Beneamato

Harry grabbed Draco’s arm. “Tell me I’m not imagining them,” he instructed.

“You’re not,” Remus answered.

“Aren’t you supposed to be dead?” Draco asked.

“Still very dead, yes. We’ve only got 24 hours like this,” James answered.

Wordlessly, Harry flung himself into his mother’s arms, tears springing to his eyes. He leaned down and buried his face in her neck. “Oh Harry; It’s so good to hold you again,” she murmured against his hair.

After a few minutes, he released his mother and was enveloped in his father’s arms. It was Sirius’ turn after Harry let go of James. Finally, he’d hugged all three of them and Lily had hugged Severus and all three hugged Remus.

“Draco, these are my parents and godfather. Guys, Draco Malfoy,” Harry introduced them.

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see you, but what exactly are the three of you doing here?” Remus asked.

“I have to tell Harry before his birthday. You might want to sit down for this,” James stated.

“That sounds promising,” Harry sat anyways and his parents sat on either side of him.

“Harry, have you ever heard of the Archaios?” James asked.

“No.”

“It’s what you are, Cub. And it’s why we’re here,” Sirius broke in.

“Just tell me what will happen to me,” Harry sighed and leaned against his mother.

“You’ll transform on your birthday and it won’t hurt nearly as much if you have your mates with you. An Archaios has at least two mates, sometimes as many as six. Most only have two or three though,” all four living people perked up at this. “When you transform you’ll get retractable, blood red feathered wings, retractable fangs, you’ll lose most of your skin color. You’ll also grown anywhere from two to eight more inches over night, you’ll be three times as strong as any human, faster, agile, and you’ll no longer need your glasses. You can, of course, keep them if you want to. Most of us gain a power boost or a new power, but not all,” James explained.

Harry was silent for a minute and Sirius answered a question he knew his godson would ask. “Before you ask, your mother and I are your father’s two mates.”

Harry nodded. “I figured that. Why do we need more than one mate?” He asked his dad.

James squirmed under his gaze. Lily laughed at him before taking pity on him and answering the question. “Archaios are very sexual beings and need more than one mate to satisfy them. Some don’t always care for all of their mates either, they just use them. Others, like your dad, do love their mates.”

Harry nodded again. “So, would my mates Bond to just me or….”

“No, you’d all Bond to each other,” Sirius answered. Well, this was just the most perfect solution. “And you’ll chose them You don’t have an extra sense to tell you who they are,” he added.

“Where are the rest of our kind?” Harry asked.

“I have no idea. For a long time, there were colonies of Archaios and their mates. Then the Wizarding and Muggle worlds actually worked together and wiped out a good portion of us. Since then, most have stayed in hiding,” James explained.

“No one knows where you came from, either. Nobody’s ever figured out how you were created or anything,” Lily stated.

“So is there anything else I need to know?” Harry asked after a minute.

“Last thing about Archaios actually. Our fangs are only used in defense of ourselves, mates, or family. Also friends who can be counted as family. After that, the law doesn’t protect us. But most people fear us and generally won’t prosecute us. Not legally at any rate,” James said.

“Harry, do you guys….” Petunia entered the room and stopped dead. “Lily?”

“Hi Tuney,” Lily used her nickname for her older sister.

“How?” She asked, still in shock.

“It’s only for a day. Just so Harry knows what to expect for his birthday.”

“Lily, I’m so sorry; for everything. When we were kids and now that I was mean to Harry. I’m so sorry,” she’d fallen to her knees as she spoke.

“Oh Tuney,” Lily got up, crossed the room, and dropped down beside her sister. She wrapped her sister in her arms and held her close.

Harry stood from the couch where he’d sat and crossed the room to where Severus was sitting. He sat in the older wizard’s lap and rested his head on the man’s shoulder.

James nor Sirius spoke for a moment. “I swear to you, Snape, if you hurt him I will find a way to come back and torment you for the rest of your life,” James finally said. Harry smiled at his father.

“So, is there anything else I should know before my birthday or is the rest of your time for fun?” Harry asked.

“Well, there’s just your property and money inheritance,” Lily answered from beside her sister on the floor.

“No, there’s a little bit more than that, I just never told you guys that,” James corrected.

Remus sighed. “Alright, tell all of us that bit in a few minutes. Won’t he get a letter from Gringotts about the rest?” he asked.

“Yes, I just don’t know exactly how much is there. All of our family’s investments have always done well, even the muggle companies. On I do remember started in the United States; a company called McDonald’s that my dad invested in. I know there’s at least two vaults from that company alone. Anyway, there’s over three hundred vaults of ours in Gringotts. And we have at least two homes on every continent except Antarctica, naturally. I don’t even remember where all of them are any more,” James waited for a few minutes for that information to sink in.

“Okay, tell us the other part now,” Harry spoke from his spot on Severus’ lap after nearly five minutes.

“Right, well, Padfoot says you got the Prophecy, right?” James asked; Harry nodded. “There was a reason he didn’t go after Frank and Alice’s boy Neville. See, Slytherin’s youngest daughter, Sapphira, married one of Ravenclaw’s sons, Rowan. One of Gryffindor’s sons, Gavin, married Hufflepuff’s youngest daughter, Hazel. Sapphira and Rowan had a daughter, Rosalyn and Hazel and Gavin had a son named Nicholas. Rosalyn and Nicholas married as well. We’re directly descended from Rosalyn and Nicholas.”

“Wait, what?” Harry demanded.

“You are the Heir to all of Hogwarts. Voldemort wanted to kill you and me because then he was the only one who could claim the castle,” James answered. “And don’t do what I did. Let the castle Bond to you, Harry. She’ll protect you.”

“She?”

“Have you ever gotten this feeling that you should go to a certain place at a certain time and it turned out to be a good thing you did?” He asked.

“Sure I have; What does that have to do with anything?”

“That was Maeve; She’s a part of the castle. She was an elf who was trapped in one of the stones by one of the wizards helping to construct the castle. When the Founders discovered she was there, it was too late to save her so they made her the guardian of the castle. She attaches herself to the heir after their 17th birthday. She helps to keep the castle in order and is the one who moves the stairs all the time.”

“And she’ll protect me?”

“So long as you Bond to her, yes. And your mates can Bond to her as well and they’ll be protected too. She can protect you no matter where are,” James answered.

“And you felt that you didn’t need her protection, is that it? James, you’re an idiot!” Lily declared. James looked away, rightfully ashamed.

“Right so Bonding to Maeve is high on the priority list. Got it. Give me an hour, I’m going to go take a walk,” Harry stood and, without waiting for anyone to say anything, left the house and started walking down the street.

** Okay, so I know a few of you are disappointed about James, Lily, and especially Sirius, not actually being alive, but every creature fic or fic where Harry gets a huge inheritance, he always has to find out on his own. I wanted his parents and Sirius to tell him. And I realized that even though I’ve been told the story I was thinking of when I started this I haven’t credited it. So here’s that: I was inspired by Overdosed on Love by Missi_Young. The fullest version of the story can be found on her Yahoo! group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HP_centric_slash/. That’s all for now, though. I may not be able to get the next chapter up for a while, but I’ll try. -Arsenic Requiem