Chapter one
Present
"Mr Potter! Mr Potter! How do you feel now that your very unexpected boyfriend has been cleared?" was the first sentence Harry could make out from the hoard of shouting reporters.
"Pleased, naturally, but it was never a question of if Draco would be cleared, merely of how long the process would take." Harry replied with his best photographic smile, or what Draco claimed was.
"Mr Potter! What are your thoughts on Minister Scrimgeour?" a tall black haired, ferocious looking woman called as she forced her way to the front of the crowd.
"Titil Lating, Daily Prophet." Malfoy whispered into his ear.
"Ms Lating, isn't it?" Harry smiled as she flushed at being recognised by The-Boy-Who-Lived, "As most of you will be aware, I have had several problems with the Ministry in the past, but Rufus and I are in the process of working through those together. I am helping him to build a better future for our community and to remove the taint of corruption from our Ministry. We will be working closely together over the coming months and from our interactions so far, I would say the future looks bright."
"Mr Potter! I was wondering if you would be willing to tell us how you fell for Mr Malfoy?"
"Ah, good question." Harry chuckled, "The easy answer would be he saved my life."
Harry paused as the women in the crowed oouh and awwed at such a romantic story.
"I always thought that he would join the other side, emulate Voldemort and spend many hours trying to kill me, just like every other Death Eater I have known. Turns out, he's a better man than I expected, instead of trying to kill me, he saved me. After that, I actually tried talking to him for once and I found that I liked the person who I had always thought of as my arrogant school rival." Harry chuckled fondly, " I'm proud to know him and call him friend, even more so to call him mine." he smiled as he turned to face Malfoy, not the fake one he wore for the camera but a true one that danced in his eyes.
"Mr Potter! Mr Potter!"
Grimmauld Place looked nothing like it had when Harry had first visited.
Now that he owned the old House of Black, he had organised having it cleaned up. Dobby, Winky and Kreacher had been working like... well, house elves for the past month and the results were amazing.
For the first time ever, Harry thought that the house felt welcoming, warm.
The décor hadn't been changed, only repainted to look as the house would have, back in it's glory days. If this was any example, it truly had been glorious and not the pit of darkness and evil he had imagined.
He had seen Voldemort's idea of décor after all and it had been nothing like this. If Voldemort was any standard to judge by, evil preferred stone walls, chains and blood splatters.
Here, beneath all the dust, dirt and cobwebs, the elves had found crystal chandeliers, rare wood panelling and furniture, tapestries that had been grey were bright once more and more gold, silver and other precious metals than should have been possible.
With everything cleaned, polished and the furniture reupholstered, the house was elegant, tasteful and screamed wealth. The Black's had been at the hight of upper class society once, before inbreeding led to several cases of insanity, now the house looked it again.
He stumbled out of the fire and Malfoy caught his arm before he could hit the floor.
"Thanks." Harry grinned as he stole a kiss, "You going back to the Manor now?"
"Yes, I had better. Mother will be waiting for me." Malfoy smiled back as he leant into the embrace.
"Not to mention your Father. He will want to make sure I haven't killed you." Harry grinned back and kissed his way up Malfoy's neck. It was almost a running joke between Harry and Malfoy now, how much Lucius Malfoy distrusted Harry.
"If you keep doing that, I'll be able to prove just how alive I am." Malfoy leered as he skipped out of Harry's arms before darting forward for one last kiss and jumping into the fire.
Harry sighed, part in relief, part in disappointment.
Relief that the day was over and Malfoy had finally been fully cleared, disappointment that Malfoy had left.
He flopped into a chair in the library after walking through the rejuvenated building and sipped at a glass of cognac, his mind racing over the past month since Voldemort's death.
Past
"You've done it now, Tommy boy!" Harry called as his blood spilt to the floor.
Runes on the floor sparked into life as his blood activated them.
"Did you think I sat playing with Wormtail's blood for fun?" Harry laughed manically. "I had hoped not to need the runes but..." Harry shrugged as Voldemort fired curse after curse at him, "beggars can't be choosers."
The last rune glowed and started a chain of explosions to erupt through the house. Fiendfyre flared into existence around the room and quickly spread, trapping Voldemort and Harry in his golden shield.
Voldemort's scream as he was engulfed made Harry ears hurt, his body disintegrated instantly but the wailing scream lingered for long moments after.
Harry only had to wait minutes for the house to be burnt to ash.
He could see the Order of the Phoenix surrounding the house, most likely alerted by Snape.
Dumbledore stood looking at him, mouth agape, his expression mirrored by the others watching.
"It's over. He's gone." his knees suddenly gave out beneath him and he crumpled to the floor as his magical drain caught up with him.
Snape darted forward, everyone else still too shocked to move, and helped him to stand.
He looked back at the ruined patch of ground.
"I always thought I would die with him." Harry said after a long pause.
His voice seemed to galvanise the others into movement. Dumbledore quickly stepped over to the burnt remains of the house and looked around where Harry had been standing.
Blue spell light washed out of his wand and gently fizzled away.
Several member of the Order of the Phoenix clapped him on the back or shook hands with him but Harry couldn't hear a thing as magical exhaustion swept over him.
Strong arms caught him before he hit the floor this time and black robes enveloped him, the mixed scent of various potions alerted him to the fact that it was Snape holding him.
Safe in the knowledge that one of the few people he trusted was protecting him, Harry blacked out.
Bright.
That was the first thought that flickered through Harry's mind as he regained consciousness.
As his eyes blinked open, the ceiling of the school Hospital Wing greeted him.
Was he cursed to wake up here at least once a year or something?
"Potter. It's about time you woke up." a snide voice said next to him.
"Sorry, it's a little tiring, killing Dark Lords." Harry said deadpan as he turned to smile at the owner of the acerbic voice.
Snape snorted in amusement as he passed Harry several vials.
"Blood Replenishing Potion, Nutrient Potion, Calming Draught, Cough Potion, Invigoration Draught and Strengthening Solution."
"Guess I've been here for a few days then." Harry grimaced as he started swallowing potions. "Wouldn't need a Nutrient Potion other wise. I lost some blood, must have been a lot to still be on Replenishers and I breathed in some smoke right? What are the other three for?"
Harry honestly didn't care what they were for, if Snape gave them to him, he needed them, but he did want something to distract him from the awful tastes.
"When used in conjunction they aid in the recovery of a wizards magical core." Snape sighed with a tone in his voice that asked 'Why am I surrounded by dunderheads who should already know this?'.
"Huh, right. How long was I out? What did I miss?" Harry grinned as the thought that Voldemort was really dead sunk in.
He had known Voldemort was gone but he was only now starting to believe it. He simply hadn't had time between killing him and collapsing to absorb the knowledge.
Snape looked far too relaxed for Voldemort to have managed to survive.
"Roll on to your side." Snape replied as he reached for a jar. He continued once Harry had done as instructed, pulling his gown aside to look at the wound he could still feel, "Four days, this time. Burn-Healing Paste."
Harry sighed as he felt the paste instantly start to work on pains he hadn't noticed until that moment.
He was a little surprised by Snape, he was being far more... pleasant than usual. He was offering names for each potion and the finger currently spreading paste across his back were soft and gentle.
"Are you a pod person?" Harry grinned as Snape pushed at him to roll fully onto his front and the memory of a film he had once seen while weeding the front borders of Privet Drive flickered through his mind.
"A what?" Snape sneered at him, a small frown of confusion creasing his forehead.
"Never mind. Muggle thing. So, what did I miss?" Harry's voice turned slightly suspicious as he realised Snape had neatly avoided that part of his question before.
"I want your word not to leave this bed before I say Potter, or I shall stun you." Harry blinked at the wand suddenly pointed between his eyes.
He glared up at Snape as he knocked the wand away. Something must have happened, Snape wouldn't normally react anything like that. What though?
"There is nothing to be done at this moment, Potter. You wouldn't make it out of the doors before Madam Pomfrey chased you down and knocked you out." Harry blinked at the almost gentle tone in Snape's voice, "Draco has been arrested by the Ministry, for bearing the Dark Mark upon his arm. Scrimgeour has taken care to ensure he is well looked after though."
"Malfoy has been arrested? Shit. Why would Scrimgeour care?" Harry asked as his mind started working on the problem, he needed to get Malfoy free.
Unfortunately, he couldn't just kill everybody this time. It had been so much easier when he could just kill the people causing him the most problems.
That meant he would need to use politics of some sort and he really wasn't the political type, he preferred actions to words.
"Lie on your back so I may administer the rest of the Burn-Healing Paste." Snape gave him a flat look that brooked no dissent and Harry huffed but did as he was told. He needed information right now, he couldn't help Malfoy by haring off in the dark.
"Minister Scrimgeour," Snape sneered the name, "has apparently reached the conclusion that you are not a boy- man to be trifled with. Your defeat of The Dark Lord has already been well publicised, as I'm sure your ego would like to know, and the country is lauding you as their hero. Your... relationship with Draco is just as well known, which is to say nothing is known bar the fact of it. Scrimgeour hopes to keep you... appreciative by offering preferential treatment."
"Huh. Well, good. I guess. At least Malfoy's okay. I'm going to need to get out of here soon though. When can I leave?" he expected the same answer he usually received to that question, 'when Madam Pomfrey says', so he blinked in surprise when Snape did answer him.
"Once this last layer of Burn-Healing Paste has sunk in and you have showered. Until then, you may tell me how you managed to achieve the demise of The Dark Lord." Harry grinned at the way Snape made it sound like he was doing Harry a favour by listening.
"I can go after though?" Snape sneered at his one track mind.
"Yes, you may. Though I suspect Poppy will insist on you being chaperoned."
"Great. You can come with me." Harry grinned, Malfoy had told him only a few weeks ago that Snape was his Godfather and he thought he might like to see Malfoy for himself.
"Does your arrogance know no bounds? You presume I have no prior engagements." Snape glared down at him but the finger smoothing Burn-Healing Paste onto his chest never varied in their pressure.
"No, I presume you want to see your Godson and that since you are doing what Madam Pomfrey could do just as easily, that you had some time free to visit. I can easily find someone else to go with me." Harry snapped back just as acerbically.
Could this man never stop thinking the worst of him? What did he have to do to prove he wasn't his Father?
"I apologise. It is not outside the realm of possibility that your assumption is correct." Snape replied stiffly.
"Did that mean yes? You will go with me?" Harry grinned at the older man to show him forgiven.
"It is a conceivable option, should you answer my question."
"Can't you just talk straight for once? Do you do it on purpose to confuse me? Never mind." Harry mumbled the last as he saw the growing smirk on the Slytherin's face, he erected a silencing charm before he continued. "Runes. That's how. Do you remember that first time you saw me? I was sitting in Voldemort's audience room, playing with Wormt- Pettigrew's blood.
"He was so amused to see me doing it, he never considered looking at what I was drawing. I used Pettigrew's blood to draw the destructive runes I thought might come in handy one day and used my own later on, to draw the protective runes. I didn't actually think I would be able to kill old Voldemort with them, just take out a large Death Eater meeting or something. Burn the house down.
"Not too sure what I was thinking exactly at the time. I had just directly tortured and killed a man for the first time. I think I was a little hysterical to be honest, I know I couldn't stop laughing. I had originally planned just to use my own blood. I spent hours working out the right combination of runes to get what I wanted. Mid duel he slashed me open and my blood activated the runes. Not much more to say. Kind of anti-climatic, when you look at it from my angle."
"Killing The Dark Lord was anti-climatic?" Snape parroted scathingly.
"Well, yeah. For me. Not that I'm complaining. I expected this huge battle, probably at Hogwarts with me and Dumbledore stood side by side, fighting the legions of Darkness or some such while my friends and allies died around me... I didn't expect to get scratched and then stand around twiddling my thumbs as he burn to a crisp in Fiendfyre." Harry shrugged.
"I suppose, you think I know not whom it was decimating The Dark Lord's followers? I believe you did more than just 'twiddle your thumbs', Harry." Harry blinked at the use of his first name, "I also suppose I owe you thanks for sparing my life. With the ease you dispatched of-"
"You owe me jack shit. You've saved my life, I spared yours. We're even. I'm not having you resenting me now. It was bad enough when it was my Father you owed." Harry jumped in, he knew he would be seeing more of the dour potions Master, despite school finishing in only a week, since he was dating Malfoy and he didn't need Snape to start acting like his original self once more or even possibly worse.
"Perhaps." Snape inclined his head in agreement but something in his tone made Harry think he didn't agree.
"Can we go yet?" Harry asked as he shrugged off his thoughts on Snape, he would deal with him after getting Malfoy out of the nick.
"Once you are showered we may." Snape waved him away and sat back in the chair, picking up a book.
"Did I ever say thank you, by the way? For saving my life?" a crooked grin met Snape's surprised gaze. "Guess not. Thank you for saving my life and for helping me... Severus."
Harry scurried out before Snape could respond. He could have used the shower in the Hospital Wing but he would need a change of clothes if he was going to the Ministry.
Clothes! Harry stopped short just before he pushed the Hospital Wing doors open, he was still wearing one of Madam Pomfrey's bed gowns.
He transfigured it into a full length robe so it covered his otherwise nude body and continued his trek to the Gryffindor Dormitory.
tbc...
AN: Okay, I got that finished up quicker than I had expected lol.
I'll be posting every three or four days, all depending on the reviews. If I get lots of reviews I'll post quicker... *Looks hopeful*
Regards,
Duana xxx
Sorry about the mix up! D x