Harry's nostrils were breached by the scent of antiseptic and hospital clothing as his eyes blinked open. He tried to move and sit up before hissing in agony. Lifting the sheets of the bed tentatively, he saw his torso was heavily bandaged.

Damn, he'd been shot.

The room was large, the white-washed walls making Harry feel strangely calm. It was while looking around that he noticed the man with wavy hairy sitting next to him in a chair, snoring his head away.

"Siri!"

Sirius snorted awake, eyes open and alert. "Wha- who got shot?"

"Me, apparently," Harry said, raising an eyebrow at his godfather.

"Harry!" Sirius beamed. He made to wrap his arms around the smaller boy, but thought better of it when he seemed to remember Harry's predicament. "Ah, right."

"Yeah," Harry said, before realising where he was and what had happened. "Wait- what happened? How did I get here?"

"Well, we had successfuly infiltrated their base and were biding our time, waiting for the perfect time to strike as we had planned. We were hiding in the room where they kept those cages, when suddenly we see you two being dragged in! We watched you struggle for a while, since Alastor told us not to give any of us away and only act if you were in extreme danger. Then Bella came in and took you away and we all raced in ahead after. Remus stayed behind to let Draco out of his cell."

"How long have I been here?" Harry asked, shifting on the bed a little.

"Two weeks," Sirius replied, wincing a little when Harry gaped.

Harry's next question was tentative and cautious.

"Tonks... is she-" Harry felt his mind flood with guilt, already knowing the answer to the question. Sirius' eyes darkened as he looked down into his lap.

"She is," Sirius said, voice breaking a little. Harry bit his lip in frustration.

"I'm so sorry," he said, reaching out to put a hand on Sirius' arm.

Sirius shook his head. "Don't be sorry, she's in a much better place now."

Harry nodded, despite none of the guilt leaving. Tonks didn't deserve to die like that. "And... Draco?"

Harry held his breath in and squeezed his eyes shut, almost afraid of Sirius' answer.

"He's up and running," Sirius said. "Well, not running, exactly, his side was shot up kind of bad, so he's taking it easy, Bella got you much worse though. He went to get a coffee. Poor boy doesn't ever sleep, always sitting here by your bedside."

"He- he does?" Harry asked, a little shocked. "I thought he tricked me again. Bellatrix said she told him to go there."

But then again, that didn't quite make sense. Wasn't Draco the one stopping him from going to the base? It had been Harry's own persistence and hero complex that had gotten him in that mess.

"Well she thought Draco had brought you for her, remember? That was the whole reason he had all those plans in the first place," Sirius reasoned. "She never actually wanted to torture you, turns out. She said that to Draco to stop him from handing you straight to Riddle, because she wouldn't get any credit that way, and Riddle's attention would be solely on him."

Harry found it a little peculiar that Sirius was now the one defending Draco, but didn't mention it.

"Oh," he said instead, a little dumbly. He had never really believed that Draco would betray him again, but he'd be lying if he didn't expect the older boy to pull something like that again. He'd do anything for his mother.

"Ah, did Draco find his mother again?" Harry asked. Sirius beamed at this.

"Sure did," he replied. "Me and her have been bonding. She's an awesome woman. I'm sure Draco would take a lot of pleasure in introducing you two."

"Well, I can't wait to meet her!" Harry said honestly.

The door to his hospital room opened suddenly and Draco stepped through with two cups of coffee.

"Sorry I took so long, Siri," he said, shutting the door carefully behind him. "Some moron was holding up the line-"

He turned around and nearly dropped the drinks in his hands when he saw Harry alert and awake in his bed, green eyes wide and tentative.

"Hello," the dark-haired boy said nervous. Draco just stood there, mouth having fallen open. Sirius chuckled and stood before walking over to Draco and taking his cup from the boy's numb hands.

"I'll leave you two lovebirds alone then," he said, winking at Harry when he exited through the door.

Draco still didn't move.

"So... you're kind of freaking me out here-"

"YOU'RE AWAKE! THIS IS SO AWESOME!" Draco rushed over to Harry, setting down his cup on the sidetable.

"Uh, yay," Harry said unenthusiastically. "Also, please don't hug me, I've just been shot."

"You haven't just been shot," Draco rolled his eyes. "It was three weeks ago, you baby. And for your info, I got shot too. Thanks to someone."

"I'm sorry," Harry said sincerely. "I never meant for you to get hurt."

"Well, I did," Draco said bluntly, plopping onto Harry's bed.

"Sirius said you didn't sleep much," Harry said, eyeing the bags under the boy's bags. Draco shrugged his shoulders.

"It doesn't matter. Since you're awake now, I'll be catching up on that sleep in no time," he grinned.

Harry smiled. "So when are you going to introduce me to your mum?"

Draco laughed. "Calm down, we haven't even started dating yet!"

Harry flushed and Draco laughed at his expense.

"God you're adorable."

The moment Harry stepped into the room he was englufed in a sweet-smelling cloud of bushy hair, thin arms wrapping around him like soft vines.

"We were so worried, Harry!" Hermione said, clinging to him like he was her life force. Harry winced in pain and she quickly pulled away.

"Sorry, Harry," she said, eyeing his torso. He laughed it off.

"It's fine, 'Mione, I missed you loads too," he said. He walked over to Ron and gave his arm a quick squeeze. "It's good to see you, mate."

"You better not do something like that again," Ron said, looking formidable, but his face eventually broke into a smile. "We were worried sick."

"No promises," Harry joked, sitting down on his plush bed.

"Mum told me about what you did," Ron said, looking a little nervous, as he always did when he talked about his parents. "You should be proud of yourself, mate."

"Not got much room in my head to be very proud about killing a gang leader," Harry said honestly, lying back so his head rested on the pillows, his legs dangling off the edge. It had only been a week since he had come out of the hospital, yet he had had ten different panic attacks. It was easier with Draco there, Harry had found, so the blond tried to make sure he was always near Harry.

"The Order's getting you counselling though, right?" Hermione checked. "Because they'd better, Harry-"

"Don't worry," Harry reassured. "Sirius wouldn't rest until he found me a counsellor. And it's not like anyone else was against it either. I think we all need counselling at this point."

"Have the Order told you anything about what's going to happen next?" Ron asked curiously. "What are the next steps?"

"Well, they've got the government involved in trying to round up the remaining Death Eaters that weren't captured during the fight, according to Sirius," Harry said. "Other than that, I don't care."

"You- you don't care?" Ron repeated, a little shocked.

"I've gone through enough conflict for a life time," Harry stated. "I'm not getting anyone hurt ever again."

"Well, if that's what you want, Harry," Hermione said kindly.

"What about the ferret?" Ron asked.

"What about Draco?"

"Are you two together again?"

Harry went red. "No, Ron!"

Ron rolled his eyes. "What are you two waiting for? You two obviously have feelings for each other. Go act on them!"

"'Go act on them'? Really? That's your advice?" Hermione snorted. She turned to Harry with a smirk. "He's not wrong though."

"Shush," Harry said, burying his face in his pillows. "Oh, and for the love of God, please do not have sex in this room without telling me. AT LEAST PUT A SCRUNCHY ON THE DOOR!"

"Noted," Hermione said happily while Ron splutterd.

Harry jolted when he felt someone sit down next to him in the Room of Requirement, but he relaxed when he saw it was Draco.

"Hi," Harry said happily.

Draco's face was oddly flushed as he stared at him.

"Draco?" Harry was more than a little confused. "Something wrong?-"

"I like you, Harry. I like you a lot. Like, for real this time, obviously," Draco blurted out, his face going impossibly redder.

Harry's face resembled that of a tomato as he tried to process these words. "You like me as in a friend or more than a friend?"

"What do you think, dumbass?" Draco grumbled, shoving his chin into his hands as he looked ahead at the empty room filled with shelves and mirrors.

"So you- you want to date me and stuff?" Harry asked, eyes widening, cheeks flushed.

"Well, if you want to."

"Of course I want to! I was waiting for you to ask! I thought... maybe you'd moved on. I was starting to lose hope," Harry admitted a little sadly. Draco laughed loudly at that.

"Harry, see this?" Draco pointed towards his heart. "You've owned this for the past six years. I couldn't move on even if I wanted to. I am so fucking in love with you, I think I might die. I know I've done some shitty things that might have made you stop believing that, but it'll always be true."

"You've- you've owned mine too," Harry said truthfully, cupping Draco's cheek and turning it so he could look into the deep grey eyes. "Even when you betrayed me, a part of me still wanted to see the good in you."

Draco smiled warmly and leaned into Harry's cheek.

"Can I kiss you, Harry?" Draco whispered, like it was a secret.

"You can," Harry said, smiling.

And he did.

FIN~

THANK YOU ALL SOOOOOOO MUCH FOR READING THIS!!!!! IT WAS A BIG JOURNEY BUT WE BATTLED THROUGH, DIDN'T WE?

I LOVE MY READERS SOOO MUCH <3 YOU'RE ALL MY VERY BEST FRIENDS AND I WOULD FEEL SO FUCKING SAD WITHOUT YOU ALL TO BRIGHTEN UP MY DAY!!! I ALWAYS PERK UP WHEN I THINK OF COMING HOME TO YOUR COMMENTS EITHER BASHING DRACO OR THINKING UP SOME NEW THEORY SO THANK YOUUUUUUUU!!!!!!

pleaasseeee vote and comment and go on over to the epilogue <3