Irrevocable Bonds

Chapter 11

Date: June 25, 2018

Disclaimer: I do not own this fandom nor make any profit from the writing of this fiction.

"Draco…Draco! Get out of the bed!"

Harrison did not raise his voice though it was a very near thing. The blond in the bed refused to surface from his cocoon of green and black covers. In fact, he snuggled even further in so that the tiny tuft of blond that had existed above the blankets disappeared. With a huff of air and a swish of his skirts, Harry brandished his wand causing the covers to vanish and soaking his step son with frigid water.

"HARRY!" Draco was up and out of the bed in a wet fury while his father's wife laughed uproariously at him from across the room.

"I gave you ample warning. You have no rights to complain. Now, we have things to speak of before breakfast, so chop chop, hop to." Harry clapped his hands and made a shooing motion to the blond toward the bathroom.

"What!? I still have an hour left before I have to rush to breakfast. I'm going back to sleep."

"No. You are going to get dressed, we are going to talk and then you are going to send your father a very detailed letter from the both of us before Dumbledore has time to manipulate the situation to his favor." Draco looked at the dark haired teen before him with narrowed eyes before summoning his clothes with a grumble and heading into the bathroom.

"I want sweets for this." Harry waved him off with a dismissive motion.

"What situation do you speak of that could possibly be turned in Dumbledork's favor?" Draco inquired as he set about the finishing touches on his wardrobe for the day.

"Neville and I were having a private conversation, which I ensured remained quiet. However, given that the location was Gryffindor Tower Common Room, I believe that they will attempt to use the situation to start a scandal that begins and ends with my marriage to your father. Despite the fact that the Common Room is a very public space and neither Neville nor I attempted abscond into the shadows for a clandestine meeting."

"Is there anything that we should be worried about?" Draco asked suspiciously. Green eyes sent shivers along his spine as they bore into him.

"Of course not, Draconis." Harry intoned frigidly. "I would never betray your father and especially not by blatantly galavanting about with the person I am having mythical relations with."

BOY-WHO-LIVED TURNED LADY MALFOY ADULTERESS!

This reporter has found that the recently wedded Malfoys have seemingly already experienced an end to their newly wedded bliss. According to an extremely credible informant, Harrison Malfoy, nee Potter, was seen with his hands all over the handsome and young Heir Longbottom. The two were so ensconced in their intimate and private conversation that they seemed to have forgotten the Gryffindor Common Room full of students around them….

For more information refer to page 6.

Harrison nearly spewed milk when he finally read the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. Whilst he had expected to make a bit of a fuss the article was a bit much, and that was only the first paragraph. An innocent touch to a friends arm had become a flaming and torrid love affair that he was certain to incur his husband's undivided attention. It remained to be seen if that was to be a good or bad thing. He could only wonder why they were so determined to destroy the little bit of happiness that he had managed to carve out for himself. Did he not deserve it just as much, if not more, than they?

Lucius Malfoy could only read the morning edition of the Daily Prophet with curious amusement. The headline for the day was certainly eye catching, however it was entirely unbelievable. It was not just the fact that Rita Skeeter had written the article that made it so unworthy of the paper it was etched into, but the fact that Lord Malfoy knew his Lady. Harrison had never been the type to betray anyone and he would most certainly never do it such a way as described by Skeeter. The boy had faced too much betrayal and deceit of his own to ever be comfortable enough to hurt someone else that way, especially after their emotion filled honeymoon. However, it was just more fuel to Dumbledore's quickly burning firedom. The fact that Skeeter had such information meant that either the Headmaster had broken the charter laws and allowed the press to invade a school full of underage children outside of sanctified bounds such as Quidditch or other competition or he had allowed students to break the privacy clause of their school contract in order to leak information on other underage students.

It was rather satisfying to merely sit back and watch the desperate fool work himself into a deeper hole. He would be more than happy to let Augusta Longbottom deal with this breach of contract against her beloved grandson. Harry was technically emancipated at this point and therefore, exempt from the clause, but Neville Longbottom was still more than a year from his coming of age. He moved his tea cup up to his mouth just in time for a stack of letters to appear on the table before him. His wife's improving handwriting caught his attention, picking up the letter to notice his son's directly beneath. With a raised eyebrow, he opened Harry's letter first and gave a small chuckle as he read the contents. Of course, Harry would want to cut the head off of the snake even though there was no need to worry on his part. However, it seemed he was determined to bare everything in their relationship for the sake of honesty and a sturdy foundation of his vow. He would allay those fears as soon as he made his way to his study. First, he was going to finish his delightful cuppa and check in with Healer Casey about Harry's next appointment.

Albus Dumbledore could admit, if only to himself, that he had been too hasty in his attempt to rend the Malfoy couple apart. He had forgotten for a moment that Mr. Longbottom was underage despite having taken up the proper title of Heir Longbottom. That moment of confundity was coming back to bite him hard in the rear end as he now had Augusta breathing fire down his neck for the gross invasion of privacy of her underage grandson. She had been light supportive after the hospitalization of her son and daughter-in-law. It seems in light of his media faux pas, he had lost that much needed backing. The only bright side was that she did not seem to be chomping at the bit, so to speak, to support or join Voldemort's efforts. However, if he did not find a way to pacify her soon, he knew that the few remaining light alined pureblood families, and their pocketbooks, would hear of her wrath and withdraw as well. If there was one thing that all purebloods had in common, it was their need to protect their children above all else. If they had any doubt in his ability to do that, he could kiss everything he had worked for goodbye.

There would be no more Hogwarts, no more Supreme Mugwump and definitely no more sway in the politics of their world. He needed his position in Hogwarts in order to secure the future and he needed the position of Supreme Mugwump to remain in the realm of politics after the Wizenmagot had all but cut him off at the knees. Albus took a deep breath, picked up another lemon drop and sucked on it as he pondered his next steps. He had to think things out once more rather than letting impatience and anger at Harry's independence cloud his mind and confuse his goals. There was a solution to this just waiting to be found and he just needed to remain in control of himself to regain his control of the war and the British Wizarding World at large.

A/N: Thanks everyone for being so patient, between work and kids its hard to find the time or the motivation to write. I have not abandoned you though and will continue this story to its finish. As always, let me know what you think.

Cheers!

Nama