Red-Devil15 - THANKS!

Nathonea- ditto. Also Welcome! First time I've heard from you.

Empire and Exigency

Chapter 18: Uncovered

by Annie B

Rated PG-13

JKR owns all things Hogwarts. I only wish I did.

.o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o.

"Ohhhh." Hermione signed. Draco had always had a wicked tongue - especially when devising insults towards Gryffindors - and now that he was dating one? Draco had a WICKED tongue.

"Ummmmm." Draco nuzzled the underside of one white breast. Muggles might be generally inferior - Draco hadn't changed his opinions on that - but muggle underwear? Especially Muggle underwire bras? Those were... delightful.

"Ahhhh." Hermione arched into his kisses.

"Hummmmm." Draco nipped a path down to her waist.

"OH!" Hermione pressed up suddenly.

"Ouch"Draco winced. The movement had driven his lip into his front teeth.

"Oops." A sound from the doorway.

Draco rolled out from under Hermione. . Harry Potter was standing in the open door. Just behind him stood Ron Weasley.

Ron shrugged."Sorry."

Hermione grabbed for her blouse.

Draco - being wizard born - ( and not entirely embarrassed at being caught bare-assed ) - grabbed his wand.

Harry turned his back. Mostly because he knew - if Draco didn't kill him - Hermione would.

"Accio clothes." Snagging his robe in mid-flight, Draco dropped the silver silk over Hermione's shoulder."You weren't ... expected... this soon."

"Yeh. I see." Although Harry really didn't - thankfully. By the time he turned around, Hermione was covered.

Draco headed for the sideboard. Pouring two glasses of brandy, he passed one to Hermione and took the second himself. "Didn't Floppsy show you the brooms?"

"Yeh. They were great." Harry went over and helped himself.He wasn't entirely sure he actually liked brandy, but it seemed like a Dark Lord thing to do, so he was giving it a fair try. "I mean, I didn't know there WERE that many brands of broom."

"Then." Draco sneered over his shoulder."I'm surprised you could pull Ronnie-Kins out of the closet.

Ron hissed. He was absolutely convinced that a certain ferret was behind a certain nasty rumor about him and 'this - you know - chaser' in the locker room shower. Not that Ron was absolutely denying the shower bit. Or the company bit. But... it had been the Hufflepuff chaser - and very much all girl thank-you-kindly. Two details that the rumor somehow happened to leave out.

Harry ignored the spat. "I was worried about Remus. Full moon and all that." He looked around. "Where is he?"

As if they would have been making our with a teacher ( Ex-teacher. Grown-up, anyway.) in the room? Draco rolled his eyes. "Locked in the dungeon."

"Draco!" Harry was shocked. It showed.

"Relax." Draco waved up a comfy chair. "His choice. Lupin trust the new Wolfsbane Potion much.

Harry nodded.

Once Remus had left Hogwart's, and Snape had no longer been required to fix the monthly brew, getting the medicine had been an ongoing problem. The recipe was difficult, so most regular alchemists couldn't brew it. It was also near-Dark, so a lot more of those who could brew it wouldn't brew it. The remaining few who both could and would? Well, they liked getting paid. A lot.Harry tried to help out, as much as Remus would let him, but he knew that Remus was under serious financial strain. One reason - among many others - that Harry had maneuvered Draco to maneuver Snape to maneuver Dumbledore to get Remus the spot as Draco's guardian.

Malfoys had lots of galleons - and lots and lots of not-too-ethical employees.

"So you're locking him up." Ron was determined to be offended.

"Well - He's locking himself up." Draco answered. In an undervoice he added. "Beast doesn't trust me that much either."

In Ron's opinion, this only made good sense.

"Anyway." Draco sat back, crossing his legs comfortably. "Lupin's 'waiting room' does have the lock on the inside now. And you can just imagine what the locksmith thought about THAT."

"I guess." Ron wanted to protest, even if he wasn't sure why. "I f that's what Professor Lupin wants. But..."

"He's going to be spending the night in the a cold dark dungeon?!" Hermione looked worried. (She had spent the summer working for the RSPCA, thinking the organizational skills would be helpful in her creature-liberation work. She now had very strong opinions about the confinement of animals. )

"Only this month." Draco patted her hand. "By next, I should have a nice habitat built in the north garden."

"I brought a zoo consultant out from Montana." Waving his wand. Draco summoned a set of blueprints. "If they tuck it in just behind the shake pit, there should be enough room for a nice cave plus a bit of lawn. Even a small waterfall."

"Oh Draco. " Hermione kissed him. "You are so sweet.".

"I thought so." Turning to Harry, Draco added. "There's even a viewing platform up here." He pointed to one corner of the design. "You can come visit next full moon. Maybe through him a rabbit."

"Draco." Hermione frowned.

"Hey." He held out his arms. "Natural selection. A wolf's got to eat."

Turning back to Harry, Draco became serious. "I'll have a medi-vet on staff... something he couldn't afford on his own."

(Draco wasn't being snarky - just honest. He actually rather liked Remus Lupin, especially since the wolf hadn't even tried to interfere with Draco's taste in music or fashion. Plus while the man knew nothing about investing - he KNEW that he knew nothing - and so was happy to leave the guidance of the Malfoy fortune in the hands of the appropriate Goblins.

In the few days that Malfoy senior had been 'dead', the holding had increased by ten percent. Which was.... considerably better then it had done while Lucius was alive.

(Lucius knew as little as Remus did about investing - but he thought he was a genius. Thus the occasional need to sell off a spare Dark Artifact or two to cover the credit card bills. )

Draco loved his father.

He really did.

He would never allow anything bad - seriously permanently bad - to happen to Lucius.

But?

In the interests of family prosperity? For the good of the clan, and the betterment of the Malfoy line and the honor of the Malfoy name and all that? Not to mention the unfettered access of Draco Malfoy to the family wine cellar and the stash of X-rated scrying mirrors and the closet of custom racing brooms?

Well.... couldn't his dad maybe stay dead just a little longer?

Just a week or two?

Lucius would understand.

It was for the family, after all.

Draco raised his wand. "I do swear, your kin is safe with me."

Harry pulled his wand also, laying it across Draco's. "As shall be yours with me."

"Well." Ron rubbed his hands. "That takes case of ONE of Dumbledore's supporters. Now ... who's next?"

.o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o..o00o.

One down - and all of the Order to go. Who shall be Harry's next 'victim'?