My Sacrifice

Chapter 3: My Sacrifice

Hello, my friend, we meet again,
It's been awhile, where should we begin?
Feels like forever

He looked at himself in the window - his hair wasn't smoothed over as it had been for many years, but rather, free, and professionally styled, a rather sexy wind-brushed look, with slightly darker highlights. His grin was wide and his teeth were dazzlingly white. His eyes were a magnanimously silver, bright and bold. His complexion healthy and slightly tanned, he was the very essence of confidence and beauty.

Yet it did not show his inward reluctance, the hesitation that always plagued his soul.

That damn thing was just meant to be ignored. He sensed it, and straightened.

Giving someone all of your love is never an assurance that they'll love you back... Don't expect their love in return, just wait for it to grow in their heart... but if it does not, be happy it grew in yours.

Draco looked up. It was his stop. He got off the train and walked outside. The air was pretty bad in the Underground, up here the fresh morning air was just a little stale, the sun had just risen, a sight that gave him new hope.

Within my heart a memory-
A perfect love that you gave to me,
Oh, I remember...

He found the building, rather small and shabby-looking. Standing in front of it, he thought, Harry Potter works here. Who'd have thought? Not pausing to dwell on the memories, he put on a confident smirk and strode in. He paled a little bit when he saw the receptionist, with her curly red hair and bright eyes, but she turned her eyes on him, and apparently did not recognize him. Good. He flashed a smile at her and stated, "Hi, I'm Draken Veritas, I have an job interview with Mr. Daniels."

"Yes, Mr. Veritas, please sit down and Mr. Daniels will be here shortly," she replied, perhaps a little flirtingly.

He sat down and grinned rather arrogantly at her, although inside he was a bit disgusted. The place looked no better inside than outside, he hoped the offices were better, he'd expected so much more from Terronetus, the famous Wizard's Communications Agency.

"Mr. Veritas?" inquired a calm, middle-aged man with quite nondescript features. Draco got to his feet and followed the man to the room.

The man got straight to the point. "I've never heard of you before, you went to Hogwarts, right?"

Draco remembered. Way back, after his father had disinherited him, he'd applied to change his name, and also the name on his diploma. He'd always hated Albus Dumbledore, and therefore, hated to ask him for favors. Dumbledore had understood the situation, though. Draco Malfoy had never existed, as he'd never really existed in Potter's mind all along.

So he was ready. "Yes, here's my resume - I was a Prefect, Head Boy of the Class of 1998, and Quidditch Captain of Slytherin House. First time they got a Head Boy in a decade, probably." He grimaced. School was never a fond memory.

"Strange... I'd definitely have remembered the Head Boy and Girl... oh well. Now, I just need to ask you some questions." Draco nodded.

"First of all, why do you want to work for us?"

"Well, I've always had an interest in ..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Two weeks later, Draco found himself in a cubicle facing the street. As he settled in, his new coworkers introduced themselves to him. Including that receptionist, who was exactly who he'd thought she was.

"Hi! I'm Virginia Weasley - but you can call me Ginny - nice to meet you!"

"Likewise. Draken, as you know," Draco smirked.

Ginny hung around for some while, as Draco unpacked. He took out a framed picture of his mom - he'd never liked his father much, anyway, but his mother he'd dearly loved and still kept in contact with.

"Who's that?" Ginny asked.

"Narcissa Malfoy. She's... a good friend of mine." Draco caught himself, and smiled rather fondly.

Ginny looked at him, wonderingly. She knew Narcissa was Draco's mother, whom she'd always rather hated, since Harry hated the boy too. And he was a slimy git, as her brother often stated.

But after Hogwarts Graduation, Draco had just... disappeared. It was mindboggling and rather odd. She found herself questioning Draken again.

"Do you know what happened to her son? Draco Malfoy?"

Draco froze. Behind Ginny was Harry Potter.

"Oh, go on, I didn't mind to disturb you," Harry said lightly to Ginny. Then he turned to Draco, who searched the verdantly green eyes for any sign of recognition. There was none.

"Hi, I'm Harry Potter, welcome to Terronetus," said Potter warmly.

Draco was almost speechless. Here was the Harry he'd loved, barely changed and thriving in his own, lovely world. So this is what it's like to be normal... he smiled. "Draken Veritas. Good to see you, Potter."

As Potter turned to go back to his cubicle, Draco turned back to Ginny. Bury the dead when they are no longer with us. "I'm sorry, but Draco Malfoy is dead."

When you are with me I'm free
I'm careless, I believe
Above all the others we'll fly
This brings tears to my eyes
My Sacrifice

Draco surveyed the room. This was like being back at Hogwarts. Withstanding the Beauxbatons graduates, the tables were basically organized into the Houses - a few Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, the majority were Hufflepuffs. There was no one from Slytherin. Guess they all turned evil except for me. He headed towards the table with Harry, Ginny, and two other Gryffindors.

"May I sit here?" he asked smoothly.

Harry shrugged, apparently the nonofficial leader of the bunch. "Sure." The others all muttered their 'hello's to him.

Draco ate quietly, answering Ginny's questions.

"What year did you graduate?"

"98'." Harry almost dropped his fork at this.

"Hey, that's my class."

Draco favored Harry with a rather forced smile. "How nice."

"But I don't remember you. Which house did you say you were in?"

"Slytherin," said Draco nonchalantly. This time, they all dropped their forks.

One of the other Gryffindors mumbled, "Blimey. A real Slytherin. We aren't got one before."

Harry said, "Oh. Well, that explains it."

They finished the meal in silence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The weeks passed rather dully. The work was boring and not too satisfying, as Draco found, but harder yet, was trying to fit in. Although Ginny still flirted with him, and occasionally invited him to the 'Gryffindor Table', Draco often sat alone. He worked by himself too, long hours of fervent reports, and, after that, long flying rides. The night wind ripping through his hair, spreading wakefulness around himself... and when the loneliness became hard for him to bear, the seedy London nightclubs were always open.

He was at a gym just off Diagon Alley after work when he spotted Potter and his two other friends on the other side of the gym.

"You say you've played Quidditch, eh?" The louder one was laughing at Potter. "Must've been a Seeker... see? No muscles at all! They're all weaklings, doesn't make sense why they pretty much control the game... Oi! Al! Get over here and show him your stuff."

With a scorning gaze, Harry got off the machine and let Al try.

"See? That's what a real man should be able to lift." The rather annoying man laughed, and left with his friend.

Potter scowled and sat down, toweling off the sweat around his neck.

"'ello, Potter," said Draco, sitting down next to him.

"Veritas," grunted Harry. "I hate those jerks," he grumbled bitterly.

"Yeah... know how you feel," Draco replied. "Don't worry, those guys are just big and stupid gits, there's no point in worrying about them." Potter looked at Draco. "I was a Seeker too, you know. Quidditch probably means a whole lot to you - you know how those Beaters and Keepers are all buff and strong and nasty looking? Those kinda guys are a dime a dozen. Plus, those bludgers and the quaffle are only worth a few points. As Seekers, we got the most important job, see? 150 points, and it stops the game. The ones with the most power certainly aren't always the most physically imposing," Draken laughed.

"Thanks, Draken," Harry said, feeling a little bit better. "You know, you're not too bad. Some of my chums and I are going flying tomorrow afternoon. Oakley Ridge at four, you wanna come?"

"Sure."

"Right. Er... bring your broom... see you then." Draco watched as Harry left, with a faint smile on his pale lips. If I can't have you, well then... I'll just have to be content to watch you from here.

We've seen our share of ups and downs
Oh how quickly life can turn around,
In an instant

There was a time when love accounted for nothing in his life. He sat on the brow of existence, dreaming of his own world, experiencing life as a poor man, getting to see firsthand how the rest of the world lived.

"Don't you wish you were alone? Then, you could never hurt anyone else, and never be hurt."

The stinging wind whipped at his face, with the staleness of morning mixed in, as the sun rose. As its rays lit up his rough, dirt-stained, and disheveled face, Draco knew, in an instant.

This is what it feels like to despair.

From that moment, he knew what to do. It hurt his pride to go to his old friends, many of which promptly refused to even look at him. Draco Malfoy was nothing, and never had been anything. His name got him nowhere now.

And yet, there were still good people in the world. One Ravenclaw he went to, she'd recently retired at quite an early age with enough money to live out the rest of her life in ease. He entreated her to please, help this poor soul become human again. She was suspicious of course, but had given him shelter to start with. From there, Draco thought, I can work my way up.

It'd taken a while, but she'd finally given in. What did a little money mean to the rich, anyway? He could've asked his father, but, until then, he'd never thought of it.

Greed tormented him as well. He knew his skills, having spent the better part of his life honing them. He was capable of killing the woman and running off with her assets.

But there was a part of him that wanted to turn away from the darkness. He knew he could, he could become just about anyone he wanted to. And now, he knew exactly what he wanted to be.

It feels so good to realize,
What's in yourself and within your mind.
Let's find peace there

He wanted to see the light - if even, for just once.

Draco Malfoy ordinarily would never dream of this. He would've become just like his father - cold, unforgiving, servant to the Dark Lord, devoting his life to something rather small and insignificant, and then dying quite lonely, thinking he'd accomplished something.

Well, a part of the light had revealed itself to him. And now he saw a bit of the grand scheme of things.

Circumstances changed after a while. People changed. It might take a great event to change their minds so totally. But it's possible, just as anything else is.

He wanted to see the light with Harry.

When you are with me I'm free,
I'm careless, I believe.
Above all the others we'll fly,
This brings tears to my eyes.
My Sacrifice

It took less time than he thought. He supposed, when you're working hard for your dreams, it just seems that much shorter.

And in the meantime? "Hey, Potter, how're ya doing? Had a nice weekend, did you? Here, have some toffee..." That was, perhaps, all it took. Harry also seemed nicer than Draco remembered, something that might have been a side effect of the glorifying lover symbol Harry'd become to Draco.

He was always on his guard, even with Harry... God, the feeling he got from just being in the same room with Harry. Piercing emerald eyes, that seemed to see past Draken and into Draco Malfoy's very own soul. Hair quite the same, perhaps not sticking out as much. And the cologne... he felt like he could drown in it, it was so Harry-like. Not too strong or soft, but always there, a bit faintly, and waiting.

He smiled in Draken's presence. Draken was a great coworker and friend, and possessed many attributes Harry had, but still had that refined Malfoy edge. He could never lose it, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how he tried to change himself.

Certain things split Draco from watching Harry, though. For instance, Draken soon had a string of promotions, being the hard, capable worker he was, and was relocated to a nice office. It took some months for Harry to get one of his own. And, as usual, company rank got in the way, somewhere in the middle.

"Draken!" Harry harshly whispered as he passed by Draken. "Don't look behind you - Daniels is watching. Can't talk now, so meet me at Lander's Café at 9. Later." Little passed Daniels' eyes, right-hand man of Jackson Hawke, who was the CEO of Terronetus.

"Two things, Draken," started Harry, as Draken slid in the booth and ordered a beer. Even though the place was nearly empty, it took the two girls in the backroom ten minutes to give him his order.

All of Draco's years of upper class dining and experiencing its luxurious wines had not been wasted. "Next time, we have got to meet at a martini bar." Draco grimaced.

"Er... right... well, you've heard the rumors, right?" Harry questioned.

"I know everything that goes on within Terronetus." Draco stared at the list of ingredients on the bottle.

There was silence for a moment, then Harry asked, quite breathlessly, "So, is Hawke dying?"

"...By next Friday, surely." Draco answered finally. Then, was promptly surprised as Harry whooped in joy.

"Oh, come on, Draken, you can't see what this means then? Daniels isn't going to take over, thank God, even Hawke doesn't trust him to screw the whole company multiple times over... It may be one of us! Haha! Hawke, the old prick... I can't wait to stomp on his coffin at the funeral... if there is one..." Harry was quite ecstatic. Probably, too ecstatic as, he looked like he was gonna jump on the table and start dancing at any moment. So, Draco threw him onto the floor.

"Down, Potter," Draco smiled, quite firmly. "I had no idea you were so... ferocious." Potter's eye glinted, and, suddenly, Draco was on the floor as well. There was a panic spreading though his stomach, and it suddenly froze his nerves. Potter was looking down at him, talking, with a rather vicious grin on his face. Suddenly, he leaned down...

Noooooooooo...

He tried to get up, but couldn't... trying to brace against the pain, he clamped his eyes shut.

"... Draken? Hey? Are you ok? Can you get up?" Draco opened his eyes, expecting anything. Potter was standing by his side, and he held out his hand to Draco.

"Oh... that hurt," said Draco lamely.

Potter's worried look vanished. "Geez... I thought you were having a heart attack or something, you know, you were breathing really hard and really pale and stuff..." Harry trailed on.

"Yes, I see. Sorry about that..." Draco smiled tightly. "So... what else did you want to talk to me about?"

"Yeah... um, some of my old friends from Hogwarts are visiting on Sunday. You'll probably know them too, they're from our class... Hermione Granger, Ronald Weasley... sound familiar?"

Draco's heart sank. "No... sorry, I don't really know them." He thought a moment... and a new hope began to place itself in his heart. "But maybe... if I see them, I might remember them..." Oh please God don't let me be wrong don't let me break I don't want to return to the despair... please...

One last time, he forced a smile. "Sunday at five? That good?"

Harry nodded. Bring whatever you want, I don't really have much planned... besides dinner... oh yeah, Hermione's really good at cooking, so you don't have to bring anything."

Draken got up and put on his coat. "Well, later then, Harry," he waved as he left.

Harry watched the silvery form disappear through the crowd, and sighed. There was something strange about Draken... perhaps Hermione and Ron would know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The doorbell rang and Harry went to answer it. Draco stood outside, very straight and quite elegant-looking in a silken silver shirt and dark trousers. He was also holding a small bunch of blooming sunflowers. A stranger sight Harry had never seen.

"Put them in a jar over there, perhaps your friends will like them," Draco explained. "You did say they're coming back from the States?"

Harry nodded, his eyes sparkling. "Yeah, these are gorgeous, Draken. Thanks," he added. After some thought, he grinned, "Well, you can help me in the kitchen, I need to put some stuff away, or you can sit down on the couch and make yourself comfortable while waiting."

Draco nodded. "Yeah... I guess I'll help you then." Any time spent with Harry he treasured, having worked hard towards such, he wanted to have a good last memory in case he was throwing it all away. His heart still hurt, but not as much when he was with Harry. He swallowed and followed Harry to the kitchen.

"Er, I put out some little sandwiches, tea, coffee, and milk, and there're some things in the roast. Can you take them out?" Draco complied.

"What else?" he asked, later on.

"Five settings. Use the crystal in the right cabinet..." Harry's voice drifted from the kitchen.

"Right... wait a sec... five people?" asked Draco, confused.

"Oh yeah," exclaimed Harry, "Ginny's coming to, but I expected you to figure that out yourself."

"Huh?"

"Ginny. Ron. Siblings. Remember?" Harry spelled it out.

"Oh... ok. Yeah, forgot about that," Draco smiled. "Ginny always tagged along with you and Ron and Hermione, and she had a crush on you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Too bad. Would really appreciate it if you didn't bring up such things tonight, though," Harry shifted.

"Will do," Draco showed his perfect, white teeth. "Don't like reminiscing too much, anyway. I'm not that old, eh?"

The doorbell rang (there was no fireplace), and Harry got up to answer it. Draco could hear him open the door and welcome them in.

"Harry! Great to see you again!" Hermione's voice.

"Lovely place you have here," Ron commented, somewhat wistfully.

Draco got up as they stepped in the dining room. "Hey," he forced a smile. "I'm Draken Veritas, I work with Harry."

Ron opened his mouth to say something in return, but Hermione, whose eyes had gotten quite big and boggled at Draco. "Oh my," she managed to say, weakly.

Then she fainted.

His heart fluttered, and he watched as Ron caught her, and Harry helped him carry the willowy woman to the couch.

"Draken, could you get some wet towels from the kitchen?" Harry asked, his hand on Hermione's temple. "I don't have smelling salts or anything, unfortunately." Draco nodded and went to the kitchen, grabbed some towels, and soaked them under the faucet. The moment the water flowed over his hand, cooling and soothing his nerves, he let out a great gasp of breath.

He sat down at the table, thinking. I can run now. I could run and never see him again and he would forget about it, eventually. Hell, I could show up after a week and say that I had to go, and he'll be suspicious. Damnit. I'm sure Weasley doesn't remember, but that Granger girl... egads, I think she knows... How am I going to get out of this?

He banged his head on the table. "Shit." He murmured, fiercely.

"Draken? Are you bringing the towels?" Harry called from the other room.

He forced a smile. "Oh, yeah! Coming," He yelled back.

Draco entered the room, smiling, bearing the wet towel, which had apparently dripped on his silk shirt. He looked down and scowled, handing the towel to Harry, who put it on Hermione's forehead.

"Hey," said a feminine voice from behind him. Draco twitched. He knew that voice. Without turning around, he mumbled, "'lo, Virginia" back. Hermione's eyelashes flickered; she was apparently waking up.

"Well, Harry, I'll just be in the other room, alright? Tell me when you guys are ready to eat dinner," Draken said, heading across the hallway. Alone, facing the setting sun on the balcony, he shed a single tear, wiping it up quickly. He buried his head in his arms, thinking, thinking, and thinking more. He didn't want to have to start over again, or watch from afar anymore. If he was going to stay by Harry, he would have to survive this one evening.

He sighed, resolutely.

"You're Draco Malfoy," she laughed.

He spun around, very quickly. She was leaning on the chair just inside the balcony, watching his face quite carefully, eyes sparkling.

"Hermione," he managed to say.

"Yes, nice to see you again," she curtsied.

"Please don't tell Harry," he heard himself say.

She laughed even more, and, it was neither pretty nor very lady-like.

"Why?" she asked, suddenly quite serious.

He hesitated. "Because I love him," he voiced miserably.

"Truly?"

"That is the truth. Or else, why would I be here with him? I've worked hard to come this far, and I don't want to throw it away because we hated each other in school, because of a rather stupid feud like that."

She nodded, but he could see she was not convinced.

"Don't you see? I. LOVE. Him. Not, I like him, or, I want to screw him and fuck his silly head off. Love. I would do anything for him. I would give him anything I could. I already did, actually. And he still hates my guts, at least, he would, if he knew who I was."

Hermione's eyes glinted maliciously.

"And I know you hate me too, but, right now, it doesn't matter, if you'll kindly understand and not tell him or Ron, because I'm sure Ron would immediately tell Harry, him being the... I won't go into that. I won't insult your and Harry's friend, alright? That's how much I've changed. My name is Draken, now. Draken is a different person from Draco. Please, Hermione, you've got to help me," he entreated, earnestly.

"And what if you are trying to take advantage of Harry? How about that? I have no idea what went on at Hogwarts, whatever you're talking about, but I know that Harry would never have had anything to do with you, and I don't think he will, even now. And you know why? You may have changed over all these years, but you're still not good enough for him. He was good from the start, and you'll never be able to achieve the same state as him," she snarled.

Draco recoiled. Her words hurt him, probably because they had a measure of truth in them. "I don't care if he doesn't ever think of me as more than a friend or anything... I don't want sex, or money, or anything, just Harry. I've ob viously had a lot of everything else. I don't want any more of it. My father disinherited me. I'm worth nothing now. And, you know what? I really don't care. I just want to live a quite life here, see Harry sometimes and talk to him, and not feel like dirt all the time. I'm not asking for anything unique or wonderful or famous and beautiful. Just Harry. That's all I need...And that's the truth."

He looked at Hermione, his cool, pleading gaze speaking for him, as she blinked. There was a peculiar expression on her face, something between regret and disbelieving.

I just want to say hello again...

"What will it take for you to believe me?" He asked, hesitantly. She paused, as well.

"First of all, Why did you place a memory charm on Harry to make him forget you?"

"It was five years ago... I kidnapped him and took him to the manor. I gave him a Love Potion," Draco recalled, his eyes misty. "It worked... but I could never do that to Harry. It almost killed me. In the end, I gave him back to you, remember?"

She remembered. They could've broken the charm, too, Hermione herself might've have broken the charm, but she stopped.

"I know what you're thinking, and I agree," Ron had said, making her jump.

"What? How?"

"If it's only Malfoy he doesn't remember, well, that doesn't seem all too bad, right?" Ron stated vigorously. "In fact, that's more like a blessing... you're right, we should leave it. It'll be doing Harry a favor."

He'd actually seemed pretty sure about it. Hermione wasn't so sure. Looking down at Harry's tousled sleeping face, she wondered, What does Malfoy have to do with this? Why did he erase Harry's memories?

She left the charm there.

I just want to say hello again...

Here he slept, face turned up towards the sky, eyes shut and lashes on his smooth cheek, dreaming perhaps of wonderful things coming, a wonderful future, always so bright and optimistic Harry was.

Draco stood there, in the doorway, watching his angel, the love her could never have. Slowly, softly, he walked over and kissed his brow, like before, so delicately, with so much love and restraint as not to wake Harry.

Brushing a dark lock from Harry's forehead, he smiled, and whispered softly in his ear, "I love you, Harry." He stood up and saw Hermione at the door. He swiftly walked over, and shut the door softly behind him.

"Dumbledore trusted me too, you know. He knew I was speaking the truth, and why. He helped me, and Lavender, and even Snape. They all knew. They all knew how I'd changed, and they all trust me know." Draco turned to Hermione. "Please, believe me. I would never hurt Harry. I'm only doing this because otherwise he would remember the other me, whom he hates... please, give me this one last chance."

His silver eyes, usually so cold and hard, burned with a passion Hermione had never seen before, even after seven years at Hogwarts, after endless classes and prefect meetings and meals.

"Can I trust you?" She whispered softly. She looked at Harry for a long while, maybe a matter of minutes, and when she looked up, he was gone.

Forget the times he walked by.

Forget the times he made you cry.

Forget the times he spoke your name.

Remember his feelings just aren't the same.

Forget the times he held your hand.

Forget the sweet things if you if you can.

Forget those times and don't pretend.

Remember now. He's just a friend.

10 days later, Jackson Hawke died. The reading of his will commenced three weeks later, whereupon Hawke named Draken Veritas his successor, with Harry Potter the COO. Daniels died 5 months later of a heart attack.

Hermione Granger married a Hogwarts professor (not one we know), and with him, had two sweet baby girls in the following five years. Ronald Weasley married a pretty Muggle girl, and had three sons and a girl, all of whom had many freckles.

Business continued as usual. Veritas led Terronetus to merge with old rival Vivonicus, in a sense, burying the hatchet. Following the merger, company stock rose 187%. Meanwhile, a flurry of new products had been introduced over the past decade, and Terronetus had in the meanwhile become a household name.

Draken and Harry continued to have a good relationship, throughout their many years of building and strengthening the new Terronetus. In the early morning, they jogged together, they lunched together and discussed the future of the company, they attended press conferences and parties alike.

The future was bright. The new wave was coming, and they welcomed it as they welcomed each change for the better.

Veritas retired at the healthy age of 44, Potter retired a mere month after him. And so, they lived out their retirement together, as two bachelors, best friends, happily, playing golf and going on cruises, always running off to a new and beautiful place where they could be free.

But whenever Draken looked at Harry, though he smiled, he was reminded of all the things he was, and had ever been.

And he was reminded of all the things he could've had.

"And I gave it all up for you, Harry. All for you," he would say, watching Harry sleep, as he always did.

Watching Harry, as he always, and forever would.

My Sacrifice.