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The Long-Desired	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 12097 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter; that belongs to J. K. Rowling. I am making no money from this fic.

Chapter List
- 1-The Long-Desired
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Part 13
- 8
- 9
- 10
Thank you again for all the reviews!

�� Mate?�

�� The cup of
tea went flying out of Harry�s hands and smashed against the table. He whirled
around, heart busy in his throat, as Ron stepped through the Floo and dusted
his cloak off.

�� Ron looked
up and towards him, with a smile that was probably meant to be reassuring. It
couldn�t be, not when Harry knew what would happen when Ron found out about
Malfoy, and not when they had parted on such bad terms. Ron seemed to realize
that a moment later, too, and dropped the smile to lean a hip against the
hearth. Harry took a deep breath to calm himself and waved his wand so that he
could pick up the pieces of the teacup and charm the floor clean.

�� I know
that you probably weren�t expecting to see me so soon,� Ron said quietly. �But
Hermione came and visited you, and she seemed hopeful when she came back. And
then I thought that I wanted to see you, too.� He tried to smile one more time;
it fell away from his face as Harry continued to stare at him. He scratched the
back of his neck and looked away. �If you don�t want to see me, tell me,� he
whispered, so quietly that Harry had to work hard to hear him.

�� Harry took
a deep breath, and thought of Malfoy lying dead in his bedroom. Maybe things
would be all right if Ron didn�t go in there.

�� No, it�s
fine,� he said. �I do want to see you. There�s just a lot to explain.� He
forced a grin and nodded to the opposite side of the table. �Sit down there.
I�ll make you some tea.�

�� Ron nodded
and sat down. Harry turned around to fetch a second cup, prickles of warning
traveling up his back. Ron sometimes looked mindless and easy-going to the
criminals they brought in, but he was still an Auror, trained in spotting lies.
Harry didn�t know exactly how he was going to deceive him. When he was still
hunting vampires, he had mostly lied by omission and never revealed enough
details for Ron to find out what he was doing and stop him.

�� So start out with a simple version of the
truth, Harry decided. By the time he turned around again with two cups of
tea, his hands were steady.

�� Ron sipped
thirstily at his tea, then nodded. �When are you coming back? Austin and Stone
have noticed you�re gone.� He lowered his voice, though Harry highly doubted
there were any eavesdropping charms on his fireplace. �I don�t think they mind
it, really, but they are starting to ask questions.�

�� Harry
braced himself. �I�m not going back right now, Ron. Things have changed. I need
a little holiday from being an Auror.�

�� Ron stared
at him with grave eyes for a moment, then slowly nodded. �I think that a
holiday would do you good, mate. Still, what else are you going to do? You�ll
go stark staring bored if you don�t have a job.� The unspoken warning throbbed
under his words. And none of us want
that, since you act more than mad enough already.

�� It was time
to tell him. Harry looked Ron in the eye and said, �I�ll be learning to live
again, with Malfoy�s help.�

�� He had been
afraid that Ron might spray tea across the table in surprise, or right into his
face. It was worse than that. Ron�s mouth fell open, and he made a strangled glurk noise. Then he clawed at his
throat.

�� Harry
lunged across the table and clenched his hands on Ron�s shoulders, shaking him.
Tea splurted out of his throat and fell on the table, also drenching Harry�s
face. He sighed and gave Ron a few more shakes before he leaned back, then cast
cleaning charms to get the tea off his hair and eyelashes.

�� Malfoy,�
Ron said. His hands were braced on the table as if he was going to push back at
any moment and run madly for the Floo. �You�ve been taking time out of your job
and our partnership to spend time with bloody Malfoy?�

�� It�s not
that I want to partner with him,� Harry said tiredly. �He�s a vampire, Ron. He
was in the last nest I hunted, and he helped me in exchange for freedom from
the master vampire who commanded him.�

�� Ron pointed
one shaking finger at him. �That�s still a fuck
of a long way from saying that he�s going to help you recover.�

�� It turned
out that my blood and my magic call strongly to him,� Harry said. He shuddered;
he had almost adapted to the idea of the bond for himself, but it sounded
disgusting to explain to another person, as if Malfoy were some kind of
parasite attached to him. Ron�s revolted expression certainly reinforced that.
�It establishes a bond between us called the Long-Desired bond. He feeds on me,
and he can share my magic.�

�� Ron folded
his arms and shivered violently. �And what do you get from this, mate? I can�t
imagine you letting a vampire feed on you for nothing.� He paused, then added,
�I can�t imagine you letting a vampire feed
on you.�

�� Harry
grimaced and nodded. �I know. I did try to kill him at first, but a
Long-Desired and the vampire he�s bonded to can�t kill each other.�

�� Ron
clenched one hand into a fist. �Then let me kill him for you.�

�� Harry
paused, caught by an idea he hadn�t considered before. He had assumed without
thinking about it that Hermione wouldn�t want to kill Malfoy, and she didn�t
have the expertise to survive a battle with him anyway. But Hermione came by
during the night most of the time, when Malfoy was already awake and active.
Ron was here during the day, and he certainly had enough strength to drive a
stake through Malfoy�s heart and cut off his head, without the compassion for
magical creatures that Hermione possessed holding him back.

�� The
temptation rushed down on Harry like a wind and made him tremble.

�� He could be
free.

�� And then he
shook his head and thought of the way that Malfoy had lain on him to keep him
from the sun and the rain. Before, his whispered exhortations about being
willing to burn for Harry might just have been words, things he would say so he
could get close to Harry and take what he wanted from him. Vampires were
predators first and foremost. Malfoy didn�t change because he happened to be
Harry�s vampire. Harry expected him
to lie to and manipulate his Long-Desired. He had certainly kept information he
knew about the bond from Harry when they were hunting the Collector, such as
how it was impossible for them to kill each other.

�� But then he
had proved his words. He had done what he said he would, and without even
knowing if Harry would wake up in time to see him offering that proof. Harry
had seen the minor burns on his back when Malfoy undressed and joined him in
the bath, draping his chin over Harry�s shoulder and enclosing him in a cage of
limbs.

�� Harry
couldn�t betray his sacrifice that way.

�� I want
to,� he told Ron quietly. �But I don�t want to at the same time. I�ve
discovered that I mourned Ginny too much, and twisted the mourning into a
justification for constant murder. Maybe the vampires that I hunted and killed needed to be hunted and killed, but not
by someone who took pleasure in it or so nearly died himself when he tried to
take them out. Malfoy was involved in my discovery of that. I can�t kill him
now.�

�� He had to
close his eyes in irritation as he finished that little speech. Two days ago,
he would have given so much for a solution like the one Ron offered. He didn�t
think he should change that fast.

�� But it was
circumstances outside him that had changed, and Harry himself was following
their pressure only enough that he wouldn�t be deformed out of shape. He wasn�t
a traitor, and so he wouldn�t betray Malfoy. That didn�t mean he was suddenly
about to fall in love with him, however.

�� I don�t
understand, mate.� Ron clenched one hand into a fist and tapped it nervously
against the table. �You�re speaking more sensibly than I�ve heard you speak in
years.� Then he stopped and shook his head.

�� Except?�
Harry prompted him.

�� Except
about one thing.� Ron folded his arms and regarded him levelly. �Except about
Malfoy.�

�� Malfoy is
a vampire, and I am his Long-Desired,� Harry said quietly. �Hermione knows
about it. I don�t think she wanted to tell you because she knew that you would
find it difficult to accept that Malfoy was the one responsible for starting to
cure me. But you can ask her if you doubt me.� An even simpler method of persuading
Ron of the truth would be to take him into the bedroom and show him Malfoy
lying there dead, but the moment Harry did that, Ron would probably reach for a
stake.

�� Ron sighed.
Then he put his hands on Harry�s shoulders and said, �Mate, you were the one
who told me how clever vampires were, and how tricky. Do you really think that
Malfoy�s changed just because he became a vampire? This could be a lie that
he�s telling you and wants you to believe just because your blood tastes good
to him.�

�� It could
be,� Harry said, making sure to keep his voice gentle, �but I�m reasonably sure
it�s not. Especially because I tried to kill him�I did use tactics that would
have killed any ordinary vampire�and nothing happened. It was as though my
magic had suddenly become less powerful, and I don�t think that Malfoy knows
any spells that would achieve that. Especially because he was under the control
of a more powerful master vampire when I met him.�

�� Even that
could be a deception.� Ron shook him. �Why would you trust any vampire, Harry,
especially one that claims he can only feed on you and share magic only with
you? I�m sorry, but I think there�s something wrong, that maybe he put a spell
on you even though you didn�t think you felt one. You would never have yielded
to pleading like that a year ago.�

�� Harry
licked his lips. He was beginning to think that the only way to persuade Ron
would be to tell him about the specific things that Draco had done�which would
include admitting to his weakness, and to the fact that he�d wanted to die.
Neither of his best friends would accept that announcement calmly, but Ron
would do worse than Hermione, who would at least try to talk to Harry before
she attempted anything drastic.

�� In the end,
he decided that risking Ron�s disbelief was better than risking immediate
confinement in St. Mungo�s, and he gave Ron his most winning smile. �Ron,� he
whispered, �listen to me when I say that he hasn�t hurt me. Please.�

�� Ron glanced
at him in pity and shook his head. �I would believe you if I could, mate, but
this is just too strange for you. I�ll see you in a few days.� He slapped Harry
on the shoulder and turned towards the Floo.

�� Harry
reacted without thinking, whipping his wand up and sealing the Floo connection
so that Ron couldn�t get out.

�� For long
seconds of tense silence, Ron simply stood there. He recognized the
incantation, of course; they�d used it themselves, more than once, to keep a
criminal from escaping from a house. But by the look on his face when he turned
around�his compressed mouth and squinting eyes�Harry knew that he had never
thought it would be used against him.

�� I�m
sorry,� Harry whispered, pressing his fingers down into his wand and wishing
there was some other way, any other
way. �Ron, I�m so sorry. But you would go straight to Austin and Stone about
this, and I can�t have you doing that.�

�� I was
trying to reason with you,� Ron said, his voice soft and ugly. �But a person
under an enchantment can�t be rational.� He was wielding his wand like a sword
as he moved forwards, and Harry winced. He knew that was a sign that Ron was
dangerously angry. �If you were under the Imperius Curse, Harry,� Ron was
saying, his voice rising, �and you wanted to jump off a cliff, should I let you
do that? If you wanted to walk into a lion�s cage and have him eat you, should
I let you do that? And that�s the same thing that will happen to you if you
stay with Malfoy, except that it�ll happen more slowly.�

�� Harry would
have caught his breath against the confusion bubbling in his chest and tried to
speak patiently if he had thought it would do any good. But Ron was pressing
forwards, and his mouth was open in a snarl, and the light of the first hex was
glowing around his wand. Harry didn�t think that reason had any place in this
room, though not for the reasons that Ron thought so.

�� He leaped
the hex, which smashed into his wall and took out a piece of wood. Harry
grimaced as he came down on the opposite side of the table. He knew that he was
in better shape than Ron, since he�d done all sorts of extra training and
climbing and running in the course of hunting vampires. But he would still tire
if he dodged spells in that way for a long time.

�� And Malfoy
wouldn�t awaken to help him no matter what happened. Vampires were utterly dead
during the day. It was the one thing that made hunting them safe, when it could
be, though Harry had always stalked his prey at night, wanting to watch their
eyes widen and their fangs flash in frantic hisses as they realized that they
couldn�t turn this form of death
back.

�� I�m even more like a vampire than I knew.

�� Harry shook
away the thought and focused on Ron. A harmless spell that would put his mate
out of commission without hurting him was essential. Harry would have tried a
Memory Charm, but Ron would be even angrier with him when that wore off than he
was right now.

�� In the end,
Harry waved his wand at Ron�s chest as he charged around the table and
whispered, �Somnus.�

�� Ron came to
a stop, catching his breath. �You shouldn�t try to go anywhere,� he said, his
words slurring as his eyes started to drift shut. �The room�s blurring and
shaking, and you might get hurt if you are enchanted.�

�� If,� Harry
echoed softly, and watched sadly as his best friend laid his head down on the
table. �Signum wake,� he added, so
that Ron would wake up only when Harry told him to.

�� Either the
sound of those words, or some feeling of the spell itself, finally told Ron
what he was experiencing. He struggled to open his eyes further, and showed a
small glimpse of glazed blue before he snarled, �You�re�you�re making me
sleep.�

�� Yes,�
Harry said, and watched, wand in his hand, until Ron slumped down completely
and started snoring.

�� Harry
quickly wrote an owl to Austin and Stone to explain that Ron wouldn�t be in
that day, because he was worried about his mate Harry and wanted to stay with
him. He could feign Ron�s messy handwriting fairly well after their years
together as partners, and he knew that Austin and Stone were already disposed
to blame him for anything that went wrong in the Auror Department anyway. This
way, Ron wouldn�t get in trouble.

�� Harry moved
Ron to the couch and stood watching him for a moment as he slept. Partners. How long had it been since he
thought of Ron that way, and considered him a part of his life?

�� Too long.
The hunting and the vampires had been real to him these last few months, but
not the cases and not his best friends.

�� Harry shook
his head and went to Floo Hermione about the situation.

*

�� Draco
opened his eyes and yawned. This time, he woke up more easily than he had last
night, which he chose to think had something to do with the soft bed under him
and the knowledge that his Long-Desired had finally stopped resisting him.

�� Then he
realized there was a foreign scent in the house.� By the time the next rational thought came,
he was on the other side of the room, next to the door, his head tilted back as
he sniffed for the scent of Harry�s blood. If Weasley had hurt his
Long-Desired, he would learn how much damage an annoyed vampire could cause.

�� But there
was only the scent of sadness and heaviness. Draco lowered his head in mute
confusion. Did the sadness and heaviness come from Harry? The walls and doors
here were so layered with Harry�s scent from his long years of dwelling here
that it was hard to tell where the fresh smell was coming from.

�� Hullo,
Malfoy.�

�� Harry was
coming through the door. Draco sprang to greet him, clutching his arm with one
hand and tilting his head back and forth with the other. Harry rolled his eyes
but put up with it. This close, Draco was certain that the scent of sadness and
heaviness did come from him.

�� What did
Weasley do?� he demanded.

�� I tried to
tell him the truth,� Harry said, urging Draco back towards the bed. Draco went
willingly, now that he had his Long-Desired at hand to explain to him and to
feed him if necessary. �I thought he should know why he would lack a partner
for a while. And he would find out about you eventually. The longer I hid you, the
more explosive he would be when I finally confronted him. Especially once he
found out that Hermione already knew.� Harry sighed and kicked out a leg in
front of him, looking both confused and sullen.

�� It didn�t
go well,� Draco said.

�� Harry
snorted and shook his head. �He decided that you had me under an enchantment,
and that I would see things differently if he could just kill you, or at least
knock me down and drag me�somewhere. Maybe he would have come back here and
searched the house for you and killed you, too, if I�d let him take me and he
reckoned you were here.� Harry scrubbed a hand on his forehead the way he
tended to do when sweat was running into his eyes. Draco sniffed, but caught no
scent of sweat, only that sorrow. �I laid him under a Somnus spell so that he would stay asleep until I wake him up. I�ve
tried to catch up with Hermione so that she knows what�s going on, but she�s
apparently in a diplomatic meeting on the other side of Britain or something.
I�ll let her know as soon as she calls me.�

�� Draco
nodded. He knew that spell, and knew that Weasley would suffer no harm while
under it; nourishment would appear in his stomach, along with liquids, and his
waste would vanish. For the moment, his attention was more caught by the implications
of Harry�s other words. �You lied for me.�

��

�� Harry
blinked at him. �No. I told him the truth about the Long-Desired bond, as far
as I understand it, that we can�t kill each other and we can�t be parted. That
was why he offered to kill you in the first place.�

�� But you
didn�t tell him I was here.� Draco eased closer to Harry, his fangs folding
down. The skin of Harry�s throat looked particularly appealing right now, but
that was partially because of the confused shine in the green eyes. �You could
have. I was dead, helpless. He could have come in and staked me, and then you
would have been free.�

�� Harry
clenched his teeth and looked away.

�� Why didn�t
you?� Draco whispered, knowing better than to try and make Harry look at him
right now.

�� Because I
owe you more than that, of course!� Harry turned around with his eyes and face
flaming. Draco approved. He was far stronger in battle than he was when
wavering and cowering back from his own emotions. �You took the sunlight for
me. You said you would burn for me, and you did.
You�re the only vampire I�ve known who�s made a promise and then kept it.�
He shrugged and pushed his fringe out of his face. �Maybe that wouldn�t mean
much to someone who didn�t know vampires as well I do, but I know them. And I
know how many of your instincts must be in thrall to the Long-Desired bond,
that you would do that.�

�� Draco bent
forwards and buried his nose in Harry�s throat. Harry stiffened, but didn�t
move away.

�� You
defended me against him,� Draco breathed. �You care more for me than for your
freedom from the bond.�

�� Harry
shuddered like a dog trying to get rid of a flea. �I�ve accepted that the
bond�s inevitable. That�s not the same thing.�

�� It�s
inevitable between us,� Draco said. �Not outside that. Someone else could kill
me, and you know it.� He reached up now and tilted Harry�s face back to his,
because it was time. �You�ve changed your mind.�

�� Long, tense
moments, when Draco thought Harry might explode off the bed and refuse to admit
what was as obvious as the first signs of daylight. Then he snorted and said,
�Yeah, I have.�

�� And I�m
bound up in that change.� Draco didn�t think he could have lifted his voice if
he wanted to.

�� Yeah. You
are.� Harry was the one who gripped the back of Draco�s neck, surprisingly, and
forced his head up. Harry was glaring, veins in his forehead bulging. Draco
eyed them with longing. �And I won�t let anyone else take that away,� Harry was
saying fiercely, �not Ron and not Hermione and not the Aurors. If I can�t reject
you, then no one else gets to reject you for me.�

�� Draco
smiled and leaned in to drink. Harry still made an immediate motion of
negation, and then sighed and bared the side of his throat. Draco bit in and
felt the blood fill his mouth with a gentle warmth.

�� He tried
his best to give that gentleness to Harry through his bite, to show
appreciation and contentment and wonder instead of simple mind-blowing
pleasure. Draco knew that Harry would get weary of mind-blowing pleasure soon
enough. But he might not tire of this feeling that crept flame-like through him
and then withdrew, leaving only small traces of itself behind.

�� Sure
enough, when Draco looked again, there was a faint smile on Harry�s face and he
was breathing slowly, as though he were on the verge of falling asleep himself.
Draco smoothed a hand down his cheek as he licked the wounds shut.

�� Harry
opened his eyes and looked at him.

�� There was
still anger in those eyes, and hatred, and grudging sullenness that Draco, a
vampire, made Harry feel what he did. But there was a healing beginning among
those old wounds, and that was what Draco had wanted to see.

�� Now,� he
said, �let�s see what we can do about Weasley.�

*

�� Snivelly: I
think Harry would still disagree with some of your conclusions. ;) But he�s on
the way there!

�� SP777: I
have gotten more reviews for the older stories, but I don�t usually keep track
of the hit numbers.

�� And thank
you! Sappiness or not, I�m glad you continue to read and enjoy.

�� polka dot: As
he points out here, Harry�s barely cared about his Auror work for a while. He�ll
have to do something to keep himself busy, but he wasn�t feeling fulfilled in
the last few months unless he was hunting vampires.

�� mrequecky:
Thank you!

�� JtheChosen1:
There are still weird undertones to Draco�s caring, but more and more, Harry
feels capable of ignoring them.

�� rafiq:
Well, it has happened�

�� Thrnbrooke:
Here we are.

�� InuyoukaiMei:
Thank you! For the moment, the novelty is enough to interest Harry, but he will
get bored unless Draco manages to pull some other twist off.
- 8
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The Long-Desired