Hey! There are two parts to this one-shot, devided by a page break. Please don't get confused, the moods are completely different in the two parts, but the first part sets the scene. I can't think of anything else to say now, so I'll talk to you at the end of the story.
Warnings - Slash, oneshot, mutilation of the Dark Lord's name, AU, and vampire Draco (not to mention harpy Pansy)
Disclaimer - If I owned Harry Potter... Please, don't get me started. 8 days!
Music - For the second part, listen to Sweet Baby James, Carolina In My Mind, and/or Fire and Rain, all of which are by James Taylor. I wrote that part to them.
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Somewhere, far away from human lands in one of the many kingdoms of the damned, there was a young man; a teenager if you will, holding conference with a ruler of the damned, with the help of another hiding from the light.
"Tell them about your position against this 'Dark Lord' person; they don't like him." The nearly silent breath of a Vampire Bat murmured against Harry's ear. A small shudder trickled uncontrollably down his spine. As many times as the self proclaimed 'Prince of Darkness' and him had pulled this trick, he still couldn't get used to it. He barely managed to suppress his urge to ask the vampire how he could tell when he realized no one knew he was there but Harry himself. There were disadvantages to hiding a bat in your hat for advice.
"Of course, you realize why I'm forming this army." The dark haired teen stated smoothly. It didn't hurt to take the bat's word, he hadn't been wrong yet.
"No, actually, I don't." The harpy, yes, really a harpy, sneered at the human. Not only was he a human, he was a small human, puny even! Pansy had seen normal sized men with her own beady little eyes, eaten them with her own sneering mouth, and this-this runt had the nerve to come to her kingdom and address her like an equal!
"You've heard of Voldemort, haven't you?" Harry inquired calmly, not breaking eye contact with the rather large, and not to mention hideously ugly, bird-woman.
"That's it; don't let her see you're afraid." The bat whispered reassuringly, keeping an eye on the creature through the small hole in the hat designed expressly for that purpose. It was surprising really, vampires never showed that much emotion; they didn't have any.
"Of course I've heard of that vermin, he's been destroying our hunting ground!" Pansy squawked angrily. "Killing all the humans! He could at least use the meat, but no, he has to burn the flesh and taunt us with the smoke!" Harry gulped discreetly. Draco was indeed a very observant vampire. Said vampire bit Harry's ear lightly at the moment to force him to continue the task at hand.
"I'm forming the army to attack him, and hopefully destroy him. But we, the human, can't do it by ourselves. I believe that this vendetta might just be in both our interests." If Harry's words were a little rushed, it went unnoticed by the scavengers. He could have sworn he heard the vampire snicker, but he might have been mistaken.
"And why do you think we would help humans?" The Carrion Queen purred, standing from her throne of bones strutting toward the human general. The vampire twitched in mild distress and gently clawed his host's ear.
"Mention us." He hissed.
"Because." The dark haired teen (not even a man!) stated placidly, trusting his advisor's words more than he probably should have. "The vampires are on my side." The expression on the harpy's face was priceless at first, totally shocked and disbelieving. That was before the anger came.
"You lie, human! No vampire would help a man, let alone all of them! They feed off your species like we do; they have no reason to support you, let alone to fight with you as you claim!" The bird's talons were coming distressingly close to the general's face when the snow white vampire bat slipped out from under the rim of the human's hat and hissed at the bird.
"Things change, Pansy." Draco sneered. The affect was somewhat dampened by the slightly drawn out pronunciation in his bat form and moderately squeaky voice, but the harpy backed off all the same. "This 'Moldywart' person threatens all of us. If he gets what he wants, he'll kill all the humans, and if they die, we die. All of us; vampires, harpies, and werewolves alike. I see no reason not to help the humans in this battle."
"D-draco!"
Needless to say, after the vampire leader made an appearance, it wasn't hard to get the harpies to join the war. The blonde seemed to invoke fear in most species, especially those who hunt the night.
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They left the bleak forest of the harpies a little after nightfall, allowing the vampire to walk in his humanoid form amongst the trees. Occasionally, he'd disintegrate into the darkness, but he always returned shortly. He kept a diligent watch over the only hope for the human race.
Nearing high-moon time, Harry stopped in a clearing, somewhere deep in the forest. Immediately, the Vampire Prince was at his side.
"What's wrong?" The Dragon touched the teen's elbow in a gesture of concern he'd once observed. A shiver ran up the general's spine and the vampire cocked his head in thought. "Are you cold? You could have my cloak, I don't need it."
"No, Draco." He whispered quietly. He turned his head toward the pale boy and his breath caught. In the moonlight, which was really the only way Harry ever saw the vampire's human form, he was stunning. His pale hair glinting like silver, eyes swirling like mercury. His skin was so pale, like porcelain, and Harry knew if he touched him, he would be just as cold.
The vampire, on the other hand, just stared at the human with mild interest, trying to label his expressions with the many others he'd seen before. He showed no surprise when the teen moved and touched his face, though, normally, he would never have allowed such an action. He couldn't help but let confusion show in his eyes when the other boy leaned forward and pressed his lips against his.
The kiss, if you could call it that, was soft and desperate; sickeningly sweet and yet sad all the same. The vampire didn't even respond as the teen pulled away, tears shining in the moonlight. None of this did anything to abate the blonde's confusion.
"What's wrong?" The question was just as soft as before, though it was laced with an almost pathetic puzzlement. Harry just looked into the other boy's eyes and couldn't find anything in the mercury, just lost himself in the depths. He remembered vaguely that mercury was a deadly poison. He broke eye contact.
"You don't feel anything for me, d-do you?" The brunette's eyes shone in the darkness as his voice broke in defeat. The vampire tried to gage the expression in the emerald pools to no avail.
"What do you mean by that?" The uncertainty was quite clear in the smooth words. The general's gaze returned from the tree where they strayed and stared at his companion for a good long while.
"You know, you don't like me, or love me, or anything like that." His voice, slightly higher than his escorts held a hint of something; something that might have been mistaken for hope.
"Oh." Draco sat gracefully on the ground, trying to grasp the weight of the situation. He looked as old, or maybe a little older, as Harry himself, but he'd been alive (or something akin) for a very, very long time, and he hadn't encountered anything like this since he'd 'died.' "Harry, I don't think you really understand vampirism." He looked up at the teen with a slightly saddened expression.
"W-what do you mean?" The brunette hesitated before sitting down next to the vampire lord.
"When you pass over, you lose some things. It sort of understood. That's why they call it a half life." Draco whispered, staring at the moon as if it was the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen. "There are the obvious thing, like your own blood and the ability to walk in the sunlight, to touch silver, things like that. But there are other things that you might not know beforehand. As a vampire, you don't really feel like you know it; emotions and other such things. We don't know guilt or sadness or happiness or… love."
"W-wha—?" The blonde held up his hand to stem the coming questions.
"It makes sense, really." He stated grimly, letting an almost bitter smirk cross his features. "We don't have hearts, or, at least, working ones. How would we feel anything? As for your question, I don't feel much of anything. I can feel pain in a physical sense, but other than that, everything's a mental process. I can tell you what I think of you if you'd like." He glanced down at the younger boy through his eyelashes in what could have been considered a flirtatious look under different circumstances.
"Okay." The smaller boy whispered, letting the other's deeper voice entrance him, knowing it was hopeless, but admiring the other boy anyway.
Draco looked at the human with interest for a moment, yet again trying to assess what he might be feeling and deciding it was an impossible quest for the likes of him. "I think you're interesting. I think you have more hope than most humans. You seem to be unafraid of death. You are the only creature to really interest me in… ages. That and you have strange eyes. Could I ask you a question?" His explanation flowed into his inquiry so smoothly; the general almost didn't catch it.
"S-sure?"
The vampire looked at the younger boy with an unreadable mask, his eyes nearly begging the teen. "What do you feel for me?"
"I-I…" Harry's eyes stung, gazing at the porcelain god in front of him. "It's hard to explain." He barely managed to choke out around the lump in his throat, liquid trails falling down his face.
"Just try." Draco breathed, wiping the tears away with a cold hand.
"When you touch me… it's like lightening. It doesn't hurt, it's just… well, shocking I guess." The dark haired boy murmured, raising a hand to touch the vampire's cool cheek. "When you talk to me in that really quite voice, when you're giving me instructions or just telling me something… It's like your voice goes through my bones. I can feel what you're saying. And—" His voice cracked, his fingers trailing slowly over the blonde's countenance, memorizing it as if when he was done he'd never see him again. "And when you look at me, really look me in the eyes, it's like I could drown in your eyes. Gods, I love your eyes…" He turned his face away from his companion and stood rigidly. "I-I'm sorry." He whispered.
"For what?" The vampire questioned, standing as well and staring at the smaller human.
"I don't know!" Harry shouted as the vampire jumped back in surprise. "F-for meeting you, or liking you, or just- Everything. I'm sorry."
"Shut up." The blonde commanded, taking the other boy by the chin and forcing him to look in his eyes. "I don't see what you have to apologize for and I think it's useless to feel guilty, anyway. You have nothing to feel guilty for. I just don't understand, but—"
"I—" The vampire put a finger over the green-eyed boy's lips to quiet him and watched him shiver.
"But..." He repeated quietly. "I can try."
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This is a scene from a story I've been planning for ages. Basically, I have the prologue and this chapter written, but I have damn near the whole thing planned out in my head. I hope this part wasn't confusing by its self, it's just one of my favorite parts besides my ending and I haven't managed to write that yet.
Please, since you made it this far, reveiw! I might acctually get to writing the entire story if I know you guys like this part.
Love,
Averon