Memoirs of a Male Escort

Authors Note: Many many thanks to my beta for this chapter, Laurel (DreamingInColour) who has two really brilliant WIP stories at the moment that you should all go read!!) Also, I've started a yahoo group for anyone who wishes to join which I will be using for various things related to my fiction including update alerts, story/chapter discussion and other things. If you're interested you can join at groups dot yahoo dot com/group/Digitallace/

Chapter 16 Check the Box

It’s more important than anything not to let your emotions get the best of you in any situation. I’m not just talking about love. Obviously it’s a foolish idea to let yourself fall for a john, but don’t underestimate all the other emotions that plague the human soul. You can’t let yourself get too sad, too happy, or even too angry; none of these bode well for a future in this career, in this lifestyle.

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“Harry, I swear to Merlin if you don’t stop playing savior with me-“ Draco began but was promptly cut off by Harry’s narrowed eyes.

“You can’t pick and choose which parts of my personality you want to deal with, Draco. This is me, take it or leave it,” Harry demanded, challenging Draco for an immediate answer.

They were alone in Harry’s office at the Ministry and Dennis was on his way over to watch Draco and make sure nothing happened to him while Harry was interrogating potential murder suspects and friends. The fact that those two things were synonymous was weighing heavily on Harry’s heart.

“What if I leave it?” Draco challenged. Harry’s parental coddling since being released from the hospital was beginning to wear on him, but even Harry knew he didn’t mean what he said, and that he would never discard a potential relationship with the Gryffindor hero.

“Well then it’s on you, Draco. I can’t make your decisions for you. You’re a big boy now,” Harry bit out. “But it won’t change the fact that you’re staying in this room and you’ll remain under my protection until I catch whoever did this.”

When Draco first thought of Harry devoting all of his free time to protecting him, this wasn’t what he had expected. He thought he would be holed up in a room in some foreign land with Harry naked and all for him, not locked away with Harry’s assistant in a Ministry office. “Well fine then, I’ll take it, seeing as though you leave me no choice in the matter, but you had better be planning to make this up to me,” Draco huffed.

Harry smiled tightly and walked over to stand in front of Draco’s still too pale form. The incident had taken an obvious toll on him and Harry was afraid to be too affectionate, too overwhelmed by his desire for him and potentially hurt Draco further. Draco, however, knew well the extent of his injuries and banished the dull ache he still felt in his abdomen and pulled Harry closer. “I’m fine,” he whispered for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“You almost died,” Harry breathed, his eyes taking on the hurt that they had held most of Draco’s waking moments in the hospital.

“But I didn’t,” Draco informed him, unwisely attempting to prove it by poking at his wounds, making him wince. “See, I’m fine, or at least I will be very soon. The healer said I was fit as a fiddle, in fact, I think he wanted to ask me out,” Draco teased

Harry rolled his eyes but smiled all the same. “I’d see him at the end of my wand if he even attempted it.”

“That’s the kind of defense I can handle,” Draco responded, kissing his overprotective Gryffindor.

Harry sagged against him, not able to get enough of Draco’s passion and fire. They had probably kissed over a dozen times since Draco had woken up the day before, and every single time felt like the first. Harry memorized every ridge and every smooth expanse of Draco’s mouth, as if that kiss would be their last. He had little fear that it would be, but he never wanted to run the risk of forgetting even a second of his time with Draco.

There was a knock at the door causing them to reluctantly part, and Draco hoped Harry had missed his pained expression as Harry’s hand accidentally grazed his wound. It would be completely healed in another day or so, but at the moment there was still exposed and raw flesh where the gash was healing.

“Sir, your friends… the suspects… they’re ready,” Dennis stuttered, unsure of what to call the familiar group of people in the interrogation room.

Harry smiled sadly and nodded. “I’m on my way,” he said as he walked to the door. “Stay put,” he instructed Draco, who stuck out his tongue. So what if it was childish, Harry was treating him like a child, so why not act that way.

“Love you,” Harry mouthed from the door and Draco’s heart beat faster as those simple silent words made his temporary prison sentence in Harry’s office that much more bearable.

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Harry smiled to himself on the way over to the Auror offices. Draco was obviously irked by Harry’s constant vigilance, but it couldn’t be helped at the moment, and the sooner he found out who was behind the attack in his home, the faster their relationship could resemble something normal or at least as normal as things were allowed to be in Harry’s world.

He put on his careful Minister mask and entered the first stark white room. Madame X sat in a cold metal chair looking confused but otherwise unfazed by her summons to the Ministry building, although she did seem surprised to be greeted by Harry.

“Madame X, how are you this evening?” Harry asked, pulling out the chair and sitting across from her.

“I’m curious as to why I’m being called here,” she replied. “I assumed that my profession wouldn’t be brought to the Ministry’s attention because of my high reaching clientele, but alas, here I am, and here you are.”

“This has nothing to do with your escort service; this has to do with an attack. Where were you Thursday morning at around eight?” Harry asked.

Her eyes widened and she stared incredulously. “What happened, is everything okay, is Draco okay?” she asked.

Harry sighed and nodded. If her reaction was even remotely genuine she had no knowledge of the attack. “He’ll be fine, but the fact is he was injured, almost killed, in my home and through my own wards, which I must say are very powerful.”

“Can I see him?” she asked.

“Not just yet. I’m not letting him out of my sight until I find out who did this and the list of suspects is very short at the moment,” Harry muttered, still uneasy that he was about to have to interrogate his former boss and then his best friends.

“And I’m on that list?” she asked knowingly.

“Yes, you’re one of the few that knew of my relationship with Draco as well as the fact that he was staying with me,” Harry replied.

“But I don’t know where you live,” she corrected.

Harry frowned and shook his head. “You do. I had to give you the address for you to send Draco over that first night.”

“It was forwarded directly to Draco, no one else ever saw the parchment, not even me. Most of the time these things self-destruct once you read them,” she told him and he could see it in her eyes that it was the truth.

“Then there is another matter I need to discuss with you,” Harry told her.

“What matter is that, Minister?” she asked formally.

“I would like to purchase Draco’s freedom from his contract with you,” Harry said bluntly.

Her eyes went wide momentarily and then narrowed at once as she realized the Minister was not teasing. “You couldn’t afford it, Minister. Draco’s my highest performer.”

“I think you’d be surprised at what I can and cannot afford, Madame,” he replied.

She shook her head. “There will be no negotiations on this, Harry. I’ll barter away any other, but not Malfoy.”

“Then we are at an impasse, because he’s already mine,” Harry informed her firmly.

“He’s bound to me, Potter,” she spat. “By oath and contract.”

“No escort contract will hold up in front of the Wizengamot,” Harry scoffed.

“It need not go to the Wizengamot, Minister. It’s a blood contract, which will turn his resolve to side with me whenever I invoke it,” she informed him. “Have fun playing house with my Draco while you can, because the minute you find his attacker, he’ll be back in my employ.”

Harry scowled at her and let the fringes of his magic tease the air in the room, and he could tell she felt it. “You’d do well to remember who I am, Madame.”

She expended a good deal of effort not to wince against the heat of Harry’s magic, but she eventually won out against it. “Is that a threat?”

“The Minister doesn’t make threats, but be warned that Draco is mine, and I will have that contract in the end, I suggest you think on what price you would like to name. I’m a reasonable man and don’t expect you to part with him for free,” Harry replied evenly and left the room, taking a deep steadying breath as he did.

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Draco paced Harry’s office, eager to see his Gryffindor again. He could hardly believe his luck in winning over the most important man who had ever existed in Draco’s life. From the age of eleven Draco had been plagued by Harry, always in his shadow, always standing on the edge of the greatness that Harry would become. In his sixth year the opportunity finally came when he could best Potter at everything by turning the war to benefit him, and he took it.

It was his biggest regret.

If he hadn’t been trying so hard to be better than Potter, he never would have followed his father’s footsteps. If he would have just focused on being better for Potter, he would have joined the Order instead, and then maybe he would have experienced what he now had with Harry, years ago.

But that was past, and now all Draco could do was try to be better for the present and the future. Harry was as good as his if he didn’t screw it up and he yearned for a moment to be alone with him, away from the chaos of the attack, and the bustling of the hospital and the guilt Harry felt over interrogating his best friends.

Draco secretly hoped it was Blake, so that the attractive former flame of Harry’s would quietly disappear from their lives, but he wasn’t holding out for such a simple solution. Normally he would wish it to be Weasley so that he wouldn’t find the two one day reconciled and find himself at a ginger haired Christmas at Harry’s side. Talk about awkward. But no, he didn’t want that to be the result either, because it would simply devastate Harry, and he wanted so badly for his boyfriend to be happy.

Boyfriend.

The word made him laugh out loud, which made Dennis look at him curiously.

“What would you call Harry?” he asked Dennis suddenly.

“Er, Minister, sir, or boss,” he replied, looking confused by what Draco meant with his question.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Not you, me. What do I call him?”

“How about ‘Harry’?” Dennis offered unhelpfully.

“I know his name, idiot Gryffindor. I mean, what is he to me?” Draco asked, now more to himself then Harry’s nitwit assistant.

“Well, you shouldn’t call him an idiot Gryffindor, that’s for certain, and you should probably be asking him, unless of course you would like to make it an official memo,” Dennis replied sarcastically.

Draco was about to roll his eyes again when the idea repeated itself in his mind and a bubble of laughter escaped his lips. “Can I really do that?”

“Well, you can’t but I can,” Dennis replied.

“Well, get to it then,” Draco ordered, gesturing Dennis over to Harry’s desk.

Dennis shook his head, unable to understand how he had been relegated to babysitting Draco Malfoy, and pulled out a sheet of blue parchment. “Would you like him to be able to check a box with the answer, or would you like him to fill out his response in essay format?” Dennis asked sarcastically.

“Both,” Draco replied with a pleased smile, before dictating what he would like the memo to read.

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Harry was on his way to the next room, where Kingsley sat waiting for him, when a small scrap of blue parchment the back of his head. He grabbed it and yanked it open, perplexed by the seal, which read ‘From the Desk of Harry Potter, Minister for Magic’.

After a wafting of yellow magic tendrils fizzled away, assuring that Harry was in fact, Harry, the note opened, revealing the small tight handwriting of his assistant. Harry grinned and rolled his eyes. “What in Merlin’s name does Draco have him doing over there?” he mused to himself.

Draco Malfoy has a question of great importance for the Minister to answer at once. Please indicate which of these terms could be used to describe him.

A.) Friend

B.) Boyfriend

C.) Exclusive Boyfriend

D.) Lover

E.) Future Husband

In essay format, please indicate the reasoning for your selection.

Please return this form at your earliest convenience.

(Sorry, sir)

Dennis Creevy

Assistant to the Minister for Magic (hopefully still)

Harry chuckled and borrowed a quill from a nearby desk, scribbled his answers and sent the memo back to his office.

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As the blue parchment whizzed past him, Draco made a grab for it, but it eluded him easily and instead opted to hover in front of Dennis until he took it from the air and opened it.

Draco attempted to snatch it out of his grip but the parchment gave him a nasty shock and remained firmly in Dennis’s hands. “You can’t mess with the Minister’s mail,” Dennis teased.

“Fine, would you just read it already?” Draco asked impatiently.

Dennis scanned the document and chuckled, then cleared his throat. “He checked all the boxes, plus added one of his own calling you ‘a pain in the arse’ and then under the essay section he wrote ‘because I love you, now stop wasting office supplies and be patient, I’ll be back soon’.”

“Anything else?” Draco asked, trying to mask his own smile.

“He says to be nice to me,” Dennis added.

“Liar,” Draco replied and leaned back in his chair, the grin he had been trying to suppress most of the day finally spreading across his face.

“Okay, I made that part up, but he really does love you. You should have seen the way he looked after you at the hospital. I heard he even yelled at Mrs. Granger-Weasley over you,” Dennis said.

Draco didn’t want his exclusive boyfriend, lover and future husband to fight with his friends. Everyone knew how little of those Harry had to spare lately, and that most people only used him for his fame or money. But even so, the fact that Harry defended their relationship to his oldest and dearest friend made him feel a smidge more warm and fuzzy that he was used to.

Could this be real?

Could it be possible that Harry Potter, his Harry was really in love with him? He knew people who let the word fall from their mouths long before they could ever really mean it. Clients had told him that they loved him, just filling a moment of need, but obviously they couldn’t. Was it the same for Harry, did he feel genuinely, or was he just looking to fill the need to have someone to love?

Draco never said it unless he meant it, not even to fulfill a client’s wish, and he felt it for Harry, but then again he had known of his attraction to Potter for years now, not just weeks or days like Harry. Could it be true, could Harry really be in love with him after such a short time?

He hoped so. He had never dare hope for something as strongly as he hoped for that.

Authors Note: Okay, so I know this chapter was sort of filler fluff, but I swear I'm working up to something bigger. I hope you all voted today (at least those of you that can) For reviewing this chapter, you'll get a set of polaroids that Harry took of Draco in the shower