The Age of Innocence is Over

By Phoebe Halliwell

Chapter two

The two teenagers walked at a steady pace towards the closest room that suited their needs, they may have been youthful in their years but both had experienced so much more than any fully grown adult could ever claim, these two had had their innocence taken from them along with so many others.

They had not been free to be children and to bask in the light that childhood was, where parents truly care for their offspring and are there to tell them so and not mixed up in blood thirsty battles that claim the lives of the very heart of families.

Life and death seemed to work in such strange ways, the latter can kill you without even taking your life and the former can be so cruel and brutal that no man should ever have to survive the malicious blows of fate.

However the two teenagers had survived blow after blow and had still got up and carried on fighting without a single word of complaint or a trace of bitterness, it had been accepted, accepted in such a way that it seemed unnatural, no one person can take so much to just stand up and just get on with it.

Draco could not hide the admiration that he felt for Harry, not once had he seen the boy shed a single tear, the pain that was just too real for the both of them and for every solider in such a great war didn't seem to have had any effect on him.

Draco had cried, cried himself to sleep night after night, so thankful for the kindness that Harry had shown him and his family the night he had allowed them inside the castle, the place that was their salvation.

They arrived in the damp and empty room and at once Harry stepped toward the fireplace and lit a fire in the grate, which immediately filled the room with light and warmth, the swords that hung on the wall glinted as the fire danced. The light seemed to illuminate their sharp edges; they glinted dangerously as Harry shrugged off the zip up hoody that he had been wearing and threw it carelessly into the corner.

Draco was already wearing what he felt comfortable in and began to carefully pick his blade, Harry didn't need to go through the process of selection, he had had a sword made especially for him, at first he had wanted to use Godric's however he soon discovered that it was far too heavy to be comfortable.

He had had one made of silver and steel, there were no integrate designs or styles to it, only his name engraved along the blade, Harry James Potter. It was there for everyone to see, it had a special cabinet that only he could open and a special charm upon it so that only he could summon it and touch it, Ron had found this out the hard way and as a result had spent an entire week in the hospital wing trying to recover.

Draco preferred a slightly heavier sword than Harry, he too had his own, however it had been lost when he had fled the manor with his family, along with so many of his processions. He wasn't overly fussy about his weapon choice but he did so miss his own sword and had sworn to one day go and fetch it, the problem was that Voldemort had taken procession of Malfoy Manor so going back now would be suicide.

When Draco had suggested this trip to the training room for a midnight duel of swords he had not been telling the full truth by saying that his sword work was a little off, it was in fact perfectly fine, however he had known that Harry would have been sitting up staring into the fire and this gave him the excuse not only to tear the boy away from that but also to spend a little more time with him.

Draco could never be described as a person who wore his heart upon his sleeve but he would not deny that he had some sort of feeling for Harry, the boy who thought that he was beyond such trivial emotions but yet felt love so openly towards Ron and Hermione.

Through the window the night looked so surreal, as if it were simply another world invading there own, it was always so quiet and peaceful, not a single thing disturbed it's perfection, only the hoot of the owls hunting in the forest or sitting perched in the owlery could be heard. No curses were being fired, no screams could be heard and certainly no cries for help being shouted, it was perfect, almost a completely ultimate reality to when the sun was up.

Draco carefully dislodged his sword from its holder magically attached to the stone wall and gave it a few testing swings before finding himself satisfied with the blade that he had chosen.

"So what is it that we should be looking for here?" Harry asked, his aim was to help Draco to improve his technique a little, he knew that the blonde was more advanced than all of the others but he was still a little off in some areas.

"Just in general really," Draco replied, Harry nodded. They stood at opposite ends of the large room; Harry had distant memories of some class or another being taught in here, Hermione's hand waving wildly in the air and Ron making faces at how much she knew and him watching them lovingly. The perfect picture of innocence that had been shattered by one thing leading to another until it got to a stage that they couldn't go back.

Harry couldn't even recall what year they had been in, it wasn't really the point, it didn't matter. The memory lived on in him, a happy memory; one of the few that he had that didn't involve death, hate or tragedy of some sort or another.

"Are you ready?" Harry asked as he shook of the lingering thoughts, he looked straight into Draco's eyes, those mystical silver orbs that concealed nothing but instead offered you a free pass to take a trip round his soul.

Both could remember fondly the many years that they had spent at each others throats, never once missing the opportunity to mock and taunt the other, laughing at each others expense, they too were fond memories for both, recollections that they could laugh at rather than wince at in embarrassment for such childish behaviour.

"As I'll ever be," Was Draco's reply, they bowed to each other, a duel with swords not being so different to that with wands. The sound of metal upon metal was soon distinguishable in the silence of the night, blades crossed at such speed that if any one had been looking on it would have been hard to keep track of what was going on.

It was a fair way into the fight when Draco landed awkwardly on his left ankle and twisted it, he stumbled and he fell, Harry however showed very little mercy, Draco's sword now lay on the ground inches from him, Harry's now pressed against the blondes throat.

"Get up" Harry demanded, "Get up."

"I can't," Draco said and even he himself would admit that it sounded pathetic "I've hurt my ankle, time out?" He asked, Harry however did not seem agreeable to this plan.

"Tom wouldn't give you a 'time out', get up." Harry said again, they were both breathing hard, breath coming in short, quick gasps as their bodies tried to recover. Draco made no move to get up and it seemed that Harry was growing somewhat impatient. "Your not working hard enough" Harry growled, "now get up."

"Harry please, I can't, I'm done." Draco said as he tried to avoid the sharp blade that was pressed dangerously close to his Adams apple.

Seeing the fear cloud Draco's eyes Harry suddenly felt a surge of guilt rush through him at how he had behaved, "I am sorry" He said as he removed the blade from Draco's neck and relaxed his grip upon the handle, "I should not have been so harsh with you." Harry said as he wiped his brow with the back of his hand before banishing his sword back to his cabinet and then offering Draco a hand.

"Don't be sorry Harry, you're a good teacher," Draco said, as he put all of his body weight on the one foot while Harry conjured a chair for him to sit in.

"I'm too harsh with you, I know that, I just can't stand to think that your not ready, I can't stand to think that you and the others wouldn't stand a chance if the Deatheaters attacked tomorrow."

"We're ready Harry, not completely but enough so, you're a brilliant teacher, everyone looks up and admires you, your so strong and you keep us all that way, I wonder how you do it sometimes." Draco said sitting himself down so that Harry could take a look at his ankle.

"I don't" Harry said very simply as he gently removed Draco's trainer and sock, he rolled up his trousers a little to reveal pale leg where wisps of blonde hair had long been growing. Carefully Harry began to slowly rotate Draco's ankle, testing for serious injury.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked, he was enjoying the feeling of Harry's touch too much to ask why he didn't just do a diagnostic spell and be done with it.

"I cannot count the times where I have just broken down, gone into an unexplained rage and punched everything in my sight, I just don't let any one else see." Harry explained as muttered a slight healing charm before re-testing the ankle. "I can't appear weak Draco. Your ankle is now fine by the way."

"Your not weak Harry, you're the strongest and most alive out of all of us here, without you, I doubt we would have made it so far." Draco said getting to his feet and warily testing his ankle and finding that it didn't hurt in the slightest. "Wow, you're a healer too boot, your certainly not just a pretty face."

Harry gave Draco a strange sort of look but said nothing, it was nearing four in the morning now, the two of them had spent a good chunk of the night talking and duelling and both for sufficiently tired.

"Are you okay to walk back?" Harry asked politely, Draco nodded while pulling on his sock and shoe.

It was as they walked back that Draco offered a slight comfort to Harry, who was quite shocked that he had received one at all. "If you ever need a shoulder to cry on I'll always be there for you, even if you don't want the others to know, I don't want you to feel as if you have to keep up your facade around me as well." He paused to allow Harry to take this in, he then continued: "you don't have too be strong all the time, that's what grown ups are for."

"Don't think that I won't remember that, thank you Draco and for the record I always knew that you were good, no one is born evil, it is the choices they make and the life that they lead, it certainly isn't the choices that our fathers make for us, as for your father, I have yet to see a shred of evidence to tell me that he has resorted to his old ways, your mother too. I believe that you're all good people, just misunderstood."

For the first time in a long while Draco actually cracked a smile and when Harry asked why this was all he could reply was: "No one has ever called a Malfoy 'misunderstood', I think it shows how trusting and kind a person you are if you can forgive us our wrongs and allow us into your life."

When they reached the tower they made their way silently to bed, careful not to wake anyone up that might have actually chosen to sleep through the night. For the first time all week Harry actually fell straight to sleep, Draco too. It was just a shame that sleep wasn't as easy as it should have been.


What do you think? Don't forget to leave a review, it keeps me writing to know what you guys think. Phoebe