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The Secret Underground Vampire Bureaucracy	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 4524 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-The Secret Underground Vampire Bureaucracy
- 1
Title: Draco Malfoy and the Secret Underground
Vampire Bureaucracy

Disclaimer: All Harry Potter characters herein are the property of J.K.
Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No copyright infringement is intended.

Pairing(s): Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione, (mostly past)
Harry/Ginny

Summary: In which there is an obsessed Potter, conspiracy theories,
bonds, hormones, far too much self-help, and, of course, a secret underground
vampire bureaucracy. None of which is as important as the fact that this is not
Draco Malfoy�s fault.

Rating: NC-17/MA.

Warning(s): Vampirism, sex, profanity, light bondage, DH spoilers (EWE).

Word Count: ~18,500.

Author's Notes: This was written for Beren in the
most recent round of the hd-holidays fic fest on LJ. Beren�s kinks were leather,
light bondage, toys and she requested creature fic (nothing like a good
veela or vampire), bonding, hate sex that turns into twu wuv (I can't help
myself, I'm a romantic), mpreg. This story has the vampire, the bonding,
and the bondage�maybe the hate sex, too, if you really stretch the definition.

Thank you to my betas: Byaghro, Ravenqueen55, Raphsody606, Msarden, and
Angyslmuse.
Draco Malfoy and the Secret Underground Vampire Bureaucracy
Draco sighed.
The person whom this horrid place took the liberty of calling a
welcome witch didn�t look up.
Draco shifted and sighed again.
This time, he attracted the attention he wanted; the witch glanced at him.
Her polite, uncommunicative smile showed no teeth and remained the same as it
had been five minutes ago, and a half-hour before that, and an hour before
that. �Yes, Mr. Malfoy?�
�Look, Bones,� Draco said, deciding that he might as well abandon the
courtesy he�d used so far, because it hadn�t got him any better results. He and
Susan Bones had known each other vaguely in school, though she had vanished
over the summer before Hogwarts reopened, and most people had believed she was
dead or had left the country. Now Draco knew it to be the former, and they
shared the same predicament, so she ought to offer more apologies than she had
so far. �I just want to know how much longer I�ll have to wait before I see
this Zabrina Gloriosa or whatever the fuck her name is. It�s a ridiculous name,
by the way.�
Bones narrowed her eyes, and stood up. �Strange thing for someone with a
name like Draco Malfoy to say,� she murmured. The sweetness had gone from her
voice, and now she showed her fangs, as though she thought they could
intimidate him. Draco showed his own back, except that he still wasn�t used to
opening his mouth around them and therefore cut his own lip on one of them. He
yelped and lifted a hand to his mouth to cover the trickle of blood. Vampire or
not, he saw no need to walk around wearing stained robes.
�You don�t understand, Malfoy,� Bones said, sounding amused again. Perhaps
his social blunder had restored her confidence�which it shouldn�t have,
Draco thought, probing sullenly at his fangs with a careful tongue. He had
already spent several days with that cut and talking in a way that had
made some of his mother�s carefully-chosen guests ask if he�d recently returned
from a foreign holiday. �You�re a vampire now��
�That was sort of hard to miss, Bones,� Draco snarled around his hand.
�And that means that you�re exactly the same as any other new vampire who comes
into contact with the bureaucracy,� Bones said, and shrugged, and sat back
down. She looked paler than she had been, but otherwise not substantially
different. Vampirism, Draco had already learned, was least hard on the looks of
those people who had been blonds or redheads before they died. �You don�t have
any special privileges. You�ve yet to show us that you can behave around humans
and recognize your new status in the wizarding world. We don�t know much about
what talents and special needs you might have gained from your sire�because we
don�t know who bit you, and for what reason�and we need to research
that. All of this takes time and questioning. I�m surprised you haven�t
realized that sitting out here patiently, and not demanding to see Madam Gloriosa
just because you�re a pampered, spoiled child, is a test of its own. One that
you�ve resoundingly failed. I�m only telling you that because I feel sorry for
you, by the way. This is so obviously not your world.�
�I doubt that you know much more about it than I do,� Draco said. He took
his hand cautiously away from his mouth. The blood had stopped flowing, he
noted in relief. One of the few benefits of his new status was that his blood did
clot quickly, as he couldn�t afford to lose that much of what kept him alive.
�Since I didn�t notice you biting that many necks before last summer.�
Bones smiled a little. �I prefer wrists, actually.�
Draco shuddered. The Vampire Association for the Management and Protection
of the Species was supposedly keeping him under severe restrictions, making him
drink animal blood until they could find out what kind of human volunteer would
be best for him to bite, but of course his mother had taken to drawing her own
blood out in vials and sharing it with him. Draco would have expected no less
of her. He had found, nevertheless, that his gaze always went to her neck
first.
�I couldn�t survive drinking out of wrists,� he said.
�You might have to,� Bones said, and flipped through another pile of
parchment on her desk, humming under her breath, �depending on what kind of
sire you had.�
Draco shook his head. �I don�t understand that at all��
Bones murmured something that sounded suspiciously like, �Of course not.�
Draco chose to graciously ignore this.
�How can it matter what vampire bit me? I mean, any vampire can make any
other kind of vampire, right?�
Bones shook her head at him. �Of course not. Do human parents always have
the same kind of children? There are certain traits, sometimes to do with
special talents, sometimes with the kind of blood you can drink and the kind of
people it�s best to feed from, that get passed down from sire or dam to Risen
One.� Draco made a face. He hated V.A.M.P.S�s term for new vampires. It made
him sound like some sort of phoenix. �It�s not an exact transference; it
combines with the talents and weaknesses you already have. But that just leads
to the need for more careful research. I�ve known several Risen Ones who were
susceptible to certain kinds of blood diseases, for example, because they
weren�t healthy in life and their sires or dams hadn�t been careful enough
about which humans they fed from. They had to be very careful that they
weren�t drinking from someone with that particular kind of blood disease. It
could kill them.�
�I wasn�t sickly,� Draco muttered.
Bones just shrugged, and went back to her paperwork. After a short time of
standing in front of her desk like an idiot, Draco decided he should sit down.
He did, though he still grumbled under his breath just in case Bones thought she
had got away with cowing him. He didn�t like how smoothly she managed to ignore
him.
Another hour of silence passed, and then the ivory clock that hung above
Draco, the only ornament on the bare stone walls, chimed twice. Bones glanced
up at it, smiled, and said, �Madam Gloriosa will see you now.�
Draco tried to give her a menacing scowl as he stood and strode around
Bones�s desk towards the door behind it. She only flashed him her fangs in
answer.
Draco frowned. He hadn�t yet figured out when vampires had a mocking edge to
their smiles, given that they had an edge from their teeth more or less all
the time.
*
�But he must have gone somewhere.�
�I�m with Hermione by now, mate,� Ron said, poking a weary head around the
book he was holding up in front of him. �I�m sick of hearing you talk about
Draco sodding Malfoy. I don�t know where he went. No one does. All I know is
that he was missing for a little while, and now he�s back in Britain. That
should be enough, shouldn�t it?�
�But��
�Harry,� Ron groaned, and ducked behind the book once more. Harry scowled at
him and folded his arms. He knew he was right, damn it.
And you�d think that Ron and Hermione would pay a bit more attention to
my intuition after I turned out to be right about what Malfoy was up to in our
sixth year, and again about the Hallows, he thought, and flopped back in
the chair behind him, to show the ceiling his scowl instead.
The flat he, Hermione, and Ron had chosen to share after they left Hogwarts
had many good points�it was close to the Ministry, where all three of them were
in training to enter the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and it was
unexpectedly roomy for the price�but looks were not its strong suit. Patterns
of cracks ran along the ceiling. Old burn marks and the stench of lingering
spells clung to the walls despite Hermione�s numerous attempts to charm them
out. She had Transfigured the carpet completely, but Harry thought a trace of
the former lumpy green was apparent around the new blue. Odd noises still echoed
through the bedrooms and kitchen at the dead of night. And Harry was convinced
there must be a poltergeist, since they always woke up to find water running or
an old fire that none of them remembered lighting dwindling down to ashes in
the hearth.
Harry tried to distract himself by counting the cracks in the ceiling, or
trying to find the picture of Dumbledore�s face that Ron swore was up there,
but his mind returned to Malfoy, as it always did. Malfoy had just vanished
abruptly a few days after they took their NEWT�s. And then he�d returned to
England a month or so later. How could that not be suspicious?
Especially since Lucius Malfoy had fled not long after the final battle and his
whereabouts remained unknown. Draco�s vanishing probably had something
to do with his father, and if only they investigated him more closely, they
could probably find one of the few remaining Death Eaters at large.
To Harry�s frustration, though, no one in the Ministry shared his
convictions. And Ron and Hermione just accused him of obsession and went on
about their ordinary lives.
Harry wasn�t obsessed. He knew he wasn�t. He just wanted all the
Death Eaters locked up in Azkaban or dead for their crimes, thank you very
much. He didn�t think that was an unreasonable thing to want, given that Fenrir
Greyback and a few others had tried to assassinate him during his last year at
Hogwarts.
He wanted more than anything to put the whole business of the war behind him
and just concentrate on becoming an Auror. His best friends knew that. The
Weasleys knew that. Ginny, um, well, she knew that when he explained it to her.
Anyone who thought differently was just someone who had read and believed too
many of the scurrilous stories that the Daily Prophet kept right on
publishing because they made it money.
But he had to tie up the loose ends of the war first. Certain things had to
be done, always, before the normal business of life could proceed. He had to
take his NEWT�s before he could become an Auror. He had to find some way to
explain away his strange reluctance to date Ginny before he would be free to go
on and date someone else. And he had to find out where Draco Malfoy had gone
before he could be sure that there wasn�t an obvious trail which led to Lucius
Malfoy that they were ignoring.
Then he sat up, his breath catching.
�What are you planning, Harry?�
Hermione had just stepped in through the door of the flat, shaking snow off
the umbrella she�d enchanted to create a protective shield around her when she
had to walk. She�d been to visit her parents again, and Apparating in and out
of the Grangers� house was considered using magic in front of Muggles, because
they might have guests over. She gave him a sharp look now, and flicked off a
few flakes that had managed to land on her hair.
�Who says I�m planning anything?� Harry asked, trying to look as innocent as
Teddy did when Harry picked him up for play dates.
�The expression on your face does.� Hermione hung up her umbrella and set
about removing the complicated cast of heavy garments she wore outside every
single December day. �You�re not as clever about hiding your emotions as you
think you are, you know.�
Harry decided Hermione was wrong. Not just because she was, but
because she didn�t seem to know a single thing about Harry�s changed feelings
towards Ginny.
�Yeah, well,� he said, leaning back to look at the ceiling again. �Ron was
telling me that I ought to give up on finding out what�s wrong with Malfoy. And
I reckon he�s right. I mean, the Ministry did investigate it, and they
found nothing.�
The words caught in his throat like a hot potato. The Ministry had barely
made an effort. They had probably come to some understanding with
Malfoy�s mother, Harry thought bitterly. Narcissa Malfoy had saved his life,
but he knew she had done so because she would do anything to protect her son,
and that would certainly include bribing Ministry officials to stop inquiring
after him, if she had to.
�Hmmm,� said Hermione, and gave him a skeptical look as she walked past him
into the kitchen. A moment later, her disgusted voice drifted out. �Ron, I told
you that I�m not going to do all the cooking! Get in here and start
dinner the way you were supposed to, already.�
Ron grumbled and moaned and pulled himself away from his book as reluctantly
as though he had Hermione�s study habits. Harry shook his head as he watched
him depart, and then grinned up at the cracks, thinking that maybe he saw
Dumbledore�s face there after all.
He had been trying to persuade his friends to listen to him about Malfoy for
so long that he had forgotten he had another option. He had investigated
Malfoy�s Death Eater activities on his own three years ago. Why couldn�t he do
it again?
And Harry knew just where to start. Certain inquires about Malfoy had passed
through the hands of a minor Ministry undersecretary with a crush on him; she
had mentioned it when she was trying to impress him into going on a date with
her. Harry would use a bit of judicious smiling on her and see what else she
might be willing to tell him.
He felt a little strange using his face and scar for something like that,
but, well.
It�s for the greater good, he defended himself. And not in that
twisted way Dumbledore meant it, either. This really is. If Malfoy is innocent,
then he shouldn�t have anything to fear from an investigation. And if he�s
doing something nefarious, then I should find out, so that the rest of the
wizarding world and I can live in peace.
Besides, once he had found out what Malfoy was up to, maybe he could stop thinking
about him all the time.
*
�Welcome, Mr. Malfoy. Please sit down.�
Draco froze, staring in disbelief. Almost without realizing it, he had
conjured a picture of Madam Gloriosa in his mind as some gypsy witch, with long
dark hair and long fingernails and a crystal ball that would presumably work
much better than Professor Trelawney�s.
The woman facing him now was small and fine-boned, with features that looked
French. She had brown hair worn in a plain, simple coil on the back of her
neck, and watery blue eyes that peered at him with the help of glasses. Her
robes were fine, and blood-red, but Draco would still have passed her without a
single glance in the street.
This was the leader of all the vampires in Great Britain? The person
who was supposed to be in charge of him until he could be �trusted� not to
drain humans to death? The one woman who had the right to deal with the
Ministry of Magic and speak for all British vampires?
Draco took his seat in front of her desk, but his gut was churning with
anger. Madam Gloriosa peered at him one more time, then picked up a file from
her desk and consulted it. At least the desk was mahogany and appropriate to
her status, Draco thought, elaborately carved with depictions of vampires
biting swooning witches and wizards.
That was as it should be, he thought. He had been forced to give up so much
when he became a vampire, from his wand to his ability to walk around in the
daylight like a normal person (and vampires like Bones wanted him to give up on
considering himself human, which would happen only over Draco�s undead body).
He had at least hoped that there would be some compensation in power and
terror.
But, no, V.A.M.P.S. controlled all vampires so sternly that there was no
hope of that. There were all sorts of rules about who could be bitten and who
couldn�t, how often vampires were to intrude into wizard-controlled areas,
whether they had the right to enter Muggle-controlled ones at all, what magic
potions and items they should be able to use in lieu of wands, and how much
contact they should have with former friends. Draco had recognized all the
regulations as chains the first moment he heard about them. Bones could chirp
on and on about how they were necessary in order to soothe human fears and let
vampires survive without persecution, but Draco thought they had traded their
freedom for a very minimum security.
�Ah, yes,� said Madam Gloriosa, pulling Draco�s attention back to her. She
blinked at the parchment in front of her, and then glanced up at him, looking
pleased. �We believe that we have identified your sire at last. Very, very
unusual, this one. He hasn�t sired another vampire in more than two hundred
years. Someone must have approached him and offered him a substantial amount of
money to make you Rise.�
�Wait,� Draco said. �Someone offered him money to make me a vampire?
Why would anyone do that? I thought he was just hungry, found me wandering
along the edges of the Forbidden Forest, and took a bite.�
�Well, yes, that was probably what you were meant to assume,� said Madam
Gloriosa kindly. �But we gathered samples of your blood soon after you
awakened, do you remember?�
�Vaguely.� What Draco mostly remembered was an immense hunger that had eaten
out the bottom of his stomach and seemed destined to eat out the bottom of the
world, combined with thrashing and screaming that he didn�t like to recall in any
way, since it was so undignified for a Malfoy to have done it.
�We found traces of a potion. It�s called Noctambulism.� Gloriosa shrugged
and turned the file towards him. Draco glanced down, but the spiky, cramped
handwriting gave him a headache, and he looked away again. �It�s useless,
really. All it does is make a person sleepwalk. But we think someone
administered it to you to get you out of the school and close to the edge of
the Forbidden Forest�where the Night King was waiting.�
�Wait, wait,� Draco said again, and spread one hand. He was gratified to see
that Madam Gloriosa paused. So even she has to recognize the power of a
Malfoy. �Night King? Bones told me vampires don�t have any royalty.�
�Oh, we don�t. But we find it politic to respect whatever titles our older
members choose to call themselves by. It�s all about freedom of expression.�
Draco grimaced. This kind of thing was what he hated most about V.A.M.P.S.
They seemed to feel that people like Draco should be genuinely happy
about being vampires, and they used all sorts of cheery catchphrases and
pamphlets and brochures to make it sound like jolly fun.
�So someone paid to have me made a vampire,� he muttered. It didn�t sound
any less incredible when he said it. �Do you know whom?�
�Vampires as old as the Night King must be approached carefully.� Gloriosa
gave him a sympathetic smile. �I�m sure that you�ll be more interested in
learning to live your life with the powers that the Night King granted to you
with his bite. For example, did you know that you will probably become a bonded
vampire? That happened to his last Risen One we have records of.�
Draco frowned. �A bonded vampire?� Bones had chattered on to him, and so had
the lesser functionaries of Madam Gloriosa he�d dealt with, about vampires who
drank from various places on the human body, who could be hurt by the sight of
moonlight, who were all but immune to common spells, but he hadn�t heard of
anything like this. �I can conjure ropes?�
Gloriosa laughed. Draco wondered if it was his imagination that it sounded a
little forced. Perhaps he was getting to her, and she was being forced to
realize that she had to deal with a Malfoy more respectfully than she
had to deal with your ordinary Mudblood vampire. �Not at all! It means that you
can establish a bond with one particular human that will enable you to read
that human�s thoughts and emotions, even from a distance. You�re luckier than
most, in some respects. We have to spread our feedings carefully, and our
donors can become nervous and withdraw their blood from us at any time. That
rarely happens to a bonded vampire. A human finds the sharing of thoughts and
emotions significant. They will become friends with the vampire who approaches
them, sometimes lovers. It takes a lot to make them stop contributing blood.
And it�s a perfectly legal and harmonious arrangement, long recognized by the
Ministry, without the complications of consent that we need to go through with
ordinary donors.� She looked faintly wistful for a moment.
�I sense a catch coming up,� Draco said darkly.
�Why would you think that?�
�Because this�this has been weird,� said Draco, and folded his arms.
�There has to be a catch. Nothing that actually makes my lack of life any
easier can be what it seems on the surface.�
�I do wish that you would stop referring to it as your lack of life,�
Gloriosa said reproachfully. �Vampires are differently alive, not dead,
or we could not exist at all. Susan tells me that you have continually used
uncooperative phrasing, and seemed unwilling to attend group meetings for new
Risen Ones that would help you engage with your new existence.�
�Maybe because I never wanted to be a monster!� Draco leaned forwards. His
objections had made no impression at all on the lackeys he�d dealt with before
this; they�d been trained to smile and chirp cheerfully at him no matter what
he said. Madam Gloriosa was high enough up that it might make a difference to her.
�I wanted to be human! And now my wand�s been taken away, and I don�t
know what I can do and what I can�t, and someone�s trying to govern
every detail of my life, and I don�t see why vampires can�t attack humans the
way they want to when we obviously have the greater power��
Gloriosa�s eyes narrowed, and Draco abruptly found himself pinned to the far
wall of the office with her hand around his throat. Draco choked; even though
he didn�t need to breathe any longer, she was still crushing the skin and near
to mangling his windpipe. And he hadn�t even seen her move.
�You are being more than uncooperative,� Gloriosa said. �You are being stupid.
We exist at the Ministry�s sufferance, Mr. Malfoy. We come up with our
own laws and regulations because the ones they would create would enchain us
even more effectively. We fight for our freedom slowly, using tactics that
humans don�t notice because they don�t live long enough. But our numbers have
always been small, and smaller still since only rogues and vampires old enough
to escape most retribution make Risen Ones now.
�I will not let you risk everything we�ve worked for because you�re a
petulant child. I promise, while I will not destroy you, I know nearly
everything possible about making a vampire�s existence uncomfortable. I�m six
hundred years old, Mr. Malfoy, and you know nothing about me and the powers I
wield thanks to my dam. If I decide to tame you, you will come out with even
less intelligence behind your pretty little eyes than you have now.
�Adapt to this, and survive.�
She tossed him to the floor. Draco cried out as his skull banged against it,
and then closed his eyes and did his best to concentrate on manipulating his
neck back into shape.
When he looked again, Madam Gloriosa was sitting behind her desk and
checking quietly through his file once more.
�You are right that there�s a disadvantage for bonded vampires,� she said,
not glancing up. �Only certain kinds of humans with certain characteristics
will do. For example, children of the Bone Queen can only bond humans born on
Tuesdays when the moon is full. With the Night King as your sire�well.� She
showed her fangs at him in what Draco was finally certain was not a smile. �You
need to find someone who has returned from death. Good night, Mr. Malfoy. Susan
will show you out.�
*
Harry pushed Malfoy�s file irritably away from him. It nearly tumbled off
the desk the undersecretary had let him borrow, and he scrambled after it and
caught the edge before it could fall on the floor. He knew that he would never
get the papers back in the proper order to make it seem as if no one had been
scrutinizing them at all.
The file had actually told him very little. The Ministry had noted Malfoy�s
disappearance, and sent two Aurors to Malfoy Manor to question Narcissa. Her
report was �satisfactory,� they said, and confirmed that Draco Malfoy had not
left the country. Then there had been a few desultory scouting expeditions
abroad in Albania, supposedly Lucius Malfoy�s first destination, and then
nothing.
It didn�t make sense.
Unless there were factions in the Ministry who didn�t want the free Death
Eaters caught.
Harry drummed his fingers on the edge of the desk. Of course he knew that
things hadn�t just changed miraculously for the better when Kingsley took over.
But knowing that was one thing and coming face-to-face with it was another.
The door squeaked. Harry jumped up and turned towards it. The undersecretary
had assured him that the old wizard who used the office was out sick for the
day, but this wouldn�t be the first time Harry had had a plan involving the
Ministry go horribly wrong.
He reached for his wand, but then heard the familiar voice of the
undersecretary calling, �Mr. Potter? Are you done with the file? Only I should
return it as soon as possible, they�re doing all sorts of new filing checks and
it�ll be missed.�
Harry relaxed and picked up the file. �I�ll be out in a moment, Katie,� he
called, casting a spell that Hermione had taught him which removed all traces
of his magical signature from the file. No reason for someone to get curious.
I�ll be glad when I get Malfoy off my mind. All this concern over
him is making me paranoid.
He unlocked the door and stepped through�nearly into Katie�s arms. She gazed
at him with horribly dazzled eyes, even compared to the way that Ginny used to
look at him.
Harry swallowed. He hated it when people treated him as if he were some sort
of great savior. He�d just done what he had to do, and it had been more
dangerous and threatening and messy than anything else. He handed Katie back
the file, dodged her when she would have grasped his wrist, and said, �Thanks
for letting me look at it. I might have found the information I needed to stop
Malfoy.�
�Really?� Katie sidled a few steps nearer, a slight glamour spell sparkling
off her earrings. They were kittens, which reminded Harry nauseatingly of
Umbridge. �How wonderful.�
�Er, yes.� Harry took a few quick steps and managed to get around her. He
didn�t understand why he felt something like panic welling up in his chest. It
couldn�t just be the star-struck look; he�d managed to live with the fact that
Ginny had a crush on him for being her hero.
Although she�s looked at me like that a few times since the end of the
war, and that was when my discomfort with her started�
Harry shook his head. He had enough thoughts that he couldn�t explain
floating around his head, he didn�t need more.
�Thanks,� he repeated, and then did something which, had he been less manly,
would have been called fleeing.
He steadied himself as he walked to the lifts that would carry him out of
the Ministry. He had a perfectly good excuse for being here. His training
sessions had been separate from Ron�s lately, as their mentors tried to
accustom them to working with different partners, and so Ron didn�t know for
certain what time he was supposed to be home.
His course of action was depressingly clear now, though. He would get no
answers except by going to Malfoy Manor himself.
*
�I don�t really see how it�s the end of the world, darling.�
Draco groaned and draped his arm over his face. He didn�t need to sleep
during the day if he didn�t want to, but even with the black curtains pulled
tight around the windows of his bedroom and muffling spells doing all they
could, he fancied he still caught bright, stinging sparks of light that hurt
his eyes. �Because I don�t know anyone who came back from the dead,
Mother,� he said. �And if that�s the person I can best feed on, then it seems
I�m having no better luck as a vampire than I did as a human.�
�But of course you know someone who came back from the dead,� Narcissa said.
Draco rolled over and dragged his arm from his face, staring. His mother sat
on the edge of a chair, her hands shuffling through papers that represented the
latest attempts by various people harmed during the war to claim attention and
money from the Malfoy family. A small lamp sat next to her to provide light.
She glanced up with a raised eyebrow when she felt Draco�s gaze. �What is it?�
�I don�t know anyone��
�Harry Potter,� Narcissa said, and then made a moue of distaste at the
parchment in front of her. �Oh, dear. You would think that this awful woman,
this Louise Fleming, would give up. I know very well that Lucius never targeted
any half-bloods during the month of August 1997, because he was in the Manor
with me.�
�Harry Potter,� Draco said in a tone of heavy sarcasm, determined to make
her pay attention to him and his problems. They were serious, damn it.
�Yes, of course.� Narcissa scratched a mark on the parchment with her quill,
and then glanced at him curiously. �I was right there when the Dark Lord cast
the Killing Curse. I saw it hit him. It did not bounce, as it did when he was a
baby. It left no curse scar. But when I checked him for signs of life, he was
breathing.�
�That doesn�t mean he actually died,� Draco said with some asperity.
�You will forgive me, Draco,� Narcissa said, narrowing her eyes a little,
�for believing that I know what death by Killing Curse looks like.�
Draco glanced away. He had forgotten, for a moment, how many prisoners his
mother had seen tortured and then killed in front of her during the months when
the Dark Lord lived here. It was something he always swore that he would never
forget, but he always did. Becoming a vampire had changed his priorities
immensely.
�But I�� he said, and then shook his head. �Even if that�s true, it�s even worse,
because there�s no way that he would agree to bond with me.�
�How do you know that?� Narcissa turned over two papers and then made an
exasperated little noise as they stuck together.
�He�s my enemy, Mother,� Draco said, and had to look away again,
because the light of the lamp was making his eyes water. �Even during that last
year of school, he never looked my way. He didn�t fight with me, but he made it
clear that he had no time for anyone who had fought on the Dark Lord�s side.�
�Of course you would expect him to feel that way,� said his mother, and
pulled the papers apart. �But you have suffered a horrible fate�although I do
not think it is so horrible as you make it out to be�and your choices are
rather limited. He�s a hero, Draco, in the strictest sense of the term. He will
respond to an appeal for his help better than he would respond to a bribe or
antagonism.�
�I don�t think he can forget what we were like together, as boys,� Draco
whispered dejectedly.
�He is a young man now, in Auror training. And I don�t see that you can do
anything but ask him.�
Draco sighed gustily. �Of course I can�t. I�ll write to him tomorrow.�
His mother stood and came across the carpet to him, kissing his forehead
gently. She had never shown any sign of flinching or distaste that his skin was
now cold most of the time, and for that, among other things, Draco was
intensely grateful to her. �That�s my brave boy,� she said, and patted his
shoulder. �You�ve moped quite enough. Time to move on to other things now.�
When she left, Draco scowled at the wall. It wasn�t his fault he had
become a vampire. It wasn�t his fault that he was rather upset about his
life changing so drastically.
But try as he might, he couldn�t better the description of moping for his
actions in the past several months. Maybe it was time to stop.
*
Harry turned the letter over twice and stared at it, then picked up the
envelope and stared at it again.
They looked the same no matter how long he stared, though, and the letter
said the same thing.
Potter:
I know that you have no reason to like or trust me, but I�ve fallen into
a trap that no one can get me out of but you. Please come to Malfoy
Manor at six in the evening two days from now. Don�t bring anyone else with
you. I realize that sounds like a trap for you, but just consider how much
trouble I could get into if I were connected with the disappearance of Harry
Potter. Tell anyone about this you like.
Draco Malfoy.
Harry handed it over to Hermione with a silent shake of his head. She had
demanded to know what it said the moment she saw the expression on his face,
but Harry had wanted the chance to come to conclusions of his own before she
told him what to think.
Now he flopped back on the chair and stared at the ceiling again. Today, the
cracks were just a maze of cracks, insufficient to distract him from his
thoughts.
It had to be a trap, didn�t it? Pleasant coincidences like this
didn�t just fall into his lap. Unpleasant ones, sure, they happened all
the time. Maybe Malfoy had heard that Harry was trying to research his little
disappearance and planned to warn him off permanently.
But if he was, sending such a public letter seems like an awfully stupid
way to go about it.
Harry scratched the corner of his lip and pondered for a moment. Then
Hermione choked. He looked at her and saw her tapping the letter against her
palm, staring at it in wonder.
�Incredible, isn�t it?� he muttered. �I just can�t figure out what he wants
from me. I mean, he has to know that I won�t get him out of trouble with the
Ministry or settle his debts or anything like that.�
�I think he�s sincere,� Hermione announced.
�What?� Harry had never expected Hermione to utter that word in
conjunction with Draco Malfoy, unless it was in the phrase �sincere about his
beliefs in the superiority of pure-blood wizards.�
�As you say, I can�t think why he would write to you about a problem that he
knows you wouldn�t solve. He would go to anyone else first.� Hermione
pursed her lips. �So this must be a problem that he thinks you will
solve for him.�
�Or he�s just so arrogant that he thinks I�ll jump at the chance to help
him,� Harry suggested hopefully. Now that he did have a chance of going to the
Manor, he found himself reluctant to take it. It had been more�well, more fun
when he was chasing secrets that he knew no one wanted him to discover.
�He knows you too well for that.� Hermione handed the letter back. �Anyway,
I know about it now, and I�ll tell at least a few other people. Not Ron,� she
added, when Harry opened his mouth. �He�d never let you go alone. But I really
don�t think this is revenge, Harry. The Malfoys fought too hard to maintain
what standing they still have. Narcissa Malfoy�s paid off her debts, though of
course their fortune is smaller than it used to be, and cooperated with the
Ministry as much as she could about her husband�s disappearance. Why would they
risk that just to kill you? It doesn�t make sense.�
�They don�t have to make sense,� Harry muttered, crossing his arms over his
chest, even though he knew he looked like a petulant little boy when he did
that. So what? I can be petulant once in a while. �They never did in
school, and Malfoy could never see reality. Why should he have started now?�
�He might have changed. The war and the last year at school changed you.�
Hermione frowned at him. �Though not as much as I could have hoped for,� she
added, in a mutter he was obviously meant to hear.
Harry started to object, but someone knocked on the door. The wards on the
flat buzzed in recognition of whoever it was, so Harry waved his wand and
opened the door, assuming Ron had come back from Auror training early.
He felt his guts shrivel up when Ginny peered hopefully in. Her face lit up
at the sight of Harry. She nodded and slipped in. A covered plate bobbed behind
her, giving her an excuse for arriving.
Harry glanced away, his face hot with embarrassment. Really, he didn�t
understand what was wrong with him. The bright gleam in Ginny�s eyes
when she saw him could just be affection, not star-struck infatuation. But he
knew he didn�t want to be alone with her, and he silently begged Hermione with
his eyes not to leave him there.
He�d forgotten that not telling Hermione about his changed feelings for
Ginny meant she was less than able to read his eyes. She smiled and stood. �Hi,
Ginny,� she said. �Molly sent our dinner over, I presume? It smells delicious.�
�Yes. Mum got tired of listening to Ron complain during his last Floo call,
so she made you a few meals.� Ginny smiled at Hermione, but her smile became
something softer altogether when she looked at Harry. �Hullo, Harry,� she said.
Harry gave a feeble smile back.
�I�ll make sure it doesn�t get cold,� Hermione said, and flicked her wand,
calling the dish away from Ginny to follow her. Harry tried some more mute
begging, but Hermione strode into the kitchen and then began clattering about,
very obviously letting them know that she wasn�t listening.
When he turned back, miserably, to the drawing room, Ginny had sat down on
the stool in front of the couch. She was watching him with a faint smile that
Harry knew he would have found irresistibly enticing just a year ago.
And now he didn�t.
What the fuck is wrong with me? he thought, and resisted the urge to
smack himself in the forehead.
�Harry,� Ginny said, and lowered her eyes. She seemed to be waiting for
something. Probably for him to say something that didn�t sound idiotic, Harry
thought dully. Well, in that case, she might have a long wait.
�Hi, Ginny,� he said.
Then they sat in silence for a few moments. The rattling of pots and pans
from the kitchen was beginning to sound desperate.
�I want to know why you never come to the Burrow anymore,� Ginny said abruptly.
Startled, Harry whipped his head away from the kitchen doorway, which he had
been staring at in the forlorn hope that Hermione would appear in it, and
looked at her. She was twisting a curl of hair around her finger and looking at
the floor. She spoke so fast and in such a hurried way that he could hardly
make her words out. �I mean, sometimes you do, but it�s always with Ron
and Hermione, and you make excuses as often as you can, and you never want to
be alone with me, and I�� She looked up, shaking her head. �What is it,
Harry? What did I do or say that makes you not want to be with me anymore?�
Harry took a deep breath. Nothing for it, I reckon. �Nothing,� he
said gently. �This is all me, Gin, not you. I just haven�t wanted to date you
for a while now.� He shrugged when she blinked at him. �I don�t know why. I do
like you, but it�s�� He cut himself off before he could tell her that it was
Malfoy he thought about, not her. God knew what kind of interpretation she
would put on those words.
�If you like me,� Ginny said slowly, like someone feeling out the points of
a complex equation, �and I like you�which I do�then why don�t you want to date
me?�
Harry shook his head. �I don�t know. It doesn�t make any sense. It�s just�I
changed, over the last year. Maybe this is another sign of it?� He winced at a
particularly loud clang from the kitchen, wondering if Hermione was throwing
the cutlery against the wall to get it to make that amount of noise.
Ginny snorted and folded her arms. �I don�t think so, Harry. You�ve been
avoiding me for just the last six months. Before that, you were happy enough to
at least snog me and flirt with me. What changed?�
�I don�t know.�
�That�s not an answer.� There was a glitter in Ginny�s eyes, but based on
the flush on her cheeks, Harry thought it was from anger, not tears. He was
glad. He might have given in if he�d seen tears. �I want an answer, Harry.�
Harry waved a hand vaguely in the air. �I don�t know! I just don�t think
about you the same way anymore.� He wasn�t going to accuse Ginny of dating him
only for his name. He had no idea if that was true, while he never would have
doubted it was true if it had been someone like Katie. �I just�it�s like I fell
out of love with you somewhere along the way and didn�t notice.�
Ginny stood up, staring at him all the while as if he had just admitted to
having the Dark Mark. Harry stared back. He knew it didn�t sound like a
good explanation, because it wasn�t. But he didn�t know what else to say,
because that was the truth.
�I�ll ask you again in four days,� Ginny said evenly. �Maybe you�ll have
something that at least sounds better to tell me if I give you a
deadline.� She strode to the door, opened it, and stepped out. Harry sighed,
imagining for a moment what the snowflakes falling and catching in her hair
would look like. But the image simply sat in his head, not at all interesting.
Hermione appeared in the kitchen doorway the moment the door of the flat
closed, blinking. �Didn�t it go well?� she asked.
Harry shook his head briskly and stood. �I�m going to visit Malfoy in two
days,� he said to Hermione as he headed for his bedroom. �I want to brush up on
my defensive spells.� And he would see what the git wanted, and hunt subtly for
clues as to Malfoy�s innocence or guilt in the matter of his father�s
disappearance. Maybe it was an obsession�in a shallow way�and once he
learned the truth, then he could be free of thoughts like this about Malfoy and
go back to liking Ginny and having a normal life.
*
Potter walked into the small, comfortable study Draco had chosen to receive
him as though he suspected there were pit traps under the floor. He looked at
the wine Draco gave him as if it were poisoned. Then he swilled it. Draco did
his best not to wince.
Of course, there was more than one thing to wince at; if he didn�t think
about Potter�s boorish behavior, then he had to think about his own reaction to
the idiot. The moment Potter had walked into the room, Draco�s gaze had darted
to his neck. It was partially covered by the collar of the dark green robes
Potter wore, but that didn�t matter. Draco had a hard time paying attention to
anything else.
And he could feel hunger welling up in his stomach, as usual. It shouldn�t
have been; Narcissa had insisted that he drink well of a vial of her blood
before he confronted Potter, and Draco thought it was a sensible idea. But this
was a different sort of hunger, such as he used to feel about sweets even when
he was too full of a proper meal to eat any more. His mother�s blood was enough
to keep life�well, all right, a kind of life�thrumming along his veins.
Potter�s blood, which he could smell and hear surging gently against his skin,
would taste sweet and wonderfully warm. Draco knew it would shine, too, with
the magic Potter radiated and the curse he had resisted. It�
�Why did you ask me here, Malfoy?�
Draco resisted shaking his head by the barest of margins. He had lost
himself in the contemplation of Potter�s blood, and his carefully prepared
speech had flowed out of his head. He was too overwhelmed with the evidence
that his mother and Madam Gloriosa had been right. He wanted to feed on
and bond to someone who had come back from death. Inconvenient as it was and
however much the fault of the Night King it was for biting him and Potter for
being stupidly heroic enough to sacrifice his life for others, Potter was the
best candidate for that.
�You may have noticed that I disappeared last June,� he said, and he told
himself that his voice did not shake. Well, not enough for an obtuse
idiot like Potter to perceive, anyway.
�Yes. Hard not to notice.� Potter set his glass of wine down on the table
next to the chair and frowned at him. Draco was sitting behind the polished and
carved cherry desk which had once been his father�s to impress visitors
with�and it was much more impressive than Madam Gloriosa�s, thank you�while
Potter sat in an enormously comfortable chair about five feet away from the
desk. Draco had thought the desk was a good idea. Now he wished he was on the
other side of it, preferably in Potter�s lap. �I don�t reckon you�ll tell me
where you went?�
Draco nodded, and licked his lips. Bloody hell, now it was as if he hadn�t
drunk at all. The beat of Potter�s blood had just risen, as if he thought he
were going to hear something startling or incriminating, and Draco wanted to
faint. Or bite him. No, just the second.
�I�didn�t really go anywhere,� he said. �I just couldn�t attend school for a
while. Because of this.� Faced with no more graceful way that he knew of to
make the revelation, he opened his mouth and lengthened his fangs.
The look of astonishment on Potter�s face was gratifying.
*
Harry knew he was probably being impolite and Hermione would scold him for
it if she were here, but he couldn�t quite take his eyes off Malfoy�s fangs, or
fight the disappointment pounding behind his eyes.
It doesn�t have anything to do with his father? He�s become a vampire
now?
Harry swallowed. He had come anticipating a grand adventure, an edged
exchange where he would act the daring spy and Malfoy would give away all sorts
of information without even knowing he did it. This didn�t look as though it
would turn into something like that.
�I don�t see how I can help you, Malfoy,� he said at last. �I mean, being a
vampire isn�t a problem, is it? Or a trap? Just something you are.�
Malfoy fidgeted for a moment, then seemed to decide he shouldn�t hold back
the information about what he wanted any more than he�d held back when showing
Harry his fangs. He was a bit paler, and his eyes had altered, becoming full of
shadows, though Harry had just assumed that was the result of the flickering
firelight in the study�s large hearth. �I�look, Potter, it�s like this.
Vampires feed better on certain people depending on whom their sires were. It
turns out that the vampire who bit me can bond with humans, link their thoughts
and emotions to his. And he feeds best on people who have come back from death.
Which means I do, too.� He paused and gave Harry a significant look.
It still took Harry a moment to get it, because he could not believe Malfoy
would want to bite him, regardless of what strange dietary requirements he had
because he was enough of an idiot to stroll along the edge of the Forbidden
Forest. Then he figured it out, and shot to his feet. �No,� he said.
Malfoy rose at the same time. His face was smoothing out with irritation,
making him look more like the git Harry had once known and less like�well,
something alien. �You have to,� he said. �You�re the only one�it�s not like
someone dies and comes back every single day, you know��
�I don�t care,� Harry said flatly. �No means no, Malfoy. I�m not about to
let you bite my neck��
�It wouldn�t have to come from your neck, at first, although blood from the
wrist makes me a bit sick��
�Just no,� Harry said. �Go haunt St. Mungo�s. Maybe they can help you
with someone whose heart stopped.� And he turned his back and began to walk out
of the room. There was no mystery. There were no Death Eaters. He had thought
about Malfoy for months for no reason whatsoever. Harry wasn�t sure why he
should feel the crushing disappointment that he did. After all, it just meant,
as he�d told Ginny, that he had no good excuse for his recent behavior
whatsoever�which he already knew.
*
Draco was sure he knew what a starving man would feel to see a cow walking
away from him. His anger surged to life, and he leaped straight over the desk
and in front of Potter before he knew what he was doing.
Potter just halted and stared back at him, not even having the sense to be
afraid. Then his jaw set, and Draco heard the faint sound of his teeth
grinding. �Get out of my way, Malfoy.�
�No,� Draco said. He couldn�t meet Potter�s eyes. He was rather fascinated
by that neck. It glistened with a faint sheen of sweat, showing that Potter was
more alert or nervous than he pretended to be, and Draco could see the
blood under the skin now. He had never thought he would be so grateful for a
vampire�s enhanced senses, which most of the time just brought him house-elf
chattering from the kitchens when he was trying to nap and told him far too
much about the compounds spread in the flowerbeds.
�I�ll make you, then,� Potter said, stupid as ever, and reached for his
wand.
Draco shot out a hand to stop him.
His hand closed on Potter�s wrist, and that was all it took. In an instant
his head was crowded with thoughts not his own, angry and outraged thoughts
about how Malfoy was a git and Ginny would not be pleased with him and he still
didn�t know why he�d spent months thinking about this�
Potter screamed. �Malfoy, get out of my head!� He stepped sharply to
the side, and because Draco�s grip had slackened in his astonishment, managed
to free himself. He drew his wand in the next instant, and cast an Incendio
that Draco had to leap over and out of the way of.
He didn�t mind. His attention was tangled up in wonder and even delight. He
had thought he would hate sensing someone else�s emotions and thoughts, no
matter why. He hadn�t realized that he would taste Potter�s confusion in
his mouth, and that his thoughts would sound clearly separate and distinct from
Draco�s own, making his mind more like a whole other realm to explore. Draco
knew what the world looked like from the inside of someone else�s head now.
It was wonderful. It was�
�Incarcerous!� Potter yelled, and suddenly Draco was thrown on the
floor, tied in ropes that even his vampire strength, when he tried it against
them, couldn�t break. Potter must have been maddened with fear and
confusion�as, indeed, he had been�to put that force of will behind his spell.
�Look, Potter,� he said, very reasonably he thought, considering everything
that had just happened. �Obviously the bond was preparing us for this even
before we met. You started thinking about me�� He paused, and wondered how he
would be able to pull the information he wanted from the cacophony of Potter�s
thoughts.
Almost immediately, though, he heard Potter�s voice saying in his head, Six
months.
�Six months ago,� he said. �That�s since June. Since I became a vampire. And
you have no reason to think about me, you said�thought�that yourself��
�How did you do that?� Potter demanded, clutching his ears as if that would
somehow hide the inside of his head. Amused, Draco fired off the admonition
that of course it wouldn�t, and received a snarl in return. �I wasn�t thinking
that. End this bond, or whatever it is, and leave me the fuck alone.�
�No,� Draco said. He hadn�t chosen to be a vampire, and he would still go
back and become a human again if he could, but for the first time, he thought
it might be bearable. �I don�t want to. Your blood is going to taste delicious,
and even your mind does. You can run away if you like,� he added, as
that impulse came to the forefront of Harry�s thoughts. �But I don�t think the
bond is affected by distance.�
�This is so completely mad,� Harry whispered, his voice starting to break as
his head fell into his hands, and Draco did have a moment where he felt sorry
for him�until Harry glared at him around the corner of his palm and hissed, �I
don�t want your pity.�
�Yes, well, it�s what you have,� Draco said, and exerted his strength
against the ropes again. Maybe he hadn�t really been trying before, because
they fell away from him and he sat up, blinking. Harry backed away several
steps, eyes wide and breathing wild, and then turned around and fled the house.
Draco waited. After a moment, he helpfully thought, See, I don�t think it
gets better with distance at all.
Fuck you, Harry snarled, his voice just as loud as if they�d still
been in the same room together, and then Draco felt the tug of his Apparition.
*
�Harry?� Hermione�s wand was lifted high so that her Lumos charm
glinted off the walls. Her voice was sharp but soft; she was trying not to wake
Ron, Harry knew, who had failed an exam badly that day and only wanted to
sleep. �What are you doing? It�s three-o�clock in the morning, in case
you didn�t notice!�
I noticed, Harry thought mutinously.
Then why didn�t you go to bed like a good little Gryffindor boy-toy?
Malfoy said in his head, his voice precisely as irritating as it had
been when they stood next to each other. You are her boy-toy, aren�t you? I
mean, why else would one woman and two men take a flat together?
Harry couldn�t help the immediate disgust at the thought of having sex with
Hermione that followed, and Malfoy purred and laughed at him. There was
a disturbing set of sensations. It made Harry feel as though his skull was
lined with velvet. That just makes it all the more clear that you�re gay,
and that you�ve been waiting for me because no ordinary lover could satisfy you.
You don�t have to be so bloody cheerful all the time, Harry snarled
at him as he turned to answer Hermione. A few hours ago you were just as
desperate to get out of this as I am.
Your blood smells delicious, said Malfoy, like the inane vampire he
was.
Harry gritted his teeth, and only then noticed that Hermione was staring at
him. He sighed. He hadn�t yet adapted to carrying on one conversation silently
whilst carrying on another aloud. �I know, Hermione,� he whispered. �But I
can�t find the books that I�m sure you bought on vampires at one point, and��
Hermione crossed the room in three steps, her wand uplifted, and shone it
into his eyes. Harry flinched and ducked his head. �Did Malfoy make you into a vampire?�
Hermione demanded, her voice spiraling towards the dangerous territory known as
�waking Ron up.�
Of course not. Vampire blood tastes horrible.
�Of course not,� Harry said, and then winced when he realized he was echoing
Malfoy, even though it hadn�t been on purpose. Malfoy gave the velvet-laugh
again. �He is a vampire, and he�s cast some sort of spell on me. It�it
makes me hear his thoughts and feel his emotions, and he claims that he needs
my blood since I came back from the dead. It�s all very confusing. All I know
is that I want it gone.�
Hermione gave a soft little sigh, and then nodded. Harry recognized her
�research face� in the next moment. �All right, Harry,� she said. �I don�t
think I know off the top of my head just what happened or what kind of solution
it warrants, but I promise we�ll find one.� She caught and pressed his hand. �In
the morning.�
�Hermione��
�You have an exam tomorrow,� Hermione said, in the voice Mrs. Weasley had
used when talking about Bill and Fleur�s wedding.
Harry knew it was no use trying to talk his way past Hermione with an exam
in the offing, so he gave in, reluctantly, and allowed himself to be dragged
off to bed. It wasn�t until he was putting his head down on the pillow that he
realized he hadn�t heard anything from Malfoy in the past several minutes.
I don�t have much to say to you right now, Malfoy said just then. I
would wish that you have pleasant dreams, but I know you will.
Harry was asleep before he could ask what that meant. It really had been a
long day, and he�d had several shocks.
But then Malfoy was waiting for him in his dreams, so that was no escape,
either.
*
�I must say, Mr. Malfoy,� said Madam Gloriosa, studying him, �your attitude
seems much improved.�
�I�ve found the person I want to bond with and feed from,� Draco said. He
felt incredibly energized, even though he hadn�t touched Harry�s blood yet.
Perhaps it was the feeling that his life as a vampire would be bearable after
all, since he got to continually throw Harry off-balance for eternity. �Actually,
I�ve bonded to him already. When my hand touched his skin, it happened.�
He brushed the ball of emotions in his head that was Harry. It shifted and
pushed back nothing but warmth, showing he was still asleep.
�That is indeed fast.� Madam Gloriosa folded her hands on top of the desk
and watched him. Draco wondered why she didn�t look happier for him. �Most
humans will not give immediate consent to a procedure so intimate.�
�Oh, I didn�t really get his consent.� Draco airily waved a hand.
And once again he found himself pinned to the wall on the far side of the
room with her hand around his throat.
�What?� he gasped. The ball of emotions in the back of his head started to
move. Presumably his pain and outrage were cutting through the distance between
them and into Harry�s restless dreams. �You said that it wasn�t as complicated
as other forms of consent! I thought that meant��
�You are still supposed to persuade him first, not attack him like a
ravening beast,� Gloriosa hissed. Her lips and gums had actually drawn back so
that Draco could see the skin lying behind them. That was unnerving. He
supposed it was a power that she�d inherited from her dam. �This is not about a
matter of legality now, but of courtesy. If he complains, he could make all vampires
look bad! People listen to someone with power like his.�
Draco blinked. Even with the pain in his throat, something rang false about
the way she�d spoken. �What do you mean, power like his? I haven�t told you who
he is yet.� The ball in the back of his head radiated unhappiness at him.
Without even thinking about it, Draco sent soothing feelings in its direction.
Abruptly, he was on the floor again, wrenching his crushed windpipe back
into order. Gloriosa was on the other side of the desk again, her eyes narrowed
and her head cocked.
�You mentioned it as soon as you walked in here,� she said. �To Bones. It
was Harry Potter.�
�No, I didn�t,� said Draco. He was sure about that, since he had wanted to
save it for a surprise and see the look on Gloriosa�s face when she heard. �How
did you know?� A strange rippling sensation traveled down his arms, and
he was startled to see the ends of his fingers open up and produce claws.
�That is an unrecognized power in one of the Night King�s children,�
said Madam Gloriosa, distracted at once. She leaned forwards to get a better
look at Draco�s claws. Draco resisted the temptation to oblige her by sticking
one in her face. She was still probably stronger and faster than he was. �He
has sired some children with very strong hands, however. That trait undoubtedly
combined with your own unique magic to give you those claws.� She nodded, and
then picked up a piece of parchment from her desk and made a note of it.
Draco blinked, thrown. He had read, in some of the promotional
literature Bones had shoved at him, that vampires had a tendency to become
obsessed with whatever their strongest passion was, especially at advanced
ages. It was why some had been tricked into defeat in situations that the
simplest human would have seen through. Apparently Gloriosa�s obsession was
keeping track of every single minute alteration in vampire blood genetics.
He wasn�t about to let that put him off what he�d realized, though. He
folded his arms, though he winced when one of his claws dug into his elbow.
�Why and when did you realize that my mate was Harry Potter?�
Gloriosa surveyed him through narrowed eyes for a long moment. Then she
said, �A few nights ago, someone approached me about your�condition.�
Draco tensed. �Oh?� He knew his mother had bribed a few of the Ministry
officials who visited the Manor so that, while he was registered as a vampire,
his condition wasn�t being yelled from the rooftops. If Gloriosa knew, she
could have got the information only from a limited number of people.
�Yes.� The vampire scraped her nails gently across the desk. �They knew the
identity of the person who paid to have you fed with Noctambulism potion and
turned into a vampire.� She looked at him steadily. �I must say that, on the
whole, I agree with the decision. Your�protector�was apparently worried that
you would get yourself into trouble without some extra magic and a system of
strong friends around you. V.A.M.P.S. can be that for you, Mr. Malfoy, if you
will stop trying to cause trouble. Even Harry Potter can be that for
you, if you don�t antagonize him so much that he resists the bond. It�s rare,
but it can happen.�
Draco scowled. �I assume this same person paid for the Night King to come to
the Forbidden Forest and bite me?�
Gloriosa nodded.
�Does this person think I�m weak, then?� Draco asked.
�In some respects, yes,� Gloriosa said. �I can name several weaknesses, such
as not knowing when to keep your mouth shut and unfairly attacking your bonded
mate��
�I didn�t attack��
�But the strongest one is undoubtedly your denial of reality.� Gloriosa
leaned forwards and stared at him. �You have not understood, for example, that
you cannot really reverse the vampire transformation. You still think of your
bonded human as a toy, not someone with thoughts and feelings of his own. Have
you even considered what will happen when he ages and dies, while you remain
alive?�
Draco opened his mouth, then shut it. He had been about to answer that he
would turn Potter into a vampire, but of course that would make his blood taste
awful. He scowled at the floor. Every time he thought he had discovered
something to rejoice about, someone took it away from him.
�Is there a way to keep him alive?� he asked.
�There are anti-aging potions, yes.� Gloriosa shrugged a little. �Not
usually available outside V.A.M.P.S., or many more wizards would take advantage
of them than do. But I think that we need to make a trade, Mr. Malfoy.�
Draco glared at her. She didn�t appear affected.
�I will teach you how to brew such a potion,� said Gloriosa, �when you show
me that you have accepted your responsibilities as a member of the vampire
community.�
Draco could feel the skin of his face turning even waxier than it usually
was. �I can�t�you can�t mean��
�I do.� Gloriosa pulled out the words as if she were drawing a sword from a
silk sheath. �Group therapy.�
*
Harry stared at the question and reread it again. How was he supposed
to know the one legitimate use of unicorns� blood permitted to Potions experts?
He had a mad vampire living in his head, and he had been too preoccupied in the
last few days to concentrate on his studies.
It didn�t help that he could hear the steady rasp of Hermione�s quill over
the stuttering scratches of the others. She was strolling through the exam, of
course. She was probably already finished, Harry thought, and just going back
to check her answers.
The really offensive thing, though, was that Ron, of all people, had
started out the exam with a frown on his face, but was now half-smiling as he
wrote busily across the last page. While Harry was still stuck on the second
sheet of parchment out of the five.
He got some sleep, though, Harry thought. He didn�t have dreams of
Malfoy sucking him off until he screamed, and gnawing on his neck�
It would not be gnawing, Harry. It would be a little delicate bite, which
you would find quite pleasurable. Or did you think your dreams were lying about
that?
Harry took a huffing breath, and then determined to ignore Malfoy. He also
determined to keep calling him �Malfoy� in his head; his thoughts kept wanting
to switch over to Draco, on the absurd premise that he probably knew him better
than he knew Ginny now, and he called Ginny by her first name.
The answer to your question is �to clean teeth,� by the way.
�What?� Harry said aloud. The proctor, a tall Auror with a scar across his
face so deep that his teeth showed where his lips had been twisted to the side,
turned about and frowned. Harry ducked his head hastily over his parchment
again and stared once more at the question about the legitimate use of
unicorns� blood.
The answer to your question. Draco�Malfoy�s�voice was patient and
smooth. Unicorns� blood cleans other ingredients better than anything else.
But teeth need to be polished of their enamel and any�pieces�of the original
owner that might cling to them when they�re handed over to the Potions expert.
Fancy not knowing that. I reckon they covered it, and you were daydreaming of
me instead.
Harry scowled. But he really had no idea what else to write, so he shrugged
and wrote down �to clean teeth,� then moved on to the next question. To his
smugness, it was one he knew and didn�t need Malfoy�s help with.
Malfoy hummed in the back of his head as he worked, though, and finally
Harry couldn�t stand it any longer. Don�t you have a sun to be hiding from?
he asked, as he answered a question about the Second Goblin Rebellion and how
it had been put down.
I don�t sleep the day through, Malfoy said with some asperity. Harry
felt his distaste for those vampires that did, as slimy and disgusting as a
giant ball of earwax. I catch quick naps here and there as I can, but I need
less sleep now than I ever did. He paused, and his voice turned sly. Imagine
that. I can be up all night�or all day, in a properly darkened room�pleasuring
you.
And the answer to that next question on your exam is �to hold up the
pillars of the world.�
Harry held very still, not glancing down at the next question. You can
see out of my eyes now?
No. You saw it from the corner of your eye and noted it subconsciously. I
was able to draw it up into my own full consciousness, that�s all.
This is ridiculous, Harry thought, but when he glanced at the
question full-on, it proved to be another where he didn�t have a better answer.
What was the legendary purpose of a stem of feverfew and roses? Who cared?
You might care when you�re in the field, Malfoy said casually. I�d
like the human I�m bonded to to live, you know, instead of dying. I imagine the
pain of your death would not be at all pleasant for me.
I don�t understand you, Malfoy, Harry said, though he had to admit
that wanting to avoid the pain of death made sense. Why are you helping me?
Why do you sound different than you did yesterday evening?
Because I made a mistake, Malfoy said bluntly. Harry suddenly wished
he could be in the same room with the git, to see the wince he would have made
at having to admit he was wrong. I should have initiated the bond slowly,
not grabbed you like that. I didn�t know it would come to life as soon as I
touched you. I just saw you about to leave and panicked. But that�s still a bad
thing, because�Harry could feel the distaste in Malfoy�s voice on his own
tongue�I have to be more knowledgeable about my powers and abilities in
order to function adequately as a responsible vampire.
Who told you that?
V.A.M.P.S. The Vampire Association for the Management and Protection of
the Species. They�re horrid, Harry, absolutely horrid. Harry felt as if his
mouth were being washed out with toothpaste, for a moment; that was Malfoy�s
fastidious shrug. You�ll have to deal with them less than I�ll have to, at
least, though Madam Gloriosa, the leader or president or maybe queen, will want
to meet you.
So there are�what, guides to being undead?
Guides to being undead. Guides to how to act around humans. One called,
�Sharing Heart�s Blood: Loving and Respecting Your Donors.� Malfoy moaned. It�s
not as though I chose this, Harry. Someone signed me up for it.
Harry bit his lip so that his laughter wouldn�t become audible.
I still know you�re amused, you realize.
Yes, but I don�t want to laugh out loud and make the proctor look at me
again.
Harry returned to writing. He had�well, he had to admit that Malfoy hadn�t
been entirely awful to him in the last few minutes, and he might even have
given him the right answers for the questions. Not that Harry would know until
the exams were marked and returned, of course, and then he had two more years
of training still before he became a full-fledged Auror. But it might be nice
to think the git had another side.
Delusion, probably, Harry reminded himself. He and Hermione had held
a short talk before breakfast while Ron, to show how seriously he took the
exam, used the time for a final study session. I know that the bond can
unduly influence your emotions, Harry. Be careful with what you say and do
around him.
I like your voice better than Granger�s, Draco said unexpectedly.
This time, Harry gave an audible snort. The proctor glared at him, but Harry
kept his eyes on his parchment and his quill in constant motion, proving what a
good little student he was. The older wizard turned away again.
So maybe his life hadn�t become the horrid thing he had feared it would when
he fled from Malfoy Manor last night. But their bond hadn�t even been in place
for a full day yet, Harry thought, with an odd mixture of hope and trepidation.
Give it time, and of course it would be awful.
*
Draco was willing, now, to admit that Madam Gloriosa wasn�t just a queen.
She was the mistress of hell, or at least the part of it that was known as the
Risen Ones� Revelation Hour, and she had put Draco there for his past crimes.
Draco would have apologized and promised never to sin again, if he had the
least idea of what he�d done that was evil enough to merit this.
He, Bones, and two male vampires, whom Draco didn�t know, sat in a small
circle of chairs in Gloriosa�s office. Gloriosa sat behind her desk, of course,
beaming at all of them now and then�safe, no doubt, in the fact that she was
the oldest one there and the most formidable. Draco couldn�t imagine that the
others were more eager than he was to be there, no matter what
expressions they wore.
Each of them had had to state their names�Ryan Johnson and Thomas Gates were
the others�and then explain what new lessons about being vampires they had
learned in the past week. Those were the �revelations.� And if Madam Gloriosa
thought they were too strangely expressed, or that there was too much left
unexpressed, she would �guide� the one who had spoken through reshaping their
revelation in the language appropriate to V.A.M.P.S.
Bones almost never got that treatment. Gloriosa was having her say about
every word out of Draco�s mouth, of course.
�Now, Draco,� Gloriosa said, and turned towards him. Bones had just finished
describing how she had realized she no longer missed the sunlight, because the
sight of the stars was enough for her�or, rather, �it fulfilled those parts of
my vampire nature which would never have found a home in sunlight, showing that
I accept reality.� �What else have you learned this week?�
Draco swallowed the temptation to protest that it was Ryan�s or Thomas�s
turn, and took a moment to ponder. He�d already talked about his sire and his
claws and his relationship with his mother and his being a bonded vampire. He
wasn�t sure what there was left to say.
Oi, Malfoy! What are you doing? Your discomfort is so strong that it
won�t even let me stay in the midst of those stupid dreams about you I keep
having.
Welcome to Revelation Hour, Draco snapped, too upset to make the
conciliatory effort he�d been so proud of when Harry was taking his exam
earlier that day. I sit around in a room with four other vampires and make
statements about my life that Madam Gloriosa then runs through the wringer and
makes into �something fitting,� which I then have to say. I never even want to
hear the words �fitting� and �appropriate� and �responsible� ever again.
This is the group that you told me about? Harry said cautiously. The
one that gave you self-help literature?
Yes. Draco fought the temptation to moan. It wouldn�t do any good.
Gloriosa was already starting to look a bit impatient.
Ouch. Hermione tried to make me attend a seminar like that once; she
claimed I probably had post-traumatic stress disorder from the war and that
would make it better. I stood about five minutes of it. Harry paused a
moment. Can your�I mean, can I help you?
Draco blinked, and didn�t take the time to question why Harry would want
to help him. This wasn�t the time to produce an embarrassed mumble and a
retreat. I have no idea. I�ll ask.
�Er, Madam Gloriosa,� he said. �Harry wants to talk to the rest of you. Is
it all right if he speaks through me?�
For a long moment, everyone else in the room just stared at him. Draco
wondered idly if they hadn�t believed him when he�d said the bond was powerful
enough to allow him to overhear Harry�s thoughts and emotions at a distance.
�Certainly,� Gloriosa said at last. Her blue eyes were still bright with
suspicion, but she was giving little nods, too, as though to convince herself
it was a good thing that Draco was taking an interest in his partner. �What
revelations about your life does he want to share?� Draco thought he understood
her willingness, now that he saw her eyes gleaming like a scalpel. She thought
she had a new partner in embarrassing Draco.
She doesn�t, Harry told him confidently. Like I said, Hermione
made me go to a seminar. I hate the way they talk, but it�s easy to get the
trick of it. Tell her that I acknowledge I am powerless before the bond and
that both of us have accepted the inevitability of its presence in our lives
and are working to see the good inherent in it. They love that kind of thing.
Draco repeated it, trying not to cringe at the words emerging from his own
mouth. Madam Gloriosa opened her eyes very wide and sat up. Draco then tried
not to swallow or betray his dread with any other nuance of his expression or
his body.
Finally, Madam Gloriosa said, with a kind of helpless smile showing her
fangs, �Very good, Draco. Now it�s your turn, Ryan.�
I don�t believe it, Draco thought. That�s the first time I haven�t
been scolded in front of them. He paused, savoring the satisfied feelings
that poured from Harry like a medicinal potion for soothing a cough. How did
you know that, though? If you only went to one meeting?
Harry chuckled, a sound that kindled hunger in Draco�s belly. Like I
said, it�s pretty easy. And Hermione forced a few self-help books on me, too.
Never let her meet Madam Gloriosa. It sounds like they would get along all too
well.
Draco licked his lips, only half-listening to Ryan�s halting confession of
how much pleasure he was learning to take in drinking blood, an act that had
disgusted him at first. Listen, Harry. I�I know it�s only been a day, but
would you mind coming to the Manor tomorrow evening? I just�I just want to be
near you.
There was a long, tense pause which Draco thought would end with refusal,
but Harry only said, his tone alight with mild sparks, You really shouldn�t
try lying to someone who can read your thoughts. I realize you want blood.
Now who�s hiding and lying mind-to-mind? Draco sent. Or ignoring
the inevitability of the bond and how it impacts our lives? I want your blood,
and you know it.
Harry was silent for long moments, and Draco could feel him turning over
truths and decisions and emotions in his head like a tongue probing a loose
tooth. Madam Gloriosa made the round of the room, soliciting revelations from
Thomas and Bones, and then returned to him. Draco sat up straight, preparing to
answer without Harry�s help, but Harry said in some distraction, You know
that being undead removes you from the company of normal humans permanently,
and you�re learning to accept that and rejoice in what you have, which
Draco told Gloriosa. Other than a correction on the word �normal,� she let him
alone and went back to Ryan.
Finally, Harry said, I�I reckon that I might as well. It�s true that I�ve
been thinking about you for six months, and it can�t be just coincidence that
you became a vampire then. Can it? he added, as though he had some trouble
accepting reality himself.
�I don�t think so,� Draco said.
�What?� Bones asked in annoyance. Ryan, interrupted in his story about
something unnecessary and irrelevant to Draco�s life, blinked at him. All of
them were staring at him, while Harry laughed in his head. Draco had trouble
suppressing a grin, even though Gloriosa was frowning. The sensation of Harry�s
laughter was one of the first pleasant things he had felt since he
became a vampire. The satiation of hunger was pleasant, too, but only in the
way that solid, unremarkable food was.
It might be different when I get to suck Harry�s blood, Draco
thought, and didn�t really care if Harry chose to acknowledge the thought or
not. He bowed his head, mumbled an apology, and did his best to attend to
Ryan�s boring story.
He was already counting the hours until he saw Harry again, of course, with
Harry quarreling with him about the number of minutes. But his presence did
make the meeting far more tolerable than it might have been otherwise.
*
Harry couldn�t stop smiling as he prepared to go to Malfoy Manor. He�d done
well in his Auror training that day. Though Draco couldn�t reach out over the
miles to lend him a vampire�s unnatural strength, he could warn Harry of
threats that Harry only saw with his peripheral vision, and whisper that he
should turn to the right instead of the left as he might have without due
warning. That had impressed his instructors.
And worried Hermione, Harry knew. She had talked to him openly about why he
hadn�t wanted to look through the books today for a solution to remove the
bond, and Harry didn�t have a good answer.
But the truth was�
Of course it�s the truth, Draco murmured sleepily in the back of his
head. He was just emerging from a nap. One thing he hadn�t told Harry was that
he slept deeply when he did sleep, and emerged with all the slowness of
a schoolboy who didn�t want to wake up on the last morning of holiday.
The truth was, Harry didn�t mind the bond as much as he thought he would.
He and Draco had already established boundaries, thoughts they politely
ignored and emotions they remained silent about. It hadn�t been nearly as hard
as Harry had thought it would be. For one thing, Draco had quickly realized
that any power imbalance between them could be redressed the next time he
had an embarrassing thought or whinged to himself about the unfairness of the
universe. And Draco did do a lot of whinging about the unfairness of the
universe, and how the Ministry didn�t have to take away his wand, regulations
or no regulations, and how he missed his father, and how he wished he could
move quietly like his mother, and�
Will you stop thinking about that? It�s like being jabbed by needles.
To think about your own faults, of course it is, Harry thought
tauntingly, and opened the door of the flat, calling a goodbye to Ron and
Hermione.
He stopped immediately when he realized that Ginny was standing on the
threshold, her hand raised to knock. She stared at him, and Harry wondered how
he looked in her eyes. His robes were much too fine for an evening spent at
home, or even just if he�d been popping around to the shops in Diagon Alley.
�Harry,� she said, and straightened. The momentary bewilderment on her face
was gone. She looked now every inch the young woman who had followed him into
the Department of Mysteries and used her wand on the Death Eaters. �I told you
that I would wait four days for my answer, remember? Well, it�s the fourth day.
I hope you have something more convincing to tell me this time.� She nudged him
out of the way with her hand and swept into the flat.
Harry turned around, ignoring Draco�s growl of impatience from the back of
his head, and his suggestion, Tell her that pink is not a good color on
redheads, ever, and that since she�s on holiday, she doesn�t have to keep to
those ridiculous Gryffindor shades.
�Ginny, now really isn�t a good time,� he said as calmly as he could.
She spun to face him, folding her arms. Harry watched her for a moment,
stifling the urge to sigh. Ginny was still in her seventh year at Hogwarts,
since her parents had determined that her aborted sixth year didn�t count as
proper schooling. She wore a Gryffindor tie and brilliant pink robes. She
looked very, very young, Harry thought, considering her from the vantage of
having an ageless vampire in his head.
That�s not me, that�s all you.
Maybe it was, Harry acknowledged. And maybe it was time to face up to his
problems with Ginny with the courage he�d been Sorted into Gryffindor for.
Draco tried to seize on the memory of his Sorting, wanting to know more
about what exactly Harry had been thinking to refuse Slytherin, but
Harry ignored him as much as possible and said, �Ginny, I just don�t want to
date you anymore. I don�t know why. I just�I don�t like you that way anymore. I
like you just fine as a sister and a friend. But not as a lover.� He shrugged
when her eyes widened, and wished he could say something more comforting. The
suggestions Draco kept whispering included scrubbing off her freckles if she
ever wanted to attract a man, which wasn�t helpful. �I think��
�Harry,� Ginny whispered. She sounded so broken that he stopped talking and
tried to listen attentively.
Weasleys. Such attention-lovers, Draco thought.
I am amazed that you did not implode with the irony of that statement,
Harry told him.
You know what irony is?
�Harry,� Ginny said, and this time she seemed to have a little more breath
behind the words. �Don�t you remember what happened during the last month of
your seventh year?�
Harry�s face burned. He did indeed remember. It was hard to forget the
evening he had fallen asleep in the Gryffindor common room and Ginny had
surprised him by climbing into his lap and starting to kiss him heatedly. That
had been after he had already started losing interest in her�
It was June, after I became a vampire, Draco said. That�s a good
thing.
And so he had made awkward excuses, pushed her away, and gone to bed. But he
had always known that she wanted to have sex with him that night, and would
have if he had stayed on the couch.
�That�s what I want,� Ginny went on. �I know that you feel like you have to
say you love me as a sister just so Ron won�t get on you, but I promise, he�s
fine with it��
�This isn�t about Ron, Ginny,� Harry said as firmly as he could. �This is
about my feelings for you changing, and my not wanting to date you anymore.�
�But I just want to know why.� Ginny hugged her arms around herself and
shivered, as if the chill of the winter�s day had followed her inside.
Harry would have walked over and put his arms around her as little as a week
ago. Now he was aware that he was standing in place like an awkward statue. He
coughed and shifted.
�Part of it�s magical,� he said at last. She would find out about Draco eventually
anyway, and he didn�t want to look as if he�d been lying to avoid her finding
out. �Draco Malfoy got turned into a vampire at the beginning of June, did you
know that?�
Ginny dropped her arms from around herself and stared at him. �What does
that have to do with us?� she asked.
Draco growled. Harry winced. He felt as if sharp fangs were nibbling along
the edge of his ear when that happened.
�It turned out that Draco��
�Draco?� Ginny raised her eyebrows the way Hermione had when Harry
said he didn�t care about trying to remove the bond anymore.
�Draco is a rather special kind of vampire,� Harry continued, determined to
get through all the interruptions and obstacles that she might throw in his
path.
As if I could ever be anything but.
�He needs someone who�s come back from the dead to share blood with him.�
Harry shrugged in response to Ginny�s incredulous stare. �I didn�t make up the
rules. It has something to do with the vampire who bit him, I think. Anyway,
he�s already tied to me. He can hear my thoughts and sense my emotions��
�He knows I�m here?� Ginny asked, her voice rising dangerously.
Tell her not to shout, Draco instructed peremptorily. She�s
hurting my head with all her Weasel shouting, and I�m not even there.
�Yes, he does.� Harry held her eyes, and wished he had been able to break
this more gently. Of course, four days ago, he hadn�t even known that something
was wrong with him. The obsession with Malfoy would have naturally faded if it
weren�t for Draco�s vampirism, he was certain.
It would never have started if not for my vampirism. Draco sighed, a
sound that rolled through his head like a gust of morning mist. Honestly,
Harry, someone ought to sit you down and read you a lecture on cause and
effect. I�m amazed that Granger never thought to do it.
�Then you can tell him,� Ginny said, �that I�ll find out how he�s been
enchanting you, and I�ll make him stop.� She nodded fiercely and marched
towards the door, her head held high.
Harry was tempted to let her go, but he knew if that happened, then he�d be
left with her expectations still clinging to him. Breaking up with Ginny had
proven unexpectedly hard to do, but it had to be done.
�Ginny,� he said. She stopped and glanced back at him.
�It�s all right, Harry,� she said kindly. �You�re under his twisted spell
right now. I know you�re not yourself, and I forgive you for everything you
said��
�This is the real me,� said Harry, as clearly and persuasively as he could.
�The real me�I don�t like you like that anymore, Ginny. I wouldn�t want to date
you anymore even if Draco decided he didn�t want my blood tomorrow.�
That�s not going to happen. Get over here, won�t you, so I can drink it?
Ginny closed her eyes. �But, Harry��
�The reason doesn�t matter. I can�t explain it.� Harry massaged his
forehead. �Please, believe me, Ginny. It just won�t happen.�
He glanced up in time to see the truth strike her. Her hand coiled around
the edge of the door as though she would wrench it from its hinges.
Then she gave a low sob, yanked the door open, and started running, not even
bothering to close the door behind her. Harry darted after her, calling her
name, but she had already vanished around the corner.
That is not how I wanted that to go, he thought, and rubbed his head
again.
It went perfectly, Draco disagreed. Come to the Manor now. I can�t
wait to see you.
*
Draco knew Harry was still brooding when he arrived at the Manor, but he
didn�t really care. It wasn�t as though he was about to let Harry run away with
the Weasley girl, in any case. If Harry had tried to make things up to her,
Draco would have mentally harassed him until he changed his mind and came to
the place he was supposed to be.
A few nights�and naps�of dreams and the bond had taken their toll. The
moment Harry walked into the study, Draco felt his teeth sharpen. He barely
moved his lips out of the way of his lengthening fangs in time.
Harry didn�t seem to notice, though. He just accepted the wine with a
distracted nod, and then sat down in the same chair as before, staring into his
drink and swirling it now and then. Draco coughed to get his attention, and
then, seeing that wouldn�t work, said mentally, Are you really that broken
up about her?
�Yes,� Harry said aloud, his voice worried. �Ginny�s not the most rational
person when she�s upset. Maybe she didn�t go home. Maybe she ran away into the
snow somewhere and she�s crying right now. I should have stayed with her, made
sure she got back to the Burrow safely��
�I believe,� Draco said with a drawl, shoving impatience down the bond to
show that he would much rather be done with the subject, �that that would be
known as �leading her on.� Rather what you seem to have done with her all these
months that you�ve been thinking of me and not finding a good reason to break
up with her.�
Harry�s shoulders squared, and then he snarled in Draco�s general direction,
looking outraged. Down the bond came a medley of emotions so confused that
Draco swatted in front of his face before remembering that he didn�t actually
stand in the midst of smoke. �I didn�t know about you or about your condition��
�But you still used all sorts of excuses not to break up with her,� Draco
told him. It was dead reckoning; guilt had the tendency to float a large number
of similar memories to the top of Harry�s mind, a trait Draco couldn�t help
thinking would be useful in the future. �You sat there and smiled like a fool
when you could have been telling her that you really didn�t feel like dating
her anymore. You avoided hurting her when hurting her would have been the best
thing, because then it wouldn�t have made her think I had you under some kind
of Imperius��
�I know perfectly well what I did!� Harry yelled, leaping to his feet. Draco
tried not to sway with the sudden dizzying surge of blood he could feel and the
fact that Harry�s skin was now all sorts of flushed. �I should have been braver
and made up my mind a long time ago! I know that, all right? It�s not as
though you have any room to go all on and on about bravery, not when you didn�t
have the courage to confront what being a vampire meant until you bonded with
me!�
Draco snarled and stalked around the desk. His fangs were aching, and his
belly seemed to expand into an echoing emptiness that stretched throughout his
body. Somewhat optimistically, maybe, he had told his mother he didn�t need
blood tonight, that he would feed from Harry instead. And now he was paying for
it. He could feel his rage rising rapidly, in a way that it wouldn�t have if he
hadn�t been so thirsty. In the back of his head, where it did absolutely no
good, he could hear Madam Gloriosa�s voice telling him that all vampires were
vulnerable to anger when they hadn�t fed. �I was facing a more permanent and
pressing transformation than you were. Besides, don�t change the subject!� The
inside of his head was red with blood and the desire for it. "You�re
pining after Weasley like you really did want to date her after all. Will you
make up your mind? I didn�t think the great Harry Potter, trainee Auror
and the Savior of the Wizarding World, was generally this indecisive.�
The bond darkened with the surge of rage that followed. And then Harry�s
wand was out again and he was shouting, �Incarcerous!�
Draco flew backwards, but this time he didn�t land on the floor bound with
ropes; he landed on his father�s desk instead, and the ropes lashed themselves
smoothly around the legs and top. He was neatly spread-eagled, left with a
limited amount of room to maneuver. Draco felt a moment�s admiration for the
surge of magic�obviously Harry was letting his Auror training benefit him in some
things�and a moment�s fleeting envy for what he�d lost when he gave up his
wand.
But then Harry was leaning over him, breath going like a bellows with rage,
and Draco was reminded rather forcefully of what he�d gained. The blood-hunger
made him tremble and arch up, even though he had no chance of breaking these
ropes. He whined deep in his throat and opened his mouth in what felt like a
rather snake-like motion.
�Harry,� he panted. �Please.�
�You know nothing about the Weasleys,� Harry raged on, ignoring him. Nothing
but incoherent emotion came down the bond, which probably explained both
Harry�s ignoring his reasonable request for blood and the odd, rambling words
that emerged from his mouth. �You don�t know anything about what it was like
for me during the war, even if you do have all my memories. Why should I
give you blood? You�re nothing but the same selfish bastard you always were,
vampirism and self-help programs aside��
But he�d leaned closer and closer, sneering the words into Draco�s face, and
his throat was right there.
Draco lifted his head a little higher, and his fangs pierced the soft flesh
of Harry Potter�s neck for the first time.
It was�
*
Bliss.
Harry had never thought a vampire bite could be, but then, he hadn�t spent
much time thinking about vampire bites at all until he had found out he had to.
If someone had asked him, though, he would have described it as gnawing on
someone�s neck. Surely that couldn�t be pleasant for the bloke who was being
bitten.
But this was.
Harry could feel not only the sharp pain that almost at once faded into a
drawing ecstasy, but Draco�s pleasure in the feeding, the sudden vanishing of
the emptiness within him. This blood satisfied him more completely and fully than
he had ever been satisfied before. Even his mother�s blood didn�t have the
sweetness of Harry�s. Animal blood was nothing to it. Draco was never drinking
from another cow or chicken again.
The taste of ashes and disappointment washed from Draco�s throat, and was
replaced by liquid sunlight. He purred and tried to reach up to Harry, but his
hands were still bound down by the rope. He whined softly.
Harry, pulling himself briefly out of the maelstrom of emotions, found
laughter emerging. I think I rather like you this way, he thought at
Draco. It makes up for some of the inequalities.
Draco started to reply that he could get out of the ropes at any time, since
Harry didn�t know about his claws, but then the blood stole his voice again and
melted his body into liquescent compliance. Harry reached out, careful not to
disturb the fangs from his throat, and gently squeezed the ends of Draco�s
fingers.
The claws popped out. Harry studied them and absently agreed that they were
very nice. He shifted a bit. He was bent in an awkward position, his body
half-sprawled across Draco�s but his feet still on the floor. He was starting
to think that wasn�t quite satisfactory. The pleasure springing from his throat
had inspired him with the wish to feel that good everywhere.
He dug a knee into the desk, froze for a moment with a deep shudder as Draco
finished drinking and licked the wound at his neck to clot the blood, and then
flopped down on the vampire. The skin that had been cold and rather papery
against Harry�s hands was flushed with warmth. The thought that the warmth had
come from him only excited Harry further.
He could hardly talk, but with the bond between them, that didn�t matter. He
could send his thoughts to Draco even as he leaned down and tangled his tongue
around the vampire�s fangs, trying to figure out the safe way to kiss him.
I feel really, really good right now.
So do I, so do I, so do I, Draco repeated over and over,
half-mindless. The blood had settled in his stomach, and he felt as if he were
full for the first time in his life.
His mind would have told Harry other things if he�d listened, no doubt as
irrelevant, but Harry didn�t really want to hear. He rocked his groin against
Draco�s, and gasped at the sensation. None of his dreams had involved Draco
tied to a desk, probably because Draco was the source of them and he thought
that was too undignified, but the reality was better.
Draco�s eyes flashed open then, and caught Harry�s. The shadows were burned
away in them, probably as a result of the blood. He darted his head upwards
like a snake�s to catch Harry�s mouth once more, his neck stretching impossibly
far, then let his legs fall open and rocked his hips in obscene invitation.
It�s not obscene, it�s just open. Not that you would know the difference,
being Gryffindor and considering everything that has to do with sex obscene.
�Shut up,� Harry panted, and then realized how stupid that was, helped along
by Draco�s enthusiastic agreement in his mind. But he ground himself down, and
Draco realized with a gasp that there were other things to be enthusiastic
about.
Harry was the one who had to pick up his wand and cast spells that undid the
buttons, took off their shoes, and peeled their robes away, since he still
wouldn�t let Draco out of the ropes. Draco�s hands flexed, the claws that Harry
had uncovered�
You didn�t uncover them, I told you about them.
�glinting in the dim firelight. Harry smiled a little. Draco could cut his
way out of the bonds if he wanted to, but he didn�t want to. Which meant that
he did want this.
This is your fantasy, Potter, not mine.
�Not that I knew that, either,� Harry said, and then lowered himself onto
Draco�s naked body with a groan. Their cocks were rubbing together now, warmth
against warmth. Harry groaned a second time. He had fumbled around with Ginny a
bit, but of course it never would have been like this, with so much hardness on
both of them. And the fact that he was feeling Draco�s sensations at the same
time he felt his own made his body ripple with gooseflesh and every single
small hair stand straight up.
Can you please not think about Weasley now?
Harry filled his mind with thoughts of her just to spite Draco, and Draco
hissed and showed his fangs. His mouth was ringed with a few faint smears of
blood; lack of practice or sheer excitement had kept him from swallowing all of
it. Harry shivered again. The warmth had come from him, the blood had come from
him, these ropes had come from him.
For the first time in months, he had actually decided something, and his
decisions were the ones guiding matters.
It felt so wonderful, he shut his eyes and reached down to take both Draco
and himself in hand, because nothing else would come close to conveying that
wonder.
* Draco gasped and arched his back again and again. He suspected that he
looked silly doing that, but he couldn�t be sure, because Harry�s eyes were
shut.
Draco could not have closed his own eyes for the world. His bloodthirst
satisfied, he was drinking Harry in with his gaze. Lean muscles toughened a
little with Auror training, glowing skin flushed with health and blood, neck
stretched back in a gesture that made Draco writhe a little with the
anticipation of his next drink. Harry�s black hair looked to be in its natural
habitat for the first time, fittingly wild, brushing against his shoulders with
enticing little rasps.
And the only reason that Draco couldn�t touch him was by choice�well, both
their choices at the moment. But still.
And then there was the hand and the cock rubbing against him, which felt
like four hands and two erections with the flowing of the bond, even though it
shouldn�t. Draco shivered, feeling so good he could hardly stand it.
One thing was missing, though.
�Harry,� he said. �Open your eyes.�
Harry�s tattered thoughts assured Draco he was doing this because he wanted
to, not because Draco had ordered him to, and then the eyes were open,
passionate, aroused green in a way Draco had not even known green could
be. Draco arched his back again, a whine exploding from his throat.
�Keep looking at me when you come,� he said.
Harry shuddered, and then went on shuddering. The sensation snaked down and
cut into Draco�s spine. He lifted his legs as much as he could, catching and
welcoming Harry�s climax, the wet warmth that ran through his hands and across
both their bodies, leaving Harry sleepy and sated and sticky and whole.
It was just lucky for him that Draco came in turn at the feel of Harry
coming, because he was probably too tired to do a good job of it. Draco
shouted, his sharp relief at his filled stomach combining with the normal
pleasure to snap every muscle in his body taut for a moment.
And then he was lying on his back, breathing heavily out of habit, Harry
draped across his body like the hide of some extinct animal. Draco curled his
hands up, sliced through the ropes with his claws, and nearly embraced Harry
before he remembered that he should probably retract the claws first. Then he
gripped Harry�s shoulders and smoothed them, his hands sliding in the sweat a
moment before he began to learn the shape and contours of Harry�s flanks and
hips and spine.
�Should untie your legs,� Harry said, voice sleepy.
�We can worry about that later,� Draco replied. �A vampire advantage, you
know. We can work our muscles into positions that you humans never can.�
Harry yawned. �Should owl Ginny and explain what happened,� he said, his
words now so slurred that Draco only understood what he meant at all because of
the bond.
�That can definitely wait until later,� Draco said. �I�m sure she�ll
understand that you�ll be too busy having rounds of fantastic sex and feeding
me for the rest of your life to ever date her. You must admit that it is
a time commitment.�
�Incorri�� Harry said, and then gave up on the word and fell asleep halfway
through.
Draco had read in the latest stack of V.A.M.P.S. literature about the
feeling of holding a donor who was also a sexual partner after sex. There had
been all sorts of sugary phrases of the kind Madam Gloriosa favored, about how
such an experience almost made a vampire�s heart beat again and the like.
Draco didn�t think they were as ridiculous as he had, now.
Just for fun, he funneled his blood, Harry�s blood, through his body and
made his heart beat, once.
*
She had very carefully stayed away during the round of noises that the
house-elves had come to report to her, but those had stopped some time ago. So
now she opened the door of the study and absorbed the sight of Harry Potter,
naked and obviously locked in contented sleep, sprawled on top of her son, who
looked dead to the world in a good way.
Narcissa nodded in satisfaction. It had taken careful planning and more of
the Malfoy fortune than she would have liked to make this come out the way she
wanted, but in terms of time, it hadn�t really been all that long.
Really, Draco would get nowhere in life without someone to protect him.
She�d seen that in the first few days after the end of the war, even before
Lucius fled to Madagascar. Draco was too dependent on her and Lucius, too
coddled, and still untutored in the more powerful forms of magic for all that
he had spent six years in Hogwarts. And there was no telling what might happen
to him when she died.
Narcissa had thought about arranging for a protective wife for him, but the
Malfoys had lost too much status. No family with the right kind of daughter
would consider marrying her to Draco.
That had left Narcissa with the option she had eventually chosen, of calling
in favors and learning as much as she could about vampires. When she had read
the Night King�s profile, she had known he was perfect. Draco would have the
protection of being a vampire and the protection of a powerful man
sharing his every thought and feeling.
Because, really, where else would he find someone to bond with who had come
back from death if he did not choose Harry Potter?
Narcissa started to close the door. Draco would protect himself, and be
protected, long after she had gone. She had done her duty as a mother.
Then she realized Draco�s eyes were open, and he was watching her. He looked
from her to Potter, and blinked, twice, a look of understanding creeping across
his face. Narcissa waited, curious. Draco was growing up, but in many ways he
was a child even now. He might explode with rage that she had dared to arrange
his life for him.
Instead, Draco gave her an incredibly sweet smile and blew her a small kiss
before embracing Potter more tightly.
Narcissa smiled and shut the door all the way this time. Draco was safe, she
loved her son, and he still loved her. All was well in the world.
Finite.
- 1
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The Secret Underground Vampire Bureaucracy