Follow Me

A/N: Thank you to all that have reviewed the story so far, and a thank you in advance to all those that will continue to do so. I have to admitt it does an ego good to see the number of people that are enjoying this story.



A/N2: I am sorry this site wont let me respond to the reviews or your questions. I have seen alot of people who take up page after page of their chapters to respond to reviews and it has always frustrated me when I am reading so I wont do it myself. However, if you have a question...I can respond through the yahoo group that I set up so feel free to ask anything you wish. Primarily it is to give me a place that I can post my stories to, and hopefully get some useful feedback on chapters before they are posted elsewhere on the net. By the way there is a picture of Norische on the group... http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Of_Pens_and_Ponders/?yguid=104171974



A/N3: I appologize for the delays in posting. I have had a horrible respitory infection and it has really kicked my arse. So thank you for your patience.





[...] or {...} = mindspeak

~...~ = parseltongue

\'...\' = thought





Chapter 30



Draco had fallen asleep snuggled in Norische’s arms with his hand resting on the ever-growing bulge that housed their unborn sons. Norische was worried how Draco would handle it if Lucius was indeed dead, they had talked about it quietly for a while before Draco finally managed to fall asleep. Chris had climbed up and laid down on Norische’s other side and now lay with his head resting just above Draco’s hand, listening to their son’s heartbeat as he fell asleep.



Try as he might, Norische could not sleep…well he did for a little while, but after an hour or so he woke up and now he just laid there thinking. Out of the corner of his eye Norische spotted something moving, something dark…like a shadow…only it was moving.



“What the bloody hell?” Norische gasped.



Harry, who for all intent and purposes appeared to be asleep in the bed one over from Norische, Draco and Chris, jerked up and looked over at Norische. “What’s wrong?” Harry called out.



“Over there, a shadow…well sort of…it’s moving.” Norische sniffed the air. “And it smells like...” Sniff “wet dog…?” What in the world?



“Woof!” Suddenly Harry had a bed full of mutt.



“Padfoot!!” Harry wrapped his arms around his godfather’s animagus form, squeezing him tight.



Padfoot immediately began covering Harry’s face in doggy drool and licking him within an inch of his life. Harry laughed and shrieked, fighting off the rough tongue.



“What the….” Chris grumbled as the giggling and barking just a few feet away awakened him.



“It’s Sirius. He’s come by to be with Harry.” Norische smiled at Harry and his godfather as they wrestled on the bed.



“Harry have you told Sirius about his being exonerated?” Chris yawned as he turned to where he could see the two of them.



“Padfoot! Stop! Stop!” Harry shrieked, finally managing to get the oversized, scruffy black dog to lay still. “Woof!”



“Change back. I have got something to tell you….” Harry grinned excited.



Padfoot quickly changed into Sirius and sat there on the side of Harry’s bed. “What’s up pup?”



“Sirius, the attack the other day…one of the ones that was killed was Peter Pettigrew! The Ministry has cleared you of all charges Sirius! YOUR FREE!!!” Harry squealed with his excitement.



“What?!? You’re kidding? Wormtail? They got him? I’m free?” Sirius sputtered and looked between Norische and Harry, not truly believing what he was hearing.



“Yes you’re free!” Harry grinned. Every since he had first met his godfather he had wished to be able to say those words. It was like a dream come true. Now Harry could go and spend his summers with Sirius and they could travel and go do things, like a regular family.



“WHOOO HOOO!!!” Sirius grabbed Harry and squeezed him close to him, wrapping his arms around his godson.



“What in the name of Merlin is going on here?” Madam Pomfrey came bustling into the ward, dressed in her night clothes with her hair hanging down her back in a loose braid.



Sirius jumped off the bed and rushed over to the medi-witch, wrapping his arms around her he lifted her into the air and spun her around a few times before she managed to smack him on the head hard enough to make him let go. “Let me down! Let me down! Stop this!” Poppy squealed and smacked at Sirius as he dodged and laughed.



“Madam, Sirius just found out that he had been exonerated for all crimes he had been previously accused of.” Chris laughed at Sirius’ antics.



Norische chuckled and pulled Chris close against him, he could practically feel the pure joy that was racing through the room.



“That may be so, but Mr. Black has no call to abuse my person in such a fashion.” Poppy smacked Sirius on the arm one more time for good measure, although she laughed at the same time. “Congratulations. Now keep it down I have two patients in the other ward that don’t need their sleep disturbed by your antics.” With that Popped turned around and headed back towards her private room, chuckling the whole way.



“Wow! I’m free…that means that I can…Wow!” Sirius was at a loss for words. So many things had been held back from him. So much had been restricted or forbidden. “Hey that means that my accounts at Gringotts are released! That means that I can get my place fixed up. I need to contact a contractor. Wow….” Sirius started pacing across the ward, as he tried to figure out what he wanted to do first.



“Harry, first thing we have to do. I need you to go to Gringotts with me as soon as you have a chance. I need to put your name on all of my accounts and property.” Sirius looked over to Harry with a very serious expression on his face.



“Sirius…you…you don’t have to do that.” Harry stated slowly.



“Yeah I do. If anything ever happens to me, I want it all to go to you. I can trust you to take care of everything. I couldn’t do it when the accounts were frozen but I want to do it now. As soon as we can.” Sirius walked over to Harry’s bed. “Harry…neither of us want to think of…well, with the war and all… but… I have to make sure you are taken care of. I know you would make sure that Moony had anything he needs. I mean…I can’t give it too him outright, with the laws and all. And I don’t think Severus would take it from me… so it would be up to you to make sure that he was taken care of.” Sirius didn’t want to think of something so heavy right now but it was something that needed to be said.



Harry wasn’t sure what to say so he just nodded and looked down at his hands in his lap. Sirius saw how the discussion was bothering Harry so he quickly changed the topic. “Now, where did you want to go on our vacation?”



Harry looked up his eyes as big as saucers. “Huh?”



Sirius grinned. “Well, now we can actually go do stuff. I don’t have to hide any more. With a little bit of a glamour here and there we should be able to take a vacation somewhere. Maybe the states, from what I understand Snaky doesn’t have much influence over there. There is this place I heard about it’s called the Magic Kingdom. Has a castle and shops and all kinds of stuff.”



“We could go somewhere? Really!” Harry bounced up and down on the bed in his excitement.



“Sure, I would have taken you before but between the Ministry and Snaky it is a little hard to travel. And I didn’t want to risk your safety. Now we only have to worry about old Snake face. Who knows maybe we could all go?” Sirius looked over to Norische who smiled and nodded.



“I am sure that once the babies are born I could use a little bit of a vacation.” Norische smiled.



“I am sure we all could.” Chris grumbled.



“Are you insinuating that I am hard to live with?” Norische glared down at Chris, who hunkered down and blushed.



“Not at all. But I’m not the one that was labeled as a ‘demon’ either.” Chris mumbled.



“Demon?” Sirius looked at Chris confused.



Norische crossed his arms across his chest and rested them on his swollen belly. “Hmmfpt” He narrowed his eyes and glared at Chris.



Harry chuckled and shook his head, then began to explain everything to Sirius. At some point Draco woke up and snuggled close to Norische confused as to why he was upset, when he asked Norische what the problem was Norische pointed to Chris and explained that Chris had called him a demon.



“I did not. I said I wasn’t the one that someone else called a demon. I didn’t call you a demon.” Chris sputtered as Draco glared at him for upsetting their mate. “I … he… bloody hell….” Chris gave up and leaned over against Norische placing his head on Norische’s shoulder.



“Norische, I don’t know how I can thank you for protecting Harry like that. I know that the kid can take care of himself in any one on one battle, but that many…well…I’m just glad you were there.” Sirius extended his hand to Norische who accepted it graciously. “If there is ever anything that me or mine can do for you, just ask.”



“Harry is a good friend, he has been there for me and has given me more than I can ever repay. When I laid in a coma for almost five weeks he gave of his own life’s blood so that me and my babies might live, and he continues to give of himself even though our lives are no longer at risk.” Norische grasped Sirius’ hand and bowed as well as he could, considering he had his two mates using him as a pillow at the moment.



Harry looked at Norische curiously. “So is that the reason you did all that?”



Norische’s eyes met Harry’s for a moment before Norische’s looked away. “No. But it sounded like a good excuse at the moment.”



“So why did you?” Harry whispered. “You, Chris and Draco were safe in Honeydukes. But you ran out there in the midst of all of the curses and everything and wrapped your wings around Hermione and me. They hit you over and over again, I could feel the curses hitting you, but still you didn’t move. Not until Chris came over and then you made him stay there and protect us while you went and well….” The memories of the screams, the smell of the blood, the fear…it was all so fresh. Harry tried to not allow the feelings to affect him, but he couldn’t stop it.



Sirius wrapped his arm around Harry as he sat there trembling. Harry leaned into Sirius strong arms, desperately needing his godfather’s strength right then.



“Honestly, I don’t know. I wasn’t really thinking. I just reacted.” Norische answered, he had thought about it several times since the whole Dumbledore and Ministry issue and he still didn’t know why. “I could no more leave you out there to fend for yourself than I could Chris or Draco.” Norische added in a hushed tone.



Chris looked up at Norische with a curious look on his face. [Was I right? A prospective mate?]



[I don’t know. But there is something drawing me to protect him and I can’t explain it.] Norische frowned as he thought.



[You don’t have to be in love with someone to follow your instincts. Love takes time.] Chris whispered to Norische.



[I can’t have three mates. It was a stretch to make sense of it all in my mind to have the two of you, let alone adding another to the mix. You are the Vampyre that I longed for, and Draco is the human.] Norische responded.



“That’s it!” Chris exclaimed. Then covered his mouth with his hand when he realized he had said it out loud.



“What’s it Chris?” Harry looked over to Chris curiously.



“Um…” Chris looked at Norische as he tried to figure out if he should say anything, when Norische nodded Chris took a deep breath and began to explain. “Nori and I were mindspeaking. He said that I am the Vampyre and that Draco was the Human that he needed to be complete…to complete the tribond.”



“What’s a tribond?” Sirius interrupted.



“Nori’s mother was a full blood Vampyre, and Severus is Human. So the crossing of species sometimes results in what our people call a tribond. Most Vampyre have only one mate, but a tribond will have two or more mates. Each part of their soul, their magic, calls out for something they are comfortable with…something they can understand, something that they are compatible with. I am a full blood Vampyre, so I satisfy the part of him that searched for a compatible Vampyric mate. The human part of his soul has been searching for a mate that is human. We thought that Draco was the one that would satisfy his human part.” Chris paused looking over to Draco.



“But I’m not am I?” Draco’s face fell, his mind suddenly dreading what Chris’ next words were going to be.



“Calm down Draco, let me finish.” Chris reached across and grabbed Draco’s hand and held on. Then Chris looked back over to Harry and continued. “We thought Draco was the one that would satisfy Norische’s human part…but he can’t Draco isn’t human, he’s veela.” Chris could feel Draco starting to panic and pull away from him. “Wait Draco, don’t you see. You satisfy his heart. You are his mate, just as you are my mate. But your place is not as his human mate, you are his heart.”



Draco looked to Chris and then to Norische unsure if he understood. “Draco, what Chris is saying is that you are my mate and I will always love you. My Vampyric side chose Chris to be its mate because it loved him. My heart chose you to be its mate because it loved you. And now my Human side is searching….”



Draco shook his head, he didn’t understand. “If I am not the one for you human side, then why did having me around stop you being in season? Why did it stop your pain?”



Norische thought about it for a minute then answered. “It wasn’t that you were around that stopped it luv, it was the fact that I got pregnant.”



Chris nodded. “That’s right. The first time we did anything Nori got pregnant. And so that immediately stopped his cycle. We just didn’t know it had because he started feeling the effects of being pregnant almost immediately, like most males do.”



“Huh?”



“The chemical and hormonal imbalance that a male goes through immediately upon breeding causes a reaction that is very similar to the normal hormonal fluctuations of being in season. Nausea, vomiting, dizziness, headaches, cramps, diarrhea, mood swings, drowsiness, they are all symptoms of early male pregnancy. That is the reason we didn’t know that Nori was pregnant at first…we thought he was just having problems with his cycle since it had been so long since he had last had one.” Chris explained. “Also it normally takes two weeks after breeding for a male to even be able to be tested, any test prior to two weeks is questionable at best. Most healers wont even guarantee a male has bred until he is at least two months along, since the body has to go through so much to prepare for the gestation of the embryo.” Chris explained.



“Ah…ok.” Draco still didn’t quite understand what Chris was saying but he nodded in acceptance.



“Draco, I am not going to stop loving you. You are my mate and you will be my mate for now until eternity. I love you with all my heart, and no matter what… nothing will ever change that fact.” Norische whispered close to Draco’s ear.



The warmth of Norische’s breath cause a shiver to snake it’s way down Draco’s spine, but his words calmed Draco’s heart. “ I love you too.” Draco whispered as he leaded over to kiss Norische gently.



Norische gladly surrendered to the kiss, sending all the love and pride he could possibly push through their bond to his mates. After they separated Norische smiled and pulled Draco close to him, wrapping his arm around his mate.



“So ah…what does this have to do with everything that has happened?” Sirius almost understood what Chris had explained but he still had no clue what it had to do with Harry or what had happed at the attack.



“Well Sir, earlier I noticed that Norische was treating Harry like a prospective mate. Three times Nori has put his life on the line to protect Harry. The first time was the time he met you. The second time, was when Ron attacked them and tried to curse Nori… since Nori was sitting right beside Harry at the time he thought that Ron was trying to attack Harry and threw his wings around Harry purely on instinct. The third time was at Hogsmeade, it’s like he said…he no more could have left Harry out there in the midst of all of that than he could have left Draco or I. He has reacted instinctively each time.” Chris explained.



“It’s like when Nori and I first got together, he found out that my step father was beating me and tore out after the bastard. He would have killed him if it hadn’t been for the fact that he had to take me to a healer.” Chris really hated talking about the way his stepfather had treated him, even though he knew it wasn’t his fault he still felt ashamed about what happened. “That’s why we got bonded so young. We had planned on waiting until we were out of school, but when my stepfather found out that I was seeing Nori he went ballistic. The only way Nori could protect me was to go through with the bonding as soon as possible, which we did. After the bonding he had no control over me, the only thing he could do was keep me from seeing my mother, which he did. When I went with them to Canada…that was the first time I had been allowed to see my mother in almost a year.” Norische reached over and rubbed Chris’ back, trying to comfort him. Chris rarely spoke about his family, in fact they had never even spoke about the whole incident with his stepfather attempting to break the bond back during the summer. He knew it was just too painful for Chris to speak about, and it surprised him quite a bit that he was discussing it now.



“The point I’m trying to make…” Chris cleared and refocused his mind. “…is that Nori’s actions the day he challenged my stepfather were purely instinctual. He saw me laying there bloody and immediately jumped on Craig, there was no asking questions, no trying to figure out what was going on, nothing…pure instinct. Just like every time that Nori has protected Harry.”



Chris looked at Harry. “Nori and Remus had been just sitting chatting outside when Nori caught your scent, which didn’t bother him…but then he caught the scent of Padfoot…an unknown, a possible threat. It was purely instinct that made him go check it out. It was instinct that made him throw himself in front of you when he thought Padfoot was going to attack. He had just gotten out of the infirmary and even though he was already weak from not feeding properly he still risked it and stretched the bond. It made him sick again, but he did it out of pure instinct.” Chris could see in Harry’s eyes that he was taking every word he said to heart.



“So what you are saying is that Harry is the human that Norische is suppose to bond with?” Sirius looked between Harry, Chris and Norische.



Norische looked into Harry’s eyes, trying to figure out what Harry was thinking, what he was feeling. Everything that Chris had said made perfect sense. He had felt a strong pull from Harry the very first time he had met him in London, but what did it all mean?