Loss

by Breninblack

Disclaimer: All belongs to the ever-wonderful JKR.

Chapter Notes: Hello, hello! (I don't know why you say good bye, I say hello...okay, sorry, couldn't resist). Again, I apologize for the delay of this chapter. We got our power back (yay!) and I have been writing fervently ever since. Much to your probable excitement, this chapter clocks in at exactly 7 pages on my computer (give or take when you figure in margins and font size), so it's good and long for you to enjoy. As for the next chapter...I wouldn't count on seeing it before next week, but we'll see. As you will read, we're getting near the end of the story. Though I will do so again at the end of the story, I would like to thank all of the 25 people (last time I checked) who have this story on alert and those who have favorited it. I'm so happy that you're sufficently interested in my story to keep coming back to it. I would say more, but I've just realized how long of an a/n this is and I'm sure you'd rather just get on with the story. Enjoy!

Chapter Sixteen: Somewhere A Clock Is Ticking

Gloria rejoined the boys in the hall and clasped her hands together.

'Are you ready?' she asked, straightening her robes. Harry and Draco both nodded. 'Of course you are.'

She led them down the hall back to the glass elevator. It seemed to take an extraordinarily long time arriving and Gloria kept checking a little gold pocket watch, as if she were on a tight schedule.

Once in the elevator, Gloria spoke again: 'Boys, I urge you to take a good look now and when we are down in the atrium. No one who has ever seen heaven has ever been able to go back to the earthly realm.'

They arrived at the ground floor and stepped out of the elevator into the bustling room. It reminded the boys much of the entrance hall of the Ministry in London; people crossing the room, to and fro, their shoes clacking and clicking on the marble floors. Gloria asked them to wait by the information desk and then disappeared. Harry looked around avidly, eager to take in every detail of this magnificent place, while Draco just stood slumped against the wall.

Then Harry spotted something - or rather, someone - that caught his eye. Two someones. One was a woman, but she stood with her back to him and all he could see was her long red hair. She was speaking with a tall, raven haired man who wore wire-rimmed glasses.

Harry craned his neck over the crowd to see the couple. The woman turned around and Harry was sure his heart stopped.

There, standing across the rotunda, were his parents.

Harry started across the hall at a brisk walk that turned into a sprint. Draco looked up and watched, with a twinge of sadness, Harry go sprinting away from him.

'Mom! Dad! It's me, Harry!'

The couple turned and spotted him. To say they looked happy wouldn't exactly have been accurate. They had sad looks on their faces, like they were seven and it was Christmas, except they'd just found out St. Nick wasn't coming this year.

Harry was almost to them when suddenly Gloria appeared in front of him, causing him to stop short. He tried to get past her, but she stood her ground, her hand firmly clenched on his arm.

'You weren't thinking of going anywhere, were you, Mr Potter?' she asked, a barely audible hint of malice in her voice. She began to steer him back toward Draco, now gripping both of hi arms. 'I'm afraid it's time we get going. You said yourself that you have to be on your way as soon as possible. Don't you want to see your uncle again?'

Gloria gestured sharply to Draco and he followed them into a little room off the atrium. She tossed Harry into a chair and a small Indian man came forward to hold him there. Draco followed in mutely and sat behind him.

'Let me go! I have to see my parents!' Harry yelled. 'I have to see them.'

'I'm afraid that's not an option, Mr Potter,' Gloria said icily from a corner of the room. 'You see, because you're not staying here, you're not allowed to interact with the residents.'

'But I have to see them!' Harry repeated, beginning to cry even more.

Gloria looked sympathetically at him. 'I can see how much you miss your parents, dear. I wouldn't normally do this because the paperwork's already been filed, but considering that you lost them at such a young age, I would be willing to let you stay if you wanted to do so.'

'No,' Draco spoke up from the corner. 'He's doesn't want to stay.'

'How do you know what I want?' Harry yelled angrily at Draco.

Draco looked as if he was going to make a scathing remark, but then thought better of it. Instead, he said, 'Do you think you could give us a moment?'

'Of course we can. In fact, you don't really need me anymore. That door to your left will take you to the VEST and the door behind you will take you back out to the rotunda. It's up to you. But once you go through a door, it's final. There's no turning back.

'It was a pleasure meeting you both. Good luck.' With that, Gloria and the Indian man left the room through a door that disappeared after them.

'You're not going to stay,' Draco said flatly.

'You can't tell me what to do.'

'It's in your best interest to come with me.'

'It's in your best interest to shut the hell up. Why in fuck's name would I want to follow you, after you've been cold and distant ever since we got here?'

'You're a fucking lie, Potter. A fake. Everyone's always raving about your near-holiness, how "Harry Potter is so brave and he's going to save us all." But it's all a load of bollocks, isn't it? When faced with the choice to literally give up your life just to be with your parents or to go give some 40-odd people their lives back, you opt for the easy way out. The entire world is depending on you to save them, but you'd rather give it up than wait till you're meant to go.'

'You don't know what it's like. You've had your parents all your life!'

'You think they were exactly the model parents? My father was too busy killing innocent people and my mother was too busy to doping herself up so she could forget it.'

'So you'd understand if you had the chance to have your parents be available that you'd take it no matter what the cost?'

'Not if the rest of the world needed me.'

'Well, I'm sorry I'm not the righteous person you are Draco,' Harry said calmly. He stood up, walked to the door behind them and put his hand on the door knob. 'But I've made my choice.'

Draco shook his head in disbelief. 'I should have known after your little display before we left that I didn't mean anything to you,' he said, dejectedly.

'What?'

'You couldn't even admit that we were a couple to your own best friend. Granger knew. The werewolf knew. I'm sure Dumbledore knew - that man knows bloody everything. The only one who didn't know was Weasley and you couldn't even tell him. I'm obviously not that important to you.'

'You don't understand. Ron wouldn't understand.'

'It's not just that. When Granger found us, you were so eager to supply that it wasn't what it looked like. They've been your friends for six years now and they've blindly followed you into deadly situations. Do you think they're going to care if you're dating me?'

Harry didn't have anything to say to that. All he could do was continue to cry.

'Let's face it, Harry. I just don't mean enough to you to risk your friendships and I don't mean enough for you to not want to die. If what you really want is to go through that door, then I won't stop you.'

Harry watched as Draco fought back his own tears. Unable to stop himself, he ran to Draco and hugged him fiercely.

'I'm so sorry, Draco. I'm so, so sorry,' he muttered, in-between kissing the other boy's neck. 'I don't know what I was thinking.'

'You just wanted to see your parents, that's all,' Draco said, still standing stiffly. 'C'mon. We've got people to rescue.'

€€€€€

Behind the door to their left was a greyness. Dull, drab and grey in the ugliest sense of the word. It was a large room lined with large glass cases, just like Srren and Gus had said it would be. They looked around at the vast number of cases and their hearts sunk a little.

'How are we ever going to find everyone?' Harry asked.

'We'll manage,' Draco said, stepping forward. He looked down at the rows and rows and never-ending rows of cases and tried to make himself be placated by his own lie.

He started forward, Harry not far behind him, toward the first row. He dug in his pocket - those ridiculous heaven outfits were gone, thank god - and pulled out the list. The first person on it was an Azeerly, Surpin.

Draco stepped forward and looked at the first case. It was labeled Aackerly, Christian.

'Shit,' Harry said, coming to stand next to him. 'This is gonna take ages.'

'We've got time,' was all Draco said, not wanting to betray his growing dismay.

They walked to the next aisle and to the next and to the next after that until they came to Ayzlyn, Judus. They finally found the right case and stood in front of it, gazing at the dark haired man in his thirties behind the glass.

'I hate to disrupt him,' Harry said. 'He looks so peaceful.'

'How do we break the glass?' Draco asked absently. He looked around the aisle for something heavy, but found nothing. With a shrug, Draco made a fist and struck the glass front.

'I wonder what he was--Bloody hell!' Harry exclaimed.

Several things happened at once. There was a loud crash and a creamy slime came oozing out of the case. The body inside the case simply blinked out of existence; one moment it was there and the next it was not. Before the two boys could get a word out about it, a sound much like a train gliding along a rickety track came rushing toward them.

'What was that?' Harry asked.

'What's that?' Draco asked, pointing down the aisle. At first it was hardly visible, but something was coming towards them. As it grew closer, the boys could see that it was a large ladder topped by a pudgy little figure.

'Eh! Wot er ya two doin'?' said the pudgy little man when the ladder came to a screeching halt in front of them. 'I bin kepin' dese cases 'ere quite clean. You's gots no right comin' in 'ere 'n breakin' 'em likes dat.'

'Who are you?' Harry asked.

The little man ruffed his collar. 'I chould be askin' ya da same ting!'

'I'm Harry. He's Draco. We've come here to rescue some people.'

'I ain't ever godden no visitas as long as I bin down 'ere. An' cert'nly no rescuas.'

'How long have you been down here?' Draco asked curiously. The man looked like he'd been down here in the dark for eons; he was paler than Snape himself.

'I bin kepin' dese cases clean fa CDXXXIX,' the man stated proudly.

'What?' Harry asked, utterly confused. He looked to Draco, whose face was screwed up in intense concentration.

'439 years?' he said at last.

'Dats wot I said, ain't it?'

'You've been down here all by yourself for all those years?'

'Don't be silly, boy. I bin surrounded by folk,' the man spread his arms out wide. 'I bin takin' care of all MMMM of dem.'

'That's 4,000,' Draco said to Harry.

'But they're not exactly great company, seeing as how they can't hear or speak,' Harry pointed out.

'Deys great listenas! Dey da best kind. Dey ain't judgemental, da best quality for a listena.'

'Do you think you could help us find some people? We need to rescue this list of people,' Draco handed him the list.

'I only gonna 'elp ya if ya come 'ave a cup o' tea wit meh.'

Harry and Draco looked at each other. 'Couldn't hurt, could it?' Harry whispered.

'Nah. How long can he talk for?' Draco replied.

'Sure. We'll have tea with you.'

'Now I ain't doin' it no otha way! I say, a cup o' tea and dat's mah final offa.'

'We said we'd do it.'

'Oh. Right. Yah. Okay, den. 'Op on up, den.' The little man beckoned them onto his ladder and they took off zooming down the aisle. The ladder ride reminded Harry much of the ride through Gringotts that he'd taken in his first year: bumpy and very, very, very fast. They whipped around corners at speeds that Harry was sure were going to rip the flesh off his face. Draco looked vaguely queasy, but the pudgy little man seemed to be enjoying every minute of the ride.

A short time later, they arrived at a small reception area. It looked similar to the reception area in Heaven, if you made everything grey and added a couple hundred years of dust. The little man led them back through a round door into a cozy little room with a small kitchen, a small bed and a small fireplace. There were two arm chairs seated in front of the fireplace to which the pudgy little man directed them. Harry sat down in one and Draco was about to sit down in the other when he noticed an ancient looking kneazle sitting on it. Draco bent down to pet the thing, but quickly withdrew his hand when the animal's back caved in as he began to pet it. Deciding the floor was a much better idea, Draco plopped himself down next to Harry's chair.

The pudgy little man made a pot of tea and poured three glasses before sitting down. He handed one to each of the boys and began to speak rapidly.

'I is so excited ta get sum visitas. I ain't eva had none befow. I ain't seen anotha livin' soul since I was in da wawr sum DC years ago! Did I eva tell ya about da time Frisky an' I were crawlin' through da tropical jungles o' Siberia?'

The pudgy man didn't give them time to point out that Siberia didn't have any jungles, let alone answer his question. He just kept talking.

'See, Frisky an' I, we was fightin' for da imperials and we was up dere on da batta front fightin' da mushywoka's and it was rainin' and...'

The pudgy little man's voice combined with his mindless story was more effective than the Draught of the Living Dead. The two boys fell asleep almost instantly. When they awoke some time later, they found that the pudgy little man had fallen asleep, too.

'Should we wake him?' Harry whispered.

'And risk him talking our ears off again? I don't think so,' Draco replied. 'I think we should go out and use his ladder while he's knocked out.'

'Don't you reckon that'll wake him?'

'Nah. Not if we stay far enough away. He won't hear a thing. Come on.'

The two boys left the little cubby hole of a living space and crept out to the ladder. On their way, Draco grabbed a large grey metal sculpture that sat on one of the reception coffee tables, causing several inches of dust to rise up in a mushroom cloud. Then they both climbed on and then stood there, waiting for it to move.

'Did you see how he worked it?' asked Draco.

'No,' Harry replied. He looked around for a button of some sort and when he found none, he decided that shouting at it would be a good idea. 'Go! Move! Ahead!'

'Shh! He'll wake up! Do you think there is a magic word?'

'Abra Cadabra?' Harry suggested with a laugh. Much to their surprise, the ladder started to slowly crawl along the shelf. 'How do we steer it?'

'Say a name.'

'Clunie, Samai,' Harry said clearly. The ladder picked up speed and within seconds they had arrived at the correct case.

'Well, that was fun,' Harry said, dusting of his clothes.

'Not as fun as this will be,' Draco said as he raised the metal sculpture to the glass.

€€€€€

Within two hours, the two boys had successfully released all 42 of the bodies, as well as those belonging to Sirius, Srren and Gus. They were both exhausted and their arms hurt from swinging the metal sculpture so many times.

'Thank God that's done,' Harry said, wiping his brow. 'Now we just have to figure out how to do that spell and we'll be home free.'

Draco nodded absently, his eyes unfocused and glassy.

'Draco? Are you okay?' Harry asked worriedly.

Draco remained unreachable and Harry began to panic.

'Draco! Draco! Look at me!' Harry slapped Draco's face lightly, but Draco's eyes just began to roll back into his head. 'Shit.'

With considerable effort, Harry lugged Draco's limp body onto the ladder and began shouting at it to go.

'Back! To the reception area! Now! Go! Abra Cadabra! Just go! Please!'

Finally the ladder began to move. Almost as if it were sensing his urgency, it picked up speed and within seconds they had arrived at the reception area. Harry managed to heave Draco's body off of the ladder, but he wasn't strong enough to carry the blonde boy all the way to the couches.

Shouting, Harry called and called for the little man. It took him several minutes, but the pudgy little man finally came running out to see what the matter was.

'Blimey! Wot's all dis yellin' about?' he exclaimed.

'I don't know what happened. One minute he was fine, the next his eyes were rolling backwards!' Harry cried frantically.

'Oh, deary. Oh, deary, deary, deary me,' said the little man, kneeling down to see Draco's now convulsing form.

'What's wrong with him? Can't you do something to help him?'

'Dis is dark magic. I may 'ave bin down 'ere a while, but I knows dark magic when I sees it. Dis is definitely sinister work.'

'But don't you know how to cure him!'

The pudgy man looked at him blankly. 'Sorry, mate. I failed Defense Against the Dark Arts.'

'Shit. I have to get him home. Where is that stupid paper?' Harry began rummaging through Draco's pockets looking for the instructions for the Triton spell to no avail.

'Ya mean dis one?' asked the pudgy man, holding up a folded sheet of paper labeled, 'Triton Spell.'

'Yes. Give it here.' Harry snatched the paper and began to read it. The further down the page he got, the more confused he became. It seemed to involve archaic magic, not to mention some background of dark curses. Clearly, Remus had intended for Draco to perform it.

'Fuck. Do you know how to do a Triton spell?' Harry asked in desperation.

'Yah, I do. But-'

'Will you show me how?'

'I guess so, but you-'

'With all do respect, I need to get home as soon as possible.'

'It's goin' ta take a lot o' work. It ain't an easy spell.'

'Well, unless you have any other ideas, we'd better start now.'

'Dat's wot I bin tryin' ta tell ya! Folla meh.'

'A little help?' Harry asked.

'Oh, right den.' The pudgy man bent down to help Harry carry Draco. To his credit, he was pretty strong for someone who was under four feet tall. He led them down a series of corridors that veered off from his living quarters. When it seemed like they could go no deeper, they came to a big red door labeled, 'Back Door.'

'Dis should take ya back ta whereva ya came from. You did come by 'ere by orb, di'n't you?'

Harry nodded.

'Yep. Den dis'll take ya back. Good luck, laddy.' The pudgy man opened the door and pushed Harry and Draco through. Only at the last moment did it occur to Harry that he didn't even know this man's name and for all they knew, he could be shoving them through another veil. But it was too little too late.

A/N: Lights go out abruptly. All is silent, except for the dripping of a tap.

I'm gonna try to keep this short...but I've been known to ramble. ;)

There is more coming -- hopefully soon. I've been put under a house arrest, if you will, for the duration of the week and so I plan to get inordinate amounts of writing (both on this fic and my next one). Although, that's the plan. And things never go according to plan, thanks to good old Murphy and his stupid laws, so I doubt that anyone really knows what'll happen. But I will promise I won't keep you waiting too long. The end is in sight and it will be coming to a computer near you soon.

The title of this chapter is a Snow Patrol song.

Three cheers and a round of drinks for anyone who listens to Snow Patrol (or reviews my story)(a cookie if you do both!):
suishoku-ketsurui: I think it would be funny if heaven requireda lot of paper work. It'd be quite fitting, I think. Anyway, glad you liked the chapter and I hope you like this one!
volleypickle16: Thanks so much for consistently reviewing chapters! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Peaceful Angel: Gloria is an evil, evil lady who loves to scheme. She didn't really want the Potters to do any actual persuading because she assumed that Harry would want to see his parents desperately after having lost them at such a young age. It's a shame things didn't work out for them, but I think Harry made the right choice.
fifespice: you seem to hit it on the dot with every review you leave. I'm thinking maybe I should leave the story up to you! But then what would I do with my time? Hmm, better keep it to myself. . Thanks for reviewing!
lilylikeslimes: KT- Thanks for reviewing...I know you don't like to do it that often. I'm so glad you love it! I'm also glad you love me, although I don't know if I qualify for goddess status.;D I agree in that I think the writing has come a long way from the first few chapters. Hopefully I'll just keep getting better and better. That's what practice is for, right?
JitsaruJakara: I'm glad you've decided to come back to haunt my story. It wouldn't be the same without you! I was dying without electricity, but luckily the rents called someone to come fix it and now a bunch of lights that were broken work, too! It makes me happy to have light inside my house. Light isa good thing. Sometimes. Like I told Peaceful Angel, Lily and James weren't intended to be persuasive in themselves; Gloria just figured that Harry would want to see them more than he would want to go back and fight Voldy.

Next Chapter: Where will Harry and Draco end up? Is it too late to save Draco? And what the hell's wrong with him, anyway?