Disclaimer: I, unfortunately, own nothing to do with Harry Potter and will probably never do so. I gain nothing from writing this story, I simply do it for my own entertainment.
And I'm back! This is the penultimate chapter, everyone! Sorry for all the MAJOR fluff in this one, but I thought it might be nice to end on the fluffier side of things after so much action in the last chapter ;)
Again, thank you all so much for your support, encouragement and kind words! They have all made me strive to put out a new chapter every week and I'm happy to say that I've actually managed to publish a chapter a week throughout the writing of the story, despite a rather busy schedule. It's all thanks to you guys! *throws cookies and chocolates to everyone*
Now, sit down and enjoy the chapter!
A soft light was the only thing which alerted Harry of the fact that he had woken from his sleep. Without opening his eyes, he revelled in the warmth of sunshine on his face and the faint rays of light that hit his eyes just so that the inside of his eyelids seemed to shine a bright pink. Then he became conscious of the fact that he was lying on something soft and warm, like a blanket. Opening his eyes to find out where exactly he was, Harry found that he was lying on a bench in one of the conservatories of Malfoy Manor. Around him grew big, colourful flowers, some of which were climbing up alongside the walls of the room, as if reaching for the sun streaming in from the glass roof.
Sitting up, Harry looked around to see if he were alone and his eyes immediately met a pair of stunningly red eyes shining back at him. Voldemort was standing at the entrance to the conservatory, silently watching over his young fiancée as he slept. The battle in the woods had proved very taxing for Harry, as he had performed what was usually considered an impossible feat, to fully complete an engagement ritual of his own volition and without someone to oversee the proceedings. Usually, the role of the overseer was, through certain chants and signs, to restrain the magic just enough for it to carefully enter the two parties. Without such a person, the chance of the strain on the body being too high was enormous, but somehow Harry Potter had done so without hesitation and with complete success. Shaking his head, but with a small smile on his lips, Voldemort walked up to Harry and sat down next to him.
"Hello, little one. How do you feel?"
"Don't call me that, I'm not that little." Harry grumbled, but didn't manage to maintain the insulted face, as his face quickly broke out into a smile again. "I feel fine, more than fine actually. I feel rested, complete and very happy – serene almost."
As he was talking, Harry observed his hands lying on his lap as if he saw them for the first time. It didn't completely make sense to him, logically speaking, but he felt like something that had, up until this point, pressed him down had released his grip and he was free to do whatever he wanted.
Sighing lightly, Voldemort nodded. "Yes, I think I know what you mean. These last few days have been strange. Though I had regained what I thought was a full range of emotion, after the ritual I have found myself confronted with feelings I never knew before. It is as if the ritual enhanced every emotion that I had twofold, and I'm only now coming to terms with it."
Harry sent him a surprised look. It was highly unusual for Voldemort to disclose anything that had to do with his own feelings. 'Is this another one of the side-effects of the ritual?' he wondered. Deciding that receiving an answer to that would be next to impossible, as the man hardly knew what had happened himself, Harry let the matter go for now, but with the full intention of bringing it up at some later time when they both knew a little more.
"So, what happens now? Dumbledore is dead, the Order is basically obliterated, Ron is still in the cellar here, and Hermione is firmly on our side. There is no more anyone to fight, to protect ourselves against."
Harry had, without thinking, slid across the bench so that his head was leaning against the Dark Lord's shoulder and his arm was casually intertwined with the man's arm. Voldemort tensed up for a fraction of a second, but then he relaxed and subconsciously pulled the boy slightly closer to him.
"Now, Harry, we work towards our goals. No more will you be subjected to that old coot's plans. From now on, you will be just Harry Potter, student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Then, when you turn seventeen, I hope that you will stand by my side as we both give each other our vows."
Voldemort had turned very serious all of a sudden, and he gently turned Harry around to face him.
"I might have been the reason why you weren't able to grow up with your family. I want to make that right again by being that family for you. Harry, know that I will always have your best interest at heart and don't hesitate to come to me with anything that you are wondering about, are insecure about, or scared of. I might not have the best experience when it comes to such things, but I can promise you here and now, I will do my best."
It suddenly hit Harry that he must have been out for a long time, enough time to give Voldemort time to think everything through, and that this confession was the result of many hours of silent soul searching. Without saying anything, Harry reached up and hugged Voldemort tight, a hug which the wizard returned with a small smile.
"Thank you." Harry said as he pulled away. Those two words seemed to say all that was necessary and they both knew that his feelings were all contained within them, saying anything more was unnecessary.
"Before I go back to Hogwarts though, what about Ginny? She's still at the school and I'm certain she is not going to just let the fact that her parents are dead and her brother imprisoned go anytime soon."
Voldemort rose from his seat and pulled Harry up with him. "Don't worry about her, I've already taken care of that. It seems like your godfather pulled some strings and contacted a friend of his, one Remus Lupin, to bring both the Weasley kids to his werewolf pack. Lupin assured both Black and myself that they won't be killed, but that life certainly won't be easy for them from now on. And as for escaping… Well, let's just say that two unarmed teenagers on foot is nothing to a werewolf. They'd catch up to them in a heartbeat."
Surprisingly, Harry was relieved that his former best friend and his sister were now gone from his life forever. Though Ron had been a good friend during his first year at Hogwarts, the redhead had shown his true colours and Harry was not likely to want him back anytime soon. To Voldemort he only nodded.
"Speaking of Sirius, where is he?" Harry asked, wanting to change the topic.
He was surprised to see a slight hint of amusement flicker over Voldemort's face. "Well, it seems Black decided he needed some more time with his friend, Lupin. Apparently, they got over some disagreement they had and are now making up for lost time."
The slight stress on the word 'friend' made Harry realize just what Voldemort was hinting at, and he blushed heavily. "Oh" he simply stated, which caused Voldemort to chuckle loudly.
"Don't worry, your godfather should be back within the next four days, but until then you will have to do without him, I'm afraid." The slight teasing tone was still lingering in his voice, and Harry shot him a dark look.
"You're teasing me, aren't you?" he grumbled, much to the amusement of the Dark Lord.
"Why, yes, Harry. I'm glad you picked up on that fact." Rising from the bench, Voldemort turned towards him with an arm extended in front of him, and Harry grabbed it so that the man could help pull him up from his little nest of blankets and sunshine.
As they were walking through the corridors of Malfoy Manor, Harry suddenly remembered something. Anxiously turning towards Voldemort, his green eyes clearly showing the distress he was feeling, he blurted out
"What about the remaining Order members? From what I could ascertain, one of the men at the grove seemed very strong, the one with the strange, blue eye. Are you sure he won't manage to reform the Order and bring it back?"
Voldemort didn't immediately answer him, but his face was calm. At last he shook his head. "No, I don't think Moody will be able to do much about it. The one person who had the power and the authority to keep the Order alive was Dumbledore. The Order died with him. The chances of the Ministry listening to the likes of 'Mad-eye' Moody are rather slim, even non-existent. He might be able to gather a few people who are loyal to Dumbledore, even after his death, but it will not cause any major trouble. My Death Eaters will be able to take care of them with ease."
Harry was calmed by this, Voldemort's words made sense and he presented his opinion in a carefully considered way that soothed his worries and made him believe that he could finally live his life without having to worry about things no teenager should ever have to think about. Not knowing how to express this in words, Harry briefly hugged Voldemort's arm close to him and the man had only to glance at the boy's face to realize the intention he was trying to convey.
"Come on, now. I think it's time for you, now that you've come back to full health, to return to Hogwarts and your friends, don't you think?" Voldemort asked and smiled when Harry's face lit up with a bright grin.
"You mean I can go back already?" he exclaimed, his excitement almost caused him to throttle Voldemort with a hug, but he restrained himself to just a light squeeze of the other's arm.
"Of course. Now that there are no one there who can seriously threaten your safety, it should not be a problem. Of course, you might experience rumours and general badmouthing, as everyone knows your connection to me, but no one should have the courage to openly go against you anymore. Just to be safe, I will have Severus keep an eye out for you."
Now Harry no longer bothered with keeping his glee contained, and he bounced along down the corridor, followed by a highly amused Voldemort, who shook his head at his fiancée's antics.
Hermione watched as Draco and Harry bantered about something to do with Quidditch. She stopped paying attention to what they were saying a long time ago, preferring rather to simply watch the two of them. It was hard to believe that they had both been involved in the threat of war between the Light and Dark sides, Harry because Dumbledore saw him as his primary pawn to use against Voldemort, and Draco because his father was the right-hand man of said Dark Lord. However, now everything had miraculously sorted itself out, or rather, that was the story Harry had given her. She suspected that he was hiding a lot from her, but for now she was content to let him keep his secrets, confident that her best friend would share them with her eventually.
As for Draco, the two of them had spent much time together while Harry was at the Manor. The absence of their common friend had brought them together and Hermione now considered Draco one of her closest friends, despite their continual banter. She was surprised that the pureblood heir could be so… human. Up until this point, she had grown accustomed to seeing him as a cold, pampered brat who enjoyed flaunting his status around as something to be envied. Now, on the other hand, he had shown her sides to him that she never thought him capable of. On the first night after Harry had moved back to the Manor, after the whole incident with Ron, Draco had come to her and poured out his worries for his adopted brother. That moment, when his blue eyes shone with anxious protectiveness, was when Hermione had decided to open her heart to him and confess her own fears about the future. Now this had become a habit, every time one of them encountered a problem or something that upset them, they would go to the other and talk it over. At the beginning, it was simply therapeutic, but Hermione found that she no longer could seem to imagine a time without these talking sessions. They, and Draco's presence as well, had become too precious to her for her to let go of. Hermione was not a ready lover, but where she loved, she loved passionately (*), and she had quickly come to terms with the fact that her originally friendly feelings towards the blond had developed into something deeper.
"I'm telling you! They are going to win the World Cup in two years, there is simply no question about it." Draco yelled and almost seemed to want to stomp his foot to highlight his point.
"Whatever you say, Draco. Whatever you say." Harry replied and rolled his eyes, turning away from the fuming blond and addressing Hermione.
"Say, it's a Hogsmeade weekend. Let's go and get some sweets!"
Hermione smiled and grabbed the hand that was offered to her. "Sure, sounds like a good idea!"
The quick walk down into the village was pleasant, as they walked with arms interlinked and Draco told stories about how Hogsmeade once had been a bastion of elitist purebloods, until a rather nasty story about one of their more prominent members leaked to the public, and all the inhabitants chose to move away from the scandal. Because of this, housing prices were lowered, giving everyday witches and wizards the opportunity to settle near the school where their children where. Soon, the community became what it now was, a charming, booming little community where everyone from squibs to purebloods lived side by side.
"It also helps having such delicious sweets close at hand" Draco ended his story as they pushed the door open to Honeydukes "I mean, how could anyone be fighting with Drooble's Best Blowing Gum near at hand?"
Later that night, as Hermione and Harry both found themselves in the room Harry had been given on direct orders from Voldemort, as the man had quickly obtained power over the Ministry after Dumbledore's downfall, Hermione decided to bring up the topic she had anxiously waited to ask her friend.
"Harry, have you thought about your future at all? I mean, the whole thing with Voldemort and all?" her voice was soft and careful, as if she was afraid Harry would recoil from this topic, but to her relief he actually seemed to welcome the question.
"I have thought about it. A lot, actually." He tipped his head backwards and gazed at the ceiling. "I'm still so confused, though. I can't be sure that what I'm feeling is love, you know? But I do know that I deeply care for him, that it makes me happy when he's around, when he talks to me as if he appreciates what I have to say, and when he gives me small little signs of affection. I used to think him incapable of caring, but he has certainly proved otherwise. I know that he will do his utmost to protect me from whatever danger I might be in, though it sometimes feels a little too overprotective at times." He added with a slight grin and Hermione smiled as she remembered the possessive glances the man had thrown Harry every time he thought he wasn't looking.
"I'm not sure if Voldemort will ever be able to, or admit to, feel love himself, but I'm confident that if I do accept his proposal and give him my vows when I turn seventeen, that he will always strive to make me happy."
Harry had not been looking at her when he said this, but Hermione could still see the look in his eyes. Even if her friend might not be conscious of it yet, even to himself, she could read the feelings in his green eyes and she knew that the tenderness that Harry now felt for Voldemort could, and would, develop into something deeper. However, she kept this to herself. Voicing her opinion on this would probably scare Harry more than comfort him, and as such, she chose to let her best friend realize the truth and nature of his feelings for himself in due time.
"Harry, I have seen him with you and I'm confident that he will do his best to always have your best interests at heart." She simply said, placing a hand on his hand. Harry gave her a thankful smile and lightly hugged her.
"Thank you, 'Mione. I hope you're right." Yawning heartily, he stretched his arms above his head and fell back unto the soft pillows. "But for now, lets just enjoy the time we have here at Hogwarts. I don't know about you, but I'm rather looking forward to living like a normal teenage boy should, with all the trials and tribulations that accompanies it!"
Laughing, she stood up and patted his leg. "Be careful what you wish for, Harry. Perhaps you might even come to miss being in life-threatening situations when you're faced with the horrors of love stricken girls and the constant worrying about pimples and whatnot."
His laughter followed her into the corridor, and she shook her head a little. Despite her slight worrying, Hermione was confident that everything would turn out all right in the end. Somehow, her gut just told her that everything would be just fine.
*: Challenge: does anyone know from where I got this line? Hint: it's from a famous Victorian novel
So, I hope you guys liked this chapter! The next, and last, chapter will be jumping forward in time to when Harry is seventeen. Then we'll have to see just what he decides to do, will he accept Voldemort's proposal or will he walk away to fashion a life completely of his own? Only time will tell!
