Inked Dragons

Reluctantly Aiding Investigations

The trip to Bayeux was somewhat fraught, mostly because Lucius Malfoy was well and truly in Harry Potter's pocket and everyone in the Malfoy house knew it. It certainly hadn't made Lucius Malfoy behave convivially towards the Boy Who Lived anymore than was absolutely necessary, particularly after the news broke that Harry and Draco were dating... and living together.

Draco hadn't waited to break that piece of news. When his mother had announced that she had made up two of the spare rooms, Draco gleefully replied with, 'thank you, mother, but Harry and I will be sharing. We've been seeing each other for six months and I've moved into Grimmauld Place, officially.'

Harry leant against the door jamb, a wickedly amused glint in his green eyes that made Narcissa blush.

Lucius looked like he'd swallowed a newly-hatched Flobberworm, whole.

Narcissa promptly welcomed Harry into the family with a knowing smile, though whether that was because of her son or her husband, she didn't say.

Lucius then hid in his study for three hours and only came out for lunch because it would have been deemed to be snubbing Harry Potter if he rudely ignored his presence any longer.

And Lucius knew he couldn't afford for that to happen. And nor could he afford to displease his son in case he and his wife ended up homeless.

So, he either had to dance with the devil or throw his lot in with Twarmer. And it was too late for that latter option. It was too late the minute Lucius had sent that first correspondence to Harry bloody Potter. There was no backing out because now the Assistant-Head Auror knew he'd broken the terms of his exile.

His morning's smouldering in cold fury that Harry Potter was apparently his son's boyfriend of six months eventually brought Lucius to three conclusions. The first was an irrational conclusion that Draco was probably dating Harry Potter just to spite his father and would probably go so far as to marry Potter, just to excel in his petty acts of so-called rebellion that included his tattoos and his earring and his being gay and his proposal to sell the family seat in Wiltshire, England. The second conclusion was that Harry bloody Potter had been secretly laughing at Lucius all through their negotiations and it was enough to make him want to throw the impudent boy out of his house. The third conclusion was more rational, namely that if Harry Potter's intentions towards his son were honourable (which Lucius assumed they were considering the boy was a sanctimonious and honourable Gryffindor buffoon), then it would be in Lucius's best interests to make sure he remained on the Assistant-Head Auror's best side, renown temper notwithstanding, because he may just be able to wangle himself back into the Manor and secure an increase in living allowance by backing his potential son-in-law. Lucius was happy to play the long game, so long as he could stop his son from selling Malfoy Manor. And as far as Lucius was concerned, everything was negotiable.

So, it was after lunch that Harry and Lucius ensconced themselves in Lucius's study and didn't emerge until much, much later.

The only thing was, as Harry Potter insolently sat back in an armchair opposite Lucius, completely at ease in Lucius's company in his disrespectful tight black t-shirt that had F.C.U.K. emblazoned in bold white letters across his chest and in his offensive bloody leather trousers, and with one of Lucius's beloved white Kneazles in his lap, Lucius realised that Harry bloody Potter wasn't a boy any longer and nor was he a sanctimonious and honourable Gryffindor buffoon. Lucius realised, rather too late, that he might just have got into bed (figuratively speaking) with another bloody snake. He sighed. Perhaps he was an idiot after all. He also wondered why he'd never considered what Potter might wear when he wasn't in his scruffy oversized Auror uniform that had never seen the flat-side of an iron in its life. It was, after all, all the man seemed to wear. Yet here he was, looking like that and behaving rather more astutely and imperturbably than Lucius would like... and he was not what Lucius expected, even after meeting the man on several occasions previously to discuss the situation regarding Arum Twarmer. It was unsettling. And he was a tad intimidated by the younger man. And also suddenly appreciated how Harry Potter, at just seventeen-years-old, had managed to defeat one of the darkest wizards this world had ever seen. He realised that he had, once again, underestimated Harry Potter.