Night Flight | By : Massanie Category: Harry Potter > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 77589 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 30 |
Disclaimer: Harry Potter does not belong to me and I'm not making any money with this story |
CHAPTER 13: A New Chance
CHAPTER NOTES:
I am so sorry for not updating for so long ... but I had things to do (work, two exams, one presentation an essay), people to meet (family reunion), places to go (2-week-holiday on another continent, for the family reunion) ...
And then I needed a little bit of time to sort out my thoughts on this story.
Anyway: thank you all so much for the wonderful, lovely reviews!
Blaise was angry and annoyed and oddly disappointed; maybe it had been a mistake to bring the two submissives together. Did Ives really have to drag Draco's family into the dirt in front of someone Draco had always tried to impress, always tried to live up to? What had the damn submissive been thinking?
Draco knew that his family had committed many shameful crimes and it had taken him so long to be able to reconcile that fact with the view that had been hammered into his young mind from a very tender age on. How much time and effort had it taken for Draco to step out of his family's overpowering shadow, start to think by himself and become his own person? The person that Blaise loved.
Yet Draco was very loyal to his family still, not least because he was realistic enough to know that every stain on their reputation would mar his also. Privately, Blaise knew that his lover dreamed of following in Adler Malfoy's footsteps and recreate the meaning of Malfoy, restore the so recently tarnished family honour. He wanted his enemies to fear and respect him and he wanted his name to be recognized not only by their pureblood circles but by those of mixed blood also who were now starting to gain the upper hand after the war. Draco wanted his family not only to survive those changes but thrive in them.
Blaise knew that, because he wanted it also for the Zabinis who had been watching from the sidelines for far too long. Such was the price of neutrality: one ceased to matter after a while.
And for Draco to get his nose rubbed into the flaws of his oh so noble family like this by Adler's husband in front of Harry of all people. Adler who Draco had always tried to impress the most of his family and Harry who had always been the more famous, the more prestigious one of the two, and the magically stronger as well; who had been the object of Draco's obsession for years, the incarnation of all the failures in his youth, of everything he couldn't have, everything he wasn't allowed to be. It had taken a war for Draco to notice that the image he had of the Saviour was nothing more than a projection of his doubts and jealousies and yet that realisation had still not smothered his guilty fascination with the other boy.
Draco had always ever wanted recognition for being who he was and what he wanted to accomplish and not for being Lucius Malfoy's son. In Adler's and his parent's eyes, in the eyes of their circles and peers and strangely enough: in Harry's. But with his family ordering his every move, guiding his every thought, how could he have done it?
And now Draco walked so tense next to him, hiding his hurt pride behind haughty aloofness and silent frostiness, feeling humiliated in front of the Chosen One and probably wishing for nothing more than to not be a Malfoy; and there was nothing Blaise could do to make him feel better, because everything he could have said had been said before and Blaise could not change Draco's family history, however much he wanted to.
What was maybe even worse was that Harry was picking up on the fallen Slytherin prince's frosty mood and started to become fidgety next to them while they led him towards the roof garden. He kept biting his lips to a swollen cherry red and massaged the knuckles of his right hand, rubbing over them firmly, absentmindedly. Blaise would have found it adorable, had it not been the proof of the Gryffindor's unrest. Another thing he had no idea how to alleviate.
Though evidently, Harry's discomfort didn't keep him from speaking out in the end, in a hesitant, awkward mumble.
"Umm, you know, I wasn't … I really didn't intend to …" Harry shrugged and let go of his abused hand to rub over his brow with his reddened knuckles instead as he searched for words. Discreetly Blaise glanced over to his fiancé but Draco seemed unwilling to come to the stuttering Gryffindor's aide even though it should have been his task being the one their guest was speaking to. He sighed, realising that it was up to him once again to comfort the younger submissive, not that he really minded; he didn't want to see either of them like this…
"Don't worry, Harry," Blaise started in a tone of voice that he hoped would calm the brunet's conscience, after all it was probably Ives' fault and not Harry's. "It's…"
"No, really! I didn't intend to insult you. And Ives certainly didn't."
Draco snorted softly, bitterly disbelieving, but said nothing and even if he or Blaise had known what to say, it was to be doubted that they would have gotten the chance, seeing as Harry grasped both of their sleeves and forced them to a sudden halt in the long stretched corridor.
"I'm not lying or making this up!" He exclaimed, his intense green eyes wandering from one to the other. Then he flushed lightly as he noticed that his hands were still entangled in the soft fabrics of their shirts. Immediately he snatched them back, letting them awkwardly fall to his sides.
"Let's be honest, Draco, I will probably never like your father,"
Blaise almost sighed, only barely withstanding the urge to try and rub his impending headache away; that was really not the way to comfort a hurting dragon…
Next to him Draco huffed and encountered the Gryffindor's stubborn stare coolly, his chin raised in his hurt pride. "Let's not go there right now, okay?"
"No, just listen for a moment!" The brunet exclaimed exasperatedly. "Lucius is a right bastard and I'm pretty sure I won't like many of your ancestors either…"
Merlin, Blaise thought with a critical glance towards his fiancé, that wasn't going to end well. Draco's jaw was clenched tightly and he just knew if he got a chance to speak, the infamous Malfoy temperament would make him say something unfortunate.
"Harry, it would be better if we dropped the subject" Blaise tried again with as much diplomacy as he was able to, praying the other would listen to the tightness in his voice, but the brunet was having none of it.
"But … Ives said that you were the first in many generations of Malfoy's with the potential to be someone …" for a moment he hesitated, biting his lips as he looked uncomfortably into the narrowed, piercing grey eyes. Blaise dearly hoped he wouldn't say something unfortunate now; he was aware that Draco had frozen, awaiting the judgement of his ancestor with apprehension bubbling under the surface of his steely eyes, even if the flicker in his grey orbs was the only thing betraying his feelings. It was not often that a Malfoy directly imparted their opinion openly, they were all cold, chastising glances and proud, praising silence. Except maybe Ives, but he was usually a very private person.
"Someone he could be proud of." Harry finally said, his voice soft but unwavering and honest, just like the Gryffindor he was, maybe even a little bit Hufflepuff and suddenly, Blaise found himself blessing the boy for those traits that might make him vulnerable in a pureblood society but not less precious.
Draco blinked several times and then looked towards his Italian lover, obviously startled. "He did?"
Okay, maybe not Hufflepuff; for that Harry seemed too uncomfortable all of a sudden with giving compliments. "Yeah, well, you know, he said how Adler had been so relieved when you, you know, during the end of the war and all? And I mean I was, too, if I hadn't thought you to be better than your father I wouldn’t have stood witness for you…"
"Better than my father." Draco deadpanned, but his eyes held a soft glimmer now, and one corner of his mouth twitched traitorously as he wavered on the brink to the tender amusement blossoming below his earlier bitter frustration.
Something Harry didn't seem to notice. "Well, you are! I mean you saved my life by keeping silent that day in your manor when we were captured even though - even though it would have been better for you and your family if you had just handed me over to Volde… uh, sorry, to him."
Blaise smiled and shook his head to keep himself from jumping the black haired youth and kiss him right then and there until he fainted from lack of air. Just to shut him up, of course, before he managed to destroy with a careless remark what he had accomplished: in his awkward way Harry had managed to say exactly what Draco had needed to hear, and it was quite endearing, really… Still, it was about time to deliver the poor jewel from his stuttering. "Harry." He said, a smile tingeing his voice.
Draco's hand landed on his forearm to stop him from reaching out and his fiancé threw him a quick glance full of sparkling amusement. Blaise rolled his eyes. Draco enjoyed the fumbling compliments too much, really.
All the while Harry went on ignoring his interjection, too busy evading their gazes. "And you couldn't kill Dumbledore; you do have a conscience and I know it couldn't have been easy, you never had a real chance to choose sides…"
"Harry!"
"Don't interrupt me now! I will so regret this…" He said, shifting on his feet. Somehow the Gryffindor looked as if he really couldn't belief the words tumbling out of his mouth as he stared into space, wide-eyed and staggered by his own speech, one of his hands raking through his already tousled hair, leaving it as upset as he seemed himself.
"I still hate that you kidnapped me and how disrespectful you treated me at the beginning; you have. No. Idea. How much I hated that…"
"Harry…" Draco sighed, all the giddiness of a moment earlier all but vanished. He hadn't thought much during that moment after Harry's escape attempt, not past the single-minded exhilaration that only contesting with the Saviour of the Wizarding World was able to instil in him. And though apologies did not easily pass his lips, he knew that in this case a silent acknowledgement in the form of a missing contradiction was just not enough. "I am sorry."
"We are." Blaise corrected, feeling much the same, except that it had been his anger clouding his judgement and if he thought closely now about how carelessly Harry was always risking his life … he simply couldn't be allowed to keep going like that. Even though Blaise knew that he had approached the subject positively maladroitly, it certainly would need further attention. The thought that Harry might end up dead or hurt because of his own thoughtlessness had his stomach in knots. It was unacceptable.
"Yeah?" Harry said a little bit warily, shifting his chin to the side and once again starting to torture the knuckles of his right hand as he considered them carefully. One of them gave a dull clunk, making Blaise's fingers itch in sympathy and with the want to keep the other young man from fidgeting, but he controlled himself under the Gryffindor's assessing gaze. Slowly Harry nodded. "Well, don't do it again and I'll try to forget about it for now."
Not giving the two Slytherins the chance to reply, Harry continued right away, speaking fast so as if he wanted to finish before he could back down.
"Anyway: I still want to speak with Hermione and have her confirm what you said would await me outside of this manor as a … a non-dominant Vykélari. But I know that you … well, as Ives said: you have the potential to be a good person, both of you or you would have tried to blackmail me already into mating. Or at least Ives said that."
Taking a deep breath, Harry looked up at them with a self-deprecating half-smile. "So, I promised Ives I'd give you a fair chance."
For a moment Blaise wondered if he had heard correctly, feeling quite dumbfounded and he couldn't help but be a little bit wary in the face of this latest development. Had Ives really managed to do what they had tried to achieve during the last one and a half day in one and a half hour?
But why then had the red haired submissive run Draco's family down like that? And what exactly had he persuaded Harry with?
Next to him he heard Draco swallow before he asked. "A fair … and what exactly does that entail?"
Curious himself, Blaise trained his eyes on the brunet, observing with interest how his golden skin flushed appealingly. What by Mordred had Ives told the Gryffindor to embarrass him so?
"Well…" Harry drawled, blushing even more as he ducked his head. "Ives said I should let you court me, but honestly I'm not sure if I'm at all ready for that."
Draco laughed, a merry, light sound that resounded through the otherwise empty hallway and made Harry look up, his expression an undecided mixture of annoyance and confusion. "What…"
"God, Harry," the blonde smiled, tilting his head a little bit as he reached forward to take Harry's chin between two fingers, a touch that the Gryffindor allowed wondrously. "Had I known you would look so strikingly beautiful when you're embarrassed, I'd have teased you mercilessly instead of insanely trying to duel the Saviour of the Wizarding World and losing to you all the time."
Harry narrowed his eyes a little bit and raised his chin, effectively breaking off eye contact with Draco. But a small smile played around the corner of his lips like sunlight falling through green-leaved, swaying branches, a proof that he hadn't seriously taken offence. "I'm not beautiful, especially not when I'm red as a radish but it might have made for a much more pleasant time in Hogwarts if I wouldn't have had to watch out for you and your cronies hexing me in the corridors."
"Harry, sweet, you are so painfully ignorant of how you affect others in every regard, always have been … but don't worry, in time we'll show you. And though our time might have been more pleasant, it would also have been less interesting. And I like to think that it was my teaching that kept you alive in later years."
"Maybe. You certainly kept me alert." Harry smiled wryly for a moment.
It was dangerous ground the two of them were moving on, and maybe it was too early to touch upon that part of their shared history, but now it had happened and someday the subject would have to be broached anyway.
And so, Blaise watched the two of them carefully, wondering if Draco and Harry grasped the significance of the situation. This was the first of possibly many tests the three of them had to pass together; and if they didn't, then … well then maybe they were not meant to be and he and Draco would have to find a safe way for Harry to get to know a suitable mate. Oh, how the very idea infuriated him! Would it be better, though, to trick the young submissive into staying with them nonetheless? Blaise didn't know. He only knew that somewhat forced or at least arranged marriages had occurred in the history of both his and Draco's family and that, more often than not, they had worked out in the end. Ives was only one example. But then again, Blaise's own mother had killed her first husband, a husband she had only unwillingly married at the behest of her parents; which then had become quite the habit or even addiction for her - the killing of her husbands, not the arranged marriages - and the reason why Blaise had been allowed to propose to the man he had fallen in love with even though no child, no heir, could come from this union.
And his mother had been a pureblood, one who had been raised with the prospect of an arranged marriage, who understood the traditions. Harry wasn't, Harry didn't. He might end up hurt and bitter and trapped in a world he didn't even want to understand, didn't want to know and the precious fire in his eyes that had always burned so brightly and made people follow him might be extinguished.
He would learn to live with them, because that is what he always did, because he was a survivor, but the fiery passion that made him special would be no more. Harry would be miserable and in the end, Draco would be, too, and Blaise.
Yet, if they let him go, then Harry might face that very fate with another dominant and not only was there no way of foreseeing for which purposes that dominant would deploy the newfound power, also Blaise and Draco would always live with the knowledge that Harry was once again miserable and that nothing had been won by sacrificing the gift of his powers, of his company.
There was only one way to ensure that this wouldn't happen: they had to make Harry fall in love with them and now, thanks to Ives, they had the opportunity to woo him and show him that for all three of them to be happy and safe, they had to be together.
And in Blaise's opinion, that was a fact. Seeing the newly awakened glinting in his lover's eyes, he was almost sure that Harry could make Draco happy, maybe even happier than Blaise alone could have managed. That he himself felt rather at ease with the Gryffindor even though he was normally much more reserved and generally needed far longer to warm up to someone (in the rare cases he did it at all) rather lead him to believe that he, too, could find pleasure in the company of the young submissive. He certainly was refreshing.
That only left to prove that it was mutual, Blaise thought as he considered Harry, who was growing serious again in front of his eyes as he locked his intense green eyes on Draco.
"Draco, I've no problem with … well, with what happened in Hogwarts. God knows I've had more important things to do than keeping fixated on past grudges and I know that people can change. And Ives vouched for you, but … well, up to now you didn't give me much cause to think that you have. I will give you that chance now. Just this once, you won't get a second."
Blaise felt a smile tug at the corners of his lips, completely approving of the cautious answer. Now he was convinced that Harry would be good for Draco, able and willing to give him the opportunity that Blaise couldn't: the fair opportunity to honestly prove himself to someone who was neither prepossessed for him nor would pass judgement on him based on actions he had done while he was little more than a child or teenager under the thumbs of its parents. One person more who might come to honestly appreciate the Slytherin Prince for something else than his reputation.
"Thank you." Draco said quietly with a curt inclination of his head, Blaise agreeing silently.
"Yeah," Harry started somewhat gruffly, harrumphing slightly, obviously uncomfortable again, "just don't screw it up."
CHAPTER END NOTES:
I'm sorry that it is so short. But the next chapter is almost finished, so you won't have to wait too long.
I hope you liked it nonetheless.
While AFF and its agents attempt to remove all illegal works from the site as quickly and thoroughly as possible, there is always the possibility that some submissions may be overlooked or dismissed in error. The AFF system includes a rigorous and complex abuse control system in order to prevent improper use of the AFF service, and we hope that its deployment indicates a good-faith effort to eliminate any illegal material on the site in a fair and unbiased manner. This abuse control system is run in accordance with the strict guidelines specified above.
All works displayed here, whether pictorial or literary, are the property of their owners and not Adult-FanFiction.org. Opinions stated in profiles of users may not reflect the opinions or views of Adult-FanFiction.org or any of its owners, agents, or related entities.
Website Domain ©2002-2017 by Apollo. PHP scripting, CSS style sheets, Database layout & Original artwork ©2005-2017 C. Kennington. Restructured Database & Forum skins ©2007-2017 J. Salva. Images, coding, and any other potentially liftable content may not be used without express written permission from their respective creator(s). Thank you for visiting!
Powered by Fiction Portal 2.0
Modifications © Manta2g, DemonGoddess
Site Owner - Apollo