By Tien Riu
tien_riu@yahoo.com
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Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all characters belong to J.K. Rowlings. Plot (what little there is of it ^_^) and depiction of characters are mine. WARNING: The future of this piece of fiction contains slash/yaoi/shonen ai/homosexual relationships.
Note: Chapter Twenty-Four will be out here at skyehawke :: archives at the end of this week. It will appear at fanfiction.net in one month. This is because I'm moving at the end of this week and will loose internet access for one month. ~grins~And after a long lag, the story continues taking up right where we left our two protaganists: in the Astronomy Tower kissing. ~grins~ And let me just say: I was this close to cutting all of this and skipping straight over to Chapter Twenty-Four and plot-plot-plot mode. The incomparible Ashe Farley convinced me that this part was an important part of the story and should be included as an Interlude rather than a scrap scene in my document of leftover scenes somewhere. She was right (when is she not? ^_^) and as this bit has more Harry/Draco slash-goodness than any other part thus far, we should all praise her foresight.
Also – cookie (posted at skyehawke archives – check link in my profile for appropriate place) sponsored by Demeter1, Janice P., S-Star, switchknife, vaporescence and Apple QB.
Author's Notes and response to reviews (in alphabetical order) at end of chapter. Enjoy the story!
Tien Riu
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Interlude: Overlap
Harry shoved against Malfoy's chest – fingers slipping on the smooth, light material of the robes; teeth grazed against his lips. Malfoy's eyes were pure silver in the firelight.
Later, he would find bruises on the back of his neck in the shape of Malfoy's fingers.
But he would never remember anything except that the second time Draco Malfoy kissed him (Malfoy snogged me!) it had tasted of desperation.
Harry knew the taste of desperation.
It tasted of the lollipops the kindergarten teacher handed out for good behaviour – and knowing Dudley would make sure he never earned one.
It tasted of blurred shapes and Uncle Vernon complaining about the expense of spectacles.
It tasted of mysterious letters and snakes and owls and magic.
It tasted of a future without wrinkled elephant skin uniforms.
It tasted of giants and redheaded boys and hand-knitted jumpers that had his initials on them. It tasted of belonging.
It tasted of hope – this fleeting, quicksilver form you could never hold or touch.
It tasted like Draco Malfoy.
Harry understood desperation.
But he didn't understand what kissing and Draco Malfoy (Malfoy snogged me!) had to do with it.
Come to think of it – he didn't understand why he was being kissed at the top of the Astronomy Tower either.
Eventually, he stopped attempting to push the other boy away and waited.
Eventually, the other boy stopped. The flickering light from the fire cast dancing shadows on the walls.
Harry stared at Draco – and had no idea what to say. After all, what did one say after being snogged by one's worst enemy? Ron would have spluttered incoherent threats before decking Malfoy. Neville would have fainted (or possibly thrown several badly-aimed punches - it was always hard to tell with the quiet ones). Dean would have started shouting. Seamus would have – I don't know what Seamus would do. Harry thought, And frankly, it doesn't really matter – seeing as it's me that has to do something.
His arm ached. Blood trickled down his arm, dripping from his fingers.
The silence stretched.
At length, Harry realised Draco didn't know what to say either.
*
This is what Draco Malfoy would remember.
The flames were warm – not cold. Warm.
Like Potter's lips, beneath his.
Like Potter's skin, slick with blood (he would find red flecks under his fingernails later).
Like Potter.
And it was wrong for him to feel like this. Wrong because –
Because –And he tightened his hold, and pressed hard against the other's lips and fought not to breathe, to move, to think.
Because –He was kissing Harry Potter in the Astronomy Tower at such an early hour of the morning that it was almost dawn.
Because –Today, he would be leaving Hogwarts (Today.) with his Mother.
Because –Tomorrow, there wouldn't be any more assignments, and Houses, and things that he could no longer do – like Quidditch, and meals and classes. Tomorrow he wouldn't be Draco Malfoy, fifth year Slytherin.
Because –Tomorrow, Harry Potter would still be the Boy Who Lived, the Hero of the Wizarding World, the One who Survived the Dark Lord. And he would be Draco Malfoy, scion of the Malfoy family. The Dark Lord's -
Because –And in the Astronomy Tower, he was kissing Harry Potter – holding on so tightly that he could see the other boy's famed green eyes. Bright and clear as glass. It reflected the fire that outlined the flagstones, scorched the desks and danced in thin air.
Because –He was kissing Harry Potter –
Because –And tomorrow it (This –) wouldn't matter.
Because –Everything he had ever learned – had endured: the Portraits, the never-ending lessons, the charms and spells and potions and – And – and –
His father had said the Malfoy family would lead an army against the muggle epidemic.
It made no difference that he hadn't been born for the Dark Lord's cause but made - with skin and blood - And scales.
It was his destiny.
And he could no more cut that from his body or burn it from his blood than Potter could hide that unsightly scar.
Draco jerked away, fingers releasing their hold on Harry's robes. He stumbled back several steps. They stood there, several feet apart, staring at each other.
He knew Potter would speak first – could see the actions forming in the future as clearly as if he truly was a vates as his Great-Grandmother Adverto Lucis-Malfoy had been. (Malfoys have powerful magic.)
"What – what – what was that for?" Harry managed, "What the hell – why did you kiss me for Malfoy?"
But he didn't sound angry so much as utterly confused.
Which wasn't all that far from Draco's current state of mind.
Blood stained the Gryffindor's hand; dark and red, shining in the firelight as it dripped off his fingers and fell to the floor, splashing on the stones.
Because – "Voldemort wants a new pet."
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Author's Note: First: Chapter Twenty-Four is written and will be published in one week (Friday, 29th August) at skyehawke archives. It will appear at ff.net one month later (why? Because I'm moving states and will not have internet access for one month). It's thanks to Ashe Farley my long-suffering beta reader (go, praise her for she is alike to a god – well, goddess anyway ~grins~) that it's being uploaded this month rather than early October. Also, helped set up skyehawke archives so this is a bit of unnecessary publicity. ~heeeeee~
Secondly: good grief. Between Chapter Twenty-Three and the Interlude, reviews jumped from about 200 to 270. Wow. No words. Thank you everybody.
Cookie (posted at skyehawke archives – link in my profile) to anybody who can pick up the mythological references.
With thanks to:
aliss, Alyssa, Angel_Spit, Anne, AriaThea, Auseakret, bluevanilla, Bronze Eagle, coriander, DcSolstice, Diana, Erica, Geekmomma, Hadrien, Iris Wood, Isolde, Izanami Hime, jadewtch, Koanju, la_shark19, Marla, mistykasumi, myopicblur nightwing, ryan, sammy, Sheron, silverfox1, snapdragon16, summercloud, V-Star, weijaa, zeynel
In particularly: (Angel_Spit) ~grins~ Draco's life after the war is actually a fairly important theme - though it appears later on in the overall story. Glad to see that somebody picked up on it this early though. (coriander) Draco's present will play a part in the next few chapters - and Severus hasn't given it to Draco yet because he's still trying to figure out what it'll do to him. (Isolde) And another author I fangirl over. If you haven't read Isolde's work yet, you should. Go. Now. (koanju) Thanks for the correction, I completely forgot how to spell "Obliviate" - [am pathethic] (silverfox1) ~grins~ Never get over authors I fangirl over reading my work. For anybody who has been really unlucky not to know, silverfox (always silverfox to me ^_^) is the creator of the incredible Greenie (the hedgehog) and of course "My name is Severus". Highly addictive. Go. Read. ^_^ (sammy) ~grins~ Glad to know pet!Draco pleases. I was rather scared at about chapter twenty when the readership exploded and suddenly I was faced with extremely high reader expectations, it's nice to know that the 'twist' was a twist rather than a twisty. ~grins~ (summercloud) somebody's highly recommended Without Question? ~grins~ Who? (zeynel) absolutely correct. ~grins~ Now let's see if anybody else picks up on this now rather than later. ^_^
Apple QB: ~apologetic~ And right after that, my average update dropped down to once a month (and only because I updated once every two weeks prior to chapter 25).
Demeter1, Janice P., S-Star, switchknife, vaporescence,: Completely right. For the curious: Llyr was the God of the sea - also a celtic king. Tyche is the goddes of Luck or Fortune. Additionally, Ler is a derivation of Llyr - and anybody who used to read the old fairy tales as a child might recognise King Ler - the father of the seven brothers who were transformed in swans, and their sister who transformed them back. Yes - this is the legend Severus was talking about back when he first mentioned Narcissa.
"Rain" was actually intended to be chapter 23's cookie (so think of it as dedicated to all of you who researched and got it right ~grins~ and by the way, I can't believe anybody actually thought Without Question was interesting enough to research a cookie-point) but there's another one posted at skyehawke archives for all of you. Hope the Interlude feeds your craving for H/D. And - specifically: (vaporescence) you were right. (Demeter1) Firstly - argh, you got caught by FF.net's introduction of unique pennames and numbers. -_-; You'll always be 'Demeter' to me anyway. ^_^ And yes, Draco has the worse of luck and it doesn't improve from here on in. Also - cannot believe that you managed to pull those names off the top of your head. 0_0
Jade Maxwell: thank you. ~smiles~ You make me think my writing is far better than it is.
tnf: ~grins~ It rather was a shock to open my mail and get this stern "Time to update" message right before Ashe's beta. Also very amusing. ^_^