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Changing of the Guard	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 58627 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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
- 11
Thanks again for all the reviews!

Chapter Ten�Changing
Minds, Changing Faces

�� Draco had
already moved his wand in a subtle pattern that should detect poison or harmful
magic in his food, even though he was apparently keeping his complete attention
focused on Lucius. Brian was enough guard for the moment, and Draco was curious
to know what spell his father would have thought worth the risk.

�� A moment
later, he laughed.

�� Brian
turned towards him, bristling, and shifting so that he put his body as a shield
between Lucius and Draco, Draco noticed. �Are you well?� he asked in a low
voice.

�� What was he in his former life? A bodyguard?
Brian�s biography for Metamorphosis had not mentioned anything like that,
but Draco was coming to accept that Brian�s biography had, well, lied. He put
the suspicions away for later; they weren�t appropriate for the luncheon table,
and besides, he was too amused at the moment to seriously consider them.

�� He leaned
around Brian and addressed his father. �An impotence spell? Really, Father, did
you think that would stop me?�

�� Lucius�s
eyes were the color of the stone in the ancient dungeons of the Manor, which
Draco�s grandfather Abraxas had been the last one to make regular use of. He
clenched his hand on his wand, fingers moving like worms.

�� Draco
studied him in silence, aware of anxiety coming from both Brian and Narcissa.
Brian�s was more open than his mother�s. Of course, he had no reason to think
that hiding the emotion would benefit him at the moment.

�� Does he think it at other times?

�� Draco
pushed the thought away impatiently. Fascinating as the mystery of Brian was,
he couldn�t attend to it right now. Far more important was understanding why
his father had done this.

�� Why?� he
said quietly.

�� Lucius
abandoned the silence and severe posture he�d adopted, perhaps because he could
see it wasn�t gaining him anything. He folded his hands in front of him,
letting his wand fall to his lap, and gave Draco a patient smile.

�� You and I
both know that this is a pose,� he said softly. �That you are what I raised you
to be. That you are angry at me and acting out your anger the only way you know
how, by pretending to be gay.�

�� Draco felt
a light frisson of nervousness. By accident, his father had almost guessed the
truth. But he allowed none of that to show on his face; outwardly he was all
solemn, serious attention, tempered by the amusement Lucius�s choice of spell
had caused him. Brian touched his shoulder for a moment, then leaned back in
his chair, apparently deciding that he could mimic Draco�s calm so long as
there was no immediate danger. Draco spared a flick of a thought for how
marvelously they managed to communicate when silent, the two of them. It had
taken his parents years to develop that ease.

�� Relationships
between men can never be as deep and passionate as those between men and
women,� Lucius said. �There is no weight of tradition behind them, no rites and
ceremonies to mark the passing years, and most importantly, no future�no
children. It is lust that ties you to Mr. Montgomery, and only that.� He
flicked his eyes sideways at Brian the way he might look at a crushed ant, to
be sure it was dead. �He told me so himself. Without the ability to�ah�perform in the bedchamber, what you call
a love affair will fall apart.� He nodded, as though gesturing to an invisible
audience. �I know.�

�� Draco bit
his lip. He clenched a hand under the table. He blinked for a moment at his
mother, who was as pale and stern as a pillar of salt.

�� It was no
use. He burst out laughing.

�� Lucius drew
back in his chair like a serpent who had suddenly realized the piping notes
were just shrill music after all. Draco opened his mouth to say something, and
realized he couldn�t, not yet. He put his head down on his arm and wheezed. It
was one of the most undignified things he had ever done, laughing at his
parents like this, but the extent of Lucius�s refusal to understand sat in his
belly like a Tickling Spell and wouldn�t be dislodged.

�� Brian
hovered above him the whole time, hand stroking Draco�s hair now and then, body
obviously still interposed as a protection in case Lucius decided to try
something else. Draco smiled a little as the laughter began to subside. They
would be having a talk after lunch was done, and he knew exactly what questions
he wanted to ask.

�� Finally, he
lifted his head and said, �I hate to disappoint you, Father, but it�s not only
passion that binds us together. You once again have mistaken humor for reality�not
surprising, as your sense of humor is not one of your many virtues.�

�� Lucius had
decided to freeze. Not a single expression crossed his face; not a single
gesture disturbed the straight lines of his robes.

�� I�m in
love with Brian,� Draco said, and flung an arm around Brian�s shoulders, a gesture
he never would have made ordinarily. (Well, yes, if he was drunk and with
Blaise, but that was Blaise). Brian
went a little stiff with the strangeness of it, but relaxed a moment later and
even leaned his head on Draco�s shoulder, kissing his neck. �Love can�t be
defeated with an impotency spell.� Draco let his smile fade and arched an
eyebrow. �But Brian, as you have seen, loves me back, and he�s loyal and
protective. I would advise you not to try that again, if you value your pride
and body intact.�

�� Brian
lifted his head, apparently wanting to add something to the conversation. Draco
glanced at him encouragingly. It would be a hilarious threat, he was certain,
as all Brian�s interactions with his father were hilarious.

�� But Brian
said nothing. He stared at Lucius, and then he removed one of the shields that
he�d tightly wrapped around his incredible magical power.

�� Draco
gasped. The room had suddenly filled with a heavy, overwhelming pressure, like
the kind that built up right before a mighty summer storm. Draco could remember
casting the sky uneasy glances when a storm like that blew up whilst he was
playing Quidditch, and turning his broomstick back to the Manor, although
spells would have allowed him to continue playing in the rain. One simply didn�t
quarrel with clouds like that.

�� And one
didn�t quarrel with the way that Brian focused the magic to a narrow beam on
Lucius, either, until Draco saw his father�s hair lift and stir in a wind that
no one else felt.

�� Draco was
panting, his hands digging into his knee and Brian�s shoulders, respectively.
He had never heard of magic this strong, never realized that someone could create an effect like that without a
wand or a word. Oh, one heard about bouts of accidental magic, and the magic of
a love sacrifice like the one Potter�s mother had made to save him, but the
wild, chaotic nature of that magic was as proverbial as its strength. The most
frightening thing Brian had going for him was his finesse, his ability to channel the power that must be straining at
his shields to get out�especially with the shields as tight as they had been
every time he�d been in Draco�s presence. He hadn�t even let them down when
they had sex, Draco realized.

�� He was
panting for a different reason at that thought.

�� Lucius might
have stupid notions about what relationships between men actually entailed, but
he was wise enough to retreat when he had dignity to lose by remaining on the
battlefield. He rose, never taking his stare from Brian, and then turned and
walked away from the table, leaving his visibly untouched food. His entire
manner said that he did not care to eat in the presence of plebeians.

�� It might
even have been convincing, Draco thought, if only Brian had not stuck his
tongue out at Lucius�s back.

�� And then
the shield coiled around Brian�s power again, with a snap like a curtain
descending on a stage, and he turned about and tapped his wand on Draco�s
plate. The cursed salad vanished. Brian smiled at Draco, then at Narcissa. �Is
there a chance of having the house-elves fetch you more food?� he asked.

�� His voice
was pleasant, calm, normal, as if nothing
had happened.

�� And that
brought Draco�s feelings of desire and wonder and amusement at his father�s
expense to a crashing halt. He nodded, and called for a house-elf. One came at
once and replaced the food in front of him with something more suitable.

�� He picked
up his fork and returned to eating. His mother seemed intent on remaining where
she was, but she ate without speaking. Brian did the same, as if his sole plan
was his hearty enjoyment of the meal�the fresh salad, followed by a chicken
lightly breaded and covered with a sauce of several wild herbs.

�� Draco�s
mind, meanwhile, was buzzing anxiously. Yes, Brian�s finesse was incredible. So
was his power. He was everything that the Manager of Metamorphosis had promised
Draco, and more. Draco had no fears about Brian�s ability to fulfill the task
demanded of him, difficult though it might prove to be.

�� But it
simply made no sense. Someone with
that kind of power could have made his living anywhere, doing anything. Sure,
he didn�t have to be rich, but in that case he could have devoted himself to
the good of the poor and made a sterling reputation. And with Brian�s
protective instincts, that seemed a natural thing to do.

�� Wizards
this powerful didn�t come out of nowhere. They were known, by name if not by sight, and Draco should have heard of
Brian Montgomery long before this. He knew the names of the two most powerful
wizards in England now�or perhaps one should say the two most powerful witches,
given that they were both female�and no one he�d met had given him the notion
there was a third.

�� Something
was very, very wrong here, and Draco couldn�t discount the notion that Brian
had come to trick him, perhaps ensure Draco was disowned in accordance with
some other plan. He would have to be more careful than ever.

�� Luckily,
suspicion was a good infatuation-killer.

*

�� Harry found
himself resurfacing abruptly out of Brian. Narcissa had not asked him any more
of her polite, fencing questions, had gravely accepted his bow over her hand,
and had departed the moment the meal was done. And then Draco had taken him
into the library to share the delicious chocolate dessert the elves had provided
with a glass of brandy.

�� But
something was wrong.

�� Draco no
longer met his eyes quite as steadily as he had, and there was a heaviness in
the back of his voice, lilting until now. Harry frowned a little as he spooned
up the chocolate and curled his tongue around it. Draco gave the lascivious
gesture no more than a glance before he leaned back in his chair, sipped his
brandy, and began an interrogation.

�� Some of
the questions my mother asked you are very good ones,� he said. �And we should
come up with answers to them in case they�re ever asked in the future.� He
smiled a little, and it would have convinced Harry if not for the shadows
behind his eyes. �Or maybe the truth, if that would distress my parents more. So.
Where do you live? There are some quarters that would absolutely scandalize my father.�

�� He�s suspicious. I don�t know why, but I
know he is. Harry crossed his legs, Brian�s legs, and gave Brian�s charming
smile. He would have liked to go over his behavior at lunch in his mind and see
what had tilted the balance in Draco�s estimation of him, but he had to keep
his attention focused on their contest of wits to have a hope of winning it.
�Worse than any quarter that might scandalize your father,� he replied. �I live
in Muggle London.� And that was actually true, given the location of Grimmauld
Place.

�� Draco only
blinked like a lizard, and then added a smile a moment later. I�m not perfect, Harry thought, since I obviously made a stupid mistake, but
neither is he. I wonder if his mother would notice the way he�s slipping? �And
why would you choose to live there? It�s far from most employment you�d find.�

�� Harry
grinned. �It�s close to the theater,� he said. �There are times it�s absolutely
necessary for me to see a play, or I�d
go nutters. And of course, if I want to conduct business with wizards who
wouldn�t be seen dead in Muggle London, or order yet another book on pure-blood
culture that I haven�t read, there are always owls.�

�� Hmm,�
Draco said. �And since you know so much about our culture, you�ve never thought
of moving into it and making a name for yourself?�

�� Theory
before practice, so far.� Harry spread his hands. �Maybe, once this month is
over, or however long you need me for, I�ll make sure that I get into more of
your circles.� Then he laughed as if in recollection and picked up another
forkful of chocolate. �Assuming that anyone will have me, when they�ll all know
my sexuality.�

�� Draco went
a little stiff, the way his father had, gazing at him. Harry gazed back and
wondered if he knew how much he and Lucius really looked alike.

�� Someone
like you could go anywhere,� Draco said. �Even with your sexuality. There are
people to whom other things matter more. The way you smile. The way you joke
even as you retain the most impeccable manners. The way you make love.� His
voice softened on the last words, and he produced a sultry, secret smile that
took Harry in for an instant. But then he said, �Surely that would be a more
entertaining life than disposing of hexes?� and the instant was past.

�� I
mentioned that I don�t have much ambition, right?� Harry laughed aloud at the
look that appeared on Draco�s face at that, though he hadn�t meant to. �Believe
me, it�s frustrated enough people before you. One of my friends�well, more of
an acquaintance now, we quarreled too often�got on me about that when I refused
to become a professional actor. �But think of all the money you could earn,� went his refrain. �The fame.�� Harry gave a shudder that had nothing of deceit about it.
�And I told him I didn�t want that, and he couldn�t understand why. Why should
I have to produce a reason for not wanting strangers knocking on my door day
and night and madwomen flinging their knickers at me, screaming that they love
me? It�s strange that it�s the people who don�t want to be famous who need to
defend themselves, not the ones who insist being known is everything.�

*

�� Draco
wanted to snarl. Every single question he probed with was met and turned away,
in the fashion of a duelist. Brian�s eyes were gleaming with challenge, in a
way that said he knew exactly what Draco was doing.

�� And Draco
was discovering that someone as determined as he was, as clever as he was, as
good a liar, was not such delightful company after all. Brian should have
betrayed something by now, beyond the
strength of his magic. Something in his airy answers must be fabricated. Draco
longed to produce a startled expression, a flinch, a sudden darkening in his
face.

�� Nothing,
and nothing, and nothing. Brian sat there eating chocolate and not even
attempting to protest the sharpness and directness of the questions. In fact,
Draco had the distinct impression that he was being humored.

�� He hated
that impression.

�� He took a
deep breath and leaned back in his chair. Time to take a different tack, and
test just how much control he might actually have over Brian�s emotions, since
he seemed to have none over his mind. �Here is the first great division I�ve
found between us,� he said. �Blood status is nothing to me anymore, we both seem
to have much the same background, I think we�re close to the same age�� He let
his voice trail off invitingly, but Brian only nodded for him to continue. He
even had an excuse, as his mouth was full. Draco waited an extra moment to
speak, to be sure none of his exasperation would show. �I am ambitious, however. You�ve already heard about the power I
intend to accumulate, and you know a little of how I intend to do it. I would
need someone by my side who believed in the same things I did, who could be a
support to me whilst I did them.�

�� And I wish
you good luck in finding her,� Brian said amiably. �Or him, I suppose, if you
want to irritate your parents even more after I�m gone.� He looked thoughtful
for a moment. �I�ve been matched with men who didn�t match me. It�s fun for a
time, but it always burns out. You�re right to say that you need someone who
can keep the relationship blazing with you.� He winked. �Me and you, we�re a
different sort of fire.�

�� Draco felt
the seductive warmth that had attacked him several times before around Brian
try to take over his mind again. He shook it off. But the desire was still
there, when he thought about the taste of Brian�s skin beneath his tongue and
the way that powerful body had thrust into him and how Brian�s humor had
followed them into the bedchamber.

�� That is another advantage if I win and make
him more interested in uniting with me than serving whatever goal he came here
with, Draco thought. I�ll have
someone I desperately want, and I can satiate that lust in safety.

�� For now,
though�no.

�� And as
Brian didn�t think Draco considered him important, it might be well to reject
the sexual tension between them for a time and see what happened. How much
would Brian miss it?

�� I hope
I�ll find him or her as well,� Draco said. �In fact, there are a few people I
have my eye on once I�ve finished getting myself disowned.�

�� Brian
blinked, and for a moment, just a moment, the brilliant blue eyes were flawed
like cracked glass. Ha! Draco
thought. That warmth swept through him again. Just knowing Brian was jealous,
even if he wouldn�t openly betray it, comforted Draco. Or had he been merely
startled?

�� It�s comforting all the same, Draco told
himself firmly.

�� Oh,� Brian
said. He looked into his glass. �Are you sure that many women will have you
after you�ve apparently announced your orientation to all and sundry?�

�� There are
pure-blood women who would marry a pig if it had enough money,� Draco said
firmly, and changed the subject. �We should discuss the next place you�re going
to be seen with me. Annoying my parents in their own home is all very well, but
I don�t think my father will be taken by surprise again. After today, he�ll
have to treat our relationship as a serious threat.�

�� Brian
nodded slowly. �Do you think we�ll get invitations to parties at all? Should we
go to one you�re invited to and display ourselves?� He was already grinning
again, Draco thought, in a mixture of disgust and admiration. �Or would it be
better to go out to restaurants and the like and encourage the press to find
us?�

�� Draco
smiled a little himself. �A mixture of the two,� he said. �I was invited two
weeks ago to a party set for tomorrow, at Clothilde Castle. A midsummer
festival, supposedly, but actually an excuse to meet and mingle and stare. The
invitation hasn�t been rescinded yet. Let�s go there. And the day after that,
we�ll go out for lunch in Haut Alley. There are some restaurants there that are
simply splendid, both in the food and in the chance of being noticed.�

�� Will we be
in any physical danger the way we turned out to be in Diagon?� The smile
dropped off Brian�s face. �I want to be prepared. Your father�� He shook his
head. �An impotence curse is rather
childish, but there may be people who would do more. And they�ll have a chance
to see us coming, and to prepare.�

�� Not much
danger in Haut Alley,� Draco responded. He fought off the warmth again and
reminded himself that this was a business
arrangement, and maybe an assassination opportunity, too, for whoever Brian
really served. �The height of expression there is a cold stare. But at the
party? Among pure-bloods who bear each other grudges from the war and earlier,
going back a hundred years, and in a castle warded against the Ministry�s
detection of any spells? Oh, yes.�

�� I�ll be prepared,
then.� Brian stood and drained his glass. �I should be going. I promised a
friend that I�d meet her this afternoon.�

�� Do your
friends know about this?� Draco asked, gesturing around the room, but meaning
more than that, and ready to pounce on any insufficient answer.

�� Brian was
too smart to pretend he didn�t know what Draco was talking about. However, he
only smiled and said, �They�d have to be blind and deaf not to by now, wouldn�t
they?�

�� Draco let
him go, with only a small kiss on the back of the hand. Brian didn�t seem to
take this amiss, and waved cheerfully as he walked out the doors of the Manor.
Draco stared after him, and let his fingers curl white-knuckled behind his
back, since there was no one to see.

�� He was jealous. I know he was.

�� Then Draco
turned and strode rapidly towards his bedroom. Sitting down, he wrote a long
letter to the Ministry, taking on the name of an obscure pure-blood witch whom
Draco happened to know had lost most of her fortune in the war. However, she�d
been so unimportant to both sides that the request shouldn�t ring any alarms.
The witch, in the letter, tearfully described an infant son lost thirty years
ago, perhaps found again, and asked for the birth records of anyone who would
be his age now.

�� It was a
preliminary step. A basic step. And perhaps a useless one, Draco admitted to
himself, as he watched his owl winging out of sight. Brian�s parents had moved
so often that his birth records might be missing or destroyed or lodged safely
in another country, and finding no wizard by the name of Brian Montgomery on
record would not prove that one did not exist.

�� But it was
a step Draco needed to take, for his own peace of mind.

*

�� Harry
sighed and leaned against the door of his closet, stretching the kinks out of his
back. Draco might think his chairs encouraged an upright posture, but they were
bloody uncomfortable to sit on for hours.

�� An owl
tapped at his window, and Harry went idly to open it. Hermione had said she�d
write to let him know when they decided on a name for their child. Or it might
be George, asking if Harry wanted to come visit the joke shop, or Mrs. Weasley
asking him to dinner.

�� It was a
plain envelope instead, bearing only his name. Harry eyed it curiously. He had
a ward he�d perfected a long time since to exclude any and all fan post, based
on the spell�s reading of certain words through the paper, such as �autograph.�
This must be an extraordinary letter to have made it through the wards. It
could not have anything to do with Metamorphosis or the Charity; any letters
addressed to the manager of either organization went automatically to the
headquarters of the organization instead.

�� He stuck
his thumbnail beneath the unornamented seal and opened it.

�� Mr. Potter:

�� I recognized you the moment you made a spectacle
of yourself in my home today. I was near enough to you in the Forbidden Forest that
terrible day to feel the magic returning to your body, and there is only one
wizard in Britain who possesses power of your caliber. Add to that your looks
and the scar on your forehead, and the game was easy to win. I am only amazed
that my son has not yet reached the same conclusion I have.

�� You will meet me in Diagon Alley in two
hours, so we might discuss together your reasons for pulling off this charade,
and what is to keep me from telling Draco the truth. If you do not meet me in
two hours� time, I shall simply walk down the corridor that separates our wings
of the house.

�� The letter
dropped from Harry�s numb fingers. He did not see the Narcissa Malfoy at the end. He didn�t need to.

*

�� SoftObsidian74:
Ron really didn�t mean to hurt Harry; he thought Harry wouldn�t be hurt by the
comment even if he saw it, because it was so obviously about Draco. Ron is a bit hypocritical
sometimes.

�� And the
events of this chapter do show that Draco�s pulling back a bit from the heat
between them, I think.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Ron mentally separates Harry from �all those other gay people I don�t know.�

�� Miss Nikki:
Heh, well, I would leave a cliffhanger warning, but it seems to be something I�d
have to put on every chapter!

�� Mangacat:
Draco is starting to notice some extra baggage to Brian�but he�s still focused on
the notion of taming and seducing him eventually.

�� Womo,
qwerty, Hi-chan: Thanks for reviewing!

�� Isis: Harry
thinks he would be close to crazy if he didn�t have those roles.

�� Nelle: Glad
this story helps!

�� Luvdonite:
Harry will have to appear on stage more often now, because acting too unconsciously
gets him noticed.

�� Lunatic
with a hero complex: Harry counted, in part, on the Weasleys� reputation as
blood traitors and Hermione�s blood status to keep them out of pure-blood
circles. Most of the older generation cannot accept that even now.

�� Prettypinkpony:
Oh, I think this story will have plenty of action along the way, even if it�s
long.

�� Gorgeousbowneyes:
Harry wouldn�t let himself stay, even if he did fall in love with Draco, so
living as Brian is out. It�ll have to be a different solution.

�� SP777: I
think my favorite genre is fantasy.

�� Yume111:
Harry is very detached from his own feelings. And he�s trying to convince himself
that because Ron wouldn�t have meant to hurt him, he shouldn�t feel hurt. Ron
really didn�t mean to hurt Harry; he
thinks of Harry as �Harry� and not really �gay.�

�� Draco was
trying to irritate Narcissa. ;)

�� Can�t
reveal that much about Narcissa�s heart yet, I�m afraid.

�� Draco is
now warier of Brian, so the falling in line with what his body wants will
happen less often in the future�though he still has to struggle against it.

�� Harry still
assumes this is strictly temporary. Draco was more irritated, not because he
had genuine plans, but because he hates to think that anyone he finds so
fascinating could leave him so easily.

��
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Changing of the Guard