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bottom_draco_commTitle: A Price Not Worth Paying
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
silva_draconis
Prompt: #34, Rumplestiltskin
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Summary: Eleven years ago Draco made a deal, and now he turns to the one person he thinks will help him.
Rating: light R
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, they belong to JK Rowling.
Warning(s): Some Ginny!bashing.
Word Count: 7,356
Author's Notes: I tried to meet all of the special requests in this fic, so I hope you enjoy it. Also deep thanks to my lovely betaantorris
Draco stood deep under Gringotts in one of its oldest chambers, where deals had been struck between wizards and goblins since before even the goblins’ long memories could remember. He was draped in a black hooded cloak, his silver hair and eyes the only things that gleamed in the torch light. A goblin with gold and jewel chains dripping from his body stood ten paces away, waiting.
“You have come to strike a deal, young wizard.” The goblins voice ground like rocks against slate, his power resonating with every word. Draco nodded solemnly; above the floors of Gringotts proper a war raged, and though his associates couldn’t see it Draco knew his side was not winning. Not that he had ever chosen Voldemort’s side; choices had never been an option. “What do you want then, wizard?”
“There is a war among wizards raging right now, the side chosen for me is going to lose. My family stands to lose everything in the fallout after this is over. I need your help to make that not happen.” Draco pulled his arms in close, hugging himself against the ominous feeling in his stomach; making deals with old powers were for desperate times.
“You must be more specific than that young Malfoy, or we cannot help you,” The old goblin replied.
“I want my mother, father, and I to survive the war with our fortune intact. My mother and I must remain free - no prison after the war is finished and we get to keep our magic. An heir is to be born of my blood within the next decade to carry on the Malfoy line in the wizarding world.”
“That is a lot to ask of us, young wizard. The price for your requirements…”
“I know.” Draco hands twisted together. “But my family must survive the end of the war and into the next generation. I fear we will not without some assistance.”
The goblin grinned, his black eyes gleaming in the torchlight. A bony finger sketched a square in the air, a line of fire following the movement of his hand. There was a flash and within the square a scroll formed from flame and ash. Knobby fingers grasped the scroll, pulling it out of the flames and breaking the seal. Draco gasped as the scroll unfurled, bouncing to the floor and across the stone.
The scroll was covered with minute text except for the very top of the document. At the top Draco could clearly see the terms of his agreement with the goblins, but everything else was in such fine print that Draco wouldn’t be able to read it with a magnification spell. Draco’s eyes flickered between the contract and the goblin who was industriously scanning the lines of text.
“I take it everything is in order?”
“Hmmm,” The goblin hummed as he skimmed the lines, before flicking his eyes back to Draco. “Yes, everything is in order.” He let the contract float in the middle of the air as he pulled a wicked looking knife from underneath the vast maze of chains covering his body. Draco flinched as the goblin sliced his finger open and allowed the blood to collect on his fingertip before signing his name to the contract. The blood dried instantly and the contract floated over to Draco. The goblin offered his knife with a flourish, but Draco declined, pulling out a clean potions scalpel he had brought for this occasion. He pricked his finger deeply, watching the blood collect dark and red before signing his name next to the goblins. Even looking at the signature, Draco couldn’t figure out what the hell to call him.
As he finished writing the ‘Y’ in his last name, the contract flashed once then disappeared Malfoy didn’t ask what the cost would be; anything they could ask of him would be worth it to keep his family alive and in good standing.
“We’re done here, correct?” Silver eyes flashed up to meet the goblins as he turned to leave the chamber, wanting this over and done with.
“Oh yes young wizard, we are finished …until we claim our payment.” The goblin grinned at Draco and he shivered in response to the look. He kept reminding himself as he left the deep cave that this was worth it, would always be worth it.
~Eleven Years Later~
Harry bounced little Lilly in one arm while he played with Albus on the floor. James sat in a chair by the window, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on the book before him. Harry smiled at the picturesque scene around him, breathing a sigh of relief at the normality of it all. There had been weeks, months, where he thought that they would never get back to normal.
When Harry had come home to their house in Godric’s Hallow that fateful day ten months ago, he had believed that his wife of ten years would be waiting for him with his children. She had the day off from Quidditch practice and he had been wrapping up his final case for the Auror office. What he had found was distinctly different from his imagination. There was no patter of running feet from his three children, Lilly trailing behind because she still couldn’t run well yet. But that wasn’t all that odd. Ginny could have given the kids to her mother for the night and Harry was not adverse to the thoughts that brought to mind.
Harry dropped his work robes on the floor, glad that his last day of work was over, and that he was never going back. They had followed his dreams in the beginning of their relationship, allowing Harry to go into the Auror service and start a family, and now it was to be Ginny’s turn. She had gotten scouted by a professional team when she had started playing on the local team after Lilly was born. Harry, who had become burned out with chasing Dark wizards around all of the UK, was more than willing to take over the job of ‘house wife’ and give Ginny her shot at the career she wanted.
He climbed the stairs quietly after a quick look around the ground floor, hoping to surprise his wife in their room. When he opened the door he was not the only one who got a surprise. Lying in their bed was his wife, but she was not alone; wrapped around her was a dark skinned brunette who Harry vaguely remembered from Ginny’s quidditch games. From what Harry could see they had been going at it for quite some time and had no intention of stopping. He felt curiously numb at first, he made no noise, just looked on as some boy a decade younger than him fucked his wife in their bed. It wasn’t until Ginny and her nameless boyfriend cried out in shock that Harry realized his magic was swirling around the room in a small tornado, picking up knickknacks from the shelves and causing the lights to flicker dangerously.
“Harry please,” Ginny cried softly, reaching a hand out from the bed, “let me explain!” It was her voice that broke the calm in his mind and loosed the rage to flood through his system. Harry usually only used a fraction of the power available to him every day; only at work did he really get the chance to let his magic run free. But now it moved without his conscious thought. He wanted nothing to do with Ginny or her little toy, and so his magic picked the bed up, occupants and all, emptied the draws of Ginny’s clothing and personal items and swept them all out the large bay window that lined one side of the room after vanishing the glass from the frame.
“Get out of my house.” Harry yelled, before his magic replaced the glass in the frame. He turned and stalked down the hall flinging floo powder into the fire. “The Burrow,” Harry cried, stepping through without waiting for someone on the other side to answer his call. In seconds he was standing in Molly Weasley’s kitchen, his eyes scanning frantically for his children. James and Albus barreled into the room with Molly trailing behind cuddling a one and half year old Lilly in her arms. Lilly squealed at the sight of her father, waving her hands in the air and reaching out of her grandmother’s arms for him.
Harry still was full of his power and rage, but none of his children were afraid. They clustered around him and Harry cuddled them close, taking Lilly last.
“Harry, what’s happened?” Molly asked, her voice concerned as his magic, though diminished, continued to eddy around him.
“That’s something you’ll have to ask your daughter, Mum. But I promise we’ll be in contact.” He had gathered his children and flooed back home to Godric’s Hallow. After that it had been months of owls between lawyers and screaming matches at the Burrow while their children were with other family members and away from their parents. But they had gotten through it, come to an agreement that, in the end, had been most hard on the children. Ginny had not wanted to be tied down anymore, she wanted to be free to pursue her career and live her life as her own. So Harry had full custody and Ginny had visitation rights when ever her career would allow.
It had been hard to explain to his children why their mother was suddenly not at home anymore and only visited occasionally. James got it best but he was still only five years old and they all missed their mother. Now it was ten months later and they were settling into a routine and beginning to move on with their lives. Harry and his children still went to the Burrow every weekend and Ginny joined them when her schedule allowed. Harry smiled and relaxed, just enjoying playing with his children in the bright sunlight on the living room floor.
He was disturbed a few hours later from his familial solitude by a frantic knocking on his front door, which was immediately suspicious because everyone he knew contacted him through the floo. Harry set Lily down next to Albus on the floor and glanced over at James, who had looked up with a furrowed brow at the knocking.
“Watch your brother and sister for me for a moment, James?” Harry asked as he walked out of the living room and into the front hallway. The knocking had grown even more frantic and Harry called out as he hurried to open the door. His mouth snapped closed in shock as he realized who exactly was standing on his front door step.
Harry had seen Draco Malfoy from a distance a few times over the last few years since they had both graduated Hogwarts and gone their separate ways after the war. The last news Harry had heard about the blonde former Slytherin was that he and his wife had divorced after 8 years of marriage. The split had been amicable, according to the papers and the gossip around the Ministry, and Draco had kept custody of their only son. And now father and son were standing, looking distressed and scared on his front door step.
“Potter, I need your help.”
~~~~~~~
Harry sat in the dining area across the table from Draco Malfoy and sipped calmly at his tea. In the living room he could see Scorpius and Albus playing a game filled with broken toddler speech that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. It was all oddly surreal and the pale face of Malfoy sitting at his dining room table was not making it an easier to comprehend.
“Alright, now start from the beginning.” Harry said, getting comfortable in his chair and keeping one eye on the children and one on the bane of his school existence.
“You know about the contract I made with the goblins at the end of the war. I didn’t ask then what the payment would be, as nothing at that point in time would not be worth my family surviving the war whole and together, but now I find that what they’re asking for is higher than I’m willing to pay.”
“What’s the price?”
Draco turned his head to gaze at the children playing in the room. Harry glanced with him, curious, but when he turned back to the other man Draco gave him a look filled with meaning.
“No!” Harry gasped, eyes darting between the two blondes.
“Yes,” Draco whispered, hands clenching until they turned white. “And I can’t give him to them Potter, I just can’t.” His eyes were desperate as they stared at his son laughing with Harry’s children. “I have six months to turn him over to the goblins, but they aren’t particularly patient. They already tried to grab him just outside the gates of the manor this afternoon. That’s why I came to you. I know you’ll help me, and this is the last place they will think to look for us.”
“Well then, we’ll figure out how to get you out of this,” Harry stated, eyes determined and emerald hard. “But we’re probably going to need some help,” he warned, meeting Draco stare for stare when the blonde whipped back to look at him.
“Oh please tell me I won’t have to deal with the Weasel and Granger.” Draco sighed, slumping back in his chair.
“You’ve come to me for help, Malfoy; you’re going to have to take my friends with my help.” Harry grinned smugly across the table at Malfoy, supremely happy to get back to normal footing with the Slytherin.
“Ahh… the Golden Trio working together to save another lost soul. This must just be hitting all your saving people buttons, Potter.” Draco sneered, and Harry bristled defensively.
“What is your problem, Malfoy? I’ve just agreed to help you and save your son from a deal you made over a decade ago. You should consider being a little nicer to me.”
“I know, I know, I’m sorry, all right? I’m just really tired and…”
“Worried,” Harry finished.
“Yes,” Draco replied, shoulders sagging. Harry nodded and stretched over the back of his chair before standing.
“You and Scorpius should stay here for the time being. The wards are very strong and can be keyed so that no one not cleared by me can come through them. We can keep you here where they can’t track you until we can figure out a way to solve this.”
Draco blinked in surprised as he looked up at Potter before slowly nodding.
“I would be very grateful to stay here until this mess is cleared up.”
“Good. Now that that’s settled lets go play with our kids for a while before I fire call Hermione and get her on this.” Harry smiled and moved back toward the living room and his children. He stopped at Draco’s quite voice.
“Thank you Harry.”
“You’re welcome Draco. You saved my life once; let’s just say I’m repaying my debt,” Harry replied, before pulling the blonde with him into the chaos that was four young children playing wizarding games. Scorpius looked up from a pile of polished blocks.
“Look Daddy! Al’us says these were his grandpa’s.”
Draco crouched on his floor next to his son, smiling at his tow headed child.
“Albus has a very fine set of toys and it is very nice of him to share them with you.” Draco watched as the blocks flipped over and began stacking themselves with very little guidance from the children, but taking the shapes they wanted.
“Yeah! They have lots of cool toys here. Can I stay and play with James and Lilly and Al-bus?” Scorpius questioned, saying his new friends name slowly to get it right.
Draco sat down on the floor and pulled his son into his lap.
“We’re actually going to be staying here a while, Scorpius. Mr. Potter is going to help us with our problem.”
Scorpius looked up in surprise and stared first at his father and then at Harry. Harry smiled back, trying to exude confidence that he didn’t completely feel.
“Really?” Nerves laced Scorpius’ voice as he cuddled back into Draco’s lap, fear flashing quickly over his face.
“I promise.” Harry leaned forward and touched Scorpius’ hand lightly, and Scorpius grinned at Harry from the safety of his father’s arms.
~~~~~~~~
Early the next morning, Harry fire called Hermione, grateful that it was a weekend and she would be at home. His bushy haired friend answered within a few moments, and Harry asked if he could come through. Though Harry didn’t trust him with much, he knew that Draco would keep the children safe, and it wouldn’t do to antagonize Hermione when Harry was trying to enlist her help. She agreed readily and Harry stepped through the fire into a cozy living room. He liked the feel of Hermione’s house, and relaxed as he stood on the plush brown carpet before her blazing fire.
“So what is this all about Harry?” Hermione questioned gently as she invited him to sit.
“Well, you know how we were all wondering how the Malfoy family came out of the war with a fairly good reputation? Well, I know the reason why.” Harry leaned forward in his chair and proceeded to relate the entire story so far for his friend. Hermione expressed her surprise and indignation in all the right places, even commenting that she could believe Malfoy would make covert deals with magical creatures to survive a war. But she was appropriately shocked when he related the cost of Malfoy’s deal and agreed without hesitation to help in any way she could.
“I might not hold Malfoy with the highest regard,” she said, “But he has been trying to change since school, and no one deserves to have their child taken away from them when they were just trying to save their family.” So stating, she finished her breakfast and began gathering her clothes. Harry’s brow furrowed as he watched her.
“I understand that you’re willing to help Hermione, but where are you going?”
“You said there was a contract correct?” Hermione asked as she threw on a pair of robes and grabbed her brief case.
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Honestly Harry.” Hermione shook her head, exasperated. “Did you never read up on Wizarding law at all?”
“I was an Auror for ten years Hermione, I know Wizarding law.” Harry huffed as he leaned against the fire place preparing to leave himself.
“Every contract that is created with magic has a copy automatically stored in Ministry archives, though for privacy’s sake no one ever reads them. Someone just checks that they are being stored properly and nothing has gone wrong with the preservation spells. Since Draco does not have a copy of the contract I’m going to get one from the archives. I have a friend who mans the desk on the weekends, she owes me a favor.”
“Thank you, Hermione.” Harry leaned forward and hugged her. “I’ll say it now since you might not hear it from Malfoy.”
“You’re welcome.” Hermione laughed as he picked her up and spun her in a tight circle before letting her go.
“Oh, and Hermione?” Harry pulled back from his hug. “I haven’t told Ron about this yet so…”
“Right, Mum’s the word.” Hermione grinned, “Maybe we can keep him out of this for a while; you know how he still gets about Malfoy.” Harry just grinned in response.
~~~~~~~~
Later that afternoon, Harry sat coloring with Lilly on the floor, listening to her broken sentences and laughing along with her. James, Albus, Scorpius, and Draco were putting together a complex train set. Draco and James were helping the younger boys snap together pieces and put the train together in the correct order. Every time a piece was snapped in place it lit up to match the rest of the set. The boys laughed and grabbed other pieces to add as Draco and James willingly followed their commands.
Harry had to admit that what he had seen of Draco over the course of the last day was different than what he had seen in school. But it had been ten years and they had all changed during the course of the war. It was into this setting that Hermione tumbled as she flooed into Harry’s living room. They all looked up from their tasks as Hermione appeared in a cloud of soot from the fireplace.
Hermione blinked and smiled slightly as she looked around the room.
“I got it.” She lifted her briefcase in explanation, flicking her wand over her clothes to send the soot back into the fireplace. Hermione settled into a chair near Harry and placed the briefcase in her lap. She flipped the case open and pulled out a tightly bound scroll, placing it with care on the coffee table in front of her. Draco rose from his place on the floor; he looked as if the scroll was Lord Voldemort back from the dead as his very own demon.
“That’s it.” Draco whispered, gaze transfixed; he left the train to the boys and came over to sit next to Hermione. “Wherever did you find it?”
“The Ministry contract vaults.” Hermione replied, preening at the implied praise. Draco reached out and broke the seal, watching as the scroll unfurled, the parchment expanding as the scroll bounced to the floor. Harry’s jaw dropped as he saw the lengths and lengths of minute writing that filled the parchment.
“You signed this without knowing what it said?” Harry stared incredulous between the scroll and Draco’s face. The blond blushed, but nodded.
“I was in a desperate situation.”
“What’s that, Daddy?” The adults jumped as a voice piped up from behind them. Harry glanced over his shoulder and smiled as Albus leaned into him, looking curiously over the parchment on the floor, his green eyes shining with curiosity. Harry glanced at Draco for permission before answering his son’s question.
“This is a contract that Scorpius’ father signed before you all were born. The people he signed with are asking him for something that he can’t give, so we have to find something they can both agree on as payment. We’re hoping this contract will give us some answers.”
“Is this why Scorpius and Uncle Draco are staying with us?” James asked in a moment of clarity and childish honesty. Harry nodded and pulled James close.
“Yes, I’m trying to help them both and keep them safe.”
“Well that’s okay then.” James stated decisively, hugging his father before running back to the train set, picking up Lilly on his way.
“He’s really doing much better now.” Hermione commented, arms resting on her knees as she gazed at James.
“I think he’s starting to realize that Ginny still loves him even though she doesn’t live with us anymore. But it’s still hard sometimes, they all miss her.” Harry’s eyes darkened as he remembered the trying months they had just passed through.
“I heard about your divorce through the Ministry grapevine and the papers. I’m sorry it had to happen the way it did.” Draco cut through his brooding with his sincere words and Harry smiled up into liquid silver eyes.
“It’s alright; we really are much better apart. We got married much too young and we didn’t know each other when we got married. I want a family and she wants to have her career and live her life. I’ve forgiven her for the cheating, but I don’t think I will ever forgive her for the… damage she has caused our children. They do love their mother though, and so I won’t take her away from them.” Harry turned defensive as he eyed Draco, but Draco just nodded in agreement.
“Astoria and I split because we both wanted it, and we are still friends, but it still wasn’t as hard on Scorpius as relations between us all are the same as they were before we divorced. I couldn’t imagine what you must have gone through with them over the last few months.”
The silence stretched between them as Harry and Draco smiled at each other, in agreement for once. Hermione coughed discreetly and they jerked their gazes apart.
“Well I suggest we get on with this. It’s going to take a very long time to look through all these laws, especially if we have to look up meanings and bylaws to understand this contract.” Hermione gently took back the scroll and began making copies and enlarging the fine print, muttering about Gobbledygook and the intricacies of wizard-goblin relations. Harry laughed quietly and leaned back in his chair as the researcher in his friend surfaced and firmly took over the project. Draco just gazed in bemusement as a witch he had tormented all through school threw herself into a project for no other reason than to allow him to keep his son.
~~~~~~~~
Months passed, much too quickly for Harry’s liking, and he found that they were falling into a routine. Godric’s Hallow wasn’t tiny by any means, but with four children and two adults in the house, accommodations had to be made for space. There were only three usable bedrooms in the House and Lilly had one to herself since she was the only girl. Harry supposed he could have moved her into his room, but he and Draco were sharing the space as it was, and with two single beds an additional toddler bed would have made it way too crowded. James and Albus already shared a room, so adding Scorpius in hadn’t been all that hard.
Since Draco and Scorpius were restricted to the house and grounds that were within the wards, they had to come up with activities to keep all of them sane. Harry had taken to cooking their meals, which had scandalized their house-elf Winky, but he had insisted on doing at least one meal a day. Draco got up with the boys in the morning, dressing them and playing with them, while Harry spent time getting Lilly ready, as she took more time and attention than the others. They ate breakfast together as a family and then Harry took over with the kids while Draco spent time in the potions lab Harry had discovered in the basement when he renovated the house. Harry suspected it had been his Mother’s but he had never used it.
They all ate lunch at the same time and then spent time all together either outside or playing in the living room, or with lessons. Draco had insisted they keep up with their studies; Scorpius had just started learning his basics and James had his own lessons to attend to. Harry had added Albus to their student list and the two four-year-olds worked very well together. Usually during this time Hermione joined Harry and Draco and they went over the contract piece by piece with the children hanging around under foot. After afternoon activities were complete, Harry usually went off to make dinner while the kids cleaned up under the supervision of Draco and their house-elf.
Dinner was a lively affair with multiple conversations and lots of laughter. They then spent hours after dinner getting the children ready for bed, making it a fun activity to get them into bed. There were stories and baths and bedtime kisses from both Draco and Harry. Draco was struck dumb when Lilly looked up at him from her bed and asked for Papa Dray to give her a goodnight kiss. Harry had just smiled serenely and grinned at Draco’s speechlessness. His silver eyes lit up with delight as he leaned over her bed and brushed a kiss over her fall of red hair. Lilly had giggled, and collecting kisses from both of them had become a nightly ritual; it was not long before Harry was tucking in Scorpius, and James and Albus were asking for Draco to tuck them in as well. Within three months they were acting as if they had been a family for years.
Harry was even beginning to feel as if they were a family. He had known before he married Ginny that he was interested in boys, and he had long believed that Draco was an extremely attractive man, but his personality had been such a turn off that Harry had never dwelled on his attraction. Living with the man in his room for three months was beginning to change his feelings about Draco. The man was a loving father and had a brilliant mind, much like Hermione. When he wasn’t following the Death Eater party line, he was much easier to get along with, and soon Harry was finding it difficult to not start caring about the blond who shared his bedroom and his children.
There were times when he thought Draco felt it too. In the evenings after the children were in bed they spent time together just quietly doing what relaxed them. Harry spent time drawing up ideas for children’s toys and working out intricate spell combinations to make his ideas a reality. Draco read books, any book, from a potions journal to fiction novels. During these quiet nights they had discussions about the children or some bit of gossip Hermione had brought them that day, and one day a comment in a book had sparked a long and in-depth discussion about their political ideals that had gone a long way to changing Harry’s thoughts about Draco. Sometimes there would be moments when they leaned together over a book or were in the middle of a heated discussion and there would be a look or a pause and Harry would fixate on Draco’s lips or the line of his neck, and the tension would build between them.
That tension always broke with a noise or one of them breaking away from the other and moving on. By the time they entered into their fourth month, Harry knew he was falling hard for this charming, intelligent father, but he could do nothing about it. Draco was depending on him to save Scorpius and Harry didn’t want Draco to feel obligated to be with him in any way.
But all was not well in Godric’s Hallow. They were acting like a family, that was true, but as Harry’s feelings for Draco increased, the tension in the house mounted as well. Hermione had divided the contract into sections, but it was still slow going and they had only just gotten half way through each of their sections. Every law had to be read and examined for an interpretation that might help give them more time or find a way out for Draco and Scorpius. The one law they had found relating to Draco’s payment just seemed to tie him tighter into his deal.
The goblins had put a clause in that made the penalty for not giving payment for services rendered meant that he forfeited all his property, which under wizarding law included his underage son. That had been a bad day, and after the children were in bed Draco had made his way through half a bottle of single malt whiskey. Harry had eventually carried the intoxicated blond to bed and the leftover warmth of his body in Harry’s arms had lingered with him for days after.
The tension in the house came to a head one day while the children were out playing in the garden and Harry and Draco had one of their rare quite moments during the day. Hermione had taken off early since she had a date with a colleague from her office at the Ministry. Draco had scowled at her when she left, but made no comment. He knew she was taking time out of her days to help him, but time was ticking down and they only had about seven weeks left before he had to give his son over to the care of goblins.
Harry was sitting quietly, referencing one of the laws in the contract in another book when Draco let out a sound of distress and hurled the book his was holding across the room and into a convenient wall. Harry jumped in surprise, brining his startled gaze up to look at Draco. The other man stood staring out a window into the softening evening light; Harry didn’t have to be a genius to realize he was staring at Scorpius. He lifted himself out of his seat and crossed the room to stand behind Draco and look with him. His hand lifted and rested lightly on Draco’s shoulder.
“It’ll be alright, I promise we’ll figure something out.” Harry’s voice was low and quiet in the stillness of the afternoon, but filled with all of his conviction and power. Draco shivered under his hand and turned into the warmth Harry provided.
“How can you promise that?” Draco whispered from Harry’s shoulder as he wrapped his arms tightly about the taller man’s waist.
“I just can,” Harry swore, tightening his grip on the slim figure pressed against him. Draco tilted his head up from Harry’s shoulder, gazing into the deep green eyes that shimmered above him. His breath caught in his throat as he rose up on his toes and pressed his lips softly to Harry’s. A deep urgent sound issued from Harry’s throat and he crushed Draco to him for a few precious seconds, losing himself in the warmth and taste of Draco’s mouth. As the feel of Draco shifting against him began to register Harry snapped back to himself and reluctantly pulled out of the kiss.
Draco made a distressed sound and tried to burrow back into Harry’s embrace, but he resisted, setting the smaller man back away from him.
“No, I can’t do this.” Harry’s breath caught in his chest at the distraught look on Draco’s face and he tried to explain. “I want to Draco, so much I ache with it. But you’re vulnerable now and I can’t start anything with you because you feel obligated to me for my help or that I’m the only on here to offer you… comfort; I won’t,” Harry stated. Draco tried to object, say that he cared for Harry outside of this situation, but Harry would not hear of it. And Draco sulked off in a fouler mood than he had started in.
Though Harry thought the issue was closed, Draco used the next month to drive Harry slowly insane. Covert touches and lingering looks full of lust left Harry with more than one erection that he couldn’t do anything about. His dreams were full of the blond and his room was beginning to smell of Draco as well, so there was no relief in escaping to his room. It was because of his distraction that Harry almost missed the answer to his problem.
Harry had been staring at Draco’s bottom lip instead of his contract. The Slytherin was biting it in concentration and Harry was resisting the temptation to lean over and nip at that plump lower lip. He had just wrenched his eyes back to the contract when a phrase jumped out at him. ‘The payee is unable to fulfill due to familial or monetary obligations.’ Harry stared at the phrase and then followed the sentence back to its start and began to read again. His fingers shook in his shock and he turned to Hermione, holding out his paper.
“Please tell me if this says what I think it does.” Harry whispered shakily. Hermione looked at him in concern, but took the paper and read over the part he had highlighted with his wand. She stared for a long time at the page before Draco lost his patience and snapped.
“Well what does it say?” Draco demanded, hands gripping the side of the table. Hermione took a shaky breath before starting to read.
“When the receiving party asks a payment the payee is unable to fulfill due to familial or monetary obligations, then the payee is required to serve a term of no less than a year but no more than four in the service of the receiving party.” Her voice faded in amazement as she devoured the words. “There’s more to it, but it basically says that you have the right to work for them for up to four years doing basically whatever they assign you. It must have been a standard wizarding law buried in there when the laws of inter-species contracts were created. The extra clauses state that they can’t use you as a slave, that you have to be given all consideration as an employee, but you work without pay for them for as long as they want you. The goblin that created the contract must have overlooked the law. It’s very old and everyone, wizards and goblins, had forgotten about its creation.” Hermione drew a breath, “Harry, you found the answer!”
Hermione danced around the room in her exuberance and Draco snapped out of his stupor at her bouncing, leaping from his chair to catch her about the waist and spin in circles. Harry just stared; trying to make his brain understand that the search was over and that Scorpius and Draco were safe. Overwhelming joy began to bubble in his chest, but with it a sense of despair began to rise as well. This meant they would leave. Maybe not in the next few days, but soon, and then his family would fall apart again.
Draco bounced into his lap and Harry had to laugh as his joy caught at Harry and tugged him out of his depression. He stood to join in the celebration, laughing as the kids ran into the room to discover what all the noise was about, Lilly toddling behind and laughing when Draco scooped her up off the floor and danced her around the room. Scorpius, Albus, and Harry linked hands to dance around the room and soon they all devolved into one big party.
~~~~~~~~
Hours later, cake and an extravagant dinner prepared by Winky had been laid out in the formal dining room. They all ate with gusto and laughed through the entire meal. It took hours for the kids to go to sleep and Draco spent a good half an hour alone with Scorpius, explaining how they will be safe now and everything is going to be okay. Harry fell asleep before Draco finished getting ready for bed and he was already gone when Harry woke the next morning.
He was almost convinced that Draco left him that morning, but the thought was quickly pushed aside when he saw Scorpius sound asleep in his bed in James and Albus’ room. Draco might leave him without a word, but he would never leave Scorpius behind. Harry knew he’d gone to negotiate with the goblins and wished that Draco had asked for his help, but he knew he was pants at negotiation and might make the situation worse. So they waited him and the four kids rattling around the house.
Draco returned weary at the end of the day, and Harry could tell it’d been hard on him to work with the goblins who had been threatening to take his son away. Even though he’d been in negotiations all day, nothing was settled and Draco said he thinks that the goblins are still trying to find Scorpius so they don’t have to make a deal with him.
For a week Draco negotiated and Harry began to think the goblins wouldn’t give in, but finally, a week from the given time ended, Draco returned with an agreement. He was to work a full four years to change the laws that govern goblins actions and relations to wizards. He was not going to get paid, but neither would he lose his son or be worked to death in some tunnel underground laying protective wards. And so Draco was happy with the outcome. He planned to return to the Manor with Scorpius by the end of the next week and Harry was heartbroken.
~~~~~~~~
Later that night Harry sighed deeply into his pillow as he tried to fall asleep, but his mind was filled with the thought of not having Draco or Scorpius in Godric’s Hallow anymore. There were a few days left, sure, but not enough to fill the void they were going to leave behind. As the door opened, Harry feigned sleep as he listened to the rustle of bed clothes and the soft sound of Draco’s footsteps on the hardwood floor. Harry shifted uneasily when Draco made not for his own single bed, but for Harry’s own. He didn’t become concerned until Draco lifted the sheet and climbed into bed with him. Harry had to stop himself from moving when he realized that Draco was naked but for the sheet.
“I gave into your ridiculous insistence that we not be together when I was ‘obligated’ to you,” Harry could hear the sarcasm in Draco’s voice in that word, “But I don’t need your protection anymore, Harry, and I still want you.”
“I can feel that.” Harry laughed, shifting back against the hardness pressing into his pajamas. He turned around, flinging and arm and a leg over Draco’s body, trapping him to the bed. “I care about you Draco. I still can do this if it’s just a onetime thing or a form of payment.”
“Harry,” Draco snorted, rolling his eyes for effect, “If I just wanted you for the sex I could have had you the night we first kissed.”
Harry opened his mouth to argue, but he knew that Draco was telling the truth. Instead he pushed Draco down onto his back, settling his weight on top of the smaller man.
“Well you’ve got me now Draco, whatever are you going to do with me?”
“Oh, everything I can think of.” Draco’s smirk was pure evil as he rolled his hips up against Harry’s. Harry groaned and rode the sensations Draco was creating before pinning the other man to the bed.
“Ah, ah, ah. You’ve been driving me crazy for weeks you little tease, it’s my turn.” Harry used his weight to keep Draco flat against the bed while he scraped his teeth down the side of Draco’s neck. Draco gasped and bared his throat in supplication; Harry growled, biting down hard enough to leave a mark before sucking the skin back into his mouth. He leaned back long enough to divest himself of his pajamas before attacking every inch of Draco’s skin with his mouth.
As Draco swore and called above him Harry traced the contours of his body, following the ridges with his tongue and scraping his teeth along flat planes; he avoided the one place he knew would send Draco flying apart, until Draco was reduced to single words between his gasps for air. Harry swallowed Draco down, throat muscles closing around the head of Draco’s cock and he exploded down Harry’s throat. Harry hummed in satisfaction, his own pleasure spilling over the sheets in response to Draco’s release.
Harry curled up around Draco, groping for his wand to cast cleaning spells before pulling up the sheets.
“So I guess this means we’ll still be seeing each other after you leave here?” Harry asked voice soft and hesitant.
“You’ll see so much of us it will be like we still live here,” Draco replied, cuddling back into Harry’s warmth.
“You’re more than welcome to stay,” Harry offered, lacing his fingers with Draco’s.
“Harry, this house is way too small for all of us. Get a bigger house and then we can talk,” Draco sleepily responded.
“Alright.” Harry whispered into the back of Draco’s neck, planning on calling his contractor in the morning to add more space onto the house. After all, they would be much happier in Godric’s Hallow then the Manor.
~The End~
Author:
silva_draconis Prompt: #34, Rumplestiltskin
Pairing(s): Harry/Draco
Summary: Eleven years ago Draco made a deal, and now he turns to the one person he thinks will help him.
Rating: light R
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, they belong to JK Rowling.
Warning(s): Some Ginny!bashing.
Word Count: 7,356
Author's Notes: I tried to meet all of the special requests in this fic, so I hope you enjoy it. Also deep thanks to my lovely beta
antorris Draco stood deep under Gringotts in one of its oldest chambers, where deals had been struck between wizards and goblins since before even the goblins’ long memories could remember. He was draped in a black hooded cloak, his silver hair and eyes the only things that gleamed in the torch light. A goblin with gold and jewel chains dripping from his body stood ten paces away, waiting.
“You have come to strike a deal, young wizard.” The goblins voice ground like rocks against slate, his power resonating with every word. Draco nodded solemnly; above the floors of Gringotts proper a war raged, and though his associates couldn’t see it Draco knew his side was not winning. Not that he had ever chosen Voldemort’s side; choices had never been an option. “What do you want then, wizard?”
“There is a war among wizards raging right now, the side chosen for me is going to lose. My family stands to lose everything in the fallout after this is over. I need your help to make that not happen.” Draco pulled his arms in close, hugging himself against the ominous feeling in his stomach; making deals with old powers were for desperate times.
“You must be more specific than that young Malfoy, or we cannot help you,” The old goblin replied.
“I want my mother, father, and I to survive the war with our fortune intact. My mother and I must remain free - no prison after the war is finished and we get to keep our magic. An heir is to be born of my blood within the next decade to carry on the Malfoy line in the wizarding world.”
“That is a lot to ask of us, young wizard. The price for your requirements…”
“I know.” Draco hands twisted together. “But my family must survive the end of the war and into the next generation. I fear we will not without some assistance.”
The goblin grinned, his black eyes gleaming in the torchlight. A bony finger sketched a square in the air, a line of fire following the movement of his hand. There was a flash and within the square a scroll formed from flame and ash. Knobby fingers grasped the scroll, pulling it out of the flames and breaking the seal. Draco gasped as the scroll unfurled, bouncing to the floor and across the stone.
The scroll was covered with minute text except for the very top of the document. At the top Draco could clearly see the terms of his agreement with the goblins, but everything else was in such fine print that Draco wouldn’t be able to read it with a magnification spell. Draco’s eyes flickered between the contract and the goblin who was industriously scanning the lines of text.
“I take it everything is in order?”
“Hmmm,” The goblin hummed as he skimmed the lines, before flicking his eyes back to Draco. “Yes, everything is in order.” He let the contract float in the middle of the air as he pulled a wicked looking knife from underneath the vast maze of chains covering his body. Draco flinched as the goblin sliced his finger open and allowed the blood to collect on his fingertip before signing his name to the contract. The blood dried instantly and the contract floated over to Draco. The goblin offered his knife with a flourish, but Draco declined, pulling out a clean potions scalpel he had brought for this occasion. He pricked his finger deeply, watching the blood collect dark and red before signing his name next to the goblins. Even looking at the signature, Draco couldn’t figure out what the hell to call him.
As he finished writing the ‘Y’ in his last name, the contract flashed once then disappeared Malfoy didn’t ask what the cost would be; anything they could ask of him would be worth it to keep his family alive and in good standing.
“We’re done here, correct?” Silver eyes flashed up to meet the goblins as he turned to leave the chamber, wanting this over and done with.
“Oh yes young wizard, we are finished …until we claim our payment.” The goblin grinned at Draco and he shivered in response to the look. He kept reminding himself as he left the deep cave that this was worth it, would always be worth it.
~Eleven Years Later~
Harry bounced little Lilly in one arm while he played with Albus on the floor. James sat in a chair by the window, tongue sticking out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on the book before him. Harry smiled at the picturesque scene around him, breathing a sigh of relief at the normality of it all. There had been weeks, months, where he thought that they would never get back to normal.
When Harry had come home to their house in Godric’s Hallow that fateful day ten months ago, he had believed that his wife of ten years would be waiting for him with his children. She had the day off from Quidditch practice and he had been wrapping up his final case for the Auror office. What he had found was distinctly different from his imagination. There was no patter of running feet from his three children, Lilly trailing behind because she still couldn’t run well yet. But that wasn’t all that odd. Ginny could have given the kids to her mother for the night and Harry was not adverse to the thoughts that brought to mind.
Harry dropped his work robes on the floor, glad that his last day of work was over, and that he was never going back. They had followed his dreams in the beginning of their relationship, allowing Harry to go into the Auror service and start a family, and now it was to be Ginny’s turn. She had gotten scouted by a professional team when she had started playing on the local team after Lilly was born. Harry, who had become burned out with chasing Dark wizards around all of the UK, was more than willing to take over the job of ‘house wife’ and give Ginny her shot at the career she wanted.
He climbed the stairs quietly after a quick look around the ground floor, hoping to surprise his wife in their room. When he opened the door he was not the only one who got a surprise. Lying in their bed was his wife, but she was not alone; wrapped around her was a dark skinned brunette who Harry vaguely remembered from Ginny’s quidditch games. From what Harry could see they had been going at it for quite some time and had no intention of stopping. He felt curiously numb at first, he made no noise, just looked on as some boy a decade younger than him fucked his wife in their bed. It wasn’t until Ginny and her nameless boyfriend cried out in shock that Harry realized his magic was swirling around the room in a small tornado, picking up knickknacks from the shelves and causing the lights to flicker dangerously.
“Harry please,” Ginny cried softly, reaching a hand out from the bed, “let me explain!” It was her voice that broke the calm in his mind and loosed the rage to flood through his system. Harry usually only used a fraction of the power available to him every day; only at work did he really get the chance to let his magic run free. But now it moved without his conscious thought. He wanted nothing to do with Ginny or her little toy, and so his magic picked the bed up, occupants and all, emptied the draws of Ginny’s clothing and personal items and swept them all out the large bay window that lined one side of the room after vanishing the glass from the frame.
“Get out of my house.” Harry yelled, before his magic replaced the glass in the frame. He turned and stalked down the hall flinging floo powder into the fire. “The Burrow,” Harry cried, stepping through without waiting for someone on the other side to answer his call. In seconds he was standing in Molly Weasley’s kitchen, his eyes scanning frantically for his children. James and Albus barreled into the room with Molly trailing behind cuddling a one and half year old Lilly in her arms. Lilly squealed at the sight of her father, waving her hands in the air and reaching out of her grandmother’s arms for him.
Harry still was full of his power and rage, but none of his children were afraid. They clustered around him and Harry cuddled them close, taking Lilly last.
“Harry, what’s happened?” Molly asked, her voice concerned as his magic, though diminished, continued to eddy around him.
“That’s something you’ll have to ask your daughter, Mum. But I promise we’ll be in contact.” He had gathered his children and flooed back home to Godric’s Hallow. After that it had been months of owls between lawyers and screaming matches at the Burrow while their children were with other family members and away from their parents. But they had gotten through it, come to an agreement that, in the end, had been most hard on the children. Ginny had not wanted to be tied down anymore, she wanted to be free to pursue her career and live her life as her own. So Harry had full custody and Ginny had visitation rights when ever her career would allow.
It had been hard to explain to his children why their mother was suddenly not at home anymore and only visited occasionally. James got it best but he was still only five years old and they all missed their mother. Now it was ten months later and they were settling into a routine and beginning to move on with their lives. Harry and his children still went to the Burrow every weekend and Ginny joined them when her schedule allowed. Harry smiled and relaxed, just enjoying playing with his children in the bright sunlight on the living room floor.
He was disturbed a few hours later from his familial solitude by a frantic knocking on his front door, which was immediately suspicious because everyone he knew contacted him through the floo. Harry set Lily down next to Albus on the floor and glanced over at James, who had looked up with a furrowed brow at the knocking.
“Watch your brother and sister for me for a moment, James?” Harry asked as he walked out of the living room and into the front hallway. The knocking had grown even more frantic and Harry called out as he hurried to open the door. His mouth snapped closed in shock as he realized who exactly was standing on his front door step.
Harry had seen Draco Malfoy from a distance a few times over the last few years since they had both graduated Hogwarts and gone their separate ways after the war. The last news Harry had heard about the blonde former Slytherin was that he and his wife had divorced after 8 years of marriage. The split had been amicable, according to the papers and the gossip around the Ministry, and Draco had kept custody of their only son. And now father and son were standing, looking distressed and scared on his front door step.
“Potter, I need your help.”
~~~~~~~
Harry sat in the dining area across the table from Draco Malfoy and sipped calmly at his tea. In the living room he could see Scorpius and Albus playing a game filled with broken toddler speech that he couldn’t make heads or tails of. It was all oddly surreal and the pale face of Malfoy sitting at his dining room table was not making it an easier to comprehend.
“Alright, now start from the beginning.” Harry said, getting comfortable in his chair and keeping one eye on the children and one on the bane of his school existence.
“You know about the contract I made with the goblins at the end of the war. I didn’t ask then what the payment would be, as nothing at that point in time would not be worth my family surviving the war whole and together, but now I find that what they’re asking for is higher than I’m willing to pay.”
“What’s the price?”
Draco turned his head to gaze at the children playing in the room. Harry glanced with him, curious, but when he turned back to the other man Draco gave him a look filled with meaning.
“No!” Harry gasped, eyes darting between the two blondes.
“Yes,” Draco whispered, hands clenching until they turned white. “And I can’t give him to them Potter, I just can’t.” His eyes were desperate as they stared at his son laughing with Harry’s children. “I have six months to turn him over to the goblins, but they aren’t particularly patient. They already tried to grab him just outside the gates of the manor this afternoon. That’s why I came to you. I know you’ll help me, and this is the last place they will think to look for us.”
“Well then, we’ll figure out how to get you out of this,” Harry stated, eyes determined and emerald hard. “But we’re probably going to need some help,” he warned, meeting Draco stare for stare when the blonde whipped back to look at him.
“Oh please tell me I won’t have to deal with the Weasel and Granger.” Draco sighed, slumping back in his chair.
“You’ve come to me for help, Malfoy; you’re going to have to take my friends with my help.” Harry grinned smugly across the table at Malfoy, supremely happy to get back to normal footing with the Slytherin.
“Ahh… the Golden Trio working together to save another lost soul. This must just be hitting all your saving people buttons, Potter.” Draco sneered, and Harry bristled defensively.
“What is your problem, Malfoy? I’ve just agreed to help you and save your son from a deal you made over a decade ago. You should consider being a little nicer to me.”
“I know, I know, I’m sorry, all right? I’m just really tired and…”
“Worried,” Harry finished.
“Yes,” Draco replied, shoulders sagging. Harry nodded and stretched over the back of his chair before standing.
“You and Scorpius should stay here for the time being. The wards are very strong and can be keyed so that no one not cleared by me can come through them. We can keep you here where they can’t track you until we can figure out a way to solve this.”
Draco blinked in surprised as he looked up at Potter before slowly nodding.
“I would be very grateful to stay here until this mess is cleared up.”
“Good. Now that that’s settled lets go play with our kids for a while before I fire call Hermione and get her on this.” Harry smiled and moved back toward the living room and his children. He stopped at Draco’s quite voice.
“Thank you Harry.”
“You’re welcome Draco. You saved my life once; let’s just say I’m repaying my debt,” Harry replied, before pulling the blonde with him into the chaos that was four young children playing wizarding games. Scorpius looked up from a pile of polished blocks.
“Look Daddy! Al’us says these were his grandpa’s.”
Draco crouched on his floor next to his son, smiling at his tow headed child.
“Albus has a very fine set of toys and it is very nice of him to share them with you.” Draco watched as the blocks flipped over and began stacking themselves with very little guidance from the children, but taking the shapes they wanted.
“Yeah! They have lots of cool toys here. Can I stay and play with James and Lilly and Al-bus?” Scorpius questioned, saying his new friends name slowly to get it right.
Draco sat down on the floor and pulled his son into his lap.
“We’re actually going to be staying here a while, Scorpius. Mr. Potter is going to help us with our problem.”
Scorpius looked up in surprise and stared first at his father and then at Harry. Harry smiled back, trying to exude confidence that he didn’t completely feel.
“Really?” Nerves laced Scorpius’ voice as he cuddled back into Draco’s lap, fear flashing quickly over his face.
“I promise.” Harry leaned forward and touched Scorpius’ hand lightly, and Scorpius grinned at Harry from the safety of his father’s arms.
~~~~~~~~
Early the next morning, Harry fire called Hermione, grateful that it was a weekend and she would be at home. His bushy haired friend answered within a few moments, and Harry asked if he could come through. Though Harry didn’t trust him with much, he knew that Draco would keep the children safe, and it wouldn’t do to antagonize Hermione when Harry was trying to enlist her help. She agreed readily and Harry stepped through the fire into a cozy living room. He liked the feel of Hermione’s house, and relaxed as he stood on the plush brown carpet before her blazing fire.
“So what is this all about Harry?” Hermione questioned gently as she invited him to sit.
“Well, you know how we were all wondering how the Malfoy family came out of the war with a fairly good reputation? Well, I know the reason why.” Harry leaned forward in his chair and proceeded to relate the entire story so far for his friend. Hermione expressed her surprise and indignation in all the right places, even commenting that she could believe Malfoy would make covert deals with magical creatures to survive a war. But she was appropriately shocked when he related the cost of Malfoy’s deal and agreed without hesitation to help in any way she could.
“I might not hold Malfoy with the highest regard,” she said, “But he has been trying to change since school, and no one deserves to have their child taken away from them when they were just trying to save their family.” So stating, she finished her breakfast and began gathering her clothes. Harry’s brow furrowed as he watched her.
“I understand that you’re willing to help Hermione, but where are you going?”
“You said there was a contract correct?” Hermione asked as she threw on a pair of robes and grabbed her brief case.
“Yes, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Honestly Harry.” Hermione shook her head, exasperated. “Did you never read up on Wizarding law at all?”
“I was an Auror for ten years Hermione, I know Wizarding law.” Harry huffed as he leaned against the fire place preparing to leave himself.
“Every contract that is created with magic has a copy automatically stored in Ministry archives, though for privacy’s sake no one ever reads them. Someone just checks that they are being stored properly and nothing has gone wrong with the preservation spells. Since Draco does not have a copy of the contract I’m going to get one from the archives. I have a friend who mans the desk on the weekends, she owes me a favor.”
“Thank you, Hermione.” Harry leaned forward and hugged her. “I’ll say it now since you might not hear it from Malfoy.”
“You’re welcome.” Hermione laughed as he picked her up and spun her in a tight circle before letting her go.
“Oh, and Hermione?” Harry pulled back from his hug. “I haven’t told Ron about this yet so…”
“Right, Mum’s the word.” Hermione grinned, “Maybe we can keep him out of this for a while; you know how he still gets about Malfoy.” Harry just grinned in response.
~~~~~~~~
Later that afternoon, Harry sat coloring with Lilly on the floor, listening to her broken sentences and laughing along with her. James, Albus, Scorpius, and Draco were putting together a complex train set. Draco and James were helping the younger boys snap together pieces and put the train together in the correct order. Every time a piece was snapped in place it lit up to match the rest of the set. The boys laughed and grabbed other pieces to add as Draco and James willingly followed their commands.
Harry had to admit that what he had seen of Draco over the course of the last day was different than what he had seen in school. But it had been ten years and they had all changed during the course of the war. It was into this setting that Hermione tumbled as she flooed into Harry’s living room. They all looked up from their tasks as Hermione appeared in a cloud of soot from the fireplace.
Hermione blinked and smiled slightly as she looked around the room.
“I got it.” She lifted her briefcase in explanation, flicking her wand over her clothes to send the soot back into the fireplace. Hermione settled into a chair near Harry and placed the briefcase in her lap. She flipped the case open and pulled out a tightly bound scroll, placing it with care on the coffee table in front of her. Draco rose from his place on the floor; he looked as if the scroll was Lord Voldemort back from the dead as his very own demon.
“That’s it.” Draco whispered, gaze transfixed; he left the train to the boys and came over to sit next to Hermione. “Wherever did you find it?”
“The Ministry contract vaults.” Hermione replied, preening at the implied praise. Draco reached out and broke the seal, watching as the scroll unfurled, the parchment expanding as the scroll bounced to the floor. Harry’s jaw dropped as he saw the lengths and lengths of minute writing that filled the parchment.
“You signed this without knowing what it said?” Harry stared incredulous between the scroll and Draco’s face. The blond blushed, but nodded.
“I was in a desperate situation.”
“What’s that, Daddy?” The adults jumped as a voice piped up from behind them. Harry glanced over his shoulder and smiled as Albus leaned into him, looking curiously over the parchment on the floor, his green eyes shining with curiosity. Harry glanced at Draco for permission before answering his son’s question.
“This is a contract that Scorpius’ father signed before you all were born. The people he signed with are asking him for something that he can’t give, so we have to find something they can both agree on as payment. We’re hoping this contract will give us some answers.”
“Is this why Scorpius and Uncle Draco are staying with us?” James asked in a moment of clarity and childish honesty. Harry nodded and pulled James close.
“Yes, I’m trying to help them both and keep them safe.”
“Well that’s okay then.” James stated decisively, hugging his father before running back to the train set, picking up Lilly on his way.
“He’s really doing much better now.” Hermione commented, arms resting on her knees as she gazed at James.
“I think he’s starting to realize that Ginny still loves him even though she doesn’t live with us anymore. But it’s still hard sometimes, they all miss her.” Harry’s eyes darkened as he remembered the trying months they had just passed through.
“I heard about your divorce through the Ministry grapevine and the papers. I’m sorry it had to happen the way it did.” Draco cut through his brooding with his sincere words and Harry smiled up into liquid silver eyes.
“It’s alright; we really are much better apart. We got married much too young and we didn’t know each other when we got married. I want a family and she wants to have her career and live her life. I’ve forgiven her for the cheating, but I don’t think I will ever forgive her for the… damage she has caused our children. They do love their mother though, and so I won’t take her away from them.” Harry turned defensive as he eyed Draco, but Draco just nodded in agreement.
“Astoria and I split because we both wanted it, and we are still friends, but it still wasn’t as hard on Scorpius as relations between us all are the same as they were before we divorced. I couldn’t imagine what you must have gone through with them over the last few months.”
The silence stretched between them as Harry and Draco smiled at each other, in agreement for once. Hermione coughed discreetly and they jerked their gazes apart.
“Well I suggest we get on with this. It’s going to take a very long time to look through all these laws, especially if we have to look up meanings and bylaws to understand this contract.” Hermione gently took back the scroll and began making copies and enlarging the fine print, muttering about Gobbledygook and the intricacies of wizard-goblin relations. Harry laughed quietly and leaned back in his chair as the researcher in his friend surfaced and firmly took over the project. Draco just gazed in bemusement as a witch he had tormented all through school threw herself into a project for no other reason than to allow him to keep his son.
~~~~~~~~
Months passed, much too quickly for Harry’s liking, and he found that they were falling into a routine. Godric’s Hallow wasn’t tiny by any means, but with four children and two adults in the house, accommodations had to be made for space. There were only three usable bedrooms in the House and Lilly had one to herself since she was the only girl. Harry supposed he could have moved her into his room, but he and Draco were sharing the space as it was, and with two single beds an additional toddler bed would have made it way too crowded. James and Albus already shared a room, so adding Scorpius in hadn’t been all that hard.
Since Draco and Scorpius were restricted to the house and grounds that were within the wards, they had to come up with activities to keep all of them sane. Harry had taken to cooking their meals, which had scandalized their house-elf Winky, but he had insisted on doing at least one meal a day. Draco got up with the boys in the morning, dressing them and playing with them, while Harry spent time getting Lilly ready, as she took more time and attention than the others. They ate breakfast together as a family and then Harry took over with the kids while Draco spent time in the potions lab Harry had discovered in the basement when he renovated the house. Harry suspected it had been his Mother’s but he had never used it.
They all ate lunch at the same time and then spent time all together either outside or playing in the living room, or with lessons. Draco had insisted they keep up with their studies; Scorpius had just started learning his basics and James had his own lessons to attend to. Harry had added Albus to their student list and the two four-year-olds worked very well together. Usually during this time Hermione joined Harry and Draco and they went over the contract piece by piece with the children hanging around under foot. After afternoon activities were complete, Harry usually went off to make dinner while the kids cleaned up under the supervision of Draco and their house-elf.
Dinner was a lively affair with multiple conversations and lots of laughter. They then spent hours after dinner getting the children ready for bed, making it a fun activity to get them into bed. There were stories and baths and bedtime kisses from both Draco and Harry. Draco was struck dumb when Lilly looked up at him from her bed and asked for Papa Dray to give her a goodnight kiss. Harry had just smiled serenely and grinned at Draco’s speechlessness. His silver eyes lit up with delight as he leaned over her bed and brushed a kiss over her fall of red hair. Lilly had giggled, and collecting kisses from both of them had become a nightly ritual; it was not long before Harry was tucking in Scorpius, and James and Albus were asking for Draco to tuck them in as well. Within three months they were acting as if they had been a family for years.
Harry was even beginning to feel as if they were a family. He had known before he married Ginny that he was interested in boys, and he had long believed that Draco was an extremely attractive man, but his personality had been such a turn off that Harry had never dwelled on his attraction. Living with the man in his room for three months was beginning to change his feelings about Draco. The man was a loving father and had a brilliant mind, much like Hermione. When he wasn’t following the Death Eater party line, he was much easier to get along with, and soon Harry was finding it difficult to not start caring about the blond who shared his bedroom and his children.
There were times when he thought Draco felt it too. In the evenings after the children were in bed they spent time together just quietly doing what relaxed them. Harry spent time drawing up ideas for children’s toys and working out intricate spell combinations to make his ideas a reality. Draco read books, any book, from a potions journal to fiction novels. During these quiet nights they had discussions about the children or some bit of gossip Hermione had brought them that day, and one day a comment in a book had sparked a long and in-depth discussion about their political ideals that had gone a long way to changing Harry’s thoughts about Draco. Sometimes there would be moments when they leaned together over a book or were in the middle of a heated discussion and there would be a look or a pause and Harry would fixate on Draco’s lips or the line of his neck, and the tension would build between them.
That tension always broke with a noise or one of them breaking away from the other and moving on. By the time they entered into their fourth month, Harry knew he was falling hard for this charming, intelligent father, but he could do nothing about it. Draco was depending on him to save Scorpius and Harry didn’t want Draco to feel obligated to be with him in any way.
But all was not well in Godric’s Hallow. They were acting like a family, that was true, but as Harry’s feelings for Draco increased, the tension in the house mounted as well. Hermione had divided the contract into sections, but it was still slow going and they had only just gotten half way through each of their sections. Every law had to be read and examined for an interpretation that might help give them more time or find a way out for Draco and Scorpius. The one law they had found relating to Draco’s payment just seemed to tie him tighter into his deal.
The goblins had put a clause in that made the penalty for not giving payment for services rendered meant that he forfeited all his property, which under wizarding law included his underage son. That had been a bad day, and after the children were in bed Draco had made his way through half a bottle of single malt whiskey. Harry had eventually carried the intoxicated blond to bed and the leftover warmth of his body in Harry’s arms had lingered with him for days after.
The tension in the house came to a head one day while the children were out playing in the garden and Harry and Draco had one of their rare quite moments during the day. Hermione had taken off early since she had a date with a colleague from her office at the Ministry. Draco had scowled at her when she left, but made no comment. He knew she was taking time out of her days to help him, but time was ticking down and they only had about seven weeks left before he had to give his son over to the care of goblins.
Harry was sitting quietly, referencing one of the laws in the contract in another book when Draco let out a sound of distress and hurled the book his was holding across the room and into a convenient wall. Harry jumped in surprise, brining his startled gaze up to look at Draco. The other man stood staring out a window into the softening evening light; Harry didn’t have to be a genius to realize he was staring at Scorpius. He lifted himself out of his seat and crossed the room to stand behind Draco and look with him. His hand lifted and rested lightly on Draco’s shoulder.
“It’ll be alright, I promise we’ll figure something out.” Harry’s voice was low and quiet in the stillness of the afternoon, but filled with all of his conviction and power. Draco shivered under his hand and turned into the warmth Harry provided.
“How can you promise that?” Draco whispered from Harry’s shoulder as he wrapped his arms tightly about the taller man’s waist.
“I just can,” Harry swore, tightening his grip on the slim figure pressed against him. Draco tilted his head up from Harry’s shoulder, gazing into the deep green eyes that shimmered above him. His breath caught in his throat as he rose up on his toes and pressed his lips softly to Harry’s. A deep urgent sound issued from Harry’s throat and he crushed Draco to him for a few precious seconds, losing himself in the warmth and taste of Draco’s mouth. As the feel of Draco shifting against him began to register Harry snapped back to himself and reluctantly pulled out of the kiss.
Draco made a distressed sound and tried to burrow back into Harry’s embrace, but he resisted, setting the smaller man back away from him.
“No, I can’t do this.” Harry’s breath caught in his chest at the distraught look on Draco’s face and he tried to explain. “I want to Draco, so much I ache with it. But you’re vulnerable now and I can’t start anything with you because you feel obligated to me for my help or that I’m the only on here to offer you… comfort; I won’t,” Harry stated. Draco tried to object, say that he cared for Harry outside of this situation, but Harry would not hear of it. And Draco sulked off in a fouler mood than he had started in.
Though Harry thought the issue was closed, Draco used the next month to drive Harry slowly insane. Covert touches and lingering looks full of lust left Harry with more than one erection that he couldn’t do anything about. His dreams were full of the blond and his room was beginning to smell of Draco as well, so there was no relief in escaping to his room. It was because of his distraction that Harry almost missed the answer to his problem.
Harry had been staring at Draco’s bottom lip instead of his contract. The Slytherin was biting it in concentration and Harry was resisting the temptation to lean over and nip at that plump lower lip. He had just wrenched his eyes back to the contract when a phrase jumped out at him. ‘The payee is unable to fulfill due to familial or monetary obligations.’ Harry stared at the phrase and then followed the sentence back to its start and began to read again. His fingers shook in his shock and he turned to Hermione, holding out his paper.
“Please tell me if this says what I think it does.” Harry whispered shakily. Hermione looked at him in concern, but took the paper and read over the part he had highlighted with his wand. She stared for a long time at the page before Draco lost his patience and snapped.
“Well what does it say?” Draco demanded, hands gripping the side of the table. Hermione took a shaky breath before starting to read.
“When the receiving party asks a payment the payee is unable to fulfill due to familial or monetary obligations, then the payee is required to serve a term of no less than a year but no more than four in the service of the receiving party.” Her voice faded in amazement as she devoured the words. “There’s more to it, but it basically says that you have the right to work for them for up to four years doing basically whatever they assign you. It must have been a standard wizarding law buried in there when the laws of inter-species contracts were created. The extra clauses state that they can’t use you as a slave, that you have to be given all consideration as an employee, but you work without pay for them for as long as they want you. The goblin that created the contract must have overlooked the law. It’s very old and everyone, wizards and goblins, had forgotten about its creation.” Hermione drew a breath, “Harry, you found the answer!”
Hermione danced around the room in her exuberance and Draco snapped out of his stupor at her bouncing, leaping from his chair to catch her about the waist and spin in circles. Harry just stared; trying to make his brain understand that the search was over and that Scorpius and Draco were safe. Overwhelming joy began to bubble in his chest, but with it a sense of despair began to rise as well. This meant they would leave. Maybe not in the next few days, but soon, and then his family would fall apart again.
Draco bounced into his lap and Harry had to laugh as his joy caught at Harry and tugged him out of his depression. He stood to join in the celebration, laughing as the kids ran into the room to discover what all the noise was about, Lilly toddling behind and laughing when Draco scooped her up off the floor and danced her around the room. Scorpius, Albus, and Harry linked hands to dance around the room and soon they all devolved into one big party.
~~~~~~~~
Hours later, cake and an extravagant dinner prepared by Winky had been laid out in the formal dining room. They all ate with gusto and laughed through the entire meal. It took hours for the kids to go to sleep and Draco spent a good half an hour alone with Scorpius, explaining how they will be safe now and everything is going to be okay. Harry fell asleep before Draco finished getting ready for bed and he was already gone when Harry woke the next morning.
He was almost convinced that Draco left him that morning, but the thought was quickly pushed aside when he saw Scorpius sound asleep in his bed in James and Albus’ room. Draco might leave him without a word, but he would never leave Scorpius behind. Harry knew he’d gone to negotiate with the goblins and wished that Draco had asked for his help, but he knew he was pants at negotiation and might make the situation worse. So they waited him and the four kids rattling around the house.
Draco returned weary at the end of the day, and Harry could tell it’d been hard on him to work with the goblins who had been threatening to take his son away. Even though he’d been in negotiations all day, nothing was settled and Draco said he thinks that the goblins are still trying to find Scorpius so they don’t have to make a deal with him.
For a week Draco negotiated and Harry began to think the goblins wouldn’t give in, but finally, a week from the given time ended, Draco returned with an agreement. He was to work a full four years to change the laws that govern goblins actions and relations to wizards. He was not going to get paid, but neither would he lose his son or be worked to death in some tunnel underground laying protective wards. And so Draco was happy with the outcome. He planned to return to the Manor with Scorpius by the end of the next week and Harry was heartbroken.
~~~~~~~~
Later that night Harry sighed deeply into his pillow as he tried to fall asleep, but his mind was filled with the thought of not having Draco or Scorpius in Godric’s Hallow anymore. There were a few days left, sure, but not enough to fill the void they were going to leave behind. As the door opened, Harry feigned sleep as he listened to the rustle of bed clothes and the soft sound of Draco’s footsteps on the hardwood floor. Harry shifted uneasily when Draco made not for his own single bed, but for Harry’s own. He didn’t become concerned until Draco lifted the sheet and climbed into bed with him. Harry had to stop himself from moving when he realized that Draco was naked but for the sheet.
“I gave into your ridiculous insistence that we not be together when I was ‘obligated’ to you,” Harry could hear the sarcasm in Draco’s voice in that word, “But I don’t need your protection anymore, Harry, and I still want you.”
“I can feel that.” Harry laughed, shifting back against the hardness pressing into his pajamas. He turned around, flinging and arm and a leg over Draco’s body, trapping him to the bed. “I care about you Draco. I still can do this if it’s just a onetime thing or a form of payment.”
“Harry,” Draco snorted, rolling his eyes for effect, “If I just wanted you for the sex I could have had you the night we first kissed.”
Harry opened his mouth to argue, but he knew that Draco was telling the truth. Instead he pushed Draco down onto his back, settling his weight on top of the smaller man.
“Well you’ve got me now Draco, whatever are you going to do with me?”
“Oh, everything I can think of.” Draco’s smirk was pure evil as he rolled his hips up against Harry’s. Harry groaned and rode the sensations Draco was creating before pinning the other man to the bed.
“Ah, ah, ah. You’ve been driving me crazy for weeks you little tease, it’s my turn.” Harry used his weight to keep Draco flat against the bed while he scraped his teeth down the side of Draco’s neck. Draco gasped and bared his throat in supplication; Harry growled, biting down hard enough to leave a mark before sucking the skin back into his mouth. He leaned back long enough to divest himself of his pajamas before attacking every inch of Draco’s skin with his mouth.
As Draco swore and called above him Harry traced the contours of his body, following the ridges with his tongue and scraping his teeth along flat planes; he avoided the one place he knew would send Draco flying apart, until Draco was reduced to single words between his gasps for air. Harry swallowed Draco down, throat muscles closing around the head of Draco’s cock and he exploded down Harry’s throat. Harry hummed in satisfaction, his own pleasure spilling over the sheets in response to Draco’s release.
Harry curled up around Draco, groping for his wand to cast cleaning spells before pulling up the sheets.
“So I guess this means we’ll still be seeing each other after you leave here?” Harry asked voice soft and hesitant.
“You’ll see so much of us it will be like we still live here,” Draco replied, cuddling back into Harry’s warmth.
“You’re more than welcome to stay,” Harry offered, lacing his fingers with Draco’s.
“Harry, this house is way too small for all of us. Get a bigger house and then we can talk,” Draco sleepily responded.
“Alright.” Harry whispered into the back of Draco’s neck, planning on calling his contractor in the morning to add more space onto the house. After all, they would be much happier in Godric’s Hallow then the Manor.
~The End~
