Every year, on the anniversary of the day he killed Voldemort, Harry Potter was asked to give a speech at the GWG (Grand Wizarding Gala) that was held to honor all those who had to sacrifice something for the Great War.
Every year, he received an invitation for himself and one "guest" exactly two months before the event. His husband, Draco Malfoy, who had perhaps sacrificed the most for the Great War in his role as a spy, never received an invitation. Harry supposed (hoped) it was due to the fact that as his spouse, it was automatically assumed that Draco would be the "guest." He never really believed that, though, and he doubted that Draco did either.
Every year, Draco Malfoy would act as though he didn't really notice the slight. He would look over the invitation, smirk, make some snide comment about Harry being the hero of the wizarding world, and then pretend to forget about the whole thing until the actual night of the Gala.
On the night of the event, he would appear in the living room of the flat he shared with Harry looking as beautiful as he did on the day that Harry first truly saw him for what he was. He was always decked out in attire befitting both his former status and his current status as the husband of the most respected man in Wizarding Britain. Harry was sure that his heart broke a little every time he saw him standing at the foot of the steps that led to their bedroom, dressed in formal robes and looking beautiful, nervous, and sad at the same time.
When he finally caught his breath, Harry would offer Draco his arm, and they would walk together in silence to the apparition point. They would apparate together, then plaster on smiling faces as they began to greet the wizarding world at what was always thought of as the event of the year.
Pictures would be taken, pleasantries would be made, and before the night was through, Harry would shake a thousand hands and pose for a hundred magazine photos of himself with this "hero" or that. Draco would even make it into a few of the pictures, but only as a shadow in the light that surrounded the Boy-Who-Defeated-He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Any picture of Draco was always either an accident or an afterthought.
Harry would try his best to be attentive to his husband. He would calmly but firmly remind anyone who "forgot" to acknowledge Draco with a tight smile and a "You remember my husband, of course."
They would all make an uncomfortable attempt at politeness and then go back to studiously avoiding the eyes of the Tainted One, as they viewed him. Harry, in that uncomfortable situation, never knew what to say then, and the conversation would fade to a silence that could chill the bones of anyone in the vicinity. Harry never could understand how people could be so warm and friendly to him, but act as though his husband carried some disease they could catch just by looking at him.
Shortly before the dinner and the speeches that followed, Harry would try to find Snape, partially for Draco and partially because he felt that the debt he owed that man was so great he could never repay it. Snape, however, was never very easy to find because he was acknowledged less than Draco, though he too had sacrificed greatly for the war effort. Generally, he would finally be found in some dark corner where the shadows hid the large scar that ran across his cheek and he could avoid walking and thus displaying the limp he had acquired. No one other than Harry and Draco ever bothered looking for him anyway.
When everyone had a chance to greet one another and relive "glory" days that did not exist, they would move as a group to the auditorium where they would be served dinner while they listened to the speakers chosen for the year. Some of the speakers were regulars and their speeches reflected that by being predictable. Others were chosen to reflect a theme of memories chosen for the specific year, though their speeches, too, generally rang with predictability and exaggeration.
Then, of course, Harry would speak. His speeches were also predictable and focused on tolerance between muggles, muggleborns, halfbloods, and purebloods. Before he was finished each year, you could guarantee that there would be some tear streaked faces and some open sobbing. Harry always hoped that he was getting through to some of them, that his message was valuable and that maybe this time, someone would really think about what tolerance meant.
Then, one year, he decided to take a slightly different approach.
When he stood up and began walking to the podium amidst a thunderous applause, he had all intentions of giving his usual speech, highlighting the promising exchange of culture he had recently seen among the new Hogwarts generation. He was going to discuss the pureblooded children he had seen playing video games and listening to ipods, wearing muggle clothes, and quoting catch phrases from muggle television programs. But as he took each step toward the place where he would say those things, he began to feel the weight he carried in his heart become heavier and heavier.
It is all so superficial, he thought. I am making no difference at all. This speech like all of the others before will be forgotten as soon as these people walk out of the building. Whatever is remembered will be distorted and taken completely out of context by tomorrow morning. And besides, pureblooded people should not be the only ones that have to change. By giving this speech, I am just reinforcing the reverse discrimination that everyone seems to be patently ignoring these days.
But in spite of his thoughts, he still fully intended to give his prepared speech until the moment when he stood in front of the crowd and opened his mouth to speak. He looked out at the people he allowed to idolize him at the expense of his own ideals and realized he couldn't let it go on any longer. If things had to continue in the way they had been going since the war, then he could no longer condone it by being passive. So with more courage than he displayed on any battle field, Harry Potter, began the speech that would start a new fire of revolutionary thinking in Wizarding Britain.
His speech went like this:
Good evening. As you know, I am Harry Potter, and I have been invited to be the keynote speaker again this year as I am every year. I had a speech prepared, but I think it is best that I speak what is truly on my mind and not try to censor myself to avoid hurting the feelings of people who need a wake up call.
You see, I am Harry Potter, and before anything, even before being your hero, I am Draco Malfoy's husband. Many of you seem to forget that. You think it is a blemish to be overlooked and forgotten, but I will tell you today and any day that if you want to admire me, you should at least admire the greatest thing I have ever done. Defeating Voldemort is not what defines me nearly so much as being lucky enough to have married my own hero.
Many of you gasped at that, and I can't help but wonder why. I know that many of you do not see Draco as heroic, and frankly, I am constantly bewildered by how ignorant people can remain when the facts are all right there for anyone to see. I am even bewildered by how ignorant I have been in thinking that the prejudices my husband and I face will go away in time as memories fade. Yes, I am calling the so-called polite society of Wizarding Britain ignorant, but I insult you no more than myself. I believe and have believed for a long time that many of you are cowardly, but there isn't a person in this country who I believe is more cowardly than I am.
Everyday, my husband, who sacrificed more for the war effort than many of you will ever know, is treated as though he is scum and is not fit to walk the face of the earth as a free man. Meanwhile, I, who know more about what he did to ensure my freedom as well as yours than anyone else, continue to allow others to treat him this way in the hopes that it will blow over. Well, as the past few years have told us, it won't, and I am finally going to demonstrate the courage to do something about it.
Draco Malfoy is my hero. He is my hero because when I was still coming up with elaborate plots to catch him in the act of some stupid prank, he was dealing with the pressures of an abusive parent and overcoming his brainwashed upbringing. While I had many choices available to me in my life's destination, he had only two: Join his father's cause and never be his own man or spy for the light and never be accepted or appreciated. He chose option two in spite of the fact that I did everything I could to encourage him to accept being dark as his fate.
During the war, many celebrated at the death of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Draco, on the other hand, was mourning the loss of his parents who would never really know him or understand him. In fact, Draco has to live day in and day out with the knowledge that he knew about and could have prevented his parents' deaths. He knew that they were going to die and how it was going to happen even as he knew that preventing their deaths could prove to be a fateful blow to the light. Draco chose his principles over his parents, and I sincerely doubt many of you would do the same. Oh, you may say that you could easily do it, but the truth is that you have never been in that situation, and consequently, you will never know how it feels.
Not only did Draco lose his family that day, he also lost his name, fortune, and almost all of his worldly belongings. They were stripped from him because of his parents and the crimes they had committed. Though Draco remains a Malfoy, it hardly carries the weight it used to, unless you are referring to the weight of shame that seems to grow heavier by the day. And yet Draco is completely undeserving of that shame.
It is because of my husband that I am able to stand here before you today. If it had not been for the information he gained in his invaluable role as a spy, I would never have been able to discover the secret that allowed me to destroy Voldemort. I firmly believe, as should you, that without that information, we would have lost the war. Anything I did to help end the war was only at the expense of Draco.
Many of you hold on to the so-called atrocities he committed during his role as a spy. You hold them up as a shield whenever you decide to have a go at him, using them as an excuse to insult him. Have you noticed that he usually just sits there and takes whatever anyone throws out at him? He does this because he feels guilty about all of the terrible things he had to do to maintain his cover. He wakes up in the middle of the night in cold sweats because of nightmares he has difficulty escaping from, even when wide awake. Draco never wanted to do those things, but he did do them so that one day, you and I would be free again to pursue our lives and not have to worry about evil would-be dictators breathing down our necks. As you sit there, eating your dessert and drinking your wine, think about the things my husband had to do so that you could simply enjoy things like wine and dessert.
Prejudice is not one-sided. It never will be. You and I fought a war so that we could be free from prejudice, but we have slipped into just another form of it. Now the ones who were picked on feel that they have the right to discriminate against the ones they feel were responsible for their own mistreatment. I say it has to stop on all sides, or we will just end up with another war, another crazy man, and another set of sacrifices to be made. The environment we are living in at the moment is just another breeding ground for hatred and discontent.
Every year, I stand in front of you and give a speech about tolerance and building a brighter future for ourselves and our children. I talk about the progress that is being made while conveniently ignoring the lack of it in so many areas. As of today, I refuse to be a part of it anymore. I will no longer stand here and speak to you while dancing around the issues that separate you and me. I choose to stand up to you and support my husband. If that means I can no longer be your hero, then so be it. If it means that I will never again be asked to stand at this podium, then I will find another platform from which to express my views and opinions. But I will express them. I will never be silent again.
If you wish to forget about everything I did for the war effort, then by all means, please do so. I simply followed the directions of others. I sacrificed many things but no more than most. But I will never again stand by and allow anyone to forget the things Draco Lucius Malfoy and others like him did to protect our freedom.
Thank you and good night.
Harry Potter left the stage that night with no thunderous applause to follow him. His words echoed throughout the hall, and though there were a few tear stained faces, it was completely different than any experience previously had in that auditorium. He walked with determination towards his table and his beautiful husband who stared at him with an expression of bewilderment and awe.
As the musicians hastily began an attempt to cover up the awkward silence and restore the feeling of festivity, Harry stopped at Draco's side and offered him his hand. With a sheepish smile, he asked, "May I have this dance?"
Draco simply nodded and took his hand, following his husband onto the dance floor. Many people in the crowd stared at the couple, but Harry and Draco could not have cared less. They began dancing with a little distance between their bodies so that Harry could meet Draco's eyes fully while he asked, "Are you okay?"
Draco's eyes shifted, then met Harry's full on as he replied, "Of course, I am, you idiot. My husband may have just told some of my deepest secrets to an audience of several thousand people, but other than that I am fine."
Harry cringed and whispered, "Yeah, about that. I am so sorry. It was like as soon as I started talking it just all came out. I wanted them to understand what you did for them. I hate the way they treat you, and I am sorry that it took me this long to do something about it."
Draco shrugged. "It's alright. I guess it has always bothered me, but I always expected it. I didn't think everything was going to start being easy for me just because the war ended. And you shouldn't be so hard on yourself. Seriously, you just reminded me of why you are and always will be my hero."
Harry's eyes began to water at that, though he would never admit it, and he pulled Draco closer to him. They danced silently for several minutes, mostly ignoring the actual music and their surroundings, and just swayed to a rhythm only they knew. Then Harry whispered, "Thank you, Draco Malfoy, for giving me an opportunity to have the freedom to love you."
Draco simply snorted and with his usual snide sense of humor replied, "And thank you, Harry Potter, for trying to pull the stick out of polite society's collective arse."
Ten months later, Draco found two invitations in the mailbox. One was for Harry, as usual, and one was for himself. Though it wasn't a great leap of progress by any means, it was a start, and Draco couldn't help smiling to himself as he took the letters inside to show his hero.