Chapter 24
"What on earth are you wearing?" Ron huffed while he looked up at Draco. In front of him stood an obvious contrast of black and white, staring down at him. "I'm trying on my old suit." Draco handed him his suit before he turned to Hermione and gave her the dress. "I'll be seeing you in Harry's room in twenty minutes. In this." Ron groaned at that and shook his head. "Twenty? How the hell do you expect us to be ready by then?" Draco looked at him, with his deadpan stare, before he spoke. "You're a wizard Weasley. Figure it out." He smiled a small smile at Hermione, who laughed in the back of the room, before he left for his boyfriends room.
"Hermione- you look stunning!" Harry exclaimed the minute they walked through the door. "We all do! Draco these clothes... they're wonderful. Thank you so much." He nods with a small smile while resting his hand on Harry's lower back. She looked down at the soft fabric that was covering her gorgeous feminine body. It flowed where it was supposed to, was hugging tightly around all the right curves and sparkled slightly. It was beautiful. She felt like a real princess, her younger self would be thrilled if she could see them now. Ron was wearing a dark orange suit. Light brown is what he'd wrongly call it, with an off white shirt underneath. The shoes were fitting to the threaded dark red details in his suit. Harry though, really stole the show, though if you'd ask him he'd say Draco was the catch. With his dark red suit, showing his Gryffindor pride, and the slightest of Slytherin green details in the seams. They were visible in the laces of his wine red shoes. Harry had a tie, while Ron had a bow-tie. They all looked absolutely brilliant. Harry had looked at Draco and practically drooled when he'd changed into his tux. Black was his colour, there was no doubt in his mind that it could be anything else. Though he'd asked him to give it a green glow and eventhough Draco's posh background meant he knew all about fashion, he didn't quite get what Harry had meant. So he'd cast a quick charm on the tux and smiled proudly when it did exactly what he'd hoped it would. So now there was a gorgeous gold and white dress, a dark orange suit, a dark red suit and a black with a green hint suit. And they were all ready to make their entré.
The whispers were far too loud and obvious. Nobody was subtle with their gossiping and staring when they entered the great hall. Of course they were expecting nothing less, but it still felt weird. "Can I have this dance?" Draco asks as he leans down to whisper in Harry's ear. Goosebumps spread down his neck as the warm breath of his boyfriend tickles his neck. He takes the extended hand and smiles brightly while they dance to the music, not caring at all about the whispers and glances anymore. The world fades when they're together, in the most thrilling and calming way. "You look breathtaking." Draco says, his voice louder than usual for Harry to hear him. "Thank you, so do you Draco. Thank you, again, for the clothes." He shows a little smile and shakes his head. "No worries." Harry softly rubs his shoulder while dancing and feels his heart calm down. Draco has that effect on him, he was able to fully calm down and yet feel the most alive ever. "You can pay me back in bed, if you really want to." He drawls in a teasing way, making Harry's body react by shivering and send goosebumps down his arms. "I'd really want to." Draco laughs softly and caresses his cheek while adoring the gorgeous face in front of him. "I love you." Harry visibly melts in his hands and nods with the brightest smile. "I love you." He whispers back, before Draco cups his chin between his thumb and pointer finger, leans down and kisses him softly. There's an audible gasp from the rest of the attendees but they pay them no mind. The world is still when they're together. They smile against each others lips and break apart after a few magical seconds. "I'll go get us some drinks, what do you want?" Draco hums and looks at the bar. "Surprise me." Harry nods excitedly and practically skips off, leaving Draco to wonder where Ron and Hermione had run off to.
"Mr. Malfoy." He turns around with an anxious feeling in his gut when he registers who's voice had spoken. Professor Mc Gonnogal looks at him with her ever so stern face. The war took a toll on her, as well as on everyone else, she's loosened up but she's still a strict, stern lady. The extra wrinkles and scars on her face show the effect of the aftermath. Nobody came out unscarred. The letter in her hand catches his attention and the anxiety gets multiplied by sevenhundred and three. He could only catch a glimpse of the seal but it was enough to know that this conversation could go very wrong. The letter was marked by the Azkaban seal. He straightens out his jacket and nods. Harry comes back with drinks and frowns as he sees the tension on his lovers features. "Is everything okay?" Draco breathes in deeply with closed eyes. Calming himself on the outside, clicking his mask in place. Being with the golden trio helped him break old habits, but he shouldn't unlearn this one. Harry knows him well enough to see through it, but others shouldn't. He can't forget to wear his mask, something he hasn't done in a while. "Do you mind coming with me?" He asks in a lowered voice. Harry has to lipread because it is barely audible over the loud music. Draco sounds frightened. He shakes his head, sets the drinks down and follows his lover and the headmistress to her office. "Can I kindly ask you to wait outside please, Mr. Potter?" He looks at Draco, to be sure he'll be fine. He nods and rubs his back softly before going into the office. Leaving him there with the feeling as if he swallowed a shaking rock.
"Mr. Malfoy -." "Please just tell me what it says..." His voice comes out weaker than he intended but he can't pretend anymore. There's no mask or façade to hide behind. He's terrified. Maybe his last encounter with Evan was seen as bullying... then his mother wouldn't-. What if they saw that he'd nearly cast a bombarda at the start of the year? He didn't, but that could've been enough to keep her locked up forever. Or maybe they saw that he-. "This is a Christmas gift from me to you. I didn't expect it to actually be approved, but I suppose miracles still exist." She hands him the envelope and watches him open it. His eyes scan the paper about a million times. Reading the carefully structured sentences in record time. "I'm allowed to visit her?" He swallows the lump in his throat and breathes in shakily. "Yes, you will have to leave within the next five minutes I'm afraid." He nods in disbelief and looks at the letter. "I'd like to take Harry with me." She breathes in deeply while locking her hands together. "I see, you can try but I will warn you; do not expect that they'll let him in." Draco nods and looks at the letter again. "Thank you headmistress." She nods with a small smile before letting Harry enter. "Will you come visit my mother with me?" There was no denying the obvious hope in his voice. His eyes were glazed over, his hands slightly shaking. "Of course, yes, of course I will, Draco."
Everything is dark when they get out of the floo network. Draco stiffens up as the shock of being in prison again hits him. Harry carefully places his hand on the shocked man's lower back and tries to take away some of the tension. "Draco Malfoy." A snarky voice says from the far corner. They start to walk over to the desk but get cornered halfway through. They grab him by the arms and force him to the ground. "Hey! Stop that! No- what are you doing! Let him go!" Draco tries to stay calm as best as he can but the cocktail of feelings is overwhelming. His stale eyes crack under the pressure of the ocean made of build up tears. They stream down his cheeks in silence while a scream of total terror and panic ricochets off the wall. "Draco, I'm here- stop that! Draco, please try to stay still- Let. Him. Go!" The panic starts spreading throughout Harry's entire being while the four guards search his lovers body. "Stop that, now!" Harry tries with all his might to get at least one guard off of Draco's body. "He's a criminal, he needs to be searched." The guard simply states, while pushing Harry off, making him fall to the ground. The screams stop, the fighting stops. Draco's eyes turn almost as dark as the night sky when he hears the loud cry in pain. Harry groans and holds his wrist against his stomach. "Do not, lay another hand on him. Do you understand?" Harry felt a shiver run down his spine while the cold voice spoke in terrifyingly slow sentences. If it wasn't for his specific posh accent, he wouldn't have recognized the voice at all. That is not Draco. It's what he can only imagine to be Draco's mask becoming a real person. It was terrifying. "You have no rights here." The guard snarls while taking away his wand. "That is enough! He is not your inmate anymore. You will treat him with the respect you treat all visitors with. Get OFF OF HIM. Now." Harry stands up, supporting his left wrist with a wince and stares deadly at the guards. His eyes finally adjusting to the darkness in that place. The search ends, they get up and walk over to Harry. Draco slowly gets up and dusts off his pants while keeping both his eyes fixated on the guards. "You're not supposed to be here." Harry snorts. "Well I'm fucking glad I am. How dare you treat him that way." He hands his wand to the lady at the reception and glares at the guards again. "We will now be seeing Narcissa Malfoy. I better not run into you ever again." He snarls before another employee takes them to the cell after they show the letter.
"Are you okay?" They both ask at the same time. Draco's eyes are still as dark as never before. Harry would be scared as hell if he didn't know it was because of him. Because of what had happened to him, that is. "I think I broke my wrist, I'll get it fixed by madam Pomfrey later. Your turn." Harry says, stepping closer into his boyfriends personal space. The tension that radiates off of his body is nearly suffocating him. "Your turn." He softly repeats. Draco visibly calms down and sighs deeply. "Yes. I am okay now. Thank you." Harry carefully goes in for a hug and winces as his wrist lets him know that it is, in fact, very much broken. "We should go back, now. Get that checked." Harry shakes his head. "We survived a literal war, I will not die because of this. I'm not taking away this chance of you Draco. Now go, I'll wait right here. I promise." Draco nods and kisses his head softly. "I love you." Harry smiles and nods. "I love you too."
"Draco! Oh my sweet, sweet boy." Narcissa walks over to him as quickly as she possibly can and holds him in her arms. "I heard the screams... what did they do to you?" Draco shivers and holds her closely. Not ready to let go yet. His entire body is shaking, every emotion is trying to escape, break free from being locked up and suppressed for years. "Cry my dragon... it's okay." Loud, heartbreaking sobs fill the room. Soft comforting words are whispered to try and soothe the pain of her only son. He looked well past broken. She was afraid he wasn't able to be fixed again. "I can't keep doing this mother." His voice is weak, he is breathing shallow and his eyes are red. "You will get through this. I will not tell you that you have to, my dragon... but you will get through this." Draco finally calms down enough to slowly let go of Narcissa. She looked tired, a bit slimmer but overal, just like herself. "How is school?" She asks, sitting opposit him and holding his hand on the table. "It's okay." She hums but that's all he says. "Did your friends go back?" He shakes his head. She softly squeezes his hand and hums. "Did you make any new friends then?" He nods with a small smile and looks down. All he wants to do, is tell her. Tell her that he's happy... that he's in love and will be with his lover forever. Is it too soon though...? "I brought a friend, he's like my best friend... really." Draco says. Deciding on seeing what her reaction to Harry is, before dropping the bomb.
"Really? That's great Draco. Would he like to come in? The halls really aren't the most pleasant waiting areas..." Draco breathes in deeply. He'd love to spend all the time in the world, alone with his mother but Harry... Harry was outside, alone... with a bloody broken wrist. "If you'd like to meet him, I'm sure he won't mind. Let me ask." She nods with a smile and waits while Draco goes outside. "That was short? Draco please don't cut this short because of my stupid wrist-." Soft lips press against his talking ones in a chaste kiss. Draco gently caresses Harry's cheek and hums. "No." He softly whispers while resting his head against Harry's. "I told her that I brought my new best-... my new best friend... I'm sorry. I just-." Harry shakes his head and kisses him again. "I understand. I really do. Please don't apologize. I understand." Draco breathes out deeply and nods. "She'd like to meet you. I didn't mention who though..." Harry hums. "With everything that's happened... are you sure that she'll be ready to see me?" He nods and runs his thumb over Harry's soft, plump lips. "Okay." He agrees.
He walks in right behind Draco and looks into the gorgeous woman's eyes. "Harry." She almost sounds relieved. He smiles a small smile while trying not to move his wrist too much. "Can I please hug you?" Ever so polite, it was charming. She could make him forget where they were in an instant. "Be careful, they broke his wrist twenty minutes ago." Draco instantly says, before looking down briefly. She shakes her head with a sigh and carefully hugs him. Tears in her eyes while whispering soft thank you's. "You saved my son. Thank you so much. I owe you... forever." Draco frowns while listening to his mother. "What did I miss?" Harry humbly shakes his head and thanks her. "I only spoke the truth, you saved me Mrs Malfoy." Narcissa sits back down and looks at the both of them. The stark contrast of platinum blonde, and dark raven hair, makes her smile. "He told me you were still alive. I lied to vo- I lied, in the forest." She was afraid. Afraid to speak his name, even after months of knowing he was dead. "You must excuse me Harry, I don't want to take any risks." She explains. He nods in understanding. "I understand Mrs. Malfoy." She smiles weakly and looks at them. "Call me Narcissa. Please." A moment of silence washes over them. Thunder and lightning striking the building every other minute. He could sense that Draco wasn't comfortable. "Are we allowed music?" Harry asks, noticing the sound system in the corner. Narcissa hums sadly. "I'm afraid we didn't ask for any." Harry growls lowly. "Stupid assholes." He mumbled as he gets up and shakes his head in disbelief.
"I will be right back." He kept the door open slightly on his way out, which calmed Draco's nerves a tad. "I'm glad that you've become close friends. He's a good person." Draco nods absentmindedly and blinks to get the focus back into his eyes. "Yes, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger are really nice too. We're kind of a group of four now." She smiles a surprised but proud smile. "Draco." He nods and looks at her impatiently. "Why did you bring Harry?" He knows she didn't mean it to be rude. She wants to know why Harry out of the three of them. Why not Ron or Hermione? She didn't mind him taking a friend at all. It was why him that she was interested in finding out. Was it that obvious? He knows that she knows. Malfoys aren't stupid. His mother being no exception. Telling her was a terrifying idea but somehow he felt safe at opening the secrets of his heart to her. She's always been great at listening to him. "We uhm- We fell in love." He doesn't think he's ever spoken so softly in life before. The smile on his mothers face was not what he'd expected but he wasn't displeased. "I'm very happy for you my dragon." She rubs his hand softly while her eyes sparkle. "He treats you right. I can see that." She says right before Harry walks back in with music. He looks at Draco while closing the door slowly. A habit he picked up after not wanting to disturb his study session in his room once. "I did't know what you would like, so I asked for two." He hands Narcissa two vinyls and sits back down next to Draco. "Thank you, Harry. I quite like the ones you picked out. This one is my favourite." She puts on the lounge music vinyl and closes her eyes at the first notes. Draco instantly calms down and holds Harry's hand. Harry looks down at their entwined fingers while holding back his frown. This was about Draco. He'd let him do whatever he wanted, or needed, to feel at ease. "Thank you for making my son happy, Harry. I know we meet in very sophisticated circumstances, but I'd like you to know that once I'm back home, our door will be open for you, always." He'd told her? "Thank you, Narcissa. That's very kind of you. He makes me really happy too." Narcissa smiles kindly at them and folds her hands together, playing with the ring around her ring finger.
"Have you been allowed to see father?" Draco asks while softly rubbing his thumb over Harry's hand. Narcissa shakes her head instantly as her eyes turn darker. Sadness takes over her features but not for long. "I'll be able to see him when you graduate." She softly answers. If he manages to keep up a clean year, that is. Harry seems to sense his thoughts and squeezes his hand. "You've been doing so good Draco, your mother will be out the second McGonnogal tells the board. I know it." Narcissa smiles fondly at the interaction as her heart swells with pride for the two young men. "Father-." Narcissa shakes her head and holds her sons other hand. "He will be fine. They'll let him out on parole, we'll bail him out, we will figure this out my dragon. I promise." Harry smiles at the nickname and adores the moment between mother and son. The love they share for each other is immense. It fully fills the cold and empty room. A loud knock on the door startles them apart, while a deep voice speaks through the door. "Time's up." Narcissa smooths out her clothes and gets up, hugging Harry first, then her only son. "I love you, I'm proud of you." She says in their embrace. "I can't wait to start loving you Harry. You're doing great." She says, while squeezing his shoulder kindly. Her words mean so much more to him than anyone could ever possibly imagine. "Thank you, Narcissa." The door opens and they all walk out. Draco watches Narcissa as they walk her out to her cell and Harry rubs his back softly. "Come on, Draco, you shouldn't watch this." His voice is soft, unsure if this is what his love needs or not. He turns around and nods, holding Harry's hand as they collect their wands and use the floo-network again to get back to the castle.
"Thank you, headmistress. We have to see Madame Pomfrey now, they broke Harry's wrist." Headmistress McGonnogal nods and doesn't say another word, understanding that this has been a hard day on the both of them. As they walk around the halls, Harry struggles to keep up with the long strides of his boyfriend. "Draco... Stop. Please." He turns around and looks at his smaller boyfriend. "I'm sorry, I just want you to be okay." Harry nods and kisses his cheek. "I will be, just... slow down okay? Your mind is racing and I want to know what's happening. If that's okay." Draco nods and holds Harry close against his chest. "I'll tell you later, I want your wrist fixed first." Harry nods and follows Draco to the hospital wing, where he drinks the disgusting skele-gro potion and sits on the bed in silence. Draco's eyes are fixated on Harrys wrist, hoping to see some changes from drinking the potion. Harry watches Draco, waiting to find out more about how he's feeling.
"I didn't think she'd react like that." Harry waits, seeing that Draco's mind is still working in overdrive. "I'm glad she did, it's official now. You're my boyfriend." A small smile creeps up his features while his eyes focus on the wrist. "I don't know how to tell my father. That is, if I ever get the chance to. He won't get out, I know that. Mother surely holds on to hope for her sanity but... he'll be locked up forever. There's no other possibility." Harry groans when his bones finally react to the potion. "Fuck I haven't missed this feeling." He grumbles while trying to hold his wrist in the least painful position. Draco scoots closer and sighs softly. "Let me make you some mint tea." Before he could protest, his lover was already busy with the summoned ingredients. He looked good doing such mundane things. "I'm proud of you, for telling your mom." His movements stop briefly before he smiles. "I am too. It felt good." He didn't say much else after that. They drank their tea in silence, enjoying the quiet hospital wing while being in each others company. And to Harry's surprise, the tea actually helped with the aching feeling in his bones. "Why doesn't madame Pomfrey give us this?" He huffs as Draco chuckles lowly. "She probably likes to watch the kids suffer a little." Harry snorts into his cup and looks up at Draco. "I love you and whatever happens... we'll get through it, I'm never giving up on you." Draco beams as his eyes start to glow. "I love you, I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe and happy for as long as you'll let me." Harrys eyes fill with tears as the words register in his brain. "Let that be forever please." Draco adds with a hopeful smile. Harry laughs and shakes his head with an amused smile. "I'm positive it will be." Draco nods and softly caresses Harrys thigh. "I'm pretty positive it will be, too." He softly says, before leaning in and lovingly kissing his boyfriend on the lips.