TITLE: Morpheus
SUMMARY: Draco, Ginny, Hermione… Harry cannot remember who he loves and as he wakes from one dream, he cannot help but wonder if he is still sleeping. Will he ever truly awaken? Can he? Very much AU and some time differences from part to part. *Warning, not a happy ending*
NOTES: Written for EVERYONES HERO XD's "*Yes, It's a Drarry Challenge* 15 Prompts". I chose Lost (though it also fits Dreams of You) and this just came to me. Enjoy and tell me what you think.
Harry awoke suddenly from his dream with a gasp and sat up so quickly on the bed that he felt dizzy. The movement also seemed to disturb the other person in bed with him. Hesitantly, he looked down to see who was beside him and breathed a sigh of relief. It was Draco. He had had the strangest dream in which Snape had come into his dorm and… well; he didn't want to think about the rest.
He shuddered at the thought and was about to settle back into bed when the alarm in the air beside the bed went off and Draco shot up so abruptly that he knocked heads with Harry. Their makeshift bed was so small that the top half of Harry's body dangled off the bed, only his legs anchoring him.
"Harry?" he heard from the top of bed. Suddenly, Draco's head popped into view at the edge of the bed. He had an adorable disgruntled look on his face. "I think you bruised my head." Before Harry could respond, Draco reached out and grabbed his arm, yanking him back onto the bed.
Harry fought off another wave of vertigo and smiled sheepishly at Draco. "Sorry?" Then, he remembered the reason they both had bruised heads. "Wait, what time is it?" Ever since Draco and Harry had begun their rendezvous, Harry had avoided staying the night in the abandoned classroom. It would arouse too much suspicion. Of course, that was nothing compared to what would happen in the two were to arrive late to class… together.
Despite the fact that Draco was officially on their side, Harry didn't think they would be able to be publicly together until Voldemort was gone. Although they had to keep their relationship a secret, Harry couldn't regret being able to get through to Draco at the end of fifth year. Now, no matter what happened, Draco and his parents would be safe-both from the Death Eaters and from the Aurors when all was said and done.
At the beginning of the term, Harry and Draco had only begun to talk about the war and Draco's new place in it. The further the talks went, though, the more it became evident that Draco would be nowhere but at Harry's side-in more ways than one. The transition from friendship to romantic relationship had been a painfully-in Harry's case-slow one, but Draco finally threw his caution and masks to the wind. The end of the term was looming in little over a month now, and Harry was anxious to at least be able to tell Ron and Hermione about their relationship. Draco was vehemently objecting, but knew it wouldn't be much longer until Harry convinced him.
For now though, he played his part. His eyes widened and quickly called his wand to him and cast a Tempus Charm. It was almost eight-thirty; they would be late for their first class. Then, Draco's eyes narrowed then cleared, a smirk falling into place on his face. "It's Saturday, you big dolt. Now, lay back down, I was up late last night."
Harry rolled his eyes and was severely tempted to join Draco in bed but internally rejected the idea. For someone who didn't want their relationship getting out, Draco sure was thoughtless. "Don't act a martyr you weren't complaining about the hour last night. Anyways, you know I can't stay. If I don't leave now, I won't be there before my housemates wake up. Do you want them suspecting?" Harry cursed the hopeful sound to the last question as the other boy fell quiet.
Draco sighed and slipped out of the comfort of the bed without saying another word. Harry finished dressing before Draco and went through the memorized charms to untransfigure the bed and release the Locking and Silencing charms. By the time he finished, the other boy had finished dressing. Harry walked over and took Draco's left hand in his right, cupping his cheek with his left. Harry placed a chaste kiss on Draco's still pouting ones and walked towards the door. "Later, love." he whispered and was gone from the room.
Harry had nearly finished his breakfast, but was trying to go as slow as he could, hoping to catch a glimpse of Draco before he returned to his common room with Ron and Hermione. He was trying to cut and impossibly small bite of eggs even smaller when the door to the Great Hall opened and in walked Draco. A Draco who was staring intently at him...and had begun to walk towards him. Distantly, he heard Hermione saying his name and inquiring about Draco, but said boy had all of his attention. Every Gryffindor and Slytherin had their wands out, waiting on word from either Harry or Draco. Yet, the two boys had eyes only for the other. Finally, when Draco was two feet away-close enough for Harry to touch-, Ron stood up and put his wand at Draco's throat.
"What do you want with Harry, Ferret?" Ron snarled, leaning close to Draco who had put his hands up to show he didn't have his wand in them.
Draco opened his mouth to reply, but Harry beat him to it. "Leave him alone, Ron. If he wants to have a chat with me, he can."
Draco smiled, not smirked, but smiled and took a step closer. "But…" Ron murmured, but let him pass, not admitting it but really wanting to see what would happen.
The two lover's eyes remained locked as Draco took one last step towards him and Harry stood up. There was an unspoken curiosity in Harry's eyes, which only made Draco's smile widen. He put his hands on either side of Harry's face and kissed him softly, as Harry had done to him less than an hour before. When they both pulled back, Harry's eyes fluttering open once more, Harry smile as wide as Draco. "What?" Harry asked, the word escaping like a gasp.
This time, Draco smirked. "I was late because I went to ask Dumbledore if we could come out as a couple. And he replied," Draco's imitation of Dumbledore was nearly spot on despite the still whispery sound of his voice, "'Why would you think that you need my permission? But, if you must have it, I see no reason why not.'"
Harry laughed so softly, it was almost a laugh. "Why did you think you needed his permission?"
"Well, if I'm going to corrupt his Chosen One, why not have permission?" The blond's smirk was still firmly in place, making him look like the Malfoy of old.
Harry knew exactly how to turn him back into Draco. He smirked and murmured, leaning so that his breath danced across Draco's lips, "Well, if you thought that was corrupt, I think it may be the other way around."
Before the blond could even begin to process the words, Harry had dragged their lips back together forcefully and dipped Draco so much that his hair was dangerously close to touching the jam. When Harry finally undipped Draco and pulled away, both had glazed eyes and were struggling to catch their breaths. Before anyone else in the hall could react or stop them, they found each others hand and ran from the Great Hall, leaving chaos behind them.
The two boys didn't emerge again from their abandoned classroom, and no one seemed to be able to find them. In the back of his mind, Draco thanked Dumbledore, knowing that the old Headmaster had something to do with the quiet.
When they got hungry, Harry called Dobby to request food. The elf always obliged them. The two talked and laughed all night knowing that tomorrow or Monday, they would have to face the outside world once more. In those hours though, it was only them and the room. They fell into restful sleep as the day either ended or began, wrapped in each others arms; they didn't care either way.
Harry's arms tightened around the body pressed against his. He breathed in the honey-scent of shampoo and smiled. Then, he stiffened. His eyes opened to red hair, lots of red hair. He let out a sigh of relief. It was only Ginny, his wife and mother of his children. But, somehow, he couldn't erase the memories of pale, pale limbs and Great Halls and… Draco. The name of his old rival surprised him, but the images weren't as offensive as he thought they should be. Not wanting to think much on that last part, Harry got up and decided to make breakfast. Today, Albus Severus was leaving for Hogwarts, for the first time.
Harry was nervous on behalf of his son. He'd wanted nothing more than for Al to do well and have fun, but as he thought of his son, somehow, his thoughts kept turning to Malfoy. He was beginning to worry about his train of thought until he remembered. Malfoy also had a son. And, his son was the same age as Al. No wonder, Harry thought. Though the dream was a little out there, the thought of seeing his old rival for the first time in years must have been the reason behind it all.
With that thought out of his mind, Harry went on making breakfast calmly, which is why he was startled when arms wrapped around him from behind. He stiffened when his mind jumped once more to Dr-Malfoy. He relaxed when he remembered Ginny, but he was still bewildered by his thoughts.
"Smells lovely, darling." Her high voice sounded wrong and her lips, when they kissed his shoulder, felt wrong.
Harry once more shook those thoughts from his head and attempted to smile. "It'll be ready soon. Can you go get the kids up?"
Ginny nodded, touched his back once more before leaving the kitchen as Harry moved to heat water for tea. Harry had just finished fixing the last plate when the kids and Ginny reentered the kitchen. Both Lily and James were still rubbing the sleep out of their eyes, while Al looked to be debating whether to be nervous or excited. Ginny walked over and pecked Harry on the cheek and sat down next to Harry's usual seat. Harry sat down in said seat and began to eat. The children were surprisingly quiet throughout breakfast, a fact to which Harry was grateful.
They were on time, they made it to King's Cross by ten till eleven. Al had been afraid of being put in Slytherin and Harry told him the story of how his name came to be. After that, Al ran to meet Rose so they could board together and Harry let his eyes roam Platform 9 ¾. He tried to convince himself that he wasn't looking for Malfoy, but he could lie to himself about as well as he could lie to others. That being said, he wasn't very convincing. When he caught sight of a shock of white-blond hair, it wasn't Draco, but the little boy clinging to him. When his eyes moved to the child's father, he was severely glad Ginny had gone ahead with the children. He gasped at the sight of the man he had dreamt about the night before.
This version looked older and plenty wearier, but he was still… beautiful? Harry's eyes widened at his own thoughts and promptly turned away, hoping that Malfoy hadn't noticed him. It was only a dream, he told himself. I love Ginny. Only Ginny. He finally caught sight of his wife and walked briskly towards her. He pulled her to him and kissed her. There. That's...okay…. Harry's mind was still in turmoil, but he continued to kiss Ginny until they could make out retching noises coming from the train and they pulled away to see James, Al and Rose making retching noises. Behind them, in the same compartment, was Scorpius Malfoy, smiling at the scene in front of him.
When they returned home, Ginny set about making lunch and chatting with Harry as he sat in the kitchen and chatted back. Lily had gone up to her room the moment they'd returned. (Harry and Ginny knew this was because she wanted to go to Hogwarts and decided to let her mope.) The strange thoughts and feelings transferred to the back of Harry's mind as he remembered why he loved Ginny so much.
Lily came down to lunch when Harry called for her then returned to her room right after a mopey, whining meal. Soon after that, Harry retired to the sitting room to read and Ginny left saying she wanted to go for a jog.
As Harry read, he thought about his life. He loved it. It was peaceful and everything he expected, even with three children. He took a moment to wonder what a life with Malfoy would have been like. (The fact that he was imagining it was not something he wanted to think too much about yet.) A life with Malfoy would probably have been stressful and tumultuous to say the least. There would have been fights every day, every hour. Would they have even made it? But, in the dream, Harry had been so happy. In the dream they hadn't fought. Harry realized he had been on the same page for nearly ten minutes and groaned. He cut off any train of thought about Malfoy by thinking, it was only a dream.
It worked...for about a minute. Then he thought, but why would I dream about Malfoy to have a perfect day in the first place. Every day with my family is a perfect day… right? He groaned again and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes.
Ginny.
I love Ginny.
Finally, he could take no more. Not caring that it was only two in the afternoon, Harry went to the master bedroom, closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep.
Harry awoke in his bed in Gryffindor tower alone. Harry guessed by the amount of light in the room that it was suppertime and headed to the Great Hall.
Very few people seemed to notice his entrance. Ginny looked up with a small smile and waved. He smiled back but was very confused. Harry had just dreamed about Ginny as a thirty-six year old and now he was confronted with the sixteen year old version. Ron had not noticed his entrance at all. He had a lapful of Lavender Brown. Finally, Harry's eyes landed on Hermione and his world lit up. She gave his a huge bright smile and he didn't hesitate to return it.
Harry finally reached the stretch of table his friends occupied and sat down next to Hermione, giving her a small peck on her cheek, causing her to blush. "Hey, 'Mione." Then he looked across the table and said, "Hey, Gin."
Ginny smirked. "Har-ry." She winked and returned to her breakfast, laughing at his blush.
The three fell silent. Harry was wondering what he had been thinking about last night to make him dream about Ginny and...Draco. The second name caused him to look up suddenly and find the boy. Draco wasn't difficult to find, though he looked wearier than he had seemed in the first dream, but not to the point of the one with Ginny. As Harry watched him, the blond looked quickly around the Hall before rubbing at his left forearm.
Harry almost fell over in his seat. He knew what that motion meant. Dr-Malfoy was a Death Eater. Harry had suspected all term, sure, but to have it confirmed was another thing entirely. So far Harry's sixth year had consisted of finding out what Malfoy had been up to, now dating Hermione and getting to the bottom of Dumbledore and Voldemort. Malfoy actually being a Death Eater complicated things exponentially. Harry looked quickly away from Malfoy, not wanting to acknowledge the fact that he wanted to go over there and comfort him. Harry wanted to take Draco into his arms and tell him that they could fix all of it.
Harry took one look at Hermione and knew he couldn't and wouldn't do that. Unlike with Ginny, he knew this couldn't be a dream. He loved Hermione and only Hermione. He and Ginny would have been preposterous anyways, they were like siblings. Harry and Dr-Malfoy together was as likely as the polar ice caps melting. He and Hermione just made sense.
When Harry, Hermione, Ginny, Ron, Lavender, and Neville made to leave the Great Hall, Harry sneaked one more look at Malfoy. He was once again rubbing at his arm, but rather than looking his usual arrogant self, he looked miserable. Harry's resolve to stay on his side of the room was crumbling when Hermione grabbed his hand with a smile (that he returned) and led him out of the Hall.
Back in the common room, Ron, Harry and Neville played Wizards' Chess, while Lavender, Ginny and Hermione gossiped. Yes, Hermione gossiped. Finally, when it was getting late, Neville and Ron decided to call it a night and head to bed, naturally, Lavender followed them. Though Ginny wasn't all that tired, she headed to her dorm, not wanting to be that friend.
Contrary to many people's beliefs, neither Hermione nor Harry pounced on the other when their friends left. They simply fell into each others arms and onto the couch. They were both too tired to exchange more than a few lazy kisses as they both drifted to sleep.
Harry was almost asleep when he wondered how he would awaken. Despite how sure he had been earlier, he wondered if it would be Hermione in his arms when he woke up. Or would it be Ginny, or some other random person? Despite his feelings towards Hermione, he couldn't help but hope it would be Draco. The non-Marked Draco he had loved in a dream and made out with in the middle of the Great Hall.
Voldemort smiled a cold smile. It had been an easy enough task to capture Potter. Since the chase ended up being lacking, Voldemort wanted to assure himself he chose the correct punishment. Now, he had seen enough. In all of Potter's dreams, Voldemort had been able to see each one of Potter's thoughts and hopes and desires.
Originally, Voldemort would have let Potter go mad within his own dreams, but a new idea was growing. Despite everything thrown at him, Potter kept thinking about the Malfoy boy. Voldemort knew he could work this to his advantage. He would wake Potter, and call Draco to him and see where things went from there.
He let out a shriek of laughter before containing himself and calling for the blond boy. Once his message had been sent, he turned to Potter's prone form and undid the charm holding him in the unnatural sleep. Draco stepped through the door just as Potter began to stir. On the left side of Draco's forehead, so close to the hairline Voldemort had missed it for two days, was a yellowing bruise.
"Harry. I think you bruised my head."
NOTE: Alright… What did you think? Just for reference, Dream one is AU after fifth year, the second in canon straight to the epilogue, the third just until Ron and Lav get together and the last bit is well, hopefully you've made that connection.
Thanks so much for Reading, Please review if you have time or inclination!