Chapter Eight of 'The Same Species As Shakespeare'- Working-Day World

[lomonaaeren]

Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Eight—Working-Day World

“If you want to wait outside, you can.”

Draco shook his head and followed him into the Ministry. Harry hid a smile at his expression. Since they had faced the imposter in his office, Draco seemed unwilling to be parted from Harry, as if he imagined that the reputation and wandwork that had failed to ward the man off three times would manage a fourth.

Of course, Harry couldn’t blame himself for the attacks he’d been unable to prevent. He’d had no idea they were facing a wizard of this level of talent, let alone mad stubbornness. Most ordinary fixations wouldn’t require so much work to defend against. Harry had tracked Dark wizards who wanted someone on the winning side to pay before, but they often gave up when they saw the Aurors bristling like a briar-hedge around the case, or only one Auror ready to sacrifice his life to protect their target. This man would commit suicide before he gave up, Harry was now certain.

He had to warn Ron and Kingsley of that.

More than one person turned to stare at Malfoy as they trotted through the Auror Department. Harry suspected they thought he was bringing the imposter in, but they couldn’t understand why the imposter was walking tamely instead of floating in a Body-Bind or at least attached to him with a Stretched Leash Jinx, which would recoil sharply if the victim tried to wander too far from the person who cast it.

However, no one interfered until Harry had turned down the corridor outside Kingsley’s office. Then a man with a long white beard and a fringe of gray hair around his mostly bald head stepped forwards. Harry hid a sigh. “Is Kingsley in a meeting at the moment, Albert?” he asked.

Albert Whitlow, the most senior member of the Auror Department now that Dawlish had finally given in and retired, said, “No.” He stared past Harry’s shoulder at Draco; in fact, his eyes had been there all along, though Harry had hoped to make Whitlow look at him with his question. “Why have you brought him here?”

Two Whitlow nephews had died in the Battle of Malfoy Manor, and Albert had lost his only son as well. Harry made sure to reply temperately. “I’m protecting him at the moment, whilst Ron and the others hunt down the man pretending to be him. You may have heard about our recent rash of problems with a Malfoy imposter.”

Whitlow glared at him. He and Harry never had got along, especially because Whitlow thought sarcasm was a kind of ravine. “Don’t get cheeky, Potter,” he said, sharp and low. “Why did you bring him here? You had to know what the sight of him would do to someone like me.”

“The sight of him,” Harry said flatly. “Do you ever listen to yourself?”

Whitlow’s nostrils flared. “You should have known better,” he said. “On all counts. Than to bring him here, and than to challenge me.” He drew his wand.

Harry narrowed his eyes. He knew Whitlow was carrying out several grudges at once—he never had forgiven Harry for sweeping into the Department and taking his old place as Kingsley’s best friend and confidant—but they didn’t have time for this.

Besides, he could feel the pressure of Draco’s eyes against his back like a warm palm. He would be lying if he said he didn’t want to show off for him.

He concentrated.

*

Draco stared intently at the man Potter had called Albert, but he didn’t recognize him. That offended him. If someone considered him an enemy, he should at least know who that person was.

Potter reacted with unexpected calm even when this Albert stepped towards him with a drawn wand. His head cocked and he relaxed, breathing deeply. Draco, watching his face in profile, thought he saw his eyelids flutter once or twice.

Then an invisible force snatched Albert’s feet away from him and suspended him from the ceiling by one ankle. His wand clattered to the floor as he grabbed at first his feet and then his robes, trying to prevent them from flying up over his head. Shocked laughter rang down the corridors, though it ceased when Albert began to twist in place, trying frantically to see who had done this to him and who was mocking him. Others, braver, snickered.

Potter took a single step forwards, his eyelids still fluttering and his voice strained. He was using wandless magic to keep Albert on the ceiling, Draco realized then, but it had to be taxing most of the resources in his body. “I have told you not to do that. Bring your personal grudges to me in a formal duel, which can be settled outside the Department. I won’t have you accidentally injuring someone else because you hate me.”

Draco stood frozen, unable to decide how he should respond. His lip did curl when he heard the name Albert hurled at Potter, though. If the man was a pure-blood, he should have been able to find more eloquent insults.

Potter sucked in a breath. Albert abruptly fell a few inches, as if the invisible chain holding him had lengthened. He gave a strangled cry, which prompted more snickers and a few sharp whistles of astonishment.

“Do I have to drop you on your stubborn head,” Potter said, the barest bit of breathiness in his voice, “before you see the truth?”

“All right, Harry,” a deeper voice said, at the same moment as a door clicked open. “I think you’ve made your point.”

Draco glanced up quickly. He’d become so enthralled in watching Potter’s face as he controlled his wandless magic that he’d actually lost track of what was happening around him and hadn’t realized that Shacklebolt had opened the door of his office. A bad habit, he scolded himself. You have to watch, because Potter will be less than helpful if your enemy shows up whilst you’re seducing him.

“Of course, sir,” Potter said with mock humility, and lowered Albert back to the ground. He even turned him upright so that he landed on his feet and not his head. Draco sneered. Potter seemingly couldn’t shed the show of mock righteousness even when he had nothing to gain by continuing to use it.

“Now.” Shacklebolt paused in what he had been about to say when he noticed Draco, but his mouth merely tightened before he continued. “You have important information, Harry? I’m afraid that we learned almost nothing from the interview with Palliser.” He nodded over Draco’s shoulder, presumably dismissing the Aurors who had gathered to watch or arresting Albert’s futile attempt at vengeance. “He couldn’t remember when the guest had come in or how, and he dismantled all the wards around his house after the party.”

“He did? Why?” Potter sounded bewildered as he stepped into the office. Draco followed him, stealing a few swift glances that immediately revealed Britain’s Head Auror did not have the best of taste. He snorted, but under his breath. Weasley, standing behind Shacklebolt’s desk, still glared at him as if he had heard it.

Draco gave him a glance full of venom back. A certain amount of feigned vulnerability would serve him well where Potter was concerned, but he had no reason to want to impress Weasley or keep on his good side.

“I can answer that question,” he said, and kept his eyes on Weasley to enjoy the way his face flushed. “The wards dimmed the outlines of the house when they were as thick in profusion as he wanted them to be. I tried to make him compromise and choose more elegant and smaller wards, but he wouldn’t, at least not on the first night. Now he’s simply dissipated them altogether rather than take the effort of learning new ones.”

Shacklebolt swiveled towards him. “But you know the wards he used last night? You could tell us what they were and give us some sort of clue as to how our—visitor—bypassed them?”

“I can try,” Draco said. “But you’ll have to understand that I didn’t see him arrive. My description of the wards will be perfect, my description of what unusual methods he might have invented to get around them speculative.”

“Of course you didn’t see him come in,” Weasley said, half under his breath, staring at Draco the way Draco had seen some of his owls look at mice. “You were too busy flirting with Harry.”

Draco stared back. “I’m not an Auror, Weasley. Why would it be my job to watch out for someone with a face like mine, whom you’re tracking?” He lowered his voice. “Were you disappointed when you found out that Potter insisted on defending me?”

“That is enough,” said Shacklebolt, in a voice that made Draco jump. “I will have no bickering in my office, particularly not whilst we work on a case so important. Ron, can you deal with Mr. Malfoy? Or should we pull you off this and put you on a different case?”

Draco looked again at the Head Auror. He stared at only Weasley, tapping his fingers together, an expression of deep disappointment on his face. Draco smoothed away a smile. Obviously Shacklebolt cared about the performance of his people more than the obnoxiousness of the man whose life they were trying to save. That gave Draco all sorts of ideas and made him dream about what else he might be able to get away with.

Weasley muttered something that Shacklebolt seemed to take as an assurance of good behavior, because he nodded briskly and turned back to Potter and Draco. “Describe the wards, please, Mr. Malfoy.”

Draco did so, making sure to emphasize what parts of the house they had covered and how thick they had been. He had his own professional pride, the way that Potter had wanted Draco to stay out of his way whilst he worked to down the madman stalking him. He would not allow Shacklebolt or Weasley to think he had constructed an ugly building, though they might not know enough about architecture to even suspect he had. Weasley would suspect his work on principle, of course.

Potter understood enough to build the Palliser house with and without wards in his mind, Draco suspected. At least, the way he watched Draco with shining eyes indicated he attached more importance to the words than simply seeing them as evidence in the case he was solving.

Draco arched his neck and lifted his shoulder slightly, putting his face in the best profile to Potter. Potter’s breathing deepened and slowed. He leaned forwards as if he would reach out and trace the perfect curve of Draco’s jaw. Draco held still. He could do it if he liked. His hand trembled with the readiness to do it. Draco tried to convey eagerness with the lines of his body, the demure lowering of his eyelids, the pout of his lips.

Potter leaned in a little closer, and then jerked back suddenly. Draco blinked and kept a frown from his face with difficulty. Some people resisted his enchantments, yes, but never with such abruptness.

*

Harry winced and tried to soothe away the sting where Ron’s elbow had collided with the small of his back. For a moment, he wished he hadn’t used enough wandless magic on Whitlow to render himself near-exhausted. It would have been a fine thing to will Ron’s wand to jab him in the side.

“What are you doing?” Ron hissed in his ear. “I know you have some sort of crush on him, but act professional, for Merlin’s sake.”

Harry drew in several deep breaths and nodded. He thought he saw a flash of bewilderment in Draco’s eyes, but then he continued to look straight ahead and answer Kingsley’s questions. Yes, Harry could do at least as well. Draco felt the desire and the pull as strongly as Harry did—Harry knew that for certain after their little tussle on the floor of his office—but that was no reason to act like a rutting bull.

Any liaison they conducted would have to wait until after the case was over. And really, the faster they solved the case, the sooner some of Harry’s dreams could come true. He would never have everything he wanted, because even now he could not imagine Draco holding him gently and running his fingers through Harry’s hair or speaking with him simply and directly about his life with his parents, but he could at least share a physical relationship with him.

And the more he listened, the more worried he grew. Palliser’s wards had not been bloodline wards, and neither had they been the complex ones that lined Draco’s office, both of which the imposter might have learned about because they would give him the knowledge to impersonate Draco more effectively. They had been difficult enough that it would take some months of study to understand and get past them without alerting the owner of the house. What were the chances that someone would simply happen to have that knowledge?

Low. Harry chewed his lip. The imposter must have learned of what wards Palliser intended to put on his house somehow. Could he have approached Palliser in another guise and then gone to a ward expert for the training he would need? No, even that would not give him long enough. And Harry doubted that Palliser had decided on the wards months in advance, or that he would have felt compelled to give the knowledge away to any random stranger who approached him.

The other important possibility was that the imposter had studied the kinds of wards that Draco had advised his clients to put on their houses in the past, along with Palliser’s personality, and known that he would disobey Draco and use the heavier wards. And if that was the case, then Harry still didn’t understand his psychology, because why show off his knowledge and deadliness by appearing in the middle of the party? And then, if he was so deadly, why hadn’t he managed to kill Draco after all?

It was a mystery so profound that Harry had no idea where to begin investigating it.

Of course, your responsibility right now is to protect Draco, he reminded himself as Draco finished describing the wards. Ron can investigate the imposter.

Kingsley nodded at Draco’s closing words and turned expectantly to Harry. Harry smiled. Kingsley had always been good at telling when one of his Aurors was nearly bursting with news.

“There have been two attacks since,” Harry said quietly. “One last night in Malfoy Manor, one this morning.”

Kingsley folded his hands on the desk and looked grave. Harry began to speak. Kingsley, as always, asked leading questions that pulled out details Harry hadn’t thought he remembered. Why had the burst of magic when the man came through Malfoy Manor’s wards awakened Harry in the first place? Did Harry know why the intruder had attacked through the window of the office and not through the front door, if he could undo the wards in the first place? How long had their battle lasted? Had Harry had the wound in his hand treated?

Startled, Harry glanced at the hole that the intruder’s curse had drilled through the middle of his palm. He winced as he brushed his fingers over the skin. It was hard and high and blistered, like a burn; the spell had cauterized it and no blood had fallen since the fight.

“It doesn’t hurt that much, except when I touch it,” he told Kingsley hopefully.

“Unacceptable,” Kingsley said. “That’s your wand hand. You will visit the Healer on staff and have it taken care of, Potter.”

Harry lowered his eyes and nodded. Kingsley only used his last name when he thought Harry was behaving unreasonably.

“I didn’t realize you were wounded that badly.”

Harry glanced up curiously. Draco’s voice was subdued, and he looked from the corner of his eye at Harry’s hand, as if fascinated against his will. Harry grinned in spite of himself. Being scolded in front of his best friend and his obsession was worth it if it got said obsession to worry about him.

Ron must have noticed the expression on his face and correctly interpreted it. His hand crushed down on Harry’s elbow. Harry ignored it for the moment so that he could say to Kingsley, “I’ll be sure to stop by the Healer’s office before I go back to Malfoy Manor, sir.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” said Ron, in a brilliant, brittle voice that wouldn’t have fooled anyone who knew him. “Why don’t we go right now? I’ve been meaning to get the Healer to take a look at this cough of mine.” He hacked dramatically and then began dragging Harry towards the door of the office.

“Ron,” Harry hissed under his breath, trying to twist his arm away from his friend.

“I think Ron’s right, Harry.” Kingsley gave him a bland, beaming face when Harry glared at him in return. “It would be a shame if your productivity were to suffer because you couldn’t be arsed to take care of yourself. And do get that cough seen to, Ron. I’m sure it threatens the safety of the people of Great Britain.”

“Yes, sir!” Ron saluted smartly and then went on dragging Harry away.

Kingsley turned back towards Draco. Harry bit the inside of his cheek. Of course, he wasn’t worried about Kingsley physically hurting Draco the way he was worried about someone like Whitlow doing. But he still felt as though he needed to be present to defend Draco from anything untoward, up to and including Auror interrogation. And Kingsley, with his mild probing questions and stiff face, could be worse than some of the more practiced interrogators.

“Your little crush will be fine, Harry,” Ron said, and hauled him away. People got discreetly out of their path. Ron was more even-tempered than he had been at Hogwarts, but he was a large man, and when he did get angry no one wanted to attract his attention. “Come with me and let’s see the nice Healer.”

Harry put up with the dragging until they were around the corner. Then he ripped his arm away from Ron with a viciousness that sent him staggering. Ron whirled around, his eyebrows bent, his teeth marking his lip as he stared at Harry.

“What’s got into you?” Harry asked, lowering his voice only because he would prefer that other people not know of their private quarrels. He wasn’t ashamed of the relationship he might develop with Draco when this case was over, and nothing could make him be.

“What’s got into you?” Ron countered, and there was no shadow of a smile on his face to show he was teasing. “Harry, I’ve never seen you behave so irresponsibly. Has it escaped your notice that you’re there to protect him, not to fuck him?”

Harry choked. Ron didn’t swear on a regular basis. Finally he managed to say, “I know that. In fact, he’s aware of my desire for him, and he feels the same way, but we both accepted that we should wait until this case was over.”

“And yet, you can’t,” said Ron. “If the way that you were looking at him in front of your boss was any indication.”

Harry flushed and stared at the floor. Yes, he was ashamed of that part. He had to be able to control himself. What would Draco think of him if Harry made a promise and then broke it because his libido got to be too much? He ought to keep his mind on something other than sex for more than ten minutes.

Ron spoke on, his voice flat and merciless. “You spend too much time staring at him, you won’t notice what’s around you. You spend too much time thinking about shagging him, you won’t spend enough time thinking about our criminal and what his next move is. And this is a case where thinking is necessary.” His voice softened. “Harry, mate. I really can’t do this without you. I need you to help me think.”

“You’re not stupid, Ron,” Harry said quietly, looking up.

“No.” Ron took a step towards him. “But I also don’t work as well on my own as I do when I’m partnered with you. It’s one thing to be separated from you for a while because you’re the only one Malfoy trusts to guard him. But I want you to come back safe so that we can go on other cases together.”

Harry muttered, “Yeah, I know.”

Ron gripped his shoulders and smiled into his eyes. “You’re being stupid. You know that too, don’t you?”

Harry nodded. There were signs of it, signs he should have heeded. He hadn’t ignored his wounds since the first year of Auror training—bloody hell, since the first year of the war. He would have gone and healed them at once if he were on any other case. Malfoy could have come with him to St. Mungo’s, as he’d followed him to the Ministry, or Harry could have placed him back in the care of the Manor—

Which is not so safe after all, if the intruder can come through the wards.

The problem was, he needed to treat Malfoy like any other victim, but Malfoy wasn’t any other victim to him. Malfoy was shining hair and shining eyes and a shining skill that built houses out of air and sun and earth.

“You’re wandering off after him in your mind again,” Ron said in disgust. “I know that look.” Harry blinked and focused on him. Ron lightly slapped his cheek. “Think of all the sex you can have with him after you both survive.”

Harry nodded slowly. Yes. He had to think of Malfoy’s safety first. His distraction might wound him, and he could survive that, but what would he feel if he killed Malfoy because he was too busy admiring the way he looked to notice danger creeping up on them?

“Good.” Ron slapped his shoulder this time. “And wear your ring. Hermione’s been driving me mad, wanting to know why you took it off.”

“She should have asked me, not you,” Harry said.

“That’s what I said!”

Harry laughed, and he and Ron went on to the Healer, sharing jokes about all the things Hermione had to worry her until doomsday. Harry felt his worries melting and sliding down his shoulders, dissolving like clots of snow under rain. He wanted Malfoy, yes, but he had missed this, too, this easy companionship he had never found with anyone but his best friend. It was good to be back.

*

“I could offer you Aurors more trained than Harry,” Shacklebolt said softly, in a voice that was the soul of persuasion, “more skilled.”

“I don’t want them,” Draco said back, his voice just as soft.

“I could offer you an Auror who would be that trained and that skilled, and yet not try to hurt you.” Shacklebolt leaned across the desk. He had eyes that he probably used to compel his inferiors into obedience, Draco thought; hadn’t he sent Potter away like a shamed child? “You need fear no grudges from us.”

“I want Potter.”

No one but Potter has ever mattered. Can’t you understand that? You praise him as the best, and that’s why I have to break him. A victory over him will be a victory over all of you, because it will show you how empty the idol is that you’ve worshipped, how hollow the ideals that you followed. You believed in him because he won you the war, but he’s only a man, after all. That’s what I want to show you.

Draco clenched his hands into fists and fought to keep them from drumming on his knees. Strange, that everyone should be so blind to Potter, believe sincerely in the façade he showed the world, and yet not understand that of course Draco would need to tear down that façade to have any peace at all.

Shacklebolt sighed heavily. “If you’re sure, Mr. Malfoy.”

“I’ve never been this sure of anything in my life,” Draco said, and rose to his feet and strode out of the office.

I want Potter, said every beat of his heart. To break, to destroy, to consume, to wrap myself around.

To have, and hold, and keep.

Chapter 9.

Comments

[ravenqueen55.livejournal.com]

OMG...that last line. Wow.

This obsession runs so deep for both of them; I find it fascinating to read about!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Poor Draco, he does not even realize the context that would make that last line normal. :)

[helenadax.livejournal.com]

I would hate to have Hermione inside my head.

"To have, and hold, and keep." That doesn't sound very evil, Draco.

And Harry wants to show off for Draco... Cute. I see he's following the Potter's famous mating ritual of hanging someone upside down XD Nice to see some traditions are still alive XD

Nice chapter!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Harry doesn't always enjoy it either, but he does know that both his friends are looking out for his best interests, and it's saved his life several times.

Draco thinks of it in terms of keeping Harry all for himself, forever. Of course, he has still not thought about the implications of that.

And thanks! Draco was actually quietly affected by the fact that Harry chose to defend him.

[caribelleih.livejournal.com]

I loved the last line, and I loved Ron! It is true what he said, though. Harry is being very carelessly, acting like that in front of his boss. And silly Draco, he doesn’t even know what he wants to do it to Harry.

But now I’m wondering about the clone of Draco. Is like a genius or something, because he knows too much.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

One thing I want to show with this fic is that Harry's friends do have reason to be concerned about him, even if he thinks they don't.

Well, there are other methods of knowing something than being a genius on the subject...

[seedless-acorn.livejournal.com]

ooo, nice ending, creepy and obsessive!

I love how, although Draco calls everyone else blind to Harry's true nature, he is the one that doesn't really see it. Ah, Slytherins, seeing another Slytherin in everyone they meet!

Loved it! Thanks for the beautiful updatedness!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Draco's method works well when dealing with other Slytherins, and many of his clients are. But yeah, not so well with Gryffindors. :)

[jenndr.livejournal.com]

Draco is so... crazy, cute, misquided. I'm not sure, but I like him even though I think he's practically insane. I just loved the interaction. Harry watchin' Draco, Draco watchin' Harry. Raised eyebrows from Shacklebot and Ron. Ron was fabulous. I'm really enjoying this story. I was sure about it at first. I didn't want a really insane dark Draco, but this one is kinda cute. (I wonder what that says about me that I think insanity is endearing;-)

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I find it hard to comment on the darkness level of the story anymore. Draco is relaxing a little, letting softer emotions near the surface, but of course that might not last. (I can see why you find him cute, though).

Poor Ron and Shacklebolt. Their best friend and best Auror is just not doing his job!

[beatnikspinster.livejournal.com]

Draco, you denial addict. :D I love Ron pinching and poking Harry out of his UST stupor. Too funny.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Ron will be a good friend to Harry in this story.

[aldehyde.livejournal.com]

that last was just killer. draco probably doesn't even realise all that it could imply, eh.

harry using a non-verbal/wandless levicorpus on the senior auror was a nice touch. james showing off for lily, harry showing off for draco - what a great parallel!

i absolutely LOVED ron. he's so often portrayed as a buffoon that i absolutely gobble it up when he's written as a strong, intelligent and confident character like you've done. excellent job :)

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And no, I doubt he does.

I honestly hadn't drawn the parallel between Harry and James. But I've been reading a few fics lately that referenced Snape's worst memory, so I was probably influenced.

And thanks! Harry should get a ring with Ron's voice in it. That would be more appropriate.

[tray-la-la.livejournal.com]

i have a confession. i've read all the chapters up to now over the past few days, but haven't been able to comment until now. *hides in shame* i've mostly read them on my blackberry during snatched moments in between moving and the horror that is law school orientation, so i'm sorry i'm only jumping in now!

but i'm loving the story! it's so incredibly intriguing, as it's pulling me in so many directions emotionally. i go back and forth between being disgusted with draco, sympathizing with him, and indulgently smirking about how misguided he is when his more tender feelings for harry shine through. the last two lines of this chapter really sum it all up. my stomach drops one minute, and then my heart soars the next!

harry is adorable and powerful and a bit of a show off and i love him! i can more readily forgive his brand of obsession, because it's more of the warm fuzzy variety (although i'm not sure if you'll keep it that way???). as such, what i find most interesting is his inability to sense draco's wavering feelings and his conviction of draco's reciprocity.

i really loved ron in this chapter--it's great when he gets to be a voice of reason every once and a while. and i really like kingsley and his close relationship with harry as well. oh, and the rings hermione made are so cool! you always come up with the most unique magic!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

That's okay! I hope your move and your orientation have both gone well.

Draco will continue to waver crazily back and forth for some time to come. Even when he catches a glimpse of the truth, he manages to rationalize it away.

Harry thinks Draco would have pushed him away in true offense when Harry kissed him if he wasn't interested, so I think he can be forgiven the misunderstanding. Of course, it's a little weird that Harry thinks Draco's feelings are as strong as his, but that's Harry for you.

Thanks! A few other people really hate those rings, but I think it's exactly the kind of thing Hermione would invent to keep an eye on Harry.

[kawanale.livejournal.com]

"no reason to act like a rutting bull"

oh yes, there's many reasons to act like a rutting bull. :-P

*claps hands in glee and throws sparkling glitter around*

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[ura-hd.livejournal.com]

I do not quite get what Draco wants to do with Harry. Does he know himself?

I like Ron in this story quite a lot.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

No, he doesn't. At first he didn't even know it was something sexual, but now that he's discovered that aspect of his desire for Harry, he doesn't intend to let it go.

And thank you!

[absynthedrinker.livejournal.com]

Another wonderful chapter! Thanks

Peace,
Bubba

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[irresistableplx.livejournal.com]

To have, and hold, and keep.
sounds like Draco is unconsciously thinking about marriage ha!

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Maybe he is. But really, in this case it's any lasting way of leaving his mark on Harry and his life.

[0embryo.livejournal.com]

I am dreading what is to come, for both of them. Also, in some wonderfully skilled way you have managed that I do not really like either one of them. Somehow, they are both too busy with themselves and their obsessions to be really likeable and relatable; however, in this fic that doesn't imply lack of skill but rather enormous heaps of it. This is really amazing and VERY addictive, so I'll be eagerly waiting for the next chapter! Thank you for writing this fic ♥

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

Heh, well, if that's enough to keep you reading the story, then I really can't complain. :) I do like both of them, but that's in part because I feel sorry for them and know what's to come. And if I can interest you, then that's good; the one reaction I don't want to cause with my writing is indifference.

Thanks for reading, and for commenting.

[0embryo.livejournal.com]

It's not that I don't like the characters or something, rather that I don't really feel much sympathy for any of them, for above stated reasons. That is definitely not a bad thing here though.

[hpstrangelove.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry for being late in commenting, and missing the prior chapter all together (school started for my son, and it's not a pretty picture!)

I am loving this fic so much; knowing the prompts, I'm looking for all kinds of clues. Like everyone else, I think the last line is wonderful (although I think I see it in a different light).

I am very curious as to what the story is behind the impostor, and how he is getting through the wards, etc.

Thank you so much for writing this. It has the exact feel I was hoping for, and I am have such a hard time waiting for updates.

[lomonaaeren.livejournal.com]

That's all right. I'm glad you were able to get back to it.

What light do you see it in?

The impostor will be explained eventually, though not until the end of the story. In the middle, he'll be taking a bit of a back seat to Harry and Draco's relationship.

And thank you!

[gummibearthief.livejournal.com]

I keep wondering if this is someone who imitates Draco so closely, why isn't he more interested in Harry? The interaction between Harry and Draco is divine, don't get me wrong, but I'm far more interested in the Dra-clone. That is the facination I'm following with baited breath. He has such nasty tricks up his sleeve...

[aubergineautumn.livejournal.com]

Harry's obsessive thoughts are captivating!

[agr8fae.livejournal.com]

Oh, Wow! *hurries to next chapter*

re: Same Species as Shakespeare 8

[vaysh11.livejournal.com]

The Albert-scene was great, with the wandless magic and Draco admiring Harry's quiet defensively heroic tactics. You paint a truly interesting picture of the post-war wizarding world.

I am in love with this line: Malfoy was shining hair and shining eyes and a shining skill that built houses out of air and sun and earth. ;-) Harry's obsession and struggle not to obsess is awesome. Thanks for writing this!

[lokifan]

Arrrgh! Does Draco even HEAR himself?!

I loved this, though. Kingsley vs Draco could so easily become a Deathmatch, it's fascinating to wonder whether Kingsley, who manipulates so effectively, knows what Draco's doing. Ron was hilarious - I loved him, Kingsley and the cough.