A/N: Thanks for reviews! Here's the next chapter. Sorry it's a bit shortish, but I hope you like it!

Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K Rowling

Draco arrived on Harry's apartment on the Saturday morning, already fed up with the research. They had searched for three months and were no closer in finding the solution than they were in the beginning.

Sighing he greeted Potter, who was sitting by the fireplace, nursing a glass of Firewhiskey. 'Drinking at half eleven in the morning!' Draco thought, but couldn't really fault him for that. Draco himself felt like getting pissed with all the research they had done for nothing.

Harry sensing Draco's mood pointed out that there was butterbeer in the fridge, which the blond took before sitting down on the armchair next to him.

"I think continuing this research is pointless Malfoy. There is just no way to break the contract. Our ancestors seem to have made sure of that." Harry started.

"What? You just want to give up?" Draco snapped. "Well, I'm not. I'm not gonna just stand by and watch as my only son will be forced to marry one of your kids."

"I'm not saying we'll force them to marry."

"So you want both of our families lose our magic then, Potter?" Draco drawled.

"No."

"Well, then what? There is no other way, Potter." Draco said tiredly.

"Well, there is kinda… Not to break the contract but…"

"What are you on about Potter?" Draco sighed taking a sip from his butterbeer.

Harry hesitated for a moment before thinking "Just screw it all, better get this over and done with" and said:

"Draco Malfoy, will you marry me?" he asked the blond, who spit out the butterbeer he was drinking and gaped at him in a very unMalfoyish way.

"Wha-?!" He exclaimed. "Potter, are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not." Harry said holding up his hand as Draco was about to start arguing. "Just listen to me for a moment Malfoy, please." He said and something in his voice made Draco shut his mouth and let him speak.

"The marriage contract is between Potter and Malfoy, but it doesn't mean it has to be our kids that have to marry. You said it yourself, the contract doesn't say who marries who as long as they are a Potter and a Malfoy by blood." Harry said and Draco's eyes widened slightly, he hadn't thought about that.

"Like we have already established," Harry continued. "Our kids won't ever forgive us if we force them to marry each other and I'm suggesting that we won't even try. We are both single and gay, Malfoy, so it won't be that big of a deal for us to consummate the marriage than it would be for Albus and Scorpius for example, who think of each other as brothers, not to mention the fact that only one of them is gay."

"And you think it would be better if we were to marry?" Draco asked incredulously. "We hate each other!"

"I don't know about you, Malfoy, but I've never hated you. Besides you didn't let me finish." Harry said gathering his thoughts. "I know, that we didn't like each other at school, but we get along well enough nowadays and the little I actually know about you, Malfoy, is that you care about your son and don't want him to end up in an unhappy marriage, just like I don't want to see my kids in a situation like that. Our marriage would be just like your and Astoria's – a necessity."

"Except I can't get rid of you." Draco muttered.

"You don't need to worry about that Malfoy; you'll get rid of me in less than a year." Harry said and there was an edge in his voice that bothered Draco.

"What are you talking about Potter? Marriages contracts are for life. I'd be stuck with you for the rest of our lives." Draco sneered. "Or are you planning to kill me already?"

"Exactly." Harry said ignoring Draco's last comment. "We'll be stuck with each other till one of us dies and as the luck would have it, at least for you, I have less than a year to live." Harry said and a deep silence fell upon them as Draco stared at the man who had once been his school rival. Potter was dying?

Draco didn't know how to react to that – what to think. How should he react? What did he care about if the Wonder boy was dying? It wasn't his concern. Except he did care. He had come to tolerate Potter while working with him the few times he had and now with the research, even like him. Harry was intelligent and witty and more Slytherin than Draco could ever have imagined. He finally saw where Albus had gotten his cunningness. Not to mention Harry was good looking.

'No, you did not just think about Harry – Potter like that." He told himself. 'I mean it's Potter! 'The same guy who just asked you to marry him…' 'Shut up!' Draco gave himself a mental shake and swallowed before turning his attention back to Harry – Potter.

"Why – What do you have?" He asked.

"Leukemia." Harry said calmly and Draco had to wonder how he could speak about his own death so unaffectedly. "It has been progressing for years, but I've had no symptoms till few months ago. They say I need a fitting bone marrow transplant urgently or I'm gonna be dead in a year. The healers are doing everything they can to find me a match, but it appears I have some kind of rare tissue type, which only a handful of people have in both Muggle and Magical world. Figures. I couldn't be normal even in that matter." Harry said a hint of bitterness in his voice. "Anyway, they gave me a year, give or take, if they can't find a match."

"Have – Have you told anyone?" Draco asked.

"Only you." Harry said.

"But, shouldn't you tell them… I mean one of them could be a match."

"Saint Mungos have records of them; none of them was a match." Harry said shaking his head. A short silence fell upon them again till Harry asked: "So will you do this? Marry me to save our children from an unhappy marriage?"

"I –I need to think about this." Draco said and Harry nodded.

"You know where to find me, Draco." Harry said before standing up and leaving the room while Draco stared at his retreating back.

He had a lot to think about.

Draco spent the whole next week thinking about the offer Potter laid out to him. Could he marry his old rival to save his son from marrying one of the Potter children? Even if it was for only a year. But then again, there was a chance, no matter how small, that the healers found him a match and Potter would survive. Draco would be stuck with him for the rest of their lives, which would be close to a hundred years with how old many wizards lived, especially powerful ones like him and Potter. Could he live with Potter? Draco didn't know the answer to that.

Having spent the past two months with Potter's company nearly every day, Draco had found out his image of Potter had been wrong all these years. He wasn't an arrogant attention seeker like Draco had previously thought. He was actually quite a good company. But nevertheless there was a lot of bad blood between them. Could they get past that and live together as a married couple?

Narcissa had of course noticed her son's anxious mood, but Draco had refused to tell her anything. This was a decision he needed to make for himself and he could not ask for his mother's help. Draco had however snuck into Hogwarts with the intention of speaking to his son, but had backed away the last minute seeing Scorpius talking with a girl from Ravenclaw. That moment had made up his mind. He couldn't force his son to marry anyone, like he had had to marry Astoria, but at least he had been able to divorce her after she provided him an heir. Scorpius wouldn't have that luxury; he would be stuck with one of the Potter children forever.

Draco's decision was made. Now he only needed to speak with Potter.

Harry sat by the fireplace of his London apartment, where he spent most of the year while all his kids were at school, drinking tea and wondering how he could tell his kids about his illness. He had yet to tell even Ginny about it as he wanted to wait for Malfoy's answer, so he'd know how to go from there. It had been a week since he had proposed to Malfoy and thought that the blond would contact him any day now.

Just as Harry thought about it, Kreacher popped in and said:

"Mister Draco Malfoy is asking to see Master."

"Let him in, Kreacher." Harry said and stood up.

Few seconds later Malfoy entered the living room looking groomed as always.

"Potter." He nodded in greeting.

"Malfoy." Harry said and nodded towards the chair. "Firewhiskey?"

"Please." Malfoy said and Harry poured him a glass.

"So, have you made your decision?" Harry asked as he sat down.

"I have." Malfoy said. "I accept."

Harry nodded feeling a bit relieved.

"I think we should discuss the terms." He said and Malfoy nodded.

"I won't give up the Malfoy name. I have worked hard to clean it up and drag it back from the mud Lucius got it into." Malfoy said.

"Fair enough." Harry nodded. "We'll take the name Potter-Malfoy." He said and Malfoy narrowed his eyes, but said nothing. "The Potter family is older so it will come first." Harry said.

"I know."

"I say our estates will stay as they are. Malfoy's will stay with you and pass on to Scorpius and Potter and Black will pass on to my kids."

"Agreed." Malfoy said.

"And then there are the living arrangements…"

"I'm guessing there's no way you will live in the Manor…" Malfoy said.

"You'd be right. That place doesn't exactly hold any good memories for me and it's so tainted with dark magic it suffocates me." Harry said and Malfoy nodded in understanding.

"Not my favorite place either, but it's a tradition of the old families to Head of house to live in the Manor, so…" Malfoy said.

"One that my family hasn't followed in many generations." Harry said with a small smile. "You shouldn't put so much value on the useless old traditions, Malfoy. As a Head of your family you have the right to make your own decisions regardless of what your ancestors have done."

Malfoy nodded. "So where are we going to live then?"

"I have ten properties of the Potter family and seven from the Blacks, I think we'll find a suitable place." Harry said. "I could take you to a few of them over the weekend."

"So when are we going to tell everyone about our… arrangement?" Malfoy asked not willing to call it an engagement.

"I think it's best if we just get over it as soon as possible. I don't know when my state is going to get worse, so I think it's best if we just get married as soon as we can."

"Agreed. We should tell the kids as soon as they get back home from Hogwarts. No use of delaying it." Malfoy said.

"Yes." Harry sighed. "I think I need to give Ginny the heads ups though. She needs to know so she can be there for the kids when… you know…" He trailed of and Malfoy nodded in understanding.

"I think it's best if we just a have a small ceremony with a couple of witnesses. No need to make it into a sodding circus."

"Yeah, been there done that, though the papers are bound to find out." Harry grimaced.

"I can just see the headlines: 'The-Man-Who-Defeated marries a former Death Eater'." Malfoy sneered.

"Shut up." Harry said rolling his eyes. "I think we should just contact the Daily Prophet a few days before our wedding and get over it. At least then we can control what they write."

Malfoy nodded.

"Well, I think that's it for now. We can discuss the details later after we have spoken with the kids…" Malfoy said downing his Firewhiskey and standing up.

"Yeah. I will see you on Wednesday then at the Platform." Harry said and Malfoy nodded his agreement before walking out.

Harry sat back down closing his eyes tiredly. Now he only needed to talk with Ginny.

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review and tell me what you thought!

And Happy Easter Everyone!

- Dalnim