Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction ❯ Melody of Oblivion ❯ Courage ( Chapter 6 )

Melody of Oblivion

By Kitsune Yarisha

 

A/N: It's been four years since the defeat of the Dark Lord, and the man-who-lived has just woken from a long coma. He can remember everything aside from some minor people. He knows he's the one who defeated Voldemort but the last thing he can remember from the night of his victory puzzles him. A pale-skinned, blonde haired teenage male running towards him. Who is he? H/D

 

 

Chapter Five: Courage

 

“Last, but by no means least, courage - moral courage, the courage of one's convictions, the courage to see things through. The world is in constant conspiracy against the courage of the brave. It's an age-old struggle - the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your own conscience of the other.” - General Douglas MacArthur

 

--

 

When Draco sought out Mrs. Hermione Weasley to ask after Blaise, the last person he had expected to happenchance upon was the man he was once again trying to woo. To his surprise though, as he sauntered up trying to look attractive, it wasn't Harry who noticed him but Hermione.

 

She smiled at him and murmured, “Well.” She had grown a little, an inch or two and the swelling of her belly had increased slightly. It was obvious she would soon give birth.

 

As Harry looked up, Draco bowed, ignoring his hair as it slid over his shoulder. “Hello, Mrs. Weasley, Harry,” he greeted politely.

 

“It's been a long time, Draco,” Hermione squealed and hugged him tight.

 

He nodded into the embrace, mindful of the witch's stomach, smiling in return. On the tip of his tongue was the phrase `it has been a long time', but before it could come out a meek, confused voice spoke instead.

 

“Draco.” Harry's brow wrinkled in concentration; Draco could tell he was struggling for a memory or familiarity in that name. “Draco Malfoy?”

 

Draco let out a cry of pain in his mind; he merely frowned in front of Harry. It burned and ached and crushed him to hear his full name said so blankly from the lips of his once lover. “Yes, my name is Draco Lucius Malfoy. I'm your…” he struggled to not say exactly what he was to Harry, “old classmate, that's all. It doesn't surprise me you don't remember me.” But it hurts, the poor man added to himself with a sigh as he stepped away from Hermione.

 

The smaller man was quiet for a long moment. “Sorry.” Suddenly, he stood quickly, remembering something. “Oh! I'm being rude.” He bowed back in greeting as Draco has done a little earlier.

 

A shine caught Draco's attention. “Oh, so you got that, did you?” He couldn't help showing off his teeth in pleasure at the fact Harry was wearing the locket; for a moment, he wondered what the other thought of the music.

 

“Oh! How pretty!” Hermione interjected, looking at the part of the locket she could see with astonishment. She looked up when Harry blinked and winked at Draco. She knew what he was trying to do.

 

Harry grabbed at the trinket, holding it as he questioned Draco. “Ah, yes. If I may ask, why did I receive this?”

 

“It was a welcome back gift of sorts. You are the savior of the entire world,” he responded. Besides, couldn't the Chosen One get a gift every now and again, other than the gift of being utterly desirable?

 

The shorter man frowned. “Really? Is that why?”

 

“Well, I suppose I've taken a liking to you, if my first answer was not sufficient,” Draco answered teasingly, trying to make light of the fact that that was completely true. He seriously asked though, “Unless you don't like it. I could take it back?”

 

In a rush and slightly surprised, Harry answered quickly, “No!” Two patches of red darkened on his cheeks when Draco smiled at him and raised an elegant eyebrow. “What I meant to say is that I do indeed like it and would feel quite unappreciative of the gesture if I were to return it.”

 

Eloquent and all at once pleasing, Draco felt very relieved at those words. His moment was cut short however when Hermione spoke; sheepishly, because he had totally forgotten her when Harry was speaking, he listened to her words attentively.

 

“Well, would you two like to accompany an old witch around the party so I might ever so kindly introduce you to everyone who decided to come?”

 

Draco grinned and joked, “You're only old if you read too much. Oh, you do read too much, don't you, Granger?”

 

Harry looked up, quite surprised by what Draco had said obviously. In fact, Draco wouldn't have put it past the man if that had triggered a memory.

 

Hermione swatted at him playfully and stuck out her tongue, before linking her arms with both men on either side of her. “Let's go. I bet Ron is looking for me, Blaise is looking for you, Draco, and everyone wants to see you, Harry.”

 

Harry nodded obediently, looking slightly uncomfortable at the contact. It had most likely been a good long while since he'd been around anyone other than his helpers at home.

 

The mismatched group walked quietly to where most of the party was being held. However, before the trio could arrive Ron intersected them and dragged Hermione off, laughing as she sternly instructed Draco (using his full name as a mother would) to see off her precious little one (Harry) so he could play with the other toddlers (the guests).

 

Standing a few feet away from Draco, Harry asked in a quiet but interested voice, “Could you tell me, Mr. Malfoy, who most of the guests are?”

 

“Well, first off Mr. Malfoy was my father, please call me Draco, Harry. After all, we did grow up together for the better part of our childhood.” He paused here but continued on after the other nodded. “Blaise Zabini, Pansy Parkinson, Doctor Serverus, Longbottom, Ginny Weasley, and Dean Thomas. A few others also, however, I don't know their names.”

 

Harry was silent for a long moment as they trudged over the soft grass, but as they came closer to the party, he whispered, “Seamus and Luna aren't here, are they?” His voice was pained and his eyes were downcast.

 

“No, they aren't. They would have been, if not for certain circumstances…”

 

Harry nodded and forced a smile. A moment later, they were encircled by a small group of people.

 

“Ha! I told you I saw him!” Blaise cried out in reference to Harry. Smiling, though, he bypassed the young man and gave Draco a huge warm hug. “Hello, lovely, where have you been?” He teased.

 

Draco returned the hug and laughed, “Around. How's Marie treating you?”

 

“Like a dog!” He exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air; Draco could never figure out why he started dating muggles after seventh year.

 

Draco teased, “At least you get regular tick baths, Rover.” He watched Harry talk, or attempt to, with the female Weasley and her boyfriend, Longbottom.

 

“You seem worried. Maybe it would be good for you to talk with him privately, Drake?” The Italian suggested quietly when Ginny had begun to shrilly announce that her and Longbottom were engaged.

 

“St. Mungo's took good care of him, I'm sure he's fine. Though, I do want to speak to him, but…”

 

“You don't know how much you'll be able to control yourself alone with him and are afraid you'll scare off the poor bloke?”

 

Draco gave him a small smile. “Yeah, that's the sum of it.”

 

“Tut tut, mate. We had a similar conversation in fifth year. One would have thought you'd have figured out what to do by now,” Blaise chided him with a clicking of his tongue against the roof of his mouth.

 

Life of the party as usual, Snape ascended on his old students in a flurry of robes. He smiled when everyone stumbled back away from him other than his former Slytherins and Harry. “Well, you look much better, young Potter.”

 

Harry didn't seem as unnerved by the ex-potions professor as the other Gryffindors did. “Hello again, Doctor. Poison anyone important lately?”

 

“Just the Prime Minister of International Muggle Trade in London,” Snape answered, fixing his gloves with an arched brow. “His name was too long.”

 

Draco laughed at the nonsense that spilled from Serverus's lips. Some things never changed, like the sadistic wit of their old potions master. Serverus hadn't really kept in touch with his other students as much as Draco, who he informed of Harry's condition almost every day.

 

Snape had asked something of Harry, who was now blushing, before taking off to find an older companion to accompany in a conversation.

 

Blaise, helpful as ever, was dissolving into a fit of uncontrollable giggles on the ground while everyone else was either too far away, too shocked, or didn't hear anything to laugh as hard as Blaise.

 

“What happened?” Draco asked, sticking his boot into Blaise's side. He probed harder when the taller male started crying from the amount of pain his stomach was receiving from his laughter.

 

“Snape said,” Blaise breathed in deeply through his nose as he calmed down, “that now that Potter was older he should show all the girls how well he could handle his wand.” He spluttered before giggling more again.

 

Harry blushed a deeper shade of red as he caught what Blaise had repeated when he rejoined Draco.

 

Unable to help himself, Draco said in as husky a voice as he could muster, “I bet he handles his wand extremely well.” He winked at Harry, who turned bright red, and helped Blaise up off the ground.

 

--

 

It had been a quiet reunion of sorts toward the end and while Draco had been able to see all of his classmates and talk to some he didn't know and make new acquaintances, he could not help but feel put off by its mode.

 

Reunions, apparently, were nothing like what Slytherins did when they got back together or even saw another on the street; all former snakes had the implication that seeing each other met having to holding a huge party with food. Yet, even still, this get together was merely that and nothing more. Nothing extraordinary had happened except the arrival of Harry, whom Draco was glad to see.

 

Perhaps, in all the initial excitement, Draco hadn't given himself the time to savor the moments Harry's friends had given him. Who would have believed that a bunch of Gryffindors could have ever joked with the Prince of Slytherin himself as if he were no different from them? Of course, they weren't in school anymore and simple prejudice was far beneath them.

 

Draco smiled, fondly at his drink. It seemed like so long ago. How pitiful it all seemed now, the way the houses had always been a each other's throats and the harsh words that had been thrown around in their immature arrogance. The exact people Draco had hated had ended up fight right along side him against Voldemort.

 

A meek voice interrupted his roller coaster of twisted thoughts. “Thinking about something important, uh, Draco?”

 

Above him stood Harry looking misplaced and nervous, fiddling with the tie he wore bashfully.

 

Draco gave him a grin and stood to meet Harry's emerald eyes. “Not terribly important, Harry. I was just thinking about when we were all kids and how much we hated everyone from the other houses.”

 

Something seemed to click in Harry's mind as his eyes lit up, he exclaimed, “You use to be so bloody horrid to me, you git!”

 

Draco's eyes went wide with wonder and surprise. How did he remember that?

 

“You'd come over at the most unfortunate times and tease me. I can't believe you ending up being okay with me. I remember you even sent me poems you had written. Funny, I can't remember what they said,” Harry rambled on, inattentive to the emotions flashing over Draco's face. However, when silence met his words, he took notice. “Are you okay?”

 

No, Draco wanted to say, but nothing came from his lips to spill forth in confession. He couldn't believe a thing from the brunette's mouth. He remembered! He remembered the poems Draco had written him, not precisely what they said, but the poems! Oh god, the poems with which he romanced Harry with.

 

Harry looked concerned when Draco started to tear up. “Draco? What's wrong? You've never cried. Did I say something…?”

 

Draco laughed back his tears, wiping at his face distractedly. “It's nothing, you silly wanker. You just surprised me. You remember all that in one moment…” He shook his head. He couldn't get over it. Harry remembered the poems.

 

“I had some help,” the smaller man whispered unsurely. “Snape said this day, five years ago, he received an entry for a poetry contest and saw it was from you. He told me it was very surprising to find that you had written it.”

 

“Which one was it?”

 

“I think he said it went something like:

 

I'd like to run away from you,

Know that it's possible to get away from you.

Try and push away all the emotions,

Push away all the things I can never say.

I wish you could see me,

See me for the man that you've made me become.

Everything is your entire fault!

It's you're fault that I can't stop…

You're fault that I'm in love with you

And can't stop dreaming of you.

 

Is that right?” Harry asked curiously.

 

It was beautiful, the feeling of pure joy that passed through Draco's heart. He would have cursed himself for acting like a girl, or sodding Hufflepuff, about all of this if he wasn't so happy. “That's exactly right, Harry. Completely and exactly right.”

 

 

To Be Continued.

 

Author's Note: Sorry for making Draco so emotional and taking a while to update. He's going through a softie phase and it will only become an undertone of his character in later chapters. I tried to balance him out and make him funny yet human. I'm not sure how I want to section the conclusion but I believe the end of this story is near. The question is if it will end happily or sadly.