Title: Opacre
Author: Shades
Rating: PG – 13 with maybe some R
Summary: Harry Potter had no friends until Hogwarts…or so he thought. Darkness engulfs Harry at age 5…but not evil. This is the past, and of a secret Harry held close without knowing it…SLASH
Disclaimers: Do I need to tell you that I do not own Harry Potter or any of its characters? I do? Well, it belongs to J.K. Rowling, a wonderful author. I only own Lest Opacre, his family, and anything related to him. The rest belong to her.
Author's Notes: This will be slash. Between two boys. Not the shagging kind, all sex but feeling. Harry will be 10 when feelings of that sort come around, but nothing before that. NO NO NO! No pedophile!! No shagging in this story! Clear? No flames against that, OK? Flames against plot maybe but none of pedophile because I don't endorse that, constructive criticism and reviews welcome.
------- = Change of Scene
~~~~~~ = Flashback
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Chapter 20
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Harry was still hiding in the library when Lest found him.
"So Myn hasn't found you yet, has she?" Lest asked amusedly as he closed the door behind him. Harry scowled at from the armchair he was sitting in, next to the roaring fireplace.
"Why are you in here?" he muttered, closing the book he was reading and marking the place he left off. "Come to drag me to the vampire infested party or to Myn's mad group?" The green eyes looked up and a twinkling gleam entered them. "Or are you running from said group?" the ten-year-old asked amusedly.
Lest scowled at him, settling down in the armchair across from him. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he sniffed, picking up a book on the table and idly flipping through it. Pausing, he looked up at Harry through his fringe and said seriously, "I was running."
He smiled when Harry laughed and closed the book, tossing it back onto the table. He took this time to study Harry closer. 'Damn,' he thought regretfully, 'Myn really made him look good. That little…I swear to Hélène, when she falls in love I'm going to make her regret doing this to me.' He gave a mental sigh and rubbed his eyes, trying to not to see his friend. When Harry came out of the bathroom, the effect was…well…shocking. 'Opacre, you're a pervert,' he thought in disgust. 'He trusts you and you're thinking horrible thoughts, not to mention that you're about to ruin his life soon.'
"Lest, are you going to be this way all night?" Harry's exasperated voice asked him. Blinking, he looked up and looked at the younger boy in confusion.
"What do you mean?" he asked bemusedly.
Harry rolled his eyes and swung a leg up and on the armrest. "I just asked you the same question three times and you were still near Uranus," the green-eyed boy said amusedly. The amusement faded and Harry looked at him seriously. "Is there something wrong Lest?"
'Besides the fact that I'm in love with you and am about to ruin your entire life? No, nothing at all.' He sighed and looked at Harry, "I'm fine."
Harry didn't buy it. He frowned and his eyes narrowed. "Lest…" he growled. "What the hell is going on?"
Lest rolled his eyes and slouched in the armchair. He turned his eyes to the blazing fire but he could still feel Harry's penetrating gaze. "Are you sure you want to do this Harry?" he asked quietly, using Harry's real name in hope it might bring the seriousness of the situation to him. It didn't.
"Burn me, Lest, is this why you've been acting weird?" Harry snarled. Lest looked at him, startled. Harry glared at him and Lest dropped his eyes. He heard the younger boy growl under his breath then sigh. "Lest," he said slowly, as if speaking to someone younger rather than older than him, "I told you I want to do this. I told you that I don't mind what I'm about to do. I told you to stop worrying about it. I told you I'm not going to change my mind. And I'm not." He went silent then Lest heard him whisper, "Are you?"
Lest continued to stare into the fire for a few extra minutes. "I should," he said softly. He could feel Harry stiffening in his chair, feel his shocked gaze, feel his hurt. "I should cancel this entire thing," he continued, still using his soft voice. "I should stop before I make the biggest mistake of your life. I should wipe your memory of me and return you to your relatives, or at least somewhere safer." He heard Harry gasp, partly in fear, partly in shock. "I should do a lot of things." He raised his eyes from the burning logs to Harry's burning eyes.
The fury and hurt radiated from Harry's eyes but he met them calmly. He should do it. It would be best for him. Harry couldn't possibly understand what he was going to do. He opened his mouth, ready to tell Harry to stay there, to wait while he canceled all it all. He would come back with Myn, force his sister to help him erase his friend's – his best friend's – memory. He would find a better place for him. He would.
He didn't.
Instead, he closed his mouth and stared at his hands. He could feel Harry's worried and fearful gaze. He swallowed and said thickly, "I should Harry, but I'm not going to. I…I can't do it." He leaned forward and placed his head in his hands.
'You're such a weakling Opacre,' he thought miserably, staring down at the ground. 'You're going to destroy his life. Damn you…damn me…'
Small arms wrapped around him and he jerked his head up. Harry's calm green gaze met his shocked one. He opened his mouth but Harry shook his head, and hugged him closer.
"It'll be ok, Lest," Harry said in a reassuring voice. "You'll see. A couple of years from now, we'll be laughing at how stupid you're being. It's ok." Lest closed his eyes in defeat and laid his forehead on the younger boy's shoulder. He tentatively wrapped his arms around Harry and hugged the smaller boy gently.
'What the hell am I doing?' Lest thought to himself, miserably holding onto his friend. It was then that he realized that Harry's hug was one of a younger sibling to an older one. It was then he realized exactly how young Harry was. 'Oh God, what am I doing?' He didn't stop holding Harry though.
Which is how Myn found them.
He didn't know how long she was standing there. He only sensed her after a few minutes of holding Harry. He opened his eyes quickly and turned his head to the door of the library. She was smiling gently at him, a look meant for comforting. Lest just looked at her miserably.
"It's time," she said quietly. Harry jumped, having not noticed Myn there. The younger boy blushed at being found in such an intimate gesture and quickly detangled himself from Lest. Lest didn't move much, having just felt his stomach plummet at his sister's words.
"Is it already?" Harry said, blushing only slightly and straightening his clothes. Myn nodded and the ten-year-old nodded. "Alright then, let's get this done with." The black-haired boy turned to Lest, who hadn't moved from the armchair. His green eyes rolled and the younger boy grabbed his wrist, tugging him to his feet. "Come on Lest, let's finish this so I can laugh at you for being such a worrywart."
Lest smiled weakly and followed Harry, tugging his hand out the younger boy's grasp. As he passed Myn, she murmured in their tongue, "All will be well, little brother. Have a little faith." He just threw her a dirty look.
The walk from the library to the hall where the ceremony would take place was a short one but every step Lest took felt like years and increased the leaden feeling in his stomach. By the time they were with the rest of the guests, Lest was pale and shaking. He glanced at Harry and wasn't surprised to see him pale too. But he, Lest noticed enviously, wasn't shaking.
'Why is he so calm?' Lest thought, unable to conjure anything more than extremely small annoyance. He walked up to stand next to his father on the platform between the staircases. The piano had been moved to the living room and now all there was on the platform was a podium with a book and a simple steel dagger.
All the guests crowded around the platform and he saw that Harry was standing next to his mother and Myn, in front of the platform. His mother smiled warmly at him and he looked back at her with warm eyes, unable to muster up a smile. Myn had told her about his feelings – 'I swear, she's going to pay when she falls in love,' he thought viciously – and she had pulled him from Harry to attempt to reassure him. It didn't help much.
Not only did the attempt not work, his time away from Harry had allowed the Malfoy brat to meet with him. A flash of jealousy coursed through him as his father thanked the guests for coming to the ceremony. The pleasantries were taken care off while he fumed and fretted silently. It was all too soon when his father turned to him.
"Lestat Opacre- " - 'I hate that name' – "Have you chosen your Carus Noctivagus?"
As tradition required, Lest responded with a dutiful, "I have, Pater Opacre."
His father nodded and walked behind the podium. Lest watched as his father opened the book to the proper page and he took the dagger as it was handed to him. He turned around, saw the gazes of all the guests – the contemptuous looks of the Dazains, the curious looks of the Jeanyels, the accepting looks of the Taines, the encouraging looks of the Lativians – and knew he was supposed to, as tradition required, call out the full name of his mate.
'Tradition can go to hell,' he though fiercely as he glanced momentarily at the Dazains.
"Qye, can you come up here?" he asked quietly.
The eyes of all the assembled vampires familiar with the tradition of the ceremony widened. The eyes of all the guests grew wider when they saw that the mate was to be a ten-year-old boy. He saw the Dazains eye the boy with contempt and sneers but what made him angrier were some of the considering looks. 'He's mine,' he thought angrily, staring hard at the Dazain group. 'Keep your bloody damn hands off!' He glanced momentarily at the Malfoy heir and repeated his statements harder, even though there was just shock instead of consideration in those gray eyes of his.
He turned his attention back to Harry, who was standing nervously next to him. 'I should get him out of here,' he thought but what he did instead was smile reassuringly at him. Harry smiled weakly back but his green eyes were determined.
He looked down into those green eyes, sending as much reassurance and gratitude and – god help him, 'please don't let him know what it is' – love with his own. Harry smiled at him, still looking nervous and pale but no so much as before. All the while, his father spoke the rites softly. 'My father,' Lest suddenly thought, mentally staggering from a new thought. 'God, what does he think?' He risked a fearful glance at his father.
And blinked.
His father was smiling. Not just the slight smile he rarely had but a full, soft smile. Lest could feel the pride and – 'Holy Hélène' – contentment radiate from that smile. Lest felt a moment of pleasure, pleased he could please his father but why? 'Now isn't the time,' he thought firmly to himself as he turned his gaze back to Harry.
"Now Lestat," his father said abruptly and he jumped slightly, confused. Then he realized the rites were down and now only…
…oh.
Swallowing, he grasped Harry's hand unsteadily. The black-haired boy looked at him in uncertainty. He swallowed again and whispered so that only Harry could hear, "I have to cut your wrist." The green eyes widened in horror and hand he held jerked. He quickly explained before Harry could panic. "It'll heal quickly but I need to cut it so I can take some blood." He licked his lips then said quietly, "You have drink from mine too." The green eyes turned queasy.
Murmurs came from the guests and he shot them a cold look, silencing them quickly before turning back to Harry. The boy was looking at his wrist, a blank look on his face but he could feel the turmoil from the boy.
"You can still get out Harry," he said quietly. "You can walk away and it'll be ok. It's been done before." The boy continued to stare at his wrist and Lest was about to tell his father to cancel the rites when the green eyes raised and met his, still queasy but determined as well.
"Do it Lest," Harry whispered, green eyes growing in determination. "I'm not a coward."
Lest closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened his eyes, Harry was still staring at him with his determined eyes. Nodding, he dropped his gaze and gently made a slit in the wrist. Harry hissed slightly and he quickly took the dagger away, making the slit very small. Even so, the blood sprang forward, little red drops beginning to fall on the gray platform.
He quickly slit his own wrist and pushed it to Harry, who hesitantly took it with his other hand while Lest picked up his bleeding wrist. They looked at each other. They raised the bleeding wrists to their mouths.
They drank.
Lest's eyes widened, hardly noticing that Harry's widened as well. The surge of sheer power from Harry's blood…it was so much…too much…overwhelming…delicious.
Lest winced slightly as he felt Harry pull for his own blood and he wondered if Harry winced when he pulled. He closed his eyes, pulling more of his friend's – his mate's – blood and he could see the silver aura that wasn't visible to the naked eye. He saw it pulse brightly around Harry and he could see his own pitch-black aura reaching towards it. He saw the silver gently take a hold of the black and saw the black surge around it. He saw the black and silver mixing but still managing to remain separate. He saw the dark aura seeming to shadow the light aura and the silver highlighting the black.
The swirl of black and silver poured from within the blood and quickly healed the wounds on their wrists. Lest lifted his mouth from Harry's wrist as soon as he made sure the wound was entirely healed. There wasn't even a scar on the younger boy's wrist. Harry did the same and he knew there would be no scar on his own.
He could still taste the blood of Harry on his lips. He knew there was still one part of the ceremony left, the easiest. Quickly, he bent his head and captured his friend's lips in a possessive and loving kiss.
As he felt Harry freeze in shock before settling in submissive way, as he tasted his own coppery blood on Harry's lips, as he finished the ceremony with no way of escape for Harry anymore, only one thought ran through his mind.
'What have I done?'
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AN: *rubs a hand across forehead* Whew, what a chapter. The beginning and end were good enough but the chapter really sucked in the middle. If I find time, I'm going to have to find a way to redo that. Oh well, it's good enough for you to see. *grins* One more chapter!
(Lest) *has stopped chasing Shades, pleased and now smirking at sulking Draco*
(Draco) *glares hatefully at Shades and Lest in turn*
(Harry) *sighs and rubs temple* Maybe I should just stick with the Seamus idea…
(Lest and Draco) ABSOLUTELY NOT! *snarl*
(Harry and Shades) - -;
(Shades) *looks apologetically at irritated Harry*
(Harry) *mutters* I hate being a muse…why can't Ron or Mione be one?