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How Noble In Reason	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 11097 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
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Chapter Eight�Draco
Malfoy Is Tyrannical

�� Wake up,
Potter.�

�� Harry
blinked his eyes uncertainly. He remembered falling asleep in his chair out in
the drawing room because he was too excited to go to bed after Draco�s visit,
but he didn�t remember granting someone access to his house through the wards.

�� He didn�t
have to, he realized after he looked. Draco�s face was hovering in the
fireplace in front of the chair, and he had a stern expression on his face.
Harry sat up and tried desperately to pat his straining hair back into
smoothness.

�� Good,
you�re awake,� Draco said, without a flicker of emotion on his face to show
that he actually thought it was good. �I have a task for you.�

�� Harry gave
up on his hair and nodded. �Anything that I can do,� he said. �With the
exception of illegal things.�

�� Draco
sneered a bit. �So you wouldn�t help me do something that might hurt your
precious Ministry?�

�� Harry
shrugged. �It would depend on what it was. Not all the things that hurt the
Ministry are illegal. But yes, I�m not going to kill someone or torture someone
because you ask me to. Not that I think you would,� he added hastily when Draco
stared at him. �But I wanted you to know what my limits were.�

�� Draco�s
nostrils flared and he drew in a breath so deep that Harry thought he was going
to shout. In the end, he shook his head and said, �I want you to go to your
friends and tell them everything about what happened between you and me.�

�� Harry let
his mouth fall open, because there was just no other way to express his
feelings. �Everything? Including that
we slept together?�

�� Draco bowed
his head as though before a strong wind, but his voice never varied from the
clipped, cold tone that he had adopted. �That�s right. Everything, including
how much of a bastard you were to lie to me.�

�� Harry
nodded, but he was still baffled. �If this goes wrong and you decide that you
don�t want me after all, will you be comfortable with Ron and Hermione knowing
your secrets?�

�� Draco
sneered at him. �Would I have asked you to do this if I wasn�t comfortable?
Contrary to what you think, Potter, I am not some damsel in distress that you
need to sacrifice yourself for and make decisions for.�

�� I know
that,� Harry said, but he got a skeptical glare in return. He shrugged. �All
right. Do you want me to go and do that right now?� It was Saturday, and he
thought Ron and Hermione would probably be awake by now. Hermione woke up early
all the time on the weekends, claiming that she didn�t want to �get out of the
habit� since she had to be to work by eight on the weekdays, and Ron usually
rose with her.

�� Yes,�
Draco said. �If you have the courage to do it, of course.�

�� I do,�
Harry said, deciding that saying anything else would just sound self-aggrandizing,
and cast a few Cleaning Charms on his skin and teeth. Then he went to pick up
the cloak that hung on a peg by the door.

�� I want
them to know everything,� Draco said, making Harry jump. He�d assumed that
Draco had cut off the Floo connection when he saw Harry was leaving. �If I
found out that you left out any detail, I�ll have your heart.�

�� Harry
glanced over his shoulder. Draco was watching him with a haughtily lifted chin.
His eyes shone like glass�broken glass. Harry wondered if he knew how many of
his emotions he was showing. Probably not. He wouldn�t be used to those, like
Harry, who had both the ability to read him and a reason to try.

�� You have
that already,� Harry said.

�� Draco
blinked once, and this time his features contorted in something that looked a
lot like fear. Then he vanished from the fire as suddenly as though someone had
propelled him away. The fire went dead and flickered back down into ashes and
cinders.

�� Harry shook
his head and opened the door. He would go and do as Draco asked, and though he
didn�t really understand the motives behind the request, it was the very least
he could do.

�� And surely
something that he would need to do sooner or later, if his hopes came true and
he started dating Draco. Hide anything of how they had originally met and
agreed to date, and Hermione would sniff it out anyway.

*

�� Harry? Are
you all right?�

�� Harry
snorted as he stepped through the front door of Ron and Hermione�s house and
hung his cloak up on its accustomed peg there. He apparently couldn�t visit his
best friends for an early morning breakfast without them thinking something was
wrong. Then again, his expression might have given that away.

�� I think I
will be,� he said, bending down so that he could kiss Hermione on the cheek.
�But I have something to tell you, and I�m not sure how to begin.�

�� Hermione
studied him with her head on one side, then seemed to decide there was nothing
immediately the matter and led him into the kitchen. Ron was cooking bacon, or
at least standing beside the pan where it sizzled and trying to pretend that he
wasn�t sampling a piece. That didn�t really work when he had to swallow it and
then promptly choked.

�� It�s like
living with a child,� Hermione said to Harry, apparently resigned, and cast a
spell that made a piece of bacon fly out of Ron�s mouth and stopped his
choking. He looked both sheepish and relieved as he came over to shake Harry�s
hand�probably because he knew that Hermione would get after him now, instead of concentrating her
attention on Ron�s mistake.

�� God knows
what I�m going to do when I have this baby and have to deal with two children,� Hermione kept on
muttering as she waved her wand and a complicated array of plate, glasses, and
cutlery floated out of the kitchen and started to lay themselves across the
table in the next room.

�� You know
I�ll step up and do my share of the work,� Ron told her, not indignantly but with
a low seriousness that Harry had thought he only ever used when he was on Auror
cases and telling Harry how he would dash in and cut the criminals off.

�� Hermione
looked up at him and her face softened. �I know,� she said, and leaned up to
kiss him on the mouth.

�� Harry
coughed and turned away, wondering wistfully for a moment if he would ever have
something like that with Draco, or anyone else if it turned out that Draco was
too hurt to forgive him.

�� Then he
shuddered a bit. If he did date someone he could fall in love with, he had to
hope it wouldn�t be exactly like what
Hermione and Ron had, or he would have to ask some serious questions about how
his lover had got pregnant.

*

�� Well,
Harry, what did you have to tell us?�

�� They�d
finished breakfast, and Harry felt a little better for having bacon and eggs
and toast inside him. He sat sipping a cup of tea in front of the fireplace in
Ron and Hermione�s drawing room, and both of them were in the chairs across
from him, Ron looking contented enough that he might go to sleep right there.
Harry saw him stir and then sit upright as Hermione�s words came home to him,
though.

�� It�s hard
to know how to say this,� Harry said, which was true. He set his tea aside and
leaned forwards, lowering his clasped hands onto his knees. Ron nodded
encouragingly. Hermione smiled.

�� You know
that Binks sent me to Court Malfoy and see if I could get inside his house to
work out what was making my scar burn,� he began.

�� Hermione
nodded. �Ron told me about that, but then we assumed it had ended when you came
back to the Auror Department and weren�t buying gifts for him any longer.� She raised
a challenging eyebrow. �Did it end?�

�� It
probably should have,� Harry said. �But.�

�� And he told
them the way he and Draco had danced, the way that he had kept buying gifts and
seeing more of Draco at each meeting, how they had left the library opening
ceremony and had sex�he skimmed quickly over that part, since Ron was green and
Hermione obviously didn�t want details�how he�d found the egg and the rupture
between them, and the way that he�d been trying to get back into Draco�s good
graces since. He hoped they would have some answers for why Draco might have
wanted him to tell these details to them, but they were as puzzled as he was,
unfortunately.

�� It doesn�t
make sense,� Hermione said, her fingers plucking at her robes. �Why would he
want more people to know his secret?
It seems devastating enough to him that you know it.� She suddenly sat up and
stared at Harry. �Are you sure that was him?
Could one of his enemies be using Polyjuice Potion to make you think it was
him?�

�� Harry shook
his head. �Not unless they were actually doing it from inside Malfoy Manor. I
set up an exception for his Floo if he wanted to contact me when Binks first
assigned me this, but anyone else doing it from their own house would have
trouble getting through.�

�� Hermione
didn�t look entirely convinced. �But all those parties��

�� You�re
forgetting that whoever did this would still have to have the details of what
happened between Harry and Malfoy,� Ron pointed out. He was looking calmer than
he had when he seemed to think that Harry would �favor� them with all the
descriptions of the sex he and Draco had had. �And if he knew that information,
he could spread the gossip himself, without relying on Harry to do it.�

�� Besides,
it�s not as if you two are going to gossip,� Harry said, looking them both in
the eye.

�� Ron
blanched and said, �Of course not, mate.� Hermione shook her head.

�� I just
hope that you and Malfoy can work this out,� she said, and smiled at him. �Have
you thought about what you�ll do next if he keeps giving you more tasks?�

�� Do them
for him,� Harry said, standing and walking over to his cloak. �Unless it
becomes illegal or so involved that there�s no way I can do them. And then I�ll
tell him I can�t and await further orders. I really don�t think that he�d give
me anything impossible,� he added thoughtfully. �If he wanted the fun of
watching me beg fruitlessly to be readmitted to his affections, instead of the
fun of watching me do things for him, he could have had that already.�

�� Ron nodded
at him. �Good luck, mate.�

�� Harry
raised his eyebrows. �Are you sure?� he couldn�t help teasing. �I know you said
that whoever I was going to date was a lucky bloke. Does that hold true now
that you know it�s Malfoy I want?�

�� Ron
hesitated, then nodded again. �It�ll take some getting used to,� he admitted
grudgingly. �I didn�t really think you ever could
want him, not at first. But you have to go after what you want, and it
sounds like you at least have a chance.�

�� Harry
tapped his fist lightly on Ron�s shoulder, hugged Hermione, wished her luck
with the appointment she had at St. Mungo�s tomorrow to check on the baby, and
then left in a swirl of cloak, wondering how Draco would contact him next time
and how he was going to take Harry�s report of the conversation with Ron and
Hermione.

*

�� The next
contact came with a letter, in fact, that the showy, bad-tempered white owl
carried through his window the next day and dropped on the desk where he was
trying to convince himself that he should use part of the weekend to do paperwork. Harry raised his eyebrows and
looked from the owl to the envelope. He couldn�t sense any stinging charms on
it this time, and the owl didn�t try to shit on him or his parchment.

�� Is this a
sign of a truce?� he asked, picking up the paper and sliding his finger beneath
the seal. The owl only fluttered its feathers to show that it didn�t know and
didn�t care, and then turned its back.

�� I want to know whether you told your friends
the way I wanted you to. Write it out in a letter to me. Leave no detail out,
including their reactions. And then I want you to strip and take a photograph
of yourself naked.

�� Harry
coughed, his face flushing. The owl turned around and cocked its head
threateningly, as if it knew exactly what Draco�s demand was and thought he
should grant it as soon as possible.

�� He
wondered, again, why Draco wanted this. But he was beginning to get an idea.
Draco was trying to render Harry as powerless and vulnerable as he felt. If
Harry�s friends knew about what had happened between Harry and Draco, they
would ask questions if something went wrong or Harry suddenly wasn�t talking
about it anymore. If Draco had a photograph of Harry naked, then he could
publish that and make an immediate impact that his words might not,
particularly if no one believed them.

�� At least,
Harry hoped that was the rationale. Maybe Draco just wanted to drive him
mental.

�� He actually
had to go to Diagon Alley and buy a camera before he could do as Draco asked.
He had enough of photographs when people were snapping their cameras madly in
his face on an ordinary day, and had seen no reason to keep one around. He had
the album of his parents� pictures that Hagrid had given him, and some pictures
that Hermione and Ron had given him as gifts. But other than that�

�� It might be nice to have a picture of Draco,
Harry admitted to himself as he nodded to the woman behind the counter in
Peabody�s Pictures and walked briskly out the door in the direction of his
Apparition point. The woman was babbling behind him about what an honor it was
to serve the Great Harry Potter, and someone had come out of the back of the
shop and was asking what she meant. Harry would as soon be far away before the
reporters showed up here.

�� Once he got
home, he examined the camera and the book of spells that came with it and
learned that there was one that you
could use to put the camera on the floor or a table and make it snap a picture
of yourself. He wondered if Draco had known that, or if he had simply left the
problem of how Harry was to take a picture of himself when he was alone up to
Harry�s ingenuity.

�� Or maybe he just assumes that I would be
comfortable enough to be naked in front of a friend who could take it for me, Harry
thought as he began shrugging off his clothes.

�� It was strange,
but he found himself blushing intensely as he stood in front of the camera,
which he�d put on the desk, in a way that he hadn�t even when he was naked in
front of Draco. There was something about Draco, he thought, that made the
nakedness seem natural. There, Harry had been assured he was wanted and
desired, and it was easier to slip into desire himself, without thinking about
consequences.

�� Really without thinking about
consequences,� he said aloud, which made the white owl shift on its perch.

�� But he had
all the clothes off at last and his embarrassment conquered enough that he
could stand in front of the camera and speak the appropriate incantation. The
camera flashed. Harry flushed, cleared his throat, and hastily cast the spell
that would let him develop the photo, while he tugged his pants and trousers
on.

�� The picture
didn�t look too bad, he reckoned, and hoped that Draco would ignore the flush
of his face and the half-hardness of his cock. Or maybe he wouldn�t even look
at the picture that closely. Maybe it just existed to prove that Harry had done
his bidding.

�� Maybe Draco will spontaneously fall in love
with a Muggle tomorrow morning.

�� The letter
was easier. Harry just described as much as he could, including Hermione�s
fears that someone had replaced Draco using Polyjuice, and sealed the letter
into an envelope with the picture. The owl swooped across and nipped it out of
his fingers before he could properly seal it, then flew out the window.

�� Harry
leaned back in his chair and took a deep breath. It was done, then, and he
could only hope that Draco liked it.

*

�� I see that
you make a habit of sleeping in your chair, Potter.�

�� Harry
popped his eyes open at once. It was Monday evening, and he had dozed off in
front of the fire hoping that Draco would firecall. At this point, the tension
was so extreme that Harry would almost have welcomed the news that Draco
planned to publish his photo on the front page of the Prophet tomorrow, because at least it would let him know what was
going on.

�� Well. The
key word in that thought was almost.

�� When I�m
waiting for a message from you, I do,� he admitted, and yawned into the palm of
his hand. �Did the letter and the photo reach you intact? I was worried about
the owl�s beak.�

�� Draco gave him
a discomforting smile. �Glacier is well-trained.� He paused, and then added,
�It looked as though you were excited about something when the camera snapped.
Had you just finished wanking?�

�� Harry felt
the familiar flush creeping into his skin again as if it had never been away,
but managed to clear his throat and say, �I was thinking about you, and I
didn�t realize I was that excited until I saw the photo.�

�� Draco
leaned back as if the response hadn�t been what he expected and stared at Harry
through narrowed eyes. Harry looked back, not knowing what else he could do.

�� I see,� Draco said, in a tone that could
have cut glass. �And you still claim that you�re willing to do anything I ask?�

�� With the
same constrains that I mentioned before,� Harry said, �about not doing
something illegal or something that could hurt other people. Unless they�re
Binks,� he added, thinking of the information he had accumulated at work today.
The other Aurors were always ready to gossip about Binks and the stupid rules that
he had introduced into the Department. It would take Harry some time to sort
the stupid rumors and half-remembered stories about something that had happened
to a friend�s brother�s dog from real, actionable facts, but he had a good
beginning list.

�� Why
Binks?� Draco tilted his head as though he were trying to get a lock on the
name. �Benjamin Binks, the Head Auror?�

�� He was the
one who told me to Court you,� Harry said. �Now he�s trying to get me to spy on
Ron. I�ll take him down for that, and replace him with a better Head Auror.
It�s time that we had someone who actually cared about the Department, not just
someone who�s related to a Wizengamot member.�

�� Draco eyed
him carefully. �You�re willing to use your name to do this?�

�� If that�s
the only way,� Harry said. �I still hope that I can convince some of the
Wizengamot members he�s incompetent with only testimony. But that�ll take a
while. Relying on my name would be easier,� he ended with some wistfulness.
Yes, it would be easier, but Hermione
would probably glare at him sternly and remind him that because something was
easier wasn�t a reason to do it. Probably a reason not to do it, really.

�� Are you
punishing him for what he made you do in regards to me?� Draco�s voice was
absolutely neutral.

�� Not only
that, but yes,� Harry said.

�� I see.�
Draco was dragging in long gulps of air as though he could make himself calmer
that way. It didn�t seem to be working. Harry was just about to point that out
when Draco said, snapping his words off like nuts being crunched between his
teeth, �You still value Weasley more than me.�

�� What?� Harry spluttered. �What makes you
think that?�

�� I�m not
good enough to fight your private little war over, but he is,� Draco said, and
there was a shrug of his shoulders that Harry thought meant he was folding his
arms, although that was out of sight of the flames. �Your loyalty to your
friends still comes before your loyalty to me. I should have known.�

�� Stop being
ridiculous,� Harry snapped. �I don�t care how hurt you are. You should realize
that I don�t value either of you more. He�s my friend, you�re�well, I hope you
would be my lover. I couldn�t act against Binks because I was weak and because
I was more intrigued by you than I realized when the Courting started. I should
have, but I didn�t. Now I realize what kind of idiot Binks is, and that means I
won�t take his request to spy on Ron seriously at all. It was the Courting
which taught me that. I can�t help that one of those experiences happened
before the other.�

�� Draco�s face
had an icy glaze now. �It�s excuses,� he said. �And, what, intrigued with me?
Next you�ll claim that you were secretly in love with me for months or years
before you started Courting me.�

�� I wasn�t,�
Harry said. He surrendered to the impulse to get up from the chair and pace
around the room, waving his arms. Why not? Draco wasn�t making enough sense for
him to keep still. �But I thought about you. I was interested. I wondered how
you�d changed. You�re the only one left who was really nasty to me during
Hogwarts days, the only one I had to
imagine stories for because death or Azkaban hasn�t ended them. And so, yes, I
wondered, and I thought, and I pondered, and it weakened my resistance to the
Courting idea. I could have come up with ideas that would persuade Binks, but I
decided not to. That�s what happened. That�s all.�

�� If you
felt that strongly, you never would have begun the Courting in the first
place,� Draco said harshly. �The thought of causing me pain would have been
enough for you to leave me alone.�

�� I felt
strongly enough to be weak.� Harry turned and whirled in place, his own arms
folded now. �That�s what I�m trying to say.�

�� Tell me,�
Draco said, his eyes narrowed. �If he hadn�t ever ordered you to spy on
Weasley, would you have wanted to get rid of him?�

�� I don�t
know,� Harry said.

�� Draco
inclined his head slowly. �I consider myself answered,� he said. �I come in
second place in the hierarchy of importance. Your friends come first. I don�t
know why I find myself startled or hurt by that revelation.�

�� I�ve been
trying desperately not to put you first,� Harry said loudly. Anger and fear
warred inside him, whirling up and down, and all the while he had to consider
whether anything he said might not put too much pressure on Draco. �I don�t
know if you�ll ever want me back, after all. In that case, putting you first
and pining away after you would be stupid.�

�� Yes, of
course it would be,� Draco said, and vanished from the fire as he shut down the
Floo connection.

�� Harry flopped
back into his chair, stared gloomily at the empty hearth, and wondered if all
his attempts to reconcile with Draco were doomed to end in futility.��

*

�� Yukiko_Angel:
Thank you.

�� Alison
July: Er, that�s good, I hope?

�� I_Will_Change_the_World:
Thanks!

�� angelmuziq:
Nothing in particular up with Binks, as in no mystery; he just is an ass.
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How Noble In Reason