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Soldier's Welcome	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 25565 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Ten�A Working
of Friendship

�� Going
somewhere, Potter?�

�� Potter
flushed and stared at Draco as if he�d lost the ability to respond to ordinary
words. Maybe he had, Draco thought, glad that his arms were already folded and
Potter wouldn�t notice the way he tightened them across the front of his chest
to keep calm. He�d certainly acted with enough blindness in the last month,
smugly convinced that Draco couldn�t see what he was up to.

�� Or maybe he was convinced that you wouldn�t care
what he was up to.

�� Draco
thought that the likelier conclusion, but it didn�t make him feel any better,
because Potter still should have known better.

�� I�yes,�
Potter said, and recovered, blinking, as he shoved his glasses up his nose.
Suddenly he was doing his best haughty imitation, which, on a face like
Potter�s not made for haughtiness, made him resemble a constipated giraffe. �I
made a study appointment with Hermione for this evening. She�s convinced I�m
not working as hard as I could be, so she wants me to come to her room and
study under her supervision.� He rolled his eyes, apparently trying to put a
feeling of exasperation into the gesture. �If you�ll excuse me.�

�� He started
to brush past Draco. Draco reached out and put a hand on his shoulder to detain
him.

�� Potter gave
him such a poisonous look that Draco dropped his hand before he thought about
it. And then he was simply angrier, remembering the way that Potter had reached
out and clasped his hand after they dueled the red and black magic. The git had
been happy enough to touch him a short while ago. What had changed?

�� Weasley. Draco didn�t know for certain,
but it wasn�t an unreasonable guess. When things went wrong between him and
Potter, Weasley was usually involved somehow.

�� I know
that�s not where you�re going,� Draco said, exercising all the control he had
to keep his voice calm and thoughtful. �Granger left the barracks half an hour
ago with a bunch of other trainees to attend a special lecture that Jones is giving.�

�� Potter
swallowed. Then he said, �Give it a rest, Malfoy, can�t you?�

�� I thought
that�s what I was doing for the last month,� Draco said, having decided that he
needed to speak as clearly and reasonably as he could. He would not give Potter
the chance to dismiss him as jealous or hysterical. �Giving it a rest. Letting
you have the distance from me that hopefully would have caused you to reconcile
yourself to our becoming partners.�

�� Potter
whipped his head around, his eyes hot and his mouth open as though he intended
to bite Draco�s shoulder. Draco could think of contexts in which he would not
despise that gesture. �Nothing will reconcile me to that.�

�� Why?�
Draco moved commandingly forwards, until his chest and Potter�s were an inch
away from touching. If he didn�t do something drastic, then Potter would yank
his gaze away and scuttle off and ignore him again. Besides, Draco didn�t fancy
the loss of dignity that would come from chasing after him. �You seemed to
think it was a good enough idea when we fought together and the compatible
magic showed us what we could do.�

�� Potter
snorted through his nose like a bull that understood gelding and turned to
stare at Draco again. �Power isn�t everything, Malfoy,� he said. His voice was
weary. Draco decided that was better than raving, and listened. �There�s
friendship, too. Ron and I have already decided that we�re going to be
partners. I can�t change my mind and desert him like that.�

�� Partnering
with someone else�someone to whom you�re better-suited�someone who can work
with you like no one else can�is deserting him?� Draco was proud of the polite
disbelief in his voice. It was the perfect counter to the nonsense that Potter
was spouting, taking his melodramatic balloons and puncturing them. From the flush
that decorated Potter�s cheeks, he must have known it, too. �Pardon me for not
accepting that. You�ll still be his friend. It wouldn�t make you hostile or
alien to each other if you partnered with someone else.�

�� He was
upset enough about the compatible magic,� Potter said shortly. �Over this, I
could lose him if I�m not careful.�

�� Ah. Draco moved in for the kill. �Then
it�s his problem, isn�t it, not yours? If he�s the one who would reject your
friendship after so many years and after everything that you�ve done together,
he�s the one at fault.�

�� Potter
stared at him with a slightly open mouth. Draco controlled his shudder. No, he
didn�t want to see Potter�s tonsils, but he could put up with it for the sake
of getting something else he wanted.

�� Then Potter
looked at the ground, rubbing his forehead as if his scar ached, and
whispering, �No, that�s not true.�

�� It sounds
like it,� Draco said. �I�m not privy to everything that happens between you. I
won�t ask for more details than you�ve offered me. But it sounds as though
Weasley is the one trying to force you to make decisions that you wouldn�t have
made if not for him. He�s the one who
wants you to choose between your friends and a great opportunity for you.� He
folded his arms and stepped back with a satisfied nod, watching Potter all the
while for some sign of a fatal wound in his confidence.

�� Potter
rubbed his jaw this time. His eyes flickered with trapped fire. He obviously
wanted to deny Draco�s words, and just as obviously couldn�t find a way to do
so.

�� Draco took
a deep breath, and a risk. �Tell me that you want to give up the compatible
magic,� he said. �Tell me that you really never want to feel it again.�

�� Potter gave
a sad half-smile. Draco didn�t know who the audience for that one was supposed to be. Potter didn�t have his little friends
here right now, and he couldn�t believe that Draco would pity him. �I could try
to lie,� he said, �but you would catch me at it right away and make me feel
stupid. You have a lot more practice in lying than I do.�

�� Draco
accepted the words meant to be a blow as a compliment. And a hopeful sign, too.
At least they meant that Potter might be acknowledging reality. �Yes, I do. And
I know how wonderful compatible magic is. I was right beside you, remember.� He
took a step forwards again, crowding Potter so that his eyes snapped up
defensively. Another risk, but Draco figured there was nothing better he could
do around an overemotional Gryffindor than let him know his emotions were
shared. �I know what it�s like,� he whispered. �I want it.�

�� Then he
waited.

�� Potter
exhaled. Draco thought he could actually smell the dust of old thoughts on that
breath, disinterred from the ancient tombs where Potter had kept them since he
was eleven years old. �Ah, fuck,� he
said, sounding discontented. �Yeah. I want it, too.�

�� You don�t
have to choose between me and Weasley,� Draco went on, still whispering. The
whisper made Potter look at him in a way that Draco liked, as if he were
half-hypnotized, as if the whisper were a voice that had come to him in dreams
and was luring him further and further on. �I�ll never make you do that. I�ll
wait until you can acknowledge this. But I won�t wait for him to acknowledge this, because his opinion�s not the one that�s
important to me.�

�� Potter
narrowed his eyes in thought. Then he said, with a sharp snap of his head that
Draco wished Weasley could have been here to witness, �You�re right. It�s not
fair to punish you for something that�s Ron�s problem.�

�� Draco held
back a groan. That one statement released knots of tension that had been tied
up in him for years.

�� That
doesn�t mean that you can help me in what I�m doing now,� Potter added quickly.
�It just means that I�ll stop ignoring you in class and work better with you in
our private lessons.�

�� You�re
going to investigate the source of that Dark magic, aren�t you?� A child could
have known Potter�s intent from listening to the questions he had asked among
the trainees�questions they had talked about afterwards. If Potter wanted to
make his investigation in secret, then he had a lot to learn.

�� Potter�s
eyes went wide in a way that Draco wanted to laugh at. Once again, he held his
tongue with some effort. �Yes,� Potter muttered, then added fiercely, �But you
still can�t come along.�

�� Why not?�
Draco played the unfairness card again, since it had worked so well for him
where Weasley was concerned. �I�m the one the magic attacked. I�m the one who
deserves a chance at revenge or at least knowledge.�

�� Ah, fuck,� Potter said again.

�� Draco let
his lips curl in a small, smug smile.

*

�� Harry
didn�t entirely know why he was standing with Malfoy in front of the corner
where they had seen the illusion and the message from Nihil cast. Malfoy had
spoken some words that Harry had to consider. That didn�t mean that he was
wise. It didn�t mean that Harry had to take Malfoy with him on the
investigation.

�� But that
was what had happened. Harry only wished he knew why.

�� If I was going to listen to anyone�s
arguments, you�d think it would be Ron�s. That�s what I�ve always done, and
I�ve known him longer.

�� Harry ended
up shaking his head and crouching over the wall where he was sure the illusion
had been. There was an imaging spell Trainee Arrowshot had taught him which he
thought it would be interesting to use.

�� Demonstro obscurum,� he whispered.

�� Malfoy
shifted behind him, as if he was surprised that Harry knew that spell. Harry
ignored him, keeping his eyes fixed in front of him as he watched the spell
form on the wall like a bright blue slug trail. The magic sparked and spat, and
wavering tendrils extended away from it. For long moments, it hesitated, and
Harry held his breath. Arrowshot had told him that the spell might not work if
the traces Harry was trying to detect were too faint. For all Harry knew, Nihil
might have managed to sneak in again and cast some spell that would wash away
his magic.

�� Then the
spell began moving again, and Harry let out a whoosh of breath. Malfoy clucked
his tongue behind him. Harry glared over his shoulder, and Malfoy shrugged.

�� You�re
going to have to learn how to control your emotions,� he said. �You display
them so openly, and that�s hardly wise. Anyone can know whether you�re
surprised or angry or bewildered right now just by listening to you or looking
into your eyes. How do you expect to surprise an enemy that way?�

�� Maybe I�ll
let you take care of them,� Harry said, because he thought a reference to their
partnership would probably please Malfoy and make him shut up, and then he
turned around and studied the magic again.

�� The blue
lines now outlined the trace that Harry had hoped to find. It looked like a
footprint, but it would give much more information than that. He had only to
touch it.

�� He shivered
and reached out.

�� Malfoy�s
hand was right beside his, touching the outline at the same time Harry�s did.

�� Harry
whirled around, glaring, and a little afraid. Arrowshot hadn�t told him what
would happen if two people touched the trace at once. He thought it might not
be harmful, but as it was�

�� Malfoy,� he had time to say just before
a whirl of colors like a Portkey embraced them and jerked them with the same
sharp wrench as a Portkey back in time.

*

�� So Potter
was upset. Draco didn�t care. He knew this spell, and he knew that it wasn�t
dangerous to have two people use it at the same time, though Precious Saint
Potter obviously thought so. The question was where he had learned to cast it
and not learned how to use it. It was a good thing to have two sets of eyes
look at the images the spell produced, because what it gave was an image of
reality that could be played only once, unlike a Pensieve, and a single person
was unlikely to notice everything.

�� Draco made
sure to widen and clear his memory as he and Potter �landed� in the image with
a slight rocking jolt, the way he would have when he wanted to memorize the
recipe for a new potion. The scene in front of him was of a dim corridor. If
Potter was pressed about it later, that was probably all he would be able to
say.

�� Draco
intended to see, and be able to say, much more.

�� The image
in front of him jounced as though their landing had unsettled it, and then
shadows wisped and coiled around the figure of a tall person who was striding
up the middle of the corridor. Draco recognized the shadows as a fairly
ordinary Mist Glamour. It was not high-level magic, which lowered his opinion
of a spellcaster he had rated highly when he saw the despair and the murder
curses mixed in the red and black ribbons.

�� Perhaps it is even better to hide your identity
with a spell that won�t leave many traces or cause much alarm, though, he
admitted to himself.

�� The figure,
so muffled in the mist and the cloak it wore that Draco couldn�t make out its
face or its sex, halted in front of the wall where the message and the illusion
had hung. A few times he paced slowly back and forth, as if considering the
width of the wall. Then he nodded and raised his wand.

�� He cast
everything nonverbally, the bastard.

�� Draco
watched nevertheless as the wand flourished, because sometimes one could tell
much about a spell by the wrist and finger movements, even without an
incantation. The illusion took form before the letters that scored NIHIL appeared. Draco didn�t know what
that meant, but he took note of it anyway. In a situation like this, the
smallest details might be of importance. One never knew.

�� The figure
paused when the spells were cast and took a deep breath, one hand rising to stroke
the outlines of the illusion. Though Draco couldn�t see that invisible face, he
imagined it was smiling. The slow caress of the empty, malformed air gave him
the idea that this was something the spellcaster had planned for a long time.

�� He didn�t
know that for certain. But it looked that way.

�� Once more,
the whirl of colors surrounded them and snatched them back to their own place
and time. Draco blinked slowly and reached out to put a hand on Potter�s
shoulder, to steady him and be steadied. That method of travel was rather
disorienting.

�� Potter
stepped away from him as soon as he could, gaze carefully averted. Draco concealed
a snort. It seemed Potter, willing to admit that compatible magic held some
advantages or not, still was not willing to let Draco touch him.

�� I don�t
understand,� Potter murmured. �She told me that the spell would reveal the
truth about the past. I thought�I thought it was something like a Pensieve,
where you could see things the people involved in the memory didn�t notice. I
thought we might see someone spying on him, or a betraying clue he left behind,
or�something.�

�� This time,
Draco let the snort out. He cheered silently when Potter turned around with
sparks in his eyes. They were about to have an argument now where a part of
Potter�s self was in the words, instead of the careful ignoring distance that
he had tried to preserve.

�� We�re
dealing with someone who�s a careful planner here,� Draco said. �Not someone
who�ll leave clues behind. It�s only in novels and Auror training manuals that
criminals are thoughtful enough to do that, Potter. We have to look for things
that we might not realize are clues, because then there�s the chance that the
criminals might not realize it, either.�

�� Potter
scowled at him. �And what gave you the impression of careful planning? He
didn�t say a word, and we couldn�t see his face.�

�� He must
have practiced those spells a lot to be able to use them nonverbally,� Draco
said. �This was no spur-of-the-moment decision, no plan that he came up with on
a drunken whim and decided to try out. And what about the way he touched the
illusion? Did you notice that?� It was pitifully obvious Potter needed someone
to come along and be the brains of any investigation he tried�it must be the
reason he had stuck by Granger so long�but Draco wanted some company in the
thinking. Why should he have to do all the work?

�� He touched
it like it was a living thing,� Potter said. �Like he was fond of it.�

�� Those were
not the words Draco would have used, but because of that, they pleased him all
the more. He nodded. �Yes. That indicates the illusion has some sort of special
meaning to him.�

�� What?�
Potter demanded.

�� Well,
obviously we don�t know yet,� Draco
snapped. �But we know more than we did half an hour ago, and I think that�s an
achievement.�

�� Potter
sighed so hard that his lips flapped. �It�s something,� he agreed, sounding so
grudging that Draco would have liked to strike him. �I just wish we knew what
the message indicated.� He frowned at the wall as though he still saw the
letters there.

�� Why the
letters and not the illusion?� Draco walked to his right side to see how he
reacted when Draco crossed behind him. He thought he saw a flicker of tension
across Potter�s shoulders, but he didn�t turn.

�� Because
the name is something that someone might use to intimidate,� Potter said, �the
same way Voldemort was used.� Draco flinched in spite of himself. Potter didn�t
notice. He was now scowling so hard that Draco thought he was trying to force
the molecules of the wall to speak and tell him the truth. �Or something that
he might use to recruit people. That would give us more of a trail to follow
than the image does.�

�� Draco
raised an eyebrow. �You can think
when you let your brain work, Potter,� he said. �This partnership could
succeed, you know.�

�� Potter
tossed him a quick glance. �Thank you ever so much, Malfoy.�

�� Draco
sighed. �That was a compliment, Potter.� He�d nearly substituted a more
insulting name instead, but he had decided at the last minute that that wasn�t actually the best way to get Potter to
listen to him. �I mean it,� he added, when Potter looked wary. �We need more
than just compatible magic to succeed. We need both of us working at the top of
our game. We need our brains working in tandem. We need skills that the Auror
classes can teach us. We need��

�� All the
lights in the corridor vanished.

*

�� Harry moved
instinctively.

�� The more
he�d thought about it, the more he�d thought that the attack of the red and
black ribbons had to have been aimed at Malfoy. Who could have known that Harry
would walk outside his door at that precise time? On the other hand, Malfoy was
often in and out of his rooms in the evenings, and the ribbons could have
flowed over him and strangled him if he was alone. Then they would have
dissipated, and everyone would have wondered what had happened and walked about
in terror�which Harry thought was what Nihil wanted.

�� So now he
shot through the darkness and stood back-to-back with Malfoy. He�d already
tried a nonverbal Lumos, and it had
failed. So he chose a spell that Dearborn had described but cautioned them not
to use, because it was too powerful.

�� If there�s any time to use a defensive spell
that�s too powerful, it�s in the middle of Dark magic that�s also powerful.

�� Sol!�

�� The sun
came and sat on the tip of his wand.

�� He heard
Malfoy yelp about being blinded, and Harry himself had to squint past the
intense light so that he could see who the rest of the people in the corridor
were and what they were doing. He didn�t mind about that, though, since what
they were doing at the moment was cowering and covering their eyes.

�� That wasn�t
enough to hide that they wore black cloaks and white masks. They looked exactly
like Death Eaters.

�� Rage ripped
loose from inside Harry so suddenly that he felt as if he was standing at a
distance from himself. He had tried for a year now to live a normal life and
avoid the spotlight and concentrate on what he wanted to be, which was an
ordinary Auror. And still the past followed him, and still he was singled out,
and now his reasons for being an Auror were all confused. And sometimes he was
angry at Ron and sympathetic to Malfoy.

�� Death
Eaters showing up again, when he had been so sure that all of them were in
prison or dead or awaiting trial, was not
something he needed.

�� He reached
out. He didn�t know what he was reaching for, but he knew it traveled through
him like a whirlwind to reach his wand, and by the time it got there, he had
chosen the only spell that could contain it all.

�� Tripudio cum somniis!�

�� The spell
left him sagging and shaking. Malfoy held him up with a great deal of effort,
which was odd to Harry. He was the one who ought to have the most strength; so
far, he hadn�t cast a spell in this battle.

�� The
whirlwind descended on the Death Eaters and vanished into them. For some
instants, they stood motionless, and Harry started wondering that it hadn�t
worked. Then they began to laugh, and whimper, and claw at their faces. One
tore off his mask and revealed a fairly ordinary face, a young man�s face with
dark eyes and hair and a drooping moustache. He capered in circles, cackling. The
woman next to him started to snicker helplessly. Another woman enfolded an
imaginary baby in her arms and began to rock it.

�� Harry felt
even weaker with relief. Yes, the spell had worked the way it was supposed to.
The Death Eaters were now living through their dearest dreams, and wouldn�t
acknowledge anything in the outside world, even if it tried to force its way
into their attention.

�� What did
you do?� Malfoy whispered into his ear.

�� Harry
glanced curiously back at him. �Made them think their dreams were coming true.
Surely you know the spell?�

�� You pulled
energy from me,� Malfoy said, sounding pleasantly dazed. �Without waiting for
me to cast at the same time and without me casting a spell first. You
just�reached in and helped yourself to my magic.�

�� Harry
winced, his pleased state vanishing. It sounded awful when Malfoy put it like
that, even if Harry hadn�t known what he was doing. He coughed and shook
himself, standing as upright as he could. �Sorry,� he said shortly.

�� It�s
intriguing,� Malfoy said, and nearly fell. Harry reached out in alarm to catch
him. He must have weakened him physically as well as magically when he pulled
on him like that. Malfoy yawned. �And I didn�t say you could move,� he
muttered, his eyes drooping shut.

�� Harry
looked up. The darkness in the corridor had dissipated. The Death Eaters were
still staggering in circles and nursing imaginary children and beating
imaginary foes. The first of the other trainees were coming out of their rooms
now, their mouths agape. Some ducked back for their wands when they saw the
Death Eaters� dark cloaks.

�� Sharply
striding boots told of an official detachment of Aurors heading their way.

�� None of
that gave Harry an answer about how Death Eaters, of all people, had managed to
breach the wards that surrounded the trainee barracks. Then again, he didn�t
know how the red and black magic or the person who created the message had
managed to enter, either.

�� And because
it was the way his life worked, Ron was the one who came around the corner and
saw him cradling Malfoy. He stood still for long moments and stared before he
came forwards to help carry Malfoy�s dead weight. At least he did it, Harry
thought. But Ron�s mouth had become very small. That was a bad sign.

�� There was a
sharp light in his eyes, too, that Harry didn�t know the meaning of until Ginny
firecalled him two days later.

*

�� helga1967:
Thank you very much!

�� Lilith:
Thank you!

�� Harry sees
Ron�s jealousy as something like his jealousy of Harry�s being in the Triwizard
Tournament. It�s annoying, but it�s also understandable, since Harry does seem
to get all these things. And Harry knows that Ron is afraid, at bottom, that Harry
will want to abandon him in favor of Draco and not be his friend anymore.

�� Mr Spears:
This fic will have two sequels, as it�s the first in a trilogy. I don�t yet
know how long it will be.

�� polka dot: Hermione
is so busy with classes and other research that the red and black ribbons are
way down there on her list. Besides, she didn�t see them, and she doesn�t trust
Harry�s somewhat stumbling explanation.

�� hieisdragoness18:
Probably Harry is being a little whiny! I think people often are when they
attempt to deny something that won�t change.

�� Dragons Breath:
Yes, they�re not experienced enough yet for the instructors to want to put them
with other pairs.

�� Harry does
have a full plate, and probably will for the next two years.

�� SP777:
Yeah, Harry is more annoyed that the instructors listened to Draco instead of
him than anything else.

�� I don�t
think roundabout will work with Harry nearly as often as Draco thinks it will.
So far, he keeps having to speak directly instead of waiting for Harry to get
with the program.

�� As far as I
know, my e-mail isn�t full. I�ve been receiving other e-mails in my inbox
regularly.

�� nn: Thank
you! Some level of chemistry is there, but right now they�re both denying it.
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