A/N: Thank you for amazing reviews! Here's another chapter for you. There won't be too many after this one as we are nearing the end. I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter

Harry watched as Draco slept peacefully his head leaning on Harry's right arm. He looked beautiful with his blond hair trailing his face and a content smile gracing his lips. After weeks of being together intimately Harry wished he could just tell the blond how he felt about him, but there was no point as he wouldn't live much longer and Draco most likely didn't feel the same about him. To Draco it was all just sex and Harry didn't want to risk his chance of being with Draco even only like this.

Harry trailed his hand gently down Draco's left arm, stroking the pale smooth skin till he reached the black tattoo on the forearm. All around it were scars like cuts. He frowned as he trailed his finger on them feeling the roughness of the scars that ruined the smoothness of the skin, having never noticed them before. Suddenly the arm disappeared from his hands and Harry sifted his gaze to Draco, who had finally awoken.

"You tried to get rid of it?" Harry asked quietly and Draco looked away from him as if ashamed.

After a moment silence he said:

"I didn't want to see His mark every time I looked at myself in the mirror. I wanted to forget."

"You shouldn't. The past should never be forgotten, but remembered so we don't make the same mistakes again." Harry said.

"I know my mistakes even without the mark." Draco snapped before continuing more calmly. "It just makes me feel like I will never be able to get rid of him. Even when he's dead his mark taints my body, my magic – my life."

Harry looked at him for a moment with understanding in his eyes before taking Draco's arm back into his hands. Again he stroked at the mark for a while before stopping the movement and just holding his hand on it, while Draco watched him with his grey eyes. Harry closed his eyes and felt the Dark magic that tainted Draco's arm. After a while he opened them again and waved his hand summoning a knife from the table and cutting his own hand before Draco even realized what he was doing.

"Potter!" Draco cried in alarm as he saw the blood, but Harry ignored him.

Harry pressed his bloodied hand over the mark and closed his eyes again before starting to hiss under his breath. Few minutes later he opened his eyes and took his hand away healing the wound and cleaning the blood off.

"It's gone!" Draco gasped staring at the now bare forearm. "How – how did you…?"

"Tom was always too arrogant." Harry said shaking his head. "The Mark only had a blood charm and Parsel-magic in it. He probably thought himself the only one who could erase it and he probably would've been too, had he not used my blood to bring himself back."

Draco looked at him for a second with tears in his eyes before kissing him deeply taking Harry by surprise.

"Thank you." Draco said and kissed him again, this time Harry responding.

"Mmmm…" He moaned as they battled for dominance. Harry pulled Draco onto his lap so that he was straddling him. "I think I should be rewarded for getting rid of your Mark." He said coyly as they broke apart to breath.

"Yes, I think you should." Draco smirked and proceeded to do just that.

The next morning nothing had changed. Draco was gone from his bed like always and the sweet moments they shared at night were to be forgotten. It had been their silent agreement from the beginning, but it didn't mean that Harry had stopped hoping that one day the blond man would stay and Harry would wake up comfortably cuddled in his arms.

Now especially, after last night's happenings Harry had hoped he would stay even if just for the gratitude Harry had seen in his eyes, but no luck with that – Harry woke up to a cold empty bed like always. He couldn't help but feel a bit hurt, though he couldn't really fault him for that – it wasn't part of the agreement after all.

Sighing Harry dragged himself out of the bed into the shower. For the next thirty minutes he tried to forget how good it felt to be in Draco's arms or hold him in his and how much his heart ached every time he woke up alone.

No such luck.

Trying to drown his feelings into the hot water didn't have any effect and after half an hour Harry just gave up, dried himself and got dressed. Ready for another day. A day that would drive him mad just like the others before it.

Harry was truly going mad without anything to do with his time. The kids came and went all the time, visiting their friends, Ginny was in a practice camp till the next week and Draco worked. So there was nothing to do. Harry would give anything to just have a case to concentrate on or hell, he would even volunteer to train the Auror trainees as long as it gave him something to do. Now he just wandered through the Manor and waited for his death for his illness was the one thing constant in his day, every day reminding him of it in one form or another.

But he was supposed to be on a vacation. Although he was sure Kingsley would be happy to have him back early, Harry had promised to Draco and Ginny that he wouldn't go to work anymore. In fact they insisted that he quit his job or at least take a leave of absence till he'd get better.

No one mentioned that it was very unlikely that he would.

So, Harry had promised he'd do it knowing that it wouldn't be sensible to go to a field when he could just collapse any time, but he still hadn't been able to hand in his resignation. He didn't want anyone else to know of his condition until it was necessary and well… maybe he did try to hold on to a tiny ray of hope that he would get better and could go back to work. Being an Auror had, after all, been his dream and he wasn't willing to let it go. At least not yet.

And now he would truly do anything to just be able to go to work.

Then a thought came to him.

'Why couldn't I go?' Harry thought. 'After all, no one in the Auror Department knows of my illness now that Ron too is on vacation. I could just tell Kingsley I decided to come to work earlier than planned. And if I don't go on any field missions I will be fine. Who cares what Draco says, I don't have to tell him, and Ginny's not even here. I just have to make up some excuse for not being in the Manor if someone asks.'

And with that in his mind Harry changed to his Auror robes and Flooed into the Minister's office.

At last he would have something to do.

For a full week Harry had been able go to work without any of the residents in the Manor knowing. The kids had asked him where he had been during the day when they'd been home, but Harry had just made vague excuses like taking a walk and they had accepted it without a question.

Like Harry had predicted Kingsley had been more than happy to have him back early from his vacation. He had spent the first few days catching up to his paperwork before taking on a group of trainees to train. There had been a few very potential candidates, but Harry had a feeling that he needed to work on their group-working skills as they seemed to mostly just concentrate on themselves and not on the people on their teams – being an Auror was, after all, mostly teamwork.

And that was what he now had on his mind as he stood in front of the trainee group who were slightly intimidated by his presence, no doubt having heard rumors of his slightly strict training style.

Harry was just explaining today's exercise to the group when an angry shout was heard from behind him:

"Potter!" The voice yelled and Harry turned around to see a livid Malfoy glaring at him.

Shit.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Malfoy." Harry said calmly. "My office." He pointed at the door that led to his office in the training center, before turning to the group who were looking at him with badly masked curiosity. "Do your basic workout and I don't want to hear even a whisper coming from any of you. Disobey and there will be consequences." He said before turning on his heel and walking to the office.

"What are you doing here Draco?" Harry asked knowing very well why the blond had come. What he didn't know though, was how he had found out.

"Like you don't know." Draco spat. "What the hell do you think you're doing, coming back to work?! Do you have a death wish, Potter? You know full well that it doesn't do any good to your condition, you're just making it worse!"

"Draco…" Harry started trying to reason with him. He couldn't just stay at home all day, doing nothing.

"Don't 'Draco' me, Potter. You could collapse any second while on a mission and put in danger yourself and everyone in your team…"

"I haven't been going on missions. I only-"

"You promised to me you'd talk to Kingsley and take a leave of absence." Draco shouted ignoring him. "You promised even the Weaslette. Do you even care about us, Potter? Ginny, the kids, me?"

Harry felt a tinge of guilt in his chest. Of course he cared. He just couldn't stay cooped up in the house all day… Suddenly Harry felt angry. How dare Malfoy claim that he didn't care about his children!

"Of course I care! How could you even…"

"Well, you have a funny way of showing it, Potter." Draco sneered at him. "I'm sure the kids would just love to hear how their father in his idiocy went back to work and got killed in a mission because he collapsed during a fight. You have a fucking Leukemia, Potter, you can't just go back to work like nothing's wrong!"

"I haven't been going on missions!" Harry cried in frustration. "Why do you even care anyway, Malfoy? You're the one that will be stuck with me for the rest of your life, if I for some miraculous reason don't die after all. You should be happy." Harry spat.

"What if I want to be stuck with your idiotic arse for the rest of my life?" Draco shot back angrily glaring at him till he realized what he had just said.

There was a few seconds' of shocked silence till Draco turned on his heels and stormed out of the office.

"Draco, wait…!" Harry yelled after him and tried to follow, but a wave of dizziness washed over him and he fell onto the floor. He spent the next ten minutes clutching his head and breathing hard till it passed and he was able to get up again. Harry stood shakily and looked at himself in the mirror that hung on his office wall. His glamour had fallen revealing the real toll that his sickness was taking on him. His face was pale and gaunt and he had black circles under his eyes. He was horribly thin and his pale skin was sweaty after the dizziness. Harry knew that he wouldn't be among the living much longer.

Recasting his glamour he exited the office and returned to the training area where his trainees were doing the exercise he had told them to. One glance at their too innocent faces and lack of sweat on their skin, told him that they had ignored his earlier order and most likely eavesdropped on his and Draco's conversation (shouting-match) through his silencing spells. After all his and Draco's marriage had been the hot topic in the Ministry since the article in the Prophet.

"Enough!" Harry yelled at them with a glare that Snape would have been proud of. The trainees stopped their exercise and stood in line in front of him, all avoiding his gaze. "Now, whose brilliant idea it was to eavesdrop on a private conversation?" He asked in a clam, cold voice letting his magic float around him.

The trainees stiffened feeling his anger through his magic and gulped. Everyone in the Auror department knew that Harry was one of the best and skilled Aurors and a brilliant trainer, who loved his job (he refused to stop training new Aurors even after being promoted to Head Auror). Everyone always hoped that they would get Harry as their trainer having heard that he was the best and while strict, the most approachable and always welcomed the input of the trainees themselves. However, Harry was also infamous of his temper and no-one was willing to cross him when he was mad at something.

"Well?" He growled.

The trainees flinched at the tone of his voice and one of the trainees' stuttered: "I-It was A-Anderson's idea."

"Anderson step forward!" Harry barked and the young, only nineteen-year-old boy complied. "You too Donovan." He added to the girl who had answered him.

"Now, what makes you think you have the right to listen to my private conversation?" Harry asked Anderson, who flinched.

"Nothing Sir, I'm sorry Sir."

"Then why do it?"

"I – well, we – we were just curious…" Anderson mumbled.

"Curious?" Harry asked through his gritted teeth, he really had no energy to deal with this today.

"Yes, Sir. There have been a lot of rumors about you and Malfoy, Sir."

"Potter-Malfoy." Harry corrected automatically. "And what do these rumors say?"

"I – well – that you have been drugged by Malfoy – sorry Sir – Potter-Malfoy and forced to marry him."

"And you believe that I as the Head of the Auror Department couldn't detect any drugs or compulsion spells or potions meant for me?"

Anderson turned red.

"I - S-Sorry Sir."

"Donovan!" Harry barked suddenly and the girl jumped. "You are Anderson's training partner, correct?" He asked knowing very well that was the case.

"Yes Sir."

"How would you define a partner?"

"I - well, Sir?" The girl stuttered.

"You don't know?" Harry asked and continued without giving her time to answer. "Well how about I tell you? Now listen! All of you. A partner is someone you work with on the field. A partner is someone in whose hands you will trust your life to. A partner is someone who will watch your back, who will save your life over and over again while you do the same for him/her. A partner is someone who will NEVER rat you out even when hit with a Cruciatus curse over and over and tortured into the brink of Death. A partner is someone who will die so that you can live." Harry said quietly, but his voice carried over to everyone.

"Now, Miss Donovan, do you consider yourself a good partner for Anderson here?"

"N-no Sir." The girl said quietly in brink of tears.

"Good, work on that. This goes to all of you." Harry said gazing at the other trainees. "If you think you can't do all those things for your partner, you will not be able to become a proper Auror. Being an Auror is about teamwork and being able to count on each other."

"Now onto your punishment." Harry said and the trainees grimaced, but didn't dare complain. "Ten laps on the running area and 50 push-ups and 50 sit ups. Anderson and Donovan: fifteen laps and 70 both push-ups and sit-ups. When you're done report to Auror Spinnet. Dismissed!" He said and the trainees hurried to the running areas.

Sighing Harry made his way to the Minister's office – it was time to keep his promise to Draco and quit his job. After all, there was no point in trying to hide his illness anymore as the whole training team had no doubt heard all about it.

Harry nodded to Kingsley's secretary before entering the office.

"Harry, what brings you here?" Kingsley asked looking up from his paperwork.

"Hi Kingsley." Harry greeted before sitting on the chair opposite the minister. "I have come to hand in my resignation."

"What?!" Kingsley asked shocked. "But why? You love your job."

"Yeah, well… Just something came up, so I won't be able to work anymore."

"What is it? I'm sure we can find some kind of solution…"

"I'm dying King." Harry said with a sigh. He had hoped to just resign without having to tell anyone about his illness personally – they'd find out about it through the rumors anyway – but it appeared Kingsley wouldn't let him go without a proper reason.

"What?"

"I've got Leukemia."

"But. It's treatable isn't it?"

"It would be, but since I'm me, I need some extremely rare tissue type, which can be found in very few people." Harry said attempting not to sound bitter.

"How long…?"

"Less than a year they told me when I was diagnosed." Harry said. "That was in March."

"In March? And you didn't say anything."

"There was no point as I was still able to work normally and then I was on a holiday in the summer." Harry shrugged.

"You don't seem very bothered about this." Kingsley observed slightly worried.

"I was ready to die when I was seventeen Kingsley. I did die. It's not so bad. Besides, I have people waiting for me there."

"And what about your family and friends here?"

"Of course I'm gonna miss them. It's not like I want to die, Kingsley. I'm just saying I have accepted that when my time comes it comes. And now I feel like it's gonna happen soon."

"Don't say that Harry. There's still time."

"Not much. And I very much doubt they will be able to find me a match in time."

"Of course they're gonna do it. You're Harry Potter. There is no impossible when it comes to you. If Voldemort couldn't kill you, I very much doubt that some Muggle disease can, which is why I refuse to accept your resignation and will just put you on a leave of absence. Then when you have conquered your illness we can welcome you back to your position. I'm not gonna give up my best Auror that easily, Harry."

"Thanks Kingsley." Harry said with a small sad smile.

"Now who are we going to put in your place during the time you're gone?"

"Alicia Spinnet." Harry said instantly.

"Auror Spinnet, yes, she would be a good choice." Kingsley mused looking at her file. "She was your partner at some point."

"Yeah. During the time when Ron was at home with the kids."

Kingsley nodded.

"Well that's decided then. Do you want to inform them yourself or shall I?"

"I'll do it. But I'd appreciate it if the reasons of my absence wouldn't get out." Harry said. "Or well, at least that you wouldn't confirm it just yet – there's bound to be rumors flying around as my training group eavesdropped on Draco yelling at me earlier today for coming back to work."

"Well he's right, you shouldn't have." Kingsley said. "But of course I won't confirm anything until you give the go ahead." He continued. "I really hope you get better soon, Harry." He said and Harry shook his hand.

"Thanks King. I'll see you if I see you."

"When, Harry, when." Kingsley said and Harry offered him a weak smile before exiting the door. Now he only had to inform his department.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you think!

- Dalnim