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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
- 10
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Chapter Eleven�Braided with a Skein of Truth

�� Harry stood
with his head bowed for long moments, his wrists resting against the wall, his
breathing so shallow that even he could barely hear it. The house went quiet
around him, as if in sympathy. Kreacher banging about somewhere in the distant
interior was a loud sound.

�� Narcissa�s
words burned and fluttered and flamed in his head. He could accuse himself of
stupidity in revealing his magic�though he had done it out of sheer
frustration, wanting to break the stone wall of incomprehension revealed
in Lucius�s eyes�or he could panic, but the feeling that consumed him at the
moment was sheer uncertainty. He had never known, when he lost control of his
secret and was exposed to the world, that it would happen so fast.

�� Then his
head came up, and he blinked. Narcissa knew that Harry Potter was Brian
Montgomery. She didn�t know why, or she would simply have gone to her
son and explained the end of the game. That had to be why she was contacting
him, to gain the answers Draco couldn�t give her.

�� And there
was no sign that she knew about Metamorphosis.

�� Harry�s
heart began beating again. Losing one disguise, though painful and frightening,
would hurt him less than losing his entire variety of lives.

�� He stooped
and picked up the letter, reading through it again, observing it as carefully
as he had ever observed any of the clients who met with the Manager to demand a
perfect stranger. Then he nodded. He could understand Narcissa. Animated by
love for her son�and Draco had said that she cared more about him as a person
than his father did�she wanted to make sure he was safe and happy. Harry
Potter accumulating blackmail material on Draco, or perhaps �persuading� him
with magic to ruin his reputation as he had been doing, could not be borne.

�� She would
come to the meeting focused on the effect this deception would have on Draco.
The chances that she would care a great deal about Harry�s past or inner
life beyond the terms necessary to explain his disguise were miniscule.

�� And Harry
had already invented a lie that she could believe�braided with a skein of the
truth, to make it ten times stronger than either lie or truth would have been
on their own.

*

�� Harry cast
only a gentle glamour that directed human eyes the other way after he Apparated
into Diagon Alley. Someone staring hard at him would still make out Harry
Potter, scar and all, but few people cared to look that hard. Harry was an
ordinary person, a distinctly uninteresting figure to those who came to Diagon
Alley as much to collect gossip and rumor as to shop.

�� Harry
lowered his eyes as he paced towards the center of Diagon Alley, where he was
certain Narcissa would look for him. It wouldn�t do to seem to be hiding from
her. Of course, it wouldn�t do to seem too eager, either, or she would begin to
suspect that.

�� He didn�t
want her suspecting him. He wanted her disdaining him.

�� Luckily,
Harry had a ready-made mask to cause her to do so: his public reputation in the
last ten years. He�d become a recluse, barely seen outside Number Twelve
Grimmauld Place, fleeing any public occasion when the cameras came out.
Everyone knew he ran the Charity, but most considered it an obsession, given
the time he was said to spend on the most minute details. Harry had encouraged
the spread of rumors that said he was a little deranged at the end of the war,
either because he had coped badly with his fame�which was only the truth�or
because of the many friends he had lost.

�� It was a
pathetic man who approached Narcissa now�and he had seen her, standing in front
of Madam Malkin�s and barely pretending to peer into the window, her cool stare
warning away those who might have questioned her as to her business. As always,
Harry folded up the cleverness, the spirit, and the desires that animated his
disguises and tucked them far beneath the surface. The lie he had created to
sell her was one that implied only powerful magic, because she had seen that
and he could lie about it no longer.

�� He could acknowledge
that he had been careless. For whatever reason, perhaps simply because Draco
was the only client he had spent this length of time with and the only client
he�d had such extensive sexual contact with, he had behaved as if he could do
whatever he wanted and not have his disguise pierced. He had been foolish, and
this was the price he must pay: from now on, he could not simply sink into
Brian and act with abandon. He would have to be Harry Potter behind the mask
forever, careful and controlling, maneuvering Brian like a puppet.

�� He
regretted that, but the destruction of one persona was so much better than the
destruction of all of them.

�� Mrs.
Malfoy?� He made his voice tripping and uncertain, and removed the glamour as
she turned her head towards him. He swallowed, lowering his eyes at once after
a single intense look from her. �You said you wanted to talk to me.� He
practically mumbled those words, and could feel her curled lip in the
silence with which she responded.

�� She turned
with a snap of her robes and led him towards a small shop Harry had never been
inside, mostly because it only catered to pure-blood women. He had ordered his
fair share of robes and gowns from it, however. It was famous for its privacy.
Harry let out a tiny sigh of relief. He had been half-afraid that Narcissa
would want to do this in the middle of the street, caring more about
embarrassing him than she did about the public reputation of her family.

�� Narcissa
warned the two witches who started forwards to help them with a sharp look, and
they took one of the elegantly curtained waiting booths alone. Narcissa drew
the curtain around the table and then cast two privacy spells Harry wasn�t sure
he could have bettered himself. Of course, he was much more practiced in
glamours and Transfiguration than Narcissa was, probably. One couldn�t be good
at everything.

�� That done,
Narcissa laid her wand down on the table, keeping her hand on top of it, and
stared at him. �I want the entire story,� she said.

�� Harry
nodded and looked down at his hands. �You probably remember that I came to
return Draco�s wand to him the summer before we all went back to Hogwarts for
that new seventh year,� he whispered.

�� Vaguely,
yes,� Narcissa said, her tone implying that she had no reason to count this
memory as among her most important.

�� I�I saw
him,� Harry said, making his voice breathless, �and the seed of an obsession
was planted. I had never paid attention to what he looked like before.
Now I did.� He bowed his head further, until he knew he looked like a dog who
had got into the family�s rubbish bin. �I kept thinking of him, and thinking of
him. There were probably signs of it even before that, during our sixth year,
when I followed him all over the school.� He produced a blush; by this time, thanks
to all the innocent personas he�d played in the past, it was easy. �Soon I
couldn�t have a night where I didn�t dream of him. I couldn�t have silence in
my head through wondering what he would say to me if I went up to him and told
him that I wanted to be his friend.�

�� Narcissa
was silent for long moments. Then she asked, �And you never tried?� Harry could
hear the incredulous tone in her voice.

�� Harry shook
his head miserably. �In the end, I was a coward,� he admitted. �My fear was as
great as my obsession. So long as I stayed away from Draco, I could imagine him
smiling and accepting me. I could even imagine him returning my feelings.� He
paused; Narcissa had made a tiny sound of disgust. That was not the disdain he
wanted, but it was on the right path towards that emotion. Harry moved on,
hopeful and not showing that hope. �But if I went up and asked him, I knew the
reality would smash my little dreams. I don�t think I could have survived
that.�

�� How
pathetic,� Narcissa said.

�� Harry let
his head sink further. The silence must speak for him: yes, he knew it was
pathetic, and yes, he had done it anyway.

�� And so,�
Narcissa said, �you have become his boyfriend through this�obsession you have
with him?�

�� Yes,�
Harry whispered. �I knew he would never accept me, but when I realized
he sometimes slept with men, I thought I might have a chance. I worked. Oh, how
I worked to find out what he wanted!� Time to send a tiny glow of shamed
pride through his voice. �I worked to become all he wanted, the perfect
man for him�the one he would want to sleep with and talk to and dance with and
maybe spend the rest of his life beside, if I was luckier than I�ve ever
deserved. And it worked, didn�t it? You�ve seen him with me��

�� With Brian
Montgomery,� Narcissa corrected harshly. �How do you think he would react if he
found out it was you?�

�� Harry
covered his face with his hands and uttered a dry sob. Beneath the thickening
mask of the desperate man, the aspect of his personality that had created
Metamorphosis watched critically. How does it look? Is she buying it? Don�t
seem too melodramatic, remember, or you�ll strain her suspension of disbelief.

�� That�s
what I thought.� Narcissa�s voice cracked over him like an iced whip. Harry
heard the slight creak of her leaning back in her chair, the rustle as she
shook her head and her hair brushed against her shoulders. �He has no idea that
this is you, does he? He thinks Brian is real.�

�� Yes, he
does.� Harry wiped at his cheeks and let his hands drop to the table again. Probably
better to show himself on the verge of tears rather than actually shedding
them. Narcissa would think even this Harry Potter should balk at showing
weakness to an enemy so deadly. �I�ve�there are a few holes in the mask, but he
hasn�t cared to probe at them yet. Brian�s too perfect.�

�� Narcissa
nodded, eyes narrowed. �And your goal was simply to spend time with him? Not
embarrass him?�

�� Harry shook
his head, letting his own expression shine with earnestness. �Spending time
with him is enough for me. I count down the minutes when we�re parted.� He
turned his hand to show Narcissa the golden watch clinging to his wrist. He
hadn�t felt equal to leaving Grimmauld Place without some kind of prop after
all. It had been simple enough to alter the original names on the hands, the
names of another of his personas and her �lover,� to his and Draco�s. The hands
crept slowly towards the TOGETHER on the far side of the watch face, whilst a
window towards the top of the watch helpfully displayed how many more minutes
were left.

�� The watch
had worked, Harry knew, when he let his eyes rise timidly to Narcissa�s face.
She looked just the right mix of disbelieving, disgusted, and amused. She
glanced away from him as if the sight of him might taint her, and tucked a hand
into the folds of her robes.

�� I can
hardly believe,� she said at last, �that you have all this power and yet are
content to use it simply to take a place at Draco�s side.�

�� Most
people don�t know I have this power,� Harry whispered, adding another thread of
truth to his lie. It was one reason he had not suspected someone would catch on
immediately when he displayed his magic in the Malfoys� dining room. Harry
Potter was talented at a few specific spells, but he had never done anything
extraordinary except play Quidditch very well. He�d defeated Voldemort with a Disarming
Spell, hadn�t he? Not even a proper Unforgivable Curse. It had been luck
and his mother�s love that saved his life, many people thought now, not any
great magical talent. Harry had aided and abetted the rumors as they
circulated, not wanting anyone to immediately suspect him if he had to let his
power show through a disguise someday.

�� But you
have not enchanted him? You have not done this to hurt him?� Narcissa�s hand
curled around her wand in an unsubtle threat. Probably she thought that
subtlety would be wasted on the man across the table from her, Harry thought.

�� No,� Harry
said. Another piece of truth. �I don�t even really understand why he wanted to
go public with our relationship.� He let his voice rise, and then bit his lip
when it would have become a tearful wail. �I knew something like this would
happen. I knew my disguise might break the moment I was on display before many
more eyes.�

�� And yet,
you went along with it.�

�� Harry shut
his eyes and let his head sag a little. �I told you,� he whispered. �I�m in
love with him, even though I know he doesn�t feel the same way about me, even
as Brian. I would do anything to make him happy. He wanted to do this. Yes, I
went along with it.�

�� I think I
can guess what he wants,� Narcissa said, but she didn�t voice it. She sat in
silence instead, eyes half-shut, thinking. Harry clasped clammy palms together
and sat waiting for her verdict, the very picture of nervousness. Behind his mask,
of course, his magical self coiled, ready to do something drastic if he had to.
He wasn�t very experienced in Memory Charms, but he would Obliviate Narcissa
rather than let her come near the secret of Metamorphosis.

�� Narcissa
opened her eyes at last. �I do not wish to interfere with my son�s plans, if
they are what I think they are,� she said. �If it becomes necessary to cut them
short, then revealing your true identity will only be a factor in that. And his
accomplishing them may depend on your presence.�

�� Harry
blinked, but said nothing.

�� Therefore,�
Narcissa went on grimly, �you may have two weeks from today to spend with him.
I will keep your secret�until the moment when I think you are trying to hurt my
son, or until the moment when the two weeks are up. Then I expect you to
gracefully withdraw, and never try and contact Draco again. He will be hurt
enough from being fooled so long, God knows. Do we have a bargain, Mr. Potter?�
Her voice showed that they had damn well better have.

�� Harry reached
across the table to clasp and kiss her hand. �Thank you, Mrs. Malfoy,� he
whispered. �Thank you, thank, thank you��

�� Narcissa�s
fingers spasmed in his. Then she yanked her hand away from him and wiped it on
her robes. Harry didn�t mind the open gesture of contempt. It said he had got
his way, and she believed in him, the him who was obsessively in love with her
son and actually a waste of magic.

�� Two weeks,
mind,� she said. �Or sooner than that, if it turns out that I judge you
have done something wrong.�

�� Harry bowed
his head again. �I understand.�

�� And she
took down the privacy spells and was gone, leaving Harry to sit where he was
for several minutes before he tried to follow. Alone, he draped a few glamours
about himself to hide the color of his eyes and the scar, and to alter his
height. Then he stood and left the shop.

�� First he
made sure Narcissa wasn�t in sight; then he strolled up the middle of the
alley. He was grinning.

�� Narcissa
probably did suspect the truth: that Draco was fighting to be free of his
father. And that was probably a goal she supported. Until she knew for certain
that �Brian� was not necessary to Draco�s achieving his freedom, she did not
want to take him away, or distract her son in the middle of a pitched battle.
On the other hand, neither would she allow the deception to continue forever.
So she had made the best compromise she could.

�� She had
accepted the persona he�d built as Harry.

�� Despite the
difficulty it would be to perform with knowing as well as suspicious eyes on
him, despite the fact that two weeks did not at all fit Draco�s timeframe of
one or two months, Harry was intensely relieved. He had escaped the revelation
he most dreaded, where someone broke him open as all the personalities
behind Metamorphosis. He still had the center of his life. And if he had to
sacrifice a persona to keep that, what did it matter? The person he felt most
sorry for was Draco, who would have to face the fact that he had been tricked.
But he would get over that and go on as Harry would get over his irritation at
himself for having revealed his magic in the first place.

*

�� Draco
sighed and laid down the records he�d requested from the Ministry, shaking his
head. He�d looked carefully for every possible name Brian could have been registered
under at birth. There was absolutely nothing. So far as the Ministry was
concerned, Brian Montgomery didn�t exist.

�� Of course,
so far as the Ministry was concerned, many things didn�t exist, from people
forced into the Dark Lord�s service against their wills to justifiable uses of
the Imperius Curse. So Draco could not yet lay aside his suspicions that
Brian�s birth was recorded, just under a different name.

�� And what
would he have to hide?

�� Draco shook
his head, baffled once again. Spells could hide looks, make it easier to run
from the past, conceal a physical deformity�but there were no spells Draco knew
of that could give someone Brian�s magic, or knowledge of both pure-blood and
Muggle culture, or intelligence. Someone like that should have been able to
make his way in the world without hiding, no matter what he looked like.
And if he was deathly afraid of his enemies finding him, he never should have
displayed his good traits. They were the sort that caused rumors. Draco was
certain his father was searching even as he was, trying to find out what
powerful young wizard, about thirty years old, would want to hang about and
seduce his son.

�� I�d like
to know that myself, actually.

�� Draco rose
to his feet and stretched out the kinks in his back. He had to accept that he
would not know the truth about Brian�s identity today. Perhaps some clues would
emerge when they went to Clothilde�s Midsummer festival. Brian would be
dropped, then, into a room full of pure-blood wizards and witches who had some
warning that he was coming, and so wouldn�t be too stunned to interact with
him, as the guests at Draco�s birthday party had been.

�� Perhaps
this entry into social circles is what he�s been angling for. Perhaps I�m not
the primary goal at all, but a convenient means to accomplish whatever is.

�� Draco
smiled as he began to pull off the casual robes he�d worn that day. He knew it
was not a nice smile. He would show whoever had sent Brian that he disliked
being used. And there were a number of ways to achieve that, from forcing Brian
to reveal his true identity to seducing him away from his true allegiance.

�� I would
not mind having him at my side for a good long time�if we could trust each
other fully, if his loyalty was to me first and not to his masters, if I knew
more about him.

�� If, if,
if. Nothing is certain yet. On the other hand, nothing is impossible.

*

�� Harry
nodded and put down the newspaper he�d been reading. All day long, he�d been
digging into old Daily Prophets he�d saved over the years, mostly so
that he could know what events had occurred on certain dates and appear
sufficiently knowledgeable to the people who�d hired him. This time, he went
through looking for interviews with Draco Malfoy, or stories in which Malfoy
appeared, or accounts of the Death Eater trials and how well Malfoy had emerged
from them. As a result, he now had many more details of what Malfoy was like as
a man, rather than the boy he had known.

�� Draco was
courteous in public, witty when he thought he could get away with it; the wit
increased as time put distance between him and his trial for serving as a Death
Eater. He appeared charming but ruthless, expressing just the right amount of
regret when Malfoy�s Machineries drove a few smaller magical businesses out of
existence. He hid his emotions so well that Harry doubted any of the reporters
had seen anything real from him. For that matter, Harry was not sure that Brian
had, except the sexual attraction that blazed between them. And that was a
purely physical tie.

�� Draco was
guarded, careful, close, aloof, and discreet to the point of never seeming to
have love affairs at all. It was to break from that part of his public
reputation that he�d chosen to hire Brian, Harry decided. His father had
evidently mistaken �discretion� for �compliance� and thought Draco would never
give him any trouble.

�� All this
knowledge made Harry rather cheerful, though he was sure Draco�s vengeful
streak from Hogwarts was still alive and well. The way his enemies went down
just after they had annoyed him was too convenient to be real. (Of course,
Draco made sure not to leave evidence that would link him to his enemies�
destruction). That could mean trouble if and when Draco discovered that Harry
was Brian.

�� On the
other hand, his self-containment and self-possession meant he wasn�t likely to
be hurt by Brian, either. Their going to bed together had been a
one-time mistake that Harry knew Draco already regretted. Now he was pulling
further away, and Harry meant to help him do more of that after tonight.

�� With a
small smirk, Harry picked up the severe black dress robes he�d chosen for
tonight and began to change faces.

*

�� Draco
opened the door of the Manor himself when Harry stepped up to the porch. Harry
had just enough time to notice his calm expression�Narcissa had kept her word
and told him nothing�before the sight of the robes Draco was wearing made his
throat try to close up.

�� Draco was
displaying white, the color of unspotted reputation and bloodline, as if he had
every right to wear it. Of course, his conformation to such traditions was
arrogant in the extreme after his public display of his sexuality. And if one
looked closely, there were silver edges to his robe sleeves and hems that both
hinted at powerful magic in the pure-blood code of colors and ruined the
whiteness of it all. The fact that the white and silver made him shine like
some sort of ethereal spirit and brought out the gray of his eyes was almost an
accident.

�� Shall we?�
Draco�s voice was low as he stepped down the front stair and offered his arm to
Harry. His face was also neutral for long moments. Then he smiled, and the
smile was dazzling.

�� Harry
nodded. He needed some concentration to loop his arm properly through Draco�s,
and to look away from that pale, handsome, elegant face.

�� And a new
thought darted into his head�new not only for this particular situation, but
for any time he had ever adopted a Metamorphosis guise.

�� Draco
won�t be hurt by this, but I may be.

�� The sight
of Narcissa watching from a window as they Apparated away made him all the more
uneasy.

*

�� Draco had
not missed the way Brian�s eyes widened or his breathing sped up when he opened
the door. He�d deliberately chosen the robes that would not only make a
statement, but make him look his best.

�� He Apparated
them both to Clothilde Castle with a warm ember of smugness glowing in his
belly. Really, he thought, addressing Brian�s unknown masters, if you
wanted to succeed, you shouldn�t have sent a man I can seduce, let alone given
me such excellent motives for doing so.

�� Let the
games begin.

*

�� Tac,
gentlenightrain, qwerty, Jaylynn, Christabell, Faery: Thanks for reviewing!

�� SoftObsidian74:
Thanks for the review! Yes, I think Narcissa is more likely to discover the
truth than Lucius. And as you�ve seen here, Narcissa doesn�t want to distract
Draco in the middle of his plans, if he�s really doing what she thinks he�s
doing. Now that she�s watching, she can cut off Harry�s deception at any time
if she sees him seriously about to hurt Draco.

�� Harrydraco4life:
After Harry�s lie, that became very unlikely.

�� Lunatic
with a hero complex: Harry thinks he�s repaired the cable. But with Draco�s
growing suspicions and Harry�s growing emotional investment, he may not have.

�� Mangacat: Draco
is a victim of the same complex deception Harry�s played with everyone else.
Only people who have been very close, physically, to Harry have any idea he�s
that powerful.

�� Gorgeousbowneyes:
Harry really should have known better, but he would still have been happier if
Narcissa weren�t quite so perceptive. *grin*

�� I haven�t
seen Queer as Folk, but the coincidence is interesting!

�� Angelmuziq:
The process of Harry and Draco getting together is one reason why this story
will be so long.

�� Moyima:
Draco honestly hasn�t thought that much about Harry in eleven-twelve years. And
he has no reason to think that the man he hired from Metamorphosis would be
Harry.

�� Hi-chan:
Alas (or not), for the moment Draco has been left on his own.

�� SP77: Yes,
I did plan for �Harry� to emerge because he would get too far into his role.

�� Draco would
have to get over not only his own feeling of betrayal and his irritation at
himself with being fooled, but the wariness of Harry as an excellent liar and
actor.

�� Of course,
as you point out, Draco is more mature than he was. He�s acting somewhat
childish towards Lucius, but that�s only after years of trying other tactics.
- 10
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Changing of the Guard

Chapter Eleven�Braided with a Skein of Truth