Prompt by RavenMancer

Before LITERALLY everything, we need to talk RIGHT NOW about an AMAZING artwork inspired by  Hold My Hand that annluvazzel created. Please follow her here and on Instagram  @annluvazzel 

I'm not showing it here. I want you to go to her instagram and look at it and like it and follow her because it's literally beautiful. 

Please y'all that shit's beautiful

The school was silent.

It wasn't often that so many people in one place could be so mute, but with Harry Potter dying and all, the occasion called for it.

Draco honestly didn't believe it. So many rumors flew around the boy all day that another one really didn't mean anything.

That didn't stop him from going to the Hospital Wing.

"Sorry, he's not seeing anyone right now," Madame Pomfrey said as Draco walked in.

"I need to see him, Madame Pomfrey!" Draco cried desperately.

"Malfoy?"

God, it sounded so weak.

"Please," he mouthed.

She frowned. "Mr. Potter, you have a visitor."

"Let him through please."

She frowned more, but stepped aside. Draco rushed past her.

"Potter, what the fuck happened to you?" he asked.

The boy was pale, his eyes half-closed. Dark black veins reached from his left wrist to his elbow. 

"Good morning to you too, Malfoy." Harry coughed softly. It seemed to hurt to even do something as simple as that.

"What happened?"

"Curse. War."

Draco closed his eyes. "Are the rumors true?"

"There are rumors?"

Draco sighed irritably. "Of course there are rumors, Potter, when are there not-" he cut himself off, sighing heavily. "Is it fatal?"

"If the cure isn't administered."

"So where's the cure?"

"It's rare, and hard to find," Madame Pomfrey cut in. "By the time it's made..." She coughed softly. It seemed to be hard for her to finish her sentence. "It will- It will be too late."

"Not possible," Draco whispered. He turned to Harry. "It's not fucking possible. You're the fucking Boy Who Lived, you moron, not the Boy Who Died From A Bloody Curse!"

Harry glared. "You act-" he broke off, coughing. "You act like this was my fucking decision."

"You're not going to die, you fucking idiot," Draco bit out. "Madame Pomfrey, what's the cure?"

She stared at him. "They don't sell it anywhere. It has to be made, which is why it won't be-"

"What's the cure?" Draco interrupted, a feat he would never do unless the circumstances were dire.

She frowned at him for interrupting but answered. "It's called the Purgationem Vitae. The ingredients to make it are rare or illegal, and-"

"Thank you," he said quickly, and rushed out.

He didn't stop running until he found Hermione Granger sitting at the Gryffindor table with her head in her hands.

He sat down across from her, and may or may not have shoved Ron to do so.

"What do you know about Purgationem Vitae?" he asked quickly.

She frowned. "Go away, Malfoy. No one's in the mood to argue with you."

"It's Latin, isn't it? What does it mean?"

She glared at him. "What makes you think I know?"

"You're smarter than me, and you studied Latin."

She seemed surprised that he would acknowledge that, but returned to glaring at him seconds later. "Go away, Malfoy."

He leaned forward, whispering so no one but she could hear him. 

"Do you want to save your best friend's life or not?"

She pulled away from him, staring with wide eyes.

"Why the fuck would you-"

"Because I'm in love with him. And he doesn't deserve to die." There was no point in beating around the bush. Every second they were spending talking was a risk to Harry's life. Hopefully, that admission would convince her that he was being serious.

Her brown eyes watched him for several seconds.

"Purification of Life."

"Thank you. Come to the library with me?"

They rushed off, leaving Ron staring after them.

*****************

"Malfoy?"

Draco didn't respond with words, just a slight nod in acknowledgment. He was too focused on the book in front of him, writing small notes on a piece of parchment.

"How long?"

"Longer than I'd like to admit."

"How long?"

"We're not friends, Granger. That's personal."

"So is telling me in the first place that you're in love with him. How long?" Her eyes were also skimming her pages and jotting down words, but they occasionally flicked to him.

Damn. She had a point. "Third year."

"Why? You barely saw him third year. We were trying to save S-Sirius." She stumbled over Black's name. It was almost imperceptible, but the glitter of tears in her eyes wasn't.

"That's why. I felt weird without him around much. I felt like a part of me was missing, and it took me weeks to find out what it meant."

"That's almost... sweet." She looked uncomfortable saying it.

"Shut up, Granger. I've got the locations of my half of the ingredients, have you got yours?"

She nodded, handing him the list. "Malfoy, some of these are really illegal-"

"I need you to get these ones," he interrupted, circling a few on the list that he knew were safe and easier to get.

"Malfoy, this is dangerous."

"And?" He met her concern with blatant defiance. "You shouldn't care. You've got the legal ones. Find them. Don't worry about me."

"Malf-"

He left before she could finish.

****************

It was so rare that they never used it in potions. Due to the carnivorous nature of the Acromantula, the venom was virtually impossible to collect from a live specimen. The obvious solution would be to collect it after the death of the creature, but the venom dried out so quickly that one would have to be very swift in obtaining it, and besides, Draco was almost certain he was not capable of killing one of the violent creatures.

Hence why he was now in a shady area that one could only find if they knew the right people, a location that felt worlds away from Diagon Alley just twenty steps and a couple jumps to the left of it.

A few eyes caught his in recognition and Draco vaguely wondered if he was going to be killed when a rather large man stood up from one of the tables.

"You need something?" he asked gruffly, narrowing his eyes.

"I do," Draco responded. He was careful to show no emotion in his statement, none of the fear he was definitely feeling.

The man stared at him for a long few moments before speaking again. "You got money?"

"I do." It was important to say no more than they asked of him, or he would be labeled as poncey or overeager, and cast out.

"What is it you need?"

"Acromantula venom."

More staring. More silence.

"Do you know how rare that is?"

"Yes."

"Do you really think you have enough money for that?"

"I do."

"Alright then." The man didn't touch him, but he did stand uncomfortably close to him for several seconds before taking him to a back room.

"We don't have much, so I hope you don't need a lot."

"Four drops."

"Ah." He labeled a price that chilled Draco to his very core because it was ingrained into him as a child that he should never pay for anything that expensive, and that was how the Malfoys stayed so wealthy.

Draco handed him the money anyway, kept in a pouch that was spelled to be much larger on the inside than it appeared on the outside. The man put four drops of the venom into a glass vial and handed it to him carefully. Draco nodded his thanks and left as quickly as he could.

*********************

Fuck, it was cold.

It was so unbelievably cold, or maybe Draco was just used to the comfort of warmth, but either way, getting Dittany was proving to be more annoying than he had planned on it being.

He chanted in his head that this was for Harry, this was for Harry, and scanned the ground until he saw the small green herb.

Thank fucking Merlin. Draco grabbed the plant, carefully setting it in his pouch alongside the vial of venom, and Apparated away quickly.

********************

He almost felt guilty that he had slept, wasted hours he could have been looking for ingredients were instead spent in unconsciousness, but he had been so tired and he surely couldn't have made it another day without sleep and with so much walking.

He felt even worse when he checked his list of ingredients.

There were only two things left, and he really wasn't sure which one of them would end up becoming impossible.

But the last one made him sick to his stomach to think about, so for today, he decided on fairy wings.

He gathered his things and grabbed his pouch and Apparated to the nearest forest.

He knew fairies were common beings, it was just catching them that was hard. That was why fairy wings were so rare, they were so fast and they hated to be separated from their wings, even though they would grow back within a few days. 

He tried for hours to catch them, but they just darted around his head and laughed at his attempts, teasing him. One even tried to steal his pouch, and that was the reason Draco had decided to give up for the day, going back to his shitty Muggle hotel room.

The next day he went out without his pouch, carefully arranging it underneath his bed and Disillusioning it just in case before venturing to the forest again.

"Please," he begged the fairies. "I don't want to hurt you. I just need a pair of wings. Please."

They continued to laugh, high pitched, slightly shrieking noises that made Draco wince.

He flinched when suddenly, a silvery otter flew out of nowhere and approached him.

"Draco," it said in Hermione's shaky voice. "He's- he's gotten worse. Pomfrey says-" it cut off as she choked on her own words. "-she says we don't have much time. Draco, I think it's time to come back. Say your- say your goodbyes. He's been asking for you."

The otter disappeared, but Draco remained staring at it for several seconds after it was gone.

Too late. He was too late.

"What's happened?"

Draco turned toward the voice. A small fairy sat atop a rock, far enough away that if he tried to grab her she could fly away, but close enough for him to hear her voice. It was almost melodic, contrasting fairies' horrible shrieking laughter, and had a strange accent Draco couldn't recognize. It was almost human, but sounded just a little off. Her skin was dark, with a golden shimmer resting atop it, and her tiny black curls bounced with every movement of her head.

"The boy I love is dying," Draco whispered. "And I won't be able to make the potion in time."

The fairy paused, her eyes darting toward one of the shrieking fairies as her hand drifted to a minuscule necklace looped around her golden throat. "Why can't you make the potion in time? Your friend said you don't have much time, not that you have none at all."

Draco gestured around him. "I still have to get fairy wings, which is impossible enough without a time crunch, and unicorn blood, and I have to bring it to Hogwarts and make it!"

She leaned away from him, eyes wide. "You're going to kill a unicorn?" she asked, looking absolutely horrified with him.

Draco laughed sadly, sitting on the ground and staring at his hands. "I was going to ask."

"You were going to ask a unicorn for their blood?"

Draco nodded. "I couldn't kill something so pure," he whispered.

"I've never heard of someone asking a unicorn for their blood."

"Well, you never will. Because I don't stand a chance. Harry doesn't stand a chance," Draco sighed, leaning back against the tree behind him and closing his eyes.

Which snapped back open seconds later at the weight on his hand.

The fairy was standing on the back of his hand, staring at him cautiously. When he didn't move, she reached behind herself and grabbed one of her deep blue wings.

"The forest is dangerous for wingless fairies," she said in a warning tone. "We're defenseless. I want you to bring me with you to protect me, and when I grow my wings back, I'll leave. If you don't, the other fairies know who you are and they will hunt you down."

"Of course," Draco whispered, shocked by her generosity. "I can't thank you enough."

She smiled, but it dropped as she tore off one of her own wings, replaced with a grimace.

"How bad does it hurt?" Draco asked, wincing.

"I've been told by fairies who have been turned human that it's similar to a second-degree burn," she replied, pulling another face as she tore off the other wing.

Draco delicately took the wings between his index and thumb, studying their shimmer before carefully picking up the fairy and holding her in his open palm.

"Let us go then. Harry doesn't have all the time in the world," she said.

Draco nodded and Apparated to his hotel to get the basket.

******************

"What's your name, anyway?" Draco asked as they trudged through the Forbidden Forest.

Well, Draco was trudging. His fairy had decided she greatly enjoyed standing in his hair, and she often gave him tiny braids and flowers in his hair. She was currently working on her big project; a flower crown. By the weight on his head, Draco would assume she was about halfway done.

She responded with a string of jumbled screeches and mixed sounds. Draco flinched, and immediately felt bad about it when she fell over into his hair.

"Don't do that," she scolded.

"Sorry. It was loud. How would you say that in English?"

There was a pause. "I suppose your closest translation would be Lorelei."

"That's a lovely name. And I'm sure if I spoke the language of fairies, it would be beautiful in that too."

"I thank you."

"Your necklace, who's it from?"

There was a soft squeak/giggle from Lorelei before the answer came. "My wife."

"Do all fairies marry each other?"

"No. We're the only fairy/fairy marriage in the colony. Most fairies marry sprites. We're frowned upon, but people have come to accept us."

Draco had a second to consider how ironic that was before he stopped.

Before him was a unicorn.

Stunning, shimmering, and glinting slightly in the moonlight, the unicorn was calmly drinking from the stream, and Draco had a sickening flashback to first year before he took a step forward.

"Excuse me," he said quietly.

The pure white head snapped up, terrified eyes meeting his. Draco froze.

He heard a soft noise, and it took him a minute to realize Lorelei was murmuring something in a different language to the unicorn. It wasn't her native language, he could tell. She stumbled over words and it wasn't the screeching language of fairies. However, the unicorn seemed to be genuinely listening to Lorelei's words.

"Put me in your palm and hold it outwards," Lorelei hissed. Draco did as she asked, and she continued to talk for a few minutes before the unicorn made a noise that didn't sound like the horse noise Draco had expected and Lorelei turned back to him.

"How much do you need?"

"Um." Draco fumbled in his basket, pulling out a vial slightly smaller than the venom one. "This much."

Lorelei talked for a few more seconds to the unicorn, before turning to Draco again.

"He is in agreement. Move slowly, and let me open and heal the wound."

Draco nodded, and carefully kneeled by the animal. It watched him, but didn't move.

Lorelei ran a single finger along the front leg of the unicorn, and it made a small noise, but still remained still. Draco held out the vial, catching the silvery liquid until the vial was full. Lorelei carefully healed the cut and the unicorn backed away, tilting its head forward and running off.

"Doesn't this curse you, though? Unicorn blood?" Draco asked, holding it up.

"It does when you kill the unicorn."

Draco swallowed. "Ah."

**************

"Draco," Hermione whispered as Draco came into the Hospital Wing. "He's been-"

"Is he alive?" Draco was breathless.

"Yes, but-"

"Did you get the ingredients?"

"Draco, there's no time. He had only a few hours left, max. We should-"

"Did you get the ingredients?"

"I did. But then I heard that Harry had gotten worse."

"Do you still have them?"

"Draco, there's no way you got your ingredients. Unicorn blood is morally irreparable. Fairy wings are impossible. Acromantula venom is illegal. Dittany is scarce."

"Unicorn blood is morally fine if you know the right beings," Lorelei responded from Draco's hair. "As for fairy wings, it looks like all you need is a sob story. And the other two... well, don't worry about those."

"What the-" Hermione stared at the fairy on his head. "Draco, how the fuck-?"

"Granger, I have the ingredients and that's the point. Please tell me you still have yours."

She looked shocked, but there was a glint of hope. "They're in my dorm. I'll grab them and meet you in the Potions classroom."

As Draco rushed out of the room, the thought that he hadn't even said hello to Harry crossed his mind, but he decided if this worked, he could spend forever making everything up to him.

*************************

"Asphodel."

Draco took the flower from Hermione and added it to the potion. As he stirred, he considered how ironic it was that a flower that widely represented death was being used in an attempt to save Harry's life.

Lorelei had decided to start doing Hermione's hair. She claimed that since Hermione's hair was more similar to her own, it was "more fun."

Draco had pouted and told her his hair was plenty fun.

Lorelei had simply laughed her shrieking laugh. it had been a day since he had met her, and her blue wings were starting to poke through. She claimed that she would only need another day or two, and then she would be able to leave.

Draco felt a little sad about that. He had grown attached to the fairy. But he understood that she had a wife and a colony, and he was just a human who needed her wings.

"Daisyroot and Fluxweed."

Hermione grabbed the chopped ingredients and poured them in. Draco stirred, adding another drop of unicorn blood every three turns.

"Draco, what if this doesn't work?"

Draco stiffened, adding another drop of unicorn blood. "When this works, Granger, I'm going to punch you. Partially for scaring me, and partially as revenge for third year."

"You were a dick third year."

"I still am a dick."

"Draco, you traveled across the world and broke at least three laws to save a boy's life. You're not a dick."

"I broke more than three and cast way too many Memory Charms."

"I won't tell if you don't."

"Thanks, Granger," he replied with an easy grin.

Their moment of solidarity was broken when Ron rushed into the room.

"Where have you been?" he asked desperately. When Hermione opened her mouth, Ron cut her off with "it's Harry."

Hermione stood up abruptly. Lorelei handed Draco the cup and he filled it with the potion, grabbing her carefully and running after Hermione and Ron.

Harry was pale. Far too pale. The dark black veins that had originally remained on his arm had now spread all over his body, curling around his neck, winding around his arms, and, most horrifyingly, his shirt was removed to reveal the inky darkness tightly balled around his heart.

Draco stared, horrified at him. Hermione was just crying, and Lorelei screamed "Draco, the potion!"

He rushed forward, forcing Harry's mouth open and pouring the drink in. When Harry didn't seem to want to swallow it, as all of his senses were stripped away and he had no idea what was happening, Draco frantically forced his mouth closed and held his nose shut until Harry swallowed it.

When Draco released him, Harry was already limp.

His eyes were black and blank.

And then they were green again, and Harry gasped sharply for air as he sat upright, hands scrambling to grab the sides of the bed.

Hermione gave a little half-laugh, half-sob and wrapped Harry in a hug.

The green-eyed boy watched Draco over her shoulder.

"You look like shit," Draco commented.

Harry only smiled that stunning smile.

"Good morning to you too, Malfoy."