Author's Note: I'm back! And guess what?! This chapter has actually been
beta-ed. Oh yes, I'm acting as if OOtP didn't happen, if you couldn't
tell. This story is going to be ending rather soon so I decided to finally
explain how darling Draco died. So, without further ado, my story!
A weird thought crossed Ronald Weasley's mind as he tenderly broke away from the embrace. He wasn't quite sure if Harry would take to it, so before he asked anything Ron decided to test the water.
"Har.I'm going to ask you something. If you don't want to talk about it, don't in any way feel pressured. Okay? Not it any way." he stressed, not wanting to force Harry into anything.
Harry nodded, a look of understanding playing on his face. He knew what Ron was going to ask, and truthfully, he was glad that he was finally going to discuss it with someone other than the back of his mind. True, he had spoken about it to the others, but they were all too afraid of causing him more pain so they avoided having him remember precisely what happened. This was going to be a refreshing experience for Harry, as he desperately needed to talk about the incident.
"Har...how did he die?" Ron asked gently, slightly fearful that asking about Draco's death was taking a step too far. Of course, he couldn't have been more wrong.
"I knew it'd be you." Harry thought aloud, sitting down on his bed. Motioning Ron to sit down, he noticed the thoroughly confused look on his friend's face. He lightly chuckled under his breath as he smiled at Ron.
"It's nothing to fret about, mate. I was just musing over the fact that the only person that ever asked me about him is you. You know the whole deal with everyone thinking I'm too delicate to talk about it, to remember it," he spoke, annoyance clear in his voice, "I'm not the fragile flower they all think I am. I know they have my best interest at heart, but it's slightly abrading that they think I don't want, don't need to talk about his death. To talk about him." He confided, moving about in order to get comfortable.
"I mean, the day after it happened Hermione found me crying in my room. I guess that put the wrong image in her head. Really, it was the day after he had died, if I wasn't upset I'd be worried. It's not that I've gotten over him, it's just that I'm not going to break down every time I talk about him. I actually love to talk about him; I loved him why wouldn't I want to?" Harry asked aloud, more to himself than to Ron.
"I have no idea mate, but maybe you should tell them that sometime." Ron suggested, following Harry's suite of getting comfortable.
"It's alright, talking about it to one person will be fine for me. I can tell. Anyway, get comfortable." Harry decided it would be best if he stood, "You stay seated, it's easier for me to talk like this." Ron obliged and looked at Harry, interested.
"Well, first of all I need to give you a brief background of what Draco and I had been doing prior to the fight." snorting at the scared look on Ron's face, Harry continued, "No mate, not those kind of things." Ron visibly relaxed.
"I had a theory that after months of considering and hypothesizing, told Draco. I believed that every curse had a counter-curse, whether or not we are aware of the counter-curse is another matter entirely. The counter- curse needed only be thought up in order to be used. I proposed that, with the right amount of knowledge, counters to the Unforgivable Curses could be found, well made if you want to get technical. There was a catch though; the user of the counter-curse had to desperately need it in order for it to work properly. Only someone whose intentions were pure would be able to sucessfully perform the counter-curse. For example, you couldn't perform the counter-curse to Cruciatus if you were going to torture the person yourself." Harry paused, taking a breath.
"This is where it gets complicated. If it turns out your intentions weren't pure, then the curse you were doing a counter for would be inflicted upon yourself. That's what made the counters deadly, if you weren't aware of your own intentions you could end up killed.
After Draco's initial rejection of the idea, it grew on him. So, we read everything on counter-curses we could get out hands on. We learned an awful lot in about a week's time, and we finally decided it was time to practice. It was obvious that we weren't ready to test the Unforgivables, so we started with something simple. We started with the 'Adorior' spell. I cast it upon myself, which obviously, caused me to rise in the air. Draco, in turn, thought up the Latin word for "come down", and cast 'Concido' which immediately brought me back down to the ground. It had worked." Harry paused, smiling. He was obviously proud of his work. He began pacing across the room and continued speaking.
"Gradually we started using harder and harder spells. Than came the day when we both agreed it was time to try one of the Unforgivables. We decided on Cruciatus, and that it was going to be cast on me. I cast the spell and within a heartbeat Draco cast 'Exonero'." Harry stopped and glanced at the attentive Ron. He went over to his desk and guzzled some water.
"C'mon mate, don't stop there!" Ron eagerly cried out. Harry smirked and started up again.
"Well, obviously the counter-curse worked. We were ecstatic, I mean we had just discovered the counter-curse to one of the most deadly and painful curses out there. Unfortunately, our happiness was short lived. Unknowingly, Draco and I had touched a portkey left by a Death Eater transporting us to none other than Voldemort's current lurking place.
You know that Voldemort has never tip toed around a fight, so the instant we arrived an Unforgivable was cast." Harry had an angry look on his face, but he went on, "He, of course, cast 'Avada Kedavra'. Now me being the idiot that I am jumped in front of the curse, taking it head on to save Draco." He had to stop to unclench his fists.
"Wait, what do you mean? Why was that stupid?" Ron asked, baffled by what Harry had just spoken.
"Hold on Ron, you're jumping ahead. I'm getting there. I never considered the side effects of doing a counter-curse on something as large as an Unforgivable. And unfortunately, Draco never told me if there was any when he cast the counter to Cruciatus. In an instant, Draco cast the counter to Avada, which happened to be 'Animo'. I was brought back to life, but the effects of the counter were immediately apparent.
Never, for one moment, had I thought that it would be a life for a life. I...I...didn't know...didn't think it worked like that. Trust me, if I did I would have allowed Draco to be hit by the curse and then revive him myself just so I could be the one that died.
All this completely confused Voldemort, so I simply cast Avada on him. And it was over. Everything." Harry, finally done with his story, sat next to Ron. A single tear rolled down his face.
"Ron, I could have saved him." Harry spoke as softly as the wind rustling in the trees.
"Rubbish! That is absolutely rubbish! You had no idea what would happen, none at all. There's not doubt in my mind that if you did you would have saved him." Ron gave him a quick little hug, and wiped the tear away, "Mate, if you don't mind me saying this, you are bloody brilliant!" Ron said with admiration. Harry slightly smiled and gave Ron a hug back.
"Thanks mate, for everything. Thanks for listening, and thanks for letting me talk." Harry said.
"Oh gods Harry, anytime. You look exhausted, you're going right to bed!" Ron stated forcefully. He seized Harry's shoes and began pulling then off. Harry chuckled and allowed himself to be taken care of. When Ron was done fussing over him, Harry got under the covers and wiggled around. This caused his friend to laugh and say, "You're adorable, mate. Now you go to sleep, it's late. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning. Don't think you're going to avoid telling me much more about your theory! G'night." Ron spoke, turning out the light.
"G'night Ron." Harry replied. For the first time in awhile, Harry peacefully drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note: I hope you all liked it. Please review, I read all of them and appreciated every single one. The spells and counter-spells were all made up by me, as was the counter to Avada. If by chance, I used a counter that was created by someone else, I'm deeply sorry and was totally unaware of it. If you correct me, I shall give you credit. Thanks for reading!
A weird thought crossed Ronald Weasley's mind as he tenderly broke away from the embrace. He wasn't quite sure if Harry would take to it, so before he asked anything Ron decided to test the water.
"Har.I'm going to ask you something. If you don't want to talk about it, don't in any way feel pressured. Okay? Not it any way." he stressed, not wanting to force Harry into anything.
Harry nodded, a look of understanding playing on his face. He knew what Ron was going to ask, and truthfully, he was glad that he was finally going to discuss it with someone other than the back of his mind. True, he had spoken about it to the others, but they were all too afraid of causing him more pain so they avoided having him remember precisely what happened. This was going to be a refreshing experience for Harry, as he desperately needed to talk about the incident.
"Har...how did he die?" Ron asked gently, slightly fearful that asking about Draco's death was taking a step too far. Of course, he couldn't have been more wrong.
"I knew it'd be you." Harry thought aloud, sitting down on his bed. Motioning Ron to sit down, he noticed the thoroughly confused look on his friend's face. He lightly chuckled under his breath as he smiled at Ron.
"It's nothing to fret about, mate. I was just musing over the fact that the only person that ever asked me about him is you. You know the whole deal with everyone thinking I'm too delicate to talk about it, to remember it," he spoke, annoyance clear in his voice, "I'm not the fragile flower they all think I am. I know they have my best interest at heart, but it's slightly abrading that they think I don't want, don't need to talk about his death. To talk about him." He confided, moving about in order to get comfortable.
"I mean, the day after it happened Hermione found me crying in my room. I guess that put the wrong image in her head. Really, it was the day after he had died, if I wasn't upset I'd be worried. It's not that I've gotten over him, it's just that I'm not going to break down every time I talk about him. I actually love to talk about him; I loved him why wouldn't I want to?" Harry asked aloud, more to himself than to Ron.
"I have no idea mate, but maybe you should tell them that sometime." Ron suggested, following Harry's suite of getting comfortable.
"It's alright, talking about it to one person will be fine for me. I can tell. Anyway, get comfortable." Harry decided it would be best if he stood, "You stay seated, it's easier for me to talk like this." Ron obliged and looked at Harry, interested.
"Well, first of all I need to give you a brief background of what Draco and I had been doing prior to the fight." snorting at the scared look on Ron's face, Harry continued, "No mate, not those kind of things." Ron visibly relaxed.
"I had a theory that after months of considering and hypothesizing, told Draco. I believed that every curse had a counter-curse, whether or not we are aware of the counter-curse is another matter entirely. The counter- curse needed only be thought up in order to be used. I proposed that, with the right amount of knowledge, counters to the Unforgivable Curses could be found, well made if you want to get technical. There was a catch though; the user of the counter-curse had to desperately need it in order for it to work properly. Only someone whose intentions were pure would be able to sucessfully perform the counter-curse. For example, you couldn't perform the counter-curse to Cruciatus if you were going to torture the person yourself." Harry paused, taking a breath.
"This is where it gets complicated. If it turns out your intentions weren't pure, then the curse you were doing a counter for would be inflicted upon yourself. That's what made the counters deadly, if you weren't aware of your own intentions you could end up killed.
After Draco's initial rejection of the idea, it grew on him. So, we read everything on counter-curses we could get out hands on. We learned an awful lot in about a week's time, and we finally decided it was time to practice. It was obvious that we weren't ready to test the Unforgivables, so we started with something simple. We started with the 'Adorior' spell. I cast it upon myself, which obviously, caused me to rise in the air. Draco, in turn, thought up the Latin word for "come down", and cast 'Concido' which immediately brought me back down to the ground. It had worked." Harry paused, smiling. He was obviously proud of his work. He began pacing across the room and continued speaking.
"Gradually we started using harder and harder spells. Than came the day when we both agreed it was time to try one of the Unforgivables. We decided on Cruciatus, and that it was going to be cast on me. I cast the spell and within a heartbeat Draco cast 'Exonero'." Harry stopped and glanced at the attentive Ron. He went over to his desk and guzzled some water.
"C'mon mate, don't stop there!" Ron eagerly cried out. Harry smirked and started up again.
"Well, obviously the counter-curse worked. We were ecstatic, I mean we had just discovered the counter-curse to one of the most deadly and painful curses out there. Unfortunately, our happiness was short lived. Unknowingly, Draco and I had touched a portkey left by a Death Eater transporting us to none other than Voldemort's current lurking place.
You know that Voldemort has never tip toed around a fight, so the instant we arrived an Unforgivable was cast." Harry had an angry look on his face, but he went on, "He, of course, cast 'Avada Kedavra'. Now me being the idiot that I am jumped in front of the curse, taking it head on to save Draco." He had to stop to unclench his fists.
"Wait, what do you mean? Why was that stupid?" Ron asked, baffled by what Harry had just spoken.
"Hold on Ron, you're jumping ahead. I'm getting there. I never considered the side effects of doing a counter-curse on something as large as an Unforgivable. And unfortunately, Draco never told me if there was any when he cast the counter to Cruciatus. In an instant, Draco cast the counter to Avada, which happened to be 'Animo'. I was brought back to life, but the effects of the counter were immediately apparent.
Never, for one moment, had I thought that it would be a life for a life. I...I...didn't know...didn't think it worked like that. Trust me, if I did I would have allowed Draco to be hit by the curse and then revive him myself just so I could be the one that died.
All this completely confused Voldemort, so I simply cast Avada on him. And it was over. Everything." Harry, finally done with his story, sat next to Ron. A single tear rolled down his face.
"Ron, I could have saved him." Harry spoke as softly as the wind rustling in the trees.
"Rubbish! That is absolutely rubbish! You had no idea what would happen, none at all. There's not doubt in my mind that if you did you would have saved him." Ron gave him a quick little hug, and wiped the tear away, "Mate, if you don't mind me saying this, you are bloody brilliant!" Ron said with admiration. Harry slightly smiled and gave Ron a hug back.
"Thanks mate, for everything. Thanks for listening, and thanks for letting me talk." Harry said.
"Oh gods Harry, anytime. You look exhausted, you're going right to bed!" Ron stated forcefully. He seized Harry's shoes and began pulling then off. Harry chuckled and allowed himself to be taken care of. When Ron was done fussing over him, Harry got under the covers and wiggled around. This caused his friend to laugh and say, "You're adorable, mate. Now you go to sleep, it's late. I'll talk to you tomorrow morning. Don't think you're going to avoid telling me much more about your theory! G'night." Ron spoke, turning out the light.
"G'night Ron." Harry replied. For the first time in awhile, Harry peacefully drifted off to sleep.
Author's Note: I hope you all liked it. Please review, I read all of them and appreciated every single one. The spells and counter-spells were all made up by me, as was the counter to Avada. If by chance, I used a counter that was created by someone else, I'm deeply sorry and was totally unaware of it. If you correct me, I shall give you credit. Thanks for reading!