Harry Potter and The Charming Prince (BP7)

Valen stood straight and proud in his new robes and schooled his features, trying not to show how acutely uncomfortable he was, and clutching the travel cage of his snake, Seriph. He was absolutely certain that no other student on the platform would be surrounded by so many people. It was mortifying.

His fathers were there, of course, as well as April and Sev. Had it just been them, it wouldn't have been so bad. But it wasn't just them. Most of the entire bleeding family was there. Nan Molly, his grandmother Narcissa, Uncle Ron, Aunt Hermione, Emily and the twins, plus Uncle Bill, Aunt Fleur, Chris and Brigitte. He had to be the only kid there with so many people to see him off.

They were all crowded closely around him, and Nan Molly kept telling him how much he'd grown. Unless he was very much mistaken, he'd seen her just a few days before and she hadn't seemed to notice so much then. His grandmother, Narcissa, simply gave him an occasional soft smile and reached out once to brush a stray lock of hair from his face.

Valen tried to endure it all with grace but he was getting increasingly nervous as others on the platform stared and pointed in their direction. It was nothing new, of course. You couldn't really go anywhere with Harry Potter and not get that reaction, but Valen wanted to meet people as himself, not as the ‘miracle child’ of the famous heroes.

"Don't worry about them," said Harry, grasping Valen's shoulders. His voice sounded kind of strange, like he was trying to hide something behind it, but he wasn't very good at that. "It should die down in enough time."

Valen nodded and sighed. "I know, Dad," he said, worried that Harry would break down crying or kiss him or something equally embarrassing. Valen could feel his dad’s magic pulse with his emotions. Harry always seemed to get emotional about ‘his firstborn’ doing anything new.

Behind Harry, Valen’s father, Draco, stood, one hand unobtrusively resting against his husband's side and the other holding Sev's hand. Sev did look like he would cry. "You write us tonight and let us know which House," Draco said with a classic smirk. Harry rolled his eyes, glancing back at Draco.

"Write me too," added Chris with a grin.

"Oh, you know he will," April sneered. Her arms were crossed as she tapped her foot impatiently. Valen knew she was only angry that she couldn't leave for school yet. Valen knew she would miss him. They'd had their own private talk the previous night.

Valen's expression slipped a bit when he looked at Chris. "Everything," he promised the other boy. Going away without Chris was actually harder than leaving April in some ways. "I will check it all out for you both," he assured them. Then Valen’s green eyes rested on Sev and he held out hand to his younger brother.

Sev sniffed, his eyes still watering a little. His smaller hand curled around Valen’s fingers, looking up at him seriously.

Valen had to work hard not to tear up himself then. "You, I expect, will keep me better informed about home than anyone," he said softly.

Sev's eyes welled up then. "Yeah," he whispered, looking down.

April was standing close and uncrossed her arms, laying a hand on Sev's shoulder. "You know he'll be okay," she said, actually showing a small smile.

"You're not actually worried about me, are you, Sev?" Valen asked, smiling.

Sev shrugged, looking up when he, apparently, thought it was safe to do so again. "You're going alone," he said, his voice trembling a bit as if that were something very bad.

To a degree he would certainly not admit to anyone else, Valen agreed with Sev. Valen was the eldest child among his large family and their friends. He didn't know any children older than himself. And that did make him nervous. He didn't show it. He smiled at Sev. "Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius will be right there," he assured him. "Who's going to mess with the werewolf's nephew?"

Sev did smile a little then. "Yeah," he said.

"Let them know to write us if anything goes wrong or ... something," said Harry, his voice tight sounding. Valen could see the ripple in his magic, as Harry tried to reign in his feelings.

Valen appreciated the effort. He shook his head but smiled, looking up to meet the grey eyes of his father before turning back to his dad. "I know, Dad," he said. "And I am sure they know." He glanced behind him at the train. "I should get aboard before it leaves without me," he said.

Harry frowned a little before he nodded. "Don’t ... do anything I wouldn't. Well, don’t do some of the things I would either." He sighed, smiling and frowning at once now. "Love you, kid." He reached out and ruffled Valen's hair affectionately.

Valen winced and almost laughed when Draco winced too. Neither of them liked their hair messed up. Valen smirked. "No sneaking around or starting secret societies?" he asked.

Harry chuckled. "Only if you have good reason," he said.

“I'll keep that in mind," Valen drawled but smiled back. He glanced again at the train, feeling increasingly like everyone on the train was watching the scene with his family. Everyone on that side of the train, at least. Valen wouldn't have been surprised to see the Hogwarts Express listing to one side.

Aunt Hermione came forward then as Uncle Ron tried to keep Eric and Gwen from running back through the wall to the Muggle side. Hermione was smiling as she handed Valen a wrapped package that she had been holding. "Just a little something I thought you should have," she said. “It’s the most recent edition of Hogwarts: A History.”

Valen took the package and arched an eyebrow. "Thanks, Aunt Hermione," he said and then stepped back. "I have to go," he said to them all.

Uncle Bill shook his hand before Aunt Fleur kissed him on both cheeks and then Nan Molly tried to squeeze the life out of him. He received hugs from his little cousins, and Uncle Ron actually got a moment to say goodbye as well. Once the Weasleys stepped back, his grandmother, Narcissa, moved forward looking as elegant as always. Valen smiled at her. He had spent time during the past two summers with her in France and the two of them had developed a strong bond. Leaning close, she placed her hands gently on Valen's shoulders and kissed his cheek.

"You are your own person," she whispered, her blue eyes smiling at him. "Create your own history, Valen."

Valen nodded and whispered back, "I will, Grandmother."

He watched as she moved away and patted Draco on the arm before stepping to one side. Valen's brother and sister seized that moment to come closer.

Sev squeezed him almost as hard as Nan did, and April gave him a quick hug as well, hissing Parseltongue in his ear, "Good luck."

"Take care of them, Brat,," he hissed back to his sister and then turned to say his last goodbye to his fathers. Draco even stepped forward with Harry to give him a brief hug.

Harry hugged Valen a little tighter and a little longer, but at least it wasn't so bad. "Write a lot," his dad said. "Let us know what's up."

Valen didn't trust himself not to gush or cry or something equally horrifying so he hugged his dad and stepped back, picking up the snake cage again and making his way to the train. He took a deep breath, excitement fluttering in his chest. It was exhilarating and frightening to be leaving the safety of the Malfoy Manor and his parents. He hoped that people would want to get to know who he really was, that he would make friends. Remembering his grandmother's words and still feeling the hugs from his fathers and siblings, Valen squared his shoulders and headed for the Hogwarts Express. With his family standing behind him, Valen climbed up the steps, eager to embrace his adventure.

[On November 30, 2006, sayingsorry_hh posted a request in an Harry/Draco LJ comm for someone to write with. I thought it would be fun to do a "what if" story starting in the bathroom scene of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. She chose to write Harry's point of view, and I chose Draco's. We started something that day that became Harry Potter and The Bound Prince. We posted the first chapter on Jan. 7, 2007, and the rest of five novels (750,000 words) by July 11. Today, we post the last of the seventh novel in the series. That brings The Bound Prince series to completion at over a million words (1,011,000). Did we really write that much? I still can't believe it. Hit counters on some of the archives show us that that the first book in the series has been read at least 250,000 times. The popularity of this series still awes me.

There are two incomplete spin off series that may yet come after this one – Theo's Story and Eros' Child. Those stories, when they are complete, will not be Harry/Draco stories, told instead from other points of view. So, The Bound Prince story is complete.

I want to thank everyone who helped in this project. First, my original co-author, sayingsorry_hh, whose partnership in this amazed and delighted me. To, brknhalo241 who came in first as a beta, but then stepped up to help finish as co-author and continues to delight me in our other projects. Thanks our betas – more than a dozen people who have worked on these novels, finding our mistakes and making suggestions, from the original drafts all the way through the pdfs. And to the readers whose enthusiasm has kept us writing and continues to inspire me to more.

We hope you have enjoyed taking this journey with us. We still love to hear from readers and hope you will share with us your experience of reading them.

There is also a yahoo groups mailing list with updates about current and future writings by Slashpervert and co-authors. Feel free to sign up at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/slashpervert_fiction/]