Wednesday, October 31, 2001

"I never knew how to grieve when we were in school," Harry said in a low voice after finishing yet another tumbler of scotch. Hermione was laying on the chaise while Draco sprawled along the sofa, both watching Harry silently as he summoned the bottle over and refilled his glass.

He had started their drinking session in the chair by the fire, not at all his usual seat in the library but the one where he didn't have to shrug away Hermione trying to comfort him or acknowledge all of the sideways glances Draco sent him.

"I went from knowing very little about my parents to having their deaths thrusted at me almost every day and still, they were these mythical beings whose lives were completely separate from mine and I didn't know how to grieve for them, least of all on Halloween."

Draco winced, having used Harry's dead parents as a stick to hit him with for years, and took a long sip of his own drink.

. . . . .

They'd woken up to Hermione insisting they eat out for breakfast today, and surprisingly brought them to Paris where Narcissa was waiting with open arms and a table filled with breakfast foods. They spent hours there, no one mentioning the elephant in the room, until Narcissa announced that the bonfire was waiting to be lit and would they like to do it now or wait until dark.

Harry was the one who suggested doing it right away.

They met in the backyard where a modest and well-kept pyre made in the shape of a small tower. All around were tables of food being laid out by Kreacher, who encouraged them to eat but promised the rest would be given away, as per tradition. Torches lit the backyard as the clocks indoors chimed five o'clock and the sun started moving towards setting.

Harry was the one given the first torch, which he threw at the pyre with a nod from Narcissa.

Hermione was given the second, followed by Draco, followed by Narcissa. Kreacher was offered the choice but declined, saying that there was much more food to prepare first. Narcissa offered masks to her guests but after Harry declined, the others did too. They sat around the bonfire, watching it and thinking of the dead – Gregory Goyle, Lavender Brown, Severus Snape and the countless other casualties of war – and the living for at least an hour with very little conversation, before Harry said he was ready to go. Samhain was done for him but the night was still quite young.

They floo'd back directly to the library and hadn't left since. It was sometime after midnight when they switched from whiskey to scotch because that was all that was left. Harry was despondent at first but gradually he spoke more, of work and of Draco's NEWT prep and of Hermione's next trip out of town, until finally he mentioned his parents.

. . . . .

"Usually he would be drinking with Remus but tonight's a full moon," Hermione whispered as the pair of them made for the kitchen to get late night snacks. Upon their return, Harry was sitting on the couch Draco had been on, no alcohol in sight. Draco wasn't sure if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

Hermione was just as unsettled.

"Harry, what are you—,"

"Let's go. I want to go and see them."

There was no room for arguing with Harry who looked less downtrodden than he had all night. Hermione, the least drunk of the three of them, sighed and nodded but wouldn't consider letting them leave until everyone had jumpers and cloaks.

Reassembled in the library, Hermione took both men's hands and a deep breath before Apparating to Godric's Hollow. They arrived on the same off street Hermione and Harry had landed on almost four Christmases ago in their search for chunks of Voldemort's soul. Hermione shivered as she remembered how that fateful night went.

"They're over here."

Harry keep a hold of Hermione's hand, who kept a hold of Draco's, and dragged them to the town square where a large statue of a couple with a small bundle in their arms were surrounded by groups of watchers in cloaks with candles chanted and swayed. Hermione barely managed to mask his disgust at the annual revelers who flocked to Godric's Hollow but Harry didn't seem to notice them.

His eyes were only for his parents.

"You know, I made the joke a few years ago about installing a statue of Sirius at the base, lounging with a cigarette. No one took to the idea," Harry said with a soft smile, his eyes locked on his parents.

Draco looked at this man who had been so difficult to read all day finally mourning; tears silently poured down his face as he gazed up at his parents' effigy. He let go of Hermione's hand and went to Harry's other side, taking the man's hand and holding it. He had learned that living with these two meant a lot of unspoken things being communicated though touch, a judgement further enforced by Hermione gently laying her head on Harry's shoulder to his left.

"Do you think they'd be proud of us, of what we've done?" Harry asked in a quiet murmur, tilting his head somewhat towards Hermione.

"I don't regret it, getting Draco out. I just wonder if my parents would understand or if they'd hate us like Molly does," Harry admitted, squeezing Draco's hand at the mention of his name. Draco squeezed back at the mention of Molly's.

"I think both of our parents would be proud," Hermione whispered, lifting her head and nodding towards the cemetery visible off of the main road.

"Let's go and visit them proper."

. . . . .

They returned to Argyll House sometime after three in the morning. Hermione fell asleep fairly quick on the sofa, Draco shifting her so that her head was on the pillow on his lap rather than her original idea of sleeping sitting straight up. Harry waved his wand and moved a blanket over to cover her.

"When we were in Godric's Hollow, Hermione mentioned that both of your parents would be proud of you. I know I should be asking her but what happened to her parents?" Draco asked, his drunk hand uninhibited by fear as he lightly stroked the side of Hermione's cheek and pushed back a stray strand of hair.

Harry let out a deep sigh and sagged deeper into the chaise he had claimed.

"Not long after Dumbledore died, everyone on our side was in a panic. There had been some recruitment for the Order and some preliminary moves made but no one was ready for outright war. There were important people to protect; the Minister for Magic, his Muggle counterpart, the heads of certain departments. Of course finding out some had already been taken over or Imperiused threw a new wrench into planning. Hermione's parents, a pair of muggle dentists, were very low on the list of priorities," Harry explained, watching Draco as his hand moves from Hermione's face to her hair, running his fingers through it.

Harry might have said something if the worry lines on Hermione's face hadn't eased up at the motion.

"Hermione took matters into her own hands. She knew that we would be off to hunt horcruxes the moment we had a lead and that the Order wouldn't be able to protect her parents while we were gone for who knew how long. So she did the only thing she could, and she erased herself completely from their memories."

Harry waited as the implications of such magic worked themselves out in Draco's mind, his hand trembling slightly as it continued running through the witches hair.

"She orphaned herself to protect me and to protect her parents. She implanted an urge for her parents to pack up shop, leave Britain and move to Australia. Of course when the war ended the Ministry found her parents, but undoing what she did could kill them. So they're alive and well, but they will never know they have a daughter."

At this, the ultimate sacrifice, Harry finished off his tumbler. Draco downed his, sadness and respect blooming in his chest for the poor woman in his lap, and looked at the broken man across from him.

"She's always taken care of me and given up so much for me and refuses to hear a word of thanks or apology. I wouldn't be alive today if it weren't for her," Harry admitted in a low voice.

Draco looked at Harry and waited until the man looked back, giving him time to regain his composure, before trying his hand at that boyish grin Harry always made when he wanted everything to be good again.

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for her either."

Harry shrugged exaggeratingly but smiled back. Neither said anything more as they both turned their attention back to the oblivious witch who had captured both of their hearts, a reality they were both growingly aware of.