They had been Draco's quarters for some time drinking and with each shot of whisky the pain of their lives was both diminished and enhanced. Diminished in that it seemed to hurt a bit less but enhanced in the way the past came back to them more vividly.
"I'm curious, Potter! Where did you get those diamonds?" Draco asked.
"My emergency funds, small, valuable and untraceable. I have learned over the years to have the means to move on at a moments notice. With that little bag in my pocket, I can disappear and set up again anywhere I choose." Harry told him smugly.
"But how did you get them." Draco persisted.
Harry gave a little laugh before he said, "There are certain things a wizard can do in the muggle world that let us just say are somewhat profitable. You would be surprised at how well I did in Las Vegas!"
"The great Harry Potter cheating? I'm shocked." Draco said sounding not shocked but intrigued.
"Survival negates legal obligations." Harry replied remembering the hard times before his sudden good fortune at the casinos. The casino staff had tried everything to find out how he was doing it but had failed. A week after arriving as a down on his luck hitchhiker, Harry drove out of Los Vegas in a brand new Cadillac and with enough money to allow him to disappear again. "Oh but I didn't get the diamonds there. That was later, in Australia. I used a nuffler I had acquired to find them out in the bush." Harry continued.
"So you didn't steal them then." Draco said
"Well, depends on your point of view." Harry replied.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked.
"I used the nuffler to find the diamonds in a remote area of Western Australia. So from my point of view they are rightfully mine. But as the area was technically a mining lease of the Ashton Diamond Mining Company, their point of view might be a little different to mine." Harry replied.
Draco sneered at Harry but there was a grudging respect mixed in for the man. "You never could resist breaking the rules, could you?"
Harry poured them both more whisky as he replied, "I don't seem to recall you being overly concerned with the rules yourself."
Harry sat back to drink his whisky. He had closed his eyes and had almost fallen asleep when the silence was shattered.
"Why did you have to kill them Potter?" Draco asked. His tone was flat and controlled but Harry could hear the intensity of the feelings underneath.
"Who?" Harry answered in that fog of inebriation that the whisky had imparted.
"My parents! Why did you have to kill my parents? They were surrendering. The war was over and you owed me but you tore them apart as I stood there unable to stop you. " Draco's voice hung like a cloud in the small guest room.
"They were deatheaters. They were responsible. They or others like them killed Cho and my unborn child because that son of a bitch Voldemort told them too. And how many others?" He said unrepentant for his deeds. "They deserved it."
"We all deserve it Potter! That's not the point." Draco slumped forward and laughed bitterly, "And you wonder why these people fear you. You were more ruthless than Voldemort ever dared to be." Draco replied and after a pause he continued, "they saw you for who you really were. Another Voldemort in the making, only this time with the fanatically following of the army of light. You could have taken over the world back then. You could have just reached out and taken it all for yourself. You had the power and there was no one left that could stop you!"
"I never wanted the world, never." Harry answered almost in a whisper.
Silence fell between them as they continued drinking shot for shot.
"We were betrayed you know." Harry said after some considerable time.
"What?" asked Draco.
"The final battle! How do you think Voldemort was able to penetrate Hogwart's defences and catch us by surprise?" Harry replied quietly as he looked down into his whisky.
"Are you saying he still had a spy on the inside?" Draco was staggered.
"No, you gave us all their spies on our side. It was the minister himself." Harry replied and then downed all the whisky in his glass.
"The Minister! No! Impossible!" Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He let them in?" Draco asked finally aghast.
"Yep! Suddenly we're knee deep in deatheaters right here at Hogwarts. Three quarters of my army slaughtered." Harry told Draco.
"But why?" Draco slurred out almost unintelligibly.
"He feared me. I was about to win the war. As you said, I was the great hero with his own vast army loyal only to him. Not a situation the Minister and his department heads could permit to continue." Harry said. "It was brilliantly simple. They gave Voldemort a way in and held back the reinforcements till the last second. The result: my army just about wiped out and I get all the blame. And you wonder why I was a little out of control when your parents showed up to surrender!" Harry looked up at Draco to see the effect of the revelation had on Draco but it was too late. The dragon had slumped in his chair unconscious.
Harry staggered to his feet. That much whisky on an empty stomach was not a good idea. Harry looked down at the unconscious figure in the chair and said, "If I could take it all back I would. I am sorry for so many things. You were right! We do all deserve it. " And with that he staggered out of the room.