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Chapter Text

Chapter One

Living at Malfoy Manor was certainly different than living with the Dursley’s. No one expected him up at the crack of dawn to fix a full English breakfast for his aunt, uncle, and cousin, while Harry was reduced to a simple slice of toast if he was lucky. No one expected him to clean the entire house from top to bottom until the baseboards shone and the floors gleamed. No one expected him to do the pruning in the garden on Thursdays or the laundry on Sundays. In fact, Harry found he had very little to do around the Manor the first week of summer break.

Other, of course, than spend time with Draco.

Which was, of course, his favorite thing to do.

They spent their time flying, strolling the grounds, reading together, playing chess or exploding snap, or just talking. It was shaping up to be the best summer of Harry’s life and he was sad to realize it was coming to an end in just a few short weeks.

Within the first week of returning to the Manor, Narcissa had taken Harry and Draco on a shopping spree to increase Harry’s limited wardrobe choices. It was the first time he’d been able to pick clothing he liked versus whatever hand-me-downs he received from Dudley. He found himself gravitating towards greens and browns, earth-toned colors. Especially after Draco commented on the way green set off his eyes.

He wanted to look good for Draco. It was important that he put his best foot forward, so to speak, always, so as not to disappoint him.

Harry found himself gaining confidence with the new wardrobe, which surprised him. He hadn’t given it much thought as to how a fitted shirt might make him feel better about himself than the baggy clothes he’d been wearing. But he found he liked the way Draco looked at him when he was wearing clothes that fit.

Their homework for the summer was completed within the first month, which left the rest of the summer break free for other, more pleasant activities. Draco took Harry to the beach for the first time and taught him how to swim. They went to museums, where Draco and Harry leaned against each other in boredom while Narcissa and Lucius pursued the art. They attended the theatre on multiple occasions after Draco realized how much Harry loved the first performance they attended.

They visited their friends and vice-versa. Harry was thrilled to receive an invitation from Ron to visit his family home in Ottery St. Catchpole. Though it was a rather short visit as Ron’s younger sister, Ginny, made Harry incredibly uncomfortable. It was enough that Draco, who had stayed home for the visit, had noticed and hounded Harry the minute he arrived back to the Manor. It hadn’t been easy to dissuade Draco, but Harry had managed to assure him that everything was fine. He didn’t want Draco to hold grudges against the girl, especially considering she would be joining them at Hogwarts this coming year.

The next time Ron had invited him for a visit, Harry had politely declined and invited Ron to the Manor instead. The three boys then spent the afternoon flying in Draco’s Quidditch pitch and talking about the upcoming season.

One of the best days of the summer had been Harry’s birthday. Unlike previous years where the day had gone largely unnoticed by the adults around him, this year Narcissa and Lucius made an entire event of the day. They invited all of Harry and Draco’s friends from Hogwarts over to the Manor and had the elves make all his favorite foods. Each of his friends had brought gifts, the first birthday presents he’d ever gotten besides Hedwig. The evening had ended with an impressive show of Filibuster’s Fireworks. It was the best birthday Harry could ever remember having.

Now, it was time to focus on returning to Hogwarts. Their owls had come just the week before with their list of school supplies and books for the coming year. Harry was surprised at the number of books required for Defence Against the Dark Arts for the year, but he reasoned it didn’t matter. Anything would be better than the headaches he got during Quirrell’s teachings.

They were planning a trip to Diagon Alley the following week, but Harry was nervous about reading all the Defence books before classes started. So he asked Narcissa if they had any of the books in the family library.

“We might have a couple of Gilderoy’s books. I can have Jonks check for you,” Narcissa offered.

“No, that’s okay. I’ll look myself,” Harry hurriedly assured her.

Upon inspection of the library, the Malfoy’s had all of Gilderoy’s books available for Harry to begin reading. He found them interesting as stories, but couldn’t see how they would be applied as text books for learning.

Worried about falling further behind in Defence than he already was due to Quirrell, Harry began searching the library for other books that might help him learn about defending oneself against the dark arts.

Which is how he stumbled across a rather strange, beaten-up book towards the back of the library. Riffling through the pages revealed nothing was written in the book, but there was something about it that called to Harry and he found himself unable to put the book back where he found it.

Instead, he pocketed the book and went in search of Draco, finding him in his father’s study.

Harry found himself carrying the book around with him for the following week, never bringing it up to Draco or his parents. While he didn’t write in the journal, which he’d deduced it was after leafing through the entire thing one night, he couldn’t find it in himself to return it to the library where he’d found it. As such, it was in his robe’s pocket when he followed Draco into the Floo to head to Diagon Alley.

Diagon Alley was as packed as Draco had ever seen it. Students and parents lined the street, entering and exiting the various shops as they purchased the odds and ends needed for the school year ahead. Harry kept close to Draco’s side as they navigated the busy street, completing their own shopping.

They went through the process of gathering their potions supplies, their ink and quill sets, new parchment, owl treats, and a fresh set of school robes before making their way to their last shop, Florish and Blotts to collect their school books.

Harry, of course, had already read their Defence books and had told Draco he wasn’t sure how they could be applied for school, but that they made good stories. His favorite was Break with a Banshee, which he’d read three times.

As they entered the store with Mother and Father, they found the building even more crowded than the street outside. Most of the crowd was made up of middle-aged witches, giggling amongst themselves as they all peered towards the back of the shop.

“What’s going on?” Draco asked, craning his neck to see around a rather robust woman.

“Looks like a book signing,” Mother said, urging the boys further into the shop.

“An absolute madhouse is what it is,” Father said.

“Harry! Draco!”

Draco turned to see Ron Weasley grinning at them from the second level of the shop, a young redheaded girl at this side. When she spotted Harry, she blushed a rather unattractive shade of pink that clashed horribly with her hair.

Ron came bounding down the stairs, the girl trailing behind him.

“How’s it going, mate?” Ron asked Harry once he’d landed before greeting Draco’s parents with a, “Mister and Missus Malfoy.”

“Hello, Ron. Lovely to see you,” Mother returned his greeting.

“This is my little sister, Ginny,” Ron introduced the girl at his side. “The twins are upstairs. Mum and Dad are in line to get our books.”

“Hullo,” Ginny mumbled to the floor, her face still that unattractive shade of pink.

“We should do the same, dear,” Mother said to Father. “You boys stay and chat. We’ll see about getting your books.”

Draco nodded and watched as his father gave him a look that clearly said “behave” before following Mother into the crowd.

“How’s your summer been?” Harry asked Ron.

“Eh. It’s all right. Percy’s been on a tear about NEWTs this year. Been a right pain in the arse, really,” Ron said with a grin.

“NEWTs?” Harry asked, looking between Ron and Draco.

“Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests,” Draco explained. “They’re the final test before graduating Hogwarts. Kind of like the OWLs we’ll take in fifth year.”

Harry nodded in understanding before making eye contact with Ginny. He quickly looked away and fidgeted with his dragon necklace. Draco frowned at the movement, but was quickly distracted by the twins racing down the stairs, identical grins on their faces.

“Harry! Our favorite Seeker,” one of the twins crowed, reaching forward to ruffle Harry’s already untidy hair.

“Fancy running into you here,” the other said. “Don’t suppose you’ve got your eye on the new Nimbus 2001 down the street, have you?”

“We’d be a shoe-in for the cup again this year if you did!” the first exclaimed.

“I think I’ll stick with my old broom,” Harry said with a half-grin.

“You’ll still be the best Seeker at the school,” Ron insisted loyally.

“Thanks, mate,” Harry blushed.

A redheaded man came up behind the twins and clapped a hand on each of their shoulders. He was older, definitely closer in age to Draco’s own parents, with thinning hair and a cheery grin.

“Boys. Ginny. Let’s go rescue your mother,” the man said. “Ah, and who do we have here?”

“This is Draco and Harry, Dad. Friends of mine from school,” Ron introduced them.

“Pleasure, sir,” Draco said, reaching forward to shake the man’s hand.

“Draco… Malfoy, then? Yes, I see your father in you. We work together at the Ministry, of course. And Harry… Not Harry Potter?” The man couldn’t keep his eyes from flicking to Harry’s scar.

“Yes, sir,” Harry mumbled, but was drowned out by a boisterous voice exclaiming “Harry Potter!”

Draco turned to see a man in lavender robes with a wide, too bright smile, standing behind himself and Harry.

“Come, come, my boy! Together you and I rate the front page!” the man said, swooping an arm around Harry and turning to a man holding a camera.

Draco felt smoke curl from his fingers. He didn’t like this stranger touching his boy.

“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the perfect time to announce that young Harry and I will become much better acquainted over the next school year, as I have taken the post of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor at Hogwarts!” the man shouted to the entire store.

Harry squirmed in the man hold and Draco reached forward, intending to pull his boy back to his side, when the man spun himself and Harry around again.

“A gift! For my newest student. My entire collection of works, free of charge,” the man said, taking a stack of books from a woman in line and handing them to Harry.

Harry blushed under the attention. Draco could see his boy frantically looking for an avenue of escape. It came in the form of Mother and Father, appearing over the man who was, apparently, their new Defence professor.

“I would appreciate you taking your hands off our ward, Gilderoy,” Mother said stiffly.

Draco reached out to take Harry’s arm, intending to finally pull him away from Lockhart, when the man turned again, taking Harry along with him. Now thoroughly fuming, Draco allowed the smoke to form into a fireball.

“She said, hands off,” Draco snapped.

Lockhart turned around and, spotting the fireball in Draco’s hand, shoved Harry away from himself. Harry stumbled into the Weasley family, who quickly helped him to right himself while Draco stared down his new professor.

“There, there, my boy. No harm, no foul,” Lockhart said, his wide grin still firmly in place. “Let’s just put that bit of flame out, now, why don’t we?”

“Draco,” Father said lowly.

Taking his father’s meaning, and since Harry was no longer in Lockhart’s hold, Draco allowed his fireball to disappear. But he still didn’t like Lockhart and made that clear by glaring up at the man.

“Wonderful! I look forward to seeing you all in the coming weeks,” Lockhart said cheerily.

With that, he returned to the back of the store, where he proceeded to resume signing copies of his latest book. Mother and Father moved to flank Draco on either side, facing the Weasley family, who had been joined by Mrs. Weasley.

“Are you all right, Harry?” Mrs. Weasley asked, running an affectionate hand down Harry’s arm.

“Yeah, thanks. Here,” Harry said, dumping his stack of books into Ginny’s cauldron. “I don’t need these.”

“Oh, Harry, dear. Are you sure?” Mrs. Weasley asked, reaching down to pull the books from her daughter’s cauldron.

“Yeah. Yeah, I don’t need them,” Harry repeated, stepping away from the books and the Weasley’s to stand beside Draco.

“Thank you, dear,” Mrs. Weasley said with a smile.

“Arthur, why don’t we take the children for some ice cream? I believe we’ve all had enough of the air in here,” Father suggested.

“Oh… Oh, yes. Um… Quite,” Mr. Weasley stammered as his children looked up excitedly.

With that, the group left the shop and made their way to Fortesque’s for ice cream, where Draco ordered Harry a large strawberry and peanut butter sundae. Once his boy had his treat, Draco reached out to take hold of his wrist and gave a soft squeeze.

“You’re all right?” Draco asked, wanting to make sure.

“Yeah, I’m all right,” Harry assured him softly.

“Good. I hate to say this, but I really don’t like that man. I have a feeling he might be worse than Quirrell,” Draco said lowly as Ron took a seat at the table with them.

“Can’t imagine anyone worse than Quirrell,” Harry mumbled, stirring his ice cream.

“Well, yeah. The bloke had bloody He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named living on the back of his head. How could Lockhart be worse than that?” Ron asked, spooning up his own ice cream.

Harry shot Draco a rough grin as Ron began inhaling his ice cream and Draco resolved the let the matter drop. He would keep an eye on things once they were at school and if anything like last year started happening again, he would make sure someone did something about it.

Harry wasn’t going to find himself in danger again this year.

It was much later that the Weasleys and Malfoys said goodbye at the Leaky Cauldron and returned to their respective homes. But it wouldn’t be until that night, while getting ready for bed, that Harry would realize the journal was missing from his robe’s pocket.

Figuring it must have fallen out at some point during the day, he shrugged, suddenly confused why he’d been so attached to the book. By the next morning, the journal was all but forgotten.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

The last two weeks of summer flew by in a whirl-wind and before he knew it, Harry was standing on Platform 9 ¾, saying goodbye to Lucius and Narcissa.

“Write often, yes? And do try to stay out of trouble,” Narcissa said, hugging Harry tight.

The hug felt nice and Harry found himself returning it, realizing with a pang that he would miss Draco’s mother and father. It was almost like having family, he thought.

The sound of the train whistle made Harry jump and he quickly backed away from Narcissa’s embrace to stand next to Draco.

“We’ll see you at the first Quidditch match,” Lucius said with a smile. “Good luck at try-outs, Draco.”

Draco hugged his father quickly before moving on to his mother, with whom he lingered a few moments longer. The train whistle sounded again and Draco grabbed onto Harry’s wrist, pulling him onto the train.

“We’ll see them again soon,” Draco said as they searched for a compartment.

“I know,” Harry said softly, realizing Draco knew what Harry was feeling.

“I reckon this is the first time you’ve had a home to miss,” Draco said, pulling him into an empty compartment.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, settling into the seat by the window.

Draco sat down next to him, his arm going around Harry’s shoulders and pulling until Harry was partially reclining on Draco.

“It’ll be all right,” Draco insisted into Harry’s hair.

And Harry knew it would be, because Draco was still there, with Harry. As long as Harry had Draco, everything would be all right.

“Ah, there you are.”

Harry looked up to see Blaise shrugging into the compartment, followed closely by Ron, who slammed the door shut.

“Blimey, what a menace,” Ron muttered, sinking into the seat across from Harry.

“Who?” Draco asked.

“Ginny. She’s been a right pain in the arse all summer,” Ron grumbled.

“She’ll find her own friends and settle in,” Blaise said, pulling out a pack of exploding snap cards and shuffling them absentmindedly.

“Yeah… she’s right obsessed with you, mate,” Ron said, nodding at Harry.

Harry grunted, but didn’t say anything, shifting against Draco.

“What do you mean, she’s obsessed with Harry?” Draco asked heatedly.

“Well, just to say that she’s been asking Mum for stories about The Boy Who Lived her entire life. And now that she knows we’re friends, she’s been pestering me about him. And, Merlin’s beard, after you came for a visit, that’s all she would talk about for weeks,” Ron groaned.

Draco frowned, not liking the sound of someone else being obsessed with his mate.

Harry shifted again and Draco realized the conversation was making his boy uncomfortable.

“Have a good summer, Blaise?” Draco asked, running a hand through Harry’s hair.

“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Mum and me went to Italy last month,” Blaise said.

For the rest of the train ride, it went by unspoken agreement that they wouldn’t talk about Ron’s younger sister. Instead, they played exploding snap, visited with friends who stopped by the compartment, and ate too many sweets from the food trolley.

Before they knew it, they were back at Hogwarts.

“Firs’ years! Firs’ years, this way!”

“Hi, Hagrid,” Harry called, waving above the crowd.

“All righ’ there, Harry?” Hagrid asked.

Harry nodded, but didn’t anything else when he spotted Ginny standing at Hagrid’s side, watching him. Wanting to get away before Draco realized she was staring, Harry allowed himself to be pushed and pulled with the crowd of students towards the horseless carriages. He and Draco climbed in with Ron and Blaise and the carriage set off, bumping along the road towards the castle.

“Do you reckon they’ll have roast with dinner tonight?” Ron asked, peaking out the window.

“Mate, you just finished eating. How are you already hungry?” Blaise laughed.

“I’m a growing boy and need plenty of food. My mum says so,” Ron said with a grin.

Blaise laughed harder and slugged Ron in the shoulder. “Growing boy, my arse.”

They entered the Great Hall with the rest of the students, which is where Harry and Draco separated and Draco decided he hated the return to school feast. He and Harry hadn’t had to be separated the entire summer. Sure, Harry had gone to Ron’s that one time… but everything else they’d done together. By choice. Draco didn’t like that Harry was all the way on the other side of the room, even though he smiled and greeted his fellow second year Slytherins warmly. It wasn’t until he noticed Harry smiling and laughing with his fellow second year Gryffindors that Draco calmed down, reminding himself that it was important for Harry to have friends. That it was good for Harry to be independent of Draco sometimes.

Just so long as that independence didn’t get him into trouble this year, everything should be just fine.

Harry clapped along politely when Ginny got sorted into Gryffindor, but he couldn’t help the secret part of him that had hoped she’d get placed in a different house. Which was ridiculous considering all of her brothers had been sorted into Gryffindor. Of course she would end up in the same house. He just had to hope the first and second years didn’t have too much opportunity to spend time together.

With the sorting ceremony over, everyone dived into their dinners and chatting about everyone’s summers commenced. Harry listened as Seamus told a story about visiting Dean and his half-dozen half siblings over the summer, surprised to learn that Dean had such a large family.

“Mum always wanted loads of kids,” Dean said with a shrug.

Which made Harry wonder if his own parents had survived Voldemort, would he have had siblings? What would it have been like to have a brother or sister growing up? And then he wondered why Draco didn’t have any siblings.

Looking up at his mate from across the room, Harry thought that Draco would have made someone a great older brother… but selfishly, he was glad he didn’t have to share Draco with anyone else.

Sensing his focus, Draco looked up and made eye contact with Harry, tilting his head slightly to the side. Harry felt a warmth hit his chest, just below his collarbone, and knew Draco was sending the feeling to him. Wanting to assure Draco that everything was just fine, Harry sent the same warmth back, smiling when Draco smiled.

Dinner passed quickly enough and before long, the Gryffindor boys were back in their dorm room. Harry crawled into his bed, which was smaller than the one he’d had at the Manor, but still nicer than his broom cupboard at the Dursley’s. He and Draco had shared a bed most nights over the summer, whispering to each other into the late nights before finally drifting off to sleep. It felt strange to not have another body in the bed and Harry found himself tossing and turning for the first few hours of sleep, trying to get comfortable. It wasn’t until the early hours before dawn that he finally fell into a deep sleep.

“See you slept about as well as I did, huh?” Draco asked, sliding into place beside Harry at breakfast the next morning.

Harry grunted in response, too tired to attempt to formulate words without some food and pumpkin juice first.

Grinning at Harry’s lack of response, Draco began piling a plate full of bacon, eggs, and sausage before placing the plate in front of Harry. Once Harry had started eating, Draco fixed his own plate and poured them both a glass of pumpkin juice. After Harry had taken a few restorative sips of the sweet drink, he finally felt awake enough to have a normal conversation.

“Is last night the first time we didn’t dream?” Harry asked, trying to remember.

“As far back as I can remember, yeah,” Draco said, cutting up his sausage.

“Sorry. I had a hard time falling asleep,” Harry admitted.

“Yeah, it was weird having a bed all to myself,” Draco agreed, giving Harry a drawn grin.

And Harry was reminded once again of how in sync he and Draco were, that they would both have trouble falling asleep after an entire summer of sharing a bed. It eased some anxious part of Harry that had worried he would be the only one; that Draco would fall asleep easily even though Harry wasn’t beside him.

“Morning,” drawled Ron as he sat down across from Harry and Draco.

“Morning,” Harry greeted.

“Has McGonagall come around with the schedules yet?” Ron asked as he loaded up his plate.

“Not yet. I don’t think any of the professors have,” Harry said.

“I just hope we don’t have double potions on Friday again,” Ron grumbled into his eggs.

Harry just hoped he and Draco had more classes together this year. And that Defence Against the Dark Arts was better than last year.

Looking up at the staff table, Harry spotted Lockhart, sporting a set of pale blue robes and chatting away with the professor beside him, who Harry thought might teach arithmancy to the older students. Professor Snape was in conversation with Professor McGonagall and Professor Sinistra. Hagrid was leaned way down to listen to something Professor Flitwick was telling him. Professor Sprout was just getting up from the table, no doubt to begin handing out schedules to the gathered Hufflepuffs. And, in the middle of the table, sat Professor Dumbledore.

As is sensing Harry’s eyes on him, Dumbledore met his gaze and tilted his head slightly with the barest hint of a smile on his face. Harry was reminded of his conversation with the Headmaster last year, while Harry had been laid up in the Hospital Wing and during one of the few times Draco had left his side.

While Harry had struggled to understand what had happened with Quirrell, Dumbledore had offered explanations. Harry mother’s sacrifice was why Quirrell had disintegrated when Harry touched him, why Harry had survived when all others had perished under the killing curse. It had been an interesting introduction to the Headmaster, but Harry still remembered what had happened on his last day at Hogwarts, before he boarded the Hogwarts Express to go with Draco to the Manor.

Harry had been called into the Headmaster’s office after classes had ended Friday. Heading up the swirling staircase and following the griffin as it rose from the ground, Harry couldn’t help but wonder what the Headmaster wanted to see him about. He hadn’t had much interaction with Dumbledore since his time in the Hospital Wing and had never spoken to the man before that.

Knocking on the door at the top of the stairs, Harry waited for the called “enter” before entering the Headmaster’s office.

It wasn’t what Harry had been expecting, though he wasn’t really sure what he had been expecting of the office. The office was clearly in one of the towers of Hogwarts, as the room was rounded. Portraits lined the walls, along with bookshelves filled with books and other magical items Harry couldn’t identify. In the center of the room, sat a rather magnificent desk, where Dumbledore sat, gently stroking a red and golden bird.

“Ah, Harry. Thank you for coming,” Dumbledore said with a gentle smile.

“Of course, sir,” Harry said.

“Yes, I have heard whispers that you will be returning home with Draco Malfoy this summer?” Dumbledore asked, still stroking the bird.

“Yes, sir,” Harry said, confused as to why his Headmaster cared about where he spent his summer.

“Are you sure that is wise?” Dumbledore asked.

“Sir?” Harry asked in return, more confused than before.

“You don’t want to return to your aunt and uncle’s home?” Dumbledore asked, instead of answering Harry.

Stiffening at the thought of returning to his abusive relatives, Harry emphatically shook his head no.

“I understand the lure of staying with your friends, especially those who have magical parents, but the Muggle world is really the best place for you, my boy,” Dumbledore said.

“They… they wouldn’t take me back… even if, if I wanted to go,” Harry said, knowing it was true.

And Draco had promised him, promised, that he would never have to go back there. Even Narcissa had assured him that he would never set foot on Privet Drive again.

“I’m sure that’s not true. They are your family, after all,” Dumbledore said with a gentle smile.

Harry simply stared at the old man, too intimidated to argue.

“Family is important, Harry. I want you to consider returning to your aunt and uncle’s home this summer instead of staying at Mr. Malfoy’s, despite the temptation,” Dumbledore said.

“Yes, sir,” Harry mumbled, hoping he would be dismissed.

Unfortunately for Harry, he was then treated to an explanation of Dumbledore’s bird, which was apparently a phoenix, and all the attributes of the bird. Harry honestly thought the old man slightly off his rocker and was relieved when he was finally able to make his escape a few moments later, politely declining the offer of a lemon drop on his way out.

Harry wondered if the Headmaster knew Harry hadn’t gone back to Privet Drive and wondered again why Dumbledore would care. He was drawn from those thoughts as McGonagall placed a piece of paper in front of him with his school schedule. Harry reviewed the list quickly, happy to see he and Draco would be sharing a few more classes. Along with double potions on Friday, they would now share their Wednesday session of potions with the Slytherins, as well as their Herbology time. The only classes they didn’t share were Defence, Charms, and History of Magic.

“Brilliant,” Draco said, looking up from his own schedule that Professor Snape had just handed to him.

Harry grinned back at Draco, thinking how much better their second year was going to be than their first.

The thought had lasted until Harry’s first Defence class. He and Ron sat towards the back of the room, neither eager to be up close to their new professor after the incident in Florish and Blotts. Hermione, Harry noticed, sat front and center, her books stacked neatly in front of her, hands clasped together as her foot bounced beneath the desk.

Neville took up place beside her, though he looked longingly towards the back of the classroom where Ron and Harry sat. Harry shot him a sympathetic look, but before he could say anything, Lockhart entered the classroom with a flourishing sweep of his light blue robes.

“Allow me to introduce you to your new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher… Me,” Lockhart said, smiling widely from the front of the classroom. “Before we begin our lesson for today, I have a little quiz for you. Just to see how closely you’ve studied your course work.”

Lockhart passed out the quizzes to the front of each row and the sheets of parchment were passed back to each of the students. Harry took his quiz from Seamus in front of him and read the first question.

“He’s absolutely mental,” Ron muttered.

What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s favorite color?

What is Gilderoy Lockhart’s secret ambition?

There were 54 questions in total, ending with: When is Gilderoy Lockhart’s birthday and what would his ideal gift be?

Every question had Lockhart’s full name in it and were all related to him. Not a single question asked anything about defending oneself against dark creatures.

Sighing in defeat, Harry began answering the questions as best he remembered them from the books. He wasn’t sure he got them all correct. He couldn’t really remember the name of Lockhart’s coutier and he was pretty sure he had forgotten one of the time defying spells that contributed to his “ageless features”, but considering how ridiculous the questions were, Harry felt he’d done all right by the time he passed his quiz back forward.

Harry couldn’t believe it, but Lockhart then sat there, reviewing all their quizzes immediately. He made a few disappointed sounds as he reviewed them, fewer sounds of approval. Ron and Harry shared an incredulous look as time ticked on and Lockhart continued to grade their quizzes.

“Tut-tut,” he said, as he finished the lot. “Hardly any of you remembered that my favorite color is lilac. I say so in Year with a Yeti. But I do see that Miss Granger correctly answered every question correctly! Ten points to Gryffindor.”

Hermione flushed at the praise, while Ron rolled his eyes at Harry.

“Now that the fun is out of the way, I must warn you. It is my job to teach you how to defend yourselves against the foulest creatures known to wizardkind. Know that no harm can befall you while I am here, though you may find yourselves facing your worst fears in this very room,” Lockhart said dramatically, as he pulled out a covered cage from behind his desk.

Harry found himself mildly interested in what was in the cage. He could hear something rattling within. It would be his first time seeing a dark creature, but the cage was too small to be anything truly threatening.

“I must ask you not to scream. You might provoke them,” Lockhart said, grasping the cape over the cage.

Curious, Harry leaned to the side of his desk to see around Seamus as Lockhart flung back the cape.

Inside the cage were a handful of blue creatures, no bigger than Harry’s forearm, with gossamer wings and short antennae.

“Pixies?” Seamus asked in disbelief.

“Freshly captured Cornish Pixies, to be exact,” Lockhart said pompously as some of the room laughed. “Laugh if you will, but pixies can be devilishly treaty creatures.”

When the class continued to look unimpressed, Lockhart tossed back his robes and reached for the latch to the cage.

“Let’s see what you make of them.”

Before anyone could say anything, the pixies had been released from their cage and began flying about the room. Harry quickly ducked under his desk, followed closely by Ron. Lavender Brown, in the row next to them, wasn’t quick enough to duck and one of the pixies was making a nest for itself in her hair. Susan Bones was batting one of the pixies away with one of her text books.

“Come, come now! You should be able to round them up! They’re only pixies!” Lockhart shouted over the chaos of the room.

Harry watched as Neville was levitated up by two of the pixies to be hung on the chandelier in the middle of the room. Hermione tried to grab for him before he got too high and was bitten by one of the pixies in retaliation. The classroom quickly emptied of students as they all made a mad rush towards the classroom door. Harry and Ron stayed under the desk, waiting for Lockhart to do something.

“Peskipiksi Pesternomi!” Lockhart shouted, waving his wand with more flourish than actual skill.

One of the pixies grab hold of his wand from his hand and flew off with it.

Admitting defeat, Lockhart ran for the cover of his office, calling over his shoulder, “I’ll just leave you three to round them up,” before the door slammed shut behind him.

Looking around for who Lockhart could have meant, Harry realized he, Ron, Hermione, and Neville were the only ones left in the room.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Harry muttered, crawling out from under the desk.

“What are you doing?” Ron asked, not moving to follow him.

Harry took out his wand and shouted, “Immobulus!”

Immediately, all the pixies froze in midair, stunned. Slowly, Ron crawled out from under the desk, looking at the frozen pixies appreciatively.

“Well done, Harry,” Hermione said with a grin.

“Thanks. Any idea how to get Neville down?” Harry asked, looking up to where Neville hung above their heads.

“Oh, yes. Well, wingardium leviosa should work, right?” Hermione said, taking out her own wand and casting the spell.

Neville gradually floated down from the chandelier and landed in front of them.

“Thanks, Hermione,” he said, his face flushed.

“No problem, Neville. Now, how do we round these pixies up for Professor Lockhart?” Hermione asked.

“I say we just leave them here for him to figure out what to do with. Leaving a bunch of kids to clean up his mess,” Ron muttered angrily.

“Oh, we can’t do that. What if they destroy more of Professor Lockhart’s things?” Hermione asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry, Hermione. We won’t just leave them,” Harry assured her, moving to grasp one of the pixies by its wing. “We’ll just gather them all back up and put them in the cage. It won’t take too long.”

Sure enough, they had all the pixies back in the cage and the cage locked up tight within ten minutes. They didn’t hang around to wait for Lockhart to come back out of his office and give them some other ridiculous task to do.

Besides, Harry wanted to warn Draco before his first Defence class. If Lockhart pulled the same stunt on the Slytherins and Ravenclaws, Harry wanted Draco and his friends to be prepared.

“You were right,” Draco said as the Slytherins met up with the Gryffindors for their first Herbology class the next day. “He tried to release the pixies on us this morning.”

“Did you stop him?” Harry asked, checking Draco for any scratches or bite marks.

“Of course,” Draco said, sounding affronted. “You think I can’t handle myself against an idiot professor and a handful of pixies?”

“He threatened to write to his father,” Blaise said with a smirk.

“I did. It’s a smart man who knows his resources and how to use them,” Draco said haughtily before shooting a wink at Harry.

Harry grinned, relieved Draco hadn’t had to deal with the devilish pixies and even more relieved that Draco wasn’t insulted by Harry’s concern.

They entered the greenhouses to find potted plants at each station and Professor Sprout standing at the front of the tables. Beside each potted plant were a set of two earmuffs. As Harry and Draco approached one of the stations, the pot wiggled slightly.

“Today we’ll be repotting mandrakes,” Professor Sprout announced once everyone was in the greenhouse. “Who here can tell me the properties of the mandrake root?”

Hermione’s hand shot into the air across the greenhouse from Harry and Draco, where she stood next to Neville.

“Yes, Miss Granger,” Professor Sprout said.

“Mandrake is used to restore anyone who has been petrified to their original state. It’s also quite dangerous as the mandrake’s cry is fatal to anyone who hears it,” Hermione answered.

“Correct. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, these mandrakes are still young, so while their cries won’t kill you, they may cause you to lose consciousness. Which is why you must properly secure your earmuffs,” Professor Sprout instructed, indicating they do so with a wave of her hand.

Harry settled a pair of brown earmuffs over his ears, flushing when Draco reached out to adjust them slightly to make sure his ears were fully covered. Draco gave him a soft smile and squeezed his hand before putting on his own earmuffs and turning back to Professor Sprout, who was now shouting to be heard through their earmuffs.

“To repot your mandrake, grasp it firmly at the base, give it a sharp tug to release it from the soil and stick it into the new pot, giving it a nice sprinkling of soil to keep it warm,” Professor Sprout instructed, demonstrating the steps as she went through them.

As she pulled the mandrake from the soil, it let out a piercing shriek that hurt Harry’s ears even through the muffs. Draco stepped closer to Harry as the mandrake continued its screaming as Professor Sprout place it in its new home and began layering soil on top of it. Across the greenhouse, several students placed their hands over their earmuffs until Professor Sprout had finished soiling the mandrake completely and the shrieking stopped.

“Now, you may begin,” Professor Sprout shouted, encouraging everyone to step up to their own mandrakes.

Harry watched as Draco reached out and grasped the plant at the base of its leaves before giving it a sharp tug, like Professor Sprout had demonstrated. A rather rotund mandrake popped out, immediately shrieking in protest as it was exposed to the greenhouse air. Harry quickly thrusted the new pot underneath the mandrake, allowing Draco to release it. They began covering their mandrake with fresh soil as quickly as possible. Professor Sprout nodded in approval as she walked by, checking their work.

Once all the mandrakes had been repotted and were stored safely in the greenhouse, Professor Sprout sent them out with instructions to map out the parts of the mandrake and their various uses for homework.

Charms was the next class for the Gryffindors while the Slytherins were off to History of Magic. The groups separated at the Great Hall, Draco giving Harry’s wrist a squeeze in goodbye. When they arrived at Charms, it was to find the first year Gryffindors leaving. Harry spotted Ginny almost immediately, walking with a blond-haired boy who had a camera hanging from his neck. He looked away quickly when Ginny made eye-contact and hurried into the room once the path was clear.

Ron settled into the seat next to him, an apologetic grimace set in his face. Harry shook his head, not wanting to talk about Ginny. Instead, he focused on Professor Flitwick as he began lecturing about the tickling charm.

It was a much safer subject.

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

Draco decided he was done sleeping without Harry. They had spent the last three nights in their own dormitories, neither one getting much sleep. When he walked into the Great Hall Thursday morning, it was to find Harry already seated at the Gryffindor table, lazily stirring some porridge.

“Tonight, you’re coming to Slytherin and sleeping in my dorm,” Draco said as he took his place next to Harry.

The way Harry’s shoulders fell forward in relief made Draco realize how much he’d been neglecting his mate bond. Of course Harry would feel the need to be close as much as Draco. It was ingrained in them, especially after spending the summer together.

Before he could apologize to Harry for his neglect, he was startled by the flash of a camera.

“Hiya, Harry,” a first year said from across the table. “I’m Colin Creevey. I’m in Gryffindor, too.”

“Um, hi, Colin. Nice to meet you,” Harry said slowly.

“I heard all about you on the train. You were raised by Muggles, too. My dad, he was so surprised when I got my letter. I promised to take pictures and send them to him. One of the professors told me, if I develop them in a special potion, the pictures will actually move! Like the portraits here in the castle!” Colin exclaimed, his excitement making his words almost run together.

“Yeah, um, that’s great,” Harry said.

“Do you think you could sign your picture for me? Once I develop it, of course,” Colin asked eagerly.

“Oh… uh, yeah, I-I guess so,” Harry stuttered, clearly uncomfortable.

Draco wasn’t sure if he wanted to laugh or hiss at the boy across the table from them. While he didn’t like anyone making Harry feel embarrassed, the pink tinge to Harry’s cheeks was almost too adorable for words. Luckily, he was saved from having to scare Colin away, as he hurriedly thanked Harry and sped off to the other Gryffindor first years.

“Well… I can’t wait to see the picture,” Draco teased.

“Shut up,” Harry mumbled into his porridge, cheeks still bright pink.

At that, Draco couldn’t contain his amusement anymore and laughed out loud, squeezing Harry’s shoulder.

“You’re absolutely adorable, you know?” Draco chuckled, his hand still on Harry’s shoulder.

If anything, that just made Harry’s blush darker and his shoulders crept up to his ears.

Deciding to give his mate a break, Draco turned to begin piling food onto his own plate. Down the table, he noticed Colin had sat himself next to Ginny and the two were talking excitedly together. Draco frowned when he noticed Ginny’s gaze repeatedly going to Harry and fought back a hiss.

He really didn’t like Ron’s sister.

The first few weeks of school flew by and before anyone knew it, it was October. The quidditch season was scheduled to begin after Halloween and Oliver was training the Gryffindor team hard. He’d gotten into a heated argument with the Slytherin team captain, Marcus Flint, over booking the pitch one Saturday for practice. Harry had been concerned with the number of veins popping out on Oliver’s head as he shouted at Flint.

Eventually, the Gryffindor team had to haul Oliver away and convinced him to rebook the pitch for another day. Harry was disappointed not to get the chance to fly, but Draco ended up making up for it later that night.

Draco led Harry outside after dinner and quickly stripped his shirt.

“Ready to fly?” Draco asked, unfurling his wings.

Harry nodded eagerly, moving into Draco’s open arms. While flying with Draco was obviously different than flying on his own broom, Harry would be hard-pressed to say which he preferred more. They flew through the night sky over Hogwarts for at least an hour before Draco landed them on the grounds of the Quidditch pitch.

“Why haven’t you tried out for the Slytherin team?” Harry asked Draco as they walked back to the castle.

“And risk beating you every year?” Draco teased, bumping into Harry playfully.

“As if,” Harry scoffed, bumping Draco back.

Draco chuckled and threw his arm around Harry’s shoulders, pulling him close.

“As much as I’d enjoy playing Quidditch, I truly don’t like the thought of going up against you in anything. Let alone something as ridiculous as a school sport,” Draco admitted seriously. “I much prefer cheering you on than battling against you.”

Harry felt his face flush at Draco’s admission. He could admit how weird it would have been, not to have Draco cheering him on from the Gryffindor stands each game, to actually be playing against Draco. Harry wasn’t sure he could have played against Draco, come to think of it. He still so badly didn’t want to disappoint Draco in any way.

“Stop thinking those thoughts, Harry,” Draco snapped, his fingers wrapping around the back of Harry’s neck and squeezing. “I don’t care about playing Quidditch. I can fly any time I want without a broom. And, as I said, I much prefer watching you than actually playing the game.”

“Yes, Draco,” Harry murmured, letting his feelings of guilt go.

“Good,” Draco said, placing a swift kiss to the top of Harry’s head.

They made their way back into the castle and up to the Gryffindor common room, where Ron was working on his homework with Neville.

“Can you believe this? An entire foot on various uses of the engorgement charm for Flitwick, due tomorrow,” Ron grumbled when Draco and Harry sat at their table.

“He did assign that to us last week,” Harry reminded Ron.

Ron didn’t respond and simply grumbled into his parchment. Neville shot Harry a grin over top Ron’s bent head before returning to his own homework. Harry had completed all his assignments for the week already, but helped Ron with a few pointers on the engorgement charm that he hadn’t included in his own paper.

Draco lounged next to him, completely satisfied at just having Harry close. Harry could feel Draco’s contentment through their bond and it made him happy to know Draco was happy.

At one point, Draco stiffened and Harry could have sworn he heard Draco let our a soft hiss, but when he turned to look at him, Draco was back to lounging in his chair, watching Harry.

“Are you okay?” Harry asked.

“Fine. Perfectly fine,” Draco assured him with a genuine smile.

Harry trusted his response and returned to helping Ron with the last inch of his essay. He missed the glare that Draco threw across the room to where Ginny sat, studiously ignoring the group after Draco’s hissed warning. Neville saw though and realized he might have to have a chat with the youngest Weasley. And soon.

Halloween fell on a Saturday that year and, as such, the entire school was done up for the festivities. Floating pumpkins were found down every corridor. Live bats flew through the halls. Purple, green, and orange tinsel decorated each suit of armor.

Draco and Harry were making their way up from the Slytherin common room to join their friends for lunch when Harry heard it.

I smell blood… Fresh blood… Kill…

Harry stopped in his tracks and looked around for the source of the voice, but he and Draco were the only ones in the corridor.

“Harry?” Draco asked, clearly confused why Harry had stopped in the middle of the staircase.

Blood… Kill… Let me kill you…

“Do you hear that?” Harry asked, knowing his eyes were wide as he looked at Draco.

“Hear what?” Draco asked, moving quickly to Harry’s side.

“That voice,” Harry answered as the voice sounded again, this time from a distance.

Rip… tear… kill

“It wants to kill!” Harry shouted, taking off at a run.

“Harry!” Draco called before following him.

Harry listened to the voice through the wall and followed it to the second-floor corridor, where the floor was wet. The voice continued to hiss about wanting to kill something, but then Harry turned a corner and the voice was suddenly gone.

“Harry. What’s going on?” Draco asked as he caught up to him.

“I heard a voice… in the walls. It was talking about killing someone,” Harry said, looking around in confusion.

“A voice in the walls?” Draco asked, clearly concerned.

“It’s gone now. You didn’t hear it?” Harry asked worriedly.

Draco stared at Harry for several seconds before shaking his head.

“No, Harry. I only heard you.”

Harry frowned, wondering why he could hear a voice that Draco couldn’t.

“Come on. Let’s go down and grab something to eat. Maybe you’re just hungry,” Draco suggested.

“Yeah,” Harry agreed, though he doubted it. He’d definitely heard a voice.

They walked down the hallway and turned a corner to find themselves ankle deep in water.

“What in Merlin’s beard?” Draco grumbled.

But Harry was staring up at the wall in front of them. In red letters that looked suspiciously like blood, the wall read:

The Chamber of Secrets has been opened… Enemies of the heir beware

“Draco,” Harry whispered.

“I see it,” Draco said, reaching for Harry and pulling him closer.

Foot steps sounded from the opposite way and suddenly Professor Snape appeared. He frowned at the two boys standing in the corridor before the words on the wall caught his attention. If he was surprised at the words or the blood, he didn’t reveal it as he swept towards them.

It was only as he approached, that Harry realized there was something hanging from one of the torches. Strung up by her tail, Mrs. Norris hung, frozen, from the torch furthest away from them. Snape eyed the wall and Mrs. Norris before turning to them.

“Stay here,” Snape said before disappearing back the way he’d come.

He was only gone for a few minutes before he reappeared with Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Mr. Filch.

“My cat!” Filch cried at seeing her strung up.

He immediately moved to take her from the torch, turning accusing eyes on Harry and Draco.

“You’ve murdered my cat!” Filch cried out, clutching her frozen form close.

“Argus. She is not dead. She has merely been petrified,” Dumbledore said softly.

“What?” Filch asked.

“But how she has been petrified I cannot say,” Dumbledore continued.

“Ask them,” Filch snapped, pointing a finger at Harry and Draco.

“We never touched Mrs. Norris,” Draco insisted heatedly.

“Liar!” Filch shouted.

Smoke began curling from Draco’s hands in response and he shifted to he was slightly in front of Harry.

“Mr. Malfoy is not a liar. I highly doubt two young wizards have the capability of petrifying anything,” Snape drawled.

“Quite right, Severus,” McGonagall agreed. “Professor Sprout has a healthy grouping of mandrakes growing. We should be able to revive Mrs. Norris once they’ve reached maturity.”

“Yes, Mrs. Norris will be just fine, Argus. But we must make an announcement to the school. Our students will need to use caution in the coming days,” Dumbledore said.

“So you don’t believe this a simple prank, Headmaster?” Snape asked.

“At this time, I cannot say. But caution is always wise in uncertain times,” Dumbledore said.

Harry thought he sounded rather like a fortune cookie, but didn’t say anything.

“Minerva. Perhaps you could escort Mr. Potter and Mr. Malfoy to the Great Hall. I believe lunch is still being served,” Dumbledore suggested.

“Yes, Albus. Come along, boys,” McGonagall said, waving them forward.

Harry didn’t look back as he followed her and Draco down to the Great Hall. Though he hadn’t told the professors about the voice he’d heard, he had a very strong feeling the writing on the wall was no prank.

Word about the message on the wall spread like wildfire through the school, despite Draco and Harry not saying a word about it to their friends. Somehow, within a day, the entire school knew that Mrs. Norris had been petrified and that Draco and Harry had found her.

Ron was the first to ask Harry if it was true over breakfast the next morning. Seamus, Dean, Neville, and Hermione all leaned forward eagerly to hear his response.

“It’s true,” Harry admitted.

“Blimey, mate. You’ve got some rotten luck,” Ron said, stabbing a sausage.

Harry didn’t disagree.

At night, he dreamt of the disembodied voice calling out to kill again. Luckily, in his dreams, Draco was there to banish the fear. Harry could tell the dreams bothered him though, especially when Hermione brought up the Chamber of Secrets during one of their Transfiguration classes. He’d never seen Draco go so stiff.

“The Chamber is said to be home to a monster, one that only Salazar Slytherin himself could control,” Professor McGonagall told them.

Harry couldn’t control the shiver her words sent down his spine.

“Do you think it’s true? That there really is a Chamber of Secrets?” Ron asked after they left class and were headed to Potions.

“Couldn’t you tell how worried McGonagall is? How all the teachers are?” Hermione asked.

“But if there really is a Chamber and it really has been opened, then the Heir of Slytherin must be real as well,” Ron said, looking worried.

“It’s just a matter of finding out who,” Hermione agreed.

“Well, we know who it’s not,” Blaise said with a grin at Draco.

“Shut it, you idiot,” Draco said, rolling his eyes.

“Yeah, fair enough. Most of the pureblood families can trace their ancestors all the way back to Slytherin’s time. So it’s either a half-blood or a Muggle born,” Ron reasoned.

“And you’d think they’d be in Slytherin, if they’re his heir,” Blaise said, nodding along with Ron. “But we don’t have any Muggle borns. So it’s definitely a half-blood.”

“Sure it’s not you, Zabini?” Ron teased.

“If I was, you’d better hope to stay on my good side,” Blaise said, shoving at Ron.

“Boys,” Hermione muttered as she passed them in the hallway.

Harry didn’t rightly care who the Heir of Slytherin was. He was more worried about the supposed enemies of the heir. Based on what McGonagall had told them, anyone who wasn’t a pureblood was in danger of being attacked by the monster. While he knew Draco and Ron were safe, he wasn’t as such about the rest of his friends.

Conversation of the Chamber stopped when they entered the potions class room and Harry was relieved to have something other than the death of his friends to focus on.

The first Quidditch match of the year was held the week after Halloween and was set to be Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. Harry walked out onto the pitch with the rest of his team, glad again that Draco was in the stands and not on the opposing side. The girl who had joined the Slytherin team as seeker was slight, which meant she’d be quick on her broom, but Harry had the better broom. He just hoped it would be enough.

The game progressed with each side giving it their all, but Slytherin was up 90 to 30 after three hours of gameplay. Harry was getting a bit desperate to find the snitch and the Slytherin seeker was trailing him around the pitch. Clearly her strategy was to stick close to Harry rather than hunt for the snitch herself.

He finally saw a glimmer of gold out of the corner of his eye and took off after it. His fellow seeker realized too late what was happening and Harry got a decent head start. Just as his fingers brushed against the snitch’s wings, a bludger smashed into his arm, breaking bone.

Cradling the useless arm against his chest, Harry kept his broom steady with his knees and reached out with his other hand to snatch the snitch.

“Harry Potter has caught the snitch! And with a broken arm to boot! Gryffindor wins!” Lee Jordan shouted into the amplified megaphone.

Using his knees, Harry landed rather roughly in the middle of the pitch, where his team rushed to join him. In a matter of moments, Draco had joined him.

“You need to go to the hospital and have that looked at,” Draco said, frowning at Harry’s broken arm.

“No need, Mr. Malfoy. I shall repair Mr. Potter’s arm,” Lockhart said, appearing in front of them.

“No, not you,” Harry grimaced.

“Poor boy’s delirious,” Lockhart chuckled.

Before Harry or Draco could stop him, Lockhart had Harry’s arm in a steady grip and said, “Brackium Emendo.”

And Harry had the very strange sensation of having all the bones in his arm disappear. Looking at the fleshy appendage dangling uselessly in Lockhart’s grip, Harry felt faint and had to lean into Draco to keep on his feet.

“What did you do?” Draco roared, jerking Harry away from Lockhart.

“Ah, well, yes, that sometimes can happen. But, there’s no more pain and clearly the bones are not broken,” Lockhart said happily.

“Broken? He hasn’t got any bones left!” Draco shouted.

“Draco,” a voice said from the crowd.

Harry looked over to see Lucius and Narcissa standing behind Lockhart. It was Narcissa who had spoken.

“Why don’t we take Harry to the hospital wing for Madam Pomfrey to get a look at him,” Narcissa suggested softly.

Harry thought Draco would protest for a moment, but he simply nodded and began helping Harry off the pitch. Harry noticed that Lucius stayed behind and thought, maybe, he was having a talk with Lockhart. Would Lucius care enough to bother? Draco clearly did, so maybe his father would protest for Draco’s sake.

“I want him fired,” Draco snarled as they entered the castle.

“I know, darling. Let your father handle it,” Narcissa said gently.

“He’s an absolute idiot. I wrote you what he did in Harry’s first lesson? He hasn’t improved since,” Draco insisted.

Harry was fighting to keep his stomach from emptying at the way his arm felt, flopping along at his side and didn’t bother agreeing with Draco. Lockhart was an idiot.

They entered the hospital wing to find Madam Pomfrey talking to a female student. As soon as she saw Draco supporting Harry, she thrust a potion into the girl’s hands.

“Off you go, now,” Madam Pomfrey told the girl before addressing Harry. “What happened?”

“Professor Lockhart attempted to mend his bones and instead vanished them,” Draco said angrily.

“Profes- He should have been brought to me immediately! Professor Lockhart has no medical training whatsoever,” Madam Pomfrey protested as she ushered Harry into a bed.

“You will be able to fix him, yes?” Narcissa asked, her hands on Draco’s shoulders.

“Oh, yes, but it will be a very painful night for you, Mr. Potter. Regrowing bones is no easy task,” Madam Pomfrey warned.

Draco frowned as she poured him a glass of something called Skele-Gro. It tasted absolutely foul, but Harry managed to choke it down with nothing more than a grimace. She left the bottle on the bedside table before going back to her office. As Harry was settling into the bed, the door to the hospital wing opened and Ron entered with Lucius.

“All right, there, mate?” Ron asked.

“He will be,” Draco said through gritted teeth. “Did you handle it?”

Lucius sighed and laid a hand on his son’s shoulder.

“It will be dealt with, Draco,” Lucius assured him.

“I want him fired,” Draco told his father.

Lucius huffed a small laugh and nodded.

“Yes, I imagine you do,” Lucius agreed. “Let’s leave Harry to rest, my dear.”

“Be good, darling. We’ll see you soon,” Narcissa said, kissing Draco’s cheek before squeezing Harry’s good hand.

Draco watched his parents leave before turning back to Harry.

“How does it feel?” Draco asked, sitting on the edge of Harry’s bed.

“Tingles right now,” Harry said, poking his arm absently.

“I can’t believe Lockhart vanished your bones. He really should be fired, you know? Bloody imbecile,” Ron muttered.

“What do you think you’re doing in here? Mr. Weasley, Mr. Malfoy, you need to leave. Mr. Potter needs his rest,” Madam Pomfrey said, bustling into the room.

“I’m not leaving him,” Draco said, glaring at her.

Madam Pomfrey stopped up short, clearly not used to being argued with, before continuing, “I can assure you no further harm will befall your mate while he’s under my care. You cannot stay here with him overnight. He’ll be in enough pain as it is without your hovering.”

Harry could see Draco wanted to argue further and reached over to lay his fingers on the back of Draco’s wrist.

“I’ll be fine. It’s just one night,” Harry assured him, though he really didn’t want Draco to go.

Draco frowned down at him and said, “You’re hurt. I’m not leaving you.”

Madam Pomfrey huffed her disapproval before relenting.

“You can stay in the next bed,” she said, moving to ready the sheets.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow,” Ron said with a grin and quickly left the wing.

Draco settled into the bed next to Harry, turning so he could see Harry laid out with his arm in a sling.

“I don’t like this, Harry,” Draco said softly as Madam Pomfrey left them again.

“What?” Harry asked, feeling all of a sudden tired.

“You getting hurt during Quidditch. This is the second time. Last year, Quirrell was jinxing your broom. This year you break your arm on a bludger. What’s next? You fall off your broom?” Draco asked.

“I won’t fall off my broom,” Harry assured him.

“You better not. I might not let you play anymore if you do,” Draco warned.

Despite his concern, Harry could also hear the teasing in Draco’s voice and he smiled softly in Draco’s direction.

“You’re tired. Sleep. I imagine the pain will wake you up soon enough,” Draco said gently.

Harry hummed in response and was asleep on his next breath.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

At first, Harry thought he was dreaming again, but the persistent sound and the pain in his arm woke him up and convinced him it was no dream.

Kill… Let me kill…

The voice was back. Harry looked over at the bed Draco was in, but he was still sound asleep, snoring softly. Once again, it was only Harry who heard the voice.

Let me rip you…

The sound was coming from the ceiling this time and faded quickly, but Harry found it impossible to go back to sleep. His arm was hurting like a thousand needles were piercing his skin and the voice had shaken him enough that he didn’t want to go back to sleep.

After several long moments, the sound of footsteps echoed through the wing right before Professor Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Madam Pomfrey came in. Harry looked over and saw a levitating body land softly on the bed closest to the door.

“Yes, lay him down here,” Madam Pomfrey said. “What happened?”

“There has been another attack,” Dumbledore said.

“He’s been petrified,” McGonagall added. “Do you think he got a picture of his attacker?”

Harry flinched as he realized the body on the bed was Colin, the boy who had taken his picture and asked him to sign it. Dumbledore pried the camera from Colin’s stiff fingers and opened the back. A puff of smoke rose from the camera and McGonagall gasped.

“What does this mean, Albus?” she asked.

“It is as we feared. The Chamber of Secrets has been opened again. Hogwarts is no longer safe,” Dumbledore said gravely.

Again? The Chamber had been opened before? By who? Was it the same person doing it this time?

Harry had so many questions, but he could only watch as Madam Pomfrey made Colin as comfortable as possible and Dumbledore and McGonagall left the hospital wing.

It was a long, long time before Harry was able to fall back asleep.

“Again? They said this has happened before?” Draco asked the next morning as he and Harry left the Hospital Wing.

“That’s what Dumbledore said,” Harry said.

“I’ll ask Father about it in my next letter. He might know something,” Draco said thoughtfully.

Relieved that they might learn something, Harry followed Draco into the Great Hall for breakfast. The entire room was chatting excitedly about something, which Harry and Draco found out when they sat at the Gryffindor table.

“They’re going to start a dueling club,” Ron told them. “Everyone can join.”

“Who’s leading it?” Draco asked, putting some eggs on a plate for Harry.

Ron grimaced and glanced up at the staff table before admitting, “Lockhart.”

Draco dropped Harry’s plate in front of him with a little more aggression than necessary.

“He’s still here?” Draco asked with a hiss.

“Apparently. Maybe it takes time to fire someone?” Ron asked uncertainly.

Harry saw the smoke start to curl from Draco’s hands and quickly assured him, “It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not. He injured you worse than you already were and he let loose Cornish pixies on your class. He clearly has no idea what he’s doing as a teacher and I highly doubt he’ll be successful at teaching anyone how to properly duel,” Draco said angrily.

“He’s honestly not that bad. Better than Quirrell, at any rate,” Harry said, not liking Draco so upset.

Draco huffed, “Well, yes, anyone would be better than someone with the Dark Lord attached to the back of their head.”

Harry grinned and tucked into his breakfast.

“Tell us more about this dueling club,” Harry said to Ron once Draco had started eating his own breakfast.

Harry reasoned it wouldn’t hurt to attend the sessions, even if Lockhart was the professor. Maybe he could learn something from the older students. Either way, he intended on going to the first session, if for no other reason than to watch Lockhart flounder about like an idiot.

The following weekend, he got his wish and the entire school was crammed into the Great Hall, which had been cleared of all tables to leave room for dueling. Lockhart stood in the front of the room where the staff table usually was and had the students gather around.

“Can you all see me? Yes? Good,” Lockhart said, strutting across the front of the room. “Can you all hear me? Excellent. Now, Professor Dumbledore has granted me permission to form this dueling club in light of the recent events at Hogwarts. In case you ever need to defend yourselves.”

With a flourish, he took off his navy blue cape to review a pale blue dueling ensemble underneath. A few of the older girls in the back of the crowd giggled and began whispering amongst themselves.

“Allow me to introduce my assistant: Professor Snape,” Lockhart said, turning to the left where Professor Snape stood in the shadows. At Lockhart’s introduction, he strode forward to stand next to Lockhart on the stage.

“Oh, this will be good,” Draco muttered under his breath, grinning.

“He has agreed to help me demonstrate proper dueling techniques. Not to worry. You’ll still have your Potions teacher by the time we’re finished,” Lockhart said with a wide smile.

The two professors squared off on the stage, holding their wands in front of their faces before turning and walking five steps away from each other. Once they’d moved the proper distance, they turned and took up a fighting stance, wands extended.

“One. Two. Three,” Lockhart counted down.

As soon as he finished, Snape cried out “Expelliarmus” and Lockhart’s wand leapt from his hand into the crowd. One of the giggling girls from earlier rushed forward to return the wand to Lockhart, who was tossing back his golden locks.

“Yes, well. It was a very good idea to show them that, Professor Snape, but it was pretty obvious what you were about to do. I could have stopped you at any time, of course,” Lockhart insisted as he retrieved his wand.

“Perhaps, professor, it would be a good idea to teach the students how to block unfriendly spells,” Snape drawled.

“An excellent idea. Let’s have a demonstration pair,” Lockhart said, scanning the crowd. “Mr. Zabini and Mr. Weasley.”

Ron and Blaise grinned at each other before taking to the stage.

“Now, to block an unfriendly spell, one must use the Protego spell, which will effectively cast a shield around oneself and prevent most spells,” Lockhart instructed.

Ron and Blaise took their places and faced off, wands at the ready.

“On the count of three, I want you to attempt to disarm your opponent, and only disarm. We don’t want any accidents,” Lockhart said. “One. Two. Three.”

“Expelliarmus!” Blaise shouted.

“Protego!” Ron yelled.

Blaise’s blast of red encountered Ron’s shield and bounced off.

“Rictusempra!” Ron shouted.

Blaise wasn’t quite quick enough and the tickling charm hit him square in the chest, causing him to double over with laughter.

“Serpen… Serpensortia!” Blaise gasped between laughter.

A snake flew out of his wand and slithered towards Ron, who blinked down in surprise at the snake. Blaise took the opportunity to cast expelliarmus again and Ron’s wand flew out of his hand. His wand clattered to the ground behind him, but Ron was still focused on the snake headed towards him.

Harry, who was worried Ron was about to be bitten, quickly moved forward and said, “Leave him alone!”

The snake paused it’s slithering to look at Harry, noticing the rest of the crowd. It started to slither towards a girl in yellow Hufflepuff robes.

“Leave her,” Harry said and the snake paused again.

The entire room was silent as Harry and the snake stared at each other.

“Vipera evanesca,” Professor Snape said and the snake slowly disappeared.

“Come with me,” Draco growled, grabbing Harry’s arm and pulling him out of the Great Hall.

Chatter started immediately after the door closed behind them, but Harry was too focused on Draco to pay much attention. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he sensed Draco was angry with him for some reason.

They didn’t walk far before Draco hauled Harry into an empty room, slamming the door behind them.

“What… was that?” Draco asked, glaring at Harry.

“What was what?” Harry asked, confused.

“You speak Parseltongue,” Draco said, sounding angry.

“Parsel-what?” Harry asked, even more confused.

“Parseltongue. Snake language,” Draco said, leaning forward to invade Harry’s space. “You spoke to that snake in there. How long have you been able to do that?”

“I spoke a different language?” Harry asked.

“Harry. Focus. How long have you been able to talk to snakes?” Draco asked again.

“I don’t know… Forever? I set a python on my cousin once, right before I got my Hogwarts’ letter, actually,” Harry said.

Draco continued to frown at him and Harry drew in on himself.

“I don’t understand,” Harry whispered.

“This is bad, Harry. Everyone is going to say you’re the Heir of Slytherin now. Salazar Slytherin was a known parseltongue. It’s why the Slytherin symbol is a snake,” Draco told him.

“But I’m not!” Harry insisted.

“You could be. The Potters can trace their family back almost as far as the Malfoys, but your mother’s side… She could have gotten her magic from a descendent of Slytherin,” Draco said, running a hand through his hair.

Draco blinked and seemed to realize Harry was hunched over. Immediately, he drew Harry into an embrace.

“Sorry,” Draco said softly. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just worried, is all.”

“S’okay,” Harry mumbled into Draco’s shoulder.

“You’ll need to be careful, now. Some of the students might start to blame you for the attacks. If anyone tries to harm you, you’re to tell me immediately, yes?” Draco insisted, his hand fisted in Harry’s hair.

“Yes, Draco,” Harry sighed.

“Good,” Draco murmured, smoothing down Harry’s locks. “I’m sorry I was cross.”

“S’okay,” Harry repeated.

“No, it’s not. You didn’t do anything wrong. I should have been gentler,” Draco said, running a hand down Harry’s back.

Harry swallowed the sudden thickness in his throat, but didn’t say anything. He knew he was safe with Draco, was always safe with Draco, but for a minute… Draco had looked so angry…

“Come on. Let’s get back out there. We may need to do some damage control,” Draco sighed, moving back and taking Harry’s hand in his own.

Harry allowed himself to be pulled from the empty classroom and followed Draco as he led him back to the Great Hall. When they arrived, though, the students were filing out. Some of them glared at Harry as they passed, while others openly stared.

Ron and Blaise were two of the last students to leave and they quickly moved to where Draco and Harry stood when they saw them.

“You all right, mate?” Ron asked Harry.

“Yeah,” Harry nodded.

“Sorry about the spell. I had no idea you were a parseltongue,” Blaise said with a grimace.

“It’s okay,” Harry assured him. “I didn’t know I was speaking a different language.”

“Everyone thinks he’s the Heir of Slytherin, don’t they?” Draco asked.

Blaise winced, but nodded, “That’s what they were all whispering about before Professor Lockhart sent us out.”

Draco glared at Blaise for a solid minute before sighing and turning to Harry.

“Where do you want to go?” Draco asked.

“Common room?” Harry suggested.

Draco nodded and they headed to the Gryffindor common room, where they spent the rest of the afternoon avoiding the school.

Sure enough, Draco’s prediction that the school would turn against Harry proved true the next day. As soon as they entered the Great Hall together, a hush fell across the room. Draco glared at those closest to the door and they quickly turned back to their meals. It wasn’t until Draco had settled Harry at the Gryffindor table that the room returned to its normal chattering state.

“Idiots,” Draco grumbled. “Just try to ignore them.”

This proved to be easier said than done. The entire school whispered about Harry behind their hands. Draco could usually get them to shut up with a look, but he knew they resumed talking about his boy as soon as he’d gone. It infuriated Draco to no end that he couldn’t protect Harry from the student body, but Harry took their hate and distrust in stride.

“The important people know I’m not the Heir. That’s what matters,” Harry told Draco one night while they got ready for bed together.

Still, it didn’t set well with Draco and he expressed his frustration when he wrote to his father about the Chamber of Secrets being opened before. His father’s response hadn’t been as reassuring as Draco had hoped.

His father had little information on when the Chamber was opened before, but didn’t know who had opened it. All he could say is that a girl died as a result, a Muggleborn. He had less to say about the school turning against Harry.

Harry’s right. The important people know the truth. This will pass eventually. The best thing you can do is be there for him.

As if Draco planned on doing the opposite and abandoning his mate. Draco had scoffed at his father’s word and thrown the letter away. He and Harry would have to figure things out some other way.

With Christmas fast approaching, they would at least get a reprieve from the castle when they headed home to the Manor. It was what kept Draco from completely losing his mind every time he caught someone whispering about Harry.

Then the whispering got worse.

Harry followed the voice in the wall again and stumbled across the petrified body of a Hufflepuff boy and the ghost of Nearly Headless Nick.

He discovered the body and ghost just before a class of seventh years left their Charms class. Professor Flitwick had fetched Professor McGonagall and Harry was in the Headmaster’s office before Draco had even heard about what had happened. By the time he made it to the Headmaster’s office, Hagrid was leading Harry out. Harry had assured Draco nothing had happened, that Dumbledore had only asked if there was anything Harry wanted to tell him.

“Did you tell him about hearing the voices?” Draco asked.

“No… I thought about it, though,” Harry admitted.

“No, you did right. Hearing voices isn’t a good sign and you’ve heard far too many of them this year. I don’t like it, but the fewer people who know, the better,” Draco insisted.

“I think it’s the same voice. I just keep hearing it over and over,” Harry corrected him.

“Even one voice is one too many,” Draco said.

Luckily, they would be far away from the castle for Christmas. Hopefully the voices didn’t follow them back to the Manor.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

Harry twisted his new dragon bracelet around his wrist and tried to focus on Professor Binns’ lecture. Draco had given him the bracelet for Christmas just a few weeks prior and Harry was pleased to add it to his dragon necklace that he wore every day. He thought he might be catching a theme to Draco’s Christmas gifts for him, but didn’t mind. He liked being branded with Draco’s dragons. They reminded him that he wasn’t alone anymore, that Draco was there and would always be there.

As Professor Binns droned on about the ogre wars, Harry allowed himself to be lulled into a sort of trance. While he heard every word Binns said, he didn’t take in the information. Instead, his mind wandered to thoughts of Draco and their time spent with Draco’s parents over Christmas break. The break had been far too short and Harry was eager to return to the Manor again at school’s end.

After History of Magic, Harry made his way down towards the dungeons, intending on finding Draco in the Slytherin common rooms. When he arrived at the second-floor corridor, it was flooded with water up to his ankles. Curious, he tracked the source back to a girl lavatory, where he could hear someone inside crying.

“Hello? Are you all right?” Harry asked through a crack in the door.

“Come to throw another book at me?” a voice asked with a sniffle.

“Why would I want to throw a book at you?” Harry asked, pushing the door open a little farther so he could stick his head inside.

He spotted a ghost, floating above a set of sinks, her hair in pigtails. She wore large, rounded glasses and was dressed in a Hogwarts school uniform from the past. Clearly, a former student who had died.

“Sorry, I didn’t realize –“ Harry started to say.

“So you did throw the book at me?” the ghost wailed.

“No, no. I didn’t. I swear. I just noticed the floor was flooded and came to check-“ Harry began again.

“Who wouldn’t want to throw things at miserable, moping, moaning Myrtle?” the ghost cried before diving into a nearby toilet.

The splash of water sent a wave to Harry feet. Floating along in the current was an ordinary looking black book. One he recognized immediately as the diary from Malfoy Manor.

Snatching the diary up, he hurried from the girl’s lavatory before he could be spotted and practically ran to the Gryffindor common room, the diary safe in his bag. When he arrived at his dorm, he opened his bag only to find that one of his ink bottles must not have been tightened all the way and ink had splashed across all his text books. Dismayed at the mess, he began pulling the books out one by one and giving them a thorough wipe down.

But when he got to the diary, there was nothing to wipe up. It was as if the ink didn’t touch the book.

Curious, Harry grabbed a nearby quill and ink pot, dipping the quill into the ink and opening the diary to a random page. There he paused, uncertain what to write and a drop of ink fell from his quill onto the page.

The dot vanished almost immediately.

Realizing there was some magic to the diary, Harry re-inked his quill and wrote out:

My name is Harry Potter.

The words stayed on the page for a moment before vanishing. Almost immediately, new words appeared.

Hello, Harry Potter. My name is Tom Riddle.

The diary wrote back!

Excited at the prospect, Harry thought of what else he could write. Before he could come up with anything, the book wrote more.

Do you want to know about the Chamber of Secrets?

The diary knew about the chamber? How did it know? What did it know?

Yes.

Harry waited for the book to tell him more.

Let me show you.

The spine of the book flashed a blinding white and Harry felt himself being sucked forward, into the pages. When the light vanished, Harry found himself near the grand staircase of Hogwarts, where a young man stood.

“Are you Tom Riddle?” Harry asked.

The boy ignored him, focused up the staircase.

As Harry watched, a couple of wizards came down, a stretcher between them. A sheet lay over the stretcher, but a slim arm hung out from beneath the sheet.

There was a person underneath.

“Riddle!”

Harry turned to see Professor Dumbledore at the top of the staircase, motioning for Tom to come to him. Tom hurried up the stairs and Harry followed him.

“Professor Dumbledore. I had to see for myself if the rumors were true,” Tom said.

“I’m afraid they are,” Dumbledore said gravely.

“About the school as well? They wouldn’t really close Hogwarts, would they, sir?” Tom asked.

“I am afraid Headmaster Dippet may have no choice,” Dumbledore said.

“What if the attacks stopped? Would they keep the school open?” Tom asked.

Dumbledore and Harry both looked at Tom with suspicion, but it was Dumbledore who asked, “Is there something you wish to tell me?”

Harry started. It was the same question Dumbledore had asked him before Christmas break. Exactly the same words.

“No, sir,” Tom said.

“Very well then. Off you go,” Dumbledore said after a moments pause.

“Good night, sir,” Tom said before walking away.

Harry followed Tom throughout the castle, down a set of stairs to near where the Slytherin common room was. Tom led him to an unused classroom. Wand extended, he opened the classroom door and walked in.

“Evening, Hagrid,” Tom said.

Hagrid? Harry hurried forward to see a much younger Hagrid standing in front of a chest.

“Tom. What are you-“ Hagrid started, but Tom quickly cut him off.

“I’m going to have to turn you in. I know you didn’t mean it to kill anyone,” Tom said.

“You can’t. You don’t understand,” Hagrid said insistently.

“The dead girl’s parents will be here tomorrow. The least Hogwarts can do is make sure the thing that killed their daughter is slaughtered,” Tom said.

“It wasn’t Aragog. He wouldn’t hurt no one. Never,” Hagrid said, his hand falling to the top of the chest.

“Monsters don’t make good pets, Hagrid,” Tom said regrettably.

What kind of monster did Hagrid have?

“Stand aside, now,” Tom said.

“No!” Hagrid shouted.

“Stand aside!” Tom snarled.

“I won’t!” Hagrid yelled.

“Cistem Aperio,” Tom said and the lid to the trunk flung open.

Something scurried out, too quickly to Harry to see, other than it was the size of a large dog.

“Arania exumai!” Tom shouted and a spell bounced off the stone floor where the creature had been a moment before.

“Aragog!” Hagrid cried and tried to follow after the creature.

“I can’t let you go, Hagrid. They’ll have your wand for this. You’ll be expelled,” Tom said, wand now trained on Hagrid.

“No… No. Hagrid!” Harry protested, reaching out to try and pull Tom’s wand away.

But he was being pulled backwards, sucked through the pages of the diary until he found himself back in the Gryffindor dormitory. Gasping for breath, Harry shook his head to clear his thoughts.

Hagrid had opened the Chamber all those years ago? Had he really?

Hagrid did have a thing for treating monsters as pets. The dragon from last year. Fluffy. Harry could well see Hagrid protecting something most other people would call monstrous.

But did he believe Hagrid would protect a monster that had killed someone?

He wasn’t so sure.

Harry didn’t tell anyone about the diary or what it had shown him. Not even Draco. He didn’t want anyone thinking poorly of Hagrid. Not until he could prove that Hagrid was responsible for the Chamber being opened.

He didn’t write to Tom anymore, but he had taken to carrying the diary around with him again. He couldn’t explain why, but he felt compelled to keep the diary close. At least, he did for about a week after Tom showed him about the Chamber and Hagrid. Then Harry realized Draco might think something was wrong if Harry kept carrying a blank diary around with him.

The last thing he wanted was Draco to think Hagrid had anything to do with the Chamber being opened.

So he hid the diary in his school trunk, confident it would be safe.

He and Draco were wandering the school grounds during a free period when Neville came running up to them.

“Harry! I don’t know who did it, but you better come, quick,” Neville gasped before turning around and hurrying back the way he’d come.

Harry and Draco took off after him, following him back to the boys’ dormitory, where they found Ron, Seamus, and Dean standing in the midst of an absolute wreck. The room had been torn to pieces. Every item of Harry’s trunk was thrown about the room. His bedding was slashed and his curtains hung in frayed ribbons down the bed.

“What in Merlin’s name?” Draco asked, staring around. “Who did this?”

“We don’t know. I came up after lunch to grab one of my books and found it like this,” Dean said.

“Whoever it was, they only touched Harry’s stuff,” Seamus pointed out.

“It must have been a Gryffindor. No one else knows how to get in here. Well, except Draco,” Ron said wryly.

“I certainly wasn’t tearing apart Harry’s things,” Draco insisted, glaring at Ron.

“I wasn’t suggesting you did,” Ron assured him. “But unless it wasn’t a student, I don’t know who else could have gotten in.”

“They were clearly looking for something. But what?” Neville asked.

Harry had a feeling he knew. Shuffling through his things, he noticed the absence of one particular diary.

“Whatever it was, can you tell if they found it?” Ron asked Harry.

Harry shook his head, unwilling to admit to having kept Tom’s diary a secret from them all. Especially Draco.

“The house elves should be able to sort this all to rights. Nothing looks permanently damaged,” Draco said reassuringly.

“Yeah. I think you’re right,” Harry agreed.

“I do think we’ll spend the night in Slytherin tonight, though. Just to be safe,” Draco decided.

Harry nodded, knowing the threat had passed, but also knowing Draco didn’t know what the threat was to begin with. Whoever had thrown Tom’s diary at Myrtle had clearly seen Harry walking around with it. Realizing the diary hadn’t been flushed down the toilet, they must have wanted to get the diary back.

But who would have found the diary in the first place? Harry had lost it in Diagon Alley, but he couldn’t say for sure when he’d lost it. Most likely during all the hustle and bustle at Florish and Blotts, but he hadn’t checked his pockets before entering the store. He could have lost the diary at any point during their trip.

Resigned to not knowing, Harry stood up from the mess on the floor.

“It’s fine. Nothing’s damaged beyond repair, like Draco said. Thank you for coming and getting me,” Harry said, nodding at Neville.

“Of course. Are you sure you’re all right?” Neville asked.

Harry nodded and gave Neville a small smile to reassure him.

“Come on. Let’s get out of here. We can go flying,” Draco suggested, taking Harry hand.

Flying with Draco was just the distraction Harry needed and he followed Draco eagerly back outside the castle. Stripping off his shirt, Draco waved Harry to come closer. Once Harry was securely in Draco’s hold, Draco allowed his wings to unfurl and they were off.

The cool air cleared Harry’s mind and he thought to himself that whoever had taken Tom’s diary was welcome to it. It had given Harry all the information it could about the Chamber of Secrets and Harry was hard pressed to believe any of it was Hagrid’s doing. No, there was some other explanation for the Chamber. He just had to figure out what it was.

It was during the match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff that it dawned on Harry. He was flying above the crowd, mindlessly searching for the snitch, when the crowd of Hufflepuffs started hissing at him. Like a snake.

A snake that Harry had spoken to.

A snake that Harry could have understood if it spoke to him.

A snake… a voice… that only Harry could hear.

The Chamber of Secrets monster. It had to be some sort of snake! That would explain why Harry always heard the voice before he came upon someone who had been petrified. The voice Harry had been hearing and the monster were connected.

He saw the flash of gold from the corner of his eye and took off after the snitch, still reeling from his discovery.

He would need to do some research. See what kind of snakes could petrify people. It wouldn’t take him any closer to finding the Chamber, but now that he knew what the monster was, he could…

Could what?

Tell Dumbledore, he supposed.

But what could Dumbledore do?

Harry’s hand enclosed around the snitch and he began his descent.

As his teammates surrounded him, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment. Sure, he may have figured out what the monster was, but he was no closer to stopping it. He didn’t even know what snake it was. Or really if it was a snake.

As soon as he had cleaned up from the match, Harry headed towards the library. Which is where Draco found him several hours later, head buried in a book on creatures that originated in the Middle East. He’d already excluded books on Asian and African beasts. He was hoping to find something in this book, or else he’d have failed in confirming his suspicions about what the monster was.

“There you are,” Draco said, taking a seat next to Harry. “I’ve been looking for you for ages.”

“Sorry. I… I had a thought while I was flying today,” Harry said, finger paused on a page regarding Herpo the Foul.

“What thought?” Draco asked.

But Harry was staring at the book and didn’t seem to hear Draco. The book spoke about a giant snake, which could be bred by hatching a chicken egg beneath a toad. The basilisk was a deadly creature whose gaze killed anyone whom it made contact with.

This was it! It had to be.

But why had no one died? They had only been petrified.

Eye contact… A person had to make eye contact with the basilisk.

Wait.

Colin had been holding up his camera when he was petrified. He would have only seen the basilisk through its lens. And the Hufflepuff Harry had found with Nearly Headless Nick. He must have seen the basilisk through Nick… who would have gotten the full blast of the basilisk gaze, but he couldn’t be killed twice. He was already a ghost.

Mrs. Norris… she had been found near a pool of water. She must have seen the reflection of the basilisk in it.

“Oh, no,” Harry murmured, gripping the book tightly.

“Harry. What thought did you have?” Draco asked, reaching out to grip Harry’s wrist.

Instead of answering, Harry pushed the book over to Draco. Giving Harry a concerned look, Draco leaned over to read the page Harry had left open. It didn’t take long for Draco to come to the same conclusion Harry had.

“You think the Chamber of Secrets houses a basilisk,” Draco said softly.

“It makes sense, doesn’t it? A voice only I can hear? It must be a snake. And this is the only snake I can find who would petrify people,” Harry insisted.

“But, Harry… Someone would notice a giant snake slithering around. I don’t-“ Draco started to argue, but Harry cut him off with a gasp.

“No. No, it makes sense. I only hear the voice behind walls. What if it’s using the pipes to move around?” Harry asked, gripping Draco’s hand tightly.

Draco stared at Harry for a long time, but Harry knew he was right. This explained everything.

“If you’re right, we need to tell someone,” Draco said.

“I’m right, Draco. I know I am,” Harry said.

“Okay. Then let’s go talk to Severus,” Draco nodded and pulled Harry from the table.

Relieved that Draco believed him, Harry followed Draco from the library towards the dungeons. They were hurrying along the third-floor corridor when McGonagall’s voice echoed through the halls.

“All students are to return to their dormitories at once. All staff proceed to the second-floor corridor.”

Draco looked at Harry in concern, but Harry was already taking off towards the stairs.

“Harry!” Draco called, hurrying after him.

Harry managed to keep ahead of Draco until they came to where the staff had gathered on the second floor. They were standing almost exactly where Harry and Draco had found Mrs. Norris all those months ago.

“Harry,” Draco hissed when he finally caught up to him.

“Shh!” Harry shushed, listening to what McGonagall was saying.

“Our worst fears have been realized. A student has been taken to the Chamber. We’ll have to send the students home,” McGonagall said.

At that point, Lockhart came striding down the hall.

“So sorry. Dozed off. What have I missed?” he asked jovially.

“A girl has been snatched by the monster, Lockhart. Your moment has come at last,” Snape drawled.

“My… my moment?” Lockhart stuttered.

“Weren’t you just saying last night that you’ve known all along where the Chamber is hidden?” Snape asked.

“That’s settled, then. We’ll leave you to deal with the monster, Gilderoy. Your skills, after all, are legend,” McGonagall said.

Harry had to fight hard not to snort in disbelief.

“Ah, yes. Very well. I’ll just be in my office, getting ready,” Lockhart said confidently before striding off the way he’d come.

“Who is it the monster’s taken, Minerva?” Madam Pomfrey asked.

McGonagall paused before saying softly, “Ginny Weasley.”

She led the professors away, discussing plans on sending the students home. As they cleared away, Harry could see words written on the wall.

Her skeleton will lie in the chamber forever.

“Ron,” Harry whispered.

He couldn’t let his friend’s sister die in the Chamber.

“Harry, no,” Draco said.

“But Draco, we can’t leave her there. And I’m the only one who can talk to snakes. I’m the only one who has a chance of saving her from the basilisk,” Harry insisted.

“You don’t even know where the Chamber is,” Draco pointed out.

Harry frowned, realizing Draco was right.

Where would the Chamber be hidden? He doubted Lockhart actually knew anything about its location. He thought back to the memory Tom’s diary had shown him.

The girl… the one who had been killed. She was being carried from the second-floor corridor. The same corridor they were standing in now.

What if… what if she’d never left?

Chapter Text

Chapter Six

“I might have an idea,” Harry said excitedly. “Come on!”

He took off towards the bathroom where he’d first found Tom’s diary. His only hope was that Myrtle was still there.

Sure enough, when he and Draco entered the girl’s lavatory, they found Myrtle floating above the sinks, sighing to herself.

“Myrtle!” Harry called.

“Oh. Hello,” Myrtle said shyly.

Harry paid attention to her robes, then. They were the same style Tom and Hagrid had been wearing in the diary memory.

“Boys aren’t supposed to be in here. What do you want?” Myrtle asked, glaring at them.

“To ask you how you died,” Harry said.

Myrtle’s face lit up and she floated down to hover in front of Harry and Draco.

“Oh, it was awful. It happened right here, in this very bathroom. I’d hidden because Olive Hornby was making fun of my glasses. I was crying, but then I heard somebody come in,” Myrtle said.

“Who was it?” Harry asked urgently.

“I don’t know! I was distraught!” Myrtle wailed. “But they said something funny, in a kind of made-up language and I could tell it was a boy talking, so I opened the door to tell him to go away and… I died.”

“Just like that? How?” Harry asked, hoping he was right.

“I just remember seeing a pair of great, big, yellow eyes, over there, but that sink,” Myrtle said, pointing.

Harry hurried forward and examined the sink, noticing a snake engraved on the piping.

“This is it! Draco, the Chamber entrance,” Harry said excitedly.

“That’s great. Now we can go tell a professor and they can come rescue Ginny,” Draco said, grasping Harry’s wrist and tugging him towards the door.

“We can’t wait. We have to go now,” Harry insisted, pulling against Draco’s hold.

“Harry. If you’re right, there’s a giant snake down there that could kill us both with a single glance. If you think I’m letting you go down there, you’re insane,” Draco said calmly. “Now, let’s go.”

“Draco, we can’t leave her down there. Ron would never forgive me,” Harry said, still pulling away from Draco. “Besides, I can speak to the basilisk. I’ll convince it not to hurt us.”

Draco stared at Harry for a long moment.

“Short of tying you up, there’s nothing I can do to stop you, is there?” Draco asked.

“No,” Harry said stubbornly.

“Merlin’s wrinkled arse,” Draco muttered. “All right. How do we get in?”

“I think… if I can say something in parseltongue, it might open. Myrtle said the boy was speaking a made up language… Right, Myrtle?” Harry asked, turning back to the ghost.

“If you die down there, you’re always welcome to share my toilet,” Myrtle said in response.

Harry decided to take it as confirmation and turned back to the sink. Closing his eyes, he concentrated on imagining there was a snake in front of him. He’d never done this without a real snake before. It was harder than he thought it would be.

“Open,” Harry said.

“English,” Draco told him.

Frowning at the etching of the snake, Harry moved shifted on his feet until the flickering of the lights caused the snake to appear as if it were moving.

“Open,” he repeated.

This time, there was a lurch and the sound of grinding stones. The sink sunk into the ground, revealing a tunnel. When Harry would have moved to start down the tunnel, Draco stopped him.

“Hold on. You’re not going first,” Draco said, pulling Harry back.

“But, Draco-“ Harry began to protest.

“I’ll fly down there and make sure everything is all right. Then you can follow,” Draco told him, beginning to take off his shirt.

His wings unfurled themselves from between his shoulder blades and Draco shook them out. Walking to the edge of the tunnel, he tucked his wings in close and then dove into the opening. Harry heard the sound of his wings spreading open, brushing the stone walls.

After only a moment, Draco called up, “It’s safe. Come down.”

Hesitating not a moment, Harry scooted to the tunnel and slide down. He fell for a rather long time before the tunnel spat him out at Draco’s feet. Draco reached down to help him up before brushing his off rather briskly.

“At the first sign of movement, you close your eyes. Yes?” Draco asked sternly.

Harry nodded.

“Okay. Let’s go,” Draco sighed.

Harry followed him through a nearby opening that lead to a cave-like structure with a low ceiling. On the ground, stretching on for what seemed like forever, was the skin of the basilisk.

“This thing is huge. At least 60 feet long,” Draco said.

Harry nodded, suddenly wondering if they were in over their heads. But he couldn’t let Draco sense his hesitation. Draco would use any excuse to get Harry out of there and go find a teacher.

No. They were so close. They had to get to Ginny.

“Come on,” Harry said, climbing over the snake skin.

They moved along the cave until they came to a door with seven snakes on it. It was round and built into the cavern walls.

Concentrating, Harry squinted at the snakes and said, “Open.”

The snakes retracted one by one until the door swung open, revealing a massive Chamber. Snake statues lined the walls, at least twenty feet tall. At the end of the Chamber was a carving of a man’s face. At the base of the man’s beard was a figure.

“Ginny!” Harry shouted, hurrying forward.

“Harry, wait!” Draco yelled, following.

Harry skidded to a stop next to Ginny’s prone form. He reached out to touch her hand and nearly jerked away at how cold she was.

“Ginny. Ginny, wake up. Wake up. Please don’t be dead,” Harry muttered, shaking her.

“Harry,” Draco murmured, his hand resting on Harry’s shoulder.

“She won’t wake,” a voice called from the corner of the cavern.

Harry looked to the source and saw Tom Riddle leaning casually against the Chamber walls.

“Tom? What are you…? She’s not…” Harry trailed off uncertainly.

“She’s alive, but only just,” Tom assured him.

“Are you a ghost?” Harry asked, confused as to how Tom could be standing in front of him, looking exactly the same as he had when Harry had been sucked into the diary.

Draco’s hand on Harry’s shoulder clenched.

“A memory. Preserved in a diary for 50 years,” Tom explained.

“You’ve got to help us get her out of here. There’s a basilisk,” Harry started to explain.

“It won’t come until it’s called,” Tom said smoothly.

Draco’s claws extended and pierced Harry’s shoulder, but he hardly noticed.

“We’ve got to go. We’ve got to save her,” Harry insisted urgently.

“I can’t do that, Harry. You see, as Ginny grows weaker, I grow stronger,” Tom said.

Draco tried to pull Harry behind him, but Harry shrugged him off, frowning at Tom.

“You see, it was Ginny Weasley who opened the Chamber of Secrets and released the basilisk. Ginny who wrote the threatening messages on the walls,” Tom smiled. “Not that she knew what she was doing. She was in a sort of… trance. But still, the power of the diary started to scare her and she tried to get rid of it, when who should find it but you. The person I most wanted to meet.”

“And why would you want to meet me?” Harry asked, starting to get angry.

“Harry,” Draco hissed.

“How is it that a baby with no extraordinary magical talent was able to defeat the most powerful wizard of all time? How is it you walked away with nothing more than a scar, while Lord Voldemort was ripped to shreds?” Tom asked heatedly.

“Why do you care? Voldemort was after your time,” Harry said.

“Lord Voldemort is my past, present, and future,” Tom said with a grin.

Turning, he waved his hand and the words Tom Marvolo Riddle. With another wave of his hand, the letters rearranged themselves to read Lord Voldemort.

“You. You’re the heir of Slytherin. You’re Lord Voldemort,” Harry said in dawning realization.

Harry felt Draco shifting behind him, but kept his focus on Tom, who had begun circling them.

“Surely you didn’t think I was going to keep my filthy Muggle father’s name? No. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards would one day fear to speak, a name befitting the greatest sorcerer in the world!” Tom exclaimed.

“Then why is it you fear Dumbledore?” Harry asked.

“Dumbledore is nothing but a tired old fool,” Tom sneered. “He’ll be gone soon enough.”

With that, Tom spun around and walked towards the face carved in stone.

Holding out his hand, Tom shouted in parseltongue, “Open to me.”

The mouth of the face rumbled open. Draco pulled Harry to his feet and tugged at him until he stood behind Draco. It was only then Harry realized Draco was in his full Veela form. His skin had turned leathery, as had his wings. Claws protruded from his fingers, which had doubled in length. As Tom turned to face them, Draco hissed in loud warning.

“Let’s match the power of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Slytherin to the famous Harry Potter,” Tom mocked.

Something began moving in the opening of the face. Realizing he and Draco were about to come face to face with the basilisk, Harry reached forward to grip Draco’s shoulder.

“Run!” Harry shouted.

He and Draco took off running towards the entrance to the Chamber. Harry heard Tom hiss orders to the snake before shouting, “Parseltongue won’t save you now, Potter. It only answers to me.”

As Harry and Draco ran towards the opening of the Chamber, something flew in. Small and red, with golden feathers, Harry gaped at Dumbledore’s phoenix. It dropped flew through the Chamber, dropping something next to Ginny’s prone body, before circling around towards the basilisk.

The Chamber door slammed shut of its own accord and Harry and Draco skidded to a halt.

“This way!” Draco said, pulling Harry down a side tunnel.

Harry followed Draco, but he heard squishing noises and a loud roar before Tom shouted “NO!”

A moment later, Tom’s voice echoed through the Chamber.

“Your bird may have blinded the basilisk, but it can still hear you!”

They were safe from the basilisk’s gaze.

“Wait,” Harry whispered, pulling Draco into another side tunnel.

This one was blocked, but they didn’t have time to turn around before the basilisk slithered past. Draco pushed Harry behind him, blocking him from the basilisk with his massive wings. He needn’t have worried, though, the basilisk passed their tunnel and continued on its way, hissing softly.

Let me kill you.

Harry shuddered at the low voice, which he had heard through the walls all year.

Once the basilisk has passed, Draco grabbed Harry’s hand and pulled him back towards the main Chamber.

“We can’t leave Ginny,” Harry insisted.

“We’re not,” Draco assured him, pulling Harry towards where Ginny lay.

Next to her, the item that Fawkes had dropped had unraveled to reveal… the sorting hat?

Harry blinked at the hat in confusion, wondering why Fawkes had brought the hat with him when he flew down to the Chamber. Picking it up, he didn’t have time to dwell on why it was in the chamber, as Draco knelt next to Ginny and began to lift her.

“It won’t do you any good. The exchange is almost complete. Lord Voldemort will return. Very much alive,” Tom said with a wide, evil grin.

Draco had Ginny in his arms and was turning towards Harry when the basilisk came back into the Chamber with a loud roar.

“Harry!” Draco shouted.

But Harry was staring at the hat in his hands, where a hand had just appeared with glittering red stones. Grasping the handle, he let the hat fall to reveal a massive sword.

“Get Ginny out of here!” Harry yelled, holding the sword aloft and running towards the basilisk.

“HARRY!” Draco screamed.

But Harry wasn’t listening. He wasn’t about to let the basilisk hurt anyone else.

The basilisk seemed to know exactly where Harry was by the sound of his breathing and footsteps. As Harry splashed through the water at the base of the carved face, the basilisk lunged towards him. It missed and Harry was able to climb up the face’s beard. If he could get high enough, maybe he could stab the sword through the basilisk’s eye socket.

It was the best plan he could come up with as he continued to climb, dodging the basilisk’s strikes and the rubble that rained down on him.

He made it to the top of the man’s head, where there was a flat enough area for Harry to gain his footing. The basilisk roared, lunging towards Harry. Realizing this was his only chance, Harry thrust the blade forward.

Pain unlike anything he’d ever experience ripped through his arm and he heard Draco give a wordless shriek. Fireballs suddenly rained down on the basilisk, but it was too late. Harry’s sword had found purchase in the basilisk’s brain. It fell backward, the sword sliding smoothly from it’s skull, revealing a fang embedded in Harry’s arm.

“NO!” Tom shouted.

Draco was suddenly there, his arms around Harry. They were weightless for a moment and then Harry was gently lowered on the ground next to Ginny.

“Harry,” Draco whispered, hand hovering over the basilisk fang still in Harry’s arm. Absently, Harry noticed Draco had returned to his human form. The fingers that reached out were Draco’s normal size.

“Remarkable isn’t it, how quickly the basilisk venom penetrates the body. I’d guess he has less than a minute to live,” Tom said in mock sadness.

“Harry, no,” Draco moaned, clutching him tightly.

“You’ll be with your dear Mudblood mother soon, Harry,” Tom drawled.

Harry reached out blindly for the diary, his fingers fumbling against Ginny’s.

“Funny what a silly little book can do. Especially in the hands of a foolish little girl,” Tom mocked.

“Help me,” Harry whispered to Draco.

Draco grabbed the diary and gave it to Harry, who then grabbed the fang in his arm and yanked it out. The pain was unbearable, but he twisted in Draco’s arms until he had the diary on the floor in front of him.

“What are you doing?” Tom asked.

Harry opened the diary to a random page and stabbed the basilisk fang into the spine.

“No! Stop!” Tom cried.

But it was too late. The diary bled black ink across the pages. Taking out the fang, Harry stabbed the book again. And again. And again.

Tom screamed in pain and anger, but as Harry used the last of his strength to pierce the diary one final time, the image of Tom exploded in a blinding light.

Harry fell back into Draco’s arms, his strength spent.

“Harry,” Draco breathed.

He looked over and saw that Ginny was sitting up, looking around the Chamber. When her eyes landed on Draco and Harry, she gasped and hurried forward.

“Harry. It was me, but I swear, I didn’t mean to,” Ginny said tearfully.

“I know,” Harry mumbled, struggling to sit up.

“Harry… you’re hurt,” Ginny whispered.

“It’s your fault,” Draco snarled.

“No. No, it’s okay,” Harry insisted. “You need to get her out of here.”

“I’m not leaving you,” Draco snapped.

“You heard Tom. I’m not going to make it much longer,” Harry said.

“Shut up. Shut up. You’re not allowed to die on me,” Draco said angrily.

“Yes, Draco,” Harry said with a faint smile.

A sudden cry pierced through the air and Harry flopped his head over to see Fawkes flying towards them. The bird landed on Harry’s knee and blinked at him.

“You were brilliant, Fawkes. I just… wasn’t quick enough,” Harry sighed.

Fawkes hopped forward until he was directly over Harry’s wound. He blinked once, twice, three times. A tear fell from his eye and landed on the open gash left by the fang. As Harry, Draco, and Ginny watched, the wound began to close in on itself.

“Phoenix tears have healing properties,” Harry said, laughing as his strength started to return.

Draco pulled him into a tight embrace, causing Fawkes to fly away with another cry. But Harry was too busy trying to breathe in Draco’s hold to really notice. Draco seemed to be having trouble breathing, too, and was panting against Harry’s neck.

“It’s okay, Draco. I’m fine,” Harry assured him, running a hand down his back.

Draco nodded, but didn’t let go.

“It’s over,” Harry said firmly.

Draco nodded again and managed to separate himself from Harry. Harry felt like his chest was about to cave in at the tears streaming down Draco’s face.

“Draco,” Harry murmured, reaching out.

Draco cupped Harry’s hand against his cheek and didn’t bother trying to hide his tears.

“Come on. I want you checked out by Madam Pomfrey,” Draco said gruffly.

Harry nodded, not about to argue. Draco stood up first and then pulled Harry to his feet. Harry was left to help Ginny to hers as Draco glared at her. Together, they left the Chamber behind. Once they got to the opening of the tunnel, Draco unfurled his wings.

“Hold on to me tightly,” Draco instructed.

Harry pulled Ginny close before wrapping his arm around Draco’s waist. Draco’s wings were strong enough to fly them out of the tunnel in a matter of moments. As soon as their feet touched down on the bathroom floor, Draco shoved Ginny away from him.

“You’re lucky Harry survived, Weasley,” Draco snarled.

“I’m sorry,” Ginny whispered.

Draco sneered at her and didn’t say anything.

“It’s fine. Come on. You need to be checked out as well,” Harry insisted, urging them towards the door.

“Oh. You made it,” Myrtle said sadly.

“Sorry, Myrtle. But, uh, I’ll be sure to come visit,” Harry said over his shoulder.

Myrtle waved slowly as they exited the bathroom, headed to the hospital wing.

Draco stood at the base of the staircase, staring at the golden griffin. He was trying to be patient, but it had already been thirty minutes since Dumbledore had excused him from the office to speak to Harry alone. Draco didn’t like having his boy out from his sight, even if there was only one way to get in and out of the Headmaster’s office.

The griffin finally began spinning and Draco practically leapt from the wall. Seconds later, Harry appeared and Draco felt like he could breathe again. He wasn’t sure when he would settle into the knowledge that Harry was safe, but he thought it might take quite some time before his heart stopped racing every time Harry was out of his sight. Draco pulled Harry to him by wrapping an arm around his shoulders.

“All good?” Draco asked.

“All good,” Harry agreed with a happy sigh.

And Draco felt more of his anxiety fall away. His boy was safe and happy. That was enough for now.

As they walked down the steps from the Headmaster’s office, Draco was surprised to see his father storming up the steps.

“Father?” Draco asked.

“Draco. Harry,” Father said before gathering them into a tight, but quick embrace. “I just left your mother with Severus to look for you. You’ll want to go see her, assure her you’re all right.”

“Yes, Father. But where are you-“ Draco started to ask, but his father cut him off.

“I have an urgent need to speak with Dumbledore regarding the handling of these attacks,” Father said darkly.

Draco nodded, relieved his father was going to do something about this.

“Sir… The diary. The one that possessed Ginny? It… it came from your library,” Harry said haltingly.

Draco felt his entire body jerk and looked from his mate to his father and back again. His father’s face was white.

“What diary?” Father asked softly.

“Harry. How do you know this?” Draco asked at the same time.

“Because I’m the one who found it. I took it with me to Diagon Alley and Ginny… somehow she must have found it, because I lost it that day we ran into Lockhart,” Harry told him.

“What diary, Harry?” Father repeated, a little harsher this time.

Draco hissed at his father, his protective instincts still on high alert after the Chamber.

“Tom Riddle’s diary,” Harry said. “Lord Voldemort’s diary.”

Father suddenly turned from white to green, looking as though he might be sick.

“Oh, dear Merlin,” Father muttered weakly.

“Father. Why did you have something of Lord Voldemort’s in the house?” Draco asked suspiciously.

“Because… I was a spy for the Veela High Council. I infiltrated the Dark Lord’s followers and became one of his most trusted allies,” Father said. “I’ll admit, I had forgotten about the diary. I wish you’d have told me about it, Harry.”

“You were a Death Eater?” Draco asked in horror.

“Unwillingly, yes,” Father said, reaching towards Draco. “The Veela High Council trusted me with finding out if the Dark Lord was truly someone they wanted to align themselves with. After I went undercover, they realized he held Veela in no greater esteem than Muggles. They left me undercover to track his movements and I… I was good at my job.”

Draco stared at Father, unable to believe what he was hearing. His father, the man he looked up to more than anyone, had worked for the man who tried to kill his mate.

“Draco, please,” Father pleaded.

“Draco,” Harry whispered, reaching up to squeeze Draco’s hand. “It’s okay.”

“Did you know he was going to attack Harry’s family?” Draco asked harshly.

“Of course not, Draco. And I had no way of knowing Harry would become your mate. Even if I had known, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him,” Father said.

“If he were to come back, would you return to him?” Draco asked.

“No,” Father gasped. “How could you even ask me that? To return to the side of the man intent on killing your mate? My son’s mate? It would be signing your death warrant.”

“What if Harry wasn’t my mate?” Draco continued to push.

“I… I don’t know. It would depend on what the High Council required of me,” Father admitted.

Draco glared at his father.

“But Harry is your mate. If the Dark Lord returned, of course I would do everything in my power to help you keep Harry safe,” Father insisted.

Harry squeezed Draco’s hand again and Draco knew Harry wanted him to forgive his father. But Harry had to come first. Always.

“Voldemort almost returned yesterday. If Harry hadn’t stopped him, he would have. There might be other things out there that can bring him back. Swear to me you’ll protect Harry from him,” Draco demanded.

“I swear,” Father said immediately.

Nodding his acceptance, Draco tugged at Harry’s shoulders.

“Come on. Let’s go find Mother and let her fuss over us,” Draco said cheerily.

Harry allowed Draco to lead him from his father, who continued up the stairs towards the Headmaster’s office. They found Mother standing in front of the doors to the Great Hall with Severus beside her.

“Draco! Harry!” Mother cried, rushing forward.

She enveloped them in her arms, holding them tightly to her as she rocked them back and forth.

“Thank Merlin you’re both all right. But what were you thinking? You should have gone immediately to Severus as soon as you realized what was happening,” Mother scolded.

“Yes, Mother,” Draco said, not willing to blame Harry.

“You’re both very, very lucky to have survived. You realize this, yes?” Mother asked.

“Yes, Mother,” Draco repeated. Harry nodded beside him.

“Good,” Mother said, pulling them into another hug. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you both.”

Draco nearly grinned at the stunned look on Harry’s face when she finally released them. It was new for his boy to have people care about him, especially adults. Mother and Father had made inroads over the holidays, but to see Mother showing as much concern over Harry as she was over Draco was clearly hitting Harry hard.

“Now, I understand you’ll be choosing your extracurricular classes next week. Have you given thought as to which classes you’ll be taking?” Mother asked, turning them towards the Great Hall, where lunch was being served.

Draco and Harry spent the rest of the afternoon with Mother and Father, once Father rejoined them from Dumbledore’s office. Over the course of the day, they heard that the people who had been petrified where up and moving again. This proved true when Colin Creevey ran up to Harry on the lawn midafternoon and babbled about how amazing it was that Harry had saved the entire school.

Seeing his mate turn a lovely shade of red, Draco found himself laughing for the first time since the Chamber. He couldn’t resist leaning over and placing a kiss on Harry’s flushed cheek. Which, of course, only made Harry turn a brighter shade of red.

In a couple weeks’ time, they would be back home at the Manor. And hopefully, their next year at Hogwarts would be incredibly boring.