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Learning Life Over	By : Meander Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 69712 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- 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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Chapter 59- Out and About

�� Draco rose
to his feet, applauding, with a genuine smile on his face. Gardenia Parkinson�s
newest prodigy really was a prodigy, not just a friend she was trying to
arrange a little more notice for. Of course, she had a better record of
choosing truly talented artists than some of her friends did, but it wasn�t
often Draco enjoyed an exhibition as much as he�d enjoyed this one.

�� Other
than a certain flying exhibition, the other day-

�� Draco
shoved the thought firmly out of his head, and nodded to Gardenia, who�d
advanced to meet him. �Well, what do you think, my dear?� she asked, rising on
her toes to kiss his cheek. The faint, subtle smell of her perfume swirled
around her.

�� Truly
talented,� Draco said, and looked again to the young wizard, who was receiving
several compliments from enamored members of the audience. He took them coolly,
which Draco approved of. Constant praise was enough to turn anyone�s head, as
he well knew. This wizard had invented something called �swift-sculpture,�
which allowed him to create a statue in a few hours, working with magic to, as
he said, �feel out the art inside the stone.� Draco would have believed it was
impossible if he hadn�t seen it happen right in front of his eyes.

�� I�m glad
that you think so.� Gardenia put a light hand on his arm. �When are you going
to bring your Harry to see me again? He seemed a sensible young man, from what
I could see of him.�

�� To
Gardenia, Draco had no problem telling the truth, especially since she had a
permanent spell cast on her turquoise bracelets at all times, which prevented
anyone who stood elsewhere in the room from overhearing a whispered
conversation unless she wished them to overhear. �What the Prophet says
is actually true, this time,� he replied. �We did quarrel.�

�� Oh, Draco,
how disappointing.�

�� From her,
Draco could accept that. After all, it was how he felt himself. Supposedly
arguments with one�s lover were character-building, but it had been a week,
now, since Harry had last visited the Manor. He had kept busy since then- staying
in contact with Blaise, who had persuaded his Sarah to leave England with him;
attending several of Gardenia�s exhibitions; visiting Hogwarts to indulge in a
few private melancholy reflections; and directing Trippy�s refurbishment of the
Manor�s dining rooms and eastern wing. So he wasn�t moping.

�� But he
wished that Harry would make up his mind and come back as soon as possible,
damn it. He could have done without the character-building portions of the
argument in exchange.

�� My dear,
what did you do to Gloriana Zabini?�

�� Draco
looked over his shoulder. Gloriana was coming towards him, her lips set in a
thin line. Draco shivered a bit. Her rage must be intense, if she was willing
to show it to him in public.

�� Of course,
he was not without weapons of his own.

�� Helped her
son to escape her permanently,� he told Gardenia, his eyes on Gloriana all the
while. �Encouraged him to gamble, which won him a little independent money, and
then put him in contact with that Muggleborn witch he married some time ago.�

�� Gardenia�s
hand tightened on his arm. Draco looked back at her, and surprised an
expression of both shock and delight on her face.

�� Draco,
darling, you didn�t.�

�� Draco
winked at her, and kissed her hand. �I did. I�ve given him more than one chance
in the past, and he only ever took it once- and then he behaved disgustingly
and gave up all claims to my help for a while. But this time, I enumerated the
advantages of such a course, and he actually listened.�

�� You are a
fine example of Slytherin compassion,� Gardenia said, and lowered the spell on
the bracelets so that more than one person could hear them. Draco felt the
curious stares from around the room, but just now, he was more interested in
the way Gloriana�s head jerked up.

�� Thank
you,� he said, with one more wink, and then moved over to confront Mrs. Zabini.
Gardenia had done him the favor of attracting attention. If Gloriana did
something against him now, in public, it would have to be extraordinarily
subtle, and if she behaved badly enough, she stood a good chance of never being
invited back to the Parkinsons� house again.

�� I wish to
know where you have put my son,� Gloriana told him, without any of the word
games she usually played.

�� Blaise is
a grown man,� Draco drawled. �He doesn�t owe anyone else an account of his
actions.�

�� Gloriana
understood the message in those words well enough. He was on Blaise�s side, not
hers. Her face became tranquil with anger.

�� I will
find him,� she said. �And be assured, Mr. Malfoy, as you have embarrassed me, I
can embarrass you.�

�� Draco
chuckled under his breath. �What would life in our social circles be, without
the threat of embarrassment?� He cocked his head. �If you want to oppose me,
Mrs. Zabini, then I welcome you to do so. At the least, you can be entertaining
when you set your mind to it.�

�� Of course,
that denied any value to her actions other than entertainment, and Gloriana was
wise enough to hear the unspoken words. She made a curtsey, very low, never
taking her eyes from him.

�� You are
experienced and clever at survival in these circles,� she said. �Of course,
others, even some who have lived a little time in Malfoy Manor, are not.�

�� The people
eagerly listening might well have thought she referred to one of Draco�s
lower-class lovers whom he�d picked up, toyed with for a while, and then
dropped. Draco knew she was referring to Harry.

�� For a
moment, he let his mask drop. Gloriana actually took a step back from the anger
in his eyes.

�� Touch
him,� said Draco, �even indirectly, and you will be mourning that I did not
give you as easy a fate as I gave my mother.�

�� He turned
away from Gloriana. He doubted Narcissa had told her about the punishment he�d
put on her, the curse, and that silence would only increase Gloriana�s
apprehension.

�� Good.
Let her be frightened.

�� She might
do what she wished to him, or try. If she touched Harry, Draco would indeed
fight to defend him.

�� But he
could do that much more easily if Harry would simply come back, forsake his little
fit of temper, and live in the Manor.

�� Make up
your mind, Harry.

*

�� And this,�
Neville said, opening the door to the accompaniment of a myriad scents, �is the
house for my experimental plants.�

�� Harry
followed him into the greenhouse, looking in several directions as he tried to
take in everything at once. The walls crawled with bright flowers he supposed
might be orchids, but they had longer stalks than he thought those blossoms
had, and one of them looked like it�d been crossed with a mandrake. It clasped
the trunk of a long, sinuous tree, one branch of which writhed down to examine
Harry. Harry started when he realized it was speaking Parseltongue. He hissed
cautiously back, and the tree danced in delight.

�� Neville
laughed beside him. Harry turned around. He could see how his old friend had
received those laugh lines, now. Everything about the greenhouses seemed to
please him.

�� You bred
these?� he asked, turning back to examine a huge, showy blue flower in the
middle tub of the greenhouse, among smaller and greener plants that seemed
designed to frame it. The flower�s petals tangled with the others� leaves like
ribbons, and gleamed white on the very tips. Harry could smell it now, a scent
so soft and enticing that he had to resist the impulse to step forward and
touch the flower. �I�m impressed.�

�� As he still
tended to do when receiving compliments, Neville coughed in embarrassment, and
said, �Yes. That one�s mostly for the scent and the color- just to look nice,
you know. Not for any useful purpose.�

�� Being
beautiful is still a purpose,� Harry murmured, and had to shake his head
against the thought of Draco that came to him. Draco was beautiful, yes, but he
was far more than that. Harry thought there wasn�t a true resemblance between
Draco and the plant; it was just that thoughts of him crept into every hour of
Harry�s life over the past week, including the ones he tried to spend
peacefully at a friend�s house.

�� Thank you,
but the one I wanted you to see is over here,� Neville said, and tugged gently
on his elbow.

�� Harry let
himself be pulled along. He�d had a pleasant time at the Longbottoms� house so
far. He�d had tea with Neville, and told a circumscribed account of his life
since Hogwarts and his troubles with Draco, and listened to Neville�s stories
of his life, and talked with Neville�s grandmother, who unfortunately
little resembled the intimidating woman Harry had met a few times. The
Lestranges� attack had done its damage, and left Neville as Augusta
Longbottom�s main attendant.

�� But it
hadn�t embittered Neville. Harry didn�t know if anything could do that.
He�d been delighted to welcome Harry, full of sympathy when Harry talked about
life as an Auror, and even quietly thankful that Harry had put Bellatrix
Lestrange in prison. And he�d spoken about himself in the same way.

�� He�d
suffered, he�d been through losses because of Voldemort just as Harry had, but
he hadn�t stopped living.

�� Harry had
felt sometimes weak when looking at him, and sometimes thankful that Draco had
showed up before it was too late, and sometimes sad and thoughtful. At least he
had a chance of living now, himself, even if it had come ten years later than
Neville�s chance.

�� This is
the plant I wanted to show you.�

�� Harry
leaned forward. The plant Neville pointed to was considerably smaller than the
blue flower they�d passed earlier, or the tree with the serpent branch. But
Harry thought, with one glance, that he liked it better. The leaves were a
deep, intense green, the shade he�d always seen in his mind when he thought of
peace. They were shaped like open hands, but the resemblance wasn�t as creepy
as he would have thought it would be if someone described it to him. Instead,
the hands invited him to touch and clasp them. He glanced at Neville.

�� You can
touch it,� said Neville.

�� He was
smiling in a slightly odd way, but Harry didn�t think about it with permission
granted. He reached out and ran one finger down the center of a leaf. At once,
the hand closed around his finger. He blinked, but felt no sting or sensation
of pain, only an immense calm. He held still.

�� I don�t
have a name for this yet,� Neville said. �I bred it out of a plant that used to
be called a panacea plant, and some really smart flowers from the western coast of North
America. It�s meant to soothe fears and take away problems- to be a companion
to you, really. You talk to it, and it sways. You touch it, and it responds.�

�� It isn�t swaying when you talk,�
Harry pointed out, only to pause as his words made the leaves reach towards
him.

�� It�s too used to my voice,� said
Neville, with a smile. �And I�ve taken care not to touch its leaves, because it
attaches itself to the first person who touches them. It likes you, Harry.� He
picked up the plant�s pot, carefully. �And now it�s yours.�

�� I couldn�t take- �

�� Oh, yes you can.�

�� Harry looked at the expression of
determination on Neville�s face and had to concede it wasn�t very likely he
could get out of the greenhouse without the plant. It seemed wrong, though,
that a friend he�d barely thought of and never visited in the last decade was
giving him a gift on his first visit. �I don�t know anything about caring for
it,� he tried.

�� A cup of water every day,� Neville
said calmly. �Pellets of a food I�ll give you. And your time and attention.� He
grinned. �If you leave your flat and go back to Malfoy Manor, make sure to take
the plant with you.�

�� Harry ignored his own blush and
carefully gathered the pot into his arms, staring at Neville�s face all the
while. �I don�t know what I can do to repay you.�

�� Neville cocked his head and gave him
a melancholy smile. �Don�t be such a stranger, Harry. Don�t stay so much in
your flat that I never see you.�

�� I won�t do that,� Harry said
firmly. �I�ve changed my mind about the way I live. I�ve already visited Dean
this week, you know, and I�ve talked with Angelina Johnson about whether it�s
really advantageous to work as a stunt flyer with Sylvan and Bancroft.� He
started as the plant�s leaves patted at his hair and ears; it was making sounds
of pleasure like little purrs.

�� Neville�s smile was even wider and
more handsome than before, and Harry found himself wondering why he wasn�t
married yet. �Good! That gives me some hope.� He paused, then added slyly, �And
if I send an owl to you, should I use your flat address, or Malfoy Manor?�

�� Harry coughed. �I won�t know until
next week, at the very earliest,� he said. �I- well, I�ve made a decision, but
Draco might not have made the same one.�

�� He will,� Neville said confidently.
�I never saw a man more madly in love in my life, Harry. Did you see the way he looked at you during that dinner party?�

�� Harry coughed again. �Yes, but he
has his pride, too, and he might not want to sacrifice it for what I ask him.�

�� You�re too good to make him
sacrifice everything.� Neville looked as smug as a cat. �I�ll send the owls to
the Manor, then.�

�� No matter what Harry tried to
persuade him of, he would neither change his mind nor take the plant back, and
when Harry Apparated back to his flat, it was with the pot in his arms and an
enormous bag of plant food slung over one shoulder.

*

�� Draco had to go to the front door,
because he couldn�t get any sense out of Trippy. The little house-elf had
appeared to him in the middle of his bedroom, where he�d gone to write a letter
to Blaise, and practically turned somersaults around him while squealing with
excitement. Draco had wondered if Millicent had come back to visit; she�d been
one of Trippy�s favorite people for years.

�� But, instead, he opened the door,
and found Harry standing casually on the step, his arms folded but his gaze
clear and direct.

�� Draco licked his lips. His heart was
pounding. He�d wanted this to happen for a week, and, now that it had, he
didn�t really know how to deal with it.

�� Can I come in?� Harry sounded
amused now, damn him.

�� Come in?� Draco asked blankly, and
then cursed himself for sounding like an idiot. �Of course,� he said, and moved
out of the way. Harry nodded to him, and sauntered in.

�� Then he turned, reached out, put a
hand on the back of Draco�s neck, and tugged him into a kiss.

�� It was surprisingly forceful but
disappointingly chaste, and Draco didn�t have a chance to respond before it was
over. He pulled back, gasping slightly, and faced Harry. Harry gave him a
small, sweet smile.

�� I hope you�re planning on repeating
that,� Draco told him, his hands itching with the need to reach out and drag
Harry against him. His body had got used to having an energetic, clever, and
curious lover again, lately. That meant it missed the sex, too, and Draco�s
right hand was no longer an adequate substitute.

�� I am,� said Harry, �but I think we
should talk first.� He tossed his head. His eyes never left Draco�s face. �I�ve
got a great deal to ask you, and to say.� He paused. �And to ask forgiveness
for, too. I made a mistake in abandoning my trust of you so quickly.�

�� An emotion spread through Draco,
slowly enough that he didn�t recognize it at first. He even nodded and invited
Harry to the library before he knew what it was.

�� Joy, deep and long-burning.
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Learning Life Over