The Malfoy Dinner
Somewhere in the Malfoy Manor a clock chimed. It echoed through the empty mausoleum, past the occasional house elf as it cleaned furiously, danced through the grandly furnished abandoned rooms until it reached the small group of four sat erratically around the absurdly large gleaming table and circled them, making the suffocating silence even more pronounced.
Narcissa picked up her wine glass with a lithe graceful grasp and smiled hastily at Harry. After a very long sip, she beamed broadly at the rest of the party. "Well, isn't this wonderful. My favourite person with his favourite person finally here at last." Harry smiled easily at her as Lucius stabbed his entree of carpaccio with grandeur. "It's good to see you too mother." Draco responded when no one else spoke.
The same silence as before descended even thicker this time, thicker than the tense silence that had surrounded them all when a band of house elves in rags and bearing injuries carried in their first plates of a four course meal. Harry and Draco sat beside each other, hands clasped together, not once let go of since the start of the visit, and Lucius sat at the head of the table while Narcissa sat opposite Harry and Draco in some sort of deformed tri-recta-square-angle.
After another hefty sip of wine, Narcissa tried once again to start up a conversation. "So, Harry, how's school? Draco's told us all about you in his letters, but well, schooling doesn't exactly come into that does it?" She laughed politely. Harry chuckled a bit, completely at ease with Narcissa. It was the blonde at the end of the table currently glaring at him that he had a problem with.
He likened Lucius to an angry Yuri Plitsesky. A blond, thin ball of angry. Harry cast a side glance down to Lucy and- yep, there were the angry red anime triangles. "School is actually working out really well. I'm getting good grades and I'm in a good standing in my classes. Of course, I'm no where near as smart as Draco or Hermione, but I'm still doing well."
Draco flushed red at the small compliment casually thrown in and Narcissa stifled a delighted toothy grin, settling for a smug sip of wine instead. "Yes, he is top of his class, especially Potions. He was thinking of doing a Potions Mastery after Hogwarts." Harry glanced at Draco with a sly smile at his embarrassed demeanour. "Oh really? Well, I'm sure whatever he chooses to do, he'll excel at it as always."
Narcissa nodded approvingly. As the house elves clicked their empty plates away and floated in the new dish of quail, Narcissa drained her glass of wine. "So what are your plans for after school?" Harry thought about it as he chewed his fondant potato. "I've never really thought about it." He began honestly. "But I've always seen myself as either a professor or an Auror."
Draco glanced at him in surprise. Harry could relate; he had surprised himself. He always saw himself in a Ministry role, and being a "hero" was his entire existence so what better than an Auror? Someone who fought bad guys, someone good at fighting. It wasn't his favourite thing but everyone always said do what you're good at and this is what he was good at.
But sometimes, when he was alone, he thought about it. And he secretly wished that he didn't have to fight. He loved DADA and the thought of being able to equip people against bad things and bad situations that could easily crop up brought him a greater sense of joy than the thought of being an Auror ever brought him.
"Well, those are certainly admirable professions but both are immensely different." Narcissa commented, drawing Harry out of his pensive thoughts. "I suppose they are. But both, to a degree, would require the same knowledge. If I ever became a professor, I couldn't imagine teaching anything other than Defense Against the Dark Arts."
Lucius scoffed from his vulture-like position at the end of the table, effectively bursting the small bubble of nice they had created around themselves. Harry turned to look at him politely. A steely glint of hardness fortified his utterly commonplace gaze. "Sir?" He prompted. Beside him, Draco tensed as if sensing an oncoming verbal battle. Harry brushed his thumb soothingly over the palm of Draco's hand as he contrasted Lucius' sneer with his own polite, open and encouraging expression.
Lucius stayed silent for a moment, looking slightly thoughtful, weighing his options. "I'm merely stating a point that teaching and being an Auror may require the same knowledge but the methods and practices used are drastically different to each other." He finally said. Well, if he can be civil, so can I, thought Harry. "That may be somewhat true but I don't believe it to be the entire case." He replied smoothly.
Lucius frowned. Narcissa finished her second glass of wine in one quick gulp as she and Draco shared an apprehensive glance.
"How so?" Lucius demanded, rubbing his staff subconsciously as he stared at Harry with what seemed to be less malice. "While being an Auror and a Defense professor may seem to be, on the surface, two entirely different things, they are actually quite similar." He paused to take a sip of his sparkling water. "Both professions require an extensive knowledge of defense and the dark arts along with magical creatures and how to effectively use that knowledge."
Lucius waved a hand for him to go on as he gazed at him with intrigue. Draco stared at his father with open surprise while Narcissa stared at the nearly empty bottle of wine before her. She slowly pushed it away. "The methods of using this knowledge is, as you said sir, slightly different in that as an Auror, one needs to put this knowledge into use daily in the field in an effort to actually defend themselves or others while as a professor there is no imminent danger. As a professor the methods are less practical however you are still trying to defend people. You are merely giving them the tools to know how to defend themselves rather than doing it for them."
Harry finished his explanation with the last bite of his dessert which the house elves had brought in unknowingly to him during his debate, emerald eyes glittering as he discussed the subject so loved. Lucius remained silent as he stroked his chin in contemplation. "Yes, I see the similarities. But I noticed you mentioned knowing the dark arts as well as defense. Surely as an Auror, you would find the Dark Arts abhorrent."
It was a legitimate question. For once, Lucius was not trying to one up the boy or shoot him down smugly. He himself was intrigued by this subject and Harry's argument interested him greatly. Harry leaned forward eagerly, animated. "Oh not at all. I believe that to properly defend yourself against something, you need to know and understand the things you're up against. And besides," he added as they stood up from the table, "I don't believe in the concept of light magic and dark magic."
This really took Lucius by surprise. "Really? The Saviour not believing in light or dark magic?" He joked. Draco and Narcissa stared at each other in horror. "I'll contact St. Mungo's." Narcissa whispered.
Harry chuckled, completely swept up in the conversation. "I can see how that's strange." He laughed. "But really, I don't. For me, there is no such thing as light magic or dark magic. I believe that it is not the magic that is light or dark but that the act that a wizard or witch performs with said magic is light or dark. And even then, the whole concept of light and dark is so vague. Nothing fits into good and evil. You can't just squirrel certain spells into boxes and say there you go, this is what it is. There's the whole moral and ethical gray area of things."
Lucius clasped his shoulder and directed him towards the tea room. " That's fascinating. I completely agree and have yet to find other's who share my view. In the wizarding community, there's a certain view on the Dark Arts that just can't be reversed. Let's continue this discussion over our coffee, shall we?"
[A battalion of medi-wizards and witches arm themselves against a loopy Lucius as they prepare to visit the Manor]
"You're magic." Draco breathed. "Well, I am a wizard darling." Harry reminded him. An hour after the dinner, which went better than anyone could have hoped, and Draco was still repeating the same phrase. "You got my father to apologise for his behaviour. To sincerely apologise for his behaviour." Draco exclaimed. "You're magic." He repeated. Harry rolled his eyes. "I just won him over with my charm and wit." He teased.
"No, you had a non biased view of magic. From the moment you talked about the Dark Arts in a non biased way, you had him hook, line and sunk." Harry had been trying to teach Dray muggle expressions. "Hook, line and sinker, love. And your father, I can't believe I'm saying this, can actually be a rational, normal, civil human being."
Draco shook his head. "No wonder mother called the Healers." Harry snorted at the memory. "I have to say, having a swarm of Healers burst through the door yelling battle cries and waving wands and potions while you're having coffee and tea with your boyfriend's family is quite a show."