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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
- 23
- 24
- 25
Thank you again for all the reviews!

This chapter continues, in some ways, the downwards arc. It
certainly messes up Harry�s life all the more.

Chapter
Twenty-Four�Dragons

�� It seemed
to take twice as long as it should�at times, Harry felt as if he were moving
underwater�but he got things done. He informed the Healers that George had
died, and endured their condolences, and contacted the Weasleys� solicitor, who
for some years had been his own as well, and was the person the Weasleys would
most trust to make funeral arrangements outside the immediate family. He held
Ginny when she wanted to be held. He took a turn at comforting Mrs. Weasley
(futile task though that was). He relieved Luna at home and reassured his
crying, frightened sons that he was all right, and Mummy was all right, but
Uncle George had gone away and wouldn�t be visiting anymore. Then he soothed
the tears that resulted when James decided that Uncle George had gone away
because of Al. He contacted Andromeda, let her know what had happened, and
received her reassurances, one more time, that both she and Teddy were all
right.

�� All the
while, his secret burned in him like a torch. He acquired the odd idea that he
was transparent to people; they would look at him and see the guilt reducing
his body to shadow. But no, it was only Draco�s eyes he was that readable to.
He gave thanks for it; if his wife even suspected
the truth�

�� It would
destroy them. Harry didn�t think he could keep going past that destruction. He
would carry any burden to avoid it.

�� He thought
he had been wrong to do it.

�� But then,
should he have let George waste away in pain? That would have been equally
wrong.

�� Harry had
no idea. Luckily, Ginny arrived home at that moment and gave him something to
do. He came to meet her with Lily tucked in one arm, sleeping peacefully�she
was too young to know that anything important had happened today, despite her
fright earlier�and kissed her forehead, and offered tea.

�� Ginny
closed her eyes and shook her head, once. �No,� she whispered. �Let me make it.
I can�t�I still can�t think, but this
will give me something to do.�

�� Harry
nodded to her, and then took Lily into her bedroom and laid her in her cot,
singing softly when she stirred against his shoulder and would have woken. For
long moments, he remained bent, gazing into her face. She had no traces of a
lightning bolt scar. She had no traces of pain, yet.

�� He was
determined that she would never have cause for any.

�� And letting her know that her father
murdered her uncle and is uncertain about his marriage to her mother would give
her some.

�� His hand
shaking, Harry swept her hair out of her eyes and breathed a sigh. That was
just another reason for refusing a relationship with Draco. It would hurt
Ginny, but it would hurt his children even more, and he had to think about
them.

�� And why am I thinking about this at all,
with what happened today? Shouldn�t I be mourning George instead of angsting about my attraction to Draco?

�� Perhaps he
should, but he did not feel the mourning as a distinct pain. It had blended
into the general agony he was carrying, which could be endured only as
numbness. He would have time to weep later.

�� He returned
to cups of tea and Ginny mingling tears with hers. Harry maneuvered himself so
that he could sit with one arm around her while he drank. Her head fell heavily
against his shoulder, and she continued to cry.

�� It was so
senseless,� she whispered. �The attack, all the curses he took, the way he
died�the Healers said he would live at least
another week! Why do you think they lied to us, Harry?�

�� I don�t
think they did,� Harry said. The torch of his guilt wavered and scorched him.
�I think they made their best estimate. It just turned out to be wrong, that�s
all.�

�� They
shouldn�t have said anything at all, then!� Ginny muttered savagely, and downed
her tea. Harry sipped his more slowly. Now that the moments of busy activity
were past and he had a chance to think, he could feel his eyelids creeping
downwards. He yawned, twice, and the second time Ginny glanced up at him with a
watery smile.

�� Ready for
bed?� she asked.

�� It was only
five in the evening, but Harry was. He nodded and finished his tea, trying to
do it before he would lose all the strength in his hands and drop the cup on
the table.

*

�� Someone was
shouting his name, but it was at a distance. Harry didn�t think he needed to
pay attention. He grumbled and tugged the sheets further up over his head, so
that he wasn�t listening. Perhaps whoever shouted would take the hint and leave
him alone.

�� Then a hand
shook his shoulder. Harry didn�t want to pay attention to that, either, but it
shook and dragged and finally formed its fingers into claws and sank them in.
He sat up with a slurred mutter. His eyes were so gummed it took almost a
minute to open them, and his movements dragged when he lifted a hand to bat his
hair out of his face, clumsy with sleep.

�� Harry,�
Ginny whispered. He finally forced his eyelids to part, and realized he was
staring at her in a bathrobe. He wondered how she could have risen from the bed
and not awakened him. Of course, he had
been tired, and he wasn�t sure she had gone to sleep at all. He�d collapsed the
moment his head hit the pillow.

�� Harry,�
she repeated. �Hermione is in the drawing room. She came through the Floo.� She
paused and licked her lips. �She says Hogwarts is about to be attacked.�

�� Those
words, finally, broke the glassy haze exerting its hold over Harry�s
imagination. He snatched his wand, cast a Summoning Charm for his own robe�he
slept in his pants, normally, and he imagined that Hermione didn�t want to be
subjected to that�and then stumbled into the drawing room.

�� More and
more of the slumber fell away as he walked. It wasn�t grief keeping him on his
feet, but rage.

�� He knew
Hermione hadn�t come just to tell him the news, but to summon him to the
defense.

�� This was a
chance to take vengeance for George.

�� Sure
enough, Hermione was dressed for early autumn flying, with thick gloves and
robes, and clutching a broom. She nodded when she saw him, and said, �How soon
can you be ready to travel to Hogwarts?�

�� Five
minutes,� said Harry. �Two for the clothes, one for the
broom, two to firecall Draco.�

�� Hermione
started and stared at him. �You don�t even know what the battle�s going to be
like yet, and you�re bringing Malfoy?�

�� Tell me what the battle�s going to be
like,� Harry snapped, and then Summoned his clothes from the bedroom. Hermione
turned discreetly away as he dressed, but the line of her back was taut.

�� We got
another warning a few minutes ago,� she said. �There will be dragons circling
over Hogwarts. We need confident, powerful wizards who are good at flying.� She
snorted. �I don�t think Malfoy fits any of those criteria except perhaps the
last.�

�� You didn�t
hear his story of how he defended his baby son from a Blood Hydra this
morning,� Harry said absently, and waved his wand to button all his robes at
once�a habit that Ginny considered cheating, but he was in a hurry. �And I did
say that he would fight at my side in this war, and I wouldn�t leave him
behind.�

�� Harry,�
Hermione hissed, swirling around to face him again. �You can�t bring along
someone who�ll hinder us just to keep a ridiculous promise.�

�� Harry cast
the Summoning Charm for his broom, and felt his face falling into stubborn lines.
He hated taking the opposite side to
his family all the time, he thought wistfully. Just once, couldn�t they have
accepted Draco the way they would have pushed for Draco to accept them, if he�d
been dating Harry for years?

�� And that�s a dangerous kind of thought that I�m staying well away from.

�� And you
have no way of knowing whether he�ll hinder us,� Harry said. �I don�t think so.
He�s recovering his confidence, and he�s determined to show that he can be of
use. You�re just prejudiced against him because he�s Malfoy. As
usual.�

�� There were
other things we discussed, Harry,� Hermione said in a low, deadly voice, as
Harry moved past her and tossed a handful of Floo powder into the fire. His
call of �Malfoy Manor!� was answered by the squeak of a house-elf, who
faithfully bowed when Harry inquired after Draco and promised to wake him immediately.
�Many of them involved your wife�s happiness in your marriage.�

�� And what about mine?� Harry snapped, turning to look at
her. Then he shook his head as she opened her mouth. �Forget that. I don�t know
where it came from.�

�� He turned
back again as Draco�s face appeared in the flames. His eyes darted to Harry�s
broom, and he smiled grimly. He didn�t look as if he�d slept, but strangely,
that hadn�t added dark circles beneath his eyes or other telltale marks; he
looked pared to the bone instead, thin, hungry, ready to attack.

�� Even sleep deprivation just makes him more
beautiful, Harry thought, and then felt a sense of despair, because both
that thought and the sheer comfort he was taking in Draco�s closeness showed
that he couldn�t even overcome his inappropriate lust when it was a matter of
life and death. He was ashamed of himself.

�� He hurried
on, hoping that he could speak the truth before Draco saw that admiration just
as he�d seen Harry�s guilt in the matter of George�s death. �Hogwarts is about
to be under attack by dragons,� he said quickly. �We need powerful, clever
wizards who can fly well. Can you get a broom and meet us there?�

�� Draco�s
lips parted in a slight, soundless gasp. Perhaps he hadn�t believed that Harry
would keep his promise to include him in the war. �I can,� he said. �Is the
Floo connection open?�

�� For the
next ten minutes,� Hermione intervened. She seemed to have accepted that Draco
was coming with them, or perhaps she was just too polite to show her doubt
openly in front of him. Her voice was cool, but not overtly hostile. �Then the
Headmistress will close them, in fear that the enemy will come through them.�

�� Draco
nodded, and then pinned Harry with a look he couldn�t translate. It was
intense, and it held him, and perhaps that was enough. When Draco pulled away
and the flames turned from green back to red, Harry blinked and shook his head.
He had to snap out of this daze, whether Draco or sleep caused it.

�� Ready,
Harry?�

�� Hermione
was speaking in that tone of voice that told Harry they would have things to discuss later. But for now, he was going
into battle, and he had the chance to inflict some pain on the same people who
had made the end of George�s life so horrible.

�� And Draco
would be fighting on the same side as he was.

�� He stepped
back to let Hermione have access to the Floo in answer. Since they would be
leaving from inside the house, the bodyguards didn�t need to accompany them. In
the moment of spinning darkness that consumed them before they landed in the
school, the thought came to Harry that, what with the attack inside the house
and then his traveling to St. Mungo�s in a crowd of people, he hadn�t had much
need for them so far. Perhaps Hermione would let him get rid of them.

�� Probably not.

�� But that
line of thought was still more productive than anything having to do with
Draco.

*

�� Where are
you going?�

�� Draco
didn�t look over his shoulder as he flung on his old Quidditch gear; he�d had
one of his house-elves modify it with magic so that he wouldn�t have to tinker
with tailoring spells himself. His broom was already near at hand, and he knew
what the expression on his mother�s face would be if he looked: quiet
appraisal. He hadn�t done something like this in ten years, and she knew it,
and he knew she knew, and she knew he knew she knew, and there was no need to
speak the truth aloud.

�� To fight
dragons at Hogwarts,� he said. �They�re being attacked, or about to be
attacked, and I�ll fight at Harry�s side. Take care of Scorpius for me if I end
up in St. Mungo�s.�

�� He heard a
sound that he had to seek out the source of, then, because it was so
unexpected: a soft gasp. He turned and found his mother with her hand held to
her mouth, tears filling her eyes.

�� You really
are living again,� she said. �I had wondered.�

�� Draco
smiled at her, and held her eyes for a moment�all he had time for. Besides,
between them, it would speak literal volumes.

�� He picked
up his broom and gave his mother a brief embrace. He wished he had the time to
look in on Scorpius, but the nursery was the wrong direction from his bedroom
and too far away. He had spent most of the day after he came back from St.
Mungo�s with his son. He had said goodbye, if he needed to say it, in as many
possible ways as he could. It would have to do.

�� I will see
you later,� he said, as if saying it could make it so, and then walked over to
his fireplace, threw in a handful of Floo powder, and shouted, �Hogwarts
infirmary!� It was the only Floo he could think of likely to be open. Possibly
the Headmistress�s office was, but he didn�t know, and appearing in the middle of the Slytherin common room
would only terrify the students. Besides, that was probably shut, and for good
reason.

�� Sure
enough, he appeared in the middle of a crowd of people. He looked swiftly
about, eyes rejecting face after face and figure after figure as not what he
was after, and then focused on one man who stood next to Granger, leaning on
his broom, his eyes intent.

�� He hadn�t
seen Harry in the middle of battle before, unless the Triwizard
Tournament counted, but Draco found himself simultaneously relaxed and
energized by the sight. Of course
this was what Harry looked like. He strode towards him, and halfway there Harry
noticed him and glanced up.

�� A few other
voices in the room stuttered to uncomfortable stops, but Harry�s slow, blazing
smile was more than enough to make up for them. Draco stepped up and set his
shoulder against Harry�s, bumping him slightly. Harry bumped him back, and
then, so subtly that Draco could hardly believe it, and thought it was likely
that Harry himself didn�t know what he was doing, leaned on him instead of the
broom. Draco took a few careful breaths and then forced himself to pay
attention to the plan.

�� The warning
had not been specific enough about the placement of the dragons, he learned
quickly. It had said that ten dragons were coming, mostly Hungarian Horntails
and Peruvian Vipertooths, but it did not know much
more than that.� They were to take their
brooms up�the forty Aurors and Blood Reparations people that Granger had
managed to round up on such short notice�and do what they could. Granger listed
the spells effective against a dragon quickly, obviously expecting the people
who listened to be able to memorize them and to already know the incantations.
From the way people nodded at her, she wasn�t wrong about that.

�� Well,
Potter,� Draco said, in a low enough voice that Harry was the only one to hear,
�it seems that you�ll get to see your Peruvian Vipertooth
after all, though I can�t promise it�ll be anything like a holiday.�

�� Harry
looked at him, and his face was shining.
And then he whispered, �You�ve had that dream too, now?�

�� Yes,�
Draco said, and the affirmation was more than just an answer to the question,
though he wasn�t sure Harry knew it.

�� Yes. Over and over again.
No matter what the question is that he asks.

*

�� Harry
squinted as they rose from the front doors of Hogwarts. The wind stung tears
from his eyes, and, never having played Quidditch at night, he had not realized
how thick the darkness would be. At least it was a full moon night, and where
it did not shine, the lamps of Hogwarts or the stars sometimes did.

�� His broom
was braced between Draco�s and Hermione�s; Hermione was still concerned that
the organizers of the attack might target Harry specially, but she had the
sense to realize that no bodyguard could keep up with Harry when he flew. She
probably couldn�t either, though she had improved enough in the past ten years
to become part of this vanguard. Harry saw her darting speculative looks at
Draco, as if she were wondering whether Draco would actually be the best choice
to stay at Harry�s side. Perhaps she had remembered the Hogwarts games with
Slytherin and how close Draco often was to him.

�� Hogwarts.

�� They were
high enough now that Harry could see the whole of the castle, the lake, the
Quidditch Pitch, and a good part of the Forbidden Forest. He felt a wave of
fierce, tender love sweep over him. This had been his first home, even if the
house where he lived with Ginny was his home now. He would give his life to
defend it.

�� He took his
wand into his hand, while all around them the other Aurors and Blood
Reparations workers fanned out. Harry stared to the south, wondering if the
dragons would appear from there.

�� And then a
shrill cry rose from the opposite point of the circle, and Harry spun around.

�� He could
make them out already, dark shapes under the moon,
flying rapidly from the north, their wings opening and closing with a horrific
speed that made Harry swallow. He suddenly remembered that the dragon he had
dueled in the Triwizard Tournament had not flown.

�� What can we really do�

�� And then he
reminded himself that he had survived the encounter with the dragon he and Ron
and Hermione had freed from the depths of Gringotts, and that this was really
the best force they could put together right now. Hermione had called on other
contacts of hers, and they would be coming later, Dragon-Keepers riding winged
horses, but that would take too much time. There had to be someone here to meet the first attack, and protect the
students.

�� There has to.

�� He wondered
at first how they would tell which ones were the Hungarian Horntails and which
ones the Peruvian Vipertooths, but he had forgotten
that the difference in size of the dragons also made a difference in speed.
Seven small, lithe shapes quickly pulled away from the rest, and swooped madly
towards them, while the bigger dragons were still laboring past a tower of
clouds that would obscure the moon.

�� Now,�
Hermione said, her voice stern.

�� Harry knew
what the signal meant, along with everyone else she�d discussed this plan with
before they took to the air, and lifted his wand. �Flamma solaris!� he shouted, and forty other
voices shouted along with him.

�� He later
thought, though he knew it was silly to think about, that his wand and Draco�s
had both reacted at once.

�� Enormous
flares of light struck through the darkness, bringing day into midnight and
providing them with more than enough illumination to see the foe. Harry heard
the eerie, keening wails that were dragons screaming, and suspected the light
had stung their sensitive eyes. He grinned fiercely, and then shot a quick
glance at Hermione. She nodded at him. She knew he was the best choice to
handle one of the Horntails.

�� Four to a
dragon!� she bellowed; she must have cast Sonorus on herself. �More
experienced flyers take the Horntails! Watch out for the riders!�

�� Startled,
Harry looked at the Vipertooths again, who were close
enough now that he could see the smoke rising from their nostrils and the gleam
of the long front teeth for which they�d been named, and realized that there were humans sitting on their backs. He
grimaced.

�� So much for not being able to domesticate
dragons, he thought, and then whipped his broom into motion.

�� He charged
past the Vipertooths, with Draco right beside and
slightly below him, but did take the moment to cast a host of small stinging
spells, which he knew would burrow under the dragons� scales and drive them
mad, if he was lucky. If the riders� control of their mounts was fragile, it
might even break them free altogether.

�� One Vipertooth began thrashing and screaming just then, and
though Harry didn�t know if he could take credit for that, he liked to imagine
he could.

�� They passed
beyond the original range of the flare of sunlight, and he heard the first
yells of exploding battle as the broom-riders began to close with the Vipertooths. Silently, he wished them well, and then cast
the sunlight spell again. The Horntails were drawing near with terrible speed.

�� One large
one attracted his attention immediately. He could make out the makeshift bridle
that straddled the head, and the reins that led back to the hands of the
rider�a heavily cloaked witch. Her face was well-lit, but still hidden entirely
by a mask of black and purple worked in abstract designs.

�� Harry felt
his face wrinkle into a snarl.

�� He did think it right that he engage with
the Masked Lady, who seemed so very anxious to kill him and break Draco.

*

�� Draco knew
immediately what kind of dance the contest with the Horntails would be�a dodge
and duck and dart, the intense competition that his Quidditch games with Harry
had been. Seekers would do well there. He hesitated for the merest moment,
wondering if he should attack a Horntail himself.

�� But then he
shook his head and stuck close to Harry. He had a responsibility, and both his
own choice and practicality dictated he should stay where he was.

�� He gave a nod
when he saw the masked woman on the Horntail Harry was heading for. Another
advantage of his position was clear now: he had the chance for a little
personal vengeance.

�� Harry
shouted something of which Draco could hear only the words, ��you were dead!�
But he heard the Masked Lady�s response, calm and clear as though there were
still air and not wind between them. Maybe the spell she�d used to disguise her
voice�of course it would be disguised�gave her words other properties as well.

�� I regret
that you are my enemy. I am only doing this for my own chance to take
vengeance.�

�� And then
she made some gesture with her wand, and the Horntail opened its mouth and
breathed fire.

�� Draco was
already rolling in evasive maneuvers, of course, and compared to dodging Bludgers, which moved in several different directions
within a few moments, Harry must have thought this was child�s play. Draco
righted himself and smiled when he saw Harry not only still on his broom, but
above the Horntail, hurling curses at the Masked Lady. It was a good strategy:
kill the human rider, and the dragon would probably go wild, which might mean
disaster but at least was unlikely to keep them heading straight at Hogwarts.

�� And then
Harry laughed.

�� Draco�s
smile died at the sound of that. Harry sounded�wild. Mad. As though he had forgotten rational rules of battle and just
wanted to hurt his enemies.

�� Draco
pulled up, studying the situation with one hand on his wand, his peripheral
vision telling him the other dragons had passed on and they were now in the
rear of the battle. Flares of fire stitched the air in various places, and there
were nearly constant screams, but no one was heaving up beside them to aid the
Masked Lady. He and Harry should pull back and make a combined attack.

�� Instead,
Harry attacked with any curse that came to his lips, some wasteful, designed
only to cause pain. Draco ground his teeth, and started flying again, readying
himself to aim a Conjunctivitis Curse at the dragon�s eyes. It was the only
thing he could think to do.

�� And then a
movement attracted his attention, and he turned his head.

�� The Masked
Lady had excellent control of her dragon, and Harry had forgotten what breed he
was fighting. As Draco watched, the deadly spiked tail rose and whistled
straight towards his oblivious friend.

�� Draco�s
mind went blank, save for a single long scream of rage and frustration.
Luckily, his body had better sense, and was already bent flat along the broom
as he flew.

*

�� Harry no
longer felt as though he were transparent to any eyes that wanted to watch his
wavering torch of guilt. It had gone to light the larger conflagration blazing
in him, the happy, dancing, joyous fury caused when he saw the Masked Lady
clutching her bleeding, broken arm, and knew that he had wounded her.

�� He saw the
tail out of the corner of his eye.

�� He was
reacting before he knew it, barrel-rolling to the side so that the tail would
go past him. But he had moved too soon, or the dragon was faster than he had
assumed, or it could change the direction of its tail at the last moment
despite all the weight behind it.

�� The blow
connected along his ribs. Harry shuddered and cried out as he heard his bones
shatter like hot fat popping, and then the pain came, and his hands opened, and
he fell from his broom.

�� Darkness
and light and moon and stars and scales and blood flew past him, and Harry knew
he would be dead before he hit the ground. He was still fighting in his mind,
but his eyes were closing and the wounds along his side were hurrying the life
out of his body as though they had decided independently on suicide.

�� And then
arms caught him, snatched him, flew with him for a moment, and stopped his fall
by drawing him onto a broom.

�� And
everything melted in a wash of gold and white.

�� Harry was
gasping, crying, coughing, even as he felt the line of the wounds along his
ribs pull violently together, rejecting death just as his body had rejected
life a moment ago. The bones slammed back into place. Pain kept him helpless
and voiceless for long moments, and then he was aware again, blinking, dazed,
as he watched the life-debt lightning vanish, and knew they were bound by a
sixth scar in the shape of the jagged skin along his side.

�� Draco�s
voice snarled in his ear, �I am going to look unattractive with that scar, Potter. On the
ground, now.�

�� Harry had
no objections, though, as he clung weakly to Draco, he did lift his head to see
what had become of the Masked Lady and her Horntail. He blinked when he could
find no trace of them, and turned his head, thinking Draco must have flown a
long distance horizontally while he was senseless.

�� Nothing. In fact, he could see no dragons towards Hogwarts
when he looked in that direction, either. He shook his head.

�� What
happened?� he whispered.

�� No words,�
Draco said briskly. �Rest.�

�� Harry made
an impatient little noise in the back of his throat, hoping to convey that he
couldn�t rest until Draco told him the truth. Draco sighed into his ear, and
his fingers, locked around Harry�s waist, flexed, digging into the still-raw
wound and making him flinch. Draco paused, then
repeated the motion, more gently but still firmly.

�� Possessively.

�� Harry
banished the word, willed it not to exist, and then listened to Draco�s
explanation.

�� The minute
you fell, the Masked Lady turned her dragon away, and the rest followed. I�m
not sure why. Maybe she thought you were dead, or she�d been too badly wounded
to continue fighting, or she knew that the attack wasn�t going to achieve what
she�d wanted it to. Roasting helpless children in their beds,
most likely.�

�� Harry
giggled at the venom in Draco�s tone. �See?� he muttered, drunk and dizzy with
relief and joy and pain. �You do have a sense of ethics, after all.�

�� Shut up, Potter.�

�� He sounded
serious, for whatever reason, and so Harry sobered and watched Hogwarts come
nearer and nearer in silence. He could feel something new struggling to be born
in his mind, anyway.

�� Maybe it
was a revelation about the Masked Lady, or the stupidity of revenge. He could
wait for it.

*

�� Draco�s
hands were shaking as he stared down at the infirmary bed where Harry lay. Even
though the life-debt had healed him completely, the school matron had still
insisted that Harry stay here with the other casualties of the battle, so that
she could check him over. Draco had called Harry�s wound �small,� though,
having no idea how he�d reveal the truth otherwise, and currently the mediwitch
was on the other side of the room, examining a protesting Granger.

�� He looked
at Harry, and the only thought that could pass through his clogged mind was, I almost saw him die in front of me.

�� The emotion
was the same in degree, though not in kind, as he had felt that morning when he
watched Scorpius in the coils of the Blood Hydra.

�� I don�t care what he thinks. We�re so
bound�and by six of them, now�that there�s no going back. I won�t push, but if
he tries to step backwards, I�ll hit him so hard that he�ll think it was another
dragon.

*

�� Harry looked
up at Draco. Draco�s eyes were bright and nearly frantic with worry. He touched
Harry�s forehead, over the lightning bolt scar whose twin he bore, with a
tender hand. Harry felt the revelation rising further and further to the
surface of his mind as he lay there. He really didn�t want to look at anything
other than Draco, despite the earlier temptation to lift his tattered robes and
examine the new scar over his ribs.

�� The
revelation rose fully.

�� A warm
weight turned over in his stomach, like an egg rolling in syrup.

�� Holy God, I�m in love with him.

�� Harry�s
eyes flared open. Draco said something, but Harry didn�t hear it over the
sudden pounding of blood in his ears.

�� No. No, I can�t be. Please�

�� But the
evidence was immediately in his mind, and relentless. His arousal with Draco
wasn�t happening around other men,
the same way his arousal with Ginny didn�t happen around other women. He�d
wanted Draco to stay behind and safely out of this war, the same way that he�d
tried to keep Ginny safe by breaking up with her before the Horcrux quest. He
wanted to be near to him, he trusted him, he wasn�t panicked that Draco knew
his guilt about George or even at how well Draco could read him, he missed the
dreams of him that he hadn�t had tonight, he missed him every time he wasn�t around, he was ready to defy one of his oldest
friends to stay with him�

�� He was in
love.

�� Harry
shuddered twice, a low whine rising in his throat, tears prickling against the
outside of his eyelashes. He didn�t want
to be in love with someone other than Ginny. He could envision the troubles
this would bring, and he didn�t want
them.

�� Not this, not this on top of everything
else!

�� But he knew
it wouldn�t go away. If nothing else, the life-debts would always be there to
remind him.

�� And so he
took a deep breath, and forced down the impulses to complain and ask for
comfort�he had chosen this road, at least with part of him�and then looked up
at Draco and managed a faint smile. He would tell him, of course. It wouldn�t
be fair to keep it from him.

�� And at the
same time, he could show Draco why a sexual relationship between them could
never work, why this really changed nothing.

�� It will end his suspense over me. I can help
him move on. And shouldn�t my highest priority be his happiness, when I�m
really in love with him?

*

�� Myra: So
glad you liked that chapter! And I never thought I�d hear Harry described as a
git for keeping silent�but he is at least a git for not accepting Draco�s help.

�� It Is On
XB: I think George�s request was cruel, but it was Harry�s choice to honor it,
so he did.

�� Draco will
be getting better and better at Harry-reading. And after the next chapter,
Harry gets better at Draco-reading.

�� Well�maybe
George�s use of the past tense indicated that Ginny and Harry should both move
on. Maybe not. ;)

�� Keyboarding:
I�m sure you can see some of the factors building towards the Ginny-Harry
explosion after this chapter.

�� Mariahs_fantasy, Mangacat,
spaghetti, thrnbrooke, Amiyom,
Chris: Thank you for reviewing!
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I Give You a Wondrous Mirror