The room was gloomy. Not because of the light, which was arrogantly blazing from the ceiling in a line of lamps, but rather because the rays reflected off of their grim faces and highlighted with mockery their pale skin and their eye bags. Hermione was seated next to Ron, her hands around his, and her head resting on his shoulders. Her pink cheeks carried long streams of tears starting to dry, fossilized on her face as a memory of their night. Ginny and Ron were both too shocked to visibly convey their emotions, leaving their eyes dry. Draco was looking forward, his gaze was absorbed in the clear recall of Harry's final glare. They had been waiting in this cafeteria for two hours, and although the morning sun was almost about to rise and replace the hospital's artificial lighting, they had still not heard from Gary or Harry. After letting out a sigh and kissing Hermione's head, Ron slowly got up from his uncomfortable chair. He went to the coffee machine and bought one cup for each of his friends, mostly to keep his mind busy. Nobody drank anything after he set the steaming cups in front of them. Nobody even glanced down at their coffee, too preoccupied to ponder the recent events.

"You wanted to tell us something, Hermione?" Luna suddenly broke the silence, her hand still absently stroking Ginny's arm.

Hermione looked up at the young woman, trying to understand what she meant.

"Before it happened, you were announcing something."

"Oh."

Hermione glanced at Ron and then at her paper cup, which she didn't want to touch, the scent of the coffee latte making her want to vomit. She had no desire to share her pregnancy anymore, not while Saki remained between life and death and while Harry suffered once again because of their world. She shook her head under Ron's patient gaze, a new fresh tear forming in the corner of her eye.

"It's nothing, it can wait."

To Hermione's relief, Gary eventually emerged from the elevators, drawing attention toward him. He proceeded to the table, sitting on an empty chair next to Ron. Even Ginny, who hadn't moved in two hours, looked up at him in search of an answer.

"She will be okay." He declared as Ron handed him Hermione's coffee cup.

The room let out a collective sigh of relief as if everyone had been holding their breath for too long. Ginny buried her face in her cold hands, under the sympathetic gazes of her friends.

"I contacted a healer, but Harry doesn't know that. Maybe we shouldn't tell him… He got enough shocking information for tonight." The man added.

Hermione pinched her lips, not knowing where to start. Gary was quietly drinking from the cup Ron had given him. He finished his drink and put the cup down, his eyes finally meeting the brushy-haired woman.

"I know you probably have a lot of questions. I have too. Harry way more than us. Please give him some time. What happened is tremendously hard for him to digest, but he will talk to you again, trust me."

Hermione and Ron silently nodded, while Draco felt Gary's eyes fall on him.

"What happened? Who were these men?" The older man asked him directly.

Draco gulped. He knew the events would fall on his shoulders eventually.

"I... I think it's my fault. They found the original picture of Harry at my friend's place... I think they spied on me."

Gary's look got darker and darker.

"What picture?"

"A picture my friend took when he was in New York, at the club... It's this picture that proved to us Harry was alive…"

Gary didn't answer directly. He kept scrutinizing Draco for a while, then nodded.

"I see." He only said.

"Are you… Are you a wizard?" Hermione finally dared to ask when she felt the tension rising.

Gary drifted his gaze from Draco to focus on her.

"I am."

"Do you know who we are?"

"I think I know you," he replied, his finger pointing at Hermione and Ron. "I reckon I saw you in a newspaper."

He looked at the others.

"I don't think I know who you are," he told Luna and Ginny. "And you," He refocused on Draco, who lowered his eyes to the table. "I am not sure about you, I suspected something, but I gave you a chance because you were with these people, who, from my recollection, were Harry's best friends. I just hope I was right to trust you as well, young man."

"You can trust him." Hermione said. Ron looked slightly more skeptical beside her.

The fact Gary was a wizard explained everything. It explained the suspicious looks he had given Hermione when they had met, it explained the way he had observed Draco's tattoo, how he had adopted Harry so easily, and how Harry had been protected from the rest of the world these past two years. Hermione finally put all the pieces together, and everything made sense.

"So you knew who Harry was…" she murmured

"Of course I did. I stepped away from the wizarding world for many years, decades I shall say, but who doesn't know who this boy is."

"Is this why you adopted him?"

"I did what I could to protect him."

Draco, who had been listening in silence, raised his eyes above Gary when he felt a new presence in the room. Harry was behind his father, standing at the entrance of the cafeteria. "Harry…"

The group turned toward him, and Harry's eyes met Gary's who had just finished his sentence.

"Harry…" The man parroted Draco.

Harry glared at him for a small second, then rushed in the opposite direction toward the elevator he had just come from.

"Harry!" Gary called louder.

He rose to his feet and ran after his son who had already disappeared from sight.

"Harry stop!"

He managed to catch him up and grabbed him by the arm.

"Leave me alone!" Yelled Harry, as he got away from his grip.

"Harry, listen to me!"

But the young man continued his way to Saki's room without looking at his father.

"Listen to me! Son!"

Harry abruptly came to a halt. Slowly, he whirled around to face him. "Who are you…"

Gary sighed. He took another step toward his son, who stepped back at the same time. "Can we talk, please?" He indicated a bench in a waiting area next to the corridor. Harry looked at the seat, then reluctantly trudged to the empty waiting room, followed by Gary. He slouched on the bench, his eyes locked on the white wall in front of him. Gary waited patiently for a sign of whether his son wanted to ask questions or whether he should explain himself. Harry remained quiet for a long minute. His legs were bouncing up and down in an anxious rhythm, while his fingers suffered once again from his nails.

"Who are you?" He asked again.

"I'm your dad"

Harry didn't look satisfied with this answer as he frowned in silence.

"My name is Gary Byrd, and I am the same man you have known for two years."

"But you're a wizard."

"Yes. Yes, I am a wizard, even if I tend to think about this part of me in the past. I've been living in the muggle world for thirty years now."

"Why?"

Harry still didn't look at him, talking to the wall instead. Gary was patient, he knew him too well.

"I will tell you all about me, I promise."

They remained quiet. Only the back-and-forth passing of nurses or patients in front of the opened door generated noises.

"So you adopted me because I am Harry Potter? You're just like the others?" Harry finally asked, with a strong bitterness in his voice.

"No, Harry. It's not like that." He went to reach Harry's hand, but the young man removed it swiftly. "When Saki called me that day, she described to me a boy who needed help. And so I came. I will be honest with you, Harry. Yes, I recognized you, I knew who you were. But before seeing Harry Potter, I saw a young boy who was lost, confused, who seemed to have suffered a lot, and who needed help. That's what I saw, and this is why I adopted you, Harry."

"Why didn't you send me back to England…?" He muttered, not looking convinced by Gary's explanations.

"I don't believe in chance, Harry. I don't think you ended up in Japan with no memory for no reason. I know too well how cruel the Wizarding World can be, as I myself stepped back from it. I couldn't send you back to a place where you could be in danger or a place you decided to flee. I knew nothing about what had happened to you, so I decided to act as a parent, and I helped a boy who needed me more than anyone else. I didn't protect Harry Potter, I protected Harry Byrd, my son. You need to believe me, you are the most important part of my life... I can't imagine my life without my son. "

Harry was still staring at a random prevention poster on the wall, but he was listening attentively. Then, for the first time since he had met him, he witnessed his father crying. He averted his eyes from the poster as soon as he heard the older man sniffing, and saw the tears rolling down his wrinkly cheeks into his mustache.

"And now I'm afraid." Gary continued shakily "I'm afraid you might reject me, that you won't consider me as your father anymore… I'm sorry Harry, I'm sorry I hurt you. "

Harry opened his mouth, but nothing came out. The sight of his father showing his vulnerability was so unusual it prevented him from reacting. The fact that he was the reason for these rare tears made him feel immediately guilty. He cautiously approached his father by sliding on the bench, before gently touching his hand. Gary first glanced at Harry's fingers resting on top of his, then up to his now-tear-filled green eyes. They looked at each other for a moment, before Harry buried his head into the older man's neck and circled his arms around him in a tight embrace, which the man gave back with all the love a father could physically express.

"You'll always be my dad. Always."

(***)

Ginny timidly knocked at the door leading to Saki's room, but she didn't wait for an answer to quietly open and tiptoe inside the dimly lit room, where a single bed presided in the middle, surrounded by various kinds of chairs. Two of them were occupied; one in the back of the room by Gary, who was dozing off, and one beside the bed where Harry was deeply asleep, his head lying on the mattress, his hand clutched in Saki's fingers. The sound of the door made Gary reopen his eyes, and as soon as he saw Ginny in front of the threshold, he staggered to his feet, his book sliding from his thighs and falling on the chair.

"Oh no, I can come back later, I'm sorry." Ginny whispered to him, her hand already back on the doorknob. However, Gary headed to the door and pattered her shoulder gently. It was the first time he touched her.

"Please stay, I'm going to drink a cup of coffee."

He looked furtively at his son and Saki, both deeply asleep.

"Take care of them."

He removed his hand from her shoulder and exited the room, leaving her alone with the two loves of her life. She approached the bed toward a chair on the other side of Harry's, where she slowly sat. She took Saki's other hand, it was cold. Cold but alive. She could feel her heartbeat through her wrist, a sweet beat reminding her she was still there among the living, with Harry, and with her. It had been unbearable to watch her in Harry's arms; she had pictured Harry in Hagrid's arms, his brother in the great hall, Tonks and Lupin hand in hand; she had been propelled back to the war, where she had lost too many loved ones. But Saki was alive. She was breathing in this bed, her pale skin was covering veins filled with blood, streaming through her body, making her heartbeat and her brain work. She was alive.

Ginny turned her attention to Harry, his long black hair spread on the blanket covering half of his arm. His tattooed hand squeezed firmly into his sister's as if she might leave him or vanish if he didn't. For the first time in her life, Ginny really understood what she felt for him. He was her brother. She wanted to protect him and love him more than any boyfriend. She wanted to give him this eternal love she only felt for her family, this love that went far beyond the one she kept for friends or lovers. He was too important.

She gently stroked his locks with her free fingers until her touch woke him. Harry raised his head, his exhausted eyes meeting hers with a confused look.

"Hi" she murmured, as he straightened up in his chair. He stared at her for a few seconds in silence, then parroted "Hi."

"Are you okay?"

He lowered his gaze to watch Saki and nodded. They remained quiet, both looking at the young woman, incapable of starting a normal conversation. Ginny kept glancing at him, but he never reciprocated.

"Your dad told us she will be okay. She might wake up soon" she said, knowing she wouldn't get a response. And she was right. He merely nodded, as he squeezed Saki's hand even harder.

"We missed you" She finally declared, after a minute of silence.

He took some time to react. He even took some time to look up at her.

"Why didn't you tell me anything?" He asked, with a hoarse voice.

It was her turn to take her time to respond.

"We thought it was better not…"

"Why?"

"Because you were happy…"

"What made you think I was happy?"

She could feel the bitterness in his voice. She tried to meet his gaze, but his eyes were fixed on Saki.

"We didn't know, Harry… maybe we were wrong, maybe we made a mistake, but for the first time in our lives, we saw you genuinely smile and laugh, surrounded by people who only loved you for who you were, we saw you looking healthy, glowing, without the weight of the world on your shoulders." She paused, waiting for a reaction she didn't get, so she continued. "So yes, you must have been through a lot of shit these past two years, I can't imagine what it's like to lose your memory, but should we have added this to you? Would you have been happier?"

"This is not up to you to decide what makes me happy." He muttered.

"I know. I know Harry… We didn't know what to do, we acted like we thought it was best for you, and I'm sorry if we took the wrong decision... But we missed you so much, Harry. These years without you have been a living hell for all of us, for me…Please talk to us… Go talk to Hermione and Ron, they're probably the ones who struggled the most after your disappearance…"

He stayed silent, a long silence that was crushing her heart at each second.

"How did you find me?"

"We've been looking for you tirelessly, but we couldn't find any trace of you, nothing. Then the Ministry of Magic declared you dead… it was terrible for everyone, our family, friends… we tried to go on with our lives, but it felt so empty, so wrong... Until Draco found a picture of you at the club, and everything changed."

Harry's face appeared confused at the mention of the ministry of magic, then sullen at the mention of Draco.

"Do you remember everything…?"

He shook his head. "No, it's still a bit blurry."

"Do you remember what happened before losing your memory?"

"No... Not really"

"I see, it will come back little by little, don't worry"

He looked up at her, his gaze softening gradually.

"Will you help me..?"

"Of course Harry, of course! Anything." She hurried to say with a smile on her face. "I can show you pictures, talk to you about everyone, everything, anything you want to know. Just ask me."

"Thank you"

Harry spent a few seconds contemplating her face, his green eyes she loved so much making her cheeks blush.

"You look great, Ginny." He said.

It made her cheeks blush even more.

"Thank you…"

"I bet I have a lot to catch up on" He murmured with a hint of amusement.

Ginny chuckled as well, relieved to see him smile for the first time after the bloody events. He suddenly got up from his seat, letting Saki's hand go, as he moved closer to Ginny, then stopped beside her chair. She watched him draw closer with a surprised expression splattered on her face, unsure of what he wanted to do. She got up in a hesitant motion, her head at the level of his chest. Then, he took her in his arms, in the most gentle embrace she had ever received from him.

"Thank you." He whispered "for having looked for me all this time"

She squeezed his back with her small hands, her face buried in the clean shirt Gary had brought him to replace the torn and bloody one.

"Thank you, Harry, for having survived, and for having found a way to reconstruct your life."

(***)

Harry entered his apartment and stayed at the entrance for a few minutes, his back leaning against the door. He was exhausted, and even though he knew Saki wouldn't wake up this day, he actually felt bad for letting her sleep in this hospital room without him. He sighed heavily and headed to his couch where he sprawled, too tired and lazy to take the shower he sorely needed. His head hurt, and the flashes of the fresh events blended with old memories resurfacing from the darkness turned before his closed eyes. He had refused to talk with the others, as he wasn't feeling ready to face them yet. He hadn't been ready to face Ginny either, but he hadn't had a choice since he had woken up right in front of her. So when his father told him to get some rest, he hurried out before being caught by Ron, Hermione, Luna, or even worse, Draco.

The rays of the morning sun beat violently on his face, damaged by the attack, but that didn't seem to prevent him from falling into a restless and confused semi-sleep. Time seemed to have stopped, he didn't know if he had stayed on his couch for a few minutes or many hours, when someone knocked on his door, forcing him to reopen his eyes and get up. His mind suggested it would be his dad, or Chloë, Steve, or Albert who would have just found out about the attack, but he deep down dreaded another reality, and he was right. Behind the door he slowly opened, Draco was standing, his lips clamped together and his eyes already apologizing. He wanted to close the door in his face, to lock it, and never see his gray eyes again, but he did nothing. They remained silent, face-to-face, staring at each other. Draco didn't ask him to enter, and Harry didn't offer him to. But when he understood that the young man wouldn't leave, Harry eventually turned against the wall reluctantly, creating space to let him pass. Hesitantly, Draco stepped forward and headed to the living room with his coat still on, too bashful and embarrassed to take it off in such an awkward atmosphere.

"Hi…" Draco started, his voice slightly shaking.

Harry abstained from greeting him, he stood behind him, not far from the entrance.

"What do you want" he spat.

"I wanted to know if you were okay…"

"I'm fine. If that's all you can leave now."

"Please, Harry…"

Draco attempted a move toward him, but Harry's stare and crossed arms refrained him.

"I don't understand," Harry said, "why did you come to America, what were you looking for?"

"I wanted to apologize to you"

"And what were you waiting for?"

Draco sighed, he knew this time would come one day.

"I needed to apologize to the Harry who knew… who remembered who I was and what I did…"

Harry chuckled, which made Draco's blood freeze in his veins.

"Oh, I see, so in the meantime, you used the situation to have some fun, what were you thinking, you wanted to use me to better humiliate me? To try some weird experiments with the one you hate so much? With bloody Potter? Or maybe you wanted to get information for your daddy and your little friends, so that they could come and try to kill me, and kill Sak…"

"Because I love you." Draco cut him.

"What…?"

"I love you." He repeated.

Harry stared at him for a long time, his mouth hanging open but no sound coming out. He could have asked her to repeat it again and again, only to hear those three words from his mouth again. Those three words had even more impact today, now that he remembered who was really in front of him.

"I didn't know about what happened last night, you need to believe me! I changed Harry… I promise, I stepped away from this world right after the war! And I know it's partly my fault, they have been following me and I unwillingly led them to you, but I didn't know, I'm so sorry…" He begged, his wet eyes sinking into Harry's. "And I never tried to play with you or humiliate you! Everything I told you or did with you all this time together was genuine and honest, I'm so sorry Harry, I'm sorry for everything, for the past, for what I did, for what my family did, I'm sorry. And I love you. I know it sounds weird, I know it doesn't make sense to you, and it didn't make sense to me either, but it's the truth... I love you, I can't help it, and I would do anything to protect you"

"I don't need your protection…"

It was actually not true. But Harry didn't know how to react, his heart swayed between the person he had hated all his teenage years, and the man for whom strong feelings had newly emerged; It was as if he was in front of two people, the worst enemy of his past, and the first love of his present.

Draco wiped away his tears with his sleeve and nodded in defeat. He didn't seem to want to insist, maybe because he wanted to respect Harry's consent, or maybe he knew he didn't deserve to be forgiven. He thus slowly walked towards the front door, passing Harry, who had remained frozen next to the console. He brushed it without looking at him, determined to leave the young man alone for the rest of the day, or perhaps forever, when he felt something soft and warm gripping his fingers, making him stop.

"Wait…" said Harry.

Draco looked down and saw Harry's hand around his. He had grabbed it on his way and was squeezing it to hold him. Draco looked up from their hands to his face, which was approaching him before he had time to understand what was going on. Harry stopped inches from him, so close he could smell Saki's blood and the dust on his skin, so close he could see all the little scratches on his face and neck. Draco shyly raised his hand and brushed his thumb over his scratched cheek, and Harry didn't flinch. On the contrary, after a few moments of welcoming Harry's gaze into his eyes, the latter moved closer to his lips and, in a frozen moment, he kissed him. It was the longest and most intense kiss Draco had ever received, a kiss that gave him immense pleasure as well as inflicted great pain. A kiss that reminded him that their love would be difficult, but that he could never love anyone else.

"What does that mean?" He murmured when Harry let his lips go. His cheeks were wet from the tears they had shared.

"I'm not sure." Harry whispered in a lower tone. "I'm afraid I may be falling in love too…"

Draco smiled, he couldn't have asked for a better answer. He gently rested his forehead against his, his hand still on his now wet cheek.

"So you forgive me?"

"I will, one day."

"Thank you, Harry… Thank you so much"

"It won't be easy."

"It won't."

"And I still need time to process everything."

"Of course."

"It doesn't make sense."

"I know."

"I'm still mad."

But his voice sounded far from being mad, which made Draco grin.

"It's okay, you have all the right to be mad."

They remained in this position, in this dark entrance which welcomed no light, forehead to forehead, eyes closed. Draco caressed his cheek in a slow, delicate rhythm, with a soothing softness that made Harry want to fall asleep against him. They could stay there for hours, just in each other's presence.

"I love you, I love you, I love you," Draco repeated over and over to Harry, for Harry, and for himself.