hackthis_archive (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
hackthis_archive) wrote2005-05-10 08:10 am
hackthis_archive) wrote2005-05-10 08:10 am
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Trade – Chapter VIII (2 of 2)
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Chapter VIII (2 of 2)
--part one--
Draco found himself with nothing to say and he watched resignedly as the car drove away. He felt an overwhelming urge to turn back the way they'd come; it was only three miles, and surely he'd run into a taxi in no time, then he could take a cab back to Blaise where it was safe and spy-free.
That wouldn't solve anything –- but it was very tempting nevertheless.
Draco winced as an evil March wind emerged from nowhere and blew right through him. The sun was making a feeble attempt to come out, but it hadn't been cold like this in Camden, and they weren't even far away. That was the problem with Hampstead Heath. The view from the hill was fantastic, all of London and the BT tower, but as it was a flipping hill the winds were appalling.
Zipping up Blaise's D&G tracksuit jacket all the way, Draco took a deep breath, crossed the street and set off for the top of the hill. When he and Julian were younger, their governess, Miss McGonagall, had taken them for nature walks on the Heath once a week; Draco knew every path imaginable and how to get to the top in the shortest time imaginable.
He and Julian had always raced to the top of the hill at the end of their walk; Julian always won; it drove Draco crazy. No matter what he did or how fast he thought he'd run, Julian was always that tiniest step ahead, which was obviously why he was the spy and their father was dead.
Perhaps the killing was for the best, but it wasn't Julian's place to make that decision. Even if That Insufferable Bastard had said that Draco's father was a bastard himself, at the very least Draco should have been consulted.
He was Julian's twin -- with all the bloody noses, black eyes, and double-entendres that came along with that, he'd earned the right to be apprised of all vengeance killings done in their name.
Draco wondered briefly if Julian considered Harry Potter a vengeance killing, and he paused when he felt a tinge at that thought. He wasn't certain if the ache came from his abused body, the thought of more blood on Julian's hands or the idea that Harry might actually be dead. Draco had wanted him dead; there was no mistaking that, but it was one thing to want someone dead and something else entirely for them actually to be dead.
Draco had wanted Julian dead for most of their adolescence, but the idea of life without his twin was unimaginable. Draco would've been a horrid, insufferable little shit without Julian to knock about, and knock him about in turn. More importantly, however, Draco was getting grass stains on Blaise's spotless Pumas.
Draco grimaced as his feet slipped on the still dewy grass, and then rocked back on his heels as he was almost run down by a woman with a huge, red furry thing that perhaps might've been a dog. It looked more like a tiny pony, and Draco scowled back at the woman's flirtatious smile.
"I can't imagine how anyone could've ever thought you were straight," a familiar voice piped up in Draco left ear, and Draco slid his hands into his jean pockets instead of going with the urge to throttle his brother in public. Turning sharply on his heel, Draco took in the not-terribly-welcome sight of his twin.
Julian was wearing that omnipresent black motorcycle jacket, unzipped, and a pair of dark jeans. There was a slate coloured shirt peeking out from underneath the jacket, and Julian's eyes were covered by black wrap-around sunglasses. Draco scowled at the sunglasses; the sun wasn't even bright. "Stop trying to look covert. This is England not Ibiza."
Julian gave out a low chuckle, but removed his sunglasses and slipped them inside an available jacket pocket. If Draco noticed Julian flinching when Draco stepped closer to inspect him, he said nothing about it.
The dark circles under Julian's blue eyes as well as the stubble dotting his jaw line spoke volumes. "You look like shit," Draco remarked dryly.
Julian just eyed him. "I feel as though we've had this conversation before."
"I wonder why," Draco replied curtly.
Julian licked his lower lip but kept firm eye contact, and Draco could feel the corners of his mouth turning downward in disapproval.
Sighing deeply, Draco motioned for them to continue their perambulation, and it took him a second to realise that Julian wasn't following. The wind whipped past his ears, numbing them, and he dug his hands deeper into the pockets of his jeans and took another deep breath before turning back towards his brother. "Are you coming?" he asked tiredly.
Julian's features were as blank and empty as ever, but Draco could see the tension thinning his mouth and tightening his eyes. His gaze was unwavering. "I did it for us, you know," he said quietly.
Draco closed his eyes. He could do this; they could have this conversation and not fall apart. He –- they –- had to get past this. "I know," he said, opening his eyes as he surprised himself.
He did know that Julian had done it for some good reason, for the only reason they had, their family -- but it still felt wrong. Of course, something about murder always sat wrong with Draco, quite possibly it was the whole deadness of it, which was obviously why he wasn't the spy in the family. "It's not easy what you do, is it?" he rhetorically.
Draco had the answer already: gaol, murder, patricide, lost loved ones and crazy, fucked up prophecies – and yet, his chest ached when Julian lifted his shoulders slightly. "It has its moments," Julian said with a straight face. "And it pays the bills."
Draco nodded in understanding. "Anything to make a living."
The right corner of Julian's mouth twitched, and the pain in Draco's chest relaxed fractionally. Draco scratched his jaw, and nodded towards the top of the hill. "I'd race you, but I reckon you'll beat me just to spite me."
"I do it to make you try harder," Julian said placidly, before coming towards Draco.
Draco blinked, stumbling slightly as Julian deliberately bumped him as he passed by. "Any day now," Julian said, crossing the grass towards the path to the top of the hill. Draco shook his head, letting a tiny smile curl the corners of his mouth upward as he followed his brother.
Their steps fell into cadence perfectly, and their elbows knocked together as they walked briskly along the path, quietly. Their mother would've been shocked at the lack of quarrelling and bickering. "I shagged Blaise," Draco said conversationally after several minutes, and he slowed himself when Julian stopped.
"Did you really?" Julian's tone was deceptively light, but Draco could sense the curiosity. The sun was trying to make itself known, and Julian squinted slightly. His blonde hair was all spikes and angles, which Draco presumed matched his own wind-blown state, and Julian's focus was entirely on him. Draco could feel the inquisitiveness coming off his twin in waves; it made him a bit tense.
When Draco was two months short of his seventeenth birthday, he'd realised he was gay. He'd had his suspicions, fancying Blaise for starters, but puberty was difficult enough with mates and school and football; Draco didn't need to be confused about his sexuality as well.
After growing accustomed to the idea that this was what he was, but not who he was, the first person Draco had come out to was Julian. He hesitated only once, not because he was afraid as much as because he wasn't certain how to bring up the matter in a general conversation.
His entire family specialised in not talking about matters, or if absolutely required, only discussing things in the most vague terms possible, but this was important to him, and so he'd had to say something.
He'd wound up coming out about his homosexuality while sitting next to Julian in the lounge watching Chelsea v Sunderland, which proved to be a horribly stressful match as Chelsea were coming off a losing streak with two losses and two draws.
They had been just sitting there, elbows on knees, perching on the edges of the sofa and avidly yelling at the TV. At some point Draco had turned to Julian and announced, "I'm gay," to which Julian had said, "Yes, and?"
And that had been it.
No questions, no awkwardness, just acceptance, because that was what family did. If you were lucky, your family wanted what was best for you. Regardless.
"Yes," he said, almost hesitantly. Yes, he had shagged Blaise.
"Thank fucking Christ." The grin on Julian's face made Draco feel a bit wary and bashful all of a sudden as though he were exposing himself unnecessarily. He hoped that the heat in his cheeks was actually from the sun and not because he was blushing.
"Yes, well. No need to emote or anything." Draco rolled his eyes when Julian clapped him on the shoulder affectionately.
"It took you long enough," Julian remarked.
Draco glowered, but his brother pretended to take no notice. "And to think I actually missed you while you were away."
Julian made a snorting noise and ruffled Draco's hair, which he ducked away from immediately. "I am not a sheep dog," he protested.
"Yes, the dog is much more attractive; I don't know what Blaise sees in you." A flicker of hesitation crossed Draco's face; he could feel it, and he averted his eyes. There was nothing for him to feel uncertain about. Everything was fine, except for the business with his twin and his father and his ex-lover and his best mate.
Julian seemed to sense something was askew. "I would ask you if you've done something foolish by sleeping with Blaise, but you've always had a thing for him. Although I don't know if it's as great as the one he has for you."
Draco blinked. He didn't need Julian's blessing to start a relationship with Blaise, but it felt as though it were being given for that exact reason. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he rubbed them together and motioned for them to keep going. The sun was warming him up slightly, but the winds hadn't died down.
"I cannot believe you filled an escort service with MI-6 agents," he said conversationally.
He swayed slightly to the side as they bumped shoulders again. "Use your head, Draco; they're simply contacts I pay well. I couldn't very well trot around the globe playing Super Spy if I were spending every other fucking day worrying my family were going to be sent up for running a brothel."
Draco glared at his brother's profile. "It is not a brothel!"
Julian just gave him a Look.
"It is not!"
"I see why you're in charge -- your delusion is second to none."
"I take offence at that."
"Yes, well, you shouldn't be offended so easily then. Speaking of which, while I understand you have one or two reservations regarding my chosen employment, I have to leave again. Her Majesty calls. However, I'm thinking of taking someone with me this time."
Draco paled as they stepped to the side of the path to let two women with prams pass by. He hoped Julian would write it off as anxiety over losing an employee. "You're taking Kingsley?"
Julian looked momentarily perplexed "What? No, he wouldn't come anyway. Too attached to Pansy."
Draco made a growling noise in his throat. "Neville?"
"Theodore."
Draco pinched his nose. "When did I start running a dating service?"
Julian snorted. "And to think, you pretended you didn't want to commit to Blaise because of interoffice politics; you are an idiot."
It was on the tip of Draco's tongue to refute such a statement, and then he thought better of it. For all of his intelligence, without Julian there was no telling what sort of state he would've found himself in, for better or worse. Clearly a twin brother was a mixed-blessing. "Apparently I am – so, who are you making off with?"
Julian's smirk was priceless. "Angelina."
Draco could feel his eyes widening and his eyebrows climbing. "Oh for god's sake."
"Indeed," was Julian's only reply. Draco pursed his lips in disapproval, but said nothing. As much as the idea of being watched by his younger brother infuriated him; Julian had chosen Neville and Kingsley perfectly and he would've been loathe to lose them; except he was also loathe to lose Angelina.
Pansy was going to do her nut.
Draco sighed. "While you're feeling so forthcoming, perhaps you'd like to tell me how Severus just happened to be in Camden, heading in the direction of Blaise's flat, this morning."
"Blaise rang me when you showed up on his doorstep last night. Apparently he was slightly concerned since you were in a wretched, ferret-looking state and you'd passed out." Draco could hear the amused approbation in Julian's voice.
"The ferret thing isn't funny anymore."
"Maybe not to you."
"Yes, well." It took Draco a moment to realise that Julian had taken hold of his wrist and was leading them away from the path and towards the trees.
"I have a favour to ask of you," Julian began when they were well out of normal listening distance.
Julian paused to scratch the back of his neck, and instantly, the hairs on Draco's forearms stood on end. Julian was not the sort to hedge and walk around things; if he wanted something; he got it. Or took it. Or made it happen. He didn't rely on other people; it was just… his way of doing things.
If Julian were asking for something, it would have to be earth-shattering.
Draco brushed his suddenly damp palms on the seat of his jeans. "Done, whatever it is, I'll do it." Draco's mind spun with images of stealing jewels and offing royalty or some crackpot minor dictators. He wondered if he knew anyone who had a shovel and a body bag in case this was about body disposal.
And then the penny dropped.
When Draco realised what Julian probably wanted, his heart began to trip erratically in his chest. He'd specifically told Julian not to murder Harry, but Julian was so contrary he probably thought Draco had meant the opposite of what he said. God, being a Ma -– being Julian's twin was a bloody nightmare sometimes. "Shit," Draco muttered.
Julian smirked. "Just remember, you're the one who didn't let me tell you what I required."
Draco rubbed his face with his hands; he desperately needed a shave, and after this he was going to need more than just one drink; he was going to need the whole bottle. "Sunglasses," he said, holding his hand out.
Julian gave him a peculiar look, but removed them from his jacket and put them in Draco's hands. Draco slipped them on without a word. "Is the impossible glare of the sun too much for you?" Julian cracked.
Draco scowled. "I'd prefer to look as inconspicuous as possible during body disposal."
This time Julian was unable to mask his look of bemusement as he looked Draco up and down. "Inconspicuous? You? You're having a laugh, and at any rate whose body are you disposing of?"
"Who do you think?" Draco snapped. He didn’t have the tolerance left for these sort of games. This emotional rampage with his brother was taking its toll. One minute everything was fine, the next he was in a ten car pile-up on the side of the M25, praying some lorry wouldn't come and kill them all. He could feel himself cracking all over again. He patted his hair absently. "Potter."
Both of Julian's eyebrows shot up. "You specifically told me not to kill him; are you now telling me otherwise, because if you are, then we have a problem."
Draco wasn't certain if the pain in his chest was relief or disappointment. "So he's not dead then? This isn't about me getting rid of his body?"
Julian's laugh was full-bodied and loud. He was, apparently, spectacularly entertained by Draco's query. It was very hard for Draco not to feel put out. "I'll take that as a no, shall I?" he said removing the sunglasses and squinting at the change in his vision.
The world was vastly different behind polarised sunglasses –- it was less harsh and bleak. Everything seemed to have the colour turned down, but now, well Draco understood Julian's love of his sunglasses a bit better. "So, what did you do with him?"
It took Julian several moments to answer as he was still chuckling with glee from Draco's mistaken assumption, but finally he composed himself and took back his sunglasses. "Do you really want to know what happened to Potter?"
"Yes," Draco said matter-of-factly.
The residual smile on Julian's face slipped away. "Were you really that fond of him?"
Draco palmed his hair again, resisting the urge to tug on it slightly. He looked around distractedly, taking in various couples and loners. "I don't know -– I could have been."
"I see. Well, then perhaps it would be best if we left."
"I thought you needed me to do something spy-oriented for you."
Julian's trademark smirk was almost wistful. "As touching as it is that you would do so for me, it's not necessary. Mr Potter and I made a, ah, gentleman's agreement. He has agreed not to tell 'Big Sister' about my appropriations for personal gain."
"You mean Neville and Kingsley."
Julian made a dismissive noise. "Among other things. As I was saying, he does that for me, and I won't tell them that he lost sight of his mission and was going to leave Special Branch for you."
Draco stared at his brother in astonishment. "Do you believe him?"
"About leaving Big Sister?"
"No, about the earth being flat." Julian seemed to take no notice of the peculiarly strangled note in Draco's voice.
"I think the question is whether or not you believe him."
If it were true, then it was quite the gesture -– but that was a rather large 'if' and it didn't mean anything now. Draco immediately choked the little voice that wondered if he wasn't being too hard on Harry.
Harry had lied to him from the moment they'd met; he couldn't be with someone he didn't trust.
He didn't even know Harry Black.
Julian was looking somewhere over his Draco's left shoulder as he spoke. "You know, it's a shame he's so fond of working for Her Majesty, because I could use another partner I can trust."
"You couldn't trust him as far as you could throw him."
Julian sighed. "Perhaps, but I could blackmail him. That seems to create a certain level of honesty in most people."
Draco rolled his eyes. "Only in your world."
"Yes, well, I can only imagine what you'll say when I tell you that you agreed to see him again."
Draco froze. It was though someone had put him in a body-bind. For one brief moment his mind couldn't even begin to contemplate such an absurdity.
And then it moved on.
"Are you mad?" Draco shouted, disturbing the birds in the nearby trees. A woman walking towards them with her terrier paused, took in the sight of Draco and Julian standing opposite each other, turned around, and walked back the way she'd come.
Draco's hands instinctively clenched into fists. "I have nothing to say to that spying, lying, whore-mongering cunt!" he hissed. "He betrayed me! I'd sooner march into Inland Revenue and demand they audit the company! I'd sooner go to the papers with our client list! I'd sooner --"
"Hello, Draco."
Draco went very, very still. The words came from right behind him. In fact, they came over his left shoulder where Julian had just been gazing.
Draco was going to kill his brother. He was just going to kill people full stop.
He didn't turn around, despite being able to actually feel Harry behind him. "You can fuck right off," he snapped, looking Julian dead in the face.
His twin remained remarkably unfazed under what Draco felt pretty sure was his own purely homicidal rage. He unclenched his hands and tried to be rational. If he came home with blood smeared all over Blaise's tracksuit jacket, Blaise would be livid.
He had Blaise; he didn't need to put up with this shite. Except that That Fucking Person was actually talking to him.
"I wanted to bring you your mobile," That Fucking Person blathered on hesitantly. There was a world-weary sigh. "And I wanted to explain myself; I know you probably hate me."
"I've got nothing to say to you." Draco was too busy planning the ways he was going to skin Julian alive to listen to That Fucking Person. How dare Julian betray him by bringing that – THAT – near him again.
There was no honour among spies, or twins. In fact, Draco was now brotherless. "You are disowned," he announced through clenched teeth.
Julian just raised an eyebrow. "How lovely; then I can leave you two to talk amongst yourselves."
"You wouldn't." The word 'dare' was right on the tip of Draco's tongue. He knew it was there, and Julian knew it was there; they both also knew that 'daring' one another had led to a lot of rather troublesome issues.
Julian's smile was all teeth. "Well, that's that, isn't it?" he said, looking down at the sunglasses in his hand as though he'd forgotten they were there.
As Julian slipped the sunglasses on, Draco's heart tripped over itself, and he stared as Julian's eyes were obscured once again. "You are not leaving me here with him."
"I have to go; you know that." There was something in his brother's voice that sounded a lot like resignation, and it made Draco's left eye twitch. Julian wasn't going to leave them to talk; he was going leave leave.
Again.
Severus had said Julian was leaving, but the idea was too traumatic for Draco to focus on for an extended period of time. Draco hadn't expected Julian to actually say 'Goodbye,' they never did, but he needed Julian. He needed his twin: love, hate, murder, disowning, in the end none of it mattered -- but they did.
"You don't have to go, I know that,' Draco protested. "There are lots of places, other places; we can do this."
Julian had just got home.
"You're just going to leave Blaise behind?"
Draco's eye twitched at Julian's query. "What about Mother?" Julian continued. "We could never just leave her."
"Julian." There was desperation there, Draco felt it and could hear it, and he violently shook Harry's hand off his shoulder just as soon as it landed.. "Do not touch me ever," he spat over his shoulder, seeing for the first time Harry's bruised and patched-up visage.
Harry's lower lip was swollen, and he had butterfly tape over a large gash in his temple. That said nothing of the matching black eyes and the cut on the bridge of his nose.
He looked like the dog's dinner, and Draco stared much longer than he should have, but he told himself it didn't matter.
When he turned back to his brother, however, Julian was gone.
--Chapter IX-—
Coming soon to an LJ near you: The last chapter of Trade, Chapter IX. (I concede defeat,
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serialkarma, this requires another chapter)Thanks to
ethrosdemon for being, well, a demon of sorts. The porn is at her demand. It also occurs to me that she's betad some part (or all) of every series I've ever done in every fandom. That's a lot of fucking reading and a lot of support. You don't get lucky like that every day. Huge thanks and adoration also go to
oxoniensis for reading and patience and picking and just being so flipping cool. She rocks so hard, you people just don't know. Soundtrack: Jeff Buckley 'New Years Prayer'; Doves 'The Sulphur Man'; Carly Simon 'Nobody Does it Better'
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