I Am Draco Malfoy-Potter
Chapter Seven: Truth Be Told
Draco hid in the back of the train again, sighing as he buried his face into his hands. For a moment he let the silence calm him before his head rose and his hands reached for his leather bag to grab the album Harry made for him. He needed that comfort, he needed to know that all his memories were still his and he wasn't wrong about Ron or Hermione.
His heart sank to his stomach as his hands were met with empty air.
He'd forgotten it. He'd forgotten his bag, his heart, inside the compartment with the Golden Trio.
As if his pants were on fire, he ran out of the storage area so fast that he almost mowed down some of the students who were buying something from the Sweet's Trolly, but he couldn't find it in him self to care. His bag, everything he brought from the future, everything he honestly teasures.
Once again the door to the compartment that held Harry Potter was violently opened and a panting Draco with a bad case of crazy eyes stood there devastated.
~!~!~!~!~!~!~
20 Minutes Earlier
Harry glared at his friends as they came in and sat down after Draco's grand entrance.
"You should be ashamed of yourselves. He's honestly trying to change and you shoot him down like he wasn't even human." Harry said hotly, not being able to stop himself from bouncing his leg in irritation. Part of him wanted to go after Draco, but he knew the blond wouldn't enjoy his company at that moment.
"He isn't human! He's a bloody snake!" Ron yelled back.
"That snake got you the best seats in a Quidditch game you had been dying to see!" Harry argued.
"He did that to get close to you so he could take you to that creepy Lord of his!"
"Draco isn't a Death Eater!"
"How do you know!"
"STOP!" Hermione had finally had enough, both her friends were making fools of themselves and she was beyond pity for them. "If you really want us to trust him Harry, you're going to have to give us more proof. And Ron!" She turned angry eyes to the red head. "You will stop picking needless fights! If he has changed he deserves a chance to prove it!"
"But 'Mione-" She stopped Ron in his tracks.
"Don't you 'But Mione' me-" her voice cut off as her foot touched something solid. When she looked at it she saw a worn out leather bag that was old and probably falling apart.
She picked it up and held up in confusion.
"This isn't Malfoy's..." She turned to Harry. "Is it?"
Harry sighed before nodding. "Yeah, it is. He's been carrying it around everywhere since the beginning of third year."
"So ever since the big change?" Hermione asked curiously. "Do you think there is something important in here?"
Harry scowled. "We are not going through his bag." he hissed at his friends. "That's an invasion of privacy!"
Ron glared. "You want us to trust him right! Well this is the only way to do it. So are you gonna let us open it or not?"
Harry narrowed his eyes in frustration. He didn't want to do this to Draco, it wasn't right to go through someone's things, but his friends needed proof of Draco's chance. If the bag had something that would prove his innocence, why not?
Harry sighed. "Okay."
Instantly Ron lunged into the bag, more excited about the prospect of snooping through his worst enemy's things then he really should have been.
"There's almost nothing in here." Ron frowned. Books, books, more books, and an old wand.
"Don't touch the wand." Harry said instinctively.
"Why?" Hermione raised and eye brow. Harry blushed under her gaze.
"It's something he let me borrow during the summer. A wand that isn't able to be detected. I practiced a whole bunch of spell and got my homework done early and-"
"Is there such a wand." Hermione breathed and Ron snorted.
"Of course 'Mione. It's only the older ones though. Makes me wonder how he got this." Then Ron's hands found something odd. It was a another book but the shape of it was different. When he pulled it out he saw why. "Hey guys, I think I found a family album."
That nagged at Harry's own curiosity. Family album? As in pictures of a younger Draco and Nacissa and Lucius? Maybe that was worth looking into.
He took the book from Ron and opened to the second page skipping through the introductions, frowning at what he saw.
Was that him? Him and Draco under a tree? He'd never remembered taking this picture. He actually never remembered being in this possession with Draco, but it made him blush. Then his eyes fell on the other pictures around the one with him and Draco.
Children, it looked like young children with blond or black hair all of them loosing at least one front tooth. Thing is they all resembled Harry or Draco in some way.
Confused and slightly creeped out, he flipped the page again. There was a picture of Ron and Hermione together, looking cozy and older?
"Ugh guys.." He said turning the book to face the two who were supposedly in the picture. As he did a piece of paper fell out of the book. Hermione picked it up, opening it.
Her eyes widened at what she saw.
"Harry!" She shrieked holding the paper out to him. Ron tried to look over his shoulder but she wouldn't let him, instead handing it straight to the owner.
Harry looked at it his own hand writing on the paper and frowned deeper, giving Hermione the album before starting to read. What he read made his stomach turn.
'Dear Dragon,
I wonder when you'll find this. I know you will, I did make this specifically for you. Did you know Hermione helped me with it? She said she wanted to make sure the kids remembered her and Ron when they got old like we are. I told her I was only making it for you and she convinced me to make three more for the children. I guess they'll need it as much as you will.
There was something I wanted you to know, and that's why I'm writing this. In life and in death, in sickness and in health, in the future or the past. Nothing will keep me from you. So don't give up on me. Never let me go. You got that Dragon? Never let me go...
In a few months, I won't be around anymore. I know it seems sudden, but it isn't for me. Severus had told me of a new prophecy that called for the fall of a hero so that peace could rise where war had first began. I don't know what he means, but I wanted this to be warning for you. Dragon, I know you will miss me, just as I would have missed you had you left first, but I want you to truly understand why I suggested the birth of Scorpius and Leonis and even the twins. You need to live on strong for them. Parts of me and you are united in each of our children and in those little parts of me, you will be able to hang on. I know you will. So never let me go...I love you.'
What was this? It was like a love note. Or a suicide note. Harry was frozen in place and he only looked up when the compartment door was ripped open violently.
Draco stood there in a panic staring at the people around the small space before looking at each item in their hands. Ron held his leather bag, Hermione handled his precious album, and in Harry's hands were the last letter his love had ever addressed to him.
He felt like he was going to vomit.
"Harry..." He breathed out in desperation, before he swallowed down the bile rising in his throat and stepped forward. He ripped the bag out of Ron's hold before glaring at Hermione and holding out a hand for the album. She handed it to him without a word.
When he turned to Harry, he faltered.
"Dragon?" Harry's voice was small but it was capable of bringing Draco to his knees. "Scorpius? Leonis? Jamie, Lily?" As Harry's voice got stronger, so did the want to release everything in his stomach but Draco held it down, just as he was his tears. "What's going on Draco, please..."
The blond frowned and looked around at the people who stared at him in surprise and wonder.
"This is what you meant isn't it..." Hermione said in a bit of a daze. "When you said Ron forgave you once. When you said you played Wizard's chess, and when you said things changed...Draco...are you from the future?"
Something inside the blond broke as he looked at Hermione's eyes. The girl who had helped him deal with Harry's death in his own way, the girl he trusted just below his mom. And he suddenly started to cry.
Looking down at the album, he turned to the page he knew held pictures of Hermione and her kids, passing it to her when it was on the right one.
"The little girl, her name is Rose. She's your first born. The boy next to her is Hugo, you asked for my help naming them when we were 26. Scorpius had been born and so had his siblings and from babysitting them you wanted your own." He stopped talking as his voice cracked. Slowly he walked further in and sat down next to the girl, ignoring how the boys stared at him basically shocked still.
"You were actually the only girl I've ever trusted and loved so much to let you babysit my kids." He smiled brokenly and turned the page again letting her see his children and her's playing together. "When I left, Rose was 6...And you were in hiding."
"Why was I in hiding?" Hermione asked quietly and gently, not touching or pressuring Draco. She knew just what to do, just like in the future she would know exactly how to handle any of his moods.
Draco breathed deeply, wiping at the tears in his eyes. "Because he took control of the school, of the ministry. He completely took over after Harry..." He paused not able to say it, but having read the letter, Hermione knew just what he was talking about.
"That's why you went back here isn't it..." She asked. "Because he had won you came back to stop him."
The blond nodded his hand and turned his eyes to look at Harry.
The brunet was still in a state of shock so deep that he didn't hear anything around him. He' s eyes were glued to the piece of paper and he was feeling so numb and cold.
"Harry?" Draco's voice broke he haze long enough for Harry to look up. "Does this change things...do you still...like me?"
Harry really didn't know how to answer that one. It was a surprise he had not been expecting. The thought back to the first picture he'd seen of the album. The one with him and Draco under the tree, Draco's hands running through his hair. Suddenly he knew this answer.
"Yes.." He nodded his hand and looked back down at the letter. "I don't just like you...apparently, I love you."
Draco broke down with that, the tears come fast and hot, but he refused to sob.
Ron swallowed his own attitude as he watched the Slytherin loose his control. He hadn't read what was on the letter, but Hermione showed him the pictures. Him and...Hermione. With kids and...happy. His brain was on overload and he was so confused. But one thing he understood was Draco did change. He was actually a different Draco entirely.
The rest of the train ride was almost silent. Draco holding onto Harry's hand as he talked to Hermione about his children and her's.
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Draco couldn't believe they had taken it so well. He didn't know what he expected, but it wasn't this. Hermione had sat there smiling at him as he spoke about his children. Talking about each of their first experiences. He avoided anything recent and Hermione understood why and didn't push him.
Harry had been distant, looking at the photo album in lost wonder. Each picture of the children was eyed for at least ten minutes before Harry moved on. Just like his mother had, Harry ran his finger's over the pictures as if he would be able to touch the children like this.
When Harry did speak, it was in the carriage right up to Hogwarts.
"Scorpius looks just like you do now." He commented. "But he has my eyes. Just like Leo looks like me with your eyes." He sighed and ran his finger over Leo's face in the picture. "No way to ever deny that they are ours."
He'd just come to accept his feelings for the boy and he suddenly knew he would spend the rest of his life with Draco. He didn't know if it made him more confident or scared him, but he did know one thing...from the pictures and the stories, he was in love with these children.
Draco nodded at Harry's observations.
"When Lily and Jamie turned 8 their eyes started to change. Lily has mismatched eyes and so does Jamie. Their both one green and one silver, true Slytherins." He found it easier to smile now than it had been in the train as he heard Harry talk about their children.
At the 'true Slytherin' comment, Harry hit Draco's arm. "Don't push them into Slytherin, they will be what they will be." He said firmly, and Draco had to smile.
"That was exactly what you said the day their eyes changed." Draco answered. Harry hesitated before he looked at Draco's smile and gave a small one himself.
~!~!~
Sitting among the Gryffindors feeling much more normal, Harry allowed himself to relax a bit. This just got weirder and weirder, but maybe it wasn't all bad. Draco would help him through anything he needed, he knew answers to things that would have taken Harry years to figure out. Draco had come back to save him after all, so maybe Harry would be better off letting Draco do what he wants.
Dumbledore's voice boomed through his thoughts and Harry began to focus on the things around him. "Now we're all settled in and sorted, I'd like to make an announcement. This castle will not only be your home this year but home to some very special guests as well. You see Hogwarts has been chosen..."
Harry looked to Draco for an explanation and Draco frowned looking at Harry with worried eyes. Suddenly Harry himself was worried.
A man with a bad limp, a creepy metal eye, and a face only a mother would love walked into the Great Hall, walking down it with his head down until he reached Dumbledore. He whispered something to the older wizard and left the way he had come.
The old wizard continued like nothing had happened. "So Hogwarts has been chosen to host a legendary event. The Tri-Wizard tournament." Murmurs filled the hall and Harry looked around confused. "Now for those of you who do not know, the tri-wizard tournament brings together three schools for a series of magical contests. From each school a single contestant is selected to compete."
Excitement came from all corners of the hall as people commented on every person they thought should be the chosen for Hogwarts. Dumbledore stopped the chatter and spoke again, serious. "Now let me be clear, if chosen you stand alone. And trust me when I say these contests are not for the faint hearted, but more of that later." He stopped and smiled wide as he rose his arms to gesture for the Hall's entrance. "For now please join me in welcoming the lovely ladies of the Beauxbatons Academy of magic and their headmistress Madam Maxime."
Women dressed in blue came through the entrance and danced up the aisle and release butterflies into the air. They bowed low when the children of Hogwarts applauded.
"Blimey, that's one big woman." One of the students from Gryffindor was surprised at the sight of the Headmistress, Madam Maxime was it? The big lady came to stand beside Hagrid who smiled like a cat waiting for milk.
Dumbledore rose his voice again to speak above the noise. "And now our friends from the north, please greet the proud sons of Durmstrang and the high master Igor Karkroff."
A group of older boys carrying staffs came down the aisle twirling then around and stabbing them into the ground with a pretty spark effect.
"Blimey it's him! Viktor Krum!" Ron yelled as the boys breathed fire in a surprising show of magic.
Draco was oblivious across the hall, looking down at the table in thought about what had happened in the train. Harry knew. Hermione knew. Ron knew. Everything was going to change now one way or another. Still, the warning from Severus rounded in his head. "One who knows the immediate future can't protect himself from the unexpected. You need to keep certain things to yourself should anyone find out your secret."
The blond knew what his godfather meant, but it was so hard not to tell Harry everything in the hopes that he would avoid danger. But he couldn't. And he wouldn't.
"Your attention please!" Here comes Dumbledore again. "I would like to say a few words. Eternal glory, that is what awaits the student who wins the tri-wizard tournament. But to do this that student must survive three tasks. Three extremely dangerous tasks." Draco snorted. That was an understatement, since the last task was to face Voldemort.
"Wicked." Fred cheered and Draco rolled his eyes.
Dumbledore continued. "For this reason the ministry has seen fit to impose a new rule. To explain all this we have the head of the department of international magic cooperation Mister Bartimus Crouch."
The man walked up into the hall and stood facing the students, behind him a man stood watching everyone with only one functional eye. Draco sneered at the Death Eater in disguise limped up to the front.
Draco could hear Ron speaking and decided to tone in a bit more. "Bloody hell, That's Mad-eye Moody!"
Hermione turned to him in surprise. "Alastor Moody? The Aura."
"He was a catcher. Half the cells in Azkaban are full thakns to him. He's supposed to be mad as a hatter thought, these days." Ron continued.
They stopped talking when the man's mechanical eyes landed on Harry who doubled back. Draco growled under his breath getting Pansy's attention. Thanks to his attitude during third year, he's lost most of his inner circle friends and gained followers by respect more than fear. Blaise became the new snake to fear, and while Draco wasn't afraid of the boy, he knew what Blaise was capable of.
Barty began to speak and everyone went silent. "After much deliberation the ministry has concluded that for their own safety no student under the age of seventeen shall be allowed to put forth their name for the tri-wizard tournament. This decision is final."
His announcement was met with the displeasure of the younger students, Fred and George being the loudest.
"That's rubbish! You don't know what you're doing!" George yelled.
A box stands in the middle of the hall between the students and the teachers, but no one noticed it's appearance but Draco it seemed as the protests continued.
"Silence!" Dumbledore rose his voice and stood, taking his want out and pointing it had the box. Everyone stopped talking at once.
With a swish of his wand, Dumbledore made the box meld into a large goblet that burned with a blue fire. It mesmerized everyone but Draco who dreaded what would come from that goblet.
"The goblet of fire." Dumbledore said calmly. "Anyone wishing to submit themselves for the tournament merely write their name upon a piece of parchment and throw it in the flame before this hour on Thursday night." He paused and looked around eerily.
"Do not do so lightly," He warned. "If chosen there's no turning back. As from this moment the tri-wizard tournament had begun."