Worlds Apart
by Tsarakitty
A/N: Sorry that it took me so long to update. I've been really busy. If you've already read the first two chapters, previous to this, then you may want to read them again to jog your memory. I've made a few minor changes, and I feel better about them. Thank you.
Last time:
When Draco reached out to touch him, Harry's skin was hot, and he was sweating very badly. He looked as though he were murmuring to himself, but there was no sound coming from his mouth. "What's wrong with him?"
Draco just shook his head.
Chapter 3: Fate
I
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry- The Hospital Wing
"My professional opinion is that he is exhausted and in shock from who knows what." Madame Pomfrey turned to Severus and Draco and gave them a hard, calculating look. "You two are going to tell me exactly what happened since you left." Or else. She raised an eyebrow, as if to say, Well? and her foot began to tap rapidly on the floor.
So Severus explained the whole thing to her, until the Death eaters, when Draco took over, only leaving out the part about the kiss. They went until they floo-ed over, and Draco talked about them all accidentally piling in, and how he had landed on Harry, who had landed on Sev. Madame Pomfrey stood through the whole thing, looking more and more irritated by the minute.
By the end, Madame Pomfrey looked as though she were about to explode. "His first day out of the castle, and look what he gets into! What you let him get into! I can't believe this... The poor thing is going to end up spending half his life under my care!"
Severus gave the woman a peck on the cheek. "I have faith in you, Poppy. You'll do whatever is needed to help this boy."
Poppy just nodded and began checking him over with her wand. Draco frowned when Snape beckoned him towards the door. He was reluctant to leave the other boy alone, even in the hospital wing.
He was also thinking about the kiss that Cold-Harry had bestowed gently and unexpectedly upon his lips. The taste of blood was one that Draco was used to, but under that there had been a faint taste of vanilla, comfort, cinnamon, and magic. And for a second, just one, Draco had felt so safe... He'd felt wrapped up in blankets of comfort, floating on a sea of someone's love for him. He'd never felt anything like that before.
As he was thinking about this, Harry's eyes fluttered abruptly open. He stared for a second at the shocked Madame Pomfrey, before his eyes' focus shot over to Draco. "Thank you for waiting. I'm fine now. I just need rest. If you'll tell Sev, I'll sleep here for awhile, and go down to our room later, when Poppy has dubbed me ready to be up and about." Draco nodded, and turned to leave.
"Draco?" Harry's voice stopped him. "We're really sorry about earlier. He said it won't happen again without your permission." Harry smiled shyly. Draco smiled back and nodded again.
"I didn't mind it so much. But warn me next time. 'Kay?" Harry raised an eyebrow. Then both laughed. Draco departed to find Severus, leaving Poppy to wonder what they were talking about. She would probably find out on her own though, somehow. Harry sighed, settling down to sleep. And, for once, the nightmares didn't come.
II
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Harry spent the night, before being released reluctantly to the care of Severus, Madame Pomfrey having found nothing wrong with him and therefore nothing to keep him on (not that she didn't try). Harry trotted down to his and Draco's room, Severus walking slowly behind him.
As Harry opened the door, Draco walked out of his room into their little common room, and Harry saw a fair-sized pile of packages on the floor. They were pretty plainly wrapped in brown paper, and he wondered what they were for. There was a small tray of sweets on the coffee table.
"Happy birthday, Harry," Draco said, giving him a small peck on the cheek, before plopping down on the couch. Harry looked like he was going to cry. He sat down, hesitantly touching one of the packages before him.
"Go on," Severus said, sitting down next to Draco on the couch. "We scraped this up on short notice, so if there's anything you don't like, tell me, and we can find something else for you."
Harry looked up at them. "I... I've never had a birthday party before. Thank you." He smiled, before pulling a long thin package off of the top. It was a broomstick.
At his curious look, Severus shrugged. "From the Headmaster."
The next thing was a broom maintenance kit. There was a big book about potions, a small pewter dragon that breathed green flames that didn't burn, a beautiful red sweater, some more clothes (shirts and pants), and a set of knives that had a voice-activated poison spell set on them. Two that strapped to his lower arms, two that attached to his calves, and one that sat at the base of his spine. They could be thrown, and maintained an edge without any extra sharpening.
Harry looked up at them again, and there were tears spilling from his eyes. He jumped up and threw his arms around Severus, and then Draco, and then scooped up all of the stuff except the knives and took it into his room, dumping it onto his bed. Coming back out, he grabbed the knives and put them on. He marveled at how light they were, and how well hidden they were. For he could tell that there were many spells on them to hide them from others.
Severus cleared his throat. "Those will eventually mold themselves to you and your magic, so that you can shape them with a thought. They can become scimitars, daggers, short swords. They will grow or shrink to suit your needs. I want you to feel safe, and I hoped that this would help."
Harry calculated that in his head, factoring in magic and poison costs, and came out with an unbelievable sum. "These five beauties must have cost you a fortune! I couldn't-"
"Take them. I couldn't use them, and you need them. Besides," he grinned, "I got 'em as a favor. And he still owes me one!"
Harry grinned. "Thank you. Both of you. This is my favorite birthday ever!" With that he went to his room to put his things away. The two looked after him, each with his own thoughts. They were glad he was happy. But even so, they worried. He was looking ill. And neither knew what was wrong.
Over the next couple weeks, Harry improved. He gained some weight and the bags under his eyes went away. He had nightmares less and less, until they rarely came at all. Severus and Draco were relieved at this turn of events. Harry began to train with his knives daily, working in trance, learning elaborate knife exercises that he called 'death dances.' He practiced until he could no longer move. His endurance increased. He worked on his body, increasing muscle, and became healthier. He began learning martial arts techniques out of his own head. Cold-Harry was teaching him.
Severus became slightly worried about this other side of Harry. The side that killed, without remorse. It was too like He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for his comfort. He didn't need his too-sweet, too-innocent charge to be like that... thing. He shuddered, grimacing in distaste. He saw the thing in his nightmares, and he'd be damned if he'd let Harry be like that. One day, he sat him down and asked him about it.
"Harry, there's something I want to ask you. It's about this killer version of yourself. Cold-Harry, as Draco is calling him. I'd like to know about him. Has he always been a part of you? Is he, in fact, even part of you?"
Harry sighed. "I meant to tell you about him, but Daedhel(1) is slow to trust others and urged me to keep him a secret until I was sure of you. The Dursley's never knew of him.
"I have a theory that I called him into me as a child. Even he is not sure if he has been part of me since birth, but I doubt it. He was an Elvin assassin, but he died on a mission, due to the minions of Voldemort's previous incarnation, or so we suspect. His name is not the one he was born with, but when you become an assassin, you must leave your past behind. His family died, and he vowed revenge, so he was sent to live among a group of monks, famous assassins. They raised him as one of them, and he became an assassin.
"He was sent to take out the 'then-Voldemort', but he failed. He was killed, and became part of me when Voldemort failed to kill me. At least, that's the theory. Now that I understand about Voldemort, we've been puzzling out our joint pasts. He's also been teaching me to fight. We share a body, but only one of us is in control at a time. What Draco saw on our trip to Diagon Alley was Daedhel in action. I doubt it is as beautiful a dance as he gave in his own body, but he did it."
Snape nodded. "You've changed since I first met you. You're stronger." Harry blushed. He shook his head.
"I think that Daedhel's personality is blending with mine, that's all. It's him, not me." Snape smiled sadly, shaking his head as well.
"I wish you could see how wonderful you are and stop putting yourself down." He sighed. "Well, what do you say to some lunch?" Harry nodded enthusiastically.
"Gosh yes! I'm famished! Let's collect Draco and head down." Both stood up, but Harry paused going towards the door. His eyes darkened to a green that bordered on black, and his knives were suddenly in his hands. He quieted Snape, and moved slowly to one of the walls. Inching towards the door he narrowed his eyes.
Unexpectedly, the knives vanished from his hands. A lamp had dropped in front of him from thin air. He barely caught it in time. Suddenly it disappeared. He frowned. "Draco, what are you doing?"
A guilty-looking Draco peeked around the door. "Eaves-dropping?" He spoke in a half hopeful voice. Harry simply raised an eyebrow, holding up a pillow which had landed on his head. Draco sighed. "Oh, well. Hey, it was worth a shot. I was trying to conjure my stuff from my house to here. Actually, to my room." Snape's turn to be frowning now.
Harry simply tsk-ed. "So, how about that lunch," Draco said hopefully. Harry swept past him. As he turned to follow, a hand squeezed his shoulder painfully.
"Later, we are going to have a talk, young man. Do you understand?" Draco nodded, laughing nervously. The hand squeezed again, then Snape walked past him, leaving Draco to trail behind, rubbing gingerly at his shoulder.
III
King's Station, London
Snape looked at the two boys in front of him. He looked worried. "Albus felt that you coming in on the train would be the most natural thing, and less suspicious than you already being there. I must admit that I have had misgivings, but I will go along with this unless either of you feels like you couldn't handle the train ride to the school and the boat ride, and we can just slip you in among the other students before the sorting ceremony." He gave them both a questioning look.
Harry and Draco looked at each other. They both reached out simultaneously and snagged each other's hands. "We'll be fine," Harry said. Both boys smiled. Severus smiled back.
"Alright then. Go on you two."
The two loaded their trunks onto carts, and Harry set Hedwig's cage on top. Then they set off to find their platform. Harry knew that if the Dursley's had dropped him off, they'd be laughing about him needing to take a train from Platform 9 3/4. But they didn't, and Harry was instead here with his first, best, and only friend, and he felt good.
Except that it was a little loud in here, but that was okay. And that Draco seemed to have just as much of an idea as he had of how to get onto the platform, which was none. But at just that second he heard the words "-packed with muggles, of course-" spoken behind him. He poked Draco in the arm and they followed the group, pushing their carts along.
The eldest of the five redheaded children clustered around the speaker, a plump woman with flaming red hair, headed towards the barrier at a swift trot, and suddenly he was gone. Next one was being urged to hurry by his twin, and then both had disappeared through the wall. But neither Harry nor Draco could quite grasp how. Then the woman turned to her fourth son, and said, "Now remember Ron, all you have to do is walk straight at the barrier. Don't stop, and don't be scared you'll crash. That's important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous."
The boy rolled his eyes. "Mum, I know what I'm doing! You've told me billions of times if you've told me once."
Draco and Harry looked at each other. Just run at it? Well, it was worth a shot. After Ron had gone through, and the mother had gone through with her youngest, they each gripped the other's hand hard, and went together.
Both made it through without incident, though Draco said after that he felt he had better have a bit of a lie-down until he got over the shock. They went to the very last compartment on the train, and both stashed their trunks. While Draco had his lie-down Harry decided to explore the rest of the train.
He peeked into one compartment to see two boys playing wizard's chess, while another watched. He passed a teary-eyed boy and a bushy-haired girl , who asked him if he had seen the boy, Neville's, toad. (Harry responded that he hadn't.) He walked on. There were a bunch of people gathered around a dark-skinned, dreadlocked boy with a box, and when he lifted the lid and a long hairy leg poked out, a few girls shrieked.
He saw the red haired twins sitting outside the girls' toilets and occasionally letting out stifled giggles. All of a sudden there was a shrill scream, and a small explosion, and a girl came tearing out with tears on her face. The boys cracked up laughing. There was a compartment full of older kids, all of whom wore silver badges with large P's on them. One of them was the eldest red-haired boy.
A couple of kids pointed and whispered as Harry passed by. He brushed his bangs out of his face and a few girls ran to tell their friends. Harry blinked, then remembered Severus' words. 'You're famous because of that defeat of You-Know-Who. Every single wizard now alive knows about you.' Great. Famous. Just what he needs.
Harry turned and went down the corridor to his and Draco's compartment. As he opened the door, Draco sat up and smiled at him. They were chatting about this and that, when there was a knock on the door, and a red head of hair peeked in. "Hullo. Can I join you? All of the other compartments are full. My name's Ron Weasley, by the way." Harry looked at Draco who shrugged.
"Sure, if it's okay with you, Harry, I'm fine with it."
Harry nodded and smiled at Ron. "Go ahead. I'm Harry, as I'm sure you noticed." Ron nodded his thanks. Then the food cart came around, and Harry got some of everything. He dumped it onto a chair, and he and Draco dug in. Harry offered some to Ron who seemed a little reluctant, but accepted, pulling a chocolate frog off of the pile and opening it.
"Dang, Circe again. Oh well." Harry snagged it from his hand, grinning.
"Thanks, I hadn't got this one." Ron stuck out his tongue. Draco swatted them both on the head, and pulled a book out. Harry was immediately next to him. "Whatcha readin'?" Draco gave him a withering look, but laughed when Harry's face drew into the cutest little puppy dog face Draco had ever seen.
"Hogwarts: A History."
Harry wrinkled his nose. "Isn't that kinda homework-ey? Come on, lay off the school work, at least until we are actually in school, 'kay?" He smiled. "Come on, we can't eat all this alone, Dray, ya gotta help us." Ron looked at him in shock.
"You're Draco Malfoy?! God!" Harry turned blinking slowly at him, while Draco tried to shush him.
"Don't say it so loud! Someone might hear." He began wringing his hands. He got up to check the door, but just as he reached, it burst open, and two large, heavy boys stepped in. Draco's eyes widened and he backed away, before regaining his composure. "What do you two want?"
The meaner-looking of the two stepped forward. "Well, we were just passing, and we heard that Draco Malfoy was in here, and we thought to ourselves, didn't we, Gregory-" he asked of the other, who only nodded, "-we thought 'Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter, in one compartment? That would be something to see.', and we thought, didn't we?" Another silent nod. "'We should go see if they'd be willing to share a compartment,' seeing as we were having trouble finding a free one."
Noticing Draco's slight trembling, Harry gathered all of his courage and turned to the two. "Well, you'll just have to look harder is all, 'cause you're not staying in here." He crossed his arms, hiding his wand in the crook of his arm, and mentally quelling in fear.
The silent one spoke up. "You gonna let 'im talk to ya like that, Vincent?" He moved forward, towering over Harry.
Harry gulped, and the faux-brave part of him ran, crying and screaming, to hide in a tiny enclosed part of his mind. His eyes widened, the green becoming almost black, as Vincent Crabbe reached for the partially wrapped chocolate frog held in Ron's hands. As he did, Draco noticed the change in Harry's eye color, and paled.
"Now, Daedhel, calm down. They haven't done anything, surprisingly." He touched Harry's arm, and pulled back as a small shock assaulted his fingertips at the contact, startling him away. He almost felt sorry for the two boys in front of him. Almost.
Harry stepped forward, blocking the other two from the thickset bullies in front of them. His wand slipped into his robes, his left arm pulled back, and he delivered a devastating punch to Vincent's face, sending him flying out. Ron and Draco both winced at the sound of his nose breaking, and the noise he made, hitting the wall opposite the compartment that they were in. Ouch.
Gregory turned to look at the silent and still Vincent out in the hall. Then he turned to look at the livid boy in front of him who had seemingly grown in height and stature. Then back at poor Vincent. Then, whimpering slightly, he turned tail and ran.
Harry withdrew the crackling power into his skin, slamming the door shut, before turning to the other two and taking mental stock of their attitudes and feelings. He didn't care so much about Ron, who seemed fine, just a little shaken. Turning to Draco, his real concern, he bit his lip. "I didn't... hurt you, did I? With the magic, I mean."
Draco shook his head. "No, I'm fine. Are you okay?" Harry nodded.
Ron nervously averted his eyes. "Hey, look! That must be the platform." He pointed out the window. "We must be almost there..."
(1)Shadow-Elf (Sindarin) pronounced da-eth-el.
I know I said early on that this wouldn't be a Harry/Severus (I've recently deleted that bit), but I recently discovered that I support that ship, when well written, and I can't decide which I want to write more (HPDM or HPSS). Please, let's take a vote on it. I would like your input, since you are reading it. So please review with your choice. Thank you.
