A second chance at life

Harry and Draco stared at Lily.

“W… what?” Harry croaked.

“Learned from your godfathers?” she sneered.

Harry blinked repeatedly.

“You’re homophobic?” he asked dumbly. Lily rolled her eyes.

“You can call it that,” she said generously. “I call it being normal.”

Draco stood up, not liking the fact they were physically lower than her.

“Get out of here,” he said coldly. “You fucking bitch.”

“I want to chill by the lake,” she protested dramatically. “And I’m a lady. Are you not going to act like the gentleman you were raised to be?”

“I don’t do things halfway,” Draco replied with a cynical smile. “If I behave like a gentleman, I also need to kill you, muggleborn .”

Lily opened her mouth, but couldn’t find a witty comeback, and shut it again.

“You’re still a death eater,” she spat after a moment. “Otherwise killing wouldn’t even be an option for you anymore. You’re both disgusting. Fags. ” She stalked off angrily.

Draco sat back down, breathing heavily.

“Who the fuck does she think she is, to talk to you like that?” he raged. Harry scooted closer to him.

“My mother,” he whispered and lay his head on his boyfriend’s shoulder. Draco kissed his cheek softly before pulling him to his feet.

“Let’s go find Sirius,” he suggested. 

They found Sirius and Remus talking to Professor McGonagall in a hallway and approached them slowly.

“Harry,” Sirius exclaimed happily. “How are you doing, Bambi?”

Harry shrugged and went in for a hug. Remus and Minerva paused and looked at Draco.

“What happened, Draco?” Remus asked, worried. “Did someone say something about his parents?”

“Nah,” Draco sighed. “It was Lily herself.” All three adults frowned, puzzled. “She called us faggots. And disgusting,” Draco elaborated.

“She what?” Remus, Minerva, and Sirius growled in unison, causing the boys to flinch. Sirius tightened his hold on his godson protectively.

“She never liked it when we were overly affectionate together,” Remus recalled. “I guess she just wasn’t able to totally hide her homophobia.”

Professor McGonagall sighed deeply.

“I’ll go talk to her,” she informed them. “It’s not because it’s Harry Potter. We do not tolerate homophobia in Hogwarts.”

“Thank you, Minnie,” Sirius said. “We’re gonna go home for a while now.”

Harry pulled away.

“You think I should tell dad? Why?” he wondered. “All it will do is hurt him.” Sirius nodded.

“It will,” he agreed. “But he’d want to know. That’s what you do when you love someone. You want to know when they’re hurt so that you can help.” As he talked he started leading Harry to their quarters, Remus and Draco close behind.

***

James was blasting his music in the kitchen, dancing around to ‘Fat Bottomed Girls’ by Queen while Regulus tried understanding the recipe from the old cooking book he found.

The music was too loud for them to hear the floo, and James screamed when he suddenly saw people standing in the entrance to the kitchen. Remus turned the music off with a flick of his wand.

“Are you trying to become deaf by the time you reach thirty?” he scolded James.

“Why did you turn it off?” Sirius complained. “It’s a good song.”

“No, no,” Regulus interrupted. “Thank you so much, Remus.”

Sirius grumbled but was distracted immediately by James who came to hug him. James then continued to Harry and Draco.

“Hi, Harry, is this Draco?” he asked brightly.

Draco brought his hand for a shake, and James used it to pull him into a half hug.

“Handshakes are for old people,” he said. Draco chuckled.

“If you say so, Mr. Potter,” he answered politely. James and Sirius gasped and Remus and Regulus rolled their eyes.

“Please don’t call me mister,” James begged, bowing deeply. “I will do anything, your honor, just call me James.”

Draco turned to Harry, confusion written clearly on his face.

“What the fuck?” he asked almost inaudibly.

“They’re being dumbasses.” Harry sighed. “Meet the true faces of James Potter and Sirius Black. Dramatic as fuck. Bottom line, he wants you to call him James. Mister makes him feel old.” Draco nodded slowly, shocked. Regulus approached him with an outstretched hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, cousin,” he smiled slightly. “You’ll get used to their craziness. It’s contagious.”

Draco was lost for words and Harry took his hand.

“I can tell them to chill out,” he whispered to Draco. “They’ll listen.” Draco smiled.

“No, it’s ok. It’s entertaining,” he promised.

“So,” James sat on the couch comfortably. “What brings you here?”

The smiles disappeared instantly. Harry dropped himself onto the couch, thunking his head back onto the headrest.

“I was on a date with Draco, by the lake. Lily saw us there and said that we were disgusting. That we’re disgusting faggots.”

James clenched his fists.

“Bitch,” he mumbled. “When I see her, if I see her, I can’t promise that I’ll be civil. If I could, I would go to Hogwarts now and scream at her.”

Harry giggled and cuddled up to his father, and James looked like he'd been awarded the world.

“I take that back,” he said, ruffling Harry’s hair. “I can promise I won’t be civil. I swear that when I see her I’ll make her regret ever being a bitch to you.” Harry smiled up at him warmly.

“You’re awesome,” he mumbled, blushing immediately. “Way better than I ever imagined you.”

“And that’s saying something.” Remus smirked. “He idolized you his whole life.” Harry punched his arm.

“Tattle tale,” he complained and hid his face in James’ arm. All the others laughed.

“When are we able to stay here until?” Draco asked Sirius.

“Pretty much till whenever we want. The only one that has to be in school is Remus, as a professor. Fucking nerd.”

“Hey,” Harry complained. “I was that fucking nerd until he saved me from it.”

Sirius blinked.

“I meant that he’s a nerd because he… well… come on, Bambi,” he groaned. Harry laughed.

“Movie night?” he suggested, and they all agreed unanimously.

“Wait, Draco,” Regulus tilted his head. “How do you know what a movie is?”

“There’s magical-muggle technology,” Draco explained simply. “Just like we have phones, we also have the internet and everything that comes with that.”

“So how come you never watched a movie?” Regulus directed his question at Harry.

“It never crossed my mind that I’m allowed to do it now,” the boy admitted quietly. “No one ever did movie nights, and it just didn’t occur to me that I can just watch whatever I want.”

Draco sat next to his boyfriend and took his hand.

“Let’s do it then,” he called.

Regulus summoned pillows and blankets, and Remus went to make hot chocolate for everyone, while James scrolled through Disney.

“What’s that movie with a marshmallow?” Harry asked curiously, pointing at the screen.

“It looks cute,” James agreed and clicked on it. “Big Hero Six. Sounds interesting.”

The six of them settled for the movie and James giggled.

“There are six of us,” he noted.

“Don’t even think of going on heroic missions,” Remus warned. “We don’t even know what the movie is about.”

The classic Disney intro started and they all watched in silence, drinking their hot chocolate. The silence didn’t last long though. The Bot Fights got all of the men hyped and focused, Sirius already thinking of a way to build a completely muggle robot like that. As the movie continued they calmed down, but were still extremely invested in it. And then Tadashi died. Regulus whimpered and grabbed Sirius’ hand, and the latter smiled at him softly. Regulus started sobbing.

“Sirius,” he bawled. ”Siri.” Sirius pulled him into his lap, hugging and shushing him gently, whispering reassurances in his ear. Remus paused the movie, blinking tears out of his eyes. Draco rested his head on Harry’s shoulder, watching his cousins with big teary eyes, as Harry petted his head in an attempt to distract himself. James, who was sitting between Regulus and Harry, looked between them, not sure what he’s supposed to do.

“You can continue,” Regulus rasped, not lifting his head from his big brother’s shoulder. “I’m watching.”

The rest of the movie took them on a whirlwind of emotions, ranging from laughing their asses off at Baymax being low on battery, to weeping openly when he showed Hiro Tadashi’s videos.

“That was… intense,” Remus commented as the credits started rolling. Harry yawned hugely.

“And exhausting,” he agreed. “I’m heading to bed. Should we put the beds together again?” He was immediately met with agreement from the others, but also confusion from his boyfriend.

“We put a few beds together and sleep together,” Harry explained to Draco. “We can sleep on our own if you want. I’m sorry that I didn’t ask you first if you’ll be comfortable.”

“No, it’ll be fine. But I only want to be next to you. I’ll sleep at the edge of the bed.”

***

The morning came faster than Remus would have liked. He got up quietly, got ready, and kissed Sirius goodbye. The others got up several hours later and had a lazy morning/ afternoon. 

Draco sat on an armchair in the library, staring blankly into the book he had in his lap.

“Great book, that one,” Regulus commented as he went to get a book for himself. “I wish I knew the muggles had such good literature when I was younger.”

“It would’ve been worse if you knew that,” Draco replied. “It was impossible for me to hide anything from my parents, and I assume that it was the same for you.” He didn’t even wait for a confirmation. “If you tried sneaking muggle books around you would’ve been caught and tortured.”

“Our parents sound way too similar,” Regulus laughed humorlessly. “Though it kind of makes sense. Your mother was very close to mine. Bella and her would come to us almost every day. And your father tried being more like my father to make Cissy like him.”

Draco bit his lip, but didn’t say anything.

“Hey, Draco, did I say something wrong?” Regulus looked concerned, and Draco smiled at him with effort.

“I’m fine,” he promised, and hesitated for a second. “Do you… do you ever feel like you’re faking being good?” he whispered eventually.

Regulus sat on another armchair.

“What do you mean?” he asked gently.

“It’s just that I was raised to be a death eater, and I can’t help but feel like I’m pretending now, to avoid the consequences of being one,” Draco admitted, glancing towards the door, as if scared someone would hear him.

“I feel like that all the time,” Regulus agreed. “It kind of feels like I just go with what I think is the winning side.” Draco nodded frantically. “I talked to James about it, and he said that I’m wrong. Because, Draco, I don’t know what it was by you, but I know that at some point during the war, when The Dar- Voldemort still had the upper hand, you made a decision that helped those who fought him. And it might’ve been something small, but it’s enough to prove that you’ve been faking when you were there, because you had to survive, and when you, when we, got the chance to make a decision on our own, we chose good over evil.”

“I was a Death Eater for a year and a half before I decided to lie for Harry,” Draco objected. “I had numerous times before when I was able to save people, and I didn’t. It was one good decision, and tens of awful ones. Your decision saved lives. You gave your fucking life. I just… just lied. A small, insignificant, lie.”

“From what you just told me, I’m assuming that you lied to save Harry’s life, right?” Draco nodded. “Then can you imagine how many lives you’ve saved? If Harry had died… I don’t even need to describe the chaos to you. And about giving my life? We both know that if you were caught in your lie you would’ve been killed as a traitor.”

“Lily said that I’m still a Death Eater,” Draco said quietly. “I told her I’ll kill her, and she said that if I wasn’t really a Death Eater, killing wouldn’t even cross my mind.”

“James wants to kill her too,” Regulus chuckled. “And he’s the furthest thing from a Death Eater that exists.”

Draco swallowed thickly.

“Thank you, Regulus,” he muttered. “Can we talk more in the future? Not about anything specific, I just enjoy talking to you. You just… get it.”

“We do have a lot in common,” Regulus shrugged sadly. “And yes, I would love to talk.”

They smiled awkwardly at each other and turned to their books. A while later Harry came to get them.

“We’re going to play Quidditch. Do you want to join?” he offered.

The two agreed eagerly and came with him to the back yard. Draco’s eyes widened at the pitch.

“That’s like the one I had,” he exclaimed. “Babe, you didn’t tell me you had a fucking perfect Quidditch pitch.”

Harry giggled and kissed his cheek.

“I really didn’t expect you to get excited over this,” he admitted. “You had this your whole life.”

“But I never got to play in my boyfriend’s private pitch. This is so hot.”

“You can fuck here as much as you want,” James said. “But can we play first?”

They played for a few hours, loving the fact that four of them were seekers.

“Can we talk, prongslet?” Sirius asked Harry as they went back inside.

“After we shower,” Harry replied. “ Not together,” he added at James and Sirius’ childish giggles.

James showered first, having beat Sirius in the race to the bathroom in the master bedroom, and Sirius grumped all the way to one of the smaller bathrooms.

By the time Harry went to shower, his anxiety at the upcoming conversation reached a high. He sat in the bathtub and took a deep breath that did nothing to help him calm down, so he reached and took his wand.

“Diffindo,” he muttered, and exhaled shakily as a deep cut appeared on his thigh. He repeated the spell a few more times, focusing on the pain rather than his nervousness.

When he deemed himself calm enough he tossed his wand away and stood, turning the water on. The water hurt the fresh cuts and Harry reveled in the feeling.

Forty five minutes later someone knocked on the bathroom door.

“Babe?” Draco’s concerned voice echoed. “Are you there? Are you okay?”

“I’m coming out,” Harry called, and turned the stream off.

He came to the living room and swallowed. Sirius was sitting on the couch waiting for him. James, Regulus, and Draco were nowhere to be seen.

“Whatever it is that you want to talk to me about,” he said as he sat down. “I want you to know that it wasn’t on purpose. I don’t even know what I did, but I do know I’m sorry.”

Sirius blinked, confused.

“I’m not mad at you, baby,” he exclaimed. “I just wanted to follow up about yesterday. It was a really intense day, and I want to make sure you’re doing okay.”

Harry stared at him, tearing up. “So you’re not mad at me? I didn’t do anything wrong?”

Sirius scooted closer to Harry and hugged him.

“Of course not, sweetheart. I love you, and I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m such a dumbass,” Harry whispered. “Why am I so over dramatic about you wanting to talk to me? I’m sorry, Siri.”

“Hey, don’t talk like that about my baby,” Sirius scolded him softly. “You’re amazing, and the Dursleys fucked you up so bad that that was your first thought.”

Harry sniffled.

“Where are the others?” He changed the subject.

“In the kitchen,” Sirius chucked. “Let’s join them. “Moony will be home soon, and we’ll all have supper together.”

Harry stood up and hid his pain from the pants rubbing his cuts. He walked with a limp, but he was so used to it that it wasn’t noticeable. Or so he thought. He entered the kitchen, walking over to his boyfriend and pecking his cheek. Regulus looked at him suspiciously.

“Harry, can you come here for a second?” he asked. Harry complied, confused, and his heart skipped a beat when Regulus’ eyes narrowed.

“I know that limp,” he muttered. “Are you okay?” He spoke quietly enough that no one heard what he said, but they all realized something was happening.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Harry said nonchalantly. “You’re being weird. Why are you looking at how I walk?”

Regulus flushed with embarrassment, but didn’t back down. “I’m sure I’m right,” he insisted. “Please let me help. We can go to a different room and I’ll obliviate them. Just let me help.” 

Harry’s breath stuttered at the honest worry in the other’s voice. “If I’m telling, I may as well tell everyone,” he relented. “No need to obliviate anyone.” He swallowed thickly and pulled his pants down just enough to expose his abused thighs.

A collective gasp was heard.