I turned 20 last thursday! I'm getting old...
Look to the stars
Let hope burn in your eyes
And we'll love and we'll hate
And we'll die
All to no avail, all to no avail
-Muse (Stockholm Syndrome)
For once Harry let Draco attempt to comfort him; it helped, but not much. He ground his teeth fiercely, as his head lay on Draco's shoulder, trying to not cry. It was all too much.
"You can cry, Harry. I wouldn't hold it against you." Draco whispered and rocked him back and forth.
"I don't want to cry anymore. I am sick and tired of crying." Harry muttered. /I don't think I was falling in love, but.../
/He might be reborn... someday, you never know./ Although Draco was trying to placate Harry, underneath he was thrilled to here that Harold had not loved Blaise; a sharp stab of guilt hit Draco's heart at the thought. He shouldn't be rejoicing while his love mourned.
"Maybe..." Harry looked up. He desperately hoped Draco wasn't jealous... "I love you, Draco. You know that... right?"
"I know." With that, he lent down to kiss Harry on the lips.
They broke apart when they heard a cough from the doorway; Draco looked up to see Harry's father, while Harry simply laid his head back down on Draco's shoulder.
"As much as I hate to break up this love-fest, there's a phone call for Harry. It's Molly Weasley and it sounds urgent." James said before going back down the steps.
/Why is Ron's mother calling/ Harry wondered, lifting his head.
/Let's find out/ with that Draco lifted Harry in his arms and started to walk.
/Do you have to carry me everywhere/ Not that Harry was complaining. Now that his mood had improved... slightly, his mind was slowly drifting to other things. Draco had unknowingly placed him in exactly the right place. Harry leant his head down, trying to keep his mind blank.
Draco was curious when he felt Harry's mind withdraw, but he nearly dropped the younger vampire when he felt Harry suddenly bite down into the soft flesh of his neck under his chin. /Harry/
/What/ Harry licked the wound before one again lowering his head to pull more blood from the holes he had torn in Draco's skin; he smirked when he felt the other vampire shudder under his mouth. Teasingly, he let one arms hang down and started to push it up under the bottom of Draco's shirt, the other stayed firmly around the vampire's neck.
/Nothing.../ Suddenly Draco realized that he had closed his eyes and had stopped mid-step on the stairs. Distracted by Harry's suckling, he carefully started back down the steps, nearly stumbling on a couple.
The second Draco's foot hit the bottom of the steps he heard something hit the floor. Slowly he looked up and saw Lily gaping at them and holding her hand out. Draco's gaze dropped and saw a book on the floor. James was nowhere to be found. "Good morning." Draco said quietly. Harry didn't budge. His mind was long gone and Draco's was slowly going with it.
"Make him stop!" Lily exclaimed.
It took a moment for her words to register. /Um... Harry/
/...not now. Busy.../ Harry held on tighter, enjoying the feel of his mate's blood running down his throat.
/I think you are scaring your mother.../ But Draco could not bring himself to remove Harry, anymore than the boy could bring himself to pull away. He simply didn't want to.
Suddenly Draco's mind was snapped back to the present when he felt something impact the back of his head. He looked down and frowned when he saw a pillow lying at his feet.
"Are you back?" Draco tried to look back behind him, but Harry hindered the movement.
/Come on, Arris... We can do this later. Remember, you have a phone call./
Reluctantly, Harry withdrew, but not before giving the wound one last lick. Slowly he crawled out of Draco's arms, but not before seeing a slightly irritated look on his father's face. His eyes dropped to the floor in slight unease, rebuked, but just held him to his chest. No one was going to make his Harry feel uncomfortable...
"There's a time and place, boys. Phone." James handed Harry the cordless and left the room.
"Hello?" Harry asked.
"It's about time, Harry!"
Harry jerked the phone away from his face. What had he done that Mrs. Weasley would be yelling at him for...
"Harry!" He heard on the other end; quickly he brought it back to his ear.
"I'm here."
"Have you seen, Ron?"
"Ron? Why, what happened?" Harry suddenly began to worry.
"Ron... I-it's..." Harry heard a sob on the other end. "He's missing!"
Harry dropped the phone in shock. "Missing?" Quickly he scrambled to pick up the receiver. "Missing? For how long?"
"Three days! I thought that he was at one of his brothers, but they all said they had not seen him! I called Hermione first, but said he had been showing up at school until yesterday. I tried calling his girlfriend, what was her name...Pansy! But nobody ever answered!"
"I'm sorry; I haven't seen or heard from him, Mrs. Weasley." Harry began to worry... what if something had happened to Ron; could he have caused it by coming back? "I'll call you if I hear something." In a haze, he turned off the phone, not noticing that she was still talking on the other end. Harry turned to look up at Draco and when he saw the dazed and hopeless look on the young vampires face to once again brought Harry in close. /can you survive everything that is happening to you, Arris.../ but he kept the thought to himself.
At that moment, Lily made her presence know to the ones who had apparently forgotten her. "What happened Harry?" she asked carefully; Lily had noticed that his eyes had been moist when he came down even though he seemed happy enough drinking... Lily shuddered, not wanting to think about it. There was still some of the red substance staining her son's lips...
Harry turned to look at her. "Ron's missing. Disappeared three days ago."
"Oh... I..." Lily didn't know what to say. While she couldn't say she considered the boy another son, she did care about what happened to him. /Is this why Harry.../ "Do you have any idea what happened?" She tried to not sound accusing, but she could tell by the now cold look on her sons face that she had failed.
"What, are we back to the vampire thing? So I must have done something? Well, I didn't, so you can rest assured. One of these days you'll begin to believe me." Harry laughed bitterly.
"I really want to Harry. I'm trying." She held her head in her hands in frustration. Why was it so hard for her to trust her son now! She knew that he wasn't the type of person to hurt anyone, so why...
"I know." Harry calmed down, dropping his head back against Draco. "Listen, I'm going to go out, maybe see if I can find Ron."
"In other words, I probably won't be seeing you for at least several days." She smirked slightly.
"Exactly, mum." Harry walked forward to plant a kiss on the woman's forehead. "Tell dad 'bye' for us." He said before taking Draco's hand in his.
"I will." Lily said smiling slightly.
Harry returned the smile before him and Draco exited the house.
(Past)
Harold held his head in agony as he woke up and was surprised to feel a heavy cloth surrounding his body; he was clothed. Slowly he opened his eyes, which teared under the bright lights.
"The boy's awake." He glanced up fearfully when he heard the low voice; where was he... he thought as his vision cleared.
"How do you feel?" The man asked.
"...head hurts..." Harold said drowsily, closing his eyes again after these refused to focus.
"You're eyes should return to normal after a couple of hours, in the mean time, I would like for you drink this." The man said soothingly.
Harold felt something glass touch his lips. He thought to refuse it; what if it was poison. But, then did it really matter? The vampires could kill him easily, especially after what he did. Poison would be a kind way of getting to job done. Why was this vampire being kind to him, when he had killed one of his kind?
While he was thinking, he realized he was beginning to feel drowsy again... Everything was starting to drift away... lovely poison.
"You should wake up again in a couple hours." Harry heard as his mind neared oblivion. /No... I need to die.../
Indeed, Harold did find himself waking, against his will. Only this time he was in a very familiar place... sorrowfully yet wonderfully familiar. Draconis' bed. He felt his eyes tear up slightly in despair. He had thought this portion of his life would be over with... That the vampire's would finally kill him.
"Why did you do it?"
Harold heard the low unusually rough voice that he knew as Draconis and turned his head. He saw the vampire King sitting in a chair beside the bed, watching him. Just watching him... /how long has he been there... why is he here/
"I asked you, 'why did you do it?' Do not make me ask again." Although it was a threat, it was said in the same low even tone.
"Do what?" Harold asked carefully.
"You killed the one you loved for me. I have given you no reason to do that." Draconis growled slightly, but didn't more.
"I don't know." /I did not love him.../
Instead of saying anything, Draco nodded and got up. For a split second, Harry thought he was going to come at him, but instead the vampire simply left.
AN: relax… the story isn't over. I still have a couple of secrets up my sleeve although they should start comeing faster now…