Celandine's Chronicle (celandineb) wrote in cels_fic_haven, @ 2007-08-08 20:42:00 |
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Entry tags: | hp fic better than revenge, hp fic draco/harry |
HP fic: Better Than Revenge, ch. 22: With the Weasleys [Harry/Draco, general]
Title: Better Than Revenge
chapter 22, "With the Weasleys"
Author: celandineb
Fandom: HP
Pairing: Harry/Draco
Rating: general
Summary: Draco finds himself jealous of Ginny and can't convince Harry to indulge in even a discreet kiss while they are at the Burrow. They go back to Little Hangleton and continue searching the Riddle house for Horcruxes.
The Weasleys' house was just as ramshackle as Draco remembered it from when he had come looking for Harry weeks before. He sniffed disdainfully, thinking that a good stiff breeze would blow it over. Really, such a dwelling was a disgrace to the whole wizarding world.
Harry poked him. "Be polite."
"Wasn't I polite at the Grangers'?" Though that might have been easier, since he knew nothing about them except that they were Muggles, and they knew nothing about the Malfoy family except whatever Hermione might have mentioned. Whereas the Weasleys... that was another matter altogether.
As he was thinking this, Ron and Ginny Weasley burst out of the back door, crowding around Harry to greet him. Draco felt pleased despite himself when Hermione said hello to him first, and took his rucksack when he shrugged it off.
As he had suspected, Molly Weasley simply assumed that Harry and he would stay the night, and sent them to take their gear upstairs. Draco was shown to a room on the second floor which he was told had belonged to Percy. He remembered his father talking about the former Head Boy of Hogwarts with approbation. No doubt that was why there was nothing of Percy's left here – his family had probably thrown him out for sticking with the Ministry instead of Dumbledore. Leaving his chest and rucksack, Draco went up with Harry to put Harry's things in Ron's room, then back outside where Hermione immediately started quizzing him about the Dark Mark.
Draco held his temper with difficulty. He recalled little of how it had been put on, and told Hermione that the memory had presumably been Obliviated at the time precisely so that he would have trouble removing the Mark if he renounced his allegiance to Voldemort, but she continued probing, asking about anything he knew of how it was used to summon the Death Eaters. Hermione was only trying to help, he knew that, and he did want to get the Mark off his arm if there was any hope of doing so. Nevertheless after a quarter of an hour answering her questions he began to wonder if the result would be worth the trouble.
He was almost glad when Ginny reappeared from helping her mother with some chore in the kitchen. Idly, he speculated about what it might have been. His own mother never cooked anything more complicated than tea and toast, they had house-elves for that sort of thing, but of course the Weasleys were far too poor to have such help.
Ron took his sister's appearance as an excuse to cut short Hermione's interrogation of Draco, which seemed to bore him as much as it annoyed its object. He suggested a game of two-on-two Quidditch to fill the remaining time before dinner. Harry and Ginny both leapt on the suggestion, and Draco would have too if he had had a broom.
He expected that he would have to play audience while the rest played the game, but Hermione offered, "You can use my broom if you want, it's a Comet 260. I have an idea about Transfiguring the Mark, but I need to look up some information to see if it's workable." She smiled at him and disappeared into the house
"That's the kind of broom I flew at home for years," Draco told Harry as the four of them went to fetch the brooms from the shed. "It will be marvelous to fly again – I can't believe Hermione lent it to me."
"Oh, Hermione doesn't really enjoy flying," said Ginny from behind them, "and she's absolute rubbish at Quidditch. I'm not sure why she bothered getting a broom, frankly." She took her own and stepped outside.
Draco found the Comet and hefted it. It could use some care – the handle was scuffed and a number of the twigs were out of alignment – but he was grateful to Hermione for letting him fly in her stead and repressed the remarks he might have made about a witch who could not be bothered to maintain her own broomstick. He saw Harry pick up the Firebolt. Harry held it as if it were made of crystal, precious and fragile. Even if he had not already known, Draco could have seen just from that how much flying meant to Harry, and he had a moment's wish that Harry would touch him half as fondly as he did his broomstick.
"Shall we toss to choose partners?" Harry was saying to Ron.
Hoping that he would be teamed with Harry, Draco was nettled to hear Ron reply, "You and Malfoy are both Seekers, you shouldn't be on the same team."
Which, Draco admitted, was true if one were after the most even match, especially since they would not be using the Snitch. But if Ron had chosen to team up with his sister, they would probably have won handily. It was evident that Ron was no Slytherin. Blaise or Pansy or – usually – Draco himself would have argued for a team that would give him the best chance of victory. As it was, the toss paired Draco with Ginny, the arrangement Draco least wanted. He did not care about winning Quidditch here, he had other things on his mind. But Harry was watching and Draco had promised to be polite, so he stretched his mouth into the best smile he could manage as they kicked off and began to play.
Trying to manage the bat in one hand to deal with the Bludger, and use the other to grab for the Quaffle was a challenge. It took Draco a few minutes to become comfortable with the unfamiliar technique. Not having flown in months, and then on a different broom, made it even harder. When Draco got the feel of things, he began hitting the Bludger mostly towards Ron, still annoyed with him for keeping Draco from any chance of teaming with Harry. He noticed that Ginny was doing the same, and suspected that it might be for the same reason. Ron started yelling at Ginny that she was playing against Harry and ought to act like it, and Draco flushed to think that he had probably been just as obvious, not a smart thing to do.
Eventually it worked out that Draco did more of the Keeping and Ginny more of the Chasing, and that turned out rather well. Draco saved nearly a dozen goals and when Hermione came to call them to dinner, he and Ginny were ahead, 240 to 210. Landing, he shook hands with Ron, who looked surprised at the gesture, and Ginny, who grinned tightly at him and said that he should have been Keeper, not Seeker, for Slytherin.
"Good game," he said to Harry, keeping the two Weasleys between them. He did not want to shake Harry's hand, he wanted to hug him, and if he touched Harry at all he was afraid he would give in to the impulse. Not that Draco was ashamed of that longing, or thought that Harry might not reciprocate. No. He did not want to make matters more difficult for Harry, that was all.
Mrs. Weasley's cooking was as good as Harry had promised, easily as good as anything the Malfoy house-elves prepared, if undeniably less elegant. Draco would have felt awkward about taking extra helpings had it not been that both Harry and Ron were doing so as well. Harry avoided conversation with him during dinner, which was irritating, but at least he was not talking to Ginny either. Draco was forced to listen to Hermione explaining Muggle electronics to Mr. Weasley for the duration of the meal. He could not believe that a grown wizard could be so interested in Muggle inventions.
When dinner was over and the elder Weasleys were chatting about Ministry matters over the dishes, Draco thought they would talk more about either the Horcruxes or the Dark Mark. He rather dreaded Hermione continuing her interrogations on the latter. To his surprise, she suggested that they put off discussion until morning and instead have a game of Exploding Snap. He assumed that all five of them would play and so he agreed, only to find that it was to be Hermione, Ron, and himself alone; Harry and Ginny were over on a sofa on the other side of the room, talking. Draco chose to sit on the side of the table furthest away from them, where he could at least keep an eye on Harry.
He tried to hear what they were saying, but merely succeeded in being so distracted that he lost hand after hand miserably. Ron gloated a bit but Hermione gave him sympathetic looks, which irritated Draco further. He did not want her sympathy.
At last the game ended. Mrs. Weasley made hot chocolate for them – never mind that it was summer, thought Draco sourly – and handed around a plate of ginger biscuits before shooing them off to bed.
Since Draco had been put in Percy's room which was a floor below Ginny's and three below Ron's, he had to say goodnight first and watch as they went up together, jostling good-naturedly. He could hear Harry and Ron chaffing each other about their flying during the Quidditch game. Draco shut the bedroom door behind him and sighed. The day had started off so promisingly with the two of them working together, but now... What had Harry and Ginny been nattering on about all that time? He had seen Ginny kiss Harry's cheek at one point and had had to restrain himself from yelling at Harry from across the room.
He's never promised you anything except his help in hiding from Lord Voldemort, Draco reminded himself. In fact he's gone out of his way to say that sex between us needn't mean anything more than a bit of fun. So you can't blame him for talking with Ginny, she used to be his girlfriend after all, and even though they broke up he obviously still cares about her. And – Draco thought about it – she kissed him, but he didn't kiss her, did he? Maybe that was a good sign.
Restlessly he moved around the room. Bare though it was, nothing personal to counteract the shabbiness of the furniture, it was spotlessly clean. Draco tugged open the wardrobe door curiously. Nothing. Empty save for a pair of hangers on the rod. It was no different from the impersonality of the room in the university hall where he and Harry had been the night before, really, but in the Weasleys' house it seemed... wrong. Nothing like the cheerful colorful crowded rooms downstairs, or the brief look Draco had had at Ron's bedroom, with its walls covered with pictures of the Chudley Cannons. Draco snickered, thinking that Ron would support a team that had not won the League Cup in over a century. The Malfoy family backed the Magpies, naturally, best record in the League.
His smile faded as he pictured Ron's room, though, and imagined Ron and Harry up there. They would probably talk for hours. He was not jealous of Ronald Weasley. Certainly not. Harry might have done a bit of experimenting with Ron, a few kisses perhaps, but Draco was quite sure Harry had never had sex with anyone except himself. Any bloke, at least – he really did not know what Harry and Ginny might have done, and did not much want to think about it. His mind kept presenting him with images of Harry, though: Harry heavy-lidded, his lips swollen from kissing; Harry flushed, head flung to one side as Draco touched him; Harry quivering as he came against Draco's stomach. Draco's own cock was hard, just remembering.
What if seeing Ginny again made Harry decide he liked her better, after all? Could Draco persuade him otherwise? Did he want to persuade Harry otherwise, for more than just a few shags?
For the first time since the night he had come to Harry begging for help, Draco made himself stop and think about what it was he wanted from Harry Potter. They had always been enemies, and that had been comfortable in its own way, predictable. For the past week, though, Harry had been treating Draco as... well, as a friend. Maybe not quite like Ron, but the way Draco had seen him treat Neville or Seamus or Dean. And that was something Draco found he liked very much, to be a friend of Harry. Was it enough? If Harry preferred Ginny – or anyone else, for that matter – would Draco be content to live with that?
And did he even have any choice? He had vowed to be loyal to Harry, to help him, to protect him. If Harry wanted someone else, Draco might have to help him get that person. But he did not at all want to have to do that... so the only way out would be either not to know who Harry wanted, or to be sure that it was himself. Preferably the latter. Because, Draco decided, being Harry's friend was not enough to satisfy him. He wanted more than friendly affection and casual shagging, he wanted love and desire and...
Oh, Merlin, he was bloody in love with Harry, wasn't he? Not just fancying him, not just fascinated by the aura of the Boy Who Lived. With a groan, Draco threw himself onto the bed. This was ridiculous. It was the Vow, surely it was the Vow that was doing this to him.
Enough. It was late, doubtless Hermione would be wanting to try some experiment on the Mark on his arm bright and early, and in any case he and Harry were supposed to keep searching for those wretched Horcruxes. He had to get some sleep. Draco made himself get up and undress, pulling on the green t-shirt that Harry had bought him the previous week. He needed to use the toilet before he tried to go to sleep, though. It was up a floor, he remembered, across from Ginny's room.
The old wood of the stairs creaked near the top, and in the moonlight Draco saw a figure stooping near Ginny's door. A flash of light on glasses told him who it was. Harry.
"Looking for someone?" The words flew out of Draco's mouth before he could stop them.
"Yes." Harry straightened up, his back to the door as if he were protecting something.
"Ginny?" Hoping that somehow he was mistaken, Draco had to ask.
"Yes."
"I see." Draco felt it as if Harry had used the Sectumsempra spell on him again, and he were bleeding from the chest. "Of course." He had lost before he had even had a chance to really try.
Blindly he turned and made his way back down the stairs. The pressure in his bladder was infinitely preferable to having to face Harry for another moment just then. He was staring out the window, thinking about where he might Apparate to, and what that would mean for him in the long term, when Harry spoke his name.
"Would you mind knocking, Potter? It's quite rude to enter someone's room uninvited."
He did not expect Harry to listen, but he heard the door click shut, and then a knock. Sheer surprise at Harry's obedience to his request caused him to say reflexively, "Come in."
"You've no cause to be upset, you know." Harry was so close behind him that Draco could feel his breath when he spoke, smell the bitter salty tang of his sweat.
"I haven't?"
"No."
The touch of Harry's hand on his shoulder made Draco jump and turn around. The moonlight altered all colors and Harry's eyes looked dark, not their usual brilliant green, as he gazed calmly at Draco.
"Why not?"
Draco could hear the bitterness in his voice. Harry seemed to recognize it too, because he tugged at Draco's arm, saying, "Come on, sit down."
They sat on the bed, Harry cross-legged at the foot, Draco leaning against the scarred headboard with his knees pulled up and arms wrapped around them.
"So tell me, if you were looking for Ginny, why shouldn't I be upset?"
"Because you're leaping to conclusions," said Harry. "I was trying to see if she might still be awake, yes, but not so we could go off and snog ourselves silly, as you seem to be thinking. Or am I wrong and you had something else in mind?"
Draco shook his head. "So why, then?"
"Because I wanted to talk with her, you..." Harry swallowed whatever word he had been going to say. "I couldn't sleep, Ron's snoring like a troll, and I was hoping Ginny might still be awake and willing to talk."
"You could've come to talk with me," Draco pointed out, still smarting.
"Draco, I..." Suddenly Harry looked very tired. "I could have. If you weren't the reason."
"The reason for what?"
"Why I couldn't sleep."
"You couldn't sleep because of me?" repeated Draco, and despite himself, he smiled. "I couldn't sleep because of you."
"Really?"
"Yeah, really." Draco uncurled and leaned forward to lay his hand on Harry's knee. The knowledge that Harry cared enough to be thinking about him that much gave Draco hope. He had not lost out to Ginny, not yet at any rate. But he had better not push too hard. If he were a Gryffindor he would rush right in and ruin everything; as a Slytherin he could wait and plan and work for what he wanted, as long as there was something to wait for.
"So what were you thinking that you couldn't sleep?" Harry asked.
"Well, what were you thinking?"
"I asked first."
Draco was not yet prepared to admit that he thought he was in love with Harry. That would scare the other boy off for certain. It scared him, come to that. "Er... that even if it's turned out not to be necessary after all, I'm glad I came to you for help."
"Why?"
"You tell me what you were thinking about me, first," Draco countered.
"I was thinking that Hermione was right, and you've changed a lot, Draco. And I was wondering what had caused it. So why are you glad?" asked Harry.
"Because, well, at first it was because I felt safer with you than I had done in weeks. But now, because you're treating me like a friend." Draco could feel the blood hot in his cheeks as he said that. Had he been too obvious?
Harry turned red, too, though it was hard to see in the bluish light, and his voice was rough. "That's what it is, then, both of us treating the other decently. I... I really wanted to hex you six ways and throw you out when you showed up that night in Godric's Hollow. It was only for Dumbledore's sake – that you hadn't actually hurt him – that convinced me to give you a chance. But... I'm glad I did, now. Revenge would've been less... satisfying."
"Satisfying?" Draco smirked at the double entendre, unintended though he was sure it was.
"Oh." Harry blushed even darker. "That's not what I meant."
"I know. But you've enjoyed what we've done, haven't you? Because I have."
"Yeah. It's been... well, not what I expected. But good. Really good," said Harry, blinking and shoving his glasses up his nose.
Better than with Ginny? Draco wanted to ask and did not dare. Not here, not now. His hand still rested on Harry's leg. He moved his thumb, rubbing lightly through the fabric of Harry's pyjama bottoms, stroking the inside of his thigh. "I'm glad."
Harry sat very still, watching Draco, his breathing quickening. After a couple of minutes he sighed. "No, please, don't."
"Why not?" Draco stopped, but did not remove his hand.
"Not with her just upstairs. Not when we're guests here. Please." Harry swallowed.
Draco could see the outline of Harry's cock straining against the cotton, and he wanted nothing more than to set it free, to take it into his mouth until Harry was moaning and begging and calling his name. He could almost taste the power it would give him, to offer Harry such pleasure.
"Please."
"All right." Draco moved away, folding his arms across his chest.
"Thanks." Harry's breath was ragged. "I... I'll see you at breakfast."
"Yeah. Good night, Harry."
Harry paused with his hand on the doorknob. "Good night, Draco."
As the door clicked shut behind him, Draco whispered, "I love you, Harry." The words felt strange in his mouth. He waited a few minutes, then stood up. He had never had a chance to use the toilet.
In the morning, Mrs. Weasley fed them oatmeal and toast with marmalade before shooing them all outside.
"So what are the plans for today?" Ron asked.
"Draco and I are going back to the Riddle house and searching again for a Horcrux," said Harry firmly.
"Are you coming back here tonight?" Ginny's gaze was bright as she looked at Harry.
"I, er, hadn't thought about it. Draco?"
"It's up to you, Harry, not me." Draco did not see why Harry had even bothered asking.
"I've had an idea," announced Hermione, interrupting the discussion. "I may have a way that we can attempt to remove or alter the Dark Mark without the risk that the Death Eaters will perceive it as a summons."
"What? How?" they all demanded at once.
"But I'll have to talk with Professor McGonagall... tell her not just that you're alive, Draco, but about the Mark and everything."
"Why?" Draco asked. "What's your idea?"
"Well..." Hermione shot a quick apologetic glance at Harry. "It has to do with a certain place that's Unplottable and has quite a lot of spells laid on it to keep it inaccessible not just to Muggles, but to wizards too. So if you were there, the Death Eaters couldn't find you. But there was a Fidelius Charm on the place, and Professor Dumbledore was the Secret Keeper. I don't know if that's been passed to someone else, or voided, or what, so I have to ask Professor McGonagall. She's the most likely to know, but I'm positive she won't tell me without a good reason. If I can explain to her about the Mark and the Vow you took to Harry, Draco, I think she'll be willing to help so that Draco can go there and we can try to remove the Mark."
Harry's mouth was twisted. "I really don't want to go to that place again, Hermione."
"Not even if it's the only way to help Draco?" she said briskly.
He scowled. "Oh, all right. If Draco agrees."
Draco wondered just why Harry was so reluctant, but he supposed he would find out sooner or later. "If you think this will work, Hermione, then I guess you can tell McGonagall."
"Excellent," Hermione beamed. "Now, you two said you'd come up with some possible Transfiguration spells, right? Write those down for me and I'll talk them over with Professor McGonagall too."
"And what am I going to do?" Ron asked. "I could help you look for Horcruxes, Harry."
"So could I," said Ginny.
Draco held his breath waiting for Harry's response, exhaling only at the slow, "I'd rather you didn't."
"But Draco is. Surely twice as many people looking would speed things up," argued Ron.
"It's too dangerous. This isn't like when you all insisted on going with me to the Ministry last year," said Harry. "Yeah, I want to find the Horcruxes quickly, but it's not so urgent that I'm willing to let you risk your lives to help me. Forget it, Ron, Ginny. It'd be more useful for both of you to help out Hermione, whatever needs doing. Ginny can't Apparate there yet anyhow, and I don't know how to do Side-Along Apparition"
"You two could Floo to the Ministry and talk to Mad-Eye again, if your mum will let Ginny go," said Hermione. "See if he knows anything about Horcruxes and how to recognize them."
"Or Tonks," said Harry. "She's sometimes a bit, er, well, you know what she's like, but she is a fully-qualified Auror."
The two Weasleys seemed to brighten up at the second suggestion, and Draco could not blame them. Moody was intimidating, to say the least. He could attest to that, even if it had not been the real Moody who had once Transfigured him into a ferret. Just the memory of that incident made him edgy.
"And I'll tell you what, we'll come back tomorrow night. That'll give us time to finish going over the Riddle house, I think, so we might even have good news. And you'll have time to talk to the Aurors and the Headmistress; it could take a day or two to get in to see them, not like they have nothing else to do," Harry said. "We'll just go get our rucksacks and say thank you and goodbye to your mum, Ron."
"Would it be all right if I leave my trunk here?" asked Draco hesitantly. "It's rather a pain to cart around."
"Sure," said Ron. "It's not in the way in Percy's room. Where'd you get it, anyway? Something from the Riddles'?"
"No, it's mine from Hogwarts," said Draco. "Harry summoned Kreacher and he brought it to me."
"It's okay," said Harry, preempting Hermione, who seemed about to launch into a disapproving speech. "I asked Dobby to watch Kreacher, too, so if he tries to go anywhere but Hogwarts or to talk to anyone, Dobby will let me know."
"I hope that's enough," said Hermione in dubious tones. "All right. We'd better get going, all of us."
Within half an hour Draco and Harry were back again at the Riddle house. They had stopped briefly in Little Hangleton, and Harry had used a Muggle telephone box to ring several hostels before he found one that had a room for two people available that night.
"Saffron Walden? Where's that?"
Harry shrugged. "Not far from Cambridge, I think. Does it matter?"
"I suppose not. First floor today?" Draco asked.
"Makes sense to me. Let's start at this end."
The first-floor rooms held more abandoned furniture than those on the ground floor had: wardrobes, bookshelves, even chairs. None was in good shape, Draco thought. The springs were poking through the upholstery of the chairs and the wood of the other pieces was scratched and dull. Nevertheless their presence made the search significantly more difficult, since they had to go over every inch of the furniture as well as the walls, floors, and ceilings.
Shortly after noon they paused to have lunch. Mrs. Weasley had insisted that they take sandwiches and fruit along. They were in a large room with a fireplace and one of the battered chairs.
"I saw Voldemort here," said Harry quietly.
"What?" Draco nearly dropped his sandwich. "How? When?"
"In a dream, at the beginning of fourth year," said Harry. "He was plotting how to use me to restore him to a proper body... but I didn't understand what he was doing. If I had, maybe Cedric needn't've died."
"It wasn't your fault," said Draco. "Honestly, you shouldn't hold yourself responsible for every bad thing that happens. V- Voldemort is the one who killed him."
"Because he was in the way. Because I'd done the honorable thing and insisted we both take the Triwizard Cup together. It was a Portkey that took us straight to Voldemort. If I'd been a bit more selfish, Cedric would still be alive."
"Don't be stupid, Harry. You wouldn't be you if you hadn't tried to do the right thing. There was no way you could've known what would happen."
"I suppose not," said Harry, staring gloomily at his empty sandwich wrapper.
"Come on. We need to finish this floor today or we'll never get through by tomorrow," Draco urged him.
"Okay." Harry stood up.
They had no more success that day than the previous one, however, and by the time they had searched the last room on the floor, Draco was as grumpy and out-of-sorts as Harry.
"Oh, blast it. I meant to ask Ron to change some gold for me."
"I should've done that too," said Draco. "How much do you have?"
"Enough for tonight, no fear, it just would have been easy for him to stop at Gringott's if he was going to the Ministry to try to see Tonks and Mad-Eye. Remind me tomorrow night to ask him, will you?"
Draco nodded, thinking that Harry could actually go himself, if he wanted, although Draco still should avoid such public places in the wizarding world. Voldemort might not be able to track him, but that did not mean there were no Death Eaters on the lookout. "Ready to go?"
The hostel was much like all the others they had been to – spartan and slightly shabby, but acceptable for what it was. They walked down to the nearest pub for dinner.
"Not as good a meal as last night's, was it?" said Harry, pushing away his empty plate.
"No," agreed Draco. "Want to have a drink before we go back?"
"I thought you still had a bottle of that Spanish wine left."
"Something else sounds good for a change."
"Cider?" Harry ordered them two pints. "It's not as good as butterbeer, but... cheers."
They clinked glasses and drank. Harry kept glancing up at Draco, then down again at the table, tracing patterns with his finger through a puddle where his cider had spilled over. Draco pretended not to notice, talking lightly about the Quidditch moves from yesterday, speaking in low tones lest the Muggles at the next table overhear.
After the first pint, they had a second. Draco could feel his fingers and toes tingling and knew that he, at any rate, had better stop with that for now. Harry seemed reluctant to leave, though Draco was not sure why. It took some persuasion but eventually Draco convinced him it was time to go.
ch. 1 / ch. 2 / ch. 3 / ch. 4 / ch. 5 / ch. 6 / ch. 7 / ch. 8 / ch. 9 / ch. 10 / ch. 11 / ch. 12 / ch. 13 / ch. 14 / ch. 15 / ch. 16 / ch. 17 / ch. 18 / ch. 19 / ch. 20 / ch. 21 / ch. 22 / ch. 23 / ch. 24 / ch. 25 / ch. 26 / ch. 27 / ch. 28 / ch. 29 / ch. 30 / ch. 31 / ch. 32 / ch. 33 / ch. 34 / ch. 35 / ch. 36 / ch. 37 / ch. 38 / ch. 39 / ch. 40