A/N: This is the original ending. I know you guys will hate me for it, so I'll upload the alternate later. Enjoy. (:
The End Of It All
OoO
For the next two hours at least, I blew off classes to find him. Of course, it was like he was fucking invisible (which wasn't possible; I still had his cloak). I wanted to find him. No, I needed to find him.
Finally, feeling as if all hope was lost, I decided to take drastic measures. Fighting my way up to the Gryffindor Common Room, I earned several strange looks. I shrugged them all off and approached the Fat Portrait warily.
"You?" she demanded in that damned shrill voice of hers. "I know you aren't one of the Gryffindors. You are one of those dirty little Slytherin boys. I am not allowing you entrance."
I looked at her. "With all due respect, if I know the password, you have to let me in. That's the way it works. And the password is Ice Lollies," I said to her calmly.
She turned up her nose and swung open with a huff. I thanked her sweetly and entered the familiar Common Room. There, on the sofa, were the two people I was desperate to see.
"Malfoy?" Granger sounded utterly bewildered to see me in her precious little Common Room. "How'd you know the password?" The last sentence was a demand as she closed her book and stood up to face me.
"The same way Harry knew the password into Slytherin's Common Room," I told her matter-of-factly. Well, it was a stupid question!
"What are you talking about, Malfoy?" Weasley growled, pointing his wand at me. Granger pulled hers out as well. I swear I felt thirteen again. Suddenly, Finnegan came waltzing down the stairs. Thank God.
"Seamus," I said quickly, in spite of being supposed enemies with him. "I can't find Harry."
He looked at me, then at Granger and Weasley, and finally back at me. "What do you mean you can't find him?" he finally asked.
"I mean, I've been searching for the better part of two hours, and he's not here. Not anywhere." I knew I must have sounded at least a little desperate.
"Alright, Dray, don't worry, we'll find him," Finnegan assured me, leading me up to his dorms. My foot had barely hit the first step when Weasley's obnoxious arse decided to say something.
"Seamus!" he exclaimed. "He's Malfoy! We hate him, remember?"
Finnegan looked back at him. "Ron, you hate him, not me." With that, he was leading me back into the dorm I had spent most of my holiday in. Everything looked the same. It felt nice to be back here.
"So how are we going to find him?" I asked, walking over to Harry's bed. I ran a gentle hand down the covers and inhaled deeply, as if he was right there, sleeping. I sighed, knowing that it wasn't possible.
"Draco," it was Finnegan. "Don't worry, mate. We'll find him, I promise."
"Will somebody explain what in the name of Merlin's saggy left-," Weasley was cut off by Granger. I hadn't even noticed them come up.
"Ron!" she hissed. "That's not funny!"
"Oh come off it 'Mione," Weasley snapped. "Anyway," he said, averting his eyes back to Finnegan and me, "Will someone tell me what is going on here?"
I glanced at Finnegan. He gave me a short nod. I inhaled deeply and told them all about me and Harry.
"I don't believe you!" Weasley yelled, backing into the wall with a disgusted look on his face. "That's just so, so sick!"
I rolled my eyes impatiently at him. "Don't you even start," I warned him. "Or I'll tell everyone in this damn room exactly why you didn't shag anyone over holiday, and Granger did."
"Wha? How-How do you know I-I…" Granger trailed off, turning a shocking shade of crimson.
"How do I know you got shagged?" I asked impatiently. "I'm good like that. Now will you two shut up and help? I need to find Harry!"
"First, explain something to me," Granger said, shaking her head. "Why wouldn't Harry tell us, or at least me?"
I rolled my eyes again. There really wasn't time for all of this. I couldn't possibly explain it to them, but deep down I knew there was something wrong and that Harry wasn't safe. I pointed at Weasley. "Maybe because he didn't want to have to deal with that."
Granger glared at him. "Ron, just come off it already! Everyone knows your gay, so you should stop pretending you're disgusted by it!"
"I'm not disgusted that Harry's gay," Weasley snapped, turning red, "I'm disgusted by who he's being gay with!"
"That's nonsense! You know you're just too damn proud to admit that you liked Blaise!"
"I never liked Blaise!"
"SHUT UP!" I hollered. How the hell did Harry ever accomplish anything with these two constantly fighting? "We need to focus on finding Harry, not you two's petty bickering!"
They both glared at me. Oh, fuck it. Fuck it all. "Who are you to tell us what to do?" Granger demanded, managing to draw her wand and have it at my throat in a matter of seconds. "How do we even know you're not lying?"
I rolled my eyes. Now I really felt thirteen again. Damn, she was so paranoid! "Two things," I told her calmly as she pressed her wand into my throat. "One, I am not a third year anymore, Granger, and I am not afraid of you. Kindly remove your wand, or I assure you I will remove it for you."
She decided to press her wand deeper into my throat. I sighed.
"Expelliaramus!" I shouted, sending her flying backwards. Weasley started rambling on about something or another, so I cast a silencing charm on him. He kept talking, apparently unaware of the fact that we couldn't hear him. "Now will somebody tell me how the hell I can find Harry?"
Granger stood up, brushing her bushy hair from her face. "Use the map," she told me flatly, obviously annoyed at having to help me.
I quirked an eyebrow. "What map?" I asked, actually interested.
"The Marauders' Map," she answered, walking up to Harry's bedside table. "It shows you where everyone in Hogwarts is." She rummaged around in the drawers until she pulled out an old piece of parchment. She mumbled something and touched the parchment with the tip of her wand. She handed me the 'map'.
I looked at it curiously. I could see four dots in the Gryffindor boys' dorms labeled Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Seamus Finnegan, and Ronald Weasley. I searched the paper for the tiny dot labeled 'Harry Potter', but it was nowhere on the map.
"He's not here," I told them. "At all. His little dot isn't on the map.
Hermione contemplated. "Hm, that means he's either off campus, which I highly doubt, or he's in the-," she cut herself off.
I looked back down at the map and scanned it for a place I hadn't seen the first time I looked. "Hey," I said, realizing it wasn't there. "Where's the Room of Requirement?"
Granger gasped. "Oh, it's not on there," she explained quickly. "I bet he's in there! Come on, let's go!" She started for the door.
"I think it'd be better if only I went," I told her gingerly.
"Why? If he's hurt he's far more likely to listen to me or Ron than you!" She sounded offended.
"Trust me, Hermione, he'll listen to Draco a lot faster than you or Ron," it was Finnegan. Oh, that lovely little bugger!
I shot him a quick smile before turning back to the girl standing at the door. She heaved a huge sigh and let me pass. I was shocked.
I made it to the bloody wall in a total of about five minutes. Pacing as fast as possible in front of the wall, it finally appeared. I lunged for the door, but quickly forced myself to calm down. I took a couple of deep breaths and opened it gently. Sitting inside, knees drawn to his chest, tears pouring out of his emerald barricades, was Harry.
I stepped closer and my breathing hitched. On his beautiful tanned arms were dozens of scratches and bleeding wounds (that I DIDN'T put there). Tears mixed with blood and I started crying just at the sight. Drawing closer still, barely making a sound, I saw some sort of sharp metal object lying on the floor next to Harry. It was covered in his blood.
"Harry," I whispered, sitting next to him. "Harry, what happened?"
He looked over at me. His emerald eyes clouded with tears, sadness, fury, and even confusion. "I can't live without you remembering," he told me softly.
"But I do remember. I remember the entire holiday. I remember waking up on Christmas and giving you that bottle of cologne. I remember holding you under the tree by the Lake as the fireworks went off. I remember kissing you under the mistletoe. I remember joking around with you in the mornings. I remember snuggling close to you at night, never wanting you to leave," My voice had gotten steadily quieter until it was barely a whisper. "And I remember loving you."
"Dray," he forced a smile. That damn broken smile. Why was he doing this? "It's not going to last. You'll relapse and everything will be gone again. I-I can't deal with that. I can't deal with you forgetting everything. I love you too much to be able to live without you."
I almost slapped him. He was scared of me leaving him? Who did he think I was? Just some one-night-stand that would just randomly ditch him when times got rough? "Harry," I whispered, leaning in close. "I'll never leave. I promise you that I'll never leave you again."
He smiled that broken smile, tears flowing down his face. He wrapped me in his arms tightly. I never wanted it to end. I never wanted to let him go. I never wanted to give him up. Not now. Not ever.
"Dray," he whispered to me, his voice cracking. "I love you."
I smiled and pulled him into a kiss. "I love you, too."
We sat in each other's arms for a while before Harry fell asleep. I smiled to myself and gently lifted him up so I was cradling him in my arms. I carried him back to his dorm and let him sleep soundly on his bed.
I couldn't bring myself to attend the rest of the day's classes, so I hid out in my dorm. Well, actually, I slept. I slept through just about everything.
OoOoO
"DRAY!" I jolted. Somebody was screaming my name directly into my damn ear! What the hell? I opened my eyes to see Blaise, Nott, Granger, Finnegan, and both Weasleys standing at the foot of my bed. But, no Harry.
"Where's Harry?" I murmured, my voice thick with sleep.
Granger collapsed onto Weasley's shoulder, sobbing loudly, the female Weasley was crying silently, Weasley was holding back tears, Finnegan looked as if he was praying through his tears, Blaise looked worried, confused, and apologetic all at once, and Nott looked concerned.
Something wasn't right.
"Where's Harry?" I asked again, this time louder, as I stood up. Nobody answered me. And everybody refused to meet my eyes. My heart started thundering against my ribcage. "WHERE IS HE?!" I screamed at them.
The girls and Weasley flinched.
"Dray," it was Blaise, his voice soft and soothing. "Harry's, Harry's," he seemed to choke on whatever he was trying to say.
"What is it?" I demanded, grabbing Blaise's shirt by his collar. "Where is he?"
"He's dead," Blaise whispered in a barely audible tone.
"NO!" I shouted, not believing them. "Where is he?"
"The Hospital Wing," Nott told me gently. I ran out of the room, tears flowing freely down my pale cheeks. I heard several portraits tell me to slow down, but I didn't listen. I sprinted to the Hospital Wing as fast as I could.
I slammed the door open and saw McGonagall, Snape, and Pomphrey standing over someone. They looked up at me, at first startled, then concerned.
McGonagall rushed over to me.
"You really don't need to see this," she cooed, latching on to my arm and holding me back.
"GET OFF OF ME!" I screamed at her through my tears, shaking her off of me and running over to Harry's motionless body before someone could stop me. I saw Snape moving in to grab me, so picked up Harry's wand and sent him flying backwards. Pomphrey ran over to help him and I cast a shield charm none of them could penetrate around the entire area Harry and I were in. They didn't see it and McGonagall ran face first into it. I would have laughed under any other circumstance, but as it was, I was far beyond laughter.
Kneeling beside his bed, I wept at the sight of his pale skin. His blue lips. I ran a hand gently down his cheek and was shocked at how cold he was. No. He couldn't be dead. He couldn't be! NO!
I wrapped him in my arms tightly, trying to somehow revive him. I had just talked to him a few hours ago! I would have known if he were dying! I traced his paling arms with one long, slender finger. The cuts. All of those bleeding cuts. He died of blood loss. And it was all my fault. I could have prevented this. Harry died because of me.
Me.
Harry's dead because I was too obsessed with myself to treat him. If I hadn't been so fucking blind, he'd still be alive. I squeezed my eyes shut and memories flooded back:
"Wake up, Dray," Harry said softly, gently shaking my shoulder. "It's Christmas." I looked up and saw him smiling down at me with his hand behind his back. I smiled and sat up, yawning and stretching my arms above my head. He pulled his arm out from behind his back and held a neatly wrapped box out to me. I took it with a smile and gave him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Wait a minute," I told him sleepily, walking over to my dresser. "Yours is here somewhere." After rummaging around for a bit, I finally found the small box I was looking for. I'd wrapped it as soon as I bought it, in beautiful crimson silk wrapping paper. I tied a soft golden ribbon around the box, forming a bow. I handed it to him and he smiled at me.
"The wrapping's beautiful, Dray," he told me with a grin. "Now let's hope the present is just as nice." We both laughed as we opened each other's gifts. I held up a small velvet box. Opening it up, I gasped. Inside were two rings. One was silver and the actual ring was two snakes coiled around a thin silver ring, coming together at the head. The eyes of the snakes were actually four tiny emeralds that shone vividly when the light hit it at just the right angle. On the inside of the ring, there was an inscription: To the man I've always and will always love until the day I die. I gripped the ring tightly in my hand, trying not to cry. I slipped it on my finger and took the other one out.
It was gold, and by its weight, I'd say pure gold. Two diamond-laced lions twisted their bodies round the ring, nestling their heads together at the top. There was no inscription, so I pulled my wand out and tapped the inside of the ring gently. I took his hand and slipped the ring on.
"Yes," I told him, smiling through my tears of joy. "Yes, I'll be with you forever. If you'll have me." He smiled and drew me into a kiss, those soft, beautiful lips connecting with mine and causing butterflies that had remained dormant for so many years spring to life and start flying wildly throughout my stomach.
The memory ended and I felt fresh tears falling down my cheeks. I grasped his hand lightly, removing the ring that was still there gingerly. I looked at the inscription again.
My fierce, beautiful Lion. You have filled the void within me and I'll never stop loving you. I will love you, even in death. I promise I'll love you forever.
I swallowed hard and gripped the ring tightly in my hand, as if doing so would somehow bring back my dead fiancée. I stood finally and removed the shield from the surrounding area. I walked out to the Lake, the cold stinging my eyes. I didn't care, though, and I continued walking. I finally reached the tree that Harry and I had spent Christmas night under.
I muttered a spell and a stone memorial popped up. I infused his ring and my ring into it so that nobody could remove the memorial or the rings, and weathering would have no effect on it. I touched the memorial with the tip of my wand and wrote a dedication on it.
I proceeded to point my wand directly at my heart, and with one quick flick, green light shot out of its tip. I crumpled, lifeless, to the cold earth, my eyes reading the memorial until a poor second year found me the next morning.
I, Draco Abraxas Malfoy, honor my vow to you, Harry James Potter. I promised to love you, even in death, and I intend to uphold that promise. This memorial was created so people would know the Harry I knew, instead of just thinking of you as 'The Boy Who Lived'.
The Harry I knew, the true Harry James Potter, was a fiercely loyal man with a heart as big as humanly possible. He loved me even after years of brutality on my part. He loved his friends even after being betrayed by so many others. He would never strike down an opponent in cold blood. He always allowed you to defend yourself.
He could cheer anyone up, no matter what mood they were in. He gave up a huge part of his life to save another, and it eventually caused his death. The tabloids have always berated him and demeaned him, and nothing they've ever written has been completely accurate, though the Quibbler was the closest. The Prophet will likely call his death a suicide that had been in the works for years.
It wasn't.
But how and why he died is of no business to you, and you should be grateful that this loyal friend, fierce lover, and spectacular person lived long enough to destroy the man who would have killed you all. Whatever your personal feelings toward him, it's of no consequence to me. I hope everyone who reads this takes it seriously because we all lost a wonderful man tonight. We'd been losing him for years, but we were too blind to notice.
My Lion. My fierce, loyal Lion. I promised to love you forever, and I do. I couldn't live knowing I'd never get to hold you, or kiss you, or even talk to you. I did this so that I would always be with you, as it was meant to be. If there is no afterlife, then I am still happy with my decision. I couldn't have lived without you anyway. I love you, Harry Potter. I always have, and I always will.
OoOoO
For years, the memorial remained and hordes of people, adults and children alike, came to view it. Tears were shed that would forever remained buried in the soil at the base of the memorial. People would stand there for hours, trying to decide if the memorial was real; if Harry had really died.
But Harry and I reside in a much better place now. A place where nobody judges us, and everyone loves each other. I made good on my promise. We are together, and we always will be. I don't care what people think of our relationship because I have all I need beside me every minute of every day.
I have my Lion.
