Indago:Reborn

AN: This is one of my favorite chapters so far. I really enjoy the interaction between the two. I think it shows off their long standing relationship well. Took me forever to get this to where I was comfortable with it. I kept trying to put them in their school robes, so to speak. They weren\'t behaving as I thought they should when it finally dawned on me... They grew up! Of course they weren\'t going to act the way they did in school! So, yeah, once I figured that out, I think it turned out well.

BUT, I am always open to ANY feedback. Seriously, anything you have an issue with, let me know! I enjoy looking at things from a different perspective and hope to learn and grow with every paragraph I write.


Beated by the stunning duo of CarvedWood and Kitsune! Any mistakes left over would be my fault entirely as I once again went ahead without final approval.


Chapter Four

Harry didn’t want to go back out there. Besides, his robes were probably wrinkled now from sitting on the floor and he would just get a lecture about it. Draco was always lecturing him about something; his hair, his clothes, his attitude. Harry usually took it with a grain of salt and appreciated that Draco cared about him. But now, he just wanted Draco to leave him alone. He wanted everyone to leave him alone. His special room sprung to his mind and he wanted to be there more than anything in that moment, safe and warm in his dark little room.

“You are ignoring your guests. How inexcusably rude. It puts a blight upon the Malfoy name.”

“Shut up.” Harry didn’t even look up at whatever nasty portrait had reprimanded him. The paintings all mumbled to themselves and he caught smatterings of conversation, mostly related to his unsuitability as a Malfoy and how badly his hair was kept. When the door opened the paintings went silent. Now he was in for it. Someone would report back that Harry Potter was sitting on the floor and then the press would start rumours and he would never hear the end of it from Draco or Lucius.

Footsteps rang as they crossed the tiled floor. Harry kept his head down and hoped they wouldn’t recognize him. Maybe he could pretend to be a random guest passed out drunk and they would leave him alone. When the hand touched his shoulder, though, he was so startled he looked up. Silver eyes gazed down at him.

“I’m sorry, Draco,” he murmured. Draco squatted down next to him to hear every word. “I didn’t know that man was going to be here. I wasn’t trying to start anything. I was just walking and-.”

A hand came over his mouth, stopping his babbling words. “Stop. I don’t want to hear about that nit. Stop.” Draco’s voice was low and steady as he lowered his hand.

“I didn’t mean to ruin our party. I know I was being a prat out there and everything but I really wouldn’t-.”

“Cool it with the babbling, will you?” Draco’s tone was sharp but not in anger. He ran his hand over his own face and sighed in frustration. “Look, I got angry when I saw that bastard touching you. When you didn’t come to me when I called I got even more hacked off. I didn’t realize that you were too close to that git and I wasn’t close enough. That’s why I shouted at you. My blood was up. Are you alright?” His eyes dropped to Harry’s arms where he had squeezed hard. Harry nodded and carefully put his hand out to rest it on Draco’s thigh.

“I’m alright.”

“Let’s get out of here, yeah? Let’s go home.” Draco stood up and offered his hand. Harry took it but only rose to his knees. Slowly he leaned forward and rubbed his cheek against the soft material of Draco’s trousers. He smelled so good. Harry didn’t think he’d ever tire of Draco’s unique scent.

“Harry…”

“You don’t have any competition, Draco. I’m sorry that I made you think that you did.” Harry rubbed along the thigh and placed a kiss on the seam at the apex of the strong legs. A hand ran through his hair and Harry smiled. With Draco’s assistance he climbed to his feet and was pulled into strong arms.

“You’re an idiot,” Draco breathed into his mouth just before his lips claimed the brunet’s. The kiss was light and Harry took it as the apology it was meant to be.

“If he were mine, young man, I’d have him occupy the dungeon for a bit. That would teach him respect for his master.”

Draco broke the kiss and glared up at the wig-wearing autocrat in the ornate frame. “I’d put you in the dungeon, Great Uncle Hortlen, but you’d enjoy it too much,” he said snidely. Great Uncle Hortlen smirked.

“Too right, I would. Never was happier than in my cell with a pretty victim at hand.”

Draco shook his head and wrapped his arm around Harry’s shoulders. “Let’s go home before he gives me ideas,” he leered.

“Like you would ever need inspiration,” Harry chuckled.

The party continued on well into the evening without its two guests of honour.


The carriage came down to rest from its flight across southern England in front of their home. They had had to take the longer route around London on their way to Essex so as not to be spotted by muggles, but had arrived only forty-five minutes later. The carriage, drawn by the magical eight-legged horse, had been Draco’s Christmas present to Harry now that he couldn’t Apparate safely and he hated to Floo. They rarely used it, but Harry enjoyed every moment cloistered away with his husband, flying through the sky. Draco always made sure the rides were… pleasant. This one was no different as Harry was kissed passionately into the seat cushions.

It was with reluctance that a very dishevelled Harry exited the warm confines of the carriage and walked with Draco into their home. The house had once been a Malfoy holiday home and since Draco had wished to be close to the Ministry and Harry hadn’t wanted to live in London, they had compromised. They now lived in a two-story home with four bedrooms, house-elf centred kitchen and three acres surrounding them. It was peaceful and comfortable and Harry pushed away his feelings of dislike for the house. It wasn’t the house’s fault after all.

“Ably, send up a small snack for Master Harry,” Draco stated as soon as they got inside. The house-elf took their cloaks, nodded and popped away. Draco held Harry’s arm and took him up the stairs. Their bedroom was quite large, of course, being in a Malfoy home and very nicely decorated. It was at the top of the stairs and all the way down to the right. It had a south-facing window that Harry could sometimes see the ocean from.

Once inside, Draco immediately began unbuttoning his frock coat and shirt. Harry moved to the bed and climbed up the step to the high matteress to sit on the edge, his head resting on the bedpost as he watched his husband undress.

“ Draco? Why didn’t you tell me about your promotion? Why didn’t you tell me we might move out of country?” he asked quietly.

Draco continued undressing, setting his cufflinks down on the dresser. “There is no might. We will be moving. The Canadian Ministry is located in Vancouver. It faces the Pacific Ocean and is quite beautiful,” he said without looking up.

“But don’t you think I should have known?”

“You do know. You found out only moments after I did.”

“And after your father,” Harry said bitterly. Silver eyes finally looked at him.

“He happened to be standing next to me when Garding told me. I wasn’t playing favourites, Harry. Although, gods know you accuse me of it enough,” he muttered. He turned his back and stripped off the white lawn shirt.

“I accuse you because it’s true!” Harry sat up straight on the bed, his hands fisted on the coverlet. “Did it ever occur to you that I might not want to move? I don’t care how happy it makes your father. But did you ever think about what I would want?”

“You hate this house. Why should I think anything other than that you would be happy to leave it?”

“It’s not about this house. You want me to leave the country! My friends!”

“You’ll make new friends.” Draco folded his trousers over the back of a chair and moved towards the armoire.

“Are you even listening to me? You made this huge decision without telling me.”

“You were told as soon as I knew,” Draco bit out.

“Along with hundreds of strangers and the press!” Harry shouted, his fist hitting the bed. “Would it have killed you to wait to speak with me? To ask me if it was alright?”

Draco shrugged into his dressing gown and looked over to the bed with a glare. “Ask you if it was alright? Now why would I have done that? This is a promotion, not a holiday destination. It puts me a step closer to the Department Head. There was no question whether I would accept the position or not.”

“Fine! Move! I’m staying here!”

Draco snorted. “No, you’re not. You’re going because your place is with me.”

“Because you love me and need me or because it looks good as a politician? Merlin, did you agree to the baby because it fits with your career plan?”

“It does add a bit of stability to my character,” the blond drawled, tying a knot in his robe sash. Harry’s mouth fell open in shock as he stared at the unconcerned face of his husband.

“Bastard!” he hissed quietly. Sliding off the high bed he stalked out of the room. He was not going to cry. His hormones were not going to make him lose it. If he cried he was going to hex Draco into a eunuch!

He stumbled down the hall and quickly slipped into one of the rooms. His room. His very special room. It was dark and warm with only the light of the glowing coals in the fireplace giving any light. He moved through the gloom naturally as he had done several times in the past months, until he came to the bed. He climbed up on it and buried himself in the soothing feeling of soft materials. There were so many articles of clothing and linens and even a few stuffed toys piled on the bed that it would take at least an hour to sort them all out. But Harry didn’t want to sort them out, he just wanted to be soothed by the wonderful place he was making for his baby.

The guest room had not been anything spectacular and perhaps that was why Harry had been drawn to it. It was simple with only a dresser, a chair, a nightstand, and a bed as furniture. It had dark wallpaper and heavy velvet curtains, and was on the north side of the house. But to Harry it had become perfect. He found himself coming to this room more and more as his pregnancy had progressed and then one day he realized he had brought in extra blankets. Bowing to his instincts, he had begun secreting more and more materials in the room. Eventually, Draco had noticed what was going on and had merely glanced in through the doorway and announced that his child was not going to be born on the floor and had levitated the slowly growing heap of cloth to the bed. After that, only Harry and the house-elf, who kept the coal burning, came into the room.

Cashmere brushed his cheek as Harry moved into a more comfortable position on his side. His growing belly was supported by a hunk of cloth he was fairly sure were the crushed velvet drapes from the drawing room. Draco had said they were out of fashion anyway when he had seen the bare windows. The next day new curtains were put up and Harry had found two pairs of suede gloves hidden in the dining room. They now graced his pile near the headboard.

He drifted for a while in his thoughts. He thought about the items on the bed, about the warmth from the coals and how good it felt, about wishing his child would move again just so he could feel like he wasn’t alone.

When he heard the doorknob turn he closed his eyes and pulled a blanket over his head. The door opened quietly, the light from the hall illuminating the room and the outside of his eyelids. Then it clicked shut.

“I brought you your tray. You haven’t eaten since lunch and you need something in your stomach.” Draco’s voice was muffled through the material wrapped about Harry’s head.

“I already have something in my stomach. Your pretty political standing,” Harry bit out. He waited but heard nothing. Then the blanket was pulled off his face. Draco’s hair was the most visible feature in the darkened room; his face was half in shadows.

“You know I didn’t mean that,” he sighed. Setting the tray of covered dishes on the nightstand, he sat down on the edge of the bed, carefully sliding the edges of the pile out of the way. Harry wanted to yell at him for messing it up, but he was just too tired. He laid, partially buried, and watched the blond.

Draco ran a frustrated hand through his hair and then scrubbed at his face with both hands. He stared at the glowing coals, his eyes nearly reflective in the light.

“Look, Harry, this is a big promotion for me. I won’t bore you with the reasons why because I know you can’t stand anything to do with the Ministry, but, “ he turned to look at the smaller man, “this is important to our future. This is important to us.”

“Because you get to gain more power and influence?”

“Yes. But it means more than that.” Draco placed his hand on Harry’s thigh and began to rub its length gently. Harry wanted to kick the hand off of him but didn’t. “It means independence. I know you want that as well.”

“We have independence.”

“You know as well as I, that isn’t true. That’s why I’ve worked to get this. Merlin, Harry, this is why I work at all. You think Father approved of my entering into the workforce? With the dividends from the investments he made for me I can support us. But I don’t want to do it with Lucius Malfoy’s money. I want to do it with Draco Malfoy’s money, Draco Malfoy’s power and influence. I want to do it on my own. Think about it, pet. We immigrate and we are no longer in my father’s jurisdiction. He hates North America, thinks of it as savage. He has no ties there. We start fresh, yeah?”

“Why do you care?”

“Fuck, I hate when you do this,” Draco mumbled, running another hand through his hair. He looked back up. “Why do I care about what? You? Us? I don’t know, Potter, you figure it out!”

Harry watched him for a moment. “You worship your father. Why would you want to go somewhere he doesn’t approve of? Why do you care that we are independent? Why do you care about who pays the bills? Why do you care when you never have before?”

“Because I’ve never been in a position to do something about it!” Draco huffed. “In case you haven’t noticed, I have been working my arse off to keep you happy.”

“I don’t need money!” Harry was beginning to lose his feeling of apathy and woke to anger. “I don’t want that to make me happy. Gods, you make me sound like some sort of stupid cow of a wife who constantly asks for more allowance! If we need more money then I’ll make some. I’m not stupid or lazy, you know!”

“I’m not talking about money, you twit. I’m talking about knowing that it bothers you that we live here in a house deeded to my father. I know you hate it when they invite themselves over unannounced when I’m not home and ‘check up on you’, as you put it. I know you hate all of it. I’m trying to fix that!”

“By hiding me away across the world? Too embarrassed of the Malfoy-that-wasn’t?”

“Gods! Who the fuck said anything about hiding you?” Draco asked angrily, his voice rising. “This isn’t about hiding, it’s about giving you what you want. It’s about being what you want me to be, damn it!”
Harry opened his mouth to snap back an answer when the words sunk in. He blinked and closed his mouth as he watched Draco. The blond’s chest heaved and his hand was fisted in the back of his loose hair.

“What do I want you to be?” he asked quietly.

“Merlin, don’t you know?” Draco laughed humourlessly. “You want me to be responsible, capable, efficient, strong. You want me to be my own man, yeah?”

Harry’s eyes tracked Draco’s frustrated movements but did not move from his half buried position. “Draco, I only want you to be what you want to be.”

Draco sighed heavily, dropping his head into his hands. Silence reigned for several moments until the blond turned his head slightly and looked into green eyes. “I want to be that, too,” he admitted quietly. “I realized fairly quickly that I wasn’t doing everything for my father anymore. I was doing it for you, Harry.”

The pile rustled as Harry sat up and put his head on Draco’s shoulder. “I love you, you prat. But you can be such an idiot.”

The blond put his hand on the smaller man’s face and turned his head to kiss him softly. “I’m not trying to hide you from anyone, unless you want me to hide you.” Draco’s voice was hushed as he turned back to look at the fireplace. “I’m just…”

“Trying to bring home the biggest slab of meat,” Harry finished. Draco turned to look at him again and Harry sat up straight to show him his smile. “That’s what Snape said you were doing. Trying to be a big bad provider and such.”

Draco grunted. “Suppose. Not exactly a flattering comparison. Makes me sound like an animal.”

“Well, aren’t we?” Harry asked with a laugh. “You looked pretty grizzly with that chap earlier.” Draco started to glare so Harry distracted him with a kiss.

“Draco,” Harry said softly as he pulled back and looked into the silver eyes. “I really don’t want to move to Canada.”

“Harry, you’ll enjoy it-.”

“No! I don’t want to go.” The brunet pulled away and buried himself in the pile again. It was quiet for a moment and then he felt the pile begin to shift. Looking through the armhole of a silk shirt, Harry could see Draco lying back on the bed, reclining comfortably on the pile.

“Pet, we won’t have to go for another six months.” He lowered his voice and caught the green eye peeking at him. “You won’t have to leave here until after the baby is born.” And just like that, most of Harry’s anxiety and fear disappeared. He pulled the shirt off his head.

“How did you know?” he asked. Draco did not misinterpret the question.

“Because, you have been spending more and more time in here and you get nervous just before leaving the house. Credit me with some intuitive sense, will you?” He stretched his arm out and brushed the back of his knuckle against Harry’s cheek. “You made this den, I’m not going to kick you out of it. You will be safe here when it’s time,” he said gently.

A smile bloomed on Harry’s face and he leaned into the caress.

“We’ll take a trip to Vancouver soon. You’ll like it. Remember that conference I attended there last month? It’s beautiful, Harry. Open spaces all over. You won’t feel claustrophobic like you do in London. They have an excellent Quidditch team and zoological centre that has an entire specialized department on your snakes and other magical creatures. I even did a bit of snooping about you there. They know of you but they aren’t mad for you.”

“Yeah?”

“Mm hmm,” Draco nodded and began outlining Harry’s lips with a forefinger. “And while we’re there, we’ll house hunt. And,” he said over Harry’s frown, “I already told Father that we would be buying the house ourselves. They have decided to instead gift us with vacation property in France.”

“We’re going to pick out and buy our first home?” Harry sat up again in excitement. “That’s brilliant!”

“I thought you’d like that,” Draco said with a smirk. Harry grinned, leaned over and kissed Draco loudly on the lips.

“So, does this meet with your approval, then?” he drawled once Harry had pulled back. The dark head nodded and then Harry glared.

“But next time, don’t be such a prick. Just tell me, right? I hate when you become an arrogant arse!”

“Yeah, yeah.” Draco waved it away, but Harry could see the smile in his eyes. “Now, have you decided to stay here for the rest of the evening or would you like to join your husband on your anniversary night?”

Harry smiled and nodded. Draco stood up and helped Harry from the bed. As they walked down the hall to their bedroom, Draco paused next to another of the guest bedrooms.

“Damn it, I feel a draft. I bet Ably left a window open,” he growled opening the door. The room was dark and Draco pulled Harry in.

“Draco! What the hell are…you…” Harry stumbled to a halt as the lights came on with a quick word from Draco. Arms came around him and “Surprise” was whispered in his ear.

The pink guest bedroom had become a magical wonderland. A mural of an open meadow had flowers blowing in the breeze. Birds dived and played along the ceiling. A crib that was the most beautiful example of craftsmanship Harry had ever seen was placed against a wall with bunnies hopping about. Stuffed toys lined the pretty little dresser on the opposite wall where a snake slithered lazily by.

“Dra… This…” Harry swallowed hard. “Holy cricket,” he whispered.

“The crib was mine. I looked through Godric’s Hollow but I couldn’t find anything that remotely resembled a crib, so I hope you don’t mind.”

“It was destroyed when the curse ricocheted back at-.” Harry stopped, not wanting to speak the name in this room. “At You-Know-Who.” Harry stepped away from Draco’s embrace and toward the crib. It was ornately carved with a scene of knights and ladies and magicians. He traced the lines of a wizened old face.

“Father likes to intimate that we are actually descendants of Merlin himself,” Draco chuckled from the doorway.

“It’s beautiful,” Harry whispered reverently. He gripped the wood hard. “Damn it!”

“What? If there’s something you don’t like we’ll change it immediately,” Draco said firmly as he closed the distance between them.

“No, it’s all great! It’s just…”

“Harry, would you look at me!”

“I swear, Malfoy, if you make me bawl, I’ll never forgive you!” Harry rasped out, but couldn’t quite catch the sniff at the end. “And don’t laugh or you’ll die a death even Lucius couldn’t think up!”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” But the voice was a bit too strained and Harry knew that Draco was, indeed, laughing. He let it go and reined in his stupid emotions. This was the only part he hated about pregnancy. That and the robes. He’d kill for a decent pair of trousers that didn’t bind or pinch him nowadays.

“Thank you,” he said once he got himself under control. Turning, he smiled up at the blond. Draco smirked.

“Well, you hadn’t mentioned anything about it. You were too caught up in the other room, so I thought I’d set it up.” He leaned down and kissed Harry. It deepened until they were wrapped around each other tightly. “Happy anniversary, Harry.”

“Happy anniversary, Draco.”