Danielle
Summary: History repeats itself to somehow mend what happened in the past and make it right this time. This time it gave Harry and Draco a chance to be together.
Disclaimer: If only I did own this series and not J.K.Rowlings—no matter how great an authoress she is—a lot of bondage would appear each time this pair would be together…
At the time it seemed like a good idea, quite rational—logical at the least. The Chang Family, and their previous ancestry, was respectable, rich and most importantly, their blood was not tainted by even a drop of muggle blood within their veins. Also at the time, the Malfoy linage was endangered to be wiped out, fading as speedy as snow melts in the hot summer, and they needed their son to produce an heir—fast. So it was decided. Once the time came to almost leave the school, Draco grew up, chose his future and his bride, a great feast in Hogwarts was celebrated before their last year ended.
They both walked through the wedding ceremony like a robotic ritual. Formal and stiff. White filled the great hall, accented with pale creams. Everyone was in their proper attires for the evening, without the Hogwarts school robes, girls were in dresses and men were in tuxedos or suits. The usually long tables for the students to eat on were arranged to face the head table, as if it were a church, and in front of them all was Draco Malfoy staring at the hall's entrance with no certain emotion in his gray eyes.
"Why did you choose to perform the rite here?" Blaise whispered to the blonde beside him. "Couldn't you have done it somewhere more private?"
Draco's eyes softened before answering, the Slytherin prince's eyes drifting somewhere in the middle of the room. "With the dark lord rising, this was the safest place of expediency at the time…" his voice slightly drifted off and grew quiet as the double doors of the hall were opened. His bride strode in with pride in every step, in a true Malfoy and Slytherin way, with her chin held high and her head turned towards the sky, and then slowly focusing on her husband-to-be at the end of the long aisle before her.
Cho Chang started to walk to her future, as her eye caught the ever so familiar dark locks to her right, the-boy-who-lived, and will live she silently prayed to herself. With great will and courage she soundlessly made her way to their houses' infamous prince, and faced him, and looked up into his eyes. The thick smell of roses flooded their senses, it made him want to hurl at how typically romantic and cliqued the headmaster was, and it made her all the more nervous.
Draco uneasily fingered his collar at the back and slowly gazed back at those black locks within the large mass of students. Cho too followed his gaze, knowing he too was looking at the raven-haired boy. Their he was, Harry—bloody—Potter, shooting them a small smile and a thumbs up when he caught their gazes. It was a miserable start to a pathetic future for the couple. 'and he wouldn't have had a reason to attend' Draco silently added to his previous answer to his best man's question. It took all his will to look away from him and to his bride, as it took all of hers to look away from him and to her husband.
Maybe, they weren't that different after all. They had one more thing in common that neither would willingly admit. That day words were effortlessly said, memorized vows were recited but never really meant.
Cho; she was a witch and she was strong, proud of it too. Her abilities were harnessed to the fullest potential when the war almost broke but pushed a little bit too far over the edge. But when it came down to it, there was not a bloody thing anybody could do to prevent what happened next, no potion Snape nor her husband could ever brew, or a mediwitch like madam Poppy could ever perform would save her. Not even the Harry Bloody Potter could do anything, and he was the boy who lived! She died with a smile on her lips, a cold and rainy November night.
Had he loved her? Not exactly the words he would choose to express their relationship and life together—no matter how short a time it was. He respected her. Yes. She was his schoolmate first, and then his wife. They weren't even in the same house to begin with, he was in Slytherin and she was in Ravenclaw, and they never because friends when the matrimonial decisions was given to them.
Their marriage was founded not on love but on formalities of producing an heir and the pressures being brought up in such high and powerful old families. It was quite disgusting to others; he wasn't even sad that she died. He didn't feel remorse when they burned her body in green magical flames, turning her to ash and float away into the skies.
He wasn't very happy either. It just came to him like another reality faith played. In a way he was glad she had just died, that way she ended the numerous torturing practiced they had to harness their magic. He was glad that she died before she even knew it. He didn't mourn for her sad life. That day a lot of prideful pureblood families came to realize, the grave mistake they have done. Malfoys had the ability to see things in the distance and Changs could see through things, and their blood should never mix, the ability was far too much to handle.
Draco lifted his small son into his arms, looking at the small bundle in his arms. Slowly, sleepy gray eyes opened and stared blankly into his own orbs. Bloody faith.
..Eleven Years Later..
Danielle leaned against the wall, eyes staring proudly but blankly straight ahead—no matter what passes him, students and teachers, that gaze was held were it was originally placed when uncle Harry brought him here. Distinctly he could hear his father's voice booming behind the door he was leaning next too.
"He insists on being as bloody stubborn as you—trying to cast spells with his wand!" the exasperated and rather loud voice from Professor (Pansy) Parkinson.
"It is not of your concern, Professor. And I would be pleased if you do not go on further trying to make it any of your concern." His father's prideful voice came calmly after—as cold, distant and spiteful as his father before him once held.
"Hell with it, Malfoy!" the voice was overwhelmingly frustrated and strained "You're as a bloody stuck up as you were when we were still in Hogwarts together. I know that he is your son, and I know how much bloody pride your family is known for. Being Danielle, you know better than I that he has no chance of becoming a wizard, no matter how powerful his bloody father or mother was. It is preposterous! A Blind wizard casting spells at a bloody student instead of the specimen directly in front of him!"
Thick silence followed. Danielle's small hands twisted tightly together behind him, clutching his wand behind his back as he tried to hold in a snob.
There was a slap that resounded through the room. The door noiselessly opened and footsteps echoed through the almost empty corridor. They came closer to him, and then stopped. "Come on, buddy" his uncle Harry's deep voice was heard resounding through the hallway. "—let's get some fresh air" Harry looked into that blank stare and slowly his soft comforting smile faded. Gently, he took on of Danielle's hands into his larger one and led him away from the office. They were far enough from the room and didn't even hear it when Draco's hushed voice whispered. "I know my son's limitations"
"You were training again" Harry stated more than actually asking, as he took a spot to sit on the grassy field and pulled Danielle to sit beside him. But the boy made no motion in reply to his uncle's statement; instead, he focused in front of him again, like he had in so many years, that black abyss.
As was his marriage with a woman he barely knew off, his wife, Draco found a confidant, a friend, a companion, someone to help him, in the most unlikely places, his own houses nemesis house, Gryfinddor. He had refused to take his mark, and rose to a position in the Auroras, as did Harry. So whenever there was a task given, it was like an unspoken agreement, only between the two of them, that one would always be there to watch Danielle.
The boy simply sat there motionlessly listening to the birds humming above them.
"You—" Harry started, and then stopped, thinking about what he could possibly say to the young Malfoy. "—you're dad is just worried about" he stated simply. The boy just bowed his head.
Silence.
The older of the pair looked down at the raven-haired boy beside him and gave a small chuckle of amusement, making the boy's gaze lift up to look at him, in a sense. "No—" he came to a small pause as he looked into those dull gray eyes. "—it's just that… look like a mirror image of your dad when we first met, 'cept for the color of your hair" Danielle stiffened almost as the last few words came out, and Harry quickly thought of something to remedy his slip up. "—that you got from your mom. I remember him insisting to have his hair gelled up and combed to the back like this—" he said, pushing back black locks much alike to what Draco used to wear when they were in second year.
"What was she like?" a very—very—timid and soft voice asked him, through the clothing on his arms that were currently covering his mouth.
"She was…proper" Harry said cautiously testing the topic and see what reaction he would get from the young Malfoy. Immediately Danielle's boyish features lit up with the topic of his mother.
"Father is too" he softly reminded his uncle. Harry gave another deep laugh.
"Yes, he is. But Cho was different. Being a woman from a good family, your mother always was prim and proper. No tie was messily done; her hair was just as perfect as your father's too. Your father is nice—and all… when he wants to be, I guess" Harry gave a small pout, which caused the boy beside him to hide a smirk forming on his small lips. "When your mother spoke, it was soft, but very demanding yet not frightening. It didn't boom out loud and dark, but when you hear her commanding voice you would respect and follow her. That was her true power." Harry sounded like he was smiling up to his ear with pride and with this Danielle couldn't help but sadden a bit, having never met his mother.
Harry must have quickly picked this up because he quickly pulled the boy to his lap and told him. "Let's play a game" Danielle slightly shifted with the new seating arrangement, but then got comfortable.
"Okay, it's called…uhm… physic!" Harry said happily with a smile. "… you make a shape out of my hankie and I'll close my eyes and guess, alright?"
"Okay" the boy nodded and proceeded to fold.
"a dog?"
"no"
"a boat?"
"no"
"a hat"
"uncle Harry, you're peeking!" the cunning lad told him with a small pout forming on his lips.
"Alright I am…" Harry admitted slightly ashamed. "The game is lame… How about you give it a go?—" He continued then he lifted his hands to the boy's eyes and brought his eyes lids down. Harry transfigured the hat into an owl.
"a broom"
"nope"
"a wand"
"try again, Danny"
Danielle slightly cracked one of his eyes open. "I feel stupid having my eyes closed" he said finally opening both of his eyes. "—can I just have them like this? It's not like I can see or anything anyway" Harry shrugged the fabric of his robes making a distinct rustling sound. "okay"
"an owl"
Harry's face lit in a smile. "Alright! Let's have another go, shall we?" he said before transfiguring the small owl into a little ball.
"It's a ball." Harry froze in shock, his lips curved to a small smile—this one was different from his pervious ones. He changed the object again.
"How about now?" he asked the boy in front of him.
"It's something I've been next to before…" Danny aid slowly, his gray eyes seemingly staring at the tiny ring in Harry's hand. "… it's a ring, the one my father wears on his hand!" he exclaimed happily in triumph.
Harry's face darkened slightly. He stops to think before continuing with the next item. "How about doing it the muggle way?" he asks before transfiguring his hands. "How many fingers am I holding up?" His voice was low and deepened as he watched the brunette in front of him frown.
"What?" he asked curiously.
"It's sounds idiotic. I can't possibly be right" Danny said while faintly shaking his head.
"Try me"
The boy paused for a moment, wondering if he should tell his uncle or not, then he dismissed the thought and answered shyly. "Fourteen"
The older wizard lowered his hands, dismissed the transfiguration spell on his hands and then stared at the young Malfoy with surprise written all over his handsome features. "The sun's coming down; it's getting late, Danny." He muttered only loud enough for the body beside him to hear. "—your daddy would be looking for you. Come on; let's get back to the castle." He finally said, standing up and bringing the boy along with him on his hip. Danielle allowed his uncle to carry him on his hip as he rested his own head on his uncle's broad shoulder.
That night in the great hall, Harry sat beside Draco on the head table, lost in thought. The blonde noticed this, but did nothing at his companion's awkward silence and strange trance that has made him wand to look at a particular pattern on the table cloth.
"Let me teach him, Albus." Harry firmly said, as his sharp green eyes looked straight into the old headmaster's own. There was no hint of humor in his face as the words left him.
The old wizard shook his head. "As much as I trust your abilities, Harry, but there has never been a blind wizard in the history of the magical world. Besides how would he read? Point his wand to the right place for his incantations? How would you make sure he doesn't hex his fellow student, Mr. Potter?"
Harry just leaned further into the desk, his eyes still maintaining the fire within them. "I can teach him brail to learn the words to spells, or even to write. He can learn his surroundings by heightening his other senses. He'll train under me exclusively… I've taught other students before much harder spells in fourth year, how hard can it be to teach Danielle the basics?"
Dumbledore sighed—a very heavy sigh. "Like I said earlier in this conversation, Mr. Potter, I never once doubted your abilities as a wizard or as a teacher, as a matter of fact I do believe you would be a great professor one day for Hogwarts, but I'm afraid you would also have to ask his father's approval before you do this"
"Draco's a git, sir. He's completely given up on Danielle. I don't believe he'd do any more to try and help his son. Please sir, I know what it's like…" Harry's voice drifted off slightly as he remembered the past. "—I know what it's like to be left alone, feeling totally out of place where nobody wants to do anything with you…"
"Alright" The headmaster's voice stopped Harry from his thoughts.
"Excuse me, sir? Did you did you just—?"
"Yes, Harry, I give you my blessing to teach Danielle magic" the bearded wizard, took a bowl from under his desk. "but Harry?"
"Yes Professor?"
"You're telling Mr. Malfoy about this, and I mean the one that your currently sharing chambers with during his stay… Lemon drop?" he asked offering a round yellow piece of candy to the man in front of him. "No thank you, Professor."
The hex hit him right in the middle of his front, sending him back into the painting entrance—hard. "Damn it Draco, you would have killed me with that hex!"
"You better be prepared Potter. How dare you even try to get his hopes up when you know better—they'll be crushed when he fails" Draco's voice roared in anger, sending another wave at Harry.
The other man wiped the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth before stopping another hex from hitting his body. "Stop being a git, Malfoy. I should have known better than to think you were over that. He can easily catch up, it's not even a year yet since we arrived in Hogwarts."
"It's impossible, Harry!" Draco tried to reason. "We can't have him fail. It would hurt him. If he fails—" This time Harry cut him off.
"Than stop assuming that's your son is going to fail, dammit! Don't you think it hurts him already knowing that he was never what you wanted him to be—that he can never learn magic properly?" Harry slowly stood up. "Get bloody over yourself and your Malfoy pride, you git. You know, more than I, how much he wants it"
The last statement made Malfoy think, opening his mouth then closing it before even saying anything.
"What if he makes it, Draco?" The statement caught him off guard to respond before Harry continued on "He is Cho's and your son after all—have a little bit more faith in him. He can do this."
Draco sighed, finally giving in. "Alright."
"You won't regret this, I promise" Harry said, offering a hand to the Slytherin. "You don't have to" the other replied, taking the hand in one of his own. "I trust you" he whispered with a small but sincere smile gracing his lips.
"Thanks"
After a few trees from the edge of the dark forest were sacrificed for a good cause, minor scrapes and a few misplaced incantations, Danielle was finally getting his act together. They has skipped the memorizing and reading part of the lesson, since he is Cho Chang's and a Malfoy's kid—he practically leaked the institution's information—and started with hand-on spell casting.
Young Danny moved through the unknown territory slowly, but making progress. Feeling the direction of the wind with his skin, and using his ears to hear what was around him. A clear, no animals, and a few trees to his left were surrounding him.
He carefully pointed out his wand to one of the nearby trees and chanted a transfiguration spell, quickly turning it into a large boulder. He walked sluggishly and unhurried, memorizing all that was in new location. He only lost his footing once today, due to a burrow in the ground and didn't hit a tree for the entire afternoon of practice. Sensing a presence behind him, he tensed and duck.
"Great job, Danny!" came his uncle's voice somewhere above him. "But you missed the sounds of my doppelganger copies to your left" Harry stated before waving his hand and letting his copies vanish. Danielle sat down, defeated, on the grass cross-legged and gave a heavy sigh.
"There are a whole lot of things to pay attention to. There are too many" he whispered incoherently, but loud enough for his uncle to catch what he was saying and drift down beside him.
"Nice job, kid." Harry said, ruffling the black locks of Danny's hair roughly. "But your getting there" he encouraged, making transporting the broom his was previously somewhere in his chambers. "Anyway, it's time to go back for dinner. Let's head back, besides we've got a task to do tomorrow" If only he hadn't asked for it, Harry would have probably been sorted into Slytherin for being ever so sly. Danielle Froze.
"But I can't go outside of the school ground, remember?" he reminded his uncle quietly, and a little bit disappointed. "Other first years could leave with permission, but the minimum number allowed out was three at a time… and I don't have others along with me…" Harry stepped beside him, guiding him through the entrance to the castle with his body language.
"Well, actually, it's my task to complete for the ministry. You're kinda tagging along to practice in the outside world, okay? Besides, your father is on a mission right now, and I refuse to leave you in any of the professors' care." Harry shifted a little then gave a throaty chuckle. "It's relatively easy and I need some company… but if you'd rather that I leave you here—" He shot a look at the boy beside him "I'm sure Pansy would be happy to…"
Danny cut him off by grabbing his arm and telling him with a genuine smile on his lips "I accept the task"
They kept walking for awhile then Harry sensed that his young niece wanted to ask him something, so he quietly asked "yes?"
Danielle kept on looking straight forward and then piped up, "What exactly is the task?" he asked.
"Yes professor." Harry quickly said, taking the small bag of parchment the old wizard handed him. "Make sure to take it there as quickly as possible, Mr. Potter. If those scroll of incantations fall into the wrong hands—"
"—the whole wizarding community will fall into chaos and the dark lord will rise and kill us all, because Voldemort is a deranged old wizard who has gone insane because some one-year-old-kid survived him and now all he wants to do is go on a killing rampage because he's a bloody twit, right professor?" Harry finished with a smirk playing on his lips.
"Harry, you mustn't joke about that." he sighed "I know you've heard me say thing a millions time—but be careful"
"Alright, Albus, I will"
Harry met with his young apprentice outside of the headmaster's office. "Come one then, Danny. It's time to go." He said to the boy who was casually leaning on the wall like he did many time before. Danielle nodded with a small smile curving his lips at nothing in particular. Harry made a quick glance at him out of the corner of his eye.
He led Danny outside of the school's walls and into a clearing where a Thestral was waiting for them. With one mighty stride, he hopped himself onto the horse and extended a hand down and reached for his nephew. "Hurry up, Danny. It's getting late" He told the boy, who reluctantly hopped on the winged horse as well in front of his uncle.
They took off from the ground with a pull from their guts, signaling that they had become air borne. "It's okay Danny. I won't let you fall, just hold on tight" he heard his uncle say to him. A few moments later, there was a jerk in the animal they were flying on. "What's wrong?" he managed to ask before feeling as if his stomach was up to his lungs. They were falling to the ground—fast.
They landed quite harshly to a grass covered ground, with his uncle's arm breaking his fall. He wasn't entirely sure though if he has broken the older brunette's arm or not. Danielle's head was held to the ground below him, choking on the small bits of loose ground that was the wind brought towards him. He could faintly fell the movement above him, but he heard them quite well. There were two of them."Don't. Move." His uncle's voice came from above him—dark and commanding, as he felt his uncle's robes covering him.
Danielle lay faced down on the ground below him, his hands coming up to pillow his face to avoid contact with the grass. His heart beat echoed in his ears. The rapid sounds above him were confusing; doing what his uncle had taught him, he slowed his breathing and tried to listen. He could hear his uncle's movements.
"You might as well have committed bloody suicide if you thought that you were going to get these scrolls." Harry said loud his attacker to hear, preparing to take his out his wand. But there was something else moving. "Uncle behind you" he tried to warn, but heard him far too late, when he turned around, he was hit by a curse and hit the unconscious Thestral behind him.
"Damn" Harry cursed, wiping the blood from his mouth and shot out a counter attack. He hit one of the assailants with a confudus spell and was hit by yet another spell from behind. Falling to his knees, Harry prepared to shoot an Avada curse on the hooded man, when something sharp came crashing to his side.
"uncle!" Danielle screamed as the object lodged itself in Harry's midsection.
A bit dumbfounded and caught off guard, Harry slowly tuned his head to the one which he was previously cursed—a smirk was plastered on the dark eerie lips of the man, before falling towards the ground exhausted. "stay where you are, Danielle!" he yelled towards the fearful boy. "but—"
"Stay!" he commanded even louder.
The second assailant's smirk grew even smugger and pointed his wand to the young boy. "Noo!" Harry screamed, as he threw barrier charm on his niece before using his body as a shield for his nephew.
"UNCLE HARRY!" Danielle cried out as he was enveloped in a thick protective bubble. He slammed his fists into the hard barrier yelling his uncle's name.
Harry felt the curse hit in right in the middle of his chest, the force of his making him fall backward. He could feel its effects taking over his body—it was the cuccio curse. Damn it all to hell, he cursed.
Danielle forced his tears at the back of his eyes, knowing he would have failed his father if he cried now. Silently he listened to the events around him. There was another body moving closer to them, he prayed that it wasn't anymore attackers. The body moved very fast.
It was here now. Before the assailant could even bring out his wand, a curse hit him dead on and was followed by another. "Cuccio" Draco yelled emitting a green light from his wand's tip and to the hooded man.
"Damn it Harry. You've had a knack for attracting trouble ever since we were kids!" His voice was dark but yet slightly amused as he slowly opened Harry's robes. "Shut up you git, Danielle's alright" Harry managed to grumble out.
The blonde gave a soft chuckle to himself. "Yes, yes. My son is perfectly fine in that witty little bubble you put him in" He said, mumbling a soft incantation that let the boy fall to the ground with a soft thud.
Danielle didn't need his sight to and see to feel that there was a wave of happiness that flowed from his uncle to his father, and that both of them were surrounded by a warm emotion more and more as the conversation progressed.
Harry grunted as Draco pulled the sharp pointed wand that was lodged into his midsection. "Stop whining, Potter" he said, but no malice in his tone, just concern and maybe something more as he prompted one of Harry's arms over his shoulders for support. "Let's get back to Hogwarts" he mumbled more to himself than Harry.
The nostalgic feeling was familiar.
With a loud grunt, Harry managed to point to the small pouch near the Thestral's saddle. "Floo powder" he said, behind clenched teeth. "—it would get us back, faster" he added the last part with another groan of pain, as he placed more pressure on his wounded midsection.
"Wait" Draco's voice was washed of all darkness and instead was filled with concern now. He had forgotten to mask it, so he let it crack. After taking the small cloth bag from the Thestral, he carefully placed the injured man down on the ground and started to remove Harry's top.
"Draco, what are you doing?" his voice came weakly, as he tried to look at what the blonde was doing. Hands moved over his muscle, pressing on some tense parts and lightly hovered over his pierced flesh. This time he gave a off a sound that was somewhere in the middle of a hiss of pain and a moan of pleasure.
Something was being ripped, and not a moment later did he feel a thick fabric covering his injury. "That bloody hurts, you git" his teeth grinded, the familiar insult passing his lips because of the pain rather than him really meaning it. He hasn't actually meant that phrase as an insult for awhile, it was more of a—pet name, yes; it was his pet name for the blonde Aurora wizard.
Draco brought the much larger man to stand beside him. "Danielle" he called out to his son for the first time since first arriving, then suddenly out of nowhere a hex came flashing towards him, missing him by mere inches. He followed the odd blue blast and was amazed to see it hitting one of the attackers from earlier which he had hit with a cuccio curse.
"yes father?" his soft spoken voice came from behind them.
Draco gaped in awe as he witnessed what had just happened and couldn't help but be filled with a warm fatherly feeling towards his son."I suppose you can find where the parchments are lying about, right?" He asked with a stern tone, trying desperately to use his Malfoy mask to hide the excitement in his voice, knowing that his son was much more capable of moving around now.
"Yes, father" Danny answered before staining his ears to listen and feel for the scattered parchments. "I've gathered them all, father" he said a few minutes later, carrying a small bundle of scrolls in his arms.
"Good, good, boy… now come here and let's floo back to Hogwarts" Draco instructed, not bother to hide the smile that was forming on his lips as he proudly watched his son gathering the scrolls. Danielle did as bade, while hiding the grin that was on his face. "hold on tight, Danny"
"The Infirmary at Hogwarts School of Wzards and Wizardry" he said in a loud voice that rang through the forest, and then they were gone in a cloud of green smoke.
"It was weird though" Draco insisted as he sat with Harry beside one of the infirmary's plush white beds. "It almost as if he was standing there, moving his head like he was waiting for another attack to happen…"
Poppy the mediwitch just walked in, carrying another patient in her arms.
"…then he shot that stupefy spell right at me…" he paused for a moment to observe the girl entering the infirmary then continued "I'm an aurora, Harry, and that incantation caught me off guard and it nearly hit me!"
"I don't think it was meant for you, Draco" Harry cut through his sentence. "Didn't you say that it hit the man behind you?" he asked, lifting an eye brow at Malfoy.
"It was a lucky shot" the other mumbled, his eyes drifting slightly a bit lower than before.
"I do not quite agree with you on that one…" Harry stated, his voice trailing off, as he shifted in his bed "I don't think it was a lucky shot. I think he meant it"
Draco shot him a Molfoy death-glare. "And what? Did he follow the sound of movements then?" he asked rather mockingly.
"Yeah, something a lot like that" Then Harry just stared into the mug of tea which Draco had prepared for them earlier. It had gone cold already.
"Alright! This is it. Two weeks delayed in recuperation for a preposterous bunch of parchments to be delivered to the ministry…" Harry said quite happily after receiveing Poppy's permission to finally finish his Aurora task. Had he been on the field or even brought somewhere else, the documents would have reached the department of magic long before he got his wounds stitched up, it was quite absurd when Draco brought him back here. "I'm in top shape thanks to the mediwitch Poppy. It's a new day, perfect and totally safe. Nothing could go wrong." He declared triumphantly. Danielle sighed and smiled a little but said nothing. The rest of the journey was done in silence after that.
Ah, the famous—but cursed—last words.
Some kind of weird foreign sound pulled him from his light slumber. He sat up, reaching for his wand beside the sleeping bag, sensing the faint warmth that the dying coals were giving off, but not his teacher/ uncle presence anywhere. They had dismissed traveling by air since the previous encounter didn't finish smoothly so Harry had persuaded the headmaster to allow then to journey the muggle way through the forest.
"Do not get up, Danielle" The voice was calm, tired and very commanding. Danielle froze in his spot. There was a smell; something very old and very wrong filled his senses, and then a deep screeching shriek that wasn't even in the farthest sense could be called remotely human. It made his skin crawl in fear as he gripped his wand even tighter in his hand. Something came launching itself to him from above. He scrambled to get on his feet and run outside of the tent. Relying on instinct alone, he hopped over the campfires, managed to make it a few more yards away before tripping over something and falling to the ground.
The unknown creature made his way to Danielle, silently and swiftly. There was a smell of burning meat and then again came the loud shriek from the beast. Something else came from behind it, blocking the beast from reaching him.
"kantare" Danielle was again lifted to the air, with the protective layer of something galss-like separating him from the outside world, protecting him. Satisfied at the hard defensive bubble that he had once again managed to form for Draco's child, Harry quickly jumped out of the Graphorn and called for his firebolt. "Accio Firebolt!" he yelled, pointing his wand to the sky and angled it towards Hogwarts. Immediately, the broom stick came rushing to his hands in mere seconds after the incantation.
He hastily slid on it and raised himself to the sky for a better look at the magical creature below him. "a Graphorn" he mumbled to himself "Hagrid would just love to see one of those" tehn he swooped down close enough to hit the animal with a spell, but it hardly seemed affected by it. The hex caused the animal to move its large horns violently and created heavy winds which tossed Harry off balance from his broom.
The sounds of it moving, Danielle could hear. It was far too large to be real.
Harry was off guard when he fell off the broom and the Graphorn used the opportunity to smash his body into the large tree trunk with its hard head. He was knocked onto the tree and a very sickening crack resounded through the forest and then the protective barrier around Danielle 'popped', causing him to fall to the ground with a grunt of discomfort.
The creature kept on moving towards his uncle with a purpose to kill. Already Harry's screams of pain shook the entire forest awake. Its hot breath smelled like raw meat. Danielle unsteadily moved forward, and held his wand in front of him as he rose to his feet nearer his uncle.
"Idiot—" Harry coughed, as he fell to the ground, fighting with all his will to stand up. "Run away" he chocked on his words as he used the trunk to support his half-beaten body. He nearly resembled a bloody pulp, blood coursed its way through dark robes, glasses were askew on his face—nearly broken, robes ripped in some areas and some blood dripping onto his face.
The smell of blood was sickeningly thick and clotting. An avalanche of emotions flooded its was through Danielle's system—intense, fear of losing his uncle, anger from being too weak to do anything and protectiveness. Through the entire abyss, stress and strain of what was happening around him, confusing at it was, Danielle blinked and he opened his eyes. He saw something, what he assumed was red. Blood, he thought, with the harsh smell made their way through his senses, his uncle's blood.
Danielle suddenly recognized it, the realization hitting him hard that he almost felt like a complete idiot like his uncle had just called him. The sounds of the previous battle, now he couldn't be surer of what was in front of him, it was the beast the attacked. He caught a glimpse of something which he was positive were the eyes and teeth of the beast because they flashed white, and then amidst through all that was happening around him, he finally grasped his senses when he plunged his wand straight into the creature's eyes and that he was seeing for the very first time in his eleven years of life.
He turned to his uncle, who was still having an inner battle with himself to regain consciousness. Green eyes met his, and recoiled in shock as if unbelieving. His normally gray eyes were licked with glistening red, like blood speckled on bone. Harry faded out of consciousness once more as Danielle sight slipped away from him again.
"Uncle Harry, are you awake?"
Harry flinched slightly as he brought his body into a sitting position. He turned his head to look at his concern student and gave a small encouraging smile. "Yeah" He noticed that his pupil's eyes had gone back to their original Draco-like gray. Thinking about it he pushed his lips together in thought.
"I could see uncle Harry" Danielle was smiling as once again faced the fire. "I least I was able to see anyhow… So, thank you for training me and teaching me how to become a wizard." He stopped for a bit then continued "It was worth it… even if I was only able to see for that long"
Harry was bent over the sleeping mat he was in, shoulders shaking. Danielle's mouth tightened to form a line in concern. "Uncle?" But Harry was not in pain, nor crying for the matter. He was laughing.
"Draco was right" He finished with a throaty laugh. "I a complete and total moron" Danielle swallowed hard.
"Are you alright then? Would you like some water? Are your ribs causing you any discomfort at all? Should we get back to the castle, because you're acting s—" he was cut off when Harry placed a large hand on his shoulder and shook his head.
"I have an idea" he said, as he drew back his left hand. "Close your eyes" he ordered the boy, as he too closed his own eyes in concentration, thinking very hard and gathering his powers in his hands. Danielle grew a bit uneasy and fidgeted as he felt the intense amount of power glowing from his uncle hands. This might hurt.
Harry Potter, the boy who lived, had emerald eyes.
"It's been over three bloody weeks Potter, for a stupid low class task for the ministry. I want to see my son, now!" Malfoy's voice boomed loud through the office walls as he slammed two fists down on the hard wooden table in front of Harry, who was sitting in one of the tables in the kitchen's parlor, with a sandwich in hand—a very slytherin smirk playing on his lips. Draco flinched.
"We had a few bumps on the way, but it's over and he is fine" he said calmly, but his eyes remained fierce though. "But I have a surprise for you… I think you'll find it…uhm … interesting" The smirk Harry wore made Draco even more worried as it grew, taking a seat in front of Harry.
"The Jagan and Evil eye take up a lot of the holder's magic. That's the reason why not everyone, in the bloodline which has it, can actually activate it and make use of it. That's also why your father never had the ability and you had it" Draco just snorted and grabbed himself a bottle of butterbear. "So your brain puts up a wall to hinder the magic from passing, therefore turning off your Jagan, right? And magic is also the one to take it down, right?--Which is why you can't always have the Jagan activated, because it is not only draining but also a waste of magic."
Draco rolled his eyes before gulping a huge amount of his beverage in hand. "I know this already, Potter. It's the basics."
"But you didn't think about it, did you?" Harry asked with a smile as he leaned forward, inches away from Draco. Gray eyes widened and inched away, trying to contain a blush from coming up his cheeks. Harry didn't notice. "What if you had an ability that was scarier and more powerful than either Cho's powers or yours? And what if it took up so much magic energy that it might kill you if you even tried to activate it?" Draco's eyes widened even more at the next statement. "..especially if you were a baby?"
"What if your brain had to slam a whole bigger wall so much powerful and so quickly that it just cut the whole part off? Then you wouldn't be able to any part of the entire area in you mind. I guess like a tourniquet, you cut off the blood flow to save the whole body from running out of blood and screw the limb?"
Draco was taken back. "No" was the only thing that he managed to get past his lips as he looked as Harry in shock. "…you don't mean—?" Harry just nodded at him.
"What if all you had to do was to flood a little of magic to push part of the wall so that only the ability is blocked and not the entire area of the brain. Like when reviewing for a test with answers, we cover the answers then answer on our own. It may be little to us, but for someone like Danielle… he might be able to get his sight back."
"Can you do it?" Draco just whispered, clutching the butterbear in hand.
"You're late" a voice from behind made him whirl around his stool to face his son, who was studying him with surprising emerald green eyes. His lips were curved into a smile and he curtsied low in front of his father.
"It's nice to meet you father" he greeted
Draco didn't know how to react. His son was here in front of him, with his sight completely in tact and his eyes shining like emeralds with happiness. Emerald green, like Harry's. He couldn't help the overwhelming curiosity that came to him; he just had to ask his son "Why are our eyes green?"
"I had to focus on something, and all I could remember was seeing uncle Harry's eyes when he was telling me to focus." He smiled a little more. "It was funny when I first opened them. He said I looked just like some kind of him and you hybrid; it was almost as if I was your child" Draco couldn't seem to agree more with his son.
"You will go to Hogwarts. You'll grow up and be perfectly normal." Draco let a smile crack on his lips. "I'm sure that's what Cho would have wanted" he said, glancing at Harry.
Danielle would often close his eyes a lot. It was like his defensive barrier against the world, whenever he was scared or frightened by the things he saw around him, he would close his eyes and return to the dark solitude he grew up in. So Harry with his father walked him to Diagon Ally to buy some needed requirements for school.
"Don't be scared Danny" He said, giving his nephew a soft supportive smile and a reassuring hand placed on one of the boy's shoulders. "Make lots of friends! It'll be easy for you—after all, you are your mother's son." He said with a cheeky grin, stealing a glance from Draco. The blonde only shot him a playful questioning look while raising an eyebrow.
Harry stopped walking and kneeled down in front of Danielle, "Your mother had lots of friends; she was kind and poised" he stopped for a moment to look at Danny's expression. "—your dad did too, and he wasn't one of the nicest people I met then; he would go around teasing muggle borns, purebloods with lower statures than his family, and at everything in the whole school. He had Slytherins at his side at every moment of everyday—they practically kissed the ground he walked on!" he said teasing the older Malfoy, who didn't respond—yet. "I'm sure Danielle is a really nice person! So they'll like you even better!"
Danielle couldn't help the small blush rising from to his face. "If dad wasn't a very nice person before, why did they bother liking him? Besides, dad doesn't seem to like people very much… he only likes you." He added lamely.
Draco coughed a bit but said nothing in reply.
"Didn't you know?" Harry questioned, a bit surprised. They finally reached the first destination—a clothing shop for school robes. "You are your dad's carbon copy in the looks department; you look just like him when we first met—well, except for the color of your eyes" he explained with a bright smile. When the trio—Danielle, Draco and Harry—entered the huge wizard shop immediately more than 20 pairs of eyes were on the young boy, staring—some gaping—in awe at how beautiful this little boy looked.
"Oh yes, Draco. He's certainly your son" Draco could only give a suppressed chuckle in response.
He watched them. He watched them so often that most of the time they don't even realize that they were being observed. There was something in between them, something that made them even closer than would admit to be. They always denied it, lying to themselves more than to anyone else around them. The first time he saw it was the great feat, after sorting.
He had been sorted to Slytherin no doubt, but from there he also watched them. He saw how his father would glance at his uncle when he thought no one was looking, his uncle did that too. He noticed that when they were eating, their elbows would casually bump into each other and stay for a moment longer than necessary. Finally, he noticed that his father's eyes glowed brightest when he was with Harry and uncle's eyes shone with so much happiness when he was with Draco.
He could feel the emotion that flooded them when they were together; they just always seemed too tense to notice for themselves. They were the two people most important in his life and he was going to stop them from suffering any longer. He had to do something.
One night when his father took lodging in Hogwarts for a mission, he had gotten permission go to his father's chambers after dinner and he at last found the courage to ask his father, "You never really loved mother, did you?" his voice bore no trace of malice in it; it was just very simple, formal and politely said. Draco froze, closing the book he held in his hand. He set them on the small table in the common room and braced himself.
"No" he muttered with a sigh escaping his lips "No, Danielle, I didn't." Danielle was still looking at him no emotion on his face. "But it wasn't like she loved me either. We were both… in love with someone else" He turned to take a seat on one of the lavish big sofas by the fire place
"We didn't hate each other or anything—at least not after the wedding. We lived both content and happy. Harry was a great help too. When Cho was pregnant he would bring her anything she wanted on the second that she said it. He even took a dangerous mission for me the week before you were born so that I could be by your mother's side when you were born. He always had that goofy grin on his face" Draco's eyes screamed just how happy he was. "It helped a lot"
There was silence, except for the rustling of Danielle's robes as he strode towards his fathers and took a seat by one of the chair adjacent to his father. "Did Uncle Harry ever find out that both mother and you loved him?"
Draco let out a breath he didn't notice he held. "Yes. He knew that we both loved him very much. He was our friend after all"
Danielle shook his head, than looked at his father with firey emerald eyes. "I mean did he know that you both were in love with him?"
Gray stared back at emerald green. Why did they have to end up that color of green? Draco didn't know what to answer, still shaken up by his son's out of the blue questions. He raked a hand through his hair and rubbed aching temples.
"No" he said, resigned "He didn't know. We never uttered a word to him about it"
Danielle stood up and walked forward to his father. "And now, does he know about your feelings for him?" Draco didn't answer, he just moved to the book he had left lying on the table and opened it once again.
"It's late. Curfew is in ten minutes, you better get back to your dorm room" Danielle followed his father's order without another word spoken and left the room.
"You should tell him, maybe. He has the right to know." He said gently before letting the portrait swing back to close the room. Draco closed the book and placed it once again on the table, waving his wand to dim out the lights of the common room then went up to his own bedroom. He sat down on his bed with his head cupped in his hands for a long time, before lying back to stare at the ceiling.
Two months had already passed since Draco had left for his latest stake out mission for the Aurora—or at least that's what uncle Harry said when he arrived yesterday for the summer. Uncle Harry had picked him up from Platform nine and three-quarters and told him that with a goofy grin on his features. He was glad to be home. But yet, he was saddened when he realized the two were still as stubborn as the Great Wall of China.
Uncle Harry had just finished one of his own missions with one of his arms was bandaged up and put in a cast around his neck. A small glitch in the protocol had led him to this situation when a rogue wizard caught him off guard and shot him on the arm. Since he was in the muggle word, he got treatment from a local hospital and wasn't able to get a potion since he arrived.
Later that night Draco arrived. He was a little bloody and a little bruised some even showing on his face; Harry was there to patch him back up again, like always.
Just like always. It had been a routine, when one was injured the other would play mediwizard to nurse the other one to health.
This time when Draco returned to Malfoy manor, one of his pale hands was tightly gripping his arm and blood caked through his fingers. And there was the lack of composure in his face that made Harry worry.
"What happened?" his voice whispered lowly, as his fingers ghosted over Draco's face as he inspected the bruise forming on the other's handsome face. Gray eyes stared back into his turned to look away.
"Muggle had a gun"
"Oh" formed on Harry's lips as he turned to check the other wounds, particularly paying close attention to the bullet wound Draco's arm. "Let go" came his quiet order, meant for only the blonde to hear, as his big hand covered the one clasping the injury. Draco immediately obliged and let go of his bullet wound.
Draco sighed contently as he let Harry heal him. The brunette skillful fingers going through the wounds and cast silent healing spells and charms over his torn flesh, he felt relaxed like this. Harry would always be here, waiting for him. He couldn't help but let a soft moan float from his lips as Harry slightly brushed his nipple when wrapping the bandages around his torso.
Harry was careful not to touch more than necessary. It wasn't that he didn't want to—no—on the contrary, he would love nothing more that to kiss all of the blonde's wounds right now. He was just scared, that he might lose the one person he truly came to love over the years, since that time when Draco caught the snitch in 6th year. Harry couldn't bear the thought of rejection. After applying the last roll of gauze, his arms slightly numb from the work, he slightly guided over a nipple, blushing as Draco moaned. He placed a soft butterfly kiss on the blonde's covered shoulder before standing up.
The usual silent healing session was broken when Harry spoke.
"Does it hurt?" he asked, his thumb hovering over Draco's bruised cheek.
"No" the other lied.
"It does. I can see it on your face" Draco cursed himself internally for being easily read by him.
"You gonna kiss and make it feel better?" he shot back rhetorically as an insult, with a half-baked sneer.
"It would be my pleasure" Harry replied, dropping a kiss to the wounded area, with a silent healing charm running through his lips as he did. "All better" he said cheekily, looking at the newly healed area. It was a game to them, ever since 5th year. Teasing each other, not really meaning what they said or did. Or well—at least that what they wanted the other to think.
Danielle peeked inside his father's study, after waking up to the sound of his father's arrival, and watched as the two openly expressed their feeling, but were just too caught afraid of the other knowing to notice the feeling was mutual. He saw Uncle Harry dropped that kiss on his father's shoulder. He saw the look in his father's eyes when he asked for that kiss, even if it was a joke. And he saw his uncle's eyes when he saw him dropped another kiss, this time on his father's cheek.
"Uncle Harry, do you like my father?" He asked nonchalantly like it was an everyday topic as they sat together one evening by the kitchen table. Harry just blinked then grinned.
"Of course I like your dad. He has been one of my trusted friends that stuck with me until now. I would do anything for him, let him just say the word; just like I would do anything for you. He is the one I value most in this world—one of them anyway. He's one the few friends I have left. You too, Danielle, you're his most important person, and that makes you the other most important person I have" Harry scratched his head "That didn't come one right"
Danny blushed than asked shyly "Did you know that my mother loved you?"
Harry visibly stiffened for a moment then relaxed back into his laid back self. "You barely miss a beat, don't you?" he replied with a curious but light tone "As a matter of fact, I did. But I didn't learn of it until much after her death. It didn't really make any difference, anyway. I wouldn't have said nor done anything, even if I knew before hand. Your dad was one of my friends back then."
"But.." Danielle's voice was silent. Green eyes met those gray ones behind the crack from the doorway. "My father loved you too" it was quiet.
Harry just gave a throaty laugh. "Yes. And I love him too, Danny. Just like I did you mum and you." He answered with a smile as he held a few plates from the table to be washed.
"No…" Danny's voice was fading into a mere whisper. He glanced back at his father's eyes behind the door and shot him an apology. "He was in love with you"
"Pardon me?" Harry nearly dropped the plates he was holding, his voice was low and dangerous as he turned to look at the boy.
"Mother and Father were both very young, during that time… they both had feelings for you that they secretly hid—they had it for a long time. When their engagement to be married was announced they both thought that it was better to keep it to themselves. It was probably the only thing they shared in common, and it kept them together at peace. They didn't fit together. They were weird… just like how I am weird now, I guess." The door swung open and his father walked in and stood there.
"Stop" was the only thing he said in his son's direction. His eyes were shadow cast and dark.
"Father has always been happier with you. Even when I couldn't see, I felt it. He would only laugh when you're around. He misses you terrible when you're gone on your missions and he worries about you that sometimes he just stays awake at night and looks out through the window, waiting for you to come home."
"Danielle" his father's warning voice came again.
"Until now, he still loves you very much" he whispered, followed by silence.
The three of them just stayed there as if suspended in time with awkward silence filling the air. Danielle gave a quick look at his uncle pleadingly then to his father, who just glared at his son with betrayal in his eyes. Harry just glanced at the young blonde before saying anything.
"Draco, is what he saying the truth?" He had put the dishes he was supposed to clean and now faced the blonde pair of father and son in front of him.
Draco just looked at him, but didn't respond.
"Draco, tell me" Harry tried again, this time staring at the smaller man before him.
Still Draco refused to answer, his hands tightening into fists.
"Draco…" Harry's voice seemed to waiver as he walked towards the blonde, while looking into his eyes. "please tell me" he said, his fingers brushing over the blonde's bare arms.
Draco could only nod his head slowly.
There was a blur and in a flash it was gone along with Harry. The door gaped open, swinging a bit before finally latching onto the door frame. Danielle was shocked, not knowing what to do. That didn't go the day it should have in his head.
"Father, I'm—" he started to say, but his father hushed him by a gentle shake of his head. His eyes slowly grew red as he fought back his tears, inching forward to crawl next to his father. At that moment Draco looked at his son and thought of him as someone else and it scared him a little.
"It's not your fault" he said, dropping to one knee and gathering his young son into his arms. He held him close to him. The stone floor beneath them was cold as the night wore on. Draco didn't cry. So Danielle let his tears fall and cried for him.
Quite some time after the 'incident', as his father and he had dubbed it, they had received an owl stating that Harry sent on an urgent mission and asked Draco to stay in the manor a little longer. This time it was Harry who returned a little more than bloody and bruised, as he limped inside Draco's study.
Again, just like before—just like always—Draco was there to heal him.
So they fell into the usual routine. Only, there was awkwardness between them that made Danielle turn and toss in his bed when he climbed to his chambers for the night.
Draco moved to get up after healing Harry's wounds when strong arms pulled him to the other's body. He heard the other take in a deep breath and with a weak raspy voice "I've always loved you" was heard. He froze.
"I always have" Harry's voice was growing stronger and more confident. "ever since you caught that snitch during our fifth year, the match between Slytherin and Griffindor. It was raining, and your hair fell to your face…"
One of Harry's hands came to rest on his head and ruffled his hair. "Merlin, Dray, you look so hot when your hear wasn't in its perfectly gelled status"
Before he couldn't continue, the blonde interrupted his thoughts. "Then why did you leave…that time" his voice grew quiet at the last part.
"I could never have your life endangered, nor Danielle's… I went to kill the dark lord" Harry explained with a small flitch at Draco tightened the hold on his waist.
"Oh my God, you didn't…?" Draco gave a small laugh with it "You idiot, my life has been cursed since the day I married Cho Chang and refused to receive the dark mark"
Harry was the only person in the world who knew how Draco laughed besides Danielle. "Yes, but I'm your idiot" he replied cockily with a simple smile of his own.
Danielle wandered off alone when they visited Diagon Alley for the second time to buy his school supplied, when he strode inside Malkin's wardrobe boutique.
A girl was inside, facing the mirror as the mistress of the shop took her measurements. Her eyes casually glanced to look at him through the mirror. When the lady was finished measuring her, she turned around to finally look at him in the eye.
"Hi" he managed to say, when the girl faced him.
"Hello" she replied. "I'm Lhianne Weasley"
"My name is Danielle Malfoy" he introduced himself, with a small formal bow, making the girl giggle. He stood up and offered her a hand. "Would you like to be my friend?"
The girl took it with a small smile.
Comical and ironic how history tends to repeat itself sometimes, isn't it?
Author's notes: That's the ending to the innocent version of this story. Another one will be posted shortly, in the M-section which contains a little fluffy lemon in the end of it. View that one if you like.
"I shouldn't have fallen for you, but I have."