A/N: OK, so this morning I went out and bought Deathly Hallows and it took me 9 hours to read it and then I wrote this. I've been promising that I'd write this conclusion as soon as the 7th book came out and I've kept my promise.

I didn't promise it would be a happy ending. It's JK's fault for killing off my Sevvie.

Warning - mention of naughty things going on between 2 males (but you knew that) and spoilers for Deathly Hallows (I doubt that many people have finished or even started reading it at the time I write this.)

Draco's knees trembled and gave way as he fell to the ground by his lover's grave. He'd gone to the funeral alone and stood in the shadows, watching as Potter made a great speech about bravery and honour and a bitter taste had filled Draco's mouth as he listened to the boy who had hated Severus for seven years give empty praise.

It should have been him up there, mourning the death of the man he had loved.

He remembered the first morning he had awoken in Severus's bed. At first, the professor had regretted what they'd done the night before, tried to push him away for fear of what his father would do, but Draco had quickly silenced him with a kiss and a wandering hand. Neither of them had left the bed that morning, although not a word passed between them, their time devoted to exploring and being explored.

Over the months, Severus had tried to deter him from the task set to him by the Dark Lord. Heated words passed between them, persuasion turning into insults and threats which turned into breathless kisses and desperate touches. Sometimes their arguments would go too far, but it would only be a day or two before one or both of them could no longer stand the coldness of an empty bed. When Draco became obsessed with fixing the vanishing cabinets, Severus would track him down at the end of the day, murmur gentle words in his ear and coax him into bed. Without him Draco would undoubtedly have worked into the night, disregarding sleep in his goal to do the Dark Lord's bidding.

What a fool he had been.

As the school year neared its end, so did Draco's task. Their lovemaking became more impassioned in those finals weeks, the words "I love you" passing across their lips as they climaxed, Severus inside Draco or Draco inside Severus. Unconsciously, they both knew that whatever the outcome, their relationship would soon change. If Draco failed, he would be tortured or even killed at the Dark Lord's hands. If he succeeded, they would never again find the opportunity to seek solace in each other. Hogwarts was the only place they could share a bed without being caught.

Severus had never told him about the Unbreakable Vow he'd made with Draco's mother. In the aftermath he tried to explain himself, told Draco that he'd only done it to protect him and begged him not to end it.

But Draco had walked away, much as it broke his heart to do so. No matter how much they had shared in the past year, how deep their feelings for each other went, Severus had lied to him.

Little had he known at the time how far the professor's betrayal went. Perhaps if Severus had confided in him, they would have been able to run away together. Most likely the Vow would have killed Severus if they tried that and if not, the Dark Lord would kill them instead. Would Severus have even agreed to abandon his loyalty to Dumbledore for something so selfish as love? Draco had heard that this loyalty had connections to Severus's obsession with Potter's mother.

And that was another thing that his lover had lied about. How was Draco to know how much he had said was the truth? When he fucked Draco, was he secretly imagining Lily Evans in his arms? Had his professions of love been meaningless?

Over the summer, everything changed. The Malfoy Manor became a meeting place for Death Eaters; the family was in disgrace and the Dark Lord took his father's wand. The other Death Eaters sneered at Draco, called him names and a few even entered his bedchamber at night.

He couldn't fight them. All he could do was lay there on his front with his eyes screwed shut, trying to imagine that it was Severus who was entering him. It didn't work; Severus would never cause him so much pain.

When he returned to school in September, the Ministry had already been overthrown and Severus had been appointed headmaster of Hogwarts. He held off the headmaster's advances for less than a month before the messages he received by owl every morning wore him down. One evening after dinner, his feet took him to Severus's study and his treacherous mouth spoke the password. From that night onwards, the constant pain and terror he'd felt ever since he saw Dumbledore die in front of him was lessened, the burden shared. It wasn't until the moment when Severus looked up front his desk and saw him standing in the doorway, love and relief clear in his eyes, that Draco had realised that he couldn't live without him.

He found himself not caring whether the Dark Lord succeeded in his plans or was defeated. All that mattered was that he never be parted from Severus again, emotionally or physically. During the Christmas holidays he watched impassively as his father tortured the Mudblood, Granger. He kept his emotions bottled up until he'd been able to return to Hogwarts once more and sleep without nightmares in Severus's arms. Only Severus knew that he cried himself to sleep, staining the pillow with his tears.

They never spoke of the future. It seemed that the Dark Lord's world didn't hold much future for either of them, so they made the most of the present. In the back of his mind, Draco truly believed that everything was going to be OK, that when the war was over they'd be able to live together, grow old together and die together.

But the Dark Lord didn't care about his childish hopes. He slaughtered Severus mercilessly for his own gain and left him cold on the floor of the Shrieking Shack. And Draco had heard from the legendary hero Harry Potter himself that his lover's last thoughts had been of a woman who'd died seventeen years ago.

"Was I just a replacement for her?" he whispered into the cold, hard earth as the rain began to fall. "I want to believe you loved me but I don't know if I can."

Tears mingled with raindrops as the droplets chased each other down his cheeks and the ground underfoot turned slowly into mud. Draco knelt, motionless as a statue until morning came and he returned home to his parents and his own empty bed.

Years later, he would find a wife and give her a son and they would pretend to be happy together and no one would know that he once knew love and happiness.