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Bloody But Unbowed	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 36009 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- 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
- 14
- 15
- 16
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Fifteen�Hearing
About and Suffering Pain

�� Really,
Hermione, you don�t need to be so upset.� Harry shifted so that the rough stone
at the edge of the hearth wasn�t digging into his tailbone anymore.

�� But Harry,
you were almost killed.�

�� Harry cast
a nervous glance over his shoulder as he hissed at her to be quiet. They were
in one of the upper studies at Grimmauld Place, and Harry had insisted that he
contact his friends and tell them what had happened before he returned to
Malfoy Manor. Draco and Narcissa had grudgingly agreed, and had even left him
time alone to do it in. Harry had felt he owed the whole story to Hermione,
especially if she were going to try and find out what was happening through her
Ministry connections. But Harry didn�t want to think of what would occur if
Draco or Narcissa, or both of them, overheard the details about the spell that
had caused him to stop breathing.

�� Excuse me
for thinking that�s serious,� Hermione said darkly, and then she made a little
choked noise. �Harry, you could have died.�

�� Yes, I
think we�ve established that,� Harry muttered in annoyance, and shifted his
position again. Nothing much could make him comfortable, though. He was tired,
and his muscles ached from running and sliding down banisters and leaping down
stairs. When he felt like this, he knew only a good night�s sleep would cure
it. �And the best way to prevent it from happening again is for me to know who
those people were.�

�� Hermione
sighed.

�� Harry leaned
forwards. A stray speck of Floo powder blew into his nose, and he sneezed. �You
have an idea already, don�t you?�

�� Only an
idea,� said Hermione, and gave him a stern look as she brushed her hair out of
her face. �No more than that. You shouldn�t tell the Malfoys anything about
this.�

�� What? Why?
If I can lead them to Lucius�s enemies, they�ll be better able to guard him
against complications from the curse in the future.�

�� But one of
the ways they�ll try to guard him is by taking revenge,� said Hermione, her
voice growing sharper. �I don�t want to see innocent people suffer because the
Malfoys leap to conclusions.�

�� Harry
blinked. He hadn�t thought of that, which was one of the problems of spending
as much time swaddled among the Malfoys as he had; he lost the perspective that
would be clear to someone looking in from outside the family. Perhaps it was best if he kept the information to
himself a little longer. �All right. Tell me.�

�� At one
point, it was traditional for the hospital administrators to wear robes like
that,� said Hermione. �The dark blue color represented the night sky, and had
silver stars on them in their older incarnations, because several ancient
branches of Healing magic grew out of astrology and astronomy. But the custom spread
to include other groups. Even the governors of Hogwarts wore dark blue robes at
one point.� Hermione pointed at him when he groaned and buried his head in his
hands. �I told you it was a vague idea.�

�� I already
knew I had enemies among the hospital hierarchy,� Harry muttered. �Now what I
need to know is what they want from me, why they�re afraid of me.� He looked up
then, as repentance stung him. �Sorry, Hermione. You have helped. Or at least
confirmed something. Maybe.�

�� Hermione
gave him a tired smile. Harry was reminded of one of Healer Pontiff�s sayings,
that hearing about pain could be nearly as bad as suffering from it. It could
get him to tolerate some of the stupider things his patients� relatives did.
�Do you know how soon you�ll be able to leave Malfoy Manor?� she asked.

�� Harry shook
his head. �I still lack too much information, and I need to make sure Lucius is
cured before I go.� He debated for a
moment whether to tell her that he thought newly formed bonds might keep him in
the Manor even longer than that, and then decided it would be better to say
those things when he had the words for them and could spend a few hours
explaining it all in detail. Speaking hurriedly through a fireplace when they
both wanted to collapse in bed would be the worst time for it. �Can I speak
with Ron?�

�� Hermione
nodded and moved away. Ron put his head into the fireplace and glared at him.
Harry blinked. He was unaware that he�d said anything so bad to Hermione.

�� Someday,�
Ron said darkly, �I am going to hear that you�re dead for real if you keep
pulling stupid heroic stunts like revealing dark conspiracies. And on that day,
I�ll probably drop dead of shock that it�s happened at last, after all your
narrow escapes. Do you want me to drop dead of shock?�

�� Trouble
trails me, not the other way around!�

�� Ron�s scowl
stayed steady.

�� I didn�t
ask to have someone cast a curse at me that stopped my lungs,� Harry muttered,
feeling his cheeks heat up. Ron�s disapproval was rarer than Hermione�s,
because he was more inclined to agree that, most of the time, Harry had been
right to risk his life.

�� But you
could have remained in hospital long enough for Healer Pontiff to check for
aftereffects of the curse,� said Ron.

�� How do you
know I didn�t?�

�� Because
you�re Harry Bloody Potter, Stubborn Mediwizard,� Ron said, �and you treat your
own wounds and your own pain as too small to be noticeable. Well, next time,
remember that I notice them. And
Hermione. And the rest of my family would, too, if they had the slightest notion
about how much trouble you still get into. Spare us suffering, and take care of
yourself better.�

�� You�re
using guilt against me?� Harry stared at him.

�� It�s the
only thing that works,� Ron said inflexibly. �So. I want you to promise me that
you won�t take unnecessary risks for the rest of this case.�

�� My
definition of unnecessary risk and yours aren�t the same,� Harry pointed out,
still reeling. It was normal for Hermione to scold him about his health, but Ron? And Ron hadn�t even been there. He
only knew the story of the risks Harry had run second-hand. And, well, Harry
just didn�t think he deserved this, not when he was tired and in pain and
facing a delicate emotional situation when he returned to Malfoy Manor.

�� Promise me
you�ll try.� Ron�s voice softened, and Harry looked uncertainly at him, to face
a gaze that was a great deal more sympathetic than he had thought it would be.
�I know it isn�t your fault all the time, Harry. I�m not trying to blame you
for getting attacked. And I think the defenses on the Manor will be a lot
better than the ones on St. Mungo�s apparently are.� His voice chilled, and
Harry was glad Ron hadn�t decided to work in hospital himself. �But there are
things you could do to keep yourself safe that you aren�t doing. You even know
what they are, because I�ve heard you talk about them as just not being worth
the time or effort. Take the precautions, all right?� He took a deep breath. �I
don�t want to lose you,� he whispered then, so softly that Harry could barely
hear him.

�� Harry
reached through the fire and clasped Ron�s hand in his. Ron tightened his grip
for a moment, as if he might drag Harry into the safety of his and Hermione�s
house. Harry wished he could think of
it as perfectly safe, the way he had only last week. But no, it was better that
he go back to the Manor. Perhaps he didn�t understand about sparing himself
pain, but he understood about sparing other people.

�� Spare us suffering, and take care of
yourself better.

�� Harry took
a deep breath. �I promise I�ll try,� he said, and Ron�s face lit up with a
fierce smile.

�� Good.� He
let go of Harry�s hand, apparently not wanting to make more of an emotional
scene than he already had, and peered past Harry into the study. �I�m surprised
the Malfoys let you alone long enough to speak to us.�

�� They
weren�t happy about it,� Harry agreed, rubbing the skin beneath his ear. He
wondered for a moment if the imprint of Draco�s lips was visible there, and
then told himself not to be ridiculous. �In fact, we should return to the
Manor. Lucius is alone there��

�� Except for
the army of house-elves,� Ron said, and his mouth fell open as his ears caught
up with his brain. �Excuse me,� he said. �Did you just call the man Lucius? I thought you made it a policy
not to address your patients by their first names. Or the ones you had cause to
hate during the war, at least.�

�� It�s some
complicated pure-blood thing.� Harry also wanted to wait to explain this mess
to Ron until he had more time and was less tired. �I go along with it because
it�s not worth pitching a fit about.�

�� Ron nodded,
a smile of understanding on his face. �I bet you�ll be glad to come home, won�t
you, mate?�

�� Oh, yes,�
Harry said softly. If I know where home
is, now.

*

�� Harry had
assumed he would see Lucius immediately when they entered the Manor, but a
house-elf appeared, and Narcissa spoke quietly to it. She turned back to Harry
with a faint smile on her face a moment later. �The elves spiked his soup with
a sleeping draught,� she said. �He�ll be abed until noon at least. You should
return to your rooms.� She hesitated, one hand touching the side of her skirt.
�That is,� she murmured, �if you would not like us to move your rooms.�

�� Their
location was never a problem,� Harry hastened to reassure her.

�� Would you
prefer a different set?� Draco asked him. He seemed to have an easier time
being blunt than his mother. He also had one arm draped around Harry�s
shoulders, perhaps the better to judge the way his muscles bunched and his
breathing changed at any suggestion. �That�s what she means. We didn�t consult
your choice when we put you in those rooms, and I remember the decorating
scheme bothering you.� His other hand touched the small of Harry�s back,
stroking as if to ease sobs from his throat.

�� I�no, thank
you,� Harry said, awkward again. How was he to explain that he did admire the
rooms, he just didn�t think they were for him? And if their beauty was an
expression of the liking Narcissa had spoken about, then maybe they were for
him, and the Malfoys� anxiety now was a consequence of their wondering whether
he would have preferred a different gift.

�� Still, they were honest with me. They asked
which rooms I would prefer rather than offering me their own choices. And Draco
hasn�t spoken a single order to me since they found me in hospital. I owe them
honesty, too.

�� It
bothered me because I wasn�t used to it,� he said. �And because I had to wonder
about your motives.�

�� Narcissa
raised her eyes from the floor. �I trust you know them better now?�

�� Yeah, I do.�
Harry wished he could look away, but Gryffindor courage and that strong sense
of what he owed people who liked him,
like Ron and Hermione, and went out of their way to take care of him, made him
keep on meeting her eyes. �Thank you. The rooms are beautiful. I�m sure I�ll
get more used to them as time goes on.�

�� Draco�s arm
tightened around his shoulders at the words. Harry glanced at him curiously,
but could make out nothing specific in his face.

�� If you
want to join Father,� Draco said then, �I�ll make sure Harry reaches his bed
properly.�

�� Narcissa
nodded and brushed a hand over her son�s cheek. After everything, Harry was
still startled when she touched his face, too. She had glided off up the
staircase before he could say anything.

�� The moment she
rounded the corner, Draco bowed his head and whispered, �If there was anything
you felt uncomfortable saying in front of her, you can say it now. Do you like
the rooms? Would you prefer something�� He struggled for a moment as if it
taxed his vocabulary to come up with the right word, and finally finished,
�Plainer? Simpler?�

�� Harry
yawned. �At the moment, anything sounds good if it has a bed in it,� he said.
He could feel Draco�s smile, and the way his fingers trailed up and down his
shoulders in the moments before he started them walking towards the staircase.
Harry made sure to catch his eye as he put his foot on the bottom step, though,
and Draco�s smile faded quickly.

�� If you
command Rogers to watch over me that closely again,� Harry said, �or feed me
like a baby, or try to smother me with blankets, then it doesn�t really matter
what sort of relationship I might have with your parents. I�ll treat you as
coldly as politeness will permit me to, and I�ll curse you out of my bed if I
find you in it.�

�� Draco
stared earnestly back at him. His eyes did waver for a moment, and Harry
thought he was probably trying to plot how much he could get away with given
Harry�s new restrictions.

�� But then he
drove his nails into his palms as if remonstrating with himself to behave,
looked up, and nodded. �I understand.�

�� Good,�
Harry said, blinking a little. He hadn�t expected to earn that victory. But
Draco put a hand on his shoulder exactly as if he didn�t resent losing, and
after long moments of limping along to prove his independence, Harry allowed
himself to lean against Draco�s shoulder and absorb the warmth of his side.

�� It has been a long day.

�� The moment
they stepped into the bedroom, Rogers appeared. Draco leaned Harry gently
against the wall opposite the mirror and then knelt down to the house-elf�s
level, apparently so he would understand Draco�s seriousness.

�� I
countermand the orders I gave you before,� he said. �You�re to ensure only that
Harry doesn�t come to extraordinary harm, like any other inhabitant of the
house, and not to harass him with food or sleep or protection when he doesn�t
want it.�

�� Master
Harry Potter is needing something else at the moment,� Rogers said, sniffing
the air and then staring at Harry with those disconcerting sharp eyes. �Master
Harry Potter has been walking around without the healing potions he needs,
because Master Harry Potter is being an idiot.�

�� Draco came
up off the floor and onto his feet so fast that Harry thought it left
afterimages drifting across his sight. �You�re hurt?� Draco demanded, bounding
to his side. �Why didn�t you say so before I dragged you up all those stairs?
Harry�� His voice had an oddly helpless sound to it, and his hands hovered
above Harry�s shoulders and then his ribs, as if he feared to touch him
anywhere in case he hurt him more.

�� Harry
blinked at Rogers. �I had curses cast at me, but I was healed of the wounds,�
he said. �I really don�t know what you mean.�

�� Rogers
crossed his arms. �Rogers can be smelling the lingering of the Breath-Stealing
Charm in the air,� he said flatly. �It damages the lungs without a healing
potion. And Master Harry Potter is not to be damaging his lungs in Rogers�s
house.� He spoke as if Harry were a dog that had taken to vomiting on the rug.

�� I never
learned that,� said Harry, his shoulders tightening again. �And I�m sure the
Healer who took care of me would have noticed the effects of the curse and made
sure I got a healing potion, if I needed one.� Healer Pontiff would have. I�m sure of it. I described the charm to
her; she had to recognize it.

�� You have
no friends in that hospital, Harry,� Draco said briskly, and then nodded at
Rogers. �The Breath-Stealing Charm. Precisely what are its effects? I have
several healing potions that may work on his lungs, but I don�t want to select
one too strong.�

�� Master
Draco is being disingenuous,� said Rogers, and flicked his disapproving glance
at Draco for once. �And also behind in his studies, if he does not recognize
this charm. It forces the lungs to stop working. It steals the breath from the
body.� He shook his head mournfully at Harry. �Master Harry Potter is
determined to die where Rogers cannot be watching him.�

�� I managed
to stop it in time,� said Harry, but his voice was weaker than he would have
liked, thanks to the stricken expression on Draco�s face.

�� Draco
didn�t say anything for long moments, though, even the scolding Harry half
expected. He reached out and delicately feathered his fingers down Harry�s
cheeks, up over the bridge of his nose, and over his scar, as if he were blind
and needed to learn Harry�s features. His eyes were steady, his pupils
enormous.

�� Do you
know who they were?� Draco asked at last.

�� No,� Harry
said. �A group of wizards and witches wearing dark blue robes, who vanished together
with a spell that surrounded them with mist and definitely shouldn�t have worked in hospital.�

�� Hmm,�
Draco said, so gently that Harry thought Hermione might have been wrong to
worry about the Malfoys� tendency towards vengeance. They put family first, so
taking care of him would matter more than extracting payment from someone Harry
couldn�t have named.

�� Harry
paused.

�� They care about me more than they care about
revenge.

�� To escape
the fine trembling that had invaded his limbs, Harry sat down on the bed and
stared up at Draco. Draco bent closer, fingers now apparently learning the
shape of his ears, eyes still intent. Then he gently tilted Harry�s head to the
side, kissed the corner of his jaw, and stood.

�� I have a
potion that should work to ease the damage to your lungs,� he said. �Stay
sitting if you can, Harry. You shouldn�t exert yourself more than you have to.�
And he turned and stepped out of the room.

�� Harry
leaned back slowly on the bed, groaning as the sheets gave under him and rubbed
against his skin. He let his eyes fall shut, wondering for a moment if he would
sleep before Draco could even return with the potion. Possibly he hadn�t
properly appreciated the softness before because he hadn�t been this tired. But
no, it wasn�t his imagination; the bed was subtly shifting its contours to
cradle his body better, and the sheets warmed. Harry sighed, turning his head to
nestle his cheek into the pillows. Yes, some luxury wasn�t too bad once in a
while.

�� Particularly
if it took his mind off the disturbing speculations raised by Draco�s words.

�� Healer Pontiff couldn�t have known. She
wouldn�t deliberately have left me in pain, or more than pain. I didn�t give
her enough detail about the attack, that�s all. She must have thought it was
some more harmless spell that hit me.

�� Again
Emptyweed�s voice snarled warnings in his ear, implying that visiting Healer
Pontiff was in itself stupid and dangerous. But Harry shook his head. He
accepted that the man wasn�t evil, but he�d never made an effort to let Harry
know the truth about his enemies, either. Who was Harry to believe, the man
who�d cast a headache curse to �protect� him or the woman who had given him
advice and trained him exquisitely in healing for as long as he�d known her?
Besides, if his enemies were afraid of his talent and didn�t want him to
advance, it didn�t make sense that she�d trained him so well.

�� Unless she�s part of a different kind of
conspiracy, and the enemies Emptyweed tried to warn you against aren�t the ones
who found you today. Could there be a group hunting you and a group hunting
Lucius?

�� Here�s the
potion.�

�� Harry
managed to drag his eyes open with an effort, but sitting up was beyond him. A
warm lassitude had seeped into his muscles. He suspected that was all the bed�s
fault, but he couldn�t muster the energy to glare right now, either. �Help me
drink it, please?� he said.

�� A long
pause. Just when Harry was about to repeat the request, Draco curled an arm
around his shoulders and lifted him from the bed. Harry whined in protest at
the loss of warmth, but swallowed the potion obediently. It tasted like
lemonade, rather than the taint of dirt and dry bark healing potions for the
lungs often carried. Harry hazily wondered if Draco had added an extra
ingredient to make it taste sweeter for him. But surely that was romantic and
sentimental nonsense talking. Probably such potions were delicate and couldn�t
stand much tampering at all, or they would explode.

�� At least, maybe
they are,� he found himself saying aloud. �And I wouldn�t know because I never
passed my Potions exam.�

�� I like
doing this,� Draco murmured, as if in answer. �Helping you do those things you
ask me to and can�t do for yourself. I�ll help you pass your Potions exam if
you ask.� He swept Harry�s hair away and kissed the back of his neck. Harry
smiled, though he was in no mood to pursue this tonight, and Draco drew away as
if he realized it. �Hanging the mirror didn�t work so well to convince you
you�re beautiful, but we�ll work on that later.�

�� You like
this?� Harry blinked at him. That really hadn�t occurred to him. He had thought
Draco enjoyed giving orders and protecting a member of his family, and he could
understand why, but this was new. Feeding sleepy patients potions had never
been his favorite part of mediwizardry.

�� I like
doing things for anyone I like,� Draco said, somewhat defiantly, as if he
expected Harry to find fault with that. Perhaps he did, considering their
history. �And now you have me talking like you. Merlin.� His arms tightened
suddenly, and he nuzzled his way into Harry�s hair. Harry wondered where the
potions vial had gone. �I was furious when I realized where you had gone, and
then more frantic as time passed and I didn�t hear from you. And I didn�t come
after you until the Patronus came because of my stupid pride, and because I
didn�t want to tell Mother why you�d left in the first place.�

�� I was all
right,� Harry said.

�� You could
have died!� Draco�s voice snapped like a broken twig. He stopped, panting, and
then said, �But you let me do this for you, take care of you like this. I don�t
understand why, but�thank you. It makes me feel better.�

�� Harry felt
a sweet chill run through him. �I�m sorry for leaving so abruptly,� he said. It
would have been difficult to say those words with his awareness and pride fully
intact, but Draco had already seen him lolling about on the bed like some kind
of sultan. �But I don�t think there�s anything else I could have done. You were
wrong.�

�� Not about
the danger.�

�� Harry
yawned. �You got that right by accident.�

�� Yes,�
Draco whispered, and kissed him again.

Harry rather lost track of time
after that, and heard someone breathing gently and someone else saying words
that made him wonder if he had wandered into Lucius and Narcissa�s bedroom by
mistake. The words were restrained, still, not as emotional as what Hermione or
Ron might have said to him, but open.

�I want you. I like being near you.
I wish I saw you laugh and smile more often. I wish you cared as much about
healing yourself as you do about healing other people. I�ll do what I can to
help with that healing. You don�t know�you don�t know how much you�ve changed
the house, the family, just by being with us for a few days. I like you��

And that was when he drifted off.

*

�� I fear I
have not been entirely honest with you, Harry.�

�� Harry
managed to smile even as he finished casting the last diagnostic spell on
Lucius and watched the blue dolphin it created swim back to him and blend with
his outstretched arm. No increase of the
presence of dreambane within the body, the voice of the spell said in his
mind. Harry had never noticed before how much it sounded like Healer Pontiff�s
voice.

�� He had not
lost his suspicions, and they were intruding when he tried to take care of Lucius.
Really, his life would have been much easier if he could have the gift of
concentration at all moments, not just when his life was in danger.

�� That seems
to be a common plague in this house,� he said. �I wasn�t honest with you about
my feelings of discomfort, either, and look where it got me.�

�� This
matter is more serious.�

�� Harry
paused in sliding his wand into his sleeve. When he looked at Lucius carefully,
still lying in the middle of the large bed on pillows that spread about him
like wings, he realized he wasn�t meeting Harry�s eyes. That was a first. Harry
swallowed. Was Lucius about to tell him that he had been plotting with the
conspirators all along?

�� No. That makes even less sense than the idea
that Healer Pontiff was working with them.

�� All
right,� he said.

�� I did not
know what specific grievance my attacker had against me,� said Lucius. �I have
never raped anyone, and I do not even remember the girl Smythe claims as his
daughter. And with what you have discovered about the Mirror Maze and the
dreambane, though he obviously had help, I do not think anyone else was needed
to attack me. They only needed someone who hated me enough to do as he was told
and accept help he might have discovered came from former Death Eaters.�

�� Harry nodded
slowly. �Then what��

�� The
administrators of the hospital have a grudge against me,� Lucius said calmly.
�Some time ago, I withdrew all of my funding and charitable donations, so as to
spend my money on purposes tied more tightly to the Malfoy family. This
resulted in a particularly large loss on their part in purchasing medicinal
potions, which my donations had mostly been marked for.� He stared at Harry now
with no expression on his face, but Harry could see the way his mouth pulled to
one side and knew Lucius had set his teeth in worry. �I went into hospital in
the first place because I had no other choice. I did know from the first day
that my life might be in danger, however, and so might the life of anyone who
tried to help me.�

�� Harry
backed away a step from the bed. His head was whirling with names and faces of
all the people who might have been assigned to Lucius�s case instead of
him�less experienced mediwizards and Healers, who might either have been caught
up and killed by the conspiracy or forced to watch Lucius die because they
couldn�t save him and suffer the guilt for the rest of their lives.

�� And his own
task would have been so much easier if
he had known. He could have advised Lucius to leave St. Mungo�s the moment he
identified the problem as a maze of spells. He could have taken the precautions
Ron had made him promise to take. He could have made arrangements to start
finding out the names and faces of his enemies long before they were aware he
knew of them.

�� I can give
you names,� Lucius said.

�� You didn�t
think at all about what might happen to anyone else, did you?� Harry whispered.
�If I had died, it wouldn�t have mattered to you.�

�� It would
not have mattered before the Heart�s Blessing spell, no,� Lucius said. �That
made you part of the family. It changed things.�

�� Harry shook
his head. �Why didn�t you tell me before now?�

�� I honestly
had no reason to think the administrators of St. Mungo�s were behind this,
until you told me about the blue robes.� Lucius gave a small shrug. �I believed
you when you said that the person who removed my stabilization fields and tried
to kill me was most likely an individual, acting alone. Even after all my
experience serving under the Dark Lord, I still suspect individuals first and
conspiracies second, if at all.�

�� But
still�I needed to know if you had any enemies there particularly!� Harry glared
at him. �Things could have been different.�

�� And why
should I have told you?� Lucius said. �That information is only for family to
know. After the Heart�s Blessing spell, it is true, I did consider telling you.
On the other hand, we left the hospital that same day, and then you were safe
within the protection of the Manor�s walls, as a Malfoy should be. I did not
foresee my son�s stupidity and your return, unescorted, to hostile territory.�

�� But when I
started suspecting Death Eaters were behind the curse and had the help of
Healers, you could have told me then��

�� I did not
think you ready for that knowledge yet,� said Lucius. �Indeed, you are so newly
settled into the family, and your history with us before that was so
tumultuous, that I wished to avoid any unnecessary reference to deeds you may
have thought reprehensible. I did not want you to think�� He broke off with a
sharp little motion of his head.

�� The words
that would have followed were still as clear to Harry as if he had spoken them.
I did not want you to think me
reprehensible.

�� You are a
stubborn arse,� Harry said fiercely.

�� Lucius
stared at him.

�� I need the
hospital administrators� names,� Harry went on, striding towards the door from
the bedroom. �And any other key information that you might have felt like
squatting on instead of telling me about. And your promise not to keep it from
me again.� His plan was to exit without looking back, but in the end he had to
spin around, slam a hand into the door panel, and yell at Lucius, �And you�re
an idiot if you think mere references to the past were going to jolt me out of
a family who appeared to accept me, but keep in mind that stupidity like yours
and Draco�s just might.�

�� Then he was
running towards his room, swearing under his breath and contemplating the
miracle that was Lucius Malfoy looking flabbergasted.

*

�� YanaYugi:
He certainly likes the bed better!

�� FallenAngel1129:
Thank you!

�� hieisdragoness18:
Thank you! I�ve been writing action scenes for a long time, and one of the
reasons I include details like that is because I�ve read so many scenes in
books that just seem unrealistic to me.

�� Jilliane:
Yes. Harry wants people to like him for who he is, and he�s beginning to
believe that the Malfoys� affection is not conditional.

�� Well, you
got one answer to your questions in this chapter, but not many yet!

�� feltonslover:
Thank you! And Harry and Draco are both trying. Harry is not going to leave the
family over Lucius�s deception, for example, though he was exasperated and
wanted Lucius to know it.

�� Mangacat:
Actually, it seems to be those authorities who are acting against Harry. Unless
you meant the Ministry authorities.

�� foxtrots: Oh,
yes. Actually, probably more tomorrow.

�� avihenda: Well,
you got part of your wish here. Draco and Narcissa, in particular, will be careful
and ask Harry�s opinion about things before they try to give him gifts. And Draco
is making the news known, quietly, to his parents. He doesn�t think Harry would
deal well with the explosion of protective fury he feels right now.

�� evalhanne:
Thanks! There is more Harry-fighting-evil coming up.

�� lissagal99:
In this case, mortal is a synonym for fatal.

�� Moyima:
Thank you!

�� kittycat30:
Harry did return with the Malfoys, but he will be more assertive now.

�� qwerty:
Thank you! I think Harry will relax now that he feels he has a glimpse of
Narcissa�s and the others� real feelings.

�� Celesitaluna,
thrnbrooke: Thanks for reviewing!

�� Linagabriev:
Thank you for the review! And thank you for the reviews you�ve been leaving on
my other stories as well; always happy to hear what you think.

�� The story
was always meant to be serious, though I agree the summary sounds cracky, and
it does have humor. Draco started flirting possibly as a stress reaction, but
he grew sincerely interested in Harry.

�� Emptyweed
and the possible involvement of Healer Pontiff are cleared up a bit in the next
chapter.

�� I�m glad
you can�t tell who�s right. I think most real arguments have good points on
both sides, even if they�re only good points because of the characters�
emotions.

�� Anon: Thank
you!

�� Sara: Well,
the chapters for this story are in fact longer by a few hundred or thousand
words than my normal ones. I know the feeling of its being shorter when it�s a
story you like, though.

�� Rebriddle:
Thanks! Though this story will end with H/D, I want Harry and Draco to have the
chance to like and respect each other first.
- 14
- 15
- 16
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Bloody But Unbowed