Blood Mage

Chapter Four

DISCLAIMER: I own what isn't specifically copyright – plot, story, original creations.

(--)

He…didn't even flinch… That has to hurt like hell! Draco was officially confused out of his mind as he finished rushing over to the Boy-Who-Lived. Hopefully, he'll keep living… "Harry…" he whispered softly as the blade was pushed completely into the body of his friend.

Draco then noticed something. The blade wasn't coming out of Harry's back.

After a few more minutes, the wound caused on Harry's chest healed, and Harry scooped a bit of the blood into his hand. Dragging it through the air, the Sword of Gryffindor was immediately in his hand. "Perfect," he said with a smile. Looking over at Draco, he realized that he must've really frightened him. "Hey, I'm fine. My magic and blood are one, remember?"

"I just…thought you'd killed yourself…"

"Nah. I've got three wonderful friends and a hopefully-special-someone to keep me from trying that. Besides, only Voldemort – or Tom – can kill me and only I can kill him."

"What makes you say that?"

"A prophecy. The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies.

"I haven't even told Hermione and Ginny about that yet… But…I don't want to kill Tom…"

"Do you know how many different ways that prophecy can be interpreted?" Harry looked over at him with hopeful eyes. Seeing the fact that it was who'd told him the prophecy that caused him to have no idea into their workings, Draco growled. "Dumbledore is going to die…" he snarled, grabbing his wand, ready to leave the room to commit the deed himself. Or he would have if Harry hadn't stopped him.

"Leave it, Dray. Help me with the prophecy that's hanging over my head."

Draco sighed as he walked over to his friend's bed and gracefully plopped down on it. "Well, think about it. Your parents defied Voldemort three times before he killed them, and you were born on July Thirty-First – the death of the seventh month.

"Next, the bit about neither can live while the other survives. It is painfully obvious that you are living it up right now, correct? Well, if Voldemort happened to be doing more than only surviving, that part of the prophecy would be completed.

"Then, either must die at the hand of the other. That's frightfully blunt, as well. Only you can kill Voldemort, or Tom, and vice versa. Thus, that means you're both immortal.

"After that, he will have power the Dark Lord knows not. I believe part of this is love because Voldemort isn't exactly intimate with the fuzzier side of the emotional spectrum.

"Lastly, the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal. I think it was at the time he gave you your scar that you were equal because you've both become so much stronger. Personally, I think you're more powerful…more-so than Merlin and the Founders together!

"I've got an Aura-O-Meter somewhere around here that classifies power by the rainbow – black and red are the weakest while lavender and white are the strongest – like a dark purple is stronger than a bright, pale blue, but the latter can defeat the former. I can also tell you this: you are the only person I've ever seen to have a ­solid, painfully-bright white. Merlin was purple, Dumbledore is blue, Voldemort is blue-purple, and the Founders – combined, mind you – were a mildly paler purple than Merlin.

"It would take all of them to meet your color of white, Harry. You're damn bloody powerful." Draco came over to his roommate and, knowing Harry wouldn't mind, gave him a congratulatory kiss on the cheek

Harry pressed a chaste, familial kiss to the blonde's lips in return. It was at that moment that they heard the door open. "I do wish you'd wait until I'm here to do that. It's bloody hot!" They both looked over at Ginny with wide eyes before Harry hid behind Draco. The blonde ran from him as the redhead stormed over, getting a whimper from the Blood Mage. She pulled Harry down to whisper into his ear, "Go snog him, Harry. I promise I won't mind and I know he won't." She winked at him before shoving him toward Draco.

Draco squeaked when Harry's arms slipped around his waist. "Harry," he squeaked again, "What are you doing?" His voice was unnaturally high-pitched.

"I swear this is Gin's idea," Harry murmured to his roommate before closing his lips over the blonde's.

Well, my dear Ginny, I must say you certainly are lenient, Draco thought to himself before giving as much into the kiss as he got. He felt his friend's tongue touching his lips and gladly let it into his mouth, hearing a strangled moan from somewhere to their left. Ginny likes this more than I do! he realized as their tongues battled between their mouths. "Now I know how to get my fiery, blue-eyed angel hot and bothered," he said to Harry, who grinned at his surrogate sister before licking a trail up Draco's neck.

A soft moan came from the blonde and the redhead, making Harry smirk mischievously. Slowly, sensually, and carefully, he licked a path from the Slytherin's neck to his ear, where he nipped, before continuing along his jaw to his lips, where he kissed him soundly. "Go to Ginny. I think she's about to start fondling herself," he whispered in Draco's ear then let the silver-blue-eyed boy go.

Harry found his way to his and Draco's private bathroom and let out a low whistle at the beauty of it. A pool, like the one in the Prefect's Bathroom but on a much smaller scale, was sunken into the tile floor. Two shower stalls, quite large from what he could see, were situated in the corner. What surprised him the most was the fact that it wasn't only green and silver – there were beiges and blues, browns and oranges, reds and purples, and yellows and blacks. Looking around in wonder, he found white towels with a small, silver snake embroidered in the corner.

"Snakes got style," he laughed as he stripped out of his pajamas, waving his hand to start the tub to filling. "I am definitely going to relax. The only thing that could stop me would be Tom coming into the room from a secret passage that I know nothing about," he said to himself as he settled into the wonderfully hot water. Feeling the normally scalding water soothing his body, Harry couldn't help but let out a pleased moan.

'You seem happy,' suddenly echoed through his mind, causing him to throw up all the Occlumency barriers he had while cursing himself for letting his guard down. 'Don't be so hard on yourself.'

'Who are you?'

'Who else has a mindlink with you? You're smart, Harry, figure it out.'

Harry bit his lip at the compliment before asking, 'Tom?'

"Exactly, and it seems that I'm going to stop you from relaxing," a voice said, this time not in Harry's mind. He looked up, a smile stretching across his face. "I do know of a secret passage from outside Hogwarts into the Slytherin dormitories. Draco certainly had no qualms to allowing me in here. The redhead definitely had him occupied."

"Tom? Seriously…?" Harry let his eyes rake over the form of the Dark Lord, from the chocolate-brown hair to his red eyes all the way to his feet and back up. The aristocratic face suits him well, he thought as the brunette came closer.

"You were correct, Harry… Your image now is much better than the one I have of you from the Department of Mysteries," the Dark Lord admitted softly as he came up to the side of the tub/pool. Tom cocked his head to the side in confusion when Harry blushed and turned away. Kneeling down, he traced the scars on the Boy-Who-Lived's back. "Who…who did this?" he asked softly.

"My Muggle uncle…" Harry answered just as softly.

Tom noticed how the word carved into his back had numerous scars over it, making it nearly impossible to see. "He carved…'slut' into your flesh?! Has he no value for blood family?!"

"Well, no…and he'll never get the chance. I killed him…I killed all of them… My uncle, aunt, and cousin. May they forever burn in hell," Harry said, growling the last part. He turned to the man still tracing the scars and bared his teeth, fangs and all. "I'd kill them again."

"What did they do to you, Harry?" Tom's voice was so soft and caring that Harry couldn't help answering, the wind in his proverbial sails diminishing.

"Well, my aunt never really did anything to hurt me except yell and shove me in my cupboard…but she never did anything to help me either. My cousin used me as a punching bag while playing 'Harry Hunting'. And my uncle… He beat me until I couldn't breathe, let me partially heal - without a visit to hospital, of course – then started again. …I haven't been a virgin since I was about five or six…"

"He…raped you…" Tom looked down at the scarred boy who was bearing his demons to him. Gently, the Dark Lord ran his long fingers through the multi-colored hair of who was supposed to be his enemy. "It's all right, Harry. My only request is that you don't blame yourself for any of it."

"I don't…it's just hard sometimes. I've tried to kill myself before, you know? It'd never work because of that fucking prophecy that Dumbledore finally deemed me old enough to bear. It's that bastard's fault that Siri is beyond the Veil right now… If he'd have told me, I would have worked harder in Occlumency with Snape…and I wouldn't have gotten that dream from you…"

"Dream?! I never sent you any dreams! You may see my actions from time to time, but I've never done that!"

Harry looked up at him, seeing the honesty in the dark wizard's red eyes. His own eyes narrowed as his eyes slit because of his Animagus form. "That…bloody…useless… BASTARD!!" The glass sculptures in the room suddenly all shattered as Harry's growling intensified in sound level. The shards started circling around him, missing Tom completely and causing ripples and waves to form in the water.

Tom lifted Harry into his arms, ignoring his nudity, and held him tightly, whispering calming nothings in his ear. Slowly, the glass lost momentum. "Shh…that's it, Harry… Calm down… It won't do you any good to get into a fit. You are giving that old man the satisfaction of knowing that he hurt you deeply."

"I know, Tom…but it hurts so much… I trusted him… When I first came to the Wizarding World, Albus Dumbledore was like this beacon in the darkness for me… Now…he's become too bright…and you are the shadow that protects me." At hearing that, Tom smiled – a genuine smile. Harry tucked his face in the man's neck. "I'm trusting you more than Dumbledore… But that damn prophecy is still hanging over our heads…"

"Would you tell me the prophecy, Harry? Maybe I can find a way around it."

"Draco did so this morning." Harry then told Voldemort the prophecy foretelling his 'demise' and what Draco had thought of it. The Dark Lord nodded, understanding the viewpoint. "I could definitely see that. You certainly have the power to 'vanquish' me if you're still having accidental magic outbursts of that magnitude.

"By the way, I did enjoy that dream last night." The randomness of that statement from the Dark Lord caused Harry to start laughing. "I thought you needed some humor," Tom added with a chuckle. "I just wish that I'd known that you felt about me that way. I have since I actually met you in your Fourth Year. If my Death Eaters hadn't been there, causing me to have to exercise control – basically by your torment – I probably would have kidnapped you and not killed the Diggory boy."

Harry winced at the remembrance. "Don't apologize, Tom… Everything happens for a reason…" he said softly when the Dark Lord was about to do so. "But I warn you…I'm not good with emotions… That's why Cruor is tied to them."

"Cruor, Harry? Who is that?"

"My dragon tattoo- Oh, I have a glamour over them…I hadn't even noticed." Tom raised an eyebrow at him, getting a blank look from Harry before the spells were dropped. "See? He's Cruor. And my blood kanji on my arms are for me being a Blood Mage."

"A…a…Blood Mage!? Holy shit, Harry!" The Dark Lord was, to say the least, shocked at that bit of information. "You…have to die to… Your uncle killed you?! Nearly bled you dry?!"

"Well….yeah… I wanted to die…to get away from the world's miseries. Sirius came to me and told me to let my magic save me, so it did and fused with my blood at the same time." Slowly, carefully, and gently, Harry found his chin being lifted by a thin, long finger. He and Tom locked eyes before their faces inched closer together.

As Tom's arm was wrapped back around him, Harry cast locking and silencing charms at the door. A comforting smile curved the brunette's lips when he felt the slight quaking in the boy's frame. "I'll not hurt you like that, I swear," he whispered before their lips softly met.

A soft moan came from Harry at the rose-petal-softness of Tom's lips upon his own. "You're better than the dream…" he whispered quietly, before being silenced by the older wizard's lips again. At the feel of a tongue on his bottom lip, Harry opened his mouth willingly, letting the Dark Lord explore to his heart's content.

When the lips and tongue trailed down his neck to his bare shoulder, Harry realized that they'd have to stop or go all the way. Planting his palms on Voldemort's chest, he gently pushed. "Wh-what's the matter?" he asked breathlessly, staring into the boy's barely-fearing eyes. "Are you…afraid of me…?"

"No… Never…" the ex-Gryffindor whispered gently, burying his face in the brunette's neck. "I can't get Vernon out of my mind…and I'm afraid I'll have a flashback and ruin the experience for us…" Tom smiled softly at him as he carefully stroked the sixteen-year-old's spine in soothing motions. "…I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize for that, Harry. Don't apologize for something you can't be responsible for."

"But I am! I could've stopped him! …My magic wouldn't activate though…so now I'm used-" A resounding thonk echoed from the meeting of Tom's hand and Harry's forehead.

Harry had the funniest look of disbelief on his face that Tom had ever seen, and he couldn't stop himself from laughing, no matter how hard he tried. "Oh Merlin… That's hilarious…" he gasped, burying his face in Harry's side as tears started leaking down his face.

The sixteen-year-old glared at the Dark Lord with a fierceness not even Tom could hope to match, even in his Voldemort glamour. Quite suddenly, Tom found himself with a new weight on his head – a rainbow afro – and himself in a polka-dotted, multicolored, clown suit including the too-large pants with rim and suspenders. "Laugh at my misfortune again, all-mighty Dark Lord," Harry grumbled, sinking back into the still, nearly-boiling water. 'Good thing dear Uncle ruined my modesty,' he figured, not even blushing about Tom seeing him 'au natural'.

'Modesty is something to cherish, Harry,' Tom assured him as he removed the spells, 'And, while you may no longer have it for your state of dress around me or people you trust, you are modest to the fault of believing yourself that you are not as powerful as you really are. That is true modesty, Harry. You have the capability to make anyone feel they are just as strong, if not stronger, than yourself, which makes the person feel more confident.

'Take young Longbottom, for example, Harry. Where would he be if not for your patience in teaching that group…the DA…last year? He would still believe himself to be a useless lump that is only good for taking the blame his grandmother sits in tons upon him.'

"Okay…okay… I get it…" Harry said softly, pulling his knees up to his chest, folding his arms over them, and resting his head on his arms. Tom watched as Cruor seemed to give a roaring cry of anguish while a few old scars on the boy's body opened, the blood pooling out of them seeming to give comfort. "It's my magic," the multi-haired teen said, picking up on Tom's inquisitive thoughts on the opening of his skin. "My magic and blood are one and the same."

"Now that is amazing. You do know that you're the only Blood Mage to ever be in existence since before the Founders? Nearly before Merlin?" Tom asked, trying to tell Harry that he was special because he was different, not a freak because he wasn't normal. "And, personally, I do not believe it could have happened to a more worthy person in the world."

"I know… And people would freak out and call me dark, evil, and a traitor if they knew… Think of what they'd say if they knew I'm a Bloodcat Animagus?" Tom gave him a shocked look, causing him to look away and dip a finger into the water, running it around in circles, faster and faster, to create a small whirlpool. "Don't. Don't look at me like that…"

"I'm looking at you like this because I believe that you are absolutely stunning because of the fact that you can do anything you set your mind to!" A blush attacked Harry's face at Tom's declaration, causing him to look away for his hair to cover his face. "If you wish me not to stare at you in pity, Harry, I wish you not to look away from me because you are embarrassed. Cruor is blushing as fiercely as I know you are."

'I knew that dragon was a bad idea…' he accidentally broadcast to Tom, hearing a deep chuckle from the brunette. Turning himself around, he captured the Dark Lord's lips with his own with a great amount of swiftness, surprising the red-eyed wizard with his quick movements. "Sorry… I just wanted to feel your lips again before someone comes storming in here wondering who the bloody fuck I'm talking to."

"A bloody fuck sounds good, actually, but I'd rather go for a bath at the moment. Would you mind a guest?" Tom asked with a soft tone. Harry shook his head with a smile, not stunned in the least when Tom spelled his robes into a neat pile beside his own clean clothing without his wand. "This feels good…" he mumbled as he sank into the hot water. "Seems you like yours about the same temperature as myself."

"I prefer it to nearly cook me…makes me feel a little cleaner when I get out." Another thonk echoed from the meeting between Tom's hand and Harry's forehead. "Why do you keep doing that?!"

"Why do you keep trying to think that you're some dirty whore? You aren't, Harry. I understand the fact that no one has ever tried to tell you different and the only thing you have to listen to is the same Muggle who keeps calling you that over and over in your nightmares. Well, let me be the first to reassure you, Harry. You-Are-Not-A-Whore. Repeat it to yourself when you have nothing better to do and that fat waste of space comes back to your mind."

"Okay…"

"Swear that you believe me, Harry. If you'll not trust me on this, then I only ask that you try to believe me," Tom said, swimming up to him and staring into Avada-green eyes.

"I'll…I'll try…" Harry softly replied before looking at a spot behind the Dark Lord. The man sighed, pulling the teen's gaze back to him. "I'm sorry, Tom… I've grown up with it, so I never argued the point. Up until I went to Hogwarts, I always figured that every family had a single child hidden away that they treated like dirt, beat the hell out of, and, even though I didn't know this is what it was at the time, raped on a weekly occasion… That's how…little I knew about the world around me.

"Then, before I can even get my bearings in the Muggle world, I'm thrown into the Wizarding one. I was upside-down and inside-out for about a month before I finally allowed the thought that magic actually existed to get through my mind. Vernon literally pounded the fact that magic didn't exist into me. I thought I was just some kind of freak that no one wanted to associate with.

"Next I know, everyone in a fucking pub is running up to me and wanting to shake my hand, saying how they're so grateful to me and how the world would've been doomed without me. I thought they'd all lost their marbles!" Harry sighed, burying the heel of his palm into his forehead. "Nothing ever goes right for me, Tom. Knowing my luck, you'll be ripped away from me by the noble, caring, grandfatherly Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. But I…I don't want to lose you, Tom… You and Draco are the only ones to ever see beyond my mask of indestructible stone…"

The Dark Lord had never known just how much the teen had been through in the ten years he had lived with the Dursleys. If what he'd just been told had only been a summary, he had to admit that he was slightly put off by the prospect of hearing the rest of it. "I'm sorry you were placed with them, Harry. I am also sorry for your mother and father, but I am not sorry that they died in the war. As you said, my apologies for that would only make their deaths meaningless.

"You will never be returning to Number Four, Privet Drive, Harry James Potter. I state that as fiercely as I will ever be able to." Harry looked up at the taller man before letting a smile come over his face. "I agree, Harry. Enough of this dreary talk."

"Can I…kiss you again?"

"Of course, Harry…of course."

--

It was an hour later that Draco stumbled into the bathroom, mainly because Ginny pushed him, telling him to get ready for the day. What he didn't expect to see was Harry talking to a seemingly-eighteen-year-old Tom Riddle. Then again, that didn't make his eyes almost pop out of their sockets. It was that fact that they were both in the tub, nude as the day they were born, and seemed to not have done anything involving certain parts of each other's anatomy.

Giving a wolf-whistle, Draco announced his presence. "Sweet Merlin, Harry. If you didn't have the oogle-eyes for our resident, super-powerful Dark Lord, I'd jump you right here!"

"Now, now, Draco. What would Ginny say if she knew you were considering cheating on her with me?" Harry inquired, his eyebrows raised with his face giving no indication that he was joking. He busted with laughter when the blonde paled, slapped a hand over his mouth, and stared at the bathroom door fearfully. "I'll not tell her, Draco; my word as a Blood Mage."

Draco snorted at him as he stripped. "I'd certainly hope not! She already likes seeing me, her boyfriend, kissing the sense out of you, her best friend. I'm afraid to see how she'd react to seeing us shagging!"

"Am I missing something here?" Tom asked Harry after poking the teen on the shoulder.

"Kind of," the Boy-Who-Lived answered with a slight sheepish grin. "Gin thinks guy-on-guy love is hot, so I kissed Mr. Malfoy here for her benefit…and his to some extent."

"He does absolutely sinful things with his tongue, I'll tell you that. And those fangs can be something to die for," Draco cut in, getting a suggestive up-raising of Tom's eyebrows for Harry as he slipped into the water, yelping at the temperature before getting used to it. "And I mean bloody sinful, worthy of Satan himself!"

"Mind showing me?" Tom directed to Harry, getting a seductive smirk from the teen. 'I'll have something to really wank to,' he sent to Harry, getting a mental chuckle in response. The ex-Gryffindor's eyes lit in a soft green glow, accentuating the Avada color, and he crept closer to Tom. Those graceful movements are making me hard by just watching

"Don't come on me yet, Tom," Harry whispered, suddenly at the wizard's ear, letting his tongue trace languidly around the shell. Claw-like nails traced on the heat-sensitized skin of Tom's chest and abdomen, getting a soft, slight sound from him. Harry blew gently on his ear before tracing his tongue in sensual circles down the man's neck. When he found the most sensitive of the skin, he skimmed his fangs across it, causing the Dark Lord's pulse to jump. "What if I were to bite you, Tom? Would you mind overly much?" he asked softly, suckling his way around the brunette's collarbone.

Red eyes widened before a soft growl came from the older wizard. "You would mark me?" he asked as he pushed Harry away, gripping the teen's upper arms. "You would mark me?" he repeated, noting how the young wizard flinched even as he moaned softly from the pain.

"I…I'm sorry…I didn't…" Harry trailed off into another moan at a pain curse that ripped through his body. His back arched as he let his head fall back, panting. "Oh God…" He whimpered when nothing followed, leaning forward to capture the Dark Lord's lips in a passionate kiss. "Please…do that again…" he pleaded in a whisper against the man's mouth.

"You…enjoy pain?" Tom asked softly, his demeanor seemingly doing a one-eighty. "Damn that Dursley…" he added in a fierce whisper as he pulled Harry back to him, the teen's face buried in his neck. "I'm sorry for your life, Harry…"

"Don't…apologize… It's not…your fault… Dumbledore put me there, not you…" Harry said, regaining his sense-of-self. "But…Merlin…that felt good…"

"So, pain turns you on? What would the Cruciatus do?" the Dark Lord wondered, giving a slight smirk to the ex-Gryffindor.

"Probably send me into orgasmic shock or something," was Harry's answer before he added, "Just so long as you use that possessive growl and sexy grin."

"Sink your fangs into my neck when I fuck you senseless, and I'll think about it." The sixteen-year-old groaned at that, wrapping his legs around Tom's waist. "But not today. The water is chilling uncomfortably and I do not want young Malfoy to be in attendance."

"Dray's not so bad… His dad's the twat. Draco's a smart one…even invited me over to his manor, which he and his mum stole from the true blonde, for Christmas." Harry yawned suddenly, speaking through it with, "I can always cast a boiling charm on the water, if that'll make you feel better?"

"Well, my cunning from-enemy-to-more-than-friend, it certainly would. Although, going at it in a bathroom shared with nearly-female Draco Malfoy certainly would swear him away from the place," Tom answered, getting a highly undignified splutter from the blonde.

"Thank you, I'll be fine as long as there's plenty of cleaning charms," Draco responded, the Dark Lord's comments reaching through the haze of shock at seeing the way Harry reacted to pain. He looked at his friend and, seeing the bright smile on the teen's face, decided that maybe the Dark Lord was good for him. After all, if he gets off on pain, Voldemort would be happy to oblige him.

"I shall warn you, Mr. Malfoy, that I am a highly skilled Legilimens and I do not take kindly to your thoughts. I was only making a slight experiment with the fact that I noticed the way our favorite Blood Mage reacted to stimuli of the painful variety," Tom said, causing Draco to cringe.

"Please, just don't Crucio me in the bath, milord…" he requested quietly, on the receiving end of Tom's red-eyed glare for a few moments longer before he left the bathtub. After he dressed, he stared into Tom's eyes. "My only true request is that you be careful with my best friend. I don't want him hurt anymore than he already has been."

Harry looked at him for a moment then a smile broke out on his face. "Thanks, Draco…" he replied softly, watching his blonde friend as he left the room. Turning his head, he came to focus on warm, loving, blood-colored eyes. He gently bit his lip before saying, "I'm sorry about the bite thing…really I am. I didn't mean it to be an insult-"

"Harry, my tone, if you hadn't noticed, was incredulous. By marking me in such a way, I would be signified as your lifetime mate. I'd be honored for that, Harry, because I know just how caring and loving you can be and I would love for you to help me realize those emotions." Tom paused to kiss him tenderly. "I'd absolutely love it if you would help me to live instead of only survive so that a prophecy dictating either of our ends is null and void."

The Animagus leaned forward to steal another kiss before saying, "Nothing would make me happier," as he cast a heating charm on the slowly cooling water, prolonging their stay in the liquid and Tom's stay with him because he knew that, if himself was any indication, the other had to be too comfortable to want to leave.

--End Four--