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Family Means More Than Blood	By : WingsofaDream Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Draco Views: 59825 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 7
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and its associated characters are property of J K Rowling, not me. This story is not being written for profit, just for the lols.

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26th January 1985

It was cold and rainy although it was not raining right at that moment. The sky looked grey because of all the rain clouds and made everything around look grey as well; even the grass looked duller than normal. Harry stood as close to his father as he could, his hand tightly clasped with the larger one, not wanting to let go for anything. Although his eyes felt heavy and puffy, the need to cry had passed now; there were no more tears to cry.

Aunt Narcissa, his dear godmother, was dead, killed by Voldemort and today was the day of her funeral. It had been a small service, immediate family only; only himself, his father, Lucius and Draco remained behind now. It all felt so surreal for so many reasons. He would never see his godmother alive again, though at least he believed she was in a better place, a place where there was no pain and where she would be waiting for them all to join her again. Maybe that was why he no longer cried. What was the worst part, the part that still haunted him and made him feel like he had swallowed a frozen brick, was that he had seen Narcissa die and he had seen who had killed her.

The Dark Lord, Voldemort, he was supposed to be a great man. He had many followers, including members of Harry's own family. Why then, had he killed Narcissa, one of the people who were most loyal to him? And why had Harry seen it all in a dream? It had all felt too real to have just been a nightmare and the fact that the dream came to him a mere week or so before he was pulled out of school for mourning had to be more than just a coincidence. Harry was unsure whether he had seen it actually happen or it was a premonition and it was something that only made his head hurt and his heart ache when he thought about it. He had not told anyone about the dream; he did not want to have to re-live it all again.

He had over-heard his father and godfather talking privately one evening, shortly after he had returned from school in order to mourn and attend the funeral. Lucius was distraught and no longer felt any loyalty towards the Dark Lord and neither did Severus. They were turning traitor and said something about spying for the Light as well which Harry did not understand. But he heard something else which confused and scared him; Voldemort was threatening to kill Draco as well. It was something about their blood; not Lucius', but Draco's and his mother's, that Voldemort disliked and it was because of that dislike that he wanted them both dead. Lucius had said something though, made up an excuse for Draco and, for now at least, Harry's best friend would be safe.

It was all so confusing and frightening. Why would his beloved father support a person who would so viciously kill someone they all loved dearly? Were any of them safe anymore? Would Voldemort kill his father and godfather when he found out they were no longer loyal to him? And would Draco be killed eventually as well? Would he be left alone again, because Voldemort had killed his entire family?

Green eyes flickered away from the grave of Narcissa Malfoy and glanced at the son and husband she left behind. Both looked emotionless, shut off, cold, as did his own father. None of them seemed to be able to cry and that only made Harry's heart ache more. As a single tear slipped from the corner of one of those green eyes, rain began to once again fall.

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30th January 1985 - Morning

Harry knelt on a large pillow by the small alter that he had set up in the middle of the sitting room of his father's quarters at Hogwarts. He still had a few more days of mourning left and, at that moment, he was performing his daily prayers as well as the Mourning Prayer which was customary to perform for at least a week, sometimes two, after the burial or cremation of the deceased. The alter was nothing more than a small table covered by a black cloth with a single, long and slim white candle in the centre. Harry's fingers were loosely laced together just in front of the small, flickering flame, his eyes were shut gently, his face was a picture of serenity though mostly hidden by the hood of his school robe, which doubled as his prayer robes. Behind the cover, his lips moved very slightly as he mouthed the words of the Mourning Prayer.

Unknown to the young boy, his strong faith had helped to ease his grief and he had made his peace with Narcissa's passing with much more ease than the rest of his family. Whereas he was sure his godmother was in a better place and often vented his feelings through his prayers, the others affected: Severus, Lucius and Draco, had no such comfort. They were not discussing their feelings, they were not venting their pain and they did not believe that Narcissa was happier now. They just knew that she was gone and would not be coming back and, as far as they were concerned, they would never see her ever again.

As the last syllable of his prayer left his lips, Harry opened his eyes slowly, taking in the small flickering flame of the candle. He remained in position and silent for a few more moments, in quiet reflection, before he pulled his fingers away from each other. Leaning forward, he blew the candle out with a small puff before getting to his feet carefully. He gently pulled the hood down off of his head and picked up the candle before turning to go into his father's bedroom which he shared when he was staying at Hogwarts. However, he failed to even taken a step forward when his gaze fell onto the dark figure of his father, dressed in his intimidating teaching robes, standing at the open door which led into the rooms.

"How long have you been standing there?" Harry enquired with a gentle curiosity.

"A few minutes; I didn't want to interrupt." Severus answered, his tone even emptier than it usually was.

"You wouldn't have." The young boy assured with a smile as he went back to his original task of putting the candle back with the rest of the stuff in his trunk in his father's bedroom. "Do you have a free period right now? I don't remember you mentioning one." He mused as he came back into the room, heading over to Severus and taking off his heavy white robe as he moved, leaving him in the loose, pale blue cotton shirt and trousers.

"We're needed at Malfoy Manor." His father told him seriously, resting a large hand on his son's slim shoulder when the boy had reached him. "Draco's gone missing."

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30th January 1985 - Midday

Harry shivered a little as he hurried across the fields at the back of Malfoy Manor, the cold January wind cutting through the thin material of his religious garb which he had not had the chance to change out of. He and Severus had arrived a mere few minutes ago and Lucius had all but pounced onto his father, looking the most distraught that Harry had even seen. The young boy had promptly made himself scarce, hoping that finally both his father and godfather would start to talk about their feelings and mourn properly. Meanwhile, he would take care of Draco, the real reason they were there.

Draco had not been seen since first thing that morning at breakfast. Apparently, he had tried to speak to Lucius about his mother but had been promptly been told to be quiet. That had obviously been the wrong thing to say because Draco had burst into tears and dashed out of the dining room. Thinking that his son would simply go to his room, the elder Malfoy thought nothing of it, but upon checking the boy's room later on that morning to finally apologise, he had found it empty. The grounds had already been searched thouroughly by both Lucius and the house-elves and yet Draco still had not been found. Harry was unsurprised by that fact however. He had a pretty good idea where his best friend was and until he had checked said place, he would stop himself from worrying too much.

For the first four years of his life, Harry and lived along with his father in Malfoy Manor with the Malfoys and so he knew the Manor and its surrounding grounds like the back of his hand. In fact, he probably knew the grounds better than anyone else, other then Draco, because there was one place that he was sure that the adults and even the house-elves were unaware yet the two boys were. They liked to call it the Naughty Bush because it was the perfect hiding place to go to when either of them had done something wrong and wanted to avoid a punishment; they would just stay in there until their parents had calmed down and all had been forgiven and forgotten. It was a huge area of plants and trees and shrubbery which oddly had a hollow bit right in the middle which was just big enough for the two seven year olds to crawl in to and sit in comfortably. It was their space, just for them, and Harry was sure that was where he would find his best friend.

Reaching the forests near the end of the grounds where the hiding place was located, Harry allowed himself to slow down, partly because it was hard to get through the forest at the pace he was walking at before but mostly because his legs were getting tired. Another shiver ran through him as a chilly wind blew past him but he ignored it as best as he could, not hesitating in heading into the forest, glad that his boots were so thick and would protect him from all the stinging nettles which he knew practically blanketed the ground. He made sure to keep as quiet as he could so that if Draco made even the slightest sound, Harry would be able to pick up on it.

The plan worked out because minutes later the soft sound of crying reached Harry's ears. He picked up his pace as much as he could, almost having to wade through the thick greenery around him. Upon reaching the naturally made den, Harry searched out one of the two entrances, immediately getting onto his knees and crawling in once one was found. And, low and behold, there, near the edge of the small clear area, was Draco, his arms wrapped around his legs which he had held against his chest, his face hidden against the tops of his thighs. It did not look or sound like he was crying anymore but his whole manner screamed despair.

"I thought this was where you'd be." Harry said with a small smile, his eyes gazing across at the huddled up boy sympathetically. "You're father's really worried about you. I'll go tell him where you are." He said as he started to crawl backwards, out the way he had just come.

"She's not here anymore..." Draco suddenly murmured, his voice so quiet that Harry only just heard him.

The dark haired boy stopped instantly and paused a second before crawling into the space fully. He sat up on his knees and leaned forward slightly, closer to his friend. "What?"

"My mother's not here anymore."

"Oh Draco..."

"Whenever I got scared or lonely, my mother always hugged me." Draco continued tearfully, not raising his head and hugging his legs closer to his body. "And I'm so scared and so lonely right now...But my mother will never hug me again...Never..."

Harry felt tears of sympathy fill his own eyes and his heart ached painfully. Without even thinking about it, he practically threw himself at his best friend, wrapping his arms around the other boy's shoulders in a tight embrace. While Harry was soaked, Draco was relatively dry but the blond did not push his friend away. Neither did he return the embrace however. He seemed stunned more then anything by the contact.

"Why...Why are you hugging me?" Hugging was something the boys had never really done. They were close and they were best friends but they had never actually shared a hug before; the opportunity had never risen really.

"Why? Because...I'm your friend, that's why! And I always will be...So, who says I shouldn't hug you?" The dark haired boy answered, burying his head in between his arm and Draco's neck.

"No...It's all right. I...I feel calmer now..." The blond whispered, his tone still tearful but the actual tears had stopped. "Friendship like ours...That can't ever die, right?"

"Huh?" Harry asked as he pulled out of the hug a little, not understanding what his friend was talking about.

Draco's arms suddenly came around Harry's body in return, stopping him from pulling away any more than he already had. "I mean, you'll never leave me, will you?" The blond boy checked a little desperately, staring up with pleading, bloodshot, grey eyes.

A gentle, caring smile graced Harry's face and he moved forward to hold Draco again. Now that the other boy was holding him back, it was a lot more comfortable and they pressed their bodies together as much as possible, molding against each other pleasantly. "No, I won't ever leave you Draco, I'll stay by your side forever."

"Forever? But...What about when we grow up and we marry other people. Will you still be there for me then?" The question came out in a small, fearful voice which seemed so totally alien to the usually aloof, self-assured boy.

"Yes Draco, I'll stay by your side forever; no matter what, you'll always have me even if you don't want me."

"I'll always want you, Harry, I'll always want you here with me."

And with that, both boys fell silent, remaining locked in each others arms tightly. At one point, several minutes later, they both shifted to lay on their sides on the ground as their knees began to ache from supporting their weight for so long. They kept their arms around each other even as they adjusted their position despite it making everything a little more awkward. They soon found themselves comfortable again though. So comfortable in fact that Draco managed to doze off to sleep. Harry may have joined him if it were not for the fact he was freezing cold.

It was hard to tell exactly how much time passed after that. It felt like an age to Harry but he was not exactly in a very pleasant situation. True, he was having a cuddle with someone he loved dearly and that was warm and soft and nice but everything else which surrounded him was so horrible that it took away from enjoying it completely. The right hand side of his body, the side which he was laying on, was so cold it was almost numb, almost being the key word as he was not numb enough to not feel the ache from the weight of his body which throbbed down his entire side. He found himself unable to stop his shivers most of the time as his body desperately tried to warm him up. And, as it had started raining, the ocassional drop of freezing cold water sometimes fell through the roof of leaves and hit a part of his body. He did not have the heart to wake Draco and head back to the manor though; the poor boy looked like he had not slept in an age and if he could fall asleep in such a cold, uncomfortable place then he obviously needed the rest.

After the "age", Draco's eyelids slowly fluttered open as he woke up though whether he woke from the cold or whether he had just had enough of sleeping was unclear. The blond woke up completely very quickly and his eyes immediately hardened on Harry. For a few, horrible seconds, the dark haired boy was afraid that his best friend was angry that he had continued their cuddle. Those fears were dismissed when the other boy spoke however: "You're freezing." It was an accusation more than anything else.

"I'm fine." Harry assured as he managed to successfully suppress another shiver.

"Don't lie, Harry, how can you not be? You're wearing those stupid pyjamas-things and it's tipping down with rain!" Draco pointed out, pulling out of their embrace and sitting up. "C'mon." He ordered, getting onto his hands and knees and starting to crawl out of the space. "We need to get you inside and in front of the fire. We'll get a house-elf to get you some hot chocolate as well; I think we still have some of those little marshmallows you like left."

Harry obediently followed his best friend out of their little hide-out, accepting the hand he was offered to help him up onto his feet. He was a little startled by the other boy's sudden extreme change in mood but he put it down to having spoken about his feelings a little bit; Harry was a great believer in talking things through, whether it was grief or anger or anything else.

They found that it was actually raining a lot more heavily than they first anticipated, making it hard to see exactly where they were going. Nevertheless, they quickly took off in a sprint in an attempt to keep warm and get inside, in the dry, as soon as possible. At their pace, it was only a few minutes later when the two boys had reached the manor. They both practically threw themselves inside when they were able to and they were greeted with not only the sound of Lucius yelling but also of Severus. Harry once again found himself feeling sorry for the Malfoy's house-elves as Lucius' voice insulted them and Severus' voice called them useless for not keeping a better eye on either of them.

"Why are they so worried? How long were we?" Draco asked with a light frown, pulling off his soggy jumper.

Harry glanced around them and noticed the grandfather cloak in the parlour which was visible through the open doors which led into them. "A good two hours or so." He answered as he shivered glumly.

Draco noticed the shiver and quickly grabbed Harry hand, dragging him into the parlour. "Dobby! Miffy!" He yelled at the top of his voice, his two house-elves popping up immediately even before Harry had stopped wincing from the volume of the blond's call; surely their fathers had heard it as well?

"Young Master Malfoy has returned with Young Mister Snape!" Dobby cried joyously as he and a second house-elf appeared in front of the boys not a moment later.

"Two cups of hot chocolate, one with those little marshmallows and one without right now and I want the fire in the parlour lit immediately." Draco commanded easily, still dragging Harry into said parlour.

"Right away, Young Master Malfoy." Dobby confirmed as he and the other house-elf disappeared to do as they were ordered.

"Thank you!" Harry called out after them.

"You don't need to thank them, Harry." The blond reminded primly, sounding so much like Lucius, as they entered the parlour just in time to meet both of their fathers who each looked rather frantic.

"Draco, where in Merlin's name were you?" Lucius gasped, rushing forward to his son and stopping just short of pulling him into his arms, settling instead on getting down on his knees and resting his hands on each of Draco's shoulders.

Harry watched the father and son interact happily. Both seemed much better than they had been before; he guessed that his father must have done much the same thing for Lucius as he had done for Draco. He was not in the least miffed with the fact that blond man seemed to have settled on simply holding his son's shoulders instead of embracing him; Lucius was completely different from Severus when it came to raising a child, he was not good with physical affection whereas Severus seemed to thrive on it. Thinking on his father, Harry suddenly felt a cold hand on his already freezing and wet shoulder and he tilted his head up to see the dark man now standing beside him.

"Did it take you a while to find him?" Severus asked quietly.

"No, I found him rather quickly but he fell asleep and I didn't have the heart to wake him; he looked like he needed the rest." Harry explained, looking back to the two other occupants of the room who were still talking, probably for the first time in several days. "Did you and Uncle Lucius talk everything out?" He enquired, turning back to look up at his father.

"You think entirely too much of other people, my dear boy." The stern man replied, easily evading the question though it made no difference.

It was obvious by looking at both of the men that they had finally voiced their feeling and it was a huge weight from their shoulders. They were not over it yet, none of them were, and it was very doubtful that any of them would ever truly get over it completely, but they were all feeling better than they had for a couple of weeks. Maybe now that the initial discussions had been had, the three emotionally closed off males would not be so reluctant to talk about it again. Severus and Lucius would comfort each other, Harry would comfort Draco and the Great Lady would comfort Harry.

"Come brat." Severus said affectionately, taking his son's hand in his own. "Let's get you out of those wet clothes and dry you off."

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21st April 1985 - Midday

Harry was once again back at Hogwarts, though this time it was due to much happier circumstances. It was the period known to Havenists as The Moon of the Martyr and for the days of the full moon during April, the death of the saint Morcedai and his becoming of one of the Three Elders was celebrated. That basically meant about a week off of school for Harry. He had already had two days; he had another four and a half days to go.

At that moment, he was laying on the floor of his father's sitting room feeling nothing but boredom. He did not know what to do with himself, hence laying on the floor and staring up at the ceiling for the past several minutes. True, he did have homework to do but he had always been some what of a procrastinator when it came to anything but his prayers. He could have had a wander around the school but everyone would be in lessons at the moment and he was always very aware of the fact he was interrupting lessons when he ocassionally went to wander at times like these. Draco and Lucius were supposed to be coming to visit that afternoon but that was a couple of hours away and it was little consolation for how he felt right at that moment.

With a sigh, he rolled onto his stomach lazily, stretching himself out as he did so. However, when he tilted his head up slightly and his gaze swept over the rest of the room, he froze completely at the sight which confronted him. His breath caught in his throat and he scrambled up onto his knees hastily, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping in a cross between shock and amazement.

Over by the door which led into the bedroom was a figure that he never thought he would ever see again for a life-time. It was Narcissa! It was his godmother, looking as alive and healthy as Harry had ever seen her. She stood in flowing pale blue robes which he did not recognise as being any that she had worn before, gone was the dirt and blood which had covered her face the last time he had seen her in his dream and she was back to her glowing beauty. Her expression was serene and calm and she stood remarkably still, almost like a statue, with her hands joined together in front of herself.

His mouth went dry and his knees felt shakey as he forced himself to stand up. This, seeing her like this, looking so whole, so like she used to be, this could not really be happening, right? Was she just an illusion? A figment to his imagination? Or was she a ghost? She did not look like a ghost, she just looked like a person, like himself; whole, fleshy, solid.

"A-aunt Narcissa?" Harry stammered quietly, taking a small step towards the woman. His godmother smiled at him but said nothing and remained completely still. "Are you...Are you real?" He managed to squeak, his voice unsure, as he stepped forward another few steps. This time, the beautiful blonde woman nodded her head, still smiling warmly.

Harry felt his heart swell with happiness and love as he took another few steps forward, the space between him and his godmother becoming ever smaller. Logic, common sense and anything else which might have made him stop and think about this situation had abandoned him as he drank in the sight of her greedily, remembering everything about her so well.

"Are you..." Harry swallowed back the tears which were suddenly threatening to spill from his eyes. "Are you happy?" Narcissa's smile brightened considerably at that and she nodded enthusiastically though she still managed to maintain her air of cool, effortless grace. "Then that's all that matters." He told her with a watery smile, holding back his tears stubbornly. He paused his steps now that he was only about a foot away and he tilted his head back to look up at her. "This is you saying goodbye, isn't it?" He was unsure how he got to that conclusion; it was simply something which had suddenly occured to him.

The pale, silver-blonde haired woman's smile faded a bit a became a little sad as she nodded her head, her eyes shining with regret and heart ache. Harry took in a steadying breath and nodded too, in acceptance. It was illogical to expect the deceased woman to be around here from then on. She had confirmed that she was happy now and Harry believed with his entire being that she was in the best place possible, living side by side with countless other souls in perfect harmony in the Havanist equivilant of Heaven which they simply referred to as The Eternal Meadow.

"Say hello to the Great Lady for me." Harry said through a half sob and half laugh. Narcissa seemed to find the humour in that as well because her lips curved in amusement and a playful glint shined in her eyes. She nodded however. The young boy took in one more breath, sensing that the end of this farewell was fast approaching and then he would have to wait a life time before he would be reunited with his godmother. "Bye Aunt 'Cissa." He whispered tearfully, using the pet name he used only on special ocassions. That seemed to choke the woman up as tears filled her eyes and a silent sob escaped her before she raised a hand to cover her mouth.

Thinking nothing of it, Harry reached a hand out towards the crying woman, intending to rest a hand on her left hand, which was still at her side, in a gesture of comfort. However, when his hand met hers, instead of stopping and resting on top of warm flesh, his hand continued on through bitter coldness as if nothing was there. A sudden, nerve shattering sensation of complete wrongness abruptly washed over Harry and a terrible ringing began in his ears as his vision clouded and the energy seemed to leave his body like a flood-gate had been opened. One second, he was standing and the next he was slumped face down on the floor, once again completely alone, no sign of Narcissa remaining.

The next thing Harry was aware of was sound. There was a voice, sounding terribly far away, calling out.

"...Ing wrong with Harry! Hurry!"

Harry slowly came back into consciousness to the sound of light, rushing footsteps and someone shaking him constantly. He felt horribly groggy and there was a dull ache right above his eyes but otherwise he was fine. The might be a bruise somewhere on his body in a day or so he thought absently though that idea quickly left him in favour of drawing his attention to whoever it was who was still shaking him and calling his name again and again.

"Stop it, I'm fine." He mumbled as he pushed himself up a little, his upper body lifting off of the ground.

"What happened?" Draco's voice asked fearfully as his arms came around Harry's shoulders and helped him to ease up a little more.

Before Harry could even start to think about formulating an answer, more footsteps, heavier this time, came rushing into the room and the dark haired boy did not need to be facing the door to know who was there. "What happened?" His godfather's voice repeating his son's previous question.

"I...I..." Harry stammered unsurely, undecided about how to exactly answer that question.

As Draco's arms left him and the larger, stronger ones of Severus replaced them, the young boy thought through his options in the space of a few seconds. He could tell the truth but that may have the negative effect of rekindling hope and grief in them all and he did not want that; there was also the issue of whether they would even believe him. Then there was the possibility of fibbing but he had always felt uncomfortable with lying, especially to his father. He wanted to cause as little bother as possible, he did not want to cause any unnecessary worry for any of his family...

"I don't know what happened. I was just going to get a book to do some homework when I felt really dizzy..." Harry explained, going with the lying explanation; illness was easier to investigate and cure than visual hallucinations; none of them would ever believe he had actually seen and spoken with Narcissa.

"I'm taking you to see Poppy." Severus replied simply, heaving his son up into his arms easily.

"Oh no, Father! There's no need, I'm fine now!" Harry tried to insist as he attempted to get out of his father's arms.

"You may feel fine now, Haryon, but passing out is never a good sign; it's best to have it checked up on." Lucius replied gently as he and Draco swiftly followed Severus out of their rooms on the way to the Infirmary.

Harry bit back an exasperated sigh and allowed himself to relax in his father's arms. Why could he have not woken up just a couple of minutes earlier? Then Draco would never have found him and there would not be all this fuss. He would just have to make sure to be extra helpful and careful or his manners for the next few weeks. He truly believed that if he caused his family anymore worry, they would decide he was not worth the trouble and abandon him just like his birth parents had abandoned him.
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Family Means More Than Blood