Originally posted July 28, 2006

Title: The Soft Goodbye
Author: Lady B
Pairing: Harry + Draco (established)
Rating: PG13
Genre: Romance in the face of Tragedy
Warning: Character Death
Word Count: about 2070 words
Summary: Harry gives his life to save the ones he loves.
Author Note: This is a song fic based on Celtic Woman's “The Soft Goodbye”. This is prompt #349: Goodbye from my hpfanfic10x10 table.
Warning #2: I had to re-read this twice to check for spelling, punctuation and flow...and all 3 times (including when I was writing it), it brought tears to my eyes because it hit close to home for me. If you want to read this, bring tissue. If character death squicks you, don't read this at all.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc.. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. All song lyrics contained within are the property of their respective owners and I do not claim them as my own.

- - -

When the light begins to fade
And shadows fall across the sea
One bright star in the evening sky
Your love's light leads me on my way...

The battle had been fierce up until the very end. Both sides lost many. Dumbledore, Ron, Seamus, Dean and various other DA members had fought until their very last breath, proudly fighting beside the one who was destined to save them all. Remus, alive but gravely injured, had gotten revenge for Sirius's death and had taken down Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy before he'd been knocked unconscious by a stray hex.

Draco Malfoy had remained by Voldemort's side through the whole ordeal until there were only three people left; himself, Voldemort and of course Harry Potter. The others still fighting had moved away from them.

Draco watched The Boy Who Lived approach them both, a dark scowl on his face. He stopped 10 feet from the two.

“Potter.” Draco acknowledged with a slight bow.

“Malfoy.” Harry nodded in return before looking at Tom.

“At last, Potter, it comes to this.” Voldemort stated.

“I think it's time, don't you, Tom?”

“I told you to never call me that!” Voldemort raged, his face contorting.

“Do you know who you remind me of?” Harry asked, catching him off guard.

“No, but I assume you're going to tell me.” Voldemort snorted.

“When I was 14, there was this series of movie on television about space travel. There was a guy who reminded me a lot of you. He was always going on about not being true to oneself and trying to convert children to his way of thinking. He killed his wife, and almost tried to kill his children, although he didn't know they were his children until the fifth and sixth films. His name was Darth Vader. His son kept calling him by his real name and he hated it just as much as you do. Kind of pathetic in a small way.” Harry explained, scratching his head with his wand with a bewildered look on his face.

Draco didn't know whether to groan or laugh at this so he settled for a neutral expression.

“But you know something, Tom. In the end, when it really mattered, when his son's life was in jeopardy, he finally understood what he had to do. He had to protect his son at the risk of his own life.”

“What are you getting at, boy?” Voldemort hissed.

“What I do tonight, I do to protect the entire world, Wizard and Muggle, at the expense of my own life. I finally figured out that my own life no longer matters. As long as I take you with me, it won't be for naught.”

Voldemort began to chuckle.

“You think you can take me down? Cocky bastard, aren't you?”

“I aim to please.” Harry grinned, confusing Voldemort.

“You enjoy mocking me don't you?”

“I get off on it.” Harry stated, bluntly.

Draco finally noticed that Harry's wand hand was moving in a series of intricate patterns. He'd thought he was simply gesturing to get his point across. He felt the faint stirrings of a spell being cast and braced himself. Voldemort seemed to be oblivious to it, still trying to one-up Harry.

“I grow tired of all this talking. Let's end this, Harry.”

“Finally something we can agree on.” Harry smiled.

“Crucio!” Voldemort shouted. The spell hit Harry directly in the chest and dissipated. Voldemort looked shocked. Harry laughed at the comical expression on his face.

“Did I forget to mention that I'm now immune from that one?”

“Bastard!” Voldemort hissed.

“Takes one to know one...mudblood!” Harry hissed back, knowing this would drive old Tommy into a fit of rage. It was also a signal to Harry's partner.

Springing into action, Draco spun quickly and cast a full body bind on Voldemort. Shocked, Voldemort struggled, dropping his wand in the process, which Harry quickly summoned to himself and snapped in two.

Voldemort cried out in agony as Draco made his way to Harry's side.

There's a dream that will not sleep
A burning hope that will not die
So I must go now with the wind
And leave you waiting on the tide...

“Ready, love?” Draco asked, kissing his cheek.

“More than you know.” Harry smiled, feeling the pain in his body begin anew.

Together they raised their wands, touching the tips together as they began to recite an incantation.

Whose outstanding deeds give endless glory to beings
Whose mere remembrance banishes Death
With love, we speak this prayer for reincarnation and rebirth
May I be free of sadness and misery
May I still feel the love of those I have left behind
May I pass by the demons
May I remember well my faith and consolation
May I see for myself Amitabha, the Greatest Teacher of us all, Supreme Being Highest and Lord of All
May I see the greatness and the glory
At the moment of my death, may I receive enlightenment
May I be reborn

A light of the purest white erupted from their wands at the same time, bathing them and a forty foot area around them in it's luminance.

Voldemort cried out in fear as the light pierced his heart and mind in several different places. He could feel the love the two had for one another and for a moment, he was jealous...it was something he would never have. Not now, not ever. And he couldn't face it.

The man formerly known as Tom Morvolo Riddle suddenly realized he was tired...tired of fighting the same battle for dominance over and over again. He wanted something else, something he'd never dreamed of before.

Time to fly, time to touch the sky
One voice alone, a haunting cry
One song, one star burning bright
May it carry me through darkest night...

With a finally shuddering breath, Voldemort winked out of existence, never to return again.

Almost immediately, Harry collapsed to the ground with a soft groan. Draco was by his side in an instant, cradling Harry's head in his lap.

“Harry?” Draco whispered, noting the paleness on his lover's face. Harry's eyes were closed and his breathing was erratic. “Open your eyes, please?”

Slowly, Harry opened his eyes, looking into Draco's own. They were full of love and Harry smiled gently.

“Draco.” he whispered, struggling with that one word. Draco felt tears spring into his eyes, but they blended with the lightly falling rain.

“I love you, you know.” Draco smiled.

“Love you, too.” Harry smiled.

“Please don't leave me.” Draco sniffed, clutching Harry's limp hand into his own.

“I will...always...be by your side.” Harry stated.

“But you go where I can't follow! It's not bloody fair!” Draco snapped.

“Draco...w-we...talked about this...you u-understood.”

“Doesn't mean I have to like it.” Draco cried. “We should be able to do something! Find a cure! Make a potion!”

Harry found the strength to reach up and caress Draco's cheek.

“If muggles couldn't find a cure for leukemia, what makes you think we could?”

Draco stared into Harry's eyes, knowing he was right. He blinked back more tears and sighed.

“I can't live without you. You know this.”

“I know, love. But...you're stronger than...you give yourself credit for. You will get through this.”

“I'm going to miss you.” Draco whispered, leaning over so their foreheads touched.

“I will be watching over you. Always.”

“H-Harry.” Draco sobbed. With the last of his strength, Harry brought both hands to Draco's cheeks and kissed him with ever ounce of love he felt in him.

Rain comes over the gray hills
And on the air, a soft goodbye
Hear the song that I sing to you
When the time has come to fly...

When Draco pulled away, a kind of peace he'd never seen before passed across Harry's face.

With a final whispered “I love you”, Draco watched Harry breath his last as he finally succumbed to the disease that he'd been fighting for the last year.

Draco collapsed across his love and sobbed, crying out Harry's name over and over again until Snape gently pulled him away.

- - -

Harry's funeral, held a week later, was one for the record books. Every wizard and witch in the world, from as young as 5 months to as old as 245 years was in attendance.

Draco, not once caring about his image, cried like a girl as he watched Hagrid, Snape, Oliver Wood, Alistair Moody, Remus and Kingsly Shacklebolt lower the gold plated white coffin into its final resting place. Harry had requested that if he ever died, he wanted to be buried next to his parents so he could join them in his next adventure. Draco was not about to go against his wishes.

As well-wishers stood to make speeches, Draco thought back to a conversation they'd had just before the Final Battle had occurred.

They had been laying in Draco's bed, wrapped around each other, dripping with sweat after a vigorous round of love-making. Draco was drifting to sleep when Harry whispered his name.

“Hmm?” he yawned, cracking an eye open.

“Will you do something for me?”

“Anything, Harry, you know that.”

“If there ever comes a time that I'm no longer with you, and you're feeling down, just look into the sky one night and say my name. I'll let you know I'm watching over you.”

Draco nodded, feeling a lump rising in his throat. He still wished they could have found some way to fight Harry's leukemia. Harry had known he was sick just after the end of sixth year, when he had started coughing up blood one morning during the summer. It had scared his Aunt so badly, she had taken him to a wizarding hospital without his uncle finding out about it.

Both wizard and muggle doctors had given him only 2 months to live, even with medication, treatments and potions.

Harry was determined to prove them wrong. He had a dark lord to kill first.

Coming back to himself, Draco realized that everyone was beginning to leave. He sat still, staring at the white marble tombstone that had been placed over the grave. He read it to himself.

Harry James Potter
July 31, 1981 – April 27, 1998
Best Friend, Beloved Son, Honorary Weasley & Lover
Death is not the greatest loss in life.
The greatest loss is what dies inside us while we live.
-Norman Cousins-

Draco smiled slightly.

Snape placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Ready to go?” he asked gently. Draco nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

- - -

Later that night, Draco stood at the balcony of his bedroom, staring up at the starlit sky.

“We showed them all, didn't we, love. They said we wouldn't last more than a year. We proved them all wrong.” he grinned. Tears blurred his vision and he took a deep breath.

“I miss you so much, Harry. Sometimes I can still imagine your lips on mine and I want it so much I can taste it.” A single tear fell down his face and he wiped it away quickly.

“My life won't be the same without you in it. I can never even contemplate falling for anyone else.” More tears streamed down his face and he made no move to wipe them away.

He looked to the stars once again and watched in awe as one star suddenly flared brighter than the others. Draco's breath hitched in his throat.

“Harry?”

The star seemed to twinkle madly then and Draco felt calmness return to him. It seemed Harry was keeping his promise, no matter how far away he was, telling Draco he was free to love whomever he wished and that he'd always be by his side.

Leaving the window open so he could watch the sky, and feeling better than he had since Harry's death, Draco turned and headed to bed.

“Goodbye.” he whispered softly, turning off the lights.

When I leave and take the wind
And find the land that faith will bring
The brightest star in the evening sky
Is yours to find for me...

Is yours to find for me...

-Fin

- - -

Author Note #2: The incantation the boys used is actually from a Buddhist Death Ritual called The Sukhavti. It was taken from the book Rituals for Life: Create Your Own Sacred Ceremonies by Brenda Knight.

If you would like the song "The Soft Goodbye", please email me and let me know.