Different Kind of Pure Blood- By Ceilidh Clemens, Characters © JKR
Sorry I didn't have this done yesterday. Late Christmas present!
Part 26- Epilogue
"Are you done yet?" Draco snarled, rapping sharply on the bathroom door.
"Yes! Why do you ask?" Harry drawled, staring at his transparent reflection. He looked like a ghost in the mirror, slightly silvery, pale as milk. He ran Draco's serpent-adorned comb through his hair one last time, marveling in the way his hair had gotten sleeker and darker.
"Because I want to brush my teeth, you wretch! The blood the Ministry's been sending has an absolutely vile aftertaste!" Harry smirked and ruffled his hair all over again, just so he could waste more time combing it. He began whistling cheerfully as he straightened out his black silk pajamas that Draco had lent him. "Get out of my bathroom, Potter!" Draco yelled impatiently.
"Why? There must be a hundred more bathrooms in this fortress!"
"This is the only bathroom with a toothbrush!" Finally giving in, Harry unlocked the door and allowed the blond to swagger his way in. Harry felt a moments resent; when he wasn't keeping Draco busy with annoyance or scheming, the last-name-less vampire had been withdrawn and sullen, being angsty and pondering, trying to figure out why his mother would try to ruin him the way she had. The man of the house finally looked like his old self again; healthy but pale and dressed only in the finest clothes- which, in this case, matched Harry's. Harry couldn't help it but grin as the vampire glanced up at the mirror and grimaced as he recalled he had no reflection. "How does my hair look?" he asked Harry slowly.
"Why do you care? You're about to go to bed!" Draco rolled his eyes and went about the business of brushing his teeth. Shaking his head but still grinning, Harry moseyed out of the bathroom and bounced onto the bed. Harry could see just how much Slytherin influence Draco had been brought up with; the towering curtains were black with green ropes, the carpet was green, black and white, and even the bedding suffered the same color scheme. Most of the Malfoy mansion did, actually. The clock on Draco's wall looked like a snake wrapped around a moonlike orb, upon which the silver hands slowly moved.
Harry absolutely loved the mansion, particularly Draco's room. The thing he liked most about Draco's room was actually his bed; it was huge and circular, in the very center of his (also circular) bedroom. It amused him endlessly that the bed rotated, heated up, and even vibrated on command. Harry had a nasty feeling the designers were perverts.
The door suddenly burst open. Hermione dashed in wearing a slip and a pink bathrobe, breathing heavily and foaming at the mouth. "Hermione?" Harry gasped. The witch ran into Draco's bathroom, spitting out her toothpaste before dashing back to Harry's side. She nearly crashed into Draco, who dodged to the side and spilled mouthwash down his front. "Excited much, Hermione?" Harry asked cautiously.
"They're taking Charlie to Azkaban!" Hermione wheezed.
"I beg your pardon?" Draco asked dully, walking out of the bathroom with a hardened expression.
"They… are… taking… Charlie… to… Azkaban!" Hermione repeated. "Right now! At this very second!" Harry looked out the massive window to the East, noting the Ministry car parked on the lawn and the small group of people around it.
"Well, he did kill my mother while she was helplessly tied to the bed," Draco said impassively as he sat on the edge of the bed. Hermione irritably shook her head.
"It's only until his trial. They think he might be dangerous," she sighed, exasperated.
"He might very well be, Hermione," Ron said from the doorway. He had his hand on the doorframe, his bandage still covering his eyes, and the scruffiest pair of boxers Harry had ever seen. The Boy Who Lived had gotten accustomed to seeing him feel his way around the walls to make sure he wouldn't bump into anything. "I mean, he's been acting funny for days. I think he might be another Polyjuice-mixing weasel." Hermione looked affronted at the very suggestion.
"She's right," Harry put in. "He knew about our Dark Marks before I did, and he's been encouraging me to go all the way and become a vampire. Not to mention how odd he behaved at the White Ferret- just letting that vampire gnaw on me for a couple minutes before knocking her off! And he's been trying a bit too hard to keep Draco and I together for it to be normal."
"Say," Draco cut in suddenly. "I know of somebody else who wanted Harry and I to date, and for Harry to be a vampire. Somebody who's name starts with an N-"
"Don't you dare say it, Draco!" Hermione cried. "Even if that's not Charlie, surely Niles wouldn't-"
"We really don't know a thing about Draco's real Mistress," Harry mused. "Why would she leave her child? Just to set up me and Draco? Adyn seemed really worried, so I don't think Niles has gone off and vanished on her before. Narcissa probably had her tied up in a closet in a hotel in Burma this whole time, just to keep the real vampire out of the way."
Draco shifted and glared at them all. "Damn right, she would. She's a Malfoy. Malfoys know how the proper way to go about with identity theft." Ron snorted at Draco's self-incriminating words. The pale ex-wizard sighed, lounging back onto his bed. Harry shivered and glanced away from the sultry pose Draco had assumed. "But then again, she'd gone completely bonkers, so she might have slipped up and let Niles free… And that is why I'm going to insist that Charlie is just Niles in disguise."
"Why?" Hermione demanded. Draco cocked a pale eyebrow at her.
"Because I want the case closed already, and I said so, and this is my house." Though this wasn't all that logical, Harry smirked and didn't disagree. Defeated, Hermione slumped slightly, glowering at the relaxed blond. "I want to get on with my un-life, and if I've really got forever to live, I'll probably bump into Niles again. When that happens…" Draco mimed staking an invisible vampire and slicing off her head.
"Still, even if you don't think it's Charlie, the Ministry will eventually shove it back in our faces. We're the only sane witnesses," Hermione whispered. "And we're the only ones who might have a clue as to where Harry is. They're sticking up 'Missing Person' posters for him now, you know. They might eventually assume we're responsible."
"I'd step up before they accused you," Harry assured her. "I don't want anybody going to Azkaban to protect me."
"And Charlie isn't?" Hermione snapped.
"Look, 'Mione," Ron groaned. "I'm not happy about this either, but it's illegal for us to try and stop them from taking him." Ron felt his way forward, nearly knowing over a vase as he meandered around the room. Draco snarled but didn't move. "Besides, it's not like Azkaban's full of Dementors anymore."
"We've got to get you one of those freaky magic eyeballs, like Moody had before Greyback ate it," Harry told Ron. "Then you can scare people half to death as well as stop knocking over Draco's priceless dark magic artifacts."
"Don't be silly, Harry! There's nothing 'Dark' about that vase!" Hermione chided, pulling her bathrobe tighter around her as she surveyed Draco. "Right, Draco?" Put on the spotlight, the black silk-clad Slytherin suddenly seemed to find the sash on his pillow rather interesting. Hermione was horrified. "Oh, I can't believe you! What does that vase do, bite unwary hands off?"
Attempting to set a hand on Hermione's shoulder, Ron accidentally grabbing her bathrobe-covered breast instead. His face turned beet red as Hermione went rigid. "Er… Oops…" Ron swiftly fled the room with Hermione hot on his tail. Harry smirked at their vanishing feet before taking another glance out the window. The people and the car were gone.
"Well," Harry said into the silent room. "I suppose I won't have to worry about Charlie busting in and stabbing me in the night." Draco gave him a wry smile and moved a bit closer to the Gryffindor.
"We'll eventually have to settle this business with Charlie and Niles," Draco said stiffly, clearly desperate to bring back the conversation. Harry nodded. Yes, they still had to find Niles. And even if Draco blamed Charlie for his mother's death, they had witnessed the whole thing and it would come back to haunt them. Harry still said nothing to Draco, who continued to say, "I guess his absence will make it easier for you to sleep."
"I don't intend to sleep tonight," Harry whispered. Draco curiously raised his eyebrows. Harry changed the subject. "So, does your mouth taste good enough, your majesty?"
"Of course," Draco replied with a playful gleam in his eyes. "See for yourself." He quickly leaned over and licked Harry's lips before kissing him. Harry smiled as Draco moved off of him, and he pulled his mate into a close hug.
Draco suddenly began to squeak in pain. "Ouch! Let go, let go, dammit, let go! I'm sitting on a quill!" Draco squawked. Harry quickly released him; he couldn't hold back his laugh as Draco plucked a silver quill from the back his pajamas. "You put that there on purpose, didn't you, you wanker?" Draco hissed. Harry didn't grace him with an answer.
The smaller young man buried himself under a green sheet, plucked up a black velvet pillow, and made himself comfortable. "Get the lights, won't you?" Harry commanded gently. Draco placed the quill on his dresser and glowered at Harry's smirking face.
"This is my house," Draco said coldly.
"I'm a guest?"
"That honor can be taken away with a snap of my fingers," Draco warned.
"Surely you wouldn't send me out into the cold to starve?" Harry pouted. Never mind that it was pleasantly warm outside, and common foods could be conjured with a simple wave of the wand. Draco managed to smile at that. With a shake of the head, Draco moved to touch a blue orb that hovered near the door, muttering something House Elves. The ceiling above stopped glowing. Moonlight flooded in through Draco's impressively tall windows, leaving Harry to gape at the stars that suddenly began to twinkle on Draco's ceiling. "Thanks, Draco."
The Slytherin watched Harry with shining gray eyes as he climbed under the covers beside him. "You could have just told the truth."
Harry feigned innocence. "Hmm? The truth about what?"
"You could have just said that you didn't know how to turn the lights off," Draco sneered. "Merlin knows you've never been in a proper magical home." Harry felt tempted to speak up in defense of the Burrow, but he knew Draco would never acknowledge the place to be a building, much less a house. His homeless summer might have taught him to respect Muggles, but his standards of living had hardly changed. "You're all too easy to read these days."
"And who's fault is that, I ask you? You who dumped a gallon of vampire blood down my throat?"
"Don't be ridiculous, Potter. I couldn't possibly have more than five pints in me." Harry glared. "Don't be mad. Last time I checked Witch Weekly, the 'pasty skin' look was in." Draco languidly extended a milky hand and caressed Harry's cheek. Growling, the pale wizard plucked a pillow from under Draco's head and propped his own up with it. "Oh, come on, Harry… It's not like you're entirely vampiric."
"What? I'm not?" Harry asked, turning his eyes the semi-frozen bottle of blood on Draco's desk, which they'd shared for dinner when Harry found Wizarding food no longer satisfied.
"You're alive, dumb-ass," Draco stated as he pulled blankets over their silk-clad bodies. "You have to die to be a true vampire. You may have everything but the shoelace of your left foot over the vampire line, but you can't be undead while your heart still beats." Harry said nothing in favor of listening to his own heartbeat. "See? You're alive, so stop bitching. You would have been dead, and by dead I mean dead, if I hadn't intervened."
"That's not the problem," Harry sighed, sitting up and knocking the comfortable blankets off his chest. "I wouldn't mind being a vampire all that much. It's obviously not that bad, these last three weeks with you have proved it. I'd much rather be a normal wizard, but that's just not possible anymore…" Harry took a breath and gathered his thoughts, trying to look at anything but Draco's wide gray eyes. "I don't want to be a… crossbreed. I don't want to be half wizard, half vampire. I don't want to be a freak like that!"
With his opinion out on the table, Harry fell back onto Draco's big bouncy bed and buried himself in blankets. He could feel Draco's eyes burning holes through the material and boring into him. "Not that I'm ungrateful," Harry muttered meekly.
"One or the other, hmm?" Draco asked softly. Quite suddenly, he was under the blanket with Harry, glowing gray eyes softly lighting the blanketed darkness. Harry could feel Draco's cool breath on his face. "Are you insinuating something?"
"Perhaps I am," Harry reflected. He weighed the options in his mind, and all he could come up with was, freak or vampire? "Yeah, I am. But do I really have to die?"
"Yes," Draco whispered.
"This is going to fuck up the Prophecy so bad," Harry chuckled. He suddenly felt rather giddy, despite the fact that Charlie was currently being dragged off to Azkaban and his family was still in St. Mungo's.
"You really want to go all the way, then?"
"I think so." Draco's eyes fell shut for a moment… then Harry squeaked and scooted away from him. "No touching below the belt just yet! That is not what I meant!" Draco gave an exaggerated sigh, letting Harry know the Slytherin wasn't the least bit sorry for his trespass. Flushing slightly, Harry tied the cord on his pajama bottoms tightly. "Besides, you've got cold hands." Draco chuckled wickedly.
"Is now as good a time as any?" Draco purred in Harry ear. The smaller creature shivered as cold breath wafted around the back of his neck, making his black hair prickle upwards.
"I suppose, but how exactly does this work?" Draco drew back a little, eyes narrowed and unfocused as he thought.
"Well, I drain you until you're two seconds from death, then I give you some of that blood back as you die. Not enough to save you, just enough to get in really mixed into your system when you kick the bucket. Then, well, you die… You wake up a couple minutes later when the process completes itself. I felt a bit sick and dazed for a while, but I think you've gotten rather used to all the crazy sensations."
"Okay," Harry muttered, thinking. On a moments afterthought, he asked, "Does dying hurt too terribly?"
"It didn't bother me much," Draco reflected. "But then, I'm a bit of a masochist." Harry frowned. "It's not that bad! Is your mind made up?"
"Yes," Harry said resolutely. "There are things much worse then physical pain…" They both knew that all too well. A dark look crossed Draco's features. Harry knew he was thinking of Narcissa, so he quickly wrapped his cold beau in a tight embrace and kissed those flickering eyelids. "Love you, Dragon," Harry whispered. Draco relaxed and smiled.
"Love you, Vorgulmortis," Draco purred. "Ready?"
"Yes," Harry replied, baring his throat. "Just don't molest me while I'm dead, that's sort of nasty."
Draco laughed for a moment before digging into Harry one last time, wringing a small gasp from the smaller young man. There was no pain this time, just ecstasy and trust as Draco dragged him to the edge. The whole experience was a sleepy blur to Harry; everything from the bite to the cuddling, from the exchange of fluids to the stick figures Draco drew on his back and he drowned in darkness. Harry welcomed the random thoughts that filled his head as visions from both of their lives filled his mind.
Maybe things will finally set themselves right after this point. If the world keeps sucking, we'll just have to set it right ourselves. This might just be the end of my mortal life, but damn if it's not the beginning of something loads more interesting.
Thus Harry Potter, the Chosen One, the Boy Who Lived, died.
THE END
Yup! You read it right... THE END! I hope you're not too confused, I tried to wrap it all up and tie the loose ends. Harry- sorry, Vorgulmortis- is finally becoming a real vampire... But there's so much he and his Dragon still have to do! That is why I'm writing a sequel from Draco's point of view, A Different Kind of Hero. It's already up, so you can find it here under my FF profile! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it!