Disclaimer: The characters and places and stuff belong to JKR. But for now, they are at my mercy. *evil grin* I'll return them as soon as I'm finished…maybe.
This is the sequel to "What Is Happiness?" To understand this story, you must first read that one. It is located at http://www.fanfiction.net/read.php?storyid=946096
This chapter gives some insight into what happened to Harry and Draco. I'm not going into a lot of detail right now, though I might in later chapters. Also, Draco flips out a little bit in this chapter.
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"Harry, wake up, love," Draco murmured, waking Harry from an afternoon nap a week later. The restorative had been making the boy quite tired and giving him headaches, so Draco insisted that he rest as much as possible.
"Mmm¼ What?" Harry mumbled, turning his head away. He was slowly gaining his speaking ability back, but he still wasn't able to say much at one time.
"We have to be in Dumbledore's office in half an hour, and you still need to get something to eat," Draco explained. Harry shook his head and sat up.
"Not hungry," he yawned. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on Draco's shoulder. "Tired¼"
"I know you're tired, honey," Draco sighed, stroking his boyfriend's hair. "But apparently, this meeting is important, so we have to go. And you need to eat." Harry shook his head again, placing his hand on his unsettled stomach.
"Don't feel good," he whispered. "Want to go to sleep¼" Draco kissed his forehead.
"I know. And you know that, normally, I'd let you go back to sleep. But we have to go to the meeting. If it turns out to be not as important as I thought, Dumbledore will probably let you lay down on his sofa while the rest of us talk. All right?"
Harry sighed and nodded, reluctantly allowing Draco to help him up. The two ate a small snack, and then they slowly made their way up to the headmaster's office, where their families were waiting, along with two unfamiliar men and Arthur Weasley.
"Draco, Harry," Dumbledore greeted them. He gestured towards the two strange men. "These men are John Sheffield and Lucas Melke; they are officials from the Ministry. And I believe you know Arthur Weasley; he was declared the new Minister of Magic. Fudge resigned yesterday." Harry's eyes widened, and he gave Arthur a small smile.
"Good to see you, Harry," Arthur told him, smiling back, though it seemed forced.
"Professor, will this take long?" Draco wondered, facing Dumbledore. "Harry is feeling ill." The old man nodded in understanding.
"We'll try to be as quick as possible," he promised. "Now, would everyone sit down, please?"
Everyone sat around the living room of the office. Harry sat between his fathers, leaning tiredly against Sirius. (Kayla and Sean were asleep in the next room.) Draco sat close to his parents.
"I know that you two are still recovering," Arthur said, gently, to the boys. "And I would not have come for this, had it not been absolutely necessary." He took a breath. "We need to know what happened during the month that you were gone."
Harry blanched at his words, and he clutched Remus's hand in his own, while burying his face in Sirius's chest. Draco just sighed, closing his eyes, while Severus rested a hand on his shoulder. After a moment, Draco spoke.
"Harry won't talk about it," he said, quietly. "He's worried about mixing up his words and looking stupid in front of everyone, but he doesn't want to talk about it, anyway. And neither do I."
"Draco, you must," Dumbledore said, softly. "Sooner or later, you will have to talk about it, and the longer you wait, the harder it will be."
"I won't talk about it," Draco refused, firmly, as he folded his arms across his chest. Tears threatened to spill from his eyes, but he held them back. "I won't." Suddenly, a small voice was heard from the sofa, and everyone snapped their heads towards Harry.
"Malfoy Manor," he whispered in a halting voice. He concentrated hard to make his words come out right. "Dea-Death Eaters... Thirty? Forty? Beat us. Tortured us. Raped us. Starved us. I kept...falling asleep...wake up...over and over... Cruciatus. Broke bones, took out bones, regrew... Woke up. Draco scream. Voldemort hurt him bad. Death Eaters too. I got mad. Said something... Killed them all... He's gone. Forever."
With that, Harry passed out, and Sirius cradled him in his lap. He held the boy tightly, kissing his head and whispering to him, while Remus covered his face with his hands. Draco's eyes were wide, his face had turned white, and his entire body was shaking. Severus wrapped his arms around the boy in a comforting hold, and Katie squeezed his hand.
"Honey, calm down," Katie murmured, stroking Draco's hair. "It's all right, it's over."
"Damn it, no, it's not over!" Draco snapped, breaking free from Severus's hold and jumping up from the sofa. "It may be physically over, but mentally, I'm reliving every single thing they did to me! Every time I close my eyes, every time I go to sleep, I feel curses hit me! I feel their hands on me, I feel them forcing themselves on me! I see them doing the same to Harry, and I can't stand it! It's not fucking over!" He collapsed on the floor, pulling his knees to his chest and sobbing into his arms. "And it never will be..."
"That's enough for tonight," Severus said, firmly. He bent over and lifted Draco up into his arms, and Draco buried his face in his father's chest. The two and Katie left the room.
"It's been over a month since they escaped," John commented. "They need to get past it, already." Everyone in the room, save Harry, just stared at him. Sirius was the first to retort, his voice filled with disgust.
"Right, Sheffield, let's lock you in a dungeon cell and starve you, torture you, and rape you for a month, then see how long it takes you to get over it. How does that sound? Go to hell. Remus, get the kids and go home. I'll take Harry to his room."
Sirius lifted Harry up and crossed the room to the door, but Arthur stopped him before he could leave. The red-haired man placed a hand on Sirius's shoulder, and he seemed to have tears in his eyes.
"I'm sorry, Sirius," he said, softly. "If there's anything you need, any of you, Molly and I are there for you." Sirius nodded. "I really didn't want things to come out like they did tonight. I didn't expect Harry to just start talking about it like that, and then Draco..." Arthur sighed, shaking his head. "Merlin, if those people weren't already dead, I'd kill them with my bare hands."
"You and me, both."
When Sirius and Harry reached the boys' quarters, they found the Snapes in the living room. Draco was curled up between his parents on the sofa, but he looked up when he heard the door open. He crossed the room to find Harry barely awake in Sirius's arms, and he kissed his boyfriend's forehead.
"Honey, I'm going to stay with Mum and Dad tonight," Draco said, quietly. "Is that all right with you?" Harry nodded, sleepily, and Draco stroked his hair. "I'll see you tomorrow, love."
"Love you," Harry murmured. Sirius took him into the bedroom and lowered him to the bed, then sat next to him, pushing his hair from his forehead. "Dad, want to go home..."
"Are you sure?" Harry nodded. "All right, kiddo. Is it okay if we go by Floo?"
Another nod, and after a few moments, the two were in the living room of the Lupin-Black home. Sirius carried Harry up to his bedroom and tucked him into bed. At Harry's request, Sirius lay down with him. As soon as they were comfortable, Remus poked his head into the room.
"Siri, Kayla had a nightmare, and she wants you." Sirius looked at Harry, who nodded, and he left the room. Remus took Sirius's place on the bed with Harry. "How are you feeling, kid?"
"All right," Harry mumbled, curling up against Remus. "Daddy, I thought I died. Fell asleep, heard Draco calling, but couldn't wake up..." Remus hugged him gently.
"Harry, I'm so sorry we didn't get you out of there," he whispered. "We tried so hard to find you, the Aurors tried to find you, but we couldn't, and I'm so sorry."
"But I killed him, Daddy," Harry said, yawning. "It's okay, because I killed him, and he's gone."
"That you did, and that he is," Remus replied with a slight smile. "Him and about thirty Death Eaters. And you did it single-handedly, Harry. That's amazing."
"He can't hurt anyone else."
"No. He can't hurt anyone else." Remus kissed Harry's forehead. "Go on to sleep. You need to rest. I'll wake you for breakfast in the morning."