Entwined lives

Draco walked down the stairs and into the living room where Ron sat talking to a much less disraught Avril. "Uh, me and Ron are going shopping, right Ron?" Draco said pointedly.

Ron stared at him for a few moments until he figured it out. "Oh, right, shopping. Yeah, we're out of, um, uh, floo powder. We should go." Ron said pulling on his cloak and heading to the door with Draco. Avril sat there watching the whole performance. When they had left the building she crossed the room to the mantelpiece and peered inside the old flowerpot that had been sitting there since Harry's first visit to the Burrow. It was full of floo powder. She smiled and turned round to find Harry standing at the bottom of the stairs looking at her curoiusly.

"Where did they go?" He asked her.

"They made up some lame excuse about needing floo powder and made themselves scarce. You ok?"

"Yeah. I don't hate you ya know."

"Good to know. Doesn't make me feel any better. Guys throwing up when I enter a room is exactly the response I was looking for." She said, Harry recognising Draco's sarcasm in her voice. He smiled and they both relaxed. They both crossed to the sofa and sat down facing each other.

"You must have a million questions. Before you begin can you just tell me why you threw up?" She asked him.

"You look so much like our mother. You caught me off guard."

"Oh. Ok."

"Questions. Right. Well, how long have you known about me? Why did I never know about you? Why didn't you turn up that day in Diagon Alley? Where do you live, what do you do, where did you go to school? Just start at your first memory and finish up when I threw up." He realed off.

She laughed at him and then took a deep breath. "Ok, when I said you must have questions I didn't know they would happen all at once. Right, uh, how long have I known about you? Since I was about sixteen. I decided it would be best if we didn't have contact, and you didn't have knowlege of me. I decided that you had enough to deal with. I had a doctors appointment that day in Diagon Alley, I only remembered when it was too late to tell you I wasn't going to make it. Where do I live? Well, at the moment I am sleeping in the Leaky Cauldron. I'm in between accomodations. I work in a petstore in Hogsmeade. I went to Durmstrang. Anything else?"

"Why did you decide what was best for us? I mean, I wasn't asked about any of this." Harry said, suddenly very angry.

"You can't possibly comprehend what I'm going to say next Harry but I was raised by Voldemort."

"But I was never even told I had a sister until I found out for myself in my birthcertificate. There's no mention of you anywhere in official records!" Harry near yelled the revelation about her upbringing somehow irrelevant to him.

"I understand where you're coming from. I was taken when we were four days old. In case you hadn't gathered by now, I'm the weaker out of the two of us. I was born with a low birthweight so I was in the special care baby unit. No one knew there were twins. During that time very few things were publicised. Especially newborns."

"You didn't have a good childhood did you?"

"What do you think?!" She snapped. "I was kidnapped by a psychopathic lunatic, kept a secret, and then when you defeated him, I spent my formative years in the care of Nannies."

Slow realisation streamed through Harry. "He took you back when he was restored didn't he?"

"We travelled, did the daddy daughter thing. Then he tried to train what little power I have. Let's just say that he used a lot of spells to give me more than I was blessed with. I'm as close to a squib as you can get without being totally powerless. I only have one thing I do without training and that doesn't even work on command. I only have one type of curse that works for me and I can't use it in everyday life. Unlike you Harry I never had people who cared about me. I never had people who wanted to be my friend. I never had people who wanted me. I had people who were paid to like me. Paid to spend time with me. And when I say paid I am talking a hell of alot of money and a very large death threat on their families. He told me everything when I was sixteen. By then do you really think that you would have listened to me if I had shown up?"

"Probably not, not with a story like that. You should stay here tonight. We could talk. That is if you want to stay here."

She smiled an easy natural smile at him. "Harry, don't be a dope, of course I want to stay here."

Harry smiled and exhaled in relief. "Just one more question. Do you have a scar? Ya know, like my lightning bolt?"

"No but I do have one thing you won't see on every Potter. I can hide mine alot easier than you can hide yours." She pulled back the left sleeve of her black robes and removed the black rockers cuff that was fastened there. He could see the Dark Mark etched into her skin, black and bold on her pale skin yet hers was different to Draco's. It was on her wrist

"It's lower than other Dark Marks. Must be because you meant something more to him than them." He, very boldly, reached out and traced his right thumb along her Mark. His own scar began to feel warm and tingly. He felt a warmth spread from the point where they connected all throught his body. Her body warmed with the same sensation.

Ron and Draco walked in the door three minutes later to find Harry and Avril floating near the ceiling, glowing. They emmitted a soft unearthly blue glow. Draco and Ron looked at each other and sat down on the other sofa to wait for them to come down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry slowly opened his eyes, his vision adjusting to the bright early morning light. He looked around at the room and memories of last night filtered into his mind. The empty bottles of butterbeer and firewhisky lay on the floor. Draco lay beside them, his head resting on a cussion from the sofa Ron was burried into, snoring softly. He tried to sit up but found he couldn't. Avril lay on the sofa with him, their legs and arms wrapping around each other, a tangle of childish innocence.She lay with her back to the sofa back, her face burried into Harry's right shoulder. He eased himself gently from under/around her and picked his way tiptoed tcross the room. He pulled on a cloak and let himself out into the garden. He pulled out a cigarette and lit up, taking a deep pull. He had quit over a year ago yet he found that he needed one this morning. The conversation of last night had flowed much easier once alcohol had become involved.

"Bad for your health."

"And here's me thinking that your lectures would stop after death Hermione." Harry said to the ghostly form of his friend that stood beside him. She hadn't changed one bit since the moment of her death.
"Besides it's only one in over a year and after the revelations of last night I think it's justified."

"Whatever, if you're really that anxious to join me." She said sarcastically, giggling as he raised his eyebrows. "Now, my real reason for the beyond the grave visitation. I know you've been obssession guy for the last four years trying to find her but you've missed the real headliner here Harry."

He looked at her confusedly as he took a drag on his cigarette. "What's the real headliner?" He said as he exhaled.

She rolled her eyes and sighed. "Harry! Answer me these simple questions. Who has been there for you in every step of finding her? And I don't mean what Ron hads been doing by staying home. Who went with you to records houses, to the Ministry of Magic? Who went through all those papers and records and information with you?"

"Draco."

"Why do you think he did that?"

"He's my friend."

She sighed very dramatically. "Harry! You really do have a one track mind. Draco wants more than friendship from you. He wants you in a way that maybe you might want him."

"You mean he wants to date me? No way!"

"Yes way! The simple fact is that Draco has feelings for you that he wants to act on but he's too scared because you've spent the last four years concentrating too much on finding her to wonder about your sexuality."

"But I'm straight."

"Are you sure? Don't forget Harry that the dead can see what you dream and your dreams go a long way into disproving your little self affirmation."

"But I...."

"I would love to stick around and try to decipher your little wonderings with you Harry but Draco's awake and I am only allowed to see you. Sorry but rules are rules. My advice? Follow your gut instinct and act on what you feel at the time. Remember Harry, the heart has reasons in which reason knows nothing. Have fun." And with that she dissapeared, as with so many other times when she had visited him over the years.

"Thanks Hermione." He said as Draco joined him sleepily in the garden. He looked at the cigarette in Harry's hand and smiled. Harry passed him the carton and he lit up. "Was the floor really so comfortable that you had to sleep there Drey?" He joked, his mind racing with the shine on Draco's mussed silken hair and the glimmer in his silvery orbs. Maybe Hermione was right, he had been having dreams about his... was Draco really a friend? Was that all they both wanted?

"Yeah, I may even sleep there permanently." They stood there for a few minutes adjusting to a waking state. Harry stubbed out his cigarette and decided what it really was he wanted from Draco. Draco stubbed out his cigarette and turned to Harry, ready to bear his soul.

"Harry, I.... Well, I..... "

"Draco, I know. I know how you feel about me. I don't know how I feel about you yet but I know I want your lips right here, right now." Draco looked at Harry in stunned silence. All powers of conversation had failed him. Instead he lent in and did what he had been dreaming about for the last two years. He lent in and latched onto Harry's lips with his own. He sucked gently at Harry's bottom lip while Harry got over the shock of his friends lips on his own. He moved beneath Draco's lips, tentatively pulling and sucking at Draco. Their mouths opened while their arms moved. Harry tangled his fingers in Draco's liquid gold hair, the silken strands winding themselves in and out of his fingers. Draco passed his hands around Harry's waist, his fingers passing softly along Harry's spine. Harry pressed himself against Draco as sensations shot from his lips and spine down to his jeans. Draco's tongue pressed cautiously into Harry's mouth, his companion returning the favour. Their tongues moved against each other, the smooth sensation causing both guys to groan into each other as Harry's hands travelled down to Draco's belt. The sound of a glass hitting the floor in the kitchen and Ron's cry of "Damn it!" forced them apart, leaving both boys with the desire to return to each others lips. They looked at each other with more than lust in their eyes. They both knew right there and then that they both wanted this to be something serious.

"We should go and make an appearence." Harry said, nervous about what his best friend and his sister would say.

"Hey, it's ok. We don't have to tell them yet if you don't want to. But you should know that I came out to Avy about my feelings for you about six months ago. She's fine about it."

"What about Ron though?" Harry asked, kissing Draco briefly on the lips.

"Then I'll just have to wait till he's gone to sleep to sneak into your room tonight. That is if you want me to stay with you tonight." Draco said softly to his companion.

Harry disentangled himself from Draco and walked to the door. He paused in the open door and turned to Draco. "I have a double bed. I think my room may be the better option." He said cheekily blowing him a kiss as he retreated inside to face the day. Draco grinned from ear to ear feeling like he was floating on a cloud.