Chapter Text
Draco had a new betting pool going with the twins. Harry refused to participate, but he was worried that his knowledge of it alone could be construed as participation. Hermione would certainly think so. Theo would certainly think so, and truth be told, Harry was more than a little scared of Theo. If anyone ever successfully got away with murder, it would be him.
“So, I have three bets on Ron and Pansy,” Fred told Draco over the counter of their shop as George rang up a customer.
“Three?” Draco tilted his head in surprise. “Who got in?”
“Bill,” Fred smirked. “So it’s George, Bill and Charlie.”
“Fair,” Draco chuckled. “How about the others?”
“Still only me betting on Ginny and Blaise,” Fred continued with a pout.
“Well, no one else is mental,” Draco scoffed.
“I’m perfectly sane, thank you very much. You’ll eat your words, little Malfoy.”
“We’ll see,” Draco snorted. “How about Hermione and Theo? Still three?”
“Two,” Fred shrugged. “Sirius changed to Millie and Luna. So it’s you and Remus now.”
“Remus is in, too?!” Harry demanded incredulously, unable to help himself.
“You didn’t think Sirius wouldn’t rope him in,” Draco smirked. “Not everyone is as stubborn as you.”
“Well, it’s wrong, betting about soulmates!” Harry snapped. “Plus, it’s pointless! No one could have predicted us!”
Draco pursed his lips. “Couldn’t they?” Draco said doubtfully. “We had a lot of pent-up feelings, Harry.” Harry rolled his eyes and Draco elbowed him, turning back to Fred. “Think we should ask Neville?” he checked. “Or will he be too much of a Harry about it?”
Harry sputtered indignantly, but Draco just smirked.
“Are you trying to actively inhale the whole Hogwarts library before the start of the term?” Harry sighed, running his hands through Draco’s hair as he was cross-reading two ancient-looking books at the same time, his cheeks pillowed in Harry’s thigh.
“I’m trying to guess which object might be the next Horcrux,” Draco grumbled. “You said it’s probably something to do with Ravenclaw, but there’s nothing of hers that really survived. She left a tiara to her daughter, but it disappeared. So I’m trying to look for clues.”
“It’s summer holidays,” Harry whined. “Can’t we get some rest until the school year starts?!”
“The Dark Lord doesn’t take holidays, Harry!” Draco snapped.
“Well, maybe he should,” Harry grumbled. “Maybe he wouldn’t be such a dickhead then.”
Draco glanced up at him incredulously. “You really are prickly if you don’t get snogged regularly,” Draco noted.
Harry just glowered at him. Draco sighed and closed his book, carefully putting them on the bedside table.
“Fine,” he said, raising himself up until he was straddling Harry’s hips. “I’ll try to keep you alive in my free time, then.”
“Stop being a prick,” Harry muttered, his arms automatically going around Draco’s waist to pull him closer.
“I thought you liked my prick,” Draco said innocently. “With the way you seem to always want to get into my pants -”
Harry kissed him before he could finish the sentence, and Draco chuckled against his lips.
“Neville put his money on Seamus and Dean,” Sirius announced at breakfast, making Harry groan into his teacup. Remus smiled at him.
“Brilliant!” Draco said enthusiastically. “A new pairing! This is interesting. I also roped in Daphne and her sister. They both voted for Vince and his mystery Durmstrang boy. Oh, and Hannah Abbott put a small amount in for Susan and Greg. I think that’s mostly house loyalty but I’ll take it.”
“This is getting out of hand,” Harry mumbled.
“Hush, you,” Draco said. “I don’t want to hear your comments on this anymore unless you want to join. Leave me my stress relief. I have a very stressful life. My soulmate is constantly in mortal danger.”
“You can’t always use that excuse,” Harry pointed out, but Draco ignored him.
“It’s not so bad, Harry,” Sirius grinned. “Remus and I have an ongoing bingo match about your life.”
“Excuse me?!” Harry screeched.
“It’s quite fun,” Sirius assured him. “By the way, if you could marry Draco within the next year, I would much appreciate it.”
“I hate you,” Harry deadpanned.
“You love me,” Sirius beamed.
By the time they went back to Hogwarts, Harry sort of hoped that the next soulmate pair would already reveal themselves just so the stupid betting pool would dissolve. But of course, no one did him any favours.
Or maybe that wasn’t quite correct, seeing that Draco huddled with Luna Lovegood in the Hogwarts Express, having a chat about the Grey Lady and Rovena Ravenclaw’s lost tiara. Really, Harry should probably care more about all of that. All he cared about, though, was the fact that Draco was decidedly out of cuddling distance.
“Luna and I have to go talk to a ghost,” Draco announced upon arrival at Hogwarts. “You’ll be fine on your own, won’t you?”
Harry pouted but agreed with some reluctance.
Two days later, Draco turned up with the tiara, much to Harry’s surprise. Then again, he shouldn’t have been surprised, maybe. Draco had a way of solving every problem he set his mind to.
“It was hidden in a room that appears only if you need it,” Draco sighed, rolling his eyes. “Dobby told me about it. Quite dramatic, even for the Dark Lord. Anyway, let’s go to Dumbledore so he can destroy this thing.”
When they turned up at Dumbledore’s office with the last Horcrux, Dumbledore looked from Harry to Draco with raised eyebrows and took it without comment.
“Right,” he said. “You’d better come in, then. We have to talk.”
“I hope you have a plan as to how we are going to kill that snake, Headmaster,” Draco muttered as he took a seat. “I can’t do everything around here.”
Dumbledore’s lips were pressed tight as he looked at them.
“I wished there was an easier way to say this,” he began. “But there isn’t, so I will just come out with it. Nagini is not the last Horcrux.”
Harry looked at Draco in shock. Draco’s eyes narrowed.
“And you only mention this now because?” he prodded.
Dumbledore sighed, rubbing a tired hand across his face.
“The night Lily Potter protected Harry,” he said, “her protection spell was so strong that I suspect it might have fractured Voldemort’s already fragile soul even more, without him noticing.”
“No,” Draco said, his voice stony. He had paled visibly.
“And the piece of his soul clung to the only living thing in proximity, which was -”
“ No. ”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense, Draco. It would explain why Harry can see into his mind, into Nagini’s mind, at times. As a Horcrux, he’s connected to all of them.”
Only then did Harry understand.
“I’m a Horcrux,” he whispered. “So I have to die for him to be killed.”
“No!” Draco shouted, standing. “There has to be another way!”
“I’ve been searching for another way for years, Draco,” Dumbledore sighed. “I haven’t found one.”
“Well, with all due respect, I don’t trust your methods, Headmaster!” Draco snapped, his eyes wild. “If I had left things up to you until now, we would still be at two Horcruxes. I’m not sending my soulmate off to die because you said it must be so.”
And with that, he turned his back on Dumbledore and stormed the office. Harry looked after him unsurely before glancing back at Dumbledore, who had his face in his hands.
“I’ll -” Harry said hesitantly, gesturing after Draco.
“Of course,” Dumbledore said, sounding tired.
He found Draco in the restricted section of the library. Pince only grumbled and pointed in his direction as Harry had enquired for him. It seemed like Sirius had given him permanent permission for research purposes.
When Harry reached him, Draco had already an impressive stack of books floating after him, chewing his lower lip in a way that looked painful. Harry sighed.
“Draco,” he said pleadingly.
“Dumbledore is full of shit!” he called. “He’s always been full of shit, and now he’s just topped it off with cherries and cream.”
“Draco. Please stop for a moment and come here.”
“I have research to do, Harry,” he muttered.
“It can wait a minute,” Harry decided, side-stepping the tower of books to get to him. He caught Draco by the waist and turned him to face Harry.
His grey eyes were wide and scared and Harry’s heart hurt for him. He reached out through their bond, pushing all his love and adoration towards him. He felt a whirlwind of despair and fear and anger and love in response, and he pulled Draco into his chest without a word.
They stood like that for a few long minutes, Draco trembling against him.
“I’m not letting you die,” he whispered fiercely.
“Of course, you won’t,” Harry smiled. “You’d never.”
And that seemed to relax Draco marginally. He looked up at Harry and caught his lips in a gentle kiss.
“I love you,” he whispered.
“I love you, too,” Harry replied.
Following Dumbledore’s announcement, Draco drowned himself in research. And Harry knew he was horrible at research, he really did. So he helped in the best way he could.
He roped other people into the research to help his soulmate, namely Hermione, Theo and Luna.
“What the heck, Harry?!” Draco hissed at him when they all settled in the library with him. “Hermione is fine, but you can’t tell Theo and Luna about Horcruxes, especially that you’re one!”
“I decide who I trust,” Harry shrugged. “And I think it’s time we get the smartest people on this case. You’ve been doing this on your own for too long.”
And as much as he complained, Draco seemed happy to have someone to discuss his ideas with, so Harry declared his intervention a success.
Harry was used to Draco getting lost in his little projects, but this one was different, Harry could tell. Sometimes, Harry had to remind Draco to eat or sleep. He stopped studying for his NEWTs and his grades dropped, much to the bafflement of the entirety of the Hogwarts Professors.
“Are you quite alright, Mr Malfoy?” Professor Sprout asked him worriedly after a Herbology class in which he’d been especially absentminded. “You don’t look well. Maybe you should go see Madam Pomfrey.”
Draco also stopped smiling and joking, which Harry found especially disturbing.
After one especially bad DADA lesson, Sirius called Draco into his office. Harry waited for him outside, pacing anxiously. When his godfather and his soulmate finally emerged, Sirius looked tired and Draco’s eyes were red-rimmed and bloodshot, as if he’d been crying.
He immediately crossed the distance towards Harry, wrapping his arms around Harry’s waist and pressing his face against Harry’s neck. Harry looked at Sirius for help.
“Take him up to the Gryffindor tower for the night,” Sirius said. “You have my permission. He is strung out and needs the comfort.”
Harry nodded, wrapping his arms around Draco and holding him tightly.
Draco spent the evening wrapped up in Harry’s arms, not participating in any conversations happening around him in the common room, just soaking in Harry’s comfort. Harry tried to reach out to him through their bond, but all he received in response was utter misery and hopelessness. It was frightening.
Hermione exchanged worried looks with him. Harry just shrugged, having no ready answer to give her.
“You can’t let this tear you down, Draco,” Harry told him, when they were lying in bed that night, Draco pressed up against his chest.
“I’m going to fail you,” Draco breathed. “I’m going to fail you when you need me most. What kind of soulmate am I?”
“This is not only on you,” Harry argued. “We’re going to figure this out. All of us, you, me, our friends. Sirius and Remus, too, since you clearly told him earlier and I’m sure they won’t be able to let it rest. We’ll make it work.”
“I can’t lose you,” Draco murmured. “Harry, I can’t.”
“You won’t lose me,” Harry promised, kissing his head. “You’re too stubborn to let me go.”
The fact that Draco didn’t react to Harry’s quip showed how exhausted he really was.
“This is useless!” Draco yelled, flinging the book across the room. It landed against the wall of the abandoned classroom they had settled in today with a loud ‘thud’ before sliding to the ground.
Harry looked up at him. He had tears in his eyes before he buried his face in trembling hands. With a sigh, Harry settled in the seat next to him, pulling him in his arms.
“You need a break, love,” he whispered.
“It’s okay, Draco,” Hermione smiled softly. “We have it covered. Rest.”
“I can’t rest,” he snapped, his voice thick. “I need to -”
“Stop this drama at once, Draco,” Theo rolled his eyes, though the expression in his eyes was soft. “You’re working yourself to the bone, and as your friend, I won’t have it. Hermione, Luna and I are perfectly capable of handling things without you, and frankly, you’re much more used if you’re not pulling at your last string. So go.”
When Draco still hesitated, Theo sighed and reached out to place a hand on Draco’s shoulder.
I promise you, Draco - while we’re not as invested in Harry’s survival as you are, naturally, we all are very invested in the outcome of this research. We want to find a solution. And there is one. There always is one. So go, rest. Please. It’s hard to see you like this.”
Harry could see Hermione looking at Theo with a soft expression on her face and then she gasped, her eyes going to the soul mark on her ring finger.
It was glowing red.
Theo had turned to her, his hand having gone to his shoulder. Then, he was smiling shily.
“I won,” Draco muttered. Harry elbowed him, but he was smiling brightly.
They eventually established a shift system: Hermione and Theo took over the research on Monday and Wednesday, Draco and Luna on Tuesday and Thursday, and Sirius and Remus on Friday and Saturday. “Sunday we are all going to bloody relax,” Sirius insisted. “It’s not like You-Know-Who is out there killing people right now. ”
It was true. Nobody had heard from Voldemort in quite a while. Dumbledore thought that he was hiding and scheming. Ron suggested hopefully that maybe he was trying to off himself from shame.
It was on one of those Monday evenings in December, when Harry was trying to force Draco into some relaxation by trying to read a novel with him, that Hermione and Theo burst into the Slytherin common room, holding a book that Narcissa had sent from the Manor library last week, their faces triumphant.
“We found it!” Theo called. “We bloody found it! I told you it could be done!”
Draco was up in an instant, tearing the book from Hermione’s hands and reading.
Then, he burst into tears.
Draco kept crying in relief for most of the night, all his fears and anxiety culminating and making him a blubbery mess. Harry just held him close, relieved that this nightmare would soon be over.
The next day, Draco was back to his badass self and he used that power to glare down at Dumbledore.
“So,” he said, thrusting the book at the Headmaster, “about Harry having to die…”
Dumbledore’s eyes widened as he read the text. Then he looked up at them in delight.
“You never disappoint, Draco. Well done.”
“Actually, I can’t take credit for this one. Hermione Granger and Theodore Nott found it,” Draco admitted, still glowering. “Now are you going to get that thing out of Harry or what?!”
It turned out to be a complicated procedure. Professor Snape had to brew a Potion that had to stew for a month. Professor Sprout had to provide some especially rare plants as ingredients. When the Potion was done, a rare jewel had to be doused in it and Harry had to drink the rest. Then, the incantation had to be spoken at full moon, allowing the piece of Voldemort’s soul to depart peacefully from Harry’s body and settle into the jewel.
It worked, thank Merlin, and Harry felt so much lighter after. Draco kissed him within the inch of his life as it was done, and all Harry could feel from both sides of the bond was a relief.
“We need a holiday,” Harry said, matter-of-factly, and Draco laughed.
They spent half of the Christmas holiday at the Manor, and the other half with Sirius and Remus, unwilling to separate even for a day.
“So,” Draco sighed one afternoon when he was leaning back against Harry’s chest in the Manor garden. “Only Nagini to go, and we can off the old geezer.”
“Please, can we not talk about that for five minutes?” Harry complained. “It’s our holiday.”
“Right,” Draco smiled. “Sorry.” He was silent for a long moment, then he said: “You realise that, as soon as we get back to Hogwarts, I need to start really focusing on my NEWTs?”
Harry groaned.
And so, Harry lost Draco to Hermione Granger’s NEWT Revision Group upon their arrival back to school in January.
“It’s not fair,” Harry grumbled to Ron, who just snorted.
“That’s what you get for bonding with a Mr Smarty-Pants,” he grinned. “Pansy is so much more relaxed.” He blinked. “Not that we’re bonded. I mean - you know what I mean.”
“I’m not bonding with anyone before I’m thirty,” Pansy huffed, wiggling her feet where she was resting them in Ron’s lap. “Like, what’s the point? I want to live while I’m young.”
Harry couldn’t help but smile. “I don’t think we have that kind of power over fate, Pansy.”
“Well, I do,” she shrugged. Ron rolled his eyes with a smile.
“Hi there,” Ginny said, sitting down next to her. “Where is everyone?” Blaise sat down next to Harry, spotting a very visible hickey. Ron pointedly didn’t comment.
“Most of them are at the library with Hermione,” Harry grumbled. “Though I think Luna and Millie are out hunting down some mysterious creature in the forest. I didn’t really listen.”
“How rude,” Ginny smiled.
“Susan and Greg are snogging in the Hufflepuff dorms,” Pansy supplied.
“I did not need to know that,” Ron sighed.
“Well, too bad,” she grinned.
Then, Seamus and Dean came in, looking around wildly, seeming relieved when they found Harry. “Mate,” they called. “Dumbledore is looking for you.”
Harry made a face. “That can’t be good,” he decided.
“I located Voldemort and Nagini, with the help of the piece of his soul that we retrieved from inside your body,” Dumbledore informed him. “They are back in Albania. Voldemort is probably trying to research ways to make himself stronger so he can attack again.” He met Harry’s eyes. “I think now is the best time to attack. He has never been weaker.”
Harry sighed. “Excuse me,” he said.
He reached out with his soulbond, signalling to Draco that he needed him. When Draco reached back, he let him into his mind and showed him his location and the memory of what he’d just heard.
Fifteen minutes later, Draco was in Dumbledore’s office, with most of their friends in tow, plus Sirius, Remus, Hagrid, Tonks, the Weasley twins and Dobby.
“Yeah,” Draco glowered at Dumbledore. “Harry is not going alone, if that was your plan.”
Dumbledore inclined his head, accepting Draco’s words without a comment.
“Shall we?” Dumbledore said, revealing an old, battered jump rope as a portkey. “I have to admit, I did not expect as many people, but I think we can make it work.”
It was clear that Voldemort and Nagini did not expect as many visitors, either.
Voldemort had chosen the form of a large horned viper to bind his battered soul to, and both he and Nagini hissed at the sight of a good thirty people appearing in their forest, surrounding them.
“Right,” Harry said to Draco. “You take Nagini, I take Voldy?”
“Gladly,” Draco nodded. “Where is the damned sword, Headmaster?”
And so, they split the fight, half of the crowd following Harry, the other half following Draco. Harry watched in awed fascination as the Voldemort snake hissed and ducked when Dobby lunged himself at it with a battle cry, narrowly missing. Harry wished he still understood parseltongue.
He heard the Weasley twins cry out in celebration across the clearing. He looked over to see Draco holding the blood-splattered sword of Gryffindor with a look of disgust on his face. Hagrid, across from him, was holding Nagini’s limp body, head and tail in each hand, blood flowing onto the ground where her head had been severed.
Voldy-Snake hissed dangerously. Harry held out his hand in the air.
“Thanks, love,” he said. “My turn.”
Draco held the sword in the air as if he wanted nothing more than be rid of it and Harry accioed it. He caught it when it flew towards him, turning back to Voldy-Snake.
“Right,” he smiled. “ My turn.”
With another hiss, the snake went limp and Voldemort’s soul descended from the snake’s body in white smoke.
“You have to make it difficult,” Harry grumbled.
“You can’t kill me, Harry Potter,” Voldemort mocked. “Nagini was not the only thing keeping me alive.”
“Yeah, the rest is gone, too,” Pansy drawled.
Spirit-Voldy turned his head to stare at her, incredulous.
“You really need to watch out for your belongings,” she scolded. “What kind of Slytherin are you?”
Meanwhile, Harry looked at the sword, wondering if it would still work against a spirit. Maybe he could just try to stab and see?
But then, Theo turned up next to him, looking almost bored as he held up a flask of green liquid.
“Pure basilisk poison,” he drawled. “I thought we might need it.”
Harry blinked and took it. He didn’t ask where Theo had got his hands on it. He did not want to know.
“You might have destroyed my Horcruxes,” Voldemort snarled. “But you still don’t have the power to destroy me! Nobody does! You are just a boy who -”
“Shut up,” Harry rolled his eyes, uncorking the flask and flinging the poison towards the spirit.
Voldemort screamed and Harry closed his eyes against the noise. When he opened them again, he was gone.
“Was that it?” he asked sceptically.
“I think so,” Dumbledore said unsurely.
“Well, that was anticlimactic,” Ron decided. “Let’s go home. Maybe we can still make dinner.”
Harry started when Draco’s hand found his. He hadn’t noticed him come up next to him. He was still staring at the point where Voldemort had disappeared.
“It’s really over,” he whispered.
“Yes,” Harry smiled. “It is.”
NEWTs were definitely worse than killing an evil madman. Who would have thought?
“When I’m Minister of Magic in the future I’m changing all of this,” Draco grumbled. “You’d better believe me.”
“Oh, I do,” Harry smiled. “Whatever you want, you’ll make it happen. We’ve seen it.”
“Glad we’ve settled that,” Draco nodded, looking pleased. Then, he added: “I’ll need Theo as my advisor, though. If he works against me, he’ll destroy me and the whole country in the process.”
“I’d never do that, Draco,” Theo said from across the table with a smile that was way too sweet. “What do you take me for?”
Draco shuddered, looking back at his Charms notes with a sigh.
“I think we should all get exempted from practical examinations because we helped kill the Dark Lord,” Pansy stated. “It’s only fair.”
“Can that happen?” Greg asked, looking hopeful.
“No,” Vince said sadly.
“Oh,” Greg pouted.
“But you can put it in your resumé?” Susan smiled. “I’m sure that will go over well in the job search.”
Greg looked mollified at that.
“I won’t be looking for a job,” Vince shrugged. “I’m moving to Gothenburg this summer to live with Per at his Manor.” When they all looked at him, he blinked and added: “It makes sense. He’s got loads of money. I don’t need to work. I can just live leisurely as his soulmate.”
“You’re soulmates?” Daphne blinked. “Since when?!”
“Since last summer,” Vince shrugged. “Did I not mention that?”
Daphne turned to Draco, her face triumphant. “HA!” she called. “ I won!”
Draco groaned. Harry rolled his eyes.
“Congrats on your graduation, babies!” Sirius said, hugging them both tightly on their last day of school. “Remus and I are so proud!”
“Don’t call us ‘babies’,” Draco grumbled, sounding horrified.
“But you are our babies,” Sirius protested. “Itsy bitsy tiny -”
“Okay, okay,” Draco rolled his eyes, freeing himself from his cousin’s embrace.
“What are your plans now that school’s over?” Remus smiled.
“A loooong vacation,” Harry said meaningfully. “We want to travel Europe. Draco said he’d show me all the places I’ve never been to. And I’m quite looking forward to just relaxing and not thinking about dying.”
Remus grinned widely at Sirius. Sirius grimaced.
“Bingo,” Remus said, with relish. Sirius grumbled.
“Couldn’t you have proposed, Harry?” he demanded. “Honestly, kids these days. No sense for romance.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake!” Harry threw his hands up in the air. Draco laughed.
“Vince invited us to visit him and Per in Sweden next,” Draco told Harry, putting down the letter.
Harry made a face. “But isn’t Sweden cold?” he asked.
“It’s perfectly reasonable,” Draco huffed. “Not as madly hot as this place.”
Harry grinned, looking at Draco as he sat under the shade, with a cooling charm, while Harry lay in the sun, tanning.
“Isn’t that why people come to the beach?” Harry grinned. “Because of the warm weather?”
“Masochists maybe,” Draco muttered. Harry chuckled and leaned in to kiss him. “Ew, stay away!” he protested. “You’re all hot and sweaty.”
Harry chuckled and got to his feet. He took Draco’s arm and pulled him up, too.
“Potter,” he glowered. “What are you doing?!”
“We’re going to swim,” he announced.
“No,” Draco winged. “It’s wet and the sun is lethal and -”
You have like fifty protection charms on you,” Harry laughed, and pulled him towards the water. “It will be fine.”
Draco was still grumbling but followed Harry reluctantly.
Greece in the summer was marvellous, Harry thought. He’d never seen beaches and water like this.
He threw himself into the waves, shaking out his wet curls, and when he looked at Draco, he had a soft smile on his face.
“You’re like a crup,” he said.
Harry hummed and pulled Draco into his arms in the water. He pressed his salty lips to Draco’s.
Harry felt happy and content and like nothing and no one could stop him from living the life he wanted, and if that wasn’t freedom, he didn’t know what was.
He grinned at Draco mischievously.
“Oh no,” Draco glared. “You don-”
But before he could finish, Harry had already pulled him under the water.