Sacrifice

Hi everyone :)

Many, many thanks for all the reviews, they mean a lot to me.

Kuromei
There's three down (the diary, Harry, and the diadem) so there's three to go (the ring, the locket, and the cup).
Well, Harry'll be seeing Fenrir during the day so maybe it won't be too hard on him...Maybe XD *hugs Kuromei-chan*

C. Khafre
I update every week without fail because I start to feel bad if I don't XD
Fenrir in the movie was cool, wasn't he? :D I admittedly always pictured his hair a little wilder but I think I prefer the movie version. As for the age, I've never really thought about it because, I do, really don't want to start thinking of him as the local peodophile XD I think he has to be at least in his late fifties though as he turned Remus when he was a child and Remus is in his late thirties in the books.

vaire
Harry's made of tough stuff and Fenrir can be a stubborn oaf as we all know. He gave that warning to prepare for the worst but since he'll be under the influence of Wolfsbane he'll be trying his bloody hardest to resist his urges.

yaoiObsessed
Yeah, sucks to be Harry right now ^_^;

Dragon
Ah, so you're the type who needs constant drama eh? XD

qwerty
*pouts with you*

Lilith
I'm glad you're enjoying everything so much ^_^ There's not long left to go now but I hope you enjoy the rest of the chapters to come.

Spiros
Yeah, I'm giving Harry a bit of a rough time, aren't it? ^_^;

rectorlamia
I have been very tempted to writer a bestiality scene and this was a perfect time to but, alas, I have chosen to remain cautious so not to offend anyone on any of sites this is posted on...You know, maybe I have to start writing aff.net exclusive stories; can be as dirty as I like then XD

dana_aeryn
I'm glad you did ^_^ And I thought Fenrir being able to sense Horcruxes was a nice twist as well :)

Now, a quick note for you all. I had several reviewers all ask me the same question last chapter: why, if Harry is immune to lycanthropy, is he not immune to the flu? Since so many people asked, I decided to explain here rather than explain it to people individually. The reason is that the phoenix healing abilities is for magical conditions. Lycanthropy is a magical disease whereas there's nothing magical about flu. I couldn't in good conscience have Harry be immune to everything because that's a bit too Super!Harry/Harry Stu-ish for my liking. Also, just quickly; why did everyone think Harry was proposing to go to Fenrir during the day? Both clearly specified a day-time visit XD

And with that cleared up, let's continue on with things, hmm?

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The first morning of the full moon of April saw Harry skulking through the school, taking care not to be seen as he headed outside to see Fenrir. It wasn't fair for the Alpha to have to suffer through his heat on his own and just because Harry wasn't affected by the period anymore, it didn't mean that he was going to leave Fenrir alone or that he wasn't excited by the idea of a desperately aroused Fenrir. Plus, the fact that Harry was in complete control of his senses meant that he would be able to better control their time together instead of them both just getting completely lost in each other. Fenrir thought it was dangerous but the teenager was determined to prove him wrong. He was obeying the instruction to only visit between eleven and one however; by the time he reached the Alpha it would be just about eleven.

Harry released a breath he hadn't realised he'd been holding when he finally made it out of the school. He didn't want the bother of having to explain himself to people, or run the risk of someone stopping him from getting outside, which was why he had been so determined to make it out without someone seeing him. The last thing he needed was to be seen by Sirius, even Severus would no doubt attempt to "make him see sense". But now that he was out of the school, Harry felt more confident that he could make it to Fenrir without anyone attempting to stop him. So he stopped his skulking and instead broke into a run towards the forest.

Once he had passed the beginning of the tress, Harry was surprised just how quickly he managed to track down his Alpha. He had quite honestly expected the man to have hidden himself quite deeply in the forest in an attempt to avoid him more than anything. In reality, Harry found the man laying in a clearing after only a minute of passing those first few trees.

Fenrir was laying on his back, not moving, and apparently not awake if his closed eyes were anything to go by. Harry knew differently however. Even if the influence of the moon was at its weakest right at that moment, it was doubtful that Fenrir would be exhausted enough to fall asleep. Sure enough, as the teenager approached, the man cracked an eye open to watch him.

"You actually came then," he grunted, not sounding the least impressed.

"You should know that I always do what I say I'm gonna do," Harry pointed out lightly.

Fenrir gave a grunt but said nothing more.

The teenager could only smirk at the man's nonchalant behaviour; it was hard to take him seriously when he was sporting such an extreme erection.

Harry wasn't interested in playing coy or dragging anything out. He was intent on getting what he (and Fenrir) wanted as soon as possible and as often as possible in the following two hours. Without hesitation the teenager removed his robe (leaving himself completely naked) and straddled the man's waist. He neglected to connect them just at that moment though and instead focussed on leaning in to kiss the rough lips of his lover. Fenrir reacted immediately and enthusiastically, lifting his head a little to return and deepen the contact, darting his tongue past the youthful lips in a crude mimic of what was about to happen lower down.

A breathy gasp escaped the teenager as he felt himself grow harder from the kiss, a pleasant buzz tingling his body as arousal well and truly set in. Although he wanted nothing more than for their kiss to continue, he wanted Fenrir inside him. He wanted to feel the stretch, he wanted to feel full, he wanted to be connected to the man beneath him in the most intimate way possible.

Harry reluctantly pulled out of the kiss and earned himself a grumbling of disapprovement from Fenrir. He gave his Alpha a small grin before he stood, though only for a moment, just long enough to turn around so when he sat on the man's chest, he could easily get his mouth to the heavy erection. Although Harry had already prepared himself in advance, he knew that everything would go so much more smoothly, and feel so much better, if the length going inside him was at least slickened with saliva. So the boy took a moment to gather some liquid in his mouth before he took in as much of his mate's cock as possible.

"Fuck, that's right," Fenrir groaned the moment he was taken in his lover's mouth. "That's what I need."

Harry made a quick job of it, not wanting the Alpha to reach a climax before they joined at a different part. He lifted his mouth when he was satified that he had Fenrir wet enough before he stood once again and turned back around. The werewolf gave a snarl of impatience as his hips thrust into the air, desperate for friction.

"Would you make up your fucking mind!" He snapped irritably.

Oh, it was so tempting to torment the man, tease him a little, make him wait a little longer. Under any other circumstances the teenager probably would have given into that temptation. However, Harry remembered the agony of his heats and he hadn't even been a full werewolf. Fenrir was being grumpy, but, quite honestly, he was allowed to be when everything was taken into consideration. And so Harry chose the kindest option and hesitated no longer to lower himself onto Fenrir's burning erection, taking the length into him easily and quickly. The speed was obviously not fast enough for the werewolf who bucked his hips up abruptly, forcing himself in completely.

Harry gasped in both surprise and pleasure at the unexpected fullness and he'd barely had time to recover before he was rolled over suddenly. The positions abruptly switched, with the teenager now on his back and the man above him, Harry wondered for a moment if perhaps he should've listened to Fenrir and whether or not this was actually a bad idea. That trecherous thought lingered for only a moment however before the thrusting began and the teenager couldn't think for the pleasure coursing through his entire body.

He always liked it with Fenrir, it was always good, it was always pleasureable. At that moment though, it was just wow. There were no words to describe the bliss rushing through Harry's body from his Alpha's furious pace and the attack of the man's lips and teeth on his neck, the side where the bite scar remained from the first time they had mated after the teenager had been reborn. There was no reason why it should've felt so much better than usual but it did. It was incredible and Harry lost himself in it.

It couldn't have been too long, it couldn't have even been five minutes, but it felt like a sweet eternity for both males as they floated in an ocean of shared pleasure and passion. Fenrir climaxed abruptly and with a loud roar of tortured satisfaction, his previous rhythm faultering but his speed not being at all affected. Harry didn't find release but that was fine with him; they had another hour and fifty minutes together after all. There was plenty of time for him to reach his peak, perhaps even more than once.

Fenrir pulled out and collapsed to his mate's right, landing heavily and panting as though he had just run a double marathon. Harry gave a lazy stretch and a happy hum before he rolled over so he was laying chest to chest with his lover. "Ready to go again?" He asked with a coy smile.

Fenrir gave a rumble deep in his chest and rolled them over so he had the teenager pinned underneath him once again. "You don't know what you've just got yourself into." He growled, leaning in low until their noses were barely an inch apart.

The teenager offered a coy look and a confident smirk at that. "You'll just have to surprise me then." He murmured lowly.

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Harry's face was fixed in a hard look of determination which was only present to stop himself from wincing as he awkwardly walked down a corridor of the school on his way to see Severus. Fenrir had not been the least bit gentle with him and moving had become somewhat painful. The teenager was hoping that to anyone he passed, seeing the straight look on his face would nullify the limp he wasn't able to quite smother. However, if they did notice the limp, then he hoped that it would be put down to a strained muscle or something of the such. He certainly didn't want people to know that he had been plundered so hard that he was now suffering for it; that just would've been embarassing.

"Harry!" The voice of Draco suddenly called to him from somewhere.

The dark haired boy paused and glanced around to see where his friend was. In the end, he spotted him coming down a nearby flight of stairs being followed by someone Harry had never met before. A boy most probably around their age with dark skin and a very serious expression on his face. It was a rather peculiar situation as Draco had never spoken to him in the presence of another friend before and so he was unsure of what to make of the situation.

"Everything all right?" Harry asked by way of greeting when the two boys reached him.

"Yes, of course," Draco reassured confidently. "This is my friend Blaise Zabini." He introduced the unknown boy.

"Um, hi, nice to meet you," Harry greeted a little weakly.

"Potter." The dark skinned boy grunted.

"Blaise wants to help the cause; he has some information that would definitely be useful to us." Draco revealed.

It only took Harry a moment to realise what his friend meant and when he did his eyes widened in something akin to horror. He gave Draco a pointed look, one that clearly spoke of his disappointment in the blond for involving someone else in such a dangerous situation.

"He came to me," Draco tried to defend. "I just told him what was going on."

"And if he had been a spy?" The dark haired boy challenged.

"Ah, but he wasn't, so it's all right," the blond grinned.

Harry, however, remained unimpressed. Instead of continuing to argue over it (of which there was very little point in doing) he chose to address Blaise. "So you have information?"

"You're looking for things called Horcruxes, right?" The Slytherin asked with a small smirk. "My family's in possession of one. Something called Gaunt's ring; given to my father by the Dark Lord for safe keeping."

Harry's eyes widened at that piece of information.

"I can tell you where it is exactly, on one condition."

"Which is?" The dark haired teenager asked a little warily.

"I want protection." Blaise said sternly. "I want my family locked away and I want to be put somewhere where the Dark Lord can't get to me."

"Sounds fair enough," Harry consented. "I can't promise you those things though, I'll have to speak to the Headmaster about it."

"You better speak to him quickly then, my offer won't last forever." The Slytherin said with a glare before he turned around and left.

Harry blinked a little at the abrupt and rather hostile end to the conversation and he turned a confused look onto Draco. "For someone who wants to help, he was rather unhelpful."

"He's just stressed at the moment. He might not like his family much but betraying them is still a big deal for him." The blond explained.

"You think he's being genuine then?"

"Wouldn't have introduced him to you if I thought for even a second he was a Death Eater."

Harry nodded a little and did feel reassured by that. He knew Draco would have to be very sure of someone's intentions before he exposed Harry to them. Involving someone else, especially someone of their age, wasn't an ideal situation but if Blaise really wanted to help and he had such vital information then it couldn't be helped. Harry only hoped that the boy could be assured what he not only wanted but also what he was going to need after helping them; safety and protection.

"Have you had lunch yet?" Draco asked suddenly.

"Hmm?" Harry hummed, his mind momentarily drawing a blank. "Oh, uh, no, not yet."

"Want to head down to the kitchens and eat with me?"

Harry smiled at the offer and nodded happily. "Sounds good to me."

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The full moon was finally over and Harry stood at the school's entrance, eagerly waiting for his lover to return. Then, the moment he caught sight of the man approaching, the teenager ran up to him. Fenrir caught the boy easily and immediately lifted him high enough to seal their lips together in a deep kiss. Harry immediately submitted, parting his lips to allow his lover's thick tongue to enter his mouth and explore while he wrapped his legs around the adult's waist to help keep them connected.

After lingering moments of being joined in that oxygen-draining kiss, Fenrir tore his lips away with a harsh breath. "Fuck," he growled. "Not sure I can wait to get inside to pound you raw."

"I came to you every day and you still need more?" Harry asked, partly stunned, partly delighted.

"I would've stayed buried inside you for the entire three days if I'd had my way," the Alpha growled into the boy's ear before stealing his lips again.

Harry allowed their kiss to linger to several moments before he made them pull apart and then used all his strength to keep the Alpha face at arm's distance. "At least let us get back to our rooms before you grope me."

Fenrir sneered and easily yanked the boy closer to him so that the small body was flush against his own again. "Like I said," he rumbled huskily. "Don't think I can wait."

Their lips came together again and this time Harry found himself powerless to stop it. He sagged a little in Fenrir's arms as he gave up completely, no longer willing to care that they were outside and that anyone was going to be able to see anything they did. Then there was probably a law somewhere against sex in a public place or something of the such. Yet Harry couldn't bring himself to care as his breath was yet again completely stolen from him.

"I may have realised that I can't stop you from groping my godson, but I don't need to see it."

Harry regained his sense at that and immediately pulled away from Fenrir, blushing a little at being caught in such a situation (though not really understanding why he was quite so embarrassed). The Alpha wasn't at all pleased with that and he turned to yell at Sirius who had obviously been the one to speak. However, the words died in his throat upon seeing that an exhausted, sickly looking Remus was with him, an arm slung over Sirius' shoulder to help support the weight. A slow smirk spread across Fenrir's lips as realisation crept up on him and he gave the two men a slightly mocking stare.

"Perverts," he sneered as he turned to leave, still holding Harry in his arms and carrying him rather than letting him walk.

While Sirius immediately started ranting about hypocrites and lies, the teenager glanced from his godfather to his lover. "Why did you call them that?"

"They're shagging." Fenrir replied simply.

"Really?" Harry gasped at that, once again glancing back to the two men. "How do you know?"

"They're coming back from a forth full moon together; if Black and Lupin aren't shagging consensually then one of them gets off on rape."

"Wow, I never would've guessed."

Fenrir gave a small grunt of amusement. "That's because despite growing up with me as an example, you're still ridiculously innocent."

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With the disruption of the full moon over and both Fenrir and Remus fully recovered from the period, the hunt for the forth Horcrux in the junk from Sirius' attic began. The last surviving Black heir (and Remus) had arrived to Harry and Fenrir's rooms on the morning of the first Saturday after April's full moon with several bags of old heirlooms and accumilated magical rubbish and had promptly dumped it all on their living room floor. Although neither the teenager nor the Alpha were too happy to have their personal living space cluttered to such an extent, it at least motivated them to sort through everything quickly. They had already managed at least a third of it all before Severus had come to join them to help with the sorting. Two o'clock in the afternoon of that same day and they had but one more pile to look through.

"Did we really have to sort through all this crap?" Sirius asked in a huff as he carelessly threw an old china teapot to the side as though it was a bouncy ball. "The mere fact Greyback didn't sense anything when we first started should've told us there was nothing here."

"We can't take Greyback's senses for granted," Severus disagreed with a shake of his head. "The presence of magic seems to dull his senses and a lot of these are magical items. We can't run the risk of missing something just because he doesn't immediately feel anything."

"No one asked you to hang around and help, Black." Fenrir grunted from where he sat in his usual armchair having long since given up on searching.

"Someone has to give Harry a hand." Sirius shot back as though Remus and Severus weren't helping either. It was more of a dig at Fenrir however, something that the Alpha didn't fail to pick up on.

The largest male in the room looked as though he was about to retaliate, but then Harry managed to catch his eye. His expression was slightly pleading and it was obvious the teenager didn't want an argument to blow up. So Fenrir let it go and instead chose to ignore his mate's godfather. Harry was keen to make sure Sirius didn't push the subject any further either and so began to desperately think of something to start a conversation. It was then that he remembered Draco's friend and the boy's offer and the fact he had yet to tell anyone about it.

"Draco introduced me to one of his friends during the full moon," the teenager began. "Said that he had some information we could find useful."

That definitely caught everyone's attention and their gazes were immediately on Harry.

"And what information would that be?" Severus enquired, sounding rather suspicious.

"Apparently, the boy's family are quite high up Death Eaters and they've been trusted with the location of a Horcrux. He offered to tell me where it is as long as I can assure his safety and that his family will all be arrested."

"What was this boy's name?" Remus asked carefully, obviously not knowing how to take the situation.

Harry hesitated a moment before giving a small groan. "Oh, what was it Draco called him?" He murmured to himself. "You know him, Severus, that friend of Draco's, the coloured one..."

"Harry!" Remus scolded him suddenly.

The teenager visibly jumped at the sudden telling off and he gave the werewolf a confused look. "What?"

"You shouldn't refer to people like that."

"...Like what?"

"You shouldn't describe people with dark skin as "coloured"." Sirius clarified helpfully.

Harry's expression just turned even more confused. "Why not?"

"Because it's considered racist," Severus explained.

The blank look on the teenager's face made it clear he was still nonethewiser as to what the adults were talking about.

"Didn't you teach him anything?" Remus demanded of Fenrir with a disapproving frown.

"I taught him what mattered and our Sire taught him what mattered. Racism didn't matter to us. We never came across it and the pup had better things to think about than the pathetic bigotries of Muggles." Fenrir justified with a sneer.

"What's racism?" Harry asked curiously, obviously intrigued by whatever it was the adults all knew of.

"It's the name given to the act of discriminating against people simply because of the colour of their skin." Severus answered.

"...Okay..." The teenager said slowly, frowning still in confusion. "Why do people do that?"

"It's similar to Voldemort picking on Muggle-born magic folk, or the way werewolves aren't really accepted in mainstream Wizarding culture." Sirius put in then. "Doesn't make any sense to anyone with half a braincell."

"So why is "coloured" a particularly bad word?"

"It's the term used a long time ago when racism was accepted and the norm. It's associated with ideas of white supremacy, or at least that's how I understand it, I might be wrong." Remus said.

Harry was silent then as he simply reflected on the situation. Bigotry had always been a bizarre concept to him. He never understood the difference people saw in the "purity" of a wizard's blood and now he couldn't understand the difference people saw in the colour of skin. The teenager had never felt anything close to hatred and he only disliked those who had hurt him or anyone else he cared about first and he didn't see why someone would immediately hate someone and think them inferior simply because of something as uncontrollable as the colour of their skin.

Perhaps his confusion was showing on his face as Fenrir suddenly spoke to him: "Don't think too hard on it Pup, it's nothing that can be changed and it's nothing that concerns you."

"But it just seems so unfair, so wrong." Harry murmured sadly.

"It is," Fenrir agreed easily. "But like I said, nothing can change it and it only really exists in the Muggle world. Wizards have more important things to discriminate against, like blood and species."

Harry gave a small hum, one of acknowledgement rather than anything else, and leaned against Fenrir's leg, pressing his cheek to the warm, hairy skin of the man's thigh. For that moment, he was disappointed with humanity and it wasn't a disappointment he could easily shake off.

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With Blaise's offer made known, arrangements were soon made by those who were in charge of all the technicalities. The boy got the protection he had insisted on and his family had been arrested on suspicions of being Dark wizards and having links to Voldemort; with the evidence they had from Blaise and other sources, Azkaban sentences were almost guaranteed. With all that done, Blaise had finally disclosed the location of the Horcrux Gaunt's ring. It was that day, a Sunday, that a team of Aurors were going to retrieve it accompanied by Sirius and Remus (who were going as representatives of the Order of the Phoenix (Harry had no idea what that was but he hadn't asked for an explanation)). While that was going on in another part of Britain, Harry and Fenrir and Severus were taking the time to keep going through the junk Sirius had brought from his house, another pile having been brought to them before the man had left with the Aurors. They were more hopeful for that current pile of junk, however, because Fenrir had felt something the moment it had been brought into his and Harry's rooms. Unfortunately, there was a lot of junk now in the room and all three males were getting rather tired of so much fruitless seaching.

"Can you at least sense what part of the room it's in?" Severus asked tiredly, taking a moment to pause and rest. "What wall it's closest to? What pile it might be in?"

"Do you not think I would've said something by now if I did?" Fenrir muttered irritably, enjoying the task no more than the other adult. "I just know there's a Horcrux in here somewhere."

"Can't you try concentrating harder?"

"It doesn't work like that!"

Harry rolled his eyes and shook his head as the men began to bicker between themselves. Honestly, they were both so impatient and they let that impatience get them all irritated and then they took it out on everyone else. That was why the teenager was remaining quiet; no need to attract their negative attention when they were obviously satisfied with arguing between themselves.

Picking up an old wooden box from the pile of objects beside him, the teenager carefully lifted the lid to peer at what was inside. When he saw nothing of immediate threat, he opened the lid the rest of the way. There was nothing inside it other than a little golden couple who were frozen in each others arms, in the never-ending dance hold. A music box then; how boring. Harry immediately discarded the item, his curiosity satisfied and instantly forgotten. He took a moment simply to look around, hoping that something might catch his eye. Indeed, he did notice something and he was immediately intrigued.

It was shiny (which was always good) and there was obviously some sort of green gems, perhaps even emeralds, decorating whatever it was. Eagerly, the boy reached for the object that was half buried underneath something else. He pulled it into the open, holding it in the palm of his hand for a moment. It appeared to be a large locket, a chain on one end to go around the neck no doubt, decorated with an "S" made from many small emeralds. When it caught the light, it glittered pleasantly and Harry's eyes lit up in delight at the object.

"Ooo, pretty," he murmured as he held the locket up by its chain in front of himself. He let it dangle like that for a moment before taking hold of it with his hands again and trying to prise the two halfs apart. It soon became obvious, however, that the locket was stuck shut.

"Pup!" Fenrir's voice suddenly barked, causing Harry to freeze immediately. "What have you got?"

Harry immediately held the locket up by its chain for his Alpha to see.

"It's a Horcrux," Fenrir immediately revealed.

Severus stopped searching at that and turned to look to Harry who was still holding the locket out, away from his body. He stood and moved over to the boy, carefully settling on the floor beside him and examining the locket just by eye, not daring to touch it.

"Another heirloom of Slytherin's perhaps." The professor theorised eventually.

"Well, no more reason to keep going through all this stuff, even if the Black's were the Dark Lord's boot lickers, he wouldn't have trusted them with more than one Horcrux," Fenrir predicted as he stood. He moved over to Harry and took the locket from him before leaning down and pressing a kiss to the top of the teenager's head. "Nice work Pup," he congratulated before straightening up. "We'll take it to Dumbledore this evening."

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Almost a month passed after Slytherin's locket had been found and it still hadn't been destroyed simply because they couldn't open it. They had tried destroying it from the outside but the golden case was apparently inpenetrable and they hadn't so much as scratched or dented it let alone pierced or broken it. Obviously they had to open it to destroy it, but they still couldn't figure out how, exactly, that was to be done. Within that month, Gaunt's ring had been located and destroyed but there were no other leads on any of the other Horcruxes. Their attention was stuck on the locket and yet they still hadn't figured out how to unlock it.

But then the answer had come to them and it had started so very innocently. Harry had finally noticed that each of the Houses of Hogwarts had an animal representing them and he had asked Severus why Slytheirn's was a snake. Naturally, the first answer the professor had given was that it was because Slytherin had been a Parselmouth and able to talk to snakes. And then that was it. The two males had looked at each other in realisation, both coming to the same conclusion as each other; perhaps the locket would open if told to do so in Parseltongue!

But, of course, there was a problem. Harry no longer had Voldemort's soul inside of him and so was no longer able to speak Parseltongue with the ease he had before. To remedy that, Harry had consented to allow Severus into his mind to seek out his memories from when he had entered the Chamber of Secrets. They assumed, along with Dumbledore and Fenrir, that the command "open" would be enough to open the locket as it had been enough to open the Chamber and so Severus was to locate Harry's memory of that day and push it to the front of the boy's mind so that he might be able to mimic the sound at least.

It was, admitedly, a far fetched idea, one that had as much chance of not working as it did working. However, after over two weeks of practice on Harry's part, he felt satisfied that he had it nailed and was ready to attempt opening the locket. Because they were dealing with a Horcrux however, they decided to take precautions. Severus, Dumbledore, Remus, and Sirius would all be present with their wands drawn just in case. Fenrir would also be there, to support Harry should anything happen directly to the teenager.

For that reason, they were all gathered in Dumbledore's office, surrounding the locket that rested on the headmaster's desk. Harry stood just in front of it, Fenrir directly behind him, Severus and Dumbledore to their left, Sirius and Remus to their right. Four wands were trained on the locket and one petrifying glare from the Alpha. Everyone was silent as they waited for the moment to come.

After taking in a deep breath through his nose and releasing it out of his mouth, a look of determination crossed Harry's face then. Very clearly and very confidently, he hissed the word he needed to speak: "Open."

Slytherin's locket popped open with a small click and, tentatively, Harry approached it in order to pull back the top half to expose the sensitive inside. The moment he had done that, however, light immediately shot out from it. The teenager staggered backwards, taken by surprise, his body steadied by Severus who just happened to be closest to him. Everyone was shocked to see that the light had taken on the image of Harry sandwiched in between Draco and Severus, and obviously very happy to be as such, Harry and Severus probably being two who were the most shocked. They shared a quick look of confusion before the image began to talk and recaptured their attention.

"Did you really think I could put up with you forever?" The fake Harry said in a cruel, sneering tone as it stared directly at Fenrir. "Did you really think I would never want someone better? Why should I put up with you when I could have anyone I wanted?" He stopped then and turned to the illusion of Draco, pulling the blond into a heated kiss.

"What is this?" The real Harry demanded angrily, before he approached his mate. "Fenrir, you can't believe this, surely?"

Fenrir didn't say anything though. His gaze was fixed steadily on the image emitting from the locket, of Harry locked between Severus and Draco, his lips sealed to the blond's as the adult's hands travelled to the most inappropriate places on the dark haired teenager's body. Harry didn't know whether his Alpha was under some sort of spell or if he was simply too consumed with rage to answer. He didn't much care to be honest.

"Someone stop it, someone stop it now!" He ordered harshly, glaring at the other occupants in the room as though it were their faults.

"You disgust me," the fake Harry began to speak again, having finished snogging Draco and being groped by Severus. "I was thirteen when you first touched me, I was fourteen when you stole my virginity. You're nothing more than a pervert who stole me innocence. I despise you; I only kept you around because you did a decent job protecting me. That is, until you nearly bit my leg in two."

"Fenrir, don't listen to it!" The real Harry begged desperately.

Fenrir just stood there, an unreadable expression on his face, completely silent.

"I hate you more than anything." The illusion said nastily.

"Right, that's it," the real Harry declared angrily as he marched over to the right side of the room, yanking Gryffindor's sword from where it rested on one of the shelves. "I've had enough of listening to this crap." And with that, he strode over to the locket and with all his strength, plunged the thin blade into the centre of the locket.

A terrible scream filled the room, causing everyone to wince including Fenrir who seemed to have at last returned to reality somewhat. However, nothing more spectacular than that happened and the images of Harry, Draco, and Severus vanished completely and without fuss.

With that done, Harry dropped the sword as though it was nothing and turned away from the shattered locket in favour of approaching Fenrir. He stepped right up to the man and spent a moment just staring up at him. Then, with as much force as he could muster, he slapped the man's arm. It was doubtful it even so much as stung Fenrir but it was enough to force him to finally pay attention to his younger lover.

"You ever, ever, believe something that stupid again and I will kick your arse!" Harry threatened seriously before he wrapped his arms around the Alpha's waist and held him more tightly than ever before.

Fenrir didn't say anything in reply but he did eventually bring his arms up to return the embrace. He looked at no one though, instead staring down at the floor two feet away from him.

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Fenrir had been very quiet ever since the incident with the locket the previous day. He'd barely said more than five words even when Harry had tried really hard to initiate a conversation. Though the man wasn't acting completely distant. He seemed unable (or perhaps simply very unwilling) to leave Harry alone for any length of time. If they were sitting, Fenrir dragged the boy onto his lap, if they were laying down then the Alpha would hold his mate firmly, and when Harry had tried to leave to do his bi-daily visits to other people (Severus and Sirius mostly, but also Ron and Hermione and Draco) the man had forced the portrait entrance shut without word or explanation until Harry had given up on the idea.

It was an unnerving, not to mention annoying, period of time and Harry was determined to get to the bottom of what was bothering Fenrir. He felt like he already had a decent idea, it was obviously about what had happened with the locket. Knowing that was rather useless if Fenrir wasn't going to talk about it though. So, Harry had devised a nice, quiet evening for them. He'd run a nice bath (water so hot it was almost scolding and no bubbles, just the way Fenrir prefered) that they would share and he hoped it would be relaxing enough to prompt the Alpha into opening up just a little bit.

Getting Fenrir into the bath was surprisingly easy, Harry had simply gone in and his Alpha had soon followed. Unfortunately, opening conversation was something that wasn't so easy. Harry needed to phrase the question just right. Be too blunt and Fenrir just simply wouldn't answer. Be too vague and Fenrir would intentionally missinterperate the question. So silence lingered between them for quite a while, the two lovers just sitting together, the teenager in between the adult's legs with his back resting against the solid chest.

Finally feeling courageous enough, Harry turned his head slightly so he could press a quick kiss to the haired chest behind him. "I love you," he murmured gently and with all his sincerity.

Fenrir heaved a huge sigh and rested his nose in the boy's hair. "I know you do Pup,"

"Do you really?" Harry asked quietly, his heart pumping as his anxiety grew. "Or do you think I'm going to leave as soon as someone better comes along?"

"Pup..." Fenrir began to protest.

"You said you know I love you," Harry interrupted firmly. "Do you really?"

"Yes, I do, it's just," the man growled, obviously struggling to express what was going on inside his head in words. "There's always that doubt, that possibility that eats away inside you."

"I'll only ever love you."

"You can't say that Pup," Fenrir sighed, sounding suddenly tired. "You're fifteen; people sometimes become totally different as they grow up, and you've still got a lot of growing up to do. Day might come when you realise that you really do deserve more than an irritable, bigoted old werewolf. You seem to be the only person in the world who can't see what a complete bastard I am and I'm including myself in that."

"Oh I know how much of a bastard you are," Harry revealed, his tone laced with amusement. "I just don't particularly care. You've never been particularly bad to me and that's all I really care about." He paused then as he turned around in the water in order to face his lover, straddling the wide waist, large hands instantly coming to settle on his hips. "You're the one I want, crankiness and violence and everything. You wouldn't be you without your personality, and if you weren't you, I wouldn't love you...If that makes sense."

Whether or not it made any real sense, it obviously made sense enough to Fenrir. Without another word he drew his mate closer to him and sealed their lips in a deep kiss. After that, no more words were said throughout the rest of the night and no more doubts were had.