suki_blue | Fic: Parity Transformations - Harry/Draco - 17/21

Title: Parity Transformations

Fandom: HP

Pairing: Harry/Draco

Rating: NC-17 overall

Summary: Eleven years since he ran from Hogwarts, Draco has moved on. Now in his late twenties, Draco lives a reclusive life in a tiny village in Hampshire. Never in a million years does he expect to cross paths with Harry Potter again. But he does, and there are two, rather small and rather excitable, complications.

Beta done by

amejisuto. Thank you, darling.

A/N: Compliant with all canon up to HBP so there may be spoilers for any of the first six books. As this fic is already planned out in full, it will not be compliant with book 7 and will therefore contain NO SPOILERS.

Previous Chapters: HERE

January was a satisfying month. Draco constructed a dastardly plot to get out of New Years with the Weasleys, he managed to get his winter digging in Harry’s garden done before the heavy frost settled, and Kasen got seven gold stars in school.

It was February now and Draco stood outside admiring the curly Witch-hazel leaves and frost-covered winter Jasmine.

‘Looks great,’ Harry said, crossing his bare arms and shivering. ‘Who would have thought?’

Draco nodded. ‘Considering the mess it was in, I would have to agree.’

‘I think it’s going to snow.’

Draco looked up to the sky and smiled. ‘I think so too. The children will be pleased.’

And they were.

Two days later, five inches of snow covered Winchester, and Kasen and James had discovered snow ball fights. James also discovered the devastating mortality of snowmen when he made a miniature one and brought it inside to watch the television.

On the 14th February, Valentines Day, Draco and Harry sat the children down to explain to them about their relationship.

‘So, Draco and I are friends.’

‘Like Uncle Ron,’ James said, fiddling with a stripy scarf that he’d been tying Kasen up with moments before.

‘No, no, no,’ Harry said, ‘Not like Uncle Ron. Not at all.’

Harry went on to mention “Special Friends” and “When People Care About Each Other a Lot”.

Draco rolled his eyes and stepped in to save the day. ‘Harry and I like to kiss each other. We’re friends who kiss and cuddle and hold hands.’

There was a flare of understanding in Kasen’s eyes before he said, ‘Can I have a biscuit?’ and the light was snuffed out.

‘Do you think it went well?’ Draco asked Harry later that day. It was a Sunday and they were walking off their Sunday lunch at Farley Mount. It had been snowing constantly for a week and the ground was covered with a deep, fresh layer that crunched as they walked and tripped up the children as they ran.

‘I think so. Maybe. I think they understood as much as they could.’

‘Hmm. You realise the Weasleys will be butting in from now on.’

‘Why exactly?’

‘Because James was a parrot in his previous life. He’ll repeat what we’ve told him, have no doubt.’

Harry fake-dodged a badly aimed snowball and threw one back. ‘Okay. Well, we’ll just deal with it.’

‘And if they can’t deal with it?’ Draco pushed.

Harry looked at him with a surly expression. ‘They’ll have to. No one tells me what to do. It’s my life and I do what I want and who I want.’

Draco’s laugh echoed across the open countryside.

‘I didn’t quite mean it like that,’ Harry said. ‘I grew up being manipulated by people, used and pushed around, told where to live. I spent the first few years of my life locked in a cupboard, for Christ’s sake.’

‘Tell me you’re exaggerating,’ Draco said, his expression deadly.

‘I’m not. I had the crappiest childhood ever. I missed out on so much. I’m not missing out now. The press have forced me from my home and I found a new one. They dragged me through the gutter and made me miserable. I’ve found some happiness now. There is no one on this planet that can tell me I’ve chosen wrong, not when the person I’ve chosen makes me feel so happy.’

Draco blinked as a cold breeze gushed and his nose turned a little redder. ‘So Ron …’

‘Can bitch all he likes. He’s my best friend, but you’re my boyfriend. There’s a line he can’t cross.’

Smugness momentarily crept over Draco before Harry shattered it.

‘And the same goes for you,’ Harry warned. ‘Don’t start with him.’

‘Fuck it, Harry, you know I won’t be able to help it. I’m argumentative and sarcastic by my very nature. How will I quell the urges?’

‘With a little hard work and patience,’ Harry said. He stopped them and took Draco’s face in his gloved hands. ‘I know you can do it.’

‘Our Daddies are going to kiss!’ Kasen yelled, and James followed the declaration up with kissing noises and plentiful giggling.

‘We might as well,’ Draco said, so Harry kissed him, slow and almost chaste, bright red woollen fingers mingling with golden strands.

And then there was a loud crack and a flash.

Harry shook his head, perhaps to clear his vision. ‘Prophet.’

‘Mr Potter,’ said a reporter as another Apparated, ‘is it true that you’re engaging in lewd sexual acts with a Death Eater?’

‘Mr Malfoy,’ said the third reporter as yet another Apparated, ‘Have you been hiding in Winchester all these years? When did you first realise you could gain public favour by befriending Our Saviour? When did you realise it had backfired?’

‘We’ve got nothing to say,’ Harry said, grabbing a stunned Draco’s elbow and pulling him towards Kasen and James.

‘Mr Malfoy, are you forming alliances with other Dark Wizards?’

Then, behind Kasen and James, Rita Skeeter Apparrated. ‘Hello, James. Who is your little playmate?’

James, teary-eyed and trembling, said nothing. He looked to his father and reached out his hand.

She turned to Kasen. ‘Hello, little one—’

‘Don’t speak to her!’ Draco called.

‘What’s your name?’

‘I am Kasen Malfoy and I don’t think I like you. You’re scaring my friend.’

‘A Malfoy? Interesting.’

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack!

‘Apparate to the car,’ Harry said.

Draco nodded and shouldered Rita Skeeter out of the way, sweeping Kasen into his arms and then searching his pocket for his wand.

‘Mr Potter,’ Rita said, ‘is it true that your marriage ended because of your gay affairs?’

‘No comment,’ Harry said through gritted teeth.

‘Was your traumatic abuse at the hands of Albus Dumbledore the reason you now seek comfort from other men?’

‘What?! Where do you idiots get this stuff?!’

‘Don’t speak to her, Harry. Just go!’

Harry bristled for just enough time for the cameras to catch a few more shots, then he was gone.

‘Mr Malfoy, is this your son?’ Rita asked.

‘Mr Malfoy,’ another reporter said, his hand on Draco’s shoulder to turn him, ‘who is this little boy’s mother?’

Draco shrugged the reporter off and backed away, his hand deep inside his pocket still searching for his wand.

‘Are you Kasen’s father?’ Rita asked again.

‘Yes!’ Kasen yelled. ‘This is my Daddy, not yours, so go away!’

‘Kasen, shh!’ Draco whispered frantically. More reporters and photographers were Apparating in and Draco’s hands were shaking. He clawed at the fabric of his coat pocket, swishing his hand back and forth. His wand wasn’t there.

The reporters were closing in, surrounding them, and an irrational part of Draco’s brain envisaged being stuck in the middle of them for all eternity.

‘Daddy!’ Kasen cried, shrinking back into his father’s arms when one photographer crept up close and the camera flashed with a great boom!

Draco felt like screaming, like putting his son gently on the ground and then ripping apart everyone that got close. He felt his face reddening with rage, and his fingers clenched and dug into Kasen’s puffy jacket. There was only one option, one thing that he was good at. The only thing left to do.

Draco ran.

The woodlands were only fifty yards away and Draco ran at them full speed. He was a good runner, relatively fit, and he soon began to put a little distance between himself and the reporters. The cameras flashed behind him and voices shouted, some curious, some angry. They had a story to get and they didn’t intend to fail.

Draco slowed down inside the woodlands. Fallen tree branches from the bad weather still littered the ground and others hung from the skin of their bark. Draco ducked and jumped and veered.

‘Mud!’ Kasen said, pointing ahead.

‘Don’t worry, Kasen. I won’t drop you.

‘No, muddy place!’

A camera flashed to his left and Draco picked up the pace as the trees thinned out.

‘The track,’ Draco said, his heart lifting.

‘Muddy place,’ Kasen said again, sounding frustrated this time.

‘You’re such a good boy.’

‘Mr Malfoy!’ A voice called. ‘Were you abused by your father?’

‘Don’t listen to them, Kasen.’

Kasen obediently put his hands over his ears and closed his eyes for good measure.

‘Mr Malfoy! It’s been said you should be Azkaban …’ And Draco missed the rest as he ran onto the track and straight in front of Harry’s car.

The car braked hard, Kasen screamed and Draco nearly expired with relief. Harry opened the door from the inside and Draco scrambled in, slamming the door and keeping Kasen on his lap. ‘That seemed a little familiar.’

They couldn’t risk turning in case the car got wedged in the ditch, so Harry put his foot down and they raced down the track and away from the emerging reporters.

‘Tell me there’s another exit,’ Harry said.

Draco held his son tightly. In the back seat, James cried.

‘Erm, yes. Yes, I think so. There should be a private farm at the end. How did you know—?’

‘Your wand was on the floor. I took a chance.’

‘You keep rescuing me.’

Harry laughed, although it was humourless. ‘Yeah. It’s a thing I do.’

The car bumped along the track, the wheels running over the frozen mud. Draco looked out of the window and noticed the clouds were grey.

*****

Three weeks.

Three weeks and finally Draco opened his bedroom door and stepped out into the hallway. He listened to the sound of silence and watched a House-elf dither at the top of the staircase.

There was nothing he wanted to do, nowhere he wanted to go, no-one left to be with. What was the point?

Draco turned around, went back into his room and closed the door with a quiet click.

*****

They found their way clear of the farm and kept driving until they were out of Winchester completely. The next thing Draco knew, they were pulling into a lay-by somewhere in Guilford.

Draco looked out of the window and saw a row of shops, old fashioned white buildings with Tudor windows draped with red and green tinsel and foil stars. ‘Who fancies chips?’ he asked. ‘I for one could murder a saveloy.’

They ate in the car, the white chip paper spread over their knees until it resembled a giant greasy table cloth.

‘You know what, we should go on holiday,’ Harry said while he picked at his cod. ‘Today. We’ll find a hotel and spend the night. Won’t that be fun?’

The children nodded around their mouthfuls of chips, and Draco was forced to admit to himself that he didn’t really want to go back to see all the reporters hanging around at the end of Harry’s road. Draco’s chest tightened and he felt that terrible emotion called guilt.

‘What about Razzle and Dazzle and Izzy?’ James asked.

Kasen spat out a chip. ‘Who’s going to feed them?’

Harry looked panicked and he opened and closed his mouth as if he was one of the soon-to-be hungry fish.

‘They’ll be fine for a day,’ Draco said. ‘We’ll just have a holiday tonight and go back tomorrow. Isn’t that right, Harry?’

‘Yeah, definitely. It’ll be fun!’

It wasn’t fun and they all knew it.

They got the name of a decent Bed and Breakfast from the lady in the Newsagent and then followed the signs to the Town Centre where they bought a few essentials for a one night stay.

The B&B was bland, drafty and echoed; but the rooms were clean and the beds – four of them all in row like a dormitory – were the most comfortable Draco had ever encountered.

Harry showered and Draco noted that it took him twice the normal time. When Harry finally emerged, in a cloud of steam, Draco was sat up in bed in his brand new tartan pyjamas, playing on his overnight essential – a PSP – and the children were fast asleep on full bellies and used-up adrenaline.

‘Are you okay?’ Draco asked quietly.

‘Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know what to do or where to go. They’re just going to keep coming, aren’t they?’

Draco put Tomb Raider aside and crossed his legs so Harry could sit in front of him. ‘I need to say something.’

‘Uh-oh.’

‘No, just hear me out,’ Draco said. ‘This is all my fault. If we hadn’t met again and hadn’t got so close, they wouldn’t have found you. They only found you because they found me.’

‘This isn’t your—’

‘Shush, it is. And I wish there was something I could do, but I don’t know what. But if you … If you think there is something, you have to tell me.’

Harry looked genuinely mystified. ‘Like what?’

‘Well, you know.’ Draco looked away. ‘If you want me to leave. I … I can just leave you alone and you can get on without the extra hassle of my problems on top of your own. My house will be ready soon so I’ll be out of your hair anyway.’

Harry looked down and said nothing, and Draco’s heart started pounding.

‘Be absolutely honest with me, Draco, because I really don’t think I can take being lied to; do you still want to be with me?’

Bewildered and on the edge of a mini-breakdown, Draco said, ‘Of course! Why wouldn’t I?’

‘Because I’m making your problems worse,’ Harry said. ‘You realise they know about Kasen now?’

‘I’d rather not think about that, thank you.’

‘You’ll have to soon. They’ll be looking for him. They’ll be outside the school, outside the house, outside bloody Sainsburys.’ Harry buried his head in his hands. ‘It’s starting again. It’ll never be over.’

Draco reached out and pulled at Harry until he came willingly and Draco could hug him. ‘If … If you want to, and if you need to move, I’ll come with you.’

Harry looked up and then sat back up quickly. ‘Would you? You’d … What about your life here?’

Draco shrugged. ‘It’s effectively over anyway, isn’t it?’

‘So we run together,’ Harry said, his lips twitching into a smile.

‘Together.’

‘I love Winchester. I don’t want to leave, but maybe we could find another little town just like it, be a bit more careful and then pop back in a few years when everything has calmed down.’

Harry smiled and Draco was torn between kissing him and patting him on the head for being such a hopeless optimist. It would never calm down. ‘Whatever happens, if we face it together it won’t be nearly as bad as facing it alone, believe me. And remind me to go and see Severus tomorrow. He’ll hex me into next week if I don’t talk to him about all this. Oh, I’ve an idea, maybe we could stay with him for a … no, I see your not happy with that, never mind.’

They settled back against the headboard and talked most of the night, about the different places they could live and the sort of house they’d like to get together and whether or not they could get Draco his own car so he wouldn’t have to back Harry’s into anything any more. And somewhere within this mammoth conversation, Draco realised that he didn’t ever want to leave Harry and he would do anything for him.

Anything.

Maybe moving wasn’t the answer.

TBC …