BACKGROUND:

Draco, not really wanting to support Umbridge, had secretly informed Harry about her plans. A tentative friendship had formed, and by the end of fifth year, it had bloomed into a romance when Draco had suggested he would contact Sirius for him from the Slytherin common room. It had saved Sirius by stopping Harry from rushing into a trap. Ron had accidentally discovered them in an embrace in an unused corridor, and has been nagging Harry since. This is it's aftermath.

[There will be major time skips]

Chapter 1:

Harry heard there was an altercation going on in the charms corridor, between Ron and Draco. Without looking who he pushed out of his way, Harry rushed to the spot of the altercation, only to find out that it was not an altercation, it was an outright fight. Things had progressed to an exchange of curses and cusses. All he heard in the chaos was Ron shouting at Draco something along the lines of "Stop poisoning his mind you bitch…"

That was all Harry needed to know. This was again about his and Draco's relationship, which Ron could not accept. But the thing had gone out of hand now. He saw a purplish curse leaving Hermione's wand straight at Draco, when he was distracted by Ron's foul mouth. Harry did the only thing he could do at that moment. He took the curse. Nobody saw him coming, as if he jumped right in the middle out of nowhere.

Harry did not know what happened after it, but when he woke up in the middle of the night, his body was sore and he was in the hospital wing again. Draco sat beside him, wide awake, his eyes red rimmed. It was evident that he had been crying. Harry had never seen Draco so vulnerable and he did not want others to see him this vulnerable either.

"Draco," he called softly. Draco startled from his thoughts.

"Harry, you are awake. Let me call Madam Pomphrey." He was about to rise and go do that when Harry caught his hand to stop him. Draco looked confused. He looked cute, Harry thought.

"We need to talk Draco. This cannot go on. We need to do something."

Draco looked heartbroken, as if he had anticipated this was going to happen. "So, this is the end then? We are going our separate ways?"

"No!" said Harry, vehemently. He could not imagine his life without Draco. "No, we are not going our separate ways. This is the reason I never wanted our relationship to become public before Voldemort was dead. Right now, I cannot alienate an ally. We need Voldemort gone at any cost. I know this is hurting you Draco, but we will have to… have to stop meeting. We need to let MY friends know we are not together. I know yours are more supportive. I cannot let what happened today happen again. I cannot see you hurt. I want you to stay with your friends and godfather. They will protect you. And once Voldemort is dealt with, I promise we will be together, if you would still want me that is." Harry looked so sad at that moment that Draco could not even be angry at him for making the decision himself.

"You would leave all your friends and family behind for me? Why?"

"Because you are everything to me Draco. You don't know the depth of my feelings for you. I cannot live without you Draco. The thought of never holding you again kills me… I cannot…" He broke down into silent tears, unable to speak anymore.

"Harry, I still so want to beat the shit out of you but I will do what you say. Not because what you are saying is right, but because you never lie to me. When you say we will be together, I know we will be. I love you Harry, never forget that." And for the rest of the night, they sat there, embracing each other, cherishing the moment which will be absent from their lives for sometime to come.

Chapter 2:

Three days later, after being released from the care of madam Pomphrey, Harry returned to the common room. It was rather late and very few people were still lingering around, Ron, Hermione and Ginny being among the ones.

"You shouldn't have taken the curse for the git Harry." admonished Hermione. Ignoring her completely, Harry said, "Draco and I are no longer together."

"So the git ran away at the first signs of trouble? I told you he was a coward." Ron boasted. It was like adding salt to the injury really. Harry could not take it any more. With extremely sad and world weary eyes, he looked directly at Ron and said, "You are wrong Ron. HE did not break it up with me. I was the one who did it. You know why? Because I could not see you people, who I call family, hurt the one I love again. So, you got your wish. I did what you wanted me to do. Now leave him alone."

They kept calling him to come back but he rushed to the dorm. When Ron came after him after five minutes, his curtains were closed, warded, and Silenced. Nothing he did could bring Harry out.

The next morning at breakfast, everyone could say Harry was not in a very good mood, and moreover, his eyes were red rimmed, as were Draco's. But nobody dared to say anything. True to his promise, Draco and his friends took special care never to cross any Gryffindor. If they did come face to face, they would just walk away quietly.

This really irked many people, not seeing the Slytherin Prince retaliate but they soon accepted it. Everyone could see the sadness in the two boys' eyes but nobody wanted to say anything. They did not want to stroke what was the Weasley temper, for Ron was still not convinced of Malfoy's sincerity. He saw how sad Harry was, and how distant be was with them these days, but he just could not let his ego go, neither could Hermione. And this left Harry miserable.

Chapter 3:

As Harry fought tooth and nail to get to Voldemort, the past year flashed past his eyes. He and Dumbledore together had destroyed all of Voldemort's Horcruxes in the last 14 months. They had been each other's rocks in the endeavour, pulling each other out if one could not withstand Voldemort's compulsions on deadly curses to protect his Horcruxes.

When Dumbledore had told him that it was Professor Snape that had convinced Dumbledore to include Harry in the hunt, he was shocked. Even shocked could not cover what he felt. Thus began the journey of finding Voldemort's Horcruxes. The journey was not easy at all, but the most difficult was Harry's scar. It was complicated, old ritual that did it, but Harry almost died in the process; almost. He insisted that nobody know about it.

Now, he was fighting his way across the battlefield to reach the monster that had destroyed his life. He also had other things in his mind, but they were not distracting him, they were giving him strength. He wanted all this to finally be over, so that he could hold his Draco again. He had seen it in his love's eyes before the battle, the love was still there. Draco was expecting to be held tonight, and damn him if he would not fulfil that wish.

Chapter 4:

It was over. Voldemort was dead. He was free; free to live his life, free to love, free to marry Draco, free, free, free….

But then he saw the bright green curse rushing towards him. A death eater that was not yet down had aimed his wand against Harry's brother, malice written all over his face. He identified the blond hair at once, and saw red. He aimed a bombarda maxima at the blond's side, which would surely obliterate him, but it was too late. The curse was out of his wand. As if in slow motion, he saw the curse speeding towards Ron, he sped towards Ron. Ron's back was turned, unaware of the danger he was in.

From the other side, Harry could see Draco too running towards Ron, intent clear in his silvery grey eyes. He was going to take the curse himself if he could, because Ron was Harry's family. Harry could not let that happen, he could not. If you asked anyone later, they won't be able to say what happened. One moment, everything was fine, the next moment someone had pushed Ron to the ground, and immediately after there was a blood curdling scream.

"Noooo!!!" Draco screamed. "No you promised, you promised." Within a moment, Harry's head, his unresponsive head was in Draco's lap, who was sobbing uncontrollably. Even his godfather could not console him anymore. He was past hysteria. He kept repeating "You promised". Only his godfather knew what he was talking about.

Ron stood, watching the scene, numb. His best mate had just given his life to save him. His worst enemy, who had fought alongside him, killed his own mother to save his sister, was breaking down as if his world had come to an end. His own world was crumbling down.

Molly herself was in hysterics, sobbing right beside Draco, inconsolable. Emmeline Vance, a good friend of Molly's, tried to console her, saying, "Calm down Molly. Your family needs you. Your children need you. Ron is in shock. It could be him. You could have lost one of your own."

Getting up, with the help of a half sad half angry Arthur, she said, "I did lose one of my own today Emmy." And the duo walked away from her, after the levitating body of Harry Potter, their seventh Son.

Chapter 5:

"Mr. Potter, how did you survive the killing curse?"

"Honestly, I do not know. It just felt like falling unconscious. When I woke up, I was in the hospital wing once again, and everyone was crying. It felt realllyyy weird."

"Mr. Potter, this is the second time you have survived the killing curse. How does it feel."

"I am rather relieved that I can finally do whatever I want to. Everything is over and done with. Voldemort is gone. My love has forgiven me for scaring him. I am hale and hearty. What else does one need?"

"Mr. Potter, why did you sacrifice your life for just a friend who had turned against you several times in the past?"

"He is not my friend, not even my best friend…" He paused for some effect. "Drama Queen" Draco muttered beside him, "He is my brother. And however many times he may have gone against me, he still is and will always be my brother. And if I had to do it all over again, I will. Though I fear what will happen when I meet my Love in the after life."

Everyone chuckled, except Draco, who just pouted. The interview went on for another hour, but Harry, for the first time, enjoyed it. Maybe because Draco was sitting right beside him.

When Harry was about to leave, packed bags beside his feet, Molly hugged him and cried. She was after all sending another one of hers to fly, like she had for Bill, Charlie, Percy and the twins. She was happy for Harry and Draco and both the Weasley parents had given the couple their blessings. She was only letting them go on one condition, when they returned, she would be the one planning the wedding. They were not to elope and marry in some jungle or desert.

Ron was not exactly talking to Harry, not because he had not yet accepted Draco, how could he not, after Draco saved Ginny, but because he was ashamed of his actions. But Harry knew, as did everyone else, time would heal this wound too. They just had to give their relationship that time, and they would.

With lots of hugs and promises, Harry and Draco finally began their journey of their own brand of Happily ever after.