Hello, hello. Sorry this chapter took longer to update. I'm a very lazy person, and I find it hard to get motivated! However, all the reviews I got for my last chapter helped a LOT! And this quote that myfriend gave me:
"Genius begins great works, labour alone finishes them." - Joseph Joubert
I think she knows me too well! This chapter is kind of strange...um, yeah. You'll see.
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The dragon whirled around and charged towards Harry, opening its mouth to reveal sharp, pointed fangs. Harry launched himself into a dive, narrowly missing the jet of fire that burst from the creature's mouth. He suddenly realised he'd jumped into what seemed to be water, and he gasped for breath, his lungs contracting. The water was deep, he could tell; way over his head. The dragon reached in towards him, and he tried to swim away, but the water felt like chains, holding him in one place. The dragon flicked him out of the water, picked him up with its wing, and, whilst it brought him up to its mouth, Harry prepared to die. The dragon, however, smiled slyly, and opened its mouth ever so slightly.
'Potter.' it said quietly. Harry stared at it. 'Potter!' it said, more insistently. Harry squeezed his eyes shut, and then opened them again, to find himself staring at a cream ceiling. He sat up and realised the dragon was right in front of him.
'Fuck!' he shouted, and tried to stand up, but something was stopping him. He ripped away the...sheets?
Draco turned around. 'Having fun?' he asked. Harry blinked. Then his memory came back.
'Oh. Right. Uh, no. A dream.' he muttered.
'Good to see your articulation has returned along with your intellect.' Draco smirked.
Harry yawned. 'Thought you weren't a morning person.' Harry grumbled.
Draco smiled. 'I didn't sleep. So it doesn't feel like morning to me, so I'm not tired.' he said, brightly.
'That doesn't make sense.' Harry mumbled.
'Sure it does. You're just too tired to see.'
Harry nodded slowly, rubbing his eyes. Then he frowned. 'What are you doing in here?' he asked.
'Getting you up.'
'Why?'
'I'm taking you shopping.'
'You bloody aren't.' Harry grumbled.
'I'm going to assume you are incapable of making competent decisions in the state you are in, and therefore make the decisions for you.'
'Why the fuck do you want to take me shopping?'
'Because I feel a strange urge to help things less fortunate than me.'
'Bullshit. You don't have a caring bone in your body.'
'How about...I like others to look as good as I do?'
Harry snorted. 'Yeah right.'
Draco put on a pondering expression. 'You're right. No one else in the world could possibly look better than me.'
'Yeah, Draco Malfoy, the albino.'
Draco his head around, furious. 'What did you call me?!'
Harry chuckled, and stretched. 'I'm incompetent of deciding my state, remember?'
'It's "incapable of making competent decisions in the state you are in", you idiot.' Draco retorted, but then he saw the grin on Harry's face. 'Very funny.' he said. Then he scowled, and ran a hand vainly through his hair. 'I'm not an albino. I'm the dashing, dazzling, debauched, damn-sexy-'
'Delusional Draco Malfoy?' Harry interrupted, grinning.
Draco scowled. 'I don't know why I'm doing this.'
'Neither do I.' Harry replied.
'There. That's it,' Draco said, pointing at Harry, 'It's because you don't care, and neither does anyone else. And everyone needs somebody to love, and be loved by.' Draco said, simpering.
'So you love me, do you?' Harry said, cocking an eyebrow.
Draco cringed. 'Slight flaw.'
Harry smiled, and pulled the sheets away, standing up to face Draco.
'I am not going shopping with you unless you give me a valid reason.' he said.
'You look like shit, Potter.'
There was a moment's pause.
'What time are we leaving, then?'
Draco grinned.
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The two young men strolled along the packed streets of Diagon Alley. The sun was out, the owls were hooting, and the ground underfoot was slightly soft, but that only bothered Draco, who did not want to get his dragon-skin boots muddy. Harry declined the invitation to carry the precocious Malfoy.
'Why not? You did it once, you can do it again!' Draco had insisted. Harry carefully kept his mouth clenched close.
'Where exactly are we going?' he said, finally. 'I hate to break it to you, but Madam Puddifoot's doesn't exactly sell your latest Muggle trends, you know.'
Draco fought to keep down the sarcasm. 'Why thank you, all knowing Potter.'
And lost.
'Actually,' Draco said, looking rather ridiculous trying to hop along, finding the least muddy places to put his feet, 'We're going to Knockturn Alley.'
'What? Why?' Harry said, stopping.
'Because that's where we're going.' said Draco. 'Now, come on, get a move on, or my shoes will sink into this mud and we'll never go anywhere again!' Draco wailed.
'Aren't those shoes supposed to be "cool"? Harry asked.
'What's your point?' shot Draco.
'Well, if you're hopping round like a namby-pamby pouf trying to dodge all the muddy spots, you don't look very cool, you know.'
Draco straightened his shoulders. 'I look cool wherever, and whenever, Potter.' he said, jutting his chin out. 'And besides,' he said, casting a quick glance over his shoulder, 'All things considering, I am a namby-pamby pouf.'
Harry was sure he felt the Earth shake a bit, as all the Malfoys turned over in their graves.
Draco lead Harry away from the healthy bustle of the streets, and down the dark alleyway that was Knockturn Alley. Harry vaguely remembered his experiences down there back when he was twelve, but Hagrid had pulled him out of there before Harry had got into any sort of trouble.
Littering the streets were all sorts of dodgy odds and ends, including people, who looked like they'd cut off his testicles and eat them for supper if they had the chance. Harry gave an involuntary shudder, and looked over at Draco. He was probably scarier than the lot of him. This thought made Harry snort as he watched Draco land in a particularly large puddle of mud and yelp.
Harry looked up at the buildings and noticed that they, although shabby, were quite nice, in an odd sort of Romanesque gothic sort of way. Like a painting of a king, done with an untrained hand. The buildings were mostly dark browns and mossy greens, with the odd splattering of red here and there. Harry didn't really think it was paint.
Suddenly Draco stopped, and stepped close into Harry.
'Potter,' he hissed, 'There's some men up ahead.'
Harry looked up, and noticed a large group of staunch looking males. Their skin looked like it was covered in a thick layer of grit (Probably was, Harry thought to himself), their clothes looked to be made all out of animal skin and hide, and the laughs emitting from their burly, ugly faces were that of a cruel nature.
Harry nodded. 'And?'
'And they're not very nice.' Draco said, in a low voice.
'You don't say.' Harry said, sarcastically.
'This is not the time to be funny, Potter.' Draco hissed. He paused, clearly ticking over in his head what they were going to do. 'We're going to have to pass them.'
Harry sighed. 'Can't we just go back? Go to a Muggle shop, or something?'
'No. They've seen us now. They'll follow us if we turn around.'
'Why?' Harry asked, bemused. 'They don't even know us.'
'Fresh meat.' Draco said, grimly.
'What?' Harry asked. 'They...they wouldn't kill us.'
'No.' Draco said, delicately. 'Not kill us.' He looked at Harry meaningfully.
'Oh.' said Harry, comprehension dawning on him. 'Right.'
Draco paused for a moment more. 'Look, just keep talking to me, while I think of something.'
'What? What do I say?'
'Anything, I don't care!' Draco hissed.
'Well...I don't know what to say. I suppose, though, if I just keep talking about how I don't know what to say, I really am saying something, which is really quite helpful, because it's what you asked me to do, but-'
'Changed my mind. Shut up.' Draco said.
Harry smiled, and waited, tapping his hand gently on his old Weasley jumper.
Draco appeared to have come to a decision, but was obviously trying to figure out a way to present it to Harry.
'Spit it out.' Harry said.
'Look,' Draco said, carefully not looking at Harry, 'The only way we can walk past these guys and not get bothered is if we...well, is if we kind of...act...like...'
'Yes? Come on! What?'
'If we act like we're a couple.' Draco said, finally.
Harry stared. 'You're kidding.'
Draco shook his head.
'That's ridiculous.' Harry said.
'But that's not all.' Draco said, reluctantly. 'It would have to be a kind of...' Draco trailed off, thinking of a way to put it.
Harry looked at him expectantly. 'Yes?'
'A kind of...master slave sort of thing.'
Harry stared at Draco blankly. 'You mean...like some sort of...'
'Pet.' Draco finished for him. 'I know the ways of a master. Some of my...some of Lucius's friends were masters.' Draco cleared his throat. 'They won't touch a master, for fear of what he is capable of. And they won't touch a master's property. No one touches someone else's pet.'
'I am not being your pet, Malfoy.' Harry hissed through his teeth.
'Oh, come on, Potter. You know you want to.' Draco teased.
'Fuck off, Malfoy.'
Draco's smiled wavered. 'Potter, look. It's the only way to get past them completely unharmed. All you have to do is act like you're forced to obey my every wish.'
'Which is simple, of course.'
Draco ignored him. 'And we have to kind of...I don't know, touch each other sometimes.'
'Is this some guise to get your hands on me?'
'You wish, Potter.' Draco sighed. 'This is your lucky day.'
Harry shoved his hands into his pockets. 'So there's no other way?'
Draco shook his head. Harry rolled his eyes, muttering something that sounded rather like "absurd!" Draco glanced quickly behind them, and Harry followed his gaze, suddenly aware that all the eyes of the men were on them. Without warning, Draco leaned forward and placed his lips on Harry's, seeking entry with his tongue. Harry conceded, and Draco thrust into his mouth forcefully. Harry moaned and placed his arms around Draco's neck, barely thinking about what he was doing. Draco wrenched away before Harry even had time to think about any of it, and said loudly, in a deathly low voice,
'Down, my pet.'
Harry gave Draco a questioning gaze, but with one look at the men staring at him, sank to his knees.
'What have I told you about touching me?' Draco asked, menacingly. Harry stared up at him. 'Answer me!' Draco roared.
'Uh, not without permission?' Harry said quietly. Draco glared at him, but then his mouth softened into an indulgent smile.
'Very good, my pet. But you forgot my title.'
Harry nodded and looked at the ground. 'Forgive me, Master Malfoy.' he said, loud enough for the men to hear.
'Good. We shall make a slave of you yet.' he said. 'Come along, now.' he said, waiting for Harry to stand up. Harry pulled himself up from the muddy ground, and suddenly, with a flick of Draco's wand, he had a thick, leather collar around his neck.
'That'd better.' Draco said, smirking. 'Come.' and Draco strode off. Harry felt the pull of magic around his neck, and was forced to stagger forward. Draco strode past the men with the air of someone very important, whilst Harry stumbled along behind, still trying to balance himself. Some of the men eyed Harry hungrily, and when Draco saw this, he stopped.
'Were you looking at my pet?' he asked the men, in a terrifying growl.
'No.' one of them said, defiantly.
'Yes you were.' Draco said, coldly. 'I saw you. And I do not appreciate liars.' he brought his hand up swiftly and sent a wave of shock through the air, sending the man who had dared to talk hurtling back into the stone wall of an old shop. But then he turned to Harry, and ran his hand along Harry's cheek. 'But I don't blame you. He is very beautiful.'
Harry's eyes widened at Draco's soft words.
'See to it that you don't look at master's pets in future, though, gentlemen. Some are not as lenient as I.' he said. The men nodded emphatically. Draco strode on, without any warning, and Harry was once again caught off guard, stumbling after Draco in a blind fashion.
As they rounded the corner, Draco gave a flick of his wand, and Harry's collar disappeared.
'Fuck!' Harry said, staring at Draco. 'How'd you do that?'
'Just a simple conjuring charm, Potter.' Draco said, smirking.
'No! That...back there. To that guy!'
'Wandless magic. Once you get the hang of it, it really is quite simple. Shall we go on?'
Harry quickened his pace to match Draco's strides. He no longer seemed to worry about his boots.
'But,' Harry said, still staring around amazed, 'Couldn't you have just done that anyway? Without the whole slave thing?'
'No, because then they would have known it was the extent of my power. That way, they thought it was the tip of the iceberg. Only the strongest and cruelest wizards have pets, Harry.'
'But then, don't people fake having them all the time?'
'Not many people know about them.'
'How did you know they would?'
'I've seen them before. With my father, sometime.'
'How come Voldemort didn't have a pet?'
Draco didn't answer him.
'Malfoy? How come?'
'He did.' Draco said, shortly.
'Oh.' Harry said, quietly. 'Who was it?'
'Well,' Draco said, quietly. 'It was my father, for a while.'
'What?!' Harry exclaimed, stopping. Draco shrugged.
'That's when he changed. He became different.' Draco sighed. 'Lucius wanted me to be the Dark Lord's pet, when I became of age. Said it was the greatest honour.'
Harry was shocked. 'God. I never knew.'
'How could you?' Draco asked. He sighed. 'Let's not talk about his anymore, huh? This wasn't supposed to be a miserable time. Come on,' he said, gazing up at one of the more shabbier looking buildings, 'Here we are.'
But Harry stayed still. 'I'm sorry.' he said.
'Don't be.' Draco said. 'It wasn't really me that it happened to, you know?'
Harry frowned. 'What do you mean?'
'My father was a pet, and I was intended for one, too. Your parents were killed, and you were intended to be, too. It didn't actually happen. We have to live with the grief, but it didn't happen to us.'
Harry nodded slowly.
'So, come on, now. Let's have some fun.' Draco said, smiling.
'Are you sure this is the right place?' Harry asked, staring into the tiny shop.
'Positive.' Draco said, grinning.
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'No.' Harry said, firmly.
'Oh, come on, Potter. Why not?'
'No.' Harry repeated.
'But it would accentuate and enhance the-'
'I am not buying leather pants, Malfoy, and that is the bloody end of it.'
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'They look ridiculous.'
'No they don't.'
'Yes, they do. I'm taking them off.'
'And then you're taking them up to the nice hag over there and buying them.'
'I am not.'
'Yes you are. Have you even seen yourself?'
'No. And I don't want to.'
'They look good, Potter.'
'If you'd kindly remove your gaze from my arse!'
'I wasn't looking at your arse!'
'You bloody were!'
'Don't flatter yourself!'
'I wish I was!'
'That sounds disgusting.'
'Sod off.'
'Well, go on then.'
'Go on what?'
'Have a look in the damn mirror, Potter.'
'No.'
'Why?'
A small smile crept onto Harry's face. 'Because I'm afraid I'll like them.'
'And?'
'And I am not buying leather pants.'
'Why?'
'Is that all you ever ask?'
'No, Potter. It's just I can't fathom the way your idiotic mind works.'
'Me? Idiotic?'
'Absolutely.'
'In a way, I suppose.'
'You admit it?'
'Yes. But only for letting myself be dragged out here with you. Do you know how much all that's going to cost?'
'Just a few shirts and pants, Potter. And come on, they looked really good, compared to your other old crap. Didn't they?' Draco asked the hag-like woman minding the counter in the tiny shop that didn't even have any hangers or clothes. She simply asked her customers to describe what they wanted, and she summoned it from her expansive range out the back somewhere, possibly. She had been watching Harry avidly, her eyes raking over every inch of him. Draco felt a weird sense of protectiveness for Harry. For his life? For his virtue? Draco snorted, and tried to shake it off.
The hag-woman nodded emphatically. 'They sure did.'
'And these pants will be a perfect way to finish it off.'
'Finish what off, exactly?'
'This shopping spree.'
'Oh God, don't use that phrase again.'
'Why?'
Harry raised an eyebrow. 'It sounds so...so...'
'Gay?' offered Draco.
Harry frowned. 'Well, for lack of a better word...yes.'
'And that bothers you?'
Harry sighed, and gave Draco a questioning look. 'Does it bother you?'
'Does what bother me?'
'Whether it bothers me or not.'
'No, I'm not bothered. Just curious.'
'You're curious about my sexuality whilst staring at my leather clad arse?'
Draco smirked. 'For lack of a better way of putting it...yes.'
'Should I be afraid?'
Draco took a step forward. 'Yes.' he said quietly, then after a moment's pause, added 'If we stay in here much longer.' He flicked his eyes to the hag-woman. 'That hag's been eyeing you up since we walked in.'
'I know, it's been giving me the creeps.'
'Then pay for the damn stuff and we'll get out of here.'
Harry turned around but Draco put a hand on his shoulder.
'And the pants, Potter.'
'I said no.'
'Go on, treat yourself. You need it. And if you do, I won't subject you to any embarrassment in front of my friends tonight.'
'You bloody well won't anyway!'
Draco smiled mysteriously. 'We'll see.'
Harry sighed, and much to Draco's glee, bought everything he suggested, including the tight fitting leather pants. Harry thanked the shopkeeper, who smiled a buck-toothed smile and told him to come back anytime he wanted. Harry gave a weak smile, and strolled out of the shop, Draco beside him.
'I probably won't be there, anyhow.' he said, keeping his eyes straight ahead.
'Why not?' Draco asked.
Harry shrugged. 'I just won't.'
Draco eyed him suspiciously.
'Oh, come on. Your friends? I don't think so.' Harry said.
'There's nothing wrong with my friends! Couple of them are muggles.'
'Shock horror.'
'Never took you for a Death Eater, Potter.'
'Shut up, Malfoy. Remember who you are.'
'The sexiest man in the world?'
'You wish.'
'And it came true.'
'Not by a long shot.'
'How would you know if you hadn't been looking?'
'It's kinda obvious, you know.'
'So you admit to staring at me.'
'Look who's talking!'
'Excuse me?'
'You were so staring at me back there.'
'I bloody was not! You just like to think so to feed your ego, Potter.'
'Then where were your eyes that whole time?'
'You were trying on clothes! I had to look at you.'
'Oh, so now I forced you into it?'
'Malfoy's can't be forced, Potter.'
'That's not what I heard.'
'Who've you been talking to?'
Harry merely smiled.
'Potter.'
Harry walked away.
'Potter!'
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Upon arriving home, (after putting all his clothes in his tiny set of drawers, of course, during which Draco had stated that it would barely clothe one of the Weasleys, and that was saying something,) Harry had quickly and deftly made a large batch of pumpkin soup for lunch.
'Pumpkin soup? For lunch?' Draco had asked.
'Well, when else do you have pumpkin soup?' Harry had replied.
Draco had shrugged. 'Didn't know you could cook.'
'I can't, really. But I can make potions.'
After that had come a reasonably relaxed afternoon. Draco'd slunk around for a while, and then disappeared without a word out the front door, leaving Harry to channel surf and mindlessly read terrible Muggle books for hours. Harry had vaguely wondered where Draco was, but he decided perhaps, really, it wasn't any of his business. He'd had a shower, made himself some dinner (heated up soup, actually) and watched a few ridiculous comedies, until he concluded it really rather was time to go to bed. He wondered for a minute if he ought to worry about Draco. Had he hurt himself? Had something happened? Why hadn't his friends turned up? Should he stay up and wait for them? He thought about anything except his kiss with Draco. He most certainly did not want to go down that road in his head.
In the end he shrugged, stripped down to his new silk boxers, courtesy of Draco Malfoy's appalling taste (actually, they were rather wonderful, but Harry wasn't going to admit that), got into bed, and promptly fell asleep.
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Harry woke up hours later to an extremely dry throat and an extremely wet (drenched in sweat, that is) body. He looked over at the clock. Three-o clock in the morning should be reasonably safe, he concluded.
He pulled the covers away, got out of bed, and tiptoed quietly down the hall past Draco's closed door. Obviously the blond had come home sometime while Harry was asleep.
He staggered into the kitchen, intending to get himself a drink of water or juice, or whatever strange concoction there was lurking in the fridge, when he heard gasps behind him. He whirled around to see a small group of men lounging over the chairs and sofas in the lounge, a great deal many more alcohol bottles littered between them than Harry really thought they could manage.
'Oh, I forgot,' came Draco's voice, a definite smirk, 'This is Harry.'
One of the men just stared and grinned. One wolf whistled, and one, sitting next to Draco, shoved him off the couch.
'You didn't tell me you had a boyfriend!' he hissed, though it was clear from the sparkle in his eyes that it was light-hearted.
'He's not my boyfriend.' Draco said.
'Oh?' said one of them, nearest Harry. He had short-cropped dark brown hair, of many different shades. On his face was one of the biggest grins Harry had ever seen.
'Uh...' Harry said, feeling very self-conscious in only his boxers.
'Well, don't just stand there, Harry. Come and sit down.' Draco said. Harry was too preoccupied to reel at the fact that Draco had used his first name. He didn't like the and smirk lingering on Draco's face one bit.
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