Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

The End Shall Come, And We Will Dance Forever	By : makochan0217 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 6655 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimers: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Publishing, and Warner Bros. I make nothing from this. In fact, I lose money to write this, so… no suing, ‘kay?

Chapter List
- 20
- 21
- 22
Disclaimers: Harry Potter is owned by J.K. Rowling, Scholastic Publishing, Warner Bros, and some other companies that are NOT me. I make nothing from this. In fact, I lose money to write this, so… no suing, ‘kay?

Warnings: Angst, language, OOC, 7th year timeline based upon OotP – Disregarding HBP and DH, slash, gore

Author’s Notes: Many thanks to everyone who’s reviewed so far! Here’s a longer chapter to make up for the shortness of the two previous ones. And what can I say about Sevfan, Sky, and Jamie that I haven’t already? I adore you all!

Chapter Nineteen – Here With Me

“I swear, Professors, I wasn’t going to do anything,” Boot protested, drawing looks of disbelief from Professor Slughorn and the other teenagers.

“Mr. Boot, please kindly refrain from insulting the intelligence of everyone in the room,” Slughorn said coolly.

“We all know the little bastard came back to Hogwarts so that he can take Harry back to his Master anyway,” the dark-haired teen growled. “I was saving Harry from being betrayed, like his parents.”

“Terry, be silent,” Professor Flitwick said sadly. “Albus, Terry is generally a good boy, and I haven’t had to discipline him. Surely there are extenuating circumstances going on that we don’t know.”

“Certainly, Filius, and now would be the time for Mr. Boot to defend himself,” Dumbledore said, steepling his fingers in front of his mouth as he watched the Ravenclaw student glare daggers at Draco Malfoy, who stood tall and proud. “Mr. Boot, you have been caught trying to assault a fellow student. What do you have to say for yourself?”

“He had his father send Death Eaters to my family!” The Ravenclaw boy screamed, lunging so that he could bodily pummel the silent, stony blond, but he bounced off of Harry’s chest.

“Draco?” the Headmaster asked, looking over at the blond as well.

“I did no such thing. Everyone in the school knows that Boot’s father took bribes while he worked at the Ministry. That’s why he was fired,” Draco drawled with a dead look in his eyes.

The headmaster sighed. “It is known fairly wide, Terry, that your father was removed from his position for accepting favors from certain people. That, however, does not give you an excuse for attacking a fellow student who has done nothing to you personally. Filius, I shall leave it to you to punish the boy properly.”

The tiny Charms professor looked sad as he looked at his student and sighed heavily. “One hundred points from Ravenclaw and three weeks of detentions with Filch, Terry. And you will report to the tower now. I’m banning you from going to Gryffindor Tower or to the Hufflepuff common room for a month after break. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Professor,” the still fuming teen replied through clenched teeth, allowing his Head of House to escort him out of Dumbledore’s office, but not before glaring daggers at the lone Slytherin.

“Albus, I may not have been here long, but I know a trouble maker when I see one,” Professor Swanly cut in. “Terry Boot is not one. However, Draco Malfoy is the epitome of trouble. I suggest that he be punished as well.”

“For what, Tabitha?” Dumbledore asked, giving his Transfiguration professor a kind smile. “The only thing Mr. Malfoy is guilty of is having a father that is a Death Eater. And while that is a sad thing for Mr. Malfoy, it is neither a crime nor an offense to anyone. Mr. Malfoy cannot help who his parents are, and since his return, he has been a model student. He has even patched up his differences with Harry and Neville here. If they can have no reason to complain against him, I fail to see what your problem is, my dear lady.”

“Fine, Albus,” the woman sighed. She turned and made her way to the door, but looked over her shoulder at Draco with blazing hazel eyes. “One wrong step, Malfoy, that’s all it will take.” And with that, she was gone in a swish of robes that was a very poor imitation of Snape’s impressive leave-takings.

“Are you going to be okay, Mr. Malfoy?” Slughorn asked with genuine concern in his voice.

“I will be fine, Professor. I wasn’t harmed. Granger was in time to be of assistance,” Draco answered with a slight twitch of his lips, earning him a grin from each of the Gryffindors. “Is there anything else, Headmaster?”

“No, my boy,” Dumbledore replied. “I’d suggest you get that letter to your mother as soon as possible, however.”

“Yes, sir,” Draco replied before looking over at the other teens. “Would you accompany me, Neville?” Harry and Neville blinked, both obviously surprised by the blond’s choice. Neville, to his credit, gave the dazed Boy Who Lived a weak smile and then replied.

“Of course, Draco.”

“Harry, Granger, we’ll meet you to talk after my letter is delivered,” Draco said. Soon the two were out of the office, and Harry was still standing, obviously unable to get over being left behind by the blond.

“Is there something else, Harry?” Dumbledore asked.

“No, no sir,” Harry finally answered, moving stiffly to the door with Hermione trailing after him, just as confused as he was.

“Horace, I have asked Harry and Neville to make sure that they continue to keep Mr. Malfoy company until the Christmas holidays. I doubt we’ll have a repeat of this incident.”

“Yes, that would be prudent, I suppose,” Slughorn said, heaving a rather large sigh. “I should report this to Lucius Malfoy, but I am loath to contact that man.”

“I will let Narcissa Malfoy know what happened,” the headmaster said sadly. “That way, we have alerted one of his parents and we don’t have Lucius trying to storm the castle for his heir.”

“Are you certain that Lucius wouldn’t try and get his son if you tell the boy’s mother?”

“A little bird has told me that the Malfoys are not together, so word will not be reaching Lucius unless you tell him yourself.”

“I’d rather drink my entire stock of pickled Boomslang Skin.”

“Then, I believe that we are covered.” Dumbledore reached for a piece of parchment and a quill. “Is there anything else you’d like to discuss?”

“No, I believe I will return to my quarters, Albus. Good evening.”

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Neville waited until they were far enough away before turning on his blond friend. “Is there a reason you wanted to speak to me alone? It had better be good because I don’t want Harry thinking that we have something going on or anything stupid like that.”

“Yes, actually, there is, Neville,” Draco said quietly. “We’re meeting Harry and Granger at the Room of Requirement. Evidently, Granger’s curious as to what’s going on, and Harry thinks it’s a good idea that I tell her.”

‘Okay, good idea, I guess, but there’s a catch.’ “And what else do you want?”

“You know, I take back every cruel word I said about your intelligence, Longbottom,” the blond said with a smirk.

“You still haven’t answered the question, Malfoy.”

“Fine,” Draco chuckled. “I want to speak to Harry privately afterwards. I need you to convince Granger to leave so that that can happen.”

“Alright, that’s harmless enough, I guess,” Neville said after a few moments. “But, you’re telling Harry about this.”

“Of course.” The two boys finished their errand in a friendly silence and ten minutes later found themselves inside the plush sitting room that marked the beginning of their odd friendship. Granger had taken one of the comfortable armchairs before the roaring fire, leaving the other open, while Harry was sitting on the loveseat – with room for another person. Neville took the other chair, forcing Draco to sit next to Harry. That small action released tension from his black-haired friend, who smiled softly at the blond boy.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Draco returned Harry’s smile as he sat down next to him and twined his cold fingers around the warm hand between them. “I suppose you’ll want me to begin at the beginning, Granger?”

“That would be nice, Malfoy,” the girl said calmly.”

“Hm…” The blond sighed as he determined just how much of the situation he wanted to reveal to the girl who until recently seemed to hate him, not that he’d given her any reason to like him before then, to be honest. “Fine, I’m going to give you a condensed version, since I reckon the details will bore you.

“My father was released from Azkaban a week before the beginning of our sixth year. My family became the host of the Dark Lord at that time, along with my charming aunt Bellatrix and my uncles Lestrange. My father decided to move us to one of the smaller estates. My aunt and my father have been using my mother, who was ill while my father was imprisoned, as a sort of leverage to get me to do their bidding. I was given the choice of taking the Dark Mark and sent to Durmstrang to recruit more Death Eaters or I could spy here at Hogwarts, Mark-free. This was after the mess that happened last year between Professor McGonagall and Severus.

“I’m sure that you can figure out what choice I took.”

“I want proof, Malfoy,” the girl demanded. Draco shook his head sadly, but showed her his pale and blemish-free left arm. The way she sighed and crossed her arms against her chest mollified him a little.

“Satisfied?” She nodded. “Good, I’ll continue. I took too long to give my answer, and the Dark Lord had my mother and me punished. It was after seeing my mother screaming in pain that I agreed to be a spy for that bastard. As soon as I arrived, I had a run in with Harry here, but it was harmless. Neither of us even drew our wands.”

“Speak for yourself, Draco,” Harry said fondly. “I had mine in my hand.”

“Ah, I stand corrected,” Draco said with a slight smirk. “Continuing my story, I reported to Dumbledore and told him everything. There was nothing I could do for my mother. She refused to leave my father and I didn’t want to have the weight of anyone’s death over my head should someone attempt to rescue her. Especially since I was sure she’d attack any hero sent after her.

“The headmaster offered me sanctuary here in the castle, on the condition that my mail would be monitored and that I only report back to my father what Dumbledore approved.

“Harry and I had a few run-ins after that, and I actually managed to catch him after he’d had a vision. I assisted him and took him back to my room until he recuperated.”

“Harry?” Granger turned to her friend. “Neville?”

“I only got a brief mention of what the vision entailed, but it confirms that Lucius and You Know Who think that Draco is their man,” Neville said, running a hand through his brown hair.

Harry, on the other hand, shrugged guiltily. “It was after Ron tried to pick a fight in the hallways that first Hogsmeade weekend. Draco never cast a single spell and was rather impressive in defending himself. It was a regular Death Eater meeting: Voldemort being an idiot and screaming at everyone, Bellatrix casting her favorite curse, and Lucius being a kiss-arse.”

Granger gave an unladylike snort, softening Draco’s opinion of her as a busybody with no sense of humor. “Alright, so, after that, what happened?”

“Nothing really… Not until I was attacked by those Hufflepuffs down by the lake, and Harry and Neville escorted me from the library where I was safe to the infirmary. When I got out, I approached them about a talk, and we came here and had a very similar meeting, actually.”

“Merlin, that was two months ago,” Neville muttered.

“It was,” Harry agreed. “A lot of things have happened since then.”

“Okay, so, does this have anything to do with breakfast – God – this morning?” the girl asked, shaking her head slowly.

“Actually, it does,” Harry said. “I had a vision last night. In it, Voldemort was talking about Narcissa being barely alive and telling Bella that she had to stop torturing her or she’d die and so would the baby?” Harry looked over at Draco, a question in his eyes that demanded the blond answer.

“Yes, there’s a baby, two actually,” Draco said, feeling a heavy weight on his shoulders. “Lucius sent me a letter last month telling me that my mother and aunt were both pregnant. I sent a letter of congratulations to both of them, but I only heard from my aunt. When my mother didn’t reply, I was pretty sure that she was dead by then.

“However, Harry’s vision gave me hope. And it evidently saved my Aunt Andromeda and her family.”

“Oh, yes, that’s right; Sirius told us that Andromeda and Mrs. Malfoy were sisters. I guess that makes Tonks your cousin?”

“Yes, she and I are cousins. I can only assume that she’s a Metamorphmagus with that hair and those eyes. It’s a Black trait, not that my mother would ever admit it, but my great-great-great-great-grandfather was a Metamorphmagus, so it’s only reasonable to assume that it would show up down the line later.”

“Fascinating,” Granger said dreamily before shaking her head. “We can talk about that later, but what else is going on?”

“Sometime after you left us in the infirmary, Neville came by, and while we were talking, an owl delivered a message from Snape.” Draco looked over at Harry and gave him a pleading look. “It wasn’t the first time I’ve heard from my godfather. He’s been sending me messages since I got here. Harry, he… he told me that it would be in my best interest to side with you, but I didn’t want to listen to him. It wasn’t until you approached me yourself after the scene in the library that I even really considered it.”

The blond wanted to cry as he saw the Gryffindor’s jaw clench. “How many times have you gotten messages from him then?”

“Today’s letter was the third since I returned to Hogwarts.”

“Were you going to tell me?” The hurt tone in his voice sent daggers into Draco’s heart, but the fact that Harry hadn’t taken back his hand gave Draco the courage to continue.

“Yes, I’d asked Dumbledore about it, and he suggested that I tell you that Severus was in contact with me and trying to keep me safe. His second message told me to not go home for Christmas. That’s why I mentioned that to you when Neville cast the Joining charm on us.”

“That makes sense, I suppose,” Harry said in a more normal voice.

“What did this third letter say, Malfoy?” Granger asked, cutting into the mood that had gathered between Harry and Draco.

The Slytherin swallowed before looking over at the other two. “Sev let me know that my mother is alive and well and he has her in a safe location. I know where it is, but she needs more attention than he can supply. He wanted to bring her here, but was afraid of interference from Harry on that matter. But, Harry agreed to a sort of truce to get my mother and unborn sibling here and under Madam Pomfrey’s care.” He looked over at Harry. “Do you think Dumbledore has told her that Sev is bringing my mother here?”

“I don’t know. We can ask after we leave here,” Harry replied, his green eyes staring back at Draco in a way that made him heat up.

“I’ll do it for you, Draco,” Neville offered with a knowing smile.

“Thank you, Neville,” the blond replied, turning his head so he could look at the Gryffindor girl again. “I was trying to tell Sev that it was safe to bring her here when Boot attacked. That’s it.”

“Hm, well, that’s a lot to process,” she muttered, tugging on a frizzy brown lock of hair. “And only these two know everything?” All three boys nodded. “What can I do to help you, Malfoy?”

Draco blinked, genuinely surprised by the girl’s offer. “Why would you want to do anything?”

“Well, I’ll be honest, you’ve been a right git for the last six years, but you’ve obviously got some good qualities, like I tried to tell Ron, or Harry wouldn’t be friends with you. It’s not for you that I’m offering help, but Harry really.” She looked over at their black-haired friend with a sad smile. “I haven’t really been much of an understanding friend since Sirius died, Harry, and I’m truly sorry. I didn’t pay attention to you at all last year, so I never noticed when you and Ginny broke up, or when she started to date Luna.” She shook her head. “It wasn’t until the train ride here that I finally noticed that the two of you weren’t talking or sitting next to each other or anything else. I’d like to make it up to you.”

Harry finally relaxed in his spot next to Draco and gave his friend a smile. “Well, it’s nice to have you back, ‘Mione, but I can’t guarantee that it’ll be just like before.”

“I’d be surprised if it was,” she said sadly. “If you want, I’ll try to work on Ron.”

“No, let Weasley make his own mind up,” Harry said flatly. “I don’t want him to be cajoled back into being my friend only for him to start in on Draco and Neville behind my back.”

“Understood. Is there anything else you can think of that I can do?”

“Not yet, ‘Mione, but give me time. I’m sure some other adventure is going to drop in my lap.” All four laughed, and if it was slightly hysterical, no one mentioned a thing. For the first time since Draco had agreed to tell Granger, he knew he’d made the right decision.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

“’Mione,” Neville said when they’d calmed down. “Would you come with me to Dumbledore’s office? We can head back to the tower afterwards?” He looked at where Harry and Draco sat on the loveseat, still holding hands as they had throughout the entire conversation, and the door to the hall. She blinked at him before following his eyes and jumping up from her seat.

“Oh, yes, Neville, I’d love to do that,” she said, pulling him out of the room as fast as she could.

Harry watched them go with a pensive look before turning to the blond next to him. “Alright, Draco, care to tell me why our friends left here as if there was a fire somewhere in the castle?”

“Friends? I was unaware that Granger and I were friends. She was quite adamant about only offering her assistance to me because she wants to get back into your good graces.”

Harry grimaced. Draco was right. While he appreciated that Hermione was trying, he wished she’d been a bit more tactful. “Answer the question, Draco.”

“I asked Neville to leave us alone so we could talk privately,” Draco said calmly, but the faint pink tint on his cheeks betrayed him.

“Talk? That’s all you want to do?” Harry tried to give the other boy a sexy look, but a determined, hard look came onto Draco’s face, banishing the cute blush he’d had a second before.

“What are we, Harry? I know that you brought this up earlier, but I think we need to define it now.”

“You’re the one who wanted to wait before we… dated.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“Why?”

“Because you keep looking at me, and I like it.”

“Looking at you? What are you talking about, Draco?” Harry was getting really confused.

“You’ve been looking at me like I’m a piece of treacle tart,” Draco said, blushing again.

“Oh…” ‘Have I really been doing that? Merlin, that’s embarrassing. No wonder Hermione made that comment about not caring about whom I date so long as I’m happy.’ He smiled. “So, does this mean we’re dating?”

“Yesssssss,” Draco hissed before leaning over to kiss him.

TBC

Aff.net review replies can be found here - http://makochanupdates.livejournal.com/23318.html
- 20
- 21
- 22
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

The End Shall Come, And We Will Dance Forever