Chapter 13

"What in Salazar's name is going on?" Draco could only wonder when Andromeda, Snape, and Harry returned, and Snape was supported between Harry and Lucius, but Andromeda was also fussing over him.

"Snape overdid it," Harry said. "He was in no state to Apparate any of us, and fell out of his chair just as soon as we got there."

"Is he going to be…?" Draco started to ask, ignoring how her father was with them for now, but only then did she see the witch standing behind them all. "Mother?"

For a second, she thought Narcissa's sickness was just a ruse, because how could it be that she was in a coma and unresponsive just a day ago, and now she was standing there, but when Draco stepped closer in disbelief, Narcissa still looked shaken, and she sighed.

"Could I sit? Your boyfriend proposed we should have a chat, and I would hate to end up like Severus," she said, so Draco directed her to the parlor, while the others took care of Snape.

Draco even forgot she was holding Teddy, who was quietly sleeping in her arms, until Narcissa also took a few steps forward, and asked.

"So this is the grandson," she said.

"Yes," Draco didn't know how Harry managed to convince her parents to even set foot on Grimmauld's Place, but she took a step back, not trusting her mother to be so close to the infant.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to try anything," Narcissa noticed. "It's just… you used to have such tiny fingers too, once. If not for the hair, he resembles you a lot at this age."

"That's not saying much," Draco could only point out. "All babies look similar up to a point."

"To parents, they don't," Narcissa said and took a seat. "I hear I'm no longer your mother."

"Father gave me no choice," Draco stated.

"But you don't seem to have the same problem with my wayward sister or her family," Narcissa added with a frown.

"It's the first time I ever held Teddy," Draco told her. "And only because Aunt Andromeda was so worried for your health that she entrusted him to me, just so she could try to get you here, and possibly heal you."

"I'm fine now," Narcissa said.

"What happened?" Draco asked. "Did the healer finally figure out what was wrong?"

"It had to be a curse because it passed on its own," Narcissa said. "But it's not to say it wasn't potent. And whoever cast it, had to know what they were doing if I didn't notice when it took hold, nor the healer could find anything."

"For the record, I'm sorry," Draco told her.

"I'll recover," Narcissa brushed her worry off. "However imagine my surprise when I woke up, and your father told me you were gone, and possibly never coming back."

"He wanted to wedlock me to Blaise."

"And he had no right doing that behind my back, as I've told him as much," Narcissa added. "But he thought I was dying, and it was my idea to look for potential prospects for you."

"So it was true," Draco tried to not show any emotions hearing that. "You knew that I loved Harry and he loved me, but you still tried to break us up. Maybe it's for the best that I'm no longer your daughter."

"You will always be," Narcissa said. "But it's not as simple."

"Then why don't you explain to me?" Draco huffed. "Because I expected this from Father, not you."

"I'm trying to protect you from him. Just as Potter," she said, and before Draco could note that Harry did nothing to imply Draco needed protection from him, she went on. "I have no doubt you love each other, as you've said. But I was in love once with your father. It's easy to think that's all that matters - until it lasts. But nothing does, not forever. And you and Potter have a history of famously not getting along, before."

"That was different."

"I wished better for you," Narcissa said. "Maybe an arranged marriage where you're not day and night with your partner, where there's room for you and your partner to learn to love each other, even if I never truly thought that could be Zabini - he still understands you better than Potter."

"I'd disagree," Draco didn't even want to listen to her anymore.

"You were in the same house, you come from similar backgrounds, and he never cursed you bloody."

"I was very different then," Draco said. "In Harry's place, maybe I would have cursed myself too."

"And I wanted you to wed now," Narcissa didn't listen to Draco. "Because if the Malfoy name's restored later, your father would trade your happiness for more wealth and status. And I'd rather have chosen you to hate me than to make the mistake of trusting Potter, only for him to discard you later, and so you'd have no choice but to rely on your father, and end up in a political marriage."

"It's not going to happen," Draco didn't even want to argue that logic.

"You're right. Now it won't," Narcissa nodded. "But arguably, you're more vulnerable now than I ever could have imagined."

"Money isn't everything, mother."

"You're right. But you have until the end of the school year to try to find a job. And even if you were qualified, I don't think you realize how many people would refuse to employ you just because you were a Malfoy," she said.

That was when Andromeda appeared, told them that Snape was going to be fine with a couple of days of bed rest, and took Teddy back from Draco while Lucius and Harry entered the room.

Lucius looked to Draco, while Harry cleared his throat.

"Would you like some tea and biscuits, perhaps?"

"We aren't staying that long," Lucius said. "But as I'd told you before, we have a proposition for Draco."

"And as much as I appreciated your help with Snape," Harry started. "It's up to her. If she doesn't want to talk—"

"I'll hear him out," Draco sat down. "It could be interesting, even if I highly doubt there's any threat that could change my mind."

"It's not a threat," Lucius uncharacteristically said, and he looked at Harry with unmasked hatred.

"I won't leave Draco alone with you," Harry stated. "And just for the record, the minute you try to raise your voice or wand at her, you'll find yourself ejected from the property faster than you can blink - and you may never get a chance to come back, so if I were you, I'd chose my words wisely."

"We have no intention of sending you away, Potter," Lucius said as if Harry was being funny. "And I'm willing to admit that my concern for my wife's well-being affected my judgment before, so I may have acted in a rash manner that's inapt for a Malfoy."

Draco thought he was only sorry because he didn't win - not this time - but she kept that opinion to herself.

"A marriage we arrange is just one possible way to make sure Draco had a future, and that's all we wanted," Lucius said, and Narcissa encouraged him with a nod. "I'd still be willing to give her my name back, and everything that entails, if she chose that."

"No thank you," Draco didn't even have to think about it.

"As I said, it's a choice," Lucius went on, but now he was talking to her, instead of putting up a show for Harry. "As I see now, you're too involved with Potter to even consider it. So I'm willing to make you my heir again under one condition."

Draco supposed that was where the threats or the mind games would come in, but she still wasn't prepared for what followed.

"What?" Harry asked, as if Lucius needed prompting.

"Draco marries you, Potter," Lucius said. "If your love is so strong, it should not be a problem, and you'd get recompensed for your troubles. In return, Draco would have some leverage, and Narcissa and I could relax knowing she'll be set up for life, whether your relationship would work out or… not."

"Well, if that's it, I'm sorry you came all the way to tell me," Draco huffed. "You just want Harry's influence. You don't give a shit about my well-being."

"It's no secret it wouldn't hurt our family," Lucius spoke as if they were still one. "But why can't it be both? I believe I've just explained why it is."

"Your logic is faulty," Draco said. "If you 'worry' so much that my relationship with Harry wouldn't last, and he'd be anything than less of a gentleman after it ended, you wouldn't insist on binding me by magic to him for the rest of our magical lives. Maybe you just can't bear the thought that I'm now able to make my own decisions. You'd rather have Harry control me than just let me be free."

"Draco, it's not about that, at all. Believe me," Narcissa said with a voice that was close to begging. "But if I wasn't married to your father, I would have left him more times than I can count."

"That has nothing to do with me," Draco said. "I'm happy that you're feeling better, Mother, but if this was all, then we're done here."

"Draco, could we talk?" Harry stopped her from storming out and turned to her parents. "If you could excuse us."

Draco only noticed how tense she was when they stepped out into the corridor with Harry, and he looked at her with concern.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll be," Draco said. "Once I'll never see them again."

"About that," Harry bit into his mouth. "I, erm… maybe we shouldn't dismiss your parents so quickly."

"Because being forced to marry before I'm 20 is so worth getting my family name back," Draco sardonically noted. "Which they can use to manipulate me for the rest of my life as well. Oh joy, what good prospects!"

"They're probably trying to manipulate us," Harry carefully said, and Draco only gave him a "no shit" look. "But I think they genuinely want what's best for you, Draco."

"It doesn't matter, either way," Draco said, intent to not dance to the tunes of Lucius Malfoy anymore, no matter what she had to give up in return.

"Doesn't it, though?" Harry asked and added. "I'd give anything to have two parents who'd care for me so much."

And that's when Draco had to realize that Lucius' latest mind game wasn't orientated at her, but rather, it was intended to prey on Harry's emotions.

"I'm not a future teller," Draco said. "But neither are they. So however they claim to know what's best for me, it's simply not true. And a marriage contract can't keep us from falling out of love."

"No," Harry kissed her briefly. "But divorce is more intentional than just ending a relationship. It could be the difference between making or breaking us if we hit a rocky patch, and it would keep us together long enough until we worked out whatever went wrong, opposite to a breakup where I might just never see you again."

"Ah, so it would be my fault," Draco asked.

"No, that's not what I meant," Harry quickly said. "I just can't imagine a scenario where I wouldn't want to fix our relationship, that's all."

"But you think me different," Draco said. "And you're under the illusion that only a piece of paper would stop me from leaving you."

It shouldn't have hurt to hear that - after all the idea in Harry's head was masterfully implanted by Draco's parents - but Harry just denied months of trust Draco had in him, and - it seemed - Harry didn't have in her, as if he questioned Draco's feelings for him.

"Of course not! Please don't even think that," Harry asked her. "But you'd get your parents, your money, and your name back, and last but not least: you'd have me. I wouldn't let Lucius manipulate you. So maybe a piece of paper as you've said is a small price to pay when you could have it all."

"Careful, or I may think you want to marry me," Draco warned him.

"I'd marry you in a heartbeat."

"You're insane," Draco stated and could have elaborated on it, but she saw how Harry's expression dropped, so she left it at that.

"No. I love you," Harry pointed out. "There's a difference, you know."

"And I love you too," Draco said. "But it's something so new just yet, and we're too young considering we could live hundreds of years…"

"I know how I'll feel about you even 200 years later," Harry declared. "So if it takes a marriage for your parents to believe me, just show me where do I have to sign."

"And if I won't marry you?" Draco asked, and before Harry could send her to hell, she hastily added. "Not for the lack of feelings, but because I refuse to do anything Lucius Malfoy asks of me, what then?"

"I don't want you to marry me because of him. I want you to marry me because it's me, and I believe we're so strong that even with his interference, we could be happy."

Harry seemed so genuine, and it would have been so easy to just share his belief, and give in to the push Lucius managed to have on her - now using Harry to do it.

There could be something told about a love that was so strong that both parties were willing to jump blindly into it. But if they didn't work out, Draco loved Harry more than to keep him bound by magic, or have him go through a long process of divorce, and that was just one aspect of it.

"Fine, let's say we get married tomorrow," she proposed. "Do you know what life we're going to live? Where you'll work, what your schedule will be like, and how it would fit in with whatever I'm planning to do with my life?"

"No, but we could figure it out," Harry promised.

"Maybe," Draco acknowledged. "But let's go further. Do you want kids? If so, when? Do you have any idea whether I do?"

"We haven't talked about it yet, but that doesn't mean—"

"And if you did, how are we going to raise them, with Lucius Malfoy as their grandfather?" Draco shrugged. "What would you tell what his role in the war you fought was? Because if you vilify him, you'd have to do the same to me. If you don't, you'd risk the kid falling under his influence, and that's just the start of it."

"I'd tell them the truth, and let them decide the rest for themselves," Harry calmly said. "And I'd have as many kids as you want, whenever you'd want them, even if the answer is none."

"We've been dating for two months," Draco said. "So it is none, for now, and for the foreseeable future."

"That's okay," Harry squeezed her hand. "We can work the details out."

"Even if I'd never want them?"

"Yes," Harry said, and Draco considered how he must have been lying to himself as well, but he added. "I… already have Teddy. And to circle back to your question, I might not take a job at the Ministry, just stay at home with him for a year or two."

Draco didn't consider this, but it didn't come as a surprise either.

"You are planning on adopting him. And you knew you were going to do it all along," Draco realized. "That's why you couldn't care less about your marks this year, and why you kept visiting here every day, even when I would have taken care of Snape on my own."

"Yes."

"And when were you going to tell me?" she had to ask.

"Don't misunderstand. You can get as involved as you want to. If you'd rather keep your distance from him, I understand," Harry said. "I'm not trying to push you to get close to him, just because I am, and you're dating me."

"Yet, he's a major part of your life, and you said you'd marry me, which would make me his adoptive mother, so how would I avoid him, exactly?"

"I'm confident I can share my time with both of you," Harry tried. "In a way, I already am. Even if you're right, and it would be easier if we were all together, it's not impossible even if we weren't."

Draco wished she could just hug Harry, and reassure him. It was almost like an open question for her, but she couldn't do it. And so, with that discussion, Lucius Malfoy had won and ruined her life once again, already.

Even if she didn't marry Harry - and maybe her parents knew full well she never would - they managed to achieve something else, and drive a wedge between them, that was only bound to grow as they went on.

The worse of it was that Narcissa had predicted they couldn't last, and their conversation only shone a light on something Harry was planning to do anyway, so… the loss she was feeling was unavoidable, and she couldn't even blame it on her parents.

"I can't risk turning into my parents," Draco shook her head. "How could I raise a kid when my life's such a mess?"

"I've grown up without parents," Harry quietly said. "So how could I not? Teddy's here no matter what, and I'd never let him grow up the way I did."

"So we're over," Draco didn't want to cry, but she couldn't stop it. "That was it."

It wasn't even the fact that she loved Harry any less, especially when he could be so noble to try to raise a kid when he was barely more than a teenager himself. But the knowledge that they couldn't fit their futures together didn't leave a chance for escape.

"No," Harry took a step closer. "Don't end it like this, please."

"I don't want to—"

"Then don't. At least give us until the end of the school year."

"We'd just elongate the inevitable," Draco pointed out.

"If it's you, I would take everything second I can have. Please," Harry was looking at her, and the next thing she knew, he was holding on to her, hiding his face. "I'm begging you. If you can give me just one more week, don't leave me now."

She couldn't have said no, but she feared what it would mean if she said yes.

"All my life I was acting in accordance with my parents' wishes, except recently," Draco had told him. "If I stayed with you, it would mean I give that up."

"I'd never ask you to do that, you have to know."

"Sometimes it's just the situations you're in that pushes you," Draco said. "If you have Teddy, whatever I'd decide, it could only be in the light of that. Even if in a very different manner than how my father had manipulated me, it still would pull my strings. Just as you as his father."

"What do you mean?" Harry didn't get it.

"If I started to raise him too, even if everything worked out just fine," Draco explained. "If you were to break up with me, I'd lose not only you but him as well."

"You could trust me," Harry said. "Or…"

"Or?" Draco hated herself for asking, but she had to know what he was thinking.

"We could go all in," Harry suggested. "If you could believe me that we'd figure it all out as we went, if you could trust me not to try to manipulate you even if I could, you could marry me, and you'd get your life back. We could adopt Teddy, and you'd be just as much of a parent to him as me. And we'd have a chance to have everything we could ever want, and be all happy together, and for that, I'd even make a deal with the devil."

"You mean my father," Draco supposed, her mind going to the detail she could comprehend.

"No, I didn't mean him, but I see how you can get confused," Harry said, holding her hands in his, making her laugh - despite everything.

"What you're saying… it's too good to be true," Draco could only quietly say.

"You know how stubborn I can get," Harry reminded her. "Even if it was impossible, I'd make it true, if I could have the last word in an argument with you."

And that was when Draco understood how deep she was in with Harry. All her logic kept screaming at her that she had to say no and walk away, but she couldn't. And the look Harry was giving her when she was still there, their hands clasped, made it almost impossible to say no to him.

Even if the only thing she could screw up worse than a marriage with devastating consequences was raising a child, and she didn't want to do either, she couldn't do the smart thing and distance herself from Harry by breaking up with him right there and then.