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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.

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Chapter Forty-Six�The Glamour
Principle

�� Harry
peered at himself critically in the mirror. Well, he had the face right�short black hair, skin paler
than necessary, gray eyes that resembled Draco�s�but John Grey would require
the spirit. Closing his eyes, Harry summoned forth Vivian Wilde.

�� To sink
within such a spirit, one that resented and feared everyone around him, was
disgusting. But Harry managed a single shudder and then did so. Here, his
newfound control was an especially good thing. Vivian�s persona could surround
and encase him without seeping into and dirtying him. Harry looked out as
through a pane of scum-smeared glass, whilst Vivian looked anxiously around and
then covered up the mirror by hanging a white cloth. He didn�t wish to look at
himself in such a mood. When he peered too closely, he thought the coarse
features of his Muggle mother drowned out the aristocratic ones of his Malfoy
father.

�� Vivian
began to pace up and down the room, his hands clasped behind his back, his mind
racing on what he would need to do to impress Mr. Grey. His importance made him
of even more account than his wealth. He must balance between respect and
fawning, between pride and fear. Mr. Grey couldn�t think him a cringing coward
or a disgrace to the Malfoy family, even though he had little reason to regard
the Malfoy family favorably just at present.

�� Harry
snorted to himself and let his body walk, settling into the jerky gait that
Vivian preferred to use. He was a little taller than normal thanks to insets in
his boots, and he preferred to practice before he had to show off in front of
his audience.

�� That is, if
he did show off in front of his
audience. Grey hadn�t yet responded to the owl Harry had sent off to him,
weaving a complicated but plausible tale of a way they could meet in public and
embarrass Harry Potter and his cousin Draco.

�� No, Vivian�s cousin Draco.

�� Harry
grimaced wryly to himself. Draco had been more right than he knew about the
necessity of Harry asserting control over his personas. He was so used to
slipping into them, not as a defensive tactic but because it was the way
Metamorphosis had survived, that he was apt to do it when he didn�t need to. He
would do well to become more conscious of the process and decide when he should do it and when it wasn�t such a
priority.

*

�� Cousin
Draco! Well, this is a pleasant surprise.�

�� Not even
long training in Lucius�s disdain of the man could keep Draco from relaxing at
the sight of his cousin Maxwell, kneeling down to peer into the fireplace
through which Draco had firecalled. A young boy was standing on his back and
attempting to choke him, but apparently Draco�s call was more a matter of
concern for Maxwell. Considering the thick flaps of skin that guarded his neck,
Draco could see why.

�� Maxwell was
Lucius�s opposite in being jovial and bearing thick traces of gray in his pale
brown hair that he never bothered to disguise, but those were superficialities.
Draco knew that humor could be pointed and cruel. No, the real difference was
in the feeling he exuded. Maxwell made people comfortable around him, and that was not something Lucius could be
accused of doing, even by mistake.

�� Not
entirely a pleasant surprise, I�m afraid,� Draco admitted. �I have a favor to
ask of you.�

�� Go see what
Constantia�s doing,� Maxwell said, and swung the little boy off his back. The
boy leaned against his knee for a moment and opened his mouth, into which
Maxwell dropped a sweet. Then he trotted away with his thumb in his mouth.
Draco barely kept from shuddering. Maxwell turned back to him and nodded. �Well,
what is it?�

�� You�ve
probably heard that I�m Harry Potter�s partner by now, and the leader of a
movement that requests equal rights for homosexual wizards,� Draco said.
Maxwell had to know. He didn�t keep
up on the pure-blood social news that made up the substance of most of Lucius�s
conversation, but he read the Daily
Prophet, always alert for any move Lucius might make to disgrace him or
take away his small amount of money.

�� Yes,�
Maxwell said, a grin speeding across his face like a comet, �and a capital disgrace
to the family, too!� He thrust out his hand as if he would shake Draco�s
through the fire. �Always said that Lucius would spoil your perfect obedience
by raising you up too tightly. The colt who accepts a rein when he�s young
doesn�t always want to take a full harness when he�s older, you know.�

�� Draco,
though he didn�t like this metaphor much better than his cousin�s
overindulgence towards his grandchildren, let his hand be clasped and wrung.
Then he said, �And this will make me even more of a disgrace to the family, if
you agree to help.�

�� Maxwell
widened his eyes and flapped his ears, a trick he had learned to do without
magic, for some reason. �Do explain.�

�� Harry
wants to use the identity of a scapegrace son of yours to bring down the major
enemy our rebellion��

�� Rebellion?�
Maxwell�s smile almost touched his ears by now. �Better and better!�

�� Draco
coughed. He�d become accustomed to referring to the movement by the same name
Harry gave it, and would have certainly reconsidered it if he was talking to
his father. But he wasn�t stupid; he could follow up on a fortuitous mistake. �Yes.
The major enemy is a man named John Grey. You might have heard of him.�

�� Maxwell
lost his smile. �Yes, I have,� he said. �Never mind the context. I�m sure he�s
too much of a gentleman to have
revealed it, though that didn�t keep him from trying to blackmail me.� He
leaned closer. �What do you need me to do? Testify to the existence of this son
if anyone inquires? Living at a distance from the wizarding world and mingling
with the Muggle one has its advantages, you know.�

�� If this
plan works as we hope,� said Draco, �Grey will agree to meet your imaginary son
in public. To do that, we�ll need your permission to use your name, of course,
but we might need your testimony as to Vivian Wilde�s existence��

�� Vivian?� Maxwell interrupted, with a
snort.

�� Draco
smiled a little. �Harry chose the name, not I.�

�� Wilde,� Maxwell continued, and then
threw his head back and laughed. �Well, at least your Harry doesn�t have to
worry about Grey reading Muggle history and recognizing the reference! Or
seeing a Muggle drama, for that matter.�

�� I beg your
pardon?� Harry hadn�t told Draco he�d chosen a famous name. That was something
they would have to speak about. Likely he hadn�t believed it would be a danger,
but Draco thought he should have been asked about it nonetheless.

�� And
neither do you.� Maxwell grinned at him. �If it�s to destroy Grey�which is
certainly a good cause�then I�ll give you all the support you could wish. Swear
to Vivian�s existence and make up a whole story about it, if you like.�

�� Actually,�
Draco said, reaching with some relief to the leather-bound folder beside him, �Harry
asked me to give you a few particulars he�d made up himself, so that the
stories won�t contradict each other.�

�� So sure of
my acceptance, was he?� Maxwell asked, but he reached through the flames and
took the folder without any sign of offense. He flicked past a few pages,
chuckled, and then shut the folder with a decisive snap and nodded. �Well. This
will do nicely. Tell your partner that he�s quite a storyteller, and he�d be
welcome at my house to exchange a few tales. I could tell him about the time when
Lucius convinced himself he was in love with another man, for example.�

�� Already
mentally withdrawing from the conversation and attending to the second part of
the plan�which would require much more concentration and magical strength, at least
from him�Draco winced as his head snapped around to face his cousin. �He was what?�

�� Oh, it was
in the days just after Hogwarts,� said Maxwell, grinning widely at him now, �just
before he became quite so tied up with that Dark Lord nonsense, and certainly
before he married. You needn�t fear he was ever unfaithful to your mother. As I
said to him some years ago, she must have frozen his��

�� Sir,�
Draco said as coldly as he could considering his fascination, �I will not
submit to having my mother abused.�

�� Then get
her out of Malfoy Manor,� Maxwell said, but continued before Draco could make
any other objections. �He fell in love with one of the most charming young men
I�ve ever laid eyes on. Augustus was his first name, but I�ll be damned if I
can remember what his last one was. And Lucius had a passion for him, oh yes.
Augustus could outthink him, outdance him, out-ride him when they went up
together on winged horses. He knew more jokes, and Lucius could actually
appreciate his sense of humor. I don�t know if it ever got into the bedchamber,
but I don�t think it can have, because Lucius would smile more often, if that
happened.�

�� He told me
nothing of this,� Draco muttered.

�� Of course
not,� said Maxwell. �He woke up rather abruptly when Augustus told him that he
expected Lucius to stay with him permanently and give up notions of marriage,
if he really was in love. He�d thought of the affair as a summer matter, but
Augustus had a constitution that wanted�demanded�more than that.� He leaned
forwards and peered at Draco keenly. �It sounds like your Harry is the same
way. See you don�t disappoint him. I know all sorts of embarrassing family
secrets and could quite easily make your life too interesting to live in
Britain.�

�� Draco
pressed his hand to his heart, which was already beating faster with the
revelation of Lucius�s hypocrisy. �And what happened between�my father and
Augustus?�

�� Lucius
rejected him and went off to the bride his father had been urging him to marry
for several years.� Maxwell shrugged. �Understand, I don�t blame your mother
for making Lucius the humorless bastard he is�he always was that way�but I
think he would have been better if he�d allowed himself to let go once, if he�d
been able to sustain one insult to his pride. He certainly would have treated you better.�

�� He should
have done that in any case,� Draco said coolly.

�� There, we
can agree.� Maxwell nodded. �You have my permission to use the Malfoy name. And
do tell your Harry he�s welcome here.� He gave Draco a grin that had a touch
too much innocence to really pass. �There�s some people I�d like to introduce him
to, as second choices in case you ever argue with him too much.�

�� And then he
cut off the Floo connection, leaving Draco to stare at the fireplace. He stood
up after a moment with a shake of his head.

�� He could
see why his father avoided his cousin�s company, and it had nothing to do with
notions of propriety. Well, less than he had thought, in any case.

*

�� Again.�
Harry�s voice held an iron patience, which Draco disliked, but he knew he might
have sounded much the same way when he was explaining to Harry why it was
necessary that he control his personas. This was one of the simplest things for
Harry to do, the exercise of magic. Draco was determined to measure up to him,
but even more frustrated to find that he couldn�t do it on the first try.

�� For now, he
gritted his teeth, nodded, and took a step back to face Harry across the large
drawing room on the ground floor at the back of Number Twelve Grimmauld Place.
All the furniture had been moved away from the center of the carpet, leaving
several deep indentations in it. The large black curtains covering the windows
had also been tugged back so they could clearly see one another�s faces.

�� Harry was
wearing Vivian Wilde�s face at the moment, and Draco had to admit that he
looked completely different; even the tilt of his head was different, and he�d
acquired a nervous mannerism of starting at the slightest sound that was
sufficiently annoying to please John Grey. Despite what he�d said the other
night, Draco knew he�d been lucky that Harry�s emotions had caused him to reveal
his real self to Draco. If he�d remained secure in the persona of Brian, Draco
doubted he would ever have learned the truth.

�� And that would have been a pity.

�� Fix your
eyes on me,� Harry said in a commanding, soothing voice that, luckily, wasn�t
different from his normal one. Draco hated to think he needed soothing, but he had failed five times to perform this
spell, and perhaps he�d shown a little temper. He looked Harry in the eye, and
Harry nodded encouragingly. �Good. Now think�you can�t say it aloud, in case Nusante
suspects something�Surrogo Harry Potter
in loco suo cum vultu meo.�

�� Draco drew
in a long breath and nodded. It was useless to explain that he thought the
incantation too long, and that he�d always had more trouble putting power into
nonverbal spells; this was what had to happen to make Harry�s plan work, so he
would do it.

�� And then
Harry gave him a single rich smile, out of place on Vivian�s insufferable face,
and whispered, �I love you so much for being willing to try. I know it isn�t
easy for you.�

�� Draco smiled
back, ridiculously comfortable now. He locked his eyes on Harry�s once more and
repeated the incantation faithfully in his head. At least he didn�t need to
worry about forgetting it, now that Harry had drilled him in so relentlessly.

�� Magic
gripped him and flung him through space. Draco staggered a little�Harry had
warned him that would happen, and also that he would need to come up with a
plausible explanation for Grey�and then stood up straight on the patch of
carpet Harry had occupied, gasping. The first thing that caught his eye was his
own face in the mirror beyond Harry�s shoulder, on the other side of the room.
When he�d last seen himself, he was wearing a glamour of Harry�s features. Now
gray eyes stared back at him.

�� I replace Harry Potter in his own place with
my own face. Harry would have used the same incantation, except he would
have substituted Draco�s name. And, sure enough, he was missing the glamour of
Wilde now, and standing where Draco had been.

�� Before
Draco could get his breath back or get over his astonishment that it had worked, he found himself caught in one
of Harry�s embraces that made his ribs and spine squeeze. He�d discovered in
the last few days that Harry had one of those and used it whenever he was
pleased. Draco folded his arms around him and hugged him smugly back. He might
be the only person in the last ten years who�d ever received one of those embraces
just because Harry wanted to give it.

�� Now only
Grey�s acceptance remains, and the owl to Nusante,� Harry said, his eyes
brilliant. �Neither of them is ever going to understand what happened. Isn�t
that wonderful?�

�� Though
Draco generally preferred his enemies to know what happened so he could hold it
over their heads and gloat about it, he nodded. Harry would probably always
hide behind deception to a certain extent, but how could Draco forbid him from
taking joy in that, when it made him so powerful?

*

�� Vivian
shifted from foot to foot and looked over his shoulder twice. It had taken a
week to get Grey to agree to this meeting. Suppose he gave up all notion of
attending at the last moment? Vivian would be in trouble with his father, and
Maxwell would certainly inform his cousin Draco. And then�

��

�� Wilde?�

�� Vivian
heaved a sigh he sincerely hoped would pass unnoticed, and then turned and
bowed to Grey. He was a tall man with short dark hair, unexceptionable
features, and eyes of a muddy color somewhere between gray and green. But those
eyes were also piercing, and they studied Vivian in a fashion that made him
certain Grey knew everything about him, from his past sins to how much his
robes cost.

�� Sir,�
Vivian said, and managed not to stutter. He was proud of himself. �Thank you
for meeting me.�

�� Grey stared
at him for a moment more, then said, �I don�t care to talk about
inconsequentialities. I�m here to find out if you can deliver to me what you
promised.�

�� Yes, sir,�
said Vivian, and put his hands in his robe pockets to keep the sweat from
showing. From Grey�s contemptuous stare, he knew perfectly well what he was doing,
and why. Vivian cleared his throat and tried to ignore his own flush. �If you�d
care to come this way, the restaurant has a private table from which we can
observe Nusante�s arrival unseen, and where we can talk without fear of being
overheard.�

�� Grey
inclined his head sharply and followed him across the floor, which was
scattered with a variety of small white tables. They�d agreed to meet in a
small wizarding restaurant not far from Hogsmeade, the haunt of artists drawn
by the splendid Scottish scenery to be seen through the glittering stained
glass windows, and where Raymond Nusante was a frequent visitor. Vivian had
promised Grey he�d draw Nusante and Harry Potter to the restaurant at the same
time, and afford him the means of publicly embarrassing them. He�d also said
that he�d diverted his cousin Draco�s money which was supposed to go to support
the rebellion and was ready to place it in Grey�s hand the same day.

�� And there
was another reason he had asked Grey to come here�

�� Anxiously,
Vivian cut off the other thought. He wasn�t ready to think that yet.

�� The private
table had mahogany walls and benches, on either side of a table of richly
carved marble decorated with veins of blue. A large, though plain, glass window
beside them looked out on a waterfall and green hills. Grey ignored the view
and leaned forwards to stare directly into Vivian�s eyes once more.

�� So talk,�
he said.

*

�� Draco
resisted the temptation to run a hand through his hair. He knew it would do no
good for Harry�s disordered mat, which he was wearing at the moment thanks to a
complicated combination of glamours and Transfiguration that Draco doubted he
would be able to perform himself. Draco had wanted to know why they couldn�t
just use Polyjuice, but Harry had pointed out, with commendable patience, that
that wouldn�t fade on a nonverbal spell command. When Draco had asked how he
could be sure the glamours and Transfigurations would fade with the spell, Harry had gone off into a long
explanation about triggers and linked wards and binding threads that Draco
couldn�t follow.

�� I can�t follow it yet. Draco intended to
correct the deficiency in his knowledge as soon as he could. Maybe he would
never be Harry�s magical equal, but he intended to be his intellectual one. For
the moment, it was enough to know that the glamours and Transfigurations would
pull apart and collapse together, as long as he could use the spell correctly.

�� I still
don�t see why we had to come here,�
whinged Nusante from behind him, a piercing sound which went straight through
Draco�s head. �We could have spoken in the privacy of your home and not been
overheard.�

�� I didn�t
think you would be comfortable there.� An audible glamour made Draco�s voice a
copy of Harry�s, and from there he just had to be careful not to use certain inflections
and tones that might betray the difference between them. He glanced over his
shoulder at Nusante and smirked. It was not a normal expression of Harry�s, but
only one person in the potential audience of three would know that. �And I
prefer not to invite you into my home if at all possible.�

�� Nusante
lifted his chin. He was so much the picture of offended youth that Draco had to
wonder for a moment if he had ever really
been that young, even when he was nineteen, Nusante�s age. Of course, this
boy hadn�t had to go through a war and see his parents revealed as cringing
servants to a Dark Lord. �You know my terms,� he said. �I won�t consent to
support you wholeheartedly until I see you physically fight for us.�

�� I know,�
Draco said, and it was surprisingly easy to put compassion into his voice. Yes,
he had been this young once, though when he was fifteen rather than nineteen.
He knew that same longing to strike back, to shed blood because he thought it
was the only way to repay the intense humiliation and rejection he was suffering.
And at least Nusante was suffering at the hands of an entire society, not one
boy who beat him roundly at Quidditch. �But I can at least speak to you and try
to smooth this matter over. I don�t want the rebellion to splinter because some
of us follow you and some follow me.�

�� And your
partner,� Nusante muttered, but he suffered Draco to lead him into the restaurant.

�� Draco
became aware of Harry, in the guise of Vivian, and Grey at the same moment as
they became aware of him, if the way Grey stiffened in his seat was any
indication. But Nusante wasn�t glancing at them, and nor was anyone else in the
restaurant. Harry would have cast a spell the moment he sat down that would
mimic the effect of a Disillusionment Charm for anyone not keyed into it. Draco
was carrying the key, a small silver ring, on a chain around his neck. He felt
the tingling wash of magic over him, and then a reversal of the tingling as
Harry�s magic met more of Harry�s magic and rebounded.

�� He led
Nusante to a table in the middle of the restaurant and ordered a glass of the flavored
Firewhiskey that was their specialty. Then he leaned forwards to make
meaningless talk of reconciliation with Nusante�the sort of thing he could do
in his sleep�whilst he waited for Harry to make his move.

*

�� Harry
surfaced through the mask of Vivian holding his breath. Dear God, hiding beneath his prejudice was
foul. But the effort had been worth it. He had showed Grey documents�from Draco
himself�that absolutely convinced Grey Vivian had got hold of the money Draco
meant to go to the rebellion. And he had promised to bring Nusante and Harry to
the restaurant, and here they were.

�� You said
he would come with Harry Potter,� Grey breathed, his attention fully on the
disguised Draco. �And you told the truth.� Briefly he looked at Harry, and his
smile was warm in the same way a lizard basking on a rock was. �You shall be
greatly rewarded for your cooperation and information, Wilde.�

�� Harry
touched Vivian�s thoughts and nervousness, and set them in motion like a
clockwork toy. Vivian murmured, �I do have some notion of what I would like for
a reward, sir,� even as Harry cast Finite
Incantatem for the spell that had sealed them from observation at the
corner table. A few people cast them startled glances, but Grey didn�t appear
to notice. �One very short-term thing, and one very long-term one.�

�� The
long-term one to be power and influence, of course,� Grey said. He was studying
Draco-as-Harry critically, and probably observing everything from the way he
carried his wand to the make of his robes, Harry knew. Grey was a dangerous
man, though Harry hoped to render him less dangerous after today. �And what is
the short-term one?�

�� Harry gave
Vivian�s nervous cough. Grey turned to him, raising his eyebrow.

�� Harry
paused as if gathering his courage, then lunged across the table, fastened both
his hands on the sides of Grey�s face, and kissed him.

�� And, at the
same moment as Grey was tensing with startlement and then with rage, Malcolm
Therris�whom Harry had invited unbeknownst to anyone, even Draco�stepped out of
a corner room, snapped a photograph, and said in his best professional reporter�s
voice, �Would you consent to tell the Prophet�s
readers the fascinating story of your newly discovered sexual orientation,
Mr. Grey?�

*

�� Thrnbrooke, Mangacat,
FallenAngel1129: Thanks for reviewing!

�� qwerty: Thank
you! Lucius simply contributes money; he did say in his first conversation that
he had no intention of being directly involved with Counterstrike.

�� SoftObsidian74:
Draco will be Harry�for a little while.

�� And thanks
for the compliment! Draco and Harry�s relationship has the more awkwardness to
go through because they haven�t had many conversations that were about them instead
of about their plans to win free of Lucius or support the rebellion.

�� uchiha mikomi: Yes, indeed, major
mischief! Too much to be contained in one chapter!

�� Sara:
Updates should be every three days (or mostly) until I�m done.

�� broomrider949:
Unfortunately, most of Grey�s reaction took place off-stage, but I hope what
happened to him in this chapter works for you!

�� Banner:
Thank you so much! Please don�t hesitate to ask questions or leave constructive
criticism.

�� Yume111:
Very interesting thoughts on brokenness versus wholeness. I would say that
Harry, at least, considers himself broken; he doesn�t have the same strength or
self-confidence that he did when he was at Hogwarts. Instead, those traits are
scattered among several dozen different people, and Harry prefers to go for
deception rather than direct confrontation.

�� And no, I
don�t usually bring up the Hogwarts connection that directly. Most of the time,
I write Harry and Draco as people who have reason to avoid talking about the
past, even though they understand it�s always there.

�� Harry was mostly
trying to understand the Buckbeak connection, since
to him it wouldn�t really make sense that Draco was trying to get at Hagrid so hard if Harry was the main challenge to his
pride.

�� I honestly
didn�t notice how the removal of the spell paralleled their conversation. Huh.

�� Draco doesn�t
like him, but is not personally connected to him.
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Changing of the Guard