Most Favourite Bedtime Story | By : Sasunarufan13 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 10153 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3 |
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor make profit of it. J.K. Rowling owns it. |
Author's note: A million apologies for not having updated in eight months *winces* 2022 hasn't been easy on me so far and for some reason this was one of the stories I had a lot of trouble with to concentrate on :/ I finally managed to kick my arse into gear and finish this long overdue chapter. If I don't have any readers left for this, I'll completely understand.
Thanks to the following reviewers: Smile317 (sorry for the really huge delay!); Jan
Warnings: Ron being Ron; Draco being Draco
I hope you'll like this and once again I'm very sorry for the long delay!
Chapter 10
Grey eyes were still fogged over with sleep when the door opened, but they instantly cleared up when they landed on Harry. Draco smirked, bracing his shoulder against the doorframe. "You know, if you were going to show up this early, you could have just stayed the night," he teased.
"If your plan was to scare the hell out of my best friends, then congratulations, you got what you wanted," Harry said instead of responding to the teasing. "Mind telling me what that is about?"
"Oh? They already received my letter?" Draco asked surprised and straightened up, stepping aside to beckon Harry into his quarters.
"Yes, and Ron was freaking out badly because of it," Harry said dryly and walked inside. "Took me a bit to calm him down, so would you mind telling me why you invited them?"
"Can't a wizard invite his mate's friends for dinner without raising suspicion?" Draco retorted and cupped Harry's elbow, guiding him to the couch.
"Not when said wizard has never shown any interest in getting to know said mate's friends," Harry said and raised an eyebrow.
Draco pursed his lips. "I'll be honest - "
"Please be."
They sat down on the couch; Draco still keeping a hold on Harry's elbow. A house elf popped in briefly to stoke the fire and upon seeing the two men, it bowed quickly; its long nose nearly brushing the floor. It disappeared just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving them alone again.
"I don't have any particular interest in getting to know them," Draco admitted and there was the faintest hint of an apology lingering in the depth of his eyes, "but I know how much they mean to you. What you said last night got me thinking. If it's for the best if I don't meet your Muggle family, I decided that meeting your friends would be the equivalent of meeting your family. Perhaps a better equivalent even as they most likely know you better than your family," he added.
Harry blinked, a bit taken off guard by the frank reply. "That's very thoughtful of you," he said. "But you don't have to force yourself to share dinner with them if you don't want to."
"I can be thoughtful, you know," Draco sniffed, before sobering up. "I know we don't exactly share a great history, but I don't want you to feel like you have to constantly choose between us. I don't think I'll ever be friends with them, but for your sake I can be polite."
"And you loved the idea of freaking out Ron by inviting them," Harry snorted.
"And I loved the idea of freaking them out by sending the invitation," Draco agreed, smirking.
Harry shook his head. "Well, I am glad that you're willing to try at least."
"Was he freaking out that badly?" Draco questioned amused; his eyes glinting a tad more silver now.
"Well, what did you expect him to do when you suddenly invite him over for dinner?" Harry rolled his eyes. "You rattled him so much he used the spell to contact me through Floo that's only meant for emergencies."
"And he didn't think he was slightly overreacting?" Draco scoffed.
"Clearly he didn't. Hermione had to drag him away in the end or else I would still be trying to convince him that you aren't planning on cursing him," Harry sighed.
They had been going in circles throughout the entire conversation and Harry was pretty certain that Ron was still convinced that Draco was going to curse him during dinner. He felt a bit offended that his friend would still be convinced of that even after their talk. Sure, the Malfoys and the Weasleys didn't have a good history with each other, but Draco considering Harry as his mate should be reason enough for Ron to realise that Draco wouldn't try to curse him. Draco knew very well that Harry wouldn't accept him trying to hurt his friends, so even if he would never be friends with either Ron or Hermione, he wouldn't hurt them.
"If I wanted to curse him, I wouldn't do it during a dinner I invited him to," Draco said dryly. "I'd be more subtle than that, trust me."
Harry snorted, thinking back to their sixth year. He supposed Draco had been rather subtle – at least for anyone who hadn't been Harry.
Draco must have guessed what Harry had been thinking about, because he narrowed his eyes, giving Harry a suspicious look.
"Not that I am planning on cursing them, so no need for them to worry about that," he said casually.
"Well, I hope you're prepared for Hermione's interrogation, because I very much doubt she'll be silent the whole time," Harry said idly and let Draco tug him against his side. He kicked off his shoes and curled them underneath him, settling more comfortably against the Veela.
"She's going to give me the 'Hurt him and you die' speech?" Draco asked, vaguely amused.
"Not the die part, she'll want you to suffer for as long as possible and that can't happen if you die," Harry replied dryly.
Draco blinked. "How very Slytherin of her," he murmured.
"The Hat actually debated about putting her in Ravenclaw," Harry said amused.
"Well, that definitely makes sense. Ravenclaw and Slytherin have always been able to get along quite well actually," Draco mused.
"Yet Slytherin never really got along with Hufflepuff."
The dry look Draco favoured him with made him grin. "Please, there's a reason why Hufflepuffs keep to themselves – who on earth wants to be a Hufflepuff?"
"That's quite rude, you know," Harry remarked, but couldn't help but smile. "Nothing wrong with Hufflepuff."
"The truth hurts, what can I say? Why be a Hufflepuff when you can be anything else?"
"You are horrible," Harry informed him lightly.
"Hm, so I've been told," Draco said airily and his hand descended into Harry's neck, stroking the skin there almost absentmindedly. "How about breakfast? I don't think you've eaten already, have you?"
Harry raised an eyebrow and turned his head to look at him. "I haven't, no. But I was coming here to scold you for scaring the hell out of my best friends, not to share breakfast."
"Consider me to be very scolded," Draco said solemnly. "How about I make it up to you by ordering breakfast?"
"You don't look very scolded," Harry commented.
The contrite look he got, made him snort and push at Draco's shoulder. "Fine, you git, let's have breakfast."
The week began with nothing noteworthy happening. He had to give a couple of students detention after they had decided that the hallway made a perfect place to duel, but that was nothing really out of the ordinary anymore. Sometimes he did wonder if he and his classmates had been this bad. He liked to believe they hadn't been, but he was certain Snape and McGonagall would have something else to say about that.
The closer they got to Friday, however, the more … He wouldn't say nervous, because he didn't really feel nervous. Apprehensive sounded too negative, but … He had no idea how the dinner would go and that set him slightly on edge. Friday would be the first time in years – and definitely the first time since Harry had admitted to his friends that he had started dating Draco – that Ron and Hermione would meet Draco again and it was too easy to imagine how things might go sideways.
Hermione would be able to control herself, that he knew, because she'd handled worse people than Draco without blowing up or starting fights. Ron, however … He was the wild card, precisely because he had such a fiery temper and the feud between his family and the Malfoys went back centuries. Harry wondered if either family even still knew how the feud had started, but that was an issue he wasn't going to touch on even if they paid him for it. If Ron decided to explode, no doubt Draco would react to that and from there it would all too quickly spiral into one giant mess. A part of Harry wanted to ask Draco to just cancel the dinner all together, but that wouldn't be a solution. At one point both his friends and his mate would have to be near each other, if not actually hold a conversation, and there was no point in trying to procrastinate that particular meeting.
If only he could be reassured that Ron would be able to keep his temper …
The flames in his fireplace turning green on Wednesday evening had him turning around in his couch, expecting to see either Ron for another freakout session or Hermione wanting to talk about something. Instead, to his surprise, Fleur's head floated around amidst the green flames, regarding him with a calm look.
Pushing his students' assignments to the side, Harry stood up and made his way over to the hearth, snatching a pillow from the couch to act as buffer between his knees and the unforgiving floor.
"Good evening, Fleur, I didn't expect you to Floo call me," he greeted her.
The huge sigh she heaved, made him blink. "I am terribly sorry, 'Arry, to dizturb you with this nonsense," she started; her French accent seemingly a bit heavier than usual. "But my 'usband iz driving me crazy. Je lui ai dit de ne pas s'inquiéter, mais est-ce-qu'il m'écoute? Bien sûr que non!"
Her outburst in French had him staring at her, because he couldn't even recall the last time she'd spoken completely in French. Whatever she had said, didn't seem aimed at him specifically, though, so he decided to let it go and instead focus on what she had told him in English.
"What happened? What did Bill do?" he asked puzzled.
"It iz not really what Bill did," she replied annoyed. "More what Ron did, but he iz worrying my 'usband for no reason. I 'ad to contact you just to appeaze him."
He sighed, already starting to have an idea what this impromptu Floo call was about. "What did Ron say?" he questioned resigned.
"He iz freaking out about the dinner 'e and 'Ermione will 'ave with you and your Veela," she answered, confirming his suspicion. "'E zinks zat you're being coax- coer – Merde!" She cursed, visibly struggling with finding the correct word, before she huffed, wrinkled her nose and started over again, "zat you're being forced to attend zis dinner."
"First of all, nobody can force me to do anything I don't want and Ron should know this already," Harry said dryly. "I'll be honest and admit that I had no idea Draco was going to invite them over for dinner, but he doesn't mean anything malicious with this. On the contrary even."
Her eyes were sharp even amidst the dancing flames. "As a replacement for your family?"
"Hm, he'd originally wanted to meet the Dursleys, but I told him that wouldn't be a good idea," he smiled wryly. "He then decided that my best friends made a better substitution anyways and invited them over. So no, I'm not being forced into accepting this dinner; he's not doing anything I don't want."
"I told 'im," she sighed and shook her head. "I will tell Bill 'e 'as nothing to worry about."
"Sorry you had to interrupt your evening for this," he said sympathetically.
"I guess it makes sense for Ron to worry, I just wish zey would believe me when I zay nothing iz wrong. Enfin, qui est le Veela ici?"
Her uncharacteristic grumbling had him covering a grin just in time, not wanting to direct her ire at him.
"You can now tell him you told him so," he said amused.
"Oh, I definitely will," she said darkly before throwing him a radiant smile. "You 'ave a nice rest of the evening and good luck with dinner!"
"Thanks, I'm going to need it," he said wryly.
She gave him one more smile before the flames flickered a couple of times and her head disappeared, the green colour of the fire turning normal again.
Harry only gave the fire five seconds of peace before he summoned the jar of Floo powder to him, throwing a pinch of it and leaning forwards.
"Mate!" Ron rushed over to the fireplace from the direction of the kitchen, a half wrapped chocolate bar in his hand. "Didn't expect you to call tonight; anything happening?"
"Yes, I'd appreciate it if you'd remember that I can't be forced to do anything," Harry told him primly, lifting an eyebrow when Ron just stared back at him in confusion. "Got a Floo call from Fleur just now. Apparently you've been freaking out Bill so much his wife had to talk to me in order to reassure him that I'm not being forced into attending the dinner this Friday."
Ron turned red. "Okay, I'm sorry, but can you really blame me?" he demanded, waving his chocolate around. "When I talked to you about the invitation you didn't even have the slightest clue that he had invited us!"
"That's true, but I spoke to him about it after our talk and he explained to me why he did that," Harry said patiently. "He has good intentions with it, so - "
"Good intentions?" Ron interjected in disbelief. "Mate, do you even know who you're talking about?"
"Yes, I'm talking about my mate, Draco," Harry said and ignoring the odd choking noises escaping his best friend, he continued, "If I didn't want to have this dinner, I would have refused so. The dinner's a good idea, though, so we're having dinner together this Friday and you will stop bugging your brothers about this."
"But why, Harry?" Ron asked pained. "Having dinner with the ferret is never going to be a good idea!"
"First of, his name is Draco; let's try to be a bit mature at least," Harry said, lightly irritated, receiving a scowl in return. "Second of all, I'm not saying you have to be friends with him. Consider him an acquaintance at best for all I care, but do try to be civil at least. I want my mate and my best friends to be polite to each other, is that too much to ask?"
"It isn't," Hermione's voice rang out next and Ron's shoulders hunched a bit. When she approached the fireplace, she threw Ron an exasperated look. "We'll be polite to him, don't worry about it, Harry. He invited us as a replacement for your family, right?"
It didn't even surprise Harry that she had figured out the reason for the invitation. She had most likely dived straight into her research about Veela, memorising everything that could be useful.
"Yeah, he wanted to brave the Dursleys, but I told him that would be useless considering they don't even let me inside their home," Harry smiled wryly. "I thought he'd let it rest, but he decided that inviting you two would be even better than inviting the Dursleys. He means well, so I'd appreciate it if you give this dinner a chance."
"Fine, but if he starts his bullshit again, I'm not going to hold back," Ron sulked.
"He knows better than to try that again," Harry sighed.
Sharp tongued Draco might still be, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that if he insulted Harry's best friends their relationship would be done with immediately. At the same time Hermione and Ron weren't going to get a free pass either. He knew he couldn't expect them to become friends, but if both sides remained civil at least he would consider that a huge win already.
"We'll see you on Friday," Hermione smiled. "Is it okay with you if we use the Floo in your quarters?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I think that's probably the easiest way," Harry agreed. That way they also wouldn't encounter any straggling students in the entrance hall.
They said their goodbyes – Ron still moping a bit – and Harry ended the Floo call, pulling his head out of the fire. He looked at the pile of assignments still waiting for him and sighed. Sometimes he wondered which job actually came with the most paperwork: professor or Auror.
Harry couldn't help but stare a bit stumped when his two best friends stepped out of the Floo, neatly dusting off their clothes. Hermione's usual wild curls had been tamed somewhat, put together in a perfect bun with some curls framing her face. She caught him staring and smiled half-abashed, half-chagrined.
"What? This dinner is important, no? I wanted to look nice," she explained, tugging at one of the curls gently.
"You always look nice," Harry retorted, making her smile brighten, and stepped forwards to hug her. "But thank you."
"We're having the dinner in his quarters?" Ron asked with trepidation, eyeing Harry's room which was completely devoid of anything that resembled food, unless one counted the empty wrapper of a muffin he had eaten earlier on.
"Yes, we are," Harry said and gestured for them to follow him. "The students should be in the Great Hall by now, so we're not going to be bothered by them."
"Does anyone else know yet about you two?" Hermione questioned interestedly, smiling and waving at some of the portraits who recognised her.
Harry shook his head. "Only you two, Andromeda and Draco's parents."
"I'm not sure how long you'll be able to keep it a secret still," she cautioned him. "Secrets very rarely stay secrets in this place after all."
"I know," he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I just want to enjoy the peace and quiet we have now before others will find out. Can you imagine the field day the press is going to have with this once one of the students lets it slip?"
"They'll probably camp in front of the school for days until McGonagall gets fed up with them," Ron said amused. "Honestly, not going to lie, I'd kind of pay to see her blowing up to those pests."
"Haven't they added even more wards to keep unwanted people out?" Hermione frowned.
"Yeah," Harry snorted and they descended the stairs, "and when has that ever stopped any of them?"
The first year Harry had taught, had been absolutely horrendous with press trying to sneak onto Hogwarts grounds every two days. Their attempts were the very reason why McGonagall and Flitwick had raised even stronger wards around the school property.
The air in the dungeons was as always significantly cooler than in the rest of Hogwarts, especially this late in the year. Harry was used to the chilly corridors, but from the corner of his eye he could see Hermione rubbing her arms briskly. Ron jumped when the Bloody Baron drifted through the wall; his soulless eyes staring straight in front of him. The Bloody Baron slowly turned his head towards Harry and blinked equally as slow. If he had anything to say about their presence here he kept it to himself and after a moment of staring he simply drifted through another wall, disappearing from view.
"God, after all those years I'm still not used to him," Ron whispered, somewhat horrified. "Give me Nearly Headless Nick every day."
"He's not so bad," Harry chuckled as they turned a corner, getting closer to Draco's quarters. "He's one of the very few who manages to keep Peeves on a leash, which comes in handy a lot."
Even just mentioning the Bloody Baron was usually enough to prevent Peeves from continuing his prank.
They arrived at the door to Draco's quarters and the dragon stretched his long body, showing off his sharp teeth when he yawned.
Harry looked at Hermione and Ron, who both wore an apprehensive look. Smiling cheerfully, he said, "Let's get this dinner started, shall we?"
"Don't take this the wrong way, but I was surprised that you invited us over to your quarters for dinner and a restaurant," Hermione commented casually, taking a bite from the roasted potatoes.
Draco shrugged, sipping from his wine. "Trying to arrange a private area at a restaurant at such short notice isn't really doable and I didn't think Harry would appreciate being bogged down by rabid fans."
"You thought correctly," Harry murmured, making the Veela smile.
"So instead you forced the house elves to prepare something else," Ron said unimpressed, ignoring the warning look both Harry and Hermione gave him.
"I know the concept of receiving help from house elves might be foreign to you," Draco drawled, "but I can assure you there was no forcing them involved. I asked them if they wanted to prepare dinner for us and they were delighted to do that, especially when they heard Harry would be eating it. Besides, if I had prepared the food, no doubt you would suspect that I had poisoned it."
Ron narrowed his eyes. "Like you even know how to cook," he scoffed.
"I do actually." Draco raised an eyebrow. "But that's a privilege only Harry will have and definitely not you. I don't like wasting things, you see."
Ron's face turning red saw Harry forced to intervene. He raised a hand, waving it in the air. "All right, enough you two, remember that I told you to keep it civil."
"I was just explaining why the food has been prepared by house elves instead of by me," Draco said innocently.
"I still say it's the easy way out," Ron muttered, poking at his steak.
"Hm, so who does most of the cooking then, you or Granger?" Draco smiled thinly.
While that only made Ron redden even further, Hermione actually snorted in amusement. "Well, Ron, I'd say he's got you there," she said lightly. "I'm the one doing most of the cooking."
"Talk about the easy way out, hm?" Draco hummed.
"Civil, both of you," Harry said pointedly.
"You know, I still don't like this, you and Harry together," Ron said, glowering. "You were rivals for so long, I don't trust this. People don't change that easily. You hurt Harry and - "
"If you had even done a tenth of the research Granger no doubt did, you would know that a Veela can't ever hurt his mate," Draco said sharply. His eyes started gleaming when he added, "Even so, unlike some, I never treated Harry any different, no matter what happened."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron demanded hotly.
Hermione threw Harry a sympathetic look when he sighed heavily, rubbing his forehead.
"It means that even though we were rivals I never treated Harry any differently, no matter what kind of rumours were flying around about him," Draco said boredly, but his eyes had now taken on a silver sheen and unlike all the other times Harry had seen that particular silver shade, he doubted it meant anything good now. "If you still are dense enough not to get it, why don't you remember our fourth year again, hm? I'd say out of the two of us, you're the one who shouldn't talk about not hurting Harry."
Ron shot up, making the cutlery and the plates rattle heavily. "You fucking fer-!"
"Enough." While not raising his voice at all, Harry's command drew everyone's attention all the same. "The both of you stop it now before I spell your mouths shut."
Not perturbed by the threat at all Draco simply rolled his shoulders. "Simply stating some ugly truths in the best civil way I can think of."
"Ugly truths?" Ron drew himself up in indignation. "Who do you think you – "
"Ron, shut up now," Hermione ordered and pulled down harshly at his arm, forcing him to sit down again or lose his balance. "We're going to eat the rest of this dinner in peace and if you can't think of anything nice to say, just keep quiet."
Well, Harry thought, sighing inwardly, at least nobody had whipped out their wands yet.
Draco was waiting in front of his portrait when Hermione and Ron left through the Floo again. Opening the door, Harry raised an eyebrow at him.
The blond man shrugged. "I did try to remain as polite as possible," he reminded Harry. "I didn't start until he decided to open his mouth."
"True, and I thank you for your remarkable restraint," Harry said and waved him inside. "But let's keep the dinner invitations to a minimum for at least a little while."
Ron's face hadn't regained its normal colour until right before he had stepped into the fireplace.
"Oh don't worry," Draco sniffed. At once his wings displayed themselves, folding around Harry and pushing him gently closer towards the Veela. "I don't have any desire to see them any time soon."
Harry shook his head, but didn't comment on that. It was hard to come up with retorts, anyway, when Draco was kissing him so sweetly.
"I had to come all the way here just for the Ministry's invitation?" Harry asked unimpressed, staring at McGonagall.
He respected her a lot, but she knew very well what he thought about the Ministry and their obsession with throwing balls in his favour. He'd attended two of them at the start and that had been two too many for his liking. The balls were always too lavish, too uppity and most of the people attending them didn't care for anything but try to curry his favour or try to convince him to join their political party. They drove him absolutely bonkers and he had decided years ago that he wouldn't attend another ball ever again.
"Well, they insisted I let you know about it, seeing as for some reason their invitations to you always keep getting lost," she said idly. Behind her Snape's portrait snorted in derision.
"I'm not interested in going, they should save their parchment and breath," Harry retorted and made to turn around to leave the office.
"Perhaps it would be opportune for you to attend this one," she said unexpectedly.
He raised an eyebrow sceptically. "And why would it be opportune for me?"
The smile she gave him set him on edge instantly. Resting her hands on her desk, she said calmly, "This is just a suggestion of course and in no way am I claiming that the Ministry is full of bigots," Snape snorted again, louder this time, "but perhaps if you show up with your partner this time they might feel more disinclined to keep inviting you."
"My partner," Harry echoed blankly.
This time she sighed exasperatedly and lifted her eyebrow. "Hogwarts has eyes and ears everywhere, Harry, and they are all too eager to inform me of what is happening within these walls. Now, is there a reason why you and Mister Malfoy haven't announced your relationship yet?"
Well, crap.
AN2: McGonagall might not be one of the youngest anymore, but that doesn't mean you can get anything past her.
I don't think this story will have that many chapters left, so hopefully I'll actually manage to finish it before the end of this year!
Please leave your thoughts behind in a review; should you spot any mistakes, please point them out to me.
I hope to see you all back in the next chapter! Please stay safe and take care of yourselves!
Cuddles
Melissa
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