Chapter 11: Ever After

The first thing Draco Malfoy noticed as he gained consciousness was voices. Many voices. Excited voices all around him, more than he'd heard in days—which wasn't good, as his head was pounding.

He let out a groan. "Bollocks."

"Draco!" someone yelled, and feet pounded around him, making him pull his hands under him to protect them. He opened his eyes and pushed up. Lying on his stomach was undignified, and he had no idea who all was there, watching.

"Draco!" This time, he recognised the voice as Teddy's, and his heart soared. He was home, and Teddy was here.

"Teddy," he said softly. The pounding in his head urged him to remain quiet. He opened his arms, and the boy crawled onto his lap. "Merlin, I missed you. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Teddy said, resting his head on Draco's shoulder.

"Draco, can you tell us what happened?" Granger asked, disrupting Draco's long-awaited hug with his cousin. She'd squatted down so that he wouldn't have to look up at her.

"Healer Granger, do you happen to have something for my headache? I'll fill you in once I can think clearly."

Hermione gave him a tight smile and reached in her bag, passing him a standard headache pain potion. He drank it and breathed slowly for a moment as the pain passed.

He handed the vial back with a smile. "Thank you. Now, I'm sure Harry can fill you in as well as I can, but—"

Teddy pulled back and looked at him. "Dad is still asleep. He didn't wake up yet."

Draco felt a moment of panic and met Granger's eyes. "He didn't wake up?"

"No," Hermione said, a slight waver in her voice. "I'm hoping you can tell me what happened so that I know how to treat him."

"Damn." Draco looked at Teddy. "I need to go to your dad. Can you let me up?"

Teddy got out of the way, and Draco turned from his place on the floor, finding Harry lying on his back about four feet away, a crowd of people around him. No longer caring about decorum, Draco crawled across the floor, pushing Weasley out of the way.

"Harry." Draco checked him over. He looked like he had days before; before they'd left and lived a week in another dimension. He was clean with no beard, his clothes were tidy, and the random scratches he'd had littering his face from the wind fight with Fee were gone. "Harry, wake up. We did it. Come on."

He heard Teddy sniffle behind him.

"Draco," Hermione said urgently. "If you tell us what happened, how you woke up, maybe it'll help. Please."

"How I woke up," he repeated, considering. How had he woken up? Then he remembered the kiss. The second kiss, and the moment when Harry relaxed into it when Draco felt like they were in the kiss together. "Granger," he said quietly. She leaned down, and he glanced at her. "I suggest you get a hold on your husband. I'm going to try something."

She raised her eyebrows, but gave him a nod and turned to Ron. "Ron, can you comfort Teddy for a moment?"

"Uh, sure," Ron said, and he took Teddy into his arms.

Granger really should have been a Slytherin.

Draco looked down into Harry's face, his long, dark lashes lying against the top of his cheeks. "Here goes nothing, Potter," he muttered.

He leaned down and laid his lips on Harry's. Nothing happened, so Draco grabbed onto the feelings he'd had back at the campsite, to that moment when it had been only them, when it had just felt right.

Harry's lips moved. He parted his mouth and let Draco in, and Draco sank into the kiss. Harry's hand ran through Draco's hair. A low moan sounded in Draco's ears, and he felt a moment of wonder when he wasn't sure if it was his own or Harry's.

"Shut it, Ronald," he heard Hermione say.

Harry's lips curved into a smile, and he chuckled.

"What the hell, 'Mione? A bloody kiss? He woke up with a bloody kiss? What is he, a fairy-tale princess?"

Draco opened his eyes and looked into Harry's amused, deep green gaze. "Told you that you were the princess."

It was nearly an hour later when Harry and Draco got Teddy back to Grimmauld Place. Teddy wasn't willing to let either of them out of his sight, and Harry was just fine with that. He wasn't really ready to be away from Teddy and Draco, either. They settled in together on the sofa, Teddy between them, and it wasn't five minutes before Teddy was asleep, each of his hands holding onto one of them.

Harry let his head fall back, then turned to look at Draco. Merlin, he looked good. And he smelled good. Much better than he had by the end of their adventure.

Adventure. If that was what you wanted to call that crazy trip into another realm. Hermione seemed to think the entire thing had been lived out in their heads, a charm from the book they'd been standing near in Draco's antiquities room. First edition Grimm's Fairy Tales, Draco had said, kept under protection spells by an old wizarding family.

"What do you think triggered it?" Harry finally asked. "I mean, how long have you had that book?"

"About a year," Draco said quietly. He looked down at Teddy and back to Harry. "It's a children's book at its core. Did you notice each of our adventures involved children? Not all of the fairy tales do, but all the ones we encountered did. They were all about protecting the child. Even Rapunzel was about a child taken from her parents and being rejected by the parent she'd come to know."

Harry looked at the sleeping boy between them, his hair a messy black. "So you think Teddy triggered it?"

Draco shrugged. "I don't know. He said he heard us arguing and saw us fall unconscious, so he was there." He paused and gave Harry a small smile. "And we came back after we were able to learn to work together."

Harry couldn't resist. "And when you kissed me."

Draco scoffed. "You kissed me, Potter. I just returned it."

"Of course," Harry said with a laugh. "So what's the big deal with kisses in fairy tales?"

A blush spread over Draco's pale face, and Harry's curiosity grew. "What? Tell me." Draco hesitated. "Come on."

Draco sighed and looked away. "Fine. In the stories, it's usually True Love's Kiss. The princess, you, is unconscious, and the handsome prince, me, comes along and wakes her with True Love's Kiss. So you see? Like I said. You're a princess."

True Love's Kiss. Merlin. Was there anything actually to that? He studied Draco's profile, his sharp, patrician nose softened by the wisp of a pale fringe covering his brow.

"Right," Harry finally said, and they both fell into silence.

Harry considered how he wanted this to go. He liked Draco. He trusted him now. He honestly was kind of curious where that kiss was going to take him, but he felt like he needed to be the one to make the first move. He needed to let Draco into his relationship with Teddy. Let him into his life.

"Hey, Draco…"

"Yes, Harry?" Draco's voice was quiet and sleepy.

"That week you want to spend with Teddy…what if, instead of Teddy going to you for a week every month, you came here? You stayed with us?"

Draco looked over. "Stayed with you?"

"Well, yeah. You'd get to do your lessons, and get closer to Teddy, and, uh, maybe to me, too."

Draco was silent for several moments. Harry started to get nervous and looked away.

"Listen, it was just an idea. If you don't want—"

"Harry?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and kiss me."

Harry turned his head to see Draco leaning in over Teddy. "If I must," Harry said with a grin and leaned the rest of the way to meet Draco's mouth. Neither of them noticed Teddy's hair go bright pink below them.

Meanwhile…

He feels their magic leave the realm, and a scream runs through him. He'd been so close this time. It was his own fault, he knew. He could have left with them right when they gave him the spindle. He just couldn't resist making them wait one more day.

And now, he can't use the spindle's magic to return them to their world. He can't use it to stay in their world, away from the magic of this blasted book that always seems to outsmart him no matter how many times he's tried to escape.

Rumpelstiltskin disappears into the night, wondering if and when another chance will come.

Teddy watches Draco and Harry under lidded eyes and smiles. He's always wished they would get together. Harry is a great dad, but he needs someone like Draco to keep him safe and make him happy.

Whatever's caused it, he's glad.

It's like a fairy tale.

Finis

Endnotes: This story was written as a gift for Persephoneapple for the H/D Erised fic exchange on AO3 and Tumblr. I'd like to thank her for her lovely idea of a Fairy Tale Drarry, though I'm not sure this is what she intended when she prompted it, lol. Also, my wonderful friends Drarrelie and Drarrymadhatter had a large influence on this story with hours of idea bouncing and draft reading. The amazing Hemlock beta read the story, though that term feels insufficient to explain the number of hours she spent helping me improve my writing and make this story the best it could be. She should be a professional editor, as that's what the process felt like. Hemlock, E, you have my undying gratitude and all the virtual flower bouquets I could possibly send.

This is the most work I've ever put into a single story. It's very different than most things I write, but I like to think it still has the normal humor, fluff, and happy ending that those of you who have read my other stories have come to expect from me. I hope you enjoyed it.