Come live with me and be my love
And we will some new pleasures prove
Of golden sands and crystal brooks,
With silken lines and silver hooks.

There will the river-whispering run
Warmed by thy eyes more than the sun
And there th' enamoured fish will stray,
Begging themselves they may betray.
When thou wilt swim in that live bath,
Each fish, with every channel hath.
Will amorously to thee swim.
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him.

From the poem, "The Bait" by John Donne

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Chapter 8: Pleasures

The sun was beginning to set behind the mountain, but two figures were clearly visible by a large snowbank several yards from the cave entrance. One figure was clad in traditional sherpa clothing, including a fleece lined hat, complete with ear-flaps. The second figure was somewhat harder to make out as the taller man was hovering over it, patting at its little rounded belly.

Finally, Draco Malfoy stepped away from the tiny snowman he was making. He paused to admire his work before pointing a threatening wand at its forehead.

"I'm bloody sick of you bossing me around," he hissed at the snowman. It looked suspiciously like a certain little wizard, especially since it was sporting a yak-hair beard and a pointy snow hat. Draco prowled around it, poking at it repeatedly with his finger.

"Yes Master Eldorf . . . if you please, Master Eldorf," he snarled. Then his voice rose to a squeaky falsetto, "The Prince of Avalon will have read Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" by six o-clock tomorrow evening. The Prince of Avalon must have more than a rudimentary grasp of geopolitics. The Prince of Avalon does not say 'wanker,' " . . .

Draco poised his wand right at Eldorf of Snowman's head and shouted, "WANKER! Wanker, wanker, wanker, wanker! What are you going to do to me, Eldorf? Demote me to Earl of Avalon?"

He bent down and spoke softly in "Eldorf's" potato ear: "If you don't let up on me, I'm announcing to the press that I'm giving up the monarchy to pursue a gay relationship with Mad-Eye Moody."

Eldorf of Snowman just stared blankly at Draco with his coal eyes, so Malfoy let him have it with a Blasting Curse. Eldorf Snow flew in every direction, even managing to splatter Draco in the process. He gave a crazed, triumphant yell and dramatically dropped to his knees, arms raised.

"That's what you get for your abuse, Eldorf of Gwynedd!" he shouted to the sky. "The Prince of Avalon is All Powerful, All Knowing and All Malevolent! Bwahahahaha!"

"I think the word is supposed to be 'benevolent', not 'malevolent'," said a quiet voice behind him.

Draco struggled to his feet to see Harry looking at him in amusement.

"You have your motto and I have mine," snarled Draco.

Harry crossed his arms and leaned against the steep wall of the mountain as he thoughtfully contemplated his Partner in Misery.

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to crack," remarked Harry, finally. "Somehow, I thought you'd last for more than two hours, though."

Draco pouted. "Two hours of sheer, living hell, you mean," he growled. "That bastard popped my eyeballs out of their sockets and made them roll on the floor! I mean, who would do such a horrible thing? Besides Voldemort, that is."

Harry tried very hard not to laugh. "Well, to be fair, he did say that if you rolled your eyes at him one more time, they'd be rolling across the cave floor," he pointed out. "You really pushed it on that one, Malfoy. But you're right . . . the little tosser does seem slightly fanatical."

"Slightly? You call that just slightly fanatical? He has a mad gleam to his beady little eyes."

Harry sighed as he conjured a small bench and sat down. "Yeah, so he's a right nutter. What the hell was Snape thinking?"

"I dunno, but I can tell you one thing, Potter. I've got to get away. And right now, while Eldorf of Evil is taking a nap. If I spend one more minute cooped up in this cave or on this mountain, I'm going to go down to the Valley and do something awful, like massacre the village chickens or play spin-the-bottle with all the vestal virgins. Anything to have some fun!"

Harry shook his head in exasperation. Only Malfoy would think that a murderous rampage against chickens would be "fun". The vestal virgin thing could be amusing, though . . .

He rubbed his neck casually, in an effort to refocus." You heard what Eldorf said, Malfoy. The fun is over. You've got to prepare yourself for the monarchy," reasoned Harry.

"I've got plenty of time for that! Right now I'm knackered and I miss Ginny. I'm bored and I'm horny and I'm . . ." He took note of the grimace on Harry's face. "Erm, too much information?"

Harry's body had tensed at the mention of Ginny Weasley, but he chose to ignore it, as well as Malfoy's comments.

Draco didn't seem to notice as he'd suddenly thought of something. "Saaaaay . . . didn't you bring your Invisibility Cloak when we left England?"

Harry got up and slowly started backing away from Malfoy. "Oh no . . . not this time. You're not talking me into anything I'll regret . . . "

"Oh, pish! You can't tell me that you don't want to get out of here as much as I do."

"Well yes, that's true. But what are you thinking? You don't want me following you around any more than I want to follow you around. And I'm not letting you far from my sight." He paused before he added smugly, "That would be a dereliction of duty."

"Well, you certainly are a derelict," thought Draco, but he knew better than to say that out loud. So he vehemently shook his head. "No, I want to go alone. I promise I won't stray far and I'll be back by midnight before I change into a turnip."

"Pumpkin! You'll change into a pumpkin," muttered Harry

Draco just plowed ahead. "Look, you can do whatever you want. I know you want a break from me as much as I want one from you. And besides, if I'm discovered, I'm the one who dies, not you. You'll be rid of me for good."

Harry considered this. "Well, since you put it that way . . . "

Malfoy resisted a telltale smirk. "I'll be out of here in a matter of minutes," he thought gleefully.

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Draco ducked his head as he moved through the village, his long brown hair whipping through the wind.

"I look damned ridiculous," he thought. "This is all Wanker's fault, once again."

To the casual observer, Draco appeared as a dark-skinned girl with almond-shaped eyes, but upon closer inspection, it could be noted that he . . . er, she walked with a decided butchness to her stride.

There was nothing ladylike or demure to his step, but Draco didn't notice as he was more distracted by the amorous glances coming his way from the boys in the village.

"Merlin's pink painted toenails," he thought scornfully. "I'm bloody glad I'm not a girl. This is revolting! I'm beginning to regret not going with the Invisibility Cloak."

Actually, Harry had talked Draco out of the Invisibility Cloak, but was surprisingly helpful at coming up with an alternate plan. In fact, Potter drew upon his vast experience from years of sneaking around Hogwarts.

"The bugger is pretty good at this," Draco had thought at the time. "I should have had a mental breakdown sooner."

Little did he know that he'd soon be sporting a dress.

Of course, before helping him, Potter had finagled an agreement by which, when the time came, Malfoy was to return Harry's favor by granting him any wish he wanted.

Within reason, of course.

Initially, Draco had no intention of granting Potter any favors, but the dark-haired wizard had produced an elaborate contract stating that if Draco did not abide by the terms of the agreement, Harry had permission to literally hex his balls off.

"No signy, no freedom," Harry had said simply. "And if you break the agreement, you'll be a girl permanently."

And Draco, liking the Malfoy Jewels just the way they were- thank you very much- signed the damned thing. That's how desperate he was to escape.

"Any wish you want, huh?" muttered Draco. "Do I look like a genie?"

"No, you look like a contract-breaking Slytherin, so I'm just covering all the angles."

"Hmmm. I don't recall you being so smart." Then Draco remembered that they were fleeing Eldorf of Dictator and felt a renewed eagerness for the plan. "So what do you have in mind?"

The next thing he knew, he was drinking down some Polyjuice that Harry had stashed in a little box and when it was all said and done, he looked like Chepal's youngest daughter, Dolma.

Draco peered at himself in a hand mirror. "At least I'm rather pretty," he sniffed. "Where did you get that stuff?"

"Chepal and I decided that it would be a good idea for me to have what he called a 'Disguise Kit'. Just in case we needed to hide our identities even further while we're here."

"Clever," murmured Draco.

And so it was that he found himself walking into the village looking like every sherpa's dream of a wife. While the males were not allowed to touch the village girls in public, this rule apparently did not extend to outright leering.

Draco felt like a juicy piece of goat steak, all laid out at the marketplace. He tried glaring at the boys, but this seemed to enflame them even further, so he finally just gave up.

Dusk was beginning to fall upon the town, leaving a cold chill in the air, but the village of Dho Tarap had come alive with the celebration of Buddha Jayanti. There were great crowds of people wandering the various sites in town.

Draco remembered reading that Nepal was the "Land of Festivals" and knew that the Nepalese people seemed to have one at least every other week. They celebrated their various gods and various religious beliefs, and there certainly didn't seem to be much else to do in the middle of a mountain town at the foot of the vast Himalayas.

Draco suspected that it was just an excuse to party.

This week, it was Buddha Jayanti, which was the celebration of the day that the Buddha attained Nirvana or salvation. It was also the date of his birth and his death, as well.

"How convenient for the Buddha to do everything on one day," thought Draco.

The first night Draco and Harry had spent with Chepal, the sherpa had regaled them with stories of the Prince Siddhartha, who had been the only son of a royal family. The old sherpa had paused to look at Draco speculatively before continuing with the story and Draco had found himself entranced at the tale of a young prince who had given everything up to become a great spiritual teacher.

According to Chepal, the prince's father had isolated Siddhartha in the royal palace, giving him all the pleasures a man could desire, hiding him from the world of suffering. One day Siddhartha ventured outside the castle walls and saw for the first time a beggar, a sick person, a corpse and a holy man. The encounters affected him deeply, awakening a desire to find the ultimate cause of suffering and the way to end it.

Draco had gaped open-mouthed at Chepal by the end of the story.

"Let me get this straight. You mean he gave up all those riches and all those beautiful women to find out why people suffered?" Draco had asked incredulously. "That's easy. People suffer because most members of mankind are stupid gits," he said, with certainty. "No need to give up a perfectly good royal orgy to figure that one out!" Harry had only rolled his eyes and snorted.

Draco thought about the story as he moved through the crowd of villagers around the Grand Stupa in the middle of the town. The stupa was a solid hemispherical mound of stones with a square base at the top. The square top supported a series of thirteen circular rings narrowed towards the top, and was crowned by a parasol. The four sides of the square base were painted with pairs of eyes. Draco remembered Chepal telling them that the eyes represent the eyes of Buddha.

The stupa was covered with prayer flags and surrounded by Buddhist monks dressed in flowing burgundy robes. Thousands upon thousands of butterlamps had been lit, which leant a heavenly glow to the statue of the Great Teacher, which was located on the upper terrace of the stupa. People were so distracted with chanting at the various statues that nobody even looked his way, which was a great relief.

Draco was so busy watching the villagers that he didn't notice when a tall man quietly made his way next to him. Draco looked at him briefly and abruptly did a double take.

The man was tall, white and decidedly Anglo.

Draco stared at him in befuddled confusion. Of all the people on Earth, Neville Longbottom was standing next to him, in a remote village, deep in the Himalayas. Draco closed his eyes, mentally counted to three and then opened them again.

Longbottom was still standing there.

"Malfoy!" Neville said in a harsh whisper. "I have an urgent message from your uncle. We must find a place to talk."

"How the hell did you know it was me?" Draco hissed. Neville raised an eyebrow and pointed to the Malfoy crest on the ring finger of Draco's right hand.

"If you wanted to disguise yourself, the least you could have done is taken off your ring. Didn't you learn anything as a Death Eater?" Draco was taken aback by the superior tone in Longbottom's voice.

Draco's eyes narrowed in suspicion. "Why didn't Uncle Severus come himself? And why didn't he send somebody more appropriate? Shouldn't you be cuddling with your Venus Flytrap or something?"

Before he could continue with his questions, Neville suddenly grabbed Draco-Dolma around the waist and dragged him-her to the backside of one of the nearby rectangular houses in the village. Draco was so stunned that he didn't even fight him off. And then it hit him.

This wasn't Neville Longbottom at all. This was The Enemy, who had finally found him.

I'm going to die.

And it wasn't even going to be at the hands of a Death Eater or a member of a violent revolutionary group. He was going to die at the hands of somebody who looked like a member of the Vienna Boys Choir.

Bloody hell!

But what startled Draco even further was when Neville pushed him up against the wall of the house and rubbed his body down Draco's female form. He lowered his head and licked Draco-Dolma on the neck, right below his earlobe, which was one of his most erogenous zones.

Draco began to squirm, trying to push Neville away. "Look ol' boy," he murmured. "I know you likely harbor an overwhelming lust for me, which is quite understandable, but I must say that I don't swing that way. Girl body, or no girl body."

Neville just raised his head and looked at him in bemusement. And then his features began to shift. Draco stared at Longbottom in surprise as Neville's body began to shrink and his short brown hair became longer.

And redder.

Draco held himself very still as he reached down to his pocket for his wand. One way or another, "Neville" was going to reveal himself and Draco planned on being ready.

Neville's round face soon transformed into a very familiar and beloved heart-shaped one and suddenly Draco found himself staring into the rich brown eyes of Ginny Weasley.

"Surprise!" she said breathily.

Draco's emotions immediately changed from stark fear to intense arousal all in two seconds. The mental adjustment almost made him feel faint.

"Ginny! Oh gods! I can't believe this!"

He reached to kiss her, but Ginny pushed him back with a giggle. "You know I love you Draco, but I'm not kissing you in your condition. We'd look like a every wizard's version of a lesbian fantasy."

"Damn!" thought Draco. He pulled out his pocket watch and was half horrified, half gratified to see that the Polyjuice Potion had about one minute to expire. He'd been so distracted by the festival, he completely forgotten to keep track of the time, so Ginny's intervention had been fortuitous indeed.

The little witch had an impeccable sense of timing, as she'd already proven by saving him from his father after The Final Battle.

"Give me a minute," he said quietly, as she fixed her eyes squarely on his face. Soon, his body began to lengthen and his features changed back into the beautiful boy he knew he really was.

Before Ginny could comment, he pulled her against his body once again and crushed her lips to his in a fiery kiss. She lifted her arms to encircle his neck and her body seemed to fuse with his. His kiss deepened, parting her soft, supple lips. The pleasure of it completely filled his senses and he was loath to ever move away from her again. So he continued nibbling and licking and biting gently.

Ginny made soft purring noises that nearly drove him crazy.

This went on for several charged minutes before he broke the kiss with a moan and whispered, "How? When?" Ginny just put her fingertip to his lips and said, "Later."

Draco lifted her hand to brush his mouth against her palm. "Let's get out of here," he said. "I know just the place where we can have some privacy."

Ginny gave him a dazzling smile. "Lead on, love. And Draco?"

"Yes, my sweet?"

"You might want to change out of that dress, first."

"Ah bugger!"

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Harry, in the meantime, was quite enjoying his solitude. In truth, he'd always been more of an internal creature, but friendship with Ron and Hermione had brought him out of his shell more than anything . . . with the exception of Draco and Voldemort, of course. These days, he enjoyed spending time in his own head, which was a novel thing. For far too long the Dark Lord had invaded his space, but now Tom Riddle was gone forever and for the most part, Harry felt a calming sense of peace.

Once he'd dispatched Draco to whatever adventure his girlie form would take him, he draped his Invisibility Cloak around his body and headed for the nearest body of water. He mentally chastised himself only once for letting Draco get away on his own, but then realized that the little dobber could certainly take care of himself. He'd proven that on more than one occasion.

Harry headed for a gorge that ran alongside their mountain home. The narrowness of the pass actually made for some exciting walking, with sections of trail carved straight up steep cliffs or else traversing skimpy sloping ledges. In some places, these airy rocky walkways vanished altogether, leaving gaps the local pathmakers had bridged with thin poles, some of which look frighteningly old and rotten, and then overlaid with flat slabs of rock.

He finally made his way to the banks of the Bheri River, which was a perfect place to cast his fishing line.

Harry chuckled to himself. He'd never been fishing in his life before coming to Dho Tarap, but he'd spent some time at the river with Chepal and found his nature suited to the solitary activity. He thought about Ron and how he would have loved sharing the experience with his best friend. Somehow, he knew that Ron would have enjoyed it as much as he did.

The ice cold water of the Bheri was deep and strong, and Harry found a nice flat rock by the bank. He sat down gingerly and grabbing his fishing pole, he cast his line to the middle of the river, hoping for mahseer. This particular fish was drawn to artificial bait and Harry had conjured a beautiful, traditional four-inch silver spoon, which he'd tied to the end of his line.

He spared a brief thought for Sirius, wondering how his godfather was doing. Harry had been neglectful recently, and for the first time since coming to Nepal, he really missed the older wizard. Sirius was loyal and true, but when it came to love, he was completely hopeless and right now, love was what was foremost on Harry's mind.

Or should he say, his most deserved lack of a love life. It was the one thing that he'd gotten completely wrong in his life . . . the one missing piece to the puzzle of his happiness. And if Harry was going to be honest with himself, he knew that no matter what happened between Ginny and Malfoy, his romance with her was irrevocably broken. She would never have him again, he was quite certain of that.

Giving an audible sigh, he settled himself into a nice lazy posture and waited for the line to wiggle. After about ten minutes of trying to find just the right area to place his line, he felt the familiar thrill of a fish tugging on the spoon, so he jerked and lifted the fish up to the bank. It flopped wildly and Harry caught it easily on its third hop.

The fish wriggled and squirmed in his hand, but Harry blinked when he looked at the fish closely.

It appeared to have a little pointy hat on its little fishy head.

In a quick flash, Harry thought of a Muggle book he'd read at school when he'd been a small child: One Fish ,Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, by Dr. Seuss. That book had been filled with pictures of colourful fish doing crazy things such as driving around in little autos. This fish looked exactly like something out of that book.

Before he could ponder upon this further, the fish transformed and Eldorf the Very- Angry-Looking- Little- Elf- Wizard of Gwynedd was standing before him, arms akimbo and tapping his tiny boot.

Harry just blurted out, "It wasn't my idea, it was his and well, I couldn't keep him here, he was determined to leave and I tried to talk him out of it, well, not very hard because he's an exasperating little blighter but . . ."

Eldorf completely floored him when his glare transformed and he let out a loud guffaw.

"I was wondering how long his Lordship would last!" he said, when his laughter subsided. "He almost has the record, although Prince Miasmus Mingo III only lasted thirty-six minutes, according to official royal documents. Of course, he was a total failure as a monarch and was beheaded before he could inflict further damage upon the populace. I do hope that doesn't happen to Lord Malfoy."

Harry just shook his head. "Another weirdo for the Royal Cause," he thought savagely.

As if reading his thoughts, Eldorf said, "I know you both think me mad, but there is reason to my methods. The House of Gwynedd has been serving the Royal Family for seventeen generations and we've found that if we push the royal heir to his limit, we get an idea of just how far he's willing to go to get his way. Lord Malfoy performed admirably.

Harry regarded him harshly. "Lord Malfoy was contemplating killing chickens. I don't see how pushing a wizard off his chump is going to help him to rule!"

Eldorf looked at him thoughtfully. "You're defending him now. Very interesting in light of your past history."

Harry folded his arms against his chest in an unconscious defensive gesture. "I'm not defending him. I suppose I'm just an advocate for basic human rights."

Eldorf raised an eyebrow. "Indeed," he said sarcastically. He walked over to the rock where Harry was sitting and seated himself next to the much larger wizard. His little feet were left dangling over the edge of the boulder. They were quiet for a few moments before Harry finally asked, "Why did you turn into a fish? Why not just show yourself to me without resorting to such cheap trickery? It's not like I was a threat to you or anything."

"Cheap trickery?" snorted Eldorf. "The Gwynedds are legendary for their ability to transform into just about any creature imaginable. Such stealth has been used to faithfully serve the interests of the Royal Family for generations. I was just practicing, so to speak. Now that we have a real Prince coming into power, I must be prepared to protect him any way I can. My role is not only as mentor, but protector, as well." He looked at Harry with amusement. "Not unlike your role with Lord Malfoy."

Harry shook his head. "I'm only in it for the money." Eldorf just smirked at him so Harry told him the truth. "Actually, I'm doing this because I was asked to do it by someone whose opinion I highly value. Plus, and don't you dare ever say this to Malfoy, but I do want him to succeed. Merlin knows that we need a strong leader. Somehow, I don't see him letting anyone get the better of him. He's too damned stubborn."

Eldorf nodded his head enthusiastically. "I'm so happy to hear you say that, Mr. Potter. He admires you, you know."

Harry stared at him in complete shock. "You must be kidding. He hates my fuckin' guts."

"Oh no, he doesn't hate you at all. I can tell by the way that he interacts with you. I'd say deep down, he wishes to be a friend of sorts. And he desperately wants your approval. Of course, he'd rather cut off his left testicle than to admit it."

Harry suppressed his surprise at hearing Eldorf of Gwynedd saying the word, "testicle". But he was silent upon the remark, deciding that it best he not think about Malfoy's real motivations too closely. But little Eldorf just droned on. "And it's remarkable that he can even speak to you in a civil manner, considering your history with Ms. Weasley."

Harry flushed. "What do you know about Ginny Weasley?" he asked suspiciously.

"I know that Lord Malfoy is deeply in love with her, and that she's a very sweet girl. And I also know that you, Harry Potter, were her first lover. And knowing that, it makes me rather sad that his Lordship will never get what he truly wants with regard to Ms. Weasley."

"And that would be?" Harry couldn't resist his curiosity.

"Marriage," said Eldorf firmly. "As much as Lord Malfoy loves Ginny Weasley, she can never be his wife. The best she can hope for is to be his mistress. A very beloved mistress, but just a mistress nonetheless."

Harry stared in disbelief at the little wizard. "But, but . . . why?"

"The Ancient Houses would never accept a woman to be queen who'd been with another man. The Princess of Avalon is to be untouched before she marries the Prince."

Harry was incredulous at what he was hearing. Knowing both Ginny and Draco, this revelation was going to be devastating.

And for once, Harry felt very sorry for Draco Malfoy because deep down he knew:

Ginny Weasley would never consent to becoming anyone's mistress.

Not even to the man with whom she was deeply in love.

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By the time Ginny and Draco made it to a small clearing in the forest, the sun had completely set and the full moon of May's Buddha Jayanti was shining brightly upon them as they lay on a soft, conjured blanket. A warming charm had been applied and very little was said between them as they shed their clothes and lay together, limbs entwined and caressing. Ginny lifted her body and straddled Draco's hips as he looked up at her, his face shining with a combination of love, lust, adoration and deep longing.

The pleasure was almost more than they could both bear.

She reached down and kissed him passionately and his lips made a trail to her left ear. Breathing deeply, he pushed his body forward, until he was completely sheathed within her.

"I love you," he murmured quietly. "I love you so much that I don't ever want to be away from you again. Please say that you'll marry me."

Ginny closed her eyes at hearing the thing she wanted most in this world.

"Yes," she said, as she began to move with him. "Yes!" She arched her back as his hands gently spanned her hips. Her hair was draping forward in a deep crimson cascade and her skin glowed as she looked at him seductively. Draco had never seen anything so beautiful.

"Of course I'll marry you, Draco Malfoy."

They made love joyfully, and reveled in the bright future ahead of them.

To be continued . . .

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Author's Note: I want to thank everyone for the nice reviews. They really make me happy! I hope you all enjoy this and I'd also like to thank my beta, Elizabeth, who is very good at pointing out those things that don't make sense! Thanks E!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't take so long with my next chapter. The story is all laid out in my head . . . now to put it to paper!