Chapter Text
Chapter 1
In the ever cold and echoing stony walls of the Hogwarts castle halls Harry Potter sluggishly trudged through the halls, trying to get to Gryffindor Tower so he could just sleep… unfortunately life could never be that easy, can it? Merlin’s sake. Why did Mondays have to be such shit?
“Oi, Potter!” An unfortunately familiar voice called, stalking closer to Harry with an irritated sneer on the tall blonde's face.
“What do you want, Malfoy?” Harry asked with a sigh, really not in the mood to deal with whatever petty bullshit that Draco was pressed about this time.
“You know the one thing that I always thought would stay true about you was that you would always give a shit about the little guy. Doesn’t care who they are, doesn’t care what’s going on with them. You would always stick up for the little guy. So what the fuck was Saturday, huh?” Draco seethed, getting a little up close and pointing at Harry in a rage. What specifically he was so angry for, Harry had no idea.
“What are you talking about, Saturday?” Harry asked, absolutely confused about what had happened on Saturday, why Draco was so mad and why it had to do with Harry specifically.
“The Wizengamot vote, genius.” Draco said, as if that provided any clarity about what Malfoy was so pissed about. “That bill had been a bipartisan effort for months and you just let that proxy vote go through, no questions?”
“Malfoy, I have no issue normally upsetting you.” Harry said, hoping to gain even a modicum of an explanation. “But I literally have no idea what you’re talking about. I wasn’t at the Wizengamot on Saturday. Why would I be?”
“I’m aware that you weren’t there.” Malfoy scoffed. “You might not care, but some of us actually give enough of a shit about our family seats to actually attend sessions while we’re still the heir to our family seats before we take on the lordship. So I want to know why you allowed that proxy vote for the education referendum to go through like that.”
“What proxy vote?” Harry asked, getting more and more confused and- in turn- more and more frustrated the longer this conversation persisted. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” He said. And something in his tone, or perhaps his body language made Malfoy pause for a second, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
“You’re telling the truth, aren’t you?” He asked cautiously, his head now swirling with more confused questions than angry ones.
“Yes! I have no idea what you’re talking about right now Malfoy!”
“Potter… be totally honest with me. Has anyone told you that you hold multiple seats in the Wizengamot?”
“What?” Harry asked, equally as confused as Draco, or perhaps maybe more confused. He held multiple seats? When did that happen? How? What was going on? “No. W-why would I?”
“Because you’re the heir to both the House of Potter and the House of Black. You need to be training and getting ready for your full lordship. You should’ve been trained in all of this. Who’s your magical guardian?”
“Malfoy. I am famously an orphan, raised by muggles. I don’t think I have one of those.”
“You have one. Everyone has one.” Draco said, waving his hand dismissively as he paced back and forth across the width of the hall, trying to piece everything together. “This changes my entire perspective of you, Potter. I always just assumed that you… didn’t care, that you were lazy and didn’t want to deal with this. You really don’t know?” Draco asked, looking over at the brunet boy with an apprehensive gaze.
“No idea.” Harry replied with a shrug
“Alright… well then. As much as this pains me to admit it, I think you’re my responsibility now.”
“What?” Harry scoffed, throwing his hands in the air exasperatedly.
“Listen. I don’t like it either, but if no one’s taught you up until this point, we’ve only got a couple years until it’s time for you to take up your lordship.”
“What? I can’t do that! I don’t know any of that stuff!” Harry exclaimed, ever so oblivious.
“Yeah, so I’m going to teach you. Keep up Potter.” Draco scoffed as if what he was saying was the most obvious thing in the world. “Our houses are linked, you’re basically my cousin. I can’t have you embarrassing me like that on the floor.”
“I think I’m getting a headache.” Harry grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose “What do you mean “we’re cousins”?”
“I mean all of the old families are basically related in some way or another. But to be direct about it, your godfather- who adopted you by blood and by magick- is my mother’s cousin. They were super close growing up. In another lifetime, we practically would’ve been raised as cousins.”
“Oh, ew.”
“Yeah, I don’t love it either. But like it or not, you are related to me. I can’t have you being an embarrassment, so, we’re going to have etiquette lessons now, and politics lessons.”
“Am I allowed to say no to this?”
“No, actually. You’re not. So tomorrow, after supper, you’re going to meet me in the Room of Requirement, okay. We’re going to start.” Draco said, posing it as a suggestion when in reality… it was more of a demand.
“Okay? I guess I’ll see you there then.” Harry replied in an unsure tone, looking at the taller blonde with an expression of utmost confusion and mild hesitation
“Alright, then. Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, Potter.” Draco said before walking back down the hall, presumably to the Slytherin dormitory.
“Did I just agree to get treated by… wait, hey what was that adoption thing you’d brought up earlier?” He asked, grumbling when he didn’t get an answer… “Fine then. I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow after dinner.” I mumbled, before heading back up to his own dorm.