That´s it, guys, the final chapter. Thank you all and have a very Harry (and Draco) Christmas!

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Along Came the Saviour

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Part 4

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Draco flinched when someone addressed him a little while later, not having heard Healer Wiggins approach: "I need you to take this pain-relieving potion," he said, supporting Draco´s head so he could swallow the liquid from a plain white cup.

"Thanks." Draco looked as though he was wondering why the other wizard was so kind to him. Being a Healer did not necessary mean being nice, as Draco had experienced in the past.

This one seemed to be, however: "I did not want to mention it while the Auror was here," he said, fiddling with the empty cup. "Yet I feel it´s my duty to inform you about the kinds of counselling we are offering."

"Counselling?"

"For patients who have been submitted to bodily violence."

Draco took a moment to comprehend: "Oh," he said. "Oh... no. No. You don´t understand... it was... he didn´t..." He closed his eyes, hating his disability to find the right words.

"We have been together," he eventually said, still feeling the other´s look on himself. "He... he´s not good with words, so he... resorts to other means."

Wiggins eyed him with an incredulous look, then he nodded: "Very well. Just keep in mind that there are people to talk to if need be."

All of a sudden, Draco found himself rather shaky once more; people to talk to had never once worked before.

-

Draco must have dozed off at one point, because he woke up to a slight tremor of the mattress, and a moment later, he felt a warm little body against his own, and two small hands patting his face: "Daddy?"

Accompanied by a jolt of pleasant surprise, Draco opened his eyes; his vision had improved, for he could see his son´s face quite clearly. The little boy was hovering over him and staring into his face anxiously; his stuffed dog was lying on Draco´s chest.

"Baby." Draco swept Scorpius up in his arms, feeling the little one´s arms wrapping around his neck, and buried his face in his son´s hair, inhaling the familiar sweet scent.

It felt like someone had given him a pain-reliever for everything which had been ailing him, had put a soothing hand over the raw and hurting spot deep inside him.

When they finally let go, Scorpius remained pressed against his father: "Daddy come home?" he asked hopefully. Draco stroked his soft hair, not knowing how to answer: "Not yet, squirrel," he said. "Are you having a good time with Aunt Hermione?"

"´Mynee," Scorpius nodded, "gaved me cookies. And Unca Won too! He whinny when Scowpius wide back!"

Draco found it hard to subdue his tears once more as he listened to his son´s words, the little boy was so precious.

Out of the corner of his eyes he now registered someone standing next to the bed; to his surprise, it was neither Hermione nor Ron, but Harry.

At the same time, a lot of things fell into place; Draco noticed that he wasn´t tied to the bed anymore, and that Harry´s expression was rather apologetic and full of concern.

"Hermione said he hardly slept last night," Harry said softly, his eyes on Scorpius, who was snuggling up with Draco once more, pressing his face against his father´s cheek and putting one thumb into his mouth contentedly.

Draco soaked his child´s proximity in as though it was oxygene while he looked at Harry, who struggled to find the appropriate words: "I´m sorry I wasn´t there, I was assigned to another case," he finally said. "I came home very late and went straight to bed, I only found Hermione´s note this morning. I´ll keep MacKenzie off your back from now on."

"You don´t need to feel obliged to protect me," Draco said feebly, unsure as to wether Potter actually felt as guilty as he looked. When the Auror´s gaze finally met his, however, Draco could see that Potter did.

"I could have prevented... you know," Harry said, motioning towards Draco´s wrist. "I wouldn´t have let them treat you like that."

"It´s okay," Draco said quietly. "I´ve been out of it most of the time anyway."

"How do you feel?" Harry´s voice was so gentle that Draco instantly knew that the Auror was informed about the exact extent of his injuries.

Draco averted his eyes. "It´s not like it hasn´t happen before, after all."

They were silent for a moment.

Harry uncomfortably shifted on his feet: "What triggered it, Draco?" he then asked quietly, in a tone of concern.

Draco still did not look at him: "Jared did not take it well that I moved away from him. He somehow found me and broke in, trying to convince me to come back." That wasn´t so far from the truth, he thought, and therefore couldn´t be counted as a lie.

Deciding that he would ask again later, Harry let it rest for the moment. "Has anyone told you what will happen next?"

"MacKenzie made sure to use the word ´Azkaban´," Draco replied, doing his best to sound casual about it.

The dark-haired wizard nodded: "He´s a right bastard," he scowled without a moment´s hesitation. "I guess he enjoyed it."

For the first time this day, Draco smiled, if a little strained. "What is going to happen?" he then asked almost timidly.

Harry sighed: "There´ll be a Hearing at the ministry."

"It was self-defense," Draco whispered. "I wouldn´t have used magic otherwise, I would never risk losing..." he broke off, painfully aware that Scorpius was listening.

Harry nodded, he knew what the blond couldn´t say aloud.

"Knowing MacKenzie, he will try to make it look as though you provoked Johnson," he said thoughtfully. "If a Muggle court was responsible for it, I´d say you should press charges against him. On account of... what he did to you."

Draco´s stomach jolted unpleasantly; he was not particularly shaken by what Jared had done anymore. He couldn´t imagine anyone taking it seriously anyway, to understand that it had nothing to do with love anymore, that it had just been Jared trying to intimidate Draco into submission.

Potter´s gaze never left him though, telling him that he was taking it seriously. "Since that is not an option," the Auror continued calmly, "you should agree to take Veritaserum to make sure to get a fair treatment."

Draco remained silent. He knew that the media would be all over the case, and he didn´t want the whole world to know about how Jared had abused him, how he had let it happen for Scorpius´ sake.

For most of the Wizengamot it wouldn´t be coming as a surprise, of course, but Potter didn´t seem to know that, and he felt too exhausted to enlighten him. If he really wanted to get rid of Jared, in the end he didn´t have much of a choice, did he? And with Potter´s support, he might actually succeed this time.

Harry indeed suspected there was more to it, but he saw how tired Draco´s face was, how all this was wearing on him. "I will leave Scorpius here with you for a bit, if you like," he offered. "I´ll go and make a few calls in the meantime."

Draco looked grateful; he nodded, another smile ghosting over his pale face.

-

Harry left the room and put some wards on the door which would only allow the Healer and nurses access apart from himself, then he went to have a coffee and read the papers. He didn´t have any calls to make, he just wanted to give Draco some time with his son. He had seen how afraid Draco was to lose the boy, how devoted he was to his child, and it had touched him deeply.

He returned to Draco´s room an hour later and found both father and son asleep, snuggled up with each other, Scorpius still lying on Draco´s chest.

Harry quietly sat down on one of the chairs, the same he had been sitting in the day before, unsuccessfully trying to will Draco into waking up. The blond wizard´s face had been too pale, too lifeless; Healer Wiggins had informed Harry about the kind of his injuries, and Harry had cringed when he had heard what Jared had done.

While he had been waiting, Harry had had enough time to study Draco´s appearance, and it had not astonished him to see how haggard the blond wizard really was, now that he wore nothing than a thin hospital gown.

He must have been living in constant terror.

Half an hour later, the Healer came in. He took one look at the scene and beckoned Harry outside so as not to disturb the sleepers.

"I don´t know the exact circumstances," he said, after having introduced himself, "but Mr Malfoy seems to be in quite a bit of a predicament."

"What do you mean?" Harry could imagine what the other wizard was going to tell him, but he feigned ignorance.

Wiggins shrugged: "I mean that I´ve seen other cases of domestic violence, and this clearly seems one of them. There is plenty of evidence of former injuries, for example, and then there´s the way Mr Malfoy obviously deals with being violated."

Harry narrowed his eyes:"I don´t understand."

The Healer looked sorrowful all of a sudden: "He does not seem to have realized yet that he actually is a victim."

-

Harry usually loathed to use his fame to his advantage, but on this occasion it ensured that he didn´t have to heed the visiting hours, and it had also helped with getting MacKenzie assigned to another case.

The Aurors weren´t bound to regular hours anyway, but Scorpius was, no matter what the circumstances were.

Draco awoke when it was already dark; Scorpius was drooling on the hospital shirt in his sleep, eliciting a smile from his father. He absent-mindedly stroked his son´s fine hair, grateful that the child hadn´t been taken away while he had been asleep, and only noticed Harry´s presence when the dark-haired wizard got up from his chair.

"Thanks," Draco whispered when their eyes met, and Harry nodded, leaning against the bed´s frame: "Jared has abused you before, hasn´t he?"

Draco looked as though he was about to flinch, yet he didn´t avert his gaze: "Yes," his voice was barely audible.

"And you were injured yourself when Scorpius was in hospital."

"He threw us down the stairs," Draco whispered.

Harry folded his arms in order to keep his hands from clenching into fists: "Why didn´t you tell me?" he asked.

Draco looked ashamed: "It was so humiliating," he whispered. "I did not want you to think I was weak. But... he threatened Scorpius, he said he´d take him away if I told anyone."

Harry found it hard to keep his calm: "You´re a wizard, for Merlin´s sake," he ground out. "There would have been ways to disguise yourself!"

The colour drained from Draco´s face as he sought for words now: "And what could I have done?" he asked, his voice barely audible. "Give up the life we were leading and hide?"

"Yes, that would have been one option. Rather than moving around, trying to shake him off."

"Not, it wouldn´t have. Jared knows too much, and without proper magic I couldn´t have disguised myself, remember? I would have had to apply for him to be obliviated."

"And why didn´t you? You could at least have tried to get some help, if only for Scorpius´ sake!"

"Harry..." Draco´s voice sounded pained. "I did. The Ministry knew about this. There even was a hearing before the Wizengamot, and they had evidence."

The shock mingled with surprise on Harry´s face was genuine:"What? How can they- fuck, Draco, I don´t believe this! Why didn´t you tell me! When was that? What evidence?"

Draco swallowed, surprised by how emotional Potter was reacting: "About one year ago... and they had the memories of a squad of Obliviators. I... I´ve been... I´ve ended up in a Muggle hospital once, after Jared had... taken his anger out on me. So they had to obliviate the staff."

"Okay...," Harry eventually said, trying to regain his composure. "Okay. I´ll... see about that."

He ran a hand through his hair in order to control his agitation, concentrating on the most important matter at hand: "Still, Draco- if the guy doesn´t even refrain from hurting a child, he has to be rendered harmless, in my opinion."

Draco subconsciously tightened his grip around his son: "He never did that before. He... he was so angry..."

Harry snorted: "Stop defending him, will you? He´s the reason you´re lying here, waiting for your ruptured spleen and your concussion to mend."

To Harry´s horror, Draco´s eyes suddenly swam. "I loved him," he whispered. "I don´t expect you to understand it... but I loved him; he was so different in the beginning. And I terribly miss the man I fell in love with."

Sighing, Harry sat down on the edge of the bed; he knew that feeling too well himself. What a rotten situation it was.

Wordlessly, he stretched out his arm and laid his hand on Draco´s shoulder for comfort. "I´m sorry," he said quietly.

The blond wizard drew a shaky breath: "Where is he now?"

Harry shook his head: "At home, I suppose."

Draco looked alarmed: "You don´t... know where he is?"

Anger was surging through Harry once more: "The Ministry didn´t see any need to keep him. Well, what do you expect after what you´ve just told me?"

Still shaking, Draco took that in.

Harry gently squeezed his shoulder: "You´re safe for now, he can´t come here," he said quietly.

"He´ll come back though," Draco whispered. "He won´t stop until he has gotten what he wants."

Harry suddenly felt a strong urge to punch Jared and protect Draco. His hand never left the other´s shoulder: "I´ll help you," he said. "If you let me."

-

That night, Harry paced up and down his living room while pondering the matter. He knew there were still a lot of people in the Ministry who were thinking quite radical, and who didn´t bother to differentiate between Death Eaters and people like Malfoy, who had been drawn into following Voldemort for the wrong reasons, and had wanted to get out once they had seen what was really happening.

Of course, nearly every Death Eater would claim he had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time, or had been bribed, if not even under the Imperius Curse, though Harry couldn´t but wonder wether the long years of dealing with those people had not given the Ministry officials enough experience to sort those things out.

He scowled; someone obviously had ´forgotten´ to mention Draco´s request in his file, or that there had been an incident which had required Obliviators before.

He also could hardly imagine how the Wizengamot could be so partial nowadays, but on the other hand, hearings requested by non-Ministry related persons were a different matter; there was no audience, and the whole procedure was less pompous, probably often to the requesting person´s disadvantage. Harry knew that Kingsley Shacklebolt was working on diminishing the Wizengamot´s power to a level where impartial Ministry officials had more influence.

This however required the disposal of anyone who was still using his job for personal vendettas against former Death Eaters first, which was why the issue was progressing only slowly. Even the most even-tempered person could suddenly become passionately violent when confronted with another remainder of the Dark Arts- anger and hate could flare up unexpectedly and with unpredictable consequences. There were still plenty of Dark Artefacts around, and they were still claiming lives if not handled with care.

Having made up his mind, Harry suddenly knew what to do, apart from having decided that he´d have to talk to the Minister about this.

The Magical Law Enforcement Squad was bound to have recorded the memories; he only needed to get his hands on them. If the Ministry was playing foul, he certainly could put his Invisibility Cloak to good use once more.

-

Two hours later, Harry very carefully poured a memory into his Pensieve and leaned forward. A moment later, he found himself in a hospital room; Harry had never been to a Muggle hospital, but he assumed that this was an Intensive Care Unit, judging from the amount of machines beeping in the background.

A young woman clad in white was joining two other doctors who were discussing something at a patient´s bed. When she stepped up to them, they both moved to the side a little, clearing the view enough for Harry to see that it was Draco who was lying there. He seemed unconscious, and his face was white where it wasn´t bruised. His temple bore a wound which had been stapled together, and he had a tube up his nose.

Harry walked around the bed to get a better look on the blond; he was clad in a hospital gown, several more tubes disappeared underneath it, and his left arm was heavily bandaged. Harry´s heart ached at the sight; Draco looked as though he was barely alive.

He had to pull himself together in order to listen to the doctors: "...fractured. Found him at the emergency entrance, but it doesn´t look like he´s made it there on his own. Didn´t have a wallet or any ID on him."

"Has the police been informed?"

"Yes, they have sent someone already."

"What do you think´s happened?"

"He´s obviously been beaten up. He woke up shortly and claimed that he´d fallen down a flight of stairs, but we don´t think that´s true. You could tell that some of those bruises haven´t been new. If I didn´t know better, I´d say it´s a case of domestic violence."

"It could be, though."

"Well... there´s more," he continued, all of a sudden looking uncomfortable. "We don´t have any explanation for it, but... you see..." he pulled the blankets back a little.

The latest arrival stared, then gasped audibly. "Is that what I think it is?"

He nodded. "He´s... well, pregnant."

Harry looked at the small but unmistakable bump and suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

-

"You gave birth to Scorpius, didn´t you?"

Draco stared at his hands, nodding eventually.

"Who´s the other father?" Harry asked after a moment of shocked silence.

"Who do you think it is?" Draco whispered, still not looking at him.

Comprehension slowly dawned on Harry. "Jared?"

Draco nodded once more, finally looking up: "I didn´t whore around, if that´s what you thought," he said in a low voice.

Harry ran his hand through his hair: "Look, I did not mean to imply... shit, Malfoy, how did that happen? How did you end up with such a scumbag?"

Draco began to hug himself: "He did not know about my past," he said, his voice quavering a little. "He did not treat me like dirt just as everyone else at that time."

When Harry stared at him disbelievingly, he hastily continued: "He wasn´t... like that in the beginning. He... he was attentive, funny... he made me feel good. Only when he found out that I was different... he freaked. That was the first time he came home drunk, and... he couldn´t control himself..."

His voice reduced to a whisper. "He was devastated afterwards, once he was sober again, apologizing over and over..."

"But it happened again."

"Yes... I was about to leave him, despite his threats to kill me if I did, to tell the authorities about my ´abnormality´- and that´s when I discovered I was pregnant. I was scared to death."

"So you stayed?"

"Yes... and he restrained himself. For the baby. We managed to get along quite well, and even though he had hurt me, I needed his support. There was no one else to turn to, apart from my mother. I didn´t want him to know about her though, so I tried to keep our communication at a minimum, but he inevitably found out... it was her who helped me with the birth."

"You mean- she... you had Scorpius at home?"

"At the manor. My mother and a house-elf helped me. I couldn´t have gone anywhere else..."

Harry stared at Draco, trying to imagine what he must have gone through.

"You´re very brave," he said softly.

Tears were shimmering in Draco´s eyes now: "Or very stupid," he whispered. "I nearly died in childbed, I had lost too much blood, and my mother is no midwife, after all... but I am grateful for Scorpius, he was worth the trouble."

-

Unbidden memories were haunting Draco after Harry had left. How the hours of strenuous labour had blurred together in the end, how he had felt his strength vaning rapidly at one point, the eerie feeling of his blood running out of him.

His mother´s anxious face, pale with worry, and then, after one last effort, the thin wail of a newborn infant.

He had drifted in and out of consciousness during the next few days, too depleted from the blood loss and everything else his body had been put through, unable to hold or even consciously look at his child.

He had sometimes been aware of a small, warm body on his chest, and it had strangely calmed him when terrifying dreams had haunted his feverish mind.

After he had finally had recovered enough to sit up a bit, revived by vast amounts of blood-replenishing potions and broth, Narcissa had laid the baby into his arms for the first time. ´Happy belated birthday, my darling´ she had whispered, smiling brightly, and Draco had stared at her in bewilderment; he had completely forgotten about it and only now realized that he had had his baby on his own birthday.

After one look at his little boy Draco knew that he would never again feel a love more pure, or bigger, for anyone else, than the love he had felt right then. His child, tiny and precious, had instantly captured his heart.

He cautiously buried deeper into the blanket, trying not to aggravate his injured spleen, while Harry´s voice echoed through his tired mind: ´I´ll help you, if you let me´.

He closed his eyes: yes, he would let Harry help him. He was the wizarding world´s saviour, after all, and Shacklebolt´s protegé; no one would dare to ask him how he had gotten the memory. He probably was the only person who could help him at all, and for some reason, Draco realized he did not mind the thought anymore.

He sighed; he really needed to get out of this mess, and he could still feel Harry´s hand on his shoulder, warm and reassuring.

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The End

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