Harry Potter and The Beloved Incubus (BP4)
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Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
41
Views:
21,700
Reviews:
120
Recommended:
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Category:
Harry Potter › Slash - Male/Male › Harry/Draco
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
41
Views:
21,700
Reviews:
120
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
If Not for Love
Chapter Number/Total: 21/40
Chapter Title: If Not for Love
Words: 3179 Words
As Harry and Draco stood, there was another crack and a figure appeared on the lawn. After a moment's hesitation the person ran toward the house. In that moment, Voldemort's voice could be heard to cast, "Avada Kedavra," and a green glow showed through the downstairs windows.
Harry let out a shuddering gasp. He had known that it was going to happen, and dealing with Wormtail had almost made him forget, but now he felt weak in the knees and knew that the smiling man, who had been trying to teach his son to walk, was now dead.
At that moment, the new robed figure disappeared into the house. There was the sound of another door shattering upstairs.
Harry felt ridiculous simply standing there. He could hardly bear it. "Draco, I think that was Snape," he said, playing the voices he could hear faintly from outside much louder in his head.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside you silly girl … stand aside now."
"Not Harry, please, no, take me, kill me instead - Not Harry! Please … have mercy … have mercy …. "
"We can go in when Voldemort is dead," Draco said.
Harry squeezed his eyes shut, shaking and holding his breath. His whole existence had changed in this moment. This moment sixteen years ago had turned his life into what it had become. He couldn't take another breath.
Draco stepped forward, reaching to where he thought Harry was under the Cloak.
Harry felt Draco's fingertips and he moved to press against him immediately, his eyes still tightly shut.
Draco watched the green light appear in the upstairs window and a horrific scream filled the air.
Harry was screaming as well, a sudden, completely unexpected, horrendous pain in his forehead. He fell to his knees in front of Draco, gasping for breath and pressing his hands to his scar. He couldn't see or think. The pain was too great.
Draco held Harry in his arms, terrified for him. "Harry? What's wrong?" he asked.
Slowly, the pain settled into a dull throb and left Harry panting on the ground. The Cloak had fallen off him with the movements. The hand that was still pressed to his forehead felt wet and when he brought it down to look he could barely see anything in the dark of the night, but he knew it was blood on his fingers.
"Harry?" Draco asked again. "What's happened?"
"My scar," Harry rasped, still panting. "My scar hurt - hurts," he corrected, as it was still throbbing and bleeding.
"Can you stand?" Draco asked. There was a loud wailing coming from the house.
Harry's head turned quickly towards the house. "What's that?" he asked, struggling to stand and wiping the blood from his face.
Draco made sure his hood was pulled up. He put his arm around Harry and walked with him toward the house. "I think it is safe to go in now," he said.
Harry swallowed heavily, afraid to see the mess inside the house, even though he knew what it would look like.
"You don't have to look," Draco said quietly as he guided Harry up the steps.
"Yes, I do," Harry answered in a whisper, knowing that he would have to. When he and Draco entered the living room, it looked worse than it did in the future. It still looked lived in, pictures on the walls, shoes lying by the non-existent door, coats and cloaks hanging on hooks. The scorch marks were fresh and new, and amongst the pieces of ceiling and wall, lay James Potter, his limbs twisted strangely the way he had fallen and his eyes open, but there was still something fierce about his face.
Harry stood staring at him but then had to look away, his eyes filling with tears that he tried to keep away. He wasn't finished here yet and could not break down.
Draco swallowed hard, his silver hand holding Harry's and his wand in the other. "Let's see where Severus is," he said. They could hear the sounds of crying still coming from upstairs and Draco led them in that direction. At the top of the stairs they turned to the nursery and stood looking at the scene. On the floor were two figures. A young man with long black hair was holding the body of Lily Potter in his arms and weeping. Little Harry was still in his cot, wailing with blood trickling down his face.
Harry's eyes widened and he gasped. He didn't know what to do or if he should say anything. He was overwhelmed with multiple thoughts and feelings in that moment and felt like he nearly fainted with it all, but he did notice that Voldemort's body was not in the room. Only Snape, himself, and his mother.
The man on the floor looked up suddenly, grabbing his wand and pointing it at them. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Potter?" The man frowned, stiffening.
Harry's eyes widened further. How would Snape know ... unless ... he thought Harry was his father. "No," Harry said. "I'm not James. What are you doing here?"
"Who are you?" Snape snapped. "And why are you here?"
Harry had no idea what to tell him or what he was supposed to do in this house. He could barely think as himself as a baby continued to cry. "I'm - I - I'm here for - for -"
"Why are you holding her?" Draco asked Snape.
"She's dead," Snape sobbed.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment. "Why do you care?" he asked, and he managed to keep all traces of anger or confusion out of his voice, even when he felt like yelling for Snape to take his greasy hands off of his mother.
Snape looked down at the dead woman in his arms and the pain on his face was horrible.
Draco took a breath. "You loved her," he said in a surprised voice.
Harry's head snapped in Draco's direction. "What?" he asked, confused. He looked back at the younger Snape.
Draco laid a gloved hand on Harry's shoulder. "Can't you see it?"
Snape was weeping again and clutching the dead woman to him, rocking.
Harry stared at Snape, his eyes getting wider and wider as he recognised the man's posture. It was exactly the same way Harry himself held Draco the times that he had been afraid for Draco's life - only Snape looked far worse. The person in his arms was actually dead and gone. Harry let out the breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding and had to lean slightly on Draco.
Small Harry was crying so pitifully that Draco wanted to do something but wasn't sure what. He led Harry into the room, around Snape who seemed oblivious to them at that moment. Draco reached into the cot and picked up the boy. "He’s hurt and scared," Draco said.
Harry stared at Draco and at the baby he was holding and had no idea what to do. "I - I don't-" he stammered.
At the sound of Harry's voice, little Harry looked around and started reaching his small arms out, crying over and over again, "Dadadadadada."
Harry's eyes widened in alarm.
Draco smiled and handed the small boy to Harry.
It was the strangest thing in the world as Harry took himself from Draco. He was stiff with him for a moment but then tried hushing him, rubbing his back and trying to get him to lay his head on his shoulder. He stared with eyes still wide at Draco.
"You will need to get used to it," Draco said, rubbing his husband’s belly.
"Yeah," Harry whispered, still trying to soothe the baby in his arms. It was strange to think of it as himself.
"Who are you?" Snape asked again, looking at them both strangely.
"We - we can't tell you," Harry said to Snape.
Snape scowled at them but then looked back down at Lily. He took a moment to smooth the hair from her face and then gently lowered her to the ground. He then stood up and dusted his robes off. He pulled his wand and aimed it at the two of them. "I really must insist that you tell me," he said coldly.
Harry's eyes widened. "I can't," he said firmly.
"Are you part of the Order?" Snape asked.
"Are you?" Harry asked, not knowing what the right answer would be to give to Snape.
"Severus," Draco said, "we are here at Dumbledore's request."
Harry looked at Draco again. Even here, in the past, he could still deal with Snape better than Harry could. Harry nodded in agreement with his husband.
"Will you take the child to him?" Snape asked.
"Yes," Draco said. "Is he at Hogwarts?"
"I believe so," Severus said, his gaze returning to the woman on the floor.
Harry stared at his mother, too, wanting to reach out and touch her, just once, but he didn't. He just patted the back of the baby in his arms, who was still crying, but softly now. He was shocked that Snape seemed so ready to believe them. Was he truly going to simply let them leave?
"Why did you come here?" Draco asked the man.
"It doesn't matter now," Snape answered.
"You came to try to save her, didn't you?" Draco asked.
Harry stared hard at Snape. "Did you?" he asked, needing to know the truth.
"Too late," Snape said, staring at her with a look of despair.
Harry couldn't believe it, but in that moment, he actually felt bad for Snape. He had never seen him show his emotions so openly, and he had never seen him so upset. "I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling odd saying it.
Snape seemed unaware that Harry had said anything, continuing to stare at Lily.
Draco looked about and picked up a blanket, wrapping and tucking it around the small boy in his husband's arms. He took Harry's sleeve and pulled. "Let's go, H - husband," he said.
Harry looked sharply at Draco when he almost said his name, but then nodded, taking a few steps backward. "Let's," he said quietly, looking at his mother one last time and then heading for the stairs. He couldn't believe they were going to leave here so easily. It couldn't be all they had to do. He remembered what the Snape of his own time had said about Horcruxes. Dumbledore said that there would be something here about them, but what?
Little Harry had his chubby hands wrapped in Harry's hair and was peeking over the man's shoulder at Draco as they headed down the stairs.
Harry made his way down into the sitting room quickly and headed for the front door, intending to leave, but then he paused. "Wait," he said, "what's in that basement? The Ministry hasn't come."
Draco had paused too. "Yes," he said, "the wards will be down now." He turned and headed into the kitchen.
Harry followed after him quickly, clutching the little boy in his arms tightly to him.
Draco opened the door to the basement, the runes still fresh but no longer active. He stood looking down into the darkness.
"Is there a light switch?" Harry asked, peering over Draco's shoulder like he had before.
"Oh," Draco said, having forgotten about the Muggle switches. He reached around until he found one and pulled the toggle. Light came on in the room below.
Harry stood there waiting for Draco to go, looking at him expectantly.
Draco swallowed, looking down into the basement. He turned to hold out his hands. "Let me hold the child," he said.
Harry nodded and gave a little shrug, handing him over gently.
Draco held the little boy to his chest and looked into his face and grinned as he looked into those green eyes. He reached for a small towel that was on the table where Lily must have left it. He wiped the blood from the little boy's face.
Harry watched Draco with the little boy curiously, smiling a bit. He turned to the basement door, but then paused. "Voldemort's body wasn't up there," he said. "You noticed, didn't you?"
"Yes. Father said his body was destroyed when he tried to destroy you," Draco said.
Harry nodded. "It was never found," he said, "but there wasn't even a trace of it. Not even a piece. It's just ... gone." He was silent for a moment. "You don't think it has anything to do with Horcruxes, do you? I don't know what could be here that has anything to do with them, but there has to be something here."
"He didn't make one; I would have felt that," Draco said. "Maybe he was planning to make one when he killed you."
Harry nodded again and huffed. "Yeah, Dumbledore told me that he thought he was. But then what ... what could be here?"
"Anything important is probably in that basement," Draco said, wincing as little Harry took a hold of his hair and gave a tug.
"Probably right," Harry agreed. "Even if it doesn't have anything to do with Horcruxes, I'm still looking." He turned to the door again. "Are you going to stay up here?"
Draco sighed and looked over at his husband, walking back over with the child. "I will wait here unless you want me to go down," he said.
Harry frowned. "Well, it's not a matter of me wanting you to go down," he said. "Shouldn't we both look for stuff down there? I don't want to miss anything you would think was important."
Draco glanced nervously at the descending stairs. "I ... I don't ...." He swallowed.
Harry's frown deepened. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking down the stairs and then back at Draco.
Draco took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hand on his wand tightening. He opened them again and looked at his husband. "I don't like cellars," he said quietly.
Harry took a deep breath as well and held it for a moment. "I - oh," he said. Anger at Lucius shot through him powerfully, like it always did whenever the man entered into his thoughts. "You don't have to go down, love," he said. "I'll go and bring everything I can back up so you can look at it." He swerved around a little waving hand to kiss Draco gently.
Draco kissed him back, the little boy smacking their cheeks as he did.
Harry raised eyebrows at little Harry as he pulled back. "You'll get your chance," he told him, taking a step towards the basement door again and heading down.
Draco watched Harry make his way down the stairs. The little boy in his arms had taken hold of his lip and was pulling on it. He gave the child his classic raised eyebrow and the little boy laughed.
What Harry saw when he reached the bottom of the staircase was a semi-messy, large room lined with bookcases. In one part of the room there were two big desks, one untidy and one neat. In the other corner, he saw what looked a lot like what was in Draco's potion room at home. He walked over to the desks and looked at the notes and parchment on top of them, skimming a few pages. They were obviously things that had to do with his parents' work, but Harry couldn't really make heads or tails of any of it, and he definitely couldn't tell if it had to do with Horcruxes in any way.
He sifted through the parchments and then sat them aside, looking around the room again. He noticed what looked like a work table strewn with strange-looking objects that he had never seen before, but there were also at least a dozen Muggle notebooks there, some of them laying open, some thrown about like they had been recently looked at or moved or even written in. There were books as well, old-looking, and when he opened the cover of one of them, he saw that it wasn't even written in English. He turned to the notebooks and pulled one to him, flipping the cover open and looking at the front page. It held nothing except several words all crossed out in ink except for one: the word love circled. Intrigued, Harry flipped through the pages, skimming and catching a few phrases here and there. It all seemed to have something to do with love. What is love? Can it be contained? Can someone control its power? Harry's heart sped up as he read it. He reached for more notebooks, finding that mostly all of them had to do with the same thing. The others, strangely enough, dealt with Death, asking the same questions only on this subject instead.
Draco shifted nervously, watching in case someone showed up, keeping an eye on the stairs Harry and gone down and holding the little boy. After a bit he Summoned a chair to where he was so he could keep watch. The little boy laughed, reaching for Draco's wand. "No," Draco told him, "that's my wand. You get yours later." He sat down on the chair with little Harry in his lap.
Harry bent and looked under the table, seeing more strange objects and some tubes. He pulled the tubes out and found that they held what looked to be blue prints of some sort. There were many of them, all labelled with the word "love" in big letters. The next tube held blue prints labelled with the word "death", and he recognised this room all too well. The room with the veil in the Department of Mysteries.
Heart beating even faster, he realised that his parents had been studying those two rooms in the Ministry. The one he hadn't been able to get into, he figured, and the one where Sirius had died. He scrambled to his feet with the blue prints, stuffing them back into their holdings and gathering up all the notebooks. He looked around for some sort of bag to carry it all with but just ended up transfiguring one of the larger unidentifiable objects into a carrier. He began loading it up with the notebooks and the blue prints and all of the books laying on the work table. He picked up the stacks of parchment from his parents' desks as well, just in case.
When the bag was as filled up as he could get it, he hauled it over his shoulder and began climbing up the stairs again.
Little Harry seemed absolutely intent on getting a hold of Draco's wand. "So," Draco said to him, "when I kiss you in the bathroom, don't hex me. Trust me, you will be much happier then."
Harry snorted quietly as he entered back into the room, catching Draco's words. "What are you telling him?" he asked, smiling amusedly at his husband. He walked over to the table and dropped the heavy bag upon it.
"Just what a great shag I am and that he should take advantage of it," Draco teased.
Harry raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I suppose he should listen," he said, still smiling.
"Yes, because not far from here is a little me just waiting for him." Draco smiled at this husband. "What is all that?"
Harry looked down at the bag. "It was a work room down there," he answered. "I don't know if there's anything that could have to do with Horcruxes, but there were no glaring clues and half the books were in a different language. It would take us weeks to look through it all, and we don't have that kind of time." He was frustrated, and getting a bit anxious, but then he looked at Draco hopefully. "The stuff in the bag could be useful though. Might not be, but could be. They were studying love," he said pointedly. "And death, but love more importantly. I don't think it has anything to do with Horcruxes, but we do know love could be useful."
"I think you are already an expert on that topic." Draco smiled, holding his wand out of reach while little Harry tried to climb his body to get to it.
"Not containing it and using its possible power," Harry retorted, watching the struggle between himself and his husband.
"Persistent little bugger, aren't you?" Draco said as little Harry had managed to climb onto his shoulder, holding onto Draco’s head with one hand and reaching for the wand with the other.
Harry snorted again. "Don't let me fall," he said.
"You would just bounce," Draco said, switching his wand to his other hand to escape little Harry's reach.
"Right," said Harry, raising an eyebrow. "We should probably get out of here. I don't want to be here when the Ministry or anyone else shows up." He was nervous about leaving just yet, hoping that he wasn't messing anything up by going too soon, but he didn't know what they would do if they ran into Ministry workers.
Draco managed to grasp the boy again and hold onto him while he stood. "I left our bag outside," he said.
"Okay," Harry said, picking up the bag on the table again. "Let's go and get it and then ... to Hogwarts?"
Draco nodded and followed Harry out of the house. He turned his body so that the little boy didn't see his dad as they walked through the rubble of the front room.
Harry took a deep breath as he passed his father's body again and paused. He turned and bent over him, closing his eyes with his fingers and then taking his hand. He could already feel the cold creeping into it.
"Thank you," he whispered, squeezing the hand and then getting to his feet again. He held his head up to keep his tears from falling.
He moved out into the cool night air, back to where Wormtail was still lying knocked out, and picked up the pack Draco had left there.
"Give me the heavy one," Draco said reaching a hand for it. "I know your back hurts by now."
"You sure?" Harry asked, although his back was hurting him a bit.
Draco huffed, taking the bag and slinging it over one shoulder, his other arm holding the boy firmly against him. "To the gates of Hogwarts?" he asked.
Harry nodded with only slight hesitation. "Yeah," he said.
Draco nodded and Apparated.
Chapter Title: If Not for Love
Words: 3179 Words
As Harry and Draco stood, there was another crack and a figure appeared on the lawn. After a moment's hesitation the person ran toward the house. In that moment, Voldemort's voice could be heard to cast, "Avada Kedavra," and a green glow showed through the downstairs windows.
Harry let out a shuddering gasp. He had known that it was going to happen, and dealing with Wormtail had almost made him forget, but now he felt weak in the knees and knew that the smiling man, who had been trying to teach his son to walk, was now dead.
At that moment, the new robed figure disappeared into the house. There was the sound of another door shattering upstairs.
Harry felt ridiculous simply standing there. He could hardly bear it. "Draco, I think that was Snape," he said, playing the voices he could hear faintly from outside much louder in his head.
"Not Harry, not Harry, please not Harry!"
"Stand aside you silly girl … stand aside now."
"Not Harry, please, no, take me, kill me instead - Not Harry! Please … have mercy … have mercy …. "
"We can go in when Voldemort is dead," Draco said.
Harry squeezed his eyes shut, shaking and holding his breath. His whole existence had changed in this moment. This moment sixteen years ago had turned his life into what it had become. He couldn't take another breath.
Draco stepped forward, reaching to where he thought Harry was under the Cloak.
Harry felt Draco's fingertips and he moved to press against him immediately, his eyes still tightly shut.
Draco watched the green light appear in the upstairs window and a horrific scream filled the air.
Harry was screaming as well, a sudden, completely unexpected, horrendous pain in his forehead. He fell to his knees in front of Draco, gasping for breath and pressing his hands to his scar. He couldn't see or think. The pain was too great.
Draco held Harry in his arms, terrified for him. "Harry? What's wrong?" he asked.
Slowly, the pain settled into a dull throb and left Harry panting on the ground. The Cloak had fallen off him with the movements. The hand that was still pressed to his forehead felt wet and when he brought it down to look he could barely see anything in the dark of the night, but he knew it was blood on his fingers.
"Harry?" Draco asked again. "What's happened?"
"My scar," Harry rasped, still panting. "My scar hurt - hurts," he corrected, as it was still throbbing and bleeding.
"Can you stand?" Draco asked. There was a loud wailing coming from the house.
Harry's head turned quickly towards the house. "What's that?" he asked, struggling to stand and wiping the blood from his face.
Draco made sure his hood was pulled up. He put his arm around Harry and walked with him toward the house. "I think it is safe to go in now," he said.
Harry swallowed heavily, afraid to see the mess inside the house, even though he knew what it would look like.
"You don't have to look," Draco said quietly as he guided Harry up the steps.
"Yes, I do," Harry answered in a whisper, knowing that he would have to. When he and Draco entered the living room, it looked worse than it did in the future. It still looked lived in, pictures on the walls, shoes lying by the non-existent door, coats and cloaks hanging on hooks. The scorch marks were fresh and new, and amongst the pieces of ceiling and wall, lay James Potter, his limbs twisted strangely the way he had fallen and his eyes open, but there was still something fierce about his face.
Harry stood staring at him but then had to look away, his eyes filling with tears that he tried to keep away. He wasn't finished here yet and could not break down.
Draco swallowed hard, his silver hand holding Harry's and his wand in the other. "Let's see where Severus is," he said. They could hear the sounds of crying still coming from upstairs and Draco led them in that direction. At the top of the stairs they turned to the nursery and stood looking at the scene. On the floor were two figures. A young man with long black hair was holding the body of Lily Potter in his arms and weeping. Little Harry was still in his cot, wailing with blood trickling down his face.
Harry's eyes widened and he gasped. He didn't know what to do or if he should say anything. He was overwhelmed with multiple thoughts and feelings in that moment and felt like he nearly fainted with it all, but he did notice that Voldemort's body was not in the room. Only Snape, himself, and his mother.
The man on the floor looked up suddenly, grabbing his wand and pointing it at them. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Potter?" The man frowned, stiffening.
Harry's eyes widened further. How would Snape know ... unless ... he thought Harry was his father. "No," Harry said. "I'm not James. What are you doing here?"
"Who are you?" Snape snapped. "And why are you here?"
Harry had no idea what to tell him or what he was supposed to do in this house. He could barely think as himself as a baby continued to cry. "I'm - I - I'm here for - for -"
"Why are you holding her?" Draco asked Snape.
"She's dead," Snape sobbed.
Harry closed his eyes for a moment. "Why do you care?" he asked, and he managed to keep all traces of anger or confusion out of his voice, even when he felt like yelling for Snape to take his greasy hands off of his mother.
Snape looked down at the dead woman in his arms and the pain on his face was horrible.
Draco took a breath. "You loved her," he said in a surprised voice.
Harry's head snapped in Draco's direction. "What?" he asked, confused. He looked back at the younger Snape.
Draco laid a gloved hand on Harry's shoulder. "Can't you see it?"
Snape was weeping again and clutching the dead woman to him, rocking.
Harry stared at Snape, his eyes getting wider and wider as he recognised the man's posture. It was exactly the same way Harry himself held Draco the times that he had been afraid for Draco's life - only Snape looked far worse. The person in his arms was actually dead and gone. Harry let out the breath that he hadn't been aware he was holding and had to lean slightly on Draco.
Small Harry was crying so pitifully that Draco wanted to do something but wasn't sure what. He led Harry into the room, around Snape who seemed oblivious to them at that moment. Draco reached into the cot and picked up the boy. "He’s hurt and scared," Draco said.
Harry stared at Draco and at the baby he was holding and had no idea what to do. "I - I don't-" he stammered.
At the sound of Harry's voice, little Harry looked around and started reaching his small arms out, crying over and over again, "Dadadadadada."
Harry's eyes widened in alarm.
Draco smiled and handed the small boy to Harry.
It was the strangest thing in the world as Harry took himself from Draco. He was stiff with him for a moment but then tried hushing him, rubbing his back and trying to get him to lay his head on his shoulder. He stared with eyes still wide at Draco.
"You will need to get used to it," Draco said, rubbing his husband’s belly.
"Yeah," Harry whispered, still trying to soothe the baby in his arms. It was strange to think of it as himself.
"Who are you?" Snape asked again, looking at them both strangely.
"We - we can't tell you," Harry said to Snape.
Snape scowled at them but then looked back down at Lily. He took a moment to smooth the hair from her face and then gently lowered her to the ground. He then stood up and dusted his robes off. He pulled his wand and aimed it at the two of them. "I really must insist that you tell me," he said coldly.
Harry's eyes widened. "I can't," he said firmly.
"Are you part of the Order?" Snape asked.
"Are you?" Harry asked, not knowing what the right answer would be to give to Snape.
"Severus," Draco said, "we are here at Dumbledore's request."
Harry looked at Draco again. Even here, in the past, he could still deal with Snape better than Harry could. Harry nodded in agreement with his husband.
"Will you take the child to him?" Snape asked.
"Yes," Draco said. "Is he at Hogwarts?"
"I believe so," Severus said, his gaze returning to the woman on the floor.
Harry stared at his mother, too, wanting to reach out and touch her, just once, but he didn't. He just patted the back of the baby in his arms, who was still crying, but softly now. He was shocked that Snape seemed so ready to believe them. Was he truly going to simply let them leave?
"Why did you come here?" Draco asked the man.
"It doesn't matter now," Snape answered.
"You came to try to save her, didn't you?" Draco asked.
Harry stared hard at Snape. "Did you?" he asked, needing to know the truth.
"Too late," Snape said, staring at her with a look of despair.
Harry couldn't believe it, but in that moment, he actually felt bad for Snape. He had never seen him show his emotions so openly, and he had never seen him so upset. "I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling odd saying it.
Snape seemed unaware that Harry had said anything, continuing to stare at Lily.
Draco looked about and picked up a blanket, wrapping and tucking it around the small boy in his husband's arms. He took Harry's sleeve and pulled. "Let's go, H - husband," he said.
Harry looked sharply at Draco when he almost said his name, but then nodded, taking a few steps backward. "Let's," he said quietly, looking at his mother one last time and then heading for the stairs. He couldn't believe they were going to leave here so easily. It couldn't be all they had to do. He remembered what the Snape of his own time had said about Horcruxes. Dumbledore said that there would be something here about them, but what?
Little Harry had his chubby hands wrapped in Harry's hair and was peeking over the man's shoulder at Draco as they headed down the stairs.
Harry made his way down into the sitting room quickly and headed for the front door, intending to leave, but then he paused. "Wait," he said, "what's in that basement? The Ministry hasn't come."
Draco had paused too. "Yes," he said, "the wards will be down now." He turned and headed into the kitchen.
Harry followed after him quickly, clutching the little boy in his arms tightly to him.
Draco opened the door to the basement, the runes still fresh but no longer active. He stood looking down into the darkness.
"Is there a light switch?" Harry asked, peering over Draco's shoulder like he had before.
"Oh," Draco said, having forgotten about the Muggle switches. He reached around until he found one and pulled the toggle. Light came on in the room below.
Harry stood there waiting for Draco to go, looking at him expectantly.
Draco swallowed, looking down into the basement. He turned to hold out his hands. "Let me hold the child," he said.
Harry nodded and gave a little shrug, handing him over gently.
Draco held the little boy to his chest and looked into his face and grinned as he looked into those green eyes. He reached for a small towel that was on the table where Lily must have left it. He wiped the blood from the little boy's face.
Harry watched Draco with the little boy curiously, smiling a bit. He turned to the basement door, but then paused. "Voldemort's body wasn't up there," he said. "You noticed, didn't you?"
"Yes. Father said his body was destroyed when he tried to destroy you," Draco said.
Harry nodded. "It was never found," he said, "but there wasn't even a trace of it. Not even a piece. It's just ... gone." He was silent for a moment. "You don't think it has anything to do with Horcruxes, do you? I don't know what could be here that has anything to do with them, but there has to be something here."
"He didn't make one; I would have felt that," Draco said. "Maybe he was planning to make one when he killed you."
Harry nodded again and huffed. "Yeah, Dumbledore told me that he thought he was. But then what ... what could be here?"
"Anything important is probably in that basement," Draco said, wincing as little Harry took a hold of his hair and gave a tug.
"Probably right," Harry agreed. "Even if it doesn't have anything to do with Horcruxes, I'm still looking." He turned to the door again. "Are you going to stay up here?"
Draco sighed and looked over at his husband, walking back over with the child. "I will wait here unless you want me to go down," he said.
Harry frowned. "Well, it's not a matter of me wanting you to go down," he said. "Shouldn't we both look for stuff down there? I don't want to miss anything you would think was important."
Draco glanced nervously at the descending stairs. "I ... I don't ...." He swallowed.
Harry's frown deepened. "What's wrong?" he asked, looking down the stairs and then back at Draco.
Draco took a deep breath and closed his eyes, hand on his wand tightening. He opened them again and looked at his husband. "I don't like cellars," he said quietly.
Harry took a deep breath as well and held it for a moment. "I - oh," he said. Anger at Lucius shot through him powerfully, like it always did whenever the man entered into his thoughts. "You don't have to go down, love," he said. "I'll go and bring everything I can back up so you can look at it." He swerved around a little waving hand to kiss Draco gently.
Draco kissed him back, the little boy smacking their cheeks as he did.
Harry raised eyebrows at little Harry as he pulled back. "You'll get your chance," he told him, taking a step towards the basement door again and heading down.
Draco watched Harry make his way down the stairs. The little boy in his arms had taken hold of his lip and was pulling on it. He gave the child his classic raised eyebrow and the little boy laughed.
What Harry saw when he reached the bottom of the staircase was a semi-messy, large room lined with bookcases. In one part of the room there were two big desks, one untidy and one neat. In the other corner, he saw what looked a lot like what was in Draco's potion room at home. He walked over to the desks and looked at the notes and parchment on top of them, skimming a few pages. They were obviously things that had to do with his parents' work, but Harry couldn't really make heads or tails of any of it, and he definitely couldn't tell if it had to do with Horcruxes in any way.
He sifted through the parchments and then sat them aside, looking around the room again. He noticed what looked like a work table strewn with strange-looking objects that he had never seen before, but there were also at least a dozen Muggle notebooks there, some of them laying open, some thrown about like they had been recently looked at or moved or even written in. There were books as well, old-looking, and when he opened the cover of one of them, he saw that it wasn't even written in English. He turned to the notebooks and pulled one to him, flipping the cover open and looking at the front page. It held nothing except several words all crossed out in ink except for one: the word love circled. Intrigued, Harry flipped through the pages, skimming and catching a few phrases here and there. It all seemed to have something to do with love. What is love? Can it be contained? Can someone control its power? Harry's heart sped up as he read it. He reached for more notebooks, finding that mostly all of them had to do with the same thing. The others, strangely enough, dealt with Death, asking the same questions only on this subject instead.
Draco shifted nervously, watching in case someone showed up, keeping an eye on the stairs Harry and gone down and holding the little boy. After a bit he Summoned a chair to where he was so he could keep watch. The little boy laughed, reaching for Draco's wand. "No," Draco told him, "that's my wand. You get yours later." He sat down on the chair with little Harry in his lap.
Harry bent and looked under the table, seeing more strange objects and some tubes. He pulled the tubes out and found that they held what looked to be blue prints of some sort. There were many of them, all labelled with the word "love" in big letters. The next tube held blue prints labelled with the word "death", and he recognised this room all too well. The room with the veil in the Department of Mysteries.
Heart beating even faster, he realised that his parents had been studying those two rooms in the Ministry. The one he hadn't been able to get into, he figured, and the one where Sirius had died. He scrambled to his feet with the blue prints, stuffing them back into their holdings and gathering up all the notebooks. He looked around for some sort of bag to carry it all with but just ended up transfiguring one of the larger unidentifiable objects into a carrier. He began loading it up with the notebooks and the blue prints and all of the books laying on the work table. He picked up the stacks of parchment from his parents' desks as well, just in case.
When the bag was as filled up as he could get it, he hauled it over his shoulder and began climbing up the stairs again.
Little Harry seemed absolutely intent on getting a hold of Draco's wand. "So," Draco said to him, "when I kiss you in the bathroom, don't hex me. Trust me, you will be much happier then."
Harry snorted quietly as he entered back into the room, catching Draco's words. "What are you telling him?" he asked, smiling amusedly at his husband. He walked over to the table and dropped the heavy bag upon it.
"Just what a great shag I am and that he should take advantage of it," Draco teased.
Harry raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "I suppose he should listen," he said, still smiling.
"Yes, because not far from here is a little me just waiting for him." Draco smiled at this husband. "What is all that?"
Harry looked down at the bag. "It was a work room down there," he answered. "I don't know if there's anything that could have to do with Horcruxes, but there were no glaring clues and half the books were in a different language. It would take us weeks to look through it all, and we don't have that kind of time." He was frustrated, and getting a bit anxious, but then he looked at Draco hopefully. "The stuff in the bag could be useful though. Might not be, but could be. They were studying love," he said pointedly. "And death, but love more importantly. I don't think it has anything to do with Horcruxes, but we do know love could be useful."
"I think you are already an expert on that topic." Draco smiled, holding his wand out of reach while little Harry tried to climb his body to get to it.
"Not containing it and using its possible power," Harry retorted, watching the struggle between himself and his husband.
"Persistent little bugger, aren't you?" Draco said as little Harry had managed to climb onto his shoulder, holding onto Draco’s head with one hand and reaching for the wand with the other.
Harry snorted again. "Don't let me fall," he said.
"You would just bounce," Draco said, switching his wand to his other hand to escape little Harry's reach.
"Right," said Harry, raising an eyebrow. "We should probably get out of here. I don't want to be here when the Ministry or anyone else shows up." He was nervous about leaving just yet, hoping that he wasn't messing anything up by going too soon, but he didn't know what they would do if they ran into Ministry workers.
Draco managed to grasp the boy again and hold onto him while he stood. "I left our bag outside," he said.
"Okay," Harry said, picking up the bag on the table again. "Let's go and get it and then ... to Hogwarts?"
Draco nodded and followed Harry out of the house. He turned his body so that the little boy didn't see his dad as they walked through the rubble of the front room.
Harry took a deep breath as he passed his father's body again and paused. He turned and bent over him, closing his eyes with his fingers and then taking his hand. He could already feel the cold creeping into it.
"Thank you," he whispered, squeezing the hand and then getting to his feet again. He held his head up to keep his tears from falling.
He moved out into the cool night air, back to where Wormtail was still lying knocked out, and picked up the pack Draco had left there.
"Give me the heavy one," Draco said reaching a hand for it. "I know your back hurts by now."
"You sure?" Harry asked, although his back was hurting him a bit.
Draco huffed, taking the bag and slinging it over one shoulder, his other arm holding the boy firmly against him. "To the gates of Hogwarts?" he asked.
Harry nodded with only slight hesitation. "Yeah," he said.
Draco nodded and Apparated.