Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Not As It Seems	By : SailorSol Category: Harry Potter > General > General Views: 4953 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
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
- 5
- 6
- 7
Not As It Seems

Chapter 6

When Harry woke in the morning, it was to the comforting warmth of Draco pressed up against him, and to Draco�s hair tickling his nose. He smiled drowsily and buried his nose in the silky mass that smelled of herbs.

He could have laid there forever, content to just bask in the warmth, but his bladder made an urgent request. He cautiously unwound himself from the blonde and slid out of the bed, taking care not to disturb the blankets.

A quick trip to the facilities later, Harry came back into the room to find the same house elf from the first night bringing a tea cart to a stop next to the table. The elf seemed to be unaware of his presence, and began unloading covered dishes from the lower shelves of the cart onto the table.

When it was finished, it surprised Harry by turning to him.

�Breakfast is ready, Master Harry,� it said. �I is to tell you that Master Severus and Master Lucius will be joining you and Master Draco for breakfast, since most of the house is still asleep.�

�Thank you, Willie,� Harry said. �Please tell Professor Snape and Mr. Malfoy that I�m awake. Does Mr. Malfoy seem recovered?�

�Oh, yes, Master Harry,� Willie said, smiling. �Master Severus was up all night, fixing Master Lucius� face. There is only thin pink lines now, and Master Severus has given Master Lucius� elf a salve to make the lines go away, as well.�

�That�s good news,� Harry said. �I wonder who he�s going to marry, after he divorces Draco�s mother.�

�I realize that curiosity is only natural,� Lucius Malfoy�s drawl came from the doorway. �You could always just ask, you know. I�ve been seeing your Astronomy professor for several years. She has indicated a willingness to become the next Mrs. Malfoy on several occasions. I sent her an owl this morning.�

Harry turned to the doorway and smiled sheepishly at both wizards standing on the threshold.

�I hope you weren�t upset with Draco, Professor,� Harry said to Snape. �I didn�t want to be alone, last night. I asked him to stay with me.�

�Since he had the good sense to leave a note,� Snape said. �No, I am not angry. Draco�s willingness to fulfill your need tells me that he has made the necessary adjustments.�

�It will have to go back to the way it was when school starts,� Lucius cautioned. �Dumbledore cannot know what has happened.�

�So even though the Fidelus Charm will keep me from talking about it,� Harry said. �I still have to act like I hate Draco.�

�We call it Playing The Game,� Lucius said, crossing the room to sit at the table. �Severus and I are going to spend the rest of the summer teaching you the rules.�

�Okay,� Harry said. �I don�t like it, but okay,�

�Think of it as becoming more like your mother,� Snape said as he sat down. �She was very Slytherin, in many ways. You are so little like your father that I believe you must be more like her.�

�I�d like to think so,� Harry said wistfully. �It would be a way of knowing her.�

�Could you three keep it down?� Draco�s voice came from the bed. He sat up, his hair sticking up.

Harry burst out laughing at seeing Draco Malfoy with less than perfectly groomed hair.

�Shut it, Potter,� Draco growled, scowling. He slipped out of the bed, grabbed his clothing with a scowl, and headed into the bathroom.

By the time Draco came out of the bathroom, dressed and groomed, Harry was eating his breakfast. Lucius and Severus were taking turns telling Harry some of the basic points of The Game, in between their own bites of food.

Draco dropped into the remaining chair and took the lid off of his breakfast. The house elves knew what he ate, and there were large enough helpings of everything.

***** *****

Draco and Harry followed several other boys and girls about their age into the house. They had engaged in an energetic game of Quidditch, and then a magical form of hide and seek. They had interrupted their game when a bell had rung, heralding lunchtime.

Inside the back door, Aquila wrinkled her nose at the dirty, sweaty teenagers that swarmed into the house.

�Everyone upstairs for showers or baths!� she commanded. �Not one of you gets one morsel until you�re clean!�

Laughing like young children, they ran up the stairs, competing to see who could get there the fastest.

Draco followed Harry into his room, and then drew his wand.

�Let me show you a trick or two,� he said. �Strip down to your unders.�

Harry complied quickly, missing the way that Draco�s eyes lingered on the way he moved, and the muscles that bunched and released as he undressed.

�Pay attention,� Draco said. �I want you to do the same for me. We�ll be downstairs before the rest if we do this right.�

Harry nodded and watched while Draco raised his wand above the level of Harry�s head and swirled it in a circle three times.

�Lavare!�

Harry immediately felt a tingling sensation all over his body. He looked down at his dirty hands to be faced with unsmudged skin and clean nails. He brought his hand up to his nose and sniffed. He smelled like soap.

�Get dressed,� Draco said, his cheeks flushed. �My turn.�

Harry pulled clean clothes out of his dresser and closet and put them on while Draco stripped down to his boxers.

Harry turned around with his wand in his hand, and he was momentarily stunned into silence. Draco�s nearly nude body was as perfect and arousing as he had always imagined. He swallowed hard, his mouth suddenly dry, and took one more good look before looking Draco in the face.

Draco was looking at him with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on his face.

�See anything you like?� he asked.

Harry turned scarlet.

Draco�s smirk turned to a smile and he walked towards Harry until he was close enough that Harry could smell his sweat. Somehow, it didn�t repulse him.

�You didn�t answer me,� he said. �Do you see anything you like?�

More embarrassed than he could ever remember being, Harry nodded, closing his eyes. He was certain that the tentative friendship that he�d been building with Draco was at an end.

He opened his eyes in shock when a pair of moist lips ghosted over his. He stared into Draco�s eyes, barely an inch from his, and then he closed his eyes as Draco�s tongue slipped into his mouth and began awakening the most wonderful sensations.

Without thinking about it, Harry wrapped his arms around Draco and pulled the blonde up against him. Their hips met and fit against one another as if they were two halves of the same mold. They ground into one another as their tongues began to duel for dominance. Hearts raced and hormones raged as they sealed their mouths together, until neither of them could remember when it had begun or what the other tasted like.

A knock on the door made them pull away, flushed, and glaring at the closed portal as if they could hurt the person on the other side.

�Harry,� a voice called. �It�s Orion. Mother says that you and Draco had better come down to lunch. She needs to talk to both of you.�

Harry quickly cast the same spell that Draco had, achieving the same result that Draco had. Draco grabbed some clothes out of Harry�s closet, pulled them on, and then the two of them hurried downstairs.

When they came into the dining room, Harry first saw Ginny sitting at a small table alone with two young men that looked enough like the sixteen year-old Tom Riddle that Harry had to look twice. They were both focused on her, and she seemed to be pleased with the attention. One of them was feeding her some kind of exotic-looking pasta while the other stroked her hair.

�Over here, Harry,� Aquila called. She was sitting at her place, and the two places across from her were vacant.

Harry and Draco obediently walked over and sat down before they realized that they were sitting between two girls.

The girl next to Harry was a dark-haired beauty who practically radiated magic. She smiled shyly at him. She looked familiar, and after a moment, Harry realized that she resembled a girl who had been in the Beauxbaton group for the Triwizard Tournament.

�This is Bernadette de Valois,� Aquila said. �She�s visiting from France. Her mother and I went to school together.�

�Hello,� Harry said. �I�m Harry Potter.�

�Yes,� she said. �I am aware of that. Have you aquainted this beautiful young man with your father�s requirements in his followers, Madame Snape?�

�Only casually,� Aquila said. �Harry, one of the goals of my father�s policies is to try to increase the number of witches and wizards in the world. The only way to guarantee this is to make certain that his followers marry and produce as many children as possible.�

�Oh,� Harry said. He looked at Bernadette with new eyes. She was very pretty. She was dressed in a manner that left very little to his imagination. She was not acting in a coquettish manner. She was waiting for him to think things over, by himself.

�This is pretty sudden,� Harry said.

�Actually,� a voice from the other side of Draco said. �Bernadette and I have been looking for quite a while. We�ve been, um, together for about two years, now, and we both told our mothers that we wouldn�t marry unless our husbands would understand about us.�

Harry looked past Draco and was surprised to find out that the speaker was Aquila�s fifteen year-old daughter, Desdemona. Harry had always been struck by how she seemed to combine the best traits of both of her parents.

She had Aquila�s dark mahogany hair, and Snape�s dark, almost bottomless eyes. She had her mother�s nose and chin, and Snape�s sharp cheekbones and long-fingered hands. She moved in a fluid way that attracted attention from every male over the age of puberty, and some of the girls.

�Let me get this straight,� Draco said,.looking at Aquila. �You want Harry and I to marry your friend�s daughter, and your daughter. You want us to raise a big brood of children. Your father, and mine, is okay with this, not to mention your husband.�

�You don�t know much about women, do you Draco?� Aquila asked, smiling at him. �Desdemona�s had her cap set for you since she was five. She would have a fit if you were offered someone besides her, and neither Father nor Severus want her unhappy. After you left the day she met you, she looked at Severus and said �I want to marry somebody like that. Can I marry Draco?� He told her that we would see what happened.�

�Mother,� Desdemona said, her cheeks turning pink.

�That�s okay,� Draco said. �Unlike my father, I always wanted a wife that worshipped me.�

�Get real, Draco Malfoy,� she retorted. �I may think you�re cute, and a great prospect for a husband, but I don�t worship you, and I never will.�

�Keep it in mind,� Aquila said. �The wizarding world tends to long engagements, Harry. Even if you two decided this summer, two years is the bare minimum for a proper engagement. In your case, it is more like two years after graduation. We could send you to visit her in Burgundy next year.�

�That would be nice,� Harry said. �If Bernadette is willing to understand that I�m not in love with her, I�m willing to think about it.�

�I know this must seem like a bit much,� Aquila said. �It is the habit of Wizarding parents to arrange matches for their children, or to make sure that their children meet suitable young people. I am not trying to tell you that you have to marry Bernadette. However, since her primary attachment is to my daughter, and yours is to Draco, there are worse matches you could make.�

An exclamation from further down the table interrupted their conversation and made them all look in the direction of the sound.

The Riddle twins were standing next to Voldemort�s chair, nervously biting their lips. One of them had his hands clasped in front of him, and the other one had his arms around Ginny.

�It�s a perfect opportunity, Father,� the first one said. �Dumbledore will not expect us to pretend to agree with him, and he will not expect our skills at Occlumency. We can put up two sets of barriers and let him through the first set, if he tries. Ginerva has been very receptive to our offer, but she misses her best friend, who is the smartest witch in school. We both believe that only the best is good enough for us.�

�Granger�s a muggleborn!� Bellatrix said from he seat next to Voldemort. �Is that truly what you want?�

�Begging your pardon,� the second twin said. �The research we�ve done at Durmstrang has led us to the inescapable conclusion that all muggleborns must have magical blood in their lines. It lays dormant until enough magical genes get crossed in one individual. The strength of Hermione Granger�s magic indicates that she probably has several squibs in her background. She might even be the product of two direct squibs. Until recently, squibs were usually taken to an orphanage. They never knew their parents, or their origins. Her parents or two or more of her grandparents could be squibs.�

�Which would make her pureblood or half-blooded,� the first twin said. �Which makes her more than worthy. Besides, Ginerva misses her. We could use a year at Hogwarts to study Dumbledore and his supporters. We can use the time to consolidate supporters in the up-and-coming witches and wizards.�

�What do you think, Aquila?� Voldemort asked, turning to his daughter.

Aquila frowned in deep thought before she answered.

�It could be beneficial,� she said after several moments. �I trust their motivation. I just don�t trust Dumbledore, and I don�t trust that blasted canary of his. If we do send them, they should have magical familiars that would be a match for that overgrown songbird.�

�Basilisks?� Rabistan asked, smiling at her.

�Too dangerous,� Aquila shot down the idea. �Also, too obvious. If they show up with basilisks, then Dumbledore will know who they are, not just who they resemble. One of our advantages is their apparent origins and family name. He has no reason to believe that anyone from Germany ever had any dealings with Father.�

�Kneazles?� Rudolphus asked. �Pixies? Cockatrices? You must have some ideas.�

�I do,� Aquila said. �I just don�t know that we can find some and hatch them before school starts. I�ll work on it after lunch.�

�Don�t keep us in suspense,� the first twin whined. �We really need to know � �

� � What you are getting us � � the other twin chimed in.

� � So we can plan our actions accordingly,� the two of them said in unison.

Any further conversation was stopped by the entrance of a screech owl that circled the room a few times before landing on the table near Ginny and staring at her fixedly. A rolled piece of parchment was tied to one leg. When she did not immediately approach him, he clacked his beak to get her attention.

�That�s Hermes,� Harry said, staring at the owl. �He belongs to Percy, Ginny�s brother.�

One of the twins approached the owl to get the parchment, and drew back quickly when the bird snapped at him and flapped its wings at him.

�Bloody pigeon!� he said, and drew his wand. �Immobulus!�

The bird froze in mid-flap. The young wizard was able to retrieve the parchment, and cast a spell to detect tracking spells, and then looked at his father in alarm when the parchment glowed red.

�They�ve tracked him!� he said. �Someone�s looking for her!�

Immediately, everyone was on their feet. Aquila handed her infant to Bellatrix, who wrapped her arms around the baby and looked at Harry and Draco.

�Follow me,� she said. �Do not get distracted.�

She led them towards an open door, which showed a set of stairs going down. Harry and Draco looked at one another, but just as they started to look around for a place to hide, Bellatrix looked back at them.

�None of that,� she said sternly. �I know boys. You two were going to hide somewhere and try to help if there were a fight. Lucius and Severus would be very upset with you, not to mention what Aquila would do. Downstairs, with the rest of the youngsters.�

Bellatrix paused at the doorway, gesturing for other children and adolescents to take the stairs down, including the Riddle twins and Ginny Weasley. Once they were all inside, Bellatrix handed Desdemona the baby while she sealed the door with locking spells that none of them had ever even heard of.

As a final touch, she used a cutting charm to cause a shallow slice in her hand, and she cast yet another spell, using her own blood. The door gained a dull red glow that did not fade. She came down the stairs and started organizing the children so that they were comfortable for whatever length of time they were down there.

She put the older children where they had a clear line of sight to the doorway. She put the youngest children in sheltered positions, with emergency portkeys attached to their clothes. The Riddle twins and Ginny were put in another sheltered position, with the master portkey. If they activated theirs, all of the other emergency portkeys would activate.

***** *****

Aquila stood in the drawing room, between Severus and Lupin. She reached into a pocket and pulled out a vial filled with a faintly glowing white substance. She passed it to Lupin without a word.

�What is this?� he whispered.

�If this is the Order,� Aquila said. �Drink the contents of that vial. It will not protect you any more than normal, but it will make you more dangerous to them.�

�What is it?� he repeated.

�An experimental potion,� she said. �You might call it Liquid Moonlight.�

�Where is Harry?� was the only question he asked.

�In the basement, with the rest of the children,� Aquila said. �If we lose, they have emergency portkeys to a place in Bulgaria. It�s secure, isolated, fully provisioned and stocked, and the local Wizarding Community are more loyal to Father than Dumbledore. They will protect the children, and my mother. Any of us that survive will go there, as well.�

�How?� Lupin wanted to know.

�The medallion Father gave you,� Aquila replied. �That, and the Dark Mark. Grasp the medallion and say �sanctuary.� You will find yourself in Bulgaria.�

�I�d be a danger,� Lupin argued.

�Who do you think helped Severus with the Wolfsbane Potion?� Aquila asked. �Castor and Pollux are at nearly Mastery level already. They can keep you supplied with the Potion. You are all the family Harry has left, and a knowledgeable wizard on your own. You can help Bellatrix take care of the children.�

Voldemort hissed something at Aquila and she immediately fell silent. Three figures had materialized at the Apparation Point and they were headed for the house. It was impossible to tell who they were, but they made their way up the flagstone pathway, and then knocked at the door.

Everyone looked at each other, and then MacNair moved to the door and opened it. He kept his wand in his hand, but out of sight.

�Oh, hello MacNair,� Percy Weasley said. �I didn�t know you lived out here. You haven�t seen my sister around, have you? She�s gone missing, and we tracked her as far as here.�

�What happened to your sister?� MacNair asked, gesturing for the three to come inside. Behind Percy were the Weasley twins, Fred and George. They looked like they had just witnessed the end of the world.

�I�d rather not say, MacNair,� Percy said. The three of them stepped inside and MacNair closed the door.

�Your wands, gentlemen,� Voldemort said abruptly.

The three brothers whirled to face the voice, and then froze in surprise at the sight that met their eyes.

�Remus?� one of the twins said. �You�re with Him?�

�After last night, you�re not?� Lupin asked.

The twins looked at one another, and then at Percy. He nodded, and all three of them tossed their wands to land at Voldemort�s feet.

�We saw Dumbledore � � one of the twins said.

� � cast the Killing Curse � � the other one picked up.

� � after he cast some spell on Mum and Dad,� they finished in unison.

�I talked to them directly afterwards,� Percy supplied. �Neither of them remembered seeing him kill my sister. He�s worse than he ever said you were. I saw you grab her body, so I thought that perhaps you weren�t what Dumbledore painted you.

�We talked, the three of us,� Percy continued. �We decided that we should come looking. Bill and Charlie are with us, too, and so is my wife and Bills. We left the four of them just in case something went wrong, or just in case Dumbledore came looking.�

�What are you looking for?� Voldemort asked as Snape bent to retrieve the wands and hand them to his Lord.

�We can�t trust Dumbledore � � one of the twins said.

� � but we figure, maybe � � the other picked up.

� � we can trust you,� they finished together.

Aquila grinned at her father, and reached out to take the wands from his hands.

�You were talking about more powerful wizards on your side, Father,� she said. �Shall we give them the good news?�

�What good news?� Percy asked, his eyes widening.

�Your sister is not dead,� Aquila said. �However, she is understandably reluctant to return home, and to Hogwarts. We�re going to make arrangements to send her elsewhere for the rest of her schooling.�

�How did you save her?� Percy wanted to know. The influence of his Ravenclaw wife was showing at that moment.

�You three have some talking and oath taking to do,� Aquila said. �I�ll answer your questions after I let my mother know that everything is alright.�

TBC
- 5
- 6
- 7
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Not As It Seems