Warriors in love

Bèta’d by Vittani.
Any mistakes still in the chapters are solely mine and I apologize if that is the case.

7-Explanation, truce and bombshell.

Harry walked through the castle without a clear destination.
He had so much to think about.
Draco’s change shook him up badly.
He had wanted to befriend the Slytherin for quite some time and when he finally
gathered the courage to do so, it was short lived.
Harry felt sad and alone.
He couldn’t shake the feeling that something significant had happened, after Draco woke up in the infirmary.
Draco had growled and Harry had felt chills of excitement run down his spine.
And the way Draco moved…whoa, he was fast.
But why had he looked at Harry like that?
That sniffing of his neck was kind of weird too, what had that been all about?
On the other hand, that voice…ooooh that voice.
Harry could still hear it in his head.
His stomach made summersaults, when he thought about that.
He started to think about his feelings towards Draco.
Was it natural to feel that kind of attraction?
Harry had never even looked at boys in that way before, he was very sure of that.
Was he gay? Or was it the surprise of seeing such a beautiful creature, that made his heart jump and his breath hitch?
Could a male be beautiful?
Well, in Harry’s opinion it could, when the male was Draco Malfoy.


Harry had been so absorbed by his thoughts, he hadn’t noticed he had walked down to the dungeons.
He stopped in front of the potions classroom and thought about asking the professor
for some advice.
Normally Harry would stay away from the man, but it was a known fact that Professor Snape was the most honest of all the people at Hogwarts.
Yes, his honesty was rather blunt, brutal even, but he was honest nonetheless.
“Mister Potter, are you going to come inside or do you just want to decorate the halls a bit longer?” Snape said looking at Harry amused.
Harry startled, he hadn’t even noticed the door to the classroom had been open.
“Sorry Sir, I don’t think I would do well, impersonating a wallflower” Harry said cheekily.
“Indeed, you would not.”
He looked at the Professor and was surprised to see a smile on the man’s face.
Not a sneer or a scowl, but a genuine smile.
It made the professor look twenty years younger and he said so, not thinking about how it would be received.
When the words left his mouth, he clasped his hand in front of his mouth and waited for the blow-up that would certainly follow.
Imagine his surprise when the Slytherin head of house raised his brows and started to laugh.
“Only you, Potter, are able to put your foot in your mouth and have room to spare for the other one” the professor chuckled.
“Now, I think there is a reason for you to seek me out. So tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure” the ‘greasy bat of the dungeons’ said a bit more serious.


Harry looked at the professor and thought someone must have been giving the dour man a potion, to make him more likeable or something.
Harry wasn’t the least bit scared or nervous right now, though.
Normally, one look of the Potions Master could freeze a person to the spot.
Harry figured he might as well take advantage of it, letting his Slytherin side come to the surface.


“Sir, I would like to know more about what happened today” Harry stated calmly.
Snape seemed to think this request over and making up his mind, he started to speak.
“You know about elves, because of what Draco told you. I suppose you would like to know why he acted the way he did” it wasn’t a question, but Harry nodded anyway.
“Very well. The heightened senses of an elf guide him to find his mate.
When elves have gone through their change, their initial reaction would be to kill anything or anyone in their way to find that mate. The potion I gave him tempers that reaction, but when in the vicinity of their mate, they would react anyway.” the potions master was in full teacher-mode now.

“As elves have their own ability to draw their mates to them, they will use those abilities to the utmost. A mate will pick up on those signals and become aware of the one seeking for them. Most elves will use a thrumming-signal. It gives the mate the sensation of , for lack of a better phrase, butterflies in their stomach.” “There are, however, some who will use their voice. Especially when the mate is near, the voice of the elf will become sultry, seductive, even mesmerizing.”
“Only the mate will be attracted powerfully to that sound. On the other hand, a mate has a specific smell to an elf. Now this is tricky, as many humans use soaps, lotions and colognes and the elf can get confused. Some of those fragrances are almost identical to the smell of that certain mate. When an elf picks up on one of those smells, but it turns out to be just a fragrance, they get enraged and kill the person wearing it. That is why elves aren’t allowed to interact with humans, until they find their mate.” He explained.

“After finding their mate, there will be a ritual performed by the High Counsil of the dominant elf’s Realm.
This is to ensure the bonding will go smoothly and it helps to conceive”
This bit of information had Harry blushing a deep crimson, but he didn’t say anything.


“After the ritual and bonding, the dominant elf will calm down and fragrances will not disturb him any longer. That is the moment when most subserviant elves will become more dangerous than their dominant. There is a month where the two of them have to life far away from any other people or creatures. In that month the hormones of the sub will be raging and only the dominant is powerfull enough to counteract eventual ‘mishaps’. If the dominant isn’t powerfull enough though, although they are bonded, the sub will kill him and find another mate.
There is a story of two princes of the two seperate Realms, that were meant to be together.
When the dominant wasn’t powerfull enough to overcome the rage of the sub, he was killed and that was the start of the war of the Realms, as we know it today”


Harry listened breathless to the explanation.
He had read that story and they were taught on it by Professor Binns, the ghost history teacher.
He understood now why Draco couldn’t stay.
It was not because he wanted to go, it was because he had to, just as Draco had said.

Harry had a question, that had haunted him throughout the day.
“Sir, when Draco woke up, he growled, moved over to me really fast and erm…sniffed my neck” Harry said blushing.
“But I don’t wear any colognes or other fragrances. Why would he do that then? Why not sniff all of those in the infirmary?” his blush deepening.
Snape understood what Harry was really asking him, but could he answer this?
There was still so much this youngster didn’t know and the Potions Master wasn’t sure on how the Gryffindor would react.
“Let me ask you this, Harry. What happened to you, when Draco reacted that way?”
Now Harry was beet red.
He knew he had asked for it, but to say it out loud…
Gathering all of his Gryffindor courage, he answered, “I felt chills when I heard that growl. When he sniffed my neck, I was a bit surprised. When he started to speak, I-I…” he stopped to take a deep breath.
“iwaskindaturnedonbyitandwantedtoshagdraco” he said fast, hoping against hope he didn’t have to repeat that part.
Snape looked at him questioningly saying “Was that supposed to be in a language I understand?”
Harry looked down to the floor and repeated softly “I was kind of turned on by it and wanted to shag Draco”, feeling stupid and shy.


After a long pause Snape asked “Have you ever been interested in boys before, Harry?”
Harry shook his head.
Before Draco’s change he never really thought about it.
He always assumed he was straight, he liked girls well enough.
Now he had to admit that, after he had seen Draco, he wasn’t very interested in girls anymore, though.
His mind had been occupied with thoughts of Draco and Draco only.
He had even forgotten about Ron.
He told the professor this and the man looked at him, deep in thought.
“I think we should go to dinner and continue this discussion tomorrow after breakfast” Snape said.
Harry nodded and left the classroom, his mind filled with even more questions.

*********************************

Harry entered the great hall and sat down at the table.
Soon Ron sat down next to him, his face turning red.
“Harry? I…um…I…I wanted to say, sorry mate. I didn’t mean to come down on you that hard, but when I saw you with that ferret, I thought…” he started to say.
Harry cut him right off.
“No, you didn’t!” Harry said coolly.
“Wh-what? What do you mean?” Ron asked confused.
“You said ‘I thought…’, but you didn’t. You never think, before you open your mouth. Look Ron, you have always been my best friend. But for some reason or other you assumed you had to be my mother all of a sudden. I don’t need you to tell me what to do. I want you to be my friend, but you have to respect my decisions. Even when you think I am about to make a huge mistake, let me make it. Just be there for me, when something goes wrong, okay?” Harry said tiredly.
He really didn’t want to fight.
“Okay mate. But I was just looking out for you, you know that, don’t you? The world is a nasty place, when you have no friends to watch your back” Ron said.
Harry looked at him surprised.
Was this the same Ronald Weasley that had badgered him this morning about his new friendship with Draco Malfoy?
“Ooo-kay…who are you and what have you done to my friend?” Harry asked laughing softly.
“Hey, I resent that!” Ron said, giving Harry a little shove with his shoulder.
“Man, I’m hungry” he exclaimed.
‘You are always hungry, Ron” Harry laughed, more loudly now.


They ate and talked, until an owl came flying towards the two of them.
It stopped in front of Harry’s plate and stuck out it’s leg.
Harry took the letter off and offered the owl a piece of meat, which the bird accepted and it flew away with a soft hoot.
He turned the letter around a few times in his hands.
The paper looked expensive, but he had never seen it before.
There were no seals or other markings on it.
He checked it for spells and hexes, but nothing came up.
Should he open it?
Ron decided for him.
“Well, open it. Come on, mate” Ron said, barely containing his curiosity.
Harry snickered and opened the letter.
After reading a few sentences, he paled and looked at the staff table.
He was looking for the Potions Master, noticing the man was observing him with a questioning look on his face.
“I have to go, Ron. I’ll tell you about it later” Harry said in a rush and stood up from the table, leaving a confused friend behind.

He walked over to the professor and asked if they could meet after dinner, instead of the next morning.
Snape saw the haunted look on the boy’s face and nodded.
He knew it took quite a lot to shake the ‘Golden Boy’, but the letter he received had managed to do just that.
And if Snape was honest with himself, he had to admit he was curious about what had the boy so spooked.
He stood up from the table and stalked out of the great hall, with a pale looking Harry in tow.

***********************************

“What do you think that was all about, Albus?” McGonagall asked.
The headmaster watched as the two walked out of the hall.
It was eerie to see the way they looked alike.
If he didn’t know any better, he would say they were related.
Well, he didn’t, did he?
“I don’t know, Minerva. We will find out, if Harry tells us, I suppose” he said, annoyed about the fact that there was something going on, he did not know about.
He thought about the fact that Harry had sought out Severus and asked for a meeting.
Of course he had seen the owl that delivered a letter to Harry.
And he also noticed the way the shoulders of the young man had tensed up.
But somehow it didn’t make sense that Harry would go to Severus, did it?
What he wouldn’t give to know what was being said in the dungeons.
He sat up a bit straighter, when he thought of a plan.
He would ask the paintings to listen in and tell him about the meeting.
Minerva McGonagall knowingly looked at him and said “Don’t you dare, you old busy-body. It’s none of your concern. If the boy wants you to know, he will tell you” she admonished him and the headmaster had the decency to look guilty.


****************************************


It wouldn’t have done the headmaster any good in any way.
Severus, knowing the man through-and-through, went into his study with Harry.
There was not a single painting on the walls and there were secrecy spells placed, so you couldn’t hear anything, but a soft murmuring.

After leading Harry to his study, Severus went through the floo to talk to Poppy for a moment.
He asked her to prepare two beds for later in the day.
He filled her in on everything he knew about Harry and what his opinion was about Draco and Harry being mates.
“I tend to agree with you, that the two are meant for each other, Poppy, even though the headmaster isn’t convinced” he told her.
“You have to stop your meddling though. I know you mean well, but they will sort it out between themselves and if you do intervene, it may well be the last thing you do” he warned her, worried and concerned for the medi-witch’s life.
Poppy promised not to interfere with Draco and Harry, because she understood, finally, that it could and would be hazardous to do so.
The potions master told her to keep all the information secret and leave a certain headmaster out of this, until he saw fit to tell the old man what needed to be said.
Poppy chuckled and said she wouldn’t breathe a word of this to anyone, dead or alive, smiling gleeful that she knew a secret Albus didn’t.

Severus thought about the ghosts in the castle, but Poppy sensed what the man was thinking about and told him the infirmary was protected from ‘outside forces’.
This put Severus’ mind at ease a bit.
He thanked the medi-witch, by giving her one of his few heartfelt smiles and kissed her lightly on her cheek.
“You are precious, old woman” he teased her, the petit witch blushed a deep crimson and shoo-ed him from her office.
“You are a cheeky young man, Severus Snape. Now let me be, I am busy and need to set everything up for later” she said smiling.

He was, by far, her dearest patient, even though his behaviour was often less then favourable.
But then again that was usually when he had been in the hospital after a meeting with his former lord and being cursed with numerous ‘Crucio’s’.
She understood that the dark wizard was a very private man and that he saw his need to stay in the hospital as a breach of that privacy, as a weakness even.
One did not convince Severus Snape of the opposite at any rate, but Poppy, at least, understood his demeanour.
Deep down he was just another lonely man.
One that did not know how to show gratitude, for it had never been shown to him.
Severus, in his own way, showed Poppy he loved her like he would love a mother.
And she saw it, clear as daylight, even when others didn’t.
Yes, he was, by far, her dearest patient indeed.

***********************************


Returning to his study, Severus went to his liquorcabinet and fixed himself a brandy.
He offered Harry something to drink and was surprised the boy asked for a firewhiskey with two icecubes.
“I never figured you for the strong liquor type” he said.
Harry said he wasn’t normally, but that he felt he needed some liquid courage.
He took the letter from his robepocket and handed it over to Severus, saying;
“I think you should read this, because I don’t know how to explain it”.

Severus saw the envelope and had a nasty premonition.
His fear rang true, when he read the letter.
It was from the Realm of White Elm.
They wanted to see Harry and soon.
Gods, how was he going to explain this?
Now he was the one in dire need of liquid courage.
He downed his drink and fixed another one.
Harry was looking at him, understanding dawning on his face.
“You knew, didn’t you?” he asked softly.
All Severus could do was nod.
“Explain” was all Harry said.
And for the third time that day, Harry heard a story that shook the fundaments of his world.


It will be some time before I update again, I have a vacation coming up.
Sorry guys and gals.
{{{hugs}}}