Behind Enemy Lines

~*~

Behind Enemy Lines

~*~

It is the wedding of the year.

And the groom is not in sight.

Everyone who is anyone is invited, and everyone who isn't anyone wants to be invited.

The bride is beautiful as she leaves her home, followed by reporters and the puffs of smoke as pictures are taken. They'll be talking about this wedding for years.

And the groom is not in sight.

The bride is stunning, and there is no one who doesn't envy her. She climbs from the rose-laced carriage with the merest touch on the driver's hand, and blinks in the sunlight before she smiles a beautiful smile and poses a beautiful pose.

At the entrance to the church the first few notes of the wedding march sound, and the veil is pulled down to hide her face behind its silken folds, the pure snow white roses in her bouquet catching the light as she starts her walk into the church.

The groom is not there.

But the bride does not falter. She walks down the aisle amidst murmured comments and the clicking of cameras, followed by puffs of smoke. She walks, and she smiles, but she does not see him.

As she reached the altar and the priest, a silence falls over the church.

The groom is not there.

But she does not worry. He is her man and he will come. She does not doubt him. He fought through everything he could to make his way back to her, and their love is pure, no matter what the sceptics say. It is her opinion that matters.

And then the doors open, and a black suited figure is there.

The bride smiles. He is her groom, and this is her wedding. He wouldn't miss it for the world.

It's the wedding of the year.

Her wedding.

~*~*~*~

"I can give you this moment."

He looks up at the Death Eater and smiles, because this moment is the only thing he will live for. This moment that cannot last but is all that he wants. So he steps forward, tilts his head toward the sky, and waits for the world to end.

~*~

Ron Weasley will never forget where he was when Harry Potter first went missing in action during the war. The one second in which the whole army fighting for the light collapsed and died and suddenly, they realised just how much they depended on the boy wonder.

Ron was neglecting his duties. He had been spending time with Hermione. He had had her pressed up against the wall, and he had been thinking that this was the best day of his life when they had been interrupted by Colin.

"I'm sorry," Colin says, shuffling his feet. Hermione and Ron hurriedly back away from each other and assume professional expressions of polite interest. "But Harry's been kidnapped."

"What?" Ron whispers.

He doesn't manage to catch Hermione before she hits the floor.

She still hasn't forgiven him.

~*~

Lucius Malfoy thinks he is the best Death Eater around. He sits calmly in his seat behind his polished oak desk and surveys the defeated form in front of him. Harry Potter is not even bothering to meet his eyes; his shoulders are slumped and the cuts on his face are still bleeding freely.

"You are pathetic," he says, and flicks his wand.

Harry falls to the floor, but it is a most curious thing. He doesn't scream, he doesn't cry and he doesn't twitch. It is almost as if he has nothing left to live for.

Lucius smiles, and the curse is lifted.

"Get up," he says. Harry does so, still not looking at him. "Do you know why you are here? Answer me."

"Because you kidnapped me?"

"Because we are better, Potter. Don't forget that."

Lucius believes he is the best Death Eater around, and he orders the rest of the Death Eaters to take Harry from his sight. He doesn't care, really, that he didn't actually capture Potter himself - some lowly new guy did, but that doesn't matter, because Lucius is the best Death Eater around, and can kill anyone who opposes him.

Life is good.

~*~

It has gone three months before the Death Eater asks, "Do you love her?"

He closes his eyes. "I don't."

"You won't."

"I can't."

He waits for the barbed reply, the raised eyebrow, the sarcastic comment.

None of them come and instead, when he opens his eyes, the Death Eater looks away and returns to his work.

~*~

When Harry Potter is captured, Draco Malfoy is the last person to know, and when Draco Malfoy finds out, he is livid. His secretary, Nott, says something but he ignores her and storms from the room in a rage to the dungeons.

Harry has been here two days, and the Death Eaters have not stopped harassing him. He lies broken and bruised, and Draco stands to sneer at him. He has dreamed of this moment for years, but finally seeing his victory does not bring the elation he wants, and everything suddenly tastes ashy in his mouth.

He was not meant to be destroyed like this, and Draco picks him up. He sends warning glares to the Death Eaters who try to stop him, and then leaves for his room once more, depositing his load on the large double bed and staring at him until the emerald eyes focus once more and look at him.

"Why?" Harry asks, and his voice cracks.

"Do you remember fifth year, Potter, when I said I would kill you?" Draco asks in return, twirling his wand through his fingers. Harry nods. "Do you know why you are not dead yet?"

Harry shakes his head and takes a stab in the dark. "Because you're a giant sadistic prick?"

"Close," admits Draco. "If and when I'm to kill you, Potter, it won't be in my room when I have such a great advantage. You will have your wand, and I will have mine, and there will be nothing to stop us."

"How poetic."

Draco snarls and places a liver-eroding hex on him, just for fun.

~*~

Harry isn't allowed to leave Malfoy's room during the day. At night, however, he can wander to his heart's content so long as he stays within the Manor walls. He cannot Apparate, he cannot floo, he cannot do magic.

It is through this that Harry talks to Great Uncle Bernard in the hallway outside Draco's room, where he stands proud and tall with a long black cane with a silver handle that Harry has seen somewhere before.

Great Uncle Bernard doesn't look like a Malfoy. If anything, he looks more like a Weasley. It is his voice, however, that quells any of Harry's doubts as he asks, "Are you just going to stand there gawping all day or what?"

Harry is shocked and stares at the painting. He still hasn't got used to them talking.

"You hurt him," Great Uncle Bernard says, indicating with his cane at Draco's room. "You made him who he is. Draco had never experienced the side of the light before you, and then you rejected him without knowledge of who he was. You made him evil, Harry Potter, you destroyed that boy's willpower."

"No I didn't!" Harry protests, but he is already running away from the painting, his hands pressed to his ears.

~*~

"We have to get him back."

Ron agrees wholeheartedly. He has watched the wizarding world fall without its saviour, and he doesn't think he can stand it any longer. Lupin is giving the briefing today, not Terry Boot. Ron doesn't understand this, until Terry is found dead.

He jumped from the tallest of the Hogwarts towers.

No one is quite sure why.

Hermione knows Terry loved Harry. Hermione knows lots of things, actually, including the fact Harry is not faithful to Ginny, and he never will be. They got together a few weeks after the war started, and Hermione is still not sure how Ginny got Harry to agree.

Because that's the way it had to have happened.

Because Harry died inside when Sirius died.

Because after that, he was never the same again.

~*~

Draco is summoned to Lucius' study.

"Yes?" he asks, before he drawls, "You rang?"

Lucius arches an eyebrow. "Why is Potter in your room?"

"Why shouldn't he be?"

"Draco."

"Father, remember when I asked for a walking, talking, living, breathing toy when I was six?" Draco asks, smoothing invisible creases out of his trousers. He doesn't wait for a reply. "Potter's my new toy. I hope you don't mind if I break him."

Lucius laughs, knitting his fingers together and leaning forward onto the desk. "Don't worry, son," he tells Draco. "He's defective anyway. You have your fun."

Draco gives his best vampire grin. "I will."

~*~

Hermione doesn't like Ginny.

Ginny is self-obsessed. Ginny is beautiful. Ginny knows she is beautiful. Ginny thinks the world revolves around her.

Ginny asks, "When do you think Harry will save the day to return to me?"

Hermione resists the urge to slap her. Sometimes Hermione thinks that one day she won't be able to stop herself, and she will slap Ginny. Hermione wants to, but Hermione loves Ron. Hermione won't hurt Ginny if it means hurting Ron.

Hermione just loves like that.

~*~

Harry sits on Draco's bed, watching out of half-closed eyes as Draco pulls on his black cloak and white Death Eater mask, running his hands through his pale blond hair. Harry knows he will attack the Ministry.

"Don't kill him."

Draco turns to stare at him incredulously from behind the mask. "What?"

Harry lifts his chin from his chest, and stares Draco in the eyes. "Don't kill Dean."

~*~

When Harry meets Narcissa for the first time, he is shocked by how much she looks like Draco. He sees the same nose, same eyes, same eyelashes and the same cheekbones.

They even have the same sneer.

Harry wonders at it, and when he follows Draco outside into the hallway, it is Narcissa he sees when Draco looks at him and pushes him against the wall forcefully. "You were looking at my mother," he accuses. "You bastard, you're half her age and you're engaged."

"She looks like you," says Harry, and Draco punches him. They're both pissed, and when Harry kisses Draco, or Draco kisses Harry, everything blurs and in the morning Draco is gone from his room, leaving Harry in his bed.

And by the morning, neither remembers.

Maybe it's just safer that way.

~*~

Colin has always loved Ginny. Ever since he first met her, he wanted her. Colin likes to think he can see what's behind that beautiful face. Colin likes to believe he will be the one to see her without the mask of beauty she hides behind; with no walls or barriers.

He sits watching her during the meetings when everyone plans to get Harry back. Because Ginny loves Harry, not Colin. Because everyone loves Harry, not Colin.

Colin likes to look through his pictures at night when he can't bear thinking about Ginny anymore, because it is hurting him too much now he can do nothing but face the truth that she does not want him. He looks at his photos of Harry, and his hands shake with rage. He wants a picture of Harry not being perfect.

A picture where everyone can see the Harry Colin sees.

"Colin, Colin?"

It is Ginny. Colin looks up into those soulful doe-shaped eyes and melts, just as he always does.

"Yes?" he asks, and nervously tugs at his shirt.

"Harry will come back, won't he?" she asks, and Colin can't say anything.

Because Colin doesn't want him to come back.

Colin just wants Ginny.

For better, or for worse.

~*~

Two weeks in Draco's room, and Harry cracks.

"Let me out."

"No."

"Let - me - out."

"No."

"LET ME OUT!"

Draco starts laughing. His laughter is as piercing as his personality, and Harry can't take it. He lunges, and he tackles Draco to the floor. They're rolling around on the cold stone floor. Draco laughs, and Harry screams.

He collapses eventually, as Draco knows he would, closes his eyes, and rests his forehead on Draco's chest. A cut on his cheekbone glistens red, and crimson drops stain Draco's shirt.

"Why?" he asks, and Draco laughs.

"Because I love to see you cry."

And he does, as Draco pushes him off and leaves the room for a Death Eater meeting.

~*~

Lucius Malfoy isn't too keen on the idea of Harry Potter being kept in his son's room, but his son has become a considerable force now, and Lucius knows better than to get involved with his son's affairs.

Instead, Lucius calls a House Elf up to his study and tortures him mercilessly for four hours straight. He demands the House Elf to give him an idea of what part of the Wizarding world the Death Eaters should attack next.

"The Ministry!" the little thing finally screeches, and Lucius smiles darkly, kicking her out of his room.

~*~

Harry isn't allowed to leave Malfoy's room during the day. At night, however, he can wander to his hearts content so long as he stays within the Manor walls. He cannot Apparate, he cannot floo, he cannot do magic.

It is through this that Harry talks to Great Great Grandma Eloise in third lounge off the main hallway, where she sits primly in a fancy deep and dark red dress with a high collar. A gold thread is pressed into the fabric, and in the picture she looks little older than Ginny did in her first year.

"How did you die?" Harry asks, dotting his fingers on the painting.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asks. "I got put into Gryffindor. My Mother and Father locked me away, and then drowned me after I gave birth to an heir. You cannot have him, you know. He will be murdered for associating with a Gryffindor and they will imprint the pictures of his screaming body onto your eyelids."

Harry backs away hurriedly, and then runs as if he's being chased by Voldemort himself. Eloise's laughter follows him back to Draco's room.

~*~

The Order doesn't know where Harry is. The Order of the Phoenix is failing, and Dumbledore is old. Ron is desolate, Hermione cries, Ginny cries, Fred and George mumble; no one can seem to get their act together.

At a meeting, Colin says, "I'll find out where Harry is." And they all give him sympathetic looks.

"Of course you will," Hermione says, and she dabs at her eyes with a tissue. "You go find him, and infiltrate the base. It's what Harry would do."

It's what Harry would do.

Harry.

Unknowingly, Hermione has offered Colin the way to Ginny. Colin smiles.

He will be the one to kill Harry.

And it will be Hermione's fault.

~*~

The Ministry is caught completely off guard when the Death Eaters attack and Draco feels reassuringly content every time he tortures and kills a different worker. Hardly any have a chance, and the Aurors are all protecting Hogwarts where Harry was with his fans when he wasn't in captivity. The Death Eaters set up anti-apparition wards, and the Ministry workers can do nothing but pray for their lives.

It is a massacre, and throughout it all, Draco Malfoy stands tall as he searches out the black Ministry Official that is Dean Thomas.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are," he sings in a mocking tone. "I only want to play. Why, hello."

Draco bats away the mediocre curse Dean throws at him and snaps his wand, calmly depositing Dean on the desk he was previously hidden underneath. Dean is shaking, and Draco tosses his head, taking the mask from his face.

"Remember me?" he asks, digging his wand into Dean's chest as he leans forward. "I'm the boy you used to insult at school because I was a Slytherin. Do you remember? Well, do you?"

Dean nods, and he whimpers, the full bottom lip that Draco saw Harry dotting his fingers on all too often at Hogwarts pushing out into a pout. Draco snarls, suddenly, at this vision of Harry flaunting his sexuality at school, whilst Draco was ridiculed for his.

"I hate you," he whispers, and he kills Dean.

It is the first thing he tells Harry when he returns, and Harry attacks him again. For the first time, Draco does not love the tears.

~*~

Ginny brushes her hair every night before bed. One hundred strokes on each side, from root to tip in the same motion with her hand perfectly still. Her mother used to do this for her as a child, telling her stories about Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

The youngest Weasley girl grew up in a family that loved her, and she felt sorry for the poor girls in the stories like Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel. The girls who were treated badly from birth, but were then saved by their Prince Charming.

Harry's my Prince Charming, Ginny tells herself, and he loves me.

She neglects to take any notice when Harry is unfaithful to her. She's blind where Harry is concerned, and so long as she has him, everything is okay with the world.

~*~

Lucius does not like the Dark Lord. Lucius believes he is too good to work for the Dark Lord. Lucius smiles as he watches himself in the mirror, and lifts his hand up, pressing his palm to the silvery surface.

"I want what all men want," he tells his reflection, as the blood from the cut on his palm seeps out to run down the mirror and stain it red.

"I just want it more."

~*~

Harry isn't allowed to leave Malfoy's room during the day. At night, however, he can wander to his hearts content so long as he stays within the Manor walls. He cannot Apparate, he cannot floo, he cannot do magic.

It is through this that Harry talks to the third cousins twice removed: the twins, Lucille and Lucinda, in the dining room above the fireplace. Lucinda and Lucille are exactly the same, with one dressed in a pitch black skirt and ice white turtleneck sweater with a pale face and sharp cheekbones, and the other in an ice white skirt with a pitch black turtleneck sweater with a pale face and sharp cheekbones.

Harry watches them both for a long time as they casually do up each other's hair whilst being stood shoulder to shoulder with their arms stretched at an odd angle. Harry thought they were two halves of the same woman at first, until he heard them talking.

Or more accurately, singing.

"Pretty Potter, playing around -"

"- He's not happy, he's always down -"

"- Pretty Potter, the world is burning -"

"- He's not loved, but he's still yearning."

Their voices were strange, like the twinkling of bells and a haunting tune from a merry-go-round at night. As he stared, chilled but fascinated, the twins turned to look at him and their grey eyes darkened almost black, their figures distorting till they were like shadows.

Cold fingers like ink reached out of the painting toward him, the laughter of the twins as he froze and was unable to do anything attracting a late working House Elf who grabs Harry, and drags him, unresisting, from the clutches of the portrait.

~*~

When Draco kisses Harry, Harry thinks it's a dream. Draco's lips are soft, and Draco's hands are amazingly smooth as they gently wind around his own until their fingers are interlaced and Harry is being pushed up softly against the wall, his eyes locked with Draco's seemingly endless grey ones.

When Draco pulls away, Harry says the only thing he can think of. "I thought you hated me."

And Draco smiles, and Harry catches his breath. "I do," Draco says, stepping away. "But I can't have you, so I want you."

~*~

Hermione and Ron stand in the remains of the Gryffindor Tower, a huge gap where the north wall used to be - it's completely gone. They know they are easy targets up here, but it doesn't stop them from coming anyway once they hear the news.

The Death Eaters attacked Hogwarts again last night, and the Aurors, who were busy repairing the Ministry, weren't there to protect them. Three hundred people were killed instantly - mostly children.

Ron walks alone to the fireplace and bends down. Harry used to live in here before he was captured, and the tattered remains of his parent's photo album flutter in the breeze. Ron picks it up and it turns to ash in his hands.

Hermione cries.

"Where are you, Harry?" she asks. "We need you."

~*~

Naricssa asks Harry when he is going to kiss Draco. Harry stares at her in shock. "I'm not," he says, and moves to walk out of the door, but somehow she is stood at it already, walking faster than any human.

She asks him if he loves his fiancée. He says, "I could," and tries to walk past her out into the hall back to Draco's room, but once more she stops his exit as the doorway narrows and thins to keep him back.

Placing hands on his shoulders, Narcissa asks if he thinks she's beautiful. Harry doesn't have a chance to say anything else, because Narcissa is kissing him with a passion, and she is so much like her son that Harry almost believes it is Draco for a second, but then everything blurs.

When Harry opens his eyes two seconds later, he is clutching several pale strands of silver hair in his fists, and he is lying on Draco's bed under the covers. He shivers and crawls to the edge of the bed, the dream fading into nothingness as he leans over and throws up.

Harry has never liked his dreams.

~*~

It takes him four months to fall in love with the Death Eater, and a further three to accept it.

If only he hadn't been captured, then maybe Dean wouldn't be dead. Maybe the Ministry wouldn't have been wiped out, either, and three hundred people from Hogwarts buried. Perhaps he wouldn't have known his heart, and perhaps this war might be over.

A lot can happen in four months.

~*~

Lucius is still gloating almost six months after Harry Potter's capture. The Death Eaters are destroying everything. It's almost as if the forces of the 'light' simply cannot function without Harry Potter. Lucius knows this, and Lucius exploits it.

The Dark Lord summons Lucius.

"What is it, my Lord?" Lucius asks.

"I want you to kill the Potter boy," Voldemort says. "We do not need any more information out of him. He is pointless, and once he has been eliminated, the rest of the wizarding world will fall. Do this, Lucius, and I will not forget you."

"I will," says Lucius. And he kills Voldemort.

Now he can take control, because Lucius is the head Death Eater. But Lucius doesn't know about the prophecy, and he doesn't know that Voldemort is behind him and that Voldemort is raising his hand, and Voldemort is whispering,

"Avada Kedavra."

Lucius doesn't know anything at all, really.

~*~

"Potter, drink it."

Draco extends his own arm, which is holding a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewhisky identical to Harry's own, except Harry's is full whereas Draco's is half-empty. Or half-full. But Draco always hated that game.

Draco's father is dead.

"Potter..." Draco warns, fumbling for his wand.

Harry takes a swig, and starts coughing. But it doesn't stop him taking another swig, and another, until he has taken exactly as much as Draco himself has. "You couldn't hex me in this state," he says.

Draco agrees, and takes another swig, his head dropping backwards until it is resting on the mattress and he is staring at the ceiling. "I want what I can't have," he muses aloud.

"I don't want people who want me," Harry replies absently, drinking again.

"What about her?" asks Draco. He motions to Harry's engagement ring with the bottom of his bottle before taking another swig.

"It's what everyone wants and expects."

"You mean she will do everything to make your relationship appear to be working whilst you can lie back and do nothing?" asks Draco. "It's written all over your face," he explains.

Harry finishes his bottle. Everything is going in and out of focus, and the stars outside are spinning around in circles. He turns to Draco and sees someone who doesn't want him. He sees soft pale blond hair, silvery grey eyes framed with tawny lashes, and sharp angles.

In two years, Harry hasn't felt anything except a detachment from the world. Ever since he has been locked in Malfoy Manor with the insufferable blond, he has felt normal. He's cried, he's laughed, he's been angry.

He's felt emotions he forgot existed within him.

Draco makes him feel.

It's too bad Harry's engaged, really.

~*~

"I love you."

~*~

Harry isn't allowed to leave Malfoy's room during the day. At night, however, he can wander to his hearts content so long as he stays within the Manor walls. He cannot Apparate, he cannot floo, he cannot do magic.

It is through this that Harry talks to Auntie Patrica, twice removed on his father's side in the dining room, hidden behind a curtain he believed to conceal a window. She's scowling when he finds her, and she looks like Lucius would if he were a woman and had deep blue eyes.

"Oh, I've heard about you," she tells him. "Young Master Malfoy has been asking me for ways to torture you for years, my boy. I haven't seen him since he became a Death Eater though, but he does get House Elves to beat themselves up for my pleasure."

Harry is disgusted. "Who are you?" he demands.

"Patricia Marie Anne Malfoy," she introduces herself. "I created the Unforgiveables."

~*~

Draco has a white rose.

The rose is stained with Harry Potter's blood, sweat and tears. It stands in a glass cabinet suspended by Magic on Draco's desk. The nymphs in the snow globe next to it are scared of it.

Draco can't remember how he got Harry Potter's blood, sweat and tears, only that Harry's shoulders are still carrying the bruises in the shape of Draco's fingers.

The rose never dies, and the petals never fall. The blood on the petals never seems to dry, either, and it glistens bright red for hours on end.

The rose is Draco's most treasured possession.

~*~

"Ron!" Colin shouts, bursting into the conference room. Lupin, Dumbledore, Snape, Ron, Seamus, Hermione and Roger Davies look up at his flushed face. "Harry's in Malfoy Manor."

Ron stands up abruptly, and rips the pieces of parchment out of Colin's hands, laying them down on the table. It's true. The pictures on the parchment do not lie as they clearly show Harry in one of the second floor windows, resting his head against the glass whilst watching something in the gardens below.

"I knew it," boasts Ron. "Malfoy, the bastard. Now we can finally throw him in Azkaban."

Everyone except Hermione agrees. Everyone except Hermione fails to see Harry's eyes. Harry's eyes are there. Harry looks like he's finally alive again.

"This has to be organised," Lupin reminds Ron sternly. But Ron is away, already laying out plans to get Harry back. It has been just over six months now, and his sister is getting sicker and sicker the more time she spends without Harry.

Ron worries about her constantly, but he knows that Harry loves her.

Blind faith is always the most foolish.

~*~

August 1^st 11:00am.

Voldemort leaves for Draco Malfoy's room, and simply walks straight through the wards on his door. Harry looks up at him from his place sat cross-legged on the floor, and Voldemort says, "You are going to die today, Harry Potter."

And Draco kisses the hem of Voldemort's robes before he stands. "The execution room?" he asks, and Voldemort nods before Disapparating. Voldemort is happy, because there is no flaw in his plan. Harry will die before midnight.

~*~

August 1^st 9:06am.

Ginny watches the Order leave to rescue her Harry. They have been planning for four weeks now on the best way to do this. Colin has been working from the inside, and he said that Harry was going to be executed today.

Ginny thinks Colin is brave, as he is doing this for her.

Ron smiles as Ginny looks at him, and promises, "I'll kill Malfoy for you."

Ginny couldn't be happier. "I love you," she tells him, and then the portkey tugs all of the Order away from her sight.

~*~

August 1^st 12:31pm

Colin is standing within the circle of Death Eaters as Harry is brought into the aptly named "execution room". Lucius has been dead for a month and a half now, but to look at his so-called-friends in his house, you wouldn't know.

Colin joins in with the jeering as Harry is led to the centre of the room. He thinks the Death Eaters aren't a bad bunch of people really, once you get to know them.

He knows what's coming next, but it doesn't stop him from feeling higher than the clouds when Harry is transported to a maze underneath the Manor without his wand. The first Death Eater out of five specially chosen ones to find him gets the honour of killing him.

Colin's one of these Death Eaters, and he aims to find Harry first.

He will tell Ginny there was nothing he could do, and marry her.

~*~

August 1^st 12:44pm

Ron stands on the edge of the maze. Hermione is amazing at finding her way into spelled places, and this time is no different. He nods at everyone to pair up and sends them in.

There is only one thing he says to them.

"Get Harry." We need him.

There are an odd number of members in the Order.

Ron goes in alone.

~*~

August 1^st 1:20pm

Draco Malfoy is the first person to find Harry, and seeing him stood in the typical Gryffindor pose, with his back hunched, feet spread shoulder-width apart, reminds him of everything from the past seven months.

He sees Harry crying when he wants to leave, he sees Harry staring at Narcissa when Draco thinks he is not watching. He sees Harry kissing him back, he sees Harry feeling scared and alone, feeling defiant and strong, sat in his room watching him, lying in his bed. He sees the rose, and Harry lying underneath him, purple bruises on his arms and a cut on his bottom lip. He sees Harry attacking him, and them shouting at each other.

A welter of emotions pour down Draco's back like icy water, and he pulls his mask off, throwing it to the ground.

~*~

August 1^st 1:22pm

"I can give you this moment."

Harry looks up at Draco and smiles, because this moment is the only thing he will live for. This moment that cannot last but is all that he wants. So he steps forward, tilts his head toward the sky, and waits for the world to end.

~*~

Colin thinks he's the first to find Harry when he turns the corner, but then his eyes land on the white Death Eater mask lying on the floor, and travel up to see Draco Malfoy. Harry and Draco are kissing.

Now Colin hates Harry even more and he screams, launching himself at the raven haired boy. He forgets he's a wizard and tries to destroy Harry with his bare hands, and ignores the pain and Draco, who points his wand at him.

"Why does it have to be you?!" he shouts. Harry reels backwards to Draco's side. "Why does she have to love you? Why can't she love me?! All I've ever done is love her, and all you've ever done is destroy her!"

Harry wipes blood from his lip, and he takes the amused Draco's wand out of his hands. "Colin, you little arsewipe, I've never once told her I loved her. SHE loves me. SHE forced herself on me. SHE is not even good in bed!"

Colin yells, and tries to tackle him again, but Harry is faster as he says "Just fuck off, will you?" and Draco grabs his hand and mutters "Avada Kedavra."

The green light hits Colin's chest as Ron rounds the corner, and Harry stands, speechless and amazed, with Draco's hand over his holding the wand. They both don't realise that it looks like Draco made Harry do it. Ron stares.

Harry's eyes lift to Ron's and he shakes his head. "Ron... no..."

Ron tackles Draco to the ground, and Draco's head makes a terrifying crack as it connects with the stone floor. Draco's eyes roll back into their sockets in slow motion, and Ron starts trembling. Harry doesn't realise he has sunk to his knees until Ron carefully picks up his shocked body and leaves.

~*~*~*~

It is the wedding of the year.

And the groom is stood in the graveyard at the back of the church. No one is quite sure why he chose this church, but the simple reason is because Draco Malfoy was buried here by his tearful mother. There were five people at the funeral.

Everyone who is anyone is invited, and everyone who isn't anyone wants to be invited.

The bride is beautiful as she leaves her home, followed by reporters and the puffs of smoke as pictures are taken. They'll be talking about this wedding for years.

And the groom does not want to go.

He kneels by the gravestone and stares blankly at it. He doesn't think he loved Draco, more the idea that Draco was someone who could actually make him feel after all these years. He doesn't love Ginny, either, but she can keep him away from the world and make sure he's never alone.

Harry definitely never loved Colin, whose grave is two down and one behind from Draco's. Harry sometimes wonders if Ginny would have loved him if Harry died.

The bride is stunning, and there is no one who doesn't envy her. She climbs from the rose-laced carriage with the merest touch on the driver's hand, and blinks in the sunlight before she smiles a beautiful smile and poses a beautiful pose.

At the entrance to the church the first few notes of the wedding march sound, and the veil is pulled down to hide her face behind its silken folds, the pure snow white roses in her bouquet catching the light as she starts her walk into the church.

The groom is also holding a white rose, stained with blood, sweat, and tears, which he places on top of the gravestone as he stands. There is no point in staying here, really, because he is not grieving, nor is he sad.

He's emotionless once more.

But the bride does not falter. She walks down the aisle amidst murmured comments and the clicking of cameras, followed by puffs of smoke. She walks, and she smiles, but she does not see him.

Reaching the altar and the priest, a silence falls over the church.

The groom is not there, but watching through the windows. He could leave now, if he wanted to, but there is nothing for him but death if he does.

But she does not worry. He is her man and he will come. She does not doubt him. He fought through everything he could to make his way back to her, and their love is pure, no matter what the sceptics say. It is her opinion that matters.

And then the doors open, and a black suited figure is there.

The bride smiles. He is her groom, and this is her wedding. He wouldn't miss it for the world.

It's the wedding of the year.

Her wedding.