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Changing of the Guard	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 58627 -:- Recommendations : 4 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 39
- 40
- 41
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Forty�Brave
New World

�� Harry. We
need to talk.�

�� Harry
glanced up and smiled at Kingsley. The Minister had come in quietly, so quietly
that Harry wouldn�t have seen him if he didn�t have ten years of training at
noticing those things other people didn�t want him to notice. Kingsley had
Apparated in beyond the field, like all the reporters invited to Harry and
Draco�s afternoon press conference, and walked in without guards. He wore plain
black robes, which a closer observer might recognize as Ministry cut, but that
proved nothing, given how many employees the Ministry had. He�d also used a
faint glamour to cast a shimmering haze over his features, enough that someone
else would turn away under the impression that he�d stood too much in the
sunlight to be clearly seen. Had he managed to disguise his walk, his way of
standing rigidly when he came to a halt�an indication that he was very angry�or
the Hit Wizards who shadowed him as guards, Harry might not have seen him.

�� I�m not
surprised, Minister.� Harry leaped lightly off the small hillock on which he�d
stood to receive some informal questions and show interested parties that he
was actually here. They occupied the same field the party had taken place in.
Harry saw no reason to abandon it, not when it made a beautiful setting for
photographs and still contained the defenses set up to protect his people.
�I�ll walk apart with you, and we can talk.�

�� He caught
Draco�s eye briefly. Draco was on another hillock, sitting instead of standing
as Harry had done, his voice so crisp and precise that the posture simply made
him resemble a king on a throne instead of making him look informal. Draco�s
eyes were hooded as he nodded back. His wand moved in a swift flash from hand
to hand, as if he were merely passing it across to warn the people who stood
beneath him that he was ready with spells if they should attack. Harry had
recognized the gesture, however, and felt the slight sting as the Locator Charm
grabbed the hem of his robes.

�� He turned
away from the hillock and walked along beside Kingsley. The Hit Wizards had
melted away from them, Harry was glad to see. He�d already had to handle three
people intent on disrupting the press conference, several protestors, and a few
of Nusante�s group so nervous and defensive that they would have caused more
trouble than the protestors. The last thing he needed was to have someone else
notice dangerous-looking strangers closing in on Harry and launch an
ill-considered attack.

�� I saw the
pictures in the paper this morning,� said Kingsley at last, long past the
moments when Harry had thought he would begin speaking. Of course, he
recognized that intimidation tactic, having used it himself, and had paced on
in happy silence, committing the shine of the sun on the grass to memory. It
was truly a fair summer�s day, with a high and brilliantly blue sky and enough
of a breeze to protect against heat. The trees that had been decorated with
lanterns and fairy lights last night bent before the breeze like dancers now.

�� It was only last night. Only one night for
the world to change.

�� They were
good, weren�t they?� Harry said mildly. �Therris is a passable writer, I
suppose, but I think he missed his calling when he decided to be a writer
instead of a photographer.�

�� Kingsley
turned on one heel to face him, moving with a grace that reminded Harry
forcibly that this man had been an Auror, as well as an accomplished member of
the Order of the Phoenix, and the survivor of several battlefields. Harry met
his eyes and didn�t move, didn�t back down, didn�t alter a line of his face or
a lash of his eye. He did quietly
flick his wand hand and use a small bit of magic to remove the glamour on
Kingsley�s face.

�� Still
staring at him, the Minister of Magic said, �You are disrupting the peace of
wizarding Britain irreparably. You�ve broken at least a dozen laws I know of,
laws that have been on the books a good long time without being enforced, but
which certain officials are urging me
to enforce in the face of your disrespect for order��

�� They were
urging before that,� Harry said quietly.

�� Kingsley�s
eyebrows came together; Harry couldn�t be sure if that was because of the
information he wasn�t supposed to notice or because he�d interrupted. �What?�
Kingsley hissed at him.

�� There�s a
group calling itself Counterstrike,� Harry said. �Started and funded by Lucius
Malfoy, though I�m sure he�s disassociated himself from them on paper. They
attacked the first meeting at which this group met. Gay wizards and witches,
doing nothing but gathering in a manor house to discuss the finer points of
politics and what they would have to do to get the wizarding world to accept
them. The attackers included Aurors, and they were using deadly force�Dark
curses�against people who had not attacked them.�

�� That
raid,� Kingsley said, �was made based on information that the meeting would
explode in violence.�

�� Who
provided that information?� Harry asked quietly.

�� Kingsley
merely looked at him.

�� Even if
the meeting had exploded in violence, shouldn�t the Aurors have waited until it
had?� Harry asked. �And is using Dark Arts against peaceful protestors really a
measure required to maintain the peace and order of the wizarding world?�

�� No Dark
Arts were used.�

�� Harry
looked closely at Kingsley. He could make out muscles twitching in his jaw,
though he was doing his best to hold his face steady and present a blank mask.
His eyes had a touch too much white around the edges. And Harry could hear the
edge of panic that had blurred his voice on the words Dark Arts.

�� Gerald�s
voice murmured in the back of his head, Not
a threat, and not an accomplice to the threat. But someone who does not want to
believe what you tell him.

�� I�m
willing to give you my Pensieve memories of the attack,� Harry said. �I
recognized a flaying curse, the Bone-Breaker Curse, Haristo�s Dazzling
Lightning, the Mind-Bender, and several others.�

�� Kingsley�s
muscles clamped one by one: a muscle in the side of his face, one in the side
of his neck, one in his right arm. Harry thought they were the remnants of a
gesture that once would have brought his wand up into prime casting position.
He hadn�t often seen Kingsley in battle, and couldn�t say for certain. �You were there,� he whispered.

�� Yes,�
Harry said.

�� You were
the one who disabled our Aurors.�

�� Yes.�
Harry and Draco had already discussed this, and agreed that Harry would take
credit for the potion Draco had thrown which had erased the attackers�
memories, if need be. Kingsley was unlikely to question it, since he had been
so sure Harry was present because of the use of powerful magic in the first
place.

�� And you
tell me this and expect me to be�what? Merciful?� Kingsley�s voice had become
harsh, and he took a step towards Harry unconsciously, as if he�d forgotten who
he was looking at and imagined he could intimidate him. �You attacked Ministry
workers who were doing their jobs��

�� Raiding a
peaceful gathering,� said Harry, and placed the stinging scorn that Brian would
have felt for a man who tried to defend stupid actions in his voice. �Using
Dark Arts. Acting on the orders of someone who wasn�t you, if Counterstrike
told them to use Dark Arts, or acting on their own prejudice, which isn�t a
good sign that they can control themselves in any situation where they might
have to defend my people from attack.
Attacking another peaceful gathering last night, when they came through my
wards��

�� I was right, he thought, as he saw
Kingsley�s eyes widen slightly and his nostrils flare. I was right, and the risk was worth it. Draco owes me a blowjob.

�� They were
not ordered here last night,� Kingsley said. His voice was calm because he was
exercising immense control to keep it so.

�� Harry
answered in the same tone. �Not by you.�

�� The
Minister stood very still and shut his eyes for a moment only, giving himself
the time and silence he needed to deal with this surprise. Then he looked at
Harry again, and waited. Harry nodded slightly; keeping silent this time would
be counterproductive for all of them.

�� We will
not stop this struggle,� Harry said. �We are willing to change how we wage it.
The first demonstration, the play in the Theater-in-the-Round, was a mistake in
some ways. The eruption of violence was expected, but not enough was done to
guard against it��

�� There was
a spell that prevented people from using very dangerous magic,� Kingsley said,
frowning.

�� Harry bowed
from the waist. �My doing, yes. From the start I�ve been as concerned about the
safety of innocent bystanders and those who are stupid enough to hold outdated
and irrational prejudices as I have been about those who only want the freedom
to live and love as they choose.�

�� Unexpectedly,
Kingsley chuckled, a dry, rustling sound. �You can make insults sound almost
charming, Harry. That wasn�t a talent you had when I last knew you.�

�� Which of me did you know? Harry smiled,
if you could call a twitch of the lower lip a smile. �Minister, someone within
your own organization is reaching your Aurors and twisting them into weapons
for his own purposes. He wants open
violence. He knows exactly how to play on the biases of those who serve under
you, biases you want to cater to by ordering us tame and silent. And I know
there were disturbances this morning because of the photos in the Daily Prophet. Tell me, though. How many
of those disturbances were begun by someone who identified as gay or lesbian?�

�� Kingsley
shook his head. He didn�t need to say the words.

�� So.� Harry
put his hands together, pointing his fingers slightly at Kingsley. �On one side,
you have people doing something you may personally find repugnant, led by a
friend you may consider traitorous, but who are doing everything they can to
keep their rebellion peaceful, and who are willing to work with the Ministry.
Gatherings will be public. Magic will be used to avoid injury, even to our
enemies. We aren�t breaking modern laws, only old ones that no one cared about
until recently.� Harry sharpened his eyes until he was studying every shadow of
expression on Kingsley�s face, every flick of his fingers, every hitch of his
breathing. �On the other side is a group who doesn�t care about corrupting the
Ministry or about the distrust they breed and the violence they cause, as long
as they can stop us from dancing and kissing and protesting in public. They�ve
shown no inclination to come to you and explain their motives or their cause.
Who would you trust more?�

�� It is not
a matter of personal trust,� Kingsley said. �It�s a matter of who my public
will stand with and which side will, in the long
run, cause more violence. You spark violence simply by existing��

�� Harry
laughed at him. �And so did the Order of the Phoenix,� he said. �Yet I never
heard you use that as an argument for laying down our wands and surrendering
the war to Voldemort.�

�� Kingsley hissed
between his teeth. �Do you have any concrete information about Counterstrike
for me? Who runs it, who is contacting my Aurors and persuading them to head out
on missions that could have devastated them?�

�� Harry shook
his head. �No. But you must have wondered why their violence started so
suddenly, and so quickly after Draco Malfoy came out in public.�

�� Tell me.�

�� Lucius
Malfoy started this organization in order to strike back at his son and force
him into silence and shame again,� Harry said. �That was the original reason.
What Counterstrike might have become beyond that, I can�t tell you. But think
about this, Kingsley. Intimidation. Fear. Hatred. And an old man�s mad
stubbornness. Glorious ideals they�re fighting for, aren�t they?�

�� Kingsley�s
nostrils were fluttering a little faster than usual. Someone else would not
have noticed it, but Harry, with the twin advantages of his knowledge of
Kingsley and his observation skills, did. �I told you, my main concern is that
those people, mad though they might be, have more support in the wizarding
world than your group does.�

�� I don�t
expect to change minds overnight,� Harry said. �But I don�t think most of the
people who find homosexuality disgusting will find it worth their while to
fight a war over it. I�m concerned
Counterstrike will push them into thinking that, and give them the outrage and
the propaganda necessary to keep a war running.�

�� He paused
for just a moment. It would be appropriate for him to do so before he said
something as deadly serious as his next words, so Kingsley shouldn�t suspect
anything. In reality, he was gathering his own strength and courage.

�� As we agreed, Draco, he thought, and
briefly wished he had the connection with Draco he�d had with Voldemort, so
he�d have a chance of touching his mind.

�� If it
comes to that,� he said, �if the Ministry doesn�t care that Counterstrike is
corrupting its own people, if laws are abandoned and they�re allowed to commit
murder and use Dark magic on us and get away with it because the Ministry is
too afraid of the widespread public disruptions that might happen, then I�m prepared. My people might not be, but I am.
Even Draco might not be, and he advised me against this course.� He looked at
Kingsley and let his magic rise around him.

�� Kingsley
shivered; Harry had deliberately made his magic cold. Ice crystals formed
around Kingsley�s lips and earlobes, not even struggling with the summer heat.
A small cloud formed over them and snowflakes began to whirl down. Harry
dropped the temperature lower and lower, until Kingsley gave in and cast a
Warming Charm. Harry watched his face, and waited for the moment when he
figured out that charms couldn�t fight Harry�s unnatural winter. And Harry was
doing this wandlessly, and without breaking a sweat.

�� A moment
more, for the realization of what that power must mean to settle deep into
Kingsley�s gut.

�� Then Harry
said quietly, �I will fight Counterstrike on my own if I must. If I see that no
one prevents them from using violence against us and no one cares to do so,
I�ll change my mind and value their lives less than the lives of people who
stand with me.� A pause, and then a slow, gentle, impressive speech, the more
frightening for its gentleness. �I have the magic to identify those who believe
deeply and imperatively that homosexuality is wrong, and will never change
their minds. I have the magic, as well, to hurt them in commonplace accidents,
in such a way that their pain would never be traced back to me.�

�� Kingsley
stared at him, his face gray.

�� I don�t
want to do this,� Harry said. �I don�t want
to fight a war. I told you that. But what you�re essentially saying is that
I should allow people like me, people who love their own sex, to be
slaughtered, and put in Azkaban if they dare to lift a hand to defend
themselves, because otherwise there might be riots. That is not acceptable. I will not allow it.� The cold deepened until
Kingsley was shivering violently. �I wouldn�t threaten you if I had any other
choice. But I don�t see that I have any other choice.�

�� And then he
waited, watching Kingsley in what would look like glacial patience, awaiting
his decision.

�� The
Minister inclined his head. His eyes were wide, but his voice didn�t hold the
fear that Harry had expected�or, at least, it was a different kind of fear.
�Harry. Don�t follow Voldemort�s path, or Grindelwald�s. Don�t become a Dark
Lord. It�s not worth it.�

�� Harry felt
a great wavering warmth well up from his heart. He�s concerned for me. He�s
been a friend all along, even though he might not have shown it in the best way
or approved my every action.

�� He didn�t
allow the warmth to destroy the plan, of course. He said, �I don�t want to,� and allowed his voice to ring
with longing. �But, Kingsley, should I abandon all trust in the Ministry? Who
are you going to arrest when the choice comes, my people or those who bring
violence into the situation first? I need an answer, and so far it sounds to me
as though you�re relying on my morals to prevent me from acting as though my
people�s lives are worth something.�

�� Kingsley
shook his head. His face was nearly its normal color again. �Harry�it won�t
come to that.�

�� You�ll act
against Counterstrike?�

�� If your
information about what the Aurors have done under their direction is correct.�

�� Harry
smiled. �One of the Aurors who attacked last night was Ron. Ask him questions
in a firm tone. You know he can�t lie.�

�� Your best
friend attacked you?� Kingsley stared at him.

�� He thought
I was under an enchantment.� Harry snorted. �He believed it was the only reason
I could love Draco.� He looked up at Kingsley entreatingly. �Do you see what
these irrational prejudices do to us?� he whispered. �Turn us against each
other, make wizards the destroyers of their own friendships because of a
disgust that has no foundation in reality.�

�� Kingsley
nodded. His eyes were bright and deep with thought. Then he turned and walked
away from Harry without waiting for an answer. Harry eased the winter as he
went, tucking his magic safely back into his body.

�� He had a
small smile on his face, but if Kingsley glanced back, he would think that was
satisfaction over having thrown the Minister.

�� He didn�t
know he had already faced Harry�s most potent ability, his acting, and lost to
it. Harry�s magic wasn�t powerful enough to identify all the wizards who hated
homosexuality, much less to destroy them. He doubted he could become a Dark
Lord even if he wanted to.

�� But he had
made a good show of it, and he had made his living in the past decade by
knowing when a good show was all that was needed.

*

�� The press
conference went well.

�� As they had
agreed, Harry and Draco answered the questions alternately until the reporters
and ordinary observers adapted to the pattern, then changed it. Draco answered
two questions in a row, Harry three, and the questions became less accusatory
and more general. The ones that were simply irrelevant or silly, such as how
many children Draco and Harry had already corrupted, they both turned away from
with smiles.

�� Draco sat
with his head leaning back against a stone he�d conjured behind him, his body
utterly relaxed, and watched as Harry calmly explained what, exactly, �the
rebels� wanted. Freedom to demonstrate in public without harassment as long as
they were also peaceful, freedom from persecution by laws no one had paid
attention to in years, ideally freedom from the blinding fear and social
ostracism that surrounded homosexuality at the moment. Harry had already
admitted that he didn�t expect to earn most of those things for years, but he
did hope to demolish the opposition that was coming solely from those who
couldn�t abide the thought that Harry Potter was gay.

�� The strange thing is that he might have
handled the publicity well all these years, if he�d been able to lie like this.
The crowd was responding to Harry�s words, listening instead of
interrupting, accepting the bright, steady gaze of his eyes and his modest hand
gestures as honesty instead of a calculated effect. He could have made them leave him alone if he�d tried.

�� Draco was
not blind, however. He doubted Harry could have done this ten years ago,
without the constant practice that Metamorphosis had given him. Even now, he
was playing a part, and that was probably the only thing that allowed him to
bear up under the scrutiny. He would play it again and again in the future,
because neither of them thought this problem could be solved in a day.

�� But there
would be a time when it didn�t dominate their lives as it did now.

�� Draco
smiled slightly. That would be the time when he could talk to Harry about his
personas, meet more of them, determine quietly which ones were likely to escape
control and which were detrimental to Harry�s health, and talk about leaving
them behind. He would never expect Harry to get rid of all his personas, since
without them Harry as Draco loved him would not exist. On the other hand,
neither should they take control away from him, and Horace Longbottom among others
had the potential to do so.

�� And he
could talk to Harry about doing some work for Malfoy�s Machineries and other
concerns that Draco wanted to start. Harry would probably be resistant at
first. Draco fully intended to frame it as Metamorphosis jobs if that was
needed, and let Harry appear in any guise he wanted.

�� Draco felt
his smile widen. The life ahead of him shone more brilliantly than he could
have imagined when he first decided to hire Brian. There was the challenge of a
partner who would never cease intriguing Draco, the way that Harry�s ability
might change Draco�s own life, building up his own business until even Lucius
had no choice but to yield, and�

�� Pure-blood
society wouldn�t accept him back any time soon. Draco knew that. Circles like
the one at Clothilde Castle had inevitably been part of the sacrifice when he
chose to come out the way he had. But that didn�t mean he couldn�t build a
social circle of his own, one not dominated by his father�s connections or his
mother�s glittering reputation. And the core of that circle could easily be the
pure-bloods like Pansy who were partially sympathetic to his cause, or the
people like Nusante, half-bloods and pure-bloods and Muggleborn, who had lost
their patience with pretending. Among them Draco could find friends, allies,
investors, political partners, and artists he would sponsor.

�� No, Draco
didn�t intend to let the rebellion dominate his life. But there was no reason
the things that did couldn�t grow out of it.

�� Draco. I
would speak with you.�

�� He had seen
his father�s hair coming through the crowd sometime ago. Draco looked down now,
lazily, from his seat on the hill. The crowd was paying more attention to Harry
than anything else at the moment, and since he was speaking well, Draco would
let it stay that way. �Lucius,� he said.

�� His father
gazed at him without expression for some moments before he said, �Once you did
not address me that way.�

�� You
rejected my right to claim our surname.� Draco leaned forwards in interest. �Is
all the paperwork on that filed as yet? I wanted to know if I should tell
people to stop calling me Malfoy, and then I realized I had no idea when the
process had begun or if it had ended.�

�� Lucius was
again silent for a short time. Draco took the opportunity to study the lines on
his face. Were they more pronounced than a few weeks ago? He thought so.

�� I am
giving you much,� Lucius said at last, in that low voice that nevertheless
carried. �I am willing to accept you back into the family, and accept Potter as
your visible partner�for a year.�

�� A year,�
Draco said thoughtfully. �Much can happen in a year.�

�� Yes. You
may find that you like the elder Moonstone girl better then than you do now. I
have settled on her for your bride.�

�� Draco would
have narrowed his eyes if he didn�t care about his father observing his
expression. His father had mentioned Moonstone last night, when he confronted
Draco at the gap in the wards. Draco doubted this second mention was a
coincidence. And now he remembered the slight wand movements Lucius had
made�only after Draco appeared, not
when he was confronting Harry�and the way that his father had worked in the
past to remove weaknesses of gesture and routine once he realized they were
weaknesses. If he had realized the way his left eye twitched when he cast a
nonverbal spell�

�� Moving in
the midst of conclusions he could not yet be sure of, since they had not yet
solidified or settled to the ground, Draco seized one of his instincts and
said, �I would discuss this with you at a later time. In a venue not so
public.� He glanced at some of the people in the crowd who had turned to look
at him, and they turned hastily away again. �At the same time, I would not
embarrass you by coming to the house that I no longer expect to inherit. At
Pansy Parkinson�s home, perhaps?�

�� Lucius gave
him a genuine, warm smile, of the kind Draco had not seen for years. �That
would be welcome,� he said. �Today?�

�� Tomorrow.�
That should assure Lucius that Draco was still acting with a proper degree of
caution, and thus that hs spell was still undiscovered. �At three?�

�� Lucius
inclined his head and then walked slowly back to the entrance to the field.
Draco watched him go and made sure to wear a soft, melancholy expression in case
any cameras clicked just then.

�� He was
certain now that his father had cast a spell on him, and that it had something
to do with the Moonstone girl. He was not
yet certain that it had taken effect; he only knew he did not feel any
differently. He doubted it was a spell to compel him to meet with his father,
since Draco would still cancel the meeting in a moment if there was danger.

�� But perhaps
it had been meant to make him more suggestible, or inclined to take �a wife.

�� Draco
turned his face to look at Harry. Harry was already looking at him, and though
his voice spoke steadily on to the crowd beneath him, his narrowed eyes asked a
question.

�� Draco
blinked slowly, once. Yes, I think I may
need your help now. And if I am right about what my father was trying, then we
can use this opportunity to cast a harness around one of the biggest opponents
to our cause.

�� It was
unlikely Harry had picked up all the particulars from a shared glance, but the
sudden metallic gleam in his green eyes, the glimpse of strength to defend and
kill if he had to, reassured Draco that Harry would be behind him nonetheless.

*

��

�� SoftObsidian74:
Ron and Hermione may surprise you, at least if Harry is honest with them in the
way he was honest with Draco.

�� Chapter 40
is the beginning of this fight, the handling of some of the issues.

�� Lunatic
with a hero complex: Interesting comparison. I haven�t seen the movie myself
and am not familiar with the comic story, so that wouldn�t have occurred to me.

�� Trinity18:
Harry does indeed have an overdeveloped guilt complex, and I think it would
take a lot to totally make up for the trauma of his childhood.

�� FallenAngel1129:
Harry will attempt to explain himself to his friends and regain their
friendship, but not until he stabilizes the rebellion a bit more.

�� Mangacat:
Yes, ten more chapters from this one.

�� avihenda,
Alix, gentlenightrain: Thank you for reviewing!

�� broomrider949:
I feel bad for Hermione, too, though I think leaving Harry alone when she could
see he was screwed-up was a stupid move.

JennyPenny: Draco only sees Harry
as screwed-up if Harry can�t control his personas. Otherwise, he admires them
for a Slytherin survival tactic, something he would have liked to do himself
but which he lacks the skills and ideas for. He also loves Harry�s intelligence,
his power, his strength at owning up to his mistakes (eventually, with a lot of
persuasion), and the way Harry could benefit him in the future. (You see some
of that in this chapter).

�� I don�t
think Lucius had extra-marital affairs, no; the implication in this story is
that he loves Narcissa in a cold and twisted way.

�� And I�m glad
if the story has played any part in changing your mind!

�� lawchan: I�m
not sure what your first review means.

�� SP777:
Well, Harry really doesn�t have MPD�at
least not in any clinical sense. I suppose you could call this a magical version
of it you stretched the definition far enough.
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Changing of the Guard