Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Principle of Sympathy	By : heerayni Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 5831 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not Own any part or character from The Harry Potter series, Or The Master of Magics Trilogy, They belong to J.k. Rowling and Lyndon Hardy, i make no money from this.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Author's Note:

Due to my accident a few days back and work related stuff and just frustrating real-life stuff, this chapter is about a week late, So i apologize for that. But it should all be back to schedule from here on.

Special Thanks to:

DELIA CERRANO: Gala will be in the next chappie.. which is coming soon! Thanks for always reviewing you are a sweetheart.

@ AlexKDP,

Of all the people, i think i need to apologize to you most Profusely, because of all the time you had to wait and all the stalking you must have done.SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY SORRY. *GROVELLING*This chapter is a filler chapter more or less, but its important in its own right, The gala is in the next chapter because i wanted it to be in Harry's POV, because i wanted the aftermath of the Gala, and Hopefully it will be a very very SEXY and SIZZLING aftermath, to be in Draco's POV, cuz, Admit it, it will be very very very HOT That way...so bear with me!

LOVE YOU!

You remain my favorite STalker!

@Mighty Gryffindor

I really appreciate the fact bit you gave me. Thanks for that. i will have to go back in the story and change it wherever necessary. At this point its nearly impossible

and since it is not a major plot point, i am going to leave it be for now. but once the story is complete and in final edit, i will change it definitely THANKS A LOT!

This was a difficult chapter to write, but I think Draco needed to say somethings

**PLEASE READ BELOW**

WARNING : This is where the 'M' rating comes into place. There is mention of and a small scene and situation of Incest in this chapter. Its not too explicit, just a bit intense. It is not there as a kink or any such thing (I have nothing against those who enjoy writing or reading it as a kink), In my story, it is a PLOT-POINT actually, and I will not be writing the act of incest in detail at all, only its implications. It is between Consenting adults though.

You have been Warned.

Chapter 14 : Unsophisticated Vexing

He set the world aflame,

And laid me on the same;

A hundred tongues of fire

Lapped round my pyre.

And when the blazing tide

Engulfed me, and I sighed,

Upon my mouth in haste

His hand He placed. (Rumi)

In the two months that Draco had resided in the Stoltorm castle in Sweden he had only heard the name and stories regarding Egil Stoltorm. The somewhat mischievous (from Erik's stories) and downright psychopathic (from the house-elves account) twin brother of Erik Stoltorm.

He could not tell much of him from the portrait except that Egil looked exactly like his other twin. They were as identical as identical twins get.

Draco, it turned out, was extremely wrong in his assumption.

Egil Stoltorm was nothing like his twin brother other than his outward appearance. That only limited to the similarity in features and structure. The expression and the countenance were as different as can be between two people.

There was darkness in Egil that was too large and too controlled. And that was the deadliest combination possible.

Erik Stoltorm had his dark moments. He was a Stoltorm after all, but his sanity and a sense of order and appreciation of beauty ruled him. He had instinctual nobility and a sense of justice which had totally missed out in presence in his twin brother, who was calculated, devious and too fond of finding ugliness of injustice beautiful. In his perspective, justice was only whatever was to his advantage.

The way Draco deduced it, Erik was devoted to his brother, and it was a perfectly normal way to be as Egil was Erik's only surviving family. But then there was Egil, who was even more devoted to Erik, but not in the same way.

Draco had noticed that in the very first encounter with Egil.

It was the way he looked at Draco when his brother introduced Draco to him for the first time, but it had been overshadowed by the fact that he, just like his brother, had detected the dark magic of Necromancy inside Draco straight away. Only, where Erik had been respectful and fascinated of it, Egil was greedily inquisitive and demanding. From that very moment Draco had known, that all was not right with Egil, and he was, for the lack of a better term, the cliché Evil twin in the pair.

But, even in his dreams Draco would not have imagined what was actually between brothers.

Not until he stumbled upon it, by accident, or by design, he could only speculate forever.

He had been passing through the Corridor just outside Erik's private study to retrieve a book from the small dining area where he had been reading from it earlier in the evening, when the barely muffled heated conversation and Draco's assumed name mentioned in the middle of it, stopped Draco in his tracks.

Instinct and curiosity made him walk closer to the closed door.

Casting a small transfiguration charm he turned a small globular flower engraving on the door in to one-way glass. It was one of the first spells he had learnt the summer between his sixth and seventh year. Since it was non-intrusive and not graded as an offensive or dark spell, it bypassed most privacy wards and there was none placed on the door in the first place. He cast a disillusionment charm just in-case; after all he had not survived so long without spying a little. And if he was being discussed so vehemently, he found it not the least bit rude.

Egil Stoltorm sat perched on the arm rest of the couch just on the other side of Erik's elaborate desk. While Erik knelt in front of the fire place just across from him stoking at the merry flames. His face pensive and grim. Draco had never seen Erik looking so grim.

"So what? Why do you defend him so? You know what he is…What he is capable of… yet you would not push him to do your bidding, you will not even ask him for it? How long has it been our dream Erik? To reach the Yggdrasill, to make the prophecy true? Now a chance has fallen in your lap, the Gods are smiling upon us, yet you would do nothing? Why?" Egil stood from his perch, taking a step towards his brother his hands visibly trembling and eyes pleading genuinely. Erik sighed tiredly, standing up from his position and turning around with a stern yet resigned face. It was as if he knew what he was about to say would not bid well with the other twin.

They looked so alike, yet so different, and Draco had a distinct feeling that he was about to witness something very important.

"Egil! It's not that simple. His power is incomplete. And even if it was complete, To reach Yggdrasill and to encounter its guardians is impossible, I would be asking him to forfeit his life Egil. It was a dream! Just that, a dream! We were boys, isolated and lonely boys. It was a fantasy that you and I endeavored for. And to pursue it now would be a deal with death…" Erik explained calmly, as if trying to talk down an agitated animal.

But Draco could tell it was a lost cause when Egil's face turned blank and haunted. There was a lot underneath the surface. Erik must have noticed it as well as he reached out a hand but oddly hesitated from touching his brother. This action somehow enraged the other twin even more.

"Yes, of course, it was fantasy, a dream, you would deny it, because that is all you do, isn't it Erik? You deny…" Snarled Egil.

"Egil… not that again please…" this time Erik did take hold of his Brother's forearm. But Egil shrugged it off violently.

"No! Not that again of course. Why that again? Why would it matter to you, when you have that young lover of yours to fuck when you wish, why would I matter anymore? Why would my love, my desire, my fantasies or dreams matter to you? You have never loved me… I gave myself to you! But you want to erase the memory altogether because you don't love me! But you love him don't you? Why? Because of his silver eyes? Young tight body? What does he have that I don't? I have only ever asked you one thing and you deny me it, yet you give him everything and then you claim that I matter the most to you?"

Draco could hardly believe what he was hearing as he watched Egil clutch the lapels of his Brother's starched white shirt violently, rage and mania so apparent in tear-filled eyes. He hardly knew what to make of it.

Erik took hold of his brother's arms and shook him violently before crushing him in an almost violent embrace, his face scrunched up in fury and concern.

"EGIL STOP IT! There is no such thing between me and Silbern and you know it, and you know why!" Erik whispered fiercely to his brother who was still shaking in his embrace.

"I know! I know! You would not touch him. You promised me. I know you keep your promises. Erik!" mumbled Egil, in his brother's shoulder and finally embraced him back, his agile hands rubbing and smoothing his brother's back and waist in a gesture that was too intimate between brothers.

"You are the most infuriating creature that ever breathed!" Erik whispered in his brother's ear affectionately. A small relieved smile was dancing on his lips. Egil untangled himself a fraction to look into his brother's face his face gracing a breath-taking smile.

"I try…" he simple answered. Before rushing forward and devouring Erik's lips in a heated kiss that was more fire than a kiss and they both let free identical groans between their open joined mouths while tongues tangled and whatever distance remained between the identical bodies closed to non-existence. Rushing, rubbing and gasping with practiced and passionate movement between old lovers who knew the other's body better than their own.

Draco turned away from the door so fast he almost stumbled on his own feet. His mind buzzing with enough outrage and shock that it felt like it was about to explode. Half of his mind telling him to look more and other half telling him to walk away.

What he did, made him almost loath himself for it being so Gryffindorish. But this was too much for his Slytherin self as well.

He walked away of course.

And I thought I was a walking talking contradiction.

In all things it seems as if it is the sole purpose of Harry Potter's existence to confuse, infuriate and snatch position from me.

He just has to show me up in every way possible, without trying or even knowing he is doing so.

First he shows me up by being Harry Potter and refusing my friendship. First year.

(Yes and he does for Ronald Fucking Weasley. It doesn't only show me up because he refused my HAND of friendship in front of all my Year-mates and no, it doesn't show me up because Ronald Weasley is Poor or came from a family of blood traitors who procreated way too often. NO, though everyone might have thought so, the reason in my eleven year old mind is THAT RONALD WEASLEY IS AN IDIOT! He is UNINTELLIGENT, UNSOPHISTICATED and UNTALENTED. He was an absolute Oaf and worse of the Weasley lot. Even at that age I knew well of the Powerful and talented Bill Weasley who was apprenticing one of my father's frequent acquaintances who never stopped praising the curse-breaker. Or the strong Charlie Weasley the young Dragon keeper who had already invented two remarkable ways of preserving Dragon Egg-shells and Dragon Heart strings. Or Percy Weasley, the shrewd and formidable head-boy and top scorer in all subjects. And do I even mention the Twins? Who are one day going to end up on the chocolate-frog cards for sure? Ronald Weasley was not only a late bloomer in magic, but also a weak one. And to be rejected against Ronald Weasley was an insult that was unbearable.)

Second he shows me up by beating me really badly at seeking the snitch. Second year.

(And I was particularly talented in Quidditch, I had learnt how to fly a proper broom when I was five! I was nothing short of prodigal. My father may have bought the whole team new brooms but it was as a reward for selecting me. I had made it to the team because of my talent, Severus would not allow it any other way, no matter what people generally thought of him. There has never been a person more dedicated to a legitimate win than Severus, not even Harry bloody Potter or Merlin forbid ALBUS DUMBLEDORE, who was a master at deception. Though he used it for benign reasons, allegedly.)

Third he shows me up with that beast of a Hippogriff!

(Though at that point I might have been inclined to take every accomplishment of Harry Potter as a personal offence, so the new equalized me does not know whether to add the hippogriff incident to the list of showing me ups or no. But, I might as well. No friend of Harry Potter was ever friendly to me and that Hippogriff was absolutely in love with Potter from the first time Potter laid a hesitant yet affectionate hand on it. And why wouldn't it? Falling for Harry Potter is unavoidable. One more reason to hate the beast I guess.)

The list can go on for a life-time even if I haven't yet lived a whole life-time in shadow and loathe and love and adoration of Harry Potter.

But when he says…

"The Blue really suits you, brings out the grey in our eyes." His eyes are wide open and a glint of passion and devastation is concealed just underneath the blazing green and for some reason at that very moment his eyes flick for a moment to my lips. I cannot help my surprise and immediate reset of emotions, from sorrow, determination, confusion and loss to fascination, incredulity, anticipation and sheer desire.

Was that a signal?

I want to pin him to the wall and kiss and bite him until he tells me WHAT THE FUCK HE WANTS FROM ME?

Does he want me to let it all go? Does he want me to pursue him? Does he want me to agree with the cauldron of shit that he just said in his office, about him misunderstanding 'me' and keeping distance from me and not Harrassing me? Does he want me to defy him? Disagree? Duel? Cheat? Fuck?

Does he want me to LOVE him? And keep loving him the way I have done? Worship him? Hold him?

WHAT DOES HARRY POTTER WANT?

If only things could've been that simple.

He simply turns and walks away.

And how bad is it that rather than watching his back and thinking of its metaphorical implications. I am thinking of how perfect and strong and beautiful it is in its shape. All broad and taut with graceful muscles and how it tapers down to a slim waist more enhanced in the perfect cut of the dark-red auror robes that swish around and hide from me the view of the perfect round glob-...

I am hopeless.

"Oh this color really becomes you Lord Malfoy. I think this is just perfect. Really does a lot for your strapping figure and…"

I look at myself critically draped in the very risqué (in my opinion) ever-green brocade robes tuning out the nervous assistant old Berkeley has left to assist me to attend to another customer. I don't mind not being attended as only my own opinion matters to me in dressing and perhaps one more, if he deigns to express it...Well... its so mundane anyway.

I wonder when such a task as this became so mundane to me. Trying and buying new robes used to be one of my favorite past-times, something that my mother and I bonded over. From the beginning I knew that no matter how much it was needed for the Malfoy lineage and how much my mother repressed it, she had always wanted a daughter. Unfortunately, my birth had been an extremely difficult one, and in the end rendered my mother unable to bear future children. So I remained alone. Raised alone. With a father who was too busy clearing his name and working his non-existent sweat off to remain in political and social favor and a mother who assisted her husband in such endeavors whilst probably pining and depressing herself for not being able to bear another child and at that a girl, perhaps several.

I tell you, that is how you end up on the wrong-side of war and make irrevocable errors in judgment.

Knowing how alone you are, how everything weighs down on you, centuries worth of Malfoy legacy, comes down to sit upon your shoulders. The weight of pursuing excellence, powerful magic, family honor, social status, producing a worthwhile off-spring.

Yes, for a child, a teenager, the realization that he is supposed to do all of this, especially the last one and that there is no chance of failure, is an extreme pressure. And to realize at the same time that he is in love with his arch-nemesis who also happens to be another boy and on the other side of the metaphorical fence. Well… it was isolating.

Loneliness and isolation has a way of expanding your vision to see the whole universe and yet make your perspective as small as looking through a key-hole.

And through my keyhole, I could only see Harry Potter.

I still only see Harry Potter.

I look in the mirror not at the fine robes or how they look on my body.

What I actually see is if it brings out the grey in my eyes? Just like Harry mentioned about the blue.

Because I know that Harry is just as lonely and isolated as me, so he must have a keyhole he is looking through as well, and if he has noticed me, then I will make sure that he sees nothing but me, just the way I have for years.

It's only fair.

I turn around to tell the assistant that I have made my choice. Only to feel the sudden rush of magic as Berkeley enters the dressing room with Erik Stoltorm in tow towering and swaggering with the grace of a leopard. His eyes home-in on me the very next second. I can feel my dark magic responding though I clench my fist to clamp it down.

"Ah! What do the Americans say at a time like this?..." I hear him exclaim brightly in that low silky voice, blue eyes shining with mirth. "Yes! Fancy seeing you here…. Lord Malfoy yes?" his smile is a reminder to me why there is whatever there is between me and him. Friendship, camaraderie or exchange of shattering secrets…

"Fancy it is Lord Stoltorm…" I smile a tight smile as I feel the weight of his privacy ward surround the room. His magic strong and steel cold as always.

"Now now… though I might be reacquainting myself here with Draco Malfoy, you already are acquainted with poor old me… and as such you should still call me Erik." He closes the distance between us swiftly. This time there is no one to distract him to my chagrin. No one to take possession of me so easily and order my escape.

I glance around the room to find it empty. I figure this confrontation was inevitable.

"Ah yes! This is a good choice, does bring out the grey in your eyes like the blue did…" he says easily smoothing a hand across my shoulder.

I narrow my eyes at him as I place his words. Has he been spying on me? Or worse, on Harry?

"I do hope so, that is why I selected it." I say turning around towards the mirror I was facing earlier and start unbuttoning my robe, pointedly ignoring him as he moves even closer behind me. I can feel the tentative touch of those long fingers in the middle of my back as he smiles sadly at me in the mirror from above my shoulder and gives out a cool sigh.

"It is fate worse than death, to be in love with someone who will never love you back… but it is not your fate Draco." His voice is nothing above a whisper.

"And it is yours." I say too quickly before I realize in horror what I have just uttered as an acute look of pain reflects in his eyes, before he veils it with closing his eyes and inhaling sharply.

"I… apologize Erik, I should not have said that."

"What? Should not have said the truth? No Draco. Yours are the only lips that I can hear the truth from. No one else. It is why I've come seeking, to face the truth, to find the one I love who does not love me back enough to move from the path of destruction he has chosen, and destroy him before he destroys the one you love and who loves you back." I take a deep breath. Here it is, the truth of it all.

"So it is Egil? The one who desecrated Dumbledore's tomb and killed the centaur?"

"No, it is not Egil… No, my Egil would never do such a thing; it is what my brother created out of his misplaced hate and imagined slights. It is the abomination called Minatio that commits such crimes. Egil is no longer in control."

"And you are so sure that Egil and Minatio are separate? It is time that you realize Erik, that Egil is Minatio and Minatio is Egil, they are not two entities in the same body. And try I will, but, I do not think I would be able to separate one from the other."

"But you could! Draco I have learned of your mastery in Thaumaturgy in Shida Miryo. You could try Draco, I need you to try! I know how hard it will be for you to bestow kindness upon someone who threatens Harry. But I need you to try, I need to have a reason to hope that I can have him back, he is all I have Draco."

I don't know if it is cruelty or kindness to nod my head in ascent and see a sparkle blooming in those ice-blue eyes and a small smile playing on his lips.

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth while it brings back too many memories that I could do without.

Conflict and tension from the afternoon at Berkeley's shop and my meeting with Erik Stoltorm follows me to bed that night. I cannot stop thinking about the proud and vehement pleading coming from him and they feel like shards of glass rolling around in my head.

There stood Erik Stoltorm, proud and beautiful, with the world at his feet, pleading to me, to do the impossible for his twin-brother… and lover. For the forbidden love and passion that I can imagine all too well, especially after witnessing it.

The memory is still as clear as a most beautiful yet deadly sharp crystal in my mind. How fate chose one out of two, how that behemoth magic chose one and condemned the other, and how I stood there, a witness and a vessel to greatness of one lover and destruction of the other.

I wish I had not agreed to finding Yggdrasill. I wish I had not followed a prophecy I did not whole of. But I had made those mistakes. And I carry that guilt wherever I go.

But then I think, it wasn't really a choice. It was how fate was planned out. It was how it was supposed to be. How easy it would be if the same fate would now tell me to go which way.

One thing is as clear as day to me now.

Harry and I have a very specific part to play.

And Harry and I need to stop the darkness that is Minatio together.

The only thing that worries me here is.

Minatio apparently knows it too.

But to what extent, I do not know.

The possibility of a confession always weighs down in some part of my conscience. I can tell Harry everything and hope that he will understand.

But understanding has never been Harry's strong suit. And what of when he learns that I murdered in cold-blood? That I am a practitioner of dark and forbidden magic? That I have played an undeniably important part in bringing about the darkness that is almost onto us? That I am the reason Egil Stoltorm, who now calls himself Lord Minatio, is going to target Harry and his friends too from the looks of it?

You have weaved quite an impossible web around you Draco Malfoy.

Difficult as it may be, you have to come up with an alternative plan, that keeps Harry and his friends alive and safe, and your secrets hidden.

It will not be easy, but when have things ever been easy for me?

Harry might be confused about his feelings, but he has decided to stay away. That can only be good in this situation. All I have to do is keep the distance and focus on what matters. Not emotional or physical gratification, but security. Keep my heart and body out of range and my head in the range at all times. Just like I learnt from Belenos Malfoy's journal, and Guardians of the Yggdrasill, and monks of Shida Miryo, and Malangs of Sukkur. Faith. Faith will get one through everything they said. No words or elaborate spells would work without faith, and a single meaningless word can overcome all magic with solid faith.

And then my mind moves to the 'what if', in that painful way it always does. The whisper of a suggestion, a glimpse of the impossible, asking the question. What if Harry accepts me with all my baggage if I confess everything? What if Harry returns my love? What if…

I imagine the earnest jewel-colored eyes looking at me, scanning through me, trying to gauge the level of devotion in me, already decided on forgiving me. A sweet kind smile of adoration touches those lips and makes my heart ache, before his strong fingers are clasped around mine in a firm grip, the one that is never meant to break.

'It is in the past Draco, all of it, It does not matter anymore.'

And then he kisses me. A tender and committing kiss. A way of sealing a life-long agreement. Like a signature at the end of a binding contract, which wipes out all that was before it.

How I will give anything for forgiveness.

But give as I may, I will never have it. So I will have to do with the lies and half-truths which while will never let me get any closer to my beloved, but I will not be absolutely banished from him will I? I can still watch him from the side-lines. As long as life allows.

But that is me being ungrateful. I had never thought I would ever get close enough to know the feeling of that mouth on my skin. And I do. And though it is not nearly enough because nothing can ever be enough lest I live under his very skin every single second of everyday… it's still more than I ever expected to get.

And the desire is over-whelming enough that I conjure a mirror in my head and look at the small purple mark at the juncture of my shoulder and neck right where I can feel my pulse throbbing as I touch it.

It is going to stain my skin forever. I made sure of that. And just the thought of looking upon myself and seeing it there just a few inches above the farthest edge of another faded, silvery scar in shape of a rough inverted lightning bolt. Also caused by him. I trace the jagged thin scar all the way down where it ends just below my navel. And I realize that it's almost a map from the mark of my beloved from where he has touched me, to where it affects me the most. The silk of the pajama bottom is clinging to my arousal, and I am aroused, and ashamed and appalled and amused by it. It is too much to look at in the mirror so in my strange reverie of amusement and shame and arousal I press it against my chest only to be pleasantly startled by the cool flat and smooth surface of it pressed against my nipple. It's a losing battle from there. But in the end rest does find me after I have exhausted myself thoroughly with liquid muscles and a sweet ache in my wrists and groin. I lose myself for some reason hugging and holding on to the conjured hand mirror that has seen more of me than any living thing has ever.

I am disappointed to know that Harry left just less than 10 minutes before I arrived at Helga's bode.

And has apparently single-handedly finished all of Teddy's Strawberry short-cake even the slice Teddy had saved for me. Because Nana's Strawberry Shortcake is delicious enough for Teddy to skip a day with his junior Broom.

"I am sorry Draco, I don't know how he could mistakenly eat your piece of the cake when I had put a large Red 'D' on it with butter and jam dressing, it was a little wobbly, but there is no way a 'D' can be mistaken for 'H'…"

I pat his shoulder in consolation feeling at more peace than I have in a long time. Teddy is still sporting his Black hair from Harry's visit I guess but now when he looks up at me he is sporting startling light-grey eyes instead of the emerald green. It takes me a few blinks to realize he is mimicking mine, he is now grinning ear to ear at my moment of amazement. Is that how startling my eyes really are? Or are they this startling only in contrast with the Black mop of Harry's hair.

It is like a brick against my chest, the weight of the realization that if I was a girl and had a child with Harry, he would perhaps look exactly like that. Black mop of incorrigible hair and startling light grey eyes. Or perhaps a White blond mop of incorrigible hair and startling green eyes. All combinations would be beautiful and heart-breaking. Because they can never be.

"I… Are you disappointed that the color is not right? Is that why you are sad?"

"What?... No! I am not sad little Lupin… I am just startled, because you are so talented…"

"And because Harry ate your short-cake? I think he did it to wax you, I do."

"To wax me? What is that?"

"You know…" he whispers before looking over his shoulder. And then leans closer with a serious and secretive expression, looking at me with those startling grey eyes, all large and keen and whispers.

"Nana says it when I eat sweets not meant for me, and when I bring muddy shoes in to the foya, she purses her lips and says 'TEDDY MUST YOU ALWAYS WAX ME SO? JUST LIKE YOUR MOTHER!' and then she pinches her nose and then hugs me and kisses me all over my face while she smiles and cries together and says 'I am so grateful for you Teddy!' and then she tells me I am to have no dessert after dinner."

"Really?" I ask him trying to control my smile as I realize he means 'vex' and not 'wax', and try to look just as serious as he is. He nods gravely.

"And what do you think Harry wants me to do? Now that he means to 'Vex' me as you say?"

"That is the thing isn't it? I never know when I have waxed nana, but I am little, I'm sure Harry knows he is waxing you, because he knows everything, so I think because you are not old like nana and he is not little like me and you don't share meals so that you can't tell him no dessert, so…" he trails off ominously and looks at me expectantly.

"So…?" I ask him, because I honest to Merlin do not know what he means...

"You wax him back silly! You are same age, and he ate your strawberry short-cake, which not only had a large D on it, but I had also told him that it was for you! You must Wax him too. It is only fair. Because I don't think crying and laughing and hugging and kissing him would make him feel bad. Aunt Hermione does it to Uncle Ron and he doesn't look like its waxing. And I don't understand how that works, because it always happens on their anniversary when Uncle Ron gives her a book and she apparently likes it, but it waxes her too I guess…"

I don't know how I should tackle this situation. Teddy being the first child ever with whom I have been in so much contact with and I believe if I was equipped with general experience with children, I would still find Teddy a challenge because he is not just smart, he is extremely perceptive and sensitive too.

And here he is urging me to vex Harry back. Harry, who is perhaps his favorite person in the world. It tells of a keen sense of justice. Teddy is perfect. And for the first time in my life I feel my heart fill with such acute adoration for someone other than Harry himself.

It reminds me how sweet things taste.

Teddy rambles on, as we both put silver drops of hard sugar icing on glazed cookies in shape of unicorns explaining in excited detail about the day-time charity Carnival that is to take place tomorrow at which Nana (Aunt Andromeda) and Gramolly (Molly Weasley) put up a joint-stall of baked goodies every year alongside Hermione's Book stall and Fred and George's tricks stall alongside a lot of other names that I recognize vaguely. It seems a lot of families put up the stalls offering food and toys and games, the earning of which goes to the various charities and it's been a raging success since it started 3 years ago. And then the next evening is the Charity Gala at which I am planning to make my debut as the hottest, richest and most scandalous bachelor in wizarding Britain, at the instruction of my ever faithful Solicitor Montague.

I leave later than I planned and with a warm feeling, a smile and a promise that I will visit Teddy tomorrow morning at the Carnival.

I have never had a day more well-spent. I realize I have not thought of all the problems brewing around me, especially with Erik's request and Minatio's threats. And to think that I did not even get my slice of the Strawberry short-cake. I wonder if that is a signal too.

If it is? I am pleasantly VEXED indeed.

Goblins, as it turns out have no tolerance for carnivals or charities and my scheduled investment inspection conference with the Goblin head of investment department is long and boring enough to make my skin crack with the dryness of it.

All along the other seated Goblins keep shooting me glances which I can only describe as disgust. I wonder when the Goblins became so choosy about proper attire for these boring meetings.

To be honest, when I had made the promise of visiting Teddy and the Charity Carnival last night, I had totally forgotten about this dreadful meeting. Dressed carefully in a muggle outfit of grey stone-wash jeans and a powder-blue polo shirt complete with Sunglasses that I bought alongside the outfit just three days back after the smashing success of the muggle outfit I wore to Helga's bode that first time.

In these clothes no one would ever suspect me to be anything other than muggle in the muggle world, and everyone would recognize me as Draco Malfoy in the wizarding world as I have let down the signature Malfoy hair even if I have hidden the signature Malfoy eyes and now dressed in extremely Muggle clothes. What a perfect friendly and eye-catching and tongue wagging statement that would make. I tuck my wand at the back of my jeans as I glide down the stairs, a certain thrill bubbling in the pit of my stomach. Only to find My solicitor waiting for me in the reception hall to accompany me to a scheduled investment inspection meeting.

So much for the best laid plans.

I finally find my way out of the ghastly gates of Gringotts four hours later. Feeling stale. Goblins have a strange power of doing that to one. With all their wrinkled skin, large noses and those long fingers and nails and the nasal voices. I feel as if my own throat is scratched.

"You, I think, were off to somewhere else this morning weren't you?" asks Mr. Montague smiling in that fatherly way my father never deigned to.

"I was, for the Charity Carnival, I promised Teddy."

"Ah… yes little Teddy Lupin. I see. But… why are you dressed in Muggle clothes if I may ask?"

"Well, I wanted to make a statement, I am sure most people will be recognizing me and I want to make them take note of my muggle-friendly tendencies. In this social atmosphere as you have been explaining since my return, I can only think it a good idea yes?"

"It is clever. Muggle clothing, visiting the orphaned child of war-heroes who also happens to be God-child of Harry Potter."

That is a cold way of putting it. My intentions had only been limited to clothing. Seeing Teddy and visiting the Carnival is more for personal reasons.

"I did not go that far actually…but yes you are right. And now if you will allow, I have a promise to keep." I take my leave handing the paper-work to him.

As I walk through the Diagon Alley to reach the floo at Leakey cauldron, I notice that it is almost empty. Though most shops are open there are no witches and wizards milling about as they are on normal days at this time. I walk across Finnegan's and its almost empty. Enquiry from a candy stall owner explains that everyone is at the Charity Carnival at the Dumbledore Memorial park. I realize that this Carnival is much bigger than I suspected at first.

The sheer amount of noise and colors and spectacles reminds me of Quidditch world cup. Only there is no stadium here, but a lot of tents and stalls. It's colorful and noisy; exactly what a carnival should look like. I wish there were carnivals like these when I was a child.

I wade through the crowd after buying a ticket which is a wrist band of some kind at the entrance, as the sun shines down in all its glory. It's the longest time that I have visited London without facing rain. Back in Wiltshire, it rains almost every night.

It's been a long time since I have been near such a huge crowd and it's intimidating at first, but I am a Malfoy. I spy a huge purple tent with a big yellow 'W' on it. I start to move towards it slowly, inspecting my surroundings. Children, parents, candies, pops, glitters, pets, rides, shouts, laughter and constant music. A few people recognize me and actually nod at me, a bit solemnly, but still, it is surprising that they acknowledge me at all.

The Purple tent I realize belongs to the Tricks and treats from the Weasley Twins. I wonder if it's all too wise to go to them to ask for direction towards their Mother's and my Aunt's stall.

"Are you lost?" asks someone taking my elbow. I turn around only to meet blue eyes of Daphne Greengrass.

"Daphne…" I say noticing a Photographer in her tow. The boy is short and looks to hardly be fifteen. A summer job then as he must still be at Hogwarts.

" I did not expect to see you here at all!" she turns and gestures at the photographer to take a picture of her with me. Which he promptly does.

"I am… Here on invitation actually." I say a bit dazed at the camera flash still.

"Really? Invited? Pray tell!" she asks flicking her high blonde ponytail off the shoulder of her green wizarding robes.

"By, my cousin actually… and he must be waiting for me…"

"Oh Teddy Lupin! I know where the stall is, though I am sure he I saw him by the face-painting stall with Harry and those Weasley children." She says taking my arm and leading me in a direction. i look apologetically at the young photographer who scrambles after us immediately though I doubt he can see it through my sunglasses. She natters on about the carnival and who is there and I can only think of schemes that would get rid of Daphne Greengrass for good.

She doesn't have to actually say it before we reach the crowded open space which has tables and stools and small palettes of paint and brushes and heaps of children with colorful faces. I feel the warmth which I always feel in my chest when he is near. Though when a small hand finds mine, the one that is not hijacked by Daphne, I look down to find Teddy's grinning face with two golden snitches fluttering across his face from place to place. His hair is Black and eyes and sparking green.

"YOU CAME!" he shouts over the noise all around us! I see he is accompanied by two other children which I recognize straight away as Weasley's children.

"I Promised! I was held up by a few Goblins on my way which is why I am a bit late!" I grin widely at him.

Teddy's eyes grow wide as do the eyes of the Weasley children as they crowd around me all of sudden.

"WHAT HAPPENED?" they look at me with amazed faces. And I wonder what was it that I just said that was so fascinating.

'Held up by a few Goblins…"

Oh… I smile internally at the naiveté of children.

I shake my head solemnly, playing along.

"They almost dried me with their words you know… I felt like my skin was going to Crack!"

"Goblins can do that?" says the little girl with flowing red locks and blue eyes. Her features remind me of Granger.

"Yes, and if it wasn't for Solicitor Montague I am sure I would not have been able to come at all."

"Sosolitor Montague?" says the little Brown-haired Weasley boy

"It's 'Solicitor' Hugo…" says Harry fluffing the little boys Brown hair. I look up at him and my breath almost catches. His skin is gold in the shining sunlight, his face all rough and stubbly in a way that I want to feel its roughness against my own cheek. In one of his strong arm he carries another little girl with same flaming hair but a darker skin and dark eyes. He is clad in a black vest over a fit white short-sleeved work-shirt and dark pants and combat boots he looks like a ragged super-hero or bounty-hunter or something complete with strong broad shoulders and rippling muscles.

"Hello Draco! Glad you could make it!" he nods at me with a cheeky smile his eyes sparkling How wonderful and at the same time dreadful it is that he does not wear those horrible glasses anymore. And I notice a small green and silver painted dragon zooming across his left cheek.

Woah! A green and silver dragon? Does that mean… the query is on my lips when he notices something behind me and his expression changes. I look to my side and remember who is holding my other hand. Daphne.

"Hello Potter." I nod back at him

"Hi Harry! I didn't know you boys are friendly now?"

"No, they are not friendly at all, Harry Waxes Draco." Prompts the little red-headed mini Granger.

"What?..." asks Daphne And Oh Merlin! how thankful I am that Carnivals are noisy places!

"ROSE! That was a secret! You are not supposed to tell that to everyone!" Teddy scolds her covertly.

"Tell what to everyone?" Harry looks down at the children, he looks just as confused as Daphne.

I stare down at Teddy, who is now shooting me ashamed sideward glances as he huddles with Rose and Hugo and tries to dislodge the embarrassing situation as only an Eight-year old could. The three of us stand awkwardly for a few sconds.

"Oh babies! Listen, I have to be somewhere fifteen minutes ago, so no more carting off till Uncle Fred is free okay?" Harry says to the children who nod furiously as he continues

"You can take here to Gramolly and Andy's stall yea? While I hand Freddie over at the W tent? I will drop by later!" Harry says to the children kissing each on the head while little Freddie clings to him like a monkey, before turning towards me and smiling formally.

It is extremely far from the smile I got for a greeting and that makes me wonder. AGAIN.

'Doesn't matter Malfoy! Remember what resolution we passed between us?' says the sharp Malfoy voice in my head.

'BUT YOU SAW! The way he smiled at us! The way he looks! The way the expression switched when he saw Daphne clinging to our arm. HE HAS GOT A GREEN AND SILVER FUCKING DRAGON ZOOMING ABOUT ON HIS FACE!'

'SHUT UP!' I tell both the voices in my head.

"They know the way…" he says pointing at the now three blushing children "see you around?" he says nodding at me and Daphne, and walks in the opposite direction towards the large purple tent.

"I think I will go too, I need to check on the backstage of the variety show." Daphne says sweetly, too sweetly.

And then there are four.

I look down at the three children waiting on me, and wonder when I became the family guy?

By the time the evening ends. I find myself bone-tired and strangely full. And realizing, that I might yet witness another vexingly brilliant bunch of Weasley children in this life time for I have already met a few today. And I feel sorry for any Slytherin who will dare to cross this bunch. They are loud, smart, and thick as thieves! And Teddy just fits with them like a puzzle piece. The leader! It is a wonderful thing to know that Teddy will have just as many friends as Harry did. And I am sure they will get him through whatever trouble finds him.

With a sleeping Teddy tucked against my chest and a bag of stuff from the stall I apparate quietly to the outside of the Cottage at Helga's bode.

By the time I say Good night to my beaming but tired aunt, it's almost midnight, and I have face paint all over my shirt where snitches apparently are sleeping now. A smile has never found my face more easily over ruined clothes.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring with it…

Because if every day is as good as yesterday and today was, I can't wait till tomorrow comes.

No matter how sad my little predicament may be, and who I see dancing on Potter's arm. I swear on the little, painted, green and silver dragon that I will make the most of it.

Next Chapter is the GALA...Dancing...Flirting...Angsting...perhaps more?

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The Principle of Sympathy