Mmkay. There's spoilers here. So don't flame me if you read them. Sorry.
There is NO SLASH in this story unlike most of the other stories I have. hehe.
D/C: JK owns HP people.
Now. Please enjoy, as I worked hard on this one. I'm rather proud of it. It's in a little different style, but I think I did it well.
Enjoy.
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Tomorrow... never comes
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This cold night was the last. Tomorrow would be the end. There would be death. There would be bloodshed. There would be spirits torn from their bodies. There would be no where to hide. Sacrifice of all good in the world for the evil lord. Tomorrow there would be no more light. Tomorrow was drawing closer, and tonight was the last.
Down in the dungeons, the boy-who-lived was trapped. This time, there would be no one to save him. This time, he could not get out of it. He was alone in shackles. He was wandless in chains. Each time his young heart beat, stars flashed in his eyes. This was it. Time for his thoughts to surround him. The time of fear was over. You can only be afraid of pitch black for so long. You can only cry and scream for so long. Eventually, you figure it out. No one's coming. No one will help you. And when you learn there's nothing to do, the only way to entertain yourself, is think.
Harry had it figured out. He would face the Dark Lord, defeat him with the help of the order and Dumbledore, he would continue his schooling and become an Auror, live happily ever after with his true family-Sirius- and defeat bad guy after bad guy. But nothing ever worked as planned. He had come to accept this. He had no family. Dumbledore was gone and was never coming back. Never. He couldn't be an Auror because he wasn't going back to school. And, he had to defeat the Dark Lord and save millions. By himself. All alone. Him against the most evil sorcerer of all time.
Harry had come to accept that he was doomed. He knew that tomorrow he was thrown at the feet of Voldemort, shackles and all. He was to beg for his life, only to have it taken with a flash. That's really a horrible way to die. It's so simple. No time to think, no time to brood, no time to bleed. You just die. Just like that. And that's how it would be. He was killed and the rest of humanity was doomed. Doomed to death, slavery and eternal damnation, right here on earth. All because Harry had no chance.
He was taken in a deep sleep by his enemies-the Malfoys. He was locked up by Lucius. Told daily the countdown of days until he was given, skin and bone, to the Dark Lord. He had no way of counting time in the midnight black, underground prison cell. But sometime, a while ago, the harsh voice interrupted his eerie silence, nearly breaking his undisturbed eardrums, telling him, tomorrow was the day. So now he knew, too weak to even rattle the heavy chains, too weak to nod, barely strong enough to breath, that tonight was the final night. There was no more after tonight. No more at all. He couldn't even be left to die here in the dungeon, instead he was left till death and then killed in humiliation. All because he had to save the world. Him. By himself. No older than sixteen.
At once, a blinding light flooded the dungeon, but Harry didn't have the energy to stir. He wondered if he had died already. Maybe he could become a ghost and haunt the Malfoys forever. But once his hollow eyes adjusted, although blurry, Harry made out what looked to be Draco. Bet he was there to kick Harry and laugh when the frail boy couldn't feel the pain.
But no. Draco just stood and watched. Watched as the unblinking, dead, foggy eyes stared into him. Through him. Unseeing. The blonde took a step closer to the boy against a wall. Potter was the true sight of the living dead. His shirt hung off of him like a scarecrow and his arms were like twigs. He would have slipped his limbs from the shackles they were so thin, but with no energy, there was no way. Even if he had energy, Draco wondered if Harry would use it. The look in the eyes just told the whole world that he had given up hope. He had died inside already.
Draco took a key from his pocket. The eyes hadn't left him, but hadn't moved. He came close and unlocked the cuffs. Harry fell limp and staring. Just staring.
"Potter?" Draco whispers. The still air cracks with his sounds. Harry blinks slowly and Draco pulled out his wand. Charm after charm, and spell after spell before Draco is exhausted and Harry has enough energy to speak and to move, enough energy to leave.
"Why?" comes the whisper from the raven-haired boy. The voice is no longer his, but a lost voice of the undead. So deep and hollow, it doesn't belong to a person anymore.
"A life for a life." Came the reply. "Take the Dark Lord out. The world needs you Potter." Draco is leaving, but he hears Harry fall and turns back. The boy is sitting on the ground, looking in his lap and those lost eyes are still unblinking.
"I'm just a kid. Just one kid." He mutters over and over, quieter and quieter until there is no sound left. Draco is down by his side.
"I hate you Potter! Why can't you just make things right? This is your last chance. You're lucky I risked myself for you. Get the fuck out of here. Go kill him!" Draco growls angrily.
"I can't. I'm just a kid. Only one kid." He mutters again. Draco shakes him roughly by the shoulders. "Why do you care anyway? I bet it's a trap. Well, I'd rather die here. At least then I won't have to see the mirth on his face when I go down." He said completely ignoring that fact that Draco is gripping his shoulders tightly. Draco realized, Harry probably didn't even feel it. He pulled back and looked into the dead eyes.
"He wrecked my life. He wrecked my friends' lives. He wrecked hundreds of others and he's going to wreck more. Make it right Potter. You have the power to fix it. You have the strength to stop him from taking away all that is good in life Potter. I hate you now. I loath you, but at least I respect you. I respect what you have to do and I know you can do it. Now, if you give up on all the people out there, all the people who still need you, and love you, and fear you, and worship you, then you lose my respect. You lose the faith of all the good people in the world. You lose the hearts and lives and spirits of millions that believe in you. They believe you can do it. They need you. We all need you." Draco finished his rant in a hurt whisper. Seeing as Harry did nothing, Draco sighed and looked down.
"Potter, I need you." This at least made Harry look up. His unliving eyes met Draco's own lost ones. Harry sat in the growing silence. Just sitting. Thinking. Draco looked down. He thought maybe, just maybe, this kid could make it all right again. He cursed himself for believing in one kid, no older than himself. He got up to leave, but saw Harry rise as well. The savior looked over to the open shackles and chains and back to Draco.
"A life for a life." He whispers in his voice of the spirits. Draco gave a small smile before leaving the dungeon, without looking back, knowing Harry was leaving behind him. Once at ground level, they turned to face each other. The zombie of Harry and the ghost of Draco. So dead was one, and so pale the other. Never to be friends. Never to love one another. Never to shed tear for the other. But always respecting. Respecting what the other had to do. Respecting the differences in the dying hearts.
Harry takes one last look at the enemy and one last look at the mansion behind them. He looks to the escape hole they came through, down into the darkness. The darkness that took his soul, his life, his hopes and fears, his joys and loves. It took every tear from his body, and it took all but the skin and bone he was now. The dark behind them was the prison for the undead boy for the past who knows how long. Days, weeks, months. But it was the eternal prison for his heart and soul. He would never get the things back that he lost there. He was changed forever.
But now wasn't the time to brood. Now he had a job to do. He took one last look at the blonde before him. Draco closed his eyes, not wanting to see the dead look in Potter's, but knew he'd never forget it.
"I hate you Potter." He whispers. Harry smiles a little, knowing the meaning behind it. The hate being respect. Respect and pleading. Pleading that the end would finally come. Tonight would be the last for them all. Either way, good or evil, someone would fall.
"Likewise." Comes the response in the lost melody of death that is the spirits' voice. Harry looks out into the night. There are no stars. No moon. Only darkness. Mournful dark. Pleading that tomorrow won't come. The clouds cover the sky to make the last night last longer, but tomorrow will come. Tomorrow always comes.
Without looking back, Harry takes off into the night. To collect his final thoughts and seek out the Dark Lord. Draco watches his retreating figure and knows there's going to be hell. Nothing is going to be the same ever again. Ever. Everything will change and tomorrow is judgement day.
"Please..." Is all Draco can say. He whispers it to the black sky above, praying to all that the hope is enough. Praying that the good will finally prevail. Praying that tomorrow won't come. But, Tomorrow always comes.
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Remember, there's and epilogue. Please read it if you enjoyed this. The epilogue is in a different POV, but you might wanna know what happens. shrug
I hope that they weren't too out of char. Most of the time in my stories, I screw with them a lot. haha. This one, I tried to keep it more... not messed up. Hehe. Well, either way, hope you liked.
I totally made up the voice of the spirits, melody of death thing. I'm proud of that. :) lol.
Also I worked hard, so please review happily.
Thanks guys. I do hope you liked it!
Till next time.
-J X
