Title: A Most Unlikely Partnership – Chapter 5

Authors: Dark Nuriko and Mayhem's Angel

Disclaimers: Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy and Co. do not belong to us. The character of Bernard Strongshack however, DOES belong to Mayhem.

Warnings: Future Yaoi. Slash. Stuff.

Mayhem: Sorry for the slow up date. School's kept me busy. Will be back on track fairly soon. Thank you for all the nice reviews: )

Nuriko: Nothing much to say... other than keep those reviews coming. We love each and every one of them.

Chapter Five:

Dorry looked up from cleaning the living room and smiled. "Welcome back, Harry, sir. Master has been in the study since you left. I tried to get him for lunch, but he refused. Perhaps... you would have some more luck than Dorry did," he murmured, worry in his voice.

Harry frowned. That didn't seem like Draco. "Thanks Dorry. I'll go see what's wrong." He found the study, and knocked softly on the door before opening it. "Draco, are you alright? Dorry told me you wouldn't eat anything at lunch."

Draco looked up from behind a stack of books and several diary looking books. He winced and wiped a hand under his half-moon glasses and across his eyes before looking toward Harry with red-rimmed eyes. "I'm just a little busy, Potter. Nothing much really. I just wasn't very hungry."

"What's wrong? Have you been sitting here crying all this time?" He asked, concern coloring his words.

He flushed and looked away from Harry. "Just going over things that leave bad memories, Harry. Nothing to worry about. Really. After all, I am a Malfoy," he commented, trying to gain his snide attitude back.

Harry snorted, and pulled up a chair next to the blond. "Yeah, but you're /Draco/ Malfoy, and that makes all the difference. So, why don't you tell me about it? Is it something I could help you with?"

He smiled softly and leaned toward Harry almost on instinct. His head rested on the dark haired young man's shoulder for a moment as he moved to compose himself. "It's my father's notes. His diary... in it, he was telling of all the things he did for Voldemort and what he wanted from me as well. Of wanting me to follow in his foot steps."

Harry was silent after hearing this. What those diaries held... could change a lot of things or nothing at all. He wanted to sit a read them, but felt as though it would be invading. "I know those are difficult for you to read, but you need to take care of yourself too. I'm going to go get us something to eat, and then I'll stay with you while you work on this. Is that alright?"

Draco reached out as he stood and caught hold of Harry shirt sleeve. "What I'm reading, really shouldn't be read on a full stomach. Would you stay and help me go through them?" His words were low, his head tilted down. He didn't want Harry looking at him differently, but he didn't want him left out at the same time.

Harry paused. "Yes. I'll stay and help you, as long as you want me too." He told him, sitting back down.

Draco gave him a grateful smile and handed over some of the diaries to him. "Start with these. Make note of anything important."

"Is there anything you want me to look for in particular?" He asked, opening the first volume

"Just anything on dark magic and what kinds of things he would have done to others. That way, we can be wary of it in the future."

"Okay." He picked up a quill and pulled the paper close to him, starting to read the first entry

Draco, after hours of going through all of this, finally pushed it away and looked away. "I don't know about you, but I want to stop for tonight."

Harry looked up from his notes. "Okay, I don't mind stopping."

Draco stood and held out his hand. "Come on."

Taking the offered hand, he got up and walked with him out of the room, leaving behind a haunted past for the moment.

Draco didn't speak again until they were in the kitchen. "So, what can I make for dinner?"

"Anything."

He smiled and pulled out the making for ravioli, which he began to make from scratch.

Harry just watched him tiredly, thinking over the things he had read, and the notes he had written.

While cooking, he gave Harry a soft smile. "How are things with Mr. Weasley?"

"They're okay. A toaster blew up, and he's a little burned. Mrs. Weasley will probably be able to visit him tomorrow." He paused for a moment, getting himself a drink from the fridge. "He wants the two of us to come to dinner the night he goes home."

Draco smiled. "I think it would be a lot of fun. I haven't seen them for a long while."

"Mr. Weasley said that they had helped you after you were found. But he wasn't sure if you even remembered Mrs. Weasley visiting you while you were in the hospital. Do you remember anything from then?"

He thought it over for a moment. "Vaguely. I wasn't focused on a lot while I was recovering."

"I guess that makes sense. Your mind must have already been under great stress from the curses placed on you."

Draco paused for a second before nodding. "That was only part of it."

"What was the rest of it?" Harry asked, curious now that they were actually talking about it.

He began chopping various things for the side dish and salad and turned his eyes from Harry. "Sometimes, magic isn't all Voldemort's followers will do. Rape and physical abuse were on their to-do list as well."

Harry spit out the water he had just drank and looked to the blond with wide eyes. "T-They raped you too?"

Draco raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Yes. Didn't anyone tell you what the Dark Lord's follower's enjoyed when you became an Auror?"

"No. What would they have to enjoy about that?"

"It isn't to enjoy telling, it's to give fair warning before you go bursting in on Death Eaters."

"Well, what happen when they heard I had become an Auror?"

"Some of them became scared. Others laughed it off."

"Okay, but what would they have enjoyed about it if they were frightened or uncaring of it?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know." He added the Ravioli to the water and began cooking them. All the while, he began on a homemade sauce.

"Then why are you mentioning it? Unless... did they enjoy... you?"

"I wasn't there for three years with them not touching me, if that's what you're asking."

"No. That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if /you/ were the one they enjoyed the day I became and Auror!" Anger filled his voice with these words, "Some way to harm my once enemy?"

"Harry, the Aurors saved me from that fate. I thought I'd bee violated and beat and in pain the rest of my life. Strongshack had the Auror's who had brought me in memory altered to save my dignity. But it doesn't do much for me."

"Why not? Why couldn't they change you memories? Wouldn't you have healed faster that way?"

"Then what good would I have been? I learned a lot while locked up and tortured. It also made me respect life a hell of a lot more than I ever did.

"I guess you have a point." Harry conceded, anger slowly disappearing.

He smiled softly and placed his hand over Harry's from across the cooking area. "Harry, thank you... for being upset over it for me."

He moved Draco's hand just a little. "You're going to burn yourself if you're not careful."

He laughed and reluctantly let go of Harry's hand. "Would only serve me right if I'm going to be that stupid."

"No, because then I would make you feel better." He placed a small kiss on the blonde's lips, and then left to go sit in the living room. Curling up in the window seat, he stared out at the rain that was beginning, thinking through all he had learned in the last twenty-four hours.

Draco smiled softly, a hand to his lips, before he began to vigorously work on making dinner, the horrors of the past forgotten for the moment.