Title: A Torturous Reminder

Chapter 19:

Rating: M

Warnings: H/D SLASH, HBP SPOILERS

DISCLAIMER: We do not own Harry Potter! Characters (except those created by us) belong to the amazingly talented J.K. Rowling, WB, and the publishing companies. Don't sue us! We are just bored teenagers having a go at poor Harry and Draco!

He opened the door to his room and slammed it shut. He was drenched in water, but he didn't care. He leaned against the door and let thoughts swirl through his mind. Where could Draco be? Was he all right? But then, his thoughts began to cut like knives, stabbing him repeatedly in his chest. It was his entire fault. It was always his fault, when would things ever change? He opened his eyes, and cold fury towards the death eaters, and self-hatred ripped apart his once bright green eyes.

He spotted one of Draco's shirts on the bed, and something inside him snapped. He began shaking uncontrollably, and without even thinking about it, he disapparated.

He stepped inside the office in New York, and headed straight to Mr. Bradford's office in a fast pace.

He went past his secretary and opened the door, only to find it empty.

"Sir…"

"Where is Bradford?" he snarled, turning to the frighten secretary.

"He is in a meeting…"

"Where?"

"Sir, it is a very important meeting, he cannot be disturbed."

"I don't give a fuck. I repeat myself, where is he?"

"But…"said the secretary, looking at the frightening man in front of her cautiously.

"No buts, tell me right now," snapped Harry.

"Conference room D-5…"

"Thank you," he said shortly, and walked away from the secretary.

"Please, sir! Wait!" said the secretary, rushing after him.

"As I said, this is an urgent meeting; maybe I can make you an appointment…"

Harry laughed, turning to look at the secretary behind him with a look nothing humorous, "An appointment!"

The secretary nodded, and started almost running as she struggled to keep up with Harry, her clipboard clutched in her hand.

"As you see, gentleman, this new method of reaching out to be wizarding community…" said Mr. Bradford, before turning around upon hearing the door being opened and slammed against the wall with great force.

"Mr. Potter! I am in a meeting!"

Harry walked coldly towards him until he was right in front of him.

"You fucking knew," he hissed.

"Excuse me, Mr. Potter, but I am in a meeting, kindly wait outside, please," said Mr. Bradford, averting his eyes from Harry.

"WAIT! You want ME to wait! What the hell is your problem?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Now please…"

"You knew Draco was going to be used as bait, didn't you? You didn't care if anything happened to him! What was it? Did you want those death eaters at any cost!"

"Well, wasn't that what you wanted?" replied Mr. Bradford as he gathered some papers.

"At any cost does not mean I will be lied to! Draco and I were lied to, and we were dragged to god knows where, and only when we got there, were we told what the plan was!" snarled Harry, looking furiously at Mr. Bradford, his fists clenching.

"Yes, well…"

"And now Draco's gone! He's fucking gone and I have no idea where!"

Mr. Bradford let the papers fall from his hands and into the desk, "Gone…"

"Yes, he is gone! You used him as bait, what the hell did you expect!"

Mr. Bradford looked wordlessly at Harry, his mouth opened wide.

"He was in danger! You told us he was, and what do you all do? Send him straight to his death!"

"I'm sorry…"

"Sorry won't cut it!" yelled Harry, and several items in the room exploded, "sorry won't bring him back!"

"We will do everything we can; I will get some aurors to…"

"Aurors! Did you know that one of your aurors is a death eater!" exclaimed Harry, shocking everyone into silence.

"One of my aurors?" said Mr. Bradford, after some few seconds.

"Yes, Bloom! Bloom is a death eater! He was here feeding us information, no doubt, and you all had no damn clue about him! Whatever happened to background checks? Aurors fooled by aurors in their same department!"

"I had no idea," said Mr. Bradford, still shocked, "I will get everyone in this department screened…"

"A little late, don't you think?" said Harry sarcastically.

"Well, let's focus on getting Draco back," said Mr. Bradford, trying to get Harry in his good side again, "I will have aurors investigate this..."

"I don't need your help," whispered Harry coldly, "I will find him without your fucking aurors."

"Now, Harry be reasonable," said Mr. Bradford, trying to calm down the angry wizard in front of him.

"Reasonable does not involve involving your aurors and yourself in this, that would be stupidity," snapped Harry. "Mark my words, Bradford, if Draco dies I will personally kill you," finished Harry, his voice sending cold shivers to everyone in the room.

He turned around and walked past the astonished secretary, "I don't wish to be involve in something utterly worthless," he said, turning to Mr. Bradford, as he stood in the doorway, "Tell England I fucking resign," he said, throwing his auror badge to Mr. Bradford, "I know they were involved in having Draco as bait, them with their idiot prejudices."

He exited the room, and left a silent Mr. Bradford clutching Harry's badge in his hand.

He walked out into the cold night shivering slightly. He was still wet and had not bothered to put a dry charm on himself, his mind remained unfocused and he looked like a madman to any who passed by him.

He sat down in a bench and looked at the people around. They were doing late night shopping, and their laughter and apparent easiness and happiness annoyed him. He scowled at a couple that stood laughing and kissing near him, only to find his anger increase.

Draco was supposed to be with him, always with him. There was a void in his heart that seemed to fill him up, like lead attached to his feet, making him drown. He realized he had been truly happy when Draco was with him, and he realized that Draco was what he wanted and needed. Life without Draco was no life at all.

He stood up and turned his back on the laughing couple, and with determined steps walked out of the crowded street, and into the dark night.

Draco opened his eyes, his eyesight hazy and his hair apparently matted down. He blinked a few times, trying to stabilize himself and trying to make some sense out of the flickering figures before him. He needed to brush something out of his eye and so he pulled his hand towards himself. He waited for the contact, but it never came. Instead, he felt something holding him tight. He tried his other hand and found it tied down the same way. Groaning, he turned his head slightly and, after a few seconds of focusing, found his wrist tied down to the ground. His eyes went wide as realization hit him and he turned to his other wrist, only to find it also tied down.

Draco struggled with the chains, tried to move his hands, but was not able to. He only succeeded in creating a few cuts on his wrists from the tight chains and found that both his ankles were tied down as well.

He sighed. Both his arms were stretched out and tied down and both his legs were tied down together. He felt something wet on his head and figured it was blood. He must have hit his head after he had blacked out…

He stared, his eyes wide with shock as a figure emerged towards him. Harry was walking away while this figure drew nearer and nearer to him.

He felt his voice constricting, but he had to call Harry. "Harry," he tried the first time. He felt his mouth move but no sound came out. Gathering his strength, he called out again. "Harry," he said, fear evident in his voice. He tried calming himself down, for all he knew it was Mr. Bates, or even Anne. 'But none of them had on a robe,' his mind told him.

He raised his wand, outstretched to the person before him, when he saw the mask. His eyes, if possible, grew wider, and he recognized the smile below that mask. 'Why isn't Harry beside me?' he thought, and fear that Harry had been caught suddenly filled him. He was about to call again when he saw the death eater begin to move his arms. Draco had the disarming spell ready in his mind when he suddenly noticed an object being thrown at him. Without thinking, Draco caught it, and cursing as he felt the memorable twist in his stomach, lurched into a dark room. The portkey was knocked out of his hands as he landed with a thud, and he felt his head come into contact with the hard floor. He lifted his hand and felt the blood now at the back of his head. 'Damn it,' he thought as he saw feet shuffling towards him. His last thoughts were of Harry before he drifted off to unconsciousness.

'Harry,' he thought, wondering if Harry had been caught too. He looked around the room, now that he was feeling slightly better, but found nothing that could give him a clue of where he was. Dark stone decorated the walls and the floor, and only a single torch lit the room. There was no door, but there was a hallway that led to who-knew-where, but from which death eaters were likely to come through soon.

Draco grimaced as he shifted his ankles, scraping them both a bit as he tried to move and deciding that it was better to stay put. He looked at his shackles, and found they were covered with a weird insignia. 'The Malfoy Crest,' he thought. 'So it is my father who's captured me.' He looked at the cuffs, wondering what lunatic would actually decorate them, but decided now was not the time to ponder over that. He had to find a way out, and he had to find a way to talk to Harry.

Harry had been there next to him. Why hadn't he answered? Maybe he had been hit by a spell. Impossible, he had heard the crunching as the first death eater had stood there. Could there perhaps have been another? He muttered angrily, wondering why he had caught the thing that had been thrown to him. He cursed his reflexes and cursed the man that had been the one to put him in here.

"Alex," he muttered scathingly, though his voice was above a whisper. He couldn't believe it. The slimy bastard had actually become a death eater, and under his own father. He mumbled obscene comments on what Alex was and what he would do to Alex. He hoped to heavens that Alex hadn't caught Harry unawares. His eyes filled with fear as he thought of the numerous possibilities that could have happened.

'Alex could have tied Harry up and he could be exploring his body as we speak.'

'The idiot may try to be comforting Harry.'

'He's probably touching Harry!'

'He's more than likely spreading lies… what if he tells Harry I was going to go somewhere…. No, Harry wouldn't buy that… would he?'

'What if he took a polyjuice potion and turned into me!'

His face paled as he continued to think of what could be happening to Harry, of what was possibly occurring at the moment. All he hoped for was that Harry was okay, that Harry would be okay, and that Harry wasn't hurt.

"Stupid, fucking Alex," he mumbled, beginning his obscenities again as he continued to struggle for a way out. The pain in his wrists and ankles had now become numb, although he could feel blood still pouring from there. He grimaced at the thought of the scars that he might end up with, but continued, hoping that somehow he'd be able to get out. He was cursing Alex's name once more when he heard a chuckle near him.

Turning his head quickly and squinting to make out the figure in the dark, he felt fear rise up in him. He looked to see who it was and felt fury as he recognized the man mocking him. "Where the hell am I and what the hell do you think you are fucking doing, Bloom!" Draco couldn't help but bellow out as the man stepped nearer to Draco.

Alex chuckled, stopping above Draco. "Can you imagine my surprise when I found out who your father was," Alex said, ignoring Draco's statement and the cold glares he was receiving. "I mean, I'd heard about the war with Voldemort, I'd heard about the amazing Harry Potter and how he beat him, how he became the youngest hero of the wizarding world at the age of one and how he destroyed the Dark Lord, finally giving rest to the world. I'd heard about a few of the famous death eaters that had followed him, Wormtail, Barty Crouch Jr., Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy…," he said, stressing out the last name with a small smile, "But I never imagined that I'd have the very son of one of the most conniving and powerful wizards with me here. Imagine my surprise when I was cornered and told about the plan. Of course, this was shortly after our breakup. Of course, you could say it was in an act of rage, but I think it's changed into something entirely different. I think I'm starting to see your father's point of view. I mean, a son never should leave their own father."

"You're a sick bastard, Bloom," Draco said, his eyes dangerously narrowed and the torch glowing brighter, but Alex made no hint that he was aware of this. Instead, he lowered himself, staring straight at Draco the whole time.

"Can you imagine when I was promised the opportunity to have a chance at revenge? I was told your whole story, from beginning to end, and figured that you hadn't done anything courageous, that you hadn't done anything worthy to keep you alive. In fact, you'd done quite the opposite, running away like a coward," Alex said, a wicked smile playing on his lips.

"If that's what my father said tell him he's a fucking hypocrite. Remind him who's the one that ran out on Voldemort once the fight got tough, remind him -," Draco began when he was suddenly cut off by a sting on his left cheek.

"Lucius did what he could, fought until he knew he couldn't do anymore," Alex said almost in admiration. "He left when he knew there was nothing else he could do; he's not a bloody coward."

Draco laughed and received another blow from Alex, this time to his ribs. Draco winced and felt his body contract, but couldn't do much to soothe the pain that was beginning to fill him.

"Like I was saying," Alex continued, "I decided that you needed… a lesson, and so I sided with the remaining death eaters and Lucius, recruiting a few here and there and watching as our numbers slowly grew and as our plan unfolded. I'm not going to tell you how it happened right now, though. We have to wait till Harry gets here," he said, a wide grin spreading over his face. "Harry," he muttered, almost dreamily.

"Harry's never going to like you," Draco said, knowing full well he would be receiving another blow, but nonetheless feeling the need to say it.

"That's where you're wrong," he heard Alex say and felt him shift. Surprisingly, Alex had not delivered a hit, but had instead moved to where he stood over him, his face inches above Draco's own. "You see, you don't realize our plans. You don't realize what we can accomplish. Or don't you know the magic one can do when carefully planned out? Can't you figure out the changes we can make with a few simple spells?" Alex said, laughing. "No matter, you'll find out soon enough."

Draco glared at him, waiting for him to stand up when he felt strong arms hold his head down and lips brush hungrily against his own.

"Too bad you gave up on me," Alex said as he drew away. "Then again, I shouldn't be sorry. After all, I was given the chance to meet Harry." He winked at Draco before walking away. "I suggest you rest for now. Your father wants to see you and you want to look your best, not that it'll help much," he said, eyeing Draco up and down before moving over to the entrance. "Oh, and you'll see Harry soon enough," he said, the same wide grin on his face once again, a grin full of malicious intent that Draco did not like. He glared at Alex, wishing he could do something, anything. Wishing he could wring Alex's neck, wishing he could perform the killing curse on Alex, but not able to and useless without his wand and tied down to the floor. The flame grew to an unimaginable height as Alex's chuckles died through the hallway.

Harry walked through dark alleyways, walked anywhere he was able to go, trying to make some sense of things and trying to find where Draco could possibly be. He had to be somewhere, but where was the question.

He muttered, desperately hoping that something would give him a sign. He had to make sure Draco was okay. He wouldn't be able to handle it if Draco was dead. Glasses shook as he passed by and the wind pulled the hats away of ongoing passerby's, but Harry was too distraught to notice. He mumbled obscenities at anyone and everyone he could think of, blaming them all in his mind at what had happened, and scaring the people he passed by.

He suddenly turned. Someone was following him and more than likely it was one of those bloody aurors. He felt like waiting for them to curse them to oblivion, but decided against it. It would only get him into more trouble in the end. Instead, he angrily apparated back to the hotel room that he and Draco had been sharing that same day.

He was surprised to find light coming in through the windows and saw as the first rays of sunshine began to fill the entire room. 'A whole night and Draco's been with them!' he thought angrily, unmentionable thoughts passing through his head at the thought of what might be happening to Draco. After all, he had experienced some of the torture that could be expected, and it only got more painful as the hours went by.

He noticed the door was open and went over to slam it. He saw the unpacked suitcases, but now was not the time for a change of clothes, or a shower. His own clothes were now dry, but crinkly, and his hair was as wild as ever, adding to his 'madman' look that he now had. He continued glancing around the room until he noticed something that hadn't been there before. He carefully walked over to it and saw a paper next to it.

A small ring lay on the table, inscriptions that Harry couldn't read around it, but with an aura of magic that Harry didn't trust. He reached for the note, eyeing the ring warily, and grew angry at every passing word.

Love,

Take the ring. It's a portkey, though I have to warn you… there's consequences.

Forever to me will you be bound, until death do us part ('I can arrange that…' thought Harry as he read), if you take the ring. There's no greater binding spell than the one on that ring. And if you're thinking of killing me, think again. If I die, you die with me. Then again, you don't have to take it, and you won't have to be with me, Harry.

What's it for? Well, it will lead you straight to the cell where Draco's at. Let me warn you, though, it's heavily guarded and more than likely will be the last sight you will ever have of Draco.

So, what shall it be? No disturbing memories and no me, or Draco's last tortured look and me by your side forever after. Your choice.

I'd advice you to pick the ring. I'm sure Draco won't be too devastated once he's gone…

Soon to be forever yours,

Alex

Harry glared angrily at the paper before him. He crumpled it in his hand, eyeing the ring. If this was what he had to do, he would do it. He had to see Draco, had to know Draco was okay and had to let Draco know he was okay. He was going to let Draco out, he was going to save Draco, and he was going to kill Alex. He didn't care; he wasn't going to live the rest of his life tied to Alex.

He lifted the ring and closed his eyes. It wasn't going to be activated until he put it on and he felt a heavy feeling in his stomach. He pressed his eyelids shut as he placed the ring on his fingers, then felt the familiar tug before he was sprawled across the floor, three pairs of feet before him.

A/N: Well, that's it for now… and next time… is next time the end… no, I think there's two more chapters… well, for the fight to be over, not the end. Can't believe it's almost done! Please Review, tell us how we're doing, tell us how the story's going, tell us that you absolutely love it! Heh, ok, I'm going out on a limb there, but yeah. sigh Poor Draco. Hope you all enjoyed it!