Author's Notes: Aw, you guys!  Thank you reviewers, you make me feel so loved, even though chapter 4 sucked in a big way. I found a name for vampy, I'm sure you'll read it eventually.  Finally with the updating, I'm excited! Five chapters in and I think I've finally discovered my plot. Oh, one last thing, I've decided to drop the formatting for the first half of the chapters, it took forever and… yeah.  No one cares, so I'm dropping it.

Thanks to the reviewers from Chapter 4,

Weasley Wonders: Again, thank you, gratitude abounds, have a hermit crab *long story.* but hermit crabs beat cookies right?

Gh: Gak! You don't have an email address, or rather, you didn't give me one, otherwise I would be praising you personally.  I completely and totally, agree, to make this a Veela story, or to make one of the Cannon characters something that they are not would cheapen it.  Thanks, your review made me laugh and I appreciate it.

Tuulikki: You know, I'm interested to see what happens with it too.  Really, I don't know what's going to happen, and me thinks that Filch will be sorrier than the boys when all is said and done. ^_~.

Disclaimers: If I owned Harry Potter, I would be able to afford Christmas this year wouldn't I?  Phoo, I guess I'll just have to scrape up the money elsewhere because I obviously don't.

In Darkness Found, Light Revealed

Chapter 5: Understandings

A twig snapped in the distance and a sudden breeze whipped leaves across the clearing, scaring up the vermin and scattering them to the four winds.  Bugs in all stages of life scurried away from the new power and in the darkness, someone lifted an eyebrow.  Subtlety was never his strong suit, though his failing of the past would be ideal for his needs.

"I am here."

"I am aware of that." The insolence, as though his presence was all that mattered to him.  Silence reigned between the two men that were not men.  They battled for supremacy, minds focused on one another as the creatures of the forest fled the scene in the event of an altercation.  The struggle persisted in the stifling quiet, even the trees shied away from the mounting power in the clearing until finally the pressure died.  Like a bursting balloon the magical tension broke and flooded the forest in a torrent.

"What do you need of me…" he bit back a wince, nearly choking on the word, "Master."  

That was better. Tom was always far more stubborn than was good for him.  He suspected that Harry would be much the same way, but he would be so much more fun to break.

"Very good Tom, I need a distraction." He smiled for the first time in years, a dark, terrifying smile that would have anyone but Voldemort quaking in their respective boots. "A distraction that I'm sure you'll be able to provide."

Voldemort shuddered.  Tom shuddered.  He was suddenly sixteen years old again, fighting down the urge to run screaming into the forest, anything that this man could need of him would surely be bad for his health. He expected to come back to this place after so many years to reap his revenge for so many years of servitude. He wanted to enslave his former master to his will, as an asset, no longer a skeleton in his closet. 

Yellow eyes gleamed in the darkness, he understood.  Tom was reluctant, his sudden leadership revoked by someone that had been hovering on the brink of his memories for years.  Now he was resurrected, the terror and exhilaration of those days submerged him in remembrance, terrible, awful remembrance. But he held no sympathy for him, there was a job to be done.  Tom had brought this on his own head, he knew magic better than anything alive, but he had no respect for creatures more powerful than he.  He did not acknowledge them, a nearly fatal mistake as it were.

They both understood.

"I will do as you ask of me Master." Again he choked on the word; it was foul on his tongue. 'Master' as though he were some slob, a fool with nothing better to do than jump to attention when called upon. Though he seethed at the honorific, there was nothing to be done, his past was inescapable, and maybe, just maybe the favor would be returned. Though he hated more than anything to admit it, someone as powerful as Scion could help in conquering his foresworn enemy, and the useless boy.  Such a favor could be useful.

"Excellent."

***

"Frankly, giving us more detention would be a wasted effort." This was delivered without so much as a sneer, it was the honest truth.  After subjecting them to months of punishment, the ministry would interfere if the boys were expelled, and the threat of detention no longer deterred them from disobeying the rules.

"I quite agree.  However, you were both being punished and you both decided to ignore that punishment.  Therefore, you will not be able to attend Hogsmeade with your peers this weekend, though as far as I'm concerned, your detentions are over."

Filch looked flabbergasted as Harry Potter once again avoided punishment, it just wasn't fair! The snotty little wizard had been running around the castle for years, avoiding the punishment that he so richly deserved, this was an outrage!  "But Professor –!"

"Yes thank you Argus, I'm sure I can handle it from here."  There was nothing Filch could say to that, so he stormed out of the Headmaster's office to go sulk in his corner of the castle.  Any students that were out of bed tonight were in for a rough night.

"Now, Mister Potter, Mister Malfoy…" Malfoy had been conducting the meeting with the Headmaster while Harry was staring out a window scowling darkly because his much-needed trip outside was once again thwarted by circumstance.  "It would appear as though the detentions have served their purpose. You seem to be getting along quite well, wouldn't you agree?"  Malfoy merely snorted, Harry had looked ready to kill him earlier, and if Dumbledore considered ignoring each other 'getting along' he wasn't about to argue.

"Harry? You look very gloomy over there, what are you thinking?" When Harry didn't respond, he tried again, "Harry?"

Harry turned around, growling almost inaudibly as he glared at his Headmaster and classmate.  They both had identical expressions of incredulous surprise and something akin to concern on their faces as Harry gave them an appraising look, then returned to looking out the window.

"Is there anything wrong Harry?"

Malfoy smirked broadly, "Harry's just cranky because he didn't get his walk." 

The Gryffindor, quite oblivious to the Headmaster's indulgent smile, turned on Malfoy with a snarl. "I'm not a dog, Malfoy. I'm 'cranky' because I'm sick of being cooped up in the same room with you!"

"Perhaps you aren't getting along as well as I liked and your detentions should continue," Dumbledore said with false remorse but upon seeing the faces of the boys, he amended his statement, "then again… Harry, I understand you're prone to long walks in the dark and this castle with all of its mystery can become too much.  Though for tonight I would like you boys to head straight to your dorms, you are free to resume your regular nightly activities."

Harry didn't say a word as he stood from his precarious perch on the window ledge and walked out of the Headmaster's office. Seconds later, after a quick and strategic "thank you Headmaster," Malfoy followed him.  Harry was waiting for him by the gargoyle that guarded the entrance to the Headmaster's office; he offered no explanations for his actions but simply walked with Malfoy towards their dorms. 

"He is very indulgent of you."  It was more of an observation than an insult.

Harry viciously kicked at a statue and watched with malicious glee as the tip of a stone sword hit the ground with a loud crack.  "He always has been." He said softly, Malfoy had to strain to hear him after the clanging mêlée of the stone on stone.  "I think I hate him."

"Doesn't everyone?"

Harry shook his head, he was suddenly so very tired, Dumbledore always had this effect on him, he was always so tired when he left the Headmaster's office. "No."  He felt as though his brain had been run though a cotton mill; it was whole when he was eleven, but very recently it had been turned to mush. "Most people respect him."

"Most people don't know him."

"It's true, he's very manipulative." 

This was surreal, it wasn't right to be standing in the middle of a corridor discussing Dumbledore with Harry Potter. He was so calm, so surprisingly calm as he stared at the wreckage of the suit of armor, it was disturbing. "We ought to go," and he turned to leave.

"Malfoy." Harry's voice didn't even waver, though it couldn't at so soft a pitch.

"What?"

"I've done something stupid."  And so he had, when Harry kicked over the armor, his foot had hit the stone wall behind it in a rather disastrous way.  Malfoy hadn't noticed, but Harry had been leaning against the wall with his foot still resting on the statue that he'd damaged.  When he moved it away, he winced in pain and held it at an awkward angle, at least one of his toes was broken and he could feel the bones deeper within his foot grinding against each other painfully. This was not good.  "I don't suppose you know any healing spells?"

"Christ Potter! What possessed you?"

Now that was a good question. Had he been possessed or was releasing his considerable frustration upon the statue of the knight something he did of his own volition? "I was angry." He had been furious, inexplicably furious. The funny thing was, his foot didn't hurt at all, it was as though this were an illusion and his foot was fine, the skin wasn't broken, and he couldn't see his toes through his shoe, he just felt that everything was off somehow.

He had had broken bones before, Dudley had once broken his collar bone and he spent weeks in a cast that no one had signed out of fear of his cousin.  Uncle Vernon had shrugged it off as rough housing and signed for the doctor's bill with a displeased grunt as he worried over the expense.  A bludger had shattered his ulna in 2nd year, the year that Gilderoy Lockhart removed his bones, it had been agony re-growing them; comparatively this felt like a spider bite.  

"Angry." Malfoy's voice was incredulous as he wondered how Harry survived his childhood.  With a temper like that, it was a small wonder he hadn't broken more.

"I guess I'm asking for your help." That was obvious. "I don't suppose you know any good healing spells." Malfoy shook his head as he slung one of Harry's arms around his shoulders. "No.  You should go to Madame Pomfrey."

"At this hour she'll kill me." That was true, it was at least one o'clock in the morning, Madame Pomfrey would have their ears and all that was attached for causing problems this late. Then Dumbledore would be called in, Harry didn't think he could he could handle anymore Dumbledore for one day.  "If you could just get me to my dorm." He grunted.

"Yeah yeah, Gryffindor dorms fix everything. At this rate I'm worried for your sanity." Malfoy rolled his eyes skyward as he and Harry began the trek to Gryffindor tower. "Twice in one week." 

"In as many days," Harry corrected. "Join the club."

They moved slowly, Harry leaning heavily on his Slytherin counterpart. It was an effort to break up the monotony, as they moved through the thick shadows.  Malfoy had never realized it before, but there were an astounding amount of spider webs in this castle, it was really quite disgusting.  "So what are you doing this weekend?"

Harry looked at him like he'd grown a second head.

"Come off it Potter, I'm just trying to lighten the mood.  I don't want to be thinking about your foot anymore."

"Pansy."

"Pansy would do her best to step on it. I'm just grossed out." He was joking of course, but this night couldn't get any more strange. 

Malfoy was mistaken, however, because Harry laughed, and that increased the outlandish experience tenfold.  "Is she as scary as she looks?"

Scary, Pansy?  Yes, Malfoy supposed she was scary in her own right, scary unless you held the key to her existence. "Yes, but you never answered my question.  What are you doing this weekend."

"Going for a walk." Harry said simply, he had every intention of fulfilling his dream of getting fresh air. It obviously wouldn't happen tonight, and probably not for the rest of the work week, but he absolutely had to go out, it was unavoidable. 

"Not at this rate."  They had reached the stairs, it would be a struggle to get up them, but that was the price Harry paid for breaking his foot on the first floor when he lived on the fifth. "Come on Potter, I'm not about to carry you."

"You may have to; I'm beginning to feel it."

Malfoy blanched. It had hurt like hell and beyond when that damned hippogriff got to him, he'd never broken a bone in his life, how could Potter stand this?   

"I don't know. A lot of practice I guess." Harry said, his voice beginning to crack with pain. 

Malfoy blinked, he didn't think he'd said that aloud but maybe he had.  The staircase began to move and Harry cursed violently. "What?"

"We have to wait for it to change again, we're going to the wrong platform and there's no way across." Harry clenched the banister for support, his hands whitening at the knuckles. "So… take my mind off this, what are you doing this weekend."

Malfoy laughed, "Pansy."

"Ew."

"That is not what I meant you lily livered wimp." 

"I know but the mental image!  It's too much to handle."  Harry did his best to clear his mind of the disgusting thought, and for the most part succeeded, before he asked, his voice considerably less animated than before, "I suppose the whole school will hear about this."

"Not as far as I know." The staircase was finally moving again. "There would be no value in letting them know about this, firstly, it's freaky, not embarrassing. Besides, there are no witnesses. If I let the school know that I was with you when you did this, then I'll be in trouble and you'll be smothered in sympathy." 

It was a strange experience for Harry to see the logic in Malfoy's words, but he saw it nonetheless.  With a shrug and a pained grunt Harry started walking, forcing Malfoy to keep up with him.  The rest of the trip was made without incident, but by the time the boys reached the painting, Harry was unable to walk, so he was slung over Malfoy's shoulder.

"Harry dear, you're so late, I was worried about you!" The Pink Lady gushed before she realized who it was, or more to the point, who Harry was with. 

"Constantinople." Malfoy gasped, he hadn't been carrying Harry for long, but humans were heavy creatures and they couldn't support each other for long.  He heaved himself through the open portrait hole and dragged Harry in after him, this newly formed nightly ritual was becoming a bit of a pain for both parties.

The common room was stifling so Malfoy opened a window as Harry crawled into an armchair and put his foot on a table. "Stick around for a minute." Harry gritted out, "I'm going to try and heal myself, but I might need help."

"Potter you idiot!  You can't just experiment on yourself!" 

"It's only a foot you priss.  Just sit here for a minute because I might need help!" Harry rolled his eyes and drew his wand from the folds of his robe.  He was going to transfigure the bones of his feet into one whole bone.  He figured if he could turn a pencil into a miniature pony, he could handle this, at least until he could learn a proper healing spell. The only problem with this, of course, was that he couldn't see what he was doing, "Look away, this could be a little gross."

Malfoy did as told, but not before he watched as Harry cast an invisibility spell on his skin.  All of his muscles and bones were left in plain sight, including the broken one.  There was a certain functional beauty to it but there was also something inherently disgusting about seeing all of his muscles and veins pulse in perfect harmony with his heart.   Malfoy had to stick his head out the window and into the cold night to prevent himself from vomiting. 

"I could use a hand if you don't mind." 

"I can't transfigure your foot! I can't even look at it!" 

With the hand that wasn't clutching his wand, Harry groped in Malfoy's general direction. "I mean literally you prat! This hurts like hell!"

"Oh." Said Malfoy stupidly, letting Harry grasp his hand with nearly crushing force.  Concentrating through the pain it took the Gryffindor nearly five minutes to put his foot back in working order but he managed it.  "Ow."  Malfoy flexed his hand and heard the bones settling back into place before he looked at his watch, it was ten minutes to three.  Time to get out of here.

He helped Harry to his feet as a pure genteel gesture, then made to leave but was stopped by Harry's arm on his shoulder. "What now Potter?"

"The spell… it hasn't… I can't walk yet." He hung his head in defeat, somewhere between laughing and crying.  It just wasn't his day. 

Malfoy laughed with a deep sense of irony, this was ridiculous. One minute Potter was capable of chipping a statue and breaking his own foot without so much as a wince, the next he couldn't walk. "Fine, where's your dorm."

"Up the stairs and to the left, it's labeled." 

"What is it about Gryffindors and stairs?" Malfoy asked with a long suffering sigh, he didn't care one way or another save that he really wanted to sleep, but things could always be worse.  He once again flung Harry over his shoulder, though he met more protest this time.

"I can hobble at least! I'm not completely useless."

"Yes you are, just shut up and let yourself be carried." Harry pinched him between his shoulder blades. "Ow! Hey, I'm helping you here!"

"Shut up! You'll wake Ron!"  Malfoy did as told and dumped Harry into his four-poster, then proceeded to transfigure the Gryffindor's sock into a brace, just in case.

Harry looked surprised but he smiled and silently thanked Malfoy. "Now get out, and don't steal anything."

The blonde took the jab well naturedly, "Potter, if I ever set foot in here again, it will be to kill you."  He whispered scornfully.

Harry grinned dangerously in response.

"Sleep well."

Post Author's Notes: La… I was running out of ideas, now that their free of detention I have more room to play though.  Are you as excited as I am?  No?  Ah well, that's fine too.  I tried to maintain Malfoy's assishness toward the end, but I don't know that it worked, especially since he had to whisper instead of busting out the scorn and sarcasm. Damn you Ron. Anyway, I hoped you liked it, the next chapter should start and end with action so look forward to it.  Is it just me or are these chapters getting steadily longer?