Disclaimer, Pairing and Warning: in chapter 01

Every you, Every Me
C & P by IncubusSuccubus

Interlude: Cuz There's Nothing Else to Do. Every Me and Every You

How could you tell a boy that there was a fine line they walk?

How could you tell a boy that the world spins and life goes on but nothing was perfect?

How could you tell a boy that each of them had their own roles in this forsaken life?

How could you tell a boy that they were safe within these walls but not outside?

How could you tell a boy so he would stop crying and believe that you would protect him always?

I can hear my mother's voice. The voice echoed, long gone, leaving an empty hollow within himself.

I can hear her siren voice beckoning me. He curled inside the cupboard even though there was no little monster to call her.

I can hear her lullaby with the whisper of green. He visited the Professor's cupboard even when his father's friend was no longer teaching there.

I can hear her magic woven into me. He could feel the ghostly tendrils of dark shadowy hands reaching him, grabbing him, enveloping him and dragged him into razorblade cold, deep and dark water.

I can hear her love

"Did you remember what I taught you?"

The boy tipped his head to the side. "Yes."

Lucius picked up a simple white mask made of porcelain with glass eyes.

Harry watched with his green eyes and a thoughtful expression. They always had these strange lessons. He was asked to read, observe and analysis a subject, like an outsider looking in, trying to find the meaning of everything,

Lucius gestured the boy to sit down on the couch and he sat beside the boy.

Harry could tell the mask was an antique, maybe a family heirloom or was it just an old artifact.

Lucius let Harry touched the mask and felt its smooth surface, the lightness and seeing the color reflected the light from the evening sun.

It was one of those metaphor lessons then: of a person wearing a persona, wearing a different outlook. Lucius knew Harry was young but it was necessary.

Oh Harry understood. He was not like any other boy. He suffered pain, loneliness and silence from his family, sometimes from his friends, his teachers and the general public just because of he was. He subconsciously learned to conceal his true self: to his family he was a freak, to the Wizarding world he was the boy who lived, and to his Angel he was his favorite pet. He never knew any other name and now Lucius told him he has his true self. "Can you see /me?"

Lucius smiled. "Yes." He leaned over so his breath caressed the boy's cheek as he whispered quietly into his ear, "You know and you wear it. Never take it off even when you are with me."

A mask was a fragile thing, he said. It could break or people could see trough it. The trick was to make it stronger. His Angel lifted the porcelain mask and separated the inner and the outer layer. The inside layer was made of marble glass. Just like the mask, he too could have more than one persona.

"Make it strong, change it, transform it/manipulate/ it." Conceal your ego and layer it with another.

"Are you wearing one now?" The green eyes peeked curiously behind long eyelashes.

Lucius chuckled softly. "Several." He grazed the boy's bottom lip with his fingertip. "Would you like to try it on?"

"Can I?" The man nodded. Harry smiled. "Then yes, I would love to."

Lucius secured the mask on the boy's face then he brushed the boy's bangs down to the side of his face and stroked the mask's cold cheek. The boy leaned over and lifted his face. Lucius laughed gently and kissed the smooth porcelain lips chastely. He stroked the boy's chin and said, "The mask is expensive." He whispered into his boy's ear, "Don't break it."

"I promise," whispered the boy behind the mask.

"Good boy," he said. "Now strip."

TBC