A/N - Smut (near the end). If you're skipping the smut, please read the A/N at the end. I answered some questions.
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Chapter 28
Draco stirred, feeling the bed shift. He cuddled closer to Ginny, trying to get back to sleep. Suddenly he stiffened, feeling a hand resting on the back of his t-shirt. He looked around and saw someone sitting on the side of his bed. He let out a sigh of relief, spotting the dark glasses despite the very dim light.
He carefully disengaged himself from Ginny, shifting over and sitting up, running his fingers through his hair. "Bloody Hell Blaise..." He said softly, so as not to wake Ginny. "What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"
"It's later." Blaise said softly.
Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. Leave it to Blaise to get all literal on him. "Fine... what is it you wanted to talk to me about?" He said in resignation.
"Did... did you mean what you said... about me being your best friend?"
Draco groaned. "I said it, didn't I?"
Blaise hung his head slightly. "It's just... you've always seemed to be so irritated with me all the time... To be honest, I didn't even think you liked me..."
Draco let out a deep sigh. He could feel Darien urging him on. His insistence on openness was irritating, but... whether it was his weariness or the encompassing darkness... or simply because it was Blaise... it didn't seem quite so difficult at the moment... He hoped Darien wasn't rubbing off on him... that would be a bloody nuisance. "Of course you irritate me... and annoy me... and drive me straight around the bloody twist on occasion... but..." He sighed again, "In a way... I guess... that's kind of what I like about you... you just don't care about what people think... you're always just... you..." He shifted uneasily. "I can't even count the number of times I've told you to bugger off or get lost... thrown things at you... all but kicked you to get you to go away..."
"Actually, you did kick me once..." Blaise said in a soft, amused voice.
Draco smirked, "Oh yeah... guess I did... my point is... no matter what I did, you never went away..."
"Guess I'm just a slow learner." Blaise said with a little smile.
Draco let out a soft chuckle. "Ya... well, you made up your mind that I was your friend, and no matter what I said or did to you, you just kept being my friend... you're the only person who never once gave up on me..." he trailed off, dropping his eyes. "There were a couple of times... I was probably at the lowest I've ever been... and you were there... I was wretched to you... I yelled and screamed and threw things at you... and through it all you refused to leave my side... you have no idea how much that meant to me..." he trailed off, his voice having gained and aching edge. He glanced up at him with a little smirk, "Sometimes I'd tell you to leave just to hear you say no... I find your unwavering, infuriatingly obstinate dedication... strangely comforting..."
Draco smirked, pulling himself together. "I guess what I'm trying to say is... if you're asking me if you are my best friend... I'd have to say that's a pretty bloody daft question to ask. Who else would put up with me? Honestly..."
Blaise grinned. "That means more to me than you know..." He said softly.
After that, the silence drew out a bit, neither one knowing quite what to say. Blaise fiddled with the buttons on his shirt. "Can't ever seem to get these bloody things aligned properly..." He mused with a smirk, adjusting them.
Draco sighed. "We'll get that potion made. I promise..."
Blaise shifted his head up sharply. "No... no no no! Do NOT promise Draco! This is none of your doing and none of your responsibility. You tried, and that means the world to me. I could ask no more."
Draco sighed again, "You're not going to run around blind forever, Blaise!"
Blaise gave a rueful chuckle. "No. I'm not. In that you are absolutely correct."
Draco found his tone unsettling. "Why did you come here tonight, Blaise?" He asked in a cautious tone.
Blaise sighed. "Just wanted to see you again..." He said, reaching out and brushing a lock of hair out of Draco's eyes.
Draco's heart started beating oddly as a cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach. "I thought you couldn't see me anymore... Snape said that had passed..."
Blaise nodded agreeably. "It did."
"But... you can see me now, can't you?" Draco asked, though he already knew the answer.
Blaise nodded again.
"Since when?"
"The Common room earlier..."
The candles burst to full height as if of their own volition. Draco reached out, taking ahold of Blaise's glasses and pulling them off, trying not to let his hands tremble. Blaise's face was unnaturally pale, the rims of his eyes, and even his eyelashes were white as chalk. Draco let out a little pained breath. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?" He asked achingly. Now that he thought about it, it should have been obvious to him... Blaise had stopped him as he passed, though he had been walking across a rug in silence at the time... why hadn't he realized Blaise was once again able to see him???
Blaise gave him a little smile. "Wouldn't have done me any good. I talked to Snape about this as soon as I found out it was a possibility... I have all of my affairs in order and a certified Will on file and everything... I'm not as dumb as I look. There's nothing he can do to reverse it or delay it once it's started up again... not without all the ingredients he needs for the counter curse."
"Can't he just give you another dose of that potion he used on you before?" Draco asked, grasping at straws.
Blaise shook his head. "In the cases they had on file where they tried that, it only severely weakened the victims and actually made the curse work faster... not to mention a lot more painfully... So there was really no point getting everyone all upset when there was nothing they could do about it... and there were a couple of things I had to take care of while I was still able..."
He picked up a couple of sealed letters from where they had sat beside him on the bed. "Could you make sure these get delivered? One's for my mum... the other..." He took a deep, shuddering breath, tears leaking down his deathly pale cheeks. He ran his fingers over the second envelope. Draco could see the words 'Pansy and Ron' written on the back of it. Draco moved forward, wrapping his arms around Blaise and holding him tight. He tried not to notice how cool Blaise felt, and the slight rasp he could hear once he was closer, starting very softly deep in his lungs.
Blaise clutched him weakly, pressing his face into Draco's shoulder. "I don't want to leave them..." He sobbed achingly.
"You won't... you won't... we'll find a way around this..." Draco said, keeping his voice confident, studiously trying to ignore the despair he felt welling inside him. He held Blaise tighter. Despite his best efforts, a couple of tears escaped him.
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"Wake up..." A voice gently prompted.
Ron and Pansy stirred, looking around in confusion. The candles were all up. They looked over as Draco took a seat on the bed next to Ron. They both also noticed the missing occupant, sitting bolt upright almost simultaneously.
"What..." Pansy stammered, looking around in a fruitless search for Blaise.
Ron didn't even bother, having already spotted Draco's red-rimmed eyes and grave expression. He seemed to be having a hard time breathing. "No... please don't tell me that..." He said achingly, tears already coursing down his cheeks.
Draco dropped his eyes.
Pansy let out a pained cry, covering her mouth.
"He's still alive..." Draco quickly said. He sighed, "But the curse has taken hold of him again... he didn't want you to see him like that..."
"Well too bloody bad!" Ron said, starting to get up.
Draco quickly put a hand on his chest to hold him back. "Ron please... he asked me to come here. I am to give you a message..."
Ron settled back, reaching over and taking Pansy into his arms as she stared in numb shock at Draco. He took a deep breath, "Tell us then..."
Draco nodded. "First, he asked me to tell you that... you should already know this, but he wanted to say once again that he loves you both with all his heart and soul... and if there was any good that came of this, it was that it gave him the courage to finally tell you how he truly felt..." He paused, letting them take that in. They just held eachother, tears streaming down their cheeks. "The rest is for Pansy... he told me to tell you that he keeps his promises... but that there is still time, and that you are free to change your mind."
Pansy looked up at Ron, confused. Ron just shook his head, equally bewildered.
Draco pulled open the drawer in the bedside table. He looked in and fished something out. "He said to show you this and you'd know what he meant..." He said, holding up his hand and letting the tiny charms slip from his fingers and dangle on it's chain.
Ron furrowed his brow in confusion. It was the necklace Pansy always wore... a tiny, stylized bird with its wings outstretched as if in flight, made of white gold on an impossibly thin white gold chain. He looked down at her to see if she had a clue...
Pansy was running her fingertips over where it usually lay, as if trying to belie that the charm in his hand could really be hers. "Merlin..." She whispered, looking like she was about to pass out.
"What?" Ron asked in confusion.
Draco took the tiny charm and lay it on the palm of his left hand, examining it distractedly. "It's known as a contraceptive charm, Ron." he said gently, "Most of the girls in Slytherin wear them in one form or another... and in many other houses as well of course... odd little bits of jewelry that no one would notice... usually given to them by their mothers when they go off to school... of course some of the boys wear such things as well, especially in the richer pureblood families..." He said, turning his right hand over and peering at the ring on his ring finger that had his family crest emblazoned on it. "But Blaise never wore one..."
Ron looked at the tiny, completely innocent looking charm, stunned. He looked down at Pansy, comprehension dawning. "You mean... he..."
"Got me pregnant... one little black haired child... just like he promised..." She said in a soft, utterly dazed voice.
"Well, you probably aren't there yet... but he also cast a fertility charm on you... so you undoubtedly will be if you don't put this back on within the next hour or so before the after effects of this wear off entirely... I mean since he took it off before he shagged you, his seed is still viable... but your body still has to catch up and produce a viable egg... and just as soon as it does you'll be pregnant... but if you put this back on now, it will neutralize the seed before that happens." Draco said, holding out the charm where she could take it if she wanted to.
She just sat there, staring at the charm for the longest time. She slipped her hand down to rest on her stomach, looking down at it, still too shocked to even think to cover herself, the blanket having slid down to her waist. She curled up against Ron, pressing her face to his chest as her tears redoubled. "I never imagined I'd have to raise our baby alone..." She sobbed achingly, her hand still clutched protectively over her stomach.
Ron sighed, holding her tight. "You won't... You'll still have me..." he said softly.
She looked up at him, surprised.
He wiped the tears off her cheek tenderly. He took a deep breath, "Whether as a friend... or a lover... or... maybe even more... whatever you wish me to be... I'll be there... I could never let you go through this alone... and I could never let Blaise's child grow up without a father..." he said softly. "Besides..." He said with a little half-hearted smile, "You really think any one person could handle a child of his?"
She gave a little laugh, then slipped her arms around him, holding him tight as she started sobbing.
"I just want to point out once again..." Draco said gently, "He is still alive... The curse has resumed, but its progress is still greatly hampered, so it is moving very slowly. Snape estimates he probably still has at least several days before he is past all possibility of recovery... and I, personally, plan on getting the last ingredients out of Fudge if I have to carve them out of his miserable carcass with a ruddy butcher's knife!" he said, his eyes swirled with brown and glinting dangerously as he finished.
Ron looked into the strange, chaotic eyes. He had no doubt Draco was telling the absolute and honest truth. "Tell me if you need someone to hold him down while you do." Ron said grimly.
Draco gave him a short nod, "I'll do that." He slipped his hand in his robe, tucking away the obviously unwanted charm and pulling out the sealed envelope. He stared at it for a long moment. "This is... in case... we can't get the ingredients..." he said softly, setting the envelope on the bedside table, the side with their names facing up.
They both stared at the benign looking envelope for a long moment.
"We won't be needing that." Ron said firmly.
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Ron and Pansy followed Draco impatiently as he led them to the room Blaise had been put in. Pansy was clinging to Ron's arm with both hands, looking pale.
Draco slowed as he saw Snape leaning against the wall of the corridor ahead, his arms crossed tensely across his chest, staring through the crack in the door opposite him, which stood slightly ajar.
"What's happened?" Draco asked worriedly.
Snape put his finger to his lips to quiet him, then said in a low voice. "I took down the wards and Flooed his mum... she's in with him now..."
Ron and Pansy stepped over to where they could see. They could see his mother, a petite woman with long raven tresses and dressed all in black, sitting on the side of the bed. She was holding onto Blaise as if her life depended on it and weeping openly. Blaise was stroking her hair soothingly, but it was evident by the slight jerkiness of his movements that he was already getting weak.
Pansy turned and buried her face in Ron's shirt. He just held her, fighting back his own tears and moving them out of view of the room.
After a drawn out silence punctuated only by Pansy's sobs and those of Blaise's mother drifting softly out of the door, Snape cleared his throat uncomfortably. "We'll be moving him into the Siege tunnel as soon as it's safe." He said softly, "I have a group of my best seventh years in there already, reinforcing the protective spells and setting the groundwork for the ward. I should be able to extend the main ward by early afternoon."
Ron looked over at him, surprised. "Why move him?"
Snape looked over at him, a look of pity crossing his dark eyes. "It was at his request... he is alright here for the moment... but if this progresses to the later stages... he didn't want to be in Slytherin if that should occur..."
"But he has several days, right?" Ron asked pensively. "Before it kills him I mean..."
Snape looked over at him again. "It won't kill him, Mr. Weasley." He said grimly, "We'll have to do that ourselves."
Ron and Pansy both looked over at him in shock.
"You obviously haven't read up on the curse... probably best... the descriptions are anything but reassuring... it will slowly turn him into a wraith if left unchecked, thus the name. He will become a malicious, soulless creature who's only purpose is to fly about stealing innocent souls... The only way to prevent it other than curing it is to kill the victim before they lose substance entirely... don't worry... I have a poison that will be swift and painless if it should come to that..."
He sighed softly, looking away as Ron and Pansy held eachother and sobbed. Draco looked away as well. He bit his lip, fighting the gathering moisture in his eyes.
"I'm going to go check on the others..." Draco said quickly, hurrying away.
He made his way through the winding corridors on instinct alone. He tried to fight off the echo of Snape's words that seemed intent on ringing through his head... tried to obliterate imagined images of Blaise wasted away by the curse like the pictures he'd seen in the book he'd found. And the poison... he knew well the one Snape had spoken of... it was a euthanasia potion that was highly frowned upon, but not quite banned as of yet... he, himself, had helped Snape brew it as a special project in his third year. It was a total headfuck to think that he had helped create the means by which Blaise would die... even though he knew how much more humane it would be than not using it.
He turned off before reaching the Common room. He couldn't face anyone right now. He entered his room and slammed the door, pulling out his wand and sealing it. When that was done, he slumped against the door, his wand falling from his numb fingers, pressing his forehead to the hard wood, his insides in utter turmoil.
"Draco?"
He let out a pained breath. He hadn't figured on Ginny still being in the room. He pulled himself together, straightening and turning, making his face studiously emotionless. She was standing there in the doorway of the bathroom, looking hesitant. She had a towel around her, her hair still dark with dampness from the shower. She bit her bottom lip, looking him over worriedly, her own eyes red-rimmed from crying.
He quickly averted his eyes, afraid they would betray him. He pulled off his robes and tossed them in the general direction of the chair, striding forward. "I should get my shower taken too..." He said, wanting to avoid having to talk to her. He unbuttoned his shirt as he crossed the large room. He reached the door, and yet still she stood there, blocking his way. "Ginny..." He said irritably.
"No." She said firmly.
He looked into her eyes and saw the unyielding set of them, her Weasley stubbornness flaring instantly.
Draco dropped his voice, "Not now, Ginny."
She just shook her head. "No. I'm not going to let you crawl back into that shell of yours! I know better than anyone what Blaise means to you, and you can't keep this all bottled up!"
He set his jaw. "My emotions, whatever they may be, are just that... MINE!" He growled. He grabbed her by the shoulders to move her out of the way, but she grabbed ahold of him at the same time. He growled in irritation, trying to move her and they stood there, locked in a struggle. He managed to swing her around out of the doorway, but she overbalanced, still holding him and pulling him down with her.
She hit the rug, and he landed on top of her. Before he could disengage himself, he found her lips on his, kissing him fiercely. He let out another growl, letting his weight crush her to the floor, kissing her back and forcing his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues battled fiercely as he quickly got hard, grinding his hips up against her roughly.
After a minute of this, he got up on his knees, ripping open the towel that covered her and hurriedly undoing his pants, all but tearing his clothes out of the way before shoving her legs further apart and dropping back down on top of her. To his frustration, he found it much more difficult than expected to enter her since she was fresh from the shower. She let out a little pained sound as he tried to force his way in.
He let out an angry breath, moving off her and shifting down, quickly alleviating the problem with his tongue. When he felt it was good enough to gain entrance, he moved back up, thrusting himself into her. It was a bit less than smooth to begin with, but within a couple of strokes the problem corrected itself.
He settled back onto her heavily, pounding himself into her body and making her cry out... though he wasn't entirely sure if they were cries of pleasure or pain... but he was past caring by that point. He thrust himself into her harder, pouring his pain, fear and frustration into her in a wild torrent. He didn't even notice when the tears started flowing down his cheeks. He had his eyes clenched shut, his whole attention focused on the purely carnal sensations of driving himself into her.
He sped up, letting himself go entirely as he felt the dizzying rush of his peak fast approaching. And then it crashed over him... he stabbed himself into her, crying out as he erupted inside her. He pulled back slightly and thrust back in with each aftershock, trying to drive himself deeper, until he was completely spent, his body finally coming to rest on top of her. He let out a sob of pure anguish, clutching her to him. He couldn't seem to control himself as he started sobbing uncontrollably, burying his face in her damp hair.
He vaguely became aware of her legs being wrapped around him... and the sting of fresh scratches on his back... and the fact that she was holding him, stroking his hair. He sobbed harder as how brutal he'd been with her began to sink in. reality seemed to be having a hard time reasserting itself in his mind... perhaps because reality had gone so very off-kilter.
He didn't know how long he lay there, just sobbing like a child... but eventually his tears ran dry and the sobs receded. He lay there, feeling hollow and utterly spent. "I'm sorry..." He whispered achingly, "I'm so sorry..."
"Shhh..." She said soothingly, still gently stroking his hair and nuzzling against him.
"I... I didn't mean to..."
She just smiled, "I love you..." She murmured, gently kissing his neck.
He shifted up some, taking his weight off her for the first time and looking down at her sadly. "But... I hurt you... how can I ever..."
She grinned and put her finger over his lips, silencing him. "A bloody brilliant shag is something you never have to apologize for!" She said with a mischievous smirk.
He blinked at her, stunned. Slowly, a little smile started to tug at the corner of his mouth.
She leaned up and kissed him, then smiled. "Now you can take a shower... in fact, I think I'll join you..."
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A/N - Please don't kill me mandabella! Or any other big Blaise fans... I like Blaise, really... just calm down and take deep breaths... that's it... keep going...
Just so you know... I have left it assumed that Snape filled Harry in on at least the basics of the whole Draco/Darien thing before the scene in the Hospital Wing. I mean would he really introduce Darien and then refuse to explain??? Ok, perhaps it would give him a shred of sadistic glee since it's Harry we're talking about, but I still find it unlikely ;)
Ann-Marie - He cried the first time because it was a very emotional experience for him... the loss of innocence... sharing yourself more completely than you ever had with anyone before... it can be a bit... well, emotional. The second time... well that's probably pretty obvious now... he knew the curse had started up again and his chances of survival... That he was probably going to lose these two people that he loved so completely, and leave them... and he knew how very much that would hurt them... I'd say that's reason enough...
And before you go asking, because I'm sure someone inevitably will... Draco... sex can be a means by which some people, especially people who are very emotionally repressed (like Draco!), can achieve a catharsis... a purging of emotions. It's something that we all need... but some people just have a much harder time achieving on their own.
And I hope this satisfies you rabid D/G shippers who have been chomping at the bit for more shagging!
Oh, and JeanB - this is, admittedly, much smuttier than I usually go... I think writing it as you go, with all these reviewers egging you on... well, it gets a bit out of hand very easily... this was supposed to be at MOST like ten chapters long... and look! Here comes 40!!! What the Hell?!? But seriously, if I ever get around to FINISHING THIS I will quite possibly start posting another fic that I have that is even more extensive (though this one is well on it's way to making a lie of that...) and MUCH less smutty... in fact, unless I seriously revamp it, it is way tame compared to this wild romp... and absolutely no slash in it. It is a very... well the only way I can describe it is a more traditionally J.K. style story... in that it starts at the beginning of the year and such, and follows her style much more closely... the characters being much more true to her vision of them, though I make my own interpretations on why they are the way they are... but I use what I call 'drifting focus'... which means I can't stick to a single character (smirks). The focus of the story shifts from character to character over the course of the story... it isn't a D/G ship... but I probably will put them as the two main characters... because in the beginning, Ginny seems to have the biggest part... and towards the second half it drifts to Draco being the most essential character (I try to avoid the term 'main character')... but it is a darker Draco that is what I think is more in keeping with J.K., though I have made him much more rounded. I'm babbling... I'll shut up now :)