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Soldier's Welcome	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 25565 -:- 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.

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Chapter Nine�An Unsuitable
Idea

�� You were
told to let the Dark magic remain as evidence for your instructors.�

�� With
respect, sir,� Malfoy said, standing very straight and with his hands clasped
in front of him in a way that made him look intelligent instead of pleading,
�the magic had nearly killed Trainee Potter and didn�t seem disposed to let us
pass. We eliminated it so that we could be sure of being safe.�

�� Then there�s his voice, Harry thought,
keeping his eyes lowered so that he wouldn�t look up and tell Dearborn exactly
what he thought of him. Cool, reasonable
as he makes his points, but still sounding as if he respects all the
instructors very much and is sorry that he has to distress them. How does he do
that?

�� Someone
sighed loudly. Harry glanced up and saw that it was Portillo Lopez. She sat
next to Dearborn at the table in the large, dim room Harry had already mentally
labeled as the Scolding Room. She was looking at both of them and slowly
shaking her head.

�� Is
something wrong, Maryam?� Dearborn turned a glance on her nearly as sharp as
the one he�d been questioning Malfoy with.

�� Yes,�
Portillo Lopez said, her eyes glittering. �Twice
now, these young men have been present at the discovery of Dark magic. That
suggests to me that someone is targeting them, or at least one of them.� She
leaned forwards, staring at Harry as if she imagined that her glance alone
could inspire him to confess. Harry glared back. Why, whenever he was the
victim of something, did people treat him like the perpetrator?

�� I am less
concerned about the possible targeting,� Pushkin said, his voice high with
interest, �than the circumstances of the discovery of that magic. They were
skimmed over lightly.� He folded his hands in front of him in a way that suggested
he�d had lessons from the same instructor who taught Malfoy prissy little
things, and gave a small, pleased nod.

�� Yes,�
Auror Gregory said, and her voice was ice and she turned her head back and
forth like a bird looking for someone to stab. �We know why you were the first
to find the message and the illusion last time. But now? You can�t expect us to
accept that you were so fortunate as to twice blunder into Dark magic that you
just happened to dissipate before
anyone else could study it.�

�� Harry held
himself very still and traded sneers with Gregory. She�d be glad to see me punished.

�� Malfoy put
a hand on his arm, and reminded Harry that they had more important things to
think about than one prejudiced instructor. For example, what they were going
to tell said instructor about their private duels.

�� Well?�
Harry demanded, leaning towards Malfoy.

�� I don�t
see anything for it but to admit the private training.� Malfoy gave a shrug,
his face carefully blank. �Since they already know about the compatible magic,
it�s not as though we�ll be springing a large secret on them.�

�� Harry
nodded and turned to face the instructors, then paused. I just let him make a decision that I�m going to abide by. Since when
does he get to be the leader?

�� Then he
decided the speculation was unimportant. What mattered was the looks from
everyone in front of them. Hestia and Ketchum were the only ones who looked
encouraging. Dearborn and Pushkin had interest in their expressions that was
too academic for Harry�s taste; he thought they would probably drive both Harry
and Malfoy to exhaustion if they could, in order to test the compatible magic.
Portillo Lopez and Gregory were both stern.

�� Since we
discovered that we had compatible magic,� Harry began awkwardly, �we�ve been
training privately together on Wednesday evenings, so that we can try and
master it. I got�angry about something this evening and tried to leave Trainee
Malfoy�s room. The magic was waiting outside the door.� He fell silent, hoping
that they wouldn�t ask him to describe the magic grabbing his throat and
filling his head with memories again. It had been difficult to try and explain
while remaining non-specific so that no one could pry into his past.

�� Gregory
snorted. �That�s it?� she said. �And
you expect us to believe that?�

�� Observation
of their faces does not indicate that they are lying,� Pushkin said, giving
Harry a squirrel-like glance.

�� Private
lessons could be dangerous, but they aren�t against the Auror Code,� said
Hestia, and her smile was small and pleased.

�� Well,
obviously we�ve got no choice,� Ketchum said, waving his hand around his head
as if to clear off smoke. �We�ve got to partner them now.�

�� Harry could
hear everyone else�s jaws shutting as
they turned to stare at the Battlefield Tactics instructor. Except Dearborn, of
course. He looked solemnly smug, as though he�d woken up this morning and
prophesied this would happen. The onyx ring on his finger added to his grin as
he swept his fingers towards Ketchum.

�� Acquiring
a partner early is a reward,� Gregory
said. �Do you really mean to argue that two of the most reckless youths in the
program should be placed together early, Samwise?�

�� Ketchum
rolled his eyes. �Sometimes I wonder who taught you English, Astraea,� he said.
�Youths, indeed.� As Gregory�s eyes
narrowed, he turned away from her as if she didn�t exist and addressed the rest
of the table. �This isn�t a reward,� he said. �This is pure necessity, for
several reasons.� He lifted his fingers and began to fold them down. �First,
because the compatible magic means that they�ll never work well with anyone
else. Second, because together they can deal with attacks that may be specifically aimed at them.
Alone, I don�t think they would have survived.� He grinned at both Harry and
Draco, as if he shared some delightful secret with them. Harry really wished he
would say what it was. �Third, because they�re already taking the initiative to
train together outside of class. That should be rewarded, if nothing else
should.� He turned to Dearborn. �And fourth, because you were right; they�re
meant to be paired.�

�� Harry
swallowed. He wished he felt less like he was swallowing soap�more in control
and stronger.

�� Have I
ever been wrong about a new partnership?� Dearborn shook his head back and
forth, like some great, shaggy sheep trying to get clumps of wool off its ears,
and then gave a complacent smile at the people around him. His ring flashed
again. Harry irritably thought about stripping the ring off and throwing it
into a far corner. �No. I predicted that they would have to band together like
this. And now we see that they need to survive threats even in their own
rooms.� He looked at Auror Gregory, his voice ice and acid. �It would be plain
idiocy not to let them partner.�

�� We should
make every effort to find out who�s casting the Dark magic,� Gregory snapped,
her lips gone thin. �And stop them. No matter who it is or what motive they
have for it.�

�� Agreed,�
said Dearborn. �But in the meantime, we should take every step that we possibly
can towards the survival of our
students.� He paused, then added, �And it doesn�t matter a whit if you dislike
one of them.�

�� Gregory
stood and whirled away from the table, stalking towards the back of the room�or
what Harry assumed was the back of the room�in silence. Dearborn watched her go
with a rueful crook to the corner of his mouth. Then he faced Harry and Draco
again and said, �Well. How do you feel about being partnered?�

�� Harry
clenched his fists. His mind was bubbling so fast he found it difficult to
speak. There was the fight that he and Malfoy had been through, the fact that
the Aurors were considering them for an honor that he knew no other trainees
would get�

�� And the
picture of Ron�s face in his mind. Ron, who would be disappointed beyond
measure that Harry wasn�t partnered with him, and jealous that Harry had
achieved another distinction that he hadn�t, even though Harry didn�t want
this.

�� I think
it�s a rotten idea, sir,� Harry said at last, the words pressed out of him.

�� Dearborn frowned.
�Really? Why?� He looked as if he was prepared to listen to intelligent
objections.

�� Harry
stared up at him and wished that he had some.

�� He licked
his lips and forced himself to ignore the frigid silence from Malfoy.
�Because,� he said, hoping that he could appeal to the other instructors on
this basis even if he couldn�t appeal to Dearborn, �I think I have too much
attention and I�m too singled out from the other trainees already.� Gregory
couldn�t be the only one who had a bit of Snape in her, he thought, and who
believed that he had all sorts of luxuries that he didn�t deserve. This would
be another thing that he didn�t merit. �Besides, just because we have
compatible magic doesn�t mean that I�m the best partner for Trainee Malfoy. He�s
doing better in the classes than I am. He needs someone who can complement
him.�

�� There, Harry thought. I even said something nice about him. He
can�t possibly object to that.

*

�� Draco bit
his tongue. It was the best way to avoid screaming insults at Potter, which
would not help to achieve his goal of convincing the Auror instructors that
they were right to partner him and Potter, whatever the idiot said.

�� He could
not believe�

�� Oh, yes, he
could, he thought bitterly a moment later. He�d seen the sheep-like look on
Potter�s face, that terribly earnest expression
that meant he was thinking about the Weasel or the Mudblood. Of course he would
wonder how his partnership with Draco would affect them, instead of thinking
properly of his own interests or of Draco, who was the other person immediately
concerned in this match.

�� It would
have been so simple for Potter to lie. Tell his hangers-on that the instructors
had ordered them to become partners, and he was sorry, and he couldn�t do
anything about it, and did the Weasel have to pout like that?� It would have satisfied all concerned.

�� Instead, he
did this.

�� But Draco
knew, from raised eyebrows and frowns up and down the table, that very few had
bought Potter�s excuse. If they thought him spoiled, the way he was probably
hoping, then they would think it out of character to demand an exemption from
the spoiling. Or they would decide it was false modesty.

�� Draco
waited, hands linked together behind his back. Dearborn seemed inclined to take
the lead in disputing Potter�s claim, but it was Ketchum who leaned forwards,
head shaking slightly. Draco didn�t like the Mudblood; still, he could have
blessed him for the words that flowed from his mouth.

�� I�m sorry,
Potter. True, you�re singled out from the other trainees, but did you think you
really wouldn�t be, with that scar on your forehead?� He gestured towards it,
smiling. �We should acknowledge great deeds when true greatness is manifest behind
them and they�re not just bids for attention. In this case, I can see the
greatness. You have compatible magic. Maybe you don�t know what that means. I
do. We would be fools to assign you to other people when there�s a natural
force pulling you together, and idiots to wait when you need your combined
strength to survive whatever enemy�s targeted you.�

�� Draco
lowered his eyes so that no one could see his satisfaction. There might be
people among the instructors who would want to deprive a Malfoy though they
didn�t object to satisfying a Potter.

�� And you,
Trainee Malfoy?� Ketchum added then, as if he had realized there was another
person in the room. �What do you say about this? I understand that you had a
rivalry in school. Will you let that influence your decision?�

�� Draco
twitched with mild scorn. The Mudblood had weighted his words to the point that
it was bloody obvious which choice was the right one. He must have a low
opinion of Draco�s intelligence.

�� I accept
the decision of the instructors,� he answered, turning his eyes up and looking
and sounding as much like a good little boy as he could. �Yes, we had a
rivalry, but that was in the past, when we were children. We�re adults now, and
must act like them.�

�� He caught
sight of Potter�s sidelong incredulous glance, but he didn�t care. He hoped
that Potter wasn�t so stupid as to think that Draco was trying to take care of
someone else�s interests other than his own. Draco�s interests and Potter�s
were linked in this instance. The moment they weren�t, Draco would act for
himself.

�� A thought
slid into his mind like a dagger: if they were partnered, it might be a long time
before their interests separated. Draco slid the dagger back into its sheath.
Not even partnerships were permanent.

�� Is there
anything else you can say that is a more serious objection, Trainee Potter?�
Portillo Lopez had a frown like broken glass on her face. Draco suspected she
didn�t like this partnership at all. She had struck him as someone who was
rather like Granger grown-up, abiding by the rules even if there were excellent
reasons for making exceptions to them.

�� Potter
brewed in silence for a minute so long that Draco repressed the temptation to
shuffle and break it. His mother had taught him that it was no use displaying
bad manners simply because someone else did.

�� Finally,
Potter said in tones that sounded as if he�d bitten them off with jagged teeth,
�No.�

�� Excellent,
then.� Dearborn inclined his head to both of them and stood up. Draco knew him
well enough by now to see the delicate signs of his pleasure: the narrowed
eyes, the slack hands that did not look as if they were reaching for a wand. �I
shall look forwards to seeing you act together in class.� He nodded amiably to
them and swept out of the room. Potter sent a heated glare after him that Draco
didn�t understand.

�� Oh, wait, yes, I do. Potter has to think in
his class.

�� I�ll be
pairing you up in Battlefield Tactics,� Ketchum said. �You should discuss your
weaknesses and what sorts of exercises you think would cure them.� He
practically bounced out of the room after Dearborn.

�� Portillo
Lopez left with no more than a jerk of her head. Jones lingered, and it was at
Potter that she looked anxiously. She did attempt a smile. �I�m afraid I can�t
do much in my class for you that�s different from what I normally do,� she
said, �since we�ll be getting to Partner Ethics in a few weeks anyway.�

�� Potter dug
up a smile from somewhere and presented it to her. �It�s all right, Auror
Jones,� he said. �Don�t worry about it. Thanks.�

�� Pushkin
gave them an enigmatic smile as he stood. �Do not expect much that is different
in my class,� he said. �You will continue to study leaves and flowers.
Recognizing the minute differences in them will aid you in tracking criminals
in wilderness areas.�

�� How often
does that happen?� Draco thought he heard Potter mutter under his breath, but
aloud, they both said the same thing. �Yes, sir.�

�� And then
the third-year trainees who had escorted them here�puffed-up brutes who thought
their opinions were far more important to Draco and Potter than they actually
were, in Draco�s opinion�escorted them out of the dim room and into the
corridors of the Ministry. Draco adjusted his robe and waited for the angry
outburst.

�� When he
looked up, Potter was simply staring at him. His eyes were so ablaze with
confused and mingled emotions that they might as well have been blank. Draco
didn�t think he could make them out.

�� He opened
his mouth to make a comment, but Potter simply turned his back and walked away
up the corridor in the direction of the trainee barracks. Draco hesitated, then
followed slowly.

�� His
determination to preserve his understanding with Potter could have taken anger
and yelling and impatience. It couldn�t take being ignored.

*

�� People kept
wanting to change his life. They came along and said, �Oh, but Harry, you would
be best at this!� They insisted that
he think about things that he had no desire to think about. Hermione seemed to
believe that no day was worth living unless you woke up with a resolution to
change at least five things about yourself.

�� They stared
at him when he tried to explain his nightmares, shook their heads, and
confessed in a soft voice that they couldn�t live with someone so damaged�

�� Harry
chopped the thought off. He decapitated it. He hid the body somewhere far away
where no one would ever find it and went about his day.

�� I�m not thinking about that.

�� But he
wouldn�t let people change his life. He hadn�t been able to live it the way he
wanted to for so long because of Voldemort, and he had to acknowledge that
going on quests and destroying Horcruxes and killing basilisks and what-not was
important to getting that done. But now was supposed to be the time when he got
to make his own choices.

�� He clung
hotly, stubbornly, to that thought as he went through his days.

�� He
explained to Ron that he was partners with Malfoy and endured the shouting.
Then he said quietly, �I spent some time in the trainee library looking up
those parts of the Auror Code that apply to partners.�

�� Yeah?
And?� Ron stared at him from the other side of their room, arms folded. It made
Harry ache to see how small he looked�and at the same time, it made him angry.
Ron was blaming him for this, even
though Harry had told him he�d protested and tried to get out of it. Why
couldn�t Ron see it was Malfoy�s fault? And the instructors�, but mostly
Malfoy�s. If they�d both protested, the instructors would have dropped their
silly suggestion.

�� Partnerships
don�t have to be permanent,� Harry said. �The Aurors just like to talk about
them like they are, because it gives people confidence that partners trust each
other when they go out into the field.� He smiled at the way Ron blinked and his
arms fell from their folded position in front of his chest. �We can be partners
later, when they�ve seen how massively unsuited Malfoy and I are.�

�� After that,
Ron had been cheerful, though he still rolled his eyes when Dearborn had Harry
and Malfoy demonstrate something together in Offensive and Defensive.

�� Harry
couldn�t deny the power that burst through him when he and Malfoy fought
together against the shadow dummies that Dearborn was especially adept at
conjuring, but always the energy faded away after the duel and he was left
wondering what they had in common. He was beginning to wonder if Malfoy had
wanted to be partners mainly because he knew it would attract the attention and
the praise of his instructors.

�� Does he remember that we won�t be in
training forever, and that a few Aurors liking us doesn�t translate into all
Aurors liking us forever and us getting promotions?

�� Besides,
there was at least one Auror who didn�t like them. Gregory had started pairing
them to fight each other every class, and she seemed as content when Harry
inflicted pain on Malfoy as the other way around. When Harry clasped his arms
around Malfoy�s left leg and threw him�the first time he�d ever managed that
particular maneuver that Gregory had shown them�he looked up to find her coolly
smiling, holding her hands as though about to applaud.

�� Malfoy
dragged himself back to his feet and caught Harry�s eye as he looked away from
Gregory. �What she thinks doesn�t matter,� he said in an undertone that made
him sound as if he was carving the words in glass. �Learning matters. You�re
getting better.�

�� Yeah, you
too,� Harry said, and stood up shaking his head. If Malfoy had only wanted the
partnership to get in good with the instructors, he was remarkably unconcerned
about Gregory�s good opinion.

�� That was
another thing for him to object to. Now that everyone knew about their
compatible magic and their private dueling lessons, they were encouraged to
have those lessons as often as possible. That meant Harry had to spend more
time around Malfoy, and he kept trying to understand him.

�� But Malfoy
was impossible to understand. Sometimes he would say things, like his
compliment in Combat, that sounded like an invitation to a deeper friendship.
Then he would wrench himself back to an icy distance and make short, sharp
remarks about Harry not being invested enough in this.

�� At least
Harry could answer him sarcastically when he said things like that, mostly with
compliments on how proud Pushkin must be to have such a prize student in
Observation. Malfoy stared at him with his cheeks turning a fervent red.

�� You
realize that we are linked, Potter?�
he would answer, or something like it, with his eyes so cold that they seemed
to try and freeze Harry�s, his hands clenching in front of him as if he
expected the sight of his fingernails to impress Harry. �That we�ll never get
rid of the compatible magic and we might as well make the best of it?�

�� Oh, yes, I
realize that,� Harry said, after several duels of being subtle about it. �But I
also understand that I have other things in my life, and I�ve ignored them too
long in favor of you.�

�� Their
meetings were frigid for some time after that, but Harry didn�t care. What he
said was perfectly true. So he had to find something to care about that didn�t
involve Malfoy.

�� Luckily, he
had the perfect candidate.

�� When he and
Malfoy had described the mixture of red and black magic that had assaulted
them, more than one Auror had made a sharp motion, or jerked back, or let their
eyes widen, but none of them had explained what it was. Malfoy had mentioned
that perhaps it was a combination of despair and killing spells, but the instructors
had sat there like stone images when he said that. The clearest answer they had
received was Portillo Lopez�s enigmatic, �Perhaps.�

�� Harry
couldn�t stand that. If magic was going to attack him, then he bloody well
wanted to know what it was and how he should stop it.

�� But staying
around his best friends and Malfoy hadn�t yielded any clues so far, so Harry
knew that he would have to go further afield. Start listening for rumors among
the other trainees. Contact people he knew in the outside world, like Hagrid,
who would pick up gossip and pass it along.

�� The more
Harry thought about it, the more he became convinced that NIHIL was a name or a message, not just a random word. The name of
someone who could sneak into a trainee barracks, use a powerful Dark spell, and
walk out again unseen? Harry thought so.

�� He�d played
around with the idea that maybe this was a way of testing him and Malfoy, but
discarded it for two reasons. First, there were no magical �tests� like that
for any other trainees.

Second, because he had almost died
at the hands of the red and black magic, and he couldn�t see the Aurors
recruiting people for their program very well if their simple magical tests
were frequently fatal.

So he made his decision, and
started writing letters and trying to seek out friends among the other
trainees. Most of them were suspicious at first, but a few were welcoming, like
Darien West, whom Harry had been assigned to fight in Combat the day he had his
first public fit, and Catherine Arrowshot, who advised him on the best ways to
practice Battle Healing out of class.

�� Near the
end of November, he was ready to set off on his first real investigation, and
quietly confident. He opened the door of his room to step out.

�� Malfoy,
standing there, ruined it all.

*

�� Alliandre:
That they could be so powerful is one thing that exasperates Draco when Harry
tries to ignore him.

�� And yes, a
bit too early for snogging. ;)

�� MewMew2:
Thank you. Yes, Harry and Draco keep playing the game of contraries for a
while.

�� Lunacom:
Thanks!

�� helga1967:
Thank you! The perpetrator might come a little closer to being revealed in this
story, but the major revelation has to wait for the sequels.

�� hieisdragoness18:
Thank you!

�� Dragons
Breath: Thanks! And yes, poor Harry. He just wants to be free�but on the other
hand, he probably needs to find a less structured place than the Auror program
if he wants that. Draco at the moment is thinking of the sexual element as a
way to force Harry to pay attention to him rather than because he wants Harry,
though.

�� SP777:
Harry is staring at Draco for many and complicated reasons.

�� Thanks. I�m
afraid you�ll find this chapter a bit of a step backwards, but Harry and Draco
do have a cleansing fight in the next chapter, rather like the one that Harry
has with Ron in this chapter.

�� As far as I
know, my Gmail account is working fine. Did you have an e-mail bounce?

�� Lilith:
Thank you! Harry is still raging against being expected to do things that other
people aren�t, so he has to get over that before he and Draco can spend any
really productive time together.

�� For all his
faults, Draco didn�t want to see Harry die in front of him. Hence the rescue.

�� Mr Spears:
Thank you!

�� polka dot:
Which part is so cute?
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