A Priceless Gift

Chapter 1

"Hello?" Harry panted into the telephone receiver. He had been watering the garden when the phone rang and he had to run the whole length of the backyard to get inside to the phone.

"Harry? It's Hermione. You sound out of breath. Did I, er, interrupt you guys again?"

"Pfft, no. I wish," Harry snorted. "His Highness hasn't felt the necessity to drag himself from the depths of his beauty sleep, as of yet. I doubt he even heard the phone ring. I had to run in from the backyard."

"What a lazy arse!"

"He works hard, so I let him get away with it on weekends, though he certainly pushes the limits. It's, what, nearly 11am?" Harry asked and looked around at the clock. "Besides, we had a really late night last night with that function."

"How did it go? Do you think he'll get the promotion?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"It went fine and I think the promotion is pretty much a given," Harry admitted. "He was practically holding court with all the senior partners; they were hanging on his every word." Harry heard Hermione laugh.

"Are you two busy today? I sort of need to talk to you about something."

"Is everything alright, Hermione? You sound... strange; distracted or something," Harry stated.

"Oh, yes! Everything's fine. Nothing to worry about. It's just..." Hermione trailed off. "Look, it's not something I want to discuss over the phone and well, I need to talk to you both together. So, can I come over?"

"Sure, love. Give me an hour or so to get him up and coherent. How about you come for lunch? I'll throw something together," Harry suggested. "Are you bringing Ron?"

"No, he's busy." Hermione's voice was laced with irritation. "This is something I want to talk to you two about alone."

"Oh, ok..." Harry said with a frown of confusion.

"I'll see you about twelve then?" Hermione asked.

"See you then." Harry ended the call.

o o o o o

Harry went into the bedroom and was met with the sight of what looked to be a big lump of green and blue covers piled in the middle of their king-size bed. Anyone could be mistaken into thinking it was merely the bed quilt on an unmade bed, but Harry knew that the lump, in fact, contained his boyfriend who was very much not a morning person.

Harry moved closer to the bed and contemplated what the best boyfriend-waking strategy would be that morning. He grinned widely when he heard the lump was snoring softly. He climbed up onto the bed and knelt next to the lump and started to snake his cold hand under the edge of the quilt.

"Oh, Dra-co!" Harry called softly in a cheery, sing-song voice as his cold fingers connected with his boyfriend's naked bum. The lump gave a muffled grunt and lurched and seconds later a platinum blond messy head appeared from under the covers.

"F'koff," Draco grumbled as he attempted an irritated glare at his green-eyed boyfriend. The glare really was pitiful, however, on a face that was puffy, creased from sleep, slightly green and followed by a wide yawn.

"You're such a cutie in the mornings," Harry cooed as he ruffled Draco's hair further. Draco growled and slapped Harry's hand away. "Feeling a bit fragile this morning, possum?"

"Bugger off!" Draco grunted. "Why are you waking me so early? I don't even smell coffee!"

"It's after eleven, honey, and you will have tea. You drink too much caffeine."

"Fuck tea."

"Oh, don't be a shit, Draco. You have to get up. Hermione's coming over for lunch. She needs to speak to us about something," Harry insisted as he pulled the covers off Draco, leaving his blond boyfriend curled in a ball on the bed, stark-naked. "Here." Harry held out a hangover potion to Draco.

"Just us? You mean no weasel? What's the occasion?" Draco tossed back the vial of potion and nearly gagged on the taste. "Urgh."

"Please, Draco, it's been seven years since Hogwarts. Quit with the 'weasel' shit," Harry scolded and Draco just smacked his lips.

"He still calls me ferret!"

"Yes and it's fucking irritating, considering we've all been mates for years now," Harry sniped. "Now, go have a shower and wake up a bit. I love you to bits, but you are a terrible morning person."

"It's the weekend; I'm allowed to sleep as long as I want. I work-"

"Yes, yes, I know," Harry interrupted. "You work your glorious arse off all week and deserve sufficient rest on the weekends. I heard you the four hundred thousand times you told me before, schnookums."

"Ungh, quit with the nauseating endearments or I may be forced to vomit forcefully all over that ridiculous outfit you are wearing," Draco complained.

"Oh but I so love winding you up, petal," Harry purred and then burst out laughing at the look on Draco's face.

"What possessed you to wear overalls? How did you possibly manage to get them into this house without me noticing?" Draco scoffed.

"I was gardening, Draco. These are old. I pulled them out of the back of the cupboard," Harry explained. "Did you want me gardening in the Prada suit?"

"You're a head case, Potter," Draco grumbled. "The neighbours could have seen you. What would they think of me after seeing you like that?"

"But you love me," Harry sniffed confidently.

"Unbelievably, yes," Draco agreed and then climbed up off the bed and stretched his lithe form, which caused Harry to gaze hungrily at his boyfriend. Draco yawned again and stretched his arms above his head and then reached down and leisurely scratched his balls.

Harry noticed that Draco was sporting a rather prominent morning erection and before he could stop himself he pounced on Draco and knocked him back onto the bed. Harry climbed up and straddled his boyfriend and licked his lips eagerly. He was just about to descend on Draco's mouth when Draco placed a finger over Harry's lips and held him off.

"Now, now, sweetheart," Draco with a smirk, "I distinctly remember you saying we are expecting a house guest. If you require me to be at my best for them, I will need at least an hour to shower and dress. This means no morning fuck. Sorry love. You should've woken me sooner. Besides, you cannot possibly expect me to perform with you wearing that hideous attire. I feel impotent just looking at them." Draco gripped Harry's waist and flipped him over onto his back in one swift movement and then retreated into the bathroom.

Harry propped himself up on his elbows and groaned loudly as he watched Draco's firm, pale bum disappear out the door.

o o o o o

Draco hummed happily and moved his hips slightly to the tune on the radio as he tossed a salad in the kitchen and Harry stood off to the side and watched him with amusement.

The couple had been together since the beginning of their seventh year at Hogwarts. They had bought a house together in the wizarding part of London after graduation and were to celebrate their eight-year anniversary in a few short months.

Their life consisted of both magical and Muggle elements. Generally, they used magic as any witch or wizard would, but they preferred to do certain things the Muggle way. Cooking was a prime example. Draco always insisted food tasted better when cooked and not conjured. They also owned a car and only travelled by magical means when they were required to travel a long distance (because Draco insisted that a Muggle sports car was much more chic than whooshing through a fireplace and getting ash all over his clothing).

Surprisingly, after graduation, Harry spent a mere twelve months working as a trainee Auror with the Ministry of Magic and discovered he hated the work with a passion. With Voldemort dead and most of his Death Eaters either dead or incarcerated, the glamour of Auror work was rather tainted, so Harry had quit after a year.

Instead, Harry decided to follow in Draco's footsteps and pursue a purely Muggle career - he wanted to become a doctor and was now studying the final year of his medicine degree at a local Muggle university.

Draco, on the other hand, chose to be a lawyer the before he had even finished Hogwarts. He originally wanted to work within the wizarding legal system, but he had so many criminals in his ancestry that it proved to be difficult to divorce himself from such blights in his family history. The wizarding world was ancient and some people's values proved to be just as old.

When his father had died back in the summer following their sixth year (by natural causes, funnily enough: death by heart attack due to the stress of being in Azkaban), Draco had come into his inheritance and he became one of the richest men in wizarding Britain.

After his father's death, Draco was free from his father's strict Pureblood ethics and learnt a surprisingly fresh appreciation of Half-Blood and Muggle-Born witches and wizards; he eventually realised that he was no better than the next person simply because of his blood. Armed with a determined ambition and a passion to succeed independently of the old Malfoy connections, along with much encouragement and support from his new boyfriend, Draco decided to study law in the Muggle world and three years later was a fully-qualified lawyer. He was now a highly successful and in-demand litigation lawyer in London and often worked long hard hours both at his office and at home.

Draco's mother still lived at Malfoy Manor and was very much a part of Harry and Draco's life. Narcissa Malfoy had been the first to celebrate following her husband's death and she was quick to encourage Draco to dismiss all Dark thoughts and beliefs. It was actually Narcissa who took up the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts the year following Harry and Draco's graduation and she was now the longest standing DADA professor the school had employed in some time.

The couple also owned a highly successful business together. On a trip to Diagon Alley one day, Harry and Draco were in the Quidditch supplies store when the owner had mentioned he was selling the shop due to family commitments. Draco had merely given Harry an enquiring look and following a nod and shrug from Harry, Draco offered over a cash deposit for the shop.

That was four years ago and the shop was now a booming business. It had expanded and they had a full team of employees who ran the business and Harry and Draco only saw to management issues if necessary. After much encouragement from Ron, they even decided to sponsor the Chudley Cannons Quidditch Team under the shop's name and the team was now at the top of the league.

As for the other two thirds of the 'Golden Trio' - Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger were still a big part of Harry's life.

Ron had a simple desk job at the Ministry, which suited him to a tee. Since Hogwarts, Ron had fallen under the influence of his elder twin brothers, Fred and George and, much to his mother's chagrin, had taken to a life of parties, alcohol, and sex. He wasn't stupid and didn't go overboard and get himself into trouble; however he was a lot more social than his best friends and enjoyed clubbing and partying as opposed to settling down and working hard. He worked to fund his social life and now shared an apartment with Fred and George above their shop in Diagon Alley.

Hermione, on the other hand, continued to be studious and ambitious following graduation and was second-in-charge of the Research Department at St Mungo's Hospital. She took her job seriously and her career was very much the focus of her life.

Despite most of their friends' expectations, Ron and Hermione never succeeded in a romantic relationship with one another. Ron was far too irresponsible for Hermione's liking and she was pretty appalled at his choice of lifestyle. They dated briefly whilst still in school, but had split up after a very short six months. They were all still very close friends, but she didn't approve of Ron's chosen path in life. Harry, on the other hand, didn't really care what Ron did so long as they caught up with each other often.

As it was, Ron went through quite a few girls and hadn't had a relationship since that lasted beyond three months, and Hermione was basically married to her job. She dated casually, but declared it was simply for 'stress relief' and had no plans for anything long-term.

Back in Hogwarts, Ron and Hermione discovered Harry and Draco's relationship purely by accident, and it had lead to Harry getting nearly two months of silent treatment from his best friends.

One night after a particularly intense make-out session with Draco, Harry invited Draco back to his dorm and had begged off dinner telling his friends he was ill and was going to 'lie down' and, in error on Harry's part, completely underestimated Ron and Hermione's concern and protectiveness of him.

Harry had smuggled Draco up to his dorm in Gryffindor Tower thinking he had at least an hour alone with his boyfriend without interruptions.

He couldn't have gotten it more wrong.

Ron and Hermione had been worried about Harry skipping dinner, thinking he 'looked flushed' and 'felt hot'. Little did they know it was because Harry had just come from a heated snogging session with Draco. It didn't help that Seamus had admitted to hearing 'moaning' coming from Harry's bed before he came down for dinner and suggested Harry might be more ill than he made out.

So, Harry's two best friends had cut their dinner short and made their way to Gryffindor Tower to check on Harry.

Thinking Harry to be sleeping behind his closed curtains, Ron had pulled them back only to be met with the sight of a very 'flushed' and 'hot' Harry pounding Draco into the mattress, and Draco giving a whole new meaning to the word 'screamer'.

After the lengthy silent treatment and some very heated interrogations by both Ron and Hermione, Harry had admitted he was in love with Draco and had been seeing him for some time. Although it took his friends awhile to comes to terms with the fact that not only was their sweet little innocent Harry gay, he was no longer a virgin and was steadily dating a Slytherin who just happened to be Draco Malfoy, they eventually adjusted to the idea of Harry's relationship with Draco and came to terms with things and reluctantly made an effort to befriend Draco.

Now the four of them had a very close friendship and Ron and Hermione were more than supportive of Harry and Draco's relationship. As it was, the wizarding world were presently considering passing laws to allow same-sex marriage and everyone truly expected Harry and Draco to marry if the laws were passed. The pair actually considered themselves 'engaged' and wore matching rings reflecting this.

Now, as Harry sat observing Draco's actions, he smiled and couldn't think of anything that would make him happier than he was at that moment.