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I'm immensely surprised that you guys haven't given up on this story yet... :) I'm trying my best to recall the plot while finding time to actually type out something for this...

Chapter Twenty-Six: Overdue Preparations

Harry downed the goblet of steaming potion in a gulp and made a face, "Do I really have to drink this stuff, Severus? I feel fine!"

"If what Albus said was true, your core might still suffer some instability with the amount of magic you possess now. I would rather take no chances at it, Harry," Severus frowned sternly at him, feeding him a piece of honeyed apple to clear the taste nonetheless.

Harry met with the Headmaster a few more times after the talk they had about his family, and Dumbledore held true to his promise this time – he told Harry many of the things that he had known but chosen to omit before, and many more of his family history, his dealings with Grindelwald, and his memories of Harry's parents.

He had told Harry that the failure to remove the magical binding was a fault on his behalf. Harry was one of the few babies who displayed extraordinary magical reserves at birth – now that Harry thought about it, it was an Elven feature, really, everyone in the Elven Realm was born with astounding magical powers, although most of them dwindled down with age – and his parents were worried that he might hurt himself with all the excess magic that manifested as accidental magic. He was already bruising himself with all the objects he levitated unknowingly and dropped onto himself by three months of birth.

Lily searched through many books on Charms and Arcane Magic before she came upon this spell to place a dampener on a person's magic. She consulted Professor Dumbledore, and although he warned her of possible repercussions of binding one's magic, Harry's parents decided that it was better if he turned out a squib than dead, especially after he managed to somehow apparate himself out of the windows on the second floor one afternoon – saved only by his father's quick reflexes.

They would have released the binding when Harry was older and had more control over his magic if not for Voldemort's attack. Dumbledore had forgotten about this after the whole mess brought on by Voldemort's attack on the Wizarding World.

And when Harry told the Headmaster that the binding snapped when he turned sixteen – the natural magical boost at sixteen years of age was a convenient excuse, and Harry wasn't going to reveal his Elven heritage – the old wizard had frowned worriedly. He told him that the binding was supposed to be released in several stages, allowing his core to grow accustomed with greater amounts of magic, to be released in a sudden burst might overwhelm its capacity and gradually cause problems for his magical abilities.

Harry wasn't that concerned, he knew his creature heritage would probably allow his core to accommodate all that magic, since it was an Elven thing after all. But well, who was he to argue with concerned suitors?

He was fine with going along their demands and appeasing their instincts, but really, this stuff he had to drink for a week was more disgusting than the one he had to take to remove all remnants of the magical bindings. Severus would usually try to make his potions taste better just for the sake of getting Harry to drink it down, but this time adding other ingredients to change the taste would have impeded the effectiveness of the potion.

Lucius laughed at the face he made even though the revolting taste no longer lingered in his mouth after some honeyed apple –one had to show some displease lest they assume he was fine with these disgusting potions, right?– gently cupping his jaw and tilting his head upwards, Lucius pressed his lips firmly against Harry's, tongue flicking out to tease his.

Releasing Harry only after his Chosen seemed too overwhelmed to be upset, Lucius smirked, "Feeling better now, love?"

Harry could only glare weakly at him and turn his back towards Lucius, opting to snuggle into Draco's embrace, and enjoy being fed candied fruits by the younger Veela. Draco stroked his forehead gently as Harry chewed thoughtfully, picking up another piece of fruit once he had finished the one in his mouth.

Accepting the fruit happily, Harry asked him, "I think I might need to talk to the unicorns for something tonight, care to accompany me to the Forbidden Forest, cydyma'ia?"

"Of course, why would I turn down a chance to go to somewhere dark for a date with you?" He winked flirtatiously at his Chosen, "Alone, even."

Harry gave him an incredulous look, "Nothing is going to happen there except for me talking to a few unicorns, Draco. Absolutely nothing."

Draco simply shrugged, his lips curled in a pleased smile, "You never know what might happen in the forest, kitten."

Harry turned to stare at Lucius and Severus, "Is he serious? A date in the Forbidden Forest?"

He expected Lucius might agree with Draco, but to his surprise, Severus was the one who looked intrigued, "It might not be as unreasonable as you imagine, Harry, the Forest is indeed a private space with an immensely unique atmosphere…"

Seeing his completely shocked face, Lucius rubbed his fingers along Harry's cheek, "Do not forget that Severus is a Shadow Daemon, love, darkness and secrecy have a certain allure for them… Though I am not adverse to the idea either." Just thinking about the possibilities of the naughty things they could engage Harry in the rather natural environment was monumentally satisfying –a pity their little Chosen wouldn't allow them to do that– speaking of which, maybe he should tell Harry that he should expect Nest Displays soon, as part of their Chase?

No, perhaps they should keep it as a surprise.

"What are you asking them for?" Lucius wondered aloud, the unicorns have not been heavily involved in the Sanctuary's operations thus far; their nature making them more inclined towards healing and recovery, instead of defence or offence magic.

Harry summoned a piece of parchment from his book satchel absentmindedly, "You remember the curse I mentioned on Professor Dumbledore's hand? I think I might have come across a recipe that could help reverse the withering, but I need some unicorn blood –fresh– and unicorn hair. I meant to show it to you, Severus, I wanted to ask you what the likelihood of success for this potion is…"

Severus took the potions recipe from his hands and sat down beside Draco, his right hand interlacing with Harry's left as he scrutinised the writing. Lucius frowned from the opposite seat while Draco scowled, "It's his fault he got himself cursed…" The underlying why-should-you-even-bother-with-the-old-coot and I-don't-like-him-at-all in their gaze was obvious.

"I know you don't like him very much, Draco, Lucius, but to me… Professor Dumbledore is not just a Headmaster. He is my mentor, he was my parents' mentor, no matter the outcome he meant to protect me. He is a good man, misguided maybe, but a good man."

"But Harry, love…" Lucius started.

"No, Lucius," Harry interrupted softly, "I'm not saying that I forgive him for what he has done to me, I'm not saying that he has done all the right things either. But isn't it unfair that we condemn him for wrong decisions when we have plenty of our own faults? It's not as if he wanted it to turn out that way either…"

Harry had contemplated telling his suitors about Dumbledore's family –although he suspected that Severus should at least know something about it– but in the end he decided that it was not in his place to tell the Headmaster's secret. "Professor Dumbledore tried to make things better –it didn't always turn out the way he intended it to– but he is only human. He is more powerful than a lot of us and has more pull than most of us, granted, but he makes mistakes as well. The more concerned he was, the more his decisions could be jaded; He didn't make all those decisions concerning me just because he despises me, but perhaps due to the fact that he loved my parents, and cared about me… I feel for him, we are not that much different, after all."

"What do you mean?" Lucius raised a brow, concern and worry creeping into those grey eyes.

"When this whole thing about Voldemort is over, when a Chosen One is no longer needed, will all the mistakes I've made be magnified? Will I be demonised for the lives I took, or those who suffered and died because of me?" At one point in time he realised, that all his anger and frustration towards the Headmaster mostly erupted after he no longer needed to rely solely on the Headmaster's protection because he had the Sanctuary behind him.

Their eyes widened at that. They didn't think of it before, but now that Harry has mentioned, that was the most likely course when the battle against Voldemort is over – when the wizarding community realise that the Saviour was only a legitimised figure during the war. Draco crooned softly at him, rubbing his cheek against Harry's in a soothing manner; Lucius looked thoughtful. "We should strengthen the Sanctuary's influence even more so, make it a retreat for the people, a symbol of safety and justice, even more so than the Wizengamot… maybe something akin to Hogwarts?" Hogwarts was an independent institution that the Ministry had little power over, yet garnering support from most of the magical population.

Severus nodded, "Support from the people is most crucial." Plans of engaging renown Potions Masters started circling in his mind, as well as other duellists he were in contact in, whom he knew were masters of battle and unhappy with the state of the wizarding community.

"It's not really going to be that bad, I guess," Harry tried to salvage the situation, he didn't mean to get them worked up into this serious state of mind. "We can always leave, right?"

Lucius looked at Harry sadly, "Maybe, love, but can you bear the thought of leaving your friends, your allies – the Sanctuary here while you escape to some unknown land?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders and had a mischievous gleam in his eyes, "I'll steal the entire Sanctuary away to a remote island – imagine how they would function without the goblins?"

Severus just shook his head in amusement, he had no qualms on Harry's ability to persuade all the Sanctuary members to simply pick up and leave after the war –except for those who were purely humans and had unmovable family ties here– it was just a matter of how chaotic it would be after they left. Lucius chuckled and placed a kiss on Harry's forehead, "We'll see, love, we'll see."

Draco looked contemplative, he would really like to see how the British wizarding community would function without some of the key members in the Sanctuary, but he didn't want to face a future where Harry would be hunted for his perceived crimes.

"Anyway, back to where we were… Severus, what do you think of the recipe? Will it work?" Harry turned to look at his Daemon suitor.

Severus narrowed his eyes as he considered the possibilities, finally saying, "It is more promising than any of the other potions recipe I could procure, but I will not be too hasty to jump to any conclusions as of yet."

"That's good enough for me," Harry nodded. Deciding that he'd been in Draco's embrace for a little long, he scooted off the young Veela's lap and crawled onto Severus' thighs instead, looking at the recipe held in those long pale fingers.

"Harry," Draco whined, "You can't just run off after you finished all the candied fruits!"

"We are going to meet the unicorns together, aren't we? I need my snuggling time with Severus and Lucius before that," Harry stared at him innocently, as if the lack of treats wasn't one of the reasons he left Draco's embrace.

Draco rolled his eyes at that, Harry had just told them moments before that he refused to do anything resembling a date (or rather, a grope) in the Forbidden Forest, how could that compare to cuddling? He tugged Harry's hand out of Severus' and placed it in his own, placating the sudden loss of contact.

Lucius just shook his head, deciding to just quietly wait for his Chosen to deem it time for his cuddle.

Harry was happily lounging in front of the common room fireplace when Neville, Ron and Hermione approached him, sitting down in the same duvet he was on, effectively squeezing him in between the three of them. Being forced to sit up straight from his cat-like position earlier, Harry stared at them incredulously.

"Hey, there's a perfectly working sofa right there, why must you take up all of my space here?"

Hermione gave him a look that successfully quelled his indignity of nearly being squished off the duvet. "Come on, Harry, we're friends, right? And friends share everything, don't they?"

"What are you going on about, Hermione?" Harry gave her a suspicious look, carefully trying to ease off his seat without them noticing but failed when Neville laid a firm grip onto his arm. "Going somewhere, Harry? Trying to escape, maybe?"

"I wouldn't be if you lot didn't come in looking like starved dragons ready to devour something," Harry scowled.

Ron grinned, "Oh, you got that right, Harry. Hermione on a mission is more fearsome than a nesting dragon… Ouch! Watch it, 'Mione!"

Hermione just glared at him, huffing irritably, "If I'm a dragon, you guys must be nundus… Harry, we haven't had a chance to sit down and talk to you since you left for Christmas at the Malfoys, you know."

"Oh."

Hermione narrowed her eyes dangerously, "Our best friend is swept away before Christmas to the Malfoys not long after suffering a shock in the Headmaster's office and going through a magical ritual, not even bothering to send his best friends a few letters over Yule on how he's feeling, and not stopping to have a chat more than five minutes with us after he came back from his break. I think that I deserve to be a little more aggressive in my interrogation, Harry."

Harry twisted his fingers guiltily, "I sent you guys Yule baskets!"

"The Goblins did, and no note whatsoever in the baskets either," Hermione stated plainly.

"Fine, maybe I did forget to update you guys over Yule but-" Harry turned to glare at Neville, "You were there when we celebrated Yule at the Manor, and we did talk!"

Neville shrugged carelessly, "Well, we did, but half of the time I was listening to you talking to your suitors, and the other half trying to learn how to use my Gifts. And I don't think that it's a good idea to get between Hermione and her goal…" His second sentence was mumbled but Harry still managed to catch it.

Mouthing the word "traitor" and sending a betrayed look at Neville, Harry glanced back at Hermione and gulped. "Okay, my fault for not being considerate to my friends, Hermione. Ask your questions, stop playing the guilt card already."

Hermione's stern look immediately disappeared, only to be replaced by a delighted face that was normally reserved for the times when she found a collection of new and interesting books, "You mean I can ask anything? And you'll answer everything?"

Harry rolled his eyes unabashedly. He saw how this was going now – make him feel immensely guilty and indebted to them so that they can grill him for all sorts of embarrassing questions. "I'll reserve the right not to answer some of it." At least he knew that they wouldn't take it too far when they were still in the company of their housemates, Ginny and Collins were already heading this way, their expression clearly showing interest in the inquisition that Harry was about to go through.

"Good enough," Hermione announced and asked, "So what did you do over Yule?"

"Celebrate Yule," Harry deadpanned, darting a look at Neville when the boy failed to hold back a laugh.

"Very funny, Harry, you won't want to know how the questions will progress if you answer like this," Hermione quirked her brow, and Harry was anxious to refine his answer before she tried to ask any further, "Fine, fine, I had a lot of bonding sessions with my suitors, and the Minister paid me a visit, Neville came over to help out with presents and such. Satisfied?"

"No!" Ginny was the one who exclaimed the loudest. With an excited gleam in her eyes, she pressed on, "How are they like, Harry?"

"Who?" Harry started having a feeling of dread, especially when most Gryffindor members of the DA settled around him – he was really comforted that they didn't treat him any different when the news of him being Courted by three Slytherins came out, but this sort of overeager support and overwhelming curiosity wasn't making things much better either!

"You suitors, of course! Are they sweet? The Malfoys really look like they'd smother you in gifts and everything but Professor Snape? He's not going to glare you into swooning for him, is he? What do you see in him – tall, dark and dangerous?" The series of questions coming from Ginny was more than perfect for a gossip magazine.

"I thought you were above gossips and rumours, guys…" Harry sighed.

"Doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun out of it," Hermione gave him a sweet smile, "Do tell, Harry, everyone is absolutely dying to know."

And then Harry spent the next two hours being grilled of his relationship with his suitors, as well as many intimate details that had him blushing and floundering by the end of it. Staring blankly at the retreating back of his peers, he let out a breath he didn't even realise that he was holding, "I'm quite sure that some of those questions were blatant violations of my privacy…"

At least, the ones about what he usually did with his suitors in their private time, or whether they had gone beyond kissing, were. He'll never undermine the power of gossips anymore – it was ammunition, if one could die of embarrassment, Harry was sure that he would be on the top of that list.

He glared fiercely at a giggling Neville, but as he thought of something else, his scowl turned into a sickeningly sweet smile, "Oh, right, Nev, I kept wanting to ask, how is your Courting by Elder Moonlit now?"

Neville's expression instantly turned sour, "There is nothing to talk about that there."

Hermione glanced curiously between the two of them – she still didn't know about this because Harry had kept quiet about the issue in respect of Neville's privacy, but now everything was fair game. Apparently privacy wasn't such a big issue within Gryffindor after all, Harry thought a little vindictively.

Ron, on the other hand, simply blurted out, "So that was what all those letters and roses and ravens were about?"

Harry smirked, Ron's obliviousness to the situation was a gift at some times. Hermione's expression told him that she was catching on now, and Harry happily added, "I see that it hasn't ended yet, then? Have you accepted him, Nev? Oh do tell, just listening to my story is a little bland, isn't it?"

Hermione, remembering the time when she and Ron faced the inquisition after Harry realised that they had gotten together without telling anyone, too joined in the fun. She looked at Neville accusingly, "You told me those were letters from the Strangers, Neville! I'm so hurt!"

Neville rolled his eyes at the blatant acting of his friends, and casted a muffliato non-verbally with a wave of his hand – he knew he couldn't get away from the questioning anyway, probably serves him right for not standing on Harry's side. Harry eyed Neville's spell-casting interestedly, it appears that he has improved a lot after he got out from his parents' shadows and his grandmother's reprimanding, of course not discounting the boost from receiving his inheritance and being Morrigan's Choice.

"That's because he is part of the Strangers, Hermione. And before you make any assumptions, yes, he is still sending Courting letters, and no, I have not accepted," Neville rushed to answer before they could ask any specific questions.

"Why not?" Harry raised his brow, despite the poor impression they got from the Vampire Coven during the meeting, Elder Moonlit was one of those who kept a cool head amongst the younger vampires, and even slammed one of his peers – already poised to pounce and gut them– into the wall. Of course, what intrigued him the most was the fact that the youngest Elder didn't even flinch when he looked into Neville's eyes, as well as the weird look Neville gave him right after that.

"I'm just not interested," Neville huffed, and crossed his arms defensively.

Harry leaned forward, "And you're not in the least bit curious about what he'll do to woo you when you meet? What he looks like when he confesses undying devotion to you?"

Neville gave him an incredulous look, "Why would I be?"

"Wrong tactic, Harry," Hermione grinned mischievously, "Neville, don't you think it might be great to have a chance to take a few tours around the vampire's magical rose garden? Or even better, what would it be like if you could try breeding those roses yourself? I'm sure this Elder Moonlit has means of getting the seeds or saplings for you… And imagine all the things you could do if he decides to involve you in the maintenance of the garden…"

Neville scowled at them, "I'm not going to keep falling for that sort of things, you know."

"Really?" Harry didn't believe it that much.

"Fine," Neville sighed, "Just a little intrigued, maybe."

Unbeknownst to him, a raven lurking in the shadows took off and blended into the night sky with the information in tow. Harry gave that direction in a minute glance – he thought he saw some kind of movement over there…

A few more minutes into the questioning brought the boy to the verge of a throwing fit, and Hermione wisely decided that it was perhaps time to stop lest Neville grew agitated and applied any of his Gifts on them. Not to mention that they were totally uninterested in making enemies with his patron.

"So, Harry, why are your suitors not monopolising your time tonight?"

Harry shrugged, "Said they found some information on who attacked my falcons earlier, though they refused to divulge anything before they got solid and precise news about it."

Well, he did overhear them speaking the name of Millicent Bulstrode and Gregory Goyle when they thought he was still asleep, but he'll act ignorant if they need him to be, Merlin knows their instincts are already in overdrive because they couldn't keep him locked away somewhere safe and secluded.

"Really?" Neville asked. "That's great, at least we'll know if there's any more danger in school… speaking of danger, Morrigan warned me that the hellhounds are getting a bit too restless. Maybe we should engage them in a bit more action?"

Harry rolled his eyes, "It's not like we can plan a counterattack when there isn't in fact an attack going to happen, Neville. The snakes haven't reported any major raids going on this month."

Ron shrugged, "We can choose to go on offence, Harry, Ragnok provided us the names of some families supporting You Know Who…"

Harry blinked. He totally forgot about that – he was so focused on retaliation and dismantling Voldermort's attacks. He was probably becoming a little too laid back under the protection of his suitors; perhaps he should gear it up a little.

"Good idea, Ron," Harry pulled a leaf of parchment from Hermione's stack, "I'll send Ragnok a note then. Hope that Hedwig won't take offense that I haven't been giving her letters to send…" Hedwig had a mean peck when she wanted to.

"Have you found anything about the horcruxes yet?" Hermione asked.

Harry nodded slightly, "I've sent Kreacher to retrieve one of them, you remember the Slytherin Locket? Turns out that R.A.B. was Regulus Arcturus Black."

Ron was surprised, "Regulus Black? Wasn't that Sirius' brother's name? I thought Sirius said that he joined the Death Eaters?"

Nodding again, Harry confirmed it. "Yes, he did. But I guess he had a change of mind after he found out about Voldemort's little secret of immortality, Kreacher did say that he appeared to be disturbed for quite some time before he replaced the original horcrux with a fake. Mundungus Fletcher smuggled it away from Grimmauld Place together with some of the Black heirlooms…"

"Why am I not surprised about that?" Hermione rolled her eyes, Mundungus' sticky fingers was a well-known fact within the Order. "I hope he hasn't sold it away already…"

"We'll know once Kreacher gets a hold of him."

Until the next update, then!

YUU