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“As long as they keep the door open.”
Draco settled in the alcove next to Harry behind the sphinx statue and they both waited for one of the elder Malfoys to speak.
“Lucius, I didn’t just come here to see Draco.”
“I gathered as much.”
“Now I understand that there were certain restrictions placed upon you that you could not break if you were to gain the trust of…certain individuals. Because of this, our Lord has decided to wait before deciding how to deal with you.”
“How to deal with me?” Lucius’ tone was harsh, like that of a glacier.
“Yes. I told him that a true Malfoy such as yourself would not dream of abandoning our Crusade to reinstate the true leadership of the Wizarding World.”
“You did?” Lucius had turned to look into the fire, his face unreadable and icy.
“Of course. It took me a while to understand your plan but—”
“You understand nothing if what you are saying is what you truly think.”
If Lucius was a glacier, then Narcissa was liquid steel.
“What are you saying? That you have truly abandoned our Lord?”
“That is exactly what I am saying.”
“He will kill you Lucius.”
“Consider, for the moment, my options, Narcissa. Say, just say, that I did go back to Voldemort. Do you really think I would survive the amount of Cruciatus that I would have to endure? Self esteem only goes so far, Narcissa, and even I can understand my own weaknesses. At least this way I am allying myself with a side that will cause the Malfoy name to be preserved.”
“The Malfoy name. And I suppose that’s all you care about! It’s always been the only thing you cared about! The only similarity between your father and you caring about a name! At least he chose to honor his pure blood and not lower himself to the level of half-bloods, mudbloods, and their sympathizers.”
“Do not bring my father into this.”
“He had such a vision for you Lucius. Had you followed it, you would have been great, honored by our Lord as your father was.”
“Narcissa…” Lucius’ tone was deadly and Harry heard Draco’s breathing shake as he inhaled. “I will only warn you once. Do not—”
“You will say nothing, Lucius. For years I have kept silent, as a good wife should, and let you handle our affairs. And now I will speak my piece!” Something shifted in her demeanor and her tone became sickly sweet. “But you won’t listen to me. You only care about the Malfoy name. Not your family, not its standing, not that we could impact the world…just a name.”
Something in Lucius snapped, and there was a sound of ripping cloth from the study. Harry and Draco looked at each other as if sharing the knowledge of what had just happened. Lucius’ wings had appeared. Narcissa had gone too far now. And Lucius’ tone echoed that knowledge.
“If you understand that the holder of the Malfoy name is my son, then yes, that is all I care about!” he shouted and Narcissa paled, the last to realize that she had moved too far in this argument. “And it is now clear exactly how much he means to you.” And, as if he had waited too long to say these words, he continued. “As of this moment, consider our bonding annulled!” Lucius’ glare intensified on Narcissa’s pale face. “In forty-eight hours you will find all of your belongings removed from every Malfoy estate and property. You will find that your dowry will be fully reimbursed in your former Gringotts account under your maiden name.” His eyes seemed to take on a glow akin to that of a man finally freed from a life of prison. “Now get out of my house and if you ever come near my son again our next meeting will not be one you will enjoy.”
Narcissa huffed, although she did nothing to retaliate against Lucius’ words. She couldn’t really, not with the black steel wings constantly reminding her of how angry Lucius actually was. She marched out of his study and slammed the door behind her. Harry and Draco pushed farther into the alcove as she passed by and she didn’t see them. Neither did Lucius as he threw open the door as she reached the top of the entrance staircase.
“And you had better be thankful I’m not a Death Eater any longer Narcissa, or I would be following that up with a well-placed Killing Curse!”
Narcissa paled another few shades and left the house at an even faster pace than the one she had been taking before. Lucius calmly closed the door to his study as she left the Manor.
“Was that really necessary?” Harry breathed, trying to see if Draco had been hurt by watching his parents fight.
“Every word, Harry, every word. I don’t think I’ve ever been prouder to be a Malfoy than at this moment.”
Harry smiled at Draco as, even in the dim light, he could see the glow almost radiating from those soft, silver eyes.????????????
Chapter 22: Vacation’s Conversations
Harry blinked as a muffled “thud” pounded through the walls of Malfoy Manor. A few minutes later a muffled “crash” followed. This time Harry put down his quill from the letter he had been writing to Ron and waited a minute. When he heard the muffled explosion he got up from where he’d been lounging on the bed and made his way into Draco’s room. Draco was nowhere to be seen so Harry continued walking down the staircase into Draco’s potions laboratory. Draco had spent the large part of three days in there, so Harry was not surprised in the least to find him there working on…something.
Despite the loud “smash” that shot through the room as Harry opened the door, Draco looked as if this was quite normal.
“I suppose you wanted those small explosions to happen.” Harry commented as he closed the door behind him.
Draco nodded absently as he dropped something green into the bubbling cauldron, a silver one Harry noted. Harry opted to sit on one of the many stools in the room as Draco continued working on whatever it was he was working on. Harry had learned that when Draco was working on a potion that was either particularly intricate (never “difficult” because that would imply that there was a chance for failure) or one that reacted to certain steps particularly quickly he would soon forget that there was anyone else in the room. And when Draco didn’t think there was anyone in the room, all his facades fell down to reveal a boy that Harry thought was absolutely beautiful. Had Harry been a poet he could have easily written an ode to the way the light of curiosity seemed to sparkle in Draco’s eyes, making them seem like molten silver. If Harry had been the best artist in the world, he was sure that he could not have done Draco justice in the art media, nor the way the candle-lit room provided a glow that seemed to dance around his face and fingers as he stirred whatever he was brewing or chopped something with a fine silver knife. And Harry knew that these kinds of thoughts about Draco Malfoy would have scared him out of his skin back during the first week of school, but he realized he didn’t mind them now.
Draco realized Harry was watching him again. Harry had been doing that off and on for the past few days. It was obvious to Draco that Harry was attracted to him at least but Draco wasn’t sure how far that attraction went. It was rather frustrating. At times like this, when Harry’s eyes stared at him in an almost unblinking fashion, as if afraid to miss one detail, or when he would awake in the morning to find Harry doing the same type of thing as he had slept, Draco was sure that Harry’s emotions ran deeper. But when Harry knew that Draco was…well alert to his surroundings Harry was just amicable. It was rather frustrating because Draco didn’t know how to respond to Harry when he flip-flopped through emotions like this. Like right now for example. If he stretched just a bit…yes, he could see Harry gulp ever so slightly. That didn’t happen normally. It was almost like Harry couldn’t make up his mind.
Draco didn’t really blame Harry for this, because he was in the same boat really. Oh, he knew Harry was attractive, in a very different way than Draco himself was attractive, but he didn’t really know quite where his feelings for Harry lay. There was also the small fact that neither Harry nor he himself had really broached yet: the fact that whether they fell in love with each other eventually or not, they were stuck together for life.
There would be no way they could hide this for all that long after they graduated Hogwarts…Merlin, Draco didn’t even know how they were going to hide it through the summer when his friends were going to find it rather strange that Harry Potter just happened to be at the Manor. They hadn’t yet discussed how they should let the public view their relationship of sorts.
Draco’s eyes quickly fell to the clock at his right. If there was another explosion in two seconds—
A loud smash rose from the swirling contents of the cauldron.
Yes, it was done. Draco fought back the urge to crow with glee as he looked at the swirling purple contents of his cauldron. He’d found this little thing in the back of one of his father’s potions books and thought it would be fun to try it sometime.
“So what’s the point of this one?” Harry’s voice questioned from over his shoulder.
Draco was hit with a truly Slytherin idea and smirked over his shoulder at Harry. “Watch.”
And Draco tipped the entire contents of the potion onto the table. Harry yelped as the potion began to spread rapidly. Draco pulled off his shirt and grabbed Harry around the waist, wings spreading outward from his back as he did so. His wings had grown enough to somewhat support him in flight so he was able to lift Harry off the floor and hold them both aloft as the potion continued its course through the room.
The swirling purple substance spread throughout the room, crawling across anything it touched, until the entire room was a swirling purple color.
Harry’s breath had caught in his throat when Draco had picked him up off the floor, and as Draco held him he tried to make his heart slow its frantic beating.
Draco fought down a smirk. He could feel Harry’s heart pounding in his chest, and knew that wasn’t only because he was surprised at what the potion did.
“Rather pretty.” Draco breathed in Harry’s ear. Harry tried to ignore the sensation of hot breath on his neck as he nodded.
“Is it permanent?” That sounded a little raspier than Harry had wanted it too.
“No, it goes away in a few hours.” Draco replied, touching back down on the floor of the room now that the potion had settled.
Harry was surprised the next day when Draco appeared through the wall that separated their rooms.
“I’m going swimming. Want to come?”
