| SERENITY |

Chapter 5

1st August

The next afternoon, Harry flooed from his parent's house, with much fanfare- his youngest siblings had thrown a fit, his older ones looking like kicked puppies, and his parents blubbering dramatically- to Slytherin Manor. There to greet him in the floo room- and how big must the Manor be to have a whole room dedicated for the multiple floos?- were his four mates sat on the sofas, staring in his direction. Draco was the first to react to his arrival, standing up smoothly, but he wasn't the first to reach Harry.

"Harry!" Elian laughed as he wrapped his arms around him, smiling down at him with shining golden eyes, only to be gone the next second as Draco yanked him back.

"Harry." The Boread engulfed him in his own hug, pressing his face in his hair. To his other side, Blaise also joined in with the hug, a bright grin on his face as he started talking excitedly.

"You won't believe the size of this place, it's bigger than even Malfoy Manor and my estate, and I swear it can compete even with Hogwarts!"

Thomas, who had hung back, smiled at Blaise's exclamation. "Not quite, although I dare say the lands it is built on can. Harry, welcome to Slytherin Manor. How are you?"

Absentmindedly, busy observing the decorated ceiling now, Harry answered. "I'm fine."

"Perfect." Somehow, Thomas managed to fish him out from between the pair and settled him on a sofa with a slight push on his shoulders. He looked up at the Vampire questioningly, who returned his look with a slight smile, a fang poking out from under his top lip. "I thought that we should all sit down so that we may have a serious conversation, now that we are all here." At his unasked request, the other three sat. "I believe that we need to set the ground rules for this mateship, as soon as possible, to lessen the conflicts we may face in the future. Unless, of course, you'd rather postpone this conversation until you were settled in? I apologise if this came across as too hasty." Harry shook his head, seeing the merit of getting this over and done with as soon as they could.

Draco sat forward slightly, a steely glint in his silver eyes. "What sorts of rules?"

"Boundaries and such, and not only rules but aspirations we have, opinions we feel may come into conflict with one another- I want us to get some of it out of the way. Ask anything you wish, but the other is open to not sharing if they do not wish to. Now, Harry, I have a personal question for you that you may not wish to answer, but it is an important one."

"What is it?"

"Your heat cycle started on the 31st of July, on your seventeenth birthday, so you are twenty-two days along now, correct?"

Harry was already blushing at the topic. "Yeah."

"Have you noticed any changes in your diet yet? When you begin to crave high-energy foods, it means that you are more than halfway through your cycle, and we will need to begin preparing for when it will occur." The way he spoke about such an awkward topic, with the detachedness of a doctor but the softness of a mate, made Harry slightly more willing to speak up despite his embarrassment.

"No-no, I don't think so. I mean, apart from the fact that I've grown wings, and my features have changed slightly, I don't feel any different after my inheritance."

"Okay, that's fine, it gives us more time to set down our opinions and get to know one another."

Elian raised his hand slightly, drawing their attention. "Can we write this all down? I feel like I might forget it otherwise."

"Of course." Seemingly, from nowhere, Thomas pulled out a large notebook, and placed it on the table, writing down the date at the top. He wrote Harry's name on the first line, followed by the number '22', and an X. Harry's blush deepened. "I was thinking that we should start with boundaries, things that we don't wish to talk about, actions we won't tolerate from others towards us and the like."