He made it to his bed suite and Draco had let him go this time. He had a lot to think about and a lot to read through still, not to mention trying to get the hang of Ancient Runes, which had piqued his interest when he'd seen them at Gringotts, and the very difficult Arithmancy. Now he had the added worry of a betrothal set up for him by Lucius Malfoy too, to an older pureblooded wizard at that. There couldn't be many of them left around either if all the women were already snatched up. He was contented and soothed a little with the knowledge that he didn't have to marry them and that he could break the betrothal once he was a graduated adult.
He sat in his own personal sitting room and settled down with his book. He'd meant what he'd said to Draco, he had absolutely no desire to be spanked like a naughty little boy again and he took Lucius' threat seriously, so he sat and he read the tedious books that he'd been forced to buy at the goblin, Nagnok's, and Lucius' insistence. It was going to be a long, boring night, of that he was sure.
Harry had settled in relatively well with the Malfoy family, he thought, even as his back was smacked again with a hex that made him feel like he was being hit with a thin piece of wood.
This time it was Narcissa Malfoy doing the hexing and he had been assured that the hex was a common one used by all pureblooded parents to dissuade their children from ill-mannered habits, as he'd been told by all three of the Malfoys. Draco had even told him some of his more prominent memories of being taught with the hex.
"Keep your back straight, your natural posture is curved because your spine is S-shaped." He was lectured as his shoulders were pulled back and an elegant hand pushed at the lower curve of his back, pushing his hips forward. "You've lived with bad posture for all of your life, it will take some time to get used to, but you will get used to it with some precise instruction. You have the wardrobe, now you just need the posture to pull it off, you are meeting your betrothed in a week, you need to be walking the walk and talking the talk by then or you'll be rejected, so learn quickly because being rejected is a huge humiliation for you and for the Malfoy family."
Harry nodded and he held his shoulders back and loose, as he'd been taught. He took precise, elegant strides up and around the huge rectangular ballroom, Narcissa following him, her wand out and poised to hit him with another smack if he put a foot wrong or tightened up his shoulders or let them slump. It was hard work keeping the posture and it pulled at his abdominal muscles and his back muscles, what Lucius had told him were his 'core' muscles. Apparently, he needed to firm them up and get them stretched and strong because all purebloods had strong core muscles due to their posture. It hurt.
He was smacked on the hip with the hex and he yelped, only to get a smack to the back of the head for such an undignified sound.
"You cocked your hip out." Narcissa told him. "I don't need to explain what the second hex was for, do I?"
"No, Lady Malfoy." He replied softly and respectfully. He liked Narcissa the most, she did not carry a Dark Mark and she had never personally done anything to him, so he was content to behave himself more with her around and the level of care that she took with him actually made his heart hurt…she made him feel, for the first time in his life, that he was missing a mother in his life.
"Good, you are one of the rare wizards who are capable of childbirth, so you need to be elegant and poised, gentle, yet strong and determined too."
Harry took a breath and adjusted his shoulders and his hips, keeping his chin at a right angle to his neck, he wasn't allowed to look at the floor, he wasn't allowed to look where his feet were stepping and he wasn't used to it.
It had come as a huge shock to him when the potion he'd taken had come back positive for the gene that allowed him to carry a child in his own body. He had thrown a fit, been punished, and then he'd denied it twice, refusing to believe the test and claiming that it had been rigged just to mess with his head.
Lucius had had enough of his 'needless denials' and, on his next day off from work, Lucius had dragged him to Saint Mungo's hospital and had them administer the test. It was irrefutable now and the hospital had given him two leaflets and a list of books for him to read. He had been forced to accept that the test was true and he was slowly coming to terms with it. The books were really helpful and informative too, even if he could have done without the moving pictures of the surgery he'd possibly need to undergo to deliver the baby.
Lucius had actually smiled at the hospital results; apparently, there hadn't been a pureblooded man who had tested positive for the genes in a long while, so Lucius had said that he was going to be well sought after for a full marriage because he had tested positive for this gene and not just a mere betrothal when he was actually of marriageable age, that was. Which was any age over fourteen with written parental consent or seventeen without parental consent, with the added stipulation that both parties were no longer in school.
It was also a point of pride for the Malfoy family to have a son able to bear children in their family. Even though Harry hadn't actually been born to the Malfoys, he was constantly being told, and he was slowly coming to understand, that he was a part of their family now regardless and that his actions reflected on them and that their actions reflected on him. His humiliation was their humiliation and his achievements were their achievements because he'd been fully adopted into the Malfoy family. He had even appeared on their family tapestry!
Lucius was still protecting him from everything and everyone, including the media and reporters and he refused any and all attempts to see or talk to 'his son' as he'd reportedly said. Harry was still getting near enough daily owls, but Lucius was a strict man and he had restricted the use of owls for both him and Draco. Apparently, it was uncouth to send out a mass of owls.
So, due to this restriction, the only person that Harry responded to regularly was Remus, because the man seemed genuinely distressed and upset for him. He wasn't concerned about the Malfoys or what they were doing, but about him as a person, so Harry had responded that he was fine, that he was really well and he was happy that he now had a family. He told Remus that he was being taught the things that he needed to know and how he was learning so much. He kept his messages brief, to the point and elegant. Lucius reviewed all his letters and approved them, as he did the same for Draco, and he had even refused to let Harry send out letters in the beginning because 'his handwriting was abysmal and he couldn't have such hideous cursive attributed to a member of his family.' Harry's hand still hurt with remembered pain from the number of hexes it had taken as Lucius had painstakingly instructed him on how to actually write with a quill. His knuckles had been bruised and sore for days, but he had to admit that his writing was a lot more legible now and it was easier to go back over his own notes when he could actually make out his own words.