THE ELF PRINCE'S MATE
AUTHOR: fantasylover12001
RATING: HARD R
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters of HP. I just own this little plot bunny and AU verse.
PAIRING: Draco/Harry
AUTHOR NOTES: I know, this is kind of late. School has started and as it is my junior year I've got a lot of work. To all freshman in college: GET OUT! NOW! WHILE YOU STILL CAN! Just kidding. Sort of. On with the fic:
CHAPTER 16: HARRY'S WRATH
Hermione Granger-Weasley watched in astonishment and slight amusement as her normally calm friend fumed and raged around the stables.
"Who does he think he is!" the man raged loudly as he saddled up one of the spare horses in the stable. "Just because he's the damn king does not give him right to lie to me and go out and risk his fool neck!"
"Absolutely," Hermione agreed.
Harry continued to rant as he adjusted the saddle. "What sort of plan is that, anyway? Challenging the Dark Lord IN HIS CASTLE to a duel! Is he trying to get himself killed!"
Hermione didn't bother to answer that because frankly she felt it was a stupid idea as well.
"Why did his advisors go along with it! Fools! The whole lot of them! Bloody aristocrats. Why are stupid people always the ones in charge?"
'Again; better if I don't answer' she thought ruefully.
"Don't you have something to say about this?" Harry suddenly asked her.
Hermione shrugged. "I think you've pretty much said everything I was thinking."
"You aren't the least bit upset with Ron?"
"Of course I'm upset at him. But I've grown rather used to his dumb mistakes, so…"
The other man sighed. "I still can't believe he did this," he muttered, absentmindedly patting the horse.
"I'm sure Draco had a good reason for this," she assured him. "It's probably a ridiculous reason to us but to him it made sense."
Harry snorted. "That still doesn't excuse him."
"No. It doesn't."
Harry mounted the horse and turned at Firebolt's indigent whinny. She looked reproachfully at her owner from her stall. "Sorry girl. You're still recovering from giving birth. You can't come."
Hermione narrowed her eyes at Harry. "You better be careful, Harry. Don't take any dangerous jumps or anything. The first two months are the most dangerous for male pregnancies." She patted her bulging stomach and sighed. "I wish I could go with you. But it would be too dangerous now. Ron's lucky he didn't do this the first month."
Her friend chuckled. "He sure is. I'll be careful. I'm not going to risk my child just because his father is being an idiot."
The woman raised an eyebrow. "He? How do you know the baby is a he?"
Harry smiled and shrugged. "It's a feeling I have. I won't know for sure for a few months though."
"Hmm. Well, off you go. When you find Ronald, inform him that he will be sleeping on the couch and be getting no sex until further notice when he comes home."
He smirked at her. "I'll do that."
As she watched him ride off she couldn't help but think that Draco was one dead elf.
dmHPdm
"You do realize that when Harry sees you again, you're a dead elf, right?" Ron commented as he and Draco set up camp for the night.
The king glared at him. "Yes. It had crossed my mind. I've been trying not to think about it if you must know. While we're on the subject, Hermione isn't going to be too happy with you either."
The redhead winced. "No. She won't be. I'll be sleeping on the couch for quite some time now."
"I wonder if she'll give you another black eye?" Draco mused as he lay down his bed roll.
Ron glared at him. "You're never going to let me forget that, are you?"
"Nope."
"Bastard," Ron muttered. "Don't know how Harry puts up with you."
Draco shrugged. Ron didn't need to know that Harry gave as good he got and the blonde felt it best to not push his mate unless absolutely necessary. Ron dropped the subject of their mates and he was thankful. He didn't like to think about how upset at him Harry probably was right now. He had never had Harry truly mad at him before and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it when the eventual confrontation took place.
But what else was he supposed to do? If he had told Harry what he was planning to do his mate would have tried to talk him out of it and he would have succeeded; Draco could never say no to him. Then the war would continue and more people would die needlessly.
No. It was far better to leave Harry in the safety of the castle and end this once and for all.
He would not lose this duel. He had been training with swords since he was four. As the heir to the throne his training had been intense as his father felt it best that everyone in his family knew how to fight somehow. That was why even his mother and all her ladies in waiting knew how to use daggers, fencing swords, and could shoot arrows.
Feeling restless without the warmth of his mate next to him, Draco turned over and tried to get to sleep. He fell asleep dreaming of green eyes.
dmHPdm
From the journal of Harry Potter:
December 2nd,
Draco Malfoy is without a doubt the most stubborn, idiotic, exasperating, arrogant, stupid elf I've ever met!
I can't believe he did this!
No. I can believe he did this. I mean, I really shouldn't be surprised. He's an overprotective prat sometimes and this is the sort of thing an overprotective prat would do.
I'm not even really upset about the fact that he's risking his neck doing this. No. I'm more upset about the fact that he just LEFT WITHOUT TELLING ME. You know what message leaving your husband without telling him you're doing something really dangerous sends? It says to me that Draco doesn't trust me.
You know what? That really hurts.
Which is what I plan on telling him when I see him. Right after I punch him in the face.
dmHPdm
Draco woke up with a start and narrowed his eyes at his surroundings. The protective stones placed around the camp glimmered brightly which meant someone was near. He grabbed his sword and went to wake Ron up. Despite Albus's insistence that the stones were spelled to wake up soldiers Ron still managed to sleep through the alerts.
"Ron," he shook the redhead.
"G'way," the elf mumbled in his sleep.
"RON! Get up you idiot!" the king ordered. 'To think; he wonders how Harry puts up with ME. Hermione deserves a medal for going through this every morning.'
"Ger'off!" his friend swung limbs as he awoke. He blinked and then glared at Draco. "WHAT?"
"The wards are going off, genius. Someone's coming. Get your sword."
Ron looked at him and blinked. "Uh...I don't need too. It's not an enemy."
"Huh?" Draco frowned at his friend. "How do you know that?"
The redhead pointed behind him and Draco turned in alarm to find his mate standing behind him with his arms crossed, glaring at him in fury.
Draco stared at Harry in shock and then snapped out of his surprise. The king stood up and stormed towards his husband. "Harry, what the bloody hell are you doing here!"
Harry narrowed his eyes at him. "What do you think! Following my fool of a husband to tell him what a complete moron he is!"
The elf bristled at that comment and then glared at his husband. "Fine! You've told me. Now go back home!"
"NO," Harry shouted stubbornly.
Draco sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "Harry. PLEASE. Go home."
His mate didn't budge. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying here and making sure you don't get yourself killed. Though God only knows why I'm bothering!"
"Harry, do not make me force you home. I'll order Ron to drag you there if necessary."
Ron blinked. "Oi! Don't bring me into this! This is between you two!"
Draco and Harry both ignored him and continued to glare at each other.
"I'm not going anywhere," Harry said firmly.
"Harry, for God sakes, you're pregnant! At least think of our baby," Draco tried to reason with him. Unfortunately, that only seemed to anger Harry more.
"Our baby is fine. As long as I don't do anything that would hurt my stomach area he'll be fine. Besides, you're one to talk. You certainly weren't thinking about our baby when you just UP AND LEFT."
Draco winced. "I'm sorry about that, Harry. But it was necessary. You would have tried to talk me out of this."
"You're damn right I would have! You idiot; what if you get yourself killed?"
"I won't."
"You don't know that!"
"Yes, I do. I've been training since I was four. I'll be fine. NOW GO HOME."
"I TOLD YOU: I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE."
Draco finally lost his temper. "DAMN IT, HARRY. GO! YOU'LL BE IN DANGER IF YOU'RE WITH ME HERE!"
The punch aimed at his face had been the last thing he was expecting. He knew Harry could defend himself but he'd never seen his mate act violent at all. Which was why it took him by surprise and he fell to the ground due to the force of the punch.
Draco blinked and gingerly touched his nose. It was bleeding. He couldn't help but stare up at his mate torn between hurt, amazement, and slight pride that Harry could punch like that. Harry glared down and him and said in a dangerously low voice, "You should have thought of that before you left. You should have known that I'm not letting you face danger alone. Now, I'm going to set up my bedroll. I suggest you do not talk to me for the rest of the trip."
He turned to head towards the horse and then as an afterthought glanced back at Ron who was staring at him with something akin to awe. "By the way, Ron, Hermione says that when you get back you're to sleep on the couch and you'll not be having sex until further notice."
The redhead blinked. "Sex too? Damn." He glared at the king. "This is your fault."
Draco warily sat up, trying to stop his bleeding nose. "I didn't tell you to come."
Ron didn't bother to answer that because both knew the king didn't have to tell him, he would've come regardless.
The king glanced back at his mate and sighed at the sight of Harry rolling out a bedroll as far away from Draco's as he could get it. This was going to be a very long trip.
AUTHOR NOTES: For the record I know next to nothing about regular pregnancies. Just the usual development stuff they teach you in human biology. So I'm kind of winging the early info in this.