The Burden of Memory

Authors Note: Many thanks to my lovely beta Alexandra. So I'm leaving for Philly today, and probably won't get a chance to post again until middle of next week. I hope you are all enjoying the stories and the cliffhangers wink. I hope I have lots of reviews when I get back!! I'm also working on another story (I know, I know) called Rivaling Affections, which is of course another Harry/Draco. I will most likely start posting it when I get back, so look for it mid-next week.

Chapter 8 Poorly Received

The door opened and Harry came through first, followed by Hermione and Vane. Behind them were two people who were undeniably Draco’s parents. He had no real memory of them, but the resemblance was uncanny.

Never had he seen any two family members who looked so similar in all his life. His parents almost looked like brother and sister. Their long platinum hair and pale skin matched his own, and though his mother’s eyes were blue, his fathers were the same gray shade as his own.

They looked rich, judging by their clothing, and obviously wizards as Harry had mentioned before. The black cloaks made him weary and brought back nightmares he would have rather forgotten.

The next thing that hit him was their names. He remembered them both, Narcissa and Lucius. After that a wave of fear and nausea hit him. He backed up and pressed himself as far against the wall as he could muster, he could tell his whole body was quivering with this terror running through his bones.

“Get them out of here,” he whispered. “Please, make them leave.”

Lara looked down at him and frowned and then her eyes flicked up to Harry’s pleadingly.

“Draco dear,” came the soft musical voice of his mother. “Do you recognize us?”

Draco nodded but stayed where he was. The fear continued to wash over him like a suffocating blanket.

“We’re here to take you home, son,” his father said.

Shaking his head he looked up again at Lara who looked down at him with pity. “What’s wrong?” she whispered.

“Please, I can’t go with them,” Draco whimpered.

“Did they do something to you?” she hissed.

He thought about it, tried to reach into his memory for any bits about his parents using violence against him but there was nothing. Still, the fear refused to ebb. “I don’t know, but I’m afraid. I need them to leave.”

Lara nodded and placed herself in front of him. “Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy, I think Draco needs more time to adjust. He’s not ready to go with you just yet,” she said.

“How dare you?” Lucius growled. “You propose to stand between me and my son? I’ll bury you,” he hissed.

--

Harry stepped up into Lucius’s line of vision. “Mr. Malfoy, it’s not necessary to make threats. Lara won’t keep Draco here, will you?” he asked her without turning around. He knew Lucius would have his wand and could reach it quickly; Harry wasn’t willing to take the chance and turn his back on him.

“I wouldn’t keep him here against his will, but he’s afraid… he doesn’t want to leave with them,” she said.

Harry sighed and positioned himself where he could watch both Lara and Lucius. “What do you mean, he’s afraid? They’re his parents,” he said, agitated.

“Just look at him,” she pleaded.

Harry did. He let his eyes drift over to Malfoy. His body was shaking with fear, his eyes were practically glowing with it. The silver eyes flicked up and met his then, and Harry shuddered. The terror was raw on his face.

“Please, Harry,” Draco mouthed and Harry swallowed thickly and nodded.

“Lara’s right, sir,” he said at last. “Perhaps I should keep him at my flat for a bit, and we can work on getting his memories back. He’s obviously been through some trauma, and maybe he’s misplacing it on the two of you,” he said, trying to be diplomatic.

Lucius narrowed his eyes but gave a curt nod. “I’ll send Biddy over with our pensieve tomorrow, along with several important memories I would like you to have him view. You should probably show him any of your own that could trigger his memories,” he added, his face clearly displeased with the turn of events, but not attempting to argue.

In Harry’s mind it only went to further his assumption that Lucius and Narcissa never did anything harmful to their son. If they had caused any of this, they would have wanted him under their watchful eye at all times, he was certain.

Lara visibly relaxed and didn’t even flinch when Lucius shot her a scathing glare.

He gathered his wife and they left the flat. Harry escorted them back to his fireplace and sent an apologetic look to Narcissa, who looked near to tears. “I’m sorry, I really don’t know what to say. I promise I will do everything in my power to help your son,” he said.

She nodded and patted him lightly on the cheek. “You’re a fine boy, Harry. Draco’s lucky to have you in his life.”

Harry smiled weakly and nodded to Lucius once more, before they stepped into the green flames and were gone.

--

“Where’s Henry?” Harry asked upon returning to Lara’s flat. They were on the sofa. Draco was curled in a ball, his head in her lap.

“He slipped out complaining of a migraine when Lucius came in,” she said. “Something seemed off about those two,” she added.

Harry laughed. “Well, they are only two of the oldest lines of pureblood wizards. They are the most traditional magical family I have ever met.”

Lara shrugged. “Something other than their otherworldly beauty and grace, I mean. They seemed… familiar.”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as a memory struck him, but he filed it away for further analyzing later.

Right now he had bigger problems. Malfoy was to be staying with him for an unknown amount of time and he had to sort some things out. First and foremost, sleeping arrangements.

Harry’s flat only had the one bedroom, and he surely wasn’t sleeping on the sofa. He would have to ask Hermione to suggest some spells for such an occasion before she left.

--

Harry liked Vane, he was smart and funny and obviously had good taste in women based on his behavior with Hermione.

Apparently he had been at Oxford when Harry arrived and hadn’t had a break in his classes long enough to drive down and meet him until that night. He was going to be leaving first thing in the morning and made sure to get everyone’s addresses, Hermione’s especially.

Draco was sound asleep on the sofa, Lara casually petting his hair as they all talked. Harry couldn’t take his eyes off of the sleeping blonde. He looked so peaceful in comparison to his earlier terrified self.

“Like an angel,” Harry whispered to himself.

“What’s that, Harry?” Lara asked.

“Nothing,” he muttered, clearing his throat and ignoring the knowing look that Hermione shot his direction.

Vane also looked his direction and narrowed his eyes slightly. Harry just smiled back innocently and after a moment he was back to staring at Hermione.

“So how often do wizards marry… regular people?” Lara blurted and both Vane and Hermione blushed.

“We call non-magical humans muggles,” Hermione informed her.

Harry shrugged. “It all depends on the family I guess. Draco’s and Ron’s for instance are pureblood, so everyone in their family for generations has been wizards. I’m half, as you know. My father was a pureblood like Ron and Draco, and my mum was a muggle-born, obviously. Hermione’s parents were both muggles, so she grew up like I did, with no knowledge of magic or Hogwarts until she got her letter.”

“I don’t think it’s as common for purebloods to marry muggles or muggle-borns, but I’m proof that it happens occasionally,” he added.

Lara seemed to think on that for a while and continued to run her fingers through Draco’s hair.

Hermione yawned and stretched. “I should probably go,” she said, mostly to Vane.

He leaned in and kissed her lightly on the forehead. “You’ll have to come visit me at Oxford. We have the best libraries,” he announced.

“Oh, dirty talk already,” she laughed and Vane smiled wider. “I would love to come visit.”

Harry got up and escorted her back to his flat. He still needed to get her expertise on a few things before she flooed home.

--

“What’s the big deal?” Hermione asked.

“It’s Malfoy,” Harry said simply.

“But Harry, your gay,” she replied, as if that justified anything.

“Which makes him less Malfoy?” Harry asked, glaring at her.

“I really don’t understand,” she said, heading for the fireplace as if their conversation were over.

“The fact that I’m gay makes it even less appropriate for me to sleep in the same bed with him,” he huffed.

“How?” Hermione asked, turning around and looking genuinely curious. She was the only one who knew about his affinity for boys. She was annoyingly perceptive and called him on it one evening before he left after the war. She had asked about Ginny, to which Harry merely grunted a noncommittal response and she had blurted it out.

He could laugh about it now, but at the time, his best friend calling him on his sexual preference was a traumatic event for him.

“Would you like to share a bed with Ron?” Harry asked.

She curled up her nose in distaste. “Not likely,” she snorted.

Harry laughed. “This is the same for me.”

“But I wouldn’t sleep with Ron because we have a past together,” she said, raising her eyebrow in challenge.

Harry held up his hands in defense. “And I have a past with Malfoy, just not like that,” he countered.

“But you find him attractive?” she asked, the look on her face was innocent, but Harry could see the flicker of amusement in her eyes.

“I would be foolish not to,” Harry answered honestly. “But that doesn’t mean I’m attracted to him.”

“Then I see no issue,” she said with a smile and before he could stop her, she had shouted her address into his fireplace and disappeared.

Harry cast several wards on the fireplace to block her on the next time she floo called as punishment for her infuriating lack of assistance.

--

Author Note: Review please. I hope to come home to a very full inbox