by tati
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
Warning: This is a SLASH romance fic. There will be violence – there is ALWAYS violence in my stories. Nothing you read qualifies as NC-17 because I have read much worse that still fit the rules, so no tattling!
A/N: I'll try to update my stories (most of them) once every Saturday/Sunday/Friday, okay? Thank you for liking this chapter; I wasn't sure that it qualified as 'good.'
I am addressing some debatable issues in this chapter (why Narcissa is at Hogwarts and not with her mate, since she is a submissive) and I hope that my explanations pass muster. Thank you for reading!
Chapter 5 – Asking Narcissa Last Time…Neither could be bothered to turn and see their object of hate crying silently behind them as he followed like a puppy.
*
Harry woke the next morning and waited quietly in a corner of the living room for his new 'guardians' to wake. It took a good hour for Severus to enter, and Draco was still off in his dreamworld.
'See Snape Snarl' mused Harry as he watched the man storm out, completely missing the boy in the corner. He was glad he had gone unnoticed; there was a sneaky suspicion lurking in the back of his mind that, had Snape seen him, he would be currently sobbing at the man's feet. Oh how he hated this instability! Really, teenage hormones would have been bad enough, but this – this was hell.
Harry had always been a strong person; he was full of curiosity, could bear a short temper when pushed too far, and loved adventure. Despite the hatred focused on him in the Dursley household, he had managed to grow up with morals that never occurred to his 'normal' relations. They had rarely caused him physical harm – in point of fact, although he was starved, belittled, bullied, and regularly smacked for chores gone wrong, he could only remember one or two instances of a real beating, and so he guessed that they weren't that bad. They had certainly never broken him, and that was what he expected was the power lying in the hands of two of the many people who hated him; who both had a firm belief in his charmed life; no matter what Draco had taunted about being unwanted everywhere in Harry's second year (check the books – you'll find it somewhere), both believed Harry was spoiled and out to make their lives hell. And now Harry knew something terrifying just as he knew this odd love seeping into him was for the two who hated him: Draco and Severus could break him, and that thought chilled him even more than a Dementor's presence.
`````````````````````
Draco came stumbling tiredly out of the bedroom an hour later, and he scowled at Harry, who backed against the wall miserably.
"Stop cringing!" he snapped, exasperated. "It's bloody annoying. Let's get to breakfast." He shoved Harry out the door and – when they reached the Great Hall – pushed him with unnecessary force onto the Slytherin bench. His Housemates sniggered and two voices cut across the room.
"Leave Harry alone, you stupid git!" bellowed Ron. Hermione's own protests were cut short as she had to haul hard on Ron's robes to keep the furious boy from dashing over to deck Malfoy and save his friend. Harry shook his head at them.
"It's ok, you guys," he said. Ron shot him a disbelieving glance that was shared by Hermione, and they sat down hard, outburst forgotten, as Harry sat placidly beside Draco as the latter ate his morning meal. No one seemed to notice Harry's own skip of the morning course. He didn't think he could hold it anyway. Soon, Draco stood, wiping his mouth delicately and whisking Harry out of the room and away from prying eyes. Then he dragged the black haired boy into an empty storage room and slammed him against a wall.
"What did you think you were doing, answering them without permission?" he snarled into Harry's terrified face. "It's my business, not yours! You will shut up unless I say otherwise! Got it?!" Harry nodded frantically as Draco's arm rose to hit him; remembering vividly the last time the Veela boy had attacked him.
The hand descended, and the cracking sound of flesh-on-flesh echoed in the dusty room.
`````````````````````
Harry attended all of Draco's classes, and meekly followed the Malfoy heir back to Severus' rooms where he was promptly abandoned in favor of the Slytherin common room. Harry settled gingerly on the couch, his bruises from his first Draco-beating, the second, and his own uncle's heavy hand making even that small action painful. He began his homework to distract himself from the pain, but looked up an hour or so later when the door opened to admit Narcissa Malfoy. She swept regally up to Harry who nodded to her; his curiosity was aroused when she declined to leave after he informed her that both Severus and Draco were out somewhere. After a moment of indecision, she sat beside him.
"Harry," she began slowly, "This discovering you are a Fallen must have come as a shock. I would be willing to answer any questions you may have."
"How could you leave Lucius?" he asked immediately. She arched an inquiring eyebrow. "I mean, aren't you his Veela mate?"
"In a sense. Our marriage was purely political. While Fallen and Veela submissives can be mated to anyone, only Fallen submissives are forever bound to his or her dominant or dominants. I am Veela, or partly anyway.
"When I was an unmated submissive, a dominant could bowl me over, but once mated – which, for Veela there are two different mating types: the taking of Virginity; which gets rid of the adolescent scrambles, and the mating for Life – I am perfectly fine. Now, had my mating been the mating for Life – a bond forged through love – I would certainly still be under my dear husband's control. However, the mating was just to provide an heir, and Lucius never mistreats me because then I would leave, and what would that do for his image? But he wold have killed me had Draco announced his intentions of refusal and rebellion. Despite my son's absurd hatred of anything Potter, I do love him. So now I have left Lucius and he can do nothing because we are not attached. In fact, I could go and fetch myself a new mate if I so chose, but I do think I've had quite enough of that. Is there anything else you wish to know?" Harry nodded slowly; absorbing all he had been told.
"Do dominants always feel the need to hurt others?"
"No, but they are all control freaks. Some, like Lucius, like inspiring pain – it gives them a high – but others only want to be acknowledged as superior by the submissive they rule."
"When you said about the two types of mating … does that apply to Fallen submissives as well?"
"No. Any Fallen submissive who is taken with or without his or her consent is immediately bonded to whoever happened to have sex with them. And it has to be real intercourse – not just a blowjob, so you don't have to worry about that. When you are bonded you are ruled by your claimer and, should they be in danger, will always be there to attempt their saving … whether you wish to save them or not. However, the perks of being bonded is that you are only submissive to the mate or mates, and only if they require your submission at the moment." She gave him a shrewd look. "Now, why did you want to know about cruel dominants?" Harry flinched; he had thought she'd missed that when he'd asked the last question.
"Nothing. I'm just curious, and I haven't gotten to the Library yet …" Narcissa scowled and snatched his robe sleeve up, hissing at the bruise marks.
"Who – Draco, right?" Harry just looked at her. She shook her head furiously. "I knew he was upset when you deflected those friends of yours – and really, boy, a Mudblood? – but when he did nothing at table …"
"After," whispered Harry miserably. "An empty storage room. I didn't know that would upset him! Really! And …" Narcissa sighed in sympathy.
"You couldn't have known it would make him that angry, child," she soothed; pulling him into her side. Harry stiffened slightly, and tried to relax, but she had caught the involuntary movement. "What's wrong?" she asked. Harry mumbled to his lap, and Narcissa's voice turned strict. "Never mumble; that is the sign of impoverishment."
"I'm … just not used to hugs, that's all."
"Really? Why?" she questioned, actually sounding startled.
"The … Dursleys – my relatives – don't really like me much," he admitted slowly. "I'm just a burden to them."
"They abuse you?"
"No. I'm just slave labor. Nothing more nothing less. They fear that if they hurt me or starve and overwork me too much there will be retribution from my 'freak friends'. So my survival is assured. It's just … keeping me alive doesn't require hugs. Maybe a blow to the head, but nothing so demeaning as hugging what is abhorred." He frowned; no longer talking to Narcissa but sounding things out to himself. "Though if they knew I were gay even the threat of magic wouldn't stop them. They believe homosexuality is even worse than being a wizard. I think that's because Uncle Vernon is so intent on 'manly' things. They believe that being gay means 'sissy'." Narcissa just gave him another squeeze and waited until Harry was asleep on her shoulder to leave to yell at her son; conjuring the tired teen a quilt as a forethought instead of an afterthought.
He was such a sweet boy.
*
A/N: How do you like the ending? I was really proud of this one's end, though it'll look crappy in an hour or so. Check out my other works too!
September 25th was my Birthday! Yay! Fifteen at last! And I'm already into sophomore year too…hmm…I'll never be eighteen while in high school…odd. Thank you for all the wonderful reviews!
There are more important things occurring, though. Really, if anyone from the website Psyke hangs out on ffn.net, please contact me. Especially if you know or are Manchester_United_Fan (Lee). I miss him; though he's probably forgotten me. We only spoke once or twice.
If you are from ANY self-harm group or on your own or depressed, please feel free to write me. I suck at counseling and I guess I'm not all that nice, but…nevermind. I'm probably just saying that to make myself feel better (it's two days after I typed this chapter up and you have no idea how depressed I am at the moment – my subconscious is so going to kill me for actually posting this message – I overreact and overstate everything, and I'm sorry for wasting your time and – god.) Anyway, I suck, life sucks, and I hope yours improves. Right.
I have no idea what I set out to do when I began to re-edit this A/N, so I guess I'll leave now, but does anyone know any hacker things to use on Parental Controls for MSN without letting parents know you've done anything? Please, the situation's pretty bad.
Now that the weird rants are over…
Please review; it means the world to me.
