𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐘 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐏𝐈𝐍𝐄

Chapter 1

Title: Where They Shall Not Pine
Author: Laurence Ashton
Rating: R
Pairing: HPDM
Word Count: ~66k
Summary: Harry and Draco are coming of age in the wizarding world - in more ways than one might expect for boys of seventeen. And as they struggle to move forward, they are ever haunted by the past. It would be easy to turn from the path down which duty and legend has propelled them - it would be easy to reject strife and prophecy. But it is by accepting responsibility that boys become men; and it is by exceeding expectations that men become legends themselves, taken to dwell where the deep magic runs free... taken to dwell where they shall not pine.

Where They Shall Not Pine

Laurence Ashton

Belovèd, thou hast brought me many flowers
Plucked in the garden, all the summer through
And winter, and it seemed as if they grew
In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.
So, in the like name of that love of ours,
Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,
And which on warm and cold days I withdrew
From my heart's ground. Indeed, those beds and bowers
Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,
And wait thy weeding; yet here's eglantine,
Here's ivy!---take them, as I used to do
Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.
Instruct thine eyes to keep their colours true,
And tell thy soul, their roots are left in mine.

–Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Sonnets from the Portuguese, #44

Harry sat alone on the Hogwarts Express that year. The isolation didn't bother him, as it might have in years past. Instead he reveled in it, taking the quiet and stillness of the empty cabin to collect his thoughts and prepare for the taxing year ahead. This year would be a year of beginnings, of endings, and of tremendous expectations. Harry could feel it in his bones. Something… something good was coming to him. He just had to wait patiently for it to happen along.

But Harry didn't feel patient. He felt anxious, jittery. He didn't want to wait.

Whistle sounding, the train pulled out of the station. Harry drew the draperies on the windows closed and lay back in the semi-dark, head resting on his folded arms. The train made steady progress, setting a low rumbling song that lulled him to sleep.

When he woke up, he first realized that he wasn't alone in the compartment any longer. He heard the quiet rustle of paper as someone turned the pages of a book. Cracking an eye open slightly, Harry angled his head to the side to get a look at the intruder. He was surprised to see Draco Malfoy sitting across from him, nose buried in a thick, new copy of Charmed, I'm Sure. Frowning, Harry sat up and glowered at the annoying git who'd invaded his space.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" he demanded.

Malfoy froze at the sound of Harry's voice, and his initial reaction cooled into an icy veneer. Malfoy slowly looked up and set his book aside. He'd changed over the summer, more than one might have expected, and Harry narrowed his eyes. Malfoy's appearance was… striking.

"I didn't come for the scintillating conversation, I assure you. I wanted to read and you were sleeping."

Harry hesitated a second, surprised that Malfoy hadn't sneered at him. Something was off about him, but pleasantly so. If Malfoy kept this up, Harry might have a peaceable year. Well, more peaceable than usual, that is…. There was only so much the elimination of a petty rivalry could do, after all. Voldemort was still after him, and Harry would have to face him soon. Malfoy ducked his head again, allowing his fringe to fall into his face as he once again absorbed the written word. Harry watched him quietly.