A/N: Beta'd by Raisinous Fiendling and dedicated to all who have supported this story.

Chapter Fourteen

To Everything There Is a Season

--

"Draco, honey, I'm home!" The laughter in Harry's voice rang through the house.

In the kitchen, Draco smiled to himself. He pulled a pie from the oven and called, "I'm in the kitchen, dear."

He listened for the footfalls to grow nearer. He felt the air rush out of his lungs as Harry came to stand behind him. Draco's eyes closed and he was glad he'd thought to set the pie down. He would surely have dropped it.

Harry inhaled him as though he'd been oxygen-deprived every day that he'd been away. "I missed you," they both said at once.

Draco turned and Harry caught his mouth in a kiss.

"God, how I've missed you," Harry said when they came up for air.

Draco nodded and pressed his forehead to Harry's. "How was the trip? Was India as lovely as you thought it would be?"

Harry sighed. "It was awful. After the war, when I agreed to work for the Ministry... I don't know what I was thinking. I mean, we've done all this great stuff with lowering crime and corruption and all that nonsense, but they keep sending me away from you."

Draco smiled and kissed him on the nose. "I made dinner."

"Smells delicious." Harry's arms encircled Draco's waist. He had put on weight since Harry had last seen him, which was sort of amazing considering Harry had only been gone ten days. Harry's arms stilled. "Draco..."

Draco tried to feign calmness. He had gone rigid and was desperately trying to force himself to relax. He had planned to make his announcement after dinner, but he knew he could not escape it now. "Did I forget to mention that I'm pregnant?"

--

Draco woke up on the floor, shivering. He was still in Voldemort's house. Ron was staring at him and he realized he must have been making quite a commotion.

"Malfoy... did you just say... You know what, never mind."

"What time is it?" Draco asked, not at all wanting to discuss whatever he may have said. He hadn't even meant to fall asleep. They didn't have time to sleep, they needed to think of a way out.

"Don't worry, you've only been asleep an hour. It's five past three." Ron looked tense and more frightened then he'd been earlier. "I don't even know how you managed it, I tried and couldn't even get my eyes to close."

Draco looked sheepish; he took out his wand. "Finite Incantatem," he cast, releasing Ron from the spell Voldemort had placed on him.

Ron laughed. "Thanks."

"Has anything happened?" Draco asked. Ron shook his head.

"I don't think we could hear if it did. There's a silencing spell around us."

Ron reached for Draco's wand, twirling it in between his fingers. Watching him, Draco felt like his hands were bereft and cold. He felt unexpectedly vulnerable without it. Yet, he couldn't ask for it, not with knowing that Ron had lost his own. Instead, he busied his hands with picking lint off his pants.

"Malfoy?" Ron called from across the room.

Draco looked up. "Oh, for the love of Rowena, you have got to be joking!"

Frustrated, Ron had begun throwing random spells at the room around them. None had worked until he tried a spell to make fire that Hermione had taught Harry and him in their fourth year. To both Draco's and his astonishment, it burned a hole through the wall.

Ron lifted his hand to widen the hole, but Draco stopped him. "What if..." Draco stopped himself. What if they could hear them?

Ron's eyes widened. He turned to stare at the door, they both did. They both stared and stared, but no one came. Their eyes met and Draco nodded to Ron. He shot another spell at the wall. It took mere seconds before the hole was big enough to crawl out of. Draco stuck his head out and looked around. It was too dark to make out where the ground was. He moved away and Ron took his place.

"Too dark," Ron said, pulling his head out. Draco had dreaded this. He didn't want to use a spell, not without knowing whether or not anyone was lurking around. Praying for dear life, he stuck his head and wand hand out once more. "Lumos." Just as soon as he'd lit his wand, he put it out. He saw enough to know they were at least three floors up.

"It's a straight drop," Draco whispered, "but this is our only chance."

Ron nodded. Neither boy moved.

"Look, I know a pretty strong cushioning charm. If that doesn't work, I also know some basic healing spells." This did very little to relieve Ron's worry. "It's the only chance we have," Draco added desperately. "We've got no choice."

Ron closed his eyes and nodded. "Cast the charm on me, and the ground outside, just in case." Draco nodded and performed the spell. It was hard to cast it on the ground outside because it was so dark. He just had to hope Ron made it.

Ron was halfway out of the hole when Draco stopped him. "Wait!"

"What?" Ron said, surprised.

"Cast it on me first, and once you land, recast it on the ground. Okay?" Ron nodded and quickly cast the spell. He went out the window finally and Draco poked his head out to make out the damage. He didn't so much as hear Ron's fall.

Draco closed his eyes and pictured Harry's face as he tumbled out of the hole. To his immense surprise and good fortune, the spell cushioned his fall nicely and he was able to get back on his feet with ease.

"Try to Apparate," Ron said. They both tried at once but were unsuccessful.

"We need to get further from the house," Draco whispered and they began to tread very carefully around to the front of the house. Draco spotted a light in the distance. One by one, the light illuminated ten cloaked figures. Draco grabbed Ron by the elbow and they began to run as hard and fast as they could.

"Please, please, please," Draco was begging in a heated whisper, "please let me live. Please let me live."

When they finally had to stop to catch their breaths, Draco realized that no one was chasing them.

"I saw a group of Death Eaters... they were coming toward us." An idea occurred to Draco. "You don't think that they really don't know we're gone? I mean, is it really that easy to escape?"

Ron shrugged. "Let's not bet on anything until we're about a hundred miles away, okay?"

Draco nodded. They walked another hundred paces before trying to Apparate. This time, they were successful. They landed in front of Grimmauld Place, which was swarming with cloaked figures.

It was Ron's turn to grab Draco, who stared on, dumbstruck. Ron Apparated them to the first place that came to mind. They appeared outside of the Leaky Cauldron. Not thinking this was particularly the best idea they could have come up with, but realizing it was probably good enough, they went inside.

Draco found a shadowed corner and waited for Ron to speak with the Tom, the barkeeper, and secure them a room and an owl. After a moment, Ron beckoned him over and they went up the stairs.

"Looks like we'll be sharing a room tonight. Got the bird so that we can send a letter to Harry and Hermione." Draco nodded, keeping his head down and doing his best to hide behind Ron's rather larger body.

They reached their room just as an elderly witch passed them. Draco pressed his face against Ron's shoulders. "Open the door, please. Hurry, please."

Ron nodded, opening the door and allowing Draco to push them inside. Once they were inside, Draco noticed that Ron looked surprised by Draco's behavior.

"I forgot you were a wanted man," Ron said, sitting on the lone bed in the room.

Draco took a deep breath. "I hadn't."

They stared blankly at the wall for a long time, gathering their thoughts. Draco tried to catch up with everything they'd gone through, yet all he could think of was the dream he'd had. He couldn't shake the feeling of happiness and it hurt so much when he thought of his real relationship with Harry.

Suddenly, Ron began to smile stupidly at Draco.

"What is it, Weasley?" Draco asked, annoyed with the superior smirk on Ron's face.

"You'll get your chance now."

Draco looked incredulously back at him. "What?"

"With Harry! You'll get to shag him."

Draco made a disgruntled noise. "He'll have to apologize first. He didn't even come rescue us!"

Ron laughed. "What'd you guys fight about anyway?"

"I wasn't arguing with him. I merely mentioned that I wanted to stay at Grimmauld Place with my mother," Draco simplified in an airy manner.

"And so you left?" Ron asked, amused.

"Yeah." Draco truly did realize how stupid he must sound, but it was too late.

"And so you're angry with him because he didn't want you to go to Headquarters?"

"Yes, that's part of it," Draco continued in a light voice.

"What's the other part?" Ron asked, pulling his shirt over his head.

Draco sighed, his resolve dwindling. "He doesn't even talk to me anymore."

Ron gave him that superior smirk again. "Because he wants to shag you. I told you. When Hermione told him not to, it only made him want to more."

"So he's just going to ignore me and drive me bloody crazy?" Draco asked sullenly.

"Harry's my mate," Ron said, still smiling, "but when it comes to relationships, he doesn't know his ass from his forehead. We have that in common, you see."

"Things not going well with Granger?" Draco asked, not really wanting to know.

Ron sighed. "She's just so intense when it comes to Harry and to... what we're trying to do, and it's hard to date that."

"I can fix part of your problem. I can tell you that from on, Granger is staying out of our relationship." Draco was resolved; it was time to take control of his life.

Draco pulled off his shirt and toed off his shoes. Ron looked between the bed and Draco.

"I'm taken, thanks, Weasley. Very uninterested, anyway. You keep to your end, I keep to mine, and we'll be fine."

Ron laughed and toed off his shoes. "You'll send an owl to Harry and Hermione?"

Draco yawned and nodded. "Sure." He looked longingly at the bed, but shook his head and sat at the small writing desk to pen a short note to Harry.

Ron and I are at the Leaky Cauldron. Please come quickly.

Love,

Draco

Draco folded the brief note and tied it to the owl's leg. He carried the bird to the window and watched as it soared away.

Ron was fast asleep when Draco finally was able to pull back the blankets. He sighed deeply and turned in. He'd see Harry soon and they would work through whatever problems they might have. After all, they were meant to be.

Hours later, in what had to be the late afternoon, Draco awoke to frantic knocking on the door. Ron was still fast asleep beside him. Draco felt as though the Knight Bus had hit him as he gingerly got to his feet. He longed for more rest but the knocking refused to cease.

"What?" He demanded as he pulled the door open. To his surprise, Hermione stood there alone. She looked frantic.

"Oh, Draco. You're all right. And Ron... is he?" Draco pointed in the direction of the bed. Hermione began to weep as she caught sight of the peacefully sleeping redhead.

"Where's Harry?" Draco asked urgently.

She turned her teary eyes towards him and began to shake. "He's at Headquarters. He... he's talking to the Order."

"What happened to you?" Draco asked, concerned.

"We..." but she couldn't manage to finish. Instead, she sat down on the bed and began to sob. Ron woke up almost immediately.

"Hermione?" he called, reaching out blindly.

They proceeded to act out a scene from one of those awful Muggle movies Draco did not watch on Sunday mornings where women sit around crying in relief. There was definitely more crying than he really cared for. Granger howled in a most undignified manner. Draco tactfully chose to explore the bathroom for fifteen minutes while the pair composed themselves.

When he returned, Ron and Hermione were locked in a heated embrace.

"Um... Granger, can we go? I really need to see Harry," Draco admitted, surprised at the truthfulness behind his words.

She broke away and nodded. "Yes. But there's something I need to tell you... we, Harry and I, we found a Horcrux. We found the cup -- Hufflepuff's Cup. It was at the Riddle House. Snape helped us. It's very difficult to explain how it happened, but we just... Anyway, Harry thinks you'll hate him now, because we didn't go after the two of you. And he thinks... But, that's why he wouldn't come here. He's scared and I... you saved Ron and I can't... I don't know."

Draco didn't understand the moistness under his eyes that appeared after she had finished her speech. He didn't understand the lightness in his heart. He felt completely unbalanced.

"I was wrong," Hermione admitted finally. "You deserve him."

Draco didn't know what to say, so he said nothing. They gathered their things and left Diagon Alley.

"Wait," Draco said suddenly, grabbing Hermione's wrist to stop her from Apparating. "What about the Death Eaters, can they trace us?"

"Uh, I doubt they're going to care right now. We sort of burned down the Riddle House. Voldemort...he won't be pleased."

Draco nodded. He knew he should be asking for details, but he was too busy thinking about Harry and what he was supposed to do now.

Hermione grabbed onto Ron's hand and the three of them Apparated. When they arrived at Grimmauld Place, they found it completely devoid of Death Eaters. That was not to say that there was peace and tranquility; in fact, the entire place was in chaos. Hermione had Harry's cloak with her, but for once Draco felt that he could have gone without it. There were Order members they had never seen before, Ministry officials that Draco recognized from his father's dinners and many, many Weasleys. There was excitement, almost as if Harry had vanquished the Dark Lord, rather than fought a few Death Eaters and stole a Horcrux.

"It's because of Harry," Hermione said smartly. "They want to hear him talk and they know something happened yesterday."

"Was it in the Prophet?" Ron asked and Hermione nodded.

"A few Death Eaters were brought in last night, and everyone knows Harry was there and it's just... a good morale booster."

Ron raised an eyebrow at this but said nothing. Draco wandered into the drawing room, which seemed to be the ideal place for holding a meeting of this size. Witches and wizards buzzed around talking excitedly and looking at Harry, who stood in the middle of the room, like he was their messiah.

Draco moved to take Harry's side but stopped himself. What was he supposed to say? He saw that Harry was scanning the room, especially once Hermione and Ron entered. Harry went over to them straight away and embraced Ron tightly. He glanced around them, moving around so as to see if he would bump into something invisible. Draco watched from the other end of the room for a while, before carefully making his way out the door and up the stairs to visit his mother.

He opened the door quietly in case she was asleep but when he turned around, she was sitting up in bed watching him. She smiled serenely and he moved to her bedside.

"Draco, dear, I'm so glad you've come." Her smile did not reach her eyes in the way that it used to when she was pleased. Her eyes had dulled with age and illness, but Draco did his best to ignore it. He took his usual seat beside her bed.

He watched her and tried not to think of Harry. "How are you, mother?"

She tilted her head to the side, towards him. "I am not getting better, son. I think maybe it is time for us to discuss what shall happen when I'm gone."

With all he had gone through in one day, Draco could not take this. He turned away from his mother, his eyes welling with tears. "You'll be fine, Hermione will find the cure for this."

His mother's smile widened. "I dare say she would, but I am tired, Draco. I cannot fight any longer."

He turned towards her, not caring that she could see the tears streaming down his face. "But I need you!"

She reached for, and he gave her, his hand. "My dear, I will be with you always. You have Harry, he will take care of you."

He looked up at her, surprised.

"Oh, my poor dear," she laughed lightly, "in this house of my ancestors, you did not think I would know? I know it all, Draco, and I don't care. It is to Harry that I owe both our lives. I don't think there is anyone in Britain more worthy of you."

He wiped furiously at his tears, but they continued. "I wanted to tell you, I just... I couldn't. But I need..." He found himself unable to finish, the words were stuck in his throat. "You cannot leave me," he said finally, brokenly.

She smiled sadly at him and brought his cold hand to her warm lips. "I have never been more proud of you, Draco. You are now the man I knew you could become. You are not your father, and I want you to never forget that. Never forget that you are not the choices others made for you. You are still a member of the most noblest of houses." She stopped; she clutched her side and took a deep breath.

"I am running out of time, Draco. I want you to promise me, promise me that when this war is over, when Harry has defeated the Dark Lord, you will not forget who you are. You should never forget your ancestors. The Dark Lord may be wrong, Draco, but our ways... the life we lead, is not wrong. Do not let others think that it is." Her voice was strong and her grip on his hand fierce.

"I won't forget," Draco promised and kissed her hand.

"If you should choose to have children, and you should happen to have a boy, give him the Malfoy name. Raise him to be true and proud of who he is and always tell him that you love him. Never let him think, not for one moment, that you don't care. Be the father that your father never was and..." she stopped to pat Draco's hand and smile at him once more, "and the mother that I never was."

Draco immediately objected. "Oh, no, mother you were..."

"I was what, Draco? I was so cold and aloft that you could not trust me. I knew what you were, I knew who you were meant to be. I convinced myself that if I never told you, you would never find out. I knew you would go to the Dark Lord. I knew you'd be placed in a situation where you'd have to choose between love and duty. I shouldn't have allowed it."

He moved over to the bed, to sit beside her and stroke her hair. "You were a good mother. You have nothing to be sorry about. I was headstrong, I knew what I was, too, and I fought it. I won't ever blame you for anything that happened, just please stay with me."

She smiled her sad partial smile at him and Draco knew she would not stay. He lay down in the bed beside her and stroked her blonde hair. She closed her eyes, but he continued to watch her until the rising and falling of her chest had stopped.

It was there, about an hour later, that Harry found him.

"Draco?" he called softly from the door. Draco did not look up. He was not ready for Harry or for any part of the world to come in and take away his time with his mother. She was dead, and he was not in any sort of denial about it, but he was not anywhere near ready to deal with it.

Harry must have realized that Narcissa had died because he came in and took a seat in Draco's chair. He sat there silently as Draco continued to stroke his dead mother's hair.