Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ The Christmas Loan ❯ First-Name Basis ( Chapter 11 )

The Christmas Loan

By: Ellipsis the Great

DISCLAIMER: The idea is from `Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul.' Harry Potter and all things affiliated with him belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling. I own the Potter twins, and all of the plot outside what I garnered from CSFTCS.

Summary: After losing his wife and son to a magical disease, Draco Malfoy puts an ad in an editorial to borrow a son for Christmas. Harry Potter answers.

Rated: T just in case. May change later on.

Spoilers: Five years post-Hogwarts. Compliant with all books, sans the epilogue in DH.

Warnings: CONTAINS SLASH! There WILL be shounen-ai in this story! Maybe actual yaoi later on, but definitely shounen-ai!

 

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CHAPTER ELEVEN: First-Name Basis

 

“HARRY JAMES POTTER!” The Howler screeched with Mrs. Weasley's most infuriated voice. “What in Merlin's name do you think you're doing, taking MY grandsons to that…that…that Death Eater's house?! Taking them to see a friend—how DARE you lie to me!”

We switched from looking at the Howler to looking at Potter, who had crossed his arms over his chest, his face taking on an even more blank expression than someone who had been Kissed.

“This is the most ridiculous, foolhardy thing you have EVER done in your entire life! I cannot believe you would take my poor babies to see that monster!”

Nix ran over to Byrne, who was still sitting at my feet, both of them crawling up onto the couch beside me and curling up as close to me and together as they possibly could.

“Daddy's angry.” Nix said when I gave them a strange look, his voice small and completely out of character for the usually exuberant child.

“I think your grandmother's the angry one.” I replied dryly.

Byrne shook his head, allowing Nix to wrap his petite arms as far around him as they could go. “Nana's angry, too, but Daddy's a lot angrier-er.” His bottom lip trembled. “I don't like it when Daddy's angry.”

“I think he's gonna `splode.” Nix said gravely.

“After all he did to our family before and during the war, you just waltz over there—putting yourself AND my grandbabies in danger—and don't tell us anything at all! I had to find out from Hermione! And even SHE didn't find out directly from you! Why in Merlin's name would you do that for some…some filthy Slytherin?”

“I don't think he'll explode, Nix.” I said as comfortingly as I could.

Both boys gave me a rather incredulous look.

“You never seen Daddy angry before?” Nix asked.

“Of course I did. We…didn't exactly get along in school.” I said.

“Then you know Daddy's gonna `splode soon.” Nix said, tightening his grip around his twin.

“Make him stop.” Byrne said, eyes filling with tears. “I don't want him to yell at Nana.”

“It isn't as if those PEOPLE have done anything to deserve your sympathy!” The Weasley mother's voice was still going on fiercely. “If they've suffered a few deaths in their horrid family it's more than they deserve to have to live with it! That little boy probably would have ended up just like his father and grandfather, and—”

And then, with only Potter's narrowing eyes as warning, the Howler burst into flames, its continued screeching garbled and finally extinguished by the fire.

Potter stared at the place the Howler had been in for a long moment, his expression never wavering. Then, finally, he took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

“I'm sorry you had to hear that.” He said, his voice tight. “And I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to excuse me for a moment while I Floo my mother-in-law.”

The twins cringed beside me.

“Potter, I don't think that's the best idea.” I said, putting an arm around the all but trembling brothers. “You're scaring the boys.”

“And me.” Val squeaked, having thrown herself into her father's arms at almost the same time as the twins had climbed up beside me.

“I'm afraid I won't be very good company until I've spoken to her.” He said with a forced smile, his eyes flashing in that way that made me think he would have made a very good Slytherin. It made my stomach do something strange.

“Harry, I really don't think—” Luna began.

“Good. Because I didn't ask for you to think, Luna.” He snapped. “I'll be back in a minute.”

Luna's bottom lip quivered as he left the room, Blaise putting a soothing arm around her shoulders.

“Don't let him `splode at Nana.” Nix said, grasping the sleeve of my robe.

“I don't think I can stop him, kiddo.” I said with a bitter smile.

“Please, Draco.” Byrne said, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes.

I sighed deeply. “Fine.” I said, standing slowly in an attempt to not have the twins fall over (they had been leaning on me, remember). “I'll try.

“Thank you.” Byrne whispered before burying himself in Nix's arms again.

I ran a hand through my hair, shooting a pleading glance at my mother and friends, who either shrugged (Mother, Millie, and Greg), grinned (Blaise and Theo), or didn't even look up at me (Luna, as she was still upset about Potter's outburst).

I took the direction Potter had taken, wondering how in Merlin's name he expected to find a fireplace in the Mansion on his own.

Then again, the Mansion had a fireplace in nearly every room, so maybe it wasn't that farfetched that he would be able to find one.

“—Cannot believe you would do something like that, Molly!” Potter's voice was hissing as I neared a room just a little ways down the hall from the main sitting room.

“Can't believe I would—well I can't believe you would do something like this! Where are my grandsons, Harry? I—”

“Will see them tomorrow.” He finished for her sharply.

“Harry. You bring my grandsons to the Burrow this instant! How could you even think of taking them to that…that man's house!”

I cringed a little.

“What I do with my sons is my business, Molly, not yours.”

She began to say something else, but he cut her off before the first syllable had even completely formed on her lips.

“And how dare you say those things when you knew—you knew­—that Malfoy and his mother would hear it! Do you have any idea how upset they must be?”

“I don't care how upset those—”

“Well I do, Molly. I just…you said Malfoy deserved losing his family. His son, Molly. Adder was hardly four years old! Adder was his only child. That isn't something that anyone deserves, and I can tell you right now that I would still have come even if it had been Voldemort himself who had put that ad in the paper! And not only did he lose his son, he lost Pansy as well! It might have been an arranged marriage, but he knew her all of her life. They grew up together, and you can't just…just lose something like that. There probably wasn't any romantic love in their relationship, but there was friend and familial love.”

“He's a Death Eater, Harry! A prejudiced, pureblood, Slytherin Death Eater!”

“He was a Death Eater. And he wasn't even a proper one—he took the Mark because he was a frightened little boy who wanted to please his father and save his family from whatever Voldemort was going to do to them.” He said. “And as far as I'm concerned, Mrs. Weasley, the prejudiced one here is you. Mal—Draco and Narcissa have been more accommodating to the twins and I than I think you could ever be towards them were your roles reversed.”

A gasp. “Harry!”

“It's true. Think about it for a moment—back when Bill was a toddler: if you had lost him and Arthur and the Malfoys had been the only people to answer your ad positively…could you have welcomed them into your home?”

“Of course not! They're hardly even human—it's a completely different matter!”

“It isn't different at all!” He said, obviously outraged by her answer for all that he had just as obviously been expecting it. “The Malfoys are just as human as anyone else. It's these damn House and pureblood prejudices that make them seem like anything different.”

“No, Harry—”

“Molly, if you had seen the expression on Narcissa and Draco's faces when the boys hugged them, there would be no doubt in your mind that they are as human as you or I. Narcissa's got them calling her `Grandmother `Cissa,' and Draco…he cried when he opened the gift Byrne had picked out for him. You can't tell me they aren't human, Molly, because they most definitely are. There isn't a doubt in my mind.”

“I don't know what they've done to you, but—”

“Is being hospitable a crime, now?” He didn't wait for her answer, instead just sighing loudly. “Merlin, I can't…I can't even stand to talk to you right now. I'll bring the boys tomorrow, but I won't stay. I really don't think I can, now.”

“You don't mean that, Harry.”

“Yes. Yes, I do. And the only reason I'm not refusing to let the boys go is because they would be heartbroken if they couldn't play with their cousins, and…I can't make you go through what Narcissa is going through right now when your grandsons are still alive and well.” He let out a small snort. “You know, as callous as it is, at least you would have other grandchildren to dote on if one of them died.”

I think the Weasley woman started to speak again, but Potter had apparently closed the connection, because all I heard was a squeak and the hiss of dying flames.

I heard him slump into a seat.

“That was a bit harsh.” I said, entering the room and smirking just a little when he jumped (old habits die hard). “Don't you think?”

“That entire family is too stubborn to listen to anything less.” He said tiredly, sinking back into the chair. “How much did you hear?”

“Most of it, I think.” I replied nonchalantly. I thought he might apologize, but he didn't speak. “I apologize for eavesdropping.”

“No you don't.” He said with a sardonic smile. “You've never seriously apologized to me for anything in the entire time we've known each other, Malfoy. You might as well not make the first time over something so ridiculous.”

“You think that was ridiculous?”

He shrugged. “I'd have Flooed her and said it all in front of you if I didn't know it would scare the twins. They hate it when I get upset with Molly.”

“You're rather intimidating when you're upset with anyone.” My smirk grew. “I would know.”

He returned the expression. “You would, wouldn't you?” He mused.

“Hm.” We said nothing for a moment. “The twins sent me in here to keep you from exploding at her.”

He chuckled. “Somehow, I'm not surprised.”

“They have some odd…quirks. Byrne hates to see people cry…Nix leers at Val an awful lot…” I gave him a sideways look. “What is that about, anyhow?”

“The crying, or the leering?”

“…Yes?”

He laughed again. “The crying is…well.” He let his head drop a little, and I suspected he was blushing as well. “Byrne's first word…he called me `Mama.' Nix had called me `Dada' the week before, but Byrne, bless his heart, called me `Mama' instead. And I…I guess that's the first time it really hit me that…that Ginny was gone, y'know? Kind of like what you did back there.” He nodded toward the sitting room. “And I just…Merlin, I don't even remember how long I was crying before Molly found me. I just sat there, still holding Byrne, and cried and cried and cried. I cried after Molly got there, but she at least got Byrne away from me.” Sigh. “My poor baby; Byrne's always been sensitive, but I think that episode made him worse.”

“Ironic that you call him your baby when he's the older twin.” I said.

“They're both my babies. Even if and when I'm too old to know my own name and they're grown up and with kids and grandkids of their own they'll be my babies.” He said with a smile I knew all too well—it was a smile I had seen on Pansy and felt on myself often enough when Adder had…had still been alive.

“And the leering?” I asked, trying not to let myself continue down that line of thinking.

“Oh! Right.” He said. “The leering…yes. Nix is…Nix doesn't like girls. At all. I'm not entirely certain why that is, but I think it's a mix of the fan girls who throw themselves on me when we go out, the old women who do the same to the boys—not in a perverse way, though—and his girl cousins: Libby, Paisley, Petrova, and Adele. They're, ah, a little…overbearing. I could swear Petrova is actually George's daughter, and she talks the other girls into going along with her. I think they might have pulled a prank on Byrne that Nix has yet to forgive the female species of.”

“He isn't going to…attack Val or anything, is he?”

He started to answer, then stopped, giving me a rather sheepish smile. “I'm not actually sure. I don't think so…shouldn't leave them alone, though. Just in case.”

“He seemed alright when you made that trip back to your place.”

“Yes, well, he's like that with his cousin's, too.” He said. “And then all of a sudden two of them are screaming because they've been glued together by their hair, another's locked in the attic—there's a ghost up there, by the way—and the other one's gotten pushed into a lake.” He looked up at me. “And the Burrow isn't anywhere near a lake.”

My mouth twitched. “So…never leaving them alone together.”

“That would probably be best, yes.” He nodded.

We were both quiet for a moment.

“We should probably head back now.” He said, standing. “Val might just go crazy wanting to open presents…and Byrne will probably convince himself that I've killed you. Or Molly.”

“Neither of which I would find incredibly shocking.” I replied with another smirk.

“True enough, Malfoy.”

“You can call me Draco to my face, you know.” I said, not looking at him as we left the room.

“Eh?”

“Draco. You know, my first name. You call me by it. Preferably not just when you're miffed with your mother-in-law.”

He blinked at me, blushed, and let out a flustered laugh. “Ah…that. Yes. Draco, then. And you can call me Harry.”

“Good.”

“Yes.”

With half-awkward, half-satisfied smiles at each other, we returned to the sitting room.

 

ENDCHAPTERELEVEN