The Lion and the Serpent

Not even a few moments after Minerva left, there was a knock on Harry\'s door.



“Enter,” Harry said. To Draco\'s surprise, it was Calixa. She walked in, and sat down at the table confidently, without any invitation from Harry. Hermione, on her part, did not seem surprised to see her.



Without any preamble, Calixa spoke, addressing Harry and Draco:



“I have been doing some research, with Miss Granger\'s help. I found a way to help you both.”



Draco smirked to himself. Would wonders never cease? Calixa, the proud pureblood, being.. mentored by \'mudblood\' Hermione? The world suddenly stopped making sense, but Draco didn\'t mind this change at all.



“Help us, how?” Harry asked cautiously.



“The bond. There\'s a way to set Draco free. Two ways actually. First one is the only sure thing though.”



“Go on,” Harry said, and Draco saw wild, unrestrained hope in his eyes. And for some reason, it almost hurt him to see it.



“Professor McGonnagal has an uncle who is very old. He doesn\'t have much time left,” Calixa said. “A couple of months, at most.”



“I\'m sorry,” Draco said automatically.



“Shut up and listen. As you know, the bond can be sold, or given away,” Calixa said. “The termination condition is transferred along with the bond. Mr. Potter needs to give your bond to him – and, in a couple of months time, after he passes away, you\'ll be free. Draco - you don\'t need to worry about him mistreating you – he\'s a good person.”



“No,” Draco said instantly. “No way.”



Calixa looked at him, stunned. “You are not being rational,” she said. “It\'s only for a few months – and you will have your whole life ahead of you after this. Freedom. Independence. Being your own person.”



“I don\'t fucking care if it\'s only for a few minutes,” Draco snapped, feeling a lump in his throat. “The answer is no. Not like that.”



Calixa took a deep sigh. “Mr. Potter – you are his Master. You are responsible for his wellbeing, you should do what\'s best for him, even if he doesn\'t...”



Draco saw a hesitation on Harry\'s face, and shuddered with terror.



Don\'t! he begged silently. I can\'t handle even the thought of it. Not for a couple of hours, or a couple of minutes. A week ago, it would have been fine, but not now. Not with the bond... being like this. Not this strong, not this deep. My thoughts... my memories... the attachment... intensity... everything... to have someone else own it... please... just no. I\'d rather die, I think



He would have burst into tears, or fallen to his knees to beg, if not for Harry\'s hand on his shoulder.



“Don\'t worry,” Harry said firmly. “I\'ll never force you into anything again.” Harry then turned to Calixa. “And the second option?”



She frowned, clearly displeased to see her first option rejected.



“Well... the second is more of an educated guess, than a hard finding,” she said. “But it fits.”



“Do tell,” Harry said, his hand never leaving Draco\'s shoulder.



“There\'s not much information on Gieldan in the historical accounts. But I did find one useful story. About fifteen hundred years ago, a warrior named Ragnbjorg captured a warrior called Eydis in battle. She was a bitter enemy, and she had killed his parents. He enslaved her, and set death as the termination condition. He told her he would make her pay for all her crimes, for as long as she lived.”



“And then?” Harry asked.



“Well.. actually, the story ends here,” Calixa said impishly.



Harry glared at her.



“Stop torturing him and tell him,” Hermione ordered.



“Well, anyways, as Miss Granger suggested, I cross-referenced Ragnbjorg\'s name in genealogies of warriors. Long story short, he died at the age of ninety-three, survived by eight children, and his spouse, Eydis.”



“So?” Harry said. “Eydis is a common enough name.”



“I think it\'s the same Eydis,” Calixa said stubbornly. “I think he married her, and the marriage dissolved the bond.”



“Or he may have lied to her about the termination condition, just to scare her,” Harry said reasonably. “It\'s quite helpful, if you want to ensure you concubine doesn\'t murder you in your sleep.”



“Maybe,” Calixa admitted reluctantly. “But my educated guess is that they got married, and the marriage dissolved the bond.”



“I never figured you for a romantic, Miss Cain,” Harry said dryly.



“It\'s just common sense, if you think about it. It fits. As you well know, marriage for wizards, by the very definition, is a union of equals that supersedes any other prior arrangement the parties may have had. I\'ve been reading up on it, too. It nullifies the other types of bonds. Temporary, conditional, even permanent.”



“Those are legal obligations, not magical bonds,” Harry said. “Gieldan is different.”



“Why are you even arguing about this?” Calixa asked irritably. “It\'s not like you\'d have to marry someone ill-suited to you. You are already having sex with him, and...”



“Enough!” Harry thundered. “One more word about my sex life, and Slytherin will lose all the points they\'ve earned this year.”



Calixa glared at him. “You wouldn\'t,” she said doubtfully.



“Watch me.”



Before the argument could escalate, Hermione stood up hastily, placing both hands on Calixa\'s shoulders.



“You\'ve done a marvelous job, Cali,” she said, quickly ushering the girl out of the quarters. “I\'ll take it from here.”



When the door shut behind Calixa, Hermione sat down and started writing furiously on a piece of parchment.



“When do you want the wedding?” she asked. “I say it should be right after the exams – so that everyone could come, before they all go away for the holidays...Draco?”



“Whatever Harry wants,” Draco said serenely, allowing himself to relax.



“Whatever you think is best, Hermione,” Harry said. “Just... don\'t go out of your way, you know? Something small and modest is just fine.”



“I don\'t think small and modest is the way to go,” she said, excitement sparkling in her eyes. “I want it to be huge... grand.. brilliant! I want it to be beautiful and memorable and life-affirming for everyone. Harry. Everyone has been through so much, they deserve a celebration of some sort, I think... I\'ll need to send out invitations... to make purchases... oh, and get a Letter of Permission from the Department of Mysteries to allow Minerva to perform the ceremony, I am assuming you\'d want her to do it? I need to to access your Gringotts account...”



“You know where the card is,” Harry shrugged. “Help yourself. You really don\'t mind taking care of all the details?”



She just smiled happily. “I always figured I\'d be the one planning your wedding, one way or another, Harry. I\'ll even write your vows for you...”



“That won\'t be necessary,” Harry said stiffly. “I am sure I can come up with something ... reasonable... on my own.”



“You have an emotional range of a toothpick, Harry,” Hermione said bluntly.



“Stop insulting toothpicks, Granger,” Draco smirked, having by this time regained his cool. “You are right, you know, you should write the vows for both of us. And give them to us sealed. The bastard can read my mind, and I don\'t want him to know what my vows are going to be until it\'s time. I trust you – you know both what we are like, and what we want from each other. So.. just write it up for us.”



“Right,” she said absently. She departed quickly, taking Harry\'s Gringotts card with her.



Harry stared at Draco silently, thoughtfully



“What?” Draco demanded. “What\'s wrong with you now?”



“What do you mean?” Harry asked reluctantly. “It\'s good. You know I want to be with you. I\'m happy to give it a try.”



Draco glanced at him carefully. “You don\'t look very happy. Do you.. want to keep the bond? The way it is?”



“No!” Harry\'s voice rose instantly. “Do you think I want to live like this?”



Draco\'s eyes narrowed dangerously.



“I\'m sorry that seeing me on my knees is so intolerable to you,” he spat. He suspected he was going to make his lover angry, but he didn\'t care anymore. To his surprise, Harry didn\'t snap. If anything, he looked a little sadder than usual.



“I love seeing you on your knees,” Harry said quietly. “But I don\'t like you not being human in the eyes of the world. I don\'t like the idea of you not having any privacy. It\'s not healthy. And I don\'t like that for the rest of my life, I can never be angry with you without having to hurt you.”



Draco nodded slowly. He understood, and a small part of him, a part that remembered freedom, agreed.



“Then why... argue? Why are you so ...obviously unhappy about it?”



Harry\'s face was unreadable again. Finally, very reluctantly, he said:



“I\'m scared.”



Draco stared at him in absolute confusion.



“I don\'t want to have false hopes,” Harry said softly. “What if she\'s wrong? What if it doesn\'t work?”



Draco wanted to say something reassuring, but nothing came to his mind. They sat across from each other quietly. Finally Draco smiled wryly and said:



“Harry ...look at it this way. If it doesn\'t work, then, at least we\'ll have had one hell of a party.”



----to be continued ----------