A/N: Hello. Yes, you were all quite mad last time. Sorry… I did it again.
This goes back before Harry knocked just a bit, and takes it from Lucius' POV.
Chapter 7
Lucius looked over to his son as he swore –slightly amused.
A bit of rain was all it took to make him fall apart? Lucius nearly laughed aloud. He was gone for a year and Draco's image as a Malfoy was just now crumbling right before him.
When Draco lost his head and shouted at the elf, Lucius couldn't keep his mouth shut any longer.
"Calm yourself." He said in warning. It wouldn't do for him to allow his son to lose himself over such a trivial thing. Malfoys should always be composed and elegant. Shouting at an elf about rain was not elegant, nor was stomping over to the front door shouting:
"NOW, WHO THE FUCK COULD THAT BE?"
Lucius became a bit wary of whomever was at the door when he saw his son tense. Who could it be? Who would dare approach Malfoy Manor without first asking permission?
Though his upbringing told him to hold his head high and demand an explanation from the visitor, Lucius instead stealthily glided into the dark shadows the nighttime had caused in the Manor. He stood beside a large grandfather clock, beside the study, with a good vantage point of the door so he could see their intruder –were Draco to actually open the door enough- yet the person would not be able to see him because of the darkness.
After Lucius checked that he was completely hidden, he listened to the conversation that Draco was having with the person –his veela sense of hearing perfectly capable of listening clearly from his distance.
"…Nice hair." The man on the other side of the door commented, though his voice was muffled by the door. Lucius could not clearly distinguish the owner of the voice, but he knew who it was the moment his heart-rate increased by those words.
Draco didn't respond to the taunt about his hair. He merely stared agape at his visitor.
"Hey, Harry." He finally managed through his state of shock. Those words only confirmed Lucius' worst fears. How could his mate come now? He wasn't ready! …… Why was his mate even here? Why would he come to the Manor of all places? He obviously came to see Draco, but why? His son would have some explaining to do once he got rid of Harry.
The older blonde really didn't want to have his mate be so close, then leave though. He wanted to rush over to that door and yank it open so that he could drag Harry inside and have his wicked way with him. But no. That was not in any way a composed gesture. He was a civilized gentleman of society, not some caveman.
Besides that fact, he wasn't ready for his mate. He hadn't had nearly enough baths to bring the luster back to his hair, or the shine back to his dull eyes from malnutrition. The potion hadn't even taken full affect yet! In Merlin's name, what was his mate doing here!
He decided that he would continue listening instead of worrying more wrinkles onto his face.
"…doing here?" Draco questioned the dark-haired man before him.
"I sent Hedwig to you with a note about coming, Malfoy." Harry responded with a groan. "You haven't even bothered to check your post, have you?" The man shook his head in amusement, then pushed the door open a bit wider and looked around the dark castle that didn't have nearly enough candles lit for the time of night it was. "Hedwig!" He called in a singsong voice. A moment later a loud hoot was heard as the slightly disheveled snowy owl came flying from the kitchen area, to where she perched onto Harry's shoulder and affectionately nipped at his ear. "Here." Harry took the letter from around her leg and handed it to the blonde.
Draco looked over the quick note before crumpling it and shoving it in his pocket. "Fine, you're here then." Draco ground out in a very grumpy way. He looked over the other wizard and noticed him shivering from the night air. His father would kill him if Potter caught a cold because of his rudeness. He opened the door wider and gestured for the other man to come in. "How'd you get here?" He asked, partially so there would be conversation, and partially to distract the dark-haired man from wherever his father was now hiding.
"Same as always. You know I hate to apparate." Harry responded with a shrug.
"Won't your precious bike get wet?" Draco asked, still trying to distract the other man.
"I have charms on it to keep it dry and rust-free." Harry responded as he looked up to Draco's hair once more. "Speaking of drying charms…" Harry mused as he left the thought hanging.
Draco growled at the other man and knew that even through his father's worry and self-consciousness at the moment, that he was probably smirking too.
"Do you have something to say?" Draco snapped.
"I could say a lot of things, but I think you'd hex me for it." Harry responded with a gentle smile.
"You want to do something about it?" The blonde spat back with an underlying plead in his tone for the other wizard to help him.
Harry smiled at Draco again coyly. "What are you trying to say, Malfoy?" He asked, forcing Draco to admit inferiority, or deal with the hair problem until he could get to his hair products.
The blonde growled yet again as his glare came into full play. He tried to remember how his father scolded him for losing composure before, but Potter always seemed to get the best of him in times like these. He forced a blank expression across his face and glared at Harry.
"Please fix my hair, you pain in the ass?" He asked, not so gently. They both knew that Harry was better with –and had a more extensive knowledge of- charms than Draco.
The green-eyed boy could have showed more of his Slytherin side and asked Draco 'why in the name of Merlin Draco thought that he would be able to fix his hair', but he decided to show pity and merely swished his hand in the direction of Draco's head as the frizzy mop of blonde became a golden drape of soft tresses that fell over Malfoy's face freely because of the lack of gel.
Draco merely sighed in relief as he threaded his fingers through his hair to make sure it was normal again. He nodded shortly to the other man by way of showing thanks, then turned to walk away.
"Would you happen to have a spare piece of parchment I could use to write a note to Hermione?" Harry asked as he walked after Draco.
"Of course." The blonde responded coolly, with much more confidence now that he knew his appearance was flawless.
As they walked, Harry sneered when a smell floated to his nose. "Dear Merlin, Draco. Did you learn nothing about drying charms from Professor Flitwick?"
"What!" Draco demanded sharply with a scowl as he spun back around to face the other wizard. "What are you blathering about now, Potter?"
"The bloody smell!" Harry responded as he covered his sensitive nose. "You stink."
"Fix it, or deal with it, Potter." Draco deadpanned with a very irritated glare. "Charms wasn't exactly my most favored subject."
"Perhaps I should spend my whole visit teaching you charms then?" Harry mused, though he still covered his nose.
"In your dreams, Potter!" Draco snapped.
Harry reached out his hand, and touched Draco's robes for a moment. As soon as they had contact, Draco felt the other man's magic run over his skin like a shiver. As he pulled back, Draco noticed the smell was gone completely. There was no smell of lilacs or anything, but at least the odor was gone.
He nodded his head in thanks once more before turning back around.
Draco led Harry to one of the studies on the ground floor and opened the door for him before gesturing Harry in first and taking a quick survey of the surrounding area for his father before going inside the room and shutting the door behind him.
The Manor was so large that all doors were kept shut to keep whatever warm air inside the rooms, so it was by force of habit that Draco did it on this dreary cold night.
Hedwig fluttered onto the tabletop from her master's shoulder and watched him as he sat gracefully into the cushioned high-back chair.
"Malfoy, could you ask a house-elf for some food and water for Hedwig before she leaves?" Harry asked as he took the awaiting quill from the desk and pulled a piece of parchment from a pile in a side drawer, before beginning to write a message to his friend saying that he had made it to the Manor fine.
Draco calmly snapped his fingers and muttered the name of an elf before a pop filled the soundless room and Draco made the order. The elf was gone and back within a minute, putting the food and water bowls in front of Hedwig as she perched on the desk waiting for Harry to finish.
The blonde was more nervous than he'd ever been in his entire life, but he hid it well. His father had just barely been home a day and he already had to deal with a catastrophe. The older blonde was most likely thinking up every escape route and option to get out of the Manor, if he wasn't already outside, to try and keep his mate from finding him in what the older Malfoy considered a deplorable state.
Hedwig ate her food and drank some water, and once she was finished she began to preen her feathers. Harry smiled at her lovingly.
"Are you too tired for the journey back?" He asked her and immediately saw her sit up straight so that her height was full and stretch her leg out for Harry to tie the message to. After a quick wave over the letter to make it waterproof he gently tied it around the owl's leg, then took her gently to the window and opened it for her. With a soft kiss to her head, Hedwig was off into the cool night's air.
Once the window was shut, Harry turned back to Malfoy, who seemed slightly distracted.
"Okay, so you weren't expecting me." Harry announced with a sigh. "You've never acted so indifferent to me when I've arrive before. At least not since the first visit." He added with a short glance around the room. After nothing caught his eye, he looked back to Malfoy.
The younger Malfoy looked up to Harry and sighed heavily. "It's just that–" He began, but Harry raised a hand to silence him as he stepped closer. As the dark-haired man leaned closer to Draco with such a serious look in his eyes, Draco worried that Harry was about to kiss him for some strange reason.
Harry's hand grabbed Draco's collar without warning and yanked the taller man down closer to his height. "Say a word and I'll kill you." He whispered without the slightest hope remaining that he was joking around. Draco tensed immediately, his eyes widening with something akin to fear toward the powerful wizard that stood before him. He felt as if he had let down his defenses and now Harry was going to finish him off on some kind of Ministry business for something he didn't do.
However, Harry walked past Draco –to his surprise. He took a leisurely round over the room, inspecting the objects halfheartedly. He came to the wall with the door and quite suddenly his hand shot out toward the small alcove in the corner where a tall bookshelf lay hidden in shadows by the lack of candlelight in the room.
When Harry's hand emerged, it came fisted in Lucius Malfoy's robes before the older wizard was roughly shoved and pinned against the door. A distinct crack was heard, resounding in the frightfully silent room.
Both veelas were shocked beyond belief. Draco was shocked because he hadn't known his father was hiding in that room, or he would have taken Harry somewhere else. Lucius was shocked –and painfully aroused, though his robes hid it well- that his mate had found him without any difficulty and was now mere inches away from himself.
"Ah! Lucius Malfoy." Harry drawled with a sigh as he released the breathless older man. He had obviously given the blonde a fright and he felt slightly guilty for it after seeing how weary and drawn he looked. "That's right. I recall hearing you were just released… today, was it?" He paused. "I should have known." He glanced back at Draco with another sigh. "You didn't think I knew he was here?" Harry asked in a condescending tone with a smirk firmly in place. "This is why you were so uptight?" He chuckled. "I don't know why you were hiding, Malfoy, but hiding only makes me more suspicious of you, not any less." He told the older blonde whom was now de-ruffling his clothing as he looked straight into the slightly shorter man's green eyes.
He made sure his face was a perfect mask of calmness before he nodded to the dark-haired man in greeting. "Good evening to you too, Mr. Potter."
"And a good evening to you as well, Mr. Malfoy." Harry replied coolly. "Well, Malfoy… eh…" Harry turned to look at Draco, but knew that he had both men's attention because of the title he had used. "Alright, uh, how about I call you Draco instead?" He asked the younger blonde.
"Why don't we all simply use each other's first names, to keep this easy?" He suggested with a shrug. "Or is that too difficult for you, Potter?"
Lucius looked thankfully to his son over his mate's head. It would have been awkward for Lucius to tell Harry he could call him by his first name.
Harry swiveled back to face Lucius –ignoring Draco's snarky reply- as he raised a questioning brow at the suggestion. "That would be fine with me, as long as… Lucius doesn't mind?"
The way the name rolled off Harry's tongue caused the older veela's skin to tingle.
"Yes." Lucius murmured, trying to regain his strong voice, but becoming unsuccessful when he was this close to his sexy mate. "That would be fine." He noticed how a pause continued until a rather loud grumbling was heard.
Both blondes looked expectantly at Harry as he flushed a deep scarlet.
"A little dinner wouldn't go unappreciated." Harry informed the younger blonde to his right. As Draco nodded with a smirk to the still flushing Gryffindor, they all filed out of the room, seeming to ignore Lucius' short-lived spying carrier in the study for now.
Lucius loved the look of Harry blushing. It caused another part of him to become heated as he looked on with suppressed lust. As they all walked out of the study to eat in the Dining Room, Lucius was last out of the room, giving him a fair view of Harry's ass as he pulled off his cloak and robe.
A house-elf immediately appeared to take his things and hang them up, and Harry thanked the small creature kindly.
Once the robe was off though, Lucius nearly couldn't bring himself to breathe. Harry wore a slightly loose pair of Muggle jeans, that tempted Lucius terribly as to the body underneath them, and a leather jacket that just barely covered that ass, with black boots that added another two inches to his height and gave an elegant beauty to his rough shell.
"Is you not wanting the jacket also?" The elf asked with a hand raised to take it from Harry if he wished.
Harry thought about it for a moment, then unzipped the jacket and handed that to the elf as well.
"That'll be all." Harry told him with a smile, and the elf was gone.
When Harry looked up, both blondes were staring at him curiously. "What?" He responded defensively. "Never seen Muggle clothing before?"
"I've never seen you in anything that actually fit before." Draco responded with an appreciative smirk. "It's shocking."
Lucius would have growled a warning to his son about his comment, if he hadn't been so rapt up in how gorgeous the dark-haired wizard looked in the dark red T-shirt that tucked into his jeans, annunciating his slim waist and well-framed shoulders.
Perhaps red isn't such an insufferable color. Lucius mused to himself as he looked the Gryffindor over again.
Harry chuckled at that statement. "Yes, I was always wearing robes here before, wasn't I?" He mused as he thought back to previous visits. "Well, I had to buy proper Muggle clothing for some of my missions, and I liked the stuff I bought, so I kept it." He shrugged as they continued to walk into the Dining Room.
The table was set for three and a large feast was laid out for the men to pick at.
"What? No ten course meal?" Harry teased the younger blonde.
The blonde scowled him. "Not after all the bloody complaining you did last time." Draco countered.
Lucius felt a swift bout of jealousy that his mate had been spending so much time with his son without his knowledge; he made a quick mental note to say something to Draco about it later.
As they sat down with Lucius at the head of the smaller table and both boys on either side of him, the older man began to get quite curious of some things.
"So, Harry," Lucius purred, allowing the name to slip from his tongue in a sinful way, "why are you here?" It couldn't hurt to try and flirt a little.
Harry looked at him, with his head slightly quirked at the unfamiliar tone of voice before he disregarded it and began to pile food onto his plate. It had been almost two hours since he'd munched on the pizza, and he hadn't properly been hungry enough at the time, but he sure was now.
"I would have thought that Draco would have told you." Harry responded as he cut a piece of steak into smaller portions than he normally would so that Draco wouldn't get on him about his table manners again.
When Harry got no response from the older man, he glanced back and forth between the blondes who were having a conversation with their eyes. Apparently, Lucius was a bit ticked about not being told of Harry's visits. Harry decided to save Draco from a visual whipping both now, and probably later.
"Well, yeah, I was asked a while back… more like told," he correct himself, "to come here and inspect the Manor for any dark items that Draco may be harboring. The Ministry is under the impression that he was faithful to the Dark Lord, whether or not he had the mark. They have been under this mentality since you were put away." Harry explained, gesturing a bit rudely with his knife. The way he put it made Lucius feel like he had merely been put up on a shelf for the past year, like some type of toy.
Draco glowered at Harry, making sure to catch the knife-offender's attention with his eyes. The slightly shorter man paused at the look he was being given before realizing what he had done and frowning. Apparently Draco wanted him to act properly in front of his father, so it wouldn't seem as if Draco hadn't forced at least some manners onto him.
The thing was, that Harry had manners. He especially had to use those manners around the little ones at Hermione's place, or whenever he visited George or Ron, but he didn't like to use them. He therefore made a habit of only using manners around small children, though it was starting to wear on him badly. He had tried to always relax whenever he came to the Manor because he couldn't really relax around anyone else. Draco always was on him about something that he did wrong, so it was really pointless to try and hide his faults around the younger blonde. It gave him a sense of comfort that he didn't always have to be perfect, but now that Draco was stressing his manners again, he was beginning to feel a bit uptight.
Harry gestured for Draco to continue with a frown across his face as he pointedly used his knife to make the gesture.
Draco scowled further at the blatant disregard for his silent request. "During the first little visit from Mr. Potter, we sorted everything out." He paused as Harry and he shared a look. "He knew I wasn't a Death Eater, and he was willing to just spend our visits in a silent truce instead of actually having to search the place. There just couldn't be anything in plain sight. I learned that Potter wasn't a complete jackass and we got along rather well. It became a bit of a routine." He shrugged nonchalantly.
"Language, Malfoy." Harry reprimanded with a smirk. Draco scowled back at him.
"I do believe I'm confused as to whom you're speaking to, Harry." The blonde annunciated.
Before any kind of argument could break out, Harry decided to be the bigger man and let it go. He nodded in recognition of what Draco had told Lucius of their earlier visits.
"Yes, well, I never know about the visits until a day before, and Draco's never supposed to know about the visits at all, but after our new acquaintance of each other, I started to send him a bit of a warning by way of Hedwig, my owl, whenever I came."
Draco nodded his acknowledgement to that. "I merely forgot to check for any post. I told the house-elves not to disturb me at all, so I was not warned enough to be able to warn you either, Father."
Lucius nodded to his son, though he harbored a frown as he went through his thoughts for other questions he would ask Harry now, and ask Draco later.
As Harry was about to take a bite of a piece of steak, he replaced it onto the plate and reached down under the table, looking as if he were scratching an itch on his lower leg.
Draco's eyes widened in horror as he assumed that Harry was scratching himself at the dinner table. He shot a glance to his father who looked just as horrified, but when Harry sat back up, he had a long thin box in hand. He twirled the box between his fingers a few times as he sized up Lucius with a predatory, yet casual stare, then he tossed the box into the other man's lap.
Lucius looked to Harry with a confused scowl across his face. Harry merely picked his fork back up and continued eating as if nothing had happened.
The veelas realized that the other man wouldn't explain his actions, so they both leaned over to look at the simple black box. It felt warm to Lucius and as he discretely sniffed the box he found Harry's smell all over it. It must have been pressed to his skin for quite some time to have his smelled inlaid in the very fibers of the box. Gods! It was such an intoxicating smell that Lucius forgot about what might be inside the box for a moment as he engrained that scent into his brain for later daydreaming pleasures. It wasn't until Draco nudged his foot politely that he remembered to open the box.
As he touched the box, he could feel Harry's magic woven around the box as well. It must have some kind of spell on it, but none that harmed Lucius when he touched the box, so he assumed it was alright to open.
When he did, he felt a surge of familiar magic return to him. He lifted the thing that had been wrapped in a white cloth and he began to unravel it as Harry started to speak:
"I found it. Didn't really have much time to pack it or anything. Just put a concealing charm around the box to keep the Ministry from detecting it on my person as I left work today." Harry explained casually. "I remember Draco and I speaking the last time I was here about what happened to your wand and I told him the Ministry would probably never give it back to you. He asked me if I could find it for you, or if it had already been destroyed." Harry took another bite of meat, then took a long drink of the sour wine that Draco liked so much at meals.
Lucius finally reached what was under the cloth. His wand. Harry had searched for his wand for him, then stolen it from the Ministry and brought it back to him.
Lucius realized he hadn't much thought of his wand after being released. All he could think about was his mate and his son, but now that he had his wand back in his hands again, it was a welcome warmth that spread through his arm and filled him, causing a familiar tingle of magic to reimburse him. It was slightly ironic that he had given Harry his wand in surrender more than a year ago, and now Harry was giving him back his wand and if the man accepted his proposal, Harry would be giving him a new life as well.
"Why would you bring this to me?" He asked, in awe at his mate for the act of kindness that had been so undeserved for the criminal.
Harry's fierce green eyes locked onto Lucius' seriously. "Draco spoke very highly of you in our conversations." He told the older man. "You have proven yourself in the past, and by what Draco tells me, you weren't all that much of an ass when we were younger either." The language was used without malice and seemed to tease, more than offend Lucius; just how Harry had intended. "Apparently, you wore some kind of façade, so I'm willing to go beyond what I thought I knew of you before and start over." The dark-haired wizard told him with conviction.
Lucius' heart lifted as if the weight he had been carrying for ages was finally gone. His mate wanted to start anew. They could be friends first… then… But, he wasn't being honest. If they were going to start from the beginning, then Harry should know everything there is to know about him. Draco seemed to be worrying along the same lines, and he shared a quick glance with Lucius before the older man came to a decision that Draco was wary about.
"I would like that very much." He responded with a deep level of emotion in his voice that he was sure the other man would pick up on.
Before Lucius could speak further, Draco interrupted, as if to stall for time because he knew what Harry's reaction would be, or perhaps because he feared what it would be; feared, not for himself, but for his veela father who would not get any more chances at love other than Harry.
"Why didn't the Ministry officials give your wand back to you when you were released?" Draco asked his father.
"Because," Harry answered instead, turning to Draco, "they don't want the prisoners to hex or kill them in a fit of rage. It's really just so they can feel safer whilst releasing the prisoner in question. Weak inept bastards." He cursed nonchalantly.
Lucius felt a swell of love for Harry and a swell of hate for the Ministry that his mate worked for.
"It's not like a prisoner could muster enough magic to cast any kind of powerful curse after just leaving the Dementors' hold anyway." Harry commented snidely as he sat back comfortably with his wine in hand. "They weren't planning on even giving you your wand though because some of them thought you had gotten off far too lightly in your sentence, and they were worried that you would seek some kind of revenge. By taking away your powerful wand, they were seeking to weaken you as much as possible. Of course you could get another, but it wouldn't be as powerful as your original."
Lucius nodded and smiled a small smile at his mate. He wanted this to be right. He just kept feeling more and more love for his Harry, and he wanted that love to be returned. That could only happen with honesty.
"Harry." Lucius called gently to the younger man. As Harry looked up at him wearily, Lucius could see the strain the last year had put on him. There did seem to be some more prominent laugh lines around his mouth and eyes, but he could also see where the man had frowned and scowled so many times. He appeared so worry-worn and altogether tired. Suddenly, Lucius didn't know if he could pile more worry onto that sad face, but… would it be worry? Wouldn't it be more akin to relief at having found your destined? Judging by Draco's worried face, it seemed he would only be worrying Harry further, but… it had to be done. It couldn't be avoided.
He frowned slightly in worry, but remained completely calm on the outside as Harry waited for him to continue.
"I have something to ask you."
A/N: Okay, yeah, I am the queen of all bitches. –smiles- But you love me enough to review, right?
Two questions:
If I give Harry an animagus form, what should it be?
DO YOU KNOW OF ANY GOOD Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings CROSSOVERS!
Ah, my lovely reviewers! –smooch- You guys rock!
Immortal Memories: I'm sorry I disappointed you last chapter. Don't pull out all of your hair over this chapter either. I wouldn't want you to have a bald spot or something. I wish I could say the next chapter won't be the same cliffie, but I haven't planned it out, so I'm not sure.
ConstanceNicholson: Oh, please don't worry about me! I think I'm just going to do these chapters in two week intervals. It seems to be an okay pace for me, and it gives me time to mull over whether I like the chapter or not before posting. I won't declare that that's how I'll do it, because it might not happen exactly the same way every time, but I'll try for that. –wink wink- I'm glad you liked the last chapter. I was just doing laundry and it kind of came to me, that it would be such a hoot if Harry did his own laundry instead of having someone else do it.
Xikum: I didn't even think of that –that Jen's baby could be magical because of that. I mean, I thought of making it magical, then giving it to harry or something because Jen died in birth, but... that didn't sit right to me. It felt cliché almost. I don't know what I'll do with her for sure. I just know she's there for friendship and laundry so far. –smile- Yes, Jen isn't close to her husband. Not all people that get married, love their spouses completely after a couple of years, and that's what I was trying to show with Jen. She enjoyed her friend's company more than her husband's, but she still loves her husband and will stay by him with their child. Eh, no, Harry has no veela in him. He's just magnetic with his loving personality, hot looks, and sad life. People are drawn to him, and they naturally want to make him happy because he brightens their lives. Ah! Yes, you are quite perceptive in that I will be drawing some of there characters that I'm describing together, but not many. I'm not telling who either. –snicker-
HecateDeMort: -smile- You're the second person to ask if Jen's child will be Muggleborn or not. I haven't decided, but I'm leaning one way, and I won't tell you because that might give away the fun! Jen is Muggle though. Thanks for your comment, I hope I can answer any other questions you may have.
Volume: Glad you like it. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask away. I'll answer what I can.
Yana5: Happy you liked it. I've been seeing your name everywhere I look lately. –smile- It's kind of funny. Feel free to ask any questions you'd like.
A-Brighter-Dawn: Your reviews always make my day. It's so wonderful. I wish you'd update too. –pout- I wouldn't mind reading another chapter from your stories, either. Anyway, thanks for the compliments. –blush- Now I know why you didn't update for so long though. I didn't know you had gone away for a while. It must have been a long vacation or something. Hope you had fun. Also hoping you liked the chapters you read!
Leeanna-Marie-Malfoy: Sorry I left you off like that. I just didn't want to neglect Harry's version of the story either… and I want to introduce Hermione and the Weasleys so no one thinks I'm ignoring them. You have questions? Please, don't hesitate to ask! I wouldn't want to leave anyone in the dark if I can answer anything.
Bitter Black Tears: Your review always seems to make me laugh as well. You just seem to have a magnetic personality. You are right about all of those pairings. I'm going to go more deeply into why Hermione's not with anyone right now. That's why the last chapter kind of touched on so many people. It all goes along with my hairy plot. Ha! No one seems to remember the pizza shop lady's name. –snort- -laugh- To tell you the truth, I can't remember her name at the moment, either. Yes, she did seem to be a bit of a slut, hmm? But she is a good friend, and it's more of just a 'you're my friend, and you're hot, so I wouldn't mind having you shag me, but I'm content to be your friend' thing. I hope you liked the interaction between Harry and Draco at the beginning. I had so much fun writing this chapter out. The end got a bit difficult, so I decided to just stop there and give my brain a rest until two weeks from now. –chuckle- Really hoping you liked it!
Hermione21: HA! You are so intuitive! Yes, I am planning something along the lines of Jen calling Harry to the hospital at a very bad time. I think I've just created a scene in my head, actually. I think I'll go write that done somewhere! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Don't think twice about asking any other questions you may have!
Dark-Faerie161: Happy you liked that I explained things from Harry's POV. Everyone else got mad at me for it. –pout- Did you like this chapter? I liked the interactions between Draco and Harry. It was so much fun to write. The end was hard, but I'll do something about that later. Time to go lay out in the sun! Please review!
DaftMeg: I am not evil! I know you were all expecting the meeting between Lucius and Harry. If you were expecting it, why should I do it? That would just be too easy! The author is supposed to surprise you, not make everything easily readable and cliché! I'm glad you liked the bit about Harry though. Some of those character might come into play later. –cough cough- Hint, hint! –cough cough- Hermione and Lucius friends? Yeah… something like that will happen… maybe. –snicker- I love knowing everything! Ha! Sorry. I'll shut up now.
The True Silver: Update soon? I'll update in about two weeks. Gives me enough time to write it and mull it over before adding a bit more humor and jazz to the chapter. Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well. I try…
Dmweasley: You can't wait for them to get together, hmm? You and everyone else… including me! I'm not even sure how things will happen yet! Isn't that sad? If You have any question, go ahead and ask –I won't bite… hard.
Darkangel507: I remember you! Ha! How could you say such a thing! You're so perceptive. You're the only one to ask who Draco's mate is. I'm not going to tell you, of course, but I'm just glad that you're thinking! Sorry I confused you at the beginning of the last chapter. I realize now that that's confusing, but I made a little note at the top of this one to eschew obfuscation. –snicker- I'm sorry, but I can't spread my genius over so many stories. Everything that isn't prewritten, such as High School –but this story as well- is going on hiatus. I just can't keep up with all of them. –pout- Sorry. I mean, I have like two other stories that I have written down on my computer for Harry Potter, that I don't want to put up because I don't want to neglect this one. It will just have to go one at a time, or not at all. Sorry!
Katfay: Ha! You make me laugh! Sorry, I didn't mean to piss you off with the last chapter, but I needed to throw some Harry into this, or it would just be neglecting all of the other fabulous character of Harry Potter. You know? Okay, okay, I get the picture. More about the Malfoys! I promise! The characters might have to blend after a while though, so you're going to have to have some chapters that aren't entirely about the Malfoys, though none as separate as the last one was. Cross my heart.
Jen: A new chapter? I hope this was sufficient. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. I won't bite. Promise.
Lothirielwen: Your name was so hard to spell! I hope I got it right! I can't say that this is going to end any time soon, but… I don't know. I was kind of hoping this would be my longest one yet. We'll see, I suppose.
Amekan: Hope I spelt that right. "Wow!" right back at ya! –chuckle- Thanks for the review. I can't divulge at this time whether Harry will be the one to be preggers or not. It would just ruin the fun of the surprise for me… and you all. Don't worry about Draco. He will find his mate in this story, but I can't reveal who that is yet. I'm sure it's possible to have to soul-mates for one person, but it's highly unlikely. I'm not quite sure what to do with Blaise yet, but I've already got someone else lined up for Draco.
Cricketpoor: There will be more of this one. I'm glad you like the pairing. It's not my all-time fav., but it's up there. I think I'm going to go through a series of writing all my favorite pairing in different stories. It will start with another that I've already begun with, after I finish this one. Hopefully my reviewers will follow me with my stories.
SweetHoney863: That it. That's how I ended the last chapter, and I'm sorry for the cliffie… again. This was a pretty good update, hmm? Only three days after you reviewed. I apologized ahead of time for the cliffie, but it couldn't be helped. That's just where I stopped. Sorry. Ask any questions you like, and I'll try to appease my wrong-doing.
A/N: Yet another chapter! A few questions please, if anyone can help me!
Two questions:
1. If I give Harry an animagus form, what should it be?
2. DO YOU KNOW OF ANY GOOD Harry Potter/Lord of the Rings CROSSOVERS!