When Theo stepped through the Floo into the main hall at Beaumont he was greeted by a horribly sombre feeling of people sitting around in stunned deathly silence. He was immediately met by Hermione Granger and Draco, both of whom looked pale and drawn with worry.
'What's happening?' he asked as they led him at breakneck speed up through the castle to a bedroom at the end of a long corridor. 'Harry didn't explain, his Patronus suddenly appeared saying he needed my urgent help at the Hall.'
No one answered him, they just led him into a beautiful pale green bedroom where Minerva McGonagall was laid on the large barley-twist four-poster bed and Harry was sitting in a chair beside her, reaching forward as he held onto her hand. Dried tear tracks marked his face. He looked hollow.
Theo's first thought was that McGonagall had passed away and it just didn't seem possible. She was someone you imagined would live forever.
It just didn't commute. But then he registered that Madame Pomfrey was in the room too, carefully running diagnostics and retrieving small vials from her portable potions' cabinet. She wouldn't need potions for a dead patient, unless they were for Potter. But Bill Weasley was there too, also running his own diagnostic spells and Theo knew Bill was the best curse-breaker in Britain, second only to himself.
'Anything?' asked Hermione.
Harry shook his head and didn't speak.
'I'll let the others know,' Hermione said and she slipped away.
Draco perched himself on the arm of the chair next to Harry and placed an arm around his shoulders. It seemed so natural that it took Theo a moment to remember their rivalry from school. He was still getting used to the idea of them being soulmates, but when he saw them together, well, one forgot the past easily. Perhaps there was something in that, they all knew that Harry had defeated Voldemort using love. He needed to contemplate that in terms of his own work. There was, Theo thought, always something new to learn.
'There's an amulet, around her neck,' Harry spoke, his voice hoarse. 'Alecto Carrow, I imagine, not her brother. Though whether she made it or acquired it, I don't know. She said that if I take it off, mum dies. If I leave it there, mum dies.'
Theo drew his wand, tracing over the amulet. 'What have you found?' he questioned Bill.
'It's layered. Several complex curses which activated as soon as it was placed about her neck. I think one is the Gormlaith Curse...'
Theo grimaced.
'What does that mean?' demanded Draco.
'It's an enchanted slumber which is exceedingly hard to pull anyone out off,' said Theo.
'There's the Thief's Curse too. A very potent version,' said Harry hoarsely. 'I can feel it. It was the same curse on the Gaunt Ring. The curse is spreading like a poison, killing her. As it's over her heart, it's working quickly. With Dumbledore, it crept from his hand, it took longer and Severus was able to prolong his life using a potion.'
'I'll go and talk to Severus,' said Draco.
'No, stay,' said Harry. ''We don't need potions. We need to break the curse.'
'Harry, when was the last time you ate, or drank anything?' Draco said, causing Theo to stop in his own diagnosis of the amulet.
'I don't know. Maybe yesterday...'
'Let go of Minnie and come with me,' Draco coaxed. 'We'll get you some food and you need to sleep.'
'I can't let go,' Harry said.
'She's not going anywhere, she's safe here. Bill and Theo will look after her.'
'You don't understand. I can't let go. I'm keeping her alive,' said Harry.
Everyone in the room stopped moving and looked at him.
'How?' said Draco, the blood draining from his face.
'It was the coven shield. It gave me an idea. I've done the same. My magic is protecting her heart and her mind. If I let go, the shield breaks.'
'How are you shielding her? asked Draco, the fear in his voice audible and Theo assumed he already knew the answer; that Harry was drawing the curse away from her heart into his own body.
'My magic is strong enough to fight it, for the moment. But you need to work quickly. It's very draining.'
'Shit! Bloody hell, Harry. Just let go!' Draco said.
'NO! She won't last two minutes. She's too weak. Just work out what to do.'
'Don't do this to yourself. Or me!' pleaded Draco.
'Can't you just take the amulet off her,' said Poppy.
'NO!' Theo said. 'There's a Reducto Curse on the Amulet. Take it off and it'll blast everything in the vicinity into a pile of ashes, including us. It's okay while she wears it but as soon as we take it off her...'
'So, dismantle that first and vanish the amulet,' said Draco.
'Yes, and no,' said Theo. 'We dismantle that first, by all means. Then the Gormlaith Curse, though we may have to deal with the after-effects of that one separately. But the only way to break the Thief's Curse is to reverse it and drive the poison back into the amulet, for that, it needs to be around her neck. Harry, I need to just double-check something in your library. Bill, are you okay handling the Reducto and the Gormlaith?'
'Yes.'
As Theo charged off, Draco ordered Letty to bring Harry some food and drink.
'Distract me,' Harry whispered, as he ate, gulping down water and then black coffee between mouthfuls of food. 'Tell me what happened at the Manor. How did you deal with Fenrir? And the others with Rookwood and Yaxley?'
'Fenrir was disappointingly easy,' said Draco. 'It seemed that the werewolf was no longer getting enough of a fix in his werewolf frenzies, partly, one assumes, because he could no longer hunt openly. It appeared that in his quest to dowse his cravings, he'd turned to illegal narcotics. Injecting nearly pure Black Papaver, to be precise. The most dangerous part for Bill, Angelina, and myself was avoiding the used needles. We think he'd recently dosed himself as he was in a state of severe drowsiness and impaired mental function. Thing is, we probably saved his life, he was showing signs of acute respiratory depression...'
'...you've gone all medical doctor on me...' Harry smiled but it didn't reach his eyes.
Draco wanted to see those special crinkles around his emerald-green eyes. The ones that were for him only. And he knew he wasn't going to leave Harry's side. As much as Harry was holding onto Minerva, he needed to hold onto Harry for both of them.
'...I am a doctor, you idiot. And as he's part-animal, I'm perfectly capable of diagnosing what was wrong with him. In all likelihood, half-an-hour later, he would have been dead. He's currently chained to a bed in St Mungo's under full-Auror guard. Tomorrow, he'll start a withdrawal programme in Azkaban. It's going to be hell for him.'
'Good,' said Harry.
'I'd prefer it if he was dead,' muttered Bill through gritted teeth. 'That's the Reducto Curse broken.'
'What about Yaxley and Rookwood?'
'Drunk but put up a good fight.'
'Is everyone okay?'
'Yes, Neville took a cutting curse but it was wayward and mostly missed. Caught his arm a bit but I was able to heal it before we left. Ruby has a few bite marks but they've been dealt with too. And Luna was stunned but she's fine now. Pansy and Ginevra took out Yaxley in the most superbly humiliating of fashions. Pansy borrowed Weasley's spell from second year and had him vomiting slugs everywhere. He was crawling round on his hands and knees, begging for mercy, especially after Pansy kicked him in the bollocks for stunning Luna. As a result, Ginevra told him he was a woss, transfigured his clothes into a gold lame top hat and tails, and cast a tap-dancing curse on him. Vomiting slugs while tap-dancing... Last I heard, the Aurors still hadn't worked out how to break Ginevra's hex and aren't trying very hard to find their only two curse-breaking consultants who seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. They've had to leave Yaxley in his cell as he makes his way through every dance routine from A Chorus Line to Billy Eliot to Singing in the Rain. As a traitorous ex-Auror, I hear a modicum of delight is being taken by the department and memories of Yaxley's predicament are being taken and shared far and wide. Ginevra has gone down in the annuals of Auror history.' Draco couldn't help the admiration which crept into his voice as he talked about her.
'How do you even know about A Chorus Line, Billy Eliot, and Singing in the Rain?' said Harry and Draco was pleased to see he actually elicited a more animated response out of Harry. Perhaps the food had helped. He promptly called on Letty to bring more coffee and some cake.
'You haven't answered my question, I think you're avoiding telling me about your secret passion for Muggle Musicals,' said Harry.
'I'm not a complete ignoramus, you know... actually, it's Abi's fault. She goes on about them all the time. She's always singing to the poor creatures in the Recovery Room and makes me and Agatha come on "work-nights out" with her!' he said with slight distaste. 'She calls it "team building"! She's making us go and see Mary Poppins after I told her about you and Teddy singing along to the DVD.'
He ignored Poppy singing quietly, it's a jolly 'oliday with Draco, Draco make your 'eart so light! When the day is grey and ordinary, Draco makes the sun shine bright...!
She had a surprisingly good voice.
He also ignored Theo and Bill laughing. He was more worried that Harry didn't react.
'I have tickets for you and Teddy too, you know,' he said, trying to elicit a response.
'I hope we're taking your mother too,' said Harry drily.
'Naturally!'
'You could bond with Gin over your passion for musicals, it's her latest thing in down-time between Quidditch seasons. I think she went to see A Chorus Line, isn't that the one where they wear the gold lamé?'
'I don't think I'll be bonding with Ginevra anytime soon,' Draco said haughtily. Ginevra was still slightly uncomfortable topic for Draco, even though he knew there was no good reason to be jealous and they were trying to fix Blaise up with her.
Harry raised an eyebrow.
'Anyway,' Draco said hurriedly, 'the Aurors were somewhat bemused to find one Death-Eater in gold lamé, and another two dressed as clowns. Is there something you're not telling me?'
'I had to keep the Carrows distracted from spotting Mione and humiliation is always a good strategy. Amycus wasted a lot of time trying to take off his hat and clown shoes are very clumsy to be duelling in. It was a tactic the Aurors taught during one of our training days, a way of distracting and unsettling your opponent. Gin must have remembered me telling her about it back in the day.'
Draco scowled. 'Well, apparently Ruby saved the day with Rookwood, he had the upper hand over Neville until Ruby started throwing pots of Venomous Tentacula at him. It appears that the only plant in the world that can survive four years without anyone caring for it is that species, though the plants were particularly angry and hungry. Luna suggested that a dwindling diet of Chizpurfles was not conducive to happy plants. Unfortunately for Rookwood, trying to blast one off one's own face is not favourable to one's life expectancy but then again, nor is a hangry venomous flesh-eating plant. Apparently, it was very gruesome and quite final.'
'Oh dear,' muttered Poppy. But she started humming 'Feed Me (Git It)' from Little Shop of Horrors.
'Anyway, the Aurors arrived around about then,' Draco watched a sheen of sweat break out on Harry's forehead. He was, otherwise, hiding the effort he was under. 'What happened with the Carrows?'
'Same sort of complacency. You'd think they'd have been on higher alert.'
'According to Yaxley, they didn't think anyone could get through the Wards, even if they were found. They didn't expect you to try the Manor. Alecto's not talking.'
'I could make her,' Harry growled.
'You misunderstand. She has, for some reason, a broken jaw.'
'She hit the wall quite hard when the gold shield thing spat her out.'
'Nothing to do with your boot imprint in her make-up, then?'
'I can't remember the exact details.'
'She's missing a few teeth.'
'That might have been my boot. But it's a bit of a blur now,' Harry said, his voice deadly straight, but that could have been his tiredness. 'I'll have to show you the memory. I had to distract them so Mione could get to mum. It was fun for a while. The reason for the outfits was because they were like clowns falling all over the place. I remember thinking you might enjoy the show.'
Draco raised an eyebrow. 'By the way, how did you get through the Wards?'
'I don't know,' said Harry. 'They just accepted me. I didn't even try. It doesn't make sense.'
Draco frowned. 'Maybe it's something to do with the Ancestral Magic.'
'I don't know. I met Gladwyn Potter while I was there.'
'Where?'
'In an empty room with a squeaky door.'
'Oh, the Forbidden Room. Of course, that makes sense now. The door squeaked so loudly father managed to appear before I'd even stepped foot in the room. It became a bit like Bluebeard's Room until he used the Cruciatus on me one time for trying to get in. I didn't try again after that.'
'He did that to you?' Harry said stonily.
'Unfortunately. All because of a bloody portrait. Why didn't they remove it?'
'She said she refuses as she's part of the Malfoy heritage. She also said she lacked visitors... we need to add her here. When this is over,' he said quietly.
'Harry...' Draco whispered, worried that it sounded like Harry believed he wasn't going to make it through this.
'...Madame Pomfrey,' said Theo, as he burst back into the room. 'Can you focus on Harry for the moment. Anything and everything to keep his strength up. He may just be the key to helping us win this one.'
'Do you need Pepper-Up?' said Poppy. 'I have some here.'
'It might be a good idea,' rasped Harry.
'Bill, where are you up to?'
'Peeling back the layers of the Gormlaith Curse. I'm nearly there with it.'
'Good. Dray, I need an Elixir to Induce Euphoria but made with a double dose of Shivelfig. It may be the only way to break the induced sleep after we've removed the amulet. It's a long shot but the only one we've got. It's notoriously tricky, no one's come up with anything reliable yet.'
'But...'
'Go, Dray. You're the best potioneer we've got,' whispered Harry.
'But...'
'I'll wait for you. I'm not going anywhere. We'll get through this. All of us,' he looked at Minerva.
Bill watched Draco reluctantly leave Harry's side and he saw it; the love and the connection. It was, he realised, the first time he'd taken it seriously since he'd heard about Harry and Draco being soulmates. It somehow hadn't felt real but he understood that wrench. He saw how worried Draco was at leaving Harry and, although McGonagall stayed stable, he realised how much effort it was taking for Harry to hold the poison at bay in Minerva using his magic.
'I'll take over in as soon as I've finished this,' he said to Draco. 'We'll look after him in your absence. He'll be alright.'
Draco nodded gratefully and rushed from the room up to his Potions Lab.
Bill turned back to the amulet and finished working on the final layer of the curse. As he felt it slide open, he began the complex job of turning the layers of the curse to create a uniform pattern.
'Explain what you're doing,' Harry said, his voice tired. 'I need the distraction.'
Poppy was running diagnostics on Harry. She shook her head slightly as she looked at Bill. It wasn't good, the poison was slowing his heart rate.
'Well, how much can you feel?'
'All of it, I guess. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm connected to Minnie but I feel conscious of what you're doing. I felt you undo each layer like unwrapping a present. But you're not dismantling the layers yet. You're turning something. I don't understand.'
'Exactly. That's were novice cursebreakers fall down. Once the curse is opened, it's easy to see it as flat layers that need vanishing one by one but if you turn it sideways, there's another pattern. They need turning, like turning a key to open a lock and the layers are the lock mechanism.'
'I see it,' Harry said. 'There's grooves and nodules on the edges and I suppose they'll match if you line them up right.'
'Yes, but it must be done in order.'
'Which is?'
'Well,' said Bill. 'It's kind of intuitive. This is one where I start at the innermost layer and work outwards.' He looked at Theo, who nodded in agreement.
'But what about that final layer?' said Harry.
'What layer?' said Bill and Theo at the same time. They both waved their wands over the amulet, both frowning.
'There's another layer.'
'I-I... Oh, Merlin, he's right...' Bill looked at Theo.
Theo had paled and then a look of excitement crossed his face. 'You know, Mr Potter might just have solved the crux with the Gormlaith Curse. An invisible layer. How fucking clever!'
'Language, Mr Nott!' tutted Poppy.
'Sorry, Madame Pomfrey, it's just... how did you see it, Harry?'
'I felt it,' he smiled weakly. 'I was drawn to it, somehow. It felt uneven or unbalanced and I became conscious of it sitting there. It's hard to explain.'
'Right, onwards, Bill...' said Theo, sensing the urgency too.
After a moment of intense concentration, Bill said, 'anymore, Harry?'
'I don't think so.'
Still, Theo and Bill ran more diagnostic spells just in case. Then Bill started to turn the layers one by one so they lined up.
'Not that one,' said Harry, looking vaguely surprised by his own words.
Bill raised an eyebrow.
'It doesn't feel right,' said Harry, slightly dazed. 'You need to do the last layer before that one.'
'You know, if you ever fancy leaving the Aurors...' Bill muttered but he felt the layers click into position and lock. He sighed in relief and vanished the curse in its entirety.
'You learn something new every day,' said Theo, quietly as he ran another set of diagnostics.
'Indeed!' said Bill.
'I feel hopeful,' said Theo.
'Right, your turn,' said Bill. He stepped to one side and sat where Draco had on the arm of Harry's chair. He rested a hand between Harry's shoulders. 'I know it's not quite the same but I'm here until Draco returns. I promised him. Do you want another coffee?'
Harry nodded.
'You'll be up all night,' teased Bill.
'Are you sure it's not morning yet?' Harry asked. 'How's mum doing, Poppy?'
'Weak but remaining stable. You're doing wonders, Harry.'
When Letty appeared with yet another cup and another slice cake, Harry said, 'talk to me, Bill. Tell me anything.'
'Fleur's pregnant again,' he blurted out.
'Merlin, Bill. You can't keep your cock in your pants, can you?'
'Mr Potter!' exclaimed Poppy.
'Oh, come on, Poppy. We're all adults here. Theo's about to marry his soulmate. So is Harry. I've already married mine and have two children. And we all know there's only one way to completely confirm your soulmate...'
'But to discuss it so... openly,' she passed another Pepper-Up Potion to Harry. 'You may drink this after you've finished that coffee but you can't have another one for three hours. As for being so open. I don't agree. It's called respect.'
'I respect Draco, more than anyone. Well, maybe on a par with mum. There's that understanding between us that is hard to consider in any other terms.'
'So, do you top?' Theo asked with a smirk.
'Mr Nott!'
'Come now, Poppy, you're just pretending to be prudish and I bet you want to know as much as the rest of us,' said Bill.
'He's our Slytherin Prince, he'd never admit to being dominated but I bet he loves it,' muttered Theo as he focused on the Thief's Curse.
'I'm not sharing that information with you anyway. That's far to personal and between me and Dray.'
'Is it true about the prostate?' Poppy asked quietly.
'MADAME POMFREY!' all three men exclaimed, Bill was shaking with laughter and even Theo was grinning despite his focus on the cursed amulet.
'Hell yes!' said Harry, a smile briefly crossing his face.
'Your energy levels have just spiked,' said Poppy, waving an irritated wand at Harry.
'I wonder why!' said Harry with weary sarcasm.
'So, talk about sex. With Draco,' said Bill. 'If it's going to be the thing that works, we'll just have to persevere with listening, won't we, Poppy?'
'Bill Weasley, if your mother knew...'
'What she doesn't know, won't harm her. Just as I'm sure no one needs to know about the indominable Matron of Hogwarts's interest in pleasuring men's prostates either. If only I'd known that about you when I was fifteen,' Bill winked.
Poppy turned away; her neck clearly flushed.
'Go on then, Harry, tell us about reconnecting with Draco,' said Theo. 'When did you realise you were soulmates?'
So, Harry told them about rescuing Hercules and finding out about Draco's veterinary practice and not being able to resist.
'I knew as soon as walked in that I was attracted to him. It caught me by surprise, I can tell you, after everything at school. But I also got it, I understood that we couldn't leave each other alone back then. It was just a very poor way of going about seeking each other's attention. But Dray was very adamant that he was straight...'
Theo laughed, 'really? Because we all knew he wasn't. Especially after his disastrous relationship with Pansy. Daphne said her sister suspected it too. Tori said he was very caring and loyal but there was no... interest, I suppose.'
Harry smiled weakly. 'So, I understand. I was quite open with him from the start about my preferences...'
'...or lack of preferences,' interrupted Bill with a laugh. 'Ron's told me all about your urges to fuck anything that moves.'
'MR WEASLEY!' exclaimed Poppy.
'It's not true, Poppy,' said Harry. 'I have been quite discerning about who I choose. I just don't limit myself on options.
'Ron said you've always been open about your sexuality, right back to the first day you met him.'
'That's Minnie for you. She just taught me to be inclusive. I remember saying to him that I didn't think I'd mind what gender my soulmate was. He went very quiet so we didn't talk about it again for a long time. When I spoke to Draco about it, he was curious about my choices, then intrigued, and he eventually started questioning his own sexuality. I think the pressure from his father had been so great, all that "furthering the name and producing the next heir" bollocks that he just hadn't allowed himself to consider otherwise. The questioning only intensified after he ended up moving in...'
'...the fire,' said Theo. 'Blaise mentioned it.'
'Yeah. Things were pretty bad for him and it seemed the right thing to do, to offer him a room.'
'Nothing to do with you wanting to get in my pants, Potter,' Draco drawled from the doorway.
'Not at that point, no. Only later,' Harry smiled at Draco, clearly relieved he was back. 'How's the potion?'
'All done!' Draco gave the Elixir to Poppy and swapped places with Bill. 'Can I ask why you are spilling the secrets about us?' he asked.
'Poppy asked Harry about the pleasures of the prostate and his energy levels soared,' teased Bill.
'I did not!' Poppy said indignantly, finding something to busy herself with in the depths of her little potions' cabinet.
The three men nodded to confirm that she did and Draco mouthed 'no!' with a grin.
'It seems that droning on about how much he loves you is enough to distract Harry.'
'Actually, first Theo wanted to know if you were bottom...' said Harry. 'That was the distraction.'
Draco glared at Theo.
'Purleease,' said Theo. 'I'm focusing on breaking a complicated curse here.'
That sobered the room and Draco felt Harry's shoulders slump under his fingertips.
'Harry said you started to question your sexuality while you were living with him. What made you change your mind then, Draco? When did you finally realise?' asked Bill, though he watched Harry's face with worry.
Draco understood. Harry's skin looked sallow and waxy and there was a slight tremble in his fingers.
'I suppose that day he walked into my surgery with Hercules and Teddy was the day I began to consider it, though I would have denied it at the time. All the clues were there though. I was mortified at ending up sprawled across the floor with your damned puppy sitting on my chest. I wouldn't have cared in front of anyone else. And you do realise, initial welcome check-ups usually last about ten minutes. Hercules's lasted for over half an hour. And then there was the Parseltongue fiasco...'
'The what?' said Bill.
Draco noticed that Poppy had turned back around and was listening with a silly grin on her face. 'My next patient was a ball python. I asked Harry to talk to it to aid my diagnosis. He said a lot of other stuff too which he's yet to tell me what it translates as...'
'You want me to tell you here?' Harry's voice, although weak, was husky.
'Maybe not,' said Draco.
'Yes!' said Bill, Theo, and Poppy, who'd dropped all pretences of not being interested.
'Probably something to do with your leather trousers,' said Harry. 'How much longer, Theo?'
'Nearly there. I'm ready to start the unlocking and opening process.'
'You'd best carry on with the story, Draco,' said Bill.
'There's not much to talk about really. There was a lot of sexual tension and Harry's rogue magic was running haywire and practically pulling Grimmauld Place apart and doing things to me that I didn't know was possible. And that was just from being in the same room as him. There was the bed sharing, of course...' Draco smirked.
'The bed sharing?' Poppy questioned.
'One or other of us having nightmares. Mine were particularly bad. I think the fire triggered them again. Harry was very good at comforting me afterwards. Big spoon, if you must know. You know, I haven't had one nightmare since we moved in here. Anyway, Harry was trying to pretend everything was perfectly normal and he wasn't creeping from my bed with a stonking erection every morning...'
'Mr Malfoy...' said Poppy, but her lips were twitching.
'You can always leave the room, Poppy, if the nature of our conversation is bothering you,' said Bill.
Poppy looked at him sternly and crossed her arms, an eyebrow raised querulously.
'Stop pretending then,' said Bill. 'We all know you're desperate to hear all the juicy details.'
Poppy sat on the end of the bed. 'Do you think Minerva can hear us?' she asked nonchalantly, smiling wickedly when all four men blanched. 'Do carry on, Draco...'
Draco looked at Minnie warily but took a deep breath, resigned that this was the best distraction for Harry. 'So, we both pretended everything was alright and Harry's magic reacting to me was normal and my curiosity, which led to some excruciating conversations, was just lads talk...'
'Do tell...' said Theo.
'I'd rather you didn't,' said Harry wearily. 'I'm fighting to control my magic here. It might be best to avoid details that might send it too haywire.'
They all looked at him in concern, even Theo looked up from his work.
'I'm alright. It's just... hard...'
'We know that, Draco's already told us...' said Bill with a smirk.
Poppy didn't even try to hide her smile.
'So, tell us, how did it finally happen?'
'We were dealing with all that trouble with Pansy's boss and sorting Pansy out. The Luna sort of appeared out of nowhere and whisked Pansy away with promises of hot baths and hot chocolate and we had no idea they were even a thing...'
Poppy rolled her eyes. 'Men!' she said in mock disgust. 'You're all so oblivious.'
'Thank you, Poppy,' said Harry. 'I think "Utterly Oblivious" going to be the epitaph on my grave stone.'
'So, how did it finally happen?'
'We came here and the House-Elves orchestrated it by putting us both in the master bedroom on our first night and Ossy kept dropping hints about us being soulmates. Harry positively attacked me with kisses before we even made it to the bedroom.'
'I seem to remember you asking me to kiss you.'
'Yes, well, the following morning, Harry destroyed our bedroom with his rogue magic as we bonded. That should give you an idea of the intensity of it all. And I discovered the joy of my prostate, if you must know, Theo. And yes, Poppy, it's extraordinary.'
Poppy, at least, had the decency to blush, again. Theo smirked.
'So yes, I'm 100% gay, none of this pretending otherwise and liking everyone, Potter. There's only one man in my life... Now, are you done yet, Theo?'
'Yes.'
They all looked at him, expectantly, and he gulped. 'I guess you need to try and push the curse back into the amulet.'
'How?' said Harry quietly.
Draco took his other hand and whispered quietly into his ear. 'What did you do with Voldemort and the killing curse?'
'I-I can't, that was... different... I sent it into him, to his heart. I had to survive, I had to kill him. I hated...'
'...what about with love then?' said Draco. 'I don't think anyone has such a great capacity to love such as you. Do this with love... for Minnie...'
Harry closed his eyes and the room fell still and silent around him.
***