Also, I've got a couple other ficlets I'm working on. Look for them soon on aff.net and my livejournal.
Thanks!!
Title: Protégé part 10Warnings and notes: This is a slash fic, which means that it involves two guys having strong feelings for one another. This is your only warning; so if you do not like reading about two men in love, then don't read. Go read some other fic. Do not harass the author, please.
Note that this is my first Harry Potter story. I am not new to the Yaoi/slash concept, and I have written many fics for the Gundam Wing universe (and been writing GW fics for over two years!).
More notes: I am rewriting this for a repost. This is the first part in my trilogy, in which I need a name for, I think. The second part of the trilogy is called Move Heaven and Earth, and the third is called Evil Begets Evil. I don't know how much will be changed, since I'm writing this note first before I edit. If anything does change, I will make note of it at the end of the chapter.
Date first written: July 28, 2002
Pairings: Draco/Harry, Ron/Hermione (others?)
Year: 6th
Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of these characters! J.K. Rowlings is the wonderful person who does, and I wish her luck with her next book.
Remember: this is written way before book 5. I don't think I was done reading book 4 when I wrote this.
+++Dream sequence+++
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Nightmare Begins
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Harry waited for everyone to fall asleep before he crept out of the dormitory, donning his invisibility cloak. The Fat Lady was half asleep when he left; he could hear her grunt unappreciatively. As silent as the wind in the hallways, Harry walked briskly toward the hospital wing. He knew that Professor Sprout wouldn't be awake when he got there, but he had to see what her condition was. He brought his wand with to do a health scan spell to check. [A/N: where he learned this, I have no clue]
He had to stop a couple times on the way to avoid detection, but he finally made it to the room that Sprout was occupying. When he reached her bedside, he slipped his cloak off and hung it up next to her bed.
Very quietly, Harry took out his wand and performed the Health Scan charm. Harry gasped when he discovered her current state.
"Oh no," He whispered. "I'm so sorry, Professor. If only I knew where the bezoars were right now. . . ."
A sudden image came to him without warning. Harry gasped when it became too familiar.
"The dungeons. . . so Draco's nightmare is coming true." He looked down at the barely breathing professor. "Saving someone's life. . ." Harry quoted, "Secret room that no one knows about. . . that's where they are." He put his wand back into his robes, grabbed his invisibility cloak, and then walked out.
He headed straight for the dungeons.
~*~
+++ It was dark. So very dark, and all Draco could see in front of his face was a faint glow about fifty feet in front of him. He took out his wand, whispered 'Lumos' and then walked slowly toward the glowing green light. The corridors didn't seem to be getting any lighter from the spell, but he continued forward. His heart was beating almost out of his chest as he got closer to the source.
He could just barely hear it; a faint sound of rumbling. It sounded like a loud purr, or even a faint rumble of a train on its tracks. As he got closer to the light, he noticed that it was coming from underneath a painting that he had only noticed once or twice. It was one of those paintings that just didn't seem significant enough to heed.
Draco brought his lit wand up to look at the picture so that he knew which one it was.
Whoever or whatever that was supposed to be in the painting was no longer there. He tried, but he couldn't think of what the picture was supposed to be of. He knew that a few pictures over there should be one of a giant drake, and another one next to that one was an old Slytherin headmaster. [A/N: How did I call that one?? O.o wow.] The painting had mountains in the background, and even a light blue sky that seemed to almost blind him with brightness. He saw the clouds in that sky moving, and a bird fly by once in a while, but on the grassy knoll below all of that, there was nothing.
'Was it that animal painting?' Draco mused. 'Now what animal was it? Maybe it was a beast. . . a unicorn? No, we don't have unicorn paintings in the dungeon.' Draco tried and tried, but he couldn't think of it. Shrugging, Draco put his hand onto the corner of the painting and pulled.
It swung open.
"Peculiar." He mumbled.
Light flooded his vision for what seemed like an eternity before he could see. The moment his vision cleared, however, he decided that he wished it hadn't, as the sight before him was far from pleasant.
It was a monster, all right. A very *big* monster. It reminded him of the rumors that he had heard during his first year of a three-headed dog living on the third floor, but with one major difference. This monster … this thing … was much, much uglier. And, in its talon-like hands, it held Harry Potter. He seemed to be unconscious.
"Unhand him!" Draco screamed.
The thing turned its disgusting, slobbering head at Draco and glared with its big yellow eyes.
With a shaky hand, Draco held up his wand. He quickly glanced over at Harry, who looked caked in dirt, sweat, and blood. He felt his own anger boil and then he brought his wand up to cast one of the most deadly of curses.
Before he could even speak the spell, his world went blank.
+++
Draco sat up in bed, shaking and soaked with sweat.
"The demonic bastard!" he hissed. "It's teasing me! It's trying to lure me from my bedroom." he was about to pick up his bottle of Dreamless Sleep potion when he stopped. "That. . . that was the most vivid my nightmare's ever been!" It was unthinkable, but Draco decided that a walk around the dungeons wouldn't hurt. "I hope I'm wrong." He slipped out of bed and then quietly out of the room. When he made it down to the common room, he thought he heard someone outside of the Slytherin's painting.
Draco cracked the painting open carefully and peeked his head around the corner. There, clad in only red and gold pajamas, was Ron Weasley.
With a feeling of relief, Draco walked up to the redhead, set on an all out badger.
"Weasel! What in the HELL are you doing down here in our dungeons?"
"I don't have time for this, Malfoy!" Ron hissed. His hair was sticking up all sorts of places and Draco couldn't help but laugh at this. "What's so funny?"
"Nice hair, Weasley. The get up and go look?"
"Sod off, asshole. You're wasting my time."
"At least tell me what you're doing down here?" Draco tried to sound nice enough so that he could get some kind of answer.
Ron whirled on him, glaring deadly into the Slytherin's eyes. "For your information, Harry is missing."
"What??" Draco gasped. The look of utmost worry on Draco's face had surprised Ron, so he let his guard down. But only a little.
"Yes. Something woke me up, I'm not sure what it was. I thought it was Neville's snoring. When I looked over at Harry's bed, I found it very odd that the curtains weren't drawn, and I saw that he wasn't in it. First thought was that he had gone to the hospital wing. He wasn't there when I arrived, so I figured that he might have been at the Quidditch pitch, thinking. When he wasn't there, I checked the beach, thinking he was with you for some strange reason. Then I finally decided to check the dungeons 'cause I remembered him mumbling about looking for the missing bezoars down here. So here I am."
"Bugger! Shit! Goddamn it!!"
"Why are *you* so upset?" Ron asked uncertainly.
What should he say to Harry's, his boyfriend's, best friend? Should he tell him about the nightmare? Should he tell Weasley about the danger that Harry was in? Should he say that he had Harry, tied up in his bed and at his mercy just to shoo him away? Should he even tell the weasel that they're together yet?
He took out his wand, deciding that he'd do something that he knew Harry would smile upon.
Ron took notice of Malfoy taking out his wand and he grit his teeth. He didn't think to arm himself, thinking that he wouldn't be meeting up with any enemies while he was out looking. Yeah, when he thought about the possibility that Harry was with Malfoy at the beach, he didn't think that he'd be in any danger if Harry were there. He glared dangerously at the blond.
"I'm sorry about this." Draco said. Before Ron could mutter his surprise at Malfoy apologizing, Draco waved his wand. "Petrificus Totalus."
Ron went stiff as a board, and then fell over backwards.
Draco stepped over the petrified Gryffindor, started to walk onward, but then stopped. He made his way back over to Weasley and then knelt down at his side. "I know that you're going to be very pissed at me for doing this to you, but I have my reasons. Don't worry, when and if I come back, I'll take the spell off. For now, just think about this. . . I will never, ever harm Harry intentionally. I deeply respect him." With that, he stood up, gave Ron a smirk, and then walked away.
~*~
Completely invisible, Harry combed the Slytherin halls.
'A room not everyone knows about. . . a secret room. . . why is it secret? A room with a password? Behind a painting? A statue, maybe? Maybe through an invisible wall?' The possibilities were endless, but first Harry decided on checking the paintings.
The dungeon halls were pretty dark. Not many torches were lit. Harry took out his wand, whispered 'Lumos' and then started to look at all of the paintings. All of the ones that were too small to hide doorways were dismissed. He came across a rather large painting that had a big dragon on the front. It was a white dragon with piercing metallic eyes.
"Draco. . ." Harry sighed the name that the picture reminded him of. He had a feeling that if Draco's nightmare was correct, then his boyfriend (Harry smiled at this) would be joining him shortly. He had to make his search quick, for he didn't want Draco to try stopping him. He just knew that Draco would do something like that, seeing that Draco was the one trying to protect him. So, he trudged onward, searching painting after painting.
"But, if I find the right one . . . what do I do? How do I know it's the right one? I don't even know the password. How am I to meet up with Draco's dream monster when I can't even find. . . ."
A sudden bright light hit his eyes, blinding him. Harry moved his arm up to shield his eyes. When he could look again, he noticed a painting to his right had swung open by itself.
"Well, that's one way." Harry said. He carefully made his way toward the open portrait and tried to see what was on the front of it. He saw only rolling hills, tall mountains, and a blue sky with moving clouds. There was nothing else.
Very slowly, Harry stepped through, his wand poised at the ready. The moment that he was clear of the threshold, the painting behind him slammed itself shut. In surprise, Harry took his invisibility cloak off and spun around. Nobody. He quickly turned his attention back to the strangely bright room.
The room was definitely different. It was much bigger than the dorms, but not much taller. It had many silver and emerald items and coins lying around, along with books, hats, quills, and vials. Harry looked around at the stonewalls and saw cobwebs and old, unmoving paintings. Something off to the side caught his eye and he slowly walked over to a coat rack. He ran his fingers through a cloak that seemed identical to his invisibility cloak, but the patterns on it were much darker in color. "What is it?" Harry muttered.
"The Cloak of Shadows." A small, familiar voice answered.
Harry whirled around and saw there, standing by a giant gold chest, was the little man.
"I don't believe this."
~*~
Draco groaned to himself. "I don't believe this! What was that stupid fool thinking? He *knows* that there's danger! Why does he do this??"
'Because he's brave and full of nerve. Because he's a Gryffindor.' said a voice of reason in his head.
"Of course. He's a complete and total prat! Why'd I have to go fall for some fearless Gryffindor? Let alone Harry Potter??"
'Because he's cute?'
"Shut up!" Draco growled. Ok, so maybe he thought he was going bonkers for having a strange conversation with himself, but he felt that that was the least of his worries right now.
Minutes went by as Draco began to search through the Slytherin halls for his elusive boyfriend. The corridors became darker by the second, so he took out his wand and said, "Lumos."
'Just like the dream.'
"Bugger."
As he carried on, his heart began to beat wildly with anxiety. He scanned each wall carefully, on the look out for a particular painting with rolling hills and a bright blue sky with roving clouds. "It's got to be here. . . yes, it should be . . ."
Suddenly, he heard it . . . a faint roar. Or maybe it was a growl? Feeling even more anxious, Draco sped himself toward the sound, hoping that he won't see a limp, lifeless looking Harry in the hands of a monster. "Goddamn it, Harry! You're not supposed to die yet!"
And then he finally saw his destination.
The light under the painting. It was the painting in his dream. He heard another roar.
"Oh, Gods, no . . ."
~TBC~
Yes, this part was short, I'm sorry. I really can't think of anything else to add to this. Chalk it up to my annoying time of the month. -_- I really do want to add a middle chapter to one of these, but I might end up just editing the last part, or adding some sort of epilogue, because I can't think of anything.
Thanks again for your reviews.