Knives Out

\"All right, Potter. You don\'t have to go home, but you can\'t stay here.\" Draco clapped his hands at Harry after returning from the shower to find Harry still lazing in his bed. His hair fell in wet tendrils around his head and he wore an almost painfully bleached white robe.

The universal bar brush off would\'ve been funnier to Harry were he not so torn about leaving someone as unwell as Draco was alone. \"I\'m comfortable. Besides, I can hang around and make you breakfast.\"

\"Harry Potter is part house-elf, hmm? I heard your parents got up to some kinky antics, but I didn\'t think shagging bestial help was amongst their peccadilloes. You learn something new every day.\" Draco grabbed his comforter and yanked it back revealing Harry\'s naked body. After a quick leer of appreciation, Draco started pulling at the bottom sheet to force Harry off of the mattress.

\"Hey! And no I\'m not! Don\'t talk about my parents that way and... Hey!\" Finding himself spilling towards the edge. \"Let me stay to take care of you.\"

\"Oh Potter.\" Dropping the sheets, Draco folded his arms. \"What did I ever do without you to take care of me? I couldn\'t possibly deal with another day without someone to baby sit me.\"

Harry winced at the caustic tone. \"Is it such a crime that I care?\"

The stricken look on Draco\'s face flickered to something unreadable. He crawled up the bed next to Harry and flopped next to him. Wrapping his arms around Harry, he rested his clammy cheek and cold hair on his shoulder. \"I just have some things to do today.\"

\"You should rest. I\'ll do them for you.\" Harry didn\'t think the wet hair was a good idea, so he plucked his wand from the nightstand and cast a drying charm on it.

Draco tilted his head up and eyed Harry. For a moment, Harry thought he might say something rude about his spell casting. \"All right, you caught me. I don\'t have errands. It\'s just... I\'m rather used to having a lot of time to myself.\" He kissed Harry\'s cheek. \"I\'m just going to putter around and then sleep. You won\'t be missing much, I promise.\"

Though he couldn\'t help but feel a bit rejected, he wasn\'t going to trespass. Through an exhale, he said, \"Fine.\"

Harry started to push up off of the bed, but Draco held him in place and pressed his lips to his. They parted to allow a kiss, shortened by Draco pulling away and wrinkling his nose. \"Morning breath.\"

\"I wasn\'t the fool that kissed someone who just woke up.\" Harry grinned and rolled out of the bed. Draco slapped his arse. \"Shower before you go, Potter. I won\'t have you leaving my flat stinking like your breath.\"

Wiggling his arse at Draco, Harry flipped back his shaggy black hair and gave Draco a look as he headed to the bathroom. Catching the hint, Draco followed.

--

Harry lay in his bed after casting cleansing charms around his flat, he thought about the conversation he\'d had with Draco that kept them both up late into the night about why the Wizarding world wasn\'t working on a cure for AIDS. The way Draco saw it, Wizards weren\'t so much against homosexuals as they were caught up in a dilemma of ethics when it came to sharing the cure with the world. \"Potter, should they stumble upon a cure, how would they rationalize leaving millions of Muggles to die? Or alternately, how would they put the cure out into the Muggle world without revealing the magical world? Ignoring the problem wouldn\'t make it go away either.


He looked around his room that was neatened up with the rationale that it would look at least presentable should Draco happen by. In spite of all of the cleaning he might do, it would never achieve the minimalist look of Draco\'s flat. His furniture was shabby and torn from his constant moving and mismatched to boot. Much of it had come from the Burrow and he was far too sentimentally attached to replace it.

None of this would be an issue if he knew how to get back to Draco\'s flat. But he didn\'t know where it was. Only one other person did.

Snape. Snape is Draco\'s secret keeper. Harry could feel himself growing jealous of the man. He still hadn\'t forgiven for killing Dumbledore-- no matter what anyone said about it being pre-arranged. Certainly Albus Dumbledore hadn\'t intended for Harry and Draco to witness his death, so as far as he was concerned, Snape\'s story didn\'t hold. His mind drifted to Draco that night. How his wand had just begun to waver just before the others crashed in.

There were so many things he wanted to ask Draco, but there was so much going on now-- Nott, for example. Nott was dead; there was no way around that. While Voldemort had managed to bring himself back, it was at a great cost and he was a dark lord. Theodore Nott was not that powerful. Whoever it was, Tonks was spending time with him. It was time for a chat with his ex-partner.

--

The lunch crowd at the local deli on the Muggle side of the Ministry had thinned out. It was a fairly indiscreet place to meet, but as of yet, Harry didn\'t think he had anything to hide. Now that she was here and he was asking questions, he regretted not choosing somewhere more private.

\"No, it\'s fine Harry.\" Tonks paled, making the contrast between her plaited, black hair even more dramatic. \"I was just under the impression that this would be a social visit.\" Why she\'d think that, Harry couldn\'t fathom. Harry wasn\'t really the sort who called on people for no purpose. Maybe he did allow Tonks to drag him to a pub one night after he\'d retired from the Ministry, but that now seemed so long ago. \"Have you been sleeping?\"

\"No, not really. But don\'t change the subject, why are you meeting with Nott?\" Harry poked at the sandwich he was served. Even if he weren\'t too distressed to eat, the wilted lettuce wasn\'t particularly appealing. He glanced to the sandwich makers, squinting at them. But they appeared alive enough. They just didn\'t care about their jobs. Fair enough.

\"That\'s confidential information, Harry. Even if I were inclined to share that information... and may I ask, how did you find out I was meeting with him at all?\" She stabbed at her salad, but appeared as interested in the crumpled lettuce was Harry was in his food.

\"I saw you in the club with him. He\'s a fugitive, isn\'t he? Missing?\"

\"Technically, yes. Well, no longer classified as missing, obviously. He has information on a disturbing situation, so I\'m instructed not to bring him in until we get some resolution.\" Scraping her fork on the side of the bowl, she went after the croutons and tomatoes, which appeared well enough.

Harry pulled at the crust of bread from his sandwich. \"So what\'s the deal with him? Bargaining for less time in Azkaban?\"

\"Something like that. Look, Harry, I can\'t get into what\'s going on there. You\'re no longer an Auror. Maybe if you were to take your job back...\" Her hopeful expression was poorly concealed.

\"No. I\'m not going back. I\'ve done my bit for saving the Ministry\'s arse. My involvement in this will be on my own, but you could get me information.\" He watched her recoil, but kept his body language indifferent.

\"I don\'t think that it\'s wise for you to get involved, we have our guy on the inside, and really, the situation is rather complex. I don\'t think that you really know enough about it to get involved. Nott\'s involvement is really the least of it. It\'s... pretty big.\"

\"Big like a church full of Inferi?\" Deciding that this would be a good time to appear casual, Harry took a big bite from his sandwich, watching Tonks peripherally to observe her reaction.

Tonks sputtered, dropping her fork into her salad. \"How long have you been watching me?\"

\"I only saw you that one night.\"

\"Then how do you know about...\"

Harry set the sandwich down again and flicked the crumbs from his fingers. \"Let\'s just say that I have my own person on the inside.\"

Staring at Harry for a long, distrustful moment, she picked her fork back up again. \"You don\'t trust me to tell me who that is?\"

\"You didn\'t trust me to tell me what was going on.\"

\"Harry, that\'s different. I could lose my job.\"

\"You look out for the Ministry, but it doesn\'t look out for you. You know that, Tonks. Why wouldn\'t you trust me above them?\"

She gestured with her fork as if it would prompt words to come out and then she dropped it again. \"All right. You caught me. I just didn\'t know why you were asking about Nott and thought perhaps you were going to go on a vendetta kill since we know he was last seen where Hermione was....\"

\"Murdered. You can say it, Tonks. She was murdered. By Voldemort.\" At times like these, Harry couldn\'t help but want to make others feel uncomfortable. It seemed to take the edge off of his resentment.

\"Right. Well, you\'ve always seemed a little odd about when Nott\'s name came up. I just didn\'t want you to go after him. We need him right now to sort out what\'s going on with this church and how wizards are involved. But look, if you have any information about that, I\'m the lead Auror on that investigation, so you can tell me...\"

\"I\'ll tell you, if you tell me. Maybe with both of our contacts we can get this done sooner.\" Tonks took a considered bite of her salad. As long as she\'d been staring at it, Harry wondered how she would even want to put a brown piece of lettuce in her mouth.

Harry shook his head. \"No, I\'m not giving up my contact. I\'ve seen far too many people mistreated by the Ministry.\"

Tonks sighed after another long silence. \"I\'ll have to think about it. I could use the help, to be honest. A huge case like this makes me really miss having you around.\"

\"A huge case like this makes me miss Ministry resources. I think we have a lot to offer one another.\" Harry grinned, knowing that with Tonks\'s admission, she was going to give in.

\"Perhaps.\" She grinned back at him. By the time they finally left the deli, Tonks had promised to send over the files on what she had. But after hearing what she had to say about it, it didn\'t sound like she knew much more than he did. Harry kept to himself that Nott had to be an imposter, but asked that she tell him about all of their meetings and to save those memories for him to go over through the Pensieve later. He didn\'t know what the imposter of Nott was playing at, but he would find out, and soon.

--

As much as Harry wanted to see Draco again, he didn\'t know where he lived. Again he cursed the Fidelius as he crossed over to Wizarding London and then Apparated to his flat. He was just about to set his wand into his pocket when he heard the fluttering of wings. Recognising the bird as a breed common to the ones Hogwarts used, he looked down at the outstretched leg. The scroll was affixed with an official Hogwarts seal and a headmaster\'s seal. Harry smacked his lips in distaste, but still fished some treats out of a drawer and took the message. He felt the wave of magic pass over him, making sure he was whom the message was for.

Harry tried to steady himself. Maybe Snape was just being overcautious. It couldn\'t possibly be what he hoped it was. Cracking the seal, Harry unrolled the paper and stared down at the scrawl that was familiar from his sixth year potions book. He scanned the missive, phrases like, \"against my better judgment\" and \"take care of him\" popped out as they were underlined before he reached what he\'d hoped he\'d find; Draco\'s address.

--

Remnants of their takeaway dinner lay in open paper boxes along the coffee table. Though it very nearly had been a fight in itself to get Draco to abandon the table and proper china to eat out of the disposable containers of tandoori and vindaloo chicken, now that Draco was full and sloshy with a spicy Spanish red wine, he seemed quite at home amongst the mess. \"Whatever happened with you and the Weaslette, anyway?\"

Harry crossed his arms. \"I assume you mean Ginny?\"

\"Were there other \'ettes in that family? I\'ll admit that the Weasel King was a bit of a girl, but yes, I meant Ginny.\"

\"Well, it was the same old story. Boy meets girl, girl has a crush on the boy for a few years. Boy sees girl with someone else gets jealous, wants to have her for himself.\"

Draco nodded.

\"So boy thinks about girl and finally just kisses her and they date, but ultimately the boy decides that his mission in life was more important, so he leaves to do his duty and comes back to find the girl with Dean Thomas.\"

\"Oh, right. Those stories always end with Dean Thomas.\" Draco looked away from Harry\'s irked glare.

\"ANYWAY, it was really all right, as it turned out I didn\'t so much like Ginny Weasley so much as the Weasleys in general.\" He swatted at Draco, whose shoulders were now shaking whilst his eyes watered.

\"That\'s all right. I could never tell them apart either.\"

That comment won Draco a hard punch in the arm. \"I\'m not going to tell you this if you\'re not going to be serious!\"

Draco rubbed the spot on his arm and pouted. \"Ooh, you want me to be your godfather? My, my, you ARE kinky, Potty!\" There had to be at least one Sirius joke.

\"You are truly demented.\"

Draco sat up, still chuckling, but it didn\'t stop his sitting up and throwing his head back in a proud preen. \"I do try.\"

\"Do you want to hear the rest of it?\"

\"There\'s more beyond Dean Thomas? Because I\'ll listen to stories about Dean, but don\'t throw in any tales of the spotted dick.\" He sucked his cheeks in and smirked.

Harry squirmed.

\"You... WHORE!\" Draco cackled.

\"Well, Hermione had just died... and Ron was really lonely...\"

Draco gaped, his lips upturned as much as they could. \"I\'m too sober to hear the rest of this!\" He hopped up to grab another bottle of wine and popped it open with a quick enchantment and refilled their glasses. \"Go on!\"

Harry\'s arms tightened around him. \"No.\"

\"Oh, come ON! I always thought you two were shagging. Ever since fourth year. Most important person to you, and all. Thought Krum\'s choice was a bit demented...\"

\"Don\'t start in on Hermione!\" Harry leaned forward and snatched up his full goblet and took a slow sip, wincing at the bitterness of Draco\'s choices. Harry\'s had been mellower, this conflicted with their meal.

\"Don\'t care for cabs?\"

Harry made a face and set it back down.

Draco shrugged and sipped his wine. \"No, it\'s not the relative attractiveness of Granger. Although... she was...\" catching the warning look from Harry, he stopped. \"It was just that hadn\'t he just met her? How needy is that? At least you\'d known Ron for a few years.\"

\"We weren\'t shagging.\" Harry glared at the glass of wine, willing it to be something more tolerable for him to drink. Giving up on having the ability to turn wine into water by will, he snatched it up again and drank it down in one big gulp. \"Then.\"

\"What happened to Weasley, anyway? I don\'t recall him dying in any of the battles.\" Draco swished the wine in his glass.

\"He took his own life.\"

Draco froze, and then looked up at Harry. \"That\'s not funny.\"

\"Do I look amused?\" He poured himself another glass of the foul liquid and shot it back.

\"No. No way would Weasley top himself. No.\" Draco shook his head as if sheer will would make that go away. He finished his glass of wine and poured another, his hand shaking so that the wine sloshed over the rim of the glass. He paused and gave Harry a needy look. Setting the wine down, Draco nestled onto the couch next to Harry, sliding his arms around him as if he needed consoling.

Harry held Draco back. In spite of how it may have come, he was pleased with the contact. \"He just... never got over her. Not really. We had our... and then he ended it. He just wasn\'t gay. Then he dated a bit and... it just... I couldn\'t.... He said that he\'d mucked up our friendship with sleeping together and he just couldn\'t... go on.\"

\"It was a war, Harry. A lot of people passed on, and a lot of people lost loved ones. A lot of people couldn\'t cope with that.\" He slid his hand to Harry\'s stomach and gently rubbed.

\"He was my friend. I wasn\'t... there how he needed me. I... \"

Draco fell silent. His hand drifted down over the front of Harry\'s trousers.

\"Don\'t.\"

He continued to fondle him.

\"Stop it.\"

Reaching for the zip, Draco almost had it down when Harry grabbed his wrist to yank his hand away.

\"I SAID STOP IT!\"

\"Sorry,\" whispered Draco as he pulled his hand back and massaged it.

Harry\'s eyes widened. \"What?\"

\"I\'m sorry. Don\'t get stroppy; I just thought you seemed tense.\" He sulked.

\"Did you just apologise to me?\" Harry didn\'t even bother containing his shock.

Draco shrugged.

\"Draco Malfoy just apologised.\" Shaking his head, Harry couldn\'t help but grin in spite of himself.

Sulking, Draco asked, \"Going to take out an ad in the Daily Prophet?\"

\"No, it\'s just that in all of the years I\'ve known you, you never apologized for anything.\"

Draco looked Harry dead in the eye, both eyes suddenly able to concentrate in one direction. \"You never really knew me.\"

At first Harry blinked, meeting Draco\'s gaze until the lazy eye drifted and Draco eventually looked away. It was true; he\'d never known Draco Malfoy, not really. He\'d stalked him, he\'d wanted to help him, at least at a couple of points, but it wasn\'t until recently that they\'d started actually talking. Even after all of the sex they\'d had, they didn\'t know each other. \"You didn\'t let me.\"

\"You\'re the one who turned me down.\" With that, Draco stood up and stretched. Harry noticed how his shirt rode up, exposing his pale, sunken abdomen. His face was incredibly sad, eyes closed as he turned away, looking towards the bedroom.

Harry wondered now how deeply that had affected Draco. He\'d always written him off as frivolous and status-seeking. That\'s who he was back then, and he\'d never made particular bones about it. He was always on about his father\'s control at the Ministry, always speaking about how much better he was, how much better his family was. Harry didn\'t see how he could\'ve known. \"I\'m not turning you down now.\"

Draco looked over his shoulder with a wry grin. \"Didn\'t you just?\"

\"Sorry, I don\'t move from painful memories to being tossed off that fast.\" Harry carded his hand through his hair and then picked the bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon up from the table, lamenting its emptiness in spite of how much he disliked it. At this point, he wouldn\'t mind being a bit tipsier. He set it back down and looked up at Draco.

\"You always were a bit slow. Do you want me to open another bottle?\"

\"I didn\'t like it to start with.\" Harry stood and yawned. \"I just thought it might mellow me out a little.\"

Turning, Draco took Harry\'s hand and flashed a devilish smirk. \"You know, you interrupted me in the middle of something that would\'ve mellowed you out quite a bit.\"

Harry had to press his lips together to keep from grinning at Draco\'s constant lasciviousness. It felt nice to be desired so much, it had always been the other way around. He allowed Draco to pull him closer, but fussed, \"You were molesting me while I was upset.\"

\"You\'re just going to have to forgive me for that. I must\'ve missed \'comforting class.\' Nothing cheers me up quite like a good blow job.\" He pulled Harry by the hand to the open bedroom, backing up slowly till they reached the bed.

\"You\'re not going to give up, are you?\" Harry asked, raising his arms as Draco pulled his shirt off over his head and tossed it aside.

Draco grinned as he started on Harry\'s trousers. \"I\'m very determined.\"

\"Funny, I was thinking you were a horny little bugger.\" Harry whimpered as Draco caressed him through the fabric of his briefs. Jutting his hips forward, he found his will to banter draining. Draco was on his knees before him, fingers curling around the elastic as he pulled his trousers and briefs down. The head of his prick brushed against Draco\'s ear, stiffening at the tickle of his hair that so casually drifted over as Draco worked Harry\'s shoes off.

Harry stepped out of his pants and Draco pushed them aside. He looked up at Harry, his fingers delicately surrounded Harry\'s cock, stroking it in a rhythm dictated by his speech. \"I am a horny little bugger. So are you, aren\'t you?\"

Watching as his prick enlarged under Draco\'s caress, he felt a blush curling from his neck at being called out like that. He didn\'t have an answer, but instead reached down to stroke Draco\'s fine hair. His fingers slid along the slight scar beside his lazy eye.

Draco closed his eyes and dropped his jaw, sliding the tip of his tongue along the slit of Harry\'s prick, swirling it slowly down over the head and further down the shaft, teasing the foreskin back further. Harry\'s fingers tightened in his hair, halting Draco\'s progress, keeping him concentrated on just the head. He watched his tongue flicking over the tip, pale angelic face concentrated on its task. The release of his pre-ejaculate, which stuck in a clear string to Draco\'s tongue and lips, made Harry whimper. It was clear and sticky, mixing with saliva from Draco\'s mouth, making a mess of his plush lips and down his chin. Leaning in further in spite of the hold Harry had on his hair, Draco began to suck him in earnest. His hand pumped at the base of Harry\'s cock, making up the difference.

Harry continued to watch the movement; Draco\'s sucked in lips, the bright glistening of wetness, the determined expression on the pale face. His breathing increased rapidly as he forced himself to watch Draco\'s working mouth, feeling the warm, spongy ridges, the flickering tongue, the hard pull of suction; it didn\'t take long. The shudder warmed his stomach and pulsed lower, finally forcing him to expel into Draco\'s mouth with little other than a loud gasp and hard tug of his hair as warning.

Releasing Draco\'s hair, he watched him lap at the corners of his mouth like a cat before smearing off the remnants of saliva and come from around his mouth. Then he licked his lips again and looked up at Harry as he reached to the nightstand for his condoms. Harry looked at the nightstand and then down at Draco. \"No, I want… I want you.\"

\"And you\'ll get me, but yes, we\'re using these,\" Draco said as he pulled the drawer open and began fishing for a condom.

Harry knelt down so that he could get his face into Draco\'s, to catch his eye. \"No. I mean… I want you to… you know.\"

He watched Draco\'s face express his comprehension. Draco looked dumbly at the condom in his hand and then back at Harry. \"I… are you sure… I haven\'t since I was… not without a...\" he waved the condom by flexing his fingers, \"I know it\'s safe with magic but…\"

Harry nodded to him and pushed the condom from Draco\'s hand. \"I know the proper charms. You haven\'t… \"

\"Topped? No. Muggles… and… well… those rubber things can tear. I haven\'t… popped my murder cherry yet, and I didn\'t want to start this way.\" Draco had paled a bit and he looked a bit shaken. His hand was still in the position of holding a condom, although it was gone.

Deciding that Draco needed goading, Harry peeled off his shirt and then got into the bed, crouching on all fours. He opened his legs and looked back over his shoulder, his shaggy hair falling in his face over his crooked glasses.

Draco stood, looking uncertain. He peered around the room as if someone was going to stop him, but then rested his hands on Harry\'s hips and rolled him down onto his side. \"No, not like that. I don\'t want-- I want it to be-- just not like that.\" He pulled his clothing off, tossing it into the hamper next to the bathroom door before sliding into his bed, facing Harry.

\"Are you proposing to make love to me?\" Harry grinned as Draco rolled his eyes and wiggled closer. \"Accio wand.\" It was one of many spells Aurors needed to know how to do without a wand, and the most practical. He pressed his wand to Draco\'s prick between them, giving the slit a quick tease with the tip of it, not at all surprised when Draco gave his cheek a play slap. He murmured the incantations and then reached over Draco to set his wand on the nightstand. One of the series of spells had lubricated Draco\'s cock and Harry stroked it, staring into his eyes. \"I haven\'t… done it this way since… so… gently.\"

\"Can we… \" Draco rolled his eyes and leaned in to kiss Harry, tonguing his lips, pressing against them with surprising deftness. It was unlike their eager kissing before; this was a tender press of lips, slip of tongue, and the feel of sweat-cooled bodies clinging to one another.

Harry shifted higher on the bed as he directed Draco\'s prick against him. This position was awkward, and for a moment he thought it wouldn\'t work. Draco had the same idea, evidently as he rolled over on top of Harry and scattered kisses over his face. In one swift shift of hips, Harry felt very full, the pain always the first surprise to penetration, but relaxing as Draco smoothly slid back and in again. He smiled up at Draco and Draco rolled his eyes and grinned back down at him, lowering his face to kiss his forehead, the spot where his scar once was, the spot that at one time, few dared to touch.

He decided he was far too old to get aroused again from this, although he was half stiff when he felt Draco\'s body start to shudder. He held him tightly whispering how beautiful he was, because this was the only time he could say something like that to Draco without being swatted.

Draco inhaled sharply and his face screwed up. Harry brought both hands up to his face, caressing it as Draco\'s body clenched, moved deeper into him again and then finally gave out. His sweaty head pressed against Harry\'s chest, Draco murmured something unintelligible and then gave out.

Harry blew cool air over his forehead. He pushed back the white-blonde hair gone yellow with matting to his forehead. Draco\'s eyes flickered open and he smiled weakly. \"You wore me out.\"

\"I see that.\" Harry grinned and reached for the covers and pulled them up over them. Draco turned his head to the side and closed his eyes again. When Draco\'s breath had deepened and evened out and Harry was sure he was asleep, he whispered, \"I could get used to this.\"