Helping
By J.C. Vascardi
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Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relate to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I am not profiting from this story and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The only things about this story that I own are the storylines, places or characters that are not in the books.
Summary: Written for classy78. Charlie helps Draco overcome his emotional distress and they fall in love. Later, their relationship grows, as they help Harry overcome his distress.
Pairing: Charlie/Draco/Harry
Warnings: Slash, Threesome, Mentions of a Dominant/Submissive Relationship
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Considering the many bad things he'd said over the years in regards to Ron and his family, it was probably unthinkable to many people that Draco Malfoy would be in a serious romantic relationship with a Weasley. In some ways, even Draco still had a hard time with it as it was the last thing he'd expected. He had been in a bad place emotionally following his flight from Hogwarts the night that he'd let the Death Eaters in and honestly he hadn't expected compassion from anyone. Expected or not, that is what he got, however, when he ran into Charlie Weasley.
Having never even considered the idea of becoming a dragonologist, even though his name meant dragon, Draco had never bothered to do much reading about the profession. So, he didn't know that most dragonologists were empathic. In hindsight, Draco could see how being able to sense the emotions of the giant beasts could come in handy, since they didn't speak any known language that a human was capable of understanding. At any rate, he ran into Charlie and immediately the older man could read Draco's emotions and knew that he felt tremendously guilty for his actions that night, so it was probably a good thing that it was Charlie that Draco met instead of anyone else.
The redhead was very kind and after Draco explained some of the details of why he'd let the Death Eaters in, Charlie made it clear that if he'd been placed in the same situation, he couldn't say that he would have reacted any differently. Draco didn't believe him at first, but he did after they talked a bit more and the blond realized that the Weasleys weren't all that different from the Malfoys. While it was true that one family was wealthy and the other dirt poor, one thing that both held in common was a strong familial bond. Family was paramount and any threat against the family had to be taken seriously, especially when it was coming from Voldemort.
Even with a supportive ear to talk with it about, however, it was still clear that Draco blamed himself for the events of that night. Charlie, however, wasn't having it and took charge, refusing to allow Draco to wallow in guilt for doing what he thought he had to do in order to keep his family safe. It perhaps wasn't what either of them expected moving on from that evening, but it wasn't long before Charlie and Draco were a couple. He'd never thought he'd like a Weasley in that way, but there was just something about Charlie that Draco really liked. He even managed to ignore it when Charlie called him "my little dragon" which coming from anyone else would probably have resulted in them being hit with several very painful dark curses.
Keeping their relationship a secret over the following year, Charlie and Draco grew ever closer. Something else that shocked Draco was that he learned that he enjoyed being dominated on occasion and Charlie was only too happy to oblige him, so long as Draco returned the favor once in awhile. They limited their domination games to the bedroom, deciding that if their relationship stood any chance of lasting they had to remain equal partners in all other aspects of their lives. All in all, it worked well for them and they thrived as a couple.
Following Voldemort's defeat, there were of course several very large parties to celebrate his defeat and Charlie and Draco attended more than a few of them. While the fact that they were a couple was not public knowledge yet, they had forged a friendship which they didn't hide, so nobody really questioned Draco's presence at the parties celebrating Voldemort's defeat. Well, Ron did, but Draco chose to ignore him. Draco had honestly come to think of Charlie as the best thing that ever happened to him, so he wasn't about to get on his bad side by rising to Ron's baiting comments, even though Charlie had made it clear he wouldn't hold it against him if he was provoked.
Anyway, it was at one of these parties, that Draco noticed Harry Potter standing off to the side of the room. While he didn't have Charlie's empathy, he liked to think he was good at reading people's body language and what he was seeing from Harry confused him. Pulling Charlie off to the side, Draco motioned towards the raven-haired teen and asked, "Isn't that Potter?"
Looking where his lover was pointing, Charlie nodded and said, "Yeah, it is. Why's he standing all by himself?"
"I don't know," Draco said. "Can you get a read on him?"
Nodding, Charlie concentrated on Harry. After a minute, he said, "He's in serious emotional turmoil."
"He just killed the Dark Lord," Draco said. "I would think he'd be happy."
Charlie nodded. "A very small part of him is. However, he's also feeling guilty and overwhelmed."
"Why?"
"If I know, Harry, it's because of the deaths this war has caused," Charlie said. "First, it took Cedric. I don't know if you know this or not, Draco, but Harry and Cedric were a couple when he died."
"No, I didn't know that," Draco said. Having found love and happiness with Charlie, Draco couldn't even begin to imagine how much it would hurt to lose him, so if Potter felt the same way about Cedric...
"There's also his godfather, Sirius," Charlie said, "Dumbledore, Fred, Dobby, Colin, Remus, Tonks... so many people dead and he probably thinks it's his fault because he didn't kill You-Know-Who fast enough."
Draco was about to say that was crazy, but stopped himself. Even though he wasn't friends with Potter, he thought he understood him pretty well and he realized after a moment that Charlie was probably correct. Deciding to focus on the other emotion Charlie had mentioned, he asked, "Overwhelmed?"
"I'd guess by the media and pretty much everyone," Charlie said. "Harry has never liked his fame, seeing as it stems from something that happened when he was a year old and cost him his parents. How would you feel about being famous for something you can't even remember? And then there's Teddy."
"Teddy?" Draco asked. "Who's Teddy?"
"Teddy Lupin," Charlie answered. "Remus' son with Tonks. With them dead, Harry probably feels a great weight has been placed on his shoulders - he is the boy's godfather after all."
"So, he doesn't even have time to mourn his loved ones," Draco ventured. "He's being bombarded by interview requests and feels he needs to step up and care for his godson."
"Pretty much," Charlie said. "Honestly, I'm worried for him. Those emotions are going to consume and destroy him if he's not careful. And he's a Gryffindor. Careful is generally not one of our strong suits."
"True," Draco agreed. After a moment of thought, he said, "We should help him, Charlie."
Charlie gave his lover a wary look. "Who are you and what have you done with my boyfriend?"
Draco playfully swatted the older man's arm and said, "I'm serious, Charlie. Truth is, I've had a crush on Potter for years. I don't want to see him destroy himself. After everything he's done he deserves to be happy." After a moment of silence he added, "You think maybe he'd be open to being our third?"
Charlie and Draco had discussed the possibility of bringing a third person into their relationship. Both of them were on board with the idea, but they hadn't been seriously looking for one either, deciding to let the chips fall where they may so to speak. Knowing that Harry had been with Cedric, Charlie knew he did fancy men at least a little bit, so maybe it was possible. While his mother considered him her seventh son, Charlie couldn't say that he thought of Harry as a brother. He hadn't spent enough time with him for that.
Making up his mind, Charlie said, "It's worth a shot. Let's go."
To say Harry was shocked would be an understatement, but he found he wasn't totally repulsed by the idea. Both Charlie and Draco were good looking and even if it didn't turn out to be a long-term thing, Harry wasn't going to say no to a few rounds of comfort sex. That might have shocked some people, but he was far from being as virginal and innocent as many believed. In the end, it did work out and three of them became inseparable. Harry even joined in on the domination games and came to quite enjoy them, more so then he thought he would. Of course, the chance to occasionally treat a willing Draco like his slave may have played a part.
They were certainly worried about the reactions that their unconventional relationship would generate from family, friends, and the world at large, but they decided not to dwell on it too much. As long as they had each other, they could do anything.
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The End
So, I hope you enjoyed this, classy78, and I sincerely apologize again for the long wait. I was tempted to tack on another 500 words since it took my almost a year to finish your prompt, but in the end I didn't because I got to where it ended and to me it just seemed like a good place to end it. So, like the others, it's exactly 1,500 words. Let me know what you think. As for anyone else reading this, I hope you enjoyed it. And if you're wondering about the 1,500 word limit, it's because this is from a prompt given to me on my journal in which I offered to write 10 ficlets of no more than 1,500 words. This was the tenth and final fic. I hope everyone who reads it enjoys it.