This piece was inspired by this quote:
Le prix d'Amour, c'est seulement Amour, ... Il faut aimer si l'on veut être aimé.
(The price of love is only love, ... one must love if one desires to be loved.)
Honoré d' Urfé
Everyone knows how the story ends. The hero defeats the villain and marries the heroine he saved.
And they live happily ever after.
Only, real life is never that easy.
The first time Harry sees him after the war, it's at his trial.
It's a media circus. Of course it is.
Harry Potter's greatest nemesis, on trial for supporting Voldemort. Which newspaper wouldn't want to report on that?
Hell, even the Quibbler was here.
And that really said everything that needed to be said.
He's supposed to cheering, celebrating the fall of Draco Malfoy. It's what everyone expects of him.
After all, he made Harry's life hell for seven years. Why shouldn't he be happy that Draco's going away for good? Any normal person would.
But the thing is; Harry is quite frankly the farthest thing from normal that the wizarding world has ever seen.
He hates it, seeing all the vultures surrounding Draco.
It reminds him uncomfortably of the trials he's seen happening at the Ministry, the trial he's been a part of.
As far as the world is concerned, they've already decided that Draco's going to be sent to Azkaban for life.
And it can't help but remind Harry: none of the players his age in the war ever truly had a choice. Their fates were decided for them long before their existence was even thought of.
They'll say he testified on behalf of Draco and Lucius Malfoy to pay off the life debt he owed to Narcissa. He knew that. Truth be told, he didn't care. As long as the important people – his friends, the people closest to him, the Malfoys – as long as they knew the truth, the rest of the world could continue to think whatever they wanted to.
He's so focused on protecting Draco that he never sees the shock and awe the other man displays when he takes the stand.
The thing about falling in love is that it doesn't always take time. It isn't a long drawn out process every time. Sometimes, a single moment is enough for a person to lose their heart.
And at the exact same moment that Harry opens his mouth to protect him, Draco Malfoy falls in love.
Sometimes, the greatest acts of love are those we aren't even aware we're performing.
Harry isn't aware of the moment he falls in love with Draco Malfoy.
After his trial, Harry finds himself bumping into Draco over and over again. The public support of the Man-Who-Survived means that the rest of the wizarding world has long since forgiven the Malfoys for their sins. Sure, they were being watched closely to make sure that none of those sins were ever repeated, but as far as the greater public is concerned, the Malfoys pose no discernable threat to them.
Harry cannot help but wonder if it was the same after the First War. If that was the reason Lucius Malfoy managed to reach the position of power that he did
It starts simply, bumping into each other in Diagon Alley. They're coincidences, unplanned meetings, but Draco takes full advantage of them.
The first time, he invites Harry for a coffee.
"I'm afraid I've got a bit of business," Harry says.
(He's not about to admit that he's unsure of how a coffee with only the two of them in attendance would turn out. He's the one who supported the Malfoys, he cannot seem wary of them.
And to be honest, he'd have agreed if it was Narcissa.
But Draco and Lucius have too much of a history with him to be comfortable about it.)
But Draco's nothing if not persistent. Even if he somehow ignored the fact that he was in love with Harry, he still had to find a way to thank him from getting him out of what was an inevitable life sentence in Azkaban.
So every time he sees Harry – and that's a lot – he insists that they go for coffee. And every time, Harry finds another way to wriggle his way out of it.
Until one day, he doesn't.
Harry doesn't know why he finally agrees. Maybe he felt guilty about lying so much. Maybe he ran out of plausible excuses. Whatever the reason is, he finds himself looking at Draco Malfoy sitting across the table from him, coffee cup in his hand.
Draco doesn't much care why Harry finally agrees. He's just thankful he does.
It's a bit awkward at first. Neither of them knows exactly what to say. And Harry's looking at the boy in front of him with no doubt in his mind that agreeing to this meeting was a terrible, terrible –
"Thank you for defending my father and me," Draco says abruptly.
Harry stares at him in shock for a moment. Of all the things they could have started to talk about, this topic was the one he least expected
But Draco's waiting for a reply, so he quickly gathers his wits.
"It wasn't a problem," he says. "The two of you were the only ones who repented. Sending you off to Azkaban would have been both an injustice and a death sentence. Just because your father and you saw the light doesn't mean that the others did. And there's no way they would have been overly kind to you."
"Still. You didn't have to defend us as vigorously as you did. It's thanks to you that the Ministry didn't seize all our assets and weath."
And just like that, the conversation between them flows as smoothly as water. By the time they both have to leave, Harry finds that he is loath to stop their talk.
They make a meeting to see each other at the same place the next day.
Without Harry realising it, it becomes a habit. Every day they both can make it, they meet at the little coffee shop in Diagon Alley. They talk about everything, from politics to friends.
And somewhere along the way, without realising it, Harry falls in love with Draco Malfoy.
Falling in love is never a conscious decision.
That's why it's called falling.
After all, no one ever chooses to fall.
When Harry tells Hermione, the Weasleys, and the rest of his friends, their first instinct is to check him for the Imperius.
After all, there's really no other logical explanation for Harry Potter claiming to be in love with Draco Malfoy.
It takes Harry time – long, precious time – to convince them that no, he hasn't been enchanted, and yes, he does know what he's saying, and of course he's serious.
Once they're sure that Harry's knows exactly what he's saying, all hell breaks loose.
Harry knows that it's a shocking idea, falling in love with a man who is known Death Eater. Even if was coerced into taking the Mark, he's still the scion of one of the Darkest families in Britain, and that's just not the type of person for the Saviour to fall in love with.
That's something Harry knows in his head, but - well, no one ever uses their head when they fall in love. Falling in love is the heart's job, and the heart rarely looks at social acceptability when it decided on its new master.
And no matter how shocking and utterly inappropriate it is, Harry's heart has chosen to give itself into the hands of Draco Malfoy.
It takes him even more time to convince his friends and adoptive family to stop trying to talk him out of it. Harry's not sure if it's a good idea, falling in love with Draco. He doesn't know if his love will ever be returned. But despite all of that, the last thing he wants is to change anything.
Because being in love with Draco Malfoy may be an uncertain place to be, but it's exhilarating and exciting.
(Harry's friends still worry. But he's happy, and that's really all they want for him. So they stop pestering him, and simply hope for the best.)
Draco's friends circle – those few who are still loyal to him even after his family betrayed essentially every pureblood ideal – are the type of people who see every action for the potential political, social and financial gain it could bring to them. And as far as they're concerned, if Draco manages to capture Harry's heart like his was captured, falling in love with Harry Potter may be the best move of Draco's life.
That's not to say they don't care about him, because they do. But Draco's at his most vulnerable at the moment, and if they see Harry as just another tool, it's because he's just another tool they can use to protect the boy who once protected them.
Because no matter how different they might seem on the surface, all families are the same.
Harry knows that if one of them will ever make the first move, it will have to be him.
Because even though Draco's pretends to be bold and uncaring in the face of the few negative whispers that still persist, Harry knows better than to believe his show of bravado. It's difficult to see unless a person's actively looking, but siding with the losing side in the war has changed Draco profoundly.
It's in the little thing, the small hesitations before he pushes his opinion forward, ones that never existed before.
Draco's lost all faith in himself and his beliefs after they've been proved to be so horribly wrong.
Harry likes to think that it's different when the two of them are to together, that he isn't as self-conscious with him as he is with others. But he knows that Draco's self-doubt means that he'll never be the one to act first even if he returns Harry's feelings.
At the end of the day, it's all up to him.
So he gathers up every ounce of courage he possess, and the next time he meets Draco for coffee, he reaches across the table to grabs a hold of his hands. Draco stares back at him, wide-eyed and radiating disbelieving awe, and Harry starts to feel the first seeds of hope grow inside him.
"Do you – would you like to meet me for dinner? That is, as a proper date?" he asks, fingers clutching at the other man's hands in nervousness.
Draco's rendered speechless – and that isn't something Harry ever thought he'd see – so he just nods.
And Harry fills up with a joy unlike one he's ever known before.
Draco knows he'd never be able to gather up the courage to let Harry know about his feelings first. There's a reason the Sorting Hat never considered putting him in Gryffindor – he just doesn't have the kind of strength in him. And since Harry will never, ever feel the same way he does, Draco knows that his feelings will go forever unvoiced.
But then Harry asks him for dinner, and it's like everything he's ever wanted is being handed to him at once.
He's stuck dumb, unable to say anything over the shock and awe he feels, so he simply nods his agreement.
And then Harry smiles at him, a bright, happy smile, and Draco cannot stop the upsurge of emotion he feels.
It seems his mouth is working on his own when he opens it. "I love you," he blurts out, immediately turning a bright red when he realises what he's revealed.
But Harry's smile only becomes wider, and he pulls Draco in for a gentle kiss.
When they part, Draco is no longer doubtful of Harry's feelings.
The thing about falling in love is that you never think you're worthy of being loved back.
But no one loves because of worth. There is no explanation to why people love.
They love.
It is as simple and as difficult as that statement.
Draco showers Harry with every gift he can think of. Gold, precious gems, antiques and artworks – he buys them all for the one he loves.
He is the one who lets Harry knows of the Potter heirloom vaults buried in the deepest chambers of Gringotts. He is the one who lets him know that the vault he opened on his eleventh birthday is little more than a trust vault, and the true Potter fortune still laid waiting for its master.
Because all those who could have told Harry about this were long dead, and the Weasleys would not have known about the affairs of the richest purebloods like the Malfoys did.
Draco tells Harry all this and more in an effort to prove himself worthy of the love he receives from the Saviour who is so far beyond what he deserves.
But jewels have never been the way to Harry's heart, and Draco's gifts are precious to him not because of the value they hold for the rest of the world, but because what their giver means to him. Draco has never needed to give him the world to prove his worth to him. He did that when he made sure Harry could grab the wands from his hand at Malfoy Manor, when he tried to stop Crabbe from killing his friends and him in the Room of Requirement.
No matter what the world says, as far as Harry is concerned, Draco is more than worthy of being loved.
It's he who is unworthy. What right does a tortured man like him have to darken the little kernels of Light that still exist in Draco?
The two of them are made perfectly for each other, each believing himself to be unworthy.
To Draco, Harry is the Light that exists in him. Without him, Draco would quickly return to the Darkness that has nourished him for so long.
As far as Draco is concerned, if the world lacks Harry Potter, he has no desire to live.
They spend long hours trying to prove their worth to and hide their self-deprecation from each other. It doesn't work, of course.
They know each other well enough to see that they can see that something's wrong with the one they love.
It doesn't take long for each of their stories to come tumbling out. And once they do, the two of them look at each other, utterly astounded.
"I didn't know you felt that way," Harry says.
"I can say the same for you," Draco retorts.
They spend the rest of the week comforting each other, promising the other that they don't have to prove that they're worthy to be loved.
The thing is, no matter how many gifts are exchanged, it is not the way for a person to show that they are worthy of love. Because the price of love is only love. One must love if one desires to be loved.
The only way for a person to prove themselves worthy of love is to love with all your heart.
Maybe fairytales don't all turn out the same, but that's okay.
As far as Harry's concerned, falling in love with the person who should be the villain is much better than marrying a clean-cut heroine can ever be.
As long as the fairytale ends with 'they lived happily ever after,' it doesn't really matter who the 'they' are, does it?
And that's the way this fairytale ends.
They lived happily ever after.
For:
The If You Dare Challenge, Prompt 967. A Story Told A Million Times
OTP Bootcamp, Prompt 5. Calm
The Foreign Quote Challenge
HP Potions Competition, Babbling Beverage
Key Signature Competition, F Major
Fantastic Beasts Challenge, Salamander
Color Competition, Brown (positive)