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The street is dark.
Shadows linger outside the dimly lit circle of the sidewalk beneath the lonely streetlamp, and a tall figure steps in to reveal a long worn coat and messy black hair. The man looks around nervously, and his round glasses gleam in the yellow light. He wants to back off. To just turn around and run, and never-ever look back, apparating to the warmth and safety of his home.
- Harry… - and it takes all of his willpower not to jerk away as he feels his name whispered in the shell of his ear. He closes his eyes and silently counts to ten. He would count to a thousand, but he hasn't got time for that.
- You came, - and Harry's disturbed by the tremor in his voice, but the man behind him only chuckles, pleased.
- How could I not come, Potter? You called, - in one fluid motion they are face to face, the swirls of dust on the sidewalk as the only evidence that the man moved. Dim yellow light gives his normally white hair a sickening kind of shine, and Harry feels soft fabric of the man's surely new coat under his fingers. - I thought you would be glad to see me, - shining grey eyes look at Harry with a confusing mix of fiery, boyish arrogance and insecurity, a mix that he had only ever seen in them, - You are glad, aren't you, Harry? - With fierce certainty and stubborn tightening of thin red lips now.
- Of course I'm glad, Draco, - and for a second, Harry knows: he is, he really is. No matter what.
Cold pale hands gently drag through the tousled black hair to softly caress his jaw line and neck. The touch is so caring and full of awe that Harry bites his lip not to scream. He clenches his eyes shut to fight off the tears - and to not see the possessive gleam in his lover's eyes. He doesn't understand how it came to this - the utmost care in every caress, the soft praises that Draco whispers in his ear as the world fades away, the gentle way he kisses away Harry's tears when he prepares and enters him, the possessive whispers with every thrust and the way Draco always holds him protectively close after it's all over - all the things that Harry loved - still loves, so much! - now became a burden. Harry feels lips travel down his throat, sharp fangs sliding along his skin - hot lips in such a contrast with Draco's always cold hands… Harry loves trying to warm them up when they lie close together in postcoital dizziness, even though they both know how useless it is.
- We will never be apart now… - says Draco fiercely.
Harry bites his lip through - and no, it's not because Draco starts jerking him off to the rhythm of his thrusts - and tries to fight off the tears. "Yes", he wants to say. "My sarcastic, my unbroken, my loving, my life, my fire, my sanity… There won't be any cold lonely nights and pointless days, there won’t be any need to exist from day to day, no one else’s touch, no fear and no lost hope, we will never…" But Harry came prepared. He knows better.
- We will… - and Harry knows that Draco heard him through postcoital bliss as he stiffens in their embrace at the touch of a stake.
…Harry still sees it, the image of Luna burned on the back of his eyelids. Her long blond hair in such a beautiful disarray, unnaturally white skin on the equally white sheets, blue eyes huge and doll-like on the slack face, her dreamy smile shattered, body twisted and lifeless... And two deep crimson gushes on her neck, almost grotesque in the contrast… Among the rushing Mediwizards and Aurors he remembers clearly Ron's freckles - unnaturally bright on his pale face… And the way he tried to warn him with his icy blue lips, to tell him one short name…
But Harry knows - it's not their dead faces that will plague his nightmares the most and not his own blood on Draco's lips, but the childish wonder and hurt he sees in Draco's grey eyes right now.
And Harry knows - he knows he has to stop this. He has his family. He has Ginny and little Albus that he has to protect - stop it for them, before Draco decided that they are, too, his rivals and competition. Before he decides that they are, too, 'in the way'…
- I'm sorry… - he whispers in Draco's ear as he drives the aspen stake into his heart.
And as Draco's body sags in his arms, Harry holds him tight… and finally lets the tears fall.