Unfinished Business: Shattered Pieces
DISCLAIMER: Look at first chapter.
WARNING: Look at first chapter.
Revelations
"How…" Draco managed to say as he rested his hand on Harry's stomach.
"Well, you know all of those times we-"
"I know how it happened," Draco snapped, which Harry, by the look on his face, found amusing. "But… How long have you known?"
"Not until about an hour ago," Harry said before handing the blonde a letter from his pocket. "It's from the examination I took at the beginning of the month," he explained as the blonde took the letter from him.
"Dear Mr. Potter," the blonde said aloud as he scanned the paper. "Assessment completed… Active duty denied due to … pregnancy…"
"I guess I'd be about 8 to 10 weeks," Harry said as he looked down at his still flat stomach. "It won't interfere with my work but I won't be able to go out on any missions, which will be hard to explain with the Lestrange case-"
Before Harry could continue his rambling, Draco captured his lips again and sealed it with a kiss. It was a tender kiss this time, soothing Harry's mind as the blonde gently caress his tongue.
"I guess this means that you approve," Harry said as their kiss ended, though their lips still touched.
"I guess it does," Draco smiled as he caressed Harry's cheek.
The blonde then coaxed Harry into another kiss. As it started getting more intense, Draco pulled out Harry's shirt, snuck his hand underneath and trailed his fingers along Harry's stomach. Electing a moan from the Auror, Draco then brought his hand down and started unbuckling Harry's belt.
"Wait," Harry said, breaking the kiss as he stopped the blonde from going any further. "There's something we have to do first."
"I'm sure whatever it is, it can wait," Draco said before placing kisses along Harry's neck.
"But we have to go to the Department of Mysteries before McLaggen leaves."
"Why in the world would I want to talk to him?" Draco asked as he continued his ministrations.
"Because he has some information that we need to hear," Harry said before gently pushing the blonde away.
"Do we have to go there now?" Draco almost whined. "I haven't been alone with you in weeks, and the first thing you want to do is see McLaggen. Is there something you're not telling me?"
"Sort of," Harry said mysteriously. "He told me some things a while ago that I didn't take seriously. But I think it's time that we both heard what he had to say."
"Fine," the blonde sighed. "But the moment we're done, I am taking you back to my flat where I can do so many wicked things to you. Deal?"
Cupping the blonde's face in his hands, Harry sealed Draco's lips in a searing kiss before letting the wizard go.
"Deal," he smiled at the now dazed blonde.
"I must admit," James said as he walked down the streets of Hogsmeade with McLaggen. "I never expected to have this much fun," he said, impressed.
"I always aim to please," McLaggen boasted as he held onto James' hand.
"Now I have to ask you, why me? Of all of the people you could have gone out with, why did you ask me out? I mean, most people don't come near me with a ten foot pole thanks to Zabini," James said with irritation.
"Actually, it was that very reason that I asked you out. Most people are intimidated by that bloated Slytherin," he said with a hint of distain. "You are a vibrant and charismatic individual, but no one aside from your friends see that, except through your pranks, and that's because of him. He's able to chase away all of your potential suitors because they fear his wrath. I mean, when was the last time someone asked you out on a date?"
"I don't recall," James said, looking away when he realized that no one had asked him out in a long time. He had known even before starting Hogwarts that he fancied the company of boys over girls. When he was thirteen, he could have sworn a girl in his year was planning on asking him to go with her for their first ever Hogsmeade outing. But the next day, she had avoided him like he was carrying the plague.
"You'd be surprised to know how many wanted to ask you, but were too afraid of Zabini's wrath to oppose him."
"And you're not afraid," James asked with a smirk.
"Not in the least," McLaggen said with a coy smile as he leaned in closer.
When McLaggen's lips gently touched James', the Gryffindor closed his eyes. He could count on one hand how many times he had been kissed. But this was the first one not initiated by a drunken dare or spin-the-bottle.
James suddenly gasped out as McLaggen gently bit down on his lips, letting the Ravenclaw slip his tongue between the Gryffindor' lips. His body tingled, the taste of the chocolate they had shared invading his senses, as arms slinked around his waist and pulled his body closer to the blonde.
Unbeknownst to them, as James brought his arms up and draped them over McLaggen's shoulders, a Slytherin watched them from not far away. At the sight of their embrace, his heart started to break into pieces.
"McLaggen, I've decided to take your case after all," Harry said as he approached his former schoolmate.
"Well, well, well. So the prodigal saviour has finally seen fit to grace my department with his presence," McLaggen said as he strode up to Harry. "And you've brought company," he added as he spotted Draco. "Kinky," he said as he wiggled his brows.
"McLaggen, my patience is wearing very thin right now," the blonde said in boredom. "Do not test me."
"Fair enough," McLaggen said in surrender. "I guess all work and no play is making somebody a little cranky."
"McLaggen?" Harry said in warning. "When you came to my office before, you said something about someone altering our memories. We need you to tell us everything you know."
"I'll do you one better. I'll let you see it for yourself," he said before gesturing them to follow him.
Walking into the Department of Mysteries brought a lot of old memories for Harry, most of which were not pleasant. As they reached the door leading into the brain room, the battle that took place here, leading to the scars on Ron's arm came to the forefront of Harry's mind.
"Are you sure this is safe?" Harry asked, realizing what McLaggen was planning to do. "The last time I dealt with those things, it nearly drove Ron crazy and left scars along his arm."
"The encephala's are harmless if you keep them in the tank," McLaggen said leisurely.
"So you want us to go inside the tank?" Draco asked skeptically as he spotted the brain tank. "Is that safe?"
"Of course it is. Just pretend like you're going for a leisurely swim and let the memories flow back to you."
"I don't mean that. I mean…" the blonde said before turning to Harry.
"Is it safe for someone that's pregnant?" Harry said when he realized what Draco was worried about.
Raising a brow at the question, McLaggen looked between the two wizards. "Well, well, well," he said, looking impressed. "It appears that not even an alternate-reality induced spell could keep you two apart. I never expected the saviour of the wizarding world would submit to adultery. This gives me hope," he smiled cheekily. "Congratulation."
"Is it safe?" Harry asked again.
"As safe as any memory can be," McLaggen answered vaguely. "But would you rather the alternative, where you're married to different people?"
"Alright then. Let's get this over with," Harry said as he and Draco approached the tank.
"One at a time," McLaggen said as he stopped Draco. "More than that and it confuses them, gets them riled up. That would be unwise."
"Fine. Let's just get this over with."
"As you wish," McLaggen said as he flicked his wand at Harry.
He let his spell carry the Auror several feet into the air, turn him until he was facing upwards and then carried him over the tank. Then Harry was gently lowered onto the green coloured water until he was floating on the surface.
As soon as Harry's back was submerged, he felt something graze the back of his neck. He rested his hand over his stomach, as if to protect his unborn child. Then as a cold tentacle felt along his skin, he tried not to freak out. Just as it reached the nap of his neck, the appendage suddenly latched onto his skin. Immediately, flashes started spinning through his head.
He gasped out as images of his real life unraveled in his mind. Pleasant memories reveled themselves to him. The day he and Draco got together… The day he found out that he was pregnant with James… His and Draco's wedding day at Malfoy Manor… The reception at the Burrow… The birth of his twin boys, Scorpius and Albus… Lily's birth…
But with the good memories came the bad. His separation from Draco… The depression that quickly followed… Scorpius getting kidnapped by Astoria… The bargain she weaseled into when she was caught… His paranoid faze when Lily was born… His nightmares about Ginny trying to take Lily.
Soon, the altered memories seemed like nothing more than a dream. When he opened his eyes, unaware that he had even closed them, he found himself looking up at a worried Draco and an amused McLaggen.
"Are you alright?" Draco asked as he and McLaggen helped Harry up before sitting him at one of the desks.
"I will be," Harry said as his memories continued to unravel.
"With the amount of memories altered, you'll be a little disoriented for a while. The process will go easier if you just let the memories come to you," said as he stepped back. "Well, you're next Malfoy," he said as he brandished his wand at him.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Draco said, still clearly worried.
Harry smiled at his husband. With whatever he was feeling right now, he was happy that he finally remembered that fact. "I will be when you remember what I do."
Nodding his head before placing a kiss on Harry's lips, Draco turned to McLaggen to begin. Moments later, Draco was floating along the water's edge. Then McLaggen turned to Harry.
"You know, I was hoping you'd go first," he said as he surveyed the Auror for a few moments. "I wouldn't be able to do this otherwise," he said before swooping down and capturing Harry's lips.
McLaggen held the immediately struggling wizard in place and thrust his tongue between Harry's lips. McLaggen continued forcing himself onto the weakened man, lapping up every crevice he could while he had the chance. He savored the taste of the saviour, committing the act to memory for later.
When he finally let himself be pushed away, he leered down at the irate man before him. "Consider this payment for getting you and the blonde back together," he smirked as he licked his lips.
"I think I'm going to be sick," Harry sneered as he wiped his mouth of the evidence of the man before him.
Shrugging his shoulders at his former school mate, McLaggen turned to the tank when he heard splashing noise. Moments later, the tentacles from the brain were lifting the blonde out of the tank and onto the floor.
A while after McLaggen performed a drying spell on him, Draco opened his eyes and sat up unsteadily. "Well that was an experience," he said, shaking his head to clear his thoughts.
"Are you going to be okay?" Harry asked as he helped the blonde to stand up before letting him lean against the tank.
"Just give me a moment," the blonde said, still holding on to Harry.
To Harry's surprise, he was suddenly pulled forward and his lips were quickly captured by the blonde's. Smiling into the kiss as the blonde held him close, Harry draped his arms over the blonde's shoulders. They were finally reunited, though they had scarcely been apart since this whole thing started.
Every time something tried to come between them, they found their way back together. This time was no different. Even though their memories had been altered, made to believe that they had lived different lives, they were drawn towards each other.
"As touching … and slightly erotic … as this reunion is," McLaggen smiled cheekily, causing an irritated blonde and red-faced Auror to pull apart. "Now that you two have your memories back, you can get to work on finding out how someone managed to rewrite history," he said excitedly.
"It's going to be difficult when only a few people know what's happened. Who else knows about what's happened besides us?" Draco asked as he turned to McLaggen.
"As far as I know, only the heads of this department and the Minister go through this process. So that would be six more people."
"There's also Luna and Lily," Harry said, gaining Draco's attention. "Luna came by Grimmauld Place a few weeks ago and said that I was supposed to be with someone else. She must have meant you. And the first day you showed up at the ice cream parlor, Lily said that you were her father and that I gave birth to her. If only I had believed her," he sighed.
"How could you? You know how active her imagination is. A side effect of having Luna Lovegood as her godmother," Draco said jokingly.
"But they were both right."
"Well, I don't know about your eccentric friend, but I'm not surprised that your daughter remembers everything. Her magic isn't focussed yet so it would've tried to protect her from anything it considered dangerous. Your youngest boys might be experiencing something similar. I doubt your eldest would though, he's been learning to control his magic for far too long," McLaggen assumed.
After a while of resting against the tank, Draco was now able to steady himself without its assistance. When he did, he looked at Harry's uncomfortable stance beside him before suddenly swinging around and punching McLaggen square in the jaw.
"That is for whatever you did to Harry while I was in there," the blonde sneered, looking down at the man who was now slumped on the floor with a bloodied lip.
"It was worth it," McLaggen smirked before flinching at the pain.
When Draco brandished his wand, ready to curse the man, Harry pulled him back.
"We have other things to worry about, Draco," Harry said as he held onto the irate man.
"Yeah, you're right," the blonde said reluctantly as he lowered his wand.
Leading him away from McLaggen and out of the brain room, Harry never noticed when Draco discretely cast a binding curse on McLaggen and tossed him into the tank.
When they reached the lift, Harry finally let go of the blonde, letting the irate man pace within the empty space. Harry just watched as his husband fumed about their predicament.
"Blasted woman," Draco mumbled, though Harry heard him.
After reaching Draco's floor, Harry led the still irate man towards his office. Once inside, Harry spelled the door locked.
"Why are we here when we should be getting our daughter away from that psychotic bitch?" Draco fumed.
"We have to be careful, Draco," Harry warned. "We can't just barge into Grimmauld Place and take Lily out of the house."
"Why not? You said that she remembers everything. It's not like we would have to keep anything from her."
"True, but no one else knows about this. We don't know who made this curse. If I take Lily away for no reason, things could get ugly."
"I will not stand idly by while that … woman-"
"She won't hurt Lily," Harry reassured. "If she's under the curse like we were, then she believes that Lily's her daughter," he said, which only made Draco fume more. "If she does know what's going on, she's not going to reveal herself by doing anything foolish. That's why we can't just rush into anything without a plan. Don't worry, Draco. We will get Lily out of there. We just have to be smart about it."
Although, Harry's words made sense, the thought of his little girl alone with that manipulating she-devil was setting his blood on fire. When Harry noticed that the blonde was avoiding looking at him, he made a guess as to why.
"I never slept with her," Harry said as he came up to the blonde.
"What?" Draco asked, surprised by the admission, though hopeful. "But she's pregnant."
"Not by me. I never slept with her. After coming back from the conference, all I could think about was sleeping with you. Then the whole thing with the case and her meddling with Albus' sorting…"
"Then who's the father?"
"I don't know. But that could mean that she was finally getting over the idea of us being together."
"Or she got some poor guy to help her accomplish all of this and her pregnancy is the result of that."
"For her child's sake, I hope not."
"Okay," the blonde said, looking noticeably calmer. "Since we can't just take Lily out of there, what do you suggest we do?"
"Simple. We let Lily do all the dirty work."
End of Chapter: Revelations
