10. Never the Same Again

It's the summer holidays, and they have all graduated. The Weasleys are off to Romania, taking Hermione with them. Sirius and Remus had assumed that Harry would be sad, or lonely, so they had made loads of plans for the summer. But he actually seems to be upbeat and cheery. And yesterday he had told them that he is going over to Romania, on his own, to join his friends. Ron and Hermione had known about the lie, but Ron's family had known nothing about it. So when Remus had phoned them up, to ask them about the details, it had come to light that it was a lie. Harry had had to admit that he was secretly seeing someone, and that he was going away with them, that Ron was covering for him. He had been forgiven for lying, but he wasn't allowed to go away anymore. Mostly because he refused to tell who it was that he was going with. But luckily for him, Sirius has to go away for work a lot, and Remus has taken a summer job, as a summer school teacher. So Harry will have the house to himself a lot. Which means that Draco can come over quite often.

"So you're really not going to tell us?" Sirius asks, during breakfast.

"No," Harry says, and he quickly stuffs his mouth with a piece of toast.

"Can you at least tell us if we know them?" Remus asks, but Harry just shrugs. "I guess that's another no then."

"Exactly. It's private," Harry says, and he feels guilty, but he knows that he has to keep it a secret. Which in itself points into Draco's direction. Because his godfathers know that he had a thing for him in the past, so why shouldn't it be him now? And he would have to keep it a secret, with his father being the way he is.

"Okay, fair enough. But we will find out," Sirius laughs.

"No, you won't."

"So, who do you think it is?" Sirius asks, when he and his husband are in bed that night.

"Please tell me you are not gossiping about our godson's love life," Remus laughs, and Sirius shrugs, smirking.

"You cannot tell me that you are not curious about it. Or that you don't have a suspicion."

"I do," Remus admits, and Sirius raises an eyebrow. "But I am not telling you."

"Aren't you, now?" Sirius asks, and he starts kissing Remus' neck.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Remus laughs, as he carefully pushes his husband away, before he reaches the spot that will send him over the edge.

"I thought you would." Sirius smirks.

"I think it may be Draco. Why else would it be so important to him to keep it a secret?"

"That's what I was thinking as well," Sirius admits, now looking serious. "I am happy for Harry that he has found someone, but Lucius can be dangerous."

"Tell me about it," Remus says, thinking back about the time that he was beaten up by Lucius and his friends, a few years ago. Remus had given Draco extra homework, because he had missed half a year because he had been in France. Lucius hadn't been happy with it, so he and his friends had beaten up Remus. Of course going to the police would have been futile, because half of the men there are friends of Lucius.

"I just want him to be happy, and safe."

"Who knows, maybe it's someone else," Remus says. "Or maybe they will manage to keep it a secret until they can get away from Lucius."

"Let's hope so."

It's been two weeks, and Harry and Draco have secretly seen each other quite a few times. But not in a few days, because Lucius has been asking questions. So the two young men text each other all through the day, and that will have to do for now. It's now late in the evening, and Harry is watching a movie with his godfathers. He is sitting on the chair, while they are cuddled up on the sofa, together with Jimmy. But Harry cannot stop thinking about Draco. He hates to admit it, but he has really fallen in love with him. All of the sudden there's a knock on the door, and Harry jumps up. He goes over to see who it is, and when he opens the door, he finds Draco standing there, with a black eye, his shirt torn, and his eyes red from crying.

"Come in," Harry says, and after Draco has entered the house, he closes the door behind him. "What happened?" he asks, as he wraps his arms around his boyfriend.

"Who is it?" Sirius asks, but Harry ignores him. Draco is sobbing and shaking, so all he is focussing on, is on trying to calm him down.

"Draco?" Remus asks, when he and his husband come into the hallway. "What are you doing here?"

"He is hurt," Harry says, as he lets go of him.

"Follow me," Sirius says, and he leads them all to the kitchen, where he makes a cup of tea for all of them. Harry grabs a bag of peas out of the freezer, and gives them to Draco, to put on his eye.

"What happened to you, Draco?" Remus asks, when they are all sitting at the kitchen table, with a cup of tea, and the blonde teenager has stopped crying.

"My father, he knows," Draco says, and he looks up at Harry. "He knows, Harry."

"How?"

"He took my phone, and he saw our messages. I tried to take it from him, and I lied, but…"

"So it is you then?" Sirius asks. "Harry's secret boyfriend?"

"Yes," Harry admits. "I'm sorry."

"No," Sirius says. "That's not why I ask. We only want to understand the situation. Did your father hit you?"

"Yes. He doesn't want me to be gay, and I told him that I'm not. Not anymore. That I had a girlfriend, but… We got into a fight, and that's when he took my phone."

"Do you want to go to the police?" Remus asks, but Draco quickly shakes his head.

"They threw me out," he says, looking down at his cup of tea, and Harry quickly grabs his hand. Draco looks at him, and Harry flashes a supportive smile.

"You can stay here for as long as you need," Sirius says. "You'll have to share Harry's room, but I'm assuming that that won't be a problem," he says, and Draco flashes a small smile.

"Why are you so nice to me?" he asks. "I know what my father did to you," he says, looking at Remus.

"Well, that's in the past. There's no point in holding grudges, is there? Plus, that wasn't your fault."

"Thank you," Draco says, Harry still holding his hand.

"No problem. Just go and get cleaned up, and we'll talk about things in the morning," Remus says. Without having touched their tea, Draco and Harry get up.

"Thank you," Harry says, looking at his godfathers, before going upstairs with his boyfriend.

After Draco has taken a shower, he comes back to Harry's room. Harry is already in bed. He had heard his godfathers going to bed while Draco was in the shower, and normally there would be a silence in the house now. But Draco closes the door behind him, and sits down on the edge of the bed, only wearing a towel. There are bruises forming on his back, and Harry traces them with his fingers. Draco turns around, tears in his eyes.

"As soon as I've turned eighteen, we'll get our own place," Harry says, and Draco nods. "We'll be okay. I promise," he whispers, and Draco lies down beside him. Harry turns the light off, and Draco climbs under the covers, dropping the towel on the floor. He then lies down on his side, pushes himself up on his elbow, and brushes some of the hair out of Harry's face, staring straight into his eyes.

"I love you," he whispers, and Harry can feel his heart flutter. His skin is burning, his heart is racing, and he feels like he is floating.

"I love you too," he whispers, and Draco presses his lips down on his. The kisses becomes more passionate, and even though Remus and Sirius are in the room next door, they both know where this is going. Draco places himself on top of Harry, a leg on each side. He looks down at him, a sad, but loving smile on his face. He then grabs Harry's hands, and holds them down next to his head. He has always been the more dominant, controlling one, and Harry doesn't mind it one bit. Draco grinds his hips against Harry's, and quickly kisses him, hoping that their kisses will absorb their moans. Which they do, for the biggest part. Little do they know, that in the room next door, two men are trying really hard not to laugh when they hear the half-moans.

"I love you," Draco whispers, when Harry is cuddled up in his arms that night.

"I love you too," Harry whispers back, and he looks up and kisses Draco. He closes his eyes, and falls asleep, feeling safe, and feeling loved. That night he dreams about living with Draco, years later, about when they start their own family.

When Harry wakes up the next morning, he remembers that night, and what they had said to each other, and he gets a big smile on his face. But then he opens his eyes, and he finds an empty space in his bed, except for a note. He grabs it, and his eyes fill with tears when he reads it.

I'm sorry.

Nothing else. No explanation. No nothing. Harry feels sick, and he gets out of bed, quickly puts on some clothes, and runs down the stairs, hoping to find Draco. Maybe he had misunderstood the note. But when he gets into the kitchen, only Remus and Sirius are there.

"Where is he?" Harry asks, sounding panicked.

"Last time I heard, he was with you," Sirius sniggers, referring to what he and his husband had heard that night, and Remus nearly spits out his coffee.

"He's gone," Harry says, handing over the note to them, ignoring their comment.

"What?" Sirius asks. "Have you tried phoning him?"

"No," Harry says, and he grabs his phone from the table. He calls Draco, but it quickly goes to voicemail. "He's gone," he repeats. "I can feel it, in here," he says, putting a hand on his stomach. "He left me."

"Oh, Harry," Sirius says, and he quickly goes over to his godson, who is standing in the middle of the kitchen, tears now falling from his eyes. Jimmy starts to bark, because he can feel that something is wrong. Remus quickly picks him up, and goes over to Harry. He hands him the puppy, hoping that it will cheer him up, even in a small way. But it really doesn't, and Harry keeps crying. Because he had meant what he had said last night. He loved him.

It's been a couple of weeks, and it's almost Harry's eighteenth birthday. He refuses to celebrate it, simply because he is still feeling horrible because of what happened with Draco. He has tried to call him multiple times, but he can't get into contact with him anymore. It's as if he has disappeared from the earth. So he is trying to get over him. Luckily his friends are back, and they are helping him. Tonight they have come over to get a pizza and watch a movie, to distract him. Sirius has to go to a punk gig, to write a review.

"You, to a punk gig?" Harry asks, holding an ever-growing Jimmy in his arms, as his godfathers are putting on their shoes.

"Yes, what about it?" Remus asks. He isn't wearing his own clothes. He is wearing a pair of black jeans from Sirius, that are too short for him, and a t-shirt from some 70's punk band, which is also too short. Together with one of his own jackets. Strangely enough, he actually suits this look as well.

"It just seems odd, that's all."

"He always used to go with me," Sirius says. "But then he got old and boring."

"Did not."

"He did. But I managed to convince him to come with me tonight. So you and your friends have the house all to yourselves. So don't break anything."

"I could say the same to you," Harry laughs, and Sirius playfully hits him on the arm, before putting on his jacket. "Have fun, you two."

"Thanks, Harry." Remus smiles, looking genuinely excited. They leave the house, holding hands, and walk to the venue, which is only a few blocks away.

"I can't believe the kid is almost eighteen already," Sirius says, when they are almost there. "Remember when he came to live with us?"

"He was a boy. Now he's a man," Remus says, and his husband nods. "I think we did a pretty good job, and I'm sure James and Lily would think the same."

"Yeah, I think so too. He's a good kid."

At the gig, the two men had been jumping around, as if they were teenagers again, and they are still pumped up, full of adrenaline.

"I might come with you more often," Remus laughs, as they are walking back home. It's just after midnight, and there's hardly anyone on the street.

"Good," Sirius laughs, and he gives his husband a kiss. They continue walking, while talking and laughing about the gig, about how much they had enjoyed it. But then a group of five men come up to them. Remus immediately feels intimidated, and Sirius can feel his grip tighten.

"Do you know the time?" one of the men asks, and Sirius looks at his watch. That's when the man grabs a knife. "Give me your money."

"I'm sorry, but…," Remus tries, but another man punches him in the face. Two men grab him, and two others Sirius, and they grab their wallets, phones and watches. Remus and Sirius both don't fight it, knowing that there's no point anyway. But then one of the men punches Remus again, even though he is just standing there. Another joins him, and they push him to the ground and start kicking him, while one men is putting their belongings in a bag, the other two men holding Sirius back.

"You bastards," he yells, getting really furious at the fact that they are beating his husband up. The man who has their belongings, still has a knife in his hand, and he goes over to Remus, who is still being kicked. He kneels down, and orders the two men to stop. He takes his knife, and holds it close to Remus' neck, which makes Sirius snap. He breaks free, and pushes the man away, falling down to the floor. A struggle follows, and all of the sudden a sick, gurgling sound can be heard. The man quickly gets up, and he orders for his men to follow him, and they quickly run away. Remus manages to push himself up, and he crawls over to his husband. He feels something sticky on his hand, and looks down, only to find that he is crawling through blood. He looks at Sirius and sees a knife sticking out of his chest.

"Someone help!" Remus yells, and a light turns on in one of the houses. "Someone phone for an ambulance!"

"It's okay," Sirius whispers.

"No," Remus says, as he grabs his husband's hand.

"Tell Harry," Sirius says, but then he struggles to breathe. "that I love him… and that I'm proud of him."

"Sirius, don't you dare," Remus whispers, tears falling from his eyes.

"I love you," Sirius whispers, and Remus presses his lips down on his.

"I love you too," he then whispers. "But you're not going anywhere. Do you hear me?" he asks, and he looks up. He sees that people are now out of their houses. Someone must have phoned an ambulance, surely.

"It's okay. I'll be with you. I promise," Sirius whispers, and he closes his eyes. He head falls to the side, and Remus lets out a cry that breaks everyone's heart. It is full of pain. Because he cannot just have lost his husband. He needs him.