Security Detail

Harry woke up bright and early the next morning and was in the middle of writing out a vague synopsis to Hermione when Draco appeared in the doorway. He was dressed in nice trousers, dress shoes and a button up shirt. He looked so normal that Harry nearly laughed. 

“You may want to put on something you won’t mind getting dirty. Jeans are usually my go-to out here.” 

“I guess I’ll go change then.” Draco disappeared and came back just as Harry was putting the book back on the coffee table. 

“Perfect, we won’t have access to dry cleaning and jeans hold up better out here anyways. Come on, let’s go check the gardens.” He led the blond out through the sliding glass door leading to a patio that Draco hadn’t noticed the night before. 

The land behind the house was lush with plants full of green leaves swaying in the gentle breeze. Draco, having never seen anything quite like it, gasped. Harry chuckled. He was pleased with how the vegetables had grown this year, but he was more pleased by how easily impressed Draco was. 

“Good, they’ve grown well. I haven’t exactly paid much attention to them this year like I normally do.”

“You spend time here? Regularly?” Harry nodded and started walking down a cobblestone path towards what looked to be a chicken coop.

“Of course I do. I typically come out here one day a week to keep an eye on things. The property has a house elf that’s been here for a few generations, she keeps the animals fed and taken care of. She’s also in charge of making sure foods are canned and preserved properly throughout the year in case I need to drop what I’m doing to utilize the place. She dumps out anything that isn’t used into the compost pile to make fertilizer for the vegetables for the next year too.”

“What the bloody hell made you think to do this?” Harry scoffed at this as they approached the coop. 

“I read a muggle fiction novel where the main character needed somewhere to go and how he had to start from scratch and wasn’t completely prepared for the winter when it came because there just wasn’t enough time to grow everything he needed. And honestly? When the press started stalking me, right after I killed Voldemort, I really wanted to just get away. So I created a false identity with the muggles and bought the property through a muggle realtor so my name wasn’t associated with it. There’s no neighbors for kilometers, and the place is fully self-sufficient so no one asks questions.”

Harry opened a latch on the coop that allowed him access to the eggs the chickens had laid earlier and he grabbed a few. The two made their way back to the house, which was looking less like a house and more like a cottage from the outside, in relative silence. It was only when Harry started cooking the eggs for breakfast that Draco said anything. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t do more. During the war, I mean.”

“Nonsense, we were kids. He would have killed you-”

“I meant it. I know I was a kid, I know I didn’t have a choice. But I did have a choice, didn’t I? I could have chosen to die rather than to make your life harder in trying to stop him from treating everyone like he treated us. I regret not telling you what was going on at the time, I regret not defecting and I regret not standing up for what was right. And for that, I’m sorry.” Harry set the eggs aside so they wouldn’t burn and turned to face Draco directly. 

“Look, I appreciate the apology. But you must understand that I know all of this. I know you’re a good person, but I also know people will make choices that aren’t always indicative of their character if they’re in extraneous circumstances. I don’t blame you for the things you were forced to do, okay?” Draco nodded and suddenly Harry found himself with his arms full of Draco. 

He hugged Draco back, suddenly aware of the slender figure the man had. They stayed like that for a minute before Draco moved out of his arms. Harry smiled down at him, and Draco smiled back. It was a sight he definitely wanted to see again. 

In the next two weeks, the two developed a routine. They woke up, made breakfast and discussed what needed to be done for the day and checked before doing it. The two started bonding over making dinner with Harry helping Draco learn how to cook and Draco cracking jokes the whole way through. It wasn’t until Draco lightly bumped him with his hip to move him over so he could add the corn he prepped to their dinner that he thought things had become quite cozy between the two of them and the thought only grew in his mind when he looked down at Draco to see him staring at Harry like he was the only thing that existed. 

They’d snapped out of it after a few moments, but both of them kept sneaking glances at the other one all through dinner the rest of the night and Harry had to excuse himself for a longer-than-normal shower before they went to bed. 

The next day saw a downpour of rain, so the two stayed inside for the day playing chess and generally relaxing. Draco had picked up a book at some point after the lightning and thunder started and the two sat on the couch with Harry watching the storm outside and Draco reading. It hadn’t taken the blond long to stretch out on the couch they were on and before Harry knew it, Draco was fully leaning against his side while his legs rested along the couch. 

Harry woke up with a slight jolt when he realized Draco was talking to him. 

“What, I’m sorry I didn’t catch that.” Draco chuckled while he rubbed his eyes. According to the clock it had only been an hour, so at least he wasn’t out for too long. 

“I said, can I ask you a question?”

“Oh, of course.” At some point Draco had sat up and was sitting facing him with one leg on the couch and the other foot resting on the floor.

“Do you think we’ll hear from Hermione soon?” The two had made a habit of checking the book twice a day just to make sure they didn’t miss any messages. So far the only thing they’d gotten out of her was that she would be looking into a few things and to not write unless it was an emergency. 

“I don’t know. She’s smart, so she’ll be making sure that her tracks are covered. I wish we knew what was happening, but it seems that whenever my life is in danger, I’m always the last to know important information.” Draco looked at him incredulously. “Trust me, I knew nothing when I was fighting off Voldemort until the very end. I-I died the day that I killed him. Did you know? No, I expect not. Hermione and Ron don’t even know, I couldn’t tell them. I had to trick them to do it, too.”

“What? How-what-I don’t even know where to begin asking questions.” Harry just started laughing as thunder rolled outside. 

“You know the public version of what happened. In reality, it was much more gruesome and terrible than you could ever imagine.

“Dumbledore kept a lot of things secret, and with good reason. Let’s just say that Voldemort had been making things that would, in essence, make him unkillable. It was my job to destroy these things so we could kill him but-somehow-he managed to make me one of these objects as well. I didn’t know about it until the night I killed him because Dumbledore didn’t want to tell me. He left cryptic clues as to where the other ones were on the hope that we would figure them out after he died. He put the world’s future in the hands of three clueless seventeen year olds and a handful of vague clues that we figured out-against all odds. 

“I found out that night that I had to die by Voldemort’s hand in order to make sure he could die again and I had to go into it willingly. He killed me, Draco. I died that night and I haven’t been the same since. But when I say I’m always last to know, I mean it. I was the last to know that I needed to die in order for Voldemort to die. I’m used to having to sit around and wait for information.”

“But that’s horrible! How could he not tell you?”

“Because I was a hothead. He knew that if I knew beforehand that I would give it away that we had been destroying his key to not being able to be killed and then he’d make more in a hurry which would make it impossible for anyone to figure out what they were. It was my own inability to look at things logically before emotionally that really sealed my fate of ignorance. And, of course, that only made me angrier and less predictable. I understand why he did it. He didn’t want to inadvertently tip his hand too soon. And the castle was already in dire straits when I found out. My family, my home was in danger. I felt like I didn’t have a choice. It’s pure chance that I was able to come back.” Draco went quiet for a while after that, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. It was a few minutes later when Harry decided to speak up. 

“It’s alright Draco. I’ve gotten over it a long time ago. I learned a lot when I died and I came back a different person than I used to be. Just like you came out of the war a different person. We’ve all had our sacrifices, this is just one of mine.”

“I-Harry, I-” Harry leaned in and grasped Draco’s shoulders. 

“Draco, it’s alright I promise! Just relax, you look like you’ll pass out any moment.” Draco nodded and took a deep breath. 

“I just can’t imagine what that must’ve been like.”

“Peaceful. That was the first time in my entire life I’d ever felt at peace. I get that same feeling when I’m here as well, which is why I keep coming back as much as I do and why I didn’t tell anyone about where this place is. It’s why only Hermione even knows it exists-not even Gringotts knows about it. I’m different because of it; I don’t fear death the same way other people do because of the way I grew up and I definitely don’t fear it now that I know what it’s like. But I also know the value of life and how precious it is and how much of that is wasted by being angry. It’s taught me to value things I never would have valued otherwise.”

Draco seemed enraptured by what Harry was saying, leaning in to hang onto every word he said. 

“Like what?”

“Like the things around me. The food we grow, the wind even when I’m not flying on a broom, the heat of the sun, the relationships I have with other people. I value existing, anything else is added bonus. Sure I still get angry but it’s not nearly as explosive as it once was. I’m much more calm than I used to be.”

Draco looked like he was about to ask something, but then he turned pink and stopped himself. 

“You can ask me anything, you know.”

“I-well, pardon me for being frank and you don’t have to answer, but did that dampen all of your emotions or just the negative ones?” Harry roared with laughter. 

“Oh, only the bad ones. I certainly still feel things like happiness and arousal if that’s what you’re asking. As a matter of fact, since the anger and negativity has mostly gone I tend to feel those more often than I used to. There are days when I feel like it’s more of a curse really that I have to deal with boners whilst doing paperwork after a raid sometimes when everyone else is perfectly fine.” He turned back to look at Draco to find his eyes shining with laughter, a smile that could light up the sky and pink cheeks that were a delicious shade of light pink. 

Harry couldn’t help it. He leaned forward, lightly held Draco’s jaw with his fingertips, and kissed him.