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For Their Unconquerable Souls	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 29229 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- 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
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Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Two�A Scattershot
of Impressions

�� His father
had been wounded, and he had not been there in time to kill the attacker.

�� That was
the only thought existing in Draco�s mind when he came through the door of Lucius�s
hospital room, and then he had to stop,
because another had joined it when he saw the Healer waiting in front of Lucius�s
bed. Or, no, not waiting, but spinning around to face him, as if he thought an
intruder more important than the man he was being paid to attend.

�� Harry Potter.

�� Draco would
have liked to curl around the sickening knowledge that Harry Potter held his
father�s life hostage and writhe with it in silence for some time, but he had
no moment in which to do so. Betraying weakness in front of someone not of the
family was intolerable. And he was in his late twenties now, with his Potions
mastery a few months of hard studying away. The only notice Potter deserved
from him was chill anger.

�� He bounded
past Potter then, returning to what was important, his father and the unknown
curse that had felled him. That one word in the letter, unknown, had scared him worse than all the rest. And now he had to
learn that not only was there a chance Lucius could die because no one
recognized the curse, but also that his treatment was in the hands of an
incompetent.

�� His father
looked up at him through a mask of glowing ice that Draco had long training in
seeing through. There was pain there, and some fear, but no resignation. He had
not given up, despite everything. And Draco fed on that strength and gave
strength back as a flowing river.

�� Father,
what happened?� Draco asked. He had meant to make his voice colder and stronger
than Lucius�s mask, but he saw the wound on his chest expand, then, as if
someone had dragged an invisible knife down the line. �I came as soon as I
heard, but�what is this?� He knew
part of the answer, but showing too much knowledge in front of someone like
Potter was inadvisable. �Dark Arts?� He drew his wand and held it casually at
his side. Whether he wanted to dispel the curse or send Potter away, it made
him feel better to have it drawn.

�� A curse,
my son.� Lucius�s voice was calm, ordinary, but the very answer told Draco that
Lucius had expected more of him. He�d told
him it was a curse in his letter; must Draco ask obvious questions? Draco
flickered an eyelash in acknowledgment, but said nothing. His distress and his
love for his father must be his excuses. �Healer Potter here��

�� Mediwizard
Potter.� Potter�s voice had a smug tone to it, Draco thought, glaring at him,
as if he were glad that he didn�t have the higher title, because then no one
could blame him when Lucius died under his care. �I never achieved full Healer�s
rank.�

�� Taking the
offensive against someone who held a family member�s life in his hands was
incautious, but Draco doubted that his father would scold him for it, because Potter
would not be the one ultimately left to tend to Lucius. They would find another
Healer. Narcissa would make sure of that, or Draco would find someone among his
Potions contacts who had the skill and interest to make a go at tending this
curse.

�� In the
meantime, Draco could use Potter as an outlet for relieving his stress.

�� Why not?�
he asked, leaning forwards, longing to see the words curdle Potter�s smile. �Too
busy running off to have adventures in the middle of treatments?�

�� A lack of
proper NEWT scores in Potions, actually.�

�� Draco felt
his eyes widen, in such a way that he knew Potter must have seen it happen. But
he managed to keep his jaw from falling open, which under the circumstances was
a coup. He had not known a Potter who had any sense of humor about himself. And
no one changed enough to have one where he hadn�t possessed it before in a few
short years. Great as the changes had been in Draco himself, he knew he was
incapable of it, and Potter, the inflexible, brittle Gryffindor, was not even
as adaptable as he was.

�� I have
some ideas about how to handle the curse, and the stabilization spells should
protect you from permanent damage for a few days before I have to renew them,�
Potter continued on, turning to Lucius. He seemed to find nothing extraordinary
in his own words, which infuriated Draco further. How dare Potter escape the impact that had stunned Draco into stillness?
��But I�ll be honest��

�� You seem
to be nothing but,� Lucius murmured.

�� Potter just
smiled as if he were trying not to get angry. Draco read the correct import of
those words, though. They were aimed at him. His father was saying they could
trust Potter�s ridiculous Gryffindor honor, if not Potter in general, and
wanted to warn Draco off making assumptions that they couldn�t. So Draco stayed
silent for the moment, his hand digging into the sheets behind Lucius�s
shoulder, where his whitened knuckles would be out of Potter�s sight, and
listened to Potter say, �A Healer would have access to more medical texts than
I do. I may be able to find you someone who won�t care about your reputation,
Mr. Malfoy, and who can command the attendance of several mediwizards or
mediwitches. Would you prefer that I do this?� He raised his eyebrows and
looked perfectly calm and perfectly concerned, as if he really would allow Lucius�s
decision to make a difference in the way he treated him.

�� Draco shook
his head in growing fury. From somewhere Potter had acquired the acting skills
to make it seem as if he were not salivating to take revenge on Lucius for
hurting his little girlfriend. That seemed incredible, impossible. But it was
even more so that his �gentle, professional, honest� mediwizard image could be
genuine.

�� You said
you were unsure that anyone in hospital would endeavor to treat me fully.�
Lucius�s voice was without emphasis. Draco bowed his head further to conceal a
smile. He doubted that Potter knew what the lack of inflection meant. His
father was making up his mind to something distasteful, and in this case that
was having to rely on Potter when he would surely rather use anyone else.

�� Yes, sir,
that�s quite true.� Potter sighed, a martyred sound. Doubtless this interfered
with his plans to go back to his office and get drunk, Draco thought, or owl
his Gryffindor friends and laugh about Lucius�s graciousness. �I trust my
willingness to do so��

�� Draco could
not let that line pass without comment. Potter had no idea what trust meant for
a member of a pure-blood family. It meant leaning on others� strength
absolutely and without comment when one had need to do so, and expecting that
they would do the same when their moment of need came. It meant intense
emotions, blazing the more brightly from their confinement to a small number of
people. Trust could never be a casual word there.

�� I don�t,�
he said.

�� Potter�s
eyes flickered sideways to him once, making Draco confident he had at least been
heard. Draco had forgotten how stunning they were, those eyes. He could have
wished he knew a family member who had them. To see them shine with earned trust would be something. But
they were in the wrong face, and the wrong tone of voice was saying, �But not
necessarily my skill. You might be better off with someone who would become
interested in the challenge even if he or she didn�t like you personally.�

�� His father
let that statement pass as it should, in a few moments of thinking silence.
Draco smelled snowflowers as his mother leaned past him and pressed her lips
into the edge of Lucius�s ear. She did not speak deliberately loud enough for
Draco to hear, but all matters of the family concerned him, and so he heard her
say, �We should send for someone else. This�this sparking honesty is not enough, not when unpaired with skill. I
would rather trust our bribes.�

�� Draco was
not foolish enough to nod, not when that might give Potter a guess at what
their whispered conversation had been about, but he privately agreed. The flash
of coins in the eyes of a greedy man or woman was far less troublesome than the
flash of a Gryffindor�s mercurial character.

�� His father
took his mother�s wrist and bore down. Narcissa leaned away with her face gone
a touch paler than usual, but she nodded. Draco felt his stomach tighten with
anxiety. He knew what his father was thinking, yes, but not what he was thinking. He had decided to take the
risk and lean on the strength of a man whom they could not bribe and had no
reason to trust.

�� Lucius
said, �I prefer that you work on me until we have seen your skill is
insufficient to the task.�

Potter bowed. That gesture,
combined with his next words, could almost have convinced Draco that he was
sensible of the honor he�d just received. �Thank you for trusting me, sir.
Allow me to revise these notes.� He held up a parchment he�d presumably used to
take notes on Lucius�s condition.. �I�ll return tomorrow for the books you
promised and to give you my preliminary diagnosis.�

�� He turned
and left.

�� That would
have been the prime moment for a private family conference. Draco could feel
the tendrils of soft, cold expectation reaching out from his mother and father
to enfold him, to bind him and draw him in with his face turned to theirs.

�� Instead, he
went after Potter.

�� Potter was
lowering his wand, taking a deep breath, as if he had passed out of some fetid
cell into clean air and wanted to exude the last traces of the smell from his
lungs. Draco would have complained about that, but Potter likely wouldn�t have
known what �fetid� meant. He turned around when he saw Draco, and for a moment
those green eyes were weary. Draco bristled. Potter was looking at him as if he
were one more obstacle to be struggled past on the way to�somewhere. Bed, perhaps.
Potter would be the kind of mediwizard who counted the hours between one rest
and the next, and thought a small bit of sleep missed was enough to entitle him
to an all day�s whinge. He had certainly whinged enough in school.

�� Yes,
Malfoy?� he said. �Can I help you?�

�� Draco
leaned towards him, hoping that Potter would see he was still a few inches
shorter than Draco and recognize a threat when he saw it. But all that happened
was the crinkling of a few lines around Potter�s eyes, as if he were actually amused, so Draco saw he would have to do
something he despised doing for people outside the family and make himself
clear. �If you don�t cure my father, what that curse does to him will seem like
nothing beside what my curse does to
you.�

�� Potter
paused as if he were thinking about it. Draco wanted to hiss at him. Why did he
need to think about it? Draco, with
the knowledge of both Dark Arts and poisons he�d gained in the last few years,
was only telling the truth, and he had spoken in an intimidating whisper.

�� I look
forwards to your demonstration of competence,� Potter said then, and bowed to
him. His voice was mock-grave, though it took Draco a moment to notice that
beside the shock of his next words. �You can only have improved since I last
saw you.�

�� Then he
turned his back and walked away.

�� A Muggle
saint couldn�t have been asked to resist the temptation that his uncaring spine
presented. Draco had never compared himself to a Muggle saint except when he
had to deal with a few of his more incompetent colleagues. He raised his wand
and aimed a careful Stinging Hex at the back of Potter�s robes.

�� It streaked
away towards Potter, on target as always, and then bounced. Draco had time for surprise, but not enough time to move.
The Hex enveloped his fingers, and they began to burn, particularly around the
nails. He yelped and held the hand closer to his body, staring at Potter as he
walked on. There was an extra spring to his walk now, Draco thought, since he
had heard the noise.

�� The Potter
Draco had been creating in his mind and drawing from the man in front of him crumbled.
Someone incautious, someone thinking only of his bed and of insulting people
better than he was, didn�t put wards on the back of his robes that would
instantly deflect a skillful hex.

�� Draco
stepped slowly back into his father�s hospital room, never taking his eyes off Potter
as he went. Perhaps Potter�s motivation lay elsewhere, then. Perhaps he
intended to take his vengeance by healing
Lucius, showing the Malfoys that their patriarch�s life depended on a
half-blood, and insulting them at the same time.

�� That was
too subtle for the man Draco had thought he knew, but he was coming to realize that
he might not know Potter so well.

*

�� I do not
think confronting Potter again would be wise, Draco.�

�� Draco
turned slowly, leaning one shoulder against the wall. He hadn�t spoken to his
mother that morning; he had simply spent a little longer in the loo than usual,
making sure the magical shampoo had washed every speck of dirt out of his hair,
and used an enchantment that drew attention to his gray eyes. But his mother
had read the truth from those brief, subtle clues.

�� Of course,
she had been meant to. And if she had been a whit less clever, Lucius would not
have married her, and she would not have survived the passion that swirled in
the confines of the Malfoy home.

�� Narcissa
was standing at the bottom of the grand staircase, her hands resting gently on
her hips. She wore a shining lavender gown this morning, with streaks of gray.
Draco approved. They would have at least a few visits from old �associates� of
Lucius who had heard the truth and came to offer their half-false condolences,
and they would devour every movement Narcissa made, every flicker of her
eyelid, every tint of color to her cheeks. This gown made her look normal, not
pale, calm. They would go home perhaps wanting to believe that she was resigned
to her husband�s death, but not able to find evidence for it in her manner.

�� I�m not
going to confront him as in use magic on him,� said Draco. �I do want to test
his skill, yes, especially after what I found out last night.� He had asked a
few Healers he passed, using a combination of flirtation and a subtle glamour
charm so they weren�t quite able to catch a glimpse of his face, and learned that
what Potter said was true. He had only achieved a mediwizard�s rank due to a
lack of skills with potions. Draco himself could supply that lack, should his
father need them, but he didn�t like the fact that St. Mungo�s thought it
perfectly permissible to cast Lucius Malfoy into the care of a man who couldn�t
brew.

�� The implications
of that stretched far beyond the moment. And perhaps Potter noticed them and
knew what they meant better than Draco himself, since he had worked in the
place for several years. But if that was the case, he had accepted Lucius�s
care anyway, and so he was either plotting something or overconfident.

�� And if he�s
in the middle of a delicate procedure that could cost your father�s life?�
Narcissa�s voice carried no more emphasis than Lucius�s had at some points last
night. It didn�t need to. The level gaze Draco received told him everything he
needed to know.

�� Then I�ll
leave him alone, of course, and wait until he�s done.� Draco snorted at the way
his mother tilted her head, which had the effect of sharpening her gaze. It had
been most effective on him when he was still a boy of five. Now he knew exactly
where the sudden urge to squirm came from. �Mother, you must know we can�t
leave Father in the hands of an absolute incompetent.�

�� I judge
his skill to be greater than his tact,� said Narcissa.

�� Draco
blinked. It was the most approval his mother had given to anyone outside the family
circle in years. Of course, since the war they had been particularly embattled,
likely to see only enemies or those �friends� who would gloat about their
fallen status, but still, his mother could have complimented a real Healer, not
Harry Bloody Potter.

�� I�ll be
quiet,� he said. �Sedate. Cautious. Everything you expect of me.�

�� Except charming.�
Narcissa�s lips had lifted into a faint, reluctant smile. Draco rejoiced to see
it. She had been more silent than usual, face blank even around him, since
Lucius had landed in hospital. Of course, she had reason to be. Lucius�s death
would leave a hole in their defenses that she, who had seen one family
disintegrate, would understand better than Draco did. Knowledge taken from
history books was never as effective in teaching lessons as first-hand
experience.

�� Do you
really think Potter deserves charming,
Mother?�

�� No.�
Narcissa gave him a long, piercing glance that made Draco feel as if one of the
enchanted mirrors on the wall had suddenly gained the power to look back. �But
no more would I wish you to alienate him when so far he seems a Fool.�

�� Draco felt
his eyebrows rise. The Fool was a private reference his mother had carried out
of her youth, when she had sometimes handled the cards usually used by idiots who
believed in Divination. The cards didn�t work for anyone except true Seers, so
his mother had given them up in time, but she had taught some of their names
and signs to Draco. The Fool was a rare type: honest, lucky, always skirting
the edge of disaster but always escaping it again, and drawing others with him
into his madcap life.

�� If Potter
really was one, Narcissa was telling him in much fewer words, they should let
him work unmolested.

�� And looking
back over the miraculous way Potter had escaped death again and again, Draco
could see why his mother might believe that. But he himself would need more
proof before he decided that Potter could simply be left alone with his father
and warrant none of Draco�s interference.

�� So now he
murmured, �I think him masked,� and departed through the fire, whilst his
mother sighed like rattling crystal behind him.

*

�� Draco
leaned against the door of his father�s room and allowed himself to be
reluctantly impressed. Potter had information from the Ministry, important
information that might not have come to their family otherwise, and he was
speaking to Lucius in a fearless voice that made Draco inclined to agree with
his father�s assessment of Potter�s honesty.

�� On the
other hand, he was also using language that was less than respectful to the
head of a pure-blood family, let alone a patient. At one point he asked if both
Draco�s parents had been virgins the first time they had sex!

�� And then he
admitted that he and the youngest Weasley had been.

�� That made
Draco narrow his eyes and lean hard against the doorframe as his mind jolted
into a new path. He knew from reading the newspapers of the past few years that
Potter frequently dated other people, both men and women, and just as frequently
broke up with them. When Draco had bothered to think about that, which wasn�t
often, he had simply assumed that Potter�s high standards meant he was unable to
be satisfied with a conquest for long. But perhaps it was really because he was
a slut and needed a new variety of sex constantly.

�� Draco had
never had sex with him. If he seduced Potter, perhaps that would mean that Potter
would be contented for a short time, enough to keep his mind focused on Lucius�s
treatment, because he wanted to please Draco and keep him interested. Draco had
no doubts about his ability to keep Potter interested.

�� Glad for
the instinct that had led him to spend some extra time on his grooming this
morning, he waited for the perfect moment to intrude, and then he heard Potter
say, �My best guess at the moment is that Smythe also cast a third spell buried
under the two that seem obvious, and that spell didn�t go exactly as he
planned.�

�� Your best
guess,� Draco said, and made sure to drawl as he said it. Potter stared at him
with true anger for a moment before he managed to master his emotions. Draco
wanted to chuckle with delight. Potter might like to think of himself as
controlled, unsusceptible to tactics like the one Draco was trying on him, but
he had nothing compared to a pure-blood�s paranoid mastery of emotions outside
the walls of his home.

�� It was
perfect, Potter�s response to that and the next few sentences Draco spoke to
him. He taunted him with information he�d heard from the other mediwizards�that
Potter really should have figured out the pattern of Lucius�s curse by now,
because he was supernaturally quick at things like that�and watched Potter
flush as he sought for a response. By the time he turned and asked his father
how he was, Draco was feeling confident in his ability to stir up an emotional
reaction from Potter. Right not it was anger, but that would change when Draco
turned on the charm and the flattery.

�� Lucius gave
him a flat stare, warning Draco that he was taking things too far for their na�ve,
pathetic little mediwizard. Draco ignored him. His father might have certain
opinions about how he would like things
to go, but he was flat on his back in a bed with a potentially dangerous man
trying to �save� his life. Draco would just have to take charge and make sure
that Potter was actually useful, guided and directed to the proper ends.

�� Then he saw
someone gesture from out in the corridor, and Potter excused himself to duck
out after the person. Draco started to cast a spell that would let him listen
to the conversation, but Lucius regained his attention with a harsh squeeze of
his hand.

�� What are
you doing, Draco?� he whispered.

�� Making
sure that I can affect Potter.� Draco held his own face in a mock-innocent expression,
so if Potter came back through the door suddenly, he�d simply seem to be having
an inoffensive conversation with his father.

�� You intend
to��

�� Seduce
him?� Draco laughed at the twitch of his father�s eyebrow. Lucius didn�t
believe in mixing sex with business, but then, that was because he hadn�t ever
cheated on his wife. Draco didn�t intend to marry as young as his father had,
or ever, unless he was lucky enough to find someone who could be trusted with
the secrets of the family. No pure-blood witch or wizard of his acquaintance
was like that. If worst came to worst, he would use blood magic to adopt a
child and thus continue the Malfoy line. �Yes, I do. It�s the only way I think
I can bind him securely to us. And until you�re out of hospital, I won�t entrust
your life to anyone whose first loyalty is not to us.�

�� Lucius�s
lips twitched for a moment, and he gave a nod. Potter swept back into the room
then, his own lips clamped. Draco turned to face him and prepared for some
lecture on the impropriety of being close to his own father�s bedside.

�� Instead,
Potter spoke the words that changed everything and smashed Draco�s half-formed
plans to try and get into Potter�s bed tonight to splinters. �I just received a
warning from my immediate superior. There are certain people who don�t want you
here and might well attack you.�

*

�� js: Thanks!
That reassures me. I really don�t want the retelling to bore anyone who read
the original story.

�� deadhead:
Thank you!

�� paigeey07:
Thanks for reviewing!

�� linagabriev:
The whole family, though Narcissa�s scenes will be more limited; Lucius does
have some more scenes where I want his perspective instead of Draco�s. And yes,
writing the thoughts on the family/blood arguments and Harry�s stupidity will
be amusing. At the moment, of course, they have no reason to care that much
about him.

�� I really
can�t say how long this story will be. The chapters, as you may have noticed,
are breaking at different places than they did in Bloody But Unbowed.

�� TimeFlys:
Thank you! This is the same story seen through the Malfoys� eyes, with some
scenes (like the one between Draco and Narcissa in this chapter) that Harry
never got to see.

�� Caldonya:
Thanks for reviewing!

�� Thrnbrooke:
Glad you�re so excited. ;)

�� minn yun: That
will be one of the most fun things to write. Draco doesn�t understand why Harry
would exhaust himself in pursuit of his job at
all. It doesn�t leave time to attend to what�s important! Like seducing
people.

�� heisdragoness18:
Thank you!

�� Kiroko:
Thank you very much! Already I think the style is different for the Malfoys
from how I wrote Harry in the original story. It�s wordier and more abstract,
for one thing.

�� Nightrikku:
Yes, this will cover the whole story, with the exception of those scenes where
Harry was not with any of the Malfoys.

�� Mangacat:
Thanks! I hope you find Draco�s POV as amusing.

�� Christabell:
Thanks! I hope you retain that impression (I was getting exasperated with Draco
in this chapter).
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For Their Unconquerable Souls