Characters © J.K. Rowling.
Morph concept © Walt Disney Pictures.
Plot © Sami-Lee 2004.
Harry headed upstairs a little less enthusiastic than he had been before his chat with Hermione. Morph sat on his shoulder, in the form of a mini Harry, his head resting on his hand, which was perched on his knee. Harry was so sure that if there were two of him they'd have a better shot at beating Voldemort, but maybe he was wrong, maybe he and Draco would be able to do it on their own. Harry thought of Blaise again, before shaking his head and opening the door to the room he was sharing with Draco.
Draco was lying in his bed, and looked up at Harry as he entered. Harry smiled as he saw a smile appear on Draco's face when he saw him and went to sit on the bed beside him. Before Harry could get comfortable, he felt Draco's arms wrap around him and was pulled down next to him. Draco nuzzled Harry's neck.
"Harry?"
"Yeah?"
"I love you." Draco mumbled, his face still hidden in Harry's neck.
"I know." Harry replied, and kissed Draco's forehead. Draco removed his face from Harry's neck and looked up into the green eyes that were watching him so attentively, so affectionately, but so full of sorrow. Harry felt his chest tighten as Draco's face moved closer to his own. He had kissed Draco before, but he had initiated that, and had walked away afterwards. Harry didn't know what he was so afraid of, but whatever it was that was nagging at the back of Harry's mind disappeared as he felt Draco's lips meet his own. Instinctively, Harry wrapped his arms around Draco's neck, pulling their bodies closer.
Draco could feel his heart trying to escape from his chest as he pressed his lips firmly against Harry's. Within seconds he had rolled over so that he was on top of Harry and was exploring his mouth with his tongue. He heard Harry moan softly as Draco straddled him and let his mouth move to Harry's neck.
Harry was in heaven, in absolutely ecstasy and he never wanted it to end, he ran his hands through Draco's hair as Draco let his hands run across Harry's chest before stopping at his belt. Harry inhaled sharply as Draco's arm brushed his crotch and moved up to his shirt, proceeding to remove it. Harry finished the job, pulling the shirt over his head and tossing it aside.
Draco ran his hands over Harry's now naked torso. It was perfect, not as pale as he was, but not too tanned, it was just a nice darker-than-white brown. He let his mouth explore Harry's chest and his hands move southward to Harry's pants. Harry's hands, however had found the top button on Draco's shirt and, removing his mouth from Harry's chest, Draco sat up as Harry skilfully undid all the buttons and slipped the shirt off, tossing it in the corner with his own.
Harry ran his hands over Draco's torso; he was well built and had certainly left behind the scrawny boy that Harry had met in Diagon Alley when they were 11. Draco returned to Harry's chest, slowly moving down towards his pants. Harry cupped Draco's chin in his hand and brought his face up to look at him. He didn't say anything but lost himself in his eyes for a moment. Draco raised an eyebrow questioningly, and Harry leant down to kiss him. Draco moved up and made himself more comfortable, melting into the kiss. He didn't question Harry as to why he'd stopped him.
The two boys took their time getting to sleep that night, but when they eventually did, it was in each other's arms. Harry could barely remember ever being happier, including the day he got his Hogwarts letter, but just before he drifted off, his scar singed and an image flashed into his mind…
The next morning at 8:00 sharp Harry and Draco made their way down the stairs to the foyer below and were greeted by a very beautiful young lady. She looked barely older than Harry and Draco, and was dressed not in robes, but in full Auror attire – A light cotton shirt which was a complimentary shade of forest green, tight pants, which looked like they made moving around easier. Harry noticed a dagger by her left ankle and her wand on her right hip. The two boys also observed several other small weapons and devices which they didn't recognise.
"Goooood Mornin'." Draco started smoothly, extending his hand. Mørph turned into a mini version of Draco, but was instead drooling onto Harry's shoulder, imitating that Draco was drooling in a less obvious way. Harry poked Mørph, who, still looking like a mini Draco, collapsed on Harry's shoulder in a fit of giggles. Harry pouted slightly – this girl could be trouble. He knew, of course, why Draco was in such a good mood, but that didn't mean he had to run off and flirt with every girl he saw; secretly, Harry was glad that they would be spending the day away from Hermione, just in case.
"Well," Her voice was strong, "You must be Mr. Malfoy, and," She turned to Harry, "Mr. Potter, I presume." She took Draco's hand and then Harry's as he offered it, she eyed Mørph for a moment before focusing on Harry.
"Pleasure to meet you, Ms. North. You can call us Harry and Draco, if it's easier." Harry said, not letting go of her hand. She pulled it away after several more moments and nodded. Yes, this girl was definitely going to be trouble, he thought.
"Right then, you can call me Blainey. Call me anything else and you'll wish you were facing Lord Voldemort instead." Harry was startled as she said the name, but didn't comment on it as the three of them made their way down to the training room.
"Ok, so, you wont be needing your wands today, you can leave them on the table here." She pointed to the desk next to where she was seated in one of the old chairs. Harry hesitated, remembering their 5th year Defence Against the Dark Arts classes, but Draco skipped over and placed his wand on the table. Harry shrugged and followed him. "Right, now, I'm assuming Moody's already told you the basics." Both boys nodded. "Good, alright, fist thing I want you to do is take this – " She handed them a piece of parchment and a quill each. "And write down everything that makes you angry, names of people you hate, things that really make you want to strangle something." She watched their expressions change from one of agreement to one of confusion. "Trust me, it helps to write everything down."
Harry simply nodded and put his quill to the parchment. What made him angry? Who did he hate? Well, Voldemort firstly. Professor Snape. Umbridge. Peter Pettigrew. He thought about it some more. Draco, in the mean time, had only written one name at the top of his parchment in large bold letters – Lucius Malfoy. He caught Harry's eye and smiled a little half smile before turning back to his parchment. Harry stared down at his own once more. Potions. Divination. The Dursley's and Number 4 Privet Drive. Dementors… Harry felt a shiver run down his spine. He hadn't realised that he hated so many people.
Draco had ended with a list of about seven people and things, while Harry himself had ended up with about twenty-six. He sighed, maybe he was a horrible person, maybe he would become overwhelmed with hatred and turn to the dark side. He fleetingly remembered a muggle film Dudley had once received for his birthday and recalled one of the characters quoting just that. Fear, hate, anger, suffering. It all led to the dark side. He would never turn.
Blainey, noticing that they were finished, stood up and wandered over to have a look. She wasn't surprised to find that the first thing Harry had written was Voldemort. She stopped though and pointed out the second name on the list. "You hate your potions master?" She asked, as though it was absurd. Harry nodded surely. "Why?" She asked, confused.
"Because he hates my father, so he takes it out on me. He's just a sad, pathetic excuse of a man, who is so miserable he has to take it out on other people. I never did anything to him and he treats me like crap. Always has." Harry stated surely. Draco, who hadn't known this until Harry had said it, looked at him quizzically.
"Snape hates you because of your dad?" He looked almost bewildered, as though Snape would never do a thing like that. "Why?"
Harry felt his blood boil at the thought of it, and though he really didn't want to, he told them the story anyway. "Snape and my dad went to Hogwarts together. They hated each other from day one, kind of like you and me, you know, dad was in Gryffindor and Snape in Slytherin. Anyway, uhh, Sirius, my Godfather, liked to play pranks on people, and one day he did something really stupid that almost got Snape killed. My dad found out and saved Snape's life, so Snape hates him."
"How very Slytherin of him." Draco commented. "Sirius Black is your godfather? I didn't know that… If you don't mind my asking, what did he do that almost got Snape killed?" Harry faltered, he knew he could trust Draco, but he wasn't sure about Blainey.
"It's ok, Harry. I already know, I'm a very good friend of Remus." Harry nodded at Blainey and turned to Draco.
"Well, I suppose being a Slytherin, and one of Snape's favourite students, you probably already know that Lupin is a werewolf." Draco nodded. "Well, you know the whomping willow? That was planted the year my dad started at Hogwarts, at the base of the tree, there's a knot which, when pressed, freezes the branches. There is a tunnel under the tree that leads to the Shrieking Shack. That's where Lupin used to go each full moon to transform, so that he wouldn't harm anyone." Draco was watching Harry with interest instead of the fear Harry would thought he'd be showing, this made him feel a little more confident and he continued with his story.
"One night, halloween, actually, Snape saw Lupin going to the tree to transform, and, seeing him nosing about, Sirius told him if he followed him he'd find out what all of them were up to. Of course, wanting to get them back for all the times they'd played pranks on him and made him look stupid, Snape followed Lupin. If my dad hadn't found out what Sirius had said and run down to stop him, Remus would have killed Snape. I mean, I take that back, Remus wouldn't have done anything. The wolf would have killed Snape." Harry finished, looking at the floor. Then Draco suggested something Harry kicked himself for not thinking about before.
"We could use the shack and the tunnel as look out and escape routes back at school, you can probably store things there too…" He stopped talking when he saw Harry's face drop.
"Not if someone is already using them." He said.
"What do you mean? Who would be using it? How many people know about the tunnel?" Blainey seemed to be thinking the same thing as Draco and she turned her attention fully to Harry as well and waited for his answer.
"Well, Dumbledore, McGonagall, Sprout, Madam Pomfry, Snape, Lupin, Sirius, my dad, The Weasley twins, Hermione, Ron, me and… Peter Pettigrew." Harry counted them off with his fingers. "Peter Pettigrew knows exactly how to get in there – They're probably already using it, they're already at Hogwarts!" He yelled, he hated Peter Pettigrew, the little traitor. He'd murdered his parents, he'd sided with Voldemort, he'd slept in his dorm for two and a half years – he wanted to kill him.
"Harry. Hold it, I want you to do something for me, channel that anger and, " she pulled a vase off the desk behind her and held it in front of Harry, "concentrate on smashing this vase."
Harry stared at the vase. He was fuming. He though of Pettigrew. He thought of Voldemort breaking into their house in Godric's Hollow and murdering his parents. He thought of Sirius having to spend 12 years in Azkaban. The vase smashed. It broke into hundreds of pieces and fell to the floor. Blainey stepped back and Draco followed suit. Before they could say anything, Harry fled the room. He ran straight to the kitchen and almost ran into Mrs Weasley.
"Are you aright, Harry, dear?" She asked, and reached out to smooth his fringe off of his sweat-smothered forehead, he dodged her hand.
"I need Dumbledore, immediately." He said urgently, and Mrs Weasley's face fell.
"I'm sorry, dear, he's not here."
"Where is he?!" Harry yelled, he was desperate.
"I'm not sure…" Before she could finish, Harry had started yelling again.
"What about McGonagall? Oh, it doesn't matter, where's Moody?" At that point Lupin had entered the kitchen and walked over to Harry placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Harry, calm down, what's wrong?" He turned Harry around to look at him and Harry visibly calmed.
"Iknowwhereheis." He stopped and took a breath, then started again. "I know where he is. They're in the Shrieking Shack, and they're going to use the tunnel and the willow to get to the school." Lupin's face fell at Harry's words.
"Get everyone inside now, we're going to Hogwarts." Lupin said as he stormed out the door to get Moody and the others. Draco and Blainey had rushed into the kitchen as Lupin rushed out, watched him leave and then looked at Harry as if demanding an answer. He looked from Draco, who was out of breath and looked extremely sexy, to Blainey, who was out of breath and looked extremely sexy. He sighed. He was starting to hope that Voldemort could at least put him out of his complicated misery.
"I know where Voldemort is – they're in the Shrieking Shack, that's how they're going to get into Hogwarts." He looked at Draco as he spoke and then turned to Blainey. "We have to stop them, or at least cut them off before they reach the school. I wonder if Dumbledore – "
"Yes, Harry. I knew." Said a very tired looking Dumbledore from the kitchen doorway. "Don't look so surprised, Mr. Potter. After all, apparation is a wonderful thing." He winked and Harry smiled before turning his attention to Ron, Hermione and Blaise as they came pelting through the door.
"We just heard, oh, why didn't we think of it earlier? We could have blocked it up or – "
"No, Hermione, they'd have found somewhere else, at least this way we have the advantage, we know where they are." Harry said.
"But how do you know, how are you sure?" She asked.
"Last night, just before I fell asleep, my scar hurt. Voldemort was extremely happy – he'd found a hiding place and was certain that no one would find him. As I drifted off, an image of the Shrieking Shack flashed in my subconscious, and I forgot about it until now." He said, looking at Ron as he finished. Ron looked back at him.
"But what are we going to do? We're not just going to march up and knock on the door now, are we? He's bound to have more death eaters planted around the place than we can count on all our fingers put together!" Ron was turning a lovely shade of red. He looked to his mother who smiled at him sympathetically. Draco stepped forward and put his hand on Harry's shoulder.
"Whatever we decide to do, I'm with you, Harry." He said, and Harry looked at him gratefully, wishing he had words to tell Draco how much that meant to him and how it made him feel. He pulled Draco into a hug and Draco held him for a few moments before Harry turned back to the group, who had recently been joined by Moody, McGonagall and Snape.
"Gather the rest of the order." Professor McGonagall ordered. "We have to plan this properly if we're to do as Potter says." Harry stared at her sceptically. They were actually going to do what he said, they actually believed him? Wow, he thought, and took the seat that Draco was offering to him. He looked expectantly at professor McGonagall as she shuffled out of the room with Moody.
When they returned they were followed by almost all the original members of the order, Tonks and Mundungas where there, and many new faces Harry did recognise, and some of them he didn't care to. Everyone piled into the kitchen and took a seat somewhere or other and all eyes turned to the door as Dumbledore walked through briskly, far from his usual calm and composed self. He looked extremely flustered and Harry started to wonder just what is was Dumbledore did when he wasn't with the Order or at Hogwarts. Ron was tapping his fingers on the desk, watching Dumbledore expectantly, while Draco was rubbing the back of his neck apprehensively.
"We are going to send in our best." Dumbledore said, his hands leaning on the table in front of him, as though he could no longer stand of his own accord, his voice sounded more tired than usual. "The ones who go will need to be stealthy, they will need to move around without being seen, they will need to know the quickest ways in, out of and around the castle. They will need several items that will help them in doing so… " Harry stared at Dumbledore as though he'd gone crazy. "Mr. Potter will lead the party, which will consist of Mr. Ron Weasley, Ms. Granger, Mr. Zabini, and, of course, Mr. Malfoy." Everyone at the table stared first at Harry, Draco, Ron, Hermione and Blaise, and then at Dumbledore as though they too thought he had gone crazy.
"You're going to send a bunch of kids in there to suss out the Dark Lord, report back to us, take a course of action to secure the castle and get all the students into the great hall without any of them getting hurt?" Mundungas questioned dubiously. Dumbledore simply nodded, as serious as any of them had ever seen him, the twinkle in his eye had diminished.
"That's precisely what I'm going to do, they're the smartest student Hogwarts has seen in years. They can do it." He said. "They will leave for Hogwarts tomorrow morning accompanied by Snape, McGonagall, Lupin and Black. I wish you all luck. Anyone else who would like to go of their own accord is welcome, but the rest of us will be backing them up after their first report." And with that he turned in a swish of robes and left the room.
Harry turned around to face his friends. Hermione had flung her arms around Ron's neck while Blaise had placed his hand on Draco's shoulder, who was staring at Harry with such fear in his eyes like Harry had never seen. He didn't want to go, but he didn't want to let everyone down either. He knew that if he managed to make it through this alive it would be a miracle. He sighed as he stood from the table and left the room. He walked up to the room which he shard with Draco. He sat on the bed, let his heads fall into his arms and he cried.
He didn't very for very long, but when Harry did lift his head he saw that Draco was sitting on the bed opposite him and Hermione was standing next to him. Before long, Blaise and Ron entered, followed by Blainey. She sat down next to Harry.
"You know, there are many of us that believe you're the most powerful wizard of our age. And you are, Harry. You'll be ok." She suddenly sounded very soft spoken. In fact, she reminded Harry of Hermione, who had now moved to sit next to Harry and put her arm around him. He smiled at her and rested his head on her shoulder. He knew he never would have been so courageous, loyal or happy if he didn't have his friends. They were his family, and the only family I've got left, he added as an after thought.
"Well, we should practice some more wandless magic, it'll help, Harry. Get some of that anger out, hey?" Blainey smiled but Harry could tell her heart wasn't in it. He got up off the bed and Draco followed him, the others watched him leave.
"You think he really is the most powerful wizard of our time?" Ron asked as his eyes followed Harry's retreating form down the hall.
"Yea," Hermione said, smiling. "He is."
I'm really sorry that it's taken me so long to update this chapter, but I got caught out at work and I've been busy so I haven't been able to work on it so freely. Hopefully I can get chapter 11 done over the weekend, but it was my birthday yesterday so I'll probably be going out, I promise thought that I'll really try and get chapter 11 up soon, and that they'll finally get Hogwarts and to the action.