WWII

Genres: Angst, Fluff, General, Romance
Rating: PG
Warnings: Adult Language, Angst
Summary: An Oracle comes to town. The twins open up their second joke store. Harry and Draco ask questions...what are the answers?

Disclaimer: I own no rights to Harry Potter and other characters. All I have is this plot, nothing else.
"Harry, hurry up, we're going to miss them cutting the ribbon!" Draco sighed and looked at his reflection for the millionth time. Harry was taking an unusually long time in the bathroom. Is this how Harry usually felt, Draco thought, smirking as he fixed his hair once more.

"Sorry, sorry. This is just really important for the twins. I thought I'd look halfway decent for once," Harry replied sheepishly, hand rising to rub at the back of his neck nervously.

Draco smiled softly at Harry's overdressed state; he knew Harry was worried because of the Oracle that the twins promised the crowd. They had made both Draco and Harry promise that they would ask him a question.

"Well, you're lucky I love you," he said, kissing Harry's still damp hair. It smelled of roses and Harry. He inhaled deeply and instantly relaxed.

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It was April first and, for their birthday, the twins were having the grand opening of Wizard Wheezes the Second. They took out the 'Weasley's' after the war and a most destructive ambush on their flat. Harry didn't know why, everyone knew who owned WW.

Hand in hand, he and Draco walked up to the Weasley family; they were all laughing boisterously but stopped as soon as they came near to welcome them.

"Harry, Draco, there you guys are," Hermione said, giving them a warm look. Draco looked around anxiously; he still wasn't used to all the red haired people. Harry squeezed his hand in comfort and was rewarded with a dashing smirk and twinkling silver eyes.

"Have you figured out what you're going to ask that Oracle?" Bill asked, gesturing to the direction of the double doors.

"Yeah…" Harry dragged, obviously not wanting to talk about it. Draco sighed; Harry was keeping his question an adamant secret. Nothing Draco did- not for lack of Draco's trying- had gotten results from Harry. Hermione raised her eyebrows in question and Harry looked away, scratching at his hair.

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The twins cut the ribbon, which shot out and produced fireworks in many different shapes and colors. Typical. The crowd went wild nonetheless. There was a giant poster advertising the Greek Oracle, who was apparently very old, the only male Oracle in over one hundred years. The twins rushed inside the store before it was too overcrowded to let them get behind the counter.

Everyone rushed in after them, but Harry and Draco made it to the counter before anyone else could.

"Hey, George, where's Fred?" Harry asked, puzzled.

"Hey, Harry, Draco, Fred's in the back. You can't go back there, Harry. It's a mess and he's trying to clean so we can access things easier," George seriously told Harry in a rush, already turning around to do other things. Harry scrunched his eyebrows in confusion…even during the war- during the destruction of their flat- the twins had never been so serious. He looked at Draco and knew that they both had the same expression. Draco shrugged and they walked up to the place where the Oracle was supposed to be. They both twitched in apprehension, no one else was in front of the small tent but them.

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By the time Harry was summoned inside the tent his palms were sweaty. Why had he picked this question? Why not something he knew the general answer to, so he wouldn't be too disappointed if the answer he got wasn't the one he wanted? He looked up at the Oracle, blinking several times. He looked oddly familiar, but Harry couldn't place him. He had long, white hair that ran wild around his goatee, which was tinged with fading reddish streaks. His eyes were the twinkle blue of Dumbledore's, but with a slightly different edge.

"Come in, Mr. Potter," he said with a slightly Greek accent. Harry looked up at his eyes, surprised, and acknowledged that this man was for real. He walked in and sat on the plush, red chair provided, fidgeting.

"Well, go on."

Harry reached in his pocket and pulled out a small, green velvet case. He held it in his sweaty palms and said, "Well, um, I bought this a while ago, but I thought I was being presumptuous in assuming, well, you know," he said, looking up at the Oracle with a sheepish smile. He opened the box to reveal a beautifully made platinum wedding band. He lost his breath when he saw the surprise, guilt and sudden regret flashing in the Oracle's once twinkling eyes. He was fiddling with the hem of his silver robes as he looked at Harry.

"Am I doing the right thing, asking Draco to marry me? We're soulmates right…right?" Harry asked in panic. The emotions he saw were making him irrational.

"Ginevra Weasley is the one. The ferret will harm you; destroy your life. You will have 100,000 times more happy words with her," he told Harry, real regret, and even anger, tingeing his response. Harry was so crestfallen he didn't hear the last half. Ginny…what? It didn't make sense. He ran from the tent in sudden tears, pushing Draco's anxious call for him away. George looked at Harry furiously, running to the back of the store unnoticed.

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Draco ran into the tent and, not caring about his other, real question, exploded at the Oracle, "What did you tell him?"

The answer was halted by George's sudden appearance, his anger almost as volatile as Draco's.

"I told you this was a damn bad idea, Fred, but do you listen to me when I'm being serious? No. And now look what you've done. April fools jokes are supposed to be funny, even if they do start up being serious in nature. Not life debilitating. I told you not to tell Harry anything bad if it had to do with something serious and Draco. What did you tell him, anyways?"

Fred had the gall to look apologetic and he gestured to the box haphazardly dropped to the table, forgotten.

"I told him that you weren't the one, Draco. I'm sorry. I told him it was Ginny," he said, Greek accent gone.

Draco gulped and picked up the box, anger slightly forgotten by surprise. He looked at the ring as tears came to his eyes. That's why Harry stayed in the bathroom forever this morning. Probably practicing what he would say to the mirror. Draco knew he was now underdressed for this moment.

"You fool," he said coldly and marched out, his robe billowing past him.

-----

Harry didn't know what to do; he was shocked and angry. His heart was breaking and nothing was making sense. He paced a clear spot of wood in the otherwise very dusty floor of the Shrieking Shack. He thought about what the Oracle had said; Draco was going to hurt him. How? Why? He would have thought that during the war, when he hadn't known that Draco had switched sides. He could remember the day he found out perfectly, and thought back on it with wry nostalgia- they'd almost killed each other.

Suddenly all his emotions felt like a tsunami and he sank to the floor under its pressure wave, fading his black slacks to a shabby gray, and clutched at his head, sobbing in anguished sounds.

-----

The sudden howling from the usually quiet Shrieking Shack had little kids running away screaming, but Draco knew he'd found Harry and hurried inside.

The image he saw broke his heart. Harry was on his knees, clutching his face. His body shook with sobs. Draco wanted to cautiously approach, but a creaking floorboard gave him away and Harry looked up through blurry, red-rimmed eyes quickly. His breath hitched and he sat fully onto the floor when he saw who it was. He knew, the look on his face told Harry. Draco knew. He shrank away when Draco tried to touch him.

"Harry, please, let me explain."

"What?" Harry whispered, what reason did he have to explain. Suddenly images of Draco not being perfect for Harry, for the sole reason of being unfaithful, flooded through Harry's pain addled mind. He moved away from Draco even more.

"I'm not saying this right," Draco sighed and ran his hand through his hair; it was matted with sweat, no longer perfect. There was only one way to say this.

"Yes."

"Yes…yes what?"

"Yes, I'll marry you," Draco said, smiling widely as he held the empty box out toward Harry, the ring already on his finger. Harry gasped and came forward to him.

"You…you aren't cheating on me?" Harry said, looking hopefully up at Draco.

"Cheating on you! Harry, I would never do that. I love you and that's what I'm trying to tell you. Don't listen to that…idiot." Draco scowled; it wasn't over yet between him and Fred.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked apprehensively.

"Oh, right, wearing the ring doesn't tell you much. Well, first of all, I know what you asked. The answer was utter bullocks, by the way, because-"

"But he was authentic. He knew my name, Draco."

"Yes, I am well aware of that," Draco said snidely, causing Harry to step back. Draco sighed, mad at himself for being insensitive when Harry was like this.

"Harry, he only knew your name because it was Fred, that's what I was trying to tell you." Harry gasped, holding on to the ancient couch. Fred had taken an Ageing Potion, that's why he looked so familiar. He looked exactly the same during Harry's fourth year when he tried to outwit the Goblet. It was April first. It all clicked in one horrified second of understanding. He was beyond angry, but when he looked at Draco, he became suddenly shy.

"So, you…um…yes?" He stammered. Draco laughed and nodded vigorously, holding the ring and admiring it in the slants of light that shone through the boarded windows.

"Shame it had to be given to me that way, though," Draco drawled, a little disappointed. Harry walked up to him, took the ring from his finger and kissed him soundly on the lips to stifle his gasp of surprised hurt.

"It shouldn't be. I'll make it up to you, I promise, after I'm done talking to Fred and George," he said, slipping the ring in its box and back in his pocket.

Draco let Harry walk to the front door, if it could be called that, before he told Harry that George wasn't in on it. Harry turned around and rolled his eyes at Draco.

"Really? It didn't seem like he objected in any way, though I guess that was why he was so standoffish before…honestly, Ginny. I should have realized," Harry said, shaking his head in self-admonishment. He blew Draco a kiss before he went to confront the twins.

Draco stayed put, fondly admiring the dustless spot on the floor. Harry had obviously been pacing. Draco remembered the shallow trench he'd made on the Hogwarts grounds when Draco was found out as the spy. Harry only paced when he was worried...distraught. He didn't begrudge the twins the lashing they were going to get. Though he wished to at least watch, he wasn't going to intersect himself in that war, no matter how much he wanted to run after Harry. He flung himself ungracefully on the couch, suddenly very tired, and was enveloped in a cloud of dust. Glittering in the sunlight.

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A/N- I know it's not April anymore, but I'm just putting up here because of stuff...So, what do you think? The good, the bad, the ugly...I'll take them all. But let them be constructive, to your utmost ability.