Awake Unto Me

Fandom: Harry Potter

Chapter Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Primarily Harry/Draco. Others will come along later

Notes: nihlisticbrat. had this chapter first and I'll update there first. Please don't judge characters yet, I'm working very hard to avoid my OCs becoming Gary-Sams and Mary Sues. This is set Pre-Deathly Hallows! I'm basically doing a fanon rewrite. Slash warnings if you missed them on your way in! SLASH YAOI BOYxBOYLOVE GAY THINGS. Please do not whine about it now! You've been warned.

"Beautiful Dreamer, Awake unto me" the voice sang as the figure moved along the hall, a long black velvet cloak flowing as the figure moved downt he misty alley ways. "Starlight and Dewdrops are waiting for thee. Sounds of the rude world heard in the-" the figure stopped in a dead end and turned. "Day" the shape looked at the two men as they advanced.

"Nice cape – wonder what it's hiding" the first leered his face something akin to that of a pug dogs visage.

"Yuh" grunted the other, who had a face to match the other end of the dog.

"Oh Cissy, why must we slum it? Do you truely think Bella would go anywhere in the Muggle world?" the woman sighed as she lowered her hood. She had elegant pointed features, her lips were painted with black on the upper lip and red on the lower, she wore heavy eye make up. A glittering black choker with a green miniature was set upon her elegant pale neck.

She raised a hand, revealling a scar running from between her thumb and forefinger up to about midway on her forearm. With a flourish her want was suddenly in her grasp. "Gentlemen" she nodded. Their eyes were drawn straight to the diamond studded bracelet on her wrist.

"That looks nice" the talkative one mused

"Oh...it is" she smiled. "Sangorum Brulure!" The twirling jet of pink light struck his friend and the man collapsed shrieking as an orange glow filled his veins. "Now...as for you" she flourished her wand at him. "Rictus Sulphurica" the man vomitted up a hot yellow liquid, choking in agony he staggered away.

The woman pulled her hood back up and walked to a boarded up house. She stopped at the door and looked down, at her feet she found a welcome mat, using the end of her wand she lifted the rug and found a silver key. "Oh Narcissa" she sighed as she touched the Portkey and was whisked away.

Harry slept like a log – it had been a relief that he could sleep like that since Dumbledore had been killed. In his mind he still the events playing out in his mind. He exhaled softly as he woke up, wishing that he was in Grimmauld Place rather than Privet Drive.

He looked at Hedwig and she stopped preening to cock her head to one side and stare at him.

It was time. He had gathered his things that morning and now it was time to leave. He stepped out onto the landing and immediately wished he hadn't. Vernon was drawing himself up to full height to argue with Emmaline Vance about why he wasn't leaving.

Harry descended the stairs to hear the rest of the scene. "--bad enough you won't let us wake the boy to have words, but now telling us we're ignorant!" Harry bit back a laugh of contempt. "I demand you wake him this instant and tell him we are not leaving"

"You are" Harry said flatly. "If you have any sense you are, because if you stay you will die. The - - person who killed my mother will come and will murder you simply because you have some weak, badly nutured connection to me"

Emmaline looked at him sadly. "Hestia and Moody will be taking them to the countryside, from there we'll move them on to their safer places" she explained. She didn't mention the Memory Charm thatw as going to be used to edit Harry from their memories or to alter their last name.

Marge had already been editted and the neighbors fed a story about Vernon being given a huge prommotion to go to Wales while in fact Scotland was the place they would be going.

Harry knew she was trying to prevent him from feeling their loss...in actuality he didn't particularly care, but he had no urge to tell her that. The Dursleys genuinely didn't give a damn about him – but he didn't want them dead. So the order would sweep them away while he would go to The Burrow for the remainder of the Summer, enjoy Bill and Fleurs wedding and then find the remaining Horcruxes.

There was the locket – he wondered where the original was...then there was the cup of course that Hepzibah Smith had died for so that Tom Riddle could have it to pollute with his soul...and lastly the piece of Ravenclaw History.

The snake was another matter entirely. Nagini would be the hardest part to find after all, not with all the value placed upon it by Voldemort as both Horcrux, agent and pet. It was not a thing he envied trying to slay.

He took one last look at the house and then picked up Hedwigs cage off the top of his trunk. "Well – this is it, Hedwig" he smiled. "Time to go" he stepped over the threshold into the afternoon light. "I'm ready Emmaline" he said she nodded and guided him towards Mrs Figgs house. He glanced up at the For Sale sign in her garden and pursed his lips.

"I'm moving to The Canary Islands" explained Mrs Figg as she led him through the kitchen. "Fabulous Kneazle population there, and of course I could do with a bit of sun these days, what with all the...gloom" her hesitation spoke volumes.

She had meant: "all the Dementors". Harry didn't push for this, he was quiet now, tired after his sleep, hungry after his last meal in his room...weak after gathering all his strength. He grasped the tea pot – the jerk behind his navel was all too familiar and the Portkey launched him far from Privet Drive.

As long as he lived he vowed he would never go back.

As long as he lived...and how long would that be precisely.

Draco pushed open the door in LeStrange Manse. It was a place he had never been before, it was a place he had never wanted to go. But Bellatrix had made it her own personal shrine to The Dark Lord, gathering all he would need into one place. Though the Manse lacked certain things...like a roof in the east wing, a few walls, and of course staff.

So Malfoy Manor was the preffered home of the Death Eaters while LeStrange Manse was a safe house for those being hunted by the aurors.

Or it had been until the law was swayed by the clever machinations of the Dark Lord.

Draco looked around the library, it was hectic, even with the high shelves on both floors there was not enough room for the books and many stacked up in haphazard towers trembling as the breeze blew in the door.

"What do you want?"

Draco jumped and a column of books crashed to the ground as his hip slapped into them.

"Who are you?" he exclaimed

"The Librarian" the reply came, it was hard to see in the grimy darkness of the house. Rudolphus never liked light much, it was here that he lurked most of the time, while Bellatrix clung to the side of her master – they never loved each other and the house echoed that in its cold, musky, lifeless interior occupied by the lonely souls of Death Eaters too consumed by greed and paranoia to create any sense of fraternity or commraderie.

The boy rose from his desk where he was using a twig to train some spiders weaving webs along a gap in his desk.

"I was sent to collect a book for the Dark Lord" Draco said, he drew himself up to full height but the young man still had several inches on him. He was lean and slender dressed in a tightly tailored black velvet coat that went right up to his chin where white lace was just visible, another small fringe of white lace could be seen on either cuff.

"What book?" the youth asked curtly. He moved like a fashion model, dramatic with an edge of odd sensuality. His hair was a mousy brown and spiked slightly with a styled fringe that Draco sensed time had been spent shaping into the two curls bracketting two short pincers of hair.

"Biblicatum Necrocoridia" responded Draco as he followed the young man into the darkness between the shelves. He bumped into the back of the young man when his guide stopped suddenly.

"Oh joy, an Egyptian-based text" the Librarian sighed. He took a sharp left and picked up a long cast iron poker in an umbrella stand. "Back" he warned. Draco paused as the boy walked down an aisle.

Suddenly something lunged at the young man and the Librarian swatted, he snarled in pain and ducked, clutching his face. He swung around and swept his arm upwards. The poker launched through the air like a spear and midair there was a splattering noise before it struck the side of a bookcase in front of Draco with a dull twang.

"Ugh what is that" Draco scoffed as he wrinkled his nose in discust. The creature was a cross between a bat, a monkey and a flying squirrel with the scales of an artichoke across its body.

"Leebnit" responded the librarian. "They favor Egyptian-based Texts, Contemporary Magical Feminist Literature and Heraldric Notations of the early 1500s as their lairs, usually only one or two this close to the main entrance" he pulled the poker free with a little effort and strode into the aisle once more.

Something gave a loud wail but he took a good swing and Draco heard a loud splashing noise. The Librarian returned with the large tome in hand. He shoved it into Draco's grasp and started to dab a wound on his cheek with a handkerchief. "What the devil are they doing in Rodolphus' house!?" Draco exclaimed.

"He's been in prison for the best part of a decade, the house is used for Death Eaters to hide in – none are very big on maintenance and far be it from me to do anything to help the little zealots, like have the roof fixed. The Leebnits were gnomes until they were exposed to high quantities of magic in the books – now the only thing they have in common with gnomes...is vertical height...oh and a habit of biting"

Draco nodded and moved back towards the door only to find that the shelves had moved. His eyes widened. "This isn't the way we came!" he exclaimed, pulling his wand from his pocket

"Of course not" The Librarian sighed. "The bookshelves have shuffled, they do that from time to time" he laid a hand on Draco's shoulder and steered him down an aisle turning left and then right and then left again – when Draco asked why he didn't just go straight up the aisle anyway, he was given a snort and eye-roll that put him in his place.

Finally he found himself back at the desk near the door where the Librarian settled back into a chair and stoked a fire in a small grate nearby. "Thank you for stopping by, please don't come again"

"You had better show respect to an agent of the Dark Lord" snapped Draco, raising his chin to make himself seem more confident. The cool blue gaze met his grey one. "I am a Death Eater after all"

After a moments silence. "Hardly" the young man responded, turning back to his fire. "An agent of the last of the Gaunts, a young man from a pure-blood family, you throw the slurs around, you bear the mark and host the cohorts...but you didn't have the guts to kill Dumbledore-" Draco's jaw dropped. "And you lack the malice to be a murderer. I'm afraid you have too much of a soul, albeit a speckled one"

Draco's jaw flapped as he tried to respond. "I- I- I- I- You know nothing!" Draco snapped, he turned on his heel and stalked out of the room. He kept up his furious stride through the dark halls and past the other Death Eaters lurking there until he reached the hallway. He touched the portrait of Malfoy Manor and hiccoughed as he was dragged into the foyer of his home.

"Draco. The book" Bellatrix hissed, sweeping down the stairs towards him. Draco jumped at her sudden presence but handed it over. "Now see to the House Elves" she commanded and once more swept away up the stairs with the book in hand.

"Like a dog bringing slippers" Draco murmured to himself.

His mother and father were in the study as well, all crowded around the black table with the silver engraving of the dark mark on it – while Draco was to send the House Elves up to them later.

Truth told he no longer felt safe in his home. The Malfoys were very rapidly falling from grace and his mother looked at him as if he suffered from a terminal illness – which he probablay did, it was called The Dark Lords Displeasure. He had failed and he wished he hadn't fled with Snape, Azkaban would be a more pleasant fate compared to eternal disdain from even the lowest of Death Eaters.

Part of him wanted to run.

But where to? Even with the Ministry being undermined by the Death Eaters he was still not safe – or perhaps it was because of that fact he was not safe beyond the walls of Malfoy Manor. Hell he was hardly even safe within them

He headed for the kitchen slowly. Sometimes he swore he heard a funeral march accompanying his footsteps.

"'Arry!" Fleur embraced Harry tightly, a smile on her elegant face. "We 'ave been worried zat someone might 'ave interfered!"

"You're twenty minutes late, we thought we might need to prep the search party" Tonks exclaimed, taking her turn to hug Harry, he immediately noticed her very pregnant belly. He glanced to a table int he garden where most of the Order were seated, eating a full meal of Mrs Weasley's device.

"It was a case of oversleeping" he admitted. "I needed a rest and Emmaline didn't wake me up. Sorry if anyone was worried"

"Oh there was a few worried looks after 3 minutes" Tonks winked as she tilted her head in Ginny's direction. She was looking pretty as ever in a long summer dress with her hair tied back. She smiled at Harry and a relief in her eyes made him flush – before he could even make a move towards her Mrs Weasley was upon him, commenting on his weight, ushering him to the table in that motherly way she had mastered over the years to be both strong and soft.

"Well it looks like you haven't eaten at all" commented Mrs Weasley as she ladelled out a hearty stew for Harry. "I should have had words with that Dursley woman" she exclaimed. "Still I've been so busy with the latest recruitment drive for the Order, you'd be amazed at how many we've had to train in since – well – you know – since Dumbledore" she stopped to dab her eyes with a handkerchief from up her sleeve. "Lots of your friends Harry, we've had to turn away a few of your school mates too, far to young of course"

"Molly" chuckled Arthur Weasley. "Let the boy catch his breath".

Mrs Weasley gave a chuckle of her own and went to see to the rest of the guests at the table. Lupin and Tonks were beaming at one another as their food grew cold, Kingsley was in deep conversation with Charlie and Bill and Fleur were having an animated discussion which Mrs Weasley joined in on...a tiara was mentioned several times.

Ron arrived downstairs moments later. "Hermione wants you for a sec, Ginny" he said to his sister. He spotted Harry and grinned broadly. "Harry, mate, I was worried for a while there" he plopped down beside his friend. "We're just getting Hermione settled into Ginny's room, she decided to sort through her books when you were 10 minutes late" he rolled his eyes. "Time she could have spent in a much better way" he sighed.

"We expected you to think that" Fred/George chirped as he poked his head out the window with a grin. George/Fred appeared in the kitchen door with a bowl of potatoes in his arms. "Always thinking of that, eh, Ron?"

Ron's skin turned beet red with embarassment and he managed to tightly croak "Sod off" to his brothers.

"Hiya Harry" Fred grinned. "We were wondering if you were coming at all" the grin always gave Fred away, it was a little lobsided so there was a difference between him and his brother when they smiled.

"Mum was flipping out" George added. "Partially because something might have gone wrong..."

"Partially because she had a soufflé in the oven" Fred laughed. They sat in opposite Harry and beamed at him. "Course we all got a little worried – twenty minutes is a fair bit of time, everyone was ready to go after you"

Harry shook his head. "No I just over slept" he replied. "I've been sleeping at strange times and I wanted to be awake when I got here so I took a nap and slept a little too long, I didn't even realize it until my welcome party brought it up."

Ginny came down the stairs with Hermione who rushed to hug Harry immediately followed by Ginny who sneakily gave his behind a squeeze. "Harry we're so glad you're all right" Hermione said. "I wasn't too worried that you were late but a summer with those relatives of yours must have been painful" she sighed.

"Oh I've known hexes to be more pleasant" Harry smiled.

"Well sit down and tuck in" Ginny said. She leaned in close. "This is just "something small" from mum, she's been busy preparing for your birthday dinner." Harry blinked. "She says its no trouble so she's not so worried about the fact that you asked for no fuss"

"But the wedding is in two weeks" Harry whispered to her. He didn't want Molly battling him to reassure everyone of how she could cope. She'd handled Bill's injuries very well, almost as well as Fleur had, though Fleur had excelled by learning how to cook him steak to the exact type of rare he liked in only two days while also researching the best treatments for his wounds, how to help them along and how best to generally give him comfort and speed along a thorough recovery.

"Yes, but try telling her that" winked Ginny.

Dinner was of course delicious, Mrs Weasley could make food line up to be peeled, sliced, cooked and eaten. Ron helped Harry bring his things to his room while Hermione made excuses to go after them.

"I've skimmed the materials on my list" Hermione said, straight down to business as she shuts the door. "There's a lot of texts on Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw so I have all of them as well as texts on obscure magics, however the really useful books are either forbidden, out of print or minimal in the copies around." She showed him the scroll...it unfurled and trailed along the ground. "Still I have a few books that might help, so I think we can rely on some sort of clue in how to handle them"

"You don't have to do this" Harry said softly.

"We do" Ron said simply. "We can't let you go into this alone"

"But what about your N.E.W.T Examinations?" Harry ventured.

"Right back at ya" responded Ron. "Sorry Harry but we've been with you since the start, we'll be there til the end" he hesitated. "And afterwards we can try out for the Chudley Cannons". Harry smiled at the effort as Ron clapped him on the shoulder.

"Well we'll start researching tommorrow, I have a few ideas on how we can divide the work up so that we have a system but aren't reading the same thing over and over, you know, keep it fun" Hermione explained.

"Yes...Reading...Fun" Ron said flatly as he slumped slightly at the prospect of reading for his entire summer.

His girlfriend gave him "a look" and he straightened up immediately.

Harry laughed – and thought about Ginny – he would have to speak to her soon. It was going to be a hard thing to do...but he had to do it, for her safety. He didn't want her to end up like Cedric or Sirius or Dumbledore. He couldn't bear it.

Even thinking about it made him feel ill. "Ron? Harry? Hermione?" Ginny called. "Mum's made some coffee cake, are you coming down to partake?"

"Definitely!" they chorused, looking at one another they laughed and allowed the thoughts of more morbid things to wait until tomorrow in favor of some perfect coffee cake

END CHAPTER 1

Please review! I'd love to get some reviews on this. Constructive criticism is appreciated, foundless stuff is ignored because it generally isn't worth listening to without balance.