A/N Deathly Hallows spoiler free story (for people new to fan fiction a spoiler is when a story/article/ review gives away key plot points that happen in the real series. A spoiler alert is usually assigned if the book in question is so new that people who want to read the book might not have gotten the chance to do so yet.)

This is not going to follow the events of the books at all beyond the identity and backgrounds of certain people and the first few lines of the prophecy. I just want my readers to know that yes I have read Deathly Hallows but you should be safe from spoilers if you're waiting to read the book until a better time. I know I like nothing better then to curl up in front of the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate and a good book with snow swirling lazily outside.

by the way if I ever use a term in my warnings/A/N/ summaries that you don't understand I will be happy to explain them if you ask. I would much rather answer your questions then have my readers see something in my stories that disturbs them because they didn't understand what slash means for an example.

A Touch of Evil

DaggersBloodPain

Chapter Seven

Judgement Getting Closer All The Time

(Troubled Land-John Mellencamp)

Harry noticed there was one good thing about being paired with the potion master's godson. He had a decent grade in potions for once. The bad part was he felt like he was running a fever the entire class from being in close proximity to two out of the three people that carried the essence that drew his attention. He just couldn't concentrate on anything with that kind of distraction. He was forced into becoming a better brewer so his inattention was not so pronounced.

From the seemly random smirks he got from Draco throughout his lessons with him a week after Christmas break had come and gone he knew the other boy was up to something or knew something important that would affect him. That had Harry on edge for the remainder of the evening, and while tensions in the dorm room had lessened slightly after months of no one turning up murdered in their beds they still weren't the most cordial of environments.

His wariness was proven to be a good thing when walking back from the great hall Friday evening he was accosted and nearly kidnapped. He landed one good blow with his elbow to his attackers nose. The other one cursed beneath their breath so Harry couldn't identify their voice. Harry was quickly restrained completely after that little stunt and carried off in the general direction of Snape's office. All he could identify about his attacker was he was taller then Harry and was probably a Slytherin if the direction he was being taken in had anything to do with it.

Soon Harry knew he had been correct in guessing their direction they were now just outside the door to Snape's office. His capture didn't bother to knock just swept in, then the taller one spoke and Harry immediately identified him. "I owe you two galleons, he fought back." The cultured voice of Draco Malfoy shocked him for a second before he wriggled out of Draco's grasp just in time to see the greasy bat of the dungeons emerge from a doorway Harry assumed led to the potions classroom.

"I did warn you Draco," Snape said easily.

"What do you want? You could have just told me to come down later or given me another detention." Harry asked.

"I was going to but a Slytherin doesn't pass up a bet they know they can win." Snape answered surprisingly. Harry nearly laughed when the very first expression he had seen on Draco's face besides cold disdain was a pout.

"How was I supposed to know he would be ready for me? If it had been any other Gryffindor they would be too busy asking stupid questions like who I was and where they were being taken. It isn't a typical Gryffindor response to fight back." Draco explained haughtily with his nose in the air and Harry got a feeling he was just getting a glimpse at the complicated bantering that happened between godson and godfather.

"I have already answered that one before and I am not repeating myself," Snape replied.

"So, when exactly were you planning on telling me why I was kidnapped in a hallway and why he is here? I thought you didn't want people to know about these meetings?" Harry asked evenly. He didn't have any of the legendary Potter temper left in him anymore.

"I don't want just anyone to find out but I think he could be useful." Snape answered back shortly, he was only fueling the newly developed curiosity in the boy because this was the most questions the boy had asked at one time in the history of knowing him.

"How could he help? What can he do that you can't?" Harry asked again.

Severus sighed before launching into the explanation. "I know for a fact you are still convinced you will have to fight in this war. Well I won't lie to you there is a large probability that you will end up fighting again. The point I have been trying to drill into that thick skull of yours is that you have a choice in what to fight for. What you have now isn't a choice, it is a habit. I want to break that habit. What Draco is going to help me with is teaching you how to fight and stay alive. I assumed you would prefer to learn against someone more on your knowledge level then myself." He explained slowly and carefully.

"Why would I choose differently? From what I have seen and heard all the dark side means is pain and torture. They have no real goals and no progress has been made one way or another." Harry asked in an exasperated tone of voice.

Severus carefully concealed his spike of pride, finally the boy was asking the important questions. "Harry have you ever actually spoke to anyone about the war that was outside of Dumbledore's influence? Of course you haven't and I think we both know why. The headmaster keeps you as his little pet here at the school and during the summers sends you back to those animals with minimal contact with anyone magical. You weren't even aware of the fact that your old babysitter was a squib because she was under orders not to reveal herself to you." The potions master managed to say this surprisingly gently and that was only because they couldn't afford to have the boy backslide when he was beginning to break through to him.

Draco couldn't help but interject into the conversation. "What made you change from being civil in Madame Malkins shop to already hating me by the Hogwarts express?" He asked.

"Well in the robe shop I couldn't help but think of how much you reminded me of my cousin, and he was never anything more then a bully to me. I might have given you a chance I will admit to that but I had already made friends with Ron and he was spouting off about how evil Slytherins were. He was the first person to ever be civil to me I couldn't lose that for someone who might not turn out to be a friend." Harry explained he was beginning to get sick of all the secrets he had been hiding, and as much as he wanted to vehemently deny every word that Snape had said something inside of him told him the older wizard was telling the truth. It hurt to have all your illusions shattered but to be perfectly honest he had been having similar thoughts over the years but then Dumbledore or one of the Weasleys would do something and he would think such thoughts were silly.

Now he had a different adult telling him that all those incidences of him being persuaded out of those thoughts were set ups, carefully designed to bring him further into blind obedience. He had one more question to ask if the answer was what he thought he would be then he would go along with whatever Snape told him to do but if the answer differed at all he would walk out of the dungeon and go straight to Dumbledore.

"Why would Dumbledore do that to me if he knew me at all he would know I would have done anything he asked me to do? I don't see him putting all the effort into molding me as you so eloquently put it if the job would get done another way." Harry asked the damning question.

Snape knew by the spark of determination spreading across the boy's face that this was the question that would make or break his mission from the Dark Lord. "Dumbledore isn't molding you for the war Harry. He knows you have the power and the want to kill the Dark Lord right now and would do it in an instant if he asked. What he is attempting to break you for is for what happens after the war. As he sees it if you are strong enough to fight and win against the Dark Lord you are strong enough to be a threat to him. He has worked many long years to defeat the Dark Lord and he would rather sacrifice his savior then have a young boy take the fame that was rightly his in his own mind.

Why do you think you have received no formal training on how to fight? If it is as you say and Dumbledore wants you to fight for him wouldn't it make more sense for you to be trained? Dumbledore is hoping that the prophecy I told you about before is enough to let you defeat the Dark Lord without training because if he gave you that there is every possibility you will be stronger then both the Dark Lord and Dumbledore.

You asked earlier why you would choose any other path then the light? Well the answer to that is simple on the side of the Dark Lord your power, and I mean all of it both dark and light, would be appreciated. Yes we are wounded when we don't complete a mission for the Lord but is that actually a bad thing? If we are caught on a mission there is a large possibility of sentencing to Azkaban and the Dementor's kiss. What would you rather have, your soul sucked out of your mouth while your body lingers in that hell house or a few seconds of Crucio?

The Dark Lord has more of a purpose then you have been led to believe. Let me guess you believe this entire war was about killing you and any muggleborn witches and wizards? That is what the light side wants people to believe and since the light controls the government and most of the press you only hear those things. The one thing the light has failed to explain is why the Dark Lord is after them. The truth is the Dark Lord doesn't want rid of muggleborns if you had been allowed to get a newspaper you might notice the only families that the Dark Lord has targeted, besides the special case of you, has been where a witch or wizard has married a muggle.

He knows perfectly well that the wizarding world would die if he killed all muggleborns, and he wants to rule it not kill it. Dumbledore with his encouragement of witches and wizards marrying muggles is diluting our blood. Magical power is becoming less powerful as the generations descend. When the school was founded only about 3 percent of the students invited to Hogwarts had to be sent back because they weren't strong enough to wield a wand safely. Now that amount is creeping higher, this years first years had a 15 percent rejection rate.

I am not saying the Dark side is all good, there is pain, if you mess up you will feel the agony of Cruciatus. If you betray the Dark Lord you will be killed. If you try and kill another follower or worse the Dark Lord himself well then you have a fate worse then death to worry about. The Dark side earned its name for a reason, but Dark is not Evil and you would know that if you read the books I sent you over the summer, which I assume you have." Snape's whole speech was given in a tone that said he was being deadly serious and completely honest outlining both the good and the bad.

Harry was kind of surprised by the answer not because of what was said but by how thorough the answer had been. It explained all the tiny little questions that had been plaguing him since he had read that first stack of books. It was a simple well formed reply and it left him with his head spinning. Hating himself for abandoning the person that had saved him from the Dursleys. Wait Dumbledore had placed him there in the first place and either knew about the abuse and did nothing to stop it or just neglected to check up on him both were unforgivable offenses. With his largest doubts buried for the last time he made a choice. "I will follow the Dark." The glazed expression in his emerald eyes the only hint of how hard it was to say those five small words. "But I want to learn everything, hide nothing from me, I want to know why it was my family that was chosen. I want to know everything Dumbledore has done that proves his corruption. I won't make the same mistake twice if your master wants me on his side he is going to have to prove that my treatment will be better then if I stay with Dumbledore." Harry said finally with a spark of anger in his voice. It was about time the boy's spirit started to return.

Severus was surprised that all it took to convince this once unhealthily obsessed boy that his views were wrong was the answer to a single question. He had compared his training of Harry to breaking a habit well sometimes it can be a small thing that can trigger the change of habit. You can prepare and attempt all you want but there comes a point when something has to give and Harry had finally reached that point. Harry was powerful and just because he had been raised in a fashion that made him obsessively loyal to the one he perceived as his savior didn't make him stupid. Intelligence like the kind Harry possessed could only be held at bay for so long.

Draco and Harry soon came to have a schedule for when to meet up and practice. After Harry's shocking choice Draco had got it into his head to teach the boy more then just fighting. Draco knew from everything he had heard from his father an godfather plus his own observances that Harry would become a very powerful, and deadly, ally. Unfortunately Harry's pitiful muggle upbringing made him frightfully behind in everyday skills such as etiquette and penmanship.

Those simple skills didn't seem to make much difference until Harry began employing them and noticed the changes going on around him. Students from other houses then his own were more open to his presence now that he knew how to act around people his own age. His marks in class began climbing at a steady rate as his essays became neater. With smaller neater writing he had to write a more thorough essay to get the same length as before.

It seemed as if the Gryffindors had taken up a neutral position towards him. The only one to hold up any real grudge was Ron. Harry thought it was because Ron still believed he had killed Ginny.

His illusions were shattered when for a second time that year he was accosted leaving the great hall. This time it was a furious red head that pinned him against the hallway wall. Harry could have fought back but he chose not to he wanted to hear what Ron had to say.

Ron leaned in so close to Harry his breath ghosted across Harry's ear. "I know it wasn't you who killed Ginny, but you might as well have. The headmaster promised our family that if we agreed to befriend you then you would always be there to protect us. Why did you betray us Harry? She was my little sister and you didn't protect her. I will regret to the end of my days agreeing to be your friend." Ron said furiously then let his fist fly.

Harry felt the bruises and blood form on his skin but didn't fight. His one weakness that Severus had yet to get him over was the fear that he had failed. It was just not in his nature to fail he wouldn't accept it and now he was confronted with his failure. He took the beating only because he felt he deserved it.

Soon Ron left Harry alone in the hall, with one last kick to his abused side his former best friend laying in a pool of blood and tears. His only wound was the bloodied knuckles he received from punching so hard so many times.

Ten minutes later Harry was found by an inwardly worried Draco. Without preamble he scooped up the badly injured Gryffindor and headed down to the dungeons. He knew enough potions and spells from helping his father upon returning from death eater meetings the last summer he was able to heal Harry.

"What happened Harry?" He asked once the raven haired youth had regained consciousness.

"Ron is what happened, he called me a failure and he also told me that Dumbledore had ordered his family to befriend me. The headmaster promised them that if they befriended me then I would protect them. Ron thinks I betrayed them because I couldn't save Ginny. Now I know why everyone in the office that night didn't correct Ron when he called me a murderer to them I was." Harry explained without emotion to his voice. All his time spent with Slytherin's was beginning to have an effect on him.

"Harry you should know better then to listen to him. Can't you see what he just said? You are not the betrayer he is. His friendship with you was a set up to begin with, and what right does he have to call you a failure over a promise you didn't even know was made. You can not be blamed for this. Repeat after me Ginny Weasley's death was not my fault." Draco demanded.

"Ginny Weasley's death was not my fault," Harry parroted but came back in a slightly defeated voice, "but what if he is right?"

"He isn't Harry you can trust me I won't lie to you. You nearly died down in the chamber along with her. You killed a basilisk when you were twelve years old just to save her. That family has no right what so ever to say you are a failure if anyone is to blame it is Dumbledore, for someone who claims to know everything he sure missed a lot your first two years too much to be a coincidence in my opinion." Draco was now practically nose to nose with Harry trying to get his point across. Severus had told him a lot of Harry's history and believe it or not he found himself wanting to help.

Harry heard Draco loud and clear, he even understood him to a point, but he was hurting too bad to face it right now. He really needed to shut up Draco. He did the first thing that came to his mind.

He kissed him.