Chapter Ten ~ Hermione's Hug
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Draco woke up to feel someone's eyes on him. His silver eyes snapped open and he looked hopefully down at Harry. Damn. He was still asleep. Draco was still lying next to Harry on the bed in the hospital wing. He raised his head and looked around the room to see who was staring at them. It was Hermione.
"Hi", she said softly. "I wanted to give you this," she held an envelope in her hands. She passed it to Draco, who was looking a bit confused. He sat up on the bed next to Harry.
"Harry gave it to me yesterday, to give to you if anything happened to him. I thought you should have it," Hermione said, giving him a fierce hug and then turned and left the room.
Draco stared after her in a bit of a daze and then stared down at the envelope. There was his name written in Harry's sure hand. He slowly turned the envelope over in his hands. He wasn't entirely certain that he wanted to open it. He knew that Harry only meant for Hermione to give this to him in the event of his death and he felt like opening it was admitting that Harry might never wake up. Don't be silly, he chided himself, opening an envelope is not going to have an effect on Harry's health. Draco ripped open the envelope and took out the piece of parchment inside. With trembling hands, he unfolded the letter. His eyes filled with tears before he even started reading, just staring down at Harry's handwriting was enough to get him started. He took a deep breath and started reading.
Dear Draco,
I love you more than anything else in this world. If you're reading this letter then I am not there to tell you that myself. It may have taken us a while to admit that what we felt so passionately for each other was love, not hate but our time together, however short, has meant everything to me. You make life worth living. You are my soul mate. I'm sure of it. Never before have I felt anything as deep as my love for you. I've never really had a family before, the muggles don't count. You are my family. You make me feel loved and needed in a way I've never felt before. Thank you for that, you have no idea how much that means to me.
I used to make myself miserable, thinking of all the time we spent arguing that could have been better spent enjoying each other's company. But I know now that everything happens when it is meant to happen. Just like my death. It might not seem that way now, but this is meant to be. There is a reason for it – we just don't know what it is yet.
Lately I've found myself awake long after you've fallen asleep. I love to watch you sleep. Actually as I write this you are lying asleep beside me. You look so peaceful and so gorgeous. I've never told you this, but I have a little fantasy I like to play with in my mind – you and I together forever, living together, getting married and growing old together. If you're reading this letter then that is not meant to be. It breaks my heart to think that it might not come true. I was counting on it.
But even if I'm not there to tell you this everyday please remember that I love you with all my heart and soul. You are an incredible person Drac. Strong, courageous, intelligent, beautiful. You can do great things in your life. Live your life and I'll be waiting for you when you're done.
Remember -
I believe in you,
I love you,
HarryBy the time Draco finished reading the letter, there was no stopping the tears that were pouring down his face. He dropped the letter on the table beside the bed and faced Harry. He cupped Harry's face in his hands and started pleading with him to come back.
"Harry! Harry, I need you, I can' t lose you. Not after all that we've been through. Please come back to me," Draco kissed Harry desperately.
Draco nearly fell off the bed when he felt Harry's lips move beneath his own. He pulled back a bit and stared down at Harry's face. Harry's eyelids were fluttering slightly.
"Harry?" Draco asked earnestly, praying, hoping, pleading for a miracle.
Harry's eyes opened, staring straight up into Draco's eyes for a second and then closed. Draco watched, holding his breath. Harry's eyelids were fluttering more strongly now, as if he were struggling to open his eyes and keep them open. Finally Harry's eyes opened. He blinked furiously for a minute before his eyes adjusted to the light.
"Draco?" Harry whispered confusedly.
"Harry! It's okay, you're okay. You're in the hospital wing. I was so worried about you," Draco said as he gently brushed Harry's hair off his face.
Harry stared up at Draco's tear-stained face. It must have been serious, he thought. The last thing I remember is…a flash of green light coming straight at me!
"What happened?" Harry asked urgently.
"You don't remember?" Draco asked, sounding even more worried, if that's possible.
"I…I remember…green light…the Great Hall…Voldemort!" As he said his enemy's name, Harry sat bold upright in the bed. "Is he dead? I remember now. We tried to curse each other with Avada Kedavra."
"I don't know if he's dead. I haven't heard anything. They'll come here soon and let us know what's going on. Just lay back and relax," Draco said soothingly, pulling Harry back down with him onto the bed. I need to get his mind off Voldemort, he thought, stress like this isn't good for him.
"Hey," Draco said, with a broad smile. "Guess which two people got together last night!"
"Who?" Harry immediately asked, shameless curiosity burning in his eyes.
"No! You have to guess!" Draco teased mercilessly.
"Well, it would have to be two people who were in our apartment last night, right?"
"Yes."
"Let's see, Lucius and Narcissa are already together, as are Ron and Hermione. That leaves Dumbledore, Sirius and Remus. Please tell me it's Sirius and Remus! I don't even want to think about one of them with Dumbledore."
"It is Sirius and Remus. They came by last night and I woke up to find them snogging at the end of your bed.
"Hey! What about my Mum and Dad?" Harry cried anxiously, as more of the night's events came back to him. Talk of two of the Marauders triggering more memories. "Where are they?" He said, struggling to get up.
"They were just an illusion, Harry," Dumbledore said gently, as he entered the room. Harry fell back on the bed in despair. "If they were alive, they would never have left your side."
"We knew as soon as we entered the Great Hall that it must have been a trick. They would never have left you," Sirius said. He paused, "Once you are healthy again and all this is over. We'll take you to see your parent's graves," said Sirius as he followed Dumbledore into the room. He was followed by Remus and they were holding hands. "You've never been there before and I think that lack of closure is making you more susceptible to the idea that they might come back someday. I wish they could but they can't. I think you need to see for yourself and come to terms with that."
Sirius and Remus sat on the bed beside Harry's. Dumbledore stood at the end of Harry's bed, looking very serious. Draco was still lying on Harry's bed. Harry stopped trying to get up and lay back while Sirius was talking. Ron and Hermione had arrived while Sirius was talking and were sitting on the bed on the other side of Harry's.
"Harry. Voldemort is not dead. We have him and Mr. Pettigrew hanging from the manacles in Mr. Filch's office. The Ministry have been informed and Mr. Fudge should be here soon to interrogate them. Draco, your parent's have decided to go back to Malfoy Manor today. They are meeting a group of Aurors there and your parents are going to go through all the dark arts items which will be given to the Ministry. I think there was also talk of redecorating in pastel tones. Anyway, they said to tell you goodbye and the two of you are welcome to stay there after graduation, if you want."
Dumbledore stopped speaking as someone knocked on the door. Madam Pomfrey came bustling in followed by Mr. Fudge.
"Where are they?" Fudge demanded as he entered the room.
"They are in Mr. Filch's office. Professor Snape has prepared the Veritaserum for both the prisoners," Dumbledore said calmly.
"Veritaserum? I hardly think we need to use that," Fudge said scornfully. Dumbledore fixed a steely gaze on Fudge, who paled. "Alright. Veritaserum it is. Let's go."
Harry jumped out of bed, there was no way he was missing this. Luckily he was still dressed in the clothes he had been wearing during his battle with Voldemort.
Draco hopped out of bed too and took Harry's hand. He didn't want to be clingy but he wanted to be as close to Harry as he could.
"Mr. Potter, what do you think you're doing?" Madam Pomfrey asked, pursing her lips disapprovingly.
"Poppy, he needs to see this. He needs to hear what Voldemort has to say for himself," Dumbledore said firmly. Madam Pomfrey frowned at this but did not object to Harry leaving the room. Everyone except Madam Pomfrey left the hospital wing and walked down to Filch's office.
Professor Snape was waiting for them, with two bottles of potion in his hand. Harry was stunned to see Snape looking at him with what looked like concern in his eyes. Inside the office, the two prisoners were still hanging upside down. Wormtail looked like he'd been crying the whole time he'd been there and Voldemort just looked furious and a little bit stunned that he had somehow ended up in this humiliating position.
"Mr. Pettigrew first," Dumbledore instructed Snape, who nodded and proceeded to pour the potion down his throat before Fudge could interrupt. Luckily the swallowing reflex works while people are hanging upside down so Wormtail couldn't help but swallow the potion.
"Alright, Peter Pettigrew, is it?" Fudge asked incompetently. Sirius impatiently stepped forward.
"Allow me. Peter, were you James and Lily's secret keeper?"
"Yes," he snivelled.
"Did you tell Voldemort where he could find them?"
"Yes."
"Why?" At this soft question from Remus, Wormtail gasped and tried to stop himself from speaking.
"I…Iwantedpower. You three were always much more powerful wizards than I was. I may as well have been a squib! When we graduated, the three of you got great jobs and I had nothing. Then one day I met Lord Voldemort and he offered to make me a Death Eater. It's a really prestigious job. People everywhere fear you. I had to tell him where they were to prove to him how loyal I am. I thought the three of you would have been able to protect yourselves, Lily and Harry."
Sirius looked disgusted. His former friend obviously believed what he was saying, since he was under the influence of Veritaserum.
"Whatever," Fudge dismissed the entire conversation as irrelevant. "What I need to know is, did Black cast the spell that killed all those muggles?"
"No," Wormtail replied simply.
"Who did?" Fudge asked sceptically.
"I did."
"Why?"
"I faked my own death to frame Sirius. I knew everyone thought he was the Potter's secret keeper and they would blame him for the whole thing."
Both Remus and Sirius looked furious. So many years lost because of this spineless little rat. Fudge turned to face the group of people listening to the interrogation.
"Alright," he sighed, "I'm prepared to declare Sirius Black innocent of all charges."
"Perhaps it might be a good idea if The Daily Prophet ran a front page story about Sirius' innocence. Otherwise there could be problems if people think a murderer is on the loose," suggested Dumbledore.
"Fine, fine," agreed Fudge. At Dumbledore's urging, he scribbled down a note explaining the situation and gave it to Dumbledore who asked Ron and Hermione to go to the owlery to send it to the Prophet office straight away.
"Now, about last night. What was the plan?" Fudge turned his attention back to Wormtail.
"I don't know," Wormtail looked around at the disbelieving faces. "I really don't. I can't lie. All I had to do was guard the Potter's and bring them in when my Master sent for me."
"What happened when you entered the Great Hall?" asked Fudge.
"I kept my wand trained on the Potter's but I could see past them to my Master and Harry arguing. They started duelling and they both sent the killing curse at each other. I took my eyes off the Potter's to watch as my Master fell. When I looked back, they were both gone. I don't know where they went."
"Okay, that's enough from him. Snape, give You Know Who the serum," Fudge ordered.
Snape scowled at him but did as he asked. Or at least, he tried to. Voldemort clenched his jaw shut and moved around as much as he was able to stop them from giving him the potion.
"Stupefy," said Dumbledore, his wand pointed at the Dark Lord. Voldemort hung limply from the manacles. Snape poured the potion into his mouth.
"Enervate," Dumbledore said and Voldemort woke up and reflexively swallowed the potion, grimacing.
"What happened to the Potter's?" asked Fudge.
"They were an illusion, designed to distract Harry and make him give me the Malfoy's. I couldn't believe it when he turned me down. I underestimated his love for the young Malfoy. I won't make that mistake again," he hissed. The truth had never been so repulsive.
"What were you going to do with the Malfoy's?"
"Kill them. Well, maybe torture them first, but then kill them, and Harry too. They are traitors. They deserve to be punished."
"I have a question," Dumbledore interjected. Fudge stepped aside to allow him to talk to Voldemort. "There was a book in the Restricted Section here that appeared one day and was gone the next. Who placed the book on the shelves and then removed it after Harry had read it?"
"Pansy Parkinson," Voldemort spat out. Everyone gasped (except Fudge and Sirius, who weren't familiar with the students).
"Was she under the influence of the Imperius curse?"
"No."
"She voluntarily agreed to do this?"
"She begged me to let her do it," Voldemort said scathingly. "She nearly drove me insane with her whining before I agreed to let her do it."
Dumbledore stepped aside to allow Fudge to continue with his questioning. He looked deep in thought as he listened to the interrogation.
Eventually the sordid details of all of Voldemort's devious plans came out, each revelation more shocking than the last. Fudge had brought some Dementors with him to escort the two prisoners to Azkaban.
"WHAT?!" Sirius screamed. "You're just going to throw them in prison? Surely they deserve the Kiss for what they've done!"
There was a general murmuring in the room as almost everyone agreed with him. Fudge looked incensed.
"I am the Minister of Magic and it is my job to decide on the appropriate punishment for these prisoners. I have decided that they will serve a life sentence in Azkaban and that is my final decision," Fudge turned to leave.
"The Dementors are on Voldemort's side. Do you really think they are going to throw him in prison?" Dumbledore said sharply. Fudge turned around, his eyes flashing angrily.
"They will do what I tell them to do," he snapped and left before anyone could respond.
"Let's get out of here before the Dementors come in," Harry said with a shiver. He had no wish to relive his parent's death again if he could help it. The group moved out of Filch's office and into the Great Hall.
"Harry and Draco, I will keep an eye on the Voldemort situation just to be sure but it should be safe now. You can move back into the Gryffindor dorm now. I'm sure you won't have a problem with having to share a bed," Dumbledore said, the characteristic twinkle in his eye had returned after his altercation with Fudge. Draco and Harry grinned and raced off to pack their things.
"Now, Sirius and Remus. Do you have any plans now that Voldemort and Wormtail have been captured?" Dumbledore asked.
Remus and Sirius looked at each other and shrugged.
"I haven't thought that far ahead," Sirius said and Remus agreed with him.
"I seem to be short a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher now that Lucius has left. Would the two of you be interested in team teaching the class until the end of the year? Then we could discuss the possibility of extending the contract for the next school year."
Remus leapt at the chance to resume his old position. He loved teaching and to team teach with Sirius would be wonderful.
Sirius grinned. This was a chance to wreak havoc on the school in a whole new way.
"We'd love to," they replied.
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Draco lugged his heavy trunk up the stairs to the seventh year boys' dorms in Gryffindor Tower. The rest of the students were outside enjoying the fresh air after being cooped up for two days.
"Finally. That's the last of it. Where should I put my trunk?" Draco asked his lover. Harry was unpacking his clothes and he turned to look around the room.
"Over there, against that wall should be okay," he said, waving one of Dudley's large grey shirts in the general direction of the wall. Draco dragged the trunk over to the wall and walked over to Harry.
"I've been meaning to have a talk with you about your clothes. Next trip to Hogsmeade we're going clothes shopping. You cannot wear these disgusting hand-me-downs anymore."
Harry stared at Draco in surprise and then grinned.
"So you're going to have fun dressing me up, are you?" he teased as he pulled Draco against his body. They kissed, their tongues duelling playfully. They were completely oblivious to the sounds of their roommates entering the dorm.
"Oh Christ, do we have to see this everyday now?" Ron complained good-naturedly.
"Oooohh can I join in?" Seamus said excitedly.
"Oh no you don't. You're mine." Dean said possessively as he pulled Seamus away from a laughing Harry and Draco. Dean kissed Seamus ardently, reminding him who he belonged to.
Ron dropped the book he was carrying on his bed and left to meet Hermione and take advantage of the fact that the girls dorm was currently empty. Now was obviously not a good time to return Harry's key.
Dean and Seamus were still kissing and had fallen on Dean's bed in each other's arms.
Draco was staring unashamedly at the pair of them. Harry put away the last of his clothes and stepped up behind Draco. He wrapped his arms around Draco's chest and pulled his boyfriend back against him.
"Enjoying the show?" he whispered in Draco's ear. Dean and Seamus seemed to have forgotten they were there and both were now only wearing jeans as they kissed and touched each other.
"Mmmm," Draco grinned. They stood still watching the other two for a few minutes then Harry's hands started moving over Draco's body. Draco could feel Harry's arousal against his back. He was just as aroused at the sight of their friends who were now down to their underwear.
Suddenly Neville entered the room. Harry and Draco jumped guiltily, embarrassed at being caught watching Dean and Seamus making love. Neville sauntered into the room, casually said hi to everyone, picked up his remembrall and left. Harry and Draco turned to stare at each other. Dean and Seamus never stopped what they were doing and Neville hadn't even raised an eyebrow. Perhaps this was a frequent occurrence. They had obviously missed a lot while they were not living in the dorm with the other guys. Dean finally pulled himself away from Seamus long enough to pull the curtains around his bed and cast a silencing charm.
Harry cupped Draco's face in his hands and pulled him in for an intensely hot kiss. They hadn't had a chance to be together since Harry had woken up and having faced his own mortality yet again, Harry felt an overwhelming need to be as close as he possibly could to Draco. Draco answered his need with an equally desperate yearning, his arms around Harry's waist pulling their bodies closer together.
Later, they were lying in Harry's bed (our bed, Harry thought with a satisfied smile) in each other's arms.
"Hermione gave me that letter you wrote me," Draco said quietly. He didn't really need to lower his voice as they had cast a silencing charm around the bed, but he wasn't sure how Harry would feel to know that one of his best friends had gone against his wishes, even with the best intentions. Draco could feel Harry's body tense beneath his when he mentioned the letter. Harry was silent for a few minutes.
"Oh?" he said, striving to sound casual. He wasn't sure how to feel about this. He'd assumed when he wrote the letter that he would be dead when Draco read it. It was quite disconcerting to think that Draco knew his deepest thoughts about their relationship whereas he didn't know how Draco felt. Oh, he knew Draco loved him, but he didn't know how serious he was about their relationship. They had only been together a relatively short time, only a couple of months and already Harry knew that Draco was the one. However, that didn't mean that Draco felt the same way.
Draco propped himself up so he could look into his boyfriends gorgeous emerald eyes.
"I cried when I read it," Draco admitted, his eyes burning intensely into Harry's. "What you said … it blew me away. It was everything I've been thinking and feeling and to know you feel it too … it made me … I don't think I can even describe how ecstatic it made me feel. Of course you were still in that coma so it was a poignant kind of ecstatic. But when you woke up, I felt so overjoyed. I knew that nothing could tear us apart."
Harry pulled Draco to him in a fierce hug. Harry had tears running down his face and a huge grin. Draco wriggled up Harry's body so he was looking down into Harry's eyes. He kissed him tenderly.
"I adore you, Draco Malfoy," Harry said softly.
"Together forever," Draco replied with an incandescent smile.
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~to be continued~