‘You really have to get out more, Harry. You can’t spent all your time at work. You are stuck in a rut. You need to start living your life. Voldemort is dead. His followers are dead or locked up. There is nothing left for the Chosen One to take care of. It is time for the Boy who lived to become the Man who lives.'
She was right of course, she was always right, ever since he first met her on the Hogwarts Express shortly after his eleventh birthday.
‘I know, Hermione’, he said resignedly, ‘and I will, but some things are easier said than done. You cannot simply wave your wand or whisper some incantation and change your life. So much has happened and yet so much has stayed the same.’
He sighed heavily. He didn’t want to say, a lot of people died because of me. Voicing his inner thoughts out loud would just upset her and depress him more.
Of course defeating Voldemort had been the ultimate goal of Dumbledore’s great plan for him, but the plan had sucked majorly. The cost of Dumbledore’s flawed plan had been too high. Draco being jailed was yet another cost in a long list. The thought of Draco stuck in a cell in Azkaban, was making him sick to his stomach. He had been just a kid, really, groomed by some seriously misguided parents for a task he did not want to do. Harry was absolutely sure about that.
Ever since he had gotten his hands on a pensieve, he had been reviewing his memories of Draco’s actions over those last few years. In fact, he had his head stuck in that shimmering bowl of memories most of his waking moments.
It pained him to know that nothing he had said to the prosecution had made any difference.
The prosecutor had simply said, ‘He was the same age as you and your actions were not the actions of a kid, ergo he was not a kid.’
Of course that argument was a lot of horse shit. Just because he had stumbled his way through the war and managed to defeat Voldemort in the end, did not mean that therefore all people his age should be judged as adults.
One memory he did not wish to review ever, was the day the Guilty verdict was read out and Draco had been led away out of the courtroom, lost to him forever.
Ok, maybe not forever, but for a long time.
Harry had started a Free Draco petition, which was gaining some momentum, definitely helped by the beautiful artwork Luna had created of a silver dragon behind bars. Luna had also tried to convince the prosecutor that Draco was a reluctant participant and had tried his best to make Luna’s imprisonment more bearable, impossible as that was.
The years Draco was in prison could be easily measured by Teddy’s age. Harry’s godson, who was living with his grandmother Andromeda, was born shortly before his parents were killed in the battle of Hogwarts. Teddy had his mother’s flamboyant personality and his father’s noble features and kind eyes, which was a stunning combination and one that would no doubt break many a heart in the future.
Harry tried to visit his godson every weekend and was besotted with the little fellow. According to Andromeda, he spoiled the kid rotten, but Harry did not care.
Now age 6, Teddy was just old enough for Harry to teach him to fly, much to the delight of the young boy, which he expressed through the bright colouring of his usually light brown hair. Andromeda was less pleased with the idea of her grandson balancing on a little stick high up in the air, but Harry assured her that the training broom was designed to only rise a few feet off the ground. Apart from that Harry was an expert in Arresto Momentum ever since he made a nose dive off his broom himself in his third year in Hogwarts.
In his time as captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team, he had made sure that everyone on the team was proficient in that spell as a prerequisite to joining the team.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Hermione was right. Maybe there should me more to life than going to work, gazing in his pensieve, working on the Free Draco campaign, and visiting Teddy at the weekends.
Maybe he should throw a small party. Halloween was coming up, always a stark reminder of his parents’ death, but a small gathering of his most intimate friends might be just the thing to cheer him up and to get Hermione off his back.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Thank Merlin that he had a bunch of capable friends, otherwise the party would have been a disaster.
Neville, with the help of Luna, had decorated the entire house, inside and out, including the garden, even though Harry had told them is was only a small gathering and he was just going to decorate the dining room.
Seamus and Dean had volunteered to take care of all the drinks, and had brought crates of home brewed beer, bottles of what looked like very strong liquor, and they had thrown together some interesting looking cocktails.
Ginny and Lavender, who had started a catering company after the war, had insisted on catering the small gathering and the most tantalising smells had been wafting through Harry’s modest house all afternoon.
Hermione had taken him shopping for some clothing that did not scream sad and lonely bachelor and Ron was tasked with keeping him out of anyone’s way, until the rest of the guests arrived, mainly the rest of the Weasleys.
‘That is my wife’s elegant way of telling you to get lost for a little while’, Ron said with a smile, as he guided Harry to one of the spare rooms, where he had set up a chess board.
‘Wow, you guys thought of everything. If I had known it would be this easy to throw a party, I would have done it years ago.’
‘Don’t get used to it mate, this is a once in a lifetime deal. Now get ready to be beaten.’
Harry laughed, it had been ages since Ron and himself had sat down to a game of chess and he realised that he had missed spending time being beaten by his best friend.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
They re-joined the others when Ginny announced that dinner was ready, just as the doorbell rang.
‘I’ll get it,’ Luna said and went to open the door.
It was some time before she came back, allowing a visitor to enter ahead of her.
‘I see my invitation got lost in the mail,’ a voice they had not heard for many years said, a hint of its usual sneer unmistakably present.
‘Draco?’ Harry gulped, nearly spilling his cocktail all over himself. He stared at the visitor in shock, still gorgeous as ever despite everything he had gone through.
‘Sorry to drop in unannounced,’ Draco said with far less confidence than the initial bravado. ‘They gave me early release. I gather your Free Draco campaign was becoming a political headache. Nice artwork by the way, Luna. The mansion is still in the hands of the Ministry, so I decided to just come say Hi and Thank You, before looking for a hotel for the night.’
‘No, stay,’ Harry said hurriedly, this time actually spilling his drink, as he threw out his arms wide to indicate that there was plenty of room.
‘Join us. We have food and drink and a reason to celebrate.’
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
For the first time that evening, Harry took charge.
He ushered everyone into the dining room to get ready for dinner and led Draco up the stairs to the spare room, where Ron and himself had played chess earlier, to freshen up.
‘I can’t believe you are here,’ Harry said and gave Draco an awkward hug.
‘I can’t believe you campaigned for my release,’ Draco said hugging him back.
Both men were desperately trying to hold back their tears, as they clung to each other.
‘Let’s eat,’ Harry said after some time, ‘before they send a search party for us.’
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
When they arrived downstairs, all eyes turned to them expectantly. Harry realised, belatedly, that he was holding Draco’s hand, as he led him into the dining room.
When they all sat down, Harry raised his glass.
‘Dear Friends,’ he said, ‘I will keep this short, as we are all looking forward to getting stuck into this beautiful food.
You all have been encouraging me for years to start living, or, as one of you put it, to get my shit together. In order to live, you need a reason for living. Mine just walked back into the door this evening. Cheers, and thanks for putting up with me for the past number of years.’
His little speech was met by many whoops and cheers, but Harry only had eyes for one person, who was blushing profusely.