I am ecstatic from the amount of happy reviews I got! All of you got me smiling/laughing at the wee hours of 5 in the morning =D.
I also have a beta now! I'd like to thank them for putting up with me, because I can imagine I'm a difficult author hahah. So thank you "pokeyspot", you're my saviour!
Alright, here we go! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Chapter 17
The faint smell of vanilla filled Harry's nose as he slowly woke up from the deepest sleep he's had for weeks. As he slowly pried his eyes open he came face to face with what he initially thought was a blonde mop. It took a few seconds for him to realize it was Draco's mussed bed hair. It was amazing to see how different he was with his bed hair, rumpled pajamas and a little bit of drool hanging out of the corner of his mouth.
Harry snorted softly; he would've like to see Draco's reaction if he took of a picture of him now. A slight murmuring had Harry leaning over to see his eyes opening slowly.
"Potter...what are you doing?" he mumbled as he shifted slightly.
"You got a little drool." Harry said with a laugh.
Draco's hand flew to the corner of his mouth; his cheeks flushing a bright red.
"Don't be silly, I don't drool." He quickly said as he sat up.
"I'm surprised you're awake before I am, normally you're snoring like the Gryffindor you are." He continued as he rolled out of bed...dragging Harry with him.
They softly grunted as they landed in a heap on the floor.
Harry wasn't given much time to think before Draco leant up and pressed a soft kiss to his lips. Harry felt a soft twitch somewhere down south as Malfoy's hands travelled down his lean body to rest on his arse.
Harry's hands were placed on either side of Draco's head and they were slowly starting to tremble from the combined pleasure of his tongue rubbing against Malfoys and his arse being fondled like some filthy toy.
Draco must have realized because in a split second he had flipped them over so that he was now towering over Harry. He had about half a second to admire Draco's flawless face before he groaned out aloud at the hips grinding into his.
His hands flew to grip the blonde locks as he felt lips kissing, nibbling and biting their way down his neck.
The ministrations came to a halt at his collarbone as he felt teeth sink into his skin; Harry's hips jerked up as a groan escaped his lips.
Draco pushed his tongue into his mouth to silence another groan that threatened to escape as his hips began to move in tandem with Malfoys.
Harry, embarrassingly enough was about to shout Hallelujah when Draco abruptly stopped and rolled off.
"What..." Harry said unintelligently; his chest rising up and down in small pants.
"You said you wanted to go slow, it wouldn't be fair of me to continue." Draco said as he stood up.
Harry stared up at him with wide eyes.
"Come on Potter, if you don't get up you'll find yourself out of a job soon enough." Draco said with a smirk as he extended his hand to help him up.
Harry took his hand and pulled himself off the floor. One part of him was flattered that Draco still had in mind that he didn't want to go too fast but the other side of him wanted to beat Draco to pulp because he had a small feeling that he did that on purpose.
"Sneaky assbutt." Harry mumbled as he shuffled to the bathroom completely ignoring Draco.
"What was that?" Draco said innocently. But Harry heard the laugh that he tried to stifle.
After having an extremely cold shower and dressing in 5 minutes flat he made his way down to the living room to find Draco drinking coffee seemingly waiting for him.
"Coffee?"
"Don't act so innocent." Harry said as he narrowed his eyes in mock anger.
"It was just a bit of fun, I won't do it again...promise." Draco replied, his silver eyes twinkling mischievously.
There was a moment of silence before Harry responded.
"I don't like Coffee. Besides, I'm going to be late, I better get going." Harry said as he made his over to the fireplace.
He wasn't actually mad at Draco, but something about the act of pretending was incredibly appealing.
Before he could take some floo powder slim arms wrapped themselves around his waist and soft lips were pressed against the back of his neck.
"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you mad." Draco said.
It flattered him that Draco thought he was genuinely annoyed.
"I'm not actually mad. You don't have to hug me so hard." Harry said with a small laugh.
"I know, but I like to hold you." Draco replied softly.
He was fairly amazed at how different it felt to be held by Draco. He felt...strong, reassuring and safe... all the things furthest away from Ginny at this point.
"Are we having a moment?" Harry said as he covered Draco's hand with his own.
"There aren't going to be many mushy moments, you better savour this one." Draco replied haughtily.
Harry simply smiled and leant back against his chest, his hands covering Draco's gently. It could've been five minutes or five hours; it didn't matter, Harry savoured every second.
Before too long Draco unwound his arms from his waist before stepping back.
"We better get to work; Kingsley's going to have your arse on a platter soon." He said bluntly.
Harry snorted already missing the feel of his warm arms.
After Harry had walked Draco to his department and arriving at his office, Kingsley and the rest of the Aurors were waiting for him...impatiently.
"Merlin Harry, you have to stop being late or I'll have no choice but to suspend you for a week." Shacklebolt said sternly.
"I'm really sorry; I've got a lot on my mind lately."
"You know I don't mean to be harsh, but you have to remember that this is a workplace and your workplace can't be all of a sudden switched off when something else in your life goes wrong." Kingsley said not unkindly.
Harry didn't have much to say to that so he simply nodded in understanding.
"Ok. Progress looks good; I've approved both authorization files for Lucius and Custelle's. It's best if you got around to doing both of them very soon. I need to have a meeting with the rest of the full Aurors but when I'm done I'll come back to see progress." Kingsley said.
The trainee Aurors nodded as he left the arena room.
"Well, should we get around to Malfoy Manor then?" Junae said.
"Yeah we should do it as fast as possible. I think all of us should go, two interrogate the rest on watch?" Harry asked.
"Agreed, I was never great at questioning I'll keep on watch." Seamus said quickly.
"I'm with Seamus." Gracelynne responded hurriedly.
Harry hid an amused smile at the both of them before turning his head to Danny and Junae.
"You guys want to interrogate?"
"Nah I'll keep watch. We should probably have 4 people in the room where we interrogate. Two questioning and two making sure he doesn't do anything; two people on the outside of the room." Danny said his suggestion phrased more as question.
"That's a good idea actually, don't want to take any chances." said Ron.
"I'm more willing just to keep watch on the inside; maybe you and Ron could question, you might not take the compliment but you guys are the best at it." Junae said.
Harry blushed whilst Ron simply nodded.
"Settled then! Let's stretch up." Harry said, the blush not disappearing from his face as he began a jog around the arena.
After a few minutes of making sure their bodies were warm they headed out to the administration office where Sarah handed them all little cloak button portkeys that would activate when "humbug" was said.
A chorus of 'humbug' could be heard around the Auror's department as simultaneous popping noises followed.
Malfoy Manor was situated in the countryside. Not the farm type countryside; the expensive mansion-inhabiting countryside...with glittering lakes and kilometres of stretching green grass.
It looked to be a three-storey mansion that sat on a hill. The gates were black with two very large inter-crossed golden M's in the centre.
As the Auror's approached the gate a house-elf popped up behind it.
"How many I help you sirs?" the little creature said.
"We're Auror's from the Ministry and we've got an authorization file to question Lucius Malfoy." Danny said as he raised the paper to the elf's face.
With a quick glance at the paper the elf nodded, stepped back and allowed the black gates to open.
As they walked up the long path to the doors Harry had a few minutes to survey the place.
On either side of the path were very well-groomed gardens, different coloured flowers seemed to be strategically placed so that colours didn't clash. There was a very large rose bush that stood in the centre of the garden on both left and right of the path.
As they finally approached the large white doors of the manor Harry began to feel a little nauseous. Here he was, in a relationship with the son of the father he was about to interrogate and also had tried to kill him in the past. 'Talk about meet the parents.' Harry thought to himself bitterly.
The house- elf opened the door and allowed them all to enter before shutting the door and disappearing with a pop. Harry was about to ask him to come back before a presence at the end of the hallway distracted his thoughts.
A graceful tall woman with slightly curled blonde hair made her way down the hallway and stopped at the Aurors.
"Narcissa Malfoy." She introduced herself. "How may I help you?"
"Mrs. Malfoy, we are Aurors from the Ministry and we have an authorization file to talk to Lucius about a case we're investigating right now. It's nothing serious right now; we're just trying to get some background information from an old friend of Mr. Malfoy's." Harry said as politely as possible. As far as he knew Draco's parents didn't know they were together.
She inspected the papers that Danny handed her for a while before speaking.
"Please follow me to the living room as I get my husband." She said the tone of her voice gave away nothing. Harry could see where Draco got that from now.
Harry looked down at the red and golden rug they were walking on as they followed Narcissa down the hallway. The walls on either side had paintings of what he assumed was past Malfoy's, there were old-looking jars and vases lined up against the walls.
As they entered the "living room" [Harry thought it looked more like a ballroom; it was so large] he felt slightly guilty. He had expected Malfoy Manor to have golden statues of Salazar Slytherin and grass hedges shaped as snakes. He certainly did not expect the Gryffindor colours of gold and red to be anywhere near or in the Manor.
They all took a seat on one very large expensive looking brown couch as Narcissa snapped her fingers for the house-elf to bring tea and biscuits.
A few seconds later the large mahogany doors opened to reveal Lucius Malfoy dressed smartly in black and green robes strolled in. All the Aurors stood up politely, Harry took the lead.
"Good Morning Mr. Malfoy, we're sorry to interrupt your day but there are just a few questions we would like to ask you."
"All of you?" Lucius said as he strode forward.
"No, Auror Weasley and I will ask questions. There are few protocols we need to follow however." Harry replied.
"Be my guest." Lucius said as he sat down on the couch opposite them.
Harry and Ron nodded to Seamus and Gracelynne who headed out followed by Narcissa to stand guard on the door outside. Danny and Junae stood on opposite ends of the room; their wands subtly behind their backs.
As the doors shut Harry Ron took a seat back on the couch.
"So basically we're just going to ask a few questions, it's nothing serious right now; we just want to get some background information." Ron said as he took out a few sheets of paper.
Lucius simply nodded.
"We're currently investigating a case about a man whose father has past links to you. Does the name Damien Bloys sound familiar to you?" Ron asked.
"Of course, we...have a past." Lucius replied simply.
"We would really appreciate if you were able to elaborate. I assure you nothing will happen because of this, you have been cleared of the charges you past held and any confession now will not be released to the public." Harry said leaning forward slightly.
Lucius gave him an odd look before continuing.
"As I assume you must know Damien was a potions master, he was really skilled; possibly even more than Severus Snape. At the start of the first war I was asked by You-Know-Who to recruit Damien to be his Potions Master. But he evaded me for months; I was consequently punished for days. As you know by my confession two years ago at the ministry, I joined You-Know-Who as a mistake in the past however a mistake is a mistake and this one wasn't one I could simply take back. There was no choice for me but to stay a Death Eater. When we couldn't find Damien, Severus Snape became his Potions master. " Lucius said.
Harry's head was reeling with the information he was currently given. There was no sound apart from the Quick Notes Quill scribbling quickly next to Ron.
"Is that all Mr. Malfoy?" Ron asked.
He mentally thanked Ron for taking the reins. This tension in the living room was beginning to build for him; it was difficult questioning someone who you used to hate with a passion.
"Towards the climactic point of the second war, Bellatrix and I were sent out on a mission to find trolls on the outer region of the country and we came across Damien living in a cave in by himself. My punishment earlier for not being able to find him was well-known among the Death Eaters, so Bellatrix wasn't amused to find him." Lucius paused for a second before continuing.
Harry's fists clenched at the sound of the name Bellatrix.
"Bellatrix tortured him with the Cruciatus. I had tried to convince her to simply leave him alone; he looked pretty sickly...not far from death already. But once her mind was made there was no changing it. If I had stopped her whilst she was torturing I would be revealed as not a loyal follower of You-Know-Who and at the time that was out of the question. Our family were already under high scrutiny by You-Know-Who and I couldn't risk anymore failure, otherwise Draco and Narcissa would be the one to pay and that just wasn't an option." Lucius said his face stoic as ever.
Harry could hear the blood pounding to his head, his palms sweating and his chest slowly rising and falling. He didn't like where this was going.
"With all due respect Mr. Malfoy, why didn't you reveal this information at the formal Ministry questioning two years ago?" Ron asked.
"As you know I confessed to the torturing and harm that I did. A lot happened to me during both wars, to remember and confess all would have been much too long. I simply placed what I could remember inside the official confession pensieve. It's labelled under Lucius Malfoy and accessible to higher members of the Ministry as I'm sure you would know. The memory is most probably in there." Lucius said leaning back on the couch.
Ron nodded and looked over at Harry; a questioning expression upon his face.
"Is that all there is on the subject of Damien Mr. Malfoy?" Harry asked trying to snap back into Auror mode.
"Yes." Lucius replied shortly.
"Do you know anything about this son, Camillus?" Harry asked.
"Unfortunately no, I never had any contact with the boy. I saw him once when I first asked Damien to join You-Know-Who, but apart from that; no." Lucius replied.
"Did Camillus overhear what you asked Damien?" Ron asked.
"As far as I know; no. But that doesn't particularly mean anything; Damien could have simply told his son after the many times I asked." He replied.
Ron nodded as he checked the Quick Notes Quill.
"Have you had any contact with Camillus since?" Harry asked.
"No, I haven't had any contact with him since that." Lucius replied.
"What exactly happened to Damien?" Harry asked although everyone in the room seemed to know the answer.
"He was left brain dead...much like the Longbottoms. The Death Eaters picked his body up and dumped it outside St. Mungo's to make their presence public. He died only a few days at St. Mungo's before you defeated You-Know-Who." Lucius said as he gestured towards Harry.
Harry fists clenched as he tried to not to scream out loud. He glanced over at Ron who simply nodded and checked the Quick Notes Quill again. He mentally told himself to thank Ron for being so unreadable.
"We're just about done Mr. Malfoy but before we finish this next bit of information is confidential and must not be told to anyone. Do you understand?" Ron said formally.
"I understand." Lucius said. Ron lifted his wand, whispered a spell and a blast of red erupted from his wand. The red spell started from Ron's heart which extended to Lucius's heart and ended at Harry's heart.
"This spell makes sure that you do not divulge this next piece of information, or we will be alerted. It's simple protocol." Harry explained. Lucius nodded in understanding.
"Your son Draco Malfoy is officially part of this investigation as of yesterday. He is on our research team. We are divulging this information to you because he is not classified in any way to reveal any information we find to you unless under permission by the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement." Ron said with a stern voice.
"If he reveals any information to you without permission and without the presence of Kingsley Shacklebolt you must immediately let us know, otherwise there will be consequences." Ron continued.
"Understood." Lucius simply said. If he was annoyed or happy that his son was working on the case, he didn't show it.
Ron flicked his wand up and the red link between the three of them disappeared.
"That will be all today Mr. Malfoy. Please do not plan to leave this area soon, as we may have further questions to ask. However I would like to assure you that everything that you said today is confidential and will not be used against you." Harry said as he and Ron stood up.
"Thank you." Lucius replied as he stood up to escort the four Aurors from the room.
They bade goodbye to Lucius and Narcissa as they were escorted by another house-elf back to the gates. With another chorus of 'humbug' they disappeared with simultaneous pops.
They landed as a group directly into the arena.
Danny broke the somewhat tense silence.
"Well that was...informative."
"It explains a lot though." Junae said as she rubbed her head thoughtfully.
"True, it gives motive for Camillus and what happened with Malfoy." Seamus said as he pulled out the portable extendable ears he inserted in his ears to clearly hear the questioning.
"We're going to need more than that though." Gracelynne replied as she to pulled out her extendable ears.
"That's why we should seize those potions from Custelle's to cross reference soon...really soon." Harry said, his mind snapping back into action. His head was still reeling with what Lucius had said. He really didn't like that this now officially made Draco a victim.
"Malfoys going to have to be pulled from the investigation if something serious happens." Ron said "I don't even think it's a good idea for him to be included right now...being an official victim and all." He continued, but Harry could tell he was really just addressing him.
There was a nodding of mutual agreement before they were interrupted by the sound of the doors opening. Kingsley Shacklebolt strolled in with Draco Malfoy at his side.
"I trust you have more information?" Kingsley said as he stopped in front of the group.
Harry mentally thanked Ron again as he recounted the events whilst handing the Quick Notes Quill parchment as it held the exact dialogue that was spoken.
There were a few moments of silence where Kingsley and Draco read through the files.
"Healer Malfoy, as you know you're now an official victim of this investigation and I highly recommend you not be a part of this case." Shacklebolt said.
"With all due respect, I understand the seriousness of this case. However I doubt that any harm can befall me if I'm simply doing research...which was the only thing I was doing in the first place. Besides, this way I'll almost be constantly protected by Aurors." Draco replied as he faced the group.
"I still don't think it's a good idea." Harry abruptly said.
"Your reasons Potter?" Shacklebolt asked.
"Isn't it some Auror protocol for a family member not to be part of an investigation if another family member is part of the case? Draco's father is part of this case now, so doesn't that mean he can't be a part of anything in this case?" Harry said, he knew he was grappling at straws but he really did not want Draco to be a part of this; he wanted Draco to be safe.
"He raises a good point." Seamus said.
Harry was about to thank Seamus for siding him when Kingsley interrupted.
"That would be true Potter but in this case Healer Malfoy is ALSO part of this case, not just another family member wanting to be included. The decision is up to you Malfoy, however I must insist you keep your help to research. Any field work you do will make this department liable and I do not want to be responsible for ending your life." Shacklebolt said.
Harry stared at Draco through stern eyes. However he should have known Draco's answer.
"I'm going to help with your research. I know I can contribute things that may be difficult to find." Draco said; his voice wavered slightly.
Kingsley nodded before turning to the group.
"Good work everyone, keep up the good progress. I will be back tomorrow afternoon for another check-up." He said before he left the room.
"Should we go to Custelle's now? I have the authorization file to seize his potions." Junae said.
"I think we...we should wait til tomorrow. There was a lot of information released today and I think we should all do individual reports so we all have a record of what happened." Harry said, his voice breaking slightly.
He really just wanted to talk to Draco alone.
"Alright...are you sure? If we get the potions today we can get some major results by tomorrow." Danny said slowly as if going against Harry would result in him being attacked.
"Yeah...I think it's better if we just took this slowly and not rush into anything." Harry said as he started fidgeting slightly.
"You alright mate?" Seamus asked, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.
"I'm fine, just feeling tired and...worn out." Harry replied whilst trying very hard not to look at Draco.
The group gave him an odd look but they eventually agreed and headed their separate ways to write reports on the events that occurred.
Ron gave him a small encouraging clap on the back and an understanding look before heading out of the arena with the rest of the Aurors.
Harry gave the excuse of wanting to run a simulation arena practice with artificial competitors to stay behind. As the last Auror left and the door shut he swung to look at Draco.
But Draco beat him to it.
"Harry calm down and try not to bite my head off. I'm only doing research, what harm can that possibly do?"
"It's not a good idea for you to be involved in any way. You...You could be provoke by information you find and then go do something rash!" Harry said as his voice began to rise.
"Ok firstly...Potter being rash and rushing into things is clearly something you would do. I'm much more refined. And secondly, you're hero complex is getting in the way again." Draco said as his eyebrows rose slightly.
Harry sighed.
"I just...don't want you to get involved."
"I'm already involved." Draco replied softly.
"I don't like it." Harry mumbled to himself as he slightly turned away from him.
"No-one said you had to." Draco said. But he walked over to Harry and gently placed his hands on his waist.
Before Draco could say anything Harry spun around quickly, wrapped his arms around Draco's neck and pulled him close.
"I don't want you involved in the first case I'm a part of...I don't ever want you a part of this." Harry mumbled.
"I don't want to either. But there are always two ways to look at something...this way I'll always be close to you and I'll always have Aurors around me." Draco replied as he rubbed Harry's lower back soothingly.
"Still...I just...well I just found you. I JUST found someone...I don't...there SHOULDN'T be an opportunity for you to get hurt." Harry said, his face flushing from embarrassment.
Draco lifted Harry's chin gently and stared into his emerald eyes before speaking.
"I won't get hurt as long as I can help it...as long as you can help it Potter." He said with a small laugh. "And whilst we're on the topic there was something I wanted to talk to you about last night and I want to ask now." He continued.
"If this is about my house, it's fine, I can move back in soon I suppose." Harry said quickly his heart dropping slightly.
"Be quiet for a second." Draco scolded lightly before continuing. "We both know I'm not going anywhere in this investigation...and you've already been living with me for days now. I was thinking...maybe...it would be a good idea if you moved in with me...for a longer period of time."
Harry stared up at him with wide eyes. He wasn't sure if he understood the message or not.
"Move in with me." Draco said.
"I uh...-
"You can protect me easier."
"I'm sur-
"You can make sure I'm safe."
"Don't you thin-
"You're already living with me now."
"Maybe-
"Nothings' really changing."
"I could-
"I'm asking you Harry...move in with me."
There were a few moments of silence before Harry replied.
"And I would answer if you stopped interrupting me."
Draco was about so say something when Harry pressed his lips against his.
"Of course I'll move in." He murmured against his lips.
End...for now. Sorry this took a while! I hope you enjoyed this. I know I'm a slow writer but I believe in building characterisation and plot. =D. Thank you AGAIN for the review/story alerts/story favourites/author favourites.
I've been asked about a mailing list...if anyone would like to be part of the alert mailing list. Please PM me or give me your e-mail and i'll make a mailing list =).
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DMICEPRINCE
Anna
pokeyspot
Airborn-Love [for leaving several reviews =).]
Thiliapetiolaris
Drarry-Remirius-Potter
Ilamay
Dizzy Malfoy
