Close Enough

Ch 2 Birthday from Hell

Harry was working on a new song, sitting one the floor in the middle of his living room when the clock in the hall chimed 12. He had been working on this song for over five hours now, and he nearly had the cords all worked out. At the first chime he stopped playing and looked up at the clock. At the second a small smile came onto his face. However as the third chime rang through the air white hot pain began to burn through his body. From the tips of his fingers to the ends of his hair, from the bottoms of his feet straight to his heart. The pain ran over and through him like a title wave of lava. By the fifth he lay on the floor screaming in agony. By the eleventh his screams dulled to a whimper. And on the final chime he fell completely silent passing out sprawled face down on the floor. It was now July 31st, Harry’s birthday.

Pain. That was all he could remember when Harry began to come back to consciousness. Pain. Searing, excruciating, pain. Slowly his eyes fluttered open, and he struggled to push himself into a sitting position. Looking around his flat everything seemed to be a little blurry, “glasses...” he muttered and reached to rub his eyes. Only to find that his glasses were in fact on his face already. Scowling, Harry removed his glasses and rubbed at his eyes yawning slightly. When he opened his eyes he could see clearly, very clearly. Harry looked down at the glasses in his hand and then around his flat again. Confused, Harry made his way to the bathroom. Muttering, “You are Harry Potter, you are a wizard. Why are you surprised by any weird thing anymore?” and then he chucked to himself at the joke at his own expense.

Upon entering the bathroom he set his glasses on the side of the sink before stripping down to take a shower. Turning the water up to a steamy hot temperature Harry stepped into the shower trying to relax away this confusion and aching muscles. As he stood there he let his mind wander. ‘Why was I in pain last night? Why can I see now without my glasses?? I know that wizards come into their inheritance if they have one on their 17th birthday, but….’ Harry began to think that this was impossible because his parents didn’t have any Creature blood in them, but how was he to know that? He knew next to nothing about his family’s history, so how would he actually know that with any sense of certainty... he couldn’t. Harry sighed as he finished the train of thought and his shower at the same time. As he got out of the shower, he heard the buzzer of his door. ‘Shit’ he sighed wrapping a towel around his waist.
“Coming!” he yelled as he made his way through his flat to the door. As he got closer, “who is it?”
“It’s us HJ! We wanted to take you out for your birthday!! We have a whole big day planed” came an extremely chipper female voice. “Let us in! You know your neighbors don’t like when we hang out in the hallway!” with that you could hear a small group of soft chuckles through the door.
Harry unchained and locked the door, holding his towel firmly he opened it. “Morning guys. Just got out of the….” He stopped talking at the look on his friends faces. “What??”
“HJ…. Man… you look… different… what….. Happened to you?” Dex asked walking with the group into the flat as Harry closed the door.
“What do you mean?” Harry asked looking very confused between all of his friends who were all a little wide eyed.

The only girl in the group stepped forward smiling broadly, “Don’t listen to him, Har, you look great! It seems you have come into your inheritance. And might I be the first to say, WOW!” she exclaimed looking him up and down slowly causing Harry to grip his towel a little tighter. With this she stepped a little closer and whispered, “You might want to go look in the mirror, I’ll explain to the guys while you are gone.” Stepping back a little. “Looks like I’m going to have a good use for your present. Just be happy that I know the charm to put on it. Now go!” and she shooed him off back down the hall watching intently as the attractive towel clad man strolled to the bathroom.

Everyone except the girl seemed to come out of the daze that they had been in since arriving in the flat when Harry closed the bathroom door. And the girl smiled at the group, “Umm... guys… it seems our little Harry is going to need our help.”
“What do you mean, Cord?” asked one of the two brown haired young men.
“Yea... with what?” asked his twin.

When Harry exited the bathroom now dressed, he walked in to his friends all sitting in his living room watching for him anxiously. They all smiled at him as he walked in the room. It took a moment before anyone spoke.
“Give it to him, Cord. I don’t want to think what we’ll do if you don’t.” The sandy blond man said.
“Give me what Dex??” Harry looked a little confused but excited. He liked surprises, and it was his birthday after all. It might be a present.
Cord came forward and handed Harry a small wrapped box with a small smile on her face. “Happy birthday Har. Open it. Put it on. Then we need to talk.” She kissed him softly on the cheek causing Harry to blush faintly and then retreated to her seat again to watch Harry open his gift. Harry smiled, untied the ribbon, and opened the box. Inside he found a black leather choker with a silver cross of infinity hanging from it. Harry removed it from the box, putting it on obediently and sat down in his usual spot on the floor looking at his guests.

Smiling at Cord, “Thanks Cord, it’s beautiful.”
She smiled warmly, “It’s nothing, love. Now we need to talk.”
“About what??”
Everyone turned to Dex who looked a little glum. “Well Harry... I’m not sure how to say this but… well… you are at least part magical Creature.”
Harry rolled his eyes slightly, “Well I kind of figured that out when I was screaming in pain last night.”

Dex looked at Harry seriously, “I know you aren’t stupid Harry. I was going somewhere with this, so just listen okay?” Harry nodded looking confused again. “Well Harry. As you know Cord here is one quarter vampire. While you were getting dressed she told us something very interesting about you. You see being part vamp, she can sense things about people, like when they are part Creature and such. Well, she sensed it about you as soon as you opened the door to let us in today. That’s because as far as she can tell you are all Creature, a mix of veela and succubus.” Dex stopped here for a second to allow this much to sink in before he continued. “You have always been a very attractive bloke, Harry.” With this statement everyone else in the room smiled and nodded slightly looking intently at Harry who had a pink tint creeping up his neck. “But with your inheritance you are beyond compare, trust me.” He smiled softly. “Now regardless of the mix of these two Creatures you are a walking, talking, “human” orgasm waiting to happen. And since Cord here could sense this she sent you away before your pull got to any of us enough to try to do anything to you.” At that Harry looked completely panicked and his eyes began shifting from person to person in the room. “Don’t worry Harry, you are okay now. Cord also being a vamp knows the charm to help tone down your pull, she put it on your necklace that she gave you. You are perfectly safe, well mostly anyways. But you will be able to control it enough that people won’t try to take advantage of you.” When Dex stopped talking Harry looked almost as though he was going to be sick.

“So what you are saying is that because of my lineage, I’m going to have people trying to attack and rape me?” Harry looked worried.

Cord spoke up at this, “Just keep the choker on, Har. The charm never ends, and it will help you keep the thrawl down enough that it won’t be anymore of a pull toward everyone around you than your natural good looks are.” She winked at the end of her statement and looked at Dex. “I assume that you want me to explain the next part then?” Dex nodded solemnly . Cord looked back at Harry, “Har, most wizards with Creature blood had what is called a bonded mate. This is someone that their very essence draws them to, and they will bond with and then spend their life together with. This other, is like their other half, someone to complete them.” Knowing how Harry felt about his life always being out of his control Cord moved to the floor and put her arm around Harry’s shoulders as she finished. “Harry... I know you feel as though nature is taking away your choice... I know... but you know my girlfriend Cloe?? She is my bonded. And I promise you when you find yours you will wonder how you ever lived your life without them.” She squeezed him tightly when he rested his head on her shoulder.

After a good long pause of everyone just sitting there letting Harry soak everything in, “So does that mean that you and Dex are going to be related??” Harry giggled.
“Yes Harry it does. But to have Cloe, I’d brave hell so I guess I can deal being related to that nitwit. Even if he will be my brother-in-law that doesn’t mean that I have to like him.” Cord also giggled sticking her tongue out at Dex and stood helping Harry up. “Alright let’s go! Time to take out our birthday Creature!! I do believe that we promised him a few piercing for his birthday!” and with that a laughing and chattering group left Harry’s flat.