Chapter 2 (previously chapter 4)
Blissful Unconsciousness
Tom Riddle paced anxiously around the entrance hall of his manor silently cursing Dumbledore and his wards. If Tom so much as got close enough to that house to see it the alarm spells would be tripped. But Dumbledore was sloppy when he constructed those wards. Anyone else could get through them just fine.
'Lucius better hurry.' He thought concentrating on his young mate's fading presence through their corrupted bond and attempting to push his own magic through it. 'Harry doesn't have much time left.'
Harry was too lost in pain to fight when his uncle came in and stuffed a rag in his mouth to stifle his screaming.
He hurt all over and couldn't care less about what was happening around him, or to him. He didn't even care if he died; he just wanted the pain to stop.
He barely even noticed when the door opened and someone else stepped in. Barely even noticed that the room filled with a sweet vanilla scent. Barely even noticed his mate's frantic efforts to get him free of the ropes that bound him to his bed, chafing his skin whenever he convulsed, which he was doing quite frequently.
"Harry?" Lucius asked quietly as he stepped into the smallest bedroom of number four Privet Drive.
He was attempting to be as silent as possible. He didn't want to wake his mate's relatives. The house was being watched by the Order. The last thing he needed was one of them to decide something was wrong and come investigate.
His Harry was lying on a small, old bed far corner with a small dirty threadbare blanket underneath him. The boy was naked and had obviously been beaten recently. His wrists and ankles were tied to the well-worn, wooden bedposts, and there a dirty rag stuffed into the poor boy's mouth.
A single tear found it's way through Lucius' cold Malfoy exterior at the sight of his battered mate, but he didn't have time. As much as he wanted to kill the monsters that did this he had to get his mate to safety where he could be healed.
Harry was convulsing as much as the ropes would allow. Pulling and twisting, contorting into unnatural positions as if he was trying to get away from the pain that came from within. Looking at him you could tell he was screaming behind the gag but he wasn't making a sound. Had he lost his voice? Harry's bright green eyes were scrunched closed. He made no move to indicate that he even realized he was no longer alone.
Lucius ran to his mate. Quickly he sliced through the ropes with his wand.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, ignoring the blood and other fluids staining his expensive robes, he gently pulled Harry's to skinny frame into his lap.
Harry was so weak he flopped around like a rag doll in Lucius' arms.
Once Harry was securely settled into the blonde's arms, Lucius' right arm supporting Harry's back, he used his free arm to take the gag from his mate's mouth as tenderly as possible trying not to harm the boy anymore, which was a rather impossible feat given Harry's fragile state.
When Harry fell into unconsciousness Lucius was tied between relief hat his mate was no longer feeling any pain, and worry about how weak his mate would have to be to fall unconsciousness during his inheritance.
Holding his precious bundle securely, but carefully, Lucius stood and activated his portkey just as the front door burst open loudly and the house began to fill with alarmed Order members.