A tip o' the nib to Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities, and to William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, which I have quoted somewhere in this chapter.
Draco pulled himself to his feet and looked around. He saw the ancient weeping willow a few feet away, the light breeze lifting its tendrils like strands of hair. The sun was blazingly bright and his surroundings appeared to glow. Dozens of dragonflies flitted about him, their wings glittering in the sun.
Draco struggled to figure out how he had come to be at that point. He recalled a skirmish in the drawing room and had a vision of the chandelier falling—Harry falling. Draco heard a splash and spun around, looking out over the water, but saw nothing.
"Perseus! No—Harry! No—Harry! Harry!" he shouted. "Harry!"
"Draco." A voice spoke behind him.
"No! No! I'm not going without him!" Draco insisted. "Harry! Har-ryyy!" he screamed.
"Draco!" The other wizard's voice was firm. Draco angrily rounded upon him, ready to confront his father. His jaw dropped.
Standing in front of him was not Lucius, but Severus Snape.
"I—what? What is going on? What are you doing here? Where is Harry?" Draco demanded. The swarm of dragonflies appeared to have multiplied, dancing about them.
"Pay attention, Draco!" Snape's voice was as cool and authoritative as it had always been. "I never would have figured you to be as oblivious as your peers."
"Oh, Merlin! Am I dead? I'm dead!" Draco staggered backwards. Snape heaved an impatient and long-suffering sigh.
"Draco, do you remember what the prophecy said?" he asked.
"I—" Draco hesitated, struggling to recall the words that echoed in Luna's voice.
"I had but one great love in my life, Draco. In my foolish, foolish vanity, I destroyed it. You, Draco, you clung to that hope of love, and guarded it well. You have bound yourself to Harry with a powerful magic which can only be destroyed by mortal death!" Draco stared at Snape in confusion.
"But I—" he stammered.
"I asked you once before if you loved him—"
"Of course I do! From the very moment I first laid eyes upon him, he has been the last dream of my soul!" Draco proclaimed.
"Then you care to be recalled to life?"
The swarm of dragonflies had multiplied exponentially and hovered above the shimmering water, reflecting the sunlight back and forth from the water in a dazzling veil. Draco looked out across the expanse and saw a figure emerge from the water.
"Draco! Draco!" Harry lurched towards the still form on the ground amongst the debris. He turned him over, pulling him into his arms. "Draco, please! You have to get up! Open your eyes! Open your eyes!" Harry pleaded as Perseus' screams and Lucius' laughter echoed throughout the cavernous room. Suddenly, the entire room shook and the floor buckled. Harry threw himself atop Draco and cast a protective spell.
Time appeared to slow down as Perseus watched his brother fall to the floor. Lucius stood, laughing, as he held his wand extended towards his oldest son. "Draco! No! No!" he wailed. Lucius turned on him.
"Oh, for the love of Salazar, shut—"
The towering windows shattered and there was an almighty whine and crunching squeal as the lofty organ pipes twisted and began to crash down. Lucius flicked his wand, and deflected the falling debris. He spun to confront his second son and found himself facing a terrifying sight. A fierce torrent of blackness tore through the space, and the entire structure of the manor rumbled as the walls cracked and buckled.
"What is this?" he gasped. Lucius crouched, gripping his wand tightly as he looked about for Perseus. All of a sudden, he was lifted off his feet, a horrified scream dying in his throat.
"Oh, my god, no!" Narcissa mounted her broom and kicked off, racing towards the palatial house. She heard an almighty explosion of shattered glass and crumbling stone, and when she rounded the east wing of the mansion, a fierce ill wind propelled her off course. She rolled and angled the broomstick upward as she turned back towards the house.
A massive fissure snaked up the wall of the drawing room and every window had been shattered, the portals around the dark chamber gaped like the empty eyes of inferi.
"Oh, my darlings! My darling, darling boys! Please don't take them away from me!" she begged. "Perseus! Draco! Mother is here!"
Perseus inhaled sharply. He felt searing heat, but there was no burning pain. He was outside of himself and amorphous, unseeing and incorporeal, yet all around him was darkness, save for the pale wretch that was Lucius, his face and body contorted as it tumbled endlessly within the black torrent. His fear and wrath had unleashed itself with a fury that he had never before experienced and he heard the world crumbling in the wake of his unrestrained emotion. He struggled to regain himself as Mchawi had taught him, but Lucius' murderous betrayal repeatedly leapt to the forefront of his mind in a flash of green light.
"Perseus!" The light faded as he heard a faraway voice. Perseus gasped, reaching towards the sound.
"Perseus! Draco!"
He could feel his heart beating. He inhaled deeply.
"Perseus! Draco!"
The voice was closer, floating to him above the torrential wind, and he inhaled again. Perseus could feel his eyes and his face. His body began to tingle all over.
"Perseus! Draco! Mother is here!"
He began to find form, as if he'd been a phoenix rising from the ashes. He took a deep rasping breath and opened his eyes. She descended through the opening of the broken window like an angel.
"Mother!"
Harry groaned as he came to beneath the wreckage of the great organ. The memory of the excitement immediately past stirred a dreadful wail that emanated from the depths of his soul. He cursed Death, bemoaning the stone he'd lost in the Dark Forest a year ago.
"Seal with a righteous kiss the deal I have made with death forever!" he whispered, gently stroking Draco's hair. He pressed his lips to his before resting his head upon his shoulder. "Don't leave me here!" Harry whimpered. "I am consecrated to him, consort of his days and companion of his house," he whispered, and closed his eyes.
Harry willed the sound of his heart to cease, shutting out the cacophony of destruction wreaking havoc about them. Instead of the silence that he longed for, he heard a cadence that joined his heartbeat. It grew louder as the darkness faded away.
He'd expected the bright hall where he'd encountered Dumbledore after Riddle had struck him with the killing curse. Instead, he found himself standing at the edge of the lake, once again looking across the water to where Draco stood beneath the weeping willow. His figure appeared ethereal behind a swarm of dragonflies that hovered above the lake. Harry squinted in the shimmering brightness. Draco was not a small child this time, nor was he threatened by his father. Instead, it appeared that Snape was with him.
"What?" Harry blinked. Despite the distance, he could hear the voice of the Potions Master clearly.
"A Conjux renders death a dream, all a dream, that ends in nothing, and leaves the sleeper where he lay down, conceived of a man who would give his life, to keep a life he loves beside him. Think, Draco!"
"As one shall live, so shall the other survive." Draco inhaled sharply. "Harry!"
"Harry!" Draco groaned. "Oh, Merlin! Harry, are you alright!" Draco touched his face.
"Draco! You're alive!" Harry exclaimed, lifting his head.
"Yes! Yes!" he declared.
"Oh, my god! Draco!" Harry kissed him deeply. "I love you so much!"
"Draco! Harry!" They heard Perseus and Narcissa calling out to them, and momentarily, the wreckage was levitated out of the way.
"We're alright!"
"But the—I saw—" Perseus stammered.
"No," Draco shook his head. Harry got to his feet and pulled him up.
"I could have sworn—" Perseus frowned. "I-I don't know what happened! I thought he'd killed you!"
They stared around at the carnage. Polina sprawled, broken below the balcony. A few yards away, Lucius lay lifeless, his once chiseled features now marred and distorted.
"Perseus—" Narcissa looked from her dead husband to her younger son, and touched his face.
"Mother, I—" They were interrupted when an amplified voice echoed from the grounds.
"Ministry of Magic Aurors! All inhabitants are to exit via the front entrance immediately with lighted wands raised!"
"They must have been alerted when Pippy brought Theodore back to the castle," said Harry. "Let me do the talking. Lumos!" He lit his wand.
"Lumos!" The others followed suit and he accompanied the Malfoy family out of the house.
2 Dead; 1 Apprehended After Fugitive Death Eater Plot Foiled
Aurors apprehended fugitive Death Eater, Polina Karkaroff at Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire late last night. Also found at the estate was the body of convicted Death Eater Lucius Malfoy, who was heretofore reported as deceased. Evidence recovered would suggest that Malfoy in fact, simulated his death with the aid of one Blaise Zabini, who was recently killed while making an attempt upon the landlady, Sabryna Boniface, of the Abraxan & Dragon in Hogsmeade. Fugitive Death Eater, Jason Nott was also found deceased at the Manor, apparently having suffered a heart attack at some point in the evening.
According to witnesses, Malfoy, Karkaroff and Nott had plotted to return to an earlier point in time with the aid of a time-turner which was alleged to violate the Hour Reversal Charm. Aurors recovered two such artefacts from the scene, but the Ministry remains tight-lipped as to whether the items are authentic, and are only reporting that experts in the Department of Mysteries are examining the relics.
It is believed that Malfoy was killed when an Obscurus which he'd somehow managed to obtain went on the attack. The entity had vanished before the Aurors arrived, and witnesses on the scene were unable to identify a host.
Aurors were alerted to the location of the fugitives when Nott's son, Theodore arrived at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry accompanied by one of the Malfoy house elves who admitted to being instructed to rescue the wizard by Draco Malfoy. It was revealed at that time that Narcissa Malfoy had also been held against her will at the estate. When his mother could not be reached by normal means, Malfoy the younger, accompanied by Harry Potter and Perseus Boniface, proprietor of the Abraxan & Dragon, traveled to the Manor where they learned of the elder Malfoy's scheme.
After rescuing the hostages, the young wizards engaged the former Death Eaters, resulting in the injury to Karkaroff and the Obscurus attack which ultimately killed Lucius Malfoy. It was determined that advanced age, coupled with the stress of combat attributed to the death of Jason Nott.
It is still unclear what plans the group had made, had their time travel been successful, and healers are unsure whether Karkaroff, who sustained a severe head injury in the skirmish, will ever recover enough to be interrogated or placed on trial. The metamorphmagus is currently being housed in an undisclosed, high-security facility while she is being treated.
Hogsmeade Publican Estranged Son of Former Death Eater
It was revealed, in subsequent interrogations following the incidents at Malfoy Manor, that Perseus Boniface is, in fact, the younger son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy. Boniface, né Malfoy had been reported as deceased in 1986, following an accident on an outing with brother, Draco, who was six at the time. Lucius Malfoy had previously stated that his young son had drowned after his brother had accidentally pushed him into a lake on their property.
Retrieved memories from both Malfoy sons now reveal that the elder Malfoy, frustrated by his son's latent magic, and seeking to punish his wife for perceived infidelity, had in fact jinxed the boy, throwing him into the lake. Ironically, Boniface believes that the act served to stimulate his magic, thereby saving his life. He reported being rescued by a benevolent couple, Sarah and Abraham Boniface, who later adopted him.
"My father's pureblood prejudice may well have been the best thing to happen to me," says Boniface. "Although I was separated from my beloved mother and brother for many years, the Bonifaces, raised me in an atmosphere of tolerance and compassion to all mankind—muggles, squibs, wizards of other cultures. I shudder to imagine what I might have become had I too been raised under the control of Lucius Malfoy."
Narcissa and Draco Malfoy have only recently been reunited with Boniface, who says he intends to keep his adopted name, are thrilled to have him back in their lives.
"My brother and I were intensely devoted to one another in our early years, and I hope that we may rebuild that bond going forward," says Draco.
Boniface and his wife are currently expecting their first child, and Narcissa Malfoy is reportedly delighted with the prospect of becoming a grandmother.
"After all that we have endured, I do look forward to this new, brighter chapter for our family."
Golden Boy, Harry Potter, had little to say about the entire affair.
"I think the Malfoy family has endured its share of suffering at the hands of Lucius Malfoy and his misguided ideals. His widow and his heirs deserve the opportunity to write a new story for itself. Draco and his family are due the same peace that our society has sought for so long."
"The pub has been properly repaired and Mother will stay with Perseus and Sabryna until we decide how we wish to proceed with Malfoy Manor," said Draco. Professor McGonagall set aside the newspaper and folded her hands upon her desk.
"I have given up hoping that the two of you will ever choose to adhere to the school rules," she said.
"Professor—" Harry began, a well-rehearsed explanation on the tip of his tongue. She held up her hand.
"Is it too much to ask that you at least pretend to stay out of mischief for the remainder of the year? I should like to give the Ministry honest and positive recommendations regarding your future endeavours." She raised a brow.
"Yes, ma'am. Yes, Headmistress."
"Very good. You are dismissed." She stood.
"Headmistress, do you think we might—"
"Very well," she sighed. Minerva glanced at the portraits of the last two headmasters before sweeping from the room.
"I am not your brother's father, Draco," said Snape.
"I know. I…want to apologize…for not trusting you." Draco gave the portrait an earnest look.
"It is perhaps I who should be apologizing to you, Draco. I feel that I did you a great disservice in not pushing harder to encourage you to express yourself. I did care for your mother. She needed someone—not romantically—that she could rely upon, and I tried to be that for her, but it was a fine line to walk in order to protect you all."
"I sense that these young men come seeking an answer to a most perplexing question, Severus."
"You knew about the prophecy, didn't you?" Harry asked Dumbledore.
"I am the one to whom the prophecy was made, Potter," said Snape.
"You knew what would happen?" asked Draco.
"I did not know that the events of last evening would take place, of course. However, I knew what such an outcome would be."
"But you said that a Conjux would not protect us in the same way as a love sacrifice," Harry insisted. "It doesn't make sense!"
"It makes perfect sense, Harry." Dumbledore's voice was as serene and oblique as ever. Harry huffed an impatient sigh.
"Potter's mind is, as ever, fixed in the muggle realm. Think! As one shall live, so shall the other survive."
"But immortality is impossible!" Draco argued.
"Of course, Mr. Malfoy, and neither of you will live forever. A Conjux is the only magic that that does not require one to lay down his life in order to shield their beneficiary from a killing curse. There is no magic which can destroy a Conjux. A Conjux can only be destroyed by mortal death."
"You mean, it must die—the Conjux itself must...die?"
"I believe the muggle term is soulmates," said the sage wizard.
The couple departed the Headmistress' tower in a light stupor, holding tightly to one another's hands.
"Do you…want to grab some breakfast?" asked Harry.
"I'm not certain I want to face everyone right now. There's bound to be a lot of talk, what with the articles in The Prophet. I'm really rather exhausted."
"Me too. What if we go back to yours? We can shower and rest awhile. Maybe we can go to the pub and have dinner with Narcissa later."
"That sounds like a good idea."
"I feel like I've been hit with a ton of bricks!" Harry quipped, stripping off his soiled and grimy garments.
"You were hit with a ton of bricks," Draco retorted. "Well—a half-ton pipe organ." He chuckled, removing his shirt.
"Fucking hell!" Harry swore. Draco spun around.
"What?"
"You—come here!" Harry grabbed him by the arm and pulled him over to the large mirror on the front of the wardrobe.
"I know I look a mess, love. You needn't point out the obvious." Draco took in his lank, dirty hair and smudged face.
"No, turn around," Harry commanded. "Stand there." He conjured another large mirror and placed it in front of him. "Look."
"Salazar!" Draco gasped.
In the center of his back, just below his shoulder blades was a scar, unmistakably shaped like a lightning bolt.
