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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.

Chapter List
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30th May 1993: Early Morning

"Ginny?" Harry said gently as he and the rest of the united group made their way back to the entrance which would take them back into the girls' bathroom, Fawkes flying silently over their heads. "How did you get this?" He enquired, holding up the punctured, ink soaked diary.

A slight blush covered Ginny's cheeks and she looked away awkwardly. "You dropped it on that day in Diagon Alley. I kept it because I...I thought it was your diary."

That was unsurprising for Harry considering he had already figured out the girl had a slight crush on him and maybe if he did keep a diary he would have been more annoyed. As it was, he only smiled at her reassuringly, placing a hand on her shoulder, and said, "Don't worry about it."

"There's something I don't get." Ron spoke up suddenly, with a confused frown on his face. "That...You-Know-Who was only sixteen years old, right? So how did he know so much about you, Harry? I mean, he didn't even attack you until 1987."

"That...That was my fault." Ginny admitted quietly. "He, Tom, kept asking about you after I told him who you were so I told him everything I knew. Then, when he wanted to know even more, I began to do some extra research. I guess, after he knew everything there was to know, he pieced it all together himself. I didn't know what I was doing though, it was like when he had me write the messages on the walls, I can't even remember most of what I told him!"

"What sort of research was it you did?" Harry asked in nothing more than a kind, reassuring tone.

"I think I remember, vaguely, looking at newspaper articles about the first attack on you and..." She hesitated then and gulped lightly. "I...I think I contacted the Ministry, pretending to be Dad with some spells Tom taught me or at least made me do, and looked at some of the more classified files about that day."

"Oh Merlin Gin!" Ron almost moaned. "Dad could get in really serious trouble for that!"

"No, no, it's all right, it'll be all right." Harry quickly assured upon seeing the girl's eyes fill with tears. "I'm sure that whatever happens, Professor Dumbledore will make sure that everything is thoroughly explained and it's made clear that this was no one's fault. The only important thing is that we're all safe and well." He paused then as he noticed that Potter was struggling to stop Lockhart wandering away from them as he seemed intent on exploring everything. "Well, almost all of us anyway."

"He doesn't count." Ron grunted from where he was walking beside his little sister. "The only reason the prat's like it is because he tried to do it to you."

"What will happen to him now?" Ginny enquired quietly as they all paused to allow the professor and Potter to catch up to them.

"He'll be sent to St. Mungo's most likely." Harry replied. "They might be able to break the spell and retrieve his memories. If not, he'll probably stay in the psychiatric department for safe-keeping until he has enough sense to lead his own life again."

"Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke." Ron muttered as they all started walking again now that Potter and Lockhart had caught up with them.

"How is it that I got stuck looking after the loon?" Potter demanded as he stomped along slightly behind Lockhart, occasionally shoving the older man forward to keep him moving.

"Because you've spent the most time with him while we were off saving Ginny." Harry replied, delighted that Potter was suffering the even more annoying man.

"You're the one who's into all that helping people crap though."

"I am helping people." Harry told him easily, glancing at him over his shoulder. "I'm helping Ginny by enlightening her of Lockhart's fate."

"That's not helping, that's showing off."

"No, showing off would be if I was spouting the information with no cause. This is just answering a question and being helpful." The older boy corrected just as they entered the small area in which they had originally entered, the one where the ground was littered with lots of little bones.

"Hey, do you hear something?" Ron asked curiously as he stepped up to the hole at the end of the tunnel they had all come out from at the very beginning.

They all stayed as silent as possible, Potter gripping Lockhart's arm tightly to stop the man from wandering around and cracking the bones beneath their feet. Very slowly, they all caught onto the sound. It was someone speaking, though they could not make out the words which were being spoken; no doubt they were too far away. The tone was rather frantic however and it faded away before coming closer and then faded away again, suggesting that whoever it was who was speaking was moving around, closer and then further away from the entrance into the Chamber.

"Who do you think it is?" Ginny asked somewhat fearfully.

"It can't be anything bad." Harry reassured her as he stepped right up to the hole, beside Ron. "After all, we solved the problem and got rid of Voldemort's..."

"Tom." Ginny interrupted him quietly.

"Pardon?"

"His name was Tom."

"He's gone now." Harry said simply. "There's nothing to be afraid of anymore." With that said, he turned back to the tunnel above him. "Hello up there?" He called into it, his voice hopefully echoing all the way up.

"Who's down there?" That was definitely McGonagall's voice which replied.

"Professor McGonagall? It's Harry."

"Haryon? Goodness me, what in Merlin's name are doing down there?" The Scottish professor's reply came swiftly.

"We came down to save Ginny Weasley: me; Ron; Potter; and Professor Lockhart." Harry explained, peering up into the seemingly never ending darkness which was the tunnel.

"Haryon?" That was Severus's voice.

"Father?"

"Are you all right?"

"Yes Father, I'm safe, we're all safe, Fawkes is down here with us, he'll fly us up." After that he turned to the rest of his companions and then tilted his head up to where Fawkes was perched on a sticking out bit of the wall. "Come here Fawkes, please." He requested, holding out his arm. The phoenix did as it was asked and glided down to them, landing on Harry's offered arm. "All right, Lockhart can hold onto Fawkes as he's probably strongest, Potter holds onto him, Ron holds onto Potter, I hold onto Ron and Ginny will hold onto me, right?"

"Why do I have to hold onto Lockhart?" Potter complained.

"Because I said you do." Harry answered simply as he walked over to Lockhart and gently led him over to the hole.

"I'm sick of listening to you..."

"Potter," Harry interrupted abruptly, turning to glare at the boy. "Who, out of the pair of us, has defeated Voldemort three times in the last five years?" He paused as though waiting for an answer. "I have." He answered himself after the silence. "Now, when you've managed to defeat Voldemort three time in five years, maybe then I'll listen to your complaints. As it is, they do nothing more than give me a headache so if you could kindly shut up, I'd very much appreciate it." Not letting enough time pass for Potter to give a decent come-back to that, Harry turned towards the Obliviated professor who was looking around himself curiously. "Professor Lockhart?" He said gently, resting his free hand on the man's arm.

"Oh, are you talking to me?" Lockhart asked curiously, alerted by Harry's hand on his arm.

"Yes I am, Sir." Harry confirmed in a soothing voice, a voice one may have used around an animal they were expecting to freak out at the drop of a pin. "There's something you have to do so that we can leave this place. You see this bird here? Well, his name is Fawkes and he's going to fly us up this long tunnel here. All you have to do is hold onto his legs as tightly as possible; you don't need to worry about hurting him, he can take it. Now, do you think you can do that?"

"Are you sure that thing's going to be able to carry me? It looks awfully small."

"I'm sure, Professor. Now, if you'll just take hold of Fawkes's legs." Harry instructed as he turned around so that Fawkes was right in front of the tunnel they were about to fly up. The blond man did as he was instructed and took hold of the phoenix's legs. "Alright Potter, grab on."

The younger boy trudged forward while muttering under his breath and took hold of the end of Lockhart's robes.

"Ron." Harry beckoned and Ron grabbed hold of his friend's arm. "Ginny, come here with me. I'll help Fawke's fly off and then I'll be grabbing onto Ron so you already need to be holding onto me."

Ginny wordlessly scuttled over to Harry, shyly allowing him to wrap an arm around her shoulders and wrapping her arms around his waist in return. After checking that everyone was holding onto everyone else firmly, Harry gave Fawkes the boost he needed to take off. The phoenix began to rise steadily, pulling the chain of people along after him. As the chain moved, Harry hurried around to Ron quickly and waited for the right moment. It was when Ron's feet left the floor, the first half of the people-line already having disappeared through the tunnel, that Harry grabbed on to one of his legs. Seconds later, he and Ginny were also leaving the dank Chamber behind, their feet leaving the ground slowly as they rose into the darkness above.

Gradually, as Lockhart gave them a running commentary of exclamations of surprise and wonder, faint light reached their eyes as they flew higher and higher, getting ever closer to the top. When they did reach the top, getting out and getting onto their feet was rather awkward as the ceiling was not high enough to allow Fawkes enough height in order to get Harry and Ginny hovering over the floor. So, what they had to resort to doing was the teachers helping the two Gryffindors on the end before the rest could touch down. Professor Sprout took care of Ginny, supporting the girl securely as she tentatively released Harry's waist. Once they were both out of the way, Severus stepped forward in order to perform a similar process on his son.

Severus held Harry in more of an embrace than anything and when the man's arms were around him completely, Harry gladly wrapped his own arms around the man who usually showed no physical affection in public and gave him a small squeeze. "You went down there in your pyjamas?" Severus murmured in his ear gently and Harry could easily trace the faint amused note in his tone.

"I wasn't given much of a choice in the matter; Ron ambushed me straight out of the bathroom after having a shower." Harry explained with a small grin as he was settled onto his feet just as Ron, Potter, and Lockhart also landed.

"This wasn't your idea then?"

"I didn't even know what was going on until Ron brought me here where Lockhart and Potter were waiting for us." He answered, inclining his head to where Professor McGonagall was trying to sort out Professor Lockhart and Potter, Ron, and Ginny were standing at the side watching in amusement. "He accidently Obliviated himself with Potter's broken wand, he doesn't have any idea what's going, where he is or even who he is."

"A shame really." Severus mused, both of his arms no longer around Harry but one had remained curled around the teenager's shoulders, his robe wrapped around Harry probably to prevent him getting chilly. "I would have had great pleasure in hearing him explain everything that had happened down there."

"You'll just have to put up with our versions."

"After you've been checked out by Madam Pomfrey." Severus replied, turning them around so that they could leave the girls' bathroom. "You appear to be unscathed but I won't be able to concentrate on anything properly until I know for certain."

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30th May 1993: Midday

Harry sighed tiredly as he plonked himself down on the sofa by the fire place in the Gryffindor common room. It had not been a bad fourteen hours or so really: he had saved Ginny's life; he had saved Ron's life; foiled Voldemort yet again; helped kill, (sort of) a basilisk; returned from the Chamber of Secrets completely unharmed; Dumbledore had returned that morning (the majority of the signatures on the Vote of No Confidence had been forged or only signed through intimidation which got Lucius off the hook as his signature had been one of those which had been forged) and promptly awarded him, Ron, and Potter awards for services to the school; an owl had been sent with release forms for Hagrid and, to top it all off, he had been given the day off in order to rest. It was a nice way for everything to end up and it all served as a very important lesson for Harry as well; never doubt the Great Lady because she quite obviously always had a plan up her sleeve to make everything turn out for the best.

Merlin, he was tired though! Over twenty-four hours since he had last slept, plus all the activities he had been participating in when he should have been sleeping was starting to catch up on him. His limbs were heavy and his eyes wanted nothing more then to close and stay closed for a good few hours. He did not want to take a nap or anything though because he knew for a fact he would not be able to sleep that night if he did. Of course, when he was sitting in a very comfortable chair with nothing immediate to occupy his mind, what he wanted counted for little as his body gave into its own demands and, very soon, he had drifted into a light doze.

"Harry?"

Harry's eyes instantly flew open at the sound of his name and his gaze quickly landed on the forms of Fred and George standing at the open portrait hole into the common room. "How comes you guys aren't at lunch?" He asked them curiously and slightly groggily, glancing at the grandfather clock at the side of the room and seeing it was near the beginning of lunch, just as he thought it was.

Neither Fred or George answered him, instead dashing over to him and throwing themselves at him, the dark haired boy who only just managed to move his book out of the way in time. Two sets of arms wrapped around him tightly and two faces buried themselves against him.

"Erm, guys?"

"Thank you." Fred breathed against him.

"Thank you so much." George whispered.

"For what? Saving Ginny and Ron? It was nothing, really, I just did..."

"Don't you dare try and talk yourself out of this." Fred ordered, lifting his head, in as stern a voice as Harry had ever heard causing him to instantly stop talking in surprise. "They told us what happened..."

"...Everything that happened..."

"...You saved both of their lives..."

"...And for that we can never thank you enough."

Harry smiled at them shyly, not really knowing what to say. "Honestly, it wasn't anything special. I mean, anyone would've saved them, or at least tried, if they had been in that situation."

Both ginger haired boys frowned at him lightly. "You're not going to admit that what you did was amazing are you?" George grumbled.

Harry only gave him a weak smile.

"Fine, don't."

"Doesn't matter, we know what you did even if you won't admit it." Fred contributed, copying his brother in snuggling down against their friend comfortably.

A bright blush flared across Harry's cheeks at the position and he fought the desire to squirm away from the shared embrace. He knew this was something the twins wanted, maybe even needed, and who was he to tell them to get off? It was not so bad, he had certainly been in worse situations. And it was near the beginning of lunch time so it was doubtful that anyone was going to walk in and see them all hugging together on the sofa...

"Oh, erm, sorry to interrupt..."

Harry was immediately off the sofa, out of Fred and George's arms, when he heard that mumbled sentence from Oliver Wood as the Sixth Year walked through the portrait hole. That only seemed to amuse the other three boys and they all grinned at Harry much to his complete horror. "You weren't interrupting anything." He muttered, folding his arms across his chest defensively.

"No, of course I wasn't." Oliver replied playfully as he walked further into the room, giving a wink to Fred and George as a sign that he was only teasing. "Sorry you two," he said to the twins. "But the object of your affections is about to be swept away by his third love interest." With that he turned back to the confused looking Harry. "Malfoy's outside, asks if you can go out and see him."

"For goodness sake, doesn't anyone eat lunch anymore?" Harry cried in frustration, throwing his hands up as he turned and made his way out of the common room, pointedly ignoring the fact that Oliver had referred to Draco as his third love interest. He stepped out of the portrait hole and immediately found Draco, leaning against the wall just to the right. "Hey." He greeted the blond simply.

Draco's eyes instantly moved onto him and in a flash of movement, Harry had been yanked into the other boy's arms. "You have got to be the most idiotic, suicidal moron to ever set foot inside this castle." He seethed into the dark haired boy's ear. "It's ridiculous the stuff you put yourself through."

"Father told you what happened then?" Harry guessed, continuing to allow himself to be crushed in his best friend's arms.

"Yes, he did. Merlin Harry, a bloody basilisk! What the bloody hell were you thinking?"

"It wasn't until I got there that I knew what I'd be up against! And once I did know I could hardly have said that I wasn't going to go with them."

"Yes, you could've!"

"Draco, to let them go down there on their own would have been sentencing them to death. They had no chance of doing anything except get themselves killed!"

"And the odds of you coming back alive were any better?"

"Well obviously since here I am, very much solid and non-ghost-like." The Gryffindor pointed out, his tone softening as he realised that Draco was not just being stubborn. He was still scared for some reason. It was though seeing him standing there and having his hands holding his upper arms was not enough to assure the blond that he was all right and completely unharmed, which was strange to say the least. "Draco," he murmured soothingly, moving closer to his friend and, after freeing them, wrapping his arms around the Slytherin's neck. "I did what I had to do and now I'm back and I'm fine. You can see that. Nothing happened to me."

Draco's arms came back around him and held him tightly. "Merlin Harry, when I stayed behind after Potions to ask Sev why you weren't in lesson and he told me...The world just seemed to stop and everything went so cold. I thought he was going to tell me you were in the Infirmary, I thought he was going to tell me that it was like last year and you were unconscious..."

"Hey, hey, enough of that." Harry scolded lightly, seeing that Draco was just getting himself worked up over nothing which, again, was odd. "It isn't like last year as you can see. I'm completely fine, not even any cuts or scratches on me this time."

With that said, the two boys stood there in each others arms for a bit longer, neither speaking as there was nothing to say. Draco seemed to be soaking up Harry's presence as though it alone was some sort of comfort and Harry was more than willing to allow it as long as it helped the blond and there was no one around to see. It was a peaceful, relaxing moment and Draco was positively limp in Harry's arms. However, it all changed when the blond moved to bury his nose against the side of the dark haired boy's neck. The Slytherin suddenly tensed before pulling away quickly and giving Harry a hard look.

"Who's been near you?"

For several moments Harry remained silent having no idea how he was supposed to answer. He searched Draco's expression for some hint of what the boy actually meant and he saw a mixture of what looked a bit like jealousy along with anger and also something else which Harry could not put a name to and could not remember ever seeing it on his best friend's face before. Also, once again, the usual grey eyes were now definitely more silvery in colour.

"Erm, well, Fred and George were hugging me for a while as a thank you for saving Ron and Ginny. They're the only ones for the last few hours that have been really close."

"They're the only ones?" Draco checked carefully.

Harry nodded.

"And only to say thank you?"

Again, Harry nodded.

"They didn't have to hold onto you for so long though; their stink is all over you." He muttered as he pulled Harry back to him.

That was the officially the strangest thing that Draco had ever said to him. He could not smell anything let alone a stink which smelt like Fred and George. What was it that Draco was smelling? Or perhaps there was something to smell there, it was just too faint for Harry to smell. Realisation widened Harry's eyes as he allowed himself to be held. Aunt Narcissa, rest her soul, was killed by Voldemort because she had at least a little Veela in her. Veela blood was genetic. What if Draco was coming into his Inheritance? That would explain the heightened sense of smell and probably the eye thing too. But that explanation also brought up a lot of questions. Harry would not bring it up yet though, just in case he was wrong. He did not want to stir up trouble unnecessarily. He would look into it first, find some books on it or something. It would not be the least bit surprising it that was what was going on with his best friend though.

*********************************************************************

1st June 1993: Evening

The Great Hall was alive with excited chatter as was the usual case at the Leaving Feast, everyone excited about the approaching summer holidays and discussing their plans for keeping in contact with each other. For the first time in a couple of weeks, the Head Table looked the way it was supposed to with Professor Dumbledore sitting in the middle, where he belonged and Hagrid was once again seated and present, having returned from Azkaban that afternoon. Yes, over all, everyone was in a good mood and Harry could not keep the small smile off of his face even as he listened to Fred and George eagerly discussing their up-coming family trip to Egypt which, if he was honest, was not particularly interesting.

"I wonder if they've got Zonko's over there." George mused, staring off into the distance as he prodded at his mashed potatoes.

"Doesn't matter if they do or not, we've been hoarding haven't we?" Fred reminded his brother. "We'll have plenty of ammunition to use of Percy and dear Ronnie-kins."

"Don't you think you should lay off Ron for a while?" Harry suggested. "I mean, considering everything's that happened over the past couple of days."

"Harry, Harry, Harry," George tutted playfully as he shook his head in time with his words.

"It's because of everything that's happened that he'll get worse than usual." Fred told him with a grin.

"It's a sign of affection."

Harry raised an eyebrow at them. "And what's wrong with the usual hugs and 'I love yous' that most people settle for?"

"Any one can tell someone they love 'em..."

"...Or give a hug..."

"...But it takes a certain kind of someone to get Ron so angry..."

"...That his face turns that purpley-red colour."

"The fact we make the effort to do that..."

"...Shows that we care."

"In that case, why don't you torment Ginny like you do Ron and Percy?"

"Because she doesn't get wound up half as easily as those two do."

"And the whole point of doing it is to get a reaction."

"I still don't think it's very nice."

"Are you telling us that you have never done anything to annoy Draco just to get a reaction out of him?" Fred asked sceptically.

"Nothing on the scale you two do!" He insisted, sounding scandalised at the suggestion.

"So we're a little more thorough." George shrugged.

"If you're gonna do something, do it right." Fred added with an odd sort of pride in his voice.

Harry shook his head at the twins's opinions and was just about to change the topic of conversation when he noticed some movement by the doors into the Great Hall caught his eye. He turned his head to look properly and a huge smile spread across his face when he saw that it was a happy, smiling Hermione looking as well as she always did. Upon Potter and Ron seeing her, she ran up to them, drawing the attention of the rest of the Great Hall.

The older Gryffindor watched the reunion between then three younger students, glad that everything really had turned out all right. He was just about to go back to his meal when Hermione caught his eye. She gave him an enthusiastic wave before pulling away from where she was hugging Potter and dashing over to him. Bringing his legs over then bench, he got up onto his feet only seconds before the bushy haired girl threw herself at him. He managed to catch her without tipping over and a bright blush of embarrassment covered his cheeks as he awkwardly patted her back.

"I know what you did in the Chamber of Secrets." She told him, pulling back enough to look at him but not letting her arms drop which Harry sincerely wished she would what with everyone in the school watching them at that moment. "I'm just so glad you made it out all right. You could've died!" She went back to hugging him fully.

"Yeah, well, I didn't, I'm fine, we're all fine." Harry reassured her, still feeling rather awkward under the stares.

Finally, Hermione let him go and they sat down together, Ron and Potter coming up over to join with their friend. People stopped looking over at them and the level of chatter went back to what it had previously been before the Gryffindor girl had entered, leaving Harry to get rid of the blush staining his cheeks.

However, before he could even begin to try that, he felt an intense stare on his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see that Draco was glaring at him, looking positively murderous. Harry blinked at him in confusion a few times before mouthing "what" to him. Draco merely shook his head before looking away, turning to say something to Bethany Zabini who sat to his right. Confused, Harry turned back around and looked down at his plate as though it would give him all the answers in the world.

There was definitely something going on with Draco and Harry was determined to find out what it was before the new school year started.
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Family Means More Than Blood