Vagary

{Twenty-Four}

Aurors had indeed flooded the place, having been contacted by both Arthur and Lucius, swarming James to see if he was okay. The only thing he cared about, of course, was his wife who'd been woefully replaced by Pettigrew and now stood as missing.

He barked orders while Harry, a mere team lead in the pecking-order of the DMLE, worried over his husband who had still yet to wake.

Hermione was silent as she waited with him, unwilling to say a thing as Severus worked with everyone downstairs, both of them having already been questioned. It was just a suspicion, but the robe was exactly the same, his build about right, and who would know Harry so well as to nearly anticipate anything he would throw at them?

Why, then, would Draco choose to hurt himself over the past month? Why wouldn't he, given the opportunity, get his Harry's mind back who he grew up with and knew like the back of his hand, who loved him from the get-go? He personally would understand, frankly he doubted he would even remember any of this... so why not take back what was rightfully his?

Grabbing his hand, Harry resigned himself to asking when he woke.

"Would you be mad... if it was him?" Hermione asked him eventually, time going by at a crawl.

"If it was him from the start and he's been lying to us this whole time, yes, I reckon I would. If it's in this moment, cold and unconscious, that he's making the choice, then no. Whether what I'm feeling is past me... or current me and past me, I love him. Merlin, that's stupid, isn't it?"

"No," she said, "Although it's not just you he would be making this decision for. It's myself and Severus as well. I think... I think Severus would be angry with him."

Harry glanced forlornly in Hermione's direction.

"What makes you reckon that?"

"Oh, come on, Harry, he just spent the last two weeks explaining things to me I should already know, mourning the death of his child and practically his wife. You mean to tell me he wouldn't trade that for the love he won originally. If he wanted it, and it was within my power to grant it to him, I'd slice open my own heart to fulfill such a wish, to not cause him any pain."

Harry went to comfort her, when a groan came from their ward, painful whimpers emanating from him as he roused from unconsciousness.

"Hare," he said with a wince, prying his blue-gray eyes open. They looked especially vibrant for some reason, maybe an effect of the spell he'd suffered.

"Draco," Harry replied gently, sitting back down at his side and taking his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shite." There was a long pause as his eyes came into focus, a frown sticking. "Merlin, I- I'm sorry."

"For what?"

It was a pure bid, maybe for getting captured and causing them to lose their grip on Peter again, or whatever else he hoped Draco was apologizing for.

"I'm so selfish."

"Draco-"

"You have to know, I just... I was there, I attacked you in your world, just now. I thought it was just my imagination, that I was there to just watch it happen, but you kept talking to Hermione, nothing was happening at all, and I thought about... I could have had my Harry back," there was a wistful look in the man's eyes, but it didn't last long, "and I realized I didn't want him back, not after all you and I have been through together. You've done so much for me, Hare, and you're still him, you talk the same, act the same, if not a little more reserved and depressed. What you did for my father and I... my Harry never even thought to just talk to him about it-"