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The End Shall Come, And We Will Dance Forever	By : makochan0217 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 6654 -:- 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
- 22
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- 24
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! As always, I am indebted to Sevfan and Jamie for all of their help! This time, I promise, it’s really Snape and Narcissa.

Chapter Twenty-One – Darling, I Want to Destroy You

Harry stiffened as he heard the familiar sneer of his name. Instinctively, he pulled Draco closer, ready to throw him behind the door for protection from anyone and everyone. “Snape.”

He wasn’t ready for the blond in his arms to turn around and scowl at him. “You promised you’d behave, Harry.” The anger flashing behind silver eyes brought the present situation crashing into Harry’s forethoughts and he sighed.

“You’re right. Sorry, Draco. Snape, glad you’re not dead.” He was rewarded with a brief brush of soft lips against his jaw before Draco pulled away to hug their former professor.

“Severus, I’m glad you’re safe!” The older wizard visibly stiffened before finally returning the blond’s embrace lightly.

“You’re late, Draco,” Snape muttered. “No doubt it is Potter’s fault. Has no one bothered to give you a watch, Potter?”

“No,” Harry answered calmly, refusing to rise to Snape’s bait. He had promised Draco that he wouldn’t hex Snape, for Draco and his family’s sake, but it was taking all of his control to hold himself back from avenging McGonagall’s death.

“Sev, where is Mother?” Draco asked, stepping back from his godfather and brushing a hand along Harry’s arm. The simple act, one of seeking and giving mutual comfort, reassured Harry. He let a slight smile lift up the corners of his mouth as he stood beside his boyfriend.

However, he wasn’t ready for when Severus took Draco’s arm and led them all beyond the curtains where his mother laid. She was pale. Well, no, she was paler than was healthy, and the area around her closed eyes was nearly black from the bruises around them. He could see cut marks on her neck, cheeks and the one arm that had escaped the sheet covering the rest of her body. If it hadn’t been for the slow rising and falling of the sheet and the harsh wheezing coming from her painfully thin body, Harry would have assumed that she was dead. The Slytherin shuddered in horror and could only relax when Harry hugged him tightly, turning his face away from the sight on the hospital bed.

“Bellatrix used more than just her wand to inflict some of those wounds,” Harry growled as his hands rubbed Draco’s back.

“Yes, it seems that Rudolphus took her wand away to keep her from torturing Narcissa, per the Dark Lord’s commands, but he didn’t bother to check his wife for other weapons,” Severus said.

“How did you convince Lucius to let her go? I don’t imagine that he was all that keen on losing his wife and unborn child.”

Snape didn’t answer right away, and he wore a look of hard contemplation as he considered Harry’s rather intelligent question. “No, he wasn’t. I heard him speaking to the Dark Lord about replacing Draco as his heir with the unborn child if it was a boy.”

Stiffly, Draco pulled away from Harry’s comforting embrace and turned to stare at his godfather. “Do you think he really would have done that, Sev?”

“Draco, as much as it pains me to say this, yes, I do think your father would have made the new child his heir and put a bounty on your head if it was a boy.”

Draco nodded, biting his lower lip as he thought. “Then, no matter what, Lucius can never find out that Mother and the child still live.”

“I doubt Lucius will find out. I took great pains to make it appear that Narcissa died from your aunt’s torture.”

“How?” Harry asked. Snape narrowed his dark eyes at Harry before answering.

“I brewed a Necrotosis potion. It mimics the effect of death, while the imbiber still lives. It is much more believable than the Draught of Living Death, which only puts the imbiber into a magical coma. Then, I cast a Stasis spell on her body so she would not need to breathe.” The Potions Master sat down in the chair next to Narcissa’s bed and stroked her free arm, ignoring the two boys in the room with him. “Then, I had Lucius come in and view the ‘body’. He was upset, no doubt due to the loss of a more acceptable heir, and told me to take care of it. I had my house-elf, Caddy, take Narcissa back to Spinner’s End while I Transfigured a rock to serve as a copy of her corpse. That was what I gave to Lucius to burn.”

“So, as far as the rest of the Death Eaters and Voldemort know, Narcissa is dead and the baby died with her,” Harry said.

“Indeed.”

“And you brought her here because you couldn’t keep her alive?”

“Potter,” Snape started with a razor-sharp edge to his smooth voice, “while you may think that I am perfect with all areas of spell-casting, I must inform you that I am sadly deficient in the Healing Arts. However, Poppy Pomfrey is the best mediwitch in my acquaintance. That is why I brought Narcissa here.”

Draco pulled on Harry’s arm to keep him from saying anything back. “Thank you for all your help, Sev.”

“You know why I have done this, Draco. Do not thank me.” Draco pulled out of Harry’s arms to place a kiss on his mother’s forehead before giving another brief hug to Snape before he turned and took Harry out into the hall.

When Draco said nothing for a long time, Harry had to break the silence. “What did he mean, Draco?”

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

Hermione sighed as she walked down to the Gryffindor common room. She was supposed to return to St. Mungo’s with Professor Swanly so that she could check on her mother’s condition. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go. She just couldn’t shake off the feeling that things would never be the same again. Things between Ron and Harry had shifted so much that there was no way for her to try and repair the rift, not unless the boys themselves decided to be friends again, and with the way things were looking, that wasn’t going to be any time soon.

“’Mione,” Ron said from his spot on one of the couches before a roaring fireplace. She jumped in surprise. “Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to scare you. Where are you headed?”

“Oh, Ron, well, I’m going down to breakfast and then after that, Professor Swanly is escorting me to St. Mungo’s so that I can check on my mum.”

“Yeah? I meant to ask you about her yesterday, but I didn’t see you after I checked on Percy.”

“Oh, she’s fine… Well, as good as anyone can be after that kind of thing, I guess. She was talking about going home almost as soon as I saw her, but the Healers managed to convince her to stay there for a few days of observation.”

“What about your dad?” Ron asked, seeming to be really interested.

She frowned and shook her head, indicating that she didn’t want to talk about her father’s murder.

Ron, in a rare moment of gallantry, nodded, then stood up and walked over to her, a look of sympathy crossing his handsome face. “I’ll walk you down to breakfast, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh, of course,” Hermione answered, taking his offered arm. “How is Percy?”

“He’s alright, I guess. Mum was nearly hysterical when she saw him. He’s got some pretty bad cuts on his arms and a few burns, but the Healers say that he’ll heal nicely and that it shouldn’t take more than a few days before he’s back at work, annoying the hell out of the rest of the Ministry.”

“Well, I’m sure that Molly appreciates the fact that Percy wasn’t harmed any further than that,” she said. She was unsure of what Ron was trying to do. The last few times they’d talked it hadn’t been pretty or even very comfortable for either one of them.

“Yeah, Mum was beside herself when the Healer told Perce that he could leave today. That’s where Mum and Dad are today. They’re getting Perce from the hospital and taking him back home.”

“Oh, so I suppose that he’s patched things up with everyone then?” This was news, and she was sure that Ginny would have told her if that had been the case.

“Nah, he hasn’t bothered to apologize about calling Harry a liar and bad influence and whatnot. He’s still being a bit of a berk about it all, to be honest, but Mum wouldn’t calm down until he agreed to come back to the Burrow, especially with Christmas so close.”

“Hm,” Hermione muttered, trying to get things straight in her racing mind. She was startled to look up and see the doors to the Great Hall looming before them. They’d made the trip from Gryffindor tower without any problems from the stairs or Peeves or any of the other students. “Have you seen Harry this morning?”

“No, he didn’t even bother to return to the tower last night,” Ron snarled, causing the girl to look up and catch the ugly look on his face. “Nev came slinking in late, nearly didn’t make it in time for curfew, but Harry didn’t show up.” He looked down at her with a hard expression. “I thought the three of you were together last night.”

“Oh, we were, but Neville walked me back to the tower. Harry and Draco had something to talk about, I gathered. Neville’s not really the type to be subtle, after all.”

“I doubt there was much talking going on between Harry and Malfoy… I caught them making out while the git was in the hospital wing. Surprised that Madam Pomfrey didn’t come barging in to breaking it up.”

Hermione shook his arm off of her as she continued to stare at him. “Oh, Ron, what did you do?”

“What did I do? I didn’t do anything, Hermione. They were wrapped around each other like bloody snakes. What was I supposed to do when I see my best friend entangled with Malfoy like that?”

She shook in the face of his unreasonable anger and stepped up to the Gryffindor table, ignoring the obvious staring of the other students. ‘This is hardly the way I thought I’d be spending my Saturday morning,’ she thought morosely.

“Well?” Ron was standing over the top of her, his face a very unflattering shade of red. “What was I supposed to do, Hermione?” he yelled.

“You were supposed to support him and not give him grief, like you have been for the last four months,” she hissed, looking down at her plate as she felt heat rush to her face. “You weren’t supposed to accuse him of being a traitor, which I’m positive you did.” Her eyes shot up, promising him real trouble if he attempted to cut her off. “And I’m sure that you brought up Ginny as well. Am I wrong?” He had the decency to look embarrassed and didn’t say anything. “Well, now that you know the truth, perhaps you can get your head out of your arse.”

The surrounding Gryffindors all gasped in shock. Hermione never cursed, but she didn’t care right then. She was so mad. If he said anything, she’d get him with a Bat-Bogey Hex so awesome that it would put Ginny’s to shame. “You know what,” she whispered dangerously, a trick she’d learned from Professor Snape when he still taught at Hogwarts, “until you can manage to be a real friend, to both Harry and me, I don’t want to speak to you.” She turned her back on him and tucked into her plate, not really feeling hungry but knowing she needed the fuel to get through the rest of her already stressful day.

However, she didn’t miss Ginny’s comment to her brother. “You’re an idiot, Ron, and you deserve every word Hermione said.”

Support from her only female friend vindicated Hermione’s anger at the redhead, and she smiled as she took a long sip from her goblet of pumpkin juice.

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

Draco took a deep breath while trying to gain his bearings after the meeting he’d been dreading since he returned to Hogwarts. Even meeting Dumbledore the first night back hadn’t been as tense as the semi-truce between Severus and Harry in those few short moments. He shook his head as Harry began talking and blinked tired grey eyes to look at his boyfriend. “Hm?”

“What did he mean, Draco? Why did he protect your mother, if he didn’t do it for you?”

‘Oh, is that all,’ Draco thought, feeling relief flooding his system. There had been many things that had been said that Harry could have taken the wrong way. If he was only questioning Severus’s reasons for helping his mother, then Draco was sure that the two most important men in his life could come to some sort of long term truce. “Severus and my mother have been friends since their time at Hogwarts together. Mother was two years ahead of him, but they were close. She was the one who introduced him to Lucius and to the Dark Lord. She regretted that deeply after she saw how your… mother’s death… affected him.”

“Why?” Harry asked, furrowing his brows in thought. “During fifth year, when Snape was supposed to be teaching me Occlumency, I saw a memory in the Pensieve. They were hardly friends.”

“You learned Occlumency from Severus?” Draco asked, a part of him feeling extremely jealous of the opportunity that Harry probably wasted. Although, as he thought about it, it was unlikely that Severus ever made the effort to actually teach Harry. It didn’t make up for the fact that Draco had had to learn the skill from his very crazy and dangerous aunt.

“Not really…” Harry said with his face flushing. “That was probably the most civil conversation Snape and I ever had, to be honest.”

“I don’t doubt it.” The blond sneered for a moment. “Anyway, Severus never forgave himself for ‘failing Lily’, Mother once told me, and since then, she has tried to pull Lucius from the Dark Lord’s grasp.”

“Why?”

“Because she sympathizes with her friend’s unhappiness and grief,” Draco said, heaving a great sigh. “Also, Mother was never crazy about him anyway. She said he was a lunatic before his first defeat and has only gotten worse since.”

“She’s not that far off,” Harry said, taking one of Draco’s hands and playing with the fingers absently. “I’m sorry that your mother is ill, Draco,” he whispered.

“It’s hardly your fault, Harry,” Draco said quickly, trying to stop Harry before he began taking the blame for things that other people had done. He knew his boyfriend had a tendency to want to save everyone from trouble. Hell, he’d exploited that trait in the other teen until their sixth year. But this was one thing that Harry had no claim to, and he wasn’t about to let him try. “My aunt is crazy and detests my mother. Rodolphus is too inclined to allow her to get her way, and I can only assume that it has gotten worse since she’s finally pregnant.”

“I know,” the black-haired teen whispered. “I know, Draco, but that doesn’t make it any easier.”

“Harry, you can’t save everyone. I already told you this, but I’ll say it again, and keep saying it until it sticks in your thick skull. My mother made her decision to stay with my father, knowing what kind of man he’d become and where his loyalties were. She wanted to be with her husband, who I know she loves very much, for some unfathomable reason. I tried to get her away, and she refused.” He sighed, moving a pale hand to stroke Harry’s strong jaw. “It makes me happy that you wish you could have prevented this, but she knew that this was a possibility.”

“Do you… do you wish you could have forced her to leave?”

Draco shrugged. ‘Wishes are for babies, Draco,’ Lucius’s voice rang in his head. “Sometimes, you have to let others make their own decisions,” he said finally, amazed that his voice was so even as he spoke. “You, of all people, should know that, Harry.”

“Yeah, I guess,” the black-haired teen said, scrunching up his nose in thought. ‘Probably thinking about that worthless Weasel…’ When Harry’s face smoothed out and broke out into a calm smile, Draco couldn’t help but return it, trying desperately to control the butterflies that were buzzing around in his stomach as he stared at his boyfriend. “How about we find Neville and try to work on Slughorn’s essay?”

“You mean the essay that I’ve already completed and that you and Longbottom have yet to start?” Draco teased with a slight smirk.

“That’d be the one.”

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

Ginny looked over at her brother as she and Luna sat in Gryffindor’s common room, watching him occasionally scratching things out on a list as they worked on their Transfiguration homework. He was without his usual crowd, but after the tongue-lashing he’d received from Hermione that morning at breakfast, she wasn’t really that surprised. Ron did not take being embarrassed easily. However, now Ginny was worried what her brother was working on so diligently, since she was sure it wasn’t any kind of homework.

“Hey, Ron, what are you doing?” she asked after an hour of his grumbling and scratching.

“Nothing,” he replied. “Don’t worry about it.”

‘Oh, yes, that’s so helpful,’ she thought sarcastically. She looked over at Luna, who was frowning. “Do you think I should contact Fred and George about this, Luna?” she whispered to her girlfriend, carefully making her voice so low that only Luna would hear her.

“There’s no telling what he’s got going on,” the blonde replied seriously. “It will probably happen over the holidays, considering we have less than a week before we all return home.”

“You’re right.” She stood up and grabbed the Ravenclaw’s hand. “Let’s go send them a letter now, before I forget.”

“You wouldn’t forget anyway, Ginny. He’s after Harry.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Ginny replied as she and the other girl left the tower and headed in the direction of the Owlery. “Hopefully the twins can stop things before they get too ugly.”

TBC

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The End Shall Come, And We Will Dance Forever