Blind - drarry

Chapter 18

Published: December 22, 2020

Updated: September 30, 2021

The article came out to an uproar. Several Ministry officials were being bombarded with owls and howlers for their inaction. The Wizengamot was due to convene when the holidays were over to debate the repeal of the Retribution Laws. Some thought it wasn't soon enough, but Harry surmised that they were waiting for the outrage to die down. Skeeter and Luna already had another newspaper series ready to be released on January 2nd, to stir the pot.

It was Christmas Eve, and Harry invited the Weasleys and a few of his friends over to the house. Harry was fixing up the place and tasked Draco with "looking beautiful", which Draco gave him a shove. They hadn't talked about the second kiss, nor the third or even the ninth over the last two weeks. Draco initiated all of them, usually at night in front of their tree. Harry never pressed the advantage nor elongated the kiss. Draco wasn't sure what he was waiting for. Him, he assumed.

Ron and Hermione were the first to arrive for the party. Hermione helped Harry figure out how to make a muggle "CD" box work off magic instead of electricity, with admonishments about how much they were breaking the law by enchanting it. Mr. Weasley, though the head of the department overseeing such violations, just laughed and fiddled with it all night.

Harry put out a buffet-type dinner and let everyone mingle. Draco stayed sitting in his old chair, so as to not bump into people. Occasionally, the brave Gryffindors would break ranks from their groups of friends and wish him a Merry Christmas and fail at small talk beyond that. They read the article and knew he was blind, so asking how he had been since school ended wasn't going to happen.

"Oy, Malfoy," the Irish one called, and Draco had to avoid frowning. "Sorry to hear about well... I mean... umm... wotcher doing here anyway?"

"Harry adopted me," he responded tonelessly.

"Oh right, wait...."

"Seamus, honey? Come on, dear, I'll explain to you later," another vaguely familiar voice said. "Nice to-umm... Merry Christmas, Malfoy."

"Merry Christmas," he replied. Maybe he should go back to his room, but someone else came over.

"Dean, this is Draco. My friend and Harry's," Luna said, touching his shoulder.

"Right... sorry, Draco. Man, that's weird to say. Well, glad you're here!" Dean said, and the two Gryffindors left.

"Thank you, Luna. It wasn't necessary, though."

"Give them a chance. They will accept you, Draco-you. They just need to understand why you are here. Harry didn't let the world know where you were at, nor announce it in his invites."

"I don't understand why I'm here sometimes," he admitted.

"Wrackspurts, usually. I do love your tree, by the way!"

He tilted his head up at her. He wasn't sure if she was joking, but knowing her, the lackadaisy decorating appealed to her unique personality.

"Come and mingle, Draco. Let Harry introduce you, and they will stop calling you by the name they know you as. They will take the hint, despite being overly aggressive Gryffindors."

"They are all war heroes, Luna. I shouldn't be here."

"So are you, Draco. You didn't fight at the battle. You didn't go back to Voldemort."

That didn't sound like a hero, but he let Luna pull him out of his seat and brought him to Harry as "Jingle Bells" played. The Gryffindors added their own verses.

"Draco! Sorry, I just finished setting up the table. I swear I hadn't forgotten about you!" Harry said and took his right hand.

"Luna said I should... mingle..." he said as he pursed his lips in distaste.

Harry laughed. "Violates some rules of hosting, I suppose?"

"Yes," he said, but smiled. He officially met each of the Weasleys, as he hadn't met a few of them before, including the oldest son, Bill. He was the man Greyback had mauled because he, Draco, let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts. He nearly broke Harry's hand when Harry said his name.

"I'm... sorry," he apologized to Ron's oldest brother

"Oh, no, Draco. It's alright. We all have war wounds. I didn't blame you. Let's let bygones be bygones, alright?" "Scarface" Bill suggested.

He just nodded. Harry took over the conversation after that. He was staving off the panic attack that would come if anyone did confront him. Neville was stuttering a bit when he came over to talk to Harry, and Draco felt a fresh wave of guilt from that.

That was somewhat abated when Neville said, "I forgive you, Draco. We were just kids. You make Harry happy, so that's all that matters. I was next to you... when V-Voldemort came up to the school. You didn't cross the line to go to him. So, that makes you a good guy."

Neville then said that he wanted to talk to Hannah and left them there. Harry chuckled a little. "Neville's a good guy. I hope those two get married."

"Yeah. Why did he forgive me, though?"

"We aren't the grudge-holding sort, Draco, and he's the chillax-est guy I know. Maybe he gets high off the plants in the greenhouse."

Draco gave him a raised eyebrow, but a few cries of joy from the crowd, heralded the entry of a new arrival. Harry led him over to the door.

"Oh, Harry! Happy Christmas! Sorry love, I don't trust him through the Floo, yet," a woman's voice said.

"Arry!" a child cried.

"Ted-Ted!" Harry said and let go of Draco's hand, but he pressed back into him as he lifted the child. "Draco, this is Teddy Lupin, my godson. Ted, this is Draco. He's your cousin."

"Coz-in!" the boy repeated, and a small hand grabbed his robes possessively.

Draco took a deep breath in. He knew about them. His mother had cried that night when Aunt Bella issued her declaration to kill her sister's whole family.

"My, my... it is my nephew. I'm your aunt."

"Hello, Aunt... Andromeda," Draco said, quietly. He had never spoken to the woman.

"Aunt Andy is fine," she said and suddenly pulled him into a hug. "Harry sent me the article. I'm so sorry for... well... there's really nothing to be done?"

"No, ma'am," he said respectfully.

"Aunt Andy, child. Your mum and I were very close growing up."

"I know. My mum named me after the stars, like you."

The older woman gasped, "She didn't hate me?"

Draco shook his head. "She said my grandparents arranged her marriage, and my father forbade contact with you."

"I... my eloped marriage probably forced that."

Draco shrugged. His mum wasn't about to bring up those stories with his father around.

"We'll have more chats, Draco. It's already late, and I'd prefer to talk in a quiet setting," she said, as someone cranked up "Deck the Halls With Boughs of Holly," and the Weasleys seemed to be belting out the chorus. "Next Sunday, we'll have lunch and talk about my Cissy."

"That sounds wonderful," he whispered as Harry dumped the thrashing toddler in his arms to hug him goodbye. His aunt said Merry Christmas to everyone else and left.

"I didn't expect that," Draco said, afterward, as Harry led him back to the buffet table.

"I wasn't sure that she would come. She lost her family in the war. She just has Teddy and me for the most part, but I'm glad she did. I want you to know them. Try this truffle," Harry said and brought the food up to his mouth with his fingers.

Draco raised an eyebrow, but accepted the bite. "Delicious."

"Yeah? How about I fix your plate? And it's not 'cause you can't... well...."

"I can make an exception, Harry. Thank you," he said, before Potter spent the whole night trying to talk his way out of this hole.

They ate, drank some horrible wine, mingled, said hello and goodbye to quite a few people. Draco had never spoken to socially to some of them before, including McGonagall, who talked to him for several minutes about if he considered taking his NEWTs, when the horrid Retribution Laws were repealed. He didn't think it'd be possible, but she assured him that accommodations could be made to let him take them. He only said that he would think about it.

Harry whispered in his ear that he barely refused her request to be the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Bill had been teaching since the war ended, instead.

"You want to dance?" Harry asked, suddenly. A bit ironic as the song was about rockin' around the Christmas tree.

"Dance? That depends if you mean that flailing around like you did at the Yule ball or actual dancing," Draco scoffed, as Harry led him closer to the fire.

"Prat, I'll let you lead, then, so I won't be flailing so much."

Draco sighed but agreed, as a muggle song started called "White Christmas." It was slow, and Harry pressed into him. They turned and turned, in no formalized pattern anyway. Harry didn't let go when the next song came on, nor the next one. He was content drifting back and forth when with, ignoring their guests and surely their amused looks.

"You are persistent, aren't you?" Draco whispered, in his ear.

"So, I've been told," Harry muttered, his head resting on his shoulder. Harry was shorter than him, now. Draco wasn't as hunched over as he had been in Diagon Alley. "I'm sorry if you don't want this kind of relationship."

"I do, Harry. I really do," he whispered, and he felt Harry shiver.

"But?" Harry breathed into his ear.

"My situation hasn't changed. I'm still blind, still an ex-Death Eater, still a paroled criminal, and still have nothing."

"Draco," Harry said, as he turned his head to face him. "I don't care about any of those things. "I'm a hothead, depressive, unorganized idiot, who doesn't walk away from any battle and can't tell the difference between red wine and yellow."

"White."

"Yeah, see? I need a sassy, sexy man in my life to keep me in the moment."

"Sexy? Hmmm..." he drawled.

"Merlin... I can't forget that one day I walked in on you. I didn't mean to, but I saw... everything."

"I know. Kinda made me happy that you saw. I always knew I had a great body."

"Still a prideful git. Aren't you, Draco? That's what I love about you. Despite everything, you never gave up. You're unbelievable, and I can't stop thinking about you. I mean, I'll back off if it's too much."

"It's not. Though I think you could do better."

"No, I couldn't. No one holds my attention like you do. I want to come home every day to be with you. I want to hear you scold me for not eating enough and give me that beautiful smile every time I've done something right. And if you're worried about not... providing for us, we'll find something that you can do. Muggles that are blind do have jobs, too. It's possible. You can cook, walk around the house unassisted and even decorate the tree. You can have a life... with me. A full happy life."

Draco trembled at his words, wanting them so much, and hugged him tightly, as they swayed back and forth. "People will talk."

"Draco, everyone that I care about in the whole world came tonight. Has any of them insulted you? Had an attitude? Surely you noticed that they think we're together. You let me hold your hand all night."

"I was nervous, and I didn't want to bump into people."

"Oh..." Harry said, disappointed. "I thought you liked it."

Draco pulled back to be face to face. "I did, Harry."

Harry chuckled. "We can take it slow, Draco. Wait for the laws to be rescinded. If they don't, we're moving. Maybe to Italy, the continent, or even to America, wherever you want. I won't let you live like this, stripped of all your rights."

"You'd really go to Italy?" he asked, as the song ended.

"Your mates are there, aren't they?" Harry said, as the muggle box played another slow song: "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas". He half wondered if someone was doing it on purpose.

Draco slowed, understanding his meaning. "Yeah? You'd want to see them?"

"Of course, I actually invited them to come over tonight. But Blaise said that he was still worried about the laws and if they would hold them here or something, though they didn't have marks."

"You d-did?" Draco breathed, stopping.

"Of course, I did. I mean, they're your friends, right? I want to meet them, I mean officially, and help your mates trapped in Azkaban. You care about them. I know you do. I sent Blaise and Theo your article, too, and told him how you've been doing. They didn't know what had happened to you and said that they'll come over to see you as soon as the laws are chucked."

Draco let go of Harry and brought his hands up to cup Harry's cheeks. His lips met Harry's enthusiastically. Harry wrapped his arms around him, and they swayed on the spot for what seemed like minutes. Then the kneazle-calls started.

"Whoa, mate! Maybe we should Levicorpus them upstairs!"

"Go, Harry!"

"Get 'im, Draco!"

"George! You owe me five galleons!" Ron yelled.

Draco sighed deeply as he broke the kiss. "Sorry, I forgot they were still here."

"I don't care," Harry said and took his hands, again as they started dancing. "I'll take you anyway I can."

Draco blushed a little. "Spare me your attempts at innuendo."

"I'll see what I can do, Draco," Harry drawled and then started whisper singing, "All I Want for Christmas Is You," with a lot of unnecessary emphasis on a few key lines.

Draco was shaking the whole time with unbridled happiness, and he was sure that he was smiling like a lunatic and blushing like a maiden. He somehow resisted snogging His Savior again, as they continued to dance the rest of the evening without anyone disturbing them. When the music ended and everyone had slowly trickled out, Harry extinguished all the lights and lit the tree up so he could see it.

Harry responded eagerly when Draco pulled him to the couch onto him, but said, "I don't want to do anything, yet...."

"Draco, I don't care if this is the longest courtship ever. I'll be happy with whatever you want to do," Harry whispered and wrapped his arms under him. "We have all the time in the world."