Chapter 43

Ginny turned and spotted Draco as he entered the little kitchen, quickly setting aside the teapot and going to him. "Is everything ok?" She asked worriedly.

He waved it off, "Potter just wanted a word with Blaise and wanted me to make myself scarce." he said a bit irritably.

She came up to him and slid her arms around him comfortingly. "You should get something to eat while you wait..." She encouraged gently.

He rolled his eyes. "What is with you people's fixation on eating?" he said with a little smirk.

"You can't start this back up Draco... I know you haven't eaten anything since this whole thing started... have you even slept?"

"I nodded off just a bit ago I'll have you know!" He said with feigned indignation.

She rolled her eyes. "Probably not for more than a few minutes."

His eyes fell, his expression growing somber. "He doesn't have that many minutes left, Ginny... I don't want to waste them when there's really no good reason to." He said softly.

She sighed, holding him tighter. "I know..." She murmured.

After a minute, she sighed. "At least have some juice before you go back." She said with a little encouraging smile.

By the time he left the kitchen she had gotten two glasses of juice down him, and he had to admit, he felt a little better at least. He paused by where a number of Slytherins had gathered around the Map table, pensively watching the demon flit around the grounds through the students.

"Potter still in there?"

"He left a few minutes ago." One of them answered absently, not even pulling their eyes from the map.

Draco sighed and rolled his eyes. Sure he'd come get Draco when he was done. "Bloody prat..." Draco muttered darkly to himself as he went over, reentering Blaise's room.

He made his way over to the bed, his heart sinking as it always did when he heard Blaise's strained, very labored breathing. He sat in his usual place at Blaise's side, reaching over and gently rubbing his back again. It may have just been his imagination, but Blaise seemed to rest easier, his almost visible physical decline slowing just a bit when he kept physical contact with him. Still... he was fading fast.

He closed his eyes, Snape's words as they spoke earlier haunting him. Blaise was going faster than expected. His bones had already begun losing density. From what Snape could tell, they would have to administer the poison before sunset tonight. Blaise hadn't said anything, but Draco knew he had come to accept his fate. It was this acceptance, Draco felt, that was allowing the curse to ravage him more swiftly. Blaise didn't want to die, far from it, but he'd simply lost the will to fight it. Nothing anyone said seemed to convince Blaise that he had a good chance of survival. And, Draco hated to admit it, even to himself, but he couldn't deny a growing dread and knowledge that Blaise was probably correct.

He sighed, opening his eyes and gazing around the room absently, looking at anything but the withered shell that his best friend had become. Blaise twitched in his sleep, then shifted around a bit uncomfortably. Draco looked over in surprise as he heard something clatter to the stone floor on the other side of the bed.

He got up, circling around to see what it was. He stooped down and picked up the wand, lifting it and examining it, puzzled. It wasn't Blaise's. His brow furrowed as he recognized it. "Why the hell would..." He trailed off, his eyes widening. He wouldn't...

Draco dropped the wand, dashing out of the room and over to the Map table. "Potter... where did he go?"

They all looked up at him, startled by the urgency in his voice. "He came over and looked at the map... then he left..." A startled fourth year said.

"And THEN where did he go???" Draco said irritably as Ginny came out of the kitchen at the sound of his raised voice.

"Um... I don't know..." The cowed girl said.

Draco rolled his eyes, shoving her aside in exasperation and scouring the map.

"There he is!" One of the other students said, pointing to one of the tiny dots.

"Draco pounded his fist on the table, making them all jump. "Bloody Hell! He's already outside the Dungeon!" He said, watching the tiny dot as it approached a group of students in the open space of the grounds. As he watched, the demon started tracing it's way through the students in his direction, obviously having spotted him as well, it's swiftness a bit alarming.

Draco let out a growl of frustration. "Go tell Snape Potter's gone into Hero Mode again. I better go get him before he gets his miserable arse killed." Draco said, spinning and running down the corridor.

The other students stared after him, stunned.

"Well that's a bit like the cauldron calling the cat black, now isn't it?" Goyle said sarcastically, rolling his eyes and hurrying off to find Snape.

---------------

Harry looked around at the students milling about, searching them for some sign of possession.

"What are you doing here Potter? The snakes get tired of you and knock you back?" Dean said with a sneer as he spotted him.

Harry rolled his eyes. "Bugger off Dean." Harry said, "This is important..."

Dean and some of the other Gryffindors came over. "And what's so important, Potter?" Dean asked sarcastically.

Harry sighed irritably, glaring at him. "Has it passed your notice that there are no teachers here?"

"The ministry Aurors are taking over for them while the teachers are in some big meeting," Dean said snidely, "Where have you been? Don't they tell you anything in that little pit they call a Dungeon?"

"Leave... leave him be Dean..." Neville said, looking as if speaking up to the other boy was taking all his courage.

Dean glared over at him. "Bottle it Longbottom!" He growled irritably, "He ran off like a little baby and abandoned us for a bunch of snakes! Just like his stupid prat of a friend did! My family is starting to owl me asking what we're doing that is so bad it's driving other students off! Like it's my fault the stupid prat is such a messed up wuss!"

Neville's cheeks colored as he shifted away from Dean, taken aback by the boy's attitude. "Well... well you certainly didn't help!" Neville said, girding himself. "You... you were saying all of those things... I mean it can't have helped, can it?"

"Oh sod off you gormless twit!" Dean spat at Neville, who turned bright red.

"Oh leave him alone and shut it Dean!" Harry growled. "If I don't figure out who's possessed, and quickly, someone's going to die!"

Neville's eyes went wide, turning to glance around, then looking back at Harry pensively. "Die?" He asked, his voice a horrified whisper.

Dean snorted. "Ya right. You expect us to believe that? You're just playing for attention again and you know it! There are Aurors all over the place!"

Harry rolled his eyes, "They're the ones that are going to kill someone!" He said in exasperation. He didn't have time for this. He could see a group of Aurors 'casually' strolling past the crowds of students. As they drew closer, he couldn't help but notice the lead Auror was holding his hand out flat, close to his chest, and there was what looked like a small ball made of crisscrossed metal filigree floating an inch or so above his open palm. This was undoubtedly the device he'd heard about...

"They're Ministry men, Harry." Dean said derisively, "They aren't going to hurt us!"

Neville had shifted around, following his gaze to the approaching group of Aurors. "Are they really going to kill someone?" he asked, his voice wavering.

Harry nodded, "That's their plan... use that thing they have to trap the demon in it's host, then kill the host and incinerate them out here to expose it to the sun and kill it." He said, his eyes scanning the students almost frantically now.

"But what can you do to stop them?" Neville asked faintly.

Harry glanced over at him, then looked away, his cheeks coloring. "It likes me... so it'll probably possess me if it gets a chance before the device traps it..."

Dean snorted. "You're trying to get your little demon back! You were right Seamus... he likes it!"

Seamus looked over at him, puzzled by the comment (having been possessed during the time he had made that comment).

Neville, on the other hand, was staring at Harry with open shock, ignoring Dean, "But... but why would you let it get you? They would kill you!"

Harry looked over, meeting his gaze evenly. "Even if they do, that's one less innocent bystander that has to die... I started this, I'm going to end it." He sighed at Neville's worried look. "Of course, Fudge doesn't want me dead, so I'm hoping it'll just make a shambles of his plan and make him find a way to do this without anyone else dying..."

"That could work..." Neville said in a small, pondering voice. He glanced over at the approaching Aurors, then back at Harry, a wicked smirk slipping onto his lips. "Let's fuck up their plan then, shall we?" He seized Harry's arm as the device in the Auror's hand flashed brilliantly.

Harry was thrown violently backwards as something hit him, a searing pain encompassing his throat as if red-hot iron had been clapped around it. He tried to claw it off out of instinct, but his fingers only felt something like loosely woven threads that seemed to be tightly adhered to his skin. He panted as the burning sensation subsided.

"Home sweet home..." A soft, terrifying voice whispered in his head. He shifted his head to the side, seeing Neville sprawled on the grass a few meters away, looking thoroughly stunned and bewildered.

He shifted up, his head still spinning as the group of Aurors ran up, making the other students scatter in fear as they formed a circle around him. One of them grabbed ahold of Neville's collar as he rose shakily, shoving him roughly out of the circle without a second thought. They were looking at eachother, shocked and confused at seeing Harry. Fudge huffed as he hurried over. "What are you waiting for?" He blustered. Then he spotted Harry. His jaw dropped. "Potter... no... this can't be... Damn it! I said to seal Slytherin!"

"We did!" One of them replied defensively.

"Obviously not well enough!" Fudge growled.

Harry felt himself shoved to the back of his mind, the demon taking control. He rose, giving Fudge a bright smile as he dusted his robes off. "Like you could keep Potter locked up when you were planning on killing an innocent student! You should have known that his insufferable 'noble intentions' wouldn't stand for that!" He said, chuckling evilly.

Fudge was beside himself, at a complete loss for what to do now.

Harry chuckled, "I'm glad to see you were smart enough to make up contingency plans for such obvious possible screw-ups on your part..." He said sarcastically, reaching for his wand. The smile slipped from his lips, He searched around, growing irritated at Harry's amusement he felt filtering through.

"Why that crafty little bastard..." he growled, then sighed, straightening. "Oh well. Guess I'll have to do this the hard way..."

Fudge's eyes went wide as Harry started towards him. "Take him down!" He yelled, quickly hiding behind a couple of his men, "Just don't kill him!"

The Aurors began casting Stunning spells, but they just flashed against Harry with no noticeable effects. Harry smirked. "Oh please! Your element of surprise is long gone. Were you truly too stupid to even research this?" He laughed, then he launched himself at the nearest Auror, taking him down in a blur, making a sweep with his leg and taking down the one next to him as well. When he stood again he held a short sword in each hand. He grinned evilly over at Fudge, whipping the blades around in a flashy, obviously expert flourish before settling into a battle stance, swords poised. "Thanks for the toys Fudge. You didn't honestly think I'd never inhabited anyone who had fighting experience, did you?" He said, beaming gleefully, "Let's dance!"

The other Aurors looked intimidated, but at Fudge's impatient wave, approached Harry.

Fudge watched in horrified silence as blades flashed in a flurry, his men falling to the ground at an alarming rate. In less than a minute, Harry rose back to his full height, smiling over at Fudge, his skin and clothing liberally spattered with blood, his swords literally dripping it... a dozen Aurors laying bleeding and moaning on the grass at his feet.

"Fudge, Fudge, Fudge..." he said in a mocking voice, his head shaking sadly. "You really are the stupidest excuse for a human being that I have ever encountered... and considering I'm over seven hundred years old, that is saying something!"

Fudge just stood there like a deer in headlights, too terrified to do or say anything as the grim visage approached him slowly, treading carelessly over the body of one of his fallen opponents.

"Look what you've done..." He said, shaking his head in mock sadness. "All but gave me Potter on a silver platter... and made it so he has no chance of escaping me at that! I really must thank you for handing me my favorite little meat puppet lock, stock and barrel!" He said, grinning evilly. "I'm letting him watch, you know... just a little thanks to him for that missing wand trick he pulled... I imagine the memories will cause a lot more trauma later on... and therefor give me more amusing angst to enjoy..."

"You're... you're insane!" Fudge stammered faintly.

Harry laughed that deeply disturbing laugh as he came to a stop before Fudge. "I'm not insane, Fudge. I just do my job... and enjoy it... Of course, I also have an entirely different idea of right and wrong... a different idea of what has value and what must be eliminated... something I truly doubt your tiny little brain could comprehend... you never have been one to understand differences, now have you?"

Harry watched Fudge's face raptly as he plunged both blades into his thick abdomen. Fudge's eyes went wide, his mouth falling open, the pain such a sudden shock it struck him momentarily dumb.

Harry's eyes lit up, a look of intense amusement crossing his face as he leaned forward, whispering softly to Fudge, "I'll let you in on a little secret... this..." he said, wriggling the blades embedded in Fudge, "Harry is enjoying... never would have thought him capable of it... he's going to be even more amusing to have around than I thought..."

He eased back, glancing around casually. Almost all of the students had fled back into the school by this point. He looked back and growled in irritation, spotting Draco emerging from the shrubs that hid the secret entrance and sprinting towards him.

He sighed laboriously, turning back to Fudge. "It's been fun, but it looks like play time is over... Thanks again." He said with a genial nod, then he gave both blades a hard twist, making a shriek of pain emerge from Fudge for the first time. He grinned, backing up a pace and planting his foot on Fudge's chest, kicking him off the blades.

He turned and found Neville standing before him. The boy was visibly shaking, but holding his wand on him determinedly.

Harry rolled his eyes, "Out of the way boy!" he snapped irritably.

Neville flinched, but shook his head stubbornly, "He... he did this to save my life... I... I'm not going to let you take him!" he said, his voice trembling as badly as he was.

"Take him? He's already mine. Deal with it!" Harry laughed.

Neville cast a spell at him while Harry smirked at him. Instead of hitting Harry, it hit one of his swords. The whole thing started to glow red from within. Harry cried out and dropped it as it seared his hand. He looked down in shock as the blade melted into a bubbling molten line on the ground, making all the dry grass around it smolder and flame in little spurts.

Harry looked back up at Neville, shocked and enraged. He balled his injured hand and belted him hard, right in the nose, sending the boy sprawling. He glanced back and hissed in irritation as he saw that Draco was approaching faster than expected. The entrance would undoubtedly be swarming with Aurors, and from Harry's thoughts he also knew it was warded... something he probably couldn't break through without a wand. He needed to buy time... He turned and sprinted off towards the Forbidden Forest.

He reached the edge and plunged in, feeling much more at ease in then near darkness, though it was a disadvantage to the sight of his host. As he crashed through the forest, he picked up the sound of something he didn't expect... Draco was catching up with him! He put on more speed, but he was already driving Harry's body far past what should be humanly possible.

After a few more moments, he came to the startling conclusion that he wasn't going to be able to outrun him! He grimly started making plans for how best to handle the impending confrontation. Draco wasn't as stupid and hung up on traditional thought as Fudge and his men... and he had Darien... that could be a serious problem...

----

Draco ran through the forest, his mind instinctively picking out the signs of 'Harry's' passage and following it. He hadn't had any problem whatsoever passing by Fudge without stopping to help, though the man called out to him in obvious agony. Draco wiped the little smirk at the memory off his face, growing serious. You said you knew some of this Green Magic... Draco thought quickly in his mind, too busy trying to breath enough to keep up that speed to speak it aloud.

Yes... enough at least... Darien replied.

When we reach him, take over and use it. It might be our only chance...

I can't! Darien said in exasperation. I'm afraid my talents are useless to you... I'm just a spirit that's possessing you... I need my own flesh to cast... and my own WAND! If you haven't noticed, we are a bit different, you and I. Your wand doesn't match me... he trailed off thoughtfully. But perhaps I can teach you...

Draco nearly stumbled as thoughts and images suddenly started flooding his mind. He compensated, carefully keeping up the pursuit as his mind swirled with gathering knowledge that wasn't his own.

After a few minutes, he broke out into a clearing, his eyes dazzled by the sudden return of the brilliant sunlight all around him. As he dashed across it, he searched the opposite side for the trail... but he didn't see it. This fact had just registered when something darted out from behind a rock outcropping he was passing.

He felt a fist clock him upside the head before he had any hope of reacting, sending him sprawling. His momentum sent him tumbling across the ground for a couple of meters before coming to rest on his back, too stunned to do more than stare up at the sky spinning wildly above him.

And then a shadow obscured the sun and he saw Harry's smirking face looking down at him. Before Draco could get away, he darted down, hitting his hand against Draco's chest flat palmed.

Draco's eyes went wide as he felt talons extend from Harry's fingertips, sinking down inside him. Draco let out a shriek of pure agony, which was taken up by Darien in his head, as it suddenly felt like he was being eviscerated. Though it didn't seem possible, the agony continued to escalate as it felt like his mind was unraveling and leaking away.

And then the pain eased some... though it left him feeling as if he'd been ripped from stem to stern and left to bleed out. He just lay there panting, unable to comprehend the chaos in his mind.

"Lose something Malfoy?" A sneering voice asked with sadistic glee.

Draco managed to turn his head towards the voice, making his eyes work with some effort. His eyes widened, his breath catching in his throat. Harry was standing there, triumphantly holding out a pale, wispy form by its ghostly hair. Draco let out a sob of anguish as he reached weakly for what was undeniably Darien.

"Ah ah ah!' Harry said, pulling the shade away. "You seemed so opposed to possession... so I thought I'd help you out with your little problem..." He said, tossing the ghost carelessly aside.

Draco let out another cry, watching as Darien drifted over, settling to the ground some distance away. He just lay there, looking completely lifeless. "Darien..." He gasped, finally comprehending the raw, achingly empty feeling inside. He turned over, trying to crawl over to him shakily, but Harry just laughed, kicking him back over on his back.

"Enough fun. Time to get this over with and get out of here." He said offhandedly, flipping the short sword around to point down at Draco, gripping it with both hands. He lifted it, preparing to drive it down through Draco's chest, but then paused. A puzzled look crossed his face. He growled in irritation. "Give it up, Harry." He muttered angrily, "It's over." He tried again, but it looked as if he were trying to drive the sword through an invisible tree trunk. His arms quickly began shaking with the effort.

He pulled back, pacing back and forth and glaring at Draco. "What is this accomplishing?" he seemed to ask the air. "I'll tell you what, its pissing me off!" he growled. "You want to play this game? How about I go back to that school and start slaughtering your little friends at random? Hmm? I could probably dice up a good couple dozen and still get away before those idiotic Ministry people got their act together to come after me... Does that sound like fun?" He said, nearly screaming by this point.

He stopped his pacing, looking hatefully over at Draco. "Ok now... let's try this again. We kill this little bastard, then we go away and hide and no one else has to die today..." He said, trying to sound reasonable. "Ok? Ok then..." He said, strolling back over, raising the sword again. Draco could do nothing more than watch fearfully as the blade flashed down...

... and was deflected by an invisible force half way down, darting over and embedding itself in Harry's thigh.

Harry let out a shriek of pain and outrage, ripping the blade out of his leg. His arm then jerked as if of it's own accord, sending the sword flying all the way to the edge of the clearing. "You little BASTARD!" He shrieked, clutching the profusely bleeding wound. His body jerked slightly and Draco watched as something in Harry's eyes seemed to die.

Harry ripped the hem off his robes, his movements looking a bit jerky as he wrapped the wound securely, then he straightened. "Oh well." He said, his voice sounding different, unnaturally flat and lifeless. "He was fun while he lasted... but it's not like I had his bloody wand anyway..."

Draco's eyes widened as he realized what had happened... and realized that there was nothing of Harry left in the animated shell before him.

"Well, let's get this over with, shall we?" He asked casually, strolling over to get his sword. His gait was technically perfect, not even effected by the wound that looked to have gone nearly all the way through the muscle, but lacked any grace or fluidity.

As he stooped, reaching for the sword, a wickedly taloned paw stepped on it from the shadows of the forest. Harry fell back and scrambled away as a piercing screech rang through the quiet of the clearing. Harry got up, trying not to look startled as he dusted off his robes automatically. "Well..." He said, quickly regaining his arrogance as he glared at the Thestral before him. "Looks as if you have a friend..." His smirk faltered as he heard rustling. He looked around, seeing subtle movement further back in the forest. His eyes widened as he spotted Thestral after Thestral taking up position around the edge of the clearing. In moments, there wasn't a gap left that wasn't filled with a shadowed form with hauntingly white eyes.

Harry's face clouded with anger. He stalked back over to Draco, glaring down at him. Draco looked up, having spotted them as well. He managed a little smirk.

"Think this is amusing, do you?" Harry hissed angrily.

"Yes, actually..." Draco said the smirk gaining strength.

"Ah... yes... very amusing..." Harry said with a sarcastic smirk. "But my problem is now your problem... you see it's daylight... and your little friends like sunlight nearly as much as I do... So I have the rest of the day to take out my amusement out on you..." He said, suddenly producing a small dagger. "And not all of those Aurors stuck to the standard issue..."

Suddenly a bird-like shriek pierced the air again. Harry gripped his dagger tighter and tensed, but then his stance relaxed and he let out a laugh as Tiger scampered over and skidded to a stop between him and Draco.

Harry continued to laugh as Tiger bared his fangs, his main and fur fluffing up a bit, wings half unfurled and his tail lashing back and forth angrily as he faced off against Draco's attacker.

"What is this?" Harry asked, wiping away a tear of mirth. "Is this little thing your pet Draco? How precious. A miniature Thestral... and a spunky little one at that."

"Tiger no!" Draco said, struggling to sit up, afraid of what the demon might do to the diminutive colt.

Harry laughed again. "Tiger? Oh this gets better and better... aww... look at the little stripes... bet he'd make a nice satchel... or perhaps a pair of boots..." He mused, grinning at Draco sadistically.

"Leave him alone! Tiger, get back into the forest!" Draco said, fervently hoping the little thestral would listen to him. He desperately gathered himself, trying to shake off the shock that was holding him down.

Harry pulled back one leg to kick Tiger, but Tiger darted forward before he could, sinking his fangs into the leg Harry was standing on and jerking his head back, his body braced for leverage. Harry cried out in surprise and pain as he overbalanced and fell back.

Tiger let go and nimbly sprang onto his chest, his talons digging into his flesh as he sank his fangs in Harry's shoulder. Harry grabbed a handful of it's mane and ripped the colt off, slashing out at it with the dagger.

Tiger sprang off with a pained cry, quickly scrambling away, heavily favoring one of his hind legs. He only got a couple of  meters before he collapsed, letting out little mewling screeches of pain. Harry was just about to go after him when the clearing filled with outraged shrieks from the surrounding Thestrals. He looked over and scrambled up as the Stallion burst out of the forest, galloping towards him at full tilt, his fangs bared and nostrils flaring. Harry made a run for it, though both of his legs now bore wounds.

The Stallion bound over Draco and was on Harry in a heartbeat, rearing up and slashing at him. The talons got mostly robe, but it tossed Harry to the ground. As Harry was rolled over by the force of the impact, the Stallion darted his head forward, intent on ripping out Harry's throat.

As his fangs sank in, the Stallion jerked, releasing him immediately as the device around his neck shocked it. He shook his head, tossing his mane angrily and let out a full volume shriek of outrage right in Harry's face, but then looked over, hearing his colt's pained cries. He looked down at Harry and snorted, then turned and hurried back to Tiger.

Draco watched as the Stallion quickly began cleaning the wound. It looked shallow at least... He looked over at Harry, who had sat up and was glaring at the Stallion murderously. A red glow sprang to life in his eyes, and Draco could feel the power around him being drawn towards Harry. A chill flooded through him. Even when wandless, witches and wizards were capable of producing wild bursts of magic if they got angry or scared enough... He imagined it was quite possible that Demons had similar abilities... Given enough time to gather power, who knew what it might do?

Draco quickly gathered himself, getting shakily to his knees. The trauma of separation was still hindering him greatly, but he drew himself together as well as he could, pulling out his wand.

Harry was ignoring him, his attention focused on the Stallion as he slowly got to his feet, the air starting to crackle around him.

Draco closed his eyes, centering himself, focusing on the knowledge Darien had imparted to him. He started muttering softly, almost as if to himself. He pressed his palm flat against the ground as his muttering grew stronger. He shifted his wand around, holding it out before him gripped firmly in his fist, the tip pointing downward.

Harry's glowing eyes darted over to him as Draco plunged his wand down, burying half its length in the soft earth. The glowing eyes widened as an inhuman shriek of fury ripped out of his throat.

Before he could do anything, thin vines sprouted around his feet, racing up his body and curling around him. He seethed in anger and frustration as he desperately tried to free himself from the clinging tendrils, but there were far too many of them. He ripped at them, but the strands he managed to pull off were replaced before the torn strands even hit the ground. He looked over at Draco with pure loathing, trying to force the gathered power at him, but the delicate strands were already grounding him, draining away the demonic power.

He thrashed in vain as the tendrils pulled him down, gently cocooning him. In moments, he was completely immobilized. Draco removed his wand from the ground, knowing the spell would hold without him. He crawled over to Tiger, feeling even more drained than before. The Stallion had finished cleaning the wound, and it looked almost healed. Draco carefully examine it, casting a few spells on it to speed the healing for good measure. Tiger bent his head around, licking Draco's face.

Draco pressed his cheek against the side of Tiger's snout, stroking his hand down his silky mane. "Thank you Tiger... you saved me..." He said softly.

Tiger made a little cooing sound, nuzzling up against him. Draco smiled again, taking Tiger's head in his hands and gently bumping his forehead against Tigers. Tiger let out a happy trill and licked him again.

Draco broke away then, struggling in the direction Darien had been thrown. He looked at him in anguish as he drew closer. He was just laying there, sprawled out on his back, his form faint in the bright sunlight. He wasn't moving at all... not even breathing... but then ghosts didn't technically have to breath... and ghosts couldn't be killed... Draco kept reminding himself of that as he came to a stop beside him. He reached out, but his hand passed right through Darien of course, growing cold and numb.

He pulled back his hand, tears streaming down his cheeks as panic filled him. What was he supposed to do? How could he get him back where he belonged? He finally gave up trying to guess in frustration, settling on what would seem to be the most logical method. He positioned himself and carefully rolled over, then shifted around until he was completely overlapping the spirit. His whole body quickly went numb with cold, but he refused to yield to his body's natural instinct to remove itself from the disturbing sensation. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on Darien... trying to call him back...

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A/N - I referred to the demon as Harry after it possessed him because, hey, gender neutral references to 'it' get tiresome quickly! Also, just noting that J.K. only said Thestrals prefer the darkness, not that light would harm them... they don't like light, perhaps it's a phobia, but I think they could come out into it if they felt so inclined.

Also, Draco was so effected by the loss of Darien because his mind had become so accustomed to Darien's presence. Tests have proven that the human mind can adapt amazingly to unusual conditions... but once they have become accustomed to the conditions, they can't always cope when those conditions are unexpectedly removed. Example (ok, I only heard about this and can't back it, but this is what I heard anyway) - they did a study on human coping abilities where they had a group of people wear glasses that turned everything upside-down. After a while, all of them adapted, their mental processes changing to accommodate the new conditions, and they saw everything upright again. Then, after a while the glasses were removed... the people had some serious mental trauma and really didn't deal with it well at all, and I believe some of them even went insane (no, I'm not planning on Draco going nuts!). Lesson: Human brains are amazing things, but don't fuck with them if you don't have to! :)

About the twins' twins... they are identical... that means one egg was fertilized and divided on it's own, making two babies. Kulia's twins won't be cousins, they will be sisters or brothers. Paternity will be discussed in more depth later. Pansy's babies, on the other hand, will be fraternal twins that are only half-siblings; Same mother, different fathers.

You'll find out about Blaise in the next chapter. Really.