Chapter Twenty-Six of 'Temporary Mate'- Repercussions
Chapter Twenty-Five.
Title: Temporary Mate (26/?)
Disclaimer: J. K. Rowling and associates own these characters. I am writing this story for fun and not profit.
Pairing: Harry/Draco, past Harry/Ginny and Harry/Michael Corner
Content Notes: Angst, violence, creature fic (Draco is a Veela), action/adventure, Auror fic, minor character death
Rating: R
Summary: Escorting Malfoy on a dangerous mission in another dimension to speak to French Veela, Harry and his fellow Aurors are attacked and left for dead. Harry and Malfoy are the only survivors, and wounds the attackers inflicted have released Malfoy’s Veela heritage. Now he’s probably going to die unless Harry can successfully bind himself to Malfoy as a temporary mate-and they still have to survive the trek to reach the Veela stronghold.
Author’s Notes: This fic will be updated whenever I finish a chapter. It should be anywhere from ten to twenty chapters long.
Chapter One.
Thank you again for all the reviews!
Chapter Twenty-Six-Repercussions
“The way that you exposed Skeeter like that…”
Hermione sounded as if she didn’t know whether she wanted to strangle him or hug him. Harry grinned at her and sipped from his butterbeer. He was meeting Ron and Hermione for dinner in his flat, and Draco was sitting next to him, watching his friends with a carefully-relaxed tension that would have fooled most humans. But Harry could feel how coiled his muscles still were under the pressure of Harry’s elbow. Harry nudged him again, and Draco released some more of the tension with a little grunt. “I know. We could have done it earlier. But I’m glad that we waited and I could use this as a weapon.”
“Malfoy could have done it, too.”
“Of course I could, Weasley. But to be honest, I’d stopped paying attention to Skeeter some time ago. I assumed that it was either an open secret or that she’d gone to Azkaban sometime in the last few years and served her sentence for being an unregistered Animagus. I never thought that she’d kept the secret and so had the other people who knew.”
“Skeeter, serve prison time willingly?” Harry grinned at Draco this time. “Of course not! Now she’ll have no choice but to do it, though.”
“You realize when she comes out she’s going to be worse than ever?”
“It’s unlikely that she’ll still have a job at the Daily Prophet when that happens, Granger. Even they try to distance themselves from convicted criminals.”
“She could write a book the way she wrote one about Dumbledore. She’s popular! And she’ll want vengeance-”
“Then we’ll deal with it then.” Draco’s voice shut that line of conversation down. Harry could understand why. Draco was trying to be less anxious about some things that were going to make him unavoidably angry no matter what he did. “But that’s a year away, or even more, since they haven’t tried her yet. I heard Shacklebolt is trying to attach some additional charges.”
“How can he?”
“Something about Ministry conversations and private trials that she might have spied on.”
Ron laughed and leaned across the table to tap his mug of butterbeer against Draco’s. Draco actually unfroze and accepted the clink before Harry had to nudge him again. “You’re all right, Malfoy. Not who I would have picked for Harry, but he didn’t work out with the one I would have picked a long time ago, so…no harm done.”
Ron caught Harry’s eye, and Harry just nodded back. Ron had been unhappy that Harry and Ginny hadn’t worked out, but he’d also accepted that it wasn’t his business to try and force them back together. And there would be no going back even if Harry had wanted to, now. Draco was his mate.
He didn’t want to. Draco was everything he wanted.
The rest of dinner proceeded normally-strangely normal, really, with this being the first time Draco and his friends had talked for hours without insults. Hermione asked a few insensitive questions about Veela, and Draco snapped a few times at things not worth snapping at, but no one got their feelings hurt.
Or their skins, Harry thought as he stepped back through the Floo to Draco’s home and Draco leaned claws against him for a second.
“There’s something I wanted to talk to you about.”
Harry looked up. Draco’s gaze was averted, and his wings fluttered, tensed, fluttered, tensed. That was a bad sign. Still, Harry trusted that it wasn’t some horrible secret Draco had kept. That wasn’t like him. “All right. What?”
Draco turned around. “Mother is pleased with the way I handled Father, but she also wants us to set a bonding date. I told her that we wanted to do it on our own. She said that was fine, but she wanted to know when it would be.”
Harry blinked. “Oh.”
“You’re not reacting as badly as I expected.”
“I thought she would probably want us bonded. Mothers want that kind of thing. Or-well, people told me they did. I know Mrs. Weasley was happy to know Ron and Hermione finally set a wedding date.”
Draco lifted a gentle hand to cup his cheek. “If you let her, Mother will be happy to step into the space of a parent for you. She can’t replace your mother, but she doesn’t want to. She just wants to make sure that we’re both happy.”
Harry closed his eyes a little. “I’d like that a lot,” he whispered. Molly would always be his mum in some ways, but it was true that they’d been more distant with each other since he broke up with Ginny. And he would only have to share Narcissa with one other person, not seven.
Selfish, maybe, but he wanted that.
Draco kissed him with what Harry could tell was a triumphant smile from the feel of it against his lips, although he didn’t open his eyes to see it. His hand tangled for a second in Draco’s hair, and he sighed. Draco stroked his back for a second, then stepped away.
Harry opened his eyes. Draco’s face was flushed, but sometimes he seemed to enjoy holding off on the sex to torment both himself and Harry. “Do you think breaking with the Aurors is going to affect how we go back to the other dimension and lead the French Veela to Asovima?”
Harry managed to steady his own mind. “I don’t think so.” Draco’s eyelids drooped at the sound of his voice. Harry cleared his throat. “Kingsley doesn’t have anyone else who can make the journey successfully. And he sent you and you weren’t an Auror.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t announce you’re retiring until it’s done, though.”
“Maybe not.”
“And what are you going to do when you’re free? I mean, we’ll have wonderful sex, of course, but as fun as it is, one can’t lie in bed and do that all day. Your arse would get sore.”
“So would your cock.” Harry smiled as Draco sucked in his own sharp breath and shrugged. “There are things I never had the opportunity to learn in Hogwarts that I’d like to study. Maybe healing. Or Ancient Runes. Or alchemy. That sounds fascinating.”
“And you don’t want to remake the Philosopher’s Stone?” Draco took a step towards him and glided his arms around Harry’s waist. Harry gave him a chaste peck on the cheek and ignored the erection he could feel poking him in the hip.
“No. I don’t want to live forever. Just long enough. And I have all the wealth I could ever need right here.”
Draco groaned and gathered Harry to him, and the time of teasing was over.
*
“We are here to discuss the matter of the mutual assault that Auror Nathan Klaine and Auror Harry Potter conducted on each other.”
Draco snarled under his breath. Mutual. Right. But he held his peace. Harry had asked him to, and he still didn’t ask for things as often as Draco liked to offer them. He watched as Harry stood up and inclined his head to indicate he was here. Klaine was between two other Aurors who had their hands on their wands.
Draco took a little comfort from that. At least he knew who the other Aurors thought was responsible for this farce.
They were sitting in a mini-courtroom in the Ministry, with a small gallery and a circle of chairs on the floor for the people most involved. Harry had told Draco he could sit in the gallery, since it wasn’t reserved for Wizengamot members. Draco had looked at him calmly until he stopped being so stupid.
“Auror Klaine will begin his account first.”
Klaine did. He was practically spitting his words as he went on and on about his brother, who had apparently died on a mission involving Harry. Draco listened as calmly as possible for a few sentences until the word basilisk popped up.
He spun around and stared at Harry. Harry stared back and mouthed, “What?”
“You didn’t tell me you survived a basilisk!”
Draco thought he managed to whisper that even if it was half-shouted, but Shacklebolt cast him an irritated glance, and Harry only stared at him as if he didn’t understand what was special about missions involving basilisks at all. Draco made an irritated motion at him. Harry made one back. Draco bit the inside of his cheek and focused on Klaine again, who was probably going to start lying any minute.
And soon, he and his mate would have a little talk about keeping the truth of facing basilisks from your Veela.
“…And then I told them they would have to register. Which is true. Which I don’t even think they’ve done yet!”
“We are not currently talking about what Auror Potter and Veela Malfoy might have done outside this encounter, Auror Klaine. Would you please explain to me what happened after you pointed your wands at each other?”
Klaine had an unattractive face when he squinted, Draco thought. Then again, he kind of had an unattractive face at all times. Nothing compared to his mate. Draco smiled, and fanned his wing out across Harry’s shoulders. Harry stroked his feathers, but without moving his intense, impassive gaze from Klaine.
“I used a spell on him,” Klaine admitted. “But he used one back that hurt me a lot worse.”
“What spell did you intend to use on Auror Potter?”
“The Black Lightning Curse.”
That made several of the Aurors flinch, and someone let out a stifled swear word. Draco only managed to stay silent because he’d seen what had happened to the fool in front of him when the Black Lightning Curse got through Harry’s Shield Charm.
“Auror Klaine.” Shacklebolt looked incredibly disapproving, and for a second, Draco couldn’t figure out why. Hadn’t he known what spell Klaine had used? Then he said, “That’s Dark Arts,” and Draco wanted to slap his hand over his face. Of course. His different upbringing and worldview were making it hard to see the obvious again.
“He should have died! My brother did! Potter should have died to save him, or not come back if he couldn’t save him!”
“What nonsense,” Draco muttered under his breath. Harry caught his hand and gave him a warning glance. Draco wanted to roll his eyes, but he sighed and nodded instead. Right. He’d sit here and listen to the nonsense, because it would make Harry look worse if he didn’t.
“What happened when you cast the curse?”
“It cut through Potter’s Shield Charm, but he had some other spell hiding behind it! He hurt me horribly!”
“What spell was that, Auror Potter?” Shacklebolt turned around and gave Harry a stern face, even though he must have known this already, too.
“The Cocoon Shield.”
More gasps, and someone else swore, but this time Draco thought it was in admiration, not disgust. It had better be in admiration, he thought as he draped himself over Harry’s back and Harry moved him gently away again. It was a damn impressive spell.
“So the spell that ended up hitting Auror Klaine…”
“Was the released energy of the Black Lightning Curse. Yes, sir.”
“That means he used Dark Arts, too!” Klaine said immediately. “How can you not see that?” He was staring at Shacklebolt and shaking his head a little as if he thought that the man was an idiot. “Are you just determined to protect him because he’s the Boy-Who-Lived and you want him to be an Auror but you don’t want me to be an Auror?”
“If I was that determined to protect Auror Potter, you would be in Azkaban for using the Dark Arts, using them on a Veela’s mate, and provoking an attack.” Shacklebolt stood up and faced the circle of Aurors and a few people without the scarlet robes that Draco thought must be Ministry flunkies on some other level. “Now. You are asked to make a judgement. Should Auror Potter and Auror Klaine both be reinstated? Should Auror Potter? Should Auror Klaine? Or neither?”
“It seems perfectly obvious to me,” said a tall woman with short blonde hair that looked as if she’d taken shears to it instead of a neat Severing Charm. “Auror Klaine provoked the attack, in every way. Words and spell and anger. He’s not fit to be an Auror, Kingsley. What happens if he loses his temper with a suspect? Or someone not capable of defending themselves with the powerful magic that Auror Potter wielded? We can’t let someone like him remain in the Corps.”
“I agree.”
“I do, too. And I think the insults about needing to register his Veela were ill-mannered and likened Veela Malfoy to a dog.”
Klaine started to his feet and opened his mouth, but Shacklebolt hit him with a Silencing Charm before he could say anything. Then he went on looking back and forth between the others. “That says as much about Auror Klaine. But Auror Potter?”
“He can return if he promises not to cast that kind of magic at fellow Aurors anymore.” The tall woman grinned abruptly at Harry, her expression fierce. “But I entirely approve it when you’re facing enemies of the Ministry, Auror Potter.”
Harry gave her a restrained smile in return. Draco suspected he was thinking of the times that he’d been declared an enemy of the Ministry.
“Others?”
“I do find myself disappointed that he resorted to a violent response. But he was provoked, and the spells were defensive.”
“I agree. He should undergo some training for his temper. But I suspect that’s always been true, and it hasn’t happened yet.”
“Auror Potter.” Shacklebolt faced them both. “Would you be willing to undergo some training in meditation to help with the excesses of your anger?”
Harry’s smile dimmed. Draco suspected that one had to be a Veela to realize how much he didn’t mean it. “If that would help reassure people and mean that something like this never happens again, then I’d be more than willing.”
“I think it would. And it might help ease some of the concerns against welcoming you back into the Aurors.” Shacklebolt glanced at the Aurors, the judges or whatever they really were, again. “Wouldn’t it?”
“Yes.” The tall woman smiled again. “Don’t mistake me, Auror Potter. I do think it was mostly Auror Klaine’s fault. I have a cousin married to a Veela myself, so I know how it is. But I think that it would aid you in making sure that no one would be able to put even a shadow of blame on you again.”
“Thanks, Auror Ingeth. I know that I definitely don’t want something like this happening to me again.”
And it won’t, because he’s not going to be an Auror for much longer. But Draco was smart enough to keep that quiet, sitting and holding Harry while Shacklebolt lifted the Silencing Charm from Klaine. He immediately tried to shout again. Shacklebolt restored the Charm and rolled his eyes.
“Nathan Klaine, you are hereby stripped of your title of Auror. You will be remanded to Ministry custody for use of Dark Arts in the Ministry.” He glanced over at Harry and waited. Draco didn’t realize what for until Harry shook his head.
“I don’t want to press charges.”
Draco felt every feather on his wings trying to stand on end, but Harry turned and gave him a hard look. “No, I said.”
Draco considered it, then nodded. Thinking about it, he could see why Harry just wanted to be done with Klaine, and all the rest of them, although he didn’t realize what he was washing his hands of by implication yet.
“Thank you, Auror Potter,” said Shacklebolt, and then he signaled two of the Aurors who hadn’t spoken much forwards and they grabbed Klaine’s shoulders and marched him out of the room. Draco watched him go with savage satisfaction. He could have had worse, but at least what he would get was bad enough.
“You are a fierce creature,” Harry told him in an undertone as they stood up and made their way towards the door of the mini-courtroom.
“Both parts of that are true.” Draco paused, because Harry’s face was pale and drawn, and the last thing he wanted to do was show Harry someone else who didn’t understand. “Listen, Harry. I know why you didn’t want to press charges. I would if it was up to me, but it’s probably good that it isn’t.”
Harry blinked at him. “You do understand?”
“Of course I do.” Draco tucked his wings around Harry and held him close until he relaxed into the warmth. He hadn’t realized how much tension Harry was carrying around until that happened. “Think of this as something dreadful that had to happen before we could go home and enjoy each other again.”
“I’ll think of it that way, thank you, Draco.”
Draco smiled down at him and moved towards the far doors. There was still the interview with Shacklebolt to get through where Harry would tell him that he was quitting the Aurors. Draco knew that wouldn’t be pleasant.
But it would be survivable. Everything would be, as long as they had each other.
Chapter Twenty-Seven.
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