Furry Magic

Title: Furry Magic, chapter 72

Disclaimer: Hp is not mine.


"No." Harry said.

"No?" Lucius asked.

"No." Harry confirmed.

"But..." Lucius ventured.

"No." Harry said.

"Hmmm." Lucius volunteered.

"No." Harry reasserted.

"It is customary." Lucius tried next.

"No." Harry told him, brows lowering over his bright, emerald eyes.

"It does not touch on my love for you." Lucius offered. He touched Harry's cheek gently. "It is part of the courtship."

"No." Harry shook his head. He turned into the hand, loved it. He was not sharing with anyone new.

"I must remarry." Lucius said, quiet but firm. "There is no way around it."

"No." Harry was more certain that ever. He lifted his eyes to meet those pale ones of his lover. "The Seer said we can not be parted. The pride needs you as it's king. But, I will not stand by and watch you wed."

"It is the law, Harry." Lucius began, trying to make his voice soothing. Harry stiffened.

"Never say those words to me as justification." He spat out. "I am sick and tired of them. I have looked the other way as you have taken Fred and Troy to your furs. I will not do the same while you take some woman and name her your wife and queen. It is too much. Make more babies with her. No."

"I can not stop it, it has begun and will go on until I have taken a new wife. You did not say anything against Narcissa." Lucius pointed that fact out.

"She was from before I came to the pride. You *never* went to her bed. I never smelled her scent on you. She was the past." Harry growled. "I won't put up with a woman who wants you, who you want. Who you do take to your bed."

"You are my Chosen. There is no one who I want more than you." Lucius told the youth, truthfully.

"Yet you continue to pile lovers up higher and higher, and tell me I must allow it. That it should not bother me. That I should be happy for you? No!" He yelled the last. "I won't watch you do this! You won't marry!"

"I am required to wed the woman the pride chooses, Harry. She has the right of refusal, not I." Lucius tried again to reason with the furious Chosen. Harry vibrated with outrage.

"No." Harry responded, jaw clenched.

"I must. Harry I can't say no." Lucius pleaded, feeling an edge of worry building. Harry was more determined than he'd been before, there was a new quality, a resolve that hadn't been present.

"I know you can't say no." Harry snorted bitterly. "I also know that the Seer said you and I must remain together. So. I will go to the pride, and I will refuse in your stead."

"Harry, you can not. The laws..." Lucius started, laying a hand on his Chosen's forearm.

"Do not spout your laws at me!" Harry roared, shaking the hand off. "I am sick and tired of it. I. Will. Not. Allow. This. Mark my words, Lucius Malfoy. The pride will listen to me. And you will not take a new wife. Period."

There was the sound of a throat clearing at the door. Both men turned to face the interloper, neither had a welcoming expression. It was Kaithas. The seer did not look happy.

"Lucius, my king. There are over a hundred women waiting to meet with you. They are filling the Arena, you have kept them waiting for hours. It is time for you to meet them." He cast a wary glance at the Chosen. Harry stood up. Kaithas gulped, the power that radiated off the Chosen was not a good combination with the rage he saw in the beautiful face. Harry going to the Arena with them would be a disaster.

"The king goes alone by custom, he can not court the brides with his Chosen at his side. I will escort..." The seer began. Harry cut him off.

"If he goes at all, he goes with me. He will not go to them alone. Make your choice, seer." His eyes were narrowed, and dangerous. Kaithas looked at Lucius. Lucius shrugged, his face blank, offering no answers.

Kaithas bowed and gestured for them to follow him. Harry took the king's arm. Lucius had enough sense not to protest. He would ease Harry into this. Harry would come around. He was sure of it. It would just take time.

An audible gasp was the greeting they received as they entered the full Arena. There were at least a thousand people in the room. They dwarfed even it's vast confines. Each woman had her escort, at least two, more often five or even in a few cases six. They turned as one to watch as the king and the seer entered. That was not all that unusual, to have the seer of a pack or pride accompany the king, but the third person. The boy. The one that was whispered to be the scandalously young Chosen was also here. That had never happened before in recent or distant memory.

Harry ignored the shocked whispers, and strode to the elevated stone throne, the one place not even the bravest of the women had dared ascend. He leaped up onto it's top, dragging Lucius with him. He forestalled the king's words with a lifted brow, his face rigid and unyielding, daring the man to protest. Lucius decided to back down for now. Harry turned and looked out over the many faces.

"I know why you are here. You seek to court the king of this pride. I have been told that this is the custom when a king is un-wed, widowed, or renounced by his wife. I am told the laws of the pride permit you to come here, and offer yourself to the pride as the future wife of the free king." He paused looking from face to face.

"Who are you to speak to us?" Some one shouted. "We are here to be in the company of the king. Go away with you!"

There was a roar of approval. Harry waited until it died down. Then he lifted his chin.

"You want to know who I am. You think you know me. You think you know what I am capable of, what I will do. You do not. I am Harry Potter. I am the Chosen of the pride. I am also the lover of the king. And I come before you to tell you, damn your laws. None of you will be marrying my king. I lay claim to him. He is mine. And I am his. If he needs to take a wife, I will be the one he takes. I am fed up with all this." He waved his arm, including much more than the current circumstance.

"Idiot boy, you are male, you cannot be a wife." Another voice yelled. Harry's grip on Lucius' hand tightened painfully. Lucius winced, and Harry relaxed the hold, but didn't let go.

"I say to you, I will be the one he takes to wife. None of you." Harry declared. "Leave this place, there is nothing here for you."

"You can't do that!" A woman screamed, "It is our right...."

"No!" Harry blazed with rage. "I say it is not. I will not permit it. Enough. I will not give up any more."

"You can not stop it!"

"It is you who must leave, go back to the other young-lings!"

"This business doesn't concern you!"

"You can't stop us!"

The offended crowd surged forward, as if to lay hands on him. Harry smiled, not a pretty sight, his fangs making themselves known.

"Oh? But, I think I can." Harry said. He flung his arms out, finally letting go of Lucius. "I say to all of you, leave this place, begone." The room was flooded with light, bright as the sun, burning, and there were a thousand pops, as every person vanished in that split second. Apparated away.

Lucius Malfoy stood behind the shaking figure of the boy in front of him, He looked around, astonished, right then left. They were all gone. He would have bet his life this was impossible even with a roomful of wizards who were vulnerable to the workings of magic. But, with the more magic resistant lycanthropes, he was floored, his knees unsteady. Harry had done this. This act that no dozen wizards Lucius knew could have done, not even working in tandem. His Chosen had done it single handedly, and was still on his feet, though he was swaying a bit. Lucius put his hands on Harry's shoulders. Harry jumped, then settled.

"Harry. What have you done?"

"What I had to do," Harry replied. "I will not share you with a wife. I meant what I said. If you want to marry, take me as your wife."

Lucius opened his mouth to dispute the possibility of that. Then he frowned, looking around again at the empty room. "Merlin's balls, Harry! What have you done with Kaithas?"

Harry winced. "Ooops." He muttered.

ne'ichan
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