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Easy as Falling	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 31246 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 4
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I am making no money from this fanfic.

Chapter List
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Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Five—Meditating Offers

            Harry buried his head in his hands. He wanted to speak, but he couldn’t trust which words would come out of his mouth. The sane thing to do would be to reject Malfoy’s offer, after all. None of his friends would be happy about it, and his friends were the only ones supporting him right now. And of course Malfoy was probably a sneaky, untrustworthy, Slytherin bastard, just like always.

            But he’s offering to help me, and if he did that, then Ron and Hermione wouldn’t be the only ones who believe in me anymore.

            Harry had to look up and shake his head, though. He just couldn’t trust Malfoy. He thought Malfoy might stand behind him until something better came along, but what happened when the something better did? Harry would find himself without the “support” he’d been counting on in less time than it would take Malfoy to recite his ancestors.

            “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t think it would work out.”

            Malfoy then violated all the secret tenets of Slytherin behavior that Harry assumed they sat around their common room making up. He brushed a bit of dust from his robes and sniffed, but he didn’t get up and storm out of the room, promising that Harry would rue the day when he rejected him. He stared at Harry for long seconds before he spoke, too, to the point that Harry was considering breaking the silence again just so it wouldn’t linger anymore.

            “You make a habit of throwing my gifts back in my face,” he said. “I’m getting tired of it.”

            Harry stared at him. “What gift have you ever given me? Aside from this. And you’re running for Minister, Malfoy. No offense, but the Ministers are all corrupt one way or the other. If you helped me, it would be for personal gain, and temporary.”

            Malfoy narrowed his eyes. “That would be rather stupid, wouldn’t it? You have so much power that anyone betraying you could suffer a nasty death. And I’m referring to my friendship, in first year.”

            “I might as well tell you this,” Harry said, deciding to ignore the “friendship” part. If Malfoy wanted to revisit ancient history, he could go and stare into a mirror. Harry was only interested in modern history. “I’m going to tell everyone else this. I don’t intend to kill anyone.”

            Malfoy blinked. Then he said, “You would have to, if someone came after you with the intent of taking the Dark Lord down, which of course they’ll do the instant people start taking you seriously.”

            Harry stood up. “Maybe a demonstration is in order?” he asked. “You can consider this my gift to you. It’s the most useful kind of gift, the kind that stops you making stupid mistakes later.” And much more useful than that dictionary Hermione tried to give to me.

            Malfoy opened his mouth, but Harry had already begun to concentrate. The chair Malfoy sat in floated off the floor and up towards the ceiling. When it got there, it turned sideways, so that Malfoy was tilted between the ceiling and the wall. He would be safe, as long as he hung onto the chair, but he could slip in a second if he shifted position too much.

            “How extraordinary,” Malfoy said a minute later, during which Harry watched him trying to pick his hands up from the chair cushion and his hands didn’t cooperate. “My hands don’t appear to want to come undone.”

            Harry leaned back against the desk and smiled at him. “No, they don’t. That’s partially Hogwarts, and partially me. Wouldn’t want you to fall, now.”

            “Hogwarts,” Malfoy said, and peered down at him with wide eyes. Despite their wideness, Harry frowned. Malfoy seemed to have forgotten he was several feet in the air.

            “Yes,” Harry said. “I bonded with Hogwarts, and now it has the will to defend itself and defend me. So anything you try against me is going to fail.” He paused, and waited, and when Malfoy said nothing again, added, “You can proceed to gape at me and my genius at any time.”

*

            So he does have a glimmering of native wit to go along with the power. I was getting worried.

            Draco leaned back in his chair, in the awkward position that his body and his stuck hands were going to maintain for him whether or not he wanted them to, and took stock. At the moment, he was suspended above the ground in a chair that wouldn’t move even though he wanted it to, and the man he’d come to propose an alliance with was a crazy Dark Lord who might or might not let him fall.

            Except…

            I don’t intend to kill anyone.

            Draco had assumed that was a lie the moment the chair flew upwards. But now that he thought about it, and about the position the chair rested in, he had to admit it seemed to be true. Potter could have done any number of things to him. Instead, he’d lifted Draco in the air and made sure he was safe. An incredible demonstration of power without a wand, even if he was speaking the truth about being bonded to Hogwarts, but not painful. Not harmful. Simply designed to impress someone and make them back away, a gibbering wreck.

            Fortunately for Potter, Draco wasn’t one of those people who could be so easily impressed. He kicked back in the chair instead and smiled at Potter, who blinked at him as though he had honestly never thought someone could do that.

            “So I know what you are now,” Draco said conversationally. “You’ve convinced me you’re powerful, and you could be scary. But you won’t scare anyone as long as you just put them in chairs and herd them into the walls. You could do that with a few wizards who don’t suspect you, sure. But what could you do with an army?”

            He leaned out as far as he could without straining his arms and looked Potter in the eye. “That’s why you need me. Someone who knows what to do, to make sure the armies never march on Hogwarts.”

            Potter stared at him for a few seconds, and then spun his fingers. The chair that held Draco detached itself from the wall and plummeted towards the floor. Draco reminded himself of how small the distance was, and managed to lounge back on the chair and look as though he was enjoying a ride on a flying carpet.

            Or so he flattered himself, anyway. From the way Potter stared at him now, he might have worn any number of strange expressions, or been doing any number of odd things.

            “I don’t understand,” Potter said. “I thought you were a coward. Why would you not be afraid of what I can do to you?” He sounded—deep, Draco thought, listening to him. Not philosophically, but as though there was something attached to his voice in the back of his throat, half-choking the words as they emerged.

            Then the sense of his words, rather than the sound of them, caught up with Draco’s brain. Draco sat up, and couldn’t prevent himself from baring his teeth, as ridiculous as that probably looked. “I am not a coward,” he said.

            “I remember the way you were afraid of Voldemort,” Potter said. He didn’t sound as though he was particularly accusatory. “How afraid you were during the war. You didn’t seem brave to me.”

            Draco shook his head violently. “You haven’t paid enough attention to me since then, Potter,” he began.

            “Well, no,” Potter said, and his eyebrows went further up. “Didn’t think we would ever cross paths again, did I? Didn’t have reason. You probably wouldn’t have cared about anything I did ever again, except that I took over Hogwarts and proclaimed myself Dark Lord, and that means that you have to care.”

            Draco folded his arms, glad that his hands released the chair cushion on command. “I’m not a coward,” he said, and rose from his chair without unfolding his arms. Potter looked mildly impressed. That wouldn’t be enough for Draco, though, not now. He thought he knew another reason that Potter was showing himself so reluctant to ally with him. If he thought Draco was a coward, then he might also think he would break and run at any second.

            That wasn’t going to happen. Draco would make sure of it. He would show Potter. He would make him accept him. This was no longer solely a practical alliance. It had become a means of recuperating his lost pride.

            Why do so many of my worst memories revolve around Potter?

            Well, that one was easy enough to answer, honestly, Draco thought, taking a moment to shake his head at himself instead of at Potter. Because Potter was prominent and powerful in the wizarding world, and other people who also wanted to matter to it would have to deal with him at least once. It would be like asking why so many people had bad memories involving Dumbledore or Minister Fudge. They were there, they had to be dealt with.

            But at least Draco could be fairly sure that his bad memories focused on Potter were unique.

            “I am no longer a coward,” Draco said, and his voice was strong enough to make Potter pay attention to him, at least, which was something. “I am no longer someone you can’t depend on. I don’t want you disregarding me, Potter. When I offer you an alliance, it’s sincerely meant, and I can do things for you as well as having you protect me.”

            Potter just raised his eyebrows higher. “But I haven’t heard yet what you can do for me. There’s been a lot of hints and insinuations and gestures in the distant direction of what might be a plan, but you haven’t told me outright.”

            A little more wit. And he’s right. Draco marked up a moment’s chagrin against himself. He hated the way Potter was so direct and Gryffindor and only valued qualities that were traditionally Gryffindor, but on the other hand, he knew Potter was like that, and he had still tried to treat him as if he were a Slytherin.

            “Fine,” Draco said. “I can recommend good professors for you to hire, people who are practical and know their subjects, but who would never think of applying to teach at Hogwarts, because they know the tradition of the Headmistress and the Headmaster hiring colleagues who reflect their values.”

            “If you’re telling me that I should hire an expert in Dark Arts to teach Defense—”

            “Why not?” Draco snapped. “As long as they were good at the Defense part, too. I don’t see anything wrong with having experts do the things they’re good at, things that the students need to know.”

            “Because they might curse students, too?” Potter snapped back. “And all these people you know who are experts and are sitting around doing nothing…they wouldn’t happen to be pure-bloods, would they? I want a Hogwarts like the one I grew up in, like the one Dumbledore had, where Muggleborns were actually welcome. I’m not going to hire someone to teach who automatically flinches when half their students walk into the classroom. The welfare of the students matters more to me than an adult's prejudices.”

            Time to be blunter still, Draco thought. He took a deep breath, thought of what Rosenthal would say if she could see him now, and almost snickered. It was fun, in a way, indulging his tongue with all the sorts of things he couldn’t say in front of press conferences and reporters.

            “You’re never going to get a Hogwarts like the one Dumbledore had,” he told Potter. “You’ve taken over the school and declared yourself Dark Lord. That creates a certain kind of atmosphere, and even if you took over the title of Headmaster, people aren’t going to forget it. This is different, now. In saving Hogwarts, you’ll change it. You have no choice. Time goes on, and the world turns, Potter. Believe me, I know. I couldn’t even consider running for Minister if that wasn’t true.”

            Potter stared hard at him, and seemed to champ his jaws a few times, although Draco didn’t know if that was the truth or just his own stereotypes about Gryffindors coming into play. Then he lowered his head and said, “You never should have run for Minister at all.”

            Draco drew his robes close to him. It was the only gesture of defiance he could make, in the face of Potter’s magic, but he was still going to make it. “You know what? I came here in good faith, to offer you help that you’re not going to find elsewhere and honesty that you’re not going to get from your friends because they have all the same problems that you do. But if you’re going to throw it into my face, then I might as well back away from you, because you won’t give a shit about anything I say anyway.”

            Potter let him walk to the office door before he cleared his throat. Draco stopped with his hand on the door handle. “What?” he snapped, without looking over his shoulder. “If you’re going to deny it, I won’t listen.”

            “I’m sorry.”

            Draco closed his eyes before he turned around. Rosenthal would scold him for the depth of his reaction, but she wasn’t here. And this was something he would keep in his head, and not say aloud, because it would sound stupid to anyone who wasn’t him.

            “What for?” Draco asked. “If it’s everything, then you have to spend a lot of time rethinking it. If it’s just for saying that one stupid thing, then you’ll probably say something as stupid and thoughtless in the future.”

*



            I didn’t ask you to come here, you idiot. Why would you think I’d be happy that you plan to march in and change everything?

            But Harry didn’t say it. He had to think about it, and he had to admit that running for Minister, if nothing else, showed that Malfoy wasn’t a coward. He had to know he would face hatred. Yet he was out there anyway, doing what he thought was the right thing to do. He was more than likely wrong, but he had still done it.

            While Harry had sat around whining about how no one was doing anything to change the wizarding world and his magic was good for nothing until he saw the newspaper article about Hogwarts.

            He nodded a little, eyes on Malfoy. “Sorry for what I said to you. Sorry for not realizing I would have to change Hogwarts to save it.” It was true that that revelation still stung the inside of his mouth like tart oranges, but the more he thought about it, the truer it was. He wasn’t Dumbledore, so he couldn’t run the school the way Dumbledore would have run it.

            And not everything Dumbledore had done made him a saint, either. Harry would never want to sacrifice a student the way Dumbledore had been ready to sacrifice him.

            “But not for anything else?” Malfoy folded his arms.

            “I don’t know what else I have to be sorry for,” Harry said. “I won’t apologize for taking over Hogwarts and declaring myself a Dark Lord. It’s done now, so it’s stupid to ramble on and on about it.”

            “The way Granger did?” Malfoy’s face was shrewd.

            Harry sneered at him. “No, actually. She wasn’t happy, but she did try to understand, and she knows that she can’t take all those letters I sent back. She yelled at me, but she calmed down.”

            “You could have tried apologizing to me for thinking I was a coward.”

            “I thought I had, when I apologized for insulting you.”

            “But you thought it,” Malfoy said, and picked at the sleeve of his robe, although Harry didn’t know how it could have picked up dust. The house-elves kept his office spotless.

            “Fuck if I’m apologizing for my thoughts,” Harry said. “The things I do and say, yeah, but I spent too much time being ashamed of myself for my thoughts. I’ll just think them and then sometimes do and say different things.”

            Malfoy stood so still for a second that Harry thought he would change his mind and leave again. But it seemed he had only been thinking, because after a few seconds he nodded and said, “All right. Then are you consenting to the alliance?”

            “You think you can find me people who will make good professors,” Harry said. “What else?”

            Malfoy smiled. “You don’t demand much, do you?”

            “You’re wrong,” Harry said, forcefully enough that he startled himself. “I’m going to demand a lot. I’m also tired of asking for a little and not getting even that. People won’t leave me alone or believe that we should change the wizarding world not to be so prejudiced against magical creatures. So I might as well shout as whisper.”

            Malfoy gave him a long, slow, wondering smile that Harry had to admit he wouldn’t mind seeing more often. “Very good. Then I can offer you people who would make good professors, people who can advise you on publicity, people who can give you some help with your post.” He looked at the tottering piles of paper on Harry’s desk and sniffed. “You need it.”

            “What do you think I can give you?” Harry asked quietly. “I think my approval would do you more harm than good.”

            “Maybe,” Malfoy said, looking at him. “But I was thinking the other day that it’s become boring. No one to question and challenge me, no one to offer me a contrast. You do that. You send me messages about what’s going on, and let me know what some of the people who wouldn’t speak their minds to me are thinking. And you don’t show that you approve of me, but that you disapprove of Minister Tillipop. He’s the only one who has a chance against me.”

            Harry had to smile as he thought of the meeting with the Board of Governors he had set up tomorrow, which the Minister was supposed to attend. “I think,” he said happily, “that will not be a problem.”

            “Then it’s an alliance?” Malfoy had gone back to watching him with narrowed eyes.

            “It is,” Harry said, and put out his hand. He understood why Malfoy stared at it like a dead fish, but what really mattered was that they shook, and that was enough for him.

*

            delia cerrano: He's only doing that to try and discourage Malfoy.

            lividfire: Thanks! It takes them a long time to get together, but the story is going to be a long one, or else part of a longer series, it depends on how you look at it.

            angelmuziq: Thanks! I hope you continue to like the story.

            I think Harry wouldn't be raised exactly like Draco if his parents were alive, since Lily is Muggleborn and his parents wouldn't have the same prejudices, but it might be interesting, yes.

            SP777: Harry has a set of standards he won't let down, and big plans. It's the details that Draco's more good at.

            addiena saffir: Thanks! I like to think Hermione did have a few minutes of grabbing her head and screaming "Argh!" in private, but she was over it by the time she met Harry.
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Easy as Falling