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Angels and Devils	By : Beren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17018 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
Title: Angels and
Devils

Chapter: Questions and Answers 10/10

Author: Beren (aka Didi)

Email: beren.writes@gmail.com

LJ: http://www.livejournal.com/userinfo.bml?user=beren_writes

Wordcount: 6917

Pairing: Harry/Draco

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created
and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury
Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money
is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Warnings: This story is set post OOTP and therefore has SPOLIERS. If
you don’t want to know anything that went on in book five do not read this
story.

Summary: Harry defeated Voldemort: his act of heroism is famous throughout
the wizarding world. He’s trying to finish his final year at Hogwarts in
peace, but something peculiar is happening to him, something he never would
have expected. It's all rather embarrassing and making his life very complicated.

Author's Notes: This fic has Veela!Draco and lots of other things that
appear to have become fandom clichés, which was part of the point in
writing it :). I've had great fun with this fic, trying to explore ideas in
a slightly different way than I have seen before. It may have Veela!Draco, but
it is all from Harry POV in case you were wondering. I will be posting in two
blocks, the first five parts now (05Jan05) and the second five parts next week.
Thanks go to Soph for the beta. I've actually had this one hanging around since
I was writing GTS.

====

Chapter 10 Questions and Answers

Harry had never been held
as a child and he liked the feeling of arms around him. At first Draco had seemed
slightly perturbed when he had not pulled away after they had satisfied their
mutual desire, but the Slytherin seemed to have warmed to the idea. They were
lying on the bed, half propped up on pillows, with Harry draped across Draco's
chest in a very decadent fashion. Draco's arms were wound loosely around Harry's
shoulders and they had lain there for a good few minutes in companionable silence.

"Draco," Harry
asked eventually as his curiosity from earlier made it back into his mind, "how
come there are sex supplies in the bedside table?"

"What else would go
in the little drawer?" Draco asked as if it was a very strange question.

"Tissues, soap, writing
paper, pens?" Harry offered with a small shrug.

"But what happens
if your guests choose to have sex and they require some assistance?" Draco
countered in a very reasonable tone. "It would be terribly impolite to
leave them in the lurch like that."

The idea of supplying your guest with sexual aids rather scandalised the Muggle
raised part of Harry's brain, but he had to admit that he rather liked the more
practical approach to sex. It occurred to him that the fact that the Wizarding
world had never had a Dark Ages was a good thing.

"You may have a point,"
he agreed and snuggled closer to his lover once more.

Draco seemed content to
leave the conversation there, which was fine by Harry and he settled down to
enjoy the silence again.

"Will you teach me
to use these wings properly?" Draco suddenly asked. "I tried, but
I didn't get very far."

"It's tricky to begin
with isn't it," Harry replied with a small laugh. "I use the room
of requirement; we can go there when we get back to school if you like. It's
not very nice for flying outside at the moment so it might be an idea to wait."

Draco responded with a
noise that could have been a yes, or a maybe, but Harry was enjoying their current
position too much to worry. For all he knew Malfoy Manor had its own room of
requirement and his lover was thinking about using that.

The silence embraced them
again, but it was a warm lapse in conversation rather than the angry coldness
that had been between them since their first coupling.

"How long did it take
you to figure it out?" Draco asked a few moments later.

"About a week for
the basics, but I was practising every day for a couple of hours," he replied
honestly. "It takes a while to figure out how they feel, but once you have
it, everything else is second nature. It's not really like learning to use another
part of your body, more a way of thinking."

Draco made another unintelligible
noise that Harry did not try too hard to decipher and they lapsed back into
not talking. Almost without his volition Harry found himself stroking his fingers
up and down his lover's side. Draco had a very nice body; fine muscle tone and
a strong frame, especially since his rather abrupt change thanks to their tryst.
Harry found he liked to touch and he couldn't help smiling when he found a spot
that made Draco shift somewhat. Filing the knowledge away for another time he
noted that his lover was ticklish. He felt as if he could stay this way forever.

"Do you mind if I
ask you something?" Harry finally voiced what he needed from their meeting.

Sex was good and definitely
important to the Seraphim part of him as well as his teenage libido, but what
he really wanted was to know his lover. There was a very large knowledge gap
in his head with the label 'Draco' and he desperately needed to fill it.

"Okay," the Slytherin
replied after a moment's pause and he sounded vaguely nervous.

This was strange for both
of them, Harry realised that. They had been enemies so long that opening up
to each other was not going to be easy. They were physically intimate, but they
were far from intimate on an intellectual level. Running through all his possible
questions he realised there was one that was more important than anything else;
it was part of what defined them both and it needed to be asked.

"Why did you do it?"
Harry asked evenly. "Why did you turn your back on Voldemort?"

The enquiry drew a sharp
laugh from Draco and Harry shifted slightly in his lover's arms to look up at
the Slytherin's face.

"Merlin's beard,"
his companion said and shook his head, "you don't believe in asking the
little questions first do you."

For a while Harry was worried
he had pushed too hard and that Draco would not answer, but the Slytherin did
not change the way he was holding him and he sobered quickly.

"I'm sorry, if you
don't want to answer..." Harry apologised when they fell into silence.

"No," Draco interrupted
him, "don't be sorry; your direct approach is so thoroughly you I'd be
worried if you tried something else. It makes a change from what I'm used to
if nothing else."

He still didn't have an
answer, but at least Harry knew his lover was not offended.

"I'll make a deal
with you," Draco said eventually in a very Slytherin like way, "I
will tell you why I did what I did and then you will answer one question of
mine: anything I want to know."

It was so typical of Draco
not to specify what he would ask and Harry knew it was his companion's way of
regaining control. He did not believe that the Slytherin realised that his request
was not as frightening as it once would have been; Harry wanted to tell his
lover everything. With a nod he agreed and Draco relaxed back with a concentrated
expression on his face. Harry did not push and waited for the youth to begin.

"It was the Avesbury
massacre," Draco started eventually in a rather distant tone, "you
know it was Voldemort's way of testing those he broke out of Azkaban?"

Harry nodded again to show
that he was aware of that. The Dark Lord had freed his supporters from Azkaban
and then sent them to kill a coach load of school children who were visiting
Avesbury, on a holiday just before Christmas. The Muggle news had reported a
terrible coach crash, but that had been the Ministry cover up.

"My father came home
afterwards," Draco continued quietly, "still covered in blood, and
I ran to see him like a dutiful Death Eater's son, only Azkaban changed him.
I think it gave him time to think and he had to face things that had never occurred
to him before. He went to my mother and fell apart. I don't think he even knew
I was there. My dad fell to his knees in front of my mum and cried into her
skirt, telling her everything about the massacre."

Draco paused as if the
words were difficult and took a deep breath, Harry tightened his embrace slightly.

"I had never seen
my father cry before, and I hadn't faced the horrors of war," his lover
said eventually. "He told my mother that Voldemort was not the man he used
to be and that he regretted how deeply he was involved. It was not a war about
purebloods anymore, it was about vengeance and it was wrong. My father actually
said what he was doing was wrong, but he couldn't stop. It rather blew my mind.
I left then and I never saw him again. It took me days to get past the shock,
but when I did I realised that I could not end up like him. I began to plan
and when I returned to school I started the coup."

Harry had not known what
to expect, but he had not considered that Lucius Malfoy would have had anything
to do with his son's change of heart. Suddenly he realised that the Death Eaters
were human as well and it was a startling revelation.

"It must have been
very difficult," Harry responded quietly; he remembered all too well what
it was like to have your belief system completely uprooted.

"What, my father turning
out to be fallible, or the coup?" Draco asked a little derisively.

"Both," Harry
said honestly.

"The coup was easy,"
Draco said and Harry did not miss that his lover totally failed to mention his
father, "it's in my blood. I've ruled my year for a long time and manipulating
them was no trouble. To some of them I think it was a relief."

"It still took incredible
courage and resourcefulness," Harry pointed out, unwilling to let Draco
play down his contribution to the war

Draco snorted, but did
not reply. Harry assumed the Slytherin was thinking, but he did not look up
to try and read his lover's features. There was tension in Draco's body that
had not been there before and it took a long time to flow away as Harry stroked
his fingers along his lover's side.

"My turn," Draco
eventually said in a falsely bright tone.

Now Harry did look up and
there was definitely a hint of glee in his lover's eyes.

"Okay," he said
in acceptance, "you earned it."

"Why did you go after
Voldemort by yourself?" Draco's question was simple, but it lanced at a
very private part of Harry's psyche.

The only people he had
ever spoken to about his reasoning were Hermione, Ron and Poppy; not even Dumbledore
knew why. By now the tale of how the Boy Who Lived had apparated alone into
the presence of Voldemort and vanquished the dark wizard with one spell was
legendary, but few knew exactly how or why he had done it.

"I flipped,"
Harry said with a stark honesty that surprised him. "I hadn't been very
stable since my godfather was killed and Voldemort pushed me over the edge.
You probably didn't know him, but Colin Creevey, the boy who used to follow
me around with a camera all the time had a brother, his name was Denis. He never
came back after Christmas that year, he was killed in the Leeds bombing. That
was when I realised that I was going to end up watching everyone die if I didn't
do something."

He paused to gather his
thoughts.

"The prophecy said
one of us would die by the other's hand and we couldn't live while the other
was alive. Without the worry of being sane I had a revelation," Harry continued
slowly. "Voldemort and I were connected from the moment I survived as a
baby and it occurred to me that we were two halves of the same magical entity,
so I looked up spells for transferring magic from one half of something broken
into the other half. There're several of them in '100 housekeeping spells for
the magical family'."

Draco took hold of his
chin and made him look at his face, the Slytherin appeared shocked.

"Are you telling me
you defeated the Dark Lord with a housekeeping spell?" Draco sounded amazed,
offended and incredulous all at the same time.

Harry gave a little shrug.

"Um, yeah I suppose
I did," he replied, although he hadn't actually ever thought of it like
that. "I had to adapt it, but that was basically what it was. Anyway, do
you want to hear this or not?"

Draco nodded and let him
go so he relaxed back into his original position. Now that he was speaking he
found his did not want to stop.

"I asked Hermione
to teach me to Apparate since she was the only one who I thought could manage
it," Harry returned to his story. "I told her it was because I was
having nightmares about being chased and not being able to escape. I don't think
she's ever forgiven me for that. No one seemed to notice I'd gone off the deep
end, which probably doesn't say a lot for my mental state before that. When
I had learned how to Apparate and knew my power moving spell I walked to Hogsmeade
and used my connection to Voldemort and Legilimency to focus on him. It was
easier than I expected and I Apparated straight to him. He was so surprised
that he never even tried to defend himself; I grabbed him, cast my spell and
sucked him dry. I don't remember anything after that until I woke up two months
later."

Draco did not say anything
for a very long time and Harry did not feel like reiterating any of his explanation,
so he remained silent.

"That is the most
foolhardy, ridiculously brave, completely Gryffindor thing I have ever heard,"
the Slytherin said eventually. "You had no idea if it would work; you did
something I can barely comprehend when you Apparated; and it could have killed
you anyway. What were you thinking?"

"That if I won no
one else would have to die," Harry replied quietly, "and if I lost
I wouldn't have to watch all of my friends being killed."

The words slipped out with
brutal honesty and caused silence again.

"What was it like,"
Draco asked after a few moments, "killing him I mean?"

"Horrible," Harry
replied openly. "I've told the others that I don't remember much after
I cast the spell, but it's not true; I remember every second 'til the moment
he died. Only Poppy knows that and you now of course. He tried to fight me,
but the power he transferred to me as a baby called to his power and he couldn't
stop it. It hurt and I thought I might explode. Poppy says in a way I almost
did, but when he died everything just stopped. I wish I could forget it, but
I can't, so I keep it locked away and I dream of it sometimes. Is there anything
else you want to know?"

When Harry had first explained
what he had done to Poppy a few days after he had first woken up, he had cried
and sobbed, but now he spoke calmly, keeping the memories distant with practice
efficiency. Occlumency was a useful talent to have learned.

"I think I've heard
enough for now," Draco said after a moment and he sounded a little shocked.

They lapsed into a rather
awkward silence and Harry did not know what to say to break it. Maybe it had
been rather a heavy conversation for their first real exchange.

"Oh, bloody hell,"
Draco said suddenly, "I refuse to lie here with a completely naked Gryffindor
and get depressed. There are better things to do."

And with that Harry found
himself rolled onto his back and pinned to the bed by Draco's body. He just
about had enough time to breathe before his lover covered his mouth and began
to kiss him passionately. He gave in easily and wound his arms around Draco,
very willing to surrender to desire rather than having to think.

====

It was not until a good
few hours later that Draco dragged Harry out of bed and showed him to an en
suite bathroom that was bigger than the prefects' bathroom at Hogwarts. Here
he left him, telling him that he'd be back with some clothes once he'd cleaned
up himself. Draco had also mentioned something about meeting his mother, which
had sent Harry into nervous fits, making the whole process of bathing that much
more important.

Somehow in his mind Harry
had never factored Narcissa into the equation of himself and Draco, and he really
did not know what to think. The only memory of the woman he had was of the Quidditch
World Cup where she had been cold, not very nice, and a little scary. That he
had fundamentally altered her son and single-handedly destroyed any marriage
plans Draco's family may have had for him, was at the forefront of his mind
as he walked back into the bedroom in nothing but a towel. He found Narcissa
Malfoy sitting on the end of the bed in the one spot where the covers had not
been rucked up by what he and Draco had been up to, and he thought his heart
might stop.

His hand automatically
went to his waist to check that the towel was completely secure and then he
just stared because he had no idea what to say.

"Good afternoon,"
Draco's mother greeted evenly, "I apologise for intruding, but I wished
to speak with you without my son, and Draco would be unlikely to leave you alone
in my presence given a choice."

That begged the question
'why?', but Harry didn't want to think about that too closely.

"Hello," he returned
politely, wondering if there was any way to escape.

"Draco probably believes
I wish to curse you from the manor," the regal-looking woman continued
calmly, "and although earlier today he may have been correct, I have decided
to reserve judgement. He is remarkably protective of you given that he professes
not to even like you; however, I believe that has changed as well."

The woman looked at him
with the same steel grey eyes Draco possessed and they pinned him down just
as well, although with Narcissa it was for an entirely different reason. Harry
tried very hard not to squirm.

"Before today I was
willing to make you pay dearly for what you have done to my son," Narcissa
said openly, "he has been miserable from the moment he came home, but I
believe I understand at least part of that now. I have not seen the look of
joy on Draco's face which graced his features as you collapsed on our doorstep,
since before his father was killed. For that I am willing to forgive a great
deal. I also took it upon myself to listen to your conversations today."

The heat filled Harry's
face instantly as he realised what Draco's mother must have also heard, but
Narcissa appeared to be tactfully ignoring that for now.

"I have one question
and one question only," she said pointedly: "Did you mean it when
you told him you wished to learn to love him?"

In that moment, in Harry's
mind, Narcissa went from the wife of Voldemort's right hand man, to a mother
worried about her child, and it had the most remarkable effect on his psyche.
He walked forward and looked the mother of his mate straight in the eye.

"Mrs Malfoy,"
he said slowly and firmly, "I would do anything."

Narcissa stood up and crossed
what was left of the distance between them. She was a tall woman not that much
shorter than Harry and at that moment he felt something akin to what he always
felt around Molly Weasley; although he was the bigger in stature he felt the
smaller presence.

"In that case, Mr
Potter," she said, never letting his gaze go, "please call me Narcissa."

Harry was, quite frankly,
stunned and it must have shown on his face because Narcissa smiled slightly
before turning to leave.

"Harry," he managed
to stutter, just as she reached the door.

Turning back, the poised
woman inclined her head in a slight nod.

"Harry," she
said and walked through the door.

For a long moment Harry
was not sure if he was going to ever recover from the trauma of meeting Draco's
mother wearing only a towel and he just stood there. In fact he was still standing
there when Draco came charging through the door looking very worried.

"Harry?" the
Slytherin asked somewhat hesitantly.

He turned and blinked at
Draco, trying to sort out in his brain what exactly had just happened.

"Mum didn't hex you
or anything did she?" Draco actually looked as if he thought this was a
real possibility.

Harry opened his mouth,
not sure what to say and closed it again.

"Harry?" moving
a little closer the Slytherin now appeared very concerned.

"She told me to call
her Narcissa," Harry eventually found his voice.

Draco went from worried
to dumb-founded in under a second and dropped the clothes he was holding over
one arm.

"Bloody hell,"
was the Slytherin's distinct opinion and then he smiled. "Mum's known people
for twenty years who still call her Mrs Malfoy."

Then his expression became
worried again.

"What?" Harry
asked, not liking the look on his lover's face.

"She's probably planning
the engagement party," Draco said and Harry went white.

====

By the time Harry had pulled
himself into the very nice clothes Draco had appeared with, and his lover had
straightened him out to a point where the Slytherin would be seen anywhere but
the bedroom with him, Narcissa was nowhere to be found. Draco mentioned something
about his mother being in her private quarters and since the doors were closed
visitors were likely to find themselves in the lake behind the house, and so
dragged Harry into the dining room. There Draco called up a pleased looking
house elf and ordered more food than Harry thought they could possibly eat.

Two slices of game pie,
a huge mountain of bubble-and-squeak, a selection of pickles, fours slices of
turkey and three cups of tea later and Harry still wasn't finished. It seems
that flying in a thunderstorm took a lot out of a Seraphim and he needed to
replace the energy. Draco had been sitting watching him with what appeared to
be interest since the Slytherin had finished a more normal amount of food.

Luckily Harry had not learned
his table manners from Ron, so even requiring the calories did not lead him
to shovel mode. Draco seemed quite happy to just look and the Slytherin smiled
slightly every time Harry glanced up, but he couldn't quite tell if his lover
was amused at him or simply enjoying the moment. He'd never seen Draco this
relaxed and it was a little odd.

It was thoughts about exactly
what he was going to say once his mouth wasn't full anymore, which kept his
mind distracted and caused him to almost fall out of his chair when he heard
a familiar voice.

"Oi, Harry,"
Ron was the last person he expected to encounter in Malfoy Mansion, "what
were you thinking disappearing into a bloody storm?"

"Ron!" was about
the most sensible thing Harry could find to say.

"I would have asked
the same question, Weasley," Draco said, his usual disdainful tones back
in place, "but we've been rather busy."

"Draco," Narcissa's
calm tones came through the door, closely followed by the woman herself and
the rest of those who had been at the Burrow, "please be polite to our
guests."

Draco appeared shocked
for just a second and then his mask was firmly in place; Harry did not like
the separation he suddenly felt. Without thinking about what he was doing he
scooted out of his chair and walked around to beside his lover. Having Ron and
Draco in the same room was never a good thing and Harry was feeling strangely
protective.

"Harry, Love,"
Molly Weasley came bustling over as if everything was perfectly normal and virtually
the whole Weasley clan and a werewolf were not standing in the Malfoy dining
room, "at least you look like you're in one piece."

Then she wrapped him in
a hug before he could do anything about it and he found the breath being squeezed
out of him.

"Don't your ever do
that again, young man," Molly said sternly as she finally pulled back.
"Twice in a mother's life is quite enough to see one of her children disappear
into danger."

If he had been anywhere
but where he was, Harry might have burst into tears at the emotion that welled
up in his heart at Molly's words. He knew the woman looked on him as almost
one of the family, but she had never said it quite like that before. Even after
his brush with Voldemort she had had time to calm down by the time he woke up,
and although she had given him a stern talking to Molly had not quite used those
terms. As it was he managed to grapple with his feelings and kept some semblance
of calm.

"Okay," he said
in a rather tight voice, "I promise."

"You look like a right
ponce, mate," Ron broke the mood completely with his forthright opinion.

It was the wrong thing
to say and Molly spun on the spot.

"Ronald Weasley,"
the woman said in a tone that would have frightened Voldemort himself had the
man not been six feet under, "how dare you. Harry looks lovely, and you
will be polite while we are under this roof."

Ron went rather pale.

"Yes Mum," he
said in a sheepish tone.

Draco could not keep the
smirk off his face, but Harry didn't really blame his lover since Ron did deserve
it.

"Harry," Remus
said, walking into the room properly, "I was so worried. Are you okay?"

Now the guilt started inside
him and Harry had to admit that he had done something very stupid by taking
off into the storm. Rational thought had not had a lot to do with his actions,
but now that logic was back in play he could not help but feel dreadful about
putting everyone through so much worry.

"At least you weren't
unconscious for two months this time, Harry," either Fred or George tried
to lighten the mood.

"I'm sorry,"
Harry said quietly, "I had to do something. Thanks to Narcissa I'm fine."

Surprisingly he felt a
hand on his arm and he looked up to find Draco observing him calmly and giving
him support in a very Slytherin like way.

"My mother is a fair
healer," Draco said politely and turned towards those in the room as if
they were now worth his interest.

As several eyes turned
to Narcissa she smiled modestly and moved to the table.

"Now that everyone
is here," she said pleasantly, "why don't we have something light
to eat."

With a clap of her hands
everything on the table disappeared and the same house elf who had served Harry
and Draco appeared. Narcissa bent down and talked quietly to the small creature
that bobbed up and down excitedly before disappearing again. It was not long
before the table was covered in even more food with settings for every person
in the room. Everyone sat down eyeing each other awkwardly and Harry tried very
hard not to squirm every time someone looked at him.

Quite frankly Ginny was
the scariest since each time he caught her gaze she went misty eyed and smiled
at him. It was most disconcerting to have one of the most feared chasers in
the school Quidditch cup going all girlie on him.

"Please, help yourselves,"
Narcissa invited them all, "the house elves will be most upset if we don't
at least eat something."

You did not have to tell
a Weasley male twice and all the red heads dived in, although under their mother's
watchful eye their table manners were impeccable.

"This is a wonderful
spread, Narcissa," Molly said cheerfully, "it was awfully nice of
you to invite us to lunch."

Draco looked even more
stunned than he had when the Weasleys had appeared as Molly used his mother's
first name. The Slytherin almost dropped the slice of meat he was putting on
his plate and Harry reached over to him and squeezed his lover's knee in what
he hoped was a supportive gesture. Too much culture shock in one day was getting
to Draco.

"Not at all,"
Narcissa replied with a smile, and Harry would have sworn she and Molly had
been friends for years if he had not known better. "Admittedly I was a
little surprised to find Harry on our doorstep, but once the situation became
clear I could not leave you all wondering about him. There is always so much
food in the house at Christmas time that I thought a luncheon would be the perfect
opportunity to meet everyone properly."

"Absolutely lovely,"
was Arthur's comment on the matter.

It was so difficult to
tell what was the mask and what was genuine sentiment when it came to a Malfoy,
and Harry knew so little about Narcissa that he simply gave up trying to read
her at all. He was sure she would do anything for her son, and this seemed to
be part of that.

"Mrs Malfoy,"
Remus said in his quiet, unassuming tone.

"Now, Mr Lupin,"
Narcissa replied, "I thought I asked you to call me Narcissa."

"Narcissa," Remus
acquiesced politely, "and please call me Remus. If I do not appear too
rude, I must say you are taking this remarkably calmly."

Narcissa smiled and nodded
her head once.

"I will admit that
when my son returned to me thoroughly depressed I had thoughts of keeping him
here with me until he was recovered," the regal woman said, causing Draco
to put down his fork and stare at his mother. This was obviously not something
a Malfoy usually talked about. "However, then Harry arrived and it became
quite obvious why Draco was so cowed. They simply cannot be apart."

As Harry watched, Narcissa's
eyes glanced around the table before she looked back at Remus.

"I had a choice,"
she continued calmly; "reject any notion of Harry having anything to do
with my family and see my son descend into misery, or accept Harry and all that
this entails and allow the future to find its own course. I am finding this
course of action to be far more pleasant than I was ever led to believe."

Harry let a smile slowly
spread on his face. It took a lot to stun the Weasley clan into silence, but
Narcissa had done so triumphantly. In truth she had done so to the whole table,
including Draco, but Harry definitely gave her more points for his surrogate
family. There was just a possibility that this madness might work.

"So, Draco,"
Ginny launched into the silence much to everyone's relief, "that last Quidditch
game was incredible; so close, don't you agree?"

A Quidditch discussion
between Gryffindors and a Slytherin; now this was going to be interesting and
Harry felt his own darker side coming to the forefront as he sat back to watch
then all try and be polite about it.

====

It was decided that Harry
should spend the rest of the holiday at Malfoy Manor, to which news Ron has
reacted rather badly. However, after Remus had taken Harry's best friend aside
and had an undisclosed little chat, Ron had seemed much calmer about the idea.
Harry could not say he thought Ron liked the idea, but his best friend did seem
to support it. There were bound to be many conversations once they were back
at school, but hopefully they would not be shouting matches.

So it was that Harry spent
the next week with Draco trying to get to know the somewhat difficult Slytherin.
What really surprised him was that under the cold exterior, which Harry was
beginning to realise more and more was a mask of necessity, Draco was quite
a normal human being. The blond Seraphim had some unusual habits, like colour
coordinating his wardrobe, and spending twenty minutes each morning straightening
out Harry's clothes before he would let him out of his room, but Harry could
live with those.

It was not all sweetness
and light of course; they had been rubbing each other up the wrong way for so
long that they were bound to keep doing it every now and then. They had a huge,
screaming row before the first day was out and stopped speaking to each other
for three hours until Harry had searched out Draco, pounced on him, kissed him
senseless and then said sorry, since in that instance it had been his fault.
Extracting an apology out of Draco was like drawing blood from a stone, as Harry
had found the next day when the shouting had been all Draco's fault, but then
he didn't expect miracles. Draco seemed to express more by action than words
at such times, and Harry chose to accept that as well as the mind blowing sex.

Harry learned a great deal
about his mate in that week. He learned that Draco liked his tea dark with only
a dash of milk in the mornings, and dark with a lot of milk later in the day;
he learned that they would never agree on the pureblood vs Muggle-born issue
even if Draco did not hold with his father's extreme beliefs; he learned that
laughing at Draco's bed hair resulted in a tantrum on the part of his mate (they
had given up the whole separate rooms idea on the second night); he learned
that Draco had the most adorable pout when he wanted something from someone
he did not consider an enemy; he learned that he was not the only one scarred
by a childhood over-shadowed by Voldemort; he learned that Draco's extreme dislike
of werewolves came from a violent near-miss when he was only five and it would
take a long time for his lover to accept Remus; he learned that his mate was
far more complex than he had ever given him credit for; and most importantly
he learned that the need to be close to Draco was not the only motivating factor
in his heart.

Harry was not well experienced
with love; he had had little as a young child and his teenage years had not
been easy either. He had loved Sirius in an instant when he had understood what
his godfather had done for him, he had no doubt he loved Hermione and all the
Weasleys, and he knew he loved Remus, but with Draco it was different. This
would not be a love of brothers, or family, or friends; this would be a fiery
love of passion, and a love that would shape every moment of every day. In a
way it was a frightening love, but he could feel its beginning around his heart.

Harry had told Draco he
needed to know him to love him, and he did not know everything yet, but he knew
enough to understand that it would not be long before he did.

====

Epilogue

Draco had made a couple
of rules the moment they had talked about going back to school. The Slytherin
did not care what Harry wore when they were alone, or apart, but Harry was going
to have to wear proper Wizarding clothes when they were to be seen together.
This had resulted in a shopping trip two days before going back since Harry
had plenty of Muggle clothes and school robes after having to re-kit himself
from the growth spurt, but he owned very little to do with Wizarding attire.

In some way the clothes
were not that different, but it seemed to be important to Draco, and the Slytherin
did have a point that Harry wanted to be taken seriously by the rest of Slytherin
house. Harry had countered that Draco would need to at least make an effort
with the Gryffindors and had bought his lover a pair of jeans and a silk shirt
for occasions where Draco was the one that needed to blend.

They were, however, very
much in Wizarding attire when they were dropped off at King's Cross. Muggles
might have thought they appeared a little old fashioned, but Harry knew, thanks
to Draco's coaching that he was wearing an outfit that was all the rage in Wizarding
circles. Harry felt a little over dressed, but Draco had assured him that that
was impossible; underdressed, yes, but overdressed was simply a matter of attitude.

"I'll push our trolley,"
Harry said after one of the Malfoy house elves had stacked it for them.

They had nowhere near as
much luggage as at the beginning and end of the year, but there was still a
significant amount, especially with Harry's new wardrobe.

"Don't be silly,"
Draco said dismissively, "Fussy with deal with that."

That explained why the
elf had been looking at him worriedly then; it was the one he had fallen on
only a week ago.

"Draco," Harry
said patiently, "remember the talk we had about Hermione, and house elves,
and not being entirely rational on the subject?"

Draco lifted one eyebrow
and just looked at him.

"Well Hermione will
be on the station," sometimes he thought Draco did it deliberately, actually
on reflection; he knew Draco did it deliberately. "Now I wore the clothes,
but I will not risk a row with Hermione on the first day."

For a moment his mate appeared
undecided and Harry thought they might be headed for a shouting match, which
would be a great start, but eventually Draco nodded.

"Just don't expect
me to lug anything around," the Slytherin said and turned towards the entrance.

"Wouldn't dream of
it," Harry said and couldn't help but smile.

It was then that Narcissa
chose to climb out of the luxury car. Draco's mother was still a bit of a mystery
to Harry, since she was a surprisingly busy woman and had been engaged in social
events most of the week. It seemed to be a Malfoy tradition to have a meal together
in the evenings, which Harry had become part of, but the conversation was never
particularly deep or personal.

"Well, my darling
boy," Narcissa said, taking her son by the shoulders, "I am glad to
be sending you off to school in better spirits than you arrived home. Make me
proud, Draco."

As Harry watched, she pulled
Draco towards her and kissed him gently on the forehead. It was the most emotive
Harry had ever seen the two and he could not help feeling a warm glow at how
deeply Draco was loved. He had also come to realise that Malfoys were not expressive
people when it came to the softer emotions, but they were there.

It was when Narcissa turned
to Harry that he was rather shocked. She walked over to him, took his shoulders
in exactly the same manner as she had done with Draco and kissed him on the
forehead.

"Look after him, Harry,"
she said very quietly and before he could gather his stunned mind she turned
and climbed back into the car.

When Harry looked at Draco
his mate was looking thoroughly pleased with the whole situation. Harry still
didn't really know how to react and took hold of the trolley in an attempt to
ground himself.

The wizard's entrance to
King's Cross was much closer to platform 9 3/4 than the Muggle one and they
bumped into very few people on the way. Since Narcissa had said her goodbyes
at the car it was just the two of them as they walked through the barrier. Harry
pushed the trolley into line to be loaded onto the train and then walked back
to Draco.

By the time he had completed
this simple task something very odd had begun to happen on the platform. The
usual bustle was coming to a grinding halt and every eye, parent and pupil was
firmly on both of them. It seemed that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy standing
together could bring Platform 9 3/4 to a complete stop.

"I didn't quite expect
this," Harry said very quietly, not sure exactly what to do.

He had dealt with silences
when he walked into a room before, but this was on an entirely different scale.
The story of Harry's heritage and his assignation with Draco had been all over
the Prophet, but it seemed that no one had expected to see them standing side
by side ever again.

"I believe,"
Draco said as his eyes wandered over the crowd, "it may be time to make
a statement."

"Statement?"
Harry wasn't sure that was a good idea; he really wasn't good with words off
the cuff. "You'll have to do it," he added quickly; "I'd probably
mess it up."

When his eyes darted back
to Draco from where they had been nervously dancing across the crowd there was
a dangerous looking smile on his mate's face.

"If you insist,"
the Slytherin said and then Harry found himself dragged toward Draco by the
front of his robes.

It took him a moment or
two to realise that his lover had in fact just smothered his mouth with hot,
needy lips, and then he acquiesced to the kiss and forgot everything as his
hormones rose to the occasion.

The way Ron described later
what the crowd saw on that platform was "The hottest, most bone melting
kiss known to Wizarding kind. You could have been doing it beside the train
as far as anyone with a sex drive was concerned." Harry spent the entire
journey with a smile on his face, even when he had to go and sit with the Slytherins.
That kiss was one thing he did not mind going down for in 'Hogwarts A History'.

The End
- 9
- 10
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