Sold harry/draco 6
It was difficult to follow the action in Diagon Alley from the hidden position behind two gray buildings that Draco had taken them to. "What's going on? Can you see anything? Let me see what's going on." Ron had been forced into their hiding place first so he was the farthest away from the entrance and thus the farthest away from any glimpse of the action.
In fact, all Ron could see was the same thing that everyone could see, probably even the muggles in London outside the Alley. The giant, green Dark Mark still hovered in the sky, streaking slightly like smoke because of the light breeze. The air was the only thing that didn't seem to be afraid of the taboo magic. The wind smelled thickly of smoke, it was something to be feared on it's own.
Draco, however, was guarding the front. He leaned against one building, his arms folded over his chest and his feet propped up against the opposing wall. He had a perfect view of the tiny glimpse of Diagon Alley that they did have, as did Harry who peered down the dark street from his position, standing against the wall with Draco's feet.
"There's nothing to see, Ron, trust me." Harry replied, although he didn't take his eyes off of the view that he did have. Shortly after the Dark Mark had appeared, the unmistakable pops of apparating wizards could be heard. He hoped it meant that Aurors were on the scene.
"Nothing to see," Draco echoed "unless you count You Know Who in a tutu. Oh, look Potter, there he goes again. I've never seen a pirouette like that before. Really, who knew he had the ankle strength."
Harry, Ron, and Hermione all gave Draco the same dead look. Draco had just made a joke. A terrible joke. In fact, Harry thought, it could have possibly been the worse joke he'd ever heard in his entire life.
"Right, Malfoy," Ron sounded a little distracted as he shook the memory of the bad joke from his mind. "I think you should stick to being an insufferable git, alright?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Draco watched as the last bits of rampaging crowd trickled away and died.
"Never mind," Harry said quickly and stepped over Draco's feet. "Everyone's stopped running. Come on, Malfoy, let's see what's going on." The last thing any of them needed was for another quarrel to break out. "Ron you wait here with Hermione, alright?" When Ron looked about ready to protest, he added, "and keep your wand out. You just might need it."
"Right, Harry." He reached into his pocket to remove his wand as Draco rolled his eyes and started towards Diagon Alley, Harry at his heels. "Off to save the world again, Potter?" He asked once they had left the other two Gryffindors far enough behind them. "I hope you don't expect me to back you up. If any trouble starts up..."
"I know, I know." Harry could finish that statement on his own. "You'll be running in the opposite direction, just like first year. I know all about it." As they neared the entrance to Knockturn Alley, He reached into his back pocket to take out his wand.
"Oh." Draco watched Harry arm himself with an amused arch of a brow. This certainly wasn't anything he knew he needed to get worked up over. Harry, however, was another story. It was very likely that if there were any Death Eaters about, they'd certainly want an opportunity to earn favor and kill the Boy Who Lived. "Well, then why did I have to be the one to come with you?"
"I couldn't leave you back there." He explained, pausing just at the mouth of the Alley although he was still concealed by its shadows. Harry knew he couldn't afford to be distracted once he stepped out into a battlefield. "You and Ron would both be unconscious or worse by the time I got back."
Draco shook his head slowly. ‘I'm sorry, Potter,' the gesture said, ‘that just doesn't make sense.' "If that were the case," he decided to voice his opinion just in case a simple shake of the head didn't convey the correct meaning. "You could have just taken Weasley instead."
Harry didn't say anything, looking at Draco before his face settled into one of grim determination and he turned back towards Diagon Alley.
"I see how it is," the blonde drawled. "It's probably better this way, Potter, you're right. After all I'm not a very trustworthy person."
"That's not what I meant, Malfoy!" But before Harry could really explain himself, Draco had moved briskly past and out into Diagon Alley. A rather empty Diagon Alley. There was something wrong about seeing this particular street vacant, as if the heart of the little shopping district were missing. The silence was creepy, the shops waiting breathlessly for something to happen.
Harry followed Draco out, their previous conversation falling prey to the far more disturbing sight before them. Where people had once milled about and shopped, met friends, laughed, and enjoyed themselves was now chaos and waste. "What a mess," he muttered.
Whatever people were doing they had dropped instantly at the sight of the Dark Mark. Shopping bags were left abandoned, tipped over, scattered, forgotten in the mad rush to flee. Scraps and loose paper lay scattered about in places, a few of the tables and chairs outside the ice cream parlor had been tipped over and rocked slightly still. There were several large lumps of robes here and there that Harry sincerely hoped weren't people.
"This is quite the opportunity," Draco announced as a breeze slammed one of the doors to a shop closed. Harry realized then that it wasn't the only door that had been left open. It seemed even the shop keepers had fled, abandoning even their livelihood. The blonde stooped next to an abandoned shopping bag and lifted the edge to peek inside.
Harry watched him with a wooden expression. He'd seen Draco do something like this back in second year with Christmas candy but this was a tiny step above nicking sweets. "Malfoy what do you think you're doing? You can't just go stealing other people's stuff!"
"I haven't stolen anything yet, Potter, I'm just taking a peek." Draco drawled as he took out a wild hat from a round box inside the bag and placed it on his head, brushing his fingers through the long pheasant feather to straighten it. "How do I look?"
"Like an idiot! Now put it back!"
"I don't think I could have said it any better myself!"
Both Harry and Draco turned just in time to see a gangly looking wizard stumble out of Madam Malkins, clothed in several layers of mismatched robes and cloth. His long, black hair was pulled back in a messy, many times knotted pony tail, and there was something haunted about his icy blue eyes that made Harry think of black holes.
He wove slightly as he walked towards them, probably under the weight of all the cloth he'd wrapped around his body. "Harry Potter I presume!" The stranger pitched forward. At first Harry thought he was going to fall flat on his face but soon realized it was just a bow. "And Young Master Draco Malfoy!" He slid on his heels over the stones and bowed to the blonde as well. "What an unfathomable pleasure to make your acquaintance!"
"And you are?" Since Harry was too puzzled to ask, Draco spoke for him. He already had a pretty good idea just what the stranger was, though. He took a step closer to Harry, reaching into his robe pocket for his wand.
"Now, now, now, don't be hasty!" The wizard stood up quickly, apparently too quickly, as the force of motion caused him to stumble back a few steps. "If either of you do any of that wand stuff I'm sure you'll get into all sorts of trouble. I'm no one special I swear. Just an innocent shopper, out to visit innocent shops, and purchase innocent goods!"
"Somehow I find that extremely difficult to believe," Draco replied, his eyes lashing over the stranger. "I don't think any self respecting merchant would sell you such an ugly array of obviously mismatching clothing. You obviously stole that vomit-inspired ensemble."
"Touché." The wizard grinned and laughed, lifting a finger to gesture that Draco had a point. "Of course, you're hardly one to speak yourself, crawling out of Knockturn Alley like you was. Were." He corrected himself at the last minute with a shake of his head.
"But who are you?" Harry, for one, couldn't take the not knowing anymore.
At his persistence, the gangly, skeleton-like wizard turned towards him with a broad smile. "Oh where are my manners. I'm sorry I'm so easily distracted. It's because, you know, there's really not too much left of me up here." He circled his ear with a finger in the air and stuck out his tongue. Harry just blinked. He'd never seen anyone make the crazy sign about themselves before. "My name is Lestrange. Rodolphus Lestrange."
"Lestrange!" Harry knew the name instantly, it shot through his veins like ice water.
Draco's eyes narrowed, looking from Harry and over to the man ahead of them. Rodolphus Lestrange was exactly the type of person Draco thought he was. A Death Eater. Harry, however, seemed to know this as well, and something else beyond.
"Have you heard of me?" Rodolphus' dark brows rose excitedly as he leaned forward towards the pair.
"Yes I've heard of you!" Harry growled, his fingers clenching around his wand so tightly his knuckles shone white against his skin. "You're the people that tortured Neville's parents! Bellatrix Lestrange is the woman that-" His voice broke off with a tremor and Harry's wand, which was now lifted and pointed at Rodolphus, began to tremble. "She-" He tried again but it was a vain attempt.
"What? What did she do now? That gem of a woman! I tell you I had no idea she was such a spitfire when I married her." Looking like he'd done something anyone would be proud of, Rodolphus rocked back on his heels and folded his arms over his stomach.
Behind him, Draco could see Harry straighten his wand from the corner of his eye. At the unspoken promise a raised wand brought, Rodolphus broke into a wide toothy grin.
Draco, however, wasn't going to take any such foolishness. He grabbed Harry's hand and pushed the wand back down towards the ground. "Potter, don't be a total idiot."
"Oh come on! You should let him at least be a little bit of an idiot." Rodolphus' grin persisted. He really looked like a skull that way, his thin skin pulled taut over his forehead, hollowed out cheeks, and all of those teeth. "I'm anxious to see the magic that stopped a Dark Lord!"
"I'll show you, gladly!" Harry twisted his hand away from Draco and shoved the blonde away from him. Draco stumbled backwards and tripped over the shopping bag he'd previously looted and toppled to the ground, the hat slipping off his head and into the dust.
Harry didn't notice as he lifted wand to point at Rodolphus' grinning face. "Cr-"
Pop! Pop!
Two people apparated in quickly. It was because of the dark, heavy cowled robes they wore that Harry decided he didn't need to see who their faces to know who they were. One pointed a wand directly at Harry when he faltered in his casting to make sure he couldn't complete the spell, and the other went to Rodolphus. "What are you doing?" The second hissed and began to tear the stolen cloth and robes from the wiry wizard's body .
"Do you like it?" Rodolphus asked and tried to pose as he was being undressed, all the way to the black robes he wore beneath it all. "It the latest in-"
"You really are an idiot!" Hissed the Death Eater as he grabbed Rodolphus' hood and pulled it over his head roughly. Harry and Draco, who was still glaring nails from the ground, would still be able to see Rodolphus' wide, disturbed skull grin. "You're not supposed to let anyone see your face! We're getting out of here, come on!"
"Alright, alright." Rodolphus curled his fingers in a little wave to Harry and Draco before he and his partners apparated away.
Their departure was followed quickly by another arrival, several seconds too late. Molly Weasley, in the company of Elphias Dodge, the wheeze, gray haired wizard that Harry remembered from the Advance Guard that had come to collect him from Privet Drive last year, suddenly appeared where the Death Eaters had been standing a few moments before. While Molly immediately rushed to Harry and Draco, Elphias was scanning the area, his wand drawn.
"Boys! Where's Ronald and Hermione? Oh you poor boys, are you alright? Were you hurt?" Molly didn't seem to know who or what to ask about first. She grabbed hold of Harry, pressing his cheeks together as her eyes darted over his body searching for anything out of place, any sign of violence.
"We're fine, really." Harry tried to reassure her. There was something terribly wrong with upsetting Mrs. Weasley like this, he thought. She was so sweet and cared about everyone, unnecessary worry wasn't something she deserved. "Ron and Hermione are okay too, they're hiding."
When Molly deemed Harry truly ‘fine' she wrapped her arms around him tightly in a hug. "Harry, I'm so glad! I'm so glad you're alright, I was so worried. If anything happened to any of you I don't know what I'd do!" Releasing him, the plump Weasley mother turned towards Draco.
The blonde's eyes widened. He had since picked himself up off the ground, but now, as she turned his eyes to him, he backed away a step and held his hand up. "Don't you dare touch me. I'm fine too. Really."
"Mum!" Ron and Hermione were just now stepping out of Knockturn Alley. The commotion Molly had raised, and the sound of her relief, had lead them out of the shadows and to believe that it was even safe to do so. "What happened? What's going on?"
Mrs. Weasley was expectedly relieved to see her son unharmed. Ron and Hermione both got a hug at the same time. Ron looked embarrassed pressed against his mother and Hermione but the brown haired girl didn't seem to mind.
"Molly," Elphias wheezed as he rejoined the group. "We shouldn't spend too much time here. You should probably take the children back to safety." His eyes were still darting from shop to shop and then up and down the Alley as if waiting for something terrible to spring out at them.
"You're right, of course. This is no place for children!" Molly released her two captives and then gestured Harry and Draco closer. "You four stay close to me. We'll Floo back right away."
Two more wizards apparated into the area, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye Moody. Harry didn't think he'd ever seen Moody's eye as wild as it was now. It darted up and down, left and right, rolled and rolled in his head completely independent from the other.
"Elphias!" Moody exclaimed as the two of them made the group of six now eight people strong. "What's going on?"
"I'm taking the children home." Molly explained.
"That's a good idea." Kingsley seemed to want to search the streets up and down just like Elphias had when he first arrived.
"Well come on then." Moody's eye looked like it was about ready to pop out of his head. "They're around here somewhere I can feel it." He apparated out, Kingsley following shortly after. Elphias was the only one to nod goodbye to them before he too was gone.
"Alright children, come on, let's all stay together now." Mrs. Weasley didn't waste any time in leading them away. Because Harry noticed that Molly had her wand out, he kept his own visible as well as they made their way to a fireplace so they could Floo themselves home.
****
"What's wrong, Ron, couldn't you sleep?" Hermione asked after the boy had let himself into her room. Even though Hermione was in her night gown and sitting up in her bed, her voice didn't sound drowsy at all. It was some time after midnight, she imagined, and she had been staring at the ceiling thinking about everything that had happened when Ron had come knocking at her door.
"Not really." He admitted, closing the door all but a crack behind him. "Er, I'm not bothering you am I?" He paused when he saw her resting against her headboard with the covers in her lap. Hermione was wearing some sort of sleeveless white night shirt with a small strip of flowery lace around the collar woven with pink ribbon. Her hair was somewhat damp and pulled into two plaits on either side of her shoulders.
"No." She admitted, and in truth she was relieved to see him. A friendly face soothed the troubles of her mind. "I'm glad you're here. I couldn't sleep either." Pushing the covers back finally, she got up, her night shirt falling to mid thigh with a pair of white pants sticking out a few inches above her ankle.
Ron wasn't sure why he felt so awkward all of a sudden. Hermione certainly wasn't drop-dead gorgeous, not like Fleur Delacour in fourth year, who had been so good ad reducing him to a stammering puddle of embarrassment. Nor was she pretty like the Patil sisters, back at Hogwarts. But there was something defiantly special about her now, dressed all in white in the glowing half light of deep evening.
Hermione hadn't been uncomfortable before, but now with Ron staring at her she felt a blush creep up into her cheeks as the memory of the kiss they'd shared over a week ago woke up in her mind. She turned away from him rather quickly and grabbed a robe hanging from the post on her bed, wrapping it around her tightly. "Well, Ron, what's up?"
"Oh." He said, his eyes slowly widening. That's right. He probably wasn't supposed to come knocking on a girl's door in the middle of the night unless he wanted something right? "I just couldn't sleep. Harry looked like he was getting along alright so I didn't want to wake him up. It's just...this afternoon..."
Hermione listened to him intently. Ron was finding it rather difficult to stay on his train of thought when she watched him with those dark brown eyes. He felt trapped whenever he looked at them. "I understand, Ron." She said after a minute and then smiled lightly, lifting her hands to touch her warm cheeks. "I'm glad you were there, I don't know what I would have done otherwise. I wouldn't want to stay in that Alley alone, but I didn't want to go out there with Harry either. I don't know what's wrong with me."
"Nothings wrong with you, Hermione," Ron's brows furrowed slightly as she said that.
But Hermione shook her head ‘no' quickly, feeling her heart clench up inside her chest and tears well up in her eyes. "No there is something wrong with me! I've been trying to tell you all summer but I couldn't! Since the Department of Mysteries...I've been so afraid! I don't know why, I wasn't always like this but...but..."
Ron stared at her, his eyes round, and dread rooting him in his spot. Hermione was crying? What was he supposed to do? She looked so small, hunched over her hands as she cried into them, the soft curve of her bare shoulder trembling. It was wrong of him to think she looked so attractive all of a sudden wasn't it? "Hermione." He heard himself croak and then wrapped his arms around her shoulders, pulling her close.
The girl melted into his arms and against his body. Ron was amazed at how soft she felt and how strong it made him feel when her fingers curled slightly in the folds of his nightshirt. "It's alright, Hermione." He smoothed a hand down her head before resting it on he shoulders, the other holding her back. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid. Especially of something like that." When she didn't stop crying he added "I mean, it's not irrational. Not like being afraid of spiders or anything."
Hermione sniffled. No, wait, she was laughing! She laughed a little bit against his shoulder and Ron smiled. "There you go." He said quietly and leaned back a little bit. He curled a finger beneath her chin and lifted her face from his chest. "You see, it's okay? We're even safe now." Carefully with his other hand he wiped away the wetness under her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Hermione pulled away from him, still smiling. She wiped her own eyes with a groan. "I'm such an idiot sometimes. It's so stupid to cry, it isn't going to change anything!"
"There's nothing wrong with crying." Ron watched her as she took her hands from her eyes, sniffling a little bit still.
"Oh sure, Ron, that's why Harry always has to talk you out of the boy's toilet after you've locked yourself in, throwing a crying fit." She laughed again.
"Hey." He managed to sound slightly offended. "That's secret boy business. You shouldn't know anything about that."
Hermione glanced away from him a moment, her hands clasping in front of her. "Sorry, Ron. I'm so nosy, of course I found out."
"It doesn't matter." He assured her and reclaimed the step away that she had taken earlier, bringing them closer together. "I don't mind if a girl knows, as long as that girl's you." When he took her shoulders, Hermione looked up at him again. Both of them knew what was coming and neither of them pulled away. "I wouldn't mind, Hermione, if you knew everything about me." He leaned forward.
Hermione's cool fingers, still slightly damp from her tears, met Ron's face halfway, holding him steady as she leaned closer too, her eyes half closing. "I really wouldn't mind it either," She agreed before bringing their mouths together.
****
Harry didn't still have to be peeping in on them through the crack in the door that Ron had accidentally left to know what was going on in Hermione's room. In truth he hadn't been able to sleep as well as Ron had thought he had. He'd woken up a short time after his roommate had left in a cold sweat, tears in his eyes, and in complete, draining despair. It was always terrible when he woke up crying. Nothing felt as heavy and empty as that did.
He'd seen that Ron had left, and naturally that brought him to the crack in Hermione's door. Hermione crying in Ron's arms. He wasn't sure what that meant, or how it had happened, but when Ron stepped closer to her, and she looked up at him and saw only Ron, Harry knew he should probably give them some privacy. He'd closed the door and left it behind, creeping down the stairs and being careful not to wake up Mrs. Black. Maybe a glass of tea or some warm milk would return him to tranquility so he could finally get some sleep.
As Harry was about to step into the kitchen he noticed a light flickering in the drawing room. Curious, Harry abandoned his midnight venture and crept down the squeaky floorboards to peek inside the room. He almost left right away when he spotted none other than Draco Malfoy sitting against the arm of a sofa almost as big as he was. He was writing something, or so Harry assumed, although the quill in Draco's hand wasn't moving at the time.
He cleared his throat and the blonde's eyes snapped up to the door. They narrowed slightly as they saw him there, although Harry thought the look was half hearted and tired. "What do you want, Potter? Don't you have something better to do than skulk around doorways at this time of night?"
"I couldn't sleep." He admitted, although he sincerely wished he was, at that very moment, curled up in bed. His eyes felt so heavy it made Harry wonder if it was possible for someone to be too tired to rest. "I'd ask you the same thing."
"Hmph." Draco sniffed and looked away from him, back to the parchment beneath his hand. Lifting his fingers and quill away, it rolled up on itself and fell into his lap. "And once again it's none of your business." He gathered the scroll and set it on an end table near the arm of the sofa.
Harry noticed that Draco also had a warm cup of something steaming on that table, beside his paper. It made him wish he had grabbed a drink of his own before coming here. It was too late now, if he went to get tea and came back, Draco would probably be gone. He let himself in and took a seat in a dusty armchair.
Looking around this room didn't help Harry's mood much. He remembered spending a great deal of time here with Ron, Hermione, and Sirius, going through all of the Black family treasures. His eyes flickered to the family tree tapestry he and Sirius had discussed in the past. That stupid tapestry that had Draco's name on it, but Sirius' blasted out.
"You're writing a letter to your parents aren't you?" Harry asked to take his mind off of the angry train of his thoughts. "Hermione told me you write to them every day."
"She's wrong." Draco replied. "There's no point in writing to them anymore. They're both completely insane by now, thank you very much." When Harry didn't say anything and just watched him, Draco pressed his fingers into the arm of the chair with a scowl. "I don't care about them anyway." He informed him in a harsh tone. "They can rot in Azkaban!. They deserve it for abandoning me in a place like this."
"I don't believe you." Harry informed him. "There's no way that you feel that way about them, Draco."
The blonde didn't even flinch at the mention of his first name. He didn't stop to ponder what that could mean either. "You don't know anything about me, Potter."
"I know some things." He insisted. "I know that you write your parents every day and that you were writing to them just ten seconds ago!"
"You mean this?" Draco asked as he snatched up the scroll in question. "This is the letter to my parents? You think I care so much about them, do you?" The blonde shifted in his seat to lean over a candle he had lit to write by, one of the handful that had earlier caught Harry's attention. He touched the edge of the curled parchment to the flame and let it catch fire. He held it out to show Harry, smoke curling up towards the ceiling as the thick paper shriveled into black carbon. "If this is my parents, Potter, this is what I hope happens to them."
"You're such a liar." Harry sad flatly and got to his feet. He tore the flaming letter from Draco's hands, shaking out the fire. "What are you trying to prove anyway, Draco? If you don't care about me and what I think, why are you trying so hard to be tough?"
"I don't care what you think." Draco insisted and grabbed the letter from Harry's hands. Shaking it wasn't going to do any good. He tossed it to the floor, the flames flaring up again easily and then stomped it out for good, reducing it to a black stain on the already thin carpet.
Harry didn't look convinced and he glared at the spot on the floor where the letter had been dropped and then back up at Draco, who sneered back at him "You're such a bully, Draco. What would it take to get you to start acting decent to everyone?"
"Nothing short of a miracle, I assure you."
"We'll see about that. Listen, Draco, I'm not going to play around with you anymore." He pointed a finger at the blonde, something that made him scowl even more and shove Harry's hand away. He replaced the point, this time shoving his finger into Draco's chest. "I'm not going to take your rubbish anymore, either."
Draco grit his teeth and shoved Harry's hand away a second time. "Shut up, Potter. Don't touch me, you don't have the right."
"No, you shut up!" Harry snapped back. "I'm sick of this! I'm sick of putting up with you all the time. I don't care what sort of defense mechanism or whatever it is for you, I'm not going to put up with it!"
"Defense..what? Shut up, Potter." Draco's white fingers curled around the front of Harry's night clothes and he shook him. "Shut up or I'll close that rotten mouth for you!"
"Grow up!" The Gryffindor snapped back at him. "You're being a total prat! Do you even think about what you're doing? Everyone here is trying to give you a second chance but you keep throwing it back in their faces! Mrs. Weasley's trying so hard and you just give her a difficult time!"
"I don't care what that muggle-loving disgrace wants!" He shoved Harry backwards, away from him.
The Gryffindor recovered from his stumble easily and before Draco could turn and gather his things to leave, he took hold of his wrist. "This is your last chance, Malfoy! We're your last chance! You can either stop and change things here, or you can continue what you're doing and end up you know where!"
When Draco whipped around to face Harry it was with his fist raised. He didn't give the Slytherin a chance to swing though. Instead, he ducked his head and shoved him backwards onto to couch. "This is your last chance!" He repeated. "You can either straighten up or spend the rest of your life arguing with yourself and relying on some muggle-loving disgrace to wipe the drool off your chin!"
Draco tried to get to his feet again, but Harry pushed him back into the sofa. "We're not trying to change you, or take you away from your parents or anything like that." The Gryffindor informed him, his voice lowering some what. He backed away, letting his hands fall to his sides. Maybe it wouldn't be so threatening this way. "I'm not asking to run off and marry a muggle born and live happily ever after or anything like that! Just because you turn your back on the future your father and mother let out for you doesn't mean we all have to be friends. There isn't just good and evil, Draco. The sides aren't just Harry Potter and Voldemort. There's so much more to everything than that! I just want you to suck it up and give yourself a chance. Since it's about you and your future I'm assuming it's something you'd care about! Just cut out the rubbish and realize that everyone here just wants to help you!"
The blonde took in a deep breath and straightened slightly in his seat, smoothing out his shirt and his hair, but he didn't try to get up and leave again. Harry's shoulders slumped as all of the anger drained out of him as quickly as it had come. "Sorry." He said after a minute. "I'm just really tired." He fell back into the arm chair he'd occupied earlier and glanced out a window. "I-"
"Couldn't sleep." Draco finished, his voice crisp and confident although he had collected his tea and glared down at it, lifting his knees to his chest. "I kept dreaming about my mother."
Harry stared at Draco as he spoke. What kind of admission was this? Had his little tirade actually managed to leak through all the walls the other had built around himself? Had he made some sense after all? He didn't say anything, listening to the other as he spoke.
"Professor Snape took me to Azkaban to see them. I only saw my mother. She was a complete mess, I almost even didn't recognize her. When I was little, every night she used to read me a story and I would listen. For as long as I could keep my eyes open I'd watch her. My mother was so beautiful. I memorized every line of her face. But when I went to Azkaban I didn't even know it was her."
As he listened, Harry felt the familiar pangs of sadness settle in his gut. He had known that Snape had taken Draco somewhere but no one, not even Hermione, had expected where they had went would turn out to be anything like this.
"I don't want to end up like that, Potter, really. I've thought about all of this already and I've made my decision a long time ago, before you even showed up. No one is going to choose my fate for me. How I end up will only be because that's what I wanted."
Harry wasn't exactly sure what to say to any of that once Draco had finished. He sat in silence with the other boy, watching the Slytherin's face as he watched his tea, blew on the hot surface, and then took a sip. Finally, he felt a relieved smile creep over his face, and only then did Harry think it was okay to speak. "I'm really glad, Draco," he admitted. "I'm really glad to hear that."
****
"Rabastan! Where are you?" Rodolphus sang as he pranced down the corridor, peeking behind one door and then the other in a long hallway of many, many doors. "A-ha!" He announced yanking open the door to his bedroom. Two lumps in the sheets of his bed attested to two bodies lying beneath them.
Bellatrix Lestrange gave an exasperated sigh and twisted in the blankets, pulling them up to cover her naked body as she faced her husband. "Rodolphus, what in the world are you doing? Shut up, you're making my head ache."
"Rabastan!" Rodolphus exclaimed, and the second form groggily lifted his head. He looked at his brother and rolled his eyes, flopping back down onto the bed. Rabastan's arm, much more thick and muscled than Rodolphus', laced around Bellatrix's waist and pulled her snugly against him. Rodolphus stared. "What are you doing naked with my wife in my bed?"
With a grin that wrinkled the bridge of her nose, Bellatrix smiled and lifted a hand to comb through her wild black hair. "Don't worry, heart of my heart," She said, her voice thick with sarcasm. "Rabastan was just helping me massage a knot out of my back."
"But why naked?" Rodolphus wormed out of his shoes and untucked his shirt before crawling up onto the foot of the bed with them.
"It was a really deep knot." Rabastan replied and smirked, leaning forward to nibble a spot on Bellatrix' neck, already red with love bites. The woman laughed softly and twisted in his arms to face him. Pushing him onto his back, she perched on top of his body and leaned forward to kiss him.
"Hey!" Rodolphus glared, crawling up on the bed to glance between them. "This doesn't look like a massage to me. Rabastan if you're doing anything with my precious wife I'll-"
The kiss broke and Rabastan interrupted his brother in a dull tone. "Relax, Roddie, she's just helping me get something stuck in my teeth."
"Fine." He said suspiciously and slowly curled his legs beneath them, still watching them. "But don't call me that. You know I hate it when you call me that."
"Sorry." Rabastan replied, watching Bellatrix as she sat up on top of him. She ran her fingers up through her hair, tossing it down her back before lowering a hand to one of Rabastan's hips.
Her husband's brother was nothing like her husband now, but so much more like her husband before. He was muscled and strong, powerful and devious and down right dirty. She fidgeted slightly on him beneath the sheets, before a pleased smile curled Rabastan's lips. "Merlin." He groaned as Bellatrix sneered, rocking forward slightly on his body.
Rodolphus stared at them as if they were doing something truly queer and then laid on his stomach to watch. He had to make sure they didn't do anything too curious. He knew his brother had always been secretly envious of his wife. "I've decided." He announced to them.
"What...have you decided on, heart of my heart?" Bellatrix asked, a bit breathy.
"Harry Potter," He announced, a slow smile forming on his face. He rolled onto his back to look at the ceiling. His wife and his brother weren't doing anything out of the ordinary, he didn't have anything to worry about. "I saw him today-I've decided I'm going to possess him."
"That's nice." Bellatrix gasped and then moaned.
Rodolphus glanced at her only briefly. "When I get my hands on him I'm going to take him away with me. I'll lock him away somewhere private and perfect and keep him there just for me."
Something excited was rising in Rodolphus' voice that was much akin to his brother's tone as Bellatrix rocked back and forth on top of him. Rabastan said, "that's great news, brother. Hey, Rodolphus-" His voice broke off as he clenched his teeth, his hand on Bellatrix' thigh squeezing tightly. "I think Bellatrix and I are going to take a nap. If you're going to stay awake can you go somewhere else so we can get a decent rest?"
"Huh?" Rodolphus looked over at them and then smiled. "Oh. Okay, sure." He rolled out of the bed then and without any further hesitation, slipped from the room closing the door. They often wanted to take naps together and kick him out of the room. He heard his wife laugh when the door closed and called back. "Have a good night, darling wife!" Before he slid further down the hall.
He really didn't mind leaving them alone. Not when he had so much on his mind that he'd rather think about privately. Most importantly, he wanted to think about Harry Potter. As he haunted the hallways, his fingers trailing along the wood, he recalled that afternoon in his mind.
He hadn't expected to step out of Madam Malkin's and find Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy standing right in front of him. The former he knew, of course by the scar, and the latter because he was the spitting image of his dear, old father. Rodolphus hated Lucius Malfoy. He hated the way Lucius had always pushed him around. He hated the way Lucius had looked at his darling wife and how his darling wife had looked at him. He shook the memory of the pompous, blonde rat from his memory and replaced it with the soft image of the two boys he'd met in the Alley this afternoon.
Most importantly Harry Potter.
He had looked so sweet and tender. Completely untouched, innocent. He wanted to be the one to touch him. To spoil him. His smile was creeping up over his face again and he grinned as he leaned back against the wall in the hallway and slid to a crouch. His thin skeleton fingers, swollen only by knots of knuckles, laced in front of his mouth to conceal his glee. If he cold get Harry Potter, if he could own him, there were so many things he would want to do.
He wanted to make Harry Potter scream. He wanted to make Harry Potter wail and writhe and sweat and cry. He wanted Harry Potter to break down and sob. But the most important need, the most erotic desire, the one, singular goal that moved him the most, was the want to make Harry Potter bleed.
He wanted Harry Potter to bleed an ocean of blood.
Ch 1, Ch 2, Ch 3, Ch 4, Ch 5, Ch 6, Ch 7, Ch 8, Ch 9, Ch 10, Ch 11, Ch 12 (final)