Chapter 3
Striding over to the instruments that tracked different pieces of his plan, he frowned at the number of them that had stopped spinning. “No, no. This won’t do. This won’t do at all.” His day was rapidly souring further, control slipping from his grasp. He would need to call in the council using alternate methods, he decided before rushing away to the owlery, blissfully unaware of the shadows that were whispering about him.
A smile tugged at Hadrian’s lips as they slid deeper into the tunnel that their submissive had led them into. The mages were busy clearing away the debris when they stopped short, angry whispers breaking out among the group until young Harry spoke up, “Why are we stopping? It’s not – oh.” He had climbed up to look over one of Milo’s shoulders, much to the clear annoyance of that particular bonded. “It’s just a skin,” he declared, before turning to climb back down.
Milo merely shifted him in his grasp so that he was secure and had the view that he was wanting. As they began walking, Hadrian watched the submissive attempt to squirm his way out of the Joker’s arms before biting down harshly on the exposed neck. Once he settled, Hadrian excused himself from the group and collected the various sheds to place into his personal voidstone. After all, his submissive had killed that beast and the scales would make marvellous armour.
Despite himself, Harry found that he enjoyed being carried for a number of reasons. One, this specific Bonded was quite nice to look at — though he supposed that could be applied to all of his Bonded, he thought with an appreciative purr. Two, the cool metal of the arm felt nice against his cheek. And he really was quite tired from all of the fanfare, which he doubted was anywhere near over. Not knowing his luck.
As they rolled to a stop in the mouth of the cavernous chamber, Harry cursed under his breath. Why had he jinxed it? He shifted as much as he could in the tightening grip to look at the familiar scene, as horror trickled through his bonds. Tears sprung to his eyes as he listened to the growling and he quickly hid his face in his Joker’s neck as he started to sob. A hand rubbed circles into his back as he cried, the memories of his second year hitting him at full force.
“She was so small,” he whined, fingers curled as they attempted to grip at fabric and came back empty. “Why did nobody care? They were just going to leave her – leave her to die – and that was fine. It wasn’t fine,” he ended up yelling, fists slamming into the hard metal of armour as rage set in. He growled, fangs clicking into place as his claws dug into the arm that was holding him. The arms holding him shifted as the twins took him from the Gheyo and he let out a warbling cry into Fred’s neck. “Someone should have cared.” Soothing rumbles met his words as the two surrounded him, pressing against him until he slouched; exhaustion once again drowning out any other emotion.
Peeking out from between the twins, he watched as Ethan and a pair of Gheyos prowled across the chamber obviously searching for threats. It was a comforting sight, though it didn’t quite make sense why it was comforting. Just more confusing instincts, he thought with a slightly annoyed sigh.
After they were all gathered in the chamber, the conversation of who they were bringing to Nevarah picked up and Idan was, admittedly, only half-listening. It was for this reason that he was a little caught off guard by the appearance of a smiling house elf — something that bothered him on an instinctual level, the binding of the lower elves’ magic would never not bother him. But then he watched how Harry spoke to the small creature, squatting so that he could look him in the eye and offering gentle affection. He couldn't deny the love that his submissive clearly had for the small elf, though, if he was about to abandon the elf here he might need to rethink that conclusion.
He shot a questioning glance at Minh, receiving an unhelpful shrug in return and continued to watch the scene unfold. The small elf continued to pop in and out of the chamber, gathering the circle members’ belongings and their other guests into the large chamber. Not once was an offer extended for Dobby to join them, however, and his eyes narrowed at the thought that Harry was about to leave behind someone that he thought of as a friend in a world where he would be subjugated. Perhaps he had missed it, he tried to reason, throwing another questioning glance towards his fellow Gheyo. Silence answered him, both verbally and through the bond.
Maybe he had misjudged then, maybe Harry didn't understand. Maybe he didn't care. He frowned at the thought, eyes flickering between the submissive’s wide grin and the adoring gaze of the house elf. As he was about to voice his disapproval, Harry took the house elf's small hands in his own and started explaining the plan and finished by extending an invitation to join them.
Dobby's enthusiastic agreement echoed throughout the large space as he beamed, eyes bulging, “Oh Great Master Harry, you is so kind to Dobby! You is freeing him from bad old master and inviting him to sanctuary!” Idan couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips, even as he felt most of the circle turning to look at him. It was sweet to see that his submissive was so caring.