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"Draco!"
The moment Voldemort disintegrated, Harry turned and shouted his lover's name into the cheering crowd.
This battle of the century, his life and death duel with Voldemort, had finally come to an end.
He was their rightful savior, the future of the wizarding world.
Cutting through the sea of people, Harry's eyes were fixed on that platinum figure. He saw Draco open his arms, standing in place, waiting for his embrace. Harry lunged straight at him, the impact was a bit much, and Draco stumbled before steadying them both.
"Draco, did you see that? I won."
Harry's voice trembled, holding Draco tightly. Draco patted his back over and over, giving Harry all the tenderness he had.
"I saw, oh Harry, my Harry..."
"It's over, everything is over, Draco."
Harry lifted his head from his arms, his green eyes bright and sparkling. He looked into Draco's eyes and said, "We can finally be together openly."
Harry was happy like a child, grinning sweetly at Draco, nothing like the people's hero who had just defeated the greatest dark wizard.
Draco was happy too. It was finally all over. He and Harry had loved each other since they were young, but because of their opposing identities and positions, and to better protect each other's safety, no one knew about their relationship. Only the evening breeze knew of their love.
Now Voldemort was truly dead. Dawn had broken, and the rising sun in the east would drive away all darkness and gloom. The days of living in fear and unease would no longer exist.
So Draco smiled and responded to Harry. He took the initiative and kissed his lips.
Harry's mind felt like fireworks exploding one after another. He immediately threw himself into it, not caring about the shocked gasps around them, people's disbelief, those incredulous voices, those questioning and even insulting voices. Harry didn't want to pay them any mind.
Who cares about them. The savior Harry Potter had just saved the wizarding world. Right now I'm just Draco's Harry Potter. I want to be affectionate with my lover, and no one can stop me!
·
"Bloody hell! Harry, tell me this isn't true, right?"
Harry and Draco's post-war kiss quickly replaced people's joy over victory. After all, gossip is human nature, and they called it "the kiss of the century."
"Ron, it's exactly what you see. Draco is my lover. We've been together for four years."
Harry explained to Ron apologetically, and when he got to the end he smiled a bit sheepishly, scratching his messy hair. In this moment, Harry finally acted his age as a young boy.
"Although I understand why you did it, since no one could say how things would end back then, but Harry, I'm still a bit angry. You hid it from us for four years!"
Hermione accepted it much faster than Ron. This clever witch only needed a moment of thought to find the clues. Her feeling of sudden realization was far greater than the shock of learning Harry and Draco were together.
"I'm sorry, Hermione. But from now on I won't hide things from you anymore."
"So what are your plans for the future?"
"We..."
"Oh Merlin! I need time to accept this! Mate, I don't want to hear your story with that ferret! Ow!"
Ron was still yelling, unable to accept it. He howled out his incomprehension, but after Hermione smacked him he quieted down.
"Um... we plan to get married right after graduation. Actually, that's my plan."
Harry smiled shyly, looking so happy and sweet that Hermione felt quite gratified. Seeing Harry's relationship go so smoothly gave her the illusion of watching her own son grow up.
Hermione nodded in approval. "What does Malfoy say? Since you're planning to marry him, I think you need to start preparing early, Harry. Pureblood families care most about etiquette and rules, especially ancient purebloods like the Malfoys. One year might not be enough."
After Hogwarts was rebuilt after the war, McGonagall became headmistress, and their year received notices to return and repeat. They would graduate as eighth years alongside the seventh years.
"Ah Hermione, you're right. Let me think... Merlin's socks! I haven't even proposed to Draco yet!"
Harry tugged at his hair in frustration. He let out a wail, told Hermione and Ron a quick goodbye, and hurried off to the library.
Hermione couldn't help but laugh softly as she watched Harry's retreating figure. When her gaze landed on Ron, she raised an eyebrow, waved her wand to cast a silencing charm around them, and then removed the Tongue-Tying Curse she had put on Ron.
"What? Oh no...!!!"
Hermione had already covered her ears in advance, but Ron's howl still rattled her eardrums. She frowned and cast the spell again, and Ron lost his voice once more. Watching her boyfriend blink at her frantically, Hermione rubbed her forehead helplessly. She felt she carried a heavy responsibility, and she was definitely going to make Harry reserve a table just for her at their wedding (￣y▽￣)~*
·
"Draco!"
Harry stood at the entrance to the dungeons calling Draco's name loudly. Surrounding him were wary looks from Slytherins. They blocked Harry at the door, refusing to let him in, even though his relationship with Draco was known to everyone.
"Hey come on, let me out. Harry's calling me."
"Oh my dear little dragon, we won't let you leave until you explain everything clearly. You know that."
Draco was surrounded by Pansy and the others in the common room. Pansy sat beside him, fixing her newly done nails, and dropped that comment lightly, making Draco fall back onto the sofa.
"Oh Salazar!"
Draco raised his arm to cover his forehead, unable to stop his groaning.
"Fine fine, I give in."
Finally Draco told them everything about him and Harry from beginning to end. When he finished he was thirsty and asked Goyle to hand him a glass of water.
Pansy nodded in satisfaction, then frowned unhappily. "Even though he's the savior, I'm still not happy. My precious little dragon was stolen away by that stupid lion!"
"Ahhhh alright Pansy, I should go out now. Harry's probably getting impatient."
"We'll come out with you."
Blaise naturally picked up the conversation, and then Nott was the first to stand, followed by Goyle, Daphne, Astoria, Blaise, and Pansy.
Seeing this, Draco knew resistance was useless, so he stopped fighting it. Let them come. He knew they had some resentment and it was for his own good, so he stood up and called them to come out together.
What Draco never expected was that the moment they opened the door, this was the scene they saw:
Around the savior Harry Potter lay a scattered pile of Slytherin students, all of them appearing to be upper years. Harry Potter leaned against the wall, arms crossed, right hand gripping his wand, left leg bent with his foot on the wall, right leg extended a bit to support his slightly tilted body. His half-lidded eyes were unmoved by the scene around him, and the cold, oppressive aura around him made people afraid to approach.
Hearing the sound, Harry looked up. Caught by those deep green eyes, Pansy and the others felt like they had been targeted by a lion lurking in the shadows, their hearts tightening, afraid to relax.
"Merlin! Harry!"
Draco exclaimed and jogged over to Harry. The moment Harry saw Draco, the coldness in his eyes melted rapidly into a pool of spring water. His whole demeanor became incredibly gentle. He smiled and opened his arms to embrace Draco.
"What happened here? Harry, are you hurt?"
Harry enjoyed Draco's concern. He squinted his eyes in a good mood. "I'm fine, Draco. Here, your wand."
Harry released Draco and then pulled Draco's wand from his robe pocket. After Harry faked his death during the war, his wand had been taken away by Voldemort's subordinates. It was Draco who ran to him without regard for anything and threw his hawthorn wand to him. Only then was Harry able to defeat Voldemort.
"Draco, your wand works so well for me. Just like using my own."
Harry whispered against Draco's ear, his warm breath lingering at Draco's neck. There was also Harry's deliberate soft breathing by his ear. Draco felt like his ears were on fire, his body growing warm too. In fact his ears were indeed very red, his face was red too, his whole body was somewhat pink. Harry found it more and more endearing, wanting to eat him up in one bite.
"Ahem, well then, let's go."
Draco cleared his throat to cover his shyness, pretended to be composed as he waved at Pansy and the others, and then led Harry away from Hogwarts.
·
They strolled through the streets of Hogsmeade. Harry tilted his head to look at his lover. Draco's beautiful features shone even brighter in the sunlight, and Harry couldn't look away.
He tightened his grip on Draco's hand. This was his happiness. Nothing could separate them anymore.
But fate had other plans. They ran into Ginny at a corner. Harry greeted her with a normal expression, but when Ginny saw their clasped hands, she turned her face away.
Draco frowned and suppressed the sarcasm itching at the tip of his tongue, looking at Ginny with displeasure.
"Ginny?"
The atmosphere suddenly turned cold. Harry tried to break the somewhat suffocating mood. They stopped at the street corner. With the savior as an obvious center of attention, plus the encounter of "new love and old flame," people had already begun gathering around, faintly surrounding them.
"Oh Harry, I suppose all of this was just my wishful thinking."
Hearing Ginny say this, Harry looked at her apologetically. He had always treated Ginny like a little sister. Even though Ron had tried hard to match them up, he had only been extra caring toward Ginny out of respect for Ron, without any improper behavior. But just as the rumors about him and Cho Chang had barely died down in fifth year, rumors about him and Ginny quickly spread. He had tried to clarify things with everyone. Draco had been very unhappy about this too. During that special period, every argument they had inevitably dragged this topic in. And Harry never expected Draco to hold back when it came to the Weasleys. His lion spirit wouldn't allow Draco to slander a girl like that, even though he knew Draco didn't truly mean it.
"Ginny, you know, I told you..."
Harry frowned and explained the reason to Ginny again. He felt the pressure beside him growing lower and lower. He had to resolve this quickly. But before he could finish, Ginny interrupted him.
"But you didn't directly reject me either, did you?"
Ginny's words were directed at Harry, but her eyes looked straight at Draco.
Draco's half-lidded eyes suddenly lifted. His gray-blue eyes met hers without avoidance. The disdain and mockery in his eyes made Ginny even more unwilling and angry.
Harry rebutted Ginny's exaggerated claim with displeasure.
"That's enough, Ginny. I clearly told you. I only like Draco. Out of respect for you, we resolved this privately back then. Don't make me put it out in the open. It won't be good for you."
Harry's face had already turned cold. He felt somewhat guilty toward Ginny. At that time he had been focused on training the D.A. and hadn't noticed Ginny's different feelings toward him. That was what led to the endless rumors later. But the circumstances back then didn't allow him to explain too much. He had found Ginny privately and told her clearly. He apologized for the rumors dragging her reputation into it. He told her he had someone he liked and had always seen her as a sister. After hearing Ginny say she understood, he thought they had cleared things up. He had even assured Draco that the matter was resolved. But instead it grew worse and worse. He was exhausted dealing with Voldemort, and Draco was carefully passing information with Snape. They had no time to deal with those things, never imagining it would give someone false hopes.
Ginny's face went pale instantly. She looked at Harry with a wounded expression, her beautiful eyes brimming with tears as she gazed deeply at him. But the savior was unmoved. The most stunning beauty in the world was already by his side. His eyes could hold no one else.
Ignoring the murmuring around them, he apologized to Ron in his heart and, holding Draco's hand tightly, walked past Ginny.
Draco still wore a cold, proud expression. As he passed Ginny, he let out a scoff. He hadn't said a single word, yet it made Ginny feel utterly humiliated. She held back the tears welling in her eyes and quickly walked away.
Harry naturally heard it. He rubbed Draco's head helplessly. He knew Draco had already made the biggest concession for him. He couldn't ask Draco to forgive Ginny's actions the way he had, especially since he was a Slytherin.
Aside from this small interlude, their date was overall quite satisfying. So after walking Draco back to the dungeons, before Harry left, Draco gave him a goodnight kiss.
·
Back in the dormitory, facing Ron's anger, Harry had a headache as he explained the situation to Ron once again, trying to preserve as much dignity for Ginny as possible. After hearing the complete truth from Harry, Ron fell silent.
He naturally wouldn't doubt that Harry was lying. But he also couldn't believe his beloved little sister would do such a thing. It suddenly made him feel guilty toward Draco.
Yes, after learning the whole truth, the first person Ron felt sorry for was actually Draco. This time, he couldn't take his own side anymore. The surface victim was Harry, but the biggest victim was Draco.
In the past, Ron might not have understood. But after going through the Hermione and Krum situation, Ron could actually empathize with this kind of thing.
He thought, if it were Hermione, he would never let her suffer this grievance, let alone for two years.
He momentarily admired Draco's tolerance. He hadn't expected Draco to endure so much for Harry. With his vindictive temper, ruining Ginny's reputation would probably be the best outcome. Come on, though he hated to admit it, the man was a Malfoy.
Ron told Harry he would talk to Ginny. This matter ended here. He apologized to Harry and Draco on Ginny's behalf.
Harry naturally accepted gladly. He didn't want to have a rift with his brother in arms over something like this. As for whether Draco would forgive, that depended on whether the Weasley could do enough to earn it.
·
During this school year spent in the library with Hermione, Harry finally worked out his proposal plan. He would definitely give Draco an unforgettable proposal. His proposal would leave even Lucius unable to find fault. It would absolutely meet Malfoy standards and make everyone envy Draco.
They would get married right after graduation. He would become an outstanding Auror, and Draco chose to become a Healer at St. Mungo's.
And then, they would have a happy, complete home. A home that belonged only to Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy.
Nothing could stop Harry from reaching Draco, the person who had dazzled his youth. He would hold him firmly in his palm. Even Merlin couldn't separate them.
"Draco, I love you."