A/N: This was hard to get out, so I hope it came out right.

Chapter 14

It was peaceful. Quite the surprise considering the turbulence of recent events. Things were tranquil though. All three men of the house sat in the living room, the fire blazing to warm the cold room from the autumn atmosphere outside.

Harry sat majestically on the couch with a thick book in hand from one of the many shelves in the Malfoy library. Lucius wondered vaguely if Harry had even bothered to care about the dark magic books that resided on the same shelves as the book he had picked.

Ignoring the thoughts that Harry most likely wouldn't be remaining there for much longer, due to his job, Lucius allowed his heart to swell at the sight of his son laid out on the end of the couch with his feet perched in Harry's lap comfortably. Draco, unlike Harry, was working on several papers that he would most likely have to return to the Ministry eventually. He assumed that the Ministry had accepted his bogus sick-story from the night before because Draco seemed content to merely work and not complain. Harry, true to his word, was also being quite amiable today, causing Lucius to smile more contentedly than usual. The older veela himself had changed back to normal in his sleep. When he had awoken and gazed into the mirror, he had been more than relieved to see his real self looking back. It had pleased him to be able to wash away the worries of yesterday in his bath and think more of the future than his fumbles of the past. If Harry could look past his inadequacies, then he would try to see passed his own past mistakes as well.

Lucius sat to the other side of Harry on the couch. He didn't want to crowd his mate and cause him any discomfort, but it was still strenuous for himself to be so far away from his mate when he could be much closer. So they all sat calmly on the sofa as Harry read, Draco nibbled on his quill (yet another new habit) in thought, and Lucius took turns of staring at his son, his mate, the fire, or the newspaper he had in his hands to catch up on current events.

"So, where in the Ministry do you work again, Draco?" Lucius questioned, though he was reluctant to break that precious quiet that had followed their meeting. It hadn't been much of a meeting in Lucius' opinion. It was more of an unplanned joining in the corner lounge of the house that was mostly windows on two walls, illuminating a great deal of space in the room.

Both Draco and Harry looked up from their reading at the breaker-of-silence. Harry turned back to share a bemused glance with Draco before returning to his reading as if he hadn't been disturbed. The soundless interaction caused Lucius to think that he had missed something vital between the younger men, but as he couldn't do anything about it, he kept his emotions together and continued to look at Draco for a response.

"Department of Mysteries, Discoveries, and Recoveries." Draco answered with a wry grin.

"They don't trust a Malfoy enough to work with the mysterious objects, or to go out in the field and search for the mysteries though, so he's stuck at the office doing research and discovering…" Harry paused to think of a word to finish his sentence, then just shrugged, "… stuff." The statement was made with underlying sarcasm and venom, though it was not clearly flaunted. Draco adjusted his feet in Harry's lap and nudged the other man's thigh with his bare toe by way of showing some sort of affection. Lucius watched with rapt fascination as Harry never looked away from his book, but brought one of his hands away from it to tickle Draco lightly under his foot before turning another page.

Lucius wished he were telepathic so that he could correspond with his son during moments like this and ask him what had happened. He could see that Harry had defended Draco in a way and also showed his frustration that Draco was not treated properly because of his name, but why would Harry do that? The older veela suddenly felt like an outsider on the routine going on between his son and mate, but he couldn't be jealous because he knew there was nothing between the two aside from companionship and perhaps camaraderie.

After finding no way to continue a conversation with his last inquiry he tried once more to initiate a conversation between them, "Harry." He whispered softly.

Hearing his name spoken with such love and yet such trepidation, Harry looked up from his book with his mouth open in a slight 'o' of questioning. Draco looked up as well as he finished a sentence on his parchment.

"What book are you reading?" He asked with a steady tone to his voice.

Harry smirked, then snorted, then grinned and broke out into laughter. Draco harbored an amused glare at his father before he covered his mouth to try and stifle any snickering that may have come out.

Lucius outright frowned at this. What had he said that was so funny? Why were they laughing at him?

Before Lucius' pride could be hurt any more, Harry pulled himself back together and looked at the older blonde with happy bright eyes that melted the veela's frown away.

"I'm sorry I laughed at you." He started. "I didn't meant to offend you, but it was just such a cute attempt at conversation that I couldn't help but laugh." He snickered as Lucius tried to force away his smile of glee that Harry had called him cute. "Eh," Harry began to look at the book in his hands, "it's just one of the dark books in your library about curses and hexes." He admitted with a shrug. Lucius' eyes widened slightly. Would the Manor get a look-through by the Ministry because Harry had to turn this object in to them? Harry happened to see his worry though and he smiled again. "I know what you're thinking, and no. I'm just going to take this home with me. Technically, they only told me to take the offending dark object away from the Manor. Draco and I agreed that that doesn't mean I can't take it home with me instead of turning it in to the Ministry."

The veela smirked at the cunning of his mate and son. Both boys exchanged a smirk before returning their gaze to Lucius.

"And where would 'home' be?" The older man queried with a raised brow, trying to keep the conversation going.

"Here." Draco snapped, before thinking and exchanging a firm glance with Harry. Draco looked hopeful, but Harry glared and Draco sighed, silencing himself from further words to incite Harry's wrath.

A pregnant silence caused the atmosphere of the room to turn uncomfortable. Lucius looked back and forth to either man to answer the silent question hanging in the air for them to explain willingly.

"Would it be too much to ask for an explanation?" Lucius demanded in a slightly agitated tone. He was losing his patience from trying to be so calm and understanding all of the time.

Harry looked off to the side of the room and out a window where the autumn leaves blew by the window and swirled with the breeze in the colorful hues of the season. He obviously was pondering his answer, but just as it seemed he would speak, Draco interrupted with his own hasty reply.

"The building -including Harry's flat- burned down during one of his missions near the end of March before his following visit here the next month." Draco explained in one breath, becoming a bit protective as he said this. It had obviously been an issue between the boys who now shared another look. Harry was glaring daggers at Draco and Draco was staring firmly back at the other man, seemingly unaffected. "I finally got it out of him why he was so depressed and I offered him a place here to live… thinking it would be perfect." Draco looked meaningfully at his father who nodded his understanding that Draco had been thinking about him once again. It made him smile with pride, but the atmosphere was still gloomy with the obvious problem that Harry hadn't accepted. Harry continued to stare out the window as if Draco weren't talking about him like if he wasn't there.

"And I declined." Harry announced unnecessarily. He snapped the book shut and tossed it on the coffee table in front of the couch. Without being mindful of the blonde's feet in his lap, he stood from the couch, causing Draco to nearly topple over.

"Yes, you declined." He agreed cynically with a frown as he tried to right himself with all of his papers and inkwells and books almost falling to the floor in the process. "I've been meaning to ask if you had procured another flat yet?" Draco asked with a scowl, slightly mixed with some concern.

Lucius looked up to Harry, thinking he would shoot back with a scathing remark of how he had obviously done that, but none came. Harry was sitting by the window in a chair, looking out at the landscape that was so beautiful around Malfoy Manor now that the garden had been restored.

"You haven't got a flat yet!" Draco demanded shortly, his voice rising with a growl of frustration. He plopped his papers down on the table beside Harry's book and scowled at Harry's back.

The dark-haired man sighed heavily, seemingly releasing all of his anger and rubbing his face, as if tired beyond what he showed.

Lucius growled deeply in his throat at his son for troubling his mate. The younger veela heard his father and backed down, but didn't seem too pleased about it. The older Malfoy stood from the couch and approached his mate gracefully. He put his hand casually on Harry's shoulder to get his attention, and was warmed by fact that he didn't flinch away. Harry eventually looked up into Lucius' eyes, seeming to have covered up his weariness in those few short moments.

"Where have you lived for the past five months?" Lucius queried calmly, not removing his hand from the contact he had with his mate.

Harry shrugged and Lucius' hand went with it. "Here and there." Harry answered with another shrug.

The answer didn't satisfy Lucius. He scowled at the information. "I would…" He stopped what he was saying, and thought about it more clearly before continuing. He knew Harry's temper had had quite a short fuse before, and he didn't want to entice that temper in the least. Harry looked up to the older man with curiosity brightening his eyes. "I know that things between us are calculated and we don't have as understanding of a relationship as you and Draco have, but I would like to be able to… become better acquainted with you." He whispered and tried to smile as best he could with the sweat collecting in his palms. "I can see that living here would violate some kind of pride of yours, but… perhaps you would… visit here for a while longer." Lucius suggested carefully.

Harry's eyes narrowed on the older man as he pierced Lucius' silver eyes, as if to gaze into his soul and see the truth behind the request. After a great deal of investigating and Lucius fighting desperately with himself to remain calm and not fidget, Harry softened his eyes.

"How long would this visit last?" Harry questioned keenly.

The first thing that came to Lucius' mind was 'forever', but he couldn't say that. They would have to come to some common ground. The question really was, how long would it take Lucius to win Harry's trust, then his heart?

"Two months." Lucius declared without hesitation.

Harry's gaze narrowed again as he went over a mental calendar of things he had to do in the near-future. When he finished going over these tasks in his head he responded, "A month," in compromise.

"Deal." Lucius nodded once, then leaned hesitantly closer to his mate and gently kissed his hair. He was enlivened to feel how silky smooth it was to the touch, but more importantly, Harry didn't pull away from the kiss. Things were certainly looking up. As Lucius turned back to the couch, Draco was smirking at him with pride. He had obviously accomplished something that Draco had fought to do as well. The older veela loved this. This meant that on some level Harry was more willing to compromise with Lucius than Draco.

The older blonde thought quickly about what to do next to keep the friendly atmosphere going. Without missing a step, he leaned forward and picked up Harry's book from the table, whilst also not bending his knees much at all, so that he would give Harry a fair view of his ass if the boy was looking. Judging by Draco's expression out of the corner of his eye, the dark-haired man had been looking. With a faint smile, he stood back up with the book and walked back over to Harry, who did not even bother looking away or blushing. He didn't seem abashed at all that anyone had caught him looking. It seemed quite the impudent thing to do, but it made the smile on Lucius' face turn to a smirk as he handed his mate the book.

Harry took the book, but placed it on another table beside him. He stood up and started to walk off toward the door, causing both Lucius and Draco to exchange a worried glance as they watched him go without a word.

The dark-haired man stopped in his tracks to stretch his whole body out like a cat –exposing some rather tasty looking tanned skin- and roll his head with a crack, before sighing and turning back to them innocently.

"I'm hungry." He announced. "I'm going to go get something from the kitchen before the meal, then I think I'll take a nap. Wake me for the next meal, will you?"

Lucius, who was still recovering from the sexy display of his mate's body a moment ago, nodded vaguely once. "I will." He answered, and Harry bobbed his head up and down, before yawning as he exited the room.

He didn't want anything heavy to eat, but he did have a craving for grilled cheese, so Harry popped into the kitchen with a smile and politely asked for one grilled cheese. It took half the fun out of eating the sandwich when Harry had to describe and them actually make the sandwich for himself the Muggle way because the House-elves had no idea what he was referring to, yet still the melted cheese felt good going down his throat.

Bed. Harry thought to himself as he exited the kitchen, but then the unpleasant dreams he'd had the night before came back to him in a flash, and he decided to stop by the potions cabinet for some Dreamless Sleep potion before he went to bed. He didn't fancy having more dreams of dead people, whether or not they were fake figments of his imagination running wild with scenes of the Final Battle -complete with dead bodies and blood galore- as their basis.

Later:

Mealtime.

Lucius licked his lips as he walked down the long corridor to his mate's room. It was a pity that he had picked a room –or Draco had picked it for him back on his first visit- so far away from his wing of the Manor.

As he approached the door to the room, his heart-rate picked up dramatically and he started imagining how he would find his mate. The thought that he might sleep in the nude crossed Lucius' mind and he licked his lips again. Though this would prove to give the older veela a good show, he didn't think he would be able to control his hormones if Harry were naked, nor could he control the boner that it would surely cause. Just imagining his mate without clothing made his cock twitch.

He couldn't keep thinking like that though. They would have to eat together after he woke up Harry; he wouldn't have enough time to fix his problem properly if he started something.

With all of this procrastinating he had probably been standing there for quite a few minutes, so he decided to just fuck it (no pun intended) and wake his mate up.

His hand slid over the door handle and he slowly opened one side of the double doors. He peaked into the room and saw it was one of the smaller rooms in the Manor. It was a sitting room and a bedroom combined, with only one fireplace, and a bathroom door off to the side of the bed. A trunk laid at the foot of the small bed. (Small because it wasn't as huge as Lucius', but not as small as any normal bed.) On top of the trunk were the clothes that Harry had been wearing earlier, which immediately caused Lucius' pulse to quicken.

Oh gods! He thought with slightly wider eyes.

He stepped further into the room and saw a dying fire was barely keeping the room warm, but it gave just enough light for Lucius to see the outline of Harry's figure on the bed. The satin sheets molded to Harry's body, showing how he slept on his side with one leg bent under the other. At the end of the bed was where the comforter had been kicked away, but the sheet had remained, and now barely covered his mate's thin waist. The sweaty bare back of his dark-haired mate gleamed from the dim light of the fire. One arm was resting under the pillow as his mate lay in the middle of the bed instead of near the headboard, his other arm was limply stretched out toward Lucius.

As the older blonde approached the bed, he felt his quickened blood start to calm. His mate was so beautiful. So calm and peaceful as he laid there without a care in the world. The serenity around him had calmed Lucius drastically. It made him crave the touch of his mate. He would love to be in that bed with his mate. He could smell the dark-haired boy everywhere. That delicious scent was everywhere in the room; especially the bed. So tantalizing.

Gorgeous. He thought with a sigh.

Because of the magnitude of the bed –despite Lucius thinking it small- it was still impossible for him to reach his mate's shoulder from any side of the bed without having to get on the bed. This sent a thrill through Lucius.

He moved as gracefully as he ever had to slip onto the bed without waking his mate, but he did so perfectly. He decided it would probably be better if he wasn't crowding Harry when he awoke the youth, but he so dearly wanted his touch!

With a sad determination he leaned over and touched his mate's shoulder. A tingling sensation shot through his arm at the skin-to-skin contact. He was startled at the wonderful feeling, then vaguely wondered how it would feel to press his entire body to his mate's and have complete skin contact.

"Harry." He whispered hesitantly. He gently shook Harry's shoulder.

A brief glance around the room, and Lucius came across a familiar phial laying on Harry's nightstand. Even though the phial was empty Lucius knew what it was. In the Malfoy Manor they color coded the most used potions, just in case you weren't in the best of conditions to be able to read the tiny writing on the phials when you were in pain. This particular phial was green –a Dreamless Sleep potion.

Why would Harry need that? Was he having nightmares? About what? It was going to be exceedingly more difficult to wake Harry up if he was under the influence of one of those potions. In the Manor, the Dreamless Sleep potions were made especially potent for particularly bad nights. It was meant to give the drinker a full night's sleep. To wake Harry up after he had only been sleeping for two hours would be quite hard.

So beautiful. Lucius thought absently as he stared, mesmerized, at Harry's soft pink lips that were slightly parted to let air through. It was said that the bond between a veela and their mate was so powerful, that with merely a kiss a veela could pull their mate from the brink of unconsciousness, or even death to wake once more. Lucius' mother had lavished several bedtime stories on him of such feats happening when magic was common, even to Muggles. It caused simple fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. Whether they were bonded or not, it was supposed to be possible for a veela to awaken their mate, so why couldn't he just try? Why not? What could he lose? The blonde hadn't ever put any stock in the stories his mother had told him, so as a result he had also never told Draco any such rubbish, but now that the situation came to light, he couldn't help feeling curious. The stories must have come from somewhere, right?

Suddenly, his lips felt too dry as he leaned forward. He quickly ran his tongue over his lips, then took a deep breath and without any more hesitation he leaned forward, pressing his mouth to his mate's.

The warmest most heavenly sensation shot through his body, starting from his lips, shooting to his heart and slithering throughout his entire body. He pulled back from his mate sharply with a gasp, as if he'd been shocked. The sensation was one that he wouldn't mind a repeat of when his mate was more consensually a part of said-kiss.

When Lucius opened his eyes to see if he'd done any damage, he saw his mate staring groggily at him -eyes half-lidded and a murderous calm shining through.

"Lucius." Harry murmured sleepily.

"I should explain." Lucius responded breathlessly, trying to hide the fear and hope in his voice.

"That would be good." Harry grumbled as he kicked the sheet down a bit more and sat up on his elbows.

The blonde gasped as he quickly looked over his mate, sighing in relief when he saw Harry wore pants made of some kind of stretchy material.

"You were about to explain." Harry reminded as Lucius looked at him expectantly.

"Ah, yes, well…"

Harry's eyes narrowed slightly, even though he was far too tired to make it worth more than a child's glare was worth.

"You won't believe me." Lucius responded in a slightly downtrodden tone. When he looked to see Harry's reaction, he realized that they were still merely six inches from each other. They locked eyes.

"Lucius, I woke up with you on my bed attached to my mouth. Whether your excuse is pathetic or not, I deserve one; within the next five minutes, Lucius."

The blonde nodded in agreement with a sigh. "I was told when I was younger that veela could awaken their mates with a kiss if the need arose." He began. Harry nodded once for him to continue. "I came to retrieve you for dinner, I shook you, then realized you'd taken the potion. Our potions are-"

Understanding seemed to shine through the fog around Harry's head as he smiled at Lucius. "The potions are stronger, so I was knocked out, and it's dinner so you wanted to wake me up instead of letting me sleep like most people would have done."

Lucius was about to nod, but he wasn't sure whether he was being insulted for not seeing the obvious options or whether his reasoning was understood.

Without warning, Harry rose from the bed and marched his to trunk to throw his clothes from earlier back on. The veela's eyes followed Harry as he pulled on a T-shirt.

Lucius rose from the bed and walk over to his mate swiftly as he was settling his shirt.

Harry looked up to Lucius with a frown. "I realize you had this… urge to kiss me." Harry began as he leveled his gaze with Lucius. "Don't you think it would have been better if our first kiss were more special than kissing me awake for dinner, or perhaps more consensual?" He queried cynically with a raised brow yet no anger or malice to his tone.

There were no words to respond to that. It felt like a dismissal, but Harry hadn't outright balked at the idea of them kissing… he had just stated that it hadn't been the right place or time for such an event, which meant that he cared when such events happened.

"Lucius!" Harry exclaimed in exasperation as he waved his hand in the blonde's face to get his attention. "Can you hear me!"

Lucius blinked a few times, then smirked devilishly at his shorter mate. Something just snapped in his head, causing him to look at this situation the way it should be looked at… from the eyes of a dominant mate. Harry was being playful, so he would be too.

Before Harry could respond Lucius had leaned forward and captured his lips again -this time wrapping one arm around Harry's waist and pulling him closer into a gentle kiss. Harry remained stiff in Lucius' arms until he felt a tongue press to his mouth, pushing gently to enter.

With all of his earlier words gone, Harry released himself to the kiss. He felt engulfed by a power that seemed to originate from Lucius, but the dark-haired man couldn't bring himself to care. It felt good to be kissed like this with this amount of love. Something felt… right about this.

Though he was desperate for more, Lucius decided -with what little of his brain that was still conscious to his surroundings- that it would be more courteous to pull back before he overwhelmed his mate.

When he'd pulled away from Harry, it seemed that they both opened their eyes at the same time, connecting their gazes. A thrill shot through Lucius at the lustful hazy gaze his mate was rewarding him with. As those beautiful green eyes cleared, Harry frowned up at the blonde.

"Damn sneaky Slytherin." He walked away from Lucius and out the bedroom door with bare feet. Lucius smiled as he watched his mate leave the room. He was just teased instead of chastised for kissing Harry so suddenly. Did this mean things were progressing? Was Harry going to let him kiss him from now on?

What the hell possessed him to do that? Harry asked himself with a thoughtful frown. He never would have thought… but then, Lucius was only human… er, veela. He hadn't expected the kiss, but then that's how most things happen; unexpectedly. Damn Lucius and his cocky Slytherin self! He didn't ask permission to kiss me!

Who does that though? Who honestly asks permission to kiss another person? That kind of thing was for teenagers who were virgins to everything, but neither he nor Lucius were virgins. It was to be expected that a kiss was just something you started after looking into the eyes of the one meant for you.

Were they meant to be though? Lucius' veela side seemed to think so.

Harry reasoned that Lucius had been suppressing his Slytherin self for so long that when the opportunity presented itself, his sly-self just took the lead in the veela's personality.

With that settled, Harry growled in frustration, wondering if he should be on the offensive for the rest of the night, or whether he was safe to let his guard down. It was the Auror in him that ended the dispute by forcing his guard up.

Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. He thought determinedly.

As his stomach rumbled rather loudly he rushed for the Dining Room and hopefully a feast of food.

Should he be mad at Lucius for his presumptuousness?

… because he wasn't….

A/N: This chapter was hopefully fun for you all because it was a bitch for me.
Review:

Chekiita: Thanks for the review, and I had a great birthday thanks to you all reviewing and making me smile.

Dangelic Fantasy: You always make me smile with your reviews. Thanks. I wonder what you think of this one though. -winces-

Kyaku-kun: You liked hyper-Lucius, huh? What do you think of sly-Lucius?

Chocolatedemon: Thanks for the compliments ot my writing. -blush- I'm hoping this story doesn't fal apart under me.

Aisling Siobhan: What was Lucius thinking? -you asked me last time, and so it seems the same question must be posed again. -chuckle-

Pure Black: You asked why Harry was stubborn... Gryffindor... need I say more? -smile-

Missy Gothika: You're going on a holiday? Where? I hope you have fun, and I hope I updated in time for you.

Strega: OMG! The length of your review surprised even me! You're always so observant and humorous in all of your comments. I appreciate your abilities as my best critic and hope you liked this chapter.

Tigris T Draconis: -blush- It's okay to silently read along. I've done it myself some times, but I am thrilled that you reviewed me. Thank you so much. And thanks, my birthday was great!

Scorpion Moon Goddess: So Harry's finally caving to the 'allure'! Yah!

Lykaios Nyx: You stuck with me and reviewed the longest review I've ever had! You're fabulous and so thorough with you review. You were so comprehensive of everything I wrote, that it just gave me so much pride. Thank you. Hope this is soon enough of an update for you.

HecateDeMort: Do you have Harry Potter HBP yet? You said you were trying to get it last time. I hope you do. I haven't finished it yet, but there's a lot of fabulous humor in it and Dumbledore apparently loves raspberry jam. -snicker-

A/N: Gah! I'm not in love with this chapter.