A Touch of Evil
DaggersBloodPain
Chapter Ten
Sea of Loathing
(Down With the Sickness- Disturbed)
"We wondered when you were going to tell us." Theodore Nott said to his blond friend.
"Shut up Dore, and what do you mean by that?" Draco asked his small circle of friends as they were sizing up Harry.
"Dray it has been kind of obvious you were with someone." Pansy pointed out. "We weren't sure who it was but we knew something was going on."
"You made a good choice." Blaise said grinning, making pearly white teeth contrast his dark skin.
"So glad you approve." Harry said with sarcasm, the first words he had spoken since entering Slytherin territory in fact.
"You should be glad because if we didn't approve you would find yourself cursed so hard your ancestors would feel it." Pansy said nonchalantly, as she inspected her immaculate finger nails.
"You would have to catch me first." Harry pointed out a smile creeping onto his face. This whole situation was kind of surreal for him. He knew the Slytherins wouldn't be the same, but this was not what he had imagined at all.
"Shouldn't be too hard, your not so scrawny you slip through our fingers anymore." Blaise said teasingly.
"No threatening my boyfriend." Draco ordered.
"I do think the Boy-who-lived can take care of himself." Pansy responded carefully.
"He can, he just shouldn't have to." Draco pointed out.
"Hey Draco I can hear you, did you realize that? I can fight my own battles if I have to." Harry pointed out in a low deadly voice that sent a shiver down Draco's spine.
"Oh relax you two, we were just playing. I personally believe Draco could have done a lot worse." Dore said with a slight incline of his head in Harry's direction.
And that was the end of the meeting and the beginning of Harry's time in the dungeons. He began to spend more time in the Slytherin common room then in the Gryffindor one, and if he was perfectly honest with himself he didn't have a problem with that.
It gave him more time to be with Draco after all.
Unfortunately all good things must come to an end and the last day of term was upon them. Harry was stuffed into a compartment containing all of the Slytherins that had befriended him. When an excited voice caught his attention.
"Dray have you told Harry about Hell's Paradise yet?" Pan asked nearly bouncing in her seat.
"No," Draco said quickly.
"What is Hell's Paradise?" Harry asked curiously.
"Only the best nightclub in Knockturn Alley!" Blaise said excitedly. "It isn't picky about its client's ages, or species, and doesn't give a hoot over orientation." He explained quickly. "Professor Snape has set up one of the fireplaces in the common room in the floo network. He only lets fourth years and above use it outside of emergencies. He doesn't want us causing trouble in the corridors so he lets us go out. We only have to warn him when we leave and tell him when we get back."
"When we come back next term the first weekend we are going to check out that club." Pan said. "Your coming with us." She ordered.
"I'll be there!" Harry said firmly even as he whispered to himself, 'if I survive the summer.' he wasn't quite quiet enough because Draco heard him.
"What do you mean by if you survive the summer?" He asked.
"Exactly what it sounds like." Harry said keeping his voice low trying to make it so at least some people couldn't overhear.
"What do those muggles do to you?" Draco asked reaching out and lifting Harry's head from were it had dropped to stare at the ground.
"Nothing you have to concern yourself with. I was just exaggerating." Harry told him as seriously as he could, it didn't work.
"Harry I know you better then that, you never exaggerate, if anything you understate. Those muggles hurt you don't they?" He asked.
"Yes," Harry admitted quietly but was quick to come back with, "But I can handle it, not like its the first time." He muttered darkly.
"Why do you go back there every year? Surely the headmaster could get you out!" Draco said incredulously, unconsciously drawing everyone's attention.
Harry just snorted before replying. "The Headmaster knows Draco, and he has done nothing, I no longer count on him and I don't even know why you brought him up. Professor Snape knows they neglected me but I don't know how much he knows further then that."
"I expect you back here on the 1st of September if you are not I will hunt those muggles down and kill them." Harry knew Draco was dead serious and he also saw a few of the others nod their heads in agreement.
Not long after that the Hogwarts express pulled into platform 9 ¾. Using the last bit of magic time left Harry shrunk his trunk and handed that with Hedwig's empty cage to Draco with a silent plea. The blond excepted and they all exited the train. With a bit of trepidation Harry walked out of the barrier and into Hell's abyss.
A/N You know I thought about ending it here but soon realized I am not quite that mean, close but not there yet. So here is the rest.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Sept first XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Draco was anxious very anxious, he couldn't find Harry and was soon about to make good on his promise when he spotted him. Harry was alone sprawled out on the seat in the very last compartment of the train.
He was fully clothed but that clothing was acres too large and had holes and stains in it so bad they looked worse then cleaning rags. Harry himself was tossed like a rag doll onto the seat, appearing to have used all his strength to get that far.
Draco stepped cautiously into the compartment barely registering the presence of three very worried Slytherins behind him. He turned Harry over so the black haired boy was facing him and he saw the bruises and cuts over his face and neck disappearing under the neck line of the woebegone clothes.
"Harry," He whispered softly and emerald eyes opened for a fraction of a second then closed again with a pained sigh.
That tiny sigh was enough to spur Draco into action. Thanking his lucky stars to have a potions master for a godfather he pulled vial after vial of healing potions and salves all geared towards Harry and all made to work together. Getting Harry conscious enough to swallow them was the hard part, the rest was up to Harry.
When Harry finally came around most of the marks had faded leaving traces of shadows across his near death complexion. Sitting up stiffly he saw the four of them watching him and just sighed again and shook his head.
"I'm alright now, thank you Draco." Harry said quietly, holding out his hand for the shrunken trunk that was on a chain around Draco's neck.
When he had his stuff back he riffled through it finding clothes that fit. Stripping down to his boxers, ignoring the stares, he changed quickly.
"You've lost a lot of weight." Draco said worriedly, the other three silently nodding their agreement.
"No worse then normal there, I will gain it back soon enough." Harry tried to reassure them but it only made them angrier. "Please don't ask questions just yet, I don't think I can handle answering them yet." He said with a pleading tone.
"So, are we still on for Hell's Paradise? I would really like to go, it would help get rid of the memories." Harry asked with hope and excitement. He really didn't want his friends to dwell on his past summer time to move forward.
"Yeah can't wait to go!" They all agreed knowing what Harry was trying to do.
"Great." Harry grinned at the thought of getting out of his gloomy remembrances. 'The pain is finally over.' he thought to himself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Friday Night XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"OW... Ouch... ouff. Geroff me. What are you doing with that? Pansy if you don't stop right now I will not hesitate to hex you!" Harry screamed out.
The scene in the fourth year Slytherin boys dorm was am interesting one. Theodore and Blaise were holding Harry down, despite being almost sickly thin Harry could be quite strong when he needed to be, and Pansy was sitting straddling his chest coming dangerously close to his eyes with a long thin pencil like object.
"Stop being such a baby Harry. Its just eyeliner, it will bring out your eyes, and if you keep moving you will smudge it and I will have to start all over again." She warned applying the thick black substance lightly around Harry's emerald green eyes.
"Why again are you insisting on putting make up on a guy?" Harry asked exasperatedly.
"Because you have gorgeous eyes, I am only going to do eyeliner, honest." Pansy explained.
"Won't people get the wrong idea though?" Harry asked carefully.
"Straight guys where it too, on occasions." Dore butted in.
"I don't see you wearing any." Harry pointed out.
"I don't need it, I have natural beauty," He said dramatically fanning his face with his hands and puffing out his chest. Which Blaise quickly punched him deflating his ego considerably. "Besides, I'm not exactly straight either." Dore pointed out.
"Want to explain that one?" Harry asked in confusion, as Pansy finally finished and the three of them let him up.
"Doesn't anybody tell you anything? Just so you know in the wizarding world the most common orientation is bisexuality, and we have a higher percentage of homosexuals then the muggle community. Of course there are still the self righteous jack asses that try and persecute us but since they are the minority they can't do much more then bellow at us." Blaise explained to the bewildered Harry. "Dore and myself are both Bi." He finished.
"What about you?" Harry asked Pansy.
"Well I am slightly Bi but I lean towards guys to the point it doesn't matter much." She explained.
"There is different levels?" Harry asked curiously. It wasn't often he felt comfortable asking.
"Yea, very few bisexual people are truly fifty-fifty, most lean one way or another but wouldn't mind dating the other. Is this making sense?" She asked.
"Yes," Harry affirmed, "Now when are we leaving?"
"When ever Draco is ready, which means we have some time to relax. Honestly he can act like a girl some times." Blaise answered, only to be swiftly smacked by Pansy. "Sorry Pans, but you know its true." He said placating the girl turning deep brown eyes on her full puppy dog style.
"Oh alright, but don't do it again, and since we have time let me look you guys over." She said in a way of compromising and the boys knew better then to complain.
Blaise was wearing tight black pants that hugged his slender hips and flared out slightly until they reached his ankles. Dragon hide boots went to his mid calf. He wore a deep ocher colored shirt, short enough to expose about an inch of his muscled abs, to bring out the highlights in his chocolate skin tone. Black hair was braided into small, tightly wound, spirals reaching below his shoulders. His face was smooth, long and thin. Soulful brown eyes completed his features perfectly.
Dore was wearing leather trousers styled the same way as Blaise's pants. His boots were well oiled leather, combat style. An ice blue shirt fit him well, hugging his frame. His brown hair reached down to brush the base of his neck, he allowed it to free fall without gel or mousse. He hadn't been completely lying when he said he didn't need the eyeliner. His huge violet eyes were surrounded by thick brown lashes and the black liner would have clashed instead of enhanced. His skin was lightly tanned and his face had a slight heart shape to it.
It was Harry that was going to draw the most attention, and the others were pretty sure he was oblivious to it. His clothes were borrowed from his friends, thus they were similar. He wore a pair of black pants exactly the same as the ones Blaise wore. He wore the same combat boots that Dore was wearing. His shirt was and emerald green form hugging tank, with a black mesh overlay. The sleeves in the mesh part were slit down the side held together at a few points with a small black button. The black part met the edge of his pants but the green part ended an inch or two further up causing them to get a tantalizing look at the snow colored skin.
He didn't want to admit it but Pansy's addition of eyeliner did look good on him. It wasn't thick or overdone, in fact it was kind of hard to tell he was wearing it at all. It faded into the base of his eyelashes, and thus looked like and extension of his lashes. What it did was frame his green eyes in black so the color would come out full force next to the contrasting darkness.
Not to mention the eyeliner wasn't Pansy's only addition. His raven wing hair was now streaked with silver and blood red. The silver stood out greatly, and was very obviously an addition to the natural shade. The dark red faded into the black to the point it wouldn't be obvious until he was under the bright lights of a dance floor. Harry's hair had grown out to be between Dore's and Blaise in length. It was still messy and hard to tame, so they didn't even try. It was just brushed till it shown and a bit of gel was added for weight to make the messy locks turn into natural waves that flowed in no definite style.
Finally the bathroom door opened and Draco came sauntering out. He was wearing tight leather pants with a blood red shirt on that was made from an almost wet suit like material. His hair was immaculate as ever slicked back with hair gel. Harry was half pleased to note Draco also wore a touch of eyeliner to make his steal gray eyes stand out and appear to change color from different perspectives.
"Ready to go?" He asked and they all agreed, it was time to enjoy Hell's Paradise!