Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing while at the same time I own everything, I'm a contradiction and proud of it. Seriously though, I don't own anything from the HP world.

Author's Note: Okay, so I decided to post both this story and The Broken Prince: Prince of Shadows, so that all you lovely readers can see the first chapters and thus tell me which you would prefer to read more. Which you can either do through reviews or on my poll, yay me!

Blood Pact

A long time ago a dying god crashed through a dimensional barrier into our world. As the god lay dying the villager's that had seen the fall congregated around the body and every one of them felt such despair and sorrow that such a being would soon be dead. Sensing the empathy of these strange creatures the god gathered what strength it had left and spoke to the villagers. Asking them if they would each be willing to take on an aspect of its power until such a time when a suitable vessel should be found to claim it all back. Entranced by the gods' beauty, the villagers agreed and so they all entered into an irreversible pact; a pact made in blood...

Chapter One: The Meeting

In which Harry meets someone very interesting, with a very interesting proposition...

It was not the kind of night where you wanted to be running for your life and yet, that was the situation that Harry currently found himself in. He was slightly regretting his decision to follow the spiders, sure Aragog had been kind of helpful but now he and Ron had to run from the giant arachnids that wanted to eat them. Speaking of Ron, Harry had somehow been separated from the red head and while he was worried for his friend, he also knew that he couldn't help Ron when his own situation was so dire. He was so exhausted and he didn't think that he could stay ahead of the arachnids for much longer, when he suddenly stumbled and fell over. Harry knew that this was the end; the spiders would have him now as they weren't that far behind him to begin with.

Harry felt his body tense in anticipation as he waited for the spiders to launch themselves onto him and tear him to shreds. Moments passed as Harry stayed where he was, heart pounding in a fear that slowly quietened when no spiders leapt onto him. Hardly daring to breathe, Harry slowly got to his feet and glanced behind him, where what he saw made him swing around and stumble back a few steps. In the trees surrounding the clearing that he had fallen into were a multitude of spiders, all of which were watching him with their cold, insectile eyes but, oddly, none moved after him into the clearing. Bewildered by this strange turn of events, Harry was just contemplating what he should do now when a weak, shattered voice spoke from behind him.

'They won't enter.'

Startled, Harry spun around and saw that there was one large tree in the middle of the clearing and leaning against it was a man. Cautiously Harry moved towards the man and as he got closer his wariness faded when he saw how sick and weak the stranger was, clearly this man was not a threat.

'Why won't they enter?' asked Harry curiously, relaxing slightly now that he knew that, for the moment, he was safe.

'Because they are afraid' replied the man in a wet sounding wheeze.

'What are they afraid of?'

'Me.'

'You!' exclaimed Harry incredulously.

At Harry's look and tone of shock and utter disbelief, the stranger gave a wheezing laugh of amusement that soon turned into powerful, whacking coughs. Harry stood there watching the stranger, unsure as to what he should do, eventually, though, the strangers coughing subsided and he looked up at Harry with a weak smile but Harry was too shocked by the blood coming out of the others mouth to return the smile.

'Ah, empathy, what a... unique emotion' said the stranger, giving Harry a curious look.

'Do you need help?' asked Harry, slightly worried.

'The kind of help that you're talking about wouldn't help me at all' sighed the stranger wearily.

'Why wouldn't it help?'

'Because my problem isn't the conventional type of problem.'

'What is your problem?' asked Harry, kneeling beside the stranger and resting one hand gently on the others arm.

'Something that no one can help me with, unless they really want to and would be willing to give anything for' said the stranger, gasping for air.

'What would they have to be willing to give?' asked Harry softly and causing the stranger to glance at him sharply with a strange look in his cerulean eyes.

'They'd have to be willing to give up their fear, anger and hatred but they'd also need to be willing to give up their courage, compassion and love as well as all the other feelings that they're likely to experience in this life' said the stranger just as softly.

'No fear?' said Harry to himself, still in that same soft tone.

'Yes, fear would have to be given up' replied the stranger just as softly and a look of understanding crossed his features.

'But why? Why would emotions have to be given up?'

'Because you can only truly understand how important something is once it has been lost to you' explained the stranger, wheezing heavily.

'Okay, I'll help you, tell me how I can' said Harry softly but firmly, looking the stranger in the eye with a fierce resolve.

'Are you sure about this? Once it's done you can never go back' warned the stranger in a solemn tone that was slightly ruined by his constant wheeze.

'Yes, I want to help you and... I... I don't want to be afraid anymore.'

'Then you must enter the Pact and to do so I must mark you with its sign' said the stranger and he seemed to pull a strange looking knife from the ground beside him.

A little apprehensive though he wasn't afraid, Harry stayed where he was and studied the strange blade. The knife was as flat as any blade but it was as slim as a needle and seemed to be made out of either a gold coated metal or it was actually real gold.

'Where would you like the mark to be? And please make it somewhere where it'll be hard to find' said the stranger in between gasping breaths.

'Here' said Harry, placing a hand on his pelvis, near the left hip bone.

'Okay, you're going to have to hold your clothes out of the way,' said the stranger and when Harry had done this the stranger placed the blade against Harry's flesh and started to write something in a strange language while at the same time he said, 'I pass to you that which I couldn't complete and thus the Pact continues. To see it through you must find your bonded, whose scent will be irresistible to you, and you must make whole what was broken before your twenty-first birthday.'

The stranger finished writing and talking at the same time and when he did Harry felt an intense pain along his sternum, almost like it was being ripped apart and he collapsed, screaming at the pain. The pain went on for what felt like an eternity and only got worse with each passing second. Now, in actual fact, the pain only lasted for the amount of time for the stranger to draw what little strength he had left to complete the last stage of the transferral and to say softly, "Leave my body for the spiders." Once the transferral was complete the stranger collapsed into death and Harry slumped into unconsciousness.

A while later Harry awoke and, with some effort, he slowly sat up and groggily looked around. It didn't take him long to notice the stranger lying dead by his side and his mind wondered why he didn't feel anything. He knew that he should feel something at the others death; be it shock, fear, sadness or something else but he was curiously empty of emotions.

Feeling eyes on him, Harry glanced around the clearing and noticed that all the spiders were still there, though none of them had moved any closer while he was out. Knowing that he should feel curious at this oddity Harry just shrugged his shoulders, stood up and headed towards the spiders he had desperately feared only hours ago. At his approach the spiders hurriedly moved out of his way, as if they were now afraid of him. Harry knew that he should be worried by this but he wasn't and he knew that should worry him as well. But even though he knew how he should feel, he couldn't feel those emotions. It seemed that the stranger had been telling him the truth when he'd said that Harry wouldn't feel things anymore.

Without looking back, thus he missed seeing another stranger step out of the trees into the clearing, Harry headed further into the forest as he looked for the way out. As he walked Harry became aware of a strange, sticky sensation on his chest and after moving his darker clothes out of the way he realized that he was covered in blood. Knowing that he'd have to hide the blood stained clothes and have a shower when he got back to the dormitories, Harry increased his pace all the while he was thinking that it would be best if he didn't run into anyone. He didn't know how he'd explain things if he did and he wanted to keep what had happened to himself for the moment.

It seemed that luck was on his side for Harry found the castle and made it all the way to the dormitories without seeing anyone. Once in the dormitory Harry glanced around and he noticed that Ron had made it back safely and was currently snoring his head off. Knowing that he should probably feel annoyed that Ron had made it back and had gone to sleep while he, himself had been stuck in the forest. Harry just shrugged his shoulders, collected his pyjama's and went into the bathroom so that he could wash off the blood.

Making sure that the door was locked behind him, Harry proceeded to remove his upper clothing while at the same time he was thinking that he would have to get rid of them. Once the clothes had been removed Harry realized that there was something wrong with his chest and so he turned to the mirror to examine it. What he saw should've frightened and alarmed him, he knew this and still he felt nothing. There was a hole in his chest, sitting right where the sternum should be but the bone itself seemed to be missing. The hole was around three inches in length and closely resembled a knife wound; being thickest in the middle, around an inch and a half, and then tapering down into thin points at either end. Harry could see his heart within the wound, his unbeating heart, and even this could not make him feel the emotions he knew he should. It was obviously this wound that had covered him in blood but strangely enough it wasn't bleeding now, even though he still had blood within him.

Deciding that this must be part of the Pact that the stranger had been talking about; Harry removed his clothes and proceeded with his shower, making sure that he removed all traces of the blood covering his skin. Once he'd finished Harry dried and dressed himself before heading out of the bathroom and climbing into bed. Just before Harry tried to fall asleep, he wondered what the purpose of everything that had happened to him was and if he'd ever find out.