Indago:3

Chapter Eighteen

“Harry, come with me.”

Looking up, Harry frowned at Draco’s tone. “Draco,” Harry began while looking worriedly at Bran, who was sitting on the steps of Hagrid’s hut. “What’s wrong?”

“Bran, go inside and comfort the dog.”

Harry frowned. Draco had been fine a moment ago with the three of them speaking of school in the slowly cooling weather. Harry had desperately wanted to spend time with one or all of his children and Bran had been available and more than happy to hog all of his parents’ attention. But Draco’s demeanour had suddenly become stiff and wary. Harry immediately began searching the forest.

“Father?”

“Just go inside for a few minutes. We’ll come get you.”

Harry’s eye caught movement in the trees and he tensed before grabbing at Bran. “We need to go inside!”

“Don’t frighten the boy!” Draco snapped, his eyes focusing on Harry. “Calm down and let him do as I say. Alone.”

Bran saw the movement in the trees as well and Harry could feel his son’s hackles rise. “Father, I can—”

“Inside.” Draco walked toward Bran and removed Harry’s hand from the boy’s arm as he looked down at his son. “This is not for you. It’s merely a conversation. Go inside and wait for us. If I need you, I will call.”

Bran met his father’s eye. Harry watched him absorb Draco’s calm words and then nod before going inside and shutting the door.

“Draco, is that safe? To leave him? We need to get out of here! Now!” Harry hissed as he gripped Draco’s sleeve.

“You are going to relax, Harry,” Draco instructed evenly. “I am being asked to converse and am allowing you to come along. If you cannot do that, you may wait with Bran inside.”

Swallowing hard, Harry searched Draco’s eyes, trying to understand why his husband had become so cold. Draco stared back and Harry suddenly understood. Draco was in the presence of another Supero and needed to be dominant. Harry nodded and lowered his head, rubbing his cheek on his husband’s shoulder.

“Yes, Draco. I’ll stay with you if you believe Bran will be safe.”

“He will be.” Draco ran his hand through Harry’s hair and leaned down to speak into his ear. “Stay beside me and don’t worry. We won’t go past the tree line. But if I say run, you will run back here and barricade yourself inside before immediately calling for help. Understand?”

Harry nodded.

Draco led the way toward the edge of the forest. Harry had never gotten over his distaste for thickly wooded areas and was not happy to be approaching one that he hadn’t been inside in over twenty years. His eyes searched the tree line as his mind went through several curses that were nasty enough to do long-lasting damage. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Bran in the hut’s small window. He smiled reassuringly and hoped that his son would be all right. He also hoped Snape still had an eye on the other two as they finished their lunches inside the castle.

A well-dressed man stepped out from behind the clump of trees directly in front of them, nearly fifteen paces away. Harry hated that he immediately flinched and grabbed at the back of Draco’s cloak. How was he going to protect Maia from this threat if he nearly wet himself at the sight of another Supero?

“We mean you and your sub no harm,” the stranger stated in a thick accent. Harry placed him from an eastern European country.

“Now who does the ‘we’ include?” Draco asked imperiously. Harry felt Draco’s shoulder muscles bunch and relax. “And I have more than one sub, don’t I?”

The man narrowed his eyes and waved his hand. Two other men stepped into the light but stayed where they were, just outside the tree line.

“I will rephrase,” the man said. “We have no ill will toward you and your mate.” He nodded in Harry’s direction. “We want to discuss your daughter and a possible marriage contract.”

“Then talk.”

“Draco!” Harry hissed but was ignored.

“I am a very wealthy man. These two men are members of my family. We can take care of your daughter.”

“How wealthy? Do you have a bride price figure in mind?”

“Draco!” Harry tugged the cloak in his fist. “What are you doing?”

Draco’s eyes barely flicked to Harry before resettling on the men. “Shut it or go back and take care of our son.”

His mouth dropping open in shock, Harry stood frozen at his husband’s cold tone.

“I am sure we could come to a reasonable amount. My assets rival your own family’s,” the man answered proudly. “I am also of royal blood.”

“Muggle?” Draco sneered.

“Originally. But it has been Wizard for the last five centuries.”

“Title?”

The man nodded. “I am a Baron, a Lord, and my father is an Earl.”

Draco’s eyes narrowed in consideration. Harry couldn’t believe that he was actually thinking it over.

“Draco!” he said loudly enough for the other man to hear. “You are not selling our daughter!”

Draco glanced at Harry and back at the man. “She is like that but worse. She gets it from him,” he said with a nod at Harry. “Wilful, defiant, and headstrong.”

The man smiled. “I breed horses. I know how to tame a wild mare.”

“Bastard!” Harry snarled. He pulled hard on Draco’s cloak and walked around to face him. “Maia is not a wild mare! You are not selling her! How dare you even think about it! If you think—”

Harry was suddenly spun around and his back was slammed against Draco’s chest. Draco’s hand was around his throat, bending his head back and making his ear brush against Draco’s shoulder.

And he was suddenly drowning in Draco’s powerful scent.

“D-Draco…” he whispered.

“I see what you mean,” the man remarked with a chuckle. “But a door mat is never fun, yes? It is the wilful ones that are the most endearing.”

“Perhaps to some. I like mine obedient and my mate has forgotten himself.” Draco’s voice was calm as he held Harry pinned to his body. “I will apologize for him.”

“No need. He is very handsome.”

“Thank you.”

“And you can excuse him for wanting to keep his young with him, I believe. But that bond must break eventually.”

“Yes, it does,” Draco answered conversationally. “But I will still need to think over your proposal. Draw up a contract and have it sent to me here, care of Professor Snape. You must understand that you are the first offer and I must look at all options.”

“Of course, of course.” The man smiled and bowed. When he straightened, his eyes were narrowed in thought. “I believe I have seen another of us inside that school. Your daughter is still… pure?”

“Does it matter?” Draco asked with a raised eyebrow and cool tone. “Will you not be creating your own pack with your cousins there?”

“Yes, yes. But I must admit I want to be the one to… initiate her into a married life. To have her learn directly from me how it is to be done.” The man smiled. “To correct the work of an inexperienced trainer is tedious and will be harder on her.”

“You have my word that the other will not be touching my daughter,” Draco declared firmly. “At all.”

“Good, good. Then I will have the papers drawn up and sent to you immediately.” The man bowed again. “I am very glad we could discuss this in a civilized manner.”

“It is always best that way,” Draco agreed coolly. “But you have been remiss in not telling me your name.”

“Forgive me. I am Gravit Darlinte,” the man said with a bow.

“Darlinte? The same man my father would speak of?”

“Yes. Either I or my own father, in his day.”

Draco nodded. “Very well. It is good to see we were not the only family to see to ourselves during… trying times.”

“Yes. We have some information that your Snape may like to see. I have brought some of it here from our family’s vault. I would be happy to add this into the marriage contract.”

Draco nodded again. “Yes, do that. I can assure you that he would be most happy to see it and it may sway him to vote in your favour.”

“Good, good. Then I shall be contacting you soon. Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon.”

The men melted back into the shadows. Draco stood still for a few minutes more before turning back toward the hut, pulling Harry behind him.

The door opened before he got to it and Bran rushed out.

“Who were those men? What happened?”

“Have you no civility?” Draco snapped as he shoved Bran back inside and followed him in. He sat Harry down on a giant wooden chair.

“Wh-what happened to Dad?” Bran asked hesitantly, watching Harry nervously. “And something is… Something is making me itchy,” he whispered.

Draco grabbed his son’s chin and lifted it into the light coming in through the window. With a finger he traced the faint silver traces running along the still smooth cheeks.

“You’ll be fine in just a moment,” Draco said looking down into his son’s eyes. “Do you remember when I spoke to you and Azeas about the pheromones?”

“Yeah. Is that what’s happening?” Bran looked at his dad. Harry was sitting exactly as Draco had left him, his eyes never leaving Draco.

“Yes.” Draco let Bran’s face go and walked a few feet away from Harry. “I am about to stop it.”

“You are?” Bran looked at his father in awe. “Will I be able to do it? Will I be able to make it start and sto—”

“You bastard!”

Bran jumped nearly a foot as his dad sprung to life.

Harry stood facing Draco. His entire body radiated rage: his hands were fisted and his face was becoming redder and redder.

“Harry. A child is here.”

“I don’t bloody care! They’re just chattel anyway, aren’t they?” Harry shouted. “I merely carried and gave birth to them to make you look good in the bloody papers and to line your pockets!”

“You’re frightening your son.” Draco’s voice remained calm.

“Good! He should be petrified! His father is going to sell him to the highest bidder!” Harry nearly screamed. “A stallion, right? That’s what you would call him, yeah? I might as well fit him with a saddle now, you pompous, ego-driven, heartless, cruel bastard! You and your fucking cronies are staying away from my children! Do you hear me?”

“Everyone can hear you, love.”

“Don’t you…!” Harry grabbed a cup of tea off the table and hurled it at Draco. Tea splashed the wall as the cup smashed into shards against the fireplace. Draco had gotten a bit of tea on his cloak, but remained unharmed due to a quick duck.

Harry then grabbed a fork and hurled it with deadly accuracy. A quick protection charm was all Draco was able to get out to save him from being impaled. When Harry went for the large knife, Draco moved quickly and was able to grab him. Harry tried stabbing him but his arm was immobile.

“Get off me!”

“Let go of the knife, Harry. Now.”

“Go to hell!” Harry yanked and fought to get his arm free. He swung with his other fist but it was grabbed as well. Draco’s face showed the strain he was exerting to keep Harry from stabbing him.

After seconds that seemed like minutes to everyone in the room, Draco cursed and jerked Harry hard, causing Harry’s head to snap back. With an odd step and twist, Draco was able to get Harry’s back to him and Harry’s own arms crossed over his heaving chest, imprisoning him against Draco.

“Let go of me!”

“As soon as you let go of the knife,” Draco said calmly into his ear. “You are truly terrifying Bran. Drop the knife.”

They stood, locked in battle for a moment, until Harry made a strangled noise of defeated anger. The knife clattered down to the table.

“Thank you, love,” Draco murmured.

“Get off me!” Harry hissed. “I don’t want you touching me! I don’t want you anywhere near me after what you did!”

Draco didn’t respond and instead turned them back toward the room. Bran stood in the corner of the small eat-in kitchen, his face white as he watched his parents with wide eyes.

“Bran, go sit down in one of those ridiculous chairs and give your dad a minute,” Draco instructed calmly. Bran nodded wordlessly and skirted past them until he climbed into one of the large armchairs.

“Draco, let go of me. Let go of me now.”

“Don’t pick up another weapon. If you do, I will leash you for your and Bran’s safety.”

“Go to hell!”

Draco let Harry go and watched him quickly rush to the opposite side of the small hut. Harry glared at him, his chest heaving with emotion.

“Now, we are going to calmly resume our lunch, send our son back to his studies, and you and I will talk,” Draco stated firmly as he moved to hand Bran a glass of water he poured from the jug on the table. “Bran, quit staring at your dad like that. He is agitated and will not appreciate it. And I am sure your eyes would like a bit of moisture now and then, so do please blink.”

Bran did so, blinking repeatedly while nodding and grabbing the drink offered to him. Draco was amused that the normally mouthy boy was so silent.

“Harry, would you like your sandwich?” he asked as he summoned their lunch from outside and laid it on the table.

“I don’t want anything from you,” Harry snarled.

“All right, then.” Draco took a pear and began to eat it.

“Is…” Bran cleared his throat and tried again. “Dad, are you all right?”

“He’s fine, Bran,” Draco answered. “Do you remember one of the things about young dragons?”

“They have sharp baby teeth?”

“About their parents.”

Bran frowned. “Not to get in between a parent and baby dragon because you’ll be killed?”

Draco nodded. “Your dad had his young threatened and is not very happy about it.”

Bran looked at Harry, who was standing against a wall, eyes glued to Draco. “Dad?” Bran ventured in a whisper. “Were those men being nasty?”

“Yes! Yes, they were, Bran. And your father was one of them! You are not to go anywhere with your father ever—”

“Enough!” Draco suddenly barked. “Bran, finish your water and get back to school.”

Bran downed the glass and scuttled toward the door. “Yes, sir.” He stepped out into the sunshine. “Um, Father?”

“What is it?”

“Is this something I shouldn’t tell other people?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“Yes, sir.” Bran disappeared and Draco watched him from the window until his son was safely inside the castle walls. Then he turned toward Harry.

Harry was still standing against the wall, his arms wrapped around himself, and glaring at Draco.

“Don’t you ever set any of my children against me,” Draco said in a low and firm voice.

“They are not your children! I don’t want you anywhere near them!”

“I planted those children inside you!” Draco shouted, losing his temper. “They carry my name! I have provided for and protected them since their conception! Do you honestly think I would stop now?”

Glaring still, Harry flung up his hands. “You never tell me anything, so how would I know?!”

“I don’t know, Potter, perhaps the fact that you love and trust me would be a big fucking clue!”

“You used the smell on me!”

“And I would do it again! You stepped out of character!”

“It wasn’t a fucking play, Malfoy!”

“Yes, it was, Potter!”

Harry stopped and swallowed hard. His knees bent and he slid down the wall until he sat on the rough wooden floor. “Don’t talk about Maia like that,” he whispered. “Not even for show.”

Draco sighed and went to kneel down beside Harry. “Love, you have to know I would never hurt any of them. I figured out quickly that Darlinte was unacceptable.”

Harry glared up at Draco. “What? You were actually going to consider it?”

“Of course. A marriage contract would be ideal, as I have said all along.”

“Draco! How could you think to sell your own daughter?”

“Well, if I could sell another man’s daughter for profit, I’d be happy to,” Draco answered with a smirk before he narrowed his eyes in anger. “Besides, after the way she acted last night, I would be quite happy to get her off my hands as quickly as possible.”

Harry moved to stand up but was forestalled by Draco’s hold on his arm. “She’s upset about everything!” Harry said angrily. “You don’t understand, so don’t judge!”

“I do understand,” Draco answered softly. “But I think you are taking on her distress. She is an oblivious teenager and doesn’t grasp what actually could happen. You do. She’s you, walking into the forest with a basket in her hand, and you are desperately trying to stop her.”

Harry looked away, his eyes glassy with unshed tears. Draco ran a hand through Harry’s hair and pulled him into his own body for comfort.

“You’ve always been a victim of your own emotions. I can see what is happening. She’s arrogantly going forward and you are terrified for her. So if I want it to stop as quickly as possible, do you blame me?”

“I’m not letting you sell her!” Harry whispered fiercely. “No matter what happens!”

Draco sighed. “Yes, yes.” He combed his hand through Harry’s hair again, bringing his lips to Harry’s. “When is your next class?”

“In about two hours,” Harry whispered.

“Good.” Draco deepened the kiss and pressed Harry against the wall.

“Mmm. Draco!” Harry gasped out.

“I need this,” Draco rasped and began biting and licking Harry’s neck and jaw. Harry’s shirt was quickly pulled off and Draco licked his way down to nipples and belly.

“D-Draco, mmm, I want… on my, unh, back…”

Draco grabbed Harry’s hair at the back of his head and tugged him down onto the floor. Harry cried out at the rough treatment and lifted his hips, eager for more. His trousers and pants were quickly stripped from him and Draco’s mouth quickly devoured him. Harry moaned and grabbed at Draco’s arms.

“Merlin, Draco!”

“They were looking at you,” Draco snarled. Silver flashed on his face. “You argued with me!”

“I’m sorry!” Harry gasped as his legs were spread wide.

“Shut it!” Draco undid his belt and fly. “I don’t want apologies. I want your obedience!”

“Yes!”

Draco summoned cooking oil from the counter near them. “I want you to do as I say, when I say it!”

“Yes, Draco!”

When Draco slid inside, Harry cried out and wrapped his arms tightly around his husband's shoulders. They both grunted and moaned at the fierceness of it. They didn’t last long; their emotions had them on the brink faster than mere lust could produce.

“I should have come on your face,” Draco remarked as he brushed his hair off his forehead.

“Animal.” Harry spoke with his eyes closed, trying to catch his breath. Draco smirked, leaned over, and licked a long trail from Harry’s chin to his hairline.

“Ugh! Draco!” Harry’s eyes opened and he wiped his face. When he caught sight of Draco’s smirk, he laughed. “Prat.”

They laid on the floor a bit longer, listening to the wind in the trees just outside.

“I wish this moment would last forever,” Harry said with a sigh.

Draco chuckled. “Why, Mrs. Malfoy. I never knew you were so sentimental. Especially after brandishing a knife at me.”

Harry punched Draco’s arm and then his eyes went wide. “Oh hell! Bran!” He sat up and grabbed his shirt. “He’ll think I belong in an insane asylum!”

“You do, but that is beside the point.” Draco followed him up. “Besides, he’s seen you at Lustrum. You were just a bit more violent. No worries.”

Harry’s head was in his hands. “I wish I didn’t do that. I just blank out,” he muttered worriedly into his hands. “I scare the children and I don’t mean to.”

“Stop it. I told you it was fine. Bran understands. It was a bit shocking, but he’ll get over it.”

Harry looked at Draco. “I’m sure I wouldn’t have actually hurt you,” he said with a wince.

“Yes, well, I am sure you would have.” Draco stood up and hoisted Harry to his feet, smacking him on the bum. “It’s what keeps the spice in our marriage, love,” he said with a smirk. “Now let’s get the professor ready for his class, eh? Make you all spiffy and academic.”

Harry took a deep breath and smiled. “Yeah.”

He really needed to get a hold of Maia as soon as he could… or as soon as she would let him come near her.