A/N: TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY SO I MADE THIS CHAPTER REALLY LONG TO CELEBRATE!
Chapter 13
Half an hour later as Harry was just arriving in his room again, Hermione's owl flew in through open window and onto his bed.
"Hello there." Harry greeted, trying to shake off the odd experience he'd just had with Lucius. He looked around, but couldn't find Hedwig. After untying the letter from the owl, the bird jumped to Hedwig's perch began drinking her water and eating her food.
He must be tired. I'm sure Hedwig won't mind toomuch. He reasoned as he opened the envelope.
He quickly scanned the letter and smiled broadly. He had to find Draco.
Where would the blonde be?
He quickly called a house-elf and questioned the being.
The Ground Floor study. Of course. It would have to be as far away from him as humanly possible. He growled as he took off in search of the young blonde.
Just as he rounded the last hallway and went down a short few steps to another landing, he bumped right into his target.
"Dra-" He cut himself off as he realized he'd bumped into the wrong blonde. "Oh, sorry, Lucius."
Lucius smiled broadly at him, his hand on the shorter wizard's strong shoulder for balance. "No worries." He whispered back into Harry's ear.
"Er, yeah." Harry stepped back, a little startled by the sudden closeness and whispering. "I, uh, have to find Draco." He took off in the direction he'd been going and didn't turn back around until he'd reach the next staircase. "Night!" he called behind him, but didn't see the hurt expression Lucius had worn just a moment before.
"Night." The blonde called softly after him. "Damn it." He groaned as he started in the other direction toward his room. He'd hoped to go to Harry's room and wish him a good night without it being so awkward, but that plan had failed miserably.
Maybe tomorrow. He thought with a sigh.
"Draco!" Harry called out as he entered the study with a slam of the door.
The blonde flinched from the magnitude of the suddenly noisy room and glared at Harry.
"What, Potter?" He snapped agitatedly.
"Someone's in a bad mood." Harry replied as he cautiously approached the irate man.
Draco groaned as he ran his fingers through his disheveled hair. "Work." He answered as he placed his quill down gently and turned from his large stack of papers to look up at Harry.
"Did you need something?"
"This isn't about what I need," Harry began with a smile, "it's about what you need."
No one had said that to Draco in a… actually… no one had ever said that to Draco. "What's the catch, I need to get back to work?"
"Exactly wrong!" Harry exclaimed and could see the blonde was getting very frustrated with him. "Hermione has invited us over for a day of relaxation tomorrow."
"Us?" Draco queried with a raised brow. "You mean, you?"
"No, I invited myself over to her place and I asked if you could come, besides, you need some time off from work and arguing with 'Mione will put the color back in your cheeks.
Draco snickered tiredly. "If I say yes will you leave me alone."
"Yes."
"Fine then. It's settled. What time?"
"We'll leave after breakfast." Harry instructed.
"Apparition I assume." He murmured as he rubbed his temple.
"No, my bike." Harry told him.
Draco glared up at the other wizard. "No way. I don't trust your driving."
"Draco, we're wizards. We aren't going to crash, and besides, you could use the fresh air. Too much Apparition isn't good for a person."
"Says who? Certainly not any of my Apparition instructors."
Harry smirked. "Just do this, for me?"
Draco growled as Harry gave him the puppy-dog-eyes look. "Fine." He conceded and Harry calmly nodded and left the room rather smugly.
"Oh, Great Merlin, I hope I don't regret this." He mumbled to himself as he called a house-elf to him and told it to tell his father about his plans with Harry the next day.
The elf returned with the message that Lucius now knew and was okay with it.
Draco stood as he glared at his paperwork before stretching and deciding to call it a night. Maybe Harry was right. Maybe he needed a day off to himself.
Before Draco could leave the room an owl began tapping against his window mercilessly. It was a Ministry owl.
Damn. Draco grumbled as he went over to the window to let the bad news in.
"I have to leave." Draco announced as he stalked into the dining room for breakfast. Lucius' eyes snapped up from the page of the Daily Prophet he had been reading. His son was looking at him with a defeated stare, as if he knew this would be uncomfortable for his father and Harry, but with things on a tighter schedule now, he also knew Lucius would have to start working some magic –no pun intended- soon.
Harry finished a bite of toast and the paragraph he was reading from the book beside his plate on Charms before looking pleasantly up to Draco with a small smile forming.
"Where to?" He asked gently.
Draco couldn't help the small quirk that came to his lips at seeing Harry so oblivious and kind, even after recent events.
"I'm off to the Romanian Ministry to retrieve reports and files. Apparently there was some kind of fire there, and in an effort to save what files they could, several were water-logged and many ruined. They suspect foul play, of course, but no one knows why. Anyway, because of all the important documents there that were nearly destroyed, they had extended a rather large shield around the area, keeping people from Apparating anywhere close to the Ministry up there. Meaning, to retrieve the documents I must get there the old fashioned way." He groaned as he seated himself with a thump and drank some water greedily down his parched throat.
"Why you?" Lucius asked concernedly.
"Let me guess." Harry interrupted as his eyes swept over the ceiling in mock-thought. Draco anticipated a great deal of sarcasm about to come from his friend as he smirked inwardly toward Harry. "They told you, that you were the only one they could trust with such important documents?" He guessed with a raised brow. The younger blonde nodded for him to go on. "Okay, now the real reason." His eyes didn't have to check the ceiling for wording this time. "No one else wanted to walk that far, or was either too tired, on vacation, or unwilling to deal with the Romanians?"
Draco nodded again with a sad smile. "That about sums it up." He looked at the food on the table and couldn't bring himself to actually eat any of it. "I have to leave today, so pardon my rather agitated and irritated mood." He apologized with a huff as his gaze traveled to Harry again.
Harry smiled sympathetically. "Are you going to leave from Hermione's place?"
"Yes. I'll have to cut our visit a bit short. You can stay, but I must get moving by noon, so… we should leave soon." He mumbled as he glanced at the grandfather clock on one side of the dining room.
The green-eyed man smiled in a way to show that he wasn't upset with Draco for having to leave early.
"What are you doing, Harry?" Draco wondered as he gazed at the other teen's book curiously –trying to change the subject.
"Remember how Seamus Finnegan was dead-set on turning water to wine, so to speak?" Harry responded with a smirk.
The younger blonde raised an eyebrow in query and nodded vaguely as memories came back to him of their school days.
"Well, I finally figured it out." Harry closed the tiny leather book he had been consulting on Charms with a small section on wandless magic. "I used to think I needed to know the spell for what I needed to do before I could actually do it, but I caught myself doing some things without even thinking of the spell. I didn't think about it until I read this book though. According to this book, very powerful wizards merely have to think of what they desire; no spell is necessary." Harry gestured with his right hand as he spoke.
Draco frowned slightly. He could do wandless magic, but couldn't always modulate how much power went in to each spell, so he chose not to do it unless he had to. He gestured for Harry to give it a try.
Had Harry been with any of his other friends he wouldn't have phrased his words quite like that. He didn't like calling himself a very powerful wizard in front of them, even if they thought of him as so. Around Draco he felt much more at ease, and of course Lucius knew of his powers, but he didn't really care what Lucius thought of him anyway. If the man thought he was arrogant, then, oh well. Both blondes could do wandless magic to the best of Harry's knowledge, anyway, so there was no point in changing his wording because both blondes were on the same level as he considered himself to be.
"Rum?" Harry asked.
"Yuck." Both blondes answered in unison, causing Harry to snort lightly in amusement.
"Wine, please." Draco added.
Harry whispered 'Wingardium Leviosa', and glared at the pitcher of water with a quirk to his brow as he watched it pour him water into his empty goblet. He then waved the pitcher back into place and moved his hand over the goblet again. The smell of grapes floated through the room to Lucius and Draco's surprise. Harry handed the glass to Draco, who raised his brow in wonder.
"You honestly think that I am a good judge of wine!" Harry questioned.
The younger veela realized how correct Harry was and sighed in resignation as he took the goblet, smelled the concoction as he swirled it gently, then tentatively took a sip before promptly spitting it out to the side of the table facing away from his company.
"Too sour." He ground out hoarsely, his voice barely definable.
Harry burst out into laughter and Lucius smiled, trying to fight his own laughter as well. The wine had smelled good enough, but apparently that wasn't the case. Most likely because it was fresh wine and hadn't been sitting around the hundreds of years like Draco was used to.
"Can you change it back?" Draco questioned with interest as he dabbed his mouth with his napkin and took a swig of pumpkin juice to wash away the nasty flavor of the wine.
Harry laughed a bit longer, trying to speak through his snickering. "Would you honestly want to test water that I've recreated after trying my sour wine? I think I'll leave this little revelation of mine at the bottom of some closet. It's a cute idea, but merely a parlor trick. Who would honestly be desperate enough for wine that they'd want to attempt this?"
"Agreed." Lucius added softly with a warm smile. Harry locked eyes with him for a tense moment and Draco wondered if Harry would start something with his father about entering the conversation.
Inwardly, Lucius felt horrible that his mate didn't want him to say anything around him at all, and he had originally been hesitant to speak anyway, not wanting to ruin the mood, but it appeared as if his attempt had failed. Outwardly, the veela showed no emotion other than tire.
Not knowing what to say, or how to say anything now that their gazes were locked, Harry merely shrugged and looked back down to his book. He had almost forgot the Lucius was there, but was startled when the man had spoken so softly.
Lucius knew that Harry could relate to Draco, but not to such an old man… Draco's father for Merlin's sake! Lucius felt every bit of his age right then.
Damn me for speaking! He thought hatefully. He then stood and excused himself quietly.
After he had left the room and was out of hearing range, Draco turned to speak with Harry and found him looking back with depressed eyes.
"I'm sorry." Harry whispered to him and Draco couldn't bring himself to reprimand Harry for his rudeness. "I didn't mean to make him feel unwelcome; I was just… looking at him and… he looked back." He shrugged, looking away from Draco's heavy gaze. "Maybe I should just leave."
Draco's immediate response was to cry out 'No!', but he knew he couldn't do that. He had to be nonchalant. He was a Malfoy, after all.
"No." He replied with a sigh. "Don't go anywhere. That won't help. I wish you would at least try to get to know him better though. He's really not as bad as you must think."
Harry's gaze was on his goblet of 'wine'. "There's so much to this." He whispered and shifted uncomfortably. "I keep thinking about it over and over. A mate? What is this really? Why now?" He sighed with a soft chuckle as he ruffled his hair with merciless fingers. "I suppose I get the 'why now' part, but… I just can't see it. I suppose… I would have jumped at the opportunity during the war. Someone that would take care of me forever and would love me even if I kicked the bucket. I craved it, but… it's not like I expected to live much longer anyway. With everyone putting a price on my head; people like the Lestrange's that would still be loyal after Voldemort's death. I thought that after I got rid of all of the dregs of war, then I would have no use. I keep thinking that too. I'm The-Boy-That-Just-Won't-Die." He snickered. "Like a cat with a millions lives. Not really though." He laughed. "I'm in no way graceful, and I can't remember the last time I landed on my feet." Draco smiled as well. "I can't even stand out of bed." He laughed almost hysterically. "I have to roll out and fall on the floor before feeling the urge to actually rise."
"You're obviously not going to die any time soon." Draco added, trying to get back to the conversation they were having after a small pause. "You've grown up. You're stronger in many ways –mind, body, and magic. You're obviously old enough for a relationship. What is there?"
"It's odd." Harry murmured. "To try and go from the life I had, to… this…" He gestured around him. "I'm sure it's easier for you to imagine living the rest of your life with some person the fates have chosen for you that will annoy you as equally as you will them." Draco smiled at that, but let Harry continue. "You've had your whole life to come to terms with it, but I don't know if I can right now."
"Why?" Draco asked desperately, emotions showing left and right across his face.
"I don't mean to stab a knife into old wounds," Harry began, locking eyes with Draco and making the blonde sit back with worry, "but I was sheltered during the war. The things Death Eaters did were only revealed to me through nightmares of Voldemort's workings that I had seen every once in a while. Now that I am an Auror I see it all full blast. The terrorizing, the pain, the death, the blood, the masochistic behavior… all for a bastard that has long-since been dead." Harry looked to Draco sadly. "I pray every time I see such things, that you never had to see them as a child. I pray that you never knew of such things, and now…" Harry paused as he gazed off in a different direction. "Now I pray that your father never did those things." He whispered distantly as he seemed to remember several horrific things. "Aside from the fact that I don't know the man –the only good side I ever saw of him was when he saved me; the only good things I ever heard of him were from you." He looked directly into Draco's eyes then.
Draco steeled himself against the sadness and despair for his father. He had to hope that Harry could still love his father, even after becoming an Auror.
"You'll have to speak with my father over such things." The veela told him gently. "I wish I could say that my father would never torture or…" He paused to think of more horrific things, "… or anything, but I can not vouch for what those Death Eaters along with Voldemort's monstrous power could have forced him to do. I can only vouch for him as the best man I know, as the best father I've ever met, as the man that has always made me proud, and the man I strive to return that favor to."
The dark-haired man nodded several times, with a small smile crossing his features. "Yes." Harry murmured. "I agree. I understand all of that and you know I respect your opinion." They shared another long stare. "I have been thinking of such things as well. For now, I shall try harder to be civil and get to know your version of Lucius, instead of the one that I am used to hearing about. My worries and assumptions can be dealt with later."
"Can you honestly put them aside long enough to see him and not his image?" The veela asked, foreboding worrying his brow.
Harry seemed to be pondering that for a long while. "I think I can." He responded softly. "I think I've grown enough to do that, yes." He answered.
Draco sighed in relief. That was at least one step closer.
"Alright, well, I must get ready." Draco stood from the table, bowing his head slightly to Harry, and leaving the room for his chambers.
Harry sat at the table a while longer.
Yes. He would try. It would be hard, with all of the things he had seen, not to accuse Lucius, but all of the things he had seen had been while Lucius was in jail, so it wasn't by his hand, but still… similar things could have happened and he didn't think he could be with Lucius if that was the case.
There was also the issue of Lucius being… a man. It wasn't so much the gender, which would be somewhat new to Harry, but it was that Lucius was a man. Not gender, but like, fully grown, and domineering and aristocratic, and… he couldn't see Lucius as being a loving man who could show tenderness and caring, or emotion… period. The man always wore a mask. Would that always be the case? He couldn't live with someone who didn't express emotion. Even Draco had cracked his shell to Harry, but that was probably only because Lucius wanted Harry. It hurt the dark-haired man to think his blonde friend was only his friend because Lucius wanted him. Was that all their relationship was based on? Was that all Lucius' and his relationship –if there would, in fact, be one- would be based on? Some primal instinct to settle down and have sex?
He had to stop thinking of this. It was giving him a headache and a pain in his chest.
Maybe a nice long bath would soothe him. He hadn't had a bath in ages. It was usually just a quick scrub to clean himself before the next mission.
He used his magic to call for a house-elf as Draco had showed him to do when he didn't know their names. One popped up beside him and bowed respectfully
"Yes, Master Harry?" She asked in an irritatingly squeaky voice. They would never stop calling him 'Master'. It was quite a losing battle, wasn't it?
"Could you draw me a bath, please?" He asked softly of her and she blushed, but he wasn't sure if it was his kind tone, or him saying 'please'.
"Yes, Master Harry." She bowed again and popped away.
Slowly, Harry rose from the table and left the room with his book held so he could walk and read at the same time. He needed a distraction. If he kept thinking of the older veela, then he would keep thinking about negatives to the situation, and would therefore make it impossible to give the man a chance.
He was, in fact, gorgeous. Harry didn't understand how he could be so appealing to someone who was so gorgeous, but he supposed it was just part of the whole instinct thing that Veela had.
The only good memory he had of Lucius was from when the veela had saved him in the final battle, and it was something that he had reminisced about quite a bit, until the whole thing with Remus, and being an Auror. Since then, he hadn't really thought about it too much, but now… he wished he could remember it more clearly.
Lucius watched as Harry boarded his motorcycle and it roared to life. His son stood a great distance from the machine at first with a thick cloak surrounding him.
After a few more exchanged words that the veela could not make out, Draco boarded the bike behind Harry and they took off down the drive a bit before they started to soar through the air and off to Harry's Muggle friend.
He strode to the fireplace, grabbed some of the powder from a pouch atop it, then tossed the glittering dust into the fire and called for his most trusted –and probably only- friend.
"Severus!"
After no response, Lucius got down on his knees and called into the flaring fire:
"Snape Manor." He announced clearly, then shoved his head into the fire and glared around the dark rooms. It was midday on a Monday in August. Not even close to the time where Severus would be back at the school. He should be making up his class curriculums and drinking plenty of alcohol to dull the thoughts of upcoming brats that he'd get to deal with. "Severus!" He shouted angrily.
"What!" Came the nasty reply as said-man stalked into the room with billowing robes and a very pissy expression as he looked into the fire. "What do you want, Lucius?"
"Draco has left for the day and I want company. I'm coming over." He proclaimed and pulled back.
Severus raised his brow in half frustration, half amusement. It would never cease to amaze him how both Malfoys never failed to order him around as they saw fit without giving a shit whether he had plans of any kind. It's not like he actually did, but it was the principal of the thing.
Lucius gracefully exited the fire in a burst of flames and stood tall next to the Potions Master.
"We have some things to discuss." The blonde informed him and Severus once again raised his brow at the veela, not really even surprised anymore by all these spontaneous visits and odd topics of random conversation.
"The Sitting Room?"
"That's fine." Lucius nodded as he gestured Severus to lead the way. At least the Malfoy's would always be polite in etiquette. When in another's home, you always let them lead the way instead of the other way around, whether you know your way or not.
Ever the Malfoy. Severus thought as they sat in the Sitting Room for what would surely be a very long and arduous conversation.
Draco glared at the house they had stopped in front of. He released Harry's waist and stood first from the bike.
"A bit… small… isn't it?" Draco queried as he looked over the three story Victorian.
"Not for her, Draco. That's what I meant this morning. I'm used to places like this." Harry gestured the building. "You obviously see the difference between Hermione's home and yours."
"Obviously!" Draco sneered.
"Harry!" A high pitched voice called to him as a very beautiful woman came dashing out of the house in quite the undignified way.
"Be nice." Harry warned Draco softy as he stepped off his bike and onto the curb to welcome Hermione with open arms.
"I've missed you so much!"
"I've only been gone for the weekend." Harry responded with a laugh.
"That's far too long." She pouted before turning to Draco and debating something before she also hugged the surprised blonde. "It's good to see you still have your health, Mal- eh, uh, what should I call you?"
"Draco is fine." He answered her with a slightly smirk.
"And you can call me Hermione." She responded brightly.
"It's settled then."
"Good. Now, let's go inside and talk about everything that's happened in the last few days!" She urged as she pushed her two guests into the 'small' house. "Feel free to do magic. I have no guests here."
"At least it smells nice in here." Draco commented as he entered the house.
Harry glanced at him with a quirked expression. "I… guess." He mumbled and sniffed the air. "Sure, whatever you say."
"Must be the food." Hermione added. "I just finished breakfast. I woke up a bit late." She smiled at him. "Let's talk in here."
In the Living Room all three sat as Harry began explaining everything that had happened since he had left Hermione on Saturday with Draco interrupting to add his own bits to the conversation. It wasn't until another two hours had passed that Hermione finally had most of the story.
"He knocked you off your broom and claimed it was your fault!" Hermione shouted indignantly.
"Yes." Harry nodded the affirmative.
Before Draco could intervene Hermione laughed and smirked evilly which caught the blonde off guard.
"You didn't take that, of course?" She asked assuredly.
Harry smirked back at her. "Of course not."
"Did you curse him? Hex him? Whack him over the head with a very heavy object? Scream at him?"
"One out of four." Harry snickered. "I screamed at him and slapped him to wake him up to reality."
"What!" Draco snapped in surprise. He'd missed that bit of information before.
"Good for you!" Hermione exclaimed with joy. "I don't know about him, Harry." She murmured as she paced. "If he's going to be like that, I don't know if he's necessarily going to be good for you."
"Now, see here!" Draco intervened and both Gryffindors turned to look at him with slightly wider eyes. "Since my father is not here to defend himself, I suppose I'll have to step up." He glared at Harry. "He's not like that all the time. He was just being a worry-wart-" Before he could go on, Hermione laughed softly, gathering their attention.
"Well, of course, Malfoy." She nodded a few times. "I've read about Veela. I understand just as Harry does that he's not going to flip out every chance he gets, but if he thinks he can order Harry around like that, then he has issues. In a relationship of two men, there isn't necessarily a dominant all the time. From my impressions of your father and Harry, both men are dominant creatures. Harry isn't one to be told about and neither is your father going to bow submissively to his every whim, so they would have to learn to seriously compromise, you know? There can't be any of this 'you'll do what I say because I said so' crap, though."
Harry nodded with a nostalgic smile. "I've missed your wisdom, 'Mione. They should create a 'Hermione Pendant' that talks to you sensibly all the time so you don't do stupid things." He joked. Hermione broke out into laughter.
"What a fun project for the Twins." She responded in kind and both laughed as Draco stared at them both oddly.
Gryffindors. He thought with a shake of his head.
Despite the original topic of conversation, throughout the next few hours, Draco found himself enjoying his company immensely. They laughed and joked, and by noon Draco began to think that maybe his impression of Gryffindors had been a bit off. They obviously weren't all bad because he had befriended Potter, but even Granger –eh, Hermione, wasn't so bad either. Sure, she'd been a know-it-all and a bitch in school, but once you weren't on the wrong side of her temper she was rather sweet.
Letting the comfortable talking space they had erected get the better of him –instead of thinking before speaking, Draco just opened his mouth and asked about Hermione 'extra weight'. It had only been one year since their graduation. How had she gained so much, so quickly?
Harry gave him a grave look that spoke volumes about how stupid his question had been to speak aloud to the object of his curiosities, but Draco obviously couldn't take back the comment now, so he gave Hermione an apologetic look, but also a small nod to urge her to answer if she would.
Hermione glared daggers at the Slytherin, then looked like she was about to cry, then her mood swung again to calm understanding before returning to crying mode. How did girls manage all of these mood swings? Was it that time of the month? Why would Potter drag him here if it were? Didn't Potter remember how testy Draco was around women who were moody?
"I was dating before the end of Seventh Year at Hogwarts. I was pregnant before the second month out of Hogwarts, and a few months before I was to marry him I went to the hospital because of extreme pains where the baby was. They had to operate to save me, but I lost the child and the ability to have more, so my fiancée left me. The pregnancy left me some rather shapely hips as you so generously pointed out and they won't go away."
"I'm sorry for being so thoughtless in my speech, Hermione. I really shouldn't have spoken so rudely." He watched as she wiped away a tear. The loss was still fresh to her obviously. It must have happened only a few months before. The blonde felt like a heel.
He stood gracefully, offered a kiss to her hand like any gentleman would and apologized once more.
"Really, it's fine." She murmured with a blush. "No harm done."
"I'm relieved." He murmured stepping back and releasing her hand. Harry smiled at his friends appreciatively –he didn't even have to step in. He was proud of the veela for his grace of tongue. "I should be going." Draco whispered, turning to Harry. "I have to stop at the Ministry for a while before I leave, so I should go now."
Harry glanced at the grandfather clock in this room as it clanged gently to announce noon. "Yes, I suppose so. I'm terribly sorry you have to go and all that rot. I'll be nice to your father, I promise."
Draco sighed as they locked eyes. "Try being more than nice if you can manage it. I think he deserves a little something. Even if it means nothing to you, it could mean the world to him, you know?"
"Yes." Harry nodded once and smiled.
"I don't have a good feeling about this." Hermione murmured as she chewed on her fingernail. "Do you have to go back now too, Harry?" She asked worriedly.
"No." He shook his head. "I'll keep you company until dark, just to make you feel better."
"Well, no… leave before dark so you get back before dark, but don't leave yet." She begged with a pout. Harry smiled as he put an arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
"I promise." He murmured and kissed her cheek.
"Harry, can I see you for a second?" Draco asked a bit worriedly.
Harry immediately looked up to him mirroring his worry. "Sure."
They stepped out into the hall –Harry gesturing for Hermione not to worry- and Draco grabbed Harry's arm kind of roughly and pulled him against the staircase wall with a thud before stepping close to his friend.
"Look," Draco started a bit hesitantly, "you have to tone down all this touching thing around other people."
"What? Excuse me?" Harry glared at his friend, ignoring their closeness as his temper began to rise, but Draco's look calmed him down immediately.
"I'm just trying to stop a fight before it happens." Draco whispered to him urgently and Harry began to understand suddenly.
"Smell." He murmured in acknowledgement. "He'll smell Hermione on me and think…"
"I don't think Father has ever met your friend, so he would get flustered if you came home with her smell engraved onto your clothes and skin. Until you two can bond more closely he'll be suspicious of everyone that you touch, or that touches you. I'm just warning you for her own safety. If he smells her, then he meets her one day, he might attack her for touching you. Father has a great deal of self-control, but no veela can stop themselves when they come across that situation –and if you're not there with him to stop him from acting, it could get ugly. Do you know what I mean?"
Harry nodded with a sigh. "That's why you're so close to me right now?"
"I'm trying to dull the scent for now, though it will still be there. Just try and sit on another couch, then leave without a hug. Please. Just this once?" Draco asked with a pleading tone.
Harry nodded reluctantly. This veela thing was starting to get annoying, but… he could live with it for now.
"Do you want to hug me, or something?" Harry suggested.
Draco nodded seriously. "That would probably help get rid of it. It would give you my scent instead which is better than hers. Even if Father gets angry because of my scent on you, at least he can get mad at me and not her. I would hate to see Father blow up at your friend, then you two be in another fight over a hug from her."
"Agreed."
They awkwardly leaned closer and embraced, though both couldn't help but be tense during it. After a few more moments of closeness Draco pulled away and smiled lopsidedly.
"Okay. I have to go. Remember what I said!" He turned, pulling his cloak from the coat stand and strode out of the house with a grace only a Malfoy possessed.
Harry sighed, then pulled his shirt up to smell it. He could smell Draco's cologne on it and the fruity smell of his shampoo. He grimaced. If it was one thing Harry hated it was fruit-smelling shampoo. He liked the shampoos with scents you couldn't recognize, or ones of flowers, or something that smelled nice. He idly wondered what shampoo the elder Malfoy used as he walked back into the Living Room to keep Hermione company for another couple of hours.
"Let's make something to eat!" He called to the girl gaily. "I'm hungry!"
She laughed at his tone and they both headed to the kitchen for sandwiches.
Only one more ingredient. Stir in counter-clockwise motion for one minute. He counted the seconds warily. He was second best in potions next to Severus, but thankfully that didn't matter now. He had the skills needed to make this potion, and thanks to Severus, he had the ingredients that were so rare and difficult to find that he knew of only one person that would have them.
Of course he'd left a great deal of money on the table for the man to compensate… Severus wouldn't have given up the ingredients if he hadn't been crafty; it was the only way.
The veela glanced down at the book on the counter next to the cauldron Draco had used in his Seventh Year at Hogwarts. Of course, Malfoys replaced all tools they used annually to be sure that they were of the proper quality. He thanked the gods his son had been too busy with other things this past year to throw out his school knick knacks.
Normally, Lucius would have bought the potion, but it was one that wasn't easily found with an Apothecary. He would have had to wait for the man to make it and waiting was far too stressful on his nerves at the moment.
"I hope it works." He murmured as he ladled half a cup full into a goblet. Upon meeting the colder metal, the liquid began to steam and mist eerily.
Without any resolve to stop himself, Lucius took a swig from the goblet and downed all that he had poured. After he put down the goblet, he grimaced. Not only had it tasted terribly, but it had also taken immediate effect. His stomach was churning. He could feel the potion seeping into his organs and bloodstream –already beginning to alter him.
The potion was the best of its kind. Mind –there were only two potions remotely to his specifications- he hadn't had a wide selection to chose from. The concoction would last six hours fully before wearing off without any pain to himself –only a mild discomfort, though the drinking of the potion was indeed quite stomach turning.
He gasped as he began to feel himself changing. It was an odd sensation, almost painful –skin tightening, bones shortening- it felt like his whole body was tightening around him to the point of suffocation, but just when it was getting unbearable… it stopped.
He unwrapped his arms from around himself where he'd been trying to hug away the pain in his chest. Looking around wildly, he dashed to the large mirror on the far wall, near the exit of the dark room.
Upon looking in the mirror, he found it horrifically startling.
A younger version of himself was staring back through his eyes… it was like looking into a portrait of oneself from when you were younger, but… it was moving as you moved.
He touched his face to make sure it was real and not merely an illusion. All the remaining weariness from his year in prison was gone. Any lines of age he may have had, had dissipated. His height was slightly shorter than he remembered. His eyes were wider and showed more emotion than he remembered. He looked about twenty, perhaps. The part he noticed just after all this, though was the gnawing need for his mate. It ate away at him. Where was his mate? He should be at Malfoy Manor.
He glanced out the single window in the room. It was almost pitch black outside. Where was he?
Suddenly, a loud slam of the front doors. No. It wasn't loud. It was just his senses picking up on the noise easily. His senses were so much more finely tuned now that he was younger. He growled for a moment in frustration as he tried to calm his emotions and veela powers down, but the effort was useless. At this age he had not built up the capacity yet for such ambitions. He had only just married Narcissa at such an age, and was beginning to become docile.
"Lucius!"
His mate! That was his mate. His mate was calling him! His mate wanted him! They could complete the bonding now.
He opened the door and rushed down the hall, trying vainly to calm himself, but the hormones were too terrible. He couldn't. He didn't want to. He could hear his mate even when he was on the floor above him.
"Where is Lucius?" He seemed to be asking a house-elf, but the answer was muffled by Lucius' breathing as he rushed down the hall and into the main corridor of the First Floor. He was just in time to see Harry entering the Ground Floor study room.
Harry looked around the Ground Floor briefly before deciding on the Study. He could relax and Lucius would find him eventually, or the house-elf would find Lucius and tell Harry where he was. The teen merely wanted to talk civilly with the man and promise that he would be fair and… whatever. He just wanted to assure the veela that he wasn't angry with him for whatever had happened that morning. It had been a mutual misunderstanding.
Things could work… they could!
He felt invigorated to make things better between Lucius and himself and he would too.
Hermione had said she had a bad feeling, but he hoped it was for some other day when Draco was around to facilitate between them.
Suddenly, the doors to the warm Study flew open. Harry swung around –tearing his gaze from the starry sky to look at the blonde.
Harry was startled by how gorgeous Lucius was. It had been hard to distance himself with those silver eyes before, but now… he felt so drawn that he just wanted to give in to his body's wants… but no! He wouldn't give in! What was going on? Why was he suddenly feeling this way? Lucius looked… different. Something was different. Something was wrong.
The dark-haired wizard began to panic as he saw the hungry gaze that Lucius held on him.
Lucius approached Harry swiftly. It was unfortunate for himself that as another side-effect of the aging potion, his hormones would shoot back up through the roof. It was worse than he remembered his hormones being back then, and only seemed more amplified by his mate being so hot and so close to him.
He approached Harry, the teen backing up as quickly as possible, but unable to escape. What was he doing? He's an Auror! Why wasn't he using magic, or defending himself, but… those eyes…. How could he attack something so beauti… no! Stop thinking like that!
Quite suddenly Lucius was too close to do anything anyway and the blonde just attacked him with fervor. His lips were quick because Harry seemed to struggle against him so. He couldn't even comprehend that his body was doing this. Is this me? The blonde asked himself, even though he couldn't control a damned thing he was doing.
They fell backwards, Harry under Lucius as he fell onto the couch, though he managed to stay upright and in a sitting position.
Harry was getting hot and bothered by this veela as it encroached on his personal space –shoving him onto the couch with his legs spread to admit Lucius, allowing the veela to lean against his crouch and pull open his shirt without too much fight.
He needed help. He wouldn't be able to resist the veela's charms forever. He wished idly that he could have the other Lucius back. The docile, sensible Lucius had been so much better. Perhaps if he himself were younger, then this wouldn't bother him so much, but he didn't want a mindless ape taking him against his will.
He vaguely heard someone call out his name, and it most certainly wasn't Lucius because his mouth was otherwise occupied on Harry's nipple.
"Help! Draco!" Harry called out frantically, and he felt a painful bite against his nipple. He realized the veela probably didn't appreciate him calling out his son's name instead of his own, but Harry needed help badly.
The younger veela came into view of the open door and saw Harry struggling against Lucius, his face flustered and a bit of blood streaming down to his stomach.
Draco became enraged and horrified that his father would do something like that, but as he quickly approached, he realized why Lucius was acting odd, and why Harry couldn't find the strength to shove him off. Though it didn't effect him at all, Draco could still sense when the allure of a veela was being used and it was certainly thick in the room at the moment, totally catching Harry off-guard. It seemed barely a sliver of Harry's consciousness was still trying to get the veela away. Draco dreaded to think what would have happened if he hadn't come home early. Harry would've been…
The younger veela gasped when he actually saw his father though. It wasn't the fact that Lucius was licking up Harry's neck and feeling him up, that caused Draco to become startled, it was Lucius' appearance. He was much younger.
Draco decided he would contemplate why his father looked such a way after Harry was safely away from the hormone-rampant man.
With all the strength Draco could muster he yanked his father by his shirt, to get him off of Harry who continued to pant badly, his chest rising and falling so quickly that Draco worried for his health. The dark-haired man seemed very much relieved to have the veela off of him though. He sent Draco a faint smile through his labored breaths.
"Thanks." He rasped out, and Draco nodded to him quickly before turning back to the furious and thrashing veela within his grasp.
Lucius was staring at Draco with an animalistic fury at being disturbed.
Draco brought out his wand quicker than his father could move and cast a quick binding charm on him, causing Lucius to fall to the floor, fighting against the magic that kept him bound. Next, Draco quickly pulled out a strong calming potion and forced it down his father's throat, then he stood up with satisfaction at his work as his father soon calmed to his normal state.
Once Draco was satisfied that his father was totally calm again, he released the charm and Lucius flew into a standing position.
"Draco!" He shouted, furious that his son would do that to him, and not knowing why it had been done, but then he saw Harry with his shirt torn open, his legs spread weakly from where Lucius had been leaning against him, and blood seeping from his nipple as he breathed heavily, trying to catch his breath. "Oh, Harry." He whispered weakly. "By the gods." He murmured, horrorstruck. "What have I done?"
Draco remained between Harry and Lucius, just in case something in his father caused him to want to be nearer to his mate without Harry's consent.
"It's a good thing I ran into Uncle Severus and he told me about his suddenly missing potions ingredients after your visit, or I might not have come in on time to stop you." Draco grunted. Lucius looked –if possible- even paler than he had when he'd come home from Azkaban.
"Gods, Harry. I'm sorry." Lucius told him sincerely. The blood on Harry's chest was what really hurt to see. He had done that. He had caused his mate actual pain. He wouldn't be surprised if Harry never wanted his touch ever, now. Lucius tried slowly walking towards Harry, but Draco kept him at a distance. "I'm sorry, Harry." Lucius told his mate, though Harry hardly paid him a glance. The dark-haired man seemed completely confident that Draco would keep his aggressor at bay, so he obviously wasn't worrying about Lucius coming at him again, but the older veela could see the way his mate had flinched when he'd spoken. Lucius' gaze found the floor in shame. "I tried to… I did take the ingredients from Severus to brew a potion that would make me temporarily younger. I thought that you might be more appealed to the idea of being my mate if perhaps I was more your age." He admitted sadly. "I never thought my built up hormones would attack me at once as they did." He insisted firmly. "I… I had no control. I…"
"Sh." Harry called, then tried to clear his raspy throat. All of his heavy breathing had made his throat a bit raw, but he managed to sit up, and leaned his elbows against his knees, relaxing his breathing further. He was nearly totally calm by then.
Lucius pushed past Draco, who seemed a bit reluctant to let him be too close to Harry, but the other teen didn't seem to mind. Kneeling in front of his mate, Lucius got down on all fours so that he could look up into Harry's sweat-glistening face as he breathed.
"I'm sorry." He told his mate with every fiber of his being portrayed in those words.
Lucius was about to get up to leave for the duration of the potion, when his loose long hair was yanked. He turned his head as much as he could, and saw Harry's fist clenched tightly around his ponytail.
"Fix it." Harry muttered out. Lucius didn't understand the statement as he looked concernedly back at Harry.
"What?" He asked, honestly confused.
"You made the wound, now fix it." Harry commanded dominantly and Lucius felt slightly embarrassed that he was turned on by that dominance his mate was displaying. "Veela have healing powers." Harry announced softly and both veela were shocked to realize that Harry knew more about them than they had guessed. "It'll hurt like hell to wear any clothing for the next week if you don't fix it now." Harry told Lucius. The older veela realized this was true, but couldn't get over the giddy feeling in his heart that his mate wanted his touch, even after what he'd done. He sternly told himself not to go too far, or to think that just because Harry wanted him to heal the wound, that he also wanted his company as well. That would be a foolish connection.
Draco stood back, merely watching vigilantly as his father came up on his knees, placing his hands on Harry's thighs at first, but then on the couch beside his hips when his mate growled at him. He then tentatively licked at a small stream of the blood that had come from the wound, wanting to clean his mate of all proof that he had harmed him.
Harry hissed his breath in painfully, as he tried to ignore his very sensitive nipple.
"Don't do that. Just heal it." Harry ordered with clenched teeth. He was trying to keep himself from breaking down right there and then, and bowing to the allure of this powerful veela before him. It wasn't even something that Lucius was doing to him on purpose. The older blonde just happened to be drop-dead gorgeous with a very talented tongue. No matter how much Harry had wanted to stop the veela before, he had still enjoyed the experience more than he would have liked whilst being forced into something like that.
Lucius had so much guilt on his conscience that he couldn't properly enjoy his closeness with his mate. He didn't notice the slightly hardened erection that was beginning to strain against his mate's pants. He only concentrated on his healing powers as he softly kissed the abused appendage. His veela magic healed the wound almost instantly, but he delayed in pulling away from his mate as his senses began to hear, smell, and feel all the signs of arousal that were coming from his Harry.
"Fine." Harry snapped as he stood quickly, shoving Lucius roughly away from him. Without worrying about his exposed chest at all, he stalked over to Draco and kissed his cheek softly. "Thank you, Draco." He whispered tenderly.
Lucius felt his heart break as he watched this. His mate was so confusing! He knew his mate had been aroused my him, but he clearly hadn't wanted the actions inflicted… perhaps he had wanted to wait. Lucius was dying for the contact, but obviously for the other wizard it wasn't so terrible of a pull. Draco had saved Harry, so Lucius understood how he would deserve some type of reward, but it still hurt to watch him receive a kiss from his mate.
Before either veela could speak up again, Harry stormed back into the room and right up the Lucius who was kneeling on the floor at the moment, now looking up to Harry with wide eyes expressing every emotion possible.
Harry looked down at Lucius with a frown, then stuck his hand out to the blonde.
Lucius tentatively took the hand and was pulled into a standing position, though now he was shorter than Harry by less than an inch. He wished, suddenly, for his age and height again.
With that settled Harry pulled his arm back and settled a hard punch against Lucius' chest. The blow was painful, causing Lucius to step back and re-gather his breath, but it hadn't caused any damage.
Harry grabbed Lucius' shirt and pulled their eyes level again.
"I'm very disappointed in you, Mr. Malfoy. I would have thought that a man of your wisdom and stature could clearly see that age was not a factor in this in the least. I don't care if you're taller than I am, or smarter than I am, or stronger than I am… the only thing I care about is whether I'd want to live the rest of my life with you and whether both of us would be happy in said-relationship or not, so I suggest your pull your head out of your ass and put you brains back in your head instead of your penis. Now…" He let Lucius go. "I'm going to go away and be angry at you for the rest of the night, but because I promised Draco I'd play nice with you, I'm going to forget about this whole incident tomorrow. Are we clear?"
"You… forgive me of this?" Lucius asked him in complete shock, unable to hide a thing. Damn his expressive eyes!
"Did I stutter?" Harry responded, frowning.
Lucius was about to respond, but he just let out a short laugh of relief. "No." He murmured as he watched his mate turn and leave the room in that sexy little strut he had.
"Good night." He called over his shoulder looking at Draco, though he didn't put a name to the comment.
"Night." Lucius responded in a gentle whisper of breath.
After a long moment of serenity, Lucius looked over to his son who was glaring daggers at him.
"Father, if he won't say it, then I will. What were you thinking! Scratch that, I know what you were thinking, but why? You're smarter than that! Do you realize what you could have done!"
"Yes." Lucius snapped back with a growl. "It hurts me to think of how I could have and did hurt him, but…" A heavenly expression crossed Lucius' face as he fell into a dream world. "He forgives me. By the gods." He sighed and fell onto the couch where Harry had been thrown before. "My mate." He mumbled incoherently, clearly smitten with object of his affections.
Draco scowled at him and sneered in disbelief. "How long does this fucking potion last?" He asked in outrage. "I want my father back." He demanded in a childish way.
Lucius looked at his son with a smirk. "Six hours. I can't wait." He jumped up from the couch. "The guilt is hounding me, but the pleasure I have from him being so close, and coming back after leaving –even though he must have been furious…. This will work." He finally spoke confidently as he looked into his son's eyes. "It will work out."
"Glad to see you're confident about that." Draco grumbled.
"Something wrong?" Lucius wondered with a raised brow. He wasn't worried, or angry, or sad, or depressed… he was in the perfect median of nirvana caused by his mate and nothing could pull him down from that right now.
"I came back early, finding you mauling my best friend, you both settle it by yourselves, and now I have to go back to fucking Romania." He snapped back at his father's calm.
"That's too bad." Lucius responded airily. "Why don't you just tell them to fuck themselves and stay with us?" He queried softly.
Draco was about to respond about that being ridiculous, but realized it wasn't such an unappealing idea. He quickly went to the desk to pen a letter to the Ministry about him being suddenly ill.
"Good night, Draco. See you in the morning." Lucius called as he left the Study, looking forward to the next day.
A/N: I was a bit lazy because it's my birthday and all, so I didn't really do responses this time. I'm sorry. I will next time though. Please tell me what you all think. I'm looking forward to it!
Quick Response to Questions:
Missy Gothika: Happy Belated Birthday!1
HecateDeMort: You live in the UK? Does JK Rowling's next book come out the same time over there as it does here?
GothicAnn87: Yes, Harry knows Lucius is a veela and his mate. –smile-
Nefer Tenshi: My vague reply to your question is that Draco and Hermione might have something going on, or they might not.
Slythingirl89: I think I answered your questions. How did things work out with my favorites file? Did you like anything?
Chekiita: I think I answered the bit about Hermione and her baby well… are you still confused? If so, I'll email you and clarify.
Disco Cult Madness: Please don't send me hate-mail full of fish…. That would stink up the rest of my mail. –pout-
Strega: I love you bunches, hun. You always make me laugh.
Pure Black: Thanks. –blush-
HPFan-JLM: No problems. Thanks for reviewing. You make my day with your response!
Lykaios Nyx: Glad you liked the squeaking Lucius bit. Everyone seemed to love that. I'm glad I could get away with it.
DuShuZhi: Thanks. I'm thrilled that you reviewed. Did you like this chapter?
ChocolateDemon: -blushes- You're too kind. I could not live without reviewers like you.
AislingSiobhan: I just had to add that bit at the end of the last chapter with Lucius jumping up and down. Everyone loses their composure eventually. I'm glad you liked it.
Dangelic Fantasy: -chuckle- You liked the jumping veela bit too, huh?
Amy: Did you like it? What did you think of Hermione in this? She has a sense of humor under those brains, me thinks. –chuckle-