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The Optimal Balance	By : TheMightyFlynn Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17125 -:- 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
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Dust motes floated through the air, causing Draco to sneeze almost the second he stepped through the floo into Grimmauld that afternoon. Waving his wand, he cast a cleaning charm, clearing the room, but not before he let out a second huge sneeze.
“Bless you,” Harry murmured from behind him. A few seconds later, a tissue was being waved over Draco's shoulder. “I didn’t realise how long it had been since we’d been here.”
Snuffling into the tissue, Draco shot Harry a glare. “We have all been living in the Manor since before Christmas.”
Stepping out and around Draco and into the room properly, Harry shrugged. “Sorry?”
Shaking his head, Draco threw the tissue into the fire behind him. “How did you ever manage to survive in the Ministry with a memory like that?”
By the time Draco turned back from the fire, Harry had left the room. His deep chuckle sounded from down the hall.
“I had Hermione do all of my homework!”
Amusement was clear in Harry’s voice, causing Draco to shake his head again. He followed the sound of Harry’s footsteps down to the basement kitchen to find him standing before the kitchen table, his fingers dragging along the back of one of the benches. Stepping into the room, Draco took a deep breath, inhaling the slightly musty scent that he had come to associate with lazy mornings spent in Grimmauld. The scent awakened a desire for eggs and bacon in him so strong that he couldn’t help grinning.
“It’s strange how certain places and things come to be associated with certain memories, don’t you think?” Draco's stomach flipped when Harry turned to shoot him a look full of warmth. “The start of my fifth year, I came here beforehand to be with the Order. It was the first time I had seen Sirius in person for months. He was sitting here with Remus and they both looked so happy; almost carefree.” Harry’s expression clouded as he moved around the table, his fingers still trailing across the back of the bench. “I couldn’t bring myself to enter the house again until we were on the run, hunting Horcruxes. Nearly all of my memories in this house are tainted by the War and now with what the boys are trying to do… I just don’t know why I don’t just lock it up and never enter again.”
Following the tug towards Harry he was being prompted by, Draco moved so he could wrap one arm around Harry’s waist. He draped the other arm across Harry’s shoulders, pulling him in close. He aligned their lips, but drew back a little when Harry leant forward.
“You want to know my enduring memory of this house? Of this room in particular?”
The touch of melancholy that had entered Harry’s eyes caused Draco's insides to clench with the need to kiss it all away; to protect him from anything that would want to hurt him again. Stepping closer so he could press their chests together, he drew Harry’s bottom lip in between his teeth and sucked lightly. The sound Harry made in response was a strange mix between a groan and a pleased hum, causing Draco to chuckle into the kiss.
“Tell me.”
Draco found he had to take a deep breath before he responded, just so his voice didn’t wobble. “It was one of the first nights I spent over here; the day you got Lily back, in fact. We were sitting here across from each other and you were so proud of yourself for managing to stand up to Molly and retrieve Lily. You started speaking about Lily and developed this look…” Draco paused to shake his head as the memory flooded through his mind. Moving the arm from around Harry’s shoulders, he brushed his fingers through Harry’s hair and down the side of his face. “Did you know that your eyes practically glow with joy when you speak about the kids? You looked so happy – so content – and I… I wanted to be the one who had caused you so much happiness. I wanted to be the one who caused you to smile like that… I wanted you to love me like that.”
All through his little speech, Draco had been watching for the look to appear on Harry’s face. Once he finished, he didn’t have to wait long: Harry’s eyes widened, his mouth stretched into a wide smile and a warmth entered his eyes that sent Draco's insides shivering with delight. Finally giving in to the internal prompting, he pulled Harry close and sealed their lips together in a soft kiss. Harry’s hands slid up Draco's back to clench in the back of the white work shirt he had chosen to wear that day, pressing them even closer. By the time they broke apart, Draco was finding it a little difficult to catch his breath.
“Dray…”
“Not everything about this house is bad, Harry.”
It seemed like Harry was about to respond, but they were interrupted by the sound of the floo alarm. Draco took a deep breath and stepped away, shaking his hands out to his sides to try to stop them from trembling.
“The Curse Breaker?”
Harry nodded. “It must be.”
Taking another deep breath, Draco found he had to resist the urge to fan his hand in front of his face to prevent the blush that was threatening to turn him bright red. He waved his hand towards the door instead.
“I’ll be with you soon.”
He knew that his current embarrassing state was completely his own fault, but it seemed that Harry was also determined to add to it. Closing the gap between them, Harry drew Draco into another, much lighter kiss.
"I do love you.”
Before Draco could react in any way, Harry turned and moved out of the room. He leant back against the back of the bench behind him, steadying himself as he tried to calm his racing heart.
*~*
“You know, the problem with these old houses that have been passed down through the generations is that the Ministry has always been too cowardly to step in and properly search them. I’ve always said that they should be searched each time they change hands, but no! The Ministry won’t do that, will they?”
Harry shot a quick glance over to where Draco stood across the room in one of the unused bedrooms just in time to catch him rolling his eyes behind the back of the Curse Breaker. Draco had done quite well that afternoon to not hex the elderly man, in Harry’s opinion. Jefferson Indes had been the only Curse Breaker that Harry could manage to convince to take the job of searching Grimmauld on such short notice the day before and he was now wondering whether he should have waited and held out for one of the ones he knew. Jefferson had come highly recommended, however, so he knew he had to give him a chance. He watched as Jefferson rummaged through one of the trunks that was sitting against the far wall, moving the things inside around at a rapid pace.
“Perhaps you should try this one?” Draco's voice was painfully polite, a sure sign to Harry that he was controlling his temper. “From what I can tell, the Blacks all liked turning their old china into weapons with undetectable curses.”
Moving so he could see what Draco was staring at, Harry got a quick glimpse of what appeared to be a set of fine china sitting in a glass display case. His view was soon obscured by Jefferson moving in front of him, though. Resisting the urge to sigh, Harry moved so he was standing beside Draco.
Now that he thought about it, Draco had, in fact, done exceptionally well that afternoon when it came to discovering which items should be checked. Subtly wrapping his arm around Draco's waist, Harry pulled him backwards a little, instinctively moving him away from the display case on the off-chance that whatever was wrong with the china set exploded, or something equally as horrible. A small, slightly amused-sounding huff of breath was Draco's only reaction, causing Harry to smile at him.
“Why would you pick this one?”
Harry immediately stepped away from Draco, giving him some space. The afternoon had gone quite well, he figured, considering they had managed to find at least two things in each of the rooms they had investigated so far that had had some kind of subtle or undetectable curse on them. As he listened to Draco explaining exactly why he would consider the fine china to be a potential cursed object, Harry allowed his mind to wander a little. It drifted immediately back to that morning and Draco's explanation of why he shouldn’t consider everything in Grimmauld to be connected with bad memories.
The fact that Draco had harboured feelings for him for much longer than they had been together was something that Harry had worked out for himself. He had never brought the subject up, but it was just something that he knew to be fact, especially after the way Draco had proposed to him on Christmas Day. From the proposal, Harry’s mind drifted again over the time they had spent together in the months before that, then even further back. He didn’t ever remember seeing headlines about Draco and Astoria through the years, not that he had really been watching for them. What he did remember was seeing pictures of Draco just after the end of his and his Father’s trials, as well as socialite pictures of Astoria over the years as well. It seemed to Harry that Draco had managed to keep his private life extremely private, even before he married Astoria. A sense of curiosity washed through him and he glanced back across the room. Draco was standing next to Jefferson, the two of them examining the china set.
His life before Astoria was something that Draco never spoke about; at least, not with Harry. In fact, all Harry really knew about Draco's life before he got married was that he never wanted to repeat the experiences he had had with the various men he had been with. That was one thing that had always made Harry curious, but he was unsure whether Draco would open up to him about that aspect of his past. It was entirely possible, Harry figured, that if Draco hadn’t yet mentioned anything to him about it, then it was something that he simply wanted to forget forever. That didn’t stop Harry’s curiosity, however. He wanted to know about Draco's past, he wanted to know about the men he had been with, and he especially wanted to know what it was that had decided Draco on never bottoming for anyone again. He knew that it had happened in the past, but now Draco was so vehemently against the idea that Harry had simply never had the courage to ask about it. He was jolted out of his thoughts when he heard his name mentioned.
“Harry?” Draco was watching him with an inquisitive glint to his eyes. “Are we ready to move into the attic?”
“Er…” Harry spun in a circle, realising that he had picked up a musty-smelling tablecloth that had been in the room for Merlin knew how long while his mind had been drifting. “Yeah, yeah, sorry. I was… Yeah. Let’s go.”
Following behind Draco, Harry exited the room and closed the door behind them. He hadn’t bothered cleaning this part of Grimmauld when he had gone through it after moving in, mostly because he knew that they would never really use it. There were more bedrooms and parlours than Harry knew any small family would ever need to use, so he had kept the very top level of Grimmauld locked away. The attic was dark, gloomy and full of dust. Harry waved his wand the second he entered the room, cleaning it of the dust motes and opening the curtains in one move.
“Well, well. I haven’t come across an attic like this in many long years.”
Harry turned to face Jefferson, who was standing just inside the doorway, his hands on his hips. Jefferson turned slowly, obviously taking in the room. Shooting a quick look over Jefferson’s head to where Draco stood, Harry couldn’t help grinning. The look of pure disgust on Draco's face as he eyed a mouldy old trunk sent amusement coursing through him, his earlier thoughts about the past flying out of his mind as he focussed fully on the present.
“Mr. Potter?”
Harry shook his head to clear it before turning back to Jefferson. “Yes?”
“Could I trouble you to start checking over in that corner over there? Take Mr. Malfoy with you, just to make sure you get everything.”
Draco met Harry in the corner of the attic that Jefferson had indicated, the look of disgust never once leaving his face. Harry couldn’t help nudging him with his hip as he made his way up behind him.
“You can’t honestly tell me that a little dirt will put you off. You work with dirt every day of your life!”
“There is a very distinct difference between the soil I work with and the heaping amount of mould in this attic.”
Harry was silent for a few seconds while they moved over to begin their search. He found he couldn’t help himself, however.
“Draco?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t you also work with moulds in potions?”
Harry let out a laugh when Draco began grumbling to himself in response. He caught something about ‘annoyance’ and a few words that sounded distinctly like ‘pain in the arse’ before he managed to almost trip over a stack of old books. He gasped when the top one stood on its cover and scuttled off beneath an old table.
“Alright, maybe you were right: this place is a little creepy.”
Draco sighed. “Perhaps we should catch that book.”
They spent the rest of the afternoon scrambling over piles of books, old trunks, and pieces of furniture. There were a number of really good finds that Draco made during the course of the afternoon, each one causing Jefferson to look at him with increasing wonder. Harry had, of course, kept an eye out all afternoon for anything that could be opened only by voice, but he hadn’t come across any likely suspects. Mostly what he found were cockroaches and mouse droppings. Casting yet another cleaning charm at a pile of roach droppings in the far corner revealed a tiny locket sitting on the floor.
“Jefferson?”
The elderly man was by Harry’s side in a matter of seconds. “What do you have there, boy?”
Harry stepped back a few paces, giving Jefferson room to cast whatever was needed to identify whether the locket was cursed or not. The press of a warm hand to the small of his back told Harry that Draco had made his way over and he leant back into the touch for a few seconds.
“Strange…”
Unable to help himself, Harry stepped forward, but was stopped by Draco grabbing a handful of his shirt. “What’s strange?”
“This locket isn’t cursed – at least, not by any conventional means – but it is sealed shut tight.”
Harry’s insides felt as though they had turned to ice. He cast a glance back to Draco, whose eyes had widened a little. Turning back, he found Jefferson holding the locket out to him.
“It’s your house, Mr. Potter. Therefore, it belongs to you.”
Jefferson stomped away to continue searching in his part of the attic, but Harry stood where he was, staring down at the small locket. It was, of course, in the shape of a tiny snake head, as so many of the other pieces of old jewellery they had found were. Two red gems glinted up at Harry out of the snake’s eye sockets, their colour enhanced by the silver of the charm itself. It was attached to a fine silver chain that, surprisingly enough, held no knots. He glanced up to see Draco watching both him and the locket intently.
“Could this be…?”
Draco shook his head slowly. “I have no idea. It obviously used to open: look.”
One of Draco's elegant fingers moved over to rub against the side of the snake’s head. Harry leant closer, squinting his eyes so he could just make out two tiny hinges. Flipping the locket onto the other side, he examined the edge there carefully, but found no way of opening it. His heart began to race as he met Draco's eyes again.
“There’s no latch.”
“No.”
“And no other visible way to open it.”
“No.”
“This could be what they were looking for.”
Draco hesitated. “Perhaps.”
“Alright, look. Jefferson says there’s no curse on this. I’ll keep it close, just in case we find nothing else that could be what they were looking for.”
With that, he pocketed the locket. Draco eyed him for a few seconds, but said nothing more. Harry had trouble focussing on much more than the weight in his pocket for the rest of the afternoon and he became more and more positive that he had accidentally found what the boys were apparently looking for. When they had found nothing else by the end of the afternoon, Harry became convinced.
“Thank you for all your help today, Jefferson. I can’t believe that we were actually living with so many dangerous things still around.”
The wrinkles in Jefferson’s face creased in what Harry had come to understand was a smile. “Not a problem, Mr. Potter.” He turned to nod to Draco. “Mr. Malfoy. Please, if you ever are in need of my services again, feel free to ask. You have my card.”
Harry nodded and escorted him to the floo in the living room. When he turned, Draco was leaning against the doorjamb.
“You think the locket is what they’re after.”
“What else could it be? There is nothing else left in the house that looks like it should open but can’t; I’ve been searching the entire afternoon.”
“As have I.” Draco scrubbed a hand through his hair, mussing it up in a way that distracted Harry for a few seconds. “Are you absolutely certain?”
Pulling the locket out of his pocket, Harry held it up so it caught the light. The red gems sparkled in the firelight as the locket turned on the chain.
“It looks like it could be dangerous.”
Draco rolled his eyes. “You can’t go by how something looks; you know that! If we all did that then no one would believe for a second that you had done all you’ve done, because you dress like a bloody gardener half the time.”
Harry blinked. “A gardener?”
“Flannelette and denim have not been a fashion statement since the mid-nineties, Harry.”
Harry followed Draco's gaze to his red, yellow and white flannelette shirt. He huffed out a slightly insulted breath. “Can we please focus on the locket and not my fashion choices?”
Draco shot him a smirk. “How about we take that home to Astoria and see what she thinks?”
Eyeing Draco for a few seconds, Harry eventually agreed. He knew that there was nothing else they could do in Grimmauld that day anyway, so they may as well just head back to the Manor. He smiled when he felt Draco's arm wrapping around his waist when he turned to grab a handful of floo powder.
“I think we did well today.”
“That we did.”
“So well, perhaps, that I may need to reward you later on tonight.”
Draco chuckled in Harry’s ear, his hot breath tickling the sensitive skin. “Indeed?”
“Mmm,” Harry responded quietly. “I’ll definitely consider it.”
Draco's laugh followed Harry through the floo back to the Manor. He was grinning when he exited and found himself already planning their night together.
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The Optimal Balance