A/N: And here's the conclusion! And it doesn't feel very much like a conclusion to me. I think there's another story that needs telling here. But we'll see about that. For now, this is it. Be sure to follow just in case, though ;)
We try again with IUI in about a week, if I could get some good vibes or prayers or whatever it is you believe in I would certainly appreciate it. Warnings again for possible slowness with updates and such. As always, love you all and can't wait to hear what you're thinking!

The truth was, Draco should have been behind these bars years ago.

It was only fitting that he were here now. The universe was right and finally back in balance. He was here, locked up and facing trial and Harry Potter was on the other side, giving him that look.

He probably didn't even know his face looked like that. Smug. Angry. An 'I knew it' not all that far off.

"So…I take it you're not being charged as a co-conspirator," Draco finally said. He had been waiting for Harry to take the first word. He so desperately wanted the yelling and blaming to just be over and done with. But they had been warned that visits were shortly timed and the silence had taken enough of their allotted minutes.

Harry sighed. Heavy, like just being here pained him. "I don't even think they considered the thought."

Of course they hadn't. Most of the Wizarding world had been just waiting for something like this to happen. The papers and tabloids had questioned their relationship from the start. If it were possible, Draco's name had become even dirtier from the instant they went public. There had even been rumors that he was only in this for ulterior motives. Whoever started those rumors must feel at least half-validated after his very public arrest the morning before.

"So…."

He was waiting on an explanation. Draco owed him that, at the very least. But there was no good way to put that into words. The explanation, no matter how he spun it, would in no way be able to redeem him now. Head bowed like a defeated dog, Draco stepped back until his calves hit the cold metal of his cot. He gingerly sat, vastly out of place in his tailored suit against the backdrop of the concrete-walled cell and the thin, dirty mattress with no sheets.

As much as he belonged here, he sure didn't look the part. Not yet.

Draco had never been able to appropriately conjure the image of his father at Azkaban, either. He spent many nights during his sixth year at school trying to do just that. Lucius, so poised and in-control at all times, never seemed the sort to survive well in a cell. The two images just didn't mesh.

But once he came home, looking half the man he had once been, suddenly Draco was able to picture it all too clearly. He knew what was in store for him from his father's stories. He knew if he ever walked away from this, he would never be the same again.

What the Patrol officers found in their apartment, however, made it highly unlikely that he would be walking away.

"It really is just a misunderstanding," Draco said to his knotted hands. Feebly begging for pity where he definitely didn't deserve it. "The items they found…they weren't mine." The tired excuse 'I'm holding them for a friend' sprang to mind and his cheeks darkened.

"I just need you to hold onto them until the heat wears off. Until they stop looking. I can't get caught in these raids."

Harry snorted and Draco couldn't blame him for his disbelief. "Then clear it up for me, Draco." His voice was more strained than Draco could remember it being since their reconciliation. Even his body was tight. There was anger in every single part of Harry. The warmth and laughter he cherished was gone.

If this were so easy, Draco would have done it months ago. Right now he was wishing he had. Perhaps then they wouldn't be in this mess. "I can't…," he said to the floor. "I can't tell you…why I had those things. And I can't tell you whose they are. I can't tell you anything…."

There was an unspoken code amongst Purebloods. It only existed because of heavy Pureblood involvement with dark wizards and dark magic. It was a code of protection with unspeakable consequences. These consequences could range from shunning to cursing on unimaginable levels. But it wasn't the risk that held them in place. It was expectation.

"I know I can trust you, Draco. You're the only one I know that has my back."

His silence was expected. And that's why he was in this cell.

"Bullshit," Harry spat, seemingly unable to keep his distance any longer. He stepped right up to the bars, fingers white around them. Draco couldn't fault him for that seething hatred in his eyes.

They'd had such a good thing. For two years, Harry had looked at him with nothing but sweetness and adoration. It felt redeeming. Waking up next to him every morning felt…like something he didn't deserve. Kissing him until they were both breathless and aching for more felt like heaven. Sneaking secret glances and sharing inside jokes felt like he was real. Like what they had was real.

And then Harry looked at him like this and he was vividly reminded of how fleeting of a privilege it was to even have had the time he did.

"Do you…do you remember the snowstorm last winter?" Harry just stared blankly at Draco, clearly not following. "The one that knocked out the power for two days?"

"Y…yeah, what of it?" Harry snapped impatiently.

Standing once again, Draco crossed the cell. Settled up against the bars and layered his hands over Harry's. "I can't think of a time in my life that I have ever been as happy as I was in those two days," Draco whispered.

Harry loosed his hands and shoved them in his pockets. "And what does that have to do with your charges?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all." Draco pressed even closer to the cold bite of the bars. He was just able to reach Harry. Just barely able to link his fingers into Harry's belt loops. With a violent tug, he pulled Harry closer. Harry's chest hit the bars, the sound ringing in their ears. His verdant eyes were shining with a new emotion. A fear Draco had never seen before.

There was no way he could deny the flutter that glint put in his stomach.

"What I loved most about those two days was that we don't need power. We don't need the Muggle technology. We can conjure practically anything we want with a wave of our wands. And yet…neither one of us talked about that. We just went along with the rest of our building. We just…settled into our little apartment, huddling together for warmth. Fucking for warmth. Gorging ourselves on food before it went bad. Arguing over a small flashlight once the sun went down. Telling secrets in the silence of the night. Just you and me…in our own little bubble away from the rest of the world. Away from the expectations the rest of the world has for us. It was just me and you…and after those two days I knew I loved you.

"And I knew I would never want to do something to fuck that up."

"What do you call this, then?"

But he had. Draco had fucked it all up and there was no other way to put it.

"I was just helping out a friend," Draco said in a voice so quiet, it might have just been the wind.

XxX

Draco had to have known what was coming. He hadn't seen any of his school friends since the end of the war. They had all gone their separate ways without a single discussion about it.

And then Theodore Nott showed up at his door, grinning like they were still good pals. "You gonna invite me in?"

Frowning, Draco looked back into the apartment. Harry was at work, but he wasn't sure for how much longer. Not that he thought there would be a problem if he was seen conversing with Theo. He had never been much of a problem. He was quiet and had always been relatively uninvolved. And after his own father's arrest, he had actively avoided sympathizing with the Death Eaters. Out of any of them, he was the least threatening.

"Uh…yeah, come in. Want something to drink?"

"I'm good." Theo walked through the doorway, his motions a bit fidgety. Like he was nervous. Draco was instantly on edge. "I just need to talk to you. It won't take long. I shouldn't be here long…."

Draco settled onto the couch, propping his feet up on the coffee table. "What's this about, then? I take it we're not sitting down for a lovely little chat. I don't get the sense you want to catch up…."

With a twitchy shrug, Theo fingered the zipper of the satchel at his hip. "Malfoy, I…." He sighed like what he had to say was heavy and difficult. "There's been rumor of a new set of raids starting soon. I have apparently made the list. And…could use your help."

"I have no pull at the Ministry," Draco seethed. It was a well-known fact that his family had lost any standing they had ever had.

And Theo seemed well aware of that. He also knew good and well just who Draco shared this apartment with. His gaze had lingered on a photo of them on the wall. Molly Weasley had taken the candid photo last Christmas. Harry was laughing about something ridiculous and Draco had his face buried in the man's neck. "That's not quite what I meant…. You're out of the radar, Malfoy."

With a nod, Draco sat up straight. Slowly, everything was coming together. His heart was racing with the fear of what that might entail, but he couldn't bring himself to tell Theo to leave. Draco had his break from the shit. This home he had built with a man he truly loved was his good luck. Giving Theo a small break, whatever it was he was asking for, was probably the right thing to do. "Is there something in that bag you could go down for?" Draco asked softly.

Theo chuckled nervously. He held the bag closer, pressing it against his chest. "It's all I have left of my father," he whispered. "I know it's stupid, but I'm not interested in debating that. I just need someone to hold onto them for me until after they raid my place. And I think they would be safe here. No one would dare touch you. Not while you're with him." He knocked his head towards the photo on the wall. "I just need you to hold onto them until the heat wears off. Until they stop looking. I can't get caught in these raids."

Draco opened his mouth to protest but found he couldn't locate the words. His conscience was too loud in his head.

"I know I can trust you, Draco. You're the only one I know that has my back."

XxX

The only reason Theo had known that was because of that damn code. Draco wouldn't snitch even if he was caught. Despite the distance between them these last few years, Theo was still a friend and he would protect him for as long as necessary. Even if that meant going to prison for him. It didn't seem fair or right, but it was what it was.

"Was this 'friend' the whistleblower that you threatened?"

Harry was far smarter than he appeared. It wasn't good for him. Draco winced at the question and averted his eyes. His fingers loosened on the belt loops, but Harry didn't step away this time. He stayed close against the bars, his face far softer. His expression far more lenient and full of sudden understanding. "I can't answer that."

"Not even to me?"

Honestly, Draco would do anything for Harry. If he would go to prison for a friend, he would literally lie down and die for the love of his life. But these two things didn't cancel each other out. He had to find a way to do both. Even if that meant only seeing that love of his life from the inside of a cell for the rest of his life. "Especially not to you…," Draco said, his voice breaking. Everything within him breaking. "You're probably trying to do everything you can to get me out of here. I can't trust you won't tell the investigators anything I tell you."

Theo had, of course, been the supposed whistleblower he had threatened. And apparently that had been the nail in his coffin.

It had been months since Draco agreed to hold the items for Theo. And for months, Draco had waited on bated breath for another knock on his door to take the pressure away. The knock he had been expecting, however, did not come. Exactly twelve hours after he had confronted Theo, the Patrol was at their door. Tearing through their home. He had threatened to do just this to his friend, just trying to scare him. Because Draco was scared…. He hadn't liked lying to Harry.

And he sure didn't like it now.

"So you're just going to rot in Azkaban for this friend?"

Theodore Nott didn't deserve this kind of grace. Not to this extent. Especially not if he had framed Draco as he suspected. But Draco wasn't going to crack against the code. He wasn't going to disgrace his name any further with the only community he had left.

"Harry…." Draco shook his head resolutely, for a moment triggering a hopeful smile from the other. "I'm the one who had the forbidden objects. It is technically my crime. And I'll go down for it if I have to.

"I'm sorry."

The guard knocked twice on the door before re-entering the holding area. "Time's up. You gotta leave now, Mr. Potter."

What little time they had was gone. Draco hadn't given Harry what he needed and Harry…likely couldn't give Draco the patience he was begging for. The anger had returned to Harry's features as he stepped back and signaled to the guard for just a second more. The deeply buried optimistic side of Draco hoped it was to sneak a kiss or whisper one last soft word.

But all Harry did was look at him for a long moment before turning on his heel. He didn't even look at Draco when he spat, "I will fix this," before stalking out.

And Draco didn't doubt that he would. He was just worried as to how that would happen and where they would be left when it did.