A/N: Yeah, I know this is late, but… summer, you know? We're finally getting to the interesting parts so… I'm excited to get this out. The plot thickens!

PLEASE READ THIS:

I just wanted to add something quickly. A lot of you expressed a deep sadness for Lucius and that you felt very sorry for him. I have to admit that I was very happy that I caused this. Not in a sick way, but because simply this:

My hope in my writing is that you will grow to be very loving and sad for Lucius. I am writing the story from his point of view, so I therefore hope that whatever I write about him and what he feels, is also what you feel for him. If Lucius is depressed over something, it is my sincere hope that I can portray that sadness in such a way that the readers also become depressed for Lucius/the character (whomever it may be). Being able to actually portray these things to you and have you feel for Lucius makes his triumphs thrice as sweet because you feel a triumph when he does. If I can convey this to you, then I have succeeded as a writer. Thank you.

Chapter 12

Draco rose from his seat in the ground floor study where he'd been working on his most recent Ministry project. He curled a stray hair behind his ear lazily, then stretched all of the kinks out of his sore back. Maybe Harry would consider giving him one of his famous backrubs… or maybe he could convince Harry to give his father one! There's another idea!

He scribbled it down on a small list he had made for himself on such epiphanies, then stuffed the paper back in his pocket and rubbed at his left shoulder as he exited the study for the cooler hall.

The second he stepped out into the hall, he felt a flare of power and knew that Harry was close to the Manor, and that he was excited about something. Whether he was angry or happy –Draco couldn't tell; just that his power was enlivened and flaring.

Harry suddenly burst through the back entrance and down the smaller hallway that led to the main one where Draco stood –his eyes slightly wider with worry because of Harry's, now obvious, anger.

"Harry." Draco called, bringing the other man out of his scowl and back to the present time.

"Draco." Harry replied in a murmur. "Shoulder hurting again?" He queried as his power calmed dramatically from where it'd been.

"A bit." Draco answered, trying not to make Harry feel guilty again. That damn Gryffindor wouldn't give up on the ache of Draco's shoulder. It was a soft spot between the two Seekers.

On the following game after Harry and Draco had made a tentative truce in school, Draco had decided to play fairly. The game had been the best that either boy could remember having together, until the end.

Draco had been just about to grasp the snitch when a Bludger had pounded directly into the joint of his left shoulder blade. The blow had knocked him off his broom –though one of his teammates had caught him before he hit the ground. Harry had refused to catch the snitch and the game had been called a draw because Draco couldn't finish and Harry refused to finish. Harry felt guilty because he felt he'd had enough time to warn Draco of the oncoming blow, but he hadn't. Draco on the other hand didn't blame him at all, and only blamed himself for not concentrating on his surroundings as well as the snitch, but he understood –in some small way- what the Gryffindor considered to be his fault, though he didn't blame him.

"How did the fly go?" Draco queried with a raised brow as he looked the sweaty Potter over.

"It sucked." Harry snapped with a scowl.

"Why?" The blonde asked calmly.

"I went into a dive to get the damn snitch and you father-"

That's not good. Draco thought with a cringe. He's not even trying to refer to him by his name. It must have been bad.

"- dove down after me, thinking I was trying to kill myself or something."

"You're exaggerating." Draco murmured.

"Am I?" Harry responded animatedly.

The veela thought about his father, and how the situation must have looked for the blonde to interfere like that. "I suppose not." He mumbled. "You just make it sound worse."

"Oh, it gets worse." Harry snapped with a growl. "I didn't think he'd be able to pull out of the dive, so just as he we were getting close to the ground, I decided to pull up early so he wouldn't have to worry about looking embarrassed if he couldn't pull the dive off. The man grabbed hold of my broom, causing us both to topple off-balance, banging into each other and falling to the ground in a heap!"

The blonde tried to hide his cringe as he imagined how painful the fall must have been for both men.

"Not only all that…" Harry went on, causing Draco to fear what else his father could have done, "… he then has the audacity to claim that it was my fault, and that I should never have tried such a move. He said that as long as I was his mate, I wouldn't be doing such things." The man finished his rant with a hand mounted on his hip. He had blown off some of the steam, but saying it aloud just made him think about how pissed off the whole scene made him.

"Harry, calm down, now." Draco ordered as he massaged his brow tiredly. He needed a nap, perhaps. None of the stress could be healthy for any of them, especially his father.

The black-haired man was about to protest in a childish way, when he caught himself and took in a deep breath before releasing it.

"Father surely didn't have the intention of crashing into you. I'm sure he imagined he could pull you out of the dive and bring you to safety, but it went wrong in his haze of worry." The veela explained.

Harry nodded once tartly. "Sure."

"I know how much that must have ticked you off because it seemed so uncalled for, but let me put it to you this way; and please don't take offense to this."

He nodded again.

"Okay, now, keep an open mind for me." Draco demanded with a frown. Again, another nod. "Imagine that you are the father of an only child. Your little girl has just gotten his first broom and asks you to go out flying with her. You're thrilled because she didn't ask her friends to fly with her; she asked you. It makes you feel special, and proud, and loving. You two go out flying, and suddenly she tries a trick, but it goes wrong and you dive down quickly and catch her before she can hit the ground. Now imagine what you would say to her. 'I can't believe you tried such a stunt. You're my daughter and as long as you are living here, you will do as I say. Promise me you will never do that stunt again.' Etc., etc." Draco gestured with his hand and though Harry was frowning in thought, the veela could tell that he understood now. "You know I mean this not as a child, but as him not wanting you hurt, and he is a father, and a veela, so that makes him very protective. He cares for you, and would die if he saw you get hurt and he could have prevented it. No matter how old you are, Harry, he's not looking at this as if you we two. He's looking at this as –you're his mate, and he can't experience life without you, so if he has to be stern to get his point across, he will be."

Harry sighed with a strained nod, then he shook his head with a growl. "I don't like it."

"I know." Draco nodded once. "You don't want to be controlled. You want to be free of everything that keeps you from your desires. You don't like restrictions. You're a rule-breaker. Just… please… understand that he doesn't want to see you hurt. Just, be a little less… you, this week."

The blonde didn't beg often, so Harry nodded in resignation. 'A little less him…' That meant to be careful. Boring.

Fine. He thought to himself. This once.

"I'm going to my room." Harry mumbled. "Thanks for listening."

"It's fine." The veela responded with a small smile. Anything he could do to help his father and Harry get together was worth his time, in his opinion.

With a last nod to himself, Harry made his way through another side passageway and up a different less-used staircase to the corridor that led to his rooms.

Draco sighed as he watched Harry go. Hopefully that catastrophe had been averted, but he wasn't sure. He supposed they would all find out the next time Lucius and Harry interacted –perhaps at dinner.

After a small walk around ground level of the Manor, Draco returned to the study he'd been working in and plopped down onto the rather comfortable chaise lounge adjacent to his work area. He sighed heavily as he settled into the comfortable cushions.

Maybe he could take that nap now…

Just as Draco had laid his head down for a second and begun to doze off, his dreams of a nap were shattered by company.

"Draco!" His father called.

Said-veela growled deeply in frustration. He wondered vaguely if his father would want a long discussion now, or if he would be able to wait until later.

"Answer me, Draco!" Came his harsh answer.

With a groan, Draco sat unsteadily up. "In here, Father."

As Harry opened his door, he was startled by the flurry of movement in the room. He hadn't noticed it because he'd been lost in his thoughts, but now he could plainly hear the fighting that was occurring before him. Two owls were clawing nastily at each other in a quite undignified manner.

"Hedwig!" He cried out as he realized his owl was in on this ruckus. With the skill of a trained Seeker, he snatched Hedwig from the air before the other owl could do anymore damage to her, or vice versa. Once Harry had calmed Hedwig into silence, he noticed a cat sitting on his open window sill. Minx, the calico outdoors cat Harry had delivered to Draco for his mouse problem, had often been one to visit him whenever he came to the Manor, but it seemed she had been intrigued with the owl fight and decided to climb up the house to his window to be a spectator of the destruction, or perhaps she had anticipated a free snack if one of the owls lost badly.

Before approaching this new blackish/brown owl, Harry made doubly sure that Hedwig was unharmed in any serious way, then he put her near her cage and turned on the new owl.

Ah! A Ministry owl. Harry realized with a scowl. What the hell did they want now?

He reached for the owl, but when it tried to nip at him, he swatted at its beak in a warning.

"I'm not in the mood to quarrel with you." He snapped. "You know you'd lose if you tried anyway."

The owl fluffed indignantly and stuck out its foot, obviously wanting nothing more to do with the wizard.

Harry took the note and the owl was off quickly without a parting look. The wizard ripped the envelope open and scanned the parchment over.

The Ministry was wondering how his search was going.

He penned a response –basically saying that he would be complete with his entire search within the week, and that, as of yet, he hadn't found any incriminating evidence against Malfoy junior. After finishing the note, he moved to Hedwig.

"Do you think you're up to a travel to the Ministry?" He questioned her, knowing she was still pissed about the other hostile bird trying to intrude on her territory.

She nodded vaguely, then waited for him to tie the message to her leg before she took off out the window.

Harry then turned to Minx as he sat on the bed with a sigh. "How has it been going? Are you going hungry yet? No. Of course not. You're smarter than that. You wouldn't just kill off all the mice. That would leave you starving." He commented sarcastically –as if he had given the cat that warning beforehand- though he knew she looked a bit thin. He smiled knowingly. "If you just wait for the mice to come back, then you could let them get a sense of security and start your killing again. Until then, I'll leave food in here for you as long as you don't bother Hedwig." He reasoned. Minx seemed to understand well enough as she jumped down and rubbed herself against her master's leg in thanks.

The note! Harry thought as he suddenly pulled the parchment from his pocket and opened Hermione's letter.

Hermione asked about the usual things. How was he? Was he eating correctly? Was Malfoy pissing him off lately? Was work bothering him whilst he was supposedly 'searching' the Malfoy estates? (She knows my problems so well. He thought idly.) Then she went off in a paragraph of her sixth sense worrying. She normally kept most of this woman's intuition to herself unless they were together and he was telling her of his plans. She would sometimes say, "I have a bad feeling about that. Don't do it." He would consider going against her wishes, but always ended up deciding it was better to not worry her and that usually ended up being to his benefit. She didn't normally write these things in letters to him. This had to be serious.

He chewed at his thumbnail as he pondered all the things that could be happening. Maybe she had been thinking about Lucius and how he had been injured in the fall earlier. He had, after all, received the letter before the flying session. Perhaps she was thinking of some other occasion that had yet to happen. One thing Harry was certain of was that it included Malfoy senior.

All those things aside, Harry decided it would probably be in his best interest to take a day to visit Hermione. Draco might even want to accompany him for the little venture. They would take the motorcycle so Harry wouldn't have to apparate or floo. If he really laid into Draco, he could convince the man to ride with him instead of apparating so he could have some company for the long ride.

With that all decided, Harry sat at his desk quickly to write a letter to Hermione saying that they would talk more of her worries when he came to visit her. He then wrote a post-script at the bottom, asking if he could drag Draco along to visit her, and when they could visit that would be convenient.

After sealing the letter, Harry set it aside near the owl cage for whenever Hedwig returned.

Now… He thought tiredly as he moved to his bed. Perhaps a bit of rest before I have to confront Malfoy again. I'll need to be in a decent frame of mind or I might blow up at him… again.

"Calm down!" Draco demanded before his father could even start to rant on with anxiety. After he had his father's attention, he lowered his voice again. "Calm down." He whispered gently. "Harry's already come through here, and I've calmed him down. He understands what happened. He went up to his room, I believe."

Lucius took a moment to digest this. How did Draco know what happened if Lucius hadn't told him? Sure Harry had already spoken his side of the story, but did 'his side' explain Lucius well enough for Draco not to blame him for everything? Would the Gryffindor really explain things so fairly? It brought a flutter to his heart, allowing him to calm considerably so that Draco could speak to him more easily.

"Was he angry?" He asked simply, trying to reign in his worry.

"Of course!" Draco snapped with a sneer. "I'd be angry if you caused me to fall off my broom too!" He let out a sharp laugh. "I explained, however, that you were trying to look out for him, and you were merely overly worried. I think everything's settled, Father. All you need to do is have some kind of conversation with him to break the ice again, you understand?"

Lucius stoically pondered this for a moment. "When?" He asked firmly, as if set in his goal.

"I don't know!" Draco snapped, then covered his mouth with an aristocratic hand and brought his eyes to the ground without seeming shy –merely showing his respect to his father, and admitting he had spoken out of cue. "I'm sorry." He murmured.

Lucius scowled, then nodded. "It's frustrating. I'm putting a lot of pressure on you. It's coming from both sides because you're his friend, yet you're my son in the same moment and you must help both without favoring one over the other."

"This is in both of your best interests." Draco told him father –his aristocratic nature returning with confidence and cool eyes back in place as he stared levelly into his father's eyes. "I know that once you both are together, you will be the most happy people anywhere. It is only a matter of time." This phrase also happened to spark a memory within Draco, that caused his eyes to widen slightly.

"Yes. Time. Good thing he stays here with you for so long, or I wouldn't be able to manage starting this."

"Eh." Draco cleared his throat and Lucius looked up to him fearfully.

"What!" He asked. He couldn't take any more of these surprises.

"Remember how I asked to speak with you earlier?"

A nod.

"Well, I'm about to tell you why." He breathed in and let it out, trying to keep himself calm as he gestured for his father to sit. Both did. "I'm just going to get to the point. This morning whilst Harry and I were eating after our ride, we spoke of plans, etceteras. He mentioned a mission that he must leave on in two months." Lucius swallowed heavily, his eyes darting from here to there minutely as he thought about how he could woo his mate that quickly. Usually this kind of thing took months, perhaps even a year at fullest. Purebloods had a methodical way to go about wooing their intended. It was a process much more longwinded than the Muggle way of flowers and candy, and required more flare –including dowries and gifts of sizable proportions. "There's more."

Lucius perked up to bring himself back to his son's words.

"He declared that he wanted about a month to himself, so he'll only be staying here for a week, perhaps two."

Lucius frowned and suddenly felt the urge to bite his nails as he once had when he was younger, but he fought off the desire easily. "How long will he be away?" The blonde asked with a groan of resignation.

"A year."

The blonde nearly cried out in pain right there. How could his mate do this to him! How could Fate be so cruel to separate him from his mate, yet again! He needed more time! Was this a test of his devotion? Was this some sick joke? If he killed all the Department Heads at Harry's work, would the teen still have to leave for a year?

As these things spun through the older blonde's head, he slumped forward –his elbows resting on his knees. After resolving himself to be strong, the veela sat back up and glared strongly back to his son. The power of that gaze and the determination of it made Draco quiver with fear and relief. His father wasn't giving in! He was going to fight with everything he had! This was the man that Draco had known his whole life. This was the man he loved! His father wouldn't give in so easily. No. Never. Malfoys don't give up! Malfoys get what they want… always.

Three hours later, as the sky was starting to darken for nighttime, yet still showed a beautiful array of lights against the clouds, Lucius wandered the halls from his rooms.

He had rested and thought more about how he would speak to Harry when he next saw the youth. He hated to admit it, but curiosity was getting the better of him in the sense that he desired greatly to speak of what Harry had done in the year that he'd been absent, especially those months that Draco couldn't track him.

After walking his halls several times and making his way through the entire wing twice, he made his parting insults to his aunt's portrait and made his way down to the first floor where his favorite balcony and sitting room were located.

Upon approaching the room, he realized it was already occupied by someone. Perhaps Draco had taken up a liking for the space just as his father had.

To Lucius' surprise, when he reached the door that was slightly ajar and opened it, it was Harry he found, not Draco. The room was a wonderful temperature that was perfect for relaxing one's worries away and meditating on one's actions. The blonde had done such things many times before because there was such a great view of the garden from this room, but now his gaze was fixed on the gorgeous figure sitting in the window chair elegantly.

"May I join you?" Lucius queried with a voice just loud enough to be heard without disturbing the youth's thoughts.

Harry turned his gaze from the large clear glass-paned window to the veela at the door. "Sure." He mumbled before turning back to the window and the view –probably to his thoughts as well. He wore loose cloth pants and a loose T-shirt –as if he had recently changed for rest and decided that he needed to think elsewhere.

Upon being accepted as company, Lucius brought himself to sit in a fine brown-leather chair a short distance from the window seat, yet at an angle to the fireplace that would keep the teen from thinking that he was staring –which he was.

The blonde waited for a long moment for the silence to pass onto something more comfortable. How was it, that in such a comfortable room he could be so uncomfortable with the silence that he usually rejoiced in?

"Harry," Lucius called softly, breaking through the silence bravely, "where were you for those few months after you graduated? No one seems to know where you were. Not even your closest friends."

I suppose you asked my friends where I was then? Harry snorted with dry humor at his own thought. Of course not. The blonde wouldn't stoop so low. It was most likely hearsay.

The dark-haired man's glare tightened on Lucius as he sat there with his arm draped over the back of the chair and his legs crossed.

"You mean to say," Harry began, "that Draco couldn't discover where I'd been, so I obviously must have dropped off the face of the earth?" He retorted sharply and Lucius flinched. The youth bit his lip to stop the angry words. He was still sore over the actions of earlier and it was bad form to take it out on Lucius now. He decided to be nicer, as he stared off out the opened balcony window. "I suppose I should tell you." He murmured to himself. "It would only be polite of me… After all you did speak so much about yourself and quell so many of my discrepancies. Alright." He turned his gaze back to Lucius as he decided his thoughts aloud. "No, I was far from dropping off the edge of the earth. I left school and I realized I needed… something. It didn't take me long to realize that there was something missing from my life. It was something big, but I couldn't seem quite to be able to grasp it." He paused with his fist clenched in his lap as he remembered his turmoil. "The answer came to me one day in the form of a letter. It was from… an old friend. I had thought he was… dead. I was surprised –to say the least- when I received a letter from him. He'd said that he had read some rather troubling things in the Daily Prophet and he wanted to meet me and make sure I was alright. I agreed of course, but I told him to be quiet about my coming. I knew he wouldn't say anything, but I feared I had to warn him all the same. It took me a mere week to make preparation, then I merely packed a small bag of things and I was gone." He looked into Lucius' powerful eyes and could have laughed at seeing the jealousy building toward the individual he was speaking of.

How stupid. He thought sadly.

"Who?" Lucius asked bluntly.

"Who, what?" Harry countered coyly.

"Don't get wily with me, Harry." Lucius warned as a frown creased his brow. He was trying to hold in his fury, but it didn't seem to work at all. All of his self-restraint had been exercised over the past year and there was no more for him to work with any longer.

"You're going to ruin this day of ours together if you get angry." Harry warned, suddenly quite somber.

"Tell me." Lucius lowered his voice and softened his face drastically. His face pleaded with Harry.

Harry sneered for a moment, then narrowed his eyes and hardened his features to the veela before him. This hurt Lucius more than anything before then. He leaned back with a hurt look crossing his face as he watched Harry's anger bloom.

"I needed someone older. Someone who could understand me and treat me like an adult instead of a child. I didn't want to be coddled, or glorified for my fame. I just wanted to be loved." Harry's eyes softened as he looked out the window again.

Lucius couldn't help feel that he could have been all of those things, but he didn't need any words from Harry to tell him why he had chosen someone else. Lucius had been in prison. How could a relationship have survived between them? How could Lucius have survived through the days without Harry by his side if they had started a relationship? It was all for the better that it happened this way. At least now he had Harry.

Even though it was day, an image of the moon still hung in the sky, seeming to catch Harry's gaze. "You knew him." Harry told Lucius. "You went to school with him." He sounded detached.

"Who did you sleep with?" He finally asked in exasperation, trying to hide the pain from his words at the thought of his mate with someone else. Kissing someone else… inside of someone else, or someone else inside… him. That thought tore at him terribly. Was Harry a virgin any longer? Had someone defiled his mate? He would kill them! Who? Who dared!

Harry looked over to him with raised brows and amused eyes. "Sleep with?" He repeated. "I went away with him, but we didn't sleep together."

Suddenly, it was like his shoulder blades had shifted and a huge weight was lifting from his tortured mind and body. Harry hadn't slept with this man? Why was he so nostalgic about him then?

"Remus." Harry answered his questioning gaze. "Remus and I traveled to the Elves' homeland." He again gazed sadly up at the moon. "That was the favor that I had called in from them. I stayed there with Remus until he died a few months later, so he could be happy in a place he wouldn't be spit upon for living."

Lucius felt like such a heel! How horrible of him! When Harry had been speaking of someone to love him, he'd meant a father-figure. He wanted that love from Sirius, but then his godfather died (or was killed, more like), and when Harry found out his last link to his real father –Remus- was dying, he had to go away with him, somewhere where no one could find them, or hurt Remus. Somewhere, where Remus could die peacefully and happily.

"I'm going to go get ready for dinner." Harry announced as he stood after one last glance at the moon.

Lucius stood as well and took a tentative step toward Harry. "I'm sorry for my assumption, and my impertinence." The veela apologized.

Harry nodded several times without looking the taller man in the eye. "Yeah. I guess I can see how you would assume that, but Remus… I loved him, but not that much… not that way. I wish life had been different for him. I wish he could have been happy with a mate instead of living through almost every full moon without anyone by his side. He was such a strong person."

For a moment, Lucius worried that Harry would begin to cry, but it was good that Harry was getting this off his chest… and to him! Harry was speaking of such things to him! Perhaps all was not lost. With that burst of courage, Lucius began to reach out to touch Harry's shoulder when the teen suddenly moved around him with a sniffle and a wipe of his nose –seemingly never even noticing the hand that had been about to touch his other shoulder.

Harry walked to the door and exited silently without touching the door and Lucius sighed sadly.

Almost.

"Lucius." Harry murmured, causing the blonde to spin –his hair flying gracefully over each shoulder as he moved and stopped to gaze at the slightly distraught yet smiling man at the door. "Eh, uh, thanks… for listening… even if you did mix up what I meant…"

Without another word the man was gone again, but Lucius could've jumped with joy.

He quickly erected a silencing charm around the room and shut the door before putting a small warding charm on it and calmly walking back to the center of the room and jumping up and down quickly.

"Yes!" He shouted enthusiastically. "Yes!" He squealed in a very un-Malfoy-like way before calming himself to put the mask back up, removing his spells, and calmly exiting the room with his usual grace.

A/N: I hope you all like what I've done with this! I'm excited about the upcoming chapters and looking forward to writing them!

Fabulous cyber-friends who comment so graciously:

HecateDeMort: How's summer treating you? It's making me more insane than I already am. Hope you enjoy my craziness!

Chocolatedemon: Thanks about that. I don't know how, but this story just ended up being slow-paced. I know some people (including me at times) don't like slow-moving stories, but the development needs to happen and whenever the author's pressured into moving faster the story turns to crap, so… I'm being stubborn and slow. –chuckle- Glad you don't hate me for it! Thankie!

Sakura91: I'm glad you like the story so far. It's definitely going along well, I think. Sweetness in this chappie, a bit of angst in the next. I don't like using that word though… angst. I like saying drama, so that's what I'll say. –smile-

Strega: Yes, I thought the same as well. Why should Harry by a whimpering mess when he gets yelled at by Lucius? He's an Auror and faced down freakin-Voldemort! He should be able to stand up to Lucius… at least for now because he isn't exactly emotionally attached yet. That might change a bit later, but not too much.

Cricketpoor: There is definite fluff in here. It's just more toward the end because conflict leads to make-up sessions, you know? My hope in my writing is that you will grow to be very loving and sad for Lucius. I am writing the story from his point of view, so I therefore hope that whatever I write about him and what he feels, is also what you feel for him. If Lucius is depressed over something, it is my sincere hope that I can portray that sadness in such a way that the readers also become depressed for Lucius/the character (whomever it may be). Thank you for your encouragement.

Amy: Thank you! I'm thrilled that you think this fic is so much fun. I hope you enjoyed this chapter too.

Missy Gothika: Ack! AFF? I tried reading through stuff there, but it was so hard to go through the categories that I gave up. seems so much simpler that I think I'll just stick to what little they allow. Nice nickname… I don't know how your friends came up with it either. –smile-

Acr: -smile- Lucius is pulling through. He's a smart Slytherin. He can work through his dilemmas. Have faith.

GreyGanian: Thank you! I'm glad you like it. I aim to please, of course!

Lykaios Nyx: You liked the Quidditch game? It was like my first attempt. –blushes- Thanks. I didn't know what to think of it, and you're the only person that commented on the match instead of the fight. –chuckle- And Krum too. I wanted to incorporate more of the actual story into this one so it would seem more plausible.

Bunny: About your suggestion… believe it or not, there is a scene like that definitely coming up somewhere in the near future. A few chapters from now actually… but it's actually part of the plot –whether you believe that, I can't tell, but it's true.

GothicAnn87: -hugs gothicann back- I'm thrilled I could make you so happy! Thank you. Yes, you're right. There's nothing wrong with being insane. I should let out a bit more insaneness. I might scare some of the younger ones away though.

Honeyduked: I'm thrilled that you can wait for my plot to unfold. I really don't want to rush this. It's coming along nicely though… I think so anyway, but you aren't on this side of the fence, so you don't know how the plot is unfolding except to what is shown to you. It kind of makes me feel evil. –smile-

Immortal Memories: -snicker- You're such a hoot.

Hpfan-JLM: I first have to say that you absolutely made my morning! My dog ate my purse and there were pieces all over the place, and I was so pissed, then I saw your review and I decided to update. You made my day for sure. And, yes, it will be an excellent argument when they finally get down to whether or not to get together and Harry mentions not having children and Lucius argues the opposite. –silence- It should prove fun to write!

A/N: Review at your leisure. It will take me a while to write the next chapter because of work (I work four days a week in a construction job), but hopefully it will be out before July. We can hope, but I think my due date will be July Fourth in celebration of America's stupid special holiday that no one else cares about! Yah! Fireworks and food!