Draco\'s Insignia

Draco’s Insignia~ Part seven

Warnings and notes: This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another. This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don’t read. Go read some other fic. Do not harass the author, please. And there is some strong language in here!

I didn’t have this beta’d, simply because I think that A) there really isn’t any major errors, and 2) the dedication means more if it’s done by my hands (or fingers) alone. This took a lot of effort on my part, so I hope that it’s worthy.

Contents: This fic will contain A LOT of Slash, humor, sap, and lemon. This fic is for entertainment purposes only. You want a real plot, read my fic Protégé and its sequels.

Pairings: Draco/Harry

Year: End of 6th (going on 7th year)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of these characters! J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I can’t wait to get my hands on book 5!!

Dedicated to: J.K. Rowling for finishing book 5 and setting a release date! Many elements from the books will be in this chapter, mentioned in some way, or actually done.

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Neither Harry nor Draco could go back to sleep, so Harry decided to start breakfast for everyone. He had a feeling that once his aunt and uncle woke up and saw their baby boy sobbing (quite loudly, in fact) in his bedroom, Harry was sure to get it. He couldn’t wait until he turned eighteen, because then he could finally move out and not have to deal with them any longer, and wouldn’t have to put up with their silly rules.

Draco still didn’t want to follow their ‘silly rules’. He was bound and determined to show them that they couldn’t control him. Only Harry could, of course, but even Harry had a hard time trying to get him to follow his relatives’ rules. Draco did and said as he pleased. He said the words ‘rd’,rd’, ‘spells’, ‘broomstick’, ‘magic’, ‘wand’ . . . anything that had to do with the fact that they were magic users. Every time Draco opened his mouth, Vernon would cringe, because he *knew* that whatever Draco was going to say it would have one of those words inserted in a sentence. The blond wizard found this extremely amusing.

So, Harry was standing at the stove, making the bacon, eggs, sausage, French toast, and tea for breakfast. Still only in his silk pajama bottoms, Draco sat back in a chair by the table, watching Harry slaving away. No matter what Draco said, Harry would still not listen to him, and Harry would say: “I have to. When they find out that we’re more than just ‘Wizard pals’ or whatever, they’ll blow a fuse. This way they won’t be too angry with me.”

“Harry, my little Slytherin wannabe, you are NOT their House-elf, nor are you even a Muggle cleaning lady; you are a *wizard*. Of course, you’re not just any wizard; you’re a smashing good wizard! You really should be treated better.”

“Try telling *them* that.” Harry accidentally blurted, and then regretted instantly what he said.

“Oh, I think I will.”

Harry turned around abruptly; metal turner in one hand, fork in the other, and a small grease stain on the front of his apron. “Don’t you dare, Draco!” Then he wrinkled his no“And“And whoever said I was a Slytherin wannabe? I never wanted to be in Slytherin.”

Draco shrugged nonchalantly and smiled, “You were going to be put in Slytherin, makes no difference to me.”

Harry shook his head in disbelief, and then turned back to the stove. He expertly flipped over an egg, and added a bit more salt and pepper to that side. Then he moved to another frying pan and flipped over the pieces of toast. “I made sure I wasn’t in Slytherin, which means I’m not a ‘wannabe’. You’re thinking of something else.”

“Perhaps you’re right.” He heard Draco huff. “You still shouldn’t be doing all the cooking. Maybe you should’ve just prepared the morning tea? At least that doesn’t give you grease burns.”

“I told you, I’m fine.” Harry sighed. When he first started making the eggs, he accidentally splattered a bit of grease onto his hand and wrist, and now a small blister was beginning to form. Strangely enough, it didn’t hurt as bad as the usual burns he’d had before, and those were smaller burns that this one.

“Right. I know you, Harry. You don’t want others to worry about you. Well, that’s just too bad, because I know a lot of people that worry about you. Namely, well, Weasley, I’m sure . . . and Granger. Let’s see, who else? Ah, Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore, the Weasleys, your friends, your owl, and then there’s me.”

“Uh huh. Sure. You worry about if I’ll turn around one day and say that I don’t want to be with you after all.”

“That’s not true! Of course I worry about your health. Why else do you think I put my Mark on you?”

“I thought that you were going to try controlling me, hatehatever.”

“Oh, no, no, no, no . . .” Draco shook his head. Before he could continue with their little morning banter, a ruffled looking Dudley and his father, Vernon, waddled into the dining room area. The smell of food must have finally snapped Dudley out of his stupor. Harry turned when he heard the sound of scuffling bunny slippers. Harry tried to keep his face as normal as possible, as if he hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary.

“Ah,” Vernon said, eying Harry, “I see that you’ve decided to make things up with Dudley without me even asking you to.”

Harry blinked, looking bit perplexed by what his uncle had just said. “Make things up? I didn’t know that I did anything wrong.”

“Don’t get smart with me, boy.” Vernon shook an angry finger at Harry. Draco rolled his eyes, wanting badly to say ‘what did you want him to do? Get dumb with you?’ But he bit his tongue. “Dudley has already told me about the atrocities that you put him through, horrifying him with the sight of you and that . . .” He looked over at Draco, who blinked innocently, placing a hand over his chest as if he were being wounded, “that Other Person of Your Own Kind doing unspeakable things to one another! I will not have that kind of ‘business’ done here, under my roof! I don’t care if you like that sort, boy, but if I catch you even batting an eyelash in an alluring manner at each other, then out you go! Is that understood?”

“Loud and clear, sir.” Harry grumbled.

“Good.” Then Vernon looked back over at Draco, “Well? Do YOU understand, pale boy?”

Draco felt his hackles getting raised. He glared maliciously at the large man, deciding if he should just say that he ‘understood’ like Harry did, or if he should give him a piece of his mind.

“He understands.” Harry said, before Draco could speak. He knew what Draco was debating to do, so he decided to step in and stop Draco from saying the wrong thing. “I will make sure he does. I AM his Keeper.”

“Good. Well then, boy, carry on. Those eggs better be the way I like them. I’m going to go wake Petunia up.” Vernon started to walk out, Dudley following him, but he stopped and turned ‘round and eyed his son, “You can wait here, Dudders, so that you can get first dibs on the food.” Then he whirled back around and left.

Dudley stood at the edge of the doorway, watching his father go and leave him there in the dining room with the ‘freaks’. He began to panic, nervously bouncing on the soles of his bunny-slippered feet, too afraid to turn and face the two wizards.

“Well, Harry, are those French toasts done? I’m starving.”

“Come help yourself,” Dudley heard Harry say, and then Harry slowly finished his sentence, “Before my cousin eats them all.”

Draco snickered, and the sound of a chair strapping across the floor was heard, “I’m coming, Harry.” Draco drawled, words dripping with eagerness, “I’m ever so coming . . . just for you.” Dudley’s heart skipped a beat when he heard Draco’s voice floating across the air behind him, and without looking, Dudley knew that Draco was now standing right behind Harry from where his voice was heard. “You’re so hot, Harry. Maybe you shouldn’t be standing so close to those fires.”

Dudley gulped hard, still unable to turn around.

“Better be careful, Draco,” Harry said under his breath, “You’re more exposed than I am. You might get burned, badly.”

There was a slight pause, and then Draco murmured- “Only you could make me burn, Harry.” Dudley heard a soft ‘mmm’ come from Harry, and then a light lip-smacking noise.

Dudley tore out of the kitchen door, wailing, again.

“You shouldn’t’ve done that.” Said Harry, sounding serious, but he had an amused look on his face.

“You shouldn’t have been tempting me,” Draco quarreled. “Brat.” Then he swatted Harry on the backside. Harry gave him a goofy grin.

“Oh, eat your toast . . . git.”

~*~

Harry or Draco had no idea if Dudley told on them, but during the entire breakfast, no one spoke. The only sounds that could be heard were silverware clinking on plates and glasses being raised and dropped on the table. There was an occasion that Dudley looked like he wanted to belch out loud, but he kept his mouth closed. Harry wondered why he would behave like that, since he’d never had held in a belch in Harry’s presents before. He had a slight idea that it might have been because of Draco.

This time, Draco made sure that Harry gotten enough food, and when Harry really was full, he brought his plate up to the sink. Draco followed him shortly after, and making sure that the Dursleys weren’t paying attention, he lightly patted Harry on the bum. Harry smiled, and then made his way upstairs to their room. as nas now considered both his and Draco’s room, and Harry loved it that way.

When he entered, he noticed a familiar owl sitting on Hedwig’s cage, hooting with dignity. It was Hermione’s owl. Quickly, Harry went over to the rather large owl and took the envelope that was tied to its leg. Just as Draco had walked in, Harry started to read the letter out loud:

Dear Harry,

I got the strangest letter from Ron this morning. What is this I hear about you and Draco Malfoy *seeing* each other? I do hope that he’s joking around. Please say that he’s joking, Harry. I don’t think I can see you with someone like him, let alone another *boy*. This is a joke, right, Harry?

Ron also said that he’s coming over to your place that same night. I really hope that this letter gets to you before Ron arrives, because I need to tell you that I don’t think it’s a good idea to have Ron there if Malfoy is. You might get into some serious trouble with your Aunt and Uncle, and I don’t want you to get into any more than necessary. If you decide to ignore my protests, then please, please, *please*, be very careful! I don’t want you to get into even more trouble. Mr. Weasley wouldn’t be too happy about straightening out any mess that Ron and Malfoy would get you both in. See you soon, hopefully. You’re still going to the Weasleys for your birthday, right? Take care.

Love from Hermione

“Oh, yes, of course,” Draco sniffed, “The ever distressful Miss Granger worried that her dear Harry Potter is fraternizing with the enemy. How very touching.”

“She just doesn’t understand how much you’ve changed, yet.” Harry said, grabbing a roll of parchment and his quill from his desk.

“Changed? Pah! I haven’t changed. Become more open, yes. But changed? Never!”

“So, you wouldn’t, say, go around declaring your love for Muggles, or something?” Harry teased.

Draco made a choking noise, “I don’t think so! I’d soon go around telling everyone at Hogwarts that I’m really a Hufflepuff at heart than say that I like Muggles!”

Harry sniggered so hard that it jostled his quill, making him goof up on his letter to Hermione. “Well, does that mean that your second choice would be Hufflepuff if there were no Slytherin House?”

Draco sounded like he was strangling himself. “I don’t think so! My second choice would be Ravenclaw.”

Harry turned around, putting a hand over his heart in a mocking manner, “Are you saying that you wouldn’t want to be in Gryffindor, at all? I’m shocked and appalled!”

“Gryffindor? Yeah, right! I’m no goodie-goodie.”

“Not all Gryffindor’s are goodie-goodies.” Harry pointed out. He turned back around and dipped his quill in his ink well. “Take Fred and George Weasley for example. They broke the rules, often. And look at my father, back when he was at Hogwarts he and his friends were troublemakers.”

“That’s true.” Draco said, sounding astonished, but then his voice turned back into smug mode, “Look at you, Potter. You’re Mr. Troublemaker, yourself.”

“I make my trouble for different reasons. For more good reasons.”

“Right. Like I said, goodie-goodie.” Draco made his way over to the bed and sat at the edge. “What are you writing back?”

“I’m letting her know that you’re not really *that* bad, and that I will personally make sure that you and Ron don’t get me into any trouble. Plus, I’m going to tell her that I have something that I need to show her, and that I hope that I’ll be able to see her someday. Why? You want me to tell her anything? Want me to write, ‘by the way, Draco says hi?’ or something?”

“No. I’ll speak to her when I see her.” It was silent for a while, and then Draco said, “But that would be kind of funny, wouldn’t it? ‘P.S. Draco says hi, and he’s the best kisser ever.’”

“Yeah, sure,” Harry rolled his eyes, “Whatever you say, Drake.”

~**~

When lunchtime rolled around, and Harry and Draco had finally gone downstairs, it became silent again. Uncle Vernon was trying hard not to even look at the two, and Aunt Petunia kept biting the inside of her cheek whenever her eyes would accidentally stray to one of them. Dudley was paying more attention to his bowl of rice pudding than Draco this time. Harry thought that maybe he was angry with the situation, since he had a crush on Draco. It could be because his parents were sitting at the table with them, and he didn’t want his father to wonder if he were gay, too. It wouldn’t surprise Harry any if he were. Then again, he didn’t know that he, himself, even thought about boys like that until Draco came along.

It seemed that the entire meal was going to go without any problems, until Draco finished off his glass of milk, and spoke.

“Well, that wasn’t bad. Of course, whatever we’re having for supper won’t matter, since Weasley’s coming over.”

Harry held his breath when he saw the looks on his aunt and uncle’s faces. Dudley had a similar look, but he was fidgeting in his seat.

“W-Weasley?” Vernon spat. “As in, those redheaded freaks??”

“Those would be them.” Draco said swiftly.

Vernon rounded his beady eyes at Harry, “And just WHO invited them??”

“Not *them*, Muggle.” Said Draco with a smirk. “Just one. Harry’s friend.”

Petunia looked just as horrified as ever, Dudley looked somewhat relieved but still worried all the same, and Vernon jumped out of his chair and slammed his hands down onto the table.

“We do not need *another* one of you people under our roof! And I most certainly will NOT feed another!”

“He can share my food, then.” Harry said irritably.

Draco huffed, “Now that is not fair, Potter. How come Weasley gets to eat off of your plate, when even I can’t? I mean, you probably wouldn’t even let me eat off of you, and I’m your *boyfriend*.”

Suddenly, Dudley burst into tears and ran out. He hadn’t even finished eating his dessert.

“Now look at what you did!” Vernon roared, particularly at Draco. “You just had to bring up your *unnatural relationship* in his presence! You know that he’s very sensitive about that ever since he saw the two of you… doing… doing the unspeakable!”

“The unspeakable?” Draco raised a brow.

Harry sighed, “He means when Dudley caught us kissing.”

“SILENCE!” Vernon slammed his handto tto the table again. Petunia shakingly got up and hurrying out of the dining room. Uncle Vernon pointed a threatening finger at Harry, “I warned you, boy. I warned you. You do NOT mention anything that has to do with your queerness, EVER, around me or Dudley.”

“Even Aunt Petunia?”

“EVEN your Aunt Petunia!” Vernon bellowed.

“Even the lawn ordainment outside?” said Draco, unable to resist.

“You are both skating on very thin ice,” Vernon warned. “Now, I did not give you permission to invite your abnormal friend over for dinner, and that means that you’re just going to have to cancel it. Tell him there’s been a mistake and to stay where he is! I will not be feeding him, and he is not welcome to stay over. EVER. Do—you—understand, boy?”

Harry sighed, looking utterly defeated. “Yeah. He won’t come over for dinner.”

“Darn right.” Said Vernon.

Draco had his head cocked to one side, looking very confused about something. Harry looked at him and raised a brow in question. Draco bit his lower lip and then asked, “What’s skating?”

~*~

What Vernon didn’t know, was that there was no time to tell Ron not to come over. An owl won’t reach Ron in time with the message. By the time it would get to The Burrow, Ron would already be there. So, Harry started to search through one of Draco’s suitcases. When Draco walked in and saw Harry with his face in one of his bags, he hissed through his teeth, “What do you think you’re doing??”

“Looking for your Floo Powder.”

“Oh no,” Draco protested, “No, no, no, no . . . we are NOT going back over there! No way, no how! You can just forget it!”

“Look, I need to let Ron know about the situation. This is the fastest way to talk to him. Damn it, I’m not going to put Ron or myself into more trouble than it’s worth. It’s just plain stupid.”

“Um, Earth to Potter? You can bloody CALL him!” Draco huffed.

Harry paused, and then looked up at his boyfriend. “Oh, yeah. I forgot about that. I guess whenever Vernon starts ragging on me and my friends I just loose it, and the first thing that pops into my head is magic. Thanks for reminding me.”

“No problem, Potter. Someone has to have the brains in the relationship. Now, kindly remove your hands from my suitcase!”

Harry got up and then shoved Draco’s bag back into the closet. “What do you mean, ‘the brains of the relationship’? I’m smart!”

“Yes, of course you are, Harry.” Draco smirked, “It’s a wonder why you’re not in Ravenclaw.”

“Oh, sod off.” Harry said in annoyance, but then he grinned. Draco smiled back, warmly.

“Go call him, you *abnormal boyfriend*, you.”

Harry decided to ignore that remark, because he knew that Draco was just kidding around with him. Quietly, Harry made his way downstairs and into the kitchen where the wall phone was. Why they didn’t buy another cordless phone was beyond Harry. He remembered that they had one a while ago, but Dudley had accidentally sat on it when someone left it lying on the couch, and broke it. Harry wondered why the remote was still intact, since Dudley had it in the back of his trousers whenever he didn’t want anyone changing the station.

He already had Ron’s number memorized. Silently, Harry walked over to the kitchen. Aunt Petunia was gathering up the dishes and getting ready to wash them. She did notice him, but she didn’t say anything. When he walked by the door, he noticed that Dudley was in the living room, watching TV. Right when he picked up the receiver, Petunia said, “Are you calling your other friend?”

“Yes. Vernon wanted me to cancel my plans with him, remember?”

“It’s about time you listened.” She sniffed, “Make it quick. I’m expecting a call from Aunt Marge.”

Harry shivered. He hoped and prayed to whatever deity was listening to him that she wasn’t coming over. That was just what he needed to complete his day, Marge finding out about Draco, and even a fight breaking out between t No Not only that, but he didn’t think that Draco would care if she wasn’t supposed to know that he went to Hogwarts, and not that Other School that his aunt and uncle had her believe.

He swiftly pushed the buttons on the phone and stuck it to his ear, waiting anxiously for Ron to pick up. It wasn’t Ron that did, however. Neither was it Mrs. Weasley.

“Hello?” the voice was small, timid, and sounded almost afraid, as if they thought they were doing it wrong. Harry almost laughed, but he caught himself.

“Hello, Ginny.” Harry said, “Is Ron there?”

Suddenly he heard a small meep, and then a clanging noise. Harry closed his eyes and sighed. It was an unmistakable sound of someone dropping the phone.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she apologized as she suddenly reappeared on the other end. “I dropped it. Um, Ron is in his room getting ready to come over to your house. Is something wrong?”

“Yes, actually. Tell him he can’t come over. Vernon won’t allow it.”

“Oh. That’s too bad. Ok, I’ll let him know.”

“Thanks.” Harry said. Relief filled him.

There was a small pause, and then Ginny made a croaking noise, like she was trying to speak, and then she said softly, “Is it true?”

“Is what true?” Harry asked, slowly.

“About you and Malfoy.” She sounded a bit upset.

Harry sighed, a bit too heavily into the mouthpiece. “Yeah, it’s true.”

Silence again, and then . . . “That’s okay, Harry.” She sounded as if she were just reading it off of a piece of paper. “I understand.”

“Ginny . . . I’m really sor. . .”

She hung up.

“. . . Sorry. Damn.” He hung the phone back up.

“So,” Draco said, coming up from behind him, “Did you tell him?”

“I told Ginny. She’s going to tell him.”

“Oh. So what was that whole ‘sorry’ deal about?”

“She wanted to know if it was true that you and me were seeing each other.”

“And I take it she didn’t take it well.”

“No,” Harry sighed, running his fingers through his bangs. “She didn’t take it well.”

Draco got closer and ran the back of his hand underneath Harry’s chin, “There’s nothing you can do about it that would help the situation. Try not to worry.”

Harry nodded. Draco was right, it wasn’t his fault.

~*~

About one hour later, the phone rang. Harry crossed his fingers, hoping that it was Ron calling to talk to him about the canceling, but it wasn’t. Petunia picked it up and then said sweetly into the phone, “Oh, hello Marge! It’s so nice to hear from you. How’s Ripper doing? Did he come out of surgery ok?”

‘I hope not.’ Harry thought as he stood in the doorway, eavesdropping.

“He did? Splendid!”

‘There goes the neighborhood.’ Harry sighed. He was about to leave, not really wanting to hear more, but then he stopped when he just caught the last of Petunia’s sentence-

“You can make it tonight? That’s wonderful!”

‘That’s awful!’ Harry groaned inwardly. How was it going to work with Draco here? There was no way. He *had* to persuade Petunia that it wouldn’t be a good idea for her to have Aunt Marge over while Draco was staying. He quickly entered the kitchen and cleared his throat.

Petunia looked at him in disgust and then brought her attention back to Marge, “I’m glad that I’ll get to see you again. There’s so much we need to catch up on . . .” She trailed off when she saw Harry making a slash gesture across his throat and shaking his head. “Hold on a minute, would you?” She said to Marge on the phone, and then she placed a hand on the mouthpiece. “What is it, you little vermin?”

“It’s not a good idea to have her over when Draco’s here . . .” he pleaded with her.

“That’s just too bad.” Petunia said, “You’ll just have to keep him upstairs until she leaves.”

“But—but I can’t! Draco won’t listen. He won’t care about what you or Uncle Vernon think . . .”

“Shush, now. Go away and let me talk to her privately.”

“Please, tell her that tonight isn’t a good idea . . .” but his aunt wasn’t listening, and she continued to talk to Marge on the phone, telling her that she can’t wait to see her. Harry felt sick as he trudged upstairs. When he opened the door, Draco had his crystal ball out, and was talking to it.

“. . . I’ll be fine. No unforeseen disasters so far . . .”

Harry cleared his throat, making Draco jump and turn around.

“Hey, lover.” Draco smiled.

“Mr. Malfoy . . .” the crystal ball groaned, “Please refrain from addressing Mr. Potter like that in front of me.”

“Sorry, sir.” Draco said, sounding serious, but he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Mr. Malfoy . . . wipe that stupid grin off your face.”

Draco frowned. His contact, whom Harry discovered was Professor Snape, couldn’t see what was going on, he could only hear. So, when Harry heard him say that, he could only assume that they knew each other pretty well.

“I’ve got some bad news, Draco.” Harry said, not caring if Snape could hear him.

“What? You’re not dying, are you?”

Harry shook his head..”
.”

“Then you’re pregnant!” Draco gave Harry a shocked look, mockingly.

“No! Worse than that.”

Draco’s eyes bulged, “You got Granger pregnant??”

“No!” Harry huffed, “That’s not it . . .”

“Then tell me already! Stop making me sound like an idiot!”

“I don’t have to make you.” Harry grinned and wiggled his eyebrows.

“Come on, Harry. Seriously! What’s the bad news?”

Harry sighed, and ran a hand through his messy hair, “My Aunt Marge is coming over tonight.”

“Oh.” Draco said, clearly not gettit.
t.

“You don’t understand, Draco. She doesn’t know that I’m a wizard. She thinks that I go to St. Brutus’s Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys.”

“St. Whatsit?” Draco said.

“Exactly. If me or you ever mention magic, or anything from Hogwarts . . . we’ll be in so much trouble . . .”

Drhuffhuffed, crossing his arms over his swelling chest. “Us? In trouble? You’re not thinking at all, Harry.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry frowned.

“Sir,” Draco said to the crystal ball, “May I contact you later? I need to speak to Potter.”

“Very well,” Snape’s voice said from the glowing ball. “Contact me if anything goes wrong with that Aunt.”

“I will. ‘Bye.”

“Goodbye.” The crystal ball’s glow went off.

“Now, listen to me good, Harry.” Draco said as he motioned for Harry to sit down. Harry sat on the edge of the bed, waiting curiously for Draco to continue. “Now, I don’t know if you really are that forgetful, or ignorant, but have you forgotten about the Draconis Ma

Harry arched an eyebrow, “No, I haven’t. Why?”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Harry. . . you’re able to do magic without getting caught. The Ministry won’t know that you’re using magic. . .”

“So? I can’t use magic on my Aunt! She’d have to have her memory erased professionally, and. . .”

“Harry,” Draco got up and sat down next to his boyfriend, “I mean that you can now threaten the Dursleys. You can make them take back that story and have them tell your Aunt how much you’ve improved and how wonderful of a nephew you are!”

Suddenly, Harry’s mouth formed a very big grin. He almost forgot about that! He can go back to the days when they were afraid of him using magic on them, and turning them into toads.

“Oh, Great Godric, Draco – I love you.”

~TBC~