Chapter Five ~ Lucius's Lessons
***************************************************************************************************************************
"Now, this is more like a date," Draco said with satisfaction as he put his arm around Harry's shoulders, "sitting close to the one you love, snuggling up to read a book about the killing curse, ugh. Not very romantic, is it. Turn to page 231, please." Harry flipped through the pages until he found the right one. He watched Draco's face while he scanned the page, he was obviously knew what he was looking for.
"Aha!" Draco said when he had found what he was looking for. "Read the second paragraph from the bottom," he instructed Harry. Draco played absently with the hair on the back of Harry's neck while he waited for him to process the information in the book. Ron and Hermione were looking over curiously. Draco watched Harry's eyes widen as he finished reading.
"Oh my god! I can't believe it!" he exclaimed.
"What is it?" Hermione asked eagerly, both she and Ron were sitting on the edge of their chairs, certain that it was the breakthrough they'd been waiting for after hours of disappointment. Harry read out the passage.
In 1879, a young wizard of previously debatable ability managed to defeat the evil Lord Devoltorm. While the method he used to overpower the darkest wizard of our time is unknown, it is nevertheless, well known that the 17 year old wizard was forced to use Devoltorm's own dark magic to conquer him. However, he escaped prosecution for the use of the Unforgivables and other dark magic since he was able to rid the world of the darkness that threatened to engulf the world. It is widely believed that he was able to accomplish this through the use of a magical barrier, which prevented the Dark Lord's magic from penetrating and thus prevented any harm that may have befallen the young wizard.
Harry finished reading and the four of them sat in quiet contemplation of what they had discovered.
Draco felt like there was now a light at the end of the tunnel. If they could find out what this thing, this barrier was then maybe they could replicate it and no one would have to die. Draco's hand was still in his lover's hair and he rested his head on Harry's shoulder while they all thought. He couldn't lose Harry now that they'd just finally gotten together him, he thought desperately.
Hermione was reviewing all that she knew about dark magic, which admittedly wasn't much due to the constantly changing Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers. She was also silently cursing herself (not literally) for not realising sooner that of course it would take dark magic to take down Voldemort. Nothing else would be powerful enough to defeat him (although inside she squirmed at the idea of stooping to his level).
Ron was staring dreamily at Hermione, picturing her naked, writhing beneath him. Snap out of it! he told himself sternly, we're here to read, not fantasise! Right, the paragraph. It was interesting, but the lack of hard information was frustrating Ron. He couldn't see how this was going to help them. If only it described in intimate (Mmm, intimate with Hermione, he thought) detail how this wizard, whoever he was, had beaten You Know Who (he still found it hard to say his name - many years of living with his family had instilled in him an irrational fear of the word).
Harry was remembering back to the last time he had faced Voldemort. Harry had thrown everything he'd had at Voldemort and while no one had died, Voldemort had fled unscathed. Harry didn't really want to use dark magic. He had always believed that good would triumph over evil because good was...well, good. For the first time he was questioning that assumption.
"So, I'm assuming this is some kind of force field we're talking about here," Hermione was the first to speak.
"What's a force field?" asked Ron, looking perplexed.
"I keep forgetting you're not up with muggle stuff. I saw it in a movie once. It's like an invisible wall between Voldemort and us, and nothing he does can get past it," Hermione explained. Ron still looked blank. Hermione noticed this and realised he was having trouble with the word 'movie'. "You've seen a movie Ron, remember last summer when you came over to my place," she gently reminded him.
"So this force field should be able to stop Avada Kedavra from hitting us?" Draco asked as he came to understand what Hermione was talking about, he had never seen a movie before.
"But what if it bounces off and hits someone else?" Ron added apprehensively.
"Well, we'll need to make sure the Great Hall is empty," Hermione answered Ron and then looked over at Draco, "If we can find out how to conjure this barrier, we should be safe from Avada Kedavra," Hermione said, finally answering Draco's question.
"Hey! Maybe that's how in the dream You Know Who blocked Harry's Stupefy spell and it hit Snape!" exclaimed Ron excitedly.
"If it is, then how are we going to get past Voldemort's force field?" Draco asked uneasily.
"Well we need to find a way to reverse the barrier while we find the spell to construct our own barrier," replied Hermione.
Harry had been sitting quietly listening to his friend's conversation while mulling over all the available information in his head. He didn't quite understand how their barrier would stop Voldemort's spells getting through to them, but their spells could apparently get though to him. Also, in the dream, it sounded like Voldemort already had one of these barriers so apparently they were going to have a stand off with both sides being protected and no one getting a clear shot through to the other side. It was going to be a repeat of last year, both sides would walk away from the battle and they would all have to live with the threat of Voldemort's return hanging over their heads. Harry was getting tired of constantly having to look over his shoulder. He sighed, when would it all end? Maybe it was worth compromising his beliefs about dark magic. If it got rid of the Dark Lord, surely it was worth it? Wasn't it? Harry didn't know.
Ron and Hermione were getting up. They were going to tell Dumbledore what they had found out, while Draco and Harry searched the Restricted Section for more information about the barrier and the 1879 incident. Harry sat down in front of the shelves Draco was searching while being careful not to touch a book. Harry waited for him to tell him which book to pull out. Who would have guessed that Draco was so good at research?
Harry idly read the titles of the books directly in front of him. One in particular caught his eye and he pulled it out. It was called 'The Darkest Dark Magic Ever'. Harry flipped through it, landing on a page titled 'How to defeat the Dark Lord'. This is just too easy, what's the catch? Harry thought derisively. He read it anyway, out of curiosity and was surprised to find that it gave details of the very force field type barrier they were going to try to create. Almost as soon as he had finished reading, the words began to disappear from the page.
"Hey!" he cried, frantically trying to memorise the details before they vanished. Draco rushed to his side and saw the now faint words finally fade away.
"What was it?" he asked, almost too afraid to ask.
"Ironically enough, the page was called 'How to defeat the Dark Lord' and it gave details of the barrier we're going to try to produce," he sighed, closing the book.
"You're kidding!" Draco exclaimed, annoyed that the very thing they were looking for had vanished before their eyes.
"It just seems too easy. I just pulled a book at random from the shelves and if fell open to the very thing we're looking for, then once I've read it, it disappears. I don't like it," Harry replied suspiciously.
"Let's go ask Dad about it. He might know something about it, being a former Death Eater and all," Draco suggested dryly. Harry nodded and replaced the book.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Meanwhile, Ron and Hermione had reached the stone gargoyle that blocked the way to Dumbledore's office when they realised that neither of them knew the password. Hermione was getting angry as she realised they'd have to go all the way back to the library and then back here which would waste precious time. Ron just leaned against the wall and smiled.
God, she looks beautiful when she's angry, he thought distractedly. Her long shiny dark hair was frizz-free and fell down to her waist. Her cheeks were glowing and she ran her tongue over her bottom lip as she thought. She looked so sexy that Ron couldn't help himself as he imagined himself undressing her and kissing every inch of her delectable body. I really have to deal with this daydreaming, Ron thought, if we don't do it soon I think I'm going to go up in flames. Ron decided to take this setback (not having the password) as fate telling him to go for it.
Ron pulled Hermione to him and kissed her more passionately than they ever had before. When they finally broke apart, Hermione looked dazed.
"What was that for?" she asked, a little breathlessly, which just made him want her more.
"Let's go back to my room and I'll show you," he whispered in her ear wickedly. Hermione grinned. She'd wondered how long it would take him to suggest that.
"Sure," she replied and Ron's jaw just about hit the ground. He'd been expecting a little more resistance to the idea. He took her hand and they ran towards the Gryffindor tower.
**************************************************************************************************************************
The boys crept into the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom and sat down. Luckily Gryffindor had their lesson now and no one questioned their being there. Of course there would be questions later about why they had missed so many classes. Lucius was talking about the Dark Mark and its significance to Death Eaters.
The Gryffindors were hanging on his every word, grateful to now have a teacher who was telling it like it is, rather than pretending that Cornish pixies were the worst thing they would have to face.
Harry looked surprised when he saw Draco raise his hand. It seemed Lucius was as taken aback as he was when he called on his son.
"Uh, Professor Malfoy, what do you know about magical barriers that stop spells, such as the Unforgivables getting through?" he asked hesitantly. Lucius looked surprised but he knew the origin of the question.
"I know Voldemort can generate one with the flick of his wand, if that's what you're asking. Unfortunately I was never privy to the exact spell that conjures it. I do know that he got it from one of the books in our personal library back at Malfoy Manor," he responded. Lavender raised her hand then.
"If it's in your library, wouldn't you have already read about it?" she asked timidly.
"There are hundreds of books in the library, handed down from generation to generation. There is no way you could read every book there without going mad, especially considering that most of the books, if not all, are about dark magic," Lucius replied.
Harry felt like a light bulb was turning on in his mind. A whole library full of books about dark magic, surely what they were looking for, the answers to all their questions, would be in one of those books. He still had his invisibility cloak and with his Firebolt he could be there and back before morning.
Lucius saw the wheels turning in his head and was quick to react.
"No way in hell, Harry," he said, shocking everyone in the room. "You are not going anywhere near that Manor. Do you hear me? It's not worth it. Voldemort knows I am here. The Dark Mark on my arm has been pulsing, beckoning me to him. I know he is there or at the very least has the place full of Death Eaters. They've probably destroyed the place by now anyway."
"How the hell are we supposed to defeat him if we can't find out how to do it?" Harry demanded angrily. Gasps could be heard around the room. No one knew exactly what the three of them were talking about but Harry's implication that there was another battle on the way shocked them all.
"I can teach you things," Lucius said softly, almost reluctantly.
Harry pushed away his conscience that was telling him it was wrong to do dark magic and agreed.
Draco looked shocked and a bit worried at this turn of events. He was doing everything he could to reject the Dark Side and be a good person and here was Harry agreeing to learn dark magic, with an equally dark expression on his face. It scared Draco a bit to see this side to his lover. He had always though that Harry was good through and through. The golden boy who would never go astray. He hoped he wasn't wrong.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Later that night, Harry was in bed, lying on his back with his hands behind his head. He was staring at the ceiling and Draco watched him while he changed into his pyjama pants. They would prefer to sleep naked, but with the unpredictability of life these days, they thought it was safer to wear pants – just in case. They both also slept with their wands on the tables on either side of the bed – just in case.
Draco eyed Harry thoughtfully, concerned about the nature of the thoughts running through Harry's head. He had shown an unusual aptitude for the Dark Arts this afternoon during his first lesson with Draco's father. Now, his lover had a deliberately blank look on his face, which was strange in itself, since Harry had never been any good at masking his emotions before today. Draco shook his head, his thoughts were running around in confused circles.
Draco thought back to this afternoon's lesson. Harry had been very eager to start…
As the Gryffindor's shuffled off to their next class, Lucius announced that he had no more classes that afternoon. Harry had eagerly jumped at the chance to begin his first lesson. Draco had sat at the back of the classroom and watched his father teach his lover some blocking spells, which were harmless enough.
At first Harry had been thrown back against the wall trying to block the spell Lucius had sent at him. But Harry was a quick learner and it wasn't long before he could stand perfectly still and the spells bounced off him. It was similar to the barrier they had been trying to find information about, but the difference was the barrier would stay there until someone chose to take it down, whereas with the blocking spells, Harry had to keep doing the spell each time something came at him. This took time and he wasn't able to do anything except block at the moment. With practice, he'd be able to block and then send a curse back.
Draco watched the lesson without comment but it was when his father began to teach Harry some of the darker curses, darker even than the Unforgivables, that Draco had had enough. He quietly left the room, unable to stomach that sadistic gleam in Harry's eyes.
Even now, hours later and lying still on the bed, Harry still had that look in his eyes. Draco knew that look. He had seen it in Voldemort's eyes the one and only time he had met the Dark Lord. Draco walked into the bathroom and began cleaning his teeth. Maybe something had happened to Harry earlier, in the library. Perhaps the book with the disappearing words had cursed him. Don't be stupid, he thought irritably, Dumbledore wouldn't have books that curse people in the school library.
Draco remembered something someone had once said about Harry and Voldemort swapping powers when the Dark Lord had hit Harry with Avada Kedavra when he was just a baby. That was how Harry knew Parseltongue. What if, Draco shuddered at the thought, when this swapping of powers was taking place, Harry had gotten a bit of Voldemort's evilness? But if that were so, why did it take until he was 17 to be revealed? Draco didn't like the path his thoughts were taking.
"What's taking you so long?" Harry called out, a little coldly it seemed to Draco, "You've been in there for ages."
Draco jumped at the sound of his lover's voice. For the first time ever, Draco felt a tiny bit afraid to be alone with Harry. Draco pushed it aside, sure that he was wrong about this and left the sanctuary of the bathroom. He climbed into bed and was immediately pulled over by Harry and pushed back onto the mattress.
Harry kissed him hungrily and Draco tried to return the kiss but Harry's lips were gone as he kissed his way down Draco's neck, nibbling and occasionally biting him. Harry's sudden aggression stunned Draco.
"Harry…?" Draco said nervously, "What's come over you?"
"I want you," Harry replied roughly, "I want you now."
His hands were constantly moving over the blond man's body. It was such a contrast. Harry had been lying so still before that Draco had wanted to check to see if he was still breathing but now Harry seemed to have become manic. It was an intense experience for both of them.
**************************************************************************************************************************
Draco woke the next morning to find himself alone. He gingerly got out of the bed and went to have a shower. He stood silently, allowing the hot water to run over his body. He didn't look down. He knew it wasn't good. He knew Harry didn't mean to hurt him but he didn't want to face the results of their frenzied love making just yet. Draco couldn't explain the difference in his lover's behaviour. Usually, Harry was a considerate, tender lover concerned only with his partner's pleasure. Last night he had definitely been rougher and Harry had only cared about his own pleasure. Draco only hoped that whatever demons he'd been fighting last night had gone.
Finally Draco could put it off no longer. He turned the water off and stood in front of the mirror. He had little bruised bite marks down the right side of his neck. He slowly turned around, looking in the mirror over his shoulder. He had vicious scratch marks down his back. The rest of him felt pretty sore but was unmarked. He grabbed a towel and carefully dried himself off. He dressed quickly, deciding not to cover the marks or ask Madam Pomfrey to heal them. He wanted to see Harry's reaction to the bluish/brown bruising down the side of his neck. Suddenly Harry's response seemed very important.
Draco sat down to breakfast opposite Ron and Hermione. They were busy flirting with each other but looked up when he sat down. Hermione gasped.
"Draco, what happened to your neck?" she asked, her voice laced with concern.
"Harry happened," he replied succinctly.
"TMI," Ron said with a dismayed look on his face.
"What?" Draco asked with confusion.
"Too much information," Ron explained. Draco nodded and managed a small smile.
"So where is Harry?" Draco asked carefully, not wanting to betray his highly emotional state where Harry was concerned.
"I think he's with your Dad," Hermione replied, "What is the deal with that?" Draco sighed.
"He's teaching Harry about the Dark Arts. I think it's having a detrimental effect on him," Draco confided. Luckily there weren't many other Gryffindor's having breakfast at that time so they weren't going to be overheard.
"Oh my god," Hermione exclaimed, "Harry wouldn't dabble in the dark arts!"
"He's doing more than dabbling, Mione," Draco stated grimly. "He's…it's like he's obsessed with it. It's consuming him. I'm really worried about him." Ron and Hermione looked upset at Draco's quietly spoken words.
"I think we should go and see what's going on," Ron stated with a calmness he did not feel. The other two nodded and they got up quickly and made their way to the classroom.
**************************************************************************************************************************
They quietly opened the door and crept into the classroom. Lucius and Harry were so enthralled in what they were doing that they didn't notice the three intruders. Ron, Hermione and Draco sat at the back of the classroom and observed the latest Dark Arts lesson. Harry and Lucius had pushed most of the desks and chairs against the walls of the classroom and were circling the room, each staring intently at the other. Draco cringed and looked away. They were going to duel.
Ron and Hermione sent questioning looks his way.
'Duel' Draco mouthed to them.
The three of them turned their shocked faces towards the still circling men.
Both Lucius and Harry had their wands out ready. Suddenly Lucius sent a stunning spell towards Harry who expertly blocked it and sent a body bind spell back. Lucius also blocked it and sent back another spell Harry's way.
This continued for about half an hour, one sending a spell, the other blocking it and vice versa. It seemed they were at a stalemate. Neither one could get a clear shot at the other. A fact Draco was thankful for since the spells were getting increasingly darker to the point where they were each sending the Cruciatus curse at each other.
Draco didn't know where to look. His father and his lover were trying to hurt each other and he didn't know how much longer he could stand it. Hermione put her arm around him, silently showing her support and understanding. Ron and Hermione were shocked that Harry could use an Unforgivable on anyone, but especially Draco's dad.
Draco decided that enough was enough. He stood up and ran between the two just as Harry raised his wand and sent Cruciatus at Lucius. Draco was caught by the spell and he fell screaming to the floor. He had never felt such intense pain before. Draco felt like he was dying as he hit the floor with a thud.
Ron and Hermione rushed to his side. Luckily he had fallen out of the spell's hold and the pain had stopped. He felt Hermione brush the hair out of his face. She seemed to be speaking to him but he couldn't make out the words coming out of her mouth. He tried to sit up but found his head felt too heavy to move.
Ron left the room, racing to go and get Madam Pomfrey.
The colour drained from Harry's face as he processed what had happened. He had hit his lover with an Unforgivable curse. Thank god he hadn't used Avada Kedavra. Although Cruciatus was just as bad. Something inside Harry broke as he realised just how much pain he had caused Draco, the love of his life. Harry dropped his wand in horror and took a few steps back. He ran into a desk behind him and fell down. What had he done? he thought despairingly. He stood up and ran from the room, tears falling freely down his face.
**************************************************************************************************************************
~to be continued~