Ups and Downs

Ups and Downs by She Who Must Be Obeyed

Chapter One - Pacing

Harry paced the room restlessly, his face creased in a worried frown. He had started the evening reading a book but had soon found that the words blurred together on the paper. He had then tried looking through one of the photo albums on the library shelf. The pictures, filled though there were with happy, smiling memories, failed to hold his attention for long either. He had sat and started into space for some time before commencing the pacing.

The library, being a large room, took quite some time to pace around. Harry stopped every so often to listen or to stare intently at the fireplace before resuming his chosen activity.

Harry was worried, terrified in fact. His lover had been called earlier in the evening and Harry was anxiously awaiting his return. Voldemort had been becoming increasingly vicious, even towards his trusted followers, in the past several months. The frustration of still being unable to defeat a teenaged boy and also failing to even slightly destabilise the Ministry of Magic was taking its toll on the deranged megalomaniac.

Harry’s lover, although secretly disloyal, was Voldemort’s most trusted advisor and even he was undergoing regular bouts of punishment. Harry was terrified for his lover’s safety every time he was summoned, worried in case he was discovered and tortured into insanity or to death.

Harry’s pacing stopped abruptly and he spun around to stare in the direction of the library door; he was certain that he had heard something. The door creaked slowly open and in strode Lucius Malfoy.

“Luc!” Harry exclaimed, rushing towards the other man. “Are you okay? I was so worried! Did he punish you? Are you hurt?”

Lucius swept the babbling young man into his arms and held him tight. He rested his cheek on the top of Harry’s head and let his body relax slightly.

“It was… unpleasant… tonight. The Dark Lord was not pleased with the lack of progress on any front. He is particularly displeased at his inability to gather more followers. Those that have been approached are increasingly refusing the Dark Lord’s demands and banding together for safety. It has made him… most displeased.” Lucius replied wearily. Straightening up and pushing Harry to arms length Lucius continued “I will feel much better after a few vials of potion and perhaps the loving attention of a young brunette I know, if he felt so inclined.”

Cocking his head to one side and conjuring up his most guileless expression, Harry replied,

“Surely Severus was injured too? I doubt he will feel particularly inclined to help you if he’s not feeling well either. Anyway he’s only 6 years younger than you and that’s still almost ancient!”

“You, Brat, know perfectly well who I am talking about. I really don’t know quite why I tolerate your warped sense of humour.” Lucius groused.

“Because you love me and you particularly love that I can reduce you to a puddle of goo with my bare hands.” Harry smirked.

“When I am feeling more myself,” Lucius countered “we will see just who exactly reduces who to a puddle of goo as you say.”

“As you wish.” Harry continued to smirk, the light of challenge flaring in his eyes. “Now which do you need tonight?” he asked, gesturing to the array of potion vials lined neatly on a nearby table.

“An anti-crutiatus, a nerve tonic, a medium strength pain potion and some bruise salve will suffice this time I believe.” Lucius replied, sinking gratefully into a high-backed arm chair.

“So, a dark blue one, a pale green one and an… amber… one?” Harry queried.

“Correct. You are improving gradually Mr Potter. Severus will be pleased.”

“I’m getting far too much practice at the moment.” Harry grumbled under his breath. “And I’ve warned you already that if you insist on calling me Mr Potter again, I will feed you some of that pink potion that Severus keeps in his stores.” Harry said out loud as he uncorked the vials and passed them to Lucius to drink.

“No you wouldn’t Harry; you know that it would interfere with your personal amusement too much.” Lucius demurred, after he had swallowed all three vials of potion.

Harry grinned evilly at this but did not reply, instead choosing to open the pot of bruise salve and raise an eyebrow questioningly at Lucius.

“Right hand.” Lucius stated shortly, gesturing towards it with his left. “Severus was particularly out of favour tonight and I had him grasp my hand as the Dark Lord sent the fourth wave of Crutiatus at him. I thought Narcissa had been bad during labour with Draco but that was minor compared to this. Tsk, gently Harry please; I feel as though every bone in my hand has been broken and ground to a fine powder!”

Harry continued to carefully massage the salve into Lucius’ injured appendage, taking care to cover every inch of his lover’s hand with healing balm. He finished and cast a wandless cleaning charm to remove the excess salve from his own hands before straightening up and returning the pot and empty vials to the table for the elves to refill in the morning.

“Come on love, it’s late. If you do want some loving attention from your gorgeous young brunette, then you had better come to bed.” Harry smiled cheekily over his shoulder as he made his way towards the door.

Lucius shook his head but followed after him, amused by the irrepressible cheek that characterised his Harry.


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Lucius’ bedroom was a haven of opulence and comfort. The king-size, four-poster bed was set in the middle of the room on a raised dais; the curtains surrounding it were made of the finest cloth, embroidered richly with gold thread. The room itself practically screamed light and space. The large, full-length windows that opened onto the balcony allowed the moonlight to pour in and highlight the other furniture.

At one end of the room there was a tastefully arranged cluster of furniture surrounding an open fireplace. The bookshelf contained a selection of the inhabitant’s favourite books from the library and the chairs and loveseat offered the perfect setting in which to read them, either separately or together.

The other end of the room was obviously designed for more practical comforts, containing as it did two large armoires, two ornate chests of drawers and a large bureau. There was also another door that led into the magnificent en suit bathroom.

Harry entered the room first and waved a hand to light the sconces. He started to divest himself of his jumper and shirt as he made his way towards the bathroom. Returning with a vial of something in his hand, he set it on the bedside table and continued to disrobe.

When Lucius entered the room, Harry was already down to his boxers and had stripped the heavy quilt from the top of the bed. Seeing that his love was already ready for him, Lucius decided to tease Harry by removing his clothes slowly and carefully. Luc knew that Harry was impatient and hated it that Lucius was slow and precise when it came to his clothing.

Harry snorted at Lucius’ show of teasing and merely flicked his fingers in the other man’s direction. It was Luc’s turn to grunt in displeasure as all of his clothes disappeared.

“You do realise that you are showing off do you not?” Lucius queried, seeing the smirk on Harry’s face.

“And I thought that ‘If you’ve got it…’ was a favourite expression among the Malfoys.” Harry returned.

“Nothing as gauche as that I assure you. We Malfoys prefer the subtler approach.”

“Yes, you are right.” Harry nodded “This whole house screams subtle!”

“My darling boy! If we wanted to flaunt it as you say, this would be nothing. What we have here is a tasteful hint of what could be; a mere clue to others that the Malfoys are a force to be reckoned with.”

“Well this Potter is a force to be reckoned with as well so get on the bed, face down and stop posturing.” Harry retorted.

Lucius calmly did as he was told and laid waiting for Harry’s next command. Harry clambered onto the bed next to him leant forward to place a soft kiss on his cheek. Smiling, he then straddled Lucius’ hips and reached towards the vial he had brought with him, uncorking it and releasing a heavenly spicy scent.

“That’s cheating.” Lucius mumbled into the pillow “You know I can’t resist it when you do that.”

Harry chuckled and poured some of the oil into the palm of his hand, warming it gently before beginning to massage it into Lucius’ shoulders. Lucius was stoic throughout the massaging of his back and shoulders. It was when Harry began massaging down his arms and to his hands and fingers that Luc finally began to melt. By the time Harry had finished massaging his legs and thighs, Lucius was virtually comatose.

“Are you feeling at all gooey yet love?” Harry teased softly.

“Mmmmph… no… not a bit.” Lucius muttered unconvincingly.

“I best stop then, if this isn’t working” Harry offered.

“Stop and I’ll Avada you.” Lucius grumbled, mock threateningly, when Harry went to take his hands away from their oily task.

“Five more minutes then.” Harry chuckled as he resumed stroking his hands across Lucius’ calves.

It took less than three for Lucius to be sound asleep. Harry smiled to himself as he looked down at his sleeping lover. It was hard to reconcile him with the feared Death Eater when he looked so peaceful like this.

Harry had to reach for his wand in order to spell Lucius under the covers. Following his seventeenth birthday, Harry’s powers had increased significantly; particularly his affinity for wandless and wordless magic. He was still working on perfecting many of his wandless spells, however; it was only the ones he regularly used that he was confident to perform.

Sighing, Harry waved his hands to put out the lights and snuggled close into Lucius’ warm embrace. Life may have its scary parts but it had its up sides too.


A/N:

I was out and about and had a chance to do a spot of writing. I hadn’t got the first half of Ch 13 of Hopes and Wishes with me so started on something else. I love Harry/Luc and have wanted to write one for ages. We’ll see where it goes. I have a feeling that it is going to be rather smuttier than H&W!