Forced Bonding

Chapter Sixteen:




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Harry left his bedroom, and Draco, he went to the kitchen first, where he found Narcissa sitting at the table, conversing with a portrait. When he got closer, he saw it was a portrait of Lucius.

“Mum? What happened? Draco stormed up to the bedroom, told me off and then kicked me out. What’s going on?”

“Oh dear,” was all she could say.

“Oh dear? What the sodding hell is going on here?”

“Young man, that is a lady you are talking to! Show some respect!” demanded the Lucius Painting.

“It was you wasn’t it? You must have said something to him. What did you say?”

“None of your business Mr. Potter. I merely had a brief conversation with my son, that is all you need to know,” smirked the Lucius Painting.

“Harry dear, I am sure that it was just the shock of seeing his father so soon after he died. I think it was a bad idea to bring the painting here, but I thought I would help him. I will talk to him,” said Narcissa.

“No, don’t do that. It will probably just make him more angry, thinking I tattled on him. I will talk to him tonight and see what happens. I am going to go write Ron and Hermione a letter. I will be in the study, please call me for lunch.”

After watching a very sad Harry walk out of the kitchen Narcissa turned to the painting and glared at Lucius.

“What?” he asked.

“What did you do Lucius? Why is Draco acting the way he is? Earlier he was so happy, so what happened?”

“Cissa, I honestly didn’t do a thing. I want our son to be happy too. All I did was tell him to be strong and hold on to his dreams. I promise you I didn’t do anything.”

Narcissa believed him, but that still didn’t tell her why Draco was acting the way he was. She left the portrait for Lunky to hang, who told her that she had a room cleaned up for her, so Narcissa went and laid down to think about what to do about her sons current problem.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draco laid down on the bed after Harry left and tried to go to sleep, but his brain wouldn’t let him. His father told him to be strong, but Draco was weak. He let him self be bonded to Harry Bloody Potter, then immediately became a little sissy boy. Instead of holding himself together for his mothers sake after his father died, he broke down and acted like a baby, letting Harry cuddle him and take care of him. He was such a wimp, but that was going to change. He was going to be strong and help his mum with the manor and when the year was over he was going to do his apprenticeship with Snape and open his own apothecary. Harry said he didn’t really want to play Quidditch, so he would take him up on the offer and do what HE wanted. He would be strong like his father told him to do. With that thought, he slowly drifted off to sleep.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Harry went to the sitting room where Remus still sat, absorbed in the books that Harry had given him for Christmas. He was now wearing a traditional Weasley sweater. Him, Draco and Harry had all gotten one in the owl post that morning, along with the usual sweets and pies.

“What’s the matter Harry?” asked Remus immediately.

“Nothing.”

“Yes there is, don’t lie to me.”

Harry sighed. He didn’t know why he bothered keeping things to himself. There was always somebody to pry it out of him.

“Draco is acting weird is all. His mum brought his fathers sentient portrait over and after Draco talked to it, he got all weird. We got in an argument and he kicked me out of the bedroom. He is acting like his old self. I’m worried.”

“It could just be the shock of talking to his father, or maybe something his father said to him. Did you ask Lucius what happened?”

“Yes. He wouldn’t tell me. Said it was none of my business.”

“Talk to Draco after he had time to settle down, I’m sure it was nothing.”

“Your probably right. I’m going to write a quick letter to Ron and Hermione and Mrs. Weasley to thank them for our presents. Lunch will be ready soon,” said Harry, walking towards the small desk in the corner.

“Thank them for me too, will you?” said Remus.

“Sure thing.”

Harry quickly dashed off a thank you letter and just as he was tying it to Hedwig’s leg, Lunky popped in and announced lunch.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draco arrived in the kitchen a few moments after Harry, Remus and Narcissa had settled into their seats.

“Good afternoon everybody,” he said, sitting down next to Harry, but making sure that they were far enough apart to not touch.

“Did you have a nice nap Draco?” asked Harry.

“Yes Potter. Thank you for asking.”

“Potter? Why are you calling me Potter? I thought we agreed to call each other by our first names.”

“I changed my mind Potter. I see no reason why we should pretend at playing house when we don’t really like each other. In fact, I am going to have Lunky change our bed into two smaller ones. We won’t need to shag again for another year, so I see no reason why we should share a bed. Since the bond is stronger than anticipated, we don’t have to suffer that indignity any more.”

Everyone started at Draco in shock.

“Fine. If that is what you want I won’t get in your way Malfoy,” said Harry.

“Draco Malfoy, what has gotten into you? Two hours ago you were happy, now you’ve turned back into a brat,” said his mother.

“I wasn’t happy mother. I was being a weak little sissy boy. I realize now that I need to be strong for you now that he is dead. I can’t do that if I am crying on Potters shoulder and shagging him every hour. I’ve lost my appetite, I think I will go start on my holiday homework.”

Draco left the table, leaving three very stunned people sitting there.

Harry was on the verge of tears. He could feel the hurt, confusion and determination all roiling around in Draco, but he knew that if he tried to help him he would just get angry.

Apparently Narcissa didn’t care how mad Draco got at her, because she threw down her napkin and stormed after him. Sighing, Harry followed her. He stayed outside the bedroom to listen to what she said to him. He knew that Draco would probably be mad at him, but he had to find out what the hell was making him act this way.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Draco had just closed the bedroom door and sat in one of the chairs in front of the fire, when his mum stormed in after him.

“Draco, don’t you ruin a good thing by acting like a little prat!”

“What are you talking about Mother?” he sneered.

“Don’t Draco! Don’t turn on the Malfoy mask! I won’t allow it! I don’t know what you interpreted from your fathers words, but I can assure you that he didn’t mean for you to ruin a chance at happiness. I know that you and Harry would probably not have chosen each other willingly, but the fact of the matter is you are stuck with each other. He gave up his life to help you, and I think he is falling in love with you. He is trying to make both of your lives easier! Now I don’t care what you said downstairs, you were happy this morning, so I demand that you tell me what made you start acting this way!”

Draco stared at his mother for a long moment, but when it was apparent that she was not leaving until he answered her, he complied.

“Father told me to be strong and not give up my dreams! I haven’t been strong! I wallowed in my pity, acting like a woman, letting Potter take care of me, when I should have been taking care of you!”

“Draco honey, when did you ever listen to the opinions of your father? You never cared for what he thought or did, so why now? Why would you let the words from the painting of a dead man influence you now? I knew I should have waited before giving you that painting. Forget what he said. I am your mother, I don’t care that you are of age now. I will always want to take care of you, not the other way around.”

“But mum, he was right! I do need to be strong!”

“Draco, I told you, you are strong. You life has been completely rearranged in the past few days. Most people would be practically a blubbering mess, yet you are not. You were trying to make the best of a very difficult situation. Don’t ruin it. Talk to Harry, fix this. He cares a great deal about you, and you really hurt him.”

Draco pulled his mother into a big hug and whispered his thanks before going to find Harry.

Turned out it wasn’t too hard since he was standing outside the door, with a guilty look on his face.

“I take it you heard every word?” drawled Draco.

“Sorry. I know I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping, but I was worried. I didn’t know what got into you,” said a very sheepish Harry.

“That’s all right Harry. I was coming to apologize. Since you heard what we were talking about, I am guessing that I don’t need to explain myself.”

“No, and apology accepted. But I do want to talk to you about something you said earlier.”

“What was that?”

“About your apprenticeship. I really won’t mind if you apprentice with Snape next year. I think we can pull it off. We should talk to Dumbledore when we get back,” said Harry.

“I will think about it. I really don’t relish the idea of being in that castle with Dumbledore for another year, but I really do want to learn from Snape,” answered Draco.

Narcissa walked up to them and drew them both into a great big hug.

“I’m glad this bullheaded son of mine saw reason, because I really would hate to lose having you as a son-in-law Harry.”

“You know Harry, I think my mum likes you better than me,” commented Draco.

“Well, you really can’t blame her,” smirked Harry.

Draco cuffed him on the back of the head and the trio headed back down to the kitchen to finish their lunch.

(I know, it was kinda cheesy, but I didn’t want TOO much angst in this fic!)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That night found the two boys in bed, and both were feeling a bit uncomfortable with each other. Even though they had resolved their problems, they were having trouble forgetting what was said that day. Draco in particular couldn’t forget what his mum said about Harry possibly falling in love with him. He found he could admit to himself, at least, that he wouldn’t mind it if Harry was in love with him. He knew that he felt himself drawn to Harry. But he wanted to wait until they talked to Hermione. What if al they were feeling was the bond? He knew he had felt sexual thoughts for Harry BEFORE the bonding, but what he was feeling wasn’t merely sexual. He sighed and rolled over, trying to go to sleep.

Harry too was having conflicted feelings. He had heard what Narcissa told Draco about him possible being in love with the blond boy. He wasn’t sure what he felt towards Draco. What if it was just the bond? Or what if it was real? He couldn’t wait to talk to Hermione. Hopefully she had the answers he needed. He heard Draco sigh and roll over. He opened his eyes and saw that Draco was facing him.

He leaned closer and gently kissed Draco on the lips. The blond boy opened his eyes in surprise, then smiled at Harry.

“Good night Harry.”

“Good night Draco. Happy Christmas.”

“Happy Christmas.”

a/n I know it’s short, but I wanted to devote the next chapter mostly to Hermione, and the bond.

Also, please feel free to join my yahoo group. I just started it on the 29th, so there isn’t much on it. I hope to change that soon. Details are in the last chappie!