Ensorcelled

Fae Touched

           

Draco Malfoy had been having a perfectly normal day. They'd just come back from a mission so Draco and his fellow Curse Breakers had two weeks off for their three month endeavor. He was in the midst of making his lunch when loud knocking on his apartment door disturbed Draco from his cooking. Draco stopped and waited to see if they would knock again or pass as some did when the door went unanswered. He really wasn't in the mood for company. On cue they knocked, almost pounding on the door this time.

"Malfoy, open this door! I know you're home!"

Draco frowned as that sounded awfully like Harry bloody Potter. But why would the "savior" be at his door?

"Why good afternoon to you too Potter," Draco drawled, unamused.

Harry Potter's eyes steeled over. "Good afternoon Malfoy."

Draco crossed his arms as he leaned on his door, purposefully not inviting Potter or his two colleagues in.

Almost reading his mind, Harry snorted in disbelief. "We have a job offer for you." Harry started.

"Not interested." Draco punctuated. However he was unable to retreat as Harry grabbed his forearm. "Potter get your hand off me."

"I will have the ministry lift the seal from your family vault at the end of this year instead of next if you do this job for me." Harry bargained as he let go of Malfoy, knowing he had something the Malfoys' wanted.

The Malfoy Gringott's vault had been seized as a punishment of the Malfoy's for funding and aiding Voldemort in the two reigns of his terror. For five years, all purebloods found to have funded Voldemort and his deatheaters, had their vaults locked up and temporarily seized. They were given a meager weekly allowance coordinated by the Ministry. They, the ministry, had not been near as punitive the first time and this time around, they were going to make sure that powerful pureblood families truly felt the consequences by having the Ministry control the purse strings of their own money.

Draco stopped, hesitating. He did not want to do anything for Potter but to be able to use the Malfoy vault one year earlier... they could finally repair the manor again- to its former glory- minus the deatheater gatherings. And his parents, his too proud parents, they'd be well fed with three meals a day again. "Fine, come in." Draco sharply replied.

The three men shuffled in before the blonde pureblood could change his mind.

Draco put a spell on his food so it wouldn't spoil as he had a feeling that this would be a long conversation. What the hell kind of job did the bloody boy who wouldn't die, have for him? Why him? There were plenty of other curse breakers. Draco grabbed an apple on his way out of the kitchen and took a seat on his single sofa chair as the three aurors all sat uncomfortably close on the small sofa across from him. He didn't say anything as he bit into the apple.

Harry sighed. They'd been told that Draco Malfoy had matured into a hardworking and professional curse breaker... it looked like those people had exaggerated a great deal or just his presence seemed to bring out the old Malfoy.  Taking a deep breath, Harry began with the question that would confirm whether or not Draco Malfoy was even able to take this job.

"Are you fae touched?"

Draco nearly choked on his apple. "I'm sorry what?"

"We have records that indicate you have fae blood."

Draco swallowed the apple piece before he choked on it again. "Well one of my ancestors might've shacked up with a faerie on my father's side. What of it?"

"Your fae blood means you can come and go from the fae realm without worry about the barrier." One of the other aurors said, adjusting his even more boring spectacles than Potter's.

Draco shrugged. "I guess, I've never been keen to really test it out too much. They're not as attractive as books write them to be. They put a very strong illusion on themselves. They're all really strange looking grey creatures. Not nearly as dainty, fair, or glowing as they make themselves appear." Draco couldn't help but say. He'd only once been past the fae barrier to be presented to the court. Every fae touched heir was mandated to present once in court. But being human with part fae made the illusion the fae enchanted themselves with weaker as they could occasionally catch a glimpse past the illusion, and nearly always in the corner of their eyes, where light couldn't play tricks on their eyes. One minute everyone was a beautiful faerie with glittering gossamer wings, long silky hair, and fair unblemished skin, then for a second the illusion would drop as the fae blood kicked in and grey ashen creatures with gnarly dark hair and long limbs took the place of the beautiful people. They looked more like they should be called nightwalkers- something out of a nightmare than a faerie. However the fae enchantment was so strong that it was passed down even to the human offspring, so the "fae touched" offspring were ungodly beautiful, the beauty diluting with each generation, but still there. None of the true nightmarish looking forms were passed on- or was at least visible to human, fae, or fae touched. And he'd looked very hard those first years after he had visited the court.

That one glimpse had frightened him enough to never step back into the fae realm... until he had children and was forced to present the child to the court.

"But you can? Come and go?" Harry pressed.

"As far as I am aware- yes." Draco sighed, not liking where this conversation was going. If they were going to ask him to retrieve a fae treasure- they could crucify themselves. He was not dumb enough to do that. It would be sentencing himself to a permanent imprisonment in the fae realm.

Harry eyed Draco's unimpressed and distracted expression wearily, already knowing that Draco Malfoy was checking out of their conversation. Before Harry lost him altogether, he spoke up. "Draco Malfoy, we need you to retrieve Hermione Granger back from the High Queen's fae court."

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