Nearly

Suddenly solid ground comes up to meet them and Harry is jostled off Krum’s body and rolls away. He feels fresh grass under his hands and face. But it feels unsteady, like waves underneath him. His stomach rolls and he retches desperately. 

There’s a deafening roar of noise around him, it sounds like cheers and screams all at once. He tries to push himself up, but his arms are too weak. They tremble and then give out again. 

”Harry! Harry!”

Warm hands are on him, patting him down frantically and then pulling him up. He feels the ground glide away from him and then his face is smothered by a solid chest instead and strong arms are around him. He immediately recognises his daddy’s smells and eagerly burrows into his embrace… disbelief and immense relief courses through him… I got away… I’m safe…

There are frantic voices all around them, most of them blurring together into a murmur of worry, but a couple of voices stand out and Harry can make out words, even though he doesn’t want to… 

”What’s going on? What—?”

”Oh my goodness, Dumbledore… is that… Viktor Krum, but he’s… he’s dead—!”

”What’s happened?”

He doesn’t want to. He can’t bear it, it’s all too much… Instead he focuses on the steady heartbeat against his cheek and the arms around his body that are holding him up, and holding him together. 

”Harry?” Harry recognises his dad’s voice next to him. ”Harry, are you hurt? Remus, let go for a sec—”

Harry feels the growl grow inside his daddy’s chest, even before it rolls out of his mouth. The arms tighten around him and he’s lifted off the ground entirely. He gratefully lifts his legs and locks them around his daddy’s waist, clinging to his neck desperately. 

He still hasn’t opened his eyes, and when he feels his dad’s hand shake his shoulder insistently, he presses them shut even tighter. 

”Harry, can you answer me? Are you hurt? What happ—?”

Remus turns around swiftly and starts to walk away. 

”REMUS—!” Sirius splutters angrily behind them. 

”I’m taking him to the Hospital Wing!” Remus snaps, his voice strained but calm.

”Now, wait one minute!” one of the other voices protests. ”We have questions—!”

”Back off, Fudge”, Sirius barks. 

”A boy is dead—!”

Sirius continues to argue with the Minister, and Harry can hear Dumbledore’s voice join in through the hysterical screams and worried voices of the crowd. But it all blends together as Remus carries him further and further away from the commotion. He is aware of someone else walking alongside them, but doesn’t lift his head from Remus’ shoulder or open his eyes to see who it is. He’s still fighting nausea and adrenaline is pumping through his body, making him tremble violently. Remus’ heartbeat is a soothing distraction, but not nearly enough. 

As they reach the front steps of the castle, the familiar clunk, clunk, clunk tells him that the person is Moody and he thinks he should tell him what’s happened. He should tell both of them. But he can bring himself to open his mouth, partly because he’s worried he’ll throw up all over his daddy’s shoulder if he does and partly because he knows as soon as he says it out loud, it will change everything forever… and for a moment, just one moment, he wants to pretend he’s a small boy again, safe in his daddy’s arms…

”You’re welcome to use my office… safe from prying eyes…” Moody growls. ”I have some Calming Draught—”

Harry feels his daddy shake his head once, ”Hospital Wing.”

It’s not until they actually reach the Hospital Wing, that the men realises that Madam Pomfrey isn’t there, she’s at the Quidditch Stadium they’ve just come from. Moody mentions his office again, but before Remus can reply the doors burst open behind them with a bang. Harry tenses up and clutches his daddy’s neck tighter. 

He feels one of the hands on his back begin to move gently and then a nose nuzzling the side of his face, as his daddy whispers soothing nothings to him until he begins to relax slightly again. 

”Put him down here, Remus…” Madam Pomfrey murmurs softly. 

Remus gently begins to manoeuvre Harry onto a bed, but Harry instantly springs to life again and clambers onto him — suddenly terrified of losing the connection, and of having to face reality again. 

”It’s okay, Harry…” Remus murmurs softly. ”Shhh… it’s okay… you’re okay… I’m going to be right here, but I have to let go just for a second… just for a second… just so Madam Pomfrey can do a diagnostics spell, that’s all…”

”Merlin, he’s shaking like a leaf…” Madam Pomfrey whispers. 

”Shhh, Harry, it’s okay…” Remus continues to soothe him and strokes his back gently. ”I’m going to be right here… you’re safe now… I promise you… you’re safe…”

He feels hands ripping his shoulders, and although he knows logically that they must belong to Moody and Madam Pomfrey, all he can think is that some manevolent force is pulling him away from his daddy… he struggles against them with all his remaining strength, which isn’t much and they easily overpower him… his fingers scrambles to grip his daddy’s robes frantically, in one last attempt to cling on. 

But before he knows it, he’s lifted away and pushed down on his back on a bed. The fight goes out of him and he goes limp against the mattress, a soft sob pushing its way out of his throat and hot tears seep through his lashes and roll down the sides of his temples.

He feels his daddy’s hand caress his head and hears him hush softly, his calm voice vibrating slightly with emotion now and Harry suspects he’s fighting tears of his own. 

”It’s all right, Potter…” Madam Pomfrey says. ”This won’t hurt a bit.”

The warm hand disappears from his forehead and he whimpers. Blinking his eyes open finally, he peers up at the three frowning faces looming over him. Remus’ immediately breaks out into a smile as their eyes lock, even as tears stream down his ashen face… 

”You’re okay”, he croaks. ”You’re safe now…”

Yes, Harry thinks faintly, but then he remembers… no, he’s not safe now, no-one is safe now… he begins to shake his head and opens his mouth to speak, but his daddy hushes him gently once more. 

”Yes, you are. You’re safe. I’m here and I won’t let anyone hurt you again, do you hear me?” he says fiercely. 

Harry feels himself nod automatically. 

”There”, Madam Pomfrey says and lifts her wand away. 

Immediately, Remus hands are back on Harry. His fingers combing through his hair and pawing at his cheek, the other hand pressing down on his heart as if to reassure himself that it’s still beating. 

”He is all right”, Madam Pomfrey continues slowly. ”He’s in shock and he’s got a minor fracture in his leg, but he’ll be fine… I can also detect residual magic in his system, but there’s no lasting damage—”

”What magic?” Remus asks swiftly. 

The witch gives him a pained look, but Harry can bring himself to watch as his daddy reacts to the truth so screws his eyes shut again and grips the hand on top of his chest. 

”Unforgivables… The Imperius… and the Cruciatus—”

Remus lets out a small gasp and the fingers in Harry’s hair tighten their grip. Harry almost welcomes the sharp sting. Strands of hair tickle his cheek as his daddy rests his forehead on the pillow next to him. 

”But he’s okay now”, Madam Pomfrey says forcefully. ”There’s no lasting damage at all, it’s just shock… I’ll give him something for it right now—!”

The hand on top of his chest twists around to grab his and warm lips brush against his forehead. He feels them move slightly as his daddy whispers something, but his voice is to soft and strangled for Harry make out the words. 

”Help him sit up”, Madam Pomfrey says as she returns. ”Or just hold his head up…”

The hand in his hair move to cup the back of his head and he feels it pull his head up gently.

”Drink this, Harry”, Remus murmurs. ”It will make you feel better…”

He feels cool glass touch his lips and opens his mouth to drink the potion. It burns down his throat and fills him with warmth. He coughs a little and splutters, but manages to get it all down. His daddy murmuring encouraging nonsense to him the whole time and then gently lowers his head again. Harry feels his muscles relax as the shock and adrenaline is drained from his system. His mind feels thick and cottony inside his head, and waves of exhaustion travels through his body. 

”Shhh… go to sleep, cub… I’ll be right here, you’re safe now…”

*

Someone is shaking him roughly. The soft darkness of sleep slowly shrinks into the corners of his consciousness and he blinks his eyes open in confusion. His eyelids still feel incredibly heavy and his vision is still blurred, even after his glasses are pushed onto his face. 

”Come on, get up…” Moody growls quietly. 

Harry looks around in a muted panic, searching through the fog for a sign of his daddy. But it’s just him and Moody in the Hospital Wing now. The man’s magical eye has rolled into his skull, but his dark one is fixed on Harry’s face and it’s shining with urgency. 

”What… what is…” Harry struggles to form the words, his tongue thick and uncooperative in his mouth. ”What’s wrong…where’s… daddy…?”

”In my office, with the others… they need to talk to you, let’s go…”

That doesn’t make any sense, Harry thinks numbly and stumbles to his feet as the older man pulls him off the bed. 

”It’s all right, Potter… I’m going to put a Protection Charm on you, just to be safe…”

Harry feels like someone has just doused him with cold water and it wakes him up a little, but not nearly enough. His head feels fuzzy still, like someone has rammed handfuls of cotton in there and no matter how many times he blinks, he can’t get the sleep out of his eyes… his eyelids are heavy and so are his legs and arms, he discovers as he stumbles after Moody. 

The man puts his arm around him and it steadies him slightly, but doesn’t feel nearly as comforting as when either of his dads hold him. Even Professor Snape’s arm feels more natural around his shoulders, he thinks. But at least Moody is a great Auror, or was before he retired… and Harry knows he can trust him, he’s not sure right now why that is but he’s sure he can… and he knows the man will keep him safe, until he’s back in his daddy’s arms…

”You keep quiet now”, the man growls. ”Can’t take any chances…”

What, Harry tries to say, but his tongue won’t move at all anymore and his thoughts drag slowly through his mind. Why does thinking require so much effort all of a sudden? 

He’s vaguely aware of hushed voices, talking frantically nearby. Talking on top of each other, in a jumble of words — other students? where is Draco? I need to see Draco — he stumbles slightly as the arm around his shoulders tighten painfully and pulls him more insistently along the corridor. 

Why? he thinks faintly. Why are we hurrying? Is something wrong?

Only now does he notice that his ankle doesn’t hurt anymore and the realisation distracts him for a moment. He looks down, his head hanging heavily as he tries to look at his ankle… it’s hard to get a good look; it keeps moving… I’m moving, that’s why… walking… I’m walking… ankle healed… in my sleep? 

What about… arm…?

He tries to twist his arm and look at the place where Womtail dug the dagger into his flesh, and promptly stumbles over his feet. He would have fallen flat on his face, but Moody keeps him upright. 

”Pay attention, Potter!” he grunts. 

”So- rry!” Harry gasps. 

There’s a creak of hinges and then Harry is propelled inside a room. He immediately recognises his daddy’s old office, except instead of tanks with grindylows — ugh, grindylows, he thinks. Don’t like them — wait, what? — focus! — instead of tanks with exciting creatures, like his daddy had kept in this office last year, it’s now filled with curious objects. 

Harry sits down heavily as Moody pushes him into a chair, and stares in wonder at a squiggly, golden aerial that keeps thrumming insistently in the corner. 

”So, what happened, Potter?” Moody grunts. 

”What’s that?” Harry asks, squinting at the squiggly thing. 

”Secrecy Sensor”, Moody grunts. ”What happened in the g— in the maze, Potter?”

”Where’s… my dads?” Harry says suddenly, looking around as if expecting them to jump out of the shadows. 

”On their way, now focus…”

But Harry has already been distracted by the mirror hanging on the wall opposite him, slightly behind where Moody is towering over him. As he’d whipped his head around, there had been no movement in the mirror to match it… as Harry squints at it now, he realises he can’t actually see his reflection in the glass at all… instead, it’s full of shadows… 

”That’s a Foe Glass”, Moody says impatiently. ”Now, focus! You need to tell me everything that happened—!”

”Shouldn’t we wait… for the… for—?”

”No!” Moody growls harshly. ”You need to tell me what happened tonight! It’s important, Potter!”

”Cup… was a portkey…”

”Yes, yes… then what happened?”

”You-Know-Who”, Harry mumbles, feeling himself shiver as his mind flashes back to the graveyard. ”Death Eaters… he killed Krum… killed him—”

”The Death Eaters came? And The Dark Lord, he’s back?”

”There was… a potion, he… got his body…”

”So he’s definitely returned?” Moody murmurs, his magical eye swivelling to the door behind Harry once, then fixes on his face again. ”And the Death Eaters, they returned? How did he treat them? Did he forgive them?”

Suddenly, Harry remembers… how could he have forgotten? There’s a Death Eater at Hogwarts! They’re not safe here at all, he’s here, Voldemort said he’s here —

”Sit down, Potter!” 

It’s not until Harry feels a heavy hand on top of his shoulder that he realises he’d been struggling to stand up again. 

”But you don’t understand — Death Eater — here—!”

”I know”, Moody murmurs, his good eye twinkling. ”I know who the Death Eater is.”

”Karkaroff”, Harry exclaims, as the realisation hits him. ”Where? — You have him? He's locked up—?”

”Karkaroff?” Moody repeats and lets out a tinkle of cold laughter, and it feels off to Harry but he can’t put his finger on why. ”Karkaroff fled tonight, when he felt the Dark Mark burn on his arm… he betrayed too many of the Dark Lord’s faithful supporters to dare show his face among them now… but I doubt he’ll get far, the Dark Lord has ways of tracking those who betray him…”

”He’s gone?” Harry mumbles, his mind racing. ”Then we’re safe? He’s definitely gone?”

”I don’t think you understood me, Potter… Karkaroff isn’t the faithful Death Eater that’s been serving the Dark Lord—”

But Harry isn't listening anymore. The words have triggered another memory. Voldemort kept going on about his most faithful servant… he couldn’t be with us here tonight, because he is at Hogwarts…

He’s aware of Moody sighing above him. He glances up at him and tries to focus. The shadows in the Foe Glass, he notices suddenly. They’re clearer — closer? clearer? — a hand suddenly slaps him across the face and Harry snaps his eyes back to Moody and stares in shock at the man’s eyes… he slapped me—!

”Now try and focus, boy…” the man growls. 

”Karkaroff didn’t… didn’t put my name in the… in the Goblet of Fire?” Harry stammers. 

”Good boy… No, he didn’t. I did that.”

Harry shakes his head — no — no, Voldemort said his Death Eater put his name in the Goblet, it was part of the plan —

”Listen to me, boy…” Moody says quietly and draws his wand. ”I assure you, I was the one who put a Confundus on the Goblet of Fire and put your name inside… now I’m asking you, did the Dark Lord forgive the Death Eaters who escaped Azkaban?”

Harry stares in confusion as the wand is suddenly aimed at his face.

”He forgave the scum that never even went to look for him? The crummy cowards who betrayed him and sold out the other Death Eaters, just so they could go free… the faithless, worthless pieces of filth that were parading around like clowns at the Quidditch World Cup, but fled in terror at the sight of the Dark Mark when I fired it into the sky…”

”You…” Harry says, frowning in confusion. ”You fired…? But…”

He shakes his head, trying to dislodge the cotton lining his skull and muffling his thoughts. A sense of panic flares inside his chest and urges him to do something, but his thoughts are too slow, too jumbled and he doesn’t know why he’s panicked or what he’s meant to be doing —

”If there is one thing I hate more than any other”, Moody says quietly. ”It’s a Death Eater who walked free… those rummy cowards turned their backs on my master when he needed them most, I expected him to punish them… I expected him to torture them… tell me hurt them, Harry? Tell me he told them that I, and I alone, has remained faithful… prepared to risk all to deliver to him the one thing he needed… you—”

”You didn’t… it can’t have been… can’t be you…”

”Oh yes…” Moody whispers. ”I hasn’t been easy, I’ve had to use every ounce of cunning I possess to get you through these tasks… although I have to say, you improved significantly after the first one. I was very pleased indeed that I didn’t have to aid you at all in the second one. And I knew, as long as I got you in that maze, preferably with a head start, then I could get you to that Cup… you may have noticed you barely ran into any obstacles inside that maze, well that was because I was patrolling around it, keeping an eye on you…”

He gestures to his magical eye and grins, while keeping his wand steady in his other hand. Still pointing at Harry’s face.

”I made sure to remove the bigger obstacles, and I also made sure to put the other champions out of action… well, the French girl and Diggory at least, I had expected Diggory to take out Krum for me, but the boy might have been dumber than a brick, but his Seeker reflexes were quite something…”

Rage flares up inside Harry’s chest, as the man talks about Krum… remembering the boy’s lifeless body under his hands… 

”But by that time, I could see you’d already reached the Cup so I let him go…” Moody continues. ”I couldn’t understand why you were hesitating, why you wouldn’t just grab the Cup… I was ready to kill Krum myself, but then the both of you touched it and disappeared… well, never mind… it all worked out in the end…”

Harry stares in disbelief. His sluggish thoughts struggle to keep up with everything Moody is telling him. But it doesn’t make any sense, so he’s sure he must be missing something… because why would Mad-Eye Moody, the greatest Auror of modern time… how can he possibly be a supporter of Voldemort?

The shadows inside the Foe Glass have sharpened further, Harry notices. He can make out the outlines of four figures now. 

”Except…” Moody whispers. ”Except you’re here, you’re still alive, Harry Potter… why are you still alive? I know the Dark Lord was so looking forward to killing you… ah well, imagine how pleased he will be, how proud… when he learns that I have done it for him…”

The lopsided gash of a mouth widens in a slightly manic grin and both the good and the magical eye seem to shine with excitement. 

”I will be his dearest, closest supporter… closer than a son…”

There is sudden flash of red light in the room, and Harry is sure that Moody has fired a curse at him… but it doesn’t hit him. Instead he hears the deafening crash and crunch of the door splintering off its hinges and slamming open behind him. 

Moody is thrown backwards off his feet and lands heavily on the floor. Staring in shock at the place where the man’s head had just been, Harry sees the scowling faces of his dads, Professor Snape and Dumbledore inside the Foe Glass and his heart leaps into his throat. 

He jumps to his feet and wheels around. Hands are on him in a second, pulling him roughly to the side and then he’s got his daddy’s arms around him once more. Twisting his head, he sees Professor Snape and Sirius advance on Moody, their wands raised and pointing at the man’s heart… for a brief moment, he think this is the first time he has ever seen his dad and Head of House standing this close together and glaring at someone else, as opposed to each other. 

”Are you okay, Harry?” Remus hisses wildly, his hands roaming over his head and back, feeling for injuries. 

”Yes”, he gasps. 

He can feel the man’s heartbeat against his face. It’s a lot more frantic than before. 

”I’m… I’m fine…” he mumbles. 

”Harry…” Dumbledore says calmy, as he steps through the doorway. ”Please tell us what happened?”

”He needs rest, Albus!” Remus snaps angrily. ”He can tell us in the morning!”

”I’ve slept for hours”, Harry tells his daddy, even as he struggles to keep his heavy eyelids open. 

Remus gives him a sharp look, ”What are you talking about?”

”I’ve been asleep this whole time, it’s only been about twenty minutes, maybe half an hour, since Moody woke me up”, he says.

”Harry”, Remus says. ”I was only out of the room for two minutes! I wouldn’t have left at all, but I needed to talk to your dad and Professor Dumbledore, and I was afraid our voices would wake you… he offered to watch over you while I stepped outside”, he adds in a disgusted voice. 

”Oh…” Harry mumbles. 

”I told you I wouldn’t leave you”, Remus reminds him with a frown. ”I was just outside the door… I don’t understand how he managed to smuggle you past us… did you have your Invisibility Cloak?”

Harry shakes his head, ”He put this charm on me… said it was a Protection, it sort of felt like he’d poured cold water over my head…”

”Concealment Charm”, Professor Snape mutters. 

”But… but I didn’t see you…” Harry mumbles. ”I looked for you, but you weren’t there…”

”Probably a Befuddlement Charm, as well”, Professor Dumbledore says gently. ”Now… I understand it’s been a great shock, Harry… and he will get his rest, Remus… but something tells me there are some answers that can’t wait until the morning… am I right Harry?”

Swallowing thickly past the lump in his throat, Harry nods.

”He’s back…” he whispers thickly. ”You-Know-Who, he’s back…”

A tension seems to spread inside the room. Harry thinks he catches both his dad and Professor Snape flinch in his peripheral, but when he looks over they’re both as stoic as ever. 

”The Triwizard Cup, it was a portkey?” Dumbledore says softly. 

”Yes”, Harry croaks. ”Krum and I, we both grabbed it together… we wanted to tie… we didn’t know…”

”I understand, Harry…” Dumbledore says and nods seriously. ”And where did it take you?”

”A graveyard, far from here… where You-Know-Who’s father is buried…”

The old man seems to pale before Harry’s eyes.

”How do you know that, Harry?”

”Because I saw his grave, I was tied to… to the headstone… and Vol- Voldemort, he needed his bones for the potion… Wormtail was helping make it, and they needed bones from his father, flesh from his servant, and… and blood… blood from me…”

Several things happen at once. Dumbledore lurches forward, his eyes flashing dangerously at Harry. At the same time, both Sirius and Professor Snape wheel around and one of them accidentally sends a hex flying. It hits the floor in the corner with a sudden crack, and everyone jumps. 

”They… they bled you, Harry?” Sirius says, his voice oddly hollow but his eyes bright with anger. 

”Y-yeah… Wormtail cut my arm with a dagger… the potion worked… Vol- Voldemort got his body and powers back… and he said… said he needed my blood, because of the protection… L-Lily’s protection that’s still in me… it’s in him too now, so he… he can touch me…”

Remus arms tighten around him and he shoves his face into the crook of his neck. Harry can feel the wetness of tears from his face as they smear against his own skin. 

Harry tries to continue, to tell them the rest. Images of Krum dying and the Death Eaters arriving on the scene fill his mind… then Lucius stepping inside the circle and facing him, pointing his wand at his heart and torturing him… duelling with Voldemort… their wands connecting and the shadows of Voldemort’s victims helping Harrry escape… 

But he can’t tell them any of it, because his throat has closed up again.

”Come on, cub… let’s get you out of here…” Remus murmurs into his ear and he nods.

”No”, Dumbledore says sharply. ”He needs to stay, Remus.”

”Don’t start with me, Albus”, Remus growls. 

”But he needs to understand”, Dumbledore counters insistently. ”Understanding is the first step to acceptance and only with acceptance can there be recovery. Harry needs to know who has put him through the ordeal he has suffered tonight, and why…”

”Moody”, Harry gasps. ”How can it have been Moody?”

”This man is not Alastor Moody”, Dumbledore says, moving closer to the unconscious body on the floor and staring into the face with an intensity that makes Harry feel a flutter of fear. ”My guess is that you have never even met Alastor Moody, Harry…”

Professor Snape immediately bends down and roughly pats the body down, until he finds Moody’s hip-flask in one of his robes pockets. He flicks the top open and sniffs the contents with a scowl. 

”Polyjuice”, he mutters darkly. 

”What? What’s that?” Harry mumbles in confusion. 

”It’s a potion that allows the drinker to assume the physical form of another”, Remus tells him calmly.

”You mean… that’s not… that’s not him?”

”No”, Dumbledore says. ”But my guess is that the real Moody is somewhere in this office… he would have needed to keep him close, so that he could continue to brew the Polyjuice potion…”

”Wha… why?” says aghast. 

”You need a piece of the person you want to turn into”, Remus explains, then at Harry’s alarmed look he hurriedly adds, ”A strand of hair will do!”

”Severus”, Professor Dumbledore says. ”Will you please go and fetch your strongest Veritaserum, and then go down to the kitchens and fetch a house-elf called Winky and bring her here?”

Professor Snape gives him a curt nod and immediately pockets his wand, then stalks out of the office without a word or without looking at anyone. Harry tilts his head back and stares up into Remus’ face. The man’s frown smooths out immediately and he smiles down at him. 

”Daddy… my head feels funny… like cotton…”

”Oh, I’m sorry, Harry, hang on”, the man mumbles and fumbles with his wand. ”Finite…”

Immediately, Harry’s head clears and the office becomes clearer and sharper around him as well. He stares down the unconscious body of Moody — or the person impersonating him — and gasps as the face begins to shift suddenly, the skin bubbling… With a sudden clunk, the wooden leg falls to the floor as a real leg begins to grow out and Sirius jumps back swiftly, out of the way. 

”Ah…” Dumbledore murmurs. ”Now we’ll know for sure…”

The magical eye pops out of the socket and rolls away along the floor. Harry can see a strip of white under the lowered lashes and realises there’s now a real eye under there. 

Slowly, the face changes and thins. The skin becoming paler and a nose sprouting out where earlier there’d been just a small chunk of flesh. Freckles cover the new nose and spread over the cheeks. The lopsided gash of a mouth straightens, lips becoming fuller. Finally the hair changes from its mousy brown to a golden blonde. 

Harry’s heart skips a beat as he stares down at the new face of the man. He knows this face, he knows who this man is… he has seen him before, not in real life but — in Dumbledore’s Pensieve, he realises suddenly, that’s where I’ve seen him too, but I never realised! — because he’s also the man from his dream, his first dream about Voldemort last summer, when he’d been taken care of by two men… Wormtail and a stranger… this man, Harry realises now. How did I not recognise him in the Pensieve? 

But now that he thinks about it, it’s hardly surprising… the boy in the Pensieve, although blonde and pale like this older man in front of him, had looked nothing like this… he’d been handsome and young, he’d wailed in panic and called out for his mother… he’d had the wild and open look of innocence about him… whereas this man, his face is lined prematurely and even in unconsciousness he looks haunted, jaded… 

The door of the office opens again next to them. He hears the soft gasp from Professor Snape who stops dead on the threshold. 

”Barty Crouch!”

”What…” a squeaky voice says timidly. ”Master Barty, master Barty! What is you doing here?”

A small creatures suddenly comes running across the floor and throws herself on top of Barty Crouch Junior’s chest and wails, ”You is killed him! You is killed him! You is killed master’s son!”

”He is simply Stunned, Winky…” Dumbledore says calmly. ”Now please step aside… Severus, have you got the Veritaserum?”

Professor Snape shakes himself from his stupor and steps forward, handing the Headmaster a small glass phial containing a clear liquid. 

Sirius helps Dumbledore drag Barty Crouch Junior’s body up to sitting, slumped against the wall beneath the Foe Glass. Then the Headmaster opens the man’s mouth and lets three drops of the liquid fall onto his tongue. He then points his wand at the man’s chest and whispers, ”Rennervate…”

The man’s eyes flutter open and he looks around in mild confusion, his mouth slack. Dumbledore kneels on the floor in front of him. 

”Can you hear me?”

”Yes…” the man murmurs, his voice is surprisingly soft.

”I would like you to tell us how you come to be here? How did you escape from Azkaban?”

”My mother…” he murmurs, a small frown appearing between his brows as though he can quite understand why he’s speaking. ”She saved me. She knew she was dying, so she persuaded my father to save me as a last favour to her. He loved her. So he agreed. They came to visit me and gave me a draught of Polyjuice Potion containing one of my mother’s hairs. She took a draught of Polyjuice containing one of mine. Thus we took on each other’s appearance and I walked out, while she stayed.”

”Say no more, master Barty”, the house-elf begs, sobbing into her hands. ”You is getting your father into trouble, say no more!”

”My mother died shortly after… she was careful to take the Polyjuice Potion until they end, and so they buried her under my name and bearing my appearance. Everyone believed her to be me.”

”And what did your father do with you, when he got you home?” Dumbledore asks quietly. 

”He never loved me…” the man says quietly, his eyelids fluttering. 

Harry feels his knees buckle, and without missing a beat, his daddy’s arms lift him up. He clambers onto him and rests his head gratefully against his shoulder as he listens to the horrible story… his heart pinching with pity, even after everything that the man has done to him…

”He staged my mother’s death”, Barty Crouch Junior continues. ”A quiet, private funeral. Empty grave. Winky nursed me back to health, then I had to be concealed… controlled… my father used many spells to subdue me, but I thought only of finding my master, of returning to his service… the Dark Lord, he would welcome me back, he would… would be proud of me, would love me like a father should… that was all I could think of…”

”How did your father subdue you?” Dumbledore asks. 

”The Imperius… I was under my father’s control and hidden under an Invisibility Cloak, day and night… Winky was my carer and my keeper… she pitied me and persuaded my father to give me treats sometimes for good behaviour, like going to the World Cup…”

”Did anyone else know?” Dumbledore asks. 

”Yes… a Ministry witch, Bertha Jorkins, she came to the house one night to get my father's signature on some papers, she heard Winky talking to me in the kitchen and when my father arrived home she confronted him… he put a Memory Charm on her, but he went too far… damaged her memory permanently…”

”I see… tell me about the World Cup…”

”Winky convinced my father to let me go. They told everyone she was saving a seat for him in the Top Box, but in actuality I was sitting there, under the Invisibility Cloak… imagine my surprise and delight, when Harry Potter himself sat down in the seat next to me… I even managed to lift the wand from his pocket… you see, I’d been growing stronger for months, able to throw off my father’s Imperius Curse without him or Winky knowing… I had no plan, then… I just saw the wand and knew I wanted it, I hadn’t held a wand in my hand since before I was sent to Azkaban… but then, as we were walking back to the tent, we heard the Death Eaters, the cowards who’d evaded Azkaban… not enslaved as I was, but free to seek our master, yet they did not… rage filled me… I conjured the Dark Mark… the filthy traitors ran as soon as they saw it!”

”And then what happened?” Dumbledore prompts. 

”Ministry wizards arrived, shooting Stunning spells everywhere… one of them hit me and Winky where we were hiding behind the trees. I was still under the Invisibility Cloak, but Winky was found… of course, my father knew I must be close by and as soon as the coast was clear he came back for me and put me under the Imperius once more and took me home… he’d dismissed Winky for her failure to keep me under control, so it was just the two of us in the house… just two people in one big house, never saying a word to each other… I might as well have stayed in Azkaban… but then…”

The young man’s head rolls on top of his shoulders and a smile slowly breaks out on his face, his eyelids fluttering more than ever as if he’s remembering a dream. 

”Then my master came for me… he came for me… he came to the house one evening, in the arms of his servant. They’d captured Bertha Jorkins in Albania, tortured her, and she’d told them about me… and the Triwizard Tournament… and the old Auror Mad-Eye Moody set to start teaching… it was perfect… my master thought of a plan, a perfect plan… but he needed me… so they came to the house”, his smile grows wider and his eyes become a little more focused. ”My father answered the door, oh you should have seen his face…  my master put him under the Imperius Curse, now he was the one being controlled, imprisoned… and I — I was released, awakened, myself again and alive as I hadn’t been for years — he needed someone faithful, someone he could trust, someone cunning, to go to Hogwarts and guide Harry Potter through the Triwizard Tournament without arousing suspicion… someone brave enough to risk everything to serve him and the cause. I was ready. It had been my dream for years. My greatest ambition. To serve him, to prove myself to him, to earn his gratitude and respect!”

Remus arms have tightened steadily around Harry’s body throughout the story. Harry can feel them digging into his back and squeezing his lungs through the ribcage. But he welcomes the dull pain of it. He feels exhausted still and although his mind has been cleared of the befuddlement charm, he feels his mind begin to collapse on itself again... too much information... too much pain and suffering, it's not fair…. he remembers the young, terrified boy from the Pensieve… calling out for his mother and his father… You are not my son, I have no son… 

My father never loved me, he’d said. 

Was it true? Harry thinks sadly. If it is, then no wonder he leapt at the chance to be included in another family, dark though it was… 

Barty Crouch Senior had managed to escape the house — that was Wormtail’s big blunder, that almost got him fed to the snake Nagini — and he’d come to Hogwarts to warn Dumbledore and come clean about everything. That night when Harry found him. He feels sick thinking about it now. The insane ramblings, they all made sense now. And the feet sticking out from behind the tree. Dead. Killed. 

Killed by his own son, Harry thinks and clings to Remus’ neck a little tighter. 

He tunes out the rest of the story, can’t bear to hear any more…

The house-elf is wailing and sobbing uncontrollably next to her master now. But Crouch Junior doesn't seem to be aware of her at all, or anyone in the room. He continues to smile dreamily, his eyes glazed over as he tells them about volunteering to place the Triwizard Cup in the maze and turning it into a portkey. 

”It worked… the plan worked… he is back… just ask Harry Potter… he knows… he was there, he saw… he made it happen…”

Harry feels the weight of everyone’s eyes on him and instinctively turns his head to bury his face into the crook of his daddy’s neck. 

”That’s enough, Albus”, Remus says firmly. ”I’m taking Harry to his dorm.”

Harry holds his breath as he waits for the argument to break out, but nothing but silence follows his daddy’s statement. Then they’re moving. Harry continues to cling to his daddy as he carries him out of the office. 

After a moment, he hears two set of footsteps join them. He feels his dad’s hand on the back of his neck, while the other person picks up their pace and walks ahead of them, leading the way to the dungeons. 

He begins to doze off, but comes to again as they begin to descend the spiral staircase. 

”Let me get some Dreamless Sleep from my office…” Professor Snape’s soft voice says. 

”Thank you, Severus…” Remus murmurs. 

They enter the Slytherin Common Room and Snape continues to lead the way to Harry’s dorm, whispering to them to be quiet so they don’t wake up the other students, before he opens the door. 

Remus gently lowers Harry onto his four-poster and tucks him in, just like he used to do when he was little and it makes Harry feel a little better… like maybe all the horrible things that happened tonight, maybe they’re just like his nightmares and his daddy can chase them away with chocolate and kisses… Remus grabs the phial of Dreamless Sleep from Professor Snape and helps Harry sip it carefully. Exhaustion descends on him once more and his eyelids begin to droop. 

”I’ll sit here until you fall asleep… ” Rermus whispers and caresses his head gently. ”It’s okay, you won’t have any nightmares tonight… and in the morning when you wake up, you just stay in the Common Room until we get here, okay?”

Harry nods sleepily.

”Good boy… now go to sleep…”

His daddy bends down to brush a feathery kiss over the scar on his forehead. It’s not until the pain suddenly stops, that Harry realises his scar has been hurting this whole time…

”Daddy…” he mumbles, fighting to keep his eyes open. 

”Yes, Harry?”

”How am I going to tell… Draco…?”

But before his daddy has a chance to answer, Harry is already drifting off to sleep.

*

The next time he wakes up, the dorm is still dark. Draco is cuddled up next to him on the bed, his pale fingers gripping Harry’s hand loosely in his sleep. Harry gives them a gentle squeeze and watches apprehensively as the other boy blinks his eyes open. They’re slightly swollen and bloodshot, but he still looks beautiful to Harry, who feels a weight sinking from his chest into his stomach when he thinks about what’s going to happen now… He opens his mouth to speak, but can’t get the words out. 

”Don’t tell me…” Draco says, his voice thick with repressed emotion and his eyes brimming with tears again. ”Please… I don’t want to know…” 

Harry nods and curls his arm over the other boy’s back and pulls him closer. 

”It’ll be all right”, he murmurs and brushes his lips over Draco’s brow. 

”Promise…?” Draco whispers. 

”Yeah… Yeah, I’ll make sure of it”, Harry says and as soon as the words are out of his mouth he just knows it’s true, then before he drifts off to sleep again he mumbles. ”I love you, Draco…” 

If the blonde answers, Harry doesn’t hear it. He’s already slipping into a fitfull sleep. The Dreamless Potion has left his system now and his sleep is haunted by snippets of images, jumbled flashes from the graveyard and images his mind conjures up from what Barty Crouch Junior told them… maybe it’s the comforting weight of Draco’s head on his chest, or the steady beat of the other boy’s heart against his arm, but even through the worst images, Harry remains aware that it’s all just a dream…

*

The next time he wakes up, the dorm is flooded with a soft green light which tells him it’s morning already. Draco is still curled up next to him, but he can tell by the boy’s breathing that he’s awake. He turns his head and brushes his lips over the blonde hair and inhales happily… they’re safe… for now, a traitorous voice whispers in the back of his mind. 

”You awake?” Draco whispers and tilts his head up. 

”No…” Harry mumbles sleepily, then startles as a sudden pain in the skin covering his collarbone. ”OW! What the… you…”

He pushes back slightly from the other boy and blinking the sleep from his eyes he looks between Draco’s smirk and the red mark beneath his throat. 

”You bit me!”

”Sorry”, Draco says and looks anything but. ”You are awake now?”

”You…” 

Harry wrestles Draco to his back and tries to nibble his ear, but the other boy shrieks and squirms away, holding Harry’s head at arms’ length. 

”I give! I give!”

”Of course you do, you’re not the one with a bite mark on his chest—!”

”Too much information!” Blaise shouts from outside the bed-hangings that are drawn on the other side of the bed. 

Harry and Draco immediately still and stare at each other. As the laughter evaporates from them and clears from their eyes, reality starts seeping in again and the weight of everything that’s happened is slowly but steadily lowered into Harry’s chest again. He scrambles off Draco and sits up. Draco follows suit, his worried eyes pinned to Harry’s and his chest rising and falling quickly, too quickly… he’s ready to know now, Harry thinks with a pang, unsure of whether he’s ready to tell him. 

”Let’s open the hangings…” Draco murmurs. ”They deserve to know as well.”

Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Harry nods. Together they pull the hangings aside and then sit side by side on Harry’s bed, facing the other boys who are all in their own beds still, but judging by the lack of sleep in their eyes, Harry thinks they must have been up for ages, waiting for Harry to wake up. There’s a sense of austerity inside the dorm, confirmed by the serious expressions on the boys’ faces. Even Seamus lacks his usual grin. 

Not wanting to prolong the agony of dread any longer, Harry starts talking. He tells them everything that happened after he and Krum touched the Triwizard Cup, skipping all the gruesome details that Seamus doesn’t request to hear and then rounds the whole story up abruptly with the Death Eaters arriving, skipping ahead to reveals Moody’s true identity. There’s a chorus of gasps around the room. Seamus eyes are round as saucers and his whole body is twitching with the impulse to jump to his feet. 

Harry describes being under the Befuddlement Charm and taken to the Derence Against the Dark Arts teacher’s office and then his dads showing up with Professor Snape and Dumbledore, more or less blasting the door open and Stunning the imposter in one powerful strike. 

”But hang on, how did you get out of there?” Blaise demands. ”How did you get away from the graveyard?”

”Luck, really”, Harry mutters. ”He wanted to duel with me, but of course I didn’t stand a chance… which was the whole point, I think… but then, something weird happened, some weird spell that made our wands connect… it was enough to distract him for a few seconds, so I could run back to the portkey.”

”The Death Eaters…” Draco murmurs quietly next to him.. ”Do you… do you know who—?”

”Yeah”, Harry says shortly and turns to face him for the first time since he started talking and he feels his heart break a little when realisation flares inside the grey eyes. ”I’m sorry…”

Draco just gives his head a small shake and looks away. 

”So we’ve been taught Defence by a Death Eater this whole year…” Seamus says. ”That’s rich… Hey, he could have killed you any time. Why didn’t he?”

”I told you, they needed to get me to the graveyard. They needed my blood.”

”But why didn’t he kill you in the Hospital Wing?” Seamus insists. ”Why risk everything and smuggle you out of there?”

”I guess he only had a few minutes”, Harry says and shrugs uncomfortably. 

”That’s all it would take”, Seamus counters. 

”Yeah, but he had questions… he wanted to know if the plan worked, if You-Know-Who was really back and then… then he wanted to know if the other Death Eaters were punished, tortured—”

”And were they?” Draco asks, his voice carefully neutral.

”No”, Harry says immediately. ”Only one, Avery. The others were spared—”

Draco snorts softly, a look of bitterness twisting his face. 

”Well”, Harry amends awkwardly. ”Spared the Cruciatus Curse anyway… that’s not nearly as pleasant as the Imperius, by the way!”

Draco’s eyes whip back to his. 

”You… you didn’t say…”

”Well, what other curse would Voldemort choose in a duel”, Harry says evasively and turns back to the others. ”I got three blasts of it last night, and it was more painful than you can ever imagine…”

”Wow”, Seamus breathes, his eyes rounder than ever, then almost perks up as a thought hits him. ”Hey, that’s all three Unforgivables you’ve had now Harry!”

”Yeah”, Harry says, grinning despite himself. ”I’ve collected the set!”

The Irish boy’s face breaks out in a matching grin and it’s like all the tensions Harry’s collected in the last twenty-four hours suddenly snaps and he starts snickering. Soon, Seamus joins him. 

”What’s wrong with you?” Draco snaps, glaring between the two of them. 

Harry just shakes his head, still chuckling. It’s not really funny, but he’s cried and screamed enough to last him a lifetime lately, so he might as well laugh for a bit…

”Well, we better get going…” Blaise says, frowning at Harry. ”You’re staying here, I’m assuming?”

Harry nods. 

”See you later then…” the other boy mumbles. 

Harry watches in silence as the others get ready for the day. Draco eyes him apprehensively for a moment, before he turns to follow the others out of the dorm. 

”See you later”, Harry says and it almost comes out like a question. 

”Don’t be stupid”, Draco mutters and leans in to brush a quick kiss to his lips. 

When he’s alone in the dorm, Harry considers going back to sleep for a while but the thought of nightmares gives him the shove he needs to finally get out of bed and he begins to change out of his pyjamas. He spends the morning hanging out in the Common Room, playing Exploding Solitaire and flicking through Quidditch Through the Ages. 

Finally, around lunctime, he hears the brick wall rearrange itself and looks up to see Remus walk through the passageway. Harry immediately jumps to his feet and runs across the room, throwing is arms around him and hugging him tightly, getting hugged even tighter in return and welcoming the crushing sensation more than ever. 

”How did you sleep, pup?” Remus murmurs, caressing his hair. ”Any nightmares?”

”A few… it was all right…” Harry mumbles. 

”I’m here to take you to the Headmaster’s office, but let’s sit down for a second first…”

Harry nods and disentangles himself from his daddy’s embrace again. He leads him over to the loveseat in front of the fire and moves the Exploding Snap cards out of the way so he can sit down next to him. Clearly unable to maintain any sort of distance, even if it is just a matter of inches, Remus drapes his arm over the backrest just so that he can continue to pet Harry’s hair… Harry doesn’t mind though, he leans into the touch gratefully and sighs. 

”How are you feeling?” Remus asks him seriously. ”Really, Harry…”

”I feel…” Harry sighs, trailing off. ”I don’t know what I feel… but I feel it a lot…”

Remus smiles sadly and nods. 

”After everything Barty Crouch Junior has told us, the Headmaster will only need you to fill in a few gaps, so don’t feel like you have to go over everything that happened last night, unless you want to… if you don’t feel up to talking to Professor Dumbledore at all, you can just tell me if you want as well…”

”Dumbledore would be okay with that?” Harry says doubtfully, because somehow he doesn’t think so. 

”Is that what you want?” Remus counters, with a stubborn frown on his face that says he’ll make it happen if that’s the case. 

Harry doesn’t want his dads to fight with Dumbledore, though. Especially not now. So he says he’ll be fine. 

”But promise this will be the last time, and I won’t have to go over it all again?” he begs. ”I just went over it with my friends this morning, I don’t think I can stand talking about it all the time…”

”I promise”, Remus says and pulls him into a one-armed hug, kissing him on the temple. ”Dumbledore told the school this morning and he asked everyone to leave you alone and not ask you about it… So you told Draco… is he okay?”

”I don’t know”, Harry mumbles. ”I told him his dad’s fine, that Voldemort didn’t torture him or anything.”

”And did that make him feel better?”

”I don’t think so… I thought it would, but…”

Remus sighs and kisses him again, then leans back to look him in the eyes. 

”You did great, Harry… I think Draco is worried about the future, that’s all. With good reason. Now listen to me… there’s nothing you can do to fix any of this, it’s not on you to make things better now, do you understand me? All you can do is be there for him. The rest is out of your hands.”

”Daddy… there’s one thing I didn’t tell Draco, about Lucius…”

Harry feels his stomach churn with worry at the thought of his daddy’s reaction, but he needs to tell him and he needs to tell him now, not later in Dumbledore’s office in front of everyone else. 

”What’s that, cub?”

”Voldemort knew about… about me and Draco”, Harry says slowly, swallowing round the lump in his throat. ”He was asking Lucius about it, mocking him… Lucius kept saying it’s not true and… Draco knows where the Malfoy family’s loyalty lies…”

”I wouldn’t worry about it, Harry”, Remus says kindly. ”It sounds like he was just trying to avoid the Cruciatus curse or worse…”

”Yeah, I know, but…” Harry looks down. ”That’s not all… Voldemort offered him… a chance to prove himself…”

Remus pulls him into a hug again and hushes him gently. Harry hadn’t even realised his eyes had filled with tears. 

”He offered him… me”, he croaks, blinking the tears away. 

Remus immediately stills next to him. Harry feels the tension slam into his muscles and his heartbeat slowly pick up speed. 

”What?” he says quietly. 

”Voldemort offered him me—”

Remus wrenches away from him and holds him at arms’ length, pinning him with wild eyes. 

”He put the Cruciatus on me… ow, daddy, my arms—”

Remus shakes himself slightly and quickly releases his grip on Harry’s arms and hugs him again instead. 

”I didn’t tell Draco”, Harry mumbles. ”You think I should have?”

”No… no, you did good…” Remus says, his voice shaking slightly. ”Harry… I’m so sorry… you had to go through any of this…”

”It’s okay, I’m safe now.”

Remus chuckles a little, then sniffles and nods. He pulls away again and combs his fingers through Harry’s hair fondly.

”I’m supposed to be comforting you… when did you become so grown up?” 

Harry smiles and shrugs. 

”All right… ready to go?” Remus says.

”Yeah…”

When they get to the Headmaster’s Office, Professor Snape and Sirius are standing on opposite ends of the room glaring at each other surly, but they both perk up when they see Harry. Sirius instantly strides across the room and envelops him in a massive hug, then leads him over to sit in the chair in front of Dumbledore’s desk. 

The old Headmaster peers at him over the rim of his half-moon spectacles and gives him a small smile. 

”How are you feeling today, Harry?”

”Better, thanks… I’m ready to tell you what happened in the graveyard”, Harry says firmly, anxious to get the whole thing over with. 

Dumbledore’s eyes give a small, sad twinkle like he understands this and he nods slowly. With a deep breath, Harry tells them everything in the kind of quick drone that you get after you’ve told the same story several times. He now skips the gruesome bits without missing a beat and glosses over the whole conversation between Voldemort and Lucius, after a quick glance at his daddy for reassurance. 

He’s aware of his dad and Professor Snape in each of his peripherals, one fidgeting with pent-up frustration and boiling anger the more Harry talks, while the other grows more and more still. By the time Harry tells them he was forced to duel, Sirius has begun to pace like a caged animal and growls expletives under his breath, despite his husband hushing him, and Professor Snape resembles a statue in the opposite corner, his glittering dark eyes the only sign that he’s still human. 

When Harry reaches the part where his wand connected with Voldemort’s, his throat begins to close up… just get it over with, he tells himself furiously. But no matter how many times he swallows, he can’t seem to get his voice to work again. Remus hand is shaking on top of his shoulder. 

”The wands connected?” Sirius says, then rounds on Dumbledore. ”Why?”

”Priori Incantatem”, Dumbledore murmurs. 

”The reverse spell effect?” Remus says sharply, his shaking hand clutching Harry’s shoulder a little harder now. 

”Exactly”, Dumbledore says. ”Harry’s wand and Voldemort’s share cores. Each of them contain a feather from the same phoenix… this phoenix, in fact—”

Harry glances up automatically to see the Headmaster nod towards Fawkes, perched on its peg next to the desk. The bird blinks sadly at Harry and suddenly extends its massive wings, the scarlet plumage glittering with gold when the sunlight hits it. It’s not until it lands on his knee that Harry realises he’s the one shaking, not his daddy… 

”Mr Ollivander wrote to me and told me Harry had bought the second wand, the moment you left his shop four years ago”, Dumbledore continues. 

”But what does that mean?” Sirius says. ”What happens when a wand meets its sister?”

”They will not work properly against each other. But if the owners of the wands force them to do battle, a very rare effect will take place… one of the wands will force the other to regurgitate spells it has performed, in reverse…”

Harry stares at Fawkes, so he doesn’t have to look at anyone else’s face, but something about the bird’s sad eye reminds him of Dumbledore so he looks towards the window behind the Headmaster’s desk instead. An acid green beetle is scurrying back and forth on the window sill. 

”Which means…” Dumbledore continues slowly. ”That some form of Viktor Krum must have reappeared… am I right, Harry?”

Harry gives a jerky nod, but refuses to meet the man’s eyes again. The beetle glints in the sunlight. It looks almost tropical with it’s vivid green colouring and strange black markings on its head. 

”And am I also right in assuming… that you saw your parents… Harry?”

”What?” Sirius exclaims. 

”I saw James and Lily”, Harry says, a little louder than he’d intended. 

”I’m sorry”, Dumbledore says immediately. ”I meant, of course, to say Lily and James—”

”It wasn’t really them though”, Harry says, aware that Sirius has finally stopped moving around in his corner of the office. ”They were just shadows… like an echo…”

”I’m sorry”, Dumbledore says again softly. ”I didn’t mean to imply any differently. No spell can reawaken the dead. And you are quite right in calling it an echo, Harry. That’s essentially what it is. A reverse echo conjuring shadows of the people killed by the wand, shadows with the appearance and character of the people they portray, nothing more… but these shadows, Harry… what did they do—?”

”Is it really important, Albus?” Remus asks sharply. 

”It’s okay”, Harry mumbles, even as he clutches Fawkes with trembling hands, as if the ancient bird was some kind of stuffed animal and he was a little boy. ”They helped me. They… lingered… after I broke the connection, they lingered and distracted You-Know-Who so I could run back to the portkey… and then I came back to the maze, and you all know the rest.”

He feels all tension and air go out of him and falls back against the backrest of the chair, strangely relieved to have got it all off his chest. Remus hand starts massaging his shoulder gently, as Dumbledore continues to speak to the others… Harry tunes him out. He feels like he’s just been through everything all over again, and the exhaustion he felt last night comes over him again. He still hasn’t eaten anything either…

As if reading his thoughts, Remus bends down and whispers, ”Come on, let’s go raid the kitchen…”

Harry nods. Fawkes flaps its wings and leaves his lap to perch on the peg next to the window again instead and he stands up on shaky legs. 

”Harry”, Dumbledore says suddenly. ”I want to thank you again for the bravery you’ve shown in the past few hours, and again today in reliving the ordeal for our benefit…”

”Sure…” Harry mumbles awkwardly. 

”Now, as a Triwizard champion, you don’t have any exams to sit and it is up to you whether you want to remain at the castle for the last four days of term and attend the End of the year feast… or whether you want to accompany your dads home this afternoon…”

”It’s up to you”, Remus murmurs gently, rubbing his back a few times. 

”I think… I want to go home…”

”I’ll see you in a bit then, Harry, yeah?” Sirius says, with an attempt at a smile twisting his lips even though his eyes are still troubled. ”I’m just going to have a word with the Headmaster…”

”Fine. Harry and I will see you at home”, Remus says and then turns to Harry and lowers his voice conspiratorially, even though Harry is sure everyone can still hear him. ”But first, food.”

Despite everything, Harry finds himself smiling. 

When they enter the Hogwarts kitchens, they can see Barty Crouch’s house-elf Winky, curled up in front of the fire with a bottle of firewhiskey, still sobbing quietly to herself. Dobby is hovering over her shoulder anxiously, holding a cup of tea, but when he sees Harry and Remus he immediately runs over to them with a big grin on his face, the cooling tea spilling over his hands.

”Mister Harry Potter and Mister Professor Remus Lupin Potter, Sirs!”

”It’s just Remus Lupin”, Remus corrects the elf gently, but he seems too caught up in his joy at seeing Harry to take any notice. 

”’Lo Dobby”, Harry says. ”Mind if my daddy and I have some lunch in here?”

”Mind?” the house-elf squeaks, his massive eyes bulging even more than usual. ”It would be an honour—!”

”All right, all right”, Harry mutters. 

Ever since Dumbledore made him admit he’d seen the echoes of Lily and James, Harry has been dreading his dads reactions and as he sits down with Remus at the end of the replica of the Slytherin table and waits for the house-elves to serve them some lunch, Harry begins to tense, expecting his daddy to ask him about it. But to his immense surprise and relief, Remus doesn’t even mention it. Instead he starts telling Harry about the latest chapter in his Defence textbook and Harry eagerly dives into the conversation.

Remus accompanies Harry to his dorm and helps him pack, frowning at the state of his bed and the mess of clothes around it, but doesn’t actually comment. 

They’re just getting ready to leave when Draco bursts through the door, breathing hard as if he’s been running the whole way from the Divinations classroom in the North Tower, his eyes wide with panic and immediately, Harry’s shackles go up and his heart begins to beat wildly. 

”What? What is it?” he says. 

”You…” Draco doubles over, clutching his side. ”Hang… on…”

”Everything all right, Draco?” Remus asks slowly. 

The blonde nods quickly, still struggling to get his breathing back under control. The relief that pours through Harry is nearly strong enough to knock him over and he sits down on the side of his bed. Draco straightens up again, still panting. 

”Ran…” he gasps. 

”Yeah”, Harry mutters with a half-hearted glare. ”You scared the shi- erm, I mean, you scared me!”

”Sorry”, Draco gasps. ”Professor Snape came to tell us… you’re leaving… is it true?”

”Yeah, I mean, I don’t have any exams to sit anyway and… well, I don’t really fancy being the school pariah again…”

”You wouldn’t be, you’d have us!”

”I know…” Harry mumbles, looking down at his hands. ”I just… just want to go home, I guess…”

”But I didn’t…” Draco trails off and sighs. ”I mean, I get it… I do…”

Harry looks up curiously, noticing the blush in the other boy’s cheeks. Or that could be from running across the castle, he supposed.

”You didn’t what?” he prompts. 

Draco hesitates. His eyes flit between Harry and Remus, then away completely. 

”Tell you what”, Remus says suddenly. ”Harry, I’ll take your trunk up to the Entrance Hall and wait for you there, okay?”

”Oh, okay…” Harry mumbles. 

Remus smiles at him and levitates the trunk in front of him out of the dorm. As he passes Draco, he tells the blonde to take care of himself and that he hopes to see him again soon. The blush in Draco’s face deepens, but he quickly replies politely. 

As the door to the dorm shuts behind Remus, a nervous silence grows between the boys. Harry watches Draco’s face, trying to read his feelings but other than the blush in the boy’s cheeks, his face is completely unreadable and he’s definitely avoiding eye contact now. 

”You can tell me everything that happened, I can take it…” Draco mumbles. ”I’m not stupid, I know what… I know what they’re like…”

”I have told you everything”, Harry lies. 

Draco finally looks over at him again. There’s doubt in his eyes. Harry sighs. 

”Well, almost everything… You-Know-Who knew about… well, he’d been reading the Prophet, I guess, because he asked your dad about us — but it’s okay!”

”How is it okay?” Draco says quietly, his eyes wide. 

”I told you, he didn’t hurt your dad—”

”Why didn’t he?” Draco demands. 

Harry shrugs awkwardly. 

”Harry, what did my father do to convince the Dark Lord he’s still loyal?”

”He’s a smooth talker”, Harry says wryly. ”I’m telling you, it’s fine—”

”You can be so naive sometimes”, Draco says, shaking his head. ”It’s only just started—”

”I know that”, Harry snaps. ”But it’s going to be okay—!”

”Because you’ll make sure of it—?” Draco sneers. 

”Yes!” Harry exclaims angrily, then stands up with a sigh. ”My daddy’s waiting for me…”

”Wait”, Draco says hurriedly, as Harry moves to walk past him. ”I’m sorry. I didn’t mean… I’m just…”

”I know…” Harry mumbles. ”It’s okay…”

”You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep, you know”, Draco mumbles, looking down. 

”I don’t.”

”Harry…” Draco shakes his head again, eyes shining. ”This is too big, even for you… but… at least promise me that, no matter what happens, we will be okay?”

”Of course we will”, Harry says, with a confidence he doesn’t really feel, but the other boy seems to buy it, because his face soften with relief. ”I need to go… I’ll write you—”

”Every day?” the blonde smirks. ”How about every second day?”

”Oh, I see… sick of me already, are you?” Harry says wryly. 

A brilliant smile breaks out on Draco’s face and Harry can’t help but think it’s like seeing the sun break through the clouds after rainy day. He leans in and captures the boy’s lips with his own and Draco immediately steps closer and deepens the kiss, clutching his shoulders almost desperately. 

”I’ll come to Hogsmeade station to see you off on Friday”, Harry says breathlessly, after breaking the kiss. 

”Okay…” Draco nods, releasing him. 

Harry opens the door to the dorm and turns away, when Draco says his name urgently. Harry turns back around and gives him a questioning look. The blonde blushes slightly again and shakes his blonde fringe into his face.

”See you Friday…” he mumbles.