Chapter 31: I'm Not The One Who Cried

You-Know-Who Defeated

Mysterious Defeat of Dark Lord

With the mystery surrounding the workings of You-Know-Who, the Wizarding world has been living in fear for years on end. After many seemingly random attacks and the recent new concerning the disappearance of Draco Malfoy, son of alleged Death Eater Lucius Malfoy the Ministry of Magic and civilians alike have suffered.

The world can breathe a sigh of relief. Word has reached the Daily Prophet that He Who Must Not Be Named was defeated five days ago in his hideout underneath a cemetery in an undisclosed location. It had also been revealed He Who Must Not Be Named has had Death Eaters stationed in Hogwarts. Lucius Malfoy has been posing as Headmaster Albus Dumbledore since the start of term. Lucius Malfoy was found dead, however, but no death affected the Wizarding community quite like that of Albus Dumbledore. He had apparently been captured by Lord Voldemort and brutally murdered, before being replaced by Malfoy.

There is still no information regarding the person or persons responsible for dealing the final blow to the most evil wizard of our time, but all signs point to Harry Potter, who was unavailable for comment.

Draco Malfoy has, rumor tells, also been found and returned safely to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There has been no word on the reason for his disappearance or his condition.

The Prophet will strive to keep you informed as new information arises.

Harry folded up the newspaper before dropping it onto the worn sofa of the Gryffindor common room.

With a sigh he started up the dormitory stairs, the hollow echo of his feet reverberation off the smooth stone surrounding him.

"Wake up," Harry tones, pulling open the curtains surrounding his bed with flourish. "You're going down to see Snape, remember?"

The occupant of the bed groaned and rolled over onto his back, his fine blonde hair splayed across Harry's pillow in a delicate fan.

"Up," Harry repeated as he tugged at one slender toe. "I need enough time to walk you to the dungeon and get back to Divination when Madam Pomfrey told you to take it easy I highly doubt she meant twenty-four hour bed rest."

"I don't want to get out of your bed," Draco whined, his dead eyes open and unfocused. "I'm rather content laying right here. Plus, I'm not too sure I'm ready to try this potion."

Harry lowered himself onto the bed, laying his head next to Draco's. "You don't want to see again?"

"Of course I do," Draco replied in a whisper, pressing a kiss to Harry's neck. "I just…I'm afraid to put too much faith into the potion because maybe it won' work. I don't want to be disappointed, and I don't want you to be either. I'd rather just lay here in your bed and breathe in your scent and try to remember your smile than be let down again."

"It will work," Harry said softly, wrapping an arm around Draco. "It worked before."

"But there still is a chance it won't," Draco argued. "I just don't want you to get your hopes up, okay? You've been through enough."

"Oh please, and you haven't?" Harry said as he climbed out of bed. "I wasn't recently kidnapped."

"Let's not start a pity party," Draco groaned, sitting up and fumbling over the top of Harry's bedside table for his glasses. "I'm not kidnapped anymore, Voldemort's not trying to kill you anymore, we're fine. We can be normal now, or as normal as we can be."

Harry only chuckled, pressing a kiss to Draco's neck. "Go take a shower and I'll bring you some clothes on, and don't try that drying charm again, my dorm mates weren't very happy about having no water in the loo."

"I need a new wand," Draco said as he picked up the loaner want Headmistress McGonagall had given him. "This one doesn't work right, and not being able to see isn't helping."

"We'll get you one when the term ends," Harry said with an eyeroll. "I think you can make do with what you've got for now. At least you can do magic again. Surely you missed that when you were in hiding."

Draco only shrugged. He had wanted to say no, that he didn't miss magic, mostly because most magic involved being able to see and since he couldn't, he had resigned himself to never brandishing a wand again. He didn't want Harry to reassure him anymore. Bloody Gryffindors and their Bloody encouragement. Instead he said, "Don't bring me any of your horrible school robes, I refuse to wear them."

"And how will you know if I bring you a Gryffindor robe?" Harry asked as he started piling clothes on his bed, topping them off with a set of plain black robes.

"They smell funny of course," Draco replied with a grin before disappearing down the staircase, his hands trailing down the wall as he went.

Harry only rolled his eyes and followed him.

"Potter read the Prophet to you, I trust," Snape said from across his desk, folding the paper up and laying it down.

"No sir," Draco replied truthfully. "Why, has the Dark Lord's death finally reached the public's ears?"

"Yes," Snape replied flatly. Draco didn't have to see his face to know what he was feeling. "As well as the deaths of Albus, Remus, and your father."

Draco lowered his head. He had half-expected Severus to stumble of Remus' name, but he didn't.

"Remus' funeral is tomorrow, Dumbledore's the day after."

"And father's?" Draco asked, his face hard. "Surely mother…"

"She's already buried him," he replied coldly. "I'm sure she realized the only visitors would be there to spit on his grave."

Draco didn't respond. Snape cleared his throat. "I trust you will pass along the message to Potter. I'm taking a Portkey out at nine in the morning if you'd like to come with me. If not, it's in Godric's Hollow, I'm burying him next to Black and the Potter's. I think he would have liked that."

There was a tear in his voice, and Draco was very glad he didn't have to witness the grief. "Harry will like to visit their graves as well. I don't think he ever has."

"Too busy, I'm sure," Severus said with a snort. "What with a madman trying to kill him and all."

Draco chuckled, fingering the worn wool of the robe Harry had given him. "I'm sure that's it."

"Quite." Draco heard Snape's chair squeal as he stood, followed shortly by the clanking of glass phials. "Now, I've made enough of this potion for six doses. You'll take it once a week for six weeks. The most you'll be able to see more than likely will be blurred lines, possibly black and white. At the most, it may be like looking through fogged glass. We won't know until you try it."

Draco nodded, then asked, "What happens after six weeks?"

"If you were to take this potion all the time, you would build up an immunity to it, much like Veritaserum," Snape explained. "You'll take it for six weeks, not take it for four, and take it for six. If we're lucky, we may see some form of macular regeneration."

Draco's brow furrowed. "You mean they could get better?"

"Heal," Snape corrected. "Not get better. Your scars may go away."

Draco nodded, then felt Snape press the first dose into his hand. He took a deep breath and tossed it back, the warm, almost spicy taste of the potion making his nose tingle.

His vision went white briefly before returning to the monotonous black. "Thank you for this," Draco said as he accepted the bag of phials. "You've no idea how much this means to me, and Harry too, though he'd never admit it to your face. I think he really does like you."

"He only puts up with me because you find it necessary to grace me with your presence," Snape said as he helped Draco to the door. "If it weren't for you, I'm sure he would still have nothing good to say about me."

Draco chuckled. "And who said he has something nice to say about you now?"

"Absolutely no one," Severus said with a small grin. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Alright," Draco said as he shouldered the bad. "Thanks again."

"No problem," Snape said, "I'm just happy to have another potion to brew every month."

Draco could hear the sad smile in his voice.

"So it doesn't work right away?" Hermione asked as she examined a phial of the potion. "It's a gradual thing?"

"Yeah," Draco said as he felt Draco drop down next to him on the couch, laying a hand on his leg. "I've got to take it every day for six weeks. The more I take it, the better my eyes will get, Severus makes it sound."

"Fascinating," Hermione breathed. "It's amazing what potions can do."

"Hermione, is Ron still mad at me?" Harry asked, making it more than obvious that he wasn't listening to their conversation at all.

"He's not mad at you," Hermione said as she returned the potion to the bag. "He's just annoyed that you went off to defeat evil without him. Frankly, so am I. You disappeared from Hogwarts without so much as a note. For all we knew you had been captured and killed. You were gone for a long time, so long that Ron and I went to Professor Snape to see if you had maybe went to see Draco early, but he wasn't there either. Then we got really scared."

"Hermione…" Harry began, but she cut him off.

"I'm not done. After that, Ron was sure that something was going on…that Voldemort had you and was torturing you for sport in front of his Death Eaters or something. I'm not afraid to say it, but Ron was more scared for you than I was, he expected the worst. I just thought that you and Professor Snape had left for Grimmauld Place early. We didn't hear anything until Professor McGonagall came to tell the common room that the Professor Dumbledore had, in fact, not been Professor Dumbledore at all and he was dead…it all seemed to fall into place. We followed her back to her office to ask her about what she knew."

Harry lowered his head , watching Draco tangle their fingers together.

"Professor Snape had told her that Draco had been kidnapped and that Remus was dead," Hermione's voice cracked and Harry's couldn't bring himself to look at her. "Ron held on to my hand so tightly I couldn't feel my fingers. We both knew you would do something rash and heroic, we just didn't think you would do it without us. We've always been rash and heroic together."

Harry didn't know what to say. 'I'm sorry' was the first thing to come to mind, but he really wasn't sorry. He did what he had to do.

Hermione cleared her throat. "Now, with that said, I don't want an apology. I know you did what you thought was best and you saved the day and killed Voldemort and got the girl…or in your case boy…in the end, and I'm glad for you. But Harry, from now on, do please try to think about what you put other people through before you go rushing into things. You have no idea how many people you would affect if you were hurt. Understand?"

"I understand," Harry said softly, his head still lowered like a scolded child. "I'm sorry I scared you."

"Don't apologize to me," Hermione said with a small wave, "I'm not the one who cried."

"Weasley cried?" Draco said incredulously. "Because he was scared? You're kidding."

Harry just lowered his face into his hands and groaned.

"God damn it, is homosexuality bloody contagious or something?" Ron screeched as he barreled through the portrait hole, Ginny and, oddly enough, Luna Lovegood, close behind.

"Yes Weasley," Draco drawled with a shadow of his former sneer, "Don't come too close or it will catch."

"You lot have infected my SISTER!" Ron bellowed, motioning at Ginny and Luna. Ginny looked annoyed, Luna looked lost.

"You were right Harry," Ginny said simply, and Harry grinned.

"Wait…you…Harry…you didn't…" Ron sputtered. "You…you told her she was a…a…a girl gay?"

"Lesbian Ronald," Hermione corrected. "The correct term is lesbian."

Ron's veins looked like they were trying to crawl out of his skin. Harry only shrugged. "I merely suggested the idea. It was up to her to decide. I'm happy for you Ginny, and you too, Luna."

"Don't celebrate too soon," Luna said, her wide, blue eyes trained on Harry. "Gays are more likely to attract Blinkering Numbertwats."

Ginny beamed at the blonde, whereas Draco ducked behind his hand to hide a snicker, Harry tried his best to nod in concern, Hermione rolled her eyes, and Ron just looked…well…purple.

"The world has gone completely insane," Ron finally decided, after watching Ginny and Luna talk about the effects of Blinkering Numbertwat venom for an hour at the same time he watched Harry and Draco whisper, brush hands, and giggle rather unbecomingly at one another. "Absolutely batshit."

"Sorry love," Hermione said, not looking up from her homework. "I'll let you have sex with me later if it will make you feel any better."

And, unsurprisingly, Ron supposed it would.