A/N: Holy shit! Two hundred reviews is almost here! Maybe I should do something special after two hundred! –hint hint-!

Chapter 10

As Lucius opened the broom shed he noticed a rather moldy smell and sneered at it.

Harry stepped up beside the man, in front of the large shed door, after seeing his reaction. As soon as he got a whiff of the shed, he snatched a broom from the rack in the back and rushed back out, only breathing again after exiting the building.

He gagged and coughed on the smell before straightening himself and standing off to the side, now facing Lucius again.

The veela had watched his mate with half amusement, half dread that he would have to complete a similar action because the smell inside –he was sure- was worse than merely standing at the door.

He decided he would have an elf work on the smell as they flew, but he needed a broom first. After all, it would take much too long if they had to wait for the house-elves to clean up the shed.

He could feel his mate's anxiety. The dark-haired man was full of energy, that he clearly wanted to get out, and what better way than a game both would enjoy?

With a sturdy intake of breath, he tried to enter the shed more calmly. He managed the whole affair of grabbing the broom without gagging, or rushing in any manner.

As he began breathing again, his mate eyed him with a scowl for his calmness.

"Where is this field?" Harry questioned, looking away from the veela.

"Follow me." Lucius instructed as he began to walk a distance toward the forest. The broom shed and flying area were quite a distance apart. The field was off in the middle of the woods where a great space was clear and grew only gentle grass –perfect for flying and swooping low to the ground, or landing roughly, because there were no rocks of accountable size in the general area. The shed was placed near the Manor, as a statue's base, in the thick of the Malfoy Gardens.

The long trek to the field was mostly one of silence, though Lucius racked his brain for topics of conversation that were safe, yet interesting.

…

Needless to say, he came up with a sparse few.

…

"How are things?" Lucius began lamely and berated himself for the tattered beginning to a conversation.

"Things?" Harry queried in a slightly miffed manner. Even Draco could come up with better ways to break the ice than that. The man must really be nervous to be lacking that Malfoy grace he had had only moments before whilst entering the shed.

"Yes, things. How have you been since your graduation? Have you done anything of particular interest? Visited any new cultures? Learned anything you hadn't known before?" He corrected, regaining some dignity that he knew Harry recognized by the way he inclined his head in thought.

"I've been well. I've learned new magic since graduation. Several particular detection, warding, and shielding spells I immediately learned from my fellow Aurors that were of fantastic use to me this past year." He began without much emphasis, as if he could picture the times those spells had saved his life, but he didn't much want to bring them to the surface. He glanced at Lucius and saw the veela eager to listen to more of what he spoke.

He sighed in consent. What was the harm in revealing how his year had gone and who he had met? The man wanted to get to know him better. Perhaps they could both learn interesting things about each other and make their situation more bearable on both parts. Mayhap, he might even find Lucius to be a better friend than Draco. The older blonde did seem so much easier to talk to. It was just something inside Harry that made him hesitate, though he didn't quite know why. His childhood came back to him as he fell into his own thoughts rudely.

He had never been able to really learn to make friendships. It was something that had always been hard for him. His uncle had told all of the neighborhood parents –who, in turn, told their kids- that he was a problem child and very freaky. It had forced Harry to never associate with practically anyone else until he was eleven. Because of his lack of contact with people, he not-easily trusted people and it had taken him forever to let his guard down around Draco. Hell, it was only because he was friends with Draco that he was even considering giving his father a chance.

At one point in his life he had been willing to accept anyone that would give him love, but now he was more careful to protect his heart –as it had been shattered and glued back together so many times now… he had to be careful to protect himself, or there would be no heart to break the next time.

"Harry." Lucius whispered softly to bring the teen back to his surroundings. They were now just entering the forest and Harry smiled sheepishly as he glanced at Lucius, a blush rising to his cheeks.

"Sorry. Floated off for a moment there. Where was I? Uh, yeah, learned some new stuff when I was with my Auror friends, and also visited a lot of neat places. I once saved an elf from a vampire." He added as if boasting.

Lucius' brows rose in shock. It was quite a feat to save an elf; quite worth boasting, indeed.

"Amazing." The veela commented in praise. "How had the vampire caught the elf?"

"Oh, it was really just an accident that I happened upon them, but I wasn't on duty one mission when we were down South, and as I was wandering a nearby city I heard a desperate cry. An Ancient vampire had found a distracted submissive elf. He had been cackling about what sweet blood he would draw from the elf and how he hadn't had that pleasure for more than a millenium. I cast a sun-ball spell that cost me nearly half my magic, but it did the trick and burned the vampire so badly that he nearly didn't make it away from me and into the forest for safety from the light." Lucius' mouth was agape as he stared at his startling mate. That was quite a powerful spell to be cast so casually, and on only one vampire. "The elf turned out to be the mate to some High Elf of the Elf Kingdom. When her mate found us there –me tending to her wounds with what little healing magic I knew- he almost thought that I was the aggressor, but his mate sorted everything out and I was in their good graces. She said that she had merely been distracted thinking of her mate and gotten lost, which made her easy prey in the dark of night without her mate." Harry explained proudly.

"What did they offer you for such a deed?" The veela wondered curiously.

Harry's face darkened somewhat sadly. "They offered me many things, but I opted to merely know where I could reach them if I was ever in need of their aid, which they offered wholeheartedly." He didn't elaborate any more and Lucius didn't press the subject.

"Hmm." Lucius hummed softly to himself as he thought of veelas and their mates. "Yes, mates –whether dominant or submissive- tend to be rather protective, thinking of their mate and their mate's needs rather often." He explained, trying to show how he felt to Harry without outright saying it.

Lucius eyed Harry's slim form in the moments of silence that followed. Draco had been right; Harry was defined in all the right spots when he wore the smaller robes. He would thank his son when he spoke to him again later.

"Did you ever try to marry Draco off?"

It was quite a sudden question, and not one Lucius had been expecting in the least.

"What makes you ask a thing like that?" He asked after a moment.

"I was told that that was what all pureblooded families did. They picked another pureblooded person of good breeding and arranged for them to be married when they turned a certain age. I was just curious if you ever planned anything like that for Draco."

"No." Lucius shook his head. "Never. The day he was born, I held him in my arms for most of the day, and later, when he opened his eyes, I could tell he had veela in him. It was just something that one veela could see in another, like being able to tell what someone's eye color is. Just something very obvious, but cloudy at times because of mixing. I could see it in him though, and I knew he would never be happy like I wanted him to if we arranged for him to marry some random person. It was then that I realized what a mistake it was to serve the Dark Lord. Really, if Draco's mate turned out to be a Muggle, or a mixed witch, was I going to condemn him for what was born to him? Of course not. I had no choice but to abide by the Dark Lord though. Had I betrayed him, Draco would have never seen his maturity age. Do you understand?"

Harry nodded slowly, processing the information. It was easier for Harry to see why Draco was so absorbed in acting in only ways that would cause his father pride. His father was an honorable family man deep down. Perhaps those things Draco had been telling him were true?

They walked on in silence, the wind swirling the leaves around the trees and rustling the branches from one tree to another.

"So… how old are you?"

That struck hard. Lucius hid his worry and fear without fault and turned slightly so that he could see his mate's reaction to his age.

"Thirty-eight."

Harry's smile was almost unnoticeable, but it caused Lucius to gape at the younger man. Why was he smiling! Could it be…?

"So you were my age when you had Draco." Harry murmured, only causing Lucius to frown with confusion. His mate was baffling him more with each word.

"Yes, I suppose I was." Lucius agreed, feeling every bit as old as he had spoken. He was twice his mate's age…

Harry smiled nostalgically. Kids… He thought sadly. Maybe in my next lifetime. He spoke no more of his reasons for smiling to the older Malfoy who then began stewing about their age gap again.

"When is your birthday?" Lucius wondered, knowing that his own was coming up in a few months.

"July." Harry answered easily. "Yours?"

"Soon." He grumbled. "Two months."

"What month is it right now?" Harry wondered as he looked around at the falling leaves.

"You don't know!" The veela snapped back in shock beginning to laugh inwardly as he waited for the confirmation.

"It's autumn!" Harry responded defensively. "I've been gone for a while, is all! I'm barely able to keep track of what day of the week it is, let alone what month it is. Just answer me and bugger off."

The blonde couldn't help but snicker at that. How humorous. The poor boy didn't even know what month it was!

"August." He answered through his laughs.

"Thank you, Sir Laughs A Lot." The youth retorted. "Your birthday is in October?"

"All Hallows Eve." Lucius nodded.

"Sounds fun." Harry murmured. "My birthday's not near anything special like that. It's just at the end of the month. You know?" He shrugged.

They continued walking –Harry occasionally commenting on the weather or a flower that caught his eye.

"Do you still have it?" Harry asked suddenly.

"Have what?" Lucius asked with his brow raised.

"The Mark." The dark-haired man clarified. No more needed to be said.

Instead of answering Lucius rolled up the sleeve to his left arm and showed Harry the expanse of pale smooth skin until the junction of the elbow where the mark had been and only a slight scar remained.

"It disappeared with that bastard's magic. I have you to thank for that, too." He spoke sincerely.

Harry examined the arm stopping their trek for a moment as he grabbed the strong arm for closer examination.

At the contact Lucius' body temperature rose several degrees and the terrible feeling that had been eating away at him –the longing and desire- was momentarily abated as his mate's fingers grazed the quarter-sized scar on the belly of his arm.

"Some Death Eaters remain with The Mark; some end up with large burn scars that take up the entire space of where the scar had been. We had a theory that the size of the burn was debated by how loyal they had been, but we decided that that was crap because some very weak, disloyal pieces of shit still had The Mark. My guess is that it is the power of the wizard combined with their loyalty for their master that destroyed The Mark. Once the master of the magic was gone, so was the power keeping The Mark alive. All that was then needed was a purer energy to combat with the evil of The Mark. Your veela power must have disintegrated every last bit of The Mark." He reasoned, all the while caressing the scar.

Was this really happening? Was his mate really caressing his old scar? Had he just insinuated that Lucius was made of more pure magic than most? Would the wizard trust his intentions now? Would he be more open to the veela?

"You can't be all too pure, though." Harry murmured as he released his firm grip and feather touches. "The scar's still there."

"Probably my conniving Slytherin side." Lucius reasoned in jest, not really able to be saddened by his mate's words much when he considered the amount of progress they had just made. To him, they had just leapt over a giant hurtle, and now were faced with mere hills.

"More sly and contemplative than conniving, I'd say." Harry voiced as he began walking again.

Lucius caught up easily –with his slightly longer legs- in only two strides and smiled at the Gryffindor. "What would provoke a lion to say that?" He queried with an amiably raised brow.

"This lion happens to know –and have gotten into many fights with- a snake, and has come to the conclusion that-" He paused to glare at Lucius, "And should you ever tell another soul I said this, I shall take great joy in disemboweling you." Lucius gulped visibly. "-snakes tend to think things through more thoroughly than lions, and they aren't all bad; just as not all Gryffindors run head-long into things without thinking them through." He eyed Lucius for one meaningful moment before looking back to where he was walking.

The veela understood. Harry was speaking of himself at the end. He was thinking things completely through before making a move. More of a Slytherin move than a Gryffindor one, but wise nonetheless.

Despite being excluded from earlier events, Lucius felt this day was the second best one of his entire life. The first would have to be the first whole day Lucius got to spend with his son, the day he was born, while Narcissa was being treated by a medi-witch. He doubted anything could ever top that… well… perhaps the day his mate and he finally married, or mated… whichever came first.

Lucius was thrown from his thoughts when he suddenly bumped into an immobile Harry. They both stumbled for a moment before regaining their balance, but the veela was quite happy for their connection in that moment. He was getting a lot of contact with his mate today! Why had his mate stopped so abruptly though?

Looking up, Lucius realized they had arrived.

Ah. The field.

A/N: If we hit two hundred reviews before two weeks from now, then I'll update early. We'll just call it a marker or something. –smiles-

A-Brighter-Dawn: I'm really sorry about your friend posting a story under your account. I understand how that made you feel. I'm glad me updating was able to make you a bit more cheerful.

Chocolatedemon: Thanks. I try very hard to make sure my wording is normal, as if I were actually telling the story to you instead of explaining the facts of what happened in my head. I used to write "he said" "she said" but it never looked right, so… anyway thanks for the thoughtful comments.

Daftmeg: Yes, I do imagine Crookshanks as a bit of a Garfield. Cats are supposed to sleep most of the day anyway, so I figure if I were him I'd be extremely grumpy about my lack of sleep. I was also tired at the time so that probably contributed to it.

HecateDeMort: Thanks, Pumpkin. I don't know why I called you that, but… I like it. Pumpkin. Do you mind? –chuckle-

Strega: Yes! There is plenty of plotting. I see myself as very Slytherin though I love the color red as well, so… I understand the whole pride-of-thine-colors (in my school it's pride-of-thine-shops, like Carpentry against Plumbing –damn Shit-chasers) but I also love other colors… and you also need Plumbers to fix your toilets, so there's no way to get around interacting with the fuckers. Pardon my French. Don't know where that phrase came from either! Ha! Wow, I'm in a funny mood right now. Sorry if I offended you!

Salena-Jagonashi: Dude, thanks! I used to say 'dude' all the time, then people started making fun of me for it… now they say it constantly… I guess I grew on them, and you just reminded me of that. It made me smile!

Immortal Memories: Yes, poor Harry. But you want to know what's worse than having two scheming veelas after you… having two angry scheming veelas after you…

GothicAnn87: I think I answered your question in that email I sent you. If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask away. Sorry this took so long to update, but it wasn't my fault this time. It was being down on the day I was ready to update –Monday.

SheWolfe7: You liked the animal conversation too? Cool! I was hoping that would go over well. I can just picture those two doing that too. They don't agree completely, but cooperate for their own gains.

Death-by-Inkpen: No! You're not a horrible cyber friend! You're a wonderful friend because, you see, you thought enough of me to at least say something, whether it's several chapters later or not. It's okay to not review every chapter, as long as you check in with thoughts on some of my cuter ideas and make sure I know you're still with me!

Anux: Well, something happened this chapter, it just wasn't anything too thrilling… yet. I wanted the relationship to progress as far as knowledge of each other, but I've also got some rather –cough cough- interesting parts planned and written out already. We just have to lead up to them. I don't know how long it will take. Hopefully not too long!

Rini: Thanks for the thoughts. Your name makes me think of Sailor Moon's daughter. –smile- Brings back memories. –sighs-

KatFay: How else would Lucius get harry to spend time with him… in close contact for a long period of time? It is a very long walk to the field, then there's the "accidental" collisions or whatnot… I think you can see where his veela mind was going with this.

Lykaios Nyx: You're the only one that commented on him whistling… ha! I thought it would be adorable. I, myself, can't whistle, but if I could and I were in that situation I would be whistling down the hall, not only because I'm happy, but also to annoy the portrait. And yes, when I'm talking about the "later conversation" I'm talking about 'Oh, sorry, Lucius, but Harry will be leaving in less than a month so you'll have to pick up the pace a bit and if you screw it up and piss him off you may never see him again.' Hope that cleared things up?

Pure Black: Glad you like it. If you have any questions, please ask. Some people were confused about 'the conversation' I was referring to, and the random characters I planned earlier.

Dark-Faerie161: It's alright that you haven't reviewed or even read anything of mine in a while. I'm just glad you're still with me. –smile- I appreciate you, you know?

A/N: Ah! So… on to the next chapter. Hopefully nothing will be wrong with when I go to update next time. We can hope!