Summary: In their first year, Draco let go of some of his arrogance and helped a Harry onto the platform, sparking first an antagonistic relationship, and then a strong friendship that grew closer over the years. Now, in a future where Voldemort is finally dead and Draco has always been for the Light, Harry tries to say goodbye. AU, HD slash, oneshot, semi-songfic.
AN: I know that this musical was not written and performed until a few years ago, long after Harry and Draco left Hogwarts. However, I have seen some worse anachronisms involved in fics I have read, so I request that you ignore this one, and please, don't flame.
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It was Graduation Day at Hogwarts. Though the British wizarding community was small and close-knit, and travel was near-instantaneous, many of the graduating students felt that after school, they might grow apart from those who were once their dearest friends, so much time was spent reminiscing.
So, too, was the time spent exchanging gifts.
Therefore, when Draco found the strangely-wrapped package (green and black ribbon over blue-bubbles-on-pink wrapping paper) on his bed in the Slytherin dorms, he joyfully ripped into the package, ignoring the card as was his normal method.
The two musical charms, one labeled 'Popular', the other 'For Good', lay innocently in the tiny box. Tapping the first with his wand, he waited for the magic to take effect, and listened.
GALINDA
(spoken) Elphie - now that we're friends, I've decided to
make you my new project.
ELPHABA
(spoken) You really don't have to do that
GALINDA
(spoken) I know. That's what makes me so nice!
(sung) Whenever I see someone
Less fortunate than I
(And let's face it - who isn't
Less fortunate than I?)
My tender heart
Tends to start to bleed
And when someone needs a makeover
I simply have to take over
I know I know exactly what they need
And even in your case
Tho' it's the toughest case I've yet to face
Don't worry - I'm determined to succeed
Follow my lead
And yes, indeed
You will be:
Popular!
You're gonna be popular!
I'll teach you the proper ploys
When you talk to boys
Little ways to flirt and flounce
I'll show you what shoes to wear
How to fix your hair
Everything that really counts
To be popular
I'll help you be popular!
You'll hang with the right cohorts
You'll be good at sports
Know the slang you've got to know
So let's start
'Cause you've got an awfully long way to go:
Don't be offended by my frank analysis
Think of it as personality dialysis
Now that I've chosen to be come a pal, a
Sister and adviser
There's nobody wiser
Not when it comes to popular -
I know about popular
And with an assist from me
To be who you'll bee
Instead of dreary who-you-were: are:
There's nothing that can stop you
From becoming popu-
Ler: lar:
La la la la
We're gonna make
You popular
When I see depressing creatures
With unprepossessing features
I remind them on their own behalf
To think of
Celebrated heads of state or
Specially great communicators
Did they have brains or knowledge?
Don't make me laugh!
They were popular! Please -
It's all about popular!
It's not about aptitude
It's the way you're viewed
So it's very shrewd to be
Very very popular
Like me!
(spoken) Why, Miss Elphaba, look at you. You're beautiful.
ELPHABA(spoken) I - I have to go:
GALINDA
(spoken) You're welcome!
(sung) And though you protest
Your disinterest
I know clandestinely
You're gonna grin and bear it
Your new found popularity
La la la la
You'll be popular -
Just not as quite as popular
As me!
The obvious ignorance of the bubbly singer made him grin as he recalled several similar occurrences where he tried to make over his dearest friend, though it was often met with irritation. It had taken quite some time to convince Harry to wear some of the more fetching outfits, though the boy certainly wore them occasionally now.
Expecting the same levity from the second song, he tapped it with his wand.
ELPHABA
I'm limited:
(Spoken)Just look at me –
I'm limited
And just look at you -
You can do all I couldn't do, Glinda
So now it's up to you
(spoken) For both of us
(sung) Now it's up to you:
GLINDA
I've heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don't know if I believe that's true
But I know I'm who I am today
Because I knew you:
Like a comet pulled from orbit
As it passes a sun
Like a stream that meets a boulder
Halfway through the wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you
I have been changed for good
ELPHABA
It well may be
That we will never meet again
In this lifetime
So let me say before we part
So much of me
Is made of what I learned from you
You'll be with me
Like a handprint on my heart
And now whatever way our stories end
I know you have re-written mine
By being my friend:
Like a ship blown from its mooring
By a wind off the sea
Like a seed dropped by a skybird
In a distant wood
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you:
GLINDA
Because I knew you:
BOTH
I have been changed for good
ELPHABA
And just to clear the air
I ask forgiveness
For the things I've done you blame me for
GLINDA
But then, I guess we know
There's blame to share
BOTH
And none of it seems to matter anymore
GLINDA (overlapping Elphaba)
Like a comet pulled from orbit as it passes the sun.
Like a stream the meets a boulder halfway through the wood.
ELPHABA (overlapping Glinda)
Like a ship blown from its mooring by a wind off the sea.
Like a seed dropped by a bird in the wood.
BOTH
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
I do believe I have been changed for the better?
GLINDA
And because I knew you:
ELPHABA
Because I knew you:
BOTH
Because I knew you:
I have been changed for good.
The honesty and the strength of the relationship between the two women reminded him dearly of his own friendship with Harry, and as unconsciously moved his arm to wipe at his face, he realized that he'd been crying. This shocked him almost as much as the shaky smile that graced his face, and so he turned towards the letter he had cast aside and began to read.
"Dear Draco,
"It's been seven years since we started Hogwarts, seven years since you helped me find my way onto Platform 9 3/4. Since then, we've become the best of friends, and been there for each other in the best and worst of times. I will never forget anything you have done for me.
"When I first heard these songs, they reminded me a great deal of us, as did many of the other songs on the soundtrack. Although we don't always occupy the same roles from song to song, almost every one reminded me of something that one or both of us had done. However, these had the greatest impact on me, and these are the ones that demonstrated best our relationship to one another.
"Draco, I love you. I have for years. What we have is a connection far stronger and far more sacred than any normal romantic relationship, and for that, I am truly grateful. However, we are graduating now, and I don't know if our paths with ever cross again, for many reasons.
"I have been there for you as often as you have for me, helping you weather every heartbreak and painful fight, while celebrating every happiness. I know you better than anyone else.
"And if I thought, for one second, that you felt any degree of romantic intent towards me, despite your apparent preference in the opposite sex, I would have whisked you away from here long ago and had us married, no matter what obstactles we would have had to face.
"Since we are, instead, destined for a close and platonic friendship, I want you to know that you've always known exactly what I needed, and that I'll carry you with me forever as a handprint on my heart.
"Forever.
"Forever yours,
"Harry"
Tears welled up in Draco's eyes, and he continued to stare at this physical form of his best, beloved friend's soul laid bare. This heartfelt, heart-wrending confession had rocked him to his very core, and he would be damned if he were ever responsible for any of Harry's heartbreak that he could prevent.
Carefully, he examined his feelings. Never had any romance he had engaged in held his attention for long, and though he had never truly thought of the male form before, he realized that Harry had always played apart in his secret dreams and his wank fantasies, though never in the 'starring' roles. His father's indoctrination, that he must find a pureblooded girl and settle down to raise little Malfoy heirs, had never allowed that. Now he tore down those barriers, and realized what a beautiful, sexy, lovable man his friend had become.
Wanting to be sure of everything, and not bring Harry's hopes up only to dash them to the rocks, he carefully collected everything he would need for a bath, and rushed to the Prefect's Bathroom. There, he locked the door, drew his favorite bath, and began to fantasize.
Harry, smiling at him.
Harry, worried about him after he'd been hurt.
Harry, flushed from Quidditch.
Harry, sucking him down to the root and doing marvelously wicked things with his tongue.
With a rush, Draco came hard, shooting an arc over the rippling bathwater, a single name on his lips.
He knew that he would never love anyone else as deeply as he loved his friend... and that he could never let that friend go.
----HD----
Hermione was disturbed from her reading by a great pounding at the portrait. Though most of the residents of Gryffindor Tower were long gone, playing Quidditch over the Pitch or drinking Butterbeer in Hogsmeade, she had decided to relax with a good book, as she did so rarely. Deciding to take pity on whoever was outside, she opened the portrait.
Though Draco was a common fixture in the Tower, the fact that he'd had to resort to knocking to enter shocked her, as Harry normally supplied him with the proper passwords.
Sighing, she invited him in. "What do you need, Draco? I'm afraid that Harry's not here."
His face fell, much more than it normally did, and the worry lines between his brows grew deeper. "I need to talk to him. Desperately. I-... Hermione. I need your help."
That worry fell away to determination, and his eyes were sparking with a plan.
She listened to him describe a scenario where he would finally give Harry everything he deserved and more, and hopefully win for himself his greatest treasure. Hermione smiled, and assented.
Carefully, as they sat on the loosely- stuffed couch, he unfolded his brilliant plan.
----HD----
Harry stumbled in from the pick-up Quidditch match his friends had pulled him into, smiling despite the sinking feeling in his heart. The hours were growing later and later, and he'd heard nothing from Draco.
'Still', he thought to himself, 'maybe no news is good news in this case. And at least he hasn't done his usual trivialization when I tell him that I would love him forever, if he let me... 'Oh Harry, thank you, you're such a good friend, now let me get my heart broken again by this next mercenary bimbo.' I wish he'd let me care for him.'
As he tried to ascend the staircase to his dorm- and thus, clean clothes- he was stopped by Hermione, fidgeting with her shirt.
"What's wrong, 'Mione?"
"Nothing Harry, it's just... I need you to go into Hogsmeade tonight, to the Three Broomsticks. A book of mine has come in, fairly rare, and they want to deliver it from there- it's heavy and has some strong magicks on it- but I'm so busy here that I don't have the time. Could you get it for me?"
"Sure, Hermione, but if you're not going to get the book, how am I supposed to know who to talk to?"
"Just ask Madam Rosmerta about "The Serpent's Heart", that's the name of the book, and she'll direct you to the room where he'll be waiting. And wear some of your nice clothes, Harry, you never know who you'll meet up with out there. Maybe you'll find someone to whom you can give your heart away."
Harry chuckled. "Alright, I'll go. Just don't expect me to bring home any witches or wizards to meet the family- my heart's long gone, and to someone... Someone who probably won't ever love me back."
"You never know-" and suddenly Hermione dropped the subject, her face going red, and she dashed away to the girl's dorms so that he couldn't press her. He knew that she was lying about something, especially with that last bit, but he shook his head. A promise was a promise, and for one of the shyer Gryffindors in his year, he wasn't willing to back out of it.
----HD----
Draco waited impatiently in one of the rooms rented by the Three Broomsticks. In just a short while, Harry would be here, and his soul, too, would be made bare. He stalked around the room again, fiddled with his hair in the mirror, and was just about to check his robes for the dust and lint he knew wouldn't be there when the knock came. Quickly, he answered the door.
There he stood, his spectacles slightly lopsided, his grin even more so as it grew at the sight of him, though he could detect the slightest bit of wistfulness behind those green eyes. "I should have known that you would be involved in this- this scheme was entirely too Slytherin."
Draco grinned back. "I wanted us to be away from the castle for this."
Harry's eyes shifted, looking uncertain. "What do you mean by that... Did you get my present, is that what this is about?" As he began those questions, his eyes shifted from uncertainty to fear and mild pain. "I-"
"Harry- I... I thought about a lot of things, after I read your letter and listened to the songs. I... Oh, do come in, would you? I don't want to tell this to every person along this hall that might want to sell this to the Prophet."
Harry eased his way nervously into the room, delicately seating himself on the edge of the bed. If anything, he looked younger and smaller than he usually did, though he was one of the smallest people in their year. Fiddling with the sleeve of his robe and looking anywhere but at Draco, he listened.
"Harry, I know that I never really paid much attention to you when you promised that you l-loved me. I... I didn't really ever get the chance to linger on those luxuries. So I always took it with a grain of salt, and thought that you were trying to heal my broken heart as painlessly as possible... But now..."
Draco shook his head. He knew that it would be terribly hard to finish saying this if Harry was still contemplating the bedspread, though his hands had stilled and he currently looked tensed, waiting for those next words.
They never came.
Instead, Draco tucked one hand under Harry's chin, pulling it up so that he could gaze into Harry's eyes. Slowly, achingly slowly, he lowered his face to Harry's, and pressed a single, chaste kiss to the waiting lips.
He pulled back just far enough that Harry could see him clearly through his spectacles, waiting for Harry to make a decision.
Slowly, Harry's expression changed from heartbreak to hope to love so radiant that Draco wanted to throw the other boy on the bed and ravish him, but he had to wait, had to allow Harry this next move.
And then Harry's arms wound around his neck and pulled him in for a kiss, and all was well.
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I wrote this because this is what I would love to happen in real life, though I know it never would, and I couldn't think of ANY of my bajillion fandoms that I could write it into without changing it significantly, so I used my, not favorite, but most familiar fandom. At first, I wanted it to be two girls, like in my reality, but that was even harder to find, so this is the result. I am perfectly willing to allow people to write within this universe, though I would like to be told first, and am willing to give this baby to anyone. And if you've read my other fics, sorry that I've lost contact with the writing portion of fandom, but I'm much better suited to one-shots than anything else, so if anyone wants to borrow those stories, too, feel free- but again, tell me first.
3- Lady Silvrene