Disclaimer:Not mine! No money, don't sue yeah?
Rating:R / M
Parings:Harry/Draco, Ron/Hermione, Severus/Hermione (very mild!)
Summary:Harry and Draco, who are paired up together for Muggle Studies, are forced to live together without magic for two months. Will they survive each others' wit and charms or does fate have something else in mind?
Author's Note:Yey, finally, the 13th chapter! For all of you who had been wondering who Adrian is all this time then wait no more! You will be able to finally learn who he is. As for how it happened (you'll find out about this at the end of this chapter, no peeking!), it will be explained in the next chapter. I hope you like it; it took me forever to ensure that all this make sense to you guys. So, just one more thing, out of all of you who actually read this story till up to this point, which one of you actually guessed it right? Lol. Oh yeah, one more thing, I had to make Draco a little bit OOC in this chapter but I hope I didn't overdo it. Tell me what you think, yeah? Oh, and sorry it's so short...
Status: Unbetaed and still looking for one. Anyone interested?
-:-:-:-I'm Not In Love-:-:-:-
Chapter 13
Adrian
As the two of them waited a few minutes for the potion to take effect, Harry closed his eyes and breathed in deeply.
Here he was, sitting beside this person he had spend the entire day with and somehow trusted as much as he trust Hermione and Ron. In a few minutes both of them were going to tell each other their deepest, darkest secret to each other and surprisingly, Harry realized that he wouldn't have it any other way. That he trusted Draco enough to tell him everything about himself that even Hermione and Ron doesn't even know.
And he was being trusted in return.
"Listen, what is said today, beyond this point, I just want you to know that it will only stay between us. I will guard your secret as I do mine," Harry said as he opened his eyes to look at the blonde beside him.
"I will do so too," Draco replied shortly and Harry nodded his head sharply at that before looking down and unfolding the parchment in his lap to read at the instructions out loud.
Good Evening, gentlemen.
The potion you have drunk will last approximately 12 hours after consumption. It is during this time period, you two are both required to talk freely about anything you desire, keeping in mind that you will be required to write an essay about your partner when it is all over. Need I remind you once again that the essay should be about them and not about their family. Below is one question that you need to ask the other but the choice whether you want to include that in your essay is up to you. You will find that the question will help you understand each other greatly.
Professor Yohanna.
"Bloody hell, she doesn't want much does she?" Harry mumbled under his breath.
"What is the question?" Draco asked shortly, bracing himself for the inevitable.
Harry glanced further down at the parchment and found the question they need to ask each other. "Pick one person, dead or alive, that has the most significant impact to your life and explain why."
After the question was read, the both of them kept quiet for a few minutes to gather their thoughts. After what seems to be hours, Harry decided that he would have to go first since Draco doesn't seem to want to talk. So, in a show of trust, Harry exhale softly but before he could begin, Draco beat him to it.
"About a year and a half before you destroyed Voldemort, somewhere during the final months of our fourth year, a new… addition, as they call it, arrived at Malfoy Manor. I can honestly say that I hate him, ever since I first saw his face, I hated him. I wanted nothing to do with him although technically, I was responsible for him," Draco began as he gazed at the fading sun in front of them, his hands wrapped tightly around his knees.
"He stayed with us since the day he was born. You never knew him but I have a feeling that if you do, than you would do just about anything to save him from Voldemort's evil plan. You see, he was Voldemort's secret weapon to destroy you," Draco stated and Harry just managed to muffle a gasp. At that, Draco turned to face his company of the day to find him looking slightly green in the face.
"It was horrid but Voldemort wanted to use the boy to destroy you. He figured that you wouldn't have the heart to kill a boy and thus, he will have an easy victory over you," Draco continued.
"That bastard wanted to use a kid to kill me?" Harry exclaimed with disgust. "That's low, even for him."
"I said he wanted to. He never did, did he?" Draco pointed out.
"Why not?" Harry spat, thinking about the day of that final battle and remembering nothing about a small boy.
"I'll get to that later. Anyway, since he was just a baby, my father was entrusted to care for him. Severus, being still a Death Eater and a Potion Master at that, was ordered to brew an illegal potion to administer to the baby every day."
"What potion?" Harry interrupted suddenly without meaning to.
"It was an age enhancing potion. It's not the potion that is illegal but to administer it to a minor is, in fact, illegal. The potion was designed to speed up your growth to twice as fast compare to normal. So, even though the baby had been living at Malfoy Manor for two months since the day he was born, mentally and physically he was a 4 months old baby," Draco explained.
"Oh my God, that man is sick to do that to an infant!" Harry exclaimed.
"Yeah. Thankfully, there are no side effects whatsoever from drinking the potion every day but it is illegal to administer it to a minor because it is morally wrong to rip out growth of a child and rob them of their innocence. Then, when the baby reached an age of four months – two months after he was born – Voldemort ordered the enhancement upon his age to be three times as fast."
"Severus protested heavily against it but since he had no evidence that the potion will cause any long term effect to the baby, he had to obey Voldemort's wishes," at this, Draco paused for a bit to collect his thoughts and after a deep breath, he continued.
"The potion was administrated and the four months old baby had grown to be about a year old boy. Everything went according to plan. What they didn't expect was that the boy would be violently ill for the next few days after he aged. It seems the boy's body was not able to keep up with the growth as everyone previously assumed. To make matter worse, my father and Severus was ordered to be on a mission for Voldemort for a time period of a month. Thus, I was ordered to take care of a one-year-old toddler in their place." At this, Harry laughed.
"Hah, I would like to see that! Do you even know anything at all about taking care of a child? And a sick one at that?" Harry laughed.
"I had no idea! Imagine my rage when he first threw up on me after I forced him his medications! I swear, at that point I hated him more than ever," Draco chuckled as he relived the memory. At the somewhat peaceful expression on Draco's face, Harry couldn't help but smile slightly.
"During those days that he was sick and I had no choice but to take care of him, he grown to become attach to me, wanting nobody else but me to feed him, give him a bath and just about everything else. I was quite surprised when he healed in just a day and a half under my care! Although that was the case, the boy was required to take a final dose of the potion but since he fell sick the last time, the potion was reduced to enhance his age to twice as fast instead of three, making him age to two-year-old. Since my father and Severus was still away on a mission, I was still required to take care of him as he started his training with Voldemort himself a few days after the growth. At this stage, I didn't mind as much as I have grown quite fond of the boy even though I only cared for him for a short period of time."
"Although he was training under Voldemort at that time, even I can see that he was slowly turning into a killing machine that was vacant of any emotions and somehow my time spend with him held the evil in him at bay. The time we spend with each other wasn't anything special – dinner, bath time, a bed time story – just little things but I was slowly starting to care for him and, as much as it pains me to say it at that time, love him even. I don't know, maybe it was because he always seem to have this smile on his face even after his training with that awful creature or how he always manage to make me smile no matter how shitty my say was. It was like when I was with him, noting else matters except for this little boy that I held in my arms," Draco smiled. Harry watched, somewhat amazed, at how the blonde somehow seems to glow when he talked about this boy. It was beautiful to watch.
"It's funny, even as a two-year-old kid, he was very bright. He could pick up something from you even though you are doing it unconsciously. It was up to a point where he was able to pick up the most complicated of spells in a matter of hours after teaching it to him. There was a time when I had to finish this particularly difficult transfiguration spell – we had to transfigure a chair into a worm or something – and for the life of me, I couldn't do it. I kept reciting the theory and the incantation out loud with him in the room with me. I honestly thought he was asleep at that time. Imagine my surprise when he picked up my wand and cast the spell perfectly. And on the first try at that!" Draco laughed at the memory, his eyes shining with amusement and a sense of pride that Harry couldn't help but join him.
"As smart as he was, he eventually began to notice that everyone kept calling him 'boy' or 'kid' instead of addressing him with a proper name. So, one day, as we were having dinner together a few days before my father and Severus was due to return to the Manor, he asked me what his name was," Draco smile faltered a little at that.
"At that time, I felt horrible as well as guilty that none of us, including my father and Severus, had never even bothered to pick out a name for him as if he wasn't even worthy of one. Looking at him then, I said the first name that popped into my head."
"Harry. It was Harry, wasn't it?" Harry injected, laughing.
"You wish, Potter!" Draco laughed too. "No, it was Adrian."
"Why Adrian?" Harry asked.
"Adrian was my Grandfather's name. He was the only person in this world who believed I can do anything and come out on top. There was a time when my parents we busy with their own life – my father at the Ministry and my mother with her social life – that I was often left to my own. My Grandfather practically raised me and I loved him more than I loved my own parents. He died when I was about 10 years old and I've never really gotten over it. That's why I named him Adrian," Draco explained sadly.
"It's a beautiful name," Harry replied warmly and Draco just smiled back.
"Adrian thought so too. So much that since that day, he kept referring to himself as a third person; addressing himself as Adrian instead of I or me. It drove Voldemort nuts!" Draco laughed.
"I can imagine," Harry chuckled.
"I think it was his way to tell people that he is still a person in his own right. Anyway, since that day, we became closer than ever, spending stolen moments amiss of Voldemort training him and such. At first, nobody gives a damn as long as Adrian can keep us with his training. Soon after that, however, Voldemort began training him Dark Arts materials like the killing curse and such. It was then that Adrian would start to cry and refuse to kill or torture anyone. It was then that came crying to me every night."
"When Voldemort found out, he was furious and he did about everything he could think of to split us apart. He would send me on a missions for months at a time and during all those times, I was worried sick about what would happen to him under Voldemort's influences. I was so worried about him that it came to a point where, more than once, I would just drop everything I was doing and rushed back to the Manor when I found out that he was hurt. All that only lead us to be closer towards each other," Draco said and Harry watched as those pride filled eyes slowly turn into sadness. Draco once again sat with his arms around his knees, seemingly trying to curl into himself more.
"Obviously Voldemort didn't like it. He said that I was having too much control over him; that Adrian would start going soft and not be the killing machine he wanted him to be. One evening, Voldemort ordered me to stay and watch as he train Adrian. It was a sight I never wanted to see ever again," Draco whispered as his eyes grow misty at the tail. Not being able to do anything about the pain, Harry could just scoot close to the blonde and threw his arms over his shoulder for silent comfort but Draco didn't appear to have notice as he was buried too deep in his own memories.
"I had to watch a small boy, forced to torture someone over and over until he was covered in blood. He was crying and begging Voldemort to not make him do it anymore and all that bastard did was laugh and told Adrian to kill them instead. The victims were screaming for mercy and Adrian could do nothing but obey Voldemort's command. I couldn't do anything because at that time, I was Voldemort's hostage. If Adrian would not do as he say, I would be tortured and if I tried to help Adrian, Adrian would be tortured instead. It was a lose – lose situation."
"After bringing in the third victim of the day, I finally had enough and launched myself towards Adrian, holding him in my arms as he cried. Voldemort was furious and ordered Adrian to kill me for disobeying his orders. Adrian point blank refused to do so, even going as far as to apperate the both of us out of the Manor. We didn't get far; he was still a child after all. We only managed to make a run for it for a few days but ended up getting caught due to exhaustion. Right before they threw me into the dungeons, I told Adrian to hide and not let anyone see him. He got away and did exactly that."
"Because of what I told Adrian to do, I was tortured for hours every day until I would eventually pass out. Even then they revived me sometime to continue to torture me until I pass out the second time. They wanted to know where Adrian was. Obviously, I wasn't going to tell them. I think it was about a week after that – I'm not sure though, I lost track of the days – Voldemort himself came down to the dungeons. He said that he had enough of the games we were playing and demanded that I tell him where Adrian is. Again, I refuse even though I know that by doing so, my life would end that night. Voldemort too tortured me; worse than how his other lackeys did before. Finally realizing that I wouldn't budge from my decision, he gave me an ultimatum: either I tell him where Adrian is and be in his good books again or not tell him and die. As stupid as it sounds, I rather die than let Voldemort have him."
"I didn't count on Adrian being nearby when I said that and I was quite shocked to find him running towards me and shielding me from Voldemort. I wanted to make a run for it again, figuring that I will find a way to keep us both safe but before I could do anything, Voldemort pulled Adrian away from me and killed him right in front of my eyes." At this point, Draco was sobbing his heart out that Harry threw all caution into the wind and pulled the heart broken boy into his arms. At the first contact, Harry could feel Draco stiffen in his arms but as Harry slowly stroke his back and whisper soothing words to him, Draco began to melt in his embrace and just cry. Burring his face into the soft hair, Harry too realize that he was crying with the blonde, touched and sadden by the fact that the person in his arms had gone through so much and somehow managed to come out stronger than ever.
They stayed that way until Draco finally pulled away from Harry's embrace, his sobs finally subside. Looking away, he then wiped away the residual tears while Harry pushed back his hair gently.
"Alright?" Harry asked and Draco just nodded his head slightly. With a deep breath, he then faced Harry to give him a small smile.
"Yeah, I'm alright," he said and Harry just smiled back.
For the next few minutes, Harry just watched silently as Draco resumed his previous position while looking at the darken horizon in front of the both of them. More than a few times, Draco's eyes would leak more tears but he just wiped them away quietly. Harry realized that it might as well be his turn to tell his tale when Draco spoke up again.
"That night that Voldemort killed Adrian right in front of my eyes was the night I died. If you talked to anyone about me that year you would realize that they will only tell you one thing which is that I was a living corps. Outwards, I acted the same. Since Voldemort decided that I was still his most valuable asset, I was back to my previous position of his right hand man and I followed his every orders. But inside, I began planning my revenge for Adrian. Two weeks of careful planning and gathering information, I went to Dumbledore to offer my services as a spy against the Dark Lord. Being as high up as I was, I was able to supply invaluable information that finally lead the Light side to slowly device a plan to get rid of Voldemort once and for all. Six months later, you did it. You finally destroyed him. And I could finally breathe," Draco said softly, his voice was nearly carried away by the night's wind.
"So you were the inside source Dumbledore was talking about," Harry questioned and Draco just nodded his head. For awhile after that, both of them were silent once again as Harry let the new information he had just received sink in. But what Harry couldn't understand was who this boy was to warrant such an act from the indifferent Slytherin.
"You're probably wondering who he was and why I would go to such length to ensure that he is avenged," Draco said with a smirk as he looked sideways at the now blushing Gryffindor.
"I never realize I was that transparent," Harry chuckled lightly.
"Not transparent, no. I guess that I would wonder about the same thing if I were in your position," Draco replied.
"It's just that, no offence, but even though he was just a kid, I couldn't see you do something like that to avenge anyone. I mean, what you did, you only do it because that person is someone very important to you. Like I would only take that action only if he was a part of my family. Like Severs, Remus, Ron Hermione or the Weasley. Other people, yeah, I would feel bad and I would remember them but it wouldn't have driven me to do something to that extend. Not to backstab Voldemort and jeopardize myself in the process," Harry explained.
Draco laughed bitterly at that statement. "You're right. Who was this kid that I claimed to hate in the beginning and yet, in the end, I was willing to jeopardize everything that I am to ensure of his revenge?" Draco replied. He then looked sideways at Harry again and smiled slightly at him. "You said that you would only do it if that person you want to avenge is your family, correct?" At Harry's nod, he continued. "Well, you could say that Adrian is family. Blood relative even," Draco explained. At Harry's confused face, Draco continued and watched as Harry's face morphed from confusion into horror at his next sentences.
"Because, Harry, Adrian wasn't just any boy. He was my son."
A small boy of two was running across a sun-drenched meadow as a blonde haired man chased after him from behind. Although he ran as fast as his little feet could carry him, the boy could not outrun his father as the man scooped the boy in his arms and spun him around in circles. The boy squealed with laughter.
"Faster, Daddy!" he yelled in the mist of their adjoined amusement and the blonde haired man could do nothing but comply. After a few more minutes, the both of them collapsed onto the ground, the boy on top his father, as they try to catch their breath.
The boy then pulled himself up and tucked his head underneath the one of his father's. Gripping the smaller form tighter against his chest, the man just smiled contentedly as his baby boy giggled softly against his chest.
"I love you, daddy," the boy said and the man felt his heart swell with joy at those four simple words of affection.
"I love you too, sweetheart," Draco replied softly as he kissed the crown of the Adrian's head lovingly.