Memories of Us

Chapter 1

Harry fired a disarming spell at the criminal, but he dodged it. Sweat stuck Harry Potter's hair to his forehead, covering his famous scar.

After the criminal wizard's first brutal murder, the Ministry sent a couple of Aurors on it. It was expected to be an open and shut case. Investigate the scene, collect evidence, capture the criminal, send him to Azkaban.

However, when they arrived at the scene, there was hardly any evidence left behind. He'd attacked a first year girl on her way to board the train to Hogwarts. The damage was bad enough to make one of the Aurors on the scene throw up. The psychotic wizard had been careful not to leave behind any traces of his magic. He'd avoided leaving anything that would lead them onto his tracks. After the second murder, more Aurors, including Harry, had been assigned the case.

Now, he and seven other colleagues were currently out in the field on a mission to catch the mage as he went in for what would be his ninth kill. Harry had expected him to be a challenge, to put up a fight, but he'd also expected the fight to be over quickly with the seven of them against one of him. He'd have been right had the quick-thinking criminal not surrounded himself with Muggles. They could've captured him anyways and later send Obliviators to erase the memories of the Muggles, but they'd been trained to avoid that route unless absolutely necessary.

Now the Aurors had him surrounded in an alleyway behind a Muggle parking garage. When he dodged Harry's spell, the woman next to Harry immediately cast where he leaned. Avoiding Harry's spell, he put himself in the way of the woman's Expelliarmus.

Once they'd caught the criminal, a huge tension was released at Harry's office. They'd been tracking this guy for weeks. Every time they thought they figured him out and went to set him up, he'd just surprise them and attack somewhere completely different. The wizarding world was uneasy, but as soon as the report got out that he was captured and in custody, relief spread.

  •••

Draco Malfoy hadn't had a good night's sleep in weeks. He'd been having nightmares about his beloved getting hurt or worse on this assignment. Harry had, of course, been on multiple dangerous assignments since he and Draco started living together. He always came back, usually with no more than a couple scratches and bruises. There was the one occasion where he'd had to stay at St. Mungos because he wasn't getting enough air, but even then it was hardly a question of life or death. But no matter how many assignments Harry came home safe from, Draco would be terrified every time.

For this assignment, Harry mostly worked in the office, which made Draco feel much more at ease. Only twice did Harry have to go out into the field after this particular wizard before yesterday. Neither of the previous times had even included overnight stays. Unfortunately, this was because the criminal would strike somewhere unexpected and the Aurors would be called home to regroup. Draco knew it was selfish of him to feel this way, but there was always a part of him that was relieved when they didn't catch the criminal because it meant his Harry wasn't in nearly as much danger that day. However, this time had been an overnight stay. Harry had left the day before, with a kiss to Draco's cheek and a promise to come home safe because "where else could I possibly rather be?" he'd reassured his boyfriend. The couple spent the majority of their time bickering, but when Harry went on an assignment, Draco was too nervous to even think about arguing with him. Draco didn't sleep at all the night he left and now, at 4:48am pacing around his living room in one of Harry's old shirts, with his hair an oily wreck (a rare sight for Draco Malfoy) from running his hands through it more than one too many times, he did not appear to be getting sleep tonight either.

There was a Floo call that pulled Draco out of his worried thoughts. He stopped pacing. It was Harry's office calling to say the assignment was complete, but Draco couldn't care less about the assignment; all he could even think to care about was his Harry. The other end of the call assured him that Harry was fine and would be home after some "quick" paperwork, and a once over from their onsite Healer. His heart rate sped up and pulsed so hard he could feel it in his throat. He thanked them repeatedly for calling him as he always did and asked if there was anything he could do before telling them not to be a stranger. The man on the other end did not seem too enthusiastic about talking to Draco. They never were. Sometimes Draco wouldn't get the call at all. They would call Hermione and she would have to call Draco. When Harry found out, there was hell to pay, which only made people resent Draco more.

Harry kept falling asleep at his desk, but finally he got his paperwork done. Or at least done enough for the night. He was more than ready to Apparate home to his lovely boyfriend and comfy bed.

It was past 7 a.m. when he finally made it back to his own home. Some of his tense muscles instantly relaxed at the familiar environment. He could barely keep his eyes open long enough to walk from the hallway, through the kitchen, to the living room where he knew he'd find Draco. He never slept in their bed while Harry was away.

Harry saw Draco pacing and crept behind him to wrap his arms around his waist, pressing his boyfriend's back against his own chest and placing a soft kiss to the base of his neck. He heard Draco gasp in surprise, but felt him relax against his chest instantly.

"Harry," Draco whispered as he spun in his boyfriend's embrace. He tightly wrapped his arms around Harry's neck. Harry pulled him closer with one of his arms around his waist, the other gently cupping the back of his head and playing with the blond hair there. "Oh Merlin, Harry you're here. You're ok." Draco mumbled into the Gryffindor's neck.

Draco held Harry like this, with Harry petting his hair and reassuring him. "Where else could I possibly dream of being? Of course I'm ok; I'm with you now. I'm better than ok as long as I have you, Draco." He yawned. Harry was perfectly content hugging his boyfriend the way he was, but if he didn't get into bed soon he was going to fall asleep standing up. 

Draco momentarily released Harry to walk him to their bedroom with a guiding hand on the small of his back. Draco helped sleepy Harry get changed into some pajama pants and cast a cleaning charm over him until he could shower in the morning. They crawled in their warm bed together. Harry nuzzled himself into Draco's side with his head on his chest. He fell asleep to the sound of Draco's heart before Draco could even utter a simple "goodnight", making him smile at the sound of his soft snores.

•••

A/N - This is my first completed fanfic work. A couple of these chapters are going to be very short. I'm sorry about short chapters! But it's all complete and I'm posting all at once so you won't have to wait for the next. Hopefully that makes up for my short chapters. Please leave comments and notes! Happy reading!