Draco was upstairs trimming the ends of his hair when a knock from his front door caught his attention. He honestly didn't know who it could be. He was in one of his vacation homes in muggle London and the only ones who knew his whereabouts were his parents and Pansy.

He yelled out that he would be there in a moment and quickly braided his hair into two plaits. He didn't want to misplace himself. His hair needs a trim quite badly. His hair nearing waist length was full of maintenance.

Grateful that Milly was in the barn, he didn't want whoever this muggle might be to see something unnecessary.

Floors creak with each step he made down the stairs leading to the front door.

The sight that met him upon opening the door wasn't pleasant.

His ex. Harry Potter. His ex, who he thought was currently in Azkaban. His ex, who somehow sent him a Christmas card every season for the last five years.

"You still look good." The first words in over five years. Looking his ex up and down, Harry looked good as well, but he wasn't going to tell him that. His shaggy curls had gotten longer. Half of it was up and his chin was riddled with a dark five o'clock shadow.

New glasses perched on his nose. He remembered his last pair got broken during his trail.

Knowing he probably looks like a country bumpkin in his cropped sweater with matching shorts, he leans against the door frame.

"I won't ask how you know where I was, so instead, I'll ask why. Why are you here?"

"You know I like to chase after you. Like a dog sniffing out his treat." His white shirt tightened, showing more of his pecs as he shrugged.

"You look pretty clean for someone that just escaped Azkaban." Too clean.

"I know some werewolves."

"Since when?"

"Killing the Minister of Magic gets you some perks with magical creatures." A bright smile on his face.

Harry has always been a bit of a lunatic, even saying a bit sound dumb to his own ears, but a lunatic none the less. They dated for five years while Harry was a Curse Breaker and he did freelance flying lessons to children.

After graduating Hogwarts and repeating their 8th year they didn't hate each other, but neither put in effort to go farther than a wave in the hallway. They were cordial and were polite at Ministry functions for the following years. It wasn't until Ron got Pansy pregnant during a one night stand that they had to be around one another more often.

Pansy's father demanded a dowry and for Ron to marry her which surprisingly he did. Now on his fireplace sat a picture of two red headed children with sinister eyes in their Weasley sweater from last Christmas.

It was at Hugo's first birthday party that Harry asked him out. Not having anything to lose, he said yes. The first date was a disaster honestly. He was dating two other people, so losing Harry wouldn't be much of a blow to his ego, yet, the fool asked him out again and again and again, so much that Harry thought they were exclusive.

Draco told him that he was dating other people and for him being exclusive came with perks. Harry didn't seem upset hearing that, just asked what Draco wanted.

Draco told him he would never be opening his wallet in Harry's presence and Harry needed to be paying all of his bills. Not batting an eye, Harry asked if that was it. He said yes.

"Are you sleeping with the other men?"

"Am I sleeping with you?" He was not.

"You're mine then."

Draco laughed. "Not until this month's bills are paid."

WIthin an hour they were paid and he reimburse Draco for any bills he paid already. By the end of the week he took Draco to Paris, where they wine and dined and fucked on the balcony of their hotel room.

One thing about their relationship, he didn't like was that Harry would disappear sometimes. Mostly a day or two, but never more than a week. He'd only known Harry was still alive because money was still going into his bank account.

He knew it wasn't Curse Breaker business because his partner was Ron. Whenever they would both be out of town, Draco would stay with Pansy.

He did want to ask whenever Harry would shower and come to bed, or when he would go to bed alone and wake up with Harry in his kitchen feeding his owl or even on the night Harry proposed to him. It just didn't feel right to ask and deep down he felt he didn't want to know the answer.

He began to notice more snakes around their home. He even caught Harry talking to one a few times. He always introduced Draco to the snake and would tell the snake how much he loved Draco and to make sure he was safe if he wasn't around. He didn't think anything of it. He was in love with an eccentric man and snakes weren't a new thing to him.

Another thing was in the last two years of their relationship, Harry started to bite him. Harry has always loved having his mouth on him, but in those two years, he wanted Draco to be bruised with his bite. Bites that drew blood. Draco had to limit him to once a week otherwise Harry would have done it at least once a day. The bites would usually happen during sex or affter Draco was sated from an orgasm. Harry would lick the bite and worship that spot, whispering words of adoration to Draco.

"Can I take you out?" said Harry.

Waving a hand at him. "I don't date fugitives."

"So the murdering isn't a turnoff?" Joked Harry. Sadly, it wasn't a turnoff. As far as he knew, the Minister was Harry's only murder.

Draco stayed silent.

"Sorry. Guess that was too soon."

"No, not really. I just don't want a dementor to find me thanks to you.

"They won't. Dementors don't bother me. They didn't touch me the whole time I was in Azkaban. Actually they kinda started away." He chuckled.

"If that was the case, why didn't you escape sooner?"

"We needed to be apart for a while."

Standing up straight. "The fuck do you mean?"

"Remember all that biting?"

"Yes." He hissed.

Harry flinched. "Well, that was actually a part of an old ritual, that would ensure our souls would always meet and be connected."

Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. He closed his front door. "I don't trust you to be in my home yet." He sat down in front of the door, legs crossed. Harry sat down too, his back against the railing and an elbow propped up on his bent knee.

"Explain, you fucking lunatic."

Harry smiled. "Like I said. An old ritual. We are forever bonded. Any incarnation will be destined to reunite. I've heard past life memories may show up as well."

"Where the fuck did you learn that?"

"The werewolves."

"How did you even befriend them? Were they ever in our home?"

"No, no. A snake buddy of mine said he had friends that needed help."

Draco rubbed his eyes. This was too much to process. Would Pansy believe him if he told her this when he went home.

"Harry, we were engaged."

"I needed more than an engagement."

"They why propose at all?"

"Because when it comes to you, I want it all." Draco was ashamed that this display of possessiveness was warming his heart. Maybe it was the Slytherin in him.

"Is this related to the murder?"

"Of course." He said cheerfully. "The werewolves wanted the Minister dead in exchange for teaching me the ritual."

"So you chose murder for eternal love?"

Harry nodded.

"Harry…" Draco sighed.

"Draco."

"So, why'd you stay away?"

"Oh, uh, when it comes to soul bonding, the more dominant of the pair takes on the pain. As a sign they can handle anything that comes their way to protect the relationship for eons to come. Since I wasn't a werewolf, they didn't know how long the pain would last for me and after the murder, I felt that being in Azaban would be a good place to be in pain at. Everyone else was in pain and I would just blend in. None the wiser and such."

"Why do I love you?" Draco whispered. More to himself, but it was heard.

"You do?" Harry said in excitement.

He sighed. "Yeah, but I don't trust you and you're still a fugitive."

"Fair."

They sat in silence for a while. Watching the trees sway with the wind. He noticed Harry was staring at his hand. He honestly didn't know what he would do if Harry reached for it. His trust with Harry was broken. There was a ritual on his soul without his permission and apparently snakes are besties with werewolves.

Luckily Milly interrupted them and told them dinner was ready. He told Milly to bring them both a plate. After she did, Harry told her thank you as Draco stood up. Plate in hand.

He didn't know what to say to Harry and he just wanted to go inside. He chose not to speak as he opened the door and went inside. Leaving Harry to finish his meal alone. Hopefully through their bond he could understand Draco's needs right now.

He was going to finish trimming his hair. Wash it and go to bed. Draco was going to continue living his life. How Harry was going to fit in, was dependent on him.