Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Mr. Potter!”

The guard at the door to Azkaban looked just as surprised as everyone else always did, seeing him outside his own home. These days, Harry hadn’t been out much. The only time he had even left his own four walls was to attend Teddy’s graduation from Hogwarts and he had barely made it through. He was just getting sicker and sicker and there was apparently only one thing that could safe him: his own death.

“Good afternoon!” Harry tried to sound happy, strong. His voice came out as if he hadn’t used it in at least one hundred years. Great. “I’m trying to talk to one of your prisoners.”

The guard gave his pitying smile and nodded. At least one thing was good with this illness: People didn’t really question him anymore. Well, they did, but it wasn’t openly. He could have done literally anything and the witches and wizards would just wait until he was dead to talk about it. So... that was a plus to getting cursed. Probably the only one.

They walked over to the guard station, where Harry had to fill out paperwork. Behind him, his Husky and Golden Retriever crossbreed walked over the stone ground so quietly, as if she was a ghost. Harry had always been sure that his service dog had some kind of magic in her ancestry, though he had never had the energy to look it up.

Once he was finally done, he walked behind another guard who had such a slow pace that Harry was almost about to push him forward. Just because he wasn’t feeling all too well, didn’t mean that he couldn’t walk a normal pace. Though… he was slightly glad he wasn’t running. And he had seriously underestimated the amount of walking. Azkaban was already draining all magic from his core... at least the little amount he had left anymore.

After about five minutes, Harry tried his hardest to suppress his heavy breathing, the guard stopped. The bricks all around them were in a red paint as if the prison had decided to paint everything red just in case there was blood somewhere. Harry hated the look of it, though he didn't say a word, especially as the guard frowned down at something else. A blinking light on his uniform distracted him and he turned back to Harry.

“There’s an emergency, I’ve got to go. Just head down the next corridor to your right. You can’t miss it.” With that he hurried back into the direction where they had been coming from.

Harry had to admit that he was glad it turned out like that, since he had no idea how to get the guard away from the cell. So, he walked down the next corridor to his right and within a few seconds, he stood in front of the man he had wanted to see.

“Potter?!” the voice was tired and the once blond hair looked almost dirty white. The man behind bars clearly hadn’t slept well in the past ten years, when the Ministry did their absolutely unnecessary imprisonment sequence of all the known Death Eater families. Not even Harry had been able to stop that. Draco’s eyes were sunken, though as their eyes met, the Slytherin got up and walked over to him.

Before he could say anything, Harry pulled out a wand. He placed a spell on his crossbreed and put his fingers up to his mouth. “Don’t talk.” He then took out a small vial. “Take this.”

“What…” Draco wanted to say something, but Harry quickly shook his head and sent him a warning glance.

“Don’t talk; just do exactly what I’m saying. Drink this.” He motioned towards the vial. Then he turned to his shrinking dog and put her into a box for bugs. He carefully put it into his robe and looked down the corridor. If anyone would be seeing this, he would be in serious trouble and he doubted that Draco would get away with it. He turned back to his former classmate.

Draco shrugged and downed the vial. Harry grabbed the glass container again and stepped back. He looked the Slytherin over. They probably looked almost the same. Both were most likely about to die, so Harry didn’t feel bad for freeing the Slytherin.

Harry hid the vial in his cloak and looked back at Draco, who had suddenly really big eyes. “You’re turning into my crossbreed dog, Draco. Stay close.”

“What?” It came out as almost a bark. Before long, Draco was on all four and his yellow hair spread over his body. He grew a tail and his face transformed until you couldn’t tell the difference. Well, Harry could. But not anybody else who had just seen the dog Harry had come in with.

Quickly opening the screetching gate with another highly illegal spell, Harry motioned Draco to come out. His ‘dog’ carefully stepped out and looked at him, as if he was losing his mind. “I’m not crazy, if you’re thinking that!” Harry told the dog and motioned him to follow him.

Draco was still clearly skeptical, as he only followed with a little distance and he looked around as if he was waiting for someone to arrest him for trying to escape. Harry waited at the corner and when he turned towards the lengthy distance between him and the door, he found the guard walking towards him again. He seemed to hurry as if the emergency he had just left to attend to was a false one. Harry bite down a smirk and nodded at the man.

“Mr. Potter, are you leaving us already? I guess the meeting didn’t go as well as you wanted it to?” he asked and had once again his nice pitying smile on his lips.

Oh how Harry hated all the pity he was given.

“He wasn’t there.”

With one sentence, the smile turned into confusion and the guard shook his head. “Of course, he’s there. We know where our prisoners are.”

“Apparently not” Harry answered and shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t seen him. There was no one in the cell.”

“What?!” The guard jumped up and raced down the corridor, passing the Slytherin in dog form.

Harry put his finger up to his mouth, reminding Draco to stay quiet. The dog looked at him funnily and Harry was sure that the Slytherin didn’t understand a thing of what was going on. In reality, he also didn’t know why he was rescuing Draco, though his only thought was that maybe… maybe that man could save him.

After a minute, the guard came back. “You need to go to the visitor’s area, Mr. Potter. We need the Dementors to go around, looking for him.”

Nodding, Harry followed the guard, who was walking too fast. Harry felt his lungs burning, as he tried to keep up with him. He bit back a cough, knowing full well his coughing fits would almost never end once they started. Draco walked next to him, giving him a concerned look. Even as a dog, he was able to throw looks.

Finally, they had entered the visitor’s area, where luckily, only three other people were inside. Harry fell into a chair, heavily breathing. It felt as if his lungs had long ago decided not to work on full capacity anymore. His heart was almost punching itself against his chest, trying to free itself. Harry closed his eyes to gain back a little bit of control.

The flickering light and the sounds of an alarm brought Harry back to reality. He saw his ‘dog’ sitting across from him with a tilted head and staring at him, as if he could tell that something was wrong with him. Well, that wasn’t that hard. He had a few problems which were obvious and then a few more which couldn’t be spotted easily.

The guards entered the room. They looked around and Draco in dog form walked closer to Harry, sitting down next to him, though staring at the guards with almost terror in his eyes. He was shivering and a soft whine escaped his lungs.

“What’s wrong with your dog?” an older guard asked and frowned at Harry.

Harry took a deep breath to hopefully regulate his breathing. “It’s a non-magical assistance dog. He’s a little scared of all things magical.”

The guard muttered something and turned back to the others. They talked about something, though Harry really couldn’t focus any longer. He had been out of his house for far too long. His legs felt like he was walking through marsh, and his vision was getting worse and worse. He just wanted to go back home and sleep for the next five hours.

Draco got his attention back, when he pressed his body onto Harry’s leg. Looking up, he found the room empty and only the old guard standing in front of him. Harry got up with some difficulties.

“My apologies, Mr. Potter. My family is praying for you. We hope you get better soon.”

“Thanks” Harry mumbled, far too tired to tell him that praying wouldn’t do anything. Not in his state, anyway. Merlin couldn’t help him anymore. Nobody could. Then again, he was freeing Draco from Azkaban in hoped that he could help him...

Draco looked at him very concerned, though still followed him through the hallways, as the guard brought him to the apparition spot. The air was ice cold and from the looks of the terrified prisoners and young guards, the Dementors had probably just passed here. Harry would have liked to felt a little pity for them, though he really couldn’t master any feelings right now.

With what little strength he had left, he apparated himself and Draco right into his living room. After that, he closed the wards with a flick of his hand. Draco stood there, still in dog form, staring at him as if he couldn’t understand what just happened.

“Give me a second, Draco” Harry said breathlessly, and fell onto the couch. His stomach was turning and his head was about to explode with so much power rushing through his veins. He controlled his breathing again, with whatever exercise he could remember from his days in St. Mungo’s.

Finally, after a good two minutes, he pulled himself to his feet and walked to the kitchen, Draco right behind him. He opened a kitchen cabinet and grabbed a green glowing potion in an identical vial as the one he had given his former classmate.

“Come here, Draco. This potion will turn you back into a human” he held out the potion and the dog walked closer. He sat down and looked up, trying to get the vial into his paws. “No, I need to give it to you, unless you want to lick it from the ground?”

Harry didn’t have the energy to laugh at the angry look the dog was throwing him. Nevertheless, Draco opened his mouth and Harry let the potion flow into the dog’s huge snout.

Draco sat there after a second, and he jumped up and let go of a relieved sigh. Harry chuckled tiredly, he pointed at the small amount of potion still left in the vial. “You need to drink all of it.”

“I’m already back to my old… I have a tail!” Draco stared at the white tail still sticking out of his trousers. He grabbed the vial and downed the rest of the potion. After two seconds, the tail disappeared.

Harry let himself fall onto a chair and let his coughing fit go. The cough was so violent, that he held his stomach, which already hurt from the two apparitions he had done today. His lungs and rib cage had long ago started to get used to his daily caughing fits. He tasted blood and leaned over the floor to not get it all over his things. Draco stared at him utterly shell-shocked.

“I heard you’re not doing good, but this is another level. Are you dying?” Draco asked upfront and sat down on another chair.

With a flick of his hand, the blood disappeared and Harry leaned back in his chair, breathing heavily, though he could feel how closed his lungs were. He nodded and took out the box with his assistance dog.

As his dog returned to a normal height, he turned to Draco. “Last year, I was in a duel with a dark wizard. He threw a curse at me, but the other wizards killed him before he could tell us what kind of curse it was.” Harry coughed and rubbed his forehead. “So, I’m now actually dying and nobody knows how to help me.”

Draco widened his eyes. He gaped his mouth, as if he wasn’t sure what to say. Finally, he leaned back and shook his head. “Shit. I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Everyone is.” Harry sighed and accepted the water bottle his lovely dog brought. He wanted to keep talking, but Draco shook his head again.

“I’m serious, Harry. As much as I liked to mess with you during school, nobody deserves to die like that!”

Harry nodded. “That’s actually one of the reasons why I got you out of there.” The Slytherin looked at him slightly confused and curious, so Harry continued. “I was hoping you could help me research a cure. St. Mungo’s has given up and told me I could go and spend my last few months there, but I’m not ready to leave, yet. I was hoping that with your connections to some darker magic, you could figure out what spell the idiot used on me.”

Draco nodded slowly. “I can try. But what if the Ministry is looking for me here?”

“Why would they ever?!” Harry chuckled tired. “Don’t worry about that. The wards are locked lately, too many people have come by and tried to tell me how sad they are that I’m going to die. If I have one more person telling me 'at least I won a war', I will kill them.”

Harry could see how Draco tried his hardest to keep a grin hidden. He rolled his eyes, though smiled weakly as well. Motioning to the fire place, he continued. “And I took my fireplace off the Ministry network when I retired to figure out what’s wrong with me. The only people knowing how to get here are Hermione and Ron and they’re on holiday again, so they won’t be here for a few days or maybe even weeks. Who knows anymore.”

The Slytherin seemed to inspect him, though didn’t say a thing. Harry got up and dragged himself to a kitchen cabinet. He opened it and grabbed the dragon leather bound booklet inside. Back at the table, he placed it in front of Draco.

“In there is everything that happened to me over the course of this curse.”

“When did you first realize something was wrong?” Draco asked and pulled the booklet closer.

Harry rubbed his forehead. “Almost immediately. I puked once the spell hit me.”

Draco’s eyes grew big for just a second. Harry sighed. He had spent enough time around medical people and others who had knowledge in all kinds of areas to know what such a reaction meant.

“It’s bad, isn’t it?”

“Well, you are literally dying right now, so yes, it is bad.” Draco sighed. “Dark spells usually overpower the body, which is why you probably vomited. Did you keep something from that?”

Harry stared at Draco, disgusted. “Ew, no. Why on earth would I do that?”

Draco snorted over his reaction and held his hands up. “Sorry, I must have forgotten you’re not a pureblood. The vomit could have helped me with figuring out what the spell was easier.”

“How?”

“Each dark spell has a different reaction for the body. Don’t worry, Harry. I’ll help you figure it out. Hopefully before it’s too late.”

Harry nodded and got up with some difficulties. “I’ll head to bed. You are very welcome to stay in whatever room you’d like. Everything in the upper floors is empty; I haven’t been up there in a year.”

With that, he dragged himself to the next door, his lovely assistance dog behind him, and he entered his bedroom. For once, he was feeling like what he had done today was a good thing. If Draco couldn’t figure it out… nobody else could.

He was okay with dying once Draco would tell him there was nothing he could do. At least that was what he hoped.

Chapter Text

Draco watched Harry close the door behind him and his dog. He frowned at the closed door for a few moments, before he turned to the journal in front of him. The leather was very nice and it seemed as if the Gryffindor had decided to buy something so nice that he would at least be happy to take it out of the kitchen cabinet.

Getting up, Draco looked around the kitchen until he found tea and decided to have his first cup of tea in about ten years. Harry had quite a huge tea selection and it took him a few seconds to get through them all and figure out what he wanted. He wasn’t used to getting so much free will and finally settled with the second one he had smelled. It was Turkish apple with cinnamon. Once the boiling water poured over it, Draco had to physically stop himself form downing it that second. It smelled so amazing! Especially after all this time of only being able to drink water or hot water if you were sick. All his senses worked overtime, when he carefully brought the cup to the table and sat down on the wooden chair again. It didn’t smell like cold, wet stones and sweat. No, it just felt like… home.

When he finally turned to the book again, he sighed. Harry was looking very pale and almost half dead. His eyes had seemingly lost all hope and even if he wasn’t per se saying it… he was hoping Draco could save him. Frankly, Draco was unsure he could do that. The Golden Boy was in such a bad state; he could really understand why people wanted him to be in St. Mungo’s awaiting his death. On the other hand, he could also understand Harry who didn’t want to give up hope. Who was ready to die after only almost forty years?!

Opening the book, he found a very neat handwriting. It couldn’t have been Harry’s fast and messy one he had seen at Hogwarts, right?! Draco took a sip of his tea, closing his eyes. He couldn't suppress a groan at the sensation of this amazing tea and needed probably almost a minute until he started reading.

Day 1
I’m feeling sick, my stomach keeps turning. Strong headache, no fever. Mediwitch tried giving me medicine, but my stomach can’t hold anything. Toast is the only thing I can eat. I don’t know why I’m writing that down… Something doesn’t feel right.

Draco huffed and shook his head. Even on day one Harry had realized something was wrong. That must have been quite the curse he was thrown into. He tried to think if he could already figure out which curses start to attack the host body on day one. However, there were just too many, especially old curses that did that. Frowning, Draco turned the page.

Day 2
I’m very thirsty, incredibly tired and my mood is constantly changing. I’m so angry at ‘Mione, but she didn’t even do anything?! What the hell! Eating is getting better; I can keep it down for an hour now. The headache is still here, but also no fever. Mediwitch took some blood. I think they’re also at a loss what I’ve got. That doesn’t look very optimistic for me. Hopefully, it’s just going away again.

Shaking his head again, Draco kept reading. It was always the same thing: strong headache, not being able to keep down the food, a slight fever, sweating. And the mediwitches and –wizards who were pretending everything was okay, though reading Harry’s notes, it was clear that they had no idea what was going on.

There was a full page of all the different potions St. Mungo’s had tried on him. Harry had written all of them in a neatly order and added all the different side-effects he’d had or just the fact that he had felt nothing at all. If this hadn’t been Harry’s life he was investigating, this booklet would have been a very good research paper on the effect on whatever curse he had gotten.

Now, however… Draco realized what a bad history Harry had. All the ideas Draco had… the mediwitches had had as well and they were all documented as messed up failures in this leather bound book. This was going to be a fun ride...

Day 46
I’m forgetting things. I’m so scared that one day I might wake up and think everything’s good. Or even worse… what if I’ll forget that I won the war? What if I’ll run away thinking I’m still being hunted by Voldemort? I’m a trained Auror… they would never find me again!
I’m still puking every time I’m eating. The mediwitch is giving me a potion which is illegal to counteract my stomach’s action. It’s okay, but the side effect includes high fever. I want to stop taking it, but I need to eat.
I’m so tired and I can’t sleep. My muscles cramp every time I’m close to falling asleep. I can’t do this anymore! This is a nightmare!!!

Draco shook his head over the actions of the mediwitch. How desperate would she be that she gave him illegal potions?! He rubbed his forehead, reading through more of the same thing.

Harry couldn’t sleep, he was always tired, some days his headache was less than others. His fever was coming and going with no real reasoning and his muscles were crazy. Some days he was feeling nauseous and others he felt as if he could get out of St. Mungo’s at any second. He had swollen legs, arms and feet and then some days he could get up and walk half an hour without any problem.

Day 67
St. Mungo’s is letting me leave. That took forever! But I’m not good now. They’re just tired of dealing with me, I guess. And I hadn’t had any symptoms for three days. That doesn’t mean that I’m doing okay. I know there’s something inside me that’s changing me somehow.
I can’t breathe right. And this morning, I was coughing blood. The mediwitches ignored it. At least I think they did. And I’m getting so paranoid… At least my memory is still on my side. My hearing is getting worse, though. And my eyes as well, though on bad days I’ve always had problems with them.
The Aurors have given me sick leave until I’m back on my feet. I’m probably going to die first, right? Is this how I will die? Living in pain until I finally succumb to it?!
No. Absolutely not. I will find a cure to my painful living. And if it’s the last thing I’ll do.

Draco took a sip of his now cold tea and stared at the next page. Harry had drawn a few animals, not perfectly as the porpotions were slightly off, though Draco liked to see that the perfect Savior had apparently also problems with other things. Still, this was getting worse and worse. He had never heard of a specific curse taking so many different ways to hurt a person.

Day 68
Let’s add visions to the growing list of things this curse is doing to me. I saw Dumbledore walking into my room. I’m pretty sure he’s dead.
That’s all for today. Too tired to research more. My energy levels are leaving me so fast, I’m sleeping for the most part of the day. If I were to die in my sleep, that would be nice. Goodbye cruel world.

Obviously, he didn’t die. Draco had already read three ‘come get me, death’-messages. It was weird to read these, knowing that Harry had always made it. He also questioned whether or not he actually wanted to die. Whenever he was writing things down and it was a good day, it looked as if Harry was genuinely trying to figure out how to get rid of this curse.

Day 107
Back in St. Mungo’s. Yay. My eyes hurt badly, I can’t really write, anyway. I’ve still got a fever, my stomach still can’t keep shit together and my muscles hurt. I can’t walk even one step. There’s now blood coming from all holes. Mediwitches think I’m bleeding on the inside, they haven’t found anything.

Draco rubbed his forehead again. Whatever this curse was, it must have been a strong one. Maybe he also needed to sneak into the Manor’s very own library and find a few books there. He wasn’t sure what the curse was. All these symptoms could mean everything. Dark curses, especially old ones, had an array of different symptoms just so that nobody would ever figure out what the curse was until it was too late.

It must have been a very powerful and torturous spell if it lasted for over a year, especially since the original wizard was apparently dead.

Day 108
Symptoms: fever, headache, tiredness, bloody cough, nausea, muscle pain in my legs, vomit, hearing loss, hair loss and shortness of breath.
I just want to die.

Draco sighed and closed the book. He needed a break of this: it was all just so disheartening. Harry was really going to die, wasn’t he?

Before he got up, he realized that something had fallen out of the book. It was a letter sent with Muggle post, it seemed. It was addressed to Harry coming from none other than Hermione Weasley. It looked as if Granger had married the Weasel. Draco debated whether or not to look into the envelope. It really wasn’t what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to read the book Harry had given him and find a cure. Reading a letter that fell out of the book seemed a little personal. Then again… the letter had been inside the book. Maybe it contained something important…

Carefully, Draco let the piece of paper slip out and opened it. It was dated only a few days prior to today.

Dear Harry

I hope you’re doing alright! Well, better than before. I’m sorry we didn’t stay for the aftermath of your angry outburst and I hope your hand is alright. It looked like the shard of glass got stuck in there.

Anyway, you know Ron and I only want what’s best for you. You’re weak, you lose conscience (I saw you fall on the floor at least twice) and your magic is getting more and more unstable. I’m afraid you’re going to hurt yourself if you keep staying in Grimmauld Place twelve alone. I know you don’t want to live with Ron’s parents for whatever reason and you don’t allow us to move in. What I don’t understand is why you didn’t let Teddy live with you, he did offer to stay! You need someone around yourself who can keep an eye out for you. It’s just not safe.

And I didn’t tell you to go to St. Mungo’s because I want you to die. But they have good potions and the best doctors in the world. They would be able to find something, if there was anything wrong with you.

You know I’ve been researching every second of free time I get! There’s just nothing that has all your symptoms! Maybe you just think that all of that is part of one curse, but your mind is just playing tricks on you.

We’re going on a holiday for a few days, so you can let off some steam. Once we’re back, we’re coming by again. You’re still our best friend and neither Ron nor me would let anything happen to you, you know that, right?

Just because Ron got promoted to Vice Head Auror a few months ago, doesn’t mean that we’ve forgotten about you. Heal your hand, get yourself together again, and we’ll see you in a few days.

Love, Hermione

Draco just stared at the letter and blinked confused. There was so much in this short paper that felt so… dramatic, so wrong. They left Harry alone when he hurt himself and then told him that they were afraid he was going to hurt himself? How was that logical?

And Harry had already written that St. Mungo’s had given up on him a few months ago, why would he trust them again? And mostly… Granger thought it was all just in his mind?! This woman had no idea what old dark magical curses could do! People died out of fear, they ran away, some even ate themselves!

There was no limit to what an old dark magic curse could do to you! Draco shook his head. No wonder Harry had decided to break him out of Azkaban, after reading this letter. He would have probably done the same thing.

Draco also wondered if Weasley getting the position as Vice Head Auror had anything to do with Harry being on sick leave and the Ministry deciding that someone should get that promotion and it then just turned out to be him. And the audacity of these two Gryffindors to tell him that they’d go on a trip and leave him behind…

Shaking his head, Draco put the letter back into the envelope and shoved it somewhere between the pages. He had always thought that the Golden Trio would be a little bit more… friendly to each other. Helpful, even.

Getting up, he decided to take a look around Grimmauld Place 12. He hadn’t been here in a very, very long time. And maybe he could also find some clothes that weren’t the Azkaban Prisoner outfit. He didn’t need to make it that obvious that he had escaped the high-security prison.

Chapter Text

As Harry awoke, he stared at the ceiling and waited. He wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, he just knew that something was coming. Maybe it was death. Or maybe he was just a little bit overly dramatic.

Yet, once again, the mysterious figure of death didn’t appear and Harry sighed quietly. The thing that did appear was his constant companion… the headaches. As he rolled to his side, his lovely dog seemed to realize he was awake and immediately stood by his side.

“Hey, darling. Time for dinner?” he asked and smiled at the loyal dog, wagging her tail. He cleared his throat and coughed heavily. There was no blood… so slightly better than before.

He sighed as his feet found the ground and he got up, carefully. No blackouts, so that was still good. He could even make a few steps without breaking down. How surprising, seeing as he had walked much more today than he had done in probably the last few months. He did have a few sore muscles, though that could have been because of a few different reasons.

When he opened the door, he found his kitchen empty, though the journal was in a different spot. Harry checked the book mark and found Draco hadn’t even made it half way through yet.

“A lot more to come, isn’t there?” he asked his dog. She only wagged her tail and Harry chuckled tiredly. Before he started cooking for himself, he gave his cute Husky-Golden Retriever her food – which, yes you shouldn’t do, but some days he couldn’t care more about how to treat the dog perfectly.

When he was in the middle of cooking, the door opened again. Harry turned around and saw Draco walking in. He was dressed in white jeans, a loose, dark green shirt and had his hair up in a knot. He looked so much more alive than in Azkaban.

“Looks like you found Sirius’ secret stash of clothes” Harry commented and grinned, though he knew that Sirius would have never worn white jeans. He must have found them in one of the other rooms.

Draco chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “There’s a lot of pureblood robes and clothes up there. It’s almost creepier than in the Manor. I’m glad I found something that I would actually wear.”

Harry chuckled as well and turned back to the meat in the pan. He checked it and added the pasta into the water. When he looked back at the Slytherin, he frowned at Harry. “You’re okay?”

“Don’t worry about me” Harry answered and smiled. “Today is a good day. I would like it to stay like that actually.”

“And what exactly is a good day?” he asked, sitting down by the table and pushing the journal to the middle.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, as he added the cream to the sauce. “Anything from me being able to get out of bed to just laying there and not being in too much pain.”

When he looked over his shoulders, he could see Draco shaking his head, though he seemed to be more in his own thoughts. They were silent for a while, during which Harry continued to cook the pasta and check up on the newest addition to this household from time to time.

“How did you get this curse?” Draco asked finally and frowned then. “I mean, what happened before?”

Sighing, Harry stirred the pot with the pasta again and turned down the gas for the meat and sauce. He walked over to Draco and carefully sat on the opposite side of him. “We were looking for a dark cult which was abducting Muggles. When we found it, this one guy was running away and I went after him together with three other Aurors. He apparated away and I just about caught his ankle. So it was just me and him.” Harry shook his head, when he remembered this evil grin on his face, as if he had wanted this to happen. “Luckily, I had a trace going on myself and the Aurors found me. But it was already too late – he cursed me right when one of the other Aurors cast the death curse.”

Draco widened his eyes. “The other one just killed him? Don’t you have regulation for kills?”

“We do, yes” Harry rolled his eyes. “He was in Azkaban for a month. Though, I don’t really know how it’s changed him, since I had to kind of deal with my own shit after the curse.”

The Slytherin was really in his own thoughts, since he nodded absentmindedly. Harry smirked and got up again. He sure was glad that his arms were so strong, since he could hold himself up that way best. His legs were still not entirely trustworthy.

He looked over the food and placed the colander in the sink. With a flick of his hand, the pasta flew there and fell into the sink. The loud crash brought Draco out of his mind and Harry chuckled.

“Sorry about that” he grinned. “My magic’s not what it once was.”

“Yet you can still do wandless and soundless magic? That’s still impressive” Draco answered, getting up to finish the job Harry had wanted to do with his magic.

Harry smiled weakly as he let the meat and sauce float over to the table. “Then you would have been stunned by my magic use before I got sick. I could do all kinds of things.”

The Slytherin walked over and placed the pasta onto the table. “Such as?”

“Shooting fire from my fingertips, I even got the hang of how to charge my phone with my magic. That was an awesome day.”

Smirking, Draco shook his head. When Harry grabbed a serving, Draco frowned at him. “You’re eating even though you might throw up again?”

Harry nodded. “The mediwitches figured out one potion that’s helping me keeping almost all of the food. It’s not a good potion, but I’d rather have this than having to try other things that ultimately will all fail.”

“How do you know that they will all fail?”

“I have quite a lot of experience with failing experiments.”

They ate in silence, though it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence and Harry did enjoy not having to eat alone anymore. At least not for the next few days. He was hoping that Draco would figure this whole thing out very fast. Even though, it was unrealistic.

He thought about the way the curse hit him so suddenly. How it felt when he was on the floor in pain. It was as if the whole world stopped existing. It was only him… his body and the new found pain. So much pain!

“I wasn’t even supposed to be there, that day.” Harry played with the pasta on his plate, when he said it. He felt Draco staring at him and looked up.

The Slytherin swallowed the food and narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean?”

Sighing, Harry rubbed his forehead. “I took over Ron’s hours. Hermione went into labor and Ron was panicking. I just told him to go and I would take over the kidnapping case.” He stared at his plate. “I could have been fine had I just decided not to be such a good friend.”

Draco shook his head. “But then you’d have the same guilty feeling Weasley’s having right now. I’m sure he feels terrible for your accident.”

“I doubt it.”

Harry saw the Slytherin hiding a smirk. He was terrible at it. “Harry, I am pretty sure your friend feels as if he’s the reason you’re in this situation. Weasley won’t just accept that your life now sucks and he’s got his wife, children and happily ever after.”

“He doesn’t look like he feels guilty, though. I think he’s just glad it wasn’t him.”

“Don’t say that, Harry” Draco shook his head and smiled at him. “Maybe you’ve just been in this state too long so it’s normal for him now.”

Harry nodded weakly. That could very likely be true. He still didn’t like the fact that Ron sometimes pretended that everything was normal between them and then in the middle of a sentence realized that Harry couldn’t really go out and drink or do something else his friends were doing.

He opened his mouth to say something, when a loud rumble in his stomach stopped him in his track. “Shit” Harry commented and got up. He headed over to the toilet next to the entrance door and let go of what he had eaten today. The potion was still on the kitchen counter. He had totally forgotten to take it.

When he finally turned back to the table, he leaned at the door frame. His lovely dog walked up and sympathetically rubbed herself against his leg. Petting her head, Harry sighed. “So, do you want something of that?”

“What, no, that’s disgusting!” Draco wrinkled his nose. “Why in Merlin’s name would you ask that?!”

Harry couldn’t stop himself from letting go of a tired chuckle. “I thought that’s what you wanted to have when I first vomited.”

“That’s entirely different, Harry” Draco snorted. “The very first reaction to the curse is the most pure reaction. Right now, your body is trying to fight the curse and there’s a lot of things coming out. If I had a piece of the first vomit, I could…”

“Stop it, Draco.” Harry held up his hands. “That is disgusting. But thanks for the explanation.”

Draco smirked a little. He seemed very worried. When Harry wanted to grab things to clean up, the Slytherin held him back.

“Go and relax, Harry. I’ll clean up here.”

Harry looked at him and raised his eyebrows. “Are you sure?”

Draco nodded and presented him with a smile. “Absolutely. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thanks.”

Chapter Text

After dinner, when Harry had once again retired to his room and Draco had cleaned up the kitchen, he sat down by the kitchen table again and sighed. He really wanted to help the man who had broken him out of Azkaban, just thinking that he had done that was unbelievable to Draco. However, he truly wasn’t sure how he would do that. The only thing he could think of right now was to keep researching. And so, he pulled the journal closer one more time.

Day 109
I’m constantly dizzy and about to throw up. I don’t even know where up or down is. My head is killing me and I think I’m having a fever again. The mediwitches are freaking out. They try to be calm and all, but they probably think that my ears are still messed up. As soon as the door is closed they scream at each other.

There was a line there, as if Harry had tried to continue writing, but his dizziness didn’t let him. On the next page was a list of different illnesses. The headline was Illnesses the mediwitches have tried to put this on. Next to that were all the symptoms and other things written down.

Draco shook his head and turned the page.

Day 110
It’s a curse, not an illness, dear mediwitches. Try to find what this curse did to me, not what kind of illness I’m having. I can’t walk at all. My muscles are freaking out, I’m still a little dizzy and whenever I want to get up, I’m blacking out. Even sitting up is a pain.
I’m slurring my speech, even though I can think well. My writing is getting less and less controlled. I hope I can finish this journal before I’m just a shell of myself. I’m so weak, I get bruises only from people touching me.

Draco had to be honest that the usually neat handwriting had gotten a little bit out of control, but it wasn’t bad. And as he turned the page, the writing was back. Neat, tidy, incredibly controlled.

For the next few hours, he read about Harry’s worsening condition. He was getting black spots all over his body, couldn’t feel his legs on some days and sometimes, all he could do was lay there and he had only enough strength to write a sentence in the journal. His eating was still not getting better and all the potions the mediwitches tried didn’t work – even illegal ones.

Harry had also written down a list of all the illegal potions he was getting and once again, he wrote down all the side-effects and problems with the potions. None seemed to work.

Day 134
They’re letting me go again. Can I sue St. Mungo’s for being unprofessional? I’m nowhere near good! I think they’re just washing their hands of me. When I die, they at least can’t be talked down to.
At least it’s one of my good days. I even tried climbing down the stairs to the cellar and I got back up without having to cough blood.
Kingsley also came by and gave me my official note. Apparently, since I have been gone too long, they decided to retire me. Thank you, Aurors, for taking away my only goal in life. So now I can actually die, because I have nothing else left. Fucking idiots!

Draco closed his eyes. He knew too well how it felt when everything was taken away from you. Before he had been arrested for crimes he was born into, he’d had a small book shop in Diagon Alley. Nothing fancy, but something small and sweet for the occasional lost soul wandering the back streets. They had ripped it away, when he was thrown into Azkaban.

Day 138
Symptoms: headache (which is apparently never going away ever again), more hair loss, eyesight loss (temporarily), vomit (also probably never leaving me ever again) and a slight fever. Today is a good day.
So, today is the best day! Ginny came by and she handed me a puppy! It’s a Muggle service dog, apparently and she’s trained to help people who can’t walk that well. Her name is Nora and she’s a Husky-Golden Retriever Crossbreed. She is the cutest thing I have ever seen!
Ginny helped me with making the house service dog accessible. I cannot believe she’d do something like that for me! I’ve given up on life, I think. But now, I have something to live for again. I will fight again. For my cute angel on four legs Nora. Thank you Ginny! You are my very own savior.

Draco had to smile. So her name was Nora and after four and a half months, Harry seemed to get some hope again. Just for the dog. That was somehow really cute. And he also blessed Weaslette, who seemed to realize rather fast that Harry wasn’t doing well and had the best idea ever. He did doubt though that Nora was a Muggle dog. From what he had seen, she must have some kind of magic in her ancestry, since she seemed more like a Soul Dog than a regular assistance dog.

Turning back to the book, Draco continued reading about all the symptoms, the bad and good days Harry was having. The further he got, the clearer it was that a good day could simply consist of a day without a headache or a day, where he could walk again.

His body seemed to be slowly decaying and destroying itself from the inside. It seemed as if there was nothing he could do.

Day 221
My taste has returned, thank God. I found my interest in cooking again, whenever I find the strength to do something for longer periods. I still can’t keep things down for long, but I really enjoyed eating. Luckily, I don’t have to stop.
Other symptoms today are: slight fever, no headache (finally!), for some very weird reason, I’m really horny. But I’m too tired for anything… that makes no goddamn sense… Whatever this weird curse was, it’s messing with me and I hate it.
I’m still coughing blood and the visions have continued. Last night, I had a nice discussion with Sirius, who was sitting by my bed. I’m not sure I want these visions to end, though I know I’m slowly losing my mind and that shouldn’t happen.

A few pages later, Draco found a list of different curses, some of which he had never heard of. The list was several pages long, all just white sheets of papers, glued into the book. As he read over them, he found that Harry really had done his research. He had written all kinds of symptoms next to the curses, circled the ones he’d had and crossed some curses, which were probably not the ones he had. However, at the end, Draco could read an almost illegible sentence. Nothing here has everything I’m going through: It must be something widely unknown.

He kept reading, just hoping for something that would shed light into this whole situation. There was nothing. Nothing made any kind of sense. What kind of curse had this man thrown at Harry that made him go through something like this?!

Day 259
Hermione wants me to go to therapy. I can’t walk. I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to walk again. My muscles have stopped working; I’m in constant pain in my lower body. My stomach is making summersaults; it feels like it. I haven’t been able to eat; Neville came by and showed me how to eat through a tube. That’s working slightly, but I’m still sick once I ate. I’m so nauseous, I’m blacking out almost five times a day.
So, no, Hermione. I’m not going to therapy. I need to get better first. At least I have Nora, who has been nothing but helpful. I’m so glad I have her. She’s the only thing that keeps me going on days like these.

Draco sighed. How had Harry lived through this year?! He was sure that if it had been him who’d had this curse thrown at, he would have researched how to end his life. Especially with it being eight and half a month or something like that.

He really hoped, he could help Harry somehow, though he doubted it more and more. With every new entry he read in this damn book, he started to doubt his own knowledge of dark magic and all the courses his father had taught him as an adolescent.

Day 298
How is this going for almost three hundred days?! Is there ever an end to this?!
Symptoms: sore throat, bloody coughs, loss of hair, breathing problems, my knees hurt and my ears are closed again.
What I don’t have is a headache and a fever. And my walking has finally returned, who knows for how long… I think I just have to appreciate what I’ve got right now and not think of the future. That’s going to end in a disaster anyway.
Hermione and Ron announced they’d be coming by every Wednesday and Ginny and Luna want to look after me every Sunday with Neville joining them once a month. That means it’s bad, right? If my best friends decide to come by more often to spend time with me? That means I don’t have long to live.

The list of symptoms kept growing. There was almost everything Draco had ever read on this list from stomach ache to tinnitus. And all the things Harry had tried to counteract them and then all the ways he had miserably failed.

Harry also seemed very convinced that he was going to die any day now, with his best friends spending so much time with him. On some days, Draco read almost a note telling the reader what a nice life he’d had – as if he was saying goodbye. On other days, the entry was full of memories and things he probably didn’t want to forget.

His good days were getting so rare that Draco was suddenly surprised an entry with a beautiful handwriting.

Day 323
What a good day. I have no headache, no fever, no real pain anywhere. I could even eat without the tube and my stomach kept… well, most of it. Did I do something different? Am I getting better? Please let me get better! Whoever is hearing my prayers, I just want to live without all this pain.
I took Nora out for a walk. A walk! It went so well, I even bought myself some ice cream and I kept it! Does that really mean something? Or am I getting worse again?
My ears are hurting a little, but other than that, I feel great. I went to say hi to Ginny and she was losing her mind, but she quickly brought me home. No need to overdo it, right? Apparently, she read somewhere that if you’re dying, it could happen that your body pulls all the strength left together for a few final memories.
Thank you so much for this uplifting notice, Ginny. Really helped me in not thinking about my death… Anyway. Let’s hope it stays like this for a few more days or maybe weeks…!

Chapter Text

Harry woke up in the middle of the night to his stomach rumbling and hurting like hell. He rolled to his side and pushed the blanket around his hurting body part, so it was a little supported. Groaning, he pulled his legs closer.

Not the best start to a new day, but also by far not the worst one he’d had. Then again, he had almost a year’s worth of bad mornings, so maybe it was time to finally do something about that.

Draco was his last chance. If he couldn’t help him or at least find out something that would make his life more livable, he wasn’t going to continue. This curse was killing him anyway. What was the big difference between him just deciding to end it early than to just wait it out? Then again, there was so much he had wanted to do in his life.

And what of that had he really done?! He had worked with the Aurors, gotten a lot of money and went drinking with his work buddies and Neville once every other week. He ate lunch with Ginny and Luna every Sunday and spent the evenings of whatever Sunday he didn’t have to work with Hermione’s and Ron’s family.

That wasn’t the life he had wanted to live. He wanted to see the world, travel the continents, see things he had never seen before! He wasn’t even supposed to live past his second year, now he had defeated the death curse twice and what had he done with it? Nothing. His past self would have probably been mad at him for that.

Or maybe not. All he had wanted to do when he was younger was fight as an Auror, which was what he was doing. So his past self would probably be proud of him dying as a result of being chased down by a criminal.

He wasn’t. He wasn’t proud or happy to die in a matter of months, just because he had taken up a dangerous job. If he ever got well again, he was definitely going to travel more. He was already thrown out of his job, so nothing was holding him back.

Since the pain in his stomach wasn’t really getting better, Harry decided to just try and get up. Hopefully today was another good day. He wouldn’t like for Draco to see him go from a very good to a very bad day.

Luckily, he could get up without much problem. Nora seemed to realize that he was awake, as she got up as well and wagged her tail.

“Hey, darling. How are you doing?” He petted her head and smiled softly. She would probably also enjoy seeing the world.

As he walked out of his room, rather surprised that he could walk without any problem, he found Draco fast asleep over his journal with the kitchen light on. He had almost reached the end of it, though from the looks of it, he had probably forgotten everything he had read the last few pages. Smiling softly, Harry walked over to the cupboard.

The Slytherin had his head on his arm which was sprawled over almost the entire width of the table. His breathing was calm and he almost looked peaceful, though even in his sleep he didn’t seem relaxed. Harry thought that maybe it was the ten years in Azkaban. Sirius had gone crazy by that time. It was rather weird that Draco was doing so well. Then again, they had stopped only using Dementors as guards, so maybe these two men couldn’t really be compared with each other.

Harry started to make his stomach tea, when he heard a sound of someone waking up. As he turned, he found Draco rubbing his eyes and yawning.

“I hope I didn’t wake you” Harry said, seemingly startling the Slytherin. There was a hint of fear in his eyes for just a second, before it was gone again, replaced by an incredible warmth Harry had never seen before. Especially not on this man.

Draco yawned again and shook his head. “What time is it?”

“Around three.”

Frowning, Draco turned to Harry. “Why are you awake, then?”

Harry didn’t even need to check the time; he always had problems at three am. Sometimes, he would just wake up and fall asleep again, though usually, it was something worse. The only reason for this phenomenon he could come up with would be that he was cursed at three in the morning. Not many knew that he was awake during the night, mostly because he knew he already scared a lot of his friends.

So, he quickly explained to Draco why he was always awake during the night.

“How long has this been going on?” Draco looked very concerned. With the lack of a good night’s sleep his pureblood mask wasn’t entirely there, though it could also have been the imprisonment having changed him. Harry had to admit that he hadn’t seen much of the emotionless mask yesterday. He seemed rather open about his feelings.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry looked at the boiling water and poured it over the tea, watching it settling down. “Ever since I got cursed, I believe.” He remembered how in St. Mungo’s everyone had just thought it was the cause of some kind of medicine he had been given. Nowadays, they didn’t even check anymore.

Draco chuckled. Harry narrowed his eyes and turned to the other man in his kitchen. Was he actually laughing?

“That’s a good thing, Harry!” He looked down and turned a few pages back. Before Harry could even ask what he was talking about the Slytherin turned the book and showed him the list of all possible curses, Harry had written down. “It eliminates about two thirds of all of these.”

“What are you talking about?” Harry was still incredibly confused, maybe coupled with the fact that it was three in the morning. And also that something sounded so much like hope and he was sure that he had forgotten what hope felt like.

The Slytherin grinned and put a book mark into the journal, before he closed it. “It means that your curse is a kind of ‘origin’ curse. It has to find a way to connect to the curse almost a year ago and only then can it continue. If we break the connection to the origin, the curse will just go away, like a bad meal.”

Harry stood there dumbfounded. It sounded so easy! There was just one problem… “But the original caster is dead! Shouldn’t the curse have been broken itself by then?”

“Not really. I knew a family whose great-great-grandfather had a curse like that thrown at him and it continued through the male lineage. Just because the original caster is dead, doesn’t mean the curse can’t connect to its origin.”

Sighing, Harry grabbed the tea which was still settling with all the leaves and sat down by the table. “That just sounds confusing.”

“I know.” Draco nodded. “However, with this information, I can help you in so many ways I thought was impossible. Maybe we could even find the curse and undo it!” While he said it, he was getting more and more thoughtful. Harry was sure that by the end of that sentence he was in the middle of a thinking match against himself.

Nora lay down next to the table, putting her head on her paws, but still watching him intently. She seemed glad that someone else was here who could help Harry. He could tell that she liked Draco as well, it took her usually a day or two to get used to strange people, though with the Slytherin, she seemed at ease almost immediately.

Once the tea was done, Harry poured it into a mug and the strong smell of jasmine green tea with a less strong fragrance of cherry blossoms and honey hit the air. It shouldn’t work very well together, but it was the only thing that helped during the night.

Draco looked up as if he was awakening from a dream he was just having in his head. “Do you mind if I do some testing in the morning?”

“Testing what?” Harry asked, before he took a sip of the incredibly hot tea.

“You. Well no, testing food on you. I’ve got a theory which could reduce the curses to about ten or twelve. Depending on what foods you can or can’t eat.”

Harry sighed. He knew where this was going. “I’m going to vomit a lot tomorrow if I say yes, won’t I?” Draco was quiet, which was answer enough. “How much food would you need to test to get down to ten or twelve curses?”

“Around thirty items and no, not everything should make you throw up.” Draco raised his eyebrows as if he had already anticipated that question, which was fair. Harry had just opened his mouth to ask that exact question.

Smirking slightly, Harry nodded. “Okay. I hope these tests will help you in any way.”

“They will” Draco confirmed. “Don’t worry about that.”

In all honesty, Harry wasn’t worried. He had dabbled with death long enough to know that maybe it was just a relief to finally die. He was, however, slightly worried that Draco might take it too personally if his testing wouldn’t work. Hopefully, whatever Draco was testing was also giving good answers.

To distract himself from this slightly hopeful, slightly scary thought, Harry motioned to the journal next to Draco. “How do you find the book I wrote?”

The Slytherin chuckled. “I always thought you’d write a book, though I never guessed it was something like this. It’s rather depressing.”

“Well, I do have my good days.” Harry smirked and took another sip of his tea. This seemed to finally calm his stomach and he heaved a sigh of relief.

Draco had seemingly watched him closely, as he presented him with a quick smile. “I’m glad, though I would have hoped that something like that wouldn’t have happened to you.”

Harry smirked. “Come on, Draco. I am the Boy Who Lived; of course all things terrible will happen to me! I’m still waiting for my friends to tell me that they’ve had enough with all my sickness and everything and walk out of my life so that I end up alone.”

“That’s a stupid thought and I don’t think they’d ever do that. You’re their friend. Why in Merlin’s name would they let you die alone?!”

Because I’m a burden to everyone around me, Harry thought, though he didn’t say it out loud. He was too scared that Draco would maybe agree with him. “I don’t know. It just seems like something people do.”

Draco nodded, though he looked like he didn’t believe Harry’s reasoning completely. “You know, if you fought in a war with someone, it tends to bring people together.” He smiled softly as he seemingly thought of something. “My grandfather had a friend who was by no means a wizard. They fought together in the Second World War, even though the Ministry tried to keep the wizards away from it. These two were so different, yet whenever they met; it was like they were brothers.” He looked back at Harry. “My grandfather told me not to put faith in people’s names, but in their actions. I think I had forgotten that for the past few years.”

“He sounds like he was a great man” Harry commented. Sometimes he wished he had such stories to tell about his family.

“He was” Draco confirmed. He chuckled shortly after. “And after he died, my father let me know that he was gay and that this man he had met during the war and kept such a close friendship with had actually been his lover. It threw my whole world view sideways.”

Harry widened his eyes, while Draco started to laugh. It seemed like such a freeing laugh, that Harry soon joined, though not as loudly and wildly.

“He still sounds like an incredible man.”

Draco nodded, once he calmed down. “He truly was: He was my hero.”

Chapter Text

The food test was a disaster – not that he was going to let Harry know that. The results were so incredibly different from any of the curses Draco knew that he had no idea where to go from there. It was at least a little funny to see that Harry could apparently eat a lot of what Draco liked, so at least they both could cook together.

After Harry had gone back to bed to get some rest from the stupid food test, Draco went in search of the Black family library. Every pureblood family had one, mostly incredibly well hidden usually and with a lot of family heirlooms. Since he had already checked all of the public rooms, he decided to make a battle plan. He found some loose paper and started writing all the info he could think of on where the room could be.

The access couldn’t be from one of the children’s rooms or the guest rooms only; that would have made no sense. So, maybe the master bedroom. Additionally, it shouldn’t go through a spare room or a storeroom, however, these could be under a spell and transform into a library.

Once he had written about ten bullet points, he got up again and systematically checked everything. Only after half an hour, when he was back on the same level as the kitchen, did he turn to the last room he could think of.

The empty looking room with a wallpaper of the Blacks. He walked in, looking at all the names there, even his own name appeared there. Some heads were blacked out, almost burnt, while others seemed to be kept in very good conditions.

Draco frowned and looked at the five names and pictures which were in impeccable form. Some magic must have been behind this, as he was sure that Harry even with his knowledge of magic wasn’t able to keep a few unimportant family members ‘alive’. And if he would know, Draco was sure that the partially readable name of Sirius would be in better shape.

The five names and portraits belonged to two women which Draco had heard died in the first Wizarding War right beside the Dark Lord and one man who did the same. The next beautiful name belonged to Eldric Melvyn a name Draco had heard a lot from his mother whenever she had talked about the most important wizards and witches in his family tree. He had something to do with a healing spell or a love spell, Draco wasn’t sure. Maybe he should have listened more closely to whatever his mother had told him… a little late for that now.

And the last name was the head of the Black family tree, the person who seemingly started this whole family of dark wizards – Thormund Vance Black. His name was so well readable, so impeccably kept, Draco narrowed his eyes at it. Something had to happen around it.

As he ran his hands over the wallpaper, he could feel a magical boundary. He moved his hands right on top of it and pressed down. A shockwave travelled through his arm and connected to his magical core, which made Draco let go and stumble back a few feet. He had never felt that sensation, like a snake had raced through the inside of his arm right into his chest, where a silent explosion of magic happened and it disappeared again.

Behind him, he heard a screeching sound and turned to see a part of the wallpaper opening slowly. A door! Pushing in on the head of the first ancestor of the Black family tree revealed a secret entrance into the cellar!

Draco snuck closer and peered into the opening, though beside thousands of shadows there was nothing inside. He inhaled deeply and walked in. As he stepped over the threshold, magical fires lit up along the upper walls of the library and Draco widened his eyes at the sight of it.

The air was thick of the smell of old pages and heavy ink, though the magical air flow kept everything under control so not one book was showing any signs of distress. There were at least five hundred books, in such a small space! Some were carefully placed on the wall, as if it were a museum; others were just cramped into the tiny bookshelves. Draco could spot a few of these books that were dog-eared. Some had pages probably folded, sticking out weird. He also spotted some books on the floor as if they were meant to be a kind of stair to a higher level. It looked like a child had used them to get to the books they should probably not read. Some parts of the bookshelves were double stacked, so Draco couldn’t even see the titles behind the ones that were shown to him and he could feel the magic surrounding them all.

Sighing heavily, he decided to start researching. He knew some books already from the Manor, however, maybe the Blacks had different versions and they definitely had darker material than the Malfoy’s. From what Draco knew, his maternal family had always followed the Dark Lord and they didn’t hide it. Unlike his father.

He had truly lost any sense of time, when he finally emerged from the library with three old looking books about dark magic curses. Judging from the street lights shining through the windows in the entrance hall, it was probably already night time.

As he entered the kitchen, he found the lights on and Harry standing on the stove, making pancakes. It smelled godly! How long ago had he eaten? The Gryffindor was seemingly doing very well, even talking to what looked like Nora, even though the Husky-Golden Retriever mix seemed to be sleeping in a dog bed.

“… and that’s why I don’t think people should trust them anymore” Harry finished his argument, which Draco hadn’t heard. He wasn’t really sure who he was talking to, since it was slightly weird for him to talk to the dog.

“Hey” he said and found Harry jerking slightly, before he smiled broadly.

He motioned to the table. “Take a seat, Draco, I’m just about finished here.”

Draco smirked, wondering how Harry was doing so well. And also why he was cooking right now. “You’re making pancakes for dinner?”

Harry stopped in his tracks and looked at the pan and then back at Draco. “It’s dinner time? Shit” he sighed and shook his head. “So I’m also losing track of time.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Draco smiled at him. “Don’t worry. That happens to everyone.”

Not only Harry had lost track of time, since Draco honestly couldn’t tell when he had entered the library and when he had left it again. For all he knew, he could have spent five years inside that tiny room. Though once again, he should have felt hungry, if he really just spent five years inside that room. Unless of course, there were some magical blockers around it – Draco decided to check for magical blockers as soon as he could. Who knew what the Blacks had placed around the library!

Harry in the meantime grinned at him. “Sure, but not everyone’s under a curse that frankly does whatever it wants.”

That was sadly true. Draco didn’t know how to react and simply decided to walk to the table. He placed the dusty books on it, before wanting to sit down. When he pulled back a chair, Harry turned to him.

“You might want to take the chair next to Minerva” Harry said, before he stopped and stared at the seemingly empty chair, where their former Headmistress was presumably sitting. Draco stared at Harry, who huffed. “Shit, I’m having visions again, don’t I?”

“Yeah” Draco confirmed and smiled weakly. That didn’t sound good. Even though Harry was doing well physically, it looked like his head was still playing tricks on him. Maybe the curse was far worse than Draco thought… “Who else is here?”

Harry shook his head. “I should have known. Fred was just here and left to go to his brother’s wedding. I don’t think he’s getting married; he already is.”

Draco snorted. “That’s the part that tripped you up? Not the fact that visions of dead people come by and talk to you?”

“I guess I’m already used to the visions. A few weeks ago, my parents were here.”

Frowning, Draco inspected Harry. He said it as if it was just an information of who had called in the afternoon and not the fact that this deadly curse was seriously messing with his head. It also looked as if this wasn’t really affecting him. Or at least, not anymore.

Draco sat down on another chair, just because he wasn’t feeling comfortable with sitting somewhere where Vision-McGonagall was apparently sitting. “So, what did you talk about with your visions?”

“I have no idea” Harry rubbed his forehead. “My guess is Aurors. Since I was retired, I constantly find myself discussing how stupid they are.” He shrugged his shoulders, a little flustered.

Chuckling, Draco nodded. “You can always talk to me about how stupid the Aurors are. Throwing Death Eater families into Azkaban is just dead wrong.”

Harry hummed, confirming it, and in a matter of seconds, he placed the food onto the table. “If you’d rather have something else, I can also order some pizza.” He sat down and grabbed a piece of pancake, though his eyes were curious.

“Absolutely not. Breakfast for dinner is perfectly okay” Draco grinned and placed two plates onto the table, so that Harry could put the pancake somewhere – except for his hand where it currently was. He then grinned and looked at Harry. “Any more plates for your visions?”

“Very funny, Draco” Harry rolled his eyes, though he seemingly couldn’t bite back a smirk. “No, McGonagall said she’s already eaten and the other visions have left already.”

Draco shook his head. “You know this isn’t really the answer I was looking for, right?”

Harry snorted and nodded. “That’s why I said it. Whenever I realize I have visions, they usually just disappear themselves. McGonagall is long gone.”

The fact that Harry was having visions was also something that confused Draco. From all his knowledge, there should have been no curse handing out visions just for the reason of having visions. Usually, it was something like what the Dementors were doing: showing the worst memories as visions, having people from your past telling you off and all that other shit.

For Harry to just have people basically visiting him… that was incredibly… stupid almost. Which curse would allow for something so meaningless?

“You know, sometimes I think you’re a vision as well” Harry brought Draco out of his thoughtful state.

Frowning slightly, Draco chuckled. “What? Why?”

“Well” Harry grabbed another pancake and leaned back in his chair. “I got you out of Azkaban, yet no Auror has been here to check if I had something to do with your disappearance and you’re not really looking like you’re dealing with nightmares or something.” He narrowed his eyes. “When Sirius escaped, he was extremely messed up and here you are… behaving as if you’ve just come by for some afternoon tea after we’ve been friends for the last ten years.”

Draco hadn’t seen much of Sirius Black, but he had met a few inmates in Azkaban who had been there long enough to suffer through the Dementor reign. They were not right in their head! He could only imagine what Sirius Black must have been like.

He shrugged his shoulders. “We didn’t have that many Dementors checking up on us. The public was angry at the boss of Azkaban and I was lucky enough to be part of the prisoners who were shown as an example on how to keep us normal.”

Harry chuckled. “Wouldn’t it then be even weirder for you to disappear from Azkaban and no Aurors knocking on my door?”

“Alright, Harry” Draco smirked and took another pancake. “How can I prove to you I’m not a vision?”

It really seemed like Harry was having a good day, since he actually belted out laugher and shook his head. “I have no clue. I never really questioned if the people around me were visions. Well, I haven’t done it as of lately.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “So, next to seeing visions, you’re also losing your mind?”

“That is very likely, yes.”

“Well, I hope I still have enough time in figuring out what’s making you sick.” He looked at Harry, who shrugged his shoulders, as if he didn’t care anymore. Had he again stopped believing that he could be saved? Or maybe he was feeling so good that he could pretend not to be sick…

After dinner, Harry was still doing very well. He cleaned the kitchen with his magic and played a little with Nora. Draco sat at the table his book open to be read, though he really couldn’t concentrate on any of that. Instead, he was watching the Gryffindor and his seemingly endless love for Nora and the joy she was bringing him. It was beautiful to see these two.

The longer Draco watched them the more he thought that Nora couldn’t be a normal dog. She looked like she wanted to communicate with Harry, though both didn’t quite understand how it worked. Draco placed the books he was trying to read aside and grabbed a blank page.
Research soul dog bonding, he wrote and smiled at Harry, who yawned. He looked tired and Draco didn’t judge him for it, Nora’s play session had looked very intense. While Harry cleaned up the toys, Nora was helping dutifully. The Gryffindor waved and walked back into his bedroom.

Draco smiled softly and walked to the kitchen cabinet and took out the book Harry had been writing. He needed to read about fifteen more pages, and then he had finally reached the situation up until now.

Day 325
Aaaand my painful existence continues. Why was I ever under the impression that I could get better just like that?! Symptoms today include more visions, a high fever, slight headache and a stomach pain I haven’t felt in years. My ears are hurting and I can’t really open my eyes. Every light is too much for them.
Surprisingly, Narcissa Malfoy came by today. Apparently, she has been released from Azkaban and she thanked me for what I did for Draco. It sucks that my memory isn’t working today, because I have no fucking idea what I did for him… It must be something good, right? Otherwise his mother would come by and thank me?
She also told me that I could ask for whatever I needed, she’d try and help me with it. I might forget about this as well, so I’m writing it down, just in case. Shit, I hate this curse.

Draco stared at the page. His mother had been released? He felt jealousy bubble up to the surface as he looked at the writing. While she hadn’t officially been a Death Eater, she had also been in bed with them. The Dark Lord had trusted her very much, especially for a Non-Death Eater.

Frowning, Draco bit his lower lip. As he continued to look at Apparently, she has been released from Azkaban he realized that he was actually very angry at her. How was she allowed to leave Azkaban and he had to stay and rot in there?! Yes, he was supposed to kill Dumbledore, but he hadn’t done that. He hadn’t even killed anybody! Granted, neither had she, but still… it was unfair.

Day 333
Nice number. That’s the only good thing today. I’m going to die due to this curse and everyone has given up on me. So here I am, sitting at home, lying in my bed, being too tired to even cook something. Ginny and Luna are supposed to come by today, but I’m not doing well. I just want to be alone, watch the days turn into nights and back into days. I can’t be saved anymore.
Symptoms: every fucking think I’ve had so far, just intensified to about a thousand percent.

Draco sighed and turned a page to find his name there in huge letters.

Day 334
Draco.
He’s the solution, isn’t he? It’s not the first time I’m thinking of this. His family has more connections to the dark side of the Wizarding World and as much as I want to ask Narcissa for help, she seems to be under a lot of stress to prove herself to the Ministry.
But he’s in Azkaban. How can I get him out unnoticed? Would he even help me? I could ask the Aurors to suspend his prison sentence once I’m back with the living. Hopefully Kingsley will see that this act was necessary. And I hope my delusions will let me think clearly so that I can get Draco out and hopefully he’s okay with helping me. I don’t know why he would, so let’s just hope.
Today, I’m feeling nothing. Absolutely nothing. I’ve never had a day like this: I’m not even feeling okay, I’m just… here. At least my headache is gone for once.

Draco sat there, staring at this page much longer than he had thought. Harry had put so much faith in him, so much danger in getting him out of Azkaban and…. He wasn’t even sure he could help him. He needed to find something. If not to make him better, he needed at least to find something to ease all the pain he was feeling so that his last days would be spent in agony.

Sighing, Draco read the last few days. Harry was in an almost blank state. He wrote about more visions, one or two things hurting, but it didn’t seem like the pain before. And while he wrote down all the different strategies of how he could Draco out – hopefully the Aurors would never find this book – he was doing weirdly okay.

Day 338
It’s been almost a year. I’ve lived through one Christmas so far and it was painful. My birthday, I’ve spent lying in my bed crying because I couldn’t deal with it anymore. Will this curse ever end? I don’t even care how; I just want it to stop. Either by killing me or by going away. Hermione’s trying to get me to go back to St. Mungo’s, where there’s always going to be someone around.
I’m not going back. I know I shouldn’t be alone for there could be something happening any second, but I don’t trust the mediwitches anymore. Also, I’m probably not going to be alone any longer. Today, I’m freeing Draco. I’ve got everything under control. I took my pain medication, Nora is with me (at least at the beginning), it should be fine. I hope.
I’m still feeling nothing. Like, I’m walking around but I can’t feel my legs or my feet. I suppose you could think of it as walking through a strong river or hip deep mud – I’m not sure if the next step is going to throw me to the floor or not. Let’s just hope that I can be strong enough to safe Draco.

Chapter Text

Harry awoke to his door creaking open. He opened his eyes quickly and tried to reach for his glasses, but his arms felt like concrete, he couldn’t move them even one bit. So, he just had to trust that whoever just entered was on his side.

“Hey Harry” a female voice said. Luna! Harry relaxed slightly, before another thought entered his mind.

Shit, did Draco know to hide himself in the upper levels? What if he was to walk down and Ginny and Luna would find him? Ginny would probably call the Aurors right this second, even if Luna would ask her not to. He was a fugitive!

Or maybe… maybe he was just a vision, like all the other people inside this house. Maybe Luna and Ginny were visions too and his friends had actually stopped caring about him. But that couldn’t be true, right? At least Harry hoped so.

“Harry, it’s almost two in the afternoon, didn’t Nora ask you to make her food? Or did you go back to sleep after you fed her?”

The concrete in his arms was getting better and Harry reached for his glasses and put them on. It was in fact Luna who was crouching next to his bed. Behind her, Nora was chewing on a bone. She looked up and wagged her tail, before she went back to her bone.

He was pretty sure he hadn’t given her the bone or fed her. Unless he had forgotten it already. “I don’t know” he answered and looked at Luna who smiled at him.

She always seemed to be one of the calmer people around him. Especially Ron had problems with thinking of him as a human being and not as the curse. Even though he usually tried to be ignorant of the curse, it never ended well.

Harry was sure that Ron didn’t understand that he just had the curse. Ron pretended like he was the same old Harry, but he really just wasn’t. And he couldn’t pretend to be so just so Ron wouldn’t feel weird. That was probably the reason why their visits were only just one or two hours. Though in all fairness, Harry was usually just dead tired after any visitors.

“Have you eaten today?” Luna asked and smiled as she helped Harry getting up. Today, all his limbs felt like he had at least some level of concrete inside them.

He groaned as Luna helped him getting to his feet and after the first step towards the kitchen, he finally answered. “I don’t remember, Luna. Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t.”

As they entered the kitchen, Luna helping Harry with every step almost, Ginny was standing at the stove, cooking something. It smelled almost spicy and very good.

“So, is it Sunday then?” Harry asked and fell onto a chair. He saw Nora walking into the kitchen behind them, with her bone in her snout. She then lay down onto the dog bed and kept chewing on it.

Ginny smiled at him, came over and pressed a quick kiss on his cheek. “No, but we can’t make it tomorrow, so we thought we’d visit you today. Unless this is messing with your brain too much, we can also go again.”

Harry smiled tiredly. “Please don’t. I’d like to have your company. The two of you have always been my favorite visitors.” Even though he really didn’t want them to leave, he was also hoping that Draco would find a place to hide himself.

Not long after, Ginny served the food she had been cooking – it looked as if it was Asian food. Luna handed Harry the potion he had been taking before every meal and he downed it quickly, just now realizing how hungry he had gotten. And Ginny was just an amazing cook.

“Did you hear that Draco Malfoy broke out of Azkaban?” Ginny said while she sat down. “Nobody knows how he did it. Most people think, he’s coming after you.”

Harry snorted. “Yeah, because every Azkaban escapee comes after me? I seriously doubt it.”

Ginny shrugged her shoulders. “Do you still think you’re to blame for his arrest?”

Growling slightly, Harry looked down at his hands. “He is in there, because of me, you know?”

“No, he’s not, Harry!” Ginny said vehemently and crossed her arms over her chest. “Just because you told the Aurors not to imprison Malfoy and them realizing that they totally forgot about him, doesn’t make it’s your mistake!”

Harry couldn’t really believe that, even though he wanted to. He also hoped that Draco didn’t hear their discussion right now, wherever he might have been. “But if I had just stayed quiet, nodded and continued with my day as usual, he would have been free!”

“You can’t know something that never happened, Harry” Luna said and smiled softly. “Besides, I always thought that the two of you would make a good team had you been friendly from the beginning. Draco always has had too many Nargles around him. I haven’t seen him lately, but I think Azkaban takes them away.”

Ginny frowned and shrugged her shoulders. “We should find a way to prove that then.”

Harry chuckled over their relationship. He suddenly heard a noise from the stairs and grabbed the plate loudly, hoping that the two witches hadn’t heard anything. Shit, so he may have heard their discussions then?! Ginny frowned towards the door and turned back to her girlfriend and Harry.

“Did you hear something?”

Shaking his head, Harry answered. “Might have just been the wind. Sometimes things fall.”

Ginny snorted. “Yes thank you, Harry. I know how the wind works.”

Luna chuckled. “Didn’t you say, sometimes there are House Elves looking in and messing with things? Maybe it’s just them.”

This sudden back-up was unexpected, though Harry was glad that Luna had a reasonable answer. His own had been a little weak. Ginny smirked and let go of the subject. Within the next two hours, the three of them were talking about all kinds of things and Harry made sure to feign ignorance towards any topic that included Draco. In the end, he was sure that his friends had no idea about what he had done.

They bid goodbye with the promise of coming back next Sunday. “I can’t wait to see you next Sunday” Ginny hugged him. When Luna waved and walked out of the house to wait in front of the house, Ginny turned to him. “I’m asking Luna to marry me tomorrow, that’s why I didn’t have time. I hope that’s okay with you.”

“Ginny! You don’t have to ask me! You know I’m fine with you marrying her. Congratulations!” Harry frowned. “Or did you ask about Sunday? That’s fine as well.”

His friend smirked. “You just get better, Harry. I want you to be the best man at my wedding. You definitely are the best man around there.”

Smiling softly, Harry nodded. “If I’m okay when you’re marrying, I will definitely be the best man.” He then motioned towards the door. “You should leave before Luna gets suspicious.”

Ginny chuckled. “She’d never get suspicious. One of her many amazing traits.” Nevertheless, she still kissed his cheek and waved goodbye.

Once the two visitors were gone, Harry stayed in the kitchen. He was a little tired, but not as much as he had been usually. Maybe it was the news of their upcoming engagement. Or maybe he was really getting better…? It was almost too early to hope for something like that, right?

After about thirty minutes, he heard soft steps down the stairs and a head with blond hair peered into the room. Harry smirked as he found the cautious grey eyes almost inspecting everything.

“Come in, Draco. They’re gone.”

Draco huffed, though he still entered. “I was so freaked out that they would hear me. I was in the library and just forgot the time. And then when I came out, I heard them talking about me escaping Azkaban.”

Harry froze slightly, though he played if off and grinned as he motioned to the left-over Asian food. “Feel free to take some, I won’t eat more today. Also, I’m sure if they knew I had something to do with it, they’d be killing me.”

“I doubt that” Draco said and grabbed a serving. “If you’re dead, who’s going to be the best man?”

Draco grinned over him laughing lightly. Harry didn’t have more energy, but at least he was able to enjoy life a little bit.

Harry motioned towards Nora. “Did you give her a bone?”

“Yeah” Draco smiled. He seemed to like Nora very much. “I went looking for you, but you were deeply asleep. But Nora seemed to be interested in going outside. So I placed a spell on you and took her out for a walk.”

Widening his eyes, Harry shook his head. “As Draco Malfoy? Who’s being hunted by the Aurors? You’re playing with fire, my friend.”

Draco smirked. “I found some pre-made Polyjuice Potion from the Black family. I took that and went out then. Are you happy now?”

“Only a little bit.” Harry rolled his eyes. “Still, thanks.”

“Everything for Nora, Harry.”

Harry snorted and turned to look at his dog, who was still happily chewing the bone. She seemed to calm and it made him happy to know that she was also being looked after.

Draco sat down with the food on a plate and looked at Harry earnestly. “And by the way, Harry. I don’t hold the imprisonment against you. Just imagine, if I had been left alone, without realizing that my family was in Azkaban and I went shopping in Diagon Alley. That would have likely killed me and I wouldn’t know why. So, don’t blame yourself for something so minor.”

“You don’t need to give me encouragement. I know I made a mistake and maybe one day I can make it up to you… if I’m still alive by that point.” Harry shrugged his shoulders.

“Stop being so pessimistic, Harry” Draco rolled his eyes. “Just accept that the world we live in is fucked up and that maybe once you’re back on your feet you can once again save it.”

Now it was Harry who rolled his eyes. “Fine, whatever. Just stop pretending like I’m the hero in your life.”

Draco almost spit out the water, when he quickly swallowed it started to laugh. He looked up at Harry and shook his head. “As sad as it is, Harry, you never were my hero. Well, one time in the Room of Requirement, but that was all. I don’t need a hero in my life.”

Chapter Text

It was weird how easy it was to feel alive again. While Draco had been in Azkaban, he had felt so… dead. Nobody was talking to him, he didn’t matter to anybody and it seemed that the world just kept continuing without him. It had been hard the first ten months, but after that… every day had just turned into the next day and then the next. After about forty days like that, his head had stopped working and he had become passively living his days.

Now, that he had spent almost a week outside of Azkaban, he felt almost okay again. He had successfully managed to hide away from Weasley and Granger when they had arrived back from their holiday on Wednesday, even though he had been petrified to make even the smallest amount of noise. Weasley was a trained Auror, not like Ginny or his cousin Luna. And Granger – well actually Weasley – was probably not accepting the ‘House Elf’ thing. So, on Wednesday, he quite literally sat on the floor, unmoving, only turning pages of The Unknown Dark Curses of History as quietly as possible, hoping he would find something that could help Harry. No such luck as of yet. Nevertheless, he was determined to continue.

Harry was still writing in another book, so that Draco could take the leather-bound book with him to the library or to his room and research there. He had also started to use the huge office on the second floor, which must have belonged to the head of the Black family. It was incredibly beautiful, much warmer than the white marble room in the Manor.

It was another Saturday evening, Luna and Ginny would be coming over tomorrow. Harry didn’t know when exactly, not that Draco cared much about it. He had already placed a comfortable looking chair into the library and decided he was going to spend his day down there, researching. None of the books he had picked up so far had revealed anything. He was currently reading through the Museum looking side of the family library. These books were so old that they were spelt, so that they wouldn’t crumble to dust.

“What are you doing?” Draco asked and frowned at Harry, who had grabbed a vial of something. They were in the kitchen, dinner almost ready and the Gryffindor stood by the stove. Draco had noticed him taking these vials and in fact, they seemed to help him, as he hadn’t thrown up that much since Draco had been keeping an eye on it.

Harry coughed violently, actually making Draco flinch. It was a hollow cough, though luckily no blood spilled out of the Golden Boy. Once he calmed down again, he frowned at the vial in his hands and looked back at Draco. “It’s a stomach settling potion.”

The potion was dark red. That wasn’t right. “The color’s off. Where did you get it?” Draco raised his eyebrows at the Gryffindor.

“From the black market, Draco. Ginny and Luna buy them there and deliver them to me once every month.” Harry sighed and shrugged his shoulders, as another coughing fit ran through his body. This didn’t sound well! He had been doing so well this whole day and now he was coughing like crazy?

Draco shook his head, disapprovingly. What was this Gryffindor thinking?! “You know, they’re more potent, right? They could just be killing you faster! Black market potions are rarely good for anyone.”

“Well Draco” Harry placed the vial back into the box and crossed his arms over his chest. “In case you’ve forgotten our years in Hogwarts, I’m not good at potions. I’m actually quite the zero in this area, so I can’t just make my own.”

Getting up, Draco walked over to Harry and took one vial. “Well, I’m not. I’ll make you something that helps you and isn’t going to kill you.”

Harry frowned at him. “Are you sure?”

“Absolutely. The Black family should have a laboratory in the cellar somewhere. Every pureblood family has one. I’ll check what’s inside and we’ll take a look at what helps you best. Then I can develop a potion that helps you perfectly.”

Smirking, the Gryffindor shrugged his shoulders. “Testing things like we did the food test?” Of course the Golden Boy had figured out that this test had done nothing for him, so Draco glared at him.

“No, because this one is actually going to help you, you idiot.”

“Fine” Harry held up his hands as if to show that he was giving up. “You win. Test whatever you want to, but just know that the potions here are running out in twenty-two… well twenty-one days. If I don’t have anything by then, it might be a little… disgusting.”

Draco snorted. “You are the one who makes it disgusting. If you were just thinking of it as medical procedures it would be factional not personal.”

While Harry chuckled, downed a potion and walked over to the table, Draco realized how easy it was for him to walk. A few days ago, he had so much pain in his legs that he couldn’t even get up. Draco had made food, helped Nora with taking care of a seriously sick Harry and he had wondered what the Gryffindor had done before he had been in his house. Nora was an amazing dog – and definitely a soul bond dog – but she couldn’t do all the things that were required to take care of a sick human being.

Now, however, it seemed as if Harry wasn’t even sick, well except for that cough that had been making its comeback. For three days now, he had even helped with house work. And he had been able to climb one story up to take a shower. Draco had noticed that he probably hadn’t taken one for weeks. Spelling yourself clean wasn’t the same as actually taking a shower. There was only so much magic could do.

He grabbed the curry Harry had made and placed it onto the table, then he sat down on the opposite side of the Gryffindor. “Isn’t it weird that the two of us are just like living together?”

“A little, yes” Harry chuckled and placed a serving on Draco’s plate. “I actually considered you running away once I freed you, so it’s nice of you not to do that.”

Draco smirked. “You saved me, Harry. Again – if I may say so. The least I can do is try to get you back to a normal life.”

Harry nodded somewhat careful and silently and placed some food on his plate. Not as much as Draco had, but he was able to eat more now. At least that was what he had told Draco.

“If you can’t do it, Draco, you are free to leave, you know that, right? I won’t just put you back inside, just because I couldn’t get healthy.”

“Don’t worry, Harry. This is weirdly giving me a lot of strength, being here. I trust in the Black family library, or the Malfoy’s if I need to and I do trust in you, so you won’t die and I’ll find the right spell or potion to undo whatever they did to you.”

Harry looked at him silently for quite a while, before he smiled weakly. “You are a better human being, Draco. For the record, I just want to apologize to you directly for what I’ve done. I almost killed you in fifth year.”

Draco had thought that he was still angry about that, though as he heard Harry say that, all of this resentment disappeared. It wasn’t worth holding onto something so stupid when the person saying it was lying on his death bed.

“It’s fine, I –”

“No” Harry shook his head. “It’s not fine. If Snape hadn’t realized which spell I used and cleaned up my mistake, you would have died. Over my own stupidity. That’s not fine.”

Smiling weakly, Draco reached out and placed his hand on Harry’s arm. That was the first human contact in ten years. His skin was so incredibly soft; he almost jerked his hand back. However, when he looked into Harry’s eyes, he found the need for some contact, however small it may be. “It is fine, Harry. It’s been a long time and we both should have been over this thing by now.”

Well that was easily said… Especially since a few weeks ago, the hatred for what Harry had done to him was burning like a wild fire. And now… just like that. It was gone. Harry speaking about it, acknowledging that he had made an almost deadly mistake and saying sorry had made it all go away. Like a sand castle in a rising flood.

“You truly are the bigger man, Draco.”

Draco grinned. “I’m also taller, you know.”

Harry frowned, before he glared at him. Laughing, Draco leaned back in his chair and returned to eating the amazing dinner Harry had made. Even though the Gryffindor was still trying to glare him down, they both went back to eating.

“Thank you” Harry then said quietly, as if he had hoped Draco wouldn’t really hear it.

“You’re welcome, Harry. One good turn deserves another, you know.”

Chapter Text

As soon as the doorbell rang, Harry sighed. Draco smiled weakly and got up from the kitchen chair. They had just gone through a list of symptoms of the sudden death curse, even though Draco had been somewhat sure that this hadn’t been the curse. He had of course been right. They had just finished discussing this curse and Harry was sure that Draco was about to say something else. Had it not been for Ginny and Luna appearing right now.

“Well, I will be in the cellar. Maybe I’ll find the laboratory as well.” Draco grinned and walked out in front of Harry towards the door.

Harry chuckled and followed. He was still surprised how easy it was for him to walk. Today, he had even been able to play with Nora and Draco had joined them when it had gotten a little wild. As his healer – which was what he had told him – he should make sure that Harry wasn’t doing stupid stuff. Harry was sure that Draco just wanted to play with Nora as well.

When they passed the staircase, Draco waved at Harry and left through the door to the family tree, where he pushed the head of one of them. Harry leaned at the door frame and watched him cross the room and then turn around.

“What?” Draco asked and stood there, half through the door. Half his face was hidden in the shadows and with his dark blue button up shirt and his slightly wild hair, Harry could almost feel his knees weaken. He looked so damn good! So freaking handsome… He looked quite intrigued, when the doorbell sounded again, this time even knocks could be heard.

Harry really hadn’t the time to tell him that this dark blue button up shirt looked frankly amazing on him. That was weird timing.

“Nothing” Harry answered instead and grinned. “Go, so I can open the front door, before they blast it to pieces.”

Draco smirked, as if he was sure that Harry was lying to his face and shrugged his shoulders. “Come get me once it’s over.”

“You got it.”

The Slytherin nodded and smiled, before he vanished behind the secret door that seemed to disappear as soon as the wood touched the other wooden parts. By now, the knocking had intensified. Harry rolled his eyes and took a few more steps to the door and opened it spirited.

“Good morning, you two! Why can’t you wait until I’m fully dressed to come crushing through my door?” He grinned and stepped aside so Ginny and Luna could walk through.

Ginny frowned at him. “You look amazing! Are you okay?”

Harry nodded. “I’m doing fine. Sometimes I get tired a lot, but apart from that, I was even able to play with Nora this morning.”

“What’s changed?” Ginny asked and widened her eyes.

“No idea” Harry answered truthfully. Fact was, Draco was helping a lot in figuring out what was wrong with him and even though they hadn’t found a right sounding curse, there was hope again. And that alone was amazing.

Luna smiled and hugged him tightly. “Well, you look very healthy, Harry! Also the Nargles seemed to go away.” Ginny frowned and looked at him, while Harry shrugged his shoulders.

When Luna walked to the kitchen, Harry turned to Ginny. “Didn’t you want to prove that Luna isn’t… you know ‘crazy’?” he asked with air quotes.

Nodding, Ginny sighed. “I really try. No matter what technology I’m trying, I can’t find any Nargles. She also didn’t say anything about having them.”

“Well” Harry smiled, put an arm around her and followed Luna into the kitchen, where she greeted Nora. “If you ever find a machine that finds these thingies, you can test it on me. If I’m still alive by that point.”

“That’s not funny” Ginny glared at him, though she grinned as Nora came to say hi.

Harry snorted and walked over to make some tea. “I wasn’t being funny.” He put water onto the stove and started boiling it. “I forgot when Neville’s coming with you. Is that next week?”

Ginny nodded. “He wanted to come today, but Hogwarts has an emergency, so he changed the dates last second.”

“Hogwarts has an emergency? What kind?”

Smirking, Ginny threw a ball through the kitchen and Nora raced after it, while it bounced away and over the head of the dog. “Not the kind of emergency we’ve had.”

This time, Harry had to laugh. “What, the Chamber of Secrets opening? I sure hope that these things are in our past.”

“Well, there is no more living heir of Slytherin, so even if the Chamber would still exist, it can’t be opened again” Luna said and accepted the ball Nora had finally caught. She threw it out into the hallway and Nora dashed after it.

Harry chuckled and finally poured the boiling hot water over the herbal tea. He then grabbed three cups and placed them on the table. “Well, it is nice to have you here.”

Ginny hugged him and smiled. “You’re like my brother, Harry. Of course, I’m going to be here! Oh and before I forget, Luna said yes” she grinned broadly.

“I said yes? What did I say yes to?” Luna jerked up and Ginny motioned to her hand, grinning. “Oh.” She giggled. “Yes, I did. What else would I say? I love Ginny!” The Gryffindor blushed and rolled her eyes, though the soft smile on her lips betrayed how she pretended to feel.

“Congratulations, you two!” Harry beamed. “I’m so happy for you!”

They talked a little more about what Ginny and Luna had planned so far for their wedding and Harry did notice how their wedding was going to be in November. Ginny had always wanted a spring wedding. The only reason for her to change this idea was because of two reasons. First: Luna didn’t want a spring wedding; though Harry knew that she didn’t really mind when as long as it was Ginny she was marrying. The second reason was a little more depressing: Ginny didn’t believe that Harry would actually make it to spring.

And while he felt rather good today and he was sure to live twenty more years at least, he was also aware that he had good days, even weeks. And then it usually crashed down on him and he couldn’t even move one muscle. So the fact that he was doing so well today must be scaring Ginny a little. Luna had always been more optimistic, though she once told him that she hoped he wasn’t going to die.

After lunch which Ginny and Luna cooked together, while Harry sat at the table reading a booklet Ginny had printed to get people to fund research on what Luna saw, a loud knock on the front door made everyone look up.

“Neville wouldn’t just come now, right?” Harry asked as he was getting up.

Ginny shook her head. “Sit, Harry. I’ll go and take a look.”

Nodding, Harry fell back into the chair and shrugged. Luna took the plates and cast a spell that started cleaning everything. From the hallway, Harry heard a sudden familiar deep voice talking next to Ginny’s.

Shit. Kingsley was here!

“Harry!” the head of the DMLE greeted Harry as if he hadn’t believed him to still be alive. “You look almost healthy, what have you been doing?”

“I don’t know, Kingsley” Harry answered truthfully. “I’ve been trying a lot more things recently. I’m also trying to find something else for the stomach settling potions. Hopefully, I can extend my life a few more months without them.”

Kingsley nodded. Harry was aware that the head of the DMLE knew he bought them off a black market. He also knew that Kingsley didn’t raid all of them at the same time, so that Ginny and Luna still had a chance to get the potion he needed to not vomit his heart out. So in a way, Kingsley was also somehow trying to save his life or at least to keep him alive.

“Very good, Harry. I hope you find something soon that hopefully is also curing whatever curse you’ve got thrown into.”

Harry smiled though he would have loved to tell him he was one of the people that left him behind and just continued with business as usual. He didn’t do that, mostly because he didn’t want to cause a scene in front of Luna and Ginny.

Instead, he smiled at Kingsley and asked: “So, to what do I owe the pleasure of you coming by?”

Kingsley nodded. “Were you aware that about ten days ago, Draco Malfoy escaped Azkaban?”

“What?” Harry widened his eyes. That wasn’t really played, he hoped that the library would somehow not give away that Draco was in there. It shouldn’t since nobody ever even figured out that there was a Black family library. Not even Dumbledore, who made this house a safe house and not Sirius, who had lived here. Though maybe Sirius didn’t realize, because he ran away to live with the Potter’s.

“Didn’t you know?” Kingsley asked and frowned. “I read that you went to visit him but he wasn’t there.”

Harry quickly nodded. “He wasn’t. I just didn’t think that he escaped that day. Ginny told me a week ago that he left Azkaban, but I didn’t know when.”

It was clear to Harry that Kingsley was a smart man. It usually had to do with him, whenever something around Harry happened. So the fact that Draco was gone the exact same day when Harry came to see him… yes, that was making it a little difficult to lie.

“He didn’t just leave, Harry” Kingsley said, still frowning and watching him intently.

Harry raised his eyebrows. Was he trying to read his mind? The fact that he looked so concentrated and that he wasn’t blinking seemed to point him into this direction. Well, Harry hadn’t spent his entire adulthood with the Aurors and had learnt nothing. Kingsley wasn’t even getting through his outer mental wall. Outside were a lot of random memories, which Harry changed almost every week or whenever he thought of it. No one had ever gotten through there.

Kingsley hummed as is he had just realized what was happening and turned back to Harry. “Draco Malfoy escaped from Azkaban. We went to the Malfoy Manor, but he wasn’t there. We’ve also checked a few other places the Malfoy’s used to frequent, but he was nowhere to be seen. I would like to scan this house now, if that’s alright with you.”

Oh, how Harry would have loved to tell him off. He really couldn’t, since that would have been far too obvious. He just hoped that Draco would stay in the library and that the library would keep him hidden. “Sure. But I would like to know why you think he could be here? The only time I really left the house was when I visited him or rather, when I tried to see him.”

“Really?” Kingsley raised an eyebrow. “We have witnesses telling us that you were once outside with Nora, walking her.”

Harry huffed. “I don’t really count that as leaving the house. In Azkaban I can’t just go back home when I’m feeling bad. If I’m out walking Nora, I can just turn around and go home, whenever I’m not able to continue.” He narrowed his eyes. “Also, Kingsley, thank you for the trust you’re showing me. That really leaves me with a warm cozy feeling.”

Kingsley looked at him, as if he was trying to figure out if the sentence he had just said was meant as a joke, and then walked into the hallway. Ginny frowned at Harry.

“Why are you so harsh on him? He’s just trying to do his job.”

Rolling his eyes, Harry shook his head. “As soon as I was gone from the Aurors I just became one of the lying citizens to him.” He glanced through the door and saw Kingsley turning his wand it the upper few levels and scanning the house.

“Maybe he’s just stressed” Luna answered. “In stress we humans usually do things we later regret.”

Harry frowned. “I can’t remember ever doing something like that.”

Ginny snorted. “You, Harry Potter, have always been under stress. Whenever we were at Hogwarts, there was always something coming after you and then, when this idiot is finally dead, you decide ‘you know what, I should do that as a living’. I have never ever seen you not stressed. Even now, it’s like you’re never relaxed, since you need to find the cure and everything.”

Harry was just about to ask if she didn’t want him to bet better, when Ginny held up her hands. “Don’t even try to say that, Harry. I know exactly what you’re trying to ask. I just want you to relax a little. Is it so hard to do nothing?”

“Yes!” Harry shook his head, unable to believe that Ginny wouldn’t understand. Well, she did understand to a certain point. However, if he were to relax now, the percentage of him dying would be astronomical. “I’ll tell you what, Ginny: When I’m back with the living, I will relax.”

Ginny opened her mouth to say something, when Kingsley came back into the kitchen. “Looks like he’s not here. Sorry to interrupt your day, I hope you get better soon.” With that, Kingsley bid goodbye and Harry rolled his eyes.

At least Draco was safe wherever he had been hiding.

Chapter Text

Draco was too deep in his reading. He had studied some very ancient texts and the language there took him at least an hour to get used to. He had come across an ancient spell that seemed right at first, however, the more he read about this weird curse, the less sense it made. He was sure that this curse was either completely made up or long forgotten. Even if some pureblood with a long line of purebloods and a crazy family library had had access to this book and this curse… it would make no sense to pick it.

“What are you reading?” Draco jerked up at the sudden voice into this almost deadly silence.

As he looked up, he found Harry standing next to the door on the small platform that overlooked the library. Next to him sat Nora, almost equally as happy to see him as Harry was. Wait. Was he happy to see him? Draco got up and stretched, as he realized he had been sitting in this chair far too long.

He then grabbed the book and walked over to the Gryffindor who was grinning from ear to ear. He then showed it to him. “It’s a book about old family curses. There are some very weird ones in there.”

Harry smirked. “Like what?”

“One curse I read was about turning into a pig, without actually turning into it. You just behave like one. A few weird love curses, and then the one I’ve just read would apparently make the one hit by the curse slowly lose their mind. What it said in there was crazy.” Draco shook his head, but he smirked. “So, I thought you had it.”

“Hey!” Harry called out, but burst out laughing and shook his head. “Do I?”

Draco wordlessly shook his head. He was glad that he had gotten the Gryffindor to laugh. Harry wasn’t laughing enough, he thought. When he examined him, he thought that the ill man seemed to have a good day, so he was maybe even able to walk down a few stairs.

“Let me show you something, Harry. I’ve found the potion’s laboratory.”

Harry frowned, though he still turned and walked down the steps, even if he was a little careful. “You found the potions laboratory in the library?”

Draco snorted. “No, you fool! There’s a secret entrance from the library. There was another door but I didn’t want to follow it just in case it would lead me into the kitchen. That would have been a surprise.”

Harry stopped and burst out laughing. Draco frowned at him. Even though he had meant it as a joke, he knew that it hadn’t been that good. Finally, after Harry had needed to get some air, he calmed down enough to tell Draco what had been going on.

“Kingsley came by looking for you. Just imagine what would have happened if I continued to tell him that you weren’t here only for you to pop out of a secret door.” Harry snorted. “Sorry, Minister, looks like I forgot to tell you that Draco took up the job of a House Elf or something.”

Draco stood there and stared at Harry. The Minister had been here, looking for him? And Harry had lied to his former boss?! Well, he was the one breaking him out of Azkaban, so it would make sense for him not to tell the big bad boss that he lived here, but still. It amazed Draco that Harry had just lied like that. To protect him.

He realized that he had been standing in the same position for a while and Harry was looking at him slightly amused. “Well, come along now, Harry. Let me show you the secret potions lab.”

“That sounds like a pick-up line from one potions lover to another” Harry smirked.

Draco flushed slightly and turned away. “Luckily, you hate potions then, don’t you?” Why was he getting so flustered?!

As he marched through the library, he heard Harry’s steps behind him and he opened a door on the other end of the library. It led straight into the laboratory and everything looked so damn clean, as if someone had just cleaned it up and left a few minutes ago. Severus would have been incredibly happy to work in there.

There were five cauldrons neatly stacked on each other, a wooden rack which was full of magically preserved ingredients stood in the middle of the room under a what Draco presumed was a magical plant lamp. It was stronger than the other three lamps in this rather big room and the plants that were alive on the very top of the rack seemed to enjoy it.

Harry walked past Draco and whistled impressed. “Wow, I would have never guessed to see something like that in here. And I’ve lived here for almost twenty years!”

Nora raced inside as well and started sniffing all the different ingredients on the rack, which Draco thought was hilarious. She almost looked like one of these Muggle drug dogs.

Draco snorted and shrugged his shoulders. “Well, as a Muggle born wizard or rather Muggle grown wizard, I don’t blame you. It would have been much weirder if you had known that most pureblood families had a potions laboratory and you didn’t think to go snooping around on your own.” He looked at the clean, black sink in the corner and the marble table top on the wall next to it and sighed. “Additionally, the Blacks have a rather nice lab. Not even the Malfoy’s took such care in it.”

Grinning, Harry turned to him. “You mean to say, you’re jealous of my godfather’s family potion laboratory?”

“No” Draco shook his head, though his voice had betrayed him. “Maybe. I’m pretty sure Severus would have been much happier in here than with my parent’s.”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. He had a lot of things to do when I saw him usually. I don’t think he would have had the time to go down here and brew some potions.”

Draco only nodded. He hadn’t heard much of what his godfather had done whenever he was gone, but he knew that he was working as a spy for Voldemort and for Dumbledore. That was actually the ultimate move, being a spy for the two sides. However, he would have never been able to pull it off.

“So, where’s this secret door you’ve mentioned?” Harry’s voice brought him back from all his memories and he pointed at the opposite wall of the table, where in the dark wood, you could actually see something that looked like a door.

Nora walked to the door first and sat down in front of it, wagging her tail, as if she was waiting for it to open magically.

“If this door is going into the wine cellar and we’re breaking whatever bottle is down there, because we’re opening a secret door nobody was aware even existed, I will put this on you” Harry said with a suspicious twinkle in his eyes.

“Be my guest” Draco answered and grinned. It was astonishing so see how different he was from the first time he had seen him. He looked so healthy and almost happy.

As Harry opened the door, darkness came out from it. The Gryffindor turned to Draco just about to say something, when Nora vanished inside the room. Now, Draco knew that the other man would race after his dog.

Harry took out his wand and lit up the room. It seemed as if he hadn’t done a lot of magic lately, as the light he produces was a little unstable, though not dangerously so. He opened the door wider and walked in. Draco followed quickly.

It was a staircase leading up almost all the way to the top of the house. As Harry started to climb the steps, Draco followed, ready to help the lord of the house, should anything happen. When they reached the first landing, Nora stood there already waiting for them.

“You look so happy, Nora?” Harry said and petted her head. “Do you know what’s behind this door, then?” As he pushed down the door handle, they suddenly stood in Harry’s bedroom, or the one he had taken over as one. “Oh.”

Draco snorted. “Okay, so do you want me to make a deal never to open this door then?”

To his surprise, Harry shook his head. “I don’t really mind. As long as you’re not going to be a creep about it. If I see you staring at me from the corner of the room when I wake up, I will call the Ministry immediately and have you arrested again.” Harry grinned. “That’s my worst nightmare, to see something in the corner of the room.”

“I promise not to be the thing that’s standing in the corner of the room” Draco retorted and shook his head. Looking back at Harry, he realized that he looked rather tired. Maybe this little adventure and the visitors today had taken a toll on him. “Why don’t you lie down, Harry. I’ll take a look at where the doors are leading in the upper floors. Maybe there’s even a full on apartment up there that you had no idea existed.”

Harry smirked slightly. “At this rate, I would be disappointed if there wasn’t something up there.” He gave Draco a quick wave and walked into the room, where he stopped dead in his tracks. As he turned around, he looked at Draco. “I forgot to ask you, but do you have a wand?”

“No” Draco sighed. “They snapped it when I was thrown into Azkaban. They told me if I ever got out, I needed to get a new one.” The memory of his wand being snapped in half was still a little painful. Even if it hadn’t been his original one, he still had used it a lot and had finally gotten the hang of how it worked.

He was so deep in thought, that he didn’t even realize Harry holding something towards him. When he looked up, it was an unmarked square wand box.

Widening his eyes, Draco looked at Harry. “You… you didn’t!”

“I don’t know what you’re referring to, but this is your wand, Draco. I totally forgot about it and I’m sorry. But maybe you want it back now?” Harry seemed a little flustered, probably because he was really sorry for having forgotten it or because he was just too tired for it all.

Draco accepted the box, while he nodded softly. As he opened it, he saw his wand lying there in straw with a silk blanket around it. Harry really seemed to know how to store a wand correctly. Draco pushed the silk aside and took out his wand.

As if it recognized a familiar magical core, it gave a few puffs of light. Draco smiled and looked up at Harry, who returned the smile and then walked over to his bed, Nora right beside him. As he got in, fully clothed, the dog jumped up and rolled to a ball right next to him.

Draco was sure that Harry gave a soft hum as he closed the door. Now that the light from Harry’s wand was gone, the darkness was all around Draco. Not that he cared much anyway. He had been scared of the dark when he was a child, but living in Azkaban, where neither the human guards nor the Dementors cared about the inmates, there had been a lot of darkness around him. It had gotten to the point, where Draco had problems with falling asleep if it wasn’t pitch black.

He had been standing there in the dark for a little while, before he realized that he had been too deep in his own head. So he took out his wand and lit up the wooden staircase. His wand was so easy to work with, it was as if it was reading him and just reacting to the thought he had. As he climbed the next few steps, turning around one hundred and eighty degrees, he stopped on the platform and frowned. The stairs hadn’t begun in the middle of the house. There should have only been one way to go from the stairs to the house and that was by going up the stairs and turning three hundred and sixty degrees. So why was he now standing on a platform – with a door! – where no door should have been.

He carefully pressed the door handle and realized that the wood was easily opened. When he peeked into the room, he found an old storage room. There was no other room anywhere, so it must still belong to the magical house the Blacks had created so long ago.

Opening the door wider, Draco jerked at the loud shriek it gave when the hinges were complaining about not having been used in quite a while. Draco entered the room and found a magical candle, which he ignited.

There was so much dust everywhere that Draco had trouble breathing. Well, he also didn’t want to breathe too much, who knew how many centuries worth of House Elf dust was laying around here. It had old wooden crates, fabrics that looked like the dust in top was trying to eat it away, broken cauldrons were thrown in a corner and a bookshelf hung at the very back of the room. The rolled up carpets were kept so messily that Draco wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been a body inside and there were also a few baby clothes just strewn about the room as if the person putting them there hadn’t wanted to spent even a second longer with an open door like that.

Draco was sure that there were about twenty magical animals hiding in this room. Nevertheless, he really wanted to see what books were up here and not in the family library. Maybe this would help him more than all the rather well preserved books down in the cellar.

Six books stood there on the shelf, next to a Chizpurfle, whose crab-like body tensed up as if his instincts seemed to realize that there was a wizard approaching. The parasite tried running, though Draco placed a spell on it and let it float in the air. Their essence could be used in a lot of rare potions. And if he needed one Chizpurfle in the potion for Harry, at least he had already found one.

Placing the Chizpurfle into a magically sealed box, Draco stepped over a carpet and looked at the books, hoping they were in a state where he could move them without needing too much magic. The parasite needed quite a lot of magic for it to happily stay inside the box and since Draco hadn’t really used magic in the last ten years too much, he wasn’t sure how much strain he could put it under. Luckily, all six masterpieces seemed to be in a nice state.

Draco carefully removed the dust from the spines and read their names. Healers of Sorrow Draco had read a lot of when he was in sixth year. Something about the Dark Lord and him loving the dark studies inside. Draco had in all honesty forgotten what it was about except dark curses.

History of immortal Curses and their Impact in the Victim’s Future. Draco sighed as he read that title. It already sounded boring and the thick book was probably over a thousand pages long. That was a read for a rainy Sunday or rather Saturday, when Ginny and Luna weren’t coming by. The next book on the shelf, Draco realized as also standing in the Malfoy family library. Moon of the Curses was a book about rare and evil curses, though Draco was sure that he had read about all these curses in other books before. Then were two books in a series: Guardians of Nightmares – Part One and Guardians of Nightmares – Part Two. The last book, which was almost falling off the shelf had the name Gods of the Ashes – an easy access to the complicated World of highly magical Curses and Pests. Draco snorted over the weird title and decided to take all of them down to the cellar.

He needed to place the Chizpurfle into a container to keep it alive and safe and he wanted to look through the books and figure out why they were standing in this weird little storage room and not in the family library. The rest of the staircase, he could go through another day and time.

Chapter Text

The next time Harry opened his eyes, he checked the watch and immediately asked himself why he had done so. Three o’clock. Again. There really was no need to check the time when he woke up in the middle of the night. Four times out of five, it was three in the morning.

Sighing, Harry got up. Nora looked up, curiously and followed him to the door. She didn’t even look tired as if she had been waiting for him to wake up and talk to her or even play. Though this time, he was a little too tired to play.

As he opened the door to the kitchen, he was once again surprised to see Draco standing there at the stove with a very old looking book in his hands. He could decipher the large title Gods of Ashes but not more.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked and smirked slightly, when Draco jerked up.

The Slytherin rolled his eyes and shrugged his shoulders. “Researching.”

“In the middle of the night?” Harry asked and raised his eyebrows. Was Draco awake because he knew that he would be awake that time?

“I forgot about the time” Draco shrugged his shoulders. “And what are you doing up?”

Apparently, it wasn’t because of Harry then. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have asked. Harry chuckled. “It’s three a.m. I’m awake because of the curse.”

Draco looked up from the book and nodded. “Yeah, I entirely forgot. Would you like some tea?”

“I would love to have a cup, yes.”

The Slytherin nodded and handed Harry a steaming cup of tea. Their hands touched quickly and Harry smiled as the scent of mint tea hit him. Draco’s blond hair looked almost white with the moon shining through the window and the candle light made it look almost unnatural.

“So, what have you found in this book with actually quite the amazing title?”

Draco frowned at Harry, placed his index finger into the book and with a flick of his wrist, closed it. “I wanted to make sure we’re actually talking about the same book, because this title is absurd! Gods of Ashes?! That’s the worst title anyone could come up with and then the title underneath an easy access to the complicated World of highly magical Curses and Pests…”

Harry smirked as he saw that even Nora had her head tilted, as if she didn’t understand what Draco was so mad about. He sat down by the table. “You’re getting far too agitated over a book title. Is the book at least good?”

“Somehow, yes. There are a number of old curses that somehow still exist and” Draco opened the book again and shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t know how old this book is, but it is a little relevant. Sadly though, nothing seems to work for your curse.”

Harry nodded. “I’m not surprised, to be honest. Anything that has something to do with me usually turns out to be something not many know about.”

Draco got up from his leaning position and walked over to the table as well. “I will find something, Harry. You shouldn’t give up hope.”

“Oh, Draco, don’t push yourself on this” Harry sighed. “I have given up hope long ago. You helping me is basically just my last resort. If you can’t find something, especially after Hermione was looking all over the place, I’m okay with dying.”

“Don’t say that!”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I am doing fine today, I was doing great the last few days, so it doesn’t matter. If I die, at least I had a couple of nicer days.” He paused and bit his lower lip. “And I’m also not alone.”

When he looked up, he saw Draco frowning, with a rather shocked expression on his face. “I’m sorry” Harry quickly sad and shifted on his chair. “I’m just terrified of dying alone.”

“But you have friends and all that! You wouldn’t be dying alone!” Draco shook his head as if to give his sentence more power.

“Have you seen them around here?” Harry asked and smiled sadly. “I don’t want to be a burden. And I’ve been one for the past year, almost. So what is very likely going to happen… I will die and on my deathbed, I’ll send them all a Patronus. They all have jobs so by the time they were able to free themselves from any work, I will have perished.”

Draco shook his head. “You are seeing this far too dark, Harry. First of all, you’re not going to die! Secondly, I will find something that will help you. If not cure the curse, then maybe to help you so that you can live a normal life again. Which in turn will third, help your relationship with your friends, so that you all can be together and be happy.”

Harry smiled weakly. “You’ve got quite the confidence in your own skills.”

Draco snorted. “One of us has to.”

“In that case, you’re doing a good job” Harry answered and smirked. Draco rolled his eyes and took a sip of his tea. They stayed there in silence, everyone in their own head, with Nora snoring from time to time. It was actually quite peaceful, if Harry was honest.

If he were to be even more frank, he would have realized that it had been peaceful for quite a long time – actually ever since Draco had arrived at Grimmauld Place. However, three a.m. in the morning, Harry wasn’t able to see or even think that clearly.

When Draco ran out of tea, he stood up and made some more. Harry saw that he made more than he would drink on his own. He thought it was a nice touch. It was also nice to be here, in his kitchen, drinking tea with the only person he had wanted to be awake with right now.

Everybody else was trying to help him way too much. Ron was trying to make him move into the Burrow, so that his parents could take care of him which was a nice idea, though Molly and Arthur were getting old themselves and Harry really didn’t want to worry them even more. If they would see him on a bad day, they would probably never leave him alone ever again.

Hermione usually tried to make him go to St. Mungo’s, just so that they could take even more care of him or actually fail to take care of him. He had been there too long already and no one had ever figured out what he had. Why would that suddenly change now?!

The only people that didn’t seem to want to make Harry do something were Luna and Ginny. Although Ginny had also tried to hire a personal mediwitch for him, who had quit after a particularly bad day, she was also okay with him staying at home. And well, Neville came by a few times, though he always seemed like the one person who tried to get Harry to see things from different perspectives.

Harry had to be honest; if any of his visitors knew that he was awake every night at three a.m., he wouldn’t have liked it. They would probably freak out and demand an answer as to why Harry had hidden such important information, and Hermione would have checked him into St. Mungo’s against his wished. With Draco, however, it seemed so normal.

“Don’t you ever sleep, Draco?” Harry asked suddenly, as he remembered that Draco seemed to almost always be awake whenever Harry was.

The Slytherin looked up and smiled sadly. “I’ve had to learn how to live with only a little. When the Dark Lord was living in the Manor, I rarely slept. I was just too petrified of anything ever happening. And then in Azkaban, the nightmares would come whenever the Dementors had the night shift. So I also rarely slept, there. Well, whenever the Dementors were around. But you never knew who was taking the night shift until one a.m., so I never slept until then and when the Dementors were out, I didn’t even try to fall asleep.”

Harry nodded. That did sound terrible and hard to stay awake for so long. It also raised one important question. “So when do you sleep?”

“Well, in Azkaban I slept from eight to eleven, when the Dementors were on night shift, but at eleven, the guards would walk the prison and punish everyone who was still sleeping.” Draco sighed as if he had some really bad memories from this time of his life. Harry had to admit that ten years in Azkaban over nothing was a really terrible memory, so there was that. After a while, Draco looked up and smiled. “And now, that I’m finally free of this torture, I usually sleep in two phases: From eleven p.m. to around two a.m. and then from four a.m. to eight.”

He placed the book down and turned back to Harry. “Maybe this curse is something like a sleeping curse or something that affects your sleep?”

Harry shook his head. “Not very likely. I usually do sleep well. It’s just that I’m awake whenever it’s three in the morning. But once I’ve walked to the kitchen and back, I’m able to fall asleep again.”

“Still” Draco nodded. “I really should be looking into that.”

Nora suddenly barked and stretched as she got up. Both Draco and Harry jerked up at the sudden loud noise. She walked next to Harry and sat down, looking at him expectantly.

Harry chuckled. “I still have no idea what you want, Nora. Maybe food?”

As he got up, he quickly looked over the Draco, who had narrowed eyes, deep in thoughts as he looked at the dog. When Harry gave Nora a bone to chew on, she growled happily and walked to the other side of the kitchen and lay down on the floor.

“Before I continue with my search for your curse, though, I think I should figure out if your dog might actually be a magical one.”

Harry smirked. “She’s not. Magical dogs are supposed to be born to actual magical dogs, right?”

Draco snorted, though he nodded. “Yes, however, a few thousand years back, there were no distinction between magical dogs and just dogs. They had puppies and these puppies had puppies and so forth. If Nora actually had an ancestor that was a magical dog, this gene could go through the entire line unnoticed and only show up now. It’s basically like a Muggle-born dog.”

Following closely to what Draco was saying, Harry turned to look at Nora, who had apparently not realized that they were talking about her or she was too busy with her bone. Harry thought it was the latter.

“And what happens with magical dogs?” Harry asked and turned back to Draco.

The Slytherin shrugged. “Usually nothing. However, maybe I could cast a soul dog bond, that way you could hear what she wants to tell you and you can telepathically tell her what you want. That could be useful.”

Harry snorted. “For when she wants her bone? Very useful for me, yes.”

Chapter Text

Soul Dog Bonds

The Soul dog (anima canis) is a dog subspecies native to the Scottish Highlands and Northern Ireland, with another variety believed to live in uninhabited regions of Canada. It is listed as Endangered on the Magical Creatures of the UK Red List. In 2007, only 19 soul dogs were registered in Ireland, Scotland and England registered 28, while Wales only had 2. It is considered as one of the rarest dogs on Earth. As of 2015, fewer than 60 registered individuals were estimated to live with humans. Camera-trapping surveys conducted between 2014 and 2015 in the Scottish Highlands revealed 72 individuals living in three different packs. In 2019, it was reported that the population is close to 30 wild soul dogs.

The difference between normal house dogs, wolfs and soul dogs is the latter’s trust and interest in humans. While house dogs still have their wolf like instincts inside them, soul dogs are known to be kinder and more helpful.

If a soul dog is adopted by a wizard or witch, a soul dog bond can be obtained which is another huge difference to normal dogs and wolfs, as soul dogs can form almost complete sentences and have an interest for communicating with their human or humans. This was why they have been used illegally by wizards and witches in hunting competitions.

To find out if your dog is a soul dog, use the spell mentioned underneath this paragraph. If your dog is a soul dog, the spell will make your dog glow yellow. If it isn’t a soul dog, it will glow blue. Should your dog turn out to be a soul dog, you must register it with the Ministry in The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures within three days.
Spell: verum est forma canis revelare

Should you be interested in getting a soul bond with your dog, the Ministry will be initiating it and within a week, the dog and you should be able to talk without problems. There will be special tests to see how far your bond reaches, however, all of this will be decided by the Ministry. The soul dog bond spell is unknown and only used by the supervisors of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures.

Draco huffed and shook his head. The Ministry was keeping a close eye on these soul dogs… too close for his liking. He also wasn’t going to see the Ministry just so that Harry could get a soul bond with Nora. He should be able to figure out the spell on his own.

As he thought that, he saw a note on the very bottom of the page, where the old looking ink was almost gone, however… There was a spell! One of the Black family members had apparently figured the spell out and written it down.

Smirking over this, Draco shook his head. He was really happy he had chosen to look through the Black family library. In the Malfoy library, a book that had been written into was a book that needed to be replaced.

Canes me loqui

Getting up, Draco almost ran up the stairs from the library and hurried out of the room where he had spent almost all of this day. When he entered the kitchen, the smell of incredibly amazing food hit him and his stomach rumbled loudly. Draco stopped at the door frame, where he saw into the kitchen.

Harry turned around from the stove and smirked at him. “I thought I had heard a stomach growling that didn’t belong to Nora. She already ate.” He motioned towards the dog, which was lying in her dog bed next to the door, happily licking her paws.

“I’m sorry, I entirely forgot about the time” Draco said and smiled weakly. He turned back to Harry, who shrugged his shoulders and turned back to the stove. Draco looked at Harry who added a few more spices to the meat. Over his wine red t-shirt, he was wearing a checkered, open-necked shirt and his black jeans looked very comfortable. He looked so normal! So relaxed, and not at all in pain. Actually, all his movements seemed as if he wasn’t even hit by the curse.

The longer this seemed to go on, Draco got more scared for the eventual downfall. The higher and longer these good days were, the lower his coming bad days were going to be. Draco did not want to think about how bad he was going to feel in a few weeks. It was only a slight consolation that he was researching a way to heal the Gryffindor – since, what would happen if he couldn’t find anything?!

“Draco!”

Jerking up from his thoughts, Draco saw Harry grinning at him. He rolled his eyes and walked into the kitchen. “What?”

Harry chuckled. “Do you mind setting the table? If you want, you could also go and find some wine in the cellar. I’m not sure I’m supposed to drink it, but I want a glass of something good.”

“With black market potions?” Draco raised his eyebrows. “Are you now actively trying to kill yourself?” Harry rolled his eyes and turned back to his cooking, while Draco snorted. “I’ll go look for something good, so that if this happens to be your last meal, at least you had good wine.”

“Thank you, Draco!” Harry called after him rather happily, while he walked down the steps to the cellar. The Blacks really seemed to have everything, as it was hard for Draco to find something he thought was appropriate and also amazing for the food.

When he walked back up the stairs, he remembered why he had run out of the family library. In the kitchen, Harry had set the table and the food was already on it.

Draco stopped and frowned. “I didn’t take that long, did I?”

“Fifty minutes!” Harry shook his head disapprovingly.

“What?!”

Only when Harry snorted and started in a laughing fit, Draco realized that the Golden Boy was having him on. He shook his head and placed the wine on the counter. “That was just incredibly rude, Harry!”

Harry chuckled. “Ten minutes, max. I really just wanted to prank you. Had you taken any longer, I would have put some food on my plate and pretended to have eaten already.”

“How dare you!” Draco widened his eyes, though he couldn’t bite down a smirk. “I’m being so helpful and you’re messing with me.”

“You should feel honored” Harry said and put some rice on a plate.

Draco shook his head, though he was still grinning and opened the wine. When he sat down on the opposite side of Harry, he placed the book down that he had been carrying everywhere.

Harry looked at it and then back at Draco. “Please tell me you’ve found a cure?”

“I wish” Draco sighed. “Not yet, though. I did find, however, a way of figuring out if Nora is a Soul Dog. And thanks to the Black family library I could even initiate the bond between you and her.”

“So she can tell me she wants a bone?” Harry narrowed his eyes.

Nora barked and when Draco turned around to look at her, he could have sworn that she looked rather insulted by this comment. However, he also knew that she loved Harry over everything, so that comment would probably be forgotten in ten minutes.

Draco smirked and shook his head. He opened the book at the specific page he had read before and slid it over the table. Harry frowned quickly and bent over the book to look at it. He read it quietly and after a few minutes, he sat back up straight.

“That would be interesting.” Harry frowned. “But if I were to die, wouldn’t that mess her up?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Draco chuckled. “That would mess anybody up, Harry. So if I were you, I would try it and maybe Nora isn’t even a soul dog…”

Harry snorted as he grabbed his fork. “Nora is definitely a magical dog. The first day I got her, I was convinced that she was a magical dog.”

“Why?” Draco grinned and began eating as well.

“I honestly can’t tell you a specific reason. I just always figured that there was something about her that wasn’t normal” Harry answered.

Draco took out his wand. “I could try right now and see if she’s a soul dog?” Draco thought Harry would have been over the moon with this idea, however, before he could even think of the spell, the Gryffindor held up his hands.

“Wait!” Draco jerked by the sudden loud noise. Harry shook his head. “Don’t do that. Some spells are tracked by the Ministry. I’m sure that this one is as well, especially since they seem to be so rare these days.”

Frowning, Draco looked at his wand and then to Harry. “So, how can we figure out if she’s a soul dog?”

Harry smirked and got up. He walked over to a portrait of three men and a woman. Draco recognized one of the men as Remus Lupin and another looked just like him. It must have been his father. And the woman was then probably his mother.

It was a little weird that Draco had never realized the portrait hanging there; then again it hadn’t talked so far. When Draco thought about it, he realized that actually none of the portraits around the house have been talking, even though some of them seemed as if they were screaming.

As if Harry had read his mind, he looked back at him and smiled. “The portraits have been spelt to secrecy when I moved in and started working in the Ministry. They can’t see whenever they’re here, they can’t hear anything and if they annoy me too much, they can’t talk. As a result, they don’t spend much time in their portraits here, which I think is just a nice side effect.”

“And what about them?” Draco asked and motioned towards the portrait Harry was standing in front of.

“We can talk!” the man said who looked like a younger and much healthier version of Harry.

Draco widened his eyes and was just about to ask something, when the man who he hadn’t been able to place anywhere, spoke up as well. “And we can listen! And see!”

“Thanks Sirius” Harry answered and rolled his eyes, he then turned back to Draco. “They’re special, because I know that next to all the portraits in the house, these four would never go behind my back and tell anyone something I don’t want them to know.”

Nodding, Draco thought to himself why he hadn’t realized that the man in the portrait was Sirius Black?! He had the typical Black family hair, like Draco’s mother and also something in his manner was familiar.

While Draco had stood there and thought about this, Harry had turned back to the portrait. “Would you please open up the secret hiding space?”

Sirius shook his head. “That’s not the password!”

“I wasn’t aware we were having a password now.” Harry answered and smirked. “Mom, can you please tell Sirius to go annoy somebody else in his family so I can get to my wand?”

“Not an option, Harry!” Sirius said, crossed his arms over his chest, when the woman, which was obviously Harry’s mother, punched him in the arm. “Ow!” the one tough looking man cried out and Draco almost laughed out loud.

Harry turned back to look at Draco, with a sparkle in his eyes. Draco could tell that this situation inside the portrait was also amusing to him. And it probably wasn’t the first time this had happened.

“Of course, darling. Don’t listen to Sirius, he’s never going to change” Harry’s mother said and smiled broadly.

Sirius scoffed, though he jumped away, when she looked at him playfully angry. Harry’s father snorted and turned to Harry. “For your information then, son: The password is Marauders.”

“No, it’s not!” Draco saw his former professor shake his head. “If we see it’s not Harry who wants to get inside, we won’t open. As easy as that!” Professor Lupin sighed and turned to Sirius, who was scowling slightly. “Why are you so needy of a password?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Sirius smirked. “If we’re stuck in this portrait, we can at least have fun!”

Harry rolled his eyes, as he leaned against the small table next to the portrait. “You’re not stuck in this portrait; I’ve told you this before! Sirius, I know for a fact, that Narcissa has a portrait of you in the Manor.”

“Under no circumstance will I ever go there!” Sirius looked shocked and Harry snorted.

“Then that sounds like a ‘you problem’, my friend. Now please open up the portrait, the password is ‘Marauders’.”

Harry’s father cheered, though his wife hit him as well, before the portrait opened and revealed a secret hatch in the wall. Harry opened it carefully and took out a long and wide wooden box. He placed it on the table and opened it carefully.

Draco gasped as his eyes fell onto the fabric inside. That looked like an Invisibility Cloak and judging from the material and the way it looked like water; it seemed to be a very good one. Harry looked at him and smirked. He pushed it aside and Draco couldn’t believe his eyes. Underneath was a leather wand case. It seemed to be dragon leather and a very rare one. Harry undid the leather ribbon keeping it in place and carefully rolled open the case.

The wand lying inside, Draco couldn’t believe his eyes. It was the Elder Wand! “It’s real?” Draco whispered and stared at Harry.

Harry smirked and nodded. “Very real, actually. That’s the only wand the Ministry can’t control. Every spell cast with this wand will be unknown.”

“I can’t believe this thing is real!” Draco shook his head. He had heard these stories as a child every night. And he had dreamed of coming upon them and sometimes he had thought of how he would be using the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone or even the… Draco’s eyes turned back to the Invisibility Cloak. “Is this the real…”

Harry looked up and shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah. I also once possessed the Resurrection Stone, though not even Hermione and Ron knew that. Hermione has made countless attempts to figure out where it is, though none of them have led her to the right spot.”

Draco shook his head. “You once were the Master of Death?!” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Harry was in possession of all the Deathly Hallows?!

“I guess so” Harry smirked. “Now, should we see if Nora is a magical dog?”

The only thing Draco could do was nod. His mind was too occupied with other things, mainly Harry Potter being the Master of Death and the Deathly Hallows actually being real. He only realized that time was still flowing, when a yellow glow stone into his face and he blinked to see what was happening.

Nora was a Soul Dog. She barked and jumped up as if she seemed happy that someone had finally figured it out. Harry chuckled and petted her head. “I’m sorry it took me so long to figure it out!”

“Well that is my mistake, isn’t it?” Draco asked and grinned, when Harry looked at him slightly confused. “I told you the first time I saw her that she could be a magical dog, but I never had the time to look it up.”

Harry shook his head and smiled. “Not to worry, Draco. I don’t think Nora minds too much, she liked you quite a lot I can tell.”

Draco snorted. “Soon, you will actually know if she does still like me.”

“So, do we need something special then, in order to cast the Soul dog bond?” Harry asked and frowned.

Shaking his head, Draco turned to the book so he could see what was written inside, again. “No. But they are saying something about tests of how well the connection is. Let me research this until later tomorrow and then we’ll start with the bonding after dinner, is that okay?”

Harry nodded and smiled. “Sure, but it has to wait until Hermione and Ron are gone tomorrow. I’ll put some food into staircase behind my bedroom, so you can eat if they’re still here by then.”

“That makes it sound like I’m a House Elf or something.”

Grinning, Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Some Muggles do actually put food out for magical or rather fake creatures. When it’s gone, they think the mice got it.”

Draco shook his head. “So, you’re thinking of me as a mouse? Thank you very much.”

“You’re a very nice mouse, Draco.”

“I’m not a mouse! You can think of me as a dragon!”

“Sure” Harry answered, though he had this smirk on his face, as if he was thinking of a particularly small dragon and not one that Draco would have liked to be compared with more.

Chapter Text

“… and you really can’t let Springer do anything, because he messes things up even worse! I’ve asked Shaklebolt, to at least consider Anderson as a backup, but he told me times and times again, that Springer will be able to do what I’m telling him to do and when I’m telling him to. And guess what?!” Ron made a dramatic pause after about five minutes of not breathing and only talking and ranting over how incompetent all Aurors were.

Harry sighed. “He messed it up?” he offered, though Ron was seemingly unable to hear anything else but his own thoughts.

“He messes everything up! How is it so hard to listen to other people?!” Ron looked at Harry expectantly, who only barely managed to keep it together.

“You’re telling me, mate.”

Hermione looked over from the sink to him a little disapprovingly, though Harry really didn’t care. He had long ago believed that even if they were his best friends, they only came by because they thought they had to. And Ron hadn’t even asked how he was doing; he had immediately started this rant why he’d had a bad week. It was like the two of them didn’t even want to know how he was doing and instead simply assumed that he was feeling worse and worse every day. Which absolutely wasn’t true.

“Right?!” Ron answered and shook his head. “And then McAdam comes along and tries to fix everything with one spell, messes it up even worse and tried to shove that into my shoes telling Kingsley how I’m the incompetent one and that I should be going to the seminar next week, because I can’t apparently…”

“Ron?” Hermione interrupted her husband. “Be a darling and go and buy some white wine, we really should have an appetizer before we eat.”

Ron growled and got up from his chair and headed out the door. Harry turned to Hermione and raised his eyebrows. “You know I don’t drink wine, right?”

Hermione nodded. “I know. But you were judging Ron over how much he was talking; I could see it. Don’t judge him, just because he’s had a bad week.”

Harry hummed and leaned back in his chair. “But you can judge me for having a bad year, then? Yeah, that seems fair.”

“Don’t be like that, Harry” Hermione sighed and sat down on the chair Ron had vacated. “You know we don’t judge you!”

“Of course not” Harry answered sarcastically. “It’s not like you want me to go to St. Mungo’s or Ron wants me to live with his parents. We were on the run for a year, ‘Mione. Why was that okay for us to do and now suddenly, you don’t want me to live alone anymore?”

Hermione simply shook her head as if she believed that no matter what she would say, Harry wouldn’t be able to understand her. She was probably right. No matter what reasoning she had given for him living in St. Mungo’s or with Ron’s parents, he had always thought that there was something else going on. Maybe they both had just given up on him and it would be easier to visit him in St. Mungo’s.

“Do you have some more seasoning?” Hermione asked and motioned to an almost empty bag of Italian herbs.

Harry nodded. “In the cellar next to the wine rack are a few things.”

Hermione opened the door and walked down the steps. Harry sighed and grabbed a plate. He was sure that Hermione didn’t actually need more herbs or anything actually. She had sent Ron to buy some white wine to talk to him alone, now that this didn’t work, she was going to hide away from him as long as she reasonably could.

“Nora, stand guard” Harry whispered to his dog. She jumped to the door and sat down, as if she was waiting for Hermione. Nora looked over to him and seemed to wait for him to move along.

Harry chuckled and filled up a plate of food. He then carried said plate to the stairs behind his room. As he opened the door, he was faced with Draco. The Slytherin opened his mouth, when his eyes fell on the plate.

“Still here, then?” he whispered.

Nodding, Harry gave him the plate. Draco sighed and turned, though stopped in the middle. “Do you mind, if I check out where else these stairs lead to?”

Harry shook his head. “Not at all. Just be as quiet as possible. Ron’s not having a good day, I don’t want him to find you and send you back to Azkaban, just because he’s angry” he whispered back.

“Copy that” Draco answered and smiled.

That moment, Nora barked and Harry quickly waved goodbye and closed the door again. He then pulled the bed sheets down a little and pretended as if he had been hiding something under his bed.

Hermione looked into his room, frowning. “What are you doing?”

“Making my bed” Harry answered and frowned at her. “Am I not allowed to do that?”

She frowned at him and sighed, as if she had enough of his actions and went back to cooking. Or rather pretending to cook.

Where had this friendship come to?! A few years ago, they’d had such nice days together and now… it felt as if they all didn’t want to be around each other. Harry though that Hermione and Ron just pretended to like it here for Harry’s sake, since he was dying. And if he was honest, it also looked as if the two of them were having marriage problems, though none of them seemed to want to confront the other.

The rest of the evening went almost the same: Ron continued complaining about the inefficiency of the Aurors, telling Harry that with him, it had been so much better, even if Harry doubted it. Hermione continued to silently judge him about being judged, even if Harry really didn’t feel as if he was judging his best friends.

However, maybe he was. Well, he wasn’t judging, but he certainly compared their behavior to Draco’s. It was so much easier to be around him and talk to him. Harry could only think of two reasons why it would be that way: Draco was only going to be in his life for a little time, so there was no problem with telling him even his most inner thoughts. The second reason was that maybe the two of them weren’t that different after all. He couldn’t quite figure out which reason was the real one.

After two painful hours, Hermione and Ron finally decided to leave. Harry brought them to the door, while Nora stayed in the kitchen. Apparently, she didn’t feel the need to bid goodbye.

“Stay healthy, Harry!” Ron called out and walked away with Hermione.

Harry snorted as he closed the door. Hopefully, if he got healthy again, their relationship would improve again. A friendship like that wasn’t something Harry was enjoying.

He walked over to the family tree room and pressed the head that opened the secret door. When he looked inside, Draco wasn’t there.

“Nora!” Harry called his dog and the Husky-Golden Retriever mix came running. Harry smiled and pointed into the library. “Go find Draco!”

Nora barked and ran down the stairs and through the library into another secret door Harry wasn’t aware of. This house most certainly was a maze. However, he liked it more and more each day, and he couldn’t really say why. Maybe it was because he wasn’t living in here alone anymore. If he were to live, he should definitely find a flat or rather house mate. Maybe even more than one?

He heard steps coming behind him and turned around to see Draco being pushed into his direction by Nora. Harry chuckled and closed the door to the library.

Draco shook his head. “Nora really seems to want me to start that spell. She’s crazy!”

Nora barked and glared at Draco who held his hands up. “I’m sorry, but you could have gently told me to go to Harry, yet here we are.” He pointed at his shirt which was partially ripped by Nora’s teeth.

“I’ll get you a new one, if you’d like” Harry offered and saw Draco shaking his head.

“Don’t bother, Harry. The Blacks have so many shirts, I could wear a new one for a year and probably wouldn’t have seen a third of everything.”

Harry smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “If you say so.” Before he could say something else, Nora barked again and sat down between them, looking expectantly at Draco, which made both humans laugh.

“I guess we have to start the soul bond, huh Nora?” Draco asked and Nora barked as an answer. Draco motioned Harry to follow him and they walked into the kitchen, closely followed by Nora. Harry quickly cast a spell on the kitchen and it started cleaning up everything.

Draco took out a book titled Soul Dog bonds – a beginner’s guide. “I’m pretty sure that the Blacks have been breeding Soul dogs semi legally, there’s a few hundred books in the library about it. This one has the easiest description of the tests that the Ministry is performing.”

Harry nodded and listened carefully to the three paragraphs Draco read out loud. Even Nora had her head tilted as if he listened intensively to his voice. When Draco was done, he looked up and smiled. “I can oversee the tests, if you’d be happy with that.”

“Absolutely.” That was the easiest decision in Harry’s life. “Do you want to use the Elder Wand, just in case the Ministry is also tracking that other spell?”

Draco seemed really surprised, as he widened his eyes. “It won’t listen to me, Harry. As much as I want to use it, I’m pretty sure that this wand only listens to the one who’s got his loyalty.”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I can fix that.”

He walked over to the portraits, knowing full well how confused Draco looked, and asked them the open up. This time, they surprisingly did without much discussion. Harry took out the wooden box and placed it on the table. He then grabbed the leather wand case and carefully opened it. When he finally held the wand in his hand, he looked at Draco and smirked. “Take it away from me.”

“What?” Draco stood up, though he shook his head.

“I said, take it. That way, the wand will see you as the stronger wizard and will listen to you” Harry explained and grinned. “Unless you’re scared of the power that comes with it?”

Draco gave a short laugh, though it seemed to be more surprise than anything else. “It can’t be that easy!”

“It is. When you disarmed Dumbledore in the Astronomy tower, the Elder Wand chose you. And then in the Manor, when I took the wand from you, it decided that I was now worthy. So in a way, you already once held its loyalty.”

Harry could tell that Draco wanted to say something, though he seemed to be incredibly confused and surprised. Frankly, if Harry had just heard that he was the Master of the Elder Wand sometime in the past and he hadn’t known it was real, he would have probably reacted the same way Draco was right now.

Draco shook his head. “The Elder Wand belonged to me in seventh year?!”

“Yup.” Harry smirked.

“I’m so glad I didn’t know that!” Draco rubbed his forehead. “The Dark Lord would have killed me without a second thought had he known I had its loyalty.”

Nodding, Harry walked around the table and held his hand out. “My grip isn’t the same it used to be, so it should be easy for you to take it.”

“Are you still fighting for it?” Draco asked.

“I’m not sure the wand would be happy otherwise. But I won’t put up too much of a fight.” Before Harry could even grasp what was happening, Draco had taken the wand away from him. “What?”

Draco burst out laughing. “Is that your version of putting up a fight, because that was far too easy!”

Harry shook his head. “Whatever, try to use it for a spell and see if it accepts you.”

“Accio book” Draco said and pointed it to another book he had read a few hours ago. The book flew into his hands and he smirked. “Nox!” The lights inside the kitchen went off and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Put the light back on, you idiot.”

The light went on again and Draco grinned. He pointed the wand at Harry and said “Confundus!”

Harry shook his head and looked at the Elder Wand. “Why would you point that at me?” He frowned and raised his eyes at Draco. “Did you just use a charm on me?”

“You called me idiot, so I erased that memory.” Draco shrugged his shoulders and Harry snorted.

“Alright, fine. So, the Elder Wand is listening to you, I suppose.”

Draco nodded. “It appears so. You can have it back though, once we’re finished with it all.”

“Don’t worry about that, Draco.” Harry shook his head. “I actually prefer if you have it. If I die, it will either way go back and be loyal to you again, so it’s not really a difference.”

Sighing, Draco placed the wand carefully on the table. “You’re not going to die, Harry. I will do everything in my power to prevent that. If it makes you happy, I will keep the loyalty of the Elder Wand until I find a cure. However, then, I will give it back to you. I don’t like to have that much power.”

Harry smiled weakly. He was sure he wasn’t going to survive. Even though the last week had felt rather well, he knew what was lying beyond the horizon: Nothing good.

“You’d be the first to be happy to get rid of its loyalty” Harry commented.

Draco smirked. “I’ve spent too long in a dark room, being able to think about myself and I really don’t want to be in there anymore. If people knew I was in possession of the Elder Wand, there’d be no safe place for me.”

Nora barked and sat down close to Draco again, looking expectantly. He snorted and grabbed the wand again. “Alright, fine, I’ll do the spell.”

Harry grinned and shook his head, while Draco opened the book again. He pointed the wand at Harry and clearly said: “Canes me loqui.” Then, he turned to Nora and pointed his wand at her. “Humane me loqui.“

A soft golden string started growing from Harry’s fingertips to Nora’s tip of the nose and one came from her as well. Harry felt a warm feeling rush though his body as soon as the golden strings touched. He inhaled sharply and looked at his Husky-Golden Retriever dog, waiting for something to happen.

Draco smiled softly. “That’s the first step completed.” He opened the book on another page and put the wand down. Leaning over a specific page, he started reading out loud. “You won’t be able to communicate properly in the first two hours, but the bond will grow stronger with every passing minute. After two hours, you will be able to send different words from one creature to another. After four hours, test one should be made to see how strong the bond actually is.”

The Slytherin skipped over the rest of the page, while Harry looked at Nora, who also seemed to be interested in him, as she had her head tilted and her eyes were very curious.

“After six hours, you should be able to communicate difficult emotions and feelings with each other. You should be reminded that dogs don’t have such a huge understanding of all our human emotions, even if Soul Dogs have a greater span of emotions. Test two should be done here. Most dogs won’t make it past this level. So, don’t be surprised if your dog won’t pass test three.”

Once again, Draco skipped a good two pages, before he started reading again. “Test three will be done the morning after the initial soul bonding. It will show how smart your dog is and how close human and Soul Dog can work together. The final test, test four, is for only the strongest of dogs and the strongest of human. Only one percent of all Soul Dogs are actually able to communicate that well. Test four is usually ignored, as it almost always fails. If you and your dog want to figure out how to do test four, ask the Ministry for some guidance.”

Harry snorted. “Of course. After we initiated the soul bonding on ourselves, let’s go and ask the Ministry to do test four.”

Draco smirked. “Yeah, I’m with you on this one. So, go enjoy the evening, Harry. I’ll come get you in four hours for test one, it’s going to be a long night.” Draco then turned to Nora. “You too, pup.”

Nora barked, got up and marched into Harry’s room, where she lay down on his bed and started snoring.

Harry yawned, though he tried to hide it. Draco must have seen it still, since he pushed him into his room. “Sleep, Harry. I’ll wake you up when it’s time.”

“Thanks, Draco.”

Chapter Text

While Harry slept, Draco decided to look more into the staircase. He had done so already, though Nora had gotten him before he could see the two last levels. As he climbed up the first set of stairs, he stopped in front of Harry’s bedroom. The Gryffindor would probably be more annoyed if Draco were to open the door and see if he was doing fine. However, for some unknown reason, he felt the urge to open the door and check up on him.

Since Draco had always listened to his instincts, he carefully opened the door and peered inside. There was a soft light coming from a round lamp in the corner, soft snores came from the two living creatures inside and Draco found Harry turning over in his sleep.

He smiled softly and carefully closed the door again. So, his instincts seemed to be wrong, Harry was doing okay, Nora seemed fine as well. Why had he needed to open the door and check up on them?

Shrugging his shoulders, Draco turned around and walked up the next two sets of stairs. The room right above Harry had been an old sitting room nobody had used for a few hundred years at least, judging by the amount of dust on everything. Draco hadn’t trusted himself to sit on any of the furniture – it looked so brittle. It seemed to have been a girl’s sitting room, since the couches and tables was slightly pink and there were a few mirrors around.

Draco rolled his eyes as he walked past the sitting room door and looked up the stairs. The next door which he hadn’t checked was the room above the storage he had found last time. Maybe this was another storage room? Or maybe this was where the Blacks had all their gold? That would have been funny somehow.

As he reached the door, he opened it carefully. What he found inside was something he had never imagined. This room had an open window and around the room were about one hundred owls, sleeping, eating or cuddling with each other. When they saw Draco, the noise stopped abruptly. Draco closed the door slowly and looked at the owls.

The Blacks seemed to be very animal friendly; at least before everything with the Dark Lord happened. Draco could tell that these owls were some of the rarest ones in Wizard Society. The Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures called them Sapienta Owls, which meant that they were smart, smarter than all the other owls wizards had. They could be identified by their white feathers that glistened in the moon light like a soft rainbow.

Draco bowed his head in respect and softly spoke: “I won’t take away your home. This is yours to keep.”

An owl hooted and spread its wings, before it closed its eyes again. It seemed as if this one had been the master of the other owls, since they then went back to what they were doing before they had seen him. Draco smiled and walked back out of the door. The Black family home was full of surprises!

When he finally reached the second to last door, he opened it carefully. This was once again the entrance to another already existing room. Behind this door lay a big room for such a small house. It seemed to have been enlarged. On the walls were mirrors upon mirrors, a huge chandelier hung from the ceiling that had what looked like actual golden dots all coming together in the middle with the ceiling as it center piece. It looked absolutely stunning.

This room seemed to be an old practice or dueling room. Draco had also had one just for himself in the Manor, though he had barely used it and when the Dark Lord moved in, it was changed to a practice room for his idiotic followers.

Draco wondered whether Harry knew this room existed, especially since he couldn’t see any footprint on the ground and the mirrors seemed to be rather dirty. Not as dirty as the sitting room on the floor below, though still not clean.

He stepped foot into it and looked around. The mirror behind which the secret door was had a slight red taint, so it was easy to see, if you knew what to look for. The door to the actual house was also rather clear, since this mirror had a handle on it. Draco crossed the room and opened the not to secret door to see where he was in the official Black house. He stood at the very top of the stairs. Up here was one other bedroom, which he had already found and stolen a few shirts out of, and a storage room. Since the light up here didn’t work – Draco was pretty sure it had a charm around it so it didn’t light up – the third door to the mirror dueling room couldn’t really be seen – unless you knew it existed. So many surprises for such a... small house.

Draco frowned. Actually, yes. There was another surprise. He hadn’t been on the top of the secret stairs. They led up to one last door; however, this was the end of the official stairs. That didn’t make sense!

He turned around, crossed the mirror room again and opened the secret door. He lit up his wand to the maximum light and looked up. Yes: There was another door and then a platform with a few old looking boxes.

Shaking his head, Draco walked up the last few steps and carefully opened the last door. What he found behind it made him stop and stare. It was an apartment! The door led into a foyer that had a corridor leading to a window that had painted glass and looked like an old church window. There were three doors leading to other rooms to the left and a small kitchen right next to the foyer.

“This is amazing!” Draco walked in and looked at all the stuff that was still around.

Again, nobody seemed to have lived here for at least a hundred years. There were old books open on the floor, on the bed and even on the kitchen table. The office had a large bookshelf with even rarer books, some of which Draco had never seen. As his eyes wandered over the titles, he found at least ten books he needed to read through which could actually help Harry!

Carefully, as not to accidentally break them, Draco pulled them out of the shelf and placed a floating charm on them. He then looked through the rest of the apartment, though there seemed nothing else up here that was on interest to him. At least not at the moment.

So, he made the books float behind him, as he walked back down the stairs and through the laboratory, where he saw another Chizpurfle trying to escape his prison. Draco closed the lid again and placed some more food into the glass container. “Don’t worry, poor parasite, your fate will soon be sealed.”

With that he walked through the library, back up the stairs and out of the secret door into the kitchen. Surprisingly, Harry was already sitting there, eating something.

“Are you feeling okay?” Draco asked, when the Gryffindor looked up and smiled.

“A little weird, but other than that, I think I’m doing great.”

Draco chuckled and carefully let the books float onto a near table. Harry frowned; probably surprised at the state these rather dirty books were in and turned back to him. “Did you find them in the library?”

“Not even close” Draco snickered. “Did you know that there was an entire apartment on top of your house? It looked like the person who lived there used it as a sort of research area to stay in. It had a bed, a kitchen, toilet, everything.”

Judging by the surprised look Harry was giving him, he clearly hadn’t known a thing. He seemed to be speechless and simply shook his head.

Draco checked the time and realized that the four hours had passed pretty much to the second. He walked over to the kitchen table and opened the book about Soul Dogs for the chapter Test 1.

Sitting down, Draco read over the first few paragraphs again, before he turned to Harry. “Let’s start the test?”

“Sure” Harry answered and sat up straight, looking at him with curious eyes.

“Okay” Draco made a pen float towards him and grabbed it to fill in what was working fine and what wasn’t. “First you need to be able to give simple commands that Nora already knows. Things like ‘sit’ or ‘catch’. Can you do that for me?”

Harry smirked. “Absolutely.”

Draco took a blank piece of paper and wrote down all the commands the Gryffindor should say. “If you know Nora doesn’t know how to do it, ignore it for now. We’ll look at these after the first round.”

Nodding, Harry accepted the piece of paper and turned to the dog, which walked over to him and sat down at his feet.

While Draco watched the silent interaction between man and dog, he ticked all the different boxes. Nora stood up, lay down, sat, she even turned over. Draco could tell that Harry had worked a lot with her, while he was sick. She also was an assistant dog, so she should be able to do a lot.

In fact, she did everything on the list without any problem. It only took them about three minutes and everything was done.

Draco looked at book and read out loud:

Your dog passed phase 1 of test 1
Is your dog able to do all the mentioned tricks above, you have passed phase 1. Now, your dog has to be able to read your thoughts for a trick you haven’t taught it yet or which is a little bit more advanced, like bringing one specific item from another room. In order for your dog to understand what you want it to do, you need to concentrate very hard on this item or the trick and see it in your mind. Then, tell your dog to do it or bring it. If your dog is able to do so, it can officially be called your very own Soul Dog. Should your dog be unable to pass phase 2, it means you’re not the right soul and the bond will disappear within a few hours.

Harry widened his eyes at Draco. “So, it could happen that Nora isn’t my Soul Dog?”

Draco shrugged his shoulders, when he looked at Nora. She had her head tilted and almost looked as if she thought Harry’s sentence was a joke. Smirking, Draco motioned Harry to look at his dog and as he did, she barked and put her fore-paws on his knees.

He smiled and hugged her. “Sometimes I am ridiculous, Nora. You should have picked up on that already.”

Nora barked again and went back on her four legs, looking as if she was waiting for Harry to start phase 2. Draco turned the blank paper and held out the pen. “Write down, which trick you want her to do, or which item she should grab and we’ll start.”

Harry nodded and carefully took the pen. He frowned, before he wrote down bag of crisps. He then closed his eyes and Draco watched closely, as Nora again tilted her head and stared at her owner very intensely.

Then, as if something had bitten her, she jumped up and raced out of the door to the living room, where Draco had indeed seen an unopened bag of crisps laying around. She came back, looking incredibly happy with herself and placed the bag on Harry’s lap. He opened his eyes and cheered.

“You did it, Nora!”

Draco chuckled. “You’re also to congratulate, Harry. The two of you did it! Well done.”

“Thanks!” Harry blushed and looked back at Nora with such glee that Draco would have taken a picture of this moment, had he known where to look for a camera.

Getting up, Draco carefully grabbed his books. “I’ll come back in two hours for test two, alright?”

“Absolutely!” Harry beamed at him. It almost made Draco’s knees weaken. He really should go to bed after such an intense evening. Even if he hadn’t been the one to do the mental challenge with a dog. Actually, why were his knees weakening?

Chapter Text

It was three in the morning, when Draco came back and tapped Harry’s shoulder until he opened his eyes and realized he had been sleeping on the kitchen table. Nora sitting next to him looked at him with a tilted head. ‘You fell asleep as soon as Draco was gone’, he heard her say in his head.

Snorting, Harry sat up straight and looked at Draco. “So, test two then?” he asked, before he yawned.

The Slytherin smirked. “Yes. Do you feel up for it?”

“I’d rather go back to bed, to be honest.”

“If I’m reading it right, it’s just a short test and then you can go back to sleep on the kitchen table” Draco chuckled and opened the book. He didn’t even look a little tired.

While Draco leaned over the pages to read what test two entailed, Harry looked at him carefully. His hair was such a mess, ever since he had come out of Azkaban. It was as if he didn’t care anymore how he looked. The casual clothes he was wearing, with the upper two buttons undone made him look incredibly handsome. And his eyes, which carefully read over the text, seemed to soft and full of light, even though he had left Azkaban behind only two months ago now.

He moved his thin lips slightly as he read and Harry stopped, watching them inaudibly forming half words and almost mumbling silently. It was truly breathtaking.

‘Just kiss him already’ Nora said, her head still tilted.

Harry blushed violently and turned to glare at his dog. Nora barked quickly, making Draco look up from the book and Harry chuckle. “Absolutely not, Nora. You have nothing to say about things like these.”

‘I’m the victim in this household! Up until a few days or weeks ago you didn’t even realize I’m a Soul Dog! I have tried everything to get your attention!’

“My attention?” Harry asked and frowned. “How?”

“Wait!” Draco closed the book and looked at Harry flabbergasted. “Are you holding a discussion between Nora and you?”

Harry frowned and looked back at Nora who walked over to Draco to receive some head scratches. “Yeah?”

‘Tell him that I want you guys to kiss!’

“No!” Harry blushed even further and shook his head. “Nora is crazy, I’m not sure I want her words in my head.”

‘You’re crazy!’

Draco smirked and looked at him. “What did she tell you?”

“She said I’m crazy.”

Bursting out laughing, Draco turned to Nora. “We all know that already, but you are so right!”

Nora looked over to Harry rather proud and threw in a ‘see?’ as if to say that everything she said would be true from now on. Harry shook his head and turned to Draco. “I thought you were supposed to be my friend!”

“Where did you get that idea from?” Draco asked, more jokingly than serious. At least that was what Harry hoped.

He shrugged his shoulders. As if Draco realized that he wasn’t reaction that well, he turned back to Harry and placed a hand over his. “Don’t worry. We are friends. I’m just trying to mess with you.”

Harry glared at him. “Then you should do the soul bonding with Nora, because she’s also in the middle of doing that.”

‘I am not!’

Draco chuckled, while Harry smirked at his dog which walked back to him and sat down in front of him, placing her paw on his leg. He smiled and petted her head. Even if it was a little weird to have this strong female voice in his head, belonging to Nora, he rather liked to have it.

“So, you’re talking about what?” Draco asked and opened the book again.

Harry hesitated. There was no way in hell, he was going to tell him that Nora suggested they’d kiss. Nora sat down and looked at Harry expectantly.

“She said she’s tried to get my attention for a long time so I’d realize she’s a Soul Dog, but that apparently I haven’t been such a good owner.”

‘I didn’t say that.’

Harry looked at Nora who almost seemed to glare at him. “You did.”

‘No, I said you guys should kiss already.’

Blushing again, Harry closed his eyes and shook his head. With this rate, he was going to stay red until he died.

When he looked at Draco, he saw him eyeing him curiously. “I don’t’ think that’s what she’s really saying.”

“It’s part of what she’s saying” Harry truthfully answered. “The other part will never see the light of day.”

‘You’re chicken-hearted.’

Draco luckily turned back to the book and didn’t see Harry shaking his head. “I’m not sure I’m going to keep you if you’re going to continue talking like that. Aren’t dogs supposed to be men’s best friend?”

‘When they were warriors and fighters, yes. You’re just a yellow-belly.’

“Where on earth have you gotten to learn such a vocabulary!” Harry turned back to Draco who was eyeing this whole situation amused and curious. “She called me a chicken!”

Draco snorted. “She knows what she’s talking about.”

‘If you kiss him, I’ll stop.’

Harry rolled his eyes and turned to Draco. “Can we please just do test two and go to bed?”

The Slytherin smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “You’ve passed long ago. If you can hold an actual conversation with your Soul Dog, it means test two is passed.”

“How do you know I’m discussing something correctly with her?” Harry asked, thinking that he could as well just pretend to be talking to himself.

“There’s a spell for that and I’ve used it already and it showed me that you’re actually talking about something.”

Harry widened his eyes. “Does this spell also tell you what this discussion was about?” He blushed slightly and hated himself for that.

“No, sadly not.” Draco looked at him and smirked. “She’s got you really flustered, Harry. What were the two of you talking about?”

“Nothing.”

‘The two of you kissing.’

“Nothing!” Harry repeated and glared at Nora who barked and walked into the bedroom and lay down on the bed. “I’m going to regret this.”

Draco snorted. He stood up and squeezed Harry’s shoulder lightly. “The initial bonding is apparently always a little awkward. The book said that the morning after test two, it should start to get normal. We’ll see about test three, when you wake up, okay?”

Harry nodded and watched as Draco left the kitchen and headed upstairs. Not before he smiled at him again. With Nora in his head, constantly trying to make them kiss… this was going to be quite difficult to live together. But he didn’t really see Malfoy that way, right?!

As morning drew closer, Harry woke up to a soft knocking on his door. He yawned and got up, almost stumbling over Nora who had been deeply asleep next to his bed. When he opened the door, Draco smirked at him. “You’re sleeping longer and longer.”

“How late is it then?” Harry tried to stifle a yawn though he miserably failed.

Draco smirked at him, which something unidentifiable in his eyes, as he motioned to the clock on the wall. “Two p.m.”

Oh shit. Harry huffed and turned to Nora who looked at him still a little sleepy. “Why weren’t you awake, Nora? You’re usually a morning… dog.”

Nora simply placed her head on her paws again and closed her eyes. Harry heard Draco next to him snickering. When he turned to the Slytherin, he shrugged his shoulders. “Soul Dogs when bonded usually bind themselves to the other soul’s rhythm. So if you’re sleeping long, she’s sleeping long. If you’re awake in the middle of the night, she will be awake as well.”

“And if I get sick, will she get sick as well?” Harry frowned and hoped she wasn’t feeling the curse he was thrown into.

Draco shook his head. “Soul Dogs are the healthiest dogs around, they rarely get sick. And if they get sick it’s apparently just a genetic problem, so don’t worry about Nora.”

‘I feel fine!’ Nora sent to Harry’s head and he smiled and turned to look at his dog which had her eyes open lazily.

“So, test three then?” he turned back to Draco and saw him next to the table which had so much food in it, he didn’t know where to look. With wide eyes, he stepped out of his room.

There were pancakes, eggs in all the different options, bacon, toast, beans, sausages, meat and cheese, even fresh bread. The table barely had space to hold the two empty plates and coffee mugs. He turned his attention back to Draco. “What did you do?”

Draco laughed slightly embarrassed and also proudly. “I decided to cook until you’d wake up from the breakfast smell, but you never came out of your room, and I honestly ran out of ideas.”

Harry burst out laughing and nodded his head. “I see. That is pretty astonishing what you did here! I cannot wait to dig in! So, breakfast first.”

“Exactly. You should eat properly before we do test three” Draco affirmed.

Nora dashed out of the bedroom and sat down next to Draco, her tail going wild. ‘And my breakfast?’ She looked almost pleading.

“Hey girl, are you awake now as well?” Draco asked and petted her. Nora turned to look at Harry, which made him chuckle.

“She wants to know where her breakfast is” he helped her.

Draco turned to look at Harry and grinned. “Thank you, oh translator!” With that he turned back to Nora. “Look over to your bowl, Nora. There’s something special inside as well.”

Nora jumped up and raced over to her bowl, where she let out half a bark and started eating her breakfast as if she had never been fed before. Harry smirked and walked over to the table. While Draco poured coffee into his mug, Harry looked over the table.

“Where on earth should I even start? You definitely outdid yourself here, Draco.”

The Slytherin chuckled and walked around the table, sitting down on his chair. “You just didn’t want to wake up until this table was full of food, didn’t you?”

Harry smirked and downed a potion, before he decided to go for a normal English breakfast first. He did see the other man shaking his head over the potion. It was clear to him that the next thing being discussed right after they had checked how far up the hierarchy Nora was… was going to be the potions he drank.

After this rich and filling breakfast (though the time showed it more as a lunch), Draco once again took the book for Soul Dogs and started reading aloud, while Harry drank another coffee, listening intently.

Test Three for the Soul Dog bonding
Test three has three phases. If you’re not able to pass all three phases, your dog is not able to perform this kind of soul bonding and will automatically return to the status of test two. Since most Soul Dogs are on level two, this is neither seen as a failure on your and your dog’s talents, nor supposed to criticize you in any way.
The first phase is to give your dog a bit of your magic. You can see it as a way of storing magic for upcoming events where exactly this kind of magic will be needed. The magic you store in a Soul Dog will automatically be as clean as it can be. If your magic has been attacked, place all the broken pieces into your Soul Dog and keep it there for a month. Your dog will tell you once it fixed everything.

“Wait” Harry spoke up and stared at Draco, unable to breath. “If I’d had Nora when I got the curse, does that mean, I could have put the cursed magic into her and she’d fix it for me? I wouldn’t have gotten sick?”

Draco shook his head. “A curse is different than your magic being attacked. A curse attacks your body and your soul. Your magic has nothing to do with it.”

Nora tilted her head. ‘Actually, you could put the cursed part into me, but that would destroy me.’

“Well then, absolutely not.” Harry shook his head. He smiled back at Draco. “Do go on, sorry for the interruption.” Draco chuckled and leaned over the book again.

Once you’ve finished putting magic into your dog, phase two begins. This takes about an hour. Your dog has to get used to your magic and the way it works, it will tell you when it’s done. Phase three is the difficult one. You will be stripped of magical powers with the help of the Carminibus spell. This removes your magic for two hours.
In the next two hours, you have to do various magical tasks, taking your magic back from your Soul Dog. Should you succeed to do all the tasks mentioned on the next page, you have passed test three. Remember, a Soul Dog isn’t usually able to return the magic, so if it doesn’t work, you shouldn’t be surprised.

Harry looked at Draco when he finished and frowned. “I’ve never heard of this Carminibus spell. It sounds dangerous to just be able to take away your magic?”

Draco frowned and burst out laughing. “Sometimes I forget you’re not a pureblood.” He looked at the book and shook his head. “That spell doesn’t take away your magic, even if it sounds like it. It suppresses your magic. If that were to happen in a fight, your adrenalin would just bring it back up. It’s very stupid for duels or fights, but a good thing to punish children or do some tests that are dangerous with magic.”

“I see” Harry chuckled. He then turned to Nora who seemed to be very eager to start test three. “So, you think we can do this?” he asked and smiled weakly.

‘One hundred percent sure.’

Draco smirked. “What did she say?”

“She thinks we can do it” Harry said and grinned. “I’m not so convinced, especially since I already have a little unstable magic but if she’s one hundred percent sure we can do it, I say we should give it a try.”

Nodding, Draco closed the book and looked at Harry curiously. Harry frowned and narrowed his eyes. “Is there no spell for me to store my magic in Nora?”

“Sadly no. It’s apparently different for every witch and wizard, you have to figure out how to do that on your own” He shrugged his shoulders.

Harry sighed. “Great.” He then looked at Nora. His Soul Dog seemed to smile at him.

‘It’s not that hard. Just pretend that I’m a container and your magic is liquid. Then let it flow into the container.’

Frowning slightly, Harry did as instructed. He closed his eyes and felt his magic almost turning into water all around him. He hadn’t felt his magic in almost a decade, if he had to be frank. Once the Aurors had told him that the spells he had wanted to create were useless, he had stopped working with his magic. It definitely welcomed him back like a long lost son or a friend you haven’t seen in a long while.

He turned his attention to Nora and actually found that she was waiting for his magic. Slowly, to make sure that he wasn’t giving her any of his damaged magic parts, just in case these were the curses, he let it flow into her container.

Once it was full, he opened his eyes and saw Nora glowing red. She barked happily and jumped und and raced after her own tail. ‘Thank you!’

Draco shot up from his chair and threw his hands into the air. “How are you done already? I was guessing another hour for you to try it.”

Harry smirked. “Nora helped.”

“Of course she did.” He grinned and they both turned to the dog which was running all around the kitchen too excited over having gotten magic into her system. “We’ll do the rest in an hour.”

Chapter Text

Draco lay in his bed and smirked at the ceiling which was lit up by the street light outside the house. He had spent so many nights in the dark, forgetting that the people outside of Azkaban actually had natural (and not so natural) lights going on during the night. The noise of cars driving around in the distance, people chatting loudly (maybe drunken as well) was also new to him. Even though he had by now spent a little time outside of the stonewalls of Azkaban, he still had to get used to all this noise again. He could also hear whenever Harry was getting up and walking around. It was somehow calming to know that he wasn’t alone – and that he also wasn’t the only one who was awake during the night.

He chuckled, when he thought back at Nora’s excitement during test three and how happy Harry had looked when they both had passed it. For some reason, Draco was now unable to clear his mind and he couldn’t fall asleep. All he could see was Harry’s wide grin spreading over his face, how he turned to Nora and pulled her into a hug.

How jealous he had been of the dog. When was the last time he had been hugged?! Definitely not in the past ten years. All he had wanted in that moment to be the dog and in Harry’s embrace. Though every other human being could have been the person hugging him, he was sure.

Sighing, Draco grabbed his wand and cast a tempus charm. Almost three a.m. Harry would be awake in a little bit. He smiled tiredly and sat up, groaning. His whole body hurt and he couldn’t really pin-point why. Well, he knew: he wasn’t getting enough sleep. He had been researching Soul Dogs and stomach settling potions for the past few days so intensely that everything else had come second or third, whatever.

Draco got up and yawned. He walked out of the room and down the dark staircase. He already knew it well enough to know when the last step was there and he turned left and walked into the kitchen which was unlit as of now.

Pushing the light switch, Draco walked over to the stove and put the kettle on, just counting down the minutes and seconds until it was three a.m. He walked over and took two cups out of the cupboard, placed some valerian root tea into the cups.

Finally, he heard the bed creaking in the other room. It was so quiet around he could have heard it even if he had stayed upstairs. When the door opened slowly, Nora walked out first and after her came Harry.

He blinked into the light and turned to Draco. “You’re also awake?”

“Can’t sleep” Draco simply answered and smiled, unsure why he couldn’t sleep. Was it really as simple as that or couldn’t he sleep because of all his thoughts of Harry?

Harry simply nodded and walked to the table, where he fell into the chair and pushed his head into his hands. Draco frowned and walked over to him, hesitantly placing his hand on Harry’s shoulder. He felt the Gryffindor relax and inhale softly.

“Are you okay?”

Harry sighed and shook his head. “I just want this all to be over. I can’t deal with waking up every night at three a.m. anymore. Why is it always me that has to deal with shit like that?”

Draco cautiously squeezed his shoulder and walked over to the screaming kettle. Pouring the boiling hot water over the valerian root tea, he shook his head. “You are Harry Potter, I’m sure everything that could happen to a person has happened to you.”

He heard Harry chuckle tiredly. “I’m so over this.”

“I bet” Draco answered and brought the cup to Harry and put it down in front of him, before he sat down in the opposite side of him. Harry leaned over the tea and seemed to smell it. “It’s valerian root. Supposed to help you sleep.”

Harry chuckled and rolled his eyes. “Nothing can help me sleep anymore.”

Draco smirked tiredly as well. “Don’t be so sarcastic, Harry. It’s not as bad as everyone makes it out to be.”

“No, here’s where you’re wrong, Draco. It’s exactly as bad as everyone’s making it out to be.” Harry leaned back in his chair, pushing the tea away. “I will die. The curse had time to fester within me for a full year. I’m not sure how I’m still alive. And no matter what I’m doing, it never goes away. So, there’s nothing that can safe me. It’s game over for me.”

Frowning, Draco crossed his legs. “So, why then did you free me from Azkaban, if you’ve already given up hope?”

Harry shook his head. “I don’t know. I guess it’s just to get this feeling off my heart that you’re in there because of me.”

Shaking his head, Draco scoffed. “I wasn’t in there because of you. My father was a Death Eater, in case you’ve forgotten this. It’s his mistake, not yours.”

“But I should have been able to do something. To keep all the innocent people safe!”

Draco shook his head. “Harry, you’re being an idiot again. It’s not your responsibility to safe everybody, as much as the public would want that. You’re also just a human being.”

Harry rubbed his forehead. “You don’t understand that, Draco! I’m supposed to be the Savior, yet I’m stuck at home, unable to even eat something without throwing up, while the world continues to turn and everyone has probably long forgotten about me.”

“And that’s bad why exactly?” Draco asked.

He hadn’t expected the fiery red eyes that he was suddenly faced with. Pure rage came from Harry as he sat up and threw the tea from the table. Draco frowned at the sudden violence and opened his mouth to say something, when Harry was faster.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about! You didn’t have to run away from everyone, leave your friends and family behind you. You had a perfect little life, growing up with your loving parents, probably able to get whatever you wanted. You don’t even know what it’s like to be living with a Horcrux inside you, feeling what he does, what he feels, what he thinks.” His voice had become dangerously low. “You have no idea what it feels like to die for real, what I had to go through, how I hate the decision I’ve made on King’s Cross that night. I should have just let Dumbledore show me the way to my parents. I would have been so much better off being with them. You guys would have been fine without me! Nobody ever needs me!”

He got up, stomped back into his room, Nora in tow, and shut the door loudly. Draco kept sitting there, sipping his tea. He looked at the broken cup on the floor and levitated them over to the sink. What Harry said didn’t make much sense.

He did not have the perfect life, far from it actually. It wasn’t even the Dark Lord moving in with them in sixth year. Yes, that was one of the worst things to happen in his life, but his father had hated him ever since he had been born. Apparently, he was to blame for being an only child, even if Draco hadn’t figured out why to this day. His mother never talked about it and his father usually only blamed him when he was about to pass out from the alcohol he had consumed.

What confused Draco was the sentence Harry had said about a Horcrux. Why had he had that thing inside himself? Could he really feel what the Dark Lord felt and thought? That was a scary thought.

Draco sighed and got up. He wasn’t going to sleep anyway, now. Even with the tea. So, he walked down to the potion laboratory, where he had already started brewing a few new versions for the stomach settling potion, as the one he had done a few days or even weeks ago had turned sour. Hopefully one of these new ones was going to work on Harry.

Walking up into the kitchen after the night he’d had, Draco felt a little scared. What if Harry was still in this foul mood? The kitchen was empty, but there was a note on the table. Harry had clearly tried to use his nicest writing style, though it still looked like a mess, not that Draco cared much. He widened his eyes read it carefully.

I’m so sorry, Draco. I don’t know what came over me. I’m usually hot-headed, but not that stupid. I know you also didn’t have the perfect life; you had to leave your friends to fight for Voldemort. Becoming a Death Eater probably also wasn’t what you had imagined for your future.
I don’t know how to apologize to you properly. You’re trying to help me to survive and I’m telling you I just want to die… that’s not fair. I’m sorry.
If you’re wondering where I am: I took Nora for a walk. I need to figure out how to apologize. I’ll be back around two.
- Harry

Draco smiled weakly. That also seemed typical for Harry: being overly hot-headed and then trying to do whatever it took to make it up to him.

He grabbed a pen and started writing underneath, where there was still a little space.

Don’t worry, Harry. However, if you’re walking to figure out how to apologize to me, you’d better have a huge and amazing apology. I’ll be in the potion’s laboratory. Come find me when you’re home. For what it’s worth: I’ve already forgiven you. – D.

With that, he grabbed some toast and headed back down into the potion’s laboratory. He had found a very good book for all kinds of stomach settling potions, even one that seemed to be for curses. The bad part, however, was that he needed two Chizpurfle and the entire venom capacity of a Mortis Bat. Draco rolled his eyes, when he remembered that. So, he grabbed two containers, magically sealed them and went looking around the house.

The second Chizpurfle Draco found underneath Harry’s bed. He caught it within seconds and shook his head, hoping that he never had to tell Harry about that. He would probably never go back to bed had he known that there was parasite under it. Placing a spell on the bedroom, Draco breathed in happily, knowing that there was no magical creature around.

He walked into the laboratory and placed the second Chizpurfle next to the other. If he was ever going to get a Mortis Bat, he needed these parasites as fresh as possible. They would dry up if he were to kill them right now for the potion.

The Mortis Bat was a little more difficult to find. He knew that there were about two hundred fifty around Knockturn Alley, however, if he were to be seen even a few feet away from that place, he was sure that the Aurors would be next to him the blink of an eye. The bats liked dark places and they were rather angry when woken in the middle of the day – which it was. Great odds for him, really.

Draco snorted and walked up the hidden stairs, realizing that this staircase was the perfect place for it. It was dark, there definitely was a way outside, since it was an old house and if not, there were a few magical creatures it could eat.

He walked up to the highest floor and indeed found two Mortis Bats hanging from the ceiling. Breathing out shakily, Draco remembered the spells Severus had taught him when he was ever faced with more than one bat.

Opening the magically sealed container, he made it float up until it was close to one bat. He flicked his hand and the lid shoved itself between the bat’s legs and the ceiling, making it fall right into the container and closing without opening until Draco used a specific spell.

The bat let go a spine-tingling screech, which awakened the other bat. Draco let the container fall and while it clattered down the stairs, the other bat screeched as well, spreading its poisonously green wings and focusing on Draco.

“Oh, shit” he said loudly, ducking away from the attack of the Mortis Bat. He slid a step down, turned around and called out “Vermillious!” Red sparks appeared in the middle of the staircase, which made the bat confused for a few seconds. Draco got up and raced after the container which was still sliding down the stairs with a screaming Mortis Bat inside.

When he looked back up, he found the free bat looking around and finally focusing on him. It turned itself into a speeding canon, pressing the wings against its body and bolting head first down the middle of staircase.

“Shitting Slytherin!” Draco called out, confusing two curse words, and fell, on his back so his head was towards the bottom of the stairs, pointing his wand at the oncoming rocket. “Flipendo!”

The yellow lighting coming from his wand collided with the bat and made a small explosion, which in turn knocked out the Mortis Bat and it fell to the floor. Draco breathed out, realizing how tense he was, and turned himself so he wasn’t going head first down the stairs.

“Fuck” he added and followed the still screeching bat down to the lowest floor, where he found the knocked out bat lying. “Guess you’re up first to help Harry” he told the scary looking bat and picked it up carefully.

Once Draco had followed all the steps of the book, he placed the potion on the last free fire and let it simmer. It needed to boil down for the next two days until it wasn’t poisonous anymore. Then it should be one of the strongest non-lethal stomach settling potions known to wizards and witches. Hopefully, Harry’s stomach was able to handle it and they could forget all the black market shit.

Yawning, Draco realized that he hadn’t eaten anything yet and walked out of the laboratory and the library, up the stairs and into the hallway. Before he realized that something wasn’t normal, someone called his name.

“Malfoy?!”

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, he stared into the kitchen, where Ginny stood, utterly shell shocked. She drew her wand within a second and Draco tensed up, when he saw Harry simply taking it out of her hand.

“What are you going?!” Ginny called out and pointed at Draco. “Malfoy’s here! He broke out of Azkaban!”

“What?” another voice asked and Draco found Longbottom looking into the hallway, smiling when he saw him. That was certainly a weird action. Draco would have guessed that the other man would have also drawn his wand and probably hexed him until he would have forgotten his own name. So the fact that he wasn’t doing that… seemed a little out of character for him.

Ginny turned to Luna. “Give me your wand!”

“No!” Harry rolled his eyes and pulled Ginny back down into her chair. He then waved Draco inside and turned to his ex-girlfriend. “Draco didn’t break out of Azkaban.”

Luna chuckled, while Draco carefully made his way into the kitchen, unable to think of anything else he could have done. Ginny glared at him and turned to Harry, having almost the same expression on her face. Longbottom seemed to be the most relaxed, next to Luna who smiled at him.

Ginny shook her head. “Kingsley was here last week and told us he did! We need to get the Aurors!”

Harry once again pulled her hands down and glared at her. “He didn’t break out, because I helped him escape! I’m the reason he’s out.”

“What?” Ginny widened her eyes.

Longbottom smirked. “How did you do that?! I would have guessed that they keep a close eye to any former Death Eaters?”

Harry snorted. “They do. I gave him a potion that turned him into Nora and since I came in with Nora by my side and I left with an identical looking dog… they didn’t suspect a thing.”

Laughing loudly, Longbottom shook his head and brushed a tear out of his face. “That was brilliant, Harry!”

“Why do you have him here?” Ginny asked, now slightly less antagonistic against him. Draco was still frozen with fear when he saw her glaring at him, though he knew that he now stood under Harry’s protection and it was apparent that she didn’t want to go against him.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “He’s helping me researching the curse and hopefully finding out how I can cure it.”

Longbottom nodded and turned to Draco. He held out a hand and smiled. “Nice to have you on our team then, Draco.”

Hesitating for a second, Draco then shook his hand and smiled self-consciously. “Thanks… Neville.”

“Oh” Neville spoke up suddenly and chuckled. “And I’m sorry for that punch during the Battle of Hogwarts. I honestly thought you were someone else.”

Draco couldn’t help but smirk. “It’s fine. I kind of had it coming, being on the bad side and all.”

Neville chuckled and shook his head. Luna greeted him as well with her usual friendly manner. Which only left Ginny. She sighed and turned back to Harry.

“Are you sure about this?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “No” he answered, though he grinned. “But frankly, this is the last idea I had before I was going to get myself checked into St. Mungo’s and await my death.”

Neville frowned at Harry. “Hermione and Ron still want you to go there?”

He only nodded and sighed. Ginny shook her head and looked back at Draco. “I’m not going to accept whatever apology you’ve come up with to please Harry. He’s like my big brother and I’d do anything to help him. So unless you’re the one saving him, I won’t be friendly towards you.”

Harry looked like he was about to say something, though Ginny held her hand up. “I’m not going to tell the Ministry Draco’s here, don’t worry. But I won’t be welcoming to you.” She looked back at Draco, with an incredible hurt in her eyes. “Your guys got my brother killed. And yes, it was twenty years ago, but I can’t just ignore it.”

“I understand” Draco finally said and nodded. He really did understand.

Neville smiled at him and excused himself, walking over to the toilet. Draco turned back and saw Luna saying something quietly to Ginny. She shook her head and looked at Harry.

“We’re not going to buy food anymore. We can’t leave you alone with Malfoy here!”

Harry snorted and sat down again, crossing his legs. “Ginny, I’ve been alone with him for over three weeks and look at that” he spread his arms looking down at himself. “I’m still alive. Trust me, Ginny. It’s okay for you to quickly go out shopping.”

Ginny narrowed her eyes when she looked at Draco. “But I don’t trust him…”

“That’s why I said ‘trust me’. You don’t have to have faith in him, but I do” Harry interrupted his former girlfriend and smiled when she looked at him rather questioningly.

Finally, she shrugged her shoulders and the two walked out of the kitchen, grabbed a few things and headed outside. Harry sighed and rolled his head back, staring at the ceiling. It looked like a huge rock had fallen off his shoulders.

Draco smirked slightly and walked over to the counter to make some tea. He realized rather quickly that the watchful eyes of Harry were focused on him.

“For the record, Harry” Draco started and turned around while the water was getting hot. “I know life is shitty right now for you. No need to apologize.”

“Absolutely not” Harry shook his head and sat up straight again. “I messed up last night and I’m really sorry for all the things I said.” He looked at the table and sighed. “I guess I was just hoping that the second I got you out of Azkaban, Id’ be healthy again. I don’t know.”

Smiling, Draco sat down in his usual space. “I am working on that, Harry. You really shouldn’t give up hope. Curses so old and unknown like that aren’t solved within the first few months. But I will find it.”

Harry nodded meekly. “Thank you for still wanting to stick around after what I’ve said.”

“Well, I understand where you’re coming from” Draco smirked, though his smile was immediately pushed to the side, when Harry had gotten up and walked out of his room with a small kitten in his arms.

“This is for you” Harry said and placed it on Draco’s knees. “I hope that’s a good apology.”

The kitten meowed tiredly and rolled to a ball, falling asleep almost instantly again. Draco stared at the black and white colored animal and looked up at Harry again, who started tending to the tea. Carefully, Draco let his fingers run over the fur of this animal and he shuddered at the softness. He smiled happily and probably also dumbly.

“That’s actually the best apology I’ve ever gotten!” Draco said softly and looked up at Harry, who beamed at him. “Thank you so much!” His voice was thick with emotion and he looked down at the small breathing animal which seemed to be so okay around him.

Before he could say anything else, another voice started from the door. “Aww, you guys are so cute together!”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Neville. Just because you lost your money, doesn’t mean you get to play along now.” He then walked over to the tea and finished what Draco had started.

Neville walked into the room and sat down on the side of Draco, looking down at the cat. Draco suddenly felt this urge to protect his kitten from anyone. He was enormously glad that the Gryffindor only smiled and then turned back to Harry.

“For your information, the emergency at Hogwarts was a rather bad Quidditch match. Half the players on both teams got hurt and even the Ministry came by looking at everything. Minerva had to give three want-to-be-Weasley-twins so much detention that they made their parents come. It ended in a huge disaster, with the parents siding on Minerva’s side and the children making an even bigger mess, so that they’re now expelled until Christmas” Neville explained and smirked.

Harry shook his head. “That sounds like something that could have happened during a Quidditch match in our year.”

Neville snorted and shook his head. “For some reason I do have to say that we’ve got smarter people in our year.”

“Well, we had the twins” Harry smirked and petted Nora who just walked out of the bedroom, joining them by the table.

Suddenly, Neville turned to Draco and smiled. “By the way, if you need any kind of herbs, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ve got almost everything at Hogwarts and if you need something very rare, I know some people.”

Draco frowned. “Are you serious?” He couldn’t remember when someone had offered something like that without immediately wanting something back. Neville’s offer seemed as if he didn’t wait for something in return.

Neville nodded. “Harry believes you can help him cure the curse. So, of course I will help you in any way possible!”

Yes of course. It was all for Harry. It had nothing to do with him. Draco looked down at the sleeping kitten and let his fingers again go through the soft fur. He felt another set of eyes on him and looked up to see Harry smiling softly at him.

“It’s a girl, by the way. The clerk said it’s a magical cat, though not a Kneazel, but that the mother had abandoned the litter. This one was the youngest and they were afraid she wouldn’t make it. And now, nobody wanted her because she was so small” Harry took a sip of the tea and smiled at Draco.

Draco returned the smile and looked at the cat again. “I’ll call her Soleil.”

Neville nodded. “You purebloods and French” he said teasingly.

“Talk is cheap, Neville. You’re one of us as well” Draco glared him, realizing rather fast that the Slytherin had been joking.

Harry smirked. “What does it mean?” He looked interested between Draco and Neville. And while Draco had actually wanted to see if Neville actually knew what it meant, he took pity on Harry.

“It means ‘sun’ in French of course” he looked over to Neville and stuck out his tongue.

Neville burst out laughing and help up his hands. “You might not be as pureblood as I had believed. This feels more like a child right now.”

Draco snorted. “Are you telling me that a student of yours stuck out their tongue at a professor?”

“Teddy once did actually” Neville turned to Harry. “That man was one of the worst students I’ve ever had.”

“I guess he was more disrespectful than others” Harry smirked. “He does know you outside of Hogwarts, so maybe that was the reason for it.”

Neville grinned and shook his head. “He did it to others as well.” He frowned and rubbed his three-day beard. “I think I miss him the most from any of my former students.”

Harry chuckled and started talking about a prank where he had to help him out. Draco listened closely and was surprised by the closeness of the two Gryffindors. Even when they had their eighth year at Hogwarts, he had realized that Neville and Harry had gotten closer than before. While Weasley and Granger usually hung out together and did couple things, Harry usually joined Neville and a few others to play, talk or study together.

A few moments later, the door opened and Draco was just about to run and hide, when Harry shook his head and placed a calming hand on his arm. “It’s Ginny and Luna.”

Draco froze with the contact from Harry’s warm hand, though the other Gryffindor seemed not to notice, as he took his warm hand away and got up to help his friends with something.

“Still here, I see” Ginny said sarcastically, when she entered the kitchen with a large shopping bag.

Luna followed and smiled at Draco. “I think it’s nice you stayed. We can catch up on what our families are doing.”

Draco chuckled nervously. “I don’t know what my family’s doing. I haven’t really had time to see where they’re at.” He really hoped that this visit was going to be over fast. He had enjoyed it much more when it had just been Harry and him – with Nora of course. And now there was another animal around. Soleil stretched in his lap and licked a paw, before she rolled into a ball again.

“She’s so cute!” Harry whispered and grinned, before he took another sip of his tea.

Grinning, Draco looked up and winked at him. “If you want to change animals, just say the word.”

Harry snorted. Nora barked and looked at him angrily. He rolled his eyes and turned to Draco. “I’m supposed to tell you that she’d rip all your shirts if I would even think of saying yes.” He turned to Nora and frowned. “Why would that be bad for me, though?”

“Don’t worry, Nora” Draco said quickly and grinned. “I won’t take you away from Harry, because I actually love Soleil already.”

That seemed to appease the Husky-Golden Retriever mix and she walked over to the dog bed in the kitchen and lay down. Neville chuckled and shook his head, though didn’t say anything else. Ginny looked rather sour at him, though Luna interrupted her angry stare when she told her that they were going to start cooking now.

All in all, that was a successful day, Draco decided. He hadn’t been hexed by the visitors, Harry seemed to be back to his old self and he had gotten a kitten, which he was probably going to love until the end of his days.

Chapter Text

Harry stared into the darkness surrounding him. Wherever he looked, nothing but the black abyss of his mental destruction could be seen. It was absolutely once again three a.m. This time, however, he didn’t feel like getting up and going to the kitchen. Not after what he had done last night. He had gone so far over the delicate line between him and Draco that he had been surprised Draco had actually stayed.

The little answer on the note had confused Harry and he hadn’t even had enough time to think about it, as Ginny, Luna and Neville had arrived not a minute after he had gotten home again. Even after this weird evening, where Neville had seemingly started a friendship with Draco and Ginny and Luna had accepted that he stayed here and they weren’t going to tell anybody about it… Harry couldn’t stop thinking about what he had said.

He had told Draco basically everything about what had been going through his mind lately. The fact that he had been a Horcrux for his entire youth, that he had died and met Dumbledore on the other side. He had also told him that he would have loved to be dead than continue fighting. Nobody had ever heard him say that. Was it even true? Did he really want to be dead right now? Why then hadn’t he turned himself into dust? He could have just walked into the Ministry under the pretense of visiting Hermione, and join Sirius in the other world through the same method he had died. It had looked painless for the other man – not so much for himself.

Sighing, Harry sat up and crossed his legs on the bed. Sitting there, just staring into the darkness, he let all these bad thoughts come back. All the times, where people told him not to live, that he was useless and would never make it in this world.

Before he could fall into that deep, depressing hole, the door to his room opened and the light from the kitchen lit up a small portion of his floor and the bed.

“Hey” Draco greeted him and opened the door wider. “I thought I heard someone wake up.”

Harry frowned at the Slytherin who stood there lit up from the back with a welcoming candle light. He was talking as if nothing had ever happened between them. It gave him at least a little hope that Draco actually had forgiven him for some weird reason.

Getting up carefully, Harry walked over to him as he stepped back to let him into the kitchen. “Why are you awake now?”

Draco shrugged his shoulders and smiled. “Sleep is hard to come by these days.”

Nodding, Harry sat down by the kitchen table and saw the little black and white cat sleeping on a pillow on one of the chairs. She meowed softly in her sleep and her paws twitched as if she was running around in her dream.

“I’m sorry that Ginny’s been so hard on you, Draco.”

The Slytherin chuckled, while he still had his back turned to Harry. His dark red shirt looked a little crumpled and he was wearing what looked like incredibly comfortable pajama bottoms. Placing a cup of tea in front of Harry, Draco then walked to the other side of the table and sat down. “It’s been fun actually. I was a little worried she’d get the Aurors involved barely a month after I got out, but she seemed okay.”

Harry had his attention on the cup of tea, remembering very well how he had freaked out last night and thrown it across the room. Frowning, he looked at Draco. “Are you sure you want me to have another cup of tea, after what happened yesterday?” he asked and couldn’t help himself to grin weakly.

Draco chuckled. “Everyone has bad days, Harry. And you already apologized, so stop beating yourself down.”

Harry nodded and looked at the tea. He was just about to say he was sorry again, when Draco shook his head. “Don’t you dare, Harry! You’ve already apologized and in a rather amazing way! Now I have Soleil and I will keep her with me wherever I go! So stop apologizing unless you want me to own a zoo.”

That last sentence made Harry snort and he shook his head. “No, it’s fine, I understand.”

“Good” Draco answered.

Harry leaned back and grabbed the warm cup, holding it closer, hoping it could warm him up as well. “As for Ginny, she’s a little protective over me this year. So, don’t take her too serious; if I don’t want the Aurors to be here, she won’t be calling them here.”

Draco frowned. “And do you want them to come here?”

“Absolutely not” Harry chuckled and shook his head to bring this point home.

The Slytherin smiled then and sighed. “As much as you’re going to hate this, Harry, I need you to stop using the black market potions today.”

Harry was just about to take a sip from the tea, stopped and rolled his eyes. “I think I reconsider. I will absolutely call the Aurors now.”

“I know you’re messing with me” Draco gave him a tired smile. “Otherwise I would probably take Soleil and run away.”

“Please don’t.” Harry returned the smile. “So, last time I stopped with the potions…” He frowned. Did he ever stop taking the potions? Sometimes he forgot to take one, but he had never stopped taking them for more than a few hours. “I don’t think I ever stopped with them!”

“We need to get it out of your system to see if the potion I’ve been brewing is helping you” Draco shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

Harry smirked. “You mean I need to puke it out of my system.”

“That’s absolutely not what I’ve said and you are a pig!”

“Why am I a pig?” Harry snorted. “Nora called me a chicken, then a yellow-belly and now you’re calling me a pig?”

Draco smirked. “You’re disgusting, that’s why you’re a pig. And I think Nora and I have the same idea.”

Nora looked at Harry rather intensely. ‘We both know you like him. You even bought him Soleil! You should…’

Harry flushed slightly, turned to her and glared. “I already told you no! Stop this quest of yours!” She definitely wanted them to kiss again. And from the slightly smug look Nora gave him (if her dog face could even turn smug…), he was sure of it. He then turned to Draco and narrowed his eyes. “I think pigs are cute.”

“Of course you do” Draco threw his hands into the air and leaned back, shaking his head. “Well the rest of the world sees them for what they are. Disgusting.”

While he had said the last word, Harry had once again repeated “Cute”. Draco could only glare at him and go back to the original topic. “Stop taking the black market shit today, we’ll test the potion tomorrow. I have a few already done just in case I know what I have to change.”

Harry sighed defeated. “And how long is this process going to take?”

“Until we find the potion that doesn’t make you throw up.”

“So, basically until I die.”

Draco snorted. “Be a little optimistic for me, Harry.”

A malicious glint was in Harry’s eyes, he was sure it. He could see Draco realizing it as well and about to say something, when Harry quickly rephrased the sentence from before. “I am positive this is going to take until I die.”

Instead of what he probably really had wanted to do – which was almost certainly arguing and maybe even punching him somewhere – Draco got up and smiled. “Now that’s the spirit!”

Harry rolled his eyes, but he held up his hands. “Fine, I’ll do it.” He sighed. “But just because it’s you who’s asked me to do this.”

“What do you mean?” Draco asked and stood slightly awkward behind his chair. He looked as if something dangerous was happening.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry leaned back in his chair. “What I’ve just said: If anybody else would ask me, I wouldn’t do it. However, I have faith in you and your potion brewing abilities. So, I guess we’ll see what happens.”

The other man hummed and looked at him a little amused and slightly conflicted. Harry frowned. “Is that a problem to you? Would you rather have me screaming at you again?”

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “No thank you. I like you much more when you’re calm.”

Harry had almost asked out loud ‘you like me?’ but was able to keep the urge to say it hidden. To his annoyance, Nora wasn’t that nice to him.

‘See? He likes you!’ she sent into his head.

Harry groaned and looked at Nora, before he shook his head. “Please, Nora! Is there any way possible to get you to talk about something else?”

‘If you kiss him, I will stop.’

“Yes, that’s what I thought.”

When Draco looked at him slightly confused, Harry sighed and shook his head. “Nora is a pain. She only has one topic she’s talking about and I’m about done with it.”

Draco snorted. “What is that topic? Food? Walks? Or maybe now Soleil?”

“Yeah” Harry answered, not willing to let Draco in on what she was telling him. “She kept pestering me about a little sister and now that Soleil is here, she keeps telling me she meant a dog sister.”

‘I did not. I love Soleil!’

Harry grinned and turned to Nora, winking at her. “She does like Soleil, so don’t worry Draco.”

‘You’re a scardy-cat!’ Nora growled and walked over to Draco pushing her head into his hands.

Draco kneeled down and ruffled her fur, while she pushed her head forward until he was pushed back and fell onto his arse. Nora took this as an invitation and lay down on his lap. Harry snorted and Draco rolled his eyes, though continued to tickle her between her ears.

“I’m glad you like Soleil and it also seems you like me!” Draco said and smiled down at her.

Harry grinned and emptied his cup. “From the looks of it, she could have just as well been your Soul Dog.”

Draco smirked up at Harry, making him realize how much he liked to see a relaxed Slytherin. He looked so happy, especially with Nora in his lap.

“She’s not though. I think she just likes me, because I’m helping you.”

Nora barked, got up and walked into Harry’s room. Harry got up as well and held out a hand for Draco. The Slytherin hesitated quickly, before he reached up and stood up with his help. Harry smiled at him and clapped his shoulder.

“You are helping me, but I think she would have liked you anyways.”

Draco smirked and stepped away a little. Harry hadn’t realized how close they were. He smiled apologetically. “Good night, Draco. Try to sleep a little.”

“You too, oh Golden Boy.”

“Whatever.” Harry rolled his eyes and walked to his door. “You can call me literally any other name; I’d be okay with that.”

Draco grew a lopsided grin, bowed mockingly and said: “Absolutely, your majesty. Sleep tight.”

Before Harry could even say something against that, Draco had left the kitchen. Harry snorted, dimmed the lights and went back to bed. His head couldn’t get rid of all the handsome features Draco had: His grin, the glowing eyes full of mischief when he had called him ‘your majesty’.

With that thought, Harry finally fell asleep again, smiling dumbly though only Nora could see it and think whatever she wanted.

The next morning, Harry walked into the kitchen to see every inch of the kitchen table full of books. There were even books on the floor and couch to the side had five stacks of books as well. They looked very old and even a little used.

Harry walked closer to the table and grabbed the one that was lying on top of all the other books. An almost entire and complete history of curses from the dawn of time until Merlin’s reign.

“Shit” Harry said and laughed at that ridiculous name. Who would have ever gotten the idea to call a book that?

The door on the opposite side of him opened and Draco walked in with another four stacks of books floating behind him, while he had about twenty books of different sizes and diameters in his hands. He groaned as he carefully placed the book on the ground in front of the couch and wandlessly made the four other stacks float next to the one he had been carrying.

“Hey” Harry said and found Draco flinching, before he turned around very quickly. It made him feel slightly guilty for being the reason why the other man looked so scared.

Luckily, it was only for about two seconds. “Hi. You’re awake already? I thought I had a little time to look through all the books I found in all the rooms of the secret part of this house and maybe clean up the library and all the books there.”

Harry smirked. “And how long exactly did you think I was going to sleep?”

Draco grinned. “At least until tomorrow!”

“I thought so” Harry chuckled. “Any way I can help you?”

“Yes” Draco waved his hands and all the books from the table flew next to the couch. “You could eat something first. We’ll see how you react to the food without a potion first and then we can see if you’re able to help or if you need to stay in bed today.”

Harry sighed. “Right. I forgot.”

“Luckily, I haven’t” the Slytherin answered and smiled sympathetically.

Grimacing, Harry sat down and out of habit reached into the cupboard, where his potions would have been. His hand jerked back before he had gotten any, though he did realize that there was nothing inside anymore. Looking over to the cupboard, it was completely empty.

“I threw them away” Draco answered the unasked question. “Just in case you decided that you still needed them and went to take one behind my back.”

“So you threw them out behind my back?” Harry asked, slightly amused, though also slightly pissed that the other man would do something like that.

Draco smirked. “Yeah. It seemed easier to just get rid of them, than to try and convince you to let go of these quite possibly drugged up potions.”

Harry huffed and chuckled then, settling down by the table with some toast, bacon and whatever scrambled eggs Draco had placed on a stasis charm so they would still be good when Harry was going to eat them.

“You’re going to make sure that by the end of the day I wish I wouldn’t have freed you from Azkaban?” Harry asked, biting into the toast. It already felt different: as if he was finally able to taste things normally again. So apparently, there was something weird in these potions. Not that Harry would have doubted that. He knew very well that these were black market potions for a reason.

Draco snorted. “Absolutely. And I am also going to make sure that by the end of the week hopefully, you know exactly why you did free me from Azkaban.”

“These are high promises, are you sure you want to put so much pressure on yourself?” Harry asked, smirking slightly.

“Well, I have a lot of trust in my own abilities. You should too!” The Slytherin opened another book and read over the content while said that. Harry watched him, as his finger moved over the page, before he closed it and looked back at him with an eyebrow raised.

Harry grinned. “I should have faith in my abilities?”

“No, you buffoon! You should have faith in my abilities. How is it so hard for you to understand…”

Before Draco could even end his rant, Harry had burst out laughing and shook his head, while Draco glared at him, probably hoping that his look was enough to kill him. Harry snorted and rubbed the tears out of his eyes. “You’re cute when you’re angry.”

“I’m not angry” Draco protested and rolled his eyes.

Harry smirked. “But you have nothing against me calling you cute? Note to self then” he grinned, when Draco turned to him, once again glaring.

He cleared his throat and stood up, walking over to the kitchen table. “Harry” he said dangerously low. It was enough for him to inhale sharply. These beautiful grey eyes were fixated on him, as if only he counted right now. It wasn’t even a bad look, more a… ‘keep it together’-look. Harry also had to keep it together, trying his hardest not to breathe faster. “Malfoy’s aren’t cute, so don’t call me that.”

Harry looked into his eyes for a moment, before he hummed and grinned. “I don’t think I’ll ever stop though, because you really are…”

“Nope” Draco simply answered and shook his head, turning back to the couch and placing the book down on a stack of other books rather energetically. Harry quietly let go of a breath he’d been holding. What was going on with him?!

Chapter Text

Draco tried desperately not to make it obvious that Harry calling him ‘cute’ had somehow been the trigger for some feelings he had never wanted to experience. No matter how hard he had tried to ignore that sentence, all he could think of was the small one-sided grin on his face. How his eyes had been shining and how deep his hum had been. He couldn’t let it go. Couldn’t forget how Harry had just said I don’t think I’ll ever stop though, because you really are cute.

One word and it changed his whole view of this world. He remembered how much he had just wanted to be with him in their last year of Hogwarts. His pride and stupid friends had just kept him back and then they lost contact. Maybe this curse was somehow a blessing. Draco was getting a second chance to maybe somehow tell Harry how he was feeling.

Not today, obviously. Harry hadn’t felt that great after breakfast. He hadn’t vomited, though Draco was sure that was about to start with their next meal as well. Right now his body still had excess potion inside him. So, he was doing alright for now.

Draco walked up the stairs from the library, where he had once again looked at different books and put most of them aside, including the stupidly named Nightmarish Curses, and closed the door behind him. He had checked the potions and they were all doing incredibly well. If everything was going to continue like that, he was optimistic that his plans for Harry to have a correct potion by the end of the week would be easily done. When he walked through the hallway, there was a knock at the front door. He had almost turned around and opened the door out of pure habit, though shook his head. What was coming over him?! What if this hadn’t been Neville, Ginny or Luna?!

He snorted, thinking of Kingsley Shaklebolt standing outside and him opening the door. That would have made for quite the scene.

“Harry, someone’s at the door.” Draco squeezed his shoulder softly and smiled at the man who lay with his head on the kitchen table half asleep.

“’m too tired” he answered and sighed.

Smirking, Draco walked to the door. “I could open it for you, if you’d like.”

Harry groaned and got up, pushing him to the side. “You’re annoying me.” He yawned, while Draco snorted.

He turned to the piles of books and sat down in the middle again, grabbing a book on magical animals. Looking through the index, he found not that much about helpful animals for potions and put the book on the pile for ‘maybe helpful’ books. If he needed to brew another potion, it could help. Maybe there was even test four for Soul Dog bonding inside.

“Narcissa!”

Draco jerked, when Harry called her name louder than necessary. His mother?! What was she doing here? He looked around for a place to hide. Since the door to Harry’s room lay basically in a straight line through the hallway to the front door, he couldn’t hide through it without his mother seeing him. All he could do was go into the small storage area they hadn’t used much.

Grimacing, and under the watchful eyes of the portrait of Harry’s family, Draco carefully climbed over the book pile and opened the cupboard carefully to hopefully not make a sound. He then slipped in and closed it as much as possible. It was still open slightly, though it probably just looked like the wind had opened it a little.

Not a second too late, as his mother walked into the kitchen, Harry in tow, looking around frantically behind her back. He seemed to relax, once he realized that Draco had hidden himself. With the spell Draco was using, he could actually see everything going on.

His mother looked good. A little thin and frail, which could happen while in Azkaban, but her recent freedom seemed to be helping her a little. Draco couldn’t help himself, but be a little jealous of her. How long had she been out and left him rotting in Azkaban?

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” Harry asked and walked over to the stove as quickly as he could. Draco realized that he must be in a little pain again, since he was biting his lower lip and blinking faster, as if he tried to keep himself from groaning in pain.

Draco’s mother smiled at him and accepted the cup of tea Draco had been making for Harry. It stung a little that this was his tea and he tried to shake this absolutely stupid feeling.

She sighed and leaned back. “I heard Draco escaped Azkaban.”

“Apparently so” Harry nodded and took a cup of tea as well, before he sat down in the chair Draco usually sat in. “The Aurors were here as well.”

Narcissa seemed interested and leaned forward. “Did they find something?”

Harry shook his head. “No.”

Draco could tell that his mother was trying to read his mind. It would take more to read Harry Potter’s mind. Even though he wasn’t an Auror anymore, he had worked in there long enough to hide his mind away.

Finally, she leaned back and took a sip of the tea. “Harry, do you know where Draco is? Could you tell me, please?”

For a second, Draco saw Harry hesitating and his heart started beating faster. Was he going to tell her, he was here? Who else could she tell his location to then? Maybe she would be using this as another way of getting away from the Ministry, if she would tell them where her son was!

“I don’t know, Narcissa.”

She shook her head and took another sip, almost staring him to the ground. Harry smiled tiredly. “I don’t know where he is; don’t try to read my mind, that’s not fair. I don’t have that mental capacity anymore.”

Narcissa sighed and placed the cup on the table. “I’m just trying to keep my family safe, Harry. You must understand that.”

It was quiet for a few moments. Draco frowned and as he looked closer through the mirroring spell he had created, he could see Harry crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes.

“I don’t, Narcissa. As you might remember, I don’t have any family left. However, I can promise you that wherever Draco is, if he needs my help I’ll give it to him. Nothing will happen to him.”

Draco’s mother nodded and smiled weakly. “If you’re in contact with him, could you please tell him that I was looking for him?”

Harry nodded once. “I doubt though that with the entire Ministry looking for him he’ll just show up at your doorstep.”

“I just wanted to know whether or not he’s safe.” She looked into Draco’s direction. He didn’t dare to breathe and as quickly as her attention had landed on him, it was gone again. “And if you need anything, Harry, I’d love to help you in any way possible.”

This time, Harry even smiled as he inclined his head. Draco felt jealousy bubble to the surface and rolled his eyes. Why was he jealous of his own mother? Harry smiled at him so often and all these small touches sometimes should be enough, right?!

The two of them got up and when Narcissa walked over to the door, Harry started talking again: “I would actually appreciate if I could sometime look into the Malfoy family library, in case there’s a book that could help get rid of my condition.”

“Of course, Harry.”

They walked to the entrance and Draco only dared coming out of the storage unit, when Harry walked back into the kitchen alone and sat down by the table, sighing. When Draco opened the door, Harry widened his eyes and snorted.

“You’re coming out of the closet?”

“It’s a cupboard, Harry. Open your eyes or are you too tired for that?” Draco said, slightly offended. He had not wanted to come out to Harry that way.

Holding his hands up, Harry smirked. “Fine, a cupboard is not much better. That just reminds me of the Dursley’s.”

“These pigs!” Sirius’ fuming voice made Draco flinch and he looked over to the portrait, where the black haired man had to be held back by Remus and James. The dead Black heir wanted to say more, when even Lily shook her head and sighed.

Frowning, Draco turned to Harry, who was rubbing his forehead as if there was a headache forming. “What does he mean by that?”

Looking up, Harry sighed tiredly. “They made me live in a cupboard under the stairs for almost eleven years. It was fun.” Sarcasm was dripping from that last sentence and Draco wondered what else Harry had hidden from other people.

If the Savior had lived under the stairs and nobody had ever gotten word of it, not even the Prophet and Skeeter’s nosy column, which secrets could Harry be holding onto? Granted, Draco didn’t really have time to read the Prophet, however, the guards at Azkaban talked a lot. If it had been known that Harry lived under the stairs, the guards would have definitely talked about that.

“Where is your mind wandering to?” Harry asked and smirked.

“Down dark paths” Draco sighed and headed back to the table. “Thanks for not telling my mother I’m here.”

“Don’t worry about that, Draco” Harry smiled. “I mean, I do need you to survive, right? Especially right now, when you’re making a new potion. I’m feeling terrible!”

Draco snorted. “It’s all just about that potion, isn’t it?”

“For now?” Harry asked, smirking. “Absolutely.”

Draco rolled his eyes and walked back to the book stacks on the floor. He grabbed another one which he hadn’t sorted yet and opened it to look through the content table. It seemed to be about old languages and other ways to make spells than by understanding and perfecting Latin.

When he looked up from the book, he found Harry still looking at him, though he quickly turned and downed the tea that was still on the table. Draco smirked and got up, holding the book towards him. “This might be interesting to you specifically, Harry.”

“Why?” Harry wondered though he still accepted the book. He turned it so he could read the title and raised his eyebrows. “Old Languages and ancient Spells? Why would you want to give that to me?”

Draco shrugged his shoulders and headed back over to the books. “Shouldn’t all Aurors who have been on the force for over ten years create three spells?” Draco asked and smirked, when he turned back to the Gryffindor.

Harry rolled his eyes. “I’ve created one so far and they hated the idea. So I was stuck even before they threw me out.” He sighed and opened the book to look at the table of content. It seemed as if he was impressed by it.

Draco sat down and looked at him interested. “Do tell.”

Why would the Ministry believe that the spell Harry had created wasn’t good? All spells could be useful no matter how stupid the idea was. There was always something behind the spells. At least that was what Draco had been taught by his parents. To understand a new spell you also had to understand where the spell came from.

“It’s stupid, Draco. I swear; it’s not a good spell.”

It was interesting to him that Harry really seemed to be unwilling to let him know what kind of spell he had invented. Why was it that bad for him? Maybe it was too personal?

“Do I look like I care? You wanted to invent it, I’m sure it’s good.” Draco chuckled over how defensive Harry was. He placed the book back to the unsorted pile and crossed his legs, sitting rather un-pureblood like on the floor.

Harry shook his head. “It’s not as if people could use it often.”

“Harry!” Draco laughed and threw his hands into the air in mocked exasperation. “Come on, don’t be shy. Tell me what kind of spell you’ve invented.”

“It’s a true love spell.” Harry looked at the floor and shrugged his shoulders. He looked like a child who had just said that he had in fact destroyed his mother’s favorite vase. Draco found his actions far too endearing, though he couldn’t stop it. “There were too many people around me who tried to take me out on dates, make me marry them and whatever else they wanted. So I wanted a spell that showed the caster who their true love is.”

Draco smiled. “Doesn’t sound stupid to me.”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “It doesn’t even work. I tried it a few times and it showed nothing.” He frowned. “Maybe it does work and I’ve just got nobody on my list.”

“Okay, you’re starting to sound stupid now” Draco snorted. “Maybe this spell has some boundaries you haven’t figured out, like maybe it’s just looking for people close to you and not all over the world.”

“You might be right.”

Draco tried to stifle the laughter that came with one thought, though he really couldn’t. “What would you have done, if Granger would have come up as your true love?” he asked, when he continued laughing.

Harry smirked and shook his head. “I would have assumed I messed up with something in the spellwork. Hermione’s straight, I’m not.”

“What?” Draco widened his eyes, laughter all forgotten and he stared at Harry.

Harry chuckled. “How is that a surprise to you? Half of Gryffindor and Ravenclaw were betting on when we’d get together.”

Draco shook his head. “I’m sorry, what?” His head wasn’t able to cope with the new information he had just received.

“In the end, George got all the money, since he said we’d never be able to talk to each other politely for long enough to start talking about feelings.”

Draco snorted. “That sounds about right.” He shook his head. “I’m sorry you had to go through that.”

Harry shook his head. “Don’t you worry, it was fun while it lasted.”

“So, what other spells had you wanted to invent that the Ministry told you not to?” Draco asked, hoping to get to a topic he felt more at home.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry sighed. “Nothing so far. As I’ve said, I had a few ideas, however, the Ministry never approved.”

Draco nodded. He would have loved to look into that spell a little more; however, he really needed to concentrate on Harry’s health from now on. The potion was just part of it, so he could hopefully live long enough for him to find something. He couldn’t get sidetracked again. Though the bonding between him and Nora seemed as important as the cure.

When he turned back to the books, he remembered how loudly Harry had called his mother’s name and giggled. Harry looked up from where he was sitting and frowned.

“What kind of face did my mother make, when you screamed her name into her face?” he asked and snorted, just imagining his mother with wide eyes and a confused look, before it turned into a frown and she would narrow her eyes in suspicion of him. She probably knew already that he was here. Harry had reacted so unnatural when she had come here.

The Gryffindor tried his hardest not to laugh, though he gave in and leaned back, laughing loudly. “She looked like she thought I’d lost my mind.”

Draco grinned. “That’s not a secret, Harry. We all know you’ve lost your mind.”

“True, and now Ginny believes that as well, since you know, I broke you out of Azkaban.” Harry rolled his eyes, though he was still grinning and yawned, rubbing his forehead. “I’ll go back to bed, is that alright with you?”

“Don’t mind me, Harry. I’m not your dad” Draco grinned. “And I promise not to open the door should anybody else be knocking on there.”

Harry smiled tiredly and headed to bed, Nora close behind him. And with that, Draco was once again left alone, though he didn’t really care. He got up and cleaned up the kitchen, wiped the table and placed the book he had presented Harry on the table where he usually sat.

He then marched over to the book stacks and sat down comfortable again. The couch was sadly still not empty, as he had yet to go through all the books there. Now, with Harry in bed, there was at least nobody else around who could distract him.

Sadly, that also meant that whenever he had placed a book on a sorted stack, there was about a five second gap, where his mind was free to wander. And it wandered right back to the beginning of this day, where this stupid Golden Boy had called him cute.

Over and over again. It wandered back to that situation, re-phrased the sentence and showed him the smirk on Harry’s face, these glowing eyes times and times again. And he couldn’t stop it. He didn’t know how to undo, how to forget.

When he finally gave up and fell backwards onto the soft carpet and stared at the ceiling, he was sure that his mind had now completely re-done that scene. There was no way the sun had been able to shine into his eyes; he was standing with his back to the window! And he also knew for a fact that Harry hadn’t winked at him. Right? Or did he? Maybe he was wrong…?

Groaning, Draco sat up again and shook his head. “This is just getting ridiculous” he muttered to himself, got up, just grabbed two books from the stack for ‘unknown curses’ and headed upstairs. He needed to get some fresh air and not be so close to man who was apparently making him lose his mind.

Chapter Text

When Draco had told him to lose the potions, Harry had not expected it to be so painful. Surely black market potions weren’t the best option and there was definitely something illegal inside, however… by the time evening hit, Harry had never felt worse.

He was half falling out of his bed, his upper half barely on the mattress and he groaned with so much pain in his abdomen that he would have loved to just rip it out with bare hands had he had the strength left to do so.

Even Nora couldn’t help him and take his pain away, though she really seemed to be willing to do anything. And while animals were known to help with the pain, Harry knew that he just had too much for her to handle.

‘I will get Draco’ Nora told him and got up to walk through the door.

Harry sighed, too tired to do anything and to tell her not to get him. He felt too weak to be seen by him. Maybe it was over by the time he would come and look for him to get something to eat. He just knew that he didn’t want to be the weak one.

Well, maybe Nora might also not be able to grab him, since he might be in the secret parts of the house. So that was hopeful.

Of course, Draco was close by and walked into Harry’s room. He was more dragged into his room by Nora. On his shoulders was Soleil, looking around curiously, since she hadn’t really been inside this room yet.

“Hey, Harry, what’s going on?” Draco asked, as he walked over to him and Nora had finally let go his pants leg. He pulled Harry back up to the bed and he groaned in pain.

“Everything hurts” Harry said and placed his hand on his stomach, pushing it as far into his body as his muscles could handle.

Draco pulled his hand away and sat down on the bed next to him. This brought the bed down a little on one side and somehow made Harry relax a little. Draco was still holding onto Harry’s hand, though he had placed it onto the bed. It gave Harry goose bumps and he had to fight his own body not to jerk back his hand. He really liked to have personal contact to someone else again.

However, all his friends had also touched him fairly often. With Draco it seemed to be something else. He had never gotten goose bumps when his friends touched him. Why now?

“You need to go through this, Harry. I’m sorry I can’t really help” Draco said softly.

In this half dark, his hair seemed to have transformed to pure silver and it looked just stunning. Even his normally grey eyes seemed to have changed to silver.

Harry sighed deeply. “Don’t you have a pain elimination potion or something?”

Draco smiled and brushed a strain of hair out of Harry’s face that had been bothering him, though he had been too tired to get it away.

“No” Draco answered and smiled softly. “If I give you a potion while your body is being drained of another potion, you might get addicted to that one. I’m not being the reason why you get addicted to another potion.”

“You’re annoying” Harry huffed and turned to the side, pulling his legs up. He had chosen to lie so that he could still look at Draco, not with his back to him. Something in his character seemed to soothing.

The Slytherin chuckled and once again cleared his face of any hair that was now just hanging in. “I’m well aware of that and I know you are too.” Harry simply hummed slightly, too busy with keeping his body under control after Draco had just so carefully stroked the hair out of his face. He could still feel his fingers on his skin. This was getting to be ridiculous.

“Do you want me stay for a while?” Draco asked quietly. Harry nodded, though his eyes were already falling closed. The pain had left his body slightly; he was just too tired right now. He heard Soleil meow and then felt a small animal curl up against his stomach. Smiling softly, Harry fell into a deep slumber once again.

Harry awoke to the smell of spicy curry and inhaled deeply. It smelled incredible! As he inhaled, he also realized that the pain in his stomach was gone. Not completely, but pretty much. He opened his eyes and saw that the door to his room was slightly open. It illuminated his bed, where Nora and Soleil slept together, rolled into a ball of fluff.

Their breathing was calm and steady, though Soleil was moving her paws as if she was running in her sleep. Harry smirked slightly and got up as slowly and as quietly as he could. He managed to get to the door, when Nora threw her head into the air, looking at him confused.

‘Are you trying to sneak out of a room of animals that don’t really sleep?’

“Soleil is asleep” Harry whispered and grinned, when Nora turned to look at her little sister and laid her head back down.

Harry smirked, when his Husky-Golden Retriever mix sent to his head: ‘Point taken. I’ll see you soon.’

He opened the door wider and stepped into the lit up kitchen, which Draco also just entered from the cellar. In his arms, he was holding a few spices and placed them on the kitchen table, seemingly not having registered Harry standing there.

The Slytherin turned to the stove, adding more spices to the mix and whistling some song. Harry smirked, deciding to just see how long it would take the other man to realize that he was no longer alone.

Draco stirred his curry and started to grab plates which he has probably intended to put on the table, when he jerked and stared at Harry, the plates falling to the ground. The loud noise of breaking ceramic made Nora and Soleil jump up and Harry snorted, as he watched the other man look at him and then at the broken plates on the ground.

“You could have used magic to catch them” Draco finally said and shook his head.

Harry grinned. “No! One does not catch things that break. If you break something, you get ten years worth of luck!”

Draco raised his eyebrows. “I thought you’d get seven years of bad luck if you break something.”

“That might be right” Harry answered and chuckled. “When Teddy was small he used to break a lot of stuff and he always felt so guilty, so I changed the idiom for him.”

“Wouldn’t that just encourage him to break more stuff?” Draco asked and quickly vanished the pieces, as Soleil was walking closer, clearly not wanting her to slice her paws on something.

Harry shook his head. “It only brings luck if you don’t intend it.”

This made Draco snort and he shook his head again. “Well then. Do you feel better?”

“A little, yes.”

“Well, you look a lot better. I also let you sleep through dinner time, I think you needed it” Draco smirked and went back to get two more plates.

Harry frowned. “What do you mean, I slept through dinner time?”

He turned to look at the clock and found… three a.m. He widened his eyes and looked at the curry Draco had been cooking. “How long have you been awake?!”

“Long enough” Draco answered and chuckled. “I was pretty sure you’d wake up at three and you would probably be hungry, so I made this. It’s not perfect, but…”

“This is amazing!” Harry laughed, unable to believe that Draco actually cooked for him in the middle of the night. “Thank you so much!”

Draco smiled and shrugged his shoulders. “I think it’s interesting that you haven’t really thrown up since we stopped the potions, so…”

“So you’ve made this to make me throw up?” Harry asked and smirked, when the other man rolled his eyes.

“No! I think you’re getting better again. Something you did in the last few weeks seems to have helped you.”

Harry frowned. “But I didn’t really do anything different. Except for, you know, freeing you from Azkaban.”

Draco snorted. “Yeah, I don’t think it was that. That was probably the dumbest idea you’ve ever had.”

Sitting down, Harry smirked at the Slytherin who went to grab the curry he had made. “Says the man I broke out of Azkaban.”

“Yeah!” Draco answered with a big smirk on his face. “I would have never done that! I also would have never gotten an idea of how to break someone out of there.”

Harry snorted and motioned towards the portrait which was fairly empty right now. Only Sirius was currently inside and he was fast asleep, even if they were talking normally. When Draco looked back at Harry, he winked at him. “Let’s say I had an idea of how it could have been achieved.”

“Did he break out the same way?” Draco asked and sat down with a curious expression.

Harry chuckled and quickly decided to let him into the secret of how Sirius escaped Azkaban. It was nearly the same way Draco had escaped, only that he wasn’t an Animagus. The Slytherin had been sitting there with his mouth open and listening so intently that Harry couldn’t stop. He started the tales of everything he knew about the Marauders and all the pranks they pulled, how they ended up separated, Wormtail’s betrayal, he explained how he was able to save Sirius and Buckbeak from the Ministry and in the end, he even told him about the fight in the Ministry and how he had lost his godfather.

Through all of that, Draco was quiet and listened carefully, only adding a few questions to clarify things and help Harry in explaining. Once Harry had finished his tale, they sat in silence, both in their own head.

This depressing silence didn’t last too long, however. “I’m sorry, Harry.”

Smiling weakly, Harry simply shrugged his shoulders. “It’s okay, Draco. It’s been a long time.”

“No, I mean, I’m sorry for what you had to go through. All the people you’ve lost. It probably wasn’t that easy” Draco said quietly. He sighed and finally met his eyes again. “I always thought that you would have had the perfect family life – you know as the Boy Who Lived. I believed that you basically lived in a palace, had servants and people that clean your butthole if you told them to.”

Harry snorted and shook his head. He stayed quiet however, since he sensed that Draco wasn’t done talking. The Slytherin looked back to the food and leaned back in his chair. “So I’m sorry for all the problems I’ve caused you and probably also the hate.”

Smirking, Harry shook his head. “You were a terrible schoolyard bully, Draco. Didn’t you realize that nothing you told me ever got to me? Or let’s say, rarely got to me? Other people caused problems, Draco. You were just there as a distraction.”

“Distraction?” Draco frowned. “What do you mean?”

Harry could feel his ears burning and turned to eat a little bit, hopefully to get back to a normal skin color. “From important tasks, I mean. In fourth year, where I had to deal with that stupid tournament and you come along and show me your ‘Potter stinks’-buttons? That’s more of a small distraction than a problem that’s caused me to hate you.”

Draco snorted and shook his head. “True. I don’t know what I was thinking when I made these.”

“How long did you work on them anyway?” Harry asked and grinned as he leaned back and pulled the plate closer to the edge of the table. “They seemed to be rather high quality.”

“Too long for them to just stick around for not even half of the school year” Draco answered and rolled his eyes. “I started as soon as Diggory got into the tournament and you joined. I went to the dungeon and grabbed every book I could find and read up on the charms.”

By the end of that discussion, Draco was deeply red and he laughed, possibly out of embarrassment. “I could have done so many other things!”

Harry smirked. “They were cute, though. Looking back, I think I should have kept one of them.”

“Ah, I might still have a box full somewhere in the Malfoy Manor. If I ever get away from the Ministry, I’ll send you one.” Draco grabbed himself another serving and seemed to have gained back his normal coloring.

“That would be amazing” Harry answered and chuckled. “Cedric truly was the Hogwarts champion.”

Draco snorted. “Yeah, and you really stank.”

Chapter Text

“… believe what I’ve found! I think Cassy wants us to move in together, but I’m not sure…” Draco heard an unfamiliar voice and stopped in the hallway. He wanted to move away, when he heard Harry chuckle so… differently that he couldn’t move. He sounded so soft and careful, almost like a father.

“Why don’t you want to move in with Cassy, Teddy?” he asked, with an audible grin in his voice. “You’ve been together for five years now, right? Through Hogwarts, finding a job, a life… is there something wrong in your relationship?”

The other man, quite obviously Teddy, huffed. “No!”

There was a pause, until Harry chuckled. “Then what is it? You know I will pester you until you leave if you don’t tell me.”

“Yeah” Teddy answered and there was some shuffling. He then laughed and sighed. “Why were you my godfather again? You are the worst godfather in humanity! Stop it!”

Harry joined his laughter and Draco felt a wave of magic go through the house. It was the calmest magic he had ever felt. This shouldn’t have belonged to Harry. With such a soft magical core, Draco was surprised and also slightly confused that the Gryffindor had made it in the world of Aurors. His magic didn’t seem like it would appreciate violence.

“I’m the best godfather; now tell me your problems, Tedster.”

Teddy snorted. “Only if you agree that you’re the worst godfather and actually let me record it on my phone.”

“Sure, grab your phone then.”

Draco smirked. These two had their very own kind of relationship and he loved to hear it. Even like this it was amazing. The way they talked to each other and treated another was incredible.

He heard a small sound and then Teddy said: “Go ahead, then!”

Harry cleared his throat and announced loud and clear: “I, Harry James Potter, am the worst godfather in all of humanity, according to Edward Remus Lupin and I accept all… I mean none of the praises given to me. Thank you for listening.”

Teddy giggled like he was crazy and he heard a chair move and footsteps, before Harry called out as if someone had tackled him, and he laughed loudly. Draco smirked and shook his head. He would have loved to see what they were like, not just hear them.

“So, now you go ahead, Teddy. What’s going on?”

Teddy sighed and Draco could hear the chair being moved again. “I think Cassy wants to get married”

“I hope she’s intending on marrying you?” Harry asked with a smirk in his voice.

“Yes! And I think that’s the problem! Aren’t we too young to marry?” Teddy sighed with such exaggeration that Draco wasn’t sure he actually felt that way.

Harry chuckled. “Let me ask you a few things, Teddy. Ignore the fact that she wants to marry you and just answer honestly. Do you like her?”

“Of course I like her! I wouldn’t have been in a relationship with her if I hadn’t liked her!”

“Well” Harry interrupted his godson. “Do you plan your future with her in mind?”

Teddy hesitated, though he answered after a few seconds. “I think I do.”

“If she were to leave you, how would you feel?”

Draco thought Harry could be a perfect mind healer. His questioning seemed so careful and he was able to ask them without seemingly intending something. It was just a question.

“I would feel… terrible. I love her; I don’t want her to go. She’s my everything. I think I want her to have my children.”

Harry chuckled. “Why are you talking about having children with her and are then terrified of marriage?”

Teddy sighed. “I don’t know. I think it’s because her dad made a deal with you. Like it’s an arranged marriage and that’s not what I want.”

“Teddy” Harry started before he broke out laughing. “I never made a deal with Hector. Cassy’s dad was furious when I told him to get the hell out of my house and I wasn’t going to arrange a marriage. I never wanted you to feel like you had no choice! If you marry her, it’s because you decide to. Not because I want you to.”

“You… what? But… Cassy said…” Teddy seemed to need a few seconds to get his head straight. Draco stood there in awe. Harry had told a pureblood wizard to not arrange a marriage contract? That was stunning.

Harry chuckled. “Yes, Cassy thinks it’s arranged, but that’s because her father never had the guts to tell her that we didn’t make a deal. You get to choose, Teddy. You and Cassy. Do with it what you want.”

Draco frowned, when he didn’t hear anything else, though he suddenly heard a small noise again and then Teddy said: “Go ahead, then!” Though it sounded more like the actual recording and not like he had said it in the other room.

The Gryffindor on the recording cleared his throat and announced loud and clear: “I, Harry James Potter, am the…”

Teddy chimed in and screamed over the recording: “…best godfather in all of humanity!”

Harry burst out laughing, when the chair was moved again and another few steps could be heard. Draco smirked and decided to let them have their discussion in peace. So he turned to the family library and walked down, checking up on his potions again.

In the potions lab, he checked the one with the animals he had caught first and found it had already changed colors. Draco turned to the book and reduced the heat to the point the book had referred to when the color had changed. Now, it needed four days to just sit and let the poison simmer until it was no longer active.

When he turned to the other four potions, he stirred the first one and gave more heat. This one, he was going to test on Harry today. The Gryffindor had been sick the whole morning, throwing up and almost collapsing on the floor, though when lunch finally arrived, he seemed to be better and when Draco had last seen him, which was apparently before Teddy had arrived, he looked rather good. The black market potion was definitely out of his system.

Which meant he was going to test potion one today. If that one didn’t work, potion two had been sitting there and was an entirely different one. Potion three was a variation of potion two, just in case that Harry couldn’t handle the more difficult herbs in the original potion.

And potion four was one he had found in these very old books he had gathered. It wasn’t a stomach settling potion, more a quick refresher. It probably wasn’t going to keep Harry healthy until too long, but if none of the first three potions worked and potion five needed to be re-done because he had made a mistake somehow, number four would keep him alive at least.

When Draco entered the kitchen next with a vial of the potion in his hand, he found Harry fast asleep, his arms on the kitchen table, his head on top of them, tilted to the side so he could breath. Nora lay in her dog bed with Soleil on top of her, all animals sleeping as deeply as Harry was. Draco chuckled softly and looked at the clock. It was seven p.m. They should be eating something. However, he really couldn’t bring himself to wake him up since he seemed so peaceful. Even if he didn’t look relaxed, some tense muscles in his face had softened.

Before Draco would stand there, looking at the Gryffindor forever, he silently placed a charm around him and the animals so they wouldn’t hear what was going on outside of their bubble. At least with that, he could cook something without disturbing him.

That had only worked until Draco was halfway through and Harry sniffed as if he was a dog and opened his eyes to look around. He seemed to notice that there was a spell around him and cancelled it quickly, also cancelling the spell around the animals.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked with a sleepy voice. He yawned and moved his head around as if he tried to relax his muscles. Nora looked up just as tired and Soleil meowed, stretching, before she rolled down from Nora and stood on all fours slightly confused.

Draco smirked. “Cooking food for Your Highness.”

Harry glared at him in the middle of another yawn and got up. “I can cook myself, thanks.”

“I noticed” Draco answered, looking at the pasta. “I also noticed you sometimes throw the food out without eating it.”

Sighing, Harry nodded. “Yeah.” He was quiet and stood there behind the chair, staring at the table as if he was debating something. Draco frowned, though he turned back to the food. Only once Harry spoke up again did he turn around. He found Nora next to Harry and him petting her, while he spoke. “How much do you know about my upbringing?”

“Not much. You lived with your aunt and uncle, right?” Harry nodded silently and Draco shrugged his shoulders. “That’s about all I know.”

“My aunt and uncle were the worst people alive” Harry said quietly. He finally looked up at Draco and had a very somber expression. “They made me think that I wasn’t worth anything. Not friendship, not respect, not love, nothing. You already know that they made me live in a cupboard under the stairs for eleven years.” Harry sighed and shook his head. “I had to trade homework with my cousin, the tests I wrote were marked as cheating and my cousin would bully, hunt and torture me mentally and sometimes physically and emotionally until I broke. And there was nobody there.”

Draco narrowed his eyes, not really being able to picture the boy he knew from school being so… broken down. No wonder, he had turned out so strong and was fighting back whenever he had said something: Harry was clearly not letting anybody else be superior to him.

Right now, however, he looked incredibly sad. The memory of his childhood seemed to be torturous even now. “When I needed someone, I couldn’t talk to anybody.”

Unable to resist, Draco placed the spatula down and walked over to Harry, placing a hand on his shoulder. He really had wanted to hug him; however, he didn’t trust himself that he wouldn’t just start to freak out, since he hadn’t really had that much physical contact in the last ten years.

“Harry, you are not alone anymore” Draco said vehemently. “You have the whole Weasley family, Neville, Luna and I’m pretty sure many others who would listen to you whenever you have a problem!” He looked down at Nora who pressed her body at him as if she was saying that he had her too. Harry moved his fingers carefully through her fur.

“I doubt that” Harry said smiling sadly. “I drove most of them away in the last year.”

Draco shook his head. “No. I don’t believe you. And once you’re back on your feet, you’ll see that all that was just a little hiccup in the grand schemes of the universe. It will all be good.”

Harry nodded weakly. “You know, you truly are my very own personal savior.”

“Very funny” Draco rolled his eyes, squeezed his shoulder again and let go, though he didn’t move. “However, back to your original story. What does your stupid family have to do with you throwing food out?”

Sighing, Harry turned away and sat down on another chair, as if he needed to get some distance between them again. Draco took that as an obvious sign and went back to the stove, stirring the pot. After a few quiet moments, the Gryffindor started talking again and Draco turned around to look at him. Once again, Nora sat next to him and even Soleil had placed herself in his lap. Harry smiled sadly at the animals, though it seemed as if they really were helping him saying what he wanted or needed to say.

“They made me cook for them once I was barely able to see above the stove. It was the most painful learning experience I’ve ever had. Whenever they didn’t like something I’ve made or there was a little bit too much salt or whatever in it, they would throw me back into my cupboard and not give me food for two or three days, depending on how bad I’ve messed up.”

Draco stared at him with wide eyes. “That’s terrible!” How could they do something to him?! How could anybody do something like that to family?! Yes, he had hated being Lucius’ child, but even he didn’t let him starve.

Harry chuckled. That reaction also didn’t help in calming Draco down. It seemed as if Harry had long ago found peace with what his relatives had done to him. In that moment, Draco took a decision: Should Harry ever die, he would make sure that his relatives did as well. At least than he would go to Azkaban for something he had actually done, not something his father had. Weirdly enough, he felt a certain peace within him as he decided that.

“Well, I realized that sometimes I cook without having fun or enjoying the experience. And whenever I catch myself feeling the same I did when I was a child, I can’t eat that food. It just tastes weird. So I throw it out.” He ended with a shrug and Draco nodded.

“Good on you for realizing that.”

“I know” Harry smirked. “I’m amazing.”

Even though Draco really hadn’t wanted to laugh, he couldn’t help himself. Bursting out laughing, he fell onto the next chair and shook his head. “You are an idiot, Harry. We both know it.”

Grinning, Harry leaned back in his chair. “Who said idiots can’t be amazing?!”

“Good point.” Draco got up and suddenly had to fight this incredibly strong urge to walk over to Harry and kiss him. What was going on?! Why in Merlin’s name did he even have that kind of urge?! Especially now?! Yes, he had noticed that Harry was looking at him more often than not and he seemed so open around him, but that had almost certainly nothing to do with him as a person. He was his healer not his… boyfriend. Even if that sounded too good to pass on.

To distract himself, Draco quickly stirred the sauce again and turned to Harry, who smiled softly. He returned the smile, quickly looking away so he wouldn’t burn it into his mind and said: “I heard you had fun with your godson.”

Frowning slightly, Harry then smirked. “Yeah, I guess.”

“You and Teddy are really quite the pair” Draco said and chuckled when he placed the plates down. The pesto sauce was freshly made and hopefully as good as Draco remembered and the pasta had also already been done.

Harry yawned and smirked then as well. “I thought I heard you coming down the stairs.” He rubbed his temples and got up to help setting up the table as well, when Soleil jumped down and started placing with Nora. “And yeah, I think a lot of people believe that our relationship is a weird one.”

“Weird?” Draco frowned. “How so?”

“Well, he was barely seven, when Andromeda died, you might have heard of that, since you were still out by that time.” Draco shook his head. Though in all honesty, he hadn’t much kept up with his family after the war. He had received letters from his parents, though he had never opened them, before he was put into Azkaban himself.

Harry smiled, as if he was telling him that Draco not remembering wasn’t a problem. “I took him in and we were a team together. I had other people coming over especially when I was on a mission or the Weasley’s would take him, but other than that he stayed with me. I think he started to see me as his father even before he went to Hogwarts.”

“What house did he make?” Draco asked as they finished putting everything on the table.

The Gryffindor’s smile was so honest and happy that Draco almost stopped breathing. He looked so proud, when he turned to him. “Ravenclaw. Everyone thought he’d get into Hufflepuff, but he always was a smart kid, even though he tried to hide it.”

Draco smiled. “He didn’t hide it in front of you, did he?”

“Never.” Harry smiled softly. “It was always the two of us against the world.”

“Sounds nice.” Draco watched as Harry nodded and continued smiling with the same warmth and softness. It was clear that Teddy meant a lot to him.

Draco’s heart was beating a lot faster, just with hearing and seeing how much his godson meant to him. It was amazing to see that.

Looking up, Harry chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “He moved out shortly before I got cursed. When I got sick, he considered moving back in, but I really didn’t want to be the reason why he would have a gap in his CV.”

Draco chuckled. “I’m pretty sure he would have had nothing against that.”

“Of course not.” Harry smirked. “He would have loved to move back in and take care of me. For now, I’m okay since he’s also coming by as much as he can. And just to warn you, he has a key” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “So he can literally appear here just out of thin air. And he just came back from his holiday with Cassy… Cassandra, so he might be here more often.”

“I don’t mind.” Draco smiled. “And it’s clear to anyone who sees or hears you two interact, that you’re a real family and you belong together.”

Harry smiled at Draco. “Thanks. That means a lot.”

Nodding, Draco took the vial with the potion and handed it to Harry, who grimaced. “This is potion one. Take this before you eat and we’ll see if it helps.”

Opening the vial, Harry leaned over it and took a careful sniff. Draco rolled his eyes, though he smirked. He knew that it smelled a little different than usual potions, especially with the weird ingredients that didn’t make a lot of sense. However, it was a real potion and also supposedly helped with settling a stomach.

Before he could explain what he put inside, Harry started laughing and leaned back. He closed the vial again and held it back towards Draco, still laughing. Frowning, Draco took it back and looked at Harry, questioningly.

“What’s going on?” He truly didn’t understand why Harry was laughing and why he didn’t take the potion that was supposed to help him.

“Somewhere, you went wrong” Harry finally said and brushed a tear out of his face. “You made a love potion.”

Draco widened his eyes. No! No, he didn’t do that! “What?”

Harry giggled and motioned towards the potion. “What did you put inside?”

“Peppermint oil, rose oil and dried thorns, ashwinder eggs and shells” the more ingredients Draco said the slower he got. It was clear to him that this potion was in fact a version of Amortentia. “And a few more, but I realize it now.” He shook his head. “In my defense, the order wasn’t the same and it had more things inside…”

“Don’t worry” Harry said smirking. “Just be glad I’m a trained Auror who can identify a love potion before drinking it.”

Draco shivered in terror even thinking that Harry would be forced to be in love with him. “I’m so sorry. I never would have given you this, if I…”

Before he could finish, Harry shook his head and smiled at him. “I know, Draco. Stop. It’s fine. Mistakes happen. And I mean nothing even happened, since I didn’t drink it.” He grinned. “Just maybe vanish the potion before you accidentally drink it yourself.”

“Being in love with myself? No thank you.” Draco forced himself to a smile. Harry was going easy on him. What would have happened if he hadn’t realized it was a love potion?!

Harry smiled. “So, potion two, now?”

Draco sighed. “Sadly not. Potion two is only ready tomorrow. I didn’t think this potion would be so entirely wrong.”

Snorting, Harry grabbed the pasta and gave Draco some as well. He was still standing next to the table and actually considered going down into the potion lab and eliminate the potion right there and then. And he would probably stay there for the next two days…

“Sit, Draco. Eat” Harry pointed out and motioned to the chair. “Stop thinking about what could have happened. It didn’t happen. So calm down.”

“It’s not that” Draco lied unsuccessfully.

Harry rolled his eyes, though he was still grinning. “Yeah right. And I’m not secretively still hung up on everything I said when I was angry at you a few days ago.” He sighed and once again pointed at the chair. “Sit down!”

Draco followed rather quickly and accepted the food, even though he really wasn’t happy to be here. Maybe… maybe he still was, though.

Chapter Text

Harry opened his eyes and felt surprisingly unwell. He’d had a good run so far. So, for him to feel so bad was normal. Grabbing his second booklet, he summoned a pen and started writing.

Day 358
I feel really bad. I haven’t felt like this in a long while. I’ve got a strong back pain, my stomach hurts, though that could be because I’m off potions. My knees hurt and my shoulders are stiff.
Other symptoms today are: slightly nauseous, headaches (welcome back, you monster) strong emotions which I believe could be depression, though I’m not sure. And my eyes hurt very much. I’m pretty sure that’s that.
Hopefully, Draco’s potion can help me with one of the problems. It’s only a few more days until my curse has its first birthday. What should I give it? Anybody had an idea?

Once he stopped writing, he put the booklet into his drawer again and groaned as he got up. Another weekend meant another visit from his friends. Though today it was only supposed to be Ginny and Luna. They already knew that Draco was here and so, he didn’t need to hide from them.

He carefully stood up, checking whether or not his feet were actually able to hold him. Once he realized that was indeed working, he struggled over to the door and opened it with a little difficulty. The sunlight shining through the window into the kitchen was a little too bright for his eyes and Harry had to made it a little darker.

When he did that, he saw Draco sitting at the table, lazily drinking a coffee and reading a book so focused, he hadn’t apparently heard Harry opening the door. He was wearing a white button up shirt with the first two buttons undone and a vest over it. It made him look so incredible that Harry just stopped and openly stared at him for a while.

While Draco moved his head to read the next page, his hair got loose and fell into his face, apparently not bothering him, since he continued to read on. He placed the cup of coffee a little too close to the edge of the table and Harry contemplated whether or not he should tell him, though decided not to do so.

The Slytherin turned the page, still focusing on the text and apparently not realizing that Harry was just standing there, smiling over his actions. He brushed his hair out of his face and was quickly engrossed with the writing again.

His hand reached over to the cup and accidentally brushed it off the table, making it fall. The resulting noise seemed to take him out of his trance-like reading state and he turned to the coffee.

“Shit.”

Harry couldn’t help himself and chuckled. “I believe that gives you now two years worth of luck.”

Draco jerked up and stared at him, before he seemed to realize what he had said. “Why didn’t you say something or catch the cup?!”

“That’s not the rule!” Harry smiled tiredly. “And I believed you could use two years worth of luck.”

“Very funny” Draco rolled his eyes.

Harry grinned. “You also looked rather cute while you were so engrossed in your book.”

“No” Draco shook his head and glared at him. “Malfoy’s aren’t cute, Harry! They have never been and never will be.”

Smirking, Harry walked over to the coffee and poured a cup for himself as well. “Well, every rule has an exception, Draco.”

When he turned back to the Slytherin, he glared at him. “I’m not cute.” He cleared his throat, quickly glanced away and motioned then towards the book. “I’ve been reading up on a curse that I like very much for you.”

“Thank you, but I’ve already got one.”

Draco frowned, looking up, before he rolled his eyes. “What I meant to say, Harry, is that this curse could be it.” He smiled a hopeful smile and turned to the book. Harry walked closer and widened his eyes at the entirely unreadable language there.

ôðer wlîtesêon orgilde ðone as Malum Consilium frendian wrêon a dolgswæð wamb, blôdgêotende hwôsta swâðêah bêgra hnot endung hêafodece. Duguð wearg wiht neahhelîce forcuman twihynde tôscêadenes lufian mid, by tôhwon wyrgðu behealdan tîma lýt elra sîde tôhîgung ðe forgiefnes duguð l¯æce hopian sê cunnan 1 and 3 can sum inde elcra eallum. ðe âwyrgednes neahhelîce ymbwyrcan dêaðlic deathly.

“What is that?”

When Draco looked up at him, Harry suddenly realized how close he was to the other man. He was able to smell his natural aroma of vanilla and a flower that seemed like roses or maybe something entirely different. A part of what the accidentally created love potion had smelled like. This was getting more and more obvious.

Harry wasn’t going to give in, though. If he wasn’t going to survive and Draco would start to love him as well… He had just set the Slytherin up for a huge heartbreak. He wasn’t going to do that.

Draco smiled weakly and cleared his throat, starting to translate the written word.

“Other… things or… features of the Malum Consilium Curse include a sore stomach, bloody… cough and a non-ending headache.” He frowned and muttered under his breath: “Duguð wearg wiht neahhelîce…” Frowning, he shrugged his shoulders. “Something like: The cursed person usually has a lot do… deal with like…” Shaking his head, he went over the text again. “This curse has a few other side effects that let the healer think it’s something else entirely. This curse usually ends deadly.”

“Yeah, that was the one word I was able to read” Harry snorted and rolled his eyes. “Great odds for me.”

Draco rolled his eyes and snorted. “Don’t be so pessimistic all the time Harry. I’m here to help you survive, aren’t I?”

“True.” Harry shrugged his shoulders, still believing that nothing could save him. He motioned to the book. “How can you read that?”

Sighing, Draco turned back to the book. “Language lessons with my parents. The Malfoy library is full of books in old and new English, Gaelic, French, Latin and even some in German. I was taught all languages; so that I’m able to read them should I ever need to.”

“That’s amazing!” Harry looked at the book and shook his head, unable to really believe that Draco was able to read this nonsense.

A loud knock at the front door made both of them jerk and Harry sighed. “Guests are here.”

Draco rolled his eyes now as well and he grabbed the books. “I’ll give you some space, since…”

Before he could continue, Nora raced towards the door and started barking. Draco frowned at Harry, who shook his head.

“Nora?”

‘Hermione and Ron are here as well!’

Harry groaned and quickly told Draco what his dog had smelled. The Slytherin widened his eyes and looked over the kitchen where it was apparently obvious for him that there were two people living here.

“Shit” Draco rolled his eyes and grabbed all his books. “I guess I’ll be back in the library or the potion’s lab.”

“I’ll bring you food if they’re still here by dinner time.” Harry smiled sympathetically and Draco waved goodbye, walking through the family tree room into the library.

When Harry opened the door, Nora jumped at Ginny and Luna. Harry smiled robotically and stepped back to see his four visitors in. “I didn’t expect so many of you to appear today” he said and rubbed his head, his headache getting stronger with every passing minute.

Ginny looked around carefully and raised her eyebrows. “I hope all your inappropriate things have been stored away?”

Hermione scoffed. “Oh Ginny, what kind of a question is that?!”

Harry looked at Ginny and smiled. “They are, yes.” He nodded and she smiled weakly. Even if she had made it clear last week that she wasn’t happy with Draco here, it seemed as if she was going to protect him, should there be the need to do so. He thought that was very nice and kind of her.

“We just decided to tag along to talk to you” Ron smiled and hugged him. He was wearing his official Auror robes, which rubbed Harry slightly the wrong way. It was as if he had wanted to impress him or make him do something he didn’t want to do.

Nodding, Harry walked back into the kitchen with some problems. Ginny walked next to him and with a flick or her hand put all things away that looked like two people had been living here. “Are you okay?”

Harry sighed. “Today is not a good day, Gin.”

“It’s going to stay that way” she muttered while she motioned to her brother and sister-in-law who had followed them once Luna had stopped distracting them.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked and immediately realized what was apparently going to happen. “Oh no.”

Ginny started making tea while Luna sat down and started playing with Soleil and Nora kept a close eye on her little cat sister. Hermione and Ron sat down by the table, looking rather earnest.

Harry sat down on the opposite side and raised his eyebrows. “So, do I have to guess why you decided to follow Ginny and Luna on their visit?”

“Do we need to have a reason?” Ron asked and smiled his friendly smile. Harry had seen that so many times, usually followed by the sentence ‘you should live with my parents’.

“No” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “But you told me before that the weekend is for yourself and you can only visit me on Wednesdays. So… why are you here? Why do you suddenly care so much?”

Hermione chuckled, but Harry stayed silent. Did she think that was funny? She had no idea how hurt he had been, how much both of them had hurt him with their actions or rather none thereof. Ron moved slightly uncomfortable, though he had his expression under control again within a few seconds.

Harry was just about to tell him that he had turned into a pureblood wizard, just to hurt him. And he would have then probably told them that they didn’t care enough for him to be here when it was Ginny and Luna’s turn to visit him. Neville was the only other person that was allowed to come over when they were here.

However, he wisely held his mouth shut, unwilling to hurt them in such a fashion. He also hoped that maybe that way he could stop them from hurting him.

“We’ve always cared, Harry” Hermione smiled weakly. “And because we care so much we need you to do something for us.”

“I don’t like where this is going, Hermione” Harry said and raised his eyebrows. Before he could say more, his friend interrupted him quickly.

Ron leaned forward and accepted the tea Ginny had been making. “Mate, you need to go to St. Mungo’s.”

Harry shook his head. “No. We’ve been over this.”

Hermione shook her head. “Harry, you don’t understand! I… We just want what’s best for you! And you keep refusing our help, at least let the wizards and witches at St. Mungo’s help!”

“No!” Harry crossed his arms over his chest. He couldn’t believe that they were having the same exact discussion again. “I told you before and I will tell you again, that nobody knows how to help me. I’m not going there just so that they can once again check me for spell damage and tell me that nothing happened.”

“You wouldn’t be going for spell damage, Harry” Hermione said quietly.

Frowning, Harry shook his head. He was just about to ask what they were talking about, when it dawned on him.

“You want me to go there to die.”

“They have good people, you wouldn’t feel a thing and you could be happy there” Hermione said with tears in her eyes.

Harry shook his head. “No.”

“Harry, we’ve tried it all! There’s nothing else we can do.” Ron sighed and placed the tea cup on the table.

Looking over to Ginny, Harry realized quickly that she hadn’t been let into what they had wanted to tell him. She looked just about sick and stared at her family almost in disgust. Even though Harry knew that she also would have liked it if Harry had been somewhere where there were people around to help him… this clearly wasn’t the way she would have wanted them to go about it.

“No, thank you. I’m perfectly happy here.” Harry smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Well” Ron sat straighter and smiled. “I am the Head Auror and can therefore put you in St. Mungo’s if you’re presenting any danger to the Wizarding world.”

Harry wrinkled up his nose and glared at his best friend. “Is that so?” he asked rather sharply. “Do tell, Ronald, how I’m presenting danger to a world I’m no longer a part of! I haven’t been outside my own walls for longer than a few hours.” He got up and crossed his arms again. “So, please go ahead, Head of the Aurors and VIP of the Ministry and tell me how this holiday of yours helped you shut out all the pain you’ve experienced so far. And then I will tell you that I haven’t been able to sleep through the night in almost a full year. Oh, and maybe we can also swap stories of how I used to throw up after eating literally anything. What happened to you so far?”

“Harry!” Hermione stood up and threw her hands down onto the table making it shudder and the tea fall over. “That’s not why we’re here.”

“Oh yeah” Harry laughed without humor. “Let’s get this discussion behind us then, ‘Mione. You tell me I should go to St. Mungo’s, I say no. I’m angry, you tell me I need someone in my house looking after me, I tell you that’s not necessary and Ron offers that his elderly parents can look after me, which I again deny. Any new things you want me to know?”

His best friend shook her head, her eyes narrowed. “You know, Harry. You’re turning into quite the pain. No wonder Ginny left you when you got sick.”

“I beg to differ!” Ginny spoke up and threw the tea cup onto the counter so hard that it broke into thousands of pieces. “Harry left me long before the curse ruined his life!”

Luna looked up from the floor and nodded. “We got together five years after finishing Hogwarts. Ginny had broken up with Harry by than for three years.”

Ron huffed and shook his head. “Nobody asked you, Luna.”

“Well, nobody asked you to look after me neither, Ron!” Harry cut in and stepped forward. “And I think for today that is all the visitors I can bare. Leave, now.”

Hermione held her hands out soothingly. “Harry, listen, we’re not here to tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. We just want you to…”

Harry inhaled, trying his hardest not to freak out. He felt the same rage he had felt when his aunt had talked bad about his mother. This time, he was better at keeping himself together, though he still managed to explode every glass around the kitchen that wasn’t in the cupboards.

“You cannot just barge in here and accuse me of being too sick to take care of myself! I am perfectly able to look after myself and I don’t need anybody in my life! If you can’t understand that, I don’t ever want to see you again! This is not official Auror business and you will never get me to agree to go to St. Mungo’s. I don’t want to go there, I just want to be here, by myself. You don’t understand! You never have! And I’m done trying to make you happy when you’re only ever happy when I’m behind bars in St. Mungo’s, where I can’t be my own person.

He had screamed all of this and was now breathing heavily. Closing his eyes, he could feel the tears coming up. So he stepped back and opened the door to his bedroom. “LEAVE!” And with that he stormed through them, put some charms on them and fell into his bed, crying hard.

He couldn’t believe that his friends were so willing to put him away without any second thoughts.

“Harry?”

A soft voice by his ear brought him out of his nightmarish dreams and he opened his eyes and found Draco sitting on the floor. Nora sat next to him, looking at him carefully, and Soleil sat on his shoulder, meowing softly.

“Hey” Draco said softly and reached out to move his hair out of his face. “You look tired.”

“I don’t feel good” Harry answered weakly. He didn’t only have problems with his body, but his mind was also really messed up. How could his friends be so stupid?!

Draco nodded and tilted his head. “I know. Ginny told me before they left. And I also heard most of it; the walls are really quite thin for someone who’s yelling so loudly.”

“How long ago did they leave?”

“Two hours.”

“I don’t want to go to St. Mungo’s to die.”

Draco seemed surprised by the sudden change of topic, though he chuckled again a few seconds later. “You won’t have to. I will do anything in my power to make you survive this stupid curse, okay?”

Harry nodded. When Draco got up, there was a strange feeling in his stomach and he needed to speak up. “Draco?”

The Slytherin hummed and crouched down in front of his bed. His eyes evaluated him carefully and his smile was so honest. He was so different from his friends who were probably only seeing his sickness and not him as a person anymore.

“Could you… could you stay with me?”

“Of course. Do you want me to read you something?”

Harry shook his head. “I mean… like…” he was breathing fast and felt himself blush deeply. All he really wanted was a hug. “Like hugging me?” he murmured.

Draco stopped in the middle of his actions and looked at him carefully. “Hugging you?”

“Please?” Harry whispered. He had no idea what was coming over him, but he just knew that all he really needed was to be held by someone who didn’t have ulterior motives or was going to put him into St. Mungo’s.

It didn’t seem to take more convincing, as Draco got up and took off his shoes and put Soleil onto the bed as well, before he climbed into bed and put his arms around Harry. He was so warm and it felt so safe to be so close to someone else again. He hadn’t felt this secure in almost five years and he had definitely felt alone in the last year.

In fact, Harry felt so cared for that he started crying again and nestled into Draco’s embrace. He could feel Draco’s hand on his head, running his fingers through his hair while his quiet soothing voice made his chest vibrate, which Harry seemingly needed to fall asleep again in no time.

Held by Draco, the man who was surely going to save his life, everything seemed to be okay. He was okay. And definitely not in love with him. Or maybe just a little bit. Yeah, okay... just a tiny bit.

Chapter Text

Draco inhaled the sweetest scent close to him and opened his eyes softly to find himself in a room he had definitely not picked as his bedroom. When he looked around, he found Harry next to him, sleeping deeply. He looked so peaceful and yet, somehow so broken.

There was still a tear on his cheek and his hand was clutching Draco’s shirt. He was definitely not getting away without waking him up.

Smiling softly, Draco turned to the side and pulled Harry closer again. He didn’t know why, but he just knew that he needed this. They both needed this. Draco had seriously underestimated how touch-starved Azkaban had made him. He could feel the Gryffindor breathing softly onto his skin and he shivered with the soft touch. It was so soft and calm that it almost brought him to tears. He hadn't felt so cared for - even though he just lay there in the same bed with someone else and he wasn't actively cared for... Still.

Having this, the body heat of another person next to him, seemed all he had needed right now. And he remembered how broken and scared Harry had sounded when he had asked him to stay and hug him. He couldn’t say no. Not in a million years.

Harry stirred slightly and inhaled deeply, hiding his face in Draco’s chest. Draco smiled down at the unruly head of hair, his heart racing by the touch. The Gryffindor seemed to have fallen back asleep again. Next to them, Draco saw Nora sleeping in a rather weird way as she lay on her back, one leg sticking away from her body and Soleil slept on her chest. These two animals seemed inseparable these days, it was rather cute.

“Draco?” Harry’s sleepy voice said quietly and once Draco looked down, he saw Harry looking at him, though half of his face was still hiding in his shirt.

Draco hummed and brushed a strain of hair out of his face. “What’s going on?”

“You stayed?”

Nodding, he smiled down at the Gryffindor, who seemed very careful and almost about to cry again. “You asked me to stay. And I couldn’t leave once you hugged me.”

“I’m sorry” Harry apologized and looked at his hand that was still clutching his shirt. He let go quickly and blushed. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be” Draco answered and out of some weird reason, pulled him even closer so that almost their entire length of their bodies was touching. “We both needed it, I guess.”

Harry nodded and a silent tear left his eyes again and moved over his cheek. Draco watched it and finally, carefully brushed it away. “You don’t have to worry, Harry. I’ll fix you right up.”

“Please don’t leave me.”

“I won’t” Draco promised and smiled. “At least not until you’re good to go again, okay?”

Harry nodded weakly. “I’m sorry for being so stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Harry” Draco told him warily. “Humans are creatures that need other humans around. If at any time you need a hug or something, just let me know, okay?”

Nodding faintly, Harry smiled. “The same goes for you, Draco.”

He smiled and put his arm around Harry again. “I’m not sure I can just come up to you and ask you for something like that.”

“You could practice” Harry offered and when Draco looked down at him, he saw him smirking softly.

“Like… right now?”

“Yeah.”

Frowning slightly, Draco cleared his throat. “Okay.”

He didn’t say or do anything else, which made Harry chuckled softly and when he looked at the Gryffindor again, he found his eyes with almost as much light as he had seen them a few days ago. He seemed to be doing better than yesterday.

“Draco, ask me!”

“Ask you what?” Draco shook his head, when he realized what Harry meant. “Oh. That.” He couldn’t ask him for a hug. That seemed so unreal.

Harry moved in the bed and shuffled up so that they were barely on the same eye level. Draco looked at him, slightly unnerved, though he was curious where this was going.

The Gryffindor reached out and touched his hair, ruffling through it much to Draco’s chagrin. “You and I aren’t that different, Draco.” Before he could ask what that meant, Harry continued. “How many times did your parents hug you when you were a child?”

“Two or three times.”

“A year or in general?” Harry asked and smiled, still moving his fingers through Draco’s hair. It felt weirdly soothing.

Draco exhaled quietly. “Four times until I was eleven.”

“See” Harry said softly. “My relatives didn’t hug me at all. And at the beginning of my friendships, I had to ask for a hug. So, Draco Malfoy, repeat after me…”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea” Draco interrupted him, asking himself whether or not Harry had just without wanting to do so given away that his relatives had never hugged him.

The Gryffindor glared at him and cleared his throat softly. “Repeat after me: I want…”

Draco rolled his eyes, though he decided to comply. “I want…”

“A hug.”

“Really?” Draco asked, feeling slightly weird to ask something like that. Harry raised his eyebrows, which made him smirk and then repeat what the other man had said. “A hug.”

“I want a hug.”

Draco hesitated, though after seeing Harry’s emerald green eyes so patiently on him, he finally relented. “I… want a hug?” Harry wrapped his arms around him and Draco inhaled surprised. “Okay” Harry whispered into his ears and pulled him closer. This was so suddenly that Draco had to fight his urge to cry. What was going on with his emotions today?!

Thankfully, he had himself under control, once Harry fell back asleep and he carefully disentangled himself from the Gryffindor and got up silently. He snuck to the door and turned around again. Harry lay there so still, breathing calmly that he really couldn’t see how he was sick.

If he hadn’t read the journal, hadn’t seen his bad days or symptoms, he would have never thought that Harry was in fact sick or cursed. Smiling softly, Draco turned and silently opened the door to slip out.

Once in the kitchen, he checked the clock and frowned. It was ten a.m. Did Harry wake up at three? He really couldn’t tell. Maybe he did wake up but decided not to leave the bed… Who knew.

He walked over to the stove and placed the kettle on it as well as a pan and started with scrambled eggs. Before the kettle could whistle, Draco quickly placed a silencing charm around Harry’s room and turned back to the stove. He opened the cabinet and took out an orange tea with some other fruits mixed in. Pouring the boiling hot water over it, he then let it settle on the kitchen table.

“Who are you?”

The voice startled him and he turned around to see an unfamiliar face, though his voice sounded familiar. This was Teddy. He was tall and thin and wore rather good looking clothes, though they were simple: black jeans, a dark red t-shirt and a leather jacket over his shoulders. His hair was a little longer and baby blue. Draco wondered where he was able to color his hair like that, since he never saw such a good color.

He stared at him for a few more seconds, before he finally realized that the young man had repeated his question. “I’m a friend of Harry’s.”

“You are?” Teddy asked and narrowed his eyes. “And why have I not seen you in all of my life. I know all of his friends.”

That man really seemed careful and prepared for anything. Draco saw that he had took his wand out of his holster around his forearm and held it slightly hidden away from him so he wouldn’t see it. Still, Draco saw every wand. Growing up with the Dark Lord made one aware of everything magical in a house.

Shrugging his shoulders, Draco eliminated the silencing charm around Harry’s room with a silent spell. He really hoped that the Gryffindor would hear them talking and maybe come out to help him. He wasn’t going to ask for it, though.

“We weren’t that close for a few years” Draco said instead and smiled, hoping that would calm Teddy down.

It didn’t. He still had his eyes narrowed and looked him up and down. “So, what’s your name?”

If he said his name was Draco Malfoy, Teddy would probably call the Aurors and have him arrested even before Harry would wake up. He needed to come up with something else. “Aramis.”

“Aramis?” This man really seemed not to buy anything he was saying. “Aramis what?”

“Aramis Lavigne.”

Wrong answer! Draco inhaled surprised as he found himself at the other end of the wand, pointing towards him. “So, you’re the famous French wizard who in 1704 invented the cure to the love potion? I highly doubt that. You don’t look that old.”

Shit! He knew that name was too familiar to just have popped into his head. Also the fact that Teddy seemed to know that… This wasn’t good.

“Try again!” his voice was so cold that Draco stepped back, his back at the cupboard. He was suddenly back at the Manor, the Dark Lord in front of him, his wand in three fingers, eyes cold as stone, an evil grin spread over his face, cursing him.

“Crucio!” his raspy voice in his head, his whole body convulsing in hurt. He screamed to make it stop, for someone to help him, until he passed out in pain.

A soft touch on his shoulder made him open his eyes again and he found Harry kneeling next to him, smiling softly though he looked rather concerned. Draco lay on the floor, surrounded by scrambled egg splatter and water.

He sat up, groaning slightly and saw Teddy standing next to the door with wide eyes looking horrified, his wand on the floor, as if he had let it fall when Draco blacked out. One hand was over his mouth, as if he couldn’t believe what actually happened here and the other gripped the door frame. Draco felt a little guilty for scaring the young man.

“What happened?” he asked with a sore throat and looked at Harry slightly scared.

Harry smiled and picked some egg out of his hair. “You had a flashback, I assume. Happens to the best of us.”

Draco shook his head. “I never had a flashback before.”

“That doesn’t mean it can’t happen, Draco.”

Teddy took a step into their direction and Draco jerked slightly, which made Harry’s godson stop. “I’m so sorry! I though you somehow got in here and wanted to hurt Harry!”

Harry smiled at Teddy. “He’s helping me in trying to find a cure.”

“I really am sorry!” Teddy looked at Draco with a slightly scared expression. It seemed as if he expected Draco to punish him somehow, even if Draco had no idea how he was supposed to do that.

Instead, he smiled weakly. “It’s fine. I understand that you wanted to save your godfather. I probably would have done the same thing for mine.”

Harry snorted. “Wasn’t Snape your godfather?”

Draco frowned at the Gryffindor. “What, I’m not allowed to help my godfather who just happened to be Snape?”

“Oh no, that’s not what I meant” Harry chuckled. “I’m just saying that he would have probably given you detention had you tried to save him from someone else.”

“Not everyone got detention from him, Potter.”

“How dare you, Malfoy!” Harry exclaimed, though his eyes were sparkling. He smirked and got to his feet, helping Draco up as well. Teddy opened his mouth again to say something, when Harry shook his head and smiled. “He said it’s fine, Teddy. You don’t need to keep apologizing once people tell you to stop.”

Teddy shook his head. “But I feel terrible! I’ve never seen something like that.”

Draco frowned. “Something like what?”

The Ravenclaw turned to him with wide eyes. “You stared at my wand for like a minute and then just kind of started screaming at me to stop it, but I wasn’t doing anything. You fell to the floor and hit your head on the panhandle, which made everything fall. I never used any magic!”

“It’s a flashback, Teddy” Harry explained. “It doesn’t need magic.”

“So” Teddy frowned and looked at his godfather. “It’s basically the same as when I would run away as a child and you would freak out over it?”

Harry tilted his head, while Draco was wondering what they were talking about. He decided however, not to ask them, since he still needed a little time to get over what just happened.

“Not entirely” Harry finally said and smiled. “But almost.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Teddy!” Harry chuckled and shook his head. “Stop apologizing. Sit down and have some tea.” He then turned to Draco. “You too. I’ll make breakfast.”

Draco simply nodded and carefully walked over to the table, where he sat on the nearest chair. Teddy grabbed his wand from the floor and carefully walked closer as well. He sat down, not on the exact opposite side of Draco, though almost.

Harry placed the tea cups in front of them and turned to the stove, making pancakes. Draco sighed and leaned back, closing his eyes. His heart was still racing like a scared horse, though it calmed down.

He only opened his eyes again, when he heard a noise and saw Teddy pouring tea into the cups. He placed one in front of Draco and smiled apologetically.

“It’s fine” Draco said and returned his smile. “And I’m Draco, by the way.”

Teddy nodded. “I’m Edward Remus Lupin, but my friends call me Teddy.”

“Nice to meet you, Edward.” Draco held out his hand and Teddy shook it after hesitating quickly.

“Call me Teddy. It feels weird being called Edward. Like I’m back at school.”

Draco nodded and relaxed slightly. He saw Harry observing them from the corner if his eyes and turned to look at the Gryffindor. He looked very good and as if there was no pain anywhere. “Are you okay?”

Harry nodded. “Perfect, thanks. And I’m also super happy that the two of you seem to be okay now.”

Teddy snorted, slowly getting back the color to his face. “So, what are you really doing here?” He asked and turned to Draco. “And why did you name yourself Aramis Lavigne?”

Draco sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Well, I am really helping Harry with the curse and I’ve been studying a few different books for curses and potions and animals in general, which has given me a lot of names to remember. I must have confused him with someone else.”

Teddy smirked and shrugged his shoulders. He suddenly leaned forward and widened his eyes. “So, you’re healing him?”

“I’m trying to.”

“Don’t get your hopes up, Teddy” Harry spoke up and placed the pancakes he had made so far onto the table. “There might be no cure.”

“Yeah, but there could be! And Aunt ‘Mione’s given up a few months ago! Now at least there’s someone with a lot more knowledge” Teddy answered and turned back to Draco with big eyes. “So, what do you have so far?”

Draco chuckled softly and shrugged his shoulders. “Not much. I’ve been trying to make your godfather a healthy stomach settling potion and I didn’t really have much more time to study.”

Teddy nodded. “Okay” he narrowed his eyes as if he was thinking of something. “If you’ve ever figured out the potion, I’ll continue making it and you can start full-time research.”

“What?” Draco frowned at Harry, who had his back turned to them, but was still chuckling.

The Gryffindor walked over to the cabinet and took out some plates. “Teddy’s a student for one of the best potion masters since Snape. This man has so many applicants each year that he only accepts the very best of the absolute best. There are multiple rounds of tests until you can start an apprenticeship with him.”

Teddy blushed slightly, when Draco looked at him, and shrugged his shoulders as if to tell him that it really wasn’t that impressive. Smirking, Draco turned to Teddy.

“What’s his name?”

“Daxton Villin. He usually jokes that with a last name like this, there was no other job for him than to stand over a cauldron and cackle devilishly” he said and shrugged his shoulders.

Draco smirked. He could tell that Teddy thought a lot of this man just by the fondness in his voice, though it clearly wasn’t the same fondness he had whenever he was talking to Harry.

“Sounds about right” Draco chuckled.

“He’s actually rather amazing” Harry said and filled up the food for the animals. Nora lazily walked out of the bedroom and then ran at Teddy, who held out his arms do hug her. Soleil walked behind her sister, though climbed up on Draco’s shoulders, and looked at Teddy carefully.

Harry finally sat down next to Draco and petted Soleil who meowed and got Teddy’s attention. “He looks cute! Or she?”

Draco smiled softly and ruffled through her fur. “Her name is Soleil.”

“That’s cute.”

Nodding, Draco grabbed a pancake and then turned to Teddy. “I’ll accept your offer. Once I figure out what kind of potion Harry needs, you can brew it and I’ll continue looking for a cure to your godfathers spell damage.”

Harry snorted. When Draco frowned at him, he swallowed the pancake and turned to Teddy. “Just make sure, you’re not brewing any love potions.”

Draco turned red and put the pancake down, staring at Harry. The Gryffindor was laughing and Teddy frowned slightly.

“It was an accident, Harry! And you figured it out before drinking it!” He hid his burning face and heard Teddy sniggering as well. Sighing, he crossed his arms and looked from a laughing Harry to Teddy, who was trying his hardest to keep his composure, but ended up, bursting out in laughter.

“Yeah, yeah, just make fun of me, whatever.”

Harry placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it gently. “I can’t get over the face you made when you realized it!”

“Shut up!” Draco called out, though he couldn’t help himself and join their laughter. It felt weirdly good to laugh about something like that, especially in such nice company.

Chapter Text

“You’re not going to tell anyone?” Harry asked when Teddy finally bid goodbye. He had been here until it was almost supper time and finally told them that he needed to go and meet Cassy in a Muggle restaurant where they were celebrating their six-year anniversary.

“I think she’s going to ask me to marry her, today” he had said and sighed.

Harry had chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “Is that a problem?”

Teddy had simply shaken his head. “Not anymore. We talked a lot about our future and we both want to move forward with our relationship.” He had then smirked. “She did slip up and said something about people having to live together when they’re engaged, but she explained herself.”

“I see” Harry had chuckled. “Just don’t freak out over it.”

“Yeah” Draco had spoken up and winked at Teddy. “Don’t take my reaction seeing you as a way with dealing with unexpected things.”

Snorting, Teddy had nodded. “Sure thing. But if you’re now going to give me life advice, at least let me call you ‘Uncle Dray’.”

Draco had frowned. “I don’t think that’s what I wanted to be called.”

“Well, then I will absolutely take your reaction to seeing me shoving my wand into your chest as an example of how to behave when Cassy asks me to marry her.”

Harry had rolled his eyes. “You will terrify Cassy and everyone in the restaurant.”

“You might even lose your study place with Villin” Draco had added and smirked.

Teddy had widened his eyes and held up his hands. “Okay, that’s what I’m talking about! Thank you, Uncle Dray, I will not take you as my role model.”

“I’m not Uncle Dray!” Draco had shaken his head.

Harry had snorted and hugged his godson. “You really are an amazing godson.” He had then turned to Draco. “And I’m sorry to tell you, that you will never get rid of this name now.”

While Draco had rolled his eyes, Teddy had sniggered and walked to the door. And now they were standing there and Harry smiled at his godson, who had turned out to be such an amazing adult.

His godson smirked and shook his head. “Don’t worry, Harry. I won’t tell anyone that Uncle Dray lives here.”

“I’m not ‘Uncle Dray’” Draco called from the kitchen, which made Harry chuckle. Teddy winked at him and called back: “You will always be Uncle Dray to me!”

Harry hugged Teddy again. “Tell Cassy I said hi. Oh, and try not to marry in the next few months. Ginny’s marrying Luna sometime soon. I’m not sure whether or not they already gave me a date.”

Teddy snorted. “I’ll tell her, and then I’ll talk to Aunt Gin and we’ll figure it all out. You just need to get better, so that you can be at both our weddings, okay?”

“Copy that, Teddy.”

Draco only resurfaced again before late dinner. He came into the kitchen with a vial in his hand, already blushing. Harry snorted over it, knowing too well what he was currently thinking.

“This is potion two A and definitely not a love potion” he explained and held it towards Harry.

Smirking, Harry just couldn’t help himself. “Are you sure?!”

“Yes” Draco rolled his eyes. “I’ve triple checked everything. It’s not going to be a love potion!”

“If you say so” Harry grinned and downed it quickly. Draco shook his head over it and set the table, while Harry turned to the stove and finished up.

When they sat down, Harry noticed that Draco was unusually quiet. That could mean two things: He was either trying to figure out what was going on with Harry and he had a few curses in mind, or he was thinking about Teddy having seen him. Harry had gotten to know Draco rather well, so he would have put his money on the latter, even though he knew that the Slytherin was probably also researching him.

As if to prove his thoughts correctly, Draco sighed and placed the fork down. He looked at Harry and narrowed his eyes. “Do you think Teddy is going to tell the Ministry that I’m here?”

Harry snorted. “I highly doubt that.”

“What if he thinks that I’m endangering you for some reason?” Draco seemed almost anxious when he asked that. Harry looked at him and smiled softly.

“He won’t.”

“But… what if…”

“Draco, Teddy doesn’t trust the Ministry” Harry interrupted his thoughts which were highly unlike to even come true. Draco frowned, when Harry continued. “They treat him like a monster, like he’s some sort of… alien. He’s not going to tell the Ministry you’re here. If anything, I’m sure he’ll come by even more just so he can talk to you.”

Shaking his head, Draco just stared at Harry for almost a solid minute. Harry just started eating his favorite dish of rice and curry, before Draco finally seemed to be able to talk again. “Talk to me? Why would he want that?”

Harry smirked. “You’re an idol to him.”

“I’m a Death Eater!”

“But you’re not anymore. I think he respects that about you.”

Draco shook his head, seemingly unable to believe that he could be anybody’s idol. Harry thought that was silly. Especially since Draco had never done anything bad. Yeah, he had fought on the wrong side of the war, but only because his family had been there. And he had never even used a bad spell!

Not with Dumbledore, not in the Room of Requirement and not during the battle of Hogwarts. Even he had used worse spells than a supposed Death Eater who spent ten years in Azkaban for crimes he didn’t even commit!

“Why does the Ministry treat him like he’s a monster?” Draco asked quietly.

Harry sighed. This memory had not been a wanted one. “Because in his teenage idiocy he went looking for a werewolf. He wanted to feel closer to his dad and thought that if he were a werewolf that could be the connection he was looking for.” Harry remembered how broken Teddy had been, with all that blood on him when he saw him in St. Mungo’s. The mediwitches had told him he was lucky to survive. And Teddy had cried hours and days afterwards, realizing what kind of a mistake he had made. It had broken Harry’s heart, especially when he was afraid that Harry wouldn’t love him anymore. That part still broke his heart when he thought of it. Clearing his throat, Harry looked back at Draco and smiled sadly. “By that time, I hadn’t had the great idea of giving him a portrait of his parents. So, he got bitten by a werewolf.”

Draco started at him with wide eyes. “Shit!”

“That’s not actually what makes him an outcast” Harry sighed and leaned back. “Since he is the son of a werewolf, he already had the genes of one inside him. So, he only transforms during blood moons, which doesn’t happen often.”

“Wait, that exists?!”

“Apparently.” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “The Ministry made him go through countless tests and everything; one almost killing him.” Harry’s eyes had this rage in him, which quickly vanished and he smiled softly. “So, no. He doesn’t trust the Ministry anymore. Probably even less than you or I.”

“You trust the Ministry?” Draco asked and raised his eyebrows.

Harry snorted. “What? No. Absolutely not. I’ve been an Auror for long enough to know that there is some shady business going on there. But that’s nothing I can change now. First, I need to get better again.”

Draco nodded. “And for that, I’ve got it down to five curses. Tomorrow, I’ll check each one carefully and hopefully have it down to two or three and we go over them together in the evening. With your insight into this stupid curse, we should be able to have a solution to it by end of the day.”

“That easy?” Harry widened his eyes. Could he really be done with the curse in less than twenty four hours?!

Holding up his hands, Draco shook his head. “We have the curse, Harry. Depending on what it is, the cure needs another two or three weeks.”

“But then it’s over!” Harry held his hands in front of his mouth. “And I could be done with it!”

“Theoretically, yes.” Draco smirked. “Don’t get your hopes up, Harry! It’s just a theory!”

Harry chuckled. “I know! But still, might be my favorite theory so far! I might not even make it to three hundred sixty five days!”

Draco snorted. “Yeah, only three hundred fifty something. What day is today?”

“Three hundred fifty nine.”

“I’m not sure I can cure you in five days, Harry.” Draco narrowed his eyes.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “It’s still amazing! And I can’t wait to be healthy and well again!”

His happiness was quicky forgotten, as the potion took no effect at all and made Harry run for the toilet and he threw up. Draco looked rather guilty as he handed him a glass of water afterwards.

“I’m not sure I can drink anything now” Harry said and coughed, swallowing thickly and he grimaced at the sour taste in the back of his throat. Sighing, he leaned at the wall behind his back.

Draco squeezed his shoulder. “It’s not over, okay?”

Harry nodded, tiredly, unsure of his future. From the looks of it, there was nothing left…

Chapter Text

“So, here are the curses” Draco placed four books onto the kitchen table and exhaled, slightly nervous. What if he had given Harry hope throughout all of this day and now nothing would work? He really wanted this, not only for Harry, but also for him. He wanted to be helpful, especially since Harry had been so nice to him from the start.

When he had seen the Gryffindor in front of his cell, he had thought that he came by to laugh at him. Under no circumstances had he ever thought that this man would be freeing him from this prison. The man he had hated as a child, had tormented all throughout Hogwarts… who had turned into his literal savior not once, but twice in all of his life.

“Draco?” Harry asked and smirked when Draco came out of his mind.

“Sorry, yes.” Draco shook his head and smiled weakly. “Curse one. I’ll read you what the symptoms are first.” When he looked over to the man, sitting on the couch at the far end of the room, wrapped in a warm and comfortable looking blanket, he nodded and opened the first book.

Malum Consilium Curse
The Malum Consilium Curse, also widely known as ‘The Unknown Death Curse,’ consists of a few different symptoms which can all be traced back to a single occurrence. While the symptoms such as head and backache as well as problems with walking and eating are more common, there are also stomach pain and vomit associated with it. Usually, it all traces back to where the curse hit the poisoned person. For example, if a man was hit in his back, the back pain is more common. If going untreated for longer than four months, the symptoms will increase and add vomit, balance and hearing problems to the mix.

“It’s not that” Harry interrupted and shook his head.

Draco frowned and looked up from the book. “Are you sure?”

Nodding, Harry leaned forward. “I’ve always had a problem with throwing up and my hearing loss has been coming and going, even before I hit the four-month marker. The same goes for my balance.”

“True” Draco sighed and closed the book again, putting it to the side. Harry smiled at him and leaned forward.

“Don’t look so depressed, Draco. You have four more curses, right?”

Draco nodded a little tense. He really wanted to help Harry as fast as he could… With this curse out of the way, it felt worse.

Without saying much else, he grabbed the next book, opened it and cleared his throat. He was definitely having too much hope for any of these curses. Nevertheless, he still read to Harry what they did.

Hyacinthum Spinam
This is one of the darker curses in this book. It works better for wandless magic and has its most impact if not even muttered, simply said inside you head. This spell is one of the darkest and oldest spells invented by one of the most dangerous wizards in all of humanity. The first initial shock comes with the symptoms of throwing up, nausea and stomach pain. These symptoms slowly grow all over the body, until there’s no body part left over that doesn’t have their very own symptoms. It is said that Domynick Pol…

“That doesn’t match my symptoms” Harry interrupted again and sighed. “If that were the curse, I shouldn’t have headaches for almost every day. That would mean that my headaches were the last symptoms.”

Draco frowned at the book and then at Harry. “Where were you hit then?”

“My shoulder” Harry answered and pointed at his right shoulder, which was under the cover, and he rubbed it carefully.

“It could have gotten to your head first and then down to your stomach” Draco thought out loud, although he had already stopped believing that it was this curse.

Harry simply shrugged his shoulders. “Does the book say that it had to start where you’re hit?”

Draco shook his head. “No. It even has pictures of how the curse grows out to the head and then to fingers and toes. I can’t believe I didn’t see that.”

“You didn’t know!” Harry said and smiled softly. “Don’t be so harsh to yourself.”

“Well, that eliminates the two other curses as well” Draco placed the book and the other one to the side. Now, he only had one more book and one more curse. He felt really stupid presenting these curses to Harry and none of them were something intelligent.

Harry smiled weakly. “Let’s get the other one then.”

Draco looked at his… friend? He looked so innocent, like he had given up hope and he thought that the last curse was also not going to be it. Draco would have loved to help him with it, but he himself didn’t know where else to look. He was getting slightly desperate to find something.

The Conruptus Curse
This is the scariest curses of all of them. It scans the body of its victim for any mistakes and flaws and starts working with them. This curse is very individual for everyone. A person dealing with drugs can show more symptoms of drug abuse while a person grieving could fall even deeper into the abyss of grief and sorrow. All symptoms are specially chosen for this specific victim, though all start with stomach pain as the curse works its way up into the head. Most people have a strong headache, as well as a very sensitive stomach. After two days all of the victims show hallucinations and a temporary hearing and eyesight loss. After two weeks, the symptoms start to vary. If this curse goes untreated for half a year, certain symptoms may stay forever, such as a headache or a loss of hair.

Harry shook his head. “That’s also not really what happened to me.”

Draco bit his lower lip and looked up at him. “But you had very individualized symptoms, right? And you have headaches and stomach pains…”

“True, but I know that this curse can’t be it, since the Ministry knows about it and they had me tested for it.”

Staring at the last possible curse, Draco couldn’t believe it. “So… I have nothing?” That couldn’t be true, right? There must be something to help Harry!

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Looks like it.”

“But… I wanted to help you” Draco stared at the page number, shocked that he apparently couldn’t do more. He had read through so many books, checked so many curses. He still wasn’t even half done with the library! There must be more inside! He couldn’t just give up now! He hadn’t been here for long enough. Something must have slipped his attention!

“Draco?” Harry asked and stood up carefully. Watching the Gryffindor, he closed the book and leaned back in his chair.

The Gryffindor walked over to the place where his potions had been in before Draco had emptied the drawer. He pulled out the drawer and walked back to where they were sitting, placing it on the table. “This is for you.”

Inside the drawer was a phone, a map and something that looked like a portkey. This was surely illegal.

Frowning at Harry, Draco pulled the drawer closer to him. “What are you talking about?”

“You can escape England with it. The portkey leads you to Charlie’s home and he knows that you didn’t do anything and that you tried to help me. He’ll help you to go wherever you want to.”

“No” Draco shook his head. “What are you doing?! You can’t just give up!”

Harry smiled sadly. “I have given up a few months ago, Draco” he petted Nora’s head, who whimpered sadly.

“Then why did you free me from Azkaban?!” Draco shook his head, unable to believe what was going on right now.

“I was lonely” he admitted. “And I didn’t want to go to St. Mungo’s. I wanted some company before I died.”

Draco pressed his lips together. “You’re not going to die!”

Harry smiled softly. “But I am. And there’s nothing anyone can do about it; I realize that now. So, take this, activate the portkey by holding onto it and saying ‘goodbye’ and off you are. Free from anything.”

“No” Draco shook his head. “I promised to help you. I will help you! And you’re not going to die alone, okay?! I’ll be here by your side!”

“At least promise me you’d take Nora with you when I’m dead. I don’t want her alone in this house until someone finds me.”

“You’re not going to die!” Draco stood up and grabbed the books. “I’m not done researching. I know how I can research faster and better! Don’t give up hope!”

With that he turned and walked into the library again, shoving the books into another shelf and grabbing five others which he then took over to the potion’s lab. He vanished potion two B as well as two A, since none of these worked, and placed the books down.

Harry couldn’t die! He was the savior of the Wizarding world, he was the Boy Who Lived! He couldn’t die! He wasn’t allowed to! Not until Draco had saved him and told him how much he meant to him! He felt so safe in his arms, so… understood! That couldn’t just be over like that!

Falling into a chair, Draco placed his head in his hands, trying his hardest to keep his emotions at bay. Harry… he was his soul mate! The way they talked, how they treated each other! He hadn’t found anybody else who treated him with such respect.

And the way he sometimes looked at him, this little smirk on his lips, the twinkling eyes… That wasn’t a sign for death! Harry wasn’t going to die! No!

A tear ran over Draco’s cheek and he angrily brushed it off. No. As long as he lived here, there was hope. As long as he continued to research a cure for Harry’s curse, there was hope. As long as he didn’t give up on a Gryffindor who seemingly already gave in to death… there was still hope!

Exhaling loudly, Draco glared at the potion number three. “This isn’t over” he said loudly and grabbed the first book to look over again. This wasn’t the end of the road. He still had about a thousand books he hadn’t checked out.

When Draco walked towards the library again after trying to talk to Harry and failing miserably, the front door opened suddenly. Draco stood still, like a deer in headlights and sighed once he found Teddy walking in. The Ravenclaw had bilious green hair and grinned, when he saw Draco standing there.

“Hey Uncle Dray!”

Draco sighed, rolled his eyes and looked at the young man, whose grin had just gotten wider. “Must you call me ‘Uncle Dray’?”

Teddy smirked. “Yeah.”

“Uncle Dray makes me sound so old.”

“You are old”

“I’m barely forty!” Draco grinned.

Teddy laughed and threw his hands into the air. “That’s freaking old!”

Chuckling, Draco asked: “Then why must you call me that?”

“Because it annoys you.”

Draco snorted. “Fair enough.” He grinned and then raised his eyebrows. “Harry’s sleeping right now; he won’t be here for you in the next few hours.”

“That’s fine. Can I spend time with you?” Teddy shrugged his shoulders.

“Sure.”

Draco beckoned Teddy to follow him into the family tree area. He could tell that Teddy was a little confused and even more so, when he pressed the first head and a secret door appeared. He widened his eyes and looked back at Draco.

“What is that?!” he asked with so much enthusiasm that Draco would have loved to burst out laughing. He opened the door and motioned for Harry’s godson to walk in first. As he did, he could hear him squeal.

Draco snorted and followed, closing the door behind them. “Amazing, isn’t it?” he asked, while Teddy looked around and was already on the last step, walking right over to the museum side of the library.

He carefully grabbed a book and opened it softly. When he turned around to Draco, he had this wonder in his eyes. “I had no idea the Black family had a library like this! It’s so cool!”

Smirking, Draco walked down the few steps and towards Teddy. The Ravenclaw placed the book back into the correct place and turned back to him. “How many books are here, what do you reckon?”

“Around three thousand maybe?” Draco offered and looked around. “Perhaps a couple hundred more?”

“I love it!” Teddy exclaimed and turned to the huge pile of books scattered around the room.

Draco smirked. “I know something you might love even more.”

“I highly doubt that.”

Beckoning Teddy to follow him, Draco walked through the room and opened the door to the potion’s laboratory. To say that Teddy had lost his words was an understatement. He looked around as if everything was made out of gold and marble and even the supply closet in the corner, which was made out of normal wood, seemed to mean so much to the Ravenclaw.

Draco chuckled quietly. “See? It blew your socks off!”

Teddy nodded and shook his head, as if he couldn’t believe that actually existed. “It’s amazing! I could work here so easily! I wouldn’t need to fight Cassy for having my cauldron in the kitchen!”

“Well” Draco thought quickly and shrugged his shoulders. “If you want, you can stay here and work on your potions, as long as you don’t interfere with anything I’ve got cooking for your godfather.”

“What?” Teddy widened his eyes and jumped into the air. “Yes! Please! That would be epic! I could even do more difficult things for Villin, so I won’t need to stay there in the evenings or so!”

Draco chuckled and nodded softly, before he froze when Teddy let out: “You’re the best person ever!”

“I’m not.” He shook his head, remembering how Harry had said that Teddy thought of him as an idol. “You shouldn’t have me as a role model.”

Teddy snorted. “I know.”

“What?”

So, he wasn’t a role model for Teddy? Draco frowned, wondering if he had maybe not understood Harry, when he had talked about it. However, he was pretty sure that he had said that Teddy thought of him as basically a super hero.

Teddy grinned. “I know you think you’re not worth a role model. However, what you don’t see is that you’re pretty amazing. And while Harry is up there, slowly dying, you’re still having faith. I think that’s a noble trait.”

“No, listen Teddy…”

He couldn’t even finish his thought, as Teddy interrupted him quickly: “No, you listen, Uncle Dray! Your parents were Death Eaters, they fought for their believes, which were wrong, by the way. And then, there’s you. You figured out that their believes were wrong and you changed your family history. That takes guts. And now, Harry broke you out of Azkaban and instead of going to the Ministry and telling them the entire story, you’re here, trying to help my godfather getting better. If that isn’t what a role model would do, I don’t want to know.”

Draco frowned and quietly thought about what Teddy was saying. It was true, or at least a little true: He could have just told any Aurors that Harry had helped him, he would have probably been punished slightly, though not as much if they caught him right now. And yes, his family had fought on the wrong side and he decided to stay with Hogwarts.

“You make me sound like some sort of guardian angel or something.”

Teddy frowned and nodded then. “That’s kind of what you are to Harry, though.”

Draco tilted his head and thought about it, before he smirked and nodded. “True. I am a guardian angel of Harry’s.”

“See? Angels can do anything! So, you can make him healthy again” Teddy smirked and turned to the bubbling potion, starting to stir it so it calmed down again.

Draco rolled his eyes, even though he did like the picture in his head. And he also liked to have Teddy here more often. As much as he liked to be around Harry alone, maybe it was nice to have someone else to bounce ideas off. It definitely couldn’t hurt.

Chapter Text

When Harry opened the door to the kitchen, Draco already sat there with a book in his hands, reading it thoroughly. The title was written in huge red letters on the back and Harry didn’t even need to look at it closer to figure out what it said. Ama Me – Curses and Spells for lovers. Harry shook his head over this ridiculous title, sighed and entered.

“Hey.”

Looking up, Draco presented him a quick smile, before he turned back to the book in his hands. Harry hesitated, though he then turned to the coffee maker. He didn’t really want tea right now, he needed something else. It felt weird to be in the same room as Draco, especially after Harry had told him that he had just wanted to have someone here at home because he felt so alone. However, he needed to hear the reality. And Harry really had given up hope – at least a little.

He had gotten some hope back, when Draco had announced that he’d have five curses that fit him by the end of the day. Stupid him. Why did he get his hopes up just to have them eliminated soon after?

“Listen, Draco” Harry spoke up and turned around. Draco looked up and nodded softly. “I’m sorry for… telling you all that. I’m sure that’s not easy to hear.”

The Slytherin shrugged his shoulders. “I understand. But you also need to understand me, Harry” he said and leaned back in his chair. “I’m trying my best to save you. And I won’t stop until I’ve gone out and about and done anything I could.”

Harry smiled sadly. “I do understand, even though I think it’s slightly stupid.”

“Well” Draco smirked. “I think you giving up already is a little stupid as well. In one of all these books might be the solution to your curse!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry turned back to the coffee maker and took some milk and sugar, which he added. “Just make sure to sleep a little as well, Draco.”

“Okay?”

Harry turned around and almost let his coffee fall to the floor. In front of him were two Draco Malfoys. One was sitting at the table, reading a book, and the other leaned against the door frame, looking at him slightly concerned. Harry had to admit thought, that both had a sense of fashion, which wasn’t that surprising, as the hallucination was usually pretty much a perfect image of the original. “Oh shit, come on!”

The other Draco that just entered the kitchen frowned and smiled weakly. “What’s going on? And why are you talking to yourself alone in the kitchen?”

“I’m not alone” Harry sighed and shook his head. “I’m hallucinating again.”

The Draco sitting by the table frowned and looked around. “What are you hallucinating?”

It seemed as if the two Slytherins couldn’t hear the other one, which made sense as one of them was fake. However, if one of them could have heard the other, he could have at least been able to say which one was real.

“I can see you twice.”

The Draco at the door smirked weakly. “I’ll write that down in the journal then. By the way, do you mind if I run another two curses by you this evening? I may have found something.”

Harry shook his head. “That’s fine.”

“What is fine?” Draco at the table asked and closed the book. “I think I’ve found the real curse, by the way! It could be one of these two that I’m seeing here! Amans Anathema or Sanandis Caritas.”

“Oh boy” Harry rubbed his forehead. “This is going to end in a disaster.”

Draco by the door smirked. “Do you want to know who’s real?”

“Both of you could be real!” Harry shook his head and looked from one to the other. He then turned to Nora. “Who’s real?”

‘I only see one.’

“Yeah, thank you, but who’s real?” Harry rolled his eyes. He looked at Draco who stood by the door and walked over to get some coffee as well. “I doubt it’s you. Real Draco wouldn’t drink coffee.”

The Draco who sat at the table snorted. “I drink a lot of coffee; I just like tea when I’m stressed.”

“This isn’t helping.” Harry shook his head and watched as Draco interacted with the cup normally. Then again, the other Draco was reading a book and that was what Draco was usually doing. “I think I’m just going to go back to bed.”

The coffee drinking Draco smiled at him. “That’s fine. I’ll leave fake-Draco here and go back to the library. Tonight, we’ll look at potion three, by the way.”

Harry frowned. “I think you’re the real Draco then” he mused.

“I am” Draco answered.

“So, I’m the real one? Thank you very much” the Draco said who sat by the table.

Shaking his head, Harry turned and walked back into his room. “I’ll leave you two there and hope that by the end of this day, there’s only one left.”

Both Dracos were laughing and Harry shook his head, slightly overwhelmed with this situation. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

“And potion three” Draco by the door said and smiled.

Harry only nodded and walked to his bed, realizing that he hadn’t eaten anything. His stomach grumbled and he sighed, defeated. Fine, apparently he needed to get back to the kitchen, face either real or fake Draco again and eat just something. He could only hope that fake Draco was gone.

Opening the door to the kitchen again, he found both Dracos sitting by the table in silence (which was unsurprising, as they couldn’t see or hear each other).

“Back already?” Draco without a book said and smirked. He took a sip of his coffee and tilted his head slightly. “Is the other one gone?”

Harry sighed. “Nope. Still two. And I forgot to eat.”

The reading Draco looked up and smiled. “So, you’re back?”

“I hate this” Harry shook his head, while the non-reading Draco chuckled.

“Would it be easier if I’d be gone?”

“Not really.” Harry smiled weakly and then looked at him, frowning slightly. “In case you turn out to be real Draco and I’ve apologized to fake Draco, let me just repeat it: I’m sorry.”

Harry had by now guessed that the reading Draco was most likely the fake one. So, he really wanted to tell the real one what he felt. Reading Draco put the book down and frowned at him as if he thought he was crazy, which once again made Harry struggle with reality. Was this one the real Draco?

Why did this have to be so complicated?! It could have been so much easier: if he would have hallucinated someone else, that would have worked, like Dumbledore!

“What are you sorry for?” real Draco asked and leaned back, taking another sip of his coffee.

“Telling you that I’m okay dying and that I just broke you out of Azkaban so I wouldn’t be lonely. It wasn’t fair.”

Draco shrugged his shoulders, while the Draco reading the book shook his head. “You already explained this to me! Stop telling your hallucination everything as well. You’re going to have to tell him all that we’ve been through!”

Harry widened his eyes. Had he gotten the wrong Draco for his hallucination? Luckily, that moment, Soleil walked into the room and jumped onto the lap of coffee-drinking Draco. If that Draco would have been purely in his mind, Soleil wouldn’t have been able to jump on his lap, right?

“Nora, can you just quickly tell me what Draco is doing?” Harry turned to his dog.

‘Drinking coffee, petting Soleil’ Nora answered and tilted her head.

Real Draco chuckled softly. “So, Nora is your eyes as well, now?” he asked, though he didn’t wait for an answer. “Harry, it’s okay. I understand what you’re going through. I’m sure I would have done the same thing you did. However, you have to understand me as well.”

“You’re going to do your best to save me?” Harry offered and smirked by the confused look Draco was giving him. “Sorry, that was my hallucination of yours answer.”

That made real Draco chuckle and he shook his head. “It wasn’t what I wanted so say, but it’s also a good answer. I wanted to let you know that I’ve still got a few aces up my sleeve and I will play them in the very near future, so stop worrying, let me take care of it.” With that, he placed Soleil on his shoulder, got up and nodded at him.

Harry smiled and took something to eat back to his own room, a little spooked by his hallucination of Draco, who looked at him like he tried to read a book in… Russian or Arabic.

When the door made a noise, Harry frowned. He walked towards it and opened it slightly, just to have it almost pushed into his face by Ron. He made a huge, happy noise and pulled Harry into a hug. Hermione followed afterwards, grinning widely as well.

Harry narrowed his eyes and closed the door behind them again. Did they forget how they treated him a few days ago? Why were they here? This didn’t seem like a good thing right now.

As they headed to the kitchen, Harry widened his eyes, hoping deeply that the Draco Malfoy sitting by the kitchen who was too engrossed in a book was still the hallucination and therefore unable to be seen by Ron and Hermione and not the real one. As luck would have it… Neither Ron nor Hermione saw the hallucination, Hermione almost sitting down in the same place.

“You might want to move, ‘Mione, there’s a hallucination sitting right now.”

Hermione jumped up and sat down on a free chair, apparently otherwise undisturbed even now. “We have great news!”

Harry frowned slightly. “Please tell me it’s got something to do with my curse!”

Ron snorted. “Not everything’s got something to do with you, Harry.”

This statement confused Harry and once again rubbed him the wrong way. If he hadn’t been so sick, expecting to die soon, he wouldn’t have asked them! And yes, their lives were continuing, but that didn’t mean his should be on a stand-still.

Or was he indeed the idiot who stopped having fun with his friends? Was all they were talking about his illness, his curse? Well, he hadn’t wanted that! So, he bit his lower lip and decided to listen and congratulate them on whatever has been happening so far.

“I will be the next Head Auror! In two months, there’s a ceremony where Kingsley will change his position, he will be the Minister of Magic, and at the same time, I will become the next Head Auror!” Ron shouted it loudly through the house.

At least that made sure that Draco didn’t come look for him. Unless, he was hiding somewhere where he couldn’t hear Ron’s screams, though Harry doubted there was a place in this house safe from this kind of noise.

Harry smiled, hoping to sound sincere. “That’s great! I’m so happy for you!” That would have been my position and Kingsley trained me for over two years for it, he thought and tried to keep the bitterness out of his voice. He had really wanted to be Head Auror and do something good! Ron could still do good, right? He shouldn’t be so mad at his best friend for getting the promotion he had always wanted and worked for…

“Try to at least look happy for him, Harry!” Hermione said and smiled.

“They have no idea what’s going on with you, haven’t they?” Hallucination Draco asked and laughed as he turned a page and looked from Ron to Hermione.

Harry smiled, though more over the comment from fake Draco than over what Hermione wanted. “I am happy!”

“But?” Hermione raised her eyebrows. It was a clear ‘I dare you to say something bad about this’ look and Harry just shrugged his shoulders.

“No buts” He smiled at Ron. “I’m sure you can make a big difference in the Ministry.”

Fake Draco snorted and looked over his book at Harry. “You could have made a big difference. And you also wanted to. We both know that Weasley is happy with the way things are.”

“Mate, what are you looking over there for?” Ron asked and shook his head. “I’m here! And I’m super glad, you’re okay with this!”

Harry hummed, unable to keep this act up for a minute longer, especially with what fake Draco said. Yes, Harry had long ago realized that Ron knew how to play the game right, according to the rules. He was a talented chess player and he was apparently also capable in playing chess in real life.

When Harry had been chosen as the next Head Auror, there had been three other names next to his, according to Kingsley. None of them had been ‘Ronald Weasley’. He wondered what had happened to the other names or maybe what Ron had done to get priority treatment.

“Harry?” Hermione smiled at him. “We should go out and celebrate.”

Forcing himself to a smile, Harry shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I’m not well enough to go out.”

Ron looked annoyed. “You’ve been saying this for the past year, mate! And you went out for Teddy’s graduation!”

“That was different” Harry retorted and narrowed his eyes. “It was at the beginning of the course. And you should know that I only barely made it through! While he went out to go eat with friends and other people, I went home to puke and sleep.”

Hermione looked at him disapprovingly, while Ron crossed his arms over his chest as if he thought that Harry should have figured out how to have his curse under control by now. Hallucination Draco took the book and hit Ron over the head with it.

The lack of impact on his best friend and just the sheer absurdity of something like that happening in real life, made Harry burst out laughing. He grabbed the tea and gulped it down.

“It was nice of you to come by and tell me that you, Ron, will be the next Head Auror and all that stuff, but you’ll have to celebrate that on your own. If I’ll ever get healthy again, we can celebrate together” he said, deciding it was better that way, so he didn’t seem like he was pushing his friends away indefinitely. “For now, I think I should go to bed, or at least try and eat something for dinner.”

Ron and Hermione got up and Harry heard the door to the family library opening. He inhaled in shock, while his mind tried to come up with something to say, when it was too late already.

Draco walked into the hallway, a book open and unable to see who was here. He didn’t need to see them anyway, as Ron had his wand ready in a matter of seconds.

“Malfoy?!” he screamed.

Draco froze and the book fell to the floor. He widened his eyes as Ron pointed his wand at him and was clearly a second away from performing some Ministry level spell on the Slytherin.

“No!” Harry called out and felt a powerful, magical dust burst out of him. It burst through the whole house, eliminating fake Draco when it washed over him and forcing Ron’s wand to the floor.

There was so much magic in the air that Harry wasn’t sure where it had come from. However, the rush of adrenaline was huge and helped him in keeping a clean mind. “You will not go to the Aurors and tell them that Draco is here! As long as he is in my house, he is under the protection of the noble and ancient house of Potter and all spells against him will backfire. Do you understand me?”

Harry frowned at this. The noble and ancient house of Potter? What was all that about?! His mind had just made him say that… How weird.

Draco had wide eyes, staring at him with an open mouth. Ron turned around, his eyes glowing angrily, while Hermione held her hand in front of her mouth, either surprised or confused. Or actually, both.

“What the fuck is he doing here?!” Ron’s voice had gotten even louder.

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “While you are living your lives and letting me rot in this place, I decided to find someone who’s willing to help me. Draco has been here, helping me research my condition and it’s going well so far.”

That wasn’t entirely true, but it felt nice saying it. Harry looked at the Slytherin who smiled reassuringly and had closed his mouth again. Something had happened, right? His magical outburst had done something which Draco and Ron definitely knew, Hermione maybe as well. And he had no idea… typical. However, Draco was surely going to tell him once his friends were gone.

“Malfoy is helping you?” even Hermione seemed to disapprove of this choice. She shook her head and placed her hands at her hips. “You could have just told us that you needed more help!”

Harry raised his eyebrows. “You left me alone when I was freaking out. You wrote a letter telling me you were going on a holiday!” He glared at her. “I’m pretty sure I can read these signs myself even if you think I’m oblivious to most things. When you came here today, you wanted me to put myself back, celebrate the promotion I should have gotten with Ron!” He stopped, not wanting to anger or hurt them more than he already did. “So no, I had to figure something else out.”

Ron huffed. “So, you freed him?” He grabbed his wand from the floor and turned to Harry, pointing it at him, as if it was his finger. “Do you know how many rules you broke with that little stunt you’ve pulled?”

“A few, yes.” Harry tilted his head, his voice as innocent as a first year Hogwarts student. “I’ve been an Auror as well, Ron.”

“Harry!” Hermione spoke up and shook her head. “We need to tell the Aurors that he’s here.”

Draco snorted, grabbing all attention on him. Harry frowned. Draco had usually been so careful with Aurors and everything and now he thought it was funny? That was a little weird. Maybe… maybe it had something to do with the magic that burst out of him?

“I’d like to see you try, Granger” Draco said, not overly antagonistic, though still with a hint of the Draco he had been during Hogwarts.

Harry had to admit that he didn’t mind. He actually liked him that even more. A little bit arrogant, knowing more than the other people around… Still, he loved to see him caring and looking after him. Shit, he truly was in love with him…

Hermione narrowed her eyes. “It’s been Weasley for over fifteen years now, Malfoy.”

“Whatever” Draco shrugged his shoulders. “You can’t call the Aurors on me, because Harry used his magic to protect me.”

“What is he talking about?” Hermione asked, turning to Harry.

The only thing he could do was shrug his shoulders. However, luckily for him Ron started talking, pointing his wand at Draco. “That magic rushing through the air was an ancient form of protective magic, usually used by mothers for their children. The thing Harry said afterwards was the protection charm, which activated a kind of force field around Malfoy and rendering us incompetent should we want to get against this kind of magic.”

“And do what, exactly?” Hermione frowned.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Harry said not to talk to the Aurors to tell them I’m here. Guess you can’t do that.”

Hermione frowned at her husband asking whether or not he was true. All along, Harry stood there, utterly shell-shocked. He had no idea he possessed such magic. It made sense however, that he had said these things and mentioned the noble and whatever house of Potter. That seemed like a ritual.

“Looks like we’re not allowed to be here anymore” Ron finally said and turned to Harry.

He sighed. “You can come back next week, if you’d like.”

“I don’t think so” Ron narrowed his eyes. “I think we’re done here.” He walked passed Draco, pushing his shoulder against the Slytherin with some force and immediately winced. He touched his shoulder, as if he was hit there, while Draco bit his lower lip, clearly not trying to laugh loudly.

“He doesn’t mean it” Hermione said quietly. “We’ll be back next week.”

She walked passed Draco, nodded once and said: “Malfoy.”

Draco nodded, while he stepped out of the way. “Weasley.”

With that he watched them leave the house and Harry fell onto a chair, exhaling loudly and placing his head on the kitchen table. “That was scary” he mumbled and felt Draco entering the kitchen.

“You are amazing!”

Harry chuckled tiredly and heard a vial being placed on the table. “You’re really giving me a potion after what we’ve just been through?”

Draco grinned and nodded. “Absolutely. With this kind of magic temporarily out of your system, I can easily check if this potion works. Just take it, eat a slice of cheese or whatever and we’ll know.”

“I hate you.”

“Yet you still used your ancient family magic to put one of the strongest protection spells on me.”

“Accidentally.”

“Even more impressive” Draco smirked and pointed at the potion.

Harry sighed, smelled it just to make sure it wasn’t a love potion and downed it. Draco placed some cheese in front of him, which he accepted. He ate it and within a few seconds felt his stomach twist violently.

“Not a good idea” he panted and sprinted to the toilet, while he heard Draco sigh. Even with the ancient spell on him, he apparently still was human.

Chapter Text

“After that stunt you’ve just pulled, Harry” Draco sighed in relief, his adrenaline finally gone. He fell onto the couch and stared at the ceiling, unable to finish the sentence he had just started. At the kitchen table, Harry chuckled lowly. Luckily, it seemed as if he had gotten back all his strength and magical ability.

“I can’t believe I did that.”

Draco snorted. “I can’t believe you have that kind of magic inside you while being cursed! Did you know that there’s a rumor that the Hogwarts’ founding fathers were the only people to have that kind of powerful magic? And now, you’re joining their ranks!”

Harry got up and walked over to Draco, sitting down where his head was. There was no space between them, Draco’s head was in contact with the Savior’s leg and he liked it very much. The heat radiating off of his body sent a shiver down his spine.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about” Harry said and grinned. His hand rested next to Draco’s head and he started to play with his hair.

Closing his eyes, Draco simply hummed and enjoyed the rather different sensation of someone else’s hand in his hair. He shivered once again when Harry ran his fingers along his head and opened his eyes again. Before he could say something, he swallowed, trying to make sure that Harry didn’t get any emotions from him he didn’t need to know. His heart was racing like crazy and Draco was somehow sure that Harry heard it pounding against his chest.

He had no idea what he had wanted to say. All his clever word plays and his entire knowledge of anything except… Harry was gone. He could stay here, with Harry’s hand in his hair, staring at these beautiful green eyes for all eternity.

“Draco, are you okay?” Harry asked with a very small smirk on his lips.

“I’m getting there” he answered, giving him a soft smile, which Harry returned.

He saw the Gryffindor leaning down just slightly, before he turned to the kitchen, looking rather annoyed. Draco followed his gaze and found Nora, sitting there, looking at them intently, with her tail wagging like crazy.

He snorted, which seemed to break the spell and Harry turned to look at him. “Are you ever going to tell me what she’s telling you? I’m pretty sure she’s been trying to convince you to do something ever since the two of you were finally able to communicate.”

“That is true” Harry answered and rolled his eyes. “But whatever it is, I will take it to the grave with me.”

“Too bad” Draco grinned. “I think I would have liked to know what she was telling you.”

“I somehow doubt that” Harry murmured under his breath. Draco was still able to hear it, since they were so close to each other. This just made him wonder more, what Nora was telling her best friend. Was it something inappropriate?

Draco shrugged his shoulders and closed his eyes, though he realized that he had moved up through that action and it wasn’t comfortable anymore. He pulled his head up, though before he could do anything, Harry moved closer and placed his hand on Draco’s chest, silently telling him to place his head down again. He lay on Harry’s lap.

He was… lying… on Harry’s lap!

As soon as he realized, his flushed slightly and his breathing quickened. Don’t freak out! Just don’t freak out. Breathe. BREATHE!

He stared at Harry, wondering what made him do something like that, especially since his hand still rested on his chest. It was warm and calm, making Draco shiver slightly and he considered getting up and running up the stairs to get a cold shower for probably the rest of the night. Something made him unable to move.

Harry’s free hand moved his hair and he started running through it. That was almost too much for Draco. He was basically surrounded by Harry! His steady hand on his chest, his legs under his head and his softly moving hand in his hair. He melted away with every soft move through his hair. Right here, he could have stayed forever! This was pure bliss!

Closing his eyes, Draco relaxed into the steady movement, even though he was well aware that his heart was beating fast and that Harry’s hand was almost on top of it, probably feeling it quite clearly. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t stop himself from turning his head, so that his forehead was leaning against Harry’s stomach. His scent of honey and lavender surrounded all his senses and Draco was lost in his own world.

“I think I need to go to bed” Harry suddenly said loudly and moved away from Draco, who jerked up and looked after the Gryffindor hurriedly closing the door behind him once Nora was through.

That was an abrupt ending to whatever had just been going on. Draco bit his lower lip, realizing that he would have liked it to be that way for much longer… and he also would have liked to kiss him. What was that all about?!

Never in his entire life had he ever felt the need to kiss someone. Why now? What made this situation so different? Maybe it was because he wasn’t being supervised by his parents who were planning a relationship for him. However, he hadn’t even felt the need or urge to kiss anybody else…

Shaking his head, Draco got up quietly and walked up the stairs. He could do the dishes when he was going to wake up around three again. Harry would probably stay in his room, if there was nothing else to do and he did like to talk to him again. Maybe even more...

Draco awoke with a start. Something was wrong. Something had woken him up. He shook his head, breathing calmly and quickly cast a wandless tempus charm. It was not even three a.m. However, something felt off.

He placed his feet on the cold floor and stared into the darkness, waiting for something. He didn’t know what yet, but he thought something would happen. Everything stayed quiet. Too quiet for his liking.

Getting up, Draco grabbed his wand and snuck down the stairs. He murmured a few spells, realizing that nobody had entered the home and there was nothing wrong with neither the shields nor the fire place. Frowning, Draco stood in the middle of the hallway, looking into the kitchen.

Something was off. He could feel it in the vibration of the magic surrounding him. The only problem was that he couldn’t figure out what exactly was different. He held his wand up for another diagnostic spell and jerked by a scream coming from Harry’s room.

“Shit” Draco cursed and walked quickly into the kitchen. When he carefully opened the door to Harry’s bedroom, he found him tossing and turning in his bed, sweating profoundly and begging for someone’s life. “Nightmares?” Draco wondered and walked in, checking for the animals which were also not sleeping well, though not on the bed.

He walked over to Harry, carefully touching his shoulders, when another scream ripped through the silent bedroom. Draco pulled Harry to a sitting position and used a specific technique he had seen in Azkaban to wake up a sleeping person in a matter of seconds.

If you touched a specific area behind someone’s ear and on the back of the neck, you could rip a person from their sleep. Draco hated that technique, since it usually took the sleeping person a few minutes to get used to being awake. And he always thought that the guards had abused this technique to torture the inmates.

“Harry?” Draco asked, while he put on the bedside lamp. “Harry, calm down, it’s okay!”

Panting heavily, the Gryffindor stared at Draco, as if he was an alien and not supposed to be here. “You’re alive?”

Draco nodded and offered a smile. “I am. Always have been.” At least so some degree. Being in Azkaban couldn’t really be counted as ‘being alive’…

Harry closed his eyes and seemingly tried to calm down his breathing. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?” Draco frowned. Did he really apologize for having a bad dream?

“I didn’t want to wake you.”

Draco smiled, even though Harry couldn’t see it as he had still closed his eyes. “You didn’t. I was still awake and reading a little.”

Harry opened his eyes, inspecting him. “Don’t just tell me that to make me feel better. I know you were asleep, you look tired.”

“Well, you look out of your mind, Harry. Try to go back to sleep, yeah?”

A tear ran down Harry’s cheek and Draco watched it slightly scared. Was it something he had said? “Darling, go back to sleep” he repeated calmly, just realizing once he had finished the sentence that he had called Harry ‘darling’. He blushed violently, trying to figure out what to say next.

Apparently, Harry hadn’t realized it. “I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“The nightmares will come back” he whispered, fear in his voice.

Draco brushed a few hair strains out of his face and smiled softly. He was happy that Harry hadn’t realized what he had called him, but he also wanted to do something for the Gryffindor, so he could go back to sleep.

“Stay?” Harry asked and when he finally looked at him, he saw a scared look. It seemed as if Harry had turned into a child, his eyes to full of innocence and fright. Draco couldn’t say no. Even if he had thought of saying no, right now, he really couldn’t.

“Of course. As long as you want me to.”

Harry nodded and slipped back under the covers. He then patted the place next to him. “Please stay here, I’m scared to be alone.”

Draco hesitated. After how he felt this evening, he really shouldn’t stay so close to Harry… who knew what would happen. However, he also couldn’t just say no! Harry had just this weird impact on him.

“Sure, Harry.”

He moved to the bed, lying down and propped his head up on his elbow. As he was looking down on Harry, the Gryffindor turned to he was facing him. Draco carefully stroked a few hair strains away from his face, while Harry watched him intently. He trembled slightly and smiled down at the Gryffindor.

“You can go back to sleep, Harry. I’ll be protecting you from all the bad stuff.”

Harry smiled tiredly. “You’re my hero, Draco.”

“I shouldn’t be” Draco said, leaning down, though catching himself, before he could have kissed Harry’s forehead. This strange urge! It needed to stop as soon as possible!

The Gryffindor had apparently not realized any of it, as he hummed quietly and pulled his legs up slightly. He soon after fell back into a soft sleep.

Draco frowned and placed his head down onto the pillow as well, watching Harry calmly. He looked so scarred, his face still slightly creased. Draco reached out and softly traced the scar over his face. It started on a single bolt on the upper right forehead and once it reached Harry’s right eye, it burst into multiple smaller strings of lightning, some of which were almost unable to be seen. However, with how close Draco was to Harry, he could see every small trace of the lighting bold scar, some ending on his left cheek and others on his neck. It looked fascinating and Draco had to stop himself from tracing it even more as to not wake Harry up again.

He stared at the other man’s cheekbones and realized it: He was in love with Harry. Utterly, deeply, unrealistically. This man was going to die! Yes, he was trying his best to cure him, but reality was… he was as good as dead.

Sighing, Draco rolled on his back and shook his head. “You truly know how to pick them” he whispered to himself, shaking his head.

Harry made a soft noise and Draco turned to look at the sleeping Savior. His sleep without all the nightmares was so calm.

Nightmares? Draco sat up and stared at the sleeping animals. That was it! Why hadn’t he written about nightmares in his journal!? The nightmares were the clue he had been looking for! He looked down at the sleeping form of Harry and quickly got up, running to the library.

“Accio Nightmare Curses!”

A book flew into his hands, which he had used a few times already and he headed back to Harry’s room. He sat down next to him and started reading through the book. There must have been something in there that would help! Even the mention of another curse that made nightmares would be helpful.

Three a.m. on the dot, Harry yawned and turned, before he opened his eyes. He blinked slightly and groaned, before Draco looked at him smirking.

“Hello Harry, also waking up?”

Harry yawned and shook his head. “How long have you been awake already?”

Draco softly brushed a hair strain out of his face and chuckled. “I never went back to sleep, to be honest.”

“This isn’t healthy for you” Harry said and probably tried to make a point by looking at him sharply, though the following yawn made everything irrelevant. Draco laughed quietly and closed the book. That had apparently Harry’s attention as he turned to look at it. Draco held it up so he could read the title. “Does Nightmare Curses make for a good bedtime story?”

Draco grinned. “The best.”

“Why would you read something so dark when you should be sleeping?” Harry rolled to his side again, clearly not caring that they were now again so close to each other.

Shrugging his shoulder, Draco looked at the book in his hands. “I didn’t intend on sleeping, to be honest. I wanted to make sure you didn’t have any more nightmares.”

Harry frowned. “I had nightmares?”

Draco looked at Harry surprised. Did he not remember his nightmares? From what Draco had witnessed tonight, they were intense. However, that would explain why Harry hadn’t written anything about nightmares in his journal. If he couldn’t remember them, he couldn’t write about them.

“Bad nightmares” Draco confirmed. “I wanted to ask you what they were about, but apparently I can’t anymore.”

Harry simply sighed. “If they were normal ones, it’s just about the war.”

“The war has been over for almost twenty years.”

“Oh, I know” Harry answered and finally sat up as well. “My nightmares don’t care, however. I can have a few different options from the war: The whole disaster around Cedric dying, how Sirius died in fifth year, Dumbledore falling to his death, our year on the run, the battle in general or specifically, Voldemort killing me. That’s a lot of options for my nightmares to choose from, and I haven’t even mentioned the less frequent ones.”

Draco was quiet. He had never really thought of this, of how many horrible things had happened to Harry. The maze in fourth year hadn’t really been that bad for him. Yes, he’d had fun with his friends, commenting on how stupid every task had been so far. And then suddenly, Harry had appeared, clutching a dead body. He had heard from others what Harry had been through, but he had never really thought about it for longer than a few seconds. The trauma of having to go through seeing the Dark Lord being reborn, watching a friend die in front of you… He had no idea what he would have done in that situation.

Harry seemed to notice how quiet Draco had gotten and sighed. “Sorry. I’m usually better at reading a room. You obviously have your own trauma as well.”

“It’s not that” Draco shook his head. “I’m sorry you had to go through all of this. And that you still have nightmares about it.”

“You shouldn’t worry” Harry smiled sadly. “I’ve come this far with my nightmares, I’m sure I can go all the way.”

Draco rolled his eyes. “Yeah, if I don’t manage to find a cure in time, this ‘all the way’ thing will be sooner rather than later.”

Smirking, Harry shoved his shoulder. “I’ve got complete trust in your abilities.”

“At least one of us has” Draco smirked, feeling Harry laughing airily next to him.

“I trust you, otherwise I wouldn’t have brought you here.”

“That is still a mystery to me, how you’re able to put so much trust into me, even though I tried to make our Hogwarts life a living hell for you.”

Harry chuckled. “We’ve been over this, Draco. You’re a distraction, not a perpetrator.”

He had said it so softly, that Draco couldn’t refuse the urge to look at him and lean in slightly. Harry smiled, pulling him into a hug and whispering “thank you” into his ear, before he turned around and fell asleep again.

Draco waited until Harry’s breathing had become regular again, before he exhaled shakily. All he could do was imagining Harry hugging him, pulling away and softly kissing him. Why?! Yes, he had figured out he was in love with him, but why did his mind betray him like that?! He moved down a little bit and fell back, staring at the ceiling, imagining Harry kissing him softly, telling him that he loved him and that maybe this was what he needed to get rid of the curse.

True love’s kiss. Wouldn’t that be ironic?

Chapter Text

Harry thought that Draco would be next to him when he woke up, but the other side of the bed was empty. They had been in bed together, right? He sighed and placed his head back on the pillow, when he heard a few voices from the kitchen – actually just Draco and Teddy talking. He smiled tiredly, enjoyed just listening to their voices without understanding a single thing. It meant so much to him to have the two people that meant to most to him having such a great relationship with each other. At least that was what it sounded like. He was soon back asleep.

The next time he woke up, the door to his room was open and it smelled deliciously, though clearly of lunch. Nora barged into the room, barking and jumped on Harry’s bed. He groaned and sat up, carefully.

‘Teddy is here!’ she said loudly and jumped down from the bed, racing down the hallway.

Harry snorted and decided to get up as well. He was feeling somewhat okay and headed for the shower first, as both men were nowhere to be seen and there were a few pans and pots on the stove, just simmering.

Once he was done with his shower, he could hear Draco and Teddy heading up from the library. He stopped and decided to listen in on what these two had been doing.

“So do you really think I can use that little space left over for my potion? I really need to give Master Villin this project. He said I’m already late, but he’s giving me a week time to finish it. Cassy was really angry that I used the kitchen last time and I can’t let it stay there.” Teddy seemed almost on edge.

Draco laughed… almost fatherly. It made Harry’s stomach turn in the best way possible and he sat down on the toilet lid. The mirror on the opposite side showed him an incredibly fond smile, which he knew he had plastered all over his face.

“Of course you can, Teddy. Stop worrying. I only have two potions down there and space for five. You still have one there, which means there’s still some space for two more. It can sit there for however long you want it to be there” Draco affirmed and Harry heard him suddenly groaning, with fabric being shuffled. Very likely, Teddy had just hugged him.

“You’re the best!” Teddy called out.

Draco chuckled. “Better than Harry?”

“That’s debatable” Teddy sniggered and Harry held his hand in front of his mouth as to not risk laughing loudly and giving away his position.

“I don’t think that’s the answer you should tell him” Draco offered. “But I will absolutely tell him you said that once you’re gone.”

“Don’t you dare!” Teddy called out.

Harry heard something impacting something else and Draco just casually saying: “Ouch.” He snorted and started laughing a second later. “No wonder you became an apprentice for potions, Lupin, you can’t even hit right!”

“You’re just giving me more fuel for poisoning you, Uncle Dray!” Teddy gave back and Harry shook his head finally deciding he should probably show them where he was.

When he opened the door to the bathroom, he saw Teddy standing on the stairs going up to the other levels and Draco at the bottom, grinning up. Right now, Draco nodded and turned to the kitchen. “Noted, kind Sir, I will never again accept anything from you.”

Teddy grinned and looked over at Harry. He jumped down and hugged him. “Harry! Uncle Dray just showed me where I can keep my potion, if that’s okay with you!”

Harry chuckled, seeing Draco turning around at the door. He was also wearing a handsome grin on his face and rolled his eyes, though Teddy couldn’t see it. When he vanished into the kitchen, Harry put his arm around his godson.

“I have no saying in the potion’s lab. If Draco told you that it’s fine, it’s fine. If he needs all the space… you’ll have to find something else.”

Draco looked out of the kitchen, even though they had almost crossed the threshold. “I said it’s okay if he brings Cassy around sometime.”

Harry snorted. “Draco, there are already enough people around that know you’re here. Do you really want to add more people to that apparently continuously growing list?”

It seemed as if Teddy was fire for that, as he jumped into the kitchen and around Draco’s neck, who had apparently not expected this action, as both men fell to the floor, Teddy basically tumbling over the Slytherin. Harry laughed and entered the kitchen, seeing Nora jumping around the two of them, also clearly enjoying this chaos.

“You two should not be left alone under any circumstance” Harry said and stepped over the two men, walking towards the stove.

Teddy grinned, getting up first, thought Draco pulled him down again and got up himself. “How dare you not respecting…”

“Elders!” Teddy called out and tried to escape Draco, though since he was still on the floor, he didn’t manage far, before Draco caught him.

“What did you say, Mr. Lupin?” he asked. Harry looked over and saw his eyes sparkling while he was imprisoned Teddy in the corner of the kitchen.

Teddy grinned widely. “Nothing!” He screeched when Draco tried to pull him away from the corner.

Harry laughed. “Draco Malfoy, step away from my godson!”

Draco looked over to him, his eyes still lit up and he held up his hands to step back. “Of course, Harry Potter, sir, whatever you say.”

“Wait, you can control Uncle Dray?” Teddy asked and jumped through the room, when Draco pretended to come after him.

“Nobody can control ‘Uncle Dray’” Harry answered and winked at the Slytherin.

“Damn right, they can’t!” Draco smirked and walked over to the stove, where he stirred the food. “But… I do listen to Harry, sometimes.”

Teddy chuckled and sat down by the table, throwing a few toys for Nora, who enjoyed having him around as well. “I think you two together are cute.”

Harry burst out laughing, when Draco blushed again. He turned to his godson. “Draco would like you to know that Malfoys can’t be cute.”

Teddy snickered. “Of course they can!”

“Never!” Draco finally said, returning to his normal color, though Harry still found him a little redder than usual. He decided however, not comment on it. Draco would tell him whenever the time would come whether or not he was gay, bi or whatever. And even though he had the suspicion that he was in fact gay, he couldn’t just pretend to know.

“Well, Uncle Dray, I’m sure some people called you cute before! So, you could be…”

“Nobody ever called me cute” Draco said and raised his eyebrows. Harry opened his mouth, when Draco turned to him. He placed the spatula into the air as a longer index finger. “Nobody!”

Harry snorted and held up his hands in defeat. Teddy seemed to watch them closely and when Harry smiled at his godson, he grinned back. “Still…” Draco looked at him with a raised eyebrow and Teddy shrugged his shoulders, with a malicious grin on his lips. Draco only sighed exaggeratedly, which made the Ravenclaw chuckle.

“So do you have a plan what you’re going to do, once you figure out how to save Harry, Uncle Dray?” Teddy asked Draco.

“Not yet.”

“You could go and be an apprentice with Master Villin. He has probably almost as much power over the people as Harry. And your potions seem to be very good.”

Harry snorted. “I don’t have power over the people.”

Draco grinned. “You don’t like using your power, but you certainly have it.”

It seemed as if Teddy was on his side, as he nodded and grinned. “And Master Villin is a Slytherin, he knows how to use his power, I’m sure that together with Harry they would be able to permanently get you out of Azkaban.”

“I don’t like to think of the future” Draco admitted and starting to set the table.

Teddy shook his head. “But it’s got so many amazing things!”

Harry decided not to say anything. He did understand Draco; he also didn’t like to think about the future, now more so than before. He had always hated how planned everything had been. And while he had been angry at Ron for getting his promotion, he wasn’t even sure that he had actually wanted it, had it been a choice for him. However, everything had always seemed to be fixed and not a choice.

“Harry, tell Uncle Dray!”

Sighing, Harry leaned back in his chair. “Teddy, the war changes things. Draco and I have been through some really bad things and the future never really seems as… neutral let’s say.”

Teddy looked as if he had betrayed him. “You’re not a good friend!”

“Well, I am your guardian” Harry smirked and got an eye roll from Teddy and a grin from Draco.

“Changing the topic” Draco said and placed the food on the table. “Could you maybe write to your friends and have them look for a memory of the night you got cursed? Since I don’t have anything of… you know what” he quickly glanced at Teddy and then the food, which made Harry smirk over how ‘clean’ Draco wanted to keep this. “I thought that maybe a memory of you could help me. You said there were other wizards around?”

Harry nodded, though before he could say something, Teddy spoke up. “Something of what?”

Smirking, Harry looked at Draco who shook his head, as if he didn’t want to talk about it while they were eating. So, he turned to Teddy and grinned. “Vomit.”

“Eww! You couldn’t have warned me that I shouldn’t need to know about it.” The way Teddy looked so disgusted made Harry laugh loudly.

“You would have continued to ask me about what it was.”

Teddy rolled his eyes and grinned. “As a parent you should have known better!”

Draco snorted and when all eyes were on him, he shrugged his shoulders. “As a Ravenclaw you should have known better.”

Dear Hermione

Thank you for your latest visit and I’m sorry you couldn’t stay longer. Due to a certain reason, I wanted to ask you if you and Ron would ask Springer, Holmes and Fletcher if they had any memories to give you of the night I got cursed.
A mutual ‘friend’ of ours would need them to figure out what’s wrong with me. I know Ron and you don’t really like me right now and I promise to change some things once I’m back with the living. First, I have to get there, though.

Please help me with it.
Harry

Chapter Text

Draco stared at the latest empty cauldron. Potion four had gone incredibly wrong. At least Teddy hadn’t been around to witness his godfather falling apart. So now he was left with one potion and though he had put all his faith into this one, he still felt a little scared.

He had promised Harry that he would take care of him. What had he done so far? The two curses he had presented Harry after Hermione and Ron had left had also been wrong. He had known it of course, in the back of his head. He just couldn’t stay neutral when it was Harry.

It was time for a drastic change. He needed to get some backup and luckily he knew just where to get it. The problem was how he should get it. This spell was almost as closely tracked as all the Unforgivable Curses.

Frowning, Draco cleaned out the cauldron and placed it back into the pile of unused cauldrons. He then grabbed a few cleaning supplies and started going through everything – except of course Teddy’s stuff. Cleaning had always helped him keeping a clear head.

The Elder Wand!

Draco stopped and stared at the freshly cleaned table. He still had power over it, so he should be able to use it and call upon an army of house elves! However, before he did that, he needed to have a battle plan.

He grabbed an empty parchment and started writing down all the symptoms Harry’d had, including nightmares and problems with eating. Once he was done, he copied it to another parchment and headed up through the library, where he looked at the chaos. Yes, he really needed to find something to go faster threw the books, otherwise Harry would probably die before he had even checked all the different books.

In the kitchen, Draco looked at the portrait, where only one person was currently inside. However, that person still scared Draco slightly, especially since Harry was asleep in the other room. It was Lily Potter – his mother.

He stepped in front of the portrait and Mrs. Potter looked up. She seemed to recognize him and smiled softly. “Draco, right? Like the dragon constellation in the stars?”

“Yes” he confirmed and returned the smile, cautiously.

She nodded. “Call me Lily then. Harry is incredibly fond of you.” Draco didn’t really know how to react to that, so he smiled wordlessly. Lily chuckled. “How about you?”

Draco frowned. “What about me?”

“Do you like him?”

What did that have to do with everything? “I guess so.” Why did he sound like a teenager again? He cleared his throat and nodded swiftly. “I like him as well; I wouldn’t have stayed here if I didn’t.”

Lily chuckled again. “I see. Harry sometimes needs a little nudge to understand things.”

That didn’t make any sense. Still, Draco shrugged his shoulders. “I think he’s doing alright. When we’re talking about Harry as a teenager or child, I would have to agree with you though. But for now, I believe he understands a lot.”

“But does he understand what it means to be loved?”

Draco narrowed his eyes. “I’m not sure I’m the person to answer that.”

Lily smiled. “I’ll need to disagree here.”

“Listen, Lily” Draco hesitated, not wanting to sound rude, though inevitably having to go down that route. “I’m here for the wand, could you open the frame?”

Someone else walked into the portrait and Draco silently cursed when he saw James Potter. “Why would you want to have the wand?” he asked.

Sighing, Draco smiled forced. “I figured out how to speed up the process of looking through books, but for that I need to use a highly controlled spell, which I don’t want to have traced back to my wand.”

James Potter frowned. “Do you still know the password?”

“James, there’s no password!” Lily said and rolled her eyes.

Draco chuckled quietly. “Marauders?”

Harry’s father looked at his wife triumphantly and opened the portrait. Draco smirked and took the wooden box, which he placed on the kitchen table. Opening it, he marveled at the softness of the Invisibility Cloak and carefully put it aside to find the leather case for the Elder Wand.

He took it out and remembered the correct wand movement, before he opened his eyes again and took a deep breath.

“A officium pro vobis est” he said loudly. For a second, nothing happened and Draco wondered if he had used the wrong wand movement, before three house elves popped into the kitchen and smiled at him.

“Faneor at your service” the first elf said, and the second quickly added: “Andanondas at your service.” The third seemed to realize the pattern and chirped up as well: “Shaela, at your service!”

Draco nodded and wanted to say something, when around ten more elves arrived all of them screaming their names. Draco quickly cast a silencing charm around Harry’s room, just in case the elves would wake him up. After a minute, it seemed as if the spell had performed what it could. There were about thirty-five elves in Harry’s kitchen.

“Thank you for coming!” Draco said loudly and quieted the free elves. “This job requires a lot of reading, so I would appreciate if only elves who are fast readers could stay.”

Around fifteen elves disappeared again, leaving Draco with twenty elves. That wasn’t all that bad. “I can’t promise you a high pay.” The fact that he hadn’t even talked with Harry about this made it slightly more complicated. However, he thought he knew the bloody Savior well enough to know that he would be paying them. “One Galleon per day is all I can offer. Maybe more depending on how fast you are. If this isn’t what you’re interested in, please leave. I’m pretty sure there are better jobs out there.”

At first, no one left then one elf popped away and seven others followed as well, leaving Draco with twelve. That wasn’t at all bad. The three elves from the beginning were also still there, so Draco knew a few names already.

“Who’s the eldest?”

“Me is!” a female elf said and held up her hand. “Me is Serode.” She wore a violet child’s dress and had her hair tucked behind her giant ears with violet bow.

Draco nodded and politely bowed to the free elf. “Would you take on the Head of the Elves? Manage everything?”

Serode nodded and smiled proudly. Draco gave her the two copies of all the symptoms, before he turned to all the elves.

“In this house are a few thousand books. I’m looking for a curse that has a lot of different symptoms. The symptoms are on the parchment. I would like you to go through all the books you can find in this house, except for journals. If you find a curse that has all the mentioned symptoms, tell Serode and give me the name of the curse and the book, so I can check it as well.” He looked at the eager looking house elves and smiled. “Any questions?”

The house elves shook their head and Serode took over almost immediately, ushering them to go and take all the books.

Draco quickly said loudly: “Don’t take any potions books from the potions lab!” as an afterthought so they wouldn’t take anything that belonged to Teddy. He would probably not be able to find a lost book ever again.

Happy with what he had done so far, he placed the wand back in the wand case, which he then put back into the wooden box and the cloak over it. All of that, he placed back in the wall and closed the portrait over it. Lily and James were both pretending to be asleep, which Draco realized as Lily had opened an eye and looked around. He would never tell.

“There’s so much life in these walls” Draco jerked up when he heard Harry’s voice in his back. He turned and looked at the Gryffindor.

He didn’t like one bit what he saw. Harry still looked tired, bags under his eyes, apparently unwell. He was also wearing a soft jumper that Draco had usually seen him wear whenever he wasn’t really feeling well. “Are you okay?” he asked carefully.

Harry smiled softly. “As okay as I can be, I assume.”

“I’ve hired house elves to go through all the books with checking for spells that show your symptoms” Draco said and he smiled. “And I promised them one Galleon per day per elf, I hope that’s fine.”

“Did you hire an army of two hundred elves?” Harry asked with his eyebrow quirking.

Draco chuckled and shook his head. “Twelve.” He hesitated, seeing as Harry hadn’t answered his question. “Was that a mistake?”

Harry shook his head. “Not at all. It’s actually a good idea. But how can you hire house elves?”

“Ancient pureblood spell to get any elf that’s free.”

“Seriously?” Harry widened his eyes. “Something like that exists?”

Grinning, Draco placed the book he was reading on the counter, when it disappeared. Damned house elves! He shrugged and turned back to Harry. “That was how young couples got their first personal elf. They would use that spell once they found a home and ask all free house elves who wanted a master. Some free elves aren’t actually happy to be free.”

Harry nodded, seemingly remembering something dark and Draco frowned, not quite understanding. “The spell isn’t taught anymore, since it had been abused a lot. But old pureblood families still use it to get something fixed quickly, without having to bother one of their elves.”

“And sometimes the elves somehow… bind themselves to a master?” Harry asked.

“If you ask them to, yes. It can happen.”

Harry nodded. “I’m impressed.”

“With my knowledge of purebloods? That really shouldn’t impress you, Harry.” Draco rolled his eyes, which made Harry laugh.
He shrugged his shoulders. “Teddy gave me a book about pureblood behavior. I honestly hadn’t come around to read it.”

Draco grinned. “See, even your family knows you should know more about the wizarding culture!” He grinned, happy to see Harry talking back at him and probably having fun.

Rolling his eyes, Harry took some tea and sat down as well. “I think it’s more about different curses.” He shrugged his shoulders. “On my birthday I was still in St. Mungo’s” he frowned. “Or I had just left it, I can’t remember, but I do remember that all my friends took this rather easy. I got a lot of prank gifts.”

“Sounds… lovely?” Draco offered and smirked, when Harry rolled his eyes.

“What I wanted to say is that Teddy got me a book called Curses and Experts. Every chapter is basically another interview with an expert for some curse. I would give it to you if I’d know where I put it, after laughing it off.”

Draco grinned. “Don’t bother. The house elves are going through all the books, I’m sure they’re going to find it and bring it to me should there be something important inside.”

“You’ve got this covered, then?”

“I do” Draco nodded, seeing the books in the kitchen corner disappear quickly. It gave him a tense feeling in his stomach and he just hoped that there really was something in one of the books that could help him.

Harry gave him a smile, as if he knew what Draco was fighting with and got up. He placed his cup into the sink and turned around, leaning against the counter.

“Do I get potion five tonight?”

Draco huffed and shook his head. “No, after what you’ve been through with potion four, we need to let your body get down from that… disaster.” He rubbed his forehead. The image of Harry on the floor in so much pain and not able to move a single muscle, not even able to scream would be forever burnt into his mind. He really didn’t want to do that again. “We’ll do potion five tomorrow. Hopefully, by then, the house elves had found something and I can do more for you.”

Harry smiled, walking past him and squeezed his shoulder. “You’re already doing a lot for me!”

Draco sighed and shook his head. “I wish I could do more.”

“Stop it, Draco” Harry said, his hand still on his shoulder. Draco tried his hardest not to shiver under his touch. “I told you to leave a few times already and you’re still here, trying to help me. That’s already amazing.”

Nodding, Draco wet his lips and stared at the table, feeling Harry’s hand softly moving to his neck. That was almost too much for him and he closed his eyes, trying to even out his breathing.

“You’re pretty amazing, Draco.” Harry’s quiet voice was nothing more than a whisper and Draco felt his fingers trace his spine over his shirt for a second, before he seemed to regain self-control and pulled his hand back. “Don’t let anybody else say something else.”

Harry hurried back into his room, his Husky-Golden Retriever mix behind him, while Draco finally shivered and fell back into his chair. He still felt Harry’s hand on his body – so soft, careful… almost loving. Oh, how he would have loved to follow the Gryffindor and just ignore all the problems that were happening. As him for a date, a kiss, just something.

Draco sighed, shook the feeling off and got up as well. He cleaned up the kitchen and headed to the library, looking for a potion’s book. Just in case that potion five was another disaster, he needed to have a back-up plan. Hopefully that wouldn’t happen.

Chapter Text

Last Will and Testament of Harry James Potter

I, Harry James Potter, am of legal age and sound mind. I will hereby declare that this is my last will and testament and I revoke all previously made wills and codicils. This will is made under no duress.

The executor to my will is Kingsley Shaklebolt, a true friend and great man during hard times, even if we have lost a bit of our contact during the last year. Should he not be available, I appoint Hector Banwell, a good man at heart and a true wise father, as an alternate. The executor shall receive all contents of Vault 229 as a compensation for this daunting task.

To Ginevra Molly Weasley, I bequeath … my heart… what a stupid idea to leave to someone. But you are like me little sister! If I could I would leave you so much!

To Luna Lovegood, I bequeath… Vault 452 should have enough money to invest in Ginny and Luna’s magical creature research program, I think… You two are on a very amazing path.

To Edward Remus Lupin, I bequeath… the house of Grimmauld Place 12, including the Black family library and everything else left inside. I love you so much, Teddy! You and I against the world, yeah? Ever since you moved in with me, I knew we would be perfect together. Keep your faith in the world, Teddy.

To Cassandra Julie Banwell, I bequeath… the signed marriage contract left to me by your father. I thought you might want to have proof once I’m gone that I approve of your relationship with my godson. And if he’s too much work, I release you from it, just leave him for someone better, darling.

To Neville Longbottom, I bequeath… I have no idea, but I want to leave you something! Maybe there’s a rare and magical plant in my small garden?

To Hermione Jeane Weasley, née Granger, I bequeath… so much! But I don’t know what do leave you in reality! You’re my best friend and you were always there for me even in dark times. I want to leave you something.

To Ronald Weasley, I bequeath… my Merlin First Class, now you can brag that you have two I’m losing my mind…

To Draco Lucius Malfoy, I bequeath all my unaccounted vaults and assets, including a summer home in Venice and broom collection. I also leave you to take care of Nora and Soleil, once I’m gone. You are the right guardians for our animals and I don’t want to separate them, they’ve grown so close.

All unaccounted vaults and assets, I bequeath to Charles Weasley to do with as we’ve talked about. Only a true friend and savior of mine would need these. Take your amount of coins for the safe keeping and do with the rest what the letter of the last week of May this year was saying. Please also take care of Soleil and Nora until they’re being adopted again by the right person.

Thank you all for listening.

Date: ___________

Signature: __________

The door opened and Harry winced, when he heard his godson speaking up. “What are you doing?!”

“Nothing” Harry said calmly, though as he turned around he found that Teddy had already seen the document. At least the title of it.

“No! Don’t do that!” Teddy called and widened his eyes in shock. “You can’t just give up hope!”

Harry sighed and got up, softly maneuvering Teddy out of the office. “We need to face reality, Teddy. I’m most likely not going to make it out alive.”

Teddy shook his head. “No! You’re not going to die or anything! You can’t die, too!”

This made Harry stop and he sighed, defeated slightly. He watched as Teddy’s hair went from black to blond, just as his thoughts and hopes seemed to go towards Draco. “You’re everything I have left, Harry!”

“Isn’t that a little bit overly dramatic, Teddy?”

Teddy just shook his head. “Yeah, I have all these people around me, but you always were the one who understood me! No matter what happened, you were there!” Harry could tell that his eyes had gotten watery. “When I was stupid and wanted to be close to my dad, you weren’t even angry at me for turning into a werewolf, you understood! You can’t just leave me so early into my own life, I still need you!”

Harry saw Draco looking out of the kitchen, just as hurt as Teddy. He knew why: Teddy had said all of this with so much emotion that anybody would start crying with him.

“This isn’t my choice, Teddy” Harry said softly and brushed a tear out of his face. “I’m still going to be with you, just like your mom and dad and Andy, okay? Just not in person, but here.” He pointed at his heart and ran his hand through Teddy’s hair. “And you won’t ever be alone like that. Because if I know something about my afterlife, I’ll end up as a guardian angel and I will be watching over you. Until the day we meet again.”

Teddy shook his head, more tears running down his face. “I don’t want that! I want you here! I want to be able to hug you whenever I want to! I want to be able to come talk to you when I’ve had a bad day or just…” he hiccupped as more tears streamed down.

Harry stepped forward, pulling him into a tight hug, while Teddy let his tears fall into his shoulder. He threw his hands around Harry’s neck and held on so tight that Harry thought he might suffocate. That wouldn’t have mattered right now.

As he glanced over to Draco, the Slytherin pushed a tear out of his face as well and walked back to the stove, where Harry couldn’t see him anymore. Harry held Teddy close, while he cried and whimpered. He was close to tears as well, his godson tearing on all the heartstrings. But he had to stay strong. For both of them. For all three of them.

He wasn’t ready to leave. Not even close! He wanted to see Teddy and Cassy happy! And Teddy said he wanted to have children with her, he could have been something to a grandfather! Then there was the question if he would even live so long to see them getting married.

“It’s okay, Teddy” Harry whispered softly. “It’s going to hurt a lot at first, like a medical strip” he explained, thinking of how he had felt when Sirius was ripped away from him. “But with time, wounds do heal.”

Teddy shook his head, pushing his face even further into Harry’s shoulder. “I still need you!” he whispered almost inaudibly. His breathing had slowed down, as if he had started to calm down, though Harry still felt him crying.

“I now, Buck, I know” he placed a soft kiss on Teddy’s temple. “If it were up to me, I’d never leave you!”

Teddy held onto him tightly, even though his crying had ended. He seemed as if he just wanted to have as much time with him as possible. Harry understood perfectly. He was an important person in Teddy’s life and if he’d had the same option with Sirius, he would have done the same.

“If you want” Teddy finally said, stepping away a little. “I can stay and look after you and all.”

Harry smiled. “Don’t even think about that, Teddy! You should live your life, be with Cassy and learn a few thousand things in your education with Master Villin.”

Teddy shook his head. “I can stop my apprenticeship with Villin, just be here for you! I’m getting terrible marks anyway! Maybe next year, I can start it all over.”

Smiling softly, Harry pulled Teddy into the kitchen, where Draco had just finished cooking. He was setting the table and looked up when he saw them walking through the door.

Draco placed the plates down and looked at Teddy. “Before I start, yes I have been eavesdropping” he said and pulled Teddy into a hug. Harry smiled at that and felt just slightly jealous that he wished he could be in this hug. The Ravenclaw gave a sudden sob and nodded, holding Draco just as tight.

“I don’t think you should stop your education, Teddy” Draco finally said, pushing some hair out of Teddy’s face. “I’m taking good care of Harry and I’m sure you’ll do great things once the apprenticeship is over.”

“I don’t want to give up Harry!”

Harry smiled and placed a calming hand on his shoulder. “You’re not giving up on me, Teddy. If anything, you’ve made my life worth living!”

Draco smirked at him. “That’s a huge statement.”

“What, I can’t have Teddy be my life?”

Teddy chuckled and let go of Draco, smiling at Harry through his tears. “I want you to be at my wedding, Harry!” Turning to Draco, he had a huge smile. “And you too, Uncle Dray!”

“Unless you want me to go back to Azkaban, I don’t think that’s possible” Draco smiled and shoved him slightly, turning back to the table.

“Uncle Dray, have you never heard of a certain potion that makes you look different?” Teddy asked with a sad smile on his face.

Draco put an arm around Teddy, while he looked a little confused and unsure. “Do you really want me at your wedding?”

“Yes!”

“Then I’ll be there.”

Harry smiled over their relationship and sat down at the table. He saw Nora tilting her head while she looked at him.

‘Can I go too? Can Soleil come too?’

“I’m not sure, Nora” Harry said and ruffled through her fur. “But I’m sure that’s okay.”

Teddy helped Draco setting the table and brought over all the food. They then sat down and Harry’s godson started talking about the apprenticeship with Master Villin. It was clear to Harry that he enjoyed it there far too much. He did not want to stop with it and while Harry felt slightly guilty for making his grades drop that much… He hoped it was just temporarily.

“Aunt Ginny and I talked and she and Auntie Luna told me that they would postpone the wedding for a few weeks, so I can have you as my best man. And then hopefully, you’re still alive for Aunt Ginny’s wedding.”

Draco smiled. “Hopefully, Harry’s going to be alive for a long time and we don’t have to think of planning things so concisely.” He placed food on the plates, while Teddy continued talking as if he hadn’t heard him.

Harry gave Draco a quick smile, hoping for the same thing. He wasn’t sure if their hopes were even fair, as it looked more and more dark. He hadn’t written his final will if he would have been sure he’d make it. And from the looks of it, Draco was also not really sure he could heal him.

It seemed as if dusk was just constantly coming closer and there was nothing they could do against it getting darker and darker.

Finally, when Teddy made a break in talking about… well everything, Draco turned to Harry. “Why did you call Teddy Buck? That has nothing to do with an animal I would think of if I’d hear the name ‘Teddy’ or knew he was a werewolf.”

“No! Uncle Dray, why would you ask that!”

When Draco looked slightly confused, Harry chuckled and explained: “Teddy doesn’t like it when other people know about that name.”

“Oh” Draco looked over at Teddy. When Harry followed his gaze, he saw his godson turning bright red. “I don’t need to know then.”

The fact that Draco decided not to push it, even though he was slightly curious warmed Harry’s heart and he felt this urge again, to place his hand on the Slytherin’s maybe even lean over… kiss him softly. Harry exhaled slowly and quietly, just to keep his brain under control. If he would be seeing some ideas, there would be a chance of him actually doing it!

The other two men seemed not to have noticed Harry’s problem, as Teddy laughed at Draco and shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s because of when I was a child” Teddy started and grinned broadly, though he was still slightly red. “When I first moved in with Harry after Andy died, I couldn’t sleep unless I had Harry’s Patronus around me. And buck is a male horned animal of some sort, so…”

Draco nodded. “I see. That’s kind of cute.”

Harry laughed. “So, are you then allowed to call others cute but I’m not allowed to call you cute?”

“Yes.”

“That seems a little unfair.”

“It’s just because Malfoy’s aren’t cute.” Draco smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “Potters can be cute.”

Harry stared at Draco, unsure of what to do now. He felt his ears burning and swallowed. There was the way Draco usually answered, saying that Malfoys weren’t cute, but he really didn’t want to make Draco feel as if he had said something wrong. And it felt rather nice being called cute.

They stared at each other until Teddy cleared his throat. The magic between them calmed down and Harry dared to breathe again. “Aren’t Lupins cute as well?”

“Maybe” Draco said, though he quickly glanced at Harry again, before his attention was on the Ravenclaw again. “I haven’t met any cute Lupins though.”

“Hey!” Teddy laughed and shook his head.

Harry had barely been able to focus on their discussion anymore, still seeing Draco’s grey eyes, totally focused on him as if he could have anticipated every little move he would have done. His searching gaze, looking for something…

Finally, after a few more moments, Harry was brought back to reality by Teddy announcing his wedding date.

“It’s in three weeks” he looked worriedly at Harry. “Please promise me you can make it!”

Harry sighed. “I can’t really promise anything, Teddy.”

“Please!” His voice was pleading, almost begging. He couldn’t say no!

“I promise!” he said with a heavy heart. Hopefully, he could do this and be there for his godson. This young man already had a few hardships to get through. If Harry wouldn’t make it to the wedding, even though he had promised him…

Remus was probably going to kill him in the afterlife, should that happen.

Chapter Text

Draco jerked at the slightest sound and he felt sweat running over his forehead. Visions of Dementors patrolling the floors rushed through his mind as the shadows around his room turned into soulless dark creatures, hungry for any piece of happiness they could gather from whoever stood in their way. Grimaces of happy men looking for a simple way of proving that they weren’t power-hungry while simultaneously pushing the prisoners to their edge just to let off some steam on them made him shiver as he found himself thrown at a wall, his head cracking unnaturally.

Tossing to the other side of the bed, Draco groaned in pain, feeling his body shiver and he finally ripped his eyes open, sitting up. No sleep tonight. Got it.

He grabbed a soft jumper and pulled it over his head, marching down to the kitchen. Harry had told him to go sleep in his own room, telling him that if his nightmares returned than at least he would be far away from him and actually able to sleep. Apparently, that had been a joke.

Draco cast a warming charm around himself, Azkaban’s coldness sneaking up on him and he shivered again, slumping into a chair in the kitchen. It wasn’t even three a.m. Harry wouldn’t be awake. There was nobody who could catch him right now.

A tear ran over his cheek and he brushed it off, angrily. He wasn’t weak! He had lived through ten years of Azkaban! Ten years of hell! Absolute shit eating hell. He wasn’t supposed to be in there for so long – he had done nothing wrong! He was born into a family that supported the wrong kind in the war. How was this his punishment?!

This was so wrong on so many levels! Not only were there many more people in Azkaban like himself! Men and women who were children when their parents decided to fight for and with the Dark Lord, but there were even more innocent people in there!

A shadow walked out of the corner of his eyes and Draco shrieked, his wand in his hand as he jumped up, shivering, trembling at the thought of a Dementor in this house – in the safest place on Earth he knew of. His mind was empty, providing no useful spells, nothing.

“Draco, calm down” he heard a familiar voice and he let go of his wand which fell to the floor, making an impacting noise. He fell to his knees, covering his face with his hands, when he suddenly found himself in a hug by none other than Harry fucking Potter.

Tears swelled up in his eyes and as he felt Harry pulling him closer, he started crying. Big, ugly tears, sobbing, as he threw his arms around Harry, who knelt in front of him, his arms protectively around him. In this place, he felt safe – in his arms, he felt even safer. Harry was his safe haven.

He sobbed, trying to pull himself together to press out a few words. “I’m so sorry.”

“Draco, hey, no” Harry said, a calming hand moving over his head, through his hair. “Don’t say anything, my dear. We’ll get through this.”

His voice was so… soft, so full of… love and understanding. Draco whimpered, a tiny squeak even escaping him, as the tears came up in full force and he felt his whole body move when he sobbed again, his fingers clawing into Harry’s jumper as if it was a life raft.

He couldn’t talk anymore, too many emotions in his head, when he felt Harry placing his arms around him and standing up. He was in Harry’s arms – calming down a little as he felt the Gryffindor walking back to his room.

“I’ll keep you safe” Harry said softly, placing him on the bed. “Nobody’s going to get you here, Draco darling.”

Draco hiccupped embarrassingly, while he felt Harry getting into bed next to him. The blanket was pulled over him and in the next second, he was pulled closer by no other than the Golden Boy himself.

“I’ve got you, Draco. You’re safe, you’re secure, you’re okay” Harry whispered, placing a kiss on his forehead.

Sighing softly, the tension leaving his body, Draco wasn’t sure if he had imagined that last thing, before he fell back to sleep, nuzzling into Harry’s side, who embraced him as closely as he could without crushing him.

He truly was safe here.

Nothing.

Nothing was left. Serode had come up to Draco with empty hands. “Symptoms does not match with curses in books” she said and smiled somewhat sadly. “Other house elves want payment.”

Draco nodded depressed and pulled out the money he had gotten from Harry and placed it on the table. The house elves one by one came up, took their share and left. In the end, only Serode was left. “Me stay, look after Misters.”

“Oh, no you don’t need to” Draco shook his head, looking over to the money still left on the table for Serode.

She seemed to have other ideas and smiled at him. “You needs good food and silence. Me can help.” Draco was too concerned with other things to argue with her and so, she went ahead and started cleaning the house.

Not one single book was left with an explanation as to what Harry had. Nothing! How was he supposed to cure a curse that had no name? Whatever he thought of now… it was too late. He couldn’t make a working potion for so many different symptoms within a few days, test it on Harry and potentially make it even worse!

He had failed.

How was that possible? How was Harry’s curse the one that didn’t exist in any books? Well, with any luck, the Black’s didn’t have all the books on the planet, still… Draco should have known that this would happen. Everything that surrounded Harry – the Savior, the Golden Boy, the Boy Who Lived – was going to end up with a few problems. Yet, he really wanted it to be that easy: find the origin of this curse, make the appropriate potion, heal him from what’s going on and hopefully live happily ever after.

That was how stories were supposed to go, right? All these Muggle fairytales which Draco had never been allowed to read… that was the ending everyone knew. And now: nothing. Not one page had been left unread and the house elves had found nothing. Absolutely nothing.

Draco didn’t look forward to telling Harry. He had already told him that he didn’t want to survive that he only freed him so he wouldn’t be lonely. The more Draco thought about it, the better it sounded. And he hated it. There was nothing he could do now, expect somehow ease Harry’s pain and hope he would die peacefully in his sleep.

If he had only one more thing! One more information. Draco thought that this was the one thing he needed. For example, maybe Harry had nightmares or he had some trauma from the night he got cursed… just something. If he had one more thing in front of him, he was sure he could crack the code.

Or maybe it was indeed all a fruitless endeavor. Maybe it was Harry’s fate to die to an unknown curse. He probably should have accepted the portkey and left the country, be free again. But then again, if fate had known that Harry would have freed him, it should have also known that Draco would do anything for his ‘savior’.

Maybe he had indeed missed something.

“Draco?”

The noise startled him and he turned towards the voice. Harry leaned at the doorframe and looked at him, slightly worried. Draco sat up and tried to sound confident. “Hey Harry. How are you feeling?” He sounded as if he was about to cry. That wasn’t a good noise.

Harry tilted his head as if he knew exactly what was going on. “They found nothing, didn’t they?”

“It’s not over.”

There was not answer. Harry only smiled sadly at him and shook his head. He sighed heavily and crossed his arms as he leaned at the doorframe for support. His smile was so compassionate. Draco didn’t want to see it.

“It’s not over!” he said fiercer. His voice was still not on his side, as it trembled in the middle as if he was indeed just a few moments away from a good and heavy cry.

Harry’s smile didn’t end and he stepped into the kitchen fully. “Draco” he said softly. “It is over.”

Draco shook his head, shivering with the way Harry had said his name. “It’s not!” He looked at the floor and traced all the lines the wood was making. “It can’t be over!”

“Do you have something else you could do?” Harry asked and sat down at the table. He reached out to touch Draco’s arm, but he pulled it away. For a second Draco could see Harry flash something like disappointment, which he could fully understand as he hadn’t found anything to heal him.

“I thought the elves could do something. That they could find something. They didn’t.”

“Obviously” Harry pointed out and smirked. He looked tired. “It’s fine, Draco. You know what I’ve told you before.”

Draco shook his head. “That can’t be the way you die, Harry! You should have a long, happy life full of people you love, of that special someone you can’t live without… You shouldn’t die right now!”

“It’s not my choice now, is it?” Harry smiled sadly. “And if the gods and death decide that my hour glass has finally ended after being replaced for about three times, then it’s time to go.”

“How can you be so peaceful, Harry?” Draco shook his head.

Harry really seemed as if he was okay with what was happening. Like he had long ago decided that if death would ever come for him, he was going to join the eternal being on the other side of life.

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry smiled weakly. “Do you remember the Battle of Hogwarts, when we had a break from Voldemort for an hour?”

Draco nodded. That was right before his decision not to join the Death Eaters and to stay on the good side of history, which the Ministry apparently didn’t remember. He hadn’t followed the Dark Lord, even though his parents had been calling him and the Dark Lord looked as if he would have liked to use the death curse on him. He still wondered why he hadn’t done so.

“I went into the forest.”

Frowning, Draco looked at Harry. “Where the Dark Lord was?” he inquired. When Harry nodded, he shook his head. “Why in Merlin’s name would you do that?”

“I was meant to die that day” Harry smiled and looked away, as if he didn’t like to think about it, when someone was listening closely. As if Nora had felt something change in him, she woke up and walked over and sat down in front of him, placing a paw on his knee, which made the Gryffindor smile and he petted her. “So” he started again. “I already accepted that I would die then. It’s not entirely different now. Especially since I did do some things that I had told myself I wanted to try before I died.”

“You made a bucket list?” Draco shook his head as Harry nodded and grinned. “I’m sorry, Harry, but I can’t let you die! There has to be something that I’m not seeing! I need to… research for myself.”

He got up at the same time as Harry did. The Gryffindor smiled and placed a hand on his arm. “No. Stop torturing yourself. We all fail sometimes. I failed in seeing the curse coming towards me, you failed with finding a book… it’s natural to fail.”

“But this is your life!”

“That happens” Harry shrugged his shoulders and forced him back to sit down. “We only get one life, Draco. Take the portkey and leave, live yours!”

“No” Draco shook his head. “I won’t abandon you!”

Harry sighed. “At least promise me you’ll take it the minute you find out I’m dead. I don’t want the Aurors to find you and put you back into Azkaban.”

Draco hesitated, before he nodded. There was still one question: “Why not?”

“Because I care for you, Draco.”

It was silent in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place 12. So silent in fact that Soleil’s paws could be heard on the floor as she entered from the hallway. Draco stared at Harry, unsure of what to say next. Harry cared for him? And he had just said it, just like that. Just like you would say ‘hi’ to a strange person on the street in a rural area. Just like that.

The only people to ever care for him, really, were… his mother. There should be someone else, right? His father wasn’t really interested in what he did, as long as he made the Malfoy name proud – that didn’t happen. Not even close. And his friends – they had all abandoned him after the war was over. They didn’t care for him, not really anyway.

And then, there was Harry. Standing next to him, a soft and open smile on his lips and his eyes so wide and trustworthy. He really did care!

It felt weirdly nice. It wasn’t the same as whenever he was home and his mother would be there for him. This was a man that had every right not to care for him, to hate him to his core and maybe even want to destroy him, yet… he didn’t. He opened his home for him. Harry had kept him safe so many times, even used his ancient family magic on him! Draco shivered slightly, feeling all these emotions coming up. He shook his head. He had never felt that way. So safe and secure away from home.

“You shouldn’t, Harry” he said quietly, hoping to control his own emotions with it and also somehow make the Gryffindor realize that he was a bad person and didn’t deserve to be kept safe.

It seemingly had the opposite effect as Harry walked closer and placed both hands on his shoulders, now standing rather close and keeping it that way. Draco would have sunken into the floor had he been able to tear away his eyes from the Gryffindor’s. He couldn’t.

Harry smiled softly and shook his head slightly. “I don’t care what everyone else tells me. I care for you, Draco. You mean a lot to me, even if you think you don’t deserve this. You helped me in so many ways, you can’t even fathom and I owe you for that.”

“No” Draco shook his head. “I don’t deserve this!” He tried to step back and make Harry let go of him, but he was held even stronger. For a dying man, Harry still had a lot of strength left.

“But you do.” Harry tilted his head. “You need to accept that your life has been… not perfect, let’s say. And that you have made amends. Now, you need to get over it! You’re an amazing potions maker and I’m sure with a little guidance, your future could be just as amazing as you wanted it to be as a child.”

Draco couldn’t help himself and chuckled. When Harry frowned, he decided to tell him why he thought that was so funny. “I wanted to be an aerial acrobat when I was a child, I saw that in a Muggle circus once.”

Harry looked at him slightly puzzled and let him go as he started laughing loudly. “See? Now that’s a good plan for the future.”

He couldn’t help himself and smiled, averting eye contact. Luckily for Draco, the door suddenly opened next to them and Harry carefully pushed him out of sight and walked into the hallway. Still, Draco saw the young man entering being Teddy.

Harry chuckled and went over to hug his godson. “Hey Teddy, how are you doing?”

“Pretty okay. What have you two been up to?” he winked at Harry and looked next to his godfather, where Draco was leaning at the doorframe, shaking his head.

“Not much” Harry said.

Draco sighed as Teddy looked at him questioning. “I haven’t found a way to cure your godfather.”

Teddy stopped in the middle of putting his rain coat down and looked back at Harry, who shrugged. “So… what does that mean? Is there something else?”

“No.”

Staring at them, Teddy shook his head and Draco noticed a flash of grief already on his face. It was long gone, before he even thought of addressing it. He was sure Harry had noticed it as well, though nobody seemed to be willing to talk about it.

Finally, Teddy sighed and sat down on the chair in the hallway. “That’s it then? We have to say goodbye?”

Harry smiled and walked closer. “Not yet, hopefully. But yes: In the near future, we have to part ways.”

The Ravenclaw nodded and stood up to hug his godfather again. “I’m glad I at least get some time with you.”

“How are you so calm?” Draco couldn’t believe these two men. Maybe Teddy was calm because he had cried so much when he had found Harry writing the will a few days ago. Or had both already accepted that Harry was going to die? It had taken him so much longer to acknowledge that thought… well, he hadn’t really accepted it now. He didn’t want Harry to die! Especially not with all these feelings he still had to figure out somehow.

Teddy shrugged his shoulders and smiled at Draco. “Before you came into my life, Uncle Dray, everyone had already told me that he was going to die soon. So, I came to terms with that. You just gave him a better temporary life and a little hope. Now, it’s just back to what I’ve already accepted.”

Draco shook his head, though he stayed silent. Harry turned and smiled at him as well. “Don’t think too much about it, Draco. Life sucks sometimes.”

Shaking his head again, Draco got back on his feet. “I don’t have to agree with you two. I’m still looking for something, I’m sure there’s just something left that I haven’t seen yet. First, we start with potion five.”

As he walked into the potion’s lab through Harry’s room, he heard Harry saying something annoyed. He chuckled and grabbed the vial he had already prepared this morning. The potion had been tested for at least three times and Draco was sure that it wasn’t a love potion. That disaster still made his ears burn. At least Harry hadn’t talked about it in the last couple of days.

He walked up though the library and headed into the kitchen, where Harry sat at the table, a coffee in front of him and a grumpy look on his face.

“Do we really need to do this?” he asked and sighed. Draco could hear Teddy snigger from wherever he had decided to hide (somewhere on the upper floors).

“Yes” Draco rolled his eyes. “You need something that calms your stomach! I’m pretty sure this potion is it!”

Harry leaned back. “Why? What does this potion have that’s different from all the ones you shoved me so far?”

When the doorbell rang, Draco quickly went to the stove, which couldn’t be seen from the door and Teddy raced down from the stairs. “I’ll get it!” he called, which made Harry sit back down again.

Draco smirked and turned back to Harry. “It’s different because I made it fresh. All the other potions were made with ingredients already in the house. I believe most of them have lost their… power. This potion is made with fresh things, including animals.”

“You killed animals for it?” Harry widened his eyes.

“Well, yeah” Draco shrugged his shoulders. “It needed some parasites and the poison of the Mortis Bat. There were two in this house that I found and I still have one in the potion’s lab.”

Harry snorted. “You have the most poisonous animal in your potion’s lab flying around?”

“No!” Draco rolled his eyes and couldn’t help himself not to grin. “I have it in a box and I feed it so it doesn’t die on me. But it’s not flying around.”

The Gryffindor smirked and shrugged his shoulders. “And where did you get the other ingredients?”

“Neville sent them to me, when I asked for the greens.”

“I see.”

Draco nodded and waited patiently for any other questions, since it appeared as if Harry was mulling things over in his head. Finally, the Gryffindor seemed back to reality and looked at him expectantly.

“So, how do I use it to full potential, as I believe this is the potion you’re fully standing behind?” he asked and showed him a tentative smile.

Returning the smile a little more confident, Draco placed the vial on the table in front of Harry. “For now, we won’t be doing more. If, however, the potion is working as I suspect it should work – especially with all the bad potions we’ve had so far – you should take it before every meal and it will reduce any stomach pain and any food allergy to zero. You could eat anything basically.”

Harry looked at the potion slightly questioning and then back towards Draco. “That does sound promising, indeed.” He held out his hand and Draco handed it over, crossing the fingers of his other hand and hoping that Harry would have another breakdown like the last one.

While Harry gulped it down, Draco took a noodle salad from the fridge and placed it on front of him. The Gryffindor frowned at him, pointing at the salad. “Shall I eat all of it?”

Draco snorted. “No, you buffoon. Eat two or three forks full and we’ll see from there.” He slid a fork over the table and it stopped almost perfectly in front of Harry, who seemingly tried to bite down a smirk and was unable to do so.

“Yeah, yeah, Draco Malfoy, we all know you got mad skills.”

With a mocked bow, Draco winked at him. “Thank you, thank you so very much. Now eat, you bastard.”

Harry grabbed the fork. “Such sweet words coming from you, Ice Prince.” He started eating and stopped again when Draco told him to.

Pulling the salad aside, Draco inspected Harry, who just sat there, looking back. After a minute or so, Harry raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms, before he leaned back. It looked as if he was about to challenge someone. In the back, Draco could see all four people inside the portrait looking out interested as well.

“Nothing.”

Draco frowned. “Nothing? You have nothing?”

“I’ve got not one problem.” Harry looked at his stomach and then back into the salad. “Did you put celery in there?”

There was indeed celery in there and Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Serode made it. Why?”

A grin spread across Harry’s face before he started laughing. “I’m allergic to it. And yet, I can’t feel any problem in my body. Usually, by now I would have had problems breathing or I would be breaking out in hives… Nothing.”

Draco paused. “It works?”

“Yes, you sad dog!” Harry laughed and he shook his head. “It worked!”

Holding his hands in front of his mouth, Draco gave a quick laugh and fell onto a chair. “By Salazar, I was so scared it wouldn’t work.”

Before Harry could say something, Nora barked and Draco looked over to her, where next to Teddy stood another man. Teddy had a flushed face, while the man next to him looked at him rather casual. At least not antagonistically. He straightened his dark blue robe with his long twisted fingers and brushed his almost glowing fire red hair over his shoulders.

Draco froze where he was almost immediately as the man walked into the kitchen with pride and almost knowledge. If people could actually walk into a room like that.

“Impressive, Mr. Malfoy” he said and grabbed the vial that Harry had placed on the table. “Catching a Mortis Bat and then taking out the poison is not an easy task. And making a potion that would counteract all the symptoms from stomach pain to allergies is even more remarkable.”

Unsure of what to say, Draco cleared his throat. “Thanks- Thank you, Sir.”

The man nodded and looked at the glass container. There was still something inside the vial, which he let drip out on his finger, where he smelled it, before he rubbed it between his thumb and finger. “Vervain roots, bursting mushrooms and…” he narrowed his eyes. “Morning dew? That’s a nice combination.”

“Thank you, Sir. It’s not mine. I found it in an old potions book.”

The strange man nodded and licked the potion from his finger, before he turned back to Draco. “Daxton Villin, Mr. Malfoy. My pleasure.”

Draco widened his eyes. This was Master Villin? That made so much more sense now! He stood up quickly, bowing like he should do towards a pureblood and quickly said: “The pleasure is all mine, Mr. Villin. I’ve already heard a lot about you.”

Daxton Villin chuckled and nodded. “I believe you have, Mr. Malfoy.” He looked towards Teddy who seemed to turn even redder, and then towards Harry, who simply shrugged his shoulders while grinning. Finally, the Potions Master turned back to him. “Are you aware how someone is able to get an apprenticeship in my potions laboratory?”

“I was told there were a few tests that needed to be passed. You would only choose the best of the best” Draco quickly answered.

Master Villin nodded. “You’re well informed.” He looked back towards Teddy, who seemed to take this as his sign to leave the kitchen, blushing even brighter than before. He almost looked like a walking stop sign. Draco was sure he walked into the potions lab. Meanwhile, Villin turned back to Draco and held out his hand. Draco frowned at it. Was he bidding goodbye, or…?

“I would like to offer you an apprenticeship in my potions laboratory, Mr. Malfoy. Almost none of my current students would have been courageous enough to hunt down a Mortis Bat, take away its poison and use it in a healing potion.” He smiled and looked at his hand, before he looked back at Draco. “I am well aware that you currently are an escapee from Azkaban, but I am sure I can do something about that, should you decide to start in my laboratory.”

Draco was speechless. Did that just happen? Was this not just a dream he was heaving? Maybe he was still in Azkaban and everything since Harry had helped him break out was unreal. Turning into a dog surely couldn’t be real, right?

“Psst, Draco” Harry spoke up and got his attention again. “You should shake his hand. We both know you want it madly!”

This made Draco smirk at Harry and he finally shook the Potions Mater’s hand. “Thank you. Really!”

Master Villin shook his head. “That was a marvelous potion you’ve got here, Mr. Malfoy. I would be honored to have you demonstrate it to the class once you’ve been officially cleared of all charges.” He smiled at him and then turned to Harry. “Is Mr. Lupin still around? I was told he made a potion for me and I should come here to examine it.”

Harry chuckled. “He’s still here; I’ll bring you to him.”

While the two men left the kitchen, Draco fell onto a chair, unable to believe that there was actually a future waiting for him! Just because he had made a potion for Harry! Maybe now, he wouldn’t need to take Harry’s portkey! Or maybe he needed to do it, if Master Villin would fail in freeing him.

Chapter Text

“Draco thinks this is inappropriate.”

“He’s right!” Ginny crossed her arms and looked around. Harry followed her gaze to the candles, the cake, then the glitter festoon and the balloons in the corner, which Nora was currently trying to catch and bite down so they exploded. Harry had fun watching her making loud noises, then jerk away and still trying to attack them again. Even if he had explained to her that she didn’t need to be scared of it. Her dark brown fur was full of gold glitter and her ears jumped up and down as if she was having the time of her life.

When Ginny turned to the entrance of the kitchen, where Draco just entered and frowned at them, she pointed at him which made him jerk slightly. “You are totally right, Draco. This is incredibly inappropriate.”

Snorting and probably also happy that nothing serious had happened, Draco motioned towards her as he turned to Harry. “See? I’m not the only one who thinks this way.”

“Oh, don’t take away my fun!” Harry rolled his eyes. “I wanted to have a party!”

“Then plan one for when you’re healthy again” Draco smirked and shook his head.

Ginny looked at him as if she thought she had lost her mind to agree so much with Draco and then turned to Harry. “I agree with your personal savior, Harry. Why in Merlin’s name would you want to plan a one-year anniversary for the curse?! That’s the worst idea you’ve ever had!”

Harry snorted and shrugged his shoulders. “I wanted to have a party! And the next date coming up was this!”

Shaking her head, Ginny turned to Draco. “And why didn’t you try to make him see how stupid this is?”

“Oh, don’t do that to me” Draco laughed. “I have tried to tell him that all morning long.” He made a pointed look towards Harry, who shrugged his shoulders again.

He thought it was amusing to have Ginny and Draco forming a front in fighting him, especially since Ginny still had a few reservations towards the Slytherin, not like her fiancé. Speaking of Luna, she entered the kitchen as well, flowers in her hands and placed them in the middle of the table.

“Parties are nice.”

“Not this one, Luna!” Ginny shook her head, trying her hardest to glare at Harry.

He grinned and took a mocking bow, which made Draco snort, though he looked around innocently, when Ginny turned her glare towards him.

“No one is safe from Ginny’s wrath” Harry warned Draco with a smirk.

“You are right! Because this is the stupidest reason on this earth to celebrate a one-year anniversary!” she kept glaring at Harry who remained unimpressed with her antics.

Luna frowned. “We also celebrated a one-year anniversary!”

Harry chuckled though tried to hide it in a cough. Draco did similar, though his was more convincing, since he bit his lower lip and had tried to hide his amusement first.

“That’s not the same, love!” Ginny rolled her eyes. “A relationship is a good thing to celebrate, a curse not so much!”

Sighing, Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Just let me have fun one more time.”

Ginny frowned. “What do you mean?” Since Harry wasn’t answering, she turned to Draco, repeating the question. “What does he mean?”

The Slytherin looked at Harry questioningly, though he finally said what Harry had actually wanted to keep a secret from anybody else. “He’s writing his last will. Every day past the one-year mark is a mystery for him to survive.”

Luna and Ginny both turned to Harry in shock. “You knew?”

“It’s not clear, but I can feel it. It’s like the curse has had a full year to make me weak enough to kill me off” he explained and smiled sadly. “I didn’t want to tell you, since I just wanted to have some fun, before it all ends.”

“Harry!” Ginny called out and walked around the table to hug him closely. “You should have told us! I know you want to keep us away from everything that’s happening to you, but we’re your family and we need to know!” She shook her head and kissed his cheek.

Smiling, Harry hugged her and nodded. “So now that you know, are you okay with me having this party?”

“That’s still a no.” Ginny shook her head and glared at him. He grinned and looked at Draco who quickly hid his grin and shrugged his shoulders.

“You told me to fear Ginny’s wrath, so I’m sorry but I won’t back you up on this one.”

“What a shame” Harry smirked and winked at him. He turned back to his ex, though he saw from the corner of his eyes that Draco turned red and hurried out of the kitchen. “Don’t be mad, Gin. I just wanted you all to have a life, not be stuck around me.”

Ginny sighed. “I know. Because even when you’re dying you have to play the hero.”

Harry squeezed her shoulder and looked over to Luna who was placing a few different flowers into the vase and trying to make it look as mystical as she could. He smiled and turned back to Ginny.

“I heard you agreed to go to St. Mungo’s?” she asked and placed her hands at her hips. “Ron said something about you losing your mind and having to start treatment.”

Harry scoffed. “He found Draco living here.”

Ginny widened her eyes. “What? How is he still alive? And here? Did Ron somehow agree to not call the Aurors?”

“Apparently I used my ancient family magic to protect Draco. Ron literally can’t do anything to him when he’s in Grimmauld Place twelve. Once he leaves, he might be able to do something, but unless Draco is doing something incredibly stupid, he should be safe.”

“That’s amazing!” Ginny exclaimed and chuckled in a way as if she couldn’t believe what Harry had done.

Luna looked over to them and grinned. “Family magic is very strong and can’t be destroyed, not even in death.”

Harry sniggered. “I should leave Draco Grimmauld Place twelve then. The Aurors couldn’t do a thing to him in here.”

Ginny snorted. “As much as I want to hate this idea… it’s not half bad.”

“Ooh, are we starting to like Draco then?” Harry asked while he winked at her.

“He’s not as bad as I thought he was, I admit.”

“Wait, was that a compliment?” Draco asked from the kitchen door, which made Ginny turn around and cross her arms. Harry chuckled, while Draco exaggeratedly threw his hands into the air. “From Ginny Weasley?!”

He grinned at her and almost ran out of the kitchen as Ginny charged after him. Harry laughed loudly and walked into the hallway, where he saw Ginny heading upstairs, hot on a Slytherin’s trail. The front door opened and Teddy walked in, slightly surprised to see Harry standing there almost as if he wanted to greet him, before he had even entered the house.

“Hello there, Teddy!” Harry greeted him. He walked closer, when his godson stepped aside and a blond woman, who could have been Draco’s younger sister, walked through the door behind him. She wore a beautiful colorful dress and a black bracelet which Harry knew was embroidered with the names Teddy Lupin & Cassy Banwell. “Cassy! What a surprise!”

Cassy chuckled and walked forward to hug him. She was just as tall as Harry and even her eyes were the same green. They could have been in the same family, if they pretended to.

“I heard there was a party tonight, so I didn’t want to be left out!”

“I wouldn’t dream of it” Harry answered and chuckled, finally also hugging his godson. “How are you two doing?”

Teddy beamed. “Very good, thank you!”

Cassy linked her arm with Teddy’s and smiled at Harry. “I couldn’t be happier!”

That moment, a few footsteps from upstairs could be heard and Ginny and Draco walked down the stairs, looking very much like old friends. Harry smirked over their behavior and finally smiled, when Ginny greeted both Teddy and Cassy with so much enthusiasm that both were slightly taken aback.

“Hey, look at that happy couple” Draco said and ruffled Teddy’s hair. Harry’s godson blushed violently and shook his head, while he tried to fix his hair again, which had turned red as well. Gone were the blond angel locks, now they seemed to be burning just as much as Teddy’s ears.

“Uncle Dray! Come on, be nice today!”

Draco chuckled. “Why should I be nice today? Because you don’t want me to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend?”

Cassy grinned. “Fiancé.”

“Oh, pardon me, mademoiselle” Draco made a mocked bow and turned to Teddy. “Fiancé?”

“If you continue this, I will uninvite you from the wedding!”

“Well, if I don’t continue this, I cannot call myself prince of mischief.”

Harry snorted. “I think the Weasley twins were the princes of mischief, Draco.”

Draco grinned at Harry, placing an arm around Teddy and pulled him into a one-armed hug. “We also both know there might be a chance I’m not going to make it to your amazing wedding, right?”

Teddy glared at him. “If you can’t make it, I will never speak to you ever again!”

“What a threat!” Draco huffed playfully and sighed as if he were defeated. “In that case, young Ravenclaw, I believe it best to interrupt our friendship now and…”

“No!” Teddy almost screamed it and threw both his arms around Draco, almost making him fall. “I didn’t mean it like that!”

Cassy stood next to them and had a hard time biting down the laughter. Harry shook his head and held out a hand for his future in-law. “Whenever they get like this, they need to let it all out. It’s best to just leave them to themselves.”

They walked into the kitchen, where Cassy started to make coffee and Harry sat down on a chair. Even from inside the kitchen, you could still hear the two men joking around and teasing each other.

“I’ve never seen Teddy like that” Cassy said and chuckled. “He’s only ever like that around you. Draco Malfoy seems to be rather close to him.”

Harry nodded. “Ever since they first met and they put their small differences aside, I think they got along amazingly well.”

Cassy nodded and silently finished making coffee. She placed it on the table and sat down next to Harry. When she brushed her blond locks behind her shoulder, she looked at him sternly. “Harry, can I ask you for a favor?”

“Of course” Harry got up, placed the plates onto the table and smiled at Cassy, silently telling her to go ahead. While she did, he sat down again, listening to what she had to ask of him.

“I asked Teddy… The reason I asked him to marry me is because I… I’m actually pregnant. Otherwise, I would have waited for him to ask me. My father is very strict with it all, as you surely know.”

Harry chuckled and nodded. “I noticed, yeah.” The fact that he had wanted Harry to sign the marriage contract was a good indicator to what Henry was like. “So, what favor did you want to ask of me?”

Cassy seemed to hesitate, before she spoke. “I wanted to name the baby Harry, should it be a boy. Or just something that has a nickname to Harry, like Harold, Harrison or Harvey and I also wanted to give Teddy a letter where you would give us your blessing in using your name for him. If that would indeed be okay with you.”

“That is perfectly fine with me, Cassy.” Harry had tears in his eyes and he smiled softly. “Thank you, dear. For not only thinking about you, but also Teddy.”

Cassy returned the smile. “I love Teddy. If course I’m thinking of him. And we both know how much you mean to him. I think he would really appreciate having you telling him it’s okay to use your name.”

Harry nodded and hugged Cassy quickly. “So what name would you give the child if it was a girl?”

“Well, I’ve always liked Henrietta or after my great-grandmother Iris Rosalie Cora.”

“These are beautiful names. I’m sure Teddy would love them too” he said softly. “I’ll write the letter this evening and send it to you personally. If Teddy asks, you can just tell him I thanked you for coming as well, since I haven’t seen you in a few weeks.”

“I’ll do that.” Cassy chuckled and kissed his cheek, before she walked out of the kitchen, quite probably looking for her fiancé. Harry was sure that him and Draco were hiding in the potions lab doing some work together.

As Harry got up to tell her how she would be able to get into the library and from there to the potions laboratory, he saw her already pressing the right button. No doubt, Teddy had told her all about this house and what Draco was doing.

He chuckled and turned around, when the doorbell sounded again. Harry frowned and walked over to open it. “Neville! Today is full of surprises!”

The other Gryffindor laughed and pulled him into a hug. “Ginny sent a Patronus that you were having a party and I can’t say no to these things!”

“You’re very welcome to join us.”

As he stepped into the house, Harry had to give him a little space, as there were two huge fire red flowers on his shoulders. Neville placed the pots on the floor next to the wardrobe and pulled his jacket off, revealing his Hogwarts professor robes.

Harry chuckled. “You came straight from work, then?”

“I was on night shift” Neville said and rolled his eyes. “I caught fifteen students out of bed, yesterday! I’m pretty sure there was a party going on, but I just couldn’t figure out where.”

“Room of Requirement?” Harry offered. “Maybe in the kitchens?”

Neville shrugged his shoulders. “Two professors usually spend their nights in the kitchen, that couldn’t have been it. And I passed by the Room of Requirement plenty of times and there was never someone out there.”

Harry laughed. “Ah yes, to be young again, right Nev?”

Smirking, the other Slytherin shook his head. “Under no circumstances, Harry! I’d rather be in Azkaban than young again!”

“What a terrible thing to say” Draco said next to them, as he walked through the family tree room. He grinned and walked over to hug the Gryffindor. Behind him were Teddy and Cassy, who watched what was going on silently, before seemingly deciding to head into the kitchen, where Luna and Ginny were currently decorating the cake.

“I have no idea what your problem is, Mr. Malfoy.”

“So I’ve noticed, Mr. Longbottom” Draco retorted, eyes shining with fun. “What would your students say if they knew you were helping an escapee from Azkaban?”

Neville started laughing. “I would be the coolest professor at the school, Draco! Please let me tell them that I’ve been helping you! I really need that status!”

Harry snorted. “Which professor holds that role now?”

“It’s always the same” Neville rolled his eyes. “Professor Dean Thomas from Defense Against the Dark Arts, who so openly married Seamus on Hogwarts grounds five years ago. Everyone was allowed to attend his wedding, so of course he’s the most adored professor around.” While Neville had tried to make it sound as if he hated that idea, he sounded far too fond of these two idiots and Harry chuckled over it.

Draco laughed and shook his head. He wanted to say something, when his eyes fell on the flower, he almost jumped into the air. “Are these, really…?

Neville beamed with pride. “Yes, they are! I grew and raised them myself with a little help from my students, but these are the healthiest flowers of this kind that exist.” He smiled. “And you can have them.”

Harry jerked back when Draco jumped around Neville’s neck. He laughed and turned around to head into the kitchen, hoping to find some more sane people around. Sadly, he had no luck there. Teddy was sitting on the counter, playing with Soleil, while Cassy and Luna sat on the couch there, discussing the laws of physic on that would happen if this whole room would be turned upside down and Ginny played with Nora, throwing balloons at her which she tried to catch – or just charge at the Gryffindor.

Laughing, Harry shook his head and got the attention from Luna. She got up and walked over to him. “I like how you’re treating Draco” she said.

“Thanks, I guess?” Harry frowned.

“You make a nice pair.”

Harry widened his eyes. “Oh, no. It’s not like that, Luna. We’re just friends.”

Luna frowned and looked at him with a tilted head. “I don’t think either of you wants to just be friends with the other, Harry. What do you want from him?”

That question was going a little too far over what Harry was comfortable discussing, especially in front of everyone. Ginny was pretending not to listen in, even though she had stopped making Nora pop the balloons and Cassy smirked over her cup of coffee. Even Teddy had taken Soleil on his lap and was ruffling her fur rather almost silently.

“We’re friends, Luna. Nothing else. Why does everyone want to push people together?”

“Because you and Draco are working very well together. It’s like you’ve married twenty years ago or something.”

Harry huffed. “We’re not married and we also don’t work that well together.”

“Coming through” Draco called from behind him and Harry stepped to the side. The Slytherin walked into the room with a giant box of chocolate.

“Where did you get that?” Harry widened his eyes and laughed when Draco threw all the little chocolate frogs into the air. Some were luckily still wrapped, but half jumped around and tried to escape. Nora went wild, racing after them and almost caught one when Harry made it fly into the air again with a flick of his wrist. “No chocolate, Nora. It’s not good for you.”

The humans inside the kitchen, which included everyone after a few seconds, started racing after the chocolate frogs and protecting the animals inside from eating one. Despite Harry having told Nora not to eat one, she almost managed to get another one and one actually seemed to get lost in her fur, though Ginny quickly took it away from her.

Finally, once all the frogs were caught or eaten and the other half was safely stored in a closed box, Harry turned to Draco. “What in Merlin’s name, Draco?! Why would you do something like that?”

Draco sniggered. “You wanted to have a party! I didn’t find any confetti around, but Sirius apparently kept boxes full of sweets and chocolate around the house.”

“That does sound typical” Ginny grinned and pointed at the chocolate frog in her hand. “So, are you telling me that this thing is over twenty years old?”

“Very likely, yes!”

Ginny shouted something and opened the box, before she threw it at Draco, so the frogs jumped into his face. He stumbled backwards and fell to the floor, while Teddy ran over to help him. Harry laughed and quickly headed out of the kitchen into the hallway for some peace and quiet.

Neville shortly joined him and grinned widely. They sat down on the steps of the stairs and listened in on the chaos that was erupting on the kitchen. Soleil had long ago escaped the madness and now even Nora jumped out and lay onto the floor in front of Harry’s feet. “I’ve never seen so much life in this place. Not even when you were still healthy.”

Harry nodded. “That’s true. It might be Draco’s influence.”

“You like him a lot, don’t you?”

“Not you too, Nev!” Harry rolled his eyes. “I’m not interested in a relationship with him. Yes, I like him – as a friend.” Or actually maybe really more. “But I don’t want that kind of relationship.”

Neville held up his hands. “I never meant that. I just want to tell you that he’s really working hard on this cure for you. The flowers I brought him today are special healing flowers. Their nectar makes your curse go slower and gives Draco a little bit more time in actually finding something.”

Harry shook his head. “There’s nothing to be found anymore, Neville.” He sighed. “But thanks. I’m sure if anybody can do it, it’s him.”

“Exactly.” Neville grinned.

“Since when are you so fond of him?”

Neville shrugged his shoulders. “He changed a lot. And we’re writing letters from time to time. He’s actually a rather decent bloke.” When he said it, he shrugged again, smiled at him and got up. “Have some faith in him, yeah?”

“Sure.”

With that confirmation achieved, Neville smiled again and walked back into the kitchen. Harry snorted and turned to Nora in front of him.

“People are crazy, right?”

Nora looked up and huffed. ‘They all think you and Draco would be perfect together. I still think you should kiss.’

“Why, Nora? Why do you continuously make my life hell with your suggestions?!”

‘I know the answer to your problem. Kiss him!’

“No” Harry shook his head and smirked. He looked up when Draco leaned at the doorframe to the kitchen and grinned at him.

The Slytherin walked closer and sat down on the floor in front of him, petting Nora who seemed overly eager to be close to him. “Is she still trying to make you do that one thing you don’t want to do?”

Harry nodded. “She is persistent, I give her that.”

Draco laughed quietly. “Maybe she just knows something we all don’t.”

“I’m almost certain it’s not that.” Harry rolled his eyes, while Draco sniggered and ruffled Nora’s fur.

Harry watched the two of them and it warmed his heart to see them so close. He remembered how down Draco had been when he had saved him from Azkaban, how long it had taken to make him light up a room again. He still had problems with darkness, Harry knew it well. He really shouldn’t go back to Azkaban. Why had the people decided he needed to be there? This man had made no wrong move, expect having parents who went down the wrong path. Draco didn’t even choose that path, he went with the good guys and now he was still being punished?!

Before he could say something, they were all called back into the kitchen, where they joined the celebration that almost everyone in Grimmauld Place twelve thought was inappropriate, though they still celebrated it. Harry was sure that they just wanted to have a happy memory when they thought of him.

The darkness outside of the windows made the small three candles on the overfilled table shine bright. The flickering flame danced around and made all sorts of creatures and monsters appear on the walls, before they morphed into another nightmare like ogre.

Harry sat there, still thinking about the party that ended with Cassy finally tearing Teddy away from Draco who was talking about the war and the nightmares they all had to go through. What Hogwarts was like under a Voldemort regime and how some Slytherins had tried to work together and protect the other houses.

If he listened closely, he could hear Draco bidding goodbye to Cassy and Teddy, both promising to look for a way to get him away from the Ministry. He couldn’t hear all the details, though he was also a little tired. Harry was sure that Cassy with basically her whole family inside the Ministry was able to do something.

“Harry, are you okay?”

Jerking up from the short sleep he was in, Harry rubbed his eyes and yawned. “I think so. How are you?”

Draco chuckled and poured some ice tea into a glass. “It was fun, I give you that. So I’m doing well.”

Nodding, Harry leaned back and examined Draco who cleared some food off the table and grabbed his wand. Before he could do any spell, he stopped and looked at Harry.

“What’s going on?”

“Hm?” Harry shook his head. “Sorry, I must have zoned out. I’m quite tired, I admit.”

Draco chuckled, cast a few spells and the plates and cutlery flew to the sink, starting to clean themselves. Before he could do more, Serode appeared with a pop and smiled at them.

“Misters have fun party? Me clean!” She snapped her fingers and everything started flying around as if they were in a mad house. Draco had to duck to avoid pieces of cake hitting him in the face and Harry jumped up and to the side, or he would have had a full teapot hit his face. He snorted and sat down on the couch, where Draco quickly joined him.

Leaning against Draco’s shoulders, Harry sighed. “You should take the portkey, before it’s too late, Draco.”

He felt the Slytherin laugh softly and felt a hand running through his hair. “We’ve been over this, Harry, have we not? I won’t take it, you can’t make me take it and there’s no way I’ll leave you now and not find a cure.”

“There might be nothing left to help me.”

“I don’t believe it.” Draco’s fingers ran over his shoulder and started drawing soft circles. “If there’s a curse, there’s a cure. And I will find it, whatever the cost.”

Harry smiled weakly. “The cost is my life. And then your freedom.” He watched as Serode made seemingly an even bigger mess, though she seemed to be in her element and cleaned the spilled water and soup quickly from the floor.

Draco sighed. “Darling, I’ll find the cure. Stop trying to make me take the portkey!” When he got up, Harry feared he had angered the Slytherin, so he was slightly confused, when Draco held out his hand.

“What?”

“A successful party, my dear” Draco started and offered his hand again, “hasn’t ended until there was at least one dance to round up the evening.”

Harry snorted. “I don’t dance, Draco.”

“You do now.”

The hand was still there, right in front of Harry’s face. Sighing, and after an almost pleading look from Draco, he accepted the hand and got up. Draco pulled him closer and with a wave of his hand, the Muggle music box started playing.

Harry placed his head on Draco’s shoulder and inhaled his perfume. “You misunderstood, Draco, I don’t know how to dance.”

When the Slytherin chuckled softly, it made Harry’s stomach twist and he placed his arms around his neck, holding on tight to the other man. He felt Draco’s arms snake around his waist and shivered with this slow touch.

“Do you know how to step from one foot to the other?” Draco whispered into Harry’s ear. Harry hummed. “Then you do know how to dance, darling.”

They swayed around the kitchen, turning and walking – dancing – when Harry realized how close he was to Draco. His entire body was touching the other man. Their legs were together with every step, his stomach was pulled towards him with his hands, he leaned against him and his arms were around his neck. The warmth emitting from the Slytherin was breathtaking. He needed it terribly. Needed another human being so close to him.

No. No, he didn’t need just anybody. He needed Draco. So close, so safe, so… loved. He finally felt loved and accepted by another person after years and years of trying to be different for others. Now, he was finally able to let go of all the pretending and just be himself. And he was still being loved.

That was the way to go out.

Chapter Text

The door sounded and Draco looked over to the kitchen, where Harry sat, silently drinking his tea. He was rolled up in warm blankets and stared almost depressed at the table. Today was one of the bad days. He had another hearing loss, making it almost impossible to have a civilized conversation with him and his stomach was once again turning all day long even with Draco’s calming potion.

Sighing, Draco cast a quick spell on the door that made him see who was there. Weasley and Weasley (née Granger). Draco opened the door slightly and waved them in.

Hermione stared at him when he closed the door. “What are you doing? What if someone else had been with us?”

“I checked the door and Harry’s not really able to do anything today” Draco motioned down the hall, where Harry still hadn’t moved one bit, except placed the cup at another spot on the table. He wondered why both Weasley’s were here, especially with how they had treated Harry, but decided not to ask or tell them anything. Maybe it was important? Maybe it was… life-saving!?

Hermione followed his gaze and inhaled sharply. “Is he okay?”

Draco shook his head. “No. You can try to talk with him, but he’s not really able to understand complex things today. Maybe tomorrow.” It seemed easier to just let them know what was going on with their friend than to lie to them and say that Harry was doing fine, with just a few small problems.

Ron still glared at Draco, though Hermione seemed to be on Draco’s side, which confused him a little. What he liked to see however, were the three vials Hermione took out of her bag.

“We got Harry’s letter and convinced Springer, Holmes and Fletcher to give us their memory of that night. Took a little time to persuade them but I managed it in the end.”

Draco nodded. He held his hand out, when Ron shook his head. “Either we all go or no one looks into them.”

“Fine, let’s all go.” Draco shrugged his shoulders and turned around. “Serode?”

The house elf appeared, making Hermione shriek and Ron jump into the air. On another time, he would have thought this was funny, now, however, he needed to think of something else.

“Mister Draco?”

“Please keep an eye on Harry and help him to bed should his energy level fall. I’m in the study.”

Serode nodded and popped away, back to whatever she had been doing before he had called on her. He walked into the study, Hermione and Ron in tow, and closed the door behind him.

“You have a house elf?” Hermione asked, slightly confused.

Draco nodded. “Long story.” He motioned to the vials. “The memories?”

Hermione handed one over and Draco grabbed a small potion he had found in the potion laboratory a few days ago. He placed the memory inside, which worked like a Pensive. Placing his face into it, he fell down, following this wizard in apparating to another place. Ron and Hermione followed and they were quickly standing in a field. There were lights in the distance, a wolf howled at the full moon and the wind blew harshly across Draco’s face.

Draco saw Harry tightening his hand around his wand as the spell hit him. The wizard they were apparating with seemed to have arrived late for the party, as he didn’t do anything, just stood there watching the scene unfold. He seemed to be in some kind of shock.

Another wizard called one of the Unforgivables towards the wizard they were hunting and Harry doubled over in pain. He coughed, and stared to vomit. Draco walked closer and despite not wanting to see it closer, he inspected it.

“This is disgusting” Weasley said, turning away, also almost about to puke. “What are we doing here?!”

“You wanted to come with!” Draco answered and got up again. He hated that he could only see the vomit and not test it. If he was able to do five tests with it, he could have potentially figured out where to look. Now, he was left with just the stupid wish to be able to hear the incantation the dark wizard had used.

Hermione had also turned away from it, though she had tears in her eyes. Draco felt slightly guilty for that, though before he could offer to get out of that memory, they were all thrown out rather violently.

Draco almost doubled over the table, though his foot got caught in the wood and he cursed as he got up and rubbed his ankle. Hermione got up from the couch – lucky her – and Weasley rubbed the back of his head as he seemed to have been thrown against the office door.

Draco shook his head as he gathered the memory back in the vial. “We need to be able to hear what the man says.”

“I’m pretty sure the Ministry already tried that” Weasley said with just a little bit of arrogance. He clearly believed himself to have the upper hand here – even though they were all fighting for the same here: Harry’s health.

“Still” Draco shrugged his shoulders. “I want to try.”

Hermione silently gave him the next memory and they all landed back on the field where the Auror had just apparated. He held out his wand in front of him, when he heard a noise. Draco turned around and saw Harry starting to puke. The Auror seemed to have seen the wizard and with crazy eyes called out “Avada Kedavra!”

“What’s his name?” Draco asked, pointing at the Auror.

Weasley rolled his eyes. “That’s Fletcher. He no longer works at the Ministry and is in St. Mungo’s. This has somehow pushed him over the edge and nobody knows why.”

Hermione huffed. “He killed that man! Of course, he’s lost his mind.”

That man had lost his mind long before he killed someone, Draco thought and decided not to say it out loud since apparently he was on a sort of break from arguing with Harry’s best friends. For now he really needed it to stay that way.

As they were thrown out of the potion, Draco fell against the bookshelf and broke a shelf which made a few books fall on him. Weasley and Hermione had similar problems, though they both seemed to recover quicker while Draco sat there, frowning at the book that had opened on his lap.

How are the dangerous curses different from the normal curses?
They are not inherently different, as both are inevitably curses. Dangerous curses destroy the mind first, while normal curses go after the body. This is the legal difference between them. I don’t appreciate how they’re named, however.

How so?
In my opinion, the normal curses are far more dangerous as the cursed one will notice things changing, but is unable to do something against it until the curse is broken. With the dangerous curses, the mind is long gone before the body crumbles. Only the bystanders will see the cursed one being destroyed.

Hm. Okay. Which category would you put the three Unforgivable Curses in, then?
I don’t think you can place them that easily, they do have their own category, that is the Unforgivable Curses. If you would want me to place them in any of the previously mentioned categories, I would need to think about it quickly. The death curse is the easiest to place, I assume. It’s a dangerous curse, including a normal curse. The controlling one would be destroying the mind first as for the torture one, I assume first goes the mind, then the body follows.

“Malfoy?” Hermione asked and held out a hand which he grabbed and got up as well. He placed the book to the side, unable to stop himself from thinking about what this person in the interview had said and quickly placed the memory back in the vial.

He accepted the last memory, pouring it into the potion and they all dove back into it, being pulled once again with the person apparating onto the field. Draco didn’t follow as the scene unfolded in front of him, simply watched as Harry was hit by the curse and a wave of confusion washed over the Gryffindor.

“It’s not a dangerous curse” Draco finally said and frowned when Harry coughed, falling to the floor, holding his stomach.

Hermione turned to him and frowned, before she turned away again, having probably caught a glimpse of Harry. “What do you mean, Malfoy?”

“If it were a dangerous curse, the Ministry would have found something. He was in St. Mungo’s for a long time, right? They checked him?”

Weasley nodded, eyes closed. Draco continued: “So, it’s not a dangerous curse. It’s a normal curse that for some unknown reason hasn’t broken yet. Some curses need a long time to finally work and if you catch them before it’s too late, they don’t even do anything.”

Hermione wanted so say something, when they were once again thrown out of the potion and around the room. Draco got up quickly, placing the memory back into the vial and handing it over to the witch.

“What does that mean?” she finally asked, panting.

“I’ve been looking at this all wrong!” Draco shook his head. “I’ve been looking for dangerous curses that would show all symptoms and end in death. But I need to look for a normal curse that hasn’t been tested over a longer period of time! Everything Harry’s going through right now might not even be written down anywhere!”

Weasley stared at him with an open mouth while Hermione held her hands in front of her mouth. “Are you saying, you can save him?”

“Maybe!” Draco smiled. “I’m not sure.” He looked at the door. “Serode?”

“Mister Draco, yes?”

Draco smiled at her. “Could you ask the house elves that have been here to look over the books to come back? As many as possible? The rate will be double this time. Two Galleons per day per elf.”

She nodded and popped away, while Draco was finally feeling a little hope again! He could be able to find out what was wrong with Harry and hopefully before he would die!

Draco hurried out of the office and to his annoyance had Hermione and Weasley right behind him. He walked into the family tree room while he quickly checked up on Harry who had his head now placed on the kitchen table, though there was a pillow under his head. It looked as if Serode had indeed taken care of him.

When he pressed the head, Weasley just spoke up and started to make fun of something surrounding him, judging by his mocking tone. When the door appeared, he jerked back and stared at it with an open mouth.

“How did you do that?!” he asked clearly surprised by the door appearing. Draco was somewhat happy that he hadn’t seen how the door was opened.

“Magic” Draco deadpanned. He opened the door and walked through it to find Serode with nine other house elves standing in the library. Draco smiled at them. “Thank you for returning. The list of symptoms hasn’t changed. However, I want you to go through all the books and look for any spells or curses that aren’t categorized as ‘dangerous’. Look especially at the first few symptoms and give any books you might find to Serode. The prize for the one who finds the correct book will be a recommendation to work in the Ministry.”

Even if he had something else to say, he wasn’t able to as the nine house elves and Serode quickly went looking for all the books they had deemed a ‘maybe’. Draco smiled and headed towards the potions laboratory, still annoyingly being followed by the married couple. He slowly started to feel like he was back at Azkaban, where the guards would follow you around if you were escorted to the visitor area. Of course, Draco’s visits had stopped after not even half a year. His friends had always been worthless when it counted the most.

When he finally opened the door and walked into the laboratory to look at his potion and feed the Mortis Bat, Hermione was the first to speak up.

“Why do you throw them into the Ministry?” she asked and when Draco looked over, he saw her placing her hands at her hips.

Draco snorted and grabbed a mouse that was running back and forth and tried to escape. He pulled his wand out of his pockets and cast a spell to stop the Mortis Bat from moving around in the rather huge glass container in the back of the laboratory. Why he listened to Teddy and gave it a nice living environment, he had no idea.

He dropped the mouse in and Hermione squeaked probably louder than the mouse when Draco closed the container again and let the bat go. “They like it” he said, making it intentionally vague.

“Listen Malfoy!” Weasley stepped forwards and put a finger up as if he was his very disappointed mother. Draco snorted at that picture. “My wife has asked you a question and she doesn’t approve of your annoying personality. So quit your bullshit and tell us why you’re tasking a bunch of house elves to look for something you could look for as well.”

Before he could do anything else, Serode popped up and stepped in front of Draco as if her tiny little stature could keep any harm away from him. At least nothing could happen to his legs, or to most of his legs. “Don’t threaten Master! He is good and caring! You thinks he is dumb and not helpful! You leaves!”

“Serode” Draco chuckled softly. “It’s fine, thank you. Any news so far?”

“Five books, already” she beamed and turned around to glare at Weasley again, before she pooped out.

Draco nodded and turned to Hermione. “To answer your question, Granger – Weasley, sorry – house elves think it’s the highest honor to work for the organization that kept their original masters alive, which let’s be honest, always has been the Ministry for purebloods.”

“You’re letting them work themselves to death!” Hermione exclaimed and walked into the library. Draco shook his head, though jumped up when he heard her calling out to the house elves. “You’re free to leave! You don’t need to work here and…”

“Three Galleons per day!” Draco screamed from the laboratory and pushed himself past Weasley, glaring at Hermione. “Don’t you dare do that again. They’re here, because I’ve asked them to work for the noble house of Blacks, Malfoys and Potters. You have nothing to do down here. In fact” he turned to the house elves who had continued reading, but also listening to the conversation. “This couple has no power to give you any orders. Orders will come from me, Harry Potter or Serode.”

A small house elf walked up and pulled his jeans leg like a small child would do. Draco frowned and got on his knees to listen what he had to say. “Will we still get three Galleons?”

Draco nodded. “What’s your name?”

The house elf shook his name. “Master didn’t give me a name, so I was allowed to leave and learn how to speak.”

“What do you call yourself then?” Draco asked after a short break. He knew very well whose Master he served. Only one wizard didn’t give the elves names. He was both highly praised for having thinking elves and extremely hated for disrespecting a family tradition and giving the elves a place in the world.

“Ragdoll.”

Draco heard Hermione gasp and he rolled his eyes over the clearly fake expression. He smiled at the elf. “Isn’t that a little… offensive to you?”

The elf called Ragdoll shrugged his shoulders. “They all called me that. When I passed them.”

“Okay” Draco smirked. “But what do you call yourself?”

“Frey” he said and looked at the carpet.

Draco nodded. “Alright, Frey. You’re still being paid three Galleons and once all of this is over, you should come talk to me or Harry, yeah? I’m sure we can find a solution for whatever’s going on with you. Is that a deal?”

Frey beamed and nodded. He raced into the library, practically diving into a mountain of books. Draco smirked as he got up and turned to be face to face with an angry looking Hermione.

“You’re getting another house elf? Isn’t one enough? Do you have to torture another one?!”

Sighing, Draco walked around her and was quickly pulled back by Weasley, who held him too tight. Draco pulled his arm back with so much force it made Weasley fall. “Don’t you ever touch me again, Weasley. If there’s something you want to tell me, you can talk – like everyone else!”

The Gryffindor got up, glared at him and grabbed his wife. They walked out without any other words and Draco finally sighed with relief.

“Doesn’t be taking them serious, Mister Draco” Serode said, appearing with a coffee in her hands which she held towards Draco. He chuckled and accepted it.

“This is going to be a long night, isn’t it?”

Serode laughed and shook her head. “Always same amount of hours.”

Draco huffed amused as she headed back into the library. He spent several hours there and only left once Serode looked at him accusingly for not going to sleep. Holding up his hands, he smirked and walked out, seeing Harry shivering and almost convulsing in the kitchen. He was on his back, the pillow still under his head and his eyes were wide as if he was seeing a ghost or something.

He stopped, scared out of his mind and raced over to him. “Harry!”

The Gryffindor stopped moving and coughed, turning to the side. “Draco” his voice was rough. “I don’t want to die!” he whispered almost inaudible.

“Come here, Harry” Draco pulled him up and helped him into his bedroom. “Sleep a little, okay?”

“Stay?” Harry pleaded and Draco couldn’t deny it. Not when he looked so… broken.

“Always.”

Chapter Text

Harry opened his eyes and blinked. He blinked again, thinking of last night, where Draco and he had been dancing together. It was well past three when they both finally managed to go to bed. His stomach produced butterflies when he thought of Draco pulling him closer, whispering into his ear a simple ‘good night, darling’ and fell asleep.

He shivered, goosebumps all over his body as he remembered the soft breath on his ear, Draco’s relaxed body, his arms over his upper body, as if trying to protect him from everything. It was so cute and innocent and Harry couldn’t enough of that memory.

Something felt wrong about it, though. He frowned and gasped. Wait, he had gone to bed again… This happened two days ago, not yesterday. Harry shook his head and opened his eyes to look around.

It was still dark. Too dark. Even if he had usually seen the moon through the barely closed window on normal nights, now he couldn’t see anything. Frowning, Harry felt for his glasses, but even putting them on didn’t help. He once again felt for his wand, when he found Nora’s fur.

“Do you have my wand, Nora?” he asked and felt his dog move and then the familiar stick of wood in his hands. He cast a tempus charm and let his head fall back into the pillow. He couldn’t see anything. He was blind. Fucking curse.

“How late is it, Nora?”

‘Why would I count hours? I’m not a human!’

Harry nodded and cast a Patronus, knowing full well he was able to do it without having to look. “Tell Draco that I might need his help, since I’m blind.” He felt his magic move around the room and then disappearing.

Sighing, he sat up. He tried to get out of bed, when Nora put her head on his lap. ‘Wait for Draco!’ she commanded and Harry chuckled.

“Fine, but if I hear one more sentence about him and me, I will throw you out.”

‘You like me way too much!’

He ruffled through her fur. “True.” Her fur was so soft in his fingers. He had never really felt it that way. Apparently, his other senses were getting stronger when one wasn’t there anymore. He kept petting her until he heard the door open softly.

“Harry?” Draco’s voice was soft and Harry had to smile over his actions and held up a hand.

“Here” he said grinning, pretending to be back at school. “And I can’t see anything.”

He heard Draco’s footsteps coming closer and smelled his aftershave. It was spicy sweet, like chili and chocolate both together. And while Harry wasn’t particularly a fan of chocolate with chili, he liked the aftershave Draco had on very much. Maybe together with Draco’s natural scent it transformed into something nice? He seemed rather close. Harry inhaled surprised, when he felt his fingers on his face.

“Sorry” Draco apologized. His fingers trailed over his face, though they stayed on the upper half of it, tingling every little inch of Harry’s bare skin and he wanted more than anything else to lean into it. To lean closer to Draco, to kiss him. Harry almost didn’t dare to breath. Draco was too close and all he really wanted was to be even closer to him. “Your eyes look normal” Draco continued. Finally, his fingers left Harry’s face, though he would have liked for them to stay there a little longer. It tingled still wherever he had touched him.

Harry sighed. “I guess it has to do with the curse.”

Draco hummed. “Lately, everything has to do with your curse.” He didn't sound annoyed or angry, it was more just a fact that he mentioned. Harry was glad that at least someone in his life saw things as they were. Yes, he wanted to do things, live a normal life, but everything right now had to do with the curse and finding a clue on how to undo it.

Listening closely, Harry heard some clothes rustling and he guessed Draco had gotten up. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his. “Come on, Harry. I’ll help you around. The house elves have placed stacks of books everywhere.” He sighed, though Harry was somehow sure it was only a pretended sigh.

Still, he got up, holding on tightly to Draco’s hand. The Slytherin moved him to the bathroom, sitting him down on the toilet lid and placing a bunch of new clothes on the edge of the bathtub.

“I really hope you can do this on your own?” he asked and seemed almost a little embarrassed.

Harry snorted. “I really hope that as well. I’ll certainly try first.” He heard Draco leave the bathroom and started taking off his clothes and then finishing his bathroom routine. Feeling for everything was rather difficult and he was sure he had slipped into his jeans wrongly about three times. He was not going to call Draco for that, even though he was getting annoyed rather quickly. Luckily, the fourth time worked. He felt for his top and realized that Draco had given him a button-up shirt instead of a thin jumper. Sighing, Harry put it on and realized after probably half an hour that the buttons didn’t match up.

Even though he didn’t want to… he called for Draco.

“Everything okay?” Draco asked when he opened the door.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. “Why would you give me something so complicated? This was your bad idea, please help me fix it.”

He heard Draco chuckle slightly and rolled his eyes, before he felt the Slytherin walk into the bathroom and kneeling down in front of him. The Slytherin’s hands undid all the buttons and Harry held his breath.

Shit.

The way his fingers moved over the fabric and brushed his naked chest made it incredibly hard to breathe in a normal manner. Harry cursed himself, as he shivered sightly when Draco’s hand moved over his stomach. He really hoped that the man of his dreams hadn’t realized it.

He should have done that himself, since this was a bad idea… It would give his mind a lot of fantasies which weren’t going to happen! No, never! He needed to be healthy for a relationship, not dying of a curse!

Draco closed the buttons carefully, while Harry needed all his focus to not think of ways Draco would take off his clothes and have a little fun with him. Finally, he felt the buttons on his chest closing and Draco straightened his collar, which gave Harry goosebumps and he shivered again slightly. He hoped the Slytherin hadn’t seen it and looked to the floor – or rather where he thought the floor was.

“Are you hungry?” Draco asked softly. Harry only nodded, unable to trust his voice.

He felt Draco’s hand on his again and stood up. Together, they walked out of the kitchen and Draco carefully maneuvered him around in that room as apparently, there were books everywhere. Finally, there was a free chair and Draco guided him to it, telling him to sit.

“What are the house elves even looking at?” Harry asked and frowned. “I thought they haven’t found a book.”

Draco chuckled and then Harry heard the stove turning on and water being put into the kettle. “I changed the requirements and now they’ve got so many books… At least Serode helps me with everything.”

Harry frowned. “When did that happen?” How had he not realized that there were a few more house elves in his house? As a matter of fact… what had happened yesterday? Did they have the unnecessary party that day? No, that didn’t feel right.

“Yesterday” Draco answered. He paused for a little bit. “You weren’t feeling well. I don’t think you have any memory of that day.”

“None” Harry confirmed.

“Your friends came by with the memories of the Aurors that were with you that night and we checked them together. And I may have gotten a break-through. So, hopefully, I’ll find the correct curse before it’s too late.”

Harry only sighed. He heard the toaster ping and realized that his stomach was grumbling. He really was hungry. He also realized that with his blind eyes, he had no idea how he was supposed to eat. Sighing, he rubbed his forehead. So apparently he had to burn his fingers to eat something.

He heard a plate being placed in front of him. Touching the plate, Harry realized that it was empty. Draco seemed to have watched him closely. “Do you need any help?”

“No.” Absolutely not. He was not being fed like a toddler! “I can do that.”

Draco sighed. Harry suddenly felt Draco’s fingers running through his hair. He tried to suppress a shudder, though was unable to do it. Nobody in a long time had touched him so softly.

“Let me help you” Draco said quietly next to his ear. “Please.”

Harry’s breathing hitched and he quickly nodded. Not because he really wanted to be treated like a toddler, but because he didn’t want Draco to go somewhere else, where he wouldn’t be so close. Harry usually didn’t really mind him being close… but he wanted to be able to see him, keep an eye on him. Since he was blind, he couldn’t even see if his former nemesis liked him. Well, he knew Draco liked him, but if he was making a move, he really wanted to see the reaction, not having to think of it.

He heard how there was stuff placed on his plate. Finally, he heard Draco sitting down next to him. Well, he also smelled and felt it. The warm skin was so close to his and his aftershave made Harry almost losing his mind. How could something so small destroy his sanity?

“Open up, Harry” Draco said and Harry heard the amusement in his voice.

Harry groaned, though he still opened his mouth and had a fork of toast, bacon and beans in his mouth. Despite not wanting to feel that way… Harry liked it. He liked to be treated so carefully. It wasn’t really about being fed, it was about being treated with respect, with love. Hermione and Ron would have never done that… well, maybe they would have. But not as soft and careful as Draco had.

Once again, Harry opened his mouth when Draco told him to do so. At the third time, Draco finally seemed to want to say something. “Just so you know, Harry… I do not have a daddy kink.”

Harry laughed and choked on a piece of toast. He coughed and brushed the tears out of his face. “Thanks for telling me that. I did not think about that.”

Draco chuckled next to him. “I just thought I needed to let you know.”

Harry smirked and rolled his eyes. “I have to admit, I don’t mind being taken care of.” He stopped and frowned. “Not in a ‘daddy-kink’ kind of way, but just in a ‘I’m sick, I need some help’.”

Draco hummed and continued to feed him. They stayed silent, except for Draco telling him to open his mouth, until Harry had eaten everything. Suddenly, there was a pop and Harry was sure that a house elf had just appeared.

“Five book more!” Harry heard Serode’s voice. Draco sighed and seemed to point at something.

“Just leave them here, I’ll look at them.”

With another pop, Serode left again. Harry frowned and tried to remember how hollow the kitchen had sounded a few days ago, though he really couldn’t remember it. If he had his eyes, he could have looked around see all the books scattered around the kitchen.

So now, the only thing he could do was ask. “Are there a lot of books around here?”

Draco chuckled. “You bet. I’d say around thirty-nine books.”

“And you need to read through all of them?” Harry widened his eyes and chuckled.

“Yeah” Draco snorted. “And now I can’t even ask you for help anymore!”

Harry laughed and shook his head. “That is literally impossible.” Harry could have sworn that he heard Draco opening his mouth to say something, though he didn’t say anything.

Getting up, Draco squeezed Harry’s shoulder lightly and let his hand move down to his hand. Everywhere his hand had touched him, Harry felt like it was on fire. He tried to regulate his breathing and hoped it didn’t look too obvious. Finally, he held into Draco’s hand.

“Anywhere you want to go?” Draco asked as Harry got up.

Shaking his head, Harry smiled weakly. “I’d just like to stay around you.” He was probably getting a little red, as he could feel his face heating up slightly.

‘You could kiss now!’ Nora’s voice sounded through his mind and he sighed.

He would have loved to look at her disapprovingly. Though the fact that he didn’t know where she was and that she had been quiet during all of breakfast once she had eaten made it hard to look into her direction. He could have very likely looked at a stack of books angrily. That mental image made him smirk slightly.

“Nora, I swear! Didn’t I threaten you to throw you out if you bring that up again?” he asked into the air.

Draco next to him chuckled. “Is it the secret discussion again?” he asked.

Harry nodded. “It’s getting slightly annoying.”

“Maybe you just need to do what she wants you to do?” he offered.

Sniggering, Harry shook his head. “I don’t think so. I just need to figure out how I can control her. Or how I can control what she thinks. That’s all.”

‘Good luck with that.’

Harry grinned, though he thought it was suspicious that Draco had been so quiet. They walked through the kitchen and Harry found himself on the couch there again. He felt Draco sitting down next to him. Harry tried to resist, but he honestly couldn’t help himself and turned around and lay down. His head was on Draco’s lap and he felt the Slytherin moving his fingers through his hair. It relaxed Harry incredibly and he closed his eyes.

Finally, Draco spoke up. “My father used to tell me that if you wanted to control something you needed to break it. I think that’s why all our house elves hated him and… me as well.”

“That’s stupid.” Harry shook his head, though held still again, hoping the Draco would continue roaming his hands through his hair. Luckily, after a little break, he actually did continue. Harry relaxed further.

Draco sighed softly. “I know, but it kind of stuck to me. I guess that was what made me want to… argue with you. I was scared of you and I thought that maybe if I had broken you, I could control you somehow.”

To think that Draco was scared of him and that he had tried to break him was a little funny. Especially since it never felt that way. It always had felt as if Draco had tried to anger him into doing something stupid. It definitely hadn’t worked, if the Slytherin had wanted to control him.

Harry chuckled humorlessly. “You did not break me, Draco. The people I lived with broke me. Ever since I could remember, they used to do all kinds of things to me. Though they seemed to have a moral line when it came to sexual abuse. That never happened, luckily.”

“So… was he right? Did they control you?”

“No” Harry smiled weakly. He would have loved to look into Draco’s face and see his expression. Being blind sucked. He needed to get a hint if he needed to talk more and… help him somehow. Now, he could only talk further and hope it somehow helped him. “All they did was making me stronger. More… steadfast and sure of myself. They were never able to control me, because I was still me.”

It was silent for a while. Draco seemed to be thinking of something. Once again, Harry wished he could see the Slytherin and tell what he should do next. He cleared his throat. “So, what about you? Why did your father say that?”

“I guess they also broke me. Not physically, though, but mentally. My father tried to eliminate all kinds of affection from my life. My mother would only hug me when no one was looking and when Father was gone. I wouldn’t be allowed to touch anyone or… I don’t know.” While he said that, he still let his hands roam through his hair. It made Harry sad to think that little Draco didn’t get any affection and he really wanted to get up and hug him. However, what Draco was doing right now was too good. He decided to wait with the hug for when he could see again.

Clearing his throat again, Harry tried to concentrate, though the fingers on his head were so soft that he would have loved to just savor the moment in silence. For at least another ten years, or so. “So, did he achieve it? Did he break you to control you?”

Now it was Draco’s time to laugh witlessly. “Harry, I was a Death Eater because of him. What do you think… did it work?” The sarcasm in his voice said everything.

Harry smiled weakly. What Draco thought was his reality didn’t work in Harry’s reality. Draco becoming a Death Eater had nothing to do with what his father had wanted of him. “I don’t think you’d need to be broken to be able to safe your family, Draco. I would have done the same thing; I would have become a Death Eater if it meant my family was safe. That has nothing to do with being broken.”

“You’re being by far too nice” Draco said quietly.

“Not really” Harry chuckled. “And I don’t agree with your dad. I think you need to respect someone to… control them. Though once they respect you, there’s really no need in controlling them anymore. If a person realized that they have your respect…” Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I think only that realization will be the turning point of any kind of relationship.”

Draco was quiet for a while, before he spoke up. “Harry, do you…” he swallowed, which even Harry could hear. “Do I have your respect?” He seemed so insecure. It was like asking if someone had a crush on… Oh.

Harry smiled softly. “You had my respect ever since you stayed on the good side, Draco. When Voldemort called you and even your parents, you decided not to listen to them and you fought with us against the people you knew your whole life. That was what made me respect you the most. And ever since then, I have respected you very much.”

“Well, Harry, I…” Draco paused and chuckled softly. “I also respect you. And I do have to say, it might be a bit early for that, but I started to respect you when you went through the tournament. Just seeing you fighting all these bad things and then in the end… Mate, I have no idea how you did that.”

Smirking, Harry shrugged his shoulders. A familiar picture flashed through his mind of green spells, Cedric’s lifeless body. This picture was getting far too old. He sighed. “I have no idea. I’m just glad that Teddy’s school year was a little quieter. I’m not sure what I have done had he been put into all the things we had to go through.”

“Though you still made it out alive.”

“Barely.” Harry didn’t like to think about how long it had taken him to finally get a normal life.

“What do you mean?”

Harry sighed. “Well, it took me about seven years of therapy to get over all the deaths and then I moved in here and started to clean out this house and that whole Sirius-thing came back and it took me another two years to finally forgive him for abandoning me during fifth year. As bad as it sounds, I made him responsible for all the stuff that happened to me after that, since I just needed a scapegoat. And that whole time I had Teddy with me and I thought I was a bad father figure, since I really didn’t have any good and lasting ones myself.” He sighed again and shook his head. “It took me about fifteen years to achieve a somewhat normal life. And then of course, three to four years later, I’m once again fighting for my survival because of an idiotic curse.”

“You seem to have this whole life thing better under control than me.” Draco sighed himself. “I’m still struggling on how to tell my mother that I’m gay.”

There was a pause, in which Harry had really wanted his eyes back to see what kind of color Draco was sporting, because he was sure that it was a nice dark red all over his face. Maybe even his ears. Harry was sure Draco looked very handsome with that color scheme.

Finally, Harry started giggling. “Was that how you wanted to come out to me?”

“Definitely not” he heard Draco’s voice a little bit further away, or just hiding behind his hands. “I’m not sure what came over me!”

“We were being brutally honest with each other.”

“I never said that out aloud!” Draco seemed as if he was about to panic. “Not to anyone, not even to myself!”

Harry sat up and felt for Draco’s shoulders, though he found his neck instead. Following his instincts, he trailed his hands up to the Slytherin’s cheeks. Draco shivered under his hands and Harry could feel him breathing faster. “I won’t tell anyone. I promise.”

Draco seemed to nod weakly, though he did nothing to escape Harry’s loose grip on his face. Finally, he said something rather quietly. “I was actually rather afraid to tell you.”

“Why would you be afraid to tell me? You knew I was gay rather quickly, I think I told you within a week, didn’t I?”

“Yes, but you see…” Draco inhaled deeply and then continued only in a whisper. “I am kind of attracted to you.”

Harry stopped dead in his track, his hands still on Draco’s cheek and his thumb stroked softly over his small curve. “You are?” He wasn’t happy with the hope his voice produced, but it was far too late for that.

“I am.”

He stayed still the way he was, just making sure that none of this was actually a dream, before he grinned widely. “That’s a relief. Because I am also kind of attracted to you. I have been for quite a long time actually, can’t remember when it started.”

“What?”

“Yeah, probably around fifth year, I had a real unhealthy thing for following you around for no reason. That could just be my attraction to you and…”

“Stop, Harry” Draco chuckled. Harry felt his fingers brushing a strain of hair out of his face. “The fact that you can’t see right now is really destroying that moment. I didn’t ask about when it started, I… I was unsure of whether or not you were joking, which you could have read in my face.”

Harry let his hands fall into his lap and he shook his head. “I’m not. Well, I’m not joking, Draco.”

“Good” the Slytherin whispered and he leaned closer to Harry, which he realized when his aftershave was once again so close to his nose and he could feel the warmth of his body even through his shirt. The slightly spicy smell of Draco’s aftershave along with his natural warm smell made Harry almost lose his mind.

“Please, Draco” Harry whispered. “Kiss me.”

He felt Draco chuckling softly. “Of course.” His lips captured his tenderly and Harry felt Draco’s hands around his back, pulling him closer. He found himself on his lap, kissing his teenage crush. It was so soft and so loving that his mind couldn’t understand what was going on.

Was he really kissing Draco? Was this really happening and not a dream?

Separating, Harry inhaled the aftershave around Draco. He felt a kiss on top of his forehead, where his scar was. With closed eyes, Harry leaned into the touch and finally moved closer, kissing his jawbone until he reached his right ear.

He could hear Nora’s confused voice in his head, but didn’t register what she was saying exactly, but it sounded as if she was wondering why something didn’t work. That dog – always up to something…

“In case I don’t make it, Draco” Harry whispered into his ear, kissing the Slytherin’s earlobe softly, before he moved down a little bit. “I want you to know that I love you. I did so for so long, but I was too afraid of telling you.”

Harry had felt Draco tense up, before his hands came to pull him even closer to his warm body. “Harry…”

“You don’t have to say it back, Draco” Harry whispered softly, kissing the soft skin under his ear and moving back to his lips. Draco did in fact not say it back, though his kisses were proof enough.

Chapter Text

“Harry, I think your hallucinations are the last curse-free cells in your body telling you something important. We just need to figure out what...”

Draco had needed almost a full day to recover from what had happened yesterday. He couldn’t believe that a blind Harry had been able to read him so well and the fact that they had kissed so much was still stealing all the brain capacity he needed to solve the curse. And all the books the house elves had left lying around weren’t the correct ones. So, the only logical thing was to analyze his hallucinations.

Harry looked up from the cook book he had been reading. Draco didn’t like to admit that it warmed his heart to see Harry reading a book he had found in the family library when he had checked up on the house elves who were almost finished with their tasks.

“What do you mean?” he asked and placed the book open onto the table.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Well, if the curse is not only physical but also psychological, the human brain that doesn’t control your thoughts or whatever it does will try to give you hints to solve everything. How many hallucinations did you have so far?”

Frowning, the Gryffindor seemed to try to remember them. “I think there were four or five, including you.” He smirked, which made Draco roll his eyes.

“What was the first?” Draco asked and grabbed a sheet of parchment, before he stood up and sat down on the opposite side of him.

Harry narrowed his eyes and thought. “Dumbledore walked into my hospital room, I think. Or maybe I was already home, I can’t recall.”

He rubbed his chin and turned quickly away to cough. Once again, his coughs were getting more violent and Draco knew this was like the sand going through the hourglass. Soon, it would be too late. However, he was not going to think about that! Never! Or at least… not now.

Sighing, Draco turned back to the topic. “Do you remember what he talked about or what he did?”

Harry frowned and seemed to try and recall what Dumbledore was doing. When he looked back at Draco, there was a sad almost mourning look on his face. “He told me how happy my mother was that I survived the war and that I had chosen to return to save the people I cared about.”

Draco smiled encouragingly and thought about what Harry just said. It didn’t really make sense, yet. Maybe there was more? “Anything else?”

“Yes, he also told me that the love protection spell my mother used served me well. And he told me that my mother had a few old spell books and potions in my family vault.” Harry shook his head, as if he thought the last interaction with Dumbledore was a little weird. Then again, Dumbledore had always been someone to talk with a few different meanings.

Draco shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, that doesn’t really make sense. What about the second hallucination?”

“Sirius.” Harry sighed, his eyes filling with tears. Immediately, Draco felt guilty for having asked that question, he reached over the table, placing a hand on Harry’s and giving him a soft, encouraging smile. “He told me how proud he was of me and that he never would have left me, would he had been able to choose. He told me he loved me like his own son. Family matters.”

Draco shook his head, that didn’t make sense. Still, he couldn’t just rush through that and go to the third hallucination. “I’m sorry, Harry.”

The Gryffindor shook his head. “Don’t be.” He smiled sadly. “I’m just not sure I’ll ever be over him. Sirius was the first person to give me hope I could have my own family. And then just seeing him being ripped away… it broke my heart.”

“You’re still not over him, are you?”

Harry silently shook his head. He cleared his throat. “So, let’s move on now, shall we?” He smiled sadly, pulling his hand away and seemingly hugging himself for comfort. “Third was Minerva McGonagall. She came by and asked me a lot about my life. Said, how sad and guilty she felt after realizing how bad my family life with the Dursley’s had been and how she should have just abducted me and raised me, instead of listening to Dumbledore. She told me about the love of her life, how she lost him and how bad it had felt and how she hoped I wouldn’t go through the same thing.”

Draco frowned. Slowly, he could make out a picture. He wasn’t sure he liked it, however. “What about me then? The forth hallucination was me? What do you remember of me?”

“You sat at the kitchen table and… read a book.” Harry shrugged his shoulders apologetically.

That did sound like something he would have done normally, so he really couldn’t judge Harry for not knowing who the real him was. However, the book might be the key to this whole bullshit. “What kind of book? Do you remember?”

“One that you would usually read, which was why I couldn’t figure out who was the real you” Harry confirmed what he had thought earlier.

Draco smiled quickly. “Do you remember the title? Or something I said about it?”

Harry rubbed his forehead. “No, sorry. I remember that I though the title was stupid. Something with ‘amore’ and then a dash and it said ‘spells for lovers’ or something. And I do recall you told me that we were looking at two spells. They were both Latin, but I don’t remember them.”

“Nothing? Not even a letter or a word?”

Draco could tell that Harry felt a little guilty for not remembering the title. The Gryffindor looked at the table and shrugged his shoulders. “They were both two words and the first spell started with A and the second spell had amora or something… no wait Caritas that was the ending of the second spell.”

Draco thought. He needed to get to these spells. Maybe they really were the right ones and his hallucination had actually tried to save his life! Suddenly, he widened his eyes. “Harry, am I allowed to take that memory and see what it was? This could be the spell we need!”

“Sure! Go ahead, but I don’t have a Pensive around here.”

“Don’t worry, I know a few very old and pureblood spells” Draco winked at Harry and took out his wand. With a smooth movement, Draco extracted the memory and walked to the potion in the office that was still there, since he hadn’t really had time to clean it up after Granger and Weasley had been here.

He placed the memory inside the cauldron and dove in. The second Harry opened the door to the kitchen, Draco saw fake him sitting at the table with a pink book in his hands. The title in huge red letters read Ama Me – Curses and Spells for lovers. Draco could see Harry shaking his head as he caught sight of the book.

It was slightly awkward in the kitchen until Harry finally spoke up: “Hey.”

Hallucination-Draco gave him a quick smile. Draco could only shake his head and watched as Harry seemed to hesitate, before he went over to turn on the coffee maker. Finally, he stopped the silence and spoke up again. “Listen, Draco.” The hallucination looked up and nodded softly. “I’m sorry for… telling you all that. I’m sure that’s not easy to hear.”

Draco frowned, unsure of what the situation was there. He just remembered that Harry was once tired and told him he’d given up hope. Maybe that was the situation here? He shook his head, as his hallucination started talking.

“I understand. But you also need to understand me, Harry” he said and leaned back in his chair. “I’m trying my best to save you. And I won’t stop until I’ve gone out and about and done anything I could.”

Draco snorted. That sounded like something in a movie. Out of a bad movie, to be honest. He shook his head and looked over to Harry who smiled sadly. “I do understand, even though I think it’s slightly stupid.”

“Well” the hallucination smirked. “I think you giving up already is a little stupid as well. In one of all these books might be the solution to your curse!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry turned back to the coffee maker and took some milk and sugar, which he added. “Just make sure to sleep a little as well, Draco.”

“Okay?”

Now that was what Draco remembered. He remembered coming into the kitchen with a Harry who was talking to himself and then was suddenly completely shocked before telling him that there were now two Draco’s around. And actually, seeing this, Draco had to laugh loudly. If he hadn’t known who was the real him, he also wouldn’t have been able to realize who was who.

Harry looked flabbergasted and finally seemed to be too annoyed to do anything else. “Oh shit, come on!”

The real him walked into the kitchen and smiled weakly. Draco frowned and stepped back, looking at his own face. How had Harry never realized that he liked him? This soft, warm smile was more than a clear indicator that he liked him. Maybe… maybe even more?

“What’s going on?” the real him asked. “And why are you talking to yourself alone in the kitchen?”

If only he could see how confusing all of that was for Harry. Draco snorted and shook his head. When he turned back to Harry, the Gryffindor sighed. “I’m not alone. I’m hallucinating again.”

The hallucination looked around. “What are you hallucinating?”

Draco shook his head and looked back at Harry. This whole situation was much more confusing than he had anticipated at first. Luckily, he knew that he wasn’t also in this situation. Had there been three Draco Malfoys in Harry’s kitchen, the chaos would have been perfect.

Harry answered quickly. “I can see you twice.”

The real him smirked weakly. “I’ll write that down in the journal then. By the way, do you mind if I run another two curses by you this evening? I may have found something.”

Oh yeah, the things that didn’t work. Draco rolled his eyes, while Harry shook his head. “That’s fine.”

“What is fine?” the hallucination at the table asked and closed the book. “I think I’ve found the real curse, by the way! It could be one of these two that I’m seeing here! Amans Anathema or Sanandis Caritas.”

While the scene continued, Draco smirked triumphantly. Amans Anathema or Sanandis Caritas. However, he frowned and when the memory finally ended, he was thrown out of the potion and knocked over the office table.

Harry came running into the office, while Draco groaned and got back onto his feet. At the rather concerned look the Gryffindor was giving him, Draco smiled weakly. He walked around the table and pulled Harry into a quick kiss, just because he felt like it.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked worried.

Nodding softly, Draco rubbed his forehead. “Harry, I know exactly which book to look for. However, the Blacks seemed to be more interested in creatures, they don’t have it. I know for a fact the Malfoy family library has it.”

Harry looked at him and frowned slightly. “Okay, so what do you want me to do? I could ask Narcissa if she’d send it to me.”

“It’s a family library, Harry, the books can’t just leave the house.” Draco rubbed his temple and stared at the floor. There was also the fact that these two spells indicated something entirely complex and he was not ready to even think about what they meant. Luckily, he first had to get to the book which in itself already presented a few problems, so he could keep himself from thinking about the spells. “And if I show up as myself, the Ministry would only need a few seconds to catch me and put me back into Azkaban. I don’t know what to do!”

“I do” Harry smirked and turned around. He walked into his bedroom, while Draco followed and stopped in the kitchen. Only after two minutes, he came back with a vial. However, these two minutes had been torture. Draco tried to figure out a way to get into Malfoy Manor and to the books. He even considered giving the Aurors an anonymous tip that he was hiding there only so the Aurors could raid the place, so that Weasley could get to that book. However, so many things could go wrong in this scenario and Draco really didn’t want to be dependent on Weasley again.

So, when Harry walked back out with a vial in his hand, Draco narrowed his eyes. “What’s that?”

“Polyjuice Potion” Harry smirked. “I always had at least a box of it before I got cursed, just in case I wanted to do something anonymously.”

It seemed to be clear that Draco still didn’t understand what Harry wanted him to do, so the Gryffindor took a hair from his own head and put it into the vial. The potion bubbled and settled again. Draco narrowed his eyes.

“You want me to go… as you?”

“Can’t be that hard to be the Boy Who Lived?” Harry asked and smirked.

Draco snorted. “You haven’t met my mother.”

“I have, actually!”

Shaking his head, Draco tried to come up with a way of sneaking past his mother, disguised as Harry freaking Potter. “She’ll see through the disguise in a heartbeat! No matter how amazing this potion is, she’ll know it’s me.”

“Then try to act like me” Harry offered and smirked. “You always used to say it’s not hard to be me in school, why are you suddenly so reluctant.”

“I haven’t seen my mother in ten years, Harry. I have no idea what or how to behave in front of her.” Draco rubbed his forehead and stared at the floor.

Harry walked next to him and sat down. “I know, Draco. Maybe by seeing her again, it could change. And if we really need this book for me to get better and I have no idea what to look for, plus I still don’t have much energy, this seems like our only option.”

He held out the vial to Draco who carefully took it and stared at it. “I hate you so much for this.” He downed it and grimaced.

Smirking, Harry shook his head. “No, you don’t.” He pulled him in for a soft kiss and smiled again. “Be careful, okay?”

Nodding, Draco felt like his features were slowly changing. Harry walked over and took out glasses, before handing them over to a now transforming Draco. He again repeated that Draco should be careful and then coughed and decided to take a nap on the couch.

Draco was sure that if he wasn’t just in his way to go to his mother’s, Harry would have gone to bed. He seemed rather worried about him, which warmed his heart. And without any other options available to them, Draco sighed, turned around and headed to the door. Time to face his own fears head first, like the Gryffindor he knew he wasn’t.

Malfoy Manor lay almost innocently hidden behind a hill. When Draco walked to the front gate, he hoped that the house didn’t detect his family magic through the Ministry Polyjuice Potion. The last thing he needed was for his mother to realize that person in front of her wasn’t Harry.

The gate remained closed, luckily. Draco pushed the button and looked through the white metallic rods and saw that the garden was taken care of rather well. Also, his father’s peacocks had either died or most likely ended in someone’s pan. Maybe even his mother’s pan, who knew what kind of hatred she still felt for her husband.

“Harry?”

Draco startled and turned to the house, when the gate opened and he heard his mother’s voice. Shit. Did Harry call her Mrs. Malfoy? No, no, he called her…

“Narcissa. Hi.”

He questioned all his words and actions while he walked down the short path towards the house, where his mother smiled welcoming and stepped aside to let him into the house. She looked well actually, well rested. Her hair was completely white now and it made her look like a grandmother. She was wearing a simple brown checkered ankle-length skirt with a white blouse and a matching dark brown checkered vest. She looked very much like any other Muggle.

“It’s nice to see you. I thought you weren’t doing so well as of lately” his mother’s keen eyes move over him.

Draco nodded and smiled. He really tried to stay neutral, though all he wanted was to tell his mother that he was going to be okay. Maybe she didn’t even care anymore…

He cleared his throat. “I need to look at a book which I sadly haven’t found in any libraries and Gr… Hermione” Shit! Why did he slip up when it counted the most?! “… couldn’t find it either. I was wondering whether or not I could look in your library?”

Narcissa smiled. It looked like she hadn’t realized that the man standing in front of her wasn’t Harry Potter, but her own son. Actually, the thought of that made him a little sad. She didn’t recognize him anymore?

He couldn’t think too long about it, as his mother agreed and motioned him to follow him. And so, he walked behind her through the halls he could have walked in his sleep. The portraits on the walls were mostly hidden behind cloths and the others were empty. Draco wondered what kind of house cleaning his mother was into these days, though he decided not to say anything.

The faster he could leave this house and his mother again the better he would feel. Finally, they were standing in front of the library. Draco’s mother smiled at him and opened the door. “Take as long as you need, Harry. I’ll be back soon.”

“Thank you. Narcissa.” Draco cursed. He was clearly not behaving like Harry, though he tried to make it look normal. He walked past her and looked at the rows of books he knew pretty much backwards.

The soft carpet on the floor and the comfortable looking leather armchairs had always made Draco spent hours upon hours in this space. Even now that Draco had wanted to spend only a little time here now, he smiled at the memories. Curled up in an armchair, reading whatever book he had picked out, the fire in the background, this was a place where he could usually feel safe. Even with Voldemort in his house, the library remained private.

His fingers trailed over the leather on the armchair and he walked to the desk at the back. Grabbing a quill, he quickly wrote down the book, so he wouldn’t forget it when he would see all the titles of the family library. Ama Me – Curses and Spells for lovers. Under that title, he wrote down the two spells. Amans Anathema or Sanandis Caritas.

He really couldn’t tell Harry that these spells were love curses. That would also make him an involuntary participant. And what if he wasn’t even the person Harry was in love with? What if Harry had just said that out of convenience, because nobody else was around to help him?

Shaking his head, Draco turned to the library and walked through the rows upon rows of books, until he finally reached the place, where he had seen the book last. Walking to the correct shelf, he pulled out the pink book. He closed his eyes and prayed that at least one of the curses had a cure.

He placed the book on the table and opened it to the first curse: Amans Anathema.

This curse, translated into English meaning A devoted lover, had found huge success in late medieval times. Lovers could find out with said curse if their marriage contract was set up correctly. Despite its rather romantic origin, the cursed human being would suffer greatly before its subtraction should the lover not be in arms reach. It is after all a curse. The correct way of removing this curse is with a potion and then true love’s kiss.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Of course it’s true love’s kiss. How poetic.”

Still, he copied all he found about the curse onto the parchment and then started looking for the next curse the hallucination had mentioned. He really hoped this one would make more sense. Sanandis Caritas.

The origin of the Sanandis Caritas curse is unknown, though believed to have started as a healing spell, before an additional layer was placed on it. Soon after its original creation, it was turned into a curse, though its original meaning can heal still remains to this day. This curse is another love curse which isn’t used anymore due to its horrendous effects upon the cursed individual. A removal needs to happen with a correct potion: a love potion – Amortentia most likely – needs to be taken in as soon as the curse has been removed and a marriage contract drawn up and signed within twenty eight hours of the first potion having been taken.

“That sounds very bad” Draco murmured as he copied that spell as well. He was really hoping that Harry had gotten the first spell and not this one. He really didn’t want to drug Harry with Amortentia and have him write and sign a marriage contract. Harry would be imprisoned in the love potion forever. That was a very bad idea.

However, even if it was that curse… both curses were curable! That was what counted. He just needed to figure out how to brew the potion and help Harry in taking it and they were both free – hopefully.

Smirking, he wrote down all the ingredients and instructions for the two potions, before he put the book back where he had found it. When he turned to the door, he saw his mother standing there.

“I assume you’ve found what you’ve been looking for?” she asked and smiled with a suspicious tear rolling down her face. She quickly brushed it out of her face, though Draco frowned slightly.

“I have” Draco answered, unsure of how to continue from here.

His mother smiled and nodded. “I’ll walk you out then.”

Draco didn’t really know how to react, so he simply returned the smile and they walked out. After a silent walk through the Manor, they had finally
reached the entrance. Draco inhaled slightly happy that she had probably not seen him.

Before he could walk out, she held his arm back. “I’m sorry about what happened to you.”

Draco nodded and shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe the curse can be broken somehow. I’m working on it.”

“I know” Narcissa smiled softly. She let go of him and gave him one last slightly sad smile. “Send Harry my regards.”

While Draco stood there mortified, his mother turned and walked back into the house. She knew! She had known all this time! How long had she stood there at the door? Had she ever left?! Draco quickly turned and almost raced out of the property, where he turned on the spot and apparated right to Grimmauld Place twelve. He hadn’t thought that worked, though when he landed in the kitchen, he inhaled relieved.

Harry looked up, slightly sleepy and smiled. “You look positively spooked.”

“My mother told me to say hi to you.”

“She knew?!” Harry widened his eyes. He was awake almost immediately, while Draco felt himself turning back. Draco groaned and placed the parchment onto the kitchen, before he stretched and nodded.

Harry’s comment made him laugh and he shook his head. “I told you before that no matter how good the potion is, whether it is made by a first year or by the Ministry, she’ll always know it’s me.”

“Looks like that” Harry smirked and shook his head.

“And guess what, Harry? I know how to heal you. You won’t be stuck with that curse for long. I promise you.” He just needed to figure out which one was the correct curse. Hopefully, it wasn’t the one with Amortentia.

Chapter Text

Harry couldn’t sleep. Even though Draco was right next to him, sleeping deeply and calmly, Harry couldn’t find any peace. Usually, it worked quite well with Draco lying next to him, even his nightmares were gone most nights. Today seemed different and Harry really couldn’t figure out why.

He sighed, got up and snuck into the kitchen to get something to eat. On the counter stood a bowl of popcorn from Draco’s movie night, which he insisted they should keep up. It was so freaking adorable, so… domestic! If Harry hadn’t need to get rid of this stupid curse, he would have asked Draco to marry him right then and there.

But he couldn’t.

First of all, Draco hadn’t even said that he loved him – which Harry was okay with, since he knew, he was going to die in a few weeks at least. But what did he have to offer to Draco? He had no job anymore, a home, yeah. But he was so lost, he had no plan, no goal, just a piece of wood floating in a river following it wherever it would take him.

Draco deserved better.

Harry sighed and walked to the stove, looking at the food and deciding what he should eat – in the middle of the night. Next to four ripe yellow bananas, there was also some pasta left-over. Pasta was still in the pot and the sauce next to it on the stove.

The house elves had apparently had other things to do, most likely cleaning up the other four billion books that lay around the house. Not that Harry really cared, he smirked softly and coughed, though tried to do it as quietly as possible, not to wake Draco. Nora looked at him carefully.

‘Don’t die now!’

Harry chuckled. “I wasn’t planning on it, Nora.”

He grabbed the pasta and moved it into the sauce pan, where he started to cook it. Before he made any more attempts, he frowned at it and snorted. Draco’s potion really seemed to work if he was okay with making a snack in the middle of the night. A few months ago even the thought of a night snack would have made him run for the toilet.

As he turned on the oven, he mixed everything in the pan and waited to it to heat up. So he sat down on a chair and grabbed one of the thousand books lying around the kitchen. He pulled his feet up onto the chair and reached over for his blanket which he then pulled around him.

Happy with the comfort he had around himself, though he wished Draco was there as well, Harry opened the book and read through a few curses. After three pages only, he rolled his eyes and placed the book back on its original stack. Reading about curses when there was one in your body wasn’t something he wanted to experience. Otherwise he would start to think that this curse too was in his body.

He looked over to see Nora sleeping on the dog bed next to the door and smirked when he heard a soft tapping sound and Soleil snuck out of the bedroom.

“Hey darling” he whispered and held his hand towards the cat. Soleil meowed and purred as she rubbed her head on his hand. She then rubbed her body on his leg and walked back to Nora’s bed where she turned around in a circle and fell down next to her.

Harry chuckled over their friendship and turned back to the stove, mixing the contents in the pan. Finally, he grabbed a spoon and dipped it into the sauce and licked it just to see if it was hot enough.

“You look handsome.”

Harry jerked, almost letting the spoon fall and turned around to see Draco standing at the door. His hair was a mess and his eyes looked at him sleepily, though his smile was dashing.

Chuckling, Harry shrugged his shoulders. “Thank you darling. Did I wake you up? I didn’t intent to do so.”

“Don’t worry” Draco yawned and motioned to the clock. “It’s three a.m. I woke up on my own.”

Harry smirked softly. He watched as Draco walked closer and then placed his arms around his waist. His head was on his shoulders and he kissed his earlobe.

“Why are you awake at three a.m. then?” Harry asked and leaned into the touch. This was exactly what he had wanted to have right now. Draco smelled so sweet and he was still so warm like he had just gotten out of bed and pulled him into a bear hug.

Draco hummed and made Harry shiver slightly. “I wanted to spend time with you.” He smiled and placed another kiss on Harry’s earlobe. “So, I usually put an alarm up for three a.m.”

Harry chuckled. “What a stupid thing to do.”

“I know! I could have slept through the night and not care about you as much as I do!” Draco said softly. “Look at me now, in love with a man who’s about to die. What an idiot, I am.”

“Truly” Harry commented and turned around in his hug. “You’re truly crazy.”

Draco’s eyes sparkled. “For you, my darling. Of course.”

Chuckling, Harry placed a soft kiss on his lips and turned back to the stove. “Want something to eat?” he asked as he turned off the heat and made a plate float towards him.

“Nah, I’m just going to steal from you.”

Draco let go of him and walked to the table, where he sat down on the other side of the table. Harry placed the pasta on the plate and grabbed two forks. He shoved one over the table and grinned when Draco rolled his eyes.

“Thanks.”

Harry started eating not really interested in fulfilling his not really existing hunger, but just happy that he had something to do. And food was always good for him anyways – as long as he didn’t need to run to the toilet.

They were silently eating the pasta until Draco placed his fork down. Harry looked at him interested, though the Slytherin only rolled his eyes.

“I hope you’re not taking this the wrong way, but I really need to go and take a shower” he shook his head as if something was bothering him and got up.

Harry smirked. “I’m definitely going to take this the wrong way, Draco. How could you do something like that?!”

Draco chuckled and walked around the table. When he stood behind Harry, he bent down and pulled him into a hug. Harry leaned back and closed his eyes. This was what he had wanted. His strong arms around him, the warmth surrounding him and … the love he felt oozing from the man behind him.

“You’re mine” Draco whispered into his ear and pressed a kiss on the corner of his lips, before he could up. “It won’t take long.” His eyes felt onto the plate of pasta. “Just finish eating, okay?”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Yes, sir!”

Draco smirked. “Good boy!”

Before Harry could tell him that he was neither a dog, nor did he particularly enjoy being called a good boy, the Slytherin had rushed out of the room. Harry felt heat rushing into his face and he frowned at the plate. Did he like being called that? Oh, that was just going to complicate things even further!

He shook his head and slowly ate the remaining pasta, which wasn’t that much to be honest. After a few minutes, he got up and cleaned up himself. He heard the door open up again and smelt vanilla shampoo in the air. He heard the chair being moved and someone – Draco most likely – sitting down.

Smiling, Harry finished his task and turned around. The Slytherin looked even better with slightly wet hair. Smirking, Harry walked over to the blond man and sat down on his lap.

“You actually ate everything?” Draco asked as his arms snaked around his waist and he pulled him even closer.

Harry smiled at him. “Yeah, it wasn’t much.”

A knowing grin spread over Draco’s face. “And you realized you liked it when I told you to be a good boy?”

“No!” Harry’s voice betrayed him as it broke slightly at the end of that word. Draco’s grin also didn’t help him and he rolled his eyes. “Alright, maybe. Slightly. I may have somehow…”

“You’re not doing yourself a favor by stammering around, darling” Draco interrupted him and Harry could see him desperately trying to hold back calling him a good boy again. At least that was what he thought the Slytherin was doing.

Harry rolled his eyes. “How is it that easy for you again to read me?”

Draco chuckled softly. “I’ve spent almost my entire time – minus ten years of Azkaban – looking at you. Do you really think that nothing came out of that?”

“I hate you.”

“No, you absolutely don’t.”

“You can’t prove that.”

Laughing, Draco pressed a soft kiss on Harry’s lips and Harry snuggled closer to him. He felt Draco’s arms pulling him even closer and holding him securely. “I believe this is all the proof that I need. Wouldn’t you agree to that, darling?”

Harry hummed. “I still hate you.”

“You just don’t want me to call you ‘good boy’ again. Admit it.”

Smirking, Harry hid his burning face in Draco’s neck. Once he thought it was safe, he looked up at Draco who smiled so soft and openly at him, it made his heart race. “Fine” Harry rolled his eyes. “I think I like when you tell me I’ve been a good boy. Like I’m a dog” Harry scoffed. “But I don’t want anybody else knowing that you call me that. Especially not Teddy.”

Draco chuckled softly. “Why not him?”

“I don’t know” Harry blushed. “It feels weird, if he were to find out.”

Pressing a soft kiss on his lips, Draco smiled. “If I promise not to call you a good boy when Teddy’s here, am I allowed to call you that? Just when it’s you and me?”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, realizing that his ears were burning. He was probably as red as a tomato. “Sure.”

“Good boy” Draco said grinning and made Harry roll his eyes. It felt as if he blushed even more if that was even an option. The Slytherin laughed and hugged him closely.

Rolling his eyes again, Harry conjured a comb. Draco smiled softly as Harry went through his hair carefully. Within a few minutes, he felt the Slytherin relax and Harry kissed his forehead softly while he continued combing his hair.

“You’re cute when you relax” Harry said softly.

Draco gave an unhappy grunt. “Malfoy’s aren’t cute” he mumbled, while Harry chuckled and kissed his temples.

“I disagree and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

Also the fact that Draco was practically asleep, helped him a lot. He really couldn’t argue against Harry calling him cute anymore. He kissed the crown of his head softly, while he continued combing his hair to perfection.

The front door was going crazy and Harry was considering to throw whatever curse was on his mind to the person standing outside. And since there were crazy curses on his mind, due to his and Draco’s research, the person outside should feel lucky that he had so much self-control to not do it. The doorbell rang, fists were thrown at the wood – it was crazy. Draco had raced into the library, thinking it was the Aurors and Harry waited until he heard the secret door closing, before he opened the front door.

“What!” he shouted and stepped back as he saw Hermione and Ron standing there.

Especially Ron looked furious with him. Hermione had also a certain glare in her eyes, though Ron looked as if Harry had killed his favorite pet and then just left him on the streets to die.

“We need to talk, Harry!” Ron growled and without waiting for Harry to invite them in, stepped past him.

Harry bit back a comment and also decided not to shake his head in front of them. Ron being the next Head Auror could be a powerful enemy, which he didn’t want to have for the last few days in his life – or actually any kind of length.

“Come on in, make yourself at home, why don’t you” he smiled and narrowed his eyes as the sweet sarcasm dripped off his tongue. Hermione seemed to be the only one realizing what he was doing.

She raised her eyebrows quickly, before following her husband down into the kitchen, where they sat down, seemingly waiting for Harry. He rolled his eyes now, as he closed the door and headed to the kitchen as well.

“So?” he asked as he placed the cake Frey had made in front of them, before sitting down. He purposefully hadn’t made any tea or coffee, just to slightly inconvenience them.

Hermione cleared her throat as if to say something, when Ron just burst out with what they apparently wanted to say: “We know Malfoy’s been out and about!”

Harry snorted and leaned back. “Ooh, big shocker!” He grinned. “He’s a free man; he can go wherever he wants to.”

“Harry, we know he went to Malfoy Manor! Who knows what for!” Hermione said and shook her head disapprovingly.

Now that was what interested Harry, since nobody actually knew he went to Malfoy Manor. Well, Narcissa knew, but he was sure she’d never tell the Aurors that her son was hiding with Harry and also visited her while pretending to be him.

“How exactly have you gotten to that… startling discovery?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Ron snorted. “I’ve put a tracker on his magic, Harry. If he kills you, I’m going to find him and put him away for good!”

Harry shook his head. He didn’t know what to say to that! Who did Ron think he was?! Magical trackers were supposed to be used for insider witches and wizards that needed to be protected. With such a tracker, Ron would know within a second should Draco ever leave Grimmauld Place. And these trackers were crazy accurate! The Slytherin wouldn’t stand a chance.

“Why would you do that, Ron?” Harry sighed. “Now I need to figure out whether or not I can take that thing away before I die so Draco can escape your clutches.”

“He won’t escape.”

Harry shook his head. “Why are you so adamant on throwing him back into Azkaban? He’s really helping me and without him, I’d be long dead!”

Ron gave a short laugh, while Hermione shook her head. “No, Harry. You wouldn’t be long dead, because it didn’t matter that he’s living with you. You and I know that at the end of the day, you’re going to end up dead!”

“Yeah, well, so will all of us. Everyone dies eventually.”

“That’s not what I meant, Harry” Hermione shook her head, looking rather annoyed by this discussion. “He was in prison for a reason.”

“Because the Ministry thought that imprisoning children of known Death Eaters was a good idea. I’ve always resented that” Harry shrugged his shoulders and stared her down. If she didn’t have a better reason for why Draco should stay in Azkaban, she should just keep her thoughts to herself.

Maybe Harry had started to care too much for Draco. That was a justified accusation. Yes, Harry cared quite a lot for Draco, though that didn’t just happen because he realized he was in love with the Slytherin. No, he had cared even when the Ministry had rounded up all the children of known Death Eaters. He had already then made countless visits to the Minister making cases for everyone who was known to be neutral or even peaceful – which included Draco.

His friends though didn’t seem to realize that, or maybe they were too hung up on past wrongs, where Draco had done so much harm to them. Harry sighed as he watched Hermione think it over, though she didn’t seem to be really okay with what he had said.

“Whatever” Ron finally said, crossed his arms as well. “This is your last warning, Harry. If he leaves the house again, I will be there to bring him back to justice. And there’s nothing you can do to stop that.”

As they left, Harry closed the front door with a bang, scoffed and walked over this office, grabbing some parchment and a quill. Ron needed to get down from his power trip or he was going to hurt the Auror department more than during Voldemort’s reign.

As much as he loved his childhood best friends, this wasn’t the Ron he knew and he desperately needed to do something against that so that hopefully, when he would die, Ron could see the mistakes he had made. And hopefully, he could correct them so he was back being the good old Ron everyone knew.

Hello Sofia!

I hope this letter finds you well. We haven’t talked in last few months, but from what I’ve read about you, your career is going amazingly. I’m glad! It has come to my attention that Ronald Weasley will be the next Head Auror and as you surely remember from when I was offered the position, there were a few other names in the mix. None of them were his.
Do you mind poking around a little? If I were to die, I hope you give this information to the authorities you trust. And you’re very welcome to come by some time, I think Teddy would love to see you again.

Best wishes
Harry

Chapter Text

Draco stared at the pages he had copied out of the book in Malfoy Manor and blinked quickly. One of these curses was the correct one, he could feel it. He didn’t know, though, which one it was going to be! Even the thought of that was driving him mad.

He hoped that he didn’t need to feed Harry the Amortentia with whoever was okay with having the Golden Boy in love with them. Amortentia would make a slave out of Harry. He would do whatever it took to make the person he was in love with happy. Whatever it took, and all of his feelings would be fake. Draco couldn't have that! He had half a mind to ask Ginny if she’d be okay with it, since she quite clearly loved Luna though still seemed to care a lot for Harry as a brother. That wouldn’t be too bad, right?

Except that Draco really, really wanted to be the man Harry was in love with. However, he still was an Azkaban escapee, should Harry really fall in love with him, especially through Amortentia, it could look like he had placed the Amortentia potion there just to have the Boy Who Lived fall in love with him and not because it would literally be the only way to save him.

Draco sighed and placed the pages for the curses next to each other on the table in the potions laboratory, staring at the two names and the beginning pages of the copied sentences. When he read through them, comparing them with each other, he suddenly stopped and went back a little.

Amans Anathema has a powerful set of symptoms, reaching from headaches to bloody stools and vomit. The symptoms don’t usually show up if the cursed individual is in a strong and loving relationship with the creature or human they were supposed to be with, and then manifest themselves in a one week long rash, along with a quick fever.

Shaking his head, Draco remembered how Harry had felt so guilty over wishing he hadn’t taken over the shift where Weasley had run off. If Harry had been a little bit more like a Slytherin and just stayed home instead of helping, Weasley would have been fine within a week (provided that him and Hermione actually were true lovers) and Harry would have never needed to suffer for so long!

This curse was terrible for people who hadn’t met their true love, yet. And even worse for people who didn’t feel the need to be in a relationship! Who invented such a stupid magical curse?!

Should, however, the one true love of the cursed being be nonexistent, the symptoms will worsen until the only solution to the curse is death. Among the symptoms are headaches, muscle spasms, blindness and loss of voice as well as typical fever symptoms and loss of bodily functions. At the very end of the curse, terrible nightmares about the person they are supposed to be with will enter said list. The longest monitored case of the Amans Anathema curse was one year, one month and one day. Most victims of this curse die exactly on the day one year after the curse hit them. The longer they are alive without the proper cure, the stronger the possibility of their death.

Draco inhaled sharply. Harry was alive much longer than one year, though he was getting weaker and weaker, even if he didn’t want to acknowledge that. He needed to do something. It was almost certainly this curse!

He quickly turned a page and skimmed over all the different symptoms that the cursed people had experienced, everything more or less matching with what Harry was going through. That was giving Draco even more of a need to help him – as quickly as possible. He only had a few days left to live!

Many things have been tried to stop the curse and only a few have worked so far. None however worked better and are made faster than the Shinnoai potion created by Benjiro Chikao Keisuke Matsui in 1865 in Japan. The potion is written down on the next page to this book and needs two weeks to simmer after being created. Luckily, the cursed people will usually get better when surrounded by the one true love. So all you need is to find the true love of the cursed being, while creating this potion. Make no mistake though, as all the ingredients are incredibly rare and hard to find. Brew this potion and make their true lover kiss them – the curse will be lifted within a heartbeat and the body has finally some time to recover.

“Two weeks?!” Draco almost cried out. How was he supposed to make a potion and let it simmer for two weeks and still be able to save Harry?! He had finally found the solution and he was still going to die?! How was that okay?!

As he placed the parchments back in order, he heard someone walking closer. He didn’t even need to look up to know it was Harry – there literally wasn’t anybody else who knew how to get in here. Except for Teddy maybe.

“What do you mean by two weeks?” Harry asked and leaned against the door frame.

Draco smiled weakly and shook his head. He looked over to the Gryffindor and found just an open, loving man standing there. He seemed to be okay with whatever was going on around him. It looked like he had found peace with his lifestyle – his death.

Sighing, Draco motioned towards the parchments. “I think I found your curse, Harry.”

“You did?” Harry almost jumped away from the door frame, looking at him in surprise. “Then why the long face?”

“It takes two weeks to make the potion. We don’t have that much time left! I’m honestly not even sure if you’d survive the night! Let alone two fucking weeks!” Draco shook his head.

Harry smiled softly. “So is it a bad curse? Did I at least safe my best friend from dying?”

Draco could tell that he was joking, trying to lighten up the mood. His demeanor was humorous; though his eyes seemed to plead that Draco tell him he had saved Weasley from a terrible fate. Even if he had wanted to, he couldn’t hold back the truth.

“If Weasley had gotten that curse, he would have been fine within a week, Harry. If anything, he’s the reason why you’re in this stupid situation.”

“How?” The Gryffindor shook his head. “How is it possible for me to have such a strong reaction to it and Ron would have been… fine within a week? I don’t understand!”

It looked like Harry was fighting with himself when Draco walked towards him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “It’s a love curse, Harry.”

There was clear doubt in his eyes and Draco smiled weakly, before he started to explain everything he had read so far. Still, Harry seemed skeptical and finally said what he was thinking for a while now.

“Why would that man – that criminal – use such a low-level love curse?” Harry shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense! There are so many much more powerful and hurtful curses out there… why use a love curse?”

It looked like he was really conflicted about this fact. Maybe he thought that the criminal knew then that Harry was alone, that nobody seemed to love him. Draco shook his head. That couldn’t have been the fact. Even if he knew Harry wasn’t in a relationship, what kind of idiot would choose a love curse over a normal, much faster acting curse?! No, he couldn’t have chosen such a dying, almost forgotten spell.

Shrugging his shoulders, Draco tried to sound as confident as he could: “If he panicked, it might have just been the first curse he remembered. That’s the only logical thing.” He smiled and grabbed the parchments with the potion. “I’ll go write a few letters, Harry. There has to be someone out there who can help me with everything.”

“I thought you said I only have a few days left to live not two weeks” Harry said nonchalantly and smirked after that.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t stop me from trying to save your life, Harry.”

That made the Gryffindor chuckle softly. “And people think I’m the one who’s got a savior-complex.”

“Because you do, Harry. You absolutely do have a hero complex, don’t even try to deny that.” Draco smiled as he passed him, while Harry held up his hands silently. As if he was telling him that he was absolutely correct – which of course he was. Always!

Dear Master Villin

I hope this letter finds you well. I’m writing this to ask you a favor, I know we don’t know each other that well, but I hoped that since you offered me an apprenticeship next year you could help me with this query.
I have found the curse that was placed upon Harry James Potter, though the potion to heal him would take two weeks to brew. Two weeks which we don’t have. I was wondering and hoping that you’d have the Shinnoai potion ready for use or maybe almost ready. Please write back as soon as you can, so I can figure out other ways of getting to the potion, should I have to.
Thank you for your time and answer.

A friend
DM

Draco gave the letter to one of the owls hiding in the secret part of Grimmauld Place and went back to the kitchen to look through the thousands of ingredients – at least it felt that way – while Harry sat at the table, throwing a ball for Nora who raced through the house. Writing down, what he needed from Neville – in case Villin didn’t have the potion ready – Draco suddenly stopped. He saw the Gryffindor getting up and walking over to the drawer where the portkey was hiding inside of.

“If you order me again to take the portkey, we’re going to have a serious discussion about accepting what the other one is doing or saying” Draco said earnestly.

Harry snorted and pulled out his journal. He placed it in front of Draco. “I want you to have this. Take this and everything you’ve learnt from my experience to write a book that would help others who are dealing with this curse. We both know you’ve researched quite a lot and you have quite the knowledge on this topic. If you can write this book, others might survive and I didn’t die for nothing.”

“You’re not dead, yet!”

Sighing, Harry nodded. “Keyword being ‘yet’, Draco. You said it yourself: I probably won’t make it past tonight. I’m going to finish writing my last will and head to bed. I just want you to do something with your life.”

Draco shook his head. “No, absolutely not. I will find a way to heal you, Harry! You won’t die!”

“We all die eventually, Draco” he said while smiling softly. Pushing the journal closer to Draco, Harry nodded. “Make something of your life, please. Don’t waste it. Once I’m dead, take the portkey, leave England and never come back. Ron has a tracker on you, so he’ll know should you ever put even one foot on Britain’s soil.”

Shaking his head, Draco looked at the journal. He couldn’t believe what Harry was telling him. Weasley really had placed a tracker on him? How delightful…

“I can’t just let you die, Harry!”

“I know, Draco. That’s why I’m telling you this. I know you’re going to fight until it’s too late. I just want you to know what you should do once it’s over. Just… in case, you know.”

Draco sighed. “This is terrible.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry smiled back. “At least I had a few nice days at the end of my life. Living with you truly was amazing. So thank you, Draco.”

“I hate this!”

“I know, my friend. I know” Harry said, leaned over the table and pressed a soft kiss on Draco’s lips. “I’m in the study, if you’re looking for me.”

Draco nodded and looked after Harry, only turning back to the parchment once he heard the door to the office close. This was terrible! Hopefully Villin had something ready and all of that was over in a few… seconds!

That would have been amazing! Even though Draco feared the worst: If Villin didn’t have it, how high was the possibility that someone else had it?

Shaking his head, Draco headed to the laboratory and started collecting everything he needed. The Mortis Bat, who was sleeping in the cage seemed to wake up and stretched its green wings. Draco looked over to the glass house and smiled weakly, suddenly stopping and looking at the list. He weirdly felt something for that bat, like he didn’t want to kill it. For some incredibly weird reason, he felt like it was his pet…

Luckily, there was no Mortis Bat poison on the list and he rubbed his forehead, before he heard an owl approaching through whatever secret window it had come. Draco inhaled deeply as he looked at the parcel in front of him. It was big enough for potion vials, that was sure…

He really didn’t want to hope that much. With shaky hands, he opened the parcel and found a few different and rare potion items, but no potion.

“Fuck” Draco swore and unrolled the letter, reading it while holding his breath. There had to be something in here! Just something that would save Harry!

My friend

I’m glad to hear the news about HJP, though I sadly bring bad news as well: Your requested potion hasn’t been made by any of my students, former students or known associates. And I’ve used the last vial of that potion two years ago without bothering to brew another one of that kind as there are rarely incidents needing this potion nowadays. The only thing to do, sadly, is to brew this potion yourself.
I have added a few rare items in this parcel which you won’t get these days – especially being who you are, my friend. I was told you could get the greens from other people by our mutual friend, Mr. Lupin. If you need any help – anything at all – don’t hesitate to ask.

Good luck, my friend.
Daxton Villin

“Shit” Draco murmured.

Chapter Text

Harry sat on the couch with crossed legs, watching Draco run through the house. He was shivering, even though he had a blanket around his back, one on his knees and Nora huddled up to him. Even Soleil had found a place to sleep and purr on his lap. So, Harry petted the animals and watched Draco hurrying around the house, receiving letters, writing some more and vanishing to the laboratory to quite possibly make the potion that could save his life. If he wouldn’t die in the next two weeks that was.

He had survived the night. At least this night he had made it, though only barely. The coughs had started much more wildly and this morning he had woken up to so much pain in his legs that he had almost certainly picked up a knife just to cut them off – had Draco not been around and taken care of him. In fact, having Draco right now was a blessing. So many things had to be done and while Harry really had wanted to jump into whatever, he had been placed onto the couch with the order not to get up and do anything.

And honestly, with a cat on his lap, getting up was the least of Harry’s wishes.

Suddenly, Soleil and Nora looked up from their sleeping state at the same time, looking over to the door, where Teddy walked through and smiled at them. He had a bag on his shoulders, as if he had come straight from his studies and placed in onto the kitchen table.

“Hello, my favorite people and animals!” he greeted them and his happy smile seemed to freeze when he looked at Harry. “Hey, how are you?”

Harry sighed and shook his head. “Not great, Teddy.” He looked at the kitchen, where Draco just ran into and grabbed a knife, before running out, not even having realized that Teddy was here. Even though he had moved around Teddy twice to get to the knife.

The Ravenclaw frowned and looked back at him. “What’s going on? Uncle Dray looks like he’s in a race against time or something.” He narrowed his eyes. “Does it have something to do with what Master Villin asked me?”

“Indeed” Harry nodded and smiled weakly. “He found the curse and the healing potion.”

Teddy widened his eyes and almost jumped into the air, while Soleil looked at him, before she turned on her back and stretched one of her tiny legs towards Teddy. Nora growled quietly and placed her head back on her paws, huffing as if she just wanted to go back to sleep.

“But that’s great news!” He grinned and frowned then. “So… why do you look so sad?”

Sighing, Harry shook his head. “The potion takes two weeks, Teddy. I have barely a night left. I’m not sure I’ll make it to tomorrow.”

His godson shook his head. “No! It’s almost over! This whole ordeal is about to be dealt with! You can’t just die on the last few inches towards the solution!”

Harry shrugged his shoulders. “I can’t really do anything else. There’s only one thing I can do and that’s to hope that Draco somehow manages to get his hands on a potion that doesn’t exist anymore. Who would have such an old pureblood potion ready for use?”

Teddy fell down next to Harry on the couch. “So, we have to… say goodbye now? For ever this time?”

“It won’t be forever, Teddy” Harry smiled softly, brushing a strain of violet hair out of his face. “One day, when you’re old and grey… we’ll meet again.”

He looked at the portrait and then shoved his godson slightly to look over to the family portrait at the wall. “And I’ll be waiting next to your parents to welcome you to your final resting place.”

Whatever seemed to be going through Teddy’s mind wasn’t happy, as he shook his head and turned to him. “I can’t let you leave now. Draco gave me so much hope that I might have you for another few decades! Cassy just told me that she’s okay with Draco being in my life – which I didn’t know I wanted to hear until today. I need both of you!”

Smiling softly, Harry pulled Teddy into a soft hug, feeling how his godson gripped him tightly. If he had the choice, he would never leave this place! He wanted to see so may more things, get to know Teddy’s and Cassy’s baby boy or girl and figure out whether or not his child would be an actual Metamorphmagus or if they would have only a small ability, like Teddy.

“I’m sorry about this Teddy. I really didn’t want to hurt you this way.”

“You’re not hurting me, Harry. I just… wished it would have ended differently” Teddy smiled weakly. “I guess I’ll have to get Aunt Ginny and Auntie Luna now as well, huh? They wanted to visit tomorrow, but if you’re saying you might not survive the night… better get them here now?”

Harry nodded softly. “I suppose.”

Teddy smiled. “I mean, I’d rather be here alone with you and Uncle Dray, but I think I would feel guilty if you’d die tonight and I knew about it and didn’t let my aunts say goodbye to you.”

“Yeah, well, Uncle Dray is a little busy right now, anyways.”

As if to prove his point, Draco once again ran into the kitchen with a pretty much melted knife, threw it out, grabbed a new one and was gone again. Everything within about a second, which made Teddy chuckle, even though it was unwillingly.

He looked over to Harry with a soft smile. “He’s still trying to save you, then? Does he not know that it might be too late?”

“Oh, he knows.” Harry smirked. “I think it’s easier for him to pretend that if he can make the potion, he might be able to save me.”

Nodding, Teddy conjured a Patronus and sent it off with a message to Ginny and Luna to come by as quickly as possible, since his godfather didn’t have much time left. Then, he turned to Harry, pulling his legs up onto the couch until he mirrored his crossed legs.

“I’m really going to miss you, Harry. Sometimes I think you were the only good thing to happen to me when I was a child.” He grinned and shrugged his shoulders. “And I know that there were amazing things happening to me, then. I just mean, my parents were dead from the beginning, then Grandma died and I went through some really rough years at the beginning.”

“I know, Teddy” Harry smiled softly. “For what it’s worth: You also showed me how to live my life. Before you came to live with me, I was pretty… dead on the inside.”

Draco stopped on one of his paths into the kitchen and turned to look at Harry and Teddy. “Who’s dead?”

“No one” Teddy snorted and rolled his eyes. “Uncle Dray, you should relax a little.”

“Shan’t” he answered and turned again only to be faced with a closed door in his face. He sighed, looking over to Teddy who placed his wand back and shrugged his shoulders. “There might be something for me to do here, Teddy. I need to…”

Teddy shook his head and got up, taking the books away from him. “Relax, Uncle Dray. Sit down, enjoy the evening with Harry and Nora and Soleil… and me.”

He led Draco to the couch and made him sit down, before he walked over to the kitchen counter and started to make some tea. Draco sighed, leaning against Harry, who placed an arm around him.

“My poor darling” Harry whispered against Draco’s hair and kissed the crown of his head.

Draco looked up and smiled sadly at him. “I wish I knew what to do.”

Humming softly, Harry moved his hand in lazy circles over his arm and Draco moved a little closer to snuggle with him. Harry chuckled tiredly, when he saw Teddy beaming at them.

His godson walked closer with the tea and smirked. “Aww, look at that happy couple!” Teddy winked at Draco who glared and grumbled something, before turning to Harry.

“Potter, your godson is out of control.”

“Tends to happen when you leave him unsupervised for more than a few minutes” Harry retorted and grinned when Teddy rolled his eyes, still smirking.

“Harry, when was the last time that happened?! I’ve been a good boy for the past few years.”

Chuckling tiredly, Harry nodded. He continued softly rubbing Draco’s arm, while he watches Teddy moving around in the kitchen. “The scariest thing was when that happened in Gringott’s. Do you remember how I freaked out when you weren’t in the family vault and I…”

Harry startled by Draco who shoot up and let his tea fall onto the floor not caring about it. “The family vault! Oh my god!” He jumped up and grabbed his jacket, while Harry and Teddy both frowned at him.

“What?”

Draco looked at him, his eyes full of hope and joy and all these forbidden emotions. “The Malfoy’s are fucking paranoid, Harry! We have a potion against everything! Literally! Why didn’t I think of it earlier?! Don’t worry, I’ll get it!”

He grinned and turned on the spot, apparating away without a second thought. Teddy and Harry stared at each other as if they had just seen a ghost, before Harry frowned, thinking about what had just happened.

He had the missing potion? His family vault had the potion that was needed to… to heal him! He huffed, months’ worth of stress falling away within just a few seconds.

All he needed to do was go to Gringotts and tell them… wait. Harry frowned and widened his eyes. There was a tracker on him. He left the security of…

Oh shit.

“Ron!” Harry yelled out and jumped up, almost stumbling over himself, before he concentrated on Gringotts.

Teddy frowned at him, though before he could say or even ask something, Harry turned on the spot, hopefully having enough strength left to apparate to Gringotts in one piece. Ron was going to kill him should he stop Draco from going to his family vault! His death was then Ron’s fault, not Draco’s or that stupid criminal. His death was on Ron’s hands.

Chapter Text

Draco was on his knees and breathed heavily, as the hex hit him in his stomach, throwing him to the floor and shackling him within a blink of an eye. He coughed again and turned to look at the redhead with an angry stare. The pain was almost taking him over. Still, he glared at Weasley, who looked so damned proud of himself for having caught him. Shaking his head, Draco looked at Weasley’s wife.

“You’re killing Harry by catching me! He needs the potion in my family’s vault!”

“Shut it, Malfoy!” Weasley called and shoved him onto his arse, so he was sitting at the wall. “What Harry needs is some peace and quiet to finally end it all.”

Draco looked at Weasley in disgust. “You’re willing to kill him over our dispute? He’s your best friend! At least let me get the potion, have your wife bring it to him and I’ll be willing to go back to Azkaban and sit there for the rest of my life!”

Weasley snorted. “As if! You think you can just run away after we’ve been after you for the past few months?! I’ve already called Kingsley, who’s going to tell you what’s happening.” He crossed his arms over his chest, while the goblins kept a few wizards and witches from walking into the bank. “You’re not going to be able to use my best friend against me.”

While Draco could tell that Weasley was too deep in his own importance, he also found that his wife seemed a little thoughtful. Maybe she was listening to him! Harry wasn’t going to survive the night if he wasn’t given the potion and he knew that the Malfoy family vault had everything down there.

“Hermione, please…” Draco started though he jerked away, as Weasley jumped towards him, his hand raised as if he was about to struck him.

“Don’t talk to my wife, you criminal!” he screeched, his voice echoing from the walls. “You should be happy I’m not calling the Dementors here to have you stop living!”

“Ron!” Hermione looked at him aghast. “What if this really was…”

Weasley snorted and shook his head. “As if! He just wants to get money to run away!”

The door to the bank opened and Draco, who had been glaring at Weasley, turned to look and froze, eyes wide with surprise. Next to the new Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt, stood his mother. That seemed only fair as Draco was intending on taking something from the Malfoy vault, though still. He hadn’t wanted to see his mother. Not in the state he was in right now.

And now she was seeing him like that. Shackled, beaten (a little) and placed at the wall for safe-keeping.

“Kingsley!” Weasley called out and grinned. “I’ve finally caught him.”

The Minister looked at Draco with unreadable eyes, before he turned to Weasley. “Nicely done, Auror Weasley. I do wonder, though” he turned to Draco, “why you decided to come here instead of running away when you realized we were looking for you.”

“I wasn’t running away nor hiding.”

Before Draco could even say more, the air in the middle of the room swirled and Harry appeared, falling to the floor in a coughing mess. He coughed blood and held his stomach, unable to stop any time soon. He really needed that potion!

“Harry!” Hermione called and ran towards him. Draco tried to get the shackles off, though Weasley pushed a wand into his chest.

“Please, Sir” Draco turned to Kingsley. “I know how to save him! I…”

Now, Weasley actually punched him and Draco hit his head on the back of the wood where the bank tellers were usually sitting behind. Draco groaned and shook his head slightly, feeling a headache coming his way.

He glared at the Gryffindor in front of him and turned to the Minister. “The potion is in my family vault!” He flinched away as Weasley’s fist came closer again, though before anything could happen, the Gryffindor was thrown through the room.

Draco widened his eyes in shock as Weasley collided with the opposite wall and was left on the floor knocked out. His eyes darted over Harry, who had his hand towards him, his palms up, as if he had just performed wandless magic. In the middle of the goblin’s bank. Where any kind of magic was… stopped by something. This man was so freaking powerful! And he came here while he was literally dying! To... protect him, to keep him safe and out of prison. This man was a marvel!

Harry coughed again, pushing Hermione away, though she was already turning to look at her husband, and he looked at Kingsley. “Let him give me the potion. I’m not going to survive this night if I don’t have it, Kingsley.” His voice was weak and rough.

“You want to take it then?” Kingsley asked, before a goblin stood in front of him, his arms crossed.

“Mr. Potter performed magic inside the bank, even though we have several runic circles to prevent magic from being performed inside the building. His words therefore form a binding magical contract. You have to let Mr. Malfoy go and get him the potion” the goblin explained and with an unexplained magical burst, he let the shackles off of Draco.

Jumping up, Draco looked at the Minister who nodded grimly, after a few seconds. Another look at his mother and with her approval, Draco turned to the goblin, who waved for him to follow. As Draco left the room, he heard Weasley groaning as he got up and Harry continuing to cough.

Harry would soon be free of the course.

He wasn’t sure what was going to happen to him, after he had given his love the potion, but at least Harry wasn’t going to die. At least Teddy still had his godfather and the wedding could be held whenever. The people would be able to continue living. That was what seemed most important right now.

Deep down in the depth of Gringotts was the Malfoy family vault. Two sets of heavy security held the heirlooms and family treasure safe from any intruder. Draco climbed through the circular entrance and turned to the immediate right. At the same wall as the entrance stood a corner shelf which reached to the ceiling. On it, assorted into different curses and colors, stood about two hundred fifty vials, all neatly labelled.

Draco ran his fingers over the labels until he finally came over the yellowish shiny potion titled Shinnoai. He gasped lightly and took two vials. Turning to the goblin, he nodded and they silently made their way up again.

In the hall, there were now even more people; Teddy and Cassy had arrived and brought Nora with them, along with Luna and Ginny and even Neville seemed to have arrived together with McGonagall. That wasn’t what he had wanted… At least he knew that with Ginny present, the Ministry couldn’t touch him as long as he was helping Harry.

He hurried towards Harry, who was still lying on his back on the floor, groaning in pain, while Ginny tried to talk him into something. Before Draco could even do something, Weasley called out to him. So he was awake then, great…

“How do we know you’re not just going to poison him?!”

Draco rolled his eyes and threw one of the vials towards Teddy. Even though he was surprised by this act, he still caught it and uncorked it to sniff on it. He shrugged his shoulders, nodding, before Weasley raced over as well, with his huge knowledge of potions and eyed it critically.

Without waiting for this clearly unprofessional evaluation, Draco kneeled in front of Harry and turned him on his side carefully. “Take this, Harry.” He carefully gave him the potion and Harry obediently swallowed every last bit. While Draco could see his expression soften, he found scared emerald eyes on him.

“What’s going to happen to you?” he whispered, only loudly enough for Draco and Ginny to hear. There was fear in his eyes and a tear dropped onto the floor, though Draco wasn’t sure if that was just because of the pain he was in.

“Darling, I’ll survive” Draco answered and brushed a strain of hair out of his eyes. “And you’re more than welcome to break me out of Azkaban a second time.”

Harry chuckled softly, shaking his head. “What now? Am I just going to get better?” he asked, groaning again and pulling his legs up.

Draco remembered what the parchment had said and smiled at his savior. “Can you do me favor, love? Cast that spell with the list of true love.”

“What?” Harry asked and breathed heavily. “Why?”

“The potion needs true love’s kiss.”

Harry managed an almost decent snort, when he rolled his eyes. “So after all this, I’m practically dead anyway. Great.”

“Love” Draco said and as his eyes met Harry’s, he smiled softly. Harry seemed to search for something, his eyes darting over Draco’s face until they stopped with his eyes again.

There were no more words needed and the Gryffindor groaned silently, when he reached for his wand. Draco couldn’t tell if he was in pain again (or still) or if he was annoyed by him. Anyway, he held it out over his head and calmly said “Multum Magna Caritate”.

The discussion, which Draco hadn’t realized was happening around them, came to a halt when a soft blue glow shot out of Harry’s wand. It created an equally blue glowing list on which the name ‘Draco Lucius Malfoy’ stood on top. No other name. Just his. Prominently. Proudly. Almost joyful. It was as if his name was singing. Harry inhaled sharply, his eyes catching Draco’s and he blinked confused.

“How did you know?” he whispered.

“I guessed.” Draco smiled softly. “Or rather, I hoped it was me.”

He leaned over Harry, pressing a soft kiss on his lips and he could tell Harry relaxing. His whole body calmed down and released a year’s worth of tension and stress.

Draco pulled away and saw Harry smile for a second, before he passed out, his body not being able to handle healing him while he was awake and his mind was racing against itself. Ginny squealed next to him and squeezed his shoulder, looking almost proud of Draco.

“You did amazing!” she said and beamed.

“Harry’s dead!”

Draco shut up and looked down at a sleeping Harry. He then looked at Weasley and raised his eyebrows. “He’s passed out, you dimwit.”

“You did that on purpose!” Weasley called out and within seconds, Draco was on his knees again, bound and shackled.

Ginny stepped in front of him. She actually stepped between him and her brother! “Let him go, Ron!” she called and crossed her arms over her chest. “He saved Harry!”

Weasley shook his head. “He nearly killed him!”

He was about to say more, when Kingsley cleared his throat. “Auror Weasley, Miss Weasley and Mrs. Weasley, please bring Harry to St. Mungo’s for a full inspection. Mr. Lupin and Miss Banwell, please follow them.” He turned to look at the other people. “Please go home for now. We will have to place Mr. Malfoy back in Azkaban for escaping.”

“He didn’t even do that!” Luna said and shook her head. “Harry broke him out!”

“Can’t prove that now, can you?” Weasley almost announced with glee and after a stern look from Kingsley, he sighed frustrated and walked over to grab Harry. “Move it!” he called over to the people who were supposed to come with him.

Teddy walked past Draco with Nora in tow and nodded at him weakly. “This isn’t over, Uncle Dray” he whispered quietly, before hitching a ride to St. Mungo’s along Harry’s body.

Draco closed his eyes and sighed. This truly was the end. It was over for him. He would never be able to return to the free world, just because he wouldn’t listen to Harry and take the stupid portkey and leave England behind him. On the other hand… Harry was finally cured.

It was worth it.

It was definitely worth it.

Chapter Text

Harry felt as if he was floating. Floating through air, time, space. Floating through time especially. He was almost sitting in the corner of the room of each and every interaction he’d ever had with Draco. He could see his eye softening, his features calming whenever they were together. There was so much understanding between the two of them, so much love...

His hands moving towards him, yearning for that soft touch. How he lit up whenever Harry was around, whenever he smiled at him. His comforting hugs when he didn’t feel that well or when he’d had a nightmare. How he missed hearing him breathe next to him during nights where sleep was hard to come by.

But most of all, he saw Draco’s loving eyes, his soft, incredibly love-struck smile when he looked at Harry and said only this one word. ‘Love’. The amount of power that word had, seeing the name on the otherwise empty list. It took all his doubts away.

He was loved. He was loved by the only person he wanted to be with. The only person that would make him feel truly at home. Draco was his one and only. His home. He was what his heart desired.

Draco Malfoy was the love of his life.

Harry inhaled deeply, as if he had just spent the better part of a year under water and was finally able to take in this beautiful clear air again. He ripped his eyes open and breathed in again, realizing that breathing had never been this easy. He had lived with his illness for far too long and had gotten too attached to all of this pain that he had never realized in how much pain exactly he had been in.

Not until Draco had finally saved him from his death.

Frowning, Harry turned his head. Where was Draco? Was he here? And where was ‘here’ exactly? He sat up, carefully, looking for something in his body to hurt, but everything seemed to work fine.

The walls were white, there was a magical window, showing some random spring weather with a tree moving in the wind and the curtains in front of the window moved as if they could feel the wind themselves. Next to the window was an empty cream-colored chair, though it looked like someone had been sleeping there and a jacket was thrown over it right now and next to his bed was a much smaller animal bed and a soft beathing animal inside.

“Nora?” Harry asked and beamed, when his dog looked up, slightly confused, but awake in a matter of seconds, and jumped on all fours.

‘You’re awake! You’re alive!’

Harry laughed and hugged her, as she jumped onto the bed with some help from Harry of course. “I am! I’m happy so see you as well, my dear!”

Nora threw her whole bodyweight into Harry’s hug, which had him falling back onto the bed again and he laughed happy. “I’ve missed you too, you crazy dog!”

He ruffled through her dark brown fur and received a rough tongue licking basically almost all over his face. Harry snorted, pushed Nora away and rubbed his face clean with the hospital gown.

‘I knew he had to kiss you!’ he heard her voice in his head and looked at the Husky-Golden Retriever mix with a smile.

“You knew all along?” Harry asked and chuckled. “And yet, I still had to take a potion first.”

Nora huffed, placing her head on his legs, making a disapproving sound, but she pressed her head down once he started scratching her behind her ear. ‘Animals don’t care for potions. You needed a kiss.’

Harry chuckled. “Which I got, thank you Nora.”

That moment, the door opened and Teddy walked in, tired, but still somewhat awake. He yawned as he closed the door and then almost tripped over his own feet when he noticed Harry awake in the hospital bed. He ripped his eyes open as he saw Harry ruffling his dog’s fur and ran over to the bed.

“Harry!”

“Hey Buck.”

Teddy clearly teared up and he fell onto the bed, hugging Harry dearly. Nora pulled back slightly, clearly unwilling to be crushed to death. “I wasn’t sure if you’d make it! The healers gave you a chance, but after two weeks, they said the probability of you surviving was slim!”

Harry kissed his godson’s hair and smiled softly. “I’m back, Teddy. And I won’t ever leave you, never again. How long was I gone, then?”

“Four weeks!”

“What?” Harry was shocked and somehow managed to get up into a sitting position. “What happened while I was out?”

Teddy was a little too emotional to be able to stay neutral and tell him what exactly had happened. However, from his ramblings, Harry could deduce that the Ministry was holding onto Draco in one of the Ministry holding cells, since it wasn’t clear yet if the potion he had given Harry was killing him. Not Azkaban at least. Ron apparently wanted to trial him for murder and seemingly waited for the day Harry would breathe out the last time.

“Some friend this idiot is” Harry murmured to himself, shaking his head.

He really needed to talk with Hermione and Ron once this thing was over and tell them what exactly he thought of their 'support'. Ginny too hadn't been happy at first when she saw Draco, but she realized that he was indeed helping him. And while Harry wasn't sure if the two of them ever became friends, they accepted each other's presence in Harry's life. Hermione and especially Ron actively tried to kill him by removing Draco from him. Still, one could argue.

In other news, Teddy also told him that Cassy and he had decided to postpone the wedding to next year as they had just wanted to get married so that Harry would hopefully still be with them and they didn’t feel pressured now, as he was healed completely. Her father would just have to learn to deal with the child being born out of wedlock. From what Harry could gather, Teddy didn’t even know about Cassy being pregnant, even though it should be slowly getting more obvious. Maybe he had spent too much time with Harry during the last few weeks.

He leaned over and hugged his godson again. “You just need to be happy with the choices you’re making, okay?”

Teddy nodded and grinned at him. “So, what do we do now? When the healers come in here and see you awake, they are obliged to tell the Aurors and Uncle Dray will get prosecuted right now! We can’t have that! He’s innocent!”

Harry smirked. “The thing with… being the Boy Who Lived, Teddy, is that I get a lot of privileges. I need to you to go out of this room again, pretend as if you’ve just forgotten something and then write a quick note to Master Villin.”

“Why?” Teddy frowned and shook his head.

“Because, as you and Draco have pointed out countless times, he knows how to use his Slytherin power to influence the right people. If we want ‘Uncle Dray’ free by the end of the day, Master Villin needs to be part of this coup.”

Teddy lit up and nodded. “Anything else?”

Harry shook his head. “Not now. Go, as fast as you can. I’ll stall here.”

Nodding again, Teddy got up and raced to the door, he grinned and disappeared behind it. Harry yawned and stretched, while Nora looked at him as if she was waiting for something. With his wandless magic, Harry created a Patronus.

“Go and tell Ginny: I’m awake, the healers don’t know yet. Go and gather as many people as you can for Draco’s trial. We need to prove that he deserves to be free. It’s happening sometime today. Be as quick as you can, I’m stalling here at St. Mungo’s.”

The stag nodded and ran once through the room, before it disappeared through the magical window. Harry sighed and fell back onto the bed. “Now, we just have to wait and hope that the healers don’t check up on me too fast.”

It took about twenty minutes, before the door opened again and Teddy came back, grinning from ear to ear. He just opened his mouth to say something, when a healer walked in past him and stopped dead in his track.

His eyes were comically big and he opened his mouth like a fish out of water, trying to say something but miserably failing for a good ten seconds. Which was nice – another ten seconds more for Ginny to gather the troops, really.

Harry grinned as the healer quickly moved his hand over his bald head and finally cleared his throat once, twice and managed a somewhat decent smile. “Mr. Potter. You’re awake!”

Harry smirked. “It appears to be that way, doesn’t it?” He needed to stall for as long as possible. Jokes were a good way to do that – as long as Teddy could keep it together. By the look of it… he was about to bark out a very loud laugh, though for now he still remained silent.

“I… this… we…” the healer stammered and stopped, as if the last thing he had thought would happen actually happened right in front of his eyes. Like the second coming of Merlin or something. And from what Teddy had told Harry, something incredibly happening was also him waking up and being able to talk and respond properly. “I need to…”

“Sir” Harry stopped him from hurrying away. “Could you please tell me what’s going on?”

He did know everything already, since Healer Smith (he had finally figured out his name, even if it was a basic one and he could have also just guessed that name) didn’t know more than Teddy. He was able to tell him what his body had gone through in the first week, as there were apparently a lot of spasms and he was apparently sweating and going through a rather high fever, before he fell into a coma for three weeks. Harry didn’t even know he had been somewhat awake in the first week.

Five minutes had passed - that was a good time frame, but Harry knew he could get more if he played his cards right. Especially since Healer Smith looked like he was about to run out and contact Ron any second now.

The healer smiled and turned, making it even clearer that he was about to leave and tell the Aurors, when Harry stopped him yet again. “Healer Smith?” he could see Teddy fighting a grin and gave him a stern look, which didn’t help at all. When the healer sighed and turned to Harry, he smiled. “Is it bad that I can’t remember what happened in that first week?”

“Not at all, Auror Potter. Now, if you excuse me…”

Harry wasn’t going to let him get away. Ginny needed more time. And who knew if the owl already arrived for Master Villin. “Am I not getting a medical evaluation? I’ve just woken up from a coma!”

Healer Smith seemed annoyed, even though he tried to hide it as best as he could. “I will give you an evaluation as soon as I’ve sent this message, Auror Potter.”

“I’d rather you check me first and then send a message” Harry argued. “What if there’s something seriously wrong with my body and you lot don’t see it until it’s too late? No offence to you personally, Healer Smith, I know you weren’t part of my initial healer group when I came in here a few months ago.”

That seemed to calm him a little and he sighed again, clearly deciding to respect his client’s wishes. Teddy meanwhile seemed to be working hard on not cracking a rib. He was clearly trying to keep the laughter hidden deep down, his eyes were practically glowing from all the fun he was having. Harry was sure that he also needed to get Teddy checked for any cracked ribs at the end of the day.

All this stalling gave Master Villin and Ginny another thirty minutes until Harry had finally run out of questions to ask and Healer Smith had conducted all the necessary tests and deemed Harry fit enough to walk around and even to go home, if he was continuing to drink the potions every other hour.

Teddy nodded at that. “I’ll make sure he drinks the potions when he’s supposed to. Can we go now?”

“I suppose” Healer Smith said and shrugged his shoulders. He finally left the room to tell the Aurors that Harry had woken up – most likely.

Harry swung his legs over the edge of the bed, surprised by how light he felt and he looked at his hospital clothes in slight disgust. “You didn’t bring me any actual clothes, did you?”

Teddy shook his head. “Sorry no. We need to head to your home quickly.”

“Do you know then when the hearing for Draco will happen?”

This seemed to be the question Teddy was waiting for and he nodded. “I’ve asked Hector to be my Ministry spy. He’s got to do a lot of filing documents at the Ministry today for some new business and he claimed that everything can be heard in that area. So, as soon as the Aurors have figured out when to prosecute him, we’ll know.”

Harry laughed and nodded. “You should have been the Head Auror, Teddy. Your organizational skills are unmatched.”

“Oh, only by your own, Harry” Teddy offered, a cheeky grin spreading over his face. “The way you can always get what you want is almost disgusting.” Harry laughed and shook his head, while Teddy beamed at him. “Let’s get home, you get an actual shower and I’ll keep my ears and eyes open for my father-in-law’s Patronus.”

Chapter Text

The cold wall against his back felt so familiar. Getting food on time and only twice a day without him getting a choice was also so… normal, yet felt so wrong. Draco had been able to cook for himself, for Harry whenever he had wanted or felt like it for the past few weeks. He had been able to make food he enjoyed and watching Harry prepare what he wanted filled him with joy. And yet, he was back in prison, apparently were he belonged.

He didn’t know why they hadn’t processed him, he had seen almost two dozen criminals walk in here and being gone within two or three days, yet he had stayed here for… three weeks at least. They hadn't even let him know what date it was, but from all the people that checked up on him, Weasley was the worst. Every time, it was as if he was about to taunt him for something, and Draco couldn't do anything against it. He was just a prisoner, who escaped. The beds were a little more comfortable than in Azkaban though, which was a nice transition from actual bed to almost a bed to no real bed in the wizarding prison.

Yet, he still was unable to sleep through a full night, as his body woke him up at three a.m. asking, begging him to go look for Harry. To find the wizard that had saved him not only from a prison sentence (at least for a little bit), but also showed him how to love again. He was so hopelessly in love with this Gryffindor that some nights, he would wake up in cold sweat and just try and find comfort in his hug – only to realize that he was still in prison.

And there was no hope that he would ever leave as a free man.

Sighing, he leaned against the cold stone and watched as the doors opened up one more time and an Auror walked past his cell with a handcuffed criminal in front of him. Behind this unknown Auror, a familiar face appeared again. Ronald Weasley walked up to him and looked at him grimly. It didn't look as if he wanted to play around right now. This seemed serious.

“Get up, lucky fool. Hands behind your back, you’re getting a trial” he said and Draco followed his orders without asking anything.

Why they finally decided to give him a trial was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed that question and decided to just follow this idiot’s voice, hopefully without being punched again. A voice in the back of his head told him that maybe it had something to do with Harry.

He felt his blood rush from his face. Did he die? Did he kill… the man he was in love with?

Luckily for him, but unluckily for his brain, he was soon manhandled out of the cell and led towards a huge meeting room. Weasley handed him over to an Auror standing in front of the door and he walked to a side entrance.

Soon enough, Draco could hear the magically amplified voice of the head judge. Draco sighed, as the door opened in front of him and the Auror pushed him inside to sit on a chair in the middle of the circular room. He was facing about thirty witches and wizards, all in highly formal robes and a certain disgust on their faces – or at least different degrees of disgust.

That might have also been the case since there were no showers or sinks in the holding cells and he had only twice gotten a rather rough cleaning charm from one of the Aurors that gave him food. He was aware that there was a natural stink coming from him.

Then again, had they just given him a five-minute head start and a place to shower, that problem could have been eliminated easily. Their problem then.

“Draco Lucius Malfoy” the man sitting on the highest chair said, as he looked down at him with raised eyebrows. “You are here on charges that you have escaped a high security magical prison, Azkaban, and attacked an Auror off-duty with a poisonous potion.”

“I didn’t…” Draco widened his eyes, when he found himself under almost evil looking stares from the head of this prosecution.

A scary looking judge cleared his throat and continued. “You are under oath, Mr. Malfoy, to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. Therefore, you are given five drops of Veritaserum. As this is a criminal case, you have no right to refuse. It would be easier if you just let the healers do their job.”

Draco sighed and opened his mouth as a healer carefully let five drops fall in. He swallowed, grimacing at the strong scent of undiluted truth serum. This was going to be a pain in his arse.

The judge nodded, seemingly pleased that Draco didn’t fight the potion intake. “Have you retained a lawyer or has one been appointed for you?”

“I have not been appointed a lawyer, yet.”

The wizard sighed and looked at someone to the right of Draco and as he followed his eyes, there was a young wizard with a red face. He jumped up and raced out of the room. The judge muttered something under his breath, which Draco wasn’t able to hear, but he could tell that this wasn’t the first time this had happened. He wasn't surprised that he hadn't been given a lawyer, but he was surprised that the judge had been... actually fair towards him.

About two minutes of tense silence later, finally, he came back with a young woman next to him. This woman was probably fresh out of law school, there was no way, she was able to win this case for him. Still, it was nice of her to at least try.

“We request to move the trial to a later date, as I have not had enough time to see the documents” she said rather quickly and stood next to Draco, facing the judge with a quite hard look.

Draco was astonished by it, but he kept silent. The wizard sighed again, looked at the only page on his desk and shook his head. “There is not enough evidence to permit a delay in proceedings.”

She seemed annoyed by that, but turned to Draco and nodded quickly. For some reason, he actually thought that she could do it, and help him somehow getting out of this mess.

The lawyer on the other side got up and raised his eyebrows slightly challenging. This court was messed up, Draco was sure. He then cleared his throat and said loud and clearly: “The defendant admits to having broken out of Azkaban.”

Shit, great start. Before Draco could even think of a response, his lawyer shook her head. “Objection. The defendant is innocent until proven guilty!”

“The defendant isn’t in Azkaban right now and was found outside in the wizarding world, in the middle of Gringotts! That is proven guilty.”

“I object on the grounds that this statement is tainting the jury’s neutrality towards the case.” Draco’s lawyer looked at the judge who nodded, although reluctantly.

“Agreed. I direct the jury to disregard the statement that the defendant is proven guilty.” He looked at the lawyer who was representing the legal system. “You may call your first witness.”

While the other prosecutor got up and said a few words, Draco’s lawyer leaned towards him. “Do you have witnesses?” Draco just shook his head, which made his lawyer sigh. “Not to worry, I’m working on a few things so far. I have a plan, you’re not going to prison again.”

The door opened and Ronald Weasley walked in, which made Draco sigh. With Weasley against him… He may have as well just pleaded guilty. An Auror against him? And not just any Auror, one that was about to become the next Head Auror! Not great odds…

Once Weasley was fully aware of what was going on and had stated his name and rank, he was asked a few questions. Just from the look he threw Draco he could tell that the redhead was doing everything in his power to get Draco back into Azkaban. The outright hostility in his face, how he held his head slightly higher than usual and there was pratically no eye contact. Weasley wasn't going to let him get away. Which was stupid.

If it hadn't been for Draco, Harry wouldn't even be alive! And even now, Weasley pretended to be so much better than him, but in Gringotts, he hadn't even batted an eye when Draco told him that Harry needed the potion or he would die. It was as if he had already made peace with Harry dying - a long, long time ago. Finally, they went to the topic of what Draco was doing in here. And once the question came up about how he found out that Draco was living with Harry, he saw his chance.

“I visited Harry on a Saturday, when he was clearly not expecting me and there he was in the hallway. I’ve tried to get him to go back to Azkaban, but Harry forced my hand with magic and I couldn’t even report to the Aurors that he was there.”

“What kind of magic did he use?” the prosecutor asked carefully and Draco had to fight his hardest to suppress an annoyed eyeroll. This man somehow thought that Harry would use bad magic for that?

Weasley smirked. “Family protective magic!”

Silence. A few people frowned at that and others smirked, as if there was something they just thought of. Then, there was a murmur going through the hall, but nothing out of the ordinary. If anything, this was looking better for Draco than it did for the prosecution. His lawyer seemed to think so as well, as she gave him a quick, positive look.

The rest that Weasley said didn’t really mean anything and within fifteen or twenty minutes, he was done and even once Draco’s lawyer questioned him, there was nothing more substantial coming out, except that he had placed a tracker on Draco’s magic. Once Weasley mentioned that, Draco saw his lawyer smirk in triumph.

“So, you admit to having done something illegal?” Draco’s lawyer asked and Draco felt a little bad for not even knowing her name, since she was doing such a great job in defending him.

“I… no. It’s not illegal for the Head Auror to place trackers on people to either keep them safe or check up on them” Weasley said and shrugged his shoulders.

Draco’s lawyer looked at him for a solid five seconds in silene, before she turned to the judge. “Your Honour, permission to use knowledge outside of this court case for the next question? There is a point to it.”

The judge frowned, while the prosecutor already got ready to call ‘objection’, Draco was sure of that. However, the judge then nodded. “Permission granted.”

“Mr. Weasley” she then turned to the redhead. “You are not yet the Head Auror. When are you getting the promotion?”

Weasley seemed visibly uncomfortable, though he smiled, as if that was the way to get her to go away. “Next week.”

She nodded. “Before you were in line to be Head Auror, Mr. Weasley, are you aware that Harry James Potter was supposed to get that job?”

“Yes. But then he got sick and it had to be changed to a healthy person.” Weasley shrugged as if he had just explained how to tie a bow tie, which rubbed Draco the wrong way entirely. He didn’t just 'get sick'. He was cursed with ancient dark magic – well a love curse, but it could have ended very, very bad had he not gotten Draco out of Azkaban. Harry had practically saved himself with that move.

His lawyer seemed to feel the same, though she just continued, without seemingly feeling the need to give him space. “There were three other people in the race to get that promotion, what happened to them?” She raised an eyebrow, questioningly.

It was so quiet in the courtroom; Draco could have heard a feather cutting the air while floating through the room. Weasley was clearly even more uncomfortable, as he laughed slightly. He looked over to the judge and then back to Draco’s lawyer, before the prosecutor got up.

He inhaled, when the judge turned to him. “Overruled.” He then looked to Weasley. “Care to answer the question, Mr. Weasley?”

“I… They decided that other departments were working better for them” he explained and shrugged his shoulders, blushing as if he was caught in a lie.

And what a lie it was! Draco’s lawyer brought three copies and turned to the judge. “I would like to enter into evidence three letters signed by Auror Weasley, buying two potential candidates out and threatening unlawful actions to one candidate.” She gave them to the judge, while Weasley sat there in shock, either because he was found out or because he could feel the promotion slipping though his fingers. Draco thought it could be both as well.

“Witness is dismissed.”

Weasley walked out of the courtroom with his tail between his legs, while Draco fought a smirk appearing on his face. He thought he could conquer the magical world with money and violence? What an idiot. Also, what money did he use? The Weasley's weren't that wealthy... there must have been something else going on then.

There were two other witnesses for the prosecution, all of them with such little knowledge of what exactly had happened, that Draco thought he was in a kangaroo court, even though he was actually in a very legal court system!

They wanted to continue, when the door was suddenly ripped open and slammed against the wall of the courtroom. Draco turned confused and did a double take. In the doorframe stood Harry! Very much alive and not dead! He was wearing a dark grey suit with a dark red tie. His hair was actually decent and as he walked into the courtroom, Draco noticed his shining shoes. This man was ready to take over the world.

“Good afternoon” he said, as if he had just entered the pub and was going to place an order for three butterbeers. “May I approach the bench?”

The judge frowned, but approved eventually. It was Harry freaking Potter, after all! This man could probably do whatever he wanted and still get a free pass. Harry walked past Draco and his lawyer and actually winked at him. Once he stood there, he was talking quietly to the judge. With the back towards Draco, he really couldn’t read Harry’s facial expressions, however, the judge looked increasingly uncomfortable and even unsure, before he cleared his throat and turned to the jury.

“The defendant has six witnesses who want to speak for him.” He wrote something down, while Draco wondered how that had just happened. How had he just gotten from zero to six in a matter of seconds? Well, the answer was Harry freaking Potter. That man really could do whatever he wanted. The judge called someone over and handed him the note for Draco’s lawyer. “Counsel, you may call the witnesses in which order you see fit.”

Draco could tell that his lawyer was beyond pleased with this note in her hand and she stood up, looking at Harry. “Mr. Potter, why don’t you stay here and be my first witness?”

“With pleasure, Counsel Kaye” Harry said, smirking. He sat down and once they went over all the unimportant, boring stuff of name, only saying the truth and what else, he finally got to the stuff that had everyone gasp. “I was the one to break him out of Azkaban.”

Kaye seemed amused though she kept it hidden well enough. Only her eyes shimmered with laughter. She just wanted to say something else, when the other lawyer loudly interrupted.

“Objection!” he almost screeched through the hall, which didn’t only make Draco jerk from the unpleasant voice.

Even the judge seemed annoyed with him. “Overruled, continue.”

Nodding, Draco’s lawyer looked back at Harry. “Please rephrase who you broke out of Azkaban and enlighten us how you were able to do that.”

“I was the one to break Draco Lucius Malfoy out of Azkaban, by coming into the prison with a dog. When I went to see Draco, I gave him a potion that transformed him into an identical looking dog, so when I apparated back home, I took him with me.”

Kaye nodded. “What happened to the actual dog?”

Harry looked at the judge. “May I show you a box, Your Honour?”

The prosecutor looked livid, as he stood up from his chair. “Objection, that is not on the list of objects. I’ll show you what has already been received in evidence as People’s ex…”

“Well” Harry just cut in, clearly not carrying for court rules. He looked back at the judge and smirked. “I haven’t gotten to contribute to that list, since I was in a coma for the past three weeks.”

The judge nodded, unimpressed. “I move to strike the answer and overrule the objection on the basis that this is new evidence from a new witness.”

While Harry showed the box, where he had placed Nora in, Draco could tell that the prosecutor was about to explode over this. And once it was finally his time (after Harry had pointed out basically all the good Draco had done in Grimmauld Place, including finding the long lost family library and ridding the house of insects), he got up and cleared his throat so loudly, as if he was on stage and had to make sure that even the people in the very back knew he was here.

He looked at Harry, almost maliciously. “Is it not fair to state that you have been living together with the defendant in the last few months?”

Harry nodded. “Yes.”

“And isn’t it fact that this is your boyfriend?”

Draco winced. Did Harry ever come out? By the whispers in the courtroom, this seemed to be news to most of them in here. He felt sorry, for having dragged him into this mess. However, when he locked eyes with Harry, the Gryffindor smiled softly at him.

“Yes.”

His voice was so powerful and unwavering, as if he had been prepared to do that ever since he had woken up from that coma. It warmed Draco’s heart and he just wished he’d had enough time to tell him what it meant after the trial.

“So, can we not deduce from these statements that Mr. Potter just wants to get his little side fling back?”

“Objection!” Draco’s lawyer called and shook her head. She looked outraged, while Draco actually felt more embarrassed, that it had come to this.

Harry chuckled and shook his head. He turned to the judge. “I’m fully prepared to answer that, Your Honour.”

“Objection overruled.”

“I am not in fact trying to get him off the prison sentence just so I can have my little side fling back as you’ve said, because I do not have a little side fling. I broke Draco out of Azkaban, because everyone around me had already given up on my healing process and I knew that Draco with his darker family path would be able to find a solution, which he actually did! So, now, I’m not going to let him go back in there. If anyone should be there, it’s me.” He cleared his throat. “Your decision to send Draco back to Azkaban will also place me there, as I will follow him wherever he goes. Not because he’s my side piece” he looked at the lawyer, accusingly. “But because he saved my life and I owe him everything.”

The other lawyer was visibly looking for something to say, when the judge turned to Harry. “You may step down.”

As Harry walked through the room and back into another room, he winked at Draco again, which made him blush and a soft smile escaped his hardened expression. This man was going to be the death of him.

Kaye called for more witnesses on the list she had gotten, including Ginny, Luna, Teddy, Neville and finally to Draco’s utmost surprise, Master Villin. Unsurprisingly, with Harry’s love confession and threat to follow Draco to Azkaban, all the other witnesses’ positive light on how Draco had behaved around Harry and with Master Villin’s offer to have him in his potion program and amazing testimony, even though he had never really spent that much time around him, Draco had gotten off.

He was free!

The court ruled that he was actually innocent! And on top of that, they were looking at all the other imprisoned Death Eater families. Some of them could be free in a matter of days!

He stood on the outside of the courtroom, waiting for Harry to come out, as he heard commotion to his left. As he turned, he found several Aurors surrounding Weasley, who screamed his heart out. Just as another Auror was about to hex him, Draco felt someone walk past him and he saw Harry heading towards his (best) friend. “Wait.”

The Aurors almost jumped back as Harry approached.Draco was stunned by this action and held his breath as he found Harry standing in front of Weasley, just when Hermione raced closer. Was he going to forgive them? Everyone knew that Harry was capable of forgiving everyone, it was his biggest flaw, but also one of his best features.

Still, Draco didn’t like it. If he would need to spend more time around them in the future, especially since he wanted to be with Harry… he needed to figure out something. Maybe he could be polite – for Harry’s sake. But nothing else.

“You two are the worst friends I’ve ever had” Harry said calmly. Draco held his breath, as Weasley turned red and Hermione paled. “You have forced me into situations I never wanted to be in, you left me behind when I was most vulnerable and you tried to talk me into going to St. Mungo’s to die! Not to mention that you actively kept Draco from helping me when he figured out how to cure me. You could have killed me, both of you.”

Harry shook his head and as he walked to the side, clearly thinking about his next words, Draco could see so much disgust in his eyes, when he turned to look at them again. This time, Draco could see them both from the side and not only Harry’s back.

“We’ve spent so many years being friends and then, when something happens to me, you’re okay with throwing me to the side?”

“We weren’t…” Hermione tried to speak up, but one look from Harry made her whimper slightly.

Draco was in awe of how threatening Harry was right this second. The Dark Lord had thought that he was scary when he sent Crucio’s across the room, but – oh he had no idea how scary this was. There was so much dark energy coming from Harry and his gaze seemed to silence everyone around him.

And… Draco was fully interested. Damn, he wanted to kiss Harry right now! What was it with all this power making Draco almost turned on?!

“It took more than a year for me to fully heal from that curse, Hermione. More than a year, in which both of you gave up on me! You told me that I wasn’t helpful anymore, that I didn’t want to come out partying again, you explained to me that you left me alone after I’ve injured myself that you had to leave because I was being too negative!” Harry shook his head, clearly still full in control. His voice had gotten dangerously low, as he narrowed his eyes. “The only reason I’m not dragging you to court, Hermione, is because you have a small child at home.”

“Harry, I didn’t even…”

Draco watched as Harry took a step closer to his… well not friends. “You should do some serious thinking, Hermione. Why do you think the rest of the family doesn’t really want to talk to either of you anymore. And that sadly includes your other children, you know.”

“Harry!” Ron called out, clearly angry at him, but Hermione paled even more, her eyes narrowed in thought, like Draco had seen when they were still at Hogwarts.

Looking at Ron with disappointment in his eyes, Harry raised his eyebrows quickly. “That is all. I don’t want to hear anything from you two anymore, unless it’s an apology letter for how you’ve treated me, Draco and anybody else who tried to help me.”

“You can’t be…” Ron tried again, but another look from Harry made him swallow in fear and he averted his gaze.

Harry nodded at the Aurors, hiw voice back to a normal somewhat happy tone. “Thank you, boys. I’ll take my leave now.”

He smiled and turned. As he walked closer to Draco, his smile grew bigger and Draco finally shook his head. Behind his back, Draco saw as Weasley started struggling against the Aurors, which made Draco smirk.

“You are one crazy wizard, Harry.”

He found the Gryffindor chuckle next to him and turned to look at him. He had his tie opened and the first button of his white button-up shirt undone. “Yeah, but things usually tend to go my way.”

“You could have ended up in Azkaban together with me” Draco shook his head, shivering under the intense look Harry gave him. His eyes were shining with life and his lips slowly grew into a side-way smirk.

“As if they would send their precious little savior to prison without me actually having gone crazy and killing a dozen people…”

Draco chuckled and closed the distance between the two of them. “Thank you.” He placed his arms around his savior’s neck and leaned in for a soft kiss.

Harry hummed, his arms around Draco’s waist and he smiled. “You desperately need a shower, my darling.”

“I cannot agree more. Take us home, please.”

Chapter Text

Harry grinned as he heard the doorbell ringing. He jumped over a left-over stack of books an opened the door only to have Ginny hanging around his neck. “That was amazing!” she chuckled and grabbed Luna’s hand as they walked into the living room. Nora who had resolutely stayed with the pair for the morning jumped up and tried to lick his face, which made him snort. He laughed and followed them with Nora in tow once he had closed the door again.

“It was pretty good timing, wasn’t it?” he offered and sat down, as Ginny enlarged a huge box with party things again. Serode appeared and smiled at them, quickly cleaning the books and whatever else was left over. She too seemed happy that Harry and Draco were back in the house. Not to forget Frey who had kept the laboratory so clean that you could have used the surface as a mirror, in hopes that Draco would come back as soon as possible.

Luna started playing with Nora again, who couldn’t quite concentrate enough on the toy to say she was playing. Between running at Harry for some quick snuggles and chasing after a ball Luna kept rolling into all directions, she was having fun, though.

As Harry heard the door on an upper floor bathroom open, he also heard the front door, which had Nora b-lining it and all Harry could hear in his head was Nora screaming Teddy’s name. He grinned over it and leaned over to see his dog practically attacking his godson.

“Nora! You lucky girl!” Teddy said and laughed as she jumped up at him as well. Today truly seemed to be a happy day for her. Behind Teddy was Cassy who smiled through the hallway at Harry. He was now sitting so he could see exactly who was coming from the door.

Before Teddy could even make it to Harry, the stairs creaked and Draco walked down. Teddy gasped and raced up the last few steps, falling around Draco’s neck, while he said something between ‘you’re alive’ or ‘you’re free’ or ‘I’ve missed you so much’, all scrambled like a pan of eggs, but the message was clear. Harry heard Draco huff, as if Teddy had run straight into him and knocked him into the stairs, when laughter followed soon.

“I’ve missed you too, Teddy” Draco said and he appeared in Harry’s view. Teddy was practically hanging around his neck and he greeted Cassy as well, before they all made their way into the kitchen.

Harry smirked over his godson’s enthusiasm and winked at Draco. “I don’t think we need to ask Teddy who his favorite person is, do we?”

“I love you both” Teddy said, resigned.

“Of course. I see you hanging around my neck all the time.”

Teddy rolled his eyes and made a show of walking over to Harry and falling around his neck dramatically, which broke the chair and threw both of them to the floor. Harry burst out laughing and hugged his godson. “I love you too, Buck.”

Draco walked over, holding hand out for Teddy, who grabbed it and pulled him into a hug again. “I’m so glad you’re not going to prison, Uncle Dray.”

“We’re not going to stop this ‘Uncle Dray’-bullshit-train any time soon, are we?” Draco asked and grinned as he held out a hand for Harry as well. Harry took it and grinned as he got up next to Draco.

“Nope” Teddy answered and shrugged his shoulders. “You’re stuck with it.”

Ginny sniggered. “Stuck with you more like.”

Draco chuckled, placing an arm around Harry’s shoulder and pulled him closer. Harry relished in the feeling of being so close to the man who literally saved his life. As he looked at the Slytherin, Draco pressed a kiss on his temple and then turned to the room. “Thank you all. I thought I was as good as dead, really. I never expected to be free this evening.”

“Thanks to Harry” Teddy said and beamed at him.

Nodding, Ginny placed some champagne onto the table and grinned at Harry and Draco. “I thought we should drink to your freedom.”

Draco chuckled and Harry leaned against him, enjoying having him so close – and actually being healthy. He was cured! And while Harry had honestly given up on it a long time ago, it was only because of Draco's knowledge that he was now alive. Harry smiled at Draco softly.

Ginny opened the bottle cheering as the small explosion sounded, while everyone else joined quickly. It was clear that Draco only had eyes for Harry. And while Harry himself was looking around the room a little, he quickly turned back to Draco. It was as if he thought that is was a miracle that they ended up together. Harry just smirked and grabbed two glasses, walking over to him, before he handed the Slytherin his own champagne flute.

“You’re not even stuck in Grimmauld Place anymore” Harry said and took a sip. “You could go wherever you’d want to.”

Smiling softly, Draco seemed to recognize the tenseness in these words and he shrugged his shoulders. “What if I don’t want to leave? I don’t really have a place to stay, anyway.”

Harry grinned, relieve flooding his system. “I suppose I could offer you a room in this huge house.”

“You suppose?” Draco repeated, a side-smirk growing, as he grabbed Harry and pulled him into his side. “How very generous of you.”

“Oh for Merlin’s sake” Teddy called and shook his head, when Harry looked over. Draco pressed a kiss on Harry’s hair and seemed to follow his gaze. “Just kiss already!”

Harry snickered and leaned against Draco. Everything about him was so full of light – he was so alive and energetic. He looked up at Draco and smiled at his soft eyes. It seemed as if Draco too liked to just watch him. Living free and painless was so much better.

He moved his arm to rest around Harry’s shoulders and he pulled him even closer, pressing another soft kiss on his temple, which made him look up and he beamed at Draco. “You’re a free man, Draco. What do you want to do?”

“The better question, Harry, is what do you want to do? Go back to the Aurors?” Draco asked instead, clearly trying to give himself a little time to think over what he wanted to do. Harry chuckled, giving him the time he clearly needed to figure out what he wanted to say and he shook his head.

He caught Teddy looking alarmed, though with Harry’s action of shaking his head he seemed to have calmed down. Harry felt slightly bad for it. His poor godson. This year must have been very traumatic for him. For all of his friends – well most of them.

“I’m not going back” Harry said and leaned against Draco, smiling at the people around him. “I was thinking of doing something with Soul Dogs. Britain needs more professional Soul Dog breeders, wouldn’t you agree?”

Teddy ran through the room and jumped around Harry’s neck, almost crushing Draco’s arm and throwing all three of them to the floor. “Thank you!” Teddy whispered to Harry, while he just rubbed his back.

Nora barked, making the people look at her and Harry found her voice inside his head. ‘You’re not getting rid of me! If you want the other Soul Dogs, I’m still staying here, protecting you and my family!’

Harry smirked at his dog. “I know, I know. You’re not getting replaced, Nora!” He ruffled her fur once Teddy had let go of him.

However, then the attention was back on Draco and he sighed, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t know what I want to do, to be honest.”

“I know!” Teddy said, his eyes shining in the late afternoon sun. He walked over to his satchel and dug out a parchment. Draco frowned, looking over to Harry, but even he was surprised by this action. What did Teddy have? So, all they could do was wait and see what his godson was keeping from him. “I received an answer from Master Villin, when I wrote that Uncle Dray was having his trial!”

He held the parchment towards Draco who took it, although hesitantly. Harry leaned against him, reading over his shoulder, and it warmed his heart.

Dear Mr. Lupin

Thank you for this quick message, I was prepared to speak for Mr. Malfoy so do not worry. I believe that your godfather will also have a few words to say, so there will be enough voices for Mr. Malfoy’s freedom. Should this indeed be the case, please hand him the potion apprentice acceptance letter for next year. Should Mr. Malfoy be interested, there is an open study place for him. I have never seen someone brew a more competent stomach settling potion with live animals before. Do tell Mr. Malfoy to write back if he’d be interested.
See you soon, Mr. Lupin.

Best regards,
Daxton Mallery Villin

“Even his whole name reads like a supervillain, doesn’t it?” Draco asked while Harry chuckled softly. This man was full of surprises. And of course, he had a study place open for Draco – anyone who saw him brewing a potion knew that Draco had some incredibly raw talent.

Harry nodded after a little while. “But it is a very good offer. If you really want to get a new, changed public image, Villin would be the person to give you that.”

Teddy snickered. “Or, you know, marrying the Boy Who Lived.”

Draco blushed slightly, though before he could say something, Harry jumped towards his godson, which made him squeal and race through the kitchen, almost slamming into Ginny who was pouring some more champagne.

“Keep it down, you rowdy bunch of children!” she called, after stabilizing the bottle, when even Nora barked and ran after Harry and Teddy. Harry laughed at her annoyed voice and practically flew up the stairs while Teddy laughed loudly and tried to get away from him.

He didn’t make it all the way up, only barely to his own room, when Harry caught him and threw him to the floor, tickling him which made Teddy only laugh louder. Finally, he got away from Harry, racing up another set of stairs, which Harry could do in his sleep by now. There was no pain in his body anywhere. So he jumped after Teddy, catching him easily and found Teddy grinning, eyes big full of joy.

“I was so afraid I would lose you both” he said softly and Harry smiled, sitting down on floor next to him. He placed an arm around his godson – more of a son really – and pulled him into a hug.

“I would never leave you willingly, Teddy. You are my whole world” he said softly.

Teddy chuckled. “Uncle Dray wouldn’t be happy to hear that, now would he?” They were interrupted by the door bell ringing and Ginny calling through the house that she’d open it.

Harry laughed loudly and shook his head. “Once you have a child, Teddy, you’ll realize that they turn into your world. For a while at least.” Well Teddy didn't know that him and Cassy were going to have a child. The trouble with Harry and then everything surrounding Draco had Teddy focussing on other things that his fiancé. Harry was in awe of how Cassy just took it in stride and let Teddy worry about his godparents (let's be real) and only then about her. She truly was an angel - as long as Teddy wasn't going to continue with this behaviour of course.

“Thank you, Harry” Teddy said and leaned his head against Harry’s while he felt the ancient Black home shudder through familiar magic entering.

Oh, Narcissa must have just arrived then. Harry needed to see whether or not Draco was alright, but he couldn’t just leave Teddy alone. Not yet anyway. “What for, Buck?”

Teddy looked up at him and smiled. “For being my father.”

That really pulled on his heart and he smiled at his son with teary eyes, before he pulled him into a hug. “You’re welcome, Buck, and thank you as well for being the best possible son I could have ever had.”

When they finally got up and marched downstairs, it had been quiet for a while. Harry ruffled through Teddy’s hair before Nora came running up the stairs as well. ‘Draco doesn’t open the door!’

Harry snorted and ruffled through her fur, as they reached the bottom of the stairs, where Ginny waited for them. “Draco’s being held hostage by his mom, Harry” she whispered and pointed at the closed door which made Harry giggle.

He turned to his godson. “Teddy, can you go play with Nora? I’ll look after Draco. Free him from being a hostage.”

“Sure” Teddy winked at him and both adults and the dog walked into the kitchen, while Harry followed the noises of Narcissa and Draco talking. They were in the study right next to the entrance door and Harry stopped, listening to what they were saying, while he still heard the happy chatter from the kitchen.

Narcissa was the first to talk. “Did the book help?” It sounded like she didn’t know what else to ask, as if she feared that any other discussion was unwanted.

“It was exactly what we needed. Thank you, you know.” Draco hesitated. It seemed as if he too didn’t know anymore how to talk to family. “For not telling the Aurors I was the one showing up.”

“You are my son, Draco” Narcissa said, tearing up. Harry opened the door softly and peered inside. They were standing a few feet apart from each other and it looked at if Narcissa had a hard time composing herself. “I would never tell anyone about you who could harm you.” She cleared her throat, finally regaining some sort of self-composure. “I’m just glad it worked out in the end. And I’m sorry for not being there at the trial, no one told me anything!”

As Harry knocked on the door, he found a relieved Draco and he smiled at the two. “I’m sorry for interrupting, Ginny said Draco was being held hostage.” He smirked and found Draco rolling his eyes, though he was grinning. “Would you like to stay for dinner, Narcissa?” His eyes moved to Draco asking for his permission.

And now, even Draco’s mother turned to look at him. She too, seemed very insecure. Well, they hadn’t properly talked for the past fifteen years and the last actual discussion had been about his father who had wanted them to visit him in Azkaban. Harry had heard from Draco that Narcissa had wanted him to go with her, but he had decided to separate himself from that part of the family tree. It had never again turned into a deep conversation after that. Harry guessed it was fair to be a little insecure, now, for both of them.

“I would love to have you stay for dinner, Mother” Draco said and smiled.

His mother once again seemed to tear up and she nodded and pulled him into a hug. “I’m so sorry for everything, my dragon” she whispered loud enough for Harry to catch his words and he caught Draco himself fighting with tears.

Harry smiled and accepted the champagne flute Cassy was bringing him with a soft smile. When mother and son separated, Harry entered the office again with it. “Welcome to our party then” he handed it over to Draco’s mother. “We’re in the kitchen. Do you mind, if I borrow your son for a second longer?”

“Not at all” Narcissa said and smiled at Draco, before she walked into the kitchen, where she greeted Teddy and Luna, before she was introduced to everyone else.

Harry walked closer and tucked a strain of hair behind Draco’s ear softly, before he smiled at him softly. “Are you okay?”

Draco nodded. “I’m slowly getting there, Harry. I honestly just never thought that my life could make such a U-turn.”

Smirking, Harry nodded. It probably all started with how it usually started whenever he was involved. Harry freaking Potter breaking a former Death Eater out of Azkaban. Typical Tuesday, really.

That probably would have never even happened in Draco’s fever dreams. And he then healed him, he got a job offer, his mother was on his side again and now they were celebrating his freedom in Harry’s house. That actually did sound like a fever dream.

“Can we just quickly talk about… us?” Harry asked, hesitantly. He caught Draco paling and about to panic, as if he was thinking that Harry regretted this relationship now after all. Harry needed to calm him down, quickly. “I didn’t want to put a label on us when I was sick, because I didn’t want to get my hopes up, but…” he stopped, eyes searching in Draco’s, until Draco leaned forward and pecked his lips.

Harry looked surprised, but not unhappy, which seemed to seal Draco’s decision and the Slytherin pulled the him into a hug. Such a brave reaction from Draco, to just lean forward and kiss him!

Draco smiled at him. “I would like to have an actual relationship with you, Harry. From boyfriends to maybe fiancés to eventually husbands. But we can take it as slow or as fast as we want, because all I wanted from the beginning is you.”

“I think I’d like that.”

Draco smirked. “You think so?”

Rolling his eyes, Harry slowly ran his fingers over Draco’s exposed neck. He felt Draco shiver under his touch and smiled softly. His skin was warm, soft and just so… perfect. Everything here was perfect.

He grinned as his fingers moved to the back of Draco’s neck, where Draco’s whole body shuddered and Harry sniggered. “Shut it. I know how to torture you.”

“You do?” Draco grinned and leaned in while Harry hummed, though clearly not concentrating on actually torturing him. He just liked to run his hands over Draco’s skin – his Draco. “Do you also know how to be my boyfriend?”

“I don’t, no” Harry answered, a grin spread over his face. “You could teach me.”

“Maybe, I will.”

Draco closed the distance between them, softly kissing Harry, who threw his arms around Draco’s neck. His boyfriend’s arms snaked around his waist, carefully pulling him closer. He could feel and smell him everywhere. The sweet spicy odor mixed together with the Slytherin’s natural smell almost made Harry’s knees weaken. Draco was taking in his senses, leaving no space for anything or anyone else.

Until someone cleared his throat at the doorframe. Draco grinned over Harry’s annoyed look towards the person standing there and Harry turned to look at Teddy, who just leaned at the door frame, grinning.

“Aunt Ginny wants me to get you both into the kitchen.”

Harry sighed as Draco snickered, even more so when they heard Ginny calling from the inside of the house: “I told him to wait another minute, Merlin Teddy!”

Harry sighed, releasing Draco. “I mean, you did tell me to finally kiss Uncle Dray and show him what he means to you. Right?”

“Was I wrong?” Teddy asked, moving away from the doorframe, as Harry walked towards him.

“No” Harry answered amused, glancing at Draco, who enjoyed this interaction maybe a little bit too much by the look of it. “But I think I should also tell your Uncle Dray why you told me to keep him close, you see…”

Draco laughed, when Teddy’s eyes grew big and he started talking nonsense, loudly even singing songs over Harry’s sentences, until neither man could be understood even though they were practically screaming at each other. He placed an arm around Teddy and pulled him into his side.

“Don’t worry, Teddy, I’ll just ask Harry when you’re not here anymore.”

Harry laughed as Teddy paled and he turned to Draco. “Please don’t! It’s really embarrassing! You’ll never think of me the same!”

It was clear that Draco was tempted to just ignore his begging and ask Harry later tonight, he ruffled through Teddy’s flaxen-haired head and nodded. “Fine, I won’t ask.” It warmed Harry’s heart – all interactions between Teddy and Draco warmed his heart. Even more so now, that they were hopefully going to stay together for a long, long while.

Once again, the doorbell sounded and Teddy ran over to open it while Harry pulled Draco into the kitchen with him. “I’ll tell you later” he promised quietly which made Draco chuckle.

“Fia?! Oh Merlin, hi!”

Harry widened his eyes and looked at the door. Draco followed his eyes and frowned, which Harry thought was a good reaction. Had he seen his own lawyer hugging his godson, he would have reacted the same, probably. Honestly, Sofia hadn't come around in the last few months, too busy with her career as the best possible laywer out there. And the fact that she had gotten Draco from being sentences to prison, would most likely give her a number of new clients.

Laughing, Harry walked out of the kitchen again, Draco following, though hesitantly. “Look who’s here! The hero in this whole saga.”

Sofia Kaye smirked and rolled her eyes. “Everyone in this house knows that you are the one who’s got a hero complex, Harry.”

“Hear, hear” Ginny called from the kitchen, while Cassy snickered and started talking to Narcissa. Draco shook his head and watched the interaction in front of him, while Harry grinned.

“What a surprise to see you again, Harry!” Sofia Kaye said and smirked. “I did not expect to see you so soon!”

Harry stuck out his tongue. “You did great today, kid.”

Teddy agreed quickly. “Oh yeah, that was amazing! I don’t think I’d ever be able to stand up to someone older than me like you did!”

Sofia grinned and shrugged her shoulders. “I cannot believe that you two were part of my court case today! I didn’t even know any of you’d show up today!” She grinned at Teddy, who placed an arm around her shoulders.

“Wait, how do you know each other?” Draco frowned as if he was only one who hadn’t gotten some kind of very important information.

Harry smirked and nodded, grabbing his hand and squeezing softly. “Sofia is Teddy’s former classmate and one of the people, I’m sponsoring.”

Draco frowned. “What?”

Chuckling, Harry realized that he had never actually told Draco that he was helping less fortunate children achieving their goals in life. Before he could start an explanation, however, Teddy spoke up quickly.

“Is that ‘what’ for Fia being my classmate?” Teddy asked and smirked when Draco rolled his eyes. “She was in Ravenclaw, just like me.”

“And introduced you to someone called Cassandra Julie Banwell. How very sad that this relationship ended so soon after you left Hogwarts” Sofia Kaye said and ducked away from Teddy shoving her, while she was laughing. Teddy winked at her and walked into the kitchen.

Harry smirked and turned to Draco. “Every year, I’m going to Hogwarts and I meet with the seventh year and I tell them that I’m giving one lucky person a set sum of money for them to fulfill their dream. It started when Frank Dunn asked me if I could help him become the youngest Quidditch European Champion.” Harry smirked, when he remembered that letter twelve years ago. It was so innocent, so sincere, as if he had just wanted to see what would happen. The last thing anyone had expected was for Harry to show up at Hogwarts and watch him play. “I saw him and immediately knew that I had to support him. So from then on, I asked the seventh year who were interested to write me a short essay of why they should get my sponsorship.”

He could tell from the look in Draco’s eyes, that he thought it was very noble of him. But it was just what was right, in his eyes. Especially if there was someone who didn’t have enough money to get to their dream. And if they had been working for that specific goal, it should probably be easy to write an essay about that. The hard part was then for him when he had to figure out who he was sponsoring.

Sofia Kaye rolled her eyes. “Oh, not that again.”

“What happened?” Draco asked, clearly grinning over his lawyer rolling her eyes. Teddy snickered, coming back with a champagne flute, which Sofia accepted gratefully.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, trying hard to keep it together, while Sofia threw him another death glare. “I got her essay around midnight of the last day. And it was so emotional and…”

“Yes, yes, we get it. You liked it, I got the sponsorship. Can we change the topic? Anyone want cake?” Sofia asked and looked at Teddy who seemed to enjoy seeing his friend getting tortured by his godfather.

Harry chuckled and turned to Draco. “See, her drunk father used all the money they had saved for her to study law on a stupid bet and lost everything and so, she decided to ask me for help.”

“On a whim, to be honest” Sofia commented. “Cake, anyone?”

Teddy laughed and nodded, taking pity on her. “Want to stay for dinner? We’re only waiting for Professor Longbottom.” He motioned to the door.

Sofia lit up. “Oh, hell yeah! I haven’t seen him for so long.”

“Something tells me he doesn’t mind that” Harry added dryly. He had heard enough stories from Neville to know that all three, Cassy, Sofia and Teddy had been a thorn in almost all of the professor’s eyes.

Draco smirked, as Harry saw both Teddy and Sofia looking at him accusingly. “I beg to differ!” Teddy exclaimed. “I was his favorite student.”

“Maybe to cause chaos, yeah” Harry said, beckoning all of them into the kitchen.

“I am an angel!” Sofia said and smirked. “Professor Longbottom never caught me doing something.” She grinned at Teddy who snorted.

The Ravenclaw placed his arm around her shoulders again. “Because you kept throwing me under the bus, Fia, that’s not how friendships work.”

Sofia snickered. “Oh, silly me for not recognizing that.” She squealed as they entered the kitchen and ran around the table to pull Cassy into a bone-crushing hug.

Harry chucked fondly, as Draco shook his head. He looked over to his mother, who smiled at him and he returned it. Harry liked that there was so much love in the air, so much acceptance and friendship. Harry really enjoyed being here around Draco, feeling his hand in his.

The doorbell sounded again and Harry sighed, mumbling about it hopefully being the last time it sounded today, and he headed out. Meanwhile, Cassy and Sofia started talking like crazy and Teddy moved to stand beside Draco.

“Not getting involved in the conversation?” Draco asked with a smirk, as Harry walked down the hall. He heard Teddy’s answer about something with make-up barely, and opened the door for Neville.

The professor who looked more like a normal human being in his Muggle dark blue jumper and black jeans grinned at him. “Hey Harry.”

Hugging his friend, Harry smirked. “How are you?”

“Great!” Neville chuckled. “I’m really happy that you didn’t die! I told you, you know. To have faith in Draco.”

“Yeah, yeah” Harry smirked and stepped back. “Come on in, we’ve got a surprise guest especially for you.”

Neville frowned, though as they walked closer to the kitchen, Harry could tell that he recognized Sofia’s voice. Rolling his eyes, Neville was just about to say something to Harry, when Sofia called his name.

“Professor Longbottom!” Sofia called out and Neville groaned, while Harry snickered.

The Professor then smirked and shook his head. “Of all the places in this world, Miss Kaye, I would have never imagined to meet you inside of Harry Potter’s kitchen. Twenty points from Ravenclaw.”

Teddy snickered, while Sofia looked outraged and Neville greeted everyone. Draco pulled Harry into a side hug, so he stood between his godson and Draco. Harry smirked at him and just as he wanted to say something, Cassy got the attention of everyone, when she lightly knocked at her glass.

“I just wanted to say, thank you, Draco for saving Harry” she started and smiled, while Draco clearly wanted to comment and argue something. Harry just shook his head at his boyfriend and grinned at the blond wizard.

Cassy already continued and all eyes turned looked back at her. “… made all of us happy again. So thank you. And because today is such an important day and I’ve been waiting for Harry to wake up and Draco to be free, I think it’s fine to tell you all…” her eyes met Teddy’s and he straightened, not quite understanding what was going on, but he must have noticed that this was important. He seemed to know that something significant was about to happen.

Harry chuckled quietly, even though he noticed his boyfriend’s confusion, but he didn’t say anything. He beamed at Cassy and placed a hand on Teddy’s shoulder.

“I’m pregnant, Teddy. We’re going to have a baby!”

Teddy froze, before he placed the champagne flute onto the table and ran around to hug his fiancé, while the rest of the crowd cheered. Harry laughed at the scene of a teared-up Teddy hugging Cassy while Sofia seemed to cheer the loudest and even created confetti over the happy couple.

These two were going to be the best parents ever, Harry was sure of that.

Chapter Text

Draco carefully placed the last ingredient into the simmering potion and stepped back, admiring his latest creation as the light blue smoke rose up to the ceiling where Nightwing, the green winged Mortis Bat, was sleeping his days away. Thanks to Nora they were able to somehow communicate with the bat and it had told them that he really liked the house and would love to stay - even if Draco had killed his best friend for which Draco still felt a little sorry, but the animal understood: kill or be killed. So now, he spent most days sleeping in the potions laboratory or the library (where he usually hunted for mice) and when the night drew closer, he would fly to the owls and they would go out hunting together. Such a simple life.

Stirring the potion again softly, Draco checked the colour one last time and nodded to himself. He was sure that Master Villin would be perfectly happy with it. He had mentioned in the past few weeks that he had never had such a powerful potioneer apprentice so far. Then again, Draco was definitely the oldest apprentice in there, but he still loved the work.

When he walked over to the vials, he smirked and grabbed the one he had already labeled with Shinnoai potion. Their assignment had been to re-create a famous potion that was close to their heart and improve it in whatever way possible. A lot of the other apprentices had decided to go for the most famous ones, which was a stupid decision, as these were continuously improved and monitored. He wanted to make sure to use this potion and improve it with more common ingredients, so that one didn’t need to know a potioneer to make this potion themselves.

Carefully, he started filling the vial, before he heard the door to the library open and footsteps descending down the stairs. That could be one of five people: Ginny or Cassy who were looking for a little chat, his mother to invite him for yet another family dinner (not that he had anything against that), Teddy to ask if he could either brew something here as well or look after little Iris, or Harry. It was most likely Harry.

Draco smiled, as his mind went to that crucial day, where he had finally been freed from the shackles of the Ministry and even his past. When Harry and Teddy had raced out of the kitchen, the discussions hadn't stopped. Ginny looked after the two men and the dog who raced out of the kitchen and up the stairs, while Draco could hear both of them laughing loudly through the house. “It’s starting again” she sighed, annoyed. Though it was clearly just for show. Ginny and Luna had continued to come over rather often - at least twice a month. Draco didn't understand how it had happened, but he had formed a very strong bond with the Gryffindor and even ended up as one of her best men at the wedding two months ago, right next to Harry of course.

When Draco looked at her in the kitchen, however, he didn't know that yet. She smirked and winked at him. “I hope you’re ready to deal with both of them. They’re both just adult children.”

Next to her, Cassy was chuckling, as she poured herself some soda into the champagne flute. “Let my fiancé have his fun. He was so depressed for the better part of last year. I like him like this so much more.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong” Ginny smirked as she walked to the entrance of the kitchen. “I love them both dearly, but with a house alive like that, I’m not sure I’m going to visit more than once every other month.”

“Aw, Harry would be sad” Draco countered. “Besides, Teddy doesn’t live here.”

Cassy agreed. “And, once the baby is here, he might be too tired to race after Harry. Or hide from him.”

Ginny gaped at her. “Wait, you’re pregnant?”

Looking back, Draco should have seen the signs, but he hadn't really paid attention to her, as sad as that sounded. Then again, she had been drinking soda instead of champagne, but Ginny’s reaction had him burst out laughing, as Cassy looked at the champagne flute in her hand which was full of soda.

“Yeah?” she asked and inhaled sharply. “Don’t tell Teddy, though. I want to tell him myself.” Her eyes moved towards Draco who nodded. He wasn’t going to tell anyone.

Luna grinned and looked at her fiancé. “We should still come and visit Harry more often than once every other month, Gin” she said, taking up the thread of the discussion again, and walked to her fiancé to kiss her cheeks.

Ginny chuckled and held up her hands. “I’m outvoted, it looks like.”

Draco had really started to like her - what he called - aggressively loving character. He had started to learn that she would protect her family fiercely, from anybody she deemed harmful. And when Hermione once entered the house, Draco had also learnt that Ginny considered him family as well. That situation ended in a screaming match between Ginny and Hermione, before the latter stormed out and yelled at all of them that she was cancelling the friendship. Apparently, that was something one could do.

Since Draco had been left alone to fill up the vial without anybody distracting him - yet - he was somewhat sure that his boyfriend was standing at the door, watching him carefully. Most likely with such soft eyes and a love-struck smile on his lips that Teddy usually called him a grey wolf. Nobody really knew why except for these two, but it annoyed Harry and amused Teddy, which was amazing in itself.

“Is Nora having fun outside?” Draco asked, as he placed a cork on top of the vial and looked at the door frame, where Harry was leaning against and had in fact a love-struck expression plastered all over his face. It still made Draco shiver whenever he saw it.

Harry chuckled softly and nodded. “We were finally able to give Freddy a new home. I was beginning to think that he was a lost Soul Dog.”

Draco was impressed. Freddy had been incredibly hard to work with and even though he was technically a Soul Dog, Draco was sure that there must have been something wrong with him. “Oh. Who got that rebel then?”

“The sweetest boy! He came in with his parents, who told me that he’s having temper tantrums, because nobody understands him” Harry’s voice was so soft and sad. “And before I could even ask if he was able to communicate with them, Freddy’s all over him and even brought a toy.”

Placing the vial in a protective case, Draco looked at his boyfriend and marveled at his understanding of animal and humans. His voice was so full emotions and he didn’t even seem to care that his work was helping so many people! This man truly was a mystery.

He crossed the room and kissed him in the middle of his sentence, which had Harry smirk. “You’re a terrible listener, love.”

“I have to follow my instincts, Harry” Draco said and chuckled, taking his boyfriend’s hands into his. “And they told me that such a beautiful face needed to be kissed. Are you up for something to eat?”

Harry chuckled and nodded. “Serode asked me to come grab you, before you were going to slave away in the lab until three a.m.”

Smirking, Draco looked at Harry in mocked outrage. “I would never!”

The fact that he had spent the last couple of days working until a little after midnight seemed to also have not escaped Harry’s attention. It wasn't three a.m. though... He held out his hand and Draco took it, which was how they walked through the clean looking library. Frey, who had claimed all the secret areas as his responsibility, was actually a miracle worker.

As they headed to the kitchen, Teddy was already sitting there, looking a little tired, but still with so much energy. He wore an old but comfortable looking grey shirt with blue jeans. On his lap was a little six-month-old baby girl being fed.

“Hi Uncle Dray” Teddy grinned and hugged Draco back with one arm, the other stabilizing his child. Before Iris could make a fuss about her food being gone, she got the bottle into reach again and calmed down immediately. “Cassy sends her love, she had to go take care of some family business.”

“And so you thought you should also come visit your family?” Draco asked amused and sat down next to Harry, who poured everyone a glass of red wine.

Teddy chuckled. “I think she’s picking out her wedding dress with her mum, which is why she didn’t want me nor Iris with her today.”

“Do you still have your suit?” Harry asked, as he placed some food on the plate for Teddy. “I guess the flowers have to be new, right?”

Snickering, Teddy agreed. “That would be a bad sign of our marriage, if we come with dead flowers! Really, Harry!”

Harry held up his hands after he placed the plate in front of his godson. “What? I’m just asking questions. We all know that out of me and Draco, I’m the one making terrible small talk.”

Draco laughed and leaned over to kiss his boyfriend. Teddy made a disapproving sound which made Harry laugh and he winked at his godson.

“By the way, Cassy wants me to ask you two loving idiots if you are indeed ready to look after Iris for the two weeks of our honeymoon and she also offered to shorten it to one week.” Teddy smirked. “I joked that you guys should hand in a written report of her daily activities and food intake and everything, but I think she actually thought that was a good idea.”

Harry chuckled. “If it keeps Cassy’s mind from freaking out, I will absolutely take the responsibility of writing her a letter or a text message of what she’s eaten today, how much she played, what else happened.”

Draco smirked at his boyfriend. He was just so caring for everyone, even giving himself more work, just so his daughter-in-law would feel comfortable to leave her baby with him. He didn’t doubt for one second that Harry and he would have problems with Iris.

“So, you want to look after little Iris for two weeks?” Teddy asked, though no one could respond as the child looked at her dad with big eyes and made a happy noise. Teddy turned his entire attention to his baby girl and cooed at her, which made her laugh and she babbled something, grabbing Teddy’s finger for something.

It was clear from Harry’s soft expression that seeing his godson with his own daughter was warming his heart and after all the panic Teddy had gone through before Iris was born, it was indeed nice to see him being a good father. Draco honestly couldn’t tell how many nights he and Harry had woken up to Teddy panicking in the living room telling them that he wasn’t ready to be a dad and what if he would mess things up and everything that went with it. Luckily, Harry seemed to have some experience with it and usually calmed him again, before ordering him to go home and talk to Cassy.

“We’d be happy to take Iris in for a few days, Teddy” Harry said once his godson was done beaming at his daughter. To be fair though, Harry usually told Draco that he too was looking at Iris as if she was angel. Harry and Draco resumed eating, when Teddy walked to the crib in the corner of the kitchen and placed a now tired looking baby girl into it.

“Draco will be with Master Villin most of the day in the first week, but I got my own business and can therefore take a break whenever I want to” Harry continued and looked over at Draco who rolled his eyes and swallowed quickly to say something as well.

It seemed to amuse Harry, when Draco finally turned to him. “You do need to feed the dogs and make sure that they’re not going to eat Soleil!”

Harry chuckled. “No Soul Dog has ever tried to get to Soleil. Nora won’t let them touch her.”

“That is very much true” Draco admitted and just caught sight of his cat balancing on the shelf above the crib. She made herself ready and within two careful jumps landed next to little Iris, where she rolled into a ball and proceeded to sleep along with the child.

Teddy nodded as he walked back, apparently not having witnessed the cat with his daughter, and smirked. “I just need to warn you that Cassy’s mum might be coming by once or twice.”

Harry chuckled. “She doesn’t trust two men to look after the most precious little baby girl in the world?” He looked at Draco who rolled his eyes, more over the comment from Harry than the fact that Cassy’s mother was just a tad too anxious.

Humming, Teddy sat down again and grabbed the plate of food that had gotten largely unnoticed to him. “I never thought my life would go into this direction.”

Harry looked up and smiled as he leaned back and placed his arm on the chair behind Draco. “What do you mean, Buck?” Draco felt Harry softly running his hands up and down his arm and he smiled at his boyfriend.

“Like this” Teddy motioned towards him and then looked over to Iris. “I thought I had to give up one family, to get another.”

This made Harry chuckle and he shook his head when his godson looked at him. “You’ll never get rid of me! Now that I have my own personal potioneer inside this home, nothing can kill me.”

Draco rolled his eyes and looked at his boyfriend. “I will absolutely kill you with whatever potion you think isn’t tampered with.”

“Like the love potion?” Harry offered and showed him the most innocent smile he had, while Teddy snickered and Draco rolled his eyes.

“You’re never going let me forget that, will you?”

“Nope.” Harry leaned in and kissed his temple, while the hand behind his back moved up to his neck, squeezing gently. “But I will also never let you forget that I love you and that you saved my fucking life.”

Teddy looked outraged. “Language!” he said and shook his head, while Draco smirked and was soon pulled into a soft kiss by Harry. “You two are just…”

“Love-sick fools, we know” Harry offered and winked at Draco. “I’ve heard you and Cassy saying that enough.”

“You’re even more in love that Cassy and I” Teddy smirked. “Sometimes I think I’m the adult and you are my son.”

Draco snickered when he saw Harry’s eyes shining. He turned to his godson and pushed the empty plate away. “Oh, Teddy, dad, I need to ask you a very important question! How does sex work?”

Teddy looked scarred for life as he leaned back and rubbed his forehead. “This was a mistake” he murmured to himself, when Harry started giggling.

Draco chuckled and placed an arm around his boyfriend as well. He enjoyed seeing Harry with so much life and making fun of people all around him. This was the man he had fallen in love with. The man who was able to have fun with everyone around him.

“Do you two mind if I head back to the laboratory and clean up the mess until dessert?” Draco asked and carefully moved a strain of hair out of Harry’s face.

“Not at all, love” Harry said softly and Teddy shook his head as well.

Getting up, he placed a kiss on Harry’s temple and ran his hand through the Gryffindor’s hair. As he left the kitchen, he heard Teddy snicker and saying something about Harry being too much in love with a certain Slytherin. Harry only retorted that his godson would soon get a house ban if he continued talking like that. That didn’t seem to bother Teddy as his laughter followed Draco into the family library, which had him smile as well. These two.

He cleaned up everything, vanishing the rest of the potion and rubbing the cauldron clean. Next week, he was supposed to show the class how he had made the stomach settling potion that had helped Harry a little. Though he had said that he wanted to have a fresh bat, his heart couldn't get over the fact that he had named the Mortis Bat in his cellar - he was like a wild pet to him, killing him for a show potion seemed so wrong... Master Villin was still impressed with this potion and he had apparently even invited some officials from St. Mungo’s, though nobody had confirmed that. But if that was indeed the case and his potion was good enough to help people, there was a rumor that a position in the potions lab of St. Mungo’s had been open for the better part of this decade. They were looking for someone special.

Draco really didn’t want to have his hopes up for such a high-end job, but he couldn’t help himself. Ever since he had gotten out of the Ministry’s clutches, when he had moved into Grimmauld Place 12 officially and gotten the apprenticeship with Master Villin, he had actually gotten some hope for a good future again.

“You’ve always looked cute when you’re concentrating.”

Jerking out of his own mind, Draco quickly turned to the door. He didn’t know how long he had stayed in the lab, but it must have been a while, judging from the smirk on Harry's lips.

Leaning at the door frame to the potion lab, Harry played with a book in his hands, that he soon placed onto the table. "I do like watching you work. It's got something calming in itself."

“Stop distracting me, Potter!” Draco grinned and placed the cauldron back onto the stack of unused cauldrons.

“I wouldn’t think of it” Harry smirked, though he stayed at the door frame. “And still, you seem to have nothing against being called cute.”

Draco rolled his eyes. This again! That was something else that Harry would probably never get too old to say. And yet, Draco couldn’t find it in him to be mad about that. He could still pretend though. “Malfoy’s aren’t cute.”

“I know, you keep saying it.” Harry smiled. Draco frowned as he looked at his boyfriend. He seemed a little nervous as he entered the potion’s lab and his eyes moved over Draco as if he was unsure of something. “You know, who isn’t opposed to being called cute?”

“Who?”

This was a little weird. What was going on? Did something happen? Draco shook his head. If something had happened, Harry would have told him, instead of coming up with a Sphinx kind of speech. So, what was it then?

“Potters.” Harry smiled nervously. “Which is why I propose to change your last name, so I can call you cute.”

Draco frowned. What… was going on? “What are you talking about?”

Harry kneeled down and pulled out a small box. Draco’s breath got caught and he stared at the little black box in Harry’s hands. His heart started racing and his eyes stung with sudden tears. “Draco Lucius…”

“Holy shit, yes!”

Harry snorted. “I haven’t even opened the box. You have no idea if there’s even a ring in it!”

Draco huffed, a short laugh escaping him, when a tear ran down his cheek. “Why else would you…” He tried to be sarcastic, but his fast-beating heart, the tears in his eyes, Harry on his knees, it was just too much for him to handle. He had never thought that he was ever going to receive a happy ending, let alone one where he was able to marry the man of his dreams. He had been through so much hardship, through to much pain, to finally end up here. With Harry freaking Potter proposing to him. “I’m so sorry” he was so embarrassed by his emotion getting the better of him and threw his hands in front of his face, more tears running down his cheeks, he was seconds away from losing it, when he felt Harry wrapping his arms around him.

Pulling him into a tight hug, Harry murmured some words that Draco couldn’t make out, but they were clearly full of love as Draco started uncontrollably sobbing against Harry’s chest. He had never thought that someone would love him again after he had spent so many years on Azkaban, he was so broken. So damaged! Yet, there he was. Harry freaking Potter. About to ask him to marry him and he was just losing it.

Who did that?!

“I’m so sorry” he repeated between sobs, while Harry kissed his temples and held him tightly. He continued to whisper words into his hair, until Draco finally calmed down and just breathed evenly in and out. His ears stopped rushing and he could hear his surrounding better, including Teddy singing a calming song to Iris in the kitchen. It weirdly helped Draco as well.

Finally, he could register what Harry was saying over and over again. It made his heart sing with joy and he hid his face in the crook of the other man’s neck. “No need to be sorry, my love. We all have our own baggage. I love you so much, my handsome man. You are my one and only.” He repeated these words again and again.

After a few seconds, Draco pulled away and rubbed his face. “I’m sorry, Harry. That probably wasn’t what you had in mind.”

“Oh, Draco, my love. I do not mind. You are my… You still are the man I want to spend my future with.” Harry smiled at him softly. “We both know that you are my true love and if you don’t want to…”

“Just ask again, Harry” Draco interrupted his boyfriend and soon-fiancé. “I promise, I won’t fall to pieces this time.”

Harry chuckled and leaned in to kiss the corner of Draco’s mouth. “Fine, my darling. Do you want to marry me, Draco? I will continue to call you cute and you can’t argue with it after changing last names.”

That made Draco chuckle and he smirked at Harry. “Who says I’ll be changing my name?”

“Because I want to be able to call you cute without you telling me ‘Malfoy’s aren’t cute’. Potters are!” He raised his eyebrows as if challenging him to disagree. Draco grinned and stayed quiet until Harry eventually continued: “Do you accept, then?” He finally opened the box and Draco saw a beautiful delicate golden ring with gentle decoration of golden branches surround it.

He looked up at Harry and smiled softly. “Yes. I do accept Harry. You’re perfectly okay in calling me cute from now on.”

Harry chuckled and placed the ring on his finger. “Thank you, Draco. That’s all I want.”

“To call me cute?” Draco offered and shivered as Harry moved his thumb over his face and cleaned up all the tears. His eyes were so soft, so clearly in love with him. He could have died then and there and been a happy man. This Gryffindor was everything to him.

“To call you mine.” Harry smiled softly, capturing Draco's lips with his again. “In the end, Draco, I've realized something. All along, you truly were my antidote!”