The Contract

Chapter Fifteen – Dinner with the family….







After their lie-in the next morning, both enjoyed the embrace and rutting that led them to mutual completion that was followed by a quick shower. The gift lay on the table, like a bad omen, unopened. The rest of the morning was spent in the garden riding brooms. With the removal of expectation of the actual act of sex, the relaxed atmosphere made ‘Catch The Snitch” seem equitable. Anything they did was with their whole heart and the competition was friendly.



They continued to simply get to know one another throughout the days and the evenings were spent eating and playing. Sometimes it was chess, which Harry now knew how to play rather well. Or sometimes, simply reading aloud from a book they had chosen.



One afternoon there was a rainstorm. The wind was calm, but the slow steady rain, so uncharacteristic for August, was cooling. Harry smiled at his lover, pulling him out into the drizzle. Holding him close, they began to dance in the rain. There was no music, only a sense of somehow feeling the music.



When the rain stopped, the rainbow seemed to end right over their swaying forms. It was interrupted only when an owl dropped a letter from Lucius stating that he and Narcissa would take an additional five days and would return then.





Lucius pointedly reminded Draco that the bond must be cultivated in the ways they had discussed, every night, without fail, Draco must do as he had been instructed. Harry read the letter over Draco’s shoulder, and when he realized that the blonde was trembling, he took the letter out of his hand and dropped it, forgotten on the floor. Then he held Draco until he stopped trembling.





Since there was now time, Harry spoke about the Weasleys, why they were important and how he felt that they should probably have dinner with them. It would be an excellent way to show that Harry was not hurt or being kept against his will. Draco agreed, and Harry retreated to write a letter asking them to dinner on Thursday evening.



The feeling of excitement as the owl took his message was tremendous. Draco watched as the brunette became almost giddy with excitement. Since Harry had never been on a proper shopping trip, he decided that it was time. They made plans to visit Gringott’s before going to Madame Malkin’s for new robes that same afternoon.





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Molly was sitting in the kitchen when the owl approached. Rather than leaving, it landed and waited for a reply. Her shriek of happiness was heard far from her tiny kitchen, and as she finished her acceptance letter the kitchen door flew open to reveal Ron, Hermione, and Ginny coming to check on her.



Ginny was excited to find out that they had been invited to dinner. She was so certain that she would finally get to talk some sense into her Harry, who she had loved, but long since given up on. She looked to him as a brother. Wanting him to be safe and happy, even if some twisted part hoped for a shred of desire between the two, that part was usually hidden deep enough to prevent her making mistakes.



Her main goal was to get Harry alone and talk some sense into him. How, just yet, she wasn’t sure.



The night of the party, the dressed in their finest Weasley fashion and prepared to floo to Malfoy Manor.



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The trip to Diagon Alley went well. The Daily Prophet followed the boys around, but other than knowing that there was going to be an article about them in the Morning Edition, they were given some respect and distance. No reporter, in beetle form or otherwise, approached them for a comment until well later in the afternoon.





Dinner was to be held in the formal dining room of the manor. Harry dressed in a Muggle-style suit, which matched Draco’s perfectly. Harry had to pause to adjust the bulge that developed in his trousers when Draco let his hair fall gently around his face that evening, rather than the normal severe hairstyle.



Taking a deep breath to stop the desire he felt, when he opened his eyes again, Draco was smirking at him. That smirk said volumes. “Harry, after they leave, we need to discuss what will happen when my father returns. But for tonight, I promise to do everything in my power to make your family feel welcome. Even if they are all poor and redheaded.” That earned him a playful slap on the arm and a gentle chaste kiss, just before they heard the pop of an elf telling them that guests had arrived.



~@~@~@~



Once Molly and Hermione stopped crying, the group made their way to the dining room. The feast, which seemed to have enough food for Hogwart’s was delicious. When they noticed that Hermione wasn’t eating, however, a quick look at one another made Ron and Harry stop as well. “Hermione, are you alright?”



“I’m trying here Harry. I really am. I didn’t want to do this now. I hoped we would have a few moments to talk privately, but I can’t eat and still do what I need to do.” Harry looked deep in her eyes and gave her a nod to continue. “What is really going on here? I mean, we know that there is a contract of some kind, and that Draco claimed you. But everything past that is supposition. What is the nature of your relationship?”



Draco answered, surprisingly calm as he did so, “Granger, I take offense to that question. Whatever Harry and I are is between he and I. However, as he seems to consider you his family, perhaps it is appropriate for you to see that knowledge. My father came to me near the end of May…” He told the story of the Horcrux adventure as well as his conversation with his father the night Harry arrived.



“We have been bound for one year. He is to serve me per the contract. But there was a glitch of some kind. After…” he took a drink of water to clear his throat. Harry reached and gave his hand a squeeze. “I claimed him that night, which was not what I expected, I’ll admit. We have taken the time to just get to know one another. I have not told him to do anything so much as asked him if he would like to.”



“I don’t know what has happened Hermione,” Harry continued. “I wanted him to care about me as a human, not a pet. And it seems as though he had something of a crush on me. So the bond didn’t quite come off as planned.”



“Harry,” Mr. Weasley said to cut the tension of the conversation, “are you aware that if your… consummation is… er…” He balked at the words he was trying to say.



It was Ron that picked up the thread, shocking everyone with his bluntness. “That’s to say that if he was very rough with you the first time, then, mate, the second time will result in…”



“Yes, Mr. Weasley, please tell them what the second time will result in.” The room held its collective breath as Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy entered the room with a flourish.





~~~TBC~~~