Okay, I'm REALLY sorry for not updating! I really don't have an excuse. I just had major writer's block. I sat down three times attempting to write this chapter and I just couldn't!

But thank you for the reviews! I'm glad you guys liked it. :)

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Chapter Eight: The Letter

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Harry sighed before taking the few necessary steps forward to be next to the door. He gave the wood a shove and heard the satisfying click of it closing. Turning around, he walked back over to the sofa and sat down. He turned to his right and saw the bed, and quickly asked the room to dispose of it.

He leaned back against the armrest and grunted in frustration. How could he have done that? With Malfoy of all people! 'Sure, he's attractive, but the list of good qualities ends there,' Harry thought to himself. Then he literally smacked himself on the forehead at the thought.

Wishing to know the time, Harry sat up and looked around. To his joy, there was a clock on the wall to his left and it showed 11:54 AM. 'Hmmm, almost lunch. I am quite hungry,' he realized. His stomach was soon heard growling in agreement.

Standing, Harry once again headed towards the door. Though this time he clutched the brass knob and pulled it open. Just as he was about to make his way out the door he suddenly felt as though he were forgetting something.

He turned around in search of the missing object. On the table Harry saw his new diary. He quickly strode over to the table and picked it up, turning it over a few times in his hands. The Gryffindor cast a quick shrinking charm before pocketing the journal and once more proceeded to leave the Room of Requirement and head for the Great Hall.

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"Stupid, ruddy Potter," Draco grumbled. "Just had to go and kiss me."

Draco was angry. First "Potter" had to go and… molest him, and then he had the nerve to tell Draco it was wrong! As if he didn't know that! He would have shoved the other boy off, of course, but Harry was using some sort of Atrerres control over him.

He would have resisted in a heart beat. But the Atrerres had Draco pinned beneath him. What was he to do? Harry had invaded his mouth roughly, leaving Draco to fight back with his own tongue. Then Harry had paused in his rampage, telling Draco it was wrong. Obviously it was!

Reaching the doors to the Great Hall, Draco realized his feet must have carried him to the hall out of habit. His stomach growled and he figured it was lunch time.

"Tempus," Draco grunted. The time showed 11:51 AM. "No sense in starving myself," Draco reasoned. Besides, he had to talk to Blaise and Pansy. They would understand where he was coming from.

So with that thought he forced open both doors of the Great Hall with his hands, stepping inside dramatically. Everyone looked at him as he stalked over to the Slytherin table where his friends were sitting. His robes flared out dramatically, looking eerily like Severus'.

Draco dusted off the chair at the head of the table before sitting gracefully. He looked over at Pansy and Blaise, nodding to them, signaling they needed to talk. The nodded back in understanding. Knowing his friends would meet with him, he turned to the food at the table and began to prepare his meal, unconsciously registering the fact that a certain green-eyed assailant was missing from the room.

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As Harry walked down the hall he thought about what had happened. He, Harry Potter, the Boy Who Lived, had had a rather fierce snogging session with Draco Malfoy, the Ice Prince of Slytherin. And he had liked it. Very much, actually.

Truth be told, he had felt it when hurt shot through Draco at Harry's words. He was puzzled though. Why would Draco be upset with what he said? What they did was wrong, surely the blonde thought so too?

Harry ran a hand through his hair in frustration. In all honesty it had not felt wrong. His body and half of his mind were in heaven. Kissing Draco was the best thing he had ever experienced.

If only Harry weren't stuck with such a git! If only he his mate had been Seamus, or Dean. No, Harry was not straight. He was bisexual, in fact. He had known since the middle of third year, when he had been admiring his team mates in the changing room. He knew he wasn't gay, since he had had quite a large crush on Cho.

He would have been fine if he didn't have a mate. Harry hadn't exactly been lucky in the love department prior to this, and he was sure he would've been just fine if he didn't have Draco. Besides, he didn't want Draco to get hurt. And he knew if they got together he could end up seriously injured or dead.

And that confused him. Why didn't he want Draco to suffer, to be hurt? Harry blamed it on the Atrerres part of him. Surely if he weren't Draco's… mate he would pay many galleons to see Draco in pain.

But now he didn't. He probably never really would have. The more he thought about it, the more Harry realized he never did truly hate the boy. The only people he had ever hated were Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange. Sure, the blonde annoyed him and was very arrogant, but he had not murdered his godfather, nor was he a Dark Lord.

Voldemort. The wizard remained his biggest problem, even with the Draco issue. Every day, people were steadily growing more worried, for nothing had been heard from the wizard for many months. Harry's scar gave the occasional prickle, but aside from that, all was quiet.

That made Harry quite nervous. The silence just meant Voldemort was gaining power with each passing day; that he was biding his time to make one large strike at the wizarding world. And the attack would surely be the straw that broke the camel's back, the strike that would lead up to the end of the war that burdened Harry.

With the end of the war, Harry would no longer have to worry about those he held dear being injured or, even worse, killed. He had just recently lost Sirius to the veil in the Department of Mysteries. The Atrerres was just beginning to get over his god father's death with the help of his friends. While he still occasionally blamed himself, he now realized that it was not his fault.

Voldemort was the one that had caused Sirius' death, not him. Well technically Bellatrix Lestrange had, but Voldemort was the ultimate cause of it. Had Voldemort not sent Harry those false images, he never would have felt the need to go into the Department of Mysteries, nor would Sirius have felt the need to come after him.

Remus Lupin was really the only father figure he had left. Granted, he had Dumbledore, but he still couldn't shake the fact that the man was his Headmaster. Remus had been his professor too, but that had been quite briefly. But Harry hadn't heard from him in a few weeks. The aging man had sent Harry a few brief letters over the months, but nothing longer than a paragraph.

Sirius' death had been equally hard on the werewolf. Harry had an inkling that the two had been romantically involved. The Gryffindor had done enough research on the species to know that werewolves mated for life. And if Sirius had been Remus' mate (like Harry suspected), it could take years for Remus to come out of his depression. He might not even come out of it at all.

And because of that, Harry feared for Remus. He loved the man as a father, and only wanted him to be happy. But Harry feared he would only be happy once he was reunited the Sirius. But in order for that to happen Remus would have to die, or a miracle would have to happen. The first was much more likely to happen, although Harry didn't want it to.

Harry was pulled from his thoughts as he reached the doors leading to the Great Hall. Lunch had started a few minutes ago. As Harry reached out, he was vaguely aware that his friends would ask what had happened, where he was. Hermione knew, but she would surely be curious.

As he pushed the door open with his left hand, he fidgeted with his right, stroking his index finger over his pinkie. The door swung open with a creak, and he stepped in warily. All eyes turned to him briefly before everyone turned back to what they were doing. The only pair of eyes he truly noticed were a bluish grey, and belonged to a certain blonde haired boy. There eyes connected, and the world faded away.

Harry began walking towards his mate, but was brought out of his trance by his friends yelling his name. He stopped and looked towards his friends before glancing back at Draco. Harry turned on his heel and headed off to the Gryffindor table.

The Atrerres worked his way over to his friends that were waving frantically to him. Seating himself across from them and in between to Ginny and Neville, who nodded to him before resuming their conversations with the people on either side of them.

Ron looked at Harry expectantly. "Well?" he asked, sounding a bit annoyed. Harry looked up at the red head through the black mop he called his hair.

"I was with Malfoy," Harry said dully, as if that explained everything. Ron nodded in understanding, and glanced at the Slytherin table, spotting the blonde in question.

"Yeah, 'Mione told me you two were talking in the Room of Requirement," Ron said. "Did everything go alright? He didn't try anything did he?" Ron suddenly looked about to kill, as if he would kill Malfoy if Harry confirmed that the blonde had attacked him.

Harry realized Hermione hadn't told Ron of his breakdown. For that he was eternally grateful. As much as he loved Ron, the boy did not need to know about his little episode.

Harry suddenly felt a huge rush of gratitude towards the smaller girl. She had kept his breakdown to herself, which he greatly appreciated. Hermione was looking at him with an expression that seemed to ask for acceptance. Harry flashed her a slight smile, which she returned with a much brighter one.

"No Ron, he didn't try anything. We just talked, that's it," Harry lied easily. He was certainly not going to tell Ron what had really happened.

Ron eyed him suspiciously. "Alright mate, if you say so. But if he tries anything, just tell me," Ron told him. Harry nodded, though he wasn't going to be saying anything to Ron involving Draco.

Harry began to fill his plate with the contents of the table, grabbing a chicken leg to add to the dish. He started to dig into his lunch when an owl screech was heard. The Gryffindor looked up and saw an average barn owl heading in his direction. Once again all eyes were on him, but Harry took no notice.

"Strange, post usually only comes at breakfast. Are you expecting anything?" Hermione asked, obviously curious.

Harry shook his head. "No I don't think so," he told her. He was also wondering why the owl was there.

The barn owl landed in front of him gracefully. It stuck out its thin leg, a slip of parchment tied around it. Harry untied the thread holding the letter to the bird. Once the note had slipped off of the owl's leg, it flew off, not waiting to be fed.

Harry snatched up the letter off of the table. It was not addressed to anyone, so he assumed the sender had told the owl who to give it to.

Harry fumbled to unfold the letter when Hermione spoke up.

"Be careful Harry, you never know who could have sent it," she warned. Harry nodded, and continued to open the note, albeit a bit more carefully.

Once the letter had been completely unfolded, Harry stared down at its contents for a few moments before dropping it back onto the table. He stared straight ahead, not acknowledging his friends, who were sending him concerned looks.

"Harry? Harry? What is it, mate?" Ron asked, quite worried. His friend was not reacting at all. He continued to stare off, as if in a trance.

Not worried at all about what people would think, Hermione stood up and stepped up on top of the Gryffindor table. She walked across it before jumping down and sitting next to her friend. She was not going to take the time to walk all the way around the table when something was clearly wrong with her friend.

All eyes turned from Harry to her, and looked at her like she was crazy. Hermione ignored the looks and put an arm on Harry's back.

"Harry?" she spoke quietly, as if anything louder might hurt him. As she gazed up at Harry she noticed tears rolling silently down his cheeks. He still refused to come out of his trance.

Hermione snatched up the letter to scan the contents herself. What she read made her gasp, but not drop the letter as Harry had.

It had two short sentences on it.

We have the wolf. He will be with the mutt soon.

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OKAY! I AM SO SO SO SORRY! I know it took me forever to update. I don't really have an excuse.

But now school has started, so it might take me awhile to update.

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