Healing

...No, wait! The Epilogue

It should be added that the moment Harry kissed Draco in the corridor, Draco's heart soared, his stomach flipped, and he nearly stopped breathing. But he also knew, that in that single moment, he had never felt such true happiness and joy. Sure, he'd been secretly pining after Harry since the day he'd first met him in Madame Malkin's (not that he understood his feelings fully then), but this wasn't about him fulfilling a dream. That kiss, and the many more after, were more real than his dreams, they were an expression of deep-felt love on the part of both men, of true love, of finding their soulmates, of coming home, of becoming whole. And especially after the devastation of the war and the darkness that Voldemort left in his wake, for Draco, Harry meant the antithesis of all that trauma, Harry gave him warmth and peace in his heart. So yes, Draco was able to cast his Patronus because of love and it wasn't a ferret, much to Ron's disappointment; nor was it a stag in the way that Severus's guardian spirit had matched Lily's: it was a phoenix, the symbol of rebirth out of the flames, of new beginnings and of healing.

It took Harry's breath away the first time Draco managed to cast his full corporeal Patronus. And it was imagining Draco's phoenix-Patronus that Harry used to decimate the Boggart's image of himself as a powerful, dark, and terrible wizard: it may not have made the Boggart look ridiculous when the ghostly silver phoenix swept through the fearful image of an omniscient Harry surrounded by kowtowing followers, but how could the Boggart compete with the strength of such a wonderful representation of the hope for the future? It couldn't. And for the first and only time in their lives Fungbury, Draco, and Harry saw the true form of the Boggart who cowered in front of Harry and crept back into the cupboard. It refused to face Harry again, much to the chagrin of the examiners when they came in so they had to mark Harry based on Fungbury's memory, not that they would have dared to fail Harry in DADA anyway.

The Boggart-Lucius had been far easier to deal with: an attack of Troghogs on a squealing Lucius and rainbow-coloured Troll hair was a wonderful image to behold and even the examiners sniggered a little and gave Draco full marks for his management of the creature.

That first Christmas holidays, Harry and Draco did indeed travel to Germany to visit the Christmas Markets and experience Munich. They also went down into the Austrian Alps and stayed in a snow-covered log cabin over Christmas itself, cuddling in front of a log fire while Draco, wrapped in every jumper he owned, complained of the cold and Harry sat in a t-shirt and boxers and tried to keep the shivering blond man warm. It didn't stop them travelling to Italy at Easter and France in the summer. Harry well and truly caught the bug for travelling and Draco couldn't help being caught up in his enthusiasm, especially when Harry insisted they went to visit Beauxbatons Academy of Magic where they spent a frightening week with Madame Maxime and Hagrid. Olympe proved herself to be clever, elegant, undeniably awe-inspiring, and surprisingly funny as they learnt a little on the French way of approaching magic. After that, Harry insisted they visited Durmstrang, and by the time they returned home in September, Harry knew he was starting his journey towards gathering knowledge from around the world: a passion he wouldn't ever stop doing.

So yes, while Draco trained as a Healer, successfully specialising in Mind Healing, Harry did his Auror training, but he never became an Auror. As he suspected, he found he didn't want to work for the Ministry, there was too much bureaucracy and they wanted him as a poster-boy. After he qualified, he went on travelling, sometimes with Draco by his side, sometimes alone, Neville joined him when he went to the Amazon and the Andes because both areas promised interesting plant life, and occasionally Ron would join him when there was an area of research that promised a suitable finding for Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes. He would regularly give public lectures about his discoveries, sporadically go into the Auror's office when they needed specialist help, occasionally help on training programs, or even aid the Gringott's Curse-breakers, but mostly he kept his employment on his own terms, doing what he wanted, when he wanted, but spending the rest of his time between Grimmauld Place with Draco, travelling, and writing up his discoveries which he eventually published into several volumes with some help from Draco on his grammar and spelling. Minerva McGonagall never stopped asking him to teach DADA at Hogwarts, and eventually he succumbed, there was only so much travelling he could justify without a regular income. Of course, going back to Hogwarts was like going home so he and Draco moved to Hogsmeade and set up Floo networks to their places of work.

The move meant that Draco, Harry, Neville, and Hannah became a close-knit foursome but they never quite matched the bond between the Golden Trio, who pulled back together and supported each other in a way that no others could replicate. Meals with the Weasley-Grangers became a regular occurrence and Draco never stopped tiring of hearing their versions of the events that happened during their school years at Hogwarts. In fact, in 2001, Draco commissioned Pansy to write Harry's official biography, despite the protestations by Harry. Of course, the success was phenomenal, and not only did her seven books reveal the truth behind Harry's story, compared to the rubbish that Rita Skeeter still churned out for The Daily Prophet, but Pansy's version of events did considerable good for the reputation of Slytherins going forward and she felt a catharsis in the process that contributed to undoing the damage she felt responsible for after their seventh year. Writing the first book straight after qualifying meant that Pansy didn't go into Magical Law and, to begin with, Hannah's suggestion of a career in journalism was much closer to the truth. But although she dabbled with investigative journalism while writing the biographies; between the books about Harry's fifth and sixth year, her path crossed with Hermione on one particularly complex news-story. The two women ended up combining their strengths and always working together going forward. By this time, Hermione had established herself as a powerful lawyer and together, they truly were a force to be reckoned with as they worked on investigative cases which generally fought against the system and the in-grained patriarchy of the old wizarding world.

And what of Justin Finch-Fletchley and his Troghog-Ears? Well, Ron did send an anonymous Owl to St Mungo's with advice on how to reverse the spell, not that his anonymity lasted much more than a couple of days, and yes, he got another week's worth of detentions with Flitwick, but Ron seemed to mutter something about his extra hour after school becoming his regular Advanced-Charms classes anyway. After Justin came back to Hogwarts, he and Ron gave each other a wide berth, especially after McGonagall quietly suggested to Ron that any further tricks on the man might be construed as bullying. Ron flustered and went red at the insinuation; he may have enjoyed pulling the pranks but he certainly didn't want to be accused of bullying. Justin's remaining days at the school were peaceful enough and when he left Hogwarts, he went to work with his muggle father, selling cars, until he got caught by Arthur Weasley for 'fiddling' them and selling them on to poor unsuspecting muggles. He spent a month in Azkaban and then emigrated to America. Surprisingly enough, Justin met up with Blaise there; his knowledge of cars and how to add an invisible touch of magic here and there proved remarkably useful for stunt work, so Blaise insisted thereafter that Justin should accompany him on all his film locations, working closely with him to achieve some of the most remarkable stunts that Hollywood had ever seen. Mrs Zabini was, of course, delighted as her son's acting success went from strength to strength, relishing in her new designer dresses, the premiers, the functions, and the press attention every time she walked onto a red carpet.

Perhaps the final thing to mention is Harry and Draco's wedding. They agreed they wanted a quiet affair so they arranged to have the ceremony in the shade of the apple tree in their garden in Hogsmeade. They were surrounded by their closest friends: the final fourteen of their year's contemporaries were there; of course, the extended Weasley family, Aunt Andromeda, Teddy Lupin who was looking after Herbert, Luna, and Uncle Xenophileas came too; plus Minerva, Hagrid, Filius, Poppy, Dorian, Petal, Madame Rosmerta and Aberforth. The August sun was shining as Blaise quietly played 'A Flamingo in Love' on his guitar and little Rose Weasley-Granger, holding Teddy's hand because of an initial fit of shyness, ran ahead of the grooms, giggling as she scattered flower petals in the aisle between the chairs. Ron and Neville were the best men. Pansy, Mrs Weasley and Hagrid cried as the two men exchanged their vows.

For Harry, the day represented all that was important in his life: his friends and his extended family, and his love for Draco. For Draco, the day was perfect.

The End

Link to 'A Flamingo in Love' if you want to know what Blaise is playing during the wedding ...