Harry Potter and Another Malfoy

Pairings: main Harry/Scorpius, mentions of Harry/Draco and Harry/Ron

Additional Warnings: mentions of mpreg, totally screwed-up canon, epilogue, kids, jobs and relationships and mean!Ron (cause someone has to be); Spoilers.

Thank you for your wonderful reviews! Unfortunately, after this part I won’t be able to post every other day, because my sick leave is over and I will be brows-deep in work for the next two weeks but I promise to update the story at least once a week! By the way we are almost there…so this is an important chapter.

Part 7

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The manor was like something from a fairy-land: glittering gold, silver and pink against the darkening sky sprinkled with twinkling stars. As Harry, Albus and Allegra Apparated and walked down the path leading to the gates, lit by yellow-glowing lanterns, they could hear the chatter of water and the clapping of tiny but numerous wings. Within the gates, the grounds were lit by enchanted fairies fluttering around, and the fountain was overflowing with multi-coloured bubbles. Another fancy touch to the fountain were golden fish, flipping in and out of water, their eyes gleaming like precious stones. Everything was breathtaking and for a long while Harry, Al and Allegra just stood and stared, their mouths hanging open.

The illusion of added for the occasion towers and turrets, swathed in what appeared to be sparkling fog above the manor, reminded Harry of the Disney Castle and he half-expected, upon approaching the front door, to be greeted by Mickey Mouse. However, when the doors opened and Harry got the first glimpse of Malfoy on the topmost stair, he decided that if he’d worn a Mickey Mouse costume he wouldn’t look as bizarre as he looked now – wearing white tight-fitting robes with silver-green thread and a monstrosity of what Harry identified as a purple train with high collar, embroidered with peacock feathers all along its length, which was considerable. Harry was stunned. It looked like something a royalty would wear, but who did Malfoy think he was?

The inside of the manor was just as impressive as the outside. The place sparkled and the light of hundreds of candles from the chandeliers was spreading white, gold, pink and blue rays all around it. In a few hours the place was alive with music, laughter, tinkling of glasses and abuzz with more human languages than Harry ever gave Malfoy credit to know. The children took full possession of the flying carpets and zoomed back and forth at breakneck speed – Harry wondered if the carpets were rogue. He put on the strongest protection charms he could think of, seeing as how he didn’t want to find bits of Allegra in different corners of the manor and asked Astoria Malfoy to make sure that a bunch of house-elves was always nearby, their magic at the ready. She was far from pleased to be lectured on safety measures by him, but bad publicity was infinitely worse. That’s why she smiled a frozen smile and they both posed for a picture when catching a flash of the camera in their vicinity.

All the while, Harry was studiously avoiding Scorpius, who was desperately trying to catch his look or hand. Harry knew that it couldn’t last forever and when the dance floor was cleared in the middle of the room and couples poured out, Harry’s luck took off at a run when he got on the wrong end of the tide. However, he was timely saved by Scorpius, who deftly pulled him out of harm’s way and as a reward for his noble deed asked Harry for a dance. Harry pursed his lips in perfect imitation of Aunt Petunia, gave him a cold look and nodded. He didn’t say a word. So Scorpius took his hand and managed to catch his eye, which wasn’t easy, because Harry was trying hard to look anywhere but at him.

‘You look amazing. Green suits you perfectly. Though, so do other colours, of course.’ said Scorpius with what he expected was a winning smile.

‘If this is the kind of small talk that you learnt on your father’s lap, you can skip it.’ said Harry briskly, tightening his mouth, least he gave an impression that he wanted to have a friendly chat.

‘I didn’t think you’d agree to dance with me.’ remarked Scorpius.

‘I didn’t do it to please you.’ replied Harry coldly. ‘I can’t dance to save my life. I expect you’ll regret asking me soon enough. Shall we?’

They moved to join other couples on the dance floor and Harry added as an afterthought:

‘If you so much but try to twirl me – I’ll hex you back to France.’

Scorpius laughed but a stone-faced expression that Harry turned on him wiped the smile off his face.

Scorpius bent his head so that he was whispering in Harry’s ear and not sharing his thoughts with the rest of the audience and said pleadingly:

‘Harry, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to attack you like that. I didn’t mean to sound like that.’

Harry shook his head with apparent regret.

‘I think not. I think you said exactly what you meant. I just wish I knew how you felt before and I’m truly sorry that it had come to this. I never thought that I would see the day you would act like that. I would expect such treatment from your father – never from you. I guess I forgot that when all’s said and done you’re still a Malfoy.’

Scorpius narrowed his eyes and tightened his hold on Harry.

‘Will you let me speak at least? Will you put off passing judgement on me until I have my say?’ he asked in a low, angry voice, almost growling.

‘I hardly think it’s necessary.’ said Harry stubbornly.

‘I was in a bad mood, ok?’ snapped Scorpius. ‘The Ministry wasn’t my first stop. I had already been at home before going there, but I wanted to see you. So I came but, I guess, I should have put it off until I was in a more favourable mood to see you so comfortably settled in your new role as my father’s personal assistant.’ he said venomously and Harry flinched.

‘Sorry.’ amended Scorpius quickly, wincing when Harry trod purposefully hard on his foot. ‘I had an unpleasant encounter with him, ok? He came to my room unannounced. I forgot that it was his house and not my studio, so I didn’t put any charms to stall him off. He caught me while I was unshrinking some of the paintings that I brought along.’
Harry narrowed his eyes. Something told him that he knew exactly the subject of those paintings. Scorpius confirmed it next.

‘Some of them were of you.’ He fell silent and then added. ‘Well, most of them were of you – I thought you’d like to have them. There’s also Allegra’s portrait – but don’t tell her that – it’s a surprise. I’ll give it to her on her birthday.’

Harry’s severe expression would have melted into a grin at that, if he hadn’t stopped it in time. Meanwhile, Scorpius continued with growing agitation:

‘He was looking at them and touching them, like they were his property, humming some stupid tune under his breath and I could tell that he knew. I didn’t care. I wanted him to know. I wanted to scream it at him. But I think it was more than obvious all things considered.’

Harry wasn’t sure what Scorpius meant but he guessed that it was a Malfoy thing and didn’t ask. He supposed he had an inkling, but he hoped that he was wrong.

‘It was when he was already in the doorway that he broke the silence and pointing at each of your portraits told me not to do anything irrational.’

‘And naturally it awoke your rebellious streak and you went to the Ministry to have a fight with me.’ concluded Harry.

‘It wasn’t supposed to turn into a fight! I didn’t mean to pour my anger with him out on you. I know that you had no choice. I know that at the time it was a bad time for you. I know that he as well as forced you to enter this arrangement. He told me.’

Harry stopped so abruptly that Scorpius collided into him.

‘He – what? What do you mean ‘He told you.’?’ asked Harry, his eyes going wide and his face getting hot. ‘He. Told. You?’

Scorpius nodded and steered them back into motion.

‘I went to him after the party, because I couldn’t get the two of you out of my mind. I needed to know. I asked him about it. I didn’t know what to think. He didn’t deny it. He told me that – ’

Scorpius stopped as if to think over his next words and when he continued Harry was surprised to see pink spots appear on his pale cheeks. He wondered what it could mean.

What did Malfoy tell him?

‘He told me that it was just an arrangement and that he was not leaving mother and that no one could know.’

Was it all? Harry didn’t think so, not by looking at Scorpius’s guilty face. It must have been something nastier, something really humiliating. Questions exploded in Harry’s head, but he was too shocked to speak and Scorpius went on.

‘And when I saw you in that office yesterday – I just got so mad, thinking that it could be more than just an arrangement for you. What if you had feelings for him and he just used you?’

Harry laughed and looked at Scorpius as if he was a particularly cute Niffler.

‘Don’t be ridiculous, Scorpius.’ he said. ‘I’m not a naïve schoolboy – I might have been fooled by your father’s benefactor image for a while, but I have long since learnt his worth. I fell for his ruse, but I’d be supremely stupid to fall for him.’

‘Good.’ said Scorpius savagely.

‘I guess I can see why it would bother you so, but I can’t see why it would make you so mad as to act in such a way towards me.’ said Harry.

‘Can’t you?’ asked Scorpius. ‘Look me in the eye and tell me that you don’t know what I’m talking about, Harry. Tell me that you don’t know that I have feelings for you. Tell me that you don’t know that I was jealous. Tell me that you have no feelings for me.’ said Scorpius seriously.

Harry sighed.

‘Scorpius – it’s not possible. We can’t talk about it. It can’t be happening. I had no idea.’

Scorpius gave him a disbelieving look.

‘It’s true, Scropius!’ hissed Harry, suddenly well aware that they were in the middle of the dance floor and could be overheard by a stray guest or worse – a vigilant reporter. ‘I had no idea that you had such…intense feelings for me. When you first told me about your paintings I allowed it to be a schoolboy crush – nothing more. I had no idea about my own feelings towards you until they hit me at the Ministry – I can’t believe it still. I’m reeling. It’s just not right. I cared for you ever since you spent your first summer with us – how could I not – you were my son’s best friend. But it was never in such a way, you must believe me. I don’t know where these feelings came from and how long they’ve been there, waiting to burst in on me like that. And if I ever gave an impression or an indication that there was a chance for something like this to happen, then I am deeply sorry – it was never my intention. It would never cross my mind. I would never – ’

Scorpius shook his head and gave Harry a reassuring smile, pleased that Harry was not denying that there was something between them.

‘Your conduct was always irreproachable. I knew that I would have hard time convincing you to accept it. But I was always fascinated by you, drawn to you, attracted to you. It was just a matter of time before I made my move. I knew what I wanted for a very long time.’

Harry shook his head.

‘I can’t believe we’re actually talking about it. It’s just…wrong!’

‘Why?’ asked Scorpius arrogantly. ‘Because of our age difference? Because you are my best friend’s father? Because you went to school with my father? So what? It didn’t matter when we were friends. Why would it matter if we were to become lovers?’

Harry’s eyes went so comically wide that Scorpius was afraid they would need a shrinking charm to get them back to their original size.

‘Don’t. Say. This. Word!’ hissed Harry again and made a series of shushing noises that made Scorpius burst out laughing.

Perhaps, it was Harry’s gut talking, but the next moment they were dancing side by side with Albus and his partner, some girl Harry had never seen before. Al beamed at them and said:

‘Did he tell you, dad?’

Harry blinked.

‘Tell me what exactly?’ he asked suspiciously.

Al rolled his eyes.

‘That he’ll be staying with us, of course!’

Al said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. And, in a way, it was.

‘What?’ yelped Harry.

Scorpius smiled sweetly.

‘Al invited me and I couldn’t say no. It’s been too long since I spent summer with you and I miss those times. Not to mention, that I’d rather stay with people who actually value my privacy and don’t snoop around my belongings.’

Al grimaced and cast a disgusted look at Draco Malfoy, who was once again posing in front of the cameras.

‘Of course you do.’ said Harry, not buying it in the least. ‘Well, your old room is at your disposal.’ he said with a sigh. He couldn’t really turn him out of his house now after all these years and Al would hardly understand his sudden unwillingness to have Scorpius around. And it was really cowardly. It’s not like he was afraid of Scorpius. ‘We haven’t redecorated in a while so you are free to change it in any way you see fit. Just make sure you stay in your room.’ he added so that only Scorpius could hear him, to which Scorpius smirked and said: ‘I’ll do my best but, alas, I can’t really promise anything – my memory has been going bad lately.’

Soon after that, there was no more one-on-one talking for a long while, because the whole space was completely monopolised by the birthday boy and Harry thought he would gag just looking at him. ‘And he called me an attention-seeking prat at Hogwarts? The bastard!’ thought Harry amidst the clapping and the clinking of glasses around him. When the speech-time was finally over and Harry was dying for some fresh air and less Malfoy, they were all invited outside to enjoy the fireworks.

But fireworks – no matter how loud and impressive – could not distract Harry from an avalanche of his thoughts or drown the wild beating of his heart. He wandered off away from the crowd all the while thinking if it was all his doing somehow, however unintentional, because such intense feelings didn’t just come out of nowhere. Was it his fault? He hoped not. Could he pinpoint the exact moment when Scorpius could look upon him and decide that he was a potential lover?

Of course, he knew that Scorpius was interested in him. After all, he was a legend. And, naturally, he attributed it to innocent curiosity of someone who was familiar with his story of triumph over the dark wizard of all times. But did he know that there was something more behind that incessant curiosity? Was he just trying not to see it? Was he thinking that it would pass without a trace one day?

And what about his own feelings? When did he start looking at Scorpius like at an adult? But it wasn’t all that difficult, because Scorpius was always more grown-up than his age and they always interacted like equals. Harry never tried to treat Scorpius like a child or a son. They were friends, for a lack of a better word. But was he programming himself to become more one day? He didn’t think so. He wasn’t that devious. But he was that desperate for someone to love him, adore him, worship him. And it seemed that Scorpius took it upon himself to do just that.

It must have been his fault. As long as he knew Scorpius, he always compared him with Malfoy. He always looked at Scorpius as someone different, someone better and rejoiced every time Scorpius defied his father in any, even the smallest of ways. Was he, somehow, unknowingly, turning Scorpius into someone who would suit him one day? However ridiculous that thought sounded even in his own head, it could very well be the truth. Harry was also bothered by Malfoy’s comment to Scorpius about not doing anything irrational. Did he know how Scorpius felt? Did he know what he intended to do about it? Did Harry have to prepare himself for a confrontation? What could he possibly tell Malfoy that would justify him? He couldn’t even justify himself to himself!

Harry was now deep within the grounds, taking lungfuls of air and not really looking where he was going, because going felt good. However, he was soon startled out of his thoughts when someone drew him gently by the elbow. Harry didn’t have to turn around to know who it was but he did, anyway, because it was either that or running away. Here, the place was illuminated only by the moon but she must have been tipsy, because she was constantly getting lost within the woolly clouds and every now and then Scorpius’s face was going in and out of focus.

‘Don’t tell me that a piece of cake with my father’s face on it wouldn’t make it down your throat.’ asked Scorpius smiling.

Harry snorted.

‘I think I have more than my share stuffed down my throat every day as it is.’ he said.

They stood in silence for a while. Surprisingly, it wasn’t uncomfortable. It felt good. Really good. They were occasionally catching each other’s eye and Harry felt as ridiculous as if it was his first date ever. Then, Scorpius suggested to take their silence to a sheltered by a tight ring of tall trees spot nearby, that could be seen only to those who knew that it was there. It was a very convenient spot indeed and Harry wasn’t playing stupid. If he knew anything about Scorpius, he knew that Scorpius was not about to resume their conversation but that he would start taking action. The question was if Harry was prepared to take their relationship in that direction. He knew that it was wrong, but he also knew that a part of him was craving it. He never felt quite like this before but in a way it was reminiscent of how he and Ron got together. It didn’t happen overnight but gradually wound itself around them like Devil’s Snare so that in the end it was really hard to miss it.

Scorpius didn’t make him wait long.

‘I want to kiss you.’ he said without preamble and Harry rolled his eyes.

‘Yeah, I kind of figured it from the way you’ve been staring at me.’

‘Will you say yes?’ asked Scorpius.

‘Will you take no for an answer?’ asked Harry and shook his head at once. ‘Thought not. But you should know, Scorpius, that a kiss won’t change a thing.’

Scorpius raised his eyebrows as if asking ‘Won’t it?’ and Harry let out a put-upon sigh.

‘I mean it will change everything but not in the way you think. I won’t be able to look at you the same way again. I won’t be able to talk to you without thinking about the kiss. But it won’t change my mind. I still think that it is impossible and wrong. I have to think it. I have to remind myself that I can’t let it happen and if I set my mind I usually keep to it.’

‘I’m afraid, Harry, that I’ve been waiting so long that your mind is the last thing I care about right now.’ said Scorpius before meeting Harry’s lips.

It was soft and gentle and thorough but it didn’t resemble a conquest that Harry was expecting it to be when catching sight of Scorpius’s determined face and set jaw. He was expecting force and possession and pain and clashing of teeth, but it was slow, cautious and coaxing and with that touch of passion that didn’t burn you to a crisp but kept you alive and pleasantly warm and happy and wanting more.

Harry knew that he should have put up more of a fight, that he should have taken time to investigate what was happening and maybe, even, find a way to put a stop to it – but in his heart he wanted it to happen and letting go of rational thought he gave into temptation, which was the only true way to deal with one. He was instantly swept away, engulfed by that enormous, unbelievable sensation, exploding like fireworks in his chest.

Kissing Ron never felt like this. Kissing Malfoy didn’t even come close.

TBC…