Title: Do Vampires Cuddle? - Final chapter

For information: We are past the mentions of non-con now.

The story so far: Harry and Draco are married and back at Hogwarts together. Both Dumbledore and Lucius Malfoy are now accepting of their relationship. Voldemort's latest body is dead, through Harry's efforts, though they all know that he will not stay dead for long.

Harry, Draco, Hermione and Ron spent their Easter break hunting horcruxes - magical objects which Voldemort had enchanted to protect pieces of his soul in the event of his death. Harry had apparently already disposed of one when he killed the snake, and Professor Dumbledore surmised that Voldemort's most recent incarnation had been tied to its life in a more binding way than to the others, perhaps as a temporary measure until he had become stronger.

The others would be objects which held particular significance for the Dark Lord, objects with a magical history and value, into which he had poured shattered pieces of his soul as he committed murder.

It was a vile concept - to deliberately murder another precisely because of the damage it would do to your soul.

With each act, Voldemort had become less human, more evil, and very much more powerful. Until the horcruxes were destroyed, Voldemort could return by various methods and could not be truly killed. They must utterly destroy each as they found it.

And so they spent their time hunting down obscure references, following the footsteps of Tom Riddle as he had once been, and then Lord Voldemort as he had become. A locket, a ring, a diadem and a chalice all fell to their hands and the first three were shattered in turn by the sword of Godric Gryffindor. Dumbledore had insisted that they return to Hogwarts to destroy the last, though he would not explain the importance. Harry had his suspicions though - a horcrux was something which had been altered at the moment when Voldemort committed murder, something which could be a living creature. Perhaps the chalice was not the final horcrux, the final thing tying Voldemort's soul to the world. Harry's scar had been silent since the vampire's attack, his link to the Dark Lord apparently severed. But was it really? Or had it just gone quiet? Destroying the chalice might be the final act required to destroy Voldemort for good. Or there might be one more needed.

Harry clung to Draco on the last night before they returned to the castle. They had cast a silencing charm on their bedroom - fortunately this tent was the wizarding kind which gave them a double bed and enough privacy to enjoy it. They had politely ignored the less-than-subtle clues that only one of the other bedrooms was being used, and made sure their silencing charm would work in both directions. Ron and Hermione did not seem ready to admit that their friendship had crossed a line, and were never seen to kiss or even hold hands, but Harry and Draco had each independently reached the conclusion that theirs was not the only physical relationship being enjoyed in this tent. They made no comments and asked no questions - when the others were ready to mention it, they would do so. Or it would run its course and they would part, hopefully still on speaking terms and able to remain as friends, and it would drift into the list of 'Things we politely don't mention though we all know that we know them'. It was an odd category which a younger Harry would not have recognised, but it had its uses. Lucius Malfoy had put Harry's vampirism into that category, at a time when Harry would not even admit it to himself, and it was in no small part due to this that the Death Eaters were quietly being charged with a variety of unrelated offences and vanishing to Azkaban. Cornelius Fudge had put the physical aspect of Harry and Draco's relationship into the same category, and therefore provided them with a spare bedroom which had encouraged Draco to explore his wilder side.

And now Draco was more than willing to be imaginative and enthusiastic wherever they found themselves. They hadn't talked about what would happen when they returned to Hogwarts the next day, but Harry was sure the same suspicions had occurred to Draco as to him, and he seemed eager not to waste much time on sleep. When they weren't making love they were touching and talking, and the night seemed to last forever but still be over much too soon.

They had been travelling by a variety of means, since they were all now legally adults in the wizarding world, and they returned to Hogwarts by simply apparating outside the gates and then walking through the grounds, to be met by the Headmaster in the main hall. They showed him the chalice, and followed him to his study.

He examined it carefully, confirming that it was indeed the final horcrux that they knew about, then set it down on the desk.

Finally he turned to Harry and said "I think perhaps you have guessed why I asked you to return here rather than destroy this yourselves as you have all the others?"

"Yes sir, you think my scar may also be a horcrux, and you don't know for certain what will happen when the chalice is destroyed." The others all looked saddened but unsurprised, it seemed the same idea had occurred to all of them over time. "Do... do you have a plan, sir? To stop me from causing harm if it is true?"

Draco's hand was tucked into his, and it tightened nervously.

"I will not lie to you, Harry, it is difficult to know what to do for the best. If your scar is not a horcrux, then we can expect to feel the effects of the destruction of the chalice, assuming it is indeed the last. On the other hand if your scar is also a horcrux, created inadvertently when Voldemort killed your mother, then the destruction of the chalice will mean that yours is the last, and it is possible that Lord Voldemort may be able to make use of that fact in some way, either immediately or at a later date, as he did with the snake."

Harry shivered at the thought of Voldemort taking over his body, his fear and disgust for his own sake a minor concern in comparison with what the Dark Lord could do with a vampire's abilities since he would have no moral qualms about using them.

"Then it would be safer to deal with the scar first, and leave the chalice till last? Since it is inanimate, Voldemort won't be able to do much if he can somehow inhabit it. You can be much surer of destroying it than you could of killing me, if it comes to it."

"Yes, Harry. You have reached the same conclusion as I have done. If we are to be certain of destroying Lord Voldemort permanently, while his soul exists only as horcruxes, then we must take every step to ensure that your scar is free from his influence before we destroy the final inanimate horcrux. My research has convinced me that this genuinely is the last, and also that there are no further animate horcruxes to be considered.

Harry nodded. He trusted Dumbledore to be very thorough in these matters. "So what do we have to do?"

"There is a spell, which will bring to light whether or not your scar is in fact a horcrux. However, in casting the spell it is possible that the link to Voldemort may be strengthened, and you may risk being overwhelmed. Normally it would be a fairly easy matter to bind you securely so that steps could be taken to reverse the connection, but in your case that may not be effective. However it is probable that the combined effect of your friends binding you would be adequate, if they are willing to be involved?"

Ron, Hermione, and Draco all slowly nodded.

Dumbledore had warned that the process might be painful, but the word did not do justice to the agony that ripped through Harry's head when Dumbledore said the spell. He fought against the binding spells that the others had cast, their three wands pointing at him from the corners of the room while the Headmaster focussed all his attention on severing Voldemort's continuing connection, but even his strength and abilities were not sufficient to loosen the cords that wrapped around him. He shrieked and convulsed, and his friends whitened at the pain they were causing him, but Dumbledore had impressed on them all the need to finish the process once it was started and they were determined not to give in. Harry was sure his skull would physically split open from the pressure inside it, but instead a glowing purple strand was pulled out through the bone and skin, before Dumbledore cast a new spell which blasted it away.

Darkness flowed in around Harry and he dropped to the floor, completely unconscious.

He came round to arms holding him, and a gentle but insistent voice in his ears, and had a feeling of deja vu, but as he allowed consciousness to return he realised that this time it was Draco who was kneeling on the floor beside him, begging him to wake. He stirred and patted one slim but strong arm, murmuring something meaningless, and was rewarded by a tangible relaxing of the tense muscles around him. Gradually he allowed sight and sound to return and found himself on the floor of Dumbledore's study, with concerned faces all around him. His head was still intensely painful but no longer felt as though it would break open at any moment.

"Please tell me that worked" he asked quietly. If he had gone through that only to be told that it had been ineffective, he wasn't sure what he would do.

"Yes, Harry, I was able to pull the lingering presence of Lord Voldemort out of your scar and destroy it utterly. You are quite free of his influence. All that remains is for us to destroy the chalice and the deed will be done."

Harry was keen to finish this once and for all, though Dumbledore and the others were concerned and thought he should go to the Hospital Wing to be checked out first. In the end though they could tell that he would not be able to relax until he was sure it was over, and they all stood so that they could hold the sword together and bring it down hard on the chalice. There was a rush of what Harry could only describe as a sense of pure evil which permeated the room, until Fawkes leaned out from his perch and fanned his wings while singing softly. The feeling diminished, leaving them all exhausted but relieved. It was finally over, whatever little was left of Voldemort now could not return, and could not gather strength. It would diminish and fade, and the world would be free of him at last.

In the end, they all went up to the Hospital Wing together, and allowed Madam Pomfrey to check them over and provide healing spells and tonic potions. She would have kept Harry there overnight, but he refused. He would sleep in his own room, with his husband, he was quite determined. She gave in, though reluctantly and with instructions to eat a proper meal and get a good night's sleep.

The four of them ate together at the Gryffindor table that evening, quietly thoughtful about what they had done and the risks and potential costs it had involved.

Harry smiled inwardly at the realisation that his friends were holding hands beneath the table. They knew where the Room of Requirement could be found if they wanted to celebrate in the same way that he and Draco would soon be doing, in spite of Madam Pomfrey's insistence that they both needed their rest. They would take things slow and gentle, and sleep much better for it than they ever could in separate beds in the Hospital Wing. He would show his husband just how special and important he was, and how very good it felt to be alive and well after all they had gone through. And in the morning their lives would go back to normal, a new normal, in a world where Voldemort would not be coming back. A world where they could be ordinary people, living ordinary lives, with ordinary concerns like studying for their NEWTs. And with an ordinary, extra-ordinary, downright wonderful relationship to strengthen them as they went through their days and nights together. Harry leaned across to give Draco a gentle kiss, then slipped his hand into that of his lover beneath the table. Being in love and at school had its exciting forbidden side, even when you were married, and he planned to spend time every day just appreciating that fact, as well as making full use of the extra permissions which applied to the two of them in the privacy of their own rooms. He smiled and leaned in closer. Life was good.