Chapter Text
Every day since that night, Harry had been second-guessing his decision.
Had he been too rash? Had he meddled too much? No matter what he was, Scorpius had been Draco’s whole life. But then he remembers the wizards who had been obsessed with controlling life and death and the dark paths it had taken them. He didn’t want Draco to go down that road, and so, he had acted on instinct.
And in the process, condemning Scorpius, his brain supplies.
He’d been too ashamed to go back to the manor, or even to send an owl. It had been a month since then, and Harry missed Draco and Scorpius so much, it physically hurt. He even tried to ask Hermione about them, but she only told him that Draco had blocked all forms of communication from her and that she had no idea. Maybe it would have been better if I just went along with it, Harry sometimes thinks in his weakest moments, in the darkest of nights, when he feels the heaviness of being alone the most.
In those moments, he looks at the bracelet Scorpius gave him when they first met. Harry had completely forgotten about it, only to find it when he cleaned his room to take his mind off things. Back then, Scorpius had explicitly instructed him not to wear it whenever he went to the manor, and Harry had acquiesced. Well, he won’t be going there in the near future, so he might as well wear the bracelet now.
It had been a month since then. A month since he was yanked out of the new routine he had established and had fallen in love with. A month of getting used, once again, to the numbing quietness of Grimmauld. Perhaps this was what he deserved. After all, hadn’t he received his greatest wish, only to sabotage it all in the end?
*
Just like the first time, Scorpius came to him. Completely unexpected and out of the blue, Harry dreams of him. They were in the manor sitting room, Scorpius sitting on one of the couches. He waves at Harry and motions to him to come closer. Disoriented, Harry follows.
“Hello, Harry!” he greets, chirpily. Harry looks at him warily, and the boy huffs, “Well, I was expecting a warmer welcome.”
“Sorry for not jumping for joy. The last time I saw you, it was another star who simply assumed your appearance. Not to mention the traumatizing chain of events after.”
Scorpius laughs. “No, it really is me!”
Harry smiles and ruffles Scorpius’s hair fondly. He missed this. “I figured. After all, this is my dream. I think I should get to pick who visits.”
“Hm. This isn’t a dream, though.”
“I distinctly remember falling asleep.”
“You are asleep. But you’re not dreaming. Do you remember the bracelet I gave you, Harry?” Harry glances down to find it still tied around his wrist. He’d been removing it far less and less lately. “It contains a piece of my energy.”
Harry frowns, “like a Horcux?”
“Silly Harry. Celestials do not have souls to split, like you humans do. Our energies and consciousness can be split and stored separately, though it’s rather uncomfortable for prolonged periods of time.”
“And this bracelet is one of them?”
Scorpius shrugs. “Father had made so many at this point. For the longest time, he’d been siphoning my energy to keep me from bursting.” His grin turns melancholy. “It’s not a permanent solution, as you’ve observed.”
“Yet you gave me one. A piece of you.”
Scorpius turns to him and bumps his head against Harry’s shoulder, playfully. “I knew I needed to talk to you in this way, eventually.”
“You could have just woken up and talked to me the normal way.”
“We both know you made sure that wouldn’t happen.”
Scorpius’s voice was teasing, yet Harry still couldn’t help but be filled with guilt and shame. “Scorpius, I’m sorry,” he begins. “I still don’t know if what I did was the right thing, but I just know I don’t want Draco to go down that road. It isn’t right.”
“Harry, stop. It’s all good. One of the reasons I came here is to thank you, actually.”
“Thank me?”
“Yes. I asked you to protect my father, even from himself. And you did. Thank you, Harry,” Scorpius says, sincerely. Harry looks away, ashamed.
“I did it for me, Scorpius, It was a selfish decision. I wanted to keep him safe.” I wanted to keep you safe, Harry thinks.
“Then thank you, Harry, because it means that I am able to fulfill Draco Malfoy’s heart’s desire like I originally promised.”
Harry’s eyes widened. “You mean –”
Scorpius smiles. “When I assumed this form, I had to keep parts of me suppressed. I had to learn a lot of things, and forget a few others. In a way, I am Scorpius, but Scorpius is not me. And all of this was done to be more human and to be the family that Draco Malfoy yearned for. It’s wonderful, Harry. Humans live such short lives compared to celestials, but every day is exciting with so many new things to do, and to learn, and to explore. Being human was perhaps the single greatest thing that happened to me.”
Harry smiles softly, “I’m glad you enjoyed it.”
“I did. So much, even I sometimes forget where Scorpius ends and I begin. On some days, we’ve become so entwined. Perhaps that’s why I was so desperate to save him.”
Harry feels relieved. “It’s not an act, then?”
“Oh no! His heart’s desire is a genuine connection. While celestial magic still cannot create love, it will try to create the closest alternative. Not feed you with an illusion. Draco and Scorpius really were a family, Harry.”
The choice of word struck Harry. “Wait – were?”
Scorpius claps his hands together, as if suddenly remembering something. “Oh, right! The other thing. I came to say goodbye.”
Harry’s brows furrow. “What do you mean?”
“The time has come for that body. In a few minutes, it will give out, and the energy inside will have nowhere to go.”
“And then,” Harry continues, remembering the words of the other star when it took Scorpius’s form, “your consciousness will fade, and the energy will be returned to the universe to give birth to new stars.”
Scorpius grins. “Finally, you get it. No more of that falling pieces of rock or balls of hot gas nonsense, you hear me?”
Harry grins back and gives the boy a mock salute. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Harry? Can you do me one last favor?”
“What is it, Scorpius?”
“Can you go to Father? Can you make sure he’s okay?”
It was a done deal, and they both knew it. After all, Harry had never been good at denying Scorpius anything he asked for. Harry, however, pretends to think about it first. “Only if you do me one last favor in return,” he says after a pause.
“What?”
Harry turns his whole body to Scorpius, fully taking in the boy one last time, committing to memory the color of his eyes, and the shape of his nose and lips, and the distinct shade of his hair. Harry opens his arms wide. “Hug me?”
Scorpius’s answering smile was blinding as he threw himself straight onto Harry’s open arms.
*
Despite being away for some time, navigating the manor’s twisting and winding corridors still felt like second nature to Harry. In moments when he loses himself, he half-expects Scorpius to jump from a corner and give him a scare, just like how the boy loved to do before. He’s hit with a sense of loss whenever he remembers why it wouldn’t happen again. He quickly shakes the feeling off. Scorpius would hate it if Harry acted all melancholy, like that.
Just think, Harry, Scorpius had said, think of all the fun we had. Think of how much I loved you. Both of you. Remind Father, too, okay?
Back then, Harry had nodded. He’s decided to take this mission seriously.
As expected, he finds Draco in Scorpius’s room. He was lying on top of what used to be Scorpius’s bed, only now, it was broken in half, and the mattress singed at the center with stuffing coming out. Draco’s back was turned away from the door, his body curled around a wad of fabric that Harry recognized as Scorpius’s favorite sweater. He enters the room without knocking and slowly sits on the bed beside Draco.
“Hey,” he says quietly, careful not to spook the other man. Draco briefly tenses at the intrusion before he seemingly recognizes Harry’s voice, his shoulders loosening up.
“Hey,” Draco replies. Slowly, Harry reaches out to touch his arm. He doesn’t flinch and Harry takes it as a good sign.
“I’m sorry about what I did.”
Harry feels Draco shrug. “No. You did the right thing. I was just too desperate, too blinded by the situation to realize. I see that now.”
“Still.”
“If you’re going to be like that, then I’m sorry for lying to you, too. I almost brought you into a ritual that practically created human life. That’s probably considered dark magic somewhere.”
Harry grins, though Draco cannot see it. “Can I tell you a secret?” he mock whispers, “I was almost tempted to go through with it.”
That made Draco roll over onto his back and look at Harry properly. This was the first time Harry’s seen Draco in a month, and Harry’s heart still clenches at the sight. Draco’s eyes were bloodshot from crying, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days, but he was still the most beautiful man Harry had ever seen. He clutches at his heart, which has suddenly decided to dance wildly inside his ribcage. Draco’s brows furrow.
“Are you okay?”
“Never better,” Harry gasps. It won’t do to scare off Draco now with his sudden realization.
Draco still looks at him, worriedly. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” Harry smiles. “And yourself?”
“I hate the world and everyone who lives in it, thanks for asking,” Draco deadpans and Harry laughs. Maybe, Harry thinks, maybe they would be okay.
“That’s too bad,” Harry says. “Can’t you stop hating one person, at least?”
Draco pretends to consider his words, “let’s see. I might be persuaded to give Granger a chance.”
Harry reaches out and flicks Draco’s forehead lightly. “Menace. I meant me.”
“I’ll consider it.”
“What would it take for you to raise my chances, hm?”
Their eyes lock and Harry sees everything plain as day. Draco’s grief, his hope, his fears, warring behind his cloudy gray irises. I’ll hold him through it all, Harry thinks, a silent promise to himself. Draco, meanwhile, seems to have come to a conclusion of his own. He takes hold of Harry’s wrist and, with surprising strength, pulls Harry over him. Their chests align somewhat and Harry’s face slots in perfectly against Draco’s neck. He folds his legs and hoists them up the bed to get more comfortable and promptly tangles them around Draco’s. This was the closest they’d ever been since that day of the almost-kiss, and Harry savors every bit of warmth and every little scent he could get from Draco’s skin.
Silence falls between them as Draco allows his fingers to tangle up Harry’s dark hair, while his other hand wraps around Harry, tracing patterns on his back. “Stay with me, Harry?” Draco asks, quietly, after a long pause.
And when Draco asked that, he might have meant now, on this bed, for a while; or maybe he could have meant that Harry should stay for dinner.
But when Harry said yes, what Harry really meant was that he would stay forever.
He pushes his arms underneath Draco’s back, coiling them around the other man’s waist. He could feel the metal shard from his bracelet digging into his wrist, but he didn’t mind. In fact, he liked to feel it. In a way, it made Harry feel that Scorpius was still physically here.
Maybe one day, soon, Harry will say out loud just how much Draco has come to mean to him.
Maybe one day, he’ll ask Draco to live together.
Maybe one day, he’ll ask Draco to get married.
But now, it is enough that whenever Harry tightens his hold on Draco’s waist, Draco hugs him back. It is enough that he can feel Draco’s touch against his body. It is enough that he can run his lips against Draco’s neck. It is enough that he, Harry, has finally found a place to belong to. Someone to belong to.
They will live happily ever after.
After all, it is Harry’s heart’s desire.