Aftermaths, Part 135

by Geri ([email protected])

Rating: Mostly PG-13, but NC-17 for overall story

Pairing: Snape/Lupin, Theodore/Blaise

Warning: AU; events that occurred at the end of Order of the Phoenix were significantly altered from the book.

Sequel to: Always, Summer Vacation, For Old Time's Sake, Three's a Crowd, Return of the Raven, Phoenix Reborn, and Phoenix Rising.

Summary: The various characters deal with the aftermath of the war, and Snape and Lupin try to build a family together with Theodore and Dylan. However, some people are unable to let go of the past...

Author's note: {} Indicates character's unspoken thoughts.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to J.K. Rowling, except Hob, who belongs to William Mayne; no money is being made off this story; consider it a little wish fulfillment on my part.
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Glossary of Japanese terms:

Oniisan (or shortened form Niisan)=Older brother

Okaasan=Mother

Otoosan=Father

-kun=Suffix added to a name; used by a superior when addressing a subordinate, or by close friends and family members. Usually used only when addressing a boy in the second case.

-chan=Similar to ÒkunÓ but usually refeers only to girls or young children.

-hime=Princess (In this case, it referss to Professor Chizuru from ÒPhoenix Rising," who is the daughter of the ruler of the crane clan).
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Although Snape normally spent most of his time in the dungeon and rarely left the castle except on business, now that he was forbidden to leave it, the huge building seemed strangely claustrophobic. No wonder Black had nearly gone insane being cooped up in the mansion on Grimmauld Place, which was a much smaller and much less pleasant place to live than the castle. Snape became more ill-tempered than usual, and frequently found himself snapping at Lupin even though he knew that his lover didn't deserve it. Lupin was compassionate and understanding as always, but Snape suspected that even his saintly patience was being sorely tested what with having to keep company not only with a cranky Potions Master, but also a surly werewolf. Lupin pulled "alibi duty" with Diggory more often than the other teachers, mostly because he was the least intimidated by the way Diggory growled and bared his teeth, and partly because Diggory seemed more at ease in the company of another werewolf than with a human.

But it seemed that Lupin had finally had enough, because he showed up at Snape's office a couple of days after the trial with a picnic basket tucked under one arm. "Let's go, Severus," Lupin said firmly. "You need to get some fresh air."

"Go where, Lupin?" Snape asked irritably, as he looked up from the papers he was grading. "You know that I'm not allowed to leave the castle."

Lupin grabbed him by the hand and pulled him up from his chair. "We don't have to leave the castle to get some fresh air," Lupin said with a wink. "Come on, follow me."

Since it was obvious that Lupin wasn't going to take "no" for an answer, Snape let his lover lead him out of the dungeon and up to the top of the Astronomy Tower. Grinning proudly, Lupin pulled a blanket out of the basket and spread it out on the Tower landing. "You see, technically we are still in the castle. But I thought it might be nice for you get a little fresh air and feel the breeze against your face."

Snape took a deep breath, drinking in the fresh air, and looked out over the castle grounds, admiring the view. He hadn't been up here in years, except for the time that he had come to apprehend his two wayward Slytherins, Malfoy and Dietrich, when Sinistra had caught them drinking, and he hadn't really been paying much attention to the view at the time. There was indeed a gentle breeze blowing, and it did feel very pleasant against his face. "Thank you, Remus," Snape said, feeling much calmer than he had in weeks. "It is nice."

Lupin beamed at him, obviously delighted that he'd made Snape feel better, and Snape felt touched, that making him happy should make Lupin so happy. "Come and eat, Severus," Lupin said, and began unloading the picnic basket, laying out bread, cheese, sliced meats, fruit, and a bottle of wine on the blanket.

Well, it was almost dinnertime, and although he had not had much of an appetite lately, Snape suddenly felt hungry. So he sat on the blanket beside Lupin, and they enjoyed a picnic dinner together.

Later, after they had devoured most of the food, Lupin snuggled up against Snape, resting his head on Snape's shoulder, looking sleepy and contented. Snape sipped at his glass of wine, feeling equally contented. He supposed that they should get back to the dungeon, but he didn't feel like moving, and Lupin didn't seem inclined to move anytime soon, either. He probably shouldn't let Lupin fall asleep up here, though, since he didn't fancy trying to carry the werewolf down the stairs.

"Pass me a grape, will you, love?" Lupin asked in a lazy voice. Snape obligingly reached over and plucked a grape from the nearby plate of fruit, and held it to Lupin's lips. Lupin took the grape from Snape's fingers, but not before allowing his lips and tongue to brush against Snape's fingers in a deliberately sensual manner. Startled, Snape glanced down at Lupin, and saw that while his eyes were still half-lidded, he no longer looked sleepy at all. Lupin calmly chewed and swallowed the grape, then smiled at Snape in a very predatory manner that sent a shiver down his spine.

"Ah...Lupin..." was all Snape managed to say before Lupin sealed his mouth over Snape's. He felt Lupin's tongue slide into his mouth and playfully dart around his own tongue, thereby distracting Snape from any protests that he might have made. A very long moment later, they came up for air, and only when Snape felt a breeze blowing through his hair did he remember that they were on the Astronomy Tower.

"Lupin!" Snape said indignantly, when he felt the werewolf's hands unfastening his robes and then sliding beneath them. "What do you think you're doing?!"

"Why, I thought that would be obvious, Severus," Lupin said coyly, batting his eyelashes at Snape. One of his hands caressed Snape's chest, and the other dropped lower, into his lap.

Snape's pale face turned beet-red, and he jumped to his feet, shouting, "LUPIN!"

Lupin burst out laughing, and stared up at Snape with that boyish, mischievous grin that he remembered so well from their schoolboy days--Lupin looked more like a Marauder than a Professor at the moment, and Snape didn't know whether he wanted to kiss him or kill him.

"Please get your bloody exhibitionist urges under control, Lupin!" Snape growled, glaring at him.

"My goodness!" Lupin chortled. "And you always talk about how prudish and priggish we Gryffindors are! Have I, a noble Gryffindor prig is the phrase I believe you like to use, actually managed to shock a jaded Slytherin? With such a little thing as a kiss and a grope on the Astronomy Tower? Why, I'm sure that half the students in the school have done as much!"

Snape tried to regain his composure, gathering his robes--and what remained of his dignity--around him. He looked down his nose at Lupin in a superior manner (not difficult, since Lupin was still sitting on the ground), and said coolly, "That is because the students do not have places more private in which to conduct their amorous activities. But we do. I believe it's called a bedroom. This is not quite what I had in mind when you mentioned 'getting some fresh air'." But the werewolf had meant well, after all, and Snape's temper was beginning to cool while certain portions of his body remained quite heated, so he said in a slightly more conciliatory tone, "I do appreciate your attempts to cheer me up, Remus, but perhaps we should go back to the dungeon and continue this in our quarters?"

"But we've never made out on the Astronomy Tower, Severus," Lupin protested.

"There are many things we have never done, Lupin," Snape said dryly. "For example, we have never run through the castle courtyard in our underwear in the middle of winter. That doesn't mean that we should do it."

"James did," Lupin snickered. "When he lost a bet with Sirius."

"Yes, I remember," Snape said. "It was not a pretty sight. I recall wishing that I could Obliviate the sight from my mind."

"James was a handsome lad," Lupin defended his old friend, "if not quite as good-looking as Sirius or Evan. But I suppose that he wasn't really your type."

"You were my type, Lupin," Snape said solemnly. "You and no one else."

Lupin rose to his feet and wrapped his arms around Snape. "There were so many things denied to us when we were students, Severus," he said softly. "We couldn't hold hands in public and stroll by the lake, or go to the Yule Ball together, or make out on the Astronomy Tower, or even simply tell our friends that we were seeing each other. So I suppose I'm attempting to make up for lost time."

"Silly werewolf," Snape said gruffly. "We've already gone strolling by the lake, and you made me dance with you at the Yule Ball. And just about everyone in the wizarding world knows that we're a couple now. Exactly how many more of your childhood fantasies am I expected to fulfill?"

But Lupin just smiled tenderly at him, unfazed by Snape's snarkiness, probably because he knew that Snape didn't really mean it. "One more?" Lupin asked. "And can you honestly say that it was never a childhood fantasy of yours?"

Snape's teenage fantasies had not really involved making out in public places, mainly because he had wanted to keep Lupin all to himself, like a miser hoarding gold. Most of his fantasies had contained only himself and Lupin, with no teachers, parents, classmates, and most of all, no annoying Marauders to interfere with them. But he had to admit to himself that the thought of snogging Lupin on the Tower had once or twice crossed his mind during Astronomy class.

"What if Sinistra catches us?" Snape asked. "Or worse, the N.E.W.T. examiners and students--aren't they holding the Astronomy N.E.W.T. up here tonight?"

"Not for another three hours," Lupin assured him. "I checked with Sinistra. And I...er...asked her if I could borrow the Tower for our picnic, so we don't have to worry about her interrupting us, either."

Snape groaned, wondering if Sinistra had been able to guess that Lupin had wanted the Tower for something more than a picnic--as if the idea of the Head of Slytherin having a picnic wasn't embarrassing enough in itself! "What if a couple of students get the same idea as you, and aren't aware that the Tower is currently occupied?" Snape asked sulkily.

"Well, everyone should be at dinner for at least another half-hour," Lupin said reasonably. "Assuming we don't waste any more time arguing. And didn't you tell the boys once that it's easier to give in when the werewolf has his mind set on something?"

"Very well," Snape sighed with a show of resignation. "But you owe me one, Lupin."

"I am sure I can find a way to properly repay you, Severus," Lupin whispered, and kissed him.

Snape kissed him back, then quickly pulled away and said, "But let's ward the door first, just to be on the safe side!"

Lupin laughed, pulled out his wand, and cast a warding spell on the door that led to the Tower landing. Then he kissed Snape again and pulled him back down onto the blanket, shoving aside the empty and half-empty plates of food. Then Lupin resumed what he'd been doing earlier, sliding his hands beneath Snape's robes. Snape responded to Lupin's caresses and returned them in kind, but he tensed a little when Lupin started to undress him, feeling uncomfortable with the idea of being exposed out in the open (well, under the open sky, anyway, although the walls of the Tower landing surrounded them). Lupin seemed to sense his unease and immediately backed off, then smiled at Snape and began to doff his own robes instead. Snape watched spellbound as Lupin slowly slipped out of his clothing in a deliberately enticing way, then stood up, flung out his arms, and tilted his head back, laughing as the wind blew through his hair and against his bare skin.

"This feels wonderful!" Lupin said. The sun was setting, and Lupin looked beautiful, bathed in its red-golden light.

In fact, he looked so beautiful that Snape was struck speechless, and it took him several tries to get something more than a hoarse croak out of his throat, but finally he managed to say, with something approaching his normal sarcasm, "You're such an exhibitionist, Lupin."

"No one else is around, Severus," Lupin said serenely. "There's no one here to see me but you."

{Good,} Snape thought possessively. He liked the idea that this beautiful vision of Lupin was only for him and no one else. He silently held out his hand, and Lupin dropped back down to the blanket to take it. Snape pulled Lupin into his arms and kissed him, running his hands along Lupin's bare skin as the werewolf gasped and moaned.

After a few minutes, Lupin squirmed away and reached into the basket, then grinned as he held up a small jar of lavender oil. Snape raised an eyebrow and tried not to smile. "So you had this planned all along, Lupin? I should have known."

"I just wanted to be prepared for whatever might happen," Lupin said with a look of wide-eyed innocence--or at least as much innocence as a naked, aroused werewolf could manage, which was to say, not very.

"Come here," Snape said, and Lupin came over and handed him the jar. He coated his hands with the oil as Lupin let out a little whine of anticipation, but Snape did not try to enter him right away. Instead, he slowly caressed Lupin's chest, arms, and thighs, admiring the way that the oil glistened on Lupin's body in the fading sunlight, and enjoying the way that Lupin was whimpering in an increasingly frustrated manner.

"Please, Severus," Lupin whimpered. "At this rate, we'll still be up here when the N.E.W.T. class arrives."

"And you'd probably get a kick out of that, you exhibitionist," Snape retorted tartly as he continued to stroke the inside of Lupin's thigh. But the werewolf did have a point. He did want to finish this before dinner was over and teachers and students started roaming the castle again.

"Severus, please, I--oh!" Lupin's pleas dissolved into wordless moaning and growling as Snape's fingers slipped into him, stretching and preparing him. After a few minutes of this, Lupin groaned impatiently and pushed Snape's hand away. Then he opened Snape's trousers just enough to free his erection, and coated him with what remained of the oil, running his hand slowly up and down the shaft.

"Remus," Snape moaned, wrapping an arm around Lupin's waist and pulling him closer.

"Now who's the impatient one?" Lupin teased, but he crawled onto Snape's lap and slowly lowered himself down, and Snape felt himself sliding into his lover's body. He just sat there for a little while, moaning softly, as Lupin straddled and rode him, allowing himself to drown in the delicious sensation of being sheathed within Lupin's body. And then he heard Lupin growl in his ear, and felt Lupin's teeth nipping at his throat, and suddenly enflamed, he abruptly pushed Lupin onto his back and began thrusting hard into him. Lupin responded with equal enthusiasm, wrapping his legs around Snape's waist and raising his hips to meet each thrust, urging him on with hungry wolfish growls that excited Snape even more. It was not long before Lupin tilted his head back and Snape leaned forward to bite down on his exposed throat, and they both came as Lupin howled.

They lay there panting quietly for a couple of minutes, trying to catch their breath, then Snape said, "I really hope that they couldn't hear you howling all the way over in the Great Hall!"

Lupin laughed, "As long as no one sends the Aurors out to investigate the noise!" Then a look of consternation crossed his face; he obviously regretted bringing up the Aurors when he had been trying to distract Snape from being under house arrest.

But Snape's mood had improved dramatically, and he grinned as he imagined Dawlish and Williamson showing up, hoping to catch Snape in some sort of Dark Magic experiment or Death Eater ritual, and finding instead only an amorous werewolf. Although he probably wouldn't have found it quite so funny if the two Aurors actually had shown up right now, Snape laughed and Lupin smiled in relief.

"Well, we'd better get back to the dungeon before either the Aurors or the N.E.W.T. class shows up," Snape said. He cast a quick cleaning spell on his now rather damp and sticky robes, and Lupin got dressed and packed up the picnic basket.

The werewolf rubbed his back, wincing a little as they made their way down the stairs. "My childhood fantasies never included bruises from lying on a stone floor," he said with a rueful grin.

"This was all your idea, Lupin," Snape informed him in a haughty voice. "You could have had a nice soft bed to lie in, but no, you had to indulge in your little exhibitionist fantasy about the Astronomy Tower. You have no one but yourself to blame."

"That's true, Severus," Lupin said cheerfully. "I'm not complaining."

"Oh, and Remus?" Snape asked.

"Yes, Severus?"

Snape looked away, avoiding Lupin's gaze. "Thank you," he said gruffly.

"You're welcome, Severus," Lupin said tenderly, and Snape felt Lupin's lips brush lightly against his cheek. Then the werewolf quickly moved away before Snape could scold him for "mauling" him in public. Lupin smiled at him mischievously, and although Snape tried to glare at him, he felt his lips curve upwards into a smile.
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Lukas was heading from the Great Hall to his quarters, when he happened to pass by Lupin and Snape. Lupin smiled and nodded at him pleasantly, and Lukas nodded back, then wrinkled his nose. "Phew, Remus, you reek of lavender!"

Lupin grinned widely, and Snape's sallow face turned bright red. "Oh, you know how clumsy I am," Lupin said innocently. "I'm afraid I managed to spill a bottle of lavender oil all over me."

"Yes, I'm not letting the werewolf anywhere near my potion supplies again," Snape snarled, his face still red.

But Lukas's keen sense of smell picked up a faint whiff of something muskier beneath the cloying perfume of the lavender, and that, along with Snape's red face, gave him a much clearer idea than he really wanted of just why Lupin and Snape had been absent from dinner. "That would probably be wise," Lukas said, trying to keep a bland expression fixed on his face.

Snape quickly grabbed Lupin's arm and hustled him off in the direction of the dungeon as Lupin giggled. Lukas shook his head and continued on his way, muttering to himself sourly, "Well, at least someone around here is getting laid."
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Takeshi stifled a yawn as he bottled up a batch of healing salve at St. Mungo's. He was exhausted, but fortunately, it had been a slow day with few patients to tend. He had finally stopped dreaming about the black wolf, but he wasn't sleeping any easier, because he had still dreamt of Aric nearly every night since his drunken visit to the clinic. Only instead of dreaming of Aric turning into a wolf (or rather, the wolf turning into Aric), he dreamt that he had not stopped Aric and sent him home that night. In his dreams, he gave in to desire and let Aric take him right on top of the desk. Or bent over the desk. And once, even under the desk. Which would probably be rather unpractical and uncomfortable, if not downright impossible in real life, but practical details didn't really matter in a dream. Another time he dreamt that they made love on the examining table, which they had never even gone near during Aric's visit. But it seemed that Takeshi's subconscious had no problem coming up with a seemingly endless variety of places and positions in which to have sex.

The dreams were starting to scare him, because the sex was so good, his climaxes so intense, that he feared no real lover would ever be able to compare. Certainly none of his past encounters could match the intensity of his dreams--not his first love from Japan; not his last serious boyfriend, a former Ravenclaw classmate; and not even his werewolf friends Kian and Ash. He yearned for the dreams, because they were the only way he could be with Aric, and he hated them at the same time, because they were only an illusion. There were several illegal types of narcotic potions that would give the users blissful dreams, and he didn't want to end up like the addicts he'd seen treated at St. Mungo's--pathetic, pitiable creatures who preferred false dreams to bleak reality, and who lived only for their next fix. Takeshi feared he was becoming addicted to the dreams, but unlike the potion addicts, he couldn't make the dreams cease simply by not taking a potion. And the dreams always made him feel worse than ever when he awoke to find himself alone, his loneliness and despair magnified by the joy he'd felt in his dreams--rather like drinking a sweet potion that left a bitter aftertaste in your mouth.

Working himself into a state of exhaustion no longer seemed to stave off the dreams, so he found himself sleeping as little as possible. But he couldn't stay awake forever, of course, so eventually he would fall asleep and the dreams would come. And then he would awaken feeling so lonely and frustrated and angry that what little sleep he got was not restful at all.

"I'll finish up," a voice said, startling Takeshi and nearly causing him to drop the jar of healing salve he was holding. "Why don't you go home early, Mr. Kimura?"

"Healer Smethwyck!" Takeshi exclaimed, looking up to see his supervisor smiling at him in a concerned manner. "But I still have another hour left on my shift."

"It's a slow day; I'm sure we can manage without you." Smethwyck gave him a stern look. "And I want you to go straight home. No stopping by the clinic."

"But I--"

"I've sent Mr. Pye to keep an eye on things for a couple of hours. It's more than a week till the full moon, and there's a good supply of Wolfsbane Potion on hand, so everything should be fine."

"But--"

"If an emergency does come up involving the werewolves, I promise I'll call you," Smethwyck said. "Now go home and get some rest. You won't be doing your patients any good if you're so tired that you put the wrong ingredients into a potion or fall asleep in the middle of treating a patient."

Takeshi had been careful so far not to let his fatigue affect his work, but he knew that Smethwyck was right. "Yes, sir," he said meekly.

So he signed out and took the Floo home. But when he stepped through the fireplace into his living room, he caught sight of someone sitting on the couch--which should be empty, since he lived alone and wasn't expecting company. He automatically started to chant an incantation as he reached for his wand until he recognized his uninvited guest.

The man sitting on the couch was tall and handsome, with glossy, shoulder-length black hair pulled back in a ponytail, and he was wearing a long kimono of indigo silk dyed with a pattern of stylized white feathers. Ichiro Kimura grinned and said in Japanese, "Is that any way to greet your elder brother?"

"Oniisan!" Takeshi shouted, and ran forward to hug his brother. And as his brother's arms folded around him, Takeshi suddenly felt tears well in his eyes, although he didn't know why. Maybe it was just that his brother's embrace felt so familiar and comforting after everything he'd been through in the past few weeks.

Ichiro must have sensed his mood, because he held Takeshi a little longer and a little more tightly than he normally would have. But then Ichiro released him, and Takeshi blinked back his tears and attempted to smile in a cheerful manner. "What are you doing here, Oniisan? You should have told me you were coming; I nearly hit you with a stunning spell just now! Things are a little tense right now in London, with the anti-werewolf faction up in arms. I thought for a moment that a vigilante had somehow broken into my apartment."

"I'm sorry," Ichiro said. "I didn't mean to startle you. I thought I would pay you a surprise visit, but I should have realized you would be nervous, since you wrote to me about people throwing rocks and eggs at the clinic in your last letter. But you did a good job on your protective wards; they're all still intact. I was only able to enter because you had enspelled them to allow family members to pass through the wards."

"So why are you here, Niisan?" Takeshi asked, although he could probably guess at the answer. "Isn't everyone busy getting ready for Chizuru-hime's wedding? Okaasan said that your family has been commissioned to make the robes for the bride and groom and their attendants." Ichiro was married to the daughter of the Head Weaver of the crane clan. A skilled weaver himself, he had met his future bride while working as an apprentice under her mother.

"I can spare an hour or two to visit my dear little brother," Ichiro said with a smile. "Portkey travel is instantaneous, after all. As for why I'm here--our parents are worried about you, Takeshi-kun. They say that you haven't stopped by the restaurant for over two weeks, and Otoosan says you looked very tired when he helped you set the wards on your werewolf friend's bookstore. Even your supervisor at St. Mungo's seemed concerned about you, when I contacted him and asked if he could send you home early today."

"Ah, so that's why he sent me home early," Takeshi murmured, feeling a little chagrined. Even his boss was conspiring with his family against him--for his own good, of course.

"I can see why they're worried," Ichiro said. "You look terrible; you have dark circles under your eyes, and you look like you haven't slept in days."

"I'm fine," Takeshi said, not very convincingly.

"Won't you tell me what's wrong, Take-chan?" Ichiro asked gently, using his old childish nickname for Takeshi, which he had not used in many years.

And that was all it took for Takeshi to break down and spill out the whole story of Aric and the betrothal and Roderick Dietrich's stroke, and even the dreams, as embarrassing as it was to discuss such a thing with his brother. He wasn't sure how much of this Ichiro actually understood, as he kept switching back and forth from Japanese to English, and was sobbing between words by the end. But Ichiro listened patiently, saying nothing, but nodding occasionally, and when Takeshi finally finished speaking, he wrapped his arms around his younger brother and held him close, allowing him to weep on his shoulder.

By the time the tears finally stopped flowing, Takeshi was exhausted and his eyes and throat were sore, but strangely enough, he did feel a little better. He lifted his head from his brother's shoulder, and took off his glasses and wiped them on his robe. He then started to wipe his face on his sleeve, but Ichiro conjured up a handkerchief and handed it to him.

"Why didn't you tell us what was wrong earlier?" Ichiro gently chided.

"I'm sorry," Takeshi said, wiping his face. "I didn't want to worry you. And I didn't really want to talk about it. It hurts so much to talk about Aric, or even just to think about him. Only I can't stop thinking about him. And I should have known that Okaasan and Otoosan would be worried about me. I'm sorry."

"You have been searching for your true love for most of your life," Ichiro said in a musing tone. Takeshi flushed; his family often called him a romantic and gently teased him for his fondness for fairy tales. "But as it often happens, it seems that love found you when you were not looking for it."

"This isn't how it was supposed to be!" Takeshi wailed. "I never thought that when I found my true love, he'd be engaged to someone else!"

"Not all fairy tales end happily, Take-chan," Ichiro said quietly. "But this boy, he does love you?"

"Yes," Takeshi said miserably. "For all the good that does. It would be easier to let go of him if he didn't."

"And you believe that his family has deceived him?" Ichiro asked.

"I think so," Takeshi replied. "I couldn't question the staff too closely without making them curious as to why I was asking, so I can't be absolutely certain. But I believe that Aric arrived at the hospital after the Healers had already stabilized his grandfather."

"Then perhaps you should tell him this?" Ichiro suggested.

"I couldn't!" Takeshi protested. "I don't want to tear him apart, between his family and me! And won't it seem like I'm bad-mouthing his family in a desperate attempt to win him over?"

"If he truly loves you, he will not think so ill of you," Ichiro said.

Takeshi wasn't so sure. He loved Aric, but he was also aware of his beloved's shortcomings: his prejudices and his short temper. The first reaction of a typical pureblood when something went wrong was to look for someone else to blame, as the Dietrich family had blamed Theodore for Rafe's death. And Aric loved his family, and was a little scared of his feelings for Takeshi. He might well react instinctively and lash out against the bearer of bad news.

"He is scared," Takeshi said. "The pureblood elite generally do not react very well to change, and I have unintentionally turned his world upside-down. But it isn't just that. He will be hurt if I tell him that his family has deceived him, and I don't want to cause him any more pain than I already have."

"And you don't think that it will hurt him to be trapped in a loveless marriage for the rest of his life?" Ichiro asked pointedly. "What are you really afraid of, Takeshi?"

"I'm afraid that he'll still choose his family over me," Takeshi whispered. "I'm afraid that I will lose him a second time. I don't know how many more times I can stand to have my heart broken."

"He is already lost to you now," Ichiro said bluntly. "What do you have left to lose?" When Takeshi remained silent, Ichiro added, "Sometimes you can't just wait for love to come to you, Takeshi-kun. Sometimes you have to fight for it."

"It's asking a lot of him, to give up his family for me," Takeshi sighed. "I don't know that I would be able to do the same thing for him."

"It will still be his choice," Ichiro said. "I can't promise that he will choose you."

"Aren't you supposed to be cheering me up?" Takeshi asked wryly.

"But he should make his decision based on the truth and not a lie," Ichiro continued. "If someone that you loved deceived you, wouldn't you want to know the truth even if it hurt?"

"Yes," Takeshi admitted reluctantly.

"By trying to protect him, you are taking the choice out of his hands," Ichiro said. "Tell Aric the truth and let him make his own decision."

"Yes, Niisan," Takeshi said meekly. "But he's in the middle of taking his exams right now. I'll talk to him after the N.E.W.T.s are over. I don't want him failing his N.E.W.T.s because he was too upset to concentrate."

"Fine, but don't wait too long," Ichiro cautioned. "Or you'll end up watching him walk down the aisle with that girl Miranda."

Takeshi felt a sudden stab of fear and pain at the thought. "Yes, Niisan."

Ichiro hugged him and said in a kinder voice, "I know this is hard for you, Take-chan. The blood of our ancestors flows strong in you. That can be a curse as well as a gift."

Which reminded Takeshi that he had not been entirely forthcoming with Aric about certain other things as well. "Do you think he would still love me if he knew?" Takeshi asked in a small voice.

"If he doesn't, then he is not worthy of you," Ichiro said firmly. He hugged his brother once more and said, "I have to go now. You were right; we are busy preparing for the wedding. But write to me, or take the Portkey to see me, if you need someone to talk to. And go show your face at the Sakura so that Okaasan will stop worrying."

"I will, Oniisan."

Ichiro smiled at his brother tenderly. "And when all this is over, come visit me in Japan. Hopefully with your young man by your side. But if not, at least let the people who love you share the burden of your sorrow."

"Thank you, Oniisan," Takeshi said, giving his brother one last hug. "I promise I will come visit you no matter what happens. But I cannot leave until I am sure that my werewolf friends will be safe."

"If worse comes to worst, then bring them with you," Ichiro said with a grin.

"A pack of wolves running loose among the cranes?" Takeshi laughed. "That will cause some feathers to fly!"

Ichiro laughed as well, then departed through the Floo, to go back to the Sakura and take the Portkey home to Japan. And Takeshi found that while the thought of losing Aric still hurt, he didn't feel quite as alone as he had before. Although he had been trying to conceal his pain from his family, he was glad now that his brother had come.

Chapter 136

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