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Bloody But Unbowed	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 36009 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- 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
- 18
- 19
- 20
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Nineteen�Hard
Truths

�� It�s been
ten hours now.�

�� Harry
opened his eyes slowly, blinking. He could have sworn he had lain down just
five minutes ago, but the voice murmuring in his ear said otherwise, and so did
the languor in his muscles, come to that. He rolled over and looked up at
Draco, who was sitting beside him in the bed and running a hand through Harry�s
hair as if fascinated with the texture.

�� I�ve been
asleep ten hours?� Harry wanted to say more, but a yawn cut him off. He
stretched his arms above his head and grimaced; sleeping oddly on the pillows
had given him a twitching pain in his neck.

�� Ten hours
since you cured my father,� Draco corrected. �And he�s sitting up, eating,
talking, and sleeping without ill effects.� Harry could hear the smile in his
voice as he shifted on his knees behind Harry. �Drinking healing potions to
ensure his skin doesn�t scar, though that, he does complain about. Here,� he added, as Harry shook himself. �Let
me.�

�� His hands
clasped Harry�s shoulders and began to stroke; then his thumbs pressed into the
nape of Harry�s neck and pressed down hard. Harry arched, gasping. For a
moment, the pain was unendurable; then it melted, and Harry collapsed against
the pillows as if the massage had cut all the wires in his body.

�� You don�t
make the potions sweet for him?� he murmured hazily. �If you did that for me,
surely you can do it for him.�

�� No one
deserves sweetness more than you do.� Draco�s voice had descended from the pitch
Harry was used to hearing it at, and had a trace of a hungry growl. He leaned
forwards, and Harry felt a powerful jolt of arousal as he imagined what they
must look like from the door. Despite the awkward position, though, Draco�s
hands never stopped their slow, steady massage. �And I want to give it to you.
Let me.�

�� Yes,�
Harry said quietly.

�� Draco made
a sharp sound that Harry didn�t even want to define, and nipped at the back of
his neck. �Roll over,� he said.

�� Harry had
just started to when a loud pop shattered the silence, and Rogers appeared at
the end of the bed with a tray in his arms and an announcement on his lips.
�Mistress Granger is wanting to speak to Master Harry through the fire.�

�� It can
wait.� Harry had never heard Draco�s voice like that, so low and sensual it
made him arch simply from the sound. His hands had dropped from Harry�s
shoulders to his waist and were working their way under the robes Harry had
slept in because it was too much trouble trying to take them off. Harry
wondered if he was cheating and using a spell to make his hands warmer; Harry
half-flinched from the brushes of heat Draco�s fingertips gave off, when before
his skin had seemed a natural temperature. �So can that breakfast, for that
matter,� Draco said, and his teeth closed on Harry�s shoulder. Harry arched
again, and moaned this time. Draco leaned heavily against him, mouthing at the
bite he�d made. �Come back later, Rogers.�

�� Mistress
Granger will be calling back and calling back,� Rogers said, his voice shrill
with distress. �Rogers does not want to be making up excuses for Masters Harry
and Draco fucking whilst there are still enemies abroad.�

�� Well, that effectively broke the mood, Harry
thought as he rolled over and gently caught Draco�s wrists in his hands. After
one glimpse of Draco�s eyes, he focused on his chin instead; he had never known
how much gray eyes could change when the pupils were dilated and lust was
shining from them. �Later,� he said. Draco gave a protesting little buck,
letting Harry feel Draco�s cock against his arse. �Think of how much better it
will be when we have no distractions.�

�� Draco made
another growling sound�Harry hadn�t known he was so fond of them�and butted his
erection up against Harry one more time, shutting his eyes. Harry grunted
helplessly.

�� So long as
you promise,� Draco said. �I want this.�
His voice was still in the sensual register, making it sound as if it would be
a sin to deny him. Harry licked lips that felt chapped and managed to ignore
Rogers�s piercing eyes long enough to nod.

�� I do
promise,� Harry said. �And do you really think I want it less?�

�� I don�t
know.� Draco�s voice had risen and turned coy; his eyelids drooped over his
eyes in a parody of innocence. �I know you didn�t seem enthusiastic at first,
and then the few touches of eagerness I saw in your face were overwhelmed by
concern for my father, to the point that I almost thought it was him you came to the Manor for.�

�� Harry let
his legs spread and rolled to the side until Draco could feel his own erection,
which had hardened the moment Draco bent over him. �I came for both of you,� he
said. �I just didn�t realize the truth at the time. Can you ever forgive me?�

�� Forgiven,�
said Draco. �With your promise to resume later.� His hand trailed lightly
across Harry�s groin, so suddenly that Harry had no time to do more than let
his eyes roll back in his head. �So long as you only come for me in the future.�

�� By the time
Harry could recover, Draco had already crawled to the end of the bed and was
choosing calmly and quietly among the scones, biscuits, and grapes Rogers had
brought. Harry shook his head and moved up beside him to eat a hasty breakfast,
knowing Hermione wouldn�t like to wait.

�� He tried to
think of that, and not of the way Draco kept letting his wrists brush against
Harry�s. The last thing he wanted was to appear flustered and out of sorts in
front of Hermione, who had no doubt spent all sorts of time gathering the
information that would make it easier for them to track down the conspirators.

*

�� Harry had
not expected Draco to come with him into the spare library where Hermione had
made the Floo call, but he did, and took up a standing position behind Harry,
his arm falling, as if casually, across Harry�s shoulders. Harry would have
rolled his eyes and told him he didn�t need to stake a claim in front of
Hermione, but his friend already looked impatient.

�� Besides, Harry
would never admit it to Draco�yet, anyway�but he liked the feeling of the arm
resting there, solid and immovable, a part of his life.

�� I have
fairly solid proof about who cursed Mr. Malfoy,� said Hermione, barely nodding
to Draco. She wore a cold smile of triumph, and Harry hid a shiver. Draco
leaned closer to him anyway. �I finally found a witness who was more curious
than the rest and less loyal to his family. He eavesdropped on a meeting
between Burne-Jones and Neverlong. They were the ones who came up with the
first ideas for the curse and chose Smythe as an appropriate dupe to cast it.
He�ll require a payment from your vaults, Harry. Can you manage that?�

�� Harry
started to answer, but Draco interrupted, voice full of vindictive glee. �He�ll
have whatever he wants from the Malfoy ones.�

�� Good.�
Hermione rustled about for a moment, then produced a Pensieve and passed it
through the fire. �He�s also agreed to confess under Veritaserum in a small
setting with only a few people present, if that�s necessary,� Hermione added.

�� Hopefully
it won�t be.� Harry handed the Pensieve to Draco, who cradled it under his
right arm like a newborn baby. His left arm remained draped across Harry�s
shoulders, as if it were unthinkable than he should move it. Harry tried not to
preen. Hermione would never understand why he was doing it, and it was too
awkward to try and explain right now. �Thank you, Hermione. How can we repay you?�

�� Make sure
that Burne-Jones, Neverlong, Foxe, and the rest are tried fairly,� Hermione
said bluntly, �not subjected to vigilante justice.�

�� Draco drew
a breath, but said nothing. Harry wished he had that luxury himself. He leaned
forwards, holding Hermione�s eyes. �Of course I want them to have fair trials,�
he said. He wouldn�t look at Draco. �The last thing I want is suspicion to
cling to my adopted family. And their families would probably be quite willing
to turn in the Malfoys for hurting their loved ones, even if they disapproved
or didn�t know about the original plan to curse Lucius.�

�� You never
finished listening to the Malfoy laws,� Draco said, his arm suddenly pressing
on Harry�s shoulders like a chain. �One of them is vengeance. No one is allowed
to get away with hurting a Malfoy.�

�� Hermione�s
face shut down in sharp lines of disapproval. Harry sighed, murmured some words
to her that he hoped would excuse his turning his attention away, and then
faced Draco. Draco looked obstinate and pleased with himself both at once, as
if he were obeying a rule he knew to be absolutely right. Not a good combination, Harry thought. �Listen,� he said. He
massaged the back of Draco�s hand with his cheek, since it lay on his shoulder,
and held his eyes. �You let Emptyweed get away with only a headache, even
though he could have told us about the conspirators earlier and even though he
cast the headache curse on me.�

�� You were
paying too much attention to my words and not enough to my wand movements.�
Draco�s eyes glittered. �I cast a nonverbal spell that will give him a permanent
headache, lasting the rest of his life. I thought it fit payment for the kind of
low-grade, constant suffering he caused you.�

�� You did what?� Hermione said.

�� Harry
wanted to bang his head against a wall, especially when Draco glanced at
Hermione and arched a brow. �It�s all right,� he said. �There�s no way he�ll
trace it back to our family, since I Obliviated
him. He�ll certainly never remember coming to the Manor.�

�� It�s the fact
that you did it at all�� Hermione began.

�� Harry
moved, standing so that he was literally between his friend and Draco. He
realized, as he reached out and cupped Draco�s face in his hands, that he had
no convenient term for his relationship with Draco. Friend? Not when they had
conflicts of ideals like this one. Brother? But no, Draco had made it clear he
wanted to make love to Harry. Could they be lovers when they had barely spent
time together in bed yet?

�� In the
future,� he said, voice so quiet that it would force Draco to pay attention to
him, �don�t do such things.�

�� I have to
protect you,� Draco responded simply.

�� Harry
smiled. �I appreciate the impulse,� he said, and heard Hermione snort behind
him. Well, right now he was dealing with Draco, and even if he wouldn�t reject
Harry for not choosing the right words, Harry still wanted to choose ones that
wouldn�t hurt him. �But it makes me uncomfortable when someone hurts others for
my sake. Whether that hurt is physical, magical, financial, or otherwise,� he
added, seeing Draco open his mouth and guessing what was coming next. �In
self-defense or the heat of battle, it�s one thing, but I still tried to use
non-fatal spells on the people who attacked me in hospital.�

�� Draco�s
eyes were nearly as dark with fury now as they had been earlier with arousal. �I�ll
find them,� he said. �And I�ll make them suffer.�

�� But that�s
exactly what I�m asking you not to do.� Harry lowered his voice even more and
stared directly into Draco�s eyes, smoothing his hands up and down his face. �Unless
what I want doesn�t matter to you?�

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes. �You�re being manipulative.�

�� Then I fit
right into this family, don�t I?� Harry asked, even as he smiled to let Draco
see he was joking.

�� Draco bit
his lip for a moment. Harry was surprised that he felt comfortable enough
around Hermione to show such a sign of uncertainty, and then realized that,
with the way he stood, his head and shoulders were blocking her from getting a
good glimpse of Draco.

�� At last
Draco, folding his arms stubbornly, said, �They also hurt my father. And if you
think Father and Mother will be content to let our enemies go unpunished for
doing that, then you have not learned anything about them at all.�

�� I�ll speak
with them,� said Harry. Draco blinked, probably at the implacable tone in his
voice. Hermione made a small spitting noise, as much to say that that wasn�t
good enough. �For now, there�s something I need to say to Hermione. Why don�t
you go see Lucius and Narcissa and prepare them for our talk? You can even tell
them exactly what you want to say and make up a secret strategy to use against
me. You won�t find me so easy to convince.�

�� Draco walked
slowly towards the door of the library. Once he paused with his hand on the
wall and looked back, opening his mouth. He ended up shutting it and walking
out without saying anything, however. A faint line between his brows denoted
the whirling of his mind, Harry was certain.

�� Harry
turned back to Hermione.

*

�� When Harry
stepped into Lucius�s bedroom, it was to face cool expressions from all three Malfoys.
He reminded himself that they had forgiven worse things from him; his seizing
Draco�s magic had been a crime even if it had saved Lucius�s life. And Draco
had admitted that he didn�t expect Harry to abandon his principles. Harry shut
the door behind him, though there was no one to close out except the house-elves,
who didn�t need doors, and leaned against it.

�� If you
will, Lucius,� said Narcissa, never taking her eyes off Harry.

�� The
fourteenth law of the Malfoys,� said Lucius, in tones that suddenly made Harry
wonder if Rogers had been imitating an ancestor after all, or just his current
master when he talked like this, �calls for the protection of the family. No
insult shall be suffered when it can be avenged. The authorities at any time are
unlikely to do much for us. We must dispense our own justice, our own mercy,
and our own punishment, as we must reward our best friends in secret if we
would keep any allies at all. You shall remember this, and carefully contrive
subtle and suitable punishments for those who hurt us, that others may fear and
hesitate to harm a Malfoy again.�

�� Well,�
Harry said, �that doesn�t make much
sense.�

�� Narcissa�s
lips twitched. Draco�s eyes opened wide. Lucius was back to the cool mask he
had worn for the first few days Harry tended him in hospital. �And why not?� he
asked. �I must admit it sounds very attractive to me, having endured the pain
that I did.� He touched the side of his face, as if Harry would forget about
the fading scars the healing potions had only just begun to affect.

�� It wants
you to punish people in secret, and yet do it in such a way that everyone will
fear you?� Harry snorted.

�� The ones
who matter will know,� Lucius said gravely. �In this case, the members of the
Burne-Jones and Neverlong families who were not involved in the plot against
me, and any Death Eaters or �victims� of mine who might have declined to avenge
themselves this way. They will know the risk is not worth it.� His hands
twitched on the covers, as if he imagined clutching his wand and having his
enemies in reach at the moment.

�� You have
enemies who were clever and brutal enough to devise this curse and cast it on
you in the first place, through a dupe who, I�m sure, had no idea what he was
doing,� Harry said.

�� Smythe did
not, no.� Lucius smiled. �We have looked through the memories in the Pensieve.
They are few and the explanation straightforward. When they had put the curse
together, which took many tries, according to our informant, they had to work
extensively with Smythe to be sure that he would cast it correctly and scatter
his saliva with the dreambane on me at the same time. Many of the minor spells
were linked together not so much to cause me to suffer as to baffle any
attempts at healing.�

�� And the
families of people like that are the
ones you want to enrage,� Harry said flatly.

�� There was a
long pause. Narcissa took a step back and then stood there looking like a
contented cat, which Harry felt was a pair of decidedly mixed signals. Draco
closed his eyes. Lucius leaned forwards. �This time, we shall be prepared for
them. And it�s at least possible that they won�t seek revenge.�

��

�� Do you believe they won�t?� Harry asked
quickly.

�� Lucius slowly
shook his head.

�� Then I
think this is stupid,� Harry said. �You risk drawing down danger on yourselves
when you�re still vulnerable�� He paused when he saw Narcissa dart a quick
glance at him. �We risk drawing down danger on ourselves,� he corrected
himself. Narcissa gave him a small smile that made him feel so absurdly good he
knew he would have to watch what he did in the future, as far as letting her approval
determine his actions. �If we let the Aurors take charge of this, those
families will blame the Ministry and not us. There�s no risk of getting in
trouble with the Aurors for our revenge,
either. We buy time for Lucius to recover, because the remaining enemies won�t
move whilst the Prophet�s attention
is on us, will they?�

�� No,� said
Draco, in a faint voice. �They have similar laws about the lack of wisdom in
drawing publicity to their vengeance.�

�� Well,
then.� Harry made a motion as if he were brushing invisible dust off his hands.
�There�s one more advantage. If this is the fourteenth law of the Malfoys, it
stands to reason that it�s fairly far down the list, and the others are more
important. I think we have a better chance of survival if we live through our
revenge vicariously.� He ignored Draco�s little mutter about how �Granger must
have taught you that word.� �And you can go on showing me how to settle into
the family. My comfort and safety, in this case, is more important than
revenge.�

�� Narcissa
smiled fully this time. �I agree with Harry,� she said. �You know that I�ve
disagreed with drawn-out revenge from the beginning, Lucius. I don�t want you
to make the same mistake that Neverlong and Burne-Jones did by giving you time
to get treatment and figure out who was behind the attack. And as we can think
of nothing that would be sharp, sufficiently painful, and yet undetectable,
turning the matter over to the Aurors is the best course.�

�� There may
be something yet,� said Lucius. �There are several books of Dark curses in the
library that I haven�t looked through in years.�

�� And I was
helpless during most of this,� Draco said passionately, his cheeks flushed. �I
want to do something.�

�� Helping
Lucius recover with your potion wasn�t enough?� Harry asked.

�� I want to
hurt someone. That�s different from healing.�

�� Harry didn�t
reply to that. It was too opposed to his own principles for him to make a rational
argument. Instead, he turned to Narcissa. �Of all the people in this room,� he
said, �you and I are most likely to get our wish.�

�� Narcissa
raised her eyebrows. Lucius said, in a lower and colder voice than Harry had
yet heard him use, �Malfoys owe loyalty to the first of their name, Harry. You
will tell me what you have done at once.�

�� Harry
grinned and made a point of facing Lucius slowly. He thought Draco might figure
out the truth before he could tell it, but Draco�s forehead was still wrinkled,
giving him the pleasure of announcing, �My friend Hermione Granger, who works
in the Ministry and discovered most of this information for us, has already
alerted the Aurors. If all went as scheduled�� he made an elaborate show of
drawing out the watch Mrs. Weasley had given him for his seventeenth birthday and
checking it ��then all the conspirators will have been arrested by now.�

�� I knew you wanted to stay behind with
Granger for a reason!� Draco exclaimed in fury.

�� As you
told me,� said Harry, putting away the watch and smiling at Draco, �I�m a
Malfoy in more ways than one.�

�� Lucius
spoke with a gentleness that would have frightened Harry more than open anger,
if he had decided to allow himself to be frightened. �We can strike at them as easily
when they are in Auror custody as we can when they are free. It�s a noble
effort, Harry, but shall only fail.�

�� No, you
can�t,� said Harry. �The Aurors aren�t always competent, that�s true, but they�ve
been much better at holding criminals since Kingsley Shacklebolt became
Minister. And you�ll still need a regular dose of healing potions for several
weeks, which means you won�t be away from the house for any length of time.�

�� Besides which,�
Narcissa said then, her voice as light as a fall of flower petals, �I agree
with Harry. No vengeance is worth the possible loss of life and prestige that
we would incur.�

�� Lucius
turned to glare at his wife, but she looked serenely back. She was more than a
match for him, so Harry wasn�t worried that her support would suddenly vanish.
He looked at Draco in turn, and wished he had something more solid than the
door to brace himself against, because Draco�s face was a mask.

�� When he
spoke at last, it was slowly, consideringly, as if he had thought of several
different perspectives on the situation that would never occur to Harry. �You�re
quite determined not to allow me my vengeance, are you?�

�� Quite,�
Harry said.

�� I�m not
bound to the house by my father�s limitations,� said Draco. �Or by my mother�s
opposition.� Narcissa slewed a glance sideways at him, but Draco didn�t choose
to take notice of this. �You�ll have a task to keep me here.�

�� Harry
ground his teeth. He had planned to open his own Healing practice as soon as
Lucius was cured, or within a week, when he had made absolutely sure that no
ill effects from the Mirror Maze�s curses lingered. �I would prefer to think
that you�re a responsible adult who knows when he�s been outmaneuvered, and��

�� I�m a responsible
adult who knows a sound bargain when he hears one,� Draco said. Finally, he
smiled. Harry thought the edges of the smile curled up like parchment touched
by fire. �I want you to agree to study for your Potions exam again, and to let
me help you.�

�� Harry
stared at him. Then he shook his head. �I�d agree if I thought that would do
any good,� he said. �They only let me sit my NEWTS a second time because I�m
Harry Potter. And I did as badly the second time as the first. No becoming a
Healer without an Outstanding on both the theory and the practical portions.�
He heard the bitterness coming out in his voice, and did his best to swallow it
back. �Your offer�s generous, but you can�t help me.�

�� The NEWTS
are offered as many times as needed to anyone in a particular profession,�
Draco said, �who�s already shown several years of proficient practice in that
profession. No, they won�t give it over and over again to lazy students who
haven�t chosen a job. But they will give it to you.� He surveyed Harry with
something uncomfortably close to pity. �You never looked again once you failed
the second time, did you?�

�� Harry
blushed.

�� And I don�t
know if I�m so generous,� Draco mused, �when I�ll drive you harder than Snape
ever did.� His face twisted with a complex expression as he mentioned Snape,
sorrow and resignation and exasperation and anger. Harry found himself wanting
to know what that meant. He wanted to know everything about Draco.

�� I never had
a problem with the amount of work involved,� said Harry. �It was Snape�s
teaching method I objected to.�

�� It�s
settled, then.� Draco smiled, and his eyes looked sleepy, which rather made
Harry distrust him. �You�ll let me teach you Potions, and in return I won�t
seek vengeance. Shall we aim for a date of October in which to take the NEWTS?�

�� I wouldn�t
want to inconvenience��

�� That would
be most convenient for me,� Draco
said, with a hint of sharpness in his voice.

�� Harry liked
to think he knew when to give in with good grace and when to stand his ground.
He nodded, and Draco reached out and ran a lazy hand up his arm. Then he turned
to Lucius; it seemed that his parents had taken the chance to look in the
Pensieve but Draco hadn�t, and he wanted to do so before he and Harry resumed
their interrupted morning activities.

�� It was just
as well, because, when he returned to his bedroom, Harry found Kreacher waiting
with a letter from Healer Pontiff.

*

�� Harry
stared at the letter sitting on the bedsheets and wondered if he had the
courage to read it. Kreacher was being roundly scolded by Rogers because he was
�a disgraceful and dirty and despicable example of a house-elf, whom Rogers is
being ashamed of.� He had already reassured Harry that he had seen no
suspicious activity from Healer Pontiff; he had listened to all the private
conversations she had with other people, and she only ever talked about Healing
and sometimes her nieces and nephews, when she firecalled her sisters.

�� On the
other hand, she had placed a letter on her kitchen table that morning and told
Kreacher he might as well take it to his master. She�d announced that without
looking around, and immediately walked out of the room. Kreacher had wavered,
but in the end accepted the letter and carried it back to Harry.

�� In the end,
Kreacher�s whimpering in front of Rogers was what convinced Harry to read the
letter. Poor Kreacher had suffered enough, and if Harry rejected what Healer
Pontiff had chosen to say to him, whether it was the truth or a bundle of lies,
that suffering would be for nothing.

�� Dear Harry:

�� First, I want to say that, as you have
collected enough evidence to show you have some suspicions of me, you may send
your house-elf to follow me again at any time.

�� Second, I know what you wish to accuse me
of. Others have accused me of the same fault in the past, and I can only answer
that I am too old and set in my ways to change.

�� Others
have accused her of conspiring with the hospital administrators?� Harry
muttered.

�� I do not notice enough. I have many cases on
my mind all at once, and give a full portion of my attention only to the
life-threatening ones. I only ask persistent questions, dedicated to uncovering
the truth, when I know that my patient has a reputation for lying or concealing
issues vital to his health. I did not have such an impression from you. Perhaps
I should have asked more questions of you when you came to me to heal your
injuries. But I trusted you to take care of your health.

�� Harry could
feel his ears flaming. It was true that, when Healer Pontiff asked him if he�d
taken any damage from curses during his flight from the conspirators, Harry had
been as vague as possible. He hadn�t mentioned the Breath-Stopping Curse at
all, and had only admitted to the one that cut bloody lines on his face and
legs because those couldn�t be hidden. And Healer Pontiff had nodded and healed
those.

�� Could he
blame her for taking him at face value? It was only Draco and Hermione who had
dug so much deeper, and that was because they knew him as a friend, instead of as a mentor knowing a student.

�� I have always been aware that there are
things happening in hospital of which I do not approve. When something like
that crosses my path and I can find out about it, then I use my influence to
investigate and stop it if I can. At other times, I fear I let vital things
slip. But there are always questions I should ask and do not�that is my fault
as lack of concentration is yours�and always patients to be helped. I choose to
help patients instead. I pride myself on never having lost a patient to hospital
corruption or for any factor that was not inherent to me or the case. But you
seem to suspect a connection between me and the people who hunted you.

�� I deny such a thing. I care for you deeply,
Harry. But from the beginning, I could tell you were a talented mediwizard, and
did not need as much of my individualized attention as other students. So I
spared my attention for them, and only looked in on you occasionally.

�� Harry
looked at the letter in wonder. He had always thought Healer Pontiff spent
extra time on him, and it was somewhat humiliating to be told she didn�t.

�� On the other
hand, the reason she didn�t made him
feel honored. And it would explain why she had never noticed Emptyweed�s
headache curse; she trusted him to tell the truth about how bad the headaches
were (which Harry never had) and to have to skill to tell if someone had cast a
curse on him.

�� I can understand if this does not soothe
your anxieties. Send your house-elf to follow me again if you wish. Or, if the
Malfoys will allow you to invite me to their house, I can visit next Saturday
at three in the afternoon. I understand the Malfoy son is in Potions training.
He can make Veritaserum for me. I prefer to take it in tea; I have an abnormal
sensitivity to potions that others find tasteless.

�� I hope these truths are not too hard for
you, Harry.

�� I remain

�� Yours,

�� Emily Pontiff.

�� Harry sat
back slowly on the bed and stared at the ceiling for long moments.

�� Then he began,
even more slowly, to smile. He was intensely, insanely, astoundingly happy.

�� There was
an excellent chance his mentor was not his enemy. He had a second family that
accepted him, besides the Weasleys, and a home like no other he�d ever known.
Lucius was cured. Hermione had promised to contact him immediately if there was
a problem with the arrests, which likely meant they had gone smoothly. He had a
chance to pass the Potions exam and become a full Healer in the future.

�� And then
the door opened, and Draco stood there with his eyes gone brilliant dark gray,
as they had been that morning.

�� Harry
swallowed and sat up.

�� And now, he and I are going to make love.

�� Yes, I�m very happy.

*

�� Haramiya:
Thank you! You got a few answers about Healer Pontiff here. Draco and Harry
will test her under Veritaserum to be sure.

�� Slytherdor,
kittycat30, swordandangel, Anon: Thanks for reviewing!

�� feltonslover:
While I suspect you�ll enjoy Chapter 20 most, I�m glad you like what you�ve
read. ;)

�� YanaYugi: I
don�t usually write dom and sub dynamics (I don�t understand them very well and
screw them up when I try; plus, I�m not very fond of them in reading, and I
like to write what I like to read). You do get a hint in this chapter of what
Draco�s like in bed, though.

�� avihenda:
Thank you!

�� Lucius
knows something about the practice that Harry doesn�t.

�� The way for
Draco to have an heir has been hinted at already, but it will probably be
spelled out explicitly in the next chapter, as I know other people are
wondering about that. I couldn�t come up with a graceful way to make the
information fit in Chapter 19.

�� qwerty: I
got the feeling many people felt that way, yes.

�� Let�s say
that the reason the star-paintings are up on the walls has to do with not every
member of the families being involved in the conspiracy. More will be revealed
in the next chapter.

�� shinythiefxblast:
Lucius is cured now. And the reason behind the star-patterns on the walls is
revealed in the next chapter.

�� hieisdragoness18:
A fair trial is going to happen to them!

�� gentlenightrain:
Thanks!

�� linagabriev:
Thank you! I really like writing the family dynamics centered around Narcissa.
Of course, Harry could come to depend on her approval too much.

�� The main
reason he thinks so often of Healer Pontiff is lack of confidence in his own
Healing skills. That may get better now that he�s healed Lucius, a major
triumph.

�� FallenAngel1129:
Nope, one more chapter to go.

�� hassan,
celestialuna: No, Lucius is cured.

�� GoddessMoonLady:
Yes, there�s a smut scene, but not until next chapter.

�� Mangacat:
Depends what kind of Malfoy wrath you mean! But yeah, the hospital
administrators have a competent Harry on their hands, which they didn�t want,
and the enemies havea cured Lucius, which they really didn�t want.

��
- 18
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Bloody But Unbowed