Fanfic: "Thicker Than Blood" by CorvetteClaire . [Harry/Draco, classic] . [Cute N7]
"Thicker Than Blood" by CorvetteClaire.
First read: 2004.
Second read: 31-03-2008.
Notes: 96.000 words. I remembered liking this fic so much that I could never figure out why I hadn't read the sequel, "Adamant and Starlight", now I finally know. It's not that the fic overall is not to my liking, I love bond-fics and this one was lovely in that sense but Draco became more and more passive (can't help but think "girlish") as their relationship developed. I guess this was what slash basically was, a copy of a heterosexual relationship in which the girl was replaced by a girly boy but it's certainly not what I want to see in a romantic relationship of any kind and so, it was fun, but I don't want to risk getting a face full of girly!Draco or manly!Harry.
*******
Hermione found herself utterly unequal to the task of explaining Harry's relationship with Malfoy to the Headmaster. She had thought that he, of all the adults at the school, would understand how great a strain it put on Harry to associate with the other boy. His feelings for Malfoy went far beyond dislike, even beyond hatred in a weird sort of way. It was as if the two boys were locked in some kind of eternal battle of wills, never free of each other, never victorious, never able to break the connection and simply walk away. Draco was Harry's own, personal Dark Mark, and when he called, Harry answered. Just like tonight.
"I will. Here it is. What Harry and Draco feel for each other is in no way akin to those childish emotions. It is born in a deep, instinctive place that few of us ever visit in ourselves. It is something they cannot escape, though they have spent six years trying, and the force of it could indeed shake the foundations of our world, if unleashed."
"Aren't you afraid that this Blood Link will do just that?"
"I'm counting on it."
"But... why?"
His face was suddenly completely serious, his eyes intent. "Because I do not believe it is hatred that drives them, and because I want to be the one who harnesses the resultant power."
"Not hatred?" She stared at him as if he had tentacles sprouting from his forehead and demanded, "What then? And if you try to tell me that those two boys really love each other but would rather blast each other to twitching jelly than admit it, I swear I'll have you locked up in St. Mungo's!"
"I don't know how they feel. I only know that it is too strong for normal boyish hatred and too dangerous to let grow unchecked. It is time that Harry and Draco figured out exactly what draws them to revolve around each other like dual suns, each desperate to spin away but caught, helpless, by the pull of the other. They need to know, and so do we."
*
"Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they're bad people."
"They torture Muggles for fun!" Harry blurted out.
"I know."
That simple statement rocked Harry back on his heels. It carried with it a wealth of conflict and disappointment, worry, hope, love and anger, all tied up in a child's stubborn faith that his parents knew best. And it convinced Harry as nothing else could that Draco Malfoy had a heart - a heart that trusted the wrong people, but a heart just the same.
With this realization came an overwhelming desire to throw himself into the link, to surge across it, grab Malfoy around the brain stem, and shake him until he saw reason. He had to know what his parents were! He did know, and he didn't like it! But still he trusted them, still he hid every better impulse he had beneath a veneer of vicious snobbery, and soon he would sell his soul to Voldemort for love of two people who didn't deserve it. Didn't deserve him.If Harry could only reach him, get beneath that veneer and those years of slow poison to touch the person who still lived somewhere inside him... the person who hurt when innocent people suffered... he could save Draco from himself!
*
They could call him stupid - all those clever, clever Slytherins. They could laugh at him and treat him like a gorilla in a little kid's haircut. But he noticed things. Little, niggling things. Like the fact that Malfoy never called Granger a Mudblood anymore. Or the way Malfoy hated Harry Potter so much that he talked about him more than anyone else and looked at him more than anyone else and spent all his time thinking of ways to get even with him. No one ever got even with Potter, but Malfoy never stopped trying, and he never stopped talking about him and watching him and thinking about him.
No, Crabbe wasn't as stupid as they all thought. He knew that Malfoy wanted one thing more than he wanted to be a Death Eater. He wanted to get Harry Potter. And Crabbe wanted something else, too. He wouldn't tell anyone, wouldn't even think it out loud, in case one of those clever Slytherins had learned how to read minds, but just maybe he could have it, if he didn't have to do it alone. Just maybe.
****
He shot the other boy a sideways glance and smiled to himself, ducking his head to hide it from Draco. Definitely an archangel. All he needed was a pair of wings and a really big sword. A few ethics wouldn't hurt, either, but you couldn't have everything.
First read: 2004.
Second read: 31-03-2008.
Notes: 96.000 words. I remembered liking this fic so much that I could never figure out why I hadn't read the sequel, "Adamant and Starlight", now I finally know. It's not that the fic overall is not to my liking, I love bond-fics and this one was lovely in that sense but Draco became more and more passive (can't help but think "girlish") as their relationship developed. I guess this was what slash basically was, a copy of a heterosexual relationship in which the girl was replaced by a girly boy but it's certainly not what I want to see in a romantic relationship of any kind and so, it was fun, but I don't want to risk getting a face full of girly!Draco or manly!Harry.
*******
Hermione found herself utterly unequal to the task of explaining Harry's relationship with Malfoy to the Headmaster. She had thought that he, of all the adults at the school, would understand how great a strain it put on Harry to associate with the other boy. His feelings for Malfoy went far beyond dislike, even beyond hatred in a weird sort of way. It was as if the two boys were locked in some kind of eternal battle of wills, never free of each other, never victorious, never able to break the connection and simply walk away. Draco was Harry's own, personal Dark Mark, and when he called, Harry answered. Just like tonight.
"I will. Here it is. What Harry and Draco feel for each other is in no way akin to those childish emotions. It is born in a deep, instinctive place that few of us ever visit in ourselves. It is something they cannot escape, though they have spent six years trying, and the force of it could indeed shake the foundations of our world, if unleashed."
"Aren't you afraid that this Blood Link will do just that?"
"I'm counting on it."
"But... why?"
His face was suddenly completely serious, his eyes intent. "Because I do not believe it is hatred that drives them, and because I want to be the one who harnesses the resultant power."
"Not hatred?" She stared at him as if he had tentacles sprouting from his forehead and demanded, "What then? And if you try to tell me that those two boys really love each other but would rather blast each other to twitching jelly than admit it, I swear I'll have you locked up in St. Mungo's!"
"I don't know how they feel. I only know that it is too strong for normal boyish hatred and too dangerous to let grow unchecked. It is time that Harry and Draco figured out exactly what draws them to revolve around each other like dual suns, each desperate to spin away but caught, helpless, by the pull of the other. They need to know, and so do we."
*
"Just because you don't like them doesn't mean they're bad people."
"They torture Muggles for fun!" Harry blurted out.
"I know."
That simple statement rocked Harry back on his heels. It carried with it a wealth of conflict and disappointment, worry, hope, love and anger, all tied up in a child's stubborn faith that his parents knew best. And it convinced Harry as nothing else could that Draco Malfoy had a heart - a heart that trusted the wrong people, but a heart just the same.
With this realization came an overwhelming desire to throw himself into the link, to surge across it, grab Malfoy around the brain stem, and shake him until he saw reason. He had to know what his parents were! He did know, and he didn't like it! But still he trusted them, still he hid every better impulse he had beneath a veneer of vicious snobbery, and soon he would sell his soul to Voldemort for love of two people who didn't deserve it. Didn't deserve him.If Harry could only reach him, get beneath that veneer and those years of slow poison to touch the person who still lived somewhere inside him... the person who hurt when innocent people suffered... he could save Draco from himself!
*
They could call him stupid - all those clever, clever Slytherins. They could laugh at him and treat him like a gorilla in a little kid's haircut. But he noticed things. Little, niggling things. Like the fact that Malfoy never called Granger a Mudblood anymore. Or the way Malfoy hated Harry Potter so much that he talked about him more than anyone else and looked at him more than anyone else and spent all his time thinking of ways to get even with him. No one ever got even with Potter, but Malfoy never stopped trying, and he never stopped talking about him and watching him and thinking about him.
No, Crabbe wasn't as stupid as they all thought. He knew that Malfoy wanted one thing more than he wanted to be a Death Eater. He wanted to get Harry Potter. And Crabbe wanted something else, too. He wouldn't tell anyone, wouldn't even think it out loud, in case one of those clever Slytherins had learned how to read minds, but just maybe he could have it, if he didn't have to do it alone. Just maybe.
****
He shot the other boy a sideways glance and smiled to himself, ducking his head to hide it from Draco. Definitely an archangel. All he needed was a pair of wings and a really big sword. A few ethics wouldn't hurt, either, but you couldn't have everything.