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For Their Unconquerable Souls	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 29229 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Chapter Four�Potter Has
Poor Taste in Lovers

�� Excuse me
for misinterpreting your movement,� Draco said in a tone that made Adoranar
smile for a moment, before his mind caught up with the words instead of the
sound of them. �I took it as your doing something,
when I should have seen that of course you were doing nothing instead. My eyes
or my philosophy tricked me. I shall have to do a thing about that, and it will
have to be something instead of nothing.�

�� The Auror
blinked and shifted his weight. Draco let his grin split more of his face.
Adoranar had not the least idea how to respond, that was clear. He gnawed his
lip for a moment before he decided to ignore the word-games and bull ahead.

�� You can�t
keep me from Harry,� he said. �He�s only your father�s mediwizard. He was mine.� He looked triumphantly at Draco,
as if he had just checkmated him.

�� I do not
take claims of possession seriously, not when the one making the claim cannot
even trouble himself to speak the name of the relationship aloud,� said Draco,
and smiled back at Adoranar. �Besides, I was under the impression that you were
not lovers currently. You must have
done something that angered him.�

�� Him and
his standards!� Adoranar didn�t seem to care how much he was revealing with
that statement, or how profoundly Draco disagreed; a man who slept with someone
like Adoranar in the first place could not have high standards. On the one
hand, that was excellent news, because Draco knew the experience of real skill
behind the lovemaking would make Potter easier to seduce. On the other, Draco
would have to cast several spells that tested for diseases first, and that was
hard to do unobtrusively.

�� If he had
only listened to me when I told him that I could maintain two relationships at
one time because they were so different,� Adoranar continued, either oblivious
of Draco�s attention or simply confident that nothing he could do would make
him appear bad, �then we could have continued.�

�� Draco
raised his eyebrows. Yes, he could understand Potter giving up Adoranar in that
instance, even if he could not understand the initial attraction. Draco himself
put a premium on exclusive attention from his lovers.

�� It sounds
to me as though he had excellent reason to refuse you,� he said. �It also sounds
as if your attempt to interfere with him now is little more than a crude and
ill-timed seduction. Do you really think he needs that, when he�s under enough
stress at the moment simply tending to my father?�

�� Adoranar
gave him a look with so much condescension mixed into it that Draco was
reluctantly impressed. His mother might not have been able to better that if
she tried. But then, practice often availed little against natural talent, as
Draco had had to learn himself when he played Potter in Quidditch. �If I
distract him now, there will be less stress,�
Adoranar explained. �He�s always less stressed after sex.�

�� Draco
crushed the temptation to put his hand over his eyes. Yes, Adoranar was so
stupid that he was unlikely to understand the depth of emotional reaction it conveyed,
but sometimes it was just those enemies you assumed were wastes of flesh and bone
who turned out to be the most clever at divining irrational things like
feelings.

�� He doesn�t
want to have sex right now,� said Draco. He glanced over his shoulder and saw
Potter swaying softly in place, his lips barely moving as he waved his wand
back and forth. Draco felt a shiver of fear and distrust when he saw his father
lying there, the target of the healing spells, forced to accept them, but
Adoranar made an incredulous sound and tried to step past him again, giving him
a good distraction. Draco gave him a knife-edged, pitying smile. �Don�t you understand that? You, who claim to love
him so well?�

�� He often
thinks he doesn�t want sex,� said Adoranar comfortably. �And then it turns out
he does, once I coax him a bit.�

�� Draco
curled his tongue within his mouth. He couldn�t see Potter allowing himself to
be raped no matter how much in love he was, so Adoranar must have been
referring to willing sex. But if it was reluctant in the beginning�Draco could
not imagine a worse insult. That would imply that the other person had yielded
simply because of lust or because he wanted to make Draco comfortable. And
Draco demanded whole-hearted commitment of body and brain when he seduced
someone. He was glad to have learned these details about Potter�s sex life, no
matter how distasteful the circumstances under which he had to learn them. He
would have to exert a little more effort, then, in order to make Potter yield
instead of remain in his own head.

�� He heard
laughter behind him then. He stiffened so he wouldn�t spin around. Potter�s
laughter�he knew the sound of his father�s voice, as well as he knew Lucius would
not laugh in such an open place, in front of such enemies�trickled like warm
water into the corners of his mind not occupied with worry, and bathed even the
worry in a heat that made him want to touch Potter�s hair or arm. The laughter implied
closeness. It would be only right to push that closeness into physical
nearness.

�� I am glad
to hear that the news is good,� said Lucius, in that voice he used when he
wanted someone else to know he wasn�t impressed. �At least to you.�

�� Smythe did
cast Mansuefacio,� Potter said, and
Draco recognized the name of the spell Potter had been talking about earlier.
He felt a trickle of surprise join the trickles of comfort in his mind. Perhaps
Potter knew what he was about, only being a mediwizard aside. �As soon as I can
find a counter to it, I can��

�� And then he
caught his breath into a silence that expressed more than any indrawn curse
could. Draco locked his legs against turning around�not least because Adoranar
had a glazed expression on his face as he stared at Potter, and might attempt
to interfere again at any moment�and listened instead.

�� Smythe
wove a construct of spells, not just one,� Potter said, and his voice was
filled with as much disgust and tension as Draco could have wished to hear.
Potter was not a member of the family and could not be expected to act like
one, but it seemed he had an ordinary Healer�s instinct for the care of his
patients. �Mansuefacio is tied to a
fourth spell, and the fourth spell may be tied to a fifth one. I wonder if he
cast them on purpose, or in a panic, one after another, when he realized the
first few weren�t working the way he intended them to.� Draco heard the shuffle
of his feet and the intake of his breath. �Auror��

�� Draco held
a dark smile off from his face, and imagined the way the scene would look to
Potter. He would see Draco standing behind him like a bodyguard, arms still
folded, setting his strength like a wall between him and interruption. And he
was the kind of person who might take that as a compliment to him, rather than Draco simply wanting to
protect Lucius.

�� What happened?�
Potter said, moving forwards far enough that Draco could see him out of the
corner of his eye.

�� He was
about to interrupt you again whilst you cast, the brainless idiot.� Draco let
some of his contempt weigh down his voice. Potter deserved to hear how little value
Draco placed on his ex-lover. �He doesn�t seem to have considered the harm
unrestrained healing magic could do to my father�s body and brain.� He let his
shoulders twitch and heard Potter release a sigh that contained a muffled
curse.

�� I merely
wanted to ask you a question.� Adoranar lowered his eyes. Draco blinked his
contempt this time. If he had learned to use that expression in his conflicts
with Potter, it was only another sign that Potter had let him get away with
things he shouldn�t have in their relationship. Really, he had terrible taste in lovers.

�� As it
happens, your question will have to wait, because I have more important ones,�
Potter said. His voice was sharp with salt, and Draco could catch a glimpse of
a congealed expression that would probably have put off anyone less persistent than
Adoranar. �What degree of planning does Smythe appear to have brought to this?
Did he speak of plotting carefully and calculating the effects of each spell,
or might he have cast recklessly, wildly, trying to snatch back control as each
piece of magic went awry?�

�� Adoranar
sighed and took a step back from Draco so he could stand straighter. He tucked
his chin into his shoulder, too, and Draco could only imagine the compliments
Potter must have offered him in the past to make him decide that was a
flattering posture. �You know how poor my memory�s always been, Harry, and how
much I dislike speaking in front of crowds. If you would come into the corridor
with me for a moment, I�m sure we could have a more fruitful discussion.�

�� Draco
blinked. Perhaps he couldn�t assign all the blame for Potter�s vulgarity to him, after all. Perhaps he�d been
corrupted by the company he kept. Had Adoranar really just offered to give them
the information he should have handed over freely if Potter had sex with him?

�� Draco heard
a half-hissed breath that reminded him of Parseltongue, and then Potter spoke. Draco
felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck. So Potter did have the capacity for cold anger after all. It was rarely found
among half-bloods, and made him the more interesting to Draco.

�� Pardon me
for asking the question. I do remember
how poor your memory is, Auror Adoranar. You forgot your wedding ring at home
for seven months whilst you visited my house.�

�� Draco
couldn�t help himself; he laughed. He saw Potter�s eye turn towards him, but
since Potter was unfamiliar with the Malfoy code of conduct, Draco decided the
sound was worth the risk; Potter wouldn�t know how rare it was that Draco
laughed, or what it meant. Better still, it visibly deflated Adoranar, who
crossed his arms in front of his chest as if he were trying to stem the flow of
blood from the invisible wound of his humiliation.

�Well, I really can�t say what
Smythe had planned or hadn�t planned.� Adoranar pouted. He didn�t make an effort
to sound like an adult, Draco thought, amused but not amazed, not anymore. �We
had no reason to suspect multiple spells, so I didn�t ask about them, or listen
for clues that might have confirmed their existence.�

�Thank you, Auror,� Potter said.
Draco expected him to bow, the way he would
have himself after delivering such a polite blow, but instead he turned back to
Lucius. �I do apologize, Mr. Malfoy. It seems my investigation will be still
more prolonged. Perhaps I could simply cast as many Finites as there are spells and end them that way, but without
knowing how they are joined�whether simply piled one on top of each other or
joined together in a net�doing so could damage you. And I suspect the solution
is more complicated, in any case.�

Draco let his eyebrows rise. Potter
understood spell mazes, then, and the complicated patterns they could knot in,
and how dangerous it could be to try and break one. It was more than Draco had
hoped for.

�Competence can take as long as it
needs,� Lucius murmured, and closed his eyes. Draco caught his breath as his
mother entered the hospital room. He hadn�t seen the signal which Lucius had
used to summon her. Or maybe they had conversed together that morning and
arranged for her to come in now.� Out of
the corner of his eye, Draco saw the Auror turn tail. He wondered if Potter had
seen the look Narcissa had sent his way, like an icicle drill. �Now, Mr.
Potter, is there anything else you need to discuss with me, or can I converse
with my wife in private for a time?�

�Nothing else,� Potter said. This
time, he did bow as Narcissa stopped beside her husband and stroked his hair
back. Perhaps he could appreciate indulgent tenderness as he could not
appreciate the subtler emotions, Draco thought. �I shall continue reading, and
hope to bring better news the next time I come.�

�� Potter left
the room. Draco glanced over his shoulder once, and Narcissa caught his eye. That
alone was enough to make Draco turn away. His father did mean a private conversation this time, in spite
of Draco�s volunteering to stay with him so that none of his enemies in
hospital could kill him. Draco supposed he was safe enough with Narcissa. The
only trouble might be if his mother mistook a friendly overture for a hostile
one and Transfigured the offender into a gibbering ball of flesh before someone
could tell her the truth.

�� Meanwhile,
Potter was ahead of him, checking his watch. Draco sped up subtly to catch him.
Potter would be in a vulnerable mood at the moment, doubtless, with the
appearance of his ex-lover stirring up thoughts of sex and perhaps thoughts of
mourning, if he still regretted that he�d had to get rid of Adoranar. Draco
could think of no better time to catch him off-guard and begin his seduction.

�� He reached
out and clasped Potter�s arm, making sure he still smiled when the gesture made
Potter spin around. Inwardly, Draco snorted at the closed cast of Potter�s
face, the tight lines around his mouth and nostrils that clamped them almost
shut. How in the world did he think he was going to attract someone to replace
Adoranar, if he went around looking as if he smelled the inside of the Weasleys�
home?

�� Since my
mother is sitting with my father, I have some time to spare,� he said. �Would
you mind if I accompanied you to your lunch? I�m rather a stranger to this part
of London and don�t know the best places to eat.� He widened his smile, having
decided that subtlety was wasted on Potter. �And I do want to thank you for
trying to save my father�s life.�

�� For long
moments, Potter simply stared at him, blinking slowly, making Draco fear that
his efforts were wasted. And then he smiled again, and Draco caught his breath.
He could grow used to having that smile directed his way. He wondered absently
if it was the way Potter would look when Draco showed him how very well he
sucked cock. He lifted the hand he had on Potter�s arm to trail light fingers
towards his elbow.

�� I didn�t
thank you for preventing that prat from interfering with my spell, either,�
Potter murmured. He spoke with such calmness that it took Draco a long moment
to realize Potter was not actually accepting his offer. �So you�ve done as much
to preserve your father�s life as I have, this morning. By the way, thank you.�
He bowed and gently pulled, wringing his arm free of Draco�s grasp. �I�m afraid
I can�t oblige you, though, since I�m not going to lunch.�

�� Draco
blinked at him. �But it�s almost noon,� he said. Questions he would not ask
drummed against the inside of his skull with soft wings like a covey of quail. Aren�t you hungry? I would be myself, if I
had to go through the effort of casting a spell like the one you used on Father
and then through a confrontation with a lover I despised in the same few hours.
And lunch at noon is one general custom worth keeping.

�� I know,�
Potter said, �but most days I simply don�t have enough time. I won�t today,
either, before my attendance is required on the third floor in�� He checked his
watch, and Draco saw his throat bob as he swallowed. What emotion had he just
held back? Irritation, pride, annoyance? Surely not arousal, as much as Draco
would have liked to think he was succeeding in inspiring that at this early
stage. �Twenty-five minutes. I�ll have enough time to go to my cubicle, relax
for a few minutes, and swallow a potion I need, but that�s all.�

�� Draco
wanted to tell Potter how strange he found him, but that would never have done
even if Potter was part of the family. One did not openly express puzzlement
unless it could be done in such a way to embarrass an enemy. �What potion do
you need?� he asked. Perhaps this was a way he could get close to Potter even
if Potter distrusted his lunch invitations for some reason.

�� Oh, a
common one I have on hand.� Potter gave him a smile so devoid of meaning that
it made Draco want to grip his shoulders and shake him. Potter seemed to be
doing his best to hide weakness from Draco, but that made no sense. He wasn�t
part of a pure-blood family; he didn�t live within a world that feared and
distrusted him for his traditions. Far from it, in fact. Draco could not
discern where he would have learned his caution.

�� A headache
draught?� Draco asked, making a guess based on the number of lines in Potter�s
forehead and the way he walked with his eyes half-shut. Potter stared at him,
and Draco smiled at him again, seeing a way to turn even Potter�s reluctance to
his advantage. �I saw you rubbing your forehead earlier.� It could do no harm
for Potter to think he was even more obvious than he already was, and it would
make him warm to Draco, to know how closely Draco was watching him. �And I know
another cure for that.� He lifted his hands to press on Potter�s temples and
squeeze away the pain. He could already hear the sinful groan Potter would give
on being touched that way, and see the arch of his back as he yielded.

�� It occurred
to Draco that he was perhaps spending too much time and thought on Potter�s
reactions. He dismissed the idea. He was having fun, and he would end up by binding
someone important to Lucius and potentially valuable to the Malfoy line, so
what did it matter?

�� And then it
didn�t matter, because Potter reacted as though Draco had tried to cast Crucio on him through his fingers. He
ducked his head and scuttled away, then jerked around, his movements as stiff
as a puppet�s. Draco let his hands fall, staring. If a more shameless rejection
of a massage existed, he didn�t know what it was.

�� Potter!�

�� A bald man with
large eyes like a dying vulture�s had appeared behind Potter. Draco curled his
lip, uncaring if he saw. He doubted that this man could do anything to hurt Lucius,
even if he did wear a Healer�s robe and even if Potter did incline his head to
him as if he were someone to be respected.

�� Healer,�
Potter said.

�� Draco
narrowed his eyes in thought. He was sure he could see scorn around the edges
of Potter�s mouth, but he still half-bowed to the Healer and seemed cringingly
eager to please him. Perhaps he should be grateful that Potter had let Draco
know how much he despised him. He might not ever have been able to tell
otherwise.

�� Then he
wanted to roll his eyes at himself. There was no way that Potter was that good an actor.

�� One of
your former partners is downstairs again,
insisting on seeing you,� the Healer said, in a tone that did credit to his
judgment. Going by what he had seen of Adoranar, Draco doubted any other ex-lover
of Potter�s would be a prize, either.

�� Potter
paled for a moment, then gave a jerky nod and hurried forwards. Draco remained
where he was, arms folded, until the Healer and Potter had both departed around
the corner. Then he gave in to curiosity and followed.

�� If he
understood more about Potter�s ex-lovers, then surely he stood a better chance
of knowing more about Potter. And then he could understand why Potter would
sleep with someone like Adoranar and shy away from Draco�s own good-natured
touch.

�� Especially when he still has a headache and
won�t even put this Healer off long enough to take a potion for it. Not eating,
acting as if he doesn�t notice physical pain�I would say that Potter poses as
much of a danger to his own health as attacks from our enemies do.

*

�� I received
your communication.�

�� Narcissa
needed to do no more than edge those words with ice. Lucius understood her,
from the way he bowed his head. Narcissa lifted her chin and waited for an
explanation, her hand moving to the back of her husband�s neck, where her
fingers could close in an unobtrusive pinch.

�� It was necessary,�
Lucius said. His breath gusted over the hand that lay on his chest.

�� It was dangerous,� Narcissa said. �When you
bear a spell that could damage you further with every magical effort that you
expend��

�� Then
merely breathing is dangerous,� Lucius snapped, leaning up on one elbow so that
he could stare at her. �Since some magical theorists believe that a wizard�s
every breath is tinged with magic.�

�� Narcissa narrowed
her eyes and waited. After a moment, Lucius seemed to realize how vulgar he was
being, shouting into her face, and leaned back against his pillow with a curt
little nod, though she didn�t know if he realized he was nodding at nothing. �It
was necessary,� he repeated softly. �Based on what Potter discovered.�

�� And he
repeated what Potter had told him about Mansuefacio
and a spell-maze. Narcissa listened without comment, though her fingers did
relax from their grip on the back of her husband�s neck and fall down on his
shoulder again.

�� Lucius had
contacted her with a form of telepathy that only the head of the Malfoy family
and his or her spouse could employ. It was powerful, very dangerous, and very
draining. Lucius had, luckily, not tried to linger long or Narcissa would have
snapped at him; he had simply sent her a blast of his need for her and a
summons to come at once, then dropped out of her mind, leaving Narcissa to make
her polite excuses to the minor cousin of the Goyle family she was having tea
with.

�� Draco did
not know about the telepathy, though he had long since accepted that his
parents seemed to instinctively realize when one of them needed the other.
Narcissa had wanted to tell him, but Lucius had insisted that it was a secret
that could only be passed on to the heir of the Malfoys when the head of the
family was on his deathbed.

�� Narcissa
could not truly object. Draco had been raised as the heir of the Malfoy
bloodline, not the Black, and that meant the traditions he should accept and
believe in were the Malfoy ones.

�� But it also
meant that he was blind to some aspects of Lucius�s personality Narcissa saw
with perfect clarity. When Lucius spoke vaguely of the use that he meant to put
Potter to and how he had encouraged Draco�s plans to seduce Potter because of
that, Narcissa bent her head and let her lips curve on the side of her face
aimed away from her husband.

�� You have no concrete plans to handle Potter
yet, my strength. You simply wanted to sound mysterious and powerful for Draco,
you wanted to make it sound as if you had predicted the matter if Potter turns
out to be useful later, and you wanted an escape from Draco�s concern, which
can be�obsessive�at times.

�� But because
they understood each other, Narcissa did not have to speak that understanding
aloud. She said softly, �You want me to hunt among the Death Eater families for
those who might have knowledge of spell mazes?�

�� Lucius
squeezed her hand without reply. Narcissa kissed his temple and began to think of
plans she could use to discover the truth, absently noting that Draco had not
come back yet. Perhaps he was more interested in Potter than Narcissa had given
him credit for when she thought it was merely a scheme of Lucius�s.

�� That might
be all to the good, as well. Narcissa had been the guardian of the Malfoy
family�s social reputation for the last three decades, whilst Lucius negotiated
the political side of things. Perhaps Potter was not useful in the ways that
Lucius and Draco would immediately think of�monetarily or magically�but there
were some people who would look at Narcissa with more respect in their eyes for
the mere sake of an association with Potter.

�� This is why I agreed to marry him, in the
end, she thought, as Lucius briefly leaned towards her so that his hair
brushed her forearm, where the Dark Mark had never burned. Because we work well together and because we had the potential for both
power and unity that a pure-blood family so badly needs.

�� Love is because of power and unity and the contribution
that one can make to a family. As soon as Draco understands that, then he can
cease this pathetic search for a perfect mate and instead find someone who will
work.

*

�� linagabriev:
Thank you! Draco is making up his mind that Harry is more important and
valuable than he seemed, but that�s in part because of Lucius�s declaration. It�s
hard for him to absorb the notion that he might value Harry on his own.

�� And yes, he�s
not always as observant as he thinks he is. On the other hand, there�s a lot about
the Malfoys that Harry doesn�t notice in the original story, so it probably
balances out.

�� I�m glad you
like Draco�s perspective. There�s always the chance retelling scenes from a
different viewpoint will only seem boring.

�� Graballz:
Thanks! Hope you like Narcissa�s POV, too.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Here it is!
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For Their Unconquerable Souls