Ember to Ember DVD Extra for February 10
This is an Ember to Ember DVD Extra for coffeejunkii, nimue_8, and Love2Love. It takes place after after the accident in Chapter 10, and shortly after the boys have finally grabbed a clue and gone back together (DVD Extra).
Thanks so much to tree00faery and fish_echo for wonderful, extensive beta :) :) :)
February 10, 2008
"But what's it mean, Daddy?" Alec asked.
"Nothing, little man," said Harry dismissively. "It's just some nasty words."
"It's not nothing," Ben grumbled from his small daybed, glaring at the vandalized living room window. "Otherwise you wouldn't be calling Alec's uncle."
Alec trotted over to Ben's daybed and plopped down next to him. "Your daddy's not so worried," he said, reaching over to pat Ben comfortingly and only just missed accidentally hitting him when Harry hastily caught his hand.
"Quit it!" Ben whined.
"Alec, please be careful," Harry said tiredly. "You know you're not used to how far away things look with your new glasses. You don't want to hurt Ben by accident."
"You've already hit me loads of times!" Ben said.
"Ben, he's only trying to help," said Kara.
"Ben's awful grumpy, isn't he, Daddy?" Alec said in what he probably thought was a discreet whisper.
"Everybody's a little grumpy, Alec."
"Is that because of the nasty things people are doing to Draco?" Alec asked.
"They're just stupid words, that's all," said Harry, and flicked his wand at the curtains. Muggles beware: A Death Eatter lives here! was seared into everyone's mind anyway.
"When'll Bill be here?" Kara asked.
"Not sure," said Harry. "Half an hour, maybe."
Draco tsked. "There was no need to call him," he muttered irately. "It's plain straightforward vandalism. Obviously they used magic or a broom to get up here to write it, but you're a curse-breaker for Merlin's sake, if you didn't find anything--"
"I know," Harry said. "I just... I just want a second opinion. And Bill doesn't mind."
"Dad, it's dark in here," Ben whined, and Kara rolled her eyes and turned on the light.
"It's so we don't have to look at the window, is all--" Alec began.
"Well it's dark with the curtains closed!"
"I can see fine."
"That's because you have glasses on."
"Ben, come on," said Draco impatiently. "We've told you, Alec's glasses don't help him see better indoors, like his uncle George's do. They help him see things that would be fuzzy otherwise, like my glasses."
"But I want glasses too!" Ben whined. Harry put a hand on Draco's shoulder, earnestly pitying him and Kara for having to deal with Ben like this full-time. "How come Alec gets glasses and I don't?"
"You weren't as badly hurt, Ben," Harry said gently.
"I was in the hospital loads longer."
"That's only because the treatments for Alec could be done at home and yours couldn't."
"But I hated the hospital! And I hate being in bed almost all the time!" Ben started to cry noisily and Harry suppressed the urge to throttle him.
He's little, he told himself for the fortieth time. He's uncomfortable. He's an extremely high-energy kid, and there's nowhere for all of that energy to go.
And it can't help that he can probably feel how upset we all are over... all of this. It can't help that his home is being vandalized and we're all starting to fear for his safety, and his dad's.
Three incidents at Draco's flat so far, in the form of broken windows and ugly words scrawled on the door. Plus at least a dozen nasty letters and three Howlers, two at the hospital and one at home. And now this rubbish on his window; apparently the vandals hadn't been able to get past the ward Harry had put on Draco's door.
"I know," said Kara brightly. "Why don't we all sing until Bill gets here? What's the new song in your London choir, Alec? Jerusalem? You two sing the verses and Draco and I will join in the chorus. All right?"
Ben scowled at her, but Alec and Draco ignored him and they all started to sing. Harry blew out his breath and went to sit with Ben, taking out The Golden Harp's Thief to read to him, for what felt like the twelfth time in an hour.
ooo000ooo
"No magic, just words," Bill confirmed cheerfully after carefully examining the window.
"You're sure?" Harry asked, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen slightly. He glanced back as the boys burst into yet another argument over Lego pieces, turning back to Bill as Kara moved back to adjudicate.
Bill chuckled. "Harry, even if they wanted to, I very much doubt vandals who spell Death Eater with two t's could cast anything more complex than a Sneezing Hex."
"That's worse, sometimes," Harry pointed out. "If they fu- if they mess up whatever hex they're trying to cast, and--"
Bill clapped him on the back. "There's nothing magical there," he said. "I can guarantee you that. Whoever it is may not know how to spell, but they were smart enough to know their magic could be traced, if they used it. What with the papers going on and on about your curse-breaking prowess."
Harry nodded, relieved. Draco cleared his throat. "I... I appreciate you coming here," he said stiffly.
"Not a problem," said Bill, turning to Draco. "And I'm glad you called me. Gives me a chance to ask again about the Secrecy Charm on your job."
Harry winced as Draco's jaw set. "I already told you. I work in a Muggle school--"
"A Muggle school that's easy to find. At least one article has mentioned that you're a music teacher in a Dublin college. We can't set wards over the entire campus. If I just put your particular workplace under Secrecy, nobody who hasn't already looked it up will be able to find it."
"I make business connections at concerts. What do I do if somebody sees me conducting, asks a friend how they can get in contact with me, and the friend can't tell them? Musicians and directors work through word of mouth, you know, especially in a small scene like Dublin."
"Now he calls it a small scene," said Kara, rolling her eyes. "When I'm tryin' to tell him we need to move out of here, he's--"
"Not right now, Kara," Harry murmured.
"You'll just have to hope they come speak to you directly," Bill said. "Unless you'd rather just hope nobody with a grudge comes up and waves a wand at you in the middle of one of your classes." Draco crossed his arms, his lips pressed together stubbornly. "And there's the safety of your students to think of as well."
"Harry, read me another book!" Ben whined.
"Not now, Ben, please," Harry said gently. "Your Mum and Dad and Uncle Bill and I have to talk this over, right?
"But I'm bored!"
"Draco, I dinna think you have much choice--" Kara began, and Draco scowled at her.
"Later," he said shortly. "I'll think about it."
Bill nodded calmly. "Why don't I begin the set-up now? I can weave a spell that only comes into effect when you decide to use it. Harry'd be your Secret Keeper?" Draco nodded. "I brought the incantation book, just in case, but we'll all have to learn and practice the spell for a bit before we can cast it. Boys," he said, turning to Ben and Alec, "we need to work to make Draco's work safe for a bit, all right? Here." He handed Ben a box filled with small coloured balls and tiny figures climbing over them. "This is from my brothers' joke shop. Why don't you and Alec try to make it work?"
"But I can't see it--" said Alec.
"And I don't want to play with it," whined Ben, "it'll make me tired."
"Do wizards have circus troupes?" Kara muttered irritably as Bill patiently explained the toy to the little boys.
"Yes, why?" asked Draco.
"So we can sell Ben to them," she said.
"Wouldn't fetch much of a price right now," Draco pointed out.
"Fine, we'll pay them, then." Kara sighed, then moved closer to the boys and took the toy. "All right, I canna help with... whatever it is ye're all going to do, so why don't I take the little darlins to Ben's room to play for a spell?" She rubbed her forehead. "Lucky, lucky me." She gave the window one last, troubled, look, before ushering the little boys down the hall to Ben's room.
It wasn't that difficult a spell, thought Harry as he and Bill and Draco went over the words and practiced the incantation. Just tedious. And niggly. It didn't help that they had to be particularly careful that their magic didn't spill over and cause havoc to the Muggle parts of Draco's flat. Or that, from the frequent whines floating down the hall, it was evident that Kara's attempts to keep Ben and Alec cheerful and busy with the Wheezes toy wasn't going well at all.
Finally they were done.
"Right. That's that then. Now I'll just go over the wards Harry's made here - the Deflecto you cast on the door is good for the short-term, but it's not a good idea as a more permanent thing."
"Why's that?" Draco asked Harry. "I told you, you could cast whatever you wanted--"
"Not generally a good idea to cast the more complex charms on a place that's your own, or as good as," said Bill. "They're too familiar to you; you're less likely to think of them as an attacker would. Besides, it's a bit difficult when you're trying to ward two places with the same people allowed into both of them; it's too easy to get mixed up with the barakas of the aural exceptions and end up casting a reflection shield that's too wide or has a primary/primal threshold energy that never mind," he broke off with a laugh at Draco's pained look. "Sorry, turned into Percy there for a moment. Anyway, trust me, Cursebreaker Credo: never ward your own place if you can help it. Or two places with the same people in them."
"You broke it!" Ben's indignant voice floated down the hallway.
"Did not!"
"I think it's supposed to do that, Ben," said Kara. "Let's go see if your dads and Bill are done, all right?"
"Look, you know - my place is warded to hell and back," said Harry. "You can both stay there for a while--"
"You've got your own life to handle right now--"
"It wouldn't be a problem--"
"It's not a permanent solution," said Draco, and Harry's lips pressed together.
"Don't start talking about permanent solutions," he said tightly as the boys and Kara came back into the room.
"What?" Draco asked, irritably. "You don't want a permanent solution?"
"No, bloody hell."
"What?"
"Not the kind you've come up with before."
"What are you talking about?" said Draco, baffled. Kara rolled her eyes.
"Maybe this is something you two need to discuss on your own," said Bill neutrally.
"What?"
"Kara, let's see if I can help you with that toy." Bill bundled Kara and the boys all back to Ben's room.
"All right, what the hell are you talking about?" demanded Draco as soon as they were alone.
"I'm talking about you making decisions without me again. I can't - you--" Harry broke off, realizing his anger at Draco was totally out of proportion, but still incensed at Draco's baffled expression.
"What the devil--" Draco broke off and Harry could almost see the light bulb go off in his head. "You think - you think I'm talking about leaving you? Again?" Draco said, incredulous.
Harry flushed. "Listen, you bastard, you already left once! How can I trust you when--"
"I'm not leaving you! God, you're impossible." Draco shook his head in disbelief. "Look, I came back, all right? Just two days ago. Why would I--"
"You came back at Alec's bedside, in the middle of - I'm not putting him through that kind of shite again, all right? If you're going to walk out again, just bloody well do it!"
Draco's eyes narrowed. "I am not walking out! You suspicious prick!"
Harry glared at him.
"Why would I walk out on you again? There'd be no point, the entire Wizarding world already knows about--"
"Oh good. So you would, if there was a point?"
"No! That's not what I--" Draco stopped himself with effort. He took a deep breath. "Right. This isn't going well. Maybe we need to back off - and no, I'm not leaving, so you don't have to worry about what to say to Alec. Or Ben. I'm just..." he paused and then spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "I am just bloody well frustrated, and trying to figure out what the fuck to do next. Is that allowed?"
"Fine," Harry bit out. He turned back to the wall and tried to remember what he and Bill had been about to do with the current wards - and was it a four-element shield he had done, or was it...
Kara poked her head in. "Oh!" she said, coming back into the room, followed by Bill and the boys. "Bill was right, then. He said you'd be done by now. By the way, do either of you know what one of these does?" she asked, showing Harry and Draco an Extendable Ear. "Bill wouldn't tell me."
"Never seen one," said Harry, and gave Bill a dark look which Bill returned blandly.
"I was thinking, we should also add Howler wards," said Bill. "And casting reflecting spells at both places might be good too."
"We can cast them on my place," said Harry. "Not Draco's."
"Why not?"
"Parole," Harry said shortly. "No harmful hexes."
Bill's eyebrows went up. "They'd only be as harmful as whatever the hexer tried to cast on Draco," he pointed out.
"Doesn't matter," Draco said. "I'll ask my parole officer, but I don't think so."
"But I don't want to go back to bed!" whined Ben, glaring at Alec. "Stop telling me what to do! You're not me Mam!" Harry and Draco exchanged a look of impatience, and he felt a small glow at the slight smile they shared before turning back to Bill.
"Maybe also cast something to catch an image of whoever's doing something to your place?" asked Bill.
"Yeah, may as well. There are a few Muggle security cams in the building already, but they're not--"
"Right, Muggle security cams." Bill chewed on his lip absently. "Bugger. That'll make it a hell of a job; those really disrupt protection spells."
Bill and Harry stared at each other, trying to figure it out.
"We could do what we did for that wand that's kept at the Tower of London..." Bill began.
"No, that was a huge bother, and it kept shorting out every time a Muggle took a picture nearby."
"That's because the Crown Jewels were kept in the same wing," Bill said. "I told Garpek that it wouldn't work."
"Garpek?"
"Yes." Bill shuddered. "Not my favourite moment with him. Fleur complained about the stench for weeks." He glanced around the living room. "We can cast a Charm in that corner, away from the telly and--"
"Won't that interfere?" Draco gestured towards his keyboard.
"Since when do pianos interfere with magic?" said Bill.
"That's an electronic piano."
Bill's eyes widened and for a moment his resemblance to Arthur was quite pronounced. "Really? With electricity and everything? What for?"
Draco smiled slightly. "It makes it sound like different instruments." Bill gazed at the keyboard in fascination.
Harry ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Yeah. Adds a whole new set of troubles when it's a mostly Muggle building, doesn't it?" He blew out his breath. "This wouldn't be a problem if he was living with me, you know," he muttered irritably.
"Is that an observation or a proposal, lad?" Kara said archly.
"What?" Harry said, then his brain caught up to him. "Oh - no, no, just an observation--" and Draco's eyes had gone blank.
"What's a twat, Daddy?" Alec piped up. There was a muffled squeak from Kara. "Kara wouldn't tell me before."
"It's a word Kara shouldn't use around you boys," Draco said, and the glare he directed towards her effectively covered any other reaction to what Harry had just said. And, conveniently, drew his attention away from Harry long enough for Harry to think over his own words as he and Bill tried to figure out where to put the keyboard.
Bill was busily flipping through a ward charm text, Kara had taken the boys to the kitchen for sweets, and Draco was staring at his keyboard, trying to figure out where to put it, when Harry approached him quietly and made himself speak before dwelling on all the reasons he probably shouldn't. "About what I said back there." Draco's body became absolutely still. "You know... Kara wants to move to London. Ben and Alec are going to require a lot of care. I'm worried about you. I know it's soon, but I'm offering."
And there it was, out in the open, and Harry's stomach started to feel a bit queasy.
"I have a life here," Draco said quietly, but there was something in his tone that... it wasn't a rejection.
"It's not doing well."
Draco fiddled with his watch. "Kara... Kara said there's a possible position at the Royal College opening soon."
Harry's stomach flipped over. "Seriously?"
"But it... it would be... difficult," Draco said hesitantly. "In the middle of everything going on..."
Harry nodded. "I know. But it would also make life a lot easier in a lot of ways." He looked down at the floor. "And I wouldn't mind the difficulty."
"I don't know, your flat's really not... it's a bit compact."
"It's a wizarding building. Might support expansion spells. And if it doesn't, I'd be willing to move."
"Move where, Daddy?" Alec's small voice piped up behind them, and Harry started. He and Draco glanced at each other in alarm. When had the boys come in? "Who's moving?" Alec repeated.
"Nobody, Alec," Draco said quickly. "We're just talking."
Harry glanced at Bill, whose eyes had widened slightly. Bill cleared his throat. "It would make warding easier," he said neutrally.
"Make a lot of things easier," said Kara, smirking.
"You mean they could come live with us?!" Alec said, incredulous, his eyes lighting up, and Harry's heart skipped a beat at the hope and joy flooding his son's face.
"What?" Ben's face lit up too, his ongoing squabbles with Alec totally forgotten. "We could live at Alec's house? That's brilliant! And--"
"Ben could live there and he could be in my room! And it would be just like--"
And now Draco was looking cornered and Harry figured he probably looked exactly the same, and they all desperately needed to backpedal.
"Erm, boys, nobody's making any definite plans yet," Bill said hastily, then gave Kara a look. "Why don't we take the boys to an ice cream shop?" Kara frowned. "I know of one at Brigid's Cross that--"
"But Ben's no' supposed to--" said Kara.
"He'll be fine, the Healer said he could go out for short excursions. I even have amulets on me," he said, taking three of them out of his pocket.
"But--"
"It'll be good for him to get outside for a bit," Bill continued, taking Kara's arm and flicking his wand around the flat, Summoning the children's outdoor things with admirable speed.
"But--"
"By which I mean this isn't something they can decide with all of us hanging on their every word," he said firmly, picking up Ben.
"It's no' like they're the only ones affected--" Kara was still saying as Bill herded them all out of the door.
And then Harry and Draco were alone in the flat, with nothing but silence between them, and damn it, this was not how a discussion about something this important was supposed to begin.
"It... it would make sense," Harry said nervously. He swallowed and tried for a more casual tone. "For warding, at least." Ugh, too casual. This was about making a major life change, not choosing a new pair of socks.
"It's not just wards I have to worry about, though," said Draco. "I'd have to get a new job, in the middle of Ben's health not being good, in the middle of all of this..." he gestured at his window.
"You don't have to - I mean, you could both stay with us. Until - until you found a job..." Damn, that was probably also the wrong thing to say. Draco was fiercely proud of having gone from pampered rich boy, to parolee left with barely enough inheritance to eke out a living by the wizarding world, to financially independent member of the Muggle world. And now Harry was offering to make him a kept man. Nicely done.
"I want to work," said Draco quietly.
"I know. And you should. But you wouldn't have to right away."
"Moving's a rather large undertaking."
"You wouldn't have to move right away. You could both just stay in my flat while we look for a bigger place." Draco bit his lip uncertainly and Harry tentatively reached out to him, relieved when Draco absently took his hand and laced their fingers together. "I just don't want you both in danger."
"But..."
"Look, if you move in with me, some of the people who hate you will probably change their minds, just because you're connected to me. God knows I hate the stupid Boy Who Lived shit most of the time; at least let me use it for something good for once."
"We're already connected," said Draco quietly. "And it looks like some people have just decided to hate you right along with me, judging from the letters to The Prophet. You don't think it'll get worse if we move in together?"
"'Possibly dating' isn't the same as living together. And I'm not particularly worried about the people who hate me because of you."
"You could be targeted too. You and Alec."
"Draco, I'm a cursebreaker. My place is already Unplottable and under a goblin form of Secrecy as part of my contract with Gringott's. And I've got Bill - hell, the entire Weasley family - to help protect me if I need them to." Draco stared at him. "They'd do it for you too."
"The kids aren't getting along all that well..."
"The kids would be fine. You know that. Right now neither of them's exactly a barrel of laughs. They get along fine when they're healthy."
Draco looked away.
Bloody hell, this was not the way he'd wanted this discussion to go. He hadn't thought about taking this step before - much - but when he had, he'd thought about taking Draco to a nice restaurant, slipping the idea of moving in together into the conversation, seeing how it went, giving themselves some sort of vague timeline for making the decision... Something slow. And pleasant, and romantic.
Then again, with kids in the picture, there was really no such thing as romance any more.
Draco cleared his throat. "This is... not the way I'd hoped to ever move in with anybody," he said quietly, and Harry winced in sympathy.
"Things don't always work out the way we picture them," he pointed out. "I mean... Ginny and I hadn't planned on our wedding being the way it was, but... it was still good." He thought briefly of the frantic last-minute preparations, the considerably shorter guest list than Molly had wanted for her only daughter's marriage, the slight bulge that was Alec in Ginny's middle. "It didn't make our marriage any less valid just because we didn't do it the way we'd planned." Harry cleared his throat, noting that the ache of his too-short marriage was no longer as sharp, somehow, as it had once been. "It was good while we were together. I think it could've been very good in the long run."
Draco touched his arm comfortingly, and they gazed at each other in silence for a few moments. "I just think maybe this isn't something to decide so quickly," he said quietly. "Nothing bad's actually happened--"
"Yet."
"Fair enough. It just seems a bit of a drastic reaction."
"Maybe." Harry swallowed. "Think about it, though?"
"Yeah. You too."
"I will."
They gazed at each other uncertainly.
"Should... erm, the keyboard could be set up near the blue sofa, I think," said Draco, and Harry nodded, hastily moving to help him pick it up.
ooo000ooo
"Pass the butter, please," said Percy, and Harry floated over the butter dish, almost crashing it into Percy's face. He gave Percy an apologetic glance and reminded himself to pay attention.
He was a lot more alert today, though. Thank Merlin. After over a week of utter exhaustion, it was nice to feel weary but coherent. Maybe the post-accident fog was finally lifting.
How much of that had to do with Draco being back? He pondered the question once more as he dug into his kidney pie. It hadn't been easy, being around the Weasleys the day after George and Molly and Percy had walked in on him and Draco... reconciling. He'd had the uncomfortable sense that he'd let them down - well, most of them, anyway, even though nobody had said a word to that effect. Oddly, Ron and Hermione and George had been openly happy for him. Bill had seemed fairly non-judgmental about it, and Fred... well, Fred was unreadable these days.
He suppressed a sigh. Funny how, months later, he still mourned the loss of Fred's friendship. But after Fred had gone to the papers and exposed Draco to the public, there was no coming back from a betrayal like that. Besides, Fred had never done anything to make up for it, either. No apology, nothing. Nothing but a - by now irrelevant - promise to not go to the press again.
Although, if Fred had talked to Draco, urged him to go back to Harry and apologized for his actions... Harry supposed anything was possible.
"--hardly appropriate for a shop on Diagon Alley, don't you think?" Molly was saying, and George and Fred laughed.
"Mum," Fred laughed, "it's not like we've got it in the front room."
Fred, and the other Weasleys, had accepted Draco being back, for now at least. How thrilled would they all be, though, if they found out that he and Draco were thinking of moving in together?
"They'll get used to it," Bill had said philosophically as he and Harry had finished the warding, after Kara had gone home. "You know how far along some people have come. And you've dealt with the ones who aren't going to change their minds. I don't really see this as all that different, to be honest."
Harry had raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"All right, yeah, it's different," Bill admitted. "But remember, this is the same family that accepted Fleur... sort of. And accepted Percy coming back. And me having long hair and an earring, and Charlie shacking up with his dragons. It'll work out. Eventually."
He rubbed his forehead tiredly. Why was he worrying about the Weasleys' reaction? He didn't even know how he felt about it.
Well, yes, he knew exactly how he felt about it.
He wanted it, more than he'd thought possible. It hadn't occurred to him much, before, but now that it had, he wanted it with all his heart. Draco and Ben, living with him and Alec, the four of them forming a real family together. A home for all of them. And not just for the purpose of helping to keep Draco and Ben safe, but to give himself and Alec what he had wanted for Alec when he and Ginny were expecting him. What both Alec and Ben deserved.
It wasn't even that what they had at the moment was necessarily lacking anything; he and Alec were happy together, and he knew Draco and Ben and Kara worked better as a family unit than many supposedly intact nuclear families. But they could have more than that. They could have a family. What Harry had never really had. He could have a partner, again, somebody with whom to share the joys and pains of raising his child - his children...
He could have Draco in his life, for good, going to bed with him every night, waking up with him every morning, making Harry feel so alive, making him feel anything was possible--
But would that bugger up the family that Alec already had?
"... and if Ben's here he'll maybe go to my school!" Alec said to Ron, right into an unfortunately timed lull in the general hubbub.
Harry felt his heart sink at the profound silence that followed Alec's happy words.
"What?!" said Percy blankly.
"You're joking," said Fred, staring at Harry.
"Are you serious, mate?" asked Ron.
Harry glanced around at the stunned expressions of everyone around the table, and met Bill's steady gaze. They'll get used to it, Bill had said.
"It... erm." He cleared his throat and made his voice sound casual. "It's just that it's... I'd feel better about his safety," he said. "And Ben's."
"Oh. Yes, of course," said Molly, nodding a little too enthusiastically.
"It would make more sense from a security perspective," said Bill. "And Alec, I think this was supposed to be something that the grown-ups were going to decide in a bit. It's a big thing, moving in with somebody."
"For how long would this be?" asked Percy grimly. "Until the furor dies down?"
Alec's green eyes went wide and he turned to Harry. "You mean... it wouldn't be forever?"
There was another ringing silence.
"Because the furor won't die down, you know," Percy said, two spots of colour appearing on his cheeks. "And you're just fooling yourself if you tell yourself that it's..." and Harry lost track of what Percy was saying as he watched Fred's lips press together, and Fred glance away from them both.
"I know," he said, cutting off Percy. "And if we do... it won't be just for now. I think. I hope." Harry swallowed hard and made himself straighten up and face them all. "It's not just for safety," he said firmly. He turned to Alec. "And it wouldn't be temporary, Alec. That's why it's a hard decision to make."
Percy's mouth dropped open. Fred looked resigned.
"Oh bloody buggering--" Anne bit off a curse as an explosion of multicoloured sparkles suddenly flew off her daughter's head and a loud MOO echoed around the room, and the entire table turned at once to deal with the resultant chaos among all of the children and adults and glasses and plates upended. Harry reflected, as he tried to shield Alec from the random sparkles and bits of pudding flying about, that this was probably the first time he'd ever been grateful to Michelle for causing a commotion at a Weasley dinner.
Finally the sparks were under control, the dishes returned to their places, Michelle's mooing toned down to a bearable volume, and the family returned to their pre-bombshell conversations, a little more loudly than before.
Harry checked his watch as the meal ended, and his heart gave a dull thud. Seven o'clock, Draco's regular e-mail-checking time.
He took a calming breath and straightened himself up, levitated a few of the dirty dishes towards the kitchen, and waited for Arthur to finish casting washing up spells before clearing his throat.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Could I use your shed for a few minutes?"
"My shed?" Arthur looked momentarily puzzled, then his face brightened. "D'you mean for the Muggle e-owls that Hermione set up for us?"
"E-mail. Yeah, I just need to check my account."
Arthur gave him a measured look. "Yes, of course. You know how to get in."
He nodded, keeping himself calm as he walked to the shed.
Living together. Waking up together, getting in each other's space. What he'd had with Ginny, with all the joy and frustration, the big and the little - cluttering up each other's washroom counters, casually chatting whenever they wanted, taking each other's presence for granted. Arguments and reconciliations and cooking together and getting Draco's coffee every morning. Draco's music intermingling with Alec's, Ben's art projects strewn about their home. The eventual death of ardent, exciting, unpredictable romance, replaced with comfortable warmth.
God, he and Ginny had barely had a chance to get there. And they were such different people, Ginny and Draco, but they each had brought so much to Harry's life, and each done so much to make him feel complete, and...
"Just answer yes or no," he'd told Draco as they left his flat. "If it's no, I won't bring it up again, I promise."
He entered the shed and took the e-mail parchment and quill off the shed wall, waved his wand and murmured Elecstriges. Spidery writing appeared along the top of the page.
Name? the writing asked, and he wrote hjpotter@gringotts.wiz.
You have one Muggle Owl Post Message. Open?
He waved his wand at the parchment, feeling a little silly as he always did as he said "Click!"
This was ridiculous. Draco might not even have had time to check his e-mail yet. And Harry's own e-mail to him had been rather... bugger, it sounded so needy. Did you think about it? as if this was something you could think about and decide in just a few hours.
He braced himself for no message, or for a message telling Harry to back off and give Draco more time. Or one turning him down.
And there it was. Draco's e-mail address was slowly appearing in the parchment's thin, slanted script, and Harry's stomach dropped and his knees felt weak as he leaned against the wall of the shed, a shocked and dazed grin spreading across his face as Draco's message wrote itself onto the parchment.
"Harry?"
Harry turned, startled, as Ron peered in to the shed.
"You all right?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Yeah." He gave a rather shaky laugh.
"What happened?"
"Draco. He. Erm." Harry shook his head, reaching for calm, reminding himself that this was a serious thing and there could be all sorts of repercussions and he had responsibilities and, "He agreed," he blurted. "To move in together."
Ron's eyes widened, and he blinked a few times. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. "That's... that great, Harry. I'm happy for you." His voice was a bit strained, and Harry nodded but couldn't help wishing Ron had stayed out of the shed and allowed him a few moments to just feel good about this. He turned back to the parchment, trying to figure out what to reply. Then Ron put a hesitant hand on Harry's shoulder, and Harry looked at him, startled.
"D'you know where he is right now?"
Harry blinked. "Erm. At home, most likely."
Ron nodded. "You should, erm... you should go to him." Harry's eyebrows went up. "Give you both a bit of time to just... be happy, before the rest of us come raining on your parade." Ron nodded at an upright freezer in the corner of the shed. "Go on, I'll cover for you. That freezer's actually a weird unlicensed Floo; Dad confiscated it last year." He took the parchment from Harry, gave Harry a small smile, and nodded at a breadbox next to the freezer. "Floo powder's in there. I'm happy for you, mate. Really."
Harry nodded, and opened the freezer door, feeling a bit foolish as he took a handful of the powder. He glanced back at Ron, a grin coming back to his face as he called out Draco's Floo address. And the last thing he saw as the green flames whirled him away was the parchment in Ron's hand, with its single message from Draco.
I did.
Yes.
ooo000ooo
The request was for:
coffeejunkii: i'd love to see the scene in which Harry and Draco make the decision to move in together :)
nimue_8: Also, the interaction between Draco and Alec (and Harry and Ben as well!) as the kids are on the mend. How Draco being there and encouraging the kid helps Harry. (A/N: Not sure how much encouraging Draco was doing, but they were interacting... ;) )
Love2Love: Similarily, the reaction of the Weasley's when they announce they're back together, and when they decide to move in together...
Thanks so much to tree00faery and fish_echo for wonderful, extensive beta :) :) :)
February 10, 2008
"But what's it mean, Daddy?" Alec asked.
"Nothing, little man," said Harry dismissively. "It's just some nasty words."
"It's not nothing," Ben grumbled from his small daybed, glaring at the vandalized living room window. "Otherwise you wouldn't be calling Alec's uncle."
Alec trotted over to Ben's daybed and plopped down next to him. "Your daddy's not so worried," he said, reaching over to pat Ben comfortingly and only just missed accidentally hitting him when Harry hastily caught his hand.
"Quit it!" Ben whined.
"Alec, please be careful," Harry said tiredly. "You know you're not used to how far away things look with your new glasses. You don't want to hurt Ben by accident."
"You've already hit me loads of times!" Ben said.
"Ben, he's only trying to help," said Kara.
"Ben's awful grumpy, isn't he, Daddy?" Alec said in what he probably thought was a discreet whisper.
"Everybody's a little grumpy, Alec."
"Is that because of the nasty things people are doing to Draco?" Alec asked.
"They're just stupid words, that's all," said Harry, and flicked his wand at the curtains. Muggles beware: A Death Eatter lives here! was seared into everyone's mind anyway.
"When'll Bill be here?" Kara asked.
"Not sure," said Harry. "Half an hour, maybe."
Draco tsked. "There was no need to call him," he muttered irately. "It's plain straightforward vandalism. Obviously they used magic or a broom to get up here to write it, but you're a curse-breaker for Merlin's sake, if you didn't find anything--"
"I know," Harry said. "I just... I just want a second opinion. And Bill doesn't mind."
"Dad, it's dark in here," Ben whined, and Kara rolled her eyes and turned on the light.
"It's so we don't have to look at the window, is all--" Alec began.
"Well it's dark with the curtains closed!"
"I can see fine."
"That's because you have glasses on."
"Ben, come on," said Draco impatiently. "We've told you, Alec's glasses don't help him see better indoors, like his uncle George's do. They help him see things that would be fuzzy otherwise, like my glasses."
"But I want glasses too!" Ben whined. Harry put a hand on Draco's shoulder, earnestly pitying him and Kara for having to deal with Ben like this full-time. "How come Alec gets glasses and I don't?"
"You weren't as badly hurt, Ben," Harry said gently.
"I was in the hospital loads longer."
"That's only because the treatments for Alec could be done at home and yours couldn't."
"But I hated the hospital! And I hate being in bed almost all the time!" Ben started to cry noisily and Harry suppressed the urge to throttle him.
He's little, he told himself for the fortieth time. He's uncomfortable. He's an extremely high-energy kid, and there's nowhere for all of that energy to go.
And it can't help that he can probably feel how upset we all are over... all of this. It can't help that his home is being vandalized and we're all starting to fear for his safety, and his dad's.
Three incidents at Draco's flat so far, in the form of broken windows and ugly words scrawled on the door. Plus at least a dozen nasty letters and three Howlers, two at the hospital and one at home. And now this rubbish on his window; apparently the vandals hadn't been able to get past the ward Harry had put on Draco's door.
"I know," said Kara brightly. "Why don't we all sing until Bill gets here? What's the new song in your London choir, Alec? Jerusalem? You two sing the verses and Draco and I will join in the chorus. All right?"
Ben scowled at her, but Alec and Draco ignored him and they all started to sing. Harry blew out his breath and went to sit with Ben, taking out The Golden Harp's Thief to read to him, for what felt like the twelfth time in an hour.
ooo000ooo
"No magic, just words," Bill confirmed cheerfully after carefully examining the window.
"You're sure?" Harry asked, feeling the knot in his stomach loosen slightly. He glanced back as the boys burst into yet another argument over Lego pieces, turning back to Bill as Kara moved back to adjudicate.
Bill chuckled. "Harry, even if they wanted to, I very much doubt vandals who spell Death Eater with two t's could cast anything more complex than a Sneezing Hex."
"That's worse, sometimes," Harry pointed out. "If they fu- if they mess up whatever hex they're trying to cast, and--"
Bill clapped him on the back. "There's nothing magical there," he said. "I can guarantee you that. Whoever it is may not know how to spell, but they were smart enough to know their magic could be traced, if they used it. What with the papers going on and on about your curse-breaking prowess."
Harry nodded, relieved. Draco cleared his throat. "I... I appreciate you coming here," he said stiffly.
"Not a problem," said Bill, turning to Draco. "And I'm glad you called me. Gives me a chance to ask again about the Secrecy Charm on your job."
Harry winced as Draco's jaw set. "I already told you. I work in a Muggle school--"
"A Muggle school that's easy to find. At least one article has mentioned that you're a music teacher in a Dublin college. We can't set wards over the entire campus. If I just put your particular workplace under Secrecy, nobody who hasn't already looked it up will be able to find it."
"I make business connections at concerts. What do I do if somebody sees me conducting, asks a friend how they can get in contact with me, and the friend can't tell them? Musicians and directors work through word of mouth, you know, especially in a small scene like Dublin."
"Now he calls it a small scene," said Kara, rolling her eyes. "When I'm tryin' to tell him we need to move out of here, he's--"
"Not right now, Kara," Harry murmured.
"You'll just have to hope they come speak to you directly," Bill said. "Unless you'd rather just hope nobody with a grudge comes up and waves a wand at you in the middle of one of your classes." Draco crossed his arms, his lips pressed together stubbornly. "And there's the safety of your students to think of as well."
"Harry, read me another book!" Ben whined.
"Not now, Ben, please," Harry said gently. "Your Mum and Dad and Uncle Bill and I have to talk this over, right?
"But I'm bored!"
"Draco, I dinna think you have much choice--" Kara began, and Draco scowled at her.
"Later," he said shortly. "I'll think about it."
Bill nodded calmly. "Why don't I begin the set-up now? I can weave a spell that only comes into effect when you decide to use it. Harry'd be your Secret Keeper?" Draco nodded. "I brought the incantation book, just in case, but we'll all have to learn and practice the spell for a bit before we can cast it. Boys," he said, turning to Ben and Alec, "we need to work to make Draco's work safe for a bit, all right? Here." He handed Ben a box filled with small coloured balls and tiny figures climbing over them. "This is from my brothers' joke shop. Why don't you and Alec try to make it work?"
"But I can't see it--" said Alec.
"And I don't want to play with it," whined Ben, "it'll make me tired."
"Do wizards have circus troupes?" Kara muttered irritably as Bill patiently explained the toy to the little boys.
"Yes, why?" asked Draco.
"So we can sell Ben to them," she said.
"Wouldn't fetch much of a price right now," Draco pointed out.
"Fine, we'll pay them, then." Kara sighed, then moved closer to the boys and took the toy. "All right, I canna help with... whatever it is ye're all going to do, so why don't I take the little darlins to Ben's room to play for a spell?" She rubbed her forehead. "Lucky, lucky me." She gave the window one last, troubled, look, before ushering the little boys down the hall to Ben's room.
It wasn't that difficult a spell, thought Harry as he and Bill and Draco went over the words and practiced the incantation. Just tedious. And niggly. It didn't help that they had to be particularly careful that their magic didn't spill over and cause havoc to the Muggle parts of Draco's flat. Or that, from the frequent whines floating down the hall, it was evident that Kara's attempts to keep Ben and Alec cheerful and busy with the Wheezes toy wasn't going well at all.
Finally they were done.
"Right. That's that then. Now I'll just go over the wards Harry's made here - the Deflecto you cast on the door is good for the short-term, but it's not a good idea as a more permanent thing."
"Why's that?" Draco asked Harry. "I told you, you could cast whatever you wanted--"
"Not generally a good idea to cast the more complex charms on a place that's your own, or as good as," said Bill. "They're too familiar to you; you're less likely to think of them as an attacker would. Besides, it's a bit difficult when you're trying to ward two places with the same people allowed into both of them; it's too easy to get mixed up with the barakas of the aural exceptions and end up casting a reflection shield that's too wide or has a primary/primal threshold energy that never mind," he broke off with a laugh at Draco's pained look. "Sorry, turned into Percy there for a moment. Anyway, trust me, Cursebreaker Credo: never ward your own place if you can help it. Or two places with the same people in them."
"You broke it!" Ben's indignant voice floated down the hallway.
"Did not!"
"I think it's supposed to do that, Ben," said Kara. "Let's go see if your dads and Bill are done, all right?"
"Look, you know - my place is warded to hell and back," said Harry. "You can both stay there for a while--"
"You've got your own life to handle right now--"
"It wouldn't be a problem--"
"It's not a permanent solution," said Draco, and Harry's lips pressed together.
"Don't start talking about permanent solutions," he said tightly as the boys and Kara came back into the room.
"What?" Draco asked, irritably. "You don't want a permanent solution?"
"No, bloody hell."
"What?"
"Not the kind you've come up with before."
"What are you talking about?" said Draco, baffled. Kara rolled her eyes.
"Maybe this is something you two need to discuss on your own," said Bill neutrally.
"What?"
"Kara, let's see if I can help you with that toy." Bill bundled Kara and the boys all back to Ben's room.
"All right, what the hell are you talking about?" demanded Draco as soon as they were alone.
"I'm talking about you making decisions without me again. I can't - you--" Harry broke off, realizing his anger at Draco was totally out of proportion, but still incensed at Draco's baffled expression.
"What the devil--" Draco broke off and Harry could almost see the light bulb go off in his head. "You think - you think I'm talking about leaving you? Again?" Draco said, incredulous.
Harry flushed. "Listen, you bastard, you already left once! How can I trust you when--"
"I'm not leaving you! God, you're impossible." Draco shook his head in disbelief. "Look, I came back, all right? Just two days ago. Why would I--"
"You came back at Alec's bedside, in the middle of - I'm not putting him through that kind of shite again, all right? If you're going to walk out again, just bloody well do it!"
Draco's eyes narrowed. "I am not walking out! You suspicious prick!"
Harry glared at him.
"Why would I walk out on you again? There'd be no point, the entire Wizarding world already knows about--"
"Oh good. So you would, if there was a point?"
"No! That's not what I--" Draco stopped himself with effort. He took a deep breath. "Right. This isn't going well. Maybe we need to back off - and no, I'm not leaving, so you don't have to worry about what to say to Alec. Or Ben. I'm just..." he paused and then spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "I am just bloody well frustrated, and trying to figure out what the fuck to do next. Is that allowed?"
"Fine," Harry bit out. He turned back to the wall and tried to remember what he and Bill had been about to do with the current wards - and was it a four-element shield he had done, or was it...
Kara poked her head in. "Oh!" she said, coming back into the room, followed by Bill and the boys. "Bill was right, then. He said you'd be done by now. By the way, do either of you know what one of these does?" she asked, showing Harry and Draco an Extendable Ear. "Bill wouldn't tell me."
"Never seen one," said Harry, and gave Bill a dark look which Bill returned blandly.
"I was thinking, we should also add Howler wards," said Bill. "And casting reflecting spells at both places might be good too."
"We can cast them on my place," said Harry. "Not Draco's."
"Why not?"
"Parole," Harry said shortly. "No harmful hexes."
Bill's eyebrows went up. "They'd only be as harmful as whatever the hexer tried to cast on Draco," he pointed out.
"Doesn't matter," Draco said. "I'll ask my parole officer, but I don't think so."
"But I don't want to go back to bed!" whined Ben, glaring at Alec. "Stop telling me what to do! You're not me Mam!" Harry and Draco exchanged a look of impatience, and he felt a small glow at the slight smile they shared before turning back to Bill.
"Maybe also cast something to catch an image of whoever's doing something to your place?" asked Bill.
"Yeah, may as well. There are a few Muggle security cams in the building already, but they're not--"
"Right, Muggle security cams." Bill chewed on his lip absently. "Bugger. That'll make it a hell of a job; those really disrupt protection spells."
Bill and Harry stared at each other, trying to figure it out.
"We could do what we did for that wand that's kept at the Tower of London..." Bill began.
"No, that was a huge bother, and it kept shorting out every time a Muggle took a picture nearby."
"That's because the Crown Jewels were kept in the same wing," Bill said. "I told Garpek that it wouldn't work."
"Garpek?"
"Yes." Bill shuddered. "Not my favourite moment with him. Fleur complained about the stench for weeks." He glanced around the living room. "We can cast a Charm in that corner, away from the telly and--"
"Won't that interfere?" Draco gestured towards his keyboard.
"Since when do pianos interfere with magic?" said Bill.
"That's an electronic piano."
Bill's eyes widened and for a moment his resemblance to Arthur was quite pronounced. "Really? With electricity and everything? What for?"
Draco smiled slightly. "It makes it sound like different instruments." Bill gazed at the keyboard in fascination.
Harry ran a hand through his hair, frustrated. "Yeah. Adds a whole new set of troubles when it's a mostly Muggle building, doesn't it?" He blew out his breath. "This wouldn't be a problem if he was living with me, you know," he muttered irritably.
"Is that an observation or a proposal, lad?" Kara said archly.
"What?" Harry said, then his brain caught up to him. "Oh - no, no, just an observation--" and Draco's eyes had gone blank.
"What's a twat, Daddy?" Alec piped up. There was a muffled squeak from Kara. "Kara wouldn't tell me before."
"It's a word Kara shouldn't use around you boys," Draco said, and the glare he directed towards her effectively covered any other reaction to what Harry had just said. And, conveniently, drew his attention away from Harry long enough for Harry to think over his own words as he and Bill tried to figure out where to put the keyboard.
Bill was busily flipping through a ward charm text, Kara had taken the boys to the kitchen for sweets, and Draco was staring at his keyboard, trying to figure out where to put it, when Harry approached him quietly and made himself speak before dwelling on all the reasons he probably shouldn't. "About what I said back there." Draco's body became absolutely still. "You know... Kara wants to move to London. Ben and Alec are going to require a lot of care. I'm worried about you. I know it's soon, but I'm offering."
And there it was, out in the open, and Harry's stomach started to feel a bit queasy.
"I have a life here," Draco said quietly, but there was something in his tone that... it wasn't a rejection.
"It's not doing well."
Draco fiddled with his watch. "Kara... Kara said there's a possible position at the Royal College opening soon."
Harry's stomach flipped over. "Seriously?"
"But it... it would be... difficult," Draco said hesitantly. "In the middle of everything going on..."
Harry nodded. "I know. But it would also make life a lot easier in a lot of ways." He looked down at the floor. "And I wouldn't mind the difficulty."
"I don't know, your flat's really not... it's a bit compact."
"It's a wizarding building. Might support expansion spells. And if it doesn't, I'd be willing to move."
"Move where, Daddy?" Alec's small voice piped up behind them, and Harry started. He and Draco glanced at each other in alarm. When had the boys come in? "Who's moving?" Alec repeated.
"Nobody, Alec," Draco said quickly. "We're just talking."
Harry glanced at Bill, whose eyes had widened slightly. Bill cleared his throat. "It would make warding easier," he said neutrally.
"Make a lot of things easier," said Kara, smirking.
"You mean they could come live with us?!" Alec said, incredulous, his eyes lighting up, and Harry's heart skipped a beat at the hope and joy flooding his son's face.
"What?" Ben's face lit up too, his ongoing squabbles with Alec totally forgotten. "We could live at Alec's house? That's brilliant! And--"
"Ben could live there and he could be in my room! And it would be just like--"
And now Draco was looking cornered and Harry figured he probably looked exactly the same, and they all desperately needed to backpedal.
"Erm, boys, nobody's making any definite plans yet," Bill said hastily, then gave Kara a look. "Why don't we take the boys to an ice cream shop?" Kara frowned. "I know of one at Brigid's Cross that--"
"But Ben's no' supposed to--" said Kara.
"He'll be fine, the Healer said he could go out for short excursions. I even have amulets on me," he said, taking three of them out of his pocket.
"But--"
"It'll be good for him to get outside for a bit," Bill continued, taking Kara's arm and flicking his wand around the flat, Summoning the children's outdoor things with admirable speed.
"But--"
"By which I mean this isn't something they can decide with all of us hanging on their every word," he said firmly, picking up Ben.
"It's no' like they're the only ones affected--" Kara was still saying as Bill herded them all out of the door.
And then Harry and Draco were alone in the flat, with nothing but silence between them, and damn it, this was not how a discussion about something this important was supposed to begin.
"It... it would make sense," Harry said nervously. He swallowed and tried for a more casual tone. "For warding, at least." Ugh, too casual. This was about making a major life change, not choosing a new pair of socks.
"It's not just wards I have to worry about, though," said Draco. "I'd have to get a new job, in the middle of Ben's health not being good, in the middle of all of this..." he gestured at his window.
"You don't have to - I mean, you could both stay with us. Until - until you found a job..." Damn, that was probably also the wrong thing to say. Draco was fiercely proud of having gone from pampered rich boy, to parolee left with barely enough inheritance to eke out a living by the wizarding world, to financially independent member of the Muggle world. And now Harry was offering to make him a kept man. Nicely done.
"I want to work," said Draco quietly.
"I know. And you should. But you wouldn't have to right away."
"Moving's a rather large undertaking."
"You wouldn't have to move right away. You could both just stay in my flat while we look for a bigger place." Draco bit his lip uncertainly and Harry tentatively reached out to him, relieved when Draco absently took his hand and laced their fingers together. "I just don't want you both in danger."
"But..."
"Look, if you move in with me, some of the people who hate you will probably change their minds, just because you're connected to me. God knows I hate the stupid Boy Who Lived shit most of the time; at least let me use it for something good for once."
"We're already connected," said Draco quietly. "And it looks like some people have just decided to hate you right along with me, judging from the letters to The Prophet. You don't think it'll get worse if we move in together?"
"'Possibly dating' isn't the same as living together. And I'm not particularly worried about the people who hate me because of you."
"You could be targeted too. You and Alec."
"Draco, I'm a cursebreaker. My place is already Unplottable and under a goblin form of Secrecy as part of my contract with Gringott's. And I've got Bill - hell, the entire Weasley family - to help protect me if I need them to." Draco stared at him. "They'd do it for you too."
"The kids aren't getting along all that well..."
"The kids would be fine. You know that. Right now neither of them's exactly a barrel of laughs. They get along fine when they're healthy."
Draco looked away.
Bloody hell, this was not the way he'd wanted this discussion to go. He hadn't thought about taking this step before - much - but when he had, he'd thought about taking Draco to a nice restaurant, slipping the idea of moving in together into the conversation, seeing how it went, giving themselves some sort of vague timeline for making the decision... Something slow. And pleasant, and romantic.
Then again, with kids in the picture, there was really no such thing as romance any more.
Draco cleared his throat. "This is... not the way I'd hoped to ever move in with anybody," he said quietly, and Harry winced in sympathy.
"Things don't always work out the way we picture them," he pointed out. "I mean... Ginny and I hadn't planned on our wedding being the way it was, but... it was still good." He thought briefly of the frantic last-minute preparations, the considerably shorter guest list than Molly had wanted for her only daughter's marriage, the slight bulge that was Alec in Ginny's middle. "It didn't make our marriage any less valid just because we didn't do it the way we'd planned." Harry cleared his throat, noting that the ache of his too-short marriage was no longer as sharp, somehow, as it had once been. "It was good while we were together. I think it could've been very good in the long run."
Draco touched his arm comfortingly, and they gazed at each other in silence for a few moments. "I just think maybe this isn't something to decide so quickly," he said quietly. "Nothing bad's actually happened--"
"Yet."
"Fair enough. It just seems a bit of a drastic reaction."
"Maybe." Harry swallowed. "Think about it, though?"
"Yeah. You too."
"I will."
They gazed at each other uncertainly.
"Should... erm, the keyboard could be set up near the blue sofa, I think," said Draco, and Harry nodded, hastily moving to help him pick it up.
ooo000ooo
"Pass the butter, please," said Percy, and Harry floated over the butter dish, almost crashing it into Percy's face. He gave Percy an apologetic glance and reminded himself to pay attention.
He was a lot more alert today, though. Thank Merlin. After over a week of utter exhaustion, it was nice to feel weary but coherent. Maybe the post-accident fog was finally lifting.
How much of that had to do with Draco being back? He pondered the question once more as he dug into his kidney pie. It hadn't been easy, being around the Weasleys the day after George and Molly and Percy had walked in on him and Draco... reconciling. He'd had the uncomfortable sense that he'd let them down - well, most of them, anyway, even though nobody had said a word to that effect. Oddly, Ron and Hermione and George had been openly happy for him. Bill had seemed fairly non-judgmental about it, and Fred... well, Fred was unreadable these days.
He suppressed a sigh. Funny how, months later, he still mourned the loss of Fred's friendship. But after Fred had gone to the papers and exposed Draco to the public, there was no coming back from a betrayal like that. Besides, Fred had never done anything to make up for it, either. No apology, nothing. Nothing but a - by now irrelevant - promise to not go to the press again.
Although, if Fred had talked to Draco, urged him to go back to Harry and apologized for his actions... Harry supposed anything was possible.
"--hardly appropriate for a shop on Diagon Alley, don't you think?" Molly was saying, and George and Fred laughed.
"Mum," Fred laughed, "it's not like we've got it in the front room."
Fred, and the other Weasleys, had accepted Draco being back, for now at least. How thrilled would they all be, though, if they found out that he and Draco were thinking of moving in together?
"They'll get used to it," Bill had said philosophically as he and Harry had finished the warding, after Kara had gone home. "You know how far along some people have come. And you've dealt with the ones who aren't going to change their minds. I don't really see this as all that different, to be honest."
Harry had raised a skeptical eyebrow.
"All right, yeah, it's different," Bill admitted. "But remember, this is the same family that accepted Fleur... sort of. And accepted Percy coming back. And me having long hair and an earring, and Charlie shacking up with his dragons. It'll work out. Eventually."
He rubbed his forehead tiredly. Why was he worrying about the Weasleys' reaction? He didn't even know how he felt about it.
Well, yes, he knew exactly how he felt about it.
He wanted it, more than he'd thought possible. It hadn't occurred to him much, before, but now that it had, he wanted it with all his heart. Draco and Ben, living with him and Alec, the four of them forming a real family together. A home for all of them. And not just for the purpose of helping to keep Draco and Ben safe, but to give himself and Alec what he had wanted for Alec when he and Ginny were expecting him. What both Alec and Ben deserved.
It wasn't even that what they had at the moment was necessarily lacking anything; he and Alec were happy together, and he knew Draco and Ben and Kara worked better as a family unit than many supposedly intact nuclear families. But they could have more than that. They could have a family. What Harry had never really had. He could have a partner, again, somebody with whom to share the joys and pains of raising his child - his children...
He could have Draco in his life, for good, going to bed with him every night, waking up with him every morning, making Harry feel so alive, making him feel anything was possible--
But would that bugger up the family that Alec already had?
"... and if Ben's here he'll maybe go to my school!" Alec said to Ron, right into an unfortunately timed lull in the general hubbub.
Harry felt his heart sink at the profound silence that followed Alec's happy words.
"What?!" said Percy blankly.
"You're joking," said Fred, staring at Harry.
"Are you serious, mate?" asked Ron.
Harry glanced around at the stunned expressions of everyone around the table, and met Bill's steady gaze. They'll get used to it, Bill had said.
"It... erm." He cleared his throat and made his voice sound casual. "It's just that it's... I'd feel better about his safety," he said. "And Ben's."
"Oh. Yes, of course," said Molly, nodding a little too enthusiastically.
"It would make more sense from a security perspective," said Bill. "And Alec, I think this was supposed to be something that the grown-ups were going to decide in a bit. It's a big thing, moving in with somebody."
"For how long would this be?" asked Percy grimly. "Until the furor dies down?"
Alec's green eyes went wide and he turned to Harry. "You mean... it wouldn't be forever?"
There was another ringing silence.
"Because the furor won't die down, you know," Percy said, two spots of colour appearing on his cheeks. "And you're just fooling yourself if you tell yourself that it's..." and Harry lost track of what Percy was saying as he watched Fred's lips press together, and Fred glance away from them both.
"I know," he said, cutting off Percy. "And if we do... it won't be just for now. I think. I hope." Harry swallowed hard and made himself straighten up and face them all. "It's not just for safety," he said firmly. He turned to Alec. "And it wouldn't be temporary, Alec. That's why it's a hard decision to make."
Percy's mouth dropped open. Fred looked resigned.
"Oh bloody buggering--" Anne bit off a curse as an explosion of multicoloured sparkles suddenly flew off her daughter's head and a loud MOO echoed around the room, and the entire table turned at once to deal with the resultant chaos among all of the children and adults and glasses and plates upended. Harry reflected, as he tried to shield Alec from the random sparkles and bits of pudding flying about, that this was probably the first time he'd ever been grateful to Michelle for causing a commotion at a Weasley dinner.
Finally the sparks were under control, the dishes returned to their places, Michelle's mooing toned down to a bearable volume, and the family returned to their pre-bombshell conversations, a little more loudly than before.
Harry checked his watch as the meal ended, and his heart gave a dull thud. Seven o'clock, Draco's regular e-mail-checking time.
He took a calming breath and straightened himself up, levitated a few of the dirty dishes towards the kitchen, and waited for Arthur to finish casting washing up spells before clearing his throat.
"Yes, Harry?"
"Could I use your shed for a few minutes?"
"My shed?" Arthur looked momentarily puzzled, then his face brightened. "D'you mean for the Muggle e-owls that Hermione set up for us?"
"E-mail. Yeah, I just need to check my account."
Arthur gave him a measured look. "Yes, of course. You know how to get in."
He nodded, keeping himself calm as he walked to the shed.
Living together. Waking up together, getting in each other's space. What he'd had with Ginny, with all the joy and frustration, the big and the little - cluttering up each other's washroom counters, casually chatting whenever they wanted, taking each other's presence for granted. Arguments and reconciliations and cooking together and getting Draco's coffee every morning. Draco's music intermingling with Alec's, Ben's art projects strewn about their home. The eventual death of ardent, exciting, unpredictable romance, replaced with comfortable warmth.
God, he and Ginny had barely had a chance to get there. And they were such different people, Ginny and Draco, but they each had brought so much to Harry's life, and each done so much to make him feel complete, and...
"Just answer yes or no," he'd told Draco as they left his flat. "If it's no, I won't bring it up again, I promise."
He entered the shed and took the e-mail parchment and quill off the shed wall, waved his wand and murmured Elecstriges. Spidery writing appeared along the top of the page.
Name? the writing asked, and he wrote hjpotter@gringotts.wiz.
You have one Muggle Owl Post Message. Open?
He waved his wand at the parchment, feeling a little silly as he always did as he said "Click!"
This was ridiculous. Draco might not even have had time to check his e-mail yet. And Harry's own e-mail to him had been rather... bugger, it sounded so needy. Did you think about it? as if this was something you could think about and decide in just a few hours.
He braced himself for no message, or for a message telling Harry to back off and give Draco more time. Or one turning him down.
And there it was. Draco's e-mail address was slowly appearing in the parchment's thin, slanted script, and Harry's stomach dropped and his knees felt weak as he leaned against the wall of the shed, a shocked and dazed grin spreading across his face as Draco's message wrote itself onto the parchment.
"Harry?"
Harry turned, startled, as Ron peered in to the shed.
"You all right?"
"Yeah," Harry said. "Yeah." He gave a rather shaky laugh.
"What happened?"
"Draco. He. Erm." Harry shook his head, reaching for calm, reminding himself that this was a serious thing and there could be all sorts of repercussions and he had responsibilities and, "He agreed," he blurted. "To move in together."
Ron's eyes widened, and he blinked a few times. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it. "That's... that great, Harry. I'm happy for you." His voice was a bit strained, and Harry nodded but couldn't help wishing Ron had stayed out of the shed and allowed him a few moments to just feel good about this. He turned back to the parchment, trying to figure out what to reply. Then Ron put a hesitant hand on Harry's shoulder, and Harry looked at him, startled.
"D'you know where he is right now?"
Harry blinked. "Erm. At home, most likely."
Ron nodded. "You should, erm... you should go to him." Harry's eyebrows went up. "Give you both a bit of time to just... be happy, before the rest of us come raining on your parade." Ron nodded at an upright freezer in the corner of the shed. "Go on, I'll cover for you. That freezer's actually a weird unlicensed Floo; Dad confiscated it last year." He took the parchment from Harry, gave Harry a small smile, and nodded at a breadbox next to the freezer. "Floo powder's in there. I'm happy for you, mate. Really."
Harry nodded, and opened the freezer door, feeling a bit foolish as he took a handful of the powder. He glanced back at Ron, a grin coming back to his face as he called out Draco's Floo address. And the last thing he saw as the green flames whirled him away was the parchment in Ron's hand, with its single message from Draco.
I did.
Yes.
ooo000ooo
The request was for:
coffeejunkii: i'd love to see the scene in which Harry and Draco make the decision to move in together :)
nimue_8: Also, the interaction between Draco and Alec (and Harry and Ben as well!) as the kids are on the mend. How Draco being there and encouraging the kid helps Harry. (A/N: Not sure how much encouraging Draco was doing, but they were interacting... ;) )
Love2Love: Similarily, the reaction of the Weasley's when they announce they're back together, and when they decide to move in together...