An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
The Inconvenient Death(s) of Harry Potter
Chapters: 9/9
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Characters: Draco Malfoy, Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s)
Additional Tags: Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, Auror Harry Potter, Solicitor draco malfoy, Enemies to Lovers, Time Loop, Angst, Pining, Humor, Happy Ending, Falling In Love, Cats, Swans, Coffee Shops, Croissants, Coffee, Jogging, mentions of canonical child abuse, alcohol use, Mentions of Injuries, Explicit Sexual Content, Anal Sex, Anal Fingering, POV Alternating, POV Harry Potter, POV Draco Malfoy, POV Third Person, Mentions of Death, Self-Sacrifice, temporary major character death, H/D Erised 2022, significant handshakes, Short Shorts, Going to the Beach, Bars and Pubs, First Kiss, Post-Hogwarts, Angst with a Happy Ending, Getting Together, Bisexual Harry Potter, Gay Draco Malfoy, Tattoos, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Apologies, Hermione Granger & Draco Malfoy Friendship, Groundhog Day
Harry and Draco have spent the decade since the War avoiding each other, even as they’re forced to work together at the Ministry and their friend groups begin to alarmingly overlap. But what happens when Harry meets a tragic end (in a manner of speaking) and Draco’s the only one who can save him?
Or Harry won’t stop dying, Draco’s had too much coffee, and there’s more than enough time for them to make a mess of each other’s lives.
But no sooner had he waved to Nora and walked out the door, than Harry barrelled around the corner, yanking Draco from his melancholy.
“Harry?” Draco asked, dumbfounded as Harry jogged towards him.
“Draco, I—fuck, this is…I need to tell you something,” Harry said, looking windswept and frantic.
Maybe today was finally the day Harry would make it out alive. Maybe this was it, the day Draco had been waiting for.
Harry was here, all in one piece, and Draco’s heart sped to a gallop. “Okay, is everything—are you alright?”
“No,” Harry said, frowning and shaking his head. “No, things haven’t been alright for a long fucking time.”
Draco didn’t know if Harry knew just how true that was.
“I’m quitting the Aurors,” Harry interrupted, and his eyes went wide, as though he couldn’t believe he’d finally said the words out loud. “I can’t do it anymore. The nightmares and the bodies, and just—everything. God. Fucking everything. It’s too much and it never ends. I thought I could do it, but I can’t.”
Draco’s stomach went into freefall when he saw the tears in Harry’s eyes. “Harry, you don’t have to do anything—”
“See, that’s the thing though—I do. I’m the ‘Saviour’ and everyone expects me to love being an Auror, and I hate it. I fucking hate it.” Harry took a shuddering breath. “I’m not making any difference at all, and I’m tired…just so bloody tired of fighting. I’m done. Really bloody done with everything.”
Harry scrubbed at the back of his neck, and Draco wanted to still his hand, wanted to pull Harry into his arms. “When you said we could skive off, spend the whole day together, do anything we want…God, I wanted to. I wanted to so badly. But I can’t, because if I don’t do it now, I never will.”
It was so much worse than Draco had imagined. It should have been Harry’s last day as an Auror, and instead, he was going to be killed before he even made it to the Ministry. As if Harry hadn’t sacrificed enough, as if he hadn’t saved their world from total destruction…Draco wanted to curse everyone that had always asked so much of Harry, everything he had to give, including his own life.
Trying not to let dread paralyse him, trying to be fearless like Harry, Draco struggled to say something…anything that might change the future.
“Meet me here—tonight,” Harry said, and before Draco could take a full breath, before he could fall to his knees and beg Harry to stay, Harry grabbed him by the shoulders. Though Draco was taller, he felt himself shrinking under the intensity of Harry’s gaze. “Let me get through today and then tonight, I’ll be free. We can do anything you want.”
His fingers tensed, the pain pulling Draco back to the present as Harry murmured, “After today, I’m yours.”
Draco could only nod, holding tight to hope and praying to every deity that was listening to save Harry.
It could have been nothing, Harry’s suddenly dark eyes roving over Draco’s face, holding steady on his lips. Maybe Draco imagined the shiver running up his spine as Harry took one step closer, and then another. The fingers at his nape, sifting through Draco’s hair, were so unexpected, yet so familiar, that Draco leaned into the touch unconsciously.
Then Harry was closing what little distance remained between them, his sweet breath warming Draco’s lips, and Draco’s mind went blank. He wasn’t ready, would never be ready.
How was Draco supposed to say goodbye after this?
A piece of Draco’s heart wrenched away from the whole when Harry kissed him.
It was devastating, unbearably tender, and Draco wanted nothing more than to live in this moment forever.
