Thanks for the comments/subscribe/favorites, I loved seeing your curiosity for the end.

We still have a bit to go before the end, but here is the chapter everyone had been waiting for: The big reveal!

I hope you all like this chapter!

-x-

-x-

Draco moved back to treat the injured, his mind was blank as he moved mechanically over people and cast spells that were becoming quite difficult to get right the more tired he became. He knew the 'one hour' was almost up and things would start all over again, but he was starting to think that they really weren't going to make it, neither the castle nor the people inside it could keep going for too much longer.

He finished with a little girl who should not even be there and looked around trying to find Harry, but all he found was Weasley and Granger talking to Longbottom, so maybe they would know where the hell his boyfriend went.

"Have any of you seen Harry?" he asked and Longbottom looked at the other two with a meaningful glare that sent a bucket of cold water over Draco.

"He…?" he tried to ask, but the words did not leave him.

"He didn't say that" said Longbottom, but he didn't seem as certain and Draco could only close his eyes and let fall the tears he didn't even know he still had.

"There is no reason why he would do that" said Granger coming close to him "Nagini is dead, it's over, he has no reason to go to him, I'm sure he will be back soon"

"No he won't" said Draco bitterly, because no matter how noble all this was, it was his death sentence and he couldn't even do something about it.

Granger's arms came around him in a hug and Draco didn't realise how much he needed it until he too hung on to her desperately, waiting for the pain and death that would come at any moment.

"We should go look" said Weasley quietly and Draco looked at him over Granger's shoulder, it was the first time he looked at Draco with so much pity and he hated it.

So with a deep breath he let go of Granger and cleaned his tears with the back of his hand.

And then he close his eyes for a second and his breath faltered him for a moment and when he opened his eyes again, he was on the floor. The place he woke in however was not the Great Hall, but a large white place surrounded by mist and nothing else.

Dying, as it turned out, was a lot more easy and anti-climatic than everything he had gone through until now.

He stood up slowly, he was naked for some reason, but then they did say you cary nothing with you to the other side, so he supposed that included clothes. He walked around with no clear destination, he didn't know where he was supposed to go, if he was supposed to go somewhere or if Harry was there somewhere or he was just alone. Maybe he was just going to be there alone for eternity.

After a bit he saw someone he could make out the shape very well.

"Harry?" he asked.

But when the figure turned, it was not Harry even though he did look a lot like him. The other man smiled, with a little mirth on his eyes and waved at him.

"Hey Draco" said the man with a heavy accent Draco could not place.

He looked closer at the man and it finally came to him.

"You're James" he said and the man nodded and Draco just felt confused, for many reasons "you're not naked" he said, because it was the first thing that came to mind.

"Did you want me to be?" the man asked with a laugh and Draco felt like an idiot.

"No, not really"

James laughed at him a bit more but pointed to a place on the floor where a pile of clothes were.

"Grab one and lets have a walk, I own you quite an explanation"

Draco agreed fully, but he first moved to get the clothes on and then turned back to the man.

"Shouldn't you be with Harry?" he asked

"Not right now and hopefully not for quite some time"

Draco frowned again, really confused about the other man.

"But why me?"

"Because I'm afraid it is my fault you are here"

"This is about the bond" said Draco finally understanding.

"Indeed"

"It's your doing?"

"In a way… it's what I wanted to tell you, 'cause sure Dumbledore has made many discoveries and made all the parallels between Harry and Tom Riddle, things I'm sure Harry will be able to tell you in full. But Dumbledore kept on seeing Voldemort as a boy, so he failed to see many things and he kept on acting on only one truth, which lead to him not understanding your situation and making many mistakes with you"

"That was because he never thought I was important and suddenly I was in the way" Draco said a bit bitter, he would have expected those kind of feelings to fade with death, but apparently not.

"He thought a lot of people weren't important, which is why when you came in the picture he had no leads to follow. Snape couldn't give him any information about it since not even your parents knew about the bond and Lestrange wouldn't let anything out, nor could Sirius and Remus help much, since as you know, Sirius knew nothing and confessing to Dumbledore what he did for your mother, didn't add anything and then all he could do was find a way to keep you out of the way until it was all over"

"What did Sirius do for my mother?"

"I will get there, but that is just one part of it, there are so many other magical ties between all of this… one of which is the fact that both Harry and Voldemort descend from the Peverells"

"They are related?" asked Draco surprised.

"Very distantly, but magic tends to remember those things, which is why it was so easy for them to bond, but also for Voldemort's magic to affect you as well through Harry"

"Their magic shares some family magic" said Draco understanding.

"And curiously enough years of history converged that night on Godric Hollow at the Peverell's old cottage"

"The Peverell's cottage?"

"Yes, it had been on my family for years, my cousin Charles would stay there when he was in the country. It's interesting however that Dumbledore lived there, in Godric Hollow, and he ended up being the one with the third Hallow"

"Hallow?"

"Ask Harry about it, they are not important now, not for you anyway, so much so, you have been the owner of one of them and you never even knew it"

"I was?" Draco asked confused

"And yet I suppose it is no coincidence that it passed through your hands, figuratively speaking, because, as your friend Pansy has always said, three is a powerful number and the Hallows are a triad, much like our relation: two passed through blood and one out in the world, like my family, Voldemort and the Blacks"

Draco wasn't sure he could understand everything, but he did understand what the man was talking about when talking about relations.

"So you always had a relation to him and I know you and Sirius were friends and that you dated Regulus, but what did the Dark Lord want with them?" he finally asked, because it had been something that had been bothering him since the Dark Lord turned his eyes on him.

"Sirius was for him the question he could never answer and the more he lost his humanity, the more he moved away from understanding that Sirius could never give him the answer he was seeking…"

"What question?"

"A fundamentally human one… As you heard, while Voldemort was still in school, as a boy named Tom Riddle, so was your great-aunt Walburga Black and she was a very smart woman and she understood Riddle's game long before he had even set it all up. She knew he was powerful, that he was going to do something great and she knew she wanted a part on it so they started dating on their sixth year"

Draco nodded, he did remember Harry mentioning it.

"Harry said she was his decoy… to look like a normal person" he said and James snorted.

"I'm sure that is all Dumbledore saw, after all Riddle had made himself the perfect student, he was charming and handsome, keeping a respectable woman at his side was just the little detail that made the perfect picture. But he never had to play Walburga, she knew him and they understood each other very well."

"They were actually lovers?" asked Draco not knowing if he was surprised or disgusted.

"Indeed… Not that Riddle knew how to love, but he knew he enjoyed her company and the pleasure she could offer. The problem eventually was the constant reminder Walburga would get that Riddle was a half-blood and marrying him would take her from being a Black to being someone who carried the name of a muggle. At the same time, Riddle had other plans that didn't involve marriage and a public facade since he didn't intend to remain as Tom Riddle."

"So she cursed Orion instead" said Draco "To become Lady Black"

"Yes, what chaos she created, the family's political alliances were destroyed as were their reputation. Even her own father didn't have it in him to defend her and the only thing that protected her from an 'unfortunate accident' was the fear Riddle would do the same to them"

"And they already lost prestige, so making her the matriarch of the family would at least give them beautiful pureblood children that would carry the most pure Black blood" said Draco, despite how horrible it sounded, he knew his family well.

"Yes, but she never stopped seeking Riddle, so when she got pregnant with Sirius, none of them knew who was the father"

And Draco's eyes were wide with the implication.

"But he looked like a Black!" said Draco

"And as it turned out, he was one. Orion, who was already furious over being trapped in a marriage he never wanted, would not raise a child not his own, but could use the proof of infidelity to annul the marriage, so Sirius was merely out in the world when his blood was tested. It had been a close call and Orion made sure to point it out to Riddle, who not only felt the same way, but also didn't know how to deal with it"

"He wanted Sirius as a son?" asked Draco gobsmacked.

"He didn't know and that was exactly the problem… Had he been lucky or was he disappointed? Walburga promised him Sirius would be his heir, but he still left not too long afterwards and was not seen again for the next ten years.

In this time Regulus was born and while Sirius was raised with all the high expectations of his mother, Regulus was completely free and unaware of his mother's past. He was also more loved than Sirius, who was resented by both of his parents simply for being a Black"

"But it was what they wanted..."

"But the heart is not always rational, Orion tried to love him, but it was a lot harder to love Sirius than it was to love Regulus, especially because Walburga kept pulling her expectations on Sirius for him to be Tom Riddle's child and she found herself disappointed whenever he showed he was not"

And Draco sneered in disbelief.

"Walburga did all of that to be a Black and in the end she was still disappointed?"

"Well, despite promising not to, she did fall for Riddle and, I suppose, the closest thing to affection he ever felt was for her, which was why, when he returned from his travels, he sought out Walburga, who promptly invited him to Bellatrix's wedding, a party where he made many contacts as well as seeing Sirius for the first time since he was a baby.

He questioned himself again and it tormented him, he was hungry for an answer and in his obsession, he made Sirius incredibly frightened of him."

"So Sirius started to pull away from the family" said Draco putting up a little timeline on his head.

"Yes he did and when the moment came, he was sorted into Gryffindor, which, despite his bravado, only made him more confused"

"But then he became your friend"

"More than a friend, Sirius saw me as an anchor and he attached himself to me in ways I wasn't prepared for, but we were too young then, so we were friends and free and silly. However, Sirius new attitude was very worrisome for his mother, who not only became more strict with him, but also put a lot of responsibility on Regulus, for him to behave himself as was expected.

It wasn't that difficult for Regulus to play by the rules, he had no idea what had changed in Sirius and he thought it was completely unimportant, until he was sorted in Slytherin and his own brother started to act like he was a stranger"

"Sirius cut him off from his life only because he was a Slytherin?" Draco asked disgustedly.

"Because he was the perfect son, Regulus effortlessly pleased their parents and Sirius started to resent Regulus, like being sorted in Slytherin meant he was siding with them, siding with all the things Sirius was now starting to hate in an irrational way.

But at the time, I didn't understand there were years of repressed resentment in Sirius, I thought he was just disappointed Regulus was not with us and I started to talk to Regulus to help mend his relationship with Sirius"

"Which didn't work"

"No it didn't… but by the time I noticed it wasn't going to happen, I also noticed how much I genuinely liked Regulus, so we kept hanging out"

And Draco knew exactly where that was leading.

"And Regulus fell in love with you"

"Yes… in the beginning, I actually didn't notice any of Regulus feelings, I was too enchanted by Lily, who at the time thought I was the worst person in school"

"She hated you?" Draco asked curious.

"Very much so and actually with good reason, I acted like an idiot and I was quite mean to her best friend, who I suspected, fancied her just as I did. But eventually Regulus got fed up with listening to me talk about her and tried to point out that she didn't even like me and then, seeing nothing was getting to me, he kissed me.

I didn't even know how to react and he thought he had made a huge mistake and ran away from me. So my summer ended up spent thinking about Regulus and what I was going to do about it. I knew I liked him and I knew Lily was just a distant dream, I thought that maybe I should try out what I had been offered"

"So he was just the second option"

"In a way, but I always thought love was something that took time and effort, something you had to choose everyday and I chose Regulus, I chose to try and he knew that, he was content with whatever he could have.

But falling in love with Regulus was so easy. I liked an idea of Lily, but the boy in front of me was the one I already knew and changing our dynamic didn't feel too different. We both fell hard during that year... we were silly and we took risks, which was why Lily caught us"

"Was she jealous?" Draco asked amused

"No, not then anyway… she was just confused, but she did promise not to say anything, because at that time there was still the issue of Sirius, who was completely unaware I was madly in love with his brother, not because I didn't try to tell him, I did in the beginning, but Sirius didn't want to hear a word when it involved his brother and eventually I thought it was best to not say anything, worried about what would happen.

Regulus however didn't just worry about Sirius, but also about his parents reaction. It was your mother who suggested, that if we were serious about one another, that we did it properly, that I should present myself to the Blacks and state my intentions through an engagement contract"

"Mother knew since the start?"

"She was the closest to Regulus and at the time there was no reason for him to hide it from her, we weren't a secret because there was anything wrong with us being together, but because of Sirius.

So not thinking about consequences or actually listening to my parents alerts over not talking to Sirius first. We agreed to your mother's plan. I asked Regulus to marry me and your mother would host lunch for the family and Regulus and I would tell them I had proposed and our parents would sign the agreement"

"So you could get time for them to like you" said Draco knowing the old traditions well, an engagement agreement with courtship rules that at the end they would either reaffirm one another or break the arrangement.

"Yes, Regulus had three years of education, plenty of time for me to prove my worth for his parents and for us to prove we were sure about it if we still wanted to marry in three years. It was the perfect plan."

"What went wrong?" Draco asked, because obviously something did.

"Walburga thought the party was a good opportunity for Sirius to take up his family's responsibilities, including his position as a Death Eater"

"She invited him" said Draco in understanding.

"Orion was furious with Walburga, he eventually found out about the plan and he didn't want her to ruin Regulus' big day as she did his, so he tried to talk with Sirius about the importance of the party for Regulus, which didn't please Sirius at all, and then Walburga ended up telling Sirius about her plans on the night before the party, something that immediately set him off.

Regulus caught him as he was leaving and begged him to stay, but Sirius thought he was only worried about himself, he had no idea Regulus knew nothing about their mother's plan. He ran away and arrived at my house in the middle of the night, to my complete shock.

I realised then that I would have to tell Sirius the truth so we could go to the party on the next day, but before I could explain anything he dropped on us the news of his mother's plans for the party. Obviously knowing about it, my parents would not permit me to go, but I knew Regulus was unaware and I was furious at Sirius for not even telling him any of it"

"Did he even regret it after you told him about the engagement?"

"No… because I didn't… the moment I mentioned Regulus he set off and without knowing he hurt me really bad... I think I never hated Sirius so much as I did at that moment... so I just left and waited until Regulus and I could figure out what to do."

Draco looked at James face, there was a deep sadness there as if perhaps the man was still hurt.

"That was when everything fell apart." James continued "At you house, no one was happy when they saw their extra guest, but they tried to tolerate him, until Walburga tried to offer Regulus to the man, telling him about Sirius running away and how Regulus was now her only son"

"He got mad Sirius ran"

"Yes, but he got more mad when your mother intervened and told off Walburga. Regulus was just fifteen and she had no idea what they expected him to add to the man's cause, which she had already heard of, because by then Bellatrix and Rudolph were already in.

She had no idea of the promise Walburga had made, but Voldemort considered your mother's attitude as if she was trying to keep from him something he possessed.

He cursed her right where she stood and it took everyone by surprise, including Walburga, who called him to reason. But what really made things worse was that your mother passed out and started to bleed and a cruciatus was not supposed to do that with just a few seconds"

"What did he actually do to her?" Draco asked quietly, afraid to even ask and James' sad expression didn't help his fears in the slightest.

"Unknown for everyone, including your mother, she was pregnant and she lost the baby quite violent on that moment"

Draco wasn't sure how to react to that, his parents never said anything about having lost a child and that Draco was supposed to have a brother or sister, in fact they always stopped any conversation about it, even when Draco asked as a child for a sibling to play with. It was a strange feeling because he couldn't really mourn what he never knew, what had been nothing more than a possibility and yet it did feel like he had indeed lost a loved sibling. He felt awful, but eventually he just nodded and let James continue, he would have the eternity to think about this.

"Voldemort left and Walburga was forever forbidden from ever stepping foot in your house again, but none of this could fix the damage already done. Cygnus told Regulus to hide somewhere and not return home for the rest of the summer, but Cygnus thought it would be a terrible idea for Regulus to run to the same place Sirius had gone to, so he told him not to go to me"

"Where did he go?"

"To Lily. He had barely talked to her until that point, but she was the only person who knew everything that he could go to, that could hide him, and Regulus happened to know she and Snape were neighbours"

"They were?" Draco asked surprised.

"Yeah, not too close, but he lived in the same neighbourhood and your father knew where that was, so Regulus went there and spent hours walking around until he found Lily and she took him home. He intended to stay only a few days until his uncle could do something, but the Evans told him to stay there for as long as needed and so he spent the next month there and he and Lily became really good friends. I also got to talk to him and find out what actually happened at the party and then I confronted Sirius about his mother's attitude and that was when he confessed to me all about her plans for him.

That was when I finally realised that my relationship with Regulus had indeed taken a turn, because without Sirius, he was not only the Black heir, he was also the one who would have to fulfil Walburga's promise, something that I made sure to tell Regulus as soon as we got back to Hogwarts. And initially we tried to find a way around it, but everything started to move too fast.

Your father lost his child and almost lost his wife, so it is no surprise that a few months after the failed party he joined the Death Eaters even though he had no intention to until then. Not that your father disagreed with it, he had no trouble with cursing muggles or casting dark curses, but he was more of a politician than a fighter and he was proud, bowing to another was not really part of his plans, but he could not risk your mother again, after all many things can be said about your father, but no one can say he doesn't love her more than his own life. After the Lestranges and Nott were in and then suddenly a Malfoy, people followed quite quickly, any doubts people had disappeared when they noticed all the prominent families joining.

Also, around that time, Alphard died and more than leaving Sirius a huge inheritance, he left him the truth about his mother's past with Voldemort and Sirius did not take it well, he had always been a bit unstable, but that turned him and for a while I was scared for him. So suddenly I was trying to save my relationship with Regulus and making sure Sirius was mentally stable while a war brewed on the outside"

"Sounds like a nightmare"

"It was, which is why we started to get desperate. I knew that as a pureblood I could play the part of a supporter and keep Regulus. Together we could find out what was Voldemort's weakness, find a way to fight him without his knowledge"

"What about Sirius?"

"Was one of my doubts over the entire thing, but I loved Regulus and I was determined. Lily, who had turned into a good friend and was with us quite a bit, she knew what we were planning and she promised to look after Sirius and keep our secret and lie for us if needed. But she did have a very valid concern about how far I was willing to go, what would I do if instead of sitting next to Regulus as a silent husband, I was asked to join, if I could live with myself if I took the mark.

I was too in love to care, but Regulus still remembered what happened to Narcisa and Lily's words stayed with him"

"So he broke up with you"

"Yes and No… he obliviated me"

"WHAT?" asked Draco in complete shock

"Regulus knew that I would not accept a break up and he feared I would do something stupid like offer myself to Voldemort"

"Would you?"

"I don't know, but I can say it would probably cross my mind, going through with it was another thing… still, almost two years of my life were partially gone in an instant and although my friends were confused with some of my behaviour, the one that actually understood what happened was Lily, who was immediately furious at Regulus"

"It's why she cursed him in the corridor and send him that angry message"

"Yes! It was… but there was nothing she could do about it, without my memories I was back pursuing her and she would be lying if she said she didn't like me, but she was a good friend and would not get between me and Regulus"

"But there was no you and Regulus anymore"

"Indeed. After some time she stopped avoiding me and decided to accept going out with me. I wasn't quite the boy she had got to know, but a lot of it was still there and she decided to invest in me"

"But she didn't tell you about the memory charm" said Draco, not too pleased with how the woman had taken advantage of the situation.

"She did eventually, but by then I already knew. An obliviate doesn't actually erase your memory, it hides it and sometimes replaces it with fake ones, but it's definitely not enough to erase how you feel, it's why it's usually used to erase things people don't feel strongly about or memories that didn't have time to sediment. Most of all, it couldn't erase the marks Regulus left on my life, especially because he had done it on impulse, so I still had love notes I knew weren't from Lily and his clothes on my truck. I couldn't understand why we ever stopped talking when I kind of remember I still talked with Lestrange, my friends obviously remembered I was friends with him and they noticed, just like I did, that I suddenly didn't remember things and I always remembered things.

Nothing made sense and my parents started to act weird, so I panicked for a while. But then I started poking and the charm that already had been clumsy slowly fell apart. I knew I was still missing a few things, but most of it came back and slowly I was able to understand what had happened and I felt betrayed and hurt and there were moments I wished I didn't remember.

But what I did have was Lily and we were good together, all that we lived, despite the memory charm, was real, so I decided to choose her as she chose me. She ended up trying to confess to me everything when I asked her to marry me, she didn't feel she could accept it without me knowing the truth, that it wouldn't be fair with Regulus who I had first proposed to. It was then that I also confessed I knew and we had a real talk about our feelings and what we were going to do from there.

Saying I had no feelings for Regulus would be a lie, but the heart doesn't have limits and I knew I loved Lily and wanted to be with her"

"But you could have waited for Regulus!" Draco accused, he knew his cousin was in the wrong, but he couldn't help it.

"He left me, he didn't ask me to wait, I had no idea when the war was going to end… if we were going to make it… there was also a part of me that was still hurt, that still felt betrayed, more than Sirius or the war, what really ended us was the fact that in the end, Regulus let go of me. But Lily and I were happy right there in that moment, so we made the choice to simply be happy and enjoy it.

Not too long after there was a raid and I got badly hurt, a cursed knife on the shoulder and an explosion made me fall and hit my head. Regulus took me and hid with me so he could heal me, something that took some time and when I was finally conscious and lucid, I confronted him.

He was not expecting me to remember, he was not expecting that confrontation at all and I admit neither was I. We both ended up hurting each other with painful truths. I went home heartbroken, but I needed that to properly end things with Regulus. However, he was still worried about me after such a close call, so he sought me again and gave me a little necklace, the one you saw with Lestrange, but the blood inside it was your mother's"

"Why?" asked Draco, his brain furiously going back to the bond.

"Regulus was studying a lot of Dark Magic after he got a lead on what was really keeping Voldemort alive, he knew that old magic would be effective against him and it would be effective in protecting me. Voldemort was promised a child and Regulus gave himself over, but he still killed your mother's child, so in a way, he owed her a life debit…"

"But you and Regulus didn't marry, you wouldn't be able to claim the debit"

"Except Regulus was still carrying my family's ring, because I couldn't make myself take the ring back from him"

"You proposed with your family ring?" Draco asked scandalised, what kind of idiot would give a family ring to someone who was not yet tied to the family?

"My mam thought it was a good idea, show the Blacks I meant it and remind them my family was a traditional one"

Draco could understand the logic and he supposed it was a good plan, but also a very risky one.

"So technically Regulus was still part of your family"

"Yes and this meant I could claim the debit Voldemort owned him, not that it was fair with your mother, she was the one who got hurt and the one who deserved to claim it, but Regulus did it anyway"

"It was how Harry survived, you gave him the necklace"

"Not exactly… no matter the debit, the rules are still a life for a life, Regulus enchantment offered his life for mine, once Regulus was dead, so was the usefulness of the necklace"

Draco was quiet for a moment, Regulus had basically put his life in James' hands and he had no idea if that was brave or very foolish. Maybe both.

"But you kept it…?

"Yes"

"How did it end up with Rabastan then?"

"When news hit about Harry's miracle survivor, Rabastan, much like you, suspected the reason behind it was the necklace, so he went to Godric Hollow to check if his suspicions were correct and to retrieve it, that way no one would know your mother had anything to do with it. He found the empty necklace, but also found how Lily had replicated the enchantment on the nursery with both, the blood inside it and her own"

"She wouldn't have had time to do it on the spot… she made a trap? But you were using the fidelius…"

"Yes… but the idea for the spell came later on and Lily was scared, so she studied the enchantment and replicated it as a last resource…"

"How did no one find out?" Draco frowned.

"Because Rabastan also erased all evidence of it before he left, but not without taking some blood for himself, in case this ever came back to haunt him, after all, years of a very messy history converged on that moment and it worked and it saved Harry's life and Rabastan was never the idiot everyone thought him to be"

"But it didn't do him any good in the end" said Draco somber, he did feel really bad over Rabastan's death, the man had suffered greatly and was never allowed a second chance in life.

"Not for him no… but it was because he didn't really know or understood all that had happened, he thought he could share the protection with that necklace, but magic like that is tricky, it can have unexpected results, because it is not just about what we want when we cast it, this is old magic, it's raw. Rabastan was wearing a necklace that had been enchanted to exchange a life for another, but by dyeing, Rabastan was supposed to take Tom Riddle with him, something that he was cheated on because of the horcruxes, so he took a piece with him, but Voldemort is still alive, which means another life debit, one that could not save Rabastan, because it would not happen if he was saved, but it could save someone else…"

"Wait… why would Rabastan's death kill the Dark Lord?" said Draco completely confused and trying to absorb all that he had heard.

"Because the promise he had made to Radolphus Lestrange was not to "look after his son", he, as a little boy, was tricked into an unbreakable vow where he promised that he or his war would not take the life of a Lestrange heir or end their line"

Draco was gobsmacked, so many things now made sense, but also made him incredibly confused, because somehow the Lestrange family had a huge advantage over the Dark Lord and they still had become servants to the man. It explained however why Rabastan was not concerned about himself and why he was always kept away from most dangerous activities, clearly the Dark Lord didn't trust the man to survive.

It did show how much of a smart bastard Mr. Lestrange had been, not only to get such promise, but he also made his youngest son heir to keep the Dark Lord on his toes and protect the boy he knew would be more vulnerable.

"But shouldn't Rodolphus get the perk instead of Fred?"

"Not at all. Not only Rodolphus is not the heir, but as I told you, old magic is about feelings, Rodolphus was horrible to Rabastan and loyal to the Dark Lord. But Fred Weasley is your friend, it's why Rabastan specifically asked him about you, even if he didn't know he had the right twin"

"He barely knew me"

"But on his own way and despite his broken mind, Rabastan cared deeply about you, he spent years in Azkaban to protect you and your mother"

Draco frowned, he remembered the man had mentioned how his family might have paid for Regulus doing if the Dark Lord knew it, but had given him the impression that it was because of Regulus that Rabastan had cared so much about Draco's mother.

"He didn't do it for us, he did it for Regulus"

"Don't you think it's admirable that he loved Reg enough to give up his life to protect you and your mother?" the man asked, looking confused for the first time.

Draco didn't know what it was to love the way they did, but he supposed he could admit it was quite something.

"I thought he liked you"

"Yes, me and Reg…"

"No, I mean he liked you"

"Yes, me and Reg" the man repeated "He might not have loved wisely Draco, but he loved too well"

Draco was silent for a moment, just looking at the man, there was a kind of piece on his face that felt foreign for Draco and he wondered if it was some kind of peace only the dead could have.

"How did Regulus die?" Draco finally asked.

"He found out Voldemort's biggest secret, but in his innocence Regulus underestimated his madness, thinking there was only one… he thought he was going to end the war, his life in exchange for everyone else's"

"So he knew he was going to die that day"

"He knew and he didn't tell anyone and he forbade Kreacher, who was the only one who knew, to tell it, because he was afraid of what would happen"

"Couldn't the Dark Lord have figured it out?"

"Yes, I think Regulus wanted him to figure it out just out of spite"

"But he never thought Regulus would betray him"

"Never crossed his mind, no"

"Even when people started to say he ran?"

"People believed Sirius was a Death Eater" said the man shaking his head and Draco agreed it was quite ridiculous… they had believed Harry was a liar too.

"Why did no one tried to defend Sirius? I know why my family wouldn't, but I would have expected that his friends or people from the Order would"

"Dumbledore, like a lot of other Order members, also noticed Voldemort's obsession with Sirius, so they became suspicious. At the end of the war the only people that could or would say something to defend Sirius was his mother, Andromeda and Remus"

"But Lupin also believed it was Sirius, because of what he did for my mother" Said Draco and he looked very serious at James, he wanted a straight answer this time and the man clearly noticed because he took a deep breath.

"As you know, the child's magical core is bonded to their mother's until they are fully formed. The day Narcisa lost her child, her core was also damaged by the abrupt separation, which made pregnancy quite difficult. The best solution the healers could find was if a family member gave her their share of family magic. This was too dangerous for either of her parents, not that they wouldn't have done it, but Regulus was there and he was the best option"

"But because of his death, Sirius did it instead, it was what he meant that day I met him"

"Yes, feeling guilty over Regulus' death and about what happened to your mother because he left without telling them the reason, Sirius agreed to help. But it didn't come without consequences, at the time he was living with Remus, who was trying to keep an eye on him for me, and unfortunately, Sirius made Remus really unhappy at that time, Sirius problems were more complicated then Remus knew and he had no idea how to deal with it.

Also their friendship had been suffering for years… Remus never really forgave Sirius for what he did to Snape and then he started to resent Sirius even more because Sirius' on and off relationship with Marlene Mckinnon was hurting her and, unknown to Sirius, it was also hurting Remus, because he liked Marlene"

"Sirius seems to do a lot of bad things without knowing he was doing it"

"He did… I won't lie and say he wasn't self-centred, but the problem was that he was really blind to love and affection in general and Remus never told Sirius about Marlene, he tried to look supportive of them, so Sirius thought they were fine.

Marlene eventually gave up on Sirius and she advised Remus to do the same, initially he thought he couldn't, but then the Mckinnons were murdered and her last advice rang over Remus. It was around that time that Regulus died and Sirius started to help Narcisa, but Remus didn't know the reason, he only knew they were talking"

"And he got suspicious of Sirius and thought he really was a Death Eater"

"Yes, I told him to trust me that he wasn't, but eventually it was too much and Remus left Sirius not long before you were born and then a few months later, Lily had Harry.

When both him and Neville were born at the end of July, Dumbledore confessed to us he was told a prophecy about a child born at the end of July who was destined to end Voldemort and he thought he would have to choose between one of them.

But you see… there was no choice to be made, no matter how good Frank and Alice were as aurors, there was no way this was about some fight, it had to be personal"

"But… Rabastan said prophecies are atemporal, that it was only about Harry because the Dark Lord made it so"

"Yes… and he wasn't completely wrong, but Rabastan also believed the prophecy was about Regulus"

"Regulus…?" Draco asked surprised before he remembered that Regulus was also born in July "he was born on the 29th"

"That prophecy was about a child, the one thing that had hunted Voldemort and it was made when you were born about a child that would be born at the end of July. The thing is, you mother had used Regulus birthday as an excuse for the party, which also was on the 31st of July"

"Death can also be considered a new birth" said Draco, if they were talking about old magic, then they were also talking about old concepts.

"Indeed… so perhaps Voldemort had domed himself without ever knowing, perhaps the prophecy child had been dead all along, who knows? Magic has mysterious ways… but Harry was still born then and I was the one who took Sirius away, who had a relationship with Regulus, which also caused him to go away, and I was the one who knew about Walburga's promise, Voldemort's secret desire"

"But he didn't know that"

"But magic knows and magic remembers" James repeated and Draco was finally reminded that the man was karmic and he felt a bit exasperated "There are a lot of reasons that would lead Voldemort to choose us, some of them conscious, some of them not, but Lily and I knew it was Harry he was gonna come after, which was why she used Regulus enchantment, so in a way you could say he was also responsible for Voldemort's defeat"

"Then why did I end-up being punished? If what saved Harry was what happened to my mother, why did I suffer?"

"No matter who would die in the enchantment, it was your mother that lost her child, so it was only fair that if Harry's life would be saved, so should yours. This is why you're bonded, that magic that saved Harry that night was trying to keep you safe too, your mother's blood saved Harry, so Lily's blood would keep you safe. Had you been attacked by Voldemort before his rebirth using Harry's blood, he would not be able to touch you either"

"But why did it start hurting me when I was five? It almost killed me many times" said Draco confused and frustrated.

"It wasn't supposed to, but when Voldemort's body got ripped, his soul, already too damaged, split in two and attached itself to Harry, an entire different kind of magic, but old too and it caused a conflict. It was his magic that was interfering with the bond, blocking it and then when he hurt Harry it amplified in you because your magic wasn't in sync with Harry's, like Madame Pomfrey said when she noticed the spasms." James said a bit somber, but then he smiled and shocked his head in some kind of amusement "It wasn't supposed to start when you were five either, obviously magic would bring you two together somehow, but turned out both you and Harry were in London on the same day and he walked by one of Diagon Alley's exits to a muggle street, you felt it and followed it, not really knowing you were doing it, then you two bumped into each other and that was it"

"So magic was manipulating us… is that why we…?" Draco hesitated, afraid of the answer.

"No!" said James immediately "No, your feelings are your own, the bond was not trying to force you two together, it was trying to connect you, to keep you two alive, it got messy when it turned into a three way bond, but now that Harry got rid of his connection to Voldemort, it should work normally and then almost fade once he is dead, it is never going to break, magic like this is too strong to not leave a mark, but it will not bother you anymore, you two could even walk away from each other if you so desired"

Draco felt relieved to know that falling for Harry had been his own choice, he had so many things he couldn't choose, it would break him if this too was not real.

And then James' words caught up with him and he frowned.

"Wait, we're not dead yet?"

"Not unless you want to, Harry got rid of the soul fragment by letting Voldemort kill him, but the three of you still share Lily's sacrifice, which means Voldemort set himself on another trap, because now he is the one keeping you two alive"

"I didn't go through all that just to die now!"

"No I suppose you didn't" James said amused.

"But Harry and I will still be bonded… does this mean I can still die again if he does?"

"No, not unless it is Voldemort that does it, but as you just learn, that is not permanent. Any other way won't affect you, but it won't be really nice when the connection breaks even if it's from natural causes, so I suppose it's an encouragement for you to keep Harry out of trouble, I think he had enough for a lifetime" said the man with a smile and mischief on his eyes.

"So that was your plan all along humm?" Draco teased lightly.

And James threw his head back in a laugh, a really free one, and his smile when he turned to him looked a lot like Harry's, but without all the heaviness in his face that his boy still carried. The light around them was growing, James was slowly disappearing with it and Draco's last thought was that he hoped he could see Harry smile like that too.