Disclaimer: You already now, I own nothing. Except Chiri, but she's a house-elf, so I can only be proud of giving her a name.
Hi guys, here's another chapter for you! Hope you enjoy! I'm not sure how often I'll be able to update for the coming weeks, since I'm moving out and starting a new school... So I have a lot of packing and studying on my hands now, but I'll try!
Thanks for the reviews, they really help me stop being so lazy and update faster! Kudos to you!
Harry awoke the next day with a slight tingling sensation in his stomach. He felt like something was going to happen today, but if it was a good thing or not, he didn't know. He had kind of given up the thought of Voldemort replying to his letter, why should he, he was the Dark Lord after all! There was absolutely no reason for him to bother answering a nervous teenager that he numerous times had tried to kill.
Harry jumped out of bed, took a quick shower and, after eating a quick breakfast that Chiri had made him, he left for Lucius' study.
Harry hadn't gotten longer than to the big staircase before he was stopped by a person who he thought never would bring himself to speak to him, Draco Malfoy.
"Potter, I need to speak with you" he said. He had been standing next to the staircase, leaning on a pillar, obviously waiting for him.
Harry just nodded, he didn't want to come to late, but he didn't really want to brush Draco off either, not when the other boy had taken the initiative to talk to him first.
Draco walked up the stairs, clearly wanting Harry to follow. Harry cast a nervous glance at Lucius' door, but hurried after Draco.
The younger Malfoy walked into a room and when Harry followed, his guess was that this was Draco's bedroom, which he later found out it was.
"What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked, crossing his arms. He wasn't too sure he trusted his ex-enemy yet.
Draco closed his eyes and clearly thought something over before he opened them again.
"Why does my father treat you so well? It doesn't make any sense! You're just a gift given to him by the Dark Lord, there's no reason for him to be nice to you!" Draco had, while he spoke, gotten louder and louder and Harry began to worry if Lucius would hear it all the way down to his study.
"How could I know something like that? As you say, I'm just a gift, not his trusted friend or something! Why would he tell me something that he can't even tell his own son?!" Now it was Harry's turn to get loud.
Draco clenched his fists and bit his lip, clearly trying to control himself. 'Potter do have a point, why would father tell him anything?' he thought, feeling a little frustrated because this conversation clearly didn't go the way he wanted it to. He had hoped Potter knew why his father's behaviour was different, but now that he thought about it, how could he possibly know? He was probably nothing more than a secretary in Lucius' eyes, someone that helped him with his work. Not someone to trust and tell his most secret opinions and feelings to!
Draco sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He now understood that it had been a stupid idea in the first place, to ask Potter, who obviously was as confused as he, about his father's behaviour!
Harry watched Draco warily, but the other boy seemed lost in thought, so Harry turned to leave, only to be stopped again by Draco calling his name.
"What is it now, I've already told you that I don't know why your father is acting this way!" Harry said, getting impatient because he knew that Lucius was probably waiting for him downstairs, and he wouldn't be too happy if Harry arrived late without a good reason.
"I want to know the reason why he behaves this way, and, since it doesn't seem to help to ask him directly, then you could help me!" Draco said, looking straight at Harry.
Harry blinked in surprise, then bit his lip slightly, should he tell Draco that he had already started his little mission to find out what Lucius' feelings really were.
He decided to tell Draco a little bit, but not all of it. "Well, actually I have already started asking people close to your father about it, I made Ron ask Snape, since he lives with him." He decided not to tell Draco about the letter, at least not until he got an answer, if he got an answer at all.
Draco nodded, he seemed to agree to Harry's way of handling the challenge. "I see, then, since you have started to ask Uncle Sev, then I will send a letter to my mother, maybe she knows something. There must have been a reason they separated after all!" Draco said, still deep in thought. Harry nodded. "That's good, but can we please talk about this another time, maybe after I've finished my work? Lucius won't be too happy with me, arriving this late." He shot a glance up at the clock on the wall and saw that the time was already fifteen minutes past eight. 'Shit! He's going to be pissed!' Harry thought, knowing that Lucius didn't like people running late.
Draco nodded as a sign that he could go and Harry sprinted out the door, down the stairs before stopping, panting and gasping for air, in front of the door to the older Malfoy's office.
Harry squared his shoulders, took a deep breath and then knocked on the door. The usual 'come in' was heard and Harry pushed the handle down and walked in, pretty nervous by now.
When he came in, Lucius lifted his eyes from the document he had been reading trough and his eyes narrowed slightly when his eyes caught Harry.
"Why are you late? It's already been twenty minutes since you should have been here!" he said sharply, making Harry even more nervous.
"Well, um, you see... I kinda got caught up in something." he said, not wanting to tell Lucius about his conversation with Draco, since the man would most probably ask what they had been talking about.
"Something?" Lucius asked, eyebrows lifted questioningly. "What 'something'?"
Harry saw no other way than to tell him, but just the moment he opened his mouth to tell him, they were interrupted by Severus Snape suddenly appearing in the doorway behind Harry. Lucius looked just as surprised as Harry, so he understood that the older man hadn't invited his old friend.
"Severus? What brings you here?" Lucius said, completely forgetting about his earlier interrogation of Harry.
Snape shot Harry a quick glance and then looked back at Lucius. "I have something to tell you, preferably under four eyes." he said, hinting to Harry. Lucius nodded. "Very well, Harry you can leave, we'll talk about you being late after I've talked with Severus." Harry just nodded, and wasted no time hurrying out of the room, and closing the door behind him. He didn't go far though, he was interested in whatever it was Snape was going to tell Lucius, but he wasn't able to hear anything, since Lucius had cast a silencing spell on the room, making it impossible for Harry to listen in on their conversation.
He sighed, before he decided to return to his room and wait till Lucius called for him.
The first thing Harry noticed when he entered his room was a small bit of parchment. Harry went over and picked it up, he only had to cast a quick glance on it to understand that he had finally received Voldemort's reply!
He hastily began to read it. This was what it said.
Dear Harry Potter
As you stated in your letter, I do know what Lucius' feelings are, but telling you behind his back isn't very nice, don't you think? I guess you don't want to ask Lucius directly, but in these cases, I think it's the best solution.
But since you ask this, it's only natural for me to begin to wonder why you want to know these things... Do you have any feelings for Lucius other than him being the man who gives you a place to live and a job?
Because if you do, then I could always leave him subtle hints about your feelings towards him.
I still won't tell you exactly what his feels about you, but I can tell you this much; he doesn't hate you and he don't have anything against you living in his house.
If you indeed like him, then you should make him aware of that fact. Even though he doesn't look like it, he's quiet dense when it comes to other people's feelings towards him.
The Dark Lord
Voldemort
Harry let his hands fall and he slowly thought about Voldemort's reply to his question. Of course the Dark Lord wouldn't tell him anything straight, he had to find out himself, like Voldemort had said.
Harry sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly. He still had to go back to Lucius' study when Snape left, maybe he'd ask the man then? He threw the idea away as soon as it had entered his head, there was no way he'd be able to gather up the courage to confess on such short notice and Draco had said he would write a letter to Narcissa.
Harry decided to wait until her reply, before doing anything. He only wished Lucius would tell him if he had any feelings towards him or not, instead of keeping it to himself. It was rather frustrating.
Harry yawned and stretched his arms above his head. He could think of this later, right now, the thing he needed to think of was finding an excuse to why he was late.
He couldn't tell Lucius that he had talked with Draco, but on a second thought, he could say that Draco had stopped him and had wanted to settle things between them, since Harry lived in his house, there was no reason to keep fighting over petty things and throw insults at each other whenever they saw the other.
That could work, but he had to tell Draco about it, or he could ruin it by denying it if Lucius asked him whether it was true or not.
Harry then started to search for good places to hide the letter. He couldn't just keep it on his desk, in case Lucius for one reason or another came to his room and saw it. After thinking about it for a moment, he decided to stick it behind the wardrobe, where he could reach it if he wanted to, but still where a place were no one really looked if they weren't really searching for something.
Just moments after he had hidden the letter, he heard a knock on the door and Snape came in, not bothering to wait for an answer.
"Lucius said he wanted you back in his office now, Potter. I think he's rather annoyed, you coming late for work today." The man didn't even bother to hide the small grin on his face when he turned on his heel and walked out of the room.
Harry gulped nervously, before hurrying to Lucius' study, feeling, if possible, even more nervous than before.
So, what about telling me what you think? I'll give you a cookie! Really yummy cookies! :3