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[sakaim.livejournal.com]

Title: Ambivalent Lucidity
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: A Ring and a Warning
Warnings: Fluff, general cuteness, a crying Lucius Malfoy
Rating: R?
Summary: When Draco becomes schizophrenic and MPD due to unknown causes, Dumbledore charges Harry with getting through to him, but Harry becomes more involved than he planned, and finds himself dealing with more than just Draco’s emotional problems. HD, Reedited, Pre-HBP

Need to catch up?
Author’s notes: If I could say that there was a legitimate reason for me not updating for the past forever, I would. But there isn’t. At any rate, I’m settled into college and working on a lot of projects, but I plan on trying to have this updated much more regularly. Thank you for sticking with it. I truly am a bitch. ;.;

Dedication: This chapter is dedicated to everyone here at UTK who loves Harry/Draco. There are lots of us! Feel free to drop in and visit. That’s the University of TN. In Knoxville. Visit me.

And now, Sakai Michiba presents:

Ambivalent Lucidity

Chapter Twenty-Seven

With the approach of Christmas, Lucius had not truly expected his son to return home, nor did he forget to have a second plan in mind. Insane though he might have been, he was an intelligent crazy man who knew what he wanted and how he wanted it done. Though some people might have called that in itself madness, Lucius Malfoy knew otherwise. His was a passion, a desperate attempt for revenge against the world.

On Christmas Eve, he stood by himself in front of a beautiful Christmas pine, watching the silver lights light then fade, twinkle then cease, and a slow smile spread over his lips. He looked the part of a perfectly sane man, his thin body clad in velveteen black robes that hung to the ground, his hair perfectly combed, and his hand clutched lightly around a stem glass filled halfway with red wine. Silver eyes looked over the tree, taking in each ornament and what each meant as he thought about his son. Draco truly had no idea how much his father wanted him back, that was for certain. He wondered if Draco would forgive him.

Somewhere within the manor, a grandfather clock with deep, clear tones chimed twelve, and the glass of wine in Lucius Malfoy’s hand dropped to the floor with only the sound of shattering glass to announce the change. He looked down mildly at the broken glass, seeing that one shard had cut into the bare skin of his right foot. Three drops of blood spilled, and he hung his head, perfect expression shattering as the glass had, and when he felt tears drop into the wound on his foot, he turned and ran from the Christmas tree as though it had insulted him.

Severus Snape found himself sitting quietly in Spinner’s End that Christmas Eve, sitting back in his imposing black chair and sighing in content. He had rarely been so relaxed on Christmas, possibly because he was, for once, at home rather than at Hogwarts. His fingers steepled as he looked out of the window, watching snow fall with relative interest, and the house was so quiet that he gave quite a start when there was a desperate knocking on the front door. A sigh parted his lips and he rose, sipping idly of a potion that would keep him calm because he was sure he would need it.

When the door swung open, his eyes widened in shock to see Lucius Malfoy standing before him, grey eyes filled to the brim with tears. Without saying a word, Severus began to close the door in his face, but The handle of a long, black walking stick was pushed into the crack of the door and Lucius barked out a plea to be let inside. Severus groaned quietly and opened the door, waving his hand impatiently. “Well, come on then. Hurry, before anyone catches wind of you.”

Draco woke up early Christmas morning to find Harry beaming at him like some sort of idiot. “What?” he asked groggily, and he snorted a little as his lover covered his face in kisses. “Oh, I’m sure my breath is astounding...” he moaned, and he playfully attempted to hide from those oh-so loving kisses for all of five seconds before he grabbed Harry’s shoulders and turned the tables. They were soon reduced to a partially-snogging, partially-wrestling heap on the bed, tossing blankets everywhere and falling to the ground snarling and laughing. The sound must have caught the attention of Grimmauld Place’s other residents, because there were footsteps on the stairs, and when Sirius Black opened the door to see the two naked and fighting on the ground, he gave a horrible squeak and slammed the door.

Harry instantly blushed crimson (all over, Draco noted with a devilish grin) and jumped off of his lover, crashing to the splintered wood floor and sputtering in a wholly unattractive way at the closed door. “S-Sirius! Come...NO! DON’T COME BACK IN HERE YET! NOTHING WAS GOING ON!” he shouted, and while Draco had collapsed into a fit of giggles at Harry’s side, Sirius could be heard moaning as though he was dying about how he had seen his godson shagging a Malfoy.

“HEY!” Draco yelled out indignantly, and he looked angry for a few moments before he looked over to the mortified Harry with a grin. “Come on, Black. You’re missing the show!” With a cackle, he pounced his lover and began nibbling his neck, laughing as Sirius opened the door just a crack to be a tease. It had the desired effect, however, because Harry screeched like a banshee and tried to fight his lover off out of morbid embarrassment.

“Don’t!” he whinged, and he buried his head shamefully against Draco’s shoulder. “Please...It’s Christmas.” Mercifully, the door was closed, and Draco laughed for a long time, holding his shy Harry against his chest and stroking his hair. “Honestly, Draco, this is ridiculous...What if that had been Molly? Or Ron?”

Draco grinned at the thought of the weasel walking in on them, and he whispered very closely to Harry’s ear, “Then it would have been perfectly grand. Can you imagine Weezleby’s face? Especially if he saw me doing this...” A devilish smirk scampered onto his lips as he slid his tongue along the ridges of Harry’s ear, feeling the organ between Harry’s legs stand at full attention. “And then saw you doing that as a result...” He could feel Harry blushing.

“Boys?” Remus called through the door, and they each gave a little jerk of surprise. “Sorry to spoil your fun, but it’s breakfast. Molly’s made a wonderful spread, and it would be a terrible shame to miss it. Besides, there’re presents for both of you!” The sound of retreating footsteps was heard, and Draco gave Harry a funny look.

“Presents? For me? From whom?” he asked quietly, and he cocked his head to the side a little bit as Harry smiled at him. “Well, they couldn’t possibly be from the Weasleys...That would be the last thing in the world they’d want to do for me, I should think...” He was quietly embarrassed that they had got him anything, but it was not as though he had not purchased something for Molly. In Hogsmeade, he had bought a sweater for her simply because she had been so kind when it was not really her place to be so.

Harry knocked Draco off of him playfully then stood up, reaching down to help him as well. “Of course they did. And Sirius will have got you something, though I might watch for it if I were you. It could be potentially dangerous...Though he’d mean it in a practical joke kind of way. He’s not too keen on what’s funny and what isn’t...And Professor Lupin, surely. Hermione will have bought a book for you, I should think, and your old friends might have sent something along...I didn’t get you anything, though.” He smirked as Draco pouted, and he tugged him effectively to his feet. “Don’t look like I’ve killed something of yours. Of course I got you something...And Caeruleus did, too. I can’t guarantee it won’t be fishy, though.”

Draco smiled at the tiny white ball at the end of the bed that was their pet kitten, and he looked up into Harry’s eyes. “Well, he shouldn’t have,” he stated simply, and he laughed as Harry drew him into an affectionate embrace. “Happy Christmas, baby,” he whispered against his shoulder, and after Harry had replied and been rewarded with an adoring kiss, the two dressed and made their way down for breakfast.

They were the last to come down, it appeared, and they wore identically shy faces as they took their seats at the table. There were a shocking number of people there, many Draco had never seen before. He assumed the two redheads that appeared older than the others to be the fabled Weasley eldest, and he nodded to them and smiled when the gesture was returned. He heard Arthur address them as “Bill” and “Charlie,” though he was not sure which was which until the complaints about long hair and an earring came into play. There were several members of the Order present, including Tonks, Remus, and Severus, and the fact that not one of the many of the people at the table was frowning at him made Draco suddenly feel very much at home. His hand slid into Harry’s beneath the table.

“Nice of you to join us,” Severus said menacingly, and while Harry shot him a dirty look, Draco noticed that there was something strange about his godfather’s expression. The time, however, was not right to bring up that issue, and so he merely settled closer to Harry and began to eat. No one else seemed to think that anything was amiss, and so Draco dismissed the feeling for Christmas cheer instead.

“So Malfoy,” Bill piped up amongst all the chatter going on around the table. Draco looked up to see the other smiling a bit at him. “You fancy Harry, do you?” Several people around them stopped talking to listen to the conversation, though the Order members (save for Tonks) could not be bothered to stop talking. “That was a rather abrupt about-face from the past few years, don’t you think?”

Draco blushed a little and looked over to Harry, who was so red he was sure the tomatoes were jealous. “A lot can change in a short amount of time,” he said quietly, and he took a sip of orange juice. “I saw a lot in people that I’d never thought to look to before. I was just lucky enough to have my gaze forced in Harry’s direction.” He looked down to his plate, feeling the eyes of those listening burning into him.

“Well...What about you, Harry? Is it not strange to have Malfoy here?”

“No.” Harry looked up immediately and shook his head. “It isn’t. I think it’s the best thing in the whole world, if you want to know the truth.” He blushed a little but moved to slide his arm about Draco’s shoulders and give them a bit of a squeeze. “‘Cause that means a lot of things, the most important of them being that he isn’t a Death Eater and isn’t going to follow in his father’s footsteps.” He pressed the shyest kiss to Draco’s cheek, grinning guiltily as Draco smiled at him and a collective coo sounded from the listeners.

Bill seemed satisfied, and he reached over then, offering his hand to Draco. “If you’re that important to Harry, then you must be doing something right. I’m Bill Weasley. It’s a pleasure,” he said, and Draco bit his lower lip a little before he took that hand and shook it. Respectively, he was also offered handshakes by Charlie, Sirius (who had listened in for the last part but looked quite begrudging), and Tonks, and he took them each with a smile before looking to his godfather again. Severus offered a tight-lipped smile, and he knew what that meant. They would speak after festivities.

When breakfast was finished, Molly allowed the group to herd to the sitting room to open presents. Draco and Harry sat down in the floor, flanked by Ron and Hermione on one side and the twins on the other. Draco sat a bit closer to Harry than he might have normally, seeing as he really did not trust the twins to not slip something near him that might explode. As the gifts were handed out, Draco was shocked to see that he had received gifts from not only everyone that Harry had mentioned, but from Tonks and Severus as well. He was greatly amused to have received a collar from their kitten, and he gave Harry a dirty look as he swiftly hid the gift in his robes. “I can’t believe you...” he hissed, and Harry gave him an innocent look before he tore into his gifts as well.

Draco was fairly shocked to have received the sort of book he did from Hermione. It was old and thick, slightly dusty, and he could faintly make out gold lettering which titled the tome as Lovers: a Booke on the Arte. She gave him a look of naivety that rivalled Harry’s, and he hastily put that gift out of sight as well, having a feeling that that book would be cracked open later that evening. He also received a well-knit sweater from Molly, emerald in colour, a bar of chocolate, a sort of cloak from Tonks with a note enclosed saying that she could explain later, several strange ingredients for a potion with a note enclosed by Severus giving exact instructions and the purpose of the potion, a letter from Dumbledore that was currently unopened, and a small box from Sirius that instructed him on the outside not to open until later when he was alone. The prospect of what was inside made him give Sirius a look, but the man shook his head and indicated for him to come over to speak with him. Reluctantly, he got up and went over to the man, who pulled him from the room.

“I’ve given you Harry’s mother’s ring,” Sirius said quietly, and he watched as Draco opened the box, revealing a pretty silver ring with emeralds set in. He could see “To Lily Evans, the love of my life–James Potter” inscribed on the inside, and his eyes widened.

“But...Shouldn’t you be giving this to him?”

“No,” Sirius whispered, and he closed Draco’s hand around the box. “I want you to give it to him. Don’t let on that I had it...Say you found it here somewhere, or that you slew giants and ogres to get a hold of it...Whatever it is, make him think it’s from you. Well, it is, but...Don’t let on about me having it.” He smiled at Draco before leaving for the present room, idly pushing Remus over as he passed and snickering like a buffoon when the lycanthrope yelped at him.

Draco looked down into his hand at the box, and he grinned, sticking it in his pocket before he went back in to sit next to Harry. “What was that about?” Harry asked quietly, but Draco shook his head and would not reply. Setting in on opening the rest of his gifts, he noted that Harry had not given one, and he gave him a mysterious look and a smile as those emerald eyes hinted that he might be getting something later. He felt his pants tighten a bit at that, and he smiled and leaned into him. He had not placed Harry’s under the tree, either.

Just as he was getting nice and groggy while watching everyone open their gifts, he felt Severus’ hand on his shoulder. “Draco, would you and Potter please come speak to me in private?” he asked, and the boys gave one another a look before they agreed and walked from the room with their Potions professor. They wound through the apartment and ended up in one of the bedrooms, Severus standing while the boys sat on the edge of the messy bed. “Draco, your father came to me last night,” he said quietly, and he began to pace the floor.

At these words, Draco grabbed for Harry’s hand, his fingers squeezing tightly around Harry’s, who did not complain even as his knuckles turned white. “Wh-what? What happened? Did you turn him in?!” he demanded in an almost hysterical voice, only calmed when Harry leaned into him a little.

“No, Draco, I didn’t,” Severus claimed quietly, looking away as Draco’s breath quickened and he released his hold on Harry’s hand to find retreat in his arms. Severus mused for a few moments over how affected Draco was by this whole situation. “I could not turn him away, you know that. You do not know the nature of the relationship your father and I once shared, nor am I willing to share that information with you, but he came to me in a desperate state of mind. I wrote immediately to Dumbledore about it, and you are not to leave Grimmauld Place until something is done about him. He has means of getting into Hogwarts, I believe, though he would not tell me what they were. Everyone has agreed that you might stay here until further notice.”

Draco looked at him with confusion. “But what about my schoolwork?” he inquired, but Severus shook his head.

“It will be given to you. Mr. Potter has also been instructed to stay with you for the time being, as he is about as safe as you are in Lucius’ mind. I will not go into details of last night’s visit today, but at a later time, I will divulge them to you. Go back and enjoy your gifts and each other; I, on the other hand, will be returning to Hogwarts.” Then Severus was gone, leaving Harry and Draco staring at one another.

Author’s note: >D

X-posted like a mo-fo.