A/N: I wasn't going to, but I worked so hard on this story today that I just had to reward my success with sharing another chapter :). I both love and hate being so far ahead then where I'm at in posting because I get excited about what's to come and then I remember that it's going to be awhile before you all get to read what I'm writing. I wrote about four more chapters today so we've still got a lot to go. On another note, I think you will all enjoy this chapter and remember, it's not canon :). Enjoy! Thanks again for the reviews and follows!

It was nearly past midnight and Draco stood in front of the school with everyone else, staring towards the forest. They had heard an unmistakable holler coming from the forest. It had been Hagrid and everyone waited by bated breath as to what had caused him to bellow that way. It wasn't long before everyone saw what had caused Hagrid to react that way. Draco's eyes widened as he saw the unmistakable form of the boy who had occupied his every thought for the past year cradled in Hagrid's arms. Draco's heart thudded in his chest, not believing what he was seeing. The small bit of hope that he had held onto since he had seen Harry at the Manor a couple of months before disappeared instantly. The future that he had imagined was plucked from his mind and smooshed to pieces.

"No," he muttered, shaking his head. He wasn't alone in his reaction as pretty much everyone either said 'no' or were shaking their heads in disbelief or simply staring, unblinking as every single hope that had ever been left, was gone. Harry was dead. Hagrid would not react that way if it weren't so. Voldemort came from behind him, pleased beyond belief. His snake slithered at his feet. Draco glared at him.

"Harry Potter….is dead," he cackled. Hagrid was sobbing and several people in attendance were sobbing right along with him. Draco found Hermione and Ron in the group and both were obviously devastated. No one knew of his friendship with Harry so he stood alone in his despair at the loss. Nothing could compare to how he was feeling right then.

Moments passed as Voldemort rambled on about how we will all bow down to him and follow his lead or die. Draco felt the shift in the audience as they shoved their despair to the side and became even angrier. They would avenge Harry's death. Things turned chaotic once again as another yell came from those gathered and Draco watched in admiration as Neville pushed forward from the crowd, carrying a sword, and swinging it down cutting off the head of Voldemort's snake.

Voldemort screamed a horrible scream and everyone stared in disbelief at what had just happened. Voldemort fell to his knees and a couple of his Death Eaters came forward to help him, but he waved them off and staggered to his feet.

"Where's Harry?" Hagrid bellowed as he looked around in disbelief. Draco whipped his head back around and couldn't see Harry anywhere. He must have been on the ground, but he was not. The hope that had gone away flared up as he realized that maybe Harry wasn't dead after all. Suddenly, with renewed spirit, spells started to fly as everyone started to duel again. Draco moved through the crowd, flinging spells at Death Eaters who were dueling. No one seemed to notice him.

The battling moved into the courtyard and it was then that the crowd parted and Harry was standing there, facing Voldemort. Draco stood on the side of Harry and stared in disbelief at seeing him standing there. He watched, just as everyone did as Harry and Voldemort discussed their wands as if they were discussing the weather and not about to kill each other. They seemed to grow tired of talking and Voldemort uttered the two words that no one ever wanted to hear, 'Avada Kedavra' while Harry shouted, 'Expelliarmus.'

Their spells clashed and everyone watched as the two most powerful wizards alive fought to defeat the other. Harry's spell pushed further and further towards Voldemort and then something happened that nobody expected and Voldemort was dead. Gone. Never coming back again.

Everyone erupted in cheers and several Death Eaters tried to get away, but were stopped by the anti-apparition wards that the aurors had put in place. Draco's mother was squeezing him tightly as Draco lost sight of Harry in the crowd of well-wishers. He focused on her as she sobbed into his shoulder. His father stood nearby, wrapping an arm around Narcissa as well. Draco did not look at him. He wasn't sure how his father would feel about the secret his son was hiding.

Mostly everyone moved into the Great Hall and the Malfoys huddled together, unsure if they should be there despite switching alliances in the end. No one seemed to think ill of them so they stayed put. Draco searched the room for Harry, but did not see him anywhere. He didn't see Hermione and Ron either. He sighed. He was grateful that Harry had survived, but he had so many questions for him and he wasn't sure if he'd get the chance to ask them. He felt his pocket warm and he stared down at it. Harry had written to him.

"Excuse me, I'm going to see if I can find Blaise and Pansy," Draco muttered as he stood and strode away from his parents. He left the Great Hall quickly before he pulled the note out of his pocket. He opened it and scanned it quickly.

Gryffindor Tower, Parsnips

That was it. Draco looked up the steps nervously. They were crumbled in places and he was nervous to go up them, but if Harry was asking for him. He was going to make it. He climbed the steps to the tower which seemed to be better in some places and quite dangerous in others. When he finally made it to the Gryffindor Tower, the portrait was empty. He said the password anyway and despite their being no one there, it opened.

He stepped into the room and the sconces flickered on. Harry was standing at the window looking out. He turned to look at Draco and their eyes met and held. Many emotions passed between them right then, but neither of them moved. Draco moved towards him first, unable to break eye contact. He stopped when he was within two feet of Harry and studied him. Every feeling that he had in relation to him was swimming around in his head. He had felt every emotion there was about Harry. He didn't know where to start.

"Hi," Harry said quietly, breaking the silence.

"Hi," Draco replied, his voice cracking. Ah, so he was going with the despair emotion first. He broke their connection, trying to reel in his emotions.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions," Harry began, seeming to read his mind.

"You're damn right I do!" he exclaimed. Ah, anger it was instead. Draco stormed away from him and started pacing. "Where did you go? Did you actually die? Did you kill Voldemort with my wand? How did you figure out how to kill him? Are you okay? How do you feel about-" Draco stopped. The last question was not something he wanted to ask right now.

"Draco, calm down. Come sit over here and I'll answer your questions," Harry said in a soothing tone as he sat on the couch.

"I'm fine. I just need to stand for now. I'm sorry, but I have been going crazy since that night in the astronomy tower. I've tried to not think about you or wonder where you are or wonder how you are. I just couldn't stop thinking about you and then I finally get to see you and I nearly die and-"

Harry stood and made his way over to Draco. He reached out and grabbed his arms and stopped his pacing. He pulled him towards him and hugged him. It seemed that was what he needed. Draco sagged in his arms and held on to him tightly. He sniffled several times and Harry felt some wetness on his shoulder, but said nothing. This was what he needed right now. They stood that way for several minutes just holding each other. Finally, Harry was able to coax him over to the couch and Draco sat down and Harry sat down next to him. They turned to face each other and Harry started to answer his questions.

"I was all over the place after the wedding. We stayed at Grimmauld, but that fell through because there were Death Eaters abound out there and then we camped for a really, really, really, long time. We were hunting down the horcurxes which were how Voldemort managed to stay alive. We had to destroy all of them for me to be able to get rid of him, finally. Ultimately, I didn't kill him, his spell backfired, but regardless he is gone with no way of coming back. Yes, your wand is what I've been using and helped me defeat Voldemort. Actually, technically the wand that he had was yours. You disarmed Dumbledore and Voldemort stole the wand from his tomb so it didn't work very well for him in the first place. Yes, I died. I was one of the horcruxes and I had to die in order to destroy it. I came back though-" Harry explained.

"You died. You willingly sacrificed yourself without even thinking about everyone else!" Draco exclaimed, set to get up again and pace. Harry reached out with his seeker like reflexes to place a restraining hand on his leg.

"I did think about everyone else. I thought about my friends and my family and you. If I didn't do what I did, we wouldn't be sitting here and having this conversation. I chose to come back because as much as I was ready to be done with all of this, I knew that it had to be me that defeated him and I knew that there were people that I needed to be with in this life, as much as I wanted to be with those who have passed, this is where I belong," he explained.

"Are you okay?" Draco asked after he spent a few moments processing through what Harry explained to him, trying to understand it all.

Harry sighed and looked down at his hands. "I don't know. I am really, really tired and I am looking forward to taking a real shower and sleeping in a real bed. I am overjoyed with our success, but I'm also deeply saddened at all the lives lost. I'm not sure if I'm okay, but I know that eventually I will be. Are you okay?"

Draco snorted. "You just died and came back to life and destroyed the darkest wizard of all time and you're asking me if I'm okay?" He shoved Harry's shoulder and rolled his eyes. Harry stared at him for a moment and Draco thought that he had said something wrong or that his reaction to him was not appropriate. He was about to apologize when Harry leaned forward and kissed Draco carefully. It was just a feather light kiss against his lips, but it sent Draco's heartbeat up a notch. Harry moved back and stared at him with wide, green eyes.

Draco stared back, unsure of what to do. Harry had just kissed him. Harry shook his head and stood, moving away from him. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-" he paused as he went back to the window. He took a deep breath. "No, actually, I'm not sorry. I have been thinking about you constantly and I don't know what I'm feeling and I know that I shouldn't even remotely be kissing you right now when I am such a mess. Merlin, I am sorry, Draco. I shouldn't have done that. I don't even know how you feel and-" At some point in his rambling, Draco had gotten up from the couch and made his way over to Harry.

Harry turned to look at him and he was pulled into the depths of Draco's stormy gray eyes. There was much to be seen in them and Draco did not hesitate to show exactly how he felt about Harry. He stepped forward and kissed him, firmly. He brought his hands up and cupped his face and kissed him like he had never kissed anyone in his life. Harry wrapped his arms around his waist and pulled him closer.

They broke apart a moment later for some much needed air. "Much better than I imagined," Draco whispered.

Harry grinned and sighed. "Me too," he whispered.

They heard a noise outside the portrait and Draco stepped away from him. "Harry, I do feel something for you, obviously, but I don't want to start something with you after everything that you've been through. You need time to mourn and time to get back to as normal of a life as you can. I don't want to start a relationship with you and have you not be completely in it. I want us to happen, for real and I want it to happen under the very best of circumstances. You understand that, right?"

Harry stared at him in disbelief. He had just poured his soul out to him in that kiss and he was telling him that he didn't want to start something with him. That was absurd. Why kiss him that way if he didn't want something?

After his initial reaction of anger subsided, Harry understood. He was not fit to start something up with him and he did need to do all the things he said and he would. He nodded then which caused Draco to look relieved. "You're right, but before you go, can I just kiss you once more?" he asked shyly.

Draco blushed and stepped towards him again and allowed Harry to kiss him, even deeper than before. The kiss heated them both to their cores and made Draco want to reconsider what he said and just be with Harry so they could do more of this, but he knew that wouldn't be good. Harry broke the kiss reluctantly, just in time for the portrait to slide open and admit Hermione and Ron.

"I'll write you," he whispered as he squeezed Harry's hand and then turned and started for the door. He nodded to Hermione and Ron who stared at him in surprise and watched him leave. As soon as the portrait door closed, they turned to look at Harry who had his fingers at his lips and had a faraway look in his eyes. It didn't take a genius to see what had just happened.

"Malfoy, Harry? Really?" Ron asked in exasperation.

Harry looked at his two best friends and blushed, trying not to grin. Ron groaned and made a gagging sound as he threw himself on the couch. Hermione just laughed and shook her head. Harry joined them and sat down heavily. There was so much to deal with in a few hours, but all Harry wanted to do was just sit there with his friends and let the reality wash over him that Voldemort was finally gone and the next chapter of Harry's life could begin.