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Soldier's Welcome	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 25567 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

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

Chapter
Sixteen�Staying the Course

�� Good luck,
Harry.�

�� Harry
squeezed Hermione�s shoulder when she looked as if she wanted to stay at his
side and even follow him into their rooms. �Thanks,� he said. �But I don�t think
I�ll need it. Ron sounded ready to listen to reason, didn�t he?�

�� Hermione
gave him a troubled glance. �He did, but��

�� I know,�
Harry said. �It�s sometimes hard to get him to the point where he can absorb
reason even if he listens.� He paused, but Hermione didn�t smile; she just
continued watching him with an anxiety that Harry privately thought was
unfounded. �I�m going to do my best,� he said at last, because that was all he
could promise in the face of her appeal. �And I won�t abandon him because he�s
a bit stubborn.�

�� Hermione
smiled for the first time since they�d left class. �I know that,� she said.
�Well. I have an appointment with Portillo Lopez to ask about a few of the
stitches in Battle Healing that I don�t understand.� She hitched the stack of
papers she was carrying more firmly into her arms, inclined her head to Harry,
and turned around, stalking up the corridor as though she was going to
challenge a breeding dragon.

�� Harry
knocked on the door, and waited until Ron called for him to come in before he
opened it. He thought it best if Ron felt in control of this confrontation. It
would give him some confidence and willingness to listen, and Harry didn�t
mind�unless Ron started trying to assert actual
control, and if he did he would get a nasty surprise.

�� Ron was
sitting in the middle of his bed, his arms folded and his wand lying on the
blanket next to him. Harry dragged a chair up so that he could see Ron�s face
comfortably and dropped into it. Ron stared at him, and Harry stared back. He
had decided that he would let Ron make the first move, too.

�� You and
Malfoy,� Ron said finally, picking at his back teeth with what Harry knew he
desperately wanted to be a casual gesture, and which came across as nothing of
the kind. �Who would have thought you could ever like him?�

�� He�s been
more agreeable to me than he ever was in the past.� Harry leaned back and
crossed his ankles, sprawling in the chair. �If he�d showed me that side of
himself at Hogwarts, then we probably would have made friends when we were
third years or something.�

�� Ron turned
his head sharply and glared at him. �Even if he was still insulting my family?
Even if he was still calling Hermione a Mudblood?�

�� Has he
done that since he came here?� Harry asked. �I really want to know.� He could
remember a few times that Draco had snapped insults about �Weasel� and so on
when they were in private, but he couldn�t think of a full-blown argument in
public. Draco seemed to be working under the assumption that he wouldn�t get ahead
in the Aurors if he let his prejudices show, and Harry agreed with him
wholeheartedly.

�� Besides,
that did make him more pleasant to be
around. No matter how much he liked Draco, Harry doubted he would have tried so
hard to become his friend if Draco was insulting his mother at every turn.
There was a certain point where you had to stop making excuses for people and
expect them to act like adults.

�� He might
not say it that often,� Ron said grudgingly, and then leaned forwards and
stared earnestly at Harry. �But he still thinks it. I know it from the way that
he looks at me, and Hermione.�

�� And I know
that you think he�s a horrible pointy-faced little git with horrid parents,�
Harry said. �But you don�t go around saying that. And you should get some credit
for that, don�t you think?�

�� Ron rubbed
his mouth and scowled at the wall for so long that Harry began to wonder if he
needed some more time to think about this. He shifted in his chair. Ron�s eyes
came back to him at once, and he said, �He�s still trying to take my best
friend away from me.�

�� No,� Harry
said, dead certain of this if nothing else. �I don�t think Draco has thought
much about you since we came into the Auror training program, Ron.� Ron�s face
was screwed up every time Harry said Draco�s name, but at least he wasn�t
protesting verbally yet, and Harry thought that was an important beginning. �He
wants to affect me. He doesn�t care
as much about you and Hermione.�

�� He wants
to change you by taking away your best friends!� Ron punched his fist into his
palm. �I don�t know why you can�t see that, mate. He would be so much happier
if you never did anything but stand next to him and give everyone this vacant
smile�� he imitated a smile that made Harry�s eyebrows rise, because he knew he
didn�t like that ��and duel when he wanted you to. That�s why I hate him so
much, why I keep objecting to him. Because even if he just wants you as his
partner right now, he�s changing you and cutting you away from us. Why do you
think he�s got you to call him by his first name and argue with me? Those are
the first steps! Eventually he�ll control your life and we won�t have any part
in it.� Ron�s face was flushed as he reached out and grabbed Harry�s arm,
shaking it. �I was so angry because I can see that and I was trying to tell
you, but you wouldn�t listen to me.�

�� Harry
counted to ten in his head twice before he could trust himself to speak. Ron
not only had the wrong idea about Draco, he was making insulting assumptions
about Harry and attributing to Draco a bunch of the things that he had done, whether he realized it or
not.

�� Draco
doesn�t want that,� Harry said finally. �I was the one who made a choice to
start calling him by his first name. If you�d turned around in the dining hall
the other day, you would have seen how surprised he was when I called him
that��

�� You didn�t
make the choice,� Ron interrupted him. �He did.�

�� How
the�how can you say that?� Harry snapped, deciding that swearing at Ron now
would only make him more stubborn and more prone to do anything other than
actually listen to Harry. �I�m sitting here and telling you that I�m the one
who made it. I know I did. I can throw off Imperius, so you can�t possibly
think that he cast a spell on me or something. And why does it matter so much
anyway? Of course you start calling people by their first names when you spend
more time with them.�

�� You never
called Snape by his first name, even though you spent a lot of detentions with
him.� Ron looked at Harry triumphantly, as if he had proven his point.

�� Snape was
my teacher.� Harry stood up, his
muscles locked against the temptation to hit Ron. Then he realized he was
getting ready to walk away, and sat down again. He had promised Hermione that
he wouldn�t leave. Besides, if he did, he thought it was unlikely that he would
get Ron to talk to him again so openly.

�� Maybe I should just say what�s on my mind
and force him to accept it instead of dodging around the issues and letting him
choose what to talk about.

�� Look,�
Harry said. �You say that Draco wants to control me, but you�re the one who wants to, from deciding what I can call Draco to
trying to make me deal with your sister.� Ron opened his mouth, looking
outraged, but Harry bulled ahead. If he was going to say this, then he was
going to say it all as one piece. �No, Ron, hear me out. You�re the one who
wants me to do certain things and stay at your side and never walk away from
you. We can have a life outside each other. We can be friends, but that doesn�t
mean that we won�t have other friends. Besides, you need to start paying more
attention to Hermione. You would have seen how much she was suffering if you
paid attention.�

�� There.

�� Ron�s face
was mostly white, with a small spot of red in each cheek, as though Harry had
slapped him. �Hermione isn�t suffering!�

�� She is,�
Harry said. �Trying to keep up with all her classes and stay cheerful and
perfect all the time so that she could help you.�
He watched as enormous flushes of red traveled across Ron�s cheeks, and then
added, as much because he wanted to as for any other reason, �I didn�t notice,
either. But then, I�m not her boyfriend.�

�� And you�re
not Ginny�s!� Ron said, voice suddenly sounding so thick that Harry could have
reached out and plucked his bitterness from the air. �The way you should be!
You�re more likely to end up as Malfoy�s lover
at this point.�

�� You
brought up the other thing I wanted to talk to you about without any prompting,�
Harry said, swallowing his anger with difficulty. He knew that Ron had been
disappointed when he and Ginny broke up, but he hadn�t suspected this level of resentment. �How
convenient. You don�t have any right to call in Ginny to fight your battles, or
for any other reason. We�re not dating anymore.�

�� You
should,� Ron said. �You bloody well should.�

�� What, to protect
me from Draco�s uninterested clutches?� Harry rolled his eyes and snorted. �He
might be my friend, but, Ron, think about
it. Do you think someone like Draco would really want to date someone like me?�
He spread his arms, inviting Ron in silence to look at him. Scruffy and scrawny
and untidy and irritating�Harry had several times seen Draco look at him with
something that he would have called romantic interest in another person, but that
was silly, because he would never meet Draco�s standards.

�� Besides,
they were both blokes. Harry knew that that might not matter to some wizards,
because Hermione had explained that along with so many other things to him in
the past year as they got ready to enter the Auror program, but it would sure
as fuck matter to Harry.

�� Ron paused
and blinked as though Harry�s words had been a punch to the gut. Then he tilted
his head back and forth, surveying him from several different angles. Harry
placed a small, confident grin on his face and waited.

�� Ron looked
at him and said slowly, �No offense, mate, but you don�t look like something
Malfoy would snatch up.�

�� That makes
your suspicions sillier than ever,� Harry retorted. �Don�t you think? I�m not
going to be Draco�s boyfriend. I�m his friend, and I can be a friend to as many
people as I like. You don�t need to compete over me.�

�� Ron
swallowed and lowered his head. �Yeah, mate, but you can only have one best
friend. And I�m afraid that�he might be that.� His voice sank, and he rubbed
the back of his hand across his mouth.

�� Harry
stared at him, stunned. He couldn�t remember the last time he had heard Ron
admit fear.

�� But, more
than that, he finally understood why Ron had been so against Draco from the
beginning. He thought there was something special and exclusive about his
friendship with Harry, and he thought the friendship Harry and Draco shared
would surpass it or change it.

�� He�s right about the first part, but not the
second part, Harry thought, as he stepped up and put his hands on Ron�s
shoulders and stared into his eyes. Ron lifted his head and peered back at him,
almost timidly. Harry wondered if he thought he would find condemnation in the
steady stare Harry gave him.

�� Not that he hasn�t done plenty to deserve
it.

�� But the
fact that Ron was afraid, which Harry
never would have thought of�he had thought jealousy and anger were at the
bottom of everything�made Harry look beyond condemnation. Ron had little in his
life that was his alone, little that he could be proud of. He was like Harry at
the Dursleys�. His clothes and his wand and his rat had been hand-me-downs.
Harry could remember the wonder he felt when Hagrid took him shopping in Diagon
Alley for the first time as if it was yesterday. He had fresh, new things that he didn�t have to share.

�� Harry didn�t
know why Ron didn�t resent sharing Harry�s friendship with Hermione. Maybe he
thought it was different because Hermione was a girl. Or maybe he didn�t see
Hermione as Harry�s best friend in the way that he was.

�� But either
way, Harry knew what Ron was feeling now. It was the same way he would have
felt if Dudley came to the wizarding world when they were eleven and tried to
drive off Ron and Hermione like he�d driven off all the kids in primary school
that Harry wanted so badly to befriend.

�� You aren�t
going to lose me,� Harry said. �It doesn�t matter how close I become to Draco,
or how much like a prat you act. Though I like you much better when you aren�t acting like a prat,� he added,
just so that Ron wouldn�t think this was free permission to be annoying. �I can
be everyone�s friend.�

�� Even
though we both dislike each other?� Ron muttered the words and stared at Harry
as if he thought this would be too great a challenge for Harry to find a way
past.

�� Even
though that�s true,� Harry said. �I�ll just ask him not to insult you. And in
the meantime, you don�t get to insult Draco, either.�

�� Ron made a
face, as if Harry had handed him an earwax-flavored Bertie Bott�s Bean to eat. �Do
I have to call him Draco?�

�� Not unless
you want to.� Harry tightened his grip on Ron�s shoulders. �This is all about
choice. That�s what I�m trying to get across to you. I�m calling him Draco because
I want to, not because he forced me to. And I�m his friend because I want to
be. You saw how hard I struggled against being his friend before I made up my
mind. And I broke up with Ginny because I wanted to,� he added, more or less
against his better judgment. Still, Ron had
to understand that Harry wouldn�t be getting back together with his sister
any time soon.

�� You were
perfect for each other,� Ron said mulishly.

�� No. We
weren�t.� Harry made his words stern enough that Ron nodded, even though he
still frowned. �Leave it alone. All right? Or else we�ll have to have another
stupid argument, and I really don�t want to. I hate having arguments with my
first and best friend.�

�� Ron�s grin
was slow to emerge. When it did, though, Harry felt as though his life was
normal again for the first time since he discovered he had compatible magic
with Draco. That magic was exciting and fulfilling, but it was very much not
normal. �Right, mate,� Ron said. �So long as I�m that.�

�� Always.�
Harry smiled back in relief, and then turned away to gather up his books.

�� Where are
you going?� Ron hovered next to him as though he thought Harry was about to
write a letter to Ginny and he didn�t want to miss it.

�� Harry gave
him an even look. �To study with Draco.� They weren�t going to study, of
course, but investigate. Still, if Ron knew that, he would insist on coming
with them. Harry wasn�t ready for that yet, and he doubted Draco was, either,
whatever casual remarks he might make about not minding Weasley�s presence.

�� Ron sighed
and nodded. �Just come back early so that we can talk about Battle Healing,� he
said. �I�m having trouble in there.�

�� Sure thing,
mate.�

�� Harry
thought it was all right to make that promise as he slipped out the door, even though
he fully expected the investigation to occupy him and Draco for several hours.
He felt so light at the moment, and
as though the impossible balancing act that seemed to have become his life wasn�t
so difficult after all.

*

�� I trust
that you won�t tell Mr. Potter about these sessions, Mr. Malfoy?� Dearborn�s
face was anxious as he tucked his wand back into his sleeve. �I fear that he
would not understand.�

�� Draco gave
him a small smile. �You can count on me, sir.�

�� He reckoned
that promise might have sounded ominous to someone who didn�t know why Dearborn
had asked it, but Draco knew exactly why, and he agreed wholeheartedly.
Dearborn had confessed to Draco�not that it had come as a large surprise after
his class, where he had presented his outline of the history of how certain
spells had become illegal�that he didn�t agree with the Ministry�s classification
of Dark Arts. The Unforgivables should never be used, of course, and there were
others, spells meant only for torture, that were unspeakable. But Dearborn did
not see why spells that forced someone to tell the truth were forbidden. Why,
they were the same thing as Veritaserum, which the Ministry used freely.

�� Dearborn
was looking for people who agreed with him and would seek to relax the Ministry�s
more restrictive laws by unrelenting pressure and proof that they could use the
less illegal Dark Arts for good. Draco was more than eager to help with that.
He did not like the idea of giving up half the magic he had learned because of archaic
prejudices that few modern wizards shared.

�� But Potter
would go mad, and Draco knew why. Potter still had certain simplistic notions
of good and evil that he had not modified.

�� Contact with me should modify them.

�� But that
not happened yet, and Draco was not enough of an idiot to force Potter to go
against his conscience. So when Dearborn had asked for private history sessions
where he would explain to Draco more about what he intended to do and what
spells should be chosen from the Ministry�s vast repository of interdicted
magic for testing, Draco had agreed.

�� This was
something special he could do.
Dearborn had chosen Draco for his background, not against it, and not simply as
part of the irreducible double unit that included both him and Potter, because
he had said that he would like to mentor Draco before the instructors had
partnered them. Draco needed this individual evaluation and adulation in the
same way that Potter needed his friends.

�� There was
no question but that Draco would bring Potter into it someday, because he didn�t
think their friendship could survive many secrets. But for now, it was private.
Special, the same way that Professor Snape had sometimes invited him to brewing
sessions where he was handling delicate and experimental potions.

�� Draco
licked his lips at the thought of Snape. He still hadn�t found the courage to
look into the Professor�s Pensieve. He would, someday, but not until he had
decided what memories Snape might have sent him and thus decided on the best
mindset for facing them.

�� Sir,� he
asked, to distract himself from such thoughts, and because Potter had not come
to fetch him yet for their investigation, �what would you say if someone
accused you of being like the Death Eaters because you use some Dark Arts?�

�� The smile
vanished off Dearborn�s face as though Draco had tried to choke him. Then he
said in a strangely altered voice, �What do you know of my brother?�

�� Your
brother?� Draco blinked. �Just that you had one.� His mother had had him
memorize enough of the pure-blood lineages that he knew that. After a moment of
ransacking his memory, Draco remembered something else, and added, �And his
name was Caradoc.�

�� Yes.�
Dearborn�s voice was a soft hiss. He rubbed his fingers for a moment over his
onyx ring, then lifted his head. Draco tensed his muscles to keep from
recoiling. Naked pain was visible on Dearborn�s face. Draco wanted to shift
uneasily, and didn�t only because he knew it would seem like weakness.

�� He didn�t
want to see pain like this. It was meant to be endured and suppressed in
private. Only to Potter, perhaps, when their friendship had advanced more than
it had right now, would Draco express his emotions openly.

�� He tried to
imagine dealing with a revelation of similar agony from Potter, and experienced
twin and unwelcome sensations. On the one hand, he wouldn�t want to see a crack
in his partner�s defenses like the crack in Dearborn�s.

�� On the
other hand, he would be jealous if Potter took his pain to someone else.

�� Dearborn
spoke then, and stole Draco�s attention back to the present moment. �He worked
with the Order of the Phoenix. He vanished during the war, and everyone assumed
Death Eaters had killed him.� Dearborn closed his eyes and breathed carefully.
With faint horror, Draco recognized the pattern of breathing he had used
himself to keep back tears. �Everyone also assumed that his fate would never be
known for certain because no one had found his remains.

�� I found
them.�

�� Dearborn
glanced at Draco, and seemed to understand the dislike he felt. His pain
vanished behind shields of smooth expression in the next instant, and he made a
courtly bow from the waist. His voice was half-mocking. �Do I distress you? Do
not let me. What I found was enough reason to keep me from wishing to use the Darker Arts forevermore. I hate the
Death Eaters and wish to see them slaughtered.�

�� Draco
lifted his left arm between them. He wasn�t brave enough to bare the Dark Mark,
but that didn�t matter. Dearborn would understand well enough what he meant. �Does
that include me, sir?�

�� Dearborn
caught his breath. His eyes widened, and Draco could see the lashes trembling
as he stood still, apparently in contemplation. Then he shook his head. �No,�
he said at last. �Good God, no! I let my tongue run away with me sometimes.� He
glanced aside, at last using a delicacy that Draco appreciated. �Forgive me,�
he said, with a soft laugh. �I have had so few people to whom I can talk about
my plans to change things, to reform the Ministry and make the Aurors more
effective. The trainees who come in are usually so stupid, or intelligent but blind, like your partner.�

�� Draco
watched him carefully. Dearborn was less effective than Draco had thought him:
more impulsive, more passionate, and perhaps more likely to make a mistake.

�� On the
other hand, he had got past Draco�s misdeeds, despite excellent reason to hate
him, and was willing to work with him. It was more than many would be willing
to do, particularly among the instructors. Draco saw no reason not to use
Dearborn to climb higher. Later, he could turn on him if he needed to.

�� Forgiven,
sir,� he said. �Now, will you excuse me? I need to meet Potter to train.�

�� He was
always meeting Potter for something or other, and Dearborn let him go with a
wave of his hand. Draco shut the door to Dearborn�s office behind him and strode
quickly and quietly along the corridors of the Ministry, something other than
his mentor�s inconsistencies occupying him as he walked.

�� When he was
with Dearborn or talking to his mother or studying for classes by himself, he
felt much as he had ever done since the war: determined, strong, powerful,
committed grimly to the ideal of making something of himself.

�� When he was
with Potter, he was more open, more confiding, more patient and pliant and soft in a way that he had never thought
he could be.

�� Even now,
just walking towards Potter instead of being in sight of him yet, he could feel
his mind swelling with things he wanted to tell him, jokes he wanted to exchange,
and eager possessiveness to have Potter�s time and attention to himself.

�� I have to be careful. As I change him, he is
changing me.

�� Under the
influence of the emotions flooding his mind, Draco could not but think that a
good thing.

�� Which is probably a sign that I am not in my
right mind.

*

�� Tree802:
Thank you!

�� MiraMira:
Thank you! The stories are going to be divided by year of Auror training, so
this one will be quite a bit longer, and I don�t know how many chapters.

�� hieisdragoness18:
Yes, they are.

�� Alliandre:
Thank you! And now you know what happened to Snape�s Pensieve.

�� Soria:
Thank you!

�� Mr Spears:
Thanks!

�� SP777: I
think Harry will have to grow up eventually. But a lot of stories skip the
growing-up part just like they do the training part. I can deal with a mature
Harry just fine, but I�d like to know how he got that way.

�� And yes,
Draco does feel that way about Harry. He is aware of an undercurrent that could
become sexual, though, and Harry thinks that Draco would never choose someone
like him just based on looks.

�� I�ve been
in school for a long time, so yes, I�ve experienced similar things to what
Harry and Draco are going through.

�� helga1967:
Thank you!

�� Dragons
Breath: Thanks! Draco knows that he has to keep his possessiveness in check, so
don�t worry about that.

�� callistianstar:
Thank you! And thanks for the note about Draco�s wand, too. I think that�s
interesting. But in this case, I�m going with the memory of the first time
Draco gripped the wand rather than the choosing, I guess�and he would still
think of the wand as his even though he didn�t choose it, I think.
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