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Learning Life Over	By : Meander Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 69712 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- 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
- 41
- 42
- 43
Chapter 42- These Circles

�� Yes, but
when I said that I wanted to leave the Manor, I didn�t imagine this
would happen,� Harry said, tugging at the collar of his robes. They were dress
robes, but far finer than those he�d bought for the Yule Ball his fourth year
at Hogwarts, or even those he�d worn out with Draco to the Half-Globe Theater.
These slid across his skin with a rasp that echoed in his ears every time he
moved. Harry supposed that was how one knew they were fine clothes. They
couldn�t be fine clothes if they were comfortable.

�� You needed
to attend a party like this sooner or later, Harry,� Draco said. He seemed
perfectly comfortable with his own clothes. He would, Harry thought, and
frowned at him. Ponce. �These are the circles you�re going to be
frequenting with me when everyone accepts us fully.� He put out his arm. Harry
ignored it, for the moment, more interested in what Draco�s words implied.

�� If people
haven�t fully accepted us yet, why did Blaise�s mother invite us tonight?�

�� Novelty value,�
said Draco, and his grin flashed like a comet. Harry told himself that it
didn�t do odd things to his stomach, because, really, how soppy was that?
�Mrs. Zabini has a great belief in the value of novelty. No one has ever had
the great Auror Harry Potter at a function before, and certainly no one has
ever had Harry Potter in the company of Draco Malfoy anywhere.�

�� Mrs.
Parkinson did.�

�� A small,
private gathering doesn�t count. This will be rather large, and attended by
several public personages from the Ministry, the Quidditch world, and a few of
the, ah, philanthropic causes that Mrs. Zabini supports.� Draco pushed
his arm forward again. �Come, Harry. You said once that you didn�t want to
deprive me of my social life. Well, these people make up quite a large part of
my social life.�

�� Perhaps I
do want to deprive you of it,� Harry muttered, accepting Draco�s arm with bad
grace. �At least, the stupid parts of it.�

�� Don�t be
so bad-tempered, Harry,� Draco whispered into his ear, which of course set off
various shivers through Harry�s skin. �I promise, when we come back to the
Manor tonight, I�ll make it up to you.�

�� You�ll
probably have a lot to make up for.� Harry couldn�t help grimacing as he
thought of the way Blaise Zabini had behaved at the Half-Globe with the little
blonde witch on his arm. He didn�t want to spend the whole evening among such
people, let alone those who might be even worse.

�� Then I�ll
fuck you into the mattress,� Draco said, in that smooth, polished voice that
seemed so incompatible with what he was saying. �Or let you fuck me into the
mattress. I�m not particular, Harry.�

�� From
somewhere, Harry found his smile. It was not, of course, because of Draco�s
words. He was, Harry reminded himself, very irritated with Draco at the moment.
�I�m surprised that you can walk straight after what I did to you the other
day,� he said innocently. �Or did you choose these robes to cover the way that
you�re walking bow-legged?�

�� Draco gave
him a superior look. �You�re good, Harry, but not that good, not yet. It was
your first time, remember.�

�� Promise to
stay home tonight,� said Harry, �and I�ll have another go.�

�� Draco had a
very odd expression on his face for a moment, as if he were considering it, but
then he shook his head. �I think not, Harry,� he said, and put his hand on
Harry�s lower back the way he liked to do, steering him towards the edge of the
wards, and thus a place they could Apparate, without giving Harry time to
object further.

*

�� He
thinks of the Manor as home.

�� Draco could
not even describe the fierce triumph that boiled up in him, other than calling
it triumph. He had succeeded. Harry had come far, from flinching at the
thought of relaxing to calling the Manor home and cajoling Draco for sex, and
the largest part of his success was due to him, Draco Malfoy.

�� Draco only
wished there were prizes for rescuing the minds of otherwise fine wizards who
had condemned themselves to a life of self-sacrifice for no sufficient reason.
He was sure that he would have carried it off despite all the competition.

�� But then,
of course, the prize he truly needed was Harry on his arm, and, when they
entered Mrs. Zabini�s decorated home, the longing, envious stares he had
dreamed of. Everyone knew that he and Harry were together now; they just hadn�t
known how good Harry looked until this moment.

�� And it
wasn�t only his looks, Draco had to concede, glancing sideways at him as they
strode into the room. No one announced them; no one needed to. The aura of
power Harry carried with him did it as well as a shout. Most people turned
around, knowing the magic in the room had changed. And then their glances
became pinned, and they couldn�t look away from him for several minutes.

�� Draco
basked in the stares that came his way, and he had the heart to smile
graciously at Mrs. Zabini when she swept up to them, one hand extended.

�� Harry,� he
said, and took Mrs. Zabini�s hand to kiss it, �this is Gloriana Zabini,
Blaise�s mother and my mother�s dear friend. Currently on- I think it
was her ninth husband, wasn�t it, Mrs. Zabini?�

*

�� Harry
didn�t hear Gloriana�s answer. He probably didn�t want to, anyway, not when
Draco had asked the question in that shockingly spiteful tone. He was too busy
staring at Gloriana.

�� She was a
remarkably beautiful woman, who wore her age as lightly as beads. Her skin was
dark, and her black hair gleaming and piled on her head in a style Harry hadn�t
ever seen a witch use, highlighted with silver ornaments in the shape of
crescent moons. Her brown eyes watched Draco with a bright, sharp amusement
that made Harry think immediately of some of the criminals he�d tracked,
suspects who hid right under the Aurors� noses and pretended sympathy for the
poor, bereaved family for weeks before he stumbled on to their secrets.

�� He disliked
her intensely, and immediately.

�� She turned
to him when Draco had greeted her, and stared at him. Harry felt compelled to
kiss her hand, because Draco had, but he pulled away from her as soon as he
could. He�d heard the rumors that she poisoned her husbands, or at least
managed to survive them as they died, again and again.

�� Ah, Mr.
Potter,� she said, as easily as if they were old friends. �I hoped that you
would sit by me at the head of the table.� She held out her arm out to his, and
Harry could only hope, as he took it with his own, quietly fuming, that he was
making the gesture in the right way. He was sure Gloriana would notice every
single mistake he made, save them up, and gossip about them with her friends
later.

�� If you
wish, ma�am,� he murmured.

�� So formal,
Mr. Potter!� She glanced up at him, and though her eyelashes lowered demurely,
he was sure she was laughing at him. �I do hope that you will call me
Gloriana.�

�� And you�ll
call me Harry?� he asked. He didn�t really care what she called him, one way or
the other. He was sure that nothing she did could make him think better of her,
at least.

�� No. I
think Mr. Potter suits you better.� She gave him a meditative smile, and
steered him past several of her guests, men and women in fine robes whom Harry
thought should have better manners than to stare. Several cameras flashed. He
could feel himself stiffen, which Gloriana didn�t miss, of course.

�� You don�t
like the press, Mr. Potter?� she murmured.

�� I like
them best when they aren�t paying attention to me.� Harry answered from between
stiff lips, putting on a rictus smile that he supposed would have to appear in
any photographs gracing the papers tomorrow. �I had quite enough of their
�attention� while I was at Hogwarts.�

�� Ah, yes. I
seem to recall that the articles about you then were not exactly- flattering.�
Gloriana cocked her head as they arrived at the table, which was already
crowded with people. She waited until Harry reached the proper conclusion and
pulled her chair out for her. �But you must have received more positive
attention since then, as you killed the Dark Lord for us and freed the entire
island from a deadly menace.�

�� Harry
flushed. He knew she was quoting from one of the newspaper articles that had
appeared in the wake of Voldemort�s death, though he couldn�t remember who had
written it. �And then there were eleven years of blankness,� he said, sitting
roughly in the chair next to her and looking around for Draco. Inexplicably,
Draco appeared to have left them alone. �I preferred those.�

�� But
everyone likes attention, Mr. Potter.� Gloriana put her hand on his and gave
him a friendly smile, with cat-like edges. �Where would you be if young Draco
had not taken notice of you, after all?�

�� Still in
the Ministry,� said Harry.

�� And did
you truly prefer it there, to scenes like this?� With a slight tilt of
her head, Gloriana seemed to encompass the huge, decorated room, the
house-elves popping in and out, the wizards with glasses of wine and goblets of
chilled drinks, the fluttering cloths on the tables, the food that was
beginning to appear and fill Harry�s nostrils with odors he didn�t even
recognize. �I have been to Ministry functions. While they can lay claim to a
certain- bare- elegance, they can have no scenes to compare with our beauties
here.�

�� I don�t
need beauties to be happy,� Harry said shortly, fighting the urge to grind his
teeth.

�� Gloriana
gave him a slow smile. �What an unusual young man you are.�

*

�� Draco had
let Mrs. Zabini take Harry away from him deliberately. Harry had to learn how
to survive on his own and make conversation on his own at parties like this
sooner or later. Besides, he�d spent the last few days cooped up in the Manor
with no one but Harry for company, unless one counted the house-elves or the
brief visit from Narcissa- and Draco didn�t. He wanted to see and speak with
other people. He�d located Blaise on the far side of the room, and made
straight for him.

�� Of course,
given that the world couldn�t do what Draco wanted it to do when he wanted it
to do it, Blaise turned out not to be the best choice for conversational
partner. He was already drunk, and finishing another glass of wine with a great
gulp, literally throwing back his head, when Draco caught him. Draco concealed
a wince as ably as he could, and managed to paste a smile on his face by the
time Blaise turned around and stared at him blearily.

�� What�s the
matter with you?� he asked. No one was near them, since most of the wizards and
witches seemed to have a good idea what condition Blaise was in and wanted to
avoid him as much as possible, so Draco spoke without fear of being overheard.

�� Gathering
up my courage,� Blaise murmured, and drank deeply again.

�� For what?�
Draco had never known Blaise to have much need of courage. He ran away and
married Mudblood witches sometimes, that couldn�t be denied, but that was a
sudden flight of fancy, not premeditated. Draco cocked his head to the side and
studied his friend with narrowed eyes.

�� I have- I
have something to do,� Blaise said, and turned away from Draco to call for a
house-elf. One of the little creatures popped up in front of him with a glass
of brandy and a deep bow. Blaise had the brandy in his hand an instant later,
and had swallowed most of it an instant after that. Draco shuddered at the
waste.

�� What�s
that?� he asked.

�� Blaise
pointed a triumphant finger at him. �I don�t have to tell you!�
Abruptly, he leaned nearer Draco and lowered his voice again. �And I�d- I�d be
careful if I were you, Draco. Not the best position to be in, is it?� He
gave a large wink.

�� Draco
frowned. �What the fuck are you talking about, Blaise?� He hadn�t heard
any gossip that related to himself and wasn�t about Harry or the Ministry. If
he�d somehow got into a scrape without his knowing about it, he wanted to know
the gossip immediately.

�� Blaise
wagged the finger this time. �Heard your mother talking with mine,� he said,
and his face darkened, the way it always did when Gloriana came up. �And she
said- she said you�d been a bad boy, Draco.�

�� Draco
relaxed. Of course his mother was displeased with him still. He knew that. She
could pretend, but she would never like Harry, and the moment Draco could find
out the details of her plans, he intended to send her out of his company for at
least three months. Perhaps he and Harry would go to Europe, and Narcissa could
walk about the Manor and admire the portraits of past Malfoys all she liked. �I
know that,� he said. �Don�t worry about that, Blaise.�

�� Don�t worry?�
Blaise snorted. �I�m not worrying. I have enough- enough troubles of my own.�
And he turned and stalked away with a wounded dignity that his stagger rather
ruined.

�� Draco
muffled his laughter in his sleeve, and then followed Blaise into the room
where the dinner would happen.

�� Then he
realized Blaise was striding determinedly towards his mother.

�� Or maybe
it won�t be happening, Draco thought, pausing in the doorway to watch.

*

�� Harry had
been forced to revise his opinion of Gloriana. She could talk about Ministry
politics in the same way she talked about the people around them at dinner:
lightly, maliciously, and with absolute accuracy. He had inwardly flinched at
her description of the Minister as a cripple using the Daily Prophet and
the work of his Aurors as crutches, but he had to admit, after some thinking
about it, that this was true. Of course, Gloriana couldn�t let it rest there,
even when he gave her a reluctant smile.

�� I have
heard, Mr. Potter,� she said, sipping from a small cup that contained a liquid
Harry couldn�t see over the rim, �that the Minister is in no small part
indebted to your work.�

�� My work,
and the work of others in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, of
course,� said Harry carelessly, stifling the urge to look around for Draco.
This was the exact topic he had hoped to avoid all evening. �I hope someone
hasn�t been telling you remarkable tales about my heroism and bravery,
Gloriana. After all, there�s a reason I�ve barely been in the papers these last
few years. It�s not as though I did anything very special.�

�� No, it�s
not as though you courted attention,� Gloriana corrected him calmly. �You said
that yourself. And I know that you�re a good Auror, Mr. Potter. I read the
articles carefully, whenever they appeared.� She smiled at him again. �And we
have Draco to thank for taking you away from that life, where you were used
shamelessly and never repaid for your work, and giving you a new way to live.�

�� Harry
flushed. �I would never want it to be said that I resent the Ministry,� he
said. �Of course I don�t.�

�� Oh, I know
most of the facts,� said Gloriana, and dropped her voice. �They used your name
and your work, while they kept the gains for themselves. No increases in pay,
even, across the years that you worked there, though you did so much. It would
only be human of you to resent them, Mr. Potter.�

�� Harry shook
his head stubbornly and looked away. If he thought about it, he had to admit
that a hard kernel of unpleasant emotion had grown in him over the last few
days. Theresa had only broached the subject once, before Harry�s growl had
driven her off, but that kernel was there. Harry had to wonder why Amelia Bones
had pleaded with him to return when she had to be able to see, much more
clearly than he could have at the time, that he was suffering. And why not
insist that he take holidays, the way that she had with other Aurors? Could
they really not spare him? Or did they really not care, in the way that they
cared about Aurors who had spouses and friends and families?

�� It�s not
as though you courted caring, either. You didn�t try to make friends with your
partners, and you always reported to her as an Auror. Why should you be dearer
to her than anyone else?

�� She
should at least have trusted you the way she treated the others, if no better.

�� Harry
shrugged and fixed his eyes on Gloriana�s face. She was leaning forward with
avid interest, eyes gleaming.

�� He never
knew what words he might have fixed to his confusion.

�� Mother!�

�� Gloriana
looked over Harry�s shoulder with a faint frown. �Blaise,� she said, with an
underlying sharpness that Harry heard through the sweetness like the hiss of a
snake, �I am entertaining a guest.�

�� I just
wanted to tell you,� Blaise said, swaying back and forth, �that I�m not
marrying that bitch you wanted me to marry.�

�� A few
people gasped. Harry eased his chair back, not wanting to be caught between
mother and son.

�� Gloriana
narrowed her eyes. �What did you say?�

�� You heard
me.� Blaise clapped his hands and glared at her. �I refuse to obey you any
more, to be a slave- � He choked, a bit, and Harry thought he knew where some
of his courage came from. �I refuse to be a party to my own
degradation!� he said, looking proud that he�d got the long word out on his
own. �I�m going back to Sarah. I was happy with her, at least.�

�� And then he
turned and left the room, head high, though he nearly crashed into the doorway
on his way out.

�� Harry
blinked at nothing, and thought, Well. It seems that people are human in
these circles, too.

***************

�� tia: I can
just about promise you that, yes, the story will wind up over 60 chapters.

�� acr: I can
see why someone would agree with Draco about the Dursleys, but Harry does not.

�� GreenEyedCat:
Narcissa has plans. Narcissa has lots of plans.

�� Gloria:
Good guess, but it was neither. As you point out, Narcissa could not have
concealed herself from Draco, and, as you can see from Harry�s thoughts in this
chapter, he doesn�t know anything about it. Yet.�
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Learning Life Over