The Malfoy Trial

Yaoitenshi wait right to the end.

Cravedom only Draco knows not Harry – yet

Tina109 quite a few more to come

###

Gardening

Harry woke and looked across at his vassal. Draco appeared to be asleep.

‘I bet he’s worn out after yesterday,’ he thought, so Harry decided to let Draco lie in. As was usual, Harry’s poker was sticking out in front of him, aching to release a night-time of water filtration. Having lived with four other healthy and similarly affected male teenagers he thought nothing of it and hauled himself out of bed; padding round nakedly sorting his clothes ready for dressing after his ablutions.

Draco was not asleep and peeped through his long blond eyelashes at the well appointed Apollo wandering round the room. ‘Now it’s hard, it’s longer than mine,’ he thought: ‘I wonder if I’ll ever be allowed to play with it?’

Harry exited into the bathroom and Draco slowly repositioned himself whilst Harry used the toilet. Now Draco could watch two delightfully tanned buns wobble as Harry cleaned his teeth at the washbasin. The shower was glass fronted and next door to the washbasin. Only the slightest movement allowed Draco to follow the naked Adonis with his eyes.

Only too soon did the glass mist up, however Harry’s shower did give Draco sufficient time to relieve his lascivious feelings. Cupping the results in his hand, he arose and went to use the toilet, getting rid of the evidence as he peed. A hand-wash preceded his own use of the toothbrush, after which he entered the recently vacated shower.

When Draco emerged from the shower, a fully dressed Harry was chatting to Kreacher. Drying himself, Draco inspected the row of bottles on the bathroom shelf, being agreeably surprised at the range of expensive male cosmetics available. He chose a couple and spent a little time rubbing them into his skin. Tying his loincloth round himself Draco found out that Kreacher had been super efficient as usual and in front of the mirror resided Draco’s favourite tortoiseshell hair brush. He thanked Kreacher for finding it. It had been a long time since he had been able to brush his hair properly, so he spent nearly quarter of an hour attending to it.

Harry was smiling indulgently as he approached his vassal: “How long has it been since you could do that, eh?”

“Far too long, I used to spend hours in my cell, using my fingers on each individual strand in order that it didn’t become matted. After my cold bath it took half a day to put things right.”

“I bet that was boring.”

“Yes … Well … It was better than brooding or banging my head against the wall. I had nothing else to do, had I? I used to rehearse potions ingredients and quantities whilst I did it, and at other times too.”

“Um … Right … Are you ready for breakfast?”

“Yes please.”

Draco followed Harry downstairs and into the breakfast room.

Draco looked round what had been a very familiar room: “Bay window? I don’t remember a bay window here?”

“Do you remember an alcove then, Draco?”

“Yes. The one with the slightly obscene Indian sculptures in.”

“They were more than slightly obscene if you studied them closely. I was both blushing and hard when I’d finished. As head of two houses I have to entertain regularly and we sometimes have working breakfasts, too. Hermione suggested that, although the sculptures were intended as a talking point, the chat that they’d be likely to engender was not suitable for polite company and might also distract from the real business being discussed.”

“You’ve not destroyed them, have you? They were unique and worth quite a few thousand galleons.”

“No Draco. Kreacher’s army cleaned out a lot of disused rooms. There’s one next-door to the basement plunge bath. Under the dust of ages we found marble floors and a decorated ceiling of nude nymphs and satyrs. We call it the lewd room now. Your Aunt Bellatrix had two magical paintings of couples copulating. Two male and two female nudes, they keep swapping pictures so you never knew what kind of sex you’ll be watching next. I could almost guarantee that even Binns would come out of that room with a hard-on.”

“Okay!” said Draco, secretly adjusting his throbbing prong: “So the alcove became a bay window, I presume they’re magic windows as in the Ministry.”

“That’s correct; transferred from Potterton Lodge. I found out, via the Genetic Adjudicators, that another defunct branch of the family had owned a house in Devon and it had been closed up for many years, waiting for the proper heir to inhabit it. You and I can visit later today, if you like; but only after I’ve wrestled with the House Potter accounts.”

“Mmm … Nice views … Does it have a garden?”

“Yes. Not as big as the one you used to have, and it’s been growing wild for quite a few years. Why do you ask?”

“Please, Milord Mentor; may I go and resuscitate your garden. That was one of the things I really enjoyed doing at my former home.”

“Well now … there’s a thought … I used to look after the garden at Privet Drive … I was forced to so, really. However it was somewhere where I could escape, especially when my uncle got too abusive.”

“Abusive? But you’re the pampered golden boy, sheltered by Dumbledore, brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth, aren’t you?”

“Sorry to disabuse you, Draco, but I was treated at least as badly as a death-eater’s house-elf and slept in a cupboard under the stairs until I was eleven. Uncle Vernon thrashed me regularly trying to beat the magic out of me, and I never had enough to eat. Matron says that’s why I’m so puny.”

“Puny, you? I admit you’re a bit on the small side, as am I, but Quidditch has nurtured our muscles into quite an acceptable shape. You say you were thrashed … Hmm … So was I … Tied face down to the pillars of my four poster, and a cane used until it drew blood, that’s why I didn’t cry out when you beat me. My behind is like thick tanned leather.” Draco chuckled at the inadvertent pun. “Everyone was sure that Rumbleguts had found you a cushy place to live after Voldie killed your parents.”

“The only living relatives I had were Muggles, they didn’t believe in magic and called me and my parents freaks. Uncle Vernon went spare at the slightest mention of anything thaumaturgical. That was the main cause for my beatings.”

“Talking of abuse and relatives, I haven’t heard Great Aunt Walburga shouting her usual obscenities.”

“She was terrible, wasn’t she? She was furious about us removing the shrunken heads, so I asked Milady Thaumaturge to come and explain that I was now head of two houses and accepted by the Wizengamot; slipping in that House Black had been nearly expunged, but for my Godfather bequeathing me as head. The Chairman also explained about your Father’s misdemeanours and the new findings of the Genetic Adjudicators.”

“She used to shout at me, you know; telling me to behave as a proper pure-blood should.”

“Really, I thought your good breeding came naturally?” Harry looked shocked, but then smiled at Draco’s expression of disgust: “Kreacher also had a go at her when she objected to the cleaning squad. She’s had a complete change of mind, especially when she realised that your father had squandered the Black inheritance on Voldie and it was only the Potter riches that stopped her beloved house from being sold off.”

The conversation thus begun about relatives; went on until they took coffee in the tapestry room. Harry described some of the awful happenings at Privet Drive only to find that Draco had had much the same experiences because of his father’s death-eater tendencies. Somehow this drew the two of them closer and Harry grew less tense.

Putting his empty cup down Harry said: “No doubt we’ll continue this conversation many more times and I’m tempted to put off the House accounts. However they’ll still be hovering over me like the sword of Damocles, so I’ll be disciplined and go and tackle them now.”

“My father showed me how to do our House accounts, would you allow me to help? You know how I like Arithmancy and numbers, maybe two of us working at it will make the task a little easier.”

“Okay. I’ve moved the office on to the top floor, it was all mixed up down here in this room, now the tapestry has been restored I find this a cosy chill-out place, so I removed all the desks and files into another room.”

“Lead on, Milord.” Draco’s utterance had a slight mocking tone to it.

Harry looked at the ex-Slytherin’s face, saw a beautiful smile, and chortled.

“Why, Adept Snape, how kind of you.” He replied in similar vein.

###

As Draco had suggested; the task was not as daunting with two of them sharing the workload. Draco recognised the form of the accounts as similar to the ones he knew and so was able to assume a true helping position almost immediately. Their jocular exchanges also lightened the atmosphere whilst repetitious assignments were undertaken. They finished in good time before lunch and went downstairs into the kitchen.

“Kreacher?”

“Yes Harry?”

“We’ve finished the accounts earlier than expected. Would it be too much of a chore for us to have lunch at the lodge?”

“Of course not,” Winky replied before her mate opened his mouth: “I was planning mugs of soup, a ham salad and tutti-frutti ice cream to follow. Will that suit?”

“Does that include your special potato salad and the delicious coleslaw?” Harry asked Winky, questioning Draco with his eyes.

Draco nodded acceptance whilst Winky confirmed Harry’s supposition; adding: “… And there’s a new-made pot of marrow chutney to go with it.”

“Ham with marrow chutney’s one of my favourites, Harry.”

Winky chuckled: “Scrod said it was when I chatted to her earlier today.”

“Scrod? Is that the cook from my old home?”

“Yes Draco, she and I swap recipes regularly; I have a lot of ones suitable for convalescents and she has ones suitable for formal occasions. Very handy now that Harry entertains here.”

“Right then; we’ll see you in the Lodge’s conservatory in about half an hour. I know it’s dull and grey here, but the sun was out there, I could see it from the bay window. Come along Draco you and I have a date with an overgrown garden.”

On their way to the communications lobby Harry introduced Draco to a now smiling Walburga; explaining why he was here and where they were going. After she had wished them a pleasant journey, using the floo, the duo went to Devon.

###

Stumbling out of the fireplace into a well ordered but small library, Draco immediately went to see what tomes the shelves contained; ignoring the library’s other occupant.

“Arternoon, Master ’Arry, come to see ’ow we’re gettin’ on?”

“Hello Nubbins, are you hiding from the sun?”

“No Master ’Arry, ye know me better’n that, I was consultin’ th’garden map to see what I’d found.”

Harry went over to look at the map.

After a bit Nubbins nudged Harry: “I sees you ’ave Master Draco with ’ee.”

“What … Oh … Hello Nubbins, what are you doing here?” Draco looked up from the book he was studying and placed it back on the shelf.

“When th’manor was converted into a nursin’ home we was gi’n th’choice of clothes, so I took th’chance. Too many bad memories for me there and ’avin’ fought in the elfin corps at th’Battle o’ ’Ogwarts I wanted a change. Then Kreacher said Master ’Arry was lookin’ for a garden-elf so I volunteered. There’s a long way to go ’ere yet. I reckon that we’ll ’ave a better show ’n ’Eligan once th’place is shipshape again.”

“I take it you two know each other then?” interrupted Harry.

“You bet! Nubbins was the one that enthused me about gardens to begin with. He used to be beaten when I did garden-elf work; as did I. So we used to pass it off as one of the other garden-elf’s work. Father knew no difference; although we were caught a few times.”

Nubbins chuckled, “I reckon my backside’s as tough as ’is is; ’avin’ suffered th’same chastisement. Often we elves were made to watch ’is father’s predations. Ee thought it funny to expose ’is son’s nudity to us lesser beings. All that ’appened was that we became more sympathetic to Master Draco’s plight. Many’s th’night I’ve slipped quietly into ’is room and rubbed ’is bum with salve.”

Draco went red and Harry chuckled, Nubbins just smiled sympathetically.

“You were under House discipline not to tell that, Nubbins.” Draco tried to look stern beneath his blush.

“Ah well … I’m a free elf now, ain’t I? So that rule don’t apply no more. Anyways, Master ’Arry’s a good ’un and understands, don’t ee? Ee’ll make ye a good Mentor and ye know it, don’t ye?” Nubbins looked at Harry: “Ee used to tell me all about ye whilst we was gardnin’. Sometimes ee’d rant and rave, mostly ee was full o’ praise for what ye’d done, y’know.”

“Nubbins, please?” Draco looked imploringly at the garden-elf.

“Right y’are, I’ll say no more. S’long’s ye come and ’elp with diggin’ th’terrace out.” Nubbins ambled off back into the garden.

Harry showed Draco round the lodge. It had a library, morning room, drawing room and dining room on the main floor. Above that there were a number of bedrooms, some en-suite and above that again a clutter-filled loft. The site was on a steep slope so the lower floor had cellars at the back, with the kitchen and garden room at the front. In front of the garden room, connected by french windows was the conservatory abutting on to a narrow terrace; beneath which were potting sheds and garden stores. After the tour the two Magicals sat there taking lunch, with the outer doors open taking in the scene, the sunshine and listening to the distant plash of waves.

The lodge was situated in a steep-sided tree-lined coombe. A series of terraced gardens led down to a small beach. At least that is what Draco assumed happened. For, although the first two terraces had been cleared, everything below that was a dense jungle of rhododendron bushes. He knew from past experience that if they were allowed to grow wild they choked all the other plants to death. As he could see one or two other trees growing in the dark green sea of leaves, he presumed that there was still some hope of redemption.

The conservatory was really an extension of the greenhouse in front of the kitchen, it was difficult to place where one finished and the other began. Ornamental shrubs and flowers slowly gave way to sub tropical fruit bushes and delicate vegetables. Draco and Harry wandered through this, eventually emerging on to a zigzagging path that used easy gradients to descend towards the beach. On the third terrace down they found Nubbins.

“I’ve tied red ribbons to th’plants we need t’ keep. Th’rest’ll need t’ come out. Blue ribbons means ’eavy pruning.” Nubbins said by way of greeting.

In response Draco grabbed a trowel and started uprooting weeds and Harry found some heavy secateurs and started pruning. Quite soon Harry’s shirt came off; within half an hour they were both sweating profusely. They occasionally swapped jobs, or helped Nubbins when a particularly big evergreen had to be uprooted. A few times Harry used his wand to overcome some of the more obstinate items. All three of them knew that excessive magic affected the plants’ natural cycles and so they avoided using thaumaturgy as much as possible.

A couple of hours into the job, Winky brought out some chilled homemade lemonade and they rested before taking up the challenge again. Draco found out that a loincloth and nettles do not mix, his balls stung after a bunch of adventurous stingers had found their way beneath it and taken their revenge after he had uprooted them.

Two hours later Kreacher came out.

“Will you be having dinner here, Harry?”

“Is it that time already? Then yes please.”

“Will you be stopping over?”

“That Dinner tomorrow is the next engagement. I suppose we could. Would you like to, Draco?”

Draco straightened up from where he had been planting some bulbs. “I get the choice do I? Well then … Yes please.”

“Right … Let’s go down to the beach and have a swim by way of cleaning ourselves.”

Kreacher clicked his fingers and two striped towels appeared over his arm. Silently he handed one each to the young men.

Harry turned and started off down the easily graded pathway with an eager-faced Draco following. It was obvious that one of the first jobs had been cutting the way through, because the pruning marks were scarred and new growth had sprung up round them. A couple of times Draco shivered, not because he was cold, but because he had not noticed a piece of feathery new growth and it had inadvertently groped him under his loincloth as he passed.

Reaching the beach Harry hung his towel on a branch, kicked off his trainers and shrugged himself out of his shorts. Draco’s trainers came off at the same time as he untied the loincloth’s draw-string. Nakedly they splashed into the sun kissed waves.

“Are you a good swimmer, Draco?”

“I’ll race you that islet over there.”

“Right.”

Harry reached it four seconds before Draco did. Harry restrained himself from making the expected gloating remarks, instead he held out his hand to help Draco haul out onto the hot smooth rock. They lay back panting from their exertions.

“Hmm … Harry … We’re naked. What if someone sees us?” Draco leaned on his elbow, admiring the tanned and pleasantly muscled body stretched out before him as well as eying Harry’s attributes.

“No worries … Both headlands are Potter property … Mainly an impenetrable jungle of rhododendrons interspersed with bramble patches. I shall keep most of it like that to ensure our privacy. Nubbins wants to clear the edges near the garden and sow wild flowers beneath the deciduous trees. We’re still having a debate as to where to exactly draw the line, but he does agree about the privacy.”

“Mmm … Yes … We have a privacy belt at the Manor … Ooh sorry … my old home. We hid disillusionment spells in it too, so no one could stumble upon it inadvertently. The edge of the unplottable wards followed the same line.”

“Not thought about that. Could you show me the disillusionment charms, please? I don’t fancy Rita sending Dennis here to photograph us from his broomstick. Especially not like this; she’d make a lot of innuendos from it. If you want to call your old home the Manor, I’ve no objections, least not when we’re in a relaxed atmosphere, same rule as the chatting, yes? Let’s swim quietly back. I don’t fancy racing, do you.”

“No … Not when we have to climb that slope all the way up to the house afterwards.”

“Um … I let you into a secret, shall I? We don’t have to climb up to the house, follow me.”

Harry dived into the water, pausing for Draco to catch up with him. They swam companionably side by side as far as the beach. They picked up their garments and, at Harry’s behest, made bundles of the clothes inside the towels. Harry then entered the water again; walking towards a semi concealed cave mouth.

“We’ll stroll inside holding the bundles on our heads. The water’ll come up to our shoulders nearly all the way. There’s lots of seaweed growing on the rocks; so be careful that it doesn’t grab your ankles. It’s one of the many outstanding tasks still left to do, clearing this waterway.”

Draco got more than one feathery thrill as they pushed through the slippery kelp and knobbly fronds, further inside it became darker so the seaweed lessened. The gloom was not absolute because some of the rocks phosphoresced, giving off an eerie green light. As Harry climbed out at the cave’s end, Draco noticed that Harry had been affected by the slippery fronds, too.

“Might be an idea to dry-off here and put on our clothes. Trainers are a must because the rock is uneven.”

Part of Draco was pleased, because his loincloth hid his excitement. The other part lamented Harry covering up his semi-swollen stake. Draco also noted a dinghy drawn out of the water.

Harry noticed Draco’s interest. “Do you sail? This one’s got a stepped mast so as to go out through the tunnel.”

“I’ve done a bit, got the basics, still rather a novice, really.”

“That’s something else you can show me then. I can row, but that’s about all. C’mon.”

Harry turned and went down a short passage to a door. He opened it and went in to what appeared to be a cupboard. Draco squeezed in behind him.

“Ascendere!” said Harry, without taking his wand out of his hair.

Draco felt movement: “What’s this?”

“It’s a lift, like in the Ministry, only this one works by elf-magic. That’s why I don’t need a wand.”

The small box-room stopped moving and Harry opened the door; they were in the main floor hallway.

“There are stories that this was once a smugglers den. I’m not too sure about that, it could have been a subterfuge to keep people away before disillusionment charms were invented.”