A Moment in Time

A Moment in Time

Chapter Six - Goodbye

The sound of a small pop alerted Harry that he was no longer alone in the apartment. Turning abruptly in the direction which the sound had come from, he moved just in time to catch an exhausted Draco as he started to fall.

Harry gingerly moved the blonde so that he was settled on the sofa and then went into the kitchen to retrieve some tea and sandwiches. When he got back into the living area he noticed that while Draco had his eye's closed, he clearly wasn't sleeping. "Are you alright, Dray?"

Harry's eyes moved worriedly over Draco's dirty robes and thin frame. It was clear that he hadn't been taking care of himself over the past week. Carefully, not wanting to scare him, Harry gently touched the other man's cheek and then with aching slowness moved his hand down the side of his face and then along the side of Draco's body. Draco shook himself once Harry's hand had reached his knee.

Feeling more awake and refreshed then he had in days he couldn't keep the shock out of his voice. "What the hell was that?"

Harry just grinned, "Just a little something that I picked up during our seventh year, I haven't had a lot of time to practice it much since then, but I'm glad that I could still help you."

"But Harry, that was magic, some sort of healing charm if I'm not mistaken. How did you do that, you don't even have a wand."

"Of course I don't have a wand, they snapped it, remember" Harry said bitterly. "I'm sure someone of your caliber has heard of 'wandless magic', haven't you?" Harry smirked when he saw the disbelief on his friend's face.

It didn't take long for Draco to recover, "Well, you seem to be full of surprises, don't you Harry? I should have guessed that if only very powerful wizards can learn to control wandless magic, that you would be able to. So does anyone else know about this, or am I the only lucky one?"

Harry looked at Draco sharply, underneath the joking tone there was something else, pain or sorrow, Harry wasn't sure, but he knew that Draco was hiding something.

"Well, that old fool of a Headmaster knows that I have some control and can do little things, but the fact that I can sense injuries and heal with a touch, that knowledge, my dear, is yours and yours alone." Harry tried to keep his tone light, so that Draco didn't know that he suspected something.

When he saw that Draco wasn't going to respond, Harry sat down on the couch beside Draco and pulled him up close into a hug. Draco felt himself relax as he was held tightly against Harry's warm body.

"I missed you."

The bright smile on Draco's face at his words almost made Harry believe that things were going to be okay, almost.

"I missed you, too" Draco whispered as he pressed his lips up against Harry's neck.

They sat like that for the longest time, content just being together in each others arms, not wanting anything to disturb them. Thinking that Draco had fallen asleep, Harry tried to slip out of his embrace to go put the dirty dished in the kitchen. But before he could even begin to stand, he heard a muffled, "Don't go."

This time when Harry looked down into two endless silver pools there was no mistaking the pain and sorrow reflected there. Bending down, Harry placed a small kiss on Draco's slightly upturned nose. "Tell me", it was more of a command than a request and with a reluctant sigh, Draco complied.

"Oh Merlin Harry, it was awful. Voldemort was so angry that the attack at Azkaban last month wasn't a complete success, even though he liberated his followers and secured the Dementors. He wanted to do something that would show everyone how strong he was, to make sure that they continued to fear him." Draco shuddered at the horror of it all.

"What did he do?"

"He attacked the Ministry of Magic directly. He tortured and then killed Fudge in front of most of the Ministry's employees. Then he turned the Death Eaters loose on those same employees, allowing only a handful to escape alive so that they could tell the tale of what had happened. The ones that the Death Eaters didn't finish off were left for the Dementors." Draco ran his hand though his surprisingly unkept hair.

"Harry, I had never seen anything like it and I pray that I never have to see it again. The women were tortured and some of them were violated before they were either killed or given the kiss."

"You remember that Hufflepuff girl in our class, her name was Bones, I think. She was one of the lucky ones and was killed pretty quickly." Draco looked up at Harry from underneath his bangs. "Did you see any of it, you know through your connection with Voldemort?"

Harry just shook his head trying to keep himself from throwing up at the thought of what Draco had been though. Taking a sip of water helped calm his stomach. "No. No, I didn't see anything, now that I think about it, since I came here I haven't had any visions or scar pain. Maybe the distance between us is too great for me to be affected by him." Harry hypothesized. "That's not the worst of it, is it? What are you not telling me?"

Draco looked up sadly at the young man who had become almost everything to him. How does one go about telling him that now when it looked like they may finally have a chance to be together, to start a new life; that their chance at happiness was going to be ripped away from them again. That they would never get to be together, never become lovers and who knows what else to each other.

"You're leaving again, aren't you?" Harry hissed, putting the pieces together.

"You don't understand Harry. Our world is in shambles, the Ministry is gone. Dumbedore's called up the giants and the Order has been meeting nonstop since the attack happened last week. They need me."

"What about me Draco? What about what I need?"

Draco turned away, unable to stand looking at the hurt and desperation in the emerald depths. "Harry, are your needs more important than those of the entire wizarding world? I know that you are not selfish and I also know that you know I can't stay here with you when I can help in this fight. I thought that I could, but not after what I just saw. If I am able to then I know I must fight."

The very Gryffindor like sentiments didn't phase him, as Harry stood up and on shaking legs walked over to the window. The street lights blurred as his eyes filled with tears. He didn't even noticed when the tears started to trail down his cool cheeks. A pair of strong familiar arms wrapped around his waist and pulled him back against a warm solid chest. "I don't want to be with out you" he whispered, his moist breath leaving an impression on the glass.

"I don't want to be without you either, Harry, but you know that you can't come." A shudder raked through Harry's still too thin frame.

"When are you leaving?"

"Tomorrow morning." Harry felt himself die a little at Draco's words.

"You're not coming back, are you?"

Harry's hurtful tone thrust deep within Draco's soul, leaving behind a gaping wound that the blonde wasn't sure would ever heal. Not knowing what else to do or even how to properly respond, he elected instead to press small soft kisses in the crease between Harry's neck and shoulder, giving himself a moment to pull his tattered thoughts together.

"Harry, it would be entirely too dangerous for both of us if I kept coming back here to visit you. You know that. We could try to keep this a secret for awhile, but eventually, my excuses would be uncovered or someone would come looking for me and we would be found out. I refuse to put you in that kind of danger. What's left of the Ministry has ordered you to be executed on sight and we both know what would happen if Voldemort got his hands on you. I couldn't bear it if I was responsible for them finding you."

Slowly Harry turned in Draco's arms until he was facing the blonde. Emerald eyes shining with tears met and held the anguished gray ones. "Then, I guess we had best make the most of tonight."

Harry raised his lips to Draco's and soon the pain of tomorrow's separation was lost in a world of passion. Draco guided them over to the large bed and quickly divested them of their clothing. He knew that this would most likely be the only time he would have the opportunity to fulfill his dreams of making love to Harry and he didn't want to rush it.

"Are you sure Harry? We don't have to do this. It would be enough for me just to be able to hold you tonight."

Harry knew what he wanted to happen, what he needed to happen. At the age of nineteen, Harry was a convicted murder but was still a virgin, but then again being in prison doesn't leave one much room for a love life. "Dray, I've never done this before. But I want to. I want to be with you. Please give me this one night that I can remember forever, please."

Draco's eyes filled with tears at Harry's confession which he cut off abruptly with his lips. Soon, the only sounds were of the gentle meeting of two souls, who, while their lips refused to speak of the love that burned deep in their hearts, their bodies demonstrated their devotion to each other.

* * *

The next morning when he awoke, he knew before he opened his eyes that Draco had gone. Refusing to shed any more tears, Harry got up slowly and made his way into the bathroom. The hot shower helped ease the soreness from his body. Harry was glad no one was there to see his blush as he remembered the activities that had caused his pains. Draco had been so loving and gentle. He knew that as long as he lived he would never forget the feeling of Draco's arms around him, the feeling of completeness that had enveloped him when Draco had made love to him. The night that Draco and he had shared would live on in his heart forever.

Throwing on a pair of jeans and a red polo shirt, Harry walked back into the main room where he started to change the bed sheets. As he reached down to grasp his pillow case his eyes fell on a piece of parchment that was placed under his pillow.

As much as he had promised himself that he wouldn't cry anymore, he couldn't stop the tears from falling as he read the last words that his lover would ever say to him.

Dearest Harry,

I know that it's too late and that I should have told you this a thousand times by now in person, but I couldn't leave without you knowing that I love you. Yes Harry, I Draco Malfoy, former bain of your existence, love you. I have loved you for awhile now, although I never realized it until after you were sent to Azkaban. If I wasn't such a coward I would have told you in person, but as you can see I did not and so I have resorted to writing down my feeling for you to read after I have gone.

As I sit here watching you sleep I can only pray that I have the strength to actually leave you come morning. You are so beautiful and look so peaceful away from all the troubles of this world. I want you to know how proud I am of you. Since your release you have proved again and again that you remain the brave and strong Gryffindor. Leaving you will be the most difficult thing that I have ever had to do. Loving you was the easiest.

Thank you, my love, for last night. It will be a treasured memory that I will hold close to my heart until the day I die. I will remember you always and I ask that you remember me fondly as well.

Harry, I need you to do something for me. I need you to live. I have arranged funds to be transferred into a bank account here in New York. The money is so that you can have a good start in life. I will never look for it, so please don't feel guilty about accepting it. If you don't use it, you will only hurt yourself and that in turn will hurt me.

I have also left you papers so that you can create a muggle identification for yourself. Change your appearance and then your name. Once this is done use the money and the identifications to begin a new life for yourself.

This apartment is paid up through the end of the month, after that you can stay here until you feel comfortable moving on. Whatever you do please be careful. I want you to move on Harry and don't look back. Be happy.

I love you.

Dray

He could barely finished reading as the words were jumping all over the place as he was shaking so badly. Collapsing onto the bed, Harry fell on something. Without thinking, he rolled over and pulled out the lump that had gotten stuck down under the covers. The tears fell even faster when Harry stared into the glassy silver eyes of the stuffed animal that he had purchased for Draco, but had forgotten to give him last night. With a scream that was part rage and part unbearable pain he whipped the defenseless animal across the room where it hit the wall and fell to the floor with a soft thud.

* * *

Draco allowed himself the first bit of happiness that he had in over three weeks. He had finally reached the decision that he could no longer tolerate being without Harry. That night they had spent together played over and over again in his head. He knew then that without speaking a single word they had pledged themselves to each other.

The time spent without Harry had been horrible. Thoughts about what he was doing and pictures of him alone in the apartment kept plaguing him at all times during both the day and night. Now, he knew for sure that he no longer wished to remain apart from his love. He had decided to return to Harry to see if he would agree to the risks of allowing him to portkey back and forth as needed.

With a small pop, Draco appeared in the middle of the apartment. Draco smiled as he imaged Harry's reaction to his surprise. However the smile quickly died on his lips as he took in the sight of the empty apartment. Draco turned and saw the bare mattress, the empty kitchen shelves and the light layer of dust that indicated that no one had been there in some time.

He was too late. Harry had already moved on. Draco tried to convince himself that it was for the best, but the tears still fell freely as Draco prepared to portkey back to Malfoy Manor. The words "goodbye my love" echoing strangely though out the emptiness.

To Be Continued....