Author's notes: I do not own Harry Potter nor associates. Please review. Explanations for new term/spells/magical item are at post-fic author's notes. Thank you.
For the first time in his life, Draco felt important yet puny at the same time. How Salazar Slytherin has chosen him to receive the accostrome of his time, and how Lucius has, all these while, kept him in the dark about the history of the family. Draco sunk into his couch, the accostrome still in his hands. His breathing laboured, and the room seemed to spin. Draco was in such shock he could not react.
Suddenly, the accostrome began to show him something else. "Gryffindor fire place."
Draco's gray eyes widened as he saw these words. What was he to do at the Gryffindor fire place? Why is the accostrome asking him to go there?
"Why am I to go to their fire place?" Draco questioned the swirls, for which now are green. The Slytherin green.
"Put it out." Draco's mouth gapped. The accostrome wanted him to put out the fire in the fire place of the Gryffindor common room? The fire that has never been put out since the castle was built? Draco just could not imagine the wrath he would incur from the Gryffindors should he try to extinguish the fire. He would at least need someone to take the blame. Someone from inside.
"Potter! Wake up!" Draco pounded hard on Harry's door, threatening to alohomora the door.
"What?" A sleepy Harry opened the door, only to a flustered Draco barge in and pushed him on his bed. Still not out of his sleep, Harry mustered only enough strength to mutter a swear word while he tried to adjust the light Draco has put on.
"Potter! Listen to me. I need you to go put out the fire in the fire place." Draco demanded.
"What?" This time round, Harry was awake. He could not believe his ears. Who on earth would be daft enough to wake him up in the dead middle of the night to ask him to put out the Gryffindor fire? The one that has been burning since the beginning of Hogwarts?
"Just go and put it out!" Draco shouted. He paced around Harry's suite, holding the accostrome.
"You are asking me to put out that fire just to satisfy some late night desire of yours? Are you utterly out of your mind?" Harry asked. He was totally taken aback by that ridiculous idea. McGonagall would skin him alive should she know of this. Besides, Harry was not even sure if the fire in there could be relit. Godric never left a message on that.
"It's the Slytherin accostrome. It asked me to put out the Gryffindor fire." Draco just spurt out the truth about the accostrome. Something told him he could trust Potter on keeping it a secret. For some reason or another, he began to want to include Potter in this plan, these things the accostrome is revealing to him.
"You are in possession of the Slytherin accostrome?" Harry was befuddled. Why would the Slytherin accostrome reappear at this crucial time, especially to Draco Malfoy? Who came from a generation of Death Eaters? Unless if Salazar Slytherin wants to help Voldemort to gain power. Harry took a step back, shocked at such a postulation.
"This is the accostrome. I don't know why but this is the French book I inherited from Father. My blood activated the accostrome." Draco explained, fearing that Harry doubted his words. He shoved the accostrome to Harry, and Harry's eyes lit at the sight of it.
"Now will you believe me?"
Harry crept down to the common room, carrying with him his wand. He faced the fireplace, watching the fire burn bright orange. Sticking his wand in front of him, Harry muttered a bleak extinguishing charm, fearful of any adverse reactions. As he expected, the orange flame turned blue, and a loud voice boomed, reverberating around the common room. "Why?" The deep voice asked, and the room seemed to shake.
Before Harry could answer, Draco appeared from behind him and faced the surface of the accostrome at the fire. Before he opened his mouth to explain his reasons, the fire returned to a soft orange glow and gradually extinguish to an ember. For the first time in their lives, and the history of Hogwarts, the Gryffindor fire place was devoid of its flame.
"What now?" Harry could not take his eyes off the fire place.
"I think there's something there." Handing the accostrome to Harry, Draco grabbed the poker by the side of the fire place and started to stick it into the fireplace. He fumbled around, and discovered the hidden treasure. The thing he was meant to find. Draco started to push the item with the poker and rolled it towards him.
"A cryptex." Harry said. He could hardly believe his eyes. Within a span of less than half and hour, Harry has been shocked more than twice. A cryptex. Something he thought had only existed in books and the Muggle world.
"What on earth is a cryptex?" Draco questioned. He has never seen or heard this Da Vinci's invention. Picking up the marble cylinder, Draco cleaned the soot off the polished stone.
"It's hard to explain it to you now. We have to get this fire up first." Harry did an incendio charm, and was again, surprised that it sprung up so easily. In his mind, he began to believe that Godric never did put in much magic into the fire. He lead Draco back to his room, where the two could explore the cryptex.
The marble cylinder was strangely longer than the cryptex Harry knows, it contains eight dials rather than the four proposed by Da Vinci. Having eight dials would give it over 2 billion permutations. Harry cannot imagine how they were going to crack the code. He fingered the dials, the cylinder feels warm to hold, for it has been hidden in the Gryffindor fireplace since Merlin knows when.
"So, what does it do?" Draco sat himself next to Harry on the bed, and stared hard at the strange contraption.
"You must find the password in order to open it, and it holds a parchment of some sort. It's some form of a safe." Harry replied, still quite surprised that someone had actually manufactured it out of Da Vinci's designs.
"So all we have to do is to find the code and open it up to reveal its secret?" Draco was intrigued at this muggle artifact, and its presence in Hogwarts. The old Draco would have marched up straight to the Ministry of Magic with such artifact and land Dumbledore in trouble. Today, he would want to keep it for himself.
"It's not as easy. The code is made up of eight letters from the alphabet. We'll have to try over two billion codes," warned Harry.
"We'll just ask the accostrome." Without any delay, Draco started to question the accostrome, hopeful that an answer can be provided.
"A phrase you yearn to hear, a sentence you fear to speak." The accostrome revealed the answers, in a form that bemused the duo, for it was as though no answer was given. Neither of them had any particular liking for riddles, and this was just not the time to try to solve one.
"What? A riddle?" Draco rolled his eyes and gave up. This was too difficult. He would rather spend his time thinking of a charm to try all the different permutations to try to crack the code.
"This riddle... it's definitely weird." Harry commented, albeit he had this feeling that the answer was easier than anyone thought. Though the logic behind his guess was plainly radical and impossible, Harry wanted to give it a try, at least some time soon.
"This is stupid. We'll never crack the code." Draco grunted and sulked. Just a moment ago, he thought he was going to have the chance to solve the mystery of his family history, and perhaps even the mystery of Hogwarts, now he is daunted. The impending challenge of this cryptex blew the whole idea of unveiling the secrets off, and Draco knew why the secret has been so well-kept. It is kept in an eight-letter cryptex, and would take anyone years to find the code. "Let's just break it open or something."
"No!" Harry grabbed the wand from Draco to prevent him from severing the cylinder. "If we try to break the cryptex by force the vinegar in the tube will melt the parchment. Papyrus to be exact."
"What? We can't open it by force? Does that mean we can't drop it? This is ridiculous! Which son-of-a-muggle came up with this?" Draco was worked up. He stood up, grabbed his wand back from Harry and stomped off towards the door when Harry spoke again.
"I love you!" Harry exclaimed, certainly shocking the infuriated Slytherin. "The code is 'I love you'!"
"What?" Draco felt outraged. He had evidently only heard the first part of what Harry said. Why is Potter trying to profess his love when things are certainly not going well here? Draco turned around and gave Harry a quizzical look, his brows knotted together, his pale face giving off a certain glow from the light.
Harry could not help but stare at Draco, and was reminded of how the blonde always looked better when he was concerned. The sneak peaks at him during Potions, the time when he was speed learning French, and now. Harry definitely had that soft spot for boys at work. "I love you." Harry muttered again, leaving the cryptex on the bed and went towards Draco. He placed his hand on the flawless skin of the Slytherin, and moved nearer, brushing his lips against Draco's. Draco did not resist, for it suddenly dawned upon him, "a phrase you yearn to hear, a sentence you fear to speak." Harry drew back, and stared hard into his eyes. For that moment, time seemed to have frozen.
"Let's try that code." Harry whispered, his breath warm on Draco's face, those lips threatening to lock on his.
"On the cryptex or what?" Draco questioned. No answer was required for that question, for both the options were equally as tempting to the duo.
Cryptex: The fic should tell enough, if still in doubt, consult The Da Vinci's Code. Credits go to The Da Vinci's Code by Dan Brown.
I'm sorry if some of you are are disappointed the story turn out to be slash but I promise to be mild, ok? Please review. Thanks loads.