Rivaling Affections

Authors Note: So, as with most of my stories I have made a title header for this one as well. You can find it at my website or my livejournal. Many thanks to my beta Alexandra, who as with all of my stories, used her magic on this one.

Chapter 2 An Excess of Surprises

Harry had never seen such an opulent home as Malfoy Manor. The last time he had been there, his eyesight was far too bad and he mostly only saw the basement, at any rate. Why a family of only three people needed a home the size of an entire wing of the Ministry was beyond him. It seemed stupidly excessive to Harry, though he was sure that his cottage would seem like a hovel to the Malfoy’s.

The floors were covered in a sparkling white marble that continued partway up the wall only to stop at heavily contrasting deep green brocade wallpaper. In various points along the wall were large white columns with green and black lines veining through the smooth surface. The fireplace he had just exited took up an entire wall, and looked like it could have easily received a whole Quidditch team at once.

Narcissa glided into the room and bowed gently. “Mr. Potter, how good of you to grace our humble home,” she said sweetly.

Harry tried to stifle a laugh at her phrasing, but didn’t quite manage. “Your home is far from humble, Mrs. Malfoy,” he replied. “I was just marveling at the… abundance of it.”

A subtle smile curled at the edge of her lips and she laughed lightly, a small tinkling sound. “It’s true, the home is far too large for us, but at one point, the Malfoy family was quite large, over twenty people lived in this home at once only a generation ago. It’s a lonely place now, and will be even more so if you succeed on your mission,” she said, a frown tingeing her previous smile.

“My mission?” Harry asked. He hadn’t been aware that McGonagall had notified Mrs. Malfoy of the reason for his visit.

“Don’t be coy with me, Mr. Potter. I am well aware of the school’s lack of a potions professor at the moment, and I am equally aware that Draco is more than excellent in that particular subject. Though I dare say you have quite a challenge in front of you if you intend to pull him from the manor,” she said with a laugh.

She had already laced her arm through Harry’s and was pulling him gently through the receiving hall and up a grand wide staircase. There were large wizarding paintings lining the walls with various Malfoy ancestors glaring at Harry balefully.

Most of them looked as he had expected, pale skin, fair hair and pointed features. Though as he ventured further down the hall, the hair grew darker and so did the skin. The faces stayed just as sharp however.

They passed a painting of a wiry man with a curled black mustache and fuzzy black eyebrows. The man huffed at Harry and spouted quick French that he could not understand, but based on the spitting tone of the words, he could guess that it wasn’t welcoming or friendly.

“Don’t pay him any mind,” Narcissa said lightly. “Felix isn’t even nice to our pureblood guests.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” Harry muttered, shooting a glare at the portrait.

Harry felt as though his legs would fall off by the time Narcissa finally came to a stop outside a large set of ivory double doors. She knocked lightly and waited.

After several moments they opened to reveal a man that Harry for a moment mistook for Lucius. He was lithe and fit and taller than Harry, with his long blonde hair pulled into a loose ponytail at the nape of his neck.

His sharply pointed nose was raised just slightly, looking down at Harry with a haughtiness that he remembered all too well, and Harry inwardly groaned, steeling himself from walking away. He would make Minerva pay later for sending him as her messenger.

“Potter,” he said, his tone offering no pleasure at his presence.

“Malfoy,” Harry said, with an air of indifference. He had perfected his ability to read people after the war, and usually knew exactly how to deal with them, Malfoy it seemed, still rankled him though.

Narcissa shot her son a warning glance and the door swung open hesitantly and Draco motioned for Harry to come in. Harry nodded briefly to Mrs. Malfoy and walked into the large gilded cage that was Malfoy’s room.

Everything in the room was a pale shade of ivory with rubbed gold accents. The curtains on all the windows – and there were eight of them in the sitting room alone – were a burnished golden billowy silk. The room they were in seemed to just be a sitting area, with a sofa and two armchairs, all in ancient and expensive looking French furnishing.

There were several doors leading from the room and one giant archway on the far end of the room, through which Harry could see a vast library that would even put Hermione’s to shame. He imagined at least one of the doors led to a bedroom, which Harry suddenly was curious to see.

He shook the offending thought from his head immediately and set his stern glare on Malfoy. “I’m sure you’re aware of the reason for my visit?” he asked, avoiding small talk and pretense.

Draco laughed and sat in the nearest armchair. “Blunt as always I see, I suppose some things never really change.”

Harry sighed slightly and remained standing. “I thought you’d like to get me out of your way as soon as possible,” he answered.

Draco shrugged. “That much is true at least.”

A faint pop sounded and a moment later a small house elf appeared carrying an oversized silver platter with tea and biscuits. “Sit, Potter. It’s rude to stand there like that while I’m offering tea.”

“You hadn’t actually offered,” Harry replied with a raised eyebrow, not moving a muscle to obey Draco’s request.

Draco’s lips curved into a gentle smirk. “True, please Potter, sit and have tea with me,” he said, gesturing to the sofa beside him and the platted on the coffee table.

Ignoring Draco’s suggested seat, Harry instead sat in the armchair opposite him, the furthest place he could be from Draco. He could tell it was with great effort that Draco did not roll his eyes and that made Harry smile.

“What’s so funny?” he asked.

“You. You’re actually attempting to be civil,” Harry replied with a laugh.

“And clearly you’re not, which doesn’t surprise me. I’m sure a hero such as yourself never needs to use common courtesy,” Malfoy drawled.

Harry winced at the term ‘hero’ but didn’t correct him. In truth he was being rude and should curb his behavior to that of a proper representative of Hogwarts. “I’m sorry, Malfoy. You’re right, I’m being rude. How about we begin again? It’s good to see you, Malfoy. It’s been awhile,” he said lightly, as if he were talking to Ron or Hermione.

His sparkling gray eyes widened slightly and his lips parted in a small gasp. He quickly regained his composure however and bowed his head so quickly that Harry was sure he had imagined taking Draco off guard to begin with. “It’s good to see you as well. Though, I feel like I’ve seen quite a bit of you lately,” he replied with a smirk.

“How do you mean?” Harry asked with a dark black eyebrow raised in confusion. He couldn’t recall having even seen Draco in passing since Harry attended his trial some eight plus years back.

Draco laughed lightly. “Hadn’t you realized you were Witch Weekly’s most eligible bachelor this year?” he asked, knowing full well he couldn’t have missed it even if Potter currently lived in a cave, which was hardly likely.

“Oh, that,” he mumbled. “Yeah, that was a decent lesson in embarrassment. I had to increase my wards to keep people out of my home. I had random witches sneaking in at night, it was horrid,” he said with a shudder.

“Poor, Potter,” Draco replied sarcastically.

“I mean, I couldn’t possibly still warrant this kind of publicity? It’s been more than ten years!” he exclaimed as if Draco hadn’t said a word.

A perplexed look crossed over Draco’s face. “I’m sure you love the attention, Potter. No need to put up a façade here,” he added. He desperately wished to prove his theory about the fame seeking Harry Potter true, wanted him to have the flaw, because as of this point, he could see no other.

Harry rolled his eyes and picked up his tea, cringing at the bitterness, and added more sugar, nearly laughing at Draco’s disgusted face. “I like it sweet,” he informed him.

“Obviously you also like teeth rot,” Draco replied.

“I was under the impression that it was improper to insult a guest,” Harry said, lifting his teacup to his mouth to hide his grin.

“I’m sure you’ve read several books on etiquette, Potter, still you’re not entirely wrong. I’ll try to behave,” he added with a smirk that said otherwise.

“Perhaps it would be better if I just got on with the proposal and got out of your hair?” he asked.

Draco shrugged. “If you like.”

“As I’m sure you’re aware, Slughorn has retired,” he began, “and so we are in need of a Potions Professor. It’s been suggested that we should offer the position to you,” he finished.

Draco laughed. “I had hopes that perhaps you had a reasonable request in mind when you arrived.”

Harry frowned. “It’s a perfectly reasonable request, Malfoy. If you don’t want the position, I have plenty of others who do.”

“Then why even offer it to me in the first place? You obviously can’t stand me and you couldn’t possibly think that the parents of those in Hogwarts would agree to an ex Death Eater teaching their students,” he scoffed.

“Does the name Snape ring a bell? It should since he was your pet,” Harry said, satisfied at Draco’s look of chagrin. “As for me not being able to stand you, that’s merely speculation on your part. For all you know I could be harboring secret desires for your pretty pale flesh,” he lied smoothly.

He had to stifle a laugh at Draco’s flustered reaction, but the blonde hadn’t said a word to rebuke his inappropriate words. He filed that tidbit of information away for later pondering.

“As for the reason we’re offering it to you first, that’s because of a personal recommendation that I hold in high regard,” he finished, having answered all of Draco’s obligatory questions.

“Whose?” Draco asked at once.

“Andromeda Tonks,” Harry replied easily.

“My aunt? Why would she suggest me?” he asked, more to himself than to Harry.

“Perhaps she wants to get to know you better?” Harry speculated.

“And how would my being at the school achieve that?” he scoffed.

Harry smiled innocently. “She probably hopes we’ll be come friends. She’s a tad manipulative that way.”

“Again I ask, how would that help her get to know me?” he asked.

Harry shrugged lightly. “Maybe because she lives with me?”

“She what? How could you possibly have a Black living at your home?” he demanded.

Harry rolled his eyes. “She’s the mother of a dear old friend, and I’m the godfather to her grandson, Teddy. We’ve had an arrangement of sorts for several years now,” he said.

“You… are you sleeping with my Aunt?” Draco shouted.

“Merlin, no!” Harry exclaimed. “I’m not even straight,” he blurted unintentionally. It was probably the worst thing he could have said in front of Malfoy. He had been nothing but lucky that the papers and magazines hadn’t found out yet, which was the only reason he gave the okay to Witch Weekly to run the article they did. He didn’t wish to appear too suspicious.

“You’re kidding me? The hero of the wizarding world, Voldemort’s Bane likes men?” Draco asked, wide-eyed.

Harry sighed. “Look, I’d prefer it if you didn’t blab that everywhere, Malfoy,” he said, knowing full well he was wasting his breath.

“I wouldn’t,” Draco said quickly.

“Why not?” Harry asked tentatively, slightly taken aback by the swift and decent answer.

“I am too,” he muttered.

Harry frowned. “I don’t suppose Andromeda would know this?”

Draco nodded, understanding his meaning at once. “Yes, she would, and this is precisely the kind of thing she would do,” he added.

Harry shrugged. “Well, it’s easy enough to remedy. I’ll just tell them you said no, and we can go about our happy and separate ways,” he said, getting up and offering his hand to Draco.

He looked at Harry’s extended hand a bit skeptically. “What if I want to teach?”

Harry nearly fell over with surprise. “You… want to? Even after…”

“Just because I’m a professor there, doesn’t mean we even have to see other, let alone be friends. Plus the change of pace is exactly what I need right now,” he said.

“You realize this means you’ll have to be nice, to students, other professor? Even me,” Harry added with a smirk.

“Does the name Snape ring a bell?” he asked, throwing Harry’s previous words back at him.

Harry sighed dramatically. “If it’s what you want, I’ll let McGonagall know and she can contact you with the details,” he said with a heavy heart. His Malfoy free world had been so lovely, he hated to watch it all crumble around him.

“Perfect. I meant it you know. Just because I’m working there, doesn’t mean anything between us needs to change,” he said quickly, noticing Harry’s mood. “I’m not attracted to you in the least,” he added.

“Gee, thanks,” Harry muttered and walked to the door. So what if he wasn’t attracted to Draco either, he was at least tactful enough to omit that information from their conversation.

“I suppose we’ll be seeing each other soon,” Harry said grudgingly, as he left Malfoy’s suite of rooms.

It took him almost an hour to find his way out of the ornate maze that was Malfoy Manor. He did eventually find the receiving hall and the oversized fireplace and flooed back to his cozy home, wishing all the while that Malfoy had refused the offer.

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Authors Note: the plot thickens. Please review!