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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
- 19
- 20
Thank you again for all the reviews!

This is the last chapter of Bloody But Unbowed. Thanks for reading along!

Chapter
Twenty�Brilliant as Blood or Love

�� Rogers and
Kreacher turned around and looked up at Draco. A moment later, they had both
vanished. Harry blinked. �Did you say something to them?� he asked, momentarily
shaken out of his rising daze of lust.

�� They know
when we�re serious and won�t be persuaded otherwise.� Draco shut the door
behind him and began to undo his robes, his motions smooth and leisurely, as if
he knew that Harry wouldn�t run away or object this time. Harry licked his lips
several times, and still couldn�t make them moist enough to be comfortable or
pull enough saliva into his mouth. �Unlike this morning,� Draco continued, and his
voice had deepened into a growl. �Unless something else has happened to
convince you otherwise in the meantime.�

�� God, no.�

�� Draco
seemed satisfied with that half-involuntary gasp, given his flashing smile. He
took another step forwards. His robes hung off his shoulders now, revealing a
long strip of chest incredibly pale for someone who stepped out of his house
more than once a week. Harry wanted to lick it.

�� And why shouldn�t I? There was no law
that said he had to remain motionless on the bed whilst Draco undressed. Harry
stood and crossed the room with a few swift, silent steps.

�� Draco, his
attention on a stubborn button, didn�t notice until Harry was standing in front
of him. He looked up with a slight gasp as Harry seized his chin, and then Harry
was kissing him, thrusting his tongue in gleefully, to have more of that taste
he�d only really experienced the day in the lab when Lucius sickened.

�� No need to think of that right now. It�s
past and done, and finally, finally you can think of Draco the way you were
meant to.

�� Harry
pushed Draco�s robes out of the way and spent a moment tracing the line of his
shoulder blade, running back to his collarbone. Draco stood still, his eyes
shut and his breath departing his lips in quick little pants. Harry smiled and
dipped his head to follow the path with his teeth and tongue. Draco swayed back
and forth, seeming torn between writhing and remaining motionless to experience
the sensation more intensely.

�� What happens if I scrape my teeth against
his skin a little harder? Harry realized he had no idea how much roughness
Draco liked in bed; it wasn�t a common conversational topic, understandably
enough, when his father was still sick. A deep thrill ran through him at the
thought of how much he had to learn about Draco, how much to explore.

�� In this
particular case, what happened when he scraped his teeth across Draco�s
shoulder was that Draco came to life. He twisted, grabbed Harry�s neck, and
hauled his face back up for another ferocious kiss. It was the first kiss in
which Harry had ever forgotten where he was. He tasted only the smooth dart and
liquid whip of Draco�s tongue, heard only his own choked moans and Draco�s
hungry half-snarls, until Draco suddenly pushed him backwards. Harry didn�t
even have time to grasp at Draco�s arms before he found himself flat on his
back on the bed, Draco crawling above him and pinning him to the sheets with
his knees around Harry�s ribs. Harry panted, not sure whether the fall or the
parting of Draco�s lips from his had startled him more.

�� Draco
stared down at him with a possessive, covetous look that made Harry�s cock
harden to the point of pain. Other lovers had looked at him much the same way,
if not for the same reasons; Harry had discovered too late that Xavier used
that expression because he was thinking of how he was the only person in the
wizarding world to have Harry Potter in bed at the moment. But Draco�s look
seared as if he could change the past as well as the future, as if Harry had
never had any lover but him.

�� He pushed
his robes off his shoulders, never taking his eyes from Harry�s. They collapsed
in a soft puddle of cloth onto Harry�s legs, teasing his groin with a whisper
of fabric. He tried to push his hips into it, but Draco�s legs kept him locked
down, and the next moment the robe had been shoved to the floor.

�� You should
undress,� Draco said. His voice was the guttural growl that had aroused Harry
this morning. �I want you naked.�

�� His eyes
were brilliant with desire again, and Harry nodded agreement, not sure he could
speak. He reached for his wand, but Draco caught his wrist in both hands,
rubbing his fingers softly along the skin beneath which Harry�s pulse beat. He
smiled, and Harry found himself moving only as Draco directed, gripping the first
button on his robes.

�� The slow
way,� Draco said. �I�ve seen far too little of you, and I want to appreciate
the first sight.�

�� Harry felt
himself blush. Draco�s eyes were too bright. This, Harry thought, was the
expression he had probably worn when ordering Rogers to hang the mirror in the
bedroom. He looked as if he really thought Harry beautiful, as if he were
someone who deserved to be looked at
in such a fashion.

�� But Harry
knew Draco wasn�t stupid or thoughtless. Perhaps, this once, he could believe
that he did deserve it.

�� He undid
his robes slowly, holding Draco�s fascinated gaze sometimes, and looking at the
way Draco�s hair hung around his face at other times. Light strands of it
fanned back and forth; Draco�s head must be quivering, perhaps with the
swallows Harry could hear him making. Harry�s fingers itched with the urge to
grab that hair and drag down Draco�s face for a kiss.

�� But he
seemed intent on Harry undressing first, so Harry unbuttoned his robes until he
reached the point at which he couldn�t push them back any more because Draco
sitting on him prevented it. �Draco,� he whispered.

�� Hmmm?�
Draco�s voice rang high on a rasping note at the end, like the humming of a
bee.

�� You�ll
need to lift up.�

�� Draco
blinked slowly, seeming to fetch back his brain from a very long distance. Then
he gave a sly smile Harry groaned at. �I do, don�t I?� he murmured, voice a
growl again. �Well, I wouldn�t want you to miss me too much in the meantime.�

�� He settled
back, rubbing his arse against Harry�s cock. Harry bucked in sheer surprise at
first, and then closed his eyes and matched his imagination to the firm flesh
touching him. He had never seen Draco�s arse without the protection of cloth,
but not even cloth could disguise how good it felt.

�� And then
Draco swung his leg away from Harry�s hip and crouched on the bed beside him.
When Harry popped one eye open to glare at him, he saw Draco had a smug smile.

�� Well, two can play at that.

�� Harry
pushed his robes off as slowly as though he were about to change his mind any
moment. He wore nothing but pants under them, so he had the satisfaction of
seeing Draco�s eyes widen and his breath quicken as he caught sight of Harry.

�� Then Harry
rolled smoothly over, seized his wand, flicked it so that Draco�s trousers
rolled down his hips and off the bed�a charm he�d perfected for quickly
undressing bleeding patients so that he could tend to their wounds�dropped the
wand back on the table beside the bed, and bent to lick a long stripe over
Draco�s hip.

�� Draco let
out a hoarse half-bellow; he�d probably intended to protest, but Harry had made
him react in this undignified manner instead. Harry felt a moment�s enormous
glee. Then he moved his mouth and settled it over Draco�s cock without warning,
and that reaction was even better: an
instant full-body flush and Draco�s delighted, high-pitched �Harry!�

�� I�ll be able to tease him about screaming
like a little girl, Harry thought in contentment, before he closed his eyes
and gave himself up to the sensation.

�� Draco�s
skin was salty and sharp-tasting in his mouth, laying a stripe of fire along
his tongue very much like the one he must have created on Draco�s hip. His cock
was unexpectedly thick just below the head, nudging Harry�s lips apart an
uncomfortable but satisfying distance and nudging hard against his palate.
Harry swallowed around the fullness and used the motion to pull Draco�s
erection deeper into his mouth. His tongue lashed under the head and lapped at
the vein running towards the shaft, and Draco fell back on the pillows, his
upper body limp, his lower body tensed and his hips thrusting helplessly.

�� Harry
clenched his hands in the sheets to keep from touching himself. He wanted Draco
to do that. But oh, it was tempting,
when Draco�s thighs quivered and then fell open, his back arching as if he were
offering his whole body to Harry to do what he wished.

�� The only
thing that could be better was if Draco reached down and grabbed his hair. And
his hand had settled on Harry�s head, his fingers twining into the curls in a
moment. Harry moaned in anticipation and opened his mouth wider, meaning to
take Draco as far down as his throat as he could and suck to cause his orgasm.

�� No, stop!�

�� Well, that�s a first. Not even Francis,
when he was disappointed at Harry for not doing the things in bed that he
wanted to do, had ever stopped him in the middle of a blowjob. Harry swallowed
his disappointment instead, licked the head of Draco�s cock one more time, and
lifted his head.

�� What?� He didn�t care if he sounded
annoyed. He knew he was excellent at giving head. Draco had no right to look as
if he were struggling desperately to control himself. He was supposed to be losing control, and losing himself down
Harry�s throat at the same time.

�� Not like
that,� Draco whispered. He�d recovered at last, but his eyes were so dark they
looked as if they were all pupil, and the hand that he used to caress Harry�s
cheek shook so much his fingernail nearly stabbed Harry in the eye. Well, that
was something, at least, a sign that Harry had affected him.

�� You want us
to both suck each other at the same time?� Harry eyed Draco�s mouth in
interest. Fantasies were rushing through his head now, so thick and
brightly-colored that he barely had time to identify one before it gave way to
the next. He licked his lips to tell Draco he had no problem with that.

�� No.� Draco
stroked his cheek more steadily this time. His mouth curled in an expression of
hunger that had Harry clenching his hand in the sheets again. �No, I want to fuck
you.�

�� Draco had
no right to sound so good when he made the k
sound of fuck, either. Harry�s
body bent towards him before he could stop it, as if it were under Draco�s will
and not his own. Draco closed his eyes for a moment when he saw that.

�� Yes,�
Harry said, with all the dignity and serenity he could muster, �yes, I think
I�d like that.�

�� Draco was
on him then, pinning him to the bed and kissing him insistently. Harry kissed
him back and wrapped his arms around his shoulders, rocking for a moment,
testing whether Draco would prefer to lie down and let Harry ride him. But
apparently Draco was a traditionalist in some things, because he took Harry�s
wrists in one hand and pinned them to the pillows above his head.

�� That works, too, Harry thought, and
spread his legs, showing his arse to Draco. �Well?� he prompted, when Draco
simply stared at him. �Get on with
it.�

�� You
wouldn�t like me to simply get on with it,� Draco whispered, even as he reached
for Harry�s pants. He had to reach twice, because he couldn�t take his eyes off
Harry�s arse. Harry felt another warm glow of satisfaction and power spread
through him. He talked about how he
needed to make me realize I was beautiful, but a look like that is better than
all the words in the world. �I have the feeling it would be a bit too�much�for you to handle.�

�� Braggart,�
Harry panted.

�� Oh, no.�
Draco tore the pants off, then seized Harry�s wand. When he flicked the wand, a
large pool of shimmering liquid appeared on Harry�s belly and coating his
arsehole, making him yelp and wriggle. �At this, I�m exactly as good as I say I
am.�

�� Harry had
never tried to hold someone�s gaze whilst they were fingering him. He had
thought it impossible, given that his instinctive reaction to pleasure was to
shut his eyes and toss back his head. But Draco wouldn�t let him look away as
he slid his fingers slowly through the liquid on Harry�s stomach, coating his
hand and trickling it down to join the rest at his entrance, or when his first
finger slid into Harry�s arse, Harry realized how much more intense it was this
way, like trying to hold still during an orgasm. His belly was tightening with
delight; he gasped silently again and again, because he couldn�t quite get his
breath behind the sounds to make them into full words.

�� Yes,� Draco said, voice so thick he
sounded as if someone were strangling him.

�� Harry felt
satisfaction stir in him at that sound. He might be more affected than he had
ever been, but so was Draco, and he saw no point in hiding it, so Harry could
fully enjoy the sense of giving Draco pleasure even though he didn�t have his
cock in Harry yet.

�� When the
second finger joined the first, Harry had to concentrate more fully on the
sensations inside his arse. Draco kept parting his fingers and then bringing
them back together and crooking them slightly, a regular motion that was surprisingly
hard to get used to. Or maybe it was the idea that Draco was partially inside
him that made him pant and squirm. Harry parted his legs without conscious
thought that he�d do so, and Draco murmured and bent to bite at his hip.

�� Draco moved
to add a third finger. Harry laughed, and then frowned. He hadn�t meant his
voice to shake like that when he chuckled. Well, it had, and Draco was already
looking smug. Harry planned to take that arrogant look away, anyway, in a
moment.

�� Two�s
enough,� he said.

�� How long
has it been since someone fucked you?� Draco managed not to sound as if
jealousy was eating his stomach out, but Harry could hear the effort it took
him. He laughed again, and Draco scowled, his free hand tightening on Harry�s
waist. He�d moved it down when he saw Harry could be trusted to keep his own
hands in place.

�� Four
months or so,� Harry said. �And that was Xavier Brandeis.�

�� That fool
who confronted you in hospital?�

�� Harry
nodded. �And the one who cast the Beetle�s Bite on me through the wards at
Grimmauld Place.�

�� Draco
bristled like a cat. �You only forbade me from taking vengeance on the people
who hurt my father,� he said.

�� But I did
tell you that I didn�t want you ever taking revenge for me, no matter what the
situation was,� Harry said.

�� Draco
curled his lip.

�� Listen,�
Harry said persuasively, determined not to discuss past lovers when they hadn�t
even experienced each other in the present yet. �You can take a better
vengeance on Xavier than by hunting him down, even if he never knows it.� Draco
arched a brow, and Harry smiled. �Make me forget him.�

�� Yes,� Draco said in that guttural way
again, and leaned back on his heels. He gave Harry one more heavy-lidded look,
one more chance to back out. Harry lifted his chin and stared back stubbornly.
Draco nodded and then lined up his cock with Harry�s entrance. Harry spread his
legs still further and adjusted the angle of his arse.

�� Keep doing
that and I�ll come before I get inside you,� Draco muttered.

�� Harry threw
him a look of scorn which he knew mingled challenge with it. �Even Xavier never did that.�

�� Draco
growled and bent forwards, pressing into him. Harry held his breath, then let it
out slowly. That technique had helped him relax in the past when a lover�s cock
was entering him for the first time.

�� He had
never been entered like this before, breached so inexorably or by someone he
had so wanted to have inside him, and his attention remained on Draco no matter
how much he loosened his muscles or slid down to welcome him. Harry accepted
the burn of the penetration gladly; it was yet another sign that this was
really happening and not just a dream or another scene that Rogers could interrupt.

�� Draco
stopped at last, his balls resting gently against Harry�s skin, his head
hanging as if the effort to enter him had been too much. He looked
extraordinarily proud of himself. �All right there?� he asked, bending to lick
a line of sweat from Harry�s chest.

�� More than
all right,� Harry said, and grinned at him. �Besides, you haven�t done anything yet. Do you want to be a
rival to Xavier or not?�

�� Draco
snarled and snapped his hips forwards. Harry cried out, the lower half of his
body rising from the bed and his toes curling. Draco smirked; he knew a cry of
pleasure from a cry of pain, which was a point in his favor. Harry had had to
reassure Xavier every step of the way, though perhaps that was less because
Xavier had been a poor lover than because he liked being praised.

�� Draco gave
a slow thrust the next time, then two more long ones, then three quick jabs
that hit Harry�s prostate and made his eyes fall shut at last. Even in the
darkness there was no escape from the keen, almost cruel pleasure. It hunted
him down, and he let his head fall back and his arms twitch.

�� Keep your
hands there,� Draco whispered. He had settled into a steadier rhythm now,
helped by the thickness and softness of the bed, which worked as well as a
pillow placed under Harry�s hips. �I like that.�

�� Harry
laughed low in his throat. He liked it, too.

�� And he
liked the way Draco�s fingernails dug into his skin, pinching and scratching
too hard and marking him. He liked the way Draco had begun to release quiet
gasps on the end of every thrust, as if his happiness had to escape somehow. He
liked the way Draco�s tongue would dart unpredictably across his skin, or one
of his hands would brush Harry�s cock. The sudden touches were about as
frequent as the hits to his prostate.

�� He didn�t
realize he was moaning and sighing until Draco said, �Quite a concert you�re
giving me, Harry.�

�� Harry
opened his eyes, unsure if he most wanted to smile or glare, and then Draco,
staring straight at him, grabbed his cock and rotated his hand around it,
squeezing the head, at the same moment as he rubbed Harry�s prostate firmly
with his cock.

�� Harry cried
out, the vision of Draco above him blurring as pleasure struck him like a
sudden meeting with the ground after a fall from a broom. The feeling seemed to
start in his bones, then collect in his belly, wash around, and shoot out
through his cock. Draco never stopped softly squeezing him even though it
splashed his hand with white stickiness. Then he held out his hand to Harry to
clean off, seeming utterly confident that Harry would instead of lying there
limp and sated.

�� Harry
sucked one finger into his mouth and clenched down with his inner muscles at
the same time.

�� No�fair�� The two words Draco spoke were
just recognizable as he thrust forwards, paused, hesitated, froze, and then
hammered out his orgasm into Harry, coming with force that sent him crashing
onto Harry�s chest before he finished, his hips still moving in languid pushes.
Harry went on to leisurely clean up his come from Draco�s fingers and enjoy, as
he hadn�t been able to before, the mere presence of Draco�s cock in his body.

�� I think
that was a draw,� Draco said at last, shifting around so he could see Harry�s
face without disconnecting their bodies. �I trust that I�ve sent Xavier
entirely out of your head.�

�� Harry put
on the perplexed expression he had used to confound embarrassing schoolmates
whom he didn�t want to admit to knowing. �Who�s Xavier?�

�� The best
part was that Draco actually looked worried for a moment.

*

�� Mr.
Malfoy. Hello.� Healer Pontiff nodded to him as she sat down on a chair in the
ground floor room Narcissa had told Harry the family kept specifically for
visitors whom they didn�t want to see the rest of the house. The walls were
bland and so was the furniture, white marble in the one case and brown wood in
the other. Nothing in the room said anything about who the Malfoys were, the
aesthetics they favored, or what they liked. Harry could admire the effect, as
little as he thought the pretense necessary.

�� But then,
one thing he hadn�t managed to match his new family in yet was paranoia.

�� Hello.�
Draco�s smile was grim. Harry knew that look. Draco had worn it when he gave
Harry a preliminary exam in Potions theory and realized how much he would have
to learn. Harry had suggested abandoning the project if it would cost too much
time for Draco to teach him, and Draco had suggested resuming his vengeance.
That was the end of that conversation.

�� Healer
Pontiff didn�t seem to notice Draco�s expression, or more likely she did and
chose not to care about it. She smiled and held out her hand to Harry. He went
to her, though he looked carefully at her palm first, to appease Draco. Draco
had drilled him in the signs of the most common poisons that could be slid
beneath the nails and sprayed across the palm, as well as some hand weapons
that could be hidden up a sleeve. He appeared convinced that Healer Pontiff was
an assassin who had trained in obscure Muggle martial arts.

�� Thank you
for coming,� Harry murmured in turn. He saw no sign of weapons or poison, of
course, only his mentor�s hand, calloused from years of work. He clasped and
shook it, making a mental comparison between it and the softness of Draco�s
hands. He was always doing that since he and Draco had become lovers. It was
disconcerting; he was more physically aware of Draco than anyone he had ever
shared a bed with.

�� Well, that only makes sense. You�ve never
had a lover like him.

�� Anything
to free myself from suspicion in the eyes of my favorite student.� Healer
Pontiff settled comfortably back in her chair. �Have you finished putting the
Veritaserum in the tea? I like a dash of sugar, no more than that.�

�� Draco gave
Healer Pontiff a steady annoyed stare as he tipped three drops of Veritaserum into
the cup of tea standing ready, following it with sugar he had to summon Rogers
to fetch. Harry concealed a grin as he sat down in the chair opposite Healer
Pontiff. The more willing she was to take actions that would clear her name,
the worse Draco seemed to hate it. Presumably he thought it was only reasonable
that everyone should skulk about as he would, refusing to reveal their secrets.

�� Pontiff
sipped the tea and gave a satisfied sigh. �Some amazing changes in the
hierarchy of the hospital,� she remarked to Harry. �Burne-Jones and Neverlong
have been arrested. And Foxe. Really, I wouldn�t have thought it of him. He
seemed content to condone the minor forms of corruption whilst driving out the
major ones.�

�� He lost a
relative to Lucius, as he thought,� Harry said quietly. �The conspiracy
involved a wide range of people, both former Death Eaters, or their relatives,
and those who thought it permissible to strike back because they believed the
Wizengamot was wrong.�

�� Harry,� Draco hissed, coming up behind
him.

�� I intend
to ask her to make a Healer�s Oath to me,� Harry said calmly, �so that she
can�t speak to anyone about what we say in this room without our permission.
It�s used all the time when a patient has only one Healer and wants to keep the
condition secret.�

�� Healer
Pontiff nodded. �Very good,� she said. She drank a little more tea, with a long
sip Harry had never seen her employ before. Of course, they hadn�t spent much
time around each other that wasn�t in training, and she had discouraged her
students from having food or drink then, fearing it would distract them from a
course of lessons in which the small details were usually the most important.

�� Harry felt sadness
touch him as he thought about that. Her words had been more important to him
than anyone else�s advice; she had been more of a mentor figure to him even
than Dumbledore. And yet they didn�t really know each other. Pontiff had told
him in her letter that she rarely noticed anyone�s behavior unless it related
to Healing. Harry had admired her for that, and for her otherworldly detachment
that let her be serene under the worst circumstances, but he could see the
costs of them both now.

�� The
Veritaserum should have had time enough to take effect.� Pontiff carefully set
her cup on the table beside the chair and gave them that graveyard angel�s
smile. �Ask me what you will.�

�� Were you
involved in the conspiracy against Harry?� Draco demanded.

�� No.�

�� Draco
frowned. Harry thought he would have folded his arms and stomped his feet,
except he had to maintain a more dignified demeanor in front of someone not
part of the family. Then he smiled as if he had just thought of a cunning new
question that was sure to trap her. �Were you involved in the conspiracy
against my father?�

�� No.�

�� Draco
clenched his jaw. Harry knew he had barely prevented his mouth from hanging
open like Neville Longbottom�s in Potions class. Pontiff watched Draco with
bright, intelligent eyes, causing Harry to cough and take over the
interrogation. �Why did you never mention the headache curse that Emptyweed put
on me?�

�� He put a
headache curse on you?� Healer Pontiff blinked.

�� Harry
nodded. �You never noticed?� Yes, there were limitations to placing Healing at
the center of one�s life. He hoped that he would never fall victim to them
again, but knowing himself, he probably would. At least he had Draco at his
side now with his complementary obsessions, to coax Harry to study Potions or
talk about the Malfoy laws or have sex.

�� Harry
blinked. He had not realized how full his life seemed to him now, and how
cramped and small his life in hospital seemed, looking back on it. He had been
happy, but anxious, always afraid he would lose the next patient or receive a
case he wouldn�t be able to do a good enough job on due to lack of Potions
knowledge.

�� No.�
Pontiff sounded disturbed. �I knew you had headaches, but I had no reason to
look closely at you for anything but immediate wounds.� She gave him a
half-embarrassed, half-apologetic look. �I was often thinking of my next
patient already when I treated you, since I knew you had the knowledge of
Healing magic to help yourself even if I missed something. I was more worried
about your keeping your wounds secret out of misguided stoicism for so long
that you would collapse. Therefore, I wished to treat the obvious ones. Your
headaches were not life-threatening.�

�� No,� Draco
said between gritted teeth, �only livelihood-threatening.�

�� Pontiff
shook her head at him. �It is understandable that you would wish to blame me,�
she said, with a kind of gentleness that Harry knew would irritate Draco like
nothing else could, �but I had nothing to do with this.�

�� And I know
that now.� Harry squeezed her hand with his. Pontiff looked at him with a
peaceful smile. �Tell me, how do you think these changes will affect St.
Mungo�s?�

�� For the
better, in the long run. We will have new administrators, and whilst they might
also be corrupt, they will notice what happened to the last who dared to be too
open in their evil and temper their actions.� Healer Pontiff spoke with warm,
comforting authority. Harry relaxed. It was no wonder he had trusted her for so
long. �In the short term, the publicity from the trials and from reporters
trying to find out why Harry Potter left the hospital so abruptly will cause
some trouble.�

�� Harry
grimaced. �Would it help if I gave an interview saying I left the hospital to
treat a patient, not because I was disgusted with what happened there?�

�� Pontiff�s
hand gently squeezed his in answer. �Will you ever come back?� she asked.

�� If he
does, it�ll be a long time in the future.� Draco was beside Harry now, an arm
resting across his shoulders as he�d stood when they talked to Hermione a
fortnight ago. �I�m tutoring him in Potions, and he�ll become a full Healer.
And then he can have a private practice if he wants it, or work part-time for
private patients and part-time for St. Mungo�s. But he�ll still belong here.�

�� Pontiff
ignored him entirely, looking at Harry. Harry grinned. That was another thing
that would infuriate Draco, but it was a natural consequence of her trusting
Harry: she wanted to see what he
would say.

�� Yes, I
think so,� Harry said. �Eventually.�

�� And the
Malfoys� gifts have not been too heavy for you?�

�� I�ve
learned to carry them.�

�� Why would
you say such a thing in the first place?� Draco sounded like a particularly
indignant adder, kept for his venom to be added to healing potions, that Harry
had once talked to. He probably doesn�t
want to think she could ever have talked me out of coming to the Manor, Harry
thought, and reached back to clasp the wrist of the arm resting on his
shoulder. Draco shifted his balance, but didn�t look at Harry.

�� Because I
have treated Malfoys, and seen them try to recruit Healers before, when they
had reason to trust someone,� said Healer Pontiff. �Other families with much
the same heritage and laws do the same thing. In almost every case, bringing
the Healer into the family did not work. The Malfoys, or the other pure-bloods,
expected miracles and perfect conformation to their way of life. The Healers,
even when they were part of the same culture, had chosen other paths for
reasons that often conflicted directly with that way of life. They either broke
from their new families quickly or sank and lost their principles and their
ambition, being content to live in luxury.� She stared at Harry. �I did not
want either to happen to one of the most talented mediwizards I have known.�

�� It�s a
good thing your family doesn�t always manage to follow its own rules,� Harry
said gravely to Draco.

�� Draco
cuffed him on the back of the head, but he looked rather pleased than
otherwise. Only a Malfoy, Harry
thought wryly, would consider it a
compliment that his family overwhelms other people�s principles.

�� I have some
hope, since you have managed to fit in,� Healer Pontiff continued, �that you
will cease to neglect your own health so severely, Harry. I imagine the Malfoys
would not care to have their pet Healer die.�

�� He�s far
more than a pet Healer,� Draco said stiffly.

�� Harry
cleared his throat. �Draco�s already pulled me up short when he thought I was
going too far,� he said. �And he has a better memory than I do for such things.
I thought for sure I�d told you about being hit with the Breath-Stealing Charm
when you treated my wounds after the attack in hospital. That you hadn�t given
me a potion for my lungs was one reason I suspected your involvement with the
conspiracy.�

�� Healer
Pontiff�s eyes grew sharp. Harry winced. He had only been a cause of the disappointment
he saw in her face now once or twice, and he hated it each time.

�� You said
you had been cursed,� she said. �You gave me no details beyond the obvious and
a few nods when I asked you questions. But you were weary to the bone by then,
and needed sleep more than you needed an interrogation.�

�� Harry
sighed. Yes, his memory had been the culprit in that one, and probably also his
own sense of injured dignity, which wanted him to think he had done everything
he could to act responsibly and reveal his wounds. �I�ll try not to do that in
the future.�

�� I hope
not,� said Healer Pontiff. �A Breath-Stealing Curse is nothing to let lie,
Harry.�

�� That�s
what I told him,� said Draco, his arm bearing down hard again on Harry�s
shoulders. �He�ll listen to me, at least.�

�� Harry
relaxed. Draco was speaking now as if he had found some sense of comradeship
with Pontiff. Harry hoped so. He wanted two of the most important people in his
life to like each other.

�� It probably doesn�t hurt that he knows he
can make me listen when she couldn�t, either.

�� Good.�
Pontiff stood and smiled at them. �Bless you both,� she said. �You have found
something as brilliant as blood, Harry, something as brilliant as love. I would
hate to see you squander it. Either of you.� Her eyes went to Draco�s face
then, as if she thought him more likely to do so.

�� Thank
you,� Harry said, and took her Healer�s Oath before she vanished through the
fireplace that the Malfoys had temporarily opened to admit her.

*

�� It�s
fine,� Harry growled, and swatted a hand through his hair. The house-elves had
spent hours tending it. He didn�t need Narcissa fussing over it now.

�� Fine is
not the same as perfect,� Narcissa said, �and Malfoys are always perfect when
they appear in public.� She took a step away from him, cocking her head and
pursing her lips. Harry winced at the expression on her face. She was plotting
something, and since she had insisted that he tuck his wand up his sleeve to
create the perfect combination of reassurance and threat whilst she held her
wand in her hand, he couldn�t do anything to stop her.

�� All she did
was swish her wand, but an immense amount of magic gathered over Harry�s
temples, sparking like a lightning storm. It pressed hard, and evidently made
his hair satisfying for Narcissa, because she nodded. �Yes. Now go out.�

�� Harry had
no time to protest; he�d said he would give a press conference to the Prophet and other papers at one in the
afternoon, and now it was one exactly. He ducked through a long green curtain
they�d hung over the front door of Grimmauld Place to give him some privacy�of
course the conference could not happen near the Manor�and the crowd went mad.
They stood in a tent that used wizardspace to extend Grimmauld Place�s yard and
doorstep so they wouldn�t spill into Muggle territory, and they began shouting
questions so fast that Harry couldn�t have kept track of them even if he wanted
to.

�� Harry
ignored them and spoke his prepared speech instead, which revealed the details
of the conspiracy the family had deemed safe to release. The reporters learned,
for example, that Lucius had been wounded, but not how, or how severely. They
learned that several administrators of St. Mungo�s were arrested, but Harry
didn�t mention which ones had Death Eater connections and which didn�t.

�� And they
knew, because Lucius had been quietly insistent about it, that Harry Potter
from now on had a permanent association with the Malfoy family.

�� Harry added
the part about not changing his name to Malfoy and about possibly continuing
work for St. Mungo�s in the future. But from the way that quills started
industriously moving the minute he said he was accepted as part of the family
and would spend some time living in Malfoy Manor, Harry had a feeling those
amendments went ignored.

�� He was
muttering to himself when he stepped down from the temporary podium Draco had
Transfigured from one of the ugly kitchen chairs in Grimmauld, which was the
only reason he could give later for not immediately noticing who approached
him.

�� Harry!�

�� He looked
up in surprise just as Julius caught him in a hug. Cameras flashed, of course.
Harry could feel Draco�s jealous, rage-filled glare from all the way across the
room. He grabbed Julius�s arms and pushed them off his shoulders in the next
moment, but the damage had been done, at least for people who thought a picture
was worth more than a speech.

�� Julius,
what the fuck are you doing?� he asked, and didn�t bother to lower his voice.

�� Julius
blinked at him, but the smile that covered his face hadn�t faded yet. He would
think being on the front page of every newspaper in Britain was just wonderful,
Harry thought. �I wanted to congratulate you on solving the Malfoy case,� he
said. Harry had never managed to persuade him that Healers didn�t speak of �solving�
cases in the same way Aurors did. �And I wanted to give you some information
you probably won�t learn unless you follow the course of every trial, because
the Wizengamot would consider it minor. I know you wouldn�t, though.� He gave Harry the wink Harry had once found
so charming.

�� Harry
swallowed back fury, then wondered why. He was a member of a proud pure-blood
family and had an established lover; why did he have to be polite to someone
like Julius? �Tell me, then,� he said, and used some withering sarcasm he�d
stolen from Draco to fill his voice.

�� For the
first time, Julius acquired a faint frown. But he was too self-confident to
suspect that something was wrong until it forced itself into his face. �Well,�
he said, �I found out that those people approached Xavier after he made that
disgraceful scene in hospital.� Harry waited a moment to see if the irony of
Julius complaining about that when he had made his own scene would strike him,
but he was continuing blithely on. �They thought they could use someone with a
grudge against you and who knew you well, because he might be able to get past
your wards. They weren�t able to convince him to use more than a Beetle�s Bite
Curse, but still. It might have got
nastier if you hadn�t moved to Malfoy Manor when you did, since they had an
expert in wards speaking to Xavier. Aren�t you glad he was caught with the rest
of them?�

�� Harry
forced himself to nod. At least it laid some suspicions to rest. �And was he
also the one who removed the stabilization fields on Lucius?�

�� Julius went
pale.

�� Several
things fell into place with a bang in
Harry�s head. �You incredible bastard,� he said, and the slow wonder in his
voice combined with the tone of it brought the reporters swarming around them.
�It was you, wasn�t it?� The anger overflowed then, and Harry would have lunged
forwards and cursed him if not for Healer�s ethics and what Narcissa would
think of such a scene. At the moment, Harry thought, the latter was the
stronger force. �What in the world did you think you were doing?�

�� I
thought�well, I wanted to give you a chance to show off your Healer�s skills,
and that seemed the best way to do it.� Julius cleared his throat. �And if he�d
died, then you could have paid more attention to me.� He was pouting now. �I
didn�t like you choosing him over me, Harry, when I was just trying to tap you
on the shoulder.�

�� Harry
stared at him.

�� I knew you
would come back to me if you left the hospital,� Julius explained earnestly.
�And you always said you would leave if one of your patients died. Besides,
didn�t Malfoy deserve it? He might have been the victim of that curse, but he
did some horribly evil things.�

�� I�m not
sure what�s worse,� Harry said slowly, putting his head in his hands. �Your
faith I would come back to you if I gave up Healing, or your attempt to
kill�no, wait, that was definitely worse.�

�� But you
must miss me.� Julius reached out as if to lay a caressing hand on Harry�s
elbow, but Harry jerked his arm back in an irresistible impulse; he would have
felt cleaner if a giant shit-covered cockroach had been about to touch him.
Julius stared at him. �Don�t you? I was the best lover you ever had, and your
objection to me couldn�t have been serious. You would have told me to sod off
it was.�

�� He would
have told you to sod off if he wasn�t too polite for his own good and in too
much pain at the time,� Draco said, and then his arms wrapped around Harry�s
waist and tugged him backwards. Harry leaned gratefully against the solid
warmth of Draco�s body. �And now, he�s my
lover, claimed and mine, and you�ve
just admitted to trying to kill my father. I think Minister Shacklebolt will be
extremely interested to know one of his Aurors endangered the life of a man the
Wizengamot pardoned simply because of jealousy.�

�� Julius
lifted his wand a few inches.

�� Draco spoke
a complicated charm that made boils open on every surface of Julius�s body,
including inside his nostrils and mouth and, Harry knew from experience
treating the results of the spell, on his penis.

�� Julius
howled and staggered away. He Apparated, but Harry was less concerned about
that, because a number of reporters Apparated at about the same time. He was
sure the Aurors would know the extent of Julius�s crimes when the articles
showed up on the front pages, if not earlier.

�� Must you do that?� he demanded, twisting
around to frown at Draco.

�� He was
lifting his wand,� Draco said. �It was self-defense.� He lowered his head to
lick Harry�s ear, though at such an angle it would be out of sight of most of the
audience. �And you�re mine.�

�� That, at
least, is well-established,� Harry said dryly. �But what you did��

�� Was the
smallest thing it is possible to do and still retain the honor due you as a
Malfoy.� Lucius had appeared at Harry�s side, his eyes scanning the crowd as if
to make sure that Julius wouldn�t reappear. �And you are a Malfoy now.
Permanently.� He gave Harry a crocodile�s smile.

�� You had me
make that announcement because you wanted everyone to see the Boy-Who-Lived as
part of your family,� Harry said in resignation.

�� Lucius
inclined his head.

�� You�re enjoying the notoriety we�ll get out of
this.�

�� As I told
you once,� Lucius said, and smiled precisely as a camera flashed at him,
�motives can be double without hurting anyone involved. I can value you for
yourself, as part of the family, and still be smug that we will earn public
favor and glory from your allying yourself with us.�

�� I wish I
could just give you the fame,� Harry
muttered, leaning back into Draco and trying to conceal his smile. Seeing
Julius erupt in boils had been very satisfying, but he couldn�t give Draco the
chance to think that he approved of such attacks.

�� That would
be best,� Lucius agreed. �It would rid you of an unwanted burden and give a
precious possession into the custody of one who would value it as it deserves. Alas,
we do not live in an ideal world.�

�� Julius, Harry thought, isn�t the only one who can�t recognize
irony.

*

�� I can�t
understand this! It�s hopeless!� Harry flung the stirring rod at the wall of
the potions lab and vaguely hoped it would shatter. It only bounced, however.
After the first few days, Draco had insisted on replacing all the glass
stirring rods with wooden ones, though he still tutored Harry in the theory of
potions that needed to be brewed with glass.

�� Draco stood
behind the cauldron, arms folded and eyes narrowed. He waited until the echoes
of Harry�s shout had died before he spoke, in an infinitely patient voice that
Harry could have borne if it were coming from Healer Pontiff.

�� It�s not
hopeless, and you can understand it. You�re not stupid. I�ve seen you have a
few flashes of insight about potions already, do something correct without
being told to do it.�

�� Harry
glared at him. �Those are things I remembered from Hogwarts.�

�� Then that
proves your brain can retain some information about potions,� Draco retorted
instantly. �You are going to do this,
Harry. And not just because I would go out and take vengeance otherwise.� A
frightening smile slipped across his face. Harry knew he was thinking of the
news that the Healers had failed, for the sixteenth day in a row, to cure Auror
Adoranar of his case of boils. Draco had said only that he�d added something
�extra� to the charm when Harry asked. �You�ll do it because I want you to pass
your Potions NEWT with an Outstanding and become a full Healer. And I always
get what I want.�

�� Not
always,� Harry said, with a pointed glance at Draco�s arse. �Sometimes you even
enjoy not getting what you want.� He�d persuaded Draco to let him top last
night, and it had been a marvelously pleasurable experience for both of them.

�� A Potions
master cannot have his mind always in bed, even if he is brewing love potions,�
Draco said, quoting one of the interminable books he�d made Harry read. �He must
think of the colors, the smells, the fumes, that make up his work. He must have
an intellectual passion for potions, or he will never succeed.�

�� Talking of
being in bed,� Harry said, because what he would have said in response to that
statement otherwise would have offended Draco for several hours, �I wondered
about something. How will you have an heir to continue the Malfoy line, if you
remain the rest of your life with me? I don�t want you to get some woman
pregnant.�

�� Draco gave
him a pitying look. �Harry,� he said, �how did we acquire you?�

�� Adoption
by blood?� Harry blinked. �It�s that easy?�

�� It is not that easy. It will require several
months of intense negotiation with the child�s birth family to decide which
properties and duties of the Malfoy family he or she should accept, and it will
take at least a year before we find a suitable child, I�m certain.� Draco
stepped forwards. �Not just anyone can become a Malfoy.�

�� You
wouldn�t know it, looking at me.�

�� Draco
crossed the distance between them in a few easy strides and clasped his
shoulders. Harry shivered. He always did when Draco looked at him with those
wide, earnest eyes.

�� I find you
beautiful,� Draco murmured. �From that twisted scar of yours to the feet that
are far too hard and calloused from running around barefoot in your
irresponsible youth.� He kissed Harry on his forehead, just above the scar.
�I�ll tell you that as many times as you need to hear it, until you believe it,
too.�

�� Harry
swallowed. �That doesn�t have anything to do with me, or our future child,
becoming a Malfoy,� he managed to say, in a huskier voice than he liked.

�� Of course
it does,� Draco said. �We simply would not have accepted you, even with the
Heart�s Blessing spell, if you had been utterly unsuitable.�

�� That�s not
what you said the first time you explained the spell.�

�� The depth
of your ignorance of proper pure-blood culture demanded that I speak in
simplicities. Now you�re ready for the advanced course.� Draco stepped away and
turned back to the cauldron. �And you will be ready for it in potions, too, if
I have anything to say about it. By October, we agreed.�

�� Harry
smiled helplessly at Draco�s back. His life had changed so many times and in so
many ways in the last few months that it required a smile.

�� Especially
when he thought of what he�d learned about the expressions Draco found most
attractive, and which he would allow to coax him out of the potions lab and
into bed�

�� Harry?�

�� Harry
blinked and looked up. He�d lost himself in daydreaming, and Draco looked at
him with a knowing expression that was not like Snape�s or McGonagall�s or even
his parents�; it was uniquely his own.

�� Time to
get back to work.�

�� End.

Special Note: I will
be moving at the end of this week (the 11^th-15^th of August)
and don�t know when I�ll have Internet access again. It may not be for up to
two weeks. I promise not to abandon my stories permanently.

*

�� qwerty: Thanks for reviewing!

�� Lina: Me,
too.

�� shinythiefxblast:
Thank you! I enjoy having an excuse to write both likeable Lucius and Harry
acting like a Slytherin. There�s some more of the former in my other WiP.

�� hassan:
Thanks! And yes, this is the last chapter. I chose not to focus on the trials.
Hope the sex didn�t disappoint.

�� Pajama
Pants: We can always hope! Though Harry really hates Potions, even with a
competent teacher.

�� hieisdragoness18:
Well, here you are!

�� feltonslover:
Thank you! Harry�s committed to staying inside the family now, even with all
the problems that will cause.

�� Mangacat:
Thanks! Harry had to make sure Draco wasn�t suspicious, and giving him time to
plot with his parents made him overconfident.

�� gentlenightrain:
Indeed! Thanks for reviewing.

�� avihenda: Yes,
you�re right, but I decided to make it an outright statement anyway.

�� Not sure
what my current next story will be, other than working on �The Same Species As
Shakespeare.�

�� MewMew2:
Well, this is the last update for this story. Hope you enjoyed it!

�� YanaYugi:
Yes, he�ll live there, though he won�t only Heal there.

�� FallenAngel1129:
Really? I didn�t think that was a cliffhanger at all. ;)

�� linagabriev:
At some point, the plot twists have to die down. I decided they died down here.

�� Harry has
chosen to admit some details. His standing with the Malfoys will give the
reporters a lot to talk about, but the Wizengamot may choose to hold trials closed
to the press. And anyway, Harry�s not part of the justice system, so he can�t
demand an absolutely fair trial. He�ll abide by whatever the Wizengamot
decides, just as he chose to abide by their pardoning Lucius.

�� I decided
not to cover anything. It would seem like straining, and the story doesn�t need
to be continued forever and a day.
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Bloody But Unbowed