Dearest Harry - Eileen's Story

Sorry about the long absence folks, have been away. This chapter is a bit shorter that the last two but this was a natural break. The next chapter is just about written so I'll get that up asap. Just a couple more chappies now to the end. Lots of help form Claudia on this again. Did I tell you I loved you babe? ~ Lucie

BTW thanks again for all the reviews. I get to them individually as soon as I can, but thanks you all so much for your kind words.

It was the feeling of repeated Scourgefing charms that woke Harry in the end.

Blinking his eyes he recognised the familiar ceiling of the Hogwarts infirmary, even without his glasses. As soon as his head cleared enough to remember what had happened he immediately asked after Severus. He needed to know that his uncle was okay and it wasn’t until he had been assured that Severus was just down the corridor, perfectly safe, but deeply asleep, being watched over by Eileen that he was able to relax. Draco said that Kingsley had thought that the infirmary was the best place for both Harry and Severus to be, as St Mungo’s was currently too public, too exposed and far too crowded. They had also been sure that both Harry and Severus would much prefer to be at Hogwarts than St Mungo's.

Harry thought that the hospital must be in absolute mayhem, because in his opinion his room here at Hogwarts was pretty crowded. Hermione, Ron, Sirius, Luna, Draco and Madam Pomfrey were all standing around Harry’s bed. Apparently Eileen had been there for a short while as well; she was back with Severus right now but had promised to return shortly.

Apparently it was Poppy Pomfrey who had tried to Scourgefy Harry, to take away some of the dried on mess which was clogging his hair and had set like concrete on his skin. But the goo wasn’t moving and all the repeated used of the charm had succeeded in doing was to finally wake him up.

“It’s called ectoplasm, Harry.” Hermione said as Harry picked at the stuff on his skin, “The substance that you are covered in.” Harry had had to stifle a laugh at the fact that both Draco and Ron wore identical expressions of astonishment when Hermione spoke.

“Do you know something about every useless bit of useless trivia, that we might ever discover, Granger?” Draco asked. “What the fuck is ectoplasm?”

Hermione looked disgruntled. “Well if you are going to be like that I shan’t tell you.”

“Sorry,” Draco said, and Harry thought that he did look genuinely contrite. “I’ve never even heard of ectoplasm, that’s all, and you just produce this stuff like some sort of walking encyclopaedia, no wonder I couldn’t keep up with you at school.”

Hermione smiled, and Harry squeezed Draco’s hand gratefully. He thought that Draco’s comment showed just how much the other boy had matured this year. There was a time when his lover would rather have removed his own tongue than said anything nice about Hermione, even if it was in a rather backhanded way. Harry thought that Draco appeared to be very jumpy and tense, which was hardly surprising considering the events of the past few hours and it seemed to Harry that it was simply an ingrained habit of Draco’s to be sarcastic and snappy and hide behind his trademark sneer when he was tense, a sneer that wasn’t usually so apparent these days.

Harry wished that his room would empty out a bit, that even his dearest friends would give him a little space. He thought he could identify Draco’s feelings so easily because he was feeling something similar himself right now, he just wanted to be alone with Draco and kiss away that tiny frown line that had taken up residence between Draco’s eyebrows and then maybe snuggle together and sleep.

But Draco had obviously said enough for Hermione to forgive him his snappiness as she was continuing her lecture. “Ectoplasm, is a psychic material, it was probably what the veil was constructed of and it is probably also the substance which allows ghosts like Nearly Headless Nick to be seen in the mundane world, it is possible that wizards and witches have some sort of sensitivity to it and that is why we can see ghosts when Muggles rarely do.

“When it initially appears it is like a slimy sort of mucus and that is what Harry is currently covered in. But as it solidifies, it transforms into a gauzy material, just like the muslin-like curtain that separated this world from the other side. Unfortunately the ectoplasm that covers Harry has been mixed with blood and rubble and that seems to have changed its chemistry, which is probably what is making it difficult for us to remove it.

“Even Muggles have some have some idea that ectoplasm exists, although they have discredited it to a great extent. The belief in the spirit world, the borderlands between the world as we know it and the other side was at it’s zenith in Britain and America just after the First World War. So many Muggles lost sons in the battlefields of Europe that the belief that there was a way to communicate with them became strong and all pervasive.”

Harry thought that Ron and Draco probably had no idea what the First World War was, unless it had had some impact on the Magical World that he didn’t know about. But neither of them had said anything, they were both staring at Hermione in bemused fascination. So Harry kept quiet and just let Hermione go on with her monologue.

“ Unfortunately many unscrupulous Muggles took advantage of those desperate to communicate with their sons and faked ectoplasm so that the existence of the substance became disputed. But as you can see from the gunk that covers Harry, it does actually exist.”

“Oh,” Harry finally managed to say, “well it is really scratchy on my skin and I just wish that it would go away.”

“It’s alright Harry,” it was Sirius who spoke this time. “Poppy says that you can use the bathroom here at the hospital wing. I am going for a shower myself.” Harry had forgotten that Sirius was also covered in the same thick substance that he was. He didn’t quite know what to say to the other man, now that he was alive again. Time after time he had held conversations in his head with Sirius.

But with his real, live, living and breathing godfather standing in front of him, all that Harry could actually say was, “Erm thanks.”

“Do you want my help?” Sirius said.

Harry blushed a deep brick red at the thought of his godfather bathing him, but it was Draco who spoke.

“I’ll take care of Harry,” he said somewhat stiffly.

Sirius merely nodded, and then turned to Hermione, “you’ll have to tell us more about your theories on the veil tomorrow, Hermione,” he said. “I need a bath too. I smell almost as bad as the pup does, like rotting seaweed.”

“Mmmm,” Hermione said, “All the books say that ectoplasm smells like ozone, the smell is part of what convinced me of its existence. Luna and I noticed that the chamber smelt distantly of the sea the last time that we were there and so we researched ectoplasm before Harry went beyond the veil.”

“We wouldn’t have let Harry go through the portal without at least having an idea about what it was made from,” Luna said simply. She smiled at Hermione and Hermione smiled back at the other girl. Once upon a time those two had heartily disliked each other, Harry thought. That was something else that had changed in recent months.

Harry was very tired, but he was immensely cheered to see the look of fond exasperation that Ron and Draco shared. Funny that something like a bloody war and a shared near death experience had worn down the barriers between the boys, but it had, and Harry was hopeful that his best friend and his lover had embarked upon on tentative friendship. The last few weeks had broken down a lot of barriers, old quarrels and petty enmities didn’t seem so important somehow when you were fighting for your life and the lives of those you loved. Harry wondered how many other relationships would change now that Voldemort was truly dead.

He leaned heavily on Draco as the other boy walked him to the bathroom, it was harder this way but Harry didn’t want to be levitated. He wanted to get there on his own two feet, even if it meant that Draco bore much of the burden. And Draco truly didn’t seem to mind.

Harry went to the loo first, it seemed to take him ages to get his hands even marginally clean when he washed them, which didn’t bode well for a bath or shower in his opinion. But then his hands were shaking and he was very tired.

Draco undressed Harry tenderly, looking at him lovingly and vanishing each garment as he removed it. Harry’s body was still fairly clean. His clothing, hair and face were filthy, but his body had been protected and Harry shuddered deliciously as Draco kissed him gently as each piece of clothing was removed.

“Oh Merlin, Harry, you are so fucking beautiful!” Draco breathed.

Harry blushed. He still didn’t quite believe the other boy. Harry thought he was quite scrawny and undersized. But Draco always looked at him with such loving admiration that a very small part of him was beginning to believe that maybe what Draco said was true. In Harry’s eyes it was Draco who was the beautiful one.

He reached up to run his fingers through Draco’s silky hair, looked in wonder at those luminous silver eyes with their long silken lashes. He wanted to kiss the other boy, hold him. But Sirius was right, Harry was dirty and smelly, he needed to get clean, and then maybe, he could do what he really, really wanted to do right now, which was kiss Draco senseless.

He showered first, to try and remove some of the worst of the dirt, lathering his hair, with a special shampoo that Draco had produced. The shower cubicle was easily large enough for them both, but for some reason Draco stayed outside and waited, the blond boy seemed nervous, unsettled. Harry didn’t blame him, he felt a bit like that himself. They had been naked together a lot of times, but there was something strangely even more intimate about helping someone bathe.

As Harry stepped out of the shower cubicle Draco held out a large white fluffy towel, which Harry used to rub himself dry before he was helped over to the bath where he sank contentedly into the warm soapy water. The bath was filled with millions of foamy bubbles and Draco helped him into the water, kissing him gently as Harry stiffly lowered himself down.

He leant back against the sloped side of the bath and closed his eyes. It felt wonderful, the comforting warmth of the water, soaking into his aching bones. His ribs had been broken, so Madam Pomfrey had said. Three ribs, his tibia and his collarbone. Harry also had deep bruising in his kidneys and his spleen and despite the fact that she had fixed the damage he would still be sore for several days. Being pulled through the veil had done a lot of damage to Harry and it was not an experience he ever wanted to repeat, but he had done it, he had saved Sirius and that made every broken bone and bad bruise well worth it in Harry’s opinion.

Most of Harry’s medical care had been done whilst he was asleep. But Madam Pomfrey had had to wait until Harry had awakened before asking him questions to assess his brain function. The mediwitch had seemed reluctant to let Harry out of her sight for long enough to bathe, but Harry couldn’t bear the horrible scratchy substance that still covered his skin any longer, and Draco had promised to look after him and then both boys had been backed up by Sirius, who had insisted that he couldn’t bear to be covered in the noxious substances any longer either. Of course, Madame Pomfrey was not as worried about Sirius as the animagus had escaped from the veil relatively unharmed, it had been Harry who had come through first and therefore, Harry who had taken a battering.

When Harry opened his eyes again he saw that Draco was leaning on the side of the bath, his cheek resting on one arm. Harry smiled at him.

“A penny for your thoughts,” he said.

Draco looked puzzled for a second. “Is that a Muggle saying?” he asked. Harry didn’t speak, he just nodded instead.

“I was thinking that it is late, and that at this time last night I was trying not to think about today. That I somehow knew that you would meet him, and that it would all be over. But somehow it seems like such an anticlimax, he died so easily in the end, didn’t he? It almost doesn’t seem real somehow. I was so scared Harry and now it is all over and I just don’t know what I feel anymore.”

“Yeah, I know, me too.”

Harry reached over and ran his fingers through Draco’s hair again, gently, combing it, playing with it. Draco’s eyes filled with tears.

“I thought that I was going to lose you, Harry.”

“Oh Draco!” Harry said as he kissed him. The water was making him feel relaxed and a little light headed. He sat up and wrapped his arms around his boyfriend’s waist. Draco had moved so that he was sitting on the edge of the bath and it was not much of an effort to gently tug him into the water.

Draco spluttered in surprise as Harry pulled him into the bath.

“Prat!” he said, slapping Harry playfully. “My clothes are all wet now!”

“Oh dear,” Harry said, well we can’t have that now can we?” With a wicked smile on his face, he vanished everything that Draco was wearing, so that he could feel Draco’s silky smooth skin against his own.

“Mmmm, that’s better.”

Draco smiled. “Pervert!” He said. “You just wanted to get me naked didn’t you?”

Oh yessss!” Harry whispered, kissing Draco gently, nibbling at his boyfriend’s flesh. Draco was quite simply delicious. And then Draco was kissing him back.

“It is over, Draco! All over. We have the rest of our lives together and I want to celebrate.”

Draco had been wriggling against him, but all at once he stopped and stared at him. “Harry, do you mean that?” Draco’s eyes bore into his, solemn, serious.

Harry grinned, “Do I mean that I want to celebrate?”

Draco hit him again.

“Or do I mean that I want to spend the rest of my life with you?”

Draco nodded tightly and looked away.

Harry reached up and took Draco’s chin in his hand, slowly he turned his lover’s face so that their eyes met again.

“I love you, Draco.” He said, “I love you with all of my heart, of course I want to spend the rest of my live with you. If you’ll have me that is?”

Draco let out a kind of strangled sob and then he was showering Harry with kisses.

Harry had already begun to soap himself up so he was slick and Draco moved against him easily in a slippery sort of way. Draco was kissing him, sliding down Harry’s chest, his hair was wet and lay back slick against his head. Harry thought that he looked gorgeous.

Draco’s cock was hard against Harry’s own. The warmth of the water, the slickness of whatever substance that Draco had added, made Draco’s skin feel even silkier than it normally did, especially his cock. They were rubbing against each other and the beautiful friction was making Harry’s toes curl, the water sloshing gently against them, supporting Draco’s weight to some extent, pouring into the spaces between them adding to the gloriousness that was Draco’s skin against his own.

“Oh, Merlin!” Harry breathed, closing his eyes and throwing back his head, giving himself completely to the sensations that were washing over his body.

He was running his hands over Draco then and Draco was moaning and writhing against him and Harry was feeling hot and sensual and the stimulation that surrounded him, the water, Draco’s body slick against his own, the friction that was caused by Draco’s body against his cock, all of these were freezing Harry’s mind, so that he didn’t have to think anymore, so that he could just feel and then he was coming, orgasming hard. And long. And fucking fantastically.

He threw back his head and shouted his completion and then Draco was doing the same, before he sagged against Harry, cheeks tinged with pink, eyes closed, lips parted enticingly.

“I love you Draco,” Harry said again, this time placing a tender kiss on those tempting lips.

Draco kissed him on the chest, and then nuzzled him. “I love you too, Harry.” He said, and then. “Did you notice that it’s gone?” Draco continued, almost in a whisper.

“What’s gone?” Harry asked, a tiny amount of curiosity piercing his languor.

“The Dark Mark. You can’t even see where it used to be.”

Draco lifted his arm for Harry to inspect.

Harry took the bare forearm reverently.

“Oh good,” he said as he kissed it gently. “It wasn’t who you were anymore anyway.”

Draco cried a little bit when Harry said that, fat, wet tears which ran unchecked down his cheeks, until Harry kissed them away, stroking his hair again and whispering his love once more.

They lay together, arms wrapped around each other for some considerable time. Harry just listened to Draco’s breathing and revelled in feeling the sweet weight of the man that he loved, even if he did press against Harry’s bruises a little, Harry found he didn’t mind the soreness when it was caused by Draco..

Eventually they got out of the bath. The room was lovely and warm, still heated by the steam from their leisurely bath. Harry felt less exhausted than before, he was just tired now, very, very tired, but no longer liable to collapse at any moment. The combination of the lovely hot water, charmed to stay that way and whatever potions Draco had used to make the water so silky and so full of effervescent bubbles had soothed his aches and pains.

Before he knew it he and Draco were curled up in Harry’s hospital bed. Draco’s head was on Harry’s shoulder and he was fast asleep.

“Well, well Mr Potter,” I don’t know if you will be very comfortable like that.” It was Poppy Pomfrey who had spoken. Harry’s heart sank, he knew this wasn’t allowed, that any second now the nurse would wake Draco up and shoo him away, but just for a moment he wished that things could be otherwise.

He was tired of fighting, of having to fight. Harry looked up at her through eyes that were heavy with exhaustion. He was clean at last and tired and sated and right now he was comfortable and he felt safe and loved and those feelings were so new to Harry that he really wanted them to last just a tiny bit longer.

As he watched her and tried to summon some energy to fight against her he thought that she smiled at him, he thought that she gently brushed his hair from his forehead and he thought that his bed suddenly grew somewhat larger.

But he must have been imagining it, he decided because surely there was no way that the stern faced matron from Hogwarts Infirmary had tucked him up in bed with his lover and left them both to sleep. Surely not, no way, not in a million years.