Thank you AllAboutMe, Blue Yeti, Bibayb, coriander, anon, Eccentricity is Me, Nuriko No Tenshi,Mystica, lunarscythe, Silverfox, Silent Stalker, ClarKeRaVen, and Rehanna.
"Stop it," Harry commanded.
"Stop what?" snapped Draco.
"Stop brooding."
"I am not brooding."
"Yes, you are. I can tell."
"Well done, Miss Granger. Care to share?"
"One, that was completely unnecessary. Two, the dorm is completely empty and you're still fully clothed."
"Honestly, Harry. Is that all you think about?"
"Of course not. Sometimes I think about Quidditch."
"Wrong answer."
"Oh come on," Harry said, pulling Draco to him. "I miss it, that's all. I miss feeling you. I miss holding you afterwards."
"You're holding me now," Draco pointed out. Harry nuzzled his viciously cranky boyfriend.
"It's not the same." His hand glided along Draco's thigh, finding Draco's hand and clasping it.
"You know, if someone had told me last year that Harry Potter would be begging me for sex-" Draco's turned around. "- And that I'd be giving in to him, I'd have hexed them twelve ways 'til Sunday and had them committed." Harry's eyes lit up. "But we're going to do this my way, with whatever rules I see fit. Understand?" Harry nodded.
"Undress. Slowly."
Percy was punctual as usual.
Snape was worried. He looked at Percy dressed in black jeans and a thin grey sweater, at the stretch of exposed neck, the serious little child's mouth, and the tawny eyes that gave Percy away so easily and he was worried. But he knew that he was underestimating Percy. He had always underestimated Percy. But how would Percy stand up to a whole room full of Death Eaters?
"Severus." The voice was soft, a gentle summons. "I can tell by the look on your face that this isn't going to be easy."
"I have to blindfold you now. We won't be able to apparate there. Since you don't know where you're going, you'd almost certainly be splinched." Percy nodded. "And I'll need your wand." It was handed over without reservation. Snape gripped it tightly and placed it in his pocket, drawing out a black cloth. "Don't be afraid." Percy leaned forward and kissed Snape very gently. Snape, glad that he didn't have to worry about being caught, returned the kiss fervently.
"I'm not afraid."
"Who said I was talking to you?" Mild surprise, laughter, and then darkness on Percy's part as the blindfold was secured.
The mark was gone, yes, but Lucius could still feel Voldemort's presence in his mind. He had borne the mark too long not to recognize it- a throbbing pain at the base of his skull. It was there all the time. When he was younger, the pain drove him insane and he would try to drink it away. Unfortunately Malfoys are notoriously angry drunks and Narcissa often received the brunt of his temper. The pain intensified- a sharp stabbing in his temples. "Damn," Lucius muttered into his third glass of brandy. He was being summoned.
Harry did as he was told, cursing the winter and the need for layers of clothing. After an eternity of those silver eyes boring holes into him, he was naked. "Lie down." Harry lay amongst the pillows, waiting for his next order. Draco went to work on his own clothes, unbuttoning his shirt with the speed of molasses in January, knowing that Harry was willing him to go faster. At last Draco was unclothed and he sank beside Harry.
"Tonight will be a lesson in self-restraint," Draco said, running a hand along Harry's torso. "Rule number one: Silence is golden."
The Death Eaters were assembled as usual, masks in place, when Snape appeared, leading his charge by the elbow. Lucius nearly laughed. Some members of the circle did. Voldemort chuckled. "Undo the blindfold, Severus." The blindfold was removed and the first thing the unidentified Weasley did was leisurely brush the hair out his eyes. He looked around the circle with nothing short of awe and a sort of glee that even Lucius found disturbing.
"Bow," Voldemort said.
"How low?" asked the young man. Another laugh from Voldemort.
"How low can you go without embarrassing yourself?"
"Very," answered the young man. In one fluid motion he knelt, head bowed. Voldemort titled his chin up. Lucius shuddered for him, remembering when he first felt the cold, clammy hand like death's own upon his shoulder.
"What's you name?"
"Percy Weasley, m'lord."
"And what is it you do for a living?"
"I'm the successor of Bartimus Crouch. I work at the Ministry."
"And why does the son of Arthur Weasley want to join my ranks?" Voldemort asked, titling Percy's head to the side.
"My father knows nothing of power."
"And you do?" Percy smiled a little.
"I know its possibilities and I know that right and wrong don't mean anything. We were on the 'right' side after all and after Ginny was born we were practically starving."
"What are you saying, Percy?"
"I guess I'm saying that there is only power and right and wrong is determined by those who have it."
"And you would have mine?" Percy laughed.
"I don't desire a world, milord, just a place in it that's not on a charity line."
"H'mm." Volemort's fingers moved through Percy's hair. "What can you do for me Percy?" Percy looked thoughtful.
"Docments. Records. I can get you exiting ones or forge new ones. If you need an ambassador, I can speak to dark creatures. They might not listen, but I'll try."
"Anything else?" Lucius nearly laughed. If he didn't know better, he'd swear that the Dark Lord was coming on to Severus's charge. Percy lowered his lashes.
"Whatever else needs to be done. I am at your disposal," he said in a low voice.
"Is that so?"
"Your servant in all things, milord."
Oh get a room,Lucius thought irritably. Of course someone should've told the boy that it was a bad idea to show up on Voldemort's doorstep looking so damn virginal. Actually, now that he thought about, Lucius had seen the Weasley boy around the Ministry. Yes. He had thought the boy would die a virgin. So much for that. But why was Severus so concerned? It's not like he wanted into the boy's pants…or perhaps he did. Lucius smiled behind his mask. He would have expected Severus to have better taste.
"You have the drive and the ambition. You also have something my other followers lack- courage." Lucius could swear that that last remark was a dig at him. He'd be damned if he actually gave a shit what Voldemort had to say about him. He was probably damned anyway. "There is one more thing to be tested. It's time for your initiation," Voldemort announced, lifting the Weasley boy to his feet.
Lucius thought longingly of the bottle of brandy in his study.
"Move over!" cried Complete Chaos.
"Watch where you're going, you sparkling oaf!"
"Shove it up your arse," Complete Chaos grumbled.
"Shove what up whose arse?" asked Pointlesness.
"I don't think we've gotten to that part yet," Trouble said, tripping lightly down the aisle.
"No, unfortunately, you missed the part where Draco tied Harry to the bed," Angst said, passing the popcorn.
"Aww! That's the best part," remarked Depth, plopping down in a seat.
"And look we walked right in the middle of all the good snogging."
"Order! Is that you? What the hell are you doing here?" asked Complete Chaos.
"What the hell am I doing here is the better question," moaned Plot. "This can hardly be necessary to the story line."
"If I have to be here, you have to be here," Complication complained.
"What's the matter, boys? Do you find the idea of two boys shagging a threat to your sexuality?" Confusion teased.
"Shut up you," said Complication, tossing a handful of gobstoppers at his cousin. "I like you better when you only mumbled."
"I happen to like the idea of two boys shagging," said Humor, grinning.
"That only because you find homophobia hilarious," Plot said.
"Doesn't everybody?" asked Humor.
"Not the homophobes," Angst replied with a pointed look at Plot and Complication.
"Ouch! Stop that! You're pulling my hair!" cried Depth.
"Sorry. In this light it looked like a candy wrapper," Complication apologized.
"Um- Order? Could you stand up a sec? You're stepping on my robe," said Trouble.
"Oh, I beg your pardon."
"Owww! That was my foot!" yelled Complete Chaos.
"Was it?" asked Order primly.
"Ouch! Bitch! That was on purpose!"
"Prove it."
"Shut up! We're trying to watch the snogging! Do you mind?"
"Yes, I do mind!" said Complete Chaos, standing.
"Sit down, you spaz."
"Spaz? I'd rather be a spaz than a whale like you. You're so fat you have smaller fat guys in orbit around you, you disgusting fat son-of-a-"
"Did you say fat?" Pointlessness interrupted. "No! Is that the Mysterious Workings of Life?" Complete Chaos squinted in the darkness of the theater.
"Well…I'll be fucked," said he said.
"We're all fucked," Confusion corrected. "Run!"
All tiny wizards and witches make a mad scramble for the exits, leaving a cloud of popcorn, candy, and glitter behind
Harry was slowly and methodically being driven insane. It had been hard enough to comply with Draco's insistence on silence. It had been impossible for Harry to comply with the demand to keep his hands to himself, so Draco had tied Harry's hands to the bed. And Harry was about to bite off his own tongue. Draco's lips and tongue worked a path up Harry's neck, sucking on spots that were beyond sore and sent shivers down Harry's body. Draco's lips met his and Harry arched into the kiss eagerly, sliding his thigh between Draco's legs. It drew no response from Draco, who seemed to be made of stone. Harry fought down a cry of frustration. Draco was being purposely cruel, but only Draco could make cruel this sexy. Draco broke off the kiss and before Harry could process, took him into his mouth. Harry bit his lip hard, drawing blood. Draco wiped it away and slid the same finger into Harry's mouth. Harry could taste the blood, metallic and underneath that the familiar salty sweetness of Draco.
And as cosmic laws of bad timing would have it, the door opened. Draco withdrew and Harry whimpered in protest. Seamus looked up in surprise and his jaw dropped through the floor and knocked some unsuspecting third year in the common room unconscious. Whatever Seamus had been expecting to find, it was not Harry bound and displayed quite fetchingly and Draco looking very predatory, very complacent, and all together feline.
"Holy shit," the Irish boy swore. "I should've knocked."
"You think?" Draco asked, smiling. Seamus mumbled an apology and left.
"That was weird," Harry said after a moment.
"Yeah, it was," Draco agreed. "He didn't even try to crack a joke."
"He's been kinda bummed since yesterday."
"Ever since he got back form his detention." There was a momentary pause as Draco put the pieces together. "Damn, you don't think he got shot down, do you?"
"Who would shoot down Seamus?"
"A Weasley. The entire family is full of sodding wankers," Draco grumbled.
"Draco!" came the swift reprimand.
"Come on. If Seamus told you point-blank that he wanted to shag you, would you have the heart to tell him that he'd have to make do on his own?"
"We already know that you couldn't," Harry said dryly. Draco winced.
"That was entirely unnecessary. I thought you Gryffindor types were too noble to hold a grudge."
"I was almost a Slytherin," Harry replied, readjusting himself among the pillows so that his bindings didn't cut into his wrists. Draco smiled.
"You never told me that."
"There are a lot of things I haven't told you." Harry's eyes flashed mischievously.
"Like what?"
"Like if you don't finish this, so help me if you leave the room in one piece." Draco's eyes flickered to the knots he'd made. They looked reasonably fast to him.
"And how do you plan on carrying out that threat? What's to stop me from getting dressed and just taking a walk around the lake?"
"If you asked me, getting dressed sounds like a fabulous idea," Dean chirped, breezing through the unlocked door.
"We didn't," Draco muttered.
"Sleep with one eye open," Harry warned. "After this, I might have to kill you, Dean."
"What is the world coming to when a guy can't walk into his dorm without walking in on two guys engaging in what appears to be a sadomasochistic ritual?" Dean asked, raising his eyes to the ceiling.
"Appearances are deceiving. Are you in any pain, Harry?"
"Yes!" Harry replied. Draco quickly threw a pillow at his lover.
"Last time I let you answer a question. There are no sadomasochistic acts here. Only bondage and a little submission/dominance issues." Dean raised an eyebrow.
"If you're the dominatrix, where are your high-heeled leather boots?"
"Don't mention leather around Harry!" Draco said, eyes sparkling and his face a mask of mock terror.
"Why not?" Dean asked. Then Comprehension showed up, dancing wickedly around the room. "Oh, heaven help me! You guys have issues."
"My father was abusive and Harry spent the better part of his life locked up in a closet. Isn't that right?" Draco removed the pillow from Harry's face.
"Yeah. After all that I think you would worry if we didn't have issues."
"You know what amazes me?" Draco asked, turning to Harry.
"No, Draco darling, what amazes you?"
"What amazes me is that we're both naked and Dean is having a conversation with us and he's only looked below our shoulders five times," Draco replied. Harry laughed. Dean blushed.
"Six," Draco announced.
"Together, you two are worse than Seamus."
"Worse than Seamus?" Harry echoed, sitting up as much as his restraints would allow.
"Seven. Though, I can't say that I blame him. You do have wicked legs." Harry looked pleased. He was even more pleased when Draco leaned over and kissed him. Harry looked over Draco's shoulder.
"Eight," he whispered.
"I know what you're trying to do," Dean said, looking highly discomfited.
"Damn! How'd you know about the grand orgy?" Harry asked.
"Silly, he knows because he's invited!" Draco replied with an evil little smile.
"You're trying to get me all embarrassed and insecure so that I'll leave and you two can continue to ruin the springs on that mattress. I'm not leaving. If I can survive Seamus making passes at me, I can survive you." Harry and Draco exchanged a look. "Both of you."
"Nine," Draco said innocently, looking at the floor. Harry giggled.
Seamus hurried down the stairs and practically ran out of the common room, ignoring Ginny's worried glance. Once he stepped through the portrait hole, he started running in earnest. It didn't really matter where; he just had to go somewhere. And hand shot out of the darkness and grabbed him by his collar. "Be careful. That staircase only shows up three days out of the week. It's a nasty fall," a voice said softly. Seamus spun to meet his rescuer. Dark curling hair, olive skin, aristocratic hands laden with rings-
"Zabini. Thank you," Seamus replied, breathless. "But why-"
"It would be a shame to let something happen to one of the bright, sparkling people in the world."
"Welcome the Twilight Zone," Seamus sighed.
"The what?" the Slytherin asked, eyebrows knitting together in confusion.
"It's a Muggle program where bizarre and unbelievable things happen," Seamus explained. Blaise shrugged.
"Bizarre and unbelievable things happen everyday. "
"Like Slytherins saving Gryffindors," Seamus observed. Blaise smiled.
"Remind me to warn you next time I do something decent. I stopped you from falling, it's not like I propositioned you."
"Look, Zabini-"
"Blaise."
"Blaise, even if you swung my way-" Blaise laughed softly.
"What?" Seamus asked indignantly.
"At our age, in the right place, at the right time, most of us will swing your way. Gryffindors just have a tendency to stay that way later in life." Seamus shook his head.
"You know you've got a reputation when you meet Slytherins in darkened corners and they start coming on to you-"
"Reputation for what?" Blaise asked.
Seamus stared at Blaise, refusing to believe that the other boy had no idea what he was talking about. But Blaise's dark eyes held only genuine curiosity and kindness and a certain nobility. Blaise, Seamus noted, was one of a dying breed. He was always a gentleman. His family was one of the oldest, older than the Malfoy and Potter lines combined and he was continually out of tune with the rest of his peers. He probably didn't even think half of the more tame thoughts that ran through Seamus's mind.
"A reputation as a whore," Seamus sighed, bitterly wishing he hadn't said that.
"Finnigan, you are not a whore," Blaise said gently.
"How can you know that?"
"People like you don't sell themselves for anything. You can't be bought," Blaise replied sincerely. "You're better than that."
"Would it be incredibly random and cheesy for me to say that you've just become my favorite person?" Seamus asked, brightening instantly. Blaise laughed.
"I'd like that, very much."
There was a small pause as they both took a moment to digest the oddity of this new situation. "Shall I walk you back to you dorm? You're very deep into the Slytherin part of the castle and it's not a place where you want to be lost."
"Aren't you worried about being seen with me- a half-bred Gryffindor?" Seamus asked, truly concerned. With spies all around, he'd hate to think he was jeopardizing his new- was "acquaintance" the proper word for this? Seamus wasn't sure.
"What can they do to me? The oldest wizard families often have the strongest amounts of raw magic, provided that they don't marry too many of their cousins. I may not be grade-driven like the talented Miss Granger, but I assure you that I know well enough how to defend myself. Actually, I always thought it odd that Voldemort didn't eliminate the oldest families first. " If anyone else had said it, it would've been arrogant, but with Blaise it seemed elegant, logical.
"With them gone, there would be no threat to him," Seamus said.
"Well, a very minuscule threat. The Potters, for example, have been a wizarding family since the mid-1600's and your roommate Harry has immense raw talent. The Malfoys have been around since the 1500s and Draco has a great flair for potions and complex charms. It was a brilliant strategic move to kill the Potters, but he miscalculated about Harry. We can be thankful for that."
"Do you think he'd do it again?"
"Do what?"
"Kill the oldest families first?"
"Oh no! If he had any kind of brain at all, and I'm assured he does, then he'd wait until he eliminated the muggleborns and half-breeds. Then he'd eliminate the oldest families, like the Prewitts and the Bones. What great families they were. Such promise their children had!" Blaise sighed. Seamus looked vaguely horrified. "Here we are!"
"Good evening, Madam," Blaise said to the Fat Lady with a smile. " My companion lost his way, would you be so kind as to let him in?" The portrait swung open. The Fat Lady didn't think to ask for a password. She was too charmed.
"G'night, Blaise."
"Until tomorrow, Finnigan."
"Seamus."
"Until tomorrow, Seamus."
Blaise turned the corner and narrowly avoided a collision with Vincent Crabbe. "Excuse me," Blaise said, stepping aside. Vincent blocked his way. Blaise looked confused. "Can I help you, Vincent?"
"What are you doing talking to Finnigan?"
"I'll talk to whomever I please."
"Have you no pureblood pride?" Vincent demanded. The expression on Blaise's face turned cold.
"I take great pride in my lineage, but I do not lord it over other people's heads. Those that do disgrace themselves."
"You should be more careful about the company you choose."
"As should you. Unless you fancy having tea with a dementor."
"This isn't over."
"Yes, it is. This is the part where I'm supposed to threaten you. I'm not going to lower myself to your level, but please assume that a threat stands anyway."
"You're going to threaten me?" Vincent found it rather hard to believe that mild-mannered, angel-faced Blaise Zabini, who never lifted so much as a finger in his life, was going to hurt him. "I don't take kindly to threats."
Vincent swung, but Blaise was every bit a sharp as his wardrobe and stepped aside swiftly. He drew his wand. Vincent knocked it aside. "What are you going to do now?" he laughed.
"I really hate being inconvenienced, " Blaise muttered. He held up his hand. "Petrificus totalus." Thus, Vincent found himself in a full body bind. Blaise knelt, whispered a spell in Vincent's ear, retrieved his wand and left Vincent screaming in the hallway, imagining that his worst fears were coming to get him.
H'mm...I think I'd better wrap up here, this is getting pretty long. --; How was that m'dears? Requests, suggestions, suspicions? Review!
Love,
J. Silver