herumtreiber

Title: Unusual ending - chapter 18 - 1
Chapter: eighteen
Author:

herumtreiber
Genre: Slash, time travel, romance, adventure
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or related characters. Nor do I make any money from the writing of these stories.
Rating: R
Warnings: Sexual content
Epilogue compliant? No way!
Chapter length: 3516 words
Beta: None.
Summary: Old meets new. Harry walks all over Draco's heart, and when he realizes his mistakes he does the unforgivable so Draco takes him back. Time travel. During HBP, disregards Deathly Hallows - that means everyone's alive, except Sirius, but...

Table of contents

The secret pact - 2/2

May 9th, 1997

Time passed quickly in the maelstrom of preparing to sit their exams. It didn't help that word of the battle in which Voldemort died inevitably spread to the Wizarding World, courtesy of a snooping Rita Skeeter. The group of students were celebrated as heroes, which certainly was not totally agreeable either to Severus or Draco.

For a while, neither Harry nor Draco could go out of the castle to visit Hogsmeade, because reporters – their behaviour and clothes eerily similar to a murder of crows – were ready to appear at a moment's notice and surround the students, peppering them with all kind of intrusive questions. The reporters' frenzy to extract confessions extended to all the participants of the battle, as Ron and Hermione discovered to their extreme discomfort when they snuck out of the castle into Honeyduke's trap door, only to find a beleaguered Blaise in the Three Broomsticks. The Hogwarts students beat a hasty retreat back to the comparative safety of Hogwarts.

When Tonks went to St. Mungo's for her monthly check up, she was followed around by insistent reporters who instantly recognised her by her purple hair – somehow the news of her posing as Bellatrix leaked to the press. But the wily Metamorphmagus escaped them by hiding in the women's bathroom and transforming into a believable version of Rita Skeeter, her blond locks and vapid look fooled the journalists.

The irrepressible Tonks managed to buy some time for the harried students at Hogwarts by chatting with the journalists and casually dropping the news that there was a raging dragon pox epidemic at the school – she made this convincing by letting a few pustules appear on Skeeter's nose. The reporters were intimidated by the knowledge that they'd get the disease if they persisted in their stalking of the students. Word spread quickly amongst the flock of journalists that gravitated to the coverage of Voldemort's doom and the fear of catching the debilitating disease surely impeded their stalking of the stressed heroes.

For Harry it was a bittersweet time. He felt enormously relieved that he wouldn't have Voldemort to kick around any more; secretly he enjoyed very much seeing the snarky Potions Master handle the thorny issue of his sudden fame – Snape had suddenly become the heartthrob for a good proportion of the female population of Hogwarts and some males. But Harry was fated to return to the Dursleys for the summer. All of Harry's pleading not to return to his awful relatives was in vain, because Dumbledore was deaf about this particular issue and wouldn't answer Harry's questions, as was his wont.

Fortunately Harry had allies. One morning, Remus bade him stay after his DADA class. They'd been discussing defensive spells against the deadly curse Decapitare; Harry had developed an imaginative defence against this particular spell – namely a partial shield that covered only his head and neck.

Shrugging, Harry approached Remus' desk.

The Marauder looked a little haggard and worn – the full moon had occurred two days ago.

"I heard you have to go back to the Dursleys this summer," said Remus in a soft voice as he began to tidy the classroom with a casual sweep of his wand.

"Bloody Dumbles forces me to return to the bloody whales," growled Harry.

"Language, Harry!" said Remus reprovingly, yet with a twinkle in his eyes.

"Sorry, Remus! I just can't stand the thought of being jailed for summer break."

"Don't worry, Harry," replied Remus whilst he leaned towards the Gryffindor. "You'll only have to stay two days. Then Tonks, Moody and Kingsley will take you to Malfoy Manor. Narcissa arranged everything. Tonks will be staying with you and Draco during summer break; and I'll be there of course."

"That's great!" said Harry enthusiastically, rubbing his hands gleefully. Frowning, he asked Remus, "Does Dumbledore know?"

Remus pocketed his wand and looked around at the neat classroom. Turning to Harry, he smirked the quintessential Marauder smirk, full of the promise of mischief and pranks. "What the Headmaster doesn't know can't hurt him, can it?"

Harry was sauntering along the corridor towards the transfiguration classroom, holding gingerly his leather bag containing the new transfiguration textbook he'd had to order from Flourish and Blott's; the barn owl carrying the heavy book to Hogwarts hadn't been overjoyed at its task and tried to viciously nip Harry's hand when it delivered the book. Fortunately his quick Seeker reflexes helped him – that and the opportune help provided by Draco's eagle owl, which was as irascible as his owner.

Harry still hadn't caught the book thief that purloined his precious doodles, but he was finding the Half-Blood Prince tome to be full of agreeable spells, so he wasn't bothered that much anymore.

Ron approached him and laid his hand on Harry's shoulder, asking worriedly, "You're fine, mate? You don't seem so cheerful lately, considering that You-Know-Who is dead."

Harry turned to his redhead friend and grumbled, "You could say his name, Ron! It's not as if he's coming back!"

Ron held up his hands pleadingly, wondering where the hell the blond Slytherin had gone off to. Malfoy was the only one able to deal with Harry when he was like this. "Whatever you say mate. It's just, you seem a bit off lately."

Harry looked around, hefting the bag close to his body and lifting the rim of his eyeglasses with his index finger. "Where are Mione and Draco anyway?"

"Mione and the ferret are at the library, researching something to do with wands. Moody let slip something about some Elder wand or something." Ron snorted in disbelief, saying ruefully, "Who would've believed that Mione and Malfoy would bond over research methods?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders. Hermione and Draco had a lot in common. They were the top students at Hogwarts and fiercely competitive. They took to research like a fish to water; diving into books was something that Ron and Harry tended to avoid like the plague. All in all, Harry was glad that Moody had provided them with the tantalising clue of that Elder wand thing, because Mione and Draco were too busy researching to hound them with the need to prepare their exams.

"Well, they'd better hurry or they'll miss McGonagall's class," said Harry whilst he waved to the portrait of Sir Cadogan, who was struggling to get out of a coterie of Victorian women who were taking tea. The knight had been following Harry around Hogwarts, insisting that only he could protect the Gryffindor from any more untoward attacks.

"Yeah, Mione is no longer McGonagall's favourite student," replied Ron absently. No matter how hard Hermione tried to convince McGonagall that she did not mean to imply Minerva had regular sex with Severus, the deputy Headmistress did not believe her.

When the Gryffindors entered, they found Hermione sitting on her usual chair in front of the class. Ron sat next to her and Harry went to the back of the classroom, plopping down on the chair next to Draco's. The Slytherin was taking his book out of his bag with studied nonchalance. Harry and Draco had used their newfound power as heroes to tweak their schedules so they had most classes together.

"How did you get so fast here, Draco?" Harry took out parchments and several quills, lifting an eyebrow at his blond boyfriend.

The tousled-haired Gryffindor shook his head ruefully. "Lemme guess. Someone lent you a Time-Turner?"

Draco stole one of Harry's sugar quills and smiled enigmatically whilst he licked its tip suggestively.

Meanwhile, Hermione was blushing as she took her book from her voluminous bag, putting it down on her desk. Ron had easily guessed the reason for her timely arrival and asked the same question about Time-Turners.

"Hush, Ron!" snapped Hermione. "It's supposed to be a secret!"

The bushy-haired witch looked towards the back of the classroom and saw Harry sitting next to his Slytherin boyfriend, doodling on his book.

"I went to McGonagall to see if she would give me a Time-Turner," confided Hermione. "But she refused, citing my weird sexual practices." Hermione snorted angrily, thinking about the humiliating scene.

Ron smiled wickedly until Hermione elbowed him sharply. "It's not funny, Ron! Anyway, we had to go to Remus and beg him to give us the time device."

Hermione took out her quills and arrayed them on the desk in a neat fashion. "There's so much research to do if we want to save Harry!"

Ron leaned towards Hermione, a frown marring his freckled face. "You still think he's in danger! But You-Know-Who is dead!"

Hermione brushed a curl of her hair that kept getting into her eyes and turned to look at the redhead with a worried face. "It's not Voldemort I worry about. If you recall the memory we saw, Voldemort didn't kill Harry. It was Harry who killed himself."

McGonagall entered the classroom and walked briskly towards her desk. Frowning at her students, the professor said, "Today we will learn how to use transfiguration as a means to defend ourselves if we face a Dark wizard."

Minerva reached her desk; opening a drawer, she took out three lima beans and put them at the edge of her desk, glancing at the curious students with a fierce scowl on her face.

Hermione elbowed Ron again and leaned toward him, whispering, "You see, even McGonagall is worried about the future. I tell you that our struggles are not over yet by any means."

McGonagall pursed her lips primly and scowled at her whispering students. Looking pointedly at Harry, she said, "Potter, if you would be so kind as to curse me?"

Harry looked up from his doodles, lifting the rim of his glasses with his pinkie. "Err, you really want me to do that, professor?"

Minerva snorted and nervously moved one of the lima beans. "Just pretend I'm a Death Eater, Potter. I assure you I can defend myself properly."

Harry shrugged and lazily grabbed his wand. With an exact flick of his wrist, he muttered the first curse that came to his mind, 'Sexumsempra!'

A red beam shot towards McGonagall. The professor waved her wand with a downward sweeping motion and muttered softly, 'Canis mutatio,' transforming the lima bean into an enormous yellow Labrador dog, which was on the path of Harry's spell. The curse hit the dog, whose eyes became glazed with unbridled lust.

Before McGonagall could reverse the effects of her spell and transform the animal back into a bean, the slavering lusty dog ran towards Harry and began to furiously hump the Gryffindor's leg.

Harry shrank back from any contact with the horny dog as Draco and the rest of the students started laughing uproariously. Harry swatted the lusty canine's head with his parchment, and when that proved ineffective, with his new book.

The Labrador dog, not finding any release for the itch he felt, shot towards the open door and burst out of the classroom before the startled McGonagall could react.

"Potter!" exclaimed the dazed professor. "What was the spell you used?"

Harry blushed. "Just a spell to improve" – he muttered the last part under his breath –"onessexlife."

That bloody Half-Blood Prince book really comes handy sometimes, thought Harry.

McGonagall frowned, not believing her ears. Whatever lusty wind was rippling through Gryffindor House seemed to be unstoppable.

Shaking her head disapprovingly, the professor directed her gaze to Neville Longbottom. "If you would be so kind to curse me in a seemly fashion, Longbottom?"

Whilst the class went on, Harry continued doodling on his new book, remembering...

The day after Draco was released from the hospital, the Slytherin visited his friend Cho Chang in the infirmary. Everyone had been released except her and Tonks.

What the blond didn't know was that there was someone else in the room, someone invisible.

From his vantage point beside the door, Harry clutched the Marauder's Map whilst he observed his Dragon from inside his Cloak. He'd taken to follow the blond Slytherin around, trying to divine his motives – unsure if he was using him as a political pawn, as Dumbledore was wont to do.

Frankly, after being petrified by the trusted Headmaster in front of the Death Eaters, Harry had developed a healthy mistrustful streak. His former admiration for Dumbledore had given way to the realisation that he was just a pawn in the old coot's master chess game, to be sacrificed at his leisure.

Ineluctably this distrustfulness spread to other areas of his life. Thus he did take with a grain of salt the facile friendships of the Hogwarts students - they who were so prone to leave him in a lurch when the slightest unfavourable wind blew towards Harry.

But the distrust also spread to Draco. Harry desperately wanted to make certain that the blond loved him for himself and not as a tool to get his father out of Azkaban.

Thus Harry waited with baited breath for the confidences Draco was sure to make to his friend Cho.

The Gryffindor observed the two Seekers with a deep scowl as Draco began to speak. "How are you doing, Cho?"

"I'm fine, Draco. Pomfrey says she'll let me go tomorrow."

"Thanks for helping us," said Draco diffidently as he handed a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans to Cho and another box wrapped on Slytherin colours.

"How sweet!" exclaimed Cho as she carefully opened the gaily wrapped box, discovering a golden snitch inside.

"You didn't have to bother!" continued Cho as Harry watched intently his fellow Seekers from behind his Cloak.

"Least I could do, considering you were cursed defending us," replied Draco politely as he sat down on the chair next to Cho's bed.

Cho opened the box of sweets and took the first one which was green with golden swirls.

"Mmh! Melon" said Cho after she ate the bean.

"Reminds me of the time when Cedric brought me the Chocolate Frogs from Hogsmeade," said Cho as she looked dreamily towards the window.

Draco crossed his arms and listened patiently as Cho began describing her time with the Hufflepuff Seeker in excruciating detail.

This went on for several minutes, and Harry couldn't help but smirk in triumph when he saw Draco was beginning to nod off. Apparently the Slytherin was getting bored listening to Cho's endless ramblings about Cedric – just like Harry.

In fact, Harry himself was in danger of nodding off. He hadn't slept well last night, plagued by doubts about Draco's true affection.

Harry's ears pricked up when he heard Cho ask a piercing question. "Why do you fight for the light, Draco, is it because of Harry?"

"Well, yes and no," said Draco cautiously, and Harry's heart sank.

"What do you mean, Draco?"

"I did have a change of heart." Draco conjured a glass of water and sipped daintily.

"After my father was imprisoned and Voldemort did nothing but laugh at us and punish us-" Draco put the glass on the floor beside his chair and mussed his hair, making Harry want to lovingly brush it with his hands and feel its silky texture.

"Yeah?" prompted Cho with her characteristic lilting voice.

"- I realised the futility of working for that noseless bastard. I'd had doubts before, but the admiration I felt for my father prevented me from questioning his beliefs," continued the blond.

Harry listened entranced to his boyfriend's words. "But I saw how my father being locked up in Azkaban affected my mother. She tried bravely to put up a good facade – how hard she tried!"

Draco fixed his gaze on the window and continued wistfully, "But at night, I heard her crying, alone in the master bedroom."

Seeing Cho's quizzical look, Draco explained carefully, "The Manor has an eerie way of conducting sounds; I was often able to hear my parents in my room. Believe me, it wasn't always an agreeable experience."

Draco's gaze drifted across the infirmary as he went on. "I made up my mind right then that I would try to avoid inflicting such heartache on my mother; that I would try to extricate my father from the awful mistakes he's made. And then, after that incident on the train; you know, when you rescued me and helped me get rid of the tentacles they gave me..."

Harry shifted his feet guiltily, recalling the time on the train when everyone ganged up on Draco. Sure, the students were defending themselves, but did they have to transform someone so beautiful? Did they have to give Draco tentacles?

"... and the old man tried to convince me. Not that I needed any persuasion," continued Draco as Harry shook his head. While I was woolgathering, I missed something. That old man, is that the old coot that rescued Draco? wondered Harry.

Cho sat up on the bed and played with the snitch Draco gave her. She'd let go of it for a split second and grab it before it had a chance to fly away. It was sure to hone her reflexes if nothing else. Cho smiled craftily - Draco didn't know what he was doing when he gave her the gift. It would help her against the other Seekers – including the Slytherin - in the Quidditch games.

"So you didn't change allegiances for Harry?" asked the Ravenclaw Seeker penetratingly.

"No, I didn't," replied Draco, and Harry gripped so tightly the Marauder's Map that it threatened to break in two.

"I didn't change to the Light side because of Harry" – Draco chose his words carefully, as if he was speaking to an audience – "but I remain in the Light because of him."

Harry listened intently, watching Draco's face like a hawk. He couldn't help but notice how Draco's face slowly lit up. The Slytherin's outward facade of class and decorum seemingly melted before Harry's eyes as Draco's countenance seemed to be imbued with an inner light. His eyes shined and became the stormy grey colour that Harry loved.

"I don't trust Dumbledore – but I trust Harry with my life," continued the blond.

"I know him inside and out - like the palm of my hand," said Draco whilst he lifted his left hand, looking at it with rapt attention.

"Harry and I – we were made for each other. I knew it from the first moment I saw him, in front of the mirror at Madam Malkin's. With the eyes of a child I saw him as a possible friend; with the eyes of man I choose him as my love," said Draco with enticing passion as Harry's gaze caressed the blond's face from behind the Cloak as if for the first time.

Cho was so caught up in Draco's words that she failed to catch the Snitch and it flitted around the room whilst Draco continued talking, it nearly bumped into Harry several times. The Gryffindor had to duck to avoid the meddlesome Snitch, cursing it for the first time ever.

"Cold and fire - light and darkness are we, inevitably drawn to each other." Draco gazed at Cho's earnest face, wishing her to understand his tumultuous relationship with the Gryffindor he loved.

"We were meant to be together. To tease, to fight, to drive each other crazy-" Draco stood up suddenly and sauntered around the infirmary.

Harry had to back away because the blond passed near him.

"- to love one another."

Draco approached the panelled window and looked out; the landscape outside seemed unimportant as he visualised the tousled-haired Gryffindor in his inner mindscape. "Harry's the reason I remain in the Light, why I still fight for it, despite Dumbledore's bumbling leadership."

And Harry doubted no longer.

"I understand Harry" – Draco lifted his right hand and gazed at the Malfoy signet ring – "perhaps more than he himself does. Though sometimes he drove me mad with his indifference and coldness, I've had patience with him because he deserves that."

Draco abruptly cast a Tempus spell and frowned when he looked at the time. "Sorry to interrupt our conversation, Cho, but I've got to go to Potions. Severus will kill me if I'm late. All the hounding from the press has not left him in a particularly joyous mood."

Cho muttered low under her breath, "When is he ever in a good mood?" Harry couldn't help but agree with his former girlfriend. Indeed, when was the greasy git in a good mood?

Harry remembered with a start that his next class was in five minutes. With a lighter heart he left hurriedly the infirmary...

... "Potter! I'm talking to you, Potter!" McGonagall's piercing voice jostled Harry out of his recollection.

"I'm sure you have the means to search for that unseemly dog," continued Minerva as she frowned at Harry.

Harry nodded guiltily. He was sure he could use the Marauder's Map to look for the dog; though he wasn't sure he wanted to meet the amorous dog. Perhaps he could let Snape deal with it. He smirked, thinking of the yellow dog-bean happily humping the snarky Potions Master's leg. That would be so much fun to watch. He could make a bundle selling the memory

The unfulfilled vow - 2/2