Furry Magic

Title: Furry Magic, chapter 14

Disclaimer: I do not own the HP characters.


Lucius slammed both fists onto the top of the table. The heavy mahogany table shook with the force of the blows. He roared, head thrown back. The three men in the room with him remained where they were, with a little extra effort, muscles tight. When he looked back down, his eyes had changed, gone fierce and bestial.

When those eyes fell on him, Yaji chose to kneel down next to the table, at Lucius\' feet. Lucius instinctively acknowledged the move, reaching out one hand, touching the bowed head. No rage was in his hand until it left the soft hair of his leopard-guardian. Then it became a fist. Graeme and Amrys stayed on their feet, Graeme closest to the door, Amrys only a few feet away from Lucius. Both men wary, poised to react.

\"Bring him to me.\" The leopard king, growled, lifting his eyes to Amrys\', but his hand going once more to touch Yaji, so the man knew who the order went to. His lips were drawn back from his teeth. Yaji, the guard who had just given the report on the happenings at Hogwarts, rose to his feet in a rush of liquid motion and moved towards the door.

\"He has already been punished, Lucius.\" Amrys murmured, raising a hand to stop Yaji in mid-step. The large guardian did stop, but he looked back over his shoulder at Lucius as he did so. Amrys shifted, trying to draw Lucius\' attention, his feral eyes, to himself.

\"Who is king? Is Amrys your king, Yaji? Is that why you hesitate to obey my command? Why Amrys can stop you from carrying out my order?\" Lucius snarled, his pale-fire gaze moving between the two men, his shoulders rolling forward, giving him a menacing, ready to leap posture.

\"No, my king. You are my king.\" Yaji\'s voice was full of awe and conviction, as he met his king\'s gaze, unflinching. \"I obey you.\"

Amrys cut in, his short hair ruffled by the way he was running his fingers through it. \"Lucius! Wait, I beg of you. Wait until you have calmed. Draco is human. He is not one of your cats. He is far more vulnerable.\"

\"And he might well have died! You can not be more vulnerable than that. Irresponsible. He drugged the guards I sent to protect him. Poisoned Yaji here with the size of the dose. If Yaji were human, he would be dead. Draco is a wizard, and adult. He should not make these kind of errors. When he does there must be consequences. He nearly got himself killed trying to meet his professor to get some unsanctioned spell or potion to turn himself into a were-leopard. All without my approval, and actually in opposition to me. He has assaulted my people, my leopards. How can I not punish him for it?\" The king spat out, his fingers and hands morphing into clawed paws, digging deep furrows into the top of the table, with a screeching sound as the wood gave way.

\"He is your son! He is not a lycanthrope. He wishes to be one. All his life he has wanted to be what you wanted. Your heir. He is young. He made a mistake. Mantheer has already punished him. He acted as a child trying to please his father, he was punished as a child. Let it be enough, I beg of you.\" Amrys pleaded, shifting to reposition himself.

Lucius snarled, swiping his arm out, sending everything on top of the table within reach crashing to the floor, or against the far wall. Amrys stepped forward, hesitant, hands out away from his sides.

Graeme actually moved away, into the hall and motioned to the group of unhappy lycanthropes who were standing there. Mantheer was among them, Draco clinging to his arm, his light blue eyes huge in his white face. Draco looked up into Graeme\'s unfriendly face.

\"Find Fred Weasley, or Potter.\" Graeme told a man standing on the periphery of the group. \"Hurry!\"

Perhaps Lucius\' rage could be diverted into another urge. A craving still physical but far less dangerous. As if the boy, Draco, deserved to have such a thing done for him. Graeme was all for the young man taking his lumps. But, Amrys was right, he wasn\'t a lycanthrope, and later, Lucius would regret it if the boy was seriously hurt.

The man took off at a running lope. A second man followed until the bend in the hall, then he went one way while the first man went the other.

Amrys was now very close to Lucius. He leaned in, not offering his throat this time, he didn\'t want to endure having it ripped out. He lowered his head submissively. Swayed in, showing his respect, and his lower status. He sank to his knees, just as Yaji had done. Graeme reentered the room. He, too dropped to his knees and crawled forward.

\"Please my king, do not do something you will regret. I beg of you.\"

\"You tell me to govern my son by rules that differ from all the rest? How can I do that? He is my son. He has done wrong, his betrayal strikes me far deeper than any other member of my pride\'s would. He can not be above our laws.\" Lucius\' voice revealed the full measure of pain he was feeling.

Lucius was still for one more long, tension filled minute, head hanging forward. Then he leaped.

Amrys, coming up from his position on the floor, met him in mid leap. Graeme was a split second later. The two subordinate omega males clashed with the dominant alpha one, all changing in midair, so where once three men were, now three brawling were-cats fought.

The sound of the fighting, far from increasing the tension outside in the hall, actually let a wave of relief move through those gathered. The dominant three would work this one out. There was no need for the rest to decide. Amrys and Graeme were doing their duty to their king. Taking the heat. Keeping him from making a decision he would regret. Making it possible for him to back down.


It was Potter and Blaise who showed up in tow with one of the men who had searched for the marked young-lings. Fred was no where to be found. A howl, followed by many deep snarls made Harry jump back and turn to flee as they approached the cluster in the hall.

Kaithas reached out and grabbed Harry\'s shirt, keeping him there.

\"Stop. Don\'t be afraid, kitten. Take a breath. Good.\" Harry fastened both hands on the dark man\'s forearms, he was trembling. His eyes flicked towards the open doorway.

\"I am not going in there.\" Harry said, firmly, pushing against the hold the man had on him. Jerking against it. \"They are fighting. I can hear it. They can fight it out amongst themselves. I can\'t do anything, except get killed. So, forget it.\"

\"Who told you you had to go in?\" Kaithas tried to be soothing.

The young man looked at him. \"Oh, please. I get dragged here, and all of you are outside waiting, and *they* are inside. My luck is....I am supposed to go inside. No. Way.\"

Mantheer came up next to them. Harry looked up, and up. The tall man looked down at him.

\"Marked One. Has no one told you what it is you exist for?\" The deep voice rumbled. Harry was not impressed.

\"My name is Potter. And I\'ve heard all this before. \'You exist to do one thing\'. Well I\'ve done it. I killed Voldemort. I am through with duty and destiny.\" Harry snapped. Mantheer regarded him silently, then reached out and took a handful of his shirt, shaking him once, hard.

\"I don\'t care if you have killed Lord Voldemort. That is the past. You have new duties now. Now it is your duty to serve this pride and it\'s king. He has marked you as his chosen. You will go to him. You will do it.\" Mantheer scowled down at the youth he held up on his tip-toes.

Harry jerked one of his arms free, hung from the other, pulled hard on it. His brows were drawn down, he hissed through clenched teeth. \"No.\"

\"You will go in there, and you will save Draco from his father. You will keep our king from doing what he must not do.\" Mantheer said, his voice no louder than before. But much more threatening.

\"What?\" Harry asked in confusion. His eyes were drawn to the other side of the group, to the blond young man waiting against the wall. Draco. They frowned hard at each other.

\"What are you talking about?\" Harry demanded.

ne\'ichan
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