Happy Ending

"Damon," Voldemort ordered, smirking. "Come forth, my most loyal of followers."

Harry watched - as well as he could lying in the mud without his glasses - one figure move away from the others and stand just to the side of the Dark Lord. So this was the infamous Damon, most feared, most mysterious of all Death Eaters. Somehow, Harry had thought he'd be taller.

Voldemort removed the man's mask and Harry stared at the white-blonde head uncomprehendingly for a moment before the truth sank in.

Let's talk this over
It's not like we're dead

*~*~*

Draco stared into those green eyes as his mask was removed. He had braced himself all day for a look of pain, of betrayal; a look of hate. He was shocked by the look of sad understanding and acceptance that came over Harry's face.

He remembered the first time he'd looked at that face, really looked.

Was it something I did?
Was it something You said?

He'd gotten the mark the summer after fourth year - Lucius had never been one to waste time - and received his first task at the beginning of the school year: get close to Potter. Draco had been distraught. He had to get close to Potter? His mortal enemy? Impossible! But when he'd returned to school and found everyone, even the Weasleys and the mudblood, turning against the Gryffindor...well, it had actually been a surprisingly easy task.

No one else in Slytherin had been told of his assignment, so his house turned its back on Draco pretty soon after he had started reaching out to Potter, but that was no matter. In the black haired oddity he'd found something that, despite all his money and the power of his name, Draco had never had; a true friend.

Don't leave me hanging
In a city so dead

They spent holidays together, exchanged gifts, spent nights talking about everything and nothing under the stars. Both of them were very careful to keep talks away from family or politics. And all the while, Harry was blissfully unaware that some nights Draco snuck out to do his Death Eater duty by his father's side.

For two years, this had gone on, with Draco proving to be a stronger and more loyal friend than Ron Weasley or Hermione Granger had ever been. No one suspected, most certainly not Dumbledore - not even when 'Damon' had revealed his precious Severus to be a spy and the Head of Slytherin had been returned to the school piece by piece.

Popular consensus among the students was that Potter was 'Damon', which Draco thought frankly ridiculous, especially after having gotten to know the boy. Oh, Potter wasn't as squeaky clean as he'd thought - rule breaking seemed to be a rather regular pastime, actually - but he was brave, true, and loyal to a fault.

Then, one day early in seventh year, Harry had seen Draco's mark. And, like the honest, frank, idiot Gryffindor he was, he had confronted Draco about it alone. The Slytherin had easily explained it away, saying his father had forced it on him before he had a chance to say 'no'. Harry had been most sympathetic, and pledged to give his word in court should Draco ever be tried as a Death Eater, once the war was over, with the light victorious, of course.

Held up so high
On such a breakable thread

But Draco knew the truth, and deep down, he always thought Harry knew it too; the light was doomed. Without his only spy, Dumbledore was lost in the dark about Voldemort's movements and plans, and could do nothing to stop the wave of death and destruction that was, slowly but surely, creeping its way toward Hogwarts.

You were all the things I thought I knew
And I thought we could be...

And so, the fateful night had come. All the warriors for the side of the light gathered at Hogwarts, surrounding and outnumbered by the Death Eaters, and battle had commenced. The battle wasn't easy - Dumbledore and his forces were powerful, passionate, and smart, while most of the Death Eaters were weak, dumb, and scared - but in the end sheer numbers won out and all that was left of the side of light was Harry Potter, sitting in the mud at Voldemort's feet.

You were everything, everything that I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it
All of the memories, so close to me, just fade away
All this time you were pretending
So much for my happy ending

"You see, Potter?" the scaly wizard gloated. "I have won! I offered you the chance to share in this victory long ago, but you denied me, and now you must pay the price. There is nothing left for you to do, but die!"

There was a flash of green, and then a flash of gold as Harry raised his wand from where he'd dropped it moments before, and seemed to catch the curse. Phoenix song erupted from the connected brother wands as Harry's face lit up in a small grin - not of victory or power, but of peace - and brought the tip of his wand to his scar. The green light of Avada Kedavra spilled into the small vessel, before reaching out across an invisible thread and grasping Voldemort as well, then passing from him to all those that bore his mark.

*~*~*

Draco opened his eyes again in a sea of white. He was floating in a sort of tunnel; at his feet he could see the battlefield - the bodies of Harry, Voldemort, and himself standing out clearly among the hundreds of others fallen - and above him a blinding light.

Something fell on his shoulder, turning him around to face Harry.

It's nice to know that you were there

"Hello, Draco," the Gryffindor said, just as he had a thousand times before.

"Is that all you can say?" Draco asked, morbidly curious. "I betrayed you in possibly the worst way, Harry."

Thanks for acting like you cared

"Hmmm," Harry seemed to think about his, his forehead furrowing in thought. "Why did you do that?"

"Family duty," Draco answered honestly, shrugging slightly. "Besides, I thought I was on the winning side."

And making me feel like I was the only one

"Ah, that's understandable, then," Harry nodded, smiling again, then started to rise.

"Harry, wait!" Draco called after him, not wanting it to end this way. Though how he did want it to end, he certainly did not know. "Should I apologize?"

Harry stopped and looked back at him, still smiling peacefully. "No, Draco. You did what you thought was best, for you and your family. I would never have asked you to choose me over them, you know."

It's nice to know we had it all

His smile brightened somewhat. "And you were there for me when no one else was; you picked up the pieces when I fell apart. You gave me two and a half years of wonderful friendship. Thank you, Draco."

Thanks for watching as I fall

"Now," Harry's smile quirked up at one end - an expression Draco had learned to fear, "I have one place to go, and you have to go somewhere else. Goodbye, my friend."

And letting me know we were done

Harry dove at him suddenly, and pushed him back down - toward the Earth and his body - before flying back up toward the light.

You were everything, everything that I wanted
We were meant to be, supposed to be, but we lost it
All of the memories, so close to me, just fade away

There was a feeling of being slammed into by a herd of rampaging hippogriffs, then everything went black.

*~*~*

More bright light; but this time, it was much more earthly. The lights of the hospital wing. Draco opened his eyes gingerly and coughed.

"Oh! You're awake! I'll go get someone, hold on!" an unnecessarily chipper voice squeaked. One set of footsteps hurried away, then two returned,

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Mr. Malfoy," said a healer - his nametag called him Partum. "You've been out for about three months. We were afraid you weren't going to make it there, but you pulled through. Amazing, the only living body on a battlefield a mile wide. Maybe now the Wizarding World can find out what happened, hmm?"

Draco tried to tell the man where the Wizarding World could put its curiosity, but all that came out was a weak groan. He was poked and prodded and forced to swallow this and that foul potion before the healers would finally leave him be. As soon as the door had closed behind the last of them, the blonde pulled his left sleeve up to the elbow and looked at his arm.

All this time you were pretending

The mark was gone.

So much for my happy ending