It took about a month for Draco to heal fully from the injuries he'd sustained, and he took time off from the hospital, telling his boss it was for "personal reasons" rather than telling the truth about what had happened. By the time Draco was well enough to return to his duties, Wayne had been discharged from the hospital and sent home, wherever the half-giant's home was to be. Harry had stuck by Draco's side, carefully tending to the blonde's injuries and whims, protecting him as much as possible. When Draco was fully healed, his first order of business was to run his errands, something he had allowed to lapse whilst he had been injured. Harry insisted upon accompanying the blonde, in case something happened. There were dark, heavy clouds in the sky, which gave Harry more pause than Draco.

"We should be fine, Harry, don't worry," the blonde reassured the brunette, strolling easily down the street, with no trace of the horrible limp that had afflicted him the day of the incident with Wayne. "If it does rain, we're wizards, we can cast an umbrella charm and be fine. Besides, Diagon Alley and Knockturn Alley are extremely unlikely to be struck by lightning. The shops and streets are all heavily protected against such happenings." Harry sighed, still not entirely convinced.

"If you're sure, Draco…let's just hurry, alright? Just in case?" he pleaded, keeping his hand ghosting by Draco's elbow out of a habit he'd built up while caring for Draco, who sighed but nodded, knowing the brunette wouldn't have any peace of mind until he agreed. So it was that the two of them wound up walking towards Florean Fortescue's under Draco's umbrella charm, huddled close together to keep from getting too wet in the rain. They weren't paying attention to the other people on the street around them, so they didn't notice the half-giant lurking around Quality Quidditch, watching their progress. After their ice cream, they started to walk aimlessly around side streets, never looking over their shoulders, never noticing the figure of a half-giant following them at a distance.

"Draco…I think I need to tell you something," Harry said, stopping them where they were. The half-giant hid, stooped as low as he could get, in a doorway. Draco looked at Harry, a little concerned, until he saw the small smile on Harry's face, which only confused him.

"What is it? Harry, you're scaring me," the blonde said, and Harry gave a small laugh, meeting Draco's beautiful silver eyes with his own green eyes.

"You don't have to be scared, Draco," the brunette said, having to look up to see into Draco's eyes. He didn't mind. "This is a good thing. That day…after what happened at the hospital, when I came over, after you told me what really happened, I realized something. It goes beyond the whole soul mates thing. I-I know it's probably assumed by now, but…Draco, I realized that I love you. All the time we've spent together in the past month, making sure you're better…that just solidified it for me. I love you, Draco, and it's more than just the fact that we're soul mates. You're a brilliant wizard, with a talent for potions and figuring people out. You're handsome and smart, and I couldn't ask for anything more in a person. Draco, I—" But his next words were cut off as the half-giant neither young man had noticed dragged Harry away, throwing him to the ground, throwing stinging curses and nastier hexes and jinxes in such a flurry that Draco couldn't possibly react in time to prevent any damage. By the time the blonde had processed the situation, Harry was already pretty badly injured, and all Draco could do was keep him from dying – and he did, throwing a disarming charm, two Stupefies, and a binding spell in quick succession, casting a shield around Harry immediately after in case one of his spells had missed. He checked first to make sure the attacker was incapacitated, cast another binding spell to make sure the attacker couldn't break free, then rushed to Harry, kneeling next to the brunette, who was terrifyingly still.

"Harry? Harry! Can you hear me?" he called into the brunette's ear, checking his pulse. Harry was alive, the pulse was strong, but he was bleeding, and multiple bones were broken, all of them badly. Draco swore, and started to cast as many healing spells as he could manage, stopping the bleeding and setting the bones. He would have to get Harry to St. Mungo's, but the spells he had cast would be enough for the moment. Draco heard a groan coming from the attacker, and decided to get up and see who it was who had attacked them. He could see it was a half-giant, and the closer he got, the more he started to shake. He got close enough to see the attacker's face and had to fight the urge to retch. It was Wayne. Draco could feel the panic starting to rise in his mind, and forced it down as best he could, so that he could tend to Harry. He forced every thought but those of Harry from his mind, so that all he could think of was Harry. He summoned some parchment and a fountain pen, wrote a message to the ministry, and charmed it to fly off to the head of the Auror Department, so that Wayne could be arrested. That done, Draco picked Harry up, careful of his broken bones, and Apparated them both to St. Mungo's. When he explained to the desk what had happened, there was a flurry of activity that led – eventually – to Harry in a bed, resting from the healing that had been performed, and Draco out in the hall with the healer.

"He'll be alright. He's lucky to have someone like you around, Draco," the healer, a young woman with coffee-colored skin and warm brown eyes, said, her respect for Draco obvious in her words. "He'll wake up soon, and he'll need you around for a while. Luckily we don't have to regrow any bones, and I managed to heal the worst of the breaks, but it will take some time for him to recover the energy healing takes, and for his body to readjust. He should be good as new in a few days. You can go in and see him now." She smiled at Draco, who smiled and nodded stiffly back, going into the room. Harry was still unconscious, but his wounds were healed, and the effects of the stinging curse would wear off in a few hours. Draco pulled the chair up to the side of the bed and sat down, taking Harry's hand in his, more to comfort himself than to comfort Harry. His panic had disappeared in his rush to save Harry, and he supposed that it was because of Harry that he didn't fall into the panic. Draco could feel tears in his eyes, and he wiped them away with his free hand.

"Harry, I'm so sorry I couldn't keep you from getting hurt," he said, looking at Harry's unconscious face. He knew his words were falling on deaf ears, but he thought it might help bring the brunette back to the land of the conscious. "I love you, too, Harry, and I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I love you beyond soul mates, beyond all of that. Do you remember all the things I said I saw, beyond seeing my soul mate, when you read that book? Those are some of the things I love about you. You're brilliant, Harry, you really are. You're smart, you're handsome, you're talented…you're all that and more. You keep my panic at bay. When you were attacked, and when I saw who it was…I nearly panicked. The only thing that kept me from panicking was you. I thought of you, and I thought of what might happen to you, and I forced back all thoughts of anything but you. I couldn't let you get hurt any more than you already were. It kills me that I couldn't keep you from getting hurt at all. I should have known he would try something…and for that, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Harry." As Draco had been speaking, the tears he'd felt started to fall freely down his cheeks, and he looked away from Harry's face, staring instead at his hand holding Harry's. He was so lost in what he was saying that he didn't notice when Harry woke up, near the beginning of his speech. Draco didn't realize the brunette was awake until he felt his hand being squeezed, and he looked up, scrubbing the tears from his face with his free hand and blinking his vision clear. Harry was smiling at him, fully awake.

"You really mean all of that?" the brunette asked, and Draco nodded, grinning despite himself. Harry's smile widened. "I didn't hear everything, but I heard the important parts. You've got a way with words, even when you're upset. I love that about you." Draco couldn't stop smiling, and he brought Harry's hand up and kissed the back of it, too happy to speak for a moment. "I know you, Draco. I know you wouldn't let something like this happen again. I know you made sure he can't get to us again." Draco's smile faltered, but Harry was right – the aurors who had picked Wayne up had sent Draco a message while the healer had been working on Harry, telling Draco that Wayne was in custody and there was nothing to worry about.

"I should have known he would try something, though," the blonde said, holding Harry's hand in both of his. "I should have known he wouldn't have let it be. I should have known…"

"Draco. Draco, look at me," Harry said, and Draco obeyed, looking directly into Harry's beautiful, clear green eyes. "Everyone makes mistakes. It's alright. You made a mistake, but when things went south, you reacted quickly, and you saved my life. The good you have done – both in this and over your life – far outweighs the mistakes you've made. You are a good man, and you have proven that time and time again. You are bigger than the mistakes you've made. Do you need proof? I love you. You have someone who loves you, and you always will. I'm not going to leave you that easily. You deserve to be loved, because you are a good person." The tears welled up in Draco's eyes again, and this time, he didn't scrub them away. He let them fall, because they needed to fall. Harry smiled gently, and raised the bundle of his hand and both of Draco's to wipe away the blonde's tears. Draco took the opportunity to kiss Harry's fingers, holding them against his lips for a long moment.

"You are better than anything I could ever deserve, Harry," the blonde said, still holding Harrys' hand up near his face. "You're more than I ever could have hoped for. I know I'll never get rid of you. You're my soul made – getting rid of you would hurt both of us, and everyone around us. Mostly us, though. I wouldn't want to cause you any pain, Harry. I couldn't. Thank you." Harry shook his head gently – it hurt a bit from the beating he'd taken – and smiled.

"No, Draco, thank you. Without your quick thinking, I'd probably be dead," the brunette said, squeezing Draco's hand. "Do you know how long I'll be stuck in here, away from you?"

"Only a few days," Draco said, laughing a bit. "The healer who saw you is particularly talented, most healers would have had you in here about a week, we got lucky. Visiting hours are almost up, though, so I'll have to leave soon. I'll be back tomorrow, though, I promise. While you're in monitoring, visiting hours are shorter than normal, but tomorrow, I should be able to stay longer. I know how this hospital works. You'll be out of here in no time. I'll make sure it feels like no time at all. I promise."

They spent the rest of the visiting hours that day just talking, and, as promised, the next day, Draco was back. As promised, visiting hours were longer than the previous day, and Draco had more time to spend with Harry. They spent the whole time talking and laughing together, and when it came time for Draco to leave, he kissed Harry's forehead, promising to visit the next day after his shift. He walked into the workroom practically glowing, and Aurelie, who had been there for a couple of hours already, couldn't help but notice.

"Did you and Harry have a good time yesterday?" she asked, knowing Harry was in the hospital and that Draco had visited. Draco grinned and blushed, giving the little French girl all the answer she needed. She smirked. "So the two of you are together now?" Draco started to answer, then faltered, his glow and grin fading from his face. He didn't know. Aurelie could see she'd asked the wrong question, and stared awkwardly into her cauldron. Draco got to work immediately, starting on a batch of burn salve. They still hadn't fully replenished their stores from Wayne's stay.

"He—He admitted that he loves me," the blonde said haltingly after a while. "And I told him the same…but we…we didn't actually…" He stared frustratedly down into the cauldron, still stirring so that the salve wouldn't thicken before it was finished. Aurelie frowned, wishing she could do something. Draco seemed upset by something he hadn't even thought about in his joy. "Maybe he meant to ask, but what happened interrupted him…but that doesn't seem right to me, somehow…"

"Draco…I hate to see you so distressed," Aurelie said, looking at Draco instead of the cauldron she was cleaning. She wished she knew the right thing to say. She wished she knew how to comfort Draco, how to make him feel better. She wished she hadn't ruined his mood. "Maybe you should ask him about it. Do you think you can do that?" Draco shrugged, not looking up from the salve he was stirring.

"I need more time to think about it, Aurelie," he said, adding the last ingredient and stirring it in. "It hadn't occurred to me to even think that we hadn't made anything official yet. I wish I had thought of that before I went blindly into my happiness." The little French girl nodded sympathetically, unable to think of any response. They finished out the shift in silence, Aurelie cleaning cauldrons, Draco making burn salve, and when it was time to leave, Draco didn't go to visit Harry, sending a message that something had come up and he wouldn't be able to visit that day. Instead, he went back to his flat and lit a fire, curling up in his armchair and staring into the flames, hoping they could tell him all the answers. He wanted to ask Harry what they were, but he was afraid that would offend the brunette. He couldn't think of a way to phrase it that didn't sound bad, but he was having a terrible time of it. Draco found himself wishing for his mother's presence. She would have known precisely what to do, but there was no going to Azkaban to talk to her, and there were no floo calls in Azkaban. He couldn't talk to her. He couldn't ask her. He couldn't risk sending Canitiem, it was too dangerous. He had to do something, but he couldn't figure out what it was. Eventually, his eyes grew too tired to watch the fire anymore, so he went to bed.

The first thing he was conscious of was that he wasn't in his room. It took Draco several moments, but eventually he realized that he was sitting in the parlor of Malfoy Manor, on the plush velvet couch, and on the matching armchair sat Narcissa Malfoy in all her elegance, sipping a cup of tea. Draco started to say something, but Narcissa put up a hand to silence him.

"Don't say anything, my dear Draco, simply listen to what I have to say," she said, setting the cup of tea in its saucer on the end table. "You are a very intelligent young man, Draco. I have always told you so. You are brilliant, and I love you. I would do anything for you. I do not approve of your relationship with Mr. Potter, but I know that I cannot stop you, for stopping you would mean sacrificing your happiness."

"But, Mother…I don't know if what we have is actually a relationship," Draco replied, surprised at how meek he sounded. "We never…we never explicitly said…he never…"

"You are soul mates, my dragon," Narcissa replied patiently. "And he loves you. You don't have to worry about whether or not he will accept you, Draco. You must simply ask him to be yours. You know that he will say yes, regardless of how you phrase it." Draco looked down at his lap, contemplating what next to say. He didn't feel like he was finished yet. He looked back up, and had to bite back a shriek. Narcissa was gone, and in her place was his father, wrapped in as much anger as Draco had ever seen. What happened next was too frightening for Draco to bear remembering, and he woke up in his wrecked bedroom, somehow clutching his wand and possessed of the knowledge of what he was next to do. Before that, though, he had to repair his bedroom. He didn't know how, and he didn't know why, but his mother had interrupted his nightmare long enough to tell him exactly what he needed to know, exactly how to go about doing what he needed to do. As he worked to clean up his bedroom, he sent a silent thanks to his mother, knowing that it was some kind of magic nobody understood that had given him the answers he needed.