Chapter Two
It was two in the morning on the eighteenth of June and Harry Potter walked as briskly as he dared, so that the ends of his invisibility cloak did not rustle and reveal his whereabouts. It was essential tonight more than ever before that he get to the Astronomy Tower undetected. Within ten minutes of leaving the Gryffindor common room, Harry was on the tower top. He flung off the invisibility cloak as his heart clenched in panic at the sight of the empty landing. Just as Harry began to pace, the door banged open and Draco walked through, carrying a Hand of Glory clenched around a candle. Harry stopped dead in his tracks, simultaneously gasped and sighed in relief, ran to his boyfriend, and embraced him.
"Dray! Thank God you're okay!" Harry said. He released himself from Draco's arms and kissed him.
After a few seconds, Draco broke the contact and pulled away from Harry. He walked to the edge of tower, vanished his Hand of Glory, and looked out at the night sky.
"You know, I never would have thought that this tower could have such bad memories for me," Draco said, still looking out at the grounds of Hogwarts. Harry knew he was undoubtedly talking about the events that had happened only hours before: Draco's smuggling of Death Eaters into the castle, the battle between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix, Draco's conversation with a weakened Dumbledore in which he had considered joining the Order, and, ultimately, Dumbledore's death at the hands of Professor Snape.
"But it has so many more good memories," Harry said, walking over to Draco, wrapping his arms around his waist, and resting his chin on his shoulder.
"I know. But the bad ones always seem to come to mind more easily. I wish I had taken Dumbledore's offer," Draco turned around, but remained in Harry's arms, while placing his own around Harry. "Then I could be with you." Draco closed his eyes and placed his forehead to Harry's.
Harry instinctively knew what he had to do. "No," Harry said, eyes still closed.
Draco opened his eyes. "No?"
"No." Harry, too, opened his eyes and looked at Draco.
"I am here to tell you we can never meet again,
"Simple really, isn't it?
"A word or two and then,
"A lifetime of not knowing where or how or why or when,
"You think of me, or speak of me,
"And wonder what befell,
"That someone you once loved, so long ago, so well."
Draco wiped away the lone tear that fell down Harry's cheek and kissed the top of his forehead.
He then said,
"Never wonder what I'll feel,
"As living shuffles by,
"You don't have to ask me and I need not reply,
"Every moment of my life from now until I die,
"I will think or dream of you,
"And fail to understand,
"How a perfect love could be confounded out of hand."
Draco turned around in Harry's arms and faced the grounds again, saying,
"Is it written in the stars?
"Are we paying for some crime?
"Is that all that we are good for?
"Just some stretch of mortal time?
"Or some God's experiment in which we have no say?
"In which we're given paradise but only for a day?"
Draco sighed in sadness. Harry kissed his neck.
"As great as you coming away with me to the Order sounds, you'll be safer if you go to Voldemort," Harry said, holding Draco a little tighter. "You won't be a target of the Death Eaters."
"Just you," Draco said with a hint of a laugh.
"Yeah. Just me," Harry said, smiling at Draco's joke. "I mean it, Dray, you have to go to Voldemort. I'll be able to hunt for his Horcruxes more easily knowing that the person I love most in the world is one of the few people not on Voldemort's death list."
Draco leaned into Harry's arms as Harry said,
"Nothing can be altered,
"There is nothing to decide,
"No escape, no change of heart,
"Nor any place to hide."
Draco turned to face Harry. He cupped Harry's face in his hands and said,
"You are all I ever want,
"But this I am denied,
"Sometimes in my darkest thoughts,
"I wish I'd never learned,
"What it is to be in love and have that love returned."
Harry kissed Draco. He then pulled away and said,
"Is it written in the stars?
"Are we paying for some crime?
"Is that all that we are good for?
"Just some stretch of mortal time?
"Or some God's experiment in which we have no say?
"In which we're given paradise but only for a day?"
Draco kissed Harry just as Harry finished his sentence. The kiss lasted no more than a minute but it was heartfelt and full of meaning. They both knew that it would be the last kiss they shared in a long time and they wanted to make it last and one that they would remember for a lifetime.