19 Years Later

19 Years Later

     Except.
     Now his children had rounded the corner and vanished, Harry had no distraction from the feeling that had been bubbling up in him since Ron had pointed out the family standing further up the platform. Harry risked a glance in the Malfoy’s direction and was shocked to see Draco looking back at him. His wife seemed to have wandered off somewhere and now Draco was staring straight at him, those piercing grey eyes felt as if they could see right in to Harry’s soul.
     Draco jerked his head in the direction of the barrier between platform nine and three-quarters and the rest of the station. Harry gave the tiniest of nods and turned back to Ginny.
     “I, er, just need to pop and get something” Harry said, backing towards the barrier
     “Alright,” Ginny smiled at him “We can stop on the way back.”
     “No, no, don’t worry about it” Harry quashed, moving further away from her “It’ll only take a minute, I’ll meet you back at the car.” and with that he stepped though the barrier.
     It took Harry a moment to spot Draco, who was already walking towards the exit of the station and Harry had to break in to a slight trot to catch him up.
     “Harry.” Draco greeted him without looking in even slightly in his direction.
     “What is it, Draco?” Harry asked, turning to look at Draco’s face as he spoke. Draco didn’t answer as they started up the steps out into the fresh air.
     “Draco, what’s going on?” Harry asked when they’d emerged on to a busy London street. Draco, signed and turned to him.
     “Nineteen years!” Draco exclaimed, his voice slightly choked “Nineteen years, Harry! What did you expect me to do, act like nothing had happened? Act cold and polite, like people expect me to? Harry, I haven’t seen you for nineteen years!”
     “I- I-” Harry faltered, a blush spreading across his cheeks. People were starting to give the two of them funny looks. What had he expected, really? He’d spent the last nineteen years trying to forget everything about Draco Malfoy, but had he really expected Draco to do the same? He was married, wasn’t he? He had a son, Scorpius, didn‘t he? Draco had moved on, surely, like he, Harry, had tried to.
     “This way” he muttered, grasping Draco’s wrist and dragging him into a deserted side street. The two men stood facing each other, Draco’s face showing barely concealed grief and Harry’s flushing, his eye’s looking everywhere but at Draco.
     “I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it” Draco said, finally
     “I had no choice” Harry said, trying to keep his voice as deadpan as possible
     “You had plenty of choice!” Draco retorted, “You know they changed the law? Less than a year later they changed the bloody law.”
     “I know,” Harry said, still looking at the floor, “I know.”
     “But you didn’t change your mind.” Draco replied, a hint of contempt in his voice.
     “I couldn’t!” Harry cried, finally looking in to Draco’s eyes “It was too late-”
     “It’s never too late”
     “You don’t understand!” Harry said, exasperated.
     “You’re right, I don’t.” Draco replied, his voice frosty “I can see why you didn’t want anyone to know, to start with, I can even see why you left. I understood all your reasons for that. But why you even thought about- about-” Draco’s voice was strangled as he broke off “You remember what I said to you, when you told me that’s what you were going to do?”
     “I remember” Harry said quietly
     “When I read the article in The Prophet I couldn’t believe my eyes. I didn’t think you could do something like that.”
      “Hey, you’re hardly guiltless!” Harry said, affronted “I see you’ve got a wife now.”
     “Yes.” Draco replied, his face stony.
     “And is it- is it the same, between you two?”
     “Yes.”
     “Then you can hardly preach at me, can you!” Harry cried, frustration welling up inside him.
     “I didn’t choose to do that. Unlike some of us.” Draco said, his voice contemptuous.
     “Come on, it wasn’t like you were marched up the isle under the imperious curse.” Harry scoffed
     “You’d be surprised” Draco said darkly.
     Harry stopped. He’d completely forgotten what he was going to say. Could it be that Draco really had been pining after him all these years, that he hadn’t moved on, hadn’t chosen the family he now had?
     “Draco, I- I didn’t realise-” Harry’s voice was barely a whisper.
     “I don’t expect you did.” Draco said, but his tone was one of utter defeat rather than derision. “ I suppose you thought you were the only one trapped in a loveless marriage.”
     “I’m not!” Harry protested feebly “I do love Ginny”
     “Do you?” Draco asked, looking up at Harry, his eyes full of tears “Do you love her like you love me?”
     “No” Harry answered, not even needing to pause. “I don’t love her like I love you.” And at his words the tears spilt gently from Draco’s eyes, and from his own. He reached out and took Draco’s hand in his, rubbing his thumb over it as if it would wipe away all the years that had passed.
     “But Draco,” Harry said, still feeling hopelessly lost “Draco, you’ve got a child.”
     “You’ve got three, Harry.” Draco said, and Harry blushed, ashamed. It was true.
     “Was she-” Draco started, but Harry cut him off
     “Don’t. Don’t start that.” And it was Draco’s turn to blush.
     “I’m sorry,” he said, quietly, “It’s just hard, you know?”
     “I know” Harry said, and he put his arms around Draco, pulling him close, closer than he‘d been for nineteen years. Draco’s face was pressed against his and he felt their tears mingling on each others cheeks.
     “I’ve missed you” Draco mumbled into Harry’s shoulder.
     “I’ve missed you too.” Harry replied, pulling gently out of the hug to look at Draco, but keeping his arms round his waist.
     “Draco-” Harry said, as if the one word could explain all the emotion that was threatening to burst his heart at any moment.
     Draco smiled at him sadly and Harry knew he understood. He raised his hands to Draco’s face, running his thumb along Draco’s jaw. He let forwards, and he felt Draco’s arms tighten around him, pulling him into the kiss. Both men moaned at the contact, the like of which they’d been denied for nineteen years.
     Harry went to run his hand through Draco’s hair but retracted as soon as he felt it.
     “Bloody hell, Draco, how much brylcreem do you need!?” Harry said, laughing, as he broke the kiss.
     “Brylcreem? What in Merlin’s name is brylcreem?” Draco looked quite insulted, and more than a little upset about the sudden ending to their kiss.
     “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to re-create the Snape Effect with your own hair” Harry teased, still laughing
     “I most certainly am not!” Draco replied hotly.
     “Doesn’t feel that way to me” Harry said, smirking at the blonde “But don’t worry, that’s easily solved”
     Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Draco’s hair, muttering “scourgify”
     “Harry!” Draco yelled, as his perfectly slicked back hair was cleaned in to a ruffled mess, not unlike Harry’s
     “That’s better,” Harry said, putting his wand away “Now where were we?”
     Harry wasn’t sure how everything had suddenly become so light hearted but it was so glad it had. He was going to treasure this moment with Draco, and he would remember it forever.
     Moving his hands to Draco’s neck, he started unbuttoning the thick black coat, exposing Draco’s milky white throat underneath.
     “Harry, I don’t think-” Draco sounded slightly panicked, and as Harry undid a few more buttons he realised why. Several harsh, white scars tore across Draco’s neck. Harry continued unbuttoning the coat, horrified. The scars continued down, and as Harry pulled back Draco’s shirt, he could see they stretched out onto his left collarbone and down to his chest.
     “Draco,” Harry whispered “What the hell happened?”


Authors Note: This is for all you Harry/Draco fans who wanted to kill J.K. after the last chapter of Deathly Hallows. I know I did. Thankfully, she left enough stuff for me to pull this fic together. There’s gunna be quite a few more chapters, so don’t expect me to update any of my other fics when I’m working on this. And after this one is done, I am having no more to do with Deathly Hallows. Stand Up For Judas nearly has antoerh chapter, but I need to vent all my anti-Ginny-ness into this fic before I can get back to normal.

Anyway, hope it makes you feel better XD