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







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

~...~ = parseltongue

\'...\' = thought







Chapter 32



Chris finished stacking the last trunk on top of the pile that was already waiting in the commons room of Severus’ suite. “That is the last of our stuff, and everything from Remus’ suite.” Chris announced.



“Excellent, the others should be back any moment now.” Severus stated as he packed the last shelf of his books into the waiting trunk. “Have you gotten all of the things that were purchased for the babies?”



“Yes Sir, it is all in the trunk on the bottom there.” Chris started over to help Severus finish up with his potion ingredients and the bookshelves, but stopped when he heard someone knocking at the door. “I’ll get that.” Chris walked over to the portrait and opened the painting it was Blaise.



“I’m not late am I?” Blaise asked breathlessly.



“Nope we are almost finished packing though, and everyone else should be back in a few minutes.” Chris moved aside for Blaise to come in. Just as he started to close the painting he heard someone else calling out.



“Wait! Wait!” It was Harry, Hermione, and Sirius. Harry called out as they were running up to the door. “Chris! Wait!”



“Ok, Ok…it’s alright Remus, Draco and Nori haven’t gotten back yet, so we are still waiting on them. Come on in.” Chris motioned the three of them into the suite and showed Sirius where to put their trunks.



“Miss Granger…what exactly are you doing here?” Severus asked cautiously



Hermione walked over to Severus, still trying to catch her breath. “I am here because I think that what the Headmaster is doing is absolutely wrong. I know that when the Ministry figures out that Norische acted to protect both Harry and I, that when you all leave they will attempt to use me to get Norische or Harry to come back and I am not going to be used by Professor Dumbledore or the Minister.” Hermione raised her chin and stated with all the confidence that she could muster at the moment, even though she was completely terrified of leaving her school and everything behind.



Thankfully, when Harry had rushed into the Gryffindor commons room Hermione had been present to see his rather flustered appearance and had followed him to his dorm room. After a rather quick explanation from Harry, Hermione had managed to convince him to allow her to come along with them. Hermione had rushed to her room and packed her belongings as quickly as possible and met Harry and Sirius back in the commons room. She wrote her parents and Ron a letter and gave them to Ginny to owl later, she honestly hoped her parents would understand but right then she didn’t have the time to worry with that.



Harry went over to the stack of trunks and placed Hedwig’s cage on top of his trunk then turned toward Chris, ready to ask something but was interrupted when the door to the suite opened.



“Severus?” Remus called out as he levitated two trunks into the suite in front of him.



“Over here, what is the matter?” Severus turned at his name and headed over towards the door.



“Nothing luv, I just wanted to let you know we were back and ready to go as soon as you were. I had just a little bit of a problem with the goblins at Gringotts, it seems that the loss of the Black, Malfoy, Snape, Potter, Evans and Lupin accounts was rather upsetting though. From my calculations approximately one half of the funds available to the London branch of Gringotts have been removed from their access.” Remus snickered.



“Father… you should have seen the looks on their faces when Dad explained why we were removing our accounts. Grinklok was furious, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dumbledore had his personal accounts frozen by the time we left the place this afternoon.” Norische grinned as he walked over to where Severus was standing and wrapped his arm around Severus’ waist to give him a hug.



Severus shook his head ad glanced over to Remus. “Did you get everything you needed from Diagon Alley?”



Remus levitated the trunk that they had put everything in over to the rest of the pile, “Yes, I think I got everything we discussed… at least I hope I remembered it all.”



Severus nodded then looked over to Draco. “Draco, there is something that I think you should see before we leave.”



Draco looked at Severus skeptically and walked over to where he stood. Norische looked up to his father, unsure of exactly what was going on but he could feel the tension practically radiating off of Severus. “What’s wrong father?”



Severus handed the paper with the article about Lucius to Draco; he had folded it in such a way that the article was right on top of the page.



“What’s this?” Draco asked as he took the paper, then he saw the headlines. “Oh crap…” Part of him desperately wanted to read the article and part of him was terrified of what the article might say. Even though Lucius was not the best father in the world, he had still been the only father that Draco had ever had… well except for Severus.



Remus looked at Severus questioning. “It is an article concerning Lucius. Apparently, he was found last night on the steps of St. Mungo’s Hospital.” Severus stated in response to Remus’ expression.



Chris rushed over to Draco and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. “Oh Draco….”



Norische moved to stand next to his mates and began reading the paper over Draco’s shoulder, placing his hand on the small of Draco’s back, hopefully giving him some additional support.



“Well at least he is still alive, for the moment.” Norische stated as he read the words.



Harry and Sirius exchanged unsure glances, then Harry went over to Draco and placed his hand on Draco’s arm. “I’m sorry Draco.” Harry whispered.



Draco looked up from the paper and looked into Harry’s startling green eyes, then nodded, not really sure to say at this point…or if anything honestly needed to be said at all.



Norische reached over and touched Harry’s arm. “This isn’t your fault Harry, you were just a witness. You have nothing you need to apologize for.” Draco stated as he continued to read the paper.



The sad look on Harry’s face told everyone that even though he wasn’t directly responsible for what happened to Draco’s father, that he still felt guilty.



“Draco’s right Harry. You’ve done nothing that requires you apologizing. The Dark Lord is the one that beat his father, and even with that…it was his father that made the choice to follow the Dark Lord to begin with.” Norische knew that what he was saying was true but somehow he didn’t think it made any difference in Harry’s mind. Harry still held onto the guilt and the pain nonetheless.



Severus glanced over to the boys and his heart ached with the pain he knew they must have all been going through. “As much as I hate to say this, we honestly need to get going. I have no idea how long it will be before someone finds Dumbledore and figures out how to wake him. But I do know that once he is awake that he will notify the Aurors, and the Ministry. So, unfortunately….” Severus allowed the rest of his words to fade away.



“It’s ok, I don’t want to think about this right now…we need to get Norische somewhere safe, then we can worry about everything else.” Draco nodded, still looking at the picture in the article.



“Ok then. Chris contact Pari and let her know we are ready and ask her if it is possible for her to send some assistance to get these things to ShadowHaven.” Remus asked as he walked over to where Severus was and helped him finish up with the trunk he was packing.



Chris nodded and went to get Nori’s orb.



A few minutes later Cabine, Arathe, Narek, Arrian, Daniel and Mael orbed into Severus’ suite, each immediately sought out his or her individual. Severus quickly instructed Arrian as to which trunks he wished to go where. As soon as Severus finished, Arrian went over to the first set of trunks and began the process of escorting the items through the orb.



Cabine, Arathe, Narek and Daniel immediately followed suit. As the elves began orbing the trunks and various containers through, Mael tended to Norische and his mates.



Harry turned to Narek. “This is Hedwig, I would like you to set her up an area in my rooms.” Hedwig wasn’t exactly thrilled about being in her cage again but at this point her safety was more important than her pleasure.



“Of course Sire.” Narek gently picked up Hedwig’s cage and spoke to her soothingly, which seemed to calm her immediately.



As the elves were taking the trunks and luggage through the orb, Severus explained the article about Lucius to Remus. “After we make sure that everyone is safe I am going to come back and check on Lucius and see what else I can find out.” Remus simply nodded and kept silent.







Norische was the first one to orb through, after quickly moving to the side to allow the others to come through, Norische quickly fell to his knees with the dizziness that overtook him. Daniel orbed in right behind Norische and saw him fall, running over to where Norische was kneeling the elf immediately called for Doran and instructed him to go get a healer. Even with Norische’s protests, the others present didn’t want to risk anything being wrong.



“I am just a little dizzy is all, I’m fine!” Norische exclaimed to the anxious elf trying not to get frustrated at Daniel’s motherings.



Chris came through the orb followed quickly by Draco, both rushed over to Norische when they saw that he was on his knees. “Nori!”



“It’s ok. I’m fine!” Norische allowed his mates to help him to his feet. “I just got a little dizzy when I orbed in and I went to my knees to keep from falling over.” Norische explained.



Chris nodded and conjured a chair for Norische to sit in. Norische rolled his eyes but accepted the chair, actually glad to be able to sit for a moment to clear his head.



Remus was the next to orb through, followed quickly by Harry and Sirius. Remus of course rushed over to Norische and began checking him out with a couple simple diagnostic spells that he knew.



Even though Norische understood the concern for himself and for the babies it was still frustrating. He wasn’t a weak individual and he hated when others kept insinuating that he was.



“Nori, Remus didn’t say you were weak… he just wants to make sure your ok. Remember that we don’t know a whole lot about how those orb things work, so naturally he is going to want to make sure that everything is ok.” Harry leaned down to Norische and whispered in his ear.



“Why do you have to be right at the most inconvenient times?” Norische asked crossing his arms across his chest and narrowed his eyes at Harry.



Harry just smiled and shook his head then turned to help Hermione since she was a little disoriented from her first orb travel.



The rest of them quickly followed suit, orbing into the grand foyer of ShadowHaven. Pari and Kain came into the foyer where everyone was gathered just as Severus, the last to come through, appeared in the bright golden light of the orb.



“Norische… how are you doing? Are you alright?” Pari rushed over when she saw that he was sitting down.



“I’m fine.” He sighed and once again explained. “I just got a little dizzy from the orb travel and needed to sit down for a moment.”



Pari nodded and left it at that, and headed over to Severus and Remus. “Have you heard anything from Fumbledore?” Pari asked.



“Fumbledore?” Hermione looked at Pari a little odd.



“Well… the man is an imbecile.” Pari grumbled beneath her breath. “I am not about to apologize for my opinions.”



“No one is asking you too Pari.” Norische stood up. “But you must remember that to most, the Headmaster is a great wizard. One of the most honorable and powerful wizards of his time.”



“He is a fool!” Pari was getting flustered at the fact that Nori was practically defending the man that for all intent and purposes had planned to hand him over, and seal his fate.



“He may be a bastard, but he is not a fool. Dumbledore is manipulative and cunning. I guarantee he knows more than he is letting on.” Severus returned. He didn’t like Dumbledore’s actions any better than Pari, but over the years he had learned to respect the old man and to never underestimate him. No… Dumbledore was up to something. He would never sacrifice someone that had protected is ‘golden boy’ if there wasn’t a higher cause, irrelevant of what the Ministry of Magic or that bumbling buffoon Fudge stated. The old man was up to something, of that he had no doubt. Severus’ only question was what…





It took several hours for everyone to get settled into their rooms and to get unpacked. Remus and Severus had insisted that Norische be checked out by the healer that Doran had brought. After multiple diagnostic spells and a few general tests the healer pronounced Norische and the babies quite fit and stated that if they needed her to contact her at anytime. Mael had fused over him quite a bit, but had stopped when Norische had mumbled something about making sure that Mael would never have to worry about ‘fathering’ any children.



Norische didn’t particularly like the healer either, her hands were cold, but she seemed nice enough. But in the end he was just happy that everything was ok and that everyone was satisfied and stopped worrying about him… for the moment.



Draco and Chris spent the better half of the day going through all of the items that they had purchased a while back that had been delivered to ShadowHaven. They had Daniel moving furniture and rearranging the nursery until almost dinnertime.



Since everyone else was occupied Norische took the opportunity to go walk down to the lake that bordered ShadowHaven. It honestly was quite a walk but it helped Norische think, to clear up some things in his mind…or at least to attempt to.



As he sat there looking over the calm surface of the waters of the lake, so perfect, so smooth, Norische couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the beauty before him. The softened reflection of the sun as it hid behind one cloud then another, cast shadows on the waters that danced and rode the ripples to the shore where Norische sat.



He had no idea how long he actually sat there, he hadn’t even paid attention to time at all, at least not until he noticed someone walking up the pathway that he had traveled earlier. At first Norische couldn’t tell who it was, but it didn’t take long for Norische to realize it was Harry.



Harry walked over and sat down on the sandy beach next to Norische and stared out at the setting sun in front of them. “Everyone is wondering where you are, they were beginning to get worried.”



Norische hung his head a little. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to worry anyone. I just needed time to think.”



“What ya thinking about?” Harry nodded. He knew how confusing things had been lately and how much he had desired to find a nice quiet place and just run away for a bit, and this place was absolutely gorgeous.



“Everything. You, me, Dumbledore, this war, my mates, my babies…everything.” Norische stated, although his thoughts had been primarily about the boy that now sat beside him.



“Me?”



“Yeah. What it all means. Why do I seem to need to protect you? Why am I drawn to you? Are you a prospective mate? If so are you interested? Are you gay or even bi? Are you attracted to me? Would you be willing to be a mate of someone that already has two mates? Would the fact that I am pregnant with the young of my other mates bother you if you did turn out to be my mate? How would you and Draco get along?” Norische’s voice faded with the last question…



Harry waited a while the asked. “So what answers have you come up with?”



“None, only more questions.” Norische looked out across the lake, the crystal blue waters were turning orange from the reflecting setting sun.



“Well I think I kinda have an answer to at least a couple of the questions.” Harry mumbled, as if he was not sure he wished Norische to hear him.



“Oh?” Norische turned to look at Harry. As soon as his head turned Norische felt the touch of Harry’s soft warm lips graze his own. After a moment of shock, Norische returned the kiss. It was soft and gentle, yet almost timid…as if Harry were unsure of what he was doing.



Norische gently placed his hand on the back of Harry’s neck and pulled him to him. He began to trace Harry’s lips with his tongue, memorizing his taste, his touch. As Norische felt his body begin to respond to Harry’s touch he realized that he now had the answer to the most important question. Harry was indeed his mate.