A/N; YAY! I've finally broken up for the summer holidays (I was in school until Tuesday, mean teachers) so I've been able to sit and write more of this story. I hope you're all enjoying it, and thanks for all your support and reviews!
Disclaimer; I own nothing. Also, I had a review the other day alerting me that a few bits and pieces seem to be similar to that found in other stories (i.e in my story there's some dialogue at the beginning which someone thinks is similar to some other speech in another story). I would like to apologize to any authors that think this, but it was in no way intentional; all ideas contained within this story are mine, I haven't stolen anything from anyone else; I'm afraid it is merely bad luck and coincidence on my behalf.
Warnings; you've probably already noticed; bad/foul language, slash, mentions of abuse and self harm…you've read it all already, don't like don't read.
Speech "blah"
Thoughts 'blah'
By the way, some parts in this require a lot of imagination…I've tried to describe it as best as I can but…well, you'll see. Enjoy!
DmHp
Perhaps they wouldn't notice, he reasoned, as the charm failed again. Harry looked down as his body, then at his robes that lay in a crumpled heap on the floor. No, he couldn't take the risk.
He tried to perform the charm again.
Harry Potter, seventeen year old wizard and mate of the Slytherin veela, hardly even noticed when his eyes slipped closed once more and his half naked body fell to the bathroom floor.
DmHp
'Tuesday,' Draco mused, climbing slowly from the comfort of his bed 'Tuesday two weeks ago found Harry standing in our quarters dressed in the finest leather clothing, laughing with us over absolutely nothing…how did it come to this?'
Draco yawned, raising a hand absentmindedly to cover his mouth as he ambled about his room. He scowled as he caught sight of the mirror he had brought from his old room; his reflection reminding him sourly it was way far too early to be up and about.
The blonde ran a hand through his hair that was falling lazily around his face; not that it helped much. He grabbed the nearest clothes, and headed out of his room for a shower. He wanted to be out of their dormitories by the time his mate woke up, they weren't exactly on the best of terms.
Forty-five minutes or so later, Draco Malfoy strolled out of their rooms, bag slung over one shoulder as he adjusted his tie. He headed towards the library, deciding to start on early on their potions essay.
He had a feeling it was going to be a long day.
DmHp
Hermione rolled over in her bed, deciding early mornings did not agree with her. If they were a human, she would most likely give them a long lecture on the principles of letting people sleep in until at least seven, not stopping until they grudgingly agreed with her.
However, to her dismay, Tuesday mornings were just that; mornings, and there was no logical way of conversing with them other than screaming out of a window at the rising sun. So, accepting that she did in fact have to get up, she pushed off her covers and began her usual morning rituals.
'I don't know how people do it,'
"Bloody morning people."
DmHp
Pansy Parkinson had always been – no matter how much Draco yelled at her for it daily – a morning person.
She was the type of person that woke up early in a morning and sang at the top of her voice in the shower just to piss everybody else up as they slowly awoke at the noise she made.
She was the type of girl that was at the table before anyone else, and began to hum merrily as people arrived in their usual states of disinterest.
She was the type of person that nodded excitedly when someone said to her; "Oh god, you're one of those bloody morning people."
She was the person who laughed as everyone else buttered their toast wearily, claiming in a loud, cheery voice what a lovely morning it was.
She was the type of person that listened patiently to her blonde haired friend rant angrily about his woes, then smiled and gracefully held out the pitcher of juice when he was finished, telling him to cheer up and smile.
Pansy Parkinson was the type of person that lived in the morning just to kill everybody else through her too bright and overly-cheery smiles.
Therefore, when Tuesday morning rolled around and called for her up exceptionally early, it wasn't at all unusual to see her walk out of the Slytherin common room door no more than half an hour after her alarm went off, whistling a merry tune; if anyone was stupid enough to be awake and see her, of course. But as it was, nobody was, and therefore nobody was around to decide whether it was usual or not.
But had they been, they would have merely rolled their eyes and mumbled; "Bloody morning people."
DmHp
Much to both her husband's and her son's dismay, Narcissa Malfoy was in fact a very cheery type of morning person, always bustling around the house before anyone else had even thought about waking up, humming a happy muggle tune lightly under her breath.
And, much to Tracy's own dismay, she was also the type of morning person that liked to wake everybody else up just so she could have some company. That was why Tuesday morning dawned on their quarters to find a very resisting in-no-way-related-but-kind-of-adopted-daughter being hauled from her bed by an overly-bubbly in-no-way-related-but-sort-of-step-mother at a time that could only be deemed as unfit for human existence.
"Come on, Tracy, the girls will be here any minute now! You have to get up, come on, come on, come on!"
The blonde haired twenty something year old woman rolled her eyes, and batted Narcissa's hand away.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, I'm coming, honestly."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"Positive."
"Then hurry up!" And with that, Narcissa swept from the room, already singing song which Tracy recognized vaguely from a muggle Disney video.
Tracy got up off the bed, rummaging through some piles of clothing for something to wear, mumbling almost incoherently under her breath
"Bloody morning people."
DmHp
"Alright then, did anyone come up with any useful ideas last night?"
Hermione yawned, shaking her head in response to the question the elder Malfoy asked the room. Glancing at her watch, she decided that normal people would, right about now, just be opening their eyes and slamming their alarm clock against the wall in favour of going back to sleep for half an hour. She yawned again; if only she were still in bed.
Pippa and Cecil had, apparently, spent the night in the Malfoy's rooms, and now there they all were at another 'meeting'; Pippa, Cecil, Narcissa, Tracy, Pansy and Hermione all sitting around on various chairs and cushions, trying to decide how to deal with the two idiotic boys that were most likely still sleeping unawares somewhere in the castle.
"Well, I still hold to my idea of locking them in a room together."
"They'd kill each other," Pansy replied to Cecil's statement, smiling in that annoying little way that morning people often do.
"Nah, maim perhaps, but not kill," was Tracy's response, snuggling a little further down into her corner of the couch, most likely falling back asleep.
"You'd be surprised," Hermione said tiredly from where she sat beside Pansy, leaning slightly on the other girl as she tried in vain to stay awake.
"We could take away their wands!" Cecil defended her idea.
"They could use their hands."
"We could chop of their limbs!"
Hermione cracked a smile at this, rolling her eyes. She had become used to Cecil's bubbly personality, though it had startled her that an ex-Slytherin could act something like a rather strange Hufflepuff sixth year.
"I highly doubt they'd appreciate that, Cecil," Pippa said, hitting her friend upside the head "so drop it."
The group sat in silence for a few moments, until Cecil began to bounce one leg up and down. Most eyes switched to her as she sat inspecting her finger nails, her leg bouncing becoming more insistent. Then she began to hum, though quietly, an upbeat tune, nodding her head in time to the beat.
Pippa rolled her eyes at her friend's antics, and nudged the woman in her side.
"All right, all right, what is it now?"
Cecil grinned, her leg bouncing stopping immediately.
"I say…we stick them together."
The room was filled with groans, Tracy muttering a quiet "Kill me now."
"What?" Cecil cried "I thought I was a brilliant idea! We stick like their hands together or their hips, and they stay like that until they kiss…"
"No Cecil."
Cecil pouted, pulling a face at Narcissa, then slumped back on the couch.
"You're no fun."
DmHp
Draco rubbed a hand over his eyes, willing the swirling in his stomach to go away. It had gotten worse over the last half an hour he had been awake, and he really couldn't be bothered to go find Harry to start a fight so he could find a way to touch the dark haired boy, thereby solving his problem.
The blonde gave a frustrated sigh, snapping the book closed angrily. He stuffed the offending item into his bag, and stood up from the table. He wasn't going to find the Gryffindor, he was going to go eat peacefully in the great hall whilst it was still vaguely empty. Or at least, that's what he told himself as he ascended the stairs that led to their personal rooms.
DmHp
'I feel…empty…'
DmHp
Draco stopped mid-stride, a cold sense of dread flowing over him as though someone had just cracked an egg upon his head (not that he knew what that felt like; no one had ever gotten close enough to his hair to do so). His veela instincts were sending up a little red flag; like a little voice in the back of his mind telling him something was wrong.
His stomach, already plenty upset at Draco for staying away from his mate, began to lurch in every direction, and he could feel his head going fuzzy as the world and his view of it became empty.
Draco clutched at his head, letting a small moan of pain escape his lips. The veela part of him began to scream angrily as his eyes slipped closed to try and block the pain.
The veela part of him knew what was going on, and was trying to break away, trying to find the source of the problem and help. Slowly, through his foggy mind, Draco also began to realize what had happened. His mate. His mate was troubled. In fact, Harry was completely blocking what little bit of a bond the pair had due to them being mates…and the blonde was quickly falling into the whirling darkness where his mate most likely resided at that point in time.
Growling in anger at because of his own stupidity for not seeing it coming, Draco forced his eyes open, and took off again, this time at a much quicker pace.
'I am not concerned, I am not concerned, I am not concerned.'
DmHp
'I feel…alone…'
DmHp
Narcissa raised two fingers to her head, gently massaging her temple. She had a splitting head-ache, and the group had still not really plotted anything of great brilliance…damn the fucking head-ache, she just couldn't concentrate…
Her eyes flew wide open as a startling realization hit her, feeling her son's distress through the little link they had due to them being related veela's…and Harry…he was concerned for Harry…
'Dear God, what have they done?'
DmHp
A single strand of power, in turn made up of two separate strands entwined together -one startling gold and the other the purest of silvers - quivered. The strand – thin and fragile – shook, a pulse of energy speeding through it. The strand tensed, stretching out a little more. It had been doing that a lot lately, and it wasn't strong enough to withstand the tension much longer.
The strand of power, two swirling colours joined together to make one, began to vibrate angrily, jostling the energy contained within it. And then, the singular gold strand began to pull away from the second, silvery strand, and one, definite though shallow crack formed between the two.
And so it began.
DmHp
'I feel…pain…'
DmHp
Draco never made it to their joint dormitories, falling to the floor just short of the sleeping portrait. Alone in the hushed silence of the corridor, the blonde Slytherin lay panting on the cold floor, struggling to keep his eyes open. He just didn't have the energy…
And slowly, his world began to go hazy, loosing focus on the already fuzzy world…
And then he knew no more.
DmHp
'I feel…cold…'
DmHp
The strand of power stayed silent, the two thinner strands already weakened. The two strands were still closely entwined to form one, though the previously formed crack was still very much real. A wave of energy pulsed down the strand, and this time the silver one was pulled, twisting away from its partnering strand…
DmHp
Gathering her strength, Narcissa stood quickly, ushering her questioning friends and the two students out the door. She strode quickly through the almost empty halls, the five others following closely behind her, and quickly told them something had happened to the veela couple.
No one bothered to ask anymore questions. After all, none lacked the ability to read.
DmHp
'I feel…abandoned...'
DmHp
A deafening shriek sounded through the halls of Hogwarts castle, rousing the many portraits and indeed, the still sleeping students. One, singular cry of a distressed female veela succeeded to alert many passing professors to the happenings, and also managed to terrify a good deal of first years. But no matter, they are not crucial to this part of the story.
Narcissa, her eyes glowing a furious red, fell to her son's side, pulling his body close to her own. Pansy and Hermione shared a look, before Hermione and Pippa gained access to the veela quarters, leaving Pansy and Cecil to deal not only with a pale, almost lifeless teenage boy but a distressed, angry veela mother.
The sight of Harry Potter, collapsed and ghost like on the bathroom floor was not an unexpected one.
And yet, another distressed cry rang through the halls of Hogwarts that morning, this time in despair and shock horror.
The boy-who-lived, golden-boy, Dumbledore's golden-one, the chosen one…none of those titles really and truly seemed appropriate at that moment.
Harry Potter, the boy who had always only wanted to be a simple, ordinary boy with a normal teenage life was not who he seemed.
DmHp
"How are they doing?"
"No changes, Severus."
It would have been a strange thing, to any other student, that Severus Snape was one of many visitors to the ward that contained the two bodies of two equally idiotic teenage boys. It was not that fact, however, that scared Poppy at that moment. No, it was this; Severus Snape, the Potions professor known for being cruel but always immaculate in appearance, had turned up every day without fail, recently developoing sunken eyes, dark circles and a great concern for the well-being of the two boys.
Although, Poppy mused, who was she to talk? Dark circles had also invaded the space under her own eyes due to many sleepless nights, and her mouth was often drawn into a straight line to stop her constantly frowning in worry or despair.
The fact was that Poppy, no matter how great a nurse, simply couldn't wake up the veela and his mate. And, for that matter, neither could anyone else.
Over the week that had passed since their bodies had been brought in, many other nurses had visited, many of Severus's potions had been tried, and many healing spells had been performed. It was the simple truth that the two boys had to solve the matter themselves.
DmHp
'I feel…tired…'
DmHp
The strand, still pulsing with lifeless energy, tensed again, the singular crack deepening.
Further down the line, where the gold and silver strands first joined, another crack was forming, this time breaking straight down the middle of the two strands to try and force them apart. The gold had begun to pull away from the now less bright silver, and both strands had dimmed. It was only a matter of time.
DmHp
The library was eerily silent, though no one bothered to notice the silence that was craving attention. No, the silence would simply have to put up with being ignored, broken only by the occasional sound of a page turning in a book.
That was why the silence cheered as a loud, forceful slam was heard after a rather dejected looking book was flung across the room in a particular moment of anger.
Tracy passed the offending bushy haired girl a look of sympathy as the teenager folded her arms on the wooden table and placed her head onto them, sighing in frustration. That book hadn't been any good, just like the last, and the one before that, not to mention the one before that or the one before that.
"Hermione…Mione', we'll think of something, okay?"
Pansy placed her hand on her Gryffindor friend's shoulder gently, caressing it with her thumb in a calming motion.
"We will find an answer," the Slytherin girl repeated.
"Of course we will," Blaise put in from across the table, the boy not removing his eyes from the pages in front of him "Trust us, Hermione. We will."
Hermione lifted her head, passing a grateful smile to the Slytherins around her. All of Draco's friends had come, each remaining loyal to their veela friend who was currently in a coma-like state somewhere above them in the hospital wing.
Ron, however, had refused to come with her, had refused all week…he said it was Malfoy's fault, and maybe this would teach Harry to not get involved with 'death eater spawn'. He, Ginny and some other Gryffindor's had eventually set up a research group back in the tower, but she remained the only one willing to join the Slytherin group in the library.
Pansy gave Hermione a comforting hug, brushing a few strands of hair out of the other girl's face as they drew apart.
"We will find an answer. We will."
DmHp
'I feel…anxious…'
DmHp
Narcissa watched the two girls sadly for a few moments, before turning back to the book in front of her. She hadn't even the slightest clue how they could wake the two boys she though so fondly of from their coma, though she could feel her veela side screaming something inside her. She had always shushed it quickly, stating that the two boys couldn't fall in love whilst in a coma, it was impossible!
How wrong she would soon be proved to be.
DmHp
Poppy gave a short sigh, re-reading the results of the diagnostic spells she had performed. There was no change in either boy's condition, not that she had really expected there to be.
Harry's bruises were healing nicely, though how the teenager had managed all those years Poppy couldn't figure. What's more, a very strong glamour charm would have been needed to stop her ever seeing them in the past when he had been in her care, how could she not have seen them? There was no way an ordinary wizard could perform such a miracle…
Although, she mused, the Harry Potter she knew had never really been an ordinary wizard.
DmHp
In the murky landscape that seemed to have no form, in a reality that seemed anything but real, two pairs of eyes snapped open…and two minds shared one identical thought.
'Oh fuck…'
DmHp
A/N; ah, I love cliff hangers! Lol, you review and I'll update, deal?
By the way, I want your opinions on something; in this chapter there a light hints at shoujo-ai (girl/girl love) but should I really make Hermione and Pansy a couple? Sometimes it bugs me when authors think that because they have one gay couple everybody else has to be gay, but what do you think to that relationship in this story? Obviously it would be slow going (I really want to write a break up scene for Hermione and Ron) but do you think it would work?
Let me know, enjoy!
Edited; 30-05-07