AN: Second chapter is up! My beta is currently on vacation so any mistakes are entirely mine. When I posted the first chapter I was a little sad I received only one review (Thank you person who did review!), but I got more hits on this story than I have on my multi chaptered one. Oh well! What else….oh yes, I have finally given into Veela!Draco and started this story based around that. I may have just spoiled the chapter for you all, but it's going to be in the summary. Thanks for reading!
Chapter Two
Harry came down the next morning wondering what he had been thinking. He just broke into the ministry to save someone whose father worked for the enemy and chances were that the Malfoy heir would as well. He had no idea what crime had led Malfoy to be caught in the first place, and then to top it all off, he was allowing his rival to stay with him at the only place that was fairly safe for him.
Harry Potter had definitely lost it somewhere between the 99and 103rd floor, that was for sure. He only hoped his friends were more understanding. Strolling into the kitchen, he nicked a piece of bacon from the plate that Hermione had just set on the table and slid into the seat across from Ron and Hermione's.
The three had begged the adults to give them a bit of peace that summer by letting them stay in the manor by themselves. Hermione had reasoned that they were going to be out in a year anyway, so the experience would be good. Ron pleaded the case to his parents that he was thinking about living with his girlfriend of six months after graduation and he wanted to test it out first. This was done away from Hermione's ears, though not far enough from Fred and George's extendable ones that he and Hermione had purchased.
Both had pleaded that some time without all the adults might do Harry some good. He was finally overcoming his grief at Sirius' death and being in a place that had good memories might be the best. Reluctantly, they were allowed to stay with new precautions added onto the house. Instead of responding to the password that it was the Order's residence, it was keyed to Ron's blood, as Voldemort now possessed some of Harry's blood. In turn, he allowed it to be open to a select few, mostly the Weasley's and the Grangers, along with the professors, Tonks, Moody and Lupin.
Now it was the beginning of July and their first official day of freedom.
"Will you just look at that?" Hermione murmured. "Ron, remember how we were reading about the Malfoy's?"
Ron paused in soaking his pancakes in syrup and nodded. "A bit."
Harry's ears perked up. "What's going on with Malfoy?"
"Oh it's just horrible Harry." She said sadly.
"Horrible? Herm, it's deserved."
"Oh, quiet Ronald. Eat your diabetic shock." She snapped at him and turned back to Harry. "It is horrible. Apparently a few of the veelas have left to join Voldemort, so Fudge in his madness has ordered all veelas to be brought in. Most have been hiding it their whole lives, but someone let it slip to the minister that the Malfoy's had veela blood so they were taken in a week after school let out. No one knows where they are or what's happening to them."
"Good riddance."
Hermione stood up and glared at her boyfriend. "Urgh! I can't even look at you. Get out of the kitchen." She shrieked and Ron quickly scampered away. "I love that boy, but sometimes…"
Harry laughed and Hermione looked at him in shock. "You seem to be in a good mood today. How was the meeting?"
Harry fiddled with his fork for a moment. "Oh, you know…pointless." He cleared his throat and made himself a cup of tea. "So were the Malfoy's known to be veelas? I never heard anyone mention it."
"Mm, no. It wasn't well known. Part veelas are looked down upon as animals, just like full-blooded veelas. And Lucius Malfoy always promoted the importance of being a pureblood so that when it came out, it was a huge uproar. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it. Veelas are dark creatures and Mr. Malfoy has always been associated with dabbling in the Dark Arts so it made him seem more likely to be affiliated with the Dark Side. That's the main reason he was brought in. It was too risky to leave him out if they just accepted a bribe."
"So you would be happy if the veelas were let go?" Harry said slowly as he stirred his drink.
"Of course I would!" She said in surprise. "I've always been in favor of equal rights for all beings! Veelas don't deserve to be locked away."
Harry allowed a smile to creep onto his face. "Good. Hermione, why'd you bring up the subject anyway?"
"About the Malfoy family?" He nodded. "Well Draco Malfoy escaped last night. They claim it was dark magic, but my guess is that Fudge is an idiot." She said with a sigh of frustration.
"Maybe he did have help."
She turned to look at him with interest. "Like Voldemort?"
"Like me."
She paused and opened her mouth to reply when a voice drifted downstairs.
"Back you piece of Death Eater scum!"
"Shit!" Harry cried as he sprung out of his chair and dashed upstairs. "Ron, it's okay." He breathed when he got to the room across from his where Malfoy was. The blond looked a bit better than he had last night, but once again he appeared to be powered by his rage and was now glaring at Ron and displaying pointy fangs that Harry had never noticed. "Okay, everybody just calm down." He pushed Ron out of the room and then closed the door behind him, leaving the three Gryffindors in the hallway.
Ron was already sputtering to Hermione about the unknown occupant of the manor.
"Harry! What is that creep doing in there?" He finally said once he calmed down.
"I rescued him." At Ron's put out face, he continued. "They were abusing him."
"Good."
"Sexually." Ron's mouth gaped at the word and quietly walked downstairs. Harry leaned again the doorframe and slid to his feet, wondering what he had gotten himself into. He had no doubt that it was the correct thing to bring Malfoy to the house after he saw the treatment he was given, but it seemed that he had unearthed a greater problem. What was he to do with the other captives? With the Slytherin's parents? During the time of war, he wasn't sure if he could actively oppose the Minister, but with the public's favor, he might be able to rally enough support to protest their confinement.
While he was planning his next moves, Hermione sat down next to him and laid a reassuring hand on his. He jumped and then gave a small smile back. "Oh, Harry." She breathed out. "What are we going to do with you? How did you find him anyway?"
He shrugged. "I got lost in the ministry."
She gave a quick laugh. "One day your habit for being in the wrong place at the wrong time will have horrible consequences."
He shot her a meaningful look. "Hermione," He said slowly, "I have an escaped convict that I helped liberate from the Ministry in the room behind me. How worse could it get?" He sighed and reopened the door to look at the other boy who was sitting is shock on the bed. "What do I do with him?" He whispered to Hermione.
"Give him a bath; I'll prepare his breakfast." He walked into the room carefully, not eager to set him off again.
"Come on Malfoy. Let's go take a nice bath." He said slowly and was rewarded with a scowl.
"I was held prisoner, Potter, not robbed of my intelligence." He spat out and drew himself up to stagger across the room. Harry grabbed his arm and led him down to the large bathroom at the end of the hallway. He carefully filled the tub and helped the other boy stay upright as he undressed. Once Malfoy had slipped into the water, Harry began fiddling with the items around the tub. One of the bottles he found was one of Hermione's that she had brought with her for her own bath. Quickly before the blond could stop him, he sloshed a bit in and watched as light pink bubbles filled the tub. "Are you giving me a bubble bath?" Malfoy asked incredulously even as he picked up a handful of bubbles and let them drop from his spread fingers.
"I thought you might like the privacy." Harry shrugged and then sat on the toilet seat to stare at one point on the wall. He listened to the water slap against the body in the tub and the scratching noise of somebody getting clean for a few minutes before he spoke again. "So you're a veela, right?" For some reason he wasn't as shocked as he thought he should have been. Malfoy being a veela didn't seem so radically different than Malfoy the arrogant git at school or Malfoy the potential Death Eater. However, he supposed that the issue of blood never mattered much to him anyway so it made little difference now that Malfoy wasn't quite human.
"Yes, Potter." Came the weary sigh and the movements in the water stopped.
"So why aren't you attractive? I mean, like the veelas at the World Cup." He normally didn't speak this much, but for some reason his curiosity overcame him and he found that he couldn't hold back the questions that were floating through his mind.
"I assume you mean why you aren't attracted to me. Merlin knows I'm gorgeous to the rest of the population."
"Yeah, that."
"I have no idea. Why am I not attracted to you?" He continued and Harry looked over to see him running soap up pale arms. The act itself was graceful, almost like dancing. He had to shake his head to rid himself of those ridiculous thoughts.
"Do you attract only females?" Harry found himself asking and threw a hand over his mouth to stop the words from coming out.
"What the fuck is wrong with you Potter? I am sitting here naked in the bathtub. Why not ask me about Quidditch scores or something? Don't quiz me about my sexuality." Harry looked down to see gray eyes watching with something akin to amusement and he shrugged in response to his two questions. "Well, if you must know," His voice had returned to its haughty tone, "my charm extends to both sexes. That's the difference between male and female veelas. However, females are much more potent with their attraction, which is why they are considered more dangerous." He said in a matter of fact sort of a way. "Whose shampoo is this?" Harry looked over to see Malfoy holding a bottle of Hermione's fruity shampoo that she had been using for years.
"Hermione's, I think." He commented and watched as Draco shrugged and added it to his hair.
"May I have a towel?" He asked courteously after a while and Harry slowly handed him one. They had never gotten along so well before that Harry was beginning to suspect something was up.
"Why are you being so nice?"
Malfoy paused in drying himself and Harry looked at him expectantly and then shifted his eyes. He really should have waited until they were both dressed, but for some reason he couldn't control his questions. He had never wanted to speak to someone as desperately as he wanted to with Malfoy, at least not in the past few months.
"We've had civil conversations before." He pointed out. "Last year in the library, for example."
Harry scoffed. "You mean after you pulled out my fingernails and beat me until I was rolling around in my own vomit."
"Yeah, after that." Harry shook his head in disbelief and walked out of the bathroom. Malfoy was definitely feeling better than he had before, but something horrible was going on underneath his aloof image. Harry remembered the fear he had seen in his eyes; it was probably an image he'd never forget. Something had happened to him while down in the lower levels of the ministry and Harry suspected the civility of their conversations was done to insure he wouldn't go back.
After Malfoy finished dressing in a pair of Harry's clothes, he led the blond down the stairs, but on the last step he felt a hand hold him back. "Down in the ministry you helped me out of a rather unpleasant situation." He crossed his arms and broke eye contact as he admitted that for once he wasn't in control of an aspect of his life. Harry could sense the annoyance that came with the admission and held his tongue from a remark he could have made. "My parents are still down there, however."
Harry sighed and nodded; it was like he thought. Malfoy just needed him for something. "And you need me to help get them out."
"I don't need your help with anything, Potter." He sniffed and Harry rolled his eyes. I wasn't like Draco could go barging into the ministry to save his parents; he would definitely need Harry's help, whether he wanted to admit it or not. "But now that you mention it…"
A board creaked from in the kitchen and Harry looked to see Hermione standing at the door with an expectant look. He inclined his head at her and she disappeared back into the kitchen without a word. "We'll talk about it later."
Around noon, Hermione and Ron had disappeared yet again and Harry found himself one person short of a chess game. He ended up in the library. The Black Library wasn't anywhere near as impressive as Hogwarts, although the titles were certainly something he had never encountered at his school. It was a small, yet thorough collection of the history of the Black family, other purebloods, and of course the more dubious magic books. He had found a book outlining the history of the Malfoy Family once while he had been here with the Order, but hadn't found it as important then as he did now.
He found the book relatively easily and sat in one of the stiff-backed chairs at one of the tables with the large book in front of him. Within an hour he discovered that Hermione had been correct; the Malfoys were not known to have veela blood, even among the family they had married into. The Malfoy family wasn't the only one to hush up their blood lines, he discovered, when he looked up Narcissa's family tree and found that her mother wasn't named. Draco Malfoy's grandmother wasn't blown off the tree like Sirius, but instead seemed never to have existed. Harry was so intent on delving into the Malfoy history, that he didn't hear Malfoy walk in until he stood right behind him.
"Interesting book?" Harry jumped and slammed the book shut, which appeared to be a mistake because on the cover was the Malfoy crest that shone with gold inlay on the leather cover. "Interesting indeed."
Harry flushed, but hid it as he re-shelved the book and leaned up against the book case with a raised eyebrow.
"You said we'd talk later." Draco pointed out as he hopped onto the table where Harry was reading. "I'm going back to the ministry tonight." His tone left no room for discussion and Harry didn't even attempt to argue with him, just to shoot down his plans with logic.
"How?" For the second time in a year, Malfoy left him standing in the middle of a library mystified by what had taken place. Without even turning around, the thin blond called over his shoulder.
"You'll find out at eleven."
Hours had passed and Harry found himself alone, again, but now in the parlor of the Black Manor. He was dressed in black robes for an added aspect of stealth, and when Malfoy came down the stairs, he appeared to be dressed for the same. Harry's eyes slowly traveled up Malfoy's legs and he was slightly distracted at how the fabric clung to his upper thighs. They were his pants, but if the Slytherin looked this good in them, than Harry would selflessly give them up. Malfoy was currently borrowing them, seeing as it was next to impossible to slip into his home and retrieve any of his personal belongings. It had taken him and Ron (who didn't have to share because he was a foot taller than both Harry and Draco) half an hour to force Malfoy to accept the garments at the threat of letting Malfoy walk around naked. While Harry wouldn't have minded, Ron made it quite clear that neither he nor Hermione needed to be exposed to that sight. In Harry's opinion, he was being rather critical for a person who currently had no clothes besides the ones he had come with.
Harry had known since the middle of his sixth year that he was attracted to both men and women, with Malfoy being at the top of the list. He supposed it was a bit late for an identity crisis, but he found that as he spent more time away from people, he began to watch them more closely. It was a surprise to see that he was staring at the boys as intently as he watched the girls. He was given many chances to observe his rival and he came to the conclusion that the blond was rather stunning…when he wasn't being an egotistical idiot…which was nearly all of the time.
He had been staring at Malfoy's chest for the past few seconds and blinked his eyes twice before he caught the other boy's amused stare.
"See something you like?"
Harry snorted. "Yeah, my clothes." Malfoy's mouth twitched like he wanted to smile, but instead fastened a dark cloak and revealed a satchel of items. "What's in the bag?"
He watched as his invisibility cloak was removed, along with floo powder, two potion vials, that strange key Malfoy had grabbed in the Ministry and six short pieces of rope.
"Do I want to know what you're planning?" Harry asked as he pulled up the hood on his cloak and followed the Slytherin out to the porch where his broom was. Glancing at the broom and his invisibility cloak, he wondered what else he had gone through that belonged to Harry.
"I'll explain on the way there." He mounted the broom, patted the back and looked expectantly at Harry.
"My broomstick, I'm steering." They had a silent battle of wills before Draco sighed and slid back. They didn't have time to fight according to the plan.
The plan was, quite possibly, the worst plan Harry had ever heard outside the debriefing room at the Ministry. However, as they were plotting against Fudge, there was a fairly high success rate. The first step was to sneak into the Ministry. It was easy enough because Harry had been given a key to the backdoor, which was actually just an underground slide that connected to a mailbox on the street that was two blocks to the right and one block behind the telephone booth. It was the next step that had Harry worried; step two was to free the veelas. Harry didn't ask him to elaborate because he had the horrible suspicion that that was the whole plan. Step three, the final step, was to activate the rope portkeys that Malfoy had keyed to Hogwarts and get everyone out of London.
Using the portkeys was a rather brilliant move, Harry had to admit, especially because they were notoriously difficult to make and yet Malfoy had managed six in a day. There was definitely something to be said about determination.
Step one had gone off without a hitch and they were currently in the middle of step two as they flew down over a hundred staircases on the Firebolt. Malfoy had already disappeared with the invisibility cloak and Harry once again was reminded of how stupid the plan really was. They touched down outside the rather unique door and slipped in as quietly as possible. Wordlessly, Harry was handed one of the vials and he watched as the darkened shape next to him drank it. Sighing, he did the same and was shocked to see the hallway change from solid black to a dull but highly visible gray. His eyes narrowed; Malfoy may have been determined, but there was no conceivable way he could brew a night vision potion and create six portkeys is such a short amount of time.
Now wasn't the time to confront him. Instead he allowed an invisible hand to draw him through the corridors. He tried to memorize the turns, but at the rate Draco was moving, the pathway just seemed blurred. It struck Harry that it was a bit strange that there were no guards and at that very moment, a horrible thought gripped him. What if it was a trap like in fifth year? Maybe Draco had given him poison, maybe he was being led to Voldemort. Again. Hermione was right; he really needed to think before he acted, but for some reason that was harder with Draco than it was in theory.
The hand pulling his suddenly dropped right before they turned the corner and Harry peered around the edge to see nine guards camped out in front of a thick wooden door. Just as he was figuring how to manage to stun all of the guards, he felt a hand brush up against his leg. Looking down, he saw nothing but air and turned back to the guards just in time to see a vial he had never seen before shatter against the ground and release a smoke that appeared gray in his vision. One by one, the guards stumbled to the floor and Harry was pulled forward to the door.
Stepping over one of the prone bodies, he was relieved to see the guard sleeping peacefully. Malfoy had a streak for vengeance, and Harry wasn't quite sure what he'd do if something was in his way. The Slytherin had been right in the library; he just didn't have the hate in him to utilize the Dark Arts that he had been learning. He had enough hate aimed at Bellatrix and Wormtail, but not to the degree where he could torture and maim others based on those feelings.
"Locking charm." He heard the words muttered to his side and that was the part where Harry's presence was required because he was still in possession of a wand although it had been mysteriously missing for several hours that day. Starting with the lower level charms, he worked through his repertoire of unlocking charms until he came across a moderately difficult one. The door clicked and it was pushed forward by an invisible hand.
The first thing that Harry noticed was the stench. It was a horrible odor that simply exploded when the door was fully open. The only thing he could match it to was a barn setting or a zoo, where animals lived in their own filth. Malfoy wasted no time and immediately began waking the veelas up who watched with wide eyes as one of their own attempted to set them free. Harry pulled his wand out and ran through every unlocking charm he knew until the cells were sprung open and the veelas poured into the hallway in a frenzy to get out.
"I know you all want to leave." Malfoy said over the noise that dimmed as one of their saviors spoke. "But we need to get the collars off. Know your number." The yelling started up again until five hundred veelas had been freed and were waiting instructions.
"We can't get all of them out with these." Harry whispered and watched as all of the eager, hopeful eyes turned towards him. "We need another portkey, one that's larger."
He was answered with just a shake of a head. "Just get them out." He turned and unlocked the last few. Harry knew this plan had opportunities to fail, and he stood right in the middle of it.
His voice raised above the noise as he passed out the ropes. "Crowd around. Get as many hands on this as you can." They understood better than he did and he watched in awe as they split the ropes, leaving only one end braided. Grubby hands gripped the strands as if they were a life line. Harry watched as dozens crowded around ropes only a third of a meter long until there was no rope to be seen under the marred flesh of their hands. Quickly activating the first one, sixty veelas disappeared in a whir of color.
They needed another portkey. He was contemplating getting one when something caught his attention. It wasn't a noise, because he could barely hear himself speaking in the small room, instead it was a feeling. Hesitantly, he approached the door and looked over the guards' bodies. A tip of a wand was his only warning before a spell shot out from behind the corner where he and Malfoy had hid earlier. The spell missed and left a scorch mark on the wall, and he wasted no time in slamming the door shut and reinforcing it with wards. He knew it wouldn't hold because even now it rattled dangerously, but he couldn't just stand to protect it because the portkeys needed to be activated and the only wand in the room was his.
His eyes flickered back and forth between the door and the hundreds of veelas who were all clamoring over each other for a piece of the rope. He saw a flash of blond to his side and knew instinctively that it was Malfoy.
"I'm a bit busy now." Harry gasped out as he felt a ward go down. It was strengthened and put back up, but the constant use of magic was draining him.
"We need to get them out. You can activate a few more before they break through entirely." He sounded resigned and some part of Harry that was pushing for the wards to hold shattered at the defeat. The plan just had to work.
"We need another portkey." Malfoy looked at him in surprise but nodded when he saw Harry clench his jaw as his magic was rippled back to him when another ward broke.
Just like when he had known of Malfoy's approach, Harry sensed the identity of the shadow behind him. It gave him a shiver up his back and he knew without turning around that it was Lucius Malfoy. "Perhaps I can help."
"How?" Harry gritted back as sweat began to run down his forehead. He was running out of spells and time.
"Can you do wandless magic?" The question took him by surprise and he nearly dropped all of his wards in shock. Dumbledore was the only one who knew of his skill in wandless magic. He had nearly perfected it when he went without speaking, but he rarely did it in public. For Lucius Malfoy to know was unnerving because it implied that Voldemort knew as well.
Harry nodded at the question. If it would get everyone out, then he would go to Voldemort and divulge every secret he possessed.
"Maintain the wards with wandless magic and give me your wand." A sense of cold dread filled him again. He couldn't just hand over his wand, but as he took in the sunken eyes, the skeletal face and the desperate expression on his enemy, he wordlessly handed it over. Lucius Malfoy was too proud of a man to risk being locked up for a quick blow to the enemy. Without the wand, his magic wasn't channeled and dulled so the shields and wards held a bit longer. Glancing behind him, he saw Lucius Malfoy taking strips of his son's cloak and changing them into portkeys as well. Now only a hundred or so veelas remained.
"How long will the door hold when you stop pouring magic into it?" Malfoy asked calmly as he began packing up his satchel.
The door rattled again. "Thirty seconds, maybe." He looked over to see the younger Malfoy fingering his wand that he must have gotten back from his father.
"Incendio. Let's go." Harry looked behind him to see all of the prisoners gone and a fire roaring in a fireplace that had been at the end of the room. He took out a pinch of floo powder and watched as it turned a brilliant green before stepping up.
"We'll have to floo together. You can't get into the house without me." Harry said and stepped into the fireplace. Malfoy stepped up as well and wrapped his arms around Harry's waist. Harry flushed at the close contact and he felt heat travel through him before settling in the pit of his stomach. He called out the name of his home and the last thing he saw before the cells swirled away was a flushed Fudge with his wand out and still in his nightclothes.
They fell out of the fireplace in a tangled heap. Malfoy kicked his legs aside so he could stand and missed the sour expression on Harry's face.
"Now what?" Harry asked as the fire was restarted and already flickering green with floo powder.
"Where do you think?" Malfoy said as he flipped a piece of hair out of his eyes and stepped back in.
Harry sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day and followed him to Hogsmeade and later Hogwarts.
By the time they had gotten back, it was nine in the morning and Harry was now officially going a whole day without sleep. Dumbledore had responded quickly enough and by the time Harry and Malfoy had reached the Great Hall, the five hundred refugees were being escorted to the four houses' dormitories. Madam Pomfrey was dashing from person to person with an irritated Snape in tow. While it was a bit funny seeing his potion master being ordered around by the plump little nurse, Harry had no time to enjoy it. Instead, he was sent to Dumbledore's office while Malfoy was allowed to speak with his parents. By the time the whole story was out, he had lost his adrenaline high and was exhausted.
He and Malfoy had just stumbled through the fireplace and were headed to the stairs when a well-rested redhead turned them around.
"Wrong way, Harry! Don't want to miss out on breakfast!" He sang as he pushed the two unwilling bodies in the direction of the kitchen. "It's Hermione's last day to cook and who knows what will be edible tomorrow when I have kitchen duty!" Harry groaned and turned his head to look at his accomplice who was looking rather cranky as he was pushed into a chair. A plate of eggs was pushed in front of him and Hermione smiled encouragingly. Pushing the plate away, he stood up and left. From the dragging footsteps behind him, he knew Malfoy had followed.
He had slept the day away and was now sitting out in the Black garden. It wasn't much of a garden now, but at one time it had been spectacular. Twice the size of the house, the backyard was once surrounded by a hedge that shifted to reveal different secluded spots. A dead end could have meant encountering a forever blossoming pear tree, a quiet garden of exotic flowers or a trap of carnivorous plants. In the Black family history book, it explained the details of a contained fire that had burnt the hedges and the garden down to the roots and left for a short time a very barren landscape.
Currently, he was hidden from view on a stone bench that was concealed by a wall of tall grasses that had sprung up in the past years. Ron had called him to dinner an hour or so ago, but soon gave up when he failed to spot him. It was growing dark now and he knew he had to get back soon or else his friends might send out a search party. Harry laughed a bit at the thought; it was precisely why he hadn't mentioned his and Malfoy's nightly activities. Besides, as soon as tomorrow's paper got out, Hermione would be able to put two and two together and figure out what he had been doing last night. No, he wouldn't tell them but would instead enjoy the peaceful evening as a nice change from his hectic morning.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a gust of wind blew past his ear and he turned to see a black wing arch and begin to fold backward. The wing was leathery feeling, he discovered, when he ran a finger over it. It quivered a bit but didn't retract further and Harry knew that Malfoy was allowing him to touch it. It was thin, just skin stretched over bone, but they felt very powerful. He ran a hand over the arch and jerked his hand back as the whole wing was stretched back and pulled into the Slytherin's back.
"Quite the entrance." Harry commented.
He didn't have to see the eye roll to know that Malfoy was a bit annoyed. "Well no one else could find you and I had a feeling you were out here but it was difficult to see from the ground." He looked around. "It's nice, in a tranquil kind of a way."
"Why are you out here? Were you worried?" He asked in a mocking tone and was surprised to see he elicited a smile.
"You wish Potter. The reason I'm here is that I won't be able to sleep tonight." He paused as if this was something significant before continuing. "So I decided to go to London and I want you to come with me." The last part was said with an even haughtier tone that Harry recognized on Malfoy when he was eleven. It was used to cover up insecurity and Harry hid a smile.
"You do know you're wanted by the ministry." He began as they trekked back to the house.
"It's half the fun." Malfoy was silent for a few moments as they approached the house. Harry grabbed his arm and turned him face to face.
"What you did last night," Harry began and watched as a look of horror appeared in Malfoy's eyes at his next words, "Was amazing."
"Wait, Potter-" He began but was cut off as the person opposite of him began to speak again.
Harry continued with respect coloring his tone. "No, the way you rescued those people…"
"Please, I beg you-"
"It showed a lot of courage-"
"Potter-"
"And compassion-"
"Oh for fucks sake Potter, it was just a final fuck you to the Ministry. There was nothing heroic about." Malfoy crossed his arms and quickly averted his eyes.
Harry just smiled and continued on to the house. "No it wasn't. You actually care for them."
"I don't know what you're talking about." His eyes darted in every direction and the tip of his pink tongue licked his lips almost nervously. Such a human emotion, the anxiety, was almost adorable on someone as reserved as the Slytherin.
"When that little girl was crying because some desperate veela knocked her to the ground in a hurry to get his collar off, you hugged her."
"To stop her whining!" He looked decidedly put off that Harry had remembered that small event and opened his mouth to tell him.
Harry had already turned around and began jogging backwards to the house. "I don't think so." He sang. "You're a good guy." He turned around and ran to the house with a fuming Malfoy behind. By the time he reached the door and had disappeared inside, he missed the smile that crept across Malfoy's face.
"Maybe just a little."
They were out every night for the next week, slipping into muggle pubs with the use of an aging potion that Malfoy had picked up in the same place he had found six portkeys and the other two potions used during the break-in: Knockturn Alley. He had been concerned at first, but like Malfoy had reasoned, who in Knockturn Alley and the muggle world would turn him in?
Harry was currently sprawled in a booth playing with a coaster as Malfoy took shots of some drink that they both had forgotten the name of.
"We're never going to get home." Harry moaned and then giggled for a few seconds at the thought of splinching himself as he apparated. Malfoy hadn't learned yet, and even if he could, Malfoy was as drunk as he was even if it was not as obvious. Instead of lying boneless like Harry was, he had his back against the wall with his legs dangling out the other end of the booth. His eyes were slightly glazed over and his face appeared a bit more flushed than normal.
"S'why I brought this." He looked to see his broom shrunken to be the size of a toothpick. Groaning again, he reiterated his previous statement. "We'll make it. You're the youngest seeker in a century, and I am Draco Malfoy." He said the last part like it was supposed to mean something, but Harry was just too tired to figure it out.
"Let's just go home." He staggered to the front door while Malfoy left some of their converted galleons and sickles on the table. Harry had stopped by the bank earlier that day under the pretense of replenishing his potion ingredients. Hermione and Ron wouldn't have noticed if he had outright said that he was converting money to go get drunk with Draco Malfoy, but he had covered his tracks any way. Lately he hadn't see much of his friends except at dinner, but Ron was too busy to notice anything besides his food and Hermione kept shooting him glares for his reckless behavior that had appeared in the paper several days ago. The Ministry had released their statement that twenty Death Eaters broke into the building and liberated their veela accomplices. Harry had a suspicion that Fudge issued it.
Draco had thrown the article in the fire as soon as he caught sight of it. Somewhere along the line, Malfoy had changed to Draco in his mind. It just sounded better, less hostile and now that they were sort of friends, or as Malfoy put it 'drinking buddies', the name just fit. He hadn't spoken it aloud yet and several times he had to stop himself as the first syllable passed his lips. Draco seemed to be calling the shots for their friendship and he hadn't put them on a first name basis.
Stepping out into the cool air sobered Harry a bit even as he swayed on the spot. Behind him, Draco waved goodnight to the barkeep and held the broom out to Harry who enlarged it with a wave of his hand. There was no need for his wand now that Draco knew of his wandless magic. It wouldn't have mattered if he had used his wand anyway; Dumbledore had used his influence with the Ministry to stop the tracking of his magic use under the pretense that Harry could freely prepare himself a bit more for the beginnings of the war.
Draco was flying, something Harry only allowed when he felt too tipsy to steer well. However, instead of steering towards Grimmauld Place, Harry discovered they were in another part of London where the Ministry was hidden.
"You're going to get arrested." Harry warned but was met with a shrug. They were hovering over the telephone booth and Draco swung a leg over the broom so that he could sit sideways. The Gryffindor looked down and followed Draco's hand as he unzipped his trousers. "What are you-" His eyes widened and his cheeks burned as he watched Draco urinate on top of the phone booth.
"Don't you want to give it a go? It's very liberating." Draco said with a nod as he did up his pants and swung the other leg around so that he was facing Harry.
"I'm not going to pee on a telephone booth." Harry hissed. "It's childish." He added with a sniff.
"Are you afraid of getting caught?" He received no answer and continued to taunt Harry. "Is it your cock? Afraid for me to see it? Kind of small?" He gave him a consolatory smile.
"If I do this, can we leave?" Harry asked as he looked around the area. Draco nodded with a wide smile. Drinking, Harry discovered, really loosened up Draco's facial muscles because he had a new expression on his face every five seconds. Slowly, in fear that he might fall, Harry turned himself around so he was in the same position Malfoy had been in. He looked down at the phone booth but didn't move.
"Don't back out on me now Potter." Draco goaded as Harry stared down and took a deep breath. "Here, I'll give you a hand." He was about to protest, but it died on his lips as Draco reached forward and slowly tugged the zipper down. Harry forgot to breath and had to gulp down air as he looked at the hand that hadn't moved from his zipper.
"Draco." The sound came out a breathy whisper as he exhaled and the two locked eyes. Sitting here, Draco looked like a fallen angel. His hair was tousled by the breeze and his eyes were black under the cloudy sky. They were the same eyes that spoke of lust and were currently blazing at Harry who had again forgotten how to breathe. It almost seemed odd that he had never noticed the small details that made Draco ethereal.
"Still want a hand?" Draco licked his lips, well aware of a pair of green eyes that followed the movement. "Maybe it's a little shy." His fingers slowly slipped into his pants and Harry bit back a moan as he was cupped by a warm hand. All too soon, the warmth was gone and his penis was exposed to the cool night air. His erection that Draco's cupping had caused had disappeared at the cold, but at the first touch of Draco's hand it jumped to attention. Draco broke eye contact and looked down. "Well, well. Not that shy. And not that small." Draco said with a laugh. "I was wrong on both counts." He leaned forward with his eyes now focused on Harry's lips. They were millimeters apart when a voice sounded from below them.
"What are you two-" He didn't finish because Draco had taken control of the broom after warning Harry to hold on and was speeding through the night. Harry was gripping the broom with one hand as he tucked himself away with the other, trying not to think of the kiss that might have been.
A spell shot past his ear and Harry looked to see six figures on broomsticks racing towards him.
"Sober enough to apparate?" Draco called. He wrapped one arm securely around Draco and grabbed the broomstick with another. With a 'pop' they were gone.
When they stumbled in the house, they were too busy laughing at their escape and good fortune not to be splinched, that the awkwardness of before was gone. It only lasted a moment before Harry tripped over the rug and nearly took down Draco with him. Instead he was hoisted back up until his body was brushing up against the blonde's. Blood pulled in his groin again at the proximity and Draco's eyes were now molten silver as desire crept into them.
"We shouldn't." Harry whispered as his breath mingled with Draco's. Even as he spoke the words, he didn't put much conviction in them. His body was betraying him as it leaned even closer to the other man.
"Blame it on the drink in the morning. Blame it on adrenaline, or hormones, or mercury in retrograde, just let me." The sentence remained unfinished as to what he wanted to do, but some part of Harry knew the answer to his breathy request. Hands had come up on either side of Harry's neck; one had sunken into dark silky tresses while the other just barely brushed the nape of his neck with curious fingertips. Against his better judgement, he nodded and was rewarded with a very coy smile that didn't fit with the Draco he knew. As soon as he had seen it, the smile was replaced with a calculating one and Draco Malfoy was back in control.
As he was led up the stairs, Harry closed his eyes and just let himself feel.