Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Ancient and Noble Houses	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 29877 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this fanfic.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Fifteen—Chains of Desire
            “I can’t find all that much about pure-blood houses, actually.”
            Harry leaned back in his chair in the library, where Hermione had dragged him that morning, and grunted. The library didn’t seem all that enthralling when it wasn’t Draco who awaited him there, and still less enthralling was the sight of Hermione frowning into a book, flipping pages as though the answer was going to pop out in front of her.
            “It says that they ensnare their heirs, and trap them into enacting the family.” Hermione slammed the book down on the table. “But it doesn’t say anything about what that means.”
            “Maybe you should try a different book.” Harry tried to keep that to a gentle suggestion, instead of the snap he wanted to make. Hermione still looked at him, though.
            “Maybe I should,” she said. “And maybe you should help me. Honestly, Harry, you act like you don’t really care about your future at all!”
            Harry sneered at her. “That’s not true,” he said. “Any house that makes me kill and—and makes me over into its image is something I care about.” Merlin, he’d almost said “torture house-elves.” He didn’t mean to tell her about Kreacher. She would act so irrational that she would be no help at all.
            And of course he wanted her to be a help. Of course. He wanted free of this house, and he wanted to live.
            If I don’t, then I might never see Draco look at me with anything like approval. He might never ask me to break the vow.
            Harry smiled slowly. He was looking forward to that day, the day Draco asked Harry to break the vow and begged Harry to touch him. Harry knew he would enjoy it all the more for the temporary delay in the process.
            “Then act like you care,” Hermione said, and stood up and walked away among the shelves to put the book back. Harry turned to watch her, wondering where the sullen cold lump in the middle of his stomach that didn’t care had come from.
            It was hard to care about the house because Hermione had turned it into another of her projects, the way she always did when it came to interesting magical things. That meant she researched it and told him what to think. But this time, what she was telling him to think about was himself.
            I don’t want her involved.
            Now there was the problem of how to discourage her involvement when she knew full well that something was going on.
            “Potter.”
            Harry turned around with a little start. For a moment, hearing the name had felt wrong, even though he knew perfectly well that it was in Draco’s voice. For a moment, he had thought that the name he should respond to was Black.
            Draco stood behind him, his face pale. He held a book in his hands that Harry immediately focused on. It was small and black, and there was a musty smell coming from it that—
            That made him think of home.
            Harry stood up and smiled. “What did you find?”
            Draco’s eyes flickered for a moment, and Harry had the sensation that he was trying to look away from Harry’s smile. Well, that was all right, since he ended up looking back. “My mother sent me this,” he said, quietly. Harry nodded approval of his sense. “I asked her if she knew anything about the house or the way it chose its heirs that I might not, and this is what she came up with.”
            “I’d like to read it,” Harry said. “May I?”
            He knew that asking instead of just taking would win points with Draco, and he liked the way Draco’s eyes widened for a second. Then he glanced around and said, “Yes. But not here. I want to make sure no one overhears us who shouldn’t.”
            “Take me down to the dungeons, then,” Harry said. “I can’t go up to Gryffindor Tower without a crowd of people emerging to follow me around.” It wasn’t as true as it would have been in other years, but still true enough to make a good excuse.
            Draco hesitated. Harry lowered his voice further. Hermione would come back any second, and he didn’t want to be here when she did. “Please?’
            Draco nodded jerkily, and led him off. Harry smiled at his back as they walked, or scuttled, out of the library and down towards the dungeons.
            I can’t believe how interesting he is.
*
            Draco didn’t know what was in the book, himself. He had brought it to Potter the minute his mother owled it to him. He hoped it would be something interesting about the house, though, something that would make Potter read it.
            That might quench the desire that Draco had to keep Potter’s eyes focused on him. If Potter would just look away for a second instead of staring at him with that hunger, then Draco knew he could recover his breath and his mental balance.
            It was his own fault, he had to acknowledge. Well, part of his own fault. He had never asked to become the current obsession of the current Black heir.
            But he had wanted Potter’s attention, and now he had it. It wasn’t so long ago that he had wanted that, and it could still affect him now. Hell, even during the war he’d cherished a few stupid fantasies about Potter coming to his rescue in Malfoy Manor and telling him that he’d done well, holding him, gazing into his eyes as though there was nothing he wanted more than to throw Draco on the ground.
            Those fantasies had been okay because they would never happen. And because he knew enough Occlumency to bury them from the Dark Lord’s probing gaze. The Dark Lord would never be looking for them, since everyone knew Draco hated Potter.
            But those desires made his desire more potent now, and when they finally reached a little out of the way corridor in the dungeons that not many Slytherins came down, Draco turned and thrust the book at Potter as a kind of shield.
            Potter took it, still smiling at him, and opened it. Draco cocked his head to look at the writing. His mother hadn’t sent much of an explanation with her letter, only a vague note about how it would help them, and the book itself had no title or author, and only two blank pages in the front when Draco had taken a look at it earlier.
            Potter caught his breath. “It’s a journal,” he whispered, and turned a few pages. “I can’t tell who it’s by yet, other than someone who was afraid that the house was choosing them as an heir.” He shut the book and turned to Draco, his eyes burning. “How did your mother get hold of this? It should have been at the house. She wasn’t the heir.”
            And now we have to deal with this. Draco sighed. “I don’t know. She didn’t tell me. Are you going to accuse her of stealing your property or something? You have it back now. So that shouldn’t be a problem.”
            Potter wavered for a second, his breath catching and his eyes blinking shut and open as though they could focus on something else if he forced them to. Then he shook his head, smiled, and patted Draco on the shoulder. “You’re right. I should be happy that it was returned to me.” He slid the journal into his pocket with a snap.
            “Aren’t you going to read it?” Draco asked. He understood if Potter wanted to look at the book in private, but he had expected him to run off and read it, in that case. It might have the solution he wanted to getting free.
            “No,” Potter said, his voice sinking a little. “I wanted to ask you about something else.” He tilted his chin back and patted his neck. “The scars on my neck are changing, but I’m not sure that the number Hermione said she saw was a 1 or really just a scratch. Look closely at it and tell me what you see.”
            Draco rolled his eyes, but leaned in. He had the vow to keep Potter from using too much “persuasion” on him, and he had to admit he was curious to see what the silver scars looked like.
            Too much like his own Potter-inflicted scars for comfort, it turned out. Some were parallel, and some formed a spiral around a symbol. Draco frowned.
            “Granger must have some problems with her eyes she’s never acknowledged,” he said. Potter stirred, but didn’t retort, the way he would have ordinarily at any insult to her friends. “That’s not a 1. That’s a 2.”
            “What?”
            Draco looked up sharply. Potter had laid his hand against his throat, and his eyes were wide and shocked.
            Draco wordlessly conjured a mirror and held it up. Potter took it, stared into it, and then shut his eyes and slumped to the floor.
            “I have to get free of this,” he whispered.
            Draco decided that he could finally move. Potter seemed to be saner than he had been in a long time, not leering at Draco and not acting as though he wanted to be possessed by the house. Maybe this was the time that he would accept Draco’s suggestion.
            “I have an idea,” he said. “I thought of it the other evening.”
            Potter immediately surged to his feet. “What?”
            “We need to go to the house,” Draco said, shivering a little. He didn’t want to do that, but he hated the thought of having to dance around Potter for the rest of his life more. “Take me there.”
            Potter smiled at him, and Draco hoped the sane moment hadn’t passed. The flame in his eyes was dark. “Leave that to me.”
            Draco grimaced. In hindsight, he rather suspected he shouldn’t have used the word take.
*
            SP777: Because the chapters are so short.
            Moodysavage: Yes, he doesn’t like the thought of being dragged into yet another thing (after the Death Eaters) that he’s not in charge of.
            ChaosLady: Thank you!
            dragonLuv3: Thanks! And Draco isn’t yet resigned to Potter winning this one.
- 14
- 15
- 16
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Ancient and Noble Houses