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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.

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Chapter
Forty-Two�Different Worlds

�� I think I
need to hear this explanation again,� Harry said finally. �In terms that I can
understand, this time. Which means�� He darted a glance at Draco, who just
blinked. He didn�t see why Harry should blame him for this. �No abstract magical theory.�

�� Julia
nodded. She had led Harry and Draco away from their children and Narcissa as
soon as possible, into a secluded sitting room where they could talk without
interruption. She had her arms folded across her lap now, in a gesture that
Draco would have thought meant she was cold if she were human. As it was, with
her eyes darting back and forth between them, Draco thought it might just mean
that she was keeping herself from restless movements that would unsettle Harry
further.

�� Very
well,� she said. �There has always
been another world coming into existence, Mr. Potter. What did you think the
mirrors and dreams were doing? They were showing you�and constructing, when you
were asleep and refused to look into the mirrors�the world that could have
been, if you had chosen the honor the life-debts from the moment that you gave
his wand back to my nephew, instead of marrying your wife.�

�� Harry shook
his head lightly. �But that world��

�� This
world,� Julia corrected him. �The one you�re living in now, where you and my
nephew have satisfied the life-debts by giving yourselves to each other, and
where I don�t intend to be summoned out of my crypt to deal with this again anytime
soon.�

�� Harry
nodded this time, looking abashed, though Draco didn�t know why; he was hardly the one who had summoned
the Malfoy ancestors. �But this world
didn�t actually exist until we came into it. Did it?�

�� No. But
once you came into it, it had always existed.�

�� Harry
closed his eyes and massaged his forehead with one hand. Draco felt a burst of
affection and a burst of exasperation at the same time. Really, the magical
concepts behind this were not that
complicated, or shouldn�t have been for someone like Harry, who had lived
through so many strange magical events in his life. He really should have paid
better attention in school, Draco thought, taking a grip on his hand.

�� I think,
Aunt,� he said, �that Harry is having some trouble in figuring out which world
is real�this one, or the one where a version of himself still lives with his
wife.�

�� They both
are,� Julia said quietly. �Think of it this way, Mr. Potter. If you take a
cloth and tear it into two strips, but do not tear it completely, so that the
strips are still connected by a small string at the very end, which is the real
cloth?�

�� They both
are,� Harry said, opening one eye and frowning at her.

�� Julia
smiled triumphantly. �And so is the case here. These two worlds do share a
common origin. Every bit of their history up until ten years ago is the same.
But in this world, you chose to stay with my nephew and fulfill the four
original life-debts by the giving of yourselves to one another. That means that
you never married your wife, you have been an Auror, and you have been lovers
with Draco for ten years�exactly as the dreams told you. The dreams were so
vivid because the life-debts would not simply have plopped you into another
world without a history. They wanted you to have memories, a chance of living
in another place and knowing each other��

�� But that part isn�t real.� Harry looked as
though he had scored a point in his argument with himself.

�� Yes, it
is,� Julia said patiently. Draco held himself back from battering the truth
into Harry�s head, though he would have liked to. Julia could explain it
better. �The dreams became real when you landed here. If you examine your body,
I think you will find scars that come from adventures you dreamed.�

�� But the
history I lived through�� Harry glanced at Draco. �That is the real history. It has to be.�

�� It was
real to you until a few hours ago,� Julia said quietly. �Now, it is not. Now,
it is the history of the Harry you left behind, and it is only as real to you
as the dreams were real to you while you lived in that world.�

�� Harry
groaned under his breath. �So, in this world, I was never married to Ginny? I
never worked in the Blood Reparations Department?�

�� Yes,� said
Julia.

�� But then,�
Harry said, as if pulling out a trump card, �how did I have my children? If I
wasn�t married to Ginny��

�� You will
have to ask Narcissa about that, I should imagine.� Julia spread her hands.
�Remember that I have also split into two, so that there could be a Julia in
either world. I share memories and knowledge with you, since you told me about
the dreams. But because none of your dreams included your former wives, I do
not know what their fate here might have been.�

�� And there
are so many other things that we don�t know,� Harry whispered, sinking into
Draco�s side. Draco felt him shiver, and rubbed his shoulders encouragingly.
�The memories that my friends have of the past ten years. What Draco does for a
living. What Narcissa will think of us asking questions about our wives...�

�� Ah,� said
Julia. �That, I can answer. There
needed to be some explanation in this world for why you shut yourselves up in a
room with a mirror, after all. This version of your mother, Draco, told me that
you were conducting a magical experiment together�something that I believe has
to do with your occupation here. You had told your mother that you might be a
bit woozy when you came out of it, and take some time to regain your memories.
She will be prepared for odd questions that you ask her.�

�� Draco
smiled. �Thank you.�

�� I have one
more question,� Harry said. �I�ve resigned myself to not understanding
everything, if I have to.� But his lips were clamped shut, his nostrils
flaring, and Draco thought he would probably take another run at understanding
soon. �What will happen in that world we left behind? What will happen to�that
version of myself who has my old history now, and my marriage vows, and my
obligations?�

�� Julia�s
smile twisted upwards. �For that,� she said, �you must look into a mirror.�

*

�� Narcissa
smiled kindly and shifted Lily from one arm to the other so that his little
girl could more easily reach the bottle she held. �It�s understandable that you
would forget about Weasley and Marian for a little while in the wake of a
powerful magical explosion, Harry. After all, you and Draco have focused on the
children and not the women who produced them.� She looked down at Lily with
such a besotted expression that Harry found himself smiling in spite of his
anxiety.

�� Draco had
barely left his side since they came through the mirror. Harry was glad of
that. Whenever he needed to be reassured that he hadn�t gone mad or wasn�t
suffering through some extended dream that gave him whatever he wanted but
would demand a horrific price on his waking, he could lean sideways and feel
Draco�s warmth against his flank. Draco always squeezed his hand when he did
that.

�� Marian was
a contract, of course,� said Narcissa, and stroked the red fuzz forming on
Lily�s head. �The pure-blood families have often done such things, in cases
where a man or woman wanted children but did not want to marry, and as long as
the legalities are respected, then such children are not any more looked down
upon than the progeny of a legitimate marriage. Marian was an applicant who
indicated that she would be willing to produce a child for Draco, but only one
child. Her family did not so much pressure her to have an heir of her own as
pressure her to bear a child so that she would seem like a woman in the eyes of
a few of her older relatives.� Narcissa sniffed. �She would not have been the
less a woman for remaining childless. But the ideals of the MacFusty clan are
not mine.

�� She
contracted with Draco, had sex with him once, and carried Scorpius to term. She
comes now and then to visit her son, but in truth, she does not seem all that
interested in him.�

�� Draco
trembled. This time, Harry was the one who leaned against him and offered what
reassurance he could. He could only guess how relieved Draco must be, that in this world Marian was not the kind of
mother who would seek to kidnap his son from under his nose.

�� Your
arrangement with Weasley was more complex.� Narcissa smiled at Harry, but there
was a shade of pity in it. �She has been in a long-term relationship with that
fellow�who is he, I can never remember his name, but he is the Seeker for the
Montrose Magpies. But at any rate, he cannot give her children. She wanted
children, and she knew that you did as well, even though neither of you could
have stood to live in a permanent bond with one another. So you agreed, out of
a friendship that I still do not
understand, to have a few children together. I think Weasley found the
experience less pleasing than you did. The moment she had a daughter, she ended
the agreement.� Narcissa glanced down at Lily again and ruffled her hair. �And
who would not have at least waited for this wondrous girl to be born?� she
whispered.

�� Harry
relaxed a little. At least, in this world, even if this version of Ginny had
some of the same issues that his�

�� Or, really,
the other Harry�s�

�� Ginny did,
she had not let them control her relationship with her children. She could
easily keep her distance from them, here, if she found herself growing
irritable and snappish with them. And Narcissa would be the most adoring mother
Lily could ever want.

�� Thank
you,� Harry said, when he realized that Narcissa had finished her recitation
and was staring expectantly at him. �It does seem strange that I can�t remember
this, yet, but I think bits and pieces of the memories are starting to come
back to me.�

�� Draco
nodded. �To me, as well.�

�� Narcissa
smiled at them, and stood to kiss Draco on the forehead. Harry was more than
startled when she kissed him there, too, right over the scar, without a flinch
or a hesitation. Perhaps that was only her usual routine in this world where he
had been part of her family for ten years. She wandered out then, cradling
Lily. Harry and Draco sat in silence for a moment. Harry could hear the shouts
of James and Al squabbling over something, with Teddy�s and Scorpius�s gentler
voices joining in now and then.

�� And because
they were alone, he felt free to turn to Draco and ask, �Do you think what we
did was wrong?�

*

�� Marian will keep her distance. I have
Scorpius and Harry in this world, and not her. That is wonderful.

�� Draco was
so full of his own thoughts that it took him a moment to wrench free of them
and consider Harry�s question. When he did, he frowned and studied his partner
more closely. Harry was staring at him and gnawing on his lip, a good sign that
he was close to interpreting Draco�s silence in the wrong way.

�� Draco put
his arms around Harry and kissed him first, for reassurance and for the sheer
pleasure in feeling the flex of real muscles
under his hands and real lips beneath
his, without the nagging marriage vows to drive Harry from his embrace. Harry
gasped and opened his lips eagerly. The sensation was both delightfully new and
wonderfully familiar, given that Draco knew it from the dreams they�d shared.

�� Harry let
Draco bear him backwards until Draco was entertaining serious thoughts of
locking and warding the door and making up for all the times they had missed
right here, but at last Harry raised a hand and placed it firmly on Draco�s
chest. Draco sighed, recognizing the signal that he wasn�t about to get
everything he wanted right at the moment. He sat up, but kept his arms locked
in place around Harry. He would never get enough of holding him.

�� Why would
it be wrong?� he asked.

�� Because,�
Harry said, �of the way that things are probably going in the other world. We
left�well, me there, and you, and their children, with wives that
they don�t love. How can they possibly have happy lives? Do we deserve to have
happiness when it comes at their expense?�

�� This was
always going to happen,� Draco said, as calmly as he could, because of course Harry would try to ruin his joy
with pesky ethical considerations like that. Stupid Gryffindor. �The life-debts would have kept tugging until
you either changed your mind about uniting with me��

�� I never
could have done that,� Harry murmured, and buried his face against Draco�s
shoulder.

�� Or until
the worlds split.� Draco ran his hands up and down Harry�s back, nudging the
robes aside so he could reach warm, yielding flesh. �They had to come true, and
so did the marriage vows. What other solution do you imagine existed?�

�� I can�t
think of anything,� Harry admitted. �I just wish that there was a way to keep
everyone happy, for us to have what we wanted, and yet give Ginny and Marian
what they wanted, too.�

�� Draco
closed his eyes and sat in thought for a moment. There was no way that he would
ever be in perfect agreement with Harry; he despised Marian too much, and he
loathed Ginny Weasley for what she had done and tried to do to his lover. But
perhaps he could find the words that would persuade Harry to see things his
way.

�� Think of
it like this,� he said slowly. �There�s at least a chance that those other
versions of ourselves will find happiness, isn�t there? The life-debts won�t
come true in that world. That means those versions of ourselves have to change
their minds about being lovers. You�ll probably go back to your wife, and
I�ll�content myself with something else.� The words stuck in his throat, but he
knew they were true. He wasn�t the kind of person to spend the rest of his life
pining over someone else. Harry would have been the first choice even of his
other self, he was certain. But he could live without him, at least now that he
was out of the gray apathy that had consumed his life for ten years in that
world. �There�s at least the chance that new love can grow, and that you and
Weasley will reconcile, and that I�ll come to some accommodation with Marian
about Scorpius.�

�� There�s
the chance,� Harry echoed bleakly. �But we don�t know.�

�� Draco opened
his eyes swiftly. �That�s right,� he said. �And now that we�re in a world where
the life-debts haven�t scarred us like they did before, because we accepted
them from the beginning, I�m the one who has to work to make sure you put your
own happiness first. There�s nothing we could have done that would be perfect,
Harry. There�s no way back now. Julia said that much. For the rest of their
lives, and ours, we�ll only be images in mirrors to them, and they to us. And
you�ll have to get used to that.�

�� Harry was
quiet. Finally he murmured, �I reckon I never got used to being happy without
someone else paying a price for it.�

�� I think
the price is acceptable,� Draco said firmly. �And just in case you don�t, I
think I can change your mind.� He leaned down and fastened his lips on Harry�s.

�� Harry
responded almost desperately, his hands clawing up the middle of Draco�s back,
his blunt fingernails claiming their share of skin. His legs opened wide and
twined with Draco�s, as well. Draco hardy minded. Though the experience in the
dream-world had been real in every sense, there was still something special
about actually lying on the real Harry in the middle of the real Malfoy Manor.

�� Along with
real children, he realized, when someone began hammering on the door of the
study, and then Al screamed, �Daddy! James hit me!�

�� Harry began
to laugh against his mouth, and that allowed Draco to sit back and turn his
growl of exasperation into a chuckle. Harry pressed his hand, straightened his
clothes and hair�well, as much as his hair would permit itself to be
straightened, in any case�and laid a quick kiss on his cheek. �Later, all
right?� he whispered, before he slipped off to tend to his sons. Draco could
hear his voice alternating between scolding and reassurance just a few moments
later.

�� Draco lay
back on the couch and stared at the ceiling, his arms folded behind his head.
His breathing slowly returned to normal, and his body ceased to believe it had to feel Harry against it to feel
alive.

�� Instead,
the happiness that had burned in him since they came through the mirror
returned. He clutched it to himself, greedy as he had always been of both
pleasure and joy; the latter had been even rarer in his life than the former.

�� He would
respect Harry�s concerns about the ethics of what they had done. He would give
his partner all the time he needed to adjust to the fact that, here, he
actually had what he wanted.

�� But nothing
could make him decide, for himself, that this was wrong, or that he was not
allowed to feel happiness.

*

�� Harry
nestled his face into Tutela�s soft feathers and tried to keep tears from
coursing down his cheeks. What had seemed true at first really was true: every feature of the first world that he
loved and needed had been duplicated in the second.

�� The
Guardian Angel hooted softly and cupped her foot beneath his chin. He had to
look at her then, and Tutela hooted again, this time more strongly, when she
realized he was crying. She bristled, looking twice as big as she had a few
moments ago, and glared around the garden in search of the enemy who had hurt
her human.

�� It�s all
right, Tutela,� Harry whispered. �It�s joy and sorrow together, and there�s not
much that anyone but Draco can do about that.�

�� She didn�t
look convinced, and scrambled to his shoulder to balance there with wings
spread, just in case. Harry sniffled and wiped his nose with the back of his
hand, desperately hoping he�d kept his tears concealed from the children who
shared the garden with him.

�� Why are
you crying?�

�� He hadn�t
kept his tears from Teddy, at least. Harry turned around to find that Teddy had
turned his hair dark and his eyes green, making himself nearly the replica of
Harry. He watched Harry with a solemn gaze, and it was so much like being
watched by an older Al that Harry had answered before he realized that he
didn�t know every nuance of his history with his godson here.

�� Sadness
about your grandmother, I suppose,� he said, with a faint smile. Then he held
his breath and hoped he hadn�t just made a horrible mistake.

�� Teddy�s
face changed, but it was a tremulous smile that lit it, not the incomprehension
that Harry would have thought would be there if nothing had happened to
Andromeda in this world. �Don�t be, Harry,� he said, and hugged Harry hard
enough to make him gasp for breath a little. �It was just her time. She�d been
unhappy for years, I think, and she wanted to see Mum and Granddad again. So
she left.�

�� Harry
clasped Teddy�s shoulders and nodded, while adding the information to the pile
in his mind that differentiated this world from the original. Andromeda must
have died, either of age or of simple loss of will to live. He had seen that a
few times in his work for the Blood Reparations Department, when he was trying
to track down older Muggleborns who hadn�t been able to bear the thought of
losing their magic.

�� But here he
didn�t work for the Blood Reparations Department, did he? He was an Auror. Just
as he had thought he might want to be the last time he was in Hermione�s office
in the other world. An Auror was sometimes in danger, but he had a partner,
someone to watch his back. And he didn�t work under a friend who had hardened
too much for Harry�s peace of mind.

�� Who was his
partner here? What cases had they solved? The dreams hadn�t often included information
like that, choosing instead to concentrate on the intimate detail of his and
Draco�s lives. Harry supposed that made sense. The life-debts had wanted them,
first and foremost, to be happy and comfortable with each other, and a lack of
history for themselves would have counteracted that.

�� Thank you,
Teddy,� he said, and hugged his godson one more time before he stepped away. �I
should be the one comforting you, not the other way around.�

�� Teddy
shrugged, smiling a little, even though his eyes looked old and haunted�eyes,
Harry thought, that the Teddy in the world where Andromeda had been cursed to
sleep forever probably also had. �I thought it was coming,� he said. �I didn�t
talk about it often, because she didn�t like me to; she thought I should
concentrate on life, not death. But I wasn�t really surprised when I woke up
the other morning and she was gone.� He paused and looked up at Harry with the
first trace of anxiety he�d shown, other than the moments immediately after he
rushed into the room where Harry and Draco had conducted their �experiment.�
�But you are going to file the adoption request, aren�t you? You�re going to
make me yours as soon as you can?�

�� Of
course,� Harry said firmly. �I�ll do that now, in fact.� He was sure that he
could owl to the Ministry for the necessary information if he didn�t find the
documents somewhere in the Manor. �Would you like to watch? I might need you to
sign something, anyway.�

�� Teddy�s
eyes were so bright that Harry stifled another impulse to cry. Tutela, on his
shoulder, finally hooted and smoothed her feathers back into place.

*

�� Harry?�

�� Harry
looked up in surprise. Draco had left him by himself for some hours while he
talked with his mother and put Scorpius to bed. Harry, who was preoccupied with
other paperwork for Teddy and putting his own children to sleep, actually
hadn�t expected his lover back so soon. He was currently writing letters to Ron
and Hermione that would, delicately, feel out the present nature of the
friendships between them.

�� He rose and
crossed the study to Draco when he saw the strain in his face, though. �What is
it?� he whispered.

�� Draco took his
hand and lifted it to his lips. Harry waited patiently, eyes fastened on his
lover�s face.

�� I think,�
Draco said, �that we ought to look in a mirror.�

*

�� Thrnbrooke,
Mephistedes, paigeey007, Amiyom: Thanks for reviewing!

�� Lilith:
Harry and Draco will shortly find out how the other-world Ginny is taking it.

�� AlcyoneBlack:
Thanks! And yeah, the mirrors were important; I thought anyone who figured the
truth out would do it by considering the mirrors.

�� Mangacat:
Well, this chapter should answer the question about the children! And yes,
there are versions of the children in the other world still. In the ones,
everyone has memories appropriate to this new timeline.

�� Myra: Thanks!
I suppose you could say in a sense that this is an old idea, since it�s an AU,
but I think how I achieved it was new.

�� DarklessVision:
Won�t be very much longer! There�s one more chapter, and an epilogue.

�� Listener:
You�re an insightful reader! Yes to both: Harry and Draco will see the other
reality in the mirrors, and there will be an epilogue scene from this reality.

��
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I Give You a Wondrous Mirror