Author's Note: I'm sorry it's been so long between updates. Real life issues keep popping up, plus I've been having some financial difficulties which resulted in nearly losing my internet connection. Hopefully things will straighten out soon and I can have more updates for you.
And this is a poll of sorts...I have 3 other WiPs in various stages and was wondering if you'd like me to post them for you to read. One is currently at 5-6 chapters, one is at 3 chapters and one is at two chapters. Please leave your vote in your comment/review.
- - -
Two months later...
Harry was happy. Happier than he'd ever been in his life. In the last two months, Draco had done more to prove his love than he ever thought possible and Harry loved him with his whole heart and soul.
But there was something missing, something he himself had been neglecting, and he was debating with himself over whether he was ready for it or not.
He wanted Draco to finally make love to him. But he was scared. He knew Draco had more experience with this aspect of relationships and Harry felt ill-suited for the man's affections.
Hermione had told him to follow his heart and the rest would take care of itself.
And that was right around the same time Harry discovered that she's become engaged to Ron Weasley. As fast as that had happened, Harry was greatly pleased for his friend and taken every moment he could getting to know the young man.
And now in less than a month, Harry would lose Hermione to Ron when they married, as she was going to go live with him (as she should).
Of course he was sad about that, but she reminded him she would only be a carriage ride away.
- - -
Draco was out, tending to business as usual. Narcissa was having a late brunch with Remus at his estate, so Harry was alone.
He decided to sit in the gardens, and his favorite thinking spot. After requesting his own lunch be brought to him there, he headed outside into the crisp air. Autumn was steadily approaching and the gardens and trees were awash in different shades of gold, yellow and brown, reminding him of home for a moment.
Smiling, he sat on his favorite bench and turned his thoughts to Draco.
He knew Draco was being steadfastly patient with him regarding their sleeping arrangements. But Draco did no more than kiss Harry breathless night after night, day after day. And Harry wanted more. So much more.
He knew he was physically and emotionally ready to consummate their marriage. He just wasn't sure if he was mentally ready.
And therein lie Harry's problem.
How do I get it across to Draco that I want him to make love to me without sounding like a complete idiot?
No answer was forthcoming and he sighed, deeply.
A sound alerted him that he was no longer alone and he assumed it was one of the servants arriving with his lunch.
The wind chose that moment to blow from behind him, and with it came the smell of an unwashed body. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end in warning but before he could turn around, a bitter-smelling cloth was clamped over his nose and mouth. He struggled for a moment before the smell became too much for him and he blacked out.
- - -
It was that unwashed smell that brought him around sometime later.
Groaning at the slight headache he had, he opened his eyes. His glasses had gone missing and his vision was somewhat blurred. There was a vague shape in front of him, where the unwashed smell was emanating from. He tried to move and found his arms and legs bound.
"H-Hello?" he whispered, his voice hoarse with misuse.
How long was I out? He wondered.
"Look who finally decided to join the land of the living?" came a derisive snort.
Wait! I know that voice!
The blurred shape moved closer until Harry could see it clearly and his heart jumped into his throat, fear screaming from every pore in his body.
Dudley Dursley grinned at him, and in a detached way, Harry noticed he was missing a few teeth.
"Dudley!" he gaped.
"We meet again, Harry." Dudley grinned again.
"Where are we?" Harry asked.
"Ah, Ah, Ah, Harry. That's none of your business." Dudley laughed, wagging a finger at his captive. That laugh chilled the blood in his body and he trembled.
"W-What are you going to do with me?"
"Whatever I bloody want! And none of your little friends, especially that ponce, Malfoy, will be able to stop me."
Dudley reached down and fondled Harry's genitals through the fabric of his pants. Harry bit back a moan of revulsion. His trembling became more pronounced and Dudley seemed to bask in it.
"You may as well get comfortable, Harry. You're going to be here for quite some time." And with that, Dudley turned and left the room, locking the door behind him.
Tears blurred Harry's vision as he thought about what this would do to Draco when he found out Harry was gone.
Draco! Please, find me!
He curled into a ball, as much as his bonds would allow him too, and cried himself to sleep.
- - -
Draco was beyond exhausted. He'd been traveling since morning and all he wanted to do was get home, curl up on the couch in his study with a glass of scotch and have Harry massage his headache away.
He had discovered his husband was very skilled in body massages. The one evening Draco had come home from helping his workers in the fields, sore in places he never knew existed, Harry had taken charge. And Draco hadn't complained...
-Flashback, one month earlier...-
Harry had just finished a bath when Draco stumbled into their bedroom, more tired than Harry had ever seen him. He watched, slightly amused, as Draco fell face first across their bed and groaned into the pillow that he had shoved into his face.
Harry sat beside him and touched his leg. Draco's body tensed.
"Don't, Harry. Please? As much as I love you touching me, I am so sore right now, it's like ground glass being dragged across my flesh."
"That bad?"
"Yes." Draco sighed, gently rolling onto his back.
"Want a massage?" Harry offered. Draco arched an eyebrow at him.
"What?"
"A massage. Remus says I'm quite good at them."
Draco stared at him for a full minute, trying to decide if Harry was pulling his leg or not. But Harry's eyes betrayed nothing save but his own innocence and honesty in those dark green depths.
"All right, love. What do I need to do?"
"Number one, you're wearing too many clothes."
"I knew this was some plot to get me naked." Draco grumbled. He got to his feet and quickly pulled off his clothes, handing them to Harry to be washed later. Harry turned down the bed and lifted the sheet on Draco's side.
"Under you go." Harry smiled, giving in to the urge to pat Draco's arse as he walked by.
"Cheeky devil, aren't you?" Draco chuckled, getting into the bed.
"I can leave you sore, you know."
"I surrender." Draco sighed, not willing to forgo a free massage. He lay face down on the bed and sighed when the cool sheet pressed against his naked backside. The bed dipped and he felt Harry straddle his thighs.
A moment later, warm fingers pressed against his temples, rubbing in small circles. His eyes closed and he let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding.
He felt his headache receding and then the hands slipped downward to massage the sides of his neck and his shoulders.
"Mmm." he moaned in appreciation.
Harry's hands were sure and dedicated, relaxing Draco from head to toe. From his shoulders to the middle of his back, the heel of Harry's hand rubbing up and down Draco's spine. Deep massages into his hipbones, a spot he was normally ticklish in. His tail bone, where he let out a deeper moan. He didn't complain when the sheet was removed from his body and the cool air of the room touched his flesh. Harry's warm hands did not pause, gently massaging the swell of his arse cheeks, down the back of his thighs, his calves, even the arches and balls of his feet.
Draco, for the most part, was becoming a melting puddle of sensation. He should have been turned on that his husband was caressing his naked flesh. Instead he was tranquil and relaxed, and he honestly didn't feel like moving.
Draco was so relaxed when Harry was finished, he didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep until Harry kissed him awake for supper.
-End Flashback-
- - -
Draco entered the foyer, where one of the maids waited to take his traveling cloak and bag.
He strode through the manor, sorting the mail that Nigel had placed into his hands, meeting his mother in the dining room. He kissed her cheek and sat down.
"How was your time with Remus?" he asked, setting aside the mail.
"Wonderful. I never knew Remus was such a skilled tradesman."
"I think it's because of his affinity to creatures of the four-legged variety." Draco smiled, glad to see his mother happy for once.
"True. But the way he handles them, now that's a sight to behold."
"Tell me about it?"
"I will, darling."
Draco turned to speak to his husband and noticed he wasn't there.
"Where's Harry?" he frowned.
Narcissa looked around, finally noticing her son-in-law's absence.
"I don't know. Luisa?" she called. A small servant girl rushed into the room.
"Oui, Madame Malfoy?" she replied in a heavy French accent.
"Have you seen Master Harry?"
"No, Madame. Ze last time I saw him was zis afternoon in ze gardens. He was going to take his lunch there. I went to serve him and there was no one around. I assumed he had gone to his room. It was a little cold zis afternoon."
"Thank you, Luisa. You may go."
The girl curtsied and left the room.
"Nigel?" Draco called.
"Sir?"
"Please check to see if Master Harry is in our rooms."
"Yes, sir."
Nigel left the room and both Malfoys waited in a tense silence. Nigel came back a few moments later, looking worried.
"He's not there sir and the bed doesn't look to be slept in. I checked the bathroom. No water was run in the sink or tub. All his belongings are still in the wardrobe."
Narcissa started to worry.
"Maybe he fell asleep in the gardens?" It was a question born of fear for one she'd come to love as her own.
Draco clung to it like a life line and shot to his feet.
Nigel followed closely behind his employer.
They searched the gardens, finding no sign of Harry ever being there. As they were heading back inside, something glinted in the fading sunlight near one of the garden benches. Draco went to investigate, his heart nearly stopping with fright when he saw what it was.
"Harry!" he gasped.
There, among Harry's beloved lilies, were his glasses. They had been carelessly dropped, cracking one of the lenses. There was also a white cloth next to them. He picked it up and held it close. The scent of chloroform attacked him and he wretched the cloth away from his face.
"Someone's taken him!" he scowled darkly, turning to look at Nigel and Narcissa.
"What? Why?" Narcissa asked.
"I don't know, Mother, but I'm bloody well going to find out. And when I find the bastard, he's going to wish he was dead. No one takes Harry from me and lives. No one!" he snarled.
Draco turned to stare into the fading sun, Harry's glasses held tightly in his grasp.
I'll find you Harry, and the sorry son-of-a-bitch who stole you from me will die by my hand for daring to touch what is mine. He vowed to himself...