He had been whisked away to Grimmauld Place, the one place that Harry had never

wanted to see again. The memories and the pain were so acute that he found he had
no appetite for Mrs Weasley�s cooking, which made her worry and fuss over him even
more, and he found that he couldn�t sleep at night. Though that might have been
because of the fact that he was still sharing a room with Ron, who hadn�t spoken a
word to him all summer and hadn�t even looked at him past a few withering glares
and sneers.

Harry kept mostly to himself as Ron and Hermione whispered together and snogged in
the corners of the rooms to Grimmauld Place.

He heard the adults worry over him, some less than polite comments that he was
deranged and unhinged after Sirius� death, some saying that he had never been right
in the head to begin with, that he was being antisocial, moody and sullen. He
always smiled when Remus and the elder Weasleys defended him viciously and often
violently and one Order member had even fled the house with a saucepan over his
head after pushing Mrs Weasley too far.

He assured everyone who asked that he was fine, and really he was. He didn�t too
much like being in Grimmauld Place again, but he was mostly beating himself up with
his own thoughts on being a Dracken. He worried about everyone he met being
dominant Drackens, he had nightmares about getting pregnant as a male and he
sometimes had little panic fits over becoming a creature, but he was truly fine, he
felt liberated, free. Harry supposed that that had something to do with the wings
attached to his back, he loved flying, the wonderful, freeing sensation of the wind
through his hair, to know that he could up and fly away whenever he wanted to, it
relaxed him, eased the tension in his shoulders, calmed him, but no one believed
him.

Ginny stayed close to him and so did Fred and George, making him laugh and smile
and peek out of his shell a bit, which eased a few of the adults worries over him
as they watched him play a game of tag with Ginny around the kitchen, ducking under
the table, weaving around chairs and knocking people over. Fred and George joined
in and even Charlie forgot he was an adult as he was tagged by Fred, which was more
of a head slap. Though Charlie did only go for Fred, so Harry reasoned that maybe
he wasn�t actually playing with them but attempting to murder his brother instead.
The game was only called to a stop when dinner was ready and Harry ate minimally,
but nonetheless more than he had had so far at Grimmauld Place which made Mrs
Weasley much happier.

August was really uneventful as Harry caught up with the homework that he hadn�t
been able to do at the Dursleys with the help of Remus and Bill. He moped about a
bit, played silly games with Ginny and helped Fred and George with their joke shop
creations whilst avoiding Ron and Hermione like the plague, several times Hermione
had made to come and talk to him, but Ron either recaptured her interest or Harry
darted away before she could open her mouth. He didn�t want to speak to them.

When the morning of September first rolled around Harry was sitting in the kitchen
waiting for everyone to be ready so they could set off for Kings Cross Station and
then on to Hogwarts. He had been packed and ready for days as he hadn�t seen the
point in emptying his trunk just to pack it back up a few weeks later.

�How are you feeling, Harry?� Remus asked him softly as he sat with him in the
kitchen listening to the herd of elephants charging up and down the stairs,
Walburga Black screaming with all her might about Mudbloods and traitors.

�Fine. A bit excited, but nothing like how I was when I was younger.� Harry
answered calmly.

Remus looked at him strangely. �You seem to have simultaneously gotten more
childish and more mature this summer. You played those childish games with Ginny to
keep her from being bored, yet you seem to have become an adult before your time.�

Harry smiled as he looked to Remus, his sole surviving Father figure. Several times
over the month he had wanted to tell Remus about his Dracken inheritance, but every
time he bottled out. What was he supposed to say? What if Remus reacted badly and
told everyone else and he became an outlaw? Where would he go then? What would he
do? He couldn�t take the risk.

�HARRY! REMUS! WE NEED TO GO!� Mrs Weasley shouted from the hall, her voice just a
smidge louder than Walburga Black.

Harry jumped up and hugged Remus tightly, not that it made a blind bit of
difference to the werewolf, who held him back.

�Come on, cub. Are you sure you�re all ready to go?�

Harry nodded his head. �Everything's packed, I have my new books and school
supplies and I made doubly sure that I packed my socks and boxers, let�s go. I
can't wait to get out of here.�

Remus looked at him sadly, knowing what he meant; it was hard for him to be here
too, where he had fond memories of an adult Sirius before he had been taken once
again from his life. He had stayed mainly for Harry, to a lesser extent to say
goodbye to his old friend, because he hadn�t had the chance to before he died.

�Is Hedwig on her way to Hogwarts?� He asked as he saw Harry carting around an
empty owl cage.

�Yes, I let her go yesterday so she�d be there waiting for me.�

�Alright then, let's get going before Molly shouts again.�

Harry grinned as he claimed one more hug before heading into the hallway with a
flustered Mrs Weasley and a troupe of people and trunks.

�How are we getting to the platform?� He asked curiously.

�Ministry cars again.� Mr Weasley told him as he caught Harry�s question over the
din of noise.

Harry sighed but climbed into the car that didn�t have Ron and Hermione in it as he
reached the curb and the dark green cars on the road, even if he did end up in the
�adult� car, at least it meant he had a bit more time with Remus.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------- X

Eleven hours later found a sleepy and very hungry Harry taking a seat at the
Gryffindor table in the Great Hall. He sat down at the end, having no wish to sit
near his friends. Ex-friends, he reminded himself bitterly. He got a few curious
looks from his classmates but ignored them. It was none of their business anyway.

The hall went quiet when Professor McGonagall brought out the sorting hat. The
tattered old hat sung its usual song of the houses, but also gave a cheerfully
cryptic message about the rival houses soon being united. The new first years were
sorted into their houses, the last student, a tiny blond boy, took a seat at the
Ravenclaw table and finally, after the Headmaster had made his usual announcements,
they were free to eat.

Harry had to be very careful not to pile his plate solely with meat as in the past
he had eaten mainly fruits and vegetables due to his almost non-existent diet at
the Dursleys, he had found that fruits and vegetables had lined his stomach better
than meat and stopped the hunger pains for longer, but lately he had been craving
meat more and more, ever since his birthday and subsequent inheritance actually, it
must have been part of being a Dracken.

The bloodier the meat the better in his opinion, so he placed a large piece of blue
rare steak on his plate along with his vegetables and chips. Once or twice Harry
had caught himself thinking of how delicious it would taste to find something fresh
to sink his teeth into. The thought made him shudder and it was not with disgust.

As he was about to take a bite of his steak he was suddenly aware of a pair of eyes
drilling into him. Discreetly looking around for the source he found no one until
he glanced up at the head table. It was Snape. Of course it was Snape. The Potions
Professor�s black eyes bore into him. Harry could not discern what that look was
nor what he had done to gain himself such a look. He�d only been here for an hour.
Harry met the man�s eyes for a moment before he quickly lowered them, his new found
instincts telling him that without a dominant mate to protect him it was unwise to
pick a fight with someone who could harm him. Glancing cautiously at the man from
beneath his lashes he saw Snape�s eyes narrow in suspicion at him.

Harry looked away from the man and kept his head down for the rest of dinner. He
couldn�t afford anyone, least of all Snape, finding out about his secret.

A delicate scent reached his nose and all at once his body started quivering and he
tingled, as if his scales were trying to make an unwanted appearance. He pushed the
feeling back ruthlessly. He couldn�t afford to let them appear, not now, not in
front of the entire student body. It would only spell utter disaster for him�and if
he�d read that excerpt right, then it might even spell his death.

Dessert had come and gone and the Headmaster finally sent the children off to bed.
Harry waited until the hall emptied out a bit before heading up to Gryffindor
tower. Once he entered his dorm room he ignored Ron, said goodnight to Seamus, Dean
and Neville, before he tugged closed his bed hangings and stripped off his clothes
and climbed into bed. Despite being worried that Snape would find out about his
secret, he fell asleep almost instantly.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------- X

It was two weeks into term and that light scent was driving him crazy! It was
constantly around him, as if the actual castle was the one making it. It was
driving him to the brink of destruction and he had hourly battles with himself to
force his Dracken side down. No one else noticed of course, but Harry counted this
as a blessing, the last thing he needed right now was another round of newspaper
articles on how crazy and unstable he was after he�d defeated Voldemort several
months ago.

Snape was also watching him relentlessly. The man was absolutely unshakeable. No
matter how much Harry tried to act invisible or divert his attention to something
else those eyes were always there, watching him closely. Snape thought that he was
up to something unsavoury and until Harry stopped being so jumpy and nervous, he
was unlikely to stop, but Harry was just so worried that Snape would figure out
that he was a Dracken that he couldn�t control it, he needed a dominant, he
couldn�t face off against Snape on his own, not now that he had come into a
submissive inheritance, not when he was concentrating so much on making sure his
scales and wings wouldn�t just appear one day in class for everyone to see.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
------------------------------------- X

It was Halloween night and Harry had no interest in attending the feast. Instead he
was taking full advantage of everyone else being at the feast to let his Dracken
side out for the first time in two months.

He was deep in the forbidden forest, the moon, though not quite full as it was
waning, was very bright tonight and lit the way for the young Dracken as he weaved
his way through the undergrowth. Not that he needed the light, as a Dracken he had
excellent night vision, but the moon was so big and beautiful tonight, Harry was
glad that it was there to light up the sky.

After walking steadily for over thirty minutes, Harry deduced that he was far
enough away from the school and called his Dracken features forward. It had been so
long since he�d been able to and now that he could finally do so he felt the
instantaneous bliss of letting go. His hair, his scales, his wings, his claws and
his fangs all made their appearance. The white scales that covered his wings and
grew in patches on his face, neck and hands glowed dimly in the moonlight. It was a
beautiful sight to see, not that anyone was there to appreciate it other than
himself.

Now that the liquid relief of letting his Dracken appearance out had diminished,
there was something else that he had been wanting to take care of for the past
three months, tasting raw meat.

Opening his new enhanced senses wide he listened for a specific movement. He could
hear squirrels in their nests, owls hunting for their breakfasts, rabbits nibbling
on clovers, mice scurrying along in the underbrush and then he heard what he�d been
listening for, hoof falls on the leafy ground.

About thirty yards ahead of him were four deer. In an instant Harry was off,
running with lightning speed and before anything else registered he had sunk his
fangs into the jugular vein of a small doe. He wasn�t strong, or experienced enough
to go for a buck; he�d leave that to his dominant mate.

The three remaining deer had scarpered, bounding off into the forest. The deer that
Harry had latched onto kicked in an effort to free itself and he swiftly sliced
through its neck with his claws, silencing it for good.

The taste of blood was intoxicating and Harry could hardly keep himself from
moaning aloud. Using his claws and fangs he tore off chunks of the still warm flesh
and devoured it. It was the most delicious thing he had ever eaten and he couldn�t
get enough. He crouched down and dug in, tearing away at the hide with his fangs
and claws to reach the tender meat underneath.

Halfway through his meal though, Harry stilled instinctively. He cocked he head,
listening, ignoring the rivulets of blood pouring down his neck from his chin as he
tried to puzzle out what had disturbed him. There was something out there. His head
snapped itself to the left and he growled menacingly.

The growl that answered him was a deep, earth rumbling growl that shook him to his
core. Harry shrank back. The figure that stepped out from behind the group of trees
at the edge of the clearing he had chosen to eat in was tall and slender, but that
wasn�t what troubled Harry. No. He was a dominant Dracken. The first thing that
Harry noticed about the Dominant was his wings. They spanned at least twenty feet
and they easily dwarfed his own, which he pulled in tighter to cocoon himself, to
protect himself.

The next thing that Harry noticed was the man himself. He was tall at approximately
six foot three and was very muscled for such a slender body; he was not wearing a
shirt. Scales done in bottomless obsidian and a deep dark amethyst were scattered
over the man�s wings, olive scales picked out over his bare, tanned skin that Harry
could barely make out. His hair was as black as his scales and was chopped into
layers that just covered his ears. His face was smooth and strong, angular and
exotic looking. His slanted indigo eyes were cold and hard, but filled with warming
lust as they devoured as much of Harry�s skin as they could, lingering on his face
and especially at his neck.
This man took the breath from Harry�s lungs, took the oxygen from the very air
around him and as Harry took a deep, shuddering breath, the Dracken opposite him
made his move.