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Soldier's Welcome	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 25565 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter
Fifteen�Friendships Old and New

�� Harry
leaned his chin on his hand and scowled at Ron across the tables in the dining
hall where all the first-year trainees ate their meals together. Ron kept his
back resolutely turned and his head bowed as if there was nothing more
important than stuffing scrambled eggs into his mouth.

�� Harry had
tried waiting up for Ron last night, but Ron hadn�t come back to their rooms
until Harry�s eyes were crossing with weariness, and he had reluctantly decided
that falling asleep in class wasn�t a good idea. Then he tried to wake up
early, and Ron had already left. When he came down to the dining hall, he found
that Ron had chosen a seat at the most crowded table, so Harry had no chance of
getting close to him.

�� How am I supposed to go back to being his
best friend if I can�t talk to him? Harry glared at Ron�s back and rapped
his fingers on the table.

�� Explain to
me why you don�t have any food in front of you,� someone said behind him. �I
don�t want my partner fainting at noon.�

�� Harry
cocked his head back and grinned at Malfoy�s words in spite of himself as
Malfoy sat down next to him. He had seen how Malfoy�s voice made Ron stiffen,
but that was a hopeful sign, Harry thought. If a good faith effort wouldn�t
lure Ron over to speak to him, maybe jealousy would. �I didn�t feel hungry this
morning,� Harry said, and a yawn sneaked out of his mouth before he could
suppress it. Malfoy narrowed his eyes, so Harry added sheepishly, �I stayed up
late last night. I�m never hungry when I�m missing sleep.� He shrugged.

�� Malfoy
glanced between him and Ron as if to say that he knew exactly what the problem
was, but, in an amazing feat of diplomacy, he didn�t speak aloud. Instead, he
waved his wand, and two large blue sparks sprang from it. Harry blinked,
wondering if he was calling a Malfoy house-elf. It seemed strange that he would
summon one now, when he probably could have done so in the first weeks they
were here.

�� Instead,
the sparks apparently acted as a signal to another Auror trainee, a large young
man with a blunt face and honey-colored hair who stood up and marched over to
them like a martyr. Malfoy smiled at him, and received a scowl back that Harry
recognized. No doubt Malfoy had blackmailed him into acting as a sort of
servant, the same way he had blackmailed Harry into private lessons. �Aaron,�
he said. �My friend here needs some food.� He gave Harry a critical glance,
then nodded. �Toast, scrambled eggs, a large glass of orange juice, and scones
with butter. Go get them.� He turned a blandly smiling glance back on Aaron.

�� Harry
opened his mouth to protest that he never ate so much and to ask if Malfoy
wanted him to be fat, but Aaron
interrupted him sullenly before he could say it. �Everyone knows that you�re
only working together because the instructors paired you up,� he muttered,
scratching his chin. �You�re not friends.�

�� Malfoy
froze, his whole body shuddering into stillness as effectively as if someone
had cast the Flesh-to-Stone Curse on him. Harry could see the stiffening of the
lines in his face and knew he was struggling not to roll his eye sideways and
see what Harry thought.

�� I�ll show you exactly what I think, Harry
thought, and drew his own wand. He had to lean back in his seat to aim it at
Aaron, but it was effective for all that. Aaron stared at him, looking
breathless, and Harry was grateful for the first time that he�d gained a
reputation from killing Voldemort.

�� We are friends,� he said quietly, letting
menace drip into his voice. It was a melodramatic performance, especially now
that they had the attention of everyone else at the nearby tables, and Harry
was sure that someone would laugh, but instead a deep silence enveloped him.
�The instructors can quantify partnerships, but they can�t order us to feel
certain things.� He put one hand on Malfoy�s arm and bore down gently with two
fingers, rubbing in circles that he hoped would soothe Malfoy�s tension. �I�d
let you know if I didn�t feel friendship for Malfoy. When have I ever missed
the chance to state my opinions loudly?�

�� Aaron
stared at him with his mouth falling more and more open. Malfoy�s arm shook
once under his touch, then clenched tight, muscles locking. Harry didn�t dare
look at him yet, instead keeping his gaze aimed along the wand at Aaron.

�� All right,
all right!� Aaron said suddenly, maybe because Harry had narrowed his eyes. He
turned and lumbered away in the direction of the trays.

�� Harry shook
his head and lowered his wand. �Bastard,� he muttered. �It was kind of you,
Draco, but you didn�t need to order him around for me. How did you get control
of him, anyway?� He turned to Malfoy, hoping that the change of subject would
help them move past the inevitable awkward moment that would follow this.

�� Malfoy was
gazing at him, frozen again. Then he spoke in a slightly dazed voice which made
Harry worry that Aaron had slipped in a Confundus Charm when he wasn�t looking.
�You called me Draco.�

�� Harry took
a deep breath. He�d intended to wait on that, because he knew it would change
more than it really should. �I wanted to,� he said. �And it�s one of your
names, isn�t it?�

�� After that,
he could only wait, while Malfoy struggled viciously with himself. Harry
watched his flickering grey eyes and wondered what demon he was fighting. He
still knew too little about Malf�no, call him Draco, he wanted to�about Draco to know which one it would be.

�� Then Draco
looked away and said, in a voice almost but not quite too low for Harry to
hear, �I never wanted to be so grateful for someone else�s friendship.�

�� I know all
about that,� Harry said. �Hermione and Ron were the first friends I ever had.�
That earned him a violent twitch sideways of Draco�s head, but Harry knew he
would ask no questions; he was too busy drinking Harry�s words. �The gratitude
is always there, and sometimes I hate it, but being friends with them is too
wonderful for me to wish it was different.� He took a deep breath, and a risk.
�Let me have the chance to be a friend to you who�s good enough that you can
forgive the gratitude.�

�� Draco
turned fully to look at him then. Harry folded his arms, bracing himself
against a gaze that cut like a desert wind.

�� Then Draco
closed his eyes and nodded.

�� Knowing
that a barrier had been passed, but nothing else other than that, Harry
determinedly changed the subject and started talking about what challenges
Ketchum was likely to set them that day as Aaron came back with a tray full of
food. He didn�t mind the way Aaron dropped the tray on the table and scuttled
off, because it made a curve of a smile show at the corner of Draco�s mouth and
his eyes glint like flecks of mica.

�� He told himself he didn�t mind the way
Ron�s shoulders looked hunched now, as though a great weight was bearing down
on him from above.

�� He�s the one who has to come to me and talk
about it if he�s worried, Harry thought stubbornly. And even then, I�m not going to abandon my friendship with Draco for
him, any more than I would abandon him for Draco. That�s not an option. I�m
going to be friends with anybody I want, and they�ll get used to it or walk
away.

�� His own
resolve made him blink. He wondered if he had ever felt this secure about
anything. Not since the war, anyway, and the conviction that he had to
sacrifice his life to destroy Voldemort.

�� That was
another reason not to give up his friendships, he decided as he turned back to
Draco. Because they made him feel so bloody good.

�� And I deserve to feel good just as much as
anyone else does.

*

�� Mine.

�� The deep
possessiveness that Draco could feel moving through him was nothing new. He had
felt the same way about his position on the Slytherin Quidditch team, when he
knew that he was the one meant to fill that spot and no one else would fit. He
had felt the same way about his wand when he first picked it up in Ollivander�s
shop. He had leaned back in fourth year�the first year that he had felt his
leadership of his Slytherin yearmates was truly uncontested�and looked around
with that feeling bubbling in him like lava.

�� Right.

�� Draco shook
his head. He had tried to diminish the intensity of his feeling by lying to
himself, but it wouldn�t work.

�� This urge
to hold Potter fiercely close every time he looked at him�not physically, of
course, because Potter wasn�t ready for that�was different from anything he had
ever experienced before. Before, an element of constraint had invaded everything.
The Slytherin prefects had felt obligated to give that spot as Seeker to him,
or else it was possible that Lucius would be upset. His schoolmates had battled
against him for years before they acknowledged, sullenly, that his money and
his stubborn will made him more capable than they were. His wand had never had
a choice about where it belonged; Draco had picked it up and felt the deep pull
that emerged from the core, and accepted that this was his possession.

�� Potter�s
wanting to be with him was chosen, willed, by another person.

�� I wanted to.

�� Potter�s
answer for why he had called him by his first name echoed over and over in
Draco�s head that day as they moved through their classes. Potter spoke to
Granger and the Weasel frequently�well, to Granger, since the Weasel seemed to
have decided that the best way to repay Potter for all that he�d done in the
name of friendship was a turned shoulder. But he spent a fair amount of time
with Draco as well, coming over and standing next to him in Tactics and
Offensive and Defensive without being asked. He rolled his eyes at Draco as if
they shared a long-standing joke when Jones explained earnestly that partners
sometimes found themselves at odds. And when Gregory assigned them to fight
each other, he struggled hard, and accepted the blow that Draco managed to
sneak into his solar plexus with good grace.

�� Well, all
right, so he tripped Draco on their way out of the classroom, but that was so
much less than he would have done before. Besides, he held his hand out right
away and helped Draco back to his feet.

�� Draco was
conscious of how much that handclasp meant, or should mean, between them. If
Potter had the same kind of awareness at all, he wore it casually, and Draco
could never catch him meditating on
it. He gave Draco his glances, his smiles, and his words, as well as those
occasional touches, and it was all what he might have done for any of his
friends.

�� To Draco,
this friendship meant something more, because it had to.

�� It was
unique in his experience, and, now, unique in his life. Vincent was dead. Greg
had said that he�d prefer swimming through sharks to following Draco into Auror
training. Draco�s friends had gone their various ways after the war, some into
Azkaban, some into exile, some into house arrest in their family homes. Not everyone was held away from him, but
most of them were, and the ones who might choose to freely associate with him
would be suspicious that he had decided to become part of a force whose primary
task was investigating Dark wizards.

�� Draco had
actually courted that loneliness. He had believed it would help him make his
mark on the world.

�� Now, he
thought that it would be easiest and most graceful to make his mark on the
world if he had someone standing at his side.

�� Mine, he thought, as he watched Potter
stand opposite from him with his muscles tense, waiting for Gregory�s instruction
to begin, or next to him wreathed in a Shield Charm and the flow of compatible
magic. Mine because he said so.

�� But Draco
could not possess him entirely. Try to keep him away from his friends, and
Potter was likely to turn fractious. At the very best, he would treat Draco
with the same amused exasperation that he was currently treating the Weasel
with, and Draco couldn�t stand that. He wanted Potter�s respect and admiration.

�� So he would
have to do the hard thing and keep his urges under control. He would have to
allow Potter space, freedom, an existence and friendships apart from him. In
return, he would get what he wanted: those
glances, those touches, that consideration that he had once believed Potter
would be the last person in the world to ever exhibit for him.

�� That smile.

�� It was
hard, but Draco believed he could do it. And it was no more than three days
into the future before he saw how well that strategy paid off.

*

�� Harry
rolled his eyes at Hermione as he sat down next to her in Auror Conduct. As
usual, Ron had been quietly arguing with Hermione when Harry came in, but the
moment he saw Harry he shut his mouth and moved towards the front of the room. �No
luck yet?� Harry asked.

�� Hermione
twitched her head, her mouth set and her eyes bright with frustration. �No. And I don�t understand it, Harry. Why
won�t he at least try to talk to you? If he�s afraid that Malfoy�s going to
steal you from him, he should want to prevent that from happening at any cost.�

�� I think,�
Harry said slowly, watching Ron�s back and the way he jutted his chin out as if
he could feel their eyes, �that he wants to see what sort of effort we�ll make
for him. He needs some assurance that he�s still respected, valued. He�s not
wrong about the fact that we do value him. He�s wrong if he thinks that I�m
giving up Draco for him, though.�

�� Draco?�
Hermione flung the word at him like an arrow.

�� Harry
regarded her evenly. �Yes. Do you have a problem with that?�

�� Hermione
chewed a curl of her hair for a minute, then whispered, �No. But�oh, Harry, be
careful.�

�� Draco�s no
more threat to me than anyone else,� Harry said, and stood up to walk towards
Ron.

�� Ron turned
his back loftily when he saw Harry approaching. Harry didn�t worry about that.
He had known he would have to make an effort. In a way, he�d almost enjoyed the
break from Ron�s company over the last few days, because it gave him the chance
to calm down and talk to Hermione and Draco. Hermione had driven herself mad
trying to be perfect, to complete the
classes�including Tactics and Combat, which she found hard�with no effort and
still have all the notes ready to instruct Ron. Harry had told her gently,
multiple times, that she didn�t have to be perfect, and that she was allowed to
be better at some things than others and ask the instructors for help. He
thought she was almost ready to believe him.

�� Ron should have noticed that first, because he�s
her boyfriend.

�� But then
Harry shook his head. He was trying his best to keep from blaming people for
unfair things. He was Hermione�s friend, and he hadn�t noticed, either.

�� Besides, there are so many things that I can
fairly blame them for, he thought, and grinned a bit before he said
quietly, �Ron?�

�� Ron cupped
a hand around his ear. �I think I can hear Malfoy calling for you,� he said. �Better
run back to his side like the good little dog you are.�

�� Harry
rolled his eyes. �Time away from Hermione has affected your insults,� he said. �They
used to be better.�

�� Ron whirled
and faced him. Harry gave a small, satisfied nod. Finally. The hardest thing about trying to deal with Ron in the
past few days had been the fact that he simply wouldn�t confront Harry.

�� His best
friend�s face was red, red enough to swallow the freckles, and he kept gripping
and then releasing his wand, as if he didn�t know whether he would need it or
not. Compassion broke through Harry like a wave of silver foam. Ron was
confused and insecure and uncertain. Harry knew he would have felt the same way
if not for Draco.

�� Fuck, if not for Draco, I would have been floundering
around still, trying to come up with some way to deal with Ron and Ginny and
not admit him to my life.

�� The thought
of Draco made Harry glance around for him. He was standing near the desk he
usually took in Conduct, gaze locked on both Harry and Ron. His eyes were
narrowed, and it was that combined with the slight flare in his nostrils that
let Harry know just how badly he wished to intervene.

�� Harry gave
him a single even look and turned his back. He needed to give his full attention
to Ron right now. And if he couldn�t trust Draco to restrain himself, then they
had deeper problems than Harry thought they did.

�� Ron had
noticed the glance, of course. His voice had an artificially nasty tone in it. �What?
Asking for Mummy Malfoy�s permission to play with me?�

�� This isn�t
you,� Harry told him.

�� Ron gave
him a frozen stare.

�� This isn�t
the real you,� Harry said. �The real Ron can tell his best friends what�s wrong
with him. He can fight his own battles. He doesn�t blame Draco for everything
that�s going wrong in his life.�

�� He had used
Draco�s first name on purpose, and Ron pounced on it, of course. He laughed, a
jagged enough sound that it sounded as if he�d got food stuck in his throat. Harry
was uneasily aware that everyone in the class was watching them, but he tried to
dismiss the sensation. He would always be a public figure, and his friendships
were public business. He had to accept that.

�� You really
are falling in love with him,� Ron
mocked. �Calling him by his first name. Tell me, Harry, does he call you by yours?�

�� No,� Harry
said quietly. �He doesn�t have to.� He paused, then added, �This kind of
insulting isn�t you either, Ron.�

�� I can say
whatever I bloody well please.� Ron�s voice was loud.

�� Yes, of
course,� Harry said. �But I think you should consider whether you�ll succeed in
alienating me. You haven�t so far, because I know that you�re better than this
and it�s only your pride that�s making you act this way. But you might.�

�� Ron paled.
In the corner of his eye, Harry could see Hermione drop her head into her
hands. She would think he had taken too great a risk, he knew, confronting Ron
like this and threatening him with the loss of Harry�s friendship, which he
feared most.

�� It wasn�t like that, Harry wished he
could tell her. I gave Draco a chance and
a choice, and I can�t give Ron less.

�� But he
couldn�t say that. So he waited until Ron whispered, hoarsely, �Do we have to
discuss this in public?�

�� No,� Harry
said instantly. He saw Ron�s eyes widen, and gave him as open and cheerful a
smile as he could. �Not if you promise to meet me later in private so that we
can go over this like mates.�

�� Ron blinked
for a minute and then stared at the floor. Harry hoped he was thinking about the
trust in him that that statement displayed. Harry was counting on Ron to keep
his word after three days of avoiding him.

�� Yeah,� Ron
said. There was a faint gleam of his smile as he looked up. �All right.� He
hesitated, then put his hand out.

�� Harry shook
it roughly and marched back to Draco�s side just as Hestia swept in. He had
thought about going to sit with Ron, but then Ron would probably think the
problem had been resolved and he didn�t have to do anything else.

�� Besides,
Harry liked sitting with Draco. He usually managed to unobtrusively help Harry
if the answers to the questions baffled him, and he was so easy to observe so
that Harry could imitate him or respond to him in seconds.

�� Besides,
Draco�well, when Harry sat down next to him he didn�t smile, not exactly, but
there was a relaxation that seemed to go down to his bones. Most of the time,
he maintained a wary standoffishness that Harry knew was meant to protect
himself. To be one of the people allowed inside that guard was an honor and a
privilege.

�� Thanks for
not jumping in,� he whispered, while Hestia began to speak about the essays
that were due in their next class.

�� Draco
turned his head to look at him full-on. Harry blinked, surprised. Usually, he
tried to avoid that so as not to draw the instructors� attention.

�� I wanted
to,� he breathed.

�� Harry
squeezed his shoulder. �Then I�m more grateful that you didn�t,� he said, and
faced the front as Hestia glanced at them and cleared her throat pointedly.

�� He didn�t
know if he would say it yet, because Draco might get a swollen head, but he
thought his life was better for having Draco�s friendship.

*

�� Mine!

�� It had been
so tempting, that idea of casting an
unobtrusive hex on the Weasel, or stepping up to Potter�s side and telling him
that if he didn�t want Potter as a friend, Draco would gladly accept him. That
was still a vision Draco knew he would come back to many times: the Weasel
abandoning Potter for good and all, and then looking on jealously while Draco
and Potter became closer and closer and made their names part of a legend.

�� But he had
held himself back, because he knew it was to his long-term advantage to do so.

�� And because
he knew Potter was relying on him to stay back.

�� Draco was
ridiculously vain about that trust. He wanted it, coveted it, was determined to
possess it, and it would be stupid to allow the Weasel to make him forfeit it.

�� As he
copied down the newest list of rules from Jones attentively, his eyes went
sideways frequently to Potter. Potter was mostly bent over his list of rules,
nibbling his lower lip or frowning or tapping his forehead with the quill or
pulling at his hair as if his scalp itched, but Draco could see enough of his
face to satisfy him.

�� Mine.

�� Draco�s sense
of possession was calmer now. The Weasel had challenged their friendship in
public, and Potter had stood up for him. He had used Draco�s first name even
though he must have known his �mate� would hate it. He had showed trust in
Draco equal to his trust in accepting the Weasel�s promise.

�� As long as
Potter had that loyalty to him, Draco could share him with other people and not
have to keep him all to himself.

�� Something
nudged his elbow. Draco looked over and saw Potter pushing a folded bit of
parchment towards him while keeping his attention fixed ostentatiously on
Jones. Draco wanted to snort. Passing notes.
Was there anything more juvenile?

�� Needless to
say, he scooped up the bit of paper adroitly and read it when Jones turned her
back to wave her wand at one of her floating illusions.

�� Do you want to investigate how those Death
Eaters got in again after classes today?

�� Draco
looked up and let his eyes drift to Granger and the Weasel. Potter gave a small
shake of his head.

�� Just us, that meant. Or maybe, I can talk to Weasley and not have it
interfere.

�� Draco
nodded back and diligently copied down the next instruction Jones told them,
while warm, deep contentment flooded his belly.

�� Mine, but his, too.

*

�� Tree802: It
will, but not for a short time. I want to sort out the initial friendship-angst
first (though there will be more of it in the future).

�� SP777:
Eventually Draco�s Patronus will be revealed. At the moment, a lot of the magic
they�re practicing is more immediately applicable.

�� If you sign
up for a fest, you are expected to take an assignment that�s given to you. They
do try to match people up so that someone�s not asked to write for someone they
really think they couldn�t write for.

�� Being an
author is unlikely (so few people ever get published).

�� hieisdragoness18:
They�re going to try very hard.

�� Dragons
Breath: Yeah, I don�t think it would have solved anything at all to have Draco
there when he confronted his friends. And he needs to show that he wouldn�t
just roll over for Draco.

�� polka dot: Harry
will not just walk away from his friendship with Ron; he can�t.

�� Alliandre:
Thank you! Ron would be more mature, I think, but his other support, Hermione,
also isn�t being that firm right now. They�re arguing a lot and she hasn�t
trusted him with her problems with the classes. Now he thinks of her as siding
with Harry. He�s basically lost and confused, as Harry diagnosed in this
chapter.

�� I don�t
know how many chapters this will be, just that it�s long.

�� Mr Spears:
Thank you!

�� callistianstar:
Thank you! Hermione is working her way back toward a more normal balance. As
Harry mentions here, she was trying too hard to succeed without any help at
all, which is ridiculous.

�� puresilver:
Thank you! I hope this story will be detailed enough to satisfy you. I
originally thought it would be around 23 chapters, but I think now that it needs
to take its own time to do justice to the character relationships.

�� And sure, I
can add you to the general update list. I often update every day, so I wasn�t
sure you�d want all the notices.

�� MiraMira:
It helps that I type really fast. I can write a chapter in about an hour. But
the emotional commitment is exhausting, so I need certain times of the day and
moods to get into it.

�� I hope
Draco will continue being adorable!
- 14
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- 16
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