Work Text:
It was supposed to be a low-key, unofficial meeting.
It was supposed to just be Harry meeting his grandmother and a few of her Bonded for the first time.
The grandparents he never knew he had meeting the grandchild they never knew they had, up until a couple of weeks ago.
On paper, it probably looked so simple—a joyous family reunion, returning a lost dragel child to his dragel roots.
Family was everything to dragels, after all. One of the most important relationships, outside of the relationship between a Bonded Circle.
In reality, it was bound to be tense and emotional, given that two of the individuals involved were Empaths—powerful ones at that—and allegations of neglect directed at another member of the family had been hinted at. No formal charges had been brought yet—entirely because Harry had flat out refused to consider it, instating wanting to keep his history as private as possible. He was convinced that if there was a court case, there would be no chance of that happening.
The vast majority of his Bonded Circle weren’t pleased with the decision, but so far, Harry refused to budge.
Whether he would change his mind or not would probably depend on how this meeting went and how the Evanson Circle was dealing with everything.
A lot of discussion had gone into about who would be at the meeting. It was tempting for all of them to be there, but everyone also knew that things would become too overwhelming if that was the case. And with two Empaths in the same room, it was already going to be hard enough to walk the thin line between being in control and letting instinct do all the work.
In the end, it was decided that it would be the operating triads of each Circle attending the meets, and a few Pareya from both Circles.
A small first meeting, with hopefully a much larger one to take place later on.
Harry chose for the twins to come with him.
He would have preferred for all four of his Pareya to come with him, but he doubted it would be a good idea to have Alec and the twins in such close quarters during a time when instinct would be riding high in everyone. That was just asking for trouble.
Besides, Alcandor had been keeping Alec busy during this Hunt. There’d been no guarantee that he would be free the day of the meeting.
Ethan was left behind as well, because someone had to keep the Gheyos from destroying the house.
Even with Ethan there, Theo wasn’t sure it would be enough. Their Gheyo Suite had a lot of pent-up energy and bloodlust; it was getting to the point where no even the duels in the Pits were sufficing. Sooner, rather than later, he would have to give them an actual assignment, preferably one with copious amounts of bloodshed.
He had an ideal one in mind, even. The only thing stopping him from signing off on the proper authorizations and sending most of the Suite to Earth though was the still-unresolved Clan War between the Deveraines and the Vaughns. Until that was handled, Theo wanted to keep the Suite in Nevarah as much as possible.
The hours leading up to the meeting, Harry was a tense bundle of nerves. Nothing, not even a few mild jokes and pranks by the twins, was successful in distracting him, and while his Bonded were pushing as much calm and soothing emotions through their bonds to to him, it didn’t have much effect.
Unfortunately, Harry’s nervousness was all too understandable. Until recently, the only family Harry had ever known were the Dursleys and they’d treated him extremely poorly just for being himself.
Harry stared at the door, green eyes blank even though the rest of his face was twisted and uncertain. His breathing and his heartbeat quickened, until he was just shy from outright hyperventilating.
“I don’t think I can do this,” he said, voice strangled. He shuffled away from the door and pressed closer to Fred, George, and Charlie.
His three Fire types, each with their own distinctive flames.
Charlie’s were strong and steady, never wavering in the slightest, even when pushed to his limit.
Fred’s were vibrant and playful, a touch of wildness about them. His flames burned the brightest and warmest most days.
Compared to his twin, George’s flames were more quiet and soothing. But while they were obvious, they were much more destructive when they needed to be.
“You can,” Charlie murmured, wrapping a muscled arm around Harry’s shoulders and giving him a tight, one-armed hug.
“You faced down a fully grown dragon when you were fourteen,” Fred reminded him. “And later that year, you survived an encounter with a certain Dark Lord for what, the third time?”
“Fourth,” Harry corrected, and then grimaced when he saw the dark look that crossed everyone’s face. These particular Bonded were a bit more clued in to all that he’d dealt with since his first year at Hogwarts, but there was still a lot they didn’t know.
And he wasn’t ready to tell them quite yet.
Maybe in the future.
If he survived this meeting.
Before Bran eventually forced the issue.
Harry cuddled into his Bonded for a long moment, trying to soak up as much of their innate strength as he could.
Then, he reached for the door handle.
For a long moment, his hand rested there, unable to move, unable to summon enough weight to press down and open it. He stood there, frozen, finding it difficult to breathe again.
“Hungarian Horntail,” Fred whispered, the words barely audible.
Harry’s lips twisted into a pained expression, half a smile and half a grimace.
Right.
He’d faced dragons before.
This was just another kind of dragon.