Harry came to, and found his eyes immediately searching for his blond Slytherin. Unfortunately the one he found wasn't quite the one he was looking for.

"Mr. Potter? Are you awake?"

Deciding to ignore the obvious question and focusing instead on the only thing he could Harry avoided rolling his eyes. He was pretty sure that would only make his throbbing head worse.

"He's fine. He woke up about ten minutes ago worried about you. Couldn't get him to relax so he took some Dreamless Sleep. Which you need to take as well."

"What happened?"

"You killed a Dark Lord in front of three dozen witnesses and promptly fainted. Not sure what that's going to look like on your resume."

The Gryffindor shook his head and choked back the resulting moan as the pain shot through his skull. Was this man trying to drive him insane?

"No with Draco. Is he okay? Why did he collapse like that? Where is he? How did we get back here?" He blinked up at the ceiling, "In the Hospital Wing? And why are you here?"

"He passed out from exhaustion. You lasted only long enough to be apparated away from the Manor. You were unconscious by the time we landed on the grounds. It was kind of adorable actually."

With a groan he rolled ov0er on his side. Apparently he wasn't going to get anything out of this man. He looked for one of the beds, maybe he could see his Mate. But they were all occupied and most of them were sleeping. He would have to get up to look for him.

Steeling himself for the agony he was about to endure he attempted to swing his legs over the side of the bed.

Only to become trapped by the sheets. Everytime he tried to move they tightened further until he was practically air sealed to the bed. When he relaxed with a groan he felt the tension disappear only to come back with a vengeance the second he shifted once more.

Adding to the horror the explanation for his position came from the still smirking blond on his other side.

"It's a bedridden charm. Usually used on small kids who refuse to stay in bed when they are sick or even going to sleep for the night. Madame Pomfrey thought it would be appropriate for you."

"Can you just tell me where Draco is and leave me alone? I thought you would be worried about him too."

"My son is in the bed behind me. And yes he is also under the same curse. It was the only way to get him to relax even with Dreamless Sleep."

"And he's okay?"

"He's fine. Now before I get Madame Pomfrey and alert her about your wakeful state. I have something I would wish to discuss with you, if you think you can stay focused on myself for that long."

Harry rolled over once again and eventually the Lord Malfoy moved and allowed Harry to take in the resting face of his sleeping Mate. He seemed to be okay and there wasn't an obscene number of potion bottles on his bedside table. Plus Madame Pomfrey wouldn't leave him alone this long if there was anything seriously wrong.

"Okay… What did you want to know?"

If Harry didn't know better he would say that the older man was embarrassed. He waited in silent fascination while the man carefully chose the words that would properly pose his question. At least in the way that wouldn't result in him losing any more pure blood face.

"Did you mean what you said to the Dark Lord?"

Harry frowned, "What part? I think I said a lot to him, actually I don't think I remember a lot about what I said to him…"

"About the blood ritual."

"Of course. It worked too well because of a mix of factors. Draco's blood and both of our desire to get rid of him."

"No about him… not being your real enemy any more. About me."

Green eyes were unfocused as they reached back through the fuzziness of the pain numbing potion for the memory of what he possibly could have said about Lucius Malfoy. He mentioned that it didn't work the same because as far as Harry was concerned, he wasn't a big threat. The man had threatened his family, but said they would be left alone. He wasn't the enemy. At that point he was just a threat, a nuisance to be taken care of.

No the real issue was figuring out how to be happy with Draco when his father…Oh. Did he say that part out loud? That could cause some real problems in the future… oops.

"Ummm… kind of?" Lucius frowned and Harry hurried to get out what he needed to say before the man got too offended, "It's not that I think you're the next Dark Lord, I don't think you'd do that to your family to be honest. Especially right now. But no matter how calm Draco acts, he's upset that you are so against the two of us."

Lucius went to speak, but Harry was so nervous that he couldn't let the man until he had said it all.

"Besides that, I don't want to embarrass Draco. And I have always wanted a family and I would hate to be estranged from my in-laws because of ridiculous political views, and that's all this is when you look at it. Not to say those aren't important, but it's less important than some other things. And like I said Draco wants your blessing. I do too. And it's been weighing on my mind for the entire year. Well the last two years really because I've been in love with your son since I was sixteen. I've been having these nightmares of him leaving me because he couldn't stand disappointing you. Or worse him coming with me, choosing me, and growing to hate me because I pulled him away from his family. I just-"

"Harry!" The Gryffindor blinked, he had a feeling the man had been trying to interrupt his rant for a while if the frustration warring with amusement was an indication.

"I… apologize for making you feel that way. It was never my intention to stand in the way of your bonding. I… I had to maintain a certain image and to be honest I wanted to make sure you wouldn't run the moment you had to face proof that Draco was a Death Eater."

"I had the proof long before I met you, sir. I woke up to a nightmare of him being in the same room as that… that monster. I watched that thing touch my Mate. Worse. I woke up to find out that Draco wasn't there. It wasn't a nightmare. It was a vision and somewhere at that very moment, my Mate was being forced to serve a madman."

Lucius nodded, "I can't apologize for everything I've done. I won't. But I… I will allow you to bond with my son with no further resistance on my part. Now. I will go get Madame Pomfrey and you will sleep. As it is Draco will be furious and impossible to retain until you wake up. Perhaps we can give you a smaller dose."

Harry was ninety percent sure that was Lucius trying to avoid discussing the fact that they had just had a serious conversation. Even a civil conversation. But there was no way he was going to let the Slytherin act like this hadn't all happened. He would make sure Draco heard all of the details in the morning but first.

"Lord Malfoy?"

The blond looked at him, one eyebrow raised, "Yes?"

"Thank you, sir. That means a lot to me and I know it will mean the world to Draco."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Potter. It is just because I can no longer stand your nattering."

Harry shook his head but let the man go. He rolled so that his Mate was once again within his sight. He wished he could just be with him. He closed his eyes and let out a breath of air imagining that he was once again sleeping with his Slytherin. A small smile crossing his face when he could have sworn he felt a familiar arm curl around his waist and a warm breath against his skin. With a sigh he let sleep claim him, certain that the medi-witch could get him the Dreamless Sleep no matter whether his eyes were open or not.

(0,0)

When the medi-witch came in to find out that her hospital wing had been redecorated with a double be she could help but shake her head. Apparently Harry had no care for what he was supposed to do. Although seeing as he most likely didn't do it on purpose, she was going to have figure out the extent of the bond.

Although it seemed as though Draco's dose of Dreamless Sleep was reaching his mate as well. It would probably be best to let that work it's way through their systems. At least this way she wouldn't have to worry about holding one of them down until the other woke.

She smiled lightly as Draco pulled his Mate closer to him and settled further into sleep. She would worry about moving him later if it became a problem. Although if she was honest- she had no idea how or even if she could separate them. And if she were going to continue with the honesty trend: she didn't particularly want to try either.

(0,0)

"Harry?"

The Gryffindor woke to the smell of his Mate and a familiar voice calling his name. With a small smile he curled further into his not-so-squishy blond pillow and decided that he wanted to go back to sleep. Unfortunately the dream he had was suddenly weighing on his mind. Was that really going to happen? Did he have a vision from Voldemort and then twist it from there?

"Morning, Draco." He curled further into his pillow as he spoke. Judging by the way his pillow was shaking he had a feeling his hair was tickling his Mate. He didn't want to think about anything right now.

Maybe he could just go to sleep and ignore it, "Are you feeling okay? Did you sleep well?"

Then again, maybe it would be better to talk it out, "Weird dream. Although it ended pretty well. Weird but good weird you know? I think your father might have actually apologized and giving us his blessing. I think. It was kind of Hufflepuff of him actually, not very Slytherin. But Voldy was moldy by the end of it so that was good."

The laughter that filled his pillow this time was accompanied by more than its fair share of noise echoing around the room. Giving up sleep as a lost cause with the curiosity that he now faced, Harry slowly pulled his face from Draco's shoulder and turned to face the brightness of the room. Why was there someone else here?

When his eyes adjusted to the light, he realized that at least part of his dream had been real. He was lying in the hospital wing, and at some point during the night his bed had moved next to Draco's. Accidental magic was at it again, of course he felt about a hundred times better so maybe it had a reason for what it did. But when he managed to look past the shoulder of his Mate he was greeted with something that made him wonder if he was awake at all.

Severus Snape was doubled over clutching at his stomach. His face a bright red as he struggled to breathe.

The sound of his laughter filling to room.

Severus Snape was having a laughing attack not five feet from him. And next to him was one Lucius Malfoy.

Who was blushing?

He turned his head back to Draco, "Did I hit my head? Did you get me high? Is this a dream? A nightmare?"

Grey eyes blinked at him, "Why would you think that?"

"Your godfather is laughing, hard enough he might pass out and your father just turned a color besides unhealthily pale."

And Severus just started laughing hysterically, he actually ended up gripping the side table to prevent himself from falling to the floor.

"Oookay then, mad it is. I'm in St. Mungo's, aren't I? I've completely lost my mind and that was the safest place for me."

Draco looked as though he was desperately attempting not to follow his godfather's example, "Harry. You're not crazy, you're not dreaming, and you are not suffering hallucinations."

"Right, so how do you explain this?"

"Well, most likely my father did apologize to you and did give our Mating his blessing. Severus is laughing at you calling Father a Hufflepuff while curling up against me and apparently using magic to be next to me in the first place- like a Hufflepuff. And then you called my father out on the fact that he is blushing. I think Severus is only reacting like this because he's most likely been standing guard over us for the past few days we've been in here and has had little to eat and drink, besides the pepperup potion, and is exhausted despite said potion."

"And your father?"

"You just called him a Hufflepuff after he apologized to you Harry. He likely has no recourse to make you see him as a Slytherin asided from going back on his word which would be distinctly un-Malfoy of him. And so he's stuck listen to his best friend laugh at him and is desperately searching for way to regain his status."

"Why didn't he just hex me when I woke up? I already thought the entire thing was a dream."

Draco smirked as Lucius dropped his head into his hands, "Looks as though father didn't think about that."

The older Slytherin stood and glared down at his son, "Well, I believe I shall make an exit to inform your mother that you're awake. She just barely got to sleep an hour ago and I dare say she's probably awake again by now."

He paused a few steps toward the door, "Oh and boys?"

Green and grey looked up to the figure, "Yes?"

"Your mother is not going to be appeased by merely a mating. I do believe you are going to owe her a proper bonding ceremony after all this. And do not mention to her that you've already bonded. She'll see you married at the Manor or she'll have both your heads. I suggest picking a date."

Severus had barely caught his breath before he was laughing once again at the horror etched on the teen's faces at the idea of a marriage ceremony. Not to mention one organized by Narcissa. They hadn't thought of that when they let the girls arrange their bonding. They'd thought they might have a few years but something told them they would be married before the end of summer.

And then Harry suddenly turned as pale as Lord Malfoy, "Oh no."

Severus and Draco both turned their faces to him with the eerily similar raised eyebrow. What made the Gryffindor teen quake like a little cub?

"Molly Weasley is going to want us to get married at the Burrow."

Draco blinked as Severus started to laugh once again, "What does that have to do with anything?"

"We're either going to have to tell Narcissa Malfoy or Molly Weasley that they're not getting their way. I think either way, in some form or another, that is going to be a fatal mistake."

Amazingly, Draco didn't seem to worried about that decision, in fact he had a smug smirk on his face in response to Harry's words.

"Oh don't worry. Uncle Severus seems to be in a good enough mood I'm sure he'll tell them for us."

Suddenly the Headmaster seemed to find the entire situation far less than amusing.

(0,0)

"Please?!"

"Mr. Potter. If you ask me one more time if you're allowed to leave my answer will be no and I'll give you the nastiest sleep potion I can think of. Or perhaps the headmaster wouldn't mind creating one specifically for you."

Draco stifled his laughter but at Harry's truly miserable face. He really did hate the hospital wing and if he wasn't that bad then maybe…

"Madame Pomfrey?" The medi-witch turned with a sigh pausing on her way to another patient.

"Yes, Mr. Malfoy?"

"Wouldn't it be better for Harry and I to free up the beds? I'll be sure to make sure he gets his rest but I fear that at the moment he's only going to be hindering his own healing, as well as everyone else's."

The woman threw her hands up into the air, "Fine. Leave. But!"

Both teens froze at the last word, they had both been half out of the bed by the time she had started agreeing.

"You will both sleep at least 9 hours tonight and take a nap tomorrow. I will check on you both at dinner. If you are not both healed to my expectations you will be brought back here and you will be sealed to the bed until I see fit to release you. And you will be silenced until I say you are back to full health or until the end of the school year, whatever comes first. Understood?"

"Yes Madame Pomfrey." Both boys nodded eagerly at her, they would not be back here if they could help it.

"Good. Now go. Others need the bed. Shoo."

And they were gone.

(0,0)

The first stop was the Slytherin common room. Unfortunately (though they weren't exactly surprised) Blaise and Pansy had disappeared and Theo was quick to remind them leaving it until tomorrow to tell the others that they had been released would have regrettable consequences.

Draco led them out of the common room muttering under his breath about friends never being around when you needed them. Completely ignoring the entire even which had been the cause of their hospitalization in the first place. Eventually though, his swaying Mate managed to regain his attention.

"Malfoy!"

"What?!" The blond turned with a snarl only to grimace at the sight of his pale and sweaty mate who he was dragging along the corridor with little concern.

"Oh Harry, I'm-"

"Yeah, I know. Look just give me a second, I might have a way for us to get up to the common room without you having to drag me up seven stories. Just let me catch my breath."

The Slytherin flushed guiltily and led Harry into a room conjuring him a comfy seat to collapse into, and if just happened to be small enough that they had to sit pressed together from knee to shoulder so that Harry had to lean against him-well that was just a coincidence wasn't it?

"Dobby?"

The elf popped up in front of them causing Harry to startle and his Mate to laugh at his reaction. Why on earth would he jump when he called for the elf?

"Hush you! Dobby? Can you take us up to Gryffindor Tower? Hermione said that your magic is different than ours…"

The blond blinked at that and turned to face the elf, "It is?"

The elf nodded but started pulling on his ears out of nerves, "Ours magic is being different than Harry Potter's, but not able to help. Hogwarts won't let us pop with your masters and mistresses. Is dangerous for them. Dobby is being sorry!"

Green eyes softened as he looked at the elf, "No need to apologize. Can you clear the way for us to get up to Gryffindor? I don't think I could walk and talk today."

"Harry Potter beings ill?"

"I'm fine, Dobby. Just a little tired. I kinda just want to get to the Gryffindor Tower, tell Hermione, Ron, and Blaise that we're okay and hopefully Pansy won't kill us when she finds out we didn't tell her."

"Dobby could be telling Harry Potter's friends! Then Harry Potter could go to Snakey's lair."

Harry turned to Draco, silently asking him what he thought, and got a shrug for his troubles.

"Blaise is probably going to crash in your Tower. And we were told to get as much sleep as we can. Whichever will be best for you."

"Your dorm?" Draco actually seemed surprised by that, "I've been living in the same room as Ron for seven years and I still can't sleep with him snoring…"

The blond laughed but seemed relieved that Harry agreed with him, "Works for me. I don't know how you can sleep in there at all. All of those Gryffindor menaces snore."

"Dobby be telling friends you is fine, just sleepy! Harry Potter and young Master Malfoy should be going to sleep now."

The Gryffindor nodded thankfully at his friend, "Thank you Dobby. We will, and be sure to tell them that we're out of the Hospital Wing and crashing in the Slytherin Dorm."

The elf frowned but popped away with a nod nonetheless.

And the Mates were too glad to only have one corridor to walk down to wonder about the elf's curious response to his message.

(0,0)

The next morning Harry woke to the sound of whispering outside the door. He managed to ignore it in favor of returning to sleep for all of three seconds before the sound of his Mate's disrupted sleep sent him flying to the door. His eyes shifted slightly but as weak as he was the transformation would put him into a coma before he could remove the nuisance.

He yanked open the door and got a sense of satisfaction as the group outside jumped about three feet at his snarl.

"What?!"

Pansy rolled her eyes as Theo and Blaise attempted to calm the upset Veela without actually managing to say anything coherent. Their babbling and talking over each other was just fueling the already pounding head ache Harry was currently enjoying. After a moment Harry gave up hiding his frustration and went to shut the door.

The Slytherin girl slid in just as he closed it, carefully. No matter how frustrated he was at those two there was no way he would risk slamming the door with Draco still sleeping.

Pansy spoke before he could take his frustration out on her, "You've been asleep for almost ten hours. We came to get you because breakfast will be ending in less than an hour and Madame Pomfrey is determined to see you both eat something so unless you want to go back to the Hospital Wing."

Harry snarled at nothing imparticular and looked regretfully at the sleeping form of his Mate. Wasn't he supposed to be dealing with this as the Dominant? Seriously what good was having a big, strong Mate if they left you to deal with annoying (albeit well-intentioned) friends and nosy medi-witches?

"He is really lazy, isn't he?"

The Gryffindor was torn between laughter and the desire to defend his still healing Mate but settled for a happy medium with an amused snort and a knowing smirk.

"Would you like me to wake him? There are waffles for breakfast."

The submissive Veela's stomach gave his response for him. And he blushed slightly under Pansy's knowing laugh.

"Cover your ears…and I would go stand away from me if I were you….you might have to catch him."

Wondering what exactly the girl had planned he moved next to the bed and covered his ears at her expectant look.

"DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY!"

The Slytherin Ice Prince mumbled in his sleep and rolled over. Harry was pretty sure he heard the words 'Pansy', 'stupid', 'hate', and 'mornings.'

"Dammit Draco! You will not leave your pregnant Mate alone!"

Harry blinked at her words, "What do you mean I'm pregnant?"

The aforementioned blond leapt out of the bed with a snarl and in the process tripped on a pillow and went tumbling into Harry's arms.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Wait. HOW IN THE HELL ARE YOU PREGNANT?!"

The cackling in the corner drew the blond's gaze resulting in a narrowing of eyes that quite likely would have terrified anyone else.

"Have you finished writing your will yet, Parkinson?"

"You need to eat. Harry's hungry breakfast only goes until 9."

"Maybe I can just bring him a fresh kill instead of trecking all the way up to the Great Hall."

The girl continued to laugh as she rushed from the room, Draco inches behind her while Harry stood pale as a sheet right where the Veela had left him

"Pregnant?"

(0,0)

Breakfast past relatively quickly, even when you factor in the glares between Draco and the rest of the school population and Harry's panic attack that no one was answering his question with more than a roll of their eyes. Which was when Harry decided that they needed answers. Which meant they had to journey to a place Harry tried to forget existed ninety percent of the time.

The library.

Madame Pomfrey stopped them on their way out the door and made them promise to take a nap before dinner making sure to thoroughly remind them of her promise should they choose to ignore her instructions. Both boys gave their confirmations quickly and made their escape.

Unfortunately the climb to the library was still exhausting. Apparently ten hours really wasn't enough to recover, Madame Pomfrey may have been right in her idea of keeping them in the hospital wing. But now that they were free there was no way they were going back. They slumped at the nearest table with sighs taking deep breaths to focus themselves. Draco pulled out a book on…something. Harry assumed it was Ancient Runes simply because he didn't recognize any letters and they looked kind of funny.

Harry on the other hand mad a beeline around all of the Ravenclaws blocking the library. Seriously. Why were there so many of them in the library today? Usually they locked themselves in their common room, they had like a million books in there according to Luna. Well that's what he guessed that was what the girl was saying. Sometimes it was hard to tell with that girl.

Unfortunately an hour of research only made him tired, miserable, and frustrated. Apparently the Ravenclaws had already attacked the section on Veelas. There were only three books left that were written by 'experts' and one of them was written 200 years ago and was a bunch of nonsense. Apparently Veelas glowed a certain color during their Inheritance and that color was a signal for potential mates. If that Inheritance had been a glow Harry was the lost child of Merope Riddle and was Voldemort's brother. The other two completely skipped over procreation in entirety because they didn't want to guess and no Veela would answer them.

Draco on the other hand was fully engrossed in his book and seemed determined to ignore Harry's mission. And to avoid answering Harry's question. He was beginning to think that no one knows. They were all just pulling his leg and pretending to be all high and mighty.

But either way- it was late and he could see that his Mate was having just as hard of a time staying awake as he was. It was time to follow the doctor's orders, as it were.

"C'mon Draco. Let's try to get to the Tower before someone sends out a search party or worse, Madam Pomfrey."

The Slytherin nodded and set the book on the rack near the entrance as they went to leave. Within seconds in was flying away to place itself in its home on the shelf. And as they looked at the stairs upon stairs they had to climb he wished desperately that Dobby had been able to help them.

(0,0)

Thankfully the trip upstairs to their dorms was as painless as possible, even without assistance from the peppy little house elf. Harry somewhat remembered a secret passage and they had been practically invisible all the way up to the Gryffindor common room. The only one who saw them was Nearly Headless Nick and he managed to clear the way for them so that they wouldn't be stopped again.

By the time they made it up to the tower they were beginning to regret forcing their way out of the Hospital Wing. One, two three floors hadn't been a problem this morning but tired as they were the stairs up to the tower were proving to be more than they were ready for.

The two practically fell into the common room when the Fat Lady granted them access, ('Quimbledon' Draco insisted on saying the password, even if it took him three tries to say it without laughing) which they found bizarrely quiet and full of more books than students. Eventually they managed to find one Hermione hidden behind half of the library in the corner table. Likely the reason that the common room was so quiet. After fifth year everyone knew when to make themselves scarce.

"Hermione? We just wanted to tell you we're out of the Hospital Wing. We're going to go to bed now, Pomfrey's orders."

"Yes. Yes. Take whatever you like."

Draco and Harry exchanged a look. And about a minute later Hermione looked up to see who was blocking the light.

"Harry! Draco! I didn't think you were going to be released until tomorrow."

The Slytherin seemed shocked, didn't Dobby tell her? What good was a house elf who forgot their task so quickly? But a look at his Mate showed the other teen was merely amused by her response.

"Draco sweet talked and manipulated/annoyed Madame Pomfrey until she let us out. Under restriction of course. But basically her rules were sleep, sleep and more sleep. So I think we'll be fine."

"Oh good! You need to start studying anyway! N.E.W.T.'s are only two months away and with everything going on I completely forgot to study!"

Draco blinked at her was it really that late, "Oh Salazar, I lost track of time I wanted to have the full three months. What are you working on? Maybe if we combine some of the topics, like Dark Arts and Defense, Potions and Herbology, and Ancient Runes and Arithmancy we can get through everything and we'll be able to pull from other classes on our essays."

Before Harry could decipher Draco's words the blond had claimed a seat next to Hermione and was deep in a book about Herbology.

"Draco! We promised Pomfrey we would sleep and I for one am not looking forward to being bound to the bed for the foreseeable future!"

"Surely she won't mind a little study break?"

Harry's response was lost by the other two as they buried themselves into work. If the Gryffindor knew one thing about Madam Pomfrey it was that she did not kid around when it came to getting her patients healthy. If Draco was not sleeping enough he would be taken to the Hospital Wing and he would be kept there until the matron saw fit to release him. And unfortunately that would either keep them apart of force Harry to join him in the Hospital Wing.

Draco seemed to take to Hermione's rigorous study regime in seconds and no matter what the dark haired Gryffindor said, the two buried in the books waved him off with progressively frustrated and absent-minded replies.

But he wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing. He would get them out of the books and Draco to bed. He was stubborn like that. With a plan forming he stood and walked out of the room and up the stairs to his dorm. He would give Draco half an hour. Or he was calling in the big guns.

(0,0)

"C'mon, Draco. Mione? We need to get some rest or you won't even get the chance to take N.E.W.T.s this year."

Nothing.

"Alright. You give me no choice, and know I didn't want to do this."

Hermione looked up and narrowed her eyes at the nuisance interrupting her study time, "Please. Either leave. Or study. But you need to stop interrupting us. Just because you don't care about your future doesn't mean Draco can't."

Green eyes hardened, "Fine. I gave you a chance. Now I'm going to get my way whether you like it or not."

The girl rolled her eyes and Draco sent him a small smile, "It's just a little studying, Harry. I'll be fine."

Harry was starting to wonder whether or not Draco was actually the bane of his existence. He stood up and walked over to the portrait hole. Letting in the man waiting just on the other side while two more came down from his dorm room.

"Hermione Granger." The girl in question's head shot up and she started chewing her lip at the figure who had just come in.

"Kenneth! What are you doing here? I thought you were going to meet with the Headmaster before dinner?"

"And I thought you were going to work for an hour and then meet your friends outside. Looks like both our plans changed. Although I also recall you saying you weren't going to study for more than two hours at a time. You know how worn out you become, you said you were going to be careful of your health."

The Gryffindor girl nodded and looked away from her Mate's eyes, "I was…I just got caught up in this theory about Ancient Runes and the process of deciphering them and-"

Kenneth stopped her with a flat hand, "And now you're coming with me. We are going to my room and you're not allowed to study for the rest of the night. You're just going to have to relax with me since you cannot take care of your own health."

"But can I?" She reached for one of the books, only to have her hand gently slapped and used to lead her to the door and out the hall.

Not five minutes after his entrance the entire common room breathed a little easier. Harry turned to Draco with an expectant look, hopefully without his partner in crime he would be more willing to come to bed. The Gryffindor was quite frankly exhausted.

"Bed?"

The Slytherin gave him a small smile, "Look, Harry, I just need to finish revising this one chapter and then I'll come up and rest with you, okay?"

"That's what you said an hour ago, Draco." The boy sighed, "Dinner is in less than an hour and we promised Madame Pomfrey we would take a nap before then."

"I promise I'll stop in half an hour, no matter what. I just have to get this figured out."

Blaise and Ron, who'd come down the stairs at Kenneth's entrance, had apparently reached the end of their patience with the blond. They crossed the room, walked around to the other side of the table and each of them grabbed a single arm, pulling the blond out of the chair and practically onto his toes. Without stopping to answer his questions they marched him to the base of the stairs up to the dorms.

"What is this? Let go of me!"

"This is what we like to call an intervention. Harry decided that you were just going to stay down here forever at this rate and we told him we would help you see sense. This is us helping."

Grey eyes narrowed and he turned his head to glare at his Mate, "Well a Mate is supposed to trust you and believe in you. They don't sick friends on you just because they're not getting their way. Especially when you're just trying to be a good student. No decent Mate would act like that."

Blaise looked down at his friend in shock, pausing a few steps up. Draco would lose his temper on occasion but never over something as trivial as studying.

"Hey! Calm down, okay? Harry's just-"

"Who cares about Harry's opinion? Especially in my life! I'm just trying to pass my tests and have a decent life in the future. What's he doing? Oh yeah, he's going to take a nap."

The Slytherin took a breath as if to continue despite the horrified looks of the entire Gryffindor common room, plus Seamus and Dean who they were preventing from walking down the stairs. But whatever he was going to say was lost at Harry's sigh.

The boy ran fingers through his hair, causing a few stray strands to stand on end more than usual, "Fine. Whatever, you win. Let him go guys, I didn't realize you were going to do that. I'll go lie down until dinner."

He started to head up but paused only a few steps beyond the trio, "Come grab me before you go down, okay?"

Harry stepped around Dean and moved up into the Seventh year dorm where he disappeared from sight.

Draco frowned in response going to follow his Mate up the stairs. Harry didn't act like that. He should be flying off the handle by now and screaming and storming off, not just going to bed. Unfortunately his progressed was stopped when Ron and Blaise let go of him and he stumbled backwards into the common room to recover. He rubbed his shoulder where it had run into the wall and glared at them.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

Ron took one long look at him before starting to move towards the comfy chairs by the fire, calling over his shoulder to the blond on the way, "I was going to say the same thing to you. I can't believe you would say something like that when Harry was just trying to take care of you. He's so worried he can't sleep."

Blaise stepped by him as well, following his boyfriend, "I think he wore a hole in the hall waiting for you last time you said it was just one more chapter. He's tired and all he wants to do is sleep."

The blond moved over to the table, casting a charm on the books to open where they had left off and piled them all up. Rolling the parchment and closing the ink before he moved towards the stairs. Unfortunately he and Hermione were so anal about their workspace it didn't take long to clean it all up.

With a long breath he started to move up the stairs to his Mate. He wasn't quite sure what to say when he say his Mate again. Hopefully, Harry wouldn't be too mad, he did love Harry, even if they didn't say it very often.

He gently knocked on the door, the back of his hand barely grazing the wood. Hearing a grunt of sorts from the other side he reached down turned the knob and stepped in. Closing the door behind him.

(0,0)

"Draco, I know you're sorry. I know you weren't being mean and snobbish (any more than usual) because I know you. I could practically hear you saying that you were supposed to be watching out for me. And that your Veela was not happy with the idea that I didn't trust you to take care of me. I understand. I'm just as tired and sick as you are and maybe twice as jumpy. It's fine."

The Slytherin just stared at his Mate, "How on earth did you figure that out? No one can do that with me. Blaise and I have been friends for years and he had no idea what was going on."

"I don't know," Harry shrugged, "maybe it's because I we're Mates. My Veela is in tune with your Veela or something?"

There was a long moment of silence before Draco just shrugged himself. Harry was an impossible Mate and would continue to do the impossible until the day he died. As such, he could either stress himself over solving Harry's intricacies or he could just let everything happen as it will.

For now he would opt for the latter.

At least until tomorrow.

"I really am sor-"

"Draco!"

(0,0)

The next few months passed in an unfamiliar, stressful, repetitive, frustrating, confusing, and organized blur of chaos. Harry was pretty sure that he was going to surprise everyone with his N.E.W.T. scores. Ron too for that matter. Probably because by the time they got to the two month mark it was study or die. Hermione and Draco were slave drivers. Blaise cared about his scores, Neville was attempting to pass every one and get at least three Exceeds Expectations or higher, and Pansy was determined to outperform her mother.

The only ones who didn't seem to care yet were Seamus and Dean, but an hour of messing around with them in the evening resulted in disappointed stares that made the evening less enjoyable for all involved. Not that they didn't give it a good go for a week or two. But frankly, Hermione and Draco were terrifying even on normal school nights. N.E.W.T.s were just a reason for them to give the first years nightmares.

Harry and Ron only got breaks when they were enjoying passing periods, three meals a day (Draco was insistent that Harry eat which meant he couldn't study during meals either), and when Harry gave watery puppy dog eyes they were allowed to go outside and study. So long as they actually studied.

Harry also learned that he was a great student- when Draco let him lay his head in his Mate's lap and the older boy read the chapters to him. At least until the blond started playing with his hair. Then he was lucky if he could remember his name for the next three minutes.

But studying wasn't the only chaos going on.

Every other day one or both of them got a letter from Narcissa about their wedding. Owl after owl confirming details, the guest list, the cake flavor, the theme. Half of the things they didn't care about and the other half they flat out vetoed. They did the theme thing for their bonding, they were not doing that with their marriage. The guest list they didn't care about, although they did attempt to cap the number of guests but that kind of backfired, apparently their wedding would be a celebration of sorts and everyone who was anyone wanted to be there.

In one frustrated response about wedding colors, Harry suggested she could talk to Molly Weasley, the woman would be able to give her Harry's preferences, and she could figure out Draco's and then they could focus on their tests.

Unfortunately, she took him up on the advice. Now they received the same amount of mail but from two different people. The only thing they managed to get them to cave on was that they wanted their reception to be with just the people they cared about especially if they couldn't have that for their actual wedding. So now the wedding would be at Malfoy Manor, and they would have a public reception for half an hour in the manor's gardens and then everyone with the password could go to the Burrow for the family reception.

Anyone who came over without permission were going to be subjected to "horrible things and would come to regret the decision to trespass on the grounds of two old pureblood families on such a special day". Those were Narcissa's words and Harry was happily living in ignorant bliss as to what 'horrible things' someone would experience.

With all of the studying time decided to drag and drag them along with it. Every hour felt like a day and every day felt like an hour. Before Harry knew it the first through fourth and sixth years were avoiding the common room like the plague, many of them had apparently taken to hiding with the Hufflepuffs to escape the studying O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. students.

The teachers were shoving paper after paper at them and Harry found he had to work on them the day they were assigned because not all of the teachers were nice enough to give a week's notice on a due date. So he and Ron were actually ahead on their homework when Harry finally cracked. Hermione had him reading a book on revising and writing essays since he was done while she and Draco did more revisions. Ron had managed to escape on the idea of needing to spend more time with his boyfriend. But Harry had seen nothing but books for the past month and he was done with it.

"It says here that revising should be done in increments and it's best to take breaks when you can in order to distinguish long term from short term memory."

Hermione blinked at the interruption, "Yes…and?"

"We've done nothing but revise for a month Hermione, the two of you have been at it even longer. I say we take tonight off. All of our homework is done for the next two days and I happen to know you're at least that far ahead on you revising schedule. So I say we take the evening off. Play games, talk, like we used to. We're leaving in less than a month. I want to make sure I remember more than just studying."

"We'll relax tomorrow Harry. Or better yet after exams." Hermione turned another page and Draco shrugged at him before turning back to his own notes.

And Harry? Well- Harry was done. He wasn't remembering anything and his Mate had not even held his hand unless it was to stop him from putting the wrong ingredient in a potion. So he was going to play dirty. He'd apologize later and Draco would know he didn't mean it but maybe it would at least catch his attention.

"Don't even think about it, Harry."

Green eyes narrowed, "I'm going Draco. I'm going to hang out with people who actually care. And with how I'm feeling right now, I'm guessing I'm going to be fighting off the majority of the school. So if you'll excuse me."

With that said he gave Hermione a nod and stood moving towards the door. He heard his Mate mumble something about just needing a breather and Harry coming back soon enough. So it was with no regret that he opened the portrait hole and climbed out almost crashing into the third years who were trying to quiet themselves before entering the common room and facing Hermione's wrath.

That is until all of them started cooing, winking, and nudging one little girl in the center. She blushed even as she told them all off. Harry smiled at her as he made her retreat; making sure to remember her name as he made his escape. Everyone deserved to be noticed, even if they knew it could never happen he could at least acknowledge her. With that in mind he made his way towards the kitchens

There was no way he would go actually flirt with anyone, but the house elves were always glad to see someone. Plus he could use the food, with Draco eager to get back to revising he had only made it through part of his dinner tonight, which might be part of the reason he was so grouchy.

Not fifteen minutes later he was heading out the main doors and out into the scant evening light.

Turns out he wasn't really in the mood for all of the little voices offering him this and that or asking if he needed anything. After bacon, chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits and three glasses of pumpkin juice he was more than ready to just take the time to relax.

Unfortunately the entire population of the school seemed to decide that tonight was date night. Dodging couple after couple strolling in the brisk air hand in hand- he found himself hiding between two green houses.

With a sigh he let himself slide down the outside wall; ignoring the voice in his head that though Draco was surely wondering after them. This had been one hell of a long year and it was finally coming to a close but they just wanted to throw another stressor at him. Sure everyone had to deal with N.E.W.T.s but couldn't he have at least gotten one week off?

Soon they would be heading back on the train…

Bloody hell, where would they even go? Where were they going to live? The Dursley's didn't exactly leave a forwarding address when they left. Not that he necessarily wanted to live with them any longer. Grimmald was depressing but maybe Draco would want to live there since it was technically the black family home. They probably could live with the Malfoy's, the house was big enough they could probably avoid all contact if they wanted to. But that wasn't exactly a good start to their adult lives.

Harry wasn't even sure he wanted to adult. Much less what he wanted to do as a career. What could he due with his inheritance anyway? Were there some kind of laws to prevent him from getting unfair advantages in certain jobs?

He let his head drop back against the glass. Maybe he should just do what everyone expected him to and become an Auror. But he didn't really want to go back to being the number one undesirable again. He'd rather just lay low.

Frustrated that his train of thought was only providing new problems without any solutions he let his head fall against the glass again and again. Hoping to knock all of the thoughts out or a solution in.

For some reason the only thing he achieved was a raging head ache. He was so done with all of this. Maybe once school was done things would start to make more sense. It would be one less thing for him to worry about. He let his head drop against the glass once more. His face tuned up to the sky, the sun warming it and casting colors through his eyelids. It was almost peaceful and he felt himself relaxing.

Leaning back further, and further, and further, and….Harry found himself laying on the ground looking up to familiar brown eyes.

Where did the wall go?

"That's what you get for knocking on a door, Harry. Eventually someone is going to open it."

"Sorry Neville. I didn't even realize anyone was out here."

The blond shrugged and leaned down to help pull Harry to his feet. And Harry was once again faced with the knowledge of how much the other boy had grown this year, no one would have ever connected this teen with the chubby 11 year old looking for his lost toad.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not particularly…"

"Want to help me with some of my plants until you inevitably talk about it anyway?"

The younger of the two (a day totally counted) laughed outright at his friend's honesty, "You know- I think I'd like that."

"Good, because I have so much work to get done and I have some revising I should technically be doing instead of this."

The Gryffindor's shared a smile before walking into the greenhouse Harry shutting the door and his worries outside of the glass shelter. The herbologist in training directed the smaller dark haired teen here and there to complete various simple tasks while he focused on the difficult ones; which Harry appreciated more than he could say. He would probably kill half the plants with how his brain was all over the place.

They worked in silence for long minutes, only directions and clarifications passing between them. Eventually Harry actually started asking questions about the plants they were working with. Some of them they had worked with earlier in the year but quite frankly Harry had not been paying much attention. He learned more from him in the next hour than he had from Professor Sprout all year.

"Wow. But…How can you use the Fireweed to heal burns if it causes burns?"

Neville smiled at him, "The same way you have to break some bones in order to set them properly. The toxins that burn in the leaves can be drawn out by the roots, same with toxins in other burning plants, like the Bubotuber pus. So if you mix the Fireweed roots and leaves into a poultice and apply it to a burn the chemical response between the two causes the roots to draw out the toxin to the top of the poultice leaving the black residue on top."

"What about-?"

"Harry?" The other boy cut him off, "I think you probably need to talk about why you were trying to smash through that glass an hour ago…"

Black hair shifted around fingers, "But herbology is so much easier to talk about."

Neville smirked, "Which is how I know that you need to talk about what's going on."

Regressing back to primary school Harry stuck his tongue out at his friend.

"We haven't talked much this year have we?"

"Not really. But with you trying to meet the Auror requirements we really don't focus on the same subjects. Plus the entire school has been interested on the drama between you and Malfoy. And I thought my presence might hurt your guys' truce rather than help it."

"I'm sorry, Neville. I haven't really been that good of a friend, have I?"

He shrugged, "You and I were never as close as you and Ron and Hermione. And I've been able to hang out a little with you. We never really hung out much before anyway."

"Still. I was really hoping to spend more time with everyone this year and I just haven't been able to. And now we're studying for N.E.W.T.s and I feel like it's too late."

The blond smiled shaking his head, "I think that's why they start the N.E.W.T.s before everyone else. It's almost as exhausting for the teachers after all. They're spaced out more and really well structured. We should have a week or so after our last test to recoup, send applications, receive job offers that kind of thing. But most of the seventh years just socialize to be honest."

"So they're not taken the last week like finals are?"

"Nope. Where have you been the last few years Harry?"

He gave Neville a disbelieving look, "I don't know if you noticed but I've only taken two sets of finals in my entire career here at Hogwarts and one of those years were my O.W.L.s I'm usually in the Hospital Wing come finals."

"Lucky." They shared a laugh, "But seriously, Harry. What's going on?"

"Draco and Hermione have been pushing us to revise and I feel like I can't even talk to him anymore. At first it wasn't so bad. In fact it was kind of nice. But when that's all we've done…"

"Why don't you guys go flying or something?"

He shrugged, "Draco doesn't want to take time away from revising."

"What about you?"

"I was happy just spending time with Draco."

"Exactly. You were happy. Why didn't you do something about it before now?"

He shrugged.

"You do realize you don't have to do everything together just because you're Mates, right? You can still have separate lives. It's kind of expected really, especially since you two got to Mate so young and to someone your own age."

Harry blinked up at Neville hands still covered in dirt. Of course he knew realistically that he didn't have to spend every moment with Draco. But it seemed so natural. Maybe that's why he was getting so frustrated with everything.

"Every married couple needs time that's for them as a couple and for themselves as individuals. You don't want to completely lose yourself in the other. Still hang out with your friends, fly, run, paint, whatever it is. It'll keep you sane."

"Thank you. It's so natural to spend all of my time with him, I hadn't even realized I was doing it. But I think you're right. That's the real reason I just had to leave the room."

"Always the tone of surprise."

Green eyes met blue with a grin, "Seems that way doesn't it?"

"I can tell you're dying to vent about Draco. And probably everything unless I've completely missed my guess. So vent away, the plants and I are wonderful listeners."

And with the other boy's pAermission given so freely, Harry did indeed rant.

(0,0)

And rant…

(0,0)

And rant…

(0,0)

And rant until he realized how late it had gotten, but Neville showed no signs of tiring and tomorrow was a Saturday.

"But all in all nothing's bad it's just frustrating. And with your advice I think it's going to go back to being as nauseatingly disgusting as Ron and Blaise can understand."

Neville snorted, "You two were more than anyone could stand."

"Exactly. But what about you? I've vented what's been going on with you? I'm sure there's something you need to rant about…"

A shrug, "Not really. I usually rant to by plants when I'm frustrated. Conversation actually helps them grow better."

"Okay fine, then I'm feeling guilty and I want to spend more time with you before we run away for the summer."

"Well I've been spending most of my free time here and with Hannah, she's a herbology enthusiast too."

"What about you and Luna?"

"You really have missed a lot, we decided it wasn't going to work out. Or rather she did. Apparently her knight was to coming riding in on his flaming salamander after we graduate."

"I'm sorry…"

"Nah. I love her you know, but I have a feeling her flaming salamander will be able to handle her better than I can. Plus, with Hannah, everything is just a lot easier."

"Wait… you're actually dating Hannah Abbott?"

"Not officially or anything. We're just friends right now, but I'm going to ask her to join me for dinner after N.E.W.T.s and all of this craziness is over."

"Probably a good choice. You know I never thought about the two of you but now…it kind of makes perfect sense."

"I know, doesn't it?"

(0,0)

Harry made it back to his dorms far after midnight and was glad he thought to grab his invisibility cloak. A dead Voldemort or not, it wouldn't take much for Snape to assign him detention and take enough points to pull Gryffindor out of the running for the house cup for good this year. Neville had been unsurprised to see the fabric but opted out of it's use. Professor Sprout had given him permission to take care of the nightblooms at the beginning of the year. He was allowed out until two hours past midnight twice a week when he had an off period in the morning.

Harry was beyond jealous.

But it was very handy since it meant Neville was technically able to give the Fat Lady the password so Harry could sneak in behind him. And he had a feeling he would be spending more time with the other boy until the end of the year. It would help his herbology grade if nothing else.

He was trying to remember everything Neville had said about nightblooms. They were good for invisibility potions (and cures as most plants seemed to be both the problem and the cure as it were), they were key in most fertility rituals, and they could not be fed during the new moon. Or on cloudy nights, else the flower would either die or turn to poison. You could also tell a flower that had gone rotten by the color between the flower and the stem (Neville had named it but he was lucky he remembered nightblooms).

Stripping his top layer before transfiguring himself a set of pajamas. He crawled into bed, freaking at the body already lying there. He'd thought Draco might have gone back to his own room when he wasn't in the common room. But he was glad that the boy was here instead. At least until the blond rolled over and gave Harry his back.

Apparently he wasn't happy with his Mate storming out on him earlier, but it was exactly what Harry needed. What they needed. He would show him in the morning. Meanwhile he shifted so his hand was resting on his Mate's hip. The dominant didn't need to feel crowded right now, but the physical contact would help them both even if it wasn't enough really.

(0,0)

Sure enough the next morning he woke to an octopus.

Legs tangled, one arm around his waist and their fingers tangling together, the other arm supporting both of their heads. Harry rolled to see his Mate careful not to wake the other boy. The circles on his eyes were growing by the day, but nowhere near the black holes of last year. And his cheeks had not sunken in, Harry was going to take full credit for that if he didn't think that his submissive needed to eat the older boy wouldn't even look at his food.

He reached out without conscious decision to stroke his Mate's cheek. Eyes whose color should be cold and threatening were full of warmth and hazed from sleep as they met green. Seconds later they hardened, Harry snuck a kiss before the blond could roll out of the bed. And started talking behind the silenced charm they had built into the curtains.

"I know you're mad at me about last night. And I don't blame you. I handled everything poorly and said some stupid things. I would never cheat on you or anything even in that train of thought. Even without the bond I wouldn't be interested or willing to hurt you that way.

"I did realize some things though. We haven't spent anytime without each other in months. It's not good to only be around each other. So I think that, if you're okay with it, I'll spend a couple of hours during the week doing something for me.

"I still love you, but sometimes being around someone all of the time you start to take them for granted, plus they get on nerves you never even knew that you had. I've never been upset with you studying until I felt like I had to study with you all of the time. And even if it's good for me I don't enjoy it like you and it just exhausts me.

"Is that okay?"

The blond sat there for a moment.

"Well?"

"Oh you're actually looking for a conversation now? I thought you just said what you wanted and stormed off. That's your thing now, isn't it?"

Harry frowned, "That's not fair. I already said sorry for last night. I can't take it back and it wouldn't do any good even if I could."

"Is that what Neville said? You were locked in the greenhouse with him for hours, after all. And you couldn't hear me shouting for you until I got detention from Professor Sprout for disturbing her plants. Although I don't know how you missed…"

"You came to find me? I had no idea. I would have come if I'd known."

"You knew I was worried about you. You just ignored it. Don't lie. You just decided that Neville was a better option."

The Gryffindor sat up in the bed blankets tangled around his legs and hair likely even more of a mess than he usually was.

"What are you so upset about? It's not just me not finding you. And yes I thought you might be looking for me, but I figured you would probably be studying for a while yet. I honestly didn't even realize what time it was until we went to leave the green house."

"Whatever. Don't bother me today."

"But-"

"I'm sure Longbottom can deal with anything you need."

He was out of the bed before the submissive could truly process what he said. His next response was entirely instinctual. The bed curtains suffered his wrath which likely saved Draco from too much damage as he dove through them to reach the blond.

Before he knew what was happening, the dominant was pinned beneath him. The other boy's in the room watching with mixed awe and terror. Harry's eyes glowing alongside his elongated fangs. The sharp points inches from Draco's neck.

"How dare you! I would never treat anyone like that. You are my Mate! Just because you've forgotten what that means doesn't mean I have. Neville is my friend. He helped me work through what was putting the stress on us. He never even thought of pressuring me into something. And he would never even think about doing that to you or Hannah the only one who's doing things he should be regretting is you. Who else would accuse their Mate of something so despicable."

The words were slurred together but in the end the meaning was deciphered if the matching red staining cheeks on Neville and Draco were any indication.

"Now. You will grow up and accept the fact that I can have friends outside of you and we will discuss living together after school or you can continue to act this way and I will have you inform your mother and Mrs. Weasley that we will not be having our wedding after all. Understood?"

Draco paled, "You can't reject me. I'm sorry, I didn't- we won't- I just-"

"I'm not rejecting you. I'm just refusing to tie myself any further to a man who doesn't trust me and will just storm off in a childish tantrum and throw me away rather than talking to me. What will you do if our kids get in trouble? What if they throw a fit? Are you going to walk out on them too?"

Ron choked at the mention of kids and all of the others followed him as he hurried out of the room. Neville pausing just a moment behind.

"Malfoy? I would never trespass on you and your Mate. Any interest I may have had in Harry died the instant you two began Courting. Now I'm with Hannah. And there's no way I would cheat on her, much less with someone else in a serious relationship."

"I know, Longbottom. I know."

When the door closed behind the Gryffindors Harry glared at his Mate before standing up.

"Your choice. I'm not leaving you, despite what you think, but I can't marry you if you don't trust me."

"I do trust you Harry. It's just… I was looking for you and it was like I could feel you shutting me out. And when I found you and you didn't let me in. I knew you wouldn't Refuse me, that you couldn't if we're being honest about it. But it didn't stop the panic from sitting in. And this morning I… It felt the same and I'm not sure why."

The blond chewed on his lip and the nervous action shot Harry's heartrate through the roof. He couldn't get a good read on what his Mate was thinking but the nervous action was telling enough. Draco had been raised to hide all emotions that might give something away, if he was displaying something it generally meant he was terrified, worried, or had been stressing over something for a long time before bringing it up. Any of those spelled trouble for Harry.

"Have you noticed that we've been getting weird looks more and more lately? How people seem completely lost when we've been talking about the same thing for the entire conversation? That we seem to understand each other better than most couples?"

Dark eyebrows furrowed as memories were sorted, "I guess, I mean I thought it was strange at first. But we're Mates. Aren't we supposed to act like that?"

"Yes. But it's not the same. Most Mates learn about each other once they've mated. It's how they get closer is by learning, observing, and growing together. But we picked it up practically overnight. You know me better than Blaise and our mom's practically raised us together."

"I guess. But what does it mean? Should we go to the library to research?"

Here the blond started to look guilty, "I actually have been. I've been sort of slacking on my studying for the last month or so to dig through books in the library."

"That's why you looked guilty every time I asked you about what you were reading." He rolled his eyes at the blond's blush, "I'm not mad, saves me from the work. What did you find?"

"A rare side-effect."

"Well, I am Harry One-of-a-kind Potter. What's our latest tally to the things I've done that I probably shouldn't?"

"If a Mate relies on the bond for whatever reason, before it is truly stable…bad things happen."

"Like?"

"Usually? Everyone involved dies. On occasion? Absolutely nothing. Twice (now possibly three times) in history including time before Veela's and human's began to Mate? A psychic bond was developed between the Mates. Those who achieved it three centuries ago claimed that they were able to practice the bond and develop it to the point where they were using it in everyday conversation and not just in moments of dire need."

"But we've only been using it for everyday stuff."

"Except with the stand-off with Moldy Voldy. But you're the exception to the rule once again. Congratulations!"

"That… That would explain some things."

"Yep."

"So why didn't it work last night?"

"I think you shut it off." Draco said, looking as though he had just come to that conclusion.

"How? I didn't know we had it…"

He shrugged, "I usually feel you like a sixth sense of sorts. Kind of a tingling so I can be like he's probably upset. It's subtle enough I thought it was body cues until I started getting those looks from everyone."

"…Oh! I thought you'd be worried about me, and trying to find me. But I brushed it off because I thought you were probably still revising. So I tried to ignore it." Without further hesitation he thought about listening to Draco, listening to the voice left in his head that he now recognized.

Suddenly he was slammed with feelings of not being good enough. Of doubt. Thoughts of panic, abandonment, loneliness. His own mood plummeted in response. Which is when they shifted to positive and uplifiting words. He could feel Draco attempting to calm him.

"Well… at least we know it works."

(0,0)

So now while they revised they were fielding letters from the parents (as it were) and practicing their new found skill. They did inform the teachers of the bond. Which meant each of them would be getting completely different tests for their N.E.W.T.s but they would have hated needing to retake them if it came out later. Harry and Draco spent 3 hours a week apart. Which was harder than they thought. Their friend groups had practically melded by this point so they ended up playing on separate teams when they went flying and other such concessions.

Soon enough N.E.W.T.s were on them and even Harry and Ron could be seen frantically scanning notes prior to the tests. Ernie looked like he was going to pass out and Padma and Pavarti took time fanning and quizzing each other.

They only had one test a day over ten days (most of them had a few breaks during that time period) and if you had too many classes you could take them during the regular testing week.

The student body was exhausted come dinner. The tests were a written exam in the morning and a practical in the afternoon. Harry felt as though he had performed every spell known to wizard during the past week. But he was done. The last test tomorrow was for Muggle Studies which Harry had opted out of again this year. Something he was beyond grateful for.

The rest of the school was finally facing the challenge of revising for finals and the seventh years were counting down the hours until they got to sit back and relax. Draco and he still had to figure out where they were living next year, but that was a problem for tomorrow. Right now all Harry wanted to focus on was pumpkin or chocolate?

Screw it. He was getting both.

(0,0)

"We can live with my parents until the wedding. Plan where we want to live then."

"So you've been saying. But wouldn't it be nice to at least have an idea of where we want to go afterwards? At this rate we'll be living with your parents forever and that is something I am going to have to refuse right now."

"Fine. Grimmauld Place it is."

…

"I can literally hear how uncomfortable that makes you."

"No it's fine. It's you're ancestral home, we can live there if you like?"

"How about this? We take our honeymoon and visit a bunch of different places. Then we can pick a place we want to settle down in. We'll get our own place and everything."

"Now that idea Exceeds Expectations."

"Shut up and kiss me."

(0,0)

The last week of school flew by leaving everyone standing in the steaming platform 9 ¾ wondering what on earth happened. They'd taken the time to chat with their professors, thanking those that had influenced them the most. After that it had been catch up with everyone you ever talked to at school to say goodbyes and make the standard (and occasionally empty) promise to keep in touch afterwards. Then they'd all partied unnecessarily to the point where even Peeves had been giving them disapproving looks.

Finally Harry had decided to pack and by that time they were all running late anyway. He glanced around the dorm one last time before following everyone else out. As they all stood huddled together they realized that this was it. They would never be standing on the platform as students again and even if some of the years hadn't been great the last had been fantastic.

Needless to say there were tears, though all of those with masculinity to protect would deny it fervently. Even some of the younger years, Luna, Ginny, and the Creevey's were crying with them. Well Luna wasn't but her eyes were a little more focused and damper than usual so Harry figured it was similar.

They made their way out off of the platform when they were ushered by the other adults. In the end, Harry and Draco were standing outside of King's Cross and taking it in one last time.

"We finally finished. And we're getting married in a month. We'll be moving into our own place. Getting jobs. Who decided we were ready for this at 17?"

Harry shook his head, "I think if they waited until we were ready the wait would be longer than life. They let us do it now because we're dumb enough to believe we can, smart enough to know it'll be hard, and lucky enough that we just might pull it off."

Draco rolled his eyes but grasped his Mate's hand firmly in his own. Standing there, hand in hand, they turned. A soft pop marked the spot where they stood moments before. A small dog on the corner the only witness to the start of the rest of their lives.

And yes dear readers, they were married and they lived ever after with smiles upon their faces...most days.

(0,0)

YAY! I have finally finished! That last chapter kept getting longer and longer. I have the wedding written as well if anyone would like to read it. But I thought this was a great way to wrap it all up. I'm working on my prompts (I haven't forgotten anyone, promise!) and I'm always looking for new ideas. I have my own story (Interim Title Owls and Snakes) in the works along with an Aladdin fic and a Slytherin/Harry story (which you'll have to find on my AO3 page when I finish it- someone finally talked me into writing a more explicit piece) I also have another Tomarry work in progress so let me know if you can think of any you want to see first!

Thank you all for struggling through with me but I hope it was worth it! I'm up to two jobs plus a full time student but I'm still writing. Love to all of you!

~DanniCat Black