Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or these worlds or a pony or a Tiffany lamp or an electric guitar. I have a classical guitar though. I named her 'Baby Jane.' I wonder whatever happened to it… (No, seriously, I know where she is. I just thought that might be funny for the people who got it.)
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Harry
It was a matter of old habit to keep the Invisibility Cloak in his pocket. After the blow up with Severus, and the subsequent blow up with Draco, Harry wanted to go hide up in the Astronomy Tower. But there was a reason that the blond and Paige had come to Hogwarts and it was his responsibility to find out what it was.
And if he didn't want to complicate things with another face to face encounter, that was his business.
He managed to slip in the door behind Severus and Paige just before it closed and the wards reset. He stood in the darkened doorway, the cloak over his body, as the others took seats around Severus's always burning fire.
"Okay, we're here, now spill," Paige said, and Harry leaned in to listen closer, even though there was no other noise in the room.
"I'm not entirely sure what's happening," was Severus's unsatisfying reply and Harry bit back a groan. He knew there was a bigger reason for a Charmed One and her white lighter to come back from California, and he needed to find out what it was.
When Severus looked at Draco, Harry followed his gaze. His view was partially blocked by a bookcase, but Harry didn't want to move further into the room and possibly gain the other's attention, so he only saw a sliver of the blond's profile, outlined by the orange light for the fire.
Draco's skin was pale and clear, so Harry figured Paige healed the bruise he left on the blond's cheek. He absently rubbed his knuckles, still sore from the force of the punch.
"Draco," Severus said, his voice soft. "Did anything happen when Harry came to California ?"
Harry clenched his eyes shut and clenched his jaw. He didn't want to hear those words again. He was so intent on trying not to hear that he missed whatever the blond said; only hearing Draco's last words.
"…mean, he hit me."
The blond's voice broke and for the first time since he did it, the satisfaction turned to a tinge of guilt. Harry knew the blond was surprised by his punch, and at the time he liked it, liked seeing those pale grey eyes focused only on him, on his fist. Suddenly that same image made him sick.
Now Paige was speaking.
"He was there. He was in the hall when Shannon was visiting." Shannon? "And now he said something about not wanting a lifetime with you? Could he have heard anything?"
Harry shook off the riddle of who this ' Shannon ' person was and focused on the question. He would hear it now, hear Draco admit that he never wanted Harry, never loved him.
Draco's voice came slowly, each word falling into the pool of silence that was the stone-walled dungeon room.
"I was talking to Shannon . She asked me if I wanted-- and I told her…"
Harry held his breath, waiting for the confession.
Draco was audibly weeping now.
"I told her I didn't want a lifetime with Harry. Oh Merlin. I told her that, but I didn't mean it. I was… she asked me and I didn't think I could have it. I told her not to give me hope, to let me think I could have it, have him. I want a lifetime. I want forever."
Draco started sobbing and Harry wanted to rush forward, but he had to be sure it was true before he gave in and chanced his heart again, but as Draco' sobs grew harsher he began to mutter 'I'm sorry's' with every spare breath and Harry had to do it. He threw off the Invisibility Cloak and stepped forward into the firelight.
Harry spoke before he had the chance to think about it, "Do you?"
He saw Paige and Severus look up at him, surprise in their eyes.
After a few seconds of silence Draco looked up and paled, moving away from Paige until he was sitting alone on the rug.
Harry moved closer, forcing his legs to stay stiff, to keep him standing.
"Do you want forever?" he asked. Harry crouched next to but not touching Draco, completely ignoring Paige and Severus. He took a deep breath and said a silent prayer to any gods that was listening before he went on. "Do you love me, Draco? Was that ever true?"
His prayers were answered when Draco looked up and met his eyes fiercely. "Of course I love you, you idiot. I've been trying to tell you that for ages. We didn't get the chance to say it before you left and then you weren't answering my letters and--"
With every word the blond spat out, Harry felt his heart lightening. It was true, Draco loved him, it was a misunderstanding, and midway through the blond white lighter's rant, Harry leaned in and kissed him.
And it was wonderful.
An eternity was lost in the soft press of mouth on mouth and the exquisite tangling of tongues.
When they broke off the kiss Harry saw that Paige and Severus had left the room and he leaned back, laughing softly and running his hand through his hair.
Draco was smiling softly and Harry reached out his thumb to wipe away the trail of tears on the blond's cheek. When Harry's hand made contact, Draco closed his eyes and leaned into the caress, but when Harry pulled his hand away Draco opened his eyes and Harry froze, caught in the intensity of that gaze.
"We can't do this anymore, Harry," Draco said evenly.
Harry winced, then turned away, shifting to get his feet under him so he could stand and leave and run as far and as fast as he could.
Before he had the chance he felt a firm tug on his shirt sleeve that unbalanced him and he fell back to the ground.
He looked at Draco, then felt the sharp sting of a slap as his face was whipped to the side. Pressing his hand to his stinging cheek, Harry looked at Draco, mouth agape, as the blond stood up.
"Dammit Harry. You were going to do it again. You were going to run away and never talk to me again without giving me the chance to finish a thought. This," the blond said, gesturing to the space between Harry and him, "This is what we can't do anymore. These stupid misunderstandings. It took us too long to get together the first time, years. And then one misheard comment broke it all up again, and now you were going to run away without letting me explain?"
The blond's voice was full of anger and hurt, and as he finished speaking all of the strength seemed to come out of him and Draco crumpled back to the rug, burying his face in his hands.
"This isn't going to work. I want it and I think you want it too, but until you can get over this-- this-- lack of trust or whatever it is, I don't know if we can have a relationship."
The blond's words were mumbled through his hands and broken and shuddering breaths, but Harry heard enough to take all of the air out of his lungs.
"God, Draco. I just--" Harry scooted over, closer to the blond and laid his arm over Draco's shoulders. "I'm bollixing all of this up, aren't I?"
The blond snorted softly into his hands.
"You're right and I was jumping to conclusions and I should have waited to hear what you were saying before I--"
Harry was cut off by a short, hard kiss, one more bracing than arousing, but it did the trick, snapping him out of the spiral of anger and confusion and sorrow and desperation.
When Draco pulled away, Harry saw laughter in his pink-rimmed eyes.
"You're a mess, Potter," Draco said. "But then again, so am I. I think, if we're patient with each other, this could work out."
Harry kept his mouth shut, only smiling and nodding. It seemed safest.
Draco smiled and pressed his hand, now glowing with a soft blue light, to Harry's still stinging cheek.
A few tingling seconds later the blond pulled away with a grin. "There, all better."
Harry leaned in for a kiss that he was almost completely sure would be welcomed when he heard a piercing shriek from Severus's bedroom.
He jumped to his feet and before he realized it his wand was in his hand
"Harry wait, maybe they're…"
The blond trailed off and Harry turned to see that Draco's face had turned a delicate shade of pink.
"You don't think… I mean… But they're-- it's Severus." Harry's thoughts were frantically scrabbling away from the image of his potions professor engaged in coitus.
Draco giggled, before slapping his hands over his mouth, but Harry was left shaking his head in denial.
"No, no. I don't disagree that they would, though I'd rather not think about it, but that-- it didn't sound right."
Draco opened his mouth to speak, but before he had the chance another scream sounded, tinged with panic and Harry was through the now-splintered doorway.
Paige was standing next to the bed where a half-dressed Severus Snape lay.
The man was flushed and panting, but the cause was not passion as he was gripping his forearm, his body wrapped fetally around the source of the pain that tinged his already pale face a sickly grey.
Draco rushed past Harry into the room, his hands glowing blue again, but Paige held him back.
"No, it won't work. I tried."
Draco shook her off. "You tried. Half witch, half white lighter. I'm full white lighter and I have more healing power than you. Help me if you wish, but do not try to stop me."
And with that he was on the bed next to the older man, his hands burning blue light against Snape's arm where the black snake and skull of the Dark Mark throbbed and writhed under Severus's skin.
Harry stood on, his wand in his hand as Paige joined Draco on the bed and lent her power to healing Severus.
Eventually the healing power seemed to sink in as Severus relaxed on the mattress.
Paige sat back on her heels as Draco moved to the edge of the bed. Harry took a seat next to the blond.
"Is he okay?"
Draco nodded.
"If you wish to know my condition I would suggest you ask me," Snape said from where he lay against the pillows. His voice was weak and thready, but the tone was as calm and sarcastic as Harry expected and the boy was relieved.
He turned to face Severus and his relief faded. Though the man was more physically relaxed there were lines of tension on his face, and he was still absently rubbing his forearm.
"It's not over, is it," Harry asked in a low voice and Severus shook his head.
"What does that mean?" Paige asked, quickly echoed by Draco.
"It's the weapon," Harry said, feeling a sick realization in his stomach. "Voldemort is using it and Severus is one of the batteries."
Paige and Draco turned to Harry with surprise in their eyes.
"You know about it," Paige asked.
"We came out here to warn you," Draco said.
"Yeah. One of our sources passed on the information. I only found out this morning." As he spoke Harry felt the exhaustion of the day weigh down on his shoulders all at once. But he took a deep breath and shook it off.
"Okay, Paige, you stay here with Severus." The older man opened his mouth to say something, but Harry cut him off. "No, Severus. If Voldemort has this weapon and he's intent on using it, you are vulnerable."
Severus struggled up from the pillows, pushing away Paige's restraining hands. "I am not vulnerable, Potter, and I will help you figh--"
Severus winced again as the castle shook and Harry heard a distant explosion.
Paige looked up, eyes wide. "He's using it."
Again Harry felt the pressure of recent events, but there was no time to stop, no time to regroup as Severus began to groan and curl up again.
Paige ran to the chair in the corner of the room and pulled some crystals from her bag. She set them around Severus and muttered an incantation that Harry couldn't quite make out and a sparkling net of light sprang into being around the man.
Immediately after the net appeared Severus relaxed and Harry heard him sigh in relief.
"See, Severus? You have to stay here. Paige can take care of you until we disable that machine."
Severus's face was flushed pink with the pin and frustration, but he nodded in agreement and Harry dragged Draco out of the bedroom and into the living room, this time settling on the couch and pulling the blond to a seat next to him
"Okay, tell me everything you know about the weapon."
Unfortunately, though the blond told Harry everything he knew, it wasn't enough. Draco didn't know how to destroy the machine without destroying everyone attached to it from the wizard using it to the ones that provided its power. Harry knew he would have to find a way to make Voldemort stop using the weapon before he killed the malevolent bastard. There had been too many lives lost, too many battles.
Tonight, Voldemort would die.
End part 1
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Note: I'm sorry. You had to wait two weeks and you only get half of the chapter I wanted to write. This was supposed to contain the final battle as well but I'm having a hard time writing it. I think it's because we're approaching the end of the story and I always find it hard to finish them. I don't like it when a story I'm reading or writing comes to an end. I get to know the characters and the world and it feels like I know them, but when the story ends, it's all gone. Sequels are good, but I don't usually write them so once this story is over, it's done. There might be a side story or two, but in a few chapters MY ANGEL is over and that kind of bums me out.
Okay, enough of my emo rambling. Review, tell me what you think, and if there is something specific you would like to see as a side story, let me know. I can't guarantee it will be written, but I could use a few ideas.