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Contract Under Love	By : CelticKitsune Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 32702 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 9
Disclaimer: I do not own, or make any money from Harry Potter or anything related to it.

Chapter List
- 3
- 4
- 5
I do not own Harry Potter!
Special thanks to my beta reader BickyMonster!! As always you are absolutely amazing <3
So now here is chapter 4 of Contract under Love. I am really enjoying writing this story and I have so many plans for our boys. I hope you all enjoy this chapter!
Contract under love
Chapter 4
Draco sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror making sure his robes were straight; even though it was only Pansy coming over to interview him and Harry, he wanted to look presentable in case she decided to take a few pictures for the article as well. It was always best to be prepared for anything.
After checking the time and looking at himself once more, Draco left his own room and went down the hall to Harry's. He let himself in, looking around the small, apparently empty sitting area before making his way through the doorway into the bedroom area. He stopped and looked around there too, frowning when he didn't see Harry anywhere.
The bed was empty, and looked like it hadn't even been slept in, the wardrobe was open. With a quick look inside he saw a set of clothes already missing from one of the hangers, and figured that probably meant that Harry was already up and dressed for the day.
Draco left the room and went in search of Harry. He didn't like the idea of Harry wandering around the manor by himself, not when the other boy could so easily get lost and wander into rooms that he really shouldn't be in. It did make him wonder if the elves really had sorted a map for Harry though.
He decided to start by checking the rooms in his section of the house, to see if Harry was in any of them, and was just checking in his library when he heard the sound of a house elf appearing in the hallway behind him. Turning to look towards the noise, he saw Pippsy bowing low to the floor.
“Young master sir, Pippsy is sent to tell you that your friends is to be arriving soon sir,” Pippsy said standing up a bit straighter.
“I will be down in a moment,” Draco said and was half way turned from the elf when he paused and looked back at Pippsy. “Where is Harry?” he asked. Pippsy looked up at Draco.
“He is having breakfast with Mistress, young master, in her garden this morning,” Pippsy informed him.
Draco raised an eyebrow at this but nodded, glad that he wasn't going to have to search the whole house for him now at least. He made his way down the stairs heading for his mother's garden, and sure enough, when he got there, Harry sitting at the small table across from Narcissa, both of them eating breakfast.
“Good morning, Draco,” Narcissa greeted, having seen her son before Harry.
“Good morning, mother.” The blond nodded at her and looked at Harry, who now had his attention on Draco, who was standing in the doorway. “You're up early, Harry.” Draco commented.
“I've been up for a while actually,” Harry admitted. “I had Pippsy show me down to the dining room so I wouldn't get lost on the way.”
“Will you be joining us for breakfast this morning, Draco?” Narcissa questioned.
“Not this morning, Mother, I am expecting company shortly,” Draco said looking at Harry, who had returned to eating the bits of fruit he had in front of him.
Harry swallowed what he had in his mouth, looking back up at Draco. “What time is Parkinson supposed to be here?” he asked curiously.
“She's not supposed to be here for another half an hour,” Draco replied, still watching Harry. There was something quite strange about his former school rival sitting there having breakfast with Narcissa; most particularly that Harry seemed so at ease with the situation. “We should go and make sure things are ready for when she arrives,” Draco informed him, and waited for Harry to stand up so they could go to one of the sitting rooms.
Harry, however, was apparently perfectly content where he was for the moment. “We've still got half an hour, and I'm still eating,” the green eyed boy said dismissively, picking up a piece of melon from the dish in front of him and popping it into his mouth.
Draco couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes, even knowing that his father would likely chastise him for such a plebeian reaction. “Just bring it with you then.”
Narcissa smiled fondly at Draco, then looked at Harry, who still made no sign of moving, but said nothing. A few more moments passed quietly as Harry continued to leisurely eat a little more of what was in front on him and Draco was getting more impatient by the second, until Harry finally stood up, his plate of food only half finished.
Narcissa smiled at the boy as he stood. “I enjoyed having breakfast with you again this morning, Harry,” she told him earnestly.
“I did too. I don't see myself over sleeping any time soon, so we can do it again tomorrow?” Harry suggested. He didn't want to assume that he would be welcome to eat with Narcissa out here every morning, but it had been less awkward then yesterday and he wanted to build on that; today he had actually had something to talk about when she asked how the party had gone last night. Though Harry had tried not to complain about it too much, he felt a bit better after she had confided in him that she had always hated the ministry parties herself.
“Of course, Harry,” Narcissa assured him with a polite nod of her head, and she watched as Draco hurriedly took Harry's hand, excused himself and Harry, before dragging the other boy inside.
“You don't have to drag me,” Harry protested, pulling his hand free from Draco's once they were inside the house. “What's the hurry anyway? You said we had time,” he said and followed Draco, who was already heading into the sitting room that they would be spending at least the next few hours being questioned by Pansy.
“Draco, it's rude to keep a lady waiting,” Pansy said when both boys entered the room; she was sat in one of the armchairs in the room, back straight, one knee hooked elegantly over the other and her deliberately pleasant and unconvincingly innocent smile firmly in place.
“I didn't do it on purpose and you know it,” Draco replied curtly as he closed the door once Harry had followed him through.
“I thought you weren't supposed to be here for half an hour?” Harry questioned looking at Pansy and then to Draco with a confused expression; it was not at all like the blond to get such details wrong.
Pansy smirked at the pair of them and shrugged. “I like being early, Draco knows this. So as I said, it was rude for you to have kept me waiting, Draco,” she repeated, fixing her glaze firmly on the blond.
“And it is also rude to show up half an hour before you are supposed to,” Draco pointed out, though his tone was more of fond exasperation than true annoyance. “Besides, Harry wanted to finish eating breakfast," he went on, "and considering he's skin and bones as it is, it's probably not a good idea to make him skip a meal.” Draco grinned when Pansy snickered, glancing from Draco back to Harry once more, looking him up and down.
“Yes, I see what you mean," Pansy agreed after a moment of consideration. "Well, I supposed you're excused this time, just don't let it happen again,” she said, giving a look to Harry, who just shrugged. He didn't expect to let it happen again, because this was the only interview he planned on giving.
“Can we just get this over with?” Harry asked a little grumpily.
“And here was me thinking that you just had an attitude last night because you were being made to go to the party,” a male voice said from behind Harry, causing the black haired boy to spin around, his wand drawn and pointed at the person who he hadn't realised was there.
Draco sighed and pinched the brim of his nose. “Harry put your wand away, no one here is going to attack you,” he instructed before looking from Harry to his tan friend. “Blaise, what are you doing here?” Draco asked; he had thought it would just be Pansy coming over today.
“I'm here to help,” Blaise said. “Theo wanted to come to, but his mother is forcing him to do shopping for school.” The tan boy smiled at Draco then looked to Harry. “May I sit down?” he asked.
Harry flushed before slowly lowering his wand, watching as Blaise nodded his thanks and walked across the room from where he had been stood to take a seat at one end of one of the sofas. Harry thought it was rather odd to witness Draco, Pansy and Blaise interacting with each other; he had never seen the three friends act like this while at Hogwarts, and it was obvious that they were very close to one another. Harry couldn't help feeling like an outsider right now.
“Are we doing this thing or not?” Pansy asked. “If I can use Potter to kick start my career, then I won't have to go back to school. Which is probably for the best.” She grinned and looked over at Harry, who blinked in surprise at her statement before his green eyes narrowed to glare at her.
“I refuse to let you build your career on my life, I've got plenty of other people trying to do that already,” Harry snapped before turning pulling open the door and storming out. However, someone grabbed him by the arm stopping him before he got too far. “Let me go,” Harry hissed dangerously, not turning to see who had grabbed him.
“Harry,” Draco said softly, not letting him go, “you said you would do this. What does it matter if Pansy is using this to start a career? I don't blame her for not wanting to go back to school. None of us really want to go back there.”
“So don't,” Harry said, still stubbornly not turning around. “I know I'm not.” He had already told Ron and Hermione that he wouldn't be going back to Hogwarts; there had been plenty of reasons for not going back before, though now the main one was the fact that he didn't want to be anywhere near Dumbledore.
“It's not that simple for some of us, Harry," Draco told him but hurried on, not really wanting to get into that now. "Look, you just have to answer the questions she asks, and I'll read over whatever notes she writes down today, and we can check the article before any of it ends up in the paper,” Draco promised, smiling when he felt Harry's tense muscles relax slightly.
“I want to read them too,” Harry demanded, finally turning to look back at Draco. The blond nodded in agreement, and lead him back to the room where Pansy and Blaise were both still sitting.
Pansy grinned. “Oh good, we're still doing this?” she asked looking at Harry.
“I suppose so. But if you write something I don't like, I'll burn it,” Harry threatened and sat down in an empty seat as far away from everyone as he could manage. Draco raised an eyebrow at that but made no comment as he took his own seat, settling himself down for what promised to be a very tiring few hours.
------------------x
Narcissa looked down at the letter that had just landed in front of her, then glanced at the tiny owl that was flying around looking far too excited about the fact that it had made a successful delivery. She waved her wand over the envelope, though most of the cursed letters had stopped arriving, and the few that did show up were usually addressed to Lucius, Narcissa knew it was best to be safe rather than sorry. When she didn't detect anything she picked up the letter and opened it.
She frowned as she read the letter; she felt that in hindsight she probably should have been expecting something like this, but it still came as a surprise to receive a lunch invitation from Molly Weasley. Folding up the letter and setting it down she looked back at the owl that was still flying around. Leave it to a family like the Weasley's to have such an annoying creature.
“Be gone with you,” she said, shooing the owl away. If she was going to write a reply, she would be using one of her own owls to deliver it.
She looked back down at the letter on the table; she would have to put some serious thought into accepting the invitation. Though she didn't think there was any way around it; she already knew that there was no way to avoid the Weasley family now that Draco and Harry were to be married. They were so fiercely protective of Potter, and after everything that had happened during the war, she honestly couldn't blame them.
---------------------x
Draco was surprised at how easy the interview had been. Despite some of Pansy's more prying and difficult questions, and Harry's attitude in general, it had gone fairly smoothly and that was something Draco was very grateful for.
They had gone over their story of what they wanted in the paper. The article would mention that there was a binding magical contract, though make no mention of who had made such a contract between the two families; this would hopefully leave people thinking that the contract had been written generations ago and keep the majority of them from questioning it too much.
Pansy had also asked them why they had agreed to get married, when it was no secret that they had hated each other in school. This question was a little harder to come up with an answer for. It had taken a little discussion, but they had eventually settled on just saying that the contract had a time limit on it that was running out. Therefore, unless they wanted to lose their respective inheritances, it had to be done. Though it was also conveniently left out that Harry was the only one who would have lost anything.
Harry had let Draco do most of the talking, seeing as how the blond boy was a lot better at wording things then he was. Harry hadn't enjoyed the experience or anything but, on the whole, he too felt that the process had been a lot less painful than he had expected it to be.
Once Pansy was done with her questions, she let both boys had read over the now extensive notes she had taken and she sat waiting, somewhat impatiently, until they both finally gave their approval.
Harry sighed and leaned back in his seat closing his eyes; even if it wasn't as horrible as talking to reporters, Harry still felt drained.
“So, I am curious,” Blaise said, speaking up for the first time since the interview had started, getting both Harry and Draco's attention. “I get the whole article and why you're obviously twisting the truth about this contract, but why don't you just put the blame on the people who are actually responsible for this?” he asked curiously.
“Because people wouldn't just stop at attacking my father for this Blaise,” Draco pointed out. He might be angry at his father for what he had done, but that didn't mean he wanted to see the man killed; it was bad enough with the attacks he already had to deal with.
“That's not who I was talking about,” Blaise told him, looking over at Harry, who blinked at him for a moment before catching on.
“You mean Dumbledore?” Harry asked, frowning when Blaise nodded.
“Yes Dumbledore," Blaise said with a hint of exasperation. "He could have easily told Draco's father no, demanded he name another price for whatever 'help' Lucius was providing for your side of the war. But he didn't. From what I've been told, he agreed to it very easily," he pointed out, ignoring the warning look from Draco, who obviously didn't think that this was the time or place to discuss something like this. "He's obviously getting something out of it,”
“He's not getting anything out of this,” Harry insisted, though he didn't think Dumbledore deserved to be defended after everything the man had done. “I mean sure, if I back out of the contract he gets most of the Potter properties and at least half of what's in my vault, but I find it hard to believe that he wouldn't just let me have it back. I'm mad at him, but I can understand why he agreed to the contract, it probably got us some valuable information from inside Voldemort's inner circle.” Harry glared at Blaise when the Italian boy burst out laughing.
“Wow, Potter, you really are naive, aren't you,” Blaise said, as he raised an eyebrow at the smaller boy. “I find it hard to believe that there wasn't some other way for things to work out.”
Draco frowned as he looked at Harry. “You told me before that you've been used your whole life, that's why you were finished fighting it," the blond reminded him. "And now you're siding with Dumbledore?”
“I'm not siding with anyone,” Harry snapped. “I am mad at Dumbledore, but he's not an evil bastard like some people I know. I hate that he seems to have gotten the idea that he can just decide what I'm going to do with my life, but I don't hate him enough to denounce his reputation to the whole wizarding world. The only thing that would achieve is get people hurt and, last I checked, that's what we were trying to avoid.” Harry looked at Draco, watching as the blond boy sighed and shook his head slowly.
“Yes that is one of the main things we are trying to avoid,” Draco reluctantly agreed. He didn't really care about what happened to Dumbledore or the old man's reputation, and he even thought the world might be better without all his meddling, but he was painfully aware that all it would take would be one word from the old wizard, and people would know that it was just as much Lucius' fault as it was Dumbledore's.
“Well, if either of you change your mind, that could also be an interesting article to write,” Pansy said, smiling widely at the two of them as she spoke up. Harry looked at her in mild surprise, wondering if she really thought he or Draco would change their mind about pinning the blame on someone.
“Ignore her,” Blaise said with a dismissive wave of his hand and a grin on his face. “She's finding all this far to entertaining.”
Draco chuckled in mild amusement. “And you're not?” he asked disbelievingly.
“Well, it is always fun to see how innocent some people still are,” Blaise commented with an unrepentant shrug of his shoulders, giving Harry a look after he said this and laughing when the black haired boy just looked confused. “Forget about it, Potter, as long as you don't plan on backing out of the marriage, I suppose you will never have to see how corrupt Dumbledore is.”
“What makes you so sure that he is?” Harry questioned.
“What makes you so sure that he's not?” Blaise shot back. “I'm not going to argue with you about it, but from where I am standing he hasn't done a thing to prove that he's not just using you. And you've already said yourself that he has been making decisions for you without your consent.”
“Blaise, leave him alone," Draco interrupted. He could easily see how angry Harry was getting, and wanted to step in before it turned into a more serious fight. “And Harry, just drop it. This is something that you two are never going to agree on, so just let it go.”
Harry stood up and glared at Draco. “If we're done, I'm going back to my room,” he snarled, and, not waiting for a reply from anyone, Harry left the sitting room. Draco let him go, hoping he would be smart enough to call Pippsy to show him back to his room so he didn't get lost.
------------------x
Harry remained up in his room for the rest of the afternoon, spending most of it pacing around the room, sitting for only a few moments before pacing again. He was so angry with Draco, Zabini, and Parkinson; he didn't regret doing the interview with Parkinson, but he hated the fact that she was just going to use him and Draco to kick start her career. She was just another person on the list of people that were just using him for their own gain.
This made Harry think about what Zabini had said, getting him more angry at the tan boy. Harry wasn't stupid, he knew that Dumbledore had used him, he knew that he had been the best 'weapon' the side of light had had. But that didn't mean that the Headmaster was corrupt, it didn't mean that Dumbledore was just using him to get the Potter fortune. That made no sense to Harry at all, and Zabini had no proof that Dumbledore was even after any of Harry's things. Though, as Zabini had also pointed out, Harry had no proof of his own either.
“Excuse me, sir,” Pippsy said as she appeared, startling Harry out of his thoughts. He blinked down at the elf that bowed low, straitening lightly to look at him. “Young master is wishing that you join him for lunch,” she said, ringing her hands slightly, most likely remembering how Harry had kept throwing her out of his room the day before.
He felt slightly guilty about having done that, he didn't like the fact that the little elf was obviously nervous around him now. Harry had to wonder if she had gotten punished yesterday after he had kept telling her to leave. He sighed, shaking his head, and knelt down so he was close to eye level with the small creature.
Pippsy's eyes widened as she saw Harry kneeling down in front of her, and started looking more nervous, and maybe a little terrified.
“Pippsy, can you tell Draco that I'm not hungry at the moment? I'll be down at dinner later, but I don't want to eat right now,” Harry said. Pippsy nodded, then vanished. Harry sighed and stood back up before going into his small sitting area and practically falling on the small sofa there. He heard Pippsy appear back in the room and glanced over at the elf as she set a tray of food down on the small table next to him.
“Young master is insisting that you have some food, sir...he is having Pippsy bring you some lunch. I is to tell him if you is not eating sir,” she said glancing at Harry.
The black haired boy sighed and closed his eyes, debating telling Pippsy to leave. He knew, however, that that was just likely to make Draco come up there himself, and he didn't want to see the blond just yet. He glanced back over at the elf, who was watching him nervously; this was reminding him a lot of what had happened yesterday with Lucius; he felt a sorry that she had been put in the middle like that, and so, wanting to avoid doing anything else to the house elf, Harry sighed again as he sat up and grabbed a roll off the tray. He started eating it and glanced Pippsy, who was smiling widely back at him.
She remained in his room until he had finished the roll and started eating the other food on the plate. “If you is needing anything, sir, please be calling me,” she said once she was apparently satisfied that he really was going to eat properly and then vanished with a small pop.
As soon as she was gone Harry pushed the tray away; he really wasn't all that hungry. He was still angry with Draco and Blaise; though, as he leaned back on the sofa, he realised that he wasn't all that angry with Draco. The blond was annoying, but then Draco always had been. It had really been Blaise that was the problem, and the one that Harry was mad at.
Laying back down on the sofa, Harry closed his eyes, deciding he would apologise to Draco later about his attitude. Harry also decided, though, that he would wait until he was sure that both Pansy and Blaise were gone.
----------------------x
Draco sighed as he leaned back in his chair in the drawing room, catching the attention of Blaise, who was sitting across from him. Pansy had already left to go and set things up to make sure that her story landed in the paper for tomorrow and so the two boys had decided to play a game of chess. Draco had just taken his turn, though he suspected he was too distracted to give the game his best at the moment.
“You still thinking about Potter?” Blaise questioned as he moved a peace on the board. Draco glared at Blaise; the Italian boy had been asking the same question since lunch time, when Harry had refused to come down and eat. It was now getting closer to dinner and Draco was worried that he might actually have to drag Harry out of his room.
“I'm not looking forward to dealing with him if he's still in a bad mood,” Draco admitted, sitting up straighter. “Are you sure that you don't want to stay for dinner?” he asked hopefully.
Blaise shook his head. “No, I get the feeling Potter and I will just end up fighting if I stay," he told his friend honestly. "Really, Draco, I don't get why you're allowing this marriage to happen. I thought it would be fine, but Potter...he really does have an attitude problem.” Not that Blaise really needed to point this out to the blond, since Draco probably knew better than anyone just how bad Harry could be.
“He's not the only one with a problem Blaise," Draco said, giving his friend a very stern look. "I will request that you leave the matter about my father and Dumbledore alone for now,” he added as he sat up straighter in his seat again. “I don't care about either of them, and what plans they may or may not have had for this contract; whatever it was they were trying to achieve has nothing to do with us now,” Draco pointed out, hoping that Blaise would at least understand that, and let the subject drop for good.
“I just don't like it, Draco," Blaise said with genuine concern. "Your father, I can kind of see where he was coming from and what he might be able to gain from getting you and Potter married. But Dumbledore, I don't get it. I have the feeling that he's after something and I don't want you to get caught in the backlash of whatever is going to happen to Potter this time.” Blaise had agreed to help Draco with this when the blond had originally shown up asking for assistance, but Blaise felt he at least had to say something. “Just, be careful about this okay?” he requested.
Draco smirked at his friend. “I'm Slytherin, I'm always careful," the blond reminded him a little smugly. "You let me worry about Harry for now, okay? He's angry enough at Dumbledore at the moment, that I don't think it really matters if he believes us about him or not.”
Blaise sighed and let the topic go for now. He would keep an eye on things though. “If you still need help with anything though, let me know,” he instructed firmly.
“You know I will, Blaise.” Draco smiled at his best friend gratefully, before glancing over at the clock and realising how late in the day it had become. “I should go drag Harry down for dinner now,” the blond said tiredly as he stood up, Blaise following him as he left the drawing room.
"Good luck," Blaise said teasingly as he headed off in the direction of the floo. Draco shot him an unimpressed look, which made Blaise chuckle deeply, but otherwise didn't comment as he went upstairs to find Harry.
Draco made his way into Harry's room, assuming that was where the black hired boy would be at the moment. He didn't have to look very far either, because Harry had fallen asleep on the sofa in the sitting area, and he could see that the lunch tray that Pippsy had brought up earlier had hardly been touched at all.
He frowned in disapproval, going over and gently shaking Harry's shoulder, being careful to stay out of the line of fire, as he remembered how quickly Harry woke up the last time. Sure enough, the black haired boy was practically on his feet wand out before he was even fully awake.
“It's time for dinner,” Draco said, watching curiously as Harry blinked a few times and slowly lowered his wand, apparently struggling a little to take in where he was and what was going on.
“I fell asleep?” Harry questioned, turning to look at Draco as he fixed his glasses, which were sitting at an odd angle on his nose.
Draco nodded and looked once again at the lunch tray. “You must have fallen asleep early, you never finished your lunch,” he pointed out and Harry too looked at the tray.
“I wasn't really hungry for lunch,” Harry told him, shrugging it off; it wasn't like missing a meal was going to kill him. Harry stood up and stretched, trying to wake himself up properly after his unplanned nap.
“It's not good to skip meals,” Draco stated and Harry frowned, not understanding why Draco cared if he ate lunch or not. “I'll over look it for today," the blond said. "Go freshen up for dinner. I will wait.”
“Is it really that big of a deal that I didn't eat lunch?” Harry asked curiously; he could see where it might be strange for someone like Draco. The blond had probably had three meals a day and snacks whenever he wanted them while growing up, which was the complete opposite of how Harry and been raised.
Draco frowned again at the question, giving it a moment's thought. “No, it's not really that big of a deal I suppose," he admitted. "It's just that I've hardly seen you eat anything since you arrived here, and now you're skipping meals completely. It's just a bit...worrying.”
Harry blushed at the thought that Draco had been watching him closely enough to notice how much he had or hadn't been eating. Granted it had only been a couple days so far, but if Harry thought about what he had actually eaten those past couple days it really didn't add up to much. Harry thought he could probably understand why Draco was worried.
“I'm not trying to starve myself or anything,” Harry insisted, giving the blond a smile, hoping to make his fiancé worry less about his eating habits. “It's just, I've never had much of an appetite, and even less of one when I get stressed out about something. And I don't know about you, but this whole engagement is a bit stressful,” Harry pointed out, his smile turning wry.
“I don't know, I thought things were going smoothly so far,” Draco countered, raising a blond eyebrow at Harry, who laughed.
“Between us, yeah," Harry agreed, "things are going a lot better than I could have ever thought they would. Which is what makes me think this whole thing may actually be possible for us. But I am still stressed."
"That doesn't mean you can just stop eating," Draco said giving Harry a stern look.
"How about I make a deal with you?” Harry suggested, wondering if Draco would go for it. “I agree to eat a full dinner every night, if you don't question what I eat during the day.” Harry watched as Draco thought that over for a few moments before nodding slowly.
“I can agree to this for now I suppose,” Draco said with a sigh. “Though I would much rather you actually eat every meal given to you, I'll take what I can get for now.” Draco looked over at the clock, causing Harry to turn his attention to it as well. “If you don't hurry and get ready for dinner then we are going to be late, and then I will let you be the one give the explanation to my parents,” he threatened.
“I can't just go down like this?” Harry asked looking down at himself. He didn't understand the whole concept of 'getting ready for dinner', it wasn't like there was anyone at the table he really wanted to impress.
“Those clothes look like they've been slept in,” Draco said with a scandalized expression.
“Because I did sleep in them,” Harry pointed out and grinned at the glare that Draco sent his way. “Fine, fine, I'll go change, okay? Wait outside for me,” Harry said and went to find something that would meet Draco's standards, which was fairly easy since everything currently in his wardrobe Draco had picked out.
---------------------x
Lucius looked at the time impatiently; Harry and Draco weren't late for dinner yet, but they were cutting it close. He was just debating on sending Pippsy up to get them when Draco walked into the dining room, followed closely by Harry. Lucius watched both boys closely, ignoring the way that Harry glared at him and moved towards the far end of the table, apparently intending to sit as far away from him as he possibly could.
“I was beginning to wonder if you planned on joining us at all this evening,” Lucius said looking from Draco to Harry, who was now doing his best to avoid looking at Lucius at all.
“We lost track of the time,” Draco told him bluntly, he didn't feel the need to apologise to his father as they had not actually been late. Draco took his usual seat and looked to Harry as the smaller boy hesitated for a moment before taking the seat that was between Draco and Narcissa's end of the table.
Dinner was served right on time, and Harry sighed as his plate was filled with food. He still wasn't all that hungry but he had told Draco he would eat dinner, and so knew he would have to at least try, or he would never hear the end of the blond's fussing over how much he was eating.
He poked at his food eating a few bites every now and then and ignored the conversation going on around him as he let his own thoughts wander. He had hoped to hear back from Mrs Weasley today, but there hadn't been anything; but he figured that she had a lot to think about and wouldn't start really worrying for another couple of days.
A sharp elbow in his side had Harry looking up in surprise and glaring at the blond sitting next to him. Draco narrowed his eyes slightly at Harry. “My mother was speaking to you,” Draco said and Harry blinked looking over at the blond woman.
“I'm sorry,” Harry apologised hastily, his cheeks turning slightly pink.
Narcissa just smiled gently at him. “I was wondering if you would be willing to accompany me to Diagon Alley in a few days?”
Harry looked at her curiously before nodding. “I think I could do that,” he said, smiling as he started to eat; it would give him something to look forward to at the very least.
----------------------x
The next few days were mostly uneventful; neither Harry or Draco had brought up the issue of Dumbledore again, Harry had eaten dinner each evening, and Draco had not enquired about any of his other meals. The peace between the two of them was kind of nice, but truthfully Harry had been rather bored; the only entertainment that he had actually had was seeing the angry look on Lucius Malfoy's face when the older man had found himself bombarded with hate mail from all of Harry's supporters.
Since Harry was still in good standing with the Wizarding world for having killed Voldemort not too long ago, there was quite a lot of hate mail for the man. There was still a lot of anger in the wizarding world towards the accused Death Eaters, even the acquitted ones, and now that it had come to light that Harry was to join the Malfoy family, this had apparently upset a great number of people; from the things that Lucius was angrily grumbling about, Harry had gathered that there were a fair few outrageous theories about how the Malfoys had made this happen.
Harry had been happy to find that he and Draco hadn't been getting much hate mail at all; though the blond boy had rather burst that small bubble when he had confirmed that it was because Pippsy had been ordered to sort through the mail and take out anything that might be dangerous. Still Harry was glad that he wasn't having to deal with it at all, either way.
That morning had been no different than the ones before it; Harry had woken up and dressed himself before making his way down to Narcissa's back garden, where she was already sitting and waiting for him.
There was a small stack of mail sitting next to his plate, and Harry only flipped through to make sure that there wasn't anything in there from Ron or any of the other Weasleys. Narcissa smiled as Harry grinned and pulled a letter out from the small pile and opened it.
“One of your friends?” she asked with polite curiosity and he nodded skimming over the short letter.
“It's from Ron," Harry told her after a few moments, "he says he's going to be in Diagon Alley as well today.” Harry was smiling widely as he looked up at his future mother-in-law. Narcissa had told him yesterday about Molly's letter, and that the two women were going to meet up to try and see if there was any hope in the two families being civil with one another.
“Are you ready for our shopping trip today?” Narcissa asked, smiling when Harry nodded.
“I am ready to get out of this house for a little while I think,” Harry admitted, as he folded up the letter and put it aside so he could eat. “Not that your garden isn't nice, I just hate feeling like I'm being locked up,” he said quickly and Narcissa nodded her understanding.
“We will leave as soon as we have finished with breakfast,” she said and started eating as well, the pair of them eating in a companionable silence.
---------------------x
It was two hours later when the two of them apparated to Diagon Alley together. Harry felt a little odd walking down the street next to Narcissa; he noticed how most people seemed to just move out of her way. Every step the woman took was just as graceful as the last, ignoring every whisper and finger pointed her way.
Harry couldn't help but feel respect for this woman, just the way she carried herself and how she didn't allow anyone's opinion to bring her down. Harry more than once wondered how it was that someone like Narcissa had found herself stuck marrying someone like Lucius Malfoy, but that wasn't really a question he was comfortable asking the woman just yet; but given that he had found himself stuck marrying Draco, he couldn't help but be curious about his in-laws' history.
“Harry!”
Harry looked up ahead when he heard the familiar voice of Molly Weasley calling him. He grinned widely when he saw the red headed woman hurrying over and she quickly pulled him into a hug; Harry was only slightly hesitant to return the hug, having never gotten used to any kind of public affection. The hug didn't last very long though as Molly pulled back looking him over.
She frowned a little, Harry thought he looked healthy, and even quite happy at the moment, but after knowing this woman for so long, Harry could tell that Molly had spotted something that she didn't really like.
“You look tired, Harry,” She said with a worried tone that only a mother could have.
“I've had some trouble sleeping,” Harry admitted, seeing no reason in hiding that from the woman when she could apparently see through him so easily. “But I'm fine, I promise," he assured her. "It's just being in the new house, it's kind of big and...a bit quiet.” Harry glanced at Narcissa after he said this; he had really enjoyed having breakfast with Narcissa in the morning, but he kept worrying that he was going to say something that was going to offend her. Narcissa however said nothing.
Molly smiled sympathetically. “Of course, Harry, you can't blame me for worrying though,” she said, before she also turned her attention towards Narcissa. “Thank you, for accepting the invitation,” she said politely.
“It is something that is better discussed in person, and not through letters,” Narcissa said with a small curt nod of her head, making sure that Molly knew that the only reason she had accepted was for the convenience. Harry was looking between the two woman a little nervously. Narcissa looked at him. “Harry, I believe you said your friend was also going to be here?” she questioned; Harry blinked at her then nodded looking back at Molly.
“I believe Ron went to Fred and George's shop,” Molly informed him, giving him a smile. “You run along, I am glad to see you are doing well.” Harry gave her a wide smile and after Narcissa had informed him to be back there in one hour, Harry hurried off into a crowd of people.
“That boy truly is a treasure,” Molly said sounding like a proud mother as the two of them watched him go, and even Narcissa had a small smile at that comment. “Shall we go inside?” Molly suggested, motioning to the nearby restaurant.
“Yes,” Narcissa nodded thinking it would be best to get away from prying eyes and ears; though, they had already caught quite a lot of attention, Molly Weasley and Narcissa Malfoy having lunch together. If it hadn't already been announced that Harry and Draco were engaged, then this would have been the most shocking news of the month.
The place was pleasant enough, though not as grand as Narcissa was used to, and thankfully they did not have to wait to be shown to a private table. Both woman remaining silent until after the waiter had left, neither wanting to see yet more of their family business published for the world to see. However, once they were both comfortably seated and alone it was Molly who spoke first.
“I was surprised when I got Harry's letter," Molly told her, seeing no reason to beat around the bush. "Are you really willing to put aside our differences for his sake?” she questioned with a degree of scepticism.
“You said it before, Harry is a treasure,” Narcissa said. “That boy has done so much for my family, there is no way I can ever repay him. The very least I can do is be civil with the people he considers family.” Narcissa didn't want Molly to make the mistake that they would ever be friends, or even that they would talk on a regular basis, but she was sure they could both agree to tolerate each other for Harry's sake if nothing else.
“I do not agree with this situation," Molly said firmly, a frown on her face, wanting to make this very clear. "If there were any way to get Harry out of the contract-”
“There is not,” Narcissa interrupted bluntly, ignoring the glare that Molly gave her. “I do not agree with what my husband has done, but it is well known by now that it doesn't matter if I agree or disagree with his choices. Lucius is going to do what he wants. My only wish is that Draco was not the one to suffer for my husband's choices. And now Harry has also fallen victim to Lucius' plans.”
“And you don't know what those are?” Molly asked.
“If I did, I have no real obligation to tell you," Narcissa pointed out; her loyalty was to her family, not to the woman sat across from her. "But as I don't know what Lucius is thinking, then it doesn't really matter,” she added, before Molly could comment.
The two of them fell silent once more, looking up when the waiter came over to take their orders. Narcissa ordered a small meal, and Molly ordered something small as well.
When the waiter left to go put the order into the kitchen, Molly looked back at the blond woman sitting in front of her. “I can't say if any of my family will ever be willing to visit Harry where he is now.”
“I promise that there will be no open hostilities between our families," Narcissa said. "As long as both Lucius, and your own husband are kept away from each other,” she added and Molly couldn't stop from smiling; they were both aware of the futility of trying to get either man to see reason where the other was concerned.

“That is something that we can both agree on,” Molly said and from there Lunch went as smoothly as it could have. The two woman talked about plans for when it would be best to visit Harry, or when Harry would be allowed to come stay at The Burrow for a few days.
By the time that their food has been brought out the discussion had moved around to the wedding for Harry and Draco. However, it was quickly decided that the wedding was a topic that should be saved for another time, since both woman wanted a large part in planning it. Thankfully they had time, given that the wedding was still a year away. The boys still had to make it through their final year at school before then.
------------------x
Harry hurried down the street to the brightly colored shop that was just as busy as it always was. Fred and George really had made a name for themselves. Although Harry was sure that Molly would be less then pleased with him if she ever found out that he had been the one to give the twins the money to start the joke shop, it was something that he would never regret doing.
“Harry, over here!” a familiar voice called out and Harry grinned when he saw Ron waving to him front just outside of Weasleys Wizarding Wheezes, and Hermione standing next to the red head, smiling happily when she also saw Harry.
“I didn't know you were coming to 'mione,” Harry said once he had reached his two friends, sharing a quick hug with each of them. She gave him a confused look as she pulled back from their momentary embrace.
“Of course I was going to be here today. I had to get my school books after all,” she reminded him, Harry just smiled and shook his head.
“Are you going to try and take any extra subjects again this year?” he asked teasingly, remembering how crazy and stressed Hermione had been back in third year when she had taken on too much.
She shook her head. “No, if I want to take extra subjects later and stay in school longer I can, but I don't think I will. Once I pass my N.E.W.T's I can just study other subjects on my own and then take the test at the ministry later if I want to.”
“Only you would have looked up that information,” Harry said, laughing as he shook his head then looked at Ron. “So what are you going to do when Hermione is off at school?”
Ron flushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head. “Actually, I'm going back too,” Ron admitted and Harry stared at Ron in surprise; he had always known that Hermione would be going back for her final year. But Ron? Harry had been sure that the red head wouldn't want to set foot in Hogwarts again; though Ron had never actually said as much.
“Really?” Harry asked and Ron nodded.
“Yeah, we were actually wondering,” Ron said as he looked at Hermione and Harry frowned at the two of them.
“I'm not going back,” Harry insisted. Ron sighed and nodded, having expected that reaction; he could understand Harry not wanting to go back and, even though Hermione looked like she wanted to argue, she also didn't say anything against Harry's decision.
“Isn't Malfoy going back though?” she asked; she had heard that some of the Slytherins from their year would be coming back as well, just not all of them.
“I don't know, he hasn't said anything about it honestly...” Harry tried to think if it had come up at all during the week he had been living at Malfoy Manor, but he didn't remember them having discussed Hogwarts at all. He was going to have to ask Draco about it when he got home.
“If he is...” Hermione started to say and Harry sighed.
“If Draco is going back to school, it doesn't leave me much choice. I'm not about to stay at Malfoy Manor while Draco is off at school,” Harry said begrudgingly, feeling like he was once again being backed into a corner, though this time there wasn't really anyone he could blame for it.
“It won't be that bad mate,” Ron said. “Maybe this time we'll be able to have a normal school year?” he suggested hopefully and Harry had to laugh about that.
“Not likely,” Harry said grinning. “Let's go inside, I want to see Fred and George before I have to get back.” Harry moved passed Ron and Hermione heading into the joke shop, his two friends following behind.
“Oi! Harry! Ron said you were going to be here today,” George greeted jovially when he spotted Harry coming in with Ron and Hermione. Fred looked over to the entrance as well and grinned.
“And here I thought we were going to have to storm the gate and free you from the evil dragon's lair,” Fred joked and Harry rolled his eyes. “Hang on.” Fred looking around. “You're here alone. And I thought you were going to bring your blond beauty with you today,” Fred teased as he headed over to them.
“So first he was an evil dragon, now he's a beauty?” Harry questioned and Fred shrugged.
“If you asked Charlie or Hagrid then all dragons are beautiful,” George pointed out as he came to join his twin, and grinned when Harry laughed, shaking his head.
“Draco didn't come with me today, and even if he had, then I think he knows you two well enough to know to keep his distance,” Harry pointed out.
“You wound us with your words, Harry,” George put a hand over his heart as if he had actually been hurt by what Harry just said.
“We only wished to welcome him to the family,” Fred added, patting Harry on the shoulder.
“In true Weasley fashion,” George said with a grin and Harry just shook his head at the two of them before looking at Ron.
“These two have been talking about what they want to do to Malfoy all week,” Ron said. “I think I agree with some of their ideas.”
“Hey now, Draco's not being all that bad really,” Harry defended, wanting to give Draco credit where it was due. “He's still a spoiled prat, but he's one of the reasons I haven't gone completely insane this week.”
Hermione and Ron looked at bit surprised by this. “You and Malfoy are actually getting along?” Hermione asked and Harry nodded.
“It's surprising, we've only had one real big fight honestly, and that was the night that I was forced to go to that Ministry party. And that was just because I didn't want to go,” Harry explained with a shrug of his shoulders.
Ron nodded his understanding. “We saw the papers after that. I was really surprised that you two were announced as being engaged so soon honestly.”
Harry looked around before he led his two friends and the twins towards the back of the shop, where there weren't any other customers, casting a the Muffliato Charm to ensure they wouldn't be overheard. He explained to all of them about Draco's idea, and the reason why their engagement had been announced so soon. The long term plan that the Malfoy name wasn't going to be built on lies anymore, and by announcing it this early it gave them a bit more control over the situation.
The twins were surprised by what they were hearing, they had known about the contract but had expected that it would be Harry to take control of things, not Draco. However if things were working, they didn't want to be the ones to mess it up.
Hermione thought that Pansy's articles were a good idea, glad that Harry and Draco were at least trying to take control of the situation, despite her scepticism about the whole plan; then again, she still wasn't too happy that Harry was being forced into a marriage that he didn't want.
"We can try and find a way out of the contract, Harry," Hermione said, grasping his arm in her hand, but Harry sighed and shook his head.
“No, Hermione, even if we could find a way out, I am just tired of fighting over every detail of my life," he told her. "The only way I will ever have control over my own life is if I change my name and move to a foreign country. And Dumbledore made sure that I wasn't able to do that without losing the financial means to do that,” Harry pointed out before checking the time and sighing. “I need to be getting back,” he said, dropping the Muffliato Charm as he realised he was going to be late to meet with Narcissa if he was not careful.
“We'll walk with you,” Ron said, and Hermione nodded in agreement.
“Don't be a stranger, Harry, you're welcome here anytime little brother!” Fred said, as Harry, Ron and Hermione headed towards the front of the shop.
“Even if you just need a breather we've got a spare room upstairs,” George added and Harry smiled.
“I'll keep that in mind,” he said with a wave to the twins as he left the joke shop with his two best friend and headed off down the Alley, back to where he had left Mrs. Malfoy.
Ron was more surprised than Harry to see his mother standing with Narcissa, and it seemed as if the two women were actually getting along. Granted they weren't laughing and joking around with each other, but Molly was smiling. Both women spotted the trio and Narcissa gave Harry a small smile when she saw him.
“Everything has been worked out, Harry,” Narcissa said. “Your friends will be welcome at the Manor whenever they wish to visit, as long as prior notice is given. And as long as prior plans have not been made between you and Draco, you are free to visit your family,” the blond woman told him and Harry smiled brightly at her.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely before looking at Molly, who smiled and pulled him into another hug; he blushed a little but returned the hug, grateful that it didn't last that long.
“I insist you come by for dinner at least one night before you three head back to school,” Molly said and Harry blinked at her before looking at Ron and Hermione, who were avoiding his gaze. He sighed; neither of his friends had told Molly that he wasn't going back. He looked at the red-headed woman.
“I would love to come by for dinner, I love your cooking,” Harry said. “And it can be any time, since I'm not actually going back to school,” he informed her.
Narcissa looked at him curiously. “I take it my son has not informed you that he has been required to return to school then,” Narcissa asked him rhetorically. “It was assumed that you would be returning to school for your final year as well.”
Harry looked up at her and frowned. “No, we haven't talked about it,” he told her with a sigh. “I suppose Draco and I should do so today then.”
“Then it is best we be getting home now,” Narcissa said and looked at Molly. “Lunch was enjoyable, I will be in touch with you about future plans.” Molly nodded her agreement before looking at Harry again.
“Just come over whenever you want to, Harry,” Molly smiled at her adoptive son and Harry gave her a grateful smile before turning to his best friends.
The two women watched on as Ron and Hermione said their goodbyes, before Molly lead the pair of them off to finish the shopping they had come the Diagon Alley to do. Once the two of them were alone once more, Harry looked up at Narcissa.
“Thank you again, for doing this,” he said and Narcissa smiled down at him.
“It is the least I can do for you, Harry,” she said and turned, leading him out of Diagon Alley. She had intended on getting both Harry and Draco's school supplies today as well, but with the news that Harry had not been planning on returning to school at all, it was best if the boys talked before they made any such purchases.
TBC
So, that's done! For anyone who is interested please feel free to look me up on facebook! I am trying to be better about at least logging on once a week to update what is going on, and if there are any hold ups with chapters. I also will be using it to throw ideas up there for future stories, or future ideas for my current two stories.
Love you all! and hope you enjoyed this chapter!
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