The Lion in Winter

A/N: I put personal responses at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!

Chapter Two

Harry cringed as he rolled over on the bed, pain shooting through what seemed to be his entire body. He groaned pitifully as he buried his head into the soft pillow.

He soon heard the door open, followed by the sound of soft feet on the floor as the person made their way towards his bed.

His back tensed as he pretended to be asleep, not wanting to see or talk to his husband at the moment.

“Relax” came a soft, soothing, female voice and he slowly turned to see who it was.

He saw a young woman with brown bushy hair and deep brown eyes, wearing a bright flawless smile looking down at him.

“I’m Hermione Granger,” She said cheerfully, “I’m you personal maid and…care taker of sorts” She said as she extended a small vial and a goblet of water.

“Take this, it will make you feel better”. Harry carefully took the vial and downed it in one sip before taking the goblet. He instantly felt his muscles relax and the sharp pain leave his body.

“Thank you”, he looked at the girl more closely. She was rather pretty. She wore no makeup and had on a simple deep green dress. He hair was in what looked to have been at one time a bun, but strands were now falling down and hung loosely around her head.

“Here” she said as she picked up a huge platter adored with food that had been sitting on the bedside table Harry had failed to see.

“Master Malfoy was not sure what pleased you so he told me to bring a little of everything”

“Thank you” Harry said for the second time as he happily nibbled on a piece of fruit.

“This is very delicious” He smiled at her as he took another bite.

“I’m glad you like it. I’m also glad you’re eating, you’re a little on the thin side but don’t worry about that. Molly will have you fixed up in no time” Hermione smiled as she handed him another goblet.

“Who is Molly?” Harry asked over a mouthful of pastry.

“Oh she’s the cook. She’s also my mother-in-law. She could have even the most malnourished man plumped up in a week,” The girl laughed.

“I’m not malnourished” Harry grumbled.

“Of course your not, just a little on the thin side is all.” She smiled reassuring.

Harry gave a low growl but decided to change the subject.

“So you’re married” He said rather then asked.

“Oh yes, his name is Ron” Hermione said dreamily before letting out a small giggle.

Harry felt envious as he watched Hermione’s eyes light up as she went on and on about their wedding.

He would never have that. He would never have the chance to blissfully tell someone of how he and his beloved had met, how they had fallen in love and his prince. Harry found that he no longer liked that word. Mr. Charming, yes that was a lot better. How Mr. Charming has swept him off his feet and carried him away to live happily ever after.

He sighed as he turned his attention back to the babbling women.

“Is something the matter?” She asked, he brown eyes filled with concern.

“No. I mean yes, yes something is the matter,” He said as he stood up quickly.

“I want that!” He said as he waved his arms at her. Her eyes got big and her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.

“No, not you! What you have! What you and this Ron have. You’re in love. You’re happy” Harry said dejectedly.

“And what do I have? A cruel, vial husband who would rather see me in indescribable agony then even the littlest happiness” Harry’s eyes where now shining with tears he refused to let fall. He arms lip at his side as his head hung in hopelessness.

“Oh Harry” Hermione quickly rose to her feet and took the tall man into her arms.

“It’s okay. It’s going to be alright. He really isn’t all bad, you’ll see. Maybe you can learn to love him,” She whispered but before Harry could reply the door opened again.

“Well isn’t this a lovely sight. My husband in the arms of another” A cold voice can from the doorway.

“Leave.” He snarled at Hermoine.

“I’ll see you again soon” She whispered before collecting the dirty platter and goblet and quickly disappearing from the room, closing the door behind her.

“Maybe” Draco said as he moved closer to Harry, “I should remind you to whom you belong to” He smirked at Harry as he continued to move closer.

“I don’t think you want to try and do that,” Harry said bravely, surprising the blonde when he too took a step forward.

“I understand that neither of us wanted this marriage but none the less we go it and I refuse to be your plaything. I refuse to live like this.” Harry said as he moved closer to Draco.

“I too have the power to make you life miserable. How would you like it if at the next public event I let it slip that I’m less then happy. Before you know it, word has spread that you’re a cruel and merciless Prince. How would that look? Hmm?” Harry smirked at the taller man as his pale face lost the little color it once had.

“Or I could tell my father exactly what you did to me. I’m sure he would be less then excited to know what you did to his son.” Harry hated using other people as threats but at the moment that was his only option.

“My my, I underestimated you” Draco said as he smoothed out his flawless robes.

“But you also underestimate me.” Draco’s eyes were cold, his voice emotionless and his face blank.

“So what if your father is unhappy? There is nothing he can do about it now. He signed over his son. That is something he will have to live with. And the people are to afraid to even think on their own, much less speak out about it” Draco sat down in a nearby chair, idly looking at his fingernails.

Harry growled as he launched himself at the blonde, all he could see was red as an indescribable rage over took him. He felt his fist connect with something hard, followed by a crunching sound but at the moment he didn’t care. All he cared about was causing the other man as much pain as he had felt last night.

He continued to blindly swing his arms until he was thrown backwards, his head coming in contact with a hard surface. He let out a whimper as he slid to the floor.

“That was a very rash move you made Harry” Draco stood up and Harry could see that the man was holding his nose, blood was rushing out and dripping onto the perfect robes.

“I will send someone to tend to you. This conversation however is not over. I will be back after I take care of my little problem,” The blonde said with an icy voice that made Harry wince.

Draco was gone in a flourish of robes, the door slamming behind him.

He moved his hand to the back of his head and felt that a small bump had begun to form. Nothing to horrible though.

He pulled himself to his feet and was making his way towards the bathroom when the door flew up and in came Hermione.

“Oh dear” She said once she was at Harry’s side. “I’ll have to get some ice for that” She said, turning to leave. “I’ll be back in a moment”.

Harry sighed as he moved back to the bed, lying down gently. No sooner had his head hit the pillow, Hermione came back. She was carrying yet another damn vial and goblet of water but this time she also had what appeared to be ice wrapped in cloth.

“Put this on your head, and drink these” She instructed. “I swear, you’ve been here two days and you have required more pain medicine-“

“And whose fault is that?” Harry snapped, “Not my own, I can guarantee.”

“I know” Hermione whispered as she moved some hair out of his face.

“This isn’t a fair situation for either of you but you both have to learn how to live with it. Maybe, somehow, find some shred of happiness. If things continue this way, you will both live very miserable lives” Hermione pointed out, what appeared to Harry as the obvious.

“I know that! Why don’t you tell that to your high and mightily majesty!” Harry snapped.

“I refuse to bow down to him. I am a person and I will be treated like no less” Harry ranted before something caught his eye.

“What is that?” Harry pointed to the bottle that Draco had demanded he drink last night.

Hermione looked to where Harry was pointing and bent down to pick it up. She took a waft of the potion and blushed a bright red before replying.

“It’s a contraceptive,” She said simply as she stood and gathered the empty vials, including the one from the previous night.

Harry paled visibly, his hand closing and unclosing, as if he were about to go into a panic.

“I must go, Master Malfoy will be back any time now. Please Harry, for your safety, try to get along with him. Please” Hermione begged, he eyes shining with pity.

Harry simply nodded and Hermione gave him a small smile before disappearing out the door.

Harry groaned and slumped back into his bed, waiting for his husband’s unwanted return.

A/n: That was harder to write than I thought it would be. Geez. Anyway I hope you all like it. Your input would be greatly appreciated.

Incessant_Darkness: Yes I know that it goes against history and that a Prince would never be allowed to marry a man, even if he had a same sex lover, he would be forced to marry a women. And honestly I can’t think of a valid reason why Draco was allowed to marry Harry. While writing I just imagined that it was a normal occurrence::blushes:: I’m sorry I don’t have better reasoning.

However I do realize the characters are a bit forced right now and that will level out some as the story goes on. Thanks so much for the review!

Anon…: Nope I haven’t written it somewhere else. However, there are only about 968275874809 stories out there with this basic plot lol. Thanks for reading and I’m glad you liked it!

Argo: You will more than likely love this chapter. I wanted my readers to hate Draco. However I don’t plan on making Harry bow down at his feet every time. A little of Harry’s strength will show through in this chapter.

About how Harry’s parents could do this to him? Arranged marriages were very common. And the fact that his parents were able to marry him off to a Prince would have been a big deal. They would have thought they were doing Harry a huge favor.

Draco is the first born, so he would have been trained to be a good warrior so he could ride into battle with his troops. Think of Hector from Troy (I love this movie lol) but Hector was an amazing warrior while Paris was a complete whimp. However you’re right that Harry would also have been trained, and that will show more as the story goes on.

Cirquegirl999: My thoughts exactly. Thank you so much for reading and commenting. Hope you like this chapter as well!

Thrnbrooke: Thanks for reviewing. The potion will be explained soon!

Kirito69: Mine too lol, thanks for reading!

Mphoenix: I hope I can live up to what you’re expecting! Thanks for reviewing!

rebel_mistress: I know that I didn’t do a very good job with the background in the first chapter, I’m very sorry about that. However, more things will be explained as the story continues! If your looking very confrontational scenes then I think you’ll like this chapter! Thanks for reviewing!

Krista_shadow: Glad you liked it! Thanks for reading!

Anyanka: No worries, I’m a sap when it comes to happy endings lol so there will defiantly be one :D.

Sakya: lol well here is your update! I hope I’m not to late for poor, well not so poor, Draco haha. Thanks for reading, hope you like this chapter!

CelticWitch: I can’t stand Dom!Harry and Sub!Draco. I’m not sure why, it just doesn’t seem right lol. Hope you like this chapter.

Bookworm51485: Yes I do plan on giving more of a background. I didn’t do a very good job of that in chapter one and for that, I’m sorry. Hopefully all of your questions will be answered as the story progresses.

Slashy Snitch: Thanks, I plan on making it different! I hope you like it. Thanks for reviewing!