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: Ok folks, I set up a yahoo group for my writing. 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: Please leave feedback, if you dont leave feedback I dont know how I\'m doing. If you have ideas, questions, or comments please leave me feedback.





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

~...~ = parseltongue

\'...\' = thought



Chapter 38



The air in the room was heavy with emotions, no one quite knew what to say or what to expect next. Everyone was feeling the effects of the discussion and whether they admitted it or not they all felt the guilt, the pain, the helplessness… to one degree or another.



Bill, Charlie, Fred, George, and Ron made a silent promise to Harry to have a ‘talk’ with Vernon and Dudley as soon as they had a chance. Hearing Harry, who they thought of as their youngest brother, describe the horrors that he had been through at their hands sent a deep burning need for justice flowing through each of their veins.



Fred and George, the Weasley family’s master pranksters, were already working on the possibilities in their head. Bill was contemplating some of the more interesting curses that he has worked with in the past, and Charlie was pretty sure that Daisy, the Welsh Green, that he was working with right now would enjoy a nice plump treat to play with. Unfortunately, he wasn’t quite sure if whales like Vernon and Dudley would hurt his dragon’s digestive system…hmm…he would have to think a little more on that one.



Ron just wanted to watch Dudley’s face turned into a pile of dragon fodder because of his fists…dragon fodder, that’s an idea…maybe he should talk to Charlie about that.



Ginny watched her brothers and even though she was a girl, she was a Weasley first; there was no way she was going to let her brothers go after the Dursleys. Not without her at least. She earned her red hair and she wasn’t about to allow someone to hurt her Harry like that without teaching them just what kind of a bitch she could be. As Ginny sat there thinking she made a mental list of a few things she wanted to pick up from the muggle side of London. Super glue, some dry ice maybe… she had some good ideas on what to do with that, four or five feet of medical tubing, and a meat tenderizing hammer. Oooooh, she knew… Ginny’s eyes sparkled with an idea; she had seen an inflatable butt plug in that catalogue that Sarah Crane had showed her…. Wouldn’t have to actually touch anything, could just magic it into place then inflate the thing… wonder exactly how big it could get… need to get that catalogue from Sarah. An evil grin spread across Ginny’s face that caused a shiver to run up her brothers’ spine… they all knew that look, yup they defiantly had to talk to their little sis when this was finished.



Hermione watched Ginny’s face and began to get a really uneasy feeling; she didn’t want to know…she really didn’t. “Ah, yeah… back to what I was saying.” Hermione tried to refocus. “After everything that happened, Sirius had to disappear for a while and Harry was once again left at the mercy of Dumbledore and the Dursleys.”



“Fourth year. That one started out bizarre. The Quidditch World Cup was just the start of things. Death Eaters, the Morsmordre over the grounds at the World Cup, then the whole Triwizard cup thing. Good grief that was a nightmare in itself. I found a lot of interesting information when I was researching the rules and regulations of the Triwizard Tournament. First, the last Triwizard Tournament was held in 1792, due to the death toll during that tournament it was deemed too dangerous and the tradition was discontinued. Second, any alteration to the rules of the previous tournament must be announced at the opening of the sarcophagus containing the Goblet of Fire. Hence the announcement that no one under the age of seventeen would be allowed to enter the tournament. Dumbledore noted that once the Goblet chose the champions that they could not be changed, but that isn’t accurate. Yes placing your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. However, like with any contract, an individual must be of an appropriate age in order to enter into that contract. For a magical contract to be considered legal and binding, all parties involved must be of legal age… that is the reason for the age announcement in the first place. If any individual associated with a magical contract is not of legal age, then a legal guardian or representative of the courts must represent him or her. Since Sirius was considered Harry’s legal guardian, but he was unavailable at the time, and Harry had no court appointed representative, he could not legally be allowed to participate in the tournament.” Hermione began her pacing as she explained the finer points of the magical legal systems.



“Dumbledore actually broke numerous magical laws by forcing Harry to continue with the tournament.” Hermione started.



“Wait a minute, what do you mean?” Remus looked at Hermione slightly perplexed.



“Well to be quite honest I don’t see how he managed to get away with it at all. First, since Sirius is listed as Harry’s legal guardian, the Dursleys not withstanding, Dumbledore had no authorization to say yes or no. He was not Harry’s guardian, not a blood relative and not a representative of the Ministry or of the Court hence he cannot simply take it upon himself to authorize Harry to be in the tournament. It would be like Mrs. Weasley saying that Blaise can go to London on a field trip, she doesn’t have the authority to and to allow her to do so is against the law. Second, since Harry did indeed have a guardian on record, his guardian must be notified of any such legal actions and or requests… which he wasn’t. Third, the bylaws of the tournament specifically states that the student must be seventeen to enter, in other words he had to be consider a legal adult and have the legal ability to enter himself in such an event prior to entering the tournament… which he was not. Fourth, the reason that the tournaments were banned in 1792 was because two of the champions were killed during the tournament, as well as the three heads were injured during one of the events where the champions were supposed to be catching a cockatrice that suddenly decided to go on a wild rampage. Hence according to this tournaments past records, it is not only dangerous, but it can be considered deadly… The bylaws of Hogwarts state that no teacher or school representative may cause harm to a student or by lack of action allow a student to be harmed. By allowing Harry to compete, Dumbledore was intentionally putting Harry’s life in risk. Harry did not have the experience or level of skills necessary to safely compete in the tournament. Fleur Delacour was attacked and incapacitated during the third event. Viktor Krum was cursed by an unforgivable and then hexed by Cedric Diggory during that same event. Cedric himself was killed by Wormtail after he was ported to the cemetery where Voldemort was waiting. Harry was injured in the first event and had to have the bone in his right arm re-grown as well as receiving numerous cuts and bruises from being attacked by that bloody dragon. And Barty Crouch Sr. was killed although that was not specifically associated with the tournament.” Hermione ranted on.



“In short the tournament should never have been authorized, Harry never should have been allowed to compete, Cedric never should have died and Voldemort never should have been allowed to be reborn.” Fred observed.



“Yeah…Dumbledore take a bow.” George added.



“The one major thing though…is that Harry did not enter his own name, he couldn’t have… he couldn’t even pass the age line that Mr. Couch Sr. created around the cup. He never put own name into the goblet and because of that… the contract cannot be considered binding, therefore Dumbledore lied… the contract was invalid.” Hermione stated finally.



The room was practically vibrating with the magic and emotions of all of the people within it. No one wanted to talk right now, scream yes…talk no. Each individual present was going over their association with the Headmaster, seeing each moment in a new light.



*****



Harry could feel a warmth hitting his cheek, it took him a moment to realize that it was Norische’s breath. Harry had curled up against Norische at some point while they slept and woke to find his face buried in the curve of Norische’s neck. Harry had never been so close to another man before, it was a weird feeling. Nothing like he thought it would be like. Even when he fell asleep in Ginny’s arms after the whole incident with Cedric… was nothing like this. He couldn’t help it, he felt so safe, so protected, even cherished.



Draco moved closer, pressing himself against Harry’s back. Once again Harry felt something poking at him, this time it wasn’t from Norische or the babies. His brow wrinkled as Harry tried to figure out what it was he was feeling. Suddenly his eyes got huge as Draco groaned and pushed his hips into Harry’s arse.



“Eeewww!!!” Harry groaned unintentionally waking Norische.



“Hmmm. Wha’s matt’r?” Norische mumbled.



“Can we switch sides? I mean, can you and I switch?” Harry crinkled his nose as he tried to move a little closer to Norische and away from Draco’s invading hips.



“Yeah, I guess. Why?” Norische opened one eye and halfway looked at Harry, not really awake yet.



“Draco’s….ah…poking me.” Harry blushed as he whispered.



“Poking?” Norische propped himself up on his elbow so that he could see over Harry and with a chuckle he realized what Harry was referring too.



“It’s not funny.” Harry grumbled as his cheeks turned crimson. “It’s weird.”



“Ok, luv. No problem… I need to get up and go to the loo, but when I come back, I will lay next to Mr. Happy Pants over there and you can lay on my other side.” Norische placed a gentle kiss on Harry’s forehead and pushed back the covers, slowly pushing himself into a sitting position.



“ ‘K” Harry sighed as he yawned, watching Norische get up and head into the loo. As soon as Norische was out of the bed Harry moved over to where Norische had been laying. Draco grumbled, but turned so that he was facing Chris and began to cuddle with Chris who immediately responded although they were both still quite asleep.



Harry stretched and groaned as his muscles protested leaving the luxury of the satin duvet. He wiggled his toes and run his fingers through his hair…wait a minute where were his shoes, better yet where were his clothes? Harry just realized that he was no longer in his jeans and shirt that he had been wearing earlier, but instead he was wearing a pair or emerald green silk pajamas. Harry thought about it and honestly couldn’t remember getting into bed earlier. He remembered the whole incident in the dinning hall downstairs and all, but… oh that’s right Severus carried him upstairs. Then Norische held him for a long time, talking to him. Harry didn’t honestly remember the words that Norische had said, only that he had he felt safe and that he never wanted that feeling to go away.



Harry lay there quietly contemplating the events of the night when Norische came back into the room.



“You doin’ ok?” Norische smiled down at Harry.



“Yeah, Draco rolled over, so now he’s poking Chris.” Harry blushed as he thought about what he just said.



Norische chuckled at Harry’s words, then motioned for Harry to move over so he could lie down between he and Draco anyway, just incase.



“Normally since I have gotten pregnant I like sleeping on the end, that way I can get up and go to the loo and not bug anyone. But as long as you don’t mind me climbing over you I don’t mind sleeping in the middle. I prefer it actually.” Norische accioed a couple more pillows and propped them up behind himself, not really feeling all that sleepy right now.



“I don’t mind.” Harry helped Norische put the pillows behind him and then leaned over and snuggled into Norische’s shoulder.



“You know this is all so weird.” Harry mumbled.



“Weird how?” Norische wrapped his arm around Harry. He wasn’t sure where Harry was going with this but apparently Harry had something he wanted to talk about.



“Well this whole mates thing.” Harry stated softly, trying not to wake up the bed’s other occupants.



“Why is it weird?”



“Honestly I never expected to live long enough to fall in love with anyone, much less have a mate.” Harry sighed.



Norische’s brow wrinkled at Harry’s comment. “Why do you say that?”



“You know I am suppose to fight Voldemort right. I guess I always thought that I would end up dying trying to kill him or he would kill me… either way... I never expected to find someone. I never thought I would ever have the chance to fall in love.” Harry thought for a moment then continued. “Plus, I mean, with Voldemort out to kill me, it puts anyone that is with me in danger and I could never do that to someone.”



“Well I think I have proven pretty well that I can defend myself. Right now, being pregnant and all, I guess I am a little more vulnerable than normal. But considering I wiped out half of Voldy’s inner circle on a hormonal binge just a few days ago… I don’t think you have much to worry about. Besides I believe that when I went psychotic I was protecting your butt.” Norische chuckled quietly.



“I know. I am not saying you couldn’t protect yourself. I am saying that I refuse to put someone else’s life on the line. I have kinda accepted my role in this whole nightmare but I am not willing to drag someone else into it with me.” Harry quickly clarified; he didn’t want Norische to think he meant that he was weak or incapable. To be honest, Norische was one of the most capable individuals he had ever met. “Yeah…Demon.” Harry chuckled.



“Hey!” Norische swatted Harry on the back of his head. This caused Harry to laugh and dodge Norische’s hand.



Draco reached behind him and swatted at Norische grumbling something but he wasn’t awake enough to make any sense. Norische swatted Draco on his butt and told him to go back to sleep. Draco jumped at the sharp swat but was quickly moaning and pushing his hips into Chris’.



“Good grief… is he normally like that?” Harry rolled his eyes at Draco’s behavior.



Norische chuckled. “Pretty much. But I’m not complaining….”



Harry looked up at Norische and realized what he was meaning, quickly lowering his eyes as he felt a blush beginning to warm his face.



Norische pulled Harry close to him and kissed the top of his head. “Harry. I realize this is all new to you, and I know what you have been through in the past…or at least I can guess.” Norische reached down and using two fingers under Harry’s chin he lifted Harry’s head so that he could look into his eyes. “But I want you to know that I will never force you to do anything you don’t want too, and that goes for all of us. I want you to be comfortable with this before we do anything. I think we have both come to the conclusion that you are the human I have been searching for, but we have as much time as you need.” Norische gently rubbed Harry’s cheek with his thumb as he spoke, feeling Harry tremble under his touch.



“Please don’t be frightened of me, I will never intentionally hurt you.” Norische whispered.



Harry nodded and looked deep into those amazing ebony eyes, he knew without a doubt that Norische meant every word he was saying. “Kiss me.” Harry whispered.



Norische started at the request but quickly recovered and gently leaned down placing a gentle kiss on Harry’s soft lips. Thrilled when Harry closed his eyes and responded to the kiss. Norische continued to press his lips to Harry’s until the need to breath outweighed all else.



As they parted, Harry leaned toward Norische as if he was unwilling to let go just yet. Keeping his eyes closed Harry savored the kiss for several moments even after Norische had moved away.



“Harry?” Norische asked softly unsure.



“Hhmm?” Harry licked his lips, trying to recapture the taste that was so erotic, so amazing.



“Are you alright?”



“Yeah…wow….” Harry opened his eyes and looked at Norische smiling. “Do it again.”



Norische smirked, but once again leaned down touching his lips to Harry’s. Both Norische and Harry closed their eyes, allowing themselves to get lost in kiss. Norische reached around and placed his hand on the back of Harry’s head, burying his fingers in the unruly mop that Harry called hair. Harry nibbled on Norische bottom lip, teasing him. Soon they were battling tongues as they explored each other’s mouths.



Reluctantly Norische separated from Harry. “Crap…”



Harry opened his eyes and looked at Norische confused. “What’s wrong, did I do something wrong?” Harry asked worriedly.



“No…Not at all.” Norische smiled and kissed Harry quickly then moved around so that he was able to get off the bed. “I have to pee again.”



Harry laid back and watched as Norische rushed too the loo, chuckling softly. “Wow…”