Loss

by Breninblack

Disclaimer: All belongs to the ever-wonderful JKR.

Chapter Notes: Thank you, everybody, for the plethora of reviews. It was greatly appreciated. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get this chapter up. A former teacher of mine is having a baby later this month and I've been trying to write a short story to make a picture book out of, but I've been having little luck. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to let me know! I would love your suggestions.

Also, I sort of lied in the last A/N when I said that they'd test the device in the next chapter. It will definitely be in the next one, though. If it's not, I give you permission to burn me at the stake.

Chapter Thirteen: Father's Favorite

Harry had been out on the quidditch pitch in the evening before, but never this late. He would have checked the time, but it was so dark he couldn't even see his hands. The light from the castle had gotten him about half way to the pitch, but it was no longer enough to continue by.

'Lumos,' Harry muttered as he pulled out his wand. The small light illuminated about four feet in front of him, but it was enough to get by with.

A chilled breeze swept over him and Harry cursed himself for not bringing a cloak. He had been in such a hurry to find Draco that as soon as he'd seen that his blonde companion was out on the pitch, he'd dashed out of the tower without even saying goodnight to Hermione.

Just as Harry reached the base of the stands, the moon decided to come out from its hiding place behind the clouds. The pitch was immediately bathed in a white light and Harry took the opportunity to look for Draco.

It didn't take long for Harry's seeker eyes to search out the blonde boy. Draco was flying low to the ground and moving at a sluggish pace. He appeared to be trying to follow a straight line that he had magicked onto the ground and he was doing a horrible job of it.

'Hey,' Harry said as he walked up to Draco. The blonde boy started and looked around for the voice.

'Oh. It's you,' was all he said.

'How's it going?' Harry asked, nodding to the broom.

'Not well.'

'Do you want some help?'

'I don't need your bloody help! I can do this on my own!' Draco said, irritated. Harry shrank back and watched his boyfriend struggle to fly in a straight line. He wavered and wove in a jagged line and then turned around and tried again. He repeated these actions almost a dozen times, with little improvement each time. Finally, he angrily cast aside his broom and threw himself onto the ground next to Harry.

'This is all such a fucking mess,' he exclaimed, holding his head in hid 'I can't do a bloody thing! I've lost all coordination. I can't even use my wand properly!'

'Mind if I try something?' Harry asked. Draco nodded meekly and Harry took his wrists. He moved them around in circles slowly, then eased them up and down. 'I read this in a muggle magazine once. I was browsing while my aunt Petunia shopped because she hates to be seen with me, but she's too afraid to leave me alone in the house. Afraid I'll blow it up or something. Anyway, the periodical was about arthritis and it said that you should try to gently move the joint from one end position to the other.'

'Ow!' Draco cried. 'That hurt!'

'It may hurt a little, but try using your wand.'

Draco took out his wand and gave it a little flick. His movements were still jerky, but it seemed to cause him slightly less pain to make them.

'It won't fix the problem right away, but if you do the right therapy exercises, it should help more in the long run.'

Draco looked at Harry in amazement. For weeks he had been forcing himself to painfully write and use his wand in an attempt to rehabilitate himself, but in less than five minutes Harry had reduced the pain considerably.

'Has anyone ever told you you're a god?' Draco asked, pulling Harry in for a kiss.

'It's been suggested,' Harry murmured, kissing Draco back. The two boys quickly lost themselves in each other, reveling in the taste of each other. Harry explored Draco's lemon flavored mouth with his tongue, playfully fighting with Draco's own tongue.

I could do this forever, Harry thought.

But he quickly realized that forever was going to be cut short when a glaring light shone down on them.

€€€€€

'Shit,' gasped Hermione. She had known they would be down on the field - she'd checked at the map - but she figured they'd be talking or walking around or something. Never in a million years would she have thought they'd be doing this.

She watched as the two boys quickly sprang apart and whipped out their wands. Hermione quickly muttered a spell to cast an overhead light so they could all see each other clearly.

'It's not what it looks like, Hermione,' Harry said quickly. Draco gave him a look like he was obviously mad if he thought she'd believe that steaming load of bollocks. 'We were just . . . we were . . . '

'Look, Harry, as much as I would LOVE to hear you lie about why you were out here kissing Malfoy, I'm afraid we haven't got the time. Lucius is in the castle. He's looking for his son and he's not happy.'

'Shit,' Draco muttered. 'I didn't think he'd actually come.'

'What?' Harry asked in astonishment. 'Did you do something to provoke him?'

'I may have said a few things to Pansy,' Draco said, shuffling his feet.

'A few things like what?' Harry demanded.

'I may have mentioned something about not marrying her.'

'That's all?'

'There might have been some words about not having any alliances . . . '

'And?'

'I may have said something about the dark lord being a pathetic man and that she was an ugly cow.

'And I might have told her to tell my father that Srren sends his love.'

'Jesus, Draco! Do you want to die?' Harry exclaimed.

'I didn't think he'd actually come! After all those weeks they never even bothered coming, I didn't think he'd start now. I'm sorry.'

'Look. We really don't have time for this. Dumbledore and Snape are doing their best to ward your father off, but it's only a matter of time before he ends up out here. I've brought the invisibility cloak for Draco to hide under. I'm going to lead him to the Room of Requirement and Harry, you're going to go straight back to the tower. No arguing!'

Harry was about to protest, but Hermione gave him a look that silenced him. She threw the invisibility cloak at Draco. Much to Hermione's surprise, Harry gave Draco a quick kiss and then sprinted back to the castle.

'Granger, you said yourself. It's not like we've got all day,' Draco said. He had already put on the cloak and Hermione found it a little disquieting that he had the advantage of invisibility. Malfoy was the very first person she'd never want to in this situation with.

She started off briskly toward the castle, fast enough that she could hear Malfoy having to jog to keep up. She led them through the halls, dodging Mrs Norris on several occasions and avoided the high traffic corridors, until they safely reached the Room of Requirement. After checking the hall for any prying eyes with a quick incantation, she crossed the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy three times and let Draco into the room.

Once inside, Draco immediately took off the cloak and handed it back to Hermione. He then took a seat in one of the chintz armchairs in front of the fire place.

Hermione gazed around the room, taking in the lived in quality it possessed. There was a kitchenette with dirty dishes; there were papers all over the table; and, most peculiarly, there was a queen-sized bed that looked very much as if two people had slept in it. It seemed that Harry had some serious explaining to do.

'Thank you for the escort, Granger,' Draco commented, conjuring himself a cup of coffee, 'though I'm quite sure I could have managed alone. Feel free to leave anytime.'

'Fat chance, Malfoy,' Hermione replied smugly. 'I have orders from the headmaster to stay with you until further notice. We could be here all night.'

'Great. I have to spend the night with the Hogwarts' most stuck up know-it-all.'

'Hey, you've got it good. I have to spend the night with the world's most arrogant sod.'

'Ouch,' Draco said, clutching his chest in mock offense. 'Surely I'm not so horrible to deserve the title of most arrogant sod in the entire world, am I?'

'Let's see. You've only tortured and taunted all of my friends for the past five years; referred to me by every racial slur in the book and then some; and tried to get Harry, Ron and I in more than a little trouble on several occasions. Yes, I think that title suits you quite nicely.'

'To be fair, you've not exactly been nice, either.'

Hermione scoffed. 'Name one time that you haven't completely deserved my unkindness.'

'That time in third year, when you slugged me.'

'You called Hagrid pathetic!'

'Everyone calls Hagrid any number of things.'

'I don't. Harry and Ron don't.'

'That's because you have an unnatural friendship with the oaf. One that I fail to understand, I might add.'

'You wouldn't know what a friend was if it danced naked in front of you,' Hermione spat.

'Quite the contrary, Granger, honey. If someone was dancing naked in front of me, you'd better believe I'd be paying attention.'

'Even if it was Pansy?'

Draco considered this for a moment. 'Yes, I suppose. That girl is the biggest prude you'll ever meet.'

'What about me?'

'What are you trying to do, Granger? Come onto me and kill me at the same time? Of course not.'

'You've never seen me naked, so how do you know I don't have the hottest body at Hogwarts?'

'I know you don't because I have the hottest body in school, hands down.'

'Whatever,' Hermione said dismissively. 'The point is, you can't come up with any time where you haven't deserved exactly what you've gotten.'

'What about up in the Hospital wing, right after they found Harry. I don't think I deserved to be deemed worse than my father. If I was that bad, I'd have killed handed over Harry to the Dark Lord with an apple in his mouth by now.'

'How was I supposed to know you'd changed? In fact, I'm still not completely convinced.'

'You heard what I told Pansy. It's all true. You'd have to be stupid not to have an inkling of what's going on between Harry and I. And my homicidal psycho father is storming the castle, on a rampage to kill me. What more do you want from me?'

Hermione had to admit that she had been considering Malfoy in a new light since the accident. Seeing someone's brains splayed out on your lap had that effect sometimes. 'It's not that easy to just forgive and forget, Malfoy.'

'No one's asking you to,' Draco replied, his voice suddenly devoid of the vague malice it had held before.

'Harry seems to have done it.'

'Harry and I have had harrowing near death experiences,' Draco said matter-of-factly. 'Naturally our lives will be different because of it.'

'But it doesn't make you . . . ' Hermione started. She wasn't sure she wanted to acknowledge it.

'Gay? No. Most gay people are born that way, but they don't necessarily realize it right away.'

Hermione was quiet for a moment, considering the idea of Harry being gay.

'Does it bother you? That Harry might be gay.'

'Lord no. Plenty of people I know are gay. My uncle, a couple of my cousins. And I always had the sneaking suspicion about my best friend from primary school, but I could never be sure.

'No, what bothers me is the fact that he's chosen you to be gay with. You don't exactly have a good history with us, you know. Couldn't he have picked someone like Seamus, or Dean?'

'Seamus is notorious for his love 'em and leave 'em policy.'

'But why you?'

'That is something you'll have to take up with Harry,' Draco said, stretching out on his chair. Hermione rose from her seat at the table and sat down in the second arm chair, next to Draco.

'I have a question,' Hermione stated. She'd always been curious about Draco, though she would have never admitted it.

'I have an answer. You go first,' Draco replied smoothly.

'Did you ever buy into the whole "purifying the wizarding race" shtick?'

Draco went pensive for a moment, as if he was considering whether or not to keep talking to her. Finally, he spoke: ' I don't think anyone's ever asked me that. They all just assume that I'm a part of it all.

'When I was little, I used to think I believed it, but in retrospect, I think it was probably more of an attempt to please my father. But I guess I've never taken all that much interest in his line of work. He's probably storming around here tonight because he's finally had the last straw with me.'

'Do you think he'd actually do something to you, if he found you? I mean, you're his son.'

'Apparently Harry hasn't told you what happened to my brother. He's only in the spirit world because Lucius put him there.'

'Oh,' was all Hermione said. A peaceful fell over them, both Hermione and Draco lost in thought.

She had known that Lucius was evil through and through, but until Draco's accident she had always assumed that he still took the time to be his father. Lucius and Narcissa's failure to show up after their son cracked his skull open had shown her how wrong she had been. The news that Lucius had put Draco's brother through a death veil only further proved it. How horrible it must be to have parents who cared so little about you. Yet Draco seemed to have turned out okay . . . for the most part. He seemed to have come into his own since the accident and she had come to the conclusion that maybe he wasn't so horrible after all. She understood now that the past five years of torture had been a Malfoy thing and not a Draco thing. Sure, he could still be a bit catty and arrogant, but she wasn't sure he'd be any different if he had been born to a family on the light side.

'Malfoy,' Hermione started. 'I just want to say--'

There was a knock at the door before Hermione could get another word out. The door opened and Dumbledore entered.

'Good evening,' Dumbledore said, nodding to them both. Hermione and Draco stood to greet him. 'I trust things have been uneventful for you?'

'Yes, sir,' they both replied simultaneously.

'Good, good. I'm glad to hear that.' Dumbledore turned to Hermione. 'Miss Granger, I want to thank you for spending your evening with Mr Malfoy. Come speak with me at a convenient time about your extra credit.'

Hermione blushed. 'I don't think it's necessary anymore, Headmaster. I have made an error in judgement and I will no longer be needing it. Thank you, though.'

'Very well,' Dumbledore replied. His face remained passive, but Hermione thought she saw a slight twinkle in the old man's eye. He reached into a pocket in his robes and removed a small tin. 'I'm afraid it's well past your bedtime, but could I interest you a lemon drop before you go?'

'Sure,' she said, taking one of the sweets. She nodded her farewells to the Headmaster and then to Draco, who quirked an eyebrow at her before she turned and left.

€€€€€

The next morning Harry went to the Room of Requirement before he did anything else. Dumbledore had told him the night before that Draco was going to have to stay there for a couple of days for precautionary reasons, to keep him safe from his father and any sabotage attempts that might be made by his fellow Slytherins. Harry had planned to go and spend the night there after Dumbledore had finished talking with Draco, but the Headmaster had stayed in there for so long that Harry eventually fallen asleep waiting for him to leave.

It being Sunday, Harry had a lot of nervous energy that caused him to hop up and down on one foot or the other. When he got to the Room of Requirement, Draco hadn't even gotten dressed and was just pouring himself a cup of coffee.

'Hey, sleepyhead,' Harry said, ruffling Draco's hair. Draco glared at him, but Harry was completely oblivious. He sat down across from Draco and started bobbing his foot up and down. After a few minutes, he got restless and jumped up and started pacing the room. When he got bored with that, he started clanging around the kitchen.

'Are you all right?' Draco asked suspiciously. Harry was acting very odd.

'Hmm? What? Me?' Harry replied, turning around.

'No. The entire legion of death eaters that just apparated behind you.'

Harry jumped and looked behind him. Feeling incredibly stupid, he came back to the chair and sat down again. 'I'm nervous,' he admitted. 'Remus is going to be coming tonight and we're supposed to use that orby thingy and we don't really know if it'll work because no one's ever tried it and if it doesn't work, well, who knows what'll happen. We might get stuck there, or we might die. In any case if I can't come back then entire wizarding world will fall to ruin because of me.'

'Whoa. Slow down. Take a deep breath. Have you had any sleep?'

'About 3 hours worth.'

'Come here,' Draco said, standing up and pulling him toward the bed. 'I have an idea.'

Harry followed him to the bed obediently. Draco began unbuttoning his shirt and slowly pulled it off him. Next he moved to his pants and then his boxers until Harry was left in only his socks. Draco began to unbutton his own clothes, but Harry pushed his hands aside and did it himself.

When they were both unclothed, Draco kissed Harry so slowly that Harry was sure he would melt into a pile of goo. He eased Harry down onto the bed and Harry went willfully. He teased Harry's nipples with his tongue, causing Harry to arch up into him and beg for more. When Harry could no longer take anymore of Draco's incessant teasing and playful nipping, Harry whispered what he wanted in Draco's ear.

Draco grinned mischievously. 'You sure?'

Harry nodded.

Draco flipped Harry onto his stomach and grabbed a bottle from the side table. He quickly prepared himself and with one swift move he entered Harry.

Harry winced at the initial pain. But as Draco began to slowly thrust inside him, the pain receded. Draco was moving in steady, rhythmic movements and Harry was sure he was going to die from the sensation.

The boys came in unison and Draco collapsed next to Harry. Harry rolled over, performed a quick cleaning spell and snuggled up to Draco.

'I love you,' he murmured as he fell asleep. Draco lie there for a long while after Harry had fallen asleep, thinking. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling that was lurking in his stomach.

A/N: So this was mainly a filler chapter because I needed to establish some conflict and pass the time. But I hope you enjoyed it all the same. My goal is to finish the story within the next few weeks, though I'm not sure if that will actually happen because I've got a line up of concerts I want to attend. We'll see. But I promise you I won't leave you hanging for long. :)

I love my reviewers like I love cheesecake:
Volleypickle: I didn't get this up as soon as I would have liked, but it's here now! I'm glad you liked the last two chapters!
Ashes of Stars: Thanks!
suishoku-ketsurui: I'm glad it's starting to get interesting. Does that mean it wasn't interesting before?
fifespice: I'm sorry there was no device this time. I decided some other things needed to happen first. There will be deviceness next time!
Peaceful Angel: Glad you think the hand job was believeable. Hope this sex scene was believeable too! And more Hermione...I think she was in a better mood for this chapter. .
JitsaruJakara: Gosh! You make me blush! Drake does look good with just about anything. I imagine he also looks pretty damn good with nothing. . I think a party is a great idea! WOO-HOO!
Emiko33333333: Thanks for the comment! I'll be sure to keep writing!
Shania Maxwell: yes, finally. It took, what, 12 chapters for them to FINALLY hook up, but they did it and boy are they enjoying it!
Shakespeares Whore: Someone else who loves Phoenix Song? OMG! hugs I love you already! I must have read it a bazillion times, too. I can't get enough of it!And I'm absolutely honored that you'd put my little fic up there with Xylodemon's.
Darknessmiko: I'm so glad that you love the story! It makes me so happy when I get reviews like yours!

Next Chapter: They really will test the orb next time. I swear it.