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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir	By : StarLightMassacre Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 104291 -:- Recommendations : 9 -:- Currently Reading : 26
Disclaimer: I do not own anything from Harry Potter; all rights go to J. K. Rowling. I make no money for this piece of fictional writing and never will.

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
- 8
Last Time
He was almost hyperventilating when he came to his concluding thought. It had been a half thought up plan…something that he had wanted to do, to protect Rabastan more than anything, even if it would make his life so much easier as well, yet he had put it to the back of his mind, because he had underestimated the twisted, warped mind of Rhadamanthus Lestrange.
But now he needed to plan more thoroughly, he needed to do this, not just for Rabastan, but because he had no doubt that Rhadamanthus would target their children as a way to further hurt Rabastan. He could not ever allow that to happen. He was coming to love Rabastan, he would assuredly love him when they married, but his children were his children and he could not, would not, ever allow anything to happen to them. He had to kill Rhadamanthus Lestrange and it had to be done before he and Rabastan were married.
Chapter Seven – Plans
Harry didn’t know what was more annoying for him really. It was a tossup of Dumbledore continuously trying to get him alone in his office to talk, the pathetic, second year level ‘prank’ attempts by his ex-house mates or trying to find a way that he could kill a man without drawing the suspicions of any of the students or the Professors onto him first.
Naturally as his friend and brother, he had told Draco what he was planning to do about Rhadamanthus, but no one else. Not even Blaise, who knew something was going on, but also knew enough not to pry into his personal business.
Draco had been stunned and a little fearful that he was deadly serious about going through with this idea, the blond was very…squeamish for a supposed dark wizard, but Harry definitely didn’t hold it against him. After all, he himself had turned out to be very dark for a supposed light wizard.
He rationalised that everyone was different, that everyone had their own thoughts and opinions regardless of which family, or which side, they had been born on. After all, Sirius was a prime example of that, he had been so against his family and the stigma of supposed ‘dark’ wizards that he had actually run away from his own family while still a minor.
He had to wonder though how much of Sirius’ passionate hate had been a fear or disgust at the allegedly ‘dark’ magic and how much of it was actually Walburga Black’s fault. According to Sirius’ stories and dark reminiscing, she had hated him long before he had stepped foot in Hogwarts and she had liked playing favourites between her two sons, setting one against the other in a destructive, vile game for her own amusement. Harry was glad that she was already dead.
Today was the first day of the Christmas holidays, they had finished all of their lessons for the year the day before and Harry had eaten just a few pieces of toast for breakfast as he scribbled furiously on a spare piece of parchment. He checked over his information and rearranged the order of words to make it sound more sophisticated and intelligent before he transferred his words to the piece of parchment that held the finalised piece of homework that he would hand in to his Professor when the term started up again in January.
“Come on, Harry. We won’t find an empty compartment if we don’t leave now.”
Harry startled and looked up at Draco who had spoken, Blaise was stood at the doors waiting for them. The words filtered into his brain before he nodded and quickly packed up his books, ink and all of his rolls of parchment before he leapt up and caught up to Draco, who was already out in the Entrance Hall.
They still ended up waiting for Blaise, who had cursed halfway to the grounds outside and declared that he’d left his Mother’s gift on his bedside table that morning. Draco had climbed regally into the front carriage to wait for Blaise to return, but Harry went to see the thestral pulling it.
Skeletal and bony thin, in a way it reminded him of Rabastan and Harry felt sick for thinking such things as he stroked his hand gently over the thestral’s reptilian face. He was just nervous about seeing Rabastan again for the first time in four months later on that night, that was all. Of course he was going to be nervous of such things, he hardly knew what to expect and all of the Lestranges were going to be there. It was a very nerve wracking experience.
Pansy and Daphne greeted him and he nodded to them both cordially as they climbed into the carriage with Draco and Harry clenched his fist when he caught sight of Theodore Nott, who was walking with a few older Slytherins just behind, sigh heavily and turn away from where his betrothed had just been stood. He looked crestfallen and Harry just didn’t understand why he put up with Daphne’s behaviour. Harry liked Theodore Nott and they’d had a few conversations over the last term. He was a well put together, level headed person and he was definitely going to do well once he graduated from Hogwarts. He just didn’t understand why he wanted Daphne so much or why he put up with her vile, disrespectful behaviour.
He watched as Theodore and the other Slytherins climbed into another carriage and Harry went back to the thestral. He couldn’t imagine holding such an unrequited love. The cruel thing was that they were betrothed and were going to marry one another one day. Theodore loved her and he was going to marry the woman that he loved, but that love was not reciprocated, not even a little bit and he knew it. Theodore had to live a lie, knowing that his Wife had slept with anyone and everyone while they were betrothed and that she didn’t respect or care at all for him and his happiness or his status. He would never be strong enough to do something like that, Harry was well known for his temper and he knew that if his betrothed acted like Daphne, if Rabastan acted like her, then he would have thrown a fit and torn up their contract, no matter how much it would have hurt himself to do so. He would not let himself be treated in such a way.
“Got it!” Blaise exclaimed happily, red cheeked, panting and out of breath, but he waved the small box with a grin on his face.
“Come on then.” Harry said with a smile, pushing all the thoughts of Daphne and Theodore from his mind.
The both of them climbed into the carriage and Draco waved his wand impatiently to set them off towards Hogsmeade. He had a part grimace, part sneer on his face and Harry hid a smirk as he realised that he had been stuck in the carriage waiting for Blaise to get back with just Pansy and Daphne for company. No wonder he was a bit bad tempered.
The ride was slow paced, but quiet as no one felt the need to talk while they were moving and they found themselves at the station in Hogsmeade quickly enough. They grabbed a hold of their trunks and owl cages and moved so that they could climb aboard the scarlet Hogwarts Express and find an empty compartment for themselves before the majority of the students joined them.
Harry went first and he purposefully picked a compartment near the front as it would be quieter than any of the compartments near the back of the train. He planned to do as much homework as he possibly could while he was on the train so that he could spend the majority of the Christmas holidays with Rabastan, who was already settled into Malfoy Manor waiting for him.
He was oddly nervous about the whole thing as he set up his books, parchment, quill and ink pot on the small half table in the compartment. He hadn’t actually seen Rabastan since the end of August even though they’d corresponded through letters and gifts. His belly was knotted and his heart was racing and he felt a little light headed. He couldn’t actually believe that he had faced off against Voldemort and his Death Eaters numerous times in the past, had held off over a hundred Dementors, survived with the Dursleys, competed in the Tri-wizard tournament and killed a sixty foot basilisk at twelve years old and Professor Quirinus Quirrell when he was just eleven and he was really this nervous about going home and coming face to face with Rabastan for the first time in four months. It was laughable.
He blocked out Draco and Blaise who were laughing and chatting directly opposite him and he ignored the two girls who were sat either side of the door giggling at something they were talking about. The seat next to him was empty of people, but he’d filled it with his text books. He was determined to get all of his work done.
It was harder to block out the rest of the students when they started arriving in droves and filling up the rest of the train, but Harry tried his utmost best as he scribbled on his scrap parchment before carefully quilling each letter onto his actual piece of homework.
It took an hour before the shrill whistle had some younger students, and even a few immature older students, cheering. Harry pulled his hand away from his work and held his inkpot a moment before the train lurched forward to prevent it from spilling and from then on, every moment would bring him ever closer to Rabastan.
Once the train had settled at a constant speed and stopped lurching about, Harry went back to his work and only stopped once the trolley witch came around at lunch time. He bought two bottles of pumpkin juice, some pumpkin pasties and some cauldron cakes to nibble on, but happily accepted when Blaise asked to swap a chocolate frog for a cauldron cake.
He quickly dived back into his homework as the rest of the compartment talked, joked and laughed. He didn’t join them. He had to get his homework done otherwise his entire night had been wasted and he wouldn’t achieve what he’d wanted when he’d first started.
“You’re very quiet.” Daphne Greengrass told him as the four Slytherins exhausted their topics of conversation for the moment and had lapsed into silence.
Harry looked at her and bit his tongue at the immediate urge to scream at her. He hadn’t had much to do with Daphne since the start of term, he mostly stayed with Draco and Blaise, but he’d had a bit of interaction with some of the other Slytherins outside of them too, mostly Daphne, Pansy and Theodore Nott. Harry liked the unusually quiet Slytherin and every time he’d caught sight of Daphne flirting with yet another boy, he’d felt angry on Theodore’s behalf. He didn’t deserve such disrespect and humiliation from his own betrothed.
Despite not having much interaction with the other Slytherins, however, we was still kept well informed of the latest gossip through Draco, who was very, very gossipy. Daphne had been shamelessly loud and vocal in bed with a Slytherin fifth year the last he’d heard and the entire of Slytherin house knew of it and still Theodore Nott thought the sun shined out of her arse.
He was sure that she was only sleeping with other people now because she knew that she could get away with it. Of course it was Theodore’s fault as well, he should have given himself a bit more dignity and self-respect. He didn’t deserve to be betrothed to someone who would sleep with anything just because they could get away with it, whether he was madly in love with her or not. Harry wouldn’t even dream of disrespecting Rabastan in such a way. Then he supposed that that was the difference between a betrothal of convenience and a betrothal where those involved actually felt attracted to one another and were coming to love one another.
“I’m just thinking.” He replied to her quietly. “You might want to try it occasionally.”
The rest of the compartment laughed at her, because that was what Slytherins did. As soon as one was singled out and belittled, they compounded that fact by joining in, even if it was just laughing at others misfortune.
The hat might have been right in a way, he had the ambition and ruthlessness that suited Slytherin house and he would have done well there, but he ultimately failed at being a Slytherin because they were like a pack of ravenous jackals. Any sign or the merest hint of weakness and they leapt upon it, made it worse and drew everyone else’s attention to it just to make themselves look better by comparison. He just couldn’t do that.
Harry sighed before he stood up on the seat and dug in his open trunk, up in the trunk rack, for his Herbology text book so he could sort out the piece of homework that he was currently working on. He’d done most of his homework last night, staying up as long as he possibly could so that he could knock off several assignments. He’d used his head and he’d done all of his hardest essays first, while he was still at the school and able to take advantage of the library and the Professors. He’d then done his easier essays. The written essays took up the longest amount of time after all. Doing that had left him with just a couple question sheets to answer, a translation for Ancient Runes and several calculations for Arithmancy along with his Defence assignments and a piece of homework that he couldn’t actually complete yet as he had to observe the night sky twice a week over the holidays and note down the positions of the planets and the meaning of their positions for Astrology.
“Why are you doing your homework now, we’re on holiday!” Blaise told him, looking at him as if he were completely mad.
“You might not have heard, but my betrothed is staying over for the holidays. I don’t want to waste time that I could be spending with him on homework.” Harry said simply as he flipped open his Herbology text book and set about answering the questions that Professor Sprout had set them. They were quite simple to answer as the text book told him everything that he needed to know. He just had to embellish the clinical information that he read to give an answer that didn’t look like he’d just copied it straight from the book. His scrap parchment came in very handy for doing that perfectly.
“Don’t remind me.” Daphne sighed grumpily. “I’m staying over the Nott’s manor for Christmas this year. My parents think that I’m old enough now to spend the holidays with him alone, so they won’t be there. It’s completely ruined my holidays, I don’t want to spend Christmas with him or his family! I’m going to use my homework as an excuse to get away from him as much as I can.”
“You should count yourself lucky that you even have a betrothal still.” Harry told her through gritted teeth, unable to continue holding his tongue when she spoke so candidly about avoiding her own betrothal partner. Especially when he knew that Theodore was looking forward to spending the time with her and was excited to spend the whole of the Christmas holidays with the woman he loved. It made him so mad, more particularly because he himself was doing his absolute all just to insure that he and Rabastan spent as much time together as possible during the holidays.
“Just because you’re happy with your match doesn’t mean that everyone else is.” Daphne snapped back.
“If you’re not happy with your match then break the contract yourself and find someone else, because absolutely no one deserves to be disrespected in such a way.” Harry answered, his voice rising a touch as his anger was stirred.
“It would be a different story if your betrothed was doing the same as…”
“If I ever found out that Rabastan was so much as entertaining the thought of being with another person while we were betrothed together then I’d break our contract faster than he could think to apologise for his disgusting behaviour.” Harry spoke over her, his eyes hard and cold at the very thought of Rabastan sleeping around with other people. “I deserve better than someone who would treat me so appallingly, just as Theodore deserves someone better than you and if our situations were the same and I were doing that shameful act behind Rabastan’s back, then I would most definitely expect him to throw me out on my arse! You cannot treat someone in such a way and still expect the same level of respect afterwards. It just doesn’t work that way.”
“It’s just sex, it doesn’t mean anything.” Daphne tried to defend.
“Sex always means something.” Harry told her bitingly. “Even if you think it doesn’t, it does. You entered a formal contract, you signed on the dotted line, didn’t you? You made a promise to the person who you were entering that contract with and then you just shit all over it and all over him by fucking as many people as you could without any thought, without even considering your actions or the consequences of them. This contract is a pathway to potential marriage, not an opportunity for you to mess about before the marriage ceremony to someone you are betrothed to and know you’re going to be marrying at the end of said contract. You’re disrespecting him with every action and even every thought that you are doing nothing wrong as you stick to your meagre defence of ‘oh, it’s only sex. It doesn’t matter.’ Because it does matter and one day, you’ll fuck the wrong person or just one person too many and Theodore will be gone and you’ll have absolutely nothing left to fall back on. You’ll be unmarriable and then what will you do?”
The compartment remained silent and Harry kept his burning eyes on Daphne for a moment more before he went back to his Herbology questions.
“What assignments do you have left?” Draco asked him over ten minutes of utter silence later as Harry had finally answered all twenty-five Herbology questions with several decent sized paragraphs each.
Harry put his Herbology homework safely back into his trunk after a quick spell to dry the ink and pulled out his Ancient Runes translations. He had done the essay for Ancient Runes but he had actually asked for additional homework because he was so far behind everyone else. Professor Babbling had been surprised but incredibly pleased with his request for additional homework.
“Just the essay and questions for Defence Against the Dark Arts and I still have the Astrology homework to do, obviously, and then it’s just my extra homework for Ancient Runes and the extra calculations for Arithmancy.”
“That’s all you have left?” Blaise asked in shock.
Harry nodded smugly. “I did all of my essays between last night and this morning and I did all of the harder pieces first, so all I’ve got left to do are all easy pieces that won’t take me more than a few hours each to complete. Of course I left Defence for last as it’s my favourite subject and it’s very unlikely that I’ll get stuck or lost writing that particular essay and it probably won’t take me more than an hour or two to finish. I’m going to have the entire holiday to myself and all the homework I’ll have left to do is just observing the planets at night, twice a week for an hour.”
“How, in the name of Merlin, did you write nine essays in one night and one morning, did you not sleep at all?” Pansy demanded.
“No, not much. I went to bed well after three in the morning and I was back up at just gone seven this morning, I had less than three hours sleep. I got eight essays done last night, that is the reason why I disappeared just after I’d finished dinner. I went straight to my rooms and I started on the hardest piece of homework that I had, which of course was the Arithmancy essay for Vector and then the essay for Transfiguration. I had a good, uninterrupted nine, ten hours to do eight essays and I finished off the ninth essay this morning at breakfast and then I started on all of the question sheets. I was determined that I was going to finish as much as I could before I got home, even if I am completely tired right now because of how late I stayed up and how early I forced myself awake, it doesn’t matter, because I no longer have any homework to distract me from spending time with my betrothed.”
“I can’t believe you have the entire holidays to do nothing.” Draco groused as he watched Harry do more of his homework.
“It took me a day, Draco. True it has taken about seventeen hours and I’m still not done, but if you started now, as we still have six hours left of this train journey, in a few days you’d be all finished too.” Harry told him.
Draco groaned like a drama queen, but he still went into his trunk and got out a few pieces of homework. He didn’t have the drive that Harry had had though. Harry had wanted to finish as much as he could so he could spend as much time as possible with Rabastan, so he had pushed himself to finish as much as he could and now because of that drive, he was almost finished.
The eleven hour train ride passed very quickly for Harry. He had finished all of his homework, eaten a snack of pumpkin pasties and cauldron cakes washed down with pumpkin juice before he had taken the time to check through every single one of his essays, had Draco check through his Ancient Rune translations and made sure all of his answers on the question sheets were correct.
“Why are you still doing homework?” Blaise asked him as he played yet another game of exploding snap with Draco.
“I’m just making sure that it’s all correct and that it makes sense. It’s fine to do it all, but I’d rather not have to re-write it all if I’ve done something wrong or answered a question wrong. I’d rather do it, check it through now while I’ve got the rest of the train ride to go and then relax.”
“You look fucking exhausted.” Blaise told him bluntly. “I would have taken a nap by now if I’d only had three hours last night.”
“I’m going to get an early night, sleep a good nine hours and then the rest of my holidays will be relaxing and spent with Rabastan. I’m all set.” Harry said as he snapped his parchment against the small table of the compartment, which he had claimed as his the minute they’d set foot in the empty compartment, and he smiled as he tucked them all away.
He took out his Ancient Runes book, sat back in his seat and opened it to his bookmark so he could carry on where he had left it off.
“Why in the name of Merlin are you reading now instead of just sitting back and relaxing or just taking the last half an hour to sleep?”
“If I slept now for a mere half an hour it would kill me for the rest of the night and I don’t want to meet my betrothed again, for the first time in four months I might add, looking half dead with bleary eyes.”
“Good point.” Blaise conceded. “At least it’s almost eight in the night. You don’t have long to wait if you’re planning on going to bed at ten.”
“And that is what’s keeping me awake at the moment.” Harry said with a grin. “That and a mix of excitement, adrenaline and nerves.”
“Dinner will be served shortly after we arrive home.” Draco told him. “We’ll have time to wash up a bit beforehand and to greet our guests, but you won’t have long to wait before you go to bed.”
“I hope it doesn’t come across as too rude that I leave so soon after getting home. I didn’t think of that when I came up with my plan. Will the Lestranges take it the wrong way?” He asked worriedly as he realised that he hadn’t thought of everything after all and that he might actually offend their guests just after he’d arrived home by leaving them so soon to go to bed. It could give them the false impression that he didn’t want to spend time with Rabastan and that wasn’t true at all. In fact, he wanted just the opposite.
Draco chuckled. “It’s our home and we’ve just had an eleven hour train journey. They can’t say anything about either of us going to bed early. Besides, you stayed awake for most of the night, you only had three hours of sleep and finished off every scrap of homework that you had been assigned in one day. Even the extra homework that you asked for, for Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, just so that you would have more time to spend with Rabastan once you got home. They really can't complain about you going to bed early, Harry.”
Harry smiled and he breathed a little easier thanks to Draco reassuring him a little. He was just overthinking everything, he was sure. It was probably just a side effect of only having three hours sleep. If there were any misunderstandings because of his early leave, he would work to dispel it over the next two weeks where he wouldn’t be leaving Rabastan alone for a single moment. He had just two weeks with his betrothed before he was back in school for three more long months before he would be back home for another two weeks for the Easter holidays and then it was the last two and a half months before the end of the year and he’d be home for ten long weeks. Ten long, glorious weeks that he could spend happily and entirely with Rabastan.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Meeting Lucius on the platform was what ramped up Harry’s nerves until he felt like he couldn’t keep still. He’d always been good at dealing with fear and with nerves, but this was a different kind of nervousness. He’d never been nervous because he was going to meet the man that he’d one day be marrying before. This was all new for him and it was that unknown factor that was doing him in.
“Have you boys got everything?” Lucius asked as Draco said a final goodbye to Blaise, Pansy and Daphne.
“Yes.” Harry answered softly.
“You look dead on your feet. Please tell me that you haven’t been so anxious about this evening that you weren’t able to sleep.”
Draco scoffed. “No. The little love struck fool stayed awake all night to finish off all his homework so he could spend all of the holidays following Rabastan around like a puppy. He’s exhausted.”
Draco threw an arm over Harry’s shoulder and Harry rolled his eyes.
“You just couldn’t wait to mention that, could you?” He demanded.
“No. He also spent the entire train journey home doing homework too.” Draco said. “So he’s completely done with all of his homework, but he’s so tired now that he can’t walk in a straight line.”
“Well well, no wonder you look dead on your feet. Come, let’s get you both home and then I’ll be looking over your work, Harry. If it isn’t up to standard then all of your hard work will have been for nothing, as you will be re-writing it under my direction.”
Harry nodded. “I checked it all over on the train. It’s all correct and Draco said that my Rune translations were correct too.”
“He actually asked for additional homework.” Draco told his Father.
“Only in Ancient Runes and Arithmancy, just to help me get closer to where the rest of the class are.”
“Well, I’m very proud of you. Now come along, we have guests waiting for our return.”
Harry walked beside Draco, their trunks hovering behind them thanks to a spell and they went to the bank of fireplaces that were at the far side of the platform. Lucius stood back and he saw Draco through with his trunk and empty owl cage and then he urged Harry forward to do he same.
Harry was nervous, but he held his feather light trunk and Hedwig’s empty cage tight and shouted out his destination. He landed in the receiving room of Malfoy Manor and he left his trunk and cage next to Draco’s and he waited for Lucius to arrive.
“Have you forgotten the way to the drawing room?” Lucius asked once he had arrived in the room.
“No, I just…” Harry ducked his head and then raised it again immediately as he realised what he’d done and in front of whom.
Lucius actually smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “You are nervous. This isn’t a bad thing. But would it help if I told you that Rabastan is a nervous wreck waiting for you? He has been since he arrived at the manor.”
Harry grinned. “That does help.” He said as he imagined Rabastan sat in the other room, Draco likely with them, waiting for him.
“Don’t keep our guests waiting.” Lucius told him and nudged him forward. “Always face your fears and push through any nerves or anxiety or you will never achieve your full potential. You will always be held back.”
Harry swallowed, squared his shoulders and left the receiving room and went to the main drawing room while Lucius organised for his and Draco’s trunks to be taken up to their rooms.
He had no idea what he was going to say or do, he didn’t know what was acceptable or what would be a serious embarrassment to him, his family or to the Lestranges, but he also had no idea how he was going to react when he saw Rabastan again.
He wondered again, and definitely not for the first time either, if Rabastan had made any improvements in the four months since he had last seen him. He steeled himself not to react, to keep everything positive, even if Rabastan had deteriorated for whatever reason. He was going to be marrying Rabastan and they would be having children together, it didn’t matter what he looked like.
He came to the door of the drawing room, he composed himself a little, made sure that his casual robes (that he’d changed into on the train just before it had pulled into Kings Cross station) were straight and clean. He tried to fix his hair up a little and he took a moment to just breathe as he inhaled deeply, before he squared his shoulders, stood up straight and took the plunge and he walked into the room.
It took him a moment to take everything in, Narcissa and Draco were sat happily on a settee with Xerxes who had a glass of deep, dark red wine dwarfed in his hand. Rhadamanthus was floating in an odd armchair on the edge of everything, as if he had been excluded from everything, even though he was still there in the room with them and then, on the other settee, sat the intimidating brothers, Rodolphus and Rabastan.
Harry couldn’t prevent the automatic smile that blossomed over his face when he laid eyes on Rabastan, he didn’t even think to check him for progress or signs of improvement or lapses. He just caught those deep blue eyes and he couldn’t look away and he was so happy to see him again that the smile was involuntary and absolutely genuine.
His betrothed stood up, with a little lean onto the arm of the settee as he did so, and Harry walked right to him and stood a little uncertainly in front of him as he craned his head back to smile up at Rabastan.
It was the youngest Lestrange who broke the awkwardness by pulling him into a gentle hug, his arms were shaking and Harry felt one of his forearm muscles spasm against his back, but he ignore it.
“It’s good to see you again.” Rabastan told him.
“I missed you.” Harry said as he slipped his arms around Rabastan and made sure that he didn’t squeeze him at all or make him uncomfortable about his bony body.
“You are supposed to come and greet me first as the head of the Lestrange family.” Xerxes told him neutrally.
Harry pulled back from Rabastan and he blushed so hard that he felt lightheaded. He could actually feel his face flaming like a beacon. He had been so worried about how he would greet Rabastan when he first saw him again that he hadn’t even thought that it might have been protocol to have greeted Xerxes first, or even Narcissa, who was his adoptive Mother after all. He was so embarrassed that he just wanted the floor to open up and swallow him whole, but he couldn’t run away from this or take that luxury of escape, he needed to do some quick damage control to try and make this right.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t…I just wanted….” He stammered and that humiliated him even further. He was a Lord of two houses, he was supposed to be smooth and eloquent and now he was stuttering as bad as Quirrell had. He shut himself up before he could do any further damage and tried to think of something to do to make this in any way better.
Xerxes laughed loudly and stood up, leaving his wineglass on an end table, and he yanked Harry into a crushing hug.
“The look on your face! As if I would turn this visit into a formal one. No, you go and sit with Rabastan and greet one another properly. I’m just glad to see that you are well and happy.”
Harry smiled at the huge man in utter relief and he sat himself next to Rabastan, squashing himself between the arm of the chair and his betrothed. He definitely didn’t want to sit between the brothers. He didn’t want to come between Rabastan and his brother in anyway. Rodolphus had been his brother’s support system for so long, through so many long, hard years. He understood that Rabastan still needed his brother and that he would likely always need his brother after what they had suffered and survived through together and he also understood that because of that dependency, even if it lessened over the years, Rodolphus would always be extremely overprotective of Rabastan. It was something that he understood and had already accepted.
Lucius walked into the room and he looked at Harry squashed in next to Rabastan and one eyebrow rose a little, but he didn’t say anything about his choice of seating. He broke the small layer of ice by sitting down and immediately drawing Xerxes into a conversation, leaving Harry free to shift his body more towards Rabastan and start a conversation with him.
“How have you been?” Rabastan asked, beating him to the punch.
“I’ve been well. A little stressed over school, but nothing that’s worth complaining of.” Harry said with a smile. “How have you been? Have you been busy?”
Rabastan sighed. “It has been a little hit and miss, I won’t lie. I’ve had some dark days, but they are fewer than they once were.”
“I would have been very surprised if you hadn’t had any bad feelings or moods. It’s normal.” Harry said soothingly. “I wouldn’t want you to hide those feelings or moods from me either. I want to help you, Rabastan. I can’t do that if you hide everything from me. You never mentioned any of those moods to me in your letters.”
“I didn’t want you to think any differently about me.”
Harry smiled wryly. “Do you think any differently of me because I told you that I was upset on some days and angry on others?”
“No. Of course not.”
“Exactly. I wouldn’t have felt or thought any differently if you had just told me that you were having a bad day or dark thoughts. I don’t mind hearing about it, Rabastan.”
He got a thin smile for his efforts, though it was interrupted by an almost full body spasm that locked Rabastan’s jaw and made him drool slightly.
“Will you control yourself?!” Rhadamanthus yelled at a shrivelled, humiliated Rabastan. “You’re an embarrassment. A complete disgrace!”
“You will not speak to him in such a way.” Harry said coldly as he took out his handkerchief from the inside pocket of his robes and he wiped Rabastan’s chin, ducking his head so that he could get eye contact with a cringing Rabastan. “You can’t help it and it’s completely fine.” He said firmly. “This isn’t your fault, Rabastan. That place is utterly vile and isn’t fit for human habitation. I’m already looking into ways to have it shut down.”
“You can’t shut down a prison.” Rhadamanthus scoffed at him. “The Ministry would never consent to such a thing and thinking otherwise is just a child’s dream.”
“I’m sure that all such ambitious plans are seen to be just ‘child dreams’ in the beginning, but I am determined to see this through until the end. An island in the middle of the North Sea, protected by all the wards and spells that Azkaban has around it should be enough on its own. The Dementors however, are another matter entirely and I will not sit back and allow people to be tortured in such an inhumane way just because the Ministry wants to look the other way because it’s the easiest option for them to take. Those creatures should not be allowed near humans and they certainly should not be allowed to freely feed from whomever they please. Human guards would be better able to take care of the prisoners and can actually evaluate potential flight risks and suicide risks, unlike the Dementors. I won’t rest until I have achieved this, even if I’m knocked back again and again, year after year, I will achieve this before I die.”
“You don’t have to.” Rabastan said quietly.
“Did you not listen to a word that I just said?” Harry asked him with a hard tone. “I’m already doing it, I’ve already started researching everything that I need to, to make this an issue that people will listen to. I won’t stop just because I fail once, or even several, times. I won’t back down and I will keep forcing people to listen and I won’t be quelled just because people won’t listen to me. I’ll force them to listen and I’ll make them see that giving the Dementors such a free reign will ultimately make them harder to control. They need to be evicted from the prison and bound somewhere that no humans currently, or will ever, populate. We don’t need them, they are not helping us or our world, they are actually endangering us!”
“If you keep talking like that then you’ll even convince me.” Xerxes laughed.
Harry fumed at the condescending comment.
“I requested records from the Department of the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures and the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.” Harry said calmly, reigning in his temper and controlling it. “Did you know that since Azkaban became a prison in the early seventeen hundreds, Dementors started going missing from the fortress? The number of Dementors going missing increases every single year, running the risk of exposure of the wizarding world to Muggles, Dementor attacks to the entire population of Britain, which is before taking into account that they might have gone even further into the world than just the British Isles. They are dangerous creatures and it greatly concerns me that they’re just leaving the prison and going missing and no one is doing anything about it! They could be doing who knows what without any regulations placed on them at all. Imagine if they were breeding in the remote corners of the world without any control? We need to act now and get rid of the lot of them.”
Xerxes and Lucius shared a look and Harry quivered angrily before turning away and ignoring them both. He didn’t care what they thought, he was doing this whether anyone backed him or not. For Sirius and for Rabastan.
He had always hated the Dementors and to an extent he feared them and what they were capable of and particularly how they affected him. The wizarding world was biased and prejudiced against any and all magical creatures, they slammed tighter and tighter restrictions on them needlessly, yet they happily ignored the one creature that needed controlling the most. It was infuriating.
What Damocles Rowle had been thinking when he’d allowed the Dementors to remain when he’d initially chosen the island to be the new wizarding prison was completely beyond him. Couldn’t anyone else see the escalating danger? The increasing numbers of Dementors, the higher and higher amount of them that were disappearing from Azkaban? The signs were all there and they were a glaring red. Something needed to be done and quickly, before it was too late.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Harry had excused himself just after dinner as Rhadamanthus had taken it upon himself to spend the entire meal alternating between telling him how ridiculous Harry and his thoughts were and belittling and shaming Rabastan.
He was so angry when he reached his room that he had to beat his pillow several times just to work through the rush of angry adrenaline.
He sat back up and he went to his trunk, taking out some of his sentimental things and putting them around his room, the most important of which was the framed photo of his parents that he put on his bedside table. With his room a little more homey, he changed into his pyjamas and climbed back into his bed with a book.
He didn’t care what anyone said or did, he had his own mind and his own thoughts and feelings and he’d be damned if he let anyone tell him that they were wrong or childish, especially not Rhadamanthus of all people. He really needed to do something about him, if the scant hour and a bit that he had spent with the vile man was any indication, then he was determined, committed and ruthless in his attempt to completely destroy Rabastan. Harry didn’t know why Rhadamanthus wanted to hurt and possibly even kill his own son, but he would not let him do so.
He was only sixteen years old, he was limited in what he could do, he already knew that. Yet that didn’t mean that he was completely useless or that he’d stand aside and allow Rhadamanthus to destroy his budding family without even trying to do something about it. It did mean that he needed help, the problem was, where did he go for that help? He couldn’t ask Rabastan or Rodolphus to kill their own Father, he couldn’t ask Xerxes to kill his own son. Draco was only a month older than he was and Lucius was an eternal diplomat and might have tried to talk him out of killing Rhadamanthus and trying to work things out instead. But Harry couldn’t leave such a powerful threat to his family alive, not when he didn’t know what was actually motivating Rhadamanthus’ hatred towards his youngest son in the first place. Not when he didn’t know if that hatred would spill over onto his and Rabastan’s future children. So where did he go about finding someone to help him kill a man?
He was sure that he could pay someone to help him, but he only had one real shot at this, if anyone, especially Rhadamanthus, caught on to his plan, then it would all be over. The man would kill Rabastan, maybe Harry as well for good measure, as well as any children they had. No, he needed to do this right, even if it took a year or more of planning and another couple of years to implement the plan, he was adamant that Rhadamanthus had to be dead before he and Rabastan had their first child at least. He needed to eliminate the danger as quickly as possible without risking his one and only shot at this and preferably it needed to be done before he fell pregnant, before he was married and before Rhadamanthus completely destroyed Rabastan. There was a lot to plan and a lot to figure out beforehand, he couldn’t just jump in and start firing off curses, he was worried that it would be several years before he had a shot of eliminating Rhadamanthus and he was scared of the damage that could be done in that time to Rabastan and possibly even their children as well.
Harry was so tired now that he wasn’t even feeling tired anymore. He cracked open the book he’d taken to bed and he hoped that reading it in a warm, cosy bed would help to lower his anger and help him relax enough to sleep as he pushed away all thoughts of planning to kill Rhadamanthus.
It worked in less time than he would have thought it would as his eyelids started drooping after just five minutes. He put the book down and switched off his bedside lamp, snuggling under the covers and falling asleep very quickly, his mind playing around naughty thoughts of Rabastan. He’d been having these dreams for a while now and they always made him feel more relaxed. He only woke up when a house elf insistently prodded him awake ten hours later, telling him that breakfast would be served soon and that ‘Master’ had said to get him up.
Sitting himself up, Harry stretched languidly and with a jaw breaking yawn, he got himself out of bed, found an outfit and a set of casual robes in his wardrobe and he headed for his en suite bathroom for a shower. He took his time, but he didn’t linger too long either, he wanted to see Rabastan again to reassure him that his going to bed early had nothing to do with him and had everything to do with Rhadamanthus making him overly angry and his almost all-nighter the previous day. Three hours was definitely not enough sleep to go a whole day on.
He dried himself with a quick spell and dressed as quickly as he could in dark jeans, a nice jumper and his matching casual robes. He made sure that he looked presentable in his full length mirror as he brushed his naturally messy hair before he left his rooms and went down to the formal dining room where all the residents of the manor were already starting their breakfasts.
Harry sat opposite Rabastan, as was expected of him, and he grabbed a piece of toast and buttered it lightly.
“Would you like tea or coffee?” Rabastan asked him quietly.
Harry smiled at him. “Good morning.” Harry greeted him happily. “Tea please. A bit of milk and no sugar.”
The smile that lit up Rabastan’s face made Harry’s belly flutter and he found it difficult to swallow as he put his toast back on his plate.
“Watch you don’t throw the tea over your suitor. We would hate for you to scald him.” Rhadamanthus commented from a few seats down from Rabastan, sounding entirely like he would absolutely love for such a thing to happen.
Harry noticed the immediate change in Rabastan as everyone turned to watch him. Harry saw how his hand clenched the teacup tighter, straining his damaged, weakened muscles and making the cup shake ominously as he poured boiling water into it with his other, equally shaky hand.
He reached out and cupped both of Rabastan’s hands lightly, applying a bit of pressure before he pulled back, letting his fingers drag across the backs of Rabastan’s hands.
“I’m sure he won’t do such a thing.” He said lightly. “Rabastan knows that pushing himself too hard will be detrimental to his recovery and I’m sure that he’s smart enough to know not to push himself by now.”
“He almost crushed your hand.” Rhadamanthus sneered at him.
“Once, when we first met.” Harry replied with a small smile. “Something I now look back on fondly. Rabastan has since held my hand a hundred times and we’ve never had a repeat of that incident. I trust him and I wouldn’t care even if he did throw it over me, as long as it wasn’t purposefully, of course. I would forgive him for such actions as I know that they are out of his control at the moment.”
The distraction had served its purpose as all the attention had been on Harry as he spoke and not on Rabastan as he made the tea, which had taken the pressure off of him and thus had allowed him to pour the cup of tea to Harry’s liking without everyone watching him and waiting for him to do something wrong. As a result he didn’t do anything wrong and he handed him a cup of tea that Harry took a deep drink from. He sighed happily and thanked Rabastan before he went back to his toast.
“I will require all of your homework after breakfast, Harry.” Lucius reminded him.
He nodded. “I left them all in a folder at the top of my trunk so that I could get it out easily and none of them would be damaged on the train journey home.”
“Yes, Lucius told me last night that you had spent all night and then all day finishing all of your homework. I had wondered why you looked particularly tired when you arrived last night.”
“I just wanted it all done and out of the way.” Harry said with a smile and a glance at Rabastan. “I don’t want any distractions getting in the way of our short amount of time together.”
Harry got the impression that he had embarrassed the larger man, so he changed the subject before anyone could notice or draw attention to it.
“Besides, it’s a good thing for me because I can now spend these next two weeks just relaxing without worrying about homework because I know that it’s all done. I’m still reading my books, of course, but I won’t get a detention for not reading those.”
“It’s doubtful that we will have a Wizengamot meeting in these two weeks either.” Xerxes commented. “Though I’ve been a member for far too long to completely disregard the stupidity of others. So we may have an emergency meeting at one point, though I hope not. You and Rabastan need time to bond.”
Harry shared another look with Rabastan and smiled almost shyly. He didn’t know if it was strange that he could see himself marrying Rabastan and having children with him at all, let alone so soon after meeting him for the first time, but he did know that he had never thought this way about anyone else before.
Then again he had never thought of it before. He’d had a childish crush on Cho last year, they’d shared a few kisses, but she hadn’t made him feel this nervous or as excited as Rabastan did. He’d been nervous to speak to her, because he had no idea how to go about doing it, but it wasn’t the same as this feeling he had with Rabastan.
He’d realised since that it had to be because he was actually gay and Cho had done nothing for him. He’d gone with her because he could see that she was a beautiful person inside and out and he’d thought that it was only normal for him to ask her out, so he had. It had been her jealous outburst in Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop over his friendship with Hermione that had made him rethink everything, it had been that incident that had planted the seed in his head that perhaps being with another boy would be better than being with a girl. It had only taken him a few months after that to realise that he didn’t want a boy either, he wanted an older man.
Now here he was, another couple of months after the end of his fifth year and he was betrothed to an older man and he wasn’t even speaking to Ron or Hermione anymore. He had to wonder what they would have thought of his relationship with an older man. He obviously would never have told them that it was with Rabastan Lestrange of course, he could just imagine the reaction that that would have gotten him.
After breakfast he went and got his homework for Lucius to look over before he and Rabastan secluded themselves into a spare sitting room to talk. It was a little awkward, mainly due to their age difference and Rabastan’s damaged and emaciated body, but he still had a reasonably sound mind. He wasn’t insane and he was rational and able to talk, but that was another obstacle, what did they talk about? Rabastan had been in prison for the last fifteen years after all and had only recently gotten out.
Sighing, Harry moved from his chair and went to sit beside Rabastan. He didn’t care if it wasn’t the ‘done thing’ during a betrothal period, he hated putting any sort of distance between them and with Rabastan being the way that he was, it was probably more detrimental to him and planting false ideas into his head that Harry was displeased or disgusted by his body.
“You’re not supposed to sit….”
“I know.” Harry said. “But I don’t care. I’m not going to sit opposite you like this is some cold, clinical interview for a job position. I want to sit beside you, is that a problem?”
“No. No problem.” Rabastan answered. “But you really should have a chaperone if you’re going to sit this close to me.”
That made Harry laugh. “Why, are you going to take advantage of me?” He asked with a grin.
Rabastan grinned back. “Perhaps.”
Harry laughed. “Is it still taking advantage if I don’t care?”
“Possibly, as you are still under the age of seventeen.” Rabastan answered, but Harry realised that he was somewhat distracted.
Rabastan was staring at his mouth and his hands kept moving and clenching, as if Rabastan was trying to prevent himself from touching him.
Harry took the initiative. He’d never been one to ignore such obvious signs, especially not when it was something that he wanted as well, and he usually dealt with things by charging head first at it. He was still a true Gryffindor at heart after all.
He moved forward and pressed his lips to Rabastan’s in a kiss that was shorter than most toddlers gave to their Mothers and probably just as innocent and chaste. Had he mentioned before that his only experience had been with Cho and that that had gone horribly as well?
He blushed at his horrific attempt at kissing and he stood up to flee until he could control his raging embarrassment when a large hand gripped his wrist and pulled him backwards until he was sprawled over Rabastan’s lap.
“Was that your first kiss?” Rabastan asked him gruffly.
Harry shook his head. “No, but it actually went better than the first one if you can believe it, which really is saying something.” He almost whined.
Rabastan chuckled and before Harry could shift, move or even think about being humiliated over his childish and pathetic attempt at kissing, Rabastan had taken over and intently taught him exactly how a proper kiss should be performed.
Harry was addicted from the first moment. He was breathless and his heart was hammering with excitement and still a touch of nervousness as they kissed again and again, stopping only long enough to draw in a few quick breaths, pulling back only slightly as their noses pressed and brushed against one another as they panted heavily, before their lips met and they were kissing again, but fuck was Rabastan a good kisser.
Harry felt the tell-tale smack to the back of his head and he broke away from Rabastan sharply, looking over his shoulder to see the furious face of Narcissa Malfoy.
“Well it seems that you two have just proved indefinitely that you do need a chaperone at all times.” She said in a harsh hiss.
“It was just a kiss.” Harry said a little put out that he’d been caught in such a position. It didn’t help that he was very, painfully, hard in his jeans either, or that he could feel an identical hardness pressing against the side of his hip.
“No, that was much, much more than just a simple kiss.” Narcissa said dangerously. “Go to your Father’s study and cool off.”
Harry sighed but he rolled off of Rabastan’s lap and shared a sly look with him, grinning happily when he caught the pleased, smug look that Rabastan was wearing.
Narcissa was less than pleased and the narrowing of her blue eyes had Harry moving just that little bit faster. He climbed the stairs and knocked on Lucius’ door, hearing the command to ‘enter’ and doing so.
“Harry? It was to my understanding that you were spending time getting to know Rabastan better. I am halfway through your homework and I must say that I am very pleased with the quality and standard of it all. Well done.”
Harry looked at the floor and scuffed his socked toes against the carpet. Lucius sighed heavily.
“You haven’t come here of your own free will. What have you done? If you’ve curse Rhadamanthus, I will be very unhappy with you.”
“It’s not that…though I do wish I could curse him, the loathsome bastard that he is.”
“Watch your foul mouth.” Lucius commanded seriously. “What did you do?”
“Narcissa caught me and Rabastan kissing.” He said and he had the pleasure of watching Lucius’ eyebrows fly off into his hair.
“She wouldn’t have sent you here for a quick peck on the cheek, or even the lips, either.” Lucius sighed.
Harry shook his head. “No…we were more than likely mauling one another’s mouths. Or at least from her face that’s what it must have looked like we were doing. He’s a fantastic kisser.”
“Alright, that’s enough. I could have gone my entire life without hearing that piece of information.” Lucius said, putting up a hand for emphasis. “You know you’re not to have any contact of that manner until you are engaged.”
Harry sighed. “It’s a stupid regulation. Like the one where I always have to sit opposite him.”
“That stipulation is there to prevent such contact as what you have just engaged in.” Lucius told him sternly. “Any sexual conduct is prohibited until you are engaged.”
Harry scoffed. “Yeah but Daphne Greengrass can open her legs for all and sundry, yet I’m not even allowed to kiss the man who I’m betrothed to and plan on marrying? How does that work?”
“Do not compare a rock to a diamond. You are no Daphne Greengrass and I would have hoped that you’d have more decorum and much higher aspirations than her, of all people. Her trysts are well known and her reputation is in ruins, even if she doesn’t realise it at this moment in time.”
“But I’m betrothed to Rabastan!” Harry said upset. “Why can’t I kiss the man that I’m going to marry? It’s stupid.”
“Stupid it may be to your mind, but the regulations are there to protect you. You can kiss and cuddle with Rabastan after you’re engaged to him.”
“When will that be?” Harry demanded.
“When the Lestranges deem it the right time.”
“Can I propose to him?” Harry asked thoughtfully.
“No you certainly may not!” Lucius told him. “It is for Rabastan to propose to you, not the other way around.”
Harry groaned and kicked his one leg out, scraping his foot across the carpet.
“I didn’t realise this betrothal would be so limiting. I want to spend all of my time with Rabastan, yet I have to have it dictated to me exactly what I do. What can I do if I’m not even allowed to sit next to him?”
“Surely you can think of something other than kissing to pass the time?” Lucius drawled.
“Not at this moment in time.” Harry said cheekily.
Lucius sighed. “Whatever happened to simply talking?”
“Rabastan has been in Azkaban for fifteen years.” Harry said darkly. “He’s not exactly the best person to hold a conversation with.”
“You need to push past that and actually talk to him or your marriage is doomed to fail before you are even engaged.” Lucius told him sternly.
“I know. We have talked a little, it’s just a little awkward because we don’t really know one another yet. Letters aren’t really enough.”
“Which is why you need to talk to one another.”
Harry nodded his understanding.
“Now, I won’t punish you for kissing one another this time, but if you do it again you will be confined to a corner of whichever room I am currently residing in. I’m sure the embarrassment of such a thing in front of our guests and your future family will prevent a second infraction.”
Harry snorted. “How did kissing become an infraction? I was just getting to know Rabastan better. Intimately.”
“That is more than enough on this topic. No more kissing or sexual contact of any kind, do I make myself clear?”
“Can you run through everything that sexual content entails so that I’m sure on the matter?” Harry asked.
“Harry.” Lucius said warningly.
“Alright, alright. We’re clear. I understand perfectly.” He said sadly. “But just so we’re extra clear, once he proposes and I accept, then we can kiss and cuddle all we want?”
“Within reason.”
Harry pulled a face. “What does within reason mean? We’ll be engaged!” He asked.
“I will not allow you into one another’s bed chambers without a chaperone and I do not want to see you ‘mauling each other’s mouths’ like you were allegedly doing today.”
“Will I have any restrictions on my love life when I’m married?” Harry demanded.
“Of course not. You’ll be married.” Lucius told him exasperatedly.
Harry left the study a little sulkily, he made a quick detour into his bed suite and took a moment to calm himself down and regain control of his emotions. It wasn’t fair, but Pureblood tradition was something that both the Malfoys and the Lestranges held with utmost seriousness. Everything had to be done by the letter and though it was annoying, Harry had known what he was getting himself in for from the very start…to an extent at least.
He hadn’t known that he wouldn’t even be able to kiss Rabastan until they were officially engaged, and that even after they were engaged their kisses couldn’t be overly passionate, but he was sure that he could wait a little longer, he had school to distract him after all. But fuck was Rabastan an amazing kisser, he was going to be thinking of those kisses now until he could get another taste. Already he was getting hard again just thinking about it.
He squeezed himself through his robes and his jeans. Damn Rabastan and those addictive kisses! There was no way, absolutely no way, that he’d now be able to sit in a room with Rabastan and not think of those hot, open mouthed kisses, or prevent himself from wishing for another one.
He banged his head against his bedroom door and sucked in a deep breath. He could do this. He had to do this, he had another two weeks at home with Rabastan…Rabastan who he couldn’t touch or kiss. He groaned. Who the hell knew that Rabastan had the strength to grab him as he had, drag him backwards over his lap and snog him like that. It had been beyond his wildest fantasies. Which wasn’t really saying much as he hadn’t really thought of anything like that before. That was going to change now, however. His dreams and fantasies were going to be a lot more prevalent and graphic now thanks to Rabastan, and they were going to be a lot more realistic too now that he actually had something to go off of.
He sighed and left his room and went back to where he’d left Rabastan, only to find a stony looking Xerxes sitting in the dead silent room, staring at a shame faced Rabastan.
“Is your Father cancelling the contract?” Xerxes asked him.
“No, of course not.” Harry said in surprise. “I wouldn’t let him even if he tried.”
Harry plonked himself next to Rabastan and took his hand, about all he could do while merely betrothed and with a chaperone sat in the room with them.
“You were gone a long time.” Rabastan said worriedly.
“I was getting a lecture about exactly what I could or couldn’t do with you while we’re only betrothed and not engaged. I even asked if I could propose to you, but I was told that I absolutely could not and that I had to wait for you to do it…hint hint.”
The ice was not just broken but completely smashed through as Xerxes roared with laughter and Rabastan grinned happily, his hand tightening only slightly around Harry’s. He was too aware of his damage limitations to try and squeeze any tighter, but Harry understood the gesture and smiled at him cheekily.
“So what can we do?” Rabastan asked. A muscle ticked in his jaw and he growled at himself angrily.
“Apparently very little.” Harry sighed. He lifted their joined hands and swayed them a little. “This is about all we’re going to be allowed to do until you propose and I accept.”
Rabastan smiled at him and it was so naughty that Harry’s heart automatically started beating faster and suddenly it was him who was starting at those thin, cracked lips, hoping that he’d get another kiss. Rabastan caught the look and bent to kiss him, only for a cushion to smack the both of them in the face.
“Enough of that now.” Xerxes chastised them both, looking far too amused to truly be annoyed at the both of them trying to kiss one another in front of him as he summoned back the cushion that he’d banished at them. Harry had forgotten that he was even there.
Harry huffed and rested his head against Rabastan’s bony shoulder. He made sure not to rest his full weight on him and cause him discomfort or even pain.
An arm slipped around his waist and rested against him and Harry pressed his own arm on Rabastan’s and he sighed happily, snuggling in.
“You two look so contented.” Xerxes snorted. “I can see why Narcissa demanded that you have a chaperone at all times during this two week break.”
“She’s being a killjoy.” Harry said miserably. “It was just a kiss. What’s wrong with a simple kiss?”
Xerxes laughed and Rabastan chuckled.
“It’s tradition.” Xerxes told him.
“I know, I know. I got the lecture from Lucius. It still doesn’t make it fair, though. There’s nothing wrong with kissing.”
“You two aren’t even supposed to be sat next to one another, but luckily for you both, I’m a very lenient man.”
Both Harry and Rabastan laughed at that and Xerxes joined in.
“Watch it the both of you. I can force you to sit on opposite chairs.” Xerxes threatened.
“We’re bonding.” Harry said. “You can’t interrupt our bonding!”
Xerxes scoffed. “You’re lucky that I like you. You’re far cheekier than you have any right to be!”
“You like me this way, don’t try to deny it.” Harry said with a wide grin.
“I definitely like that smart brain of yours more than the smart mouth.”
“I like both.” Rabastan said.
Harry laughed and nudged him gently. “I like your mouth too.”
“Enough.” Xerxes warned them. “You will be confined to separate rooms at this rate.”
Harry snorted and moved so he shifted his position on Rabastan so that he didn’t become too heavy for any one part of Rabastan’s body.
It happened in an instant. One moment they were all fine, talking and laughing, the next Rabastan’s arm had clenched vice tight around his body and had driven all of the air from his lungs, making Harry gasp in pain and choke for breath.
“I’m so sorry.” Rabastan said loudly as he clutched his violently spasming arm tightly with his opposite hand to keep it controlled.
Harry held up a hand and tried to catch his breath back, his one arm around his ribcage to ease away the remaining pain.
“What happened?” Lucius demanded and it was then that Harry realised that Xerxes had sent off a house elf to get the head of the Malfoy family.
“I’m alright.” He insisted a little breathlessly as he was still a bit winded. “It was an accident. That’s all.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.” Lucius growled out as he crouched down in front of him and pulled his arm away from his ribcage, his wand in his hand as he checked him over for any damage.
“It was nothing.” Harry said firmly and with a slight bite. People making this much of a fuss over what had happened would do more harm than good for Rabastan’s mental health and his confidence. Harry didn’t want that at all.
“There are no broken bones. You may bruise, however.”
“I’ve told you that I’m fine. Rabastan, I could use a drink. Will you accompany me to the kitchen?”
He didn’t even give Rabastan the time to answer as he stood up, stepped forward, took his hand and all but dragged the man out of the room and towards the kitchen.
“I am sorry.” Rabastan repeated.
“You don’t need to apologise. I told you, I’m completely fine, which is why I don’t like people fussing over me as if I was smashed in the face with a bludger.” He scowled. “I know you can’t control it, Rabastan. I know you didn’t want to hurt me, so I got angry when Lucius and Xerxes started fussing and demanding what was wrong. I’m sure it made you feel much worse than when you actually squeezed me!”
The averting of Rabastan’s eyes told Harry all he needed to know. He moved to snuggle in to Rabastan and wrapped an arm loosely around his waist.
“It’s alright, Rabastan.” Harry assured him. “I still care about you and I still want to marry you.”
“I don’t understand why.” Rabastan all but growled. “I’m a mess and I’m not getting any better!”
Harry chuckled lightly and nuzzled his face against Rabastan’s robes. Underneath them he could feel how thin and unnatural his betrothed felt, but he forced himself to ignore it.
“You are getting better and I’m amazed that you can’t see for yourself any of the progress that you’ve made. You’re so much better now than you were just four months ago and I’m incredibly proud of you.” He said, smiling up at Rabastan and letting him see the stark truth of his words on his face and in his eyes.
Rabastan stopped walking and Harry was forced to stop as well, one of those huge, but almost skeletal hands cupped his face, pressing lightly, but Harry could still feel the strength that was hidden there, belied by its weak and brittle appearance.
It was the smile on Rabastan’s face however, that stopped Harry short and his eyes were drawn to that smiling mouth, to those lips.
Rabastan had him up against the wall in the next moment, their bodies pressed tightly together and they were snogging furiously. Harry put his arms up around those shoulders, playing with the dry, straw-like hair at the back of Rabastan’s neck.
“Watch you don’t get caught doing that.”
The two of them sprang apart like naughty boys to see a grinning Rodolphus walking down the hallway towards them.
“Couldn’t you have just walked past without saying anything?” Harry groused. “I was enjoying myself.”
“I can see that.” Rodolphus said seriously. “Rabastan, you know that the betrothal contract doesn’t allow this sort of behaviour.”
“You sound like an old man.” Rabastan told his brother and Rodolphus’ face split into a, slightly deranged, grin.
“I am almost forty-one.”
Harry laughed. “That’s not old.” He told his future Brother-in-law.
“It is for him. I’ll send my Christmas gift for you back and I’ll buy you a tombstone instead.” Rabastan told his brother.
“Damn…does this mean I have to exchange my gift as well and buy him a coffin?”
“A matching pair of gifts from a matching pair of complete imbeciles.” Rodolphus drawled. “Wonderful.”
Harry couldn’t hold back the laughter and he saw Rodolphus roll his eyes and walk away.
“We better get to the kitchen. He’s probably going to send a chaperone or two after us.” Harry said as he calmed himself down and grabbed Rabastan’s hand again.
They made it to the kitchen and Harry asked for two drinks from the little elf who was happily scrubbing the numerous breakfast dishes. Harry had tried to get the drinks himself, but the elf had almost had a fit. At least it had made Rabastan laugh and anything that made Rabastan laugh was definitely a good thing. Harry wanted to make him laugh as much as possible while he was home. He wanted to make a good impression on him. He wanted Rabastan to want to marry him as much as he wanted to marry Rabastan.
“Those robes look really good on you.” Rabastan complimented as he watched interestedly as Harry bent over the table to take the plate of biscuits off of the elf. The movement showed off the tight form of his body and Rabastan swallowed as his imagination took off. He had to forcibly remind himself that Harry was sixteen, which didn’t really help at all, and that as his betrothed he wasn’t even allowed to touch him as he wanted to. The engagement ring that he had designed and had had custom made was upstairs, sitting ready and waiting on his bedside table and it played heavily on his mind.
Harry looked down at the robes he was wearing and shifted a little uncomfortably. He’d chosen a nice, deep blue set of robes and the jumper underneath matched the colour perfectly, but other than that, they were just robes. Was Rabastan teasing him, or just struggling for a topic of conversation?
“Thank you.” He accepted the compliment graciously, as Narcissa had taught him to do before offering the plate of biscuits to Rabastan. He’d asked, and received, a copy of Rabastan’s diet sheet and he knew biscuits were classed as extras, but if he ate wholemeal ones, and not too many of them, then he would be alright.
“Are you feeling better today?” Harry asked Rabastan as he sat down with his cup of tea and his biscuits.
“I am. I had a good night last night and the kisses this morning really helped.”
Harry laughed happily.
“Are you feeling better after your late night yesterday?”
“Definitely!” Harry replied empathetically. “I slept for so long, I almost missed breakfast. I really needed it though.”
“You looked almost sick, I had wondered if it was the thought of meeting me again.”
“No! Of course not. I mean, I was nervous, I’ll admit. It had been four months since we’d last seen one another, I was nervous about seeing you again, but I was just very, very tired.”
“How much sleep did you get?”
“Yesterday? Only three hours. It almost killed me, but I feel so much better today and all of my homework is now done and out of the way.”
“I still can’t believe that you did that, just to spend more time with me.”
“Well, I really wanted to spend as much time as possible with you. It’s not that surprising. We’re supposed to be bonding and getting to know one another, I won’t let anything get in the way or jeopardise that, especially not homework.”
The smile that Rabastan gave him made butterflies erupt in Harry’s belly and his eyes were drawn to his mouth yet again.
“Do you have any hobbies, Harry?” Rabastan asked, his voice noticeably deeper.
“Not really. I like Quidditch, though I love just flying for the freedom of it more, but other than that, no.”
“I’d love to see you fly. Your Father says that you’re spectacular.”
“Perhaps if I can get Draco to agree, I can have a friendly match with him so you can watch.”
Rabastan smiled as he bent closer and anticipating a kiss, Harry closed his eyes, only for lips to brush against his ear.
“I’d really love to see that.” Rabastan whispered into his ear before he pulled back and kissed him softly, cradling his head in his hands.
A throat cleared and they sprang apart like a fire had erupted between them for the third time that day. This chaperone business was getting old. Harry plucked up the courage to lift his head to see who had interrupted them, only to feel his stomach drop at the sight of Draco stood in the doorway.
“You know that such behaviour is not allowed during a betrothal period.” He said pompously.
“It was a peck.” Harry tried to explain.
Draco scoffed. “That was more than a peck, Harry.”
“Only a little more.” Harry tried.
“A lot more. Come on, if I have to be your chaperone, I’m not staying in the kitchen of all places.”
“Why are you our chaperone?” Harry demanded.
“Any family member can be a chaperone.” Draco told him, his voice dripping with self-importance. “I am older than you after all.”
“By eight weeks!” Harry said incredulously.
“I’m still older and thus I still qualify as a chaperone, now come on.”
Harry groaned and stood up. He took Rabastan’s hand and glared Draco down when he rose an eyebrow at the move.
“Where are we going?” Harry asked as he followed Draco through the house, holding tight to Rabastan’s hand going up the stairs when his betrothed slowed down and struggled a little to climb the numerous steps. He was angry with Draco for walking so fast and up so many stairs when he knew that Rabastan would find it difficult.
“The library, just because you have finished all of your homework, doesn’t mean that I have.”
Harry grinned, cheering up a little. He loved the library, which is something that he’d never thought that he’d ever say, but the Malfoy library was cosy, warm and secluded. The loveseats inside were also small, he and Rabastan would be touching shoulder to hip to knee sat together on one of those seats.
They reached the library and Harry settled Rabastan down on a seat, as he was looking a little pale and shaky, before he sat next to him.
“Here, read this.” Draco threw a book at Harry and he caught it reflexively.
Harry scoffed, but he opened the book and he snuggled into Rabastan, a cushion behind his head and he started reading aloud softly.
It was all about Arithmancy, so it was terribly boring, yet it was interesting all the same because it was all new to him, he just wished that it wasn’t such a clinical textbook, but he did his best to make it interesting for Rabastan.
Rabastan’s hand in his hair was very nice though and Harry felt like he didn’t want to move as he rested against the older man and let those strong, shaky fingers tug and massage his hair and scalp as he read from the textbook. Now and then Rabastan would tug too hard or his fingers would spasm and dig into his head, but he ignored these instances and carried on reading, not drawing any attention to the little slips.
“You have a lovely voice.” Rabastan told him as he bent over him to whisper softly to him when Harry had paused to take a breath. He kissed Harry’s hair and nuzzled the top of his head. Harry heard him inhaling gently.
“This must be terribly boring for you.” Harry said with a grimace. “I’m reading from a textbook after all.”
“Not at all. I always liked Arithmancy. Having it read to me instead of trying to read it myself helps me keep track of the information. It’s nice not having to struggle through it on my own. No one has ever read anything to me before.”
Harry smiled and then turned back to the book, reading slowly and softly. At least until a house elf popped into the room and announced that lunch was almost ready.
Harry closed the book and stole a quick kiss from Rabastan as Draco was packing up his own books. Rabastan grinned as Harry gave him a sly wink before helping the man to his feet.
They walked with Draco escorting them, hand and hand…well, they were touching from shoulder to hip, or Harry was at least, seeing as Rabastan was a foot taller than he was, but they were brushing and snuggling together like honeymoon lovers as they made their way to the formal dining room.
“Will you two stop that?” Draco snapped. “It’s sickening.”
“No more sickening than when I had to sit and watch Pansy’s hand caress your lap on the train.” Harry said with narrowed eyes. “At least I’m betrothed to Rabastan.”
Draco had the grace to flush, but his silvery eyes glared at Harry and promised him retribution.
“Do you want to play Quidditch tomorrow?” Harry asked suddenly and seemingly randomly, but it had actually been a planned question to disarm Draco.
Visibly taken aback, it took a few moments for Draco to recover, as Harry had wanted.
“If you wish.” He answered after a few moment’s pause. “Will you have the time?”
“Of course. I have nothing but time, unlike you. I need to keep up my toned flexibility and speed for the match against Hufflepuff in March.”
“It’ll be cold.” Draco warned. “It’s been snowing here.”
Harry nodded. He’d seen the snow through his bedroom window that morning. “That’s alright, it’s nothing we aren’t already used to. You need to get used to the snow anyway, your next match is against Ravenclaw in February, it’s likely to be freezing cold and snowing then too.”
Draco nodded. “We’re going to flatten Ravenclaw.”
“Good luck.” Harry said with a smile. “I’ll be cheering for you.”
“A Gryffindor cheering for a Slytherin.” Draco snorted.
“Well, I suppose you are my brother. I need to show you some support.” Harry said with a crooked grin.
They made it to the dining room, Harry hand in hand with Rabastan still, and before Lucius could say anything about them not being chaperoned, Draco walked in just behind them.
“Where have you been, Harry?” Narcissa asked, but Harry detected the hint in her voice, the slight distrust and then the glare she gave to Rabastan. Harry hid his smile as he realised that she was angry with Rabastan, not himself.
“In the library with Draco.” Harry answered with a smile. “He insisted on having a turn at chaperoning Rabastan and I, so we accompanied him to the library so that he could do his homework while still keeping an eye on us.”
“And what were you two doing?” Lucius asked nonchalantly.
“I was reading an Arithmancy book aloud to Rabastan.”
“He was.” Draco confirmed as he sat down.
Harry ignored the looks of the older men and he sat himself next to Rabastan. He looked up as Lucius cleared his throat and looked pointedly to the chair on the opposite side of the table.
“Oh, come on! What am I possibly going to do at the table with you all sat here?” Harry said as he poured himself and Rabastan a drink.
Lucius sighed, but he was smiling. “What do you think, Xerxes?”
“Let the boys stay where they are. I’m not so old that I can’t remember my own betrothal period and how frustrating it was.”
Harry grinned happily at Xerxes as he handed Rabastan a glass of water (he and Rodolphus were strictly not allowed any alcohol at all) before he sat himself down next to his betrothed and took a sip of his own water. He would have preferred pumpkin juice, but he would do anything to support Rabastan, even if it meant drinking water at mealtimes with Rabastan.
The chatter around the table was light and Harry joined in happily before going back to giving his undivided attention to Rabastan, which seemed to bolster his confidence if his expression and progressive animation in their conversation was anything to go on. Not even Rhadamanthus’ odd snide comments could penetrate their happy bubble as Harry took to feeding Rabastan fresh raspberries with his fingers for dessert.
“Must you do that?” Draco complained, bringing the attention of the table to them.
“What are you doing?” Lucius demanded.
“Making sure that Rabastan gets his five a day.” Harry answered blithely.
Xerxes laughed, but he was the only one. Rodolphus just stared at them, Narcissa glared, Lucius looked very unimpressed and Rhadamanthus looked like he was barely restraining himself from leaping over the table and choking the both of them with his ham like hands.
“I’m still not doing anything wrong.” Harry said. “We’re not touching, we’re not kissing and it’s not sexual. So therefore it’s within the betrothal limits. It doesn’t expressly say that I can’t feed my betrothed with my fingers.”
Draco snorted and Rodolphus smiled and Rabastan chuckled, squeezing the fingers of Harry’s left hand lightly. Harry had lied when he’d told the table that they weren’t touching, because they were. They were holding hands under the table, in Harry’s lap, and their knees were touching.
“Carry on then.” Lucius sighed, giving in to Harry’s steely determination and fierce defiance.
Harry grinned and plucked up another raspberry to feed to Rabastan.
“Lucius!” Narcissa cried out scandalised.
“No, Dear. Harry is correct. The contract that he and Rabastan signed did not forbid feeding one another fruit and they are still under chaperone supervision while we are in the room with them.”
Narcissa exhaled through her nose, but she sat back and sipped at her after dinner tea, saying nothing more.
“I disagree.” Rhadamanthus exclaimed loudly.
“There’s a surprise.” Xerxes grunted, giving his son a warning look.
“I don’t believe that they should be allowed to sit next to one another at all during their betrothal period. It is against tradition!” Rhadamanthus insisted. “They are breaking strict betrothal layouts.”
“The betrothal guidelines are set out according to the two families who set up the contract.” Harry said mildly. “That would mean my Father and Xerxes. Not you.”
“He is my son!” Rhadamanthus snarled.
“And I love him!” Harry declared passionately. “I won’t allow you, or anyone else for that matter, to come between us for such ridiculous reasons! I understand about the traditions, I’ve been taught about them meticulously and I respect them, which is why I am trying my hardest to follow them…for the most part. That said I will not force myself to adhere to them when the attraction between Rabastan and I is so high. I will not bat away Rabastan’s hand if he tries to touch me, I will not recoil away if he goes to kiss me and I would very much hope that he wouldn’t do those things to me if our positions were reversed. I understand the need for chaperones and I respect the need for tradition, but I won’t let either dictate the pace that Rabastan and I interact with one another.”
The table fell silent and Harry stared at all of them in turn for a few moments before he picked up another raspberry and he gave his attention back to Rabastan as he offered it up with a smile.
He had meant every word that he’d said and he was going to stick to what he’d said. He hadn’t meant to publically declare his love to Rabastan, at least not before privately telling the man how he felt first, but that didn’t mean that it was any less true.
It had taken four months of separation and then suddenly meeting face to face again for Harry to realise that his ‘budding’ love had actually been the real thing. He loved Rabastan and he wouldn’t let anyone stand in his way of getting what he wanted. He had a chance of love and happiness, of a family of his own and anyone who tried to stand in his way would not like what would happen to them, because he wanted this. It had been all he’d wanted for so long, to have it dangled in front of him, so tantalisingly close, but just out of reach, it was maddening. Anyone who tried to keep him from grasping his biggest wish now that it was so close to him would pay and they’d pay dearly. He’d make sure of it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Bill Weasley rubbed at his tired eyes and wrinkled forehead with a hard, firm pressure. He had a blinding headache forming and it was all thanks to the massive stack of old, dusty books in front of him.
He had never wanted to be a Lord, he’d never wanted to be involved with the Ministry and he’d never even thought of becoming part of the Wizengamot. This entire process was frustrating and not something that he’d ever wanted to do. He liked Egypt, he liked being a curse-breaker. He’d taken a desk job at the London bank a little reluctantly at the behest of Dumbledore, he wanted to help the Order of the Phoenix, of course he did. But this was more than he thought he could handle.
The old laws and traditions were not something that he’d ever been interested in and he could think of nothing more eye wateringly boring than sitting around a table and debating said old laws and traditions with equally old and boring men.
He didn’t know how Harry could stand it, then Dumbledore had shared his fears with him, fears that Harry was just copying the votes of Lucius Malfoy. A very frightening prospect seeing as the man was hell bent of eradicating Muggleborns and raising Purebloods to a higher status than they already had and enjoyed.
He hadn’t had much contact with Harry Potter, he’d seen the boy perhaps a handful of times when Harry had been fourteen, first when he’d come to the Burrow for the Quidditch world cup and then later when he and his Mother had gone to see him at the last task of the Triwizard tournament as family members of a competing champion as Harry had no family of his own. But outside of that, he hadn’t really seen or paid attention to the short, scruffy little boy whom had been friends with his youngest brother.
Now Harry wasn’t speaking to Ron, he had upset Ginny and he was declaring that he wasn’t going to fight you-know-who at all in this coming war. He couldn’t believe this same boy was the son of James and Lily Potter. Two famously well known, extraordinary people who had given their lives to keep Harry safe and had died at the hands of you-know-who and now Harry wasn’t even going to try and stop the evil wizard. He didn’t understand the audacity of Harry’s decision not to fight against the very man who had killed his own parents. The same vile man who wanted to destroy their entire world.
So now they found themselves lost. They were now fighting he-who-must-not-be-named and Harry Potter, the boy who had abandoned them when they needed him to fight the most. He understood that it was a frightening prospect, but they needed to band together and face that fear and stand up to you-know-who and his Death Eaters. They couldn’t give in just because they were afraid. It went against everything that they and their house stood for, they were Gryffindors! They were a part of the house of bravery and now Harry had tucked up his tail and run to the enemy just because he was scared.
Bill sighed and thunked his head into the boring book that he was trying to force himself to read and memorise. At least Percy was happy about it all. He was definitely back on his high horse and he was declaring that he’d known all along that Harry had been the enemy and that Ron should have severed ties with him years ago. He was strutting around the Ministry in his brand new robes, carrying a dragonhide briefcase as if he were the Minister for Magic himself. He was boasting to anyone who would listen, and a lot of those who wouldn’t listen and didn’t give a stuff, that his oldest brother was to become the first Lord Weasley in several generations. He would have made a much better candidate for Lord Weasley, Bill thought miserably. Unfortunately as the oldest son of his Father with his Wife, he was the Heir to the Weasley family, so only he could take the place of Lord Weasley in the stead of his Father. The only way to get out of it was if he were to die, then the Lordship would fall to Charlie, as the next oldest son of his Father.
Which reminded him that he needed to write to Charlie again, he hadn’t heard from his brother in a while and he hadn’t seen him in two years now. He was still sending letters to their Mother, but they were becoming increasingly bare, which was upsetting their Mother. It made him wonder if Charlie had found a girlfriend and was just busy with his new relationship or if something had actually happened to him. Being a Dragon handler was a dangerous job after all and if Charlie had been permanently or seriously injured then it could account for his short words and his tension filled letters and his non-existent visits.
He really needed to invite his brother home so that he could talk to him face to face and see what was going on, until then he more than had his hands full with Percy acting like a Prince, the twins falling over themselves laughing at his new position as a Lord, Ginny’s morose brooding and Ron’s anger and jealousy issues.
Unfortunately his Great-Aunt Muriel was of the same mind set as Percy about the whole thing and when his Mother had sent a letter to Muriel telling her about him taking on the mantel of Lord Weasley, she’d sent him a set of garish robes that might have been in fashion during the goblin rebellion of sixteen-twelve to congratulate him. Needless to say, he would not be wearing them to the Wizengamot meetings. Or ever for that matter.
He was still waiting to be processed into the archives as a Lord, he didn’t have the Galleons needed to speed up the process like Harry had had at his disposal to fast track his early claim of his titles. It was made harder for him as the Weasley family had been stripped of their Lordship generations before and getting the title back was always going to be a hard fought, uphill struggle.
The Ministry were stonewalling him and insisting that his application could wait until after the seasonal holidays, which meant that he wouldn’t even get to see the inside of the Wizengamot meeting halls until at least March. He’d thought about bribing the wizards in charge of his application to get them to do a faster job, but he didn’t want to use such an underhanded, not to mention illegal, tactic to have his application processed a few months early. If he got caught by the wrong people then he would be in huge trouble and his application would be torn to shreds and he’d be unable to help the Order with their needs in relation to the Wizengamot. He was their only chance, he had to get this right.
He sighed yet again. At least it gave him a bit more time to read through this mountain of books that were older than the Ministry itself. He wasn’t understanding half of what he was reading and though Dumbledore was helping him, he could only do so much because he had his duty to the school as the Headmaster and Lucius Malfoy was not making that easy for him at the moment. If half of what Dumbledore was telling him was true, then Harry wasn’t making it any easier for the Headmaster either.
His hands clenched and he flipped the page of the book over to continue reading the boring tirade of information. Harry had abandoned them to their fate and he had joined with the enemy, in his eyes, that made Harry part of the enemy too and he’d never thought that he’d be saying that about the boy-who-lived. But then he would never have thought that their apparent saviour would have joined with you-know-who and allowed himself to be adopted by a Death Eater. It was only a matter of time before he was completely corrupted and started properly fighting against them and then what?
They couldn’t give in, not ever, they had to fight the growing darkness, with Harry or without him. Perhaps if they killed enough Death Eaters and contained the growing darkness, they could get Harry back long enough for him to kill Voldemort and then they could throw the treacherous boy in Azkaban for his abandonment of them and the side fighting for freedom for all peoples.
With more determination than before, Bill went back to his current reading material and tried to understand more of what the ancient, dust spotted book was trying to teach him. He had to be prepared for when his application was accepted, because he had to stand toe to toe with men who had been raised and spoon fed these old laws and traditions from the moment they were born. He needed to be able to hold his own, because unlike Harry, he didn’t have someone to dictate to him what to say and no one to copy when it came to casting a vote.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ X
Voldemort was exhilarated as he heard the news personally that his latest subtle assassination plan had been a success. The chosen Death Eater had reported to him immediately afterwards and so far, no one in the Ministry had noticed any of the carefully planned disappearances nor stumbled upon what was left of the bodies. Not that he expected them to as they were well hidden and transfigured into something else on top. He was being very cautious while the Ministry so kindly blinded themselves to his plans.
Everything was finally coming together and it made him very happy. His followers were more ruthless in their missions, his loyal followers who had been incarcerated in Azkaban were recovering well, though he suspected that Bellatrix’s mental abnormalities would be permanent. After all, the Black family had never been known for their rational, sane way of thinking. However, every once in a while, one of them turned up and they compounded all of the negative Black family traits so completely that they were almost completely unable to carry out the simplest of tasks.
He believed that Azkaban had amplified these traits in Bellatrix, who seemed almost incapable these days of any rational thought. She was completely loyal to him and to the cause, of course, but unable to follow orders to the letter. She worked wonderfully well as a threat and deterrent, but her mind wandered aimlessly and she threw random curses, mostly into the air, but sometimes at other people.
He had hoped that she would get better in time, but the more freedom she got, the worse she became. He was toying with the idea of keeping her busy with menial tasks, but it would be a waste of her particular talents. Giving it some more thought before casting it from his mind, he absently stroked the head of his beloved Nagini as she wound around his shoulders and neck, a comforting warmth that a fellow human had never given him. Nagini, and Nagini alone, was different. It’s why he kept her so close, so protected, it was why she had been chosen, the only living thing, to be one of his precious Horcruxes, of which he’d had six, making seven fragments of his soul, including the part that was still within himself. Now he only had five Horcruxes, he no longer had seven pieces, the most magically powerful number.
Severus, one of his most loyal, had already told him that that incessant fool Dumbledore was looking for his Horcruxes. He’d already destroyed the one…his old diary. He had been absolutely livid with Lucius over the lost Horcrux and he had punished him harshly for losing the diary.
He was thinking of making another one, to replace the one lost, but it took considerable amounts of magical power, not to mention the fact that he needed a suitable victim and a fitting object to contain the soul fragment into.
Running a hand over his smooth, bald head, he considered all of his options seriously. He wasn’t in a position to greatly weaken himself just yet with such a use of magical power needed to make another Horcrux.
‘What to do, Nagini?’ He hissed in Parseltongue, his mind exploring several avenues that seemed plausible to him.
He knew logically that he was in no position at the moment to make another Horcrux, but the thought of having one less Horcrux than he’d wanted when he’d set out to protect himself really stuck in him.
His eye caught the meticulous, well formatted letter on his coffee table. He smiled despite himself. He had read the same letter half a hundred times and he couldn’t believe the difference in the Harry Potter he had met several times and had once wanted nothing more than to kill and the forming young man who had written him the letter.
He hadn’t killed Lucius over the Horcrux incident because of his amazing forethought to snatch up Harry Potter while he could. He had sifted through Lucius’, admittedly incredible and stunning, thought process of when he’d received the floo call from the bank and had opened that office door to see Harry Potter sitting forlornly in one of the high backed chairs.
He’d gotten the surprise and the anger, the immediate thought to find a way to use this to his advantage, a way to hand Potter over to him as a gift. But he’d also come across the curiosity, the burning curiosity to know why Potter was sitting in the bank, why he didn’t know anything about his heritage, his Lordships or even his bank vaults.
The neglect by Dumbledore was surprising, yet entirely unsurprising at the same time. He knew what the man was capable of, after all, but the extent of what Dumbledore had done to the boy was overall surprising and disgusting. He didn’t blame Lucius for his protective feelings for the boy. After all, tradition and the old laws were a large part of Lucius’ life, of any Pureblood’s life. Finding out that Dumbledore had been using these laws illegally for his own gain had angered Lucius enough that he had informed the boy of everything, had given him the help he’d needed, which had confused Harry Potter visibly, and Lucius had then gotten the boy to claim both of his Lordships, thus greatly weakening Dumbledore’s influence at the Ministry. This had pleased him greatly, as had the forming anger and hate he could see in Potter’s eyes from Lucius’ memories when he was told what Dumbledore had done to him.
Once assured from Lucius’, and Xerxes’, memories that the boy would not stand in his way, even if he wouldn’t outright join him, he had been content to leave the boy to Lucius and allow the man to explore the protective, defensive feelings that he’d developed gradually for the boy.
It was strange to see the process from Lucius’ mind, the forming bond that was only growing stronger. It may have started as a way to discredit Dumbledore and to use the boy for his own gain, but Lucius had come to genuinely care for the boy in a relatively short amount of time, and after reading the letter sent to him by the boy himself, he believed that he understood why. The change in Harry was phenomenal.
He picked up the letter and he chuckled darkly at the emotions he could sense behind the written words. Harry had been angry and frustrated when writing this letter, but it didn’t come across at all in the words that he’d written in very fine calligraphy. Instead the elegant and eloquent letter was a masterpiece in polite, respectful penmanship and Harry had impressed him with his control and his carefully selected words. He hadn’t written Harry back. Harry’s letter didn’t require a reply and he’d perceptively picked up on the merest thought that perhaps his initial letter to Harry had been what had caused his anger and frustration in the first place. He’d have to wait to find out, he was already planning for them to meet face to face again, just to see how the boy reacted. That, more than anything, would clue him into how the boy really felt and if he really would step back and stay out of this war.
If Harry failed this test, then Lucius and Xerxes would have failed in their mission and the boy would have to be eliminated. It would be a shame, especially with his loyal follower, Rabastan, becoming emotionally invested in the boy due to their budding betrothal. But he couldn’t allow any threat to his plans to remain alive, it was why he was orchestrating so many assassinations now, while the Ministry was lax and not aware of what he was doing. It would become infinitely harder to set up and implement such assassinations when everyone was on high alert and expecting an attack.
He sighed and sat contemplating a little more before he stood to get himself a drink, Nagini asleep around his neck still and draped in looping coils down and around his body. Coming to a decision, he called out for a house elf to call one of several Death Eaters that always stayed in this abandoned manor house with him.
He poured himself a drink and sipped at it thoughtfully for several minutes, thinking his forming plan through from all angles. A sharp, solid trio of knocks at the door had him calling out a soft grant of permission to enter the room.
“You wished to see me, My Lord.” Antonin Dolohov asked, bowing low at the waist.
“I need your arm, Dolohov.” He said softly.
The man pushed back the sleeve of his robes in one quick, fluid movement, even as he was already walking towards him.
Voldemort smiled at this show of loyalty, there had been no hesitation in Dolohov at all and as he pressed a finger to the red mark on Dolohov’s arm, turning it jet black, he felt the slight flinch at the sensation, but Dolohov didn’t even try to pull away. He knew that it was burning, but Dolohov looked stoically ahead, not showing any sign of the pain that he must have been feeling.
A small pop of Apparation was heard a short while later and he turned to his new guest.
“You called for me, My Lord?” The new voice asked carefully.
“Yes, I did. I have need of you for something. Dolohov, leave us.”
Dolohov bowed at the waist yet again and left the room, closing the heavy, solid wood door firmly behind him, leaving Voldemort to look happily at his new arrival.
“Come, have a seat. We have much to talk about.”
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A/N: Thank you for your patience while I sorted out my other fics, lovelies. I know it’s been a while, but I hope that the length of this chapter makes up for it. I need to find a proper balance to juggle all these fics so that I don’t end up forgetting any of them.
To those of you asking/begging about the twins, and there are more than a few of you, sorry but I’ve made up my mind. The twins will not be siding with Harry over their family, how can they? They don’t believe in what Voldemort is doing, they aren’t going to turn their backs on the family that they love, not even for Harry, who they did see as a brother, but in their eyes, he’s a traitor who has turned to the enemy, they aren’t going to stand by him with that, sorry.
As for the shop, Harry gave them the money as a generous gift, they had no contract, no legal documents that said they had to give that money back or that they’d have to make Harry a partner in their venture and Harry never even expected it back or to be made a partner, it was just a gift. Thus Fred and George have no legal obligation to pay it back to him and Harry has no legal claim to it. There’s nothing more to it than that.
StarLight Massacre. X
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The Guile and Devotion of a Black Heir