The darkness gave way to light, and it was blinding. He took a few seconds to adjust, which was rather shorter than it ought to have taken. He became first aware that he was wearing his favorite sweater; soft and sage green, one that Draco had picked out for him when they'd gone shopping. Secondly, he was laying on the floor of King's Cross station. 

Harry got to his feet, and wondered if he'd find Voldemort's pathetic form here. Had Dumbledore perished in the battle? Would Harry speak to him again, in this place? As he looked around, he stumbled, barely managing to keep himself from falling.

"Wotcher, Harry." 

Harry whirled around at the voice, and found a familiar face, smiling at him. "Tonks."

"I thought I was the clumsy one." Tonks beamed. 

"I've just died." Harry said, without thinking. 

Tonks laughed. "I'll give you that. Come sit with me?" She pat the bench seat next to her. 

Harry sat down, staring at her all the while. "Tonks. I... I didn't think I'd see you here." 

Tonks shrugged. "You see lots of things here." 

"You do?" 

Tonks nodded. "Thanks for taking care of Teddy for us." 

Harry's heart skipped a beat. "...What?" 

Tonks frowned for a second. "Things are different, this side of the veil. I don't think I could explain to you how, it just is." 

"Like I can't explain how I see and feel magic." Harry said. 

"Yeah, like that, I think." Tonks said. 

"Tonks, I'm so sorry-" 

Tonks made a rather startling noise, and Harry went silent in shock. She spoke as if it was completely normal a second later. "Look, Harry, I don't want to hear you apologize. It's not so bad here... I've had a grand time, really." 

Harry blinked. 

"Oh, look!" Tonks pointed off to the side, and Harry looked. 

He saw an older version of himself, with shoulder length hair. Beside him was Draco, looking just as old as he was, his hair only slightly longer than present day Draco. In his older self's arms was a child, roughly eight years old, with dark hair. The child's hands were buried in the hair at the back of Harry's neck.

"-and she said it was weird that I have two daddies." The child frowned. "But I have three. And a mummy." 

"She doesn't know that it's okay to have more than one Dad." Older Harry said, gently. 

"She doesn't know a lot of things, Teddy." Draco said, brushing a thumb over the child's cheek. Over Teddy's cheek. "Don't let people's silly ideas upset you." 

Harry took in a shuddering breath as the figures faded. "What was that?" 

Tonks shrugged. "Hard to explain." 

"That was... That was me and Draco, with Teddy." Harry said, quietly, in confused awe.

"Yup." Tonks said. "I told you, it isn't bad over this side." 

Harry cried. He sobbed, in grief, in relief. And Tonks held him. 

"I think you've got to wake up now, Harry." Tonks said. "Take care of the family for me, yeah?" 

Harry nodded, emphatically. Of course. Of course he would; she needn't have asked. 

Harry still held onto Tonks as long as he could, before waking.

~~~

Waking was a slow process. His body felt like lead. It refused to move as he asked. Sounds around him were muffled. 

His senses spiked, filling him with the feeling of danger! Danger! He had to wake up, he had to move- His world shifted, and he found himself on the ground, looking at the dirt and pavestones. He pushed himself up, and knew where he needed to go. 

The magic of Hogwarts seemed to be guiding him, and he allowed her to. Draco needed help, he could tell; he was the one in the most danger. His vision caught up to this knowledge, and he saw Draco defending. Harry brought up a shield around him, and Draco froze for a second. 

Harry walked over to him, to take his place against Voldemort and the Death Eaters. Hogwarts told him that Luna, Ginny, Blaise, and Pansy were in danger of Fenrir; Ron, Hermione, and Neville were further away, near Nagini.  

"I've got this." Harry said to Draco. It had to be Harry and Voldemort. But Draco wasn't useless. Their friends were in danger, and with Remus and Sirius fighting Pettigrew, Draco was the best option to face the werewolf. "Our friends need some help." 

Draco stepped back, and looked at Harry. His silver eyes were wide, feeling too many things at once to comprehend any of them. But he did as Harry asked, and he knew that Hogwarts would guide him along to where he needed to be. 

Harry turned his attention to the fight. Voldemort was terrified. Harry knew he couldn't kill Voldemort until Nagini was dead. So he fought, defending and protecting. 

"Why won't you fight?" Voldemort cried, eyes wild. 

Harry didn't grace him with an answer, choosing instead to focus on keeping his barriers and wards in place around his allies. He felt a warmth below his nose, something tickling his lip. 

"You grow weak!" Voldemort cried. Harry deflected Voldemort's spell wordlessly, with only a subtle flick of his hand. Voldemort hesitated for a moment, and seemed to take in the battle surrounding him. How the Death Eaters were struggling. "Weak!" Voldemort tried to convince himself. 

Harry felt Nagini's death. It washed over him like a bucket of ice water, the cold lingering. He felt a fleeting pressure. But it wasn't nearly as bad as the last times they had destroyed horcruxes. Harry wasn't a horcrux this time, he was just an Aevumiter. 

"Your last horcrux is gone." Harry said. 

Voldemort's scarlet eyes widened impossibly, and he lashed out. His last Avada Kedavra rebounded off of Harry's magic, and he fell dead, just as mortal as any man. 

With the cheers, Harry dully realized it was over. His magic felt like a clenched fist- one that had been held so long with such a strong grip that it took great focus to relax. Once he managed to release his hold on the defenses, his exhaustion crashed into him. He collapsed. 

Draco's arms around him felt like safety, and Harry nearly fell asleep. Sirius and Remus came close, and Harry fought to raise an arm to reach them. They closed the distance, and Harry could feel them, alive. His magic reached out to them, trying to soothe their wounds, but he was too tired to do much. 

Harry heard Draco speak, but he couldn't understand the words. His eyes drifted closed, succumbing to the exhaustion. 

~~~

"Harry needs to go home." Draco said. 

"I..." Remus frowned. "I don't know if it's best that we leave, but you can take Harry-" 

"No." Draco said. "Sirius needs to return, now. His name hasn't been cleared yet." 

"Yeah, that's going to be a pain..." Sirius looked around as he said that, still kneeling protectively near Harry. Probably trying to figure out who would try to attack him. 

"Draco?" Narcissa called, from a short distance away. 

Draco didn't bother trying to keep a mask in place. What did he do about his mother? Well, he couldn't leave her here. "Can one of you please bring my mother to Number Twelve?" 

Sirius raised a brow. "Are you sure?" 

Draco nodded. "Harry trusted her, after the war. I did, too. I don't know why, but... It isn't safe for her here." 

"Alright. I'll talk to her." Remus said. "Can you apparate, Draco?"  

Could he? As tired as he was, he thought he still could. He nodded. Remus walked over to Narcissa, and Sirius helped Draco to his feet, Harry still held in his arms. 

Draco apparated into the sitting room, and carefully laid Harry down on one of the couches. He started checking Harry for injuries. Sirius plopped down onto the floor nearby, and watched Draco work, quietly. He still held his wand in hand.

Footsteps came down the hall, and Draco knew by scent one of the two people was Remus. The soft click of heels told him the other person was his mother. So she had agreed to come. 

"How is he?" Remus asked. 

"Weak, but no injuries." Draco said, after running through all his checks twice. 

Sirius let out a shaky breath, dropping his head in relief. Draco turned to him, and began checking the man over. Sirius stared at him for a moment, but didn't protest. 

"You can sit, if you'd like." Remus said softly to Narcissa, before sitting down next to Sirius, on the floor. 

Narcissa sat down in one of the armchairs, and watched Draco work. He treated Sirius' troubles as best he could, and noted what he would need potions for. Remus gave Draco his own self assessment. 

"And you?" Remus asked. 

"Same as you." Draco said, knowing that their werewolf bodies just needed time to heal what had affected them. Potions could help that along, if they had any. They would have to ask Severus and Pomfrey for some. 

Draco turned, and looked at his mother fully for the first time since they'd met in the hallway. "Mother? Are you hurt?" 

"No." She said, evenly. Draco was familiar with her expression. She was trying to understand. 

Draco shuffled back, so that he was leaning against Harry's couch. If he tipped his head back, he'd be resting it on Harry. He could keep an eye on Harry's expressions from this angle as well. 

"You've been here, haven't you?" She asked. "Pansy wrote to us, asking why you weren't at school." 

Pansy had written? That was interesting. "Yes, I've been here." 

"Why?" 

"That night that Father went to the Ministry, to get the prophecy from Harry... I went with him." Draco began. 

"Nobody said you were there." Narcissa said, eyes slightly narrowed. 

"I had glamoured myself to appear as Ronald Weasley." Draco said. 

Her brows rose. "You went with Potter." 

Oh. Draco supposed it could have been interpreted that he went with Father... "I went with Harry, yes." Draco said. "After that night, neither of us saw reason to return to Hogwarts." 

"You didn't?" 

Draco sighed. "Mother... I chose to side with Harry against Voldemort. That is why I went to the Ministry with him, to rescue Remus. At the Ministry, Fenrir Greyback bit me." 

Narcissa's eyes widened. 

"Remus has been helping me understand. With Harry's magic, I can control myself exceptionally well." Draco said. 

"Your animagus." 

"Yes. That is how I appeared on the full moon." Draco said. 

"But that... That doesn't make any sense." Narcissa said. "Werewolves don't work like that."

"Apparently they do when Harry is involved." Draco said, unable to keep a tiny smile from the corner of his lips. 

"You two are close, then?" 

Sirius snorted. Remus nudged him. Sirius whispered a 'sorry'.

"Yes, Mother." Draco said, trying to decide how much to tell her now. "Harry has a rare magical inheritance. Due to that, Harry and I are magically connected. In the eyes of the law, we're both eighteen for the next three or so years." 

Narcissa's piercing gaze was unrelenting. "Which inheritance?"

"Aevumiter." Draco answered, and his mother's expression showed no recognition. "I'll explain it later." 

"Fine... You have Dumbledore's wand." 

Draco's gaze flicked to the wand he was still holding. "That's a bit complicated to explain." 

Narcissa sighed, and she slouched to set her elbow on the armrest and pinch the bridge of her nose. "Draco..." 

Footsteps raced through the hallway, and Hermione was the first to arrive at the doorway to the sitting room. "They're here!" She then took two steps closer to Draco and Harry. "Is he-?" 

Ron appeared behind her shoulder, just as worried as Hermione. 

"Just asleep." Draco said. 

Hermione kneeled next to Draco, and brushed some hair from Harry's face. He didn't react to the touch, which told Draco just how exhausted he was. Hermione then sat down fully, and let her head lean against the armrest.

"Are either of you hurt?" Draco asked. 

Ron held up his arm, showing a bandage. "Already checked over. Had to before Mum and Dad would let us come back."

Draco nodded. "Ginevra and the twins?"

"They'll be here soon." Hermione said.

So they had made it. Draco wasn't ready to learn who hadn't.