The Lambs

Here we have the next chapter. Still need a banner…

Warnings: Slash. FG/HP AU. Character Death. Violence. Language. Werewolf. Non-magic. M-Preg.

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Words: 5,832
Chapter 9
Complications
December 19th 1998.

Since Fenrir had his mate firmly within his grasp he no longer had a reason to attack Hogwarts, or to order his pack to capture or kill as many Elementals as they could get their hands on. They were no longer needed as leverage; he already had his mate. From the moment King James has declared Harry off limits the rest of the Elementals had tried hard to avoid that patch of the forest in case they stumbled across him. They were all well aware that the other wolves would attack them, and they were sure that Harry would attack them too, if provoked. No body wanted to be the one to kill the Prince, even in self-defence. The Queen’s wrath wouldn’t be worth even their own lives.

Now that didn’t mean that there weren’t Lambs out there who still enjoyed hunting down and killing wolves, but they were careful to capture rouges. There were more packs than Fenrir’s, though his was the largest and the deadliest. Fenrir had around thirty-five wolves in his pack. The other packs only consisted of five or six each, and even then it was generally a mated couple and their children, or parents. Many of the Lambs rather enjoyed hunting down those packs and killing them all. They were after all vicious murders: the packs or the Lambs, for both killed mercilessly.

Fenrir tried to keep from Harry the fact that over the past month there had been more and more sightings of Elementals around their particular clearing. No body knew why, and none of the Elementals had been captured alive, so they couldn’t be questioned. As one was dying, he had gargled the name “Peter”, but Fenrir didn’t associate the name with anything of relevance and so he attempted to push it from his mind. His only concern was protecting his mate.

A mate who was, perhaps, in a very delicate condition.

Fenrir watched Harry sleep. The boy was covered, head to toe, by the furs the slept on and beneath. His mop of hair barely peaked over the top of the animal skin, and his legs were tucked to his chest. Fenrir grinned, his eyeteeth poking out over his bottom lip, his hand reaching forward to rest above where Harry’s stomach would be. Tonight he would know for sure. He fought hard to remain nonchalant, as if the definite answer to his guesses wasn’t important to him. But it was. He badly wanted what he thought was being offered to him now, and if, to find out he had guessed incorrectly, then he would be horridly disappointed and no doubt angry.

He wasn’t sure of Harry’s reaction, so he didn’t mention anything to his mate. The boy would find out tonight, with the others.

“Morning,” Harry said. He peeked over the corner of the furs, smiling shyly at Fenrir, before rubbing his eyes with a fist.

“Good afternoon, actually.” Fenrir’s smirk widened as Harry’s beautiful green eyes widened. “Hmm,” he said, “yes afternoon. You slept almost the whole day away.”

“But I’m awake in time for the full moon, so you have nothing to complain about.” Harry said snarkily, pushing Fenrir off of him so he could roll from the make-shift bed. The elder wolf grabbed the boy, and, carefully mind you, pulled him back down onto the furs. He lay on top of Harry, pinning the smaller man to the ground, and wiggled his hips lightly. Harry let out a groan, and Fenrir chuckled.

“Is that any way to speak to your Alpha?” Fenrir teased.

Harry’s fingers tangled into the silver hair and he tugged Fenrir’s face down. “Hurry up and kiss me, before I find someone else willing.” The elder wolf let out a growl of jealousy before he crushed his lips to Harry’s. He settled between the spread legs, still ravishing the boy’s mouth, and neither left their tent until the early evening.

XXX

December 19th 1998.

Godric’s Hallow was already decorated for Christmas. There was a large tree in every room of the castle, and streamers and shinny paper banners hung from the walls and ceilings. Mistletoe swayed gently in the breeze, above the doors, every time a door was opened. Many an Elemental had been stopped as they walked through the castle by giggles of “kiss, kiss” should they have been unlucky enough to pass through the doorway with someone else.

Healer Snape had been caught once, but no one had dared goad him into complying with the merry tradition. In the end, Draco had run over, completely ignoring Peter who was being glared into submission, and kissed his godfather on the cheek. Peter had been left in the doorway, cowering, and the other two had walked away. The spectators didn’t dare speak of it; except to laugh at Peter once or twice.

Peter, however, wasn’t enjoying the festivities. No one would kiss him. They all made sure to walk very slowly around him, or outright sprint through doorways so they wouldn’t be caught with him. The King had thrown his annual dinner party a fortnight before Christmas, but he had called of the Moon party. In years past, on the full moon of December the King would have sent out two parties of Elementals, and each group would compete to kill the most werewolves (in their wolf form).

If James wouldn’t organize one this year, then it would be down to Peter to put the ‘mess’ in ‘Christmas’.

“You,” he shouted as he walked into the room. “What are you doing here?”

A man trembled slightly. Peter might not have been particularly powerful, but he was almost family to the King; it wasn’t wise to cross people with influence. “Alastor invited me.” Peter turned his eyes on the older man, who had a prosthetic leg and one eye missing. Alastor nodded slightly and Peter relaxed.

“Fine. Now stop snivelling.” He did so enjoy being able to boss people about once in a while. Maybe, he thought, this would be how it’d feel once he was a werewolf? People cowering from him, snivelling in fear: how delicious.

Peter paused for a minute, just relishing in the way everyone looked to him for instructions. He swallowed, then cleared his throat, and spoke. “Now, it’s the night of the Moon party, but as our King is too busy right now, I have taken the initiative to arrange tonight’s festivities.” The others whispered amongst themselves, but fell silent when Peter’s eyes narrowed. “You will split into two groups, and you will attack to kill.”

“Any particular area, Pettigrew?” Some one asked.

“You all know where Greyback camps. He is the ultimate prize. Greyback and Remus Lupin. If you can find Prince Harry, bring him back alive, and I am certain the Queen will repay you handsomely.” There were a few cheers and grin shared between friends, and all the while Peter watched them leave the room grinning to himself. Soon, if everything went well, Fenrir and Remus would be dead, and he’d have Harry. The brat would have no choice but to turn him. And then the Prince would die. Peter sneered, just thinking about the little upstart.

XXX

December 19th 1998. That night.

While Elementals ran or walked or rode through the forest, the wolves were gathered together in the clearing. Fenrir stayed as close to Harry as physically possible, and many of the others had noticed the Alphas strange behaviour. Most of the females recognized what he was doing and they smiled; except for Bellatrix. Her eyes narrowed angrily, and whenever Harry looked towards her she snarled at him. She had never had children, and Rudolphus had never hovered around her like that on the full moon, but she knew. She knew the brat must be pregnant, or thought to be pregnant, or the Alpha wouldn’t be so out of sorts. She hated him, Harry Potter, absolutely despised him.

She had always wanted to be the mate, the one Fenrir was so worked up over. But instead he had convinced her to mate with Rudolphus. The Lestrange brother had taken an interest in her and requested permission from the Alpha to turn her. But no one had asked for her permission. She had gone from human to wolf in days and then she had chosen Fenrir for herself but had been given to her sire instead, with the Alpha’s permission. But not her own.

It was infuriating, and she disliked Harry because Fenrir had offered the brat the choice. Chose him, or leave. Harry didn’t have a choice when it came to being a wolf, but Bella chose to overlook that. It wouldn’t do to find similarities between them.

Rudolphus noticed her behaviour and scowled. He wasn’t sure what he had done to make her hate him so much. She had been fine when she had just been turned. It was only after they mated that she had become colder towards him. But she never seemed to hate him as much as she did the Prince. Rudolphus snorted. With the way Fenrir was acting, he’d say Bella had no chance with the Alpha now, and she most certainly wouldn’t go unpunished if she upset the young mate.

“Fenrir?” Harry whispered as the man practically lay down on top of him.

“Whatever happens, don’t be afraid.”

Harry grinned. “I’m not afraid. Not anymore. I actually like being a werewolf now. The more moons that go past the more I come to terms with what I am, and that I love you, and that I am happy. Happy, with you. Here, with the pack.”

“Something might be different tonight, Harry.” Fenrir kissed the back of his neck. Harry smiled into the ground. “Stay brave and I will explain in the morning.” Now, Greyback hoped Harry was pregnant, or he’d have a hell of a time explaining why he thought Harry was.

The moon began to rise.

At first no one really noticed it. They were all busy undressing, comforting their mates, speaking to their families, or in Fenrir’s case protecting his fragile mate. Soon enough they began to look up at the sky, many of them with reverence and some with a touch of annoyance. The higher the moon climbed the less human everyone began to look. Fur sprouted, fangs elongated, claws scratched at the earth as howls and whimpers left their mouths. Snouts grew longer, tails appeared and bones cracked as their legs changed shape.

Harry watched it all with a sort of horrified detachment. In the past few months the pain had lessened for him, but now he felt nothing. Numbness had settled over him, and he didn’t feel the lack of pain that usually accompanied the change. There was nothing. No fur, no claws, fangs, snout, and no agony. Nothing was happening to him.

He looked around at all of the fully changed wolves and a small whimper escaped him throat. Fenrir growled softly, his face butting Harry’s trembling hand. Green eyes teared up as they looked down on the silver wolf. Did Fenrir know this was going to happen to him? Did he do something wrong, something to not make him a wolf anymore? Five months ago he would have been ecstatic, but now, when he had only started to be happy to be what he now was, and he was no longer a werewolf. Had he been cured, or was this some other curse?

Stay brave, Fenrir had said. But Fenrir wasn’t the one being thrown out of the pack.

Charlie frowned; if wolves could frown, that is. Hadn’t Fenrir warned Harry?

‘Did you not mention the possibility, my Alpha? The boy is having a panic attack. He should have been warned.’ Charlie mentally scolded the silver wolf, keeping his distance physically.

Fenrir turned to him and growled. Harry flinched back at the sound. ‘I did not know what his reaction would be. I did not want to get his hopes up, or on the other hand, I did not want him to have the chance to consider a termination.’

‘Harry wouldn’t do that.’ Charlie said at once. Fenrir gave a snort.

The red wolf came closer to the younger boy. Harry was outright shaking now, his mouth open as he tried to suck in lung fulls of air. His hands closed over his mouth and he backed away slowly, as Charlie came towards him. “Sorry, sorry, I’m sorry,” he whispered. Charlie whimpered as Harry retreated.

Fenrir launched himself at his mate, and pinned the boy down. He licked at Harry’s face, nuzzled against his neck and butted their noses together until Harry started to calm down.

‘Harry? Can you hear me?’ Fenrir tried speaking into his mate’s mind.

“Fenrir, what’s wrong with me?” He asked out loud, his voice sounding pitifully desperate. He wasn’t able to communicate mentally, but he could access the thoughts of the rest of his pack. It wasn’t unheard of for pregnant submissives to still be able to use their wolf-gifts while human, but only on the full moon, and only if they were powerful enough. No doubt that Harry was powerful.

‘Nothing is wrong Harry.’ Charlie’s voice assured him.

Remus joined them. ‘You are very lucky, my Prince. It is a gift, not a curse which you are bearing right now.’ He licked Harry’s hand, and then his face as Fenrir let the boy sit up.

“What gift?” The brunette asked softly.

‘You are with child, love.’ Fenrir said, his voice soft and wary. He backed up a few inches, giving Harry some space.

“A baby?” He whispered, his hand moving to press against his stomach. “An actual baby, like foetus, to child, to teenager, etc., that type of baby?” His eyes were wide, but he was no longer crying or shaking.

‘Yes, that kind of baby, though you’d have to add ‘werewolf’ into your sequence as well.’ Fenrir gave a grunt as Harry launched himself forward, grabbing the silver wolf around the neck and hugged him tightly. Fenrir nuzzled against his mate, one paw coming up to rest on Harry’s shoulder.

“Love you.” The boy whispered, and Fenrir grinned, showing off all of his teeth.

Outside of the clearing, only a meter or so out of scenting range for the wolves, two handfuls of Lambs waited and watched with wide eyes. “Shall we attack?” One man asked, as he rubbed his hands together.

“The Prince is human, he might be cured?”

“No.” Alastor said with a groan. “He’s pregnant. Submissives don’t change on the moons if they are carrying. It’s why there are so little born wolves; not many submissives are strong enough to resist the moons call. They end up changing anyway and losing the child.”

“Shall we not attack then?” The first man repeated.

“No, we should tell the King and Queen.” Alastor decided. At once, most of the men began protesting. They demanded to be allowed to stay and hunt, but Alastor was having none of it. He was the longest serving Lamb left alive, and he would be damned if he didn’t anything stupid enough to get himself killed; he had a few more years left in him yet. Attacking the pregnant mate of an Alpha was definitely stupid: attacking the pregnant son of your King was also very stupid. “We will report to the King. Then we will do only what our King allows us to do.”

The group left the forest, walking quickly just in case any of the wolves had noticed them, but they mumbled to themselves, rather noisily. Alastor rolled his eyes at the stupidity of his men. Briefly he wondered how he was going to explain away the fact that they had been on an unauthorized hunt, ignoring a direct order, and close to attacking the Prince’s pack, when they had come by the knowledge of Harry’s pregnancy. But then he dismissed the worry. It was Peter’s idea; let the blame lie on Peter.

XXX

February 13th 1999. (Harry is three months pregnant now).

James sighed. He ran his hand through his hair for the third time in the last five minutes. He closed his eyes, a frown on his face, before he looked up at his wife. “Lily,” he said softly, “there’s something I need to tell you.”

The red head looked up and smiled. Her smile fell as she noticed the look on James’ face. She leant forward, took his hand and tried to smile again. “Is it Harry? Did they find Harry?” Of course everyone knew where Harry was; by ‘find’ the Queen meant ‘have they successfully kidnapped him from Fenrir?’

James had been told by Alastor; the other men had been sworn to secrecy. He had been able to keep it a secret for almost two months. Peter and Sirius knew: he trusted them both explicitly. He was slightly annoyed with Peter, but he supposed he had to forgive his friend eventually, because if it wasn’t for Peter he wouldn’t have found out he was to be a grandfather. He wasn’t particularly upset about the fact. After all, Harry was a werewolf, and he knew Draco had been to visit Harry. He wasn’t completely oblivious to the goings on of his people. Bill had been sneaking out over that back wall for years now, and he had never been hurt. James supposed it must be different for werewolves who still have human families; Harry hadn’t hurt Draco, and Charlie had never hurt Bill. But the others were monsters, weren’t they?

Weren’t they?

Lily insisted they were. All he ever heard from her recently was how much of a beast Fenrir Greyback was. And Remus, she said, must be as bad or he would have brought Harry home. James didn’t agree. They had thrown Remus out: perhaps he was too afraid to come back? Angry, hurt, fearful; Remus had no reason to believe he was welcomed back. Maybe, James thought, his father had been wrong. Maybe not all werewolves are as evil as Lord Voldemort?

He was happy for Harry. He hoped Harry was happy, but he supposed Harry must be or he would have run away by now, wouldn’t he? Harry always was strong willed, a total handful. It was surprising they had kept him so sheltered for so long.

“Lily.” He took a deep breath. Two months he had been working up to this conversation, and he knew it wasn’t going to go well. “Harry’s pregnant.”

The Queen’s face paled so quickly James thought she might faint. He reached out to catch her, just in case, but she slapped his hands away. “What?” She hissed, her voice a deadly whisper. “What did you say?”

“Alastor and some men were on a moon hunt. They saw Harry. He’s pregnant.” James ran a hand through his hair again. He took off his glasses, cleaned them on his sleeve and put them back on his face.

“No,” she whispered, her hand over her mouth. “How could he?”

“Lils?”

“He’s pregnant? He mated? Why would he do that? Why would he betray us?” She kept walking backwards, slowly, moving towards the door.

“Lily?” James asked again, reaching out for her.

“He betrayed us.” She looked up at her husband. Her eyes were cold, and her mouth was set into a determined line. Before James could speak again, she ran from the room. James slumped back down onto his throne. He listened as the sound of her footsteps faded, he heard a door slam and he sighed deeply. He stood up after a moment, and left the room, following his wife.

When he found her, she was in Harry’s bedroom. Draco was standing outside of the room, frozen at the threshold with his mouth wide open. Lucius was beside him, trying to pull the boy away. James’ eyes widened as he saw what they were looking at. Lily, his gentle, beautiful wife, who he thought loved their son more than life, was throwing Harry’s books at the wall. The bed was overturned, the pillows gutted; feathers lining the floor. The desk had been smashed; pieces of wood had been hurled through the window, shattering the glass.

“What are you doing?” James asked, striding into the room and grabbing the desk lamp out of Lily’s hands.

“James!” She whispered, and threw herself at him, sobbing. He held her, running his hands over her back. “We have to kill it, James. It took Harry away from us. We have to kill it.” She whispered into the King’s chest. “Promise me you’ll kill it.”

“We can’t force him to abort, love.” James said, his eyebrows drawn together in worry as he looked down on her. “It could kill Harry.”

She looked up at him, rubbed her tears away and said, “then we have to kill him.” James flinched, not quite believing she had just said that. “We have to kill it, even if it means killing Harry.” While James may not have been completely against the idea of Harry having a child, or of Harry being a werewolf as long as he didn’t attack anyone, Lily hated the very thought of it.

She had spent Harry’s entire childhood protecting him from those monsters, and then to have failed so terribly. It was heartbreaking. Lily had never quite gotten over the fact that she had failed her son; she had not yet been able to punish the creature that took her son away. And now, to find out that he was pregnant by Greyback, that he had allowed himself to conceive (not that he had a choice in the matter, but Lily didn’t care about that), that Harry had bonded, had wanted to stay with the pack, it was too much. If Harry had the child, he would no longer be hers. He would belong to them, to the pack and Greyback. She couldn’t allow him to have the child. She couldn’t.

It didn’t factor into her thoughts that she was planning to kill her own grandchild. All that she could think of was Harry, betraying her by loving him. Them. Greyback and his spawn.

She wouldn’t speak again. She moved away from James and sat under the window, mindless of the broken glass and James watched her silently as she cried.

Lucius stood in the doorway still, silently. Draco’s mouth was opening and closing, but no noise was coming out. When Lucius looked closely, he could make out what Draco was mouthing.

‘Don’t kill Harry’.

He pulled Draco away before the boy could say anything. He doubted either the King or Queen had paid particular attention to them. If they stayed silent, if they remained unnoticed, they may be able to warn the Prince in time.

XXX

February 14th 1999. Valentine’s Day.

It was sweet, in a strange way. Just looking around at all of the couples made Harry smile, but then he took note of the ‘gifts’ being given to the submissives by the dominants and that was what he thought made this valentine’s day so strange. In years past he had given flowers, or received chocolates…

He looked at Fenrir with a scowl.

…This was the first year he had been given a deer’s heart.

The Alpha grinned at him, the heart in one hand, and he reached out to cup Harry’s cheek with the free hand. “Eat up, love. It’s good for you.”

Harry couldn’t help the grimace that spread over his face. In the sixth and a half months he had been a werewolf, he still hadn’t been able to get his mind around the thought of eating raw food. Sure, he didn’t it when he was a wolf or when he was very hungry, but he had at least washed the blood off first. His stomach rolled as he reached out to take the heart. Maybe he could throw it in a bush when Fenrir wasn’t watching?

“Don’t even think about it.” Fenrir said, still grinning. “It’s good for the cub.”

“But, but, it’s gross?” Harry grimaced again. He looked around; slightly nauseous as the human looking pack devoured whatever their mates brought back. His stomach growled, his baby hungry, so he held his nose, closed his eyes, and took a bite. It didn’t taste as bad as it looked, and within seconds he had finished it. Fenrir watched his mate, feeling pleased with himself.

“Happy valentines.” He said, his grin stretching. Harry licked his lips, and offered a shy smile back. He felt a bit freaked out, having eaten something that he had thought was disgusting, and having enjoyed it so much. He wanted to ask if there was more, but he felt strangely about it. Did he really want more? He licked his lips again. Yeah, he did; did that make him a bad person? “It’s good for the cub,” Fenrir repeated. He disappeared for a moment and returned with the deer’s leg. “Tuck in.”

He hadn’t spent much time around the other members of the pack. He tended to just stay around the people he knew, like Remus, Fenrir, and Charlie, and he avoided certain others, like Bellatrix. The rest of the pack knew of him, but most wouldn’t approach him first, because as the Alpha’s mate he ranked above them and he would have to introduce himself first before they could approach him. Harry knew that, but he was also more comfortable just staying close to those he knew and trusted.

That’s why it came as a bit of a shock when two wolves his own age came running over to him just as he finished eating. Fenrir growled, and smacked one of them, but the second avoided his arm. “Harry, Harry,” the dark-skinned male said, panting.

“Yes?” Harry asked, looking the boy over. He was tall, slim, but obviously a dominant. He had dark skin, and hair, and his eyes were a strange mix between olive and amber. The blond male by his side was his submissive, if they way they leant towards each other was any indication.

“Blaise Zabini and Seamus Finnegan.” Fenrir growled out, “what do you want?” Seamus had been a human, and Blaise was an Elemental whose family had all been killed by rouge werewolves. He had survived, only to find out that he was a wolf also. Fenrir had taken him in, and as was the custom, if a wolf found their mate they were allowed to turn them. And so Seamus had come to be among them.

“That boy, the blond, your friend,” Seamus babbled, looking at Harry from beneath his eyelashes. “They caught him in the woods. He was looking real suspicious.”

“Who caught him?” Fenrir said. His eyes flickered to his mate, who had suddenly tensed up.

“Bella. She was talking about playing with him when we left.” Blaise said. Harry only stayed long enough to hear the she-wolf’s name before he took off running towards the woods. Fenrir rolled his eyes. Pregnant or not, there was no doubt that the Elemental could hold his own against the ex-human, but Fenrir didn’t want to risk it. And anyway, Harry should know better than to run in his condition.

Harry ran through the trees, skidding to a halt when he spotted the circle of wolves. Rudolphus had his hand on Bellatrix’s shoulder, his brother on the other side of her. She snarled at the blond boy. He stood before her, back straight and head held high even though his hands were trembling. The wind whirled around him, his Element determined to protect him in whatever way it could.

There were several other wolves around him, but none of them moved towards him or tried to stop Bellatrix. They all just watched. Rudolphus, on occasion, tugged at his mate’s arm but she wouldn’t budge. She was determined to play with the friend of Prince Potter. She snarled. She hoped the brat cried.

“Look at the itty bitty lamb.” She licked her lips. “Yummy, yum, lamb chops.” She moved towards him.

A ring of fire burst into existence around Draco, and Bellatrix jumped backwards to avoid being burnt. Draco almost sagged in relief, his silver eyes meeting Harry’s blazing green ones over the flames.

“How dare you?” The brunette hissed, eyes narrowed as he stalked towards the woman. She smirked at him, her fists clenching at her sides. She wasn’t an Elemental, she didn’t have any ‘magic’ powers, but when Harry was close enough to her, she reached out and grabbed him by the throat. The other wolves gasped as she attacked the pregnant boy.

“Fuck you, you little shit.” She shouted. “He should have been my mate!” She threw him, and he landed with a smack at the base of a tree. The circle of fire continued to burn, not hurting Draco, but not letting anyone else near him either. “He was mine first!”

Harry rolled to his feet, grimacing as pain flared in his back. “You have issues, you know that?” He put his hands on his hips, and cocked his head to the side. He thought it was about time she learnt what The Lambs could do. He might not have known he was being trained to kill werewolves, but he had been trained all the same. “Time to put the bitch down,” he muttered and smirked.

With a click of his fingers, the fire that encircled Draco shot out, slithering across the floor like a snake and wrapped itself around Bellatrix’s legs. She howled in pain, rolling on the ground in an attempt to put out the flames. Rudolphus stepped forward, his teeth bared, but he froze as his eyes met the angry gaze of his Alpha. Wide eyed, he stepped back and left Bellatrix to her fate.

Harry growled at her, and as he growled the sun seemed to sink away behind the trees. It was replaced by darkness, so deep that no one could see anything. Draco crouched down on the floor, the wind still flying around him. Fenrir stepped forward, his gaze travelling through the darkness trying to catch a glimpse of his mate, and he sniffed, pinpointing the boy’s scent.

Bellatrix was still howling, but she had managed to put out the flames. There was a scream, presumably from Bellatrix as she launched herself at Harry, which was followed by a crunching noise. It was silent for a minute, and in that time the darkness dissipated and the sun shone again. It took every one’s eyes a second or two to get used to the light once it reappeared, but Rudolphus was the first to notice the unconscious submissive, pinned beneath Bellatrix, his throat in her mouth. His chest still moved, as he breathed, fortunately.

It was the fact that Fenrir could see Harry breathing that kept him from killing the she-wolf. He snarled, pleased when she dropped Harry immediately. Backing away slowly, wide eyes met his own, before she lowered herself to the ground submissively. He ignored it though. At once, a silver wolf had her pinned down, snarling into her face as she pleaded and begged, apologizing for angering him, but not for hurting his mate.

He scratched at her face, two long gashes marring her cheek before turning back into a human and walking to his mate. He picked the young man up, cradled his to his chest and turned his back on Bellatrix. “Get out.”

“What?” She whispered, standing up and moving closer to him. Rudolphus grabbed her, stopping her.

“Get out of my pack. You have no place here.” Fenrir didn’t even bother looking at her as he spoke. Draco followed the Alpha as the wolf carried Harry back to his tent. Remus and Charlie joined them.

Rudolphus dragged Bellatrix to the edge of Greyback’s territory, and pushed her past the invisible boundary line. When she looked back at him pleadingly, he shook his head and didn’t follow her. He went back to his pack, alone.

Harry woke three hours later, the bruises on his neck already healing and with no harm caused to his child. “It was stupid of you, coming here alone,” Charlie whispered as Remus and Fenrir fussed over the Prince.

“I had to.” The blond whispered. Harry looked up at him and smiled, and Draco tried to smile back. “You’re pregnant? Really?” He hoped it wasn’t true. He hoped James had gotten it wrong, or been lied to, or something, anything. If Harry was pregnant, Lily’s behaviour would be too much like his dream. He wouldn’t be able to bare it.

“Yes.” Harry said, sitting up. “How did you know?”

“They know. They all know. You have to leave, please leave.” Fenrir growled threateningly as Draco moved towards his friend. “You have to leave.” Harry grabbed Fenrir’s arm, and the elder wolf pack away unwillingly. Draco grabbed Harry’s face, forcing the other boy to look at him. “Please leave, Harry, go anywhere. It isn’t safe anymore. They know. Lily, I think she’s gone mad, Harry. She wants to kill you! James said not to, he said to leave the baby alone, but Lily wants to kill it, Harry. Even if it kills you too.”

“Draco.” The brunette’s hands closed over Draco’s, and pried them off his face. Harry squeezed them, and Draco crawled closer to his friend, his hands remaining within the grip of Harry’s own, resting lightly in Harry’s lap. “It’s fine. My mum isn’t going to kill me, Dray. Yeah, I bet she’s upset, but she won’t hurt me.”

“You think so?” Draco sniffed, blinking back his tears.

“Come on, Dray. She’s my mum; I think I know her pretty well.” He grinned, and Draco relaxed slightly.

Fenrir and Remus left the tent. Charlie watched them go and turned his attention back to the teenagers. He didn’t want to say anything, but he had thought he knew his own mother better than anyone, once upon a time, and it had turned out he had been wrong. But maybe Harry would be luckier than him?

Fenrir’s mouth was turned down as he looked at Remus. The younger wolf frowned as well and sighed. “Harry’s wrong, Fenrir. If either of them were to do anything it would be Lily. James is, well, he’s no a coward by any stretch but he doesn’t believe in doing something only to justify the ends. Lily is a stricter, harsher ruler. If Lily truly believes that the cub has to die to, I don’t know, save Harry maybe, then she will try to kill it.”

Fenrir growled, the noise rumbling through his chest and throat. His nails dug into his palms as he clenched his hands in anger. “She will not hurt my cub. Or my mate.”

“But she will try.” Their eyes met, and both Alpha and Beta mentally vowed to do what it took to protect Harry.

Whatever it took.

XXX

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