Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Stag and The Snake	By : JBankai89 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 9713 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I gain nothing from this but a way to pass the time.

Chapter List
- 31
- 32
- 33
Chapter 20 – Rites of Passage

“Do you know what this is about?” Harry fumbled with the clasp on his travelling cloak as he spoke, while Draco waited patiently for him to finish wrestling with the garment. To Harry question, he shrugged.
“No idea. Sirius just said we must, must, must show our faces at The Three Broomsticks tonight or face dire consequences.”
“Yeah,” Harry chuckled, “because we don't have enough going on as it is.”
“It's just one evening,” Draco shrugged, “I doubt the world as we know it will come to a halt if we take one night off.” Harry finally managed the clasp, and he took Draco's hand.
“Let's go then,” Draco smiled at him, and they stepped out into the winter evening.
The Manor's grounds looked spectacular, even more than usual with a light dusting of snow that seemed to make everything glimmer in the moonlight. He and Draco strode across the property and stopped just outside the front gates. Whatever Sirius was planning, had done a much better job this time around at not letting on what it was. However, the man was extremely predictable, and Harry had a fairly good idea what he might be up to. With Draco gripping tightly to his arm, they disapparated.
The Three Broomsticks was alight with noise and sound, and even out on the main street the exuberance of the patrons inside could be heard easily. Draco straightened up next to Harry, and they exchanged a look. “Any theories?” Draco asked, and Harry chuckled.
“Just one. C'mon, let's go.” Harry took his hand and they walked side by side to the front doors of the pub. Harry's suspicions were confirmed at once by the blast of noise that met them when they stepped over the threshold.
Harry could see Sirius at the forefront grinning like a maniac, and behind him a sea of excited faces applauding and cheering for them. Harry could see Ron and the rest of the Weasley siblings—except Ginny, he spotted Dean Thomas and Seamus Finnegan, Oliver Wood, Neville Longbottom, Lee Jordan, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Ernie Macmillan, Michael Corner, the Creevey brothers, as well as a number of Slytherin alumni that seemed to be trying to play it cool, and did not immediately join in with the excited cheering: Vincent Crabbe, Gregory Goyle, Theodore Nott, and Zabini Blaise, as well as a handful of others Harry new by face, but couldn't name.
“Welcome,” Sirius said with a grin, “to that trite rite of passage known as...The Stag Party.” Enthusiastic cheering following the announcement, and Harry went as red as Draco.

~*~

Compared to the last few parties he and Harry had attended, this one seemed to be going much better than they could have anticipated. Though it was very possible that that belief had something to do with the copious amounts of alcohol being pressed into their hands at every available opportunity.
“To the Potter-Malfoys!” Charlie Weasley had cried when the second cask of firewhisky had been brought out, his arm draped over am unknown brunette wizard who was grinning widely, while he his glass held high in a toast, “may they come to their senses before it's too late!” The pronouncement even had he and Harry laughing, and they raised their glasses before downing the drink.
About two hours into the party, Ron Weasley stood up and called for quiet with a few fireworks shot off from his wand. “Everyone!” Slowly, the crowd turned its attention to him, and he was smirking devilishly, which was never a good sign. “As you all know, tonight we bid adieu to Harry and Draco's freedom.” A few obnoxious laments followed his words, and everyone laughed. “In two days time, they will Bond and ascend to respectable wizarding society.” Draco smirked, but managed to keep himself from laughing. Weasley's trust of him was still shaky at best, though he was making a genuine effort on Harry's behalf to be civil. “We pooled our money together for you two, and managed to get you something of a last hurrah.” He tossed something at each of them, and Draco caught his reflexively before he had a chance to look down to see what it was. He blinked. In his hand was dried palm twisted into a Celtic knot and attached to a thin leather cord. “You may want to hang onto those,” Weasley grinned again.
Before Draco could ask, Ron began to applaud enthusiastically, and his questions were answered at once as low, sensual music began to fill the pub, and a young man dressed in next to nothing sauntered towards them, his hips swaying slightly with every step. Draco did laugh this time—a Veela exotic dancer? Really? Harry had gone rather red, and they both clutched to the charms as the man approached them.
He definitely lived up to the expectations of his heritage. He was tall, just over six feet, with broad shoulders and thick, corded muscle under peaches-and-cream skin. His hair was an artfully tousled silvery-blond, and his sea-green eyes seemed to glimmer in the low light. He stepped over to Harry first, and Draco smirked as he watched his fiancé go several different shades of red in quick succession. His blush more pronounced as the Veela's considerable bulge, concealed under a thin pair of gold pants, came very close to his face. Around them their friends were cheering and wolf-whistling enthusiastically, while Draco laughed at how embarrassed Harry was. When the music faded, Harry stood and bowed, and pressed some gold into the dancer's hand.
Draco's turn came, and this time it was Harry who looked on as he was subjected to a highly sensual lap dance, and he marvelled at the simple fact that his libido seemed entirely uninterested in the beautiful young man sizable talent mere inches from his face. The charms were part of it, but Draco knew that the other part was the fact that he desired only one person in the room, and it definitely wasn't the Veela. At the end of it, he pressed some coin into his hand just as Harry had, while the others applauded the young man's performance enthusiastically.
Draco turned to Harry with a grin, only to see that he was still rather pink. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Blaise sweep in and intercept the Veela's departure. He smirked, and returned his full attention to Harry. they kissed briefly to obnoxious groans from onlookers, and another round of drinks was pressed on them.
The evening went on, with the Veela mysteriously disappearing along with Blaise, while he and Harry made the rounds. They spent time in equal measure with his and Harry's friends, the former he had seen very rarely in recent years. It was nice to catch up, and unlike the Weasleys' reception of him, the Slytherin alumni were more than welcoming of Harry, which was a pleasant surprise.
“Draco, do tell us,” Nott had said, with more dignified grace than Draco would have anticipated, given how glazed-over his eyes looked, “why did you think that we would disapprove of Potter? I mean, of all the Gryffindors I've had the misfortune of meeting, he is by far the most tolerable.” Harry rolled his eyes, but didn't look offended. “I mean, look at what you got up to while still at school! Your antics were almost...dare I say it, Slytherin at times. It was refreshing to see a Gryffindor that was not all blockheaded stupidity disguised as courage barrelling forward without a second thought. I must say, it made a great form of entertainment, especially watching our Draco here practically—” Draco lurched forward and clapped a hand to his mouth, feeling his face heat.
“Draco practically what?” Harry was grinning, his gaze flitting from one person to the next. Draco glared at the others, but they were having none of it.
“He spent half his life worrying about some of the stupid situations you got yourself into. It was always fun to see how distraught your fiancé would get every time you found another creative way to almost get yourself killed.” They laughed and Draco felt himself go, if possible, even redder. He let go of Nott, who was laughing with the others, while Draco tried to compose himself, with little success.
“Oh really?” Harry arched a brow and looked at him, a small smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Well isn't that interesting.” Draco could feel himself going red, but Harry did not use the chance to poke fun at him, and instead he cradled the back of Draco's neck, and pulled him in for a kiss.
Distantly he heard a few onlookers laugh or groan, and when he pulled Harry closer to lengthen the kiss, he could heard one of the Weasley twins say, “oh Gods, they're gonna do it right here.” The comment got a couple of laughs and they reluctantly broke apart, grinning sheepishly.
The evening went on in a whirlwind of too much alcohol, terrible sex puns, and their so-called friends making bets at their expense: Dean won ten galleons for betting that Harry would be the first to puke from too much mead, while Blaise pulled in fifteen galleons for correctly guessing where Draco and Harry would sneak off to for a quick grope. Even Neville got in on the fun, winning a grand total of thirty-five galleons for betting correctly when the pair would officially call it a night. Everyone cheered and slapped Neville on the back, and he flushed with pleasure.
Sirius had reappeared, having become mysteriously absent for most of the evening. Grinning broadly, he escorted the stumbling pair to the Floo, and threw them into the green flames that would send them spiralling back to Malfoy Manor.

~*~

“You know what I'm going to miss about the Manor?” Draco rolled over to look at Harry, who was stretched out on his back, his arms folded up over the back of his head like a pillow, and he was staring up at the canopy of the bed. They were both more than a little hungover from the night before, and even after two doses of potion Harry's head was still pounding.
“Hm?” Draco's tone made Harry chuckle a little. Draco had made no secret of how much he was looking forward to moving into their house. Harry felt himself shiver a little, the idea still seemed ludicrous to him. A house. Their house. It was more than he'd ever dreamed of.
“You bed. It's so comfortable!” At this Draco snickered, and climbed on top of Harry. He pressed knees into the folds of the duvet on either side of his hips, his buttocks pressing lightly into Harry's groin. Despite his pounding head, the contact made him groan softly.
“Of all the things to miss,” Draco chuckled again, and leaned forward to kiss him. Harry moaned into kiss, but didn't move his arms to embrace Draco. Not that he needed to, as barely thirty seconds later his blond fiancé was clutching at him gently, moving his hands as though trying to map Harry's form to memory. “We could always just bring the mattress with us when we move, you know,” Draco murmured against Harry's mouth He laughed, and leaned up slightly to pull Draco in for another kiss. This time, he unfolded his arms to hold him close.
“But seriously,” Harry murmured when they broke apart, Draco still perched in his lap. “It's gonna be weird sleeping without you.” Harry thought to the day ahead, then the coming evening. According to Lucius, tradition dictated that they were not to share a bed the night before their bonding. The idea did not scare Harry like it once would have, but he had grown used to a warm body next to him as he went to sleep.
“It's just for one night,” Draco reached out and combed his fingers through Harry hair. The contact made his eyes flutter shut, and Harry sighed contentedly. “But it'll be weird for me too, if that helps.”
“I tried to get Sirius to lend me his two-way mirror set,” Harry said, when he opened his eyes, his fingers moving to Draco's pyjama top, where he casually flicked open the buttons down the front of it as he spoke. At his partner's confused expression, he elaborated, “I give you one mirror, and I take the other, and we can talk to each other with them. Sirius wouldn't let me, though. He told me that he and my dad used to use them when they were in separate detentions at Hogwarts.” He laughed a little, “I guess it'll mess with the Bonding magic or something.”
“Or it's because my parents would pitch a fit over the indecency of us having some kind of contact the night before our bonding. Their love of tradition knows no bounds, as I've sure you noticed.” He shrugged out of the shirt, and Harry leaned in to plant a trail of kisses along Draco's clavicle.
“I fail to see how it's indecent for us to sleep together the night before our Bonding, but it's totally fine every other night of the last two months.” Harry mumbled the comment against Draco's skin, making his partner shiver a little. Draco didn't immediately answer, and Harry grinned as he slowly trailed his hands down the sides of his ribcage.
“Well, about that...” Draco's voice was breathy, but amused at the same time. Harry paused what he was doing, and looked up at his fiancé, who appeared very pleased about something. “Remember that guest room my mother put your trunk in when you first got here?” Harry nodded, remembering the pointed look Narcissa had given him when she showed him to the guest room practically on the other side of the house from the family bedrooms. “I may have charmed the room to make it look like you have been using it.”
Harry snickered at the admission, while Draco shrugged, unashamed. “We're adults. Most of those traditions were for younger betrothed couples who may not have been of age yet. Just because my parents insist on treating us like we're sixteen doesn't mean we should actually listen to those rules.” Harry chuckled and pulled Draco in for a deep, open-mouthed kiss.
“You know what?”
“What?” Draco murmured the word against Harry's mouth, the hot breath tickling against his skin.
“I love you.” Draco chuckled and pulled him in again.
Dressed—finally—in a set of casual dark blue robes, while Draco wore ones of deep green, they strolled down to the front room hand-in-hand. Lucius, Narcissa, Sirius, and Remus were already there, the remnants of their hurried lunch sitting on one side of the coffee table, with untouched sandwiches that had obviously been left for Draco and himself. The other half was spread with stacks of parchment. Despite Harry's insistence that the celebration be small, the invitation list still managed to push past seventy-five guests. Though to Lucius's credit, he did keep it to family and friends only.
“Morning,” Draco said with a small smile as they stepped in, the four older adults turning in their direction as they entered.
“Afternoon, more like. Officially slept off your hangovers then?” Lucius's words were clipped, and Harry wondered if he'd disapproved of them attending an event like a Stag Party or something. Sirius in contrast was giving him a knowing look, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. Remus elbowed him, and Harry struggled to keep the flush off his face.
“Yeah, something like that,” Draco pulled up a pair of chairs following his words, and they both helped themselves to a sandwich. “What's all this, father?”
“Last minute details of your Bonding.” Harry bit back a small groan. He was looking forward to it, but the planning, the constant stream of minute details, and the stressed, nagging parents constantly hovering over them had been maddening. “Following the Bonding and Reception, you are heading straight off for this...” Lucius grimaced, “...Moon...thing?”
“Honeymoon,” Harry corrected patiently, though it took a great deal of effort to keep from laughing. It had come as quite a shock that most wizards didn't practice it, and when he had explained it to Draco, he jumped at the idea. “We'll be in Barbados for two weeks. I gave Sirius and Remus the emergency contact information last Tuesday.”
“It's here,” Sirius fished out a sightly crumpled sheet from the mess, and handed it to Lucius. The elder Malfoy looked over it, his lip curled in disapproval, but he didn't comment. Harry helped himself to a second sandwich while Lucius tapped the paper and made three copies, which he handed to his parents and his wife.
“The next order of business...” Lucius riffled through the papers, and pulled out another scroll of parchment, “Mr Potter, your request to not have House Elves cater the event...hiring witch and wizard servers can become rather expensive. Surely it would make more sense to use our House Elves?” Harry sighed a little, and swallowed his mouthful of chicken and ham before he spoke.
“Hermione Granger is one of my best friends, and she is dead-set against anything that involves House Elves in a subservient role. I guarantee that if you insist on having them cater the event, she will definitely try to free them.” It hadn't been the first time they'd had this discussion, and Harry prayed that maybe this time Lucius would realize that he wasn't exaggerating.
“Silly girl,” he muttered, though Harry was rather impressed that the sneer at Hermione's expense had ended there. “All right, I will see what can be done about hiring wait staff.”
The rest of the day passed slowly, as Lucius went over every tiny detail of tomorrow's schedule, and Harry felt so drained that he was actually relieved when Sirius announced that it was time to go. He and Draco stood at the doors, their fingers tangled together while they smiled at one another with barely contained excitement. “Well, I'll see you tomorrow then?” Draco's face split into an excited grin, and he pulled Harry in for one last drawn out kiss, before they separated reluctantly at the sound of Narcissa's none-too-subtle clearing of her throat.
“Sleep well, Harry.”
“Yeah, you too.”

~*~

Draco watched Harry and his parents descend the steps and cross the magical threshold of the Malfoy property. He did not move until he saw them disapparate safely away. Without Harry at his side, Draco felt strangely lopsided, as though someone had taken half of his body away. He wasn't entirely aware that he was still watching the place where Harry had disapparated from until a sudden hand rested on his shoulder.
He jumped sharply, and turned to see his mother standing there, looking rather startled. “I'm sorry mother,” he said a little apologetically, “I just feel...strange.” Narcissa's expression relaxed into a knowing smile.
“Strange, as though part of your corporeal body is missing?” Draco's eyes widened in surprise.
“Exactly. How did you know?” Something in her expression made Draco feel as though there was more to this than just being unused to having Harry nearby.
“It's love magic,” Narcissa smiled, this time with amusement at Draco's confused expression. “You care so deeply for one another that your magic reacts to the loss the same way it would with a physical injury. When you are apart, you can sometimes feel it when emotions are running high.” Draco stared at his mother, uncertain what to say. Fleetingly, he wondered if she had ever felt that with his father, but at the same time he was almost afraid to ask. Narcissa leaned forward and embraced her son, and after a brief moment of hesitation, Draco returned it.
“Get some sleep, son,” she said when they had broken apart, her eyes shining in a way that Draco had not seen in a very long time. “You have a big day ahead of you.”
- 31
- 32
- 33
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The Stag and The Snake