This story was inspired largely by a conversation I had once with StarLight_Massacre, and a dislike for Draco.

Shattered Soul

Prologue

The war was over, and life could finally start getting back to normal. At least for most people things could go back to normal. But for Harry Potter, he had never had a normal life to begin with, and now that he didn't have anything to be fighting for, he didn't really know what he should be doing with himself. He and Ron had been allowed to become Aurors, it was the one thing that Harry felt good at, the one thing in his life that he had control over.

Life continued on for everyone else while Harry absorbed himself in work, he would take time off when people would comment that he might be working too hard, he took his normal days off even when he would have rather been at work. He spent time with the Weasleys, the only people that had ever truly been a family to him. But a year passed, then two years; Ron and Hermione were planning on getting married, Bill and Fleur already had a baby, Percy had even gotten married, and last that Harry had heard, Charlie had found himself a boyfriend over in Romania. Everyone's live was moving on, and all Harry could do is sit back and watch the family that had accepted him as their own, but that was the problem, Harry wasn't one of them, he was welcomed, and accepted among them, but he wasn't part of them.

He and Ginny had tried for a relationship, but between her playing quidditch, and him being an Auror, they had never had much time for each other. And Harry had never felt fully committed to that relationship. So when Ginny had broken things off, explaining that she had met someone else, Harry smiled and said he was happy for her. And he was, he was happy that she wouldn't tie herself down with him, happy that she was willing and able to move on without him pushing her away.

The problem now was the fact that Harry was alone; he lived alone and, even though he and Ron worked together, Harry felt as if he never saw his best friend any more. He was lonely and that was really how things got started. All it took was a chance meeting in Diagon Ally, and Harry was able to talk to someone who knew exactly how he felt, someone who had their whole life turned upside down after the war had ended. Though they could have a conversation without arguing, Harry would never go as far to say that he and Draco Malfoy were friends, there was too much history between them.

But things had still progressed between them, things had still gone too far. A drunken one night stand when Harry was feeling more lonely then he had ever felt. But it hadn't stopped there, it had become almost part of his routine; he would feel lonely and instead of going to see Ron or Hermione, or anyone else, he would find Malfoy, have a few drinks, only to wake up the next day next to the sleeping blond.

Harry didn't want to continue living his life like that, so the day that he found out the news, the day his life was once again turned upside down, only this time for the better, Harry made a promise to himself to change. He was determined to find a life for himself that he could be happy with.

To start off, Harry stopped going to see Malfoy on a regular basis, though he did do the right thing first and informed the blond man about his reasons why. Draco had accepted the news better than Harry had expected and Harry continued to stay in touch with him, but he never found himself waking up next to the blond man again; that life was over, and he would build himself a new life, a life for himself and his unborn child.

And that is exactly what Harry did, through his whole pregnancy, he finally went and got professional help, something he should have done after the war. Back then Ron and Hermione had both gone to mind healers, but Harry had refused. Now, however, he had someone to live for again, someone to fight for, and he wasn't going to let anyone, even himself, get in the way.

Even Draco had been supportive of him, something that Harry was very happy about. Harry knew that he was never going to be with Draco; he had slept with the other man, and now had a child with him, but they both knew that a relationship would never work out between the two of them. But Harry still allowed Draco to come over as often as he wanted to see the wonderful baby boy, the baby that had been named the Malfoy Heir. Artamo Sirius Malfoy; the name had surprised everyone and, when questioned about it, Harry would just answer that he had his reasons.

For a whole year Harry raised Artamo, and Draco took Artamo when Harry had work, and sometimes on the weekend if Harry was to tired after a long week of work. And though it wasn't perfect, and it still might not have been the life that Harry would have chosen for himself, the black haired man was happy. Happier than he could have ever thought possible.

However, like everything in Harry's life, his happiness never lasted long and everything he had spent building came crashing down around him in a single afternoon when he was informed that Draco was filing for full time custody of their son. Even though he was told that there was nothing he could do to stop it from happening, Harry still fought.