The Lambs

Just to inform a certain someone, whose name I can’t recall, that I realize dragging this out until Harry is old enough to shag is tedious and unnecessary, that is why, bright spark, I’m having a time jump. If your review was nice enough to reply to, I might have already informed you of that.

Also, there is someone on AFF that keeps asking to put my stories on her site, but she wants my permission. Consider this my permission, if you’re reading, because your email address is hidden on your profile. Just let me know which fics you use.

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Words: 3,285
Chapter 3
Life Goes By
July 31st 1989.

The years had flown by. Since that fateful December in 1982 when Harry had finally come home to join the inhabitants of Hogwarts, Fenrir had only made one more attempt to kidnap the young prince. Insanely, the man had attempted to throw a rope and grappling hook over the wall and climb up. He had managed to reach the top of the wall, without touching the wall miraculously when one of the guards had finally noticed him. Everyone had been too busy watching the young prince celebrate his 3rd birthday. Ever since then, Harry’s birthdays were a little more private and a lot more guarded.

But that wasn’t enough to dissuade Harry now. He stood, hands on his narrow hip, 9-years-old today, and pouted. His scruffy raven hair fell into his brilliant green eyes and he stomped his little bare foot. James rolled his eyes. The child was a mess. He and Draco had gone out to play, and yet there stood Draco, his clothes almost shining they had remained so clean. Yet Harry was shoeless, his clothes were barely more than rags and he had lost his glasses. It was all James could do not to laugh at him when they first came over.

Hearing what they said however caused James to become very serious. “Absolutely not.” He said sternly. Not waiting for a reply, he turned back to talking to Peter. Sirius gave a small shrug and a wink to Harry over James’ shoulder. Draco pushed Harry to the side, watching as Sirius walked away from the group.

“Oh!” Harry gasped, eyes widening. Draco resisted the urge to smack his friend and pulled Harry by the arm over to Sirius. “Siri! Tell dad that I want to go outside the wall for my birthday!”

“Why kiddo?”

“Draco went for his eight! And I couldn’t go even though I was invited, and the Weasleys brought everyone to the Arcade when Fred and George turned 13, but I couldn’t go then either. How come I can’t have a birthday party outside the wall? I can’t even have a birthday party inside the wall! You all lock me up in my room for the day, mum, dad and me and some boring presents! Draco isn’t even allowed to come!” Harry eyes were watering up and Sirius reached out to run his fingers through his godson’s hair.

“Hey kiddo.” He said softly, “There is a reason this happens to you, ok. But you just have to trust us for now, cause we can’t tell you. It’s safer this way!”

“If something is going to happen to me, wouldn’t it be safer to tell me so I can avoid it?” He said, sounding so mature Sirius had to rub his eyes and make sure Harry was still only 9-years-old.

“I understand, and strangely I agree, but we’re doing this your dads way until you’re older, ok.” He paused. “And anyway, why do you want to go do something weird and human outside of the wall?”

“You used to be human, and it’s not weird.”

Draco snorted. “Father took me to a ‘play barn’, with some of the other children, so it would be easier for my mother to visit us. I wasn’t happy at all, but it wasn’t so bad once you got used to it. It was actually kinda fun.” He allowed a half-grin to slip over his face for a second before it was gone. He stared at Harry. “So, we going to sneak out then?”

“You what?” Sirius cried.

“If dad wouldn’t let us go, and Lucius said we had to ask my dad, then we decided we were going to sneak out, and take a knife or something to protect ourselves. It isn’t that far, it’s only 3 miles through the forest.”

“The Forbidden Forest, Harry, forbidden for a reason.” Sirius crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look stern.

“Draco went through it before.” Harry pointed out stubbornly.

“With his father, and several other adults.” Sirius’ eyes narrowed for a second, before he realized how ridiculous he looked – arguing with a child. “Fine, I’ll talk to your dad. Maybe we can compromise.” Both children cheered, before they took off together back to Malfoy Manor.

“Come on James,” Sirius whinged. “Fenrir hasn’t tried anything for six years. You can’t lock the child up for his whole life. You might as well deposit him in the bank at this rate.”

“Are you trying to say you want Greyback to get his grubby hands on my son?” James hissed, eyes narrowed.

“Course not, but I want the kid to know what fun is too. Come on Jamie, do something for his birthday!”

“Fine, alright. But we’re keeping it small. Just family, that way it’ll be easier to protect him.”

“The Malfoy boy has to come,” Sirius rolled his eyes and said. James glared but didn’t say no.

Three hours later, everyone was ready to go. Harry and Draco were leaning out of the windows in their carriage. Lucius and Lily were sitting inside with the boys, and James and Sirius were sitting beside the driver and on the roof respectively. The driver, turned out to be Peter. It was a party full of nervous adults that began to make their way through the forest, except Peter. He was ecstatic. He hadn’t had a chance to gain any favour with Fenrir for seven years, and now, the king had practically handed Harry to the werewolf gift-wrapped. Peter tried not to smirk or laugh outright because James was sitting beside him.

He deliberately drove the four horses slowly through the forest. When Lily called out from inside the carriage, “speed up, Peter, we don’t want to give them time to notice us,” Peter nodded, made a show of speeding up and then slowed down again moments later. He wanted Fenrir to notice them. They were two miles out, and only had one mile until they reached Hogsmeade.

It was a small town, but it had plenty of shops, arcades and ‘play barns’. There weren’t that man humans at nighttime, unless they took a cab into any of the three nightclubs in Hogsmeade, but other than that, everyone who worked in the town lived in the next town over – another three miles away from the werewolf infested forest. One more mile to go, and Harry would be safe from Fenrir for another few hours, and Peter was cursing under his breath.

Suddenly, a howl split the air. Three, human-shaped werewolves stepped out of the tree line and onto the road in front of them. “Run them down,” James ordered. Peter mimicked terror, throwing his hands in the air and crying out. It resulted in him dropping the reigns, which was enough to make the horses stop and stand. The werewolves all grinned.

They all had orders not to scare the young prince too much, since the boy didn’t know about werewolves and Fenrir wanted to be the one to explain it to him, shining a good light on his species. That meant that the creatures had to remain human looking unless it looked like they were being beaten by the elementals. With three identical growls they approached the carriage. Lucius immediately used his element to ward the carriage, and Lily prepared her healing power in case Lucius grew tired too quickly.

Lucius’ element was rare; he could control the darkness, the shadows. The carriage was hidden in a sea of black, and while the werewolves knew it was there, they couldn’t see it, nor remember where they had seen it earlier. They looked around, confused. Lily held her hand over Harry’s mouth – never having seen Lucius use his element Harry had given a cry of surprise when the whole carriage was descended into darkness and he could no longer see his hand in front of his face.

With a gulp, Peter gave a fake cry, full of fright and stumbled off of his seat. He fell, in an undignified heap at the side of the carriage, safely away from the hooves of the startled horses. The werewolves noticed him at the same time, and with another howl they began towards them. More appeared behind the carriage. They still couldn’t see the carriage, but they had seen where Peter fell, and knew the carriage must be beside or behind him.

“Lily, Sirius,” James cried and jumped down from the carriage as well. Lucius let the shadows leave, and grabbed hold of Draco. Lily took Harry’s hand, and they jumped out of the carriage as well. Sirius still lay on the roof. He notched an arrow and fired, hitting one werewolf between the eyes. Both of the children gave frightened cries. Both were too young to have seen real death, despite who they were, and neither knew all that much about werewolves, if anything. Draco had only been told what he needed, needed, to know. That way he couldn’t tell Harry too much.

Sirius fired at another werewolf as the man tried to jump up onto the carriage. He fell back, dead, and the remaining five surrounded James and Peter. They all ignored the healer and the shadowmancer, both of which had a child with them, because that was Fenrir’s orders. They were not to touch the prince, nor harm his friend.

Fenrir stepped out of the trees, a small smirk on his face. He was shirtless again, and his jeans had son many holes in them he may as well have just been naked. He was barefooted and his silver hair was plaited and hung over his left shoulder, tied with a piece of string. He was still wiry, but his arms were muscled: he didn’t look like he was on steroids at any rate but he wasn’t whippet thin either. He was a nice mix, and Harry’s eyes widened at the sight of him. Fenrir put his hands out in time to catch the shoulders of Lily Potter as she ran towards him. “Lily,” Lucius cried but it was too late. Fenrir bared his teeth at her and she shrieked, trying to pull away. Then Fenrir’s attention fell on Harry.

Lucius was a few paces back, his own son behind him, and he was reaching forward to grab Harry’s arm. Harry was staring in awe at Fenrir, “wow,” he mouthed as the man moved lightening fast and grabbed Harry’s shoulder. He pushed Lily towards Lucius, who caught her, but he kept the boy against him.

“Well, well, look at you.” He said softly, his fingers running down one side of Harry’s face. The boy’s eyes were almost popping out of his head and he gulped.

“Uh,” was all Harry said in reply.

”Stop it!” Draco shrieked, straining against his father’s hold. “Let him go!” Fenrir chuckled deeply, his eyes taking in the blond haired child who was valiantly trying to protect Harry, as well as escape his father’s protection.

“All grown up, and nowhere to run,” Fenrir murmured. He took a step towards them, but Lucius held his hands up, calling the shadows to them. Fenrir stopped and smiled. “No need for that. I only wanted a better look at him. Boy,” he said to Draco. “Harry is coming to live with me, now.”

“I am?” Harry said looking to his mother. She looked horrified, and terrified, petrified even. She was shaking her head slowly, like she couldn’t believe what was happening, and she was trying to deny it.

“Would you like to come as well? I’ll let you stay with Harry.” Fenrir whispered. Lucius’ grip on Draco’s shoulder was almost painfully tight.

“Draco can come? Cool!” Harry said with a grin, not frightened in the least. Something inside of him was telling him he could trust this man. The man was scary, and very scruffy, shifty looking as well, but he was handsome, and handsome men were supposed to be the good buys in fairy tales. People that looked like Peter were always the bad guys, Harry thought with a wince. He trusted this man with his life, but Harry wasn’t so sure if he could trust Fenrir with anyone else’s life.

Draco shook his head lightly. He knew what this man was, a werewolf, and he knew James Potter would die before letting the wolf take Harry away. “Harry isn’t going with you.”

“He’s not?”

“You’re going to die.” The blond said with conviction, and it made Fenrir laugh.

His fingers stroked over Harry’s shoulders and back. “Big words for such a little man.” Fenrir said softly, his eyes straying to Harry’s face instead of Draco’s. “So little.” He said again, even softer. He could wait. He’d waited so long as it was, another nine or ten years would be nothing as long as Harry was with him, safely away from the elementals.

An arrow pierced his shoulder. It would have hit his heart; except the moment it struck Fenrir had bent down to place a kiss over Harry’s scar. Fenrir howled, and fell to the side. Lily grabbed her son, and dragged him behind Lucius. Sirius and James stood behind Fenrir, the other werewolves were dead and the two men looked relatively unharmed. Peter was panicking. He had been so close. So very close, and now it was all going to hell. He had to salvage this somehow. They couldn’t be allowed to kill Fenrir.

“I’m a bigger man than Draco is,” James snarled, “how about you pick on me?” Fenrir got to his feet, a snarl rising. His body began twisting and morphing, beginning the transformation from man to wolf. Harry gasped, before his mother turned his face away.

“He’s sick,” she whispered to Harry, “he’s using dark magic, and he’s sick because of it.” She dragged Harry away, and pushed the boy up onto one of the four horses. Lucius followed her and began to free the animals. “Never let him touch you.” Harry just nodded. Lucius jumped onto one horse and pulled Draco up to sit in front of him. Harry rode alone, for a moment until Sirius ran over and climbed on behind the young prince. There were two horses left and Lily grabbed one. She sat on its back, waiting for James to join her. The other horse was for Peter.

Peter was watching James and Fenrir fight with wide eyes. He needed a shot, an opening; he couldn’t let Fenrir die. “Peter!” James suddenly cried. He had Fenrir pinned to the ground and the werewolf was unable to move, but he was human again. “The arrow. I need it,” he cried out. He was weapon less Peter realized and the closest weapon was on the ground next to him.

Peter picked up Sirius’ bow and notched an arrow, and aimed. He fired the arrow, at James. With a scream James rolled off of Fenrir. Now they both had an arrow in their shoulders, Peter thought with a hysterical laugh. “Oh god,” he said, notching a second arrow. “So sorry, sorry, oh god,” he mumbled incoherently.

James raised a hand, “don’t help me any more.” He choked out, punching Fenrir who had started to stand. The werewolf lay back on the floor and panted. James ripped the arrow from his shoulder and plunged it into Fenrir’s hand, nailing him to the ground. “Lily.” He called, and his wife rode over, allowed James to jump on the horse behind her, and rode off after Lucius and Sirius.

Peter screamed when they were out of hearing distance. Cursing, he looked at the werewolf. He pulled the arrow from Fenrir’s hand and sneered. “He was practically gift-wrapped for you. Why are you making things so hard for me?” He grabbed the last horse, suddenly realizing whom he had been shouting at and fled for his life. Fenrir let out a howl, and more wolves appeared out of the trees.

“They are heading for Hogwarts. I want the children alive and unharmed.” The man painfully got to his feet and started to follow the wolves that had run off at his command. He would get Harry, one way or another, and if Peter Pettigrew wanted to help him, then by all means the man could.

Less than half a mile from Hogwarts, Draco fell off the back of his father’s horse. The man slowed, but didn’t stop as James ordered him to keep riding. Sirius, noticing James look, slowed as well, and threw Harry at Lucius who caught the boy with ease. “Hey, what are you?” Harry complained but shut up when he saw the five wolves, very big wolves, closing in on his blond friend. “RUN!” He screamed, and Draco took his advice and started to sprint for Sirius.

“Get Harry inside Hogwarts,” James ordered. Half of Lucius wanted to disobey and save his own son, but another part of him wanted to protect this dark haired child he had become so fond of. The smallest part of him wanted to obey orders. When he saw Sirius grab the back of Draco’s robes and pull him onto the horse, Lucius spurred his own steed on, and with Harry clinging to him in fear, he sped the rest of the way to Hogwarts, not stopping to look back. Sirius arrived with him, Draco buried against the man’s chest. Lily and James flew through the right doors of Hogwarts soon after. Peter brought up the rear, he seemed less panicked than the others, as if he wouldn’t have minded being caught by the wolves. But James brushed that thought aside and hugged Harry tightly.

“I still didn’t get my party.” Harry said with a scowl, pulling away from his father. His arms crossed over his chest and his eyes narrowed. His foot began tapping on the floor impatiently, and Draco joined in, both of them sulking.

Lily let out a soft laugh, even as James looked annoyed. “They’re children, they have no idea what was at stake. Let them pout.” She giggled again, running her fingers through Harry’s hair. She bent down to whisper into his ear, “remember what I told you?”

“Don’t let him touch me,” Harry whispered back.

With a smile Lily led James and Sirius to the infirmary, and set to work healing them. Lucius was unharmed, except for the minor heart failure he may have suffered and the boys were safe as well. Peter refused treatment, and once inside the castle, Godric’s Hollow, he hid away in his room and cried. He had been so close.

“So,” Draco turned to look at Harry, as Lucius brought them both back to Malfoy Manor. “Wanna sneak out next year then?” Lucius scowled at them, but neither noticed for they were too busy grinning at each other in a sly and secretive manner – that made everyone guess they were up to something.

Fenrir stood outside of the wall and he smiled. Sure, he was in pain, and he had been beaten and humiliated, but apparently Remus wasn’t his only ticket to Harry. It seemed Peter was a traitor. That could work very well in Fenrir’s favour. His fingers tingled lightly and he sighed, he had felt Harry, touched and held the boy briefly and his wolf couldn’t wait until next time. For there would be a next time. The elementals could beat him down as much as they wanted, but nothing would deter him.

No one and nothing would get between him and his mate. Even if he had to kill every person on the planet to ensure that, Fenrir would. His mate was just that important to him.

“Soon my lovely Harry, soon.” He headed back to the forest.

XXX

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Thanks for reading. Reviews are like cookies – they’re only nice if they come from the Dark Side! XD

Harry will be eighteen in the next chapter, and he and Fenrir will meet without his parents, and there will be words and – stuff – exchanged.

Work has stopped giving me hours during the week for some reason, so I have all week to work on Indelible – and I will, when I can make myself be that evil. Tease—