Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Marathon	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 52456 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 5
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this fanfic.

Chapter List
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Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Twenty-Three--Sunrise
            "Incendio!"
            The fire that struck away from Harry's wand wasn't as bright or hot as the one he had summoned a few minutes earlier, but that didn't matter. What meant something was that this was clinging, rolling flame, intent on finding a target and holding onto it until that target burnt down to ashes.
            The spider shrieked as the fire caught on its back and danced for a second, then sank into the chitin and began to eat it. It rolled over, and Harry's floor and table nearly caught on fire. He jumped out of the way and cast a Freezing Charm, swinging his wand around and around. Other things in here should now be protected.
            Not the spider, of course. The flame Harry had conjured there was too hungry.
            Then Harry jumped over the table and came down next to Malfoy and the smaller creature that had run at him.
            Malfoy had raised a shield of white light that was keeping the creature, another and smaller spider, back for the moment, but the spider ignored the cold and the fire both and drummed on the shield with anxious legs. Malfoy was shivering, flinching, his attention distracted by the spells Harry had cast. He might have been able to hold the spider back for a bit longer, but no more.
            He didn't need to. Harry leapt around to the side and kicked the small spider, white and with a red hourglass pattern on its back, in the arse.
            The spider spun around. Harry could see its eyes and its fangs, better than he'd been able to on the other one. It clicked, tensed, and crouched. Harry thought it intended to jump on his back and sink its fangs into his neck.
            It never got the chance. Harry held up his wand and drawled, "Siccus."
            The spider crackled and its legs stuck stiffly out to the sides as the Dehydration Curse struck it. All the liquid in its body flooded out and collected in a small pool on the side of the floor. It flopped down, dead and dry.
            Harry whirled around and found the burning spider had nearly rolled down the corridor into his drawing room, where of course it would burn other things. He cast, and a shield came up over the kitchen door. The spider, nearly dead now, rolled back the other way and then stopped, jerking a little as the fire ate it.
            "Are you all right?" Harry bent down and held out his hand to Malfoy under the table.
            Malfoy breathed for a second before he accepted Harry's hand, his eyes locked on Harry's face as if that would provide answers. Harry smiled wryly. "Yes, I should have realized that a fire spell wasn't the best one to use as my first choice. Sorry."
            "You saved my life again," Malfoy whispered.
            And that added to the tangle and pile of life-debts between them, Harry thought, and probably the debts Malfoy thought he owed Harry. He shrugged. "Sorry," he said. "But when it comes to binding us to each other or letting you die, I'm always going to choose the binding."
            Malfoy shivered. Harry raised the temperature with a Warming Charm, and then paused. He could hear the fire burning in the Floo again, and several of the lamps were aglow once more. The darkness spell had passed.
            "I wonder why they only sent two spiders?" he muttered, and began to guide Malfoy towards the drawing room again. No matter that the anti-Apparition spells appeared to have fallen, he still didn't want to take the chance of stepping outside and maybe running straight into the arms of their enemies.
            "Only," Malfoy muttered, sounding more like himself again.
            Harry hugged him with one arm around his shoulders. "Well, they couldn't have known that I would be able to defend against them that way, but they should have realized that Aurors get training. I would have used more weapons if I was going to attack someone of my standing and length of time in the Aurors."
            "Perhaps they believe that all the rumors about you are exaggerated," Malfoy suggested, as they shuffled up to the Floo and Harry began to cast the spells that would tell him whether it had been tampered with. "I know I did."
            Harry laughed. "Then they're all former rivals? I don't think so. I only had you, you know."
            Malfoy placed one hand on his arm. Harry looked up and around, thinking other enemies might have intruded into the house, but Malfoy was the only one there, staring intently into his eyes.
            "I said I did," he murmured. "I don't believe that the stories about what you can do when you have a mind to it are exaggerated anymore."
            Harry licked his lips. He didn't know what it was about Malfoy's simple words that made him want to touch Malfoy, but it was a weird thing, and a thing they didn't have time for right now, when they might have enemies closing in from the outside.
            "Good," he said, more lightly than he actually felt. "Then you might be more likely to listen to me, and maybe that will save your life." He winked at Malfoy, and urged him towards the Floo once more.
            "Where are we going?" Malfoy picked up a handful of Floo powder and held it there, eyes on Harry instead of it. Harry reckoned he'd held enough Floo powder to know how to hold it, though.
            Harry hesitated once. The Ministry wouldn't be safe, they wouldn't be welcome in Ginny's home, and the Burrow would have a lot of unpleasant tension. The only other place Harry could think of would have unpleasant tension, too, but at least it would be of a different kind.
            "Number Twelve Grimmauld Place," he said, and shoved Malfoy a little in the black when he flinched. "Sorry, yes, it's not the best sanctuary, and I know that it has some bad memories of your mother's side of the family. But we have to leave." Harry thought of something else then, and glanced around for Ginny's little white owl, but didn't see her. Nor did he see Ginny's letter. It was probably burned, unless Malfoy had slid it into a pocket. Harry found that he couldn't really bring himself to care about that.
            "I wasn't hesitating because of memories," Malfoy murmured, and threw the Floo powder in, speaking the name clearly. A second later, he was gone.
            Harry kept his wand drawn and surveyed the Floo for a moment, wondering if he would encounter some sign of how the spiders had traveled through the fireplace in the darkness. But either there were none he had the training to recognize or there were none, because a second later he had to shake his head.
            "Kreacher!" he called.
            Kreacher appeared with his teeth bared and clutching a kitchen knife in his hand. Harry stared at him. He had half-wondered why Kreacher hadn't come to help them in the battle, but things had been happening too quickly for him to worry about it. Now, he wondered--
            "Are you the reason that the anti-Apparition wards fell?" he asked. "Did you drive them away?"
            "Kreacher is driving bad wizards away!" Kreacher said, and abruptly looked around hastily. "Where is Master Malfoy being?"
            "I sent him to Grimmauld Place," Harry said. He would have to talk to Kreacher about his role in this little battle later, but for now, his priority was making sure Malfoy was safe and then contacting Ron, Hermione, and Ginny to tell them what had happened. He was still determined to welcome Lily in his own home, but she would have to come later. "I need you to come there after us and take care of him."
            Kreacher relaxed and beamed at him. "Master Harry is being appropriate," he said in a gratified voice, as if he could hardly believe it. "Master Harry is not being stupid. Master Harry is guarding his most precious treasure in a house bigger, for Master Malfoy's status."
            Harry stared at him, decided this was even less understandable than Kreacher managing to drive some of the Spiders off, and shook his head. "Go on," he said. "Make sure that we'll be safe there."
            Kreacher bowed and vanished. Harry finally sighed, tossed in the powder, and vanished through the fire to Grimmauld Place himself. They might reckon he'd go there next, but he hoped, given his spells and Kreacher's ferocity, that they would hesitate to follow.
*
            For once, Harry's clumsy landing on the other side of the Floo wasn't his fault. He stumbled out of the fireplace and straight into Malfoy, who for some reason hadn't moved away from the hearth. He put his hands up and held Harry's arms, gazing into his eyes and running his fingers in circles on Harry's skin. Harry couldn't help noticing that he was touching the place where Harry would have been branded if he carried the Dark Mark.
            "Yes, I saved your life again," Harry said, when there had been a few minutes of that and Malfoy still hadn't made an effort to let him go or move away. Harry would have pulled himself free before now, but he was a little afraid Malfoy might be in shock. "Can we go into the house properly and sit down?"
Once, he thought, that would have been enough to make Malfoy move. He would be scandalized at the thought of doing anything improper, especially around someone so coarse and not pure-blooded. But this time, Malfoy only tightened his hold and then took a deep breath.
"Listen," he said softly. "I should have thought of this when I saw the way your house-elf behaved. House-elves can't create feelings or proper behavior, but they almost always know about them before humans do."
"Yes, he's been acting strange lately," Harry said slowly. Was Malfoy about to tell him that Kreacher had an incurable house-elf brain tumor or something? But that didn't fit the rest of it. "I have no idea why you're talking about him, unless you saw that he was the one to send the wizards outside the house fleeing."
Malfoy closed his eyes. "I'm trying to tell you that he recognized this," he said, and leaned forwards to press his lips on Harry's.
The first thing that hit Harry was the shock--the feeling and the sensation. The sharper one sped through him as he felt Malfoy kiss him. It felt as though someone had yanked on his brain and used that to send a cord of heat through his body.
The more lasting one was made of Malfoy's words about debts and the look in his eyes and the way he touched Harry. And Ginny's words.
Fuck, I can't do this.
Not and prove Ginny right. Not and use Malfoy as a sop against facing his own real emotions. Not and disappoint his children, who would be unwilling to welcome their father dating someone so soon.
And not take advantage of Malfoy, who was trying to repay a debt, who seemed to mourn the loss if his own marriage too much to make it fair for Harry to do this, who must be caught up in the adrenaline rush of battle that Harry had already seen he didn't handle well.
He tried to step back, only to find Malfoy's arm around his shoulders in the same position Harry had used to hug him earlier, Malfoy's tongue pressing for entrance to his mouth.
Damn. Harry gently pushed him away and shook his head. "I'm sorry," he said. "We both need something else. No."
Malfoy stared at him, eyes so dazed that Harry was beginning to think his adrenaline theory was right. Then Malfoy shuddered a little and stepped away from him. His arms wrapped around himself as if he'd forgotten how to use Warming Charms. His head bowed.
Harry waited, feeling as if his throat was clogged. The drains in the house he had shared with Ginny used to clog up like that. But there was a useful little spell you could cast to get them unclogged when that happened. Harry had the feeling there was no spell for this one.
"You despise me now." Malfoy's voice, hard and precise and sure as a jewel, contradicted the way he looked more than any voice Harry had ever heard.
"No, I don't," Harry said, a little annoyed. He knew Malfoy must feel rejected, even betrayed if he thought Harry had been leading him on and subtly encouraging him, but he wasn't going to grant Malfoy dominion over his feelings for all that. "I think this is the wrong decision. Everyone makes wrong decisions sometimes. I've made enough to fill a life, and you still cared to try and help me. But I can't go along with this one. I'm sorry."
Malfoy stared at him as if he could crack Harry's skull with his eyes. "Explain to me the ways it's a mistake," he said.
Harry watched him carefully, but he appeared to really want to know, so Harry finally nodded and said, "Okay. I think that you might still be grieving for your wife. I don't want to get in the way of that. And--" He hesitated. There was another thing he wanted to say, but he thought Malfoy might misunderstand it.
Malfoy jerked his head up, eyes glittering queerly. "You started this absurd speech in the first place," he said. "Now finish it."
Harry glared back. Couldn't the git tell that he was trying to be nice and understanding? He could have talked about this with crushing words about hormones and his irresistible attraction for everybody, he could have treated Malfoy like a fan with a crush. And he hadn't.
But how was Malfoy to know that if Harry didn't tell him? That had always been the problem with Ginny. The not talking about things.
"I don't want to be second best," Harry said finally. "I want to be someone's first choice, not a replacement. Maybe that's stupid, since I was with my first love and then got divorced, but it's the way I feel."
Malfoy stared at him for a long, long time. Harry could only assume that that response hadn't been as stupid as Malfoy had thought it would be.
Then Malfoy said, "I suppose that is not your only reason, or you would not have offered it like a shield that you are raising before a sword."
Harry says. "I have too much else to concentrate on. My children might not like it. Hell, your son might not. I don't want this to get mixed up with the debt you're paying back. I think you need more time to think about the burdens you carry around, too. Oh," he added, remembering the other thing, "I don't want Ginny to be able to say that she was right. I'm not gay."
Malfoy smiled with half of himself. "I'm glad to hear a petty, human reason at the bottom of that rubbish heap," he said. "The rest of it is the sort of noble nonsense I should have expected a Gryffindor to come up with."
Harry refused to get angry, either because Malfoy thought he was lying or because he was talking about House distinctions like they mattered. "I do believe that," he said. "Fuck. I'm saying this because I want to be your friend. I don't know what happened between you and Astoria, but you flinch when the subject comes up even as much as it has. It wouldn't be friendly to let you do this when--when things are like this."
"Has it occurred to you that I like things like this?" Malfoy's voice was low but very clear, and he never looked away. You could call him the Gryffindor for things like looking you in the eye, Harry thought resentfully. "That I might know what I want and decide to go after it?"
Harry just shook his head a little. He wondered what Malfoy could possibly like about being hunted by the Spiders and almost bitten by a real one, and then having to flee through the fire in an undignified way. Malfoy was impossible, and he thought about Harry's future more than his own.
Harry wondered for so second whether they were going to compete to take care of each other, and a chuckle escaped him. Malfoy lost his smile. Harry sighed.
"I need to think about this a lot more," he said, although it was probably more true to say that he would think about it whether or not had wanted to. "What we should do about the kids and--everything. Let's choose the bedrooms we want and clean them up a bit, okay? Kreacher keeps the place up, but it might not be as clean as you would want it."
Malfoy nodded a little. Then had said, "Yes, the only reason of yours I really understand was at the end. Although it should have been at the beginning."
Harry stared at him. "What?" Whatever attracted him about me, I don't think it was my intelligence.
"You didn't object to the kiss right away and at first," Malfoy said softly, and turned away. "As you might if, perhaps, the thought of another man kissing you was repugnant to you. Good night Potter."
Harry stared after him, and kept staring long after it was apparent that Malfoy had chosen a bedroom on the first floor. Then he frowned. He'd been so busy with his answers that he'd forgotten to ask an important question.
Why does he think he kissed me?
*
            Moodysavage: I am indeed a meanie.
delia cerrano: Well, he wasn’t pushed into being a husband and father. He did propose to Ginny of his own free will, and he loves his kids.
polka dot: Well, Harry doesn’t think so!
CareLessLover: Sorry!
Chester: That was a reference to a Dark wizard Harry captured who was only briefly in prison before he was rescued by money and then spirited out of the country.
SP777: Well, it’s a very complex fic.
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Marathon