Discalimers: Harry Potter? Not mine.

A/N: Sorry for the delay…

To Kozi-Amaya-Chan: Thanks. Sorry for the confusion. This is HD. Raven is…well see below...

R&R pls. Do tell if I'm boring you or something…

Chapter 3 Beloved

Draco's POV

"I didn't do it! I swear I didn't!"

"You know me… you know me! You know I could never do that!

"Please you have to believe me…"

"Say you believe me."

"Don't send me back out there… they will kill me!"

"Please I beg you!"

"Please… anyone…"

"Nooo!"

"Nooo!"

I woke up screaming as the images burned inside my head. In an instant, I felt Raven touch my back with long pacifying strokes as I acquaint myself with consciousness. I must have been thrashing up pretty badly. I heard myself whimper softly before falling into his arms. He has always been there for me when this happens. He did what he had always done and held me for several minutes in silence. He swept some hair off me cheeks and tucked me below his chin. I hated showing any signs of weakness but it was not something I could help over the past few years.

"Another nightmare Draes?" he asked. His quiet voice was full of concern. Rightly so. This had been going on since papa had assigned me this mission.

I burrowed further into his warmth of his embrace as he held me tighter. I felt his fingers brush into my hair and his lips touch the top of my head.

"I am sorry, beloved, that you had to go though all this again," he soothed. "But you know you must. You cannot move on until you've truly let go of the past."

"How does one let go after…" I broke down completely. I am not embarrassed of showing such vulnerability to Raven. I am assured with all my being that he will never use it against me. Ever. He knew what happened. He, along with papa and Nyx were the only ones who knew everything I went through. He had his own tragic past, so in many ways I sensed that he understood a semblance of what I am going through right now.

"I don't know Draes," he admitted. Raven rarely admits not knowing about something. "But somehow you've got to try. I don't even know how, but you know that we'll always be here for you."

"It still hurts too much sometimes. I'm much happier whenever the pain numbs occasionally."

"Of course it does hurt," his voice was still low but there I can feel a barely controlled rage coming off his aura. "What happened to you was a crime of the highest magnitude in our race. Like you, I could hardly control my self earlier, but you know that displeasing a certain someone like grandfather will not be very good for both our health, no matter how much we are loved."
"I don't know if I can make it through tomorrow," I confessed.

"You can and you will," Raven said with determination. "Even if I have to drain myself unconscious, Draes."

I nodded silently into his chest.

"Sleep now, beloved. I will watch over you." He tilted my face up with one hand and gave me a soft kiss on my brow. I sighed and rested my head back on his chest.

Raven hummed a familiar melody into my ears attempting to lull me softly into slumber. We both know that it wouldn't work but it always did calm me down considerably.

Raven and I have a very complicated relationship. In the Aerial community many believe that we are lovers… but that couldn't be any farther from the truth. Of course, it does not help that Raven would flirt with me a lot, if only to rile things up a bit. It's quite disturbing when he does that. But he's got tendency to be quite sadistic streak when boredom hits him. Nyx commented once that it ran in the family. That's most probably why I was sent here in Hogwarts. My father is really gonna be sorry when I return home. He'll find several of his rare collections multiplying in pieces as they fly over his head, his hair bight pink and orange for a month among other things until my temper is somewhat appeased. It makes me feel a bit better, thinking of ways to make papa's life living hell. After all, he had always reiterated that Slytherins can never be coerced into an action without expecting some form of retribution. I'll show him payback.

Beloved. Raven calls me that every time something like this happens or to ease my mood swings. He doesn't call me by my rightful title because this is another life.

Beloved. There is always a pause as an unspoken word is silently acknowledged after it. Beloved. It means everything but it meant nothing. At least not anything romantic at all. It is simply his description of me.

Beloved. It means that I am loved. I am cared for. I am safe. I am watched over. I will never be forsaken. I will never be alone. That is it. And that is more than enough. For me. For both of us.

Beloved. It is what my family calls me privately when they are trying to reassure me. They know that I crave for whatever care, attention and security that a family is suppose to offer. What the Malfoys had mostly failed to give me growing up. Papa calls me his 'beloved' with a silent 'brat' when he is being annoyingly affectionate. Nyx addresses me as his 'beloved' with the unspoken 'brother'. For Raven it's…

There is something else to be noted here.

You see, Raven is my lifeline. And I truly meant lifeline in every sense of word.

This basically means that when he dies I die, you get the idea. Luckily for me I have back ups namely, Papa and Nyx. Papa said that I'd probably have to shift to either him or Nyx every ten years or until Raven finds his lifemate. A lifeline is a type of bond that temporarily binds one soul to another. No it doesn't suck much life force from the host, it just sort of boosts the recipient soul every now and then. It is much like that resuscitator things that muggles use in hospitals to revive a patient and aid him in breathing until he can manage on his own. Surprise that I know about those? You'd be surprised at what I know about the muggle world. But that is not the issue right now. Being the receiver of a life booster makes me feel like a parasite sometimes, but it's too late to back out now. When I agreed to embrace my heritage back then, I didn't know that this was going to happen to me. Why would I need a lifeline?

Simple, I'm really supposed to be dead all those years ago. Why? Well, you see, when a soul bond is violently ripped apart the result would be instantaneous death to both parties. Suffice to say, soul bonds are very rare in the Wizarding world. Chances are slim enough that one might find his or her soul mate in one lifetime. I was blessed or was it cursed, to find my own true soul mate. I initiated the bond, but it hadn't been completed. It was a half-bond. Half bonds are much more delicate than completed soul bonds. What a half-bond meant was that one's whole being, mind, body and spirit was bound to one's soul mate, but this bond is not reciprocated. The initiator will feel all the emotions, be in tune with the other's needs and wants, and lend strength when other mate is weakened or is ill. When the half bond is broken, only the one who is bound shall suffer the tragic consequences and eventually die a very, very painful death. Only the strongest of beings can survive the ordeal if, and only if they are able to find an equally, if not a more powerful host willing to take on a temporary bond that will sustain them for a few years before switching hosts.

Four years ago, unbeknownst to many, I bonded myself to my soul mate. I did it because I had to at that time. I did it because I had been confident enough that it would eventually be completed later on. I had been to complacent. It was an error that I paid and am still paying a very high price for. My mate never knew of the bond. I didn't get the chance to tell him. That's why it had been too easy for him to tear everything down and rip my soul apart unknowingly.

Yes. Him. You have a problem with that? Same sex relationships are common enough in this world. You are going to ask if I am gay? I cannot really answer that. I am one of those who appreciate beauty in all its forms. And he was, is, and will always be the most beautiful creature I've ever laid my eyes on. I wish I could forgive him. I wish I could forget. But wishes are futile because reality is often too harsh for words and the Fates could be quite cruel with their jokes. The pain of his betrayal still feels fresh in my memory, in my heart and even in my flesh every single day that I am now numb.

Raven was both my bane and my salvation. He had been the most logical choice for me as our spiritual signatures are very much attuned with each other. He is at par with papa when it came down to compatibility with me. He saved me from withering away in death but he was a constant reminder of the reason why I had been knocking at Death's door. He is an empath. And a strong one at that. I know that he can feel my pain greatly, not only because he is my host but because everything about me affects him directly even without the existing bond.

You see, he reminds me too much of my lost love. Those unruly black locks, the carefree radiant smile, the shape of his eyes… If not for that silver eyes and his elegant nose he would have been an almost carbon copy of him. I wondered if anyone in the hall had noticed earlier. If the had, they might think that Raven is a substitute for my mate.

He is not. Not at all. His attitude is definitely from papa's side of the family. Proud, elegant, strong, cunning... and horribly spoiled just like me. But physically, his attributes and some of his mannerisms are so similar to his father, that they could almost be mistaken as twins. Except that Raven is currently sporting this ridiculous hairstyle which is parted on one side, covering about half of his right cheek, with a short braided tail at the back. This somehow hid the uncanny resemblance which would have caused a commotion among the occupants of the castle. I am thankful for this small comfort. It wouldn't do for rumors to float around the Wizarding world about their wonder boy having twin. Because he does not have any biological siblings.

But he has a son.

A two thousand year old half-Shadow dragon son to be exact. A son from a lifetime long past and forgotten by all but three.

A son fathered by his mate.

Me.

Yes.

My soul mate is none other than the revered savior of this damn magical community.

Harry Potter.

I would tell you how it came to be… but perhaps later, as I am already feeling drowsy.

I am going to have a very trying day when I wake, I can feel it to the very marrow of my bones... I can do nothing now but sleep…

End chapter 3…

A/N:

It wasn't what you were expecting was it? It will get more complicated… things are twisting and turning everywhere as i type, but i assure you that things will eventually be cleared up... o so i hope(snickers)... Harry, Severus and other will finally make an appearance in the next chap… that is if anyone's still interested...

Sorry if the update is late… reality is pulling my ear off pretty bad right now...

If you want me to continue somehow let me know… If you have questions etc, let me know. Reviews are greatly appreciated and it keeps me motivated. Please? I'm still quite new at this, so I really need some feedback as to how I'm doing so far...

Maybe i'll try to write some more...

Thanks…