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Inter Vivos	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 42948 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am making no money from this writing.

Chapter List
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Thank you again for all the reviews!

I am cutting up the Inter
Vivos chapters into smaller parts now, as the longer ones were overwhelming
me with dread when I tried to write them.

Chapter
Twenty-Eight�Stone (Part One)

�� Are you
feeling well enough to talk now?�

�� Harry
winced, but kept staring straight ahead, out the window in his bedroom. His arms
were folded on the windowsill. His shoulders were hunched. His broken arm was
still bound to his side with a sling, though as far as he was concerned he didn�t need it anymore; the bone-healing spells
and bone-strengthening potions had done their work. Still, he must look sullen
and miserable when seen from behind. That ought to deter Snape from talking to
him.

�� It had
worked for three days. Harry had slept and awakened in Draco�s arms, reassured
Sirius he was fine, written letters to Ron and Hermione asking them to get the
basilisk venom if they could, and engaged in a few guarded conversations with
Mrs. Malfoy. That had been all he wanted.

�� He couldn�t
face up to the anger in Snape�s face or voice when he had seen Harry wounded.
All he could think was that he was once again being blamed for something that
wasn�t his fault. He hadn�t planned to
get wounded. He hadn�t thought it would be jolly good fun. He�d done pretty
well, in fact, when the cabinet that had only broken his arm might have fallen
on him and crushed him flat beneath its weight.

�� But still
Snape watched him with disappointed eyes and spoke to him in a brittle, bitter
tone. Harry was just as pleased to avoid a conversation that he feared would
make him distrust Snape again.

�� And he was so
tired of distrusting Snape.

�� I think
you are.� Snape�s voice had cooled. It had sounded considerate at first, but
Harry knew that was only a mask.

�� And then
his weariness became anger. Why should he
have to hide in his and Draco�s room and apologize for his injury? If Snape
wanted to make him apologize, he was the one at fault. Harry had spent years
trying not to challenge the Dursleys, trying not to give them a reason to hurt
him, and it had happened anyway. It was time to stop running away from Snape,
too.

�� Yes, I
am,� he said, turning around and awkwardly folding his arms in front of him.
Maybe his anger would give Snape pause. He hoped so. Snape was staring at him
with the same cold mask he�d been wearing for the past three days. The least he
could give the bastard back was his own rejection. �Not that you care about the
wounds themselves so much as having someone to blame for them.�

�� Snape
paused, his hand on the door of the bedroom. His eyes had gone careful, and
Harry didn�t understand why. He should have attacked with such open
provocation. �I do not understand you,� he said. �I do not blame Draco for your
injury. He was�rather occupied at the time your arm broke. I understand.�

�� No,� Harry
said, and the bitterness spilled over before he could contain it, �you just
blame me.�

�� Snape
stared at him, and the shock on his face looked like false innocence. Harry
rolled his eyes at him.

�� I saw how
furious you were when you saw my arm,� he said. �And then you packed me full of
pain potions before I could so much as ask
for them. You blame me for getting hurt. And I understand that, all right? It�s pretty bloody familiar from the
Dursleys.� He felt a sharp stinging at the corners of his eyes, and had to turn
away. God, what was wrong with him?
Ever since they�d retrieved the tiara, he�s felt tense, instead of happy the
way he should. He only relaxed around Draco. �You scolded me the entire time.
Like I chose that, like I really
wanted��

�� And then he
had to stop, because Snape�s arms were wrapped around him, in a careful position
that wouldn�t jostle his sling, and even Harry couldn�t mistake the emotion in
that hug for disappointment.

�� Foolish
child,� Snape breathed. �That�s not it. I was worried for you, and my worry has
little practice at manifesting as anything except anger. That�s�it. That is
all.�

�� Harry
swallowed. He trusted Snape�s actions more than he did his words at the moment,
but when he reached out and felt carefully around his ribs, Snape�s arms were
still encircling him. There was little stiffness in his shoulders. He wasn�t
embarrassed about this, or not much. He wasn�t forcing himself to do this.

�� You mean
that,� Harry said weakly. He knew there
had been anger in Snape�s eyes. He wouldn�t allow Snape to forget that. But the
possibility that it hadn�t been directed at him had never entered his head.

�� Yes.�
Snape nudged him gently in the direction of the chairs at the end of the bed.
Draco had declared that he was tired of having nowhere to sit when he wanted to
read in the bedroom and fetched them from the library. Harry sat down in a
daze. �I am�sorry if you misinterpreted my behavior. I thought you were
avoiding me because you felt sulky about my giving you the pain potions without
your permission and did not want to discuss healing the wounds in your mind.�

�� Harry put a
hand to his scar and shook his head a little. The relief from the thought of
arguing with Snape was overwhelming, but the tension still crackled and boiled
as a headache behind his temples.

�� What is
wrong?� Somehow, Snape achieved the perfect tone, concerned but not commanding,
as he let Harry go and sat down in the other chair.

�� I
don�t�know.� Harry forced the words out against a lump of agony in his throat
and against the temptation to keep his feelings to himself as he had done for
so long. �I should be happy that we succeeded and that Draco is master of the
Elder Wand, but I�m not, and I don�t know�what to do.�

�� He looked
up at Snape and let his Occlumency shields drop, hoping against hope that Snape
would understand the invitation without the need for words.

*

�� Severus
caught his breath. He had not expected, when he came up the stairs, that Harry
would let him see into his mind today. He had thought he was going to be
dealing with a reluctant adolescent who was intent on avoiding pain.

�� But this�

�� Severus
stepped into Harry�s mind even more delicately than he had when he was looking
for the location of the Horcrux. It wouldn�t do to cause any pain now. Harry�s
trust was more fragile than he perhaps understood. He still expected
interference in his life from adults, utter disregard of his feelings, and
abuse. It was time for Severus to show him that the first did not necessarily
mean the other two would follow.

�� He built
walls to shield some of the boy�s mind, as before, and then turned to face the
suppurating wounds the Dark Lord�s possession had caused. He hissed when he
noticed that they were darker than before, and the one he had had to tear open
the other night in order to reach the memory of the Room of Requirement was
boiling with slick magic, the mind�s equivalent of blood.

�� This is more than the damage I had to do.

�� Severus
glided carefully around the pain, touching nothing, but observing intently. The
wounds expanded as he watched, and sick fear clenched around his stomach and
extended cold fingers into his throat.

�� It is no wonder that the Dark Lord did not
bother preying on the boy last year. I thought that his sending Bellatrix after
Harry meant he was washing his hands of the kill. But even if she didn�t
succeed, this would have.

�� The Dark
Lord had done more than simply possess Harry and force him to injure Black, as
horrendous as that was. He had carried a magical venom, based on Legilimency,
along with him and injected it into Harry�s mind like his snake Nagini biting
someone. It was spreading as depression at the moment, and it would increase as
senseless mental pain and listlessness of spirit, until at last Harry took his
own life.

�� And there
was no way that getting rid of it would not hurt.

�� Severus
placed himself firmly in his own body before he opened his eyes. Harry was
watching him with his arms wrapped around his chest, as though to shelter
himself against the cold, and his brow was furrowed.

�� It�s bad,
isn�t it?� he asked. �I could feel your reaction.� He looked away from Severus
and pursed his lips with a faint smacking sound. �How bad?� His voice dragged
on the last words, as though he didn�t really want to know.

�� Severus
knew the boy had had enough of adults hiding information from him, however, and
so he replied honestly. �The Dark Lord has poisoned the wounds in your mind,�
he said. �He did it from the beginning, but because they were not�examined
closely�I did not realize it had happened. We must purge the venom.�

�� Harry
exhaled hard through his nose. �And it�ll hurt?�

�� It will.�
Severus had no intention of hiding that, either, particularly because he knew
Dumbledore would have tried.

�� Harry put
his hand over his eyes and sat in silence for a moment. Then he looked up, and
though his eyes were tearless, they were bright in the way Severus had often
seen Lily�s be before she wept.

�� I�m tired
of distrusting you,� Harry said. �I want to be able to rely on you again. If
I�d had more emotional distance from what you told me at the end of my fifth
year, then I would have been able to start doing that sooner.� He looked pale
and frightened and very young�unless Severus looked into his eyes. �And I want
you to heal me as soon as you possibly can.�

�� Severus
hesitated, overcome by the confidence implied in that statement and not sure
his voice would stay steady if he spoke now. That wouldn�t be the disaster he
would have thought it was two years ago, since Harry was not his Gryffindor
friends, but he wanted to be strong for Harry at the moment. He had seen what
it did to the boy now that he had to act like an adult for Black, instead of
the other way around.

�� Speed may
increase the pain,� he said. �I will want to study the wounds for at least a
month before I begin.�

�� Harry
smiled. �Well, you can do that, since Draco and I aren�t going back to school
in September,� he said, and stood up, stretching as though he were trying to
stretch his cramped spine from the pressure of a long burden. �And in the
meantime, we�ll think about ways to destroy the tiara and the stone
permanently.�

�� He
hesitated, then put a hand on Severus�s shoulder and pressed down hard for a
moment. Severus recognized the reassuring gesture he often used on Black.

�� Severus
reached up and covered Harry�s hand with his own before he could leave the
bedroom. He would not allow Harry to
feel responsible for him, too. He was no longer young enough to absolutely
require parents, but he still needed someone he could lean on. And more than
that, Severus had seen the toll that acting as a leader took on Harry when he
still didn�t really believe in his own qualifications for the role. Severus was
determined that, at the very least, Harry would know he didn�t have to shelter
Severus from the wrongs of the world.

�� Harry
looked down at him, surprised. Severus stared back. He had no idea how good
Harry had become at Legilimency under Draco�s tutelage; he had no idea how to
make his emotions appear on his face, when he was so long out of practice. But he
imagined showing his pride in Harry and his humility under his new charge, and that
would have to be enough.

�� Harry�s
expression softened, and he nodded a little before he turned away and walked
out the door.

�� Left alone,
Severus closed his eyes and told himself this
time would be different, because Harry had made the first move, before he
stood and went down to his lab to find his books on mental wounds.

*

�� Draco sat
back and folded his arms behind his head, scowling thoughtfully at the Elder
Wand, which lay in the middle of the kitchen table. Now and then, it vibrated
and slightly trembled. Its tip swung further and further away from him, the
grip inviting his hand. Draco would have thought it was moving because he
tapped his foot on the floor and caused shocks that ran up into the table.

�� Except that
he wasn�t tapping his foot on the floor, and he knew better.

�� He didn�t
trust the surge of power that had risen up in him when Professor Snape told him
what the wand really was, or the way that the wand had jumped in his belt, even
though his hand hadn�t been anywhere near it at the time. It was worrying that
he could feel that much hunger for a mere artifact. He didn�t want to end up
like Dumbledore, so obsessed with one of the Deathly Hallows that he let its
mere existence control and constrain
his planning.

�� Draco
yearned for power, of course. He wanted to be strong�at least strong enough to
outface his enemies and resist their attacks, ideally strong enough that others
would come to him for advice and he could take a position of influence in the
wizarding world. That was more than his being his father�s son. Even if his
mother had raised him alone, she would have passed that belief, a legacy of his
heritage from both the Black and the Malfoy families, on to him. It was an
exceptional pure-blood, like Harry�s Black, who didn�t want power.

�� But Draco
had also seen how the search for it had enslaved his father and destroyed his
parents� marriage. He wasn�t prepared to sacrifice anything for it.

�� One had to
have life and health to use power. One had to have freedom, or the use of power
would be checked by obligations to others. One had to know something about
one�s long-term goals, or the power would be spent frivolously, and flow
uselessly into minor projects. And someone would probably come and take it away
before long.

�� Draco did
not intend for any of those things to happen. He would carefully study the
wand�s magic before he committed to it. He would be the master of the Elder
Wand, if he decided to keep it, not its servant.

�� And he
would not make himself a target for the Dark Lord to come after, as Draco
suspected he might once he learned who had conquered Dumbledore�s wand, when
the most important thing was surviving the war.

�� What I need, he thought, watching the
way that the wand inched its way across the table towards him, is some way to use it that won�t involve me
wielding it in battle. I would desire power more there, when I might need my
full strength to defend Harry or save my own life.

�� I wonder what makes the Elder Wand so
powerful? Its history? Its wood? Its core?

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes and wondered how easy it would to be to write to Ollivander
the wandmaker. He might not know much, but anything more than the bare legend
of the Deathly Hallows would be more than Draco knew now.

*

�� Mr.
Potter. Come here, please.�

�� The words
were polite if cold, but Harry knew a command when he heard one. Aunt Petunia
and Uncle Vernon had made sure he learned that lesson before he learned to
read. He hesitated, then moved slowly into the library, where Mrs. Malfoy sat
on a couch before the fire with her hands primly clasped.

�� Yes, Mrs.
Malfoy?� Harry kept his voice just as cold. If she was about to scold him for
�corrupting� Draco or putting him in danger, then Harry wasn�t in the mood to
listen. He kept his back to the wall by the door so that he could dart out
quickly if the scene got too unpleasant, and looked at the fire rather than at
her. Maybe that would reduce the confrontational nature of the conversation.

�� Her first
words put paid to any hope of that. �You must realize that I resent your
relationship with my son.�

�� Harry took
a deep breath and looked her in the eye. He cared more about showing that he
loved Draco and she couldn�t drive them apart than he did about hurting her
feelings. �Why?� he demanded. �You must know by now that we both want it, and
that Draco�s as eager as I am to pursue it. It�s not like I walked up to him,
cast the Imperius Curse, and started snogging him.�

�� Mrs.
Malfoy�s eyes grew into chips of ice and pearl, as if she thought the reference
to snogging too impolite to pollute the air she had to breathe. How did she survive seeing us kiss at
Christmas? Harry wondered in irritation. �You could have done more to
discourage him than you did,� she said, and there was no inflection in her
voice, but there didn�t have to be to show her feelings.

�� Harry
lifted his chin. �I did try to discourage him at the beginning. I assumed his
feelings didn�t run deep, and I didn�t want to associate with Slytherins��

�� Mrs. Malfoy
gave him a brittle smile. �Anyone who would let House pride stand in the way of
a loving bond��

�� I�m
talking about the way I am now,� Harry said loudly, �not the way I was when I
was thirteen. He taught me better. And he wouldn�t go away. So we started out
as friends, and then we realized we were in love with each other, and we became
lovers.� He watched her flinch with vicious satisfaction. He was through with
putting up what other people said and thinking politeness in the face of
rudeness was the best response. �So you�d have to talk him out of loving me
even if you could talk me out of it.�

�� I see the
necessity for danger to his life.� Mrs. Malfoy examined her hands. �He would be
in danger if he had never associated with you, because I have fled from Lucius
and Draco has refused the Dark Mark. But you could have preserved greater
secrecy and not asked him to go with you when we left the school.�

�� We,� Harry snapped back. �Do you think
he�d really stand being left behind?�

�� That is
not the point. You didn�t even try.� Mrs. Malfoy�s eyes were colder than ever.

�� I don�t
try to make those kinds of decisions for him,� Harry said firmly. �Not anymore.
You�ll have to forgive me, Mrs. Malfoy, if I think what Draco wants more important
than what you say about it.�

�� Conflict
between us could make life uncomfortable for Draco. You would not want to force
him to choose between us, surely?�

�� He�s old
enough now to see that that�s a false dichotomy.� Harry yawned in her face.
�You would be the one insisting on the choice. And since he�s of age, you can�t
make him obey you. I think that he
would decide you were trying to force him back into a childish mold, whilst I
trust him enough to treat him like an adult.�

�� Mrs. Malfoy
was silent for long moments, studying him. Then she said, �You love him, Mr.
Potter?�

�� More than
I love anyone else,� Harry said fiercely. �I�d do anything to keep him safe
from Voldemort�except make him sit out of the war,� he added, anticipating the
question he was sure she opened her mouth to ask. �That�s not fair to him. I
want to be fair to him, and show that
I trust him, even more than I want to protect him.�

�� An unusual
ambition.� Mrs. Malfoy shifted so that her hands could open on her lap, as if
she found the position she had been sitting in until now cramped. �One might
say that your way would kill him, whilst my way would at least leave him alive.�

�� You can�t
know that.� Harry took a step forwards before he thought about it. He didn�t
want to threaten Mrs. Malfoy, but, on the other hand, she sounded like she was making threats to him. �After all, you thought you were safe in the Manor with your
husband, and look what happened.�

�� For long
moments, there was silence. Then Mrs. Malfoy smiled and stood up. Harry stepped
quickly to the side and laid his hand on his wand.

�� I have
indeed failed,� Mrs. Malfoy said, �at least in gaining your trust, if you
believe that I would harm you. I will not. I owe you, in fact, for giving me a
most valuable and important lesson.� Her voice was mild, with a light chime to
it, as if to show that she held no hard feelings, but Harry was not going to
trust that, of course. �Never
confront a teenage boy who feels as strongly about his lover as you do.�

�� Harry
snarled. �If you think that my feelings for Draco will cool when we get older��

�� Mrs. Malfoy
held up a hand. �That is not what I meant. I was thinking of speaking to Draco
on the same subject, but I can hardly imagine that he would be less�vehement�than
you.� Her lips twitched into a brief smile, and she held Harry�s eye until he
started wondering if she could use Legilimency, too.

�� Then she
nodded and said, �A good showing, Mr. Potter. Though you are not the first
lover I would have chosen for my son, I do believe you have passed the test.�

�� And she
stepped past him and out of the library, her gown rustling softly along her
legs.

�� Harry
stared after her with his mouth open for a long moment before he realized what
she meant.

�� She was testing me. Seeing if I would defend
Draco or back away from him when a member of his family challenged me. And�I performed
well enough to satisfy her.

�� Harry had
to breathe hard against the anger that hit him then. He glared after Mrs.
Malfoy�s back and thought about casting some jinx that would humiliate but not
hurt her.

�� No, he decided after a moment. That would only sour things between us, and
I don�t want that. Even if I do think that she�s a cold bitch sometimes.

�� Instead, he
went in search of Draco. He found him casting spells at the Elder Wand with his
own hawthorn wand, and sucking his teeth noisily over the results, though the
spells produced no effect that Harry could see.

��

�� Sucking
your teeth is a filthy habit,� Harry said, and draped his arms over Draco�s
shoulders, and kissed him.

�� Draco
leaned back to return the kiss with interest. �I can think of much more filthy
things to do with my mouth,� he whispered in a breathy voice. �Interested?�

�� God, yes.� Harry just wanted to forget about
relatives� tests and wounds in his mind and Horcruxes for a while. He pulled
Draco impatiently away from the Elder Wand and towards their bedroom.

�� Draco
laughed breathlessly. �What would you do if I wasn�t here?�

�� Wank. A
lot.� Harry pulled him into another kiss and then reached down to grip his
cock, which had the pleasant consequences of shutting Draco up and making him
rut against Harry�s hand.

�� They�d
reached the bedroom, and Harry began taking off Draco�s clothes, since Draco seemed
too languid at the moment to do it for himself. He did pause once, to take in
the way that Draco sprawled on the bed, his eyes fluttering open and shut and
revealing glimpses of clouded grey as they did so, his hair spread around him
like a sunburst, his lips slightly parted.

�� I love him, and I don�t care what his mother
says.

�� Harry
leaned down for a third kiss, and tore the buttons open.

*

�� Ayla Rouge:
Thank you! As for Harry and Draco having sex, I am delaying it for a while just
because I don�t know how well that kind of build-up would fit into everything
else that has to happen; the emphasis of the next few chapter parts is going to
be on Snape healing Harry�s mind and destroying the Horcruxes.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Thanks!

Yami Bakura: Thanks very much! I�m
glad that you�re enjoying the story.

�� Nyale:
Narcissa is slowly moving towards approval, but it will take a lot for Harry to
win it fully. At least she�s acknowledged that she can�t break him apart from
Draco.

�� MewMew2:
Draco will try to stop the Elder Wand before it gets up to too much mischief.

�� qwerty: Thank
you!

�� SP777: The
Horcrux was the more important to secure, they thought, especially since
Dumbledore was probably watching the Room of Requirement more closely than the
Chamber of Secrets.

�� DarklessVision:
No problem! I like Snarry too, but my first love is H/D.

Afraid the chapters will be a bit
shorter from now on, but they should also come out more regularly.

�� Mangacat:
Thank you! His behavior is a bit off in this chapter, but for obvious reasons.

�� Sarah: Here
you are!
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Inter Vivos