Title: Carry On My Wayward Son
Author: ArtemisEmerald Rating: Hmm, I'll stick with 'M', since it's likely to go up in the future.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, due to the fact that I'm not Rowling. I don't think the saying, 'I think therefore I am,' applies here.
Pairings: H/D, SS/RL, BZ/NL, amongst other smatterings of pairings as I see fit.
A/N: Lengthy time between updates. I seem to be on a kick lately though. This is the third story I've updated in two days! Talk about a mind bender. Now if only I could get over the problem I'm having with the Senses Abound sequel. Right. Anyway, there's another A/n at the bottom for those of you who were wondering about the Ignotus Charm that I used. Hope you all enjoy! Ciao.
Mum and I had adjourned to the library on the second floor shortly after my, ahem, outburst. Draco had pretty much fainted dead away once what mum was saying made sense to him. We left Remus and Severus in charge of the blond and left, both of us having a deep-rooted feeling that he would not want to be around either of us when he woke up.
I was idly flipping through a book on the Sidhe that mum had pulled off the shelves for me. I wasn't sure how it came to be in the manor, but I suppose I should just be grateful that it was. Of course, the book was fairly small, and there wasn't much information to it as it was a wizard edition, but every little bit helps.
"Mum?"
"Hmm?" She looked up from the paper she was reading, the curious expression on her face showing she was listening.
"How come you got to come back but not dad?"
Mum laughed. I smiled, thinking that sound was much better then her screams I still heard periodically in my nightmares, "Well for one, your dad can't barter for anything and two, well, even though he wanted to see you and talk to you so much, he really had no reason to come back." She stood up and crossed the library, sitting down on the couch next to me. She pulled me into her arms and I snuggled up to her instantly. I was grateful at that moment that she was more like a poltergeist then a ghost. I wasn't sure how it was possible that she was so solid and I didn't want to know.
"You see, Harry, there is very little information out there on half-breed Sidhe or any sort of Sidhe for that matter. Remus helped me out a lot after I changed before my birth mother came and took me to teach me their ways for a summer. Because your grandmother visited right after you were born, your father and I knew when you were going to go and stay with her to learn all the things I did. When we died, I had a very long chat, one that lasted for months, with someone about the possibility to come back to be with you during this time. I was granted three months exactly."
I picked at a loose thread in her jeans, "Whom did you talk to?"
Mum chuckled, "Can't tell you that, love. Some things you are going to have to wait a very long time to find out."
I snorted at that, "Won't be too long if Voldemort snuffs me out before I get the chance to do it to him."
"That's an awfully pessimistic point of view, Harry." Mum said, pulling away a bit to look at me, "I think with a bit of training you'll do just fine. Of course, power boosts from your mate will help, if he ever comes round that is."
I smiled at that, "What's grandmother like?" I asked, changing the subject. I didn't want to talk to mum about Draco right now.
"Very beautiful, very young looking. As Remus told you, I take after my father, which is part of the reason I'm a changeling."
I looked up at her, confused, "What's the other reason?"
"I was only a witch until I turned sixteen. Some things in the Sidhe's land need special skills to do, like reach the homes or to get to places. My grandfather was the first to bath me, which washes away the loose skin on the back that protects the wings during birth. My skin didn't come loose. He did love me, as he mentioned many times when I returned, it was just that I wouldn't have survived there should I have been left alone for any amount of time."
I frowned, "That's confusing."
"Why?"
"Well, Remus said that a changeling is a deformed or ill creature baby that's exchanged with a healthy human child. If they got rid of you for safety reasons, wouldn't it have been pointless to take a muggle child?"
Mum grinned down at me, "You would think so yes, but grandfather was careful. He watched carefully and noticed that the baby who's place I took had passed on." Seeing the stricken look on my face she quickly continued, "Oh, honey, the baby died of S.I.D.S. He just switched me out with the baby's body and buried the muggle infant in the Sidhe's cemetery."
"What's S.I.D.S?"
"Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. It's when a perfectly healthy baby passes away while sleeping."
"Oh." I replied. That news was a bit sobering. It was nice to know that the baby that mum 'took over for' went without household abuse or anything else terribly frightening, but I was still sad for that child.
Mum nudged my shoulder, "I think we should move on to more cheerful topics, then to think of a death that took place over thirty-five years ago."
"Like what?"
"Oh, I dunno. I've no real need to ask you any questions as I've watched you grow up and heard every thought you've ever had."
I pulled away and stared up at her, shocked, "You can hear inside my head?!"
She giggled, "Of course not! You just had this tendency to think out loud when you were growing up. It's not as often now but I still get the gist of everything." Suddenly her face turned red and her smile flipped upside down. It was not a very pretty sight and it almost made me grateful that I didn't grow up with her around. Almost.
"What?" I asked, feeling a bit timid about what was going on.
"I am going to go over to my so called sisters house and give her a piece of my mind! How dare she treat you like that!" Stood up and marched out of the library, leaving me too stunned to do anything.
It's not as if I'd call her back. I'm sure aunt Petunia deserved what she was going to get, that is, if she could even see mum.
"What was that all about?"
I looked up and towards the doorway. Draco was now awake and walking through the door, staring after my mum with an almost awed look on her face, "I think she's gone to frighten her sister, but I could be wrong."
Draco turned his attention to me. I gulped and my face heated up as his eyes roved over my still barely clothed body, "Isn't that uncomfortable?"
"What?" I asked, looking down at myself. To tell the truth, I was probably the most comfortable that I have been in a long while. I changed in to lounge pants before coming up here with mum. It was a bit embarrassing to walk around in briefs of all things around my mother. The other three I could have handled but mum, well, it was just weird.
"Your wings? I mean, you're half lying on the couch." Draco clarified, seating himself on the arm of the couch at the other end.
I shrugged, "Actually, it's not that bad. My wings are hanging over the arm. 'Course that's not saying if I slid down any further it'll hurt like hell."
Draco nodded and plucked at his shirt, "Look, Harry, about this whole mate thing…"
"I understand if you don't want to be." I was more disappointed in that then I thought I was going to be. It did cross my mind earlier after his reaction that he wouldn't want this. Mum had said that I wasn't going to die without a mate if Draco did turn me down, I just wouldn't be able to copulate…er, have sex with anyone else. Of course, that part was bugging me a bit. Being sixteen, the thought that I'll probably die a virgin is a bit upsetting. Okay, more then a bit. Okay, maybe extremely upsetting, but what the hell can I do about it, ya know?
"It's…well, it's not that, exactly." He muttered, not even looking at me. He was staring at his nails as if they held all the answers to the universe, "See, we're only sixteen, and well it's a right bit scary thinking that I'm going to have to tie myself to one person at this age and that the relationship is supposed to last forever. I don't know if I can do that kind of commitment yet."
Of course Draco would be commitment-phobic. Don't know why I didn't see that one coming, "It's alright! It's not like I'm going to kick the bucket in a matter of hours if we don't have sex. You can party and do whatever you'd like for however long you want. Just…don't tell me about any of it, okay?"
His head shot up and his eyes narrowed as he looked at me, finally, "What are you playing at? You're supposed to console me and tell me everything is going to work out in the end. We're supposed to have a big blow up about it where one of storms out and the other follows trying to fix things. You're doing it wrong."
I rubbed my temples, trying to ward of the headache coming on from all of this, "Draco, are you listening to yourself? This is the real world, not some romance novel. We aren't dating, or having sex, or…whatever. I am not going to console you for something that's not even happening yet, if it even will! I was just saying that you go out and do what you have to and if you finally decide that you want to be with me, then don't tell me anything!" and there's the blow up and the way I'm starting to feel, I'll be the one to storm out of the room.
Draco sighed and slid down the arm rest, practically landing on my feet, "Doesn't this bother you at all? How can you you want to stand the rest of your life with someone you can barely tolerate? Better yet, are you even gay?"
I shrugged, "Of course I'm gay. I've known I was gay for years." I bit my lip and looked away, wondering if I was doing the smartest thing by telling him this, "And as for the barely tolerating bit, well, I've actually had a bit of a crush on you for most of the year."
"What?" The one word he spoke came out so low toned and hissy that I turned quickly to see his face.
He was pissed! For all our fighting since our first day on day on the train, I swear I had never seen that look on his face aimed towards me. Ron, yes. Hermione and Ginny, yes. But me? Crap, how was I going to explain this?
"Draco..."
"No! Damn it, Potter!" He jumped off the couch and began pacing, "Do you have any idea...Of course you wouldn't...all the fighting...worse then ever! Now, now you go and say you had a crush on me? I don't think so!" With that final yell he spun on his heal and left the library.
I sighed and slid further down on the couch then hissed when my still sensitive wings came in contact with the arm rest. Well, he got his storming off bit like he wanted. Rather wish he would have let me explain first though.
Not sure what to do with Draco at the moment. I know that I don't want to deal with any more yelling and until he calms down that's all that's going to happen. Shaking my head I opened the book on Sidhe that mum had found, wondering if there was anything in it about hiding my wings long enough to wear a shirt without holes in the back.
When mum returned nearly an hour later, the look on her face would have made even the most shrewed Slytherin proud. She was smirking and looking quite self-satisfied. I was nearly afraid to ask what had happened, but my curiosity definitely got the better of me, "What did you do?" The wariness behind the question must have came through, because the look on mum's face softened somewhat.
"Oh, nothing to bad. She couldn't see me of course, but her kitchen will never be the same." Mum replied, sitting down next to me. I plopped my feet on her lap and sighed as she began to rub my calves. She looked at me for a moment, "What's wrong?"
I shrugged, "Draco and I talked." Or yelled, but mum didn't need to know that. She could be quite vindictive it seemed.
"Oh? By the look on your face, I'll wager things didn't go all that well."
I replayed most of the conversation, not surprised when a storm cloud passed over her face, "That little...I should go tear him apart. He can see me."
"Mum, no. I'm not quite sure why the thought of me crushing on him upset him so much, but please don't make it worse."
She turned to me, surprise etched across her face, "Harry, I won't do anything, I swear! I'm just letting off some steam."
"Oh, I've just remembered something. I was looking through the book and I couldn't find a way to hide my wings...it is possible to do so, right?" I asked, waving the book for emphasis. I refused to go to school with my wings hanging out and about. They weren't ugly, light green and silver swirled, but people talked about me enough. This would just give them so much more fodder to work with.
Mum nodded, "There is. Not many people who study Sidhe know of it though, which is why its not in the book. It's only used for half-breeds and is rather obscure due to that, as I mentioned earlier, there aren't many half-breed Sidhe." She sighed and leaned back, "It's hard to teach and learn at first. Similar to animagus training and potions are involved, so I suppose it's a good thing you're on Severus' good side."
I snorted at that. Severus was going to pry and dig, trying to figure out where I got such information and want to see notes and proof. It was not going to be easy to get him to agree to make me these potions, "How long?"
Mum seemed to know what I was talking about, "Well, the potions are last, the rest will take about two or three weeks. We'll have your wings hid by the time school starts up again in September."
I sighed, "Thank Merlin."
TBC...
A/N 2: Hmm. I know I never fully explained the Ignotus charm, for the simple fact that I forgot. However, while looking for a good fic to read while waiting for my sister, I found 'Make A Wish' by Rorschach's Blot. She/he, too, has the Ignotus charm in that story, as well as the fact that it was written and probably posted before this.
My Ignotus charm is actually quite different then hers/his. Mine is sort of a notice-me-not sort of spell while hers/his is about the charms on a wand and underage magic. I don't know if any of you had happened upon that story as well of mine and caught that or not, but I figured I'd put an explanation up. If I did someone else was bound to also. I did, though, get a good laugh out of it. I love it when another author and I have the same idea without previously noticing it. Some would hate it, because it claims non-originality, but to me it proves that I'm not the only one who thinks on certain wave-lengths. It's re-assuring. This just got long, so I'll leave off now. Please Review! Thanks!