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For Their Unconquerable Souls	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 29229 -:- 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.

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Chapter Six--Significances

Harry cocked his head. Draco could see the clouds forming behind his eyes, and was not really surprised by his next words. �You won�t be able to feel my thoughts or my bodily sensations, Mr. Malfoy, no matter what your friends might have told you when you were a teenager. When the connection can be cut with safety, I�ll do it. We won�t be bound for the rest of our lives��
He thinks Lucius would mind that. He thinks that sharing blood with someone else of the family is an intrusion. Draco shook his head and stepped forwards. He wished to save Harry from saying something silly and perhaps offending his new father.
�My father means something else.� Harry whirled towards him, as he had a habit of doing in the past few days. Now Draco gazed at his face as the face of someone who had done the ultimate deed to make the family safe, and felt his lips curve and his hands tingle with the desire to touch Harry�s skin. Of course, moving so fast would drive the man away, so he shuffled forwards and made sure his voice was as soft as if he were speaking to a broken-winged owl. �When a wizard sacrifices part of his life force to save another, it creates a wizarding debt between them, just as saving someone from certain death does. My father�s simply shocked that you would do that for someone whom you barely know and have reason to hate.�

�I�it�s the right thing to do.� And Harry ducked his head, flushing.
Draco felt his groin tighten, and was glad that the robes he wore today were loose and flowing, a subtle Malfoy gesture of contempt for anyone he encountered; he did not need to wear robes that would let him move faster, so confident was he of his magic and ability to counter any spell they cast. Of course, Harry couldn�t read that language, but Draco would teach him.
And he would teach Harry what the sight of a flushed face and sweet stammering denials did to him, when combined with the spell that had taught him to know Harry�s soul.
�Most other Healers in St. Mungo�s would have done the same.� Harry was still talking, heedless. �And��

�Most others would not have done the same, given what has happened to him from the moment he arrived here.� Draco took another delicate step towards Harry. He blinked at him as if he hadn�t noticed that Draco was moving closer until now. �And you swore that you would protect him, and you�ve kept that promise, up to lending him your life force so he can survive. That�s not a light gift, Potter.�
Harry narrowed his eyes suddenly, gave him a false smile, and turned away with a rapidity that suggested disgust. The next moment, he was speaking to Lucius, his voice loud, as if he would push away any attempt Draco made to gain his attention. �Our first priority must be finding out who removed the stabilization fields,� he said. �You were asleep?�
Draco rocked back on his heels. Obviously, Harry had made some swift decision about him that prejudiced him against Draco, but Draco did not know what might have caused it.

*
Lucius lowered his eyelids over his eyes to cover his thoughts. He felt too many emotions at the moment for it to be safe to show any, even to his son and heir.
Relief that he still lived. When he had felt the wounds begin to open, he had wondered if this was the moment when his precautions ran out at last. He had mustered all the things that he had to yet to tell Draco, such as the telepathic connection that would grow between the Malfoy head of family and his or her spouse, and gathered, too, the breath to speak them.
Wonder that Harry Potter could use such a spell, for such a reason, and yet not know what it meant. The Healers of St. Mungo�s had surely discouraged common use of that incantation, but they had not told their trainees the reason. Lucius wanted to laugh at the thought that Harry had not known he would bind his fate to the Malfoy family�s by such a gesture.

Anticipation of what Narcissa would make of this gesture. He had already called to her and told her that things had changed, that Harry was now part of their family, and that he needed her in hospital. It was one reason he had sagged back against the pillows and been content to let Draco speak for him at first. The blast of magic had taken much out of him. But Narcissa had conveyed acceptance without question. She would know that he had detailed explanations to offer when she arrived in St. Mungo�s, and of course the news of someone joining their family was too momentous to let her be left to discover on her own.
Cool gratitude that it was Harry, and not someone else, who was tied to them. They could not trust Harry in the sense of expecting him to understand everything at once, the way that they might have been able to trust some of the pure-blood Healers if they had been the ones to perform the spell, but on the other hand, Harry�s very ignorance spoke for the genuineness of the gesture. What he did not know existed, in this case the binding into the Malfoy family and the way they would extend their protection over him in turn, he could not desire.
Amusement that his son had so obviously decided what he wanted and meant to pursue it immediately. If Lucius had the slightest notion of what Harry was like--and he did, with the revelation of the Heart�s Blessing Spell--then Draco would have to chase, and chase hard, to make Harry pay attention to him. Harry was likely to attribute every motive but the right one to Draco, and back away in cautious, and then stubborn, independence.
And an eagerness for the immediate future that surpassed any he had felt since the end of the war, when he had determined that his son was still alive. He would have more to do now. He would have the chance to live. And now he had two sons, both bound by blood, who would be tied together as well by Draco�s determination.
Lucius�s life had not been so full in years, and he had to regard the curse keeping him in bed for the moment as a temporary inconvenience, because it was so much less important than the fulfillment of the plans he saw now within his reach.
In the meantime, Harry had asked him a question, one he should answer now.
�I heard nothing. And our first priority must be making sure that you�re safe, Mr. Potter. You�re young and healthy, as you said, but even you could be killed by a curse or an accident.� He looked at Draco. �I think Draco should take over the duty of protecting you.�
Draco�s face, startled into sourness by Harry�s apparent rejection, brightened again. Harry�s nostrils flared, and he looked as if would have shaken his head in anger if he dared speak to a patient that way.
I am giving you a chance to seduce and bind him that way before I take my own methods in hand, Lucius told his son mentally. He might react better to you because of the same reason he reacts better to any open, honest gesture. Do not fuck this up.

Of course, Harry protested. �No! There has to be someone here with you at all times��
�My wife will come,� Lucius said quietly. �We did want to spare her, as she is not at her best with hospitals, but she would bear worse for me.� He thought it well that Harry should know the character of his new mother as soon as possible, or he would not have taken the risk of revealing that side of Narcissa, a weakness, before she knew about the Heart�s Blessing spell and how it had changed things between them. �She also knows spells, thanks to several days of study now, that should help to protect me and still be undetectable by the wards of the hospital and by your Healer friend who dislikes me so much.�
�Mr. Malfoy--�
Lucius stifled a sound that would have come out as somewhere between a chuckle and a sigh. He should have known that Harry would protest, and go on protesting until he was actually ushered into the Manor and shown the place he would dwell for the rest of his life. He was too earnest, too willing to give up everything he had earned so that someone might live a little better. It was the part of his attitude that Lucius was the most anxious to correct.
Draco intervened smoothly. Lucius approved. Draco was used to working in concord with him and Narcissa; it was a good sign that he was willing to learn to work with his future partner, so that he might prevent Harry�s self-destructiveness from hurting him. �It�s for the best anyway, Potter.� He had moved up beside Harry, who turned to eye him sideways with intense dislike. �I was awake and alert, I must have been, when that spell to remove the fields was cast, but I didn�t know anything had happened until Father started screaming. Then all I could do was step back out of the way when you arrived and let you work. Mother is better at noticing small changes immediately. I�m better, I think, at keeping up with you.�
All of that is true, Lucius thought approvingly, without revealing much of weakness should another happen to be listening in. Yes, Draco will offer Harry what he needs to become part of the family as well as what we need.

Harry, he noted, had crossed his hands at his waist, as if he assumed that Draco would be put off by the gesture. His next words crackled with ice that wasn�t effective, because it didn�t disguise his true anger. �I�m afraid much of the day will be boring for you,� he said. �I�ve got other cases in hospital to attend to, and I never spend much time having fun.�

Draco laughed softly. Lucius would have been wary of the laughter, but he could see the brilliance in Draco�s eyes. Yes, he was looking forwards to having the man who stood at his side, and for that, Lucius could excuse youthful high spirits. �Then I�ll just have to teach you, won�t I?� he said complacently.

Yes, Lucius thought. Draco had mentioned the way Harry had acted before this in aggrieved tones, but because he had other things to worry about and Draco had taken charge of observing the mediwizard and persuading him, Lucius had not worried about it. Now he combined what Draco had said to him with Harry�s recent words, and felt concern. Pleasure was essential to a Malfoy, lest he crumble under the weight of the hatred the world threw at him.
Harry looked as if he would like to say something--doubtless, a mixture of exasperating and admirable words, in which he would esteem the exasperating words more--but Narcissa stepped through the door just then. Lucius met and held her eyes, mouthing the words �Heart�s Blessing.� Narcissa did not let her features alter, but she quite often preferred gestures to testify to the depth of her feelings, rather than her expression.
�I recognize the Heart�s Blessing spell, Mr. Potter,� she said, and turned to gather her robes in her hands and sweep him a full curtsey. Of course that made Harry�s cheeks burn. Lucius hoped idly that Draco would soon give him lessons on accepting compliments gracefully. �Thank you for saving my husband�s life.�
�You�re, ah, welcome, Mrs. Malfoy,� Harry said. He glanced away as Narcissa stepped up to Lucius�s bedside and took his hand. No doubt he felt that the openness with which Lucius looked up at her was almost indecent.
He should not have. He was the subject of that openness. Narcissa�s softly piercing eyes, her downturned lip, asked if what Lucius had implied was true. Had Harry saved his life with the Heart�s Blessing spell? Had they really someone new to adopt into the family, or was he exaggerating the debt they owed to Harry?
Lucius flicked his eyes at Harry and tightened his hold on Narcissa�s hand in the same moment, telling her everything she needed to know. Narcissa bent her head enough that a curve of blonde hair fell above her eyes and murmured a few soundless words. Lucius knew they would be Sweet fate, a blessing the Black family had once used on the circumstances of the world when they actually favored that pure-blood family.
�I spent some time last night researching linked spells, Mr. Malfoy,� Harry said. His voice was still low and embarrassed, as if he imagined it impossible that he would be forgiven for being in the same room with Lucius and Narcissa when they were communing like this. �I�m afraid I still can�t tell what kind of maze may exist in your mind, or your body, or how to dispel it.�

�You�ve bought us time for you to do the research,� Lucius said, and let some of the warmth he was truly feeling drop into his voice. It would do Harry good to learn that the Malfoys were not as emotionless as he imagined, though proper expression of nine-tenths of what Lucius felt now must wait for the walls of home.

�And what happened today may have given you more clues.� Draco spoke softly and passionately, sidling towards Harry this time. Harry glared at him. Lucius pressed his wife�s hand, and felt her press back, both of them sharing their amusement that Harry could only muster a few responses to Draco�s flirtation, most of them so unsubtle, and not even notice the differences in the ways that Draco tried to gain his trust and attention.
�I--yes,� Harry said. �I�ll still have to do more research, of course.�
It didn�t take long after that for Harry and Draco to depart, Harry still striding along stiff-backed as if he imagined that Draco was like an annoying imprinted duckling whom he could leave behind. When they had gone and Lucius was sure they would not turn back--Draco would have leaned hard against the wall or made some other noise to alert them if it were happening--he leaned back on his pillow and looked up at his wife.
�And what do you really think of our new son?� he asked.

*
Narcissa stood with her head bowed for some moments when Lucius had spoken. She kept her hand limp and passive within his, and breathed so slowly that someone else coming through the door might have mistaken her for dead.
Of course, such protections availed little against her husband, who had shielded her shoulders for years and knew that the calmer she appeared, the more emotions whirled through her mind. But she could keep which emotions she was feeling from him, because the lifts of her eyebrows and the twitches of her features had never become so matched to the individual feelings as Lucius might imagine they were.
And, in truth, she was as much vexed as in joy.
She had seen the way Draco looked at Potter, and she understood the way he must be considering him. Draco would see this as a fate-granted opportunity for him to be free of some of the obligations Narcissa had counseled him to assume. He would not need to travel to other pure-blood families, endure their insults and sneers because of the position that the war had left the Malfoys in, and negotiate until he found someone he could stand and who would be willing to foreswear allegiance to his or her own family in order to accept the Malfoy name in their place. He would not need the steps of the dance Narcissa had taught him which had helped her and Lucius to get acquainted: the careful words, the equally careful display of certain emotions and the observation he kept on the other�s responses, and the conscious settling of disagreements that would be buried and weaknesses that would never be referred to again. Draco would prefer this method of straightforward seduction, binding, and lovemaking, because it fit better with the way he loved to think and react, his emotions running headlong with his thoughts.
But Narcissa had long thought that enslaving his passions and learning more about the ways in which pure-bloods reasoned would help Draco. He would curb his own desires and accept that he could not simply trample over the top of the objections others raised in his way. His education in such matters had been disrupted by the war, and Narcissa had given way to the necessities of hatred, anger, and desperation, without which her family would not have survived.
And now fate had turned sweet and given Draco what he wanted, so that he need never learn the lessons he despised.
Narcissa had to admit that this seemed the best possible way fate could have turned, because Draco had always been enchanted by the Potter boy and longed to be closer to him. But she could not help feeling that some of his potential, the person he could have been with a tighter education, was dying unborn.
And there was the matter of shared blood, which she could not have denied even if Potter made Draco slobber over him.
She lifted her head and smiled at Lucius. �I think he needs teaching,� she said. �In the ways of pleasure, in the ways of reason, in the ways of becoming a Malfoy.�
Lucius�s hand squeezed hers again, the only visible sign of his relaxation. �Draco will give him that,� he said.
And so will I, Narcissa thought, faintly amused at Lucius�s belief that Draco was the only teacher Potter needed. Particularly in the last two, which my darling son is far from being a master of.

*
�Can you give me a room in your house?� Draco asked. He and Harry were heading towards the third floor now, towards one of the many other patients Harry thought himself privileged to attend.
He had decided on the level of subtlety that he would use with Harry. It was no use coming in as he would have with someone else raised in the world of pure-blood houses, low and sharp, feigning a lesser level of enchantment than he really felt, speaking double entendre. Harry wouldn�t notice, and would convince himself that there was nothing real there if he did. On the other hand, deprecating Harry�s treatment in hospital and urging him to remove to Malfoy Manor immediately was too open. Draco had to educate Harry slowly, and bring him to think that his new ideas were his own property.
�It won�t be my room.�
�Oh, I know that,� Draco said. He moved past Harry, enacting another step in the dance. His hand brushed Harry�s shoulder, a tender, tentative touch, fingers fluttering and splaying against the skin covered with cloth. �I�ll leave it up to you to change your mind on that.� He winked over his shoulder. �Not that I won�t try to give you a little help.�
He could hear the sound of Harry�s teeth grinding from here. Draco sighed delicately, and fought down his own exasperation. What did Harry think he was doing, if not trying to bring him gently to a knowledge of what he meant to the Malfoys and accord with their method of doing things? He must have seen the way Draco and Lucius both paused after the Heart�s Blessing spell. He should understand it mattered to them, even if he didn�t understand exactly why.
�Listen, Malfoy,� Harry said, and stepped up to him. Draco cocked his head slightly to the side, so that he could feel the pressure of Harry�s warmth and breath a few inches from his side.. �You don�t need to�act like this. I�m not going to abandon treating your father even if you are rude to me.�

Draco raised his eyebrows. Harry�s conclusions were so far from the truth that he could only use an ambiguous question in response. �Is that so?�

�Yes,� Harry said, and a softness touched the corners of his mouth, as if he thought he would soon convince Draco of his way of seeing things. �I would have wanted you out of the room whilst I was there, but you showed today that you can get out of the way when a trained mediwizard or Healer needs to work. You didn�t try to distract me, unlike that bastard Julius.� He hissed between his teeth and shook his head. Draco hoped he was remembering how poor a lover Adoranar had been, and thinking how nice it would be to have a more pleasant one. �You even protected me from his interruption, and I�m grateful for that. So I won�t impose conditions on your presence from now on. You can sneer and insult me all you like. You probably need the release because of all the stress that Lucius being sick piles on you.�

Draco felt a moment of startlement, and then a stronger one of compassion, sticking him through the middle of the heart like a needle. He wanted to reach out and catch one of Harry�s restlessly tossing arms, binding him to hold still and listen. Harry thought the freedom to be rude mattered more to Draco than he did. Draco would have to cure him of that delusion soon.

�My father�s not sick, he�s cursed,� Draco said. �You reminded me yesterday of the importance of specificity. And you�re right, I am stressed. So are you, obviously.� He ran his gaze up and down Harry�s body. �Do you think we might be able to help each other? I like being helpful.�
He waited to see a spark catch in Harry�s gaze. Surely he could not misunderstand that, but it would not be so open as to offend him.
Harry laughed.
Draco did his best not to writhe. The sound hit him in his body and his blood both at once, the blood shared with what flowed in Harry�s veins. He could imagine the same laugh on a battlefield or in the bed, and that made it a greater treasure. Of course, that Harry made the sound at all was a proof that he wasn�t seriously considering Draco�s offer.
�I don�t want a boyfriend at present, and I think it would be a distraction I could ill afford if I did have one.� Harry cocked his head when he finished speaking the words, and smiled, as if those were the only words on the subject that mattered.
He needs a lover. He needs someone to guard him, someone he trusts, so that he won�t be minded to disobey for the sake of disobeying when they warn him that he�s pushing too far and damaging his health. Draco leaned forwards and dropped his smile. Now this was not merely about possible damage to the mediwizard tending his father; it was about standing back and possibly watching a member of his family hurt himself.

�You need someone to help you. That�s plain. You need someone who doesn�t get on your nerves like Adoranar and who accepts and celebrates your abilities, unlike that fool Xavier.� Draco lowered his eyelashes and watched Harry intently from beneath them. Would he understand the significance of those words, and the way they admitted that Draco was not looking to serve only his own needs? �You need someone who can give you what you need, as well as getting what he needs from you.� He took a step closer. �I can give you all that.�

�I don�t understand why.� Harry�s angry breath fluttered his nostrils.

Draco shrugged. �Because I want to.� Because you are more to me than you were to either Adoranar or Brandeis.

Harry laughed and turned his back.
Draco let his hands close into fists, fingers cutting into his palms. He fought the impulse to snarl. What did it take to earn Harry�s attention and regard? Why couldn�t he see that things had changed now, and that Draco�s flirtation was honestly meant? What in the world did he think Draco intended, if not to win and hold him?
I can�t betray him to the Dark Lord now, and there�s no House or Quidditch Cup to be won. And those were the motives he always attributed to me back in school.

�You might regret your willingness to help when you�re handing me vials and asking incessant questions about healing that I won�t answer,� Harry said. He began to move so quickly Draco had to almost run to keep up with him. He knew he was flushing, but he didn�t care. He could show such emotions in front of Harry now that he was family.
This may be harder than I thought. Why does he have to be so stubborn?

*
Thrnbrooke: Thanks for reviewing!
linagabriev: Thank you! Yes, the scene finishes (somewhat) with Lucius.
I think Draco does desire Harry, but he can also never forget Harry's value to the Malfoy family.
I think Harry's other lovers probably did want Harry, but not enough to make any sacrifices of their own.
Draco doesn't think Harry needs constant coddling, but he does go too far when Harry accepts the initial care.
hieisdragoness18: Oh, I think Draco is an ass pretty often!
laurenbee: Thanks for reviewing.
Sage: Thank you!
Triden: Thanks so much! I hope Draco's seduction in this chapter pleases you.
I've added you to the update list.
TimeFlys: Thank you! I don't know if Draco would describe himself as being in love yet, but it's sure that he feels a pretty sincere affection towards Harry, and he does know it's more than obligation to the family already.
Mostly, Narcissa has shown nothing softer because she's still in public. But it will help her to be back inside the Manor walls and seeing more of Harry. She doesn't let her emotions interfere with her reason, and in that she's unlike Draco and Lucius, who are both more headstrong.
Roozette: Um, wow. Thank you for that declaration of love. :)
I'm glad you like the Malfoy perspective. I hope that having all three of them at once in this latest chapter will provide an interesting series of contrasts.
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For Their Unconquerable Souls