A Moment in Time
DISCLAIMER: Harry Potter (and associated characters, likenesses, concepts, etc.) belongs to J.K. Rowling, Bloomsbury Publishing, Scholastic, Inc. AOL/Time Warner, Inc., among others. I make no claim, written or implied, upon Harry Potter. No money is being made and no infringement or disrespect to the creators / copyright holders is intended.
Warning: This story will contain slash (ie. male/male relationships) and mpreg, although neither will be graphic.
A/N: This story was inspired by the many wonderful stories that I have read and enjoyed here at fan fiction and any similarities to existing stories is not intended. This story is AU, meaning that the events that occurred in the OOTP have not been taken into account and am I in no means suggesting the material described in this story should be considered as a direct interpretation of cannon. Also, I am American so I apologize in advance for any Americanisms.
Chapter Twelve – Explanations
Draco was relieved when dinner started to draw to a close. There was only so much of that woman Nicole that he could take at one time. Although he knew that he ought to be grateful for all the help she's been to Harry and his sons, every time she touched Harry's arm or smiled at him during their meal, Draco felt his blood pressure start to rise. It was amazing how her eyes could go from warm and loving when looking at Harry or discussing the twins to cold as ice and glaring when they were directed towards any of the others sitting at the table. Draco felt that he was receiving more than his share of her dirty looks and wondered if Harry had told her that he was Matthew's and Evan's other father. It was all he could do not to reach across the table and wipe that sneer off of her otherwise attractive face.
'I'll show that bitch not to mess with what belongs to me,' Draco thought to himself, as she once more captured Harry's attention with one of her stories about the twins' accomplishments. Although Draco didn't like the storyteller, he found himself listening with rapt attention to the tales of adventure and mischief the children he hadn't known existed less than 24 hours ago had gotten themselves into. Looking across the table at Harry, Draco saw the same emotion shining in those emerald orbs as he was feeling bursting in his own chest, the unmistakable feeling of pride.
Shortly there after, the four men excused themselves and adjourned to Harry's study to continue their earlier conversation. The atmosphere in the room was tense, as the silence in the room seemed to stretch making the occupants seem farther part then the mere several feet that separated them.
Not wanting the uncomfortable atmosphere to continue, Harry decided to make the first attempt. "So who wants to tell me why the hell you three are here?"
Draco wisely kept quiet knowing that he didn't want to be the messenger in this instance and glanced over at Severus who had been unofficially nominated to act as the spokesperson for Dumbledore and the Order.
Severus who had been continuously analyzing his former student all day, found himself almost at a loss on how to proceed. Harry had made his feelings well known about how he would receive an apology from the wizarding community and, in particular, Dumbledore. Not that Severus blamed the young man. No, Severus was only to aware of how fickle the wizarding world could be, but no one really could have expected them to turn so harshly on the one person that they had placed such high expectations.
"Look, Potter, I know that you really don't want to hear this right now, but I need you to give me your word that you'll at least let me finish what I have to say before you kick us out. I think that you may be interested in some of what I have to tell you."
"I doubt very much, Snape, if anything any of you have to say will interest me much, but I give you my word that I'll at least give you the courtesy of listening to what you have to say before I send your sorry arses back to Scotland. Unlike some people, I wouldn't want to be accused of not at least listening to what you might have to say for yourselves," Harry sneered.
Severus nodded.
Not looking directly at Harry, Severus decided to start at the beginning. "After you escaped from Azkaban, the Aurors and Order Members panicked and started a full out search for you. Their search was primarily focused on England, Scotland and Wales, specifically the areas located near Azkaban, Hogwarts and London. This was done as you in your animagus form, or what was thought to be you, was seen escaping the prison on foot. You were not expected to be able to travel very fast or far given your condition, having just spent eighteen months in that hell-hole. What everyone failed to consider was that you had an accomplice. No one thought that you would be able to find support anywhere, which was one of the troubling things that didn't seem to make sense when you were not able to be quickly located."
Severus moved his head slightly so that he could observe Harry's reaction out of the corner of his eye. "Eventually, when no trace of you was found in the obvious places, the search was expanded to all of Europe. After about six months of fruitless looking and following up on useless leads, what was left of the Ministry, after Voldemort's attack, cut back on its efforts. Even the Order hadn't been able to turn up a single shred of evidence as to where you might have gone. During that same time, Voldemort stepped up his attacks on both the muggle and wizarding European communities, neither the Ministry nor the Order had the resources to spare, so the search for you soon halted."
Snape paused for effect before continuing. "Imagine everyone's surprise when, a little over a year ago, during a routine Death Eater interrogation the Ministry stumbled onto the fact that they had wrongly imprisoned the 'Boy Who Lived'."
The raising of an eyebrow was the only sign that Harry had even heard him, as his face remained expressionless as he stared out the window. Little did the other occupants of the room know, but Harry's meditating on the constant rise and fall of the ocean's waves as seen through his window was the only thing keeping his emotions in check. Harry knew that he had to be careful, or he could quickly loose complete control of the fragile hold that was preventing him from exploding. Harry tried to focus on the familiar sound of Snape's voice, not so much the words he was saying, to try to get through this ordeal. But Severus' voice brought back too many memories, potions classes shared with his former friends, Order meetings, late night training sessions, detentions, the memories just kept on coming until Harry forced himself to concentrate harder. Pushing the memories back into that box in back of his mind where he stored all those times from his other life he was eventually able to bring himself to hear the words that Severus was actually saying to him.
"The Death Eater eventually confessed to a number of crimes, not the least of which was the murders of Ginny Weasley and Colin Creevey. He was able to provide many details on how exactly you had been framed. Once this information was reviewed, in conjunction with your testimony given before your trial, the Ministry determined that they had once again convicted an innocent man. You were immediately declared innocent and your assets were returned to you. Since that time, the Order had once more taken up the search for you."
"Who?"
Draco thought for a moment that he had only imaged that Harry had spoken; the word had been so soft and Harry had been so silent and still during Severus' entire explanation. When no one answered right away, the question was repeated and this time you could mistake the fire and anger expressed in that one word.
"Who?"
Snape fidgeted slightly under an unnerving piercing glare, slightly nervous for the first time ever in Harry Potter's presence. "Percy Weasley."
Harry was so angry, he felt like he was being torn apart. "That piece of ssshit, he killed hisss own sssissster" he hissed some of the words sounding like they were almost being spoken in parseltongue.
The raw power Harry was radiating was intense. Snape realized just then, why for all these years had Dumbledore insisted that Harry was the key to defeating Voldemort. No one could possibly withstand that amount of power and come out the victor. Harry was without a doubt the strongest wizard alive today, and quite possibly the strongest one alive since Merlin. The thought both excited him and gave him cause for concern. 'How did Dumbledore know that Harry's power would reach such heights? Harry was the Heir of Gryffindor, but so had been James. While James had been very powerful wizard, his strength didn't come near this level. There had to be something else. Sure Harry had survived the killing curse as an infant, but that was largely due to his mother's sacrifice, wasn't it?' Snape was pulled out of his own private conversation with himself as the power in the room continued to surge until it was reaching unbearable proportions.
"Harry, please calm down; that bastard got what was coming to him. He's dead, so there is nothing that you can do to him now," Draco said, trying to calm the dark haired man down so that they could proceed with the explanation. Draco was unprepared however when Harry turned his glare on him. Draco felt as thought he was looking in the eyes of a poisonous snake, paralyzed and unable to move under that venom filled glare.
As much as Draco couldn't tolerate the Weasleys, he almost felt sorry for the family when the news had broke that Percy was not only Voldemort's servant, but had also willingly participated in the death of his only sister. The same night after Dumbledore had announced Harry's innocence, the Phoenix dismissed the Order asking that the Weasley family remain behind. It was then that he broke the news to Bill, Charlie, George, Fred, Ron and Hermione.
Mrs. Weasley was never quite the same afterwards, the loss of her only daughter, and, later, her husband weighed heavily on her, but she at least had the satisfaction of knowing that eventually their deaths would be avenged. The unthinkable betrayal of Percy which not only killed her daughter, but also effectively killed the relationship between her and the boy she considered her adopted son caused her mind to shatter. Many days found her lost in her own memories of much happier times. Draco had even heard through the rumor mill that during one of her rare moments of clarity, she had even attempted to kill herself. He wasn't even sure if she knew that George had also been lost to the cause only a few short months ago.
Harry abruptly turned away from Draco and walked over to his dry bar and poured himself a drink. After taking a long swallow, he went back over to his desk where he once more sat down indicating with a wave of his hand for Snape to continue with his explanation, the energy in the room diminishing as quickly as it had escalated.
Quickly regaining his composure, Snape continued. "As I was saying, we renewed our search efforts. During the last year or so we have followed up on no less than 30 possible 'Harry Potter' sightings, each one proving to be false. It was amazing, really, when it was through muggle means that we were able to locate you."
"The song."
"Yes Harry, the words to that song were the same ones that you had written on the wall of your cell. Surely you knew that someone would put two and two together and follow up."
Harry shrugged. "I guess it was a combination of arrogance and pride. I had first played that song for the band two years ago, finally able to put the words that haunted me to music. I knew then that I would never be able to release the tune, but the band loved it. We played it at a couple of our concerts here in the States and the fans went wild. I wanted to play that song even if no one who heard it would understand. Like I said, I was arrogant. I never expected anyone who could associate the words with Azkaban to be watching a muggle music award show." Harry said this with a sheepish grin.
"And you almost got away with it." Sirius felt it was safe to add his two cents. "If Hermione and Ron hadn't been visiting her parents at the time they were playing your interview on that telly machine, we would never have heard that song and made the connection to Emrys Kingston."
The grin faded from Harry's face when Sirius mentioned his two former best friends. When Draco saw the dark look on Harry's face, he wanted to kick Black for bringing up two of the people Harry held largely responsible for his imprisonment.
However Sirius didn't need Draco to kick him, as he realized his mistake as
soon as the words had left his mouth. "Look
Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring
them up just yet."
Harry relaxed at his Godfather's apology. It was one thing to deal with Sirius, Severus and Draco, the only three people in the wizarding world that didn't previously condemn him, but he just couldn't bring himself to think about anyone else right now. Especially two people who had promised to always be there for him and then turned on him without letting him tell his side of the story.
"So you found me, now what?" Harry looked pointedly back at his old Potions Master. "Why are you here?"
Draco sighed. He knew that he was probably the best one to explain why the Order wanted to find Harry. Draco ran a hand through his hair, "Look Harry, first of all, I want to tell you that when the Order announced that they thought they had found you, I argued that we should just leave you be."
Harry looked surprised at this. "You didn't want to find me?"
"Yes…I mean. No…I…I…" Draco was flustered; this wasn't going the way he wanted it to. "Yes, Harry I wanted to find you, very much so. I dreamt of one day finding you and the two of us just running away some where together. But no, I didn't want the Order to find you."
"Why not?"
"That's not important right now, I'll tell you later. I was outvoted. It was decided that we should approach you for several reasons. First of all, to let you know that you were officially declared innocent. You're no longer considered a fugitive so you don't have to maintain your alias if you don't want to. Also all of your assets, plus compensation for your wrongful incarceration, have been returned to your custody. Most importantly however, we are here to offer you an apology from the entire Order of the Phoenix and the wizarding community at large for how you were treated."
Harry was gripping his glass so hard his knuckles were white. "Well isn't that nice?" he managed to sneer after Draco had offered the apology. "I hope they weren't really expecting me to accept it, it is a bit too little too late."
"I told Dumbledore that I thought you wouldn't accept their apology, but he insisted that we come anyway," Draco added softly.
Once more, silence filled the room, as the four men sat there, wondering what the others were thinking and more importantly, where to go from here. So much had been said but even more had been left unsaid.
After about ten minutes, Harry looked over at his guests. "Not to be rude or anything but now that you have done what was asked of you, why are you still here? I'm not going to accept Dumbledore's or the Ministry's apologies; so if that's all you came for, you might as well leave."
Swallowing hard to ignore the sudden pain in his chest that was caused by Harry asking him to leave, Draco raised his eyes to look again at the one man who held his future in his hands. Gray eyes met emerald as the hurt and loneness of the last several years flowed between them leaving them both feeling vulnerable. "I'm afraid, Harry, that there is one more thing that we need to discuss before we head back to Hogwarts."
Not looking away from the storm swirling in those gray orbs, Harry nodded.
"Do you remember when we were in New York and I told you that the war was starting to go badly for the Light?" Not waiting for Harry to respond, Draco continued. "Well, things have gotten worse over the past three years; a lot worse. The Dark Lord had taken over most of Europe and the only safe place for wizards, in England or Scotland, that haven't sided with Voldemort, is Hogwarts. Of course, it is no longer a school, as the facilities are used now to house whole families, as a medical hospital and for war preparations. So many people have been lost to the cause Harry, sometimes even whole families. Earlier this year, Severus was discovered as a spy, and he only just managed to escape with his life."
Harry looked over in surprise at the tall dark haired man. "What about you Dray, are you still spying for that old fool?"
"Yes Harry, while the Order has other connections in the lower ranking Death Eaters, I am the only one in the inner circle."
On hearing this un-welcomed bit of news, Harry just placed his head in his hands and slowly shook it back and forth, as though in denial.
Finally, Harry stopped shaking his head and raised his piercing eyes back to Draco. "So what does all this have to do with me?"
"Dumbledore still feels that you are the only chance that we have to beat Voldemort. He's afraid that if you refuse us, refuse to come back to Scotland with us to help in this fight, that it is all over for the Light. We might as well turn ourselves over to Voldemort now."
There was no mistaking the anger that flowed from Harry as he stood up and started to pace back and forth. "So let me get this straight. Dumbledore sent you here to apologies to me in order to convince me to go back to England so that I could take up my place as his little hero and defeat the bad guy, isn't that so?"
Draco flinched at Harry's biting tone. "That's what I first thought when he told us to come here and find you. However, he swears that he doesn't want to use you. That was pretty much why I didn't want the Order to find you. I knew that they would try to suck you back into the Hell that our world has become. But Harry, you have to listen. I wouldn't even have approached you with this if it wasn't an emergency. We're losing, Harry. We're losing badly. It is only a matter of time before Voldemort breaches the wards at Hogwarts and once he does, the last of the resistance is gone."
"To recap then, Dumbledore sent you three here to ask me to return to Hogwarts so that I might risk my life to save the lives of the same people who turned their backs on me when I needed them the most. The same people that believed me capable of cold blooded murder, and condemned me for it. Now when it suits them, they want me to come and murder the big evil guy so they don't have to. They basically want me to murder on demand. What a bunch of hypocrites."
Draco felt angry at Dumbledore for putting him in this position. This was not how he wanted to be reunited with the love of his life. Ashamed, he hung his head and whispered, "Yeah, I guess you could look at it that way." Raising his head so that he was looking directly at Harry, he added. "But the truth is that we need you, Harry. Without you, so many more people will die, innocent people including children. Harry, please at least consider it."
The pleading expression on Draco's face did more for Harry than words ever could. "I don't know what to tell you. If it was just me to consider, then maybe I would go back, but I have two children now. My sons mean everything to me and I've promised them a childhood like I never had. I can't very well fulfill that promise if I'm in Scotland or, worse yet, dead."
"You could bring Matthew and Evan with you, back to Hogwarts. They have many nurseries set up to watch small children during the day or night when their parents are called away."
Harry was incredulous; didn't they just say that the wards around Hogwarts were in danger of collapsing, and now they wanted Harry to risk his family by putting them at the spot most likely to be attacked? "I refuse to put Evan and Matthew in that kind of danger. They know nothing about that life there and I see no good reason why they should be exposed to it now."
His heart felt for Harry when Sirius saw how distressed his Godson was becoming at the thought of putting his sons in jeopardy. Sirius walked and knelt down beside where Harry was sitting. Knowing that this was their one chance, he knew he needed to do something. "Harry, we have no doubt about how much your family means to you, and if you feel that strongly about it, maybe you should leave them here until this is all over. But before you make a decision, think about this, since this second war with Voldemort has started, he has killed over 200 magical children who were not even old enough to receive their Hogwarts letters. Over 200 children just like Matthew and Evan will never be able to grow up, never go to Hogwarts, or fall in love and have families of their own. I don't even know what the muggle death count is, but I know that it is at least as high as the wizarding one, if not higher. I know that we don't have the right to ask anything from you, but please consider coming back. There are still over 1,000 children that have to potential to become witches and wizards, but not if you don't help us."
No one was able to remain unmoved by Sirius' touching speech. Harry was surprised that the hand he lifted to place on his Godfather's shoulder was shaking slightly. "Sirius, I'm sorry that it has been so awful for everyone. But you have to understand, I have to put my family's needs first. Look, I won't give you a final answer tonight, as we are all pretty emotionally drained and I need some time to think. A lot has happened today that I was just not prepared for. I need a chance to think some things through. If you would be willing to stay for a day or two and give me a chance to work some stuff out, I can't promise you anything right now but I'll give you an answer in a couple of days."
Draco sighed in relief as he watched Severus nod his acceptance of the plan to Black. Harry's answer had been better than the flat out 'no' that he had anticipated. This way at least, even if Harry decided not to return with them, he had a few days to spend with Harry and watch his sons even if it was only from a distance.
To be continued.