Draco has a bit of a freak out over public opinions, Draco and Harry's relationship finds solid ground and Harry had a birthday party.

Someone pointed out that Teddy is older than he should be in the books. If you'll note, at the beginning of this story I mentioned that there would be a few differecens from the cannon, I'll just repost them incase anyone else has missed them.

Important!

Fred did NOT die. I had to change this as I can honestly not see Ron being at all forgiving about it and I need his support behind Harry 100%.
Similarly, Snape did NOT die. He was just severely injured and is spending the entire summer in Mungo's recovering.
Also, Teddy was born a few years before the end of the war, making him about five in this story. Remus and Tonks still died in the war, but a little earlier, when Teddy was about two.
Draco never took the Dark Mark.

Sadly, this story is almost at its close. There's only 1-2 more chapters left, depending on how something turns out.

Disclaimer - Character's aren't mine

Chapter Six – Reality Check

Draco woke the next morning feeling sluggish with a bit of a headache and the taste of something foul in his mouth. Blinking slowly, he saw Pansy move into his line of sight and silently hand him a small vial of hangover potion. Taking it and downing it quickly, Draco was relived to find his mind clear and the headache leave.

Sitting up he became aware of his surroundings and realised he was still in the hall and had been sleeping on the small couch he had been sharing with Harry the night before. Looking around there were still a few people either passed out or slowly rousing from sleep.

The sound of angry voices in the entrance hall suddenly caught his attention. Looking over he could see the large doors separating the Great Hall were shut securely.

"What's going on?" He asked, realising his fellow Slytherin's were now sitting down around him, but their Gryffindor friends were missing.

"I don't care about any of yeh questions! This 'ere is private property and you lot 're all trespassin'!" Seamus Finnigan's voice floated to them, sounding furious.

"The press have heard about Harry's work here so they turned up this morning." Pansy said quietly.

"What? Why are we just sitting here then, we need to help him get rid of the vultures!" Draco moved to stand, but Blaise grabbed his arm.

"We won't help him by going out there." He said quietly. Draco was about to question the stupidity of that statement when Ron's voice exploded.

"You can take your accusations of death eater harbouring and shove them where the sun don't shine!"

Draco felt his blood chill at the words as the full situation hit him. This harassment was all because of him; it was all his fault that these vultures were hounding Harry and the others. It was always going to be this way, he realised. If he was around Harry, people wouldn't give Harry any rest and it would all be because of Draco.

Feeling sick, Draco quickly left through a side door, ignoring the concerned voices of his friends who told him to stay. He moved quickly and once he was sure no one was following him, he took off running as fast as he could away from the awful truth. He ran until he found himself in the half fixed owlery, sitting on a bare bit of wood in despair.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, only that it was a while before Harry himself finally found him. As soon as his eyes landed on the black-haired man, Draco felt his emotions get the best of him as he leapt to his feet.

"It didn't mean anything! That kiss was just a spur of the moment kind of thing. We're nothing more than acquaintances – we'll ne-never be anything m-more." Though he tried to keep his emotions under control, he couldn't stop it as tears filled his eyes and unexpected, chocked sobs were torn from his throat.

Life just wasn't fair! He really liked Harry, but he couldn't allow for people to be so intrusive and hurtful towards the man. Draco wouldn't care if it were only him they were going for, but to bring Harry into it… Draco just couldn't allow that to happen!

"Draco, don't you get it?" Harry spoke softly, taking a few steps towards the tearful man.

"You're worth it, you're worth everything. It's not your fault people are so stupid and idiotic. Besides, I'm not going to let you say it all means nothing when I like you this much – hell, I'm pretty sure it might even be the beginnings love!" Harry took another step closer, but Draco backed up.

"I know it's a big change and it's scary. But I'll wait for you to make your choice. I'll wait forever if I have to." Harry gave him a small, slightly sad smile before he backed away and left Draco to his own thoughts.

Draco spent the rest of the day pathetically hiding in the owlary. No one except a house elf baring food disturbed him. His thoughts didn't tell him anything, just went around and around in circles of never-ending confusion.

He was fully intending to spend at least the next few days, if not the rest of his life, hidden in the Hogwarts owlary when Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley crushed that plan.

They stormed the owlary early the next morning, allowing just enough time for him to finish his breakfast.

"Right, this is stupid, Draco." Hermione said, clearly not happy.

"Yeah, you're being a stupid prat." Ron agreed, tapping a rolled up newspaper against his own arm as he spoke.

"So, you've come up here to beat me to death with a newspaper?" Draco asked pathetically from his still seated position.

"No, you prat. You're going to read this article, then listen to us, before you go and beg Harry for forgiveness because you've been acting like a fool." Hermione said as Ron chucked the paper at him.

Curious despite himself, Draco unrolled the paper and was only slightly surprised to see a picture of Harry on the cover.

'Harry Potter – Leading a Revolution?'

Draco read the article with increasing surprise and silent joy. A warm feeling filled his chest as the support and belief Harry had in him and his friends was glaringly apparent. Harry hadn't just answered the slightly intrusive and rude questions – he'd answered them, chewed out the rude reporter and effectively threw the question back in their face.

Finishing the article, he looked up with conflicting silver eyes.

"Draco; Harry loves you – he's always been crazy about you. From the very first time he met you, he's always wanted to know everything there is to know about you." Hermione said in a more gentle tone.

"Yeah, and we know you really like him too, Pansy said so." Ron nodded.

"So, don't hurt Harry, ok? He's out little brother and we're trusting you to keep him happy." Hermione gave Draco a beautiful smile and suddenly Draco could understand with perfect clarity why Harry treasured these two above others and why his own best friends were falling for them.

Taking a deep breath, Draco gave into his own selfish desires.

***()

Draco followed Hermione's directions down to the first floor corridor of the East side of the castle. Finding the large double doors that looked as if they were never opened, he stopped. Taking a deep breath and pushing his nerves to the back of his mind, Draco pushed the door open and peaked inside.

It was a huge circular room that hadn't been used in decades by the look of the layers upon layers of dust and cobwebs. Clearly the House Elves hadn't been here in a while. There was a pile of old school desks staked up to one side of the room as well as a few other pieces of furniture and chairs. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling, but it was empty of any candles.

A huge window seat was opposite the door and sitting there was one Harry Potter.

Swallowing, Draco forced himself to walk over to the other man who remained staring out the window.

"Harry?" Draco called out softly. A slight tilt of the head was the only acknowledgement he got.

"Harry, I-I'm sorry." Draco stumbled over his words slightly, feeling terrified and honestly guilty at the same time.

"You were right, I am scared – but not for me – for you. I don't really care what people say about me, it's normally true anyway. But they shouldn't say things about you! You're just too good of a person to have those gossipmongers after you. It's not fair!"

Draco bit his bottom lip and clenched his fists at his sides in frustration.

"But I," he swallowed around his suddenly tight throat. "But I can't help but want to be with you. I'm so tired of being denied what I want. I just, I want you more than I've ever wanted anything in my life." He forced himself to keep his eyes trained on Harry, desperately hoping for some kind of reaction before he went stir-crazy.

"I want you, too." Harry finally turned bright emerald green eyes onto the paler man.

An unbidden smile stretched across his face as Harry reached out for his hand and pulled him down so he was seated between Harry's legs, his back against a strong chest and tanned arms wrapped securely around his middle.

"I know its fast, but I feel as if I never want to let you go. I want you to stay with me." Harry's warm breath whispered by Draco's ear and he shivered in pleasure.

"I want to stay." Draco gripped Harry's hands, intertwining their fingers and resting them over Draco's abdomen comfortably.

They sat in silence for a while after that, just content in their small moment of peace together. It was finally Draco who broke the silence.

"What, exactly, were you doing down here anyway?"

"Hmm? Oh, Mione has been talking with Blaise about the idea of creating a communal common room for the four houses. I thought it'd be a great idea to help with building links of communication and friendship between the houses. This is the room she thought might be suitable." Harry's voice rumbled in his chest and Draco pushed back slightly, enjoying the vibrations he could feel.

"That sounds like a pretty good idea. We'll have to get everyone involved with it." Draco smiled as the arms around him tightened slightly in agreement.

"Yeah, it's going to be a hard but worthwhile project. I can't believe we've never had one before."

"Well we had the Great Hall." Draco reasoned.

"Not the same, we had to sit in house groups. This common room will be completely unified, no house boundaries." Harry's thumb absentmindedly stroked the soft skin of Draco's wrist.

"Hmm, I like the sound of that." Draco smiled softly, eyes sliding closed in contentment. It really did sound good.

***()

The next morning when Draco walked into the Great Hall for breakfast holding hands with Harry Potter, he was blushing thanks to the wolf-whistles, catcalls, cheers and well wishes. As Harry casually curled an arm around his waist as they ate, Draco couldn't help but glow with pride and happiness.

After that, things fell into a fairly normal routine. The castle was full of jobs for them all to complete and when they weren't doing that there was plenty of joking and laughter to share. Draco had never felt so happy and carefree in all his life. The idea of the communal common room had been a hit and many of the students spent their free time adding to it.

It was on the 30th of July when Hermione took him aside just after breakfast. Curiously asking her what she wanted, she smiled before gently teasing him.

"You'll want to buy him something nice for his birthday, won't you?"

Draco flushed at her words, silently kicking himself for forgetting such an important date!

"What am I going to get him?" Draco fretted, mind turning out hundreds of ideas, which were all promptly rejected. He needed to find the perfect gift for Harry.

"That's why we're leaving early. Ron is going to cover for us so no worries." She said as she pulled him along, away from the castle so that they could go shopping.

Though she had been positive and full of ideas and suggestions, Draco just couldn't seem to find the right present for Harry. They were running out of time and Draco was no closer to finding a gift, when a sudden loud squawk caught his attention. Looking over, he could see a pure black owl staring back at him with almost silver coloured eyes. Though the owl looked ferocious and almost evil upon first glance, its eyes were surprisingly soft and, realising it had Draco's attention, it hooted softly in welcome.

Walking over to it and reaching out to stroke its soft feathers, the owl nibbled gently on his finger before fluffing its feathers and relaxing into Draco's petting.

"Oh, he's gorgeous!" Hermione appeared from behind Draco, though the owl appeared unaffected by the abrupt arrival.

"You know, Harry lost Headwig in the war. I'm sure he'd love a new companion." She slyly mentioned.

Draco sent her his famous smirk.

"That's just what I was thinking."

"I'm half expecting them to grab their wands and start hexing us." Blaise said quietly from his position beside Draco, untouched pumpkin juice held in his hand.

"I bet they're thinking about it too. They're only restraining themselves for Harry's sake." Pansy muttered from Draco's other side.

"They won't do anything while Harry's here." Draco took a tiny sip of the drink he'd been careful to grab before the 'outside' guests had arrived.

The front lawns of Hogwarts were playing host to Harry's birthday party. It was the first time in a month that someone other than the students – and reporters – had been on Hogwarts soil.

Many people – some of which were surprisingly high up Ministry officials – were gathered here and had wasted little time in pulling their Gryffindor friends away. The Slytherin's had slowly found themselves in a small group together, politely ignoring the – at times – scathing looks being sent their way.

Draco allowed his eyes to wander as he took another sip of his drink.

"How does Harry even know half these people?" Blaise asked, eyeing the Head Auora, Kingsly Shackelbolt.

"Isn't that Mudges Flecture – a thief – joking around with the Head of the Auora Department?" Theo quietly questioned, slight disbelief in his voice.

"That there is Flur Delacur, the Tri-Wizard Champion, isn't it?" Millicent subtly nodded her head towards the half-veela.

"Yes, she's married to the eldest Weasley, Bill, the curse breaker." Draco said from behind the rim of his goblet, recalling Ron having mentioned it in passing.

"Which one's Bill? All those Weasley boys look the same." Theo snorted as his eyes searched for the man of their conversation.

"He's the one who looks like he was mauled by a werewolf." Pansy said.

"Merlin – what happened to him?" Theo exclaimed when he spotted the scared face.

"He was mauled by a werewolf." Draco said dryly.

"Draco!" A child's voice rang out suddenly. Looking over a little grey eyed, electric blue haired boy of five was running over to him with open arms. Catching the child in his arms, Draco easily sat him comfortably on his hip, all without spilling his drink.

"Hello, cousin Teddy," Draco smiled slightly at the boy, a feeling of ridiculous happiness filling him that there was someone here who didn't seem to hate him on sight alone.

The young boy giggled at the blond, sounding delighted with the familiar term.

"Say, Teddy?" Pansy leaned over with a too innocent smile on her face.

"I was wondering if you could tell us how Head Auora Kingsly Shacklebolt knows Mudges Flecture."

'She's pumping a five-year-old for information!' Draco thought, only slightly scandalized.

"Kingsley and Dung?" Teddy tilted his head to the side as if in thought. "Well, from what Aunty Mione said, most of the grown-ups were together in the war. She said that they were all friends with Harry and that even my mama and daddy were their friends!" The child once again looked thrilled by this piece of information.

"Granny Molly says they fort against bad wizards, just like the superhero's on TV do! When I asked Uncle Ron if Harry was a superhero he wouldn't answer me for ages! But he said Harry was a hero, but didn't want anyone to know cos it's a secret." Big grey eyes suddenly became impossibly wide as he turned to the Slytherins.

"You won't tell that I told you, will you?"

"No, we won't say anything – it'll be our little secret." Pansy tapped his nose, causing giggles to spill forth again.

"Someone looks like they're having fun." Hermione's voice broke into their little group as she approached them all with a tray of food and drink.

"Mione! Can I have some sweets?" Teddy held out a hand hopefully, his other arm wrapped around Draco's neck to keep his balance.

"What's the magic word?" She asked, smile twitching at the corner of her lips.

"Please!" Teddy giggled.

Handing over a few sweets, Teddy wiggled to be let down before running off to Harry himself and proudly sharing his sweets with him.

"Here, these are potion, spell, hex and curse free. I made sure to hide them before the twins got here." Her voice was dry as she passed out food and drinks to the thankful Slytherin's.

"I'm sorry about them, they're all being absolute prat's. Harry's not going to put up with much more at the rate they're going." Hermione glanced at Harry, who Draco noticed looked fairly tense.

"It was to be expected." Pansy sighed, taking a bite out of her cake.

"It's not your fault people are idiots." Blaise said comfortingly, hand moving to rest on her arm in silent support. She flashed him a thankful smile when there was suddenly a shout of warning before the table with the drinks on the other side of the party went over. Everyone's attention immediately went to the sobbing child who was now covered in pumpkin juice.

Draco, however, was distracted from the very loud and wet spectacle by a hand suddenly grabbing his own and before he knew it a silky, invisible material was draped over him and he found himself in familiar arms.

"Just follow," Harry's voice whispered in his ear. Nodding his head, then realising he'd not be able to see; Draco squeezed one of the hands resting on his abdomen and followed silently as Harry pulled him away from the large and noisy group.

They came to a stop at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, the party still in sight, but they were hidden from prying eyes.

An invisibility cloak was ripped away from them and before Draco could do more than blink at Harry's sudden appearance, he was roughly shoved against a tree trunk, Harry's solid body pressed tightly against his own. Lips pressed insistently against his own and he relaxed, arms moving up and wrapping around Harry's waist.

Pulling away slowly, Harry gave him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry about that lot. Don't worry, they'll grow to like you." He reassured him.

Draco was prevented from saying anything else as Harry kissed him again.

"What do you say we go watch the stars from the astronomy tower?" Harry suggested, pulling away and holding out a hand in invitation.

"It's the middle of the afternoon, the stars won't be visible for hours yet." Draco protested.

"So?" Harry grinned.

Smirking slightly, and ignoring the heat now coming from his cheeks, Draco happily accepted his hand and allowed him to pull them away.

"Won't they be annoyed you're ditching them?" Draco asked, more out of a feeling of obligation than any real concern.

Harry paused in their escape, glancing back at the group laughing and joking.

"Nah, they'll live." Harry sent him a boyish grin, allowing Draco to completely relax as he was pulled along.

The two spent the remainder of the afternoon and evening sitting in the still half destroyed astronomy tower. Draco snuggled into Harry, resting against the firm chest, tan arms wrapped around him creating a pleasant weight. They watched the stars, as they slowly appeared, the silence between them more comforting than any words.

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