Author's Note:

I'm SOOO SORRY for the wait! This is the last chapter though, and it is long. I hope I please all of you, and I hope you get some answers and closure!

HPDMHPDMHPDM

Chapter 20:

"Potter," Snape says from next to Harry, putting a tense hand on the teen's bicep hours later and pulling him up so he's standing. "We're being allowed to see him. To say good-bye."

Harry stifles a sob as he is wrenched out of his seat and pushed towards the door, trying to calm his breaths and not think about Draco's fate. Harry casts a tempus charm and mutters a curse under his breath when he sees that it's 4 PM. 8 hours.

Snape pulls Harry to a bland room filled with two couches facing each other. Narcissa Malfoy sits perched tensely on the edge of the furthest one from the door, her head coming up when she hears the door open. Her face is pale, her eyes red-rimmed and her cheeks stained with tears. Her posture isn't the stiff, proper stance Harry's seen her in previously, but instead she's hunched over, a broken shell of a being. Snape makes an anguished noise, and Harry looks at him oddly.

The potions master's finally let his walls down. Snape's face is no longer the cool, cruel, callous mask, but instead, he has a look of pain on his face, like his whole life has shattered upon seeing the battered, broken woman before him. He rushes to Mrs. Malfoy's side, pulling her into his arms and cradling her tightly against his chest as the woman finally allows herself to break completely, sobbing into the strong man's embrace.

Harry sits across from the pair, keeping his eyes averted to avoid awkward confrontation. He tries to ignore the sobbing, and he tries to keep his mind off of why Narcissa is crying, not wanting to accept the fact that Draco's going to become the broken shell of a man, so different from the lively, lovely person Harry has come to known.

The door opens after another twenty minutes. Harry doesn't even have the chance to turn around to see who it is when he's suddenly hugged so hard, he almost suffocates. Harry doesn't care about his lack of air because he's holding Draco, hugging Draco, and this is all he's wanted for the past two days, and he's so glad to finally be able to see his Draco, be with his Draco, no matter how short the time is.
"Oh, Draco, I've missed you so much," Harry whispers into the Slytherin's hair, ignoring the look Snape gives him. He doesn't even glare at the man; he's too elated, yet also too terrified at the moment. "Don't leave me. Please."

Draco pulls away from Harry, becoming serious. "You know I have to, Harry."

Tears spring to both Draco's and Harry's eyes and suddenly, they're kissing violently, urgently, hands exploring each other's bodies, lips moving in sync, tongues invading the other's mouth. They're kissing as if they've never kissed before and as if they'll never kiss again. Neither pulls apart until Snape clears his throat behind them.

"If you two are done with that ungodly display, I believe your mother would like to speak with you, Draco," Snape says, sneering at the couple. Draco reluctantly turns around but refuses to get off of Harry's lap. Harry wraps his arms around his Draco, placing his face in the crook of Draco's neck and inhaling, hoping to remember the smell of his first and only love forever. Maybe if I'm always able to remember his scent, it'll be like he's always here with me.

"Draco, I'm so sorry it's come down to this," Narcissa says.

"I'm incredibly angry at the Wizengamot, the Ministry, and whoever the fuck actually killed Lucius. They deserve this, not me. Why didn't they just give me Veritaserum?!" Draco practically screams, his hands tightening into fists. Harry calms him down, taking Draco's hands into his own and massaging his knuckles and palms quickly before entwining their fingers.

"So you didn't kill him?" Severus sneers.

"Of course I didn't kill him! Why would I do something so incredibly stupid?" Draco yells, glaring at his godfather.

Snape merely raises an eyebrow, opening his mouth to respond, but Narcissa stops him. She violently stands, pulling herself out of the professor's embrace and standing a distance away, staring disgustedly at Snape. "What the hell is wrong with you, Severus? How could you even ask such a thing? He's your godson; don't you have some faith in him?" Tears well up in Narcissa's eyes, and she shakes her head disappointedly, saying, "I think you better leave, Sev. I don't need this negativity. I don't need you right now. Come back when you're ready to support me, because that's what I need right now."

Pain flashes through Snape's eyes before he hurriedly masks it again. He swiftly gets up and retreats out of the room with a nod to the occupants. "I'll see you in the evening."

HPDMHPDMHPDM

The rest of the day flashes by quickly, much to Harry's horror and dismay; the quicker the day goes by, the sooner Draco leaves. Harry hasn't been able to address it as dying or getting his soul sucked out. He doesn't know if he has the ability to withstand something so heartbreaking, though he knows he's going to have to when Draco's gone.

Harry and Narcissa stay with Draco the rest of the day, not even leaving to get food or go to the bathroom. No more tears are shed as the trio wants to spend Draco's remaining hours remembering his life and the joys of his early childhood and relationship with Harry.

At 11:30 PM, Narcissa leaves the room to allow Harry and Draco some time alone, already having gotten the same favor. As soon as his mother is out of the room, Draco pulls Harry into a heart-stopping kiss.

When he pulls away, Harry smiles sadly, knowing this is one of their last kisses. Their last minutes together. Draco's last minutes. Harry's last minutes as more than the shell of a human; that's all he'll be when Draco's gone.

"Harry, you need to promise me that you will move on from this. You will find Ginny Weasley and you will persecute her; get her thrown in Azkaban. You will move on from me; you will find someone else to love." At this, tears flow freely from Harry's eyes, and he shakes his head frantically.

"I'll never find anyone else like you, Draco. You're amazing, you've been through so much, and you've helped me with so much. You've become my entire life in just the few months we've spent together. I'll never be able to love again after you. You're my soul mate, Draco. I'll never be whole again. When that being takes you away from me, it'll be taking me with you. I love you, Draco. More than I love myself," Harry sobs.

"Harry," Draco says, caressing the Gryffindor's cheek and pulling his face towards him. "Where's that Gryffindor courage you're so famous for?"

"It's leaving with your soul. My entire happiness, my entire reason for living, my entire life is for you, Draco. All for you. I'll be lost without you. I'm not going to survive a month without you. I love you. So much. So fucking much. I wish they could see how much they hurt me when they take you away from me. How they're taking away their damned Savior. But they're taking away my Savior, too.

"So it's only fair that I go with you," Harry cries. "We'll be together sooner than you think, Draco. I can't live without you. I won't live without you! I'm going to poison myself. It'll be painless. Of course, the pain of losing you will already have killed me, so the poison will just take away my vessel as well as my soul.

Draco breaks down sobbing. "Harry James Potter, you promise me, you will NOT kill yourself! You can live without me and you will! Think about Hermione, think about Seamus, and Neville. Pansy and Blaise and McGonagall and Hagrid! Think about the people who love you. They need you, Harry."

"Not as much as I need you."

HPDMHPDMHPDM

Harry doesn't watch as the creature moves towards Draco's chained body. He doesn't watch as it starts sucking; he's barely able to withstand the sound. He doesn't watch Draco's body arching and flailing violently as his eyes fill with tears and the screams of Harry and Narcissa fill the room.

Harry doesn't see the small white entity slowly rising out of Draco's mouth, about a foot away from being lost forever. He doesn't see the disgust on the guards' faces. He doesn't see the tears streaming down Narcissa's face. He doesn't see the anguish on Snape's face.

He doesn't notice the Potions master pulling out his wand. He doesn't notice the glowing, white soul moving steadily towards the dementor. He doesn't hear the aurors' shouts or them trying to pull Snape back. He doesn't see the smug pride on one of the guard's faces as Draco's soul gets closer and closer to its demise.

He doesn't watch.

He doesn't watch as Snape stuns the aurors trying to restrain him. He doesn't watch as the white swan bursts out of Snape's wand. He doesn't watch Narcissa's face as she gasps in surprise when her favorite animal chases the disgusting dementor away from her son. He doesn't watch as Draco's soul returns into his body.

He does watch when the aurors knock into him on their way to take Snape's wand, effectively breaking him out of his silent anguish. He realizes what's happened and immediately rushes to Draco, using wordless magic to break the chains holding him to the wall. Narcissa follows him, getting over her shock of Snape's patronus, taking her son into her arms and sobbing with happy, relieved tears.

"Ma'am, we have to remove you and all others from this room now. Since Mr. Snape has tried to stop this from happening, we cannot have anyone else trying to compromise his sentence. We will send an auror to escort you to the floo networks so you can go home," an auror says, pulling the relieved trio apart.

Snape, who is being restrained by aurors, shouts at the aurors as he is escorted from the room. "You can't do this! He's innocent!"

The aurors pause, having heard the Potions Master's suspicions earlier, wanting to know why his mind has changed. "Do you have proof of that?"

Snape looks at Narcissa for a second, a battle obviously waging in his mind, trying to figure out what to do. He finally seems to make up his mind and bows his head, ashamed. What he says next is barely a whisper, but Harry hears it and so do the aurors.

"I did it. I killed Lucius."

Suddenly, the room is a flurry of robes as the aurors move to restrain Snape further to take him into custody. A pair of them apparate immediately to search Snape's Hogwarts apartments to search them for any incriminating evidence. Snape doesn't fight them, choosing instead to look apologetically into Narcissa's tearful eyes. Draco is released from his manacles, and instantly, he runs to Harry, hugging him and kissing him lightly all over his face. He hugs his mother tightly, then turns to Severus.

"I don't understand how you could do this or why, but I'm grateful. Thank you, Severus," Draco says, nodding at his godfather as he's taken to a holding cell.

The aurors sent to the apartments return, holding a few already-processed pictures and a bag of something being used as evidence in their hands, looking grim. "We found the knife in a drawer, along with a collage of newspaper clippings of Mrs. Malfoy. Upon further inspection of the apartment, we found a hidden room filled with various items, pictures, journal entries. All of them refer to Mrs. Malfoy in some way, no matter how small. It seems the professor had a rather large obsession with you, Mrs. Malfoy. We believe he killed Lucius so he could be with you."

Narcissa shivers, confused and more than a little creeped out. "I knew he loved me but I didn't think he wanted me so badly. I explicitly told him nothing would happen between us. He was like a brother to me."

"No matter, we should probably get going, mother. I, for one, have had too much excitement for the day and would like to go home," Draco says, pulling Harry closer to him when the Gryffindor tries to attempt to move away to allow Draco some time with his mother. "I want to spend time with my family, and that includes you, Harry. I love you."

HPDMHPDMHPDM

That Saturday is Valentine's Day, and for the first time in ten years, Hogwarts is hosting a Valentine's Day Ball. Harry scowls into his mirror when he fastens his bow tie above his dress robes, not bothering to hide his hatred of the event. He tried telling Draco they didn't need to go all week, but Draco was hearing none of it. "I am not going to allow this trial and these two days ruin my life. I want to spend an amazing Valentine's Day with my boyfriend, so that's what I will be doing."

Harry couldn't help but oblige. His boyfriend almost died, for Christ's sake. Seamus smirks at Harry, nudging his friend playfully before turning and walking out of the bathroom. Harry hears him talking with Neville and smiles. He's glad everything has worked out for them. He smirks when he remembers the surprise Seamus has set up for his boyfriend. He's going to take him to the dance, but then they're going to floo to a posh wizarding restaurant in London at around eight. There, Seamus is going to treat Neville to a fancy dinner before proposing to him. When Seamus first came to Harry with this idea, Harry was incredulous, but soon he realized that Seamus and Neville are perfect together, and he'd have to be crazy to think they'd ever break up.

Harry attempts to tame his hair one last time before slowly retreating from the sanctuary of the Gryffindor Common Room. Draco's waiting for him near the Fat Lady, dressed in nicer robes than Harry, but they're still relatively casual for Draco. Draco kisses Harry's forehead, wrapping an arm around his boyfriend's waist before saying, "You look beautiful, Harry."

"So do you," Harry replies, flushing hotly. The couple walks to the Great Hall, where they enter nonchalantly, thankful not to be noticed by Hermione or another one of their friends. They move to a table for two and food instantly appears on plates in front of them. Lemon glazed salmon and tomato-basil pasta for the main dish, followed by a raspberry lemon Bundt cake; throughout the meal, the boys drink strawberry lemonade. It's all pink and incredibly cheesy, considering the holiday, but the boys don't care. They're just happy to be together.

At the end of the ball, Draco follows Harry into his dorm, both boys pulling their robes off, leaving their shirts and trousers on. Harry knows Dean is spending the night with his Ravenclaw girlfriend, and Seamus booked him and Neville a room at the hotel off of the restaurant they're eating at.

Harry pulls Draco on top of him on his bed, kissing the Slytherin eagerly, their tongues sliding together. Harry smiles into the kiss, not knowing how he ever thought he'd be able to live without this.

Draco moans as Harry moves to suck his neck after a while, moving his hand to the hem of Draco's shirt and pulling it up, taking it off. Draco's hand moves to Harry's crotch, rubbing unashamed at Harry's bulge, causing the Gryffindor to arch into the touch. Harry swiftly pulls his own shirt off before moving his mouth, trailing it hotly down Draco's chest, teasing his nipples with his tongue, smirking as they harden under his ministrations.

Draco pulls Harry's pants and underwear down, releasing the Gryffindor's length and causing the boy to moan as the cool air hits his erection. "Merlin, Draco," Harry whispers as the Slytherin moves his tongue to Harry's cock, swirling around the head before sucking just the head into his mouth teasingly, causing Harry to attempt to thrust into the wet cavern. Draco gently brushed his teeth along Harry's erection as he sinks his mouth down around his boyfriend's length. Harry buries his hands in the blond's hair as Draco brings a hand up to fondle his balls.

Harry gasps, his breath coming out in short pants. "Draco," Harry moans, looking down at his love. Draco looks up at him questioningly, smirking around Harry's length when he sees the pleasurable flush on Harry's face. "Draco, I need you. Merlin, I want you so much. I want you inside me, not please, Draco, God, please now."

Draco pauses, and Harry squirms, trying to find much-needed friction. "Are you sure, Harry?" Draco asks after removing his mouth from Harry's penis. At Harry's nod, Draco smiles smugly, kisses Harry intensely, and then removes his own pants. "I love you," Draco whispers.

"I love you, too."

The couple whispers sweet nothings to each other as Draco slowly prepares Harry, using one finger and waiting until Harry is sufficiently stretched for another, then adding a second, scissoring and searching, laughing as Harry whines when he brushes against his prostate. Draco accios lube from the bathroom (he borrowed some from Neville and Seamus, shh…) before adding a third finger, thrusting slowly in and out of a moaning, incoherent Harry. Harry whines both in pain and in pleasure when Draco finally slides into him, whispering "I love you" into his ear.

Draco pauses, allowing Harry to adjust to his size, moving when Harry nods, slowly thrusting in and out of his Harry, reveling in the sounds his boyfriend makes and the pleasure of finally being inside Harry.

Draco smiles as his thrusts get faster, loving Harry's groan as he brushes against his prostate.

Harry's lost in his mind and in the pleasure, unable to believe this is actually happening. He thinks back to how this all started, back to that first fateful day, when Draco pulled him into that Charms classroom and demanded he help him. Harry thinks back to all their fake rendezvous in various classrooms.

He can't help but think this is better, much better. This isn't hurried and purely sexual. Their love-making is passionate and slow, amazing and beautiful. This isn't like those times, where they stopped before it got to be too much. This isn't like any time before.

No, this is real.

la fin

HPDMHPDMHPDM

I'm so sad right now, but I'm so proud of myself for finally finishing a fic! This story has been stressful to write and I'm sure it's been stressful to read. Thank you so much for the reviews and all the favorites and follows.

Please take the time to review this last chapter, it'd mean so much to me! I'd like to know whether or not the chapters were a good length, if I successfully slowed it down after the first few super-quick chapters.

I will not be writing a sequel, however, if any of you have any ideas for any one-shots spinning off of this fic that you'd like me to write, feel free to comment them or message me! I have ideas for my next fic! It's probably going to be Snarry and mpreg (sorry if that squicks you), so keep an eye on my page if you'd like to read it!

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE SUPPORT AND READS!