Disclaimer: see prologue

Guide: "Speech", Thoughts, ~letters and other written things, "Parseltongue"

Warning: sexual themes and kinks

AN: I'm deeply sorry for the delay. Work and family life was super busy and stressful since the New Year and it doesn't look like it will calm down any time soon... :(

-~-~- Altair -~-~-

-~-~-by Still waters are deep-~-~-

-~-~- Chapter 38 – Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year Part I-~-~-

Wednesday, 24th December 1997, Malfoy Manor

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and Harry had nothing better to do than to sit in the library of Malfoy Manor and work on his Potions homework. Every so often, he would look out of the window in the hope to see that the downpour outside had magically stopped. But even after an hour, the rain hadn't lessened and his Potions essay was still far from being completed.

If it would at least snow, I could go out and fly instead of sitting here and hopelessly try to finish Snape's damned essay! he thought in frustration, when his latest look out of the window still revealed no change in the weather.

"Argh," Harry groaned in annoyance, throwing his quill down on the table and then buried his head in his hands.

"Is everything alright, Harry?" a soft female voice inquired.

"Just frustrated that I can't go out for a fly," Harry answered, looking up at a concerned Narcissa who was slowly approaching him from the entrance of the library.

"I hope you don't feel so uncomfortable in our home that you want to escape?" she asked, placing her right hand on the table.

"Oh, no," Harry soothed her worries. "I'm just stuck with my Potions essay and could need a fly to work out all of my frustrations." And it would calm my nerves about giving Draco the promising ring tomorrow, he added silently in his own head.

"Then you hopefully won't mind a little chat?" Narcissa asked as she sat down opposites Harry.

"I'm all for distractions," Harry answered with a big smile, closing the Potions book beside him to use it as an armrest.

"I'm sure you noticed that my husband has kept his distance from you," she stated, Harry nodded in affirmation. While Draco's father had not been unfriendly to him, he certainly hadn't sought out Harry's company or talked to him if it wasn't necessary. Though, in the last few days, the Malfoy patriarch had seem to warm up to him, if only slightly.

"I want you to know that he is not staying away from you because he dislikes you. I believe he actually likes you very much," she said. The last part sounding more like an afterthought to herself than a comment Harry was meant to hear. "It's just that his time under the Dark Lord's Imperious curse still troubles him," she explained the reason behind her husband's behaviour towards Harry.

"He really hates what it made him do, especially to you. And while I do not think that you blame him for the things he did while under the Dark Lord's control, Lucius fears that you still connect his face with these actions. So he tries to stay away from you until you had time to slowly acclimatise to his presence and to know that he will not harm you or your friends."

"I understand," Harry told Narcissa with a smile, laying a comforting hand atop hers. Hearing her explanation reminded him about how Draco had tried his best to make Harry feel as comfortable as possible when they started with the Altair electives. Obviously Draco had inherited this selfless, caring behaviour from his father.

"Please tell your husband that I do not mind his presence," Harry told Narcissa with a quick squeeze to her hand in his.

"I will," she answered, squeezing his hand in return as she gave him a soft smile as their hands parted.

"I do not want to assume too much," she gingerly began after a moment of silence between them, "but I believe that you plan to give Draco your promising ring?"

"Erm...yes," Harry stammered, embarrassed that he was so easily to see through.

Narcissa just gave him a soft smile.

"I...er...wanted to give it to him as a Christmas present," Harry elaborated after a short pause.

Narcissa's smile got wider.

"You are aware that Draco likes the Japanese culture?" she asked.

"Yes," Harry nodded in agreement, relieved that they were leaving the trail of questions about his promising ring.

"Then you also know that Christmas has a different meaning in Japan than in Britain?"

"No," Harry answered. Wasn't Christmas the same everywhere? he wondered.

"What comes closest to our Christmas celebrations is the Japanese New Year. Christmas Eve, on the other hand, is celebrated by the younger people like a second Valentine's Day," Narcissa explained, making Harry wonder why she was telling him this, especially after asking about what he planned to do with his promising ring.

Did she know that he felt more than just friendship for her son and wanted to help him find the right time to give it to him? Or did she know that Draco had something planned for tonight and wanted him to know the meaning behind the gesture? Harry didn't know her well enough to guess her true intention.

Either way, he thanked her for the insightful information, "That's good to know."

Now that her task was fulfilled, Narcissa got up with a smile. "If you have problems with your essay, I'm sure Draco will gladly help you out once he finishes his lesson with Lucius."

"Yeah," Harry answered, sending a resigned look at the Potions book. With the new information Narcissa had just given him, he'd be too busy to come up with the right words to give Draco his promising ring tonight. Tonight! Harry was both thrilled and frightened by how close he was to confess his feelings to the blond.

~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Dinner this evening was a quiet affair. If Narcissa and Lucius didn't knew that the boys both planned to confess their feelings to each other after dinner was over, they would have feared that something was wrong with the wonderful Christmas Eve meal the elves had prepared for them. Both boys were barley eating anything on their plates, merely pushing the vegetables around and drawing figures in their mashed potatoes and forcing the occasional piece of meat down their throat. The promising rings in their trouser pockets weighting heavily on their minds.

Before Lucius could call them out on their behaviour and ask if someone died, Narcissa gave her husband's leg a quick kick under the table to silence him. While she didn't like the mourning mood that had settled over the dinner table at such a joyful Christmas Eve she didn't want them to become even more nervous, less they lost the courage to confess tonight.

Not even five minutes later, Narcissa had to once again kick her husband under the table, turning the beginning of Lucius laughter into a faked coughing fit. She too had noticed how Draco and Harry had started to look at the other whenever the other was looking at their dinner plate. However, unlike her husband she had enough self-control to not laugh at the ongoing eye-tennis match they boys were holding in front of them.

"Are you alright?" Draco asked his father, just as Harry asked Narcissa, "May we eat our desserts upstairs?"

"I'm alright, Draco," Lucius answered his son, and not wanting to receive another kick from his wife, he said to Harry, "Of course, you can eat your desserts in Draco's rooms. I'll ask the elves to prepare it for you."

"Thank you," Harry said, as he got up from his seat and held out a waiting hand to Draco.

"Since the boys are otherwise occupied, why don't we start on Mrs Vane's necklace?" Lucius asked his wife once the boys were out of earshot.

Narcissa gave him a look that said 'I know what you are trying to do'. But in the end, she gave her consent to perform the first part of enchanting Mrs Vane's necklace tonight, even if Lucius had only suggested it to get back at her for the kicking during dinner.

~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-

"That's..." Draco said when he opened the door to his room and saw about a dozen lit candles.

What Draco didn't know was that Harry had already asked Temmy, the house-elf, to decorate Draco's room with candles to give it a more romantic feeling and replaced the small table in front of Draco's couch with a larger one together with some wine and tea. That they now also had a plate of tiramisu to share was an added bonus in Harry's book.

And while he would have preferred to come up with something more special, Harry had to say that with the short time he'd to plan the whole thing, he and Temmy'd done a good job at creating a romantic but not overly soppy atmosphere inside Draco's room.

"It's..." the blond began again as he finally stepped inside, but he was once again unable to finish his sentence. He wanted to say that it was perfect, but all of Harry's thoughtful preparations rendered him speechless and made his heart flutter in anticipation. This was the perfect set-up to confess someone's romantic feelings. But before Draco could even compose a full sentence in his head to say to Harry, the other boy had already took hold of his hand and silently let him to the couch.

"Draco," the brunet began, both boys shifting on the couch so that they could look directly at the other. "I'd planned to wait until tomorrow, but a talk with your mother this morning made me think that today would be better suited for this," Harry informed Draco, still holding onto one of the blond's hands, his thumb caressing Draco's hand while his free hand nervously played with the end of his sweater.

Draco just sat there, looking at Harry with hopeful eyes, and waiting for the other boy to continue. He could only hope that Harry's last sentence referred to his love of the Japanese culture.

Taking a deep, calming breath, Harry remembered how Draco called him 'a good blanket substitution' and drew strength from that comment to go on with his confession. "I'm sure you noticed all of this," he said, moving his free hand to indicate the room's changed decoration. "And I'm also sure that you noticed that we chose the same gemstones for our promising rings. And I'm more than sure that you know how Christmas Eve is celebrated in Japan..." Here Harry trailed off to let the meaning sink in and to take another calming breath, steeling his resolve.

"While we had our fights when we were younger, I'm happy that being Altair partners gave us the opportunity to get to know each other better. I don't believe that I could have found anyone else that understands me like you do and sees me for who I really am. Someone, who knows that I do not always want or can be the strong one in the relationship. Someone, who cares for simple Harry and not the bloody Boy Who Lived.

"What I want to say is. What I want to ask is," Harry began again. "Will you become more than just my Altair partner and friend? Will you do me the honour and accept my promising ring and what it entails?" Harry asked, not taking his eyes away from Draco's soft grey ones as he pulled out his promising ring from his trouser pocket.

"Of course, I accept. Nothing would make me happier, Harry," Draco answered as he leaned forward to give Harry a possessive kiss, full of love and acceptance. And both would swear that this was the best and shortest kiss of their life even though they only stopped kissing when the need for air became too prominent.

With a goofy smile on his face, Harry raised Draco's hand to eye-level and held the forgotten his promising ring in front of Draco's ring finger, waiting for the other's permission to put it on. Seeing the blond smile at him, Harry finally put the ring where it belonged and placed a kiss on top of the new ring on the blond's finger. Harry in turn was rewarded with another passionate kiss from Draco.

As the kiss got more intensive and their moans of pleasure got louder, Draco used his body weight to press Harry down on the couch, laying his body atop of the brunet's, never stopping their kiss.

"Can I call you my boyfriend now?" Draco asked, his lips millimetres away from Harry's.

"Yesss," Harry answered, still out of breath.

"Good! And just to be clear, I love you, Harry," Draco told Harry, the first to use the L-word.

"I love you too, Draco" Harry responded immediately as he leaned his head up to get another kiss from the blond. This time it was soft and sweet.

"Harry," Draco said softly, getting off the couch and on his knees in front of Harry. "I too am grateful that the Altair electives gave me the chance to get to know the real you while letting the past stay in the past. You do not know how much it means to me that you welcomed me into your life and shared your private thoughts and feeling. That you trusted me enough to share them with me and trust me to take care of you when you need a helping hand, or just let me lead when we perform Sexual Magic," Draco added the last part with a humorous voice.

"Therefore, will you also accept my promise of friendship, protection and love?" he asked, serious again and holding out a small box, which held his promising ring on a soft velvet pillow.

"Nothing would make me happier," Harry repeated the blond's earlier words.

Taking Harry's hand in his own, Draco took his time as he put the promising ring on Harry's ring finger.

When Draco got up from the floor, he noticed the untouched tiramisu on the table. "How about a celebratory dessert?" he asked.

And so, the rest of the evening was spent by enjoying the delicious tiramisu, drinking wine, cuddling, whispering sweet things into each other's ears and just enjoying the fact that they could finally call the other their boyfriend and show their feelings openly. And most of all, exploiting the fact that they now could kiss each other whenever and wherever they wanted to.

"You do not know how happy I am to finally call you my boyfriend," Draco said as they prepared for bed some hours latter.

"Maybe you can show me?" Harry asked teasingly as he removed the last item of clothing and got under the bed covers.

Not a minute later, Draco joined him in the bed. And just like when they were supposed to try out the toys from their Basic Sexual Magic lesson, they got lost in touching, kissing and caressing each other's body. They enjoyed to let their hands and mouths wander over soft skin and hard muscles. They loved to hear the other's moans of pleasure and even more the soft whispers of "I love you". And while both of them orgasmed that night with the name of their beloved falling from their lips, they restricted their carnal activities to simple frottage and hand job.

~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-

Thursday, 25th December 1997

"Merry Christmas," Harry greeted Draco the next morning with a kiss.

"Merry Christmas indeed," Draco answered when they finally stopped kissing. "I would suggest that we go down and see what presents we received, but I already have everything I want." Draco underlined his words with kissing his promising ring on Harry's hand.

"Me too," the brunet agreed.

"So you do not want a blow job tonight?" the blond teased, raising his hips up so that their cocks brushed against each other.

"Only if I can return the favour," was Harry's answer, as he got out of the bed.

"We'll see," Draco said, as he chased after Harry, encircling the slightly younger boy in his arms, wanting to kiss his cheek, but ending up kissing Harry's soft lips instead when the brunet moved his head to face Draco. "For now, let's enjoy opening the presents from our friends and family."

~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-

If neither of the elder Malfoys had not already known yesterday that the boys planned to confess to each other, it would have been more than obvious to them now. They would just have needed to take a step into their living room to see their son and Harry sitting together on one of the love seats, cuddled together under a blanket. Draco's half-empty cup of hot chocolate stood on a side-table, while Harry was holding his cup in his left hand, having just taken a small sip from the hot drink.

"I see that you already started unpacking without us," Lucius said as he and Narcissa approached the boys, making Harry almost drop his mug.

While Narcissa and Lucius assumed that Harry's reaction and red face was the result of Harry being spooked by suddenly hearing Lucius' voice, it were the words themselves that gave Harry a near heart attack. Because unbeknown to Draco's parents, their son had just started to unbutton Harry's dress shirt under the cover of the blanket when they walked in on them.

"We didn't open any presents," Draco said adamantly, retreating his hand from Harry's shirt.

"My eyes tell me otherwise," Lucius answered, pointedly looking at Harry's hand in front of the brunet's stomach, as he and Narcissa sat down on a love seat of their own.

"It isn't what it looks like," Draco retorted, moving his hands above the blanket.

"Oh, really?" the Malfoy patriarch asked, raising a blond eyebrow, making both boys sweat. "To me the situation looks quite biunique. Don't you agree, Narcissa?"

"Yes, there's no mistaking the situation," she agreed. Ignoring the "Uhm" and "Err" that Draco and Harry were mumbling under their breaths, she finally relieved the boys from their worries when she said, "That's certainly Draco's promising ring on Harry's hand. And Draco seems to also wear Harry's ring."

Harry and Draco let out a relieved sigh in unison, which in turn made the blond's parents suspicious. But since it was Christmas Day, they both decided to not ask any further questions and just let it slide.

"Yes, Harry is wearing my promising ring and I'm wearing his," Draco affirmed, proudly holding out his left hand to his parents so that they could marvel at the promising ring. "We're now officially together." The love and joy in the blond's voice was obvious.

"Congratulations, I'm happy for the two of you," Narcissa said, giving both boys a warm hug and a kiss to the cheek.

Lucius accompanied his own congratulation with a hug to Draco and a pat to Harry's shoulder. He even went so far as to say, "Welcome to the family," leaving Harry speechless.

"So, shall we open the presents?" Draco asked, once his parents had sat down again.

"Be my guest," Lucius said, pointing with his hand to the mountain of presents under the Christmas tree.

And so Harry and the Malfoys began to open their gifts from family and friends. Besides the unspectacular presents they received, like the bottle of whisky and the new hairpin Harry gave the Malfoys, there were also some more exciting presents. Out of them, the gift that the twins had forced Harry to give to Lucius was the first to be opened.

"This one is actually from the Weasley twins," Harry informed Lucius. "While they assured me that it isn't one of their pranks, the only thing I know about it is that it is sensitive to the user's mood and that they created it with you in their mind."

"How reassuring," Lucius commented, sarcastically. Carefully he opened the gold and silver wrapped parcel. "A coffee mug." After eyeing it critically and casting a spell to check for pranks―you could never be sure when it came from the owners of joke shop―Lucius finally pulled the mug out of the parcel.

On the white mug, the word 'WARY' was printed in red bolt letters, with 'needs sugar' printed below in a smaller italic print. "According to this manual, the mug will add sugar and milk to the drink depending on my current mood," Lucius read the manual that lay beneath the mug to the others. "And it will also say something about what I feel."

While Harry found this useful, he wondered why the twins created it especially for Lucius Malfoy. Didn't people always take their coffee and tea in exactly the same way?

"This is perfect for father," Draco told Harry. "Unlike a normal human being, he drinks his coffee black on one day, only to add five spoons of sugar the next."

"I'm not that fickle," Lucius argued.

"No, you're worse. Remember Tuesday morning when you drank your first cup black and the second had more milk and sugar than coffee in it?" Narcissa asked, silencing her husband.

Nice to know that even Lucius Malfoy is human, Harry thought in amusement as he watched the exchanged between the married couple.

Before Lucius could sulk any longer, the attention of the room was focused on Harry's next present. And the Potter luck made Harry chose to open the package from Luna.

"A shawl?" Harry wondered out loud as nicely folded silk cloth was revealed underneath the wrapping paper. But to Harry's great embarrassment, the shawl turned out to be briefs when he lifted them up for everyone in the room to see.

She didn't! was all Draco could think, when he saw that Luna had gone through with her choice of Christmas gift.

"Would you be kind enough to explain to us, why Ms Lovegood sent you underwear with Draco's name one it?" Lucius Malfoy asked, barely stopping his amusement from showing on his face.

This made Harry turn the briefs around so that he too could see the embroidery on the back.

~ Draco Malfoy's Property~

Okayyyy? was all Harry could think when he saw the words Luna had chosen.

With Draco's shocked expression turning into a smirk, the blond loudly whispered into Harry's ear, "It seems even Luna knows that you are mine now," underlying his statement with a possessive kiss, not giving a care that his parents were sitting on the other love seat.

"Ahem," Lucius cleared his throat to get the young men's attention. "I'm waiting."

"Uhm...eh..." Harry stammered, having no idea why Luna had giving him such a gift.

"She brought it because she feared that Nargles would steal Harry's underwear," Draco spoke up to relive Harry from his futile attempt to find an explanation.

"Nargles?" his mother asked.

"They are creatures Luna believes exist," Harry explained, happy that Draco somehow knew Luna's way of thinking.

"And she obviously believes that with my name on them, the Nargles won't steal it from Harry," Draco added, purposefully leaving out that he'd been the one to suggest another name to be stitched on them.

After opening some more unspectacular presents, Narcissa handed Harry the present from her and her husband. "Please do not be offended by our gift, Harry," she said in warning. "We do not mean to insult you with them. We just thought that you could benefit from them."

Now Harry was very curious what the Malfoys had gotten him. Promising them to keep an open mind, Harry slowly opened the present as Draco gave him a reassuring squeeze. Based on their weight and size, Harry guessed that the Malfoys had given him two books. Unwrapping them he read the title of the first book.

~Wizarding Laws for Uprising Politicians~

The first half of the title made the book sound like a very boring read, while the second half suggested that the Malfoys wanted him to go into politics. Not something Harry wanted for himself. The title of the second book wasn't any better.

~Wizarding Etiquette for Muggleborns~

Did the Malfoys find his table manners to be lacking? was one of the first thoughts Harry had. But before he could think any more about it, Narcissa spoke up.

"As I said, we do not mean to offend or insult you, but as a public figure who didn't grow up in this world, we thought that you should know what people expect of you and what you do not have to tolerate from them," she explained their intention.

"If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to come to either of us," Lucius offered. "And if you don't plan a political career, I suggest you only read the chapters 'Handling the Press' and 'How to Keep Your Private Life Private' from the book of 'Wizarding Law'," Lucius added.

"Thank you," Harry said, sincerely, his eyes all teary. Now that he knew why they gave them the books, he was grateful for them and happy that they thought about such a thing. Not even the Weasleys had bother to explain the Wizarding traditions to him. Especially the mentioned chapter 'Handling the Press' sounded very promising in Harry's ears. Maybe he could finally handle Skeeter without Hermione's help?

"Now mine," Draco said, giving Harry a large box. "I even promise that it doesn't contain any briefs."

Instead of briefs, Harry was greeted by the sight of a grey Muggle suit set, with a green and black tie.

"Since you are here for New Year's Eve, I thought that it would only be fair if I gave you something to wear for our traditional New Year's Eve party that father holds for his Muggle business associates," Draco informed Harry.

"Thanks," Harry said with a kiss to Draco's cheek, happy to hear that only Muggles would attend, who wouldn't stare at him because he was Harry bloody Potter.

"I have to admit that I didn't get you much, as I planned the promising ring to be the main gift. But I hope that you'll still like this," Harry told Draco as he handed over a very small package.

"I love it," Draco said, when Harry's gift turned out to be a thin book on Potions that he'd wanted for months. "Your the best," Draco announced and then gave Harry a big hug and an even bigger kiss.

"Merry Christmas," was all Harry could return to Draco's enthusiastic thanks.

~-~-~-~-~-~-Altair-a life changing event-~-~-~-~-~-~-

AN: Please tell me how you liked their confessions. Pretty please?

Next: Harry visits the Weasley family. How will he manage to sleep without his Draco pillow? It will be updated after I finish writing a new chapter for my other 2 ongoing stories.