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I Give You a Wondrous Mirror	By : Lomonaaeren Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 17806 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 18
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Chapter Nineteen�Bound

�� Harry
landed gently on the edge of the Manor�s anti-Apparition wards. It had taken
him what felt like forever to settle Lily so that she was sleeping, and then
he�d watched Al and James play with the wands, unable to trust himself further
away than a few feet from them. Horrible as it was, he wanted his family to be
an anchor in that moment, his children a ballast that would draw him into their
soft, unimportant conflicts and away from the weight of war that Hermione had
delivered to him.

�� He had
almost hoped that George would arrive later than he�d promised he would.
Ostensibly, he was coming so that Harry could have a few extra hours to go to
Diagon Alley and buy new dress robes for the dinner tonight. But when Harry
mumbled and flushed as he stepped away from George, the other man had simply
given him an understanding look and nodded. Harry suspected his behavior
wouldn�t be mentioned to Ginny.

�� He wouldn�t
be at Malfoy Manor for very long, he reassured himself as he jogged up the path
towards the doors; the iron gates had dissolved for him as usual. After all, he
didn�t want to watch the weight of war settle on Draco�s shoulders, either. It
would dishearten him to hear that some
of his enemies were organized, powerful, and clever.

�� It would be
lighter for him, at least. That, Harry could try and use to cheer himself up.
Draco was only a victim. He could concentrate on the healing and regrowth of
his soul. Harry would be in the front ranks of soldiers with Hermione,
struggling to subdue the forces that wanted to tear apart and subjugate the
wizarding world. Where else should a hero be?

�� Stop it, he told himself, and swallowed
his self-pity all at once, bitter and congealed lump that it was. Draco faced things that are harder than what
you�re going through right now, and he�s still whole. Stop feeling as though
you�ll be ripped in two; you know very well that you won�t be, and that you can
survive this the way you�ve survived anything else.

�� He was
almost to the front doors of the Manor when a burning in the scar over his
heart nearly sent him to his knees. Harry gasped and pressed a hand to his
chest, stunned when he felt heat actually rising through his shirt.

�� What the
hell?� he whispered, and lifted his head, looking frantically around the
gardens for a cause of the burning. Was Draco out here?

�� The scar
pulled at him, like a rope that nearly sent him sprawling before he fought his
way to his feet and followed the tug. It yanked harder, evidently not satisfied
with his obedience, and Harry swallowed soundlessly as he sped up.

�� This is getting worse. What in the world can
we do to satisfy it? I don�t�I don�t understand�

�� And then he
burst into a sheltered corner of the rose gardens, only vaguely noticing that
there were no peacocks here, and came to a stop, a small shocked sound breaking
from his throat.

�� Above a pool
floated an enormous, glistening bubble of water, reminding Harry of a Shield
Charm, if a Shield Charm could be bent and twisted to go over one�s head and
under one�s feet as well as in front of the body. Inside the bubble floated
Draco, his hair streaming as if he fell, his face turning a terrible bloated
color.

�� Harry
didn�t need the burning in his chest or the tug forwards to find inspiration
this time; he was already running feverishly, drawing his wand and screaming so
hard that it made his throat hurt, �Accio
Draco!�

�� The whole
bubble flew towards him, while Draco�s face turned more horrible colors. Harry
screamed wordlessly this time, cast a Bubble-Head Charm on himself so fast that
it seemed he�d willed it to appear, and then held his arms above his head in a
diving position as the bubble struck him.

�� Water
flooded all around him, crashing to the ground in a violent flood that should
have broken the bubble apart. Harry wasn�t surprised to find that it�d expanded
instead, though, and that he was abruptly subjected to pressure at least as
great as anything he�d felt in the Hogwarts lake during the second task of the
Triwizard Tournament.

�� He didn�t care. He couldn�t care about anything at
that moment but Draco drifting a few feet away from him. His universe had
become exactly as small or large as that bubble was.

�� He sliced
through the water, and if he wasn�t a terrific swimmer, he was at least better
than he�d been when he plunged into that pool in the woods all those years ago
to retrieve the Sword of Gryffindor. He looped his arms around Draco, focused
his magic�if there was any time when he ought to be able to perform wandlessly,
it was now, when his heartbeat actually rocked his body with terror�and cast
the Bubble-Head Charm again.

�� The
contained air appeared around Draco�s head. He began to cough, promptly filling
it with water. Harry launched a shattering kick backwards, hurting his legs,
and cradled Draco against his torso as if resting him there would make the
near-drowning less likely to have hurt him.

�� They
flopped out of the water, which had finally broken and now did surround them
with a flat, shallow pool, turning the grass into a marshy mat. Harry removed
the Bubble-Head Charms and pounded on Draco�s chest, trying to get the water
out of his lungs.

�� Draco
coughed, but his head lolled limply to the side, even when Harry slapped him,
and he wasn�t breathing.

�� Harry felt
his sanity trembling and threatening to break as the spell holding the bubble
together had. He wasn�t breathing.

�� God, no,�
he thought he said, and then he forced himself to remember what Hermione had
told him concerning Muggle methods of lifesaving. It wasn�t as though he
regularly dealt with drowned people in his line of work, but didn�t�didn�t it
go something like pinching the nose, and tilting the head back, and breathing
into the mouth?

�� Well, if it
didn�t, he didn�t know anything better to do, and goddamn it, he needed something to do, or he would go mad.

�� He grabbed
Draco�s nose, tilted his head back, and leaned down to breathe directly into
his mouth.

�� The moment
their lips touched, the scar on Harry�s chest burst into flame again. This
time, though, Draco arched beneath him, and Harry saw a faint white-gold light
streaking upwards through his robes. Draco moaned in something like pain, or
perhaps ecstasy, and then the light was everywhere.

�� Harry felt
the moments when the scar on his forehead, the remnants of the quilled words on
his right hand, and the marks of Nagini�s bite on his forearm flared as well.
Draco�s brow and forearm and hands answered�yes, even his hands, Harry saw,
which were marked with puffy scratches that might have been the work of thorns.

�� And then
the water raced out of Draco�s mouth, and divided into two reaching tendrils
around them, and bound them in an extra embrace.

�� Harry, who
couldn�t lift his head, couldn�t part his lips from Draco�s, didn�t know for
certain if all the scars followed the same pattern that the one on his chest
and the Sectumsempra scars on Draco�s
chest did, but he wouldn�t have been surprised if they did. The white-gold
light he was bleeding and the white-gold light bleeding from Draco shot out
like the water had, swayed in confused beams for a moment, and then knotted
together like pairs of clasping hands. Harry shivered.

�� The fire
had changed character. Now it was not the same painful sensation that had
attacked him when he nearly went into the Manor and left Draco to drown, but
the same sublime warmth he�d sometimes felt in his dreams. It wasn�t sexual�not
quite�but it bound them. He shivered
again, and would have collapsed onto Draco, except that the banded light and
the hovering water made it impossible to move down as well as up.

�� The warmth
worked its way in from the outside and outwards from the scars, and Harry had
to shut his eyes. He wondered for a moment if he would die of the heat, which
steadily increased. Perhaps they would find his body locked to Draco�s with the
marks of a mysterious heatstroke or dehydration all over it.

�� But then
the warmth died away. Harry could move again. He lifted his head and sat back
on his heels, peering anxiously down at Draco. He had assumed, without even
thinking about it, that the vanished water meant he hadn�t drowned, but he
might have suffered in other ways.

�� He winced
at the thought of that suffering. And the thought of causing it�what if, in
resisting the curse earlier, he�d inspired it to wreak this damage on
Draco?�made him want to wear out his throat apologizing.

�� Draco�s
eyes were open. He was awake and aware. He took several deep, steady breaths,
the sound rasping but clearing out, an unreadable expression on his face. His
stare was fixed on Harry, and while it was so, the bands of light and water
seemed to have come back again. Harry knelt obediently still, certain Draco
didn�t want him to move.

�� Help me
up,� Draco whispered. �We need to talk.�

�� Harry was
more than happy to do so, even though he had begun to shiver again. He had a
dim presentiment again, and this time, the idea that was struggling to be born
concerned what Draco had to say.

�� Harry was
more than happy to put it off as long as possible.

*

�� I should
have thought of it before, really.�

�� It was
nearly half-an-hour later. Draco was dry and warm now, wearing a new set of
robes, and tucked into his own bed, at Harry�s insistence. Harry had the same
chair in which he�d sat to watch over Draco the night he�d been wounded by the
mirror. And he was holding Draco�s hand in his, and nibbling his lip, the
expression on his face sometimes worried, sometimes ghastly with a terror Draco
didn�t think was at all for himself.

�� Draco gazed
at him evenly. It was no good running from this. If Harry tried, Draco would
just have to be the pillar of strength Harry had been for him in the box, and
repeat the truth until Harry acknowledged it.

�� However,
with a final deep breath not unlike the one he�d probably drawn before he sent
his broom plunging after the Snitch, Harry finally looked back at Draco. And
his green eyes were full of that relentless, unflinching bravery again. Draco
approved.

�� I should
have thought of it,� he whispered. �The correspondence was too great. Four
scars. Four life-debts. The scars are the conduits
for this curse. You said that you felt yours burning the night that my mother
sent the letter to demand you fulfill your debt to her by exonerating me?�

�� Harry
nodded hesitantly. A spark of disbelief had caught at the back of his eyes.
Draco ignored it for now. This was all speculation, yes, just like everything
else about the curse, but it was informed speculation. He was confident that
Harry would incline to his view of the situation as he continued to explain.

�� And since
then, the curse has been trying to inflict an equal number of scars on me,�
Draco continued softly, staring at his forearm, and then his hands. To his
complete lack of surprise, the wounds from the roses had closed on his right
hand into the shape of faint silvery scars, no different in size from the ones
he�d got from the mirror. He wondered, however, if Harry had noticed the new
scar yet. �Presumably because that will make its operation easier.�

�� That�s the
strangest thing I�ve ever heard,� Harry said flatly. At least he didn�t say it was the most insane, Draco thought
gratefully. �Why choose the scars to work through? And it�it has to be a
coincidence that the number of life-debts we had between us and the number of
scars I gained are the same.�

�� Draco
shrugged. �I�m still not sure where this magic came from, Harry.� He smiled
slightly; he�d nearly called Harry �Potter.� It was instinct when he got that
tone in his voice, as though they were back at Hogwarts arguing over some
unimportant matter. �I suspect it can have its own laws if it wants to. It may
have arisen only because it�s been ten years and we still hadn�t made a motion
towards fulfilling our mutual life-debts. And then it chose your scars to match
the number of life-debts, perhaps, not the other way around. If you�d had four
fingers on one hand, perhaps it would have chopped off one of mine to make us
even.�

�� Harry
exhaled loudly and closed his eyes. �All right. I have to admit that that
sounds as if it makes sense�in a mad kind of way�and now that you have four scars��

�� Draco
shifted.

�� I really
can�t argue against it.� Harry opened his eyes and pinned him with a desperate
stare. �And so now we�re returned to my major question. Why? Why was the infliction of this particular scar so much more
dangerous than the others?�

�� Draco
sighed. �Harry, I don�t think it was dangerous at all.�

�� Bollocks!�
Harry leaned forwards, his grip on Draco�s hand tightening to painful. Draco
only had to flex his fingers once, though, and Harry leaned back with a
contrite look that told Draco his suspicions were likely to be correct. �You
nearly died. You would have drowned
if I hadn�t shown up.�

�� But you
did show up,� Draco pointed out.

�� A dark
flicker moved in Harry�s eyes. �I had something to tell you.�

�� It would be
nothing good, Draco suspected, but he put aside both suspicion and
enlightenment for now. �But what did you see when you arrived? Was I simply
drifting in the pool?�

�� You were
in a bubble above it,� Harry said, and suddenly his entire body bent and
twisted as if he were caught in a bitter winter wind. �The curse arranged that,� he whispered. �It arranged for you to be caught like that
until I could arrive and rescue you.�

�� Draco
nodded. �I�m sure it did.�

�� Harry shook
his head wearily. �But why? Why wouldn�t it have just wanted me to heal your
wound to a scar? Why make it a rescue?�

�� Draco
lifted his left hand. Harry frowned at it, uncomprehending, and then his eyes
focused and he gasped. Draco nodded again. He had seen the new scar that lay
there, then. The wounds from the roses had covered both his hands, and all had
healed, instead of some thinning to scars and some vanishing.

�� He reached
out and turned Harry�s left hand over. On the back of it shone a new scar, the
same faint red color that all of Harry�s marks were. Harry stared at it in
wonder, but Draco thought the wonder a mask over fear.

�� What
happened when you rescued me, Harry?� Draco asked quietly.

�� Harry bowed
his head, and something like a sob came out of him. �I saved your life. It�s a
fifth life-debt.� He breathed in silence for a moment, and then said, �Oh, shit.�

�� Yes,�
Draco said. He spent a moment stroking Harry�s hair, letting them both gather
their strength for what was to come. Harry would help him support it, in the
end, but for the moment Draco needed to be the one to say the words, playing
Harry�s former role. �The curse is self-sustaining, now. It can put us in
danger again and again, or we can fall into danger ourselves as we investigate
Goldstein�s murder and the activities of the Snakes, and of course we�ll rescue
each other. Each time we do, it�s a new life-debt. The curse is moving to tie
us to each other irrevocably. And I think we can safely say that the more scars
that accumulate, the more conduits, the stronger it will grow.�

�� It doesn�t
make sense.� Harry sat up restlessly,
tossing his head back so that Draco�s palm flew off his hair. Draco didn�t
mind. He did tighten his grip on Harry�s hand so he couldn�t get up and pace,
though. He thought Harry should be sitting down by the time they arrived at the
next revelation, and besides, he wanted him close. �After all, no new life-debt
scars appeared when I turned the wounds on your forearm and forehead into
scars.�

�� Those were
dangerous,� Draco said. �And I think the curse needed them to become conduits.
These last scars�� He nodded again at the faint marks of the roses, which
stretched from between his fingers to cross his knuckles. �They weren�t
life-threatening. Even if they�d bled copiously, I wasn�t in danger from them. The magic arranged for you to find
me drowning, instead, so that it could start constructing new life-debts
immediately. And it attacked through the pool��

�� A
reflective surface,� Harry whispered.

�� Yes,�
Draco said. God, I�m glad that he accepts
this and talks to me sanely instead of making a scene. There are far worse
people I could be trapped in a mess like this with. �I think I even have an
answer as to why it might have done that just then. I was resisting a pull into a tunnel of light��

�� So was I!�
Harry sat up further, so fast that Draco thought he might have hurt himself.
�Or I did. Earlier today, I mean.�

�� Draco
nodded. �Whatever those tunnels of light signify, or that pull through the
mirror that you told me you�d been subjected to when you still had mirrors in
your house, I think they might be the more direct methods the curse employs. If
we�d gone through them, it wouldn�t have to do the rest of this to us. But we
didn�t, and then I took the wounds on my hands from clawing at the rosebushes.
I think the curse saw an opportunity, and took it, both to give me the fourth
scar and move us into the next stage.�

�� We�re
talking about it like it�s intelligent, you realize?�

�� In a way,
it is,� Draco said. �At least, it�s merciless in its purpose. Rather like
long-lasting commands from the Imperius Curse. Not that I would know anything
about that, of course,� he added in a superior tone�a stupid digression, but
he�d badly needed to see Harry smile, even such a wan version of the expression
as he got then. �But the commands keep on functioning even if the caster dies,
as long as no one notices the curse and removes it. I think this magic is like
that. It�s in motion now. Whatever it wants to achieve, it�s pressing ahead.
When it finds a chance to make things better�for itself, that is�it takes it.
And now it has a method that can keep on piling up and piling up, linking us to
each other with life-debts forever.�

�� That�s
what I don�t understand,� Harry whispered, sounding broken now. �What does it want? In whose interest is it
for us to be linked?�

�� And now
came the revelation that had occurred to Draco while Harry fussed over him
(and, at his request, concealed his half-drowned state from Narcissa). He didn�t
want to give it, but neither would he hide it. He and Harry would face the
future together.

�� Besides, if
he was right, they would soon have no choice about doing so.

�� I don�t
think anyone cast this, Harry,� he said quietly. �It�s a natural side-effect��

�� Harry
snorted.

�� More or
less natural,� Draco corrected himself, and then paused a moment to wonder that
he could know what Harry was thinking so easily. A pressure on his hand made
him blink and continue. �It�s a side-effect of so many life-debts piled
together. I�ve never heard of a case exactly like this, where the same number
of life-debts was owed back and forth, and the two people bound like that
ignored them for a long time. They weren�t being fulfilled, so they decided to
fulfill themselves.�

�� But then
we could still escape,� Harry said,
his eyes brightening. �I only have to think of two more things that I want, and
then all the life-debts are fulfilled.�

�� I read
something else yesterday that makes me think not,� Draco said. He wished he
could turn his face aside so that he didn�t have to watch the crumbling of hope
in Harry�s expression, but he cupped his hand along Harry�s cheek instead, and
took heart in the way the other man immediately nuzzled into it for comfort. �I
didn�t think about it at the time, because my thoughts were elsewhere�plotting
and planning on how to get my life back.�

�� Harry
smiled then, his eyes soft and warm. He
can be happy for others, at least, if not himself. Draco found himself
cradling Harry�s face more gently than ever. �That�s great, Draco. You should.
No one deserves a life more than you do.�

�� Draco
smiled back, half-helplessly and half because he knew that the very fervency
behind Harry�s declaration was contributing to their problem. �The book I read
was on the history of life-debts,� he said. �Why they first started being
considered and collected in the mists of history�what the point of them was. They were first used to settle scores between
enemies, apparently.�

�� Harry made
a face. �Seems like an inefficient way to go about it,� he muttered. �After
all, you fulfill the life-debt and then you can turn around and kill the bloke
who annoyed you the next day.�

�� Draco
nodded slightly. �But the point wasn�t just to hold power over an enemy because
he owed you his life,� he said. �The point was that life-debts often went
unfulfilled for months, either because the wizard who held them wasn�t eager to
give them up or because he couldn�t think of something suitable he wanted in
return.�

�� Harry
closed his eyes. He sees the edges of it
now, Draco thought, with a fierce, protective tenderness that amazed him.
It somewhat echoed the way he felt about Scorpius, but he knew Scorpius was
nearly helpless and would need his care for years to come. Harry wouldn�t
always; Draco wanted to give it to
him, though. �They bound the wizards,� he whispered.

�� Very
good,� Draco said. �Yes. And that was
the point. Harder to consider a bloke your enemy when you�ve lived in close
company with him for months�which people who owed each other life-debts used to
do�and you feel a bit of responsibility for his life, or know that he saved
yours.�

�� So you
think the life-debts are trying to link us just to link us?�

�� Draco
nodded.

�� Did you
find anything�� Harry had to pause and moisten his lips with his tongue.
Draco�s eyes followed it in spite of himself. �Did you find anything on what
happened if life-debts continued to accumulate? Forget about how long the
wizards involved ignored them or if they owed equal numbers to each other. What
happens if they�re multiple?�

�� Ah,� Draco
said. �Well. Some of our ancestors were intelligent people. They knew that some
poor wizards wouldn�t have enough material wealth to pay back their
benefactors, and they were extremely unlikely to have anything else on offer.
Except one thing, which everyone had. Themselves.
The gift of a wizard cancels out multiple life-debts.�

�� Disgust
flickered in Harry�s eyes. �Slavery?�

�� Nothing
like,� Draco rapped out sharply. While he could understand Harry�s dislike for
the idea, he wasn�t about to hear pure-blood traditions maligned. �Slavery is
unwilling, Harry. That�s why it�s called what it is. No, the gift of
themselves. The free and unselfish yielding of their presence, their gifts,
their talents, their support. What you did for me in the box,� he clarified,
because Harry still didn�t look as if he understood.

�� Harry
straightened at once. �Then why aren�t all our life-debts canceled already?
We�ve become friends, we care about each other��

�� Because we
are already tied to other people with magic nearly as strong as the life-debts.�
Draco tried to soften the blow by lowering his voice, but he suspected that
nothing would truly ease it for Harry. �Specifically, our marriage vows.�

�� Silence,
for long moments. The fire flickering in the hearth�which Harry had insisted
on, so that Draco could warm up�lit Harry�s anguished stare, and then the tight
squeeze of his shut eyes, and then the gleam of a few tears creeping from
beneath them.

�� Those
dreams��

�� Those
dreams,� Draco said, �and the visions in the mirrors, and the pictures through
the tunnels are, I think, the magic�s suggestion about what would most easily
please it. If we became what we are there�not just lovers, not just friends,
but freely and wholly each other�s�then it would stop building. That�s what it
wants. And that�s the only thing likely to work if we continue to accumulate
life-debts as I suspect we will from now on, either because the magic
manipulates matters or in the normal course of this hunt. We�re linked to each
other, Harry, and it�s because the magic wants us linked. Because the
life-debts already tie us in a maze of connections, and the only way to bring
them to their full potential is for us to give ourselves to each other.�

�� More
silence. Harry gave little gasping breaths into his hands, which he had pulled
away from Draco�s to cover his face. Draco kept the fingers cupping Harry�s jaw
in place, though, stroking now and then. He waited to see what would happen.

�� Harry gave
a deep shudder, as if he were controlling the fit of weeping that wanted to
overcome him, and then dropped his hands. And Draco bared his teeth when he saw
the look in Harry�s green eyes. Yes, there was the bravery, and there was the
stubbornness, but it was not turned the way Draco had hoped.

�� No,� Harry
said quietly, firmly. �I told you before. You have part of me, and that part is
all your own. But I won�t give up my connections to other people�my children,
my friends, the people I work with�just to be yours. And the only lover I will
ever have will be Ginny.�

�� Harry, you
prat,� Draco said, as gently as he could, which wasn�t very. He�d blessed Harry�s
blindness before, because he thought it meant he could coax Harry gently in
with Gryffindor tactics. Now he cursed it. We�ve
already gone too far. The balance is delicate, and it�s going to tip over any
minute. And he should have figured out what I�m going to say now for himself. �The
only person your relationship would change with is your wife. I don�t care for
Marian, and she doesn�t care for me. You could still have your children and your
friends and the people you work with in your life. We wouldn�t vanish into a
world of our own. The only thing that would need
to be exclusive is the sexual relationship.�

�� And I,�
Harry said, his head lowering, his eyes flashing, his hair bristling with the
crackle of escaping wild magic, �said. No.�

�� Draco
opened his mouth to point out that it was going to happen anyway, that the
magic wouldn�t stop pulling and tugging at them, that he thought it was likely
that the dreams Harry had would grow in intensity from now on, that Harry was
attracted to him already�

�� And then he
closed his mouth.

Think, Draco, he scolded himself.

If he spoke those words, he would
be pushing Harry. And that would make Harry retreat in injured dignity to the
she-Weasel�s side. And she would work hard to keep him there, and Harry would
fight to keep from glancing in Draco�s direction ever again.

And that would make the magic all
the more likely to continue to build. The gift of themselves to each other had
to be equal, and it had to be willing. That much, Draco knew from his reading
on life-debts.

And he might be wrong, but he didn�t
think he was. If Harry refused, if he made
Harry refuse, it could be months and months still before things ended as they
had to end, with Harry following the desires that shone in the back of his
eyes. Draco would much rather spend that time nurturing his desires and Harry�s
own, so that Harry wouldn�t feel as if he were dragged into this like a cow
brought to market.

�All right,� he said quietly. �All
right, Harry. I can respect that. We�ll try to solve this by fulfilling the
life-debts. Think of things that you want to ask me.� He spread his arms and
bowed, half-mocking. �I�m at your service.�

*

Harry reared back and stared at
Draco in spite of himself. For a moment, distrust screamed like a raven in the
back of his head.

He�s
planning something, he must be�

But he couldn�t sustain it, because
he already trusted Draco too much. The voice silenced itself, and Harry doubted
it would come back again.

And Draco was gazing calmly at him
now�not without some distaste in the corners of his mouth, but he had yielded
the argument. Or he had seen that it wasn�t worth pressing right now, and
decided it would be better to bring it up again later.

Harry couldn�t remember the last time someone had done that for him.

He smiled, because he utterly
couldn�t help himself. If only his heart wasn�t beating fit to break and the
desire to speak more wasn�t burning on the tip of his tongue�he wanted to say
that wizarding marriage vows weren�t capable of being dissolved, so Draco�s
solution wasn�t a solution�he would have spoken words of devotion and
friendship, because Draco deserved nothing less.

But
nothing more, either.

Still, he could swallow his
poisoned words when Draco had done so much for him. And he could reach out,
clasp Draco�s hand again, and say, �I�ll think on it, all right? Get some rest.�

�You�ll stay,� Draco said, as he
settled back against the pillows. It wasn�t a question, and Harry would have been
offended if it had been.

�Of course,� Harry said. He winced
a bit. He had only just now realized how raw his throat was, doubtless from
screaming.

�Here,� Draco said, and picked up
his wand, and Transfigured the chair, with Harry still sitting in it. He fell
back with a shout of surprise, and found himself lying in a comfortable bed
only a bit smaller than Draco�s own. So massive was the bedroom that it fit
easily.

And that was another thing. Draco
could have been pushy and irritating and insisted that Harry sleep in the same
bed as him. And he hadn�t.

Harry didn�t have the words to
convey what that meant to him, so he just squeezed Draco�s hand one more time
and lay back to watch the silver-gray eyes slide shut. The silver lightning
bolt on his forehead didn�t mar his features at all, Harry considered. Rather,
it added a balance that had been missing before.

He only meant to watch Draco and
guard him from any more manifestations of the curse, but then his eyes slid
shut. The sheets beneath him were so soft. The pillows cradled his head much
better than the pillows at home did.

He was just�going to rest�for a
moment�

*

He
was gasping and nearly shrieking, pinned down on the bed beneath a steadily
licking lover. It had been like this for hours. Or, at least, some time period
that might as well have been hours.
His skin was so sensitized that even the brush of silk against it made him jerk
and writhe as if he were being tortured with Cruciatus.

A
pleasant Cruciatus. But still. There was such a thing as enough.

�Please!� he moaned, and thought he heard a satisfied chuckle from his
lover. Hadn�t they made a bet, hours and days and centuries ago, that he would
beg? Maybe they had. But he didn�t care, he didn�t fucking care, he just wanted
something to touch his cock�

And
then the hand slipped beneath his body and closed around him. And because it
had been hours, and because of who the hand belonged to, the calluses on it
that slipped against him, the way the fingers closed and squeezed just on this
side of pain, and the harsh, satisfied, panting breaths that brushed his
shoulder, he came with just a few strokes, screaming as if this were a victory
in battle, a victory to be shared with his lover�

Draco�s eyes shot open, and he
became aware of two things: his body was steaming with heat, all over, and he
had just come in his pants, messily enough that he squashed wetly when he
rolled over.

He was just in time to hear a few
unintelligible but still sweet whimpers from Harry, see the gleam of sweat and
passion on his face, and then glimpse the spreading wet spot on the front of
his robes.

Draco closed his eyes and turned
back over so that Harry wouldn�t be able to see how affected he�d been, in turn.
He would just as soon not deal with Harry�s embarrassment should he wake in the
next moments. He wanted to think.

And then he became aware of two
more things, as he thought.

First, the magic did indeed want to
link them, and the links had become easier with their scars now matching each
other�s in number. Draco was more than ever convinced he was correct. He was
open to the dreams that Harry had always been open to.

Second, if the dreams were always
this intense, it was a wonder that Harry hadn�t gone mad yet, and his ability
to hold back from touching Draco was miraculous.

Will
I be as strong, I wonder?

Draco felt a smile that was
probably foolish curving his mouth. He shouldn�t smile. There were still so
many problems awaiting them.

But the thought of this, and then
the thought of what his life had been like a few weeks ago�

He was rather live a breath of
this, and die, than drag through years and years of that gray and closed-in
existence.

The
magic has an ally now, Harry. I�ll do whatever it takes to make us both feel
alive.

And
to show you that you want it, too.

*

Mangacat: Hope the update was quick
enough!

Darquiel: Yes, I am planning to
show more counseling sessions�though after this chapter, I am sure you won�t be
surprised to hear that things get worse. *makes joyous mess*

Tuning in: Thank you! As you can
see, Harry finds the idea of another war horrifying, too.

*keeps silent about visions in
mirrors*

I hope this chapter has answered
some of your questions about the point of the curse�always assuming that Draco
is right, of course.

Mariahs_fantasy, Daft Fear, Ramandu,
Myra, Extraho, thrnbrooke: Thank you for reviewing!

�
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I Give You a Wondrous Mirror