This is the sixth year story, after Heaven on Earth and before A Parselmouth's Kryptonite. Please read and review! This has slash, so beware! HP/DM, RL/SB, so if you don't like it, take a hike, k? Oh, and I don't own HP.
GIVE ME THE STRENGTH
By
Sandra Solaria Dees
"Hey, Harry, look at Malfoy," Ron pointed over to the Slytherin table.
Draco Malfoy was sitting alone at the Slytherin table, not eating. He was paler than usual and his cheekbones stuck out farther than his cheeks, which was sucked in harmfully. His eyes where cold and emotionless. He had dark circles under his eyes and his lips were cracked. He was dangerously thin and his robes hung loosely over his shoulders.
"You'd better talk to him," Hermione said. "He doesn't look too good."
"I'll talk to him after dinner," Harry replied, not taking his eyes off the object of his affection. Something was wrong with his boyfriend, and he was going to find out what.
"Did he owl you at all this summer?" Hermione asked.
Harry shook his head," Said it was too dangerous. If Lucius found out..."
"I don't understand why he's avoiding you," Hermione replied.
"I know why. He's a prick that's why," Ron snickered.
Harry and Hermione glared at the red head and he quickly shut up.
"Ron, you have to put up with him for two more years. Be nice," Harry told him. "We might even end up living together."
"Ugh. I shudder to think," Ron grimaced. Harry grinned at him and dug out a small velvet box from his pocket.
"Look what I've got," Harry smiled, opening the box. There was a gold ring with seven emeralds surrounding a diamond in the middle of it.
"You're going to propose to him?" Hermione squealed, careful to keep her voice down.
"Yeah. I'm thinking after Christmas I'll do it," Harry beamed closing the case and putting it back.
"Oh, you could have the House Elves send up a romantic dinner to your tower and you could put it in something, maybe a roll, and then when he sees it," Hermione clasped her hands together and sighed.
Ron scowled and Harry grinned at her.
***
Draco looked around, paranoid, and caught the eyes of his boyfriend, Harry Potter. Draco scowled and broke the eye contact. Grabbing his bag, he made his way out of the Great Hall quickly. Hoping Harry hadn't held the eye contact and seen him leave, Draco ran down the corridor, heading towards the secret tower that he and Harry had first made love in.
When he got there, he dug around in his bag and pulled out a piece of parchment and a vial filled with a blue potion. The parchment had Draco's tidy scrawl on it with Harry's name at the top. Laying it on their bed, Draco sighed and clambered up onto the down comforter. The blonde uncorked the vial, threw his head back, and drained it in one gulp. It worked instantly and he fell back onto his pillow, unconscious.
Harry rushed in just a moment later, and seeing Draco on the bed, vial in his hand, ran to the Slytherin. He picked up the note and scanned through it.
My beloved Harry,
I hate to leave you, but I must. Father found out about us and he cursed me. There is no counter curse and I am dying. I'd rather die at my own hand than his. Please, please understand, love. Mon coeur, don't be saddened by my departure and please do not do the same. I truly love you, and I want you to be happy. Please forgive me, my love, my heart. I wish I could live with you and marry you and take your name. Please remember me as Draco Potter, and not Malfoy. I'll be with you always.
Draco Ian Malfoy-Potter
"Shit!" Harry cursed, throwing the letter down. He began shaking Draco. "Draco, wake up! Damn. I've got to get you to the hospital wing."
Harry slid his arms under Draco's legs and neck and easily picked the boy up.
***
"It's a good thing you go him here quickly, Mr. Potter," Mme. Pomfrey told him. "He should wake in a few hours."
Harry nodded and brushed a lock of hair out of Draco's eyes.
*********Three hours later*********
"Why couldn't you just let me die, damn it?" Draco yelled, pacing around the room.
"Because I love you, stupid!" I can't just let you die like that!"
"I'm going to die anyway, you stubborn bastard!"
"So what? As soon as you do, I will to!"
"What?!"
"As soon as you go, I will too. I found this convenient little potion that connects you and me. As soon as you die, the potion will kick in and within hours," Harry snapped his fingers to emphasize. "It's called the Zielparen {1} Potion."
"You idiot! Now you're going to die!"
"I know," Harry answered nonchalantly. "You're going to die, so I'm going with you."
"God, Harry! You're the only one who can defeat Voldemort and you're going to die before you're 17!"
"Draco, love, I couldn't beat him without you anyway," Harry said softly, wrapping his arms around Draco's waist. Draco laid his head on Harry's shoulder and began crying. Slowly, Harry began dancing, pulling Draco along in the comforting rhythm.
"Shh...It'll be okay, Draco. No matter what, we'll always be together," Harry whispered, kissing Draco's hair.
***
"There's no cure for the potion or the curse, Sirius. I'm sorry," Remus said, wrapping his arms around the convict.
"He's going to die. God. I've let them down, Remus. James and Lily, I'm sorry," Sirius cried out, barring his head in Remus's robes.
"Sirius, listen to me. You did not let them down. They would understand. They know what love can do to somebody," Remus told him. "They wouldn't blame you for anything, Padfoot. In fact, I'm willing to bet that James'd blame himself."
"I just don't know what to do, Moony! I haven't been there for him when he needed it!"
"You have been there, Sirius. After the tournament, you where there. In those awful summers after he met you, you where there. Siri, even though you weren't there all those years, you've tried to make up for it, and Harry understands why you couldn't be there. He knows it's not your fault," Remus told him, strongly.
"I know. But I still can't help feeling it," Sirius sighed, flicking a stray hair out of Remus's eyes. "What can I do, though?"
"What we can do is try and see if there's a cure that they overlooked. We can start in the library. Then we can..." Remus was cut off by Sirius's lips on his.
When they pulled away from each other, Remus asked," What was that for?"
"To get you to shut up for a second. Plus I realized we haven't kissed each other in 15 years," Sirius answered, kissing Remus's neck.
Remus moaned," You're right. The last kiss you gave me was when you left to go check on Peter."
"That's not the only thing we did that night," Sirius grinned, trying to put the dark part of that night in the back of his mind.
"The afterglow didn't last very long that night," Remus sighed, sitting down on the bed.
"God, Remus. Can you ever forgive me? Why in Merlin's name did I think it was you?"
"It was only natural for you to think it was me, Sirius. I'm a werewolf! We're dark creatures," Remus told the animagus.
"You're not a dark creature, Remmie! Fuck, you're as 'bout as far from a dark creature as they can get!"
"You know what I mean, Sirius. And anyway, I think we're even. I thought it was you," Remus sighed, looking down at his hands.
"If I hadn't been laughing like a maniac..."
"Let's not talk about his anymore, love."
"You're right. What's done is done. Right now, we need to focus on the task at the hand: finding a cure for either the Mortel {2} Curse, or the Zielparen Potion. But first," Sirius grinned seductively as he pushed Remus back onto the bed and straddled his hips.
"I don't think so," Remus growled, flipping Sirius onto his back and reversing their positions.
"Full moon's next week, huh?"
"You know me too well," Remus growled again, nibbling on his lover's neck, being careful not to break the skin.
"You never answered my question, love. If I bite you..."
Remus cut him off by covering Sirius's mouth with his own and yanking Sirius's robes off.
***
"I've always said Potter was an idiot," Snape sneered.
"Well, I seem to remember you trying to poison your self like Malfoy did about twenty years ago," Rosa {3} Sprout smirked.
"Stay out of my business, Rosa."
"No, I don't think I will, Severus," Rosa grinned. "If I remember correctly, it was very similar to the predicament Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Potter are under."
"I meant to say the rest of the curse, but he stopped me," Severus growled.
"To bad," Rosa muttered.
"It's strange how two letters can make all the difference in the world," Minerva spoke. "The Mortel Curse doesn't have a cure, but the Mort Curse does."
"That's it, Minerva!" Sinistra exclaimed. "The Mortel and Mort {4} Curses are so closely related; maybe the cure will work on both!"
"You just might be onto something, Sirena !"{5}
***
"Draco, my love, please stop crying. Everything's going to be fine," Harry whispered, rubbing the blonde's back softly.
"Harry, I'm not going to stop crying. This is why I drank the poison! So you wouldn't do something like this!" Draco pushed away from him, tears still leaving trails upon his face. "Why...why?"
Draco's voice became hoarse and he started coughing harshly.
"Draco?" Harry was beside him in an instant. Draco didn't stop coughing. There was a splatter and Harry saw the blood dripping from Draco's hand, which was covering his mouth as he coughed. "Draco, we've got t o get you to the hospital wing."
Draco nodded weakly and Harry held onto him tightly, the Slytherin's body still wracked with the painful coughs.
End of Chapter One
1: Zielparen- Dutch for soulmate. It binds the two people who's hair's in it and when one dies, the other does as well.
2: Mortel Curse- French for lethal, fatal, and/or deadly. This curse slowly kills the person it's cast on. This is the curse that doesn't have a cure that anyone knows of.
3: Rosa Sprout- Well, Professor Sprout doesn't have a first name in the books, so I gave her one!
4: Mort Curse- French for dead, death, and/or casualty. This curse is identical to the Mortel Curse, except it works slower to kill and it has a cure to it. Cure not revealable at this time eg
5: Sirena Sinistra- Sinistra, the Astronomy professor, didn't have a first name either, so I gave her one too.
Thanks for reading, now please review.