Lux et Umbra Vicissim II - I Wasn't Stark Naked
- Rowan
A/N : The second part of my first fic. It's taken a little longer than the last because I've got a lot of homework… Enjoy! Draco does weird stuff, Hermione gets nervous, pink has a strange appearance in a trance… and Harry is strangely jealous. Well, with that, enjoy if you can… :) Forgive me for stupid mistakes. I'm not too familiar with this stuff.
Oh, and thanks to priya, Portia, Jenn, Teardrop005, PikaCheeka, Katia, Jyfae, Arrabella Arithmancy, elel88, Person, magical*little*me, Landry Anne, luke, Rin Berry, Vcdunk613, Caitlin, Inspiring Author, Lydia Travers and Al for reviewing! Priya reminds me of a friend of mine with the same name.
Disclaimer : All HP characters and places belong to J. K. Rowling.
Harry persuaded Draco to stay a few days in the library with him and Hermione to look up trances. He was very eager to try it himself, and Hermione was very eager to do some research. Draco sat in the corner, scowling, hoping no one would notice that he was with a bunch of Gryffindors. The only reason he was staying there was the hope that he would be able to go into the trance again, to see Lily Stanton.
Hermione had piled a stack of books by the side of the table, and was poring over a thick tome full of dust. Draco found her enthusiasm amusing and spent most of his time staring at her with a smirk on his face. He liked the colour of her hair and the way she bent over her books.
'Look, it says that only certain people can go into trances and bring things back,' she told them, reading out of a red-bound book. It was by now very late and there was no one in the library. 'Like Malfoy brought back that bracelet… It also says that if you go into a trance without trying someone may be controlling you, perhaps trying to contact you.'
Draco frowned. 'Who?' he asked.
'My mother,' said Harry suddenly, sounding a little as though he had swallowed dust.
Hermione patted his arm, still looking in the book. 'It's all right, Harry. I think we can induce some of Malfoy's trances, we just have to wait until we feel the signal.'
'What signal?' interrupted Draco rudely.
'Your bracelet, Malfoy. You're wearing it.'
Draco looked at her with narrowed eyes. 'Yes, Granger. I'm wearing it. You knew. It's no wonder the teachers think you're so smart.' Hermione bit her lip, then looked down at the book. Harry shot Draco a venomous glare, worthy of Draco himself.
'You'll be able to feel it,' she said in a more subdued tone. 'You'll feel them calling.'
'Malfoy,' said Harry. 'You realise I want that bracelet.'
Draco sighed. 'I can't take it off, Potter, even if I want to.' He twisted a lock of silver-blond hair in his fingers thoughtfully. 'I want to see your mother again.'
Harry glanced at him with narrowed eyes, then opened the book Hermione passed him. Draco half-heartedly searched the index under T. His grey eyes skimmed the paper, not seeing anything. He took to observing the other two – Harry with wild locks of black hair falling over his face, glasses slightly askew, Hermione with her long brown hair down her back and her face intent. She suddenly snapped her fingers – she had long, strong fingers. Draco and Harry looked at her.
'Malfoy,' she said, 'come here.'
He came to stand by her side, and she pointed to a passage in the book. 'You can induce a short trance, however, it will not be as effective,' she read. 'Malfoy, hold out your arm.'
He held out his left arm, the one wearing the glittering silver bracelet. She took his hand. Unexpectedly he snapped it away. 'What are you going to do?'
'I'm trying,' she said, with a slightly hurt tone to her voice, 'to induce a trance.'
He gave her his hand again.
'Try to connect to it,' she said softly. 'Call her.'
Draco shut his eyes, feeling extremely silly. Hermione looked at his closed lids. 'Call her,' she repeated. His mouth moved silently.
'Is anything happening?' asked Harry, coming up beside them. Hermione put her finger to her lips, then shut her eyes. Draco stopped, twitched, then opened one eye.
'This is silly,' he said.
Hermione, opening her eyes, glared at him. 'It works!' she insisted, tugging him slightly closer to the chair. 'You need me to tie you down so you don't get caught in… well, wherever it is you go. Come on, try again. Call, and don't break the connection.'
Harry watched dubiously as both shut their eyes. Neither moved for a little while; Draco's hand in Hermione's looked very small and fragile. Hermione's eyes opened and she looked at Draco in fright; suddenly he keeled over and fell straight on top of her.
'He's gone,' she whispered to Harry. 'I could feel him leaving.' She looked at him awkwardly. 'And I'm not supposed to move him.'
'Why not?' said Harry. 'I'm sure the spirit world can make allowances, under the circumstances.' And he looked pointedly at Draco, who was peacefully sleeping on Hermione.
'He's leaving of his own accord,' she told him. 'He won't be able to find his way back to his body if you do.'
Harry took Draco by the shoulders and gently propelled him into a chair. He was dead weight. Harry looked at him. His eyes were shut and his breathing shallow.
'We've got to wait for him to come 'round,' said Hermione firmly.
'Can't we just leave him here and let him wake up on his own?' complained Harry.
'He needs me to call him back,' said Hermione. She took his hand again and shut her eyes. Draco didn't move.
* * *
It was strange, very strange. Harry was wearing Draco's clothes.
'Potter,' said Draco, looking at his best dress robes. 'Give me back my clothes.'
Harry didn't do anything, just stared at Draco. Then he began to laugh, and laugh, and laugh.
It suddenly occurred to Draco that he might be stark naked. He looked down at himself and saw pink. He was wearing a pink dressing-gown and had pink butterflies on each of his fluffy pink shoes.
Draco screamed.
* * *
When he returned both Harry and Hermione were staring at him with wide eyes. Neither said anything at first, and then Harry grabbed Draco's hands. 'Did you see them?' he asked.
Still slightly dazed, Draco looked at Harry. 'No,' he said. 'I saw you.'
Harry looked perplexed.
'You were wearing my best dress robes. And then –' He stopped abruptly. Potter was not going to know what had happened.
'And then?'
'Nothing. I came back,' he said swiftly.
Harry didn't look convinced. 'So was that a trance?' he asked Hermione, who was still holding Draco by the wrist. She let go of him and looked into the book.
'Trances can consist of journeys through imaginary terrain, meeting the dead, and finding oneself in a familiar place far from home,' she said. 'Nothing about finding oneself stark naked, Malfoy.'
He scowled darkly. 'I wasn't stark naked.'
'Then what were you wearing?' she asked. The look on his face deterred further questioning.
'Let's go back,' grumbled Harry, most uncharacteristically. Both Hermione and Draco stared at him. 'I'm tired,' he amended, 'and I've got Quidditch practice first thing tomorrow morning.'
'I want to do some extra research,' said Hermione firmly. 'I'll stay down here.'
'Bring your books up to the common room.'
She had a resolute expression on her face. 'I need him.'
Harry stared at her. 'Have it your way then,' he said faintly. 'But don't stay down here too late.' He exited the library, leaving the other two in the almost-empty library.
'Do you really need me here?' he asked. 'I have something to do back in the common room.'
'What, snog Pansy Parkinson?' she retorted. He fell silent, two spots of colour appearing high on his cheeks.
Hermione opened a particularly thick leather-bound book. 'A Complete History of Magic,' she told him, and Draco yawned loudly. She looked at him with narrowed eyes. 'Malfoy, this is IMPORTANT. Very important. I think I've found something on you.'
'Which is?' he said, just for the sake of annoying her.
She flipped the musty pages, arriving at somewhere around the middle of the book. In a hushed tone, she told him, 'The book explains various types of magic, and it says we all have Standard Magic, wand magic. It controls anything and everything using a medium, the wand.'
'Yes,' said Draco, 'and your point is?'
'There's another section to Magic,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'In fact, there are four. Ours is the second – the first is Sensitive Magic, in which a non-magical individual can change nature in a limited manner, sort of like making flowers grow. The third is Hand Magic, in which powerful wizards or witches can direct spells without a wand –'
'Do cut to the point,' said Draco.
Her mouth tightened, and she turned a few pages. 'The fourth level of Magic is born into some people, Malfoy. And I think it was born into you.'
'Pray tell, what is it?' he asked in a bored drawl, but Hermione noticed that he was leaning on his elbows and sitting up straighter. She bent over the book, rubbing her eyes to keep herself awake.
'The fourth level of Magic is Wild Magic. The power lies in the mind, and these individuals are able to alter the universe drastically at the height of their power, and at the very least find anything lost and enter trances, leaving the body behind. However, this level of Magic is difficult to control and can have drastic consequences if misused.' She looked up at him. 'There's more, and some of it suits you.'
Draco looked at her. 'So you're saying that I was born with the capacity for Wild Magic,' he said.
'Yes,' she said, sounding slightly impressed. 'Of those who are born with Wild Magic, only some learn to use it. In fact, many don't even realise they have it. Sometimes when a person with Wild Magic is provoked or strongly moved their power exhibits itself.'
He was looking at her with a faintly amused expression that she wouldn't have thought him capable of. It was the kind of expression Harry often wore. 'You think I have Wild Magic?'
'Yes,' she said. 'Those with Wild Magic usually start off with Wand Magic.' With a snap she closed the book. 'I'll tell you about it tomorrow, if you'll come back during lunch… please?'
He'd never seen her say 'please' like that before, it just wasn't the kind of thing girls like Hermione did.
'Don't say please,' he told her suddenly. 'It's more interesting when you're bossy.'
For a moment her eyes snapped fire. 'All right. If you say so, Malfoy,' she said. 'Come back to the library tomorrow during lunch.'
'And that's why I asked you not to say please,' he said. 'It's so much easier for me to refuse you this way. You see I'm not remotely interested in any of this at all.' This was a blatant lie – he really was interested – but he wasn't going to pass up an opportunity to be as horribly rude as he could.
She let out a loud exasperated sigh and started to pile up the books. 'Fine. Be that way. After all the time I've spent at the library looking it up for you.' She slammed the last book on top of the pile. 'For a moment I'd thought you had changed. You're just as horrible as you always were –'
Before she could continue Draco put a cold white hand on her shoulder. 'Hermione,' he said, his voice tinged with an emotion she could not name. 'Shut up.' And, tugging her closer so that she almost fell against him, he kissed her.
Later she was to wonder whether the bit about snogging Pansy had been right after all – he'd evidently had practice. She drew away, breathless, as he gave her a lazy smile.
'What was that for?' she asked, with large accusing eyes.
'To shut you up,' he said. 'Now would you even consider forgiving me?'
'No,' she said instantly.
'Have it your way,' he said, and disappeared.
* * *
There was an annoying fluttering sound, and Draco couldn't stand it any longer. 'Cut it out!' he yelled, and turned around to see Sirius Black staring at him.
'It's you again,' he said in an awed tone. Lily hurried over to look at him. 'We saw him on the Hogwarts Express!'
'Yes, it's me again,' said Draco. 'What're you going to do about it?'
They seemed a little older, though not very much, and the air was a lot colder. Lily's hair was longer. He noticed that he was in the Gryffindor dorm, and it was the girls' dormitory.
'Sirius,' he said. 'What are you doing in the girls' dorm?'
Sirius had the grace to look embarrassed. 'There's no one else here,' he said. 'It's the holidays.' Lily was smiling mischievously.
'How do you get here?' she asked. 'What are you? I mean, no one else has ever been able to Apparate into Hogwarts.'
'I don't apparate,' said Draco slightly crossly. 'I go into trances, and I just end up here. I mean, the last time I went into a trance, I saw your son. And he was wearing my clothes.'
'My son?' said Lily. 'I have a son? What's he look like?' She raised an eyebrow. 'Who's the father?'
Draco shook his head vigorously.
Sirius grinned. 'I seem to recall that the last time you were here it was James who had a son.'
Lily slapped him without a trace of a blush on her face. 'James is a brat!'
Draco smirked. 'So what year is this?' he asked.
'We're first years,' said Sirius. 'Hogwarts is wonderful.'
Lily pushed him playfully. 'Sirius here has an arch-enemy already.'
'Who's he?' asked Draco, thinking of his own arch-enemy and wondering morbidly whether she would kill him if she found out who he was.
Sirius made a face. 'He just glides through the halls like a ghost. Tall, skinny and greasy – can't stand him. He's really pathetic. Last week I tried to pass him some Cockroach Cluster, but he wouldn't take it. His name's Severus Snape, but we call him different things each week.'
Draco gasped. The Potions master at Hogwarts? His favourite teacher? Pathetic?
'Cockroach Cluster?' said Lily sharply. 'You never told me about that.'
'Er – a third-year passed it to me,' said Sirius quickly, with a disarming grin. She frowned at him, then looked back at Draco. He sat down carefully on the bed next to them. 'So – you're Draco, right? Er – why are you here?'
'He likes to see us,' inferred Lily with her sweet smile.
Draco grinned. 'I suppose you could say that… but I can't control it.'
The door creaked and a moment later Remus swung in. He was thinner than the others, with gentler features. Draco saw him as the kind of person who was often picked on. Lily smiled at him. 'Hello, Remus. Where's James?'
'Detention – pulling jokes on Hooknose again,' said Remus, flopping down onto the bed. Then he noticed Draco and his eyes widened. 'Who's he?'
Lily explained in a hushed voice. Remus's eyebrows drew down, but he didn't say anything. Draco, who was growing increasedly discomfited, touched the bracelet and said nothing.
'Draco,' said Lily, turning to him with her sweet green-eyed smile. 'Tell me about my son.' She sounded almost wistful. 'Is he tall? Handsome?'
Draco snickered behind his hand, and replied, 'No, he's short and skinny and has glasses.'
'Is he a nice person?'
Draco frowned. Somehow he couldn't bring himself to say no.
'He's brave,' he admitted painfully, 'and he's loyal.'
'That's good,' said Lily, and suddenly she seized his arm. 'It's a little silly to be talking about one's son when one's only eleven,' she said, laughing. 'Let's do something else.' Then her green eyes fell on the bracelet he wore. 'What's that?'
As her cool hands slipped around it he felt darkness again, and surrendered.
* * *
A note fell onto his desk during Potions the next day, and Draco unfolded it curiously, rubbing his eyes. He was tired – apparently the trance had taken strength.
Have any dreams last night? – HP
Draco looked over at where Harry was working, but he was avoiding Draco's eyes. Sighing, Draco put a handful of crushed beetles onto the scales that stood like silent pillars on his desk.
He looked up at Harry again, and this time the green-eyed boy was looking back at him over his cauldron. Draco nodded slowly.
'About what?' he could see Harry mouthing, but pretended not to understand, and turned back, his right-hand fingers caressing the engravings in the bracelet. Lux et Umbra Vicissim.
Another note flew through the air, and Draco suspected it was magically aided.
What about? – HP
Your mother again, Draco wrote surreptitiously, suspending his quill in the air as he thought, and Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin… They're still first-years. – DM. Then he decided that DM looked rather funny and crossed it out, vicious black slashes across the calm white paper.
He tossed it back, and Harry caught it, nearly knocking his glasses off.
The next note that flew across behind Snape's back read Meet me after class – please. Hermione has something she wants to say to you. – HP. It sounded so much like Hermione that Draco laughed.
All right, he wrote back, but only if it's important… Throwing it back, he looked at Harry, who was rolling his eyes. Hermione was looking at him with a small grin. He smirked at her and the grin disappeared.
For some reason, he just lived for doing that.
* * *
'Hello, Malfoy,' said Harry, as Draco caught up with him in the corridor on the way to lunch.
'Hello,' returned Draco, falling into step with him. 'Could we just talk here, instead of there?'
Harry gazed at him with narrowed eyes. 'You just don't want the other Slytherins to see you.'
'True,' said Draco, with no sign of embarrassment on his face. 'Too true.' He stopped walking, and so did Harry. 'You wanted to talk to me, Potter,' he said. 'What about?'
'You know very well what about,' said Harry, with no trace of a smile. 'You dreamt about my mother again. What happened?'
Draco told him, leaving out nothing. Harry seemed particularly shocked at the description of him that Draco had given Lily. 'You told her I was brave and loyal?' he gasped, standing flat-backed against the wall. 'You told her she had a son?'
'The questions seem a little mixed up, Potter,' said Draco lazily. 'But yes, I did tell her that.'
'I can't believe you said something like that,' said Harry. 'Something good about me.' He too sounded almost wistful, pushing one toe against the cold stone floor. 'I should've thought you'd tell her I was a skinny little runt who wore glasses.'
'Yeah, that too,' said Draco cheerfully. 'Did you think I'd leave it out?'
Harry grinned tentatively, and then his face fell into straight lines again, making him look slightly older. 'Hermione thinks she's found a way.'
'Found a way to what?'
'To send me with you.' Harry sounded excited and worried at the same time, a sort of guilty pleasure; Draco looked at him, curious. 'But it'll involve quite a lot of work on your part,' added Harry, frowning.
'That doesn't matter,' said Draco almost cheerfully. 'As long as I get to show your mother that you really are her son. You see, I don't think she really believes that her son could be so terribly unattractive.'
'Shut up, Malfoy,' said Harry, but there was no anger in his words; he sounded almost friendly.
They found Hermione around the corner, carrying some books; as soon as she saw them she dropped the books with a pleased smile. 'Oh, there you are. I've been doing some extra research…'
Harry nodded and shoved Draco forwards. 'You wanted to talk to him?' Draco smiled catlike, making her feel uneasy.
'Er – I – we need to see you tomorrow night at the third floor girl's bathroom,' she explained hurriedly. 'I think I've found a way to send Harry along with you just once. You'd better get a good night's sleep tonight, because it takes a lot out of you.'
'Exactly how do you plan to do this?' asked Draco.
'The bracelet seems to be a method of communication, and I'll put a Strengthening Charm on it…' She shook her head. 'It's pretty complicated. Harry needs a potion to go into a trance, and you'll have to guide him through it through your own trance. If you break the connection he could fly anywhere and be killed.' Her large brown eyes looked up at him. 'Is that, you know, OK with you?'
Draco didn't answer for a minute – his eyes were far away. Finally he looked back at her. 'You know,' he said. 'I rather liked kissing you.'
He had forgotten about Harry.
'Did you?' she asked, keeping a straight face, studying the way his hair fell over his forehead in elegantly messy silver locks. 'Well, I still haven't forgiven you.'
'Would you forgive me if I did it again?' And, without waiting for an answer, he kissed her, one hand cupping her cheek. She didn't pull away, but closed her eyes.
It was lucky they couldn't see the expression on Harry's face – it would probably have sent Hermione into a dead faint. And then as they finally pulled apart, there was a strange cracking noise.
The portrait that usually hung on the wall in front of the pair of them had cracked in two.