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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 104291 -:- Recommendations : 9 -:- Currently Reading : 26
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter; all rights go to J. K. Rowling. I make no money for this piece of fictional writing and never will.

Chapter List
- 14
- 15
- 16
Last Time

He would throw himself into everything that he did, because at the end of the day all he’d ever wanted was a family of his own and to be accepted wholly and completely and it had taken the man next to him adopting him as a son to finally get what he’d always wanted. He could never give that up now, he couldn’t give them up, so the only thing left to him was to defend them all fiercely and loyally with all that he was, because they had seen through him and they had raised him up and gave him all the help he could possibly need and the support and the tools to advance himself and now, with one trip to the hospital, they had also saved his life. It was clear cut in his mind now, he owed them everything, the Malfoys and the Lestranges, and as far as he was concerned, he was one of them now and he would, in actual fact, legally be a Lestrange as soon as he married Rabastan. He raised his left hand up to his mouth and he kissed his engagement ring. He was one of them and he was proud to be. Nothing else now even mattered, not even Voldemort and the brewing war. He would not be a part of it and whatever the outcome, as long as his family, all of them, were safe and well, he didn’t much care what else happened around him.

Chapter Fifteen – February

The night sweats continued, the splitting headaches continued, but Harry had already adapted to put up with it. He had adapted to be able to cope with the gruelling side effects of his potions while still continuing on with his everyday life.
The day that the trial had appeared in the newspaper, the day after he’d given his own sentencing for the very first time, was the day that he started being called ruthless and merciless. Those words had appeared several times in the Prophet article that morning in such sentences as ‘ruthless Lord Potter-Black, or ‘merciless Lord Potter-Black’ along with wonderful anecdotes about him being ‘stoic’, ‘cold’, ‘brutal’, ‘unmoved by the defendant’s desperate pleas’ and ‘callous in the extreme for voicing such a sentence’. Draco and Blaise had found massive amusement in the articles, but outside of the Slytherins and a select few others, there were very few who found any amusement in the newspaper articles about what he’d done and said about a ‘poor’ man who was obviously regretful and hadn’t meant any harm, he’d just been drunk, that’s all.
His speeches were printed almost word for word, which he was pleased about, and he did have those who supported his sentencing as they had done more research than reading the surface pages of the slandering of the Daily Prophet, and they understood the seriousness of what was done. They came and shook his hand and told him so, but they were few and far between. But among the Muggleborns of Hogwarts, his popularity had nose-dived. Not that he cared about such things, but the thinly veiled glares being sent at him were hard to ignore as he drained his bone strengthening potion, along with a headache reliever, with a full cup of tea. All they saw when they looked at him was the ‘pureblood’ in him. The one taught by Lucius Malfoy, the one who had sentenced a Muggleborn man to ten years in Azkaban prison for being drunk and disorderly.

“Hey Harry. Can I sit down?”

Harry looked up, a little startled at the request, before he smiled. “Of course, Luna. How are you?”

“I’ve been well. I wanted to check in on how you were.” Luna told him as she slipped her legs under the table and sat opposite him.

“I’m getting better every day.” He insisted. “I don’t see enough of you these days, are you having any trouble?”

“Oh no. No trouble.” Luna insisted with a soft smile. “I did wonder about the DA though. I had a lot of fun there.”

Harry smiled sadly. “I did too, I really enjoyed teaching, but Ron, Hermione and Ginny have turned on me, Luna. I just can’t do the DA anymore, half of those who attended our little sessions hate my guts now, but if you want tutoring in Defence, I can give that to you personally if you wanted.”

“Are you sure? I’d hate to put you out.”

Harry smiled. “Luna, you’re probably my only remaining friend in the world. I’d do anything for you.”

“I still talk to Neville sometimes. He never stole your things, Harry.”

Harry smiled sadly. “I know, Luna. Once I’d calmed down and thought about things, I realised that Neville would never have done such a thing, then the letter from the governors arrived about the amended invoice the other day, after he’d proven himself innocent. There’s just too much water under the bridge. I’ve come to hate it here.” He exaggerated a bit as he played his fingers over his engagement ring.

“You’re missing someone special.” Luna said, looking at him playing with the ring.

Harry smiled then and brought it to his mouth to kiss it, imagining that it was Rabastan’s lips. “Yeah.” He said softly. “I am. It’s hard being engaged and not being able to see the one that you’re engaged to.”

“Do you write to them often?”

Harry nodded. “I’m waiting on a letter. I’m hoping it’ll be here soon, just so I can read their words, the words that they’ve written with their own hand.”

“You’re being very…careful.” Luna told him mildly.

“Discreet I think you’ll find.” Harry teased with a smile. “I don’t want her to be dragged through the press or be associated with any of this.” Harry scoffed, hitting the newspaper that he’d read and folded by the side of his plate with the back of his hand.

Luna smiled at him. “I understand.” She said. “Aisling, is what the rumours are calling her.”

Harry chuckled then. “Oh, so the whispers have already started? And as usual they’ve been modified. Her name is Aceline, Luna. She’s a year younger than I am and she’s at Beauxbatons. I hope to be joining her next year, after I’ve graduated.”

“I’m happy for you.” Luna told him genuinely and Harry breathed a sigh of utter relief that someone who he had once been close to wasn’t snarling in his face for his choices in his own life, whether that was his adoption, his betrothal and engagement, his soaring grades in school, his new attitude towards certain things or taking on his Lord Potter-Black persona.

“Harry, come on.” Draco called out, appearing at Luna’s shoulder. “Drink your milk and let’s go.”

Harry looked at the offending glass and tried to hide how much he detested it. He knocked it back as quickly as he could, trying not to taste it, treating it more like a potion than a drink.

“You should try goat milk.” Luna told him as she stood up and picked up her backpack. “It’s much milder and better for you.” Was her parting shot as she bounced off past the small gang of Slytherins to go to her own lessons.

Draco stared at her back for a long moment, before turning back to Harry with a perfect, blond eyebrow raised.

“Leave her alone.” Harry said seriously. “She’s one of the bravest people I know. To be herself, despite everything, takes a courage that most people will never know. Luna will never conform to anyone else’s ideals and I love that about her. She’s her own person and she has the right to be. Just leave her alone.”

“Come on. We’ll be late.” Draco replied and Harry smiled, standing up and shouldering his satchel.

He walked with his brother, and the other small group of Slytherins, to the first lesson of the day, double potions. He had barely sat down on the stool when the tell-tale throb started in his right temple and rapidly spread over his forehead, pounding behind both eyes, to the other temple. He hissed in pain and lifted both hands to either temple to try, fruitlessly, to rub away the pain. This was not going to be an enjoyable lesson.

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The days passed very slowly for Harry in his pain filled bubble, about the only good thing he’d taken from the last few days was Luna’s advice about switching to goat milk, which was milder and thus easier for Harry to drink. He even started to enjoy drinking it. He by no means liked it, but he was no longer treating it like a glass of foul potion at least.
He had no idea how he could keep this up for another seven potential months. When he’d been told that he only had to take these potions until the summer, he’d thought nothing of it. Realising now that it meant that he would have to endure daily pain and discomfort, as well as several serious side effects, for several months was a little harsher in reality.
He still made sure that he took them, however. All he had to do to keep taking them day after day, to get them all down and stay down, was to think of Rabastan, and Rodolphus too he supposed, but mostly Rabastan. It didn’t make them taste any better, but it gave him the strength to swallow each potion, one every morning, one every afternoon and one every night.
Today was Saturday the first of February, he didn’t have to hold Quidditch practice, he had minimal homework to do and Marcus was in work today, so he was coming to tutor him tomorrow afternoon instead. Harry had decided that today would be the day that he went to visit Remus at Grimmauld Place. He wanted to catch up with Remus and find out just where Kreacher was going when he wasn’t at number twelve, if the house elf was even there, which according to Remus wasn’t actually all that often these days.

“Dobby.” He called out and not a moment later there was a pop and Harry had his knees seized in a hug.

“Master Harry Potter calls for Dobby.”

“Yes, can you take me to Grimmauld Place, please? I want to see Remus.”

Harry held Dobby’s hand and in the next moment, he was in the kitchen of number twelve. It already looked much better, everything had been scrubbed and the roaring fire made everything look brighter and cleaner.

“Remus?” He called out questioningly, rather loudly too.

There was a clatter from above and Harry smiled as he heard someone on the stairs.

“That’ll be all, Dobby.” He said. “Thank you.”

The elf bowed and then left, just as Remus came into the kitchen. He beamed widely at him and pulled Harry into a hug.

“Are you feeling any better?” The werewolf asked, looking at him critically.

“Yes. I’m getting more used to the side effects of the potions that I’m taking now.” Harry said. “So I’m able to manage them a little better.”

“That’s great news.” Remus said happily. “Would you like some tea?”

“Yes, tea would be great, then we can start picking out paint for this decrepit place. It definitely looks better than when I was last here, though.” He praised.

“I’ve been busy cleaning, scrubbing the floors and walls, but as you said, there’s only so much that cleaning will do alone. It needs a full makeover and a lot of paint.”

Harry chuckled as he sat down. “Maybe new furniture too. This table has seen better days. It’s a wonder that no one has ever gotten sick eating off of it.”

Remus shot him a smile before be brought over two large mugs of tea. Harry drank it gratefully.

“That’s nice.” He said happily.

“I saw the article.” Remus said carefully.

Harry snorted. “I hope you are intelligent enough to realise that it was more than for being ‘drunk and disorderly’ that Mister Jute was put in Azkaban.” He said.

“I would certainly hope so.”

“He purposefully drank two bottles of vintage Firewhiskey and then he went on a rampage through Muggle Kent.” Harry said shaking his head. “He caused a lot of damage and injured two Muggles, who had to be treated in St Mungos and their quality of life has now been decreased because of his actions. He also put the English dragon reserve at risk by sharing its location and recently it has seen the number of Muggles around it increasing. He needed to be punished, Remus and I admit that ten years is perhaps a bit excessive, but I wasn’t the one who determined the length of his sentence, the Minister was. A fine isn’t harsh enough, community service isn’t harsh enough, it had to be a prison sentence for what he did. We can’t allow anyone to get away with breaking the Statute of Secrecy or abusing defenceless Muggles in such a blatant way! I’m not going to stand for it and if I’m merciless, callous and whatever else the papers decide to call me, then fine, but I am not going to let anyone off with a slap to the wrist for attacking those without the means to defend themselves. It’s not right.”

Remus nodded his understanding, looking at him with something akin to pride and Harry calmed himself down and smiled a bit shyly.

“So what colour kitchen were you thinking of?” Remus asked as he surveyed the room they were in.

“White.” Harry said immediately. “Nice, bright white and not a speck of dirt.”

Remus chuckled. “A little cliché to have a white kitchen, but perhaps clichés work for a reason.”

“I just think that white is more clean for a kitchen and bathroom.” Harry reasoned. “If it’s one room in a house you want to be seen as clean, it’s where you prepare and eat food.”

“You make a good point. White kitchen it is.”

Harry chuckled as Remus went to find a scrap bit of parchment and a pencil and he wrote down kitchen dash white. Harry drank more tea happily.

“Perhaps a hint of colour?” Remus persisted.

Harry chuckled. “Maybe with the appliances. Maybe a touch of grey or silver? They’re nice, clean colours. Especially if it’s a soft, pale grey.”

Remus nodded again and added a slash beside the white and added pale grey or silver to the piece of parchment. Harry grinned. He wondered if he and Rabastan would be doing this one day soon, picking out colours for their home and decorating it to their preferences so that they could merge their lives together, so that they could live together.
Once finished with their tea, they went on a tour of the house, Harry had picked out bright yellow for the hallways, stating that it was the first place that most people would see and he wanted the house to give off a bright, friendly feeling as soon as the front door was opened, especially considering the squalid street it was located on. Remus had grinned at him and marked it down on the parchment.
They continued in the same vein for hours, going through spare rooms, guest bedrooms, several bathrooms, picking out colours and arguing over the brightest shades that they could imagine.
At lunch time they had to call a break, because Harry needed to take one of his calcium potions. He had a small sandwich before he washed the potion down with more tea, but he still gagged on it and almost heaved. He shook his head and wiped his eyes from the tears that had gathered there.

“I hate these damn potions.” He hissed.

“Are you getting healthier?” Remus asked.

Harry nodded. “That one is combating my calcium deficiency, so I do need it and I will keep taking it. They’re just vile.”

Remus chuckled and handed him a bar of chocolate and Harry took it with a smile.

“Now this more than makes up for the taste.” He chuckled.

“How are you getting on in your lessons?”

“Great, did you know that I’m now in the top ninetieth percentile of my year?” He said proudly.

“Really? Harry, that’s great!” Remus said happily.

Harry nodded. “I’ve worked so much harder this year, because it’s expected of me. But you know, I think all I really needed was a kick in the arse. I needed someone to be proud of what I was doing, someone to actually care if I was achieving well in school or not. Before it didn’t really matter, no one cared what marks I was getting, I had no one to show my marks or anything to, so I didn’t feel like it mattered. Now that Lucius is checking through every piece of work I do and gets to see the breakdown of all my exams and the marks given to me, I just…I want to do better, I want him to be proud of me and now that he’s pushing me and telling me that everything I do does matter, I’m actually trying and applying myself more and just look at what I can achieve when I do! All I needed was someone to actually show me that they cared about what I was doing in school and suddenly I’m in the top ten percent and aiming higher.”

“I’m so proud of you, Harry. When I was your teacher, I just knew that you could do better if only you just tried more. You only ever seemed to truly apply yourself to Defence Against the Dark Arts.”

Harry nodded. “It’s because it’s my favourite subject.” He said. “It was only ever Defence that I liked, everything else was near enough mandatory. I wanted to try Care of Magical Creatures as that was something else that I was really interested in, but, well as much as I love him, Hagrid ruined that for me.”

Remus sighed. “How are the Runes coming on?”

Harry grinned. “Great! Marcus said I’m a natural.”

“Marcus?” Remus questioned.

“Flint, do you remember him? He’s a genius with Runes and he’s giving me private tutoring.”

“Marcus Flint is giving you tutoring?” Remus asked, horrified.

Harry nodded. “Yes, and since we’ve started I have a much better grasp on the subject.”

“But…Marcus Flint?”

Harry chuckled. “I thought the same thing at first, how could a man who was held back a year possibly tutor anyone? But he is truly gifted with Runes. He was scouted by a top company at just fifteen years old, Remus. He focused so much on getting straight O’s in his Runes exams that he ignored everything else and he had to repeat a year to pass his mandatory exams to be able to graduate, but he had a top, specialist consultant job waiting for him as soon as he left school. He’s not too bright with anything else, but if it’s one thing that he knows, and knows incredibly well, it’s Runes.”

Remus swallowed, but nodded and Harry smiled.

“It’s all fine.” Harry assured. “He’s a professional now and he’s been very nice to me…well, he does have an unorthodox way of teaching, he’d never be allowed to teach children.” He chuckled. “But he’s helping me, so I can put up with some cussing and rather rude remarks about my lack of intelligence.”

Harry stood up and drained his tea.

“I should get back now.” He insisted. “Are you sure you can handle the painting?”

“Of course, it’ll give me something to do.”

Harry smiled. “It was nice seeing you again.”

“It was, we should do this more often, I miss you.”

Harry smiled wider and he hugged Remus. “I miss you too. I’ll see about sending you a letter too. I want pictures when this place has been brightened up a bit.” He laughed.

Harry called Dobby as he said his goodbyes and then he was happily back in his rooms and after saying his goodbyes to Dobby as well, he sighed, sitting down and swiping a hand over his head. He was getting drowsy because of his calcium potion and all he wanted to do was get back into his soft, warm pyjamas and take a nap. He couldn’t though. He needed to ignore the urge on the weekend so that he could do the same during the weekday, when he needed to stay awake because of his lessons.
He decided to distract himself by going for a walk. It would take a bit out of him to do so, but if he stayed here then he was going to drift off and that would be bad for his recovery.
He left his rooms and after a bit of aimless wandering he decided to go to the library. He could use the time to read a bit more on the Wizengamot and exactly how the Council of Magical Law had been formed. They’d annoyed him a lot during the trial and they seemed to have had a rather inflated view of themselves if they thought to question the Wizengamot and get away with it. Perhaps that was Dumbledore’s fault as well, who had been the Chief Warlock before Runcorn. Perhaps Dumbledore had allowed such interruptions or even allowed those on the Council of Magical Law to overturn the decisions and rulings of the Wizengamot in an attempt to spite the Pureblooded Lords. He would have to write to Lucius to ask about it.
He made it to the library and he grabbed a piece of parchment from near Madam Pince, grabbed a bottle of ink and a quill that were both stamped with ‘LIBRARY’ in big, bold letters and he took a moment to write as such down on the parchment, more as a reminder to himself that he wanted to send a letter to Lucius and what he wanted to include, as with how drowsy and thick headed his potions made him he couldn’t trust himself to remember it later.
He went to the political books and he sighed at how dusty they were. He was probably the first person to even touch them within the last century. He looked for what he wanted, or at least something that actually seemed promising, and it took him a while before he actually found something, but once he had pulled the book from the shelf, he was able to sit down and rest his aching legs. He couldn’t wait for this school year to be over. That bloody Healer had better clear him as healthy by the summer, he didn’t know if he could carry this on for much longer than that.
He spent three hours lost in dusty books, Hermione would have been proud of him, if she wasn’t being completely irrational about his adoption, that was. He had written down the information he’d found out about the Council of Magical Law and he had several more questions to ask that he could actually pen out into a letter for Lucius, to join the most pressing question that he wanted to ask and have answered, which was had Dumbledore given the Council of Magical Law a higher status than they were meant to have and had he allowed them to overrule the Wizengamot while he’d been Chief Warlock.
He was kicked out of the library an hour from curfew at eight in the night and he put his books back and handed in the quill and bottle of ink that he’d borrowed before tucking the parchment into his pocket. He was very tired now and he was dreading the thought of the nutrient potion that awaited him when he got back to his rooms, and the three flights of stairs he had to climb up to reach his rooms on the fourth floor.
Unfortunately he didn’t make it to his rooms, he got waylaid on the third floor by a confrontation with the very Gryffindors that he was hoping to avoid.

“Must you start now?” He sighed exasperatedly, cutting into a tirade that he was sure had been very well rehearsed. “Only it is almost curfew and I would like to reach my rooms before then.”

“I am trying to say sorry!” Ron fumed.

“Save your breath, I don’t want to hear it.” He snapped. “You made your intentions incredibly clear when you stole my stuff and destroyed it all. We have been through this over and over, I don’t want to be your friend anymore!”

“Harry, if we could just sit down and talk?” Hermione tried to reason.

“If this is about the bill again…”

“It’s not!” Hermione insisted. “We realise that we need to pay for the things that we took and broke, we just…we want things to work out, we want to go back to how things were!”

“That’s not a feasible goal.” Harry said. “Things are never going to go back to how they were. I’m not giving up my family and I’m not giving up my Fiancée. Things have already changed in the time that you chose to abandon me and blame me for something that has definitely been one of the best things that has ever happened to me!”

“Not…not about that.” Hermione said. “Just, let us try and be friends again.”

“No.” Harry said, lifting a hand to his head as his vision blurred. Fuck, he really wasn’t well.

“Please just give us a chance to make things right again.” Ginny tried. “We still care for you.”

His saviour came in an unlikely form, of a petite, blonde haired girl who stood in front of him and glared with fierce blue eyes at the three Gryffindors in front of him.

“He has already said no!” Astoria said determinedly.

“It’s okay, Astoria.” Harry said gently, placing a hand on her small shoulder and moving to stand beside her, just in case. Draco would never forgive him if anything happened to his betrothed, but more than that, Harry would never forgive himself if anything happened to her because his ex-friends had started on her.

“It’s not okay that they’re hounding you like this. You’ve given an answer and it should be respected!” She directed this last to the three Gryffindors.

“What does this have to do with you?” Ron sneered at her.

“Don’t.” Harry growled. “She’s a fourteen year old girl and an Heiress of the Greengrass family and the future Lady Malfoy.”

“You’re marrying Malfoy?!” Ron grimaced.

“I am betrothed to Draco and I shall marry him upon my graduation.” Astoria said coolly.

“Come, Astoria. I will escort you to your common room.”

“There is no need.” Astoria insisted.

“My brother would never forgive me if I didn’t escort you. You are to be my sister-in-law.” He said with a smile.

“You make a fine big brother too.” She chuckled gently with a pleasant tinkle to her voice.

“Look, we just want to talk, Harry.” Ginny told him insistently.

“The topic of conversation is getting tiresome.” He said easily. “I’ve given you my final answer, my mind is not going to change. We are not going to be friends again and I’m not going to forgive what you did and I’m not going to revoke the bill given to your families.”

“We were so close once.” Hermione said sadly.

“Well, I think you effectively ruined that closeness when you destroyed all of my stuff in a petty, petulant attempt to hurt me by taking away the one thing you knew that I could never truly replace!” He said angrily, his temper, as ever, making an appearance at last. It had likely taken so long to flare up because of how tired and drained he felt thanks to his potions and the underlying disease that he was taking them for. The anger made him feel worse, and that just served to make him angrier.

“Harry, don’t waste your energy on these people.” Astoria cautioned gently, knowing that he’d recently been taken from school because of an illness. He didn’t know how much Draco would have told her, but she knew that he’d recently been ill and that he wasn’t a hundred percent still, everyone in the school knew and the rumours were rife between the other students. He’d even heard whispers that he was supposedly at death’s door.

“Shut up you snobby little cow.” Ginny snapped.

“Do not speak to her that way.” Harry demanded furiously, trying to ignore the way his vision blurred with his anger. He really needed to get to his rooms and just lie down so that he could rest.

“She’s a Slytherin, Harry!” Ron told him, as if he didn’t already know it.

“She’s a person, Ron! Astoria is my brother’s betrothed.” He growled back. “She is to be my sister-in-law and I will not stand to have her spoken to in such a way. Carry on and I will ensure that you’re expelled for bullying.” He threatened.

“Ever since you were adopted by that Death Eater you’ve been best pals with those snakes!” Ron exploded. “You’ve changed and everyone can see it!”

“So what if I have changed?” Harry asked loftily. “It’s only for the better.” He insisted. “I am in the top ten percent of the year, I am getting straight Os in every class except for Arithmancy and Ancient Runes, of which I am getting EEs and working on turning them into Os as well and I truly think that’s brilliant considering that I only picked up both subjects this year. I have a loving, supportive family, I have a brother, a sister-in-law.” He said touching Astoria’s shoulder. “But best of all, I have my own Fiancée whom I love and will marry upon her graduation, both of our apprenticeships willing, of course.”

“Apprenticeships?” Hermione murmured. “Did you not want to be an Auror, or has that changed along with everything else?”

“It’s changed because I was never really sold on the whole idea of being an Auror in the first place. It was actually doing the DA that truly changed my mind on that. I want to be a teacher.” He said.

“You’ll make a fine teacher too…Professor Potter.” Astoria teased.

Harry laughed and shook his head. “Thankfully it won’t be here at Hogwarts. I will be Monsieur Potter, as I will be teaching at Beauxbatons.”

“You’re going to France?” Ron demanded.

“As that is where Beauxbatons academy is located, yes, Ron, I will be going to live and work in France.” Harry sighed. “Aceline told me about their amazing teaching apprenticeship, of course it helps that it’ll mean that I’ll be closer to her, seeing as she’s a student there.”

“Now don’t go breaking any rules, Monsieur Potter.” Astoria giggled. “You’ll be a teacher, you’re not allowed to get frisky with the students.”

Harry laughed then. “Not even if the student in question is my own Fiancée?”

“Especially not then.” Astoria told him. “It’s unseemly.”

“A good thing that I’ll be kept very busy then.” He smiled.

“More so when you become a Father.”

Harry nodded, but Hermione’s face went slack.

“Aceline is pregnant?” She demanded shrilly.

Harry forced himself to look stunned, as opposed to laughing out loud.

“Of course not!” He snapped. “We are not even married yet! We are both still in school! Such a thing would be a serious breach of our contract! We are not allowed such contact until we are married. We aren’t even allowed to be alone together in case such a situation arises that we’ve just discussed.”

“All this Pureblood nonsense…Harry, it’s gone on for long enough now!”

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but this is who I am now. You made your choices when you turned from me purely because I’d been adopted by a loving family. You severed our bond when you told me that I deserved to be kept in an abusive home and you destroyed any chance we ever had of reconciling when you tried to destroy my belongings. No more!” He shouted the last and he watched them jump out of their skins. “Stop approaching me, stop trying to speak to me and stop trying to wheedle your way back in with this false front of apologies. You don’t want to be my friend, you just want the debt you owe to me to go away!”

“It’s not like you can’t fucking afford to pay for it!” Ron raged.

Harry gasped and clutched at Astoria, pulling her back behind him.

“How dare you use such vulgar language in front of a young lady!” He shouted. “Who do you think you are? She is a fourteen year old girl and she doesn’t deserve to hear such things from you! I could afford to pay the bill a hundred times over, but that isn’t the point! We’ve had this conversation before, and I’m fed up of repeating myself! I didn’t destroy my own stuff, why should I pay for it when it was you who broke all of it?!”

“Harry, are you alright?”

Harry felt Astoria relax in his arms as Draco came to stand beside them. Harry looked at her and then he smirked. She must have been with friends when she’d happened upon him…she had sent her friends to find Draco, who had come to help.

“I’m fine, just angry that this is still happening.” He sighed. “I’ve given you the same answer again and again, just accept it and move on!” He told the three Gryffindor’s in front of him.

Blaise came to stand beside him and Harry felt his supportive touch on his back. Blaise might have been a bit of a perverted joker at times, but when he needed to be serious, he was deadly serious.

“You heard him.” Blaise snapped. “He doesn’t want to be friends with you. He wants you to leave him alone!”

“Come on, Harry.” Draco walked off, past the trio and Harry followed, keeping himself between them and Astoria. Blaise followed behind like a hulking, protective shadow.

“The nerve of those tossers.” Blaise scoffed.

“Harry was brilliant.” Astoria giggled.

“As I always am.” Harry smirked.

“Careful there, brother. We might not fit your head through your door.” Draco scoffed.

Harry laughed. “If your head will fit through it, mine will.”

They made it peacefully back to Harry’s rooms and Harry immediately started making tea for them all, setting out four mugs on his small square of counter as the other three sat on the settees and made themselves at home.
He brought the tea over and a plate of biscuits and he sat next to Blaise with a sigh, rubbing his head.

“Are you okay?” Draco asked him then, more seriously. “I know you haven’t been well lately and that confrontation wouldn’t have helped.”

“I was feeling tired and drained before, but my vision kept blurring every time the anger spiked. Why can’t they just take no for an answer?” He demanded.

“They realise now what they’ve lost.” Blaise insisted, drinking his tea. “You’re still a celebrity, you’re a Lord of two very prominent, well respected houses and you’re filthy rich.”

Harry snorted. “I’d like to think that I have friends for more than just those reasons.”

“Well it helps that we’re all filthy rich and from prominent houses too.” Blaise added. “You still have us beaten on the Lordships and the whole being a celebrity thing though.” He winked.

Harry laughed then and drank some of his own tea.

“You keep high company these days, Potter.” Draco smirked.

“That is Potter-Black…soon to be Lestrange.” He winked.

“You are taking Rabastan’s last name then?” Astoria asked.

Harry nodded. “It was never a problem for me to decide. I would be honoured to take his name.”

“You would still be the Lord of the Potter and Black houses, but you would be happy to be Harry James Lestrange?”

Harry nodded happily, getting a dopy look on his face as he thought of it. He brought his ring to his lips and kissed it almost on automatic now.

“Dear Merlin, look at your face! You’re so in love!” Blaise laughed.

Harry grinned unrepentantly. “I am and I just don’t even want to hide it. Thanks again for teaching me a bit of French. I’ve made sure to practice it with others around, to try and plant seeds.”

“That’s alright, anything that keeps your luscious arse safer.”

“Oi!” Draco immediately leapt to Harry’s defence, almost literally as he sat up straighter and hovered on the edge of the settee. “I mean it, Blaise, leave him alone!”

Blaise just laughed. Astoria giggled as she watched and Draco scowled and sat back on the settee and he seemed to place his arm around her without thinking. Harry watched as Astoria noticed Draco’s touch, her eyes widened a little in surprise, before she smiled and shifted just slightly to turn more towards him.
It made Harry smile to see it. He turned to Blaise and grinned.

“I see.” Blaise chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want to hook up?”

“I’m sure, Blaise. Rabastan and I…we’ve had our ups and downs I’ll admit, but I love him so much.”

“I know, it’s just so much fun to wind up Draco.” Blaise laughed. “Besides, you have got to be the hottest fucker I’ve met…well, since you got rid of those hideous glasses and stopped dressing like a prisoner.”

Harry snorted. “Thanks I guess.” He laughed.

“I always said that you had potential, didn’t I, Draco?”

“Hmm, what was that?” Draco asked, breaking off from what Astoria was saying at the sound of his name.

“I was just telling Harry that I’d always said that he had potential, remember I’d say as such?”

“You did, but I swear to Merlin, Blaise, if you don’t leave him alone…”

“I’m complimenting him on his appearance!” Blaise grinned. “Now that he’s properly groomed.”

“You say that as if I’d never had a bath before I was adopted.” Harry laughed.

“You didn’t even own a brush!” Draco replied.

“Even when I do brush it no one can tell!” Harry said. “It goes straight back into these odd, messy tufts.”

“You wore it lovely over the winter parties.” Astoria told him. “How did you manage that?”

“Ah, that was all Draco.” Harry grinned. “And a vat of potion and about an hour’s hard work.”

Draco scoffed. “And the rest!” He joked. “Your hair is a nightmare to work with.”

“I can’t wait to pass it onto mine and Rabastan’s children.” He giggled. “Your nieces and nephews are going to have this hair, Draco.”

“Dear Merlin, I didn’t even think of that.” Draco groaned.

“Here you go kids, off to Uncle Draco. He’ll sort out your hair and outfits for you.” Harry laughed uproariously.

“I told you he wasn’t as nice as he seemed!” Draco directed to Astoria, who let out that tinkling laugh again.

Harry snorted. “I’m the nicest person you know.”

“He’s got you there.” Blaise grinned.

“Right, I’m leaving! Come on, Astoria. I will escort you to the common room.”

Harry chuckled. “I need to take that potion and get some rest anyway.” Harry said as he collected up the four mugs and went to dump them in his sink.

“Will you be okay?” Draco asked him, coming to look into his eyes for a hint that he wasn’t as well as he seemed.

“I’ll be fine. I’m getting used to this now.” Harry said quietly. “I’ll take the potion and climb straight into bed. A nice bath in the morning will help me feel better and more human, so don’t worry if I’m a little late down to breakfast.”

Draco searched his face and then his eyes critically before he nodded.

“Make sure that you get plenty of sleep, it’ll help you to recover.”

Harry smiled at the brotherly concern and he clapped Draco’s shoulder.

“Go on, get out of my rooms before I’m forced to endure more of your riveting company.”

Draco snorted. “Has Rabastan written to you yet?”

“His letter is due any day, but you know it takes him a while to write things. The wait is killing me though.” He admitted with a laugh.

“You’d think you’d get sick of writing little love letters to one another.”

Harry grinned then. “Oh, they’ve taken a more…private turn recently.”

Draco’s face fell and the look of horror directed at him made Harry laugh, nice and deep and from the belly.

“Stop joking around.”

Harry just turned with a grin still on his mouth and he winked cheekily, going to his cupboard to fetch his needed potion.

“Please tell me you’re joking.” Draco all but begged.

Harry laughed. “Just…don’t read any of my letters.”

Draco shivered visibly and turned. “If there was one thing that I never needed to know, it was that!”

Harry laughed again as Draco held his arm out for Astoria and went to the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Harry said as he saw the three of them out, closing his door after them.

He laughed to himself then and shook his head. He got himself a glass of pumpkin juice and tried to prepare for the vileness of his nutrient potion. Nothing he did worked and again he had to think of Rabastan to swallow it all down and keep it down. He kept that thought in his head, of Rabastan and their future children…children that they might not be able to have if he didn’t take these potions.
He dressed in loose clothes and took one of his books to bed with him. He was cold now, it being February with snow on the ground, but he would soon start to sweat in the night and he’d learnt that if he wore too much then he would keep waking up in the night and he’d end up being nigh on exhausted tomorrow. So he put up with being cold and he would distract himself with the book until he was tired enough to fall asleep. Then it was just cleaning himself up in the morning and stripping his bed. He couldn’t fucking wait until he no longer had to take any of those potions and he was completely healthy and where he should be in regards to his age.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

February crawled along at a snail’s pace as he tried to do the mountain of homework that had been given to him while dealing with his blatant illness and fatigue. He swiped an arm over his sweating forehead yet again and grimaced as it came away soaking wet. There was nothing else for it now, he would have to go and sit in the bath for a bit, he couldn’t take this anymore, he was already sitting on his living room floor completely naked. He’d made sure to send Dobby to Draco with a note to tell him not to visit, because he knew that as soon as Draco noticed him missing, he would charge up here to look for him and he wouldn’t survive the embarrassment of that, neither of them would.
He grabbed one of the Ancient Rune’s books that Marcus had given to him during their tutoring lessons yesterday and he went to his bathroom, flicking his wand and sending a charm to the bath taps to start them running.
The book was actually really interesting, but it wasn’t on the Hogwarts reading list because ‘they’re fucking stupid shits’ according to Marcus. Harry had chuckled at that, but now he could see why Marcus was so disgusted and angry that this book wasn’t included in the curriculum. Harry had understood more about the complex Runes from this book than he had in several months of lessons.
He sat in the bath for an hour, as it went from blisteringly hot to help him sweat out the potion, to moderately warm, to lukewarm and then cold.
He felt more refreshed as he stepped out and dried himself off before actually getting dressed for the day. Maybe he would actually manage to get down to lunch and stop Draco from freaking out over his absence.
Checking his appearance, Harry used a simple spell to dry his damp hair and he dutifully tugged a brush through it half-heartedly. It didn’t look any different to him, perhaps a little more fluffier than usual, but Draco swore that he’d always be able to tell if he ever came out of his rooms without brushing his hair first and all the times that Harry had tested this theory, Draco had known.
Thankful that it was a Sunday, Harry didn’t bother with his robe, lest he wear too much and set off his sweating again. Instead he stuck with a casual pair of wool trousers and a cable jumper. He already looked like a panda because of the huge dark circles under his eyes from a restless night of tossing and twisting in the bed with the night sweats…at least he hoped that that was all it was and he hadn’t gone down with a cold or something. Perhaps he should go to Madam Pomfrey and get a Pepper-Up from her, just in case.
He rubbed his tired, itchy eyes as he realised then that if he did that then he’d have to tell her what other potions he was taking so that he could be sure that the Pepper-Up wouldn’t interfere with them and then those potions would be on his Hogwarts record that Dumbledore could pull at any moment.
He scowled and decided to just suck it up and carry on, it was only a cold if he did have anything, he’d be fine.
He made it to the Great Hall and decided that, fuck it, he wanted to sit with Draco today, so he automatically made his way to the Slytherin table.

“Harry, you look awful.” Pansy greeted him, which sent Draco swinging around to face him.

“Thanks for that.” He said as he sat next to Draco, squeezing out Daphne, making sure to sit the furthest side of him because Astoria had the other.

“You really don’t look well.” Draco told him.

“I have already noticed, you don’t have to keep mentioning it.” He grumped, taking his empty bowl and half filling it with spiced pumpkin soup.

“Is it the potions?” Draco asked concernedly.

“It can’t possibly be anything else.” Harry sighed, checking his forehead with the back of his forearm. It was dry for now, but he was getting warm again. “The nutrient potions have been awful, I still have a skull splitting headache from the bone strengthening potion I took this morning and I have to take the calcium potion now, as soon as I’ve finished eating. I just can’t keep it up. As soon as one symptom goes, I have to take another potion and put up with something else, only today the sweating from the nutrient potion didn’t trail off in the morning, the headache hasn’t gone and now I have to add drowsiness on top of it.”

“Are you sick?” Draco asked. Harry just gave him a glare. “No, I meant have you picked something else up, like a cold?”

“Probably, because I obviously don’t have enough to deal with already, let’s throw a fucking cold on top of it all.” Harry rubbed his head and sighed. “I apologise for my rude language, ladies.”

“No offense taken, you weren’t aiming it at us and you didn’t mean it maliciously.” Astoria responded primly.

“Go to Madam Pomfrey.”

“I can’t.” Harry sighed. “Father doesn’t want Dumbledore finding out about what sort of illness I have lest he take advantage of it.”

“Madam Pomfrey can’t tell anyone, she’s sworn to the same oaths as the Healers at St Mungos.” Pansy sniffed, as if she thought he were being particularly stupid to not know as such.

Harry sighed heavily. “Every diagnosis and potion she gives out is noted down in our school medical records, records that Dumbledore, as the Headmaster, can pull and read at any time he pleases.” He explained. “I’d have to tell her what potions I’m taking to make sure that any others she gives me don’t interfere with them and it could be pieced together what I’m taking those potions for, thus Dumbledore would know.”

“So go to Professor Snape.” Blaise told him. “He is still a Potion’s Master and he does have limited experience in Healing, if you do only have a cold or something he could probably help you.”

Harry groaned. “I’d rather go back to my rooms and die than talk to him.”

“Then you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face.” Draco told him. “I won’t allow it. You will come with me to his office after lunch and I will force you to see him.”

“It’s probably nothing.” Harry insisted.

“But it might be something.” Draco shot back stubbornly. “Now eat your soup, you need your strength.”

Harry sighed and went back to his small bowl of soup, eating slowly, just in case he really was sick and his stomach decided to reject anything.

“Are you sure that that’s all you want?” Draco asked worriedly when Harry finished eating and Draco realised that all Harry wanted to eat was a small, half full bowl of soup.

“I’m sure.” Harry sighed before he knocked back the calcium potion and then glugged a full glass of juice. He screwed up his face and shook his head on reflex, but managed to get it all down before he could gasp for air.

Draco touched his back and his thumb rubbed gently and Harry ducked his head, liking the way it felt. It helped to ease the tight muscles in his back and neck as he relaxed and just sat there, head hanging down, as his body relaxed bit by bit.

“Come on, we need to get you to see Professor Snape.” Draco insisted as he stood up and helped Harry to stand. Blaise came to stand on his other side and they walked as normally as they could out of the Great Hall, if a bit slower than usual.

Harry was helped down the stone stairs into the dungeon and then down the dimly lit corridors to Snape’s office. He hadn’t been present at lunch in the Great Hall, so they were hoping that he was in his office.
He wasn’t apparently, as no matter how hard Draco knocked, no one answered.

“Great, can I just go and collapse in my rooms now, before I do so in the middle of the corridor?” Harry snapped sarcastically.

“I suppose that would be for the best, for now.” Draco relented.

They’d barely made it halfway back down the corridor when they bumped into the very man that Harry didn’t want to see.

“And what might you be doing down here?” Snape asked silkily.

“Sir, Harry’s not well.”

“Clearly.” Snape said. “Perhaps you should have dragged him to the matron instead.”

“Father doesn’t want the nature of his illness discovered. If he goes to Madam Pomfrey, he’ll have to tell her what potions he’s taking.”

Snape sighed heavily, as if it was so burdensome to just look after the students around him. To him it probably was.

“To my office.” He ordered and swept around them to walk on ahead.

The three of them made it back to the office to find the door open and Snape preparing things he might need with deft hands.
Blaise shut the door behind them while Draco settled Harry on a dragonhide settee.

“What seems to be the problem, Potter?”

“If I knew then I wouldn’t be asking.” He said as he raised his arm and rubbed it across his forehead in an almost habitual move…his arm came away wet.

“It looks like he has a cold, Sir, but he can’t go to Madam Pomfrey because of the other potions he’s taking. She’ll have to record them down and then the Headmaster will be able to work out what illness he has.”

“This is a problem?” Snape demanded.

“The potions make me tired, drowsy and weak.” Harry admitted. “Father thinks that if learnt, then others could take advantage of me in such a state.”

Snape nodded and sighed. “What are you taking and for what?” He asked as he flicked his wand over him in sharp gestures.

“Nutrient potions for malnutrition and bone strengthening and calcium potions to try and rectify hypocalcaemia.”

Snape actually managed to look surprised for a moment, Harry almost smiled at that, but he kept firm control of himself.

“You have hypocalcaemia and malnutrition at sixteen years old?” Snape asked.

Harry nodded.

“How severely?” Snape asked him.

“The Healers told me that I probably would have died before I was twenty if I had gone on undiagnosed and untreated.” He said, swiping his head again as his forehead prickled with sweat. “The nutrient potions are taken at night, but cause this awful sweating, but it usually goes by the morning and it hasn’t today. The bone strengthening potion causes awful headaches, that are usually gone by now and today it hasn’t gone and the calcium potion makes me tired and woolly headed.”

Snape nodded, he already knew all of that, of course he did. “How did you gain such a condition at so young an age, Potter?”

Harry snorted. “Adopted by the Malfoys for unspecified abuse.” He said. “The Muggles I lived with never treated me the best.”

Draco made a harsh, angry noise then. “Never treated you the best? Those beasts could have killed you! Why do you have to play down anything and everything that happens to you?”

“I don’t know how else to deal with it.” He admitted, his woolly head making him loose lipped. “How else am I supposed to deal with the fact that my only remaining blood relatives treated me so poorly that I could have died from their care?”

Draco blew out a breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to suggest that it’s not difficult for you.”

“You are alluding to very serious, severe abuse, Potter.”

“Not alluding to anything.” He grunted. “They locked me in a cupboard and starved me for over a decade of my life. Coming to a boarding school probably saved my life, or at least added a few years onto the end if I was going to die before I was twenty anyway.”

“You’re not going to anymore.” Draco told him. “That’s what the potions are for.”

Harry nodded his understanding, but swiped his hand yet again across his dripping forehead.

“I suspect that you’ve picked up a cold, Potter.” Snape told him. “An illness that causes fevers, headaches, aches and pains and tiredness. It seems as if the side effects of your potions are not going away, when truly it is just the cold making itself known. It is safe for you to take a Pepper-Up potion with the potions that you are already on. Hopefully this will knock the cold on the head and you’ll start to feel better in a few days.”

Harry took the beaker of potion and sighed. After this he was going to become a pro at swallowing foul potions. He knocked it back and swallowed hard, getting all of the potion down and ignoring the steam that came from his ears for several moments afterwards.

“I suggest, Draco, that you see your brother to his bed and leave him there.” Snape said and as easily as that they were dismissed and Blaise and Draco helped him to his feet and then made the gruelling walk back to his rooms. Or at least it was gruelling for Harry.

“Do you want some tea?” Draco asked, already moving to his little kitchenette and filling up his teapot.

Harry nodded. “Put lemon and honey in it for me, please?” He begged. “The last thing I need is a sore throat too.”

Blaise threw a blanket over his lap and Harry gave him a glare.

“What? You need to be kept warm and cosy.”

“I’m already sweating out my body weight.” He complained.

“That’s normal for sick people.” Blaise pointed out. “You need to be kept warm.”

Draco handed him a mug that smelt heavily of lemon and Harry chuckled as he fished out the lemon half bobbing in his cup.

“You’ve never had to make tea in your life, have you?” Harry grinned.

“Shut up, I’m trying to do something nice for you.” Draco replied, handing Blaise a mug.

Blaise took a sip and grimaced.

“That or he’s trying to poison us all.”

Harry laughed tiredly. Truthfully he could barely taste anything over the lingering taste of the Pepper-Up potion, but he could feel the honey as he swallowed globs of it and the amount of lemon juice caused his tongue to prickle, but he smiled and thanked Draco anyway.

“You need to tell Father.” Draco said. “Rabastan too.”

Harry shook his head then, more so at telling Rabastan than Lucius. “He has more than enough to deal with himself, without me bitching about a mere cold.”

“That’s not the point.” Blaise told him gently. “It’s not about who has it worse or who’s suffering the most. It’s about communication and support. He can still look after himself and give a bit of sympathy to you and you can still support his recovery while taking a bit of comfort for yourself. Just because he’s in a bad way does not mean that you can’t tell him that you have a bit of a cold and feel dreadful. Just the same as when you’re in heavy labour and he tells you that he has a bit of a headache from your screeching and that you’ve possibly broken all the fingers in his hand and to let the fuck go of it.”

Harry laughed at that then. “I’d kill him if he so much as mentioned having a headache when I was in labour with his child. I’ve seen women in labour on the programmes my Aunt used to watch and if I feel half the amount of pain that was etched onto their faces then the merest mention of anyone having so much as a hangnail will set me off.”

“Draco, I wish to be notified when the baby is actually born and not when your brother goes into labour, I will not be coming around to support either of you.” Blaise said.

Harry laughed again and he grinned. “I suppose it won’t be so bad.” He said. “The books I’ve read on male pregnancy have all been rather vague, so I’m not sure if I should be worried, or if I’m overinflating everything with my imagination.”

“You could always speak to Mother about it.”

“The last I knew she’d never had a male pregnancy.” Harry teased.

Draco snorted. “You knew exactly what I meant and it wasn’t that!”

“I’ll see now when we go home for Easter.” Harry nodded.

“Write to Father. Write to Rabastan.” Draco all but ordered.

Harry rolled his eyes and he picked up the letters that he was currently writing from under his coffee table. One was rather short and written in plain black ink. The other was almost a foot and a half in length and was a bright, rainbow of all different colours and shades.

“You have far too much fun with colour coding your letters.” Blaise observed.

Harry chuckled. “It really helps Rabastan. He feels so much better about himself that he can finish reading all these long letters. It really boosts his confidence.”

Harry dipped his quill into the black ink and he finished the letter to Lucius, mentioning offhandedly that he’d come down with a cold and that he’d seen Snape for a Pepper-Up potion after making sure that it wouldn’t interfere with any of the potions that he was already taking.
He left the letter to dry before moving on to Rabastan’s more colourful, more interesting letter, which he’d already finished and signed. He added a PS at the bottom, more like a footnote than anything, telling him about his cold, that he was going to be fine in a few days and not to worry. He left that to dry as well before fishing out two envelopes and readying his stamp seal…which was pretty awesome to play with. The goblins had fashioned it for him, after he became Lord Potter-Black, and it was quite literally a merging of house crests with both family mottos on it, the Potter’s at the top, as his birth family, the Black’s on the bottom, as his Godfather’s, and his legitimised, family. To make it official he had to use a darkened red wax and he happily blobbed some onto the first letter and stamped it, holding the seal down for a moment and then peeling it back off before doing the same to the second letter. Lucius had shown him how to do it properly when the official stamp had arrived and even he had remarked on how easily Harry had picked up on how the stamp worked…he didn’t have the heart to tell the man that it was very close to a toy to him and he enjoyed playing with it.

“Please tell me that you don’t leave that lying around for just anyone to pick up.” Draco sighed heavily.

“No, it’s kept in this case.” Harry pointed to the case that he’d taken the stamp and the official wax sticks from. “Only I can even open the top of it. Here.”

Harry replaced the stamp and the unused wax and closed it, before handing it over to Draco and Blaise, watching as they each tried to open the case, with their hands and then with their wands.

“It reads my magical signature and opens only for me. It’ll do the same to the proxy that I name too.”

“Who is your proxy?” Draco asked.

“I haven’t picked one yet. As my Husband-to-be, it really should be Rabastan, but given his fugitive status, that’s a little difficult to actually manage. So I’m actually trying to think of someone without offending the Lestranges and think of someone who I’d actually trust to listen to my wishes instead of just voting on their own desires, even against my own opinion.”

“Father would listen to your wishes.” Draco said immediately.

Harry nodded. “He’s on the maybe list. I just need to think about it a little more.”

“Do you want me to send off your letters for you?”

“Would you mind?” Harry asked, swiping his sweaty forehead again.

“No. I’d feel better if you stayed here and didn’t wander all the way up to the west tower.” Draco insisted. “Get back into your pyjamas and go back to sleep.”

Harry sighed and he nodded, handing over the two letters and standing up. Blaise had already collected up the mugs and set them in the sink. Harry saw the two of them out and then went straight to his bedroom so that he could strip off and climb into bed.
He thought that it would take him a while to drop off as it was the middle of the day, but it took barely several minutes before he was flat out and sleeping like the dead, resting his battered body and hopefully letting it recover from everything that was wrong with him.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X

Monday morning came far too soon for him and he batted away his blankets to try and wake himself up and he had to force himself from the bed.
He went straight to his bathroom and he jumped into the shower, to get rid of the congealed, gel-like sweat from his body. He barely remembered waking up at eight in the night to get a drink, a sandwich and to take that hellish nutrient potion, but that he remembered it vaguely made him feel better about not missing any of his potions.
He washed quickly before he got out and dried himself off. He brushed his teeth, brushed his hair before he pulled on his uniform and he had to do his tie twice to get it done up properly. He put his little teapot on his hotplate before he went into his study room and packed up what he needed, thankful that he was so organised now under the influence of Lucius Malfoy and he had set all of his books out in subject piles and all he had to do was look what subjects he had today and put the correct pile of books and parchment into his book bag. He made sure that he had parchment and a selection of inks and quills before he took his bag back out into his living room cum kitchenette in time to pull his whistling kettle from the hotplate and make himself some tea.
He took twenty minutes to himself, swallowing down his bone strengthening potion and a headache reliever, downing them both one after the other with his tea, before he slipped on his shoes, picked up his bag and made his way down to breakfast. He again chose to sit with Draco.

“You look better today.” Astoria told him.

Harry smiled weakly as his head started to split open with the side effect of the potion that he’d taken. The bone strengthening potion was definitely the worst. He could handle the sweating and the drowsy, thick headedness, but these skull splitting, brain wrenching headaches were awful and left him barely able to focus on anything.
Draco started setting him up with a glass of goat milk and some dry toast, fussing around him and Harry smiled. Draco was a good big brother, he’d be a good Father too.
Harry peeled the toast apart, tearing off the crusts and nibbling at the insides, sipping on the goat milk delicately. He abandoned the toast and picked at some fruit instead, eating most of a banana and a small bunch of grapes. Draco pushed a red grapefruit at him, already cut into wedges for him and Harry sighed, picking up each wedge and tearing out the red flesh inside.
He wiped his hands and chin on a napkin and drained the rest of his milk and then sat resting.

“Do you feel better?”

“The Pepper-Up really knocked the edge off.” He said with a weak smile. “It’s the headache that’s the worst now.”

“So take a headache reliever.” Daphne scoffed. “What are you, a Muggle?”

“I’ve already taken one and it always has little effect.” Harry growled out from between clenched teeth.

“Come on, let us get you to your first lesson.” Draco said gently.

Harry allowed himself to be escorted to his lessons and he tried to ignore the pain in his head. The day passed like a blur to him, a horrible, sweaty, achy blur. Lunch was more warming soup and a slice of brown bread, along with his calcium potion. All he wanted after that was to crawl into bed and sleep, but he had to go to his afternoon lessons instead.
He struggled through his three lessons after lunch, the half an hour break before the last lesson of the day doing absolutely nothing to make him feel any better, he was still feeling thick headed, stupid and like he’d never remember what his lessons had even been about until finally the bell rang to signal the end of the last lesson of the day and the start of dinner and he was about ready to drop.
He trudged to the Great Hall on slow, heavy feet, found Draco at the table and dropped down beside him heavily. He chose a beef stew and he nibbled at it, his appetite not really up to much. Draco stared at him worriedly and Harry sighed, knowing that he was going to send his own letter to the older Malfoys, if he hadn’t done so already. Harry would expect a visit from Lucius in the near future if Draco kept up his penchant for over exaggeration.
He was escorted back to his rooms, but Draco left him at the door, leaving him to rest in peace, but Harry pushed off his exhaustion to grab a cup of tea and pull some homework towards him. If he didn’t keep on top of it now, then he was never going to have a moment to himself from now until the summer.
He did some of his more urgent pieces of homework and some of his easier pieces before giving in to his exhaustion.
He stood and just left everything on his coffee table as it was, only moving to stopper his ink. He grabbed a glass of juice and his nutrient potion from the cupboard and he drained the latter and gulped the former before he stripped out of his robes and uniform. He brushed his teeth, but even that was half-hearted and sluggish, before he got into loose pyjamas and he crawled into bed. It was barely nine in the night, but he didn’t care. He was exhausted and he wanted, needed, some decent sleep. A good ten or eleven hours would do him, he just hoped that his night sweats didn’t wake him up in the middle of the night again, he really needed to just sleep and not wake up. He was absolutely exhausted, completely drained and he just didn’t know how to make himself feel any better. He needed to take his potions, but they were making him feel so sick…much sicker than he’d ever felt before when he hadn’t been taking them, he needed a break, that’s all. A nice, long break away from the sweating, the headaches and the drowsiness, the thick-headed woolliness, the weakness, the aches and pains throughout his whole body. He just wanted to be normal again, like he’d been back before he’d ever been diagnosed with hypocalcaemia.

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A/N: Updating today to support my readers in America by offering a small distraction and a small dip into fantasy and away from the harsh, unfair real world, even for a small while.
This is all for now, lovelies. I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter and that it has at least distracted you all for a little while, the next chapter will be up next week some when now, as it is already written, I just need to sort out the final edit and read through, but yes, I hope you've all enjoyed it, until next time, lovelies,
StarLight Massacre. X
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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir