Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The point of Hogwarts was supposed to be that it was the safest place for magical minors in all of Wizarding Britain. But if this was safe, Harry Potter-Black really didn't want to know what their idea of unsafe entailed. It was bad enough the youngest Weasley boy was still in a coma from when he'd tried to enter the chamber of secrets alone (Fred and George would never forgive themselves if he hadn't been found, and it took Harry and Hermione three days to track him down), Hermione and Harry had almost been killed by a basilisk to rescue his younger sister Ginevra too!

The philosopher's stone had taken up a permanent place in the Black Family vaults at Gringott's at the end of Harry's second year, much to Headmaster Dumbledore's disapproval. Not that Harry really cared much for what the man approved of or didn't. He'd almost died down there but they were twelve year old kids who'd been able to evade all the tricks and traps set by the Headmaster. The safest place for the stone was Gringott's, regardless of any other details.

Harry had set the horcrux in Tom Riddle's diary free the middle of first year to find its way back to its master. Shortly thereafter he'd stumbled upon the riddle of Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem and spent the winter holiday with Hermione puzzling it out. By the continuation of the school year Harry had collected another in the form of a locket and they had found the diadem as well (No riddle was ever a match for Hermione Granger, and he himself loved puzzles almost as much as she). Three horcruxes returned Tom Riddle to himself, and he had sought sanctuary with Bellatrix Black Lestrange to collect himself. She'd brought him to the Black Family Keep where they'd come across her cousin Sirius.

Sirius had escaped Azkaban and was currently looking for his godson. One Harry Potter. The boy who lived wasn't particularly hard to find, but he was uniquely difficult to get to. It was Bellatrix who suggested the Shrieking Shack, and Tom who suggested contacting Remus Lupin for help. Together, they got a hold of Remus, who had been hired to the DADA position at Hogwarts and set up a meeting in the shack, which Remus led Harry, Hermione, their friend Neville, and Draco Malfoy to under the guise of a special lesson. As they were his best students in their year, it wasn't difficult to pass it off as normal. Especially seeing as he had taken one student from each house so it wouldn't seem like he was playing favorites. Hermione from Ravenclaw, Draco from Slytherin, Neville from Hufflepuff and Harry himself from Gryffindor.

In the shack waited Sirius, chained to a chair and flanked on either side by the form of Tom Riddle, all Chestnut hair and turquoise eyes, and Bellatrix, wild black hair and wilder eyes. Neville might've had to be restrained, had it not been for a hand on his shoulder from Hermione Granger, and an almost imperceptible shake of her head.

They were safe enough with Remus, and he, on request of Hermione and with consent from Sirius and Bellatrix, cast a truth spell over the two supposed criminals. The night revealed quite a lot. The night Neville's parents had been cursed was not one Bellatrix would soon forget. Not because she had been proud of it, but because she had been forced by a third party to hurt the Longbottom family. And so she had used an Unforgivable curse against Frank and Alice and doomed their only child to life without his parents ever knowing who he was, though it cost her dearly and even sent her on the run. An attack by an auror during her mad scramble to escape and find her husband had not only caused a miscarriage for the then pregnant Bellatrix, but nearly done her in. Worse yet, her husband was caught before she could reach him and was now trapped in Azkaban himself. He had already been there to claim a blood debt. Frank and Alicia Longbottom has caused the death of his brother, and he had gone to collect by way of Cruciatus. Not so long to drive them insane, but enough to satisfy him. He would never have taken parents away from her child. Not like she had been forced to.

Sirius was revealed to be innocent of the crime be was accused of too. Peter Pettigrew had been James and Lily Potter's secret keeper, and he had betrayed them, ultimately leading to their death and framed Sirius for all of it, adding on the charge of killing twelve muggles when the little rat blew up a gas line in his escape.

It was around this point that Tom asked to be put under the truth spell as well so he could explain a few missing details. Details such as Dumbledore's poor impressions of him, and the subtle ways in which he had shaped Tom from the brilliant young mind he had been (not kind, by any stretch of the imagination but certainly not evil) into Voldemort. The ways in which he had suffered ever since, a shell of a man who had unwittingly been put back together by an unknown party (who was revealed to have been Harry and Hermione all along). He also pointed out that Dumbledore had been the one with the most to gain from all their suffering. Bellatrix hadn't seen the person who'd cast the imperious on her that night, but Sirius knew full well that when he'd found Harry as a baby in his destroyed home, Lily and James dead, he too had been Impiriused in order to make him leave Harry and go looking for revenge on Peter, and the only person he'd seen was Hagrid, who was as likely to hurt someone as a baby kneazle despite his size.

Bellatrix didn't even know who Hagrid was, but a quick description showed she too had seen the half giant before she had been forced to act against her will. And there was only one person in the world who could convince Hagrid to do things so heinous despite those acts being objectively terrible. Albus Dumbledore hadn't been placed at any of the scenes, but he was also the one who was supposed to look after Harry after Sirius was taken into custody and Bellatrix had gone on the run. Remus had seen James write his will and knew Harry was to be put in the care of the Black family should anything befall he and his wife. And he knew enough of Lily to know that she would never sentence her child to suffer so much as he undoubtedly would at the hands of her maddeningly stupid sister Petunia. Not to mention that Andromeda Tonks neé Black was still in hiding but could've easily been found had anyone actually read those wills. Which meant someone had enough power to seal them so no one ever heard the truth.

Draco also brought up that he and the rest of Wizarding Britain were under the impression Harry was raised by a respectable wizard family and taught everything he would need to know to take on his seats on the Wizengamot and his titles. Come to realize that Harry barely knew what the Wizengamot was, and he didn't even know he was to have a title, let alone more.

In the end, Harry recalled that he'd seen the name Peter Pettigrew on the map passing him (a gift from the twins after the whole incident with their youngest brother), but he hadn't seen anyone. Upon being told his animagus form was a rat, Harry knew exactly where to find him and delivered him personally to one Amelia Bones at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. She was known to be a fair, no nonsense sort of person, and upon hearing that Lord Sirius and his cousin Lady Bellatrix had never been given a trial, she organized them immediately. Under Veritaserum, the two were found innocent of anything the Ministry had convicted them for (it helped that once Voldemort returned to be the brilliant, sane man he had been in his youth he had released the Death Eaters of their vows to him, including Bellatrix so they couldn't prove she had ever been a death eater to begin with) and immediately pursued custody of Harry to get him away from those awful muggles he'd been forced to live with.

Gryffindor hated him for being related to the House of Black. They jeered at him, tripped him in the halls, vandalized his things, and one of his quidditch teammates Angelina even knocked him off his broom on purpose, losing them the game but still they celebrated because he'd 'knocked that pompous Black git into the muck where he belonged'. Much to the ire of the Weasley twins, who were seething by the time they had checked him over and made sure he made it back to Gryffindor Tower unharmed. Something had to be done.

Professor Snape and Professor Lupin got together to call for a re-sort of one Harry Potter into a different house. It was a long shot, but well worth it if it got him away from those awful Gryffindor brats. As much as Severus tended to favor his Slytherins, no student would be so blatantly terrorized under his watch. There was no love lost between he and Harry Potter (pending Potter-Black) but he was just a child, and no child deserved that.

Surprisingly, the re-sorting worked. The hat proclaimed that he had wanted to put the boy in Slytherin since the day he'd first arrived, and though he had missed the benefit of spending his first year making connections, he could still do great things in Slytherin.

By the tail end of the year, Harry Potter was under the custody of his godfather Sirius Black and his Aunt Bellatrix Black Lestrange, who had started to petition for a trial for her husband. Azkaban was no place for him either, and she would have her family back if she had to tear down the Ministry of Magic brick by brick.

Which meant that by he started his fourth year of Hogwarts, Harry Potter had been blood adopted by Bellatrix (she and Sirius had thought long and hard but eventually come to the understanding that Bellatrix was less likely to stand out until her name came up as she looked like a perfectly normal Noble lady) and formally recognized at Lord Hadrian Potter-Black of the Most Noble house of Potter, Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, Lord to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell, Heir to the Most Accident and Most Noble House of Slytherin. He boarded the train at Platform 9 3/4 with his cousin Draco at his side, (they had actually become fast friends between Harry being outed as a parselmouth and being adopted by Bellatrix and made a proper Black first year, having to catch up on wizarding customs and history all of that first summer while they toured the Black Family properties to decide where to live, the Philosopher's Stone incident in second year and actually finding and having a chat with the basillisk in third year so he could help her to find easier prey to keep her from scaring and possibly petrifying or killing any more students like she had little Ginevra Weasley. Thankfully only petrified but she had a rather unhealthy hero worship of Harry after he had saved her.) chatting in the disinterested but also very important way only purebloods could. The facade of which they dropped upon sliding into a compartment with both Neville and Hermione already waiting for them. They both dropped into seats across from each other and groaned loudly.

"Hazz, if I have to bow to one more Lord this week I'm going to bite my own arm off just to avoid the stuffy conversation that follows after."

Harry chuckled across from him, shaking his head.

"Wait till it's common knowledge we're related, they'll blame it on the Black Family Madness and claim it skipped over your mother because she's a woman."

A musical giggle sounded, and a small blonde peered around Neville from the window seat. Neither had seen her, but they didn't bother to straighten. She had already seen them, why bother? Aside from that, she didn't exactly look like the stuffy pureblood type. She had radishes for earrings and a bottle cap necklace, Hogwarts robes stamped with the same crest as Hermione's. A Ravenclaw then, and a little one too. Neville just shook his head.

"This is Luna Lovegood, she's in our year and she tends to get picked on by the other Ravenclaw girls. I've given her my protection."

Which meant he'd given her the rest of their protection as well, and they would discuss it later. He wouldn't have done it if he didn't think she needed it. Hermione as the smartest, most ruthlessly honest Ravenclaw, had a good bit of pull where Hogwarts was concerned, and Draco and Harry were the Slytherin princes. Neville was no slouch either- a wiz in both potions and herbology, he'd been known to brew potions that could be deadly with one step mildly altered, and do it perfectly. No one would ever think he'd hurt someone either, seeing as how Hufflepuff's had a reputation for being kind and helpful. Still, everyone knew not to get on his bad side.

It hardly mattered why he'd done it, they'd never go back on their word. But Neville was a boy with a heart too big, and a brain to match, so if he thought they should protect her, there was also likely something in it for them. Harry and Draco simply shrugged.

"Draco thought we should add another girl to the group anyways."

The Malfoy heir just tossed a jelly bean at Harry from the snack trolly, which has just stopped by their compartment. Harry simply laughed. This year would be okay. He was a Slytherin, he'd spent his summer learning more of the family magic, a bit about his creature inheritance courtesy of a Gringotts Inheritance Test though he was told most of it would be instinctual, politics, and the pull he had as both a lord and heir and he was basically solid Teflon. They couldn't hurt him again.

Or at least that was what he though until Albus Dumbledore opened his big mouth, holding the fourth slip of paper the Goblet had mysteriously spit out, and turned wizened eyes sparkling with mischief to the Slytherin table.

"Harry Potter. Come up here my boy."

From across the table, Draco snickered.

"Somebody is trying to kill you again Hazz."

Harry scowled. So much for his peaceful year.

Chapter Text

"I don't see why I have to compete! I'll testify under Veritaserum that I didn't put my name in the bloody Goblet!"

Harry jerked away when Dumbledore tried to put a hand on his shoulder. The Ministry Officials, Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch, insisted that he was still in a binding magical contract because his name had come out. It took about thirty seconds for Harry to realize five different things. One- every champion chosen was a creature. And by the looks of them, strong ones. He could feel the electric sensation of their power, curiously prodding at his own magic. He could smell the brimstone and sulfur, the salty sea, and the soft breeze that wafted from them in waves. Sense their rage at the blatant trickery about that would bring a fourteen year old into their midst.

"Mister Potter, if you do not compete you will lose your magic altogether!" Ludo Bagman seemed genuinely distraught at this information.

Harry sighed softly. "Merlin help me, I am too stressed a creature to be dealing with this."

Two- they all knew he would be coming into his inheritance soon. He watched the flashes of recognition and realization, emerald eyes tracing over his new peers with a certain mischief to his expression. Viktor's nostrils flared, scenting him even as his brows drew together in dismay. Cedric's concern and Fleur's outrage were plainly visibly on their faces, a drifting breeze bringing the crackling feel of an ominously precarious situation to his attention.

"Harry my boy, you must compete. You are responsible for the future of the Wizarding world. Who knows what panic would befall the people of this country if it was known that The Boy Who Lived had lost his magic!"

Three- Dumbledore thought he was quite clever for this setup. He was not stupid, Harry knew that he would be right where Albus wanted him if he agreed to enter the tournament. However four- the other champions were reaching out to him with their magic and his responded instinctively. They would protect him if he asked them to. They would likely do so even if he expressedly forbid them to. He was, in their eyes, but a hatchling. And they, who were all presented creatures and dangerously close to their first mating counsels, would be protective of him no matter what he did or how capable he was. Which all lead him to five.

" . . . I suppose I haven't really a choice, have I?"

He couldn't leave them to do this alone.

~~~~~

Draco snorted at his cousin, sitting beside him in the afternoon sun the next day. Of course Harry would get into something like this. It was just in his nature.

"So you're joining the Death game to help the people you barely know get out of the Death game without dying. Is that what I'm hearing?"

Harry simply shrugged, muggle sunglasses nestled in pitch hair and eyes closed as he listen to the sounds of nature.

"That's about right, yes. I can't very well be seen about the castle with them otherwise. It would be far too suspicious, and we're already too few as it is. You and I both know saving more of our kind if possible is paramount."

Draco sighed heavily, shaking his head.

"I still can't believe you didn't use the fact that the contract isn't binding against them. It was Harry Potter written on the parchment, wasn't it?"

To the blonde's annoyance, his cousin's lips quirked upward in that maddening resemblance all the Black family shared. It was evidence he and Harry shared a family tree, no question. It was also quite annoying.

"Well, technically they don't know Hadrian James Potter-Black exists at all. I still sign all my papers with Harry Potter.~ They refuse to address their precious 'Boy Who Lived' by another name, so I stopped correcting them."

Draco tutted, and Harry just laughed. The crunch of a branch underneath a heavy foot sounded, and neither moved at all. They'd felt their guests coming a ways away, and Draco arched his head back to get a good look at them.

"Well, you may as well come and join us. I have a feeling you're going to be sticking around anyways, so I suppose we ought to get comfortable."

Fleur stepped out first, confident and lovely, blonde hair barely darker than Draco's shining in the light as she sat gracefully across from them. Viktor and Cedric followed with frustrated huffs and completed the rough circle, Cedric flopping onto his back to enjoy a bit of sun. It was entirely unfair how graceful he managed even that, hair fanning out in a halo and looking unfairly attractive in the afternoon light. 

Viktor spoke first, accent thick in his voice as he tried to make his words easier to understand.

"So the two of you have also noticed?"

Harry snorted inelegantly, drawing a laugh from Cedric. The Hogwarts students rarely saw anything other than perfect politeness from him these days. Aside from his Slytherin year mates of course, who had helped him perfect his posh prat attitude in front of the people he neither liked nor trusted. AKA, most of the students outside that select group.

"You mean the glaringly obvious fact that the Goblet chose only creature blood champions, if that's the real Goblet of Fire at all? Yeah. We noticed. Draco and I are set to be getting our creature inheritances soon as well."

Draco rolled his eyes.

"Hazz, they know that- they can smell us."

Harry swatted half heartedly at his cousin.

"Still, best to explain everything than to leave out something so glaring and have it missed anyways. Besides, Cedric's sense of smell is bound to be a bit less enhanced."

Cedric Diggory, to his credit, just shrugged. He was quite used to downplaying his creature inheritance, and the skills that came along with it, though everything still seemed to come frightfully easy to him even then.

"Yeah, but even I can smell a soon presenting creature. It's not dulled so much as people would like you to believe- creature blood takes centuries to dilute at all, so while I'm closer to Fleur's level in regards to senses, I'm really not so far off from the rest of you."

Viktor ruffled Cedric's hair and the sightly younger boy swatted his hand with a grin.

"We know you are no less Cedric, do not worry."

"Yeah yeah, you'd still kick my ass hand to hand any day Krum."

The Bulgarian just huffed.

"It is Viktor. Just Viktor- that goes for all of you. If we are to work together, let it be as friends."

Fleur huffed softly and turned sideways, laying on Viktor's leg and grinning up at him. Now that she was in front of only other creatures, and ones she would soon be risking her life with at that, she was much more relaxed. Her cool grace was still as present as ever, but there was much less of the stuffy attitude she put on for others. She was much like the Slytherins in that regard.

"I can do that. You all seem okay to me."

The large boy turned his gaze to Harry and Draco, who nodded their assent. Harry, in fact, grinned.

"Actually, Draco calls me Hazz. Most of my friends do, and we're about to put our lives in each other's hands so I feel like the level of familiarity is warranted."

Fleur sniggered, covering her mouth with one hand and practically shaking with laughter.

Draco huffed softly, but it was a nice atmosphere. Too bad a small fox patronus darted in and spoke in Fred Weasley's voice. (Or was it George? Only Harry would really know.)

"Hazz, our brother Charlie got in this morning from Romania. You'll never guess what he brought with him- you best come back to school. This is important."

Blinking jade green in surprise, the young Lord stood from his place and brushed himself off. 

"I'll be back as soon as I can. Fred and George usually just come find me themselves, it's gotta be serious if they're sending a patronus."

Draco just waved him off.

"We'll be here for a while yet, you know how to reach us if you need us."

With a nod, Harry was off. Unfortunately, what he'd find was worse than he could've predicted.

Chapter Text

Hadrian Potter-Black was usually a very patient wizard. He was a Slytherin after all, cunning, clever and good at getting what he wanted no matter how long it took. It was difficult to make him lose his temper, but the Ministry of Magic seemed to fail and/or target his family at every turn. (He couldn't decide which was worse, as they failed even in targeting them and in failing them painted a target on their back for others.)

Fred and George Weasley had been friends of his since his first year. He had met them, their mother, and three of their siblings trying to get onto Platform 9 3/4 his first year. They'd helped him with his trunk, introduced themselves, asked who he was and gone about their business. That was one of the things about them he had liked immediately. They never bought into things they'd been told without proof. And they'd seen 'the boy who lived' was just a scared eleven year old, and done him the great mercy of not asking any more about the night that orphaned him.

Other students and even some teachers didn't bother to give him the same courtesy. They wanted to know everything about him. Everything he remembered- everything he was. What could be so special about him that he had survived? The simple answer was nothing. It was Lily Potter née Evans who had saved his life. His mother's love that kept him alive. Her genius use of a blood ritual using her own death as a sacrifice that had made him untouchable by a creature so foul as Voldemort. The memory of someone who loved him so much she had died for him had kept him going for years. Even when the people he lived with lied to him and looked down on his parents. His mother had loved him. So there had to be a way for him to live a life that meant he was worthy of that kind of love. That kind of sacrifice. And he was determined to live it.

That said, the twins were some of the few people privileged with that knowledge. He was not some mystical savior, he was just a boy. One who had parents just as self sacrificing as he was growing up. He was working on overcoming that particular trait. It tended to get him into trouble. Still, the twins found themselves among the few few counted as friends, and they quite liked it that way. When Harry made it to the front doors of Hogwarts, he was met with identical looks of worry.

"Are you two okay?"

Fred huffed at him, arms crossing over his chest.

"It's you we're worried about,"

George mirrored his expression and continued.

"Especially after Charlie told us-"

"-he's here for the tournament."

They finished together and shared a look each taking one of Harry's arms and turning him around, heading towards the forest.

"We've got something you need to see."

Much as their twin speak amused him, he could tell they were genuinely worried. After all, it was rare they just grabbed him like this. He wasn't one who generally liked to be touched, but he supposed he didn't mind terribly just then. He'd trust the twins with his life without hesitation. But it seemed odd they should choose the tournament as a time to start putting theirs on the line. 

It didn't take long to figure it out. The clearing they led him to was full to bursting with activity, and both Fred and George crouched, pulling him down with them. Gracefully, he bent and blended in with the scenery, likely much more than the twins with their identical bright ginger hair. Thankfully though, everyone in the clearing was far too busy to notice them. They ran around frantically, restraining and trying to calm massive creatures that could only be one thing.

" . . . Dragons." Harry breathed out the word with an air of wonder. It took his mind a moment or two to pull to the forefront the reason they were here. His face fell back to an impassive mask, and a low growl rumbled in his throat.

"We need to tell the others."

The twins nodded easily, not even needing to ask who he meant. Simultaneously, they all faded into the underbrush and disappeared from the site just in time to be missed by one of the handlers looking over.

"Huh . . . Coulda sworn I heard something over there."

Charlie, a younger handler, just pat him on the shoulder.

"Probably just a centaur or something. They tend to be wary of new visitors to their territory."

The elder of the two just nodded.

"Yeah . . . Yeah, you're probably right."

Silently, Charlie breathed a sigh of relief that there were no other creature blood handlers. Otherwise his brothers and Hazz would've been made for sure.

~~~~~

When Hadrian returned to the other champions, who were still lazing about near the lake, he flopped onto the ground next to Viktor, who automatically let a hand wander to play with his hair, scratching gently at his scalp. A soft sigh passed the younger's lips, and he threw an arm over his eyes. This tournament was already proving to be a real nuisance. Of course they would bring in creatures to face creature bloods.

" . . . They brought in dragons. I think they intend to have us fight them."

Viktor's hand stilled for a moment, but resumed his actions shortly. There was silence for a moment, and Draco sighed heavily.

"I suggest we all do some training then. Hazz, do you think Aunt Bellatrix and Aunt Andy would help us study up on some defensive spells with a little more kick to them?"

The Black Heir just nodded, peering out from under his arm.

"I'm certain of it. I'll bother Professor Snape for some floo powder to call them later. I'm sure Aunt Andy will floo to us herself. Aunt Bella will probably owl us some spells to work with and ask for regular updates."

Draco just rolled his eyes.

"Like you don't owl each other every other day."

Harry just chuckled.

"True, but she has essentially stepped into a parental role for me. The least I can do is keep her apprised of my actions. Besides, she's quite busy working to get the others out of Azkaban. Otherwise she'd likely come herself."

Mildly jealous, a slight frown tugged at the blonde's expression. Harry nudged his cousin's leg with his foot.

"None of that, Aunt Cissy would come in a heartbeat. You just don't want to floo call her because she'll either have to leave Capri with an elf or bring her with and you know she's stressed as it is."

The blonde easily nudged him back.

"I liked you better when you couldn't read my mind."

Hadrian stuck out his tongue childishly, finally finding it in himself to sit up and give a playful grin.

"I still can't, I just know you."

"True enough."

~~~~~

Andromeda Black was a force to be reckoned with. After dressing down both the Ministry Officials and Dumbledore in the great hall for letting her nephew be pulled into yet another dangerous plot liable to get him into danger, and quite possibly kill him, she had joined Draco, Hadrian and the other tri-wizard champions, as well as Neville, Luna and Hermione at the Slytherin table. She had owled Professor Snape ahead of time and he had gladly offered her a place to stay for the duration of her visit to Hogwarts. So now, here she sat at the table with the children discussing what seemed to be an alliance of some kind.

"Alright, so we've got three Veela,-" Draco, Fleur and Cedric nodded in agreement. "-two dragonkin,-" Viktor and Hermione both put a fist to their chests in salute. "-an elf,-" Neville grinned impishly, rubbing at the back of his neck. "-a fae blooded seer,-" Luna waved his way with her dreamy grey eyes, a soft sort of knowing in their depths. "-and three imps of varying elements." Hadrian himself, plus the Weasley twins nodded. "Did I get that right?"

Everyone seemed to agree easily.

"Alright, now that we're all aware after Hermione's inheritance test thanks to her parents finally telling her Misses Granger is from a squib line, it's time we start planning."

Andromeda was a little shocked at the fact that all the champions were some sort of creature. Even more so that Harry had managed to collect so many together at once. Even if he'd known that protecting them was important, she'd never expected him to find so many. Let alone be on good terms with all of them.

"Hazza dear, can I ask you a question?"

He grinned playfully. "You just did Auntie Andy, but go ahead anyways."

She flickered his nose, and he scrunched it, and she was once again brought to anger over how he'd been placed with muggles instead of given to his Wizarding family where he belonged. She should've been there to teach him as a child. Learned all the things that made him laugh or get that adorable little nose scrunch when he thought too hard or thought something was a little odd. Known what he liked to have for dessert and taught him to bake, and bought him his first broom! The idea of all she and her sisters and cousin had been robbed of stoked her temper dangerously. But she pushed that aside and arched a singular brow.

"How did you manage all this?"

Her nephew, troublemaker that he was, just grinned at her.

"That's information for after dinner."

Still, he briefly tapped his nose and she nodded. That would explain it. Teenaged creatures, especially those in their early stages or getting close to their first mating seasons, tended to have stronger senses of smell. Especially dominant or "Alpha" creatures, as submissive or "beta" creatures tended to release stronger pheromones during that time. Seeing as how Hazza and Draco were just beginning to present and the others weren't too much older, it actually made a good deal of sense for all of them to be gathered like this. She was actually a little surprised not to see the youngest Weasley there too, the girl.

Her nephews seemed to anticipate this question when she glanced over to study the twins a moment. Harry sighed, and Draco held in malicious giggles.

"Please don't-"

Draco shook his head wildly.

"No no, absolutely do. I'm begging you to ask, I've been waiting ages for this to come to light!"

Andromeda took a moment to consider, but looked to the twins and arched a brow.

"Your younger sister isn't presenting yet?"

Fred snorted.

"Course not. Ginny isn't even a creature. The Prewett line doesn't have much creature blood, but the Weasley does. Ginny turned out more Prewett,-

George continued on gladly.

"-Considering she's only our half sister and all. Not only that, but the poor delusional kit is under the impression that she and Hazza are going to get married and have a whole litter."

The twins, together, made another point.

"Which just isn't going to happen."

She watched as Harry followed their verbal tennis match easily, a soft grin across his features. Huh. That was interesting.

"For one, Hazz is a rarer creature. Meaning even if he didn't have a mate assigned to him by Lady Magic-"

"-the council for imp society would insist he take part in the hunt anyways. So he would still eventually end up with a creature mate to ensure we don't die out."

Harry sniggered, covering his face with his hands. He knew what the end of their little tirade would be.

"And even if he didn't, there's no way we'd let Hazz mate with a girl who stalked him for three years."

Draco wasn't even trying anymore, basically cackling, and he wasn't the only one. Hermione and Luna were covering their mouths to stifle their giggles, Fleur had buried her face into Cedric's shoulder to the thoroughly amused boy's unending smugness (He was being glared at by half the Great Hall.) as he chuckled alongside Viktor and Neville.

Harry just groaned.

"Stalker is right. She's been following me around since the basilisk incident, not to mention the notes. She wasn't so bad second year. I was trying to figure out a good bit of wizard culture at once. Not to mention that once my creature inheritance was unblocked by the spell purge I had to undergo for the blood adoption, I had an even more difficult time here."

Andromeda rubbed her nephew's back and once again had to push down her rage. Still, he was alright now. That was what mattered.

"Alright, let's finish up here. We have a good bit to discuss. Tomorrow, we'll begin having breakfast in the room of requirement. You will need to call for house elves to take you in small groups and I will outline The next few weeks for you all. We will begin training after your classes."

Harry grinned mischievously. Oh, this was going to be fun. He'd made the right call. No one wanted to face the ire of Andromeda Black. And married or not, she was most certainly a Black.