E Pluribus Unum

A little Min/Hary action for all of you who have been demanding it. Thanks to Kate for giggling a lot when I sent this to her to beta.

Droxy - thank you, babe! (See how Hollywood I am?)
Helen - If you recall, Freddy told him the gene for Dragonic abilities is recessive, he is literally a hidden threat, it isn\'t obvious to the Demonkind what he is.
Kateri - I too had the great visual of him, arms crossed watching the orgy with a sneer.

Chapter 36 – Lemonade

Minuet had decided that she was going to have to break down Harry’s defenses, one way or another. Kissing was fine but if she couldn’t go to Hogsmeade with him, if she couldn’t even be seen in public with him, then she wanted a reward for her good behavior and it wasn’t going to be a few chaste kisses.

She spent a week plotting her attack. She discarded potions and charms as being too likely to backfire on her and decided to go for the direct approach. So she found herself in the Room of Requirement with a fireplace, loveseat and romantic music setting the scene. There was only one thing missing: Harry.

He was late, which he almost never was. She was sitting with all the accoutrements of romance but not the object of her desire. She was tempted to burst into frustrated tears but controlled herself sternly. A Gryffindor, no matter how much she loved him, wasn’t going to make her cry. He was twenty minutes late though; could he have changed his mind?

Oh Merlin, what if he fell in love with some other girl? What if he had run into Cho Chang in Hogsmeade? Would he leave Minuet for the older girl? Minuet began to pace, suddenly worried. He didn’t like the fact that she was so much younger, he had said it often enough. Insecurities began to worm their way into her mind and she stopped suddenly in the midst of her pacing.

What was wrong with her? Why was she getting all knotted up over this? She was a Slytherin and Cho had been a Ravenclaw. If she tried to steal Harry from Min, then she would simply win him back and then wreck horrible revenge. She imagined Cho with boils and a lingering disease that ruined her beauty.

“Min, so sorry I’m late. Professor Dumbledore ran over with my Occlumency lesson.” Harry’s voice, breathless from running drew her from her schemes and she tossed herself into his arms with a happy cry.

“Harry! I was getting worried!” Min scolded him with a relieved smile and he dropped a kiss on her mouth that left her warm and breathless.

“Min, what’s to worry about? Hogwarts is pretty safe.” Harry was chuckling as she hugged him tightly.

“You’ll think I’m silly.” It did seem silly when she looked into his eyes. The warm emerald eyes glinting behind the glasses were rock steady and full of emotions that made her wriggle with happiness.

“Never.” He assured her with perfect seriousness and she kissed him lightly.

“I was sitting here thinking you had decided you weren’t in love with me anymore.” Admitting it made her embarrassed, but the piercing look that Harry gave her made her feel naked under his gaze.

“Minuet, I was gifted by a faerie. I can only love one person for all time and that’s you.” Minuet gasped in shock and clutched him hard. A terrible understanding rushed through her.

“Oh Harry. I promise I won’t die on you. I promise.” He held her tightly and kissed her face. She was so frightened of leaving him alone in the world with no one to love that she almost missed his next words.

“Just promise you won’t stop loving me.” It was almost whispered and she laughed as she remembered why she had left Trelawney’s class the first day.

“Not likely, Harry, not with my ancestry.” He drew back and looked at her in surprise. She grinned at him. “I am my mother’s daughter too you know. I get the Snape lineage from her; she is Uncle Severus’ first cousin. They share the same grandmother.” He was looking at her blankly. “Great-Grandmother Agatha was a half-blood like Professor Flitwick.”

“So, your Great-Grandmother was really short?” Harry asked still looking confused. She giggled and he grinned, happy that he could surprise that sound from her.

“No silly, she was part-dragon.” Harry’s jaw dropped. “When I walked into Trelawney’s classroom the first time, all the crystal balls went cloudy. She told me that ind ind mate for life and I therefore better find a boy who can only love one girl or spend my life being miserable.” He was looking at her with eyes gone huge and mouth open and she took advantage of his momentary shock to kiss him again.

“Well, I guess we are stuck with each other.” He said when she let him up for air and they both began to laugh. Harry picked her up and began twirling her around and they both lauguntiuntil they fell in a heap onto the soft carpeting.

She was lying on the floor on top of Harry and she could tell he had noticed that fact. She ran her hands through his hair and kissed him more gently, letting her mouth linger over his. He twisted underneath her and she suddenly found herself, breathless and staring up into his eyes. His body pressed her into the floor and his expression was intense and thoughtful.

“Does Snape know?” He asked her and she was momentarily confused. The attempt to think clearly while he was lying on top of her, his breath coming in short bursts, was not entirely successful.

“Does he know what?” She managed to gasp out, there seemed to not be enough oxygen in the room, because she felt quite breathless.

“About the mating for life thing.” He clarified and she shrugged.

“Well, it’s never come up in conversation, so I don’t know.” She didn’t understand why he was talking instead of doing so she followed a suggestion she had overheard one of the seventh year girls making to another. She shifted her leg to lie between his and rubbed her thigh against him.

It must have done something, because he gasped, his eyes closed and his back arched. She felt quite smug; it seemed that those girls knew what they were doing.

“I am asking…” He took a deep breath and ran a hand down her thigh, which shut off most of her higher brain functions. “…because it might have a bearing on whether he murders me for this or not.” His hand worked its way up to her hip and traced the curve to her breast and then he stopped.

“Harry, don’t stop, that feels amazing.” She protested, but he kissed her very softly and then pulled himself off her with a groan. He stood up and then reached down to help her stand as well. Minuet hated it when she pouted but to be given a taste and then to have it snatched away was amazingly frustrating.

“We have forever Minuet.” He whispered into her ear and stepped back, taking deep steadying breaths. “We should wait.”

“Until what, Harry? Until I’m older? Until you’re dead?” Tears began to fall down her face and this time they weren’t faked. She could feel Voldemort’s shadow on everything around her. Harry wrapped her up in his arms and whispered soothing nonsense. “I hate him, he’s taken so much from us, your parents, my father, your god-father, my home. I don’t want him to take you too.” She was sobbing in earnest now and he was rubbing her back and holding her tightly.

She was crying for all of it: for her poor father, for her lost home, for the tree house her father had built for her that the Aurors had pulled down looking for Dark artifacts. She was crying for her sister, who had been so confused and unhappy when her friends stopped coming by to play with her.

She was crying for the boy Harry had been, living in a cupboard under the stairs and Dudley’s second bedroom. She cried hardest for that, because she had her mother and sister and he had no one. He had been alone locked in the dark without even memory to warm him.

“Hush, angel, don’t cry. I promise I won’t die on you either, okay?” The desperation in his voice penetrated her grief as nothing else could have and she nodded against the wool of his jumper.

“I’m sorry.” She mumbled and pulled a handkerchief out of her pocket. She blew her nose and wiped her eyes and, looking up at Harry. She almost laughed at the panicked expression on his face. “Silly, I’m not going to break. I’ve just been under a lot of stress lately.” She poked him gently and he relaxed.

“We all have.” He dropped a kiss on her head. “Are you feeling better?”

“I guess I never really grieved for all the things I lost. There was so much to do, so many things to take care of and get done that I never stopped long enough to really think.” She leaned against him, pressing her head against his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

“I love you, Min.” she could hear his voice vibrating in his chest and it was solid and alive.

“I love you too, Harry. She snuggled against him and let herself believe in a future that contained the two of them.