For disclaimer and summary, go to chapter one

AN: This is for you guys. I don't know how this will come out, but I'll do my best. Still in major writers block, but I'm starting to write down notes, which is the easy part of course, but the actual writing of it doesn't look good. But for you guys, I'll try my best.

This is probably gonna be a short chapter, if I do say so myself...

Oh, and the Authors Note will be deleted okay?

Keys:

/.../ - Draco/Harry mind-speech-thingy (coming later on...)

"..."/"...'' – talking.

Enjoy!

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Chapter V – Explanations and Courtship

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Draco felt as though he were swimming. Everywhere he looked, he saw nothingness, and the thought of being dead frightened him. He remembered the myths of Angels that told about the death for Angels. Nothing around them and nowhere to go. Numbness in their bodies.

But then, Draco felt a hand running through his hair, calling him back towards the surface, and he felt the numbness fall away. He heard a person calling his name and he groaned, the voice seemingly too loud for his sensitive ears.

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Harry looked up when he heard Draco groan. It was as if everything suddenly came to life after a century-long sleep. Lucius rushed to his wife's side and Dumbledore, usually a very slow man, looked very agile for his age, as he also went to Draco's side and knelt above his head. Harry had already been next to Draco, clasping his hand and getting lost in his thoughts about what had transpired a few hours ago.

He watched as Draco's silver eyes slowly opened and he blinked bemusedly, surprised at the many faces looking back at him in concern, before resting on Harry and letting out a relieved breath, then looked to Dumbledore.

"What happened? The last I remember was following the spy into the forest and seeing Voldemort. What's Harry doing here?"

Dumbledore's eyes weren't twinkling for the moment as he answered, "Harry decided to follow you it seems. He was worried that something bad had happened to you when the school shook, and he rushed out of the Great Hall before I could stop him, or notice him in the chaos that followed."

Draco's eyes widened as he remembered and he turned reproachful eyes to Harry, who looked sheepish and scolded, "Harry, I told you not to follow me! What if something had happened to you? I'd have never forgiven myself. Next time, please listen to me, for my sake alright?" he added pleadingly.

Harry frowned, but nodded reluctantly, "I was just worried. I thought something terrible had happened, especially after the warning you had just given me. I'm sorry."

Draco nodded, thankfully, and turned to his parents, "Do you know anything that happened to Voldemort after I got here with Harry?"

Lucius shook his head and sighed, "He apparently went back to Hell to cook some new plans against us. Did you get the name of the spy?"

"Yes. Ginny Weasley." Draco said, a dark look in his eyes. When he looked to Harry, he saw that his love had a sad look in his eyes, and tried to get up to comfort him, but was held back by Narcissa, who whispered into his ear, "Leave him be. I think he wants to think about this alone." To which Draco reluctantly nodded, keeping his eyes on Harry.

"Draco?" Dumbledore suddenly asked and said angel looked at him, "I think it's time for Harry to know his position in this little story, don't you think?"

Harry's head snapped up, startled, and looked at everyone in the room before falling to Draco for a second, and then dropping again, suddenly shy.

Draco also blushed, and looked away, but nodded, and Dumbledore smiled, eyes twinkling again.

Harry looked up and their gazes locked. And Draco decided he had to tell the truth slowly.

"Harry. As you might've noticed, most Angels have life-mates. Life-mates' job is to make an Angel happy. And an Angel always makes sure their mate knows when they are happy, and makes their mate as happy as they are. Angels' mates make Angels happy for the rest of an Angel's lifetime, and only die when their mate dies," he said. "When an Angel meets their mate, they start something called Courtship. It's when an Angel starts their seduction of the mate, trying to make them fall in love with their charms and personality. Each Courtship is different – depending on their true meanings and their true personalities. Every Courtship also is true-hearted, so the mate doesn't have to worry about the Angel's Courtship being only a falsity of their true personalities, and after the Courtship ends, they change into completely different persons. There are many more things about the topic, but you will find out about the other things on your own.

The reason I'm telling you this, and the reason why I told you about Heaven yesterday, is the fact that someday, sooner or later, you're gonna go there, and maybe live there for the rest of your life. Do you understand what I'm telling you, Harry?"

Harry was wide-eyed by the time Draco finished, and then shook his head, looking down at his lap, pretending to be dense, not wanting to believe what he was hearing, and Draco understood, even though it made things harder.

So he took a deep breath, and said, "Harry, you're my mate." And Harry's shoulders slumped.

"...Oh," he said, trying to smile, but failing horribly, "Okay. Erm... do you mind if I take a bit of time to process this information? It's rather sudden..." he again tried smiling, and again he failed, as he looked up to Draco.

Draco sighed, knowing that this was inevitable, and nodded, "Of course you can. You take as much time as you want. Only... Harry?" he waited until Harry's eyes met his, "Please don't push me away, okay? That's the only thing I ask of you."

Harry thought for a second, and then nodded, this time managing a smile, "I just need a bit of time to get used to this... Do you mind if I go and have a bit of a walk, professor?" he asked, turning to Dumbledore.

The elderly man smiled kindly, "Of course you can. Just stay inside the castle walls. The Demon Lord is haunting the grounds you know. And it's especially you that he's looking for, so be careful, hmm?"

Harry nodded and stood up, dusting his pants off, "Well, good-night professor, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, Draco."

He left the office and everyone fell silent.

Harry walked around aimlessly, trusting his legs to lead him wherever they wanted. 'Why do I be Draco's mate? I mean, is there anything out there that's normal for me? Or does everything strange happen to me? What have I done to make whoever is up there angry at me? I mean, it's okay to be Draco's mate I suppose, I can't really change that, but still... why me?'

As he was pondering those questions, he didn't notice dark eyes watching him, but he did hear the footsteps following him very fast and he turned around, wand poised for an attack.

Blaise stopped, noting the wand and held his hands up, "Whoa, Harry. It's just me."

Harry sighed, relieved, and blushed sheepishly, "Sorry. I've just got a lot of things on my mind at the moment and I didn't hope for company..."

Blaise lowered his hands and grinned, "Well, I was kinda hoping to meet you somewhere. I've wanted to talk to you for couple of days now, but you've seemed busy all the time so I haven't gotten a chance. So if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to have that chance to talk to you before you get busy again afterwards."

Harry smiled and nodded and Blaise walked up to him and they walked on in silence.

"So, what's on your mind that got your reflexes out?" Blaise asked after a while.

"Erm..." Harry blushed, "well, that's something that I'm not really supposed to say to others. And besides, I just got the information myself, so I'd really like to think about it before I'd tell anyone else about it. I hope you don't mind," he added quickly.

Blaise laughed, "No, no. everyone's got a right to some secrets. I myself have got one that I won't tell anyone, so I know what it's like to hold a secret."

"Okay then. So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

Harry was surprised to see Blaise blushing, "Well, there's a Hogsmeade weekend this weekend, and I was wondering... if you'd like to go out with me then?"

Harry blushed as well and started stammering, looking for a polite way to decline, all the while thinking about how angry Draco would get, "Oh! Oh well, erm... I really don't thing that it's such a... well... not such a good idea. I'm sorry, I'd really love to go, but I'm... erm... very busy this weekend and can't go..." he cringed, knowing that it was a really lousy lie, and because of Blaise's eyes darkening.

Blaise couldn't believe this. Harry rejected him! Why? Was he not good enough? Not pretty enough? Not... his eyes widened... it's that Malfoy! That darn angel stole him from me! I should've known that his Harry would be that darn angel's mate. I should've known! I should've...

Blaise suddenly noticed the fear in Harry's eyes, and softened his features immediately, 'I shall get revenge for this, Malfoy. I shall!' "It's okay, Harry. There must be much on your mind to take the whole weekend off, right?" he grinned.

Harry smiled slightly, "Yeah. There is." They reached the Fat Lady. "Well, was that all you wanted? Because I think I'll go to bed now and try to think it over. See you later?"

Blaise smiled again and nodded. "Good-night then. Sleep well," he said, leaning close and kissing Harry on his cheek.

Harry blushed again and said good-night, touched his cheek gently, and entered the Gryffindor Tower, still looking dazed. The common room was empty, except for one boy.

Draco looked up when he heard the Fat Lady open and sighed in relief when he saw that it was Harry. But then he noticed the flushed and dazed look and instantly got suspicious, and stood up, walking towards Harry.

Harry looked up when he noticed Draco coming towards him and blushed, "Hi, Draco."

Draco nodded, still suspicious, "Harry. Where have you been? I was worried sick about you."

Harry lowered his eyes, guilty. "I'm sorry Draco. I was talking to Blaise and he sent me to the common room."

"Oh. What did he want to talk to you about?" the Angel asked, trying to quell down his protectiveness and jealousy.

"Oh... erm... well, he wanted to ask me out this Hogsmeade weekend..." Harry flinched as he saw Draco's eyes narrow, "but I declined of course. Even if I don't love you like that yet, I'd never hurt you so much. I do like you, I really do. I just need time to adjust to this. You have to understand that this is very new to me and I really need time for this to completely get to me that once again, something weird is happening in my life." he said this to himself with a sad look to his eyes.

Draco reached for Harry's chin and raised the lowered eyes to lock with his, letting his emotions flow over his face – love, desire, care, concern and many others flashed through his face, "I understand completely. I just hope you won't reject me, and maybe you'll learn to love me as much as I love you Harry. But if I ever got to hold you... just a hug and maybe a kiss on your soft cheek, I'd die happy, right now and here. But I understand it's too much for you. Maybe you'll fall for Blaise, even though I tell you now, you would regret him. He's not who he plays he is. Trust me on that. But you might be happy with him, more than you ever would be with me."

"Why would you think I'd like Blaise?" Harry was confused. Was Draco letting him choose who to love, even though it could kill him? Why?

Draco tilted his head, "Because I can see how he craves your touch. Not as much as I, but still too much. I know he kissed you. I can smell it on you." he smiled, trying to make it cheerful, but knowing that he failed, "Well, you'll have to decide on who you want to love. I would like to start my courtship to be honest, just to try and see if I could have a chance of getting you to love me." he straightened his back and adopted a formal voice, "Harold James Potter, will you give me the honor of starting the courtship of Angelicus with you?" (1)

Harry blinked and looked into Draco's eyes, realizing too late that it was a mistake. It seemed that whenever he looked into Draco's eyes, he seemed to be lost. But he shook his head and lost the feeling.

To be bonded to Draco. It seemed strange... but what wasn't strange in Harry's life? And to even start a courtship with Draco seemed too unnatural. But the thought of never being happy with Draco, it was comforting to know that at least he had saved one more life. And Draco said that he'd protect me with his whole life if he had to.

He looked back up to Draco, hoping to find any kind of emotion in the emotionless eyes that were there from the moment he had entered back to the common room, and saw, to his surprise, affection, and hope and more emotions that Harry had never had anyone show him, and made his decision.

"I'll accept the courtship, Draco," it was worth the excitement and happiness in Draco's eyes, and he smiled, knowing that he had made a right decision.

They went to bed after that, but neither could sleep.

Draco looked to his left and saw Harry's eyes wide open, looking up at the canvas of his four-poster bed, and took a deep breath to calm his nerves.

"Hey Harry?"

"Hmm?"

"... Will you go out to dinner with me tomorrow? At Hogsmeade?" came the nervous question.

"..." Harry looked towards him, surprised, but then smiled, "Sure. It might be fun."

Draco smiled back at him and, at last, fell asleep, dreaming of the date.

Harry kept looking at Draco as he fell asleep, and once again noticed how beautiful he was. It was still a few hours until Harry went into a restless sleep.

(1) – Corny, eh? Sorry. I just didn't have any other way to say it...

Oh, and I have a very laaaarge head-ache that has been killing me fore the last few weeks. I got home at 4 in the morning last night, but I don't think there's a hang over that's with one person for two weeks. I think it's stress... I won't even bother to read through it, so if you find any mistakes, please ignore them...

Don't mind if this chapter sucks, the reasons for it are above...

Buh-bye!

yuranda