Chapter Twelve

Wednesday 2 September 1998

Harry

I love my mate.

I love him- because he is a him, that much is obvious from the mate dream- more than I thought was possible at all, let alone at this stage. I haven't even met him, I haven't marked him or seen his face or heard his voice. Merlin, I don't even know his name. But my sub is my whole world.

He's just so good. When he thought he went wrong in the mate dream; told me to do something that I can't even remember now; he completely broke down. He wants to please me so much. He wants to be good for me, my good sub, my mate.

I love him. I love him so much I could scream.

I wish I could stay in the dream forever, stay with him forever, but we both have to wake up eventually.

When I do, it's to my whole body aching. I must have slept weirdly or something...

No, it's because you need your mate, genius.

Damn right I do. I didn't realise it would be so painful so quickly, though. The aching isn't much, that being said, it's more than bearable, it just surprised me.

Yeah, well, the more you care for your mate the more it will hurt to be without them. And you just went on a full rant about how much you love him so it's bound to hurt more than it should.

Okay, okay, fair enough. Why do you sound... irritable? You feel kind of annoyed, too. What's going on?

You sigh. Sorry. I guess I'm kind of jealous. I can't meet our mate's creature, if he even has one, until you've had a couple more dreams, and I'm tired of waiting.

Right. I get that. After all, so am I. Tired of fucking waiting.

I lie in bed for a while, revelling in the aftermath of the dream, and hoping the aching will fade. It doesn't; if anything, it gets worse the more I think about him.

Eventually, I force myself out of bed, and cast a quick tempus. I groan. It's almost dinner, and the talk must be over by now. I'm not in the mood to go down to the great hall, so instead I head outside towards the forest. I figure I'll let you out and you can hunt for dinner.

Fucking finally! Haven't hunted in forever!

Once I reach the edge of the forest, I strip my clothes off and let you out, and get pushed to the back of our mind. You shake, wincing when the movement hurts slightly. Apparently the mate-pains affect you too.

Stick to the edges of the forest, that's where the non-magical creatures are, the stuff you'll be hunting. Deeper in there's stuff... stuff that'll bite back.

Like what? Other wolves? You said that right?

I was thinking more along the lines of acromantulas, but that too.

Okay, right. Stay on the edge. Got it.

You sniff the air, and pretty immediately catch the scent of rabbit, bolting in the direction of it.

I relax, letting you do your thing and simply watching as trees fly past and birds caw overhead. As you hunt, I let my thoughts stray to my mate.

My mate, my sub, my whole heart. I didn't know it was possible to miss someone you've never met, but I do, dear Merlin I do. I miss him more than I need to breathe. And it's because of how much I miss him I don't realise how far in we are until it's too late.

Got it! You exclaim, trapping the rabbit beneath your paws and looking up, becoming aware of our surroundings for the first time, and as you do, I do as well. It's dark, darker than it should be on the edge, the trees so close together that the leaves block out most of the sunlight. The sounds are different too; instead of birds chirping, an eerie silence hangs in the air, occasionally interrupted by a howl or the clacking of hooves. We're definitely not on the edge anymore.

A jolt of fear burst through me as I remember what's in these woods and the damage they can do. Merlin, I almost got eaten by acromantulas in second year, and trampled to death by centaurs in fifth, and mauled by a werewolf in...

I am a werewolf, for fuck's sake! I don't have to be scared of anything in these woods if I am the scariest thing in them! I need to pull myself together.

You're too busy mauling the rabbit to death to notice where we are, but once you've finished eating, your thoughts turn to shit shit shit...

Uh, Harry? I think I might have gone a bit further in than I intended to...

You think I hadn't noticed? Whatever, it's fine. I don't think we're anywhere near the acromantula lair, and there's nothing else in here that's much more dangerous than a werewolf. If we encounter centaurs, that might be a problem, but otherwise...

You suddenly stand up straighter and your ears perk up. There's something here. You scan our surroundings, and I think we realise at the same time that we're surrounded. By wolves, all of them dominant, even though only a few even come close to your size. Most of them are like us, inherited wolves who have transformed into true wolves, but there are some who are in human form, who I assume to be bitten wolves, untransformed as it's not the full moon.

You crouch into a respectful possition, ducking your head and flattening your ears, letting out a whimper. The biggest wolf, who is almost as big as you, who you inform me is the alpha of the pack, steps forward, growling. The wolf gives control to the human, and it shocks me how huge he is. He must be over 6"7', and his whole body is covered in muscles, and scars.

"Shift," he says, his voice harsh and gruff. You give me control, but I remain in the position you were in. "Who are you?"

"My name is Harry Potter. I'm a student at the school. My wolf was hunting, we didn't mean to come so far in, I'm sorry to impose on your territory."

"Stand." I do so, but keep my head ducked as a sign of respect. He looks me up and down, and I try not to flinch under his gaze. I may be respectful, but I'm not submissive.

"I am Alpha Cal. We permit you in our forest, Rogue." I don't like that he called me Rogue, and neither do you, but he's not exactly wrong. It's true that I don't have a pack, beyond Re and Siri. But you need a minimum of five wolves to be a pack, and we have two wolves and an animagus.

"Thank you, Alpha." He nods.

"You are powerful, no? Your magic is strong, and your wolf is large, especially as you are young. Not a pup, but barely past." It wasn't a complement, but an observation.

"I am, yes."

"When your schooling is up, at the end of the sixth month, you can join us, if you please." The offer takes me by surprise, and joy jolts through you at the thought of having a pack, enough that I almost say yes before I catch myself.

"Thank you for the offer, Alpha, but I have to refuse. I intend to find the pack of my parents. A wizard meddled in my life when I was a small pup, and I could not join them, hence my rogue status."

"In that case, I wish you luck. You are free to hunt with us at any time, if you wish. If you change your mind, let me know." I nod.

Yes! Hunt with a pack, pack makes us stronger, better prey, work together, pack!

"Thank you. I have to return to the castle, but I will be back tomorrow night. May I hunt with you then?"

"You may."

He shifts back into his wolf, and I take it as a dismissal, giving you control. You nod to the Alpha, turn, and run back towards Hogwarts.

Back at the edge of the trees, you give me control back and I put on the clothes I left there. I'm about to head back up when my name is called.

"Harry!" I turn, to see Neville and... Zabini?

"Hi, Nev. Zabini. What are..." my question tapers off as they get closer. I realise how close they're standing, and that one of Zabini's wings is shielding Neville's back, feathers soft on the side facing him and sharp on the other. And their scents, although unchanged, are mingled together so much I can't distinguish them.   Add to the fact that I've never seen Neville smile so widely and Zabini is scowling at me when he didn't this morning. They're mates.

"Congratulations," I say, and Neville's smile impossibly widens, a blush blooming on his cheeks.

"Thanks. Are you, um, heading back up to the castle?"

"Yeah. Just finished hunting. Met the wolf pack in the forest too. And I'm not even going to ask what you two were doing."

"Nothing! Well, I mean, not nothing, but, just, uh, talking, getting to know each other, and, yeah. I'll be shutting up now."

"You're adorable," Blaise says, pressing his lips to Neville's forehead.

"Stop it," Nev mumbles.

We start heading up to the castle in silence, before Neville asks, "we have to go see McGonagall, right?" I groan. I had forgotten about that.

"Why?" Blaise asks.

"You weren't there, you were with Draco," I supply. "They told us after lunch, she wants to talk to us now."

Draco is the sub, yes? You should ask about him, go see him if we can now? Make sure he is okay.

"Speaking of Draco, how is he?" I ask, not caring how weird I sound. After all, like Zabini said, he understands the need to protect him.

"He's been sleeping pretty much all afternoon. He's okay though, just worried."

"Do you think he would mind if I went to see him? It's just, my wolf hated seeing him like that, and won't shut up about making sure he's alright and safe." And happy and relaxed and warm and comfortable and- shut up, Eli.

"Yeah, I get you, but... I'm not sure if that's a good idea. He's pretty scared of everyone at the moment, especially doms, and considering your history..."

"I understand." I don't! What history? He's scared Harry, birdie just said he's scared, need to protect him, make him okay and happy. Go now, yes?

No, Eli. He's scared of us, not in general.

But... but why? Scared of us? No. No, no, no, no, no, that's not right. We protect him, he can't be scared of us!

He doesn't know we want to protect him.

But we're dom, he's sub, of course we do. That's how it works.

He doesn't know that. He's confused.

Oh. We make him unconfused?

We can't do that. He has to do it himself. Or Zabini can, I guess.

When we reach the castle, we split up.

"I need to give Draco the food I caught, it's why I was in the forest in the first place. I'll meet you up there." He gives Neville another forehead kiss. "Look after my mate, yeah Potter?"

"Wouldn't do anything else, Zabini." He leaves, headed to the dungeons, and I turned to Neville as we start walking. "So, what happened?"

"Well, I had my first mate dream last night, but it didn't really reveal anything, but then I was in the forest, to re-energise and everything, and Blaise flew above me, he was hunting I think, but then he kind of stopped when he saw me, or scented me I guess, and he flew down and... and... I found my mate, Harry!"

"I'm so happy for you, Neville." I am, I really am. But just because I'm happy doesn't mean I can't be jealous as well. I would give anything to find my mate, too.

"Ah, boys, take a seat," McGonagall says when we enter. Turns out we're the last ones there, bar Zabini.

"Blaise is just coming, Professor."

"Thank you, Mr Longbottom."

I sit next to Morag MacDougal, a submissive draconi from Ravenclaw that I don't think I've ever interacted with. She looks me in the eyes, and quickly looks away again when she realises I'm not her mate.

Neville sits on the other side of me, saving the empty chair next to him for Blaise. He comes in shortly after, and I meet his eyes, silently asking if Draco's okay.

"Fine," he murmurs.

"Nice of you to join us, Mr Zabini." He shoots a grin at her, unperturbed by her comment, and sits down next to his mate, scooting the chair closer to wrap an arm around his waist. "Do you happen to know where Mr Malfoy is?"

"Draco won't be joining us. I will relay any important information to him later." McGonagall doesn't look happy, but wisely doesn't say anything.

"Well, then. As creatures, the rules will be slightly different for you this year. Firstly, as I know some of you have already taken advantage of, the Forbidden Forest is no longer forbidden. I will, however, urge you to enter with caution. Don't go believing your inheritances make you invincible. They don't. There's plenty a danger in those trees.

"There will also be no curfew, as I know many of you would like to utilise the hours when everyone else is asleep. You are permitted to do so, as long as you don't disturb the other students or abuse this privilege.

"Thirdly, your sleeping arrangements are flexible. If your inheritance clashes with another in your dorm, you are permitted to leave, and if any of you happen to find your mate this year, you are permitted to join them." She eyes up Neville and Zabini at this comment.

"Lastly, of course, any school rules that contradict your specific creature's laws do not apply. For example, many creatures permit extreme violence if defending your mate, and so the school rule against violence will be temporarily lifted if this is the case. I would, however, discourage the use of violence, and instead would encourage you to come to me if any of your classmates... offend you in anyway, and allow me to punish them appropriately.

"You are dismissed, thank you for coming to see me. Feel free to do so if you find yourselves needing anything."

She nods, and we take it as our cue to leave her office.

Zabini leans down to whisper something in Neville's ear, who blushes and nods, before letting himself be led away in the direction of the dungeons.

"Harry?" I turn to see Romilda Vane. I haven't paid that much attention to her if I'm being honest, but as another forest dweller, there's a possibility for us to be good friends. Besides, she's a sub, and doesn't have any dominant friends. She's probably looking for someone to look out for her.

She really is pretty, especially after her inheritance. Her naturally clear skin is now a bright-forest green, bringing out her wide chocolate eyes. Her hair, which used to be curly and black, is now dark brown ringlets that fall down to her hips. Her ears, like Neville's, are delicately pointed, and her frame is delicate and curvy. She's certainly pretty, but not my type. Not my mate.

"Hi, Romilda. How are you?"

"Tired, mostly. It's draining not being near my forest." Dryads like Romilda have a specific tree to which they belong, and can only truly re-energise when in the forest to which that tree belongs.

"I can imagine."

"At least we have the Forbidden Forest. I don't know what I would do without it, really. And I've met a lot of nice dryads there, so that's a plus."

"There are dryads in the forest?"

"Yeah. They're mostly hamadryads, though, so I can't see myself being best friends with them."

"What's a hamadryad?"

"Oh, sorry. They're dryads that inhabit oak and poplar trees, and can only exist within the trees. They can't come out, like us."

"What type are you?"

"I'm an oreiade, like my mum. I have a pine tree."

"Right."

"So what's it like being a werewolf?"

We continue our conversation until we reach the Gryffindor common room. It's not quite early enough to go to bed, so we collapse into chairs by the fireplace.

"Have you met your mate yet?" she asks.

"No, I've had a couple of mate dreams though. What about you?" Her whole face lights up.

"He's a satyr. That tends to happen with dryads; we're compatible. But he's a bit older than us and lives in my forest. I really like him. I miss him though."

"I can imagine. I miss my mate and I haven't even met him."

"Do you think he's at Hogwarts?"

"I think he must be. My first mate dream was on the train, and I've had a couple since then. Thing is, werewolves can be mated to wizards as well, so he could literally be anyone."

"Millie!" Someone yells from across the room, and Romilda swivels in her chair and waves.

"I'll talk to you soon, yeah? Maybe we can go down to the forest together."

"I'd like that."

"I hope you find your mate soon."

So do I.

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