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The Optimal Balance	By : TheMightyFlynn Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17124 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe and characters belong to JK Rowling and associates. This was written for fun. I make no money from it.

Chapter List
- 1-The Optimal Balance
- 2-Ch. 2
- 3-Ch. 3
- 4-Ch. 4
- 5-Ch. 5
- 6-Ch. 6
- 7-Ch. 7
- 8-Ch. 8
- 9-Ch. 9
- 10-Ch. 10
- 11-Ch. 11
- 12-Ch. 12
- 13-Ch. 13
- 14-Ch. 14
- 15-Ch. 15
- 16-Ch. 16
- 17-Ch. 17
- 18-Ch. 18
- 19-Ch. 19
- 20-Ch. 20
- 21-Ch. 21
- 22-Ch. 22
- 23-Ch. 23
- 24-Ch. 24
- 25-Ch. 25
- 26-Ch. 26
- 27-Ch. 27
- 28-Ch. 28
- 29-Ch. 29
- 30-Ch. 30
- 31-Ch. 31
- 32-Ch. 32
- 33-Ch. 33
- 34-Ch. 34
- 35-Ch. 35
- 36-Ch. 36
- 37-Ch. 37
- 38-Ch. 38
- 39-Ch. 39
- 40-Ch. 40: Epilogue
- 24
- 25
- 26
Thursday dawned bright and warm, with the sun shining through the low windows of the kitchen of the Manor early. Ruffling the paper in his hand, Draco let out a small, contented sound. It was good to know that in amongst all the chaos and stress of the past week, he was still able to find some time to himself to just relax. His breakfast was warm, his tea hot and the Manor so quiet during this early part of the day that he was able to lose himself in the stories in the paper for a while, just letting the kitchen fade around him. He was so satisfied that when he finally heard the sound of footsteps tapping down the hall towards him, he scowled and threw a glare at the door. Snapping the paper straight, he held it in front of him, telling whoever it was that had interrupted his peace and quiet that they were unwelcome.
“Either that paper is incredibly fascinating, or you are in a foul mood.”
Draco let out a small sigh before allowing the top half of the paper to fall down. “Good morning to you too, Astoria.”
Astoria grinned at him as she made her way across the kitchen towards the kettle. “Astoria is it this morning? You really are in a bad mood.”
Shaking his head, Draco folded the paper neatly and put it aside to finish later. He honestly didn’t think he was in a bad mood, but having his morning ritual interrupted had never sat well with him. He watched as Astoria made herself some breakfast, her hands waving through the air to Summon ingredients from both the pantry and the refrigerator.
“The house-elves are actually being paid to do that for you, you know.”
The smile she offered up when she turned back to him with a plate of fried eggs on toast in one hand and a cup of tea in the other could have lit the entire Manor if it had any power behind it. She didn’t speak, however, until she was settled at the opposite end of the table with her food in front of her.
“They have never been able to get the ratio of egg-to-sauce right. It’s either way too much and all I can taste is tomato, or it’s way too little and all I can taste is egg with a tiny bit of tomato. This way, I am able to put the sauce on myself without Tinky being too offended when I send the plate back with the heaping of sauce scraped to the side.”
She set about salting her eggs and adding what was apparently just the right amount of sauce then, leaving Draco to just sit and watch. The urge to take his paper up again was growing in him, but he knew that there had to be a reason Astoria had risen so early, so he waited. Thankfully, she didn’t make him wait long. Looking up from her eggs, she offered him a small smile.
“For someone in such a foul mood, you’re being awfully patient with me.”
“My mood was perfectly fine until you entered the room.”
She grinned and turned back to her eggs. It was obvious to Draco that she was doing this simply to annoy him, but this time he refused to give in. Without even a small huff of breath to indicate that she had gotten to him, he took up his paper again so he could finish the story on the latest disaster of a Potions Master that St. Mungo’s had hired. It was clear that the man had absolutely no idea of what he should have been expecting when he took the job, which Draco always found amusing, considering he himself had the experience and knowledge, but no chance of ever being offered the position. Not that he would ever accept it, he figured, because there was absolutely no chance of him being willing to give up the freedom that working for himself offered. Turning the page, he shook the paper out so it would straighten for him.
“So you’re actually going to just ignore me?”
“Only if you insist on continuing being this exasperating.”
Her light laugh reached him from across the table. “Alright, I’m sorry. It’s just so unusual to catch you on your own like this these days that I couldn’t help ribbing you a little. Forgive me?”
Allowing the top half of the paper to fall again, Draco couldn’t help smiling. “You find me alone, so your first reaction is to annoy me?”
“Well, I have always told you that you were more like a brother to me than anything else, right?”
Draco shook his head as he placed the paper aside again. He had never once seen Astoria treat Daphne the way she treated him. But then again, he considered, she had never felt any kind of pressure to act like the proper pureblood lady around him, either, which must have taken the pressure off at least a little. He wrapped his hands around the remains of his tea, enjoying the warmth.
“So there was actually some reason you came downstairs so early today?”
Astoria hummed around a mouthful of egg. “I wanted to talk to you about yesterday, actually,” she said in a rush when she finally managed to swallow. “Not just the Trace thing that Harry did, but the boy’s behaviour while they were with me as well.”
Draco's stomach dropped into his shoes. Astoria had left almost the second he had arrived home the day before, giving them no time to confer over what had happened that day. Surely, though, if something bad had happened, she would have taken the time to speak to him about it before rushing off? She was one of the more responsible people he had ever known, after all.
“Did something happen that we should know about?”
“Oh, no, sorry!” She waved a hand through the air, dismissing the notion completely. “But their behaviour was odd. I know that Harry has caught them conspiring and that they’ve been up to no good with your potions, but they were perfect little angels for me.”
Draco blinked. “‘Angels’?”
She nodded. “Yes. Lily spent the day with me in the upstairs parlour, but the boys stayed in Scorpius’ room and all they did was talk and play a few games of Exploding Snap. I even had a charm that my sister taught me placed over the room so I could know what they were saying, but I swear that if they were trying to plot anything, then they must have been writing it down. That charm is so good that I could hear the cards snapping down on top of each other from down the hall, so if they had said anything about what they were after, then I would have heard it.”
Draco's mind, of course, latched onto one of the more irrelevant points of what Astoria had just said in an attempt to make sense of it all. “What kind of charms has your sister been teaching you?”
Astoria sighed. “Draco, could you please try to focus?”
Frowning, Draco took a sip of his tea. “Just because you believe that they weren’t talking about–”
“It has nothing to do with what I believe and you know it,” she interrupted him, causing him to glance up. Her eyes were narrowed and her hands clenched around her cup. “Why won’t you listen to me when I tell you that I don’t think they are up to something bad?”
Taking a slow breath, Draco let it out through his nose. “Tori–”
“So now it’s ‘Tori’, not ‘Astoria’? Don’t try to manipulate me, Draco. I know my own son and I refuse to believe that he is up to no good, even if you think he is. He was not raised to be that way and I highly doubt Harry’s boys were either.”
This time, Draco stayed quiet. He did have to concede the point to her that none of the three boys had been raised to behave like they apparently currently were, but he still couldn’t give up on the idea that they could be up to no good. He shook his head before looking up to meet her eyes.
“It’s not the thought that they could be up to no good that worries me, Tori. I know that none of them have been raised the way I was–” He held a hand up to silence her when it appeared that she was going to object to his words. “Don’t; just don’t. I know what I was like and there’s no point in denying it.” He smiled when she immediately subsided. “It’s more the idea that they could hurt themselves with whatever this is that they’re after. I have full confidence that Harry will be able to deal with whatever is in Grimmauld, but if the boys get to it before we do, then the idea that they could be hurt by this is what is keeping me so cautious. I need to have mapped out all the possible resolutions to this so I know how prepared I need to be.”
“So, you know that you will most likely not have to deal with, say… One of the boys losing a limb. But you have a plan for what you could do if that happened?”
Amusement was laced through Astoria’s voice and it was obvious by the way her lips quirked up at the corners that she was attempting to not smile. Draco's eyes narrowed and his sat up a little straighter before responding.
“Are you able to give me a logical reason why I should not be worried about our son? Or about Harry’s boys? Or even about Lily? Because I have been under the impression that worrying about my children is part of what comes along with being a parent.” Draco had no idea how he was expecting Astoria to react to his words, but breaking into an enormous smile wasn’t really at the top of the list. “Tori?”
“It should be illegal for a grown man to be this bloody adorable.”
Draco's top lip curled as insult rushed through him. “‘Adorable’? Really?”
He got no other chance to react to her words before she pushed her chair back from the table and moved around so she was standing beside his chair. Placing her hands on his shoulders, she turned him to face her so she could place a soft kiss on his forehead.
“Yes, Dray, you are absolutely adorable and I love you for it.”
Instead of staying beside his chair, Astoria moved off so she could rinse her plate and cup, giving him a slight reprieve. Draco took the few seconds to replay their conversation up to that point back in his mind, but couldn’t come up with a reason that her attitude towards him had changed so rapidly. He nearly jumped when she spoke again.
“Of course you should be worrying about your children, Dray. There’s nothing wrong with it.”
Her emphasis gave him the clue that he needed to realise what had her so amused. He chose to not react, however. There was nothing shameful in him beginning to think of Harry’s kids as his own, especially considering they were to be married in less than a fortnight. He turned back to stare into his cup of – by now lukewarm – tea.
“Then why are you pushing so hard for me to believe that there is nothing to fear in Grimmauld?”
She sighed. “I’m not saying that there isn’t. You should be keeping an open mind going into this, however. For all we know, the boys have actually been speaking to someone who would want them to get all worked up, only to find nothing and have to explain why they had stolen potions and broke into Grimmauld. What if they were actually being led around by someone trying to get them into trouble?”
“Then me being prepared for all possibilities is a good thing.” He kept his head down as he responded, not wanting to see whether she was laughing at him again or not. “Look, I can’t promise you that I will suddenly start believing that there isn’t anything to worry about. The very fact that I know that they are up to something is enough to keep me concerned over their welfare, even if I also know that there is a possibility that this will turn out to be nothing…”
“But the three of us staying on guard is the best chance these boys have of not being injured if they are after something dangerous.”
Draco's head whipped up at the sound of Harry’s voice from the doorway. Leaning against the doorjamb, Harry scrubbed a hand through his already atrociously messy hair and shot Draco a grin that had Draco's stomach flipping. Unclenching his hands around the cup, Draco shoved his chair back and moved over so he could rinse the cup out, hiding his reaction from both Harry and Astoria. It seemed that he needn’t have bothered, though, as Astoria reached over to give his hand a squeeze before grinning at him.
“We can finish this later.”
Harry’s arms wrapped around Draco's waist a few seconds later. Letting out a huff of a laugh, Draco leant backwards into the embrace, making Harry take most of his weight.
“She’s so subtle.”
“Mmm, who needs subtle?” Harry leant in so he could mouth at Draco's neck, sending tingles straight through him. “Is she alright with staying here with the kids again while we go through Grimmauld with the Curse Breaker?”
“She said she was fine with it yesterday.” Draco tilted his head to the side to allow Harry better access. “I would also assume that that was why she was up so early today.”
When Harry’s only response was a muffled hum, Draco chuckled. He was quite tempted to just allow Harry his way right there in the kitchen, but he knew that that was definitely not a good idea. Shifting so he was standing on his own again, he pulled away a little, earning himself a disappointed groan from Harry.
“We really shouldn’t. Not here and not with a full house.”
Harry sighed against the back of Draco's neck. “I know.”
Almost as though to emphasise their words, Bastet and Lily rushed into the room at that second, sliding a little on the tiled floor. Bastet crashed into the cupboard just to Draco's right, yowling in what sounded like panic. Lily was hot on her heels, leaning forward in an obvious attempt to catch her.
“Lily?”
“Morning, Draco! Morning, Dad!” She turned and rushed through the kitchen, her feet still slipping on the tiles as she chased Bastet out the door. “She’s got a page out of my potions book!”
A deep laugh from behind him had Draco smiling. Turning so he could lean back against the sink, he shot Harry an enquiring look.
“Should we make an attempt at stopping that?”
Scrubbing his hand through his hair again caused Harry’s shirt to ride up, showing off a sliver of pale skin. Draco's eyes followed the trail of dark hair down as far as he could before Harry lowered his arm.
“Probably? I’m not too sure that I would want a page from a book that has cat slobber all over it back, but she obviously thinks it’s important.”
A loud shriek followed by an indignant yowl reached Draco's ears through the backdoor. He grinned.
“Perhaps getting her the cat wasn’t such a good idea after all.”
“Possibly not.” Harry closed the gap between them in a few short steps and drew Draco into a soft kiss. “I guess it’s the thought that counts, though, right?”
Draco opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by another set of shrieks and howls. His stomach flipped again when Harry shot him another grin before stepping away and moving out the door. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly before pushing off from the sink. It was time to start the day properly.
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The Optimal Balance