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Ceremonies of Strife	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 16218 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am making no money from this writing.

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Chapter Three�Swift
When There Is Need

�� Harry
mumbled and put an arm over his eyes. �Go away, Kreacher,� he said. Why would
the house-elf be knocking on his door, anyway? He didn�t take the initiative to
come up to Harry�s bedroom most of the time, since he could keep breakfast warm
as long as Harry needed to wait.

�� Harry? I
need to talk to you.�

�� Draco! Harry sat straight up as the
memories of yesterday came flooding back. He�d settled Draco in a bedroom down
the corridor from his own, but it sounded like he was awake now.

�� And no
wonder. Enough sunlight was coming through the windows to make Harry marvel
that he�d slept through it. He shook his head and tugged on the trousers he�d
worn yesterday, then hesitated and pulled on the shirt, too. He didn�t know if
Draco was ready to see him half-naked yet.

�� He padded
over to the door, yawning so widely he paused before he opened it so he
wouldn�t seem rude.

�� And then he
saw Draco�s pale face and the way he swayed on his feet, and more or less
forgot about not being rude.

�� What the
fuck happened?� he asked quietly, pulling him inside and glancing over his
shoulder. It was useless to tell himself that Kreacher and the wards of Grimmauld Place
wouldn�t let anyone come inside, and that Politesse would also defend Draco. He
still worried over Draco�s safety. �Nightmare?�

�� No.� Draco
sat down on Harry�s bed and took a deep breath, and Harry repressed the
irrelevant thought that it wasn�t the emotion he would have wanted to see Draco
display the first time he was in Harry�s bed. �I got this this morning.� He
held out the scroll of parchment Harry hadn�t realized he was holding, and
Harry picked it up and got it to unfold after a brief battle.

�� Dear Mr. Malfoy:

�� We here at Gringotts regret to inform you
that your mother, Narcissa Malfoy, has taken control of the Malfoy vaults and
has given us orders that you are not to receive any Galleons from them. We
shall hope to be able to enjoy your business and to see the mending of this
family quarrel soon.

�� Cordially,

�� Griphook.

�� Harry had
barely looked up from the scroll when Draco was talking feverishly, rolling his
fingers through his hair as if he was trying to scrub it dry after a shower.
�This order came from my father, I know it
did, but he used my mother�s name because he couldn�t let them know he was free.
He wants to take away my independence and make me obey him since I won�t do it
of my own free will. He wants to get rid of any chance I have to live on my
own.� He looked up, and Harry felt his heart melt at the sight of the hollows
in Draco�s eyes. �What am I going to do?�

�� Harry
looked at the scroll again, and then put it down on the bed. He didn�t think it
was going to help. �Live with me, of course,� he said quietly.

�� Yes, yes,
I know,� Draco said. �I mean, what am I going to do for money?� He ran his
fingers through his hair again.

�� Live with
me,� Harry repeated as calmly as he could when Draco was acting like that.
�Share my vaults.�

�� Draco
froze, staring at his knees for so long that Harry wondered if he had said
something wrong. When Draco looked up, he was shaking his head slightly, and he
squinted as if he were looking at a torch after being in the darkness a long
time.

�� Accept
charity?� he said. �I couldn�t do that.�

�� Why not?� Harry sat down on the chair that stood not far
from the bed, where he sometimes balanced his breakfast tray, and looked hard
at Draco. �Listen, I have two sets of vaults, one from the Potters and one from
the Blacks. My godfather left me the Black inheritance. I don�t know why, but
for some reason he thought no one from his own family could be trusted with
it.� That made Draco smile faintly. Harry smiled back and went on. �But that
money is really, partially, yours. I haven�t touched it much because it
embarrassed me, to have this big property I hadn�t done anything to earn. If
you use some of that money, it won�t be like living on charity, will it?�

�� Draco
stared at his knees for a while longer, then said,
�The Malfoys have always been proud.�

�� Harry
waited, because that didn�t sound like a refusal.

�� I don�t
know if I could do this,� Draco whispered. �I don�t know if I could do this
without losing my pride, and then what will I have to sustain myself during
these long months of struggle with my father, who is going to have all the
pride of being offended behind him?�

�� Harry
sighed. �Sometimes, Draco, you�re an arse without meaning to be,� he said.
�You�ll have me, of course. And not just for money or to have someone to live
with .I would hope that knowing I
love you gives you some pride of your own.�

�� Draco
froze, then lifted his eyes to Harry�s face. �You�ve
said you love me twice now,� he whispered.

�� Yes,�
Harry said. �Do you need it repeated more often to satisfy you? Because I�ll say it as often as you like.�

�� Draco
swallowed and then massaged his throat as if he�d been gulping down a bitter
potion. �I haven�t said it to you yet.�

�� No,� Harry
said, �but I�ll wait. I don�t want you to say it only because I did. But I have
to admit, I wouldn�t have stood around saying it if I thought that you weren�t in love with me. I�m done with
trying to make hopeless relationships work.� He grimaced as he thought of the
way he had floundered through the last few weeks with Ginny, trying to ignore
the gaps in their trust for one another.

�� Draco
sat staring at him for so long that Harry wondered if he�d said something wrong,
again. Or maybe Draco thought that �hopeless� was meant to refer to what Harry
really thought of their relationship.

�� Finally,
Draco said, �That�s more fair than most other people would have been.�

�� I know,�
Harry said, �but it�s not about being fair, for me. I mean, not all the time.�
He bit his tongue, trying to think of what he could say that would sound right.
He wasn�t skilled at this. He had been able to give compliments to Ginny, and
talk to her about her dreams of getting out of the Burrow and having her own
private life, but that was very different from knowing what to say in every
situation.

�� It�s like this,�
he said at last. �I want to say I love you because I want to say it. I want to
share the Black vaults with you because I want to share them, and because I
don�t think you would consent to share anything out of the Potter vaults.� A
quick smile darting across Draco�s face told him that suspicion was correct. �I
want you to live with me because I want it. And of course I hope that you want
all those things too,� he added quickly.

�� You�re
amazing,� Draco said, with a soft reverence in his voice that made Harry blush.
But then Draco reached out and cupped his hands around Harry�s jaw and drew his
face forwards, and Harry forgot about what he might have looked like or if that
was important in the bliss of the kiss that followed.

�� It was
soft, and hot, and their mouths seemed to melt together, so that Harry was
almost dazed when Draco pulled back. Draco smiled at him and touched his cheek,
then his forehead, then the ridge above his eye.

�� All
right,� he said. �Then let�s go to Gringotts as soon as we can and get things
arranged so that I can share the Black vaults. I still feel a little like I�m
living on charity, but I would rather live on your charity than anyone else�s.�

�� Harry
smiled and let his forehead rest against Draco�s, closing his eyes.

*

�� And you�re
quite sure that you want to do this, Mr. Potter?� The goblin who had introduced
himself as Griphook kept looking back and forth between Harry and Draco as if
he assumed that there was a mistake somewhere.

�� Harry
braced his hands on the desk behind which Griphook stood and leaned forwards.
Draco admired the firm look of his face, as if he intended to butt through all
the obstacles between him and his goal with his jaw alone. �Yes, I do,� he
said. �And my reasons for doing so are none of your business. You�ve told me
often that you aren�t here to give clients advice unless they seem to be
throwing their money away.�

�� Griphook
examined Harry this time with the same doubtful expression he had given to
Draco so far, then nodded and reached down beneath the desk to retrieve a key.
�The necessary changes will be made, then,� he said in the tone that someone
might use to announce the end of the world.

�� Thank
you,� Harry said, and stepped back from the desk. The other goblins nearby, at
least the ones who hadn�t been busy with clients, looked hastily back at their
paperwork and tried to pretend that they hadn�t been listening. Draco wasn�t
sure Harry even noticed them. He was striding across the floor of the main room
in Gringotts, heading for the door as though he was glad to be out of here.

�� Draco
followed, thoughtful. He couldn�t help breathing in the atmosphere of wealth
and power whenever he came to Gringotts and wondering what the other people he
saw here thought of him. Harry didn�t look to right or left. He acted as though
no one could possibly think anything important about him, and if they did, then
they would let him know about it one way or another.

�� That�s the difference between us, Draco
thought. I look at the way I exercise my
power. I think about it, because the exercise of power changes the
relationships of the people around me and my relationships with the world.
Harry just does it as if he could do it in isolation.

�� But that�s not possible, even if you�re not
the Savior of the Wizarding World.

�� Draco had
been wondering what he could do to help Harry in return for Harry�s letting
Draco live with him and giving him access to the Black vaults. Harry would
probably say that he didn�t need to
do anything, except be there, but Draco didn�t think like that. The nagging
sensation of a debt unfulfilled would remain in his mind until he gave Harry a
gift of equal value.

�� Perhaps this is it. Perhaps I can teach him
about the exercise of power that he should have learned if Dumbledore had any
sense at all, and how to handle himself in politics.
He doesn�t like thinking about his fame or using it, but he did all right when
he spoke with Kepler�s sister a few months ago. And I
think he likes obliging me more than
he dislikes doing anything with his name.

�� Draco
smiled. Good. That would help. He would teach Harry a few essential truths of
the world, and at the same time make him more
independent by arming him against the people who were trying to exploit him. He
saw no way that that could go wrong, at least as long as he explained his
motives openly. Trying to trick Harry was the way to get him to distrust people.

�� Oh, Harry!
I haven�t seen you in such a long time.�

�� Draco
looked sharply ahead, and found a reason to fault himself. While he�d been drifting
around in his mind, making plans for the future, he hadn�t been paying
attention to the present. Harry had been swept up in a Weasley tide.

�� Well, all
right, so it consisted of two Weasley women. But considering what he had to
fear and resent from them, Draco felt justified in calling them a tide.

�� The younger
one, Mrs. Weasel the second, hurtled forwards and hugged Harry, her red hair
swirling around them like a curtain that she intended to draw to give them
privacy. The other one stood there with her hands on her hips, glancing between
Harry and Draco with half a smile and half a frown, as if she didn�t know
whether the pleasure of seeing Harry out of the house should get rid of her
disinclination to see Draco.

�� As if I really wanted to see you either, Draco
thought, and gave her a viciously perfect sneer as he walked over to retrieve
Harry from his former girlfriend.

�� I can�t
believe you never got my letters,� She-Weasel said, standing back from Harry
and shaking his shoulders as if he was a child. Harry looked embarrassed. Of course he does, Draco thought. I wonder if she even thinks about how much
attention people pay to him already, or if she�s realized the way she�s adding
to it? �I sent them so carefully! Why didn�t you reply?�

�� Harry opened
his mouth. Draco knew what he was going to say from the expression on his face.
It was going to be a polite lie, a suggestion that she send them again or that
she hadn�t sent them with post-owls clever enough to find him or that the
Ministry wards had kept them out.

�� It was
going to be something that would encourage the She-Weasel to keep on sending
them, because Harry seemed unable to bear the idea of a permanent break from
her.

�� Draco
didn�t know why. Harry could keep being friends with Weasley and Granger even
if he annoyed the youngest Weasley. In fact, Draco was so sure of that theory
that he decided to test it himself.

�� He burned
most of them,� he drawled, coming to a halt at Harry�s side. �The ones that he
simply wasn�t too busy to answer what with, you know, surviving the attacks on the Ministry and the uncertainty over
Nihil.� He wouldn�t go into more specifics than that unless Harry wanted him
to. He doubted that Harry had ever told her about being targeted by Nihil, or
that she needed to know that if she didn�t already know.

�� She-Weasel
spent a moment staring at him as if the sheer force of her gaze was enough to
make him curl up and die. Draco stared boredly back,
lifting his chin a little so that he could keep up his pride. He might have
been cast out of his house and his money by his father, but he still had more
to be proud of than she did.

�� Harry�s
hand clenched down on his arm, and he hissed into Draco�s ear, �What are you
doing?�

�� Justice,�
Draco said, and didn�t look away from She-Weasel. He identified two of the
emotions curling and coiling in his gut right now. One was annoyance. They had
almost got quietly out of the bank, which he knew Harry would have preferred,
and now there was this bint to deal with.

�� The other
was jealousy. The moment She-Weasel had touched Harry,
Draco had to deal with the fact of
her doing it. Before, it had just been an image or a memory, and that had been
enough to make him angry.

�� Now�

�� He�s mine, Draco thought, staring at
She-Weasel and wishing he could somehow send the thoughts into her head without
the messiness and inconvenience of establishing a telepathic bond. I�m the one who gave up my home and my money
and my father�s favor for him. I�m the one who was branded as disloyal to my
family because I love him. Mine, bitch. Get it?

�� She-Weasel
at least seemed to feel the challenge in Draco�s stare, though she wasn�t
sensible enough to back away. She lifted her head instead and tried to see the
ground around her long, pointed nose. �Surely Harry would have told me if he
didn�t want me to write,� she said. �You�re being rude.� Smug, and sure that was the
greatest crime possible.

�� Would he
have?� Draco asked. �He�s barely told you that he was hurt by the way you
dropped him��

�� Draco!� Harry hissed.

�� Draco
continued, because whatever Harry was going to say to him, he had a very strong
feeling that it would be said in private. �And he avoided you at Christmas, I
know, but you don�t seem to have taken the hint. I don�t think you ever will,
unless someone tells you straight out. So I will. You gave him up for stupid
reasons, and then you want him to act as if they were rational ones. Someone
with an ounce of sense�no, a featherweight�would have realized that she couldn�t expect
friendship and approbation after that. But you go on rooting and snouting after it, grunting when you don�t get it. I don�t
know, perhaps you do realize what a treasure you gave up and you want it back,
but of course it�s back on your own terms. Of course you aren�t ready to actually
apologize for the hurt that you
inflicted, oh, no. You�ll jump around his life like some dog begging to be let
on a bed until he feels bad for you and takes you up out of misplaced guilt.�

�� At that
moment, the Weasley matriarch shoved herself in front of him and scowled down
into his face. Draco looked at her without moving. He didn�t find her
impressive. The woman had too obviously let herself go with seven children.
There were spells that could have kept her in shape after that, just as there
were spells that could have helped with those freckles and that offensively red
hair. But if she couldn�t be arsed to worry about the
one, of course she wouldn�t tend to the other.

�� You are
the rudest young man,� she said, and
presumably she was going to go on to tell him what, in her limited experience,
constituted rudeness. But Draco interrupted, because he knew she wasn�t going
to say anything about her own manners, and therefore she had nothing to say
that he wanted to hear.

�� Of course
you would say that, because you want your daughter and Harry to get married
someday.� That was a guess in the dark, but a good one, because suddenly her
face was mottled even redder than before. Draco hadn�t thought that could
happen, and he would have recoiled, except that Harry�s grip on his arm kept
getting fiercer and fiercer, and he didn�t think he could move. �And you don�t
even care that she was the one to get rid of him, instead of the other way around,� Draco went on. �That�s
because you can�t imagine that he�s gone forever, can you? You think that she
can say whatever she likes and then crook her little finger, and he�ll come
running. And I�m sure the fame and money he comes from aren�t disadvantages for
you, either. If you��

�� Draco, that is enough.�

�� Harry was
leaning towards him now, and Draco could feel the breath on his ear, as sharp
as the bite of actual teeth. He shut up, and contented himself with scowling at
the two Weasley bints, who looked as shocked and
offended as though someone had dyed their hair blonde for them. Draco sniffed. That person would be performing a public
service, and so am I.

�� I can�t
believe that you were so rude,� Harry told him in a low, hard tone that, nevertheless, the two Weasleys could hear. �I told you
once that I wouldn�t tolerate you being rude to my friends, just as I wouldn�t
tolerate them insulting you. They didn�t once make a move towards you.�

�� No,� Draco
said, and he lifted his voice, because he had done what he had done for
perfectly good and understandable motives, and why should he care if someone
overheard? Then a glare from Harry reminded him that he wanted to be
considerate for Harry�s sake, and he spoke more softly again. �But they did
towards you.�

�� There was
more glaring, but Harry had held still to consider his words, and Draco was
glad. To make it even better, She-Weasel started to speak again just then.

�� You have
no right to say that,� she said. �I�ve never been rude to Harry. I�ve never
hurt him the way you have.�

�� The way I
have,� Draco said. �Of course. I was the one who told
him he wasn�t good enough for me, and that it was all about my own concerns and
cares and scars after the war. I was the one who interfered in his row with my
brother and expected that he would change his behavior just because I told him
to. I was the one who sent him endless letters even after I saw that he didn�t
have any interest in responding. I can see that my crimes are certainly of the
sort that would require me to apologize.�

�� She-Weasel
turned red again. Mother Weasel tried to intervene. �My daughter and Harry have
always been on good terms,� she said. �I�m sure that what you�re saying
couldn�t have happened.�

�� It did,�
Draco said. �And the only reason that Harry hasn�t told her to go smear blood
on herself and march into the Forbidden Forest when the thestrals
are in mating season is because he�s too nice about it, and he doesn�t want to
hurt his other friends. He has to realize that they�ll still like him, still
care about him, even if he never cares about this bint
again.� He tossed his head at She-Weasel, who was trying to speak around her own gaping mouth, and not managing.

�� God knew
what would have happened then�and Draco was rather interested in finding
out�but Harry clamped down as though his hand was a gate keeping Draco from
getting in trouble, and dragged him away. Draco managed a final exchange of
venomous glares with She-Weasel, and then a pillar was between them, and then
the doors of Gringotts.

�� A moment
later, Harry was Apparating. Draco half-closed his
eyes, and felt the wards of Grimmauld Place close in on them as they landed.

�� Harry
shoved him inside and held him there, against the door. Draco smiled as he felt
his blood heat up.

�� Oh, my. This could have possibilities.

*

�� Why the
fuck would you do that?� Harry had intended to yell at Draco as soon as he got
him home, but he found himself unable to lift his voice. His words just came
out grating and deep, instead, like iron that someone was dragging on a stone
floor. �She was just hugging me.�

�� And she
keeps writing letters to you, and she hurt you in the past,� Draco answered, his gaze radiant and his smile clear. Harry stared
at him, wondering if he should be disgusted, though he couldn�t quite bring
himself to be. �And she grabbed you this time in a way that was not friendly, but as if she was still
your girlfriend. I was jealous. You�re mine. And if I hurt her preemptively
this time, there was at least the hope that
she would get distracted and forget to inflict whatever wound on you she was
going to.�

�� Harry shook
his head. �She did nothing to you.�

�� Draco�s
face darkened at once. �And did Nihil do nothing to me when he hurt you?� he
demanded. �Did you do nothing to me when you nearly killed yourself? Multiple times?
You are mine.� His hands lifted and closed on Harry�s shoulders as if he were
the one with the right to be angry. �I want to protect you, as much as you want
to protect me.�

�� Harry made
a frustrated sound and dropped his grip on Draco. �I give up. Go away. I don�t
want to look at you for a while.� He started to turn away.

�� Draco
hauled him back towards him and bit his lips. Harry started to fight him off,
but Draco stuck out his tongue, licked Harry�s lips and then his chin in a long
downwards stroke, and whispered, �Do you know how badly I want to suck you off
right now? And I�m going to.�

�� Then he was
on the floor, and Harry�s trousers were half-shredded, and Draco�s mouth was
open, and everything was happening much
too fast for Harry�s brain and libido, which were still locked in conflict.

�� He�s feeling pressured into doing this, and we�ll both regret it in the afternoon, said
Harry�s brain.

�� Oh, yes, please, purred
the desire located somewhere south of his midsection.

�� But, faced
with Draco�s challenging eyes, neither response would emerge from Harry�s
mouth. The moment had to depend on Draco.

*

�� paigeey07:
Thanks!

�� rafiq: Lucius will suspect that,
but at the moment, he doesn�t have a way to pierce the wards of Grimmauld Place
without revealing his freedom. It will take him a while to find a way.

�� And Draco
would oppose what Harry�s doing�if he knows about it.

�� polka dot: He�s not, really, just proud and overconfident.

�� Sarah:
Well, not if he doesn�t do those rituals.

�� Thrnbrooke: Thank you!

�� Dragons
Breath: Thanks!

�� mariahs_fantasy: Thanks! Draco shouldn�t underestimate
Politesse, and neither should Harry.

�� SP777: The
title is taken from a Yeats poem about running to paradise, from a narrator who
doesn�t really expect to get there. Harry and Draco won�t arrive somewhere
perfect, but they�re striving for it.

�� Politesse
means �politeness.�

�� Yes, I read
The Monkey�s Paw, but years ago.

�� Happy New
Year to you! Harry isn�t doing those rituals right now, but that�s because he�s
more concerned for Draco.

�� anciie: Harry cares more for Draco
than anything else, and as long as Lucius is not trying to hurt people, he�ll
keep the secret.

�� Yes, there
will be new subjects this year, including Stealth and Tracking.

�� Mia: Thanks
so much! Politesse is male, but that hasn�t been referred to very often.

��
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Ceremonies of Strife