Of course Professor Snape couldn't keep himself still. The moment he turned away the potions master dragged himself toward his office saying he needed to get something. At that point Bellatrix had appeared around the corner and Draco ducked behind a column as the spell struck the stone, spraying rubble into his face. He managed to hide his face from the worst of it with his arms. He pointed his wand at Bellatrix and shot a blasting curse, which she deflected far too easily.
"My little nephew… you disappoint me so much." Bellatrix drawled.
"I'm the disappointment? At least I'm not a hypocrite, worshiping a half-blood and then preaching crap about pureblooded-mania!" Draco shot another curse her way and ducked behind the next column.
"Shut up! Those are lies! Lies!" She screamed. "I'll kill you and make an example of you!"
Draco felt his heart racing ever faster as the sound of her heels came closer. They suddenly stopped. He looked up as he saw his mother standing between Bellatrix and him.
"Enough, Bella. Enough."
"He is a traitor! He must be killed!" Bellatrix cried out.
"Not my son, Bella. I'm sorry. I'm sorry that things ended this way." His mother said ever so softly. Draco set a shield over his mother as Bellatrix attacked. His mother disarmed her and forced the green hue of the killing curse her way. Draco watched his aunt drop dead to the ground as the battle raged around them, spells blasted in every direction.
He turned as a curse flew toward him. He didn't react in time.
"Protego!" His father yelled and the spell bounced off the shield. It was Crabbe. His father blasted him back easily where he fell unconscious but alive. His father grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward his mother. "Let's get out of here, Draco." He said softly, pulling him along.
"No, wait! I have to… Nagini!" He pulled back but his father had a firm hold on him. "Father! Let go of me!"
"Enough, Draco! Enough! We're getting out of here and getting out of this damned country!" Lucius exclaimed shaking him by the shoulders.
"I'm not running away. Not when Potter's so close to ending him. Ending this madness." Draco insisted. He looked behind his father, seeing Nagini slithering up the main staircase and broke free from his father, running toward her.
"Draco!" His mother cried out but he ignored her.
At the top of the stairs a couple members of the order were fighting with the DeathEaters that had made it this far. One of the werewolves was about to pounce on that Lavender girl from Gryffindor. He blasted him out the window while he was on mid-air.
"There! Hermione!" Weasley cried out as they rounded the corner, catching Nagini. Draco watched them raise their fangs against her. She seemed prepared this time and knocked them off their hands with her tail.
Draco pushed his feet to move faster. Longbottom was closer to them. "Longbottom!" He yelled and moved to throw his fang his way. The Gryffindor turned to look at him, eyes wide with horror at what was behind Draco.
Draco heard a growl and felt the wind get knocked out of him as Greyback knocked him to the floor, the fang rolling out of his hand but not far enough for the Gryffindor to reach.
He felt the werewolf's foul breath to his neck and a shiver of terror coursed down his spine.
oOoOoOo
Severus dragged himself across the halls of the castle as fast as he could. His energy was quickly depleting. He felt like he'd fall asleep walking any second now. He heard Draco scream then and looked down over the edge of the staircase. Three floors below he saw Nagini, about to pounce on Weasley and Granger.
"Watch out!" He called, throwing the sorting hat down toward them. The teens pushed each other aside and the snake struck the stone. The hat was caught by Longbottom and the glimmer of the sword of Gryffindor re-appeared to be drawn by his hand.
The snake screeched and Longbottom swung the sword proudly with a cry of war. The snake lost its head and exploded into nothing.
"Harry…" He whispered and gulped an energising potion to aid him in finding the boy.
oOoOoOo
Harry shuddered as Voldemort screamed the loss of Nagini. Harry knew the final Horcrux was gone, because fear became the dominant expression of Voldemort. His spell managed to push past Voldemort's and knocked the wand out of his hand.
"Accio Elder Wand." Harry whispered. The wand flew towards its true master. Harry gasped as he gripped the hilt of the elder wand. The invisibility cloak hanging from his shoulders wrapped around him and the snitch inside his pocket began to glow. Harry felt a pulse of energy course through his body. He began to feel and see things he hadn't ever before. He felt the lifelines of those around him, ticking away like time on a clock. He looked at Voldemort who couldn't see him but could feel him.
Harry walked slowly toward him. Voldemort could feel him. Death was coming for him. As if under an imperio Harry raised his new wand, which glowed in his hand as if it were made of gold. A different kind of death magic shot forth from it and struck the Dark Lord on the chest. Everything quieted down as Voldemort dropped to his knees and dropped dead to the floor. The ticking stopped.
Harry lowered his wand and turned as he felt a presence coming toward him.
oOoOoOo
Severus watched Granger reaching for the air and yanking the invisibility cloak's hood off Potter. He stood frozen as he stared at the golden runes glowing on the boy's skin. The vibrant green eyes Severus was so fond of had turned to gold, his gaze vacant.
"Harry?" Weasley asked softly. Potter didn't seem to listen and walked past them. A force or shield of sorts seemed to keep them at arm's length from Potter who walked slowly into the castle.
"Potter." He tried, reaching for him. A surge of golden energy kept him from reaching any further. As the boy walked past the fallen bodies laid up in the great hall Severus watched as wounds began to heal and chests began to rise and fall yet again.
Granger brought her hands to her mouth as Potter walking past the strange power flowing through him brought the fallen back to life. Those DeathEaters that held their hands up and surrendered were spared while those that raised their wands against him dropped dead without warning.
oOoOoOo
Something was pulling at him. A silence that didn't belong. He rounded the corridor. Greyback was over a body, blood in his jaw. Harry swung his wand and the werewolf slammed into the wall. Harry ripped the life out of him and watched him fall limp, turning to the corpse in the middle of the corridor.
"Draco!" Came the wail of two mournful parents from the other end of the corridor.
Harry knelt by Draco's body and reached for his hand. Everything faded and he was once more in the white in-between.
Draco looked at their joined hands in confusion.
"Come on, Malfoy, we're going back." Harry said. Draco seemed to study the runes on the back of Harry's hand while he pondered his words.
"Did you do it?" He asked.
"We all did." Harry said. When he blinked and opened his eyes again, they were back in Hogwarts.
Draco opened his eyes, his wounds from Fenrir healed, no scars remaining. Harry gripped the Elder wand with both hands and snapped it in half. The runes vanished from his skin and the golden magic vanished, leaving him winded once more.
"Potter?" Harry couldn't answer as he finally allowed the exhaustion to take over and he passed out on the floor.
oOoOoOo
"Potter, wake up." Harry groaned, opening his eyes. His head was pulsating with pain.
"Snape?" He mumbled, sitting up slowly. "Where am I?" He asked looking around. The antiseptic smell was familiar but the surroundings different.
"You're in St. Mungo's." He said and handed him a potion, which Harry drank. He felt a little better.
"What happened?" He asked.
Snape countered his question with another. "What do you remember?"
"Disarming Voldemort… taking the Elder Wand… Voldemort dying… me breaking the Elder Wand." He mumbled, wincing as he rubbed his forehead. He was forgetting something. He could just tell. He only now realised that his scar was gone and passed his fingers over the smooth skin a couple of times.
"Yes, more or less that is what happened." Snape said.
"Where's Lily?" Harry asked.
"She's outside. I'll bring her over." Snape left and returned with Lily who reached for him desperately the moment she lay eyes on him.
"Daddy!"
Harry took her into his arms, holding her close, giving her a firm hug, taking in her baby smell. He almost died twice in the battle. The realisation of that made him hold Lily close.
"It's over baby, never again. Daddy will never again let you go." He said.
"Harry!" His friends cheered and Harry smiled looking at them, not noticing when Snape left the room.
oOoOoOo
The weeks following the war turned into a blur of interviews and legal proceedings regarding the surviving DeathEaters. The Malfoys were freed with a minor fine to be paid by Lucius Malfoy and the punishment that Draco Abraxas Malfoy be made head of house immediately or risk losing all family titles and fortune. Lucius Malfoy didn't hesitate.
Harry was happy when it was all finally over a couple of months later. He hadn't seen much of Snape in the passing weeks but if the other had been kept as busy as he had with all of this formal business then he couldn't blame him.
"Daddy! Up daddy!" Lily called to him. Harry turned to see her toddling awkwardly over to him, arms outstretched for balance and to get him to pick her up. He smiled and picked her up, kissing her cheek.
"Are you ready for your birthday party baby?" He asked. She had no concept of what he said and simply giggled, trying to show him her favourite rattle. He took it in his hand and she shook his hand to get him to play with it too. Harry chuckled and gave it a shake. She looked up, bright green eyes looking at him with excitement, trying to discern whether he found the toy as amazing as she did.
"Oi! Potter! What is the hold up? The guests are arriving at the manor." Draco stormed into the Gryffindor common room.
Classes were on hold while the castle was being repaired but Harry was able to stay in the tower to facilitate the legal proceedings since dealing with a muggle family was too complicated for the ministry. Not that the Dursleys would accept him back at this time in the year but Harry wasn't going to tell the ministry that. Well, Harry didn't care what the ministry excuses were as long as he had time to himself without having to move Lily around too much.
"Dway!" Lily cheered.
"I told you, you didn't need to do this. We could have had the party here." Harry complained, sitting Lily down, brushing her short curls, clipping a red little bow in her hair. Hopefully they'll be able to take some nice pictures before she reached up and ripped it off her hair.
"Absolutely not, this castle is still practically ruins and Granger is right, you need to get out of here."
"You just want to show off the manor now that you have free reign of the place." Harry joked and Malfoy seemed to stand taller, looking as smug as ever.
"That's not a sin, now move it. I told you she doesn't like those socks."
Harry looked down to see that Lily had effectively yanked off her shoes and was working on tugging off her second sock.
"But daddy thinks you look so cute in them." Harry cooed and put them on again, scooping her up.
"Yaaa!" She complained, glaring at him but he ignored her.
The manor looked completely different under the radiant summer sun, cool breeze and flowered gardens. Lily stared at the white peacocks as they cried amongst the flowers.
Narcissa Malfoy had arranged a small tea party in the gardens decorated with balloons and adorably decorated cakes and treats that had Hermione, Ginny and Luna just fawning over. At this point in her life Lily couldn't care less whether the fondant covered mini-cakes were decorated in rose pink or baby blue icing sugar but it sure was cute to look at and Hermione had a ball getting Lily to try bits of all the different treats.
"Thanks, by the way, I don't know when I would have had time to organise all of this. The ministry has been dragging me to every imaginable hearing." Harry said. Draco shrugged as he grabbed some champagne, offering him some.
Harry stared at it and watched Malfoy drinking his own while watching Lily who was demanding the lemon mini cakes. It was Harry's favourite flavour too.
"Here, Happy Birthday, Malfoy." Harry handed the blonde a letter. Malfoy looked surprised and then annoyed.
"Who told you?"
"Zabini." Harry said amused and shrugged. "I didn't realise you and Lily shared birthdays. Kinda weird coincidence."
"Yes… well. Anyways. What did you get me?" Malfoy opened the envelope and Harry sipped the champagne. He wondered whether the other would even appreciate the letter, considering all Harry had to go on was one glance. Zabini did help though. "Dear Mr. Malfoy, we are pleased to inform you that your application to try-out for the Tutshill Tornados team has been… accepted. What the hell is this?" Malfoy asked.
"I sent your application to the try-outs."
"You did what? I'm not going to this. I haven't played quidditch in over a year. I'll look like an idiot." He handed the letter back to him and Harry took it back, watching him storm off. He looked at Lily who was being merrily entertained and followed Malfoy.
"Draco, they don't just hand out invitations to these try-outs to just anyone. They've seen how you play. When Gwenog Jones said she thought we had potential they weren't just pretty words."
"They don't want me, Potter! You're far better than me. I don't think I've ever beaten you in a fair game." Malfoy said, stopping his retreat and turning to face him.
"Well, quidditch is not always a fair game and I am not interested in becoming a professional quidditch player, not to mention I'll still be sixteen during try-outs. But you are, right? Interested?"
"Wha-? Maybe when I was twelve! This is crazy!" Malfoy released a nervous laugh and yanked the letter back, reading it again. "You sure you didn't drop your name and ask them to let me try-out?"
"I swear. I filled out the form with your name on it, that's all." Harry said. Malfoy opened his mouth to argue but instead looked back down at the letter to re-read it.
"You're out of your mind. Out of your mind. I'll never make it."
"Well, if you need someone to practice with…" Harry took out the snitch and tossed it up, about to catch it in the air. Malfoy snatched it before he could, offering him a smirk and a friendly shove.
"With only a week left, I'm going to need the practice. I'll expect you first thing tomorrow morning, Potter."
Harry felt a thrill at the thought. He'd truly missed playing quidditch. He couldn't wait. "Come on, I don't want to miss Lily's first birthday arguing with a pampered dolt like you."
"Just wait till we celebrate yours."
"You know, maybe you're more suited to professional party planner than professional quidditch player."
"Shut up, Potter."
Harry spent the rest of the afternoon with Lily, enjoying cake with his friends, opening presents for her, having a short argument with Draco on the expensive gifts he got her which ended by getting flatly ignored by the blonde. Only Narcissa showed herself, greeting him politely and chatting with Mrs. Weasley and Snape who showed up briefly on his way to visit Lucius. Lucius Malfoy did not show himself.
They sang happy birthday to Lily and Harry blew the candle for her. She squealed and clapped as everyone else clapped for her first birthday. As Harry held her he realised that this was the first time he blew the candles on a cake. He smiled softly, kissing Lily to her forehead. He would focus on making sure that she never felt the abandonment and loneliness he was made to feel growing up.
And yet, even holding Lily, even amongst all his friends… Harry felt a void inside that he still couldn't fully fill. He looked up at the manor, wondering what Snape was doing. He wanted to talk to him at some point but as he thought about it he began to consider that maybe Snape didn't really want to talk about anything with him any more. Voldemort was dead and Harry was alive. His promise to Dumbledore was complete.
Maybe… Maybe Harry was just something Snape didn't want to deal with anymore. Believing that was easier than Harry expected. After all, who would want to deal with him longer than necessary?