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Company Manners	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 12863 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 1-Company Manners
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 6
- 7
- 8
Thank you again for all the reviews!

�� Harry
paused when he saw a slender man with dark hair ducking out of Lansby�s
hospital room. He narrowed his eyes and glided out of sight into an empty room.
The precaution was unnecessary, since the man was walking fast and didn�t look
over his shoulder, but Harry felt compelled to take it anyway.

�� He was
almost sure, from the set of the man�s shoulders and the length of the hair,
bound up into a tail with a single silver ring, that this was Marcus Tollhun,
who really shouldn�t have been anywhere near Lansby. He was a blood purist,
too, but of a faction that hated associating with half-bloods. Lansby had no
objection to that as long as the half-bloods were �respectful� of her.

�� Like me, Harry thought, and ran his
thumbnail briefly across his teeth, thinking.

�� Then he
shrugged. He doubted that he would get any information about Tollhun by
standing here. He walked down the corridor and into Lansby�s room, with a
smooth step and a bright smile, as if he had nothing to worry about in the
world.

�� Lansby
lifted her head when she saw him, but didn�t smile back. The bandage that ran
down the middle of her left side, where Poppycock�s curse had struck her, was
less red and thick this morning, Harry noted absently. He nodded to it and
worked as much sympathy into his voice as he could. �You are feeling better?�

�� I need to
know the true extent of your association with Draco Malfoy,� Lansby said. Her
voice was almost a bark.

�� You and Kingsley both, Harry thought. He
had to spend less than a moment considering what tactic would serve him best
here. He and Lansby didn�t share the bond of friendship that linked, or
sometimes linked, him and Kingsley, and she would scorn softness.

�� Harry
stiffened his shoulders, froze the muscles of his face, and took a few steps
nearer the bed, let bristling offense show from every pore. �You think to
question me?� he asked. He had dropped his voice into a region of ice, as well,
and it was one he had not so far used around Lansby. He saw her go still as the
effect penetrated through the layers of her own pride. �You think that you may
control which circle of pure-bloods I associate with? Am I your pet, to attend
on only those you say I may attend on?�

�� Lansby
leaned back on her bed and winced as though her wound hurt, to gain time. Her
eyes were clear, cold, and cautious as she responded, �I do not seek to control
you. I do, however, seek to establish
what you are doing with Malfoy. There are associations with that name that��

�� I know
what the Malfoys did in the war,� Harry said. �I spoke for them. Narcissa
Malfoy saved my life in the Forbidden Forest.� He didn�t think Lansby would
accept that as an excuse for his interest in Draco, but he would try it. �I
attended school with Draco. My familiarity with them extends further back in
time than my familiarity with you.�

�� Lansby�s
eyes narrowed, and she twitched her head, as though she were trying to shake
cotton out of her ears. Good luck, Harry
thought without mercy. It won�t work
unless you can shake loose all the contents of your brain. �The name has
associations with failure,� she said.
�The Malfoys served a bad master and were fools enough to be caught in his
downfall. And I assume, since you have been so close to him in the last days
and weeks, that you have heard of Draco Malfoy�s ill-advised love affair.�

�� Harry
snorted. �I neither fought on their side nor have any interest in Malfoy�s
previous lover.�

�� Lansby�s
voice rose dangerously. �If you have any interest in staying with me, in
learning of the wonders that I have promised you, then you will need to give
him up immediately. It does not matter where your interest lies. It must lie with mine.�

�� Another
pause, while Harry�s brain worked rapidly. He had some idea, now, of what
Tollhun must have told her. While Tollhun and Lansby struggled for control of
the blood purist leadership, neither had any reason to love the Malfoys; Harry
knew that Lucius Malfoy had tortured at least one Tollhun family member during
the war.

�� The
�wonders� she had promised him were introductions to other blood purists, those
who either kept their beliefs private or weren�t on the Ministry�s map for
other reasons. It would have been valuable to know who they might have to
suspect of attacks on Muggleborns and half-bloods, to say nothing of attempts
to unseat the Ministry itself.

�� It would have been.

�� Harry made
his decision, and he found little regret in himself as he met Lansby�s eyes and
said, �My interest declines to lie with yours.�

�� Lansby�s
lips parted a little, and she stared at him with utter bewilderment. Harry,
staring back, could only deduce that she had not expected this, had retained
some faith in his loyalty to her even after Tollhun warned her that he was
dating Draco.

�� Harry
stared back emptily. He was not sure what effect this would have on his future
course of trying to figure out the blood purists� activities, though he
strongly suspected Lansby would have demanded he give Draco up no matter what
soothing words he found. Whatever Tollhun had said was too convincing.

�� He only
knew that he could not give up Draco, even for the sake of a temporary
deception. And who was to say that it would be temporary? Harry had already
worked seven or eight months to come this far into Lansby�s confidence. It
might take years more before she would really trust him and admit him to her
counsels.

�� Then, too,
there was bitter experience of his first year among the pure-bloods that he so
rarely let himself remember. He had thought, then, that he could sleep with
someone he hated and keep his pride and heart separate from his body. It had
not worked. He had refused, on any account, to let what arrogant pure-bloods
wanted dictate his lovers since.

�� But all
that was so much smoke and wind. At bottom, he simply refused to give up Draco.
That was all.

�� And if I�m not going to let Emma Lansby and
Kingsley stand in the way, then I shouldn�t let my fear stand in the way,
either.

�� Those
thoughts whipped through Harry�s head like streams of fire and then vanished into
nothingness as Lansby lifted herself from the bed and pointed a shaking finger
at him. Harry saw a true splash of new blood fall from her wound. She didn�t
seem to care.

�� You are
banished from my presence,� she whispered. �There is nothing that will ever
bring you back into my good graces. There is nothing you can do that will convince me you are an ally. Tollhun
was right, and I a fool ever to have listened to you.�

�� Harry
bowed. �If you feel that way about it,� he said mildly, because he knew mildness
would exasperate her far more than anger, and turned and left her hospital room
before she could throw something at him.

�� The air in
the corridor of St. Mungo�s wasn�t really all that different from the air in
Lansby�s room, but Harry took a deep breath of it nevertheless. He felt as if
it had walked out of a trap that was fast closing in on him.

�� He could
deal with other pure-bloods. He could see them as people and their manners as
customs to be laughed at or adopted. But the blood purists made him feel as if
he were slogging through chest-high shit, and he didn�t like the person he
became when he was pretending to share their opinions.

�� This was the right decision, whatever the
consequences.

�� One of the
consequences would be an immediate report to Kingsley. Harry went to make it.

*

�� Blaise had
that look that he always got when he had news that he knew Draco would want to
hear but which he preferred to keep to himself for the moment�simply so that he
could torment Draco. His lips were pursed, his eyes narrowed as though he were
squinting against the sunlight or to keep from crying. He would stare at Draco,
then look away again when Draco tried to catch his gaze.

�� Draco put
up with it for a few hours. They were out watching the house-elves guide the
two winged horses that Blaise had recently bought through their paces. The
horses were too young to fly yet with a rider, but watching them was a positive
pleasure. They were black Abraxans, with snow-white manes and white left
forelegs. Draco relaxed as he watched their muscles flex and light ripple off
their coats as if moving underwater. He had forgotten such pleasures in
America, where Paul seemed keen to avoid any �mere� beauty.

�� Eventually,
though, Draco said, without looking away from the horses, �Tell me what you
know about Harry.�

�� It was
worth the long silence to hear the scrape and rustle of Blaise�s robes against
the chair he sat on. Then he took a long, unconvincing sip of his drink. �What
makes you think that I know anything about Potter?�

�� Please.�
Draco raised an eyebrow at him. �You obviously want me to ask what you know,
and who else would I be interested in news of?�

�� Blaise
sighed, as though to say that Draco was heaping difficulties on him, and then
said, �It seems that Potter has broken with Emma Lansby.�

�� Draco felt
as though he was watching Harry dance again, so deep was the surge of pleasure
that passed through him and left him panting in the wake of it. He tilted his
head back and concentrated on the sunlight that played across his face, so he
wouldn�t sound absolutely silly when he spoke again. �Did you really doubt he
would?�

�� Yes.�

�� Draco
glared at Blaise, his good mood dampened. Blaise shook his head slightly.
�Potter is a political person,� he said, �and he�s always been the Minister�s
creature. I thought he�d do anything for the advantage, including betraying his
own heritage to associate with Lansby and�� He hesitated.

�� And giving
me up,� Draco finished. He couldn�t really blame Blaise, but irritation joined
the pleasure anyway. �That was one reason you were so reluctant to see me
dating him.�

�� You looked
shattered when you first came here,� Blaise said bluntly. �I didn�t want to see
that happen again.� He leaned across the gap between their chairs and shook
Draco�s shoulder. �You made a fool of yourself over Breaker, but you�re still
my friend, and I think you�re vulnerable. Potter is more dangerous to become
infatuated with than anyone else I can think of, except maybe Granger or the
Minister.�

�� Draco spent
a few moments watching him with a faint, warm smile on his face, the only
expression he would permit. Blaise, though he rarely expressed such �soft�
emotions aloud, was still his friend, and didn�t want to see Draco hurt.

�� I think I
know what kind of ground I stand on with him,� Draco said. He rarely expressed
things like this aloud, either, but Blaise had taken some risks for him, and
Draco didn�t want to appear unappreciative. �Neither of us is certain yet that
we want to stay with the other. It�s more than a bit of fun, but it�s not what
I felt for Paul, either. Or what I thought I felt for Paul,� he was compelled
to add, as Blaise�s eyes darkened with concern. �We�ll move slowly, and I think
I�ll be all right.�

�� You think,� Blaise said, and snorted, and
leaned his head back against the chair, directing his gaze at the horses again.
�Some of us are the ones who�ll have to put you back together if you fall apart
over Potter, so some of us would like a stronger assurance than your thoughts.�

�� And some
of us can�t give them, yet,� Draco replied sharply.

�� Blaise
grunted. Draco decided he was satisfied enough. He looked back at the horses,
too, and started plotting where he would take Harry for a celebratory dinner.

*

�� Do you
mean to give up peacekeeping among the pure-bloods entirely, then?� Kingsley�s
eyes were somber.

�� That was
the sort of challenge that would have taken Harry in five years ago. But his
training had included the best ways to spot logical fallacies and come up with
arguments to counter them, and this was a fallacy in the best style. Kingsley
was taking an extreme stance, when Harry had offered a moderate action.

�� I mean to
give up trying to convince Emma Lansby,� Harry disagreed peacefully, �since she
is unlikely to let me near her again no matter how persuasively I speak. I do
not mean to give up our longer-term projects.� He sat back in his chair and
smiled slightly as he watched the shadows of frustration move over Kingsley�s
face.

�� Emma
Lansby is currently the greatest threat we face.� Kingsley toyed with a quill
between his fingers.

�� Lying, Harry thought, his eyes following
that telltale. Or at least he�s
exaggerating the truth, and aware that he�s exaggerating. �No,� he replied,
�I would disagree. And I think you will allow that I know the inner circles of
the pure-bloods better than you do.�

�� Kingsley
opened his mouth to speak, then closed it with a sigh and motioned for Harry to
go on.

�� The
greatest danger,� Harry said, �is that the pure-bloods will find some powerful
and charismatic leader they can follow, who will unite them the way Voldemort
managed to unite them and persuade them to forget about their petty
differences. Without that, however? I think they will cause wildfires, but only
that. Not a wholesale burning of the British wizarding world.

�� And you
forget, Kingsley�� or you haven�t thought
enough about it altogether, since you have people like me to think about it for
you ��that those petty differences are the heart of pure-blood culture. Entire
alliances can chill because someone wears the wrong color to a party or makes a
single careless remark.� Harry cocked his head. �That was the reason I had to
train so long to enter the circles I now traverse, because by nature I am not
an observer of such reactions. But now that I know enough to master the
conventions, we can make this work for us. I can work to exacerbate those petty
differences and keep their pride alive. Individuals might feel hostility
towards Muggleborns. My task isn�t to change those prejudices and feelings
altogether�though I will do what I can to soften them�but to keep those
individuals from finding one another and growing into strong coalitions. And if
I see another Voldemort, I intend to eliminate his prospects for advancement
before he can come anywhere near so far as the one we know about.�

�� Kingsley
leaned back in his seat, eyes shadowed. �I would feel better if I simply know
why you are so hostile to the suggestion to give up Malfoy.�

�� Because it
impinges on my freedom and on his.� Harry laughed when Kingsley stared at him
in disbelief. �Is it so remarkable that I should have boundaries and freedom,
sir? Or do you find the idea of his boundaries
and freedom incomprehensible?�

�� You barely
know him, Harry,� Kingsley said. �You have not dated him for years. You do not
know whether you�ll stay together.�

�� No one knows at the beginning whether they will
stay together,� Harry said, letting his irritation color his voice. Now
Kingsley was saying nonsensical things, as if he thought that he had to locate
truth if he simply launched enough random words into the air. �Ron�s told me
that he had doubts about his marriage at times, and Hermione told me about her doubts,
too�different ones. I know many people who are either divorced or living
separately. I know other people who met suddenly and dated rapidly. If you are
demanding a certainty of me that you don�t enforce on your other people,
Kingsley, then you are holding me to an inhuman standard that I can�t attain no
matter how much training I undergo.�

�� I simply
worry that Malfoy could endanger your chances to be successful at your job,�
Kingsley said, �by distracting you when you should be watching out for the next
Voldemort.�

�� Harry leaned
forwards, staring at Kingsley until he hesitated. �If that were the case,� Harry said at last, �then I would choose
Draco over my job.�

�� I find it
hard to believe that you can care about him that much,� Kingsley said stiffly.

�� I don�t
care about your belief, sir,� Harry responded. �And if you try to impose limits
on me that others don�t have to follow, then I repeat, that is inhuman, and I
will leave.�

�� For long
moments, they sat in silence, with Kingsley staring at Harry as if trying to
will him to back down and Harry staring back. He was confident. If it came down
to a choice, Kingsley needed Harry too much to force him away from the
Ministry. He might distrust Draco, he might whinge about it, but he would put
up with it.

�� Kingsley
finally grunted and looked away. �I do hope that Malfoy won�t draw you into any
ill-considered alliances,� he said.

�� Trust my
training to keep me out of such entanglements, sir,� Harry replied, keeping his
voice soft, almost deferential, as he rose to his feet and retreated out of the
office. He had won the battle he cared about. It was only diplomatic to let
Kingsley have the petty victory that could reassure him he was still in
control.

�� Yes, trust my training. And Draco�s lack of
interest in things like that.

*

�� Draco.�

�� Harry�s
voice was warm in spite of the fact that there were people watching them. And
three of those people were his friends. Draco blinked, then reached out
tentatively to accept Harry�s hand.

�� He had gone
to Diagon Alley because Astoria had complained delicately for a few minutes
about the lack of roses to decorate the tables for that afternoon�s private
party and the house-elves� lack of skill in choosing precisely the right flowers. He had not realized that
he would run into Harry as he walked from the florist�s to his Apparition
point. Granger, Weasley, and a red-haired girl who must be Weasley�s sister
looked no less shocked. Then there was the peering public; Draco saw plenty of
people starting to pay attention over their shoulders when they realized exactly who Harry Potter was greeting.

�� But Harry
stepped up to him and clasped his hand as though they were alone, then kissed
him on the mouth. He didn�t use his tongue, luckily, and Draco realized he�d
been silly to fear that Harry would; Harry knew something about the limits of
good taste and decorum now. But he kissed Draco long enough and
enthusiastically enough to calm any doubts in the minds of observers about
their being just acquaintances.

�� Harry drew
back and gave him a self-satisfied smile. His friends shook off their daze and
began to move forwards.

�� In the
moments before they arrived, Harry lifted his head and breathed against Draco�s
ear, �Sorry if I caught you off-guard, but I wanted to make it clear to them
that you are important to me.�

�� Draco
blinked, had time to think that someone else must have pushed Harry into trying
to say that Draco wasn�t important, and then faced Harry�s friends with Harry
firmly at his side.

�� Granger had
grown into her teeth, though she would never have a handsome face or figure,
with all that mass of curling hair. She studied him, nodded shortly, and said,
�Harry did mention something about dating you.�

�� Draco kept
his voice exactly as cool as hers was. He was the one on the defensive here,
and though he often disliked that position, in some ways it was easier, as he
had only to react to their reception of him instead of trying to think
frantically through all the possible ways he might offend them. �He mentioned
that you�re doing well.� Harry had dropped
a remark to that effect when they were at the Perpetual Party. �I believe
you�re still fighting for house-elves?�

�� Granger
searched his expression for some insult. She�d become uncomfortably sharp,
Draco thought, her gaze almost a match for Professor Snape�s in the way it
probed.

�� But then
she inclined her head and said, �Yes, I am, and the fight is going fairly
well.� She glanced over her shoulder. �I�d like to present Ron Weasley and my
sister-in-law, Ginny Thomas.�

�� Draco
stifled a chuckle. Did she think that we
might not recognize each other? But he saw Granger�s gaze became sharp
again, and he decided that she was probably trying to offer everyone the most
polite way out. He bowed, therefore, and murmured some words that he could
never remember after that moment.

�� They must
have served the purpose, though, because Harry tightened his hold on Draco�s
hand and looked fiercely proud, and the two Weasleys, or the Weasley and the
Thomas, didn�t try to murder him. Weasley himself went red in the face and
muttered something ungracious, but he looked sufficiently mulish that Draco
could restrain himself from responding in kind.

�� Thomas
tossed her hair over her shoulder and grinned at him. �I wondered when someone
would finally capture Harry�s heart,� she said. �Didn�t think it would be
someone like you.�

�� Someone
male?� Draco asked. He was going to take the politest interpretation of her
words that he could, since otherwise he was likely to forget that these were
Harry�s friends.

�� That,�
Ginny said. �And someone pure-blood. Harry�s been quite adamant so far about
insisting that he�d never date a pure-blood, because he thinks the lot of you
are shallow.� She turned and faced Harry, her expression lively with curiosity.
�So what changed your mind, Harry? You were denouncing them as recently as a
month ago.�

�� I�d be
curious to know that, too, mate,� said Weasley. He looked a little less red
now, but he still peered at Draco as if he expected him to transform into a
horned toad at any moment.

�� Harry
laughed. Draco blinked at him. He had changed, too. He didn�t seem to mind the
people who were peering at them, and he didn�t wear the polished manner that he
did in any pure-blood setting. He faced his friends with a slight challenge in
his stance, even, as though he knew he could argue with them and they would
still be his friends.

�� They�ll accept me, Draco thought with
sudden, bone-solid certainty. They might
not be thrilled about it, but they�ll accept me. They care more about his
happiness than they do about things that happened ten years ago.

�� A month
ago, I did think the same thing I�ve always thought,� Harry said, with a small
shrug of his shoulders. �A month ago, I didn�t know Draco.� He smiled and
reached up to lay the back of his hand, fingers folded, against Draco�s cheek.

�� Draco
swallowed, unable to know what the right words to speak would be. Harry�s
fingers spread out on his cheek, and he smiled more widely, then leaned in to
take another small kiss. Draco found himself unable to respond except by
flattening his hands out on Harry�s shoulders and holding him in return, though
his cheeks stung with embarrassment. He remembered their audience�all the
levels of it�if Harry had forgotten.

�� And it�s
as simple as that, is it?� Weasley asked when they broke apart, his voice heavy
with skepticism.

�� Hush,
Ron,� Thomas said, with such imperious authority that Draco was taken aback.
�If they�re happy together, then I don�t think we need to worry about whether
it�s simple or complex. And if Malfoy�s all wrong for him, then Harry will see
sense and back off eventually. He doesn�t need a nursemaid to look after all
his decisions the way you do.�

�� Weasley
began to protest, but Thomas cut him off by turning to Draco and giving him a
vaguely threatening smile. �Of course,� she said, �if you and Harry break up
and you�ve hurt him before you do it, then I�ll have to cut your fingers off
one by one and feed them to sharks. I�m sure you understand.�

�� Draco
managed to nod, and then add, when it looked as though she was waiting for a
verbal answer, �Of course. I would do the same thing to someone who hurt
Harry.� And I think he would do the same
thing to someone who hurt me. It did make him curious to know what Harry
would do to Paul if Harry believed in revenge.

�� Good,�
Thomas said. �Then that�s settled, and I think we can like you when you give us
a chance.� She nodded to Draco, grabbed both Weasley and Granger�s hands, and
herded them off. Weasley glanced back at him, grumbling, and Granger glanced
back with eyes that were so bright and sharp and distasteful Draco could
imagine cutting himself on them.

�� One who accepts me without reservation, one
who doesn�t, and one who�s waiting to see what I do. Draco touched his
forehead to see if he was sweating; he felt rather as he did when he managed to
pass the practical portion of his Potions NEWT. I can live with that, I think.

�� You were brilliant.�

�� And then
Harry was giving him another kiss, and Draco�s resolve to ask what had made him
so enthusiastic melted in the face of his own desire.

*

�

�� You look
picturesque together,� Astoria Zabini told Harry. �It remains to be seen if you
can look elegant.�

�� Harry
grinned at her. He and Draco were sitting on one side of the Zabinis� dining
room table while Astoria and Blaise occupied the other. Blaise hadn�t stopped
scowling doubtfully at Harry since he entered the house, but he hadn�t said
anything�for the same reason that Ron hadn�t complained that much, Harry
thought, a mixture of shock and a reluctance to hurt his friend. Doubtless he
would question Draco closely after Harry was gone.

�� But after
facing the challenge of Kingsley and the test of his friends, and winning both
times, Harry felt ready to conquer the world. He gave Astoria a small bow. �You
must think we could look elegant together, or you would not have placed us at
the same table during your last party.�

�� That was
Draco�s doing, and none of mine.� Astoria gave him a blank face that said he
wouldn�t score points with her easily.

�� Ah,� Harry
murmured, with a wise nod, �but you�re too good a hostess and too clever a
judge of beauty to have seated us together if we looked horrible and would thus
have done your party a disservice, no matter what Draco wanted.�

�� Finally,
Astoria gave him a faint, cold smile. Harry treasured it as much as he would a
larger one from someone like Hermione. It didn�t matter that he had to struggle
so hard against prejudice of various kinds, and so did Draco; they would make it.

�� There are
some things that I would like to know,� Blaise interrupted. �Exactly how and
when did you decide that you loved Draco, Potter?�

�� Draco
leaned on Harry�s shoulder for a moment. Harry glanced at him fondly. Even in
the midst of his exhilaration, he knew that Draco was nervous about the answer
to that question�and would probably be nervous no matter what answer he gave.

�� Some
people started making noises about my giving Draco up,� he said quietly. �I�m still
unclear on the name to give my own
feelings, but I know that I wouldn�t have felt that much resistance to the idea
if I didn�t feel something strong for him.�

�� So
external pressure is the only reason for this sudden declaration of sentiment?�
Blaise smiled derisively. �And what happens when that pressure is removed? Will
you as suddenly return to plain indifference?�

�� It�s good that he�s defending Draco this
strongly, Harry reminded himself as he curved an arm around Draco�s
shoulders. It means that he�s a true
friend, and that he won�t let Draco go to just anyone, especially after what
happened between Draco and Paul.

�� For five
years, the most important thing in my life has been preventing another war on
account of blood politics,� Harry said. �I�ve talked and danced and attended
mindless party after mindless party�yours excepted, of course, Mrs. Zabini�for
that one goal. I should have been willing to do anything to advance it. I
thought I was. I was desperate to prove that I could still serve the wizarding
world after I defeated Voldemort, and it was too dangerous for me to be an
Auror. Why shouldn�t one driving purpose replace another? It seemed natural.

�� And then,
for whatever reason, Draco started mattering to me. I don�t think I can explain
it all.� Part of that was a lie; Harry could have given them some reasons, but that would be turning
over certain secrets that he suspected Draco didn�t want him to turn over. If
Draco felt differently, he could always tell the Zabinis about them after Harry
left. �Part of it was that he took the time to notice and challenge me. Many of
the people I deal with from day to day are either my friends already and not in
a challenging relation to me, or so self-absorbed that they never notice I�m
not their perfect mirror.�

�� Blaise
snorted, and then looked sorry that he�d done it. Astoria�s cold smile grew a
bit broader.

�� He proved
that he was willing to meet me in the Three Broomsticks. Not the most posh of
environments.� Harry looked at Draco. He rolled his eyes and reached up to push
Harry�s fringe back from his forehead. A moment later, Harry could feel Draco�s
finger tracing his scar. He smiled at him and looked back at the Zabinis. �At
the same time, he has that intelligence and perceptiveness and politeness that
I find myself unable to do without after so many years among the pure-bloods. I
know that he�s not the only person about who has those qualities, but he�s the
only one I�ve been interested in.� He spread his hands. �And there you have
it.�

��

Blaise squinted at him. �There must
be more.�

�� Well,
yes,� Harry said dryly, �but I doubt that you would appreciate hearing it in
detail, Mr. Zabini, any more than I would ask what attracts you to your wife.�
He looked at Astoria, paused long enough to stir excitement, and then added,
�Never mind, I withdraw the question as too obvious. I might ask it the other
way around, though.�

�� Blaise
flushed. Astoria laughed like someone clashing two champagne flutes together.
�I tire of hearing only one side of the conversation,� she said, and turned to
Draco. �What do you think, Draco? Are you happy?�

�� Draco
looked down. Harry glanced at him, and saw him biting his lip as though he were
trying to stifle a smile. Harry blinked. I
didn�t realize I knew that. When did I pick that up? Somewhere in those hours
of watching his face, I reckon.

�� Yes,�
Draco whispered. �I know what you think.� He looked up at his friends
defiantly, his face slightly pale, and Harry realized that he was seeing
Draco�s openness in turn, the way Draco had seen Harry�s openness in front of
his own friends. �I know that you think this is too fast, too swift after Paul.
But for me, it�s not�not right now. Maybe someday we�ll wake up and this will
pass like a dream. But for right now, this is what I want.�

�� My dear,
of course I am not thinking that.� Astoria gave a little shudder. �I assure
you, my thoughts express themselves much more eloquently and in complete
sentences.��

�� Draco
laughed, but it was muted. He glanced at Blaise. Harry squeezed Draco�s
shoulder. Draco nodded back to let him know he�d felt the touch, but didn�t
lean on him. Harry understood. Even Draco�s openness was guarded; he understood
emotional revelation as taking a risk, so Harry doubted that the Zabinis had
heard the full story of Draco�s time with Breaker. Draco wouldn�t see enough to
gain from it.

�� Which is another reason that I shouldn�t
have brushed him off, that night at their party when he told his story to me.

�� Harry
refused to feel guilty, though. He�d had no way at the time of knowing that
Draco�s story was genuine. He was glad that he�d found out, and he would
support Draco from now on and do his best to nurture all the wounds of a broken
heart. That would have to be enough.

�� I want to
be happy,� Draco said. �At the moment, this seems like my best chance of
becoming so.�

�� He ended on
a note that Harry suspected his own friends would have found too prissy by
half. But Astoria and Blaise both nodded as though it were enough, and then
Astoria rose to her feet and ordered them out of the sitting room, as she still
had a party to prepare for.

�� Draco
almost dragged Harry into a small room down the corridor�except not literally,
because that would have been too undignified, Harry thought, still struggling
against unwonted hilarity. Then Draco turned to face him, staring earnestly
into his face, and Harry�s impulse to laugh vanished.

�� I want to
know,� Draco said, in a low, precise voice, �how much of this really is
motivated by the desire to flick your fingers at your friends and the
Ministry.�

�� Harry
reached out, skimming his hand down the side of Draco�s face. Such strength and
such pride there, and behind both, such trembling vulnerability. Harry wanted,
more than anything, to guard all of it, and help Draco so that someday he would
feel perfectly strong again or able to express the vulnerability�whichever one
it was that would make him most comfortable and happy.

�� I want him to have whatever he needs.

�� Exactly as
much as I explained to the Zabinis,� he said. �Shacklebolt pushed me too far by
urging me to give you up so that I could be a better spy on Lansby. I refused.
So I don�t know that I would have come to any knowledge of what I feel for you
without that push.

�� But none
of what I did today was a show for my friends, except in the sense that I want
them to understand they can�t harm
you or insult you and not have it rebound on their heads.�

�� You�ve
known me, known me, too short a time
to be certain of something like this,� Draco whispered.

�� And that�s
why I�m not certain.� Harry used his thumbs to rub at the corners of Draco�s
eyes. �Maybe it won�t work out, the way we thought it might not when we started
talking about dating. I don�t think I�m in love with you yet. I just know that
I like you a lot, and I want you, and I admire you, and the length of time I�ve
known you has no connection to that. It�s simply happened.� He hesitated. �Is
that enough for you? Or do you want something more?� Now that he was ready to
move fully forwards into a relationship with Draco, it chagrined him to
remember that he hadn�t really asked Draco
what he thought of the matter.

�� Draco
leaned forwards and rested his forehead on Harry�s chest in answer. Harry
thought he could feel Draco�s eyelids trembling.

�� Well,�
Harry said, stroking his fingers through Draco�s hair. �That�s answer enough
for me.�

�� And it was,
even if Harry was unsure of the specifics. Draco could have all the time he
needed.

*

�� kml: Thanks
for reviewing. Glad that you�re enjoying the story.

�� Point of
Tears: Harry�s main reason for backing off is a combination of being unsure
about the strength of his own feelings and his bad experience in the past. Luckily,
he�s getting over both now.

�� butterpie: In
terms of story time for Harry and Draco, it will be a while before they sleep
together. In terms of story time for the reader, not long at all.

�� Lady Laran:
Thank you!

�� yaoiObsessed:
I decided that I wasn�t going to make a big deal about homosexuality in this
particular story, though I�ve written pure-blood societies that are hostile to
homosexuality before. But yes, Harry�s relationship to the blood purists has to
change, and is already changing, because of Draco.

�� MewMew2:
Thank you!

�� polka dot: Yes,
but he was unsure how far he would want it to continue.

�� SP777: Thank
you! I think part of the reason I can be so laid-back is because, for me, a lot
of action has already happened in the background of the story (like Draco�s relationship
with Paul), so what I�m showing is the feelings and reactions that are a result
of those actions. This is a story that takes place after what I would probably
make the centerpiece of a novel-length story.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Here�s Chapter 7.
- 6
- 7
- 8
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