they have a death wish,” said Draco. “Well now that we are armed with more information, I’m feeling a bit hungry. Let’s go eat.”

“That is a good idea. Now that I’m not frantically searching these books, my stomach feels like it’s trying to gnaw it’s way through my skin,” said Harry dramatically.

They walked to the Great Hall quickly. Everyone else was already in attendance so they hurriedly took their seats and began piling their plates. Harry’s plate was piled higher than everyone else’s. Since he had come into his inheritance, his stomach had devoured food like a bottomless pit. Of course, after several days of seeing this phenomenon, no one really paid attention to the amount of food he consumed.

Harry finally finished his meal and pushed his plated away. Now that he was full, he was beginning to feel a bit tired. He figured he would continue to feel this tired until he had practiced enough to increase his stamina. Right now, though, he felt like falling asleep right at the dinner table. Fortunately, Draco noticed this and decided to make sure Harry got to his room safely. He once again made sure Harry got changed into nightclothes and got in the bed. He, of course, just couldn’t resist kissing his elf’s forehead in the hopes that Harry might latch onto him again. Sure enough, when he attempted to draw back, Harry had a handful of his robes and hair. Draco just pulled Harry’s hand off of his robe, stripped down to boxers, and climbed in the bed. Harry immediately moved and draped himself over Draco once again.

The next morning, Harry wasn’t quite so surprised when he discovered Draco in the bed with him. He was surprised that Draco was only wearing boxers. Harry managed to wiggle his way out of the bed without waking Draco and quickly took a shower. By the time Draco finally awakened, Harry was already dressed and sitting on the edge of the bed putting on his shoes.

“Hey. Where are you going?” Draco asked sleepily.

“I have to start my training for the day. It’s already 9:00 and I have to meet Moony at 10:00. Are you going to help today?” he asked.

“Not right away. There are some things I need to do before I can help out. I don’t think Father will be there either,” said Draco.

“Alright. I’ll see you later then,” said Harry. He leaned down to give Draco a quick kiss. Before Draco could even think about deepening that kiss, Harry was out the door. Draco just gathered his clothes and set off for his rooms. His father was already awake and was sitting at the table drinking tea. Upon seeing Draco, he just raised an eyebrow and went back to the paper he had in front of him. This is going to be a long day thought Draco.

Harry went straight to the Room of Requirements hoping Moony had some breakfast available before starting. Harry was in luck because the table in the center of the room was positively laden with food. He practically skipped to the table, said a quick good morning, and started eating. Moony just snickered and went back to his book.

“What are we working on today?” said Harry after finishing the last bite.

“I want to see if you can control any certain element,” said Remus setting his book aside.

“I tried the elemental thing but all I got was soft breeze. Nothing major happened at all,” said Harry.

“When did you try that?” asked Remus.

“The night before we trained in the Forbidden Forest. I was practicing with my wings and I decided to see if I could control an element. Well I tried for over an hour and nothing happened. I was getting really hot from the exertions and that was making more than a bit irritable. I just wanted to get cooled down. I was about to take a cool shower when this misty breeze flowed through the room. That was all I managed, though,” explained Harry.

“It seems you are able to control air to some extent. You may even be able to control water but I’m not really sure about that one. Why don’t you try calling another breeze?” said Remus.

“I’ll try but I’m not promising anything,” said Harry. He immediately concentrated on making a flowing breeze waft through. An hour had passed and still not enough of a breeze was created to move a feather. He couldn’t help but get more and more frustrated. All he could think was that if he could control these new powers, he could possibly defeat Voldemorte and prevent anyone else from dying needlessly. As his frustration with his lack of progress grew, his thoughts centered more on what he could do to Voldemorte and his merry band Corpse Biters. Before Remus knew what had happened, strong winds started circling Harry.

Harry’s eyes were closed with his imaginings of Voldemorte’s demise and didn’t immediately hear Moony screaming his name. When the sound finally registered, he opened his eyes and almost fell over in shock. It looked like he was in the center of a tornado. Things were flying all around him and he looked around in amazement. That is until he caught sight of Moony huddled in a corner trying to avoid being hit with any of the objects currently circling the room. Harry cut off the wind and rushed over to his surrogate godfather.

“Moony! Moony, are you all right?” he asked frantically reaching out to touch his shoulder. He pulled his hand back when Moony involuntarily flinched away. “I am so sorry. I don’t know what happened. I didn’t even realize that I had managed to call up a breeze much less the winds that occurred.”

Remus didn’t really know what to do. On one hand, this was Harry his best friend’s son and surrogate godson, but on the other hand, he was extremely powerful and potentially dangerous. He didn’t really think Harry would deliberately do anything to harm anyone but accidents do happen as he just witnessed. He finally stood up and said, “I think we should stop for now. I’ll let you know when we can resume training. I have a lot to do right now.” Harry just nodded a little sadly and walked out of the room.