Alliances

Alliances
By: Dela_Draco
Rating: NC-17
Pairings: Harry/Draco
Summary: Harry is in charge of the Order, and the war is raging. Who does he trust when an old enemy suddenly reappears? Everyone is depending on Harry, and he's determined not to let anyone down. Dumbledore never said it would be easy.
Disclaimer: These are not my characters, I just borrow them from JFK for my own twisted pleasure.
Warning: This is SLASH! In other words, there are male/male
relationships. If you don't like, please don't read! *WIP*


Chapter 1

Potter,
I have information, and we need to talk. Name the time and place. Bring Veritaserum.
-- D. Malfoy
********************

Harry looked down at the letter in his hands and then back to the snooty looking eagle owl. He turned the parchment over to make sure there was nothing else written "You've got to be kidding me, right." Harry glared at the owl. Harry didn’t know how an owl could sniff in disdain, but somehow, Malfoy's owl found a way.

"What does it say Harry?” Hermione came over to the window curiously. Ron was not far behind, as he gazed over her shoulder to see what their arch nemesis had to say. The Trio had met up at the Burrow to discuss Order business when Malfoy’s owl had showed up.

"He wants to meet," Harry finally replied, deep in thought.

"Well, bugger that," Ron exclaimed. "It's definitely a trap. I mean the last time anyone saw Draco Malfoy he was fleeing with a bunch of murderous Death Eaters. Guaranteed that old Snake Face is behind this one Harry. Although I have to say, as far as evil plans go, this one really blows. I'm insulted really; I mean I just don't think they're putting as much effort into their evil plots anymore," Ron chuckled.

"Actually Ron, that's a very good point. Would Malfoy really think that we'd fall for something like this? It's way too simplistic. His schemes are usually very dramatic and fairly complicated,” Hermione said.

"What if his real plan is for us to think that he wouldn't think of something so lame, when actually he plans to trap us all along," Ron pointed out.

Hermione and Harry gave Ron an odd look.

“What?” Ron asked.

“Just having a flashback to fourth year that’s all,” Harry finally answered. "I don't think it's a trap, Ron. Hermione is right, it's not his style, and if it was, why tell us to bring Veritaserum? I have a feeling this is legit.” Harry didn’t quite meet their eyes. There was more to it then just his gut instinct, but Harry wasn’t quite ready to share everything with the other two. It had happened years ago, and he had successfully managed to keep it a secret from his two best friends and very deeply buried in his mind. Denial wasn’t just a river in Egypt. "That’s not to say that I trust him however, we'll bring Order back-up. Better to have them there and not need them than to need them and not to have them." Ron and Hermione nodded in agreement. By now, they were used to taking commands from Harry.

When Dumbledore had first died, the Order had been in chaos. McGonagall had assumed temporary leadership while Harry had went off to various secret camps for training. For several years he had went from place to place picking up various types of military and leadership skills. The DA from fifth year had been just the beginning of long years of preparation for Harry. Between the Department of Mysteries, the Aurors, and several Muggle organizations; Harry had come into his own.

After five years of mentally and physically exhausting conditioning, Harry had become the leader of the Order of the Phoenix. McGonagall had called an Order meeting and had announced to everyone that this had been Dumbledore's wish and that he had utmost confidence that Harry would one day assume leadership of the Order. This of course had come as something of a surprise to Harry, but he had donned the heavy mantle of leadership and tried to be as decisive and wise as Dumbledore had always been. It had only been five years, but it felt like 500 to Harry. He wondered how Dumbledore had managed it for so long. It was hard pretending a confidence that he didn't feel. The rest of the Order looked up to him to be strong and decisive during this war. He just couldn't afford to be less than a great leader for them. It was also very lonely for him as well.

Ron and Hermione of course were still his friends, and helped him in anyway they could, but Harry was starting to feel a gap grow between them. They were all so busy with all of their added responsibilities. Hermione was spending almost all of her time exclusively researching between the Black library and Hogwarts' looking for more information on the missing Horcruxes. Ron helped, but he was also very busy with his own commitments. The majority of Ron duties were more like those of a lieutenant. He kept supplies going to distant isolated Order members, and maintained communications between different Order cells.

Harry looked down at the letter and contemplated his next move. The Order's resources were being too far stretched. There had been a lot of Death Eater attacks recently. Voldermort’s activities had increased in the past few months, and a lot of people had died, both Wizards and Muggles. There were simply not enough Aurors, or Order members to go around. Especially since they were fighting a mostly defensively war. He was tired of arriving too late, and after the fact. He was tired of seeing the Dark Mark flaming in the sky, and coming up on a scene of smoke, tears, and blood. To be honest, Harry was just plain tired. He pushed himself harder than anyone else. He was always the last to sleep, and the first to wake up. He couldn’t lead every mission, but there was very little that went on that he didn’t have a hand in. He was always on the scene comforting shell shocked victims, helping anyway he could. He just felt that it wasn't enough.

The connection between himself and Voldermort had been closed off for some time and he didn't have a clue as to what Voldermort was planning. The Order still had a few other spies placed as Death Eaters, but none as far deep in as Snape had been. They had lost more than just a great leader that night on the Astronomy Tower. He was coming to realize just how invaluable Snape's information had been to the war efforts. Thinking on that night, brought a frown to his face as it always did whenever he thought about it. Harry came to a decision.

"I don’t think we can afford not to hear what he has to say. Anyways, I know the perfect meeting place" He wrote a place and time on the back of the parchment and attached it to Draco's eagle owl. The owl flew off leaving the Golden Trio behind to plan their next step.
********************

Malfoy,
Meet us at Godric's Hollow in exactly one week.
-- H. Potter


"Well?"

"He's going to meet with us. Tell the others to have everything ready just like we discussed. It'll be at Godric's Hollow, one week from today. Who knew Potter had a sense of humor?"

"What about the other thing? Will a week enough time?"

"It’ll be ready, but let me worry about that. Just follow the plan, and for Merlin's sake don't improvise. You're pants at impromptu. Need I remind you of the 'thong bikini incident'."

"Okay, okay. How long are you going to keep bringing that up? I mean it's not like you've never worn women's clothing yourself you know."

"We're clearly getting off track here.”
********************

It was exactly one week later on a cold clear morning when Draco Malfoy Apparated to just outside of Godric's Hollow. Anti-Apparation wards had been placed on the area itself, so that anyone wanting access would have to Apparate on the fringe of the property and walk in. Harry Potter watched the lone figure walk up the road through the corpse of trees, past the little wooden fence and up to his front door. He waited a moment before opening the front door and letting in his visitor from the early morning fall air.

Harry had been visiting Godric's Hollow more often since he had left school. He never spent too much time in anyone one place, but he did like to come and occasionally visit. Since he had come of age, his time with the Dursleys had ended. The blood protection that their presence had offered him was over. He was free to live where he chose. Order Headquarters was of course an option, but it was a very busy place. Grimmauld Place still had too many painful memories for him to spend any length of time there. Sirius’ memory lurked around every corner. That and Mrs. Black's presence was still very much felt. Harry found it just too painful in many ways. So he had had Ron and the Twins come help him clean up Godric's Hollow. It had needed a lot of work, but it had been worth it. Oh, and of course the extra wards that he had placed around it were extensive.

Outside, his trained eyes saw his men move into their assigned positions. When Malfoy had walked in, they had been discreetly following and slowly closing the net on him. If he had tried to flee, he'd quickly find that this time Harry was ready for him. Harry couldn't help but feel a grim sense of satisfaction at that.

"Potter."

"Malfoy."

"I’ll have to admit, Potter, I didn't think you would show, at first. And I definitely didn't expect you to come alone. This could have been a trap you know. It’s kind of stupid to just wonder into danger like that. Although I'd like to think that my plans are much more nefarious than that."

"Oh, God, not you too," Harry quietly muttered to himself.

"Pardon?" Draco asked.

"Nothing. Let's just get on with this shall we?" Harry finally said.

"So where are the other two then? Or did you finally decided to take the training wheels off? Mudblood and Weasel must have been crushed." Malfoy smirked.

"Shut it." The last thing Harry wanted to do was to break out into petty bickering.

"Aren't you going to invite me to sit down?" Malfoy asked, helping himself to a chair before Harry could say deny him the opportunity.

"Please, make yourself at home," Harry graciously replied.

"Thank you, Potter. And here I thought you were a total ill bred savage. But let’s dispense with the pleasantries, and get right to business shall we?"

"By all means Malfoy, I'm exceedingly curious as to why you wanted to speak with me." Harry's eyes roamed over the other young man who sat before him. Malfoy had changed since the last time he had seen him. Harry couldn't quite place his finger on it, but Malfoy definitely had "an air" about him now that he hadn't before. His robes were as usual, of the highest quality and the trendiest cut. His hair did seem a bit longer, and not gelled back. Instead it was neatly tied back in a loose ponytail with a ribbon, which, naturally, perfectly accessorized his robes. All the picture needed was a snake head cane and 20 years, and it could be Lucius Malfoy sitting at his kitchen table instead of Draco. It was very unsettling to Harry. Especially when compared it to his own combat fatigue and less then groomed appearance. He had added quite a few inches to his own height, and filled out more of his musculature, but he still felt pretty much the same. In fact, he felt dowdy next to Malfoy. Malfoy definitely seemed more graceful and confident than the last time Harry had seen him. Well, to be fair to Malfoy, being an accessory to murder probably does put one off their stride. I mean how graceful can you be as your fleeing for your life with a werewolf and Death Eaters?

Speaking of Death Eaters, "I'm especially curious on the whereabouts of Severus Snape. You wouldn't happen to know his last known location would you?" Harry asked.

"We'll come to that," Malfoy drawled with a knowing smirk. "All in good time, Potter, all in good time. First things first, I wish to open up formal negotiations for an alliance. Are you authorized to speak for the Order of the Phoenix?" the Slytherin asked in formal tones.

"Yes," Harry replied simply. "They will abide by any decisions or agreements made here."

"Excellent. I speak for a certain...faction, of the Death Eaters. Anything that I agree to here, will be binding for the faction involved. But before negotiations start, I have two demands. I want you to agree to a cease fire for the duration of our talks. And also, I hope you remembered the Veritaserum, because we're both going to dose ourselves before we start."

"First off, you're not in any position to make any demands at all. You're in fact surrounded, and alone. Next, I'm not going to be the one taking Veritaserum. You will. Depending on what you have to say we'll discuss whether or not you'll be going off to Azkaban." This part of the plan was the part that had Harry worried. Past experience had taught him that a cornered Draco Malfoy was always an exceedingly dangerous person. He kept a close eye on Malfoy's hands to be ready when he went for his wand.

"Tut, tut Potter. Think that I'd value my person so little as that? And who ever said anything about my being alone?" and with this Malfoy casually waved his hand. From out of the shadows of the room 15 Wizards formed from the darkness. It was a different magic then Harry was use too. It didn’t have the same magical feel to it that you would find if someone had Apparated, or used a Disillusionment Charm. This was a new type of magic. Whatever magic it was it was powerful, powerful enough to sneak them in undetected by Godric’s Hollow wards. Harry briefly wondered what spell they were using, but his mind didn’t really have time to ponder the strange magic. He was far more concerned with the wands that were currently trained on him.

Although they were all wearing Death Eater robes, none of them had on the characteristic white masks that usually came with the Death Eater uniforms. They were also wearing red arm bands around their right arm. Harry noted that it was a force made up many familiar faces. It was almost exclusively former Slytherin students of his year. Although it had been a few years since he had seen many of them, he had no doubts about their level of competence in a combat type situation. Harry also noticed that Malfoy was wearing the arm band as well. He wondered what it signified. "By the way, Potter, while your men were following me up the lane, mine were following yours, and by now we have them nicely penned. Now, if I were to hazard a guess, I'd say that I might be in a position to make a few demands." Malfoy smirked.

Green eyes met grey as the two men took the measure of the other’s resolve.

"Malfoy, don't make me hurt you," Harry said, tight lipped. He had a few more tricks up his sleeve if it came down to it, but he would rather save those if things got really ugly.

"You, hurt me? Potter, that's rich. Always were too cocky for your own good. But I agree, I don't want you to 'try' to hurt me. I don't want any violence at all actually. If you were paying attention you would have noticed that was in fact my first demand; that's for our protection. The second is for yours. Veritaserum would nullify any trust issues that you might be having about the information that I have to give you. I could hardly believe it myself, and I was an eye witness." Malfoy calmly folded his hands on the table, and waited to see how this little drama of theirs would play out.

After a moment Harry said, "Agreed on the armistice part. My people will not make aggressive acts towards yours while we are negotiating and vice versa. However, I'm not taking any Veritaserum, for security reasons. To be fair, if I'm not taking it then you shouldn't have to either. Let's do this instead: Magical oaths, binding until negotiations are over?"

"Done."

Harry Potter stood up and from one of his many pockets pulled out a silver six inch ritual dagger, which he handed to the other Wizard. Privately, Draco wondered why Potter was carrying around a dagger in his pants, and what other surprises the 'Boy Who Lived' might have secreted away down in them. He quickly brought his mind away from such avenues and thought carefully of the wording of the oath he was about to make. He placed a single long cut diagonally along the length of his right palm and with more than a little irony, once again offered his hand to Harry Potter.

"I, Draco, swear by the magic in my veins, that while negotiations are in session, everything I speak of to Harry Potter, for the purpose of this alliance, will be truthful to the best of my knowledge. Let all who hear, bear witness.”

The quiet tension that had been in the room rose dramatically. By the nature of his wording, to be forsworn was to become a squib. If Draco were to lie, then he would lose his ability to do magic. Malfoy's eyes glittered unnaturally bright as he waited to see if Potter would accept the terms of his oath.

The silence was heavy, and the air was thick like a blanket. Harry accepted the knife back from Malfoy and sliced his left hand.

"I, Harry Potter, swear by the magic in my veins, that while negotiations are in session, everything I speak of to Draco Malfoy, for the purpose of this alliance, will be truthful to the best of my knowledge. Let all who hear, bear witness."

He then reached out and accepted Draco's hand. As their cuts lined up a surge of magic audibly snapped between them, and the bleeding stopped. There along both of their hands were identical curse scars to signify their oaths to each other.

"Scared, Potter?" Malfoy finally asked breaking the silence.

"You wish, Malfoy," Potter smirked.