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Half of the seventh year Slytherins settled around Draco in their common room.
"Might we have a word, Draco?" Pansy inquired politely, staring holes into his head.
Draco frowned at her, "sure, if you know the answers to McGonagall’s essay questions."
"That isn’t quite what we had in mind." Blaise said.
"We’ve always stuck together, haven’t we Dray?" Greg asked.
"For the most part, yes." Draco raised an eyebrow, "Is there a point to all of this?"
"We like Nalian. He’s a nice enough guy from what we know of him, and we protect the members of our house, but you seem to have taken it a bit far." Pansy said. "What has he done for you to talk to him so often, trust him so much, and not confide in us about him at all?"
Draco sighed as he set his homework aside, carefully marking his place in his book as he thought how to answer their questions. "Yes, I trust Nalian. I know certain things about him. He confides in me."
"You lied to Severus for him." Blaise said flatly. "That does not make Nalian look like a good influence on you."
"What makes you think I lied to my godfather?"
Pansy snorted, "you said Nalian was feeling ill all day when he was sick in class."
"We all covered for Nalian, whether you meant to or not." Draco said.
"We’re worried." Greg said. "What is so important to keep secret that you’d hide it from people you tell practically everything?"
"I’d tell Severus, but he is biased against Nalian, understandably. He’s wrong in this matter. And Father supports him." Draco looked each of them in the eye. "You need to trust me in this matter."
"We do trust you, you know that," Blaise said. "That doesn’t mean we can’t be concerned, or ask you a few questions."
"Like, where exactly is he from?" Pansy demanded. "Obviously not from You-Know-Who, because we know you’d never help that monster out, but that still leaves quite a few possibilities."
"Trust. Me." Dracosaid. "I can’t tell you, but I know Nalian isn’t here to harm any of us. Just trust me. Please." His three friends look startled. "Yes, I do in fact know the word "please". I just don’t use it all that often."
"More like you don’t use it ever." Blaise muttered.
Greg nodded, "this is serious."
"So will you just trust me for now? Keep out of things, all right?" Draco asked.
Pansy nodded. "For now, we’ll keep from being nosy. But we want answers, Draco, as soon as you can give them."
"And if anything bizarre happens we’re going straight to Lucius and Severus." Blaise added.
Draco gave him an annoyed look before nodding reluctantly. "All right. I don’t suppose I can get back to my work? This essay is due tomorrow."
"It is!" Greg looked alarmed. "I haven’t even started!" He shot up, running to get his transfiguration book.
Pansy gave Draco a look, "we’ll still be watching."
"I wouldn’t expect anything less." Draco smirked at her.
-------
"Professor Snape?" Nalian called, knocking on the man’s office door for the fourth time. Initially when no one answered Nalian checked the classroom, but the room had been locked up so he’d returned to the teacher’s office. No one was there either, it seemed.
"He’s not in right now." A girl said helpfully from down the hall.
"Do you know where he is?" Nalian asked.
The fifth year Slytherin shrugged. "Andy said he was off to see Professor Weasley about something."
"Bill or Charlie Weasley?"
"Bill I think."
"Thanks," Nalian said, heading towards the stairway leading out of the dungeons.
It was a long trek to the charms teacher’s classroom, and Nalian spent the walk trying to think of a reason why Snape would need to speak with Bill. The only thing he could come up with was they were collaborating on a lesson combining the two class subjects. Well, that or it was on Order business.
Nalian knocked; hope filling him as he noticed light leaking from under the door. There was no response. He did not come all this way for nothing! Trying the handle, he found the room to be unlocked and decided to let himself in. If Snape wasn’t here, then maybe Bill could tell him where he’d gone.
The classroom turned out to be empty. Nalian scowled to himself, and as he turned to go he heard voices in Bill’s office. The door behind Bill’s desk was cracked open slightly. ‘Perhaps there’s some hope yet.’ Nalian thought.
He knocked on the door as he pushed it open, "Professor, I..." Nalian broke off, shock written all over his face. He wasn’t sure he could believe what he was seeing.
Bill was bent over his desk, arms braced on the top, trousers hanging around his ankles, with a completely naked Snape thrusting into him from behind, lips grazing Bill’s back and neck. Both men froze when Nalian pushed open the door, staring at him with a mixture of shock and hazy lust.
"I, ah, just came for a book... I’ll come back at a better time." Nalian said. He closed the door quickly and dashed out of the room. Best to leave them to it before either came to their senses and gave him a year’s worth of detentions.
If Nalian thought Snape was bad before, he suspected it was going to get a lot worse. From what he had seen of the man, Snape treasured his privacy. ‘Damn Lucius.’ Nalian frowned as the logical side of him pointed out that Lucius wouldn’t have expected Nalian to walk in on them. ‘They were quite an attractive image though.’ Nalian thought. ‘Damn, I need to get laid.’
The important question was, now how was he going to borrow that book from Snape?
Nalian entered the common room, spotting Draco sitting near the fire with a quill and parchment. ‘I wonder if I could get Draco to borrow the book?’ He set aside the idea for later as he approached his friend.
Draco looked up as he drew near.
"We need to talk." Both of them said in unison.
As soon as they pulled Draco’s bed curtains shut and set up their spells Draco started talking. "Blaise, Pans, and Greg confronted me earlier today, about you. Tell me you don’t have anything more complicated than that."
"That’s only the tip of the iceberg of problems, Draco." Nalian said. "You won’t believe the day I’ve had. However since, hopefully, your story is shorter than mine, you start."
Draco flopped back on his bed. "My story is exactly what I said. Pansy, Greg, and Blaise confronted me about protecting you, about hiding things from Severus to help you."
"How much do they know?"
"Only that I know more about you than I’m saying, and that I haven’t told them, Father, or Severus what I know about you. They know that I was covering for you in potions class. They know you don’t work for Voldemort. They said they’ll be watching out for any funny business, and if they find something too suspicious they’re going to tell Father or Severus." Draco said.
"Anything we can do about it?" Nalian asked, wishing not for the first time that he had a good way of keeping these people silent.
"I don’t think so." Draco said. "They’re trusting me on this for now. It’ll buy us a couple of weeks at least to think of something else."
"Meanwhile, we need to be more careful." Nalian scowled. "I thought things were being handled fairly well, but people right and left are getting suspicious."
"I’d have thought you’d be better at this whole espionage thing," Draco laughed.
Naliangave him an aggrieved look, "This is sort of my first mission. It’s my first long-term mission in any case. I may be brilliant, but even the geniuses need practice to get something perfected."
"You are not a genius." Draco grinned. "I see my attempts to take your ego down a few notches have failed."
"Getting back to the matter on hand. I might have a way to keep the Slytherins quiet at least. Our house trusts our house ghost, right?"
"The Baron has never led us wrong. When he deigns to speak to anyone that is."
Nalian filled Draco in on his meeting with the ghost a few days ago. "I don’t know what he wants. I don’t even know if the Baron can be trusted, but he might help me out in this one instance. He thinks it’s a hoot that no one knows who I really am."
Nalian broke the ensuing silence a few minutes later. "Dumbledore lied."
"This comes as a surprise to you?" Draco arched an eyebrow.
Nalian ignored him. "He’s hiding something, but I’ve no idea what."
"Welcome to the club. The members of said club include the entire fucking world." Draco drawled.
Nalian glared, "I don’t suppose you could say something a bit more useful?"
Draco sat up, "perhaps you can explain exactly what he lied about."
"He told me that Voldemort used to be after the Potters." As Draco continued staring at him Nalian clarified, "Lily and James said Voldemort was after me."
"How did you get the Potters to tell you that?" Draco asked.
"They told me when I broached the subject. Lily and James are both astoundingly open with me."
"It’s probably the fact that you seem to have this ‘trust me’ sign magicked to your forehead." Draco said. Nalian smirked at that.
Draco continued, "Going back to Dumbledore, it could have simply been a misunderstanding. Perhaps Dumbledore meant Voldemort was after you and not that he was after the Potters."
"I don’t believe that."
"Neither do I."
"Well, I’ve no idea what the old man is plotting, but I’m sure I won’t like it." Nalian muttered. "Moving on, I had a little chat with Charlie’s runespoors. Professor Weasley asked me to see if I could find out why they’re acting crazy. They seem to sense Voldemort in the forest, and they say Voldemort’s going to attack in a few days."
"With the vampires?" Draco demanded.
"I can only assume so, yes."
"Should we tell anyone?"
"I told Charlie he should take the information to the headmaster, which I believe he did." Nalian said. "The Order already knows about the vampires. The population of Hogwarts and Hogsmeade have been trained for these types of situations; even the students. There’s not much else we can do. Concerning the vampires, I’ll write Derek if I don’t hear from him by morning."
Draco sighed, "any other news I should know about?"
Nalian cleared his throat, "did you know about your godfather’s love interest?"
"Bill? What about him?"
"Perhaps someone should talk to them about locking doors when they feel like fooling around on teachers’ desks."
Draco gave him a startled look before laughing. "You walked in on them!" He howled.
"Yes." Nalian glared at him. "I’m glad you find this so amusing. Snape is going to kill me. Well, he’ll try in any case." Draco’s laughter doubled. Nalian narrowed his eyes, "though I have to admit the imminent torture is entirely worth the view I got."
Draco’s laughter turned to choking. "That is not an image I need! It’s bad enough you keep giving me bad images about my father! Don’t you dare start with my godfather too!"
"Sorry, Dray. I should’ve been more considerate." Nalian gave him an innocent smile.
"You do know that smile doesn’t work on me, right? I can see the evil lurking in your eyes." Draco said. "Why exactly were you seeking out Bill or Severus anyway?"
"I was looking for Snape, because your father suggested I borrow a book off of him."
"Father’s really going to get it from Severus." Draco chuckled. "Probably nearly as bad as you’re going to get it."
-------
Severus was scribbling furiously on a third year’s essay when Lucius arrived at his rooms.
"That poor student is going to burst into tears when he sees that report." Lucius said.
"The twerp probably deserves it." Was the terse response.
"Is something wrong, Severus?"
Snape threw down the quill and turned to glare at his friend. "Yes, something is wrong! Morthen has no sense of decorum. You think the idiot would have the sense to knock."
Lucius fought back a smirk, "oh? Care to fill me in?" He was surprised to see faint patches of red color Severus’ cheeks.
"He walked in on myself and Bill... in flagrante delicto." Severus huffed, "for a book, apparently."
Lucius froze for half a second before he burst out laughing. "He-he... Sweet Salazar!" He clutched his sides, laughing harder.
"It is not that funny, Lucius." Severus said, eyes narrowing.
"Yes, i-it is." The blond gasped.
"You might remember I’m a Potions Master, and I do know how to kill you with no one the wiser."
Lucius finally got himself under control. "Yes, of course. Sorry, Severus." He coughed.
"I don’t suppose you know why he felt the need to borrow a book from one of us?"
"I’m afraid I must apologize for that." Lucius fought to keep the smile off his face. "I recommended that he borrow a book from you. ‘Creatures’ Poisons and Why We Love Them’. I do hope you’ll still lend it to him."
"I should kill you." Severus muttered.
"Considering Mr. Morthen walked in on you two, you couldn’t have been in a very private place." Lucius said. "Don’t blame me for your indiscretion."
Snape glowered. "His office."
"Pardon?"
"We were in Bill’s office." Snape said. "And if I ever found out who directed Morthen there I will have them hanging in the dungeons by their toes."
"Why don’t we take your mind off the incident?" Lucius chuckled. "I got a chance to study his magical signature during our lesson. There was something- odd about it."
"Odd how?" Severus inquired.
"I don’t know. It’s different from any other aura I’ve ever seen."
"It’s not human?"
"It’s partly human, at least, but also there seems to be this not-human tinge. As if he were half human half something else."
"What would that ‘something else’ be?" Severus asked.
"That’s just it! I’ve never seen any species with such a signature. I’m not even sure if the oddity signifies a type of species, it might just be some magical idiosyncrasy."
"Morthen, being the Potters’ son, couldn’t possibly have inhuman blood." Severus said. He paused thoughtfully.
"What is it?"
"When we did the Genealogia potion, there were at least two crests forming on Morthen’s paper." Snape said. "One of them was the Potters, but what was the second? Could he have been bound to another family?"
"A family of magical beings who aren’t necessarily human?" Lucius said.
"Exactly."
"Wonderful." Lucius drawled. "Another theory with no way of proving it. I wish we could question him on this. Getting a few straight answers from him would help immensely."
"It seems we’ll just have to proceed as we have been." Severus said.
"I wonder if we would find any useful information at his home?" Lucius murmured.
"Does that matter? We’re not in the best position to go running around breaking into muggle apartments, Lucius."
"It’s something to consider." Lucius said. "We’re walking around blind where Morthen is concerned. We need more to go on than half-formed theories and useless clues."
"It’s a pity we can’t question Dumbledore without letting him know we know more than he thinks we know."
"We don’t even know what Dumbledore knows."
"He certainly knows more than he says he knows."
"He knows Nalian is Harry Potter, I’m sure. Does he know any more than that?"
"Well," Severus said. "He isn’t stupid. Surely he would have looked at the boy’s aura. If he did, then he should’ve noticed the oddity you mentioned seeing."
"Considering that Nalian is the Potter child, I think Dumbledore would ignore any possible risks." Lucius said.
"You don’t think Dumbledore wants to use him for the prophecy?" Severus frowned. "Morthen can’t possibly be the one it talks about. The prophecy clearly said ‘and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal’. Voldemort never marked Harry Potter."
"No one else fits the prophecy either, Severus." Lucius said. "Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom have only ever been the two candidates. Longbottom hasn’t been marked either. At the moment, Morthen fits the bill better than Longbottom."
"If that’s Dumbledore’s intention, the man has finally gone off his rocker."
-------
Nalian just slipped into his bed, moving to close his curtains, when a barn owl shot past and settled onto his pillow.
Nalian sighed and yanked his curtains shut before accepting the letter from the softly hooting owl. It was from Derek. "Wait. I’ll probably have a response for you." He told owl.
Nalian,
The Council has officially decided to deal with these rogue vampires you have discovered. A few vampires from every clan will be arriving in four days’ time.
We will keep our activities and any developing battle in the forests; for the sake of our privacy and lives as well as yours, for I know if your wizards attacked us you’d try to stop them. (There is no point trying to deny it, Nalian. I know you too well.)
Amusingly enough, the council wishes to protect you, for all that half of them hate Darian, and you by association. They feel that having a spy to keep an eye on illegal vampire activity is a gift to hold on to. Don’t be surprised if a few of them approach you privately to buy your loyalty.
If there are any other tidings write me immediately. I will not be reachable by dusk tomorrow.
Derek
Nalian slipped across the room and slid into Draco’s bed, throwing up privacy charms. "Dray... Draco! Read this." He thrust the letter at the groggy blond.
"‘S a etter," Draco yawn. "Waddya want, Nal?"
"Read the letter, Draco." Nalian said.
After a few minutes of silence, while Nalian waited for Draco to wake up and read the letter, Draco finally spoke, "So things are coming together it seems. Isn’t this good news?"
"Yeah, if they get here in time." Nalian muttered. "I’m going to write back, telling him what we learned from the runespoors. Is there anything else you think I should mention?"
Draco thought for a while, "maybe... We should watch the forest. You and I at least will know what is happening in there, and we should be informed if any fights reach Hogwarts. Hogwarts is, after all, Voldemort’s goal."
Nalian nodded slowly, "I’ll work something out. Do you realize if the battle does move on to Hogwarts’ grounds I’ll have to explain things to the Order of the Phoenix?"
"Merlin forbid." Draco said. "They’d panic about you in all likelihood."
"You think they’d appreciate secret allies."
Draco snorted, "but none of you are allies." Draco waved off Nalian’s objection, "you could be someday, but you aren’t now. The only reason the vampires are helping is because they have rogue agents running around. The elves aren’t helping us at all." He yawned.
"Yeah yeah." Nalian sighed. "Go back to bed Draco. I’ll arrange for a scout for us and write Derek, anything else can wait until morning." He returned to his own bed, pulling out a quill and ink from his bedside table.
Derek,
Get here quick. Voldemort’s forces plan to attack Hogwarts any day now, so the runespoors tell me. Don’t give me that look. I’ve found that advice and warnings from snakes have been quite reliable in the past. We may have up to three days, but I suspect no more than that.
Yes, I would do what I could to protect your people, so don’t let things come to that.
I’m going to try to find a scout I can trust to watch the forest: watch for the attack, watch for your people, and watch to see if any battles start to move to Hogwarts’ grounds.
Don’t worry about me. If worse comes to worst and the wizards turn against me I will flee the school and join in your fight outside. Let us try to avoid that however, since you know what a fit Darian would throw about having to plant another agent.
Thanks for the heads up,
Nalian
"All right. I need you to take this to Derek immediately. Be as quick as you can. Do you understand?" The owl hooted at him. Nalian gave her a handful of owl treats. He made sure the owl was out of the dungeons before doing anything else.
There was one last thing he had to do before he slept tonight.
Nalian tossed on a robe then quietly opened his trunk and dug out a small wooden chest. Slowly he snuck out of his dormitory and left the common room altogether, pocketing the chest. It wasn’t difficult to find his way back to the torture chamber. If the Bloody Baron was going to be anywhere at the moment, it would be there.
Nalian felt relief as he saw his guess was correct. The Baron was hovering a few inches over the rack. "You’re a masochistic bastard, you know that?"
The Baron smirked faintly, "‘Bastard’ is incorrect, considering my parents were married."
"You take the word too literally."
"Is there something you wished to discuss with me, or did you just desire to wander around the dungeons barefoot?"
"The cold doesn’t bother me. Actually, I wanted to know if you’d be willing to do a few favors for me." Nalian said nonchalantly.
"What sort of favors, little Slytherin?"
"Some Slytherins are getting overly curious about me." Nalian said. "Pansy Parkinson, Gregory Goyle, and Blaise Zabini. They’ll keep out of things for now. I thought you could perhaps keep an eye on them and if they start to interfere have a word with them. After all," Nalian said carefully, "we wouldn’t want the game to end before it’s even begun."
The Baron chuckled, "I will have to add manipulative to my list of your traits. What of Draco? He has been far more curious about you than any of the others."
Nalian frowned. "You watch me too closely. I think you already know Draco knows more about me than anyone else at Hogwarts. Will you watch the others?"
The Baron gave him a considering look before bowing his head slightly. "I will."
"There is one other thing, of a more serious matter, and one of some urgency." Nalian said. "Whether you choose to assist me or not, I want you’re word to keep this conversation between the two of us."
The Baron looked intrigued. "You have my word."
"Voldemort plans on attacking Hogwarts, which I’m sure you know. It will happen in the next few days. He has vampires with him this time. However, the vampire clans don’t like their own kind to interfere with wizards, so they’ll be arriving in the Forbidden Forest to take care of the rogue vampires." Nalian explained. "What I want you to do is watch the forest for arrival of the clans, and to warn me if any vampires enter Hogwarts’ grounds."
"How do you expect me to watch the entire border of the forest?" The Baron snorted in derision.
"Have a little faith, Baron. I can perform a spell that will allow you to sense any vampire’s presence within a mile of your person." Nalian said.
Nalian was subjected to the baron’s contemplative stare for the second time that night. "All right. I will agree to this so long as you leave the spell on and working after all of this is over."
"That’s agreeable."
"Then perform your spell, little snake. You have my word I will assist you in this matter with the vampires."
Nalian nodded solemnly, "and you have my word that I will not remove the spell."
He pulled the wooden chest out of his pocket, gently setting it on the floor and settling down next to it. "There are two tricks to this. The first is being able to make you a tangible spirit for the spilt second I’ll need you to be, well, tangible. The second is having vampire’s blood to perform the spell at all. Lucky for us, I have everything I will need."
He lit a few candles before pulling a small vial from the chest with something near reverence. "This is vampire’s blood. It takes a lot to even get a vial this size, since it’s so dangerous for the vampire. If you could sit down here?"
Nalian rose once the baron had settled on the floor, or rather settled hovering an inch or two above the floor. Slowly he began pouring the melted wax from the candles around the ghost, stopping once he had closed the circle. Next he used a piece of chalk to inscribe symbols all around the inside edge of the ring of wax then started a second line on the outside of the wax.
"Once I activate the spells on the floor, you will become solid for about three seconds." Nalian said. "I’ll be tossing the vial of blood on you and you may feel a twist of magic. It’s as simple as that."
The baron was studying the writing on the floor. "Can you use these two spells simultaneously?"
"Yes. They won’t interfere with each other." Nalian said. "The inner inscription is actually bordering on a Summoning. It is what will make you tangible. That’s what the circle of wax is for, to contain any magic from the demon world. But since this is relatively simple and doesn’t involve Summoning any demon it isn’t necessary to set up more precautions. The inscription on the outer rim of the wax is the spell to enhance your awareness of vampires."
"Shall we begin then?"
Nalian relaxed his body and made sure the vampire blood was at the ready before uttering the incantations, watching as the chalked words began to glow. ‘Three...two...one...’ He threw the vial onto the ghost. It hit against the body and the blood soaked into the baron’s clothes. Nalian immediately picked up the second incantation.
When Nalian had finished the Bloody Baron stepped out of the circle. "Fascinating. I thank you, Nalian."
"You’re welcome... Do you sense anything?"
The baron paused, "Yes. Twenty vampires in the forest. There are probably more but my new awareness does not stretch past a certain area."
"That’s to be expected." Nalian said. "It is comforting to know where Voldemort has at least some of his forces."
"Why do you help them?" The baron asked suddenly.
Nalian looked startled, "Help whom?"
"The people here. Dumbledore. All of us." He frowned, "I cannot imagine that is why you came here, little snake."
"It’s true, I came here for another purpose. I help, because the outcome of things here affect me too." It wasn’t a complete lie, it just wasn’t the complete truth either. Nalian wasn’t sure he wanted to think about why he was doing all of this.
The baron gave him an amused look that said he knew he was lying. "Perhaps you should return to bed, Mr. Morthen. You must keep yourself as energized and aware as possible."
"Of course." He said, cleaning up the wax and chalk and packing up his supplies before heading out. "Goodnight, Baron."
Now that the baron had brought it up, Nalian couldn’t take his mind off of the subject. He wasn’t here to help these people, so why did he? Their lives didn’t concern him. They shouldn’t concern him.
If he was honest, he liked the people here. He felt compassion for them. Nalian had never meant to get close to anyone, but it had happened. He couldn’t imagine leaving all these people to suffer under Voldemort’s rule. Not even the ever annoying Severus Snape and Sirius Black. His parents were here. Hermione and Neville. Draco. Lucius...
...Lucius.
Just thinking of the man Nalian could feel his presence, his scent, the heat from Lucius’ body... Nalian took a shuddering breath. He wanted Lucius. He wanted him now. It felt like the man was standing right next to him, exuding his sexuality.
"Mr. Morthen, may I inquire as to why you are wandering the halls, and barefoot of all things?" A soft voice demanded from up the hall.
‘Speak of the devil.’ Nalian thought, fighting the urge to attack his professor. This wasn’t the best time to run into Lucius Malfoy of all people. Lucius was definitely in full ice demon mode. It slightly unhinged Nalian’s emotions, not to mention his self control. He was afraid he’d do something stupid.
"Mr. Morthen?"
Nalian returned his mind to the current situation. "I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t find my slippers either, and the cold doesn’t really bother me."
"I see." Lucius studied him. The younger Slytherin was looking enticing enough to take right there in the middle of the hall. Lucius frowned slightly. Something wasn’t right. He felt inebriated, but that was ridiculous since he’d only had two drinks. "I’m afraid I must give you a detention. There is no leaving the common rooms after curfew. Come on, I’ll return you to your dorm."
‘This is not a good idea,’ Nalian thought, unaware the same thought was going through his teacher’s mind even as they started down the hall. "You’ve been drinking, Professor."
"Your point?"
"That’s being a bad role model for students." Nalian felt tipsy. Seeing Lucius was doing something to him. He felt almost giddy. Nalian couldn't stop himself. There was no way he couldn't not...
"Professor?" He caught his teacher’s arm.
"Morthen?" Lucius arched an eyebrow, turning to face him.
Nalian leaned over and planted his lips on the blonde’s, happily surprised when Lucius didn’t push him away. In fact, the man was doing just the opposite.
After a second of surprise, Lucius’ tongue flicked across his lower lip, seeking entrance. Nalian parted his lips and Lucius’ tongue slipped past, exploring his mouth.
Nalian’s tongue met his, starting a playful battle for dominance. An arm snaked around his waist as he slid his fingers through Lucius’ silky hair. Lucius was pressing up against him, pushing them backwards until Nalian’s back hit a wall.
It felt as though they stayed like that for hours, Nalian wrapping himself around the blond as much as he could without causing them to tumble to the floor, though in retrospect that didn’t sound like such a bad idea.
Lucius pulled back slowly, carefully, making sure their bodies still touched. "That was... Unexpected."
"I’m good at surprising people." Nalian said breathlessly.
"It was- is entirely inappropriate."
"For some reason I don’t think you’re the type to follow every societal rule."
"You should return to your dorm now."
"You could come with me." Was the sly answer.
"As tempting as that is, it isn’t a good idea." Lucius said firmly, fighting off the very strong desire to drag Nalian back to his rooms.
"May we..." Nalian hesitated. "I don’t want this to be the only time."
"I’m not particularly interested in flings." Merlin that was hard to say.
"Good. Neither am I."
"Mr. Morthen..."
"At this point I think it’s okay to call me Nalian."
Lucius sighed, "Nalian, we are teacher and student. Anything between us would interfere with our working relationship."
"But there already is something between us. We might as well make the best of it. And," Nalian forged on, "if things can work out with us... Shouldn’t we at least try?"
"You’re my son’s best friend. You’re my son’s age." Lucius pointed out.
"I don’t think Draco would mind, and does age really matter?" Nalian said. "Can we try and see each other?"
Lucius smirked, "we see each other every day, Nalian."
"Ha ha. Very amusing." Nalian rolled his eyes. "I’m taking that for a yes, you know."
"It is a yes." Giving in to temptation, Lucius leaned over and placed a kiss lightly on his lips.
Nalian gave him a brilliant smile.
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Thanks very much everyone who reviewed!
MagneticCheeks,Arassi, Sasuko, Jo, Goldensong, Monica, HarrySlytherinson, Fangfoot, EnchantedBlood, Jasson, Xirleb70, Yuiop, Lady of secrets, MONICA, Sabrina451, wildflower-fireandwater, Skeet, shadowzephyr, Lee Lee Potter, wolfawaken, Night-Owl123, insanechildfanfic, SheWolfe7, E.A.V., GreyGranian, KC, The Shadow Bandit, MrsRiddle90, Sigil.
Misfit2008 - Okay! Don’t torture me with veggies! Anything but that! I updated! *waves white flag*
Deritine - I decided to answer you via email again, since there were several things I wanted to reply to, but some I’m not sure I want to reveal to the world yet. ;) I do love your questions! They make me think. :D
TeeDee - I’m glad you liked it so much! I like the Draco-and-Harry-are-friends plot so much that I had to have it in this story, same goes for the Harry/Lucius pairing. :) I suppose RS has been going for a long time. You know, I didn’t even realize I’ve been working on it for over a year now? It doesn’t feel that long!
Arigazi - Nalian and Lucius’ relationship will probably pick up the pace a little now. I don’t know whether you’d consider that good or bad..? I thought Order and Chaos would have a bigger part in Nali’s life, but as of yet they don’t (they do when he’s at his home though). Oh, Lucius is attracted to him. *grin* He’s just good at hiding it. Of course, he’ll love how Nalian looks in elf-mode. *wink*
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