Shades of Truth

Shades of Truth

Chapter 30

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“I don’t know if this is a good idea,” Harry opined as Draco strolled with him to the Leaky Cauldron. “Don’t you think it’ll be a bit awkward?”

“What?” Draco looked vaguely surprised at this concern. “I thought Pansy and you were getting along now.”

“Yes, but if she brings Nott—“

“Oh, I doubt he’ll come, I just told her that to be nice.” Draco waved his hand airily. “He hates being around people. The more there are, the surlier he gets. But it’s obvious Pansy’s serious about this, so I thought—“

“I’m sorry,” Harry stopped walking, cutting Draco off. “I thought this was some sort of double date, but you don’t expect Nott to even come? And what do you mean she’s serious about him? She said it was meaningless sex.”

“Trust me, Harry, I know Pansy.” Draco assured the other man. “She’s saying all that to throw us off. She’s fallen for him.”

“Do…do you think it’ll work out?” Harry wanted to know, and Draco considered this thoughtfully.

“Well, she’s his type, isn’t she?” Draco shrugged. “After all, the only other serious girlfriend he had was Lavender Brown.”

“Wait…” Harry shook his head furiously as if trying to clear it. “Nott…and Lavender? When? Why?”

“Harry, your gossip fever is going to make us late.” Draco chided gently. “But if you must know, I have it on good authority that Nott and Brown ‘secretly’ dated during the seventh year.”

“Nott told you that?” Harry asked, incredulous.

“No.” Draco huffed impatiently. “Like he’d even tell me his favorite color, much less who he’s shagged? No, Pansy told me they kept having rendezvous all over Hogwarts, and she said that everyone in Slytherin knew about it.”

“How?” Harry asked.

“Because he’d sneak her in at night almost daily.” Draco answered. “Now can we just go? Because I don’t mean to be late.”

“Fine, fine.” Harry started moving again. “I’m just…it seems so unlikely.”

“Yes, certainly, he does hate pink fluffy things, while she adored them, as I recall, but do you remember her death? He carried her out of there. That was probably the nicest thing I’d ever seen him intentionally do. Even if they weren’t shagging as constantly as Pansy told me when I asked about it, he must have cared for her a bit.” Draco paused, “I think the real point of disbelief is that he has the capacity to care about anyone. After that, putting him together with Brown isn’t such a huge leap. We already know he’s sleeping with Pansy now, and they’re both fashion obsessed gossip queens, so it makes sense.”

“Still…I don’t know,” Harry sighed as they entered the bar and sat down since Pansy wasn’t there yet. “She seems…a little more evil than Lavender, you know?”

“I’ll assume that by evil, you mean clever and fun to hang out with. If so, than yes, yes she is.” Draco agreed, and Harry abstained from comment, simply ordering a pair of ales.

As soon as their drinks arrived, so did Pansy, with an extremely aggrieved Nott in tow. She steered him by his elbow straight to Draco and Harry’s table, deposited him as though he were a truculent handbag, and then made a great show of greeting each of the men with hugs and kisses. Then she sat down and called out an order for a drink that sounded very much like it might be pink and actually asked for a glass of “the most vile horse piss you carry” for Nott, who did not seem at all surprised or concerned at this order, but who did finally speak once she had finished.

“I’m not paying.” He told her quite firmly, as though expecting a fight.

“What else is new?” Pansy rolled her eyes. She smiled apologetically at Draco and Harry. “I’m afraid my sweetie didn’t seem very excited to come out tonight, but then, I’ve gathered that he views anything that requires him to wear pants as probably not worth his time.”

“Which is why I spend any time with you.” Nott grumbled.

“Yes dear, very good.” Pansy patted him on the head as though he were a lapdog, and Nott seemed to swell with indignant rage. Before he could say anything in response to this, their drinks arrived, and he apparently decided the best way to vent his spleen was to drink his own as fast as possible and order another. Pansy sighed and rolled her eyes. “You see? Just as I told you, he’s a complete lush.”

“Maybe if he has enough to drink, he’ll act like a normal person.” Draco postulated thoughtfully.

“I don’t think there’s enough liquor in the world for that.” Pansy retorted before sipping her pink drink. “So, did I tell you? Granger’s invited me to her wedding.”

“Ha!” Draco laughed sharply and clinked his glass against hers. “Probably wanted me to feel less like I might get lynched, what with all the Weasleys there. It might be good if you came…like old times.”

“Draco,” Harry pursed his lips, “you said that you wouldn’t ruin Hermione’s day.”

“Yes, but I never said I wouldn’t ruin Weasley’s day.” At Harry’s sharp look he shrugged resignedly. “Fine, fine, I’ll be good. But at least if Pansy brings Nott, I’ll have a good drinking partner.”

“No way,” Nott spoke up, “am I going to the Weasel Orgy.”

“Sweetness, don’t be crass.” Pansy chided him, and the way his face twitched at the endearment frankly frightened Harry. “It’s a wedding, not an orgy. You’ve never been to a wedding, now have you? They’re very nice, and there’s loads of alcohol, but everyone is meant to keep their clothes on. I’ll even let you bring a flask, if you like. And besides, you know the Weasleys, they’re not actually anything like weasels. You remember, sugar lump, they went to school with us. Red-haired Gryffindors?”

At the words “sugar lump,” Nott’s hands tightened so violently, Harry expected the glass he was holding to shatter, and his fingernails actually left small scores in the tabletop. “I’m not going.” He hissed, his whole frame taut with barely restrained rage.

“Okay,” Pansy smiled sweetly as though this did not trouble her in the least. “You can trade that for three more dates. How about shoe shopping tomorrow? I need a new pair, and I can’t decide. We’ll start early, when you’re nice and hung-over, apple dumpling.”

“Fine!” Nott slammed back his entire drink, releasing some of his rage. “I’ll go to your damn wedding! But don’t get any ideas!” he fumed, glaring at Pansy to no avail, and finally called for another drink rather than attempting to best her.

“Pansy,” Draco couldn’t keep his curiosity in any longer. “What’s going on? What’s with the names? And why hasn’t Nott just slit your throat?”

“Every night, I’m tempted.” He assured them before turning his focus to his drink.

“I thought about what you said,” Pansy explained. “And decided that it was worth having a real go at it with him. So I said that basically, we’d either stop having sex, or he’d give in to a load of rules I came up with to take our relationship…further. For instance, I told him that it would make sense that I no longer address him by his surname, because as Harry so astutely pointed out, that’s a bit…distant, but pudding pie here didn’t want me using his first name, so I told him that if he hated it so much, I would kindly call him by any number of sweet nicknames until he finds it in him to allow me to say Theo—“

“I said don’t!” Nott’s sharply hissed command cut her off halfway through the name.

“Well, you know what his name is,” Pansy examined her nails as though nothing untoward had just happened. “Anyway, that’s why I keep calling him things like fluffy bunny and sugar tot and so forth. Another one that I’m particularly fond of is the public appearance mandate. You see, I explained to him that if we are supposed to be in a relationship, we should go do things together in public, so he is currently required to accompany me outside a minimum of five times a month. This was a compromise. I started at once a day, and he was hoping for once every five years. Negotiations took some time. Due to this rule, cuddle-muffin will be happy to accompany me to Granger’s wedding, just as he was happy to come meet you two tonight for drinks.”

“So, Nott,” Draco was enjoying this all thoroughly, especially since Nott was clearly wishing he could disappear. “You know what they call this in normal relationships? You’re whipped, mate. Welcome to monogamy.”

“Oh please, you make it sound like you were such a playboy before.” Pansy snorted slightly and Nott seemed to almost be able to forget his misery in favor of his joy at Draco’s expense. “Harry, don’t let him talk to you like that, you know he’s a virgin…er, was a virgin? I don’t know, have you two…”

“I don’t really think—“ Harry began, but Draco leapt in at the chance to rebuild his masculinity.

“Oh, we’ve definitely done it.” Draco mock-yawned as though to take up more space and draw further attention to him. “Yeah, I was on top.”

“Ew.” Nott twisted his face as though something smelled horrible. “Amazing, but after all those years in Slytherin, being a quasi-Death Eater in the war, everything that’s happened, Draco can still say something that makes me want to be sick all over him.” He took a swig of his drink and indicated Pansy. “Though you’ve nothing on her. Every time she talks, I can’t decide whether I want to vomit everywhere or just cut my own throat.” He turned to face her more obviously as she sipped her drink and watched him with an amused grin on her lips. “You drain my will to live.”

“That’s sweet, dear-heart, but that’s your own lack of directionality or ambition.” She gave him an acid smile. “Without me, I think your prick would lose the will to live. You certainly wouldn’t have any use for it.”

“Life was a lot better when I fucked my hand.” Nott told Draco in a resigned tone. “Get out while you can.”

“Now then,” Draco turned to Harry with a wide grin, “Isn’t this fun?”

“Um…yes?” Harry guessed that was the right answer. His goal for the evening was to not have Nott’s drink in his lap. He wouldn’t really mind Pansy’s, it smelled fruity.

Just then, there was a disturbance at the entrance, and as Harry turned, his wand already in his hand, he noticed that it appeared as though a pair of wizards had tripped over each other upon entering the bar. This seemed odd, but he was carefully putting his wand away when he turned back to see Draco’s poorly concealed smirk as Pansy admonished Nott.

“And if I have to tell you one more time, I won’t allow you to carry a wand in public anymore!” she told him, shaking her finger as though he were a disobedient child. Nott was trying to look innocent and failing spectacularly.

“They just fell.” He maintained. “You didn’t even see my wand.”

“That’s because you’re at least smart enough to do it under the table, but that’s beside the point!” Pansy continued her tirade. “You cannot simply trip jinx anyone you like just because you are agitated. Being a grown wizard means using your powers responsibly, and if you—“

“Silencio.” Nott produced his wand, and at once, Pansy was left pointing and mouthing angrily while he turned a self-satisfied expression on the other two men.

“You did trip them, didn’t you?” Draco questioned and Nott shrugged slightly, as good as admitting his responsibility for the incident.

“No one talk to me, I’m enjoying my peace.” He indicated Pansy, who, realizing she’d simply have to wait for the spell to wear off or be removed, was doing her best to look as though nothing was amiss, sipping her drink slowly, possibly realizing she would have a hard time ordering another once she was done.

“You’ll be in for it when she gets her tongue back.” Draco assured him.

“Worth it.” Nott grunted in response, drinking his own glass in a leisurely fashion. “This is the only quiet I’ve had in weeks.”

“Can…can I just ask something?” Harry ventured, feeling exceptionally as though he were walking into that role of incredibly brave or incredibly stupid he had so often occupied in his school years. Nott turned an expectant look on him, and he licked his lips before continuing. “If you hate her so much, why do you…why are you still…”

“I’d tell you, but I doubt a pair of poufs like you could understand.” Nott looked thoughtful a moment and then shook his head regretfully. “I wish I fancied blokes, it’d likely be easier. Women are infernally aggravating. Every day, I have to tell myself that if I can just hold back the urge to stab her, it’ll be worth it.”

“I don’t know about it being easier this way.” Harry opined before really thinking it through. “You forget, I’m dating Draco Malfoy.”

“Touché, Potter.” Nott raised his glass to the other man before slamming it back. Draco pinched Harry’s leg in retribution, and he rubbed at it ruefully. “Although, I must say, I was surprised to hear Draco’s the top.”

“I—he’s not—there are…” Harry was mortified.

“What he means is that if you could see how he moans, you’d understand that I am most definitely the dominant one here.” Draco offered with a very smug grin. Harry punched his arm and he corrected himself. “We trade.”

“Okay…ew…I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up if I didn’t want to endure a mental image of you two doing ungodly things…but that’s horrid.” Nott raised his nearly empty glass to them. “Let’s agree never to discuss that again. For my sanity.”

“Like what you see, eh Nott?” Draco asked while Harry immediately met Nott’s glass with his own. As though out of nowhere, Draco’s face was covered in great flapping things. Harry turned to see Nott stowing his wand while Draco frantically batted at the obstructions. Harry scooted away slightly while he struggled, feeling that really, he deserved it.

“Nice hex.” He told the other man, who shrugged slightly. “You’d be a great Auror, you have amazing reflexes.”

“Yeah, except that whole ‘protecting the masses’ thing.” Nott explained. “It’d be too tempting to just mess with them all the time.”

Harry laughed, not sure whether that was a joke or not. He wasn’t sure he liked Nott, but he definitely liked being on Nott’s good side.

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To be continued…