Disclaimer: Anything that you recognise does not belong to me; it belongs to the very talented J.K. Rowling. Lucky her! I am doing this purely to see if I can, I am not making any money off of this what so ever. Unlucky me!
Also, I have read a lot of stories on this site, so if anything is familiar, it is not on purpose… Could you simply take it as an homage?
A/N: A huge thankyou to my Beta dreamerdoll, her thoughts about Harry Potter have really brightened up my perpectives! And she did wonderful things with this chapter.
Unfortunately, Draco was not able to immediately tell Harry the answers to his question as Dumbledore appeared at his elbow, cutting him off.
"Come along boys. I dare say there is a nurse at Hogwarts who is very anxious to see you."
Dumbledore held out a tin of sweets for Harry and Draco to place a finger on, and soon they were touching down in the infirmary of Hogwarts with Madame Pomfrey rushing towards them. Ushering the two teens to near by beds, the matron turned to Draco first, the usually unflappable nurse flapping quite spectacularly when she saw the damage done to Draco's body by the different techniques of torture. This left Harry under the watchful eye of Professor Dumbledore, something Harry was not too upset about as this gave him the opportunity to talk. As was becoming the custom after facing Voldemort, Harry turned to Dumbledore for answers about what happened.
"Headmaster, in the cave, Voldemort tried to kill Draco. But I managed to stop it. It was like I felt a pulse, or a wave of magic just sweep through me and it knocked all of the Death Eaters unconscious and, and, it killed Voldemort. What happened?"
"Harry do you remember me telling me what Voldemort feared more than anything? What he could not comprehend and therefore feared? Love, Harry, love. Tom Riddle sank so far into the Dark Arts that moments of levity actually caused him pain. The fact that you loved and cared for your friend so much that your magic responded to Draco's situation was what killed Voldemort. The pulse you felt go through you was a magic created by love and all things pure. That is also the reason that the surrounding Death Eaters were knocked unconscious. The hatred and malice that was coursing through them at the time, both from Voldemort's influences and their own personalities, did not react well with the purity emitting from your own magic and thus they were rendered unconscious. I would imagine that you experienced some form of release after such a large expenditure of magic?"
At Harry's confused look he elaborated. "Fainting, hysterical laughter, tears…"
Harry nodded, looking down at his hands. "The last one."
"This is nothing to worry about, or be embarrassed over my boy. You body had just had a huge shock to its system, as well as undergoing the immense emotional stress of seeing a friend being tortured. It is perfectly natural to shed some tears after such an event."
Harry started to ask another question but was cut off by the arrival of Madame Pomfrey, who after a very thorough examination pronounced that, other than a slight depletion of his magical strength, he was fine and could leave the next morning after a good nights sleep. Then she forced a sleeping potion down his throat and bustled off again. Harry could do no more than snuggle down under the covers before drifting off to sleep.
Harry woke slowly from a deep and refreshing slumber the next day to find himself face to face with Draco. The blonde had somehow managed to slip out of his bed and over to Harry's during the night and was now studying the other boy with serious grey eyes. He couldn't help but feel nervous; Harry had thrown himself into danger, seemingly to save him from peril, but how would he react to fining out his boyfriend was part magical creature? A magical creature that they had studied in class no less!
Harry smiled sleepily at Draco, "Hey," he murmured as he reached out a hand to stroke the blonde's cheek. Harry found that he could not relinquish the contact he had with his boyfriend so soon after he had almost lost him, so he let his hand rest on Draco's neck.
"Harry, I have something to tell you," Draco began, only to turn around in annoyance as a voice sounded behind him.
"Harry?" Ron stood a few feet from the bed, looking nervous.
"Can I talk to you for a moment please? Alone?" He asked, his freckles standing out in stark relief from his pale skin, belying his worried state.
Harry glanced at Draco quickly before replying, "Sure Ron, Dray I will come visit you later. Madame Pomfrey isn't letting you out any time soon is she?"
With a small smile at the blonde that promised a fast return, Harry got out of bed and walked past Ron, intending on going through the main door of the infirmary, but Ron stopped him.
"Hang on, Harry. Word is out about what you did last night. While there aren't reporters on the school ground yet, a lot of students are hanging around waiting to get a glimpse of you. I was thinking we could go out behind poor William."
Ron referred to the hidden passage behind the portrait of William Lofthouse, a young boy who had had his brain altered by magic by his father; rumor was that he was a relative of Madame Pomfrey. The hidden passage ran the length of the school with regular exits, one of which was very close to the Gryffindor common room.
Once Harry and Ron reached the Gryffindor Tower they bypassed the common room and went up to the mercifully empty seventh year boys dormitory. Ron gestured to Harry to sit on the edge of his bed while he sat on the edge of his and just looked at Harry. Taking a deep breath Ron began speaking.
"Mate, you know that you, Hermione, and me are best friends, right? That ever since the troll in first year, we have always been there for each other. Harry, the fact that you're famous is not why I'm friends with you. I don't hang around you for what you can do for me, what your name is, and who you are to the rest of the world. That has nothing at all to do with our friendship. You would be like a brother to me even if you weren't the savior of the Wizarding World, or if you weren't rich; especially if you weren't rich." He grinned slightly; ears tinged a light pink, and continued, "It is because you are kind, genuine, caring, and thoughtful that we, your friends and family, love you. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that lots of people care about you because you are you, Harry, not the Boy Who Lived, and that whatever you do, I will always be there for you. I will even accept the fact that you love the Slytherin Prince." He shook his head.
Ron looked vaguely relieved that he had gotten his little speech out, and relaxed slightly as Harry stared at him in shock. He hadn't realized that his words to Ron before he left the castle could have been interpreted like this. He knew that Ron loved him like a brother, hell; he loved Ron like a brother! All he had meant that night was that out of the rest of the population, apart from his pre established group of friends, Draco was the only one who didn't have a hidden agenda in getting closer to him.
"Ron, I know that! I know that you wouldn't have hung around this long if you just wanted something out of me! God, what we have gotten into would have made even the best actor run in terror! The fact that you and Hermione have stood by me year after year and faced down all these horrors with me means more than I can ever tell you. What I meant about Draco was that I think he is another person who I can let into my life. I love him in a very different way to you, but that doesn't change anything between us. You are my best friend, and that is how it will stay."
Standing up, Harry pulled the red head into a hug that he hoped conveyed all the feeling of love and friendship that were coursing through him at that moment. After a few seconds he pulled back.
"Now, I have to go see Draco again. He has some questions to answer."
What Harry didn't mention as that he was still feeling a little antsy being away from Draco for too long. The memory of Voldemort screaming the beginnings of the fatal unforgivable at the Slytherin was still fresh in his mind.
"I will meet up with you and Hermione at dinner, yeah?"
Receiving an affirmative nod from Ron, the dark haired youth moved swiftly back down to poor William's passageway.
Walking into the infirmary, Harry's eyes were immediately drawn to the pale figure lying in the bed that he had vacated earlier.
"Hey," he whispered, moving softly across the room and gently laying down on the bed beside Draco.
"How are you feeling?" He asked, gently brushing a few strands of air of the blonde's forehead.
"I'm fine," Draco whispered back. "I really do have something to tell you though."
The slightly worried look crept back into his eyes, he really did not know how Harry was going to react to this, and he couldn't help but think of the worst possible scenarios.
"Harry, I'm a part veela. My great, great, great grandmother on my father's side, Amelinda, was a veela, and I received the veela attributes."
Harry was confused.
"Right, so, are you going to like… change? I mean, you need to find your mate right? That's what Remus said in class. That even part veelas have mates and that's who they are meant to be with. Um, have you already found your mate?"
"Yes Harry, I have." Draco replied pleased that Harry seemed to be taking this better than he had imagined.
"Oh, right, well. I won't stay in your way. I mean, it will be hard, I love you, but your mate will make you complete wont they? So I won't be a bother and try and keep you with me."
Harry felt like his heart was breaking. He had almost lost Draco to Voldemort and now he was losing him anyway.
Draco started to panic, what was happening? This was not how he expected it to go at all! He needed to make it right.
"No Harry, you misunderstood me. You are my mate."
Sorry, I am procrastinating... Next chapter will (finally) have the talk between Harry and Draco