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lomonaaeren ([personal profile] lomonaaeren) wrote2008-05-01 09:40 pm

Chapter Twenty-Three of 'Changing of the Guard'- Unexpected



Thank you again for all the reviews!

Chapter Twenty-Three—Unexpected

Draco slowed when he entered the house. He knew something was different, though for long moments he could not pinpoint that sense of difference to one specific object or sound. He stood still, his gaze sweeping the length of the entrance hall.

Then he located the source of the strangeness. No house-elf had come to greet him, which always happened when he came back from more than an hour’s journey, even when he dismissed it again in the next few moments.

It was not quite as clear a sign as raising the wards against him would have been, but it was still a signal of his father’s displeasure.

Draco smiled a little. He wished he had worn gloves today, so he could have removed them slowly and ostentatiously, with an excuse for lingering in the entrance hall until Lucius came to find him. As it was, he would have to hasten the confrontation with his father himself.

Draco strolled out of the entrance hall and up to the study Lucius usually occupied by this hour of the day, opening and discarding several conversational gambits in his head. No, he didn’t want to give his father a chance to slide around this. Open defiance appeared to be the only course of action that actually commanded Lucius’s attention and didn’t allow him to hide behind some polite excuse. Certainly he had only treated Draco’s objections to his future seriously when Draco started dating Harry.

Brian, he reminded himself, as he opened the door of his father’s study without knocking. Make sure that you call him Brian in this conversation, or you will give your father information that you prefer he not have.

Lucius looked up with no expression on his face. He sat in a large, comfortable chair, piled with Cushioning Charms. It had been the favorite chair of one of Draco’s great-great-uncles, who had taken a claw in his backside from a hippogriff when young. Lucius had no excuse for indulging in such excessive luxury, however, Draco thought. A large book bound in dragonhide rested on his father’s knees.

“Yes, Draco.” Lucius did not make it a question. “I am here. And you could have waited for dinner if you wanted to speak to me. It is no good holding an argument on an empty stomach.” His tone was lightly chiding, with a chilly hint of superiority that would have had Draco shivering twenty years ago and seething with helpless rage a decade back. Now he saw it too clearly as part of the mask his father was trying—and failing—to wear, and had to smile.

“May I sit down, Father?” he asked. He kept the question perfectly polite, but coupled with his rudeness so far, there was no way Lucius could take it as anything but mocking.

Lucius’s eyes narrowed, and his expression appeared to set itself in ice. “But of course, Draco. Would I refuse the hospitality of any part of my house to my son?”

“You’ve refused the house-elves,” said Draco, and sat down in the second most comfortable chair, taking a moment to look around the room. The shelves were of light, pale wood, which nicely complemented the sunshine streaming in through the high windows. Some Malfoy who loved light had designed this room, Draco thought, long before the family thought their association with Dark magic also required association with literal darkness.

“You should not take my little fits of temper so hard, Draco,” Lucius murmured at once, as if he had thought Draco’s complaint was actually serious. “I may sometimes send you a message through indirect means, but when I am displeased with you, I will make that displeasure known.”

“How directly?” Draco cocked his head. “Would an attack by Ministry Aurors be enough of a message?”

Lucius’s fingers tightened on the book, but he said nothing, and no line of his face stirred. “You are beyond being beaten like a child, Draco. And why would I invite Aurors into the Manor? They do cause trouble, and stir up the clouds of cobwebs that I would prefer stay discreetly out of sight.”

“Oh, I don’t say they would have to intrude into the Manor,” said Draco. “Just into a house where I happen to be at the time, for a purpose that is understandable if not exactly innocent.” He leaned forwards, smiling. “We’re discussing this as a hypothetical situation, of course. Perhaps not as something that happened, but rather something that might happen if, say, your patience ran short.”

Lucius hesitated, holding Draco’s eyes. Now, Draco thought, he would wonder whether his son had actually gone to the meeting this afternoon or not. Draco didn’t intend to hold him in suspense long, but he would tease the information out of him this way if he could, slyly, indirectly. So much more elegant, in the long run.

I have myself as an audience to perform to, even if there is no one else.

“I still would not call on Ministry Aurors,” Lucius said at last, his voice distant as starlight. “What need have I? I have words, Galleons, connections, knowledge of magic. All of those would be much better ways to chastise my enemies.”

“Ah,” Draco said, “but we aren’t talking about enemies.” It will have to be the direct method, then. His father was trying to shift the grounds of the conversation far too early in the game. “We’re talking about someone you’re close to, but who has willfully and repeatedly defied your attempts to bring him under control. Someone you can’t stand to see rebel, because that would mean you had been wrong about him being a small soul, obedient, content to follow you and to trust in your prescriptions for his future. Could you see yourself using the Aurors against someone like that?”

Lucius rose to his feet. He laid the book precisely down on the glass table in front of him, which somewhat disappointed Draco. He had been looking forwards to seeing that book fall with a crash.

“You have made many references to our family conflict in arenas where I would prefer that you not make them,” Lucius said. “You have made our name one that people snigger at when heard. You claim to care for your mother and I and our reputations, yet still you take these actions. You will answer me, now. In what way have I mistaken you? In what way have I given you less than a life to be proud of, a life to honor and imitate?”

I wonder if he’s talking about the example life he’s lived for me, or the life he’s actually tried to give me, Draco thought idly. Well, he’s about to learn that there’s a difference between them.

“For one thing, Father,” he said, leaning back in his chair and smiling up at Lucius, “I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, but I’m fucking a man.”

Lucius’s lip twitched at the vulgarity. Draco didn’t care. He was pressing his father closer and closer to ultimately losing his temper and ordering him out of the Manor. If that happened, then disowning would soon follow, because Lucius was one to carry a dramatic gesture fully through instead of retracting and apologizing; he feared that would make him look weak. Draco waited, holding his father’s eyes.

“Who one sleeps with and who one marries are often not the same,” Lucius said at last, with his voice softer and more conciliating than Draco would have liked. Why isn’t he screaming with rage? “So long as you are discreet, Draco, there is no reason—“

“I have no wish to be discreet,” Draco said. Save with my real purposes, of course. “I have grown tired of lying and deception, and with the lack of real attention you have given me.” Careful, he chided himself a moment later, or you’ll sound like a spoiled child. You do not want Lucius thinking of you that way no matter how true it might have been when you were younger. “I have tried to hint before that I did not wish to marry, that continuing the Malfoy line is not of the utmost importance to me,” he said, “and you have simply assumed it is and carried on. There are many names for that ignorance of reality, Father. None of them are complimentary.”

“You are pure-blooded,” said Lucius. “You are the only Malfoy heir.”

“The only one in the direct line.” Draco smiled at him again. “There are Cousin Maxwell and his children, after all.”

“You will not disgrace our family by accepting one of them as your heir.” Lucius spoke as if it were a fact, or a prophecy, not a simple pronouncement, Draco thought. That was the most infuriating aspect of his father’s behavior. He was too used to commanding something and having it be done. Well, Draco was not a house-elf. “You will marry where and how we tell you to. There are many young women who will accept you and turn their eyes away if you wish to continue this ridiculous love affair.”

“I like fucking Brian,” Draco said. “I may very well be in love with him.” I will know that answer for certain in a week’s time, I should think. “I won’t give that up for some insipid little bride and some colorless marriage such as you’ve allowed yourself to be content with.”

Lucius gave a dry laugh, though the narrowing of his eyes showed he was furious. Probably more over the insult to Narcissa than the insult to himself, Draco had to admit. In his own way, his father cared for his mother.

“There are many things in the world to content oneself with beyond lovers,” said Lucius. “And many things beyond marriage, come to that. Marriage is merely a necessary component of those other pleasures. As you grow older, Draco, you will come to see beyond the lusts of the flesh. You will learn the joy that comes from seeing plans unfold—“

Oh, that I know.

“—and the joy that comes from seeing the quiet dance of society go on around you, ordered and neat, precise as the small clockwork of a watch, and beautiful as the uncontrolled chaos that you have connected yourself with never can be.”

“Why, your poeticizing might convince me, were I still in the stage where pretty words concealed a brutal truth,” Draco said. He rose to his feet. He was tired of sitting still and allowing Lucius to loom over him, and it was probably giving his father too much confidence that he could win this argument. “I do not want what you are offering me, Father. Save the truth that you have finally spoken about my connections with the rebellion, of course. Thank you for that. So now I know that you would use Aurors to chastise a family member, if you thought that family member to be out of line.”

Lucius became still, every line of his body coiling like a snake about to strike. “If you had maintained your proper social standing,” he murmured, “you would not have stood a chance of being caught up in that…unpleasantness.”

“I dare say it was more unpleasant for the Aurors than for me.”

Lucius’s right hand twitched, opening as if he wished for his snake-headed cane. Draco laughed inwardly, not allowing a ripple of the amusement to show on his face. Lucius had picked up on the causal connection that the words suggested between Draco and the failure of the Aurors’ raid, and was interested.

“I do hope that you didn’t sneer at them,” was what Lucius said, mildly. “Despite your opinion of words, they can be deadly when wielded by a master.”

“It will be interesting to hear what they say when the Minister asks them questions, don’t you agree?” Draco cocked his head. “I wonder whether they will remark on my face, my words, my clothes, or on my presence at all.”

Lucius came forwards a step. There was still a table between them and Draco had his hand closer to his wand, so he didn’t back up. He was only mildly surprised to find that his heart was beating fast enough to stir a haze of blood through his head. This was the moment he had been hoping would happen from the time he wrote Metamorphosis. Perhaps the goal had become somewhat subsumed under his physical passion for Brian and then finding out Brian was Harry, but it was still real for him.

Father. I will make you crawl.

“You have never been political enough for my tastes,” Lucius said distantly. “Still, I would mourn to see my only heir destroyed in swirling waters that are too deep for him.”

Draco kept from smirking with an effort. You don’t know the half of it. I doubt that you would have survived the intellectual parade of changes necessary to keep up with my life in the last few days. “These are waters where I have chosen to swim,” he said. “I carefully measured their depth before I entered them.”

“Shall I be frank, Draco?” Lucius twisted his head to the side, so that he was watching Draco with one eye, like a raven. If he meant the pose to be frightening, it failed.

“I don’t know,” Draco said. “Can you be?”

Lucius drew in a slow breath, which was the first sign of his mask truly cracking that Draco had seen so far, the first gesture he’d made that he didn’t make on a regular basis. “There will shortly be things happening in the wider world that it would be safer if you were ignorant of,” he said. “If not in reality, then on the surface. And once you see those actions that certain—friends—of mine will take, you will be glad that I informed you of them in time.”

Draco felt a very slight smile lift his lips. He hadn’t known he would do that before he did it, but now the words were falling as naturally from his mouth as the smile had. “Even if I wanted to change my mind now, Father, I very much doubt that I could.”

“You do not have one of those sadly inflexible minds, set in granite or marble.” Lucius folded his hands over each other. He was wearing gloves, and Draco expected him to start pulling them off in a minute, if only to calm down the shaking or fist-clenching his fingers might otherwise get up to. “You can change your mind when you realize what a string of bad choices you have made.”

“If I see them as bad choices, yes.” Draco widened his smile. “But I have a lover who is most Gryffindor-like in his courage and his outrage over perceived social injustice. You saw his face when he threatened you in the dining room?”

Lucius’s nostrils flared in a way that said he did not understand why Draco was bringing that disgraceful episode up, now or ever.

“And that was only anger over me,” Draco whispered. “Imagine what he will be like when he turns his sights on an entire society that has made it impossible for us to live as we desire. Make no mistake, Father. He knows what will happen to me if we continue to be public about our love. And what will happen to him, but it is me he cares about.” Not such a lie. “He blames, not individuals, but social systems, as Gryffindors often do. And he has no anxiety about setting out to reform them. He will not back away from this fight, and I will not back away from him.” He paused just the right amount of time, he knew, to set Lucius seething, and then gave an elegant little shrug. “Even if the waters are a torrent, we intend to swim them. Together.”

He added a very slight whine to his tone, making it the voice of a bedazzled teenager in love.

And Lucius broke.

His lips wrinkled back from his teeth, and he leaned across the table that separated them with a brutal snarl. Draco laid his hand on his wand, just in case he had misjudged his father—which had happened several times since this all began—and Lucius went for curses, but words dragged themselves out of Lucius’s mouth instead.

“You are to be gone from my house within the hour,” he said. “I will have no heir who does not understand that his obligations to his family and the continuance of his line take precedence over a small fling.”

“It is not a fling—“ Draco began, adopting the proper indignant expression.

“You have one hour to leave,” Lucius repeated. Already he was calming, stepping away from Draco and tracing one finger over the center of his gloved palm. If there was any doubt in him that he had just done the right thing, Draco knew, he still would not yield to the doubt. He never questioned his own decisions or his own perceptions. He went forwards and tried to live in his own version of reality. “Then the wards will forcibly Apparate you beyond the Manor’s walls, and any belongings that you have here must be lost to you.”

Draco bowed a little, but he wanted to make sure this was the moment of ultimate separation from his family. “And when may I hope for an invitation back?” he asked.

“Given what I know?” Lucius’s hands clenched involuntarily. “Never.”

It is done, then.

Draco bowed again and walked from the room. If Lucius thought he did not look upset enough by the disowning, then he would decide it was just a front, and that Draco was really devastated and sobbing inside. He would not readily glimpse or guess his son’s complicated joy even if it was presented to him in interpretative dance.

Free, now, to make my own way in the world, to make my own name—in the end to win the name back when Lucius comes groveling at my feet.

It was not the way he had originally planned to lose his father’s respect, Draco had to admit. He couldn’t have foreseen himself becoming involved in a rebellion of this scope at the time, not when he had thought his major concern would be with his own problems and suffering. And he really had planned to eventually reveal to his parents that he could sleep with women too, and thus that he could get married and continue the family line. He did not dare to reveal that yet, or they would have disregarded his objections and pressed marriage on him. They had to think he was completely gay.

But now—

Who can tell how this will end?

The thought invigorated Draco, so that he whistled as he went to his rooms and started packing up his belongings. For now, he would stay in the flat where he had first met Harry disguised as Brian. It wouldn’t do as a permanent residence, but it would hold him whilst he looked about for a better flat or a house close to the center of wizarding London.

A few house-elves came mournfully into the room to snuffle or wring their hands or wish him farewell. None of them offered to help with the packing. Lucius must have forbidden them to do so. Draco shook his head a little as he cast a spell that folded a series of thick, shining gray shirts and distributed them neatly into his traveling trunk. No matter which person I am, the starry-eyed social reformer or the real, true plotter, is Lucius such a fool as to think that not having help would dissuade me?

A noise in the doorway made him think it was another house-elf come to visit him. He blinked when he turned about and found his mother standing there, her hands tightly knotted together, staring at him.

“So the day has come,” she said, in a low voice that Draco didn’t think sounded at all like her.

Draco stepped across the room to kiss her cheek. “It has,” he agreed easily. “And whilst I can understand Father’s reasons for disowning me, I hope that he doesn’t take his bad temper out on you.”

Narcissa swallowed and went on looking at him for long moments, so long that it made Draco uneasy. Her next words proved he had been right to be uneasy. “This was what you wanted, Draco, wasn’t it? You’ve decided on independence from your father, and you chose to seize it by giving up our name.”

Draco knew he made a bad show of covering his shock. His mother spoke through any protests he might have given, gazing meditatively at the floor. “So long as the Malfoy name cloaks you, you would be seen first as Lucius’s son, and only second as yourself, if at all. So you chose to make your way in the world, away from us.” She lifted her head and stared at Draco. “Did you know that you would force me to choose between my husband and my son?”

Draco’s back straightened. That, at least, was an accusation he had been prepared to face. “No one is forcing you to choose anything,” he said. “Agree with Lucius in public if you must, but think whatever you want in private. My plans from now on don’t depend on your support or your anguish.”

“Nevertheless, my anguish will be the result.”

“And you cannot blame me for that,” said Draco, “not when Father and I have grown so far apart. Do you believe that I would have done this unless I was forced to it? I have tried other ways to persuade Father. He will not listen to reason, so the most blatant unreason is needed to shake his preoccupations with pure-blood politics.”

Narcissa looked at him with her lips so tightly shut that Draco wondered if he had managed to alienate her after all. Then she nodded and drew out a letter from a pocket in her robes. “I have made my decision,” she said. “I think you should have this. I discovered Brian Montgomery was Harry Potter some days ago through my familiarity with his magic, and gave him two weeks to leave you, since shortening the time to a week. This is what he has written to me in reply.”

Draco read the letter. His heart was pounding as much with shock over his mother’s news as it was with anger at Harry by the time he finished. He folded the letter very carefully and looked at her. “Why do you think he sent this to you?” he demanded. His lips felt numb. “He must have known there was a chance you would show it to me.”

Narcissa shook her head. “I think he believed I cared more for you than for your happiness.” Her eyes briefly flashed. “And he may have feared that I would tell the secret to others—as I could have—if he was not in communication with me.” She sighed, then, and the fire seemed to leave her, though Draco could still see the steel. “But it appears that he is essential to your future happiness. And that is what I want. At one time, it was only your safety. But through the years, I have watched you, and come to believe that you need your freedom and your own power to find any future at all. The man who writes a letter like that, who was able to lie to me so convincingly that I half-believed him, and who inspires such passion in you seems to be a necessary ingredient of that future.”

“Mother,” Draco whispered. He was dizzy.

“I will stay here with Lucius,” said Narcissa, looking very strong and very tired. “If I can, I will halt his more doomed plans—and I suspect that the majority of them will be doomed, if he plans to attack you and Harry Potter combined. Go find your future, my son, and may you be happy and strong.”

Draco embraced her, more fiercely than he had in years. He could feel her arms close around him, too, trembling, and he wondered how much second-guessing of herself she must have done before she finally arrived at her decision.

“May there be peace in this house someday,” she whispered into his ear. “Between family members, and from such hard choices.”

“I shall endeavor to see that there may be,” Draco said, and kissed her hand, and Summoned the rest of his belongings, and went, his soul burning like phoenix fire with his joy and his anger.

Chapter 24.

(Anonymous) 2008-05-02 01:54 am (UTC)(link)
I love, love, love, love, LOVE this story. Compulsive update checks? Me? Never.

Seriously, though. Love. Power games and deception and manipulation and fun!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:21 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy all those aspects of the story, because there are definitely more of them coming up.

[identity profile] sorringmay.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 02:24 am (UTC)(link)
So it has finally happened, I do wonder how Harry will take the disowning and look forward to reading it. Knowing his thick self he will be stupid about it.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, Draco did originally hire Brian to get him disowned. Harry might well think his work is done.

[identity profile] duchessa.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Everything went according to what Harry said. He really is good at this. Well, except Narcissa. I like her in this fic.

I'm debating whether it's to Draco's advantage to tell Harry he read the letter. Lucius disowning Draco may push Harry to think his job is done too, and then he might disappear to Metamorphosis. Hopefully, the letter will make Draco realize that Harry is not quite so smitten with him yet, so he would be more sneaky in his future dealings with Harry.

Will we get to see how Draco choose to handle his anger next chapter? I miss Harry already.

The dynamics you weaved for your characters in this fic are so fascinating. Not just between Harry and Draco, but the Malfoys, and even Ron and Hermione.
Like this part- Lucius gave a dry laugh, though the narrowing of his eyes showed he was furious. Probably more over the insult to Narcissa than the insult to himself, Draco had to admit. In his own way, his father cared for his mother.
Can't wait for the next update!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:24 pm (UTC)(link)
Thanks! I'm having some fun writing Narcissa, who prefers not to act openly and to think about her actions for quite a while, but is a mover and shaker in the end.

Draco definitely will have to tell Harry about the disowning. Whether he will show him the letter is more problematic, and he (and I) have not decided on that yet.

And yes, Harry and Draco's anger will both be back next chapter. :)

And thanks!

[identity profile] kawanale.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Ooh, finally, Lucius has "disowned" Draco. However, it looks like Narcissa actually supports Draco, even though she may not understand or approve of him being involved with another man, but if that man is Harry Potter. Well, well, well, so the ball is back in Harry's court. What will he do now that Draco's plan to get disowned has worked, Narcissa has told Draco she knows Brian is Harry, and Draco wants Harry in his life.

Oh this is getting to be a good segue into the end of this story, no? The danger from the Aurors and homophobics is still there so who knows what will happen. Malfoy Eruption #6? *does the happy dance* Oh yes, do keep the chapters coming!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
It makes a big difference that the man is Harry Potter and Draco seems so happy. If Narcissa really had believed that Harry was a pathetic twit or just Brian Montgomery, she probably would have thrown her support behind Lucius. Rather Draco accept defeat gracefully- depending on an inferior partner- than that he try to depend on that partner and have Lucius utterly humiliate him.

We're actually about halfway through the story. There are still plenty of things that could happen!

[identity profile] tray-la-la.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 02:45 am (UTC)(link)
yeah narcissa!!!!!!! i was hoping she'd come through! harry is so in for it when draco gets his hands on him. *g*

can't wait for the next one!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:25 pm (UTC)(link)
Yeah. Even if Draco starts off intending to be subtle, sufficient stupidity from Harry could push him over the edge.

And thanks!

[personal profile] cheshyre 2008-05-02 03:09 am (UTC)(link)
So, did Narcissa show Draco the letter Harry wrote in Chapter 21, or has there been further correspondence between them and this is a later note?

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
It was the letter Harry sent her in Chapter 21.

[identity profile] lunasky3.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 03:11 am (UTC)(link)
It happened! Yay for Draco!! :D And yay for Cissy! She may be a good ally in the future... But Harry is sooo going down next chapter :D Can't wait to see that!!!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, Draco may try to play it cool with him. We'll see.

[identity profile] beatnikspinster.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
Wonderful! I love the contrast of the Lucius confrontation with Narcissa's. Can't wait for Draco and Harry's next conversation.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 01:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

CotG 23 (aka the Liberation of Draco Malfoy)

[identity profile] inviticus1.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 05:19 am (UTC)(link)
OK ... I've got to be honest here and admit that this is the third chapter in a row that I've gotten to the point of taking notes. NOTES, with pieces copied and pasted that I want to comment and expound upon. I think I've finally figured out that at least one primary reason I do this is that by the time I've gotten to the end of the chapter (even after a second time) I've forgotten what I wanted to say about some of the earlier beauty, especially because you often leave us with a doozy near the end.

Alas, it happened again, with Narcissa's confessions and intuition. She sees through these men so much better than they even see themselves. She wants her son safe and happy and realizes that sometimes there is a trade-off between those two goals; perhaps not in a zero-sum way, but still there is a tension there. Just as there is a cost to Draco's freedom, particularly his mother's anguish, she lets her dragon fly away from his home to find his happiness, all the while meddling in Lucius' "doomed" plans, and you just can't but love and respect her.

Draco's thoughts earlier belie, perhaps, an overconfidence that you have alluded to, yet they made me smile. Father. I will make you crawl ... Free, now, to make my own way in the world, to make my own name—in the end to win the name back when Lucius comes groveling at my feet ... No matter which person I am, the starry-eyed social reformer or the real, true plotter, is Lucius such a fool as to think that not having help would dissuade me? Draco has accomplished what he initially sought out to do in being disowned, and in the process has found so much more for his life, a love that burns and a revolution to fight and he's ready to live.

There was a moment when I had a chuckle and took a while to understand why, i.e., when Draco thinks "I have myself as an audience to perform to, even if there is no one else." Perhaps he can see another reason, in the abstract why Harry "needs" Metamorphisis, at least in the the abstract (later on, should he discover the depths of Harry-dom). BTW, and I know this may sound unappreciative, but I was so happy to read a Harry-free chapter. I have deliberately shied away from unleashing my diatribe on his being FUBAR and the respite from his self-inflicted angst was most welcome.

Finally, Draco's thought of Who can tell how this will end? left me with the warm and fuzzy hope with the possibility of happily ever after (even after the possibility of marrying an producing an heir filtered back in). But I remembered the old axiom of the journey (sometimes) being of greater importance than the outcome. Truer words could not escape from me when commenting on your amazing writing!

Gracias!

Re: CotG 23 (aka the Liberation of Draco Malfoy)

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:34 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I really do appreciate all the time you take to do these thoughtful reviews, which can't be easy; I always end up repeating myself when I leave comments on other fics.

Narcissa came to that point slowly. I don't think these last ten years really prepared her for what Draco would want, because she saw him as very quiet and non-rebellious, and now she's having to revise her initial impressions, painfully. But this last week probably taught her more about Harry and Draco than she would ever have known otherwise.

I'm not sure Draco's committed to the revolution so much as he's committed to Harry. He's much more interested in following him around and helping him fight if that's waht he wants.

You can talk about Harry if you'd like! I am trying to show that he has a more sympathetic side than may originally have been presented, but I don't want to prevent people from giving their opinions.

And thank you again!

[identity profile] firedraygon97.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
Oh wow, a whole chapter with just the Malfoys. I love how Draco can hide his real feelings from his dad, but his mom sees right through him. Ha, and I can't wait to see Draco confront Harry about the letter. Great work! Please write more soon!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
Lucius has not tried to read Draco as closely as Narcissa has. He still can't really accept the possibility that he might be wrong.

And thank you!
ext_33229: replace fear of the unknown with curiosity (Default)

[identity profile] tuawahine.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
I love your Narcissa! She's wonderfully complex and determined and probably Draco's strongest ally.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:35 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

And yes, she probably is. Harry is stronger in moments, but so far he can't maintain a consistent presence.

[identity profile] xelloss-poo.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 07:36 am (UTC)(link)
Narcissa is the total Shit. She is just so AWESOME! So much incredible love for her!! ^______________^

I know that this will just keep getting better and better. :D Oh poor Lucius... though he's only getting what he deserves. :P You should treat your cute lil' Draco's better!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:36 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

Lucius would sniff and ask how he has treated Draco wrongly.
tari_sue: (Draco aged 4)

[personal profile] tari_sue 2008-05-02 09:15 am (UTC)(link)
A rather bitter victory for Draco there. It seems strange that he refers to his father marrying 'some insipid little bride' when Narcissa seems to be the strongest person he knows. I also love the line 'I have grown tired of lying and deception', as if Draco would ever get tired of such things, Lucius is losing his touch :D

In a way, Draco and Harry are quite similar aren't they, they are both a little schizophrenic and always playing different personas, Draco just doesn't change his appearance to do it.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:37 am (UTC)(link)
I've tried to hint at (though I don't know how well I've succeeded) Draco having a much better impression of his mother as his mother than he does from the stories he's heard about her as a young adult. His impression is that she was a lot like the pure-blood girls he knows at first, and only slowly changed into the woman he knows.

Draco has portrayed his love well enough that Lucius thinks he might be tired of hiding that.

And yes, maybe they are. Draco always thinks of himself in private as the same person, though.

[identity profile] ravenqueen55.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 11:03 am (UTC)(link)
Loved the confrontation with Lucius, loved the conversation with Narcissa, loved the house elves coming to say good bye to Draco...loved it all!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you so much!

[identity profile] sofiaottoman.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 04:48 pm (UTC)(link)
Fantastic chapter. I think Draco was very brave. I also have to wonder what his reponse will be to Harry about the letter Harry sent Narcissa. I think it should be interesting.

I hope Harry doesn't think his work is done when he finds out about this, seeing as Draco has achieved what he hired 'Brian' to do. I almost suspect he will.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
The next chapter is going to be complex to write, given everything that has to happen with Draco and Harry's responses, and therefore I am scared of it.

Harry will probably come close to thinking that, yes.

[identity profile] kelahnus-24.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 06:02 pm (UTC)(link)
This was great! Finally after keeping up for so long does Draco get his freedom? Now lets see how Lucius reacts to his son not really caring that he is disowed...hehe

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
Lucius might start to figure it out, but it'll require him thinking through some things he's not ready to think about objectively.

[identity profile] thrnbrooke.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 08:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh Harry is in sooo much trouble now!!! Draco is gonna rip him to pieces!

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:54 am (UTC)(link)
Probably, if Harry pretends not to know anything about the letter.

[identity profile] melonbutterfly.livejournal.com 2008-05-02 09:45 pm (UTC)(link)
*sqeal*
oh, I'm so excited!
Don't ask me why, I guess it's because I think that now Draco will put some real pressure on Harry. Some more. Enough to crack him open, hopefully. (I just had the picture of Harry in a golden egg with thick shells, and everybody who looks at Harry (the egg) sees only his own reflection or rather, what Harry wants them to see. And then there is Draco. With a hammer. And the egg is no more. ... *snicker*)
Yes, I know it won't be that easy, but I can still hope xD
and I have a feeling Lucius won't leave it at disinheriting Draco. And Harry won't be a nice little fledgling and surrender as soon as Draco gets to him. But still.
I'm happy xD

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! Draco now has information he didn't have before, and that might be enough to crack Harry. Or maybe not.

Lucius has already warned Draco this is not the end. Pity Draco didn't take much notice of that part.

[identity profile] martinstjohn.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 01:00 am (UTC)(link)
Yep. It's a humdinger, okay. The wild card has been played. Narcissa is with Draco and now, with Harry. Poor Lucius.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Lucius has set plans in motion that may startle people.

[identity profile] snottygrrl.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 04:09 am (UTC)(link)
finally found a moment to read this. wonderful as always. so many twists and turns. excellent. poor harry, he'll never know what hit him [*smirks*]

a big yays for narcissa!

continue to adore this story.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-05 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

Your writing

[identity profile] bobpotter.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 04:21 am (UTC)(link)
I am so glad to have found your stories.
Your style and talent is rare.
Know that me and a thousand who don't post comments are eager to read your latest updates.
Hugs!
bob

Re: Your writing

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-05 02:56 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you! I'm glad that you did take the time to comment.
ext_14845: betta fish (Default)

[identity profile] fish-echo.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 04:39 am (UTC)(link)
I meant to comment on several of the chapters as I was reading this, but I completely lacked the self-control to not click on the link to the next chapter....

This is fabulous, wonderful, awesome, gah... I lack words. I love me a well-written disguise story, and oh goodness but there are layers and layers in here (even if some of them have simplified at this point). You have portrayed here such detailed characters (especially Draco and Harry, but Narcissa as well) with such complex motivations... I repeat the bit about standing in awe. Lucius is such a slippery man here. I think I understand his goals and motivations, but I'm not positive. It'll be interesting to see how right I was.

I've added you as a friend to better follow this story, is that ok?

I have no idea if you track how people find your stories, but I wandered over here a few days ago from a crack_broom rec)

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-05 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
That's all right. Thanks for commenting now.

Psychological complexity should only increase, I hope. Draco will be forced to face the fact that he doesn't understand his father as well as he thought, though he's on the money with Lucius's reluctance to apologize or change his mind.

And sure, that's fine. Thanks for telling me where you came from.

(no subject)

[identity profile] fish-echo.livejournal.com - 2008-05-05 06:36 (UTC) - Expand

[identity profile] grey-hunter.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 07:40 am (UTC)(link)
Oh good. Now that it's over, I'm looking forward to the end game. :)

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-05 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
Not quite the end of the fic, but the next chapter does resolve some of the issues between Harry and Draco.

[identity profile] cactus-invasion.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 12:01 pm (UTC)(link)
oooo, so Draco finally got disowned! I wonder where this story is heading... :)

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-05 02:57 am (UTC)(link)
I know where I want it to head, anyway, but it's more a matter of character attitudes and emotions than specific actions.

[identity profile] utteramusement.livejournal.com 2008-05-03 05:01 pm (UTC)(link)
Agreed with inviticus1, I'm just dizzy after reading a chapter and can never mention all that comes to mind when reading it!

I love how complex you make Narcissa, I never know what will happen with her.

I'm actually very glad Draco got the letter because it will assure him that Harry was pretending, something which he was only suspecting by now. And Narcissa's words that Harry could even almost fool her can make Draco rethink his notion about Harry's acting skills and take him closer to discovering about Metamorphosis (and maybe get a hint about what Harry needs reassurance with? *is hopeful*)

Err forgot what else I was going to post about ¬¬... Ah! yes, Lucius' reaction about Draco's mock of his marriage! I'm always a sucker for the Malfoys really being in love. I'm sure they can't stand eachother sometimes, but there is no one else more prefect for the other and they know it.

The last to lines felt of-so-very powerful, the strength of his emotions was something I could almost feel right there.

[identity profile] lomonaaeren.livejournal.com 2008-05-05 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you!

I don't think Draco could figure that out all from just a letter. However, he does know that something is up now, and doesn't plan to let Harry slip away again.

Lucius has a more complicated relationship to Narcissa than he lets on.

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