Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Changing of the Guard	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 58627 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 15
- 16
- 17
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Sixteen�In the Dragon�s Head

�� Draco
stepped into the pub and glanced around twice before nodding his head slowly.
He supposed the Dragon�s Head could be called a normal place, without any large
offense against good taste saved the stuffed dragon�s head hanging from the
ceiling. Hungarian Horntail? Or Welsh Green? The head had decayed
somewhat before the wizard who preserved it applied any magic, and shreds of
discolored skin clung to the bony eyesockets and long, pointed fangs. Draco did
not think this aided patrons in discovering the dragon�s species.

�� Welcome,
welcome, sir. May I escort you to a table?�

�� Draco
turned to the bartender hastening towards him, a small, plump witch whom he was
gratified to discover recognized good breeding when she saw it. �Perhaps you
can,� he said, �if the man I am here to meet has not already arrived. His name
is Brian Montgomery��

��

�� Oh, yes,
sir,� said the witch, and Draco was intrigued to see a mixture of horror and
delight in her eyes. �Him what�s been in all the papers!� She looked at Draco,
seeming to recognize him as the other person in the papers then, but didn�t do
anything other than to wave her hand at a table on the far side of the room.
Brian rose to his feet when he saw Draco, smiling extravagantly.

�� Draco never
took his eyes from the other man�s face as he made his way towards him, even
when he had to duck the corner of the dragon�s jaw. He wondered idly what the
proper description of his relationship with Harry Potter was now. Were they
rivals? Lovers? Partners in the confrontation of extreme social prejudice
against anyone who dared to kiss another person of the same sex in public?

�� Draco!�
Potter said, somehow managing to slur his name, which Draco had never thought
possible, and then flung his arms around Draco and planted an enormous,
smacking kiss on his cheek.

�� At the
moment, the proper description would be �drunk,� Draco thought
incredulously. He had decided that Potter was too good an actor to want to
lose control around him. Wasn�t he worried they would end up in bed together
again if he consumed alcohol in Draco�s presence?

�� Brian?� he
asked, barely managing to say the proper name in his surprise. �Are you all
right?�

�� Just�just
the news and all.� Potter took a deep breath, then tilted the bottle of
Firewhiskey he had back and gulped noisily from it. �Your father,� he
explained, when Draco went on staring at him. �Counterstrike.� He shivered, and
his fingers tightened on the bottle. �This is a bigger task than I ever
imagined it would be. I mean, we�re fighting for you to be free of your
parents, that�s one thing, but now we�re crusaders?�

*

�� Harry
watched the expressions on Draco�s face as he took yet another drink of the
Firewhiskey�or seemed to take one. In reality, a very useful little spell cast
on the mucous membranes of his throat caused the drink to vanish as it touched
them. Harry was proud of that spell, one he�d managed to rework and perfect
from a book Hermione had given him for his birthday two summers ago. It had
taken him a while to make sure all his saliva wouldn�t dry up along with the
liquids he put into his mouth, but eventually he�d �taught� the spell to
distinguish between those substances native to the human body and foreign ones.

�� It was a
unique variation on a spell that had been uncommon in the first place, and that
meant Draco was unlikely to sense it.

�� Harry had
felt his senses stream into high alert the moment Draco stepped into the pub.
Something was wrong. He paid too little attention to the dragon�s head,
which had made Harry gawp the first time he entered the place. His gaze was too
focused and alert on Brian�s face, too searching. He leaned back with his
fingers steepled in front of him when they sat at the table, which was a
gesture Harry could see Lucius making, but not Draco, particularly not when
they were involved in fighting something as devious as Counterstrike. Draco
always showed more of excitement, of life; his gestures in serious situations,
like the meeting with the Manager of Metamorphosis, included leaning forwards
and make small sideways motions of his hands. This was more the way he
had behaved immediately after Harry showed off his magic in the Malfoys� dining
room: restrained because he was dealing with an onslaught of his own thoughts
and emotions at the same time he was attempting to deal with the person in
front of him.

�� Just as he
hadn�t understood exactly what was wrong that time until he realized how Draco
must view his magic, Harry didn�t know the exact nature of the burden Draco was
laboring under now. It could not be that Narcissa had told him the truth; Draco
would have stormed in then, or simply cast a painful and humiliating curse
whilst Harry wasn�t looking. Any lesser disaster, Harry was confident he could
deal with, even if he didn�t understand the cause.

�� Brian,�
Draco said soothingly, �it�s not that bad.�

�� Even the
way he says my name is wrong, Harry thought, fighting the temptation to
cock his head to the side the way he usually did when playing thoughtful. Right
now, he was playing drunk. I wonder if he has second thoughts about the
blowjob, too? Too intimate for him, too open. A man like Draco Malfoy rarely
lets people close.

�� Harry felt
relief score his insides. Draco�s own wariness would make Harry�s decision to
retreat from him easier. He was more likely to decide Brian�s uncouth, rude
behavior now was reason to let him go.

�� It was
relief, and only relief, that made his throat ache as if he had
swallowed acid, Harry told himself, and tipped the Firewhiskey bottle up again.
Those other emotions didn�t exist, didn�t belong to the persona he was acting
out right now.

*

�� Potter did
have better acting abilities than he had realized, Draco thought, and folded
his fingers like his father so he wouldn�t tap them on the table in his
agitation and give himself away. If he hadn�t possessed the knowledge he did,
he might even have believed that Potter really was drunk. After all, it
would fit Brian�s personality to indulge in extraordinary gestures of despair,
and this was certainly one of those�drinking in public where anyone could see
him and someone disgusted with his behavior might be tempted to take the
opportunity to settle the score. Potter had chosen a convincing, purposeful act
that really left him in no danger whatsoever if he needed to move fast.

�� But what
is his purpose?

�� To drive
me away, of course. A Malfoy can�t have a partner who�s a drunkard, and he must
know that. I was right. The connection between our minds meant I came too close
to finding out who he really was, and he�s scared. Trying to make me think my
choice of actors wasn�t such a great choice after all, trying to disassociate
himself from me.

�� He really
must find out how Potter managed to swallow all that alcohol and yet keep from
getting drunk, Draco mused as he reached out a hand now and laid it on Potter�s
wrist. A Sobriety Charm cast beforehand wouldn�t do it; Draco knew that from
painful experiments during his own teenage years.

�� Brian,� he
said softly, and waited until the other man�s blue, blue eyes met his. Potter
had green eyes, but they were the same intensity of color as these and had the
same direct, steady gaze. The more Draco studied Potter in his mask, the more
surprised he was that he hadn�t recognized the other man at once. �I don�t
think this is wise, do you? We can�t let my father see that his action caught
us by surprise.�

�� Potter
snorted, rolled his eyes, and dragged his hand away to tip the bottle into his
mouth again. Draco narrowed his eyes as he watched, but no, the Firewhiskey
really did flow into his throat, not vanish just before it did. Extraordinary.
�No one will know we�re drinking over that,� Potter muttered.

�� Which we
are you referring to?� Draco asked, lifting his eyebrows. �Do you perhaps have
a small man in your pocket?�

�� Potter
slammed the bottle down with a clink that made the witch who owned the pub
glance over at them, then leaned forwards. �I got something in my
pocket,� he said, with an exaggerated wink. �But it�s not small!� He giggled
and lunged over the table to plant a kiss scented like rotten meat on Draco�s
lips.

�� Draco
clenched a fist and waited until Potter drew away from him. The tactic to
irritate him was working, in one sense; Potter�s rudeness pricked along his
dignity like a spur on a horse. But that was the effect Potter wanted to
achieve, and, as such, Draco would not allow him to achieve it. He had to make
a habit of evaluating Potter�s movements now and countering them on principle,
unless they seemed more likely to serve Draco�s purposes than hinder them.

�� He makes
me change my plans, my reactions, my feelings, every instant, Draco
thought, and for a moment wondered if he could stand a lifetime of this.

�� Perhaps
simply start countering these tactics, and he will realize that he needs to do
something else�something that might be more serious, but less annoying.
This time, when Draco reached out and snared Potter�s wrist, he didn�t allow
himself to be shaken off.

�� My father
is conceited enough to think we�re drinking over him, even if we aren�t,� he
murmured, and then waved his wand and cast a Sobriety Charm on Potter. The
other man couldn�t quite hide a wince as the spell gripped his mind and
forcibly cleared it. Draco clamped his teeth down on his lips so they could not
twitch into a smile. A Sobriety Charm on the sober had less effect than on a
truly drunk person, but it was still uncomfortable. �Should we go elsewhere to
discuss Counterstrike, or do you consider yourself capable of having a serious
discussion in the presence of alcohol?�

�� For a
moment, Potter sat with his eyes closed, breathing lightly. Then he reached
out, sighed, and covered Draco�s hand with his. �Thank you for that,� he said
softly. �I�panicked, I suppose. I�ve never been good in a crisis��

�� Liar, Draco
thought fondly. Such a liar.

�� And
resorted to a solution that used to be a lot more frequent with me than it is
now.� Potter smiled, but his eyes were shadowed. Draco thought the shadow was
probably pure Brian. Potter, with his need for control over what other people
thought of him, wouldn�t allow himself to drink often. �I�m ready to discuss
this rationally, I promise.� He squeezed Draco�s wrist in turn and leaned
forwards until Draco had to struggle to keep his eyes from crossing. �So. Do
you have ideas of your own about what our strategy against Counterstrike should
be, or do you want to hear some of mine?�

�� Quick on
his feet. Ready and able to switch strategies when he realizes that the one
he�s using right now isn�t working.

�� Draco
shuddered a little and knew his voice was hoarse with lust�though lust composed
of far more than simple physical longing for sex�when he replied, �Let�s hear
your ideas first.�

*

�� Harry
smiled. That required some doing, when what he really wanted was to grimace,
but he did it. He�d done harder things, after all, including pretending that
everything in his life was normal and fine when Ron and Hermione made pointed
inquiries, and spinning a delicate fabric of lies concerning the people who
worked for the Charity and his relationships with them.

�� He thought
he should have been able to force Draco to back off with his acting. Or,
correction, he should have been able to do that if Draco meant nothing to him.
But even he had sensed a certain desperation in his gestures, a falsity to the
acting that undermined him. Draco did mean something to him�too much,
given how he would despise Harry if he knew the truth about any of this.
So Harry gave up the pretense of panic for now, and began another long-term
plan instead. If he could not make Draco think Brian too uncouth and low-class
to associate with, he could and would trick Draco into grand plans that
needed his support and then desert him in the middle of the action.

�� Oh, he
would take steps to ensure that Draco�s life wasn�t endangered, of course. But
if he got Draco involved in fighting Counterstrike with an effort that needed
two to continue and then buggered off, Draco should despise Brian with all his
heart and soul as a result. And it would cut off a pattern of acting that
obviously wasn�t working.

�� Harry was
also confident of his ability to weave a plan that would draw Draco in within
the week�s deadline that Narcissa had given him. And sudden, strong action now
was likely to draw Lucius�s attention and make him more likely to disown his
son. Harry could see no drawback to acting as if he meant everything he was
saying for a time.

�� There�s
one advantage to not actually being part of the pure-blood social circles,
though it does rather limit the opportunities to practice one�s
dancing,� he said, with one of Brian�s flashing smiles at Draco. Though not one
of Harry Potter�s usual expressions, it did not hurt to smile like that. What
hurt was seeing Draco respond instinctively, and knowing that he wouldn�t
respond to the real Harry Potter the same way.

�� The real
Harry Potter is nothing but a cloak of shadows over a figure of ashes, and you
know it.

�� What�s
that?� Draco whispered, leaning near enough that his breath stirred the hair
just above Harry�s ear. Harry shivered and resisted the urge to toss his head
back. Draco found all his sensitive spots without even trying, which wasn�t
half-fair.

�� I�ll
just have to do the same thing, Harry thought, and moved his thumb so that
it brushed across the center of Draco�s left palm. Draco�s breathing deepened.
Harry murdered the wish that he could hear that sound forever, instead of just
for another week, and soldiered on.

�� You notice
what the gathering undercurrents are before the pure-bloods notice it themselves,�
Harry explained. �There are some things that even people as clever as you are
can�t notice, Draco, probably because you belong to scattered social groups and
rarely step outside them.� A compliment can�t hurt. And it might relieve
some of the futile large wishes if I make the small ones come true. �People
across all sorts of circles and factions and families in Great Britain are
getting tired of the constant social pressures against their freedom of
expression.�

�� Draco
blinked for a moment, but said, without a change in tone, �Self-expression is a
fad imported from Muggles, really. Traditional pure-blood culture deals with restraint,
the control of the self.�

��

�� Traditional
pure-blood culture, yes,� Harry said. He was speaking utter truth now, as far
as he knew, except about the vantage from which he had observed the culture.
He�d had plenty of chances to interact with it in the past few years, far more
than Draco could have dreamed of, and probably more than Draco himself had had.
Draco was as limited by his insider perspective as the member of any other
small group in the larger society. �And I�m sure that worked fine for your
parents, and it still works fine for them. Probably it would have kept
working for the younger generation, too, if not for the war.�

�� The war
didn�t sever the continuity of our culture,� Draco snapped back instantly. His
brow was furrowing, and Harry knew he didn�t like the direction the
conversation was heading, for multiple reasons. �We�re still determined to hold
on to things like the dances, the marriage customs, the funeral customs, the��

�� And that�s
praiseworthy,� Harry interrupted impatiently. Yes, his vision is just too
entwined with the barriers, perceiving the barriers as part of reality. �But
dances and marriages and funerals are something different from the perspective
that being gay is disgusting, Draco. Or do you really disagree with me?� He
stared hard at Draco, waiting. What Draco said next would determine the
argumentative tactics that Harry had to use on him.

*

�� You
sound almost as though you believe it, Potter, Draco thought, and bit his
lips to keep from smiling. Or perhaps he would have blurted out something
unfortunate? In truth, Potter�s words had stunned him and set him back on his
heels. He was no longer as sure as he had been that this newest attack was just
another strategy to push him off-balance.

�� Potter
leaned too near, spoke too persuasively. His eyes blazed as if he had spent
time thinking about this, and constructing arguments�another skill, like
disguise, that Draco never would have associated with the Boy-Who-Lived. Didn�t
he just cast Disarming Spells at people he disagreed with, and have those
spells kill them by incredibly lucky coincidence?

�� You
cannot make assumptions about him, Draco thought. And yet, that is what
you keep doing.

�� Imagine
that I do agree with you,� Draco said. �Imagine that I think
certain�shopworn�attitudes unfortunate, and less important than the customs
that we have preserved for centuries. What of it? That attitude is a rooted
part of pure-blood culture now, and you cannot imagine people would be
much more eager to give it up than to give up the way we get married. With the
population lower than it was before the war, there are some new converts to
that attitude, in fact.� Draco felt his mouth fill with a sour taste. People
like Marigold Moonstone, who really believed not only that men and women needed
to sleep together to have children, but that men and women could find
satisfaction only in each other. Whoever had thought that one up was clever,
Draco admitted grudgingly. Some adolescents who would fight against the notion
that they should have children merely to boost numbers would swallow pretty
words whole.

�� You
haven�t listened to me, Draco,� Potter said, with an iron patience in his voice
that Draco was inclined to call the first indication of Potter�s true
personality he�d received. Brian would have laughed his sarcasm off, or reached
out and touched Draco�s cheek to show he appreciated his perspective. Potter
simply spoke on, with a determination to share his thoughts that Draco found
irritating and charming both at once. �There is a division in pure-blood
society now. The people who believe that homosexuality is wrong and that
breeding is all-important are mostly older. People like your father,
your mother.�

�� Draco
opened his mouth for a moment, thinking of Marigold, and then closed it
again�because all the other names that filled his head were, indeed, people of
his parents� age. He thought of Pansy, with her Muggle lover, and Blaise, with
his refusal to care what other people thought of him. Though neither of them
was doing exactly what Draco was, those rebellions also showed them
reluctant to conform to society�s codes. Pansy hid her lover, but if she had
been the perfect daughter of tradition that her mother and father wanted her to
be, she never would have thought of finding a Muggle attractive in the first
place.

�� And there
were others. Draco had found some of his lovers among half-bloods and Muggleborns,
but not all of them. Constrained by the ancient idea that the only woman you
were supposed to sleep with was the one you were married to, other pure-blood
sons sometimes turned to each other for physical release, or out of curiosity,
or simply because men in the exact same predicament were unlikely to betray
them. And Draco had known some pure-blood girls who made a regular habit of
sleeping with their own sex, too. Since some of the old guard actually thought
two women couldn�t have sex together because of the lack of a cock, they were
even more likely to assume �close friendship� between their daughters than they
were between their sons.

�� Say that I
thought you were right,� Draco said. He knew the tone of his voice had changed,
but he couldn�t help it. Brian�Potter, damn it�

�� Does he
have the slightest clue how dangerous he is? He could change the world by
himself if he had the ambition.

�� And maybe
he did now. If there was one thing Gryffindors tended to care about, it was
social injustice. Draco licked his lips, and it was his turn to lean closer,
seeking out the lights and shadows in those brilliant eyes, noticing all the
things that Potter didn�t want him to notice.

�� Is there
any way of gathering all the disaffected into a single movement?� Draco asked.
�It hasn�t happened so far, despite fairly severe oppression. We do things like
sleep with our friends under our parents� noses for thrills instead.� He smiled
and let his fingers play over Brian�s knuckles. �Or go to Metamorphosis.�

�� Metamorphosis
is closed for right now, so that temptation is shut from them.� Potter was
still speaking with the firm tone that made Draco�s cock stir. He could be
so much, just by himself. I know at least some of Brian�s qualities are innate
to him. Why does he hide behind a mask instead of using them? The publicity
can�t be that bad, especially with his lies absorbing part of the brunt.
�And I think what�s held them back so far is the lack of a leader�and a
sparking incident. If you look at Muggle history, revolutions are quite often
only potential until someone makes a stand, or refuses to be dragged
from his home, or fights back against the police during a bar raid.� Potter
smiled for a moment, probably at a private recollection of some Muggle history
book he�d read. Draco wanted to know what it was.

�� He wanted
quite a bit, he thought. Down, boy.

�� So you
suggest a sparking incident,� Draco murmured. �But from what I�ve studied
of Muggle history, you can�t really plan revolutions.�

�� I don�t
think we need to, in this case,� Potter said, half-closing his eyes. �Like I�ve
said, the rebellion is there. Suppressed. And your generation is not
significantly weaker in magical strength than your parents� generation, nor are
they wanting in understanding of the world. We need to show people that the
stand can be made, that�s all. Preferably in a place where younger
wizards outnumber older ones.�

�� Draco
laughed in spite of his resolve not to, because the perfect location had
immediately suggested itself to him. It seemed almost as if the world were
organizing itself in obedience to his and Potter�s wishes.

�� That is
not so, he reminded himself, because that dangerously twisted thinking
might easily take root in his brain. It is only that Potter is teaching you
to see in new ways, and so you look with open eyes at things that were present
all along.

�� You know a
place?� Potter�s eyes were narrowed, his smile devilish.

�� Draco
nodded.

*

�� Draco
hummed under his breath as he entered his bedroom. He and �Brian� had spent the
rest of the afternoon planning, and chosen a place, a time, and a specific
action that would spark the rising they wanted to happen.

�� He was
certain, now, that Potter�s intelligence and strategizing ability and
understanding of pure-blood culture were native to him. But was his sense of
humor part of his disguise? What about the way he sometimes sneaked looks at
Draco, nearly in spite of himself, as if his brain needed those glimpses to
work? Or the way he had reached out and caressed the back of Draco�s hand,
absently, during the times when Draco expressed some doubts or worries about
the plan?

�� The more
Draco thought about it, the more he became convinced that Potter had some deep
reason to hide himself�and that the reason would not be easily discovered.

�� He would,
he thought, send a letter to the Manager of Metamorphosis. That was even more
of a long shot than writing Potter�s friends; Metamorphosis closed whilst
handling a case, and the Manager typically replied to no owl post until the
case was done with. And he might not know the truth about Potter�s identity
even if Draco could reach him, or be willing to answer questions.

�� It didn�t
really matter, Draco thought. It was still worth trying, because anything was
worth trying to win the contest against his father and to have Potter.

�� I�m
fully engaged on all levels. There�s no drawing back now.

*

�� s2kitty:
Sorry; my computer tends to capitalize names that are the first on a line.

�� avihenda,
snappy pants, ladynightvamp, Moyima, bleedingheart, arealdeal, Christabell,
Tepee712, thrnbrooke, Violet Eyes, angelmuziq: Thanks for reviewing!

�� Hi-chan:
Well, Draco is on to Harry, that�s true, but Harry is currently conning him
into believing the plan he proposes in this chapter.

�� Yume111:
No, Draco has not forgiven Harry, but on the other hand, rage won�t do much for
him now, since he can�t take it out on Harry without worse things happening.

�� And he does
think that he has the upper hand over Harry now�but he hasn�t gotten used to
the idea that he won�t have it permanently yet.

�� Harry just
thinks he wouldn�t really be losing anything, because all the �good� things
about him belong to various masks.

�� Mangacat:
It would take greater stress than usual to make Harry reach for that Pensieve.
He�s borne with his life so far.

�� SoftObsidian74:
Yes, Harry is essentially contemplating suicide, but the way he sees it, he wouldn�t
be killing someone who matters to anyone. All the facets that matter are
already out in the world acting as other people.

�� Lucius
would shit himself.

�� Lunatic
with a hero complex: Thanks! In this case, though, Harry is likely to button
down on that secret even after he realizes what Draco knows about him. Lying is
really the only defense tactic he trusts at this point.

�� G: �Brian�/Harry
is likely to stay confident until after the point where he betrays Draco. What
Draco does in counter to that might surprise him.

�� Qwerty:
Draco is thinking of the smaller lies when he thinks of Harry pretending to
enjoy gay sex�for example, the �fact� that he�s not sexually attracted to women
at all. Draco has to wonder how much of the response outside that one
blowjob was a lie. Maybe Harry didn�t really enjoy fucking Draco, for example.

�� Graballz:
Draco can turn everything highly complicated�but Harry�s good at
complicated.

��
- 15
- 16
- 17
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

Changing of the Guard

Chapter Sixteen�In the Dragon�s Head