Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Self-fulfilling Prophecy	By : Sasunarufan13 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 6342 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor make any profit of it. J.K. Rowling owns it

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
- 11
Author's note: After a hiatus of nearly a month - for which many apologies - I return with a new chapter! My exams recently ended so I still had to finish this chapter last night ^^; Getting into the swing of writing again after nearly a month was odd ... We're slowly nearing the ending, guys :)
Thanks to the following reviewers: AnonymousTigress; moodysavage and Anon
Warnings: argument; foul language; small time skip
I hope you'll like it!
Chapter 10: Happy Birthday!
A heavy silence hung in the room; Albus barely dared to breathe, scared to attract mum's attention to him. They should have known that keeping quiet about the identity wouldn't end well for them.
Stupid, so stupid, Albus silently berated himself and his hand clenched tightly around the owl keychain hanging from his bag. His stomach felt heavy with guilt and something seemed to press against his chest. Mum was definitely mad now; there was no way this would end well.
"I didn't forget," James broke the silence, crossing his arms in front of his chest. He jutted out his chin and looked stubbornly at mum.
"You didn't tell me that you were going with that man! How many times have I told you that you aren't allowed to lie!" Mum snapped; her eyes flaring up in anger. "You know very well that lying is bad, so why did you - "
"I didn't lie!" James exclaimed loudly and Albus could practically feel the tension in his brother's body.
"You did lie, James! And I don't appreciate that!"
"I didn't lie! I told you we were going to the fair with a friend and his dad – Scorpius is our friend and his dad took us there. So I didn't lie!"
"You didn't tell me that - "
"Because you didn't ask!" James fired back; his cheeks gaining a dark flush. His eyes were narrowed with anger and Albus winced.
James was becoming angry and it wouldn't be long anymore before a shouting match would start between him and mum. While Albus tended to clamp up when one of his parents scolded him, James was known to not take the scolding silently. Dad had often wondered aloud whose fierce temper James had inherited.
"I shouldn't have to specifically ask things like that!" Mum raised her voice; her own cheeks steadily becoming redder and redder. "You should have been honest about who you were going with! You can't keep something like that from me and expect me to - "
"I was honest!" James yelled angrily and balled his hands into fists. "It's not my fault you didn't think to ask about his name!"
"Enough, James! Go to your room – you've got yourself a week of house arrest for not telling me the truth, mister!" Mum shot up from her seat, pointing at the staircase.
"A week? I didn't do anything! That's not fair!" James screamed and stamped his foot. "You can't punish me for something you forgot to ask!"
"Two weeks!" Mum snapped. "Do you want to make it three?"
"Ginny, don't you think you're - " Aunt Hermione started to say, but she was interrupted by the furious screech of James, before he stormed out of the room, throwing his bag wildly against the wall. The impact made one of the photo frames tremble and fall on the floor; the glass cracking.
"That's three weeks now, James Sirius Potter!" Mum yelled. "Your dad will hear about this!"
"I DON'T CARE!" James screamed from the landing before the door to his bedroom slammed shut.
Brown eyes – still alight with fury – turned towards Albus and he cringed, already preparing himself for his own berating, because he didn't tell the complete truth either.
Before mum could gear herself up for another scolding, however, Aunt Hermione pulled at her arm.
"Ginny, don't you think you went a little too far with this?" she asked, sounding slightly reprimanding. Her eyebrows were furrowed in a hint of disapproval.
Mum turned to face her and pulled her arm out of Aunt Hermione's grip. She placed her hands on her hips and snapped, "James shouldn't have lied to me, Hermione! He knows better than to do that!"
"Well, did you ask the name of this friend's father?" Aunt Hermione raised an eyebrow.
"Well, no, I – I don't think I did, but," Mum spluttered, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
"Then he didn't really lie, did he?" The older woman glanced at the young boy, still frozen in the door opening and flicked her eyes up.
Not daring to attract mum's attention, Albus barely dared to nod his understanding of his aunt's silent order and stepped silently back into the hallway, going upstairs as quietly as he could; his heart thundering loudly in his ears.
"I've told them before that I don't want them associating with him, and they refuse to listen to me!" Mum spat; the anger in her voice audibly building up again.
"Look, I'll never be his number one fan, but Harry …"
Aunt Hermione's voice was cut off when Albus closed the door of his bedroom. On unsteady legs he made his way to his bed and sat down gingerly on it, as if sitting down normally would create too much noise. Slowly he removed his shoes and his jacket and lowered his bag on the floor.
Everything was silent in the room next to him; James seemed to have chosen to fume silently.
They really should have known they wouldn't be able to get away with this; it was already a miracle that mum hadn't asked them about their gifts of the dragon toys. If she knew who had bought them, she would probably throw an even bigger fit.
He swallowed harshly and shuffled backwards, resting his back against the wall while his fingers fiddled with a fold in his crumpled sheets. When Aunt Hermione went home, would mum scold him then or would she have forgotten about it then? Would dad get angry at them because they hadn't completely told the truth?
Pressing his face against his upraised knees, he tried to block out the loud arguing that was going on downstairs between his mum and his aunt. The closed door muffled most of the sounds, but if he concentrated he could pick up tatters of sentences which were floating from the living room to upstairs. He chose not to.
Not for the first time he wondered why mum just couldn't accept that Uncle Draco was now part of their lives. Why did she have to be so difficult about it?
Dad arrived home half an hour before dinner would be served. Aunt Hermione had left an hour ago, but mum hadn't come up once. It had been quiet for a long time after his aunt's departure and when footsteps had started to make their way out of the living room, Albus had stiffened, nervous that mum would come up and scold him now.
Instead the footsteps had retreated into the kitchen and Albus had focused his attention back on his homework, albeit feeling slightly nauseous. He really didn't want to have a confrontation with mum.
The quill hovered above the parchment, dripping ink on the paper, as Albus picked up the muttered conversation between his parents. Neither of them raised their voice, but the boy wasn't certain whether that was a good thing or not.
His breathing turned superficial and he tensed up as he heard dad ascending the stairs. The door to his brother's room opened and Albus scrambled off his bed, hurrying towards his door so that he could open it a bit. He wanted to know what dad was going to say to James; his footsteps hadn't sounded like he was angry – whenever dad was really angry, his footsteps grew heavier as if he was stamping his anger out of him. His footsteps had sounded like they normally did – was that a good sign?
Careful to keep quiet – he didn't want his dad or brother to know that he was eavesdropping – he listened intently to the conversation taking place next to his room.
Dad sighed. "Your mum told me what happened," he said, his tone neutral.
"Yeah?" James muttered sullenly. He was probably staring down at the floor like he always did when he thought dad was going to scold him.
"You didn't tell me that she didn't know who exactly was taking you to the fair," Dad continued and there was the faint sound of rustling.
"She didn't ask," James said stubbornly. "I don't care how mad she is – I didn't lie, dad!"
"I know you didn't really lie, James, but keeping that information from her wasn't nice either," Dad replied and he sounded tired.
"But she didn't ask!" James insisted and there was a slight quiver in his voice. "I don't get why she's mad at me now when she didn't even ask me! It's not fair that I get punished for something she forgot to ask!" His voice sounded a bit strangled.
"I talked to your mum; she realises that she should have asked you," Dad said soothingly. "So you're not grounded, but you still have to apologise for breaking that frame, okay, Jamie?"
"Okay," James hiccupped.
"Come here," Dad muttered and the bed creaked softly as James presumably climbed into dad's lap for a hug. "I can guess why you conveniently left out Draco's name, but next time you should tell the whole truth, okay?"
"But if I had said who was taking us, she wouldn't have let us go," James remarked softly.
There was a pause before the older man said, "Maybe, maybe not, but that doesn't mean you can just keep information like that from either me or your mum. It's not nice."
"Fine," James muttered petulantly, clearly having other thoughts about that.
"Dinner is almost ready, so go wash your hands and then say sorry to your mum, all right?" Dad said after a short bout of silence.
James sniffed once more and mumbled, "Okay."
Albus hastily retreated to his bed when he heard James walking out of his room and pulled his homework on his lap just in time before dad knocked on his door and leant inside.
Dad raised an eyebrow, but if he suspected that Albus had been eavesdropping, he didn't mention it. "Dinner is almost done, Albus, so go wash your hands as well, okay?"
"Okay," Albus muttered and put his half-finished homework on his desk.
As he slipped past his dad, he felt a strong hand tousle his hair and he relaxed slightly.
"Don't splash too much water on the floor," Dad reminded him before he made his way downstairs.
Mum appeared to be no longer angry when the boys entered the kitchen. She hugged James when he apologised for the broken frame and then ushered them both to the table so that they could start dinner.
Not a word was said anymore about the argument.
On the fifteenth of April, Albus could hardly wait until his classes were over. Not that he usually enjoyed following the lessons, but today was a special day as it was his birthday – he was turning eight years old today! – and dad had said he had a surprise for him after his classes were finished.
Miss Gwendoline took pity on him and ended the lesson five minutes early. Scrambling he stuffed his books, parchment and quills into his bag and practically flew out of the room, brimming with excitement.
Dad was leaning against the wall, dressed casually in a thin sweater and a pair of jeans. He grinned when he spotted Albus running towards him, his bag bumping against his hip.
"Hey Al, your teacher let you out early," Dad greeted him and squeezed his shoulder affectionately.
"Yes, what's the surprise?" Albus asked without preamble, impatience making him jittery.
"You'll have to wait until your brother is here," Dad answered amused and winked. "I'll be Apparating you both to the place."
"So it's not home?" Albus prodded, nodding distractedly at his friend Sam who passed him with a cheery "Bye, Albus!"
"No, it's not home," Dad chuckled and refused to give any other hint.
Fortunately for Albus, James found them a couple of minutes later, looking quite eager as well, even though it wasn't his birthday they were celebrating today.
"Where are we going, dad?" James inquired, latching onto his side.
"You'll see," Dad said mysteriously and when he was certain that both boys were gripping him tightly, he brought his arms around them and Side-Apparated them to the mysterious place.
This mysterious place turned out to be the restaurant Dragon's Den in Diagon Alley and while Albus was already quite happy to eat there – they served delicious food, but his family only went to restaurants for special occasions – he let out a shout of joy when he spotted Uncle Draco and Scorpius waiting in front of one of the large, red tinted windows.
"Happy birthday, Albus!" Scorpius grinned and gave him a tight hug.
Uncle Draco squeezed his shoulder and offered him a smile. "Happy eighth birthday, Albus."
"I didn't know I would see you today!" Albus said excitedly; his grin so wide it was nearly splitting his face in half.
Dad chuckled and tugged the eight year old boy against his side for a brief hug. "I thought it would be nice if you could see your friend on your birthday."
"Don't you have to work?" James asked curiously, but he also appeared to be happy to see his uncle.
"Kingsley was all too happy to let us go home earlier," Uncle Draco replied dryly and rolled his eyes. "One would think he's sick of seeing us in our office."
"Well, he probably is," Dad said and shrugged. "I've heard him telling his secretary that we are too much of workaholics and he was starting to fear that other departments would think he was overworking us."
"Do a lot of work and they complain. Do only the barest minimum and they complain," Uncle Draco muttered and huffed. "I've always known that the Ministry can't make up its mind."
"Anyway, we might as well enjoy having some hours off and let's go eat. We're here to celebrate Albus' birthday, not discuss work," Dad said briskly and beckoned them to follow him into the restaurant.
True to its name, the furniture in Dragon's Den resembled the powerful creature. The building was divided into several booths; the plush, round seats were a vibrant golden red and the table was cut into the shape of a dragon's tongue of which one end was attached to the wall. The wall itself was carved into the image of a dragon with its mouth open, so that it looked like it was sticking its tongue out. Little dragon statues hanging from the ceiling spit out a constant stream of small flames which served as a way to brighten the room. The kitchen was closed off with a wooden door which resembled the lid of a treasury. When a customer wanted to alert the waiter or waitress, they had to press down on the red gem attached to the middle of the table. The red gem would lit up and a soft roar would be heard; as soon as the waiter or waitress had attended to the table, the gem returned to its normal state. Children up until the age of twelve would receive a small dragon toy after the bill was paid.
Suffice it to say this particular restaurant was Albus' favourite.
Having been here thrice before, both James and Albus knew immediately what they wanted to order, while dad, Uncle Draco and Scorpius took a bit longer to make their decision. As soon as the waitress – a pretty, dark brown haired girl – had written down their orders with a quill in the form of a dragon's tooth and flounced off to the kitchen, Scorpius turned towards his father, who was sitting next to Albus' dad.
"Can I give Albus my present now?" he asked eagerly, his fingers fiddling with the button of his shirt.
Uncle Draco looked contemplatively before he decisively shook his head. "No, wait until after you've eaten. Otherwise you'll be too distracted," he answered lightly and that only served to pique Albus' interest more.
What could possibly be in his present that would make them too distracted to eat?
If he had thought that classes had taken too long to end, then having to wait until they were done eating was a tad worse as he was desperate to know what his present contained. Scorpius refused to give any hints, only grinning and assuring his friend that he would definitely like his present.
They were half way through their meal when a woman – who looked to be in her forties and had grey streaks in her dark hair – interrupted them.
"Excuse me, Mister Potter?" she asked; her brown eyes trained on him.
Next to Albus, James snorted softly and rolled his eyes, nudging his brother in his side. Albus nodded, twirling his fork through his mashed potatoes. They both knew what would come next as it always happened whenever they were in a restaurant or any public place really. One of the reasons why they barely frequented restaurants.
"Yes?" Dad looked at her, his face blank, but his tone polite. That was usually how he looked when he was approached by someone he didn't know.
Immediately the woman presented a quill and a sheet of parchment. "May I have your autograph, please? I know it's been years already, but I'll never forget what you did for our world," she gushed; her eyes glittering brightly. "It's so amazing to meet you here! I never thought I would meet you in real life, but I guess it's my lucky day today! I'm so glad I came to this restaurant! Do you come here often?" Her cheeks were bright red by the time she ended her rushed speech.
"What?" Scorpius whispered, obviously stunned.
"Get used to it if you're with dad in public," James grunted and plopped a piece of hamburger in his mouth. He looked bored, not even deigning the woman worthy of a glance.
Not that she was paying any attention to them; all her attention was directed at dad.
"Acting quite familiar with someone you haven't met before," Uncle Draco remarked idly; his eyes resembled ice as they regarded the woman with an unknown emotion swirling in their depths. "Then again it did take nearly an hour before we got interrupted so I suppose the mass is learning manners."
"Draco," Dad said chidingly and clucked his tongue, throwing him an exasperated look.
The adoring look on the woman's face was instantly replaced with a scornful sneer. "And who the hell do you think you are?" she spat; eyes flashing up.
"Someone with enough manners to not curse with children nearby," Uncle Draco retorted sharply, offering a cutting smile.
"Oh please," the woman scoffed. "What would a Malfoy know about manners? Your entire family is nothing but filthy scum and you should - "
"Hey! If you don't have anything nice to say, shut up!" James snapped and glared at the woman, who seemed taken aback.
"Excuse me? You have quite a big mouth for - "
"And you don't?" James said annoyed and his glare intensified while Albus and Scorpius gaped at him in surprise. "Why do you think you can insult Uncle Draco? I don't know you, but Uncle Draco is a lot better than you are. You've been very rude and you should apologise to him."
The woman puffed up as if she was hit by a Balloon spell and snapped, "Who do you think you are, you snot-nosed little twerp?!"
Uncle Draco's wand appeared into his hand and he narrowed his eyes dangerously. "How about you - !"
"That 'snot-nosed little twerp' is my son," Dad said, cutting off Uncle Draco, pressing down on his wrist so that he wouldn't raise his wand, and his voice was so cold Albus was surprised that none of their drinks had frozen over yet. "I'm going to say this only once: go away now."
The woman spluttered, shock and outrage clearly written all over her face, but something in dad's face must have tipped her off that staying here would be a very bad idea and she hurried back to her own table, not even looking back once.
"Something to see?" Dad inquired mildly and the man in the booth next to him – who had been staring wide-eyed at the spectacle – immediately turned away.
"You're way too nice to people like her, Harry," Uncle Draco complained and sniffed.
Dad rolled his eyes and then addressed James. "You know, I probably should scold you for being rude to someone else, but considering you did it to defend Draco, I'm going to let it go for now," he said, slightly amused.
"She deserved it," James muttered and returned to his meal.
"James is right," Scorpius murmured and frowned.
Dad threw him an indiscernible look and nodded at the plate. "Finish your meals, boys. I'm sure Scorpius wants to give Albus his present."
At the mention of the present, the mood lightened considerably and they all returned to their meals; chatter rising up once more.
It was only after they were eating again that Albus noticed dad removing his hand from Uncle Draco's wrist.
Scorpius' gift was a drawing made by him of a herd of unicorns surrounded by trees.
"It's a hint for your next present," Scorpius grinned and tapped on one of the unicorns. "Can you guess what father got you?"
"A small statue of a unicorn?" Albus guessed, his mind instantly flashing back towards the dragon statue standing proudly in his closet.
"No, try again." Scorpius clasped his hands behind his back and gazed at him expectantly.
Dad and Uncle Draco were eyeing the scene amused, sipping from their coffee. There had been a short, but fiery discussion about who would foot the bill, but dad had eventually won the argument. Now they were just finishing up their cup before they would leave.
"A stuffed toy?" Albus tried again, but the answer was once more negative.
He furrowed his eyebrows and stared intently at the drawing. What could Uncle Draco's present possibly be? It had to be linked to unicorns, but if it wasn't a statue or a stuffed toy, what was it then?
"Unicorn water?"
"No, guess again."
"A book about unicorns?"
"Wrong again!" Scorpius said in a sing-song voice. He clearly was taking pleasure in Albus' frustration at not being able to guess his gift.
James peeked at the drawing over Albus' shoulder. "Hugging a unicorn?" he suggested snickering.
"Yes! Well, more like petting, because they are very shy," Scorpius explained seriously.
"I get to pet a unicorn?" Albus stared at his friend in shock; his fingers tightening around the parchment.
He had never even seen a unicorn in real life; they were notoriously shy and tended to live in very remote parts of forests. They were known for avoiding people, even though there were some tales of unicorns allowing children near them.
"Yes!" Scorpius grinned widely, obviously pleased at Albus' reaction. "Father knows someone who takes care of unicorns and he said that we can go pet them for a little while if we promise to be careful."
"When?" Albus demanded, excitement brewing in his belly. "When can we see the unicorns?"
"Today," Uncle Draco replied calmly and looked at his watch. "In fact we should leave now, because otherwise we'll be late. I hope you like the gift, Albus. I know it's not a dragon, but …"
"I really, really like it, Uncle Draco!" Albus reassured him with a wide grin.
"Merlin, you spoil them too much," Dad sighed, but a smile pulled at the corners of his mouth. "Lead the way, Draco."
"I don't spoil them. I'm just a master at finding the perfect present," Uncle Draco admonished him and then they walked out of the restaurant.
The Apparition brought them to the edge of a big, dark forest. The sun was slowly setting, casting its orange red rays onto the dark green leaves of the trees.
A very large man with a bushy beard and twinkling dark eyes stepped from behind a tree. "There the lads!" he said and his voice was heavy, but not unfriendly. "Great to see ya, Harry! Been a long time!"
"Hagrid," Dad greeted him surprised. "I'm sorry for not visiting in a long time. Work's been busy."
The man waved a large hand. "Dun' matter, Harry. Yer dad was busy too. So these are yer sons? My, they've grown up so much! Think I last seen 'hem when James was a toddler and Albus a baby! And you must be Scorpius!"
"Ah, yes, sir," Scorpius said, a bit shy.
"None of tha', lad! Just call me Hagrid!" Hagrid said dismissively.
Albus stared at the man wide-eyed. So this was Hogwarts' gamekeeper, the man dad had mentioned had been one of his friends during school and who had collected the photos for the family album? The man was huge!
"I assume you're the one taking care of the unicorns Draco mentioned?" Dad asked, throwing an odd look at Uncle Draco, who stared back blankly.
"Yep, herd is passing through the forest again and some of them are mingling around, like usual," Hagrid said jovially. "Still shy, but I think that they won't mind being petted by yer lads. 'Course, have to be careful not to spook them, but it'll be all right."
"Well, thanks for doing this," Dad smiled.
"No problem. Now come on! Can't waste time now; they're really fickle about when they go to sleep," Hagrid retorted and turned around. "Careful with yer steps! Don't want ya to hurt yerself!"
"So this is Hagrid," James mused softly next to him.
"You heard about him?" Scorpius asked curiously.
Albus nodded. "Dad told us about him. He was one of dad's friends when he was going to Hogwarts."
"Wonder if that means he was a friend of father," Scorpius wondered and then a stifled yelp escaped him when he nearly tripped over a protruding root.
Ten minutes later they each were carefully and softly petting the back and neck of the five unicorns mingling around a large clearing. They each had their own unicorn to caress, except for Albus' father and Scorpius' father, who were both carefully and warily petting the fifth unicorn together. They were wrapped in an intense discussion by the looks on their faces, but Albus couldn't make out what they were saying.
A moment later that didn't matter anymore when the unicorn he had been petting licked him across his cheek, making him yelp from the feeling of the wet, but rough tongue. A wet nose pressed against his cheek before the unicorn returned to eating the tall grass as Albus carefully petted his side.
This was probably the best birthday he had ever had.
Then the newspaper was delivered the next morning and Albus realised that sometimes good things came with a price.
AN2: Ah, dramatic endings ~ Please let me know what you thought of the chapter in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me!
Next chapter: Ginny is really not happy with one particular picture in the newspaper ...
See you all in the next chapter!
Cuddles
Melissa
- 9
- 10
- 11
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Self-fulfilling Prophecy