Can't rain all the time

Title: Fifty Years
Author: elfflame
Characters: Harry/Draco
Rating: PG13
Summary: Time changes so much…
Warnings: Some slight implication of MPreg, which can be easily ignored, lapse of time.
Word Count: 1453
Author's notes: A little bit I wrote for kabal42 when he was in France last week. Based on our boys. Mostly just fluff. Thank you to Kit for glancing this over for me.



1 hour

"This won't be repeating," Draco said as he pulled his clothes straight once more.

Potter looked up at him with those far-too-green-to-be-believed eyes and blinked. "What?"

"You heard me."

That couldn't possibly be disbelief in Potter's eyes, could it? There was no way he would want a replay anyway. After all, he hated Draco, didn't he? "Right." He sat up, scowling as he pulled his own clothes straight, his hair sticking up in all directions, even worse than usual. Draco tried not to remember how soft it had felt between his fingers.

To distract himself, Draco stood up. "Now, if you don't mind? I'm a bit busy, and I'd rather not be disturbed by trivialities," he said coolly.

He tried to ignore the hurt on Potter's face. "Trivialities. Right." He stood as well, then brushed himself off. "Wouldn't want to disturb the great Malfoy." He turned and walked away, and Draco found himself biting back insults to fling at his retreating back, because it didn’t matter. Did it?


1 day

Draco was pointedly not looking for him. He wasn't turning every few minutes to see if Potter was coming down the hall towards him. He hadn't dropped any blocks he'd been floating into place simply because he heard doors down the hall open. He was fine, damn it!

He couldn't care if he ever saw Potter again.

So why couldn't he forget how it had felt? How good Potter had felt against him, and how shockingly silky his hair had been between his fingers? And why couldn’t his lips stop tingling from the memory of their heated kisses?

Damn Potter anyway.


1 week

Though he'd hated the Weasleys all his life, suddenly, that hatred had taken on a new intensity. All because of a bloody kiss and a clingy girl. She thought far too much of herself, and Draco glared out the window at the entwined couple, wishing he could tell her just what her adored boyfriend had been doing with him only a week before.

But then, that would have meant admitting to what had happened.

Whatever else, Draco was never going to leave himself vulnerable like that. God forbid someone think he actually wanted a repeat performance. Least of all Potter.


1 month

Boy Hero of the Wizarding World Relocates to Canada!

Well, that was that, wasn't it? Now Draco wouldn't have to deal with the prat bothering him any more. Never mind that something inside him wilted a bit at the idea. He was better off. He could just work off his sentence, and then, he would be free.

Not that he had anything to be free for.

Draco flung aside the paper with the picture of Potter on the cover smiling shyly in that way that had always made him want to wipe it right off his smug face--somehow. Time to prepare for another day of menial labour.

Hopefully, it would let him forget.


1 year

However Draco had been expecting this day to go, it hadn't been anything like this. He certainly hadn't expected Potter to suddenly reappear in England the day of his formal release from all charges. Nor had he expected a replay of their...whatever-it-had-been a year ago. In a storage room in the Ministry, no less!

This time, though, when Draco tried to brush Potter off, things hadn't worked out quite the same.

"I don't think so, Draco." Potter caught his arm as he tried to leave. "Maybe we should talk?"

"What is there to talk about?" Draco didn't want to talk. He didn't want to even think about Potter again if he could help it.

"This. What just happened."

Draco glowered at him. "Shall we talk about how your girlfriend will react to it?"

"Girlfriend?" Potter asked blankly. "I'm not dating anyone, Draco."

That drew Draco short. "No?" he asked, blinking.

"No," Harry said. And this time, when Harry drew him close, the kiss they shared was softer, and filled with the hope of possibility.


1.3 years

The house smelled musty and Draco had to press his hand to his nose to keep from sneezing. "People actually lived here once?" he asked incredulously.

Harry nodded. "Your ancestors, actually."

"Right. The Blacks." And look what had happened to them. He supposed it was a good reason to take his father's admonition about having an heir to heart. Draco turned to Harry. "Are you sure about this?"

"If we're going to live together...why not? And Kreacher made it almost livable for a few months. It could be again. I'm sure of it, Draco."

Draco smiled at Harry's optimism. "All right." He hooked his arm in Harry's. "Show me the Master bedroom?" he asked with a grin.


2 years

Draco had been too wound up to fall asleep, but Harry finally had, rocked by the motion of their boat on the water, and comforted by Draco's arms around him.

For once, being unable to sleep wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, for the first time in Draco couldn't remember how long, his insomnia wasn't caused by fears or worries, but by pure happiness. Harry was truly his now.

He shifted his fingers so that his thumb could catch on the metal band on his own ring finger, and smiled. They'd been through so much. And now...they truly belonged to each other.

It was a feeling of peace that Draco hadn't felt the like of since he'd been small and able to snuggle in one of his parents' laps while they read to him. He wanted it to last forever.

He couldn't remember falling asleep.


5 years

Sometimes, in the middle of the night, when he managed not to wake Harry with the nightmare that shook him awake, he would press a gentle kiss to his husband's cheek, then slip out of bed and tiptoe down the stairs to their sons’ rooms. The sight of their two boys, one dark-haired as Harry, and one Malfoy-blond, sleeping soundly, never failed to make him smile.

And sometimes, Harry would join him only moments later, or even come down with him to see, his arms around Draco's waist as they peeked into each room, watching as the two boys slept the peace only the truly young, innocent and happy can have.


12 years

As much as Draco loved Julian, William, and Eleanore, something in him wanted balance. Even more, he wanted one last child. He just craved it. The thought haunted him sometimes of a beautiful little girl with his own silver-blond hair and Harry's beautiful eyes.

It had changed everything, but it had been worth it for the tiny bundle he held in his arms. Callia was as beautiful as he'd imagined she would be.

Even more, the moment Harry had held her, everything had just felt right. "She's beautiful, isn't she?" Draco asked him softly.

Harry looked up at him and smiled, and Draco could see the same amazement he felt reflected in Harry's eyes. "She is."

Draco smiled, curling his arm around Harry's waist as they smiled down at their daughter.


23 years

Callie gave them a last wave as she stepped onto the train, beaming widely at them before turning into the compartment, and Draco leaned into Harry's side.

"Last one," Harry said softly. "Will you be all right?"

Draco nodded, watching as the train pulled from the station, then looked up at him. "So long as someone whisks me off somewhere to help me forget?" he asked, only half-joking.

The boys were busy at their jobs—Julian working with his mother at the Quibbler, and Wills already in training for another year of Quidditch as a back-up Chaser for the Kestrals, and Ellie was already happily ensconced as Hermione’s personal assistant. The house would be so quiet now. "Come to Ireland with me? Just the two of us. It will be like when we first bought the place."

Harry smiled at him, then nodded. "I'll just owl my assistant when we get home." He kissed Draco, then led him from the station.


50 years

The two walked the halls of Hogwarts together, their fingers entwined, and Draco reached out to run the fingers of his other hand over the stones he'd re-built here after the war.

"Do you ever wonder?" he asked Harry softly.

"Wonder?"

Draco nodded, then turned to look at him. "Why then? There were so many times. And so many other routes you could have taken from the castle that day. What do you think made the difference?"

Harry smiled. "Maybe we were just finally ready," he said softly. His hand moved to Draco's cheek, and pulled him close for a kiss. "Maybe we just finally deserved it."