Title: The Chase
Author: Keiko Yuki
Series: Harry Potter
Rating: M
Pairings: Harry/Draco
Warnings: Yaoi/ Slash/ M/M…in future chappies
Author's Notes: Ummm, I don't own Harry Potter. I do happen to own a pair of shoes and a scrunchie...
Summary: Even with the dark lord gone, Harry doesn't trust Draco at all. Harry decides to follow him on a night that Draco leaves the safehouse but upon finding him something happens that changes everything. Can Harry finally learn to trust Draco?

A/N: (sighs) here I am, updating again… I'm so glad that people are reviewing! I love you guys! As always, review responses are at the bottom.

Ron was just getting ready to go out when Remus had called for him. Only slightly bothered, he walked up the steps once more and down the hall to Remus' bedroom. The hall was dark and silent in a way that had once bothered Ron. He longed for the days when the only real fear he'd had was brought upon by those blasted spiders. Now that he was older, his fears had changed to include death, Voldemort, Death Eaters, and the Unforgivables.

He walked down the corridor with long, purposeful strides. He had finally stopped growing when he hit the six-foot four mark and was not as gangly as he had once been. Physical strength, Harry had pointed out, was as important as Magical strength. He remembered the training that Harry had put the members of the DA through. All of the things Harry had been taught by Dumbledore or any of the other teachers was passed through to them. They had spent many nights practicing and strengthening themselves for the war. Ron sighed to himself as he stared straight ahead.

He pushed his memories aside in favor of preparing himself for whatever Remus had to tell him. It sounded urgent, whatever it was, and in the years he'd been in the order, he learned that being prepared for bad news was essential. As he reached the door he noticed that it had been left ajar and, thus, let himself in.

Remus was sitting on his bed in that unnervingly calm manner that practically ensured that there was trouble. His eyes shifted from Lupin to his surroundings. Remus' room had always been plain. In fact, the only sign that anyone even inhabited the space was the mound of papers and books that currently took residence on the desk. Ron glanced back at Lupin with an impatient and calculating look, to which Lupin sighed.

"Harry's missing," He said finally.

Ron felt his eye twitch, he didn't know exactly why. He shook off the twisting in his stomach at the turn his thoughts had taken. Of course, when Harry was involved, thoughts of being captured or dead were the immediate assumptions he'd come up with. He forced himself to remove those thoughts in favor of being logical, a feat he hadn't managed to accomplish until two years of Hermione jumping down his throat.

"We can get Tonks to check around and Malfoy to question within the ring…" One look at Lupin's face told him that that wasn't all the werewolf had had to say. Ron's shoulders slumped and his heart clenched with worry.

"Don't tell me…"

A nod from Lupin was what he got.

"But that's impossible! They couldn't-!"

"They could have," Lupin said as he pressed his fingers to his temples. "But there is hope that they did not get captured."

"How do you know?" Ron asked as his eyebrow rose. "Tell me everything."

"Your brother came to me yesterday," he said as he began to tell Ron exactly what he knew.

----

He was surrounded by a mind-numbing coldness and he didn't know what to do.

His father was gone, as was his mother. He had no one to protect him. All he had was the shadow of the Dark Mark on his forearm.

Some protection that was, he thought to himself.

Speaking had seemed to become a problem for him. His voice had fled from him much as he should have done earlier. When he'd seen the Dark Lord kill his father. What had bothered him the most was the lack of tears he'd shed when his father had fallen to the ground in a lifeless heap on the packed earth of the graveyard.

In his head he could see his father falling to the ground. A scene from seconds before: when the Dark Lord had crucio'ed his father and reduced him to a writhing mass on the floor. His father was so strong, he'd thought, as he watched in horror. His mask seemed constricting as he grimaced beneath it. His father didn't scream for mercy nor did he call out for help. The lack of screaming had seemed to bother their master and it was painfully obvious. Finally fed up with his 'top minion' and 'traitor' he'd uttered the incantation that would kill him in an instant.

Avada Kedavra

Seconds after his father's body hit the ground, a cold air surrounded him.

Draco clawed at his face and removed the mask and top half of the robe that he wore. He could hear his mother's outraged scream and Snape's grunts of pain. Any pain he felt was amplified by his guilt. Guilt ate away at his almost non-existent heart. His father was dead and it was his fault. He should have helped him, should have stepped in, should have…

The coldness increased as he felt a presence surround him in a tangible cloak. Dementors. He should have known. They touched his back and shoulders as they slowly ate away at his mind and robbed him of all of his happy thoughts. His father fell over and over in his mind's eye. Horrible visions of his mother screaming and Snape writhing on the floor replayed in his shattered mind like a broken record. Snape's pain-filled howls echoed in his ears as he endured torture from Voldemort.

Screams suddenly filled his ears, real screaming, not the muffled cries from his subconscious brought upon him by the Dementors' power. He looked through half-shut eyes at running Death Eaters and a growling Voldemort. His father's body was being stepped on as people ran for a reason he didn't know of. Draco whirled around in an effort to see what was disturbing the others.

He smirked wearily. Potter and his friends were coming…

He laughed pitifully as he thought to himself bitterly: Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

----

"Malfoy, I swear if you die…" Harry muttered to the still body beside him. He'd been surprised that Malfoy had actually jumped into the water from the cliff. He hadn't expected for Malfoy to be brave enough to do such a thing.

When Malfoy hadn't resurfaced, Harry dove into the water to search for him. Malfoy had been floating seven feet under the water as still as if he was dead. Harry swam as fast as he could toward Malfoy and lifted him up by the arm. He was heavier underwater and their combined weight put a strain on Harry's arms and legs. Malfoy's robes billowed underwater and made it even more difficult to take him back to the shore. Exhausted and out of breath, Harry peeled Draco's robes off of him to reveal his undershirt and trousers.

"Malfoy, don't make me do this." Harry said agitatedly as he looked to see if Malfoy was breathing. He placed an ear over Draco's mouth and found that the Slytherin wasn't breathing at all. "Dammit Malfoy! I have half a mind to leave you here to die!" Harry placed his hand atop Draco's chest to see if his heart was beating at all. With luck, Draco was already dead and Harry wouldn't have to do CPR.

No such luck. Malfoy's heart was beating, albeit rather faintly. Unfortunately, that meant that Harry had to save Malfoy's life and put his mouth on the Slytherin's. Harry closed his eyes as he breathed into Malfoy's mouth and opened them when he moved to push against Draco's chest. He repeated the movements that were almost mechanical to him. He'd had to do this before at Hogwarts when Neville had been dragged under the water by the giant octopus in their last year of Hogwarts.

It was too bad he didn't really like Malfoy, or he would have taken greater care in not pushing too hard against the still boy's chest. It was to pay him back, he convinced himself, for all of the torture he'd been put through since they'd met. He was so busy trying to reason with himself that he didn't notice when the Slytherin began to cough. He pinched Malfoy's nose and leaned down to cover his mouth with his own when a hand slapped across his cheek.

Outraged, Harry bolted backwards and distanced himself to the now conscious blonde. "What the hell-!" He yelled as he nursed his stinging cheek.

Malfoy's finger poked into his chest and the fire in his eyes shut Harry up almost immediately. "What are you on about! You didn't wake up from a nightmare only to find that you were LIVING one! How would you react if you woke up to find me molesting you!"

"That's not-!" Harry sputtered.

"Forget it Potter!" Draco poked him in the chest once more and shifted backwards onto his knees. "I don't know what you're trying to pull," Draco wrapped his arms around his middle in a gesture of self-protection. He turned his face to glare into Harry's eyes, "but I'm not interested."

Harry's mouth dropped open in shock as his retaliation blew straight out of his mind. His mind was having a bit of trouble processing the meaning of what Malfoy had just implied. He was about to correct Malfoy, to explain to him that all he had been doing was saving his worthless life, when said Malfoy stood up and began to walk down the sandy stretch of beach.

"Malfoy!" He called after the retreating figure even though he knew fully well that he wouldn't receive an answer. He stood up in the sand and stumbled as his water-logged shoes slipped around each footfall. He watched with a slight panic as Draco stormed away. True, he detested the Slytherin, but that didn't mean he wanted to be all alone in this foreign place. He'd rather keep his enemy close to him than to face whoever had sent them here alone.

"Malfoy!" He shouted again as he struggled to pull his shoes off his feet. They were keeping him from running and made the most annoying squelching sound as he walked.

Draco's stride did not falter in the least. His steady pace was constant, even after Harry managed to get close enough to speak without yelling.

"Malfoy, I didn't do anything untoward." Harry said honestly.

"Yes well-" Draco paused and looked Harry in the face. His eyes glanced up and down Harry as if to size him up or to make an assessment of his character. Harry was about to question Draco when the Slytherin stepped closer to him.

"Listen Potter," Draco sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

Harry didn't know what Draco was about to say, but a strong wind suddenly blew from the direction they had been heading toward. Both boys shut their eyes to shield them from damage by the sand. Harry put a hand up to shield his eyes and peered through narrow eyes as he tried to quickly figure out what they should do.

The wind roared around them as it picked up speed and ferocity. Sand and leaves from the trees ahead blew about them and stung their uncovered skin as they sped around them at unnatural speeds. Harry whipped out his wand and tried to cast a spell to stop the wind or at least put a shield around them, but every time he opened his mouth, sand would pour in and choke him.

He turned his back toward the wind, allowing for most of the impact to hit his back as he fought to think of what to do. He looked around him to the best of his ability and found what he was looking for. There, just in front of them was a large boulder seated next to the wall of the cliff. The rock could provide protection from the sand-storm and they would be relatively safe.

Decision made, he turned toward Draco and shouted through the roar of the wind: "Let's go over there!" He gestured wildly toward the rocks and began to move forward, trying his best to keep his back toward the wind and not losing sight of Draco at the same time.

Harry could tell he'd reached safety when the sand that had been pounding against his back suddenly stopped altogether. It was a tremendous relief and he found himself collapsing onto the ground, barely fitting into the small section that was free of wind and sand. He started when Draco fell on top of him. Apparently he too, had had difficulty pushing through the wind and sand.

But that didn't mean Harry would show sympathy for the blonde.

"Get off me!" He shouted to the best of his ability. Unfortunately, it came out as a hoarse, throaty grumble. He promptly pushed Draco off of him and scooted closer toward the rock. The space was so small they would practically be on top of each other. That was not the part Harry was looking forward to…

----

To say Ron was pissed off was not entirely accurate. To say that Ronald Weasley, youngest brother of the Weasley clan was furious wasn't too close to the truth either. Then again, Ron had always had a bad temper.

His bad temper had managed to place him in one of the very nicely decorated rooms of the cells conveniently placed in the Ministry of Magic. Sitting in a corner of the room, he pondered on what exactly had gone wrong upon his coming to the ministry.

He'd walked in calmly enough, going through the entrance like any normal wizard would. He had a badge for visitors, permission to be in the building, and even had an appointment with the Minister of Magic. He'd waited on the noisy and distracting lift until he'd gotten to the floor he needed and waited for his turn to go into the office of Minister Fudge.

Ron had even been somewhat civil, not making any snide comments on the fact that his last year on his "throne" was almost over and that none other than Luna Lovegood was going to replace him. He'd sat in one of the new poufy chairs that were placed in front of the gleaming desk and politely asked if he could have a few Aurors to help on a missing persons assignment. But when the Minister laughed at him and told him that Aurors did no such thing, he exploded.

Yes, Ron could have been a little nicer. Yes, it hadn't been really necessary to light the Minister's bowler hat on fire, but, at the time, it had felt important that the man new he was entirely serious about his request. There were specific Aurors he wanted, ones that were on the inside of the Order. That way, legally they were doing their job, but also helping Ron's side.

It had been Fudge who had convinced him to quit being an Auror in the first place, and now the man was still driving him up the wall. Nevertheless, he ended up being thrown into one of the cells in a sectioned off part of the building. He silently prayed that anyone, even Mad-Eye Moody, would come to his aid and spring him out so he could go back on the search for his friend.

It seemed that the waiting was going to last forever, until he heard the creaking of an infrequently used door opening.

He looked up with expectant eyes. He hoped it was someone from his side coming to set him free and convince the minister to give him the Aurors he needed and send him on his merry way.

Of course, life had its nasty little habit of screwing people over. Because if there was anyone he didn't want to come through that door, it was Percy Weasley.

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A/N: I apologize for the shortness of this chapter but I figured a short update was better than none at all, right? I'll try my hardest to get the next chapter out within the next week (and it'll be at least seven pages, I promise). I've got High School and College to juggle plus studying for the SAT's again and my mother's ill… Not to mention all the other crap I gotta do… Well, I'll just get on to those review responses!

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Review Responses:

Lucycat: I'm glad I can provide some inspiration to you! I really appreciate your review. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Mooneasterbunny: nice name. Short and sweet review. Thanks!

Cate: well, here it is. Let me know what you thought of it! I'm trying to build up the anticipation so that when something happens it won't seem rushed. I really don't want them to jump into things, you know what I mean? Thanks for the review!

Fireproofpotatoes: Your reviews always make me happy. I really enjoy reading your reviews. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. The charas are different because I made them that way and I think that, with age, people change and I wanted to show that change, especially in Ron. You'll notice that Ron has really grown up into quite the young man! Once again, thank you for reading and reviewing!

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A/N: Thank you to everyone who has read the story and I ask you to review please. I realize that not everyone doesn't want to (or can't) leave a review, but I would really appreciate if you dropped one by. Even if it's short, I just want to make sure that someone cares enough to give me their opinion. Thank you all so very much.