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The Aftermath of War	By : ReighHPFiction Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Lucius Views: 29582 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 15
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
Disclaimer: Harry Potter is the property of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., and other assorted publishing, producing companies. I do not make money from writing this story, as I do not own any of the rights to the characters or canon plotlines.

Author's Note : I'm so glad for all of the reviews so far! You guys have been so positive, and I'm happy the story is being well received! Now, I'm going to give you guys some power over the story here. I kind of feel bad for leaving Narcissa un-paired, because I really do like her a lot. So, I'm going to give you some options for her and you guys can vote on it in the reviews for this chapter. Unfortunately a lot of the men who would be good with her died during the war, so it won't be easy lol and I absolutely refuse to put her with an OC, she's too good for that.

Charlie/Narcissa, Kingsley/Narcissa, Amos Diggory/Narcissa, or Krum/Narcissa

Off to vote with you all!

Title : The Aftermath of War

Warnings : Slash, Possible Ginny-Bashing, Anal, Oral, Rim, H/C, Future M-Preg, Un-Beta'd

Pairings : Lucius/Harry, George/Draco, RonHermione, Narcissa/?

Chapter Three: Publicity Blows

Harry Potter Stands for Lucius Malfoy against the Wizengamot!

Has our Savior been Seduced over to the Dark side?

By Rita Skeeter

Once again, Lucius Malfoy has avoided Azkaban as a punishment for his actions. Sources tell us that our dear Harry Potter's impassioned defense of the former Lieutenant of You-Know-Who's dark army convinced the stodgy old members of the Wizengamot that he didn't belong in prison. The Wizengamot's decision to take Mr. Potter's choice of punishment for Malfoy's actions was nearly unanimous.

Lord Malfoy will be responsible for the finances behind rebuilding both Hogwarts and The Ministry. His magic has been restrained, wand confiscated for a period of one year, and he will be paying reparations to various Ministry backed charities most likely for the rest of his life. He will be under an Auror supervised house arrest for the next two years, and while not an official punishment for his actions, we all know he has already lost his wife due to his crimes. Some would say this punishment was fair, others would say Lord Malfoy got lucky. This writer agrees with the latter.

The real shock was the Wizengamot's stipulation in regards to agreeing to this punishment. Harry Potter was asked to move into Malfoy Manor to oversee Lord Malfoy's punishment himself, and the Savior agreed!

This turn of events has the Wizarding World buzzing with questions.

First and foremost, why would the Savior of our world testify in court for a man who he knows is guilty?

Was our dear Hero coerced? Was he blackmailed by the insidious Malfoy family into doing this? Everyone knows that Narcissa Malfoy, now Narcissa Black, saved Mr. Potter's life on the battlefield. Did she demand her husband's freedom in return for settling that life debt? Personally, that seems like the only way that such an upstanding young man as Mr. Potter would ever agree to testify for the black hearted Malfoy Patriarch.

Unless it is something entirely different. It is no secret that Lucius Malfoy has a penchant for lovely young men. Before and even throughout his marriage to Ms. Black, Lord Malfoy was spotted with various young male lovers in the past. Perhaps our dear hero has been bewitched by the Malfoy Lord's charms. Was Mr. Potter's defense of Mr. Malfoy just the impassioned plea of a lover to save his partner from the cold grips of Azkaban's Dementors?

I suppose we'll never know, since Mr. Potter is so averted to public appearances, but one does wonder. Mr. Potter agreed to move in to the Manor quite hastily. Now, one can only speculate, but to this author it sounds like the beginnings of an illicit affair.

Reporting for the Daily Prophet, this is Rita Skeeter singing out.

Harry stared at the article in shocked silence, his breath caught in his throat as anger welled up inside of him. The Prophet had printed a lot of things about him in the past, terrible things like that he was crazy, and that he was the next Dark Lord. But this…this was just a whole new level of bullshit. How dare they?

"This has to be illegal! What gives them the right to print this stuff about me?" he growled, one hand winding his hand into his messy hair as the other slapped the paper down on the table in disgust.

The Malfoys at the table all stopped eating and looked over to their guest. Draco, in the past, would have gloated at the article and taken the piss out of Potter for everything that was written. This time, however, not only was his family being implicated as the bad guys in this story…the accusations against Potter were entirely out of line. He wasn't sure if it was their newfound friendship talking or not, but he was just as disgusted by what Skeeter had written as Potter.

Narcissa, for her part, wasn't sure what to do. Potter was obviously upset, but she had no idea how to comfort him. The mother in her wanted to ruffle his hair, hold him to her bosom, and tell him everything would be okay. The proper lady in her, however, knew it was too soon in their acquaintance for such actions to be appropriate.

"Actually, Potter, by Wizarding Law this is illegal," Lucius said, snapping everyone out of their thoughts. Harry looked up from his embarrassed misery to shoot a wide eyed, confused look over at the Malfoy Patriarch.

"What?"

"I do not know how Muggles handle slander, but in Wizarding Law it is quite clearly defined. While publications are allowed to write about public figures, even speculate about them, such speculations as these must be backed by credible evidence in the article otherwise the writer and said publication can be sued by the subject," Lucius explained quietly. Green eyes stared at the older man in shock as Harry took in his words.

"Wait…if that's true then why doesn't The Prophet get sued more often?" he asked. The blonde's lips curved into a slight smirk.

"They have been sued plenty of times, just not recently. As you must know, there has been much more on people's minds than suing a rag like The Prophet over silly rumors. However, they have always been rather aggressive to you. It would be understandable if you decided to do so," Lucius continued.

Harry stared at him for a few moments, quietly going over in his mind what had been printed about him over the years and this ridiculous bit they'd just spewed onto the front page.

"Well, what about you? Did you see what they wrote about you? They're saying you cheated on your wife with other men, and the way they say young men makes you seem like some kind of gross pervert. You may be many things, but that's not one I've pegged you for…and then what they go on to say about your family. I mean, come on…insidious? It's completely out of hand," Harry said, looking up at his hosts with anger in his eyes. He hated The Prophet's penchant for taking things purposefully out of context and making wild accusations with no basis in reality.

A low chuckle broke Harry from his thoughts, and he turned his gaze to meet the amused grey eyes of Lucius Malfoy. The younger man's expression turned even more confused at that.

"Your concern is appreciated, but unnecessary. While I am not happy about what they've written about my family or Narcissa in this article, there's not much I can do about it now. To take it to court would be a waste of time and resources, as no one really cares about what gets said about the Malfoy family anymore," the blonde man explained calmly. Harry frowned at this, but Lucius didn't allow the boy to comment.

"Also, I cannot deny that I have, in the past, taken a younger male lover here and there. Not underage of course, but it has happened," he explained, a little smile quirking his lips just so. He rather enjoyed the way the boy's bright green eyes went wider than saucers at the admission.

Harry felt his cheeks go hot with blood as his face flushed a deep red. He couldn't believe that Lucius had just said that….like it was no big deal at all. He'd never gotten any idea of what his friends at Hogwarts thought of same sex relationships, but Vernon and Petunia had always been very negatively outspoken against homosexuality. In the Muggle world, it was still something of a taboo, despite the advances in legislation and activism. Harry also couldn't believe how easily the older man had just admitted to cheating on his wife…with Narcissa sitting right beside him.

"Do not be cross, Harry. I was fully aware of Lucius' little dabbles in the male form. In fact, most of the time we enjoyed them together," Narcissa said, a mischievous glint in her icy blue eyes.

Harry just stared at the two, mouth gaping and eyes about as wide as they could be. He'd never met a couple as open about their sexual activities as the Malfoys were. One would think, with as many kids as they had, the Weasleys would be more open, but they were actually rather prudish about such things. Molly blushed at the slightest innuendo, and scolded her sons when she heard them make any such references.

"Close your mouth Potter, you're going to catch flies," Draco's voice snickered from across the table. Harry flushed cherry red, shooting a half-assed glare at the other boy before turning his eyes back down to his plate.

It was silent for a few more moments before Lucius cleared his throat again. When Potter didn't look back up, the Malfoy Head felt a rush of amusement through him. He hadn't realized how innocent the young man was. He wondered if Potter had ever even had sex, but then quelled those thoughts immediately. That was entirely inappropriate, even if the young man was exactly Lucius' type as far as younger lovers went. Well, judging from the blushing, he was a little less experienced than Lucius would prefer, but that was always easily remedied.

'Enough! There will be no such thoughts about the Savior. I would surely be lynched if anyone ever suspected I could want him,' he thought as he forced the thoughts from his mind. He did not miss Narcissa's knowing smirk, however.

"Anyway, Potter, in your case the Prophet was even more out of line when you were younger. Underage wizards have a lot of protection under Wizarding law, speculating about the romantic life of a fourteen year old is quite frowned upon by the law. Both you and Miss Granger would have been within your rights to demand legal action for the things they wrote about you in your youth," he explained.

Harry couldn't believe he was just hearing this now. Why hadn't anyone ever told him about this before? This seemed like something he should have been made aware of as soon as he set foot in the Wizarding World, considering how famous he was before he even arrived.

"I take it from your silence that no one has ever explained this to you before. It is not all together surprising, considering everything else they had to explain to you that was a bit more important."

Harry just sighed, his head flopping down into his crossed arms on the table. What was he going to do? Not only were his friends going to freak, since he hadn't had a chance to write to them yet, but the entire Wizarding World thought he was having some sort of sordid affair with Lucius Malfoy because he kept the man out of prison. Why couldn't his life ever just be normal and easy? Why did everything bad have to happen to him?

He hadn't even speculated on his sexuality. Of course the Prophet would beat him to it.

'Alright, enough with the inner pity party. I've got to figure out what to do about this,' he thought.

Harry scrubbed at his forehead in irritation, looking up when he heard the soft screech of an owl overhead. He froze when he saw the bright red envelope clutched in its claws. No doubt that was from Mrs. Weasley. She was the only one he knew that would send him such a thing, though he supposed he could expect more from his fans soon enough.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! How DARE you move into Malfoy Manor without even a word to us! Here we have all been worried SICK about you, for lack of owls, and we have to find out from THE PROPHET about this decision? You better have a good explanation for all of this young man, or I am going to be furious with you! Those Malfoys are bad news! You are not safe with them! Drag your bad decision making bottom over to the Burrow IMMEDIATELY! We need to talk!"

With that, the Howler tore itself up and fluttered down to the table in shreds. Harry's face was flaming red, his heart beating a million miles per hour as Molly's words echoed in his mind. Finally, he cleared his throat and stood.

"Please excuse me, I'm not really hungry anymore, and it seems I have some Owls to write. I'm sorry you had to hear that," he said, not waiting for an answer before he left the dining room.

The Malfoys said nothing as the young man left the room, quietly understanding that he needed to be alone to think. Narcissa was worried though. The Weasleys could really make things difficult for her and her family. Not only did Potter value their opinion enough, Narcissa believed, that he may change his mind about things. The Weasleys were all seen as war heroes. They could pretty much do whatever they wanted to the Malfoys without punishment. The public wouldn't care.

"Perhaps you should go check on him in a few minutes, Draco."

Lucius' voice brought Narcissa out of her thoughts. She looked over to her son and nodded in agreement.

"Yes, the two of you seem to be getting along. I think he would receive you better than either of us. That could not have been pleasant for him."

Draco simply nodded his understanding. Potter had looked quite upset when he left, so the Malfoy Heir would give him at least a half hour to cool down before going to speak to him. He should have known the Weasleys would throw a fit.

Harry sat before the large fireplace in his room at Malfoy Manor and collected his thoughts. He had already owled the Minister to get permission to leave for a short time to explain things to the Weasleys. Now, he just had to gather the courage to go over there. He wished the papers would have waited at least one more day to release the story. At least then he'd have had a little time to figure out what to say to the Weasleys to make them understand the situation. Now he was going to have to go there when they were already agitated, and try to make them see his side of the story.

He scribbled a quick note and left it on the coffee table for whoever came after him from breakfast later. He needed to take care of this now. That done, Harry took a fist full of Floo Powder and stepped into the fire.

"The Burrow!" he called out as he dropped the powder and green flames took him to his destination. He stumbled out of the fireplace clumsily and looked up to see a room full of redheads.

"Erm…hey.."

He was being glared at by Ginny, Molly, and Ron…but Arthur, Bill, and George just looked confused. With a sigh, he plopped down on one of the chairs, setting his head in his hands.

"Look, I know you're probably upset about this, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you myself, but the first thing you should know is that the article in the Prophet was complete shite. They didn't coerce or blackmail me, Narcissa didn't demand anything of me, and I most certainly am not sleeping with Lucius Malfoy. I wanted to tell you myself, but the Prophet released the story faster than I could do that," he said in an exasperated tone.

It was silent for a few moments before Molly came forward, looking slightly less angry and more concerned. She might be very outspoken, and have quite a fiery temper, but when it came to her kids Molly Weasley just wanted to be sure they were alright. She wasn't inherently a bitch or anything. Worrying just made her cranky.

"Harry, love, you know we will always be family. I consider you like one of my sons. All I want is to be sure you're safe. The Malfoys..they've done a lot of bad things, and I know that people can change, but I want to know for certain that you're safe and I want to understand why you kept Lucius out of jail even though the whole world, including you, knows he's guilty. Even if you were sleeping with him, I don't think that you're the type of person who would keep him out of jail for selfish reasons…and I would only be upset because I had to hear it from the Prophet and not from you yourself," the Weasley Matriarch explained in a slow and even tone.

Harry threw her a surprised look at that, but didn't think on it any further. There certainly was no threat of him sleeping with Malfoy Senior, so getting his surrogate family to approve of said man in that context wasn't exactly an issue. He was slightly surprised at how easily Molly accepted the idea of him being gay though, which he filed away to think about later.

Ron and Ginny did not look like they agreed with their mother at all, but Harry was glad to see the other three nodding slowly. Harry sighed and shook his head.

"Don't worry. I don't even know where they got that rumor from. From what I can see, Mr. Malfoy seems to be completely in love with his wife_er ex-wife. And as for my reasoning…I didn't do it for Lucius..I did it for Draco. No matter what anyone thinks of him in this room, we all know he was just as much a victim of this war as the rest of us. I mean, he had Voldemort living in his house, threatening his family every day. He's really messed up, and taking away one of his parents right now would only make it worse," he explained, watching as realization began to dawn on Molly's face as she murmured what sounded like 'the poor dear' quietly. He knew that she and Arthur would understand, being parents and all, how much children needed that stability to get over traumatic experiences.

"And according to Narcissa, she never wanted to serve Voldemort, and Lucius never wanted to see the second coming either. They were just scared of losing everything, and with Draco in the mix, Voldemort had a lot of leverage over them. It doesn't excuse Lucius from his crimes. He himself admits he's done what he's done and was ready to go to Azkaban for it. I just thought, they're all Draco has left and he's not going to have anyone else around to support him through this. We've all got each other, his friends and family are all dead or on the run," Harry finished, looking around the room to see if it had helped at all.

Molly's eyes had gone soft with understanding, and Arthur was nodding his head as well. Bill looked skeptical but accepting and George's eyes had glazed over in that way that made it obvious he was thinking about all he'd lost, namely Fred. Ron and Ginney still looked furious.

"Well Harry, if that's the reason you did it, then I think it is a very generous thing that you've done. I still don't trust them, and I'm still worried about you living there, but if you think you're doing the right thing then I'll accept your decision," Molly finally said. Harry's 'thank you' was interrupted by an explosion from Ron's direction.

"So that's it then?" the redhead growled lowly. "We're just going to accept that Harry knowingly kept a guilty man out of Azkaban, who by all rights deserves to go there more than any of the others! I was willing to believe you about Snape mate, but this is too much! They're the reason Fred is dead! They're the reason for all of this! Tonks, Remus, Moody, Dumbledore, Sirius! Don't tell me you've forgotten what role Malfoy and his family have played in all of that!"

Harry managed to hold back another sigh. He knew Ron would probably blow up about it. It was just Ron's way. Unfortunately for him, Hermione wasn't around to cool the redhead down right now. She was still in Australia searching for her parents. Ron was supposed to be leaving to meet her in two weeks.

"Malfoy didn't kill any of those people, if you remember, and his parents didn't even take part in the Final Battle, so you can't blame them for any of the deaths that occurred there. They were busy searching the castle for their son…remember? And in case you'd forgotten, Narcissa is the only reason I survived to kill Voldemort, so you might want to show her a little more respect," Harry said back, his green eyes determined and unwavering. He hated that his best friend could never just support him on his decisions without freaking out first. He accepted this as part of Ron's personality, but sometimes it was just exhausting.

"Even if that's the truth, Harry, have you forgotten that Lucius Malfoy almost killed me!" Ginny's voice cried angrily from beside her brother. Harry turned his gaze on to his ex and frowned.

"Gin, I know that..hell, he knows that. But did you not hear me before? I didn't do it for him, I did it for Draco. Can't you understand what he must be going through?" Harry pleaded, willing her to just get it.

"NO! I don't understand! What, he's Draco now all of a sudden? Well I remember how Malfoy was a sadistic little prat that got his jollies off by bullying others and picking on muggleborns. Do you remember the way he used to treat Hermione, or even you!" she shot back. Harry forced back a growl of frustration

"Gin! We were kids! We were kids and we were equally horrible to one another! That's neither here nor there though because we all just lived through a war! Aren't you tired of hating? Aren't you tired of all the depression and hurting and loss? I know I am! Draco doesn't have a huge family like yours to get him through what happened to him! His friends are mostly dead or have fled the country! So I'm just supposed to ignore that because of some stupid rivalry in school?" he asked vehemently. Ginny's eyes just got brighter and brighter with anger, but it was Ron who spoke next.

"Fuck him! What the fuck did he go through? Oh no Daddy's got all this money and nothing to do but spoil me with it. Oh god my Daddy's boss is living in my house with all Daddy's friends! He didn't go through shit Harry! We lost a lot more than he did! Fred is gone because of people like him so don't try to make me feel guilty for what Malfoywent through!" Ron growled angrily. And that's when Harry couldn't handle it anymore.

"Are you kidding me? Do you even know what Voldemort was like to his followers?" Harry asked, incredulous that Ron and Ginney could be so insensitive.

"Who cares what he was like! They chose their own paths. They should've seen it coming!" Ginny cried.

"Now children let's just_" but Harry cut Mrs. Weasley off with a shout.

"Shut up! Just shut the fuck up both of you! Neither one of you has ever been face to face with Voldemort, so don't you dare presume you would know what it's like having to face him every day of your life! And if you forgot, Draco didn't choose to be a Death Eater, he was never marked. His family was threatened and he did what he had to do to keep them safe. Can you honestly say you'd have done differently if they were holding your mother and father hostage? I saw what he did to his Death Eaters, not even the worst person in the world deserves to be treated like that and I thought you two were better people than to think otherwise! You act like you're the only people in the world who've lost someone, well suck it up and stuff it! You aren't, and you don't have the knowledge to make the judgments you're attempting to, so just be quiet before you make yourselves look like compete idiots!"

Harry was panting when he finished. He turned his back on his friend and ex-girlfriend and started walking to the fire. He couldn't deal with this right now.

"Fuck you Harry! If you think you can talk to me like that then we're through! I never want to see you again!" Ginny screeched at him. He turned back, barely restraining a snarl as his anger refused to calm down.

"I wasn't aware that we were back together, Gin, but fine. I don't want to be tied to a bigot anyway," he said. Ginny huffed and stomped out of the room in the same instant that Ron came flying forward with his fist ready to punch Harry in the jaw. Bill caught him before he could make a full landing, but Harry knew it would still bruise later.

"Ronald Weasley, get up to your room right now! I will not have this violence in my home! We invited Harry here to give his side of the story and try to understand! You have done neither!" Molly growled at her son, whose blue eyes widened incredulously at his mother.

"You're actually taking his side?"

"To your room young man!"

Bill wrestled Ron out the door as George and Arthur stood up to walk up towards Harry and Molly. Molly examined the area where Ron's fist had landed and sighed.

"That'll probably bruise love, but it could have been worse. I'm sorry about him," she said, looking genuinely remorseful as she pulled Harry into a hug. He hugged her back warmly.

"It's alright. I knew he wouldn't be happy about it. It's Gin I'm surprised at. But whatever, this was my decision, and I'm done explaining myself for doing the right thing. If people are upset about it, they can just deal with that on their own," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. George's hand came down on his shoulder and the Weasley twin smiled weakly.

"Don't worry too much about Ronniekins. He'll come around. He's going to get a rude awakening when he goes down to Australia and Hermione chews him out a new one. You know she'd side with you on this one, and I'll be sending the Owl tonight!" he said in a faux bright tone. He was trying to make Harry feel better, and Harry appreciated it, even if George was still too upset about Fred's death to be genuine about his teasing.

"Despite their anger, Harry, you will always be welcome here as family," Arthur added. "Though…if you're going to live with the Malfoys, could we at least ask a favor from you? Just to ease our worries."

Harry pulled away from Molly and blinked up at Arthur in confusion.

"Of course, anything," he said. Molly smiled, obviously on the same page as her husband.

"I think it would be easier for us to accept if we could send someone with you to be sure you're safe over there. Would you be opposed to George coming with you?" she asked. Harry flicked his eyes over to George who just shrugged and quirked his lips in another half-smile.

"Oh, well I guess not but I'd have to ask them first. It's still their house after all," Harry replied. Molly just smiled and nodded.

"Oh of course dear! I completely understand. Just let us know what they say, because it really would make it easier for us to sleep at night knowing you have at least one of us watching out for you there," Molly said.

Harry just smiled at them, feeling a huge weight lift off his shoulders as he realized that for the most part, the people he'd come to see as family were accepting his choice without disowning him. Ron he knew would come around once he had Hermione's logical nagging in his ears for more than an hour. Ginny…well, she had reacted in a way that Harry hadn't expected to the news. He understood her anger at Lucius, he really did, but he'd thought her an understanding enough person to see that Draco really needed his father right now. It wasn't like Lucius wasn't being punished. He was basically a squib right now who was solely financially responsible for rebuilding most of what was destroyed in Wizarding Britain.

When Harry came back through the fire into his suite at Malfoy Manor, he was greeted by the sight of Draco Malfoy sitting in one of the high backed chairs in front of the fireplace. The blonde boy stood and steadied Harry as he stumbled out of the floo in his usual graceless manner. With an embarrassed laugh, Harry smiled at the other boy.

"Err..thanks," he said, scratching the back of his head bashfully as Draco just smirked at him.

"No problem. How did your Weasel meeting go?" he asked, sitting back down. Harry sighed, plopping himself down into the adjacent chair. He ignored Draco's jibe at the Weasleys for now. He really didn't want to get into another argument.

"It went alright. They're not happy about this, obviously. Your family and theirs have a long history of animosity towards one another. But...the majority of them are supporting me. Molly agrees I've done the right thing by you. Arthur, George, and Bill all understand as well," Harry explained.

"And the rest?"

"Well, Hermione wasn't there. She's still in Australia looking for her parents. I know she would agree with me though. Charlie's back in Romania so he has no idea, but I don't think he'd be upset," Harry said, cringing as he thought about Ron and Ginny's reactions.

Draco raised an eyebrow at him, as if he could hear the frustration in Harry's mind.

"As you can imagine, Ron wasn't accepting. He threw a fit and punched me in the face after I broke up with his sister for being an insensitive bigot," Harry said, rubbing his jaw where a bruise was already forming. Grey eyes flicked down to the slight purpling on the other boy's skin.

"Ah, so you and the Weaslette are no more?"

Harry just snorted.

"Technically we were never back on, but apparently she decided for the both of us after a meeting with herself that we were together after the war. She broke up with me for defending your family against her, and I told her it was fine because I wouldn't want to be tied to a bigot anyway."

Draco couldn't help but laugh at that. Women, he'd never understand them and he didn't intend on even trying. Men were so much easier to please, and despite what women thought, much more up front with their emotions. A man won't get pissed about some insignificant thing and then not explain why he's angry whilst giving the object of his anger the cold shoulder for a month.

"And how did they take your relationship with my father?" the Malfoy Heir asked with a hint of teasing and mirth in his tone. Harry kicked him in the shin, grinning at the yelp it got him.

"They believed me when I said it wasn't true, but strangely enough, Molly didn't even flinch at the idea of me possibly being gay. She said she would only be upset that she didn't hear it from me personally," Harry answered in a slightly confused tone.

"You seem surprised. Purebloods have no qualms with homosexuality. Since magical children are can be conceived by men and women," Draco said. Harry felt his mouth drop open in shock. Men could get pregnant in the Wizarding World?

"What?"

Draco laughed harder this time. He couldn't believe how naïve the Savior was. Did no one ever explain these things to Harry? Surely Momma Weasel could've found time to sit him down and talk to him, especially since Harry had been dating her daughter.

"Yea. Between a man and a woman, magical children are conceived biologically, like with muggles. But between two people of the same sex, the child is conceived magically. It's a powerful bit of sex magic, that if done right, will result in the magical growth of a child carrying both parents' blood and magical signature," the young Malfoy explained quietly.

Silence descended on the two as Draco allowed the other young man to absorb what he'd been told. As for Harry, he was legitimately shocked and confused by everything that had been said. In the muggle world, one of the biggest arguments against homosexuality was the fact that two people of the same sex could not reproduce together. There were no such grounds for that argument in the Wizarding World, not that Harry had ever bought into such homophobia himself. He wasn't sure what to think though.

Before Hogwarts, Harry had been too young to think of such things. In Hogwarts, he always figured he should like girls, because that's what all the other boys were always going on about around him. That's what was considered normal, as far as he could see. All Harry had ever wanted was to be seen as normal.

"Potter? You're doing an awful lot of thinking over there. Anything you want to talk about?"

Draco's voice broke Harry from his thoughts and green eyes swept up to look at the other boy. Hadn't Draco told Harry that he preferred boys. Maybe he could talk to the blonde about it. Maybe he could get an idea of how one even began to ponder such a thing.

"How did you know?" he asked quietly, causing a finely crafted, blonde eyebrow to wing up in confusion. "How did you figure you were attracted to other guys?"

Grey eyes just stared at him blankly for a couple of moments before realization seemed to bloom behind them and a smirk worked its way over the blonde's face.

"Why Potter? Think you might have a little taste for cock after all?" he asked with a teasing sneer. Harry flushed and glared at the other boy.

"Fuck off Malfoy! I'm asking you a serious question!"

Draco backed down a bit, knowing that Harry must really be confused at the moment. He remembered when he first realized he liked males better than females. It wasn't that he wasn't attracted to females. He was. They were soft and lovely, and always smelled pretty. But Draco was the kind of person who liked to give most of the control in the bedroom to his partner. In his everyday life, Draco had to be so in control of every little detail of his life. So in the bedroom, he enjoyed being taken care of by a preferably tall, strong older man who knew what he was doing.

"Well, Potter, let's just say the first time I ever kissed a guy I figured out that's probably where my preferences leaned," Draco explained easily.

"Uh…oh…" was Harry's brilliant reply.

He wasn't sure what to say next. He wanted to ask Draco so many questions, but he didn't want to be inappropriate. They'd only just started becoming friends. Surely prying into the other boy's sex life was still out of the question. It was enough, Harry felt, to even be curious about what sex might be like with another man. He would just hold on to his thoughts for now until they sorted themselves out in his head.

"You should do some experimenting, Potter. You're young, you're the Savior of the world. There's got to be literally thousands of pretty wizards willing to lay themselves out in your bed," Draco suggested nonchalantly, quite enjoying the dark pink flush that spread across Harry's features.

"Uh, thanks…I'll keep that idea in mind Malfoy."

After a few more minutes of discussing what had happened with the Weasleys, Harry brought up George coming to live with them. Draco just nodded his head in agreement. He knew that his parents would do anything to keep the Weasley family off their backs because the Weasleys were quite favored with the public right now.

"We have plenty of room. I don't see why not," Narcissa agreed later on at dinner. Lucius nodded his head as well.

"Just, can you make sure he's in a room near mine. It's not that I don't feel safe here or anything, because you guys have been a lot more gracious than I ever thought you'd be," Harry began. The three Malfoys simply nodded in understanding.

"The reason he should be close is that he's still not really…okay, about Fred's death I mean. It weighs on him pretty heavily still, and he still has nightmares about watching Fred die. I want to be close by in case he needs me," Harry explained to them carefully. He saw Narcissa's blue eyes flash guilt, then soften into something like sympathy.

"Of course, Harry. Losing a sibling cannot be easy. Even though she was insane, I still miss Bellatrix for what she was before the Dark Lord and Azkaban..and I still miss Andromeda after my parents excommunicated her. I cannot even imagine what it would be like to lose a twin," she said.

Harry smiled at the three of them, glad that they were being so understanding. He'd already moved into their house forcibly, and now he was asking to move one of his friends in, a Weasley. Malfoys and Weasleys notoriously did not get along, though Harry had always felt the twins were kind of blazèabout the whole Feud. They just didn't like Draco because he was a prick in school.

"Thank you. I'll go owl them now," he said as he finished his plate and excused himself from the table.

Up in his rooms later, he was composing his letter to the Weasleys to let them know George was welcome. He sent it out and crawled into bed, exhausted from everything that had happened today. He had a lot to think about. Firstly, The Prophet. This really was the straw that broke the camel's back for him. He was going to take them to court this time. Now that he knew he could, he would talk to Lucius about getting a lawyer in the morning. The Malfoy Patriarch seemed to know the most about Wizarding Law, and Harry figured he'd want to get back at the Prophet as well for the things they'd said about his family, and especially for saying that he was having sex with Harry.

Sometime while he was thinking about everything, he fell asleep. It was the sharp rapping against the glass of his window that woke him around two o'clock in the morning. Harry rolled blearily out of bed, stumbling over to the window to let the barn owl that was outside in. Tied to its leg was a note from Hermione.

Dear Harry,

Ron wrote me about what happened with the Malfoys. As you can imagine, the letter was barely legible and full of rage. Luckily, George's letter got to me first. I just want you to be aware that I fully support you on this. Even if Draco was a prat in school, he deserves a second chance as much as any of us. You saw the things he was forced to do, and Voldemort lived in his house. I can only imagine the kind of trauma that inspired.

I also think this is an important message for the Wizarding World to grasp. A lot of the Death Eater children have avoided Azkaban because they were deemed too young to have made such a big life decision under such duress. This is true for most, but that doesn't mean that the public will just accept it. People like Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle, and Blaise Zabini will all be facing adversity from the public, and from their peers when Hogwarts is reopened.

It is up to us as leaders in the Wizarding World to show the public that being prejudiced against people like them is no better than what Voldemort and his Death Eaters did against Muggles and Muggleborns.

I fully support your decision to help Draco, and I will be having some frank words with Ronald when he gets here. If you ever need to talk about anything, please feel free to owl. Also, please keep me posted on everything. I might be far away, but you're still my best friend. I care about what's going on in your life.

Good luck.

Love,

Hermione

P.S.- The owl has been on a very long journey. Please take care of him.

Harry finished reading the letter, feeling a huge weight lifting off of his chest at the support he had just received from Hermione. He was glad she was on board with him here, because Hermione Granger was the only person in the world who could talk Ron out of his rage induced stupidity.

Harry called the elves to bring food for the owl and transfigured the desk chair into a rather cushy owl cadge for him to sleep in before heading to bed himself. He would send a letter back to Hermione in the morning.

A/N: Well that's all for this chapter everyone! Hope you enjoyed it! Please leave your thoughts and don't forget to vote on who Narcissa will be paired with! You have until next chapter.
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The Aftermath of War