Author's notes: So far I've been called only two adjectives from writing
Chained: evil and cruel. Couldn't we all just move away from those to
fantastic for updating so much? Oh, alright, I admit it. I'm evil, I'm
wicked, I'm cruel, I'm the Devil incarnate. At least this is the third
update today, right?
Disclaimer: See part one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I didn't see Harry again until the next day; when I did, it was unpleasant.
I walked in on them arguing in the showers - it wasn't me alone, for once. Rubber and I were going to have showers after one of the afternoon courses - which I was beginning to take on a more regular basis, merely because Harry wasn't taking them much.
Harry stood at one side of the room, Zabini stood at the other. Both looked utterly furious - not surprising, considering they were in the middle of a flaming argument, which they were having as quietly as possible. We didn't hear them until we actually reached the door.
They silenced as soon as we stepped in.
"What's going on?" Rubber asked mutedly, taking a step towards Harry. "Harry?"
"Nothing's going on," Zabini spat spitefully. "Nothing at all." He spared me a rage-filled look, then pushed past us and left the showers. Rubber looked slowly between Harry and I, and then followed Zabini.
Had they...broken up, although that wasn't really the right terming. They'd never been an item officially, so they couldn't have broken up. All they'd been doing was...not even having sex. What I'd seen had been too...rough, too animalistic to be called sex. They'd been fucking, pure and simple.
I happened to know from experience that Blaise Zabini is a very good fuck, especially when all you wanted was physical release, and possibly a little reflected protection.
I assumed that Zabini had wanted the reflected protection from Harry, just as he had from me.
But I didn't know all the details. Maybe I was wrong about the whole thing.
Maybe if I looked out a window I'd see pigs flying as well.
I realised that we'd been silent for well over two minutes, so I stepped forward and tentatively touched Harry's arm.
He jerked violently, and I retreated a step, anxious not to...anxious not to what? To press him into admitting all, the way I'd been pressed by my father? No. I wouldn't do that to him.
"Harry?" I ventured.
"Don't...say...a word," he warned me, almost viciously, and I nodded slowly. Okay, I wouldn't speak. I leant up against the wall and watched him - I knew that sometimes watching can be enough to make someone spill their guts.
He looked at me after a moment, his eyes bleak and a little scared. "Draco...what did you mean yesterday?"
Oh. That. Right.
I'm not Muggle or superstitious, but I crossed my fingers behind my back.
"Zabini and I...were together for a short time in our sixth year," I told him simply. "Not really a relationship, I guess. Fucking. Same as you two."
"Yes," he said bitterly. "Just fucking. That's all life is, really."
I frowned. Oh no, he was not going to go down the same path as I had when Zabini had left me. That way led to hurt and pain and solitude.
"No, it isn't," I said sharply. "Life is living. Life is making it better than it is. Life is..." I trailed off. Who was I kidding? Life had fucked me over royally, and it had done it worse to Harry.
"Exactly," he said dryly. "Life is crap."
"Not all of life," I muttered. "Some things...there are some things worth living for?"
"Of course," came the sarcastic reply. "Name one."
"The resistance," I said after a moment. "They're fighting for what's right, Harry, and they're fighting for you. Did you know that wherever they attack they leave a sort of calling card - a symbol, I guess. A lightning bolt." He met my eyes in surprise. Ah. He hadn't known that. "Did you know," I continued ruthlessly, "that before I got caught spying for the resistance, Voldemort told me that the resistance was becoming a serious threat? Did you know that -"
"You were spying for the resistance?" he interrupted incredulously. "You?"
Oh. Shit.
"That's not the point," I muttered. "The point is, you're Harry Potter. You're the hope of thousands - millions, even - out there, Harry. You can't just give up because Blaise sodding Zabini walked all over you and dumped you. Trust me, he's done it to plenty others."
"Why do you care what happens to me, Draco?" he asked tiredly. "Why do you, of all people, care - especially after I -" He didn't finish his sentence, thankfully.
"I care because I don't want you doing what I did - or tried to do, anyway," I admitted. "And Zabini leaves people a mess." I didn't add the real reason, the main reason, but I was fairly sure that he knew it anyway.
He did. I could see it in his eyes, but he didn't speak it yet.
"What did you do, Draco?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as dry sobs choked him. Well, at least he wasn't really crying - I'd be *really* worried then.
I didn't answer him, not verbally at least. I pushed up the sleeve of my uniform and held out my wrist. He caught hold of it and ran his thumb over the thin white scar there.
If he'd looked, he would have found a matching one on my other wrist.
I remembered that Madam Pomfrey had been frantic over whether I'd live or not. I hadn't cared at all, but then they'd called my father...my father...father...
I blinked. Harry was watching me again, a strange look in his eyes, one I hadn't ever seen before.
"Damn, Malfoy," he murmured. "You're going to be the ruin of me one of these days."
Before I could even process that comment, he had stepped towards me and kissed me, his arms tight around me, not willing to let me move an inch.
I didn't mind. I moaned into his mouth, and snaked my arms around his neck. He still, I noted with half my mind, tasted like thunder and lightning.
So different from *him*.
I pulled back a bit, gasping for breath. He rested his forehead against mine, his eyes fixed unrelentingly on mine.
"Mine?" he questioned, pressing me closer to him. Ah, so he wanted it like *that*. Of course, in here, *that* was all that we really could have...although I believed in no gods, I found myself fervently praying that the resistance *were* going to attack Talsgate.
"Yes," I murmured. "Yours." He leant in to kiss me again.
But was stopped by Gary running into the shower.
"Are you two killing each other, because there's - " He stopped, staring. "Bugger."
"I rather thought that was the point," I said under my breath, as Harry pulled away from me.
"What's wrong, Gary?" Harry asked, as naturally as if all Gary had found us doing was, um, something innocent.
"Depends on your opinion of wrong," Gary replied after a moment in which he gave me an unreadable look. "There's a new prisoner, going into cell two- three-four."
"Second level row C, Salazar Alley," Harry informed me swiftly before I'd even opened my mouth to query - okay, I didn't know where every single cell was, but I'd been here what, four months? "So what's the problem with the new guy?" Harry went on.
"It's Sirius Black, Harry."
Bloody hell. Harry stayed frozen for a moment, then he shot from the showers as fast as he could; I followed, and I kept up easily. Down along the side of the rows, into Salazar Alley and up the metal stairs, across the gangway that went across between the second levels of each row, and along to cell two-three-four.
Bugger it, it really was Sirius Black. I'd hoped that Gary had been wrong, but I suppose with someone as famous as him...
Harry was standing at the doorway of the cell, staring in shock at his godfather. Black was standing in the cell, one hand supporting himself against the wall, gazing at his godson with an eerie look in his eyes.
Then Harry pushed himself forward and showed the most emotion I have ever seen him display in Talsgate by hugging Black. Black was muttering something incoherent, but I could tell that Harry wasn't really listening, he was so overjoyed to see his godfather again.
I couldn't help but wonder how Black had been caught...or why he had allowed himself to be caught.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued.
Replies to reviews:
Squeegee - it was fast, wasn't it. Was this faster? You'll see why Harry stays, eventually.
Draco Malfoy N Harry Potter - Don't worry about being lazy to review, when I read fics I often don't review until the last chapter unless it's a cliffie (I know, lazy Sparks). And I do post quickly, so you have an excuse.
Demeter - sigh, here we are back with the cruel person I apparently am. I do write fast, so I ought to be forgiven. Actually, it *is* said before the end of chapter 14, it's said about...ooh, a third of the way through, I guess. You just have to be reading carefully. Don't worry, everyone is missing stuff about Hermione - who, incidentally, will turn up in several chapters. Of course, my several is usually everyone else's baker's dozen...
withset - no, I'm not writing day and night! It only takes me one or two hours on a good day to write a chapter, and I'm on summer holiday with nothing else to do (mostly) so I'm devoting my time to writing. Not that I'm aware of any of you complaining!!
drika - again with the evil! But thank you.
Derelictus - well, after this chapter I hope some assumptions have been chucked aside in favour of fact, because trust me, most of this chapter was stated fact. Mostly. And if I'm evil *and* a goddess divine, does that make me an evil goddess?
Hippy Flower(Voldie's kid - fantastic bribe...pity it's virtual, not real.
T.K. Yuy - oh no, not you calling me evil too! You're pretty much the only person who hasn't said that of me yet! Sob. Did it answer questions? Hmm. Well, this chapter was supposed to, but last chapter wasn't really, so I'd be careful with your assumptions. Sigh, I suppose I am on an updating streak, aren't I? It isn't my fault, I'm as hooked on this damn fic as the rest of you are - possibly more so, since I know what's going on!
Leon - of course Draco isn't going to get revenge! Not after this chapter, anyway...
Nagini - MY Draco, I think you'll find...and Sirius has shown up - are you happy? And I maintain that I'm not evil...oh, I said that I was up there, didn't I...
Disclaimer: See part one.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I didn't see Harry again until the next day; when I did, it was unpleasant.
I walked in on them arguing in the showers - it wasn't me alone, for once. Rubber and I were going to have showers after one of the afternoon courses - which I was beginning to take on a more regular basis, merely because Harry wasn't taking them much.
Harry stood at one side of the room, Zabini stood at the other. Both looked utterly furious - not surprising, considering they were in the middle of a flaming argument, which they were having as quietly as possible. We didn't hear them until we actually reached the door.
They silenced as soon as we stepped in.
"What's going on?" Rubber asked mutedly, taking a step towards Harry. "Harry?"
"Nothing's going on," Zabini spat spitefully. "Nothing at all." He spared me a rage-filled look, then pushed past us and left the showers. Rubber looked slowly between Harry and I, and then followed Zabini.
Had they...broken up, although that wasn't really the right terming. They'd never been an item officially, so they couldn't have broken up. All they'd been doing was...not even having sex. What I'd seen had been too...rough, too animalistic to be called sex. They'd been fucking, pure and simple.
I happened to know from experience that Blaise Zabini is a very good fuck, especially when all you wanted was physical release, and possibly a little reflected protection.
I assumed that Zabini had wanted the reflected protection from Harry, just as he had from me.
But I didn't know all the details. Maybe I was wrong about the whole thing.
Maybe if I looked out a window I'd see pigs flying as well.
I realised that we'd been silent for well over two minutes, so I stepped forward and tentatively touched Harry's arm.
He jerked violently, and I retreated a step, anxious not to...anxious not to what? To press him into admitting all, the way I'd been pressed by my father? No. I wouldn't do that to him.
"Harry?" I ventured.
"Don't...say...a word," he warned me, almost viciously, and I nodded slowly. Okay, I wouldn't speak. I leant up against the wall and watched him - I knew that sometimes watching can be enough to make someone spill their guts.
He looked at me after a moment, his eyes bleak and a little scared. "Draco...what did you mean yesterday?"
Oh. That. Right.
I'm not Muggle or superstitious, but I crossed my fingers behind my back.
"Zabini and I...were together for a short time in our sixth year," I told him simply. "Not really a relationship, I guess. Fucking. Same as you two."
"Yes," he said bitterly. "Just fucking. That's all life is, really."
I frowned. Oh no, he was not going to go down the same path as I had when Zabini had left me. That way led to hurt and pain and solitude.
"No, it isn't," I said sharply. "Life is living. Life is making it better than it is. Life is..." I trailed off. Who was I kidding? Life had fucked me over royally, and it had done it worse to Harry.
"Exactly," he said dryly. "Life is crap."
"Not all of life," I muttered. "Some things...there are some things worth living for?"
"Of course," came the sarcastic reply. "Name one."
"The resistance," I said after a moment. "They're fighting for what's right, Harry, and they're fighting for you. Did you know that wherever they attack they leave a sort of calling card - a symbol, I guess. A lightning bolt." He met my eyes in surprise. Ah. He hadn't known that. "Did you know," I continued ruthlessly, "that before I got caught spying for the resistance, Voldemort told me that the resistance was becoming a serious threat? Did you know that -"
"You were spying for the resistance?" he interrupted incredulously. "You?"
Oh. Shit.
"That's not the point," I muttered. "The point is, you're Harry Potter. You're the hope of thousands - millions, even - out there, Harry. You can't just give up because Blaise sodding Zabini walked all over you and dumped you. Trust me, he's done it to plenty others."
"Why do you care what happens to me, Draco?" he asked tiredly. "Why do you, of all people, care - especially after I -" He didn't finish his sentence, thankfully.
"I care because I don't want you doing what I did - or tried to do, anyway," I admitted. "And Zabini leaves people a mess." I didn't add the real reason, the main reason, but I was fairly sure that he knew it anyway.
He did. I could see it in his eyes, but he didn't speak it yet.
"What did you do, Draco?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper as dry sobs choked him. Well, at least he wasn't really crying - I'd be *really* worried then.
I didn't answer him, not verbally at least. I pushed up the sleeve of my uniform and held out my wrist. He caught hold of it and ran his thumb over the thin white scar there.
If he'd looked, he would have found a matching one on my other wrist.
I remembered that Madam Pomfrey had been frantic over whether I'd live or not. I hadn't cared at all, but then they'd called my father...my father...father...
I blinked. Harry was watching me again, a strange look in his eyes, one I hadn't ever seen before.
"Damn, Malfoy," he murmured. "You're going to be the ruin of me one of these days."
Before I could even process that comment, he had stepped towards me and kissed me, his arms tight around me, not willing to let me move an inch.
I didn't mind. I moaned into his mouth, and snaked my arms around his neck. He still, I noted with half my mind, tasted like thunder and lightning.
So different from *him*.
I pulled back a bit, gasping for breath. He rested his forehead against mine, his eyes fixed unrelentingly on mine.
"Mine?" he questioned, pressing me closer to him. Ah, so he wanted it like *that*. Of course, in here, *that* was all that we really could have...although I believed in no gods, I found myself fervently praying that the resistance *were* going to attack Talsgate.
"Yes," I murmured. "Yours." He leant in to kiss me again.
But was stopped by Gary running into the shower.
"Are you two killing each other, because there's - " He stopped, staring. "Bugger."
"I rather thought that was the point," I said under my breath, as Harry pulled away from me.
"What's wrong, Gary?" Harry asked, as naturally as if all Gary had found us doing was, um, something innocent.
"Depends on your opinion of wrong," Gary replied after a moment in which he gave me an unreadable look. "There's a new prisoner, going into cell two- three-four."
"Second level row C, Salazar Alley," Harry informed me swiftly before I'd even opened my mouth to query - okay, I didn't know where every single cell was, but I'd been here what, four months? "So what's the problem with the new guy?" Harry went on.
"It's Sirius Black, Harry."
Bloody hell. Harry stayed frozen for a moment, then he shot from the showers as fast as he could; I followed, and I kept up easily. Down along the side of the rows, into Salazar Alley and up the metal stairs, across the gangway that went across between the second levels of each row, and along to cell two-three-four.
Bugger it, it really was Sirius Black. I'd hoped that Gary had been wrong, but I suppose with someone as famous as him...
Harry was standing at the doorway of the cell, staring in shock at his godfather. Black was standing in the cell, one hand supporting himself against the wall, gazing at his godson with an eerie look in his eyes.
Then Harry pushed himself forward and showed the most emotion I have ever seen him display in Talsgate by hugging Black. Black was muttering something incoherent, but I could tell that Harry wasn't really listening, he was so overjoyed to see his godfather again.
I couldn't help but wonder how Black had been caught...or why he had allowed himself to be caught.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To be continued.
Replies to reviews:
Squeegee - it was fast, wasn't it. Was this faster? You'll see why Harry stays, eventually.
Draco Malfoy N Harry Potter - Don't worry about being lazy to review, when I read fics I often don't review until the last chapter unless it's a cliffie (I know, lazy Sparks). And I do post quickly, so you have an excuse.
Demeter - sigh, here we are back with the cruel person I apparently am. I do write fast, so I ought to be forgiven. Actually, it *is* said before the end of chapter 14, it's said about...ooh, a third of the way through, I guess. You just have to be reading carefully. Don't worry, everyone is missing stuff about Hermione - who, incidentally, will turn up in several chapters. Of course, my several is usually everyone else's baker's dozen...
withset - no, I'm not writing day and night! It only takes me one or two hours on a good day to write a chapter, and I'm on summer holiday with nothing else to do (mostly) so I'm devoting my time to writing. Not that I'm aware of any of you complaining!!
drika - again with the evil! But thank you.
Derelictus - well, after this chapter I hope some assumptions have been chucked aside in favour of fact, because trust me, most of this chapter was stated fact. Mostly. And if I'm evil *and* a goddess divine, does that make me an evil goddess?
Hippy Flower(Voldie's kid - fantastic bribe...pity it's virtual, not real.
T.K. Yuy - oh no, not you calling me evil too! You're pretty much the only person who hasn't said that of me yet! Sob. Did it answer questions? Hmm. Well, this chapter was supposed to, but last chapter wasn't really, so I'd be careful with your assumptions. Sigh, I suppose I am on an updating streak, aren't I? It isn't my fault, I'm as hooked on this damn fic as the rest of you are - possibly more so, since I know what's going on!
Leon - of course Draco isn't going to get revenge! Not after this chapter, anyway...
Nagini - MY Draco, I think you'll find...and Sirius has shown up - are you happy? And I maintain that I'm not evil...oh, I said that I was up there, didn't I...