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Ceremonies of Strife	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 16218 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, and I am making no money from this writing.

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Chapter Eight�Burned

�� Draco tried
to think of a good way to introduce the subject, and finally decided that there
was none. So he simply started talking about it one night when both he and
Harry were compiling a list of the moves they had trouble defending against in
Combat. It was Morningstar�s somewhat ruthless way to make sure they knew their
weaknesses.

�� Harry?�

�� Harry,
biting the end of the quill as though the bird it had come from had done
something to offend him personally, blinked and looked up. �What?�

�� I�ve
received a letter from a War Wizard who seems interested in talking to us,�
Draco said. �Both of us. Will you come with me and see what he wants?�

�� Harry bit
the quill one more time, and then laid it aside. He leaned forwards, brow
wrinkling. It made him look so honest and so puzzled that Draco wondered how in
the world he had ever kept as many secrets as he had. �Both of us? But I
thought you wanted training only for yourself.�

�� I could
never leave you behind!� Draco exclaimed, and so solved the problem he�d been
wrestling with, whether he would take War Wizard training alone if that was
what was offered. He felt a little shaken by the sudden revelation, but it made
Harry smile, and for the moment, that was all that counted. �No,� Draco
continued, �this is the first time that a War Wizard has answered my letters
with something other than a pamphlet and a polite little note, and I think it�s
significant that he mentioned wanting to see us both. So. Will you come?�

�� Harry
didn�t reject the idea right away, the way Draco had been afraid he would.
Instead, he looked thoughtful. �I�ve never understood what it is you see in the
War Wizards that you can�t find in the Aurors,� he said. �After all, they both
work for the Ministry and fight Dark wizards�although the War Wizards do it
less often. Is that what you�re thinking?� He began to grin. �That Auror
training is too much work?�

�� Draco
rolled his eyes. �Need I remind you who is currently doing better in our
classes?�

�� Just
because you can keep up doesn�t mean you want to, or that it isn�t a struggle
for you,� Harry said.

�� That was so
unexpectedly insightful that Draco sat still and blinked for a moment before he
could go on. �Yes, well,� he said. �I enjoy learning what we do in these
classes, and I became an Auror in the first place because I wanted to show
people what I could do on my own. I think that would be a goal less served in
the War Wizards, because fewer people have heard of them.�

�� Harry didn�t
respond, but cocked his head and waited, it seemed, for Draco to come to some
kind of conclusion.

�� On the
other hand,� Draco said, scarcely aware that he had lowered his voice and
leaned towards Harry until after he had already begun doing it, �the War
Wizards wield more powerful spells. That has the potential to keep me safer
than becoming an Auror would, and also give me a reputation that would matter
to the people I want to impress. I don�t think I need to tell you why I�d be
grateful for a little extra power right now.�

�� Harry
nodded. �So that�s it? Power?�

�� Draco
lifted his head defiantly. Harry hadn�t judged him so far, at least not the way
Granger and Weasley frequently did, but that didn�t mean much if he had simply
kept his judgments to himself. �Yes,� he said. �I want to defend myself. I want
to show that I have pride. I want to be independent, and never rely on anyone
else to shelter me ever again.�

�� Including
me?� Harry put a hand on Draco�s wrist. �Is that why you�re thinking about
leaving Auror training behind, because the compatible magic makes you feel
dependent?�

�� Draco
stirred restlessly. He had never phrased the issue to himself in exactly those
words�after all, the compatible magic was one of the things that united him to
Harry, and he had meant it when he said that he would give up the chance to be
a War Wizard before he would give up Harry. But sometimes, yes, he woke up with
thoughts that told him his life was bound to someone else�s, and that made him
panic.

�� What happens if someone corners me and uses
my relationship with Harry to blackmail me or make me serve them? Even if my
father didn�t choose to serve the Dark Lord in the second war, he would have
had to, because the Dark Lord could easily have shredded the lies that let my
father preserve his dignity in public. What if someone does that to me?

�� What if Harry leaves me?

�� I think I
understand.�

�� Draco
sneaked a glance into Harry�s eyes. Harry didn�t look happy, but neither did he look condemning.

�� You don�t
want to be subject to your father,� Harry said. �Or another Voldemort, or
anyone else. You need to have your freedom because it was denied to you for so
long. Of course you would fight to protect it, and be suspicious of anything
that looked as if it might deprive you of it.�

�� Draco
hesitated. That was a perception that made sense, that resonated with him, and
that it would be easier for Harry to accept than the absolute truth.

�� In the end,
though, he couldn�t let Harry go on thinking it, because it was also,
partially, a lie.

�� I want
freedom,� he said. �But I want power even more, the power to keep that freedom
safe and guard it. Do you understand, Harry? I want to be strong. I want people
to fear me. I don�t want to be like the Dark Lord, but I wouldn�t mind if
people walked cautiously through the Ministry corridors when they passed my
office and worried about giving me cases that weren�t worth my time. And I wish
I had your fame. I�d use it differently.�

�� Harry was
silent this time, tracing a finger over the wood grain of the table, and Draco
feared he had gone too far. But he couldn�t really regret it. Harry had to know him, or the chances that he would
leave Draco someday or fall out of love with him were higher. Harry could swear
all the promises of eternal faithfulness that he wanted, but Draco wasn�t a
fool; if he did something that
weakened the relationship, then their splitting apart would be no one�s fault
but his.

�� Yeah, I
can,� Harry said at last. Then he looked up with a faint, fierce smile on his
face. �But I think you�d feel differently if you had your fame because you were
supposed to fight a wizard who was supposedly powerful enough to destroy the
world. That�s all I�m saying.�

�� Draco
nodded, and stood up, moving behind Harry so that he could massage his muscles.
It was partially because he could see Harry straining under the tension and
partially because that way, he could look away from Harry�s face and hide his
own relief. �So you�ll come with me to the meeting with the War Wizard?�

�� Harry
dropped his head forwards and sighed as Draco�s fingers slid beneath his robes
and then his shirt. �That feels good.
Yes, I will. Though I don�t know if they�ll give us what you want. And I�m
perfectly happy training to be an Auror.�

�� Because
I�m here.� Draco bent down enough so that his breath could travel across
Harry�s ear and stir the small hairs that clustered near the base of his
earlobe.

�� Yes, of
course,� Harry said, and then arched his neck and gasped. �Draco, please.�

�� Draco smugly
dragged Harry away from the table and towards the bed. That was one good thing
about having an open, honest lover: it let Draco be sure there was something
besides Auror training he was good at.

*

�� I would
prefer it if both of you came to join the War Wizards, of course. We like to
preserve the magic of compatible pairs. They�re very uncommon.�

�� Harry had
once thought that he could feel superior to the Dursleys just by being in the
same room with them, especially after he found out he was a wizard. He could
look at them and pity them for all the things they didn�t know, all the things
they wrongly imagined were important. They still had the power to hurt him, and
he would get angry about that, but pity was really his strongest emotion for
them.

�� Until now,
he hadn�t encountered someone who could make him feel inferior just by being in the same room with him. But War Wizard
Alexander Santoro was that person.

�� It didn�t
help that he was tall, and Harry had had to accept by this point in his life
that he wasn�t going to grow anymore. Santoro also had a narrow, handsome face
of the kind that the Dursleys would have called aristocratic, with a high nose
that stopped just short of being pointed like Snape�s, and dark eyes that Harry
knew were judging him, and curly hair so dark that it had a blue sheen to the
curls. He wore heavy golden robes that should have looked horrible, but didn�t.
He had extravagant gestures that should have seemed silly, but didn�t.

�� And Draco
was fascinated with him, which shouldn�t have made Harry jealous, but did.

�� Is there
really no way that someone could combine training as a War Wizard and training
as an Auror?� Draco was leaning forwards in his chair, eyes and face both
blazing the way they did when he was deeply interested in something. Harry
usually only saw him wear that look during sex. �Why not? It seems to me that
combining the two types of work could provide us with the perfect solution for
fighting Nihil.�

�� Santoro
smiled. �That wouldn�t work,� he said. �For many reasons, but since you look
unconvinced, I will list a few of them.� He linked his fingers together,
cracked his knuckles�which made Harry�s tongue prickle in irritation�and then
began to hold his fingers up as he numbered off his points.

�� First,� he
said, �both programs are intense, and require the student to give all his time
to them. You can see why it would be impossible to work in them both at once.�

�� Draco
scowled and opened his mouth as if to say that he could manage such an exalted feat, but Harry squeezed his hand.
And anyway, it didn�t matter, since Santoro�s voice swept on, like an
implacable river. �Second, the student who trains in the Aurors will pick up on
many�bad habits, shall we call them? They are not bad from the perspective of
an Auror, of course. Many of them are useful and necessary for the carrying out
of their ordinary work.� Harry wondered if he�d meant to put such a dismissive
emphasis on ordinary. �But when they
come to us, we find that they often have to unlearn half of what they know.
That makes the War Wizard training take even longer.

�� Third, the
War Wizards� knowledge is not for everyone, do you see? Not for public
consumption.� Santoro spread his hands and shook his head in what Harry thought
was mocking sadness, rather than true sorrow. �That means that we have to make
many promises, even oaths, when we learn these spells that we will not teach
them to others. And that, also, requires supervision and close mentoring before
we trust a new trainee with the secret of much of that spells.�

�� I�d make
any oath you like,� Draco snapped instantly. Harry thought he understood better
now, after Draco had explained to him how much he wanted power, why he sounded
desperate. �I�d make a promise not to let anyone else see the spells unless I
was going to kill them. Why couldn�t I do that?�

�� Because we
do not want any oath or promise,�
said Santoro. �We want the ones that are sanctified by our training and proven
in wisdom by long experience. And you would not understand why we required such
binding words unless you had also been through the training and accepted our
premises.�

�� A shiver
crept up Harry�s spine. It sounded to him as though going into the War Wizards
was like entering the Death Eaters. You�d surrender your freedom and your
sanity in return for power, and by the time you got it, you probably wouldn�t
be able to figure out why doing that was a bad idea in the first place.

�� Draco shook
his head. �There must be some way that I can show you I�m trustworthy without
going through the training.� His fingers were clenching into the table of the
small room in the Ministry that Santoro had agreed to meet them in.

�� Santoro
smiled remotely. �I�m sorry. I am not the one who invented these rules. They
were put in place many years ago, for what were eminently good and sensible
reasons my predecessors held. Perhaps some of those rules could be changed, now
that we are in modern times, but it is impossible to be sure that we will not
need them in a year�s time, particularly with a nightshade about.�

�� Harry
started. Perhaps it was only because he was thinking about the deadly
nightshade Portillo Lopez carried on her back, but the word had gone off in his
ears like a thunderclap. �Is that what you call Nihil?� he asked.

�� Santoro�s
eyes turned on him. There was a stillness in them that made Harry shiver. He
didn�t think that he would like to have this man for a teacher. He made
Dearborn look animated. �That is what we call people like him,� he said, �those who try to raise the dead as servants.
Necromancer was once a term of respect, reserved for those who understood the
dead and limited their activities with them, and I would like to think it still
is. But nightshades are those who increase their own power and pay no attention
to the strangling way in which it grows, a deadly poison to others it touches.�

�� Harry
nodded, trying to understand, not sure he did. Was that why someone like
Portillo Lopez, if she was really part of a secret order of assassins, would
wear the plant? But why call people like Nihil by that name if it was a symbol
of his enemies?

�� Draco, who
didn�t seem to think that what the War Wizards called Nihil was important,
broke in again. �And so you won�t take us at all unless we give up Auror
training and decide to be War Wizards?� he asked.

�� Perhaps
not even then,� said Santoro, with what Harry thought he meant to be a
courteous nod but which looked haughty and hateful. �After all, we do not
accept all the candidates who present themselves to us. And with a nightshade
at large, someone who seems to have learned how to raise the dead so that they
can pass as the living, we must be especially careful with new recruits.�

�� Draco stood
up, pushing his chair back from the table so harshly it scraped on the floor.
�I think we�re done here,� he said, and turned to the door.

�� If you
change your mind,� Santoro said, rising to his feet, �of course we can speak
again. I simply thought that you were owed a personal answer for the number of
times you have communicated with us, for the sincerity and depth of your
interest.�

�� Draco kept
stalking across the room and didn�t look back. It was up to Harry to offer an
embarrassed shrug to Santoro and hurry after his lover.

�� You were
rude, you know,� he said, by the time he caught up to Draco, almost three corridors
away. Draco didn�t run, he almost never did unless it was a matter of life and
death, but he could walk fast when he
was angry.

�� He didn�t
give me what I wanted,� said Draco, in such a sulky voice that Harry almost
expected him to kick the wall.

�� Well, do
you think he could?� Harry asked. �All the rules he explained to us sounded
reasonable.�

�� There�s
always a way to be found around the rules, if you try hard enough,� Draco said.
�Professor Snape used to say that, and he said that Headmaster Dumbledore had
taught it to him. And�� He paused, and they walked some way back to their rooms
in silence.

�� And?�
Harry finally prompted, because he thought that was an odd place in the
sentence for Draco to have fallen silent.

�� My father
used to say that,� Draco whispered. �Merlin knows that he has plenty of ways
for getting around the rules.�

�� Harry
inclined his head in what wasn�t quite a nod, because he knew it was painful
for Draco to speak of Lucius, and stayed silent the rest of the way to their
rooms. When they got there, Draco flung himself into a chair with his Stealth
and Tracking book and refused to speak, which Harry had to admit was probably
the best thing at the moment. Draco found it hard to concentrate in that class,
irritated as he constantly was by Coronante�s presence, and needed the study
time.

�� Besides, if
they had talked longer, Harry didn�t know if he would have been able to hide
his relief. He didn�t want to be a
War Wizard. He was perfectly satisfied with the way the conversation had turned
out, and he would be just as happy if the subject was never mentioned again.

�� Except
that, knowing Draco and the strength of Draco�s desires when it came to getting
something he wanted, it would be.

*

�� Trainee
Malfoy.�

�� Draco
looked up, wary and hostile. It seemed that all his teachers were intent on
finding fault with him today. Morningstar had thought the way he�d learned to
block Harry�s blows wasn�t the proper technique. Ketchum had assigned him an
impossible obstacle course and then had the gall to look disappointed when he
failed. Davidson had told him that he had a naturally immobile face and would
have to find other ways to disguise himself than by constant alterations of
expression, as she�d learned how to do. And Coronante had been especially
Mudbloodish today, cracking jokes that only half the class laughed at and
telling cheerful anecdotes of times that she�d spent in the Muggle world, as if
those had any relevance to living as a wizard.

�� (Draco
suspected Mudbloodish wasn�t a word. He didn�t care).

�� So, when
Lowell came striding towards him across the Partnership Trust classroom and
spoke in that tone, Draco said, more sullenly than he would have otherwise,
�Yes?�

�� Lowell
paused, looking closely at him, and then, to Draco�s shock, smiled. �Yes, I
have had days like that myself,� he said. �Don�t worry. I don�t come here to
drop another burden in your lap, unless learning more about your compatible
magic is a burden.�

�� Draco
looked over his shoulder to see if Harry was here to listen to this, but he was
on the other side of the room, being talked at by Weston. From the confused,
excited look on his face, she was probably saying the same thing her partner
was. He turned back to Lowell. �You�re offering extra training, sir?�

�� Lowell
nodded. �Yes. Compatible magic is too rare and valuable to allow trainees who
have it to flounder about on their own.� He looked sour for a moment. �We
should have begun tutoring you last year, but several of your instructors felt
that you�d already been granted a mark of unusual distinction by being assigned
as partners, and didn�t want to single you out too much.�

�� Ketchum, probably, Draco thought. It�s the kind of thing a Mudblood would do. �I�ll
accept, sir,� he said firmly. It wasn�t like becoming a War Wizard, but it was
the second-best thing at the moment.

�� At least there�s someone who sees that I�and
Harry�can be powerful. At least there�s someone who wants to train us.

�� Lowell
smiled and nodded to him. It occurred to Draco that occasional pleasantness
could be quite as good as the reserve that Dearborn had maintained. �Good,
then. We�ll see you at seven on Saturday morning, here in the classroom.�

�� Draco
watched him move away, and then watched the way that Weston moved in relation
to him. They were like dance partners, he thought, classically trained, but
they would probably be even better at it than Draco�s parents. It was clear,
although knowing they had compatible magic helped, that they depended on each
other and felt each other�s presence in a mystic way, the air throbbing between
them like a tugging on strands of an impalpable web.

�� Then the
class began, and Draco settled down to the lesson of how to tell where your
partner was at any given moment. This was a class he was good in, and now he
had an extra reason not to disappoint the instructors.

*

�� Harry
yawned. The library was spinning around him, the words on the page doing a lazy
dance that told him he should have gone to bed hours ago. And he would have, except they had training
with Lowell and Weston tomorrow, and they tended to spend too much time awake
each weekend night anyway, sucking each other off or wanking.

�� Arousal
mixed with the haze of tiredness in Harry�s mind, and he gave up research on
ancient methods of altering the face as a bad job. He would simply have to come
back sometime this weekend. Or add a load of bollocks to the essay and watch
Davidson mark him down. It wasn�t as though he needed to be good at essays in
Concealment, he thought, standing up and slinging his books into the satchel,
as long as he was good at the practical aspects of the class.

�� He threaded
his way out between the tables, occupied with many trainees studying and more
of them sleeping, and stepped into the corridor. It was quiet this time of
night. Some of the trainees made a point of going to sleep early, and others
had probably slipped out. Making the wards tighter so Nihil couldn�t come in
only encouraged the trainees to find more devious ways around them.

�� Harry�s
footsteps echoed in the corridor, and his head bobbed to the rhythm of them.
Only instinct made him look up when a shadow crossed his path.

�� The woman
in front of him was pale and taking rasping breaths that should have been loud,
except Harry could hear nothing. He only knew she was breathing that way
because of how her robes moved. She was clad in robes from head to foot, in
fact, and the only bare skin was on her face and neck.

�� He knew
her. It was Catherine Arrowshot, the trainee who had shown them the secret
meeting place of the trainees corrupted by Nihil and then vanished without
trace in the aftermath of the battle there.

�� Harry drew
his wand and flattened his back against the wall. He wondered if Draco was
running towards him even now, drawn by the sense that he was in danger.

�� Arrowshot
stretched out her hands. Harry began to chant a spell that would blast her away
if she tried to touch him.

�� But
Arrowshot did nothing else other than open her lips and mouth one word, as
silent as her breaths. �Help.�

�� Then she
vanished, and where she had been, there was the smell of dust and burning.

*

�� paigeey07:
Thank you!

�� SP777:
Draco will not change his attitudes until he absolutely has to.

�� Well, the
lists can be found in chapter 2 of SW and chapter 7 here. I can�t really make a
complete list until after the third story is complete.

�� You could
say that Bane will be that, yes.

�� No, I haven�t
seen Labyrinth.

�� qwerty:
Thanks! But no knowledge of that yet.

�� polka dot:
Creative theory! But no. I have given some clues about what/who Nihil is, but
no one seems to have connected everything together.

�� MewMew2:
Thank you!

�� anciie:
Thanks! At the moment, Draco and Harry are both more interested in the extra
training with another compatible magic pair than in the class, which can�t
teach them much they don�t already know in the beginning stages.

�� Dragons
Breath: Harry was freaked out by that, but he�s also freaked out because it�s
an army of the dead.

�� Thrnbrooke:
Thank you!
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Ceremonies of Strife