Chapter 29: Sucker Punches and Mending Fences


Harry floated aimlessly in a cocoon of warm darkness. Somehow, he thought he couldn't possibly be dead, but if he was, it was certainly nice and fuzzy. Like a favorite blanket during a cold winter night, sitting by a crackling fireplace with a cup of tea while a snowstorm rages outside.

Then the low buzz of whispering voices signaled the moment of him waking up. Harry recognized the very familiar feel of a hospital wing bed, assumingly in Hogwarts, as the whispering cleared into coherent words.

"Shouldn't he be waking up by now? Madam Pomfrey said he should be fine! I KNEW Mother should have gone to St. Mungo's and got our family mediwitch-"

"Malfoy, will you PLEASE shut your bloody mouth!"

Harry blinked open his sleep heavy eyes to see Draco and Ron facing each other angrily at the foot of his bed. Hermione was sitting in a chair to one side with a look of long suffering irritation, implying that the two had been arguing for quite some time and she had finally given up on calming them down.

Harry sat up slowly, effectively ending the heated debate. "How long have I been out?"

Draco's face momentarily lit up with relief before he scowled furiously and Harry was knocked back flat on his pillow by a well placed right hook to his jaw.

"What the bloody FUCK where you thinking, casting the Cruciatus Curse on my mother and Severus-"

"-MALFOY-"

"-and then THROWING yourself in front of that Avada Kedavra! What would I have done with myself if you had DIED?!"

Before Harry had even gotten over the shock of Draco sucker punching him, his rampaging boyfriend had dropped onto the bed and was smothering his now aching face with kisses.

"You stupid, bloody Gryffindor wanker."

Harry burst out laughing, made worse by the scandalous expressions from Ron and Hermione. "Do you feel better now?" he asked, touching his throbbing jaw with a wince.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do," Draco replied haughtily, jutting his chin up in a shadow of his former snotty brat way.

Harry's grin subsided into a gentle smile. "I'm sorry, Draco, it was part of the plan to get you guys out. Well, except for the whole jumping into the path of a death curse bit."

"Yes, well, this is a habit that needs to be broken. Thoroughly. Into a million pieces. We must have spent half of the school year in this hospital wing," Draco said dryly, though his hands smoothed the bed sheets unnecessarily, betraying his inner worry.

"How long have I been out?" Harry repeated.

"Only a day, Madam Pomfrey only just allowed us to leave our beds a little while ago," Hermione replied, grimacing. "I don't think I'll be able to even -look- at chocolate again for a very long time."

"I dunno, I rather liked having an excuse to eat sweets all day," Ron grinned.

"Of course, you would," Draco remarked with a sniff, earning a scowl from the redheaded Weasley. "Lucky for you though, you at least have a girlfriend with reasonably good taste, if only to make up for your severe lack thereof."

Hermione opened her mouth as if to retort, then shut it with a rather bewildered look at the realization that Draco had actually complimented her while insulting Ron. "Anyway, what happened last night? The last thing Ron and I remember was the dementors in the dungeon, then Madam Pomfrey reviving us back here at Hogwarts. No one except Madam Pomfrey has been in since," Hermione gave Draco an amused smile. "Your little hissy fit implies that we missed a great deal."

Draco turned a brilliant shade of pink. "Just be thankful you two were blissfully unaware, trust me," he shivered and stared hard at Harry. "Never again, you hear me? I never want to have to go through that again. Well, except for that, whatever you did, when your magic changed colors. I liked that part… I don't think I've ever felt so… wanted. Cherished. Safe. And if you ever tell anyone I admitted this out loud, I'll hex you into the next century." Draco narrowed his eyes at Ron and Hermione.

Harry took one of his hands in his, lightly pressing his lips against his knuckles and chasing away the last cobwebs of fear and worry from Draco's stormy gaze. "That's something you can have all the time, every day. I can't make any promises about near death situations, but you know as well I do that I try to avoid those the best I can."

Ron coughed. "Please. Get a room."

"Don't be mad because you're jealous, Weasley," Draco drawled, sending Ron into a spluttering fit of indignation. Hermione, however, did not miss the soft, genuine smile Draco gave Harry once Ron was suitably distracted.

Harry returned the smile, keeping their hands clasped in his lap, before turning his attention back to his two best friends. "After I sent you and Draco out of the Three Broomsticks and went after Lucius, though we thought he was –you- at the time, Ron…"

"Yeah, I know I have a lot of apologizing to do… to a lot of people," Ron mumbled, embarrassed.

"If I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, you can't really be blamed for being trapped under the Imperius Curse, Ron," Hermione said soothingly.

"I still did some awful things," he muttered uncomfortably.

"Oh, good. So do I get an apology for you blowing up that table in my face?" Draco remarked with a smirk of satisfaction.

Ron looked like he had swallowed a really big flobberworm and had gotten it stuck in his throat. "Yes, Malfoy, as much as I hate to admit it, I'm sorry for the things I did to you," he glared, somewhat diminishing the effectiveness of his apology. "I still think you're a slimy Slytherin git… BUT, Harry is obviously serious about you two and after last night, I can't rightly keep accusing you of trying to convert him into being a Death Eater… and, well, yeah."

Hermione appeared as if she wanted to pat Ron on the head and give him a cookie. Or at least a good snogging.

"Thank you… for getting some sense knocked into your thick head."

Harry snorted derisively. "Couldn't resist, could you?" he said wryly.

"So you went after Lucius," Hermione prodded, eyeing Ron and Draco in case another argument ensued.

"Yeah, once I realized it wasn't Ron, Lucius told me that Voldemort had intended to make me a follower instead of killing me," harry grimaced. "I think Severus called it Pan's Dance-"

"Pan's Dance?" Draco interrupted loudly, looking horrified. "I can't believe he would… well, this –is- my father we're talking about. That's one of the worst Dark rituals."

"It's up there with the Unforgiveables," Ron added, sharing a similar horrified expression to Draco's.

"I've never read anything about it," Hermione said, frowning.

"Well, -you- wouldn't have. It's not exactly common knowledge, you'll only find it in books from the personal libraries of pureblood families, like most of the more powerful potion and spell books are. I don't know how many my dad's helped clear out since he was promoted," Ron replied, thoughtful.

"Mother and I can probably fill up all of Gringotts with the stuff my father has sequestered away in the Manor," Draco muttered. "Speaking of which, did you make my father look like one of Longbottom's cauldrons after a Potions lesson?"

Harry shifted uncomfortably, turning his gaze away from the others. "You remember what I did to Voldemort? It was something like that."

"Harry. Harry!" Draco's hand cupped the side of his face and forced him to turn back to them. "Honestly, harry, the bastard deserved what he got. I certainly have no hard feelings, so don't go beating yourself up over it."

"Yeah, well, him Apparating right before it hit him was all that kept me from killing him. In fact, I had believed I killed him before Lucius showed his face in the dungeon," Harry sighed, a heaviness settling over him that seemed to add ten years to his features. "Dumbledore tried to keep me here at the castle once I got back from Hogsmeade, but Severus and Narcissa had me come with them, under the Cloak. I would've stayed hidden longer if it weren't for your mum catching hell for my Patronus."

"Wouldn't they have knows it was you because of your Patronus?" Hermione asked curiously. "It's pretty much common knowledge that you have a stag."

"No, I don't anymore," Harry smiled, albeit wistfully. "It was this great, big dragon Patronus. Anyway, like Draco so nicely pointed out, I tricked Voldemort into thinking that I was still under the influence of Pan's Dance and was following him. To prove it, I tortured Severus and Narcissa with the Cruciatus Curse, then Dumbledore and the Order showed up. I kept you three shielded so Severus and Narcissa could escape with you while everyone was fighting-" Harry stopped abruptly, going pale. "MERLIN! Severus! Is he still alive? Do you know?!"

"No, at least not yet, anyway. Madam Pomfrey has him in a private chamber adjacent to her office," Draco replied reassuringly. "She's been in there since we woke up and she loaded us up with the chocolate. I'm surprised she hasn't come out yet to check on you."

"I'm not," Harry chuckled. "I'm in here so often that she's probably developed a sixth sense about my well being."

Harry went on to explain what happened between himself and Dumbledore before Voldemort's attack on Snape, to which Hermione confirmed that there –was- a combustion hex much like a muggle hand grenade, and was getting to the point of his confrontation with Voldemort when the doors to the hospital wing opened. Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Narcissa entered with the loud buzzing of conversation following them in before they managed to shut the doors. All three of them looked the worse for wear, as if they hadn't stopped since the battle the night before.

Draco got up and rushed to his mother's side, embracing her tightly as they spoke in low tones. Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall came over to Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"Who's outside?" Ron asked, perplexed.

"Everyone in the Wizarding world, I should say," Dumbledore answered amusedly.

"Voldemort is gone," McGonagall's careworn face cracked with a small smile. "All of the Death Eaters just stopped fighting when the Dark Mark vanished from their arms. We were able to round them all up and back to Azkaban to await trial."

"Naturally, we combed every inch of the Manor and the ground's wards, just to be safe," Narcissa said, joining their conversation, Draco at her side with a hand on her shoulder. She patted his hand affectionately and he went to sit back on the bed. "But the Dark Marks were his magic, his personal, powerful magic, and we all know what it means when the magic stops."

"Are you absolutely sure?" Harry asked, hope creeping into his voice.

"As sure as we can be. We have all of our international contacts checking out their side to be extra sure."

"That's… incredible. I mean, it all feels rather anticlimactic and surreal after all these years. Then nothing," Harry shrugged.

"I think you nearly dying AGAIN definitely qualifies as VERY climatic, thank you very much," Draco said sarcastically.

"The Ministry, of course, is conducting their own official investigation while you're recovering, though you should prepare yourself for what's ahead," Dumbledore's eyes twinkled merrily. "You won't be able to hide in here forever."

"Thanks for reminding me," Harry muttered darkly.

Madam Pomfrey's office opened, and the mediwitch emerged looking like she had just wrestled with a Hungarian Horntail.

"Poppy! How is Severus doing?" Narcissa asked worriedly.

"There was a lot of damage, if you had brought him in any later, I might not have been able to save him," Madam Pomfrey sighed tiredly, massaging the bridge of her nose as if to stave off a headache. "But he will be fine. I got the burns and scrapes bandaged up, there might be some scarring, though I don't think so with the extra dittany. Most of it was internal bleeding and broken bones, one of his ribs had punctured a lung. Right now,I have him on some blood replenishing and pain reducing potions, all he needs is a bit of bed rest and he should be back to his normal self."

Harry felt some hard, cold knot in his chest that he didn't even realize he had, loosen and float away. "That's great."

"I still can't get over how friendly you are with Snape," Ron shook his head bemusedly, grimacing.

Draco opened his mouth to retort, but Harry placed a pacifying hand on his shoulder. "Severus is a good man," Harry stated firmly, leveling Ron with serious eyes contact. "I would probably be dead, or worse as Voldemort's puppet, right now if it weren't for the help and support I got from Severus and Narcissa. So I don't want to hear about it anymore."

The hospital wing doors opened again as Remus and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley came in. Dumbledore and McGonagall made sure to go to them, to give Harry and the others the illusion of privacy on the touchy subject. Madam Pomfrey merely started running her wand over Harry, casting diagnostic spells and pretending she wasn't listening.

"Ron, we talked about this," Hermione said reasonably.

"Yeah, I know, and I'm sorry it's taken me almost getting my soul sucked out to get over the whole Malfoy thing, but come on. This is SNAPE," Ron replied, getting angry.

"I understand what you're trying to get at, but you also have to think about how you don't know him the way I do now," Harry said stanchly. "We are just going to have to agree to disagree on this for now, because he's as much a part of my life as Draco and his mum, you and your family, Hermione, Remus, everyone close to me. So leave it alone."

Ron was gaping at him, obviously startled at the emotional depth of his admission. Madam Pomfrey took the opportunity to tell Harry he was fine, the joined Dumbledore and the others away from them.

Shutting his mouth with an audible click, Ron heaved a heavy sigh. "I don't want to lose you as my best friend, so I'll just leave it," he said finally, though not looking like he particularly enjoyed the idea.

"Thanks," Harry smiled a bit, then called over to Remus. "What's going on?"

"We," Remus indicated himself and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, "managed to get all the press rounded up into the Great Hall, and convinced them to wait until you were ready to leave the hospital wing and the Aurors came back with the 'official' report of the fight."

"Luckily, Shacklebolt is in charge of the investigation, so everything should be all right," Mr. Weasley added with a smile. "We won't be able to hold them off for long, but you can at least get a day or two to recover before the next big disaster."

Harry laughed bitterly. "Yeah, disaster about covers what that media frenzy will be."

"Not if you have someone who knows who to handle the press," Draco smirked. "You've always been a lamb among wolves when it comes to publicity."

"Are you going to prepare me a speech or something?" Harry blinked in confusion.

"No, you idiot, I'm offering to help you with the reporters personally when they eat you alive," Draco retorted sardonically. "Honestly, I don't know why I put up with you sometimes."

Harry laughed again, this time with real amusement, and they started discussing with everyone the plans to survive the next few days.


Yaay! Decided to stretch this out to one more chapter.

Lots of smut and lemon to give my first HP fic its grand finale.