(A/N) Hello! This will be a chaptered fic! Its Harry/Draco slash of course and it is set in their last year at Hogwarts- when the castle is being held hostage by the Death Eaters, Dumbledore is dead etc. Anyway…please enjoy and REVIEW!
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CHAPTER ONE: These Ghosts I See
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In Harry Potter's seventh and final year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry the war with Voldemort took a terrible and unexpected turn. What people had thought to be impossible became the possible. Hogwarts was invaded and Dumbledore was murdered, not even by Voldemort but by his second in command- Lucius Malfoy. With Dumbledore dead Hogwarts fell quickly to the Death Eaters and became a concentration camp of sorts- a place for Voldemort to keep his prisoners.
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Outside the castle the rain fell heavily, landing with soft pats on the autumn leaves that carpeted the ground. The remains of Hagrid's hut lay dully in the grey sunlight, sad reminders of the friendly half-giant. Harry sighed as he stared out of the window in the Gryffindor boy's dormitories. Behind him, near the fire-place, Ron and Seamus sat playing Wizard's chess. They had asked him to join in but Harry had declined. He knew that they were only trying to keep spirits up but he couldn't see the point.
Everyone turned to him for help. If they had a problem, if they needed a shoulder to cry on it was always Harry they came to, and frankly- he was sick of it. Dumbledore was dead, if even he- the greatest wizard alive- could not defeat Voldemort then what hope had Harry? And how fair was it really, to pin all the hopes and dreams of freedom for the entire wizarding world on one seventeen year old boy?
Harry frowned and pushed his glasses up his nose, he felt so tired…so tired of it all. With another sigh he pushed himself up from his seat at the window and turned to face Ron and Seamus.
"I'm going for a walk." He said- neither replied. Either they had not heard or could not be bothered- either way Harry didn't care.
With one last look at them Harry made his way out through the common room. Hermione and Ginny were in there, sitting by the fire, reading some book. Harry barely glanced at them; his feet seemed to be moving all by themselves. It had once been a source of comfort- being around his friends, but now it was stifling. They too depended fully on him and Harry could not take it. He needed to escape- their pleading eyes were more torturous to him than anything Voldemort could come up with.
As the portrait shut behind him Harry smiled a little in relief. His smile soon faded however, as he spotted a masked Death Eater lurking in the dark shadows of the corridor. Keeping his emerald eyes glued to the stone floor Harry quickly hurried past, his skin freezing as he felt dark eyes following him.
There were other pupils wandering the corridors as well- all of them pale and sickly looking. Some nursing bruises and other suspicious looking injuries. Each pair of wide eyes he passed called out to him- begging for his help. Harry ignored them and walked determinedly past- they were all ghosts, ghosts come to haunt him in his prison.
He shivered a little, ever since the Death Eaters had arrived the school had become like an ice-house. No matter how many fires were lit they never gave off any warmth. Harry wrapped his black school robes tighter about him- thankful to have them at last.
"Having a leisurely stroll are we Potter?" asked a rather amused voice from the shadows beside him.
Harry turned a little and Draco Malfoy emerged from the darkness, his white-blonde hair now falling to his shoulders and his silver eyes staring out from a thin face. A face that hadn't seen daylight for months and that yet, in its paleness and sharpness was still beautiful- even if Draco's trademark sneer was slashed across it.
"What do you want Malfoy?" Harry asked in annoyance, although he wasn't annoyed really. Draco was the only one at the school who didn't seem to be relying on Harry to save his life and Harry quite liked that. There were some things that would never change. Still, he had to wonder why the only son of Voldemort's second in command was being kept hostage by his own father. Harry had been sure that Draco was a Death Eater, now he wasn't so sure.
"What would make you think I would ever want anything from you?" Draco asked, leaning against the wall. Dressed in muggle jeans and a white school shirt- from this angle his lack of robes made it easy for Harry to see how painfully thin the other boy had become.
Harry stared at him and ran a hand through his messy, jet black hair. "If you don't want anything Malfoy, then bugger off."
Draco raised an eyebrow and an amused smirk spread across his face. "Where are you going?" he asked, ignoring Harry's last request.
Harry glared at him and began to walk again but was stopped after two steps by Draco suddenly appearing in front of him. Harry rolled his eyes. "Bugger off Malfoy." He said, trying to push past the smaller boy. But Draco would not budge; instead he just folded his thin arms and glared at Harry, his silver eyes shooting sparks.
Finally Harry gave up and crossed his own arms. "What?" he snapped, flinching a little as another black-cloaked Death Eater slithered past, enveloping them both in darkness for one fleeting moment.
Draco sneered at him, his eyes glinting in the darkness and his jeans sliding dangerously low on his hips. "I'm bored Potter." He drawled slowly, his eyes never leaving Harry's face- watching for his reaction.
"You're bored?" Harry asked in disbelief. Didn't Draco understand the situation they were in?
"Yes Potter," Draco sneered. "Are you deaf? I'm bored….do you want to come for a smoke?"
Reaching into his left pocket Draco pulled out a rather crumpled cigarette packet and waved it in front of Harry's face. Harry wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"I don't smoke Malfoy." He said shortly, pushing the other boy's arm away from his face. Harry wondered if being stuck in Hogwarts was finally getting to Draco, after all it wasn't a particularly sane thing to ask your most detested enemy to come for a smoke with you.
"You could always start." Draco said unhelpfully, a little frown present on his pale face.
Harry sighed and spun Draco around so that he faced away from Harry. Pushing the other boy firmly forward, he said "Piss off!"
Draco sauntered down the hallway a little before spinning back around and resting once more against the stone wall. His large silver eyes never leaving Harry's face, Draco took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, bowing his head a little he lit it and Harry caught a glimpse of an expensive looking silver lighter. Typical, he thought- Malfoy could never stop showing off.
"That'll kill you y'know." Harry said, watching in disgust as Draco let a few ashes fall to the floor.
A crooked slash of a smile cut its way across Draco's face and he let out a small laugh. "You amuse me Potter." He said, looking at Harry with a rather fond expression- if Draco could be capable of such an expression.
For a moment Harry almost considered taking Draco up on his offer, but reality set in. He had no time to be exchanging insults, jibes or cigarette air with Malfoy when hundreds of people were suffering inside and out of Hogwarts castle walls. Plus- those suffering inside were suffering at the elegant hands of Lucius Malfoy…so if Draco was anything like his father…which he was, Harry couldn't trust him.
"Trust me." Harry said. "The feeling's not mutual." With one last glare at Draco, Harry walked away- pretending to be oblivious to the cackling laughter coming from behind him. There was definitely something up with Draco.
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A candle flickered in one of the many deserted dungeon hallways. Draco shivered in his thin white shirt, why hadn't he put on his robes that morning?
He was trying to find Professor Snape; he had been trying to find Snape for at least three hours now….since he had spoken to Potter.
Draco laughed at that thought, the sound unnaturally loud in the wide dark space. He liked to wind Harry up; in fact he lived for it. It was the only thing left anymore.
Draco shuffled along the hallway a little more, his arms wrapped tight around his thin frame and his sharp teeth gnawing painfully at his bottom lip. He looked like a little child, lost and all alone in the dark.
"Fucking Voldemort." He muttered under his breath. "Where are you Snape?"
Just then Draco realised he was talking to himself; the first sign of madness- whispered his brain. "Shut up." Draco said firmly, then he shook his head…this was ridiculous.
Suddenly his silver eyes snapped to the floor as he stood in something wet and warm. Draco reached down to touch the liquid that coated his pale white foot; he had long ago stopped bothering to wear shoes. Squinting in the dim light he examined the liquid, suddenly a realization came over him- the liquid was red, it was blood.
Draco's stomach lurched and he put his hand to his mouth, stumbling forward he grasped the cold, rough stone of the wall as the source of the blood came into view.
A girl lay on the ground, her clothes torn and lying about her- she was impossible to identify, her face had been beaten too badly. A long, wide gash had been made down her milky white stomach and out of this wound the blood poured- spreading over the floor and staining her mousy brown hair. Draco closed his eyes in horror, shaking slightly as his knees weakened. With a small, un-malfoylike whimper he fell to the floor, sitting in the warm pool of blood. "Shit." He said softly, his little whisper seeming loud in the oppressive silence.
Then, a noise from the shadows made Draco look up; his silver eyes squinting in the dimness. There was silence for a moment and Draco's heart jumped, his hands shaking as they gripped the wall, struggling to pull himself up. "Hell…Hello?" he asked nervously- his breath catching in his throat.
There was silence for a few more minutes and then a tall figure stepped out of the shadows. It was a Death Eater, Draco bit his lip. The Death Eater's left hand moved in an elegant, fluid motion and slowly he removed his mask revealing a pale pointed face, silver eyes and long, silky white-blonde hair.
Draco gasped in horror. "Father?" he asked.
Lucius smirked. "Dear God Draco, pull yourself together. You look as if you've seen a ghost."
Draco swallowed and ran a slim hand through his shoulder length hair. His eyes never leaving his father's, he gestured toward the dead girl's body. "Did you…did you do that?"
Lucius turned toward the girl, his cold eyes taking in her bloody remains. Slowly, an amused smile spread across his face and he turned back to face his son. "And what would you do if I did? Honestly Draco…I can't spend all my time cooped up in that damn office. I don't know how the old geezer could stand all those portraits mumbling and staring at him- brainless old coots."
Draco stared at his father, wide eyed and unmoving. Taking amusement in his son's expression, Lucius grinned. "You amuse me Draco." He said, before sweeping past his son into the corridor that Draco had previously wandered down. However, before disappearing completely Lucius turned around once more with a smirk on his face. "Take heart Draco- I didn't murder that girl…someone else got there before me."
Then he disappeared and Draco was left alone once more. The stench of blood and torn flesh invaded his nose and Draco nearly gagged- half running, half falling, he made his way down the corridor- past the dead girl and away from the smell. He couldn't stand it anymore…he needed to talk to someone.
(A/N) Okay….that was the first chapter. I hope you liked it…please REVIEW!
