…hi.
Long time, no see. Sorry about that. Life happened. Since I started this story in August 2012 (holy shit) I have moved three times, started a new school, done my GCSEs, and adopted two sisters and a cat. So, I'm sorry to pull a disappearing act on you, but I've been busy. But, I've decided that I want to pursue writing as a career, so I thought the best way to practise, would be to actually finish things! I don't know how much fanfic I'll be writing from here on in, as I'd like to focus more on original works. But I may write the odd thing here and there when the mood takes me.
In other news…I finally made myself an actual Tumblr! If you're interested in following me (I'm very likely to respond to anything as I'm desperately lonely) my URL is youlowerthe-i-qofthewholestreet and I post lots of different things; Harry Potter, Sherlock (as the URL suggests), Marvel, Doctor Who and others. Feel free to pop over and have a look.
If you're interested in more of my writing, I'm also planning to start a writing blog. I've created it, and when I've got a bit more time (half term is coming up) I will be posting original content on there. The blog address is escapetofiction (. )
So, without further ado, here is the long promised epilogue. I hope it was worth the wait. I don't know about you, but I like optimism in my escapism. Enjoy your sugary, happy ending.
After eventually saying goodbye to Harry, Draco walked back to the Slytherin common room, trying not to grin like a loon and failing somewhat miserably. He entered the common room and spotted Blaise and Pansy sitting together, obviously waiting for him to return. Draco schooled his features into a neutral expression. Pansy spotted him first.
"Draco!" she exclaimed, making Blaise jump.
"Hello," Draco replied, planting himself in the armchair next to them. He yawned and gave a leisurely stretch as his friends looked at him expectantly. The urge to smile was becoming almost unbearable.
"Well?" Pansy prompted.
"Well, what?" Draco replied, innocently.
Blaise rolled his eyes. "Did Harry find you or not?"
With the mention of Harry's name, Draco couldn't take it anymore. A smile burst onto his face.
"Yes," he said, "Yes, he did."
"And you're together now, I presume?" Blaise asked, wanting to clarify, he had, after all, put a lot of effort into this endeavour.
Pansy rolled her eyes. "For Merlin's sake, Blaise, look at him!" she gestured wildly towards Draco, "His hair is a mess and there's grass in it!"
Draco immediately reached a hand to his head in alarm, wondering why he hadn't been aware of this. He was halted by Pansy flinging herself at him and enveloping him in a fierce hug.
"I'm so happy for you," she gushed.
"Thank you, but you're also crushing me right now."
Pansy released him, and pulled away beaming. Blaise was busy filling three glasses with Firewhiskey (Merlin knows where he got them from) He passed a glass each to Draco and Pansy before raising his own.
"To the start of a new era," he said.
"To new beginnings," Draco added, raising his glass.
"To Drarry!" Pansy chimed in, clinking her glass against the others.
Draco raised an eyebrow at her. She shrugged in return.
"I ship you, what can I say?"
Before Draco could enter a new line of questioning, Blaise interjected.
"Cheers!"
…
Harry crawled through the portrait hole to find Ron, Hermione and Ginny huddled together deep in conversation. They spotted him and they sat up straight in anticipation. Harry took a moment to make himself comfortable, enjoying the suspense.
"So," he said casually, "I'm dating Draco now."
"That's great, mate!" Ron exclaimed, while Hermione let out what appeared to be a sigh of relief, and Ginny whooped.
"Thank you," Harry said, not quite able to stop himself from grinning.
"Wow," Ron said, "I can't quite believe this is happening. Harry Potter is going out with Draco Malfoy. I would love to go back in time and tell your younger selves."
"If only Hermione still had her Time Turner," Ginny added.
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Not only would going back that far be incredibly dangerous, but I think that I've done quite enough meddling in Harry and Draco's lives for the time being."
"I'm glad you meddled," Harry told her, as she still looked vaguely worried. His words did not change her expression, so he asked; "What's wrong?"
"I don't want to spoil your moment, you've only just gotten together," she said, looking uneasy.
"Just say it," Harry said, "Whatever it is it's going to be sensible, knowing you."
"Ok," Hermione said, taking a deep breath before continuing, "While I am so happy for the two of you, and couldn't be more pleased that this has all worked out, I can't help but wonder if you've thought everything through. Like it or not, you're both public figures, and you can't disappear entirely. Sooner or later, everyone will find out about the two of you, and you need to be ready. So, I'm wondering how the best way to go about things would be, and I think; although it's completely ridiculous that you have to keep people in the loop about your personal life, the best thing to do would be to release a press statement."
Harry paused for a moment, contemplating. "It's not the world's worst idea. I'll talk to Draco tomorrow."
…
The next afternoon, Harry and Draco had peeled away from the rest of the group (which was probably for the best, Ginny had already complained many times about their supposed 'new couple stink,' which apparently consisted of their many shared glances, varying between sickeningly sweet and incredibly heated. Harry wasn't sure how this constituted a stink, but he wasn't complaining about spending time alone with his new boyfriend) and were sitting in what had swiftly become their spot; sitting under a tree, overlooking the Black Lake.
Draco was laying on his front, reading a Potions textbook (it was for extra credit, and when Harry had looked over his shoulder, he hadn't understood one jot of it) while Harry sat near him, his back resting on the trunk of the tree. Harry had a book on his lap, but was completely disregarding it, instead wondering how to posit the question of coming out to Draco.
He opted for; "Hermione thinks we should release a press statement."
Draco lifted his head from his book. "So that's what you've been so edgy about," he closed his book and slowly rolled into a sitting position. "I've been wondering when you'd actually say something."
"So, what do you think?" Harry asked, chewing on his lip.
"Well," said Draco, "I'm not entirely crazy about the idea that our relationship has to be announced to the world as soon as we decided to get our act together, but I suppose that it's a preferable option to letting the rumour mill run."
Harry sighed with relief. "That's what I thought. I just wanted to check with you before I did anything about it."
Draco looked at him fondly. "You're already so well trained. This could really work, you know, Potter."
"Even though you still like to call me by my last name?"
"You love it."
Harry rolled his eyes, and went back to his book.
…...
A few months later
"I still can't believe that they're making me do a speech," Harry grumbled, scowling into the mirror of the Gryffindor common room.
"Why wouldn't they ask you?" Draco said, appearing beside him in the mirror. "You're Harry Potter. Saviour of the Wizarding World, Vanquisher of the Dark Lord. Not to mention that you're pretty much the poster boy for Interhouse Unity now that you're dating me. To be perfectly honest, it's a wonder they're not paying you."
"Paying me to speak at my own Leaving Ceremony, can you imagine?"
Draco laughed. "Harry Potter, so desperate for money, he'll charge to make a short speech at his own graduation. The newspapers will have a field day."
"More than they did when we came out?"
Draco laughed again. "Not possible. The world, his wife and their pet Kneazle seemed to be coming up with as many variations of Potter Beds Death Eater! as they could possibly manage."
"Beds?" Harry exclaimed, "Who on earth says that?"
"I was exaggerating for comic effect, obviously," Draco huffed, "Now come here; your hair is an absolute state."
Harry allowed Draco to attempt to recreate the look that he had perfected in the two months that they had swapped bodies. It seemed a long time ago, and the time that they weren't together seemed almost an age away. The past few weeks after they had released a quiet press statement had been difficult, with seemingly everyone wanting to weigh in on their relationship. The well-wishers hadn't been a problem, quite the contrary, they'd been quite reassuring. But the critics had been brutal, accusing Draco of all kinds of things and generally being awful to him. Harry and Hermione took it upon themselves (with a little help from Kingsley Shacklebolt, the new Minister for Magic, which Draco had found incredibly amusing) to get all of the journalists printing such things (including Rita Skeeter, to their immense satisfaction) fired for slander. There wasn't much they could do about the anonymous hate, but over time it died down, and they took steps to make sure that it never actually physically got to them.
As terrible as this all was, it wasn't the worst part. That was Draco's father. Draco had written to his mother, before they released a press statement, and she had taken the news rather well, having met with Harry a few times after the War, and exchanging a few letters here and there about her great-nephew, Teddy. Narcissa had promised to help, but told Draco that he was going to have to actually tell Lucius himself. So, a meeting had been arranged and Draco and Harry broke the news as gently as possible. Lucius had begun to rant and rave about preserving the Malfoy line and the sanctity of marriage until Draco had gotten so aggravated that he wound up shouting at his father that 'he was in love for Merlin's sake, and there is nothing that you can say and nothing you can do to change that!' Harry had dropped his teacup in shock, this being the first time that Draco had told him that he loved him. Draco himself had seemed a little shocked at the revelation, and so Narcissa whisked Lucius away, and after a while he had come back and grudgingly given his blessing, so it wasn't an entirely awful day, despite the fact that Lucius, while accepting, wasn't all that pleased. Harry was just happy that the worst was over.
"I'm glad we got through it all," Harry said, smiling at Draco's reflection.
Draco returned the smile. "Me too." He paused before a little shyly adding, "I love you."
"I love you too," Harry replied, leaning in to kiss him, and threading his hands through Draco's immaculately groomed hair, and chuckling at his small noise of protest.
The sound of someone clearing their throat caused them to break apart. Hermione, dressed in her robes stood in front of them.
"It's time," she said, looking a little teary.
Draco took a step away from Harry. "I'll see you after the ceremony," he said, "I'm sure your speech will be great. If not, I'll be the one in the front row laughing at you."
Harry frowned at him and deadpanned; "Thanks ever so, my wonderful and supportive boyfriend."
Draco grinned. "Not at all, my terribly crap public speaker darling."
With that, he gave Harry once last quick kiss, and ducked out of the room.
Hermione sniffed; her eyes now full of tears. Harry hugged her.
"I can't believe we're leaving Hogwarts," she sobbed, "It's the end of an era."
"I prefer to think of it as the start of a new chapter," said Harry, "I'm leaving the first home I've ever known," (Hermione sobbed a little harder at this) "But I'm ready to move on from all that shit in my past, Merlin knows there was a lot, and be happy. Draco and I are moving in to Grimmauld Place together, I'm starting Auror Training in a few weeks, I've got everything that I need."
Hermione laughed, and wiped away a few tears. "And you say that your speech is going to be terrible."
Harry's speech was a little bit terrible. Considering he had to follow Hermione's speech, which was as insightful and inspirational as you'd expect for the student graduating at the top of her year. Harry had gotten up on stage and realised that he'd forgotten his notecards and had to think quickly on his feet. But it was alright, he saw Hermione standing at the side of the stage, smiling at him. In the front row, Ron and Ginny were beaming and Blaise and Pansy were looking less bored than usual. Draco was smirking at him while he rummaged frantically for his note cards. But Harry composed himself, and spoke from the heart. He spoke about how Hogwarts was his home, he spoke about the people he lost, and, looking into Draco's eyes, he spoke about what he had found. By the end, Hermione was crying again, but she definitely wasn't the only one. Blaise would deny his tears until the day he died. So at the end of that day, Harry Potter left Hogwarts for good.
…
Christmas, one year later
"I cannot believe that you dragged me to the bloody Burrow," Draco said, "We're adults now, shouldn't we be spending Christmas at our own house?"
"We've got plenty of Christmases for that," Harry replied, "I say that you haven't truly experienced Christmas until you've spent it at the Burrow."
"Quite right, Harry dear," Mrs Weasley said, breezing past with a tray of mince pies.
"Besides, who doesn't want to spend Christmas with family?" Harry reasoned, before taking a sip of eggnog.
"I'm sure we'd manage to keep ourselves occupied, just the two of us," Draco purred, causing Harry to choke on his eggnog. He composed himself.
"We've still got Boxing Day," Harry said innocently.
"No-one needs to be hearing about that," Ginny groaned, from where she was lounging on the carpet.
"Like you and Blaise were any better," Harry pointed out.
Ginny rolled her eyes, and was about to say something in response when-
"Oh my goodness, Ron!"
Everyone turned to see that Hermione seemed to be in shock as Ron got down on one knee in front of her.
"Hermione," he began.
"Yes."
"I hadn't even asked yet!" Ron protested, as Hermione flung herself at him.
"You don't need to," she said, kissing his forehead, "My answer is yes."
They spent the rest of the day celebrating while Mrs Weasley kick-started into wedding overdrive. Harry had never seen Ron or Hermione look so happy. It was a very merry Christmas (and Boxing Day wasn't bad either.)
…
The next year
Harry thought about the moments that had lead up to this moment.
"I'm panicking, Harry!" Ron was pacing frantically through the hotel room. "Am I rushing into this? I love Hermione, really I do, but am I holding her back? Am I too young to be getting married, we haven't even properly bought our own house yet, we're only renting…"
Harry grabbed hold of his shoulders. "Ron. Calm down. Answer me this. Do you want to marry Hermione?"
"Yes, but-"
"Do you want to marry Hermione?"
"Yes."
"Do you love Hermione?"
"More than anything else in the world."
"And she loves you, doesn't she?"
"I think so."
Harry shot him a look.
"Yes, she does," Ron corrected.
"Then why should anything else matter?"
Ron paused for a moment, and nodded. "You're right."
Harry smiled. "I know."
Ron thumped him on the arm. "You and Draco sound more and more alike every day."
"Yes we do. Now come on Weasley, let's go and get you married," Harry teased, impersonating Draco's voice.
Ron shuddered. "That was uncanny. Never do it again."
Crisis averted, Harry stood at the end of the aisle, and watched as Ron and Hermione, his best friends in the world, got married. The church was full of smiling faces. The Weasleys were there, along with Hermione's parents. Some old friends were there; Neville, Luna, Seamus, Dean. Pansy and Blaise (who Ginny had recently gotten back together with) were sitting with Draco. Harry couldn't stop looking at him; the sun was shining on him through the church window, setting his features aglow. He saw Harry looking at him and smiled. Harry looked away, his heart was beating wildly, and his stomach was suddenly twisting with a sort of anticipation. Ginny, from where she stood opposite him on Hermione's side gave him a knowing sort of look.
The rest of the evening was spent dancing and drinking and celebrating Ron and Hermione's marriage. When Ron and Hermione had their first dance, Harry got the same strange feeling again. Having been tugged onto the dancefloor by Draco, he was struck by the memory of the first time they had danced together. Draco was resting his head on his shoulder in the same way. The feeling was stronger than ever, and Harry figured now was as good a time as ever. They were in a quiet enough space to not make a scene. Harry took a deep breath. It had all lead to this.
"Draco, will you marry me?"
Draco looked up in surprise and smiled.
"Yes."
…
Platform Nine and Three Quarters, 2017
Harry stood hand in hand with Draco as he watched his oldest son James lead his two youngest sons, Albus and Scorpius onto the Hogwarts Express. His daughter Lily held his other hand, not yet old enough to go to Hogwarts. Ron and Hermione could be seen sending Rose off further down the platform.
"Three down, one to go," Draco said as the train began to pull away from the station.
"Don't try and sound pleased, you big liar," Harry said, "You're going to miss them terribly and you know it."
"The house will definitely be quieter without the terrible twins," Draco conceded.
"I'm sure Lily will make enough noise to make up for it," Harry said, lifting his daughter onto his shoulders while she giggled with delight.
"What about when she leaves?" Draco pointed out, suddenly looking incredibly put out. "The house will be empty!"
"I think four children is enough, don't you?" Harry replied, "Ginny did us a big favour being a surrogate, I think asking for a fifth child is pushing it a bit."
"Luna carried Lily," Draco said in a small voice.
"But she's married now, and wants her own children," Harry reasoned. "Our four is fine, Draco, and they'll write to us soon, you know they will."
"I know they will," Draco said. "I just can't believe that we're getting so old."
Harry laughed. "I know," he teased, "Just look at your hair, it's getting grey."
"What?" Draco squawked, his hand flying to his head.
Harry couldn't help but laugh at his husband again. Some things never changed.
"I'm joking," said Harry, "Your hair is still as perfect, shiny and lustrous as it has always been."
"You'd better believe it, Potter," said Draco, smoothing his hair once more for good measure.
"I'm sure you won't let me forget it, Malfoy," Harry shot back.
Some things definitely never changed. But other things did, and mostly for the best. Harry couldn't have been happier with the way his life worked out. All in his life was very much well.
