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The Only True Lords	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 54573 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 11
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Chapter Thirty-Three--The World's Most Dangerous Women
            The first place they came to that seemed suitable was the same room where Harry had spoken with the Malfoys last night--the room where he had spent most of the day asleep, with Greg on guard. He pushed the door open and took a swift glance around to make sure that no one was hiding there. The house was full of eavesdroppers, or at least people who would have a good motive to eavesdrop on this conversation.
            By the time Harry turned around, Narcissa had come into the room behind him and shut the door. Her face was filled with a white light that melted a little as she looked at him. "Do you always check so carefully for enemies?" she asked.
            "Since the safety of more than one person depends on me, I do," Harry said shortly, and braced himself near the fire. "What do you want to say?"
            Narcissa took a seat on the same couch she had sat on during their previous conversation, and pulled back her left sleeve. Harry tensed, then relaxed when he realized what she was doing. Her left forearm was bare, and she turned it back and forth as if admiring the shine of the skin in the firelight.
            "If you think I will drag your chances down," she said, and raised her eyes to Harry's face.
            Her gaze was like a blow, but Harry had already got used to dodging or rolling with glances like that. He nodded a little and said, "I think what would really do it is if you opposed Lucius getting sent to prison."
            Narcissa leaned forwards, her hands dangling and clasped between her knees. "Of all who committed crimes during the war, I do not see why my husband should pay the price," she said.
            "Because he's the one who got caught," Harry said bluntly. "And because I had the misfortune to bind your son. If that wasn't the case, then maybe you could do whatever you wanted, and win free the same way he did in the first war. But you and I both know the circumstances are different now."
            Narcissa turned her face towards him, this time with an odd blindness in her eyes. "You would hurt Draco because of this?"
            "No." Harry turned his own arm so that she could see the shield mark. "This means I have to protect him. But you can make this a lot more difficult if you insist that I should protect you, too. I might be able to protect you, now that I know you were never Marked. There is no way that I can do it with Lucius."
            "Draco bears the Mark, too."
            Looking at Narcissa, Harry had to wonder about what Snape had told him. Snape had said Narcissa was dangerous because she would sacrifice anything, even her family, for Draco, but she seemed to be fighting just as hard for Lucius. Maybe her family as a whole was the most important thing to her.
            "I know," Harry said. "But he also has his age going for him, and the fact that he wasn't accused of being a Death Eater in the previous war. And the bond will make me do something for him. Whether that's very limited is going to depend a lot on circumstances. Maybe I can't keep him out of Azkaban. But I'll try."
            Narcissa frowned like someone trying to understand a complex maths problem. "Because it would affect you."
            "Yes," Harry said. He thought about telling her that Draco had asked for his friendship, and then rejected the idea. She probably already knew, and it wouldn't make a difference if she didn't. It wasn't like Lucius could ask for his friendship and have Harry extend his hand in the same way.
            Narcissa sat up, and her hands were folded on her knees now, no longer dangling. "If your main concern is what you feel through the bond on account of the vassals, you should fight all the harder to keep Lucius free. Otherwise, you will feel Draco's depression and fear for his father."
            "I don't intend to condemn Lucius to death," Harry said. "We can tell the story of him giving his blood to me if you think it'll do any good. But I don't think I can keep him out of prison, no. And I have enough to do, plenty of other things, with the way the bond compels me to act. I don't need another burden."
            "My son is not a burden."
            Harry blinked. Of all the words he had said, he hadn't expected that to touch a nerve. But he responded with equal bluntness. "He might not be, but he's been one so far. If his depression weighs me down, he will be. But I can't think just about him. I have to think about my other vassals, and three of them are at least cooperating with me." More than that, in Greg's case. "I can't condemn them all because I'm so busy worrying about Draco. If he makes himself a problem, then I'll deal with that. It doesn't mean that I'll spend all of my time soothing him."

            Narcissa watched him with a faint frown. "If he had sworn to you as vassal in a normal Lord relationship, then you would be compelled to do something for his parents."
            "But this isn't a normal Lord relationship," said Harry. Fuck her. "That it isn't is the whole point. The Ministry doesn't really know what to do with me. I don't really know what to do to wield the bond like a weapon, even though I'm learning. And I don't think Lucius would have wanted his son to swear to me in normal circumstances."
            Narcissa rose to her feet and took a slow step back and forth in front of the fire. "My husband does in fact think this is the best place for our son right now. Draco may someday be a leader and capable of fending for himself, but he is not at the moment. If we cannot protect him, then Lucius is glad that there is someone who can."
            Harry stared at her. "Lucius agrees with me? Then why are you arguing?"
            "Because I believe there is a way to spare both my son and my husband, if you are willing." Narcissa turned to eye him again.
            Harry spread his hands. Slytherins. She could have just said that right away and saved us a lot of time and trouble. "Then say it. I don't know if I'm willing until I hear it."
            Narcissa raised her hands and let them fall. "I believe there is a way. I do not know it. I will trust you to find it." She walked towards the door, but not before Harry had the chance to notice a tiny smile flitting along the corner of her mouth.
            "Why?" Harry asked her back, irritated. "You didn't seem to trust me much up until this second!"
            Narcissa paused with a hand on the doorknob and turned her head to look back at him. "Because you are Harry Potter," she said, and stepped out into the corridor. Infuriatingly, she closed the door quietly behind her, as if he had asked for a moment alone.
            Harry closed his eyes and rubbed his hand across his scar. Narcissa was right, in one way, he thought. If he wanted to use all the power of his name and summon legions of his devoted fans, then he would be able to break out of the Ministry's hold and maybe convince the Wizengamot that he wasn't their pawn.
            Maybe.
            The problem was, the Wizengamot thought he was a political threat, and if they continued to believe that, Harry knew they wouldn't back off. And they weren't that impressed by anything he had done so far. He would have to have time to come up with some kind of counter-strategy, and that was what they wouldn't allow him.
            Besides. Who was supposed to take care of his vassals while he was busy using the power of his name and summoning legions of his devoted fans?
            Harry opened his eyes and stood upright once more. He needed breakfast, and then he needed to meditate on the bond the way Hermione had suggested he should. Everything else was just a distraction, right now. The only thing he had gained from the conversation with Narcissa was that Lucius himself might not oppose being sent to prison.
            As for Draco...
            Harry sighed. He would have to deal with that serpent, Draco's dissatisfaction and unhappiness, when it tried to bite him on the backbone. Gaining control of the bond was more important than that. The vassals as a whole were more important than one, even one who he had promised friendship to.
            He paused when he thought that. He'd been furious, learning about Dumbledore's attempts to justify the greater good, and saying that some people were more important than others. But when it came down to it, Harry couldn't sacrifice the whole bond and his other vassals and his own peace of mind and his promise to Hermione because Draco was unhappy.
            Maybe if we were friends before, or if there was some other way to do this...
            Harry then shook his head firmly. Trying to think of other ways to do this and handle everything with no dent in anyone's sensibilities was what had got him in trouble before. He opened the drawing room door and stepped out into the corridor.
            Pansy was waiting for him. Harry checked and managed to swallow back the groan that was rising up his throat, but it was difficult. From the way she folded her arms and frowned, she had some other crisis to present him with.
            But for some reason, she didn't say it right away. "Yes?" Harry finally prompted in annoyance, after she had just continued to stand there and stare at him instead of doing anything sensible.
            Pansy sighed as though he was paining her, and reached out a hand. Kreacher appeared, bowing, and laid a heavy tray across Pansy's arm. She staggered a bit, but managed to remain standing upright as she held it out to Harry.
            "I thought you might want some breakfast without going back into that kitchen," she said quietly. "Draco isn't taking it well."
            Harry listened, heard a whinging voice, and winced. "Right," he muttered, and took the tray from Pansy and carried it back into the drawing room. Pansy followed him. Maybe she thought that she didn't want to be in the same room with Draco either.
            There were grilled-cheese sandwiches on the plate, and little tomatoes, and square things that turned out to be, when Harry prodded them, chunks of tuna formed into cubes. He shook his head, wondering why Kreacher had chosen that, but ate them willingly enough, and drank the pumpkin juice that Kreacher brought a few minutes later. Pansy ate a few of the tomatoes, and tried one of the tuna cubes before turning her nose up at it.
            "Granger told me that you were planning to meditate on the bond."
            Harry looked up, blinking. "Hermione told you that?" he asked, before he could stop himself.
            Pansy arched an eyebrow. "Odd as it is, I sometimes do learn about things you're doing from methods other than eavesdropping, my Lord."
            "But why, when the eavesdropping is so effective?" Harry murmured. For a second, Pansy's face looked as if it would freeze, and then she relaxed and smiled back.
            "This time, I went and asked her. Your friends are on guard down the corridor, to make sure that Draco and the Malfoys don't take it into their head to disturb you, but they weren't going to notice if I left. Granger told me that you aren't very good at meditation. I wouldn't say that I'm an expert, but it is something I've been taught to do, so I can tell you a little if you like."
            Harry grimaced and swallowed another tomato. "I wasn't good at Occlumency when I had to learn it. Then again, it was Snape who was trying to teach me, and we--didn't get along."
            "Obviously," Pansy drawled. "There's one thing you should try to keep in mind, one that I think would suit an active personality like yours more than the usual directions to sit there and think of nothing. Focus on your target, and chase it. Like you would the Snitch," she added, when Harry frowned at her. "No matter what else you're tempted to think of, keep chasing that one thought. It's quite as difficult to focus on one thing for hours as it is to dull and blank your mind of emotion."
            Harry nodded slowly, considering it. That made sense, and it did sound easier. "All right. You think fixing my thoughts on the bond makes me likely to catch it?"
            "Who was the youngest Seeker in more than a century?" Pansy retorted, and stood up, patting his arm lightly. "As soon as Greg could slip away unnoticed, he was going to come and stand guard outside the actual room you pick. I'll guard this one as if you were in there."
            Harry finished his breakfast and stood up. "Draco ought to be able to tell from the bond that I'm not."
            Pansy grinned at him savagely. "One thing I did learn about the bond last night, when I was trying to locate where you were in relation to Blaise and his mother, was that anxiety makes it harder to concentrate on the shield mark and the way it links the two of us. And if Draco shows signs of getting too calm, then I can always irritate him again."
            Harry sighed as he slipped out into the corridor. "I don't really want to hurt him like that," he muttered. "He's already been hurt enough."
            "The problem with Draco," Pansy said, shutting the door to the drawing room firmly and taking up her position in front of it, "is that he always wants his problems to be fixed now. Your friends--commendably, I might add--tried to explain to him that you were getting a better focus on the bond today, and that after that, you would know what you could and couldn't do with it, and you would be better able to use it to defend us. That might even include his parents, because defending Draco might mean defending them. But he wouldn't listen."
            Harry looked closely at her, but she didn't seem to be lying to make him feel better. And, well, that wouldn't be Pansy's style, either, he had to admit.
            "Thanks," he said, and walked down the corridor, to the room that Hermione and Ron had prepared that morning while he was having his lie-in. They'd moved all the furniture out of it except one comfortable chair, and dimmed the staring red wallpaper down to a dusky color that made it look a little like the walls of the Gryffindor common room in the firelight. Harry sat down and stared into the flames.
            At least the good sleep last night had made him unlikely to fall asleep by doing this, he thought a minute later.
            And he still had no idea how to clear his mind, but when he pictured the bond as a Snitch and turned his attention to that, he was astonished by how sharp and clear the image was. It hovered and bounced in front of him, gleaming, and Harry almost smiled as he reached out to capture him.
            It darted away from him, and the hunt was on.
*
            "I thought you were my friend, Pansy."
            Draco didn't think his voice came out anywhere near heavy and scornful enough for the look Pansy turned on him, but Draco gritted his teeth and went on. "If you're protecting the room where Potter is, then I need to speak with him."
            "What about?" Pansy looked like a statue now, one of the statues that Draco had seen guarding Hogwarts, or maybe even that bloody gargoyle that he had always heard protected the Headmaster's office. She looked at him motionlessly down her nose.
            "About him putting my father in prison." Draco shut his eyes, rubbing his own forehead for a second. He didn't get to break down right now, but Merlin, how he wanted to. "What did you think it was about?"
            He opened his eyes in the hope that his sarcasm would have made some impact on Pansy, but she was watching him with utterly calm disdain. She shook her head a little, at least breaking the statue impression, when Draco stared at her. "He wouldn't be the one putting your father in prison. The Ministry would be doing that. What he's doing is asking your father not to fight it."
            "Which is ridiculous." Draco heard his voice soar, but they were the only ones in this little corridor. And if he woke Potter from the nap he was probably taking and he came out to speak to Draco, so much the better. "Would he cooperate if someone asked him to go to prison?"
            "If it was for the sake of his friends or something else?" Pansy nodded.
            Draco raised one hand and rubbed at the shield mark. It wasn't tingling or burning, but he was a little surprised it wasn't, honestly. "You think that well of him? You really think that he would sacrifice himself for people he's always hated?"
            Pansy smiled a little. "He always hated you and Professor Snape, maybe. I don't think he paid enough attention to me and Greg and Blaise to hate us."
            Draco clenched his fists. "But you really believe that he would give himself up for us?"
            "Now that he's bonded to us, the bond may force him to," Pansy murmured. "But I was speaking in general. If his friends' health depended on his going to Azkaban, he would. And don't say that he should care more about other people," she added, when Draco opened his mouth unsure of what he would say. "He already died to save the wizarding world. Should he have to do it again to save your father?"
            Draco shook his head. "I never--I never thought that my father would have to go to prison." That was true, even when they had been in the holding cells at the Ministry.
            "Really?" Pansy stared at him. "Not even if the Light side won? Did you picture your father just kissing the Dark Lord's robe hem forever?"
            Draco felt himself flush. Although Pansy couldn't know it, because Draco had never told her the truth about his task last year, he couldn't help the thought that his father might have been better off, and Draco could have given him the chance to be so.
            To chase away the thoughts, he spoke on, as hurriedly as he could. "I thought he would either regain the prominence in the Dark Lord's ranks that he lost, or he would manage to escape," he whispered. "I thought we would all go to France, or--something. We wouldn't get caught, and we wouldn't go to Azkaban."
            Pansy just shook her head, her expression remote and distant. "And again, Lord Potter's just asking that of your father, the one with the most acknowledged crimes."
            Draco took a step forwards. He had to break through her mask somehow. "You were the one who wanted to turn Potter over to the Dark Lord!"
            "Yes," said Pansy. "And from the way he's treated me, he's forgiven me for that. I know that he's one to hold grudges, but I don't think he's one to plot revenge in secret. If he hated me for it, then he would just tell me straight out, and have a punching match, or a hexing match if we still had our wands."
            Draco shut his eyes. He was trying to forget, and failing, the way that Potter had promised him forgiveness and friendship only just last night. Why would he do that, if he knew that he would betray Draco in the morning?
            Because I asked him to.
            It was a strange conclusion, but the only one that Draco could come to. Potter probably hadn't intended it as a betrayal, even. It was just what he thought he should do next, to protect his vassals and the bond and himself and his friends and...whoever else he felt like he had to protect. Draco might have done the same thing to protect his family.
            "You're seeing it now?" Pansy's voice asked somewhere outside the darkness of his eyelids.
            Draco took a deep, bitter breath and opened his eyes. "Yeah," he said. "Seeing that I can't trust him to put the interests of my family first, not when he has so many other interests to protect and he exhausts himself serving every one of them." He turned and walked away from Pansy.
            He didn't know if she made a gesture or said something to try and slow him down. He kept his eyes focused straight ahead, and jammed a fist into his palm when he was around the corner and thought she probably wouldn't see it.
            Yes, he could understand Potter all too well. He knew what it was like to have his first loyalty to something other than the person right in front of him, asking for his allegiance.
            But that didn't mean he could support Potter, or continue in the friendship with him, even. And not because he thought of him as an enemy or a traitor, with this new understanding. It was just that they had different first loyalties, and Draco no longer thought that his family's interests were best served by following Potter.
*
            The bond twisted in front of him, no longer in the form of a Snitch, but a golden band glowing blue along the sides. And Harry leaned towards it, his mind so focused now that it felt as if he had an arrow sticking out of his forehead, and grabbed it.
            This time, although the light and the magic bucked in his grip, it also subsided into a calm glow a second later. Harry drew it towards him, watching it all the time, waiting for a rebellion.
            But it wouldn't do that, he realized a second later. That was one difference between the bond and a Snitch. The Snitch went on trying to escape even after it was captured, its wings fluttering madly. It didn't belong to anyone; even the Seeker who'd caught it at the moment was only the latest in a long line.
            But the bond was his. It was formed of magic that blazed through him, and through the shield marks, and his intentions were important. It had made a shield mark and bonded the Slytherins because he had intended to protect them.
            And if he wanted it to do something else--such as relax enough to let someone slip free from it--then he could do that. It was as Hermione had said. A true Lordship bond would do what its Lord commanded, the way it wanted him to command his vassals. Harry had initiated this one with accidental magic, so it was different.
            But it didn't have to go on being accidental. Harry could do things through choice, too.
            He opened his eyes, and stared at the ceiling of the room, and laughed aloud.
*
Genuka: The other vassals would not be likely to agree to that, particularly Snape.
polka dot: Yes, Harry thinks so, too.
SP777: I think Harry did a pretty good job.
steviee: You can go to my Yahoo group lomonaaerensstories, if you want. Just search for it on Google or whatever search engine you use, and it should pop up. I announce the new chapters there.
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The Only True Lords