Yours, Mine And Ours
(Memories of The War)
"Professor, do you really think this is a good idea?"
"Whether it is or isn't means nothing, Draco, for it is the Dark Lord's command."
"But Professor—"
"Be quiet, Draco, he's here."
He stepped back and felt the sharp snap of Snape's wand against his shoulder and the feeling of something dribbling down his spine as the Disillusionment Charm took effect.
"Oh, there you are, Snape! What an odd place you've chosen for a meeting, eh?"
"Is it, Professor Slughorn? I find it…convenient."
"Of course, of course. Now, what is of such importance that you had to absolutely meet with me?"
"Nothing of importance. In fact, I would suggest you relax—"
"What in the world are you doing? Put your wand down, boy!"
"Imperio!"
He watched as Slughorn's face went lax and his outstretched arm dropped to his side. The Potions' Professor's wand fell from his loose grip and skittered across the floor. Snape jerked his chin towards it and Draco immediately bent down and picked it up. He felt a tap on his shoulder again as the Disillusionment Charm was lifted.
"You know what to do, Draco," Snape told him in his low, cold voice. "Be back in a quarter of an hour and make sure you aren't followed."
He stepped out of the Room of Requirement and ran down the hallway even before he heard the door shut. Rounding the corner, he sprinted down the adjacent corridor, his heart hammering in his chest.
As he neared another corner, he slowed down his pace and edged towards it, peering around it to make sure nobody was there. He was just about to make his way down the dimly lit hallway when a sharp cackle sounded behind him. Spinning around, he felt his racing heart still at the sight of the Dark Lord.
The Dark wizard had his arm outstretched, Elder Wand pointing at his target as he rasped, "Avada Kedavra!" and Harry Potter's body dropped like a ragdoll. He had the urge to pull Potter away—to save him—but it was already far too late. The Dark Lord roared with laughter, shooting streams of green at everyone in range of the Unforgivable Curse.
He screamed and spun around, making to run away from the horrific scene of the Dark Lord standing over dead Potter's body, laughing maniacally—but his foot caught against something and he fell, face first. Gasping, he pulled himself up, glancing over his shoulder at what had caused him to trip.
Bile rose to his throat as he looked into the lifeless eyes of a blond boy, camera still in hand, although shattered—just like the rest of his mangled body. He vaguely remembered this boy to be the one that had followed Potter around like a loyal puppy, his name was probably Creevey something-or-the-other.
He opened his mouth to scream, but his voice refused to escape the confines of his throat—it was as though his body wasn't in his control; as though he was watching everything through the eyes of another.
Staggering back, he was just about to turn around and run when he tripped yet again, over another corpse. Whimpering, he scanned his surroundings—only to see that he was sitting in the middle of the corpse-strewn courtyard, mutilated bodies of the dead draped over rubble left behind from the battle.
Swallowing thickly, he inched backwards, his knees too weak to let him stand, and placed his palm in something thick and cold. He closed his eyes and forced down his extreme need to throw up at the thought of the pool of blood he was now sitting in. Trembling, he peeked over his shoulder and was met with the sight of a curly-haired witch, her body twisted and her neck bent in a weird angle.
He remembered this one as well—she was that Gryffindor girl who had been obsessed with Weasley—Brown, he thought she was called. He saw the crusted blood on her mauve-coloured hair-tie and swallowed. Lavender Brown.
Deciding that he could take no more of these nightmarish scenes that he could barely call his own memories, he stood up shakily and began walking—his eyes closed as he was too afraid of what he would see next. Something crunched below his foot and he winced as he felt a sharp prick against his sole. Looking down, he saw that he had stepped on a broken crystal ball and swore loudly. Reaching out to grab onto something as he raised his foot to inspect the damage, he felt something soft brush against his fingertips.
Alarmed, he snapped his head up—only to come face to face with Lavender Brown. He stumbled backwards, a startled yelp leaving his mouth and he shuffled in his robes, pulling out Slughorn's wand and pointing it at her.
"You're dead!" he shouted, but she only cocked her head and gave him an eerie smile, her haunting eyes looking at him accusingly—as though he had been the cause of her death. "Stay away from me!" he yelled, turning tail and running.
"Stand up and fight, you coward!" she screamed after him, but he was already sprinting down the path that led towards the Forbidden Forest, hysteria settling into his already frazzled mind.
Feeling the stinging pain from his injured foot, he stopped abruptly, falling onto the wet grass and inspecting the wound with shaking hands. He plucked a piece of glass from his foot, shuddering at the jolt of pain that ran through him. Feeling something slimy on his arm, he turned to look.
There was a hiss and he jumped back with a startled yell, Nagini's glassy eyes staring at him as the giant snake slithered towards him.
"No!" he screamed, and in the next second, there was a glint of metal and the snake's head was rolling down the slope, its decapitated body falling onto the ground with a sickening splat.
"Oi, you alright?" a voice asked and Draco looked up to see Longbottom, blood dripping down his face as he hoisted a sword onto his shoulder. The Gryffindor male followed his gaze and grinned at the blade. "Oh, this? The Sword of Gryffindor, believe it or not. Found it lying on the ground a little way off."
Longbottom turned to grin at him and he shook his head, inching backwards. The boy frowned and reached out his arm. "You look ill, mate, are you sure you're alright?"
He stumbled to his feet as Longbottom made to help him, spinning around and nearly ramming into the short girl who had been standing behind him. He jerked back and she looked up at him with glassy eyes and an eerily cheerful smile.
"Oh, hello there," she said in a singsong voice as she fiddled with the odd glasses nestled on the bridge of her nose. "You seem to be affected by quite a nasty case of Wrackspurts."
"Luna! It's good to see you!"
"It's good to see you too, Neville, although you have quite a few Wrackspurts around your head as well."
He slowly walked backwards as Longbottom and the girl he had addressed as Luna held hands and began conversing animatedly. His ears ringing, he turned and ran through the night, zigzagging through the duelling witches and wizards as he made his way towards the Clock Tower. His head pounded with the rhythm of his heart and his blood thrummed in his veins as a familiar scene unfolded before him.
A shrill cackle filled the air and he immediately recognised Bellatrix's voice as she screamed, "Harry Potter has fallen! The Dark Lord is unstoppable!"
He began to run as battle cries filled his ears, the corpses that had been lying on the ground slowly rising to battle their opponent. It was as though time was being reversed and as he dodged a stray spell, he caught sight of the Dark Lord and Potter battling each other.
Two wizards blocked his path and he watched as the Death Eater was hit in the face. The man swayed and made a weird wand movement, mumbling, "Repello Muggletum," the Muggle-Repelling Charm being absolutely useless against his opponent's Killing Curse.
Draco dodged around the fallen body and stopped short as a Shield Charm unfolded before him, the witch's rather weak, "Protego," doing absolutely nothing against her enemy's powerful Blasting Curse.
He ducked behind a broken pillar as he made his way into the school, Snape's words suddenly echoing in his mind and reminding him that it was well past the time he was asked to meet the other.
Rounding a corner, he ran face first into something that felt like another body—but he couldn't be sure, because there was nothing before him. He saw something shimmer and heard the rustle of clothes and realised that the person he had run into must be under a Cloak of Invisibility.
He sat very still, unsure of who this person was, but suddenly felt a hand pressed against his shoulder and the face of Longbottom appeared from under the cloak.
"What're you doing here, mate? I thought you were with Luna; wasn't she helping you find and destroy some Horcrux or something?"
He shook his head, struggling to escape Longbottom's tight grip, alarmed and confused by the other's familiarity towards him. He shoved the boy and rose quickly, almost slipping as he hurriedly ran away. Barely dodging a stray spell, he crouched behind a broken pillar.
"There you are! Is this what you were looking for?"
He spun around as the same wide-eyed girl who he had just seen with Longbottom a few minutes ago bent over him, an Opal Necklace in her hands.
"No!" he yelled, pushing past her; the necklace had looked exactly like the one he had cursed in an attempt to kill Dumbledore. Shaken, he ran through the winding corridors, blindly turning corners as he tried to escape the madness.
He suddenly came to a stop before large, ornate doors and stared at them, unsure of where he had seen them before. Reaching forwards, he was about to push them open when a searing pain scorched through his forearm. He screamed as he fell to his knees, clutching his arm as he watched the Dark Mark erode from his reddening skin—proof that the Dark Lord had fallen and that the war had ended.
Tears blurring his vision, he scrambled backwards as the doors slowly creaked open—and out stepped Snape and Slughorn, the latter looking like he was currently the happiest man on earth.
"What in the world are you doing, Draco?" Snape asked, giving him a disdainful look as Slughorn giggled like a silly girl—he was fully under the effect of the Imperius Curse.
"N-Nothing," he blustered, rising to his feet as Snape nudged Slughorn and then with a curt nod towards Draco, disappeared back into the Room of Requirement.
He stood staring as Slughorn began to hum a little tune and began to dance a little jig, a nagging feeling tugging at the back of his mind. Unsure of what the unsettling feeling was, but sure that there was something familiar about it, he spun around, striding towards the far wall.
Stopping at the place where the corridor broke off to his right, he peeked around the corner. Spotting the familiar mop of untamed hair, he frowned, the nagging sensation growing more pronounced. He reached down, making to shake the person awake, but suddenly the boy's head snapped up and emerald eyes peered up at him.
"Draco," Potter said, but his voice had a far-off quality to it—as though he was speaking from the other end of a tunnel. "Draco," he said again, and this time it was more forceful and much clearer.
A stabbing pain pierced through his skull and he clutched his head, squinting as his vision swayed. Stumbling back, he grasped at the air and watched as his surroundings began to dematerialise.
"Draco!"
He snapped his eyes open and squinted up into Harry's concerned face, a smirk tugging at his lips.
"No need to look so dismal, Potter, I'm perfectly fine."
Harry sat back and rolled his eyes, giving him a look. "You really gave me a fright, you know that?"
He shrugged nonchalantly, although he was quite shaken up at the moment—his mind hadn't fully recovered from the pressure of what it had been put through. "Didn't mean to."
Harry nodded and ran a hand through his short locks. "What did you see?" he asked quietly.
"Well, I saw a very muddled memory of the final battle—random things happening here and there, it was awfully confusing."
Harry sighed and shook his head. "I told you that was going to happen—especially since they're memories I've tried to suppress by using different potions and whatnot."
He shrugged again, swallowing thickly. "Well, there were also my own memories mixed into the fray, so that may have also been the reason."
The mattress he was lying on shifted as Harry stood and began to pace, a brooding expression on his face. "That's not supposed to happen—your memories weren't supposed to overlap with mine."
He reached forwards and picked up the vial of misty liquid on the bedside table—that looked vaguely similar to Veritaserum—and shook it. "You do realise that this is an experimental version, right? There's no way it could have been perfect."
Harry pinched the bridge of his nose and said in a muffled voice, "That is exactly why I thought it was dangerous. But no, you were absolutely adamant about the whole thing."
He chuckled lightly, earning a scathing look from his dark-haired partner. The overlapping memories had doubled the magnitude of emotions and made them overbearing—Harry's worry was not misplaced in the least.
"You worry far too much, Harry. This memory serum was only meant to help me understand deeply haunting memories so that I, as a Mind-Healer, would be able to fully understand the pain and suffering that you, as my patient, have gone through—so that I can come up with the necessary method of treatment to relieve you of your pain."
Harry sighed as he came to sit on the bed and intertwined their fingers together. "I'm only agreeing—albeit very grudgingly—to this because it's you," he murmured.
"And because you have the chance to—once again—help countless people by aiding me in perfecting this serum."
Harry smiled and laughed softly. "Ten years since the war and look where I am."
He smirked as he sat up and leaned forwards to peck the other's lips. "In the arms of the great Draco Malfoy, that's where you are."
A/n: This is sort of a sequel to It's Not Love, It's Amortentia. I wanted to write a proper one but that didn't happen, so I wrote this instead. The Slughorn/Snape bits in the beginning and end are from It's Not Love, It's Amortentia, so you may want to read that as well just to get a better understanding of those bits.
Written for Round Four, the Golden Trio Era, of the Grand Battle Challenge hosted by Diagon Alley [link in my profile]. Underlined words are prompts.
Pairing Prompts:
Draco/Harry 5 [Plus 1 point if you include an instance of either saving the other.]
Neville/Luna 5 [Plus 1 point if you mention them helping Harry find and destroy Horcruxes.]
Dialogue Prompts:
"Harry Potter has fallen! The Dark Lord is unstoppable!" 3 [Plus 1 point if you mention Harry's canonical death.]
"Stand up and fight, you coward!" 3
Character Prompts:
Colin Creevey 4 [Mentioning his canonical death negates a condition on any one Prompt.]
Neville Longbottom 7 [Plus 1 Spell Prompt of 1 point if you include Nagini's canonical death.]
Draco Malfoy 4
Lavender Brown 4 [Plus 1 Magical Objects Prompt if you include this character's death.]
Potion Prompts:
Veritaserum 4 [Negates 1 condition placed on any prompt.]
Spell Prompts:
Killing Curse 4 [Offensive. Incantation: Avada Kedavra] [You may not use any light characters or pairings.]
Shield Charm 2 [Defensive. Incantation: Protego/Protego Maxima] [You may choose 2 Dialogue Prompts.]
Muggle-Repelling Charm 1 [Defensive. Incantation: Repello Muggletum] [You may choose two Pairing Prompts.]
Magical Objects:
Crystal Ball
The Cloak of Invisibility
The Elder Wand
Opal Necklace
Gryffindor's Sword
Theme:
Battle 10 [You may not use any Horcrux Prompts and must use at least 1 prompt that has the condition of death.]
Death 10 [You may not use any Spell or Potion Prompts.]
Total: 74