The Battle is Joined

by JayColin

SLASH AU Harry/Cedric Draco/Roger - An apparition accident dramatically and permanently changes the lives of Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy, who find themselves inextricably bound to each other in a way they never imagined was even possible. They soon realize that they must put their rivalry aside and find a way to peacefully co-exist and cooperate as the alternative is unthinkable.

2. Draco's Not Dead

The Battle is Joined

By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Disclaimer: All characters and places featured in this story that relates to Harry Potter are the property of J.K. Rowling, various publishers, and Warner Brothers. I'm not profiting on this story and it is not my intent to infringe on anyone's copyright or trademark. The only things about this story that I own are the characters and storylines not featured in the books or other media.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Two:

Draco's Not Dead

-o-0-o-

Stepping out of the fireplace and back into his office, Dumbledore was in a much better mood than he had been in days. Leaving the Floo connection to Luc and Colette's cottage open, Albus, with a spring in his step that belied his advanced age, turned and walked towards his desk. Smiling at his ever-present familiar, he said, "Fawkes, could you fetch Madam Pomfrey here immediately?"

The phoenix nodded and disappeared in a flash of flames. Dumbledore had just taken a seat behind his desk when Fawkes flashed back into the room with a somewhat disgruntled looking Hospital Matron.

"Albus! What is the meaning of this?" Poppy asked her hands on her hips. "I was in the middle of doing some important filing when Fawkes flashed in and abducted me."

"I apologize, dear lady," Albus said, as Fawkes landed on his perch and sung a few notes which could only be described as mischievous. "But I have some extremely good news."

"Well, what is it then? Merlin knows I could certainly use some, as losing two students in the same week, when school isn't even in session, hasn't done my mood any favors."

A smiling Albus said, "Perhaps you should sit down. It is good news, but surprising enough that you'll probably want to be sitting."

Poppy raised an eyebrow at the headmaster but complied as she moved over to sit in one of the chairs in front of his desk, looking at him expectantly once she had.

"I won't beat around the bush," Albus said. "Poppy, we haven't lost two students."

"What?"

"Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter are alive."

Poppy looked confused as she shook her head and said, "Albus, that's not possible. Nobody could survive losing as much as those poor boys lost. The portion of torso connected to what was identified as Draco's arm contained his heart for pity sake!"

"I know it seems impossible to believe, Poppy, but I just saw them with my own eyes."

"How?"

"Well, it seems we were wrong about the cause of their injuries," Albus explained. "It wasn't the Death Eaters, but Draco's inadvisable attempt to Apparate, with Harry hanging onto him that caused them."

"You're saying they splinched and left behind what we found?" Poppy asked as Albus nodded his head. "That still doesn't make any sense, Albus. Draco couldn't possibly live without his heart, nor could Harry without his liver and kidneys."

"You're right, of course," Albus said with a smile. "Unless, that is their magic, in a last-ditch effort to save their lives, reached out and fused what was left together."

Poppy was quiet for a moment, before she asked, clearly confused, "Are you saying that they're conjoined twins now?"

Albus nodded. "Hard to believe, I know. But I swear on the memory of Ariana that I saw them both not twenty minutes ago. Draco Apparated them to Mont Calais in France, the wizarding village near the Malfoy's French chateau. They've been comatose ever since and in the care of Luc Flamel."

"Luc Flamel?" Poppy asked. "He's practically a legend in the field of healing."

Albus grinned. "Well, I imagine that's to be expected when you're 594 years old. Not that he looks a day over 20 thanks to the Elixir of Life."

"That whole family is enough to make a person jealous," Poppy said, as she noticed the glowing green flames in the fireplace and asked, "Is that?"

"It is," Albus answered. "An open Floo connection to Luc and Colette's cottage. I asked if I could leave it open for you to come through since you've treated them both in the past and have their complete medical histories on file. Luc didn't have access to them, as he didn't even know who they were until they woke up a couple of hours ago."

Poppy smiled as she stood up. "You were right, Albus, your news was extremely good."

Pulling out her wand, Poppy summoned both Draco's and Harry's medical files from her office and tucked them away in her apron pocket before walking over to the fireplace and stepping into the green flames.

Albus remained silent for a moment before he stood up and silently motioned for Fawkes to flash him out to the edge of the Hogwarts wards.

-o-0-o-

About two minutes later, Albus appeared in the Apparition Chamber at Malfoy Manor. He had a feeling that given their understandable grief over the loss of their son and the fact that they were in the midst of putting the final touches on his funeral that Lucius and Narcissa wouldn't have come to Hogwarts if he'd asked them to. So he decided to go to them.

He was met by a house-elf who showed him into the Drawing Room, telling him to have a seat while he fetched the master and mistress. As Albus sat down, he couldn't help but flashback to his last visit to Malfoy Manor, only six days ago, three days after the World Cup.

-o-0-o-

"Dumbledore," Lucius said, as he and Narcissa entered the room. "I hope this is important because you're taking us away from the search for our son."

"There's no easy way to say this," Albus said. "But I have reason to believe that Draco has passed away."

Narcissa's eyes widened with shock, as she demanded, "What reason? You're mad!"

"The Ministry has been keeping this under wraps," Albus said. "As they didn't want to release any information about it to the press and potentially cause a panic. At least until they could identify the victims."

"Victims?" Lucius asked.

"The morning after the World Cup," Albus answered. "When the Aurors were going over the grounds trying to find any clues, I'm afraid they made a rather grisly discovery. They found two severed legs, a right and a left, along with two severed arms that were still attached to roughly a third of the torso of their former owners."

Narcissa raised her hand to her mouth and winced at the imagery, as Lucius asked, "Are you saying one of them is our son?"

"I'm afraid so, Lucius," Albus replied. "A Chinese Master Healer who'd attended the World Cup lent his services to the Ministry to see if he could help to identify the remains. He's a world-renowned healer and pathologist, who has lent his considerable talents not only to the Chinese Ministry but several other ministries all over the world. His credentials are beyond reproach."

"And he identified our Draco as one of… as one of…" Narcissa said, unable to say the word victim, as she didn't want to believe that her precious baby boy was dead.

Albus nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so. He was able to pick up enough residual magic in the right arm to perform a magical signature test and compare it with the Ministry's records. It was a perfect match for Draco."

"No," Lucius said, as his normally cool and aristocratic mask slipped ever so slightly. "It's possible to survive without an arm and a leg. Losing them doesn't mean that Draco is dead."

"I'm afraid that isn't all he lost," Albus said. "As I said earlier, the arms were still connected to a portion of their late owner's torsos. I'm afraid the torso connected to the arm that has been positively identified as Draco's contained some internal organs which it would be impossible for him to live without… including his heart."

Narcissa shrieked at that, as tears formed in her eyes, as she practically screamed, "Oh Gods, no! Not my baby! NO!"

Lucius's mask broke completely as he wrapped his arms around his now sobbing wife. His face was full of sorrow and Albus could see him fighting back tears of his own. It was a battle that he ultimately did not win, as Albus could see a single tear form up at the corners of both of the normally stoic Lord Malfoy's eyes and fall, running down his cheeks, before he turned his head away from Albus's line of sight.

Albus remained silent for several moments, as the couple sitting on the settee across from him attempted to console each other. Albus had never had children of his own so he couldn't even begin to imagine the kind of pain that they were no doubt feeling. He had lost people close to him including his parents and sister, but he knew that for a parent to lose their child was one of the worse possible pains that no parent should ever have to go through.

When Narcissa's sobs died down to a quiet whimper and Lucius got his emotions in check, he turned his face back to the headmaster and said, "Thank you for telling us, Dumbledore."

"You're welcome, Lucius, although this is news that I dearly wish I hadn't had to share, as Draco's parents you had the right to know." Albus sighed and said, "The Ministry is holding his remains, you'll have to sign for them, of course, but…" he trailed off, before he said, "You both have my deepest and most heartfelt condolences on your loss."

-o-0-o-

"Dumbledore," Lucius said as he and Narcissa once again entered their Drawing Room to find the aged Headmaster of Hogwarts waiting for them. "Two visits in a single week, this is quickly becoming strange, seeing as how before this week I could previously count on only one finger how many times you'd come here in over thirty years."

"Indeed, Lucius," Albus said. "This time, however, I'm happy to say that I'm bringing you good news."

"Well that will be a pleasant change from last time," Narcissa commented, as she and Lucius took a seat on the settee across from the headmaster. "Let's hear it."

"Did you happen to see the Prophet this morning?" Albus asked.

Lucius nodded. "If you're referring to whether or not I saw that the Potter boy is dead, then yes, I saw it."

"He was the other victim whose remains were found near Draco's."

"I'm not hearing the good news," Narcissa said.

"Well, the good news requires a little bit of explanation to make sense."

Lucius sighed. "Make it quick then, Dumbledore, we have funeral arrangements to get back to."

Albus nodded. "Well, the short version is that the Ministry was wrong about the cause of both Harry's and Draco's deaths… in fact, they were wrong about their deaths."

Narcissa's head whipped up at that, as she asked, "What? My baby isn't dead?"

"Dumbledore is this some kind of cruel joke?" Lucius asked.

"I assure you, Lucius, I am not joking," Albus answered. "On the night in question, it would seem that Harry and Draco got into a physical altercation and Draco made the very inadvisable decision to get away from Harry by Apparating. Only, because they were still touching at the time, Harry got caught in what ended up being a spectacular failure on Draco's part."

"You're saying that their injuries were because Draco splinched them?" Narcissa asked.

"Precisely," Albus said. "I'm not exactly sure how or why, but they left behind the portions of their bodies that were found here, while the rest of them ended up about a mile outside of Mont Calais, France."

Shaking his head, Lucius said, "While I'm happy to know where the rest of my son's remains are so that they can be interred in the family crypt, I fail to see why you seem to be implying that Draco is still alive. When we claimed his remains, we saw for ourselves that both his heart and lungs were still in the portion of his chest that was found at the Cup site. As much as I wish otherwise, he couldn't possibly have survived that."

"Normally you would be correct, Lucius, but magic can work in mysterious ways and make things possible that normally would not be."

"Get to the point, old man," Lucius said.

"Draco is alive," Albus said. "I saw him with my own eyes an hour ago. Both he and Harry were comatose and unidentified John Does in the care of Luc Flamel and his wife for the last nine days, until they woke up this evening."

"How could Draco possibly survive without his heart and lungs?"

"Well, Narcissa, as I said, magic can do a lot of strange and wondrous things. Including healing the injuries that Draco and Harry sustained that would have been fatal in most cases, but they were saved from death due to their close proximity at the time of the accident."

"I don't understand," Lucius said. His mask was still firmly in place, although his voice did hold a rather obvious hint of confusion.

"In a last-ditch effort to save them both, Draco's magic locked on to Harry's magic and vice versa, fusing them together in such a way that they can share what they didn't leave behind at the Cup site."

"Come again?" Narcissa asked.

"Your son is alive, Narcissa," Albus said. "He now shares everything below his neck with Harry Potter, but he's alive."

"You mean they're conjoined twins?" Lucius asked.

"Yes, they are," Albus confirmed. "I'm afraid their new circumstances are permanent, not only because their magical cores have fused together along with their bodies, but what they left behind is no longer viable to support life. So, Draco needs Harry's heart to pump his blood and his lungs to breathe for him, just as much as Harry now needs Draco's liver and kidneys to filter his blood."

Both Malfoys were quiet for a few minutes, leading to Dumbledore saying, "I sent Madam Pomfrey to check on them after I returned to Hogwarts from my own visit to France this evening. She has Harry's and Draco's medical records, which Luc didn't previously have due to not knowing who they were until they regained consciousness."

"I want to see him," Narcissa said. "Take me to my baby."

Albus smiled. "If I may use your Floo?"

Lucius looked a little out of it, as he tried to absorb everything he'd just learned, but still had the presence of mind to gesture to the fireplace and say, "The powder is in the blue and gold Fabergé egg on the mantle."

Albus nodded, before he stood, and flicked his wand at the fireplace to start a fire since the Malfoys only lit the fire this time of year if they were actually using the Floo. A moment later, he'd threw a pinch of powder into the flames, stuck his head in for a quick conversation, before pulling out and saying, "Colette Flamel says you're both welcome to come through whenever you're ready."

Narcissa practically leaped off the settee and ran for the fireplace, not even pausing to look back and notice that her husband was still seated as she stepped into the flames and was whisked away.

"Lucius?" Albus asked.

Shaking his head, Lucius stood and said, "Well, I suppose I should go. You'll forgive me if I'm feeling a little overwhelmed right now."

"Totally understandable under the circumstances."

Lucius nodded before he stepped through the flames. Once he was through, Dumbledore closed the connection to the Flamel cottage and opened the Floo back to his office at Hogwarts. He still had a few other people to share the good news with.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, at Luc and Colette Flamel's cottage in France, Harry and Draco were redoing the buttons on their pajama top, as Poppy Pomfrey had just finished changing their bandages. Luc had used magic to staunch the bleeding and seal the cuts but had then applied raw dittany to the cuts and bandaged them over. They were healing well, but because they had been particularly deep, it would take a few days for them to fully heal.

Draco had been particularly distressed to hear that they would likely leave a permanent scar. Harry was a bit surprised that Draco was so averse to it since the scar was vaguely 'S' shaped.

That didn't appease Draco, however, since he didn't want his skin to be permanently marred by something so huge and unsightly as a scar that went from where his right shoulder joined with Harry's left shoulder, curving down around their chest and abdomen, all the way down to their crotch where it went between their cocks, testicles, and legs before it disappeared into their arse crack. The fact that it also went over their now joined shoulders and followed a similar path down their back just made it that much worse.

"I'll talk to Severus when I get back to Hogwarts," Poppy said. "I'll see if he's got any suggestions for a Scar Removal Potion."

Seeing Draco's eyes light up, Poppy shook her head and said, "Now, I don't want you to get your hopes up, Mr. Malfoy, as I don't know if it'll work due to the highly magical nature of this particular scar. I tried every concentration of the potion that Severus could brew on Harry's forehead when he was a first-year, and as you can see, it didn't work."

"It's also possible that it'll disappear on its own, given enough time," Luc said from the table where Harry and Draco had eaten their dinner and where he was now reading through their medical records so that he could compare his observations post-accident to Poppy's pre-accident observations.

"Of course, it would probably also help if you'd get some sun, Mr. Malfoy," Poppy said. "The scarring is less visible against Mr. Potter's suntanned skin, but is starkly visible against your pale skin."

"Well, once the bandages come off," Harry said, "we'll do just that."

"Excuse me?" Draco asked. "Since when do you get to make decisions for me, Potter?"

"Since you splinched us and fused us together, Draco," Harry said. Shaking his head, he added, "As much as I abhor it, you're a part of me now, which means that everything I do, you do. So, when I go out to get some sun, you don't really have a choice but to come with."

Draco was silent, so Harry continued. "When I got out for my morning run, guess what? You're coming too. We also need to work on your physique because you look downright puny next to me."

"Puny?!" Draco exclaimed. "Who are you calling puny?"

"You, Draco," Harry said. "Or have you failed to notice that my arm and leg are near twice the size of yours since your muscle mass is nearly non-existent?"

Before Draco could say a word, Luc looked up from the records and said, "Some exercise and weight-training would do you good, Mr. Malfoy. The disproportionate dimensions of your arm and leg in comparison to Mr. Potter's is not going to do your equilibrium any favors. You two have enough to deal with getting used to only controlling one leg each, without making things even harder for yourself."

"Well, Potter can just drop some muscle mass," Draco said. "Then everything will be fine."

Shaking her head, Poppy said, "Sorry, Mr. Malfoy, but Luc and Mr. Potter are right. You gaining muscle mass is a far better solution than Mr. Potter losing it. I assure you he's actually quite healthy and there are magical benefits to physical fitness, in that the fitter you are, the easier it is to draw on your magic. Not to mention making it easier to dodge incoming spell fire if necessary."

As she put her wand away, Poppy added, "Honestly, I've been lobbying Professor Dumbledore for a physical education class at Hogwarts for over two decades now, but the Board of Governors keeps shooting it down because of pressure from the purebloods."

Draco looked sulky but refrained from saying anything, so Luc said, "Besides which, you should actually be very happy that Mr. Potter has taken such good care of his body and gotten into such good shape."

"Why?" Draco asked. Honestly, it was just one more thing for him to resent Harry for. He'd been so scrawny and painfully thin when they first started school, but that didn't last long.

He wasn't sure what had happened, but by the end of that year, he'd filled out and outgrown the scrawniness. And then over the course of second and third year, Potter had kept it up until he'd reached his current level of fitness which Draco, while he would never admit it aloud, had found to be kind of sexy. Of course, sharing a body with Potter had killed those thoughts pretty quickly because he wasn't going to fantasize about somebody that he literally shared skin and bones with.

"Because from these records, Mr. Malfoy?" Luc asked. "I can see that it's actually Mr. Potter's heart that's pumping your blood and his lungs that are breathing for you… you lost yours in the splinching."

Draco's eyes widened at that, as Luc added, "And according to this, I'm not entirely sure that if that was reversed, Draco, that your heart and lungs could have handled the strain of working for both you and Mr. Potter. Fortunately, for you, as he's kept himself far fitter than you his organs can handle the added stress."

A knock on the door drew everyone's attention to it, as it opened enough for Colette to poke her head in and say, "Mr. Malfoy, your parents just arrived."

Draco groaned. He still wasn't sure about letting his parents know that he was still alive. He was afraid that they wouldn't be able to accept him as he now was. He himself was having a problem accepting it, after all, so how could his parents possibly not have the same problem? He didn't think he could handle it if he saw any trace of disappointment or non-acceptance in their eyes.

"You might want to pull those up," Poppy said, motioning towards the general vicinity of Draco's and Harry's midsection. They were still a bit wobbly on their feet and had sat down to button their pajama top, but their bottoms were still down around their knees.

Harry stood up, or tried to, as once again, Draco wasn't cooperating, causing him to groan and say, "Draco! Come on and work with me here. I can't stand up on my own and we have to stand so we can pull our pajama bottoms up. I don't know if you care if they see yours, but I could really do without your Mum and Dad seeing my bits."

Draco blushed at that, but Harry's admonishment got him moving, as they stood up and pulled their bottoms up. It took them a minute to navigate tying the drawstrings since they had to cooperate to tie them, but thankfully, Colette was keeping the elder Malfoys out until the boys were decent.

Of course, unbeknownst to the boys, Lucius and Narcissa heard Harry's comment and both shared a raised eyebrow.

Once the boys had sat back down, Luc nodded at Colette and said, "Its okay, ma chérie, they're decent now."

Colette nodded, before opening the door wider and stepping out of the way for the elder Malfoys. Narcissa was first through the door, followed a moment later by Lucius. Both of them stopped and just looked at Draco for a moment, taking in how their son had obviously changed since the last time they'd seen him.

"Hello, mother, father," Draco said, in a very formal sounding tone.

Harry gave him a bit of a weird look because while it was true that he'd never had much of a relationship with his own parents since they'd died when he was so young, he couldn't imagine ever talking to them in such a formal tone. To Harry, Draco's tone sounded more appropriate for a complete stranger that you'd only just met.

Draco's greeting, however, seemed to trigger something in Narcissa who crossed the room in what seemed liked two steps as she threw her arms around both Draco and Harry and lifted them into a standing position as she planted a kiss on Draco's forehead.

The movement had certainly caught Harry off guard since this kind of affection from a parent was another thing he had very little experience with since his aunt and uncle would sooner hug a porcupine than him. Logically, he knew that the affection was for Draco and that Narcissa had no choice but to include him because of their new circumstances, but that didn't mean a part of him couldn't let himself enjoy it.

Draco moved his arm around his mother to hug her back, while Harry opted to leave his arm at his side, as he felt that it would be presumptuous of him to hug Narcissa, considering that he'd only just met her for the first time the day of the World Cup. This, of course, had him feeling a bit uncomfortable, but he supposed it was a feeling he'd have to get used to, along with so many other things now that he and Draco were so close.

Pulling back and looking Draco directly in the eyes, Narcissa smiled and said, "Oh mon petit dragon, I can't tell you how overjoyed I am to see you. When I thought you were dead, I was nearly inconsolable from missing you. I love you."

"I love you too, Mum," Draco said in a warmer tone now, as he smiled at his mother. He'd really worried when she and his father had stayed back and just stared at him and Harry for a minute, but so far she seemed to be okay with his new addition. At least, the only thing he could see in her eyes was love, so that helped.

Dropping the arm that was encircling Harry's side of their body, Narcissa turned to lock eyes with Harry and nodded to him, saying in a somewhat cooler tone, "Good evening, Mr. Potter."

Harry inclined his head and politely said, "Good evening, Lady Malfoy."

Narcissa frowned slightly, before she said, "I'm sorry, but may I call you Harry? It seems very strange to call you Mr. Potter when you and my son are now so undeniably close."

"Of course, Lady Malfoy, if you prefer that, you may."

"Thank you, Harry," Narcissa said with an amiable nod. "You may call me Narcissa, as Lady Malfoy seems a little too formal for my son's literal other half."

"As you wish, Narcissa," Harry said, as she stepped aside and Lucius stepped up.

Draco held out his hand and said, "Father."

Lucius took Draco's hand, but rather than shaking it, he pulled him forward and gave him a one-armed hug, being careful to only hug Draco's side of their body and not Harry's. When Lucius let go of Draco, he took a step back, turned to Harry and simply nodded his head, as he said, "Mr. Potter."

"Lord Malfoy," Harry said, just as coolly as the Malfoy patriarch had said it. Harry wasn't surprised, honestly, because he and Lucius had not exactly had the best of relationship up until now, so it was no doubt awkward for him to interact with Harry now. Of course, Harry understood that awkwardness all too well, since he was feeling it himself.

Turning away to face Luc, Lucius said, "Thank you, Mr. Flamel, for taking so good care of my son and his," he paused here and hesitated for a moment, before he added, "companion."

Yeah, definitely awkward. Not that Harry knew exactly what to call himself in relation to Draco now either. Two weeks ago, he would have referred to him as his nemesis or possibly even his archenemy. Now though? He knew he'd have to get over that. Not that he expected it to happen overnight, but he was stuck with him now.

"You're welcome, Lord Malfoy," Luc said. "Although it was no trouble, really. I wouldn't have become a healer if I didn't enjoy taking care of people. And it's not like your son and Mr. Potter were too difficult to care for while they were sleeping."

"Has it been harder since they woke up?" Narcissa asked.

"A bit," Luc answered. "They nearly ruptured my eardrums when both of them were screaming at the tops of their lungs earlier, but then that was right after I'd turned on the lights in the room and they got their first clear view of their new status, so I can forgive them for their very audible reaction."

Colette nodded and said, "Indeed, it's understandable, given the circumstances, I think. Waking up and finding themselves literally sharing a body was no doubt a great shock. I'm pretty sure that if I woke up one morning to find that I suddenly had a conjoined twin, I'd probably be doing a little screaming myself."

Lucius nodded and said, "Yes. Probably. So when can my son… and Mr. Potter… come home?"

"I'd like to keep them here for a few more days," Luc said. "At least until their bandages can come off."

"Bandages?" Narcissa asked.

"Yes, they have a pretty deep cut all the way down their front and back where their bodies fused together," Poppy explained. "It's healing well, but it'll probably be a few more days before the bandages don't have to be replaced."

Luc nodded. "I'd rather not take any chances with infection, as they've been through quite enough already, I think."

Picking up on what Lucius had said, in the lull that followed, Harry asked, "Come home?"

Draco rolled his eyes and said, "Yes, Potter. To Malfoy Manor, of course. Where else would I live? You didn't think I'd go live with your filthy muggle relatives did you?"

"Draco!" Narcissa admonished. "You shouldn't talk that way about Harry's relatives, not when his heart and lungs are literally keeping you alive. Apologize."

Before Draco could say a word, however, Harry shook his head and said, "Its okay, Narcissa. I'm not offended. While I don't agree with Draco's stance on muggles that he's presented in the past because I know from experience that there's plenty of decent ones," Draco scoffed at this, before Harry added, "when it comes to my relatives, Draco can call them whatever he wants."

"They're your mother's sister and her husband, correct?" Lucius asked.

Harry nodded. "Yes, Petunia Evans-Dursley, her husband, Vernon, and their son, my cousin Dudley. Honestly, Draco can call them every mean and vile word he can think of because they actually deserve it."

This garnered surprised looks from everyone in the room other than Harry and Poppy, the latter of whom looked at Harry and asked a silent question, to which he simply nodded.

"Mr. Potter's relatives were not kind to him," Poppy said. "I won't go into all the grisly details, but suffice it to say that when Mr. Potter first arrived at Hogwarts as a first-year, I was horrified by his general state of health, as he was bruised in places that couldn't be easily explained away as normal childhood injuries and he was grossly malnourished."

With a shake of her head, Poppy added, "I immediately put him on a series of powerful nutrient and vitamin potions and worked out a diet and exercise regimen designed to reverse the long-term damage that had been the result of eleven years of neglect and abuse."

Lucius maintained his normally cool and detached demeanor, but Narcissa looked horrified at the words injuries and malnourished, and looked like she was about to hex someone into oblivion at the words neglect and abuse.

Shaking her head, she then smiled and said, "Well, your plans seem to have worked well, Madam Pomfrey."

Poppy smiled and nodded. "Indeed, without my intervention, it's entirely likely that Mr. Potter would have remained underweight and below the average height for his age, as if I hadn't acted when I did, I doubt he would have gotten much taller than five-foot-five at his full height when he reached full physical maturity."

"Considering that Draco is now five-foot-eight, and still a few years from physical maturity, that would have been a bit awkward," Lucius said.

"Indeed," Poppy said. "Anyway, Mr. Potter is now five-foot-nine and everything indicates that he will probably hit six-foot-two like his father." She hesitated here, before adding, "Of course, I suppose that could change now, as I can't be sure yet what the long-term effects of the fusion with Mr. Malfoy will have."

Luc nodded. "Yes, in all of my many years of practicing magical medicine, I can't say that I've ever run into a case quite like this one."

Harry would have been confused by that statement since Luc didn't look a day over twenty, but then again, he was a Flamel. He'd said that Nicolas was one of his ancestors, but he didn't say how exactly they were related. Luc's comment did suggest to Harry, however, that he was a lot older than he looked.

"Anyway, as for where Harry and Draco live," Poppy said, "I suppose they'd have to spend at least part of the time at Malfoy Manor, for obvious reasons. Of course, I'd prefer that he never set foot at his aunt and uncle's house ever again, although until recently, Professor Dumbledore insisted that he return to the Dursleys every summer."

"Why?" Narcissa asked. "Surely you told him about their treatment of him?"

"I did," Poppy said with a nod. "However, there were other considerations."

"What kind of considerations?" Narcissa asked. "I can't imagine anything that would warrant exposing a child to a neglectful and abusive home life."

"It's something to do with blood wards, Narcissa," Harry said. "I guess because my mother willingly sacrificed herself to protect me, even in the face of being offered the chance to live by Voldemort," nearly everyone in the room save for Harry, Colette, Luc, and Lucius flinched at this, "if she'd just step aside and let him kill me, set up a powerful protection. Protection that I guess still exists through blood wards as long as I continue to spend at least a portion of every year with my mother's blood. In other words, her sister."

Everyone was quiet at this, before Harry added, "At any rate, my time with the Dursleys is over for the year anyway. The Weasleys picked me up the day before the World Cup and I was scheduled to spend the rest of the summer with them."

"Well, we can discuss living arrangements at a later date," Lucius said. His tone revealed nothing about what he was thinking or feeling, but considering the interaction between Arthur and Lucius that Harry had witnessed the summer before second year, he had a strong feeling that Lucius would not be in favor of Harry spending anytime living at The Burrow now that that meant that Draco would have to live there too.

-o-0-o-

To be continued…

And there's Ch2 of 'The Battle is Joined'. Since all of the responses I've gotten thus far were positive and I managed to finish this before midnight on the fifteenth (it's currently 57 minutes til as I write this), I figured I'd be nice and post this as a special gift to all your good people who read chapter one. I hope you found this as enjoyable as the first chapter.

Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email (Gmail: jaycolin25), my LiveJournal (JayColin), my group: (slash) g (slash) storiesbyjayson, or on Twitter JVascardi. Alternatively, you can also contact me via Skype (text messaging only) at . Also, don't forget to check out my Wiki: .com.