"Draco, wake up."
"Bollocks, Potter, what time is it?" Draco squinted and buried himself under the covers.
"I don't know, I'm scared I'll blow something up if I cast a time charm."
Draco came fully awake now, remembering why they were sleeping on the ground in the middle of the woods. Harry's magic was spilling out again, flowing over him in waves. He needed his wand so he could drain off the pressure for good.
"How are you feeling?" he asked, shoving the blankets down and inspecting Harry's face closely. He looked sleepy, and the side of his face was covered in pillowcase wrinkles.
"I'm okay," Harry smiled crookedly. "Still feeling off, I guess."
"You let off a bit of steam last night, but not enough," Draco sat up and searched around for his trousers. "You bought yourself some time but we should get searching for your wand so you can get on with it."
Harry captured Draco's wrist and pulled him down, then gazed into his eyes with searching wonder. Draco could guess what he was thinking. He wanted to know if last night was a one-off thing. The fact that he was even wondering filled Draco's heart with warmth. He didn't want a one-time thing. He didn't want to spend the next six years reminiscing about last night.
"Do you remember," he asked softly, running his fingers through Harry's short black hair, "eighth year, after finals, down by the lake?"
"Yeah," Harry breathed. "I don't know what came over me. You were looking at me, and you were so handsome, and I couldn't stop thinking about you." He trailed his fingers up Draco's arm. "Thinking about your arms around me, on the back of my broom, holding me so tightly." He lifted Draco's hand and threaded their fingers together. "I looked at you and it seemed for just a moment like maybe you were thinking about it, too."
"You held my hand," Draco murmured. "Just for a moment, but it really happened."
"It really happened," Harry nodded.
Draco squeezed Harry's hand and swallowed hard. "Not a day has gone by since that I haven't thought of it."
Harry drew Draco to his lips and kissed him softly. "Me too," he whispered.
A tide of Harry's magic swamped Draco then, reminding him that they had work to do. He pulled Harry to his feet and directed him to get dressed while he stowed the tent and bedding. They had a quick bite to eat, and then they were off, hunting for the buried wand.
"How could you forget where you put it?" Draco called as he stumbled over a boulder, his ankle rolling clumsily. "Expulso!" he slashed his wand at the ground, punishing the rock for its transgression.
"Draco!" Harry ducked and covered his head as gravel rained down around them. "Knock it off. I don't know how I forgot, I just did. I remember there was a pair of trees growing out of a single trunk, so if you see that we're probably close."
"Was it at least near the stream?" Draco asked, brushing the rubble from his shoulders.
"A bit north of it," Harry said. "Keep looking that direction," he pointed off to their left.
"Well there's a pair of trees growing out of one trunk right over there." Draco pointed with his wand. "Does it look familiar?"
"I don't know, Malfoy," Harry sighed and scratched his head. "They all sort of look the same to me."
"Well lets go look, because your magic is flooding the valley and we need to do something fast to dissipate it." Draco's tone was light, but he was becoming concerned again. Last night's dalliance hadn't had a lasting effect on the rising magical overflow. He couldn't be sure how much time Harry had left, but he worried it wasn't much. If they didn't find the wand soon he was going to recommend that Harry throw caution to the wind and try wandless magic again, even at risk of personal injury.
"It looks right," Harry squinted up at the tree. "I buried it in autumn so the trees look different."
"Where about did you dig?" Draco asked.
"Right at the base of the tree."
"Did you at least bury it in its box?"
"Of course I did."
"Well of course," Draco rolled his eyes. "Silly me for thinking you might have done something daft."
"Just dig, you Slytherin prat," Harry dropped to his knees and started clawing at the earth with his hands.
Draco sighed and crossed his arms. When Harry didn't notice he tapped his foot impatiently. Finally he said, "Potter, back up." He raised his wand and cast a Defodio spell, gouging out a great wad of soil at once.
Harry sat back on his heels and watched, his magic rolling off of him in great sheeting waves. Finally he waved his hand for Draco to stop and dug his hands into the dirt again. His face lit up as his fingers made contact with something hard.
"Here!" He shouted. "Dig over this way a bit, but not too deep. Don't damage the box," he pointed excitedly.
"Defodio!" Draco extracted another gob of soil. Harry lunged his hands into the trench and swept the dirt aside until the long, rectangular lid of a box became clearly visible. He wiggled it back and forth to loosen it and then lifted it free.
"Got it," he sighed in relief. He thumbed the two latches open and then pushed the lid open. There, laid neatly in a bed of satin, was Harry's wand. Eleven inches of supple holly, Draco would know it at a single glance.
"Don't handle it with muddy fingers, Potter," Draco said. "Go wash yourself. Don't try a Sourgify, you'll just as likely lop off your hands as clean them."
Harry went to the stream to scrub up. Draco dropped to his knees and gently touched the holly wand, hefting his own Hawthorn wand in his dominant hand. He had never held Harry's wand before, and wondered at the intimacy of doing so.
"Do you want to try it?" Harry's voice came from above. Draco squinted up at him and shook his head. "My hands are clean," Harry smirked and held his fingers out for inspection.
Draco rose to his feet and smiled tolerantly. He nodded at the wand in the box and took a respectful step back. Harry knelt and touched it hesitantly before lifting it free from its satin cocoon. He sighed audibly, his shoulders rounding as he rolled it back and forth between his fingers.
"I've missed you," he breathed. The magic swell warmed, surrounding Draco with blissful happiness and the taste of toasted cinnamon. Harry's magic was glad to be reunited with his wand.
"Come now," Draco dropped a hand onto Harry's shoulder. "There will be time enough to sweet talk your wand later. Let's get you doing a few spells."
He cast about and found a small Snitch-sized stone, which he set on the ground in front of Harry. Affecting his most pedagogical tone, he raised his wand with pinkie extended. "Now repeat after me. Wingardium Leviosa."
Harry glowered over his glasses at him. "I am not doing first year spells," he said.
"Tut tut," Draco sneered pompously. "Wingardium Leviosa."
"Fine. Wingardium Leviosa."
The stone rocketed straight up and was lost in the glare of the sun. Far off in the distance they heard a faint thud. Harry stared at his wand in slack-jawed surprise.
"Well then," Draco cleared his throat. "A few more of those, shall we?"
Harry lofted stone after stone, while Draco scoured the surrounding area for more. Each time the spell fired off it flung the stone far afield in an uncontrolled launch. After Harry's fifteenth try he grabbed the next stone and hurled it by hand as far as he could.
"Sodding rocks, sodding spell, it's going too sodding slow!" he shouted. "Why isn't it getting any better?" he whirled on Draco and held his arms out wide. "You're the Tracker. Tell me, is it getting any better?"
"Only a bit," Draco said honestly. "I don't know how else to fix this. Even the smallest spells you cast are too strong by an order of magnitude. How can you go any faster without endangering yourself?"
"There has to be a middling point," Harry raked his hand through his hair in frustration.
"Don't get upset," Draco tossed a handful of stones in a pile and drew Harry into his arms. "You spent a year stopping up your magic. It's going to take more than a few lobbed pebbles to fix it."
"I suppose so," Harry encircled Draco in his arms and kissed him, a smile playing across his lips as Draco kissed him back.
"Is that an Engorgio in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?" Draco murmured. Harry's hips jerked back and tilted to hide his erection. Draco chuckled and stroked his thumb across the bulge. "Not now," he murmured. "But I'll reward you for your work later."
Harry groaned and released him. He sighed and went back to lofting rocks into the sky and Draco went back to gathering more.
"I think I've cleared the whole valley," Draco said finally. "How about you move on to Locomotor?" He pointed at a particularly large boulder that jutted out of the ground.
"I can't move something that large," Harry sighed. "No, don't say it, I'll give it a try." He pointed his wand with a bored air, "Locomotor." The ground shook as the automobile-sized rock trembled its way free and hovered above the ground.
"Hold it for as long as you can," Draco suggested. "Surely that will eat up some magical excess."
Harry held his arm rigid and focused with intense concentration. Several silent minutes passed until Harry's brow broke out in a sweat and his hand began to tremble. The enormous stone wobbled and then tilted, and finally Harry released it with a gasp. The boulder crashed to the ground and rolled towards the stream before coming to rest.
"How does my magic feel now?" Harry held his arms out.
"Better," Draco nodded. "Still spilling out of you, though. But at least you're not like an overlooked sausage splitting at the seams anymore."
"That is an improvement," Harry said wryly. "Seems like I should be able to try something bigger now."
"Don't get ahead of yourself," Draco warned. But he knew that look in the former Gryffindor's eye. "Harry, wait!"
"Expecto Patronum!" Harry thrust his wand towards the stream.
Draco felt the impact before his other senses caught up. One moment he was warning Harry off, and then next he was laid out on his back by the force of a sledge hammer. Blinding white light filled the valley, obliterating shadows and searing Draco's vision. He cried out but was plastered to the ground by the force of the swell, unable to even shield his eyes from the scorching light. His lungs grabbed desperately for air but the pressure wave of the intense Patronus crushed relentlessly down on him.
His vision swam, and for a moment he was certain that this was the end. He'd always heard dying was like a light at the end of a tunnel. Maybe that was what this was. He stared up at the illuminated branches above him and tried to figure out how to go into the light. Then a flicker of motion just beyond his periphery caught his attention, and he was just able to lift his head enough to look directly into the glare of an enormous stag formed entirely of light. The stag stepped delicately over to him and nuzzled his leg, then looked up into the distance and moved on.
Suddenly Draco was able to move. The light continued to flood the forest but he could roll to his side and then push himself up on hands and knees. He gasped for breath as he wobbled for balance, his ears ringing with the streaming Patronus blast. Before him lay Harry, flat on his back with his wand in his hand, light fountaining out of the tip like a geyser. Harry's face was ashen and his body was limp.
The stag appeared at Draco's side again and nudged his elbow with its nose. It was trying to tell Draco something, he was sure of it. The stag stepped over to Harry and stood over him, before bounding away again.
Draco dropped to his elbows and fished up his sleeve for his wand. He grimaced and gasped with the effort, the weight of the streaming Patronus nearly more than he could withstand. He finally got a grip on the wand and yanked it free, falling to his stomach with a grunt. He raised his hand and aimed with one eye squinted.
"Expellliarmus!" he shouted. A spark shot from his wand and struck Harry's hand, knocking the holly wand out of his grip. The light streaming from the tip extinguished and the forest around them dimmed to normal daylight. Draco shoved himself to his feet and staggered to Harry's side.
Harry was pale, unmoving. His jaw was slack and his eyes were closed. Draco felt his neck for a pulse and lowered his ear to his mouth to listen for breath. When he felt the throb beneath his fingertips and the slight brush of exhalation he nearly choked in relief.
"Get up, you daft Gryffindor arse," he said sharply. "Rennervate,"
Harry's eyes fluttered and then opened. "What happened?" he croaked.
"You cast the world's biggest Patronus, you nutter," Draco said. "Gryffindors never learn."
"You keep saying Gryffindor," Harry squinted up at him. "It's like school all over again."
"Except in school I wouldn't have done this," Draco leaned over and kissed Harry deeply. Harry's arms slipped around him and held him close.
Just then Draco was struck with a sudden realization. He broke the kiss off with a sloppy smack and sat up. "I think that did it," he said, eyebrows high on his forehead. "I don't feel your magic spilling over anymore.
"Really?" Harry sat up now and looked around, as though his magic could be seen hiding in the forest around them.
"You actually feel normal," Draco ran his hand down Harry's arm and focused with his Tracker sense. He picked up a normal level of Harry's signature, still satiny sweet but no longer overflowing and overwhelming.
"Does that mean I'm fixed?" Harry asked.
"It means you're not stopped up anymore," Draco said. "And it means I saved your life so I've paid my debt."
"And you've earned a cool five hundred Galleons in the process," Harry smirked.
"No, I haven't earned my fee yet," Draco shook his head. "For that, I have to bring you home."
Harry swallowed hard. "And what if I don't want to go home?"
"That's your choice," Draco tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice.
"What if," Harry said slowly, rolling his wand between his fingers, "what if I'm willing to go home on one condition?"
"What condition?"
"I want to go home with you," Harry looked up, his green eyes shining brilliantly. "I think I can be who I want to be with you. Not what I'm expected to be."
"You might find they're more similar than you think," Draco said, lacing his fingers through Harry's.
"So can I come home with you?" Harry asked hopefully.
"Sure," Draco tried not to sound too pleased, but he could feel his cheeks flush pink.
"Then let's get out of these woods," Harry climbed to his feet. "I could really use a shower." He grinned at Draco, then with a small pop he Disapparated. Draco sighed in relief, then Disapparated, too.