-1"Is this some kind of a stag night thing, because if it is you can just shove it where th…."
It was the first time Draco Malfoy had kissed him to silence him. The young blonde usually preferred to hex and punch or throw something, but this time he kissed. On the lips, lovingly for a few minutes before the need of air became too great.
"Draco" Harry sighed softly a little shocked at the sudden contact. "look, your drunk.."
"so, I still want you" Draco's embrace was like a ravenous, a feeding frenzy of pent up lust.
He had the strength of drunken impulse as well as the element of surprise on his side thus delaying Harry's reaction time.
"your not thinking clearly, you don't want this" Harry stammered, backing away almost franticly.
"But I do! It's what I've wanted for quite some time" Draco announced with horrifying certainty.
"your just scared, I mean Hermione's a strong character and tomorrows the big day, think of Hermione, You love her" Harry said nothing about his children's feelings, after all they were too young and saying 'What would my children think?' would give Draco the impression Harry considered …'this'.
"Oh Merlin's beard I do but I want you, come here" Draco countered, embracing Harry once more.
"no!"
"Please"
Harry was aghast yet cheaply flattered. It'd been so long since he last had somebody decont come after him. He stepped forward and clasped the young blonde hands in his and positioned his chin on Draco's left shoulder so they could talk without having to meet each others eyes. "Why did you have to leave it till so late"
"suppose I...probably was scared" Draco muttered softly into Harry's ear, shuddering slightly at the admission.
"has Hermione no idea of this…this...Delusion?"
"what do you think?!?! She's die if she knew...not before killing me though, obviously"
"You may think she'll die now, but she'll die a whole lot more and a whole lot expensively if you married her, created a family and then told her, I mean do you love her?"
"oh I don't…yes…" Draco was torn and it was clearly showing.
"and you fancy her right"
"yes but not…"
"not as much as you used to?" Harry finished trying to be helpful.
"Mmm" Draco replied almost as if he didn't trust his voice.
"you know I can stand up in church tomorrow and call this whole thing off...ruin it for everybody...I mean I wont, but I'd still be tempted"
"For her sake?" Draco asked, almost incredulously.
"no, probably for mine." Harry sighed softly. "We've got to stop this now. You are to sleep in the guest room and I in my bedroom behind locked doors and we can sort your robes and everything out in the morning and you'll be happily married and none of this ever happened OK?" Harry concluded almost sounding happy.
"Ok" was the reply but things didn't work out.
They were kissing on a more equal footing now. They slid to the living room carped and rolled around, bruising chins and hip bones. For a man who had drunk such incapacitating amount of firewiskey, Draco gained his vigour back with impressive speed. One thing had almost let things to the inexcusable when Harry remembered to call Hermione and check up on his sons. Harry had conceived two little boys just three years prior, the father was unknown to everybody.
Two precious little boys who where miniature Harry Potter's. Both had coal black hair, gleaming green eyes and cute button noses. Like many of Harry's relatives before him, they were pranksters. Like him, like his father, like his godfather, like his godfathers husband and too much like the Weasley twins.
Walking through some wide hallways Harry caught his own guilty reflection in a large mirror. The accusing eyes that seemed to burn a whole in Harry
He wasn't in the mood to call anyone with a fireplace so he phoned the Hermione directly.
"hello?" an almost girly voice asked softly down the other line.
"Herm', that you?" Harry asked somewhat sleepily.
"Yeah, Harry what's up?" Hermione asked as a sudden roar of laughter filled the background.
"I'm just calling to check up on the boys" Harry replied. "Draco's staying ver with me"
"Harry," Hermione chided. "Stealing my fiance just before the big day"
Harry had forced himself to laugh at the ironic joke. He sounded almost like a strangled ostrich. "Yeah, right. The bloody ferrets drunk…."
On the other line, Hermione was heared laughing softly. It was what she expected after all.
"Well, the boys are fine. Angels they are." Hermione paused before speaking again. "Try not be late for the big day, I shall be very disappointed if you are"
"As you command milady" Harry joked before wishing her a good night and hanging up.
When Harry returned with a hangover potion, he found Draco asleep, snoring softly, looking more human than he had ever seemed to Harry.
Sighing Harry levitated the blonde into a guest room, tucked him into the large comfortable bed whilst fastening his shirt buttons as well as his trouser fly.
The next morning it was impossible to tell if Draco's verbal paralysis was due to guilt, shame, alcohol poisoning or stiff bones.
Dispatched by the bride, the best man (Blaze Zabini) had collected the groom and soon the wedding was in play. It would have been perfect if there had been no tension in the air, not only between Harry and Draco, but between Lucius and Draco, Ron and Hermione, Arthur and Lucius and even Severus and Lucius.
However the wedding passed off without any conscience struck confessions or alter-side pleas for psychosexual understandings.
Just before the couple left, Draco shook Harry's hand and silently thanked him for 'saving his ass'. Harry could have sworn he detected an edge of desperation to Draco's handshake but waved it off as he talked with other guests.
During their honeymoon the couple sent postcards to Harry, most of them penned by groom alone. The day after their concluded honeymoon, Draco appeared on Harry's door demanding a conclusion to the damned business that had deferred.
Trying to be the honest and mature adult as well as the good friend Harry refused. He'd slammed the door on Draco, ignored his letters and even went as far as to unplug his muggle landline as Draco was now phoning him the muggle way but Draco wasn't a man to be denied. If only the sex was perfunctory or the blonde's bedside manners odious or his nature as harsh and cruel as Harry had first assumed it to be, this crime against the family would have gone no further. However the chemistry between the two were all too effective.
Then there was a brutal demand for a second and third time, thus two marriages grew where only one was visible. Draco refused, often angrily to acknowledge or analyse the situation which they had stumbled upon. He was married to a woman whom he liked yet he regularly bedded her best friend whom he loved no less but differently.
On a lunch out with Harry, Hermione almost glowed as she somewhat gloated about the attention Draco paid her. Harry had expected their meetings to be dread-heavy, He expected guilt to garble his wit or cause him to blurt out a sinful confession, yet he found it as easy as talking about a distant relative or a co-worker.
"Thanks Harry," Hermione began as she finished her tea. "You really seem to be making an effort to be friends"
Harry had nodded solemnly and soon Harry was seen as an intimate part of their relationship.
Harry had bought a muggle book shop and had created a café on the second floor. Muggles and Magical folk were all welcome. He'd retired from professional Quiditch at an early age only because he no longer wanted the fame. He was grateful for it, and he still had it. Those from the magical world who came to his café usually called in to thank him now and then for the great defeat of the dark lord or simply cheering him for the wonderful beating of another team.
"Guess what Harry!" Hermione chirped up almost bounding on the spot desperately, full of glee.
"what?" Harry asked as he put away some mugs and stacked a few books back.
"I talked to Draco, and persuaded him to allow you to use his summer home"
"Why do I need his summer home??" Harry had a feeling he knew where this announcement was going.
"Well, I figured you need to relax, you've been working so hard with this place and the kids and I think you deserved it!" Hermione laughed softly, drinking her butter beer and sighing at the good taste.
"Hermione, I don't think…It's just that I'm Busy…..I.." Harry tried to reason.
"Leave everything to me" Hermione assured. She needed things to do anyway. Draco had made sure she didn't have to work due to the Malfoy fortune being so large.
"I don't know….It's…Draco…." Harry sounded disappointed but it was how he wanted to sound.
"Oh no worries, Draco told me his parents were staying in the house as well"
Sighing in defeat Harry nodded and accepted the invitation. He called up Percy and left him in charge along with Hermione who Harry knew, would rearrange his little shop from top to bottom.
Percy loved books and he knew more about Muggles than his father who was still to this day fascinated with muggle technology. He would keep Hermione level-headed….Harry hoped.
"Your holiday home eh?" Harry asked Draco as he waited for Draco to bring his luggage down.
"Yes, It's on this island very close to Italy" Draco huffed as he realised he couldn't lift his things before magically making them light as feathers. "My fathers staying there. He said something about the weather being foul, but I think he was just trying to put us off from coming"
"Maybe we shouldn't go, I wouldn't want to disturb your father" Harry said, almost retreating.
He loved Draco, truly he did but he couldn't do it anymore. The guilt was overwhelming.
"We have 7 houses scattered across the world, which brings me to wonder why you only have one bloody little place?" Draco asked, as he greeted Harry's two boys. "Your richer than the Malfoy's"
"What's wrong with my house?" harry asked sounding a little appaled. He held the two boys tightly in hi hand before stepping into the green flames. "Mafloy, Italy Home"
Harry fell on his ass as he appeared in the fireplace of a Malfoy manor. He stood up, made sure Lisa was okay whom was Using Harry as a landing Cushion.
"who's There" A sinisterly rich voice suddenly called out. It was a wizard with long blonde hair, he held a wand high and steady and was ready to attack when he realised it was his granddaughter and Harry. "Potter, What are you doing here?"
"I'm here on holiday" Harry almost sneered as he realised one of the portraits within the room was watching them three intently. "Professor Snape"
"Your in the wrong house Potter" Severus replied, not bothering to greet Harry in the slightest as he walked out of his frame and disappeared into another.
"Oh.." Harry said dumbly as Lisa giggled and laughed at Harry's misery. "Mummy said your hopeless with a Floo"
"yes, well the bloody things so annoying" Harry retorted chuckling a little as well.
"Are you going to leave anytime soon?" Lucius inquired as he put his wand away and sat down on a luxurious looking sofa.
"Well, I don't know where the other house is…" Harry began feeling a little vulnerable in the presence of the stoic man.
"Why not stay here" Lucius asked, making it sound like a mild suggestion.
"Well, see.." How could Harry explain he wanted to be in the other house with Draco so they could make love every night during their little stay in the houses here. "I wouldn't want to intrude…"
"you wont be intruding Mister Potter, After all it gets quite lonely out here with only the company or pictures"
"I…Oh Alright" Harry gave in as he dusted himself off.
"Holly!" An elf popped into sight and bowed in front of Lucius. "Show my guests into one of the wings and make sure they're comfortable and settled."
"Of course Master" the elf snapped it's fingers and their bags were gone. "Must follow Holly"
Lisa giggled and raced after the elf as it led the way, Harry stood rooted to the spot for a minute before following. Not sure if he should have said anything.
Getting settled in was easy, everything was unpacked and placed within the cupboards and thigs around the room. About an hour after they're entrance an argument had brewed up.
"Where is he father?!" Draco snarled, glaring at the older man. "Where is my daughter?"
"Draco?" Harry called out from the top of the stair looking puzzled. "What are you shouting for?"
"Oh, Harry. There you are" Draco seemed to calm down. "C'mon, get your things. didn't you relise you were in the wrong house?"
"Draco, I cant" Harry said as he glanced at Lucius who looked as calm and collected as ever, drinking a class of what looked like wine. "I told Lucius I'd stay here…"
"What?!..Why?!" Draco questioned, almost squeaking at one point. "Where's Lisa?"
"Here Daddy" the little brunette called out from behind Harry as she held a big chocolate chip cookie in one hand and crumbs covering her mouth and some on her cheeks.
"He asked if I'd stay… and.." Harry tried to explain without sounding as iof he were rejecting Draco.
"Son, he is only staying in the house, if you feel the need to be close to him, then you can stay here as well, after all this is home to a Malfoy"
"No" Draco sneered, he collected Lisa and barged out of the house, nocking over an elf on his way. "I'll meet you on the beach tomorrow or something"
"Oh dear" Harry said as he sat down on the couch next to Lucius as they watched the sun set through the large glass windows. "I think I upset him"
"Tell me mister Potter" Lucius began as he handed Harry some wine. "Why are you spending holiday with my son…Should it not be the little mud-blood girl?"
"don't call Hermione that" Harry snapped taking a sip out of the glass. "She's the one who booked the holiday and insisted I not be on my own"
"Oh, I see" Lucius did not sound convinced. "Well, I must be off. I need to run a few errand tomorrow, We'll to lunch okay?"
Harry nodded absently, that was of course when Lucius kissed him on the cheek that Harry was alert.
When Harry regained from his shock, he tried to confront Lucius but the man had left long ago.
"Holiday from hell" Harry joked to himself before he too, turned in for the night.
He next Morning, Harry explained the situation to Draco and the little chance of refusal he could propose to Lucius. He didn't mention the kiss, thinking it to be some sort of a thing that they all did, after all He'd seen Draco do it…
"Well you could come over a few night after he's gone to sleep…." Draco said, he didn't like the idea of Harry with his Father.
"Why do you not like him?" Harry asked. He had called something of a truce with the man, after the war. Lucius did save his life during it. Harry had even testified for Draco.
Draco was on his feet within a flash. "He's a bloody murderer, He had my mother Killed!!"
"Draco, that wasn't him, I saw it" Harry tried to reason. He had witnessed the murder of Narcissa Malfoy. He was also the one who killed Severus Snape. Something he never meant to do.
Lunch with Lucius was…exotic. For starters it was salad, and the main course was Lobster. Something Harry had not had before but it tasted delicious. Especially dipped in butter. For desert, Lucius just had aged wine while Harry had ice cream.
".." Harry began but Lucius insisted on first names. "Lucius…What do you do here all day long?"
"I usually read," Lucius said as he watched an elf clear the table. "and Drink Wine"
"Do you live here" Harry asked, after all Lucius Malfoy was pretty much dead to the world.
"Oh no, I live in Malfoy Manor" Lucius replied softly.
"I thought Draco lived there…"
"the place where my son lives in only a Malfoy estate. It is not Malfoy manor , whoever much he may wish it to be"
2so you're here to relax and stuff?"
"you ask an awful lot of questions" Lucius chided as he gave a rich masculine laughter.
"I..I'm sorry," Harry apologised, blushing a little.
"why the sudden interest in me?" Lucius asked as he approached Harry. "I thought you were with my son"
"I…I'm not…It's not simple.." Harry saw no reason to hide it. Lucius already suspected it and seemed to know the vile secret….
"I see" Lucius only said as he took another sip of his drink.
"look, what do you want from me?" Harry asked almost irritated.
"Want.."
"ever since I got here, you've been watching me and..and.."
Lucius was stop so close now, they're knees were almost brushing and Harry had a clear view of the clean shaven face, the Adonis body that was structured too much like a god…
"this is an old routine, talking me into submission with your charming friendliness and I think you're full of shit" Harry said,…or would have said if he had not been kissing the man.
"You not kissing back" Harry said softly as he leaned into Lucius.
"Maybe we should take this somewhere else" Lucius whispered into Harry's ear as his long silky blonde hair tickled Harry's arms.
"Mm" Harry was a little too lost in lust..desire..Love?
As they left the dining room, passed the living room and left for one of the wings, one of the portraits watched silently. A small smile on the face, a sad smile. The black haired man looked around the empty room before disappearing away once again.
That night, Draco and Harry met outside on the beach where the water was cold and the moon was out.
"Draco.."
"Harry, where've you been? I was about to leave"
"Oh Draco," Harry began. He couldn't do it anymore. "We've got to stop this"
"What?...Why!?" Draco asked puzzled.
"Because it's wrong!" Harry replied in a pleading tone. "She's my best friend!!"
"No, Harry please" Draco was also pleading. "I love You!"
"oh please, you say that just lie everybody else, to control me, to have some sort of an attachment to me…You've got it so easy. A wife, kids, relatives and many smiling friends. If I stop this…This arrangement we have, it ruins the cosy set-up and you have to0 look outside and you daren't do that because it's far too risky, and it would mean that step to becoming a gay man which your not!"
"Who says?"
"Of Draco, Draco" Harry sounded almost loving. "that ring tells me so"
An elf was hiding in the bushes. It had been sent to deliver a present from Hermione to the two friends but it was frozen in place with shock.
There was silence for a little while, during which the elf thought the two men were kissing.
"Your not gay" Harry went on at last. "your not even Bi. The labels don't figure with men like you. Your just a married man who just happens to have stumbled on an incredibly convenient way of getting his rocks up twice as often without actually having to think yourself an adulterer."
Draco was about to retort but Harry was not done yet.
"you run no risk of me ever making demands you know how it would make me look to the entire world!"
"and do you?" Was Draco's reply.
"what?" he asked almost incredulously.
"Want me full-time?2
"have I ever implied that I did?"
"no, but that's because you've always been so brilliant about it. I mean you could have made my life hell but you never made a demand. It must've crossed your mind at one point though"
"oh Draco, please just let me go. We have to end this now!"
"you've found someone else haven't you?" Draco accused. "It's Wood isn't it!?!"
"and since when do you have dibs on me?!?" Harry suddenly snarled. "you've always had Hermione, you've always had someone else!"
"I sensed it the moment we got here!"
"Draco?2
"Oh Merlin's beard, You have"
"I have not!"
"you've got no idea how I feel, you think it's just all about sex!"
"And isn't it?" Harry retorted. He was angry.
"only because it's all we have time for!" Draco almost sounded angry but he was still anchord with sadness and desperation. "I've been dreaming about this holiday with you!"
"oh yes, with your children and father. How wonderfully fantastic!"
Then Draco broke down and wept. The first time Harry had ever seen Draco this distraught was at his mothers funeral.
"Stop it!" Harry urged. "oh please, I had no…Draco, please you'll set me off" Harry laughed awkwardly. "oh please Draco, here. Shh"
Gradually the tears and weeping sounds subsided. They were replaced by kisses and a low moan, and the elf was unfrozen from it's place of hiding by disgust.
The crude little elf raced away silently and from a safe distance she apparated away to her mistress.
"Master Master!!" It screeched as it came to a halt in front of Hermione.
It told Hermione everything. Replaying magically. The expressions changed on her masters face as they turned fiery red with anger.
Hell hath no wrath like a woman's scorn.
For three months Hermione made Draco's life hell. Sending him howlerss almost daily. She took her anger out on her husband but not on harry. Never on harry. She blamed herself sometimes, thinking she pushed them both too much untill they were tieed of her…and rthen Draco's birthday had come. Hermione had appeared on his doorsetp with red blotchy tears and slapped him sharply, however things were all back to normal after that…though Harry was never welcomed into they're house again.
"Stupid child" Lucius almost seethed when harry had turned up at the mans gate, tears streaming down his face. "I told you Draco was a fool to have gotten married with a mud blood!"