Blackberry Jam (A Drarry FanFiction)

Chapter Forty Five

   It was strange. Men like them should have felt safer in a big city like London where there were others like them, where there were more places to melt into the fringes of society. But Harry had come to understand that just wasn't the case. He thought he would start to feel that way after they had completed their studies at Cambridge, but even having their own secluded space at the Manor had not given him the security he always felt whenever they returned to Mrs Figg's cottage.

The attic bedroom had never stopped being theirs, and despite their increasing years, their old guardian had never once suggested they no longer share a bed when they came to visit. She had always waved a hand and told them to get on with it, grumpy they even had the grace to appear awkward.

And now here they stood, having being greeted warmly by the town at that afternoon's service. Everyone they had ever known in Little Whinging had turned out to bid Mrs Figg farewell, and had treated Harry and Draco as her kin.

If any of them suspected why they always came as a pair, none of them ever mentioned anything. The two of them had become well schooled at concealing their affections, and the townsfolk seemed disinclined to press further if they had any suspicions as to what might happen behind closed doors.

Treacle wound his way around Harry and Draco's legs, purring as if to thank them for returning him and his sister to their old home. The rest of Mrs Figg's many cats had been lovingly gifted to the local children, but this house simply wouldn't have felt right if it didn't have at least one feline present.

"What do you think then?" Harry asked as they swayed gently on the spot, to music only they could feel in their hearts. "Is this home now? Shall we stay?"

Draco looked down at him fondly, before pressing a sweet kiss to his lips.

Harry was so filled with warmth and love. Here they could build a life. He already had work lined up with a renowned aeronautics company a short drive away in a nearby town, and Draco could write his storybooks wherever he pleased. Here, they had their friends, their memories of how their love began, their space to be together like their souls desired.

"Shall we stay?"

Draco held him close and breathed deeply, running his fingers through Harry's hair like he had done since they were boys. The tragedy of war had brought them together, but through that they had discovered true happiness. Life, much like blackberry jam, was flavoured with a bittersweet tang, and even as his heart ached for the loss of Mrs Figg, Harry knew he wouldn't change that for anything.

"Shall we stay?"

Draco withdrew and took Harry in carefully, their cats sat at their feet, the blessing of their parents in their hearts, and the memory of their surrogate mother all around them. Their family.

He threaded his fingers through Harry's and brought the joint hands up between them, rubbing just above the knuckle on his left hand, where, in another life, a ring might have sat.

"Shall we stay?"

"Forever?" Draco asked, the weight of the word clear even in its simplicity.

"Forever," Harry affirmed.

There was nowhere else in the world he would rather be, than stood beside the man he loved, the man he would always love.

Forever.

The End

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