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The Same Species As Shakespeare	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 16108 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- 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
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Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Thirteen�Love Is
a Familiar

�� Harry
sighed as he stared at the tray of food on his lap. He had tried to negotiate
with the Malfoy house-elves for some food stronger than porridge and toast�he
would have killed for a good slice of bacon at the moment�but they refused to
take the hint, and simply brought him new plates of the same food. At this
point, he was hungry enough to eat it. He picked up his spoon, careful of the
pulling motion that inflicted on the muscles in his side, and began to eat.

�� It wasn�t
as bad as Harry had feared it would be; he didn�t think he�d eaten a bad meal
since coming to the Manor, and the porridge had a sprinkling of some sweet
taste he hadn�t encountered before on the top. But it still wasn�t as good as
bacon would have been, Harry thought, and imagined sucking grease through the
circle of his pursed lips as he swallowed.

�� You do have other things to think about than
the food, Hermione�s voice said in his head. She had sounded considerably
subdued ever since Harry woke up.

�� I know, but I don�t want to think about them
right now. The image of Draco�s face transforming into a monster�s flashed
in his mind, and Harry shook his head and buried it again. The shake of his
head was a little too vigorous, and he winced as his wound opened enough to let
a dribble of his blood pour out and soak the covers. He looked in several
directions for the wand he could use to clean it up, but it escaped his eye. He
made a disgusted sound under his breath. How
do they expect me to take care of myself without a wand?

�� Harry. I
didn�t know you were hurt. You should have let someone know immediately that
you were still in pain!�

�� Suddenly
Draco was there, all tender hands and soothing voice and wandering wand that
stopped the flow of blood and grew a new layer of skin over the wound in an
instant. Harry stared at him. He hadn�t even heard the door open.

�� You were rather distracted by the pain. Hermione�s
voice in his head was snappish, but Harry knew that sort of snappishness she
used to conceal worry, and she was using it now. Oh, Harry, why aren�t you in St. Mungo�s?

�� I doubt the Malfoys trust the staff well
enough to go there when they don�t have to, Harry said. I was the one who took Draco there.
�Thank you,� he said aloud. �And I just now started hurting. You have
miraculous timing.�

�� Draco gave
him a faint, nervous smile that for a moment made Harry think he was the
imposter, but no, the wand that had healed him gave off the comforting vibrations
of the familiar hawthorn one. �I was waiting,� he said. �I had wards on this
room to tell me when you woke. But�I didn�t know if you would want to see me,
after last night.� He looked away, as though to conceal what he felt, and
seemed unaware that the hand that had wandered into his hair and was wrenching
at the tangles gave it away perfectly well. �What must you think of my family�s
hospitality or sense, that we let an intruder through the wards?�

�� Harry was
glad his astonishment prevented laughter. Draco would have taken laughter entirely the wrong way. And now that
Harry was finally seeing some sign of what he had most craved from Draco, he
didn�t want to do anything to disrupt it.

�� I know it
happened once before,� Harry said, when he could speak. �And I chose to stay
here anyway. And I�m glad I was the one who was attacked, instead of you.� He
shook his head as Draco glanced up at him, hope and misery both written clearly
on his face. �Did you really think I would blame you for this misfortune, Draco?�

�� He looks
like me,� Draco said, voice very low. �I wouldn�t blame you if��

�� He looks
like you,� Harry said firmly. He leaned forwards to clasp Draco�s hand, but his
wound pulled warningly. Draco made it easy, however, by stepping across the
distance between them and slipping his fingers into Harry�s. Harry grasped them
tight, ignoring the formless noise of distress from Hermione, and continued
speaking words from his heart. �But he isn�t you. There are differences between
you too great to be concealed by a fortunate resemblance and a little
wandwork.�

�� Really.�
Draco lifted his other hand, cradling Harry�s cheek, staring at him with
devouring eyes. �You�ll let me near you even though you have to imagine his
wand in the place of mine, the expression on his face as the expression on
mine.�

�� How many
different ways can I say it?� Harry countered. �You�re not him. He�s not you.
I�m sure he would have liked to kill me last night, but that doesn�t mean that you want to kill me.� He managed a faint
smile when Draco�s expression of hope didn�t disappear.� �I know
you. No fake can ever take the place I�ve created for you in my mind.�

�� And then
Draco leaned forwards and stroked his thumbs along his cheeks and said, �I know
that you said you wanted to wait until you were off the case, but I�can�t,� and
began to kiss him, and it felt as though several of Harry�s wet dreams had come
true at once.

*

�� A kiss is the best move after a confession
like that, Draco told himself coldly as he slid his tongue into Potter�s
mouth. He�ll need some sign that he
matters to you, and what better way can there be than physical passion? That�s
overwhelming enough to sweep him off his feet and not let him question your
feeling as he otherwise might.

�� Because
Gryffindors constantly asked questions about feelings, and Draco knew the same thing would happen now if he let
Potter�s mouth go, he kissed him steadily, darting his tongue in circles and
probing it into crevices that Potter probably didn�t know existed, licking his
teeth and learning the taste of the� back
of his mouth as opposed to the front.

�� And at some
point the world shifted, and Draco found himself enjoying the kiss for what it
was, instead of using it solely as a distraction technique to keep Potter from
thinking about his sincerity.

�� He had
climbed into the bed. When had that happened? He didn�t know, but from the
enthusiastic whimpers and careful writhing of the man beneath him, he was not
unwelcome. He had flattened his hands over Potter�s wrists and pinned them to
his pillow, so that he could plunge his tongue more deeply into his mouth.
Potter tilted his mouth into that plunge. Draco felt a snarl trembling up his
throat, and he lowered himself, so his erection ground into the one waiting for
him.

�� Potter had
spent years waiting for him, years willing to offer himself as Draco�s prize.
There was power in this moment so thick and sweet Draco found himself
swallowing constantly to consume it all, like eating a meal consisting solely
of molasses. He adjusted the angle of his body so he could slip a leg between
Potter�s knees and nudge them open. Potter complied with an eager cry into his
mouth. Draco snarled back and licked the corner of Potter�s lips, preparing to
lower his head further and suck on his neck. Why shouldn�t he have sex with Potter? It would lead up nicely to his
revenge.

�� Then Potter
tore his mouth away and uttered a genuine cry of pain. Draco looked down
further and saw blood spreading over the coverlets and pillows.

�� The sight
maddened him with satisfaction. He felt as though the blood had come from the
probing of his tongue into Potter�s mouth, from the bites that he�d wanted to
leave on his neck. He sank his teeth into the corner of Potter�s lip one more
time and then climbed gracefully off the bed, gratified to feel the blood
dripping from his hair onto his shoulder.

�� He would
have liked to bathe in Potter�s blood, the way he would have liked to hold
Potter�s beating heart in his open palms. Anything to consume him, to have and
own him, to get rid of him so that he couldn�t trouble Draco�s life any longer.

�� I�m so
sorry,� he gasped, outwardly horrified that he�d hurt Potter. He waved his wand
and mended the wound once again, with the same layer of new-grown skin and
pain-numbing charm that he�d used before, which made the patient feel better
without permanently closing the injury. Then he Vanished the blood from the
sheets, though not without a single longing glance. He would have enjoyed
scooping that blood up in a vial and taking it down to his small museum of
Potter memorabilia. Well, the blood in his hair would have to do. �I didn�t
mean to do that.�

�� Potter
shook his head. His eyes were wide, his cheeks flushed as if even pain that
brought the blood flowing from his wound was more attention than he had
expected from Draco. Draco felt a touch of surprise. Of course it was more attention than he had a right to expect, but he
had not thought Potter would recognize that.

�� I did
say,� Potter murmured, �that we should wait until after the case to become
intimate with one another.�

�� Draco held
still to conceal his impatience. Only a Gryffindor would speak of it that
soppily. Really, was saying �fucking� or �having sex� beyond them? One could
argue that they had already been intimate, living in the same house and eating
meals together and saving each other�s lives. But that was the kind of subtlety
Draco had no right to expect himself, so he nodded and said, �Yes?�

�� But I want
you.� Potter tipped his head a little, and his gaze was full of naked hunger.
Draco bathed in the force of it. Once he had thought he would feel dirty if
Potter ever looked at him with desire; he had wanted to force him to submit
against his will, writhing in shame even as he did it in pleasure. But this was
much more pleasant. It indicated the depth of Potter�s emotions and how deeply
he would feel the wound Draco intended to inflict. �And I don�t think that
wanting will go away. Perhaps we can indulge ourselves a bit once this wound is
healed?�

�� Draco
smiled and reached out to lay a lightly caressing hand on Potter�s breastbone.
�Nothing would make me happier.�

�� He watched
Potter lap up the kindness with bright eyes, and knew that he had enticed the
man into the first stages of his many-layered trap. It had been essential that
Potter should suggest further intimacy himself. That way, no one could blame
Draco when everything went wrong, not even Potter.

�� Was there
any greater pleasure than appearing innocent in the eyes of the world whilst
getting your worst enemy in trouble?

*

�� Harry
opened his eyes. He had finally removed the copper ring from his finger so he
could get some sleep; Hermione had been very loud on the foolishness of having
sex with Draco. Harry could appreciate why she might think it was a mistake,
but he had to make his own decisions. And he thought he could fairly easily
survive the consequences of a mistake, even if Hermione didn�t trust him to.

�� Draco had
left him with many promises that he would be back later to look over Harry�s
comfort, and with the assurance that house-elves were within call if he needed
something. So Harry had expected to rest without disturbance.

�� Of course,
Lucius Malfoy had shown a surprising persistence in talking to what must be an
unwanted guest. So Harry expected to see him when he looked up, and not Snape
standing motionless over his bed, staring down.

�� It was so
surprising that Harry blinked and said nothing for long moments. Snape continued
to stare, his eyes deep with some emotion Harry couldn�t name. His hands were
clasped in front of him as if he�d been praying, and his face was set in rigid
lines. He still had grease in his hair, Harry noted absently.

�� Harry
wanted to roll his eyes. Of course Snape had come to taunt him as he lay
helpless, probably to ask sneeringly if the Great
Auror Harry Potter shouldn�t have been able to move out of the way in time.
But it was strange that he should stand there and keep not doing it. Was he
hoping to build up dread for the insult in Harry? It wouldn�t work.

�� You�re
probably being kept from an important schedule of brewing up poisons and
bathing in oil,� Harry said, striving for the drawl that he had heard Draco use
to insult Keller in his office. �Give me the angry words you�ve taken such
trouble to prepare and then go. You can do that without too much trouble, can�t
you?�

�� Snape still
said nothing, though his fingers writhed around each other until his hands
formed into a pair of clenched fists. Harry waited. He wondered, based on his
experience the last time he had ventured into Snape�s lab, if he should expect
a punch instead of a scowl. Or a curse? But no, Snape probably wouldn�t want to
explain to Draco that he�d exaggerated Harry�s injury.

�� Finally,
Snape said in a dry sneer, �I was considering the words you had spoken last
before you fainted. You said that the imposter had been on Malfoy grounds for
some time before he attacked you. It never occurred to you to mention this to
Mr. Malfoy when he visited you this morning, did it? Don�t you want the attacker caught?�

�� Harry felt
his face flare with heat. Of course he should have made sure that his
information was known the moment he could speak coherently, but Draco had
seemed to have other things on his mind, and Harry had let himself be
distracted.

�� Sorry,
sir,� he murmured. �Yes, the man was there for some time. We spoke, and he
actually managed to convince me that he was Draco for a few minutes.�

�� Considering
the general level of your intelligence, I cannot imagine that would be very difficult.�

�� Good. Harry was more comfortable with
Snape in his familiar, hateful persona than he was with him in the persona of
the man who had stood staring by his bed when he woke. �I know Draco,� he said,
instead of the response he would have liked to make. �I know his behavior, the
tones of his voice, the way he looks when he wants something. And I assure you
that this imposter has every one of those perfect. It was the things he spoke of that finally alerted
me. He treated architecture as a gift he couldn�t have, when of course Draco
takes pride in his accomplishments as an architect. I think the imposter is a
little mad, based on his behavior when I told him that he wasn�t Draco.�

�� Then came
the attack that alerted us,� said Snape.

�� Harry
nodded.

�� Snape drew
his wand. Harry only had time to blink before it was pointed between his eyes.
�Since you would be unable to give me a satisfactory picture of the proceedings
no matter how many times I asked,� he said, �I trust you are unlikely to object
to my simply taking them. Legilimens!�

�� Harry
shuddered as the spell dug into his mind, dragging his memories of the night
before to the surface. It didn�t hurt quite as much as it had when Snape ripped
into his mind in his fifth year, because this time he�d been too shocked to put
up any resistance. And it would look childish if he tried now, he told himself,
especially since the information gained this way would only help Draco. He
gritted his teeth and endured the pain, watching as the imposter engaged in
that magnificent snarl again and then aimed his wand at Harry and cast the
spell that had ripped his side apart.

�� The
memories abruptly stopped. Harry opened his eyes and found Snape staring at him
again from near the door. Harry opened his mouth to ask if the memories had
helped, but Snape turned and swirled away. Harry shut his mouth, frowning
thoughtfully. The gesture of Snape�s snapping his robes behind him, which he�d
seen a thousand times before, seemed different now.

�� As if he were running away from something.

*

�� Lucius was
aware of someone Apparating onto the long gravel drive beyond the iron gates
the moment it happened, of course, but this time the visitor didn�t try to fool
the wards and walked normally towards the front door. So he had no notion of
who it would be when he sent a house-elf to meet the man and escort him into
his presence.

�� Lucius put
his book down slowly when the door opened into the library he�d chosen as a
receiving room. The book was not one of Narcissa�s diaries, because Lucius
never chose to read those in semi-public, where they might be interpreted as a
show of sentimental weakness by anyone who noticed them. And now Lucius was
doubly glad of his caution against people in general, because he could never
have known that this person would
appear in Malfoy Manor, and weakness in front of him would have been
inexcusable.

�� Ron Weasley
smiled politely at Lucius and stepped forwards with his hand extended, exactly
as if their families had not spent generations feuding and a whole war trying
to kill each other. �Hullo, Mr. Malfoy. I�m the newest Auror assigned to your
son�s case by Shacklebolt.� At least he didn�t try to pretend that they�d never
met each other before and therefore Lucius needed his name, Lucius thought
through his shock as they shook. Weasley had rough, callused hands, of course,
used to doing heavy work. �Since Harry�s been wounded,� Weasley continued,
�Shacklebolt thought it only right that your son should have double the
protection.�

�� Of course,�
Lucius said, taking his hand back from Weasley as soon as it seemed reasonably
polite to do so, �Potter cannot protect him at all right now.�

�� Hence why
the Minister thought he could use protection, sir.� Weasley seemed determined
to act pleasant despite the edge to Lucius�s voice, and he followed him when
Lucius walked briskly out of the library into the entrance hall. �The criminal
still hasn�t been caught, after all, and he�s proven himself capable of hurting
a distinguished Auror.� Despite his annoyance, Lucius admired the earnest tone
to Weasley�s voice. �His main target is your son. Head Auror Shacklebolt thinks
that he only hurt Harry to get at Draco.� There wasn�t even any distaste when
he said the name. Lucius would have to give the Weasleys credit for teaching
more tact and discretion to their children than he had thought they knew
existed. �So we want to make sure that he can�t take advantage of Harry�s
lamentable condition and get to Draco that way.�

�� Lucius
opened his mouth to deny Weasley a place within his home�despite the polite
fiction they were keeping up, Weasley had
to know that he couldn�t really expect to be entertained by the Malfoys�and
then paused. In his mind he saw the obsessed look on his son�s face when he
closed with Potter, and Potter�s smooth, forbidding expression, shutting out
the warning Lucius had tried to give him.

�� Lucius
still no chance of making an impression on Potter or keeping his son away from
him. Weasley could.

�� He made
sure to keep a faint smile on his face as he turned around and nodded. �Mr.
Potter is resting in one of the guest bedrooms. If you�ll come with me, I�ll
escort you to him. I think my son is with him as well.�

*

�� Harry was
listening to Draco�s words in a half-drugged trance. What he said didn�t matter
as much as the tone with which he spoke the words, soft and lulling and full of
wonder, as if he himself couldn�t believe he had the chance to associate with
Harry under circumstances like these.

�� He wants me. There�s a good chance that he�s
falling in love with me, though he doesn�t realize it yet. People who aren�t in
love don�t sound like that. Harry only had to think back on the day that
the note had faded out of Penelope�s voice to realize that. He had kept dating
her because he trusted that it would come back, but it hadn�t, and then she had
betrayed him to the Daily Prophet.

�� He felt a
tremble of disquiet, but banished it. He was going to make sure the note had no reason to fade for Draco. Harry
would keep him entertained and occupied; he would show him how fulfilling it
could be, to stay with one person, when that one person offered you endless
companionship and devotion.

�� Draco
smiled at him. Harry�s breath caught. Yes, it had been the right decision to
remove his ring. He could only imagine what Hermione would have to say about
the thoughts that crowded his mind right now.

�� A sharp
knock on the door made Draco look up, but not retract his hand, which lay on
Harry�s. �That must be Severus with more healing potions,� he said, and he sounded
unconcerned. A brief jolt of triumph made Harry�s heart speed up. Draco was
unafraid of looking sentimental in front of his mentor, then.

�� Draco
looked back as if he had felt the jolt. His eyes were soft and shining,
allowing Harry to see the light in them as flame instead of the blank
reflection of the sun on expensive glass. He leaned forwards, and Harry was
sure he was about to receive another kiss.

�� Then the
door opened, and Lucius stepped in, followed by Ron. Harry�s mouth dropped
open. Draco glanced over his shoulder casually, then straightened so fast that
it looked as if he�d hurt his neck. His hand clenched furiously on Harry�s, and
Harry made a muffled noise of pain, still caught in his best friend�s bright
gaze.

�� Harry,
hullo.� Ron grinned at him. �Shacklebolt sent me over when he heard that you�d
been wounded. He thought it was only fair that the Malfoys should be protected,
whilst you couldn�t do it, from someone so persistent that he�d come straight
through the wards.� He looked at the clasp of Draco�s hand on Harry�s as if he
had expected it, not even raising his eyebrows, but Draco promptly pulled back
as if he had been stung.

�� Harry
scowled. He knew the real reason Ron was here. Hermione must have persuaded him
to go when Harry removed the ring and she couldn�t hear his thoughts anymore.
They thought he needed protection from Draco, which was ridiculous. If he was
going to make a mistake, why not let him make it, as had happened with Penelope
and Joshua? �I don�t think you�ll be an effective protection when your family
and the Malfoys don�t get on,� he managed to say, with a bare snap of ice in
his voice. �Didn�t you tell Shacklebolt that he should choose someone else?�

�� Ron�s mouth
widened into a satisfied grin. �No,� he said. �Why would I? I�m sure that we�re
all adults here, and that his life being in danger�� he nodded to Draco ��is
more than enough reason to behave like them.�

�� I couldn�t
agree more,� said Lucius. �I can guarantee my own good behavior and welcome,
and I will undertake to guarantee the same for my son.�

�� Draco�s
face was so dark that Harry winced. Apart from everything else, Draco now had
to endure the intrusion of someone he still obviously hated into his home. It
was stress he didn�t need.

�� You could
have said�� Harry began.

�� No, I
couldn�t.� Ron flopped down on the edge of the bed, between Draco and Harry,
and raised an eyebrow. He couldn�t have made a clearer statement of his
intentions if he�d shouted them from the rooftops.

�� Harry
glared at his best friend. His best friend smiled back.

*

�� linagabriev:
You may be right about the other Draco�s Slytherin feelings, but his trying to
kill Harry isn�t endearing him to anyone, and Harry is a lot less likely to
listen to him that way.

�� Thanks so
much! I didn�t think about the symbolism of the rings, but yes, Harry does want
both his friends and Draco, and that�s one of the reasons he�s so annoyed that
his friends hate Draco so much.

�� The Ron
story will be part of a series, but the series is mostly unconnected one-shots,
so it�ll probably be a while before I post the next one.

�� Mangacat:
Interesting theory! As for whether I twist my plots, I promise you that this
one seems obvious to me and that I�ve scattered clues about! But then, most of
my plots seem obvious to me because I�m the one writing them.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Well, it�s possible that the imposter does have a hawthorn wand, but it�s not
the hawthorn wood as a wood that Harry is sensing. The wand has to be made of
the wood of the special hawthorn that grew next to his holly, and the imposter
probably doesn�t have access to a wand made of that.

�� FallenAngel1129:
Thanks! And no, Snape�s not completely evil, but Harry finds his behavior very
strange.

�� Minn yun:
Harry has no idea what the imposter meant by those words, and nor do Lucius or
Severus.
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The Same Species As Shakespeare