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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
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Thanks again for all the reviews!

I�m afraid I still can�t say how long this story will be.

Chapter Five�The Dance

�� Harry knew
this dance would be something special the moment they began.

�� He�d danced
the Estival before, with people he�d been hired to escort, with attendees at
parties where he�d been the bodyguard or the token dark, handsome stranger, and
by himself when he�d played an entertainer for a witch who wanted her dance to
be the talk of the season. He knew the steps. He knew where the music unexpectedly
changed, bubbling like a fountain, imitating the sudden rise of summer out of
spring, and where it slowed down again like the descent of long, lazy summer
evenings.

�� But knowing
was one thing, and knowing was another.

�� Draco�s
body knew the dance. He moved with perfection, and yet the perfection
wasn�t mechanical, the kind of stance that Harry tended to fall into whenever
he had to portray a dancing persona. He always held his arms the correct
distance from each other, but it seemed a natural coincidence they fell where
they did. When he clasped Harry close and whirled in a circle, it seemed to
happen because he wanted to do it, not because the dance called for it.

�� Harry,
half-breathless already, felt his joy and his magic surge and blend together,
lending extra force to his muscles. Draco demanded the best effort from him,
and Harry gave it willingly.

�� It was
necessary for the deception, he told himself, meeting Draco�s eyes and nearly
laughing aloud at the warm calculation he saw there. Draco needed someone who
could complement him, so that was what he should have.

�� And if ever
Harry�s mask was going to fall off�which it would not, because he would be so
cautious to prevent it�it would not be whilst he was dancing.

*

�� Draco did
indeed learn much about Brian by watching him dance. But the messages were so
thick and came so fast that he had to divert part of his attention from the
Estival to comprehend them.

�� And he
didn�t want to do that. There was a current of energy flowing between them that
demanded focus. Draco found himself tempted, for the first time in a
long time, to simply fall into the moment and enjoy it without considering what
lay beyond�to move as if they had no audience.

�� He could
not, but he regretted that he could not. So he sacrificed a shade of the
artistry with which he would have liked to dance in order to study Brian. From
the wide, amazed eyes fixed on him, Draco doubted Brian noticed that Draco�s
performance was not actually his best.

�� Brian was
responding to Draco. He could have danced this by himself, but not as well.
Draco could see that in the slightly harsh turns his wrists sometimes made, as
if he had to consciously remind himself where they went. It resembled the care
taken over a language by someone who wasn�t a native speaker.

�� He did
say that he had studied pure-blood culture, and wasn�t born to it natively.

�� He also
didn�t have the flair for keeping track of two different audiences at once that
Draco did. His gaze almost always stayed on Draco, and solely on Draco. He was
performing for their audience only because Draco was, and he could follow in
his footsteps.

�� That
could be a problem. Or maybe it�s only a result of that Gryffindor-like
instinct he�s demonstrated so far. If he can throw my parents and wizarding
society off-balance, I don�t care if he does it in exactly the way I do. Of
course, I�ll have to compensate for any weaknesses that come up with his
method.

�� Draco
kicked into a high, hard turn, one that required Brian to turn at the same time
and come around at precisely the same moment to lock his hand in Draco�s. It
was the first true test of any partners performing the Estival. Up until that
point, they had traded the lead rather than acting in the same way
simultaneously.

�� Draco felt
curiosity bubbling in his throat, thick as stew. Would Brian manage this? And
would it be more interesting to see him succeed or fail? Whatever happened,
Draco was sure it would not be disastrous. Brian was too good for that.

�� And so
am I.

�� His hand
swung around�and warm fingers clasped his, then slid to his wrist, even as
Draco clasped Brian�s in return. Startled, he met Brian�s gaze and only then
realized he had anticipated failure instead of success. Brian winked at him and
fell into the next part of the dance, this one requiring a long series of
three-quarter steps�three steps sideways and one forwards, or three beats of
dancing with their profiles towards one another and one beat of facing. Draco
narrowed his eyes, almost daring to squint and make his face appear sour to
anyone watching in order to be sure of what he was seeing.

�� Yes.

�� Brian was
dancing better than he had been before they completed their spin. His
movements were just a little more natural, and he didn�t keep his gaze
exclusively on Draco. It was as though he had already begun to learn from Draco
how someone born to pure-blood culture performed the Estival, and no longer
needed as much help.

�� If he could
learn that fast, if he was not simply remembering a skill that had grown rusty�

�� Draco felt
a tightness in his groin and a dryness in his mouth. He could not have said
whether caution or excitement was the uppermost emotion in his mind by the time
they turned through a final measure and the dance ended.

�� There was
no applause, of course, save for that to be found in the quick sound of their
own breathing and the rustle of their robes that moved with it. But then Brian
flicked his eyes past Draco�s head, and Draco saw his father stalking towards
him with a face like a stormcloud, and he could name the emotion uppermost in
him after all.

�� Glee.

*

�� As
they had agreed, Harry left Draco to his father�s tender mercies whilst he
leaned back against a wall and waited for Narcissa. Other people glanced at
him, and certainly gossiped about him, if the muted hum of busy voices was any
indication. But no one approached him, until Draco�s mother slipped around them
like a deer and came to a halt in front of Harry, staring at him. Harry could
read wariness and confusion behind her eyes. She was less certain than she had
been that Draco had brought a man simply to anger his parents, because Brian
danced too well for Draco to have selected him by chance.

�� That, of
course, was the direction Draco wanted his parents� suspicions to tend in,
Harry knew. If they once suspected this were a deception, the whole point would
be ruined. So Harry held out his hands to the sides, performing a deep, formal
bow that once would have been used to claim hospitality of the pure-blood
mistress of a manor house, and then drew out the gift from his robes that would
pay for that hospitality.

�� Narcissa
uttered a cry in spite of herself, like a snared little bird, though she
quickly cut it off. Her hands trembled as she accepted the gift and held it up
to the light. Harry watched her with a small, anxious half-smile on his face;
Brian would want to know whether his gift passed muster with a woman who had
good reason to be picky.

�� It was a
golden oval, studded here and there with faint scarlet traceries and blue jags
like the shadows of flames. They might have been painted on, but if so, the
colors were richer than anything found in the normal run of palettes.

�� As it
happened, they hadn�t been painted on. This was a phoenix egg, hollowed
of its contents and preserved with charms so it wouldn�t crumble the first time
a hand touched it. Harry had found it in an old Muggle antique shop. The Muggle
thought he was selling some miniature ostrich egg and had no idea of its true
value, so Harry had got it relatively cheaply.

�� It was not
a cheap gift, however, and from the bewildered look Narcissa was giving him
over the top of the egg, she must not have imagined how he could afford it.

�� I�Mr.
Montgomery, this is a princely gift,� Narcissa said, and seemed to get some of
her breath back. She lowered the egg to rest against her waist. �More than I
could have expected when I was welcoming a new friend of Draco�s into the
house.�

�� Harry,
opening his mouth to agree, saw the trap in the words just in time.

�� Not only
friend,� he murmured, and shifted to lean his weight more heavily against the
wall. He could be very formal with his gifts and his words, but his posture
wouldn�t improve until he was sure that he was welcome here. He knew Narcissa
would see that as the subtle rebellion it was. Indeed, her nostrils were
already pinching shut, as though to shut out an offensive smell. �Partner and
lover, as Draco announced to you.�

�� Narcissa
uttered a laugh that might have passed muster if Harry hadn�t been listening
very closely for the edge of despair in it. �Mr. Montgomery, you must
understand that until today, I had no idea my son liked men.�

�� Harry
straightened and opened Brian�s eyes very wide. �Are you sure, Mrs. Malfoy? He
told me he had tried to offer you hints, even as he kept our relationship
secret out of thoughtfulness�s sake. He finally chose this drastic method
because he thought it the only way of proving he meant what he said.�

�� Narcissa�s
face drained of color. Harry supposed she was remembering the hints Draco had
tried to offer her in the past, and perhaps taking them seriously for the first
time. He was glad. Though he didn�t like the sight of a woman like Narcissa in
pain, if she could take some of the blame on herself, Draco�s relationship with
her would be easier to repair in the future.

�� I��
Narcissa cleared her throat. �Draco is a Malfoy,� she said firmly. �He knows
how things work. I would not have objected to discreet affairs on the side, as
long as he kept them discreet.� She turned eyes that shone like nails on
Harry. �And because you obviously have familiarity with our manners, Mr.
Montgomery, I would have expected you to remind him if he slipped. Why did you
not discourage this plan the moment he thought it up?�

�� She
assumes it was all Draco�s plan. Good. The last thing Harry wanted was
Lucius or Narcissa thinking Brian was clever or dangerous. They had to see
Draco as the motive force behind this in order to respect him and not convince
themselves their poor son had been tricked and deluded by the lover he was
infatuated with.

�� I have
remained quiet and secret for a long time,� Harry said softly. �But I was tired
of it. And when Draco decided that he had to make the announcement�� He
looked towards Draco and conjured a good expression of hopeless love, one he�d
practiced in the mirror at Metamorphosis until it looked right. �Could you have
refused him, do you think, if you were in my position?�

�� Narcissa
recoiled. �I will never be in your position,� she said, and her voice
had gone frosty.

�� Harry gave
her a gentle look, and leaned forwards. This was not exactly the strategy that
Draco had outlined to him the first time they met, but then again, the moves he
expected of his parents had changed the moment Narcissa went to confront Harry
instead of allowing Lucius to do so first. �We both are in the same
position, Mrs. Malfoy,� he said. �We both love Draco.�

�� A man who
loved him would not permit this,� Narcissa said. She moved the word man around
in her mouth as if it were a toenail-flavored Every Flavour Bean. �He is making
a fool of himself.�

�� Is he?�
Harry moved his head so he could rake his eyes over the people in the room.
Most of them were still talking in small clusters, but some had moved to the
dance floor. None of them really looked at Draco and Lucius. Their glances,
when they gave any, were reserved for Narcissa and Brian. Harry barely resisted
the temptation to nod in satisfaction. �I don�t see that. I�m the unknown here,
the one who runs the greater risk. It will take some time yet for Draco to lose
the respect of the people here, if he ever does.� Anyone who paid attention to
Draco�s business practices and the way he could read people would continue to
respect him no matter what his parents thought, Harry knew. They might think of
him as disgusting, but they would not underestimate him. �Draco wanted to do
this, Mrs. Malfoy, and I have faith in him to have accurately predicted the
consequences. He�s decided he can live with them. Who am I to question that
decision?�

�� Who are
you indeed?� Narcissa speared him with a glance. �I would feel much more
confident if I knew more about you.�

�� Harry
smiled and spread his hands. �My past is an open book, Mrs. Malfoy.� Quite
literally.

�� Who were
your parents?� Narcissa demanded. She was moving more openly and aggressively
than Harry had thought she would, but then, she had been badly shocked, and no
one had come close enough to hear them yet.

�� My father
was a Muggle. Daniel Montgomery.� Harry wanted to laugh in spite of himself at
the way Narcissa contracted into herself, as if Muggle heritage were something
one could catch. All pure-bloods were ridiculous about that, really. No matter
how interesting Harry found their culture and how much sympathy he had with the
plight of their gay sons and lesbian daughters, he would never see how they
could simultaneously believe dirty blood was inherent to certain people and act
as if it would infect them. �My mother was a witch named Emma Handler who ran
away from her people at a young age.�

�� Pure-blood?�
Narcissa rapped out.

�� Of
course.� Harry met her gaze calmly. One Handler family in wizarding England had
died out entirely, running into an advanced age with no young children left.
The other had moved to Ireland ages ago and somehow got mixed up with the
Troubles in Northern Ireland; apparently they were strong Catholics. Either
way, Narcissa would not find it easy to trace and disprove Brian�s claim. Harry
had made sure of that before he chose the name of Handler.

�� That my
son would sink to dirtying himself with a half-blood,� Narcissa said. Whether
Harry was meant to hear it, he wasn�t sure.

�� Brian would
not have remained silent on hearing it, though, so he leaned forwards and
scowled ferociously. �That�s Draco�s choice,� he said. �Of course you
have to care about it, but you can�t expect me to stand here and not object.�

�� Narcissa�s
eyes glowed with a spark of anguish for a moment before she bowed her head to
hide it. Then she held out a hand. �Perhaps you would favor me with a dance
now, Brian?� she asked, casting a glance at the dance floor. �I do not think
this song is as lively as the Estival, but one must be able to move to more
than one measure.�

�� Harry took
her hand, admiring the way she had had tried to deflect him from her hostility.
Her use of his first name could be read as a tacit apology for the remark about
half-bloods, instead of the lulling of him she hoped to make it into.

�� He had to
admire her motivation, too. She did not care so much about her public
embarrassment as she did about Draco�s, and if she could show him that his new
partner was unfit for him, she could separate them with less pain for her son.

�� With
pleasure, madam,� he said, and kissed the back of her hand. Narcissa loosed a
tiny, trembling breath, and then fixed a smile on her face and led him to the
floor.

�� It was a
long waltz that Harry knew perfectly well, and he disappointed Narcissa by
likewise dancing it perfectly, and seeming to enjoy himself.

*

�� Father,�
Draco said, with the calm coolness that Lucius had taught him in their dealings
together.

�� Already the
anger had vanished from his father�s expression. Lucius nodded and raised a
hand. A house-elf appeared next to him, bowed, and handed over a glass full of
the mixed juices of rare fruits that Lucius had recently taken a liking to.

�� Draco
laughed silently to himself. Lucius was showing off how much command he had
over the house, subtly reminding his son that he still controlled the
property Draco would inherit someday. But his mask was not perfect. If he had
wanted to express true confidence, he would have ordered wine.

�� But that
would be a gesture of foolish bravado in this case, and Lucius knew that, and
Draco knew he knew that, and Lucius probably knew that he knew that Lucius
knew. So fruit juice it would be, and a crack in the fa�ade.

�� His father
didn�t say anything for long moments, simply sipping at the fruit juice and
closing his eyes at the taste. When Draco had been younger, tactics like that
had frustrated him incredibly. Now he waited for Lucius to speak, his gaze as
distant and calm and faintly amused as he really felt.

�� Lucius gave
up on waiting for him to speak first after perhaps two minutes. �You realize
that I can�t allow this to continue, Draco,� he said.

�� Draco
quickly changed his notion of how much his father really knew him. Lucius
thought of Draco as a copy of himself, yes, but Draco had had no idea that
Lucius still thought him responsive to threats. Draco hadn�t been that
cowardly in a long time, and his father was a good enough player to notice. So
he hadn�t allowed himself to notice, because there would have been no
reason to use a tactic this clumsy if he hadn�t expected it to work.

�� I realize
that you think that, yes,� Draco said, �and that you would never forgive
yourself if you didn�t comment on it.�

�� Lucius�s
gaze came too quickly to him, flickering, sharp. There had been a time when
Draco had lain awake at night in a cold sweat, dreading to attract that gaze.
But that time had passed.

�� He was
thirty years old today. Really, he ought to have claimed more independence than
he had. So far, running his own business and conducting his love affairs in
private had been enough for him. But now he was striking out on his own, and
Lucius must be brought to realize that by force.

�� You do not
know what you will do to your mother if you continue to press this lover
of yours on the world.�

�� Draco was
amazed. Still threats? Well, unless this was a long-term strategy of
Lucius�s�and Draco thought he would have noticed if his father was planning
something like that�he might as well hit hard during this moment of weakness.

�� I know
exactly what I will be doing,� Draco said. �I watched her face when Ernie
Macmillan was suspected of cheating on his wife with another man.� The rumor
had not been true, but it had taken Macmillan more than two years of stiffly
upright behavior to remove the tarnish from his name. Really, rumors of one�s
sexual orientation had become one of the blunter political weapons in the
wizarding world since the war. A means the older generation used to control the
younger, Draco thought in disgust. People like his father always had believed
too much in control, rather than allying with the powerful men and women
growing up under them and ensuring they carried the older generation�s ideals
forwards into the future.

�� He fell
silent, watching his father�s face, letting Lucius absorb the implications.
Draco knew about the damage he would inflict on Narcissa, and that was not
enough to stop him.

�� Lucius
growled under his breath. �Do you know what damage you will be doing to the
family name?�

�� Oh,� Draco
breathed. �Yes.�

�� He had to
be careful, he knew; he had to be delicate. He must not let his father suspect
that he wanted to be disowned. So he put a bit of glee but a lot of
challenge into his tone, as much to say that he wanted to take the Malfoy name
away from Lucius and stamp his own signet on it.

�� Lucius
tightened all through his body, like a slamming gate. He nodded once, his eyes
fastened on Draco, then flicked his gaze towards the corner where Narcissa was
still talking to Brian. Brian didn�t look at all bothered, flustered, or
worried. Draco felt another small squirming of happiness in the bottom of his
gut. He put it politely aside before it could show on his face.

�� A young
man,� Lucius said, �of no family. He is at least a half-blood, perhaps a
Mudblood.�

�� His father
was Muggle,� Draco said, vastly amused. Didn�t Lucius realize he would
have made sure of his lover�s heritage long before now? �His mother was a
pure-blood witch of once good family, now sunken. I suppose I might have
partially chosen him out of a sense of nostalgia.�

�� Lucius
stiffened still further at the covert reference to the Dark Lord. �Rich, I
suppose?� he said.

�� Oh, no,�
Draco said, and this time gilded the top of his tone with disappointment, so
that his father would fall right into the trap, and try to bribe Brian.

�� Lucius
raised an eyebrow and said, �Such a failure of taste, Draco. One could condemn
you for that, if for nothing else.� And he turned towards the dance floor, as
if bored of the conversation. Brian was dancing with Narcissa now, Draco saw,
keeping the steps flawlessly.

�� Lucius had
already made a subtle signal to one of his friends near the front of the
muttering crowd. The friend had two daughters just out of Hogwarts. They were
to be his distractions, Draco knew, people he could not comfortably ignore for
fear of offending good marriage prospects, whilst his father approached Brian
alone and tried to intimidate him. Perhaps Narcissa would face him at the same
time, and add tearful pleadings to Lucius�s quiet offers. His parents worked
well together, Draco thought. He had watched their buried love and their trust
in each other act to control the social circles in which the Malfoys moved for
years.

�� He allowed
only a slight tremor of disquiet to trouble his mind as he turned to the
Moonstone family. He had not prepared Brian to encounter both his parents at
once.

�� Then he had
to smother a grin.

On the other hand, nothing had
prepared his parents to encounter Brian.

*

qwerty, Takumi Fujiwara, Luvdonite,
esrinthly, shadow, Mangacat, thrnbrooke, BloodyRoseBlack, Christabell: Thanks
for reviewing!

SoftObsidian74: Thank you! How well
Harry and Draco know each other will be a point of contention as the story
moves on.

Blaise may or may not become
involved in the story; I haven�t decided yet.

Though there are times when I think
the top/bottom dynamic works well in fanfiction, most of the time I don�t think
it does. The stories tend to fall into familiar patterns, not only of
relationships but also of plot.

Anon: As a matter of fact, I am
writing this story as I go, the way I do all of my stories.

Prettypinkpony: Thanks! You�ve been
added to the mailing list.

�� Tac: Thank
you so much! There will be some exciting wrestling matches as they learn to
communicate better and settle things out into a routine.

�� Hi-chan:
Happy birthday! And nope, I don�t take longer. Same update schedule as the
others. ;)

�� Yume111: Thanks
very much! The description is going to be important in this story, since both
Brian/Harry and Draco learn so much from it.

�� Draco will
be extremely wary of forming any attachment. Harry sees it as less of a
problem, since he normally leaves when the job is done.

�� Harry�s
personality/identity does become an issue, yes.

�� Banner: Thanks!
And you�re right about Narcissa; she really does love Draco, but that includes
him living the life she�s deemed best for him.

�� Lunatic
with a hero complex: Thank you! I hope this story will be my best mixture of
humor and angst yet. The plot means that there�s bound to be some frivolity
even as the relationship develops further.

�� Merenwen
Nenya: Huh. I think Harry is very emotional, as you can see her when he gets
into the dancing with Draco. He�s definitely calmer and not as much of a
hothead, but he wouldn�t have been able to do this job if he was.
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Changing of the Guard

Chapter Five�The Dance