blood bound

chapter 10: Bad habits

Voldemort took a moment to dismiss the Death Eaters before taking the chance to study his probable husbands. He knew that his acceptance was half hearted but he honestly wasn't sure about these unexpected changes. He hated being blindsided even when the news was a good thing and managing a binding alliance with the very wizard who had been foretold to defeat him was a very good thing.

Nagini curled around his feet also studying them though she had thoughts of grandchildren gleefully running through her serpentine head. Harry's tense shifting brought her out of her daydream and caused her to really study the two wizards. Taking in the tense stances, the way that the dark stork man took his cues from the smaller male and the wariness they regarded her human with she rounded on Voldemort.

"~What did you do?! Never mind, fix it before you loose the first proper mates we've ever found!~" Nagini hissed with obvious displeasure at a suddenly disconcerted and embarrassed Voldemort.

"~Its not that simple dear heart.~" Voldemort admitted with a mumble.

"~The little blood drinker is fighting the bond, smells of both terror, lust, and hunger even as the dark stork man is obeying his cues! Do you want to loose your pieces and your mates?!~" Nagini shot back heatedly.

"~No, of course not.~" Voldemort told her irritably, more than a little concerned that Harry was even able to fight the bonding process much less succeed for more than the hour it had been since the start of the meeting.

"~Then fix it! Stubborn hatchling.~" Nagini hissed huffily. Harry and Severus watched the argument with a combination of wariness and slightly morbid fascination.

"~Not a hatchling!~" Voldemort shot back indignantly, strongly reminded of the fact that Nagini had practically raised him before his fall. She had also successfully tracked him down afterwards and found him in that Albanian forest as a wraith before she let him possess her to hopefully minimize his insanity.

"~Then stop acting like one!~" Nagini hissed harshly before whipping around him and pushing him towards the other two wizards. "~Fix it!~"

"I think we just met his mum," Harry whispered to Severus as they stared at Dark Lord and familiar dumbfoundedly.

"I have to agree," Severus admitted warily, wondering if he was about to become a slave, lunch for Nagini, or be crucioed for something.

"Do you want to get something to eat?" Voldemort asked lamely, not really used to asking someone out despite all his charm and people skills developed over decades.

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?" Harry asked incredulously. Voldemort just shrugged awkwardly, not really sure how to answer that.

"~Impossible hatchling.~" Nagini said despairingly as she gazed towards the sky before returning her attention to the three wizards. "~Repeat after me: I am sorry for whatever I did. Would you like to join me for a meal?~"

"~I don't think that will work.~" Voldemort said with a sigh.

"~Well, figure something out they're hungry.~" Nagini ordered, pleased with herself for calming the terror reaction she had sensed earlier especially since she got to embarrass her wizard at the same time.

"See if you can remove Severus' mark then we'll talk," Harry told him suspiciously, allowing the other man to approach while still hovering over his anchor and fighting not to either kneel for Voldemort or pounce on him to snog him senseless. He was suddenly missing the fading fear since it was harder not to do something sappy or embarrassing, like start trying to forcefully strip his mate.