Spoilers for HBP and DH.

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.

"Ok!"

Dumbledore blinked. He had expected loud exclamations, crying and denials from the boy who lived. Instead he just gave a calm acceptance. Remus and Sirius who were sitting by Harry's side ready to cool him down in case he lost his temper at the news. They were forced to sign a marriage contract so that Draco and his father would spy for their side during the war. They wanted retribution after Narcissa was killed after Draco had failed to kill the headmaster. "My boy, surely you understand we had to agree to this."

Harry gave his headmaster a beatific smile. "Of course, I understand Professor. Those were hard times and we needed all the help we could get. Goodnight professor." He nodded to him and left the office without even glancing at his guardians.

"We had done the best thing for Harry?" Sirius asked.

"Yes, we have." Remus stated.

#########

It was on his seventeenth birthday Harry Potter was to be married to Draco Malfoy, merely a month after his final confrontation with Voldemort at the ministry. The wedding was the talk of the wizarding world for its predicted opulence and the number of the guests invited. The Daily Prophet had promised to carry daily updates of preparations to the hottest wedding of the century. Harry had refused to give any interviews at all while Lucius had provided cannon fodder for the masses.

While he had not raised any fuss when he found that the rest of the Order and his friends except the twins knew about the deal, he had stopped talking to them save the barest curtsies. He woke, ate, read and slept as normally as he could without rising to any of their baits. The twins were the only ones he didn't ignore at all.

Harry was sitting in the Grimauld place reading a new potions book. He noticed when both Remus and Sirius came and sat down beside him. He barely twitched an eyebrow in response.

"Harry, we wanted to talk to you." Harry continued his reading without moving.

Sirius snatched the book from his hands, "Damn it Harry, I know you are very angry but we had no choice; we were desperate to find out any plots that Voldemort was hatching to help you survive. It was their information which let us kill that miserable excuse for a wizard otherwise you would have been dead."

Harry finally looked in the eyes of his godfather. Sirius shivered at the penetrating cold eyes that bore into him. Harry cocked his head to the side. "I understand, Sirius. Could you give me the book back, please? I need to finish the chapter so I can continue with my Potions homework." Sirius huffed and stalked out of the room after he had thrown the book at the table. Harry simply picked the book up and continued on reading.

############

Draco Malfoy was feeling invincible. He was not only freed from the clutches of the insane Dark Lord but he was also going to the married to the Gryffindor golden boy. Life has certainly gotten better for him. Still there was something that nagged at the back of his mind. Potter had been behaving oddly since the news had become public. His mind was still having difficulties with the fact that potter no longer had his two side-kicks hanging around him; the golden trio was no more.

The reason he was strolling through the manor was that his fiancé was here somewhere and his father had commanded him to find him. Frankly he hadn't cared that he was to be married to the half blood. He had known since his childhood that he was going to be in an arranged marriage but he was astonished when he was told about potter's cold acceptance. The boy he had so loved to revile had retreated within a cold mask.

He sighed. This was the last place that he was going to look. Library, he scoffed; Potter wouldn't ever be caught dead in a library.

He swept his gaze through the main parts. There, his eyes detected a movement. He found his quarry.

"Potter."

The ebony haired boy turned and fixed him with a questioning stare. He chilled. The eyes have changed. There was a barest but definite taint of red around the pupils which creepily reminded him of the Dark Lord.

"What are you doing?" he growled and before he could contain himself he had jumped the dark haired boy. The two crashed to the floor. The book that was skidded open before the teen froze his blood.

"Dark magic. Have you gone completely daft you idiot. This will change you to your core. You will never be the same again." Harry was winded by the impact. As he caught his breath back he pushed the other boy of him.

He glared at the teenager and straightened his robes. "Do not ever touch me again without my permission." 'or you will be sorry' hung in the air without saying.

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Harry Potter was staying at Malfoy Manor tonight to have the final fitting of the dresses. To say Lucius was pleased was an understatement. The boy had demonstrated impeccable taste in everything he had chosen so far. Still, the conversation he had had with his son troubled him with the implications. It seemed that the boy was experimenting with the dark arts as most of the teenagers do during their teenage ears. He was perturbed by the fact that the magic he had attempted was dangerous with a disturbing tendency to become addictive. If they lost the boy to the allure they would soon have another dark lord on their hands. The question was, was he prepared for it?

He placed the final seating arrangement in front of his soon to be son in law. It was his finesse in reading the very subtle stiffing of the jaw and straightening of spine as the boy pored over the document.

Harry raised his eyes to him. Lucius had detected the subtle red haze in those brilliant green eyes before his son had put a stop to it. Now, they were clear and brilliant as he remembered. The taint was there but unless one was looking for it one wouldn't know.

The boy studied him precisely the same way he was studied. There was a barest of flash in his eyes. 'Anger!'

"I would not have blood traitors, half breeds and mudbloods seated anywhere near me. Please see to it. The rest are fine."

To say Lucius was shocked was an understatement.

###################

Harry looked resplendent in his robes as he stood holding hands with his fiancé. The wedding was everything it had promised. The decorations were beautiful, attended by the crème of the society. Harry however had little interest in observing. He wanted the farce to be over as soon as possible. He had done everything they had asked of him and now he was as free as he was going to be. His eyes flashed red for a second as he swept his eyes over the assembly. The most bigoted and haughty people of the world were in attendance along with the misfits of the Order who were pathetically easy to single out. The sole saving grace of the whole fiasco was that his Potter inheritance was left untouched, his to do as he pleased. He will make it count.

He sneered as he came face to face with his godfathers.

"Congratulations Harry." His lips curled at the werewolf. He was saved the trouble of replying as his waist was seized by his husband.

"Thank you Mr, Lupin and Mr. Black, I have heard that you are getting bonded soon. Please excuse us, I wish to take my husband for our first dance."

Draco steered him away from the people he was itching to hex. Harry moved without protest with a big smile plastered on his face. He looked blankly at all those people wanting to curse and scream for condemning his life to be a puppet. He composed himself. He would not be weak and pathetic anymore. Time would change and these people would be sorry before long. He vowed.

"Harry." Draco sighed touching their foreheads together. He knew something had changed in the boy but the extent of hatred lurking behind the icy demeanor today had shocked him.

The golden boy he knew was no longer there. Harry had changed, irrevocably.