Chapter 15 Being Human

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, nothing is mine. Everything belongs to JKR.

Warnings: Violence, adult language, slash-y elements (HD, naturally)

A/N: As they say; no apologies, no excuses. Many thanks to my faithful and patient readers and reviewers and to my darling beta!

In addition, I'd like to say that this little fic is soon drawing to a close. This is the second last chapter. A sequel is definitely slowly forming in my mind, I just cannot let go of these two boys.

"To make a stand," came the whisper, "for survival. For our legacy. For us. " He paused again. "A stand against the Dark Lord."

In the shocked silence following, Harry felt the sudden need to clean his ears thoroughly to ensure his hearing was as good as it used to be – he possibly couldn't have heard Lucius Malfoy talking oh so casually about going against the Dark Lord.

"What?" Draco blurted in a not so very Malfoy-like manner. His wand had somewhat drooped from its aggressive pose, his face pale and pinched. "I don't understand."

"Draco." Lucius' voice was as soft as it could ever be. "We are a family. A family of old purebloods with ancient ancestries and proud ways. We stay together, or we shall perish like a fistful of powder into the wind. Our legacy," he intoned, "is about unbound, unconfined, proud Malfoys – a Malfoy should serve no-one, as I and my father and his father have done."

Well now... Harry fidgeted, still a little baffled, twisting the fabric of Lucius' robes in his fist. Can't say I'm not surprised, but still... Lucius had set him and Draco free from the cage; he had not wished his son to blindly follow his footsteps. He hadn't even disowned Draco. True, this could all be a very clever hoax, a trap, targeting either Draco or Harry himself, but somehow Harry doubted it.

"What if I don't believe you?" Draco demanded, his voice growing stronger. "You could be lying for all I care."

"What would I gain from lying?" Lucius calmly encountered. He flicked his hand and smoothly tossed his wand at Draco. "There. I am not armed anymore. I bear no malicious intentions. Have faith in me, dragon. Would I have come here, right under Dumbledore's nose, if I would mean you harm?"

Draco swallowed.

"I could have killed you already," Lucius whispered, "both of you. If I wanted to. But here I am, voluntarily wandless and keeping your..." a hint of disdain crept into his voice, "friend alive."

Nice to know some things never change.

Before Draco could muster a response, two figures rounded from behind the corner with drawn wands and agitated expressions.

Remus and Snape's hasty steps faltered a little as they took in the scene – Lucius Malfoy with Harry Potter cosily snuggling up to him like it was perfectly natural could have stopped anyone – but Snape regained his senses fairly fast.

"Potter!" he snapped with his wand steadily aiming at Lucius' heart, his face set in fierce grimace as he shoved a disgruntled Draco out of the way. The blonde spluttered his protests, but Snape cut him off with a sharp command: "Get away from that man!"

"I would if I could!" Harry frustratedly exclaimed with a grimace of his own. He gripped Lucius' robes tighter in fear that Remus or Snape would tear him away from Lucius without hearing him out first.

"Harry." Remus' eyes moved from the stunned bodies of the other Death Eaters to Lucius' non-aggressive posture. He placatingly placed his hand on Snape's shoulder as the dark-haired man twitched with impatience. "What in the Merlin's name is going on here?"

Harry proceeded to give a hurried account of what had occurred from the moment he had encountered the three Death Eaters ("Honestly Potter, how could you not ram straight into danger when you are left alone for a few minutes?" ) to the unexpected disarming of Yaxley and Dolohov and to the very, very strange reaction he had to Lucius.

"Are you sure you have not been hit with the Confundus?" Snape suspiciously asked, his wand not wavering an inch. He sneered at Lucius. "I wouldn't put it past him to use it on children."

Children? Gee, thanks a bunch for the respect, Snape. Harry frowned, ready to deliver a snappish response, but Lucius beat him to it.

"Really, Severus. You know I could use a curse a lot worse than a mere Confundus," he drawled with cold arrogance that made his voice as smooth as a block of ice. At the sight of Remus' face darkening, he cleared his throat, continuing: "I have no ill-intentioned purpose here. To prove that, I am ready to give my testimony under any truth serum you can offer."

Remus and Snape glanced at each other.

"And what do you demand for exchange of switching sides?" Snape's eyes were glinting coldly.

Harry looked up to see a smirk curling up the corners of Lucius' mouth. "Protection," he breathed. "From the Dark Lord and the Ministry."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "You want to avoid Azkaban," he mildly stated.

Of course... Lucius Malfoy was an intelligent man. He knew Dumbledore could protect him from getting thrown to Azkaban. "Yes. Besides," he added, "I have had time to get my priorities into correct order." His steely eyes briefly flickered to Draco. "If I should remain in the service of the Dark Lord, then that would be the end of our legacy. He would not hesitate wiping the Malfoys off the world, but Dumbledore, no matter how big of a muggle-loving fool he is, would lend his helping hand to ensure our survival if I pledge alliance to him."

Snape stared at Lucius, an unreadable expression on his face. "For your sake," he finally whispered, his voice hard and gruelling, "I hope your words are truthful."

Lucius quirked a small smile again, brief and joyless. "As do I, Severus, as do I."

There was a small silence as Snape picked up Lucius' wand, carefully pocketing it while never breaking the eye contact with Lucius. Harry watched this with disjointed interest, vaguely pondering what was going on between the two wizards. Bitter rivals as Death Eaters? Then he realized with a jolt that now Snape's status as a spy was heavily compromised – if Snape had been a true Death Eater, he would have helped Lucius, not going against him so blatantly. Then again... Lucius must have known about Snape's true loyalties before; he was the one to whom Lucius leaked the information about Harry and Draco's location, wasn't he?

"Well now," Remus remarked, sounding strangely calm and collected. He flicked his wand at Yaxley and Dolohov, still completely out cold on the floor, were bound with ropes from head to toes. "These two should be escorted to the Aurors' gentle care. I will contact the... necessary authorities."

"I shall take Lucius to the hospital wing to administrate Veritaserum on him." Snape's cool gaze fell onto Harry for a quick moment. "And it seems Mr. Potter will have to accompany us."

"I'm coming, too," Draco demanded with his arms folded, a scowl marring his face. He was obviously miffed at being ignored like a child. "I'm not leaving Harry alone."

Snape's lips twitched. "Of course," he drawled. "Remus, could you alert Albus as well on your way?"

Remus let out a short chuckle as he levitated the unconscious Death Eaters dangling in the air. "I doubt Albus would not have heard of this already, but I will." He started walking briskly away with Yaxley and Dolohov in tow, throwing a glance over his shoulder before turning around the corner. His amber eyes flickered with worry. "Be careful, Harry. I'll come back as soon as I can, okay?"

"I'm fine," Harry assured the werewolf, trying to wriggle some air between him and Lucius. He desperately wanted to forget that it was Lucius he was clinging to. "Go on, Remus. I'll see you later."

Remus nodded and disappeared with his captives without another word.

"So," Lucius drawled with one of his eyebrows elegantly raised. "Will I finally get to know why Potter is oh so wonderfully attached to me like another skin?"

"All in good time, all in good time, Lucius." Snape gestured with his hand. "Now, let us be on our way. "

It was the strangest walk to the hospital wing Harry could ever remember having. He was rather uncomfortably pressed against Lucius' side, hip to hip, with Lucius' arm lightly slung around his waist to keep him in balance. Draco was traipsing right on the other side of Harry, sneaking suspicious glances at his father as if he still expected him to turn tail and flee back to the Dark Lord with Harry tucked under his arm. Or perhaps he's jealous, I am almost in Lucius' arms here. Harry could barely suppress his snort of laughter, quickly masking into a loud, hiccuping cough. That earned him a few odd glances and he felt himself reddening. I mean yes, Lucius is a rather good-looking man for his age, and he has the Malfoy genes, after all, but... eugh. Harry gave a slight shudder.

"Good heavens!" came Madame Pomfrey's shocked cry as soon as the quartet entered the infirmary. "What on Earth – Severus -"

"Everything is under control as we speak, but there was an invasion of three Death Eaters in the eastern part of the castle," Snape explained in brisk tones, commandingly jabbing his wand towards one of the private rooms. "It seems that Lucius here has decided to desert the services of the Dark Lord and we must get proof to that." He spared a glance at the baffled-looking mediwitch bustling after them as they entered the small private room. "I trust you still have some of my Veritaserum?"

"Well, yes -" Pomfrey appeared somewhat flustered, her eyes flickering between Harry and Lucius. "I'll just go retrieve the vial. I believe the headmaster has been alerted?"

As on cue, Dumbledore graciously stepped through the doorway, bright blue eyes peering at Lucius with curiosity. "Why, Lucius, how nice to see you again," he jovially commented with a serene smile as if he didn't see anything odd in the picture. "Would you like a lemon drop? I just received a new batch and they are absolutely delicious."

"No, thank you, Headmaster," Lucius said stiffly, regarding the elderly man warily.

"Very well. Let me know if you change your mind, however." Dumbledore lowered himself into a chair, neatly folding his hands across his lap. "Now, let us get to business, shall we? I just heard a very interesting tale of you wishing to leave Voldemort. Am I correct?"

"Yes. I have had enough of that vile creature. He doesn't reflect our esteemed values on purity of the blood anymore." Lucius' lips were a painfully tight line. "I have my suspicions that he will not hesitate to destroy all the pureblooded families over some childish grudges or if it means he gets more power. I simply cannot bear that any longer."

Dumbledore inclined his head. "I see. You must understand, however, that we are unfortunately unable to trust just your word on it."

"I have already conceded to taking Veritaserum," Lucius announced with his aristocratic face completely shut off. Just like Draco's.

"Here we are, then." Pomfrey returned with a small vial of clear liquid in her hand. She wordlessly offered it to Snape.

"Perhaps you should take a seat, Lucius," Dumbledore suggested benevolently, gesturing at the nearest bed. Lucius threw a disdainful glance at it, but rigidly sat down with his lips pursed, pulling Harry with him. Draco took a seat immediately next to them and Harry slipped his hand over Draco's to squeeze it. The answering, gentle squeeze calmed Harry down a little.

Snape wasted no time in administrating the truth serum. In a matter of seconds, Lucius' face went slack, his eyes distractedly staring into distance.

"What is your name?" Snape coolly started, looming over Lucius with a concentrated scowl as if he was thinking he should scare Lucius into confessing with his threatening appearance.

"Lucius Cassius Sorrel Malfoy," replied Lucius, his voice empty, detached.

"Why did you come to Hogwarts tonight?"

Lucius blinked once, twice. "I saw it as an opportunity to slip away from the Dark Lord."

"Were your intentions to hurt anyone once you'd invaded the castle?"

"No."

"Are you acting on Voldemort's orders?"

There was a small, pained silence, before Lucius steadily said, "No. He does not know of my plans."

Harry felt Draco squeeze his hand even harder in obvious relief.

"And what are your plans?" Snape questioned, undeterred.

"To be on the winning side of the war. To unite my family once again. I wanted to see my son, because.... " Lucius struggled, a visible shudder running through his body.

"Because of what?" Snape pressed on relentlessly. "Why did you want to see Draco?"

"Because I had seen that he was happy," Lucius bit out, swallowing. "I had seen that he was happy, protected, loved. I knew the Dark Lord's side would never offer him that."

Snape shared a puzzled glance with Dumbledore while Harry frowned in confusion at Lucius' unexpected response. How could have he seen that?

"How did you see all that?" Snape carefully asked, a questioning glint in his eyes.

"I saw brief glimpses of it in my dreams. I saw how happy he was with Potter."

Harry drew back, shocked, until the spreading coldness hastened him to close the distance again between him and Lucius. No-one ever mentioned the connection could work both ways!

Apparently, Snape had never thought of that possibility before either, as he was momentarily stunned into silence.

"You dreamt of Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter?" Dumbledore clarified with his eyebrows raised.

Lucius inclined his head. "I did. They were hazy images, blurred and short, but I knew my son was happy because of Potter."

"And were you aware exactly why you saw these glimpses in your dreams?"

"I had determined that there was some sort of magical link between me and Potter, accidentally formed. I could not severe it by myself."

"Did you tell anyone of this link?" Snape stepped back in, hands crossed over his chest.

Lucius shook his head. "I did not." He was beginning to look strained and harassed.

"One more question, Lucius," Dumbledore said softly. "Who are you loyal to now?"

"To myself, to my family, to my values." Lucius' face twitched. "But if I should choose another person to rally behind, it would Harry Potter."

Harry startled, rather baffled, then pulled a face. Oh, great. Just follow me, all redeemed Death Eaters, I will show you the light.

"That is all I wanted to hear." Dumbledore's eyes acquired the knowing twinkle again. "I think we are done here, Severus."

"If you say so, Headmaster," Snape stiffly acknowledged, swooping forward to give Lucius the antidote for the truth serum. With a disdainful grimace flashing across his pale face, Lucius returned to normal. He subjected everyone in the room to a icy glare, as if to dare them to ridicule him.

Harry wasn't quite sure what to think, but he didn't have any kind of wish to ridicule Lucius. As he looked up into Lucius' threatening eyes narrowing down on him, he gulped. Definitely no ridiculing of any sorts.

Lucius' cool gaze rose to meet Dumbledore's steady one. "I hope you were satisfied?"

Dumbledore smiled. "Indeed, we were. There are some pressing matters we should discuss, however, but there seems to be something else we must deal with before."

One pale eyebrow was lifted. "I gather you mean this Gryffindor who suddenly has the urgent need to have me as his teddy bear?"

Harry blushed with mortification and even Draco let out a quiet snicker which he quickly covered up with fierce scowl, grunting as Harry jabbed an elbow into his stomach.

"Precisely," sneered Snape. "How much do you know of this magical connection between you and Potter?"

"Not much." A lazy smirk curled up Lucius' lips. "But do enlighten me, I'm most eager to know more."

And with a dark frown of irritation, Snape did, explaining how and when the link was accomplished and how Harry took the dampening potion to endure to visions, and eventually, how Nott had forced Harry to overdose and how badly the potion had reacted. At the end of Snape's accounting, painfully accurate in details, Lucius looked thoughtful. He tapped a casual finger against his chin.

"Interesting," he remarked with a curious tint in his voice. "I believe I have heard of these kinds of magic links before. They were rather common a couple of hundred year back, when wizarding folk had less control over their powers. That would explain why Potter seems to find solace in my arms; the magic in him recognizes mine, and thus, draws my magic to him, rendering the dampening potion unusable as long as we remain in physical contact."

"Is that so?" Dumbledore frowned contemplatively. "I suppose you wouldn't have heard of how to safely break the connection?"

"As a matter of fact," Lucius drawled, looking exceedingly pleased with himself, "I have heard of it."

Harry perked up, attentively straightening himself. Now we're talking! "What do you know?"

At Lucius' scornful glance, Harry quickly amended, "Sir?"

Draco snorted beside him and Harry threw a withering glare at him. Easy for him to be snotty, he's not the one practically glued to Lucius.

"It's easy enough," Lucius said. "In this link, it's about two magic forces that have collided and entwined together like vines. All that is needed to make these threads of magic to separate without any damage whatsoever is another burst of magic between the linked wizards."

"What?" Draco leaped to his feet, furiously glaring at his father, teeth nearly bared as he snarled, "I'm not going to let you curse Harry, you hear me? Over my dead body!

"Draco," Harry urgently whispered, tugging at Draco's sleeve. He was just a little bemused at how protective the Slytherin was. "Please, sit down."

"I wouldn't curse him," Lucius scoffed. "Just a simple spell would do. Say, an Expelliarmus or something equally light."

Harry, his fingers still wrapped around Draco's wrist, turned to hopefully look at Dumbledore and Snape. They both seemed to ponder about Lucius' suggestion with appraising glints in their eyes.

"That could work," Dumbledore mused, and Harry felt a leap of joy in his chest. "That could certainly work. What do you think, Severus?"

"It might possibly break the connection, yes," Snape grudgingly agreed, a look of slight brooding at not realizing this solution first crossing his face.

Harry tightened his hold of Draco's hand; the blonde didn't look pleased in the slightest at the prospect of his father performing any kind of spell on Harry. "Then do it, sir. I'd really like to get rid of this link."

At that, Draco growled low in his throat like a wounded animal, but Harry tugged him back to the bed with one, forceful yank. "Sit down. You're making a fool of yourself."

Lucius eyed them amusedly. "Nice to see who has control of the reigns in this... relationship."

Feeling the blush creep back up his cheeks, Harry glared at the older man. "Just do it and be over it, will you?"

Lucius sent a questioning look at Dumbledore. "May I?"

Dumbledore and Snape exchanged a glance, as if they were communicating silently without words. I guess they can do that, with legilimency and all. "You may return Lucius his wand, Severus," Dumbledore finally said, and at Draco's miffed intake of breath, he added, "You do not need to be worried, young Draco. We all have our wands at the ready, don't we?"

Draco gave a stiff nod, warily looking at his father through narrowed eyes as Snape passed Lucius' wand along to its owner. All three, Draco, Dumbledore and Snape seemed alert and just a bit tense, but Harry felt only a small tingle of nervousness at the prospect of getting cursed by Lucius Malfoy.

"Well then," Lucius drawled, caressing his wand. "I take it you can bear a few seconds without physical contact?" Harry nodded, shifting away from the blonde. He started trembling right away, the chills going through his body with alarming speed. Lucius raised his wand quickly.

"Expelliarmus," he softly intoned, slashing his wand down with one, graceful movement. Harry grunted as the force of the spell flung him backwards on the bed, but he was hastily picked up by a frantic Draco who peered down on him, wide-eyed. "Harry? Harry, are you okay?"

Harry blinked, a sense of mild disorientation washing over him, but he couldn't detect the icy coldness anymore. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good. I think... I think that worked. I don't feel the potion."

"Excellent news!" Dumbledore smiled, his eyes twinkling as merrily as ever. "I must thank you for you cooperation, Lucius."

"My pleasure." Lucius allowed a small smirk. "Believe me, I had no desire to be linked with young Mr. Potter forever."

Dumbledore chuckled, clapping his hands softly together. "This matter now resolved, I think we should gather into my study to discuss other matters. Won't you agree, Lucius?"

Lucius inclined his head a little. "As you wish, Headmaster."

"Harry, my boy." Dumbledore's gnarled hand came to rest on Harry's shoulder for a moment as he passed. The ancient wizard gave his student a bright smile. "Be sure to rest now. You as well, Draco. You've both been through quite a lot today."

Harry and Draco nodded, and Dumbledore left with Lucius in tow. Snape threw a narrowed-eyed glance at the boys, as if he wanted to scold them for something, but swooped after the retreating pair. Madame Pomfrey clucked her tongue, watching their departure with a shake of her head. "Well, then." She turned a brisk eye towards Harry and Draco. "You two. Both feeling well, I assume?"

"Yes, madame," both students agreed and Pomfrey nodded in approval.

"Good. You can leave. But Potter," she sternly shook her finger at them, "if you feel any kind of side-effects or anything out of the ordinary, you are to report here at once. Understood?"

Harry grinned at her. "Perfectly," he said before taking Draco's hand into his and tugging the unresisting Slytherin out of the room and the infirmary. Once they were safely in the halls with no-one at sight, Draco pulled Harry as close as he could with suffocating force, like he was afraid Harry would vanish into thin air at any given time.

"Don't you ever scare me like that," the blonde growled into Harry's ear, his voice tight and stiff. and "Have you any idea how worried I was when I found you gone, just like that?"

"Sorry," Harry sheepishly mumbled, wrapping his arms around Draco. God I've missed this. Just being close to him. "I couldn't help it."

He heard Draco sigh, his warm breath tickling Harry's ear. "I guess you couldn't."

They stood there for awhile, content in each other's arms. Harry rested his head against Draco's shoulder, listening to his rhythmic heartbeat echoing inside his chest. "So your father finally came to his senses, huh?"

Draco shifted slightly. "I guess he did," he softly said.

Raising his head just a little from its resting place, Harry looked into Draco's pale eyes. "And what do you think of that?"

Draco gave a small, elegantly refined shrug. "I don't know. It's alright, I suppose."

"Alright, you suppose?" Harry raised an incredulous eyebrow. "This is your father and his life we're talking about here, not this morning's breakfast."

His silvery eyes shimmering, Draco scoffed. "I don't know, okay? I mean, he jumped from being a Death Eater to a pardoned man and one of Dumbledore's trusted, just like that?"

"Don't be silly. Lucius has a long way to come until he's trusted. It's not like he's invited to join the bloody Order right away or anything like that."

"Then what?" Voice suddenly laced with uncertainty and a certain amount of ire, Draco went on, "He's going to prance around the castle, playing another role? Playing to be the best father ever lived now that he has switched sides?"

Harry frowned. "Is that what this is about now? You think your father is trying to achieve some sort of son and father bonding here?"

"He's going to pretend like nothing bad ever happened," Draco practically hissed with venom. "He's going to pretend it's all good and that we're one big fucking happy family. Like he never was a Death Eater, like it never tore us apart in a way that can't be mended with just a simple flick of a wand -"

"Hey." Slightly alarmed, Harry placed a soothing finger over Draco's mouth to cut off his tirade. The blonde gritted his teeth together, jaw fiercely clenched. "I'm sure Lucius knows that can't happen. What you need now is just time? Don't think about it too much, just... just let it go, okay? See what happens."

Draco released a shuddering breath, his anger slowly deflating. "I guess you're right," he finally murmured, averting his eyes. "But I don't want to talk about it now. Let's just... " He sighed. "I'm so glad you're alright, Harry. I really am."

Harry, dropping his head back against Draco's shoulder, smiled. "Yeah, me too."

An hour later, Harry clambered through the portrait opening to the Gryffindor common room with the same smile still plastered on his face. An instant silence fell across the room as he stepped into the light of the numerous roaring fire places. Spotting his friends among the people milling about, Harry set to strode towards them.

"Blimey, Harry," blurted Ron from his armchair, wide-eyed. "You're human."

"Really, now?" Harry asked dryly, quirking an eyebrow. "Funny thing, I didn't notice."

Hermione jumped up and grabbed him by the arms, prodding him with a shaky finger as if to test whether he was a hallucination or not. Then, apparently deciding it was the real Harry she was seeing, she threw herself on Harry with an excited cry. "Oh Harry!"

Staggering backwards under the sudden weight, Harry promptly tripped over someone's bag left carelessly lying against an armchair and unceremoniously crashed to the floor with Hermione tumbling down with him, the latter one giving a loud, startled shriek as they fell.

There was a short, stunned silence before unsuccessfully covered chuckles and outright guffaws filled the air. Harry blinked up at Hermione, the girl lying on top of him with a dazed expression on her face. Her elbow dug quite viciously into Harry's side, and he winced. "Careful, Hermione. My skin isn't made of steel."

Snapping out of her daze, Hermione blushed and scrambled up with Ron giving her a helping hand. The redhead's lips were twitching madly as he pulled Harry to his feet as well. "I must say, that really was amusing."

"I'm sure," Harry muttered, smoothing down his robes with one sweeping motion of his hand. "At least I know I'm welcomed, though."

"Harry!" Hermione exclaimed with impatience creeping into her voice. She had crossed her arms and was frowning at him in irritation. "The last time we saw you were a ferret. What in the Merlin's name happened?"

Harry grinned at her. "Long story, Hermione, long story."

She glared, her left eye twitching. "I have time, Harry, believe me."

"Well, let me see." Harry tapped his chin with his finger with feigned thoughtfulness. "A couple of hours ago I ran into three Death Eaters infiltrating Hogwarts. Lucius Malfoy saved me by stunning the other Death Eaters and claimed he wanted to switch sides, so we took a jolly trip to the infirmary to give him some truth serum, and during that, he also figured out how to safely break our link so here I am." Spreading his arms with a wide grin, Harry surveyed the shocked faces around him. "What? You seem a little blew out of the water."

"You –Death Eaters and Lucius – what?" Ron's eyes were so big Harry honestly was a little afraid they would bulge completely out.

Hermione grabbed Harry's arm. "You're coming with me, mister!" she commanded with such authority Harry couldn't really resist as she dragged him across the common room towards the stairs. "Ronald, come along!"

Ron hastily scurried after them, leaving behind a sea of baffled Gryffindors. As soon as the door to the boys' dormitory closed behind the redhead, Hermione jabbed a demanding finger at Harry's chest. "Now, tell us again what happened. With some more details this time, if you please."

Seeing as Hermione's patience was clearly disappearing at alarming speed, Harry set on sharing his account of the last few hours.