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How Noble In Reason	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 11097 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and I am not making any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 4
- 5
- 6
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Five�Draco
Malfoy Is Unfairly Seductive

�� They
arrived at Malfoy Manor. Harry couldn�t actually remember whether it was by
Apparating outside the wards and then walking up the path through the gates, or
whether Malfoy had found a Floo connection somewhere and brought them in like
that. Malfoy was kissing him most of the way, and he couldn�t look up or around
without being drawn back into the kiss.

By the time he was fully conscious
again, Harry found his back against the doorframe of a room he hadn�t seen
before, while Malfoy ripped single-mindedly at his clothes. He�d already popped
three buttons and torn a long strap of cloth from Harry�s robes.

Harry gasped and caught Malfoy�s
wrists. �It�s all right,� he said. �We�re inside now. You can relax.�

�� And what
about you?� Malfoy murmured, biting Harry�s shoulder where he had pulled the
robe back far enough to do so. �Do you get to stay tense and stare at me when
I�m spread out on the bed, waiting for you?�

�� Harry shuddered
helplessly and kissed Malfoy beneath the ear, his fingers reaching out without
his permission to clasp Malfoy�s robes. And then he thought again of what it
would mean for Malfoy if Harry slept with him under false pretenses. Harry
wasn�t truly worried about getting hurt himself. He had been and weathered it.
But for Malfoy to have opened his heart to someone like that and then be
fooled�

�� No. Harry
couldn�t do it, even for the sake of finding out what that magic in the cellars
was. There were other ways to do that. He never should have let Binks talk him
into this one.

�� He stepped
back, although Malfoy�s restless hands had already located skin on his arms and
chest, and shook his head. �I can�t do this,� he said. �It�s not�it�s unfair to
you.�

�� Malfoy
stopped dead and stared at him. Then he said, carefully, �Are you dating
someone else?�

�� Harry shook
his head again. His throat hurt with the pressure of his heart against it. �No.
And I�m not planning to any time soon. It has to do with my motives for starting
the Courtship in the first place. You see��

�� Malfoy wore
an odd expression now, one of mingled satisfaction and contempt. �We�ve been
over that,� he said. �And we�ve established that I didn�t care. Why would you
bring it up again, on the brink of satisfying our desires? Did you think that I
would be able to forget or forgive you for backing out now?�

�� Harry
blinked. He hadn�t looked at it that way. And he couldn�t, because that would
mean drifting into deception again, taking the easy way out, letting Malfoy
believe what he needed to until the moment when Harry had to tell him the
truth. Ultimately, his pain would be worse then, no matter what he might feel
now.

�� I don�t
expect you to forgive me,� Harry said. �But you really need to know why I did this
in the first place. There was an accusation made that��

�� And you
thought you could protect me,� Malfoy interrupted. �Yes, yes, very sweet. But
it doesn�t matter. I would have been
able to tell if you were still only acting on that motive. I�m a good reader of
emotions, and you�re a poor liar. Look me in the eyes and tell me honestly that
you�re only here because of the Ministry.�

�� Harry
hissed under his breath. Of course he wasn�t going to be able to do that, with
his poor acting skills. But Malfoy was making this more complicated than it had
to be.

�� Harry did
try. He leaned forwards, so that he could stare into Malfoy�s eyes from a few
inches away, and said, �The Ministry sent me to Court you, and that�s the only
reason I�m still here.� But his eyes slid to the side, and his tongue stuttered
over the words, and he blushed the way he always had when McGonagall caught him
in the middle of a lie at Hogwarts.

�� Malfoy
laughed. �Yes, of course you are. And why would someone send you to Court me, anyway? Much easier to ask me
questions in a different way or arrest me on the spot, wouldn�t you agree? The
Courting is unnecessary. The Ministry�s always dealt in a high-handed way with
my family, and there�s no reason for them to stop.� Bright bitterness sparked
in his voice.

�� Right,
there isn�t,� Harry muttered, and tried to think of how to say that the
Courting was his insane Head Auror�s idea in such a way that Malfoy would
believe him. Then he realized he didn�t need to do that. He was such a bad liar
that Malfoy would have to believe him if he told the story as it had happened.

�� Harry
looked up, fully intending to do that. His head was full of good intentions, in
fact. He was really going to do it. He had no other thoughts in his mind. He
was the pure and perfect paragon, the fantasy hero and dream lover, that Malfoy
so badly needed, although he would rescue Malfoy without touching his skin.

�� His tongue
stuck to the roof of his mouth and his good intentions fled.

�� Because
Malfoy was slowly but surely stripping, and Harry watched him with desire that
flared up and burned through him like a wildfire, making him shake. His
emotions never got that out of
control, not since he was a teenager.

�� But now
they did.

�� Malfoy
smiled at him, peeling his lips back from his teeth like a hunting cat. Harry
had no idea why even that was wonderful, but it was. Malfoy was lean beneath his robes, as if he never
saw or took advantage of the rich food that abounded at his parties. His limbs
were bony, his skin too pale and stretched taut over the tendons in some
places, his stomach flat with planes of muscle that made him look unhealthy.

�� Harry
didn�t care. Because that lean body belonged to the man who had said that he
trusted Harry, and his eyes were the same, and his smile was, if not the same,
the kind of challenge Harry had never been able to resist.

�� I don�t
believe you that the Ministry made you Court me,� Malfoy said, and took a step
forwards, naked now, rocking on the balls of his feet as if he wanted to test
the floor for sturdiness. His voice never varied from its cool, assessing tone,
and Harry realized that he also found that
arousing, that Malfoy could talk as if nothing had changed when he was
naked like that and Harry was still mostly clothed. �I believe that you came of
your own free will, and you�re frightened now because getting into bed with me
constitutes a new step for you, a step that you can�t back away from.�

�� Harry
scowled at him. He could feel sweat breaking out under his arms and the way his
hands itched. His skin was too hot and packed under the clothes, as if they
were ropes that bound that him instead of very nice robes. �It�s a new step. I
don�t mind admitting that. But it�s not frightening. I�m not frightened.�

�� Yes, you
are,� Malfoy said, and his voice twisted and became mocking. �Poor little
Potter, who can face down a Dark Lord armed with the Elder Wand but not one
naked man asking for his touch. Poor little
Potter, who�ll turn around and march away, secure in his chastity and good
intentions, instead of taking what he really wants. Poor little Potter, who�ll lie awake tonight, wanking himself, and
thinking of me in the embrace of someone else, because I would go there, if only for the pleasure, if you walked out of
here��

�� Harry�s
resolve broke.

�� He dashed
forwards, and Malfoy laughed at him before Harry sealed their mouths together
again and sent them stumbling into the room they stood at the door of. He�d
already seen an immense bed covered with cobalt-blue sheets, so he knew it was
all right for them to be in here, that it was Malfoy�s bedroom or at least a bedroom, and right now Harry wouldn�t
have been adverse to stumbling into a hayloft, as long as it would bring their
bodies together.

�� Malfoy
laughed again as Harry clawed at his own clothes, pulling them off and
shredding them with a spell when they didn�t go fast enough. He pulled himself
up on his elbows and watched Harry�s chest, then looked down at his cock with
critical eyes. Harry realized he was holding his breath, which was ridiculous.

�� Malfoy
reached out and stroked a finger down Harry�s cock as if he wanted to test the
weight and warmth. Then he looked up, back into Harry�s face, and gave him a
cool nod. �You�ll do,� he said.

�� He couldn�t
hide the delight in his eyes any longer, and Harry accepted that as permission.
He pushed Malfoy flat and straddled him, gathering up Malfoy�s cock in one hand
and then his own with it, shoving them together, closing his eyes as smooth
skin rubbed against smooth skin.

�� Oh,� Malfoy
said, and had his eyes shut as if he were looking into a bright light when
Harry next looked at him. He pushed his hips up languidly again and again into
Harry�s hold, and his face was pink with pleasure and his chest was slowly
flushing, too. Harry traced one bony shoulder with his finger, but had to grab
on to Malfoy�s hip in the next moment so that he could keep balanced. �I
don�t�that�s not complicated, but it�s just right.�

�� He fell
silent then, panting and grunting, and Harry felt free to let his hand move
faster and faster. Their skin was slick and sticky, and his fingers ached from
his tight hold. But there was warmth between his fingers, too, pressing against
them and leaking through them, and Malfoy had arched his neck back at an
impossible angle.

�� Staring at
him, Harry thought that this was another kind of vulnerability Malfoy was
trusting him with, that he could see into his body at the moment the same way
he�d seen into his heart when Malfoy spoke to him at the library ceremony�

�� His joints
seemed to thrum. Harry knelt up further and stared into Malfoy�s face as he
gave a few particularly hard jerks.

�� Malfoy�s
eyes fluttered open and he stared at Harry in surprise. Then he reached up, dug
his fingers bruisingly into Harry�s shoulders, and came with a series of
stifled yelps from his throat and knocks from his knees.

�� Harry held
out a few moments longer, admiring the curve of Malfoy�s neck, the click of his
swallowing, and the sudden sodden mess between his fingers. Then he bowed his
head back until he almost touched his shoulders and gave in.

�� It felt
like someone yanking his orgasm out of him, maybe because Malfoy had reached
down to join in, fist squeezing and pulling in an unfamiliar way. But it was
good, and it left him weak, and Harry fell panting across Malfoy�s chest and
mindlessly kissed his shoulder without a thought of what would happen next.

�� That was
something, Potter,� Malfoy said into his ear, and his hands smoothed up Harry�s
back and then down again, as if he wanted to absorb all the warmth and weight
of Harry into his body and readjust it to his liking.

�� Harry
wished he could speak, but his throat was dry and his head aching. He settled
for another kiss and turning over on Malfoy�s chest to look into his eyes.
Malfoy�s face was open, dazed, satisfied, and happy.

�� The guilt
returned with the sight, settling heavily in the middle of Harry�s chest. He
reached out and shifted Malfoy�s head into a new position so that he could more
easily lie on the pillow beside him.

�� What the fuck am I going to do?

�� Harry
didn�t know. He hurt again with the thought. He should have held out against
Malfoy�s seductions, because this would make the inevitable betrayal worse. And
what exactly would he say when Ron and Hermione accused him, rightly, of having
slept with Malfoy of his own free will and made things worse on his own? �Well,
when I saw him naked, I just couldn�t resist?�

�� That was
more information than they would want.

�� It also
happened to be true.

�� Harry felt
the pulse of a new headache come to life in his right temple. He kissed Malfoy
again, half-frantically, and Malfoy fended him off with a push, licking a
promising stripe up from Harry�s neck to his ear.

�� We�ll have
plenty of time for that,� Malfoy murmured. �We�ll have plenty of time for
discussing what this means, for that matter.� He dug his fingers into Harry�s
arm as if he wanted to feel the texture of the flesh and reassure himself of
its reality. �For the present, I think we should both try to sleep.�

�� Harry swallowed
and nodded. And it was very hard not to fall asleep cradled in Malfoy�s arms
and the warmth that seemed to spread out from him like an aura. Harry fought
the descent of his eyelids several times, but the real enemy was the temptation
to simply lie there, count Malfoy�s individual hairs and individual
perfections, and not think of the future.

�� But it
ended. It had to end.

�� Harry began
to shift himself upwards, climbing over the bed�s massive headboard. It wasn�t
easy, but he�d done harder things, and it helped that the bed stood some
distance from the wall. He slithered slowly enough that Malfoy�s arms fell limp
and empty without waking him, and then Harry twisted around and landed
carefully on the floor, wincing in anticipation of creaks.

�� There were
none. Malfoy Manor was an old house, but expertly maintained and cared-for by
house-elves, Harry thought. He had never expected to feel as grateful for that
fact as he did now.

�� Harry cast Reparo on his robes and dressed with
quick, expert motions. He avoided looking at Malfoy as much as he could, but that was no good, because he kept bowing
his head to find some other scattered article of clothing, and that meant that
he could see the bed. Malfoy still lay in the same position, never changing, as
if his post-coital doze was deep and dreamless. Harry fervently hoped he would
remain there until Harry came back, and not just because it would give Harry
more of a chance to do what he needed to do. It might be the last moment of
happiness he would enjoy for some time.

�� If ever.

�� Harry shook
his head and grimaced. He wasn�t worried that Malfoy would go suicidal or never
recover. That would be attributing more power to himself than he possessed and
more delicacy to Malfoy than he possibly could have. Harry didn�t think Malfoy
would consent to die of a broken heart. He would be more likely to hunt down
the person who had hurt him and cause them to die in some slow, painful way.

�� Harry would
be willing to do that for him.

�� Stop thinking in clich�s and find the
dungeons.

�� Harry
picked up his wand and glided out of the room. It was only when he was halfway
down a set of descending stairs that he realized he could have cast a charm to
keep Malfoy safely asleep while he searched.

�� And also
that he couldn�t have done it. His honesty had failed so far, but from now on,
it wouldn�t be permitted to. Harry was going to stand or fall by what naturally
happened as a result of his own stupid actions.

*

�� There was
no problem in finding the way. The minute he entered the dungeons�which seemed
to begin immediately below the floor with Malfoy�s bedroom on�his scar flared
like a bonfire. Harry hissed, cast a slight Numbing Charm on it so that he
could keep his feet and feel it at the same time, and followed the tug of the
pain and heat towards a large iron door with bronze hinges.

�� It was
locked, and from the amount of dust on it, it appeared not to have been opened
in years. Harry examined it with a frown. How had an artifact that could
resurrect Voldemort got in there, if it hadn�t been opened?

�� And then
Harry remembered that the amount of dust that could have built up simply since
Voldemort was living in Malfoy Manor was quite substantial, and blushed in the
dark. It was far from the most embarrassing thing he�d done that day, but it
felt like the last possible straw to the building mound of stupidity he was
carrying around with him.

�� He tried
several unlocking charms, and none of them worked. Then he had what was
probably another idea that wouldn�t work, but at least the flush had died from
his face now and he felt prepared to encounter more embarrassment. Harry
stepped forwards and pressed his forehead against the door, so that his scar
came into contact with the metal.

�� The pain
knocked him down. Harry had to lie there panting for a few minutes, flashes of
white light glowing in his head, until he could sit up.

�� Then he
realized the door was ajar.

�� Gingerly,
Harry pried it further open with a spell and stood, braced against the walls,
ready for some horrible guardian to come rushing out at him. Nothing happened.
Harry picked his way forwards, prepared to see a room full of Malfoy heirlooms
that he would have to spend hours searching for a Horcrux.

�� The room
was empty, however, except for a hole excavated in the middle of the floor, and
something large and white that lay inside it. Harry blinked and examined it. A
huge diamond? It glowed like one in the dim light of his wand. But no, it
didn�t have facets. It was oval-shaped, and had a narrow end and a wide one,
and�

�� It was an
egg.

�� In an instant,
Harry understood what must have happened. Nagini had been female. She was a
Horcrux, and she could either have made the unborn snake one, too, or simply
left a residue of the evil Voldemort had tainted her with on her eggs. Harry
wondered why no one had ever noticed it before. Perhaps the magic had increased
recently as a sign that the snake inside was getting ready to hatch.

�� Whichever
was true, it had to be destroyed. Harry raised his wand and incanted a curse
that Binks would frown sternly about and that the other Aurors would pretend
they didn�t know Harry could perform.

�� The fire
that burst into being in the heart of the egg was nearly as brilliant a white
as the shell of the egg itself and completely silent. Harry had to take a step
back as the sheer heat of it threatened to burn his eyelashes. Then he watched
the fire burn, taking care that, whenever one of the flames reached towards the
outside of the pit, he could wave his wand and head it off.

�� The Caustic
Curse was an excellent means of getting rid of Dark artifacts and the bodies of
twisted magical creatures, but it would burn without stopping anything it could
get a hold of. Harry had to contain it until the original fodder was gone and
the final spark shone, tried to reach out, couldn�t get a grip, and died.

�� Harry took
a deep breath and turned around.

�� Malfoy was
standing in the doorway behind him, his face ashen.

�� Harry
winced and locked his elbows against his sides, trying to brace himself as best
he could. He had planned to go back upstairs the instant he was finished
burning the egg and tell Malfoy the truth. Perhaps it was just as well that
Malfoy had come seeking him, so that he wouldn�t have a chance to put his
confession off.

�� That was
what you came here for,� Malfoy said, his voice dead. �It never had anything to
do with me.� He looked at the pit where the egg had lived and died as if he wanted
to crawl into it and pull the earth in after him. �Not with me,� he whispered.

�� Harry
waited a moment before replying. Yes, the pain in his scar had died, and the
burn was fading as if following the Caustic Curse into oblivion. The source of
Voldemort�s magic was gone. Harry didn�t think there was another one inside the
walls of Malfoy Manor or anywhere nearby.

�� Which made
him feel even more foolish and depressed and angry and stupid. If it was
something so small, why couldn�t they
have approached Malfoy in the first place, asked about it, and then got his
help in destroying it?

�� You didn�t know it was small, Harry
reminded himself, but it sounded like a poor excuse.

�� I�m
sorry,� he said.

�� Malfoy�s
eyes snapped back to his face, and his sneer deepened. �Oh, yes? And that makes
it all better, does it?�

�� Harry shook
his head. �It doesn�t. I just wanted you to know that at the beginning.� He
took a deep breath. �My Head Auror, Benjamin Binks, wanted me to Court you
because he thought it was the best way to get into your house and gain your
trust. He wanted me to investigate the source of Voldemort�s magic that we
could feel here��

�� There was
none of his magic here.� Malfoy had
drawn himself up, and he looked so dignified that it took Harry a long moment
to realize that he was only half-dressed, with pants and a slightly shabby pair
of older trousers on. �I would have known.�

�� What I just
burned was one of his snake�s eggs,� Harry said. �I believe that you weren�t
keeping it hidden on purpose. But I couldn�t be certain of that until I found
it and knew what it was. And it did exist. I could feel my scar burning the
minute I stepped into the Manor that first evening.�

�� Malfoy went
pale. For a moment, his tongue tangled around his teeth without sound, as if he
couldn�t decide which question he wanted to ask first. Then he snapped, �And
you couldn�t simply come to me and tell me
this?�

�� Binks decided,
and I agreed, that you wouldn�t have a reason to cooperate with Aurors,� Harry
said simply, never looking away. His chest apparently had a large shard of some
kind through it, a shard of bone or eggshell, or so he thought from the way his
heart hurt. But it didn�t matter. He had to go ahead with the truth. �I didn�t
want to use the Courting as a way of getting close to you. I thought you would
refuse my first letter and gift. But I should have fought harder to avoid
hurting you. I�m sorry.�

�� Malfoy shut
his eyes. �Your denials make a lot more sense now,� he whispered.

�� Harry
nodded. �I�m sorry.� Such inadequate words, and he wasn�t sure why he kept
repeating them. Did he want Malfoy to believe them and give him another chance?
But that wasn�t going to happen even if Malfoy did believe them. Why should he
accept someone who hadn�t fought hard enough for him?

�� Why did
you continue to go along with the Courting?� Malfoy�s eyes sprang open, and now
he spoke in a cold voice, the voice that Harry had heard Ron use when he was
trying to avoid getting emotionally involved in the details of a hard case.
�Why didn�t you want to do it in the first place?�

�� I thought
you would have changed from the boy I knew in school,� Harry said. �I didn�t
want to hurt you��

�� Malfoy
interrupted him with a low, ugly laugh that seemed to have pieces of flesh
floating in it.

�� Harry
looked away and winced. �I know. I�m sorry.�

�� Then why
go along with it?� Malfoy�s voice was even flatter now, and looking at him,
Harry could practically see him building up the cold wall to withdraw behind
it. He wanted to say something about that, to implore Malfoy not to do it, but
how could he? Malfoy had every right, and maybe it was the only thing that
would keep him safe in a world of people determined to use him for their own
reasons.

�� I couldn�t
think of any better plan, I kept hoping that you would wake up, and I was
attracted to you,� Harry said. �That�s really the truth.�

�� Yes,
you�re a bad liar, aren�t you,� Malfoy said. �So my only alternative is to
believe that you were reluctant, but that being a good Auror mattered more to
you than being a good lover. That you slept with me because you�re attracted to
me, and because you weren�t strong enough to hold yourself back.�

�� Harry was
the one who wanted to crawl into the pit in the floor, now. He had to keep
standing there and nod, though, because it was what adults did.

�� Malfoy
stared blankly at the wall. �It was you,� he said.

�� What?�
Harry wouldn�t have asked if he could have avoided it, but the word sprang past
his lips without permission.

�� When I
dreamed of a lover who could rescue me, and then when I changed my mind and
just wanted someone honest and attractive.� Malfoy was rubbing his mouth with
the back of one hand. �It was you. It was always you. I told myself to be
content with someone else, that I could be
content with someone else, and not to trust you when you began the Courting.
But I had no choice. What would you do if one of your dreams came to life and
acted exactly as you always hoped he would? You would reach out and hang on
with both hands. I�m not in love with you�and thank Merlin for that�but I kept
thinking you would be perfect, in the way that fantasies always are. And then
the fantasy seemed to be coming true.� Another ugly laugh. �I can�t even trust
my own perceptions or my own dreams anymore.�

�� Harry
didn�t think anything he could say would be profound enough for the pain in
Malfoy�s voice. He moved forwards, arms reaching out, not sure he would be
allowed to embrace Malfoy, but wanting to, to show�

�� Malfoy
snapped around to face him. �Get out,� he said. �If I see you in my house
again, I�ll kill you.�

�� Harry
remained still a moment longer, wondering if he should try to atone, to heal
Malfoy, or at least apologize.

�� But he�d
hurt him enough, and there wasn�t a hint in Malfoy�s demeanor that indicated a
secret yearning for Harry to comfort him. Harry nodded and left.

�� The pain
accompanied him all the way, and all through his report to Binks, and to bed at
night.

*

�� Enamoril:
No chance of Harry going Dark, fortunately or unfortunately. He really is a
dedicated Auror in this, and the situation kind of sucks because of that.

�� Harry may
be lovable, but he did betray Draco�s trust.

�� alison
july: Thank you!

�� W�lkchen:
Well, I do like complicated stories, but a lot of time, the plot idea comes
first. So Harry and Draco�s reactions follow from that, rather than from my
trying to make it as complicated as possible. ;)

�� I do hope
you like this chapter despite the angst.

�� polka dot: Harry
doesn�t consider it whoring because he did it of his own free will. And under
normal circumstances, the Courting wouldn�t require sex.

�� Caldonya:
Thank you! I think the quicksand broke open here.

�� Soria: The reason
I couldn�t have a Draco POV here is because that would have let on as to
whether he was innocent or not. But the cat is out of the bag now.
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How Noble In Reason