It was dark and cold; the doors leading to the grounds were opened and let in the cold air. Sitting under a certain tree by the lake, huddled in a thick coat, trying to keep out the cold snow, was Harry Potter.
He pushed a strand of hair from his eyes and sighed, watching his breath freeze in the air before him. He was taking great pleasure in the silent, cloudy night, the moon come out behind the Smokey clouds.
"What are you doing out here?" Harry's head looked up at the soothing voice. Draco stood before him, a silhouette against the white snow.
"Nothing." Harry smiled, patting the place next to him. Draco sat down and wrapped a slim arm around Harry's shoulders, offering him his body warmth.
"Is that so…" After years of hatred between the two, they had finally grown to respect each other deeply and shared a strong bond.
"Why are you out here?" Harry moved closer to the blond.
"Couldn't sleep." Draco stared down at the raven-haired boy, the one he'd loved since fifth year.
"Why not?" Harry found he couldn't sleep either, visions of the up coming war raged through his head, those he had lost haunted his heart, he had no inner strength, just a faced of calm strength.
"I keep seeing…stuff…"
Draco didn't want to share this particular matter with him as the truth was, whenever Draco closed his eyes he could only see Harry, dead, in the hands of Voldermot, the light in his eyes lost forever and blood running down his lush lips.
Harry reached up a hand and traced a finger down Draco's cheek. "Whenever I close my eyes, I see the ones that I have lost and the ones I could lose in the battle." He paused at the corner of Draco's lips. "Will you promise me, that you'll be there when the battle is over?"
Hope was shining brightly through Harry's eyes and Draco found he couldn't say 'no' even if he had wanted to.
He caught Harry's wrist and moved his hand to his lips. "I'll be there; I'll never leave without you." As if to seal his promise, he brushed his lips against the palm of Harry's hand.
Harry's eyes, brimmed with tears, looked at him playfully. "You better not leave, Draco Malfoy." Draco chuckled and kissed Harry's temple.
"Never."
Harry stirred sleepily and unconsciously touched his palm and temple. He had not thought of that moment for years, he had forgotten it, a promise that neither had quite kept.
True, Draco had waited for Harry, the first to come to Harry after he had destroyed Voldermot forever. But after…Harry looked to the left wall, behind which was the twins' room, he hadn't waited for Draco, Draco had left his side, unintentionally, and well Harry had left his side too…
Harry stared at his cloak with a hate-filled look. It read; 5:45. Less than three hours till the trial would start again.
He pulled himself out of bed and grabbed his robe. As he walked past Sirius' room on the way to the bathroom he heard his godfather's sleep-talk.
"…hey…mmmm I like peanuts…thanks Lis…oww I'm sorry Lily…ooh waffles!" Harry shook his head and continued on.
After a long shower and much thought, Harry left back to the bedroom, pausing to check on the twins.
He peered through the crack in the door to find a lamp on and the twins sitting up.
"…Do you think Daddy is OK?" Hope's voice drifted to him and he smiled.
"I don't know…maybe it has something to do with Mr Draco!" Truth proclaimed.
Hope frowned at her sister's logic. "I don't think so…Daddy is more…stressed…I don't think Mr Draco has anything to do with it."
Truth shrugged and brushed her hair out of her face. "I wish Mr Draco could stay with us. I like him."
"Me too, but Mr Draco has the bag lady." The two made a sour face at the mention of Pansy.
"Maybe Mr Draco will want to come back to Ozzie with us!" Truth's face lit up at the thought.
"Maybe…" Hope yawned and lay back down. "I'm sleepy…"
"Me too…" Truth curled up with her sister. "Night Hope…"
"Night Truth…" The two were asleep in an instant. Harry smiled and pushed open the door, walking in to tuck the twins in.
"Good night girls." He switched the light off and left them to go to the kitchen.
"Harry?" Isabella soon found him at the counter pigging out of chips and dip.
Harry sat the chip down and motioned for her to join him. Isabella sat down and took a chip.
"Can't sleep, huh?" Isabella asked when she'd swallowed.
"I keep going over everything that could go wrong." Harry moaned. "What if I lose? What then?"
"Harry your not going to lose." Isabella soothed, rubbing the distressed man's back. "You're the one who fought and defeated the greatest evil the wizarding world has ever since, countless times! You survived raising two hell-raising brats and even put up with Sirius and my PMS. You can survive one messy trial."
Harry smiled sadly. "This is, amazingly, worse than the battle against Voldermot…"
"Of course it is; you have someone threatening your family, that's scarier than Hell itself."
"Do you really think I'll get through this?"
"No doubt about it. Now pass me that dip."
"Daddy, why do you have to go again?" Hope was pouting as Isabella fixed her hair.The twins had convinced Isabella to let them wear jeans, but she had made them wear matching shirts.
"This is important girls, but I promise, as soon as everything is over I'll spend whole days with you." Harry kissed their cheeks and straightened.
"OK." Hope sighed.
"As long as we get new toys!" Truth grinned.
"Deal." Harry laughed.
"Come on girls. I have to drop you two off then go." Isabella picked Truth and held Hope's hand. "I'll meet you there." Harry nodded before Isabella disappeared.
"Ready?" Sirius placed a hand on Harry's tense shoulder.
"As ready as I'll ever be." The two disappeared with large 'POP's.
Blaise was as nervous as hell. He tapped his quill against the desk and his eyes darted wearily to the door that led to the councils' chambers."Zabini." He jumped nervously at Harry's voice.
"Merlin's bread! Don't scare me like that!" Blaise snapped, running a trembling hand through his hair.
"What's wrong with you?" Harry asked taking his seat.
"Uh…look there is something I need to tell you, just don't get mad OK?"
Harry's eyes narrowed in suspension and Blaise was reminded of the force that had wiped out Voldermot and half of the Death-Eaters. "What?"
"Well you see…One of the members she got sick and her replacement couldn't come…so they asked someone else to…" Blaise trailed off.
"Who?"
"Dracoisreplacingher." Blaise blurted out.
Harry blinked slowly, unscrambling the words in his mind. His face paled and his eyes widened. "What?" His hiss echoed around the room and the buzz of talked died and they all looked to the famous Quidditch star and his lawyer.
"Keep it down." Blaise pleaded.
"My fucking-ex is being a junior and you're telling me to calm down!" Harry's hands balled into fists.
"Breath." Blaise instructed, drawing back.
Sparks were flying off Harry's hands and he didn't even have a wand.
"You. Fix. This. NOW!"
"Believe me, I would if I could! But we're already hanging on a thin line here. The way his lawyer worded it, you'll be lucky to see a glimpse of those girls. If we go around demanding that they replace the Jury it will do little to help you. Just sit down, calm down and we'll pull through, you just need to trust me."
Harry nodded slowly and unclenched the fits. "You better win this case for me, or I swear to all my ancestors you'll be paying dearly."
Blaise had no doubt Harry would carry out his threat.
"Just calm down." Blaise chocked out when he'd recovered his nerves.
The doors opened and the Jury entered, going to their places. Draco sat near the end, not seeing Harry as he talked to another Jury member.
McKenzie called for order and pulled out his scroll.
"We will continue the case between Mr Ruth and Mr Potter," Draco's head snapped up and he gapped when he saw Blaise and Harry, "Mr Johnson would like to start."
Draco shot his friend a look and Blaise answered with his own. Harry watched the exchanged with growing anxiety.
Johnson stood before the council, giving them a yellowed tooth smile, which was more of a sneer.
"My client, Mr Ruth, shared a relationship with Mr Potter," Harry snorted and Blaise sent him a warning look, "Which ended badly for Mr Ruth when Mr Potter up and left the country without any explanation; it came as a further shock when Mr Ruth found that his relationship with Mr Potter had resulted in Mr Potter having their children."
Draco's eyes widened and he stared at Harry who had ducked his head to stop from growling and lashing out at the slippery lawyer.
"Not only didn't Mr Potter inform my client he also tried to hide the information. So as you can see that my client has a right to those children, his blood, as Mr Potter does." Johnson walked back to his table, throwing a sneer at Harry.
The Jury took a few moments to talk among themselves; Draco was too shocked and confused to take anything in.
McKenzie stood again and addressed Blaise. "The council will now hear your defence."
Blaise stood and before he could move to stand in front of the desk, Harry's hand grabbed his arm. "Don't mention anything about…" He trailed off but Blaise understood.
He straightened and, avoiding Draco's stare, addressed the jury.
"My client, Mr Potter, had no such relationship with Mr Ruth. As there has been no blood-test Mr Ruth has no claim over the two Miss Potters. But even if there is any chance that Mr Ruth is the other father, Mr Potter is the birthing father there for has more claims. Mr Ruth has just a whim that maybe they are his. So as you can see he has no standing proof to this case." He let his words hang in the air before going back to his seat.
Harry was staring at his hands, finding them to be interesting, while Blaise stated his case. He could feel the tension in the room; it was so thick he could cut it with a knife.
The jury stood and made their way to their chambers to discuses the issue. Ruth looked smug as his lawyer whispered to him and Harry felt worse than before.
Finally the jury came back out, taking their seats. Again McKenzie stood and addressed the room.
"We do not have enough proof to support either side so this case will not be decided on today. In two days we will meet back here at the same time. You are dismissed."
Harry rose unsteadily and made for Sirius and Isabella, avoiding Draco.
"Are you OK?" Isabella swept him up into a hug as he reached them.
"Yea…" Harry returned the hug before letting go. "We should go get the twins…"
Hope and Truth grinned as they approached the small dam on the outskirts of the Weasley's property.Hermione had decided to take the children out for awhile and decided on swimming. The small group had headed out to the dam and Hermione sat by the side with Chris while Julian, Diana, Hope and Truth went to the water.
"Are there water-monsters?" Hope asked as the came to the shore, all seriousness in her tone.
"Water-monsters?" Diana looked scared and backed up from the still water.
"Yea, there are some back in Australia." Truth nodded. She suddenly leant in closer and whispered. "Can you keep a secret?"
"Yes." Diana nodded.
Truth looked around as if to see if anyone was looking while Hope could barely keep the grin off her face.
"Hope and I, we used to have a brother, Bob, he went swimming one day in a water-hole-thing like this and…He was eaten up by a huge monster!"
Diana's eyes widened and Julian rolled his eyes.
"I don't want to go into the water!" Diana cried running back up the small slope to her mother and brother.
"Bob?" Julian snorted.
Hope and Truth just grinned and walked away.
"Girls." Julian muttered.
"BOYS!" Hope and Truth yelled back.