A/N: Okay... Well Here's the latest chapter. Enjoy. I'm a little saddened that no one commented on me killing Cairn off. It was really very emotional for me. But I suppose no one else found it so. Heh.

Oh well Enjoy this chapter. :) The next one might take a few days since I will be busy, but I shall try and make sure it goes up before the end of the week.

Chapter 6

Harry and I sat in the kitchen of this old building. It was in fact the most lived in part of the house that I had seen so far, it looked liked it was used regularly and that someone actually took care of it. Kitchens are always the one room in any place that gives the feeling of comfort, of family. Even in this antiquated building the room gave some comfort.

We sat there, my bag open on the table, all the contents spread out for Harry to see. I was now explaining what everything was for, what had to happen. Harry had removed the clag a' bhàis from his robes, placing it upon the table with the rest of the ingredients for the ritual.

"You know the final thing I need is his body..." I whispered, staring at the wooden object on the table. I fully knew this last obstacle was the hardest. After all Sirius Black's body was out of our reach, behind a veil. A veil which hid a place no one could ever imagine. It wasn't even certain if this old man's body was going to be there, if this ritual was going to work at all.

"We'll be going to the Ministry tonight." Harry looked tired, worn completely through. There was no tears in his eyes anymore, but there was a broken edge to them now. I wondered briefly how many times he had that look in his eyes.

It was only eleven in the morning, so we still had quite a long time before anything would be started then. I had explained to Harry everything that I needed to do, what everything was for. He listened calmly, nodding as I continued on.

"If this doesn't work..." It had to be said again. After all without his actual body, there was no guarantee that this ritual was going to bring Sirius Black back to life. I didn't like reminding Harry about the chance of failure. "If it doesn't work, then believe me. I will help you come up with something else." I smiled slightly at the black haired man sitting across from me. His head came up a bit in surprise, but he smiled in return.

"Harry! Are you here?" A voice called from the entryway, and suddenly a young man appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. He had pale blonde hair that framed his face, curling slightly at the nape of his neck. His features were pointed but aristocratic, regal, and he walked into the room bearing evidence to his background, his walk confident. The clothes he wore fit him perfectly, the robes made of expensive fabric. He was probably the most attractive man I had seen before, judging from a purely objective view point. After all I wasn't overly fond of blondes. I didn't doubt that if he came to NYU, Matt Caulder would instantly lose his title. Harry might have been good looking, but next to this adonis, he was just cute.

"Draco..." Harry whispered, looking up at Draco, and I instantly panicked. The tears were back, this time pouring freely from his eyes. Without wasting a moment, the man who I now knew as Draco Malfoy was tearing across the room to kneel by Harry's chair. I was slightly amazed to see a man who had looked so elegant, taking no care to how he looked as he rushed to the black haired man's side.

Surprise over his actions had shocked me a bit, so that I hadn't even noticed that Draco had Harry's head resting on his shoulder while he gently stroked his hand through the raven locks, whispering words into his ear. Harry had started to sob, wrapping his arms around his blonde protector.

Draco looked up and caught my eye, looking at me suspiciously before he obviously decided it wasn't me who had caused the pain and tears. He rose an eyebrow at me, and I instantly started to explain what had happened. At the news of Cairn's death, without the exact details since I still couldn't bring myself to explain what had happened to his body... Draco looked shocked, sick even. His attention was brought back to the man in his arms, who had stopped crying, but who hadn't moved his head from Draco's chest. The look on the blonde man's face was so devastated that I had to look away.

Well a gay hero in a children's book would probably have been a hard sell... Not surprising that this little bit had been left out of the books. I didn't doubt that I was right. Not from the look on the Slytherin's face as he held Harry, nor the way the Gryffindor was clutching at the other young man. It really was a sweet scene. Even if it was heartbreaking as well.

Finally Harry pulled away from Draco, giving him a watery smile, which the other young man tried to return. Worry though caused his smile to falter slightly.

"Draco... This is Aine. I told you about her before." He nodded to me, and I looked at the now standing Slytherin, who was giving me a look that wasn't exactly the most friendly.

"I'm going to avenge Cairn." I said firmly, ignoring the hard look I was now getting. "Being a muggle makes me basically useless, but I WILL bring your Sirius Black to life again. If tonight doesn't work then I will find something else. I promise you that." I wasn't sure why I felt the need to make these promises to the blonde man in front of me, staring at me with such a discerning look. But I did need to explain, maybe because I knew he was Harry's real protector, or maybe it was the fact that I wanted him to stop glaring at me since I too wasn't in the best moods right now. Perhaps it was also the fact that I bore something in common with this man, the feeling of protection for the boy sitting across from me.

At my vehement promise, the Draco's eyes softened a bit toward me. He still appeared a bit wary, but I thought he likely understood my need to make good on my reason for being there. While his eyes didn't glare at me anymore, his face was still hard, no emotion appearing on it. I didn't want to ever be on the wrong side of this one.

"Draco." Harry tugged gently on the blonde's sleeve, bringing his attention away from me and back to the man seated by him. I was amazed at how quickly the hard, emotionless facade was gone. He was immediately open, sympathetic to Harry. "Be nice to Aine." This caused Draco's eyes to flicker back to me, narrowing a bit before Harry's continued speaking brought them away from me. I released the breath I wasn't aware I had been holding. "We need her tonight. She's helped so much already."

"Anything for you, love." Draco smiled at Harry. Even not directed at me, it was dazzling. I didn't think I wanted to be on the other end of that smile either, it would likely wipe away any chance of original thought. It appeared to have that effect on it's intended target, since Harry was now looking up at Draco adoration in his eyes. I smiled at them both.

"You're both so cute together." I said it, but then blushed when they both looked at me. Draco looked a bit amused, but Harry was matching the colour in my face. "Sorry. I'm just happy to see that things aren't all bad."

A smirk appeared on the pale blonde's face, reminding me again which House he had been in. "With me around nothing can be all bad." Supreme confidence flowed from him. In any other circumstances I might have found him arrogant, but right now we needed all the confidence we could get. Harry's hand was grasped by Draco's holding tightly to him, and I knew he too needed the feeling coming from the man.

"Good." I stood up, glad my shaking knees didn't cause me to falter. For some reason I did not want to appear weak in front of this young Malfoy. I had my pride after all, and I was older then him.

"If you two don't mind, I'm going to avail myself of one of the showers upstairs. It's been a long day... and we haven't even really started it yet." I pushed some of my dark brown hair out of my eyes. There was a dirty feeling clinging to me, needing to be washed off as soon as possible. If things went well tonight, I'd likely be having more showers, to rid myself of the dirt...

"I'll show you..." Harry started to get up, but both Draco and I quickly disabused him of that idea.

"I don't think so, Potter." I shook my head. "You look ready to fall over. Get some coffee, or whatever Wizard drink you like. Stay there, cuddle with your cute little man there." I winked at the two of them, ignoring the look I was getting. "Just relax for a moment. All I need is general directions. I'm sure I can't get too lost in a house like this."

Draco detached his hand from Harry's and walked toward me. "I'll show her Harry. I'll be right back." He opened the kitchen door for me, and led me through, closing it quietly behind the two of us.

"Thank you for that. If someone doesn't tell him to stop, he just keeps going." I could tell that this gratitude was something I shouldn't expect too often from this man, so I grinned brightly at him.

"I realized that soon after meeting him. He does have a bit of a saviour complex. It's rather cute actually." At Draco's measuring look I shook my head. "Don't worry Mr. Malfoy. I am in no way interested in your man. He's sort of become like a younger brother to me..."

He walked me over to the stairs and spoke quietly. This was likely to avoid waking up Mrs. Black again. "I never worry about Harry in that regard. But I appreciate what you're going to do for him, for all of us. Even if I was, and perhaps still am, completely against using a muggle for the job."

Instead of being affronted at his words, I laughed softly.

"I was worried for a minute, that the Draco from the books was a complete fake. I'm glad to see you've still got that hard ass, bastard in you. Don't worry though, this muggle is the best at the job you've given her. You should be able to understand this at least. Being the best, I will get it done. And you wanted the best didn't you?"

"The bathroom is at the top of the stairs, turn right and it's the last room on the left." He pointed up the stairs. A small smile was all that told me how he had felt about my last comment.

When I finally came back down the stairs, it was feeling the freshness one feels after a nice long shower. I had let the water wash away my anxiety, the worry I felt over what I was doing. Finally I entered the kitchen, my usual confidence exuding from my body.

"I didn't realize you were actually attractive." Draco said drily, sipping at something in the cup in his hands. "Earlier you looked like a banshee. Maybe our shower is enchanted..." He mused this out loud, oblivious to the mirthless expression I was giving him.

"I'll have you know that I am NYU's sexiest female teacher three years running..." I huffed at him, even as I thanked Harry with a smile for the coffee he placed in my hand.

"If I had any idea what that was I might care." Draco continued to drink his coffee, unaffected by the glare I was giving him. "I suppose that's something like the best smile award that Lockhart used to go on about. Pointless and stupid."

Harry was watching all this with a rather amused expression on his face, which alone made me not get angry at the blonde across from me.

"Ah... The statements from someone who has never won an award for best smile, or for being sexy." I nodded sagely, trying very hard to keep the smile from slipping onto my face. My statement had the desired effect, and now there was a decided glower on the Blonde's pointed face.

Now Harry was laughing quietly, but both of us noticed, and turned to look at him. I winked at Draco, who sighed but looked rather glad for the distraction we had given Harry. It was obvious that if nothing else, the one thing that this Slytherin cared about was the bespectacled, black haired boy laughing at us.

"I was wondering something..." I seated myself at the kitchen table, and ignored the pointed look I was now receiving from Draco. Apparently he didn't want me to ruin Harry's mood. "How are we going to get into the Ministry tonight?" This question seemed to pass Draco's approval, since he looked back to Harry.

The young man was leaning against the counter, looking less fragile then you would expect from his overly protective boyfriend. There was no broken look in his eyes, in fact they looked quite bright behind his glasses. Bright and determined.

"We'll simply walk in." He grinned at the confused look on my head. "I'm the man who defeated Lord Voldemort. I got whatever job I wanted. So I actually work at the Ministry, in fact I work in the department of mysteries." His eyes became a little clouded then. "I thought I might be able to find a way myself to get Sirius out. But that damned veil is a mystery to everyone." He growled this out, showing his hatred for the gateway that had swallowed up the body of his Godfather. "They certainly won't question Draco..."

"What he's trying to say is they won't question me since everyone is well aware of the fact that we're shagging like bunnies." He smirked at me. But if he had been hoping to get a blush out of me, he was mistaken. I just laughed at that.

"Anyway..." Harry muttered, his face was certainly a shade of red. "And as for you, I'll just announce you as a guest of mine. No one should be there late at night anyway."

"WE shouldn't be there late at night." Draco muttered, but smiled at the glare he received from his dark haired lover. "But of course no one will care if the Almighty Potter was in the building after hours. After all he would NEVER do anything wrong..." There was a definite roll of the eyes at this, and I covered my mouth to stop the laugh that was threatening to come out.

"ANYWAY..." His voice carried an edge of authority to it this time, causing Draco to keep his mouth shut, but he still had an amused look in his eyes.

"Why is it just us three?" I asked, questioning why there was going to be no one else coming along. All I could think of though was that from reading the seven books about this man, the two people that always accompanied him on his little adventures had been Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley. And there didn't appear to be hide nor hair of them. It didn't sit well with me that the friendship between the three had just been an invention for the book.

"I haven't told anyone else what I was planning." Shame laced Harry's voice. "Draco wouldn't even know if he hadn't figured it out." The look on the man's face showed that he hadn't been happy about being left out of Harry's plan; his slightly dangerous plan. "I certainly didn't want to involve Ron or Hermione."

I felt actually relieved to hear their names. So that friendship hadn't been made up for the books.

"The two of them got married about five years back. Hermione just had her second child actually." I knew he was explaining this to me, since I didn't know what had happened after the books, and he must have figured out that my question had pertained to why those two weren't coming tonight. "It's her second boy. There was no way I was going to risk their lives. No way I was going to leave my godchildren without parents. They will stay out of all of this, this time around." There was that determined set to his face again, and I certainly wasn't going to argue with it. Nor it appeared was Draco.

"We don't need anyone else anyway." Draco drawled out, his wand now in his hand, twirling deftly between his fingers. "The muggle here..."

"Aine." I said firmly.

"Whatever. Aine here does the ritual, Harry watches over her, and I watch over the lot of you." His shoulders shrugged, and even that movement had a graceful quality to it.

"Glad we have such a strong protector." I said, sarcasm dripping from my words. Draco gave me a hard look, but I just smiled prettily at the man across from me. "I hope you're ready to help me stagger out of the Ministry as well. After all I'm going to be giving a lot of blood tonight."

At this statement, Harry pushed away from the counter, surprise on his face. "No Aine, I know you need blood. But I've already decided that it's going to be mine."

At this Draco was now standing, looking like a lion about to be let loose. "You are not going to give any blood at all! I absolutely forbid it."

Harry was now staring down Draco, who wasn't backing down at all. Emerald met grey in a battle of the wills.

"You can't stop me. It needs to be done. I at least am not going to let a woman do the dirty work for me." He growled at Draco, who wasn't affected at all dig at his ethical standards concerning me giving blood.

"Forgive me for caring more about your well being then a muggle woman I met only an hour ago."

I stood up suddenly, drawing the attention of both the men.

"Sorry to ruin your lovely lover's squabble, but I WILL be giving the blood." When Harry opened his mouth to argue, I put my hand up. "Sorry Mr. Potter. This one time your complex will have to be put on hold. You can't give the blood, unless you can also do the ritual?" His mouth closed and I continued on, confident in his understanding. "The person doing the ritual has to be the one to give the blood. My words, my actions, my blood. All right?"

The dark hair shook as he nodded. Draco looked immensely relieved, but the cold mask dropped down quickly enough when he noticed that I had seen the relief come over him. He really was cute when it came to Harry... If you had told me only a day ago that Harry Potter was involved romantically with Draco Malfoy, I would have been completely against it. Granted the boy had redeemed himself in the last book of the series, even becoming tentative friends with the Gryffindor boy wonder, but that didn't mean I would have thought him suitable. He was still a pureblooded wizard who considered himself above everyone else. That hadn't changed after I met him, but his concern and devotion where Harry was concerned had tipped the scales in his favor. The story of how the two of them had gotten together was one I would love to hear, but I didn't think this was the time to ask that question. One would probably blush, and the other would smirk at me. Neither would likely tell me.

"I'm so glad we got that dealt with. Now as I said I might be a little dizzy after the ritual, so I hope it won't be underneath you to help me out Draco dear." I fluttered my eyelashes at him. He just rolled his eyes.

"Aine dear, you do this successfully and I'll carry you out with a bloody parade. Elephants included."

"Can I also have a marching band?" I smiled benignly at him. He just snorted, deciding there was no point continuing on with this little word match.

"Cairn really liked elephants." Harry said, smiling. But the instant the words left his lips the smile disappeared. Even with the light atmosphere there was no forgetting what had happened only hours earlier.

"Who doesn't love elephants?" I smiled calmly at Harry.

The last few hours before nightfall were spent quietly, everyone thinking of what had to be done, and what had been done to them already. There was no forgetting Cairn, his ghost lingered in all of our thoughts, even as we prepared to raise the dead.

A/N: So I hope no one hates me now or decides not to read this anymore purely based on who I put Harry with. It really isn't going to be a big deal to the story, it's like a background deal. In the end I chose Draco since I happen to think he isn't THAT bad after book six (after all he didn't go through with it..) and I really think he'll turn out to be good in the end. After all this story takes place quite a long time after the books end, and people change. Well sort of... Not to mention Draco is just far more fun to write, after all he's never going to be sparklingly good. Don't get me wrong I adore Ginny in the books, and I like her with Harry... but Draco and Harry is an interesting idea to write.

But like I said, it's really a background issue... So please don't judge the story based on just that. But of course feel free to review and tell me you hate the match. I'm prepared for it... Just keep the flames to a minimum please :) Thank you