OMFG! Its an update!
Hi my lovely reviewers and the people who read my fic but don't review (You Bastards!)
So as I was going on a roll, updating weekly etc. etc. My dear sister starts fucking around on the computer we share, visiting dodgy sites and gets us a nice bit of malware and viruses - which fry our computer:
meaning that even though i switch on the hard-drive the screen doesn't come up so i'm basically fucked. until i get it fixed or find a reset button? (Anyone a reviewing computer nerd and knows of a reset button? please let me know!")
Anyway, my phone only allows me to review not post chapters so I'm actually posting this chapter via my homophobic Gran's computer - she doesn't know.
Hopefully i'll have my computer fixed somehow soon, in the mean time my updates may be sporadic and slow, my apologies.
regardless i hope you like this chapter, it was quite a challenge i must admit but we're getting there.
Oh and also to my dear reviewers and bastards who have been awaiting the smut and hot-gay-loving ... itsa coming soon ;)
Finally i disclaim that i don't own HP and that i wasnt involved in the english looting thats been a-happening, as im still without working computer
(Oh Granny if you only knew that i wasnt readin my email :O)
The walls of the room which Harry had reached, along with all the furniture, were coated with the white powder of flour as well as on the floor. Harry felt a pull at his heart. Pev was injured! It chilled him, but not as much as the cool evening breeze which came from the broken window, which glistened glutinous crimson along the cream painted sash and the broken frame and glass. Blood. More than a lot of blood. A dangerous level of blood and possibly Draco's.
He stared out to the garden outside and the large coppice of trees off in the not too far distance and his mind raced through ideas and scenarios. There was a good chance that if the guy couldn't apparate he'd have taken Draco there. His mind suddenly switched onto trailing and he found himself carefully jumping through the broken window and quickly following the traces of blood and flour in a quick trot, until he heard the undeniable screams and shouts of Pev and another up ahead, instantly he broke into a run.
As he got further from the house, the light levels reduced rapidly and he felt his heart pace increase tenfold whilst he slowed. The soft damp grass changed to become coarser and he found himself having to vault hedgerows where there had been definite damage to the plants through human struggle, some even glimmered with the viscous fluid which looked black in the lack of light but could well be more blood.
He saw movement up ahead, what appeared to be struggling and more screaming sounds reached his ears. He started to run again. Charging into the vicinity of the trees where the light was at its poorest. Branches snapped under his way and he stumbled as he ran but he saw a person and he targeted upon them, lurching at pace in their direction.
The dark haired man flicked his ineffectual wand at Harry before looking horrified at the lack of response. he turned tail and ran away as Harry raced after him. It was Averley's man! He thrashed through the thickets of hedge growth, box shrubs and plants, charging after and gaining upon the lean accomplice of the overweight tyrant with every limbering step. Draco clearly wasn't with him anymore which was disastrous to Harry's mind but he was going to catch this bastard and beat the shit out of him until he told him where the bleeding fuck Draco and Pev had been disappeared to.
His chest and ribs ached with stabbing stitch, his legs protested with low burn of lactic acid and his throat was so raw it could be on fire, but somehow he picked up the pace and got ever nearer to the sprinting bastard who by this point had given up on magic and dropped his wand some way back in the process.
The shabby man leapt as they reached the landscaped 'ha-ha' but stumbled on the landing sending himself sprawling to the ground in an unkempt flurry. Seizing his chance Harry followed mercilessly, leaping quite literally onto him and soundly bringing a vicious fist somewhere to the back of his head. The man let out a dull groan and rolled around, trying to both shake him off and fight back at the same time. But Harry was on fire and the bastard didn't stand a chance.
"Where the fuck is he!" Harry screamed sending another deft fist into the man with a now splintered nose and cracked cheek bones, before wrapping no longer tolerant hands around his neck and beginning to tighten them.
"H..he g…go.t. Aw..ay..…sss..top!" The man choked, brown eyes dilated in fear and hands clutching desperately at Harry's death gripping own.
"Drop him Peverell!" A shout came from his peripheral behind and Harry glanced before slowly complying at the sight of a burly wizard who's ornate robes seemed to not suit him in the slightest. He stepped away quickly allowing the man, plus a couple of others who had just arrived to detain the injured kidnapper and allowed his racing heart rate just to lower a little. "They've found Averley trying to leave through the main gates in his coach, Master Malfoy is still unaccounted for however."
"That thing said he'd escaped." Harry spat, giving the broken man a death glare that could practically sear flesh.
"Then Master Malfoy is most probably hiding somewhere in the grounds," a witch who's mask had been pinned into her hair stated, wrapping a sash around mans wrists tightly - one of which appeared broken, served him right! "But he'll be frightened and could potentially be injured."
"I'll find him then!" Harry announced firmly and with his confidant expression seemed to be able to quell the opposing expressions on the others faces.
"Alright, we'll go and tell lady Mericotte to lift the magic block, that way you can use your wand to lead you to him." The burly man stated and Harry nodded swiftly before jumping up the ha-ha onto the raised ground and heading off to the thicket of trees and hedges and what looked like a towering maze.
He wandered aimlessly his wand out but he couldn't feel the indescribable tick that his wand held as it connected to his magic and so, he was running blind. Not knowing the layout of the hosts gardens in daylight let alone in darkness and unable to use his magic. Desperately he looked at the ground for signs of flour or blood but none was around. He grew pensive. As he wandered along the side of the maze and looked down towards the ornamental pavilion which was near another coppice of trees that the blonde could have potentially gone to.
Harry hoped to god that Draco hadn't gone into the maze, it didn't appear so, but there was always the potential he had and he really didn't want to get lost in a maze in the dark when the blonde might be injured. He ambled quickly in the direction of the pavilion, constantly flexing his wrist and awaiting the instant pulse that would come and announce the return of his magic.
Harry's heart leapt with a mixture of concern and relieve at the sight of the slightest vestige on the pavilion paving. A dispersed cloud of fine white powder dotted with small blackened crimson globules dropped within it indicated the blonde's and the flour babies past presence and better yet, more than clearly, the residue led off in the direction of that particular amount of trees.
If he'd thought he'd ran his absolute fastest when chasing that felon earlier he was past mistaken, he tore across that simple bit of night colourless lawn as if it was made of viciously corrosive acid, the stitch that pervaded him futile against his adrenaline pumped heart. His insides burned but he didn't care and within that glorious moment he felt the necessary tick in the wood in his hand, he flicked his wrist aggressively and his mind filled with images of Draco's beautiful face. 'Locare Draconis!'
He stopped his run abruptly, causing his toes to ram into the fronts of his shoes and making them sting and ache residentially. His ankles hurt also, wrenched to stop, his Achilles ligaments stretching and elongating before retracting with resent. The light his wand had sent out floated slowly in front of him and he followed it quietly, careful of his steps, after all Draco would be hiding away from people and the slightest sound could make him bolt.
"Sorry." The whisper came through the trees and the air like a bell and Harry quickly cancelled the little spark, listening to the pained muttering that followed, that sounded like a child whimpering, "I'm sorry. So sorry, this is all my -" the soft utterances choked at the end and hicked into short hoarse sobs and Harry found himself throwing caution to the wind, striding through the undergrowth and lighting a strong, but not overly bright lumos which he shook of the end of his wand and into the lower canopy of the trees.
Draco was propped up against the buttress roots of a large oak tree his head bent over and the weakly warbling flour baby was sat cradled weakly within his lap-laid arms. Silver irises weren't even aware of the change of light or his presence.
Harry stood dumbstruck and stared in horror at the deep lacerations which were hacked into the blondes shoulder and collarbone, on his face and his one arm which was completely soaked in blood. Draco had been splinched in what possibly could have been a failed apparition kidnapping and it appeared Pev had additionally been hurt. What once was a beautiful lilac outfit was torn and covered in a mixture of blood and flour. He looked beyond ill, his translucent skin grayish and deathly and it was a wonder how he was still on the cusp of consciousness.
Harry stumbled forwards towards him, kneeling down to eye level and staring at unresponsive eyes hoping for a response which never came. Desperately he flicked his wand at the blonde's injuries, chanting 'curate' and 'restaurare' and becoming enraged at the very little healing that the spells did. Draco moved and Harry felt his heart jump with hope until the blonde weakly pulled the no longer clamouring flour baby into a frail embrace. Pev had become silent and Harry felt the world crumble as the realisation that whatever charm animated the little flour filled sack had faded away in what was effectively death.
Slow heavy tears seemed to roll down grazed porcelain cheeks and highlighted that one eye was beginning to purple and bruise and Harry decided that enough was enough, Draco needed help and he wasn't capable of helping him. He got up from his perch and brought a hand slowly and carefully underneath Draco's knees and another behind his back, surely grazing the back of his hand against the tree and then he lifted, bit by bit and arduously slowly.
Draco screamed what sounded like a terrified 'NO' all of a sudden and began to desperately writhe in his hold and hit out at him to try and get away, his breathing was frantically laboured and Harry could practically hear his hammering heart threaten to overload in his chest, Pev was laid precariously in his lap threatening to fall.
"Draco! DRACO!" Harry shouted, feeling the blonde still ever so slightly before continuing at a half pace. "Draco it's me! Harry.!"
"Harry?" Draco whispered hoarsely one of his cold hands finding its way onto Harry's shoulder and gripping like a vice, said raven haired boy squeezed gently back at the blondes back for comfort. "Harry." The blonde, quivered in his hold, his injuries obviously causing him plenty of pain.
"Yeah, hold Pev. I'm going to take you back and get you healed."
"Healed, am I bleeding? … shoulder?" Draco let out a shaky breath as Harry began to walk purposefully towards the path that lead towards the house, now lit by small magical fairy lights since the magic was now useable within the grounds.
"Yes, your shoulder."
"And my eye?"
"Not your eye, its just bruised."
"He punched me in my eye like I did to you… It hurts." Draco whispered and Harry frowned at his wavering tone which sounded a little like Luna when she started talking about Nargles and Snorcracks or whatever the hell they were called.
"Draco. I think you may be becoming delirious, now please shut up." Harry exhaled, breaking out into what he assumed could be called a smooth run, where he took the majority of the bouncing on his knees and looked particularly stupid but he was covering more ground and Draco wasn't complaining as they reached the mansion garden and the lights of the building. Harry felt himself internally celebrate as he looked down with a wan smile at the blonde who was looking quite ill but was still just conscious enough.
A couple stood at the doorway looking out for them and they looked relieved as they saw Harry and Draco, but then, when they saw the blonde's true state she recoiled looking faint and the man pulled a grim expression as he lead her away. Harry wasted no time getting inside, bringing Draco through the small crowd to the settee where Lucius was currently downing what appeared to be another in a long line of heavy liquor shots and Lady Mericotte was holding Narcissa's hands to console her. Blaise meanwhile was hovering around in the background looking concerned - pacing.
"Mom, Dad…" Draco managed to mumble, shaking them from their reverie as he looked at them with tired looking eyes. Both Malfoy parents looked relieved but at the same time alarmed.
"Dittany!" A dark haired man at the side of Lady Mericotte announced, jumping to his feet in urgent excitement.
"No! he's allergic!" Lucius responded sternly and Harry felt Draco nod ever so softly in his arms. Everyone around them looked blank and began to pull contemplating faces, clearly racking their brains whilst Blaise began to pace more frantically, practically marching back and forth.
"Uhhh Phoenix tears?" Harry suggested in nervous question and everyone there turned to him like hawks to a live mouse meal.
"Luchere?" The man who had spoke before asked Lady Mericotte and she gave him a delighted smile.
"Binky!" She called in her high but lilting voice and the house elf appeared instantly, "Go and get the vial of Phoenix tears please."
Harry moved forward with a flagging Draco and gently lowered him onto the couch with his parents either side. Narcissa made a small squeaking sound of someone holding back tears as she began to gently stoke her son's head, whilst Lucius took one of those alabaster hands and began to rub comforting circles with his thumb into the back of said hand.
The elf returned quickly with a dusty but full and well sealed bottle and passed it to the man Harry still didn't know the name of but assumed he was a relation or something as he seemed to be in control as such and seemed close to the hostess.
He uncorked the bottle and chucked the cork somewhere, eyeing it up, before pouring the liquid over Draco and his wounds almost carelessly, half wasting the substance but none the less curing the blonde of his ills and making him look almost as good as new.
Much like Harry; looking pretty well with the exception of his clothes being ruined with blood, sweat and no pun intended - tears.
Once completely cured, all eyes then turned to the other victim of the attack, Pev. Who's drawn face no longer held any life and had reverted back to it's drawn expression held no emotion at all, fortunately it wasn't covered in blood like the two young men, but the gash in it's side where it had been cut and the fabric frayed looked unnecessarily sinister. Pev the flour baby was dead and it was a great loss.
"I think I'll take my leave now," Blaise announced softly, looking first to the hostess and then the Malfoy's and then Harry. "And tell Pansy and Professor McGonagall about Draco and Pev and you Harry."
Harry nodded briefly and they shared a soft smile before the dark skinned boy grabbed his mask and walked off to the fireplace and left in a flurry of green flames.
Harry watched as Draco gently stroked the lifeless body of Pev whilst in his dazed reverie before he hugged the tarpaulin sack softly and stared with weary eyes into dead space as before.
"Draco dear cousin, why don't you go and have a nice hot bath to clean and relax yourself, you know where my bath salts are." Luchere Mericotte chided gently and softened her own stone grey eyes as she met dilated duplicates.
Soundlessly and wordlessly the blonde lifted himself to his feet and passed the sad remains over before wandering off upstairs and out of sight. Narcissa exhaled heavily and smiled weakly to herself, dabbing her eyes with a cream handkerchief before turning to her no longer drinking husband and looking promisingly at him as she then patted the eye nearest to her which looked a little watery.
'Such a pretty little thing, isn't he?'
'I'd hardly call him pretty my dear, but more than fetching in a handsome sense.'
'Ah, if only I had another available child.'
'Yes, he puts our son's choice to shame.'
'A Malfoy at that as well.'
'Hmmm, but alas his fidelity.'
'Hush now, a splinching is not an affliction upon ones virginity.'
'But the slander!'
'Slander comes from the same people who assume that a failed kidnap victim must have lost their virginity in the process.'
'Well I certainly wouldn't let my son marry him.'
'Your son wouldn't stand a chance. Ugly son of a bitch I'm afraid, no offence.'
'I'm surprised he's still conscious, must be stronger than he looks.'
'Will be good if he need's to bear any children then.'
Harry listened with a frown to those talking around him, unable to decide whether he should be irritated, angry or enamoured that they were talking about Draco in such a way that made him sound like a prize rather than a person. He fell upon irritation in the end. They had no right to discuss about him when they hadn't gone out and found him, when they hadn't carried him for ten minutes solid without the aid of weight reducing spells, when they hadn't watched him cry as he realised despite his desperate state that the flour baby he had cared for practically single handed and with the optimum care had effectively died, when they hadn't had a bleeding leech suck all the blood out of them for him and whilst on the subject, most importantly, when they weren't stood in the middle of someone else's home, dripping in said boys blood and allowing it to go into the cream carpet.
"Harry?" Luchere's dulcet voice broke through his angry thoughts and staring at the stained carpet and he looked up at her and she was smiling gently at him. "Why don't you go upstairs and clean yourself, plus you'll need to keep a sharp eye on Draconis, he has lost a lot of blood."
Harry just found himself to nod and agree and then found himself racing up the stairs towards the bedroom Draco was in.
And conflict is resolved... somewhat. One of my reviewers mentioned a worry for Pev. TBH at first i didn't want to kill him off and was only going to injure him, but then i realised that in the end Pev would have to exit the story anyway so i wanted him to 'die a hero', rather than just be taken away, sorry for all the Pev lovers - We look forward to the Draco grief either way though... and with greif comes comfort and with comfort comes luvvvvv and with luvvvvv... you get the picture.
All that in the next chapter i think.
Review lots past that 200mark and i'll stop being such a tight cashed bitch and just go buy a freaking laptop or something.
Till next time then
Hollita X