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The Optimal Balance	By : TheMightyFlynn Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17124 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and characters belong to JK Rowling and associates. This was written for fun. I make no money from it.

Chapter List
- 1-The Optimal Balance
- 2-Ch. 2
- 3-Ch. 3
- 4-Ch. 4
- 5-Ch. 5
- 6-Ch. 6
- 7-Ch. 7
- 8-Ch. 8
- 9-Ch. 9
- 10-Ch. 10
- 11-Ch. 11
- 12-Ch. 12
- 13-Ch. 13
- 14-Ch. 14
- 15-Ch. 15
- 16-Ch. 16
- 17-Ch. 17
- 18-Ch. 18
- 19-Ch. 19
- 20-Ch. 20
- 21-Ch. 21
- 22-Ch. 22
- 23-Ch. 23
- 24-Ch. 24
- 25-Ch. 25
- 26-Ch. 26
- 27-Ch. 27
- 28-Ch. 28
- 29-Ch. 29
- 30-Ch. 30
- 31-Ch. 31
- 32-Ch. 32
- 33-Ch. 33
- 34-Ch. 34
- 35-Ch. 35
- 36-Ch. 36
- 37-Ch. 37
- 38-Ch. 38
- 39-Ch. 39
- 40-Ch. 40: Epilogue
- 13
- 14
- 15
“…but how did you get the albino peacocks? Do they breed that way?”

Draco's head snapped up at the sound of Lily’s voice approaching his greenhouse. He knew it was quite early still, but that had never yet stopped Lily from being up and about. Casting a stasis charm over his work, he slowly made his way over to the door.

“They are not, in fact, albino. They have been specifically bred to increase the chance of them being born with a genetic mutation that causes the feathers to have no pigmentation. If you look closely, you will see that their eyes are still the original black and not the red of an albino.”

There was very little condescension in Lucius’ tone, but Draco's nerves jumped anyway. He knew that his Father loved to brag about his birds, but whether he still had the patience to deal with a child as precocious as Lily was another matter altogether. Draco waited until the sound of their footsteps – Lucius’ aided by the cane he always carried – had travelled past his greenhouse before opening the door and slipping out to watch them.

“Oh, so if you want a pure white peacock, then it can only breed with other ones that have the same mutation?”

“Peafowl is the actual name of the bird, Lily. Peacocks are male and peahens are female. And yes, I had an intricate breeding program in place when I was still the bird’s main carer. I am unaware whether Draco has continued the separation of the birds I instigated to keep the lines pure, however, so it may be that some of the younger birds are not quite as purebred as the older generations.”

Unable to help it, Draco rolled his eyes. Of course he hadn’t continued the bloody breeding program Lucius had set up: he had no intention of ever showing the birds, so why should he? Stepping out and around the corner of the greenhouse, he watched as the two of them walked slowly down the path towards the peacock – peafowl? – enclosure. Lily had to take nearly two whole steps for every one of Lucius’, but Lucius had slowed his pace in order to allow her to keep up with him. It was such an odd sight that Draco couldn’t help but follow them, curiosity as to what would happen when they reached their destination flowing through him.

“Oh.” The disappointment in Lily’s voice actually sent a shot of guilt over the stupid birds through Draco, causing him to scowl. He absolutely refused to feel sorry for a group of birds that lived better lives than many humans! “But Draco has looked after them really well, don’t you think? Their enclosure doesn’t need any repairs or anything and they can get out and roam around the grounds if they want.”

Lucius paused as they came up to the front entrance of the enclosure. Draco could see him squinting, obviously scrutinising every little detail of his precious birds’ home. It was almost impossible for Draco to not hold his breath in anticipation as he waited to hear Lucius’ opinion of the structure.

“It is adequate,” he pronounced with an air of superiority that Draco could make out even from where he stood further back down the path. “Shall we investigate the interior?”

“Yes!”

Draco grinned as he watched Lily bouncing on the balls of her toes behind Lucius as he unlocked the enclosure. She rushed inside the second the door was open, but Lucius held back, his head cocked to one side.

“Draco, it is undignified to skulk behind your Father like some criminal. If you wish to enter the enclosure with us, please hurry along.”

Shaking his head, Draco sighed. He knew he should have known that Lucius would have realised that he had been being followed. The awareness of your surroundings they all seemed to have developed wasn’t something that you just let go of; not after everything they had been through during the War. He lengthened his strides to bring himself up level with Lucius faster.

“My apologies, Father. I heard the two of you talking and my curiosity got the better of me.”

Lucius eyed him for a few seconds, looking as though he was trying to decide whether he was being lied to or not. When Draco merely held his gaze with a bland expression, he nodded.

“What have you told the child about the birds?”

“Not a lot, quite frankly. Lily is the type of child to study what she is interested in herself. If she had questions, I answered them, but she much prefers to discover things herself, on the whole.”

Instead of responding verbally, Lucius merely nodded and swept into the enclosure, leaving the door wide open. It was obviously an invitation to enter with him, so Draco stepped inside, latching the door firmly behind him.

“Draco!” Lily jumped down from the railing she had been climbing and ran up to him the second she realised that she and Lucius were no longer alone. “Lucius says he’s going to teach me about the peacocks! Sorry, peafowl. I thought I should know a bit more about them if they’re going to be in the wedding ceremony.”

Draco couldn’t help the smile he gave at that. Why Lily thought she should know more about how to care for the birds if they were to be a part of the wedding ceremony was beyond him, but he had given up trying to work out how her mind worked a while back. His smile widened as Lily grasped his hand and turned from him, dragging him further into the enclosure.

The ‘facts’ that Lucius spouted about the peacocks – or peafowl, as Lily insisted on calling them now – were things that Draco knew could be discovered by anyone with a basic book on animals, but they kept Lily enraptured for most of the morning. She pelted the both of them with questions about general peafowl care as well as ones about specific birds, asked what the difference was between the three different types of peafowl, and practiced grooming the tail of one of the tamer birds; under Lucius’ strict eye, of course. Draco took the time to interrupt Lucius in one of his lectures to inform Lily that the feathers that the male birds discarded at the end of each breeding season could be turned into fancy quills; the sparkle her eyes took on in what he assumed was anticipation of owning one of the those quills was more than worth the risk of displeasing his Father he had taken.

For the most part, though, Draco allowed Lucius to stand in the spotlight, unless Lily asked him a question directly. He had once shared Lucius’ desire to be the centre of attention and figured it wasn’t his place to deny his Father an audience, even if it was only him and Lily. By the time Lucius had apparently decided that Lily had the basics of peafowl care down and all three of them exited the enclosure, the sun was high in the sky and Draco's stomach was grumbling.

“There you are!”

“Dad! You won’t believe what Lucius taught me about the peafowl!”

Glancing up the path that led to the house, Draco grinned when he spotted Harry kneeling down just in time to catch Lily as she threw herself at him. Standing up with Lily in his arms, Harry shot Draco a knowing look before turning back towards the house. Lily’s voice echoed back to him across the grounds as Harry took her back to the Manor, presumably to grab some lunch, judging from Draco’s own body’s insistence that he eat.

“She should do well for herself if she continues studying.” There was a definite approving tone to Lucius’ voice. “It is good to see a child who is so interested in learning.”

“She’s a highly intelligent girl, Father. Potions fascinate her as well and she has spent quite a lot of time studying them on her own. I’m expecting her to do quite well in school when she enters this September.” Draco watched as Lucius nodded silently. “Father?”

“It should be entertaining to see how all four children interact when they are all under the same roof for an extended amount of time. Are you certain Scorpius is ready to share you and Astoria with three other children?”

Without waiting for Draco to answer, Lucius walked off down the path, his long legs carrying him much faster than Draco could have walked while still maintaining a shred of dignity. The question was something Draco had asked himself a number of times over the months since Christmas. How would Scorpius react to gaining an entirely new family? He knew that that family didn’t just include Harry and his kids, either. The Weasley clan was sure to try to incorporate Scorpius in with them at some point and Draco was truly unsure how that would go. But, he decided as he started off towards the house after his Father, it was something he would just have to deal with when it came time. He had a full week before they had to pick the boys up from Platform 9 ¾ and they would see what would happen when the time came.

*~*

Harry’s breath huffed out of him in a steamy cloud as he thoroughly spread the conditioner through his hair. The weekend had been incredibly interesting, to say the least. From his surprise over Narcissa making such an effort to find things that would actually help them both with the wedding, to his nerves over his interactions with Lucius, he had certainly run the gamut of emotions over the two days the two of them had stayed. It seemed to him, though, that things had gone almost as smoothly as they possibly could have, which was something that he hadn’t expected. His eyes flicked over to the door as it slid open.

“Draco?”

“You were expecting someone else?”

“Shut-up. It’s hard enough to see through the steam even with my glasses.”

A quiet chuckle was Draco's only response, causing Harry to smile. He moved on and began scrubbing himself clean when he heard the sound of Draco rummaging through the medicine cabinet. Harry had discovered that it had been quite easy to fit his morning routine in around Draco's, even with the change in his working hours since the start of the year. Most mornings it was easy enough for him to run on auto-pilot; showering, dressing, eating and getting Lily off to school were all he had to worry about at that point in time.

Of course, that would all change that coming weekend, when the boys came home, but Harry was determined that the changes in his life wouldn’t negatively affect any of his children. Molly had, of course, offered to have the children over at any time when he needed a babysitter due to his work commitments, but he was seriously considering shortening his hours at work during the school holidays anyway. With James still seeing his therapist once a week, he knew it would be easier on everyone involved if he wasn’t stuck at work most of the time.

“Trying to drown yourself in there, are you?”

Harry gasped in surprise at the quiet question, accidentally snorting some of the conditioner that was running down his face. A coughing fit overtook him for a few seconds, causing his eyes to water and leaving him gasping for breath.

“I was fine until you opened your big mouth,” he managed as soon as he cleared his throat a little. “You could join me if you’re that worried about water wastage, of course.”

The sound of Draco taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly reached Harry’s ears and he smiled. He knew that Draco enjoyed the sensation of sex in the shower above nearly anything else they had done together, although what it was about it that he found so appealing, Harry had never thought to ask. He waited for Draco to slide the shower door open and step in, but the moment never came. Draco let out a soft sigh before closing the medicine cabinet.

“Don’t tempt me. I’ve actually got things I have to do today and I would really rather not get a late start.”

Harry couldn’t help smiling at the tone of regret he could make out in Draco's voice. After a few more thuds and bangs that Harry took for Draco placing whatever he had been using away, the door to the bathroom opened and closed quietly again. A small thread of curiosity trailed through Harry, causing him to flick the taps off and cast a quick drying charm over himself instead of taking the time to dry himself with a towel. He found Draco sitting on the edge of the bed, trying his shoelaces.

“What kinds of things?”

Harry took great pleasure in the way Draco's eyes lingered over him as he moved naked through the room. He tended to leave his clothing in the bedroom for that exact reason.

“Not much, really. It’s just easier to leave early and get everything over and done with in the morning.”

Harry finished dressing as fast as he could so he could make it over to the bed in time to wrap his arms around Draco's waist from behind. Kneeling on the bed, he leant over and placed his lips close to the shell of Draco's ear.

“I know there comes a time in every relationship where you have to sort out your priorities, but I never expected to drop to second fiddle to household chores so early on.” He grinned when Draco laughed and leant back into his arms. “Has it truly come to this? We’re…” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Domestic.”

Draco's laugh vibrated through Harry’s body, sending warmth through him. Settling down behind Draco properly, Harry adjusted his grip on him when Draco's hands slid along his arms so he could lace their fingers together.

“I distinctly remember trying to give you a chance to go out and find a number of strapping young men to sow your wild oats with, but you turned me down.”

“I found who I want, thank you very much and I didn’t need to sleep around to find him. He got right up in my face, insulted me and tried to bash my head in on the public bathroom tiles.”

The happiness Harry could make out in the wide smile that stretched across Draco's face had a responding bubble of joy rising in his own chest. Turning his head, he nipped softly just above Draco's collar.

“If I recall correctly, he then insulted you again and paid you for your services.” Draco's grip on Harry’s arms tightened a little as he adjusted his position on the bed. “And believe me, you gave just as good as you got that day. I always ached for days after encountering you. Astoria found it highly amusing.”

“She would.” Harry let out a soft sigh when Draco finished squirming and settled back down against him. “I’m sorry about that, by the way.”

“About Astoria? Don’t be; there’s no explaining that woman sometimes.”

“Smartarse. No, there really was no excuse I could have made for trying to hurt you like that, even if I did excuse it to myself at the time as self-defence. Any court would throw that out in an instant, considering my years of training. So, I’m sorry for it; all of it.”

The room was silent for a while, the only sound their combined breathing. Harry was just beginning to think that he had somehow said something wrong when Draco dragged his fingernails along the back of one of Harry’s hands.

“There’s really no need to apologise; I was the one to instigate most of the slightly more violent encounters we had. For what it’s worth, however, you have my apologies as well. I had no right to take my frustration out on you in that way.”

The silence that surrounded them this time was quite comfortable and Harry relaxed into it with a small sigh. There had been points when he had feared that their lives would never settle down again but, with the small exception of the Weasley’s issues with Draco, it really did seem to him that everything was quietening down. It was a strange sensation, considering the stress and publicity their relationship had caused.

“Anyway…” Draco straightened, but didn’t allow Harry to pull back from him just yet. He spun the ring on Harry’s finger and shot him a grin. “You’re stuck with me now, domesticity and all.”

It was plain that Draco was trying to lighten the mood and Harry let him. Unlinking their fingers, he allowed Draco up off the bed so he could continue on his way. Glancing down, Harry spun the ring on his finger himself, a wide smile stretching across his face. He was quite happy to be stuck with Draco, it seemed.
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The Optimal Balance