Chapter 8: Moving On

Harry awoke, as if from dreaming his entire life, on a bench in Platform 9 3/4 in King's Cross Station. It was empty, or at least he thought it was until a hand clapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Pup," Sirius said. "I-"

Harry spun around and wrapped his godfather in a huge hug. "Sirius!"

He laughed. "I missed you too, Harry, but I can't say I'm happy to see you here."

Harry released Sirius and looked around the station. "Um...where is 'here,' exactly?"

"I'm not entirely sure," the older man said, scratching his head. "It's...not really life anymore, but it's not quite death yet, either."

"Oh," Harry said. "I'm dead then? Oh, shit, Daphne!"

"Calm down, Pup." Sirius put his hand on Harry's shoulder again. "I'm definitely dead, but because I went through the Veil like that, I've been able to just hang out here and keep an eye out for you. Boring as all hell, but I figured Lily and Prongs would kick my ass if they found out I let you out of my sight again. You, though...you don't feel dead to me." He paused. "And who's Daphne?"

"Stunning blonde with a much bigger heart than she thinks she has," Harry replied. "You'd love her. We're kind of married."

"What." Sirius stared at him. "Did you remember nothing I told you about the birds and the bees?"

"I remember all of it!" Harry fired back. "I will never forget any of it, no matter how hard I try and oh Merlin have I tried. No, this is actually your fault for making me your heir. I kind of saved her from an arranged marriage, shit got real weird, and long story short I think Voldemort just killed me after we Crucio'd the fuck out of him and all of his Death Eaters. And I definitely killed Bellatrix, so you're welcome."

Sirius blinked. "OK, I really want to hear this, but not right now."

"But why? There's so much I've wanted to tell you!"

"And I'd love to hear it," Sirius said, "but that can wait for your time, Harry. You can choose to go back now if you want, and I think you should."

Harry sighed. "I'm not sure...I've missed you, and I've missed my parents."

"I know, I know," Sirius said as he enfolded Harry in a hug. "But it would be selfish of us to want to see you so soon that we robbed you of a chance to live. Besides, what about your friends, especially the blonde?"

"They'd miss me." Harry blushed. "And I'd miss them, and I suppose I did promise the twins a story. So, this is it?"

"Not at all," Sirius said. "This is just where we part ways again for a bit. We'll meet back up when the time is right and you can tell me all about the insane shit it sounds like you've been up to."

"That sounds good," Harry said. "Will you be OK?"

Sirius nodded. "Definitely. I'm going to stick around here just in case your return to life doesn't go well, but I have a hunch you'll be fine. After that, I think you've finally given me the strength to head where I need to be going, too. I've been worried about you, Pup, more than you'll ever know, but after talking to you just now, I think I've been worried for nothing. You'll be fine, Harry, and probably a better man than I'd have been."

"You were a great one," Harry said, and hugged Sirius one last time.

"Not like you're going to be, trust me," he said. "Now, get going, Pup! I have a train to catch."

"I will." "Harry nodded, tears in his eyes. "Goodbye, Sirius. I...I love you."

"I love you, too, Harry," Sirius replied. "Never forget that."

Harry waved and closed his eyes. When he opened them, he was face-down on a cobbled driveway, and the air was warmer than he remembered.

Harry was just about ready to try to push his sorry ass up enough to get Daphne's attention when she summoned Kreacher, and the side-along apparition disoriented him enough that he wasn't able to say anything until after poor Daphne had been crying for about thirty seconds on her knees next to him. He finally managed to roll over onto his side and croak out, "I'm sorry, Daphne."

Daphne paused her sobbing long enough to look around for the source of the words, and her eyes eventually fell on Harry. "H...Harry?"

He waved his wand weakly. "Probably."

She lunged at him and hugged him so tightly he could barely breathe. "But...you...he...that was a Killing Curse, Harry!"

Harry squirmed a little to secure his oxygen supply before answering. "Yeah, you'd think he'd have tried something different this time."

Daphne froze, then released her embrace and grabbed his shoulders. "Harry Potter, you are impossible!" she shouted as she shook him. "Lord Voldemort himself just hit you with a Killing Curse and you're joking about it?!"

"Hey," Harry said as soon as she stopped scrambling his brains, "he's the one who spent over a decade dead and said, 'Hey, what's the chance that me doing the exact same thing would have the exact same result?' I think this validates my theory that he's an utter pillock, myself."

"You...oh…" she sighed and threw her arms around him. "I am so happy to hear your voice again."

"Same here," Harry said. "I think I was kind of dead there for a bit. What'd I miss?"

"I...um…" Daphne looked down at the ground between them. "I lost my temper and unleashed Fiendfyre on all of them. It had just finished with the pillock pile, to borrow your words, and was about to head back toward us when I summoned Kreacher to take us back here."

"Damn, Daphne." Harry shook his head. "That's amazing. You may have just ended the war."

"You're not mad at me for killing all of those people?" she asked.

"Dumbledore might have been," Harry said, "but I just want the war to be over. I was hoping that we could turn them over to the aurors, but I was wrong and damn near died for it. I respect that you finished the job."

A small smile crept onto her lips. "That…means a lot to me, Harry. Thank you. Um...just so you know, I don't think I can stop the Fiendfyre and it was heading for the house. I apologize for burning your manor down."

Harry shrugged. "Fuck that place. It's probably so full of Dark artifacts that Fiendfyre is the only way to make the entire property livable again. You ordered all of those house elves out, right?"

"Oh shit!" Daphne spun around. "Deary!"

"Yes, New Mistress?" the elf panted. "We is trying to fight the fire, but it is too strong."

"Get the hell out of there!" Daphne said. "Tell all of the house elves with you to come here, instead!"

"What about the prisoner, Mistress?"

"Prisoner?" Daphne's eyes widened and she shot Harry a look of horror he enthusiastically returned. They hadn't even considered the possibility there would be prisoners.

"Yes, Mistress," Deary said. "Mr. Olliwandy is still in the dungeon."

"Get him to St. Mungo's and deliver him to a healer, but don't tell them who you are or where he was and then get back here. Tell the other house elves to come here and let the house burn."

"R...really?" Deary asked.

"Of course!" Daphne said. "Now move it! No one dies for that house, do you hear me?"

Deary nodded and popped away. Harry reached out and patted Daphne's leg. "Good job, Daph."

She sighed. "I nearly killed them out of sheer forgetfulness."

"I'd have been just as distracted if something had happened to you," Harry said. "And we both fucked up by not thinking of the possibility that they had prisoners, but maybe shit like this will teach the Ministry and Dumbledore not to rely on teenagers to fight their wars for them."

Daphne had to laugh at that. "That'd be nice."

Moments later, all three Malfoy elves appeared, and, after introducing themselves, Daphne dispatched them to work with Kreacher in the Black Manor until such time as they were needed elsewhere.

Once they were alone again, Harry took Daphne's hands. "You did a great job today. Thank you."

"You were the one doing most of the work," she replied. "I spent most of the time hiding while you dodged Death Eaters."

He shrugged. "I know, but I've done that a lot. You're the one who just sort of got thrown into all of this and managed to come out on top."

"A lot? You've done that 'a lot'? I'm going to kick Dumbledore's arse so hard his beard falls out! No one our age should have to do that 'a lot'!"

Harry laughed. "Welcome to my life. Now what, though?"

Daphne looked down at the ground again. "Well, your valuable new manor is in the process of burning to the ground because of something I did. Are you sure you're not furious with me?"

"I'm positive," Harry said. "Damn place is probably better off as ash. Plus…" he grinned, "you do realize that you've destroyed all of the evidence, right?"

She blinked. "That is incredibly Slytherin of you, Harry. But why wouldn't you want to take credit?"

"Because I murdered several people, cast two Killing Curses, and my wife unleashed Fiendfyre on an unsuspecting Wiltshire."

"Oh. Shite."

Harry chuckled. "Yeah, I'm tempted to keep this one pretty quiet. I mean, there'll be a paper trail of ownership of the manor passing to me as Lord Black, but with all of the evidence burnt to ash, it's going to be hard for anyone to realize that happened before the Malfoys died rather than as a function of their relationship to me and lack of additional heirs who've reached their majority."

She grinned. "Merlin, Harry, your Slytherin side is sexy, did you know that?"

He grinned right back. "I'll keep that in mind."

"You will?" Her grin faded. "I'm...I guess I'm safe now. You can cut me loose if you want."

"I suppose." He squeezed her hands, the sensation causing her to stare him in the eyes again. Merlin, her eyes were beautiful. "What do you want, though?"

She sighed. "For all of the fucking insanity this last week has dropped in my lap, it may still have been the best week of my life. What about you?"

There was hope in those sapphires again, and Harry's heart nearly pounded its way out of his chest. "Me too. If I had it to do over again, I'd do it all in a heartbeat. Do you want to...try?"

"More than anything," she said, and kissed him. This kiss definitely felt like a promise, one he returned without hesitation.

After the kiss finally faded into an embrace, Harry spoke again. "I know it's been a long day," he said, "but there are still some things we need to do if we're going to try to scrub our involvement in what happened at Malfoy Manor."

"You're probably right," Daphne said. "Where do you think we should start?"

"Fred and George," Harry replied. "Then...well, I have an idea that will hopefully allow us to keep seeing each other at school and keep you safe from your housemates."

"Really? I was actually about to suggest that I withdraw, if you wouldn't mind hiring me some tutors."

"Of course I wouldn't!" Harry said. "I put you in enough danger for one lifetime today. It's just that I want to tie up some loose ends and help you make new friends elsewhere."

As he explained his idea, Daphne's eyes widened. When he finished, she said, "I'm not sure if you should have been sorted to Slytherin or St. Mungo's, Harry. That's either so cunning it's insane or so insane it's cunning."

Harry chuckled. "There are definitely days I wonder about that, too. Are you willing to give it a try, though?"

"I followed you into Malfoy Manor," Daphne said drily. "Of course I am."

He shot her a grin, then said, "Kreacher?"

Kreacher popped up next to them. "Yes, Master?"

"Thank you for all of your help so far today, but I'm afraid we're not done yet. Could you go to Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes and tell Fred and George we won big, but they can't tell anyone just yet and we'll talk to them in the next couple of days?"

Kreacher nodded, and when he was done with that task, they had him return them to Hogwarts, and, because Harry was feeling lazy after dying that afternoon, also retrieve Harry's Potions materials from the toilet. After he was gone, Harry took Daphne's hand. "Are you sure this is OK?"

She nodded. "Better to let him avoid Azkaban than be stuck there as his cellmate."

Harry smiled and led her into the supply closet. She'd tried to protect him from foreknowledge of her parents' likely fate, so he decided to return the favor and not tell her what he thought was actually going to happen. Draco was still there and still looking shocked, just like they'd left him.

"Finite Incantatum," Harry said, releasing Draco.

"Bloody hell," Draco said. "Stupefy! Stupefy!"

Nothing happened.

Daphne sighed. "Draco, I told you I'm Lady Black now."

"But you can't be! I'm the Heir Black!" he said.

Harry and Daphne showed him their rings. He stared for a moment before collapsing against the back wall. "You mean…"

"Welcome to life as a squib," Daphne said.

Draco growled at her and took a step forward, but stopped when Harry raised his wand. The blonde boy desperately cast a few more spells at them, but each fizzled and died. "My parents are going to disown me," he said.

Harry nodded. "We went to see them today, actually," Harry said. "They were really burning with anger about what you did."

Only a very careful observer, one not obsessed with his own loss of status, would have noticed the dirty look Daphne shot Harry at that moment.

"You...saw them?" Draco asked. "But how?"

"It doesn't matter," Harry said. "We've thought about turning you over to the Headmaster, but we'd rather keep our relationship quiet for a bit longer. So I'll make you a deal: take an Unbreakable Vow to tell no one what you've learned about us since you first attacked Daphne unless we turn you in, and we won't."

"What will you vow?" Draco asked.

"Nothing." Harry held out his free hand and Daphne held her wand over it. "My offer is: nothing. This is your only chance to avoid Azkaban, Draco. Take it or I petrify you again and you'll wake up with a Dementor sucking on your tonsils."

"Fuck you," Draco said, but he took Harry's hand anyway. "I vow to tell no one of what I have learned since I first cast the Imperius Curse on Daphne Greengrass this afternoon unless Harry Potter or Daphne Greengrass first tell someone else that I cast an Unforgivable Curse on her."

A spiral of fiery gold light erupted from Daphne's wand and wound its way around Harry and Draco's forearms.

"Good call," Harry said. "Now get out of here before we change our minds." They carefully let Draco out of the closet without lowering their guard and watched him scurry away down the hallway.

"'Burning with anger'?" Daphne asked after he left. "Are you trying to make me laugh inappropriately?"

"Pretty much," Harry said.

She smacked him in the arm. "Prat. Anyway, now what?"

He pulled out the Marauders' Map. "Have you ever snogged in a broom closet before?"

"Um...no." Her eyebrows shot up. "You can't be serious."

"Trust me," Harry said. "This is a critical part of my plan."

"Fine, fine," she said. "You know, if you want to snog in comfort, we have a literal mansion."

"No, it has to be a broom closet, and it has to be...this one." He pointed to a spot on the map. "Come on. We have to hurry."

They jogged up to the broom closet three stories up, arriving tired and out of breath. Harry pulled Daphne inside and immediately began messing up his hair and clothes. "Come on," he told her. "Mess up your hair and clothes."

"Can I...take a breather?" Daphne asked.

"No," Harry said, and proceeded to mess up her hair.

"I don't believe I agreed to this," Daphne said. She did mess up her clothes, though.

"You look perfect," Harry said. "Now I'm going to start kissing you, and I need you to moan like crazy."

"What?"

"Right now, trust me." Harry leaned down and began kissing up the side of her neck.

"You owe me so much for this," Daphne said, and began to moan loudly. She wasn't particularly convincing, but it was a good enough job to attract the two nearest prefects on their dinner-hour rounds.

"All right, you two," a voice said as its owner threw open the closet door. "Come on out and Harry?"

"Hi, Ron," Harry said sheepishly. "Hi, Hermione."

Hermione was just staring at the two of them, utterly speechless.

"Good evening, Prefect Weasley, Prefect Granger," Daphne said. She was still slightly out of breath from the run as she spoke.

Hermione nodded politely, still speechless.

"Harry...were you really just...with a Snake?" Ron asked.

"Daphne and I were just...studying," Harry said, still panting a bit, himself. "Since the end of Potions Class earlier."

"You mean, all afternoon?" Ron asked.

"Harry is an excellent study partner," Daphne said. "He knows exactly the...wand movements I wanted to study."

Harry nearly burst out laughing and realized this was probably Daphne's revenge for earlier.

"But...but…" Hermione's brain had finally managed to find a few words to string together, "we didn't need to learn any new wand movements for Potions class today!"

Daphne smirked. "Prefect Granger, if you only learn what you need, however will you learn what you want?"

Hermione's face turned an adorable shade of pink and it was all Harry could do to keep from laughing so hard he passed out.

Ron took one look at his fellow prefect, sighed, and said, "Well...that's ten points each from Gryffindor and Slytherin, and one detention each for you both later this week in Charms. Hermione, are you going to be OK over there?"

Hermione nodded.

Ron looked at Harry. "Couldn't you have done this somewhere else? I'm going to have to deal with her in this state for the rest of the dinnertime patrol."

Harry shrugged. "Sorry, mate. We got a bit distracted."

"You got distracted," Daphne said. "I got precisely what I wanted. Prefect Granger, do you often get what you really, truly want out of your...study sessions?"

Hermione's pink blush started shading into red.

"Oh, dear. Well, perhaps I could give you some pointers sometime."

Ron sighed. "We're going to be on our way before your girlfriend breaks Hermione, Harry. No hard feelings?"

"Of course not!" Harry said. "It's a fair cop. You won't tell anyone, will you?"

"Tell anyone?" Ron snorted. "I'm going to try to forget this as soon as possible."

As soon as his friends turned the corner, Harry hurried back into the broom closet, shut the door, and burst out laughing. When he finished, he returned to the corridor to find a smiling Daphne waiting for him.

"You know," she said, "initially I was just doing that to get you back for the 'burning' comment, but I couldn't stop after I saw Hermione's reactions."

"She's a little repressed," Harry said.

"I know exactly how that goes," Daphne said. "How do you think I knew how to push her buttons?"

Harry raised his eyebrows. "You're terrifying sometimes, do you know that?"

"Yes, and keep that in mind when you answer the next question: what in the name of Merlin's filthy pants did that little incident have to do with your plan?"

"We're establishing an alibi," Harry said, "and laying the groundwork for us to be seen together whenever we want."

"And you wanted to mess with Ron and Hermione," Daphne added.

"And I wanted to mess with Ron and Hermione," Harry admitted. "All right, let's get some dinner separately and go back to our rooms. They won't spread that rumor yet, and the next day is going to be critical."

"All right." She sighed. "How in Merlin's name have you done stuff like what we just did and then come back to school like a normal student?"

Harry wrapped her in a hug. "You feel set apart from everyone else, don't you? Like this is a place for children, and you'll never be a child again."

She nodded against his shoulder.

"It gets harder each year," Harry said, "but I've never really had friends before, and they keep me grounded here. I'd miss them terribly. We...we could afford to hire private tutors for you if you wanted, but then I'd feel like I was caging this beautiful, gorgeous, clever girl up in my house for only me to enjoy. You deserve better."

"You're not wrong, but Pureblooded families raise all of their daughters for life in that cage," Daphne said.

Harry shrugged. "Well, fuck them anyway. You deserve the world, Daph, and the world deserves you."

Daphne released Harry from her embrace, grabbed him, and hauled him straight back into the broom closet. "No interruptions this time," she practically growled, and summoned Kreacher.

That was also the evening they discovered Deary was an absolutely astonishing cook.