Disclaimer: Deep in the jungle, there is a magical monkey that farts every time someone is born, by the time that monkey stops farting, I will still not own Harry Potter.

Warning: Slash (yaoi), Femme-slash (yuri), AU-ish, Spoilers for DH.

AN: hey people, it's me again!

Chapter Seven: Explanations, Explanations!

Harry Potter started when Draco Malfoy's owl, Athena tapped at his window.

He smiled as he let the large Eagle owl in and hastily untied the note from her leg.

"Hey Athena," he murmured, remembering the owl from Draco's last letter inviting him to talk.

Athena hooted softly and nibbled his finger affectionately before lifting off and flying out the window. Harry grinned slightly at the owl's behavior before turning his attention back to the note.

'Potter,

I need you here now, as this concerns you, but be prepared for the shock of your life.

Malfoy'

Harry frowned a bit at the message, before shrugging, and hoping that whatever was going on wasn't as horrible as Draco made it out to be.

'Well....here goes nothing!' thought Harry, before, with a crack, he apparated to Malfoy Manor in Wiltshire.

----DMHP----

Draco paced his study, occasionally throwing concerned glances at his father's still, unconscious form, and annoyed ones at James Potter who stubbornly insisted on being at Lucius' side despite being the one who caused the whole episode.

Suddenly, Draco snapped his head up and, his silvery gray eyes widening, he hurled himself out the door of the study, stuttering a hasty apology over his shoulder.

"Sorry—here—must—go—greet!!!" was his stilted excuse, before he ran out of the room and to Harry.

Draco sped down the staircase and, seeing Harry standing in the foyer, pounced on the unsuspecting man's form.

"Harry!" he howled, being far too undignified for proper Malfoy behavior, but somehow not caring in the slightest at the moment.

"Draco?" Harry caught him, quite startled and was about to ask what was wrong, when Draco began to babble.

"Oh Harry! I was so stupid! I knew you loved me and not the Weaselette, but I was too proud and stubborn to listen and now look at us....all this time wasted being angry and self-righteous when we could have spent our whole lives together! I'm so sorry, Harry! I always loved you! From the minute I saw you at the robe shop, I knew there was something special about you and Fourth year just confirmed my feelings at the Tri-wizard tournament because you almost died and I thought I would die and then mmphgrf!" Draco was cut off as Harry's lips covered his, his emerald green eyes sparkling with affection and slight amusement at Draco's babbling before they closed and he fell into Draco.

'It's been way too long!' thought both men simultaneously before losing themselves into something that was both familiar, yet new at the same time.

Harry, who was slightly taller, deepened the kiss and savored the unique flavor of Draco; a flavor he had longed for for all his marriage to Ginny—who was more like a sister to him than anything else—and had wished deeply to have once again.

When air became an issue, Harry reluctantly pulled back, keeping his arms around Draco's waist, and rested his forehead against Draco's own.

Draco sighed softly, content and still slightly dazed when Harry looked deep into Draco's eyes and said the five words he had been craving to hear again for over twenty years, "I love you, too, Draco."

Draco's eyes misted over and he clung to Harry like a lifeline, finally at peace with his life and himself for the first time in so many years.

----LMJP----

Lucius slowly came to, his vision swirling and blurring, before sharpening and focusing on one thing that was currently hovering over him.

"James..." he whispered weakly.

"Yes, Lucius, I'm here," said James softly, soothingly.

"But...how—Voldemort....he killed you...and Evans, how are you here?" he struggled to sit up, and James gently pushed him back down.

"Think about it Lucius...did you ever feel the bond break? I don't mean just weaken, I mean BREAK, as in completely?" he asked.

"No...I didn't...but I never thought much of it...I was too preoccupied with grief to ever really notice you weren't fully gone...and when I did suspect, I pushed it down and credited it to my imagination...."

"I figured," said James, smiling weakly.

"So what happened? We weren't even fully bonded! The bond couldn't have deflected the killing curse!"

"It didn't...well not exactly...Since the bond wasn't fully formed, it couldn't deflect the killing curse like it usually would in the case of a full fledged veela bond...instead, it...well, it absorbed it somehow...weakening the bond enough for people to think I was dead, but not quite killing me, and therefore, not breaking the bond completely. It weakened me considerably and gave the appearance that I was dead, but in reality, the trauma my body experienced was too much for me to be able to function....therefore, my body shut down and put me in a magical coma of sorts...a hibernation, one could say."

"But why didn't you come back sooner? Surely it can't take that long to heal from the bond absorbing a killing curse!" cried Lucius.

James smiled ruefully.

"This is where it gets tricky. I don't exactly know the answer to your question for sure, but I have a suspicion..."

"What is is?" asked Lucius cautiously, half wondering if he even wanted to know.

"I suspect that the bond had something to do with it....since you obviously thought the bond was gone, you might not have noticed it, but this is what I think...I think that the bond, though weakened and incomplete, still subconsciously kept me in the coma..."

"Why?" asked Lucius, bewildered.

"Because of the times..." said James simply.

"Explain." demanded Lucius regally and James chuckled slightly at his former lovers' attitude.

"Yes, Your Highness," replied James teasingly, before turning serious once again, "Your Veela side, I believe, didn't think it was safe enough for me to 'wake' from the coma and come back yet, apparently. It must have sensed the danger, and, subconsciously not wanting me, your mate, however partial, to be in danger, kept me from waking so as to keep me safe from the threat until it passed."

"But why not directly after Voldemort's demise, then?" pointed out Lucius.

James shrugged.

"Maybe by then, the bond was so weakened that your Veela side didn't think it was possible anymore...or maybe you, yourself somehow suppressed your Veela side to ignore the ache and longing...and knowing you, I would bet it to be the latter!" said James, a dark humor in his voice.

Lucius sighed.

"That makes sense....except for one thing...."

James cocked his head to the side.

"What?" he inquired.

"Why now?"

James smiled slightly at that.

"Knowing you, you probably got drunk on the day of my 'death' and lost control of your Veela side, somehow summoning me back!" teased James.

At Lucius pale face however, James knew he hadn't been far from the truth.

"You did, didn't you?" he whispered, suddenly hushed.

"Yes," said Lucius in the same quiet tone of voice.

"Why? I thought you never wanted to see me again after I chose the 'redhaired whore' over you." said James bitterly.

Lucius winced, before gathering whatever Gryffindor courage a Slytherin could have and said, "I lied....and I was wrong...I've always wanted you and only you, and always will."

James' eyes widened before they misted.

"Good," he said thickly, "'Cause I wouldn't have left your side now, no matter what you would have said!"

Lucius own eyes filled with tears and with a happy cry, he launched himself into his mate's arms and pulled James into a possessive kiss filled with love, need and desire.

"Father?!"

"...Dad?!"

A crash sounded and Draco screamed as someone fell.

AN: Mwahahahaha! I'm evil, I know! Leaving you poor people at a cliffie to wonder what will happen next! But have no fear! I will reveal it....eventually....sooner if you're good and leave me some reviews showing some lovin'! Lots and lots of lovin'!

Anyways, I'm on a roll this summer! So hopefully, I will post a new chapter later on this week and give you an update on Gin and Tori...Ooooh! I hope you're ready for some conflicts!!! Seeing as Gin is in denial and Tori wants to court her properly (or as properly as she can!), but is still too shy (or maybe too Slytherin) to come right out and say it! Will our girls get together? Or will Gin's issues and Tori's subtlety keep them apart? And why are Gin's eyes blue now, instead of the brown they were in school? Keep reading to find out!

'Till next time!

—Regina Artemis Deluna