Heya Moose! It's finished now, and it is... 5746 words long. Excluding my waffling at the beginnings. So, voila! Final chapter 3. Have fun!


All Born To Die

"Harry! Get up!"

For a few pleasant seconds, Harry forgot everything that had happened – then it all came back to him in a rush, and his eyes snapped open.

He was alone in his bed, but distinctly remembered falling asleep with Malfoy at his back, bare skin pressed against his, the other man's arm over him. He immediately missed the warmth, and sat up, blinking up the morning light.

He dressed quickly and went downstairs. Everyone else was already sat around the kitchen table, glancing around in varying degrees of anxiety. He met Malfoy's eyes, angry and passionate and scared and bored all at once, and they stared at each other, each daring the other to look away first.

"We think the best way for you to do this will be to Floo in." Lupin said, and the spell was broken. "Malfoy's not sure just how much of the Ministry the Death Eaters have control over. Once you're in, you'll need to make your own way to the Department of Mysteries."

"And we're coming too."

Harry looked up at Ginny, startled.

"What, all of you?" he asked, incredulously, and Neville nodded.

"Yes, all of us. We've fought before, and we're doing it again. We can help you."

"We decided last night, after you'd gone to bed." Fred put in, looking desolate. "You can't talk us out of it this time, Harry."

"Well sorry to break it to you all, but you're not coming." Malfoy snapped, and everyone turned to him. "Just me and Potter."

"Just try and stop us, Malfoy." Fred hissed in return.

"I don't need to." He replied coolly. "There is no chance whatsoever that the Death Eaters won't notice a whole hoard of us arriving at the Ministry. They'll sense us Apparating, so we'll have to Floo. And can only use the Floo once – Potter and I can easily do it at the same time. And also, if we are captured before we can destroy the Veil, then they are more likely to listen to us if there are only two of us. You're not coming, Weasley, and that's that."

Ginny looked to Harry furiously, as though she expected him to side with her.

"He's right. Just the two of us."

He met Malfoy's gaze across the table again, and this time the other man nodded, before looking away.


Harry stepped into the fireplace next to Malfoy as night drew in, so close that he could feel the other's breath on him. He took a handful of Floo Powder without looking, and without breaking eye contact with Malfoy, gave him some of the powder.

"On three."

"One…"

"Two…"

"Ministry of Magic!" they yelled in unison, throwing the powder down, and an enormous flame erupted around them. They span faster and faster, and Harry grabbed at Malfoy to keep his balance, the roaring in his ears and green flames all round him and he kept his eyes fixed on Malfoy's the whole time, keeping him anchored…

Then they were expelled into the Ministry of Magic's Atrium and skidded across the polished floor, legs and arms tangled.

"Wasn't that fun." Malfoy said dryly, standing up and dusting himself off. "Right then, let's get this over with Potter."

Harry followed him as he marched over to the lifts, swirling into one and pressing the button to Level Nine. The grilles slammed shut and the lift began its slow descent.

"You could at least be pleasant to me, you know." Harry said shortly, as the woman announced that they had reached the Department of Mysteries. Malfoy gave him an inscrutable look as they strode down the corridor.

"Manners are especially the need of the plain. The pretty can get away with anything." He retorted, and walked straight through the plain black door and into the round room that rotated as soon Malfoy shut the door behind him. He was about to ask which door to take, when he realised that Malfoy was walking directly towards one.

"How do you know which one?" he asked, puzzled, and Malfoy turned back to him, sneering.

"Don't pretend you can't feel it, Potter." He spat, and Harry realised that he could feel which door it was… it was the one that was pulling him towards itself, into a cold and dead embrace. He followed Malfoy through the door, and gasped.

The room that he remembered was nearly completely different. There was Muggle technology everywhere – computers and machines and mass spectrometers littered the room, and the wizards seemed to be having trouble navigating around the wires that were strung up everywhere.

And there were Muggles. Muggles and wizards all milling around with an ease that disconcerted Harry. He was all for equality, but this was just weird.

"Draco?"

Harry turned to where the voice had come from, and stepped back involuntarily as Lucius approached.

"Father."

For all that Malfoy had grown up, he still seemed to shrink slightly in his father's presence. The older Malfoy scrutinised Harry, head tilted to one side.

"Is there a reason why you've brought Potter here? And of his own free will, apparently?"

"We've come to try and stop you from doing this." Harry answered for Malfoy, hand gripping his wand in his pocket. "You can't mix Muggle technology with magic, it won't work! The Veil will be destroyed and you won't be able to control…"

Harry trailed off at the bored expression on Lucius' face.

"May I introduce you to Dr Sam Payne? He's heading the Muggle side of this experiment."

Harry looked past Lucius to a tall, broad man with dark hair and boyish features.

"Dr Payne was a nuclear engineer in the Royal Navy before he agreed to help us in our venture." Lucius continued as he descended into the centre of the room. "He's been very resourceful, and exceptionally thorough in all the risk assessments."

"You don't seem surprised by what I said." Harry pointed out, following him down towards the Veil.

"Of course I'm not. My son has already stated his views on the project. I had no idea that he would go such lengths to prevent this, but tonight he will be disillusioned. The Dark Lord will arrive once we have the Veil stabilised. Dr Payne, if you please."

Payne moved around one of the benches and lifted up to metal slabs, each about a foot long, three inches wide and an inch deep. He pressed a button on the underside of each and two green lights flashed once on the front of them.

"Now… let us see who is right!" Lucius proclaimed with a flourish, and Harry realised that they were going ahead with it and there was little he could do to stop it.

Harry watched, terrified, as Payne set the metal slabs down either side of the Veil and stood back.

"I advise looking away." He said, then pressed the button.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then the metal slabs beeped a few times, and two beams of light shot out of them, connecting the two through the Archway, two thin lines of green. Over at the control panel, Payne pressed another button.

"Behold… life, after Death!" said one of the Death Eaters, and Harry wasn't sure which one because at that moment someone walked out through the Veil.

It was a man, and it was a Muggle – Harry could sense no magic whatsoever coming from him. He looked around in a distinctly confused manner, taking in his surroundings.

"Where am I? Who are you people?" he asked Payne, who had approached him and was prodding his body experimentally.

"Solid form. Cardiovascular system functioning, respiratory system effective. He's alive."

"Well of course I'm alive, what else would I be?" the man said irritably. "Stop poking me."

Payne turned to Malfoy and Harry, a triumphant look on his face.

"You see? There is no risk. You should have more faith in our technology."

Harry detected a scathing tone to his voice, but before he could retort, another Muggle stepped through the Veil – another man. The one that Harry had seen taken from Hyde Park.

"Where's my reward?" he demanded, looking not the slightest bit bothered that he was standing in a room full of strange people, some of whom were holding sticks.

"What are you doing?" Lucius snapped angrily. "We did not give you permission to return!"

"I don't need nobody's permission to do nothing." The man ground out, and hobbled up the steps towards the door.

"Get back here!" Lucius shouted, but the man carried on.

A woman came through the Veil.

"Get back!" Payne shrieked at her, shoving her back through the Archway. She stepped back out again, looking puzzled. "I didn't send for you!"

Another man stepped through.

And another.

"SOMEBODY SEAL THE MINISTRY!"

Harry was temporarily deafened by Malfoy roaring the command in his ear, and then again by the combined yelling as about five Death Eaters followed his order and locked the whole place, preventing any of the escaping dead bodies from reaching the outside world.

There were now twenty people in the room.

"So much for there being no risk." Malfoy snarled at Payne, who had stepped back in horror from the people walking out of the Veil. He reached for the control panel.

"NO!" Harry yelled, lunging for the professor. He missed, and the man's hand twisted a dial.

Then the world exploded.

A deafening roar ripped through the Department of Mysteries accompanied by a blinding light that shone directly out through the Veil. The already damaged Archway began to crumble, and with an almighty scream, the Veil disappeared.

Through the light, Harry could see multitudes of shapes pouring out of either side of the Arch, no longer held captive by the Veil. They filled the room, corporeal bodies that pressed out of the doors and flooded into the Ministry of Magic, wailing. He stood transfixed by the sight, and flinched when a hand landed on his shoulder.

"Kill it, Potter!" Lucius yelled over the roaring and screaming. "You have to close it!"

But Harry was dumbstruck by the sight before him, and could barely keep his balance as all the people barged past him. People he recognised, people he hated, people he loved…

"Harry!"

Harry turned at the voice, and stepped back in horror. Sirius stood before him, grinning widely, completely oblivious to the dead bodies thundering past him and spreading out into the Ministry.

"No…" he whispered. "You're dead!"

"That's hardly the greeting I had in mind, but…"

"No, you don't get it. You're dead. It's not right, you shouldn't be here…"

"As you wish… hey look, there's Hermione!" he waved exuberantly. "Hey, Hermione! Ron! Over here!"

Harry grabbed his godfather's arm and pushed it down, nearly losing his balance as Broderick Bode careened past him, apparently with a purpose.

"Don't get them over here!" he hissed, and then buckled over in pain as something indescribable ripped through his system.

It felt as though he was being drained and pumped full of poison at the same time… his joints creaked when he moved, every breath was a chore, he was light-headed and felt as though he was going to fall over…

"POTTER!"

He tried to see who had spoken over the thundering headache that was now pounding through his brain, but his vision was blurring and his hearing was getting muffled.

"The barriers are breaking." Came Malfoy's voice, urgent in his ear, sounding as pained as he felt. "You have to kill it now, or the worlds will merge. Muggles opened it, magic has to close it. Now, Harry!"

Summoning up all his remaining strength, he stood tall, and drew his wand, and wanted nothing more in his whole being than to stop this disaster, this catastrophe that would be the end of worlds. He aimed his wand, and someone's hand found his through the chaos and gripped it hard.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

He saw the blinding flash of green light at the same time as he saw his parents stream through the Archway, reaching out to him.

And then there was a terrible sucking noise, and all the people who had escaped Death were pulled back through the Veil, crying and shrieking, hurled back through into nothingness. Sirius laid his hand on Harry's shoulder.

"I'll be seeing you." He said quietly, and Harry turned and embraced him so hard that he thought he might break the other man's bones… and then his godfather was ripped away from him and pulled back through the Archway, through the Veil that had reappeared.

Harry stared at the Veil as it sucked in the last of its victims, including Narcissa, who was wailing and refusing to let go of Malfoy. Then the last was taken in, and the Veil dropped down, fluttering gently, and the room was silent. And Harry realised that for the second time, he had killed his godfather, and the only chance he'd ever have of seeing his parents again.

He fell to the floor and cried.


Harry wasn't sure how long he sat there on the cold stone steps, head buried in his knees. He could hear Death Eaters moving around him, could hear voices that sounded close yet far at the same time, that approached him then went away again. And once he thought he had even heard Lupin, though he knew that was impossible…

"Potter?"

He refused to look up when he heard Malfoy's voice in front of him, and pushed his forehead further into the crack between his knees.

"Stop feeling sorry for yourself, you great prick. Don't think you're the only one who had loved ones come back, only to be taken away again. Now get up off your arse, I want to show you something."

He heard Malfoy walk away, and despite his unwillingness to move, Harry found himself up and following the other man across the ruined room and through, out of the Department of Mysteries and up, up to the Atrium.

Where Ginny, Lupin,, Fred, Neville and Charlie were waiting for him.

"They braved the whole of the remaining Death Eater army to come and get you, and were nearly killed by the crush of dead people. They saw their families return, they saw them die again, and yet they're here and ready to take you back." Malfoy said, and Harry detected a certain amount of jealousy in his voice. The other man turned to the people waiting. "He'll be along in a minute."

"He's coming now. We're not leaving you alone with him again." Ginny spat.

"If I'd wanted to kill him, I would have done it by now." Malfoy replied harshly, glaring at her. Lupin put a restraining hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"Come on. Harry, Apparate in when you're ready."

Harry nodded and watched as his friends Apparated one by one, until he was left alone again with Malfoy. They stood in silence for a good minute before Harry spoke.

"Are you going back to the Death Eaters?" he asked quietly. He felt Malfoy shrug beside him.

"I expect so. It's where I belong."

"So all of this counted for nothing, then?"

Malfoy turned to face him.

"No. This counted for an awful lot. The Death Eaters have a sudden respect for you that they never had before – you effectively saved the world from an evil far greater than them. They'll hesitate next time they decide to kill you."

"But you haven't changed your mind, have you?"

Malfoy smiled, a small, knowing smile.

"Oh, I don't know. I always thought that killing was the greatest rush." He leaned closer, smirking. "But I'll tell you now… you make me feel a lot of a lot more alive."

He closed the gap, pressed his lips briefly against Harry's, then Apparated away.


Back at Grimmauld Place, Harry moved the Black Family Tree into his room, and restored Sirius' name. He had no nightmares that night. Or the night after.

Or the night after that.


Comments very welcome and much appreciated.

Smokey