It took a lot of convincing to get the Order on board with their plan. But eventually, Harry found himself prodding at the horcrux within him. Harry felt nausea roll in as he opened the line to Voldemort, but instead of trying to see through Voldemort's eyes, Harry drew him to look through his own. 

Harry felt when he had succeeded, and tapped the table seemingly absentmindedly as a cue. Harry focused his gaze on the busted cup. Harry could feel Voldemort react to it. Shock, quickly followed by rage. 

"-With our recent success here, we can turn our attention to finding the other horcruxes. It is our top priority now." Dumbledore said. 

"What are we looking for, exactly?" Sirius asked.

"If he had the Hufflepuff cup, perhaps he wanted the other Founder's artifacts?" Remus asked. 

"I believe you are correct, Mr. Lupin." Dumbledore. "Perhaps Harry here can draw the sword. If it isn't a horcrux, it will at least be able to destroy the others. I suspect Rowena's diadem is hidden somewhere within Hogwarts." 

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Sirius asked. 

Harry felt the connection with Voldemort abruptly snap. He had pulled away. "He saw." Harry croaked, pressing a hand to his burning scar.

Draco set a hand on Harry's shoulder, and Harry tried to bask in the comfort of his presence. 

"Harry, your nose..." Hermione said, worried. 

Harry realized she was right, a faint tickle told him it was bleeding again. Draco gently turned Harry's head toward him, and then tsked. "I think that's enough for tonight." Draco said in a tone that meant he would not take kindly to being argued with. He helped Harry to his feet and walked him back to their room. 

Harry sat on the seat lid of the loo while Draco checked him over. Then Harry promptly changed into pajamas and crawled in bed. He was getting really tired of these headaches. 

~~~

"Harry." Sirius said in the morning, after Harry had come down for breakfast. "When were you going to tell us you were a master of the bloody Elder Wand?"

Harry blinked. "Well, it's not like I ever used it..." 

"You... Didn't use it?" 

"Well, once. My wand had broken, so I used it to fix mine." Harry said.

Sirius took a breath. "Still though. You had a Deathly Hallow, and you act like it was no big deal!" 

Harry suddenly felt very awkward. "Uh, Sirius?" 

"What?" Sirius asked. "Oh no, what revelation are you about to dump on me?"

Harry smiled at that, just a little. "You know the Potters are descended from the Peverells, right?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" Sirius blinked. 

"Oh, Merlin's beard." Remus said. "The fucking cloak." 

"The cloak?" Sirius said incredulously, before it dawned on him. "The fucking cloak!"

"That was a Hallow?" Fred asked. 

"Yeah..." Harry said. "Passed from father to son..." 

"Remus, I feel like a fool." Sirius said. 

"So do I, Siri. So do I." Remus said. 

"Merlin, Harry, we should just find the stone." George joked. 

"...About that..." Harry trailed off awkwardly. 

"You know where it is?" Fred asked, eyes wide. 

"...Upstairs..." 

While the pranksters gaped at Harry, Draco took a deep breath. "Harry. Your habit of forgetting to relay crucial information is insufferable!" 

"Sorry." Harry said, wincing. He really didn't mean to do it, it just never crossed his mind until it became relevant.

"Harry." Remus said. "You have all three Hallows?" 

"Yeah..." 

"This is why I never had kids, Moony." Sirius said. "They become the Master of Death and forget to tell you."  

"Really? I thought you didn't have kids because you were into me." Remus replied. 

"Well, I guess that helped." Sirius said. 

"Wait." The twins said in unison. 

"You fancied Remus?" George asked. 

"Merlin, you should've seen him sixth year." Sirius said with a smile, sounding lovesick.

"What did he look like then?" Fred asked.

"He had those sweaters, and these boots, and he..." Sirius said. "Oh, I could go on for ages." 

"He liked that I smoked," Remus provided. "Thought I was quite rebellious. 'Course, by wizard standards, I was." 

"I will never have a better professor." Fred beamed. 

"You smoked?" Draco raised a brow. 

"It helped with my... furry anxiety, shall we say." Remus said. 

Draco looked very thoughtful. 

"Do people normally stay friends after fancying them or am I just a failure?" Fred asked lightly, before sipping on his drink.

"Remus, we're friends?" Sirius asked dramatically, a hand over his heart. "I even share my bed with you!" 

Coffee- at least Harry thought it was coffee- sprayed from Fred's nose, and he seemed to be having a rough time with it. George patted his shoulder, highly amused. 

"So, George, tell us about this Camille." Sirius said. 

George promptly choked on a bite of eggs. Fred pat his shoulder, returning the gesture in kind.

"What about Camille?" Ginny asked, having just arrived, Ron and Hermione in tow behind her. 

"Well, they were snogging in a hallway." Sirius said. "I'm just curious how often that happens..." 

"Camille? Oh, they've been cute for a while." Hermione said. 

"They have?" Ron blinked. 

"Yes, Ron." Hermione said. 

"Wait, are you actually with Camille?" Ron asked. 

"Yeah." George said. 

"What about you, Fred?" Ron asked. "Angelina?"

"Well..." Fred said. 

"Come on, Ron. You saw him kiss Thoreau after Umbitch's decree." Ginny said.  

"That was just messing with her!" Ron said, and then looked at Fred. "...Right?" 

Fred slowly shook his head. 

"Are you serious?" Ron asked. 

"No, I am." Sirius said. Remus smiled at him. 

Ron's eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, Gin- didn't you kiss Morgana?" 

"Oh definitely." Ginny said. 

"...Do you... Do that often?"

"Here and there." Ginny said. 

Ron sat down. Hermione turned and ducked her head behind Ginny, trying to hide her silent laughter.  

Harry blinked. Fred and Thoreau? That sounded like something completely new. And a Morgana for Ginny? Wait... "Morgana? Morgana Archer?"

"Yeah, that's her." Ginny said.

Draco raised a brow at Harry. 

"Nimue's little sister." Harry said. Draco nodded. It was so strange that Ginny and Blaise were dating siblings. He wondered how that would turn out.

~~~

Draco had been familiarizing himself with the Elder Wand as much as possible since Harry had passed it to him. It had taken him a bit to realize the practicality of it. It just made sense that Harry would have the wand, as he was the Aevumiter. But then, if they were both able to wield it, and Harry didn't need the wand... It made sense for him to give it to Draco. 

Draco marveled at how his magic and the wand interacted. With his hawthorn wand, it felt a bit like an extension of himself. But with the Elder Wand, it felt like an entity, both connected and separated from himself. He felt the wand both analyzing him, and leaping to his aid. His spells felt stronger, which didn't surprise him, but it was strange to sense the difference. 

He couldn't say he liked the Elder Wand better than his hawthorn one. He couldn't say he liked Harry's wand better either, even though the grips felt similar and inherently familiar. But he could find the practicality, and the sense, in using the more powerful wand during wartime. 

Draco almost felt bad for taking the old headmaster's wand, but then again. He remembered what past-timeline Harry had told him. He didn't feel too bad after that. 

~~~

Harry and Draco stood in the great hall, a short distance apart. Draco wore a perfect glamour, appearing as a thirty something year old man in a brown overcoat with pleasantly warm hazel eyes. It reminded Harry of Remus. The glamour extended to the wand in his hand, making the grey knobby wand appear a bit smoother in shape, and resemble the unassuming acacia. 

Sirius stayed by Remus' side in animagus form. The Aurors didn't give him a second look, for which Harry was incredibly grateful. 

"The students have been evacuated." Dumbledore announced, his voice carrying throughout the hall. Aurors nodded, glad that the students who had stayed for the holidays had been safely removed. "Now, we have passageways to close and others to guard. You know where to go." 

They began to split up. Harry stayed in the hall, where a few others stayed close. They couldn't leave Harry Potter unprotected, after all. Harry hated that they would be protecting him. He'd rather Draco stay safe. After all... It may be pointless to keep himself alive anyway, if things were the same as before. 

~~~

"Do whatever it takes to live, please." Harry begged Sirius and Remus. Remus pulled him into a wordless hug, and Sirius leaned his full weight against Harry's legs, the black dog's eyes looking up at him imploringly. "I can't lose you. I can't."

~~~

"I know that you are preparing to fight." Voldemort's voice echoed from an unseen source, from every direction. "Your efforts are futile. You cannot fight me. I do not want to kill you. I have great respect for the teachers of Hogwarts. I do not want to spill magical blood.

"Give me Harry Potter," He said, in a familiar speech to Harry. "And none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and you will be rewarded. You have until midnight." 

Silence filled the hall, and several Aurors as well as members of the Order were staring at Harry with wide eyes. Harry did his best to appear unbothered. He was quite bothered, but not by Voldemort's speech. 

Harry held his wand in hand, and waited. Midnight grew closer. With two minutes left, Harry's senses prickled. Death Eaters had snuck into the castle. How, he didn't know. But Harry lashed out with his magic, disturbing their concealing charms. 

Once they were exposed, the battle began. Harry was searching for the snake... He had to get Nagini. In his search for the horcrux, he found someone else. Several someones, who should not have been there. 

"You were supposed to be evacuated!" Harry cried, full of terror. 

"We couldn't let you fight on your own!" Ron replied. Other members of the D.A. voiced their agreement. It wasn't the full D.A. Just what Fred and George probably managed to smuggle in and who had managed to evade the evacuations. 

"You need to go! It isn't safe!" Harry cried. 

"Oh, really?" Ginny said, ducking away from a stray spell. 

"Please!" 

They didn't listen, and Harry couldn't argue with them and fight at the same time. So he worked overtime to protect them. Blaise and Parkinson fighting alongside Luna, Neville, and the Weasleys was a sight he never thought he'd see. He didn't want to see it. 

Draco fought beside Remus and a Remus double- Sirius, with some polyjuice potion. Arthur, Molly, Bill, and Charlie fought alongside Aurors. Harry hadn't seen Dumbledore, Moody, or McGonagall in a while, and it worried him. 

It was almost a relief when the Death Eaters retreated, with Voldemort's voice carrying again. 

"You have one hour. Dispose of your dead with dignity. Treat your injured. I speak now, Harry Potter, directly to you. You have permitted your friends to die for you rather than face me yourself. I shall wait for one hour in the Forbidden Forest. If, at the end of that hour, you have not come to me nor given yourself up, then battle recommences. This time, I shall enter the fray myself, Harry Potter, and I shall find you, and I shall punish every last man, woman, and child who has tried to conceal you from me. One hour." 

Harry had heard it before. It gutted him, to hear it again. People were still dying for him. Even with trying to do better, he was still losing. 

"Don't listen to him." Ron said. 

"I know." Harry replied, dully. "I know."

He looked around, hoping to see his family still alive, on their feet. He spotted Draco, still glamoured as 'Paul', with dust on his coat and hair, standing over the two Remuses. One was tending to an injury on the other, both still very much alive. 

He met Draco's eyes, and even from this distance, he knew what Draco was trying to say. He nodded, showing him that he understood. Trying to convey that he wasn't going to just turn himself over. He had a plan. 

He started walking away from where the others were going. 

"Harry, where're you going?" Hermione asked. 

"I got to find Dumbledore." Harry lied. 

"You don't think Snape would-?" Ron asked. 

"I don't know." Harry replied. "I have to find him. You guys need to get your wounds treated." 

"Be careful, Harry." Ron said. 

"Be very careful." Hermione stressed.

"I will." Harry said. 

He slipped away, into a quiet hall. He leaned against the frame of a shattered window, and looked out over the grounds, toward the Forbidden Forest.