10. THE JOYS OF HAVING A MATE
"Harry!" Sirius seemed mildly surprised but nonetheless happy when the green-eyed elf entered the common room only twenty minutes after their conversation. "Come here!"
Harry wove through the throng of Gryffindors celebrating their new Seeker and since no-one took much notice of him. he concluded that most of them were just glad about any excuse of partying and didn't really care what they were partying about. Sirius promptly pulled him into his lap, tilting Harry's head for a passionate kiss.
"I missed you," he murmured, blowing his warm breath on Harry's neck.
Harry blushed brightly, twisting around to nuzzle the crook of Sirius' neck. "Sirius?"
"Yes, beautiful?" the grey-eyed young man asked breathily. "Can I do anything for you?"
"I'd like a butterbeer," Harry murmured and Sirius jumped at the chance to contribute to Harry's happiness, summoning a butterbeer. "And a chocolate frog."
Sirius happily summoned a basket full of chocolate frogs out of the hands of a rather stocky fifth year student, who wasn't all that thrilled about Sirius' actions and shouted a protest over at them. The veela ignored him completely, too focused on Harry taking a sip of his butterbeer and then wrinkling his nose.
"Something wrong, dashing?"
"I like it better warm," Harry mumbled.
"Then you shall have it warm," Sirius declared, tapping the bottle with his wand to heat it, careful not to burn Harry's fingers with his charm.
"Thank you, Sirius," Harry replied with a shy smile.
"It's no problem at all. Would you like me to give you a back rub, you must have had a stressful day," Sirius offered considerately.
"You don't have to..." Harry protested weakly as he hadn't expected to have so much success with his little manipulations; he tried to turn off his charm, as Narcissa called it, smoothing the pout from his lips and straightening his shoulders out of their protection-seeking slump.
"I know, Harry," Sirius whispered in his ear. "But I want to and I don't mind your manipulations."
"You knew?" Harry asked, shock, surprise and embarrassment mixing in his voice.
"From the very moment you batted your eyes at me," Sirius replied with a smirk. "And you're adorable with that pout on your lips."
"But then why did you... why didn't you..." Harry inquired timidly. "Are you angry?"
"I'm not angry, Harry," Sirius answered gently, his hands massaging Harry's tense muscles. "I've been waiting for that quite a long time, actually; I was wondering when you would shower me with your charm instead of Malfoy."
"You were jealous?" Harry asked in surprise and Sirius chuckled.
"More than you can imagine, gorgeous. And if you want to manipulate me to get something from me that I'd gladly give you without such incentive, I won't complain."
"Oh, thank you, I guess," Harry said timidly and then snuggled into Sirius. "So you say I can just ask?"
"Of course, though if you like manipulating me more you can do that, too," Sirius replied, kissing Harry's cheek.
"I do, kind of," Harry admitted sheepishly.
Sirius laughed, "I thought so. And I enjoy it as well, especially if it makes you happy."
"Thank you," Harry murmured, drinking a bit of his butterbeer, and just enjoyed Sirius' embrace and his undivided attention.
He whimpered in protest when Sirius turned away to share a joke with James and Peter, and Sirius was once again focused on him, leaving James and Peter to entertain themselves.
James grinned. "Taking a bit of revenge, Harry?"
"Sirius said it was okay," Harry argued uncertainly.
"Of course he did. He's in love with you." James chuckled.
"He doesn't love me. I'm only his mate," Harry protested with a bitter taste in his mouth.
"Oh, Harry, don't say something like that," Lily spoke up, slipping her arm through James'. "Being his mate and having Sirius' love is more or less the same and if you had heard him talk yesterday you wouldn't have a doubt in your mind."
Harry was carding his fingers through Sirius' hair. The veela had his eyes closed and it seemed as if he hadn't heard a word of their conversation, which Harry was grateful for. He didn't answer Lily. He couldn't believe his mother's words, though a part of him desperately wanted to.
Lily patted his hand with a reassuring smile. "You will need time to realise that, of course, and be as happy for yourself as I already am for you."
"Maybe." Harry shrugged and then gently nudged Sirius out of his trance. "Sirius? Where's Remus? I want to say thank you for earlier..." Harry trailed off.
"Shall we go find him?" Sirius suggested, shaking off the pleasant drowsiness. "I think he managed to flee to the dormitories half an hour or so ago."
"Okay." Harry nodded timidly, squeaking as Sirius simply scooped him up and started to carry him towards the staircase. "I can walk on my own!"
"I know." Sirius laughed. "But this way I can keep you close."
Harry grumbled in displeasure, but didn't protest anymore, even snuggling into Sirius' hard chest, as they took the stairs up to the dormitories.
"Remus? Are you hiding in here?" Sirius called, pushing the door to their dorm open, coming face to face with an annoyed-looking werewolf.
"What, Padfoot?" Remus asked in irritation before he quickly jumped back as a whimper rose from Harry's throat. "What have you done now?" he asked, dread filling his voice.
"Nothing really," Sirius murmured absently, running his fingers through Harry's unruly hair. "Harry wanted to thank you. I guess, we'll have to postpone that a little."
"No, I'm fine." Harry sniffed, turning around to find Remus with his eyes. "Thank you for taking me to James earlier."
"I was afraid I would do more harm than good," Remus admitted softly, sitting down on his own bed as Sirius sat down on his bed with Harry still in his lap. "Are you okay now? I didn't think you two would make up so soon."
His voice held a hint of suspicion as he stared at Sirius, who looked down at the slight elf in his lap.
Harry cautiously turned around in Sirius' lap, relieved when the strong arms stayed protectively around his waist. "I am okay. Sirius explained it to me."
"Oh, yeah, what did he say?" Remus asked venomously, glaring at Sirius, making clear that he expected an answer from the veela.
"Harry is my mate and after what I did today, he couldn't help but believe me, right, beautiful?" Sirius stated proudly, pressing a kiss to Harry's forehead, on the scar Voldemort's curse had left. "And if he hadn't, I would have found another way to convince him."
"Ah," Remus returned, "and how long exactly did you need to figure that out? James and I told you that two weeks ago."
"What?" Harry asked in surprise. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"It seemed to good to be true," Sirius mumbled in embarrassment. "And it felt like I would take advantage of you if you weren't really my mate, but you are. I know that now."
"About time, too." Remus chuckled lightly and Harry smiled up at Sirius, leaning back into him.
"He's right you know? Took you rather long."
"I'll make up for it, don't worry." Sirius grinned before falling back on the bed and rolling around so that he was hovering over Harry. "You're mine now."
"Oh, yeah?" Harry chuckled. "Prove it!"
Sirius smirked down at his little treasure before he lowered himself to Harry's neck, the one he had dreamed about, and began to cover it with butterfly kisses. Harry purred appreciatively and arched up into the taller boy, but when he made to pull Sirius closer with his arms, Sirius swiftly captured his wrists in one hand and held them over his head. The elf mewled in disappointment, but resigned to his fate and turned his head to the side to give the other creature better access.
Sirius, not one to pass up such an opportunity, licked the shell of Harry's ear, nibbled his lobe before he kissed the pointy end lightly. Harry gave a choked moan and Sirius, encouraged by this, suckled the soft patch of skin behind Harry's right ear lovingly before he bit down on his neck, intend to leave his mark. He licked and nibbled until the skin was pleasantly red and then kissed it soothingly again.
The lack of response startled him a little, but as he looked into Harry relaxed face that was drastically explained. Harry was sleeping peacefully.
"Remus!" Sirius drew back, shocked, jerking the hangings around the werewolf's bed open, who had closed them as soon as he became aware of what Sirius was planning.
"No, I don't have any lube, could you leave me to my book now?" Remus didn't look up, demonstratively turning to the next page. "And use a Silencing Charm."
"I don't have to. Harry is sleeping." Sirius helplessly motioned to where Harry had curled up on his side, his head buried in Sirius' pillow.
Remus threw a short look at Sirius' bed before he burst out laughing, holding his sides.
"That's not funny," Sirius grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring down at the other boy with little success.
"What's so funny?" James and Peter entered the room and James threw himself on the bed next to Remus, trying to understand what the werewolf was gasping out between his laughing.
Finally Remus had calmed down enough to get out his message, his face slightly red from laughing. "Harry fell asleep while Sirius was trying to seduce him." He pointed at Harry's still form, bursting into laughter again.
James soon joined in, rolling around on the bed while Sirius pouted. Peter also snickered and Sirius glared at them all.
"What's the matter?" Harry blinked his eyes open sleepily, starting another round of laughter.
"You fell asleep," Sirius said in an accusing tone that didn't make any sense to Harry.
"Sorry? I was tired." He cocked his head to the side in confusion. "Do I snore or something?"
"You fell asleep while I was kissing you," Sirius clarified.
A foolish grin spread over Harry's pale features. "That felt good, but I still don't understand what's so funny..."
"You weren't supposed to fall asleep." Sirius sighed, swinging a pillow at James' head. "I didn't think it was that boring."
"Oh, I thought you were finished. I'm sorry."
"Don't be." Sirius plopped down next to him, taking the confused and scared elf into his arms. "I'm just not used to it that someone reacts like this to my seduction."
"You were trying to seduce me?" Harry asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes, is that a problem for you?" Sirius asked with concern. "Did I move too fast?"
"I don't know. I think so. I mean this is all kind of sudden and I'm still not sure I want to forgive you completely or if I only forgave you because I'm a submissive. Not that your apology wasn't really sweet and impressive and I don't think anyone ever did something this grand for me. And I appreciate it, really, but you weren't very nice to me before and I still liked you, even though I shouldn't have. Well, maybe I should have because I'm your mate and all that, but, you know..." Harry rambled, getting more and more frustrated with his inability to express his feelings adequately.
"It's alright," Sirius soothed him. "So I'm moving too fast for you?"
"Yes. Sirius, I never did things like that before and I don't want to bond with you just yet," Harry pleaded with him. "I barely know you and though you say I'm your mate, I can't say the same about you. You're my dom, but I don't think I love you. Yet."
Sirius took a deep breath to keep the tears from falling and seeing things reasonably. Harry didn't love him, Harry didn't want to bond with him, but he was Harry's dominant and that was something to work with. He would just have to focus on that.
"Okay, Harry, I will try to be patient, but my veela side is urging me to bond with you so that no-one can take you away from me again," he finally murmured. "But we still can do things without bonding, Harry, so you needn't be afraid of that. The bonding entails more than just sex."
"Ehm, Paddy, not to destroy your illusions or anything," James intervened. "While it might be true that byou/b can have sex without bonding, because you're a creature of love and passion and all that, this doesn't go for elves. We will bond to the first person we have sex with after we came in our inheritance."
"What?" Sirius shouted, horrified and Harry winced, covering his head with his arms protectively. "You never told me that."
"Didn't think it was necessary." James shrugged. "Lily knows. I was not about to tell the whole school that I couldn't have sex."
"I'm not the whole school, I'm your best friend, Prongsie, and I could have done something irrevocably stupid to Harry without even knowing it," Sirius exclaimed, absently pulling Harry into his lap and patting his hair.
"I rather thought you knew," James answered. "Besides, I didn't think you would try to seduce Harry anytime soon."
"You don't want me anymore, do you?" Harry asked with a bowed head, kneading his hands in distress.
"Of course I still want you," Sirius argued fiercely. "You're my mate and I love you and I'll do anything for you. I'm just shocked what could've happened if I hadn't found out about this now. I don't want to force you to bond with me and I want you to be sure that you want me, too... I'll slow down and you'll try to stay awake, okay?"
"Okay." Harry smiled up at him, snuggling into his strong chest. "You just made me feel so safe and relaxed."
"If you put it like this." Sirius smirked triumphantly. "May I kiss you?"
Harry nodded happily, tilting his head upward to look into his eyes. Sirius carefully cupped the smaller boy's face with his larger hands before he chastely brushed his lips over the other boy's, his tongue sneaking out to caress Harry's bottom lip. He nibbled slightly on it until Harry opened his mouth with a small sigh, allowing him entrance. Harry's eyes fluttered closed as soon as Sirius's tongue invaded his mouth and his own hands reached up to fist in Sirius's robes. Oh, yes, he loved Sirius' kisses.
"Oh, how cute," James teased them as they finally drew apart and Harry rested his head on Sirius' chest, blushing lightly.
"Oh, shut up," Sirius grumbled, "at least..."
"At least what, Padfoot?" James challenged.
"That would be a blow below the belt," Sirius murmured before he focused his attention once more on Harry, who was looking very carefully at his hands, turning them around time and time again. "What are you doing, Harry?"
"You don't have padfoots," Harry murmured absently before looking up at him inquiringly. "Why do they call you 'Padfoot'? And why do you call James 'Prongsie' and Peter 'Wormtail'?" He blushed brightly. "Actually, I don't think I want to know the last one..."
Sirius laughed before exchanging a look with the other three Marauders. James nodded as did Remus, and Peter finally shrugged his shoulders.
"Shall we show you, Harry?" He smiled, standing up and putting Harry back on the bed before he stood in a row between James and Peter.
He exchanged a look with James, a mischievous smile spreading over their handsome features.
Harry stared wide-eyed as the two black-haired boy's bodies changed. James' legs lengthened, soft brown fur covering the slender legs as he changed into a beautiful stag. Magnificent antlers crowned his head and Harry recognised his Patronus.
Harry turned his eyes towards Sirius before the tears could fall from his eyes, startling slightly as instead of the tall young man stood a shaggy, huge black dog. His mouth was hanging open in a doggy grin, his stormy grey eyes smiling at Harry.
Finally he turned his eyes on Peter, finding a much smaller animal in his place. A slightly fat rat was sitting up on his hind legs, sniffing the air.
Harry slipped from the bed, kneeling in front of them and held out his hand for Sirius. He laughed as a wet tongue licked over his whole face before Sirius pushed his head in his hand. He gently patted the dog's head, rubbing behind his ear, which drew a yipping sound from Sirius' throat. Sirius half dropped on Harry, rolling to his back so that Harry would stroke his belly.
James stalked closer, keening softly as Harry gently caressed his sensitive nose, rubbing between his eyes. Harry giggled softly as the soft muzzle tickled his nose. Something crawled up his leg, coming a bit too close to his groin for his liking, but as he looked down it was only Peter. With another smile he started to pat him, too.
"Wow," he breathed out in awe. "Thanks for showing me."
James turned back into his human form as did Peter, quickly scrabbling away from Harry as the smaller boy groaned in pain at the weight on him.
"You truly have magical hands," Sirius murmured, putting his once again human head in Harry's lap and blinking up at him. "If that is how the Mixens felt it's no wonder they were so amicable after a little attention from you." Harry blushed at the compliment, running his hands through Sirius' velvety hair. "Do you understand the nicknames now?"
"Yes." Harry nodded, smiling a bit tearfully. "You did this for Remus, didn't you?"
Sirius nodded. "We became Animagi in our fifth year so that we could be there for him at the full moon."
"He's very lucky to have you," Harry muttered and Sirius reached up, caressing his cheek. "We are there for you now, too. No need to look so sad."
"Sirius, I don't want to be afraid of him anymore. Help me?" Harry begged and the Animagus nodded enthusiastically, getting Harry to stand up, and gently pushed him towards the werewolf.
"I will protect you."
Remus watched them warily as Harry stared back even more warily before he fluidly stood up, holding out his hand to Harry with an encouraging smile on his face.
"Want to give me a chance now that you have your personal body-guard?" Harry hesitated uncertainly and Sirius squeezed his shoulders in encouragement.
The small elf took a deep breath before he cautiously touched his hand to Remus', whimpering quietly as the werewolf closed his hand around his, but didn't draw back.
"See, nothing happened." Sirius took the shaking little sub into his arms, rocking him soothingly; he threw a grateful look at Remus, who inclined his head. "What can I give you as a reward, hm?"
Harry was obvious to the seductive lilt in Sirius' voice. "Can you make me feel safe again?"
"Of course," Sirius purred, pushing Harry down on his bed, this time paying special attention to Harry's other side, spoiling him with soft kisses.
It wasn't long before Harry was fast asleep again and Sirius sighed, pulling back. He had never thought that his charms could fail so drastically and he sincerely hoped that Harry wouldn't always fall asleep when he did this to him.
"He's probably only tired," Remus offered, looking up at him. "He doesn't sleep much."
"Why not? And how do you know?" Sirius sighed, throwing himself down on the werewolf's bed that already occupied Peter and James and a very irritated Remus.
"Because of me, Sirius," Remus explained to him. "I know this isn't really real to you, but Harry is truly afraid of me. I can hardly understand how he even brought up this much strength in order to tolerate my presence, much less touch me. He always waits until I'm sleeping and he's awake before any of us. I doubt that he sleeps very peacefully if at all."
"He doesn't," Sirius murmured more to himself than the other Marauders. "He gets up at least twice a night. I just thought he had a weak bladder, and that he likes to brush his teeth, or something."
"I think it has more to do with my presence," Remus replied.
"Why didn't he tell us?" James asked in shock and Sirius nodded emphatically. "We could have worked something out."
"Because he didn't want you to have to choose between him and me, I would assume," Remus murmured. "You two seem to ignore the downside of being a creature. Harry mostly fails to see the upside of it."
"How can you know so much about him?" Sirius questioned, jealousy rising in his chest. "You've hardly spent any time with Harry. Have you?!"
"No, I haven't spent much time with him, don't worry." Remus rolled his eyes. "But he wrote me a letter which allowed me some insights and we talked a few times. And I for one read some books to understand him better. Maybe that would help you, too."
"Come on, Moony, just tell us what to do like always," James returned. "What secrets have those oh-so-clever books revealed about our favourite sub?"
"My sub!" Sirius corrected, glaring at James, who only shrugged his shoulder unrepentantly.
Remus sighed but then rummaged through his bedside drawer and extracted a notepad. "Okay, elves are creatures of the forest-"
"Could we skip to the part that doesn't bore us to death?" James interrupted him. "Unless you want to practise your rhetorical abilities then I would choose to wait outside until you come to the point."
Remus glared at him but leafed over the next few pages. "Harry shouldn't get any signals concerning his mate, so you might say that he doesn't have one, an exception to other creatures. He won't feel safe until he is bonded to a dominant creature who at least cares greatly about him. Basically he has no control of that or the rest of his life. He has to obey every dominant, whether human or creature. Harry would even have to obey me, though he's almost deathly afraid of me or any other dark creature.
"That's another point: His fear. On the one hand he's afraid if a dominant is angry or even slightly displeased, but he's even more afraid when there's no dominant around. He needs your positive attention almost constantly. His wings come out whenever he feels the need to protect himself or a dominant, but they retract when he thinks he has done something wrong or angered you. Since his previous dominant mistreated him, his perception of what angers you might be slightly off. Do you want to know about his powers, too?"
Remus looked up at them expectantly. Sirius nodded lightly, chancing a look at the still sleeping elf.
"They should be the same as mine, shouldn't they?" James asked.
"More or less." Remus swayed his head lightly. "But as with your emotions the disparities between dominant and submissive elves can be extreme and since submissive elves are so rare the information on them is vague, to put it mildly. As you have already experienced he is great with animals and other than with dark creatures, he shouldn't be afraid of beasts or monsters, either. He can heal, which he did to you in Defence yesterday." He looked at Sirius. "He is very sensitive to changes in a person's aura and to light and dark magic. Elves are said to be able to influence the weather and to have elemental powers, but there's no proof of that. However, unlike you, James, he can only use those skills if you allow it or if he thinks someone else, especially a dominant, is in danger."
"So what can we do to help him?" Sirius asked. "That is all good and fine and also very interesting, but other than that you made me feel sufficiently bad for not knowing this before and not caring, either, it didn't solve the problem at hand, did it?"
"I don't understand why you make such a fuss about him," Peter spoke up. "He has no opinion or ideas of his own; he's absolutely boring."
Sirius lunged at him, snarling viciously. "Don't talk about my mate like this! You don't know anything!"
Peter whimpered, struggling out from under the furious Marauder and fled from the room.
"Sirius, calm down, okay?" James pulled him back into a sitting position next to him. "Peter is just a bit slow sometimes. We all know that Harry is special, okay, so calm down."
"It's not that," Sirius mumbled, dejected. "Harry said that to me yesterday when I confronted him in the library, that I treated him like he didn't have an opinion of his own.
"But I forgave you." Harry blinked open his eyes. "And you still treat me better than most."
"I thought you were sleeping," Sirius said, dropping to his knees next to Harry. "Did we wake you?"
Harry shook his head lightly, scrunching up his nose. "I kind of felt that you were upset. It's not because of me, right?"
"No, no, Harry." Sirius pulled him in his arms, tucking his head under his chin. "We were just trying to find a way to help you. What can we do for you, Harry?"
"You don't have to do anything for me. I'm fine," Harry murmured with a touch of defiance.
"And why are you so tired, Harry?" Sirius argued. "If you can't sleep, we'll have to find a way to help you."
"I do sleep," Harry answered defensively. "I always sleep an hour or so when I'm with Lucius and I sleep in the night."
Sirius sighed, deciding to change tactics. "What did I do to make you so relaxed that you could sleep with Remus just in the next bed?"
"You leaned over me and... I don't know I just felt protected like that," Harry admitted. "No one can hurt me when I'm in your arms or when you surround me like that."
"You're cute." Sirius chuckled, kissing Harry's forehead. "Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?"
"Can't we sleep in my bed?" Harry asked with a quick look to the werewolf; his bed would be farther away from him.
"No, either my bed or alone," Sirius decided. "I'll keep you safe and this way you can get used to Remus' presence. I think that's a fair compromise."
"I agree." James nodded. "Remus would never hurt you, Harry, we want you to learn that."
"I know that." The green-eyed boy sniffed because he felt that he had displeased the dominants and possibly hurt Remus again. "And I want to trust you, Remus, but I can't and I don't think that will change just because I'm forced to bear your presence."
"Does it get worse?" Sirius asked, worried.
"It just doesn't help me much to trust you more when you force me to do things I don't want to," Harry said quietly. "I want to learn not to be afraid of Remus anymore, but let me do it on my own pace, please."
"Okay, so your bed?" Sirius sighed, but to his surprise Harry slowly shook his head.
"Your bed is fine, I want to try it at least."
"Thank you." The taller boy smiled down at him. "What do you think, should we go down for dinner?"
Harry nodded and slipped his hand into Sirius'.