"Harry?"
Draco's face entered his vision. Harry was lying on his back, staring into a perfect blue sky dotted with clouds. The Slytherin gave him a nervous look and held out a hand to him.
"Where are we?" Harry groaned and made an attempt to sit up. He could see Draco sitting on a white ataman at the foot of the couch he was lying on.
"The Afterlife," Draco responded, "I've been awake for a few hours so I've been grilling the Guardian for information." Draco became quiet then for a second before, "What do you want to know?"
"What happened? A-are we dead?"
"The Match process occurs at birth," Draco began, slowly, carefully working the information out into understandable language. "The Guardian said it is when two persons embody souls that used to be just one soul. Like they were broken in half and now exist anew. The magic these souls give off bonds with the magic of the other soul, creating a stronger type of magic all together and this continues as they produce more magic through life. But, when I tried to refuse the bond, the magic attempted to de-bond, or return to its earlier, pure state. I rejected my other half," Draco seemed ashamed as he said this.
"That's what Srene meant by impure, it is bonded magic. But stronger. However, the bond could not be broken and ended up destroying the magic and everything around it, dead magic is a caustic substance you see. It also attempted to de-bond the magic in our bodies, that's the pain we felt. There was an overload of dead magic in the area around us and that created a hole into a magical side area where all wizards and witches go when the magic in them dies. Normally only the soul enters this area, after a portion of magic giving life to the person dies off."
"So, we're dead?"
"No, only partially, our bodies, all of us, are here in the Afterlife. We're not dead, for the part of magic in us providing life still exists. The Guardian says we'll have to return to Hogwarts as soon as we can. But, our magic has to repair first, and re-grow."
Harry let out a sigh and took a hand Draco offered him. He stood and saw a circular room, all white, with an open roof and Roman pillars and statues standing at the doorway. The centre had a shallow pool and thick fur rugs and couches covered in squishy looking pillows. Draco fit in perfectly to the all white world, his pale skin and white hair and silver eyes looked matched to the room. Harry noticed that his Match had white angel wings and he realized he too had them.
"Why do we have wings?"
"Part of the Afterlife, haven't you ever heard of angels?"
"Of course but…I didn't think there was any truth to them."
Draco gave him a look and turned to pull a pear from a bowl of fruit on one ivory table. "Here, eat, you're hungry."
Harry took the fruit and realized how hungry he was. Taking a bight he found it to be an impressively good pear and continued eating. "Why did you try to refuse the bond?"
Draco looked over at him and let out a small breath. "I didn't think I was good enough for you. I was this tainted, disgusting boy, bought and sold to old men for 20 galleons. I thought you'd find me disgusting underneath it all. Because I am, you think I'm gorgeous, but that's the surface, you think I love, but I don't know if I still can. My mind works as though every day is the day I'm going to be killed. Evil is instinct, I was raised by a Death Eater and all I know is hate and darkness. I am impure and I thought you'd hate it later on. I didn't know what the bond of a Match was, I though to save you from me and leave while I still could. It failed though," Draco spoke slowly and hesitantly, he didn't meet Harry's eyes and shook his head often.
Harry was silent in response, for his logic was obvious but flawed. He shook his head too. "I don't know why you think you're the disgusting one here. I'm nearly Voldemort's own spawn, how can you think you're disgusting?"
Draco frowned a little and shrugged. "I've never had a proper relationship with anyone, ever. Be it friend or otherwise."
"What do you mean? What about Blaise and Pansy?"
"Pansy is after my sex and Blaise is a man whore that I've known since conception, he's like a growth on my neck that I love but could never have a functional relationship with." Draco lent against the table.
"Snape?" Harry went next to him and mirrored the action.
"He protects me, hates me but loves me and no, doesn't like me very much at all."
"Your mum?"
"She is an alchy who uses me to meet rich young wizards to sleep with and then blames her troubles on me."
Harry was silent for a moment and contemplated the facts. "Even though you haven't had a proper relationship yet, it doesn't mean you never will. I think that we're both a little paranoid of betrayal in this whole Match thing. We have to trust each other to accept, I think."
"Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"If we're awake by the last day of September, there's a party I'm planning, I want us to go to it together."
Harry turned and gave his Match a shocked look, "really?"
"It's why I planned the party, for a pre Halloween spin on the town, to see what happens."
"You planned a whole party for me?"
"For us, but yeah, that's the idea of it," Draco smiled a little. He moved his hand over and wove his fingers in with Harry. "I'm sorry I killed us."
"You didn't mean to," Harry smiled at the absurdity of the words. He held up Draco's hand to the light and kissed one of the knuckles tenderly. "Just don't do it again, okay?"
"I won't," Draco gave him an innocent smile, "let's go exploring."
They went to the door where the statues let them pass without trouble. They saw streets of black stone with establishments like theirs placed spaciously around. People were walking the streets, laughing, talking and children were skipping around playing tag without getting in anyone's way.
"I think the Malfoy palace is up this way," Draco said pointing.
"You have a palace?-even in the Afterlife?"
"When there are as many of you as there are us; you get a firm establishment without too much trouble," Draco said, they crested a small hill and saw a huge structure, as large as the Coliseum, sitting in the valley.
"Woah," Harry's eyes went wide open.
"Oh, look, Draco's died early," a young man with white hair tipped in blue called from where he was on horseback. He and a group of similarly aged men were playing what appeared to be polo in the field to the side. "And he's brought a friend."
"Nice to see you cousin," Draco smirked at him. "That's Kristofer and his friends, they died in a Quidditch incident three years ago. If you get someone killed, it's polite to let them live in your abode here in the Afterlife."
"I had no idea," Harry didn't think rules existed for etiquette when dead, but apparently this wasn't so.
"Oh, it's Grandmother Relina," Draco broke from Harry and rushed up to an old but well preserved woman sitting at an iron caste table for tea with some other old women.
"Good Merlin, Draco," she threw her frail hands into the air and stood to hug him. "How is my baby grandson?"
"Dead obviously," Draco gave her a smile.
"How did that happen?" She gave him a look. "You weren't being an arse were you?"
"Well ma'am, Harry is my Match and I was paranoid about being betrayed so I tried to leave."
"Oh my," she shook her head knowingly and waved at the table, causing another two chairs to appear. "Sit down loves, tell me how you've been the past few years."
The other women gave the two smiles. Other Malfoy women sat around the table, all trained and smart and caring. "You're Harry?" one of them looked him over, they all did and slowly gave a careful approval of him, the older ones didn't know who he was, but Relina did, she was especially careful with him, but approved none the less.
"I am, ma'am, Harry Potter."
An "oh" went up. "He's a Potter, then." "We've been meaning to marry into that family for years now." "They're so darling together." "Do you think the green eyes will carry into their children?" "That would be precious, a green-eyed Malfoy son, precious." The women chattered for a second before the eldest looking one hushed them all. "Don't confuse the poor things, Draco, I am you Grandmere Helene," she looked like she could have been Helene of Troy in her youth. Her hair was a light reddish color and her face retained an incredible beauty and her figure remained even after so long.
"I know ma'am, your likeness stands in the entrance of the villa on Crete," Draco nodded to her.
"Does it still stand? I remember Gavirus did that after the War, took him months too, and then Amean went and knocked the rose off." She tsked and shook her head.
"Yes ma'am, it stands," Draco affirmed it and gave her a smile.
"Will you look at that, he has my smile," Helene gave him a loving look and smiled back. They were incredibly similar smiles. Harry felt a settling peace knowing they accepted him. He and Draco would be okay.