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Learning Life Over	By : Meander Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 69712 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- 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
- 23
- 24
- 25
Thanks again for the reviews! This chapter turned out a bit
different than expected.

Chapter 24- Conversations With Narcissa

�� Harry could
still feel Draco�s gaze on the back of his neck, even after he was fully
dressed and Draco really should have stopped looking. As he turned around,
buttoning up the robes, he saw Draco openly staring, and flushed. �What?� he
asked. �Did you bite me on the side of the neck, and is your mother going to
notice?�

�� Draco
laughed softly. �Are you always this nervous the afternoon after you have sex,
Harry?� He paused, then added, �Not that there could have been many of those.�

�� You�re a
git.� Harry closed his eyes and shook himself. �You�re the one who seriously
proposed that we go out and flaunt ourselves in front of your mother, and you
blame me for being nervous?�

�� Draco
snorted, and then must have moved towards him, because arms encircled his
waist. Harry had little choice but to lean against him as he whispered, �I
promise, Harry, this is the best course. She saw through our game,
that�s obvious, and she knows she�s given away her own by letting Wormwood
through the wards. As long as we could pretend, that would be one thing, but I
think it�s best that we confront her.�

�� Harry just
nodded. He couldn�t say what he truly feared without sounding like a child:
that Narcissa would bring up enough good reasons why he and Draco shouldn�t be
together to convince one or both of them.

�� The
happiness he�d experienced in bed a few hours ago had been a fleeting thing, as
he knew it would be. By the time Draco woke and grinned at him, Harry had
thought more about the problems they�d face, and while he didn�t regret- that-
and didn�t intend to go backwards, he was much more concerned about them than
before. Because, really, how could he think he had a chance with Draco? Twenty
days wasn�t enough time to learn everything he�d need to know. And Draco�s
mother hated him and thought him an unsuitable partner for her son. Draco might
be willing to laugh off Narcissa�s disapproval; Harry wasn�t.

�� He�d lived
for years with people who disapproved of him. And even though he�d told himself
over and over again that he didn�t care about the Dursleys, hated them even,
and didn�t care what they thought of him, there were only short stretches of
time during which that had been true, like the summer before his fifth year.
Most of the time, it was hard to live with family hating you, even
family you didn�t particularly like.

�� If Draco�s
picture of the future was too sunny, he would trip straight over problems that
he didn�t see- or else he would step over them easily, forgiven for being who
he was, but Harry would trip and go sprawling.

�� But, on the
other hand, they did have to confront Narcissa, because she would try
for the elegant silence, and letting it slide past, only to strike at them
later. She would be flustered enough to give away her own next move if they
confronted her now, Draco said, and Harry had to concede that he knew his
mother.

�� He just
hated the idea of this.

*

�� Draco could
understand the source of Harry�s nerves, but that didn�t prevent him from
finding it endearing and funny. Harry honestly thought they would face the
first challenge after they�d had sex- well, sex of a limited kind- and crumple.
Or that Narcissa possessed the power to talk Draco around when he finally had
what he�d wanted for two years.

�� How
funny.

�� Draco
supposed that part of his euphoria could have come from the rush of hormones
earlier, but he was much calmer than Harry, and cockier. He did know his
mother. She had caught him by surprise with inviting Wormwood to the Manor, but
she shouldn�t have. He�d adjusted the wards soon after he awoke to make sure
that she couldn�t pull such a trick again. And now that he was forewarned, he
intended to warn her, as gently as possible, to stay out of his life.

�� Everything,
so far as Draco could research, had gone wrong for Harry that possibly could.
It was only natural that he�d be pessimistic about this. It was wrong of him,
though, to assume that Draco would put more weight in his mother�s opinion than
in his liking for Harry.

�� Liking?

�� Well,
yes. It�s more than obsession.

�� Give it
enough time, and it would get to love.

�� Draco was
no longer shying around the thought. Why should he? So far as he was concerned,
their relationship had faced the first test and soared over it beautifully.
There�d been the small chance that after he had Harry�s surrender, he wouldn�t
want anything else from it. Certainly, if his feelings had simply centered on
sexual surrender, one sight of it ought to have been enough for him, as it had
been for him with several lovers in the past.

�� But
instead, he felt incredibly protective, and possessive, and he couldn�t wait to
do it again, but he would have to wait if that was what Harry needed.

�� Narcissa
had no chance against something like that. Draco respected her, and loved her
in his own way, but she still imagined she could compel him to choose a wife
and raise children in perfect Malfoy suitability.

�� She was
about to learn how wrong she really was.

�� Draco
looped his arm through Harry�s, and led him casually towards the room where
they�d dined with Narcissa once before.

*

�� The room
hadn�t substantially changed, that Harry saw. The long table of dark wood was
still in place, and Narcissa still waited like a pale vision at the end of it.
And now that he didn�t have either his own response to Draco�s kiss or his
desire to make an arse of himself on his mind, Harry found himself more than a
little intimidated.

�� I�m not-
I�m not worse than this, but I just don�t belong here. And Narcissa�s gaze,
cool and assessing, said she knew it. Not someone who grew up wearing
Dudley�s jumpers and thinking magic didn�t exist. She won�t give up hating me,
or thinking I�m wrong for her son. This is-

�� And then Draco
interrupted him by saying, �Hello, Mother. Since you�ve expressed so much
interest in my relationship with Harry, I thought I�d let you know that we�re
lovers now.�

�� Harry could
feel his face flaming. For the first time, he made a serious effort to pull his
arm away from Draco. But Draco just adjusted the position of it and gave his
elbow a little pat, as though Harry�s anxiety was cute, and then turned back to
face his mother, who seemed ready to answer.

�� Congratulations,
Draco.� Narcissa folded her hands. �And when you grow tired of him, as you did
of Melinda and Mary and Orestes, will you at least give him the Galleons to
stand on his own feet again as you release him from the Manor? Since he will
have missed a few weeks of work, having spent time in a hospital bed.�

�� Harry
winced. He didn�t care that much about Draco�s other lovers- honestly, how
could he care about people he wouldn�t have been interested in had he even
realized that they existed five years ago?- but the rest of Narcissa�s comment
stung. The implication that Draco would get tired of him, that he�d pay Harry
for sex, that it would happen in a few weeks-

�� And then
Draco was laughing, merrily, as if his mother�s words had been a joke.

�� I
understand that you resent the work you envision yourself having to do,
Mother,� he said. �After all, redecorating a wing of the Manor would cost you
time and money. But I plan to order Trippy to do it. She�ll ready Harry�s rooms
for him much more swiftly and easily than you ever could.�

�� Harry eyed
Draco cautiously in turn. And he�s speaking as if we�ll be spending the rest
of our lives together. This is- this is strange. How in the world can he be so
confident? He grew up with his mother. Does he really put no stock in her
opinion? Doesn�t he feel closer to her than he does to me?

�� Narcissa�s
face had turned noticeably paler when Harry glanced back at her, but she only
bowed her head.

�� If you
think that you�ve found a life-long love, Draco, I again offer my
congratulations,� she said. �But you said the same thing about your pretty
young plaything Mary, as I recall. You introduced her to me as the future Mrs.
Malfoy. And three weeks later she was gone.�

�� I didn�t
watch her for two years, Mother,� Draco said. �I hardly had to work to charm
her. Within a week, she was panting at my heels. Yes, she was fun for a while,
but she wasn�t what I wanted. Now I have what I wanted.� He gave Harry a little
sidelong glance and proud smile, and squeezed his arm.

�� Harry gave
him another cautious glance. It had only taken him a little more than a week to
give in to Draco. And he wasn�t sure, still, what would happen in a few days,
never mind three weeks. Wasn�t it just as likely that Draco would grow bored
with him, too, and want to drop him?

�� And why
the fuck am I worrying solely about that? he thought with an irritation
that startled him. It�s not as if my life would end if Draco sodding Malfoy
decided that he didn�t want to fuck me. And why am I standing here and letting
both of them talk about me as if I have no stake in this?

�� I have no
desire to quarrel with you, Mrs. Malfoy,� he told her, and watched the way her
eyes snapped back to him, aflame with dislike. Yes, she blames me for this,
and thinks that she would have her darling baby boy back if I were just gone. With
that thought in mind, Harry summoned every reserve of icy politeness that he
could, and smiled at her cordially. �I don�t want to cause arguments between
you and your son, either. But, for now, I do rather want to stay, and I do
consider myself Draco�s- lover.� The word stuck in his throat, but he forced it
out. It wasn�t as though he had anything better to call their arrangement.
�What would make it possible for us to have a truce?�

�� Narcissa
came a step forward. Harry could see a slight flush on her cheeks now, and
decided that there was a soul underneath that icy exterior after all. One hand
was clasped lightly around a white rose on her wrist, not actually shredding
it, but making the petals crumple.

�� There is
no truce,� Narcissa said, her voice low but piercing for all that. �Draco has
responsibilities and traditions that you will never understand, and which you
cannot help him to fulfill. And his passions have always bloomed and died
quickly. You are only another in a long line of lovers, Mr. Potter. The others,
at least, understood the rules of our social circles and understood that no
alliance with a Malfoy is permanent without the approval of Draco�s one
surviving parent. You have showed no awareness of that, nor sought my approval,
and you are the least suitable target Draco has ever chosen to fix his
affections on. Can you blame me for resenting you?�

�� Harry had
to close his eyes for a moment. Well. I suppose that there�s no truce
possible after all, is there?

�� But he
couldn�t help thinking Draco would be unhappy in the future if Harry and
Narcissa argued. He might not feel it right now, in the first thrill of defying
her, but it would come back to haunt him. And one thing Harry had not forgotten
about being someone else�s friend was the importance of that other person�s
happiness. It probably mattered more to him than otherwise, since Draco was the
only person in the world he felt like that about right now.

�� Put in
that light, no, I can�t,� he said, forcing his eyes open and keeping his voice
calm. �But I didn�t mean to intrude into your life like this, Mrs. Malfoy. I
was focused on making Draco let me go at first, and that- led me to speak
unfortunately, even rudely, to you. Can we- �

�� There is
no starting over for something like this,� said Narcissa, her voice brittle.
�Draco knows what he must do. He has put off his responsibilities simply
because he can. He has played at being a child long after he should have become
an adult. And you are not the person who can tame him, Mr. Potter, nor one he
would yield his childishness for. If he tells you that, he has been lying to
you.�

�� Harry
opened his mouth to reply, but realized he couldn�t. He didn�t know Draco that
well. Draco had agreed to the time limit of a month. It was possible that the
obsession would give out now that it had been fulfilled. He still didn�t know
what �responsibilities� she meant. So he didn�t have good grounds to dispute
with Narcissa.

�� Then Draco
moved past him with deliberate steps, and Harry realized he stood in the room
with someone who did.

�� Draco�s
voice was low, but it gained power as he spoke, proving volume had nothing to
do with the ability to induce respect.

�� You
haven�t explained why I should live the way you want me to, Mother, when I can,
as you so eloquently put it, behave like a child if I wish to. And perhaps I
have behaved like a child so far, but not for the reasons you want to believe
in. The �responsibilities� you champion have melted. Not even Mrs. Parkinson
takes them seriously any more, and that alone is enough to tell me that they�re
outworn prejudices, not serious requirements of pure-blood life.

�� And how
dare, how dare, you say something like that to my face? To Harry�s face?
When you know how long I�ve wanted him? How many times you�ve tried to talk me
out of this, and I haven�t listened? When you know that I spoke of abandoning
other lovers even before I took them? And I�ve told you only what I would do
with Harry when I had him? Not spoken even once of giving him up?

�� This is
the end of it, Mother. He�s the one I�m going to stay with. Or, at least, the
one I�m going to try to make more than the casual toy of a moment. The first
one I�ve ever felt this way about. You knew that.�

�� Draco.�
Narcissa�s voice sounded like snapping frost now. �You know that the Malfoy
traditions- �

�� They died
with my father,� Draco said imperiously. �I make my own now. And the first of
them is deciding what I want to do, not living the way you wish me to. And the
second is not putting up with your attempts to sabotage my life any longer. You
are not welcome in Malfoy Manor for the next month, Mother. I know that you
have a small house that Father left you specifically in London. Go and stay
there.�

�� Narcissa
was truly white-faced now, her skin pale as salt. Then her eyes traveled over
Draco�s shoulder and sought out Harry�s, and he could see the hatred flawing
them like the one crack in a perfect mirror. She blamed him for this. She was
never going to forgive him.

�� At least,
it looked like that right now. It was possible to salvage that if they acted
quickly, perhaps. Harry tugged on Draco�s arm. �Draco- �

�� Draco
turned to face him so suddenly that Harry stumbled back. �No,� Draco said,
fiercely, but not loudly. �No. She�s done this for years, Harry, and she
won�t give up. I�ve given her chances, but this is ridiculous.�

�� She�s your
mother,� Harry whispered.

�� And you�re
mine,� Draco said. �You�re not used to having someone who fights for you,
Harry, who puts you first. Well, now you have one. You�ll learn better, in the
end.� He cupped his hand around Harry�s chin and tilted his head back, taking
his mouth in a languid kiss.

�� Harry heard
the sounds of Narcissa leaving the room. And, in the back of his mind, he heard
his own voice squealing this was all a mistake, that Draco would come to his
senses in a few days and regret this horribly.

�� He found
that he couldn�t concentrate on those sounds, that he leaned into the kiss and
sighed as if he really did believe that it was going to be all right, as if he
really did believe that he was the most important person in the world to Draco.

*******

�� melodelic:
I manage very carefully, and with lots of scheduling and to-do lists.
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Learning Life Over