Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The Same Species As Shakespeare	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 16108 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- 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
- 5
- 6
- 7
Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Six�Cruel Only
to Be Kind

�� But the
bloodline wards should have prevented him,� Malfoy whispered for the fifth
time.

�� Harry spoke
as gently as he could. �Your father was going to research the relative who might
have done this. I�m sure he�ll find something, and then we�ll be able to repair
the holes in the bloodline wards.�

�� Those were
a variation on the words he�d already spoken six or seven times before. He was
wearying himself, and he was sure that Malfoy must think he was stupid, but he
didn�t know what else to do. He had no concrete answers to offer, especially
since his specialty was offensive magic and Defense Against
the Dark Arts, not wards. He could recognize the various types well enough, but
he�d never learned much about repairing them.

�� And
touching Malfoy, wrapping a comforting arm around him as he longed to do, was
out of the question.

�� Malfoy
shook his head, staring at his hands. �I didn�t pay much attention to him so
far, because what he wanted seemed so unimportant, what he did so petty,� he
murmured. �I should have. Maybe I could have prevented this intrusion.�

�� You�re
blaming yourself?� Harry leaned
forwards before he could stop the motion; he�d been leaning against the wall of
Malfoy�s bedroom, feeling it was best for both of them if he wasn�t in touching
distance. And then, well, it would have looked stupid to retreat, wouldn�t it?
And Malfoy was staring at him. Harry shook his head. �You can�t do that.�

�� Why not?� Malfoy had a sneer buried at the back of his
throat.

�� Of course, he won�t see what�s so
self-evident to me. Neither would Ron or Hermione, which was part of the
problem they had with Malfoy. Harry ran a hand over his face and tried to
explain it. �That�s probably what he wants you to do. Trap yourself in mazes of
thought. Paralyze yourself with indecision. Look into his motives, which the
Aurors have done so far with no success.�

�� Malfoy�s
eyes were fixed on him now. Harry didn�t think he�d ever been an object of such
piercing attention, even when two reporters had descended on him at once with
breathless questions about his preference for bondage in bed. He knew he was
already flushed, and this close to Malfoy, he couldn�t have hidden it. He
settled for staring back and trying to look calm.

�� Why
haven�t you learned anything about him?� Malfoy�s lips barely moved.

�� No one
claims to know him, the way they often claim to know criminals, if only for the
excitement of the thing,� Harry whispered back. He was so close that he could
have cupped Malfoy�s cheek without bending his elbow. He tried to forget that,
and the way morning light through the windows caught in Malfoy�s eyelashes, and
concentrate solely on the reasonable question he�d been asked. It helped that
he had recited the answer for several interviews now. �We can�t learn where he
came from. We have no name. His motives for the crimes remain inexplicable. He
wants to smear your name, or so we thought, but an attack on you makes no
sense, because it would show that you aren�t
him.�

�� You can
only have come to that conclusion last night.� Malfoy leaned on an elbow. He�d
put on a robe when Harry carried the news of the attack to him, but nothing
underneath, and Harry kept catching flashes of pale skin that were deeply distracting.
�Why were his motives inexplicable before that?�

�� Because
though the crimes could have been disastrous if they got out of control, they
never did. They seemed more like pranks.� This was a conclusion Harry had come
to independently of Ron and Kingsley, so he spoke more carefully. It would have
helped if he could have taken another step away from Malfoy as well, but his
body wasn�t listening to him. �I mean, releasing a hippogriff? It�s not exactly
murder.�

�� No, but
it�s annoying, isn�t it?� Harry wasn�t sure who had moved closer, him or
Malfoy, but suddenly he could feel the other man�s breath raking across his
cheek. �The Aurors can�t find him, don�t know who he is, and perhaps want to
arrest me on principle, and then he shows up in the middle of Mr. Palliser�s
party and in the middle of my home,
thus adding extraordinary magical powers to the list of his doubtful
attributes.�

�� Harry felt
as though the cadence of the words were drifting through him, making his blood
burn and coil in strange directions in his veins. He shivered and said, because
he had to join himself to those words somehow, �Kingsley did want to arrest you
on principle. But I prevented him from doing it.�

�� Malfoy�s
eyebrows rose. �Really.� His breath wasn�t sweet, but
it was better than that�warm, and near. �Why were you so certain that he wasn�t
me?�

�� Harry
swallowed. He wanted to tell Malfoy about the connection between their wands.
Really, what harm could it do? It might make Malfoy more comfortable, knowing
that Harry would always know the difference between him and the imposter, or
that Harry could track him if he got kidnapped, as long as his wand stayed with
him. And anything that moved him closer to Malfoy was good.

�� But he
still had Auror instincts and his friends� voices in his head, and they told
him that Malfoy might still have ulterior motives for the friendliness he was
showing Harry. So he said, �You�ve changed since the war. And you�ve invested a
lot of yourself in your new job. Why would you want to throw that all away, for
the sake of causing the Aurors to run in circles?�

�� Malfoy
narrowed his eyes, but didn�t actually disagree. Instead, he murmured, �If you
think you know me well now, it�s nothing compared to how well you�ll know me in
a short time.�

�� Harry succumbed
to his weakness then, and reached out to touch Malfoy.

�� But Malfoy
had pulled back before his hand began to move and was springing to his feet,
stretching his arms above his head. �Come,� he said. �We should have some
breakfast, examine the bloodline wards to see if we can determine the spot
where he broke through, and then go to the office. I do have a client to meet
with.�

�� Harry
checked his sigh. His passion still thudded in the center of his chest like a
second heartbeat, and he averted his gaze as Malfoy went to use the loo. Harry
sat down on his conjured bed when he heard the door click shut and attempted to
get his breathing under control.

�� No going too fast. Even if he does like you,
even if you could sleep together without compromising the case, you can�t
create something lasting by forcing your presence on him. And this has to be
something lasting. It won�t be enough for you if it isn�t.

�� By the time
Malfoy stepped out of the loo in brand-new robes, with his pale hair clean and
hanging straight about his face in a sheer silk curtain, Harry had got himself
under control. He paced behind Malfoy as they both went down the tight spiral
stairs, his eyes alert for any threat.

�� If he
allowed himself one glance at Malfoy�s hair every third step, well, that was
because he knew indulging himself within a certain limit would soothe his
frustrations and make him more alert in the end.

*

�� Draco peeled
a banana and leaned back in his chair, subtly flexing his fingers. If he
concentrated, he thought he could actually feel the silken strings attached to
each of them. The other end of the strings was wrapped about Potter�s soul.

�� Potter
appeared unaware that he didn�t often take his gaze off Draco, even whilst he
recited the tale of the burst of magic that had alerted him to someone breaking
through the bloodline wards and jerked him out of bed. He noticed when they got
close, but he reacted as if he thought that only natural. His skin, in its
flush, and his eyes, in their darting, and his hands, in their trembling,
showed every thought that passed through his head. Draco had never encountered
someone so susceptible to seduction and yet so incapable of recognizing that a
seduction was, in fact, happening.

�� Draco ate
his banana now with leisurely grace, keeping one eye on Potter. The way he
stretched his lips around the banana and licked the length wouldn�t have fooled
any Slytherin over eleven years old, but Potter leaned towards him, one hand
twitching constantly under the table, as if he would reach out and replace the
banana with his fingers.

�� I hope
that my father will find something in his research,� Draco said, to keep the
game from moving too fast. �However, I�ve studied the genealogical records myself,
and I�m almost certain there is no long-lost Malfoy relative.� Potter didn�t
need to know that Draco had memorized the records in the aftermath of the war,
looking desperately for a reason to be proud of his family after his father�s
temporary arrest and his mother�s shame. �That means we have to look for more
arcane explanations for the breaking of the bloodline wards.�

�� Potter
blinked slowly, like someone coming out of a long sleep, and then nodded.
�Wards aren�t at all my specialty,� he said. �Would you trust another Auror to
come here and examine them?�

�� Draco
pasted a horrified look across his face. With someone else, he might have
worried about overacting, but Potter had already proven his lack of skill in
detecting such things. �When that Auror might have a connection to my enemy?�

�� It�s unlikely��

�� You�ve
admitted you don�t know anything about him.� Draco leaned forwards. �Well, I know one thing about him. He keeps
escaping from the Aurors. What could that indicate but someone on the inside,
someone who gives him enough warning to flee?�

�� Potter�s
nostrils flared, and he gave his head a toss. �We�ve investigated that angle,�
he said.

�� And?�

�� Potter�s
mouth opened, but then he clamped his lips together and shook his head.
�Sorry,� he said, and he did sound genuinely apologetic. Draco licked his lips;
there was a sensation in his mouth like candied fruit melting on his tongue. He
had dreamed of Potter apologizing to
him. The sensation grew sharper and sweeter when Potter�s eyes followed his
tongue. �But it relates to the internal politics of the Auror Department and,
well.� He shrugged. �I can�t.�

�� That�s all
right,� Draco said. Potter perked up like a dog offered a walk instead of a
bath. Draco muffled his chuckle with the last of the banana, delicately licking
the strings of the fruit from his lips. Why not? It offered him another chance
to watch Potter watch his tongue. �I have someone who can deal with breaks in
the bloodline wards.�

�Who?�

Draco cocked his head at one of the
entrances to the dining room, and Severus walked in, on cue. Draco had sent him
a message by house-elf whilst he was still in the loo and asked if he�d liked
to surprise Potter. Severus had agreed instantly. Perhaps he�d been waiting
outside that door that led to one of the sitting rooms for more than ten minutes,
but he would consider that a small price to pay for showing up Potter.

�� Potter
pushed his chair halfway back from the table, as if he thought he should rise
to his feet. Because he
needs to defend himself or because he wants to show respect? Draco thought, and wished for another
banana to hold back his laughter. He
ought to know that Severus will accept no tribute of respect from him, no
matter what happens.

�� Professor
Snape, sir,� Potter said without inflection.

�� Once again
you prove the slowness with which your thoughts travel relative to the rest of
the world,� said Severus, with the fine acidity in his tones that Draco loved
to hear and which had been at least half the reason he�d pressed his father
into inviting Severus to live in the Manor. �I am no longer a Professor and
have not been for seven years.�

�� Potter
jerked his head in a short bow and said, �How will you use potions to check for
the tears in the bloodline wards, sir?�

��

�� You would
not understand the method described if dragons wrote it in fiery letters around
your head,� Severus said in utterly bored tones. Potter leaned back again, flushing
in mortification.

�� Draco
glanced between them as if bewildered by their hostility. �Strange,� he
murmured. �I thought you would get on better than this. You�re both war heroes
now.�

�� There is
only one hero in this room,� Severus said, �if you define the word, as I always
have, to mean someone who makes great sacrifices for the safety and peace of
others, whilst barely seeing reward himself.� He turned his head towards Potter
with a coiled strength to his neck that reminded Draco of a hawk ready to tear
open a snake. �Someone whose victory is guaranteed by fate, someone who did not
understand the sacrifices others made and exploited them when he did, someone granted everything he could want from the day
he came into the wizarding world�one must find some other name for such a
person.�

�� Potter had
risen to his feet, face one white blaze of fury, hands locked on his elbows as
though he would not give Severus the satisfaction of going for his wand.
�You�re wrong, Snape,� he said.

�� So you
have often told me,� Severus said. �And yet, not one preconception of your
arrogance have you ever corrected, not one Potions recipe have you ever managed
to explain more clearly than I did.�

�� Potter�s
shoulders stiffened. �I didn�t get everything I wanted when I came into the
wizarding world.�

�� And what
attention your slavering fans could provide was denied you?� Severus asked,
with a deep sigh.

�� My parents,
you bastard,� Potter whispered, and then turned and walked of the dining room
with stately steps, though Draco was more than sure he didn�t have any idea of
where he was going. The doorway he took wasn�t the one they�d entered the room
by.

�� Severus
stared after him, face worked in an intriguing mixture of jealousy, hatred, and
sadness. Then he faced Draco with a motion that shook his hair, still greasy
from the amount of brewing he did, into half-tangled ruins about his face. �The
potions to test the break in the wards will be ready soon,� he said.

�� Why do you
bait him that way?� Draco asked, folding his hands under his chin.

�� For the
reasons I stated.� Severus stared at him as if he had become the hawk�s prey in
turn. �Tell me, Draco, by what standard of justice did I earn no reward, my
name still hated and mocked in most of the wizarding world, when Potter may
walk freely and be worshipped?�

�� You once
told me there was no such thing as justice,� Draco said gently, �except for
that we made ourselves.�

�� Severus�s
face froze the way it always did when Draco remembered one of his lessons at
the most inconvenient times. Then he said, �And there are other reasons.�

�� What are
they?�

�� You need
not know them.� Severus turned away. �Ten minutes� time, and I will test the
potions. You may repair to your office.� He glided through the doorway he�d
used to come in with a sharp snap of his robes and was gone.

�� Draco sat
back, trembling now that there was no one around to see it, and clasped his
hands before him as if he meant to pray. He shook with excitement, with nerves,
with pride in Severus for being the only other person Potter didn�t cow�

�� And with
fiery yearning for the light that had flashed through Potter�s eyes when he�d
snapped back at Severus.

�� Such
emotions could not be expressed in front of their target, of course. Draco was
meant to consume Potter, not the other way around. But in moments of solitude,
Draco might let them ring through him, the way he had always indulged his
temper tantrums and fears and rare bouts of sympathy.

*

�� Draco
Malfoy, Harry thought as he watched him deal with the �older and valued client�
he had described to Harry last night, was an artist.

�� Of course,
he had learned that from studying Malfoy�s houses, and it was the basis of the
defense he had painted to Ron and Hermione when they tried to urge him away
from Malfoy. But he had learned everything he knew before this at a distance.
The clean lines of houses and pillars and porches spoke their own language, but
none of it was as clear as watching Draco study the plans in front of him with
a vivid, intelligent eye, and then dismiss them as rubbish was.

�� The older,
valued client blinked. He was the tallest man Harry had seen in more than a
year, since he and Ron caught the Giraffe Killer. He had gray hair that he wore
wreathed around his ears in a style that made Harry wonder if he knew
Luna.� His eyes were brilliant yellow, and his robes of so fine and smooth a cloth that
standing in the same room with him made Harry feel underdressed. Altogether, he
was not the kind of wizard he had expected to see Malfoy treat with impunity.

�� But the
wizard, whose name was Rolfston Keller, seemed to
accept Malfoy�s words. He nodded and blinked again and stooped to retrieve the
plans from the floor. �Then what will work?� he said.

�� You want a
home by the sea.� Malfoy leaned forwards, his hands sculpting an outline in the
air. Harry tried to make it out, but he was best-suited to seeing the lovely
shapes of the houses after they had
developed. That was what made Malfoy the architect and him the Auror, he
supposed. �You need a home that will partake of the cliffs and the water.�

�� I don�t
believe I ever requested that,� said Keller.

�� You didn�t
know enough to request it,� Malfoy retorted. The heels of his hands collided
with the sides of the desk. Harry squinted, and this time could make out the
box-lines he sketched. Of course, anything more subtle than that was lost on
him. �But, trust me, I know how to give it.�

��

�� Why is the
way the house fits into its natural surroundings so important?� Keller asked.

�� Malfoy drew
himself up and looked at Keller as if the man had just spat on the floor in
front of him. Well, Harry amended as
he studied him, a tile floor, at least.
Malfoy probably would be more upset if it was a marble one.

�� Why is the
ceiling important?� Malfoy asked softly. �Why are the walls? The
floor?�

�� Keller
frowned. �Without those it wouldn�t be a house, only a space.�

�� Malfoy
flashed a smile that made Harry�s breath catch in his throat all over again,
but not because it was sweet. It was just so Malfoy, the smile of an intelligent, predatory man fully content in
his natural element.

�� You�ve
spoken more clearly and earlier than most of my clients would,� he said. �Yes.
That�s exactly it.� His fingers rapped a dance on the desk. Harry tried to look
for patterns in their darting movements, but once again, couldn�t find it.
Perhaps Malfoy was simply occupying his hands whilst his mind danced and
dreamed on more important plans. �Without being part of the cliffs and the
water around it, the house would be only a house. It won�t be a home, it won�t
be yours, and it won�t be mine.�

�� Harry would
have hesitated if confronted with a pronouncement like that, but then, he
wouldn�t have known how to give Keller�s first answer, either. The gray-haired
wizard simply nodded, resigned. �You won�t build it without redesigning the
plans.�

�� Malfoy�s
face took on an intent, persuasive look that made Harry immediately imagine
what other circumstances, and rooms, he might use it in. �Have I ever failed you?�

�� My
nephew�s home��

�� I can�t be
responsible if the first thing someone does when he comes into a house is pull
the supporting walls out.�

�� He wanted
a large interior room,� Keller murmured, and then sighed and rose to his feet.
�As always, Master Malfoy, a pleasure, and you�ve thought of things I wouldn�t
even have seen, which is what I want from my employees.�

�� I�m not
your employee,� Malfoy said.

�� Until I give you money, of course.� Keller took out a large
purse that rang and bulged and tossed it carelessly into the middle of Malfoy�s
desk. Harry was willing to bet it contained more Galleons than he would make in
six months of work as an Auror. He found himself watching not the bag, however,
but Malfoy�s face, as he leaned back in his chair and sneered at Keller.

�� Not even
then. I�m a free man. Call yourself my patron, and
that would be a closer approximation of the truth of our relationship.�

�� Keller
laughed and bowed to Malfoy, who didn�t bother to return the gesture, before he
strode from the room.

�� Malfoy
cocked his head and smiled. He�d been facing half away from Harry for the vast
majority of the conversation, and even now he didn�t turn around. The smile was
more for the devious sense of possibilities spinning out in his head than
anyone in the room, Harry thought.

�� I�ve never
watched you work that close at hand,� Harry said, unable to keep silent now.
�It was interesting.� Interesting was
a pale shadow of the adjectives he wanted to use, but Malfoy would probably
scoff at him if he spoke those words now. Harry felt too exhilarated to bear
that laughter.

�� Exhilarated, from nothing more than watching
a man act with arrogance and scorn towards his betters? As
Hermione would say.

�� Harry
rolled his shoulders. It was Keller�s choice to spend his money this way, and
to hire Malfoy. So Malfoy�s arrogance and scorn were not simply that, but a
business manner that probably served him well with pure-blood clients.

�� Malfoy was
too well-bred to start, but from the deliberate turn of his head in Harry�s
direction, Harry was sure Malfoy had forgotten his presence, at least
momentarily.

�� Strange,�
Malfoy murmured.

�� What?�
Harry clenched his hands on the arms of his chair as he realized he had
forgotten his bodyguard duties for some moments. Of course, Malfoy�s office was
a single large room with the door in front of his desk, the blue tiled walls
reflecting blurred and wavering shadows of any movement. Harry had noted the
wards as they came up the steps outside; he hadn�t had any choice but to notice
them, because Malfoy had made him wait five minutes whilst he undid the most
complex of them and then did them up again behind Harry. So it was not as
though the imposter would find the place easy to attack without being seen, but
still. He was here to do a job, not to admire Malfoy.

�� That you
think it interesting, rather than scolding me self-righteously about my
arrogance from your position of Gryffindor humility.� Malfoy�s eyes were
half-lidded.

�� Harry
laughed bitterly in spite of himself, Malfoy�s words pulling back what Snape
had said to him in the dining room that morning. Harry had made all the
overtures of peace and friendship to Snape that he knew how to make, and still
the man continued to persist in thinking Harry a copy of his father. If Harry
hadn�t received hints that Snape knew his mother and might know untold stories
concerning her, the rejection probably wouldn�t have hurt so much. �I�m the
arrogant one not fit to be called a hero, remember?�

�� Malfoy
leaned back from the desk to lay his hand on Harry�s shoulder. His face came
much closer as well, and it was grave, the eyes shadowed.

�� I gave up
on believing everything Severus says long ago,� he said quietly.

�� Harry felt
the air between them take fire. He could feel Malfoy�s breath
on his cheek, along his lips, again, and Malfoy was watching him with an
emphasis that made Harry�s throat go tight. Malfoy suddenly tilted his head,
eyes flickering, and Harry knew he felt it, too.

�� Neither of
them could draw away, though Harry knew he should. There were rules about who
Aurors could sleep with when on jobs, and the people they were supposed to
protect were most certainly not among them. But as he began to lean towards Malfoy,
he felt as if he were answering a force of nature rather than giving in to
temptation.

�� Malfoy�s
eyes fluttered shut, and he made a small, surprised noise, a smothered moan.
Harry feathered his fingers through the hair above his ear and felt the hair
rub like down against his skin. He was so close, and it was so warm.

�� And that,
of course, was the moment the imposter chose to try to break through the wards
strung around Malfoy�s office.

*

�� avihenda: Thanks for reviewing!

�� Jilliane: Thanks! You can go ahead and ask the questions if
you like, though I probably won�t answer all of them.

�� linagabriev: Thanks! Harry and Snape
do have a meeting in this chapter, as you�ve seen, though I won�t say Snape�s
attitude stays the same forever. Draco continues to be delusional, but then, if
he wasn�t, he would have to face a load of truths he�s not prepared to face.

�� SP777:
Well, the move is all done now!

�� And Draco
himself does not yet know what kind of torture he most
desires for Harry, though he will have a better idea after Chapter 7.

�� Mangacat: Thanks! Harry does have some advantages that
Draco doesn�t think of�namely, the way he can seduce Draco without even trying.
- 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

The Same Species As Shakespeare