Hi, Redfern here.
I just want to give everybody millions of hugs for all the reviews since last chapter. They're like nice little gifts to open and it's not even Christmas yet!;-)
I'm really glad you like the story and hopefully you're having a bit lessconfusing holidays than poor Draco...
Speaking of which, the heat keeps rising in theWiltshire hangout...hope you'll enjoy it !
Warm Christmas Greetings to all readers!

21ST DECEMBER: BITING BACK

The wind was raging around the Wiltshire manor, as a furious snowstorm broke out this night. Draco was sitting on his bed with the cover around him and gazed at the scenery outside his window, while the effects of the drinking slowly wore off.
His thoughts resembled the whirling snowflakes very much at the moment.
What had he done?
And what had really happened in the library?
Naturally, he had gotten into that weird situation due to the drinking, that had to be it. And concerning the kissing…
Draco hid his face in his hands.
Noway. That could not have been what it looked like!
And he could not have…the way he reacted…had to be the effects of the alcohol. Right?
Right.
But what about his father, then? What was his excuse?
And what if this was part of the game?
But Lucius couldn't have known about his spontaneous show-off in the library and yet…he could have taken advantage of it.
But what was this all about anyway?!
Draco sighed for at least the thousandth time and decided to sleep it off instead. There were at least some things he couldn't deny.
He had needed that intimacy so badly, that small moment of something that came close to a mutual understanding or some sort of tenderness. Maybe even…love. That word was never used in this house and Draco was not sure that his father was capable of love at all. But at least, with the memory of the unspeakable thing they had done, he could pretend.
That maybe this was Lucius twisted way of telling him.

Breakfast this morning forced Draco into an unusually difficult act.
He had no wish to look his mother in the eyes (not that Narcissa normally looked at him) and he was extremely careful not to look at Lucius. The conversation around the table also took a real nasty turn, as soon as they were all seated.
"Oh dear, Draco!" Mr Crabbe said, putting his tea down. "What in the Dark Lords name is that on your throat?"
Oh, great. Now he noticed and chose to share it with the entire table!
"It's really nothing, Mr Crabbe." Draco replied, trying to sound very uninteresting. "Did you enjoy the social event last night?"
But Mr Crabbe seemed to ignore the reply completely.
"I say, that's some nasty toothmarks! You're not playing neat little games anymore, are you?" Mr Crabbe smiled, obviously finding it amusing to embarrass Draco in front of the others.
Pansy started toscowl at Draco at this, focusing on the fresh marks on the throat.
"Now, be fair, Laurent!" Mrs Parkinson objected. "We were all that age once. I remember you at fifteen…"
"Oh, not getting such marks, PLEASE!" Mr Crabbe argued.
Draco felt trapped in a degrading nightmare and Mr Nott added to it by leaning over the table with a superior smile of the kind that adults often use to very small children.
"You have to bite back, Draco!"
His words released a wave of laughter over the table and just as Draco thought it could get no worse, Pansy suddenly rose from her chair with a truly miserable face and started to walk out from the dining room.
A silent second hit the table and then some of the parents started to whisper to each other. And then everybody was looking at Draco.
Narcissa looked aggressively demanding.
Draco remained seated a few more seconds before rising from his chair as well. He wanted to throw an accusing glare at Lucius, but he did not dare.
"Excuse me." He muttered and then he was chasing Pansy, followed by many pairs of eyes who thought they understood the scene perfectly.
Merlin, if they knew…

Pansy sat crying on the stairs to the attic when he found her.
When he approached her, she looked up angrily, ready for battle. Draco wanted nothing else than to be riding over the snowcovered fields far away from the house at this moment, but if there was an escape from this situation, he sure couldn't find the exit.
"Pansy, we need to talk." He said, mentally tip-toing around herwith his words.
"Get away from me!" She raged. "I don't want to see you EVER again in my entire LIFE!"
Works with me, Draco thought, but he fought to find words to explain. What could he possibly say?
"Look Pansy, I…"
"Who is it?!"
"Eh…what?"
"You heard me!"
Draco decided that an attack would be the best defence.
"You have no right to ask me that." He said with authority. "It's not like we're actually together."
She gaped at him, before firing back.
"No? So what was the kiss at the ball all about? Why did you bother to ask me at all? I could have gone with someone MUCH better…"
"Like who?!" Draco interrupted, suddenly indignated.
"What about THE KISS, Draco?"
"It's just stuff you do at a ball!" He started to raise his voice, losing patience in perfect time with Pansy.
"Oh, and what's the excuse this time? 'It's just stuff you do at Christmas'!"
"And what about the toilet, then? Go kiss Millie some more and stop bothering ME!"
She glared at him in silence for a moment, just long enough for Draco to realise his mistake.
"Oh." She said, slowly and cleverly. "So this is your revenge, isn't it?"
"Pansy, SERIOUSLY…"
"No, no, I get it!" Pansy stood up from the stairs and walked up to him, frosty as the weather. "You're little game is on, then. I'll find out who it is, Draco, and then I'll beat her to death and then you better crawl if you want me back!"
Draco heightened his eyebrow at her, in disbelief about what he heard. But Pansy walked past him and made sure to drop a few poisonous words on her way out.
"By the way, don't be surprised if I amuse myself in the meantime, just like you!"
And then she was out.
Draco sank down on the stairs, on the spot Pansy had recently been.
That was all this house needed. Another game!

The morning passed into noon and Pansy was ignoring Draco very prominently so far. Draco did his best to ignore her too and it wasn't all that hard. After all, his need to ignore her was genuine.
But it was a lot harder to ignore Lucius. He didn't want to think about it, but the subject of last night kept popping up in his head and he found himself running off, whenever he had the chance, to check upon the adults. Or more accurately, check upon Lucius.

Then just before dinner, as his friends had gone off to clean themselves up after the visit to the stables, he had the perfect chance to spy on them undisturbed from the rail of the stairs, after a quick change of clothes.
The adults were gathering in the great hall, still talking and laughing after the hunt they had just experienced. Lucius had led it, of course, and made sure to be the centre of all attention as usual.
He had his arm around Narcissa, as if it was the most natural thing in the world and she adjusted his hunting robes with one hand while embracing him with the other. Her eyes glimmered and they looked truly in love.
Then his father turned his head to kiss her forehead before continuing his quick remarks.
Draco felt his stomach clench in a very uncomfortable way.
Now, what was this?
He should be content to see them like that, shouldn't he? Even if it was just a show in front of the guests?
Or maybe it wasn't...
All those things, those shows of affection he had been given Draco, could have been a show as well. Something to bend Draco to his own will, to manipulate him into something…
But the scene in the library…
Without thinking, Draco started to run to Lucius' office, hoping to catch up with him there before dinner. He knew his father often took a turn to his working place before reuniting with the guests and Draco just had to get some answers, or confirmation or…whatever. He wasn't sure about why, but it was urgent!

Lucius showed up, just as he had counted on, and unlocked the door to his office very calmly as Draco stood beside him, trying to get his attention.
The ignorance made Draco very uncertain and struck all the harder after the recent scene in the hall.
"Father, I need to talk to you." He tried.
"Really?"
Lucius looked distant and bored, just like he did all too often in Draco's presence. This was getting painful!
"Please…we have to talk."
Draco swallowed.
Lucius opened the door and stepped in very calmly. He walked straight to the desk and lifted something from an open drawer.
Then he looked up at Draco.
"Well, step in, then. We have some serious matters to deal with, after all."
Draco closed the door behind him and walked up to the desk very carefully.
He was very relieved that Lucius wanted to speak to him too. There was this little tiny hope that his father would actually wonder how he felt after all this and maybe wanting to check up on him.
Then he saw the object in his father's hand.
Lucius was holding Draco's belt, the one he had withdrawn last night.
Draco's eyes shot up from the belt to meet his father's eyes.
He was met by that cruel, uncompromising face he knew all too well.
"Lean over the desk." Lucius instructed him with a stern voice.
Draco stood frozen for a moment and felt all hope fall to the floor and shatter before doing as he was told. He fought not to show any signs of disappointment or feelings at all.
How many times would he walk into this trap? Lucius was playing with him, he knew that, so why did he have to act like a bloody idiot, chasing imaginary treasures?!
"Let's see, you mentioned three ancestors last night. Five, if we are to count the unworthy rabble two of them were involved with."
Lucius walked around him, out of sight, positioning himself behind Draco. His voice still carried an eerie coolness as he continued.
"Then you deliberately tried to make a scene out of everything. That's five more. So how many is that all together, Draco?"
That was a very rhetorical question and normally, Draco would be paralyzed with fear about the pain to come. But he felt strangely distanced from everything, as if the punishment really wasn't aimed at him.
"Ten." He answered distractedly.
He felt betrayed, bitter and beyond any care about what Lucius could do to him physically. It didn't matter anymore.
The cold in Lucius voice was twenty times worse to listen to.
"Count aloud then, Draco."
Draco clenched his teeth together. He wouldn't show a hint of weakness, never again!
SMACK!
"One!"
His voice was filled to the brim with suppressed emotions, but he fought to keep everything in place as the lashes continued to rain.
SMACK! SMACK! SMACK!
"Two…three…FOUR!"
Damn it! The control over his voice was slipping!
The next lash came down with full force and threw him out of his well-guarded self-discipline.
"Five…!" The number was spoken like a whimper and his knees started to fail him.
"Stand up straight, Draco, we haven't got all day!"
Draco forced his legs to obey, but it was harder to prevent the burning knot in his stomach from growing.
SMACK!
"Six!"
He hissed the numbers out now, took the last four blows one by one, without any dramatic display of feelings. As he stood catching his breath, still leaning over the desk, Lucius simply laid the belt in front of him.
"You can take the belt with you when you leave." His father said, close to his ear. But he sounded different this time. Something akin to amusement or…tenderness?
Lucius hand was on his cheek suddenly, wiping the small drops of the exhaustion away.
But Draco was in a fury that did not allow him to yield to this weakness. Not again.
You have to bite back, Draco!
He turned his cheek away and stood up straight so suddenly, that Lucius hand was still outstretched as he took three steps away from his father.
"If that was all, father…" Draco said in his coldest, most contemptuous voice. "…then I'm out of here!"
He dashed out the door, only freezing for less than as second as Lucius sharp, commanding voice rang out behind him.
"DRACO!"
But Draco didn't stop. He did not care what would happen, he wasn't going up there again and Lucius could forget about that game! He wasn't going to play anymore!
His back and buttocks were burning, but it was nothing compared to the anger inside. He ran straight down to the dinner table and took his seat, determined to stay among the guests, no matter what.
Lucius did not seem to follow him down and to make it easier to ignore the head of the family, he started to engage himself in a conversation with Edwin suddenly, picking a subject about the ministry that he knew could keep Edwin going for hours.

Lucius did arrive after a little while, of course. Right on time with his clothes changed and all. And nothing in his posture revealed any recent disturbance in the family. He smiled at the guests as usual and entangled them with his charms, but Draco could see in his eyes that he was livid.
Good! He had it coming!
Soon they were all seated and as lunch was served, Edwin was still in an endless monologue about his political view about the restrictions for underage wizards.
Draco kept a brave face and Lucius mask of politeness was impeccable.
Still, there was a noticeable tension in the room that even the guests seemed to feel.
Some sort of wet blanket had spread out over the table and Narcissa looked very uncomfortable, glancing from Lucius to Draco while upholding the conversation compulsively.
As lunch drew close to its end, Lucius finally turned his attention to Draco.
"I'll see you in my office in five minutes." He said, with a vindictive smirk that could easily be taken for devotion to his son by the present.
Draco smiled back at him, exaggerating his friendliness an inch or two.
"Thank you, father, but there's no need. I managed the homework on my own!"
Mrs Parkinson missed the deadly glare Lucius sent over the table and looked at Pansy.
"Did you have homework over the holidays? You haven't told me."
Pansy looked as confused as her mother, but never had a chance to answer as Lucius came in between.
"Draco is ahead in certain classes and thereby lends advanced books with him home, to keep the interest up."
Several of the parents made impressed noises at this, but Draco threw Lucius a dark, defiant glance.
Then Rowan started to cough suddenly and hold her stomach.
"I don't feel very well." She whimpered.
Her mother was at her side in an instant and helped her up from the chair.
"What's the matter, dear?"
Rowan whined and pressed her hands to her stomach harder.
When Draco turned his head to her as well, he got a glimpse of Pansy surveying him with a content smile.
Oh. Fuck.
This house was totally mad!
Draco kept staring at the scene as Mrs Nott led Rowan up the stairs to her room. Narcissa left the table to punish some kitchen house elf and Lucius seized the moment perfectly and stood with a heavy hand on Draco's shoulder only seconds later.
Draco had a real start since he never noticed his father's arrival.
"Let's go, Draco."
There was nothing to do but following Lucius obediently, but as soon as they had reached the second floor, Draco made a sudden turn to his room and ran for it.
Lucius turned to see him run in disbelief no longer than a second before coming after him at a dangerous speed.
He had never done a defiant gesture even near this one, but the little stomach he had left for the situation was fading. Draco flew into his room and slammed the door shut, but he never got to put the locking spell on before Lucius burst into the room, slammed the door shut even harder and grabbed Draco's robe too close to the throat.
"LET ME GO! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Draco shouted, digging his nails into Lucius' wrists in panic.
His father released one hand from him and drew his wand out.
"Silencia!"
The room was protected with a powerful silence-spell, preventing any sound from reaching outside the walls.
Then Lucius lifted him off the ground and threw him down on the bed. Draco rose with the speed of lightning, but Lucius managed to push him into a corner as soon as he was on his feet again. Draco hit the wall but turned to face Lucius without hesitation.
He was met by an unexpected smile. Lucius stood ready with his wand, but looked too relaxed to match the moment.
"I'm not playing anymore!" Draco sneered.
Lucius smile only deepened, with frustrated Draco even more. If he was going to get his back red again, then at least he was going to make sure he deserved it this time!
"You can push me around all you like, but you won't have me cooperating!" He continued, his voice raising from the anger. Lucius was still quiet and looked at him very intensely. This unnerved Draco even more and urged him to fill the silence.
"You've told me I'm all alone and I'm dealing with it and everything you do just confirm it! If that's the lesson, then I'm done with it now! JUST STOP FEEDING ME HOPE ALL THE TIME!"
Draco caught his breath, stunned by his own daring. He had never even dreamed about raising his voice to Lucius, while sober,and now he was left with the terrible threat of the consequences.
But his father was still calm, even though he did not smile anymore.
"You will behave while we have guests in this house." Came the answer, carrying a sharp edge of warning.
"I don't care about the guests! They're not even friends to us! You said so yourself! I didn't invite them!"
"NEITHER DID I!"
Draco had a start and slammed his back to the wall.
When Lucius spoke again, it was in the same low but stern voice as before.
"They just show up, every Christmas, just as their families always have."
The room was silent for several seconds.
Dracohad areflex to laugh, but swallowed it.
He stared at Lucius with wide eyes and his father glared back in a very dangerous way.
"You are jealous." Lucius stated, the smile suddenly creeping back in an uncanny way.
"…what?" Draco managed, in a very small voice.
But his father was closing in, the smile never leaving his lips.
"I know you are, Draco. You're of my blood after all…"
He reached out to touch Draco's cheek and Draco stood still in his corner, not knowing what to believe.
"…and you get such a dreadful temper when you don't get what you want…just like me."
The last words were whispered to him and the meaning of them sank in too slow, while the hand on his cheek played over the smooth surface, reaching up to tuck some strands of hair back in place that had fallen down in his face.
Draco swallowed. He wanted it, oh, he wanted it to be real!
Tears started to burn in his eyes and he averted his eyes and looked down at his feet.
Then Lucius took his face in both hands and directed it upwards again, kissing his forehead in that intimate, disarming way.
"You have to learn, Draco. Everything in this house is a game to uphold the necessities."
Lucius looked him in the eyes as he said it, adding a serious frown.
Draco shut is eyes tight. He couldn't prevent a tear from spilling down his cheek now.
"Then this is just another game." He answered, opening his eyes to scan Lucius' face for any changes of expression. He had to know!
His father looked slightly impatient, but answered him very determinedly, his gaze as sharp and serious as before.
"No, Draco. This is the only thing real you'll ever have."
Another silent moment passed.
It could be a lie, it might as well be.
But one thing had been true. Even though he would deny it until death, he had been jealous when seeing his parents showing affection for each other.
Their faces were very close and Draco reached up on his toes with a racing heart to kiss his father's lips.
He had an immediate response, as Lucius took control over the situation and grabbed his arms to drag him to the bed.
Draco found himself with his back against the mattress suddenly, his father climbing on top of him without breaking the kiss even once.
Their tongues were closely entwined in a blessed heat and his head was spinning from the eager caresses the hands gave him, moving down his thighs and up to his face. Lucius broke the kiss slowly and moved his thumb over Draco's lips before pressing it into his mouth. Draco instinctively closed his lips around it and started to suck, stroking it with his tongue, while Lucius licked his ear and used his other hand to unbutton Draco's pants.
The younger Malfoy, who had held his eyes closed, now opened them and stirred anxiously as the hand touched the bare skin of his inner thigh.
"Relax." His father whispered into his ear.
It was agonizing; his body wanting one thing and his mind another.
The thumb left his mouth and a forefinger entered instead, leaving Draco busy while the hand on his thigh ventured further, stroking over his hip and groin before moving to his streaked buttocks.
Draco made a little twitch at the touch, his heart beating fast as the thumb moved over the marks from the belt. But then a finger found its way in between the buttocks and started to stroke the tight little opening and several things happened at once.
A wave of unknown pleasure rushed through him, having his sex reacting in a quite revealing way. The next moment, Draco started to suspect why he was sucking at his father's fingers and as another finger was coaxed into his mouth, the blush on his face intensified.
Not to mention the anxiousness.
The fingers finally left his mouth and he noticed that he was breathing shakily, trembling from the fear of what to come.
The hand stroking him between the legs moved up and pulled his wrists together, pressing them down over his head just as it had in the library.
Lucius was straddling him, moving the wet fingers down to the private place while searching his face for every small reaction.
Draco met his gaze, trying to plead silently.
"Father…" He breathed, but hesitated as he decided that the word sounded horribly perverted in this situation.
But it seemed to enflame Lucius, who bent down to kiss him a lot harsher than before, while placing the fingers against the narrow entrance.
The small protests Draco tried to make were quenched by the persistant tongue in his mouth and the fingers were probing and coaxing, forcing their way inside of him.
A shiver ran through his spine and he writhed from the new, unfamiliar pain the invasion caused. The fingers were pushing in to him, bit by bit, accompanied by Draco's agonized moans every time they ran deeper.
The muscles involuntarily clenched around the fingers spasmodically.
But still there was this wicked sensation that made his sex stone hard and from what he could feel against his thigh, his father was no less excited about it.
A little thought flickered through his mind, making the connection between the fingers in his ass and the quite larger, hard sex against his thigh. But it was too abstract. It wouldn't fit in there and…they weren't really going that far, were they?
But Lucius shoved the fingers all the way in and had Draco jumping and crying out from the shock, breaking loose from the kiss.
His father locked eyes with him and released his hands to stroke his cheek and then grasp his jaw to keep Draco from turning his head.
Draco carefully brought his shaking hands up around his father's neck and buried them in the long, silvery hair. It was a rare, pleasant privilege to be allowed such an act, entwining the strands between his fingers.
The hot mouth closed over his own again and as soon as Draco started to relax a little, the fingers moved out a little only to push in with full force.
"OW!"
Lucius caught his mouth once more, forcing his cries to cease as the fingers kept repeating the rough penetration.
Finally, all he could do was to whimper and moan as the fingers rode him, but soon they seemed to find a spot that had to be the core of all pleasure and suddenly the pain seemed less relevant.
Reality simmered and became blurred, his mind was heavily drugged as pure ecstasy rushed through his veins. He never wanted it to stop and tried to make his will clear about it by arching his hips up against the body over him. His sex was alive and pulsating and suddenly it seemed to matter little that he was practically into quite a hardcore foreplay with his father. He just wanted to ride on the feeling and to reach its peak, no matter what!
But Lucius withdrew the fingers and separated from him so fast that Draco had barely grasped that it was interrupted before Lucius stood on the floor, correcting his robes with a devilish smile directed at Draco.
"That is quite enough for now, wouldn't you say?" He said, in his polite, businesslike manner, raising an eyebrow as if expecting an answer.
Draco managed to sit up a bit clumsily and stared at Lucius while gasping for breath. But Lucius just moved towards the door with a content smile and faced him only once more when his hand was on the doorknob.
"It's not Christmas yet after all, is it?"
He shut the door behind him and Draco was left alone with his pants halfway pulled down and a painfully throbbing erection demanding release.
He stumbled out of bed and got rid of his pants, before deciding to think it all over in private while showering.
All of a sudden, he was miles away from life as he knew it.

Draco held the younger guests entertained the rest of the day and was unusually quiet. Rowan stayed in bed, becoming sicker by the hour and as evening fell and she had to be taken to St Mungo's hospital, Draco just knew that this was going to be the longest Christmas ever.