At dinner Harry apologized to the others. They made small talk, all assured Harry that they were ok with him being gay and the others headed back to the tower. Harry and Draco headed back to Draco's chambers to talk. "So Harry, are you ok?" Concern laced Draco's voice.
"I'm fine Draco." He sighed as he slumped onto the couch. Draco joined him obviously still worried. "How many Draco?"
Draco stared at Harry as he continued. "How many more must by the hands of Voldemort? How many more must be tortured to the point of insanity? How many more must become orphans, or lose lovers, or their children? When will it end?"
Harry felt himself once again in the arms of Draco. "I don't know Harry I really don't know. Voldemort obviously has to be stopped but I don't know who can stop that madman."
Harry for once didn't fight Draco's embrace, instead he leaned up back against him. Snuggling against him. "I can." Harry quietly told him.
"What?"
Harry leaned his head back and looked at Draco. "I can."
"Harry, if you think that you're going to-"
"No. It's already been decided. A prophecy was made about me and Voldemort before I was born. It said that a child would be born to parents who have thrice defied him." Harry told him about the prophecy and how Voldemort had heard part of it through his death eaters. That he had marked Harry as his equal because his mother was muggle born.
He told Draco about all of his encounters with Voldemort. He told him all about how he had faced Voldemort three times since had entered school, how he had faced Riddle in his second year, of his godfather and how they had met, how they had grown close, how he had seen Sirius die.
By the time Harry looked at the clock he gasped. "It's already quarter past 11. I have to go." He got up and started to the door.
Draco grabbed his hand. "Why don't you sleep here tonight? It's not a big deal. That way you won't have to risk getting caught."
Harry knew that he should go but he couldn't. Not with the pleading look Draco gave him. "Alright. Where will I sleep though?"
"My bed is huge. Besides don't you trust me?" He gave an adorable pout and Harry just smacked him.
Harry allowed Draco to lead him up to the bedroom. Harry borrowed a set of pajamas from Draco, and got under the covers. "Goodnight Draco. Thanks for letting me sleep here tonight."
"Welcome Harry." They both drifted off to sleep.
Harry, for the third time in the past week woke up strangely. This time however he knew where he was. It was the fact that he was snuggled up against Draco that confused him. He breathed in Draco's sent and sighed. He knew his life was about to become a whole lot harder. He couldn't get involved with Draco. It was too risky for Draco.
It was then that Harry knew that he fighting a losing battle. He was indeed falling in love with the Slytherin. However no one could ever know. Draco woke up and Harry pretended to be asleep. Draco held him for a long time before carefully releasing Harry. He carefully got up and, trying not to disturb Harry, left the room.
Silent tears began to fall down Harry's cheeks. Draco's reaction meant that he had feelings for Harry, but Harry wouldn't allow him to get hurt. 'God, this is so hard. I'm falling in love with a boy who has feelings for me. And we can't get together because some psychotic bastard is trying to kill me.' By now Harry was trying not to wail at the unfairness of it all. He carefully put on the clothes Draco had left out for him, they were bespelled to fit Harry. He then inched open the door and saw that Draco was heading into the bathroom.
Harry scribbled a note, grabbed his things and left silently. He couldn't bear the heartache whenever he looked at Draco. He knew that Draco would probably find someone else soon enough, so that wasn't a problem. But Harry wasn't sure that he could keep living like this. He admitted that if it got any worse he would have to ask Dumbledore if he could be taught in private.
It was then that he made his decision to avoid Draco at all costs. However at meals he would have to eat faster to get away. If they were partnered up, well he'd think of something. Unfortunately he had all of the same classes as Draco. How Draco managed to be in all of his classes still eluded Harry. Draco hadn't taken Divinations last year. 'He probably transferred in because of his O.W.L.s. It's not like he purposely chose the same classes, right?' With that thought he ran to Gryffindor Tower.
When Draco got out of the shower he found the note on the table next to the couch.
Dear Draco,
Sorry I couldn't talk with you this morning. Had to run to the tower to get my books. Thanks again for letting me stay the night. Talk to you at breakfast.
HarryDraco sighed. He was so close to Harry, yet he was so far. He was almost through the barrier though. This morning Harry had snuggled closer to him while he was awake. Yet he had run out. 'Damn did I scare him off?'
"I should probably slow down. He's probably scared out of his mind."
"And who would you be talking of Draco?" Draco turned slowly to find his father standing in the doorway along with his mother. "Do tell us Draco. Because you are supposed to be searching for your mate."
"Hello father. Nice of you to knock. Especially since I had guest last night."
His parents entered the room, closing the door behind them. They sat down while Lucius sighed. "Draco, you're supposed to save yourself for your mate."
"It was not like that father and for your information, it was my mate."
Lucius was shocked. Narcissa took over. "Your mate is male. That's surprising. Who is it?"
Draco paled. "You won't be happy. Especially you father."
"Draco, it doesn't matter who it is. You know that I would do anything for family, and your mate is considered family."
"Yes well how good is your Occlumens?" At his father's puzzled look he continued. "It may be your only chance of survival."
Narcissa gasped. Then began to laugh. At her husband's look she laughed harder. Controlling herself she turned to Draco. "You mean after all those years of hating him, he's your mate?"
"Not Weasley!" Lucius cried.
"No." Draco turned to his mother. "I didn't hate him. I was resentful and jealous. It didn't help that I had the biggest crush on him since the middle of fourth year."
As his father seemed to look even more confused he let him in. "Who do you serve father?"
"Depends Draco. Do you mean the Dark Lord or Dumbledore?"
"You report to Dumbledore?"
"Of course. Do you think that after I was released from Azkaban without help from the Dark Lord that I would continue to serve him?"
"Hmmm, perhaps the Order has no more use for me."
Lucius looked his son in the eye. "You've been reporting to the Order of my doings?"
"Of course. I've been doing so since Voldemort returned. Do you really think I would follow a lunatic who is trying to kill all mudbloods and half-bloods when he's a half-blood himself? Besides I had an inkling of who my mate was, and I definitely can't join Voldemort now."
"Well, you deserve the name Malfoy alright. You are also a Slytherin, and I'm proud of you. But who is your mate?"
"Harry."
"Potter? Damn it." Lucius looked at his son. "Are you sure? Your inheritance hasn't even come yet."
"When I had to do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation," Lucius made a gagging sound. "I was sure. The moment his lips touched mine, there was no mistaking it." Draco's eyes turned sharp. "Do refrain from doing that as Harry and I may be kissing in front of you. And you will apologize for all the times you were rude, or tried to kill him. You will also treat him with respect. He is my mate."
"So has he accepted you yet?" Narcissa was dying to know.
Draco sighed as he plopped down into the armchair. "He doesn't know of my heritage. And he will not either, before I make him fall in love with me. If I tell him up front he will feel obligated to bond with me." Draco threw his arms up in the air. "The most ridiculous part is that my heritage hasn't kicked in. Which means the love I feel for him has nothing to do with the fact that he's my mate."
Draco now had his face in his hands, trying to sort his life out. There was this, then his schoolwork, what their friends would think of this, not to metion old snake face. God, why did his life have to be so fucked up?
Draco's father looked at his son. It was clear that this was taking a toll on Draco. "Son, I was planning on apologizing later today. You see the mansion has become too perilous now. The Dark Lord has discovered my disloyalty. We will be staying at Hogwarts for awhile. We will not be leaving our rooms often."
A thought occurred to Draco as he lifted his head. "Harry isn't a pureblood."
"I'm not worried about that Draco." He looked to see Lucius smiling.
"What about keeping the blood of Merlin pure?" It was true that the Malfoys were descendants of Merlin. That was why they had intermarried with magical creatures. They really didn't look down upon mudbloods and halfbloods; it was that they needed to keep the blood of Merlin pure.
"Don't worry Draco. Why don't you head down to breakfast? And see if you can persuade Harry to come here tonight. That way I can apologize and explain the truth to him."
Draco decided to do as his father suggested. He headed down to breakfast. He needed to make sure things were okay with Harry anyway.
Harry pulled himself together outside Gryffindor Tower. He was still crying over realizing that he was in love with Draco. 'It's not fucking fair. I finally find someone that I love and that can possibly love me back and the bastard that killed my parents is still standing in the way of my happiness. My god it's so unfair!' All right so he was trying to pull himself together.
It was to the sight of Harry sitting next to the portrait balling his eyes out, obviously having cast a silence spell so that no one would hear his deathly was, that Ginny opened the door. She quickly spotted Harry and sat next to him. She hugged him and he quickly fell into her embrace, needing someone to help him.
"Harry what the hell happened?" she asked him quietly.
Through his sobs she heard him try to answer. "Draco…….can't……..unfair……. bastard……..won't stop hurting me." He managed to choke out.
Ginny's temper flared. "What did he do to you?" Her voice was low and murderous. No one hurt her adoptive brother, especially after the ordeal he went through with Sirius.
Harry finally managed to stop crying. He sniffled. "Draco didn't do anything, Gin. I fell in love with him. And because of that evil snake-faced bastard I can't do anything with Draco. Anyone I care about gets hurt by him."
Ginny sighed and kept on hugging Harry. He would have to decide on this himself. She wanted so badly for Harry to go after Draco. She wanted him to be happy, but only he could do anything at this point.
He got up and went into the tower, got ready and headed down to breakfast alone. Ginny knew that he needed to be alone at the moment. She told Hermione and Ron to be careful around him today. His emotions were bound to be all over the place. 'Damn him for not talking to anyone about Sirius and keeping all his emotions pent up for almost a year.'
Harry was on his way down to the Great hall when someone pulled him aside. Before he knew what was happening he was being snogged by somebody. Harry had grown taller over the summer so he was a little taller than his attacker. When he looked down he found Cho Chang kissing him. He pushed her off of him. "What was that about?"
"Oh, Harry, I made such a mistake last year. I shouldn't have accused you of wanting to date Granger. When I started dating Michael I knew what a mistake I had made. Can we please give it another go? You're all I think about. I can't stop remembering what your kiss was like. I can't stop imaging you and me have a life together. Harry I want this so bad it hurts."
Her eyes were brimming with unshed tears. She looked up at him hopeful. "I'm sorry Cho. I just can't do that." He quickly walked away.
He missed her glare along with her mutterings. "You and I will be together, Harry. Trust me."
Harry was the last to arrive at their table. As he sat down the owls swooped in. Hedwig came over and nibbled his ear. Harry laughed. He had been ignoring Hedwig almost all year, but when he needed her most she came to comfort him. He stroked her, and offered her toast as a ministry owl dropped a letter in front of him.
It wasn't until Hedwig had left that he noticed it. He pulled out his wand. "Probably just Fudge trying to get me to swear my loyalty to ministry." He sighed and made to burn it. Something stopped him. As he looked at the letter he saw it hadn't come from the Minister of Magic.
He shrugged and proceeded to read the letter.
Dear Mr. Potter,
We were surprised when we came across some startling facts about your mother. We were researching a witch by the name of Rose Larsky. She was the last known descendant of Rowena Ravenclaw. She disappeared sixty years ago. It seams that she no longer wanted to live in the wizarding world. Her pride however would not allow her to marry a muggle. She was a pureblood and would marry another pureblood.
Your Grandfather was a wizard but he went missing at the age of two. A madman attacked his family and everyone else was killed. He was somehow lost in the confusion, and ended up at an orphanage. He was named Kyle Evans. Because no one knew that he was in the orphanage no one knew he was a wizard. Rose married your grandfather and they had your only living relatives.
As they are both deceased and no one in either of their family's still lives, with the exception of you, your aunt and your cousin, you inherit both of their family fortunes. This also means that you are not a halfblood as everyone thought, you are a pureblood. Your presence is required at Gringotts April 9th, one month from now. You may bring along seven friends.
Ralf Quarson
Department of Missing People
Ministry of Magic
Harry crushed the letter in his hand. Rage was evident in his eyes. "Harry what' wrong?" Hermione had seen his reaction to the letter. The other three turned to look at him.
"Mate, why are you crushing the letter like that?" Ron asked.
"He knew. There is no way that that bastard could not know. And he lied to me. He fucking lied to me." Harry's voice was quiet and had so much rage and anger that Ron visibly flinched.
Harry slowly got up and walked to the teacher's table. "Dumbledore we need to talk." He gritted through his teeth.
"Harry, I'll talk to you tonight."
"No, you will explain why you felt the need to lie to me about this! And a couple other things! I will not wait until tonight with the letter I just got from the ministry!" Harry was yelling at his headmaster.
Draco ran up to Harry. "Harry, you have to calm down. Your magic is starting to get out of control!" Harry looked around to see random goblets and plates flying above the heads of the students. He carefully placed the goblets and plates down without saying anything.
"I will be waiting in your office, sir." The last word was spoken very coldly.
"Draco please accompany Mr. Potter to my office. At the moment I don't think it wise to leave him alone." Draco nodded and they headed to the headmaster's office.
When they arrived the gargoyle was in its usual stance. Harry was not in the mood for games. "Open." The gargoyle sprang to life and let them pass. Draco was shocked. Dumbledore's office had more protection spells on it than Fudge's. When they entered Harry sat in a chair.
"Harry, what happened?" Harry didn't answer and instead thrust the crumpled letter at Draco. Fawkes had seen Harry and immediately flew to his shoulder. Harry wasn't surprised, as it was normal for the phoenix to do nowadays. Harry was no longer boiling with rage. Just being in the same room as Draco calmed him. Fawkes also helped Harry relax.
Draco finished the letter and dropped it shocked. Now he knew why his father wasn't worried about Harry not being a pureblood. 'He must have found out somehow.' "Harry are you ok?"
The younger boy shook his head. "I've been lied to by someone I trusted, am an emotional wreck from keeping all my emotions bottled up for so long and have a psychopath after me. How do you think I am?" Draco went over and kneeled in front of Harry.
"I'll always be here if you need to talk. I really do care about you, Harry." He pushed a lock of hair out of Harry's eyes. Harry shivered at the contact.
Just then Dumbledore entered to room. "Hello Harry, Draco. I know you have some questions Harry so ask away."
"Before my second year, when was the last time Fawkes burned?"
Dumbledore was surprised at the question and didn't bother hiding it. "The day you were born actually."
"I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Fawkes saw either me or my father that day?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Because it proves that you've been lying to me for a long time now." Harry took a deep breath. "I read a book on Godric Gryffindor and it spoke of his sword and said that only a true Gryffindor could wield it. However the way it was worded it sounded like only the descendant of Gryffindor could wield it.
"It also spoke of a phoenix that Godric owned. The phoenix would allow itself to be kept by another but would only burn in the presence of Godric or one of his descendants. Fawkes was owned by Godric wasn't he Professor?"
Dumbledore sighed. "I didn't tell you because your father asked me not to. It was to be told to you on your 17th birthday."
"Wait, Harry is a descendant of Gryffindor?" Draco intruded.
"Yes. He is also a descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. Both on his father's side of course."
"Oh, it wouldn't need to be on my father's side now would it sir?"
Dumbledore looked at him shocked. "What do you mean?"
"The letter I got from the ministry this morning was to inform me of my new fortunes. It seems that I'm a pureblood." He handed his headmaster the letter. "Don't deny that you knew."
"Yes I did know. But if I had told you then when you asked why Voldemort had chose you, I would have had to tell you that it was because you were the descendant of Gryffindor."
"Alright, but please don't lie to me any more, sir. I trust you." He paused. "Would you mind if I put on the Sorting Hat?"
"Why not!" And Dumbledore presented it to Harry. Harry slipped it onto his head.
"Hello there. Harry Potter. I haven't seen you in years. Not that I really see any of the students that I sort more than once. So why are you here this time."
'I was wondering. If I'm the descendant of three out of the four houses why did you try to put me in the one house that I wasn't descended from?'
The hat gave no reply instead harry felt something plop on his head. H took off the hat and found a piece of parchment on his head. "I swear that hat likes to drop things on my head."
Harry unrolled the parchment and gasped. It couldn't be what it looked like. "Harry, what did the hat give you?" Dumbledore said intrigued.
"It looks like a will, but it can't be. Yet it is."
"Whose will is it?" Draco was confused.
When Dumbledore saw it he gasped as well. "There was a legend that the founders left a will. No one could find it."
"Until now." Harry said quietly.
"What does it say?" Draco was excited.
Harry shrugged. "Not much. Just that an heir to all four would be entitled to a vault that all four put half their fortunes into. They would also inherit the school, in a way. They would be able to order the school to do things, like open door that are locked. Control staircases. As I said, not much."
"Well, Harry, Draco, You need to get to class. Oh, Harry, Fawkes is officially yours. He'll go up to your dorms. He won't stay away now that you know that you're the heir of Gryffindor."
With that Harry and Draco both said goodbye and headed down to their first class, Potions.