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Family Means More Than Blood	By : WingsofaDream Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 59823 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its associated characters are property of J K Rowling, not me. This story is not being written for profit, just for the lols.

Chapter List
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14th February 1990: Early Morning

Being as quiet as he could so that he did not disturb the other sleeping boys in his dorm room, Harry carefully lifted the lid of his trunk and brought out four little bags, each big enough to fit comfortably in the palm of his hand, made out of a pretty type of light purple material which had a few light aquamarine specks in it if you held it in the right light. Each was tied at the top with a silver ribbon done up in a neat bow. It was Valentines Day once again and that meant that the lucky people who were Harry's nearest and dearest would all receive his nicely wrapped home-made chocolate. He had spent a good chunk of the previous evening preparing and wrapping everything and then sending off his gifts to Lucius, Marcia, and Rhys with Hedwig. The others he had made he had hidden in his trunk when none of his room mates were present; he had no doubt that if they had been spotted, they would not have lasted the night.

With all four bags now sitting next to him on the floor, Harry fiddled with them for a little while, making sure the ribbons were tied securely into their bows. He continued doing that until the sound of someone shifting reached his ears. Looking up, Harry saw that Fred was now sitting up, rubbing one of his eyes and yawning widely.

"Anyone else up yet?" The red-head asked the room quietly so he would not wake anyone accidently.

"I'm awake." Came a muffled reply from George.

"And so am I. Good morning you two." Harry greeted them cheerfully as George also sat up in bed before both twins proceeded to stretch lazily. "Happy Valentines Day." He smiled, coming to stand between each of their beds and holding out two of the little bags of chocolate he had made the day before, one in each palm.

"Huh?" Fred grunted in confusion, looking at the offered bag like it was about to bite off his head.

"Erm, Harry, why are you giving us gifts on Valentines Day?" George asked nervously, unsure of what to make of the gesture.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, it's nothing romantic!" Harry assured quickly with a laugh, figuring out what was bothering the two boys. "It's a Havanist tradition to give home-made chocolate to your close friends and family on Valentines Day, not just people you fancy. That's why I disappeared for the whole of yesterday evening; Professor Dumbledore let me use the kitchens to make the chocolate."

"Oooooooh." George said, drawing out the sound in realisation. "In that case, gimme!" He grinned, taking the bag and quickly opening it, totally ignoring the lovely wrapping, and going straight for the chocolates which were molded in either circles, squares or diamonds.

"We don't have anything for you, Harry." Fred told him seriously, still having still not accepted the gift.

Harry gave him a curious look before smiling gently and sitting on the edge of the ginger haired boy's bed. "That doesn't matter. No one except my two friends from Saint Gwenifwar's makes me anything anyway and I don't expect them to; it's a Havanist thing, not a Wizarding thing. I like to do it though because it shows those who I care about the most how much they mean to me. You and George are such good friends to me and I want to show you how grateful I am. So, please, accept it. I promise it won't poison you." He added light-heartedly to break the serious atmosphere which had taken them over.

"Oh wow, that assurance makes me feel so much better." Fred joked back with a grin as he took the offered bag finally. "Thanks Harry." He said with a sincere, calmer smile.

"You're welcome." Harry said with a smile of his own.

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14th February 1990: Morning

Harry hummed to himself cheerfully as he wandered into the Great Hall on his own, one of his bags of chocolate held in his right hand which swung back and forth as he moved forward. Although it was a week day and no one got a chance to lay in bed for too long, he was still on his way down to breakfast several minutes before the majority of the student population would be, hence him being on his own. As soon as he had given Fred and George their gifts, he had left them to get showered and dressed in favour of heading to the Great Hall in order to give his father his Valentines Day gift before the hall got too filled. On his father's behalf, he wanted the gift-giving process to go by as un-noticed as possible; his father was hardly a fan of attracting attention.

Entering the hall, Harry was pleased to see that Severus was indeed present, sitting at the Head Table, sipping a cup of tea while idly flicking through a newspaper with little interest. Harry continued forward, down the middle of the Great Hall, without hesitation despite the fact that his stomach was suddenly a breeding ground for butterflies; this was the first time he was going to give his father a Valentines gift in public after all. Sending one by post was one thing, doing it face to face was something else entirely.

He politely smiled at the teachers who acknowledged him when he reached the table and moved to walk around it so that he would be on the same side as Severus rather than having to stand opposite him. Upon reaching the Potion Master's side, Harry stopped and held the bag out in both of his palms and gave the man a small smile. "Happy Valentines Day, Father." He wished a little shyly as his father took the bag and he leaned closer in order to place a kiss on the man's cheek. He was vaguely aware that he had attracted quite a bit of attention from those who were already in the Great Hall but he ignored it; he had nothing to be embarrassed about.

"Thank you, Haryon." His father said gently though his face remained in its usual state of severity, no doubt for the sake of the surrounding students. "I must admit I was wondering whether you were going to continue this little tradition of yours."

"You can be so sour at times, Father, you need something to sweeten you every so often." Harry teased, making sure to keep his voice very low so no else had a chance of hearing him.

He pulled back to see the usually stoic Potions Master struggling to keep a straight face and Harry allowed a grin of his own to break out on his face. That seemed to be the last straw for his father as a small smile in the disguise of a smirk curved the corners of his lips. "Off with you, brat, before you completely destroy my image." He ordered in a low voice, slipping the bag into a pocket in his teaching robes and turning back to his paper. Harry gave a small laugh at that and pecked another quick kiss on the man's cheek before moving around the Head Table and heading over to the Gryffindor one where he sat down and began to fill his plate with food.

A few minutes passed after Harry silently eating, minding his own business, until a he caught a glimpse of Fred and George approaching him out of the corner of his eye. He lifted his head and turned to look at them properly as they reached him, each sinking onto the bench either side of him.

"Ya dad like the chocolate?" Fred queried as a greeting, instantly reaching for a pitcher of pumpkin juice while George made a grab for the toast rack before it could be snatched up by another one of their House mates.

"Yep, though he tried terribly hard to hide the fact." Harry grinned. "Besides, he likes chocolate too much not to appreciate any chocolate themed gift he receives from anyone."

"Even James Potter?" George asked playfully.

Harry wrinkled his nose at that thought. "Okay, maybe not everyone; practically everyone."

"We'll have to remember that, George." Fred said to his brother with a mouthful of sausage.

"Yeah, the next time we get detention with him, we'll just bribe our way out of it." The other twin agreed, encouraging a chuckle from Harry which lasted until he once again spotted someone coming into the Great Hall out of the corner of his eye.

"Draco!" Harry called across the hall without thinking as the blond walked further into the hall, standing from his seat and waving to him.

Draco stopped and looked over to him upon hearing his name and his expression quickly changed from curiosity to expectancy, having obviously spotted the small parcel which the other boy was holding. As Harry climbed over the bench and hurried over to his best friend, Draco came to a stop. Both of them were aware that quite a few of the Great Hall's occupants were openly watching them but it caused neither any bother.

Harry's pace slowed to a walk just before he reached his best friend and he gave his friend a happy smile as he held out the bag in the palms of both of his hands. "Happy Valentines Day, Draco."

"Happy Valentines Day to you too." Draco returned with a slight smile of his own as he accepted the bag of chocolates. "And thanks." He paused for a moment and seemed to consider something. "This is the first time you've ever given it to me in person; is there something I'm supposed to do in return?"

Harry gave a small laugh and shook his head gently. "No, all you have to do is eat it and maybe, just maybe, offer me a piece later on."

Draco gave a small chuckle at that and leaned forward to peck a very quick kiss on Harry's cheek which only caused the dark haired boy to blush brightly and stare down at his feet as those surrounding them continued to stare at them. "I'll see you later okay? We'll spend some time together." The blond whispered before drawing back and going back over to join his friends at the Slytherin table.

Harry watched him go for a few seconds before he hurried back to the Gryffindor table and slipped back into his seat between Fred and George where he promptly leaned forward until his head was resting on the table. "I can't believe he did that in front of everyone." He groaned, still feeling several sets of eyes still on him.

"It was only a peck on the cheek." George pointed out as he put a dollop of marmalade on his toast before spreading it around.

"Yeah, and what's a peck on the cheek between honorary brothers." Fred added with another mouthful of sausage.

"Or between real brothers." George said as he leaned over Harry to kiss his twin brother's cheek. The other Weasley made no move to fight off his brother and simply accepted the brief kiss without word or sign that he was taking any notice. "See? Nothing wrong with it."

Harry sat up a little straighter with a sigh and considered the words of his two friends. They had a point. Draco was like his brother and there was nothing wrong with kissing a family member on the cheek. He had proudly kissed his father on the cheek a mere few minutes earlier so surely Draco should be no different. It was no different, it was just an expression of brotherly love. It had just surprised him is all; it was the first time either of them had ever kissed the other.

The flapping of dozens of wings distracted Harry from his thoughts abruptly and he lifted his head to see the owls carrying the morning post were sweeping into the Great Hall. Most seemed to be carrying small parcels or flowers which was not surprising considering what day it was. Harry quickly spotted the striking white feathers of Hedwig and noticed with pleasure that she was carrying two parcels and a letter. When she reached him, she landed gracefully and allowed the parcels and the letter to be untied before accepting the piece of bacon which Harry offered her as a treat.

"Look who's Mr Popular." George teased playfully, noting the three deliveries now sitting in front of Harry on the table.

"Got yourself a couple of secret admirers, Harry?" Fred grinned, nudging Harry's shoulder.

"Don't be silly." Harry laughed as he began to tear away the rough, brown parcel paper off one of the parcels. Pulling the paper away revealed a pale pink envelope and a bar of marbled milk and white chocolate wrapped prettily in clear wrapping and sealed at the ends with curled pink, red, and purple ribbons. "They're only from my friends from my old school." He told them with a small smile as he opened the pink envelope and pulled the letter inside out and confirming his suspicions that that one was from Marcia.

"Other friends Harry?" Fred gasped in mock horror.

"I thought we were the only ones!" George cried forlornly, tilting his head back and pressing the back of his right hand against his forehead.

Harry simply rolled his eyes and shook his head a little as he finished reading Marcia's letter and moved onto the next parcel. He pulled the paper away to reveal a plain white envelope and the chocolates were obviously bite-sized and wrapped up in the white cotton bundle which was underneath the letter. Checking the letter revealed that, as expected, this one was from Rhys. The letter was brief and to the point, much as its writer's personality, and once Harry had read it, he untied the bundle a little to check on the chocolates inside; both milk and dark chocolate balls sprinkled with crushed nuts. Satisfied with his check, he tied it back up and put it aside with the one he got from Marcia.

He took a quick break to take a sip of pumpkin juice and a few bites of his breakfast before he reached for the letter Hedwig had brought him, noticing absently that she was being fussed over by Fred and George. The envelope made of expensive parchment and the wax seal which held down the flap told him who the letter was from without him even having to look at the handwriting on the front. After breaking the seal and pulling out the parchment inside, Harry unfolded the letter and smiled upon recognising his godfather's handwriting. It was the usual thank you letter he got for the chocolate though it was a little earlier than it usually was; he figured that was because he sent the chocolate by owl instead of having Saint Gwenifwar's sort out the delivery.

With a smile, Harry finished reading the letter and folded it back up neatly, slipping it back into its envelope and then putting that into his bag. He also put his gifts from Marcia and Rhys into his bag before turning his attention back to his two present friends.

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7th March 1990: Afternoon

"Ah, Haryon; right on time as usual." High Priest Sephiran greeted the boy as he walked into Dumbledore's office quickly, guiding the door shut as fast as he could and then all but bouncing across the room. "And judging from your current mood, I'm going to assume it's because you're particularly looking forward to today's lesson."

Harry blushed a little at that and forced himself calm slightly though there was still a very noticeable energy around him. "It's been all I can think since last week when you told me what we'd be doing."

"And there is nothing wrong with that. Indeed. having such a desire to learn and to better yourself is very admirable." The Elvish man assured as he moved around Dumbledore's desk so that he was standing just to Harry's side. "Shall we begin straight away then?"

Harry nodded eagerly but said nothing.

"Alright then. First thing's first; let's remove our staves from around our necks." Together, they both unclasped the fastenings of the slim chains around their neck, pulling away the pendants. "Now, as you probably remember from our last lesson, this is where things have to be done in a certain way. I'm going to do it first while you watch and then you can try it yourself, alright?"

"Yes High Priest."

Sephiran gave no verbal reply but he did give Harry a smile before a relaxed expression of calm graced the pale man's face. He brought his right arm up, holding the pendant out in the palm of his hand. "Now, remember you concentrate before you speak. As you become more used to the spell you won't have to concentrate for so long. This first time, however, do not feel rushed, take as long as you need. When you feel ready, take a soothing breath to be sure and say the word."

The elf paused then, taking in a deep, calm breath just as he had instructed his student to do. Then, he spoke in a calm though commanding voice:

"Tolth(1)."

The pendant began to glow brightly in Sephiran's palm until it was just an orb of light. When no detail could be seen, the light burst outwards and quickly faded. It left behind Sephiran's staff; a delicate, pencil-thin length of silver, taller than the High Priest with a caged ruby at its tip. Sephiran lowered his right hand and took hold of the slim staff in his left hand. He adjusted its positioning, having it leaning at an angle a little so that the caged ruby was in line with his chin but the bottom tip was still resting on the floor.

"There. Now, would you like to try?" He asked gently to which Harry nodded eagerly. "Alright then; just as I showed you."

Harry took a small breath as he lifted his own pendant in the same way his teacher had shown him. Seconds passed again, admittedly several more than had passed when Sephiran had done it though that was to be expected, until Harry felt confident enough to take in a deep breath. Even after he had taken his breath however, he did nothing. His eyes flickered to his teacher to see the man's reaction but he merely looked his usual, serene self. That encouraged the boy and so after taking another deep breath he spoke the single word:

"Tolth."

The command worked immediately and Harry squinted and recoiled slightly from the bright light shining in his palm. After a bright burst of light, it faded and revealed Harry's staff. It, of course, looked similar to how it did in its small form, simply much larger. The pearl and the crystal wings on either side had grown to an impressive size, the pearl swelling to roughly the size of a tennis ball, and the staff itself was double Harry's height. The boy quickly held the staff with both of his hands, not wanting to risk letting it drop although he knew it could not be broken.

Sephiran smiled at the sight of the awe-struck boy before deciding it was time to move things along. "With a bit of practice, you'll be able to do it wordlessly and much faster." He told Harry easily, drawing the boy out of the stare he had fixed on the staff in his hands. "But that'll be something for another time. For now, how do you feel about trying a healing spell or two?"

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19th June 1990: Late Night

Harry woke with a start when he felt a hand clamp over his mouth and nose, effectively cutting off his air supply. His hands flew up to try and tear the alien hand away from his face seconds before his eyes shot open. Above him hovered the twin grins of Fred and George, the one on the right being the one with his hand over Harry's mouth and nose. With a disgruntled gasp, the dark haired boy forced the hand off of his face, aided by the fact the red head had loosened his hold upon seeing that he had succeeded in waking him.

"What in the Great Lady's name do you think you're doing?" Harry hissed angrily, glaring at the two boys as he sat up and they fell back from their knees onto their backsides.

"Waking you up." The twin who had been suffocating him grinned easily.

"Worked well, didn't it?" The other Weasley teased.

Harry continued to glare at them for a few more seconds before giving a tired sigh and flopping back down onto his back, unable to remain angry with his two friends for too long when they grinned at him like they were. "Why are you waking me up? It's still dark outside and seeing as it's summer at the moment, that means it's some un-Godly hour at which everyone sane is still asleep." He muttered as he threw his left arm over his eyes.

"It's a quarter to midnight." One of the twins told him helpfully as they spread themselves out on the bed along with the other twin, both getting themselves comfortable.

"So the Sixth and Seventh Years are probably still up." The other revealed.

"Fascinating." Harry grunted. "Seriously though, why did you wake me up?"

"Well, tomorrow we all go home." One of the boys replied, his voice curiously sounding as if he was moving away when he spoke as the mattress shifted from the movements of one of them.

"And since we won't be sleeping in the same room for the next couple of months..."

"...We thought we'd make the best of our last time for a while." With that, the mattress dipped rather low and prompted Harry to move his arm and look to see what was going on. Now resting on his bed, just next to him and in between the Weasley twins was a rather large picnic basket. Its lid was folded back to reveal what was inside and Harry was rather surprised to see dozens of cakes and pastries.

"Where'd you get all that?" Harry asked, shifting up so he was sitting, rather than laying down, again.

"Kitchen's of course."

"Tickle the pear to get in, just so you know."

"I'm surprised you weren't caught considering how big this basket is. Couldn't have been easy to be discreet." The dark haired boy mused as his two friends began to pull some things out for themselves.

"Was touch and go for a minute." One of them admitted and, by the fact he was speaking with his mouth full, Harry realised it must have been Fred as George never spoke with his mouth full.

"Yeah, almost got caught by Filch at one point." George agreed before Harry saw him stuff an entire cup cake in his mouth quite easily.

"But other than that it was easy." Fred finished before swallowing the food in his mouth.

"Thank Merlin for the Marauder's Map, that's what we say." George grinned, earning a nod from his twin.

"What about the house-elves?" Harry queried as he rummaged around in the basket a bit before pulling out a pumpkin pasty. "And where did you get this basket anyway?"

"The house-elves were easy to handle; Fred distracted them while I raided the larder." George answered as he slid the basket over to him to choose his next cake.

"As for the basket, we got Charlie to transfigure it out of an old odd sock we found at the bottom of my trunk."

"And all we had to do was snag him a couple of handfuls of those honey and peanut biscuits that he likes so much."

"Well, that and promise to not prank him for the whole of this summer."

"That won't be too hard though." George pointed out with a wicked grin.

"Yeah, we've still got Percy and ickle Ronnie-kins." Fred practically cackled.

Harry covered his mouth as he laughed at that, mostly to stop the cake in his mouth from shooting out everywhere. He kept it there until his chuckles had calmed before he allowed himself to lower it back onto the bed as he swallowed. His eyes flickering to his left, he was reminded of the presence of their other two dorm mates who were still fast asleep. "Shouldn't we wake them too?" He asked his two friends quietly, inclining his head in the direction of one of the other boys.

Both of the other boys wrinkled their noses at the same time. "Nah." George replied, dismissing the idea easily.

"To tell you the truth, we don't like them much." Fred revealed in a whisper, just to make sure that he was not over-heard in case the two sleeping boys were not actually asleep.

"Really?" Harry asked, his eyebrows raising in surprise. He had always thought that Fred and George were everyone's friends; they were so easy-going after all.

"They're so..." George began, trailing off as he struggled to think of the right word.

"Uptight." Fred supplied for him.

"That's it; uptight." George agreed with a small snap of his fingers and a nod of his head.

"Can't take a joke."

"What did you two do to them?" Harry asked knowingly, wondering what could have happened without him knowing or being told about it.

"Nothing they didn't deserve." George muttered, leaning forward on his knees and glaring off over to the side of the room where one of the boys slept in his bed.

Harry blinked a couple of times at the boy in surprise, having never seen him look so annoyed and...Was that offense he saw as well? He turned to look at Fred curiously but merely got a soft look and a small shake of the head in answer. Guessing it was a touchy subject, Harry smiled brightly at the pair in an attempt to put them both at ease again. "Doesn't matter then. I know what it's like to be stuck around people you don't like."

It was Fred and George's turn to be surprised now as they both looked at their friend in surprise. "There're people you don't like?" Fred asked curiously.

"You? Mr. Nice Guy, sweetest Gryffindor for years?" George added.

Harry frowned lightly. "Where'd you get that from?"

"Heard a group of Sixth Year girls say it." Fred grinned in amusement.

"Don't change the subject though!" George insisted, leaning forward eagerly. "So who is it that you don't like?"

"It's nothing interesting; just all of Draco's friends."

"Ah, stuck up pure-bloods in other words." Fred said knowingly, nodding his head in agreement.

"Well known fact that Slytherin's the best House to find those sort in." George mused casually, picking a small strawberry tart out of the picnic basket.

"Not surprising you weren't put in there really."

"Yeah. Despite the fact you've spent most of your life around past Slytherin's, you're not suited for life in the Snake Pit."

As the two Weasley twins once again started on the food and began to discuss what could possibly be in store for them that summer, Harry found his mind wandering to something they had said. What they had said, it was the third time he had been told that he would not do well in Slytherin. But the Sorting Hat had said he would have done well in Slytherin. So what did that mean? Were the people around him wrong, or had the Sorting Hat been wrong? For some reason, both possibilities made him feel acutely uncomfortable.

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20th June 1990: Midday

"See ya Harry!" Fred and George called in unison, each half hanging out of one of the windows of the Hogwarts Express and waving madly to their friend.

Harry waved back cheerfully, a bright smile on his face. "See you both again soon! Don't forget to write!"

"We won't!" One of the twins assured, yelling over the sounds of the other students who were getting on board, milling around where Harry stood on the platform.

"We might even stretch to buying you a birthday present." The other twin teased playfully.

Around Harry, the number of people began to decrease as they all took their places on the train, ready to go home. He suddenly noticed Charlie and Percy passing behind their two younger brothers on the train and so called out to them too: "See you in a few months, Percy; good luck in finding a job, Charlie!"

"Cheers Harry." Charlie replied, sticking his head out next to one of the twins. "You keep yourself out of trouble alright?" Harry nodded to that and the second eldest Weasley son gave him a swift nod before drawing back inside the train only to be replaced seconds later by Percy's head.

"Have a good summer, Harry." Percy wished with a smile before he was jostled aside by Fred and George as the train began to pull away now that everyone who needed to be on board was.

"Bye Harry!" The twins called together, waving with renewed enthusiasm.

Harry bit back the wince at the twins' use of the 'b' word but kept the cheerful smile on his face, waving back to them with slightly less enthusiasm. The calls of farewell and the waving continued on until the window of the train the twins were hanging out of was a good distance away and it only ended then because Fred and George were pulled back inside by their older brothers who did not want them to get themselves hurt. The sounds of the train faded away gradually, and slowly, Harry was left staring after it on the silent platform. Though, admittedly, it did not stay silent for long.

"Well that certainly wasn't what I expected." Draco sighed as he strolled up to Harry's side.

"What wasn't?" Hary asked, turning his head to look at his best friend.

"Our first year at Hogwarts."

"Oh. How has it been different then?"

"Well, at the beginning of the Year I saw us spending a whole lot more time together." Draco said with a light grin, playfully nudging his shoulder with his own. "I also thought the work was going to be much harder than it actually turned out to be."

"Not all bad then." Harry said with a smile.

"Nope, not bad at all, though I still wish we were sharing a dorm room rather than sleeping at separate ends of the school."

"Cheer up, Draco. You've got a whole two months of me, me and nothing but me coming your way. Like I said before, you'll be sick of the sight of me by the time we come back to start Second Year."

"You reckon?" Draco mused as the two boys turned around and began to head over to the carriage which would take them back to the castle where Severus was waiting to take them home.

"I know I'll be sick of you by then."

Draco gave a small grunt. "Funny."

"Yes," Harry agreed, linking his arm with Draco's and moving so they were walking a little closer together. "I thought so."

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(1) Tolth: based on LotR Elvish for "summon"
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Family Means More Than Blood