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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
- 17
- 18
- 19
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter
Eighteen�Proving the Point

�� Lucius met
Draco in the entrance hall. Draco scrutinized his father carefully, knowing he
must have moved very fast to get down the stairs from his study so quickly, but
of course none of the strain showed on Lucius�s face. He displayed only the
most perfect, most polished marble disdain as he stared down at Potter�s limp,
still disguised body.

�� Draco,�
Lucius began, �I have already heard rumors of what you have done. I will not let
you bring that man in here.�

�� Draco felt
his eyes brighten and his breath come short. Was this the point at which he
would insist on having his own way and Lucius, exasperated beyond reason, would
disown him? Draco could feel his former plans wheeling around in his head like
melting snowflakes, reorganizing and freezing into new lines.

�� That man is my lover,� he said. �The man
I�ve spent months with, and will spend the rest of my life with, the way I feel
about him right now.� He didn�t miss the way Lucius�s lip curled, or the small
step his father took away from them, as if being gay were contagious. �He has
as much reason to be welcome in my home as I do, Father. Unless you would
require the both of us to leave?� He
arched an eyebrow, and waited. His heartbeat increased as Lucius continued to
stare at him.

�� You are
rapidly straining my patience,� Lucius said. �More, you disgust me.�

�� No emotion
in the words. That meant he was, indeed, telling the truth. Draco restrained a
yelp of triumph. If he showed his father he wanted
this, Lucius would reverse himself abruptly and attempt to discover the
real reasons why Draco had wanted to be disowned later.

�� And you
disgust me,� Draco retorted, �because
you cannot accept the evidence of love where it exists, because you want such a
powerful force to flow only inside your narrow boundaries.� He put a possessive
hand on Potter�s chest. It was a delight to him to feel the slow, deep breaths
Potter was taking. Whether or not the other man would actually have chosen to
sleep next to him was beside the point. He was
sleeping next to him right now, and the emotions that surged through Draco
were protective, glad, deep, exalted.

�� Lucius
brought his hands sharply together, the signal he had used to call his son�s
attention to him and break up arguments between Draco and Narcissa for as long
as Draco could remember. It didn�t startle him now; it just built his
anticipation higher. Draco watched his father, and tried not to pant.

�� I have
already heard rumors of what you have done,� Lucius repeated, as if the matter
of Potter staying in the Manor were settled. �You sponsored a play that
dealt�openly, mind you�with the sort of life you have degraded yourself to
living these days.�

�� Draco
snorted. �Of course I did. I think I can remember spending my own money,
Father.�

��

�� Lucius
twitched his head, as if he hadn�t really believed the report and its truth
stung him. For just a moment, his eyes lowered. If it were still possible for
Draco to take pity on Lucius, he would have felt it then.

�� Draco,�
Lucius murmured, and most of the veneer of his voice was gone. He extended one
hand as if he would actually clasp Draco�s and tug him into an embrace, which
had not happened in over ten years, since the first moments after the Battle of
Hogwarts. �You must tell me. Why
doesn�t a discreet lifestyle content you anymore? Why did you not consent to
marry someone of our choosing? You could have kept your lover on the side. If
he truly�� Lucius swallowed as if the words he had to speak nauseated him. �If
he truly cares for you, then he will
understand your responsibilities to your family and to a great culture that is
on the brink of vanishing. Such arrangements have happened in the past, and
with perfect facility and happiness, with eyes and mouths shut where they
needed to be. What possessed you to open yours?�

�� Strangely
enough, Draco could give him a part of the truth there. Lucius probably would
still not understand the terms that Draco used, but, in a way, it would be a
relief to speak.

�� I haven�t
been what you wanted me to be for years,� Draco told his father quietly. �The
affairs I had with men started out of curiosity, and boredom, and as a way to
defy your strictures. And then they became important to me. I found that I
could care for men quite as much as for women. I could not endure the thought
of spending most of my time in a loveless marriage and only seeing my lovers on
the side. And then I found Brian.� Strange, how natural it seemed to want to say
Harry instead, in that moment, and
how close he came to breaking apart his father�s world even further. �He is
special. He is different. He is the one who could never be put aside for a
wife, no matter how much I might want to
respect you and uphold my duties to the family.�

�� Duty is
the one inflexible master,� Lucius said. �Not love. Nothing else is as
important as the continuation of our traditions�in this case, the continuation
of our family line. You could have come to me when you found yourself�� Again
he seemed to strangle. �Falling in love with this young man. I would have found
some way to ensure that you did not suffer.�

�� And what
way would that be?� Draco smiled. �Giving him a potion that ensured he fell in
love with someone else? �Persuading� him to take exile from Britain? A
long-lasting impotence curse, like the one you tried to cast on me?�

�� Any and
all of those would have been better than the dishonor you are bringing us to,�
Lucius said, and for the first time a pale flame of anger was in his eyes.

�� Draco gazed
steadily at his father. This was his version of the extended hand and the
forgiveness his mother would have offered far more freely, Draco knew. Reject
this effort at reconciliation, and the chances were good that Lucius would
never offer him another.

�� Except that
Draco thought he could live with that, now. Even if his plain ultimately
failed, if he were to be disowned and then Lucius did not beg him back into the family no matter what happened, it didn�t
matter. As long as he had his freedom to think and maneuver, his physical and
political independence�

�� And Potter
by his side.

�� Draco
suffered a brief, intense wave of dizziness at the thought that Potter had
become as necessary to him as the rest, and told himself to be very careful how
he let his thoughts turn. He had not even seduced Potter yet; nor did Potter
realize that Draco knew his true identity, and had got past some of his anger.

�� Still, it
felt like a revelation in many ways.

�� You do not
believe as I do,� said Lucius, and then he turned and left the entrance hall,
the line of his shoulders set and firm. Draco waited a moment, cocking his
head. If his father set the wards against them and would not permit Potter to
stay in the Manor, then he would call Rini and order the house-elf to direct
him to Potter�s home. It was a risk, with the Aurors probably hunting Potter�s
magical signature, and it would certainly reveal Draco�s knowledge of Potter�s
real face and name. But perhaps speeding up the game would not matter. And
Draco would not subject himself to the indignity of fighting with his father
about this.

�� The wards
did not rise, however. Draco cast a Feather-Light Charm on Potter�s body and
swept him up the stairs into his own bedroom.

�� Potter
looked strangely natural lying on that bed, Draco thought, as he arranged the
other man�s head on the pillows. Then he snorted. Of course Potter looked strangely natural. He had spent the night
there once before, the night he had fucked Draco.

�� With his
eyes closed, however, he looked so much like Draco�s schoolboy nemesis that
Draco really must have been an idiot
not to have seen it before. Perhaps I can
claim I was too tired from shagging to notice.

Draco thought he could get used to
seeing Potter there for days on end, in early morning slants of sunlight and at
night when the moon had risen. Of course they would live in the Manor until
Draco�s parents disowned him, and when that happened, Draco would bring his own
furniture with him to a nicer dwelling than Potter could ever afford. Draco was
not about to stay in whatever tatty
house Potter had appropriated for himself.

And
perhaps you should stop thinking about this and think about what you�ll do when
the Aurors arrive, and when the papers report on this, and when your mother
questions you.

Draco laughed quietly and leaned
back against the wall of his bedroom. He was not entirely sure that Potter was good for him. He made Draco�s mind
spin and whirl and leap out of the neat pathways of plans he�d had laid for
years, into new ones that might or might not lead to the places Draco needed to
go.

But as of yet, Draco did not think
he wanted to give that feeling up.

*

�� Harry
opened his eyes with a startled gasp. For a moment, he could not remember how
he had fallen asleep, or determine where he was now. He forced himself up on
his elbows so fast his vision wavered and he went dizzy with the rush of blood.

�� Then
Draco�s hand fell on his shoulder and drew Harry back to rest against him.
�It�s all right,� Draco whispered into his ear. �You�re in the Manor, and my
father made no fuss about our staying here. Nor have the Aurors shown up yet.�
His other hand smoothed up and down Harry�s back, and Harry found his eyes
fluttering shut in spite of himself. No one had ever stroked him just there before. He�d had no idea how much
he enjoyed it, or that it would make his muscles as limp as marmalade.

�� Then he
threw the thought impatiently into oblivion. �You cast a sleeping charm on me?�
he asked, yanking away from Draco.

�� Draco
didn�t seem inclined to let him go; though his hands momentarily shifted their
positions, he almost immediately replaced them and sighed into the hair that
curled around the nape of Harry�s neck. �I did. You needed to rest after that spell
you cast, and with all your talk of going to prison and facing the Aurors, I
wasn�t sure you would.�

�� Harry
ignored him as best he could, instead listening intently. Yes, he thought he
could hear the faint cracks of
Apparition when he concentrated. The Malfoys had wards on their house so that
one could not simply Apparate in and out, but they would not have wanted those
wards to conceal the sound of approaching enemies.

�� The Aurors
are here now,� he said softly.

�� Draco�s
arms grew stiff for just a moment, his fingers curling as if he would stab them
into Harry�s neck and spine instead of stroking him. Harry was glad. The slight
pain from Draco�s expensively manicured nails digging into him cleared his head
still more. He began recalling the script that he�d prepared for this moment,
and ran a hand through his hair. It might be tousled from sleeping, and he
wanted to make a small pretense at cleanliness. Best to look normal, as if he�d
had no idea the Aurors would want to pursue him.

�� How did
you know they were here?� Draco breathed harshly, even as they heard the sound
of the door opening into the entrance hall below and the shrill voices of
house-elves announcing a visitor. Harry was not entirely sure whether Lucius or
Narcissa would greet them first, but that hardly mattered.

�� A spell
that I cast to wake me up when they arrived,� Harry said, and shrugged as he
sat up, finally forcing Draco�s hands off him. �Even if I was under a sleeping
charm at the time.�

�� Draco
gripped his shoulders and forcibly turned Harry to face him. �No one can track
Aurors that way,� he said. �Not unless you knew exactly which ones were
coming.� He eyed Harry contemplatively, as if the notion of Brian having
acquaintances among the Aurors were not so far-fetched.

�� And this is another reason you need to
leave, Harry told himself, even as his pulse quickened from that look. You�re giving him more things to think
about. He�s either trying to track down Brian�s real history or he will start
soon, and that is a complication you do not need.

�� I can,�
Harry said, and laughed a little as the expression on Draco�s face slid towards
incredulity. �I�m an actor, Draco. I pay a lot of attention to fabric�to
clothing in general, really. It�s important when you�re going on stage in
costumes. And from there, I�ve extended the habit to other areas of my life.�
He shrugged a bit. �The Aurors� robes are mostly all made of the same material.
The Minister instituted that a few years ago, I�m told, to make it easier for
wounded Aurors under extreme circumstances to borrow each other�s clothing. Or
some such thing. I didn�t follow politics that closely, until I met you. The
charm alerts me when a group of people wearing robes of that material appears
next to me. That�s all. Simple, yes?� He winked at Draco and rose to his feet,
ready to face the Aurors.

�� Of course,
if he had really allowed the Aurors to trace him without trouble, they would
have uncovered Harry Potter�s magical signature. But Harry had advantages that
other wizards didn�t. He hadn�t cast magic in public in a long time, making his
magical signature harder to recognize. He regularly switched wands, and that
led to his signature not being as stable as someone who used the same one all
the time; it wasn�t well-known, but a wizard�s magic was influenced by the wood
and core of the wand. Otherwise, any wizard would have been able to use any
wand.

�� And Harry
had sent a record of �Brian�s� magical signature to the Ministry two days ago,
as a good-faith gesture. He was appearing an awful lot in public lately, he had
said in his letter, and he wanted them to know who he was, just in case he was
ever involved in something dramatic and with political consequences. The
signature was a mixture of Harry�s with enough different bits and pieces�the influence
from the different wand core and wood, the tendency to cast powerful spells,
the imprint of a different personality and fascinations�that it should
withstand inspection, much like a lie mixed with the truth.

�� He bounced
�Brian�s� wand in his hand and waited.

*

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes as he watched Potter face the doorway of his room. He looked
like someone about to enter battle, as if he suspected he could actually fool
the Aurors. Surely he had planned on revealing that he was Harry Potter to the
few wizards and witches who would corner him, and then swearing them to
secrecy? Draco could easily picture Potter being let off for his little pranks
by an indulgent set of Aurors, especially with one of his good friends still in
the Minister�s office. Draco had thought that was the reason Potter felt so
confident going out in public, in fact; he had the web of lies about his magic
and his living situation, but that would not have been enough for him to
accomplish acting lessons and lessons in pure-blood culture, so he probably
depended on the Ministry to cover for him.

�� But now�

�� He had not
panicked at finding himself in the Manor. He didn�t seem indignant that Draco
had cast the sleeping charm. He just stood there, grinning slightly when the
first Auror stepped into the room, a fat, tall man with a face rather like a
melted pork pie.

�� Perhaps he intends to cast a Memory Charm on
me the moment the Aurors are finished talking. Draco loosened his wand in
his sleeve. It was a practical precaution in other ways, too, he mused, as the Auror
cast him a glance of disgust.

�� Good
afternoon, gentlemen,� Potter said, nodding as another Auror stepped into the
room. �Can I help you?�

�� You�re
Brian Montgomery?� The second Auror carefully checked a piece of parchment he
was carrying. The first one snorted. He had contempt ground into the lines around
his eyes like dirt, but he was casting Potter covert glances anyway. Draco
tasted vinegar jealousy in his mouth.

�� Yes,�
Potter said, and gave them a little self-deprecating smile that wasn�t among
Brian�s usual gestures. Draco frowned, trying to figure out why that bothered
him. Perhaps Potter simply hadn�t had cause to use that smile around him. �I
suspect you want me to ask me some questions about what happened in the
Theater-in-the-Round this afternoon?�

�� Yes,� said
Pork Pie. �Your wand, if you please.� He held out his hand, and Potter nodded
and handed over his wand with a touch of ceremony. Draco hid a snort. So there
were pieces of the Brian personality still there.

�� How mixed are they? How interleaved? I
wonder if I would see the real Potter even if I pinned him down and told him I
know the truth?

�� The first
Auror cast a number of spells on the wand, whilst the second pressed questions
on Potter�boring ones. When had he arrived at the theater? Had he come with the
intention of causing a disruption? Who had he come with? Did he know the play
was going to take the dramatic turn it had?

�� Potter
answered them in the manner of a perfect liar. He didn�t look at the ground and
pretend false innocence, the way Draco knew he had in Hogwarts. He didn�t fidget
and look uncomfortable in the wrong places. He didn�t show too precise and
diamond-edged a recall, the way he would have done had he practiced his story
over and over. He told the truth of events simply, plainly, with a sigh of
annoyance now and then when he glanced at the way Pork Pie was handling his
wand.

�� Draco
recognized the spells Pork Pie was casting as the kind that would identify a
magical signature. He stiffened with anticipation. Surely someone would recognize Potter�s magic. How could the most famous
wizard in Britain go unrecognized?

�� Then Draco
remembered the lies Potter had spread about. And he remembered the sheer power
of the magic that Potter had used in the Theater-in-the-Round. Was there any record in the Ministry of the boy Potter
had been using a spell like that? Or would their records show only minor hexes
and jinxes, perhaps an Unforgivable or two? The Aurors would not even bother to
check, perhaps, if they thought the �real� Harry Potter a weak wizard.

�� Finally,
Pork Pie made a hacking sound and cast Potter�s wand back at him. Potter caught
it with a neat underhanded motion that caused Draco�s eyes to narrow. That movement would have betrayed him, I
think, even if I didn�t know. He obviously has played Quidditch before, and he
was obviously a Seeker.

�� Nothing,�
Pork Pie said, talking to his partner instead of Potter. Potter just raised his
eyebrows and nodded, as if to say I told
you there was nothing wrong with my
story.

�� I thought
not,� said the second Auror, in a tone of satisfaction that made Draco glance
at him. He was stealing covert looks at Potter, too, and they were filled with
decidedly more approval than Pork Pie�s had been. When he briefly caught
Draco�s eye, in fact, he gave him a fleeting smile and a wink.

�� Well. Perhaps our revolution is not without
allies in the official establishment, after all. Draco gave a brief, chilly
smile in return, and stepped up to put a hand on Potter�s side. Potter, oddly,
tensed instead of relaxing the way he should have at a show of support. But the
Aurors were departing with cordial farewells on the part of the younger�who had
introduced himself, but whose name Draco hadn�t bothered to catch�and
evil-sounding grunts from Pork Pie.

�� Potter
yawned widely when they were gone, and said, �Well, that�s over for the moment. And you were right, it was easier
answering their questions here than in a holding cell.� He winked at Draco in
turn. �Now, if you�ll just tell me when we should meet next, I�ll go home.�

�� Draco�s
frustration abruptly caught fire. Potter had weathered the storm without a bow
of his head. He had simply accepted the sleeping charm and Draco�s bringing him
here as if it didn�t matter. He had done everything on his own, beautifully and
perfectly and without slowing down once.

�� As if he
didn�t need Draco.

�� Despite his
promises to himself that they wouldn�t have sex again for the present, Draco
burned with the desire to affect Potter in the one way he knew he could. He
whispered, �We�re not quite done yet.�

�� Oh?�
Potter eyed him in a bewildered manner, as if he couldn�t imagine what Draco
wanted, which made Draco growl even as he lowered his mouth to the other man�s
and kissed him, long and hard.

�� His body
immediately burned with need, and he heard Potter�s soft, startled gasp and
felt the erection brushing against his with as much satisfaction as he�d felt
the first time he opened Malfoy�s Machineries.

�� And then
Potter was pushing firmly against his chest, stepping out of his arms, his eyes
narrowed and blazing, and saying the words that Draco could not accept, could
not believe, not in his current mood and not in any other, as much for the cool
tone in which they were delivered as for their meaning. �I�m not interested
right now, thanks.�

*

�� Harry was
furious with himself. He was sweating as if he�d been tossed head-first into a
bonfire, his hands shaking. He�d felt the urge to stand where he was and let
Draco have his way, or wrap his arms around the other man and take Draco to
bed.

�� Betraying
his disguise was one thing; it could be recovered from. Getting emotionally
involved when their magic reached out and bound them together�Harry would have
challenged Lucius Malfoy himself to resist that. But putting himself into a
situation he knew would make him
emotionally vulnerable, with an excellent chance that Draco could find out who
he really was, when he knew he�d have to leave in less than a week and when
he�d promised himself that he wouldn�t have sex with Draco any more�

�� No. Harry felt a sharp-edged wave of
self-loathing rising over him, and shook his head against it. He couldn�t flop
down and sulk the way he usually did when he made a mistake like this, and he
couldn�t employ his other indulgence when he�d been weak and stare into the
reverse Pensieve. He kept his eyes sharp and his resolve firm by taking a few
steps away from Draco.

�� Draco just
stared at him as if he had no answer to Harry�s refusal. He was panting, too,
his gaze keen and his hands trembling in the moment before he clenched them
into fists and put them behind his back. His voice stung like sleet. �I want
you. I could quite clearly feel that
you want me, too. Don�t try to tell me you�re not interested.�

�� Harry�s
breath caught. Unwittingly, it seemed, he�d stumbled on to a way to deeply
insult Draco. Maybe this would make him care about �Brian� less and back away.

�� It�s true
it�s been a long day, and I was bored,� Harry said casually. �And perhaps a
little aroused, with the way our visitors kept eying me.� Draco�s expression
was quickly streaming past incredulous and heading straight for purest fury, so
Harry twisted the knife a little more. �You don�t know a lot about my past.
Didn�t I tell you that I get bored relatively easy? That it takes more than the
offer of a few exotic positions to keep my interest? And since that�s all you
have to offer me, I might as well take my leave.�

�� Draco�s
lips parted in a snarl. Harry smirked at him one more time and turned his back.
His self-loathing was searing him, but this should finally put an end to the most unwise action he�d ever taken�

�� Draco�s
arms slammed into the wall on either side of him, pinning him there. Harry
whirled around, snarling himself now, trapped, enraged�

�� And Draco
kissed him, biting him hard, forcing his tongue into Harry�s mouth, his own
rage boiling through the kiss�

�� Harry
realized what was going to happen as the air turned red and silver around them,
and tried madly to Apparate. But the Manor�s Apparition wards were too strong
for him to break without more concentration, and he had dangerously exhausted
his magic earlier.

�� Or perhaps
he had already waited too long.

�� Once again,
their magic connected across the gaps between them. Once again, their emotions
flowed into each other, rushing, drowning Harry in Draco�s desire like a
waterfall.

�� And no
option was possible for either of them at that moment but passionate surrender.

*

�� Shinythiefxblast,
Moyima, Noisette, Mangacat, Hi-chan: Thanks for reviewing!

Miss Nikki: Thanks for telling me
the chapter was empty. It looked fine on the computer I was using.

�� Snappy pants:
Nope. Some chapters will skip days.

�� s2kitty: I
think you will like Chapter 19.

�� Qwerty: Draco
will probably be mad at Narcissa, but he will understand her reasons.

�� I�m taking
the point-of-view that magical signatures can
change, if you know how to disguise them. And since the Aurors have a very
recent signature from �Brian� on file, they�re more likely to use that. (If the
Aurors could really recognize and track any magical signature instantly and
infallibly, one wonders why they still have some trouble capturing criminals in
the canon universe).

�� SoftObsidian74:
Draco is beginning to lose his cool and his control around Harry, just as Harry
did around him.

�� Draco
usually has more of a clue as to what his mother is thinking, but at the
moment, he has no idea which precise pieces of information she�s got.

�� Harry is
still planning to leave the revolution. He�ll be delighted if it takes off, but
he doesn�t want to be part of it.

�� Calrissan18:
Thanks! I liked the implications of starting the revolution in a theater.

�� Yes, they
could get there faster if they just told each other what they knew. But each of
the characters has legitimate reasons to distrust the others, I think.

�� Caldonya:
Harry doesn�t let himself stay vulnerable for long.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Making a serious attempt to run away from the Aurors would have shown that
Draco felt he did something wrong.

�� Lunatic
with a hero complex: Thank you! I enjoyed the way I could comment on the plot
by setting that part of the fic in a theater.

�� And Harry�s
way of dealing with weakness is to ignore it as much as possible, and then go
around it.
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Changing of the Guard