Pairing: HP/LM
Rating: R
Warning: Slash, angst, M/M, Mpreg
Disclaimer: All characters from Harry Potter belong to JK Rowling and Warner Brothers. I'm just an obsessed maniac who is also an insomniac thanks to the voices in her head. The Thistleton Hotel really exists and I have never been in there. I am not making any money out of this and use the Hotel name purely because it was in the right local and I liked how it looked from the outside. Trust me, if you try to sue me, it won't get you any money cos I'm dirt broke already!
Archived: ask please
Feedback: Desperately needed…
A/N: First of all, I'm so sorry guys that this took so long. I really had a lot of trouble with this chapter, Luc and Harry totally refused to cooperate. It might be some time for the next chapter to be done so I hope you'll all bear with me. It's mid-term week, so I'll be busy studying. I want to thank all of you who reviewed! I made 106! WOW!!! Hehe, although, part of that is due to KittenBabyGirl who accomplished that in an utterly Slytherinish manner. She already has the bonus slash chapter. I'll bet if you all ask her nicely, or heck even email me and ask nicely I'll send a copy to you all. Fortissimo, I used to have a pet cat which is what I've based Waz' reactions upon. I'm truly flattered that you are calling your cat Waz now.Kandra, Draco will only enter the picture in a few more chapters, I'm working on it... As you can see, Luc didn't say anything to Harry about the incident. Sorry about the time hop. I need to move things along. Two more weeks before they get separated so Harry can go back to school. Things need to happen before that can occur so...
Darcey Nokomis, I'm so glad I managed to get you aboard the LM/HP ship.. another one bites the dust, and another one bites, and another one bites, another one bites the dust :
Lucie, well, the reason behind the POVs are because they cannot trust each other yet. They aren't ready to. I'm going to change that over the next few chapters but I needed to establish a tentative trust between the two first. I kinda see these two characters as very complicated people who have been used to many times too open up easily with others. Lucius feels betrayed because he opened up before and then found out he had been fooled. Harry is confused because his opinion of the nasty, evil Malfoy is totally turned on its head, hence the distrust between the two. Oh dear, maybe I haven't been clear enough. Sorry, I hope this clears up. More interaction will occur in the next few chapters when they start losing their inhibitions a little.
Saavik, thanks for the recommendation, I'll look into it when I can. Email me with your addy and I'll mail you the bonus chapter if you still want it.
Dhiana, yes, you may. And yes, you did ask me before and I think I said yes, unless I forgot too, sorry, I have horrible memory as well. Glad you found the chapter funny. I was reaching for that reaction! Yay!
To all those who reviewed as well, thank you so much for taking the time to review! I am so glad you enjoyed my fic and I hope you will continue reading it. Don't worry, the pace is going to be picked up and soon, it will all unfold... Complete appreciation to my Betas, Ruhgozler and Lillian, and here you go, on with the show.
Second week of August, Summer 1996, London
Although that day was not an unusual day for Wizarding standards, it marked a decided change in their relationship. Both Lucius and Harry made concerted attempts to put aside their differences and form a tentative truce. Of course, they did not bother to tell each other about the truce. It remained unspoken as both refused to allow the other to see them crack. Instead, defensive walls were slowly lowered and each took the time to really observe and learn as much of the other as possible.
Mornings and nights were spent training with Harry learning as much as he could and working diligently. In turn, Malfoy was patient, well, after working with Snape, anyone else would be deemed as patient to Harry. Afternoons were spent wandering about London, Harry in his panther form took in the sights with eyes wide open, oohing and ahhing constantly. All the other times he had been to London, he had had no time nor had been allowed to take a good look around. As Lucius walked around London meeting contacts and being seen looking for Harry to fool Voldemort, Harry took the opportunity to experience all that he had read and heard about the city.
Lucius on the other hand, had been to these areas several times before but found new appreciation for them after watching Harry staring avidly at the buskers whilst walking down Piccadilly Circus. In fact, sometimes he purposely lingered at a particular spot to allow the boy more time to watch like that time with the Scottish Bag pipe players in front of /Lily White's/. Of course Harry's fascination there didn't compare one bit to the time when Lucius brought him to Fortnum and Mason's. His eye's nearly bugging out, the boy couldn't stop talking about how he had not known it was a wizard/muggle shop run by a family of squibs. Something about an aunt always wanting to shop where the Queen shopped and how surprising no one realized those awesome window displays were made by anything other then magic.
Lucius refused to listen to the voice inside his head that was constantly pointing out that he was getting too attached again by purposely bringing the boy to his favorite places and letting whimsy take him. Everything changed when Lucius brought Harry to his favorite place in all of London, Covent Garden. The place had always held the same wonder he had felt when he was a young child and his mother brought him here to meet her latest conquest, a muggle man she was using to get back at his father for not buying her the diamond crusted cloak she wanted. He was left to wander around the place under the watchful eye of an invisible house-elf, while she and the man went off somewhere.
It was there that he first saw the curious attempts muggles made at what they called magic. Sleight of hand and tricks of perception, all combined to give the illusion of magic. It fascinated him as a boy and still fascinates him now. No matter how hard he looked and how long he watched, it still puzzled him. How did they do it? Oh, some of the normal, common tricks he figured out after buying some muggle books called /Dummies Guide to Magic Tricks/. At first it had behooved him to buy a book meant for dummies but after trying out other various technical books, he finally knuckled down and resorted to them.
Merlin, this place just seemed to be able to make everything disappear into the sidelines leaving this surreal feeling behind. But, back to the topic at hand, it was at Covent Garden that things really came to a stand still. Perhaps it was some vague sentimentality but he had wanted to judge Harry's impression of the place. He purposely did not tell the boy where they were headed. Instead, he just walked in and headed to the front of the place, letting the ringing voices of the opera singing buskers wash over him and surreptitiously watching the panther out of the corner of his eye. The amazement and awe that Lucius had always felt here was reflected in Harry's eyes and in his expression. Over the course of the past few days, he had become somewhat of an expert at deciphering Harry's moods and feelings even though he was in his animagus form. A kind of empathic link had formed unconsciously between the two after spending so much time with just each other for company. That coupled with the fact that Lucius was ultimately more comfortable with Harry as Waz then as a human made it easier for him to read the boy. Something within Lucius unclenched at the look of wonder and pure bliss in the panther's eyes. He saw how much Waz enjoyed the very same things he himself enjoyed and a weird sense of oneness seemed to materialize between the two, a sense of belonging, of having someone to share this with. Stunned, all Lucius could do was sit down on the conveniently situated stone bench and stare absently at the panther, obliviously and rapturously listening to the singing and watching everything around him, fascinated.
Trying hard not to gape stupidly, Lucius struggled to regain control as scenes from the last couple of weeks flashed through his mind. Seeing himself cuddling on the floor with Waz after coming back from the meeting with Voldemort, remembering when Harry had broken down in the hotel room and the weird feeling of anger he had felt watching Severus comforting Harry. Then there was that time in the park with Waz and the squirrels and birds, and the last few days of teaching, talking, and just basically spending time quietly with Harry, alone together. All of this was compounded by the fact that Lucius had wanted, engineered to bring Harry to his favorite spot to share it with the boy. What on Earth was he thinking!? He had never brought anyone here before, to the only place where Lucius could forget everything and just become a faceless person in the crowd. And now, now he didn't know what to do.
A soft touch on his hand broke through his musings and shocked, he looked down at the animal sitting at his feet. Apparently, he must have been more out of it then he thought. One of the singers was standing in front of him offering a basket for him to put money into. The man must have been standing there for some time as Harry finally resorted to getting his attention by nuzzling Lucius' hand gently. Standing up quickly, Lucius dropped a couple of pound coins into the basket and motioned Waz to follow him. Impatiently, he shoved aside the vague sense of warmth and the pleased feeling he felt at Waz' actions. His puzzlement grew however, as he wondered how Waz could actually behave so affectionately with him knowing he was a Malfoy and a Death Eater to boot. For some strange reason, Lucius felt sad and disappointed at that thought and for the first time since he had come to Covent Garden, left feeling unsettled and confused.
TBC...
