Parallel

A/N: As I promised, last chapter of this little story of mine. Though the reception this story had is quite disappointing compared to the others I can guess that most readers would be a little put out by the topics treated in this story, so I won't complain about it.

I still thank you all who were patient enough and encouraging in your reviews and I hope you gius will enjoy the end. Now I'm off to write some more Anima's. Kisses!!

Chapter 05

Everyone covered their eyes as the green light blinded them. Albus reached with his arms and embraced Scorpius, hiding him with his body, afraid to lose him.

The blond immediately wrapped his arms around Albus' neck, his eyes shut tightly, hiding his face on the other's neck. Neither of them had seen a killing curse before and the sole glow of it frightened them to the core.

The clearing stood in silence as the curse disappeared. Albus was shivering lightly, his hands clenched around Scorpius' robes.

Timidly, the black haired boy opened an eye, trying to check their condition.

“NO!” someone screamed, startling both boys. Each turned to stare slowly, just after making sure the other was completely unharmed.

Albus heard Scorpius gasp and fall to his knees, his hands covering his mouth as he whimpered pitifully. The other boy followed his tear-stained gaze towards the others, internally feared whatever had made someone as controlled and independent as Scorpius Malfoy to tear up within seconds.

He was hard pressed to admit that his friend's cool had always had a calming effect on him.

Another wail of anguish made him flinch, this time coming from his own mouth as he finally found the spot his blond friend was staring at.

Thomas was on the floor, now, his face pale and stricken, tears were still rolling down his cheeks from his wide, unfocused eyes. Both of his hands were laying at his sides, unmoving, still.

Slowly, Albus fell to his knees, his arms instantly reaching for the sobbing Scorpius. Cradling his gently and caressing his hair. Trying to calm a boy who would be inconsolable now. Hell, his own eyes were full of tears that refused to go away.

Scorpius hands clenched on his arms, tightly clinging to him in order to gain of semblance of control. His eyes, however, never strayed from Thomas' body nor Harry's shaking body, who had, also fallen to the floor.

Heavy steps alerted Albus of another presence in the clearing. A strong hand came down to his shoulder and squeezed gently. The boy looked up, almost grateful to tear his eyes from the heart-breaking scene, to stare at Neville's anguished face.

The older man's eyes were full of despair and fat tears made their way down his hardened face.

His own eyes were set onto Thomas.

“He always knew,” he whispered brokenly. “He said he was going to make it better this time. That even though his life had been ruined by that madman twice, he would get his revenge in true Slytherin fashion. He would love Tom like no one else had ever done, he would teach him love, loyalty, honor. He would spoil the monster's plans from the inside.”

Albus stared, wide eyed.

“So, he didn't really love Thomas?” he asked weakly.

Neville shook his head.

“Of course he loved his son,” he corrected. “More than anything in this world, more than himself, actually. Draco always chose Thomas over anyone else.” The man's eyes fell to his feet, his tears constantly falling to the floor. “I wished so much he would include me into his heart,” he whispered. “A selfish part of me wanted to be like Thomas to him, to be loved. I wanted my own place in his life. But even though he always smiled at me, always took my hand when he felt insecure... I knew Thomas would always come first. How I hated Harry then, how I hated them both. I thought: If Voldemort had chosen me then, this boy would be our son, Draco would be mine.”

“He wouldn't have been Mr. Malfoy otherwise,” Albus spat, his green eyes glaring at the older man.

Neville sighed bitterly.

“And I wouldn't have loved him as much if he wasn't,” he admitted. Slowly he shook his head, his hand wiping his tears away. “In the end, as always, he chose them over me.”

Albus swallowed thickly and turned once more to Thomas, his arms tightening around Scorpius.

“You are awfully calm, Professor,” he whispered bitterly.

Neville snorted.

“I've had years to prepare for this moment, it happened just like I knew it would,” he choked a sob.

Harry's lips let out a choked breath, his eyes wide as he shook uncontrollably, his wand laid forgotten a few meters away, where he had thrown it in a vain attempt to stop his curse.

“No...” he whimpered. “No, no, no, no, no, no.” A hand came to his hair, tugging forcefully, slipping rapidly into hysteria. “No, Draco...”

On top of Thomas' body, dimly illuminated by the moonlight, eerie, almost ethereal in its paleness... laid Draco's lips body. The only indication that the blond man was real was the mud stains on his feet and knees, a clear indication he had run with all his might to get there in time.

To catch the curse before it hit his beloved son.

To save the life on the one person that had ruined his life twice but that he loved more than life itself.

To give his last gift of love to the one boy who had taken everything he was and changed it into something completely different and new altogether.

The son that had stolen his heart by just existing.

Even now, that Thomas' shocked, unfocussed eyes tried to find any sign of life in his mother, the only thing he could concentrate was the small smile the older blodn had stretched into his cold lips.

“Mother,” the boy finally whimpered, his shaking hands coming to rest on his head. “Mother, you idiot... I was supposed to die... ”

“It wasn't supposed to be like this, you are right...” Harry said in a daze. “You were supposed to die and the curse you had on him would break, he would have been so happy, he would have ran to my arms, we would be together again.”

Thomas' arms wrapped around his mother's corpse, rocking back and forth while resting his head onto the other man's shoulder.

“Mummy,” he broke down finally. “Mummy, don't leave me. I need you, mummy! MUMMY!!”

“LET HIM GO!” Harry cried. “DON'T TOUCH MY DRACO!”

“STAY AWAY, POTTER!!” Thomas growled, his eyes wild. “YOU WERE THE WORST THING THAT HAPPENED TO BOTH OF US!! LEAVE US ALONE!!”

Harry grabed his wand, his sanity long gone as he stared into his beloved's dead eyes.

“You brat, this is all your fault!! I will-”

“You'll what?! WHAT!??!” Thomas grinned twistedly, his red eyes still spilling tears. “You'll kill me? GO AHEAD! SHOOT!!” he sobbed. “SEE IF YOU DARE TO SHOOT ME!! MY MOTHER SAVED ME!! MAKE ME ANOTHER FUCKING BOY WHO LIVED, HARRY!!! TRY AND KILL ME!!”

Harry's wand shook as his hand picked it up.

“It was not a sacrifice of love, you monster. You forced love into him.”

“Then try and kill me,” the boy begged. “If you really think he didn't love me, I dare you. Try! SEND THE KILLING CURSE AT ME!!! YOU'LL SEE HOW MUCH HE LOVED ME!!! MORE THAN HE WILL EVER LOVE A MONSTER LIKE YOURSELF!!”

“Shut up! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!!”

“SIR!” a group of hooded Aurorsa appeared, their wands drawn.

“Look at what he did to my love,” Harry whimpered, his eyes wide and mad. All the Aurors looked a the blond boy holding onto the man's corpse and then stared at eachother with doubt.

“Sir, is that...?” An auror started, only to be interrupted by another one.

“Albus?” another hooded figure called. “ALBUS! SCORPIUS!”

The black haired boy's tears finally fell as he recognized that voice.

“Dad...?” he whimpered. “DAD!! OVER HERE!!!” The hooded man ran towards both boys.

“What is going on here, Albus, are you two ok?” he questioned as he embraced them. “I appeared in an auror group saying they were finally going to kill Voldemort and then I heard the screaming and..” his eyes slid over to Draco's corpse. “Is that Malfoy?”

“So, this is your father, kid?” Neville asked bitterly. Harry removed his hood and stared wide eyed at the muscular and hard man his friend had become.
“Nev?” he asked in shock, his eyes never straying from the scar on the man's face that resembled his own.

“Take then home, Harry,” Neville sighed. “They don't deserve this world.”

“Professor Longbottom...” Albus whispered, his arms still wrapped tightly around Scorpius.

“Say hi to me there, ok? Maybe I'll be braver about my feelings if you show me some of this world.” The man grinned bitterly before standing up and drawing his wand.

“No, what about you, what about Tom,” Scorpius sobbed.

“We'll put an end to this,” Neville answered, his eyes locked with Harry's. “I like you better this way, Harry, please don't change ever.” With a war cry, Neville ran towards Thomas, blasting Aurors away as he went to retrieve the boy and the corpse of the one he loved.

Harry stared at his alter self barking orders, his eyes devoid of any sanity as he comanded them to retrieve his Draco from the traitors.

“Let's go,” he whispered finally before tracing a pentagrame with his wand.

Albus' and Scorpius' eyes stayed locked onto Thomas as he took a wand from a falled auror and stood, but not fast enough to avoid Harry's second killing curse, but before either of them could see the outcome of such attack the world blurred around them and the little moonlit clearing became the musty dungeon at Malfoy Manor once more.

Harry had not released them for a second before another pair of arms wrapped around both boys, a sobbing voice almost shrieking in hysteria for them to never try something as dangerous again.

Albus and Scorpius stared at the blond man, alive and healthy that scoded them before launched themselves at his arms and crying bitterly into his chest.

“FATHER!!” Scropius whimpered, his whole body shaking. “Father! You are ok! Father it was horrible and you... and you... don't ever leave me, Dad!!”

Draco blinked for a second before wrapping both boys tightly in his arms and staring questioningly at Potter.

Harry shrugged, a little shaken himself.

“When I arrived there was a group of Aurors waiting for a signal to irrupt and kill Voldemort, so I infiltrated them, hoping the boys were around. But when I got to them...” he thought about it for a second. “A boy who looked like you was on the floor, he was hugging your corpse.”

Draco's eyes widened.

No wonder his son was so afraid.

“Scorpius, son, look at me...” he whispered genltuy, running a hand over his hair. “Son, look, I'm ok, I'm not going anywhere.”

“We thought you would never come back, Mr. Malfoy!” Albus cried, his own hands grasping the man's robes. “Thomas was heart broken, he thougt you didn't love him and... you did, and you jumped over the curse for him and. It was horrible!”

Draco put a hand on the other boy's hair as well as he sighed.

“Boys, look at me, come on,” he smiled genlty. “That spellbook always takes the caster into the worst possible scenario, that why I didn't want you to use it.”

Scorpis raised tear filled eyes to his father.

“So, you are not going to die like him?” he asked childishly. Draco smiled and kissed his forehead.

“No, son. I won't die like him.”

Scorpius smiled weakly and snuggled into his father's warmth like he hadn't done since he had gone to Hogwarts.

Draco took them in his amrs (after casting a feather-light spell, of course) and took them to one of the spare bedrooms of the manor, setting them both to sleep with a gentle kiss on the forehead and the promise of dinner together after they rested.

Albus and Scorpius fell asleep together, still holding hands.

Draco smiled gently and sat by their bedside, caressing their hair and checking on them every once in a while. As promised, he would not go anywhere.

Harry stood by the door, his eyes set on Draco's form.

He had not anticipated how much the sigh of the other man's corpse would shake him. Sometimes, while he laid in his cold bed, staring at his wife's back, he wondered what it would be like if he had taken the blond instead.

If he had gone to his room and just done as his heart had told him, the moment he found out he was awake, instead of letting Ginny clench his hand into hers and talk about their future together.

The one future he didn't believe in, anymore.

Now he was divorcing his wife and the other man was so close he could still feel his lingering heat around the house.

“I saw your corpse,” Harry said softly as he sat by Draco's side. “I think I killed you myself, in that world. I... that other me didn't look very stable.”

Draco stared at him for a moment.

“It was a worst-case scenario, Potter,” he sighed. “It wouldn't happen like that, if at all.”

“Still,” Harry protested, taking Draco's hand in his. “I felt so cold, when I saw you, I didn't think it would shake me that much to... well...”

Draco instantly took his hand away.

“Don't, Potter,” he scolded. “That happened a long time ago, you made your choices and I made mine.”

“Draco, ever since that day, I can't stop thinking about you, about what could have been, and now..”

“Now your wife is leaving you and you will be too lonely, won't you?”

“Draco, no! You wouldn't understand, I was a coward, they were my only family. I was afraid they would leave me alone and... It was stupid of me.. I know.”

“What about now, they will certainly hate you if you leave their precious daughter for a Malfoy,” Draco spat, his eyes set on their children.

Harry shook his head, wrapping his arms around Draco tightly.

“I don't care, they can hate me for all I care, I won't let you die in someone else's arms,”

Draco chuckled softly, his hands coming to rest on top of Harry's.

“You selfish little bastard,” he whispered, locking his eyes with Harry's. In the end he had never stopped loving him, never would be able to.

Harry grinned.

“You taught me that, you spoiled brat,” he responded, raining kisses onto the other man's neck. “You taught me to think of myself for a while, to think of my happiness before the others, so don't you dare to complain now.”

Draco wrapped his arms around Harry's neck.

“Let's go to my room,” he shivered. Harry nodded and took the man in his arms, hurrying along the corridor to the master bedroom.

As soon as they were gone, Albus shook Scorpius tenderly.

The blond was still drained and shaken from their little adventure, so he took a while to turn and regard the other boy.

“Tommy is on his way,” Albus said softly, caressing the blond's cheek.

“Do you think your dad will go all ballistic over this again?” Scorpius whispered. Albus shook his head.

“We'll be there to stop him, should the need arise,” he answered, his eyes determined. “This time Tommy has us to protect him, we'll do a good job, you'll see.”

Both boys smiled at eachother before snuggling into the other's warmth and falling asleep, lulled by the sounds coming from the other bedroom, content in the knowledge that the charming young man they had met was on his way into this world, but this time they would be there to make sure everything would go according to Mr. Malfoy's plan.

Thomas would be loved and honored, cherished like any other boy in the wizarding world. He would lear how to love and honor, and he would become a good man, surrounded by his family.

Albus smiled.

There would be no Dark Lord in this world. Scorpius and him would make sure of it.

With that thought, he fell asleep, still holding the blond's hand in his while his finger played with a lock of his beautiful hair.

It was a shame, but he would have to tell his little sister he had stolen her boyfriend.

He knew Scorpius would not complain.

The End.