Dancing With Both Eyes Closed
By: warwithdarkness
Paring: HP/DM or DM/HP as a main pairing, others will most likely pop up later.
Rating: M for Mature
Summary: HP/DM slash Fate is a fickle thing. When Harry lived when he should have died, the world titters on the edge of what should have been and what could be. Now the organization that should have conquered the world fights desperately for what ought to have been. Harry has to decide which is more important: the present or the future that he always wanted.
Warnings: slash, relationships between two males (of the sexual kind), violence, language, AU, angst, character death
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything related to it.
Chapter One
Saved
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…
Putting the letter back into the chest, he shuffled through some of the papers and trinkets before pulling out a hand mirror. Wiping the dust off of its surface, he looked at himself for a moment. It had been years since he had seen what he looked like and the sight before him made his eyes droop in sadness.
At twenty-two his hair was no longer the pure black it had been when he was younger, now it was streaked with white. The lightening bolt scar was just a memory now, but in its place was one that started at his eyebrow and went straight down to his cheek. He was completely blind in his left eye because of it. Most of the time when he went into the village he covered his eye with a bandaged, but still his other scars peaked the interest of the villagers. His skin was dark from the warm Italian sun, but smooth and soft to the touch.
Clearing his throat, he murmured, "Sirius…Sirius?" Nothing happened. Not that he was expecting it to anyway. Growling, he dropped the mirror on top of his invisibility cloak and slammed the chest shut.
Getting to his feet he said to himself, "Idiot! Five years since you left without a word and you expect them to answer. Bah!" He kicked the small side table beside his bed causing the vase filled with lilies to fall and shatter on the ground. "Shit!"
Moving quickly to the kitchen where the broom was he cursed under his breath. Grabbing the broom he began to sweep up the mess on the floor. He was almost done when he heard a tap tap on his door.
Suddenly brought out of his rage by the noise, he blinked and leaned the broom against his mattress before moving to the door. No one, in the many years that he had been there, had knocked on his door. Hesitantly, he grabbed the doorknob and twisted his wrist. Slowly pulling open the door, he glanced around.
There was no one there.
The hair on his arms began to stand up as he felt the familiar wave of magic brush gently against his mind. Tremors moved up and down his spine as he looked about, trying to see if anyone or anything was there. Upon seeing nothing, the man began to shut the door but stopped when he saw a light brown envelope sticking out of the rose bush by his door.
Checking his surroundings once more, he stepped out of the safety of his house and picked up the letter.
The rough paper of the envelope felt familiar in his hand and the elaborate and curvy green writing on the front made his heart lurch in his chest.
Mr. Harry J. Potter
Front Porch
The House in the Hills by the Sea
Italy
His hands began to shake as he turned the letter over and saw Hogwarts seal and the unfamiliar black shield and silver sword in the bottom right hands corner.
'It has been years. They never tried to contact me before. Why now? I never want to be in that place again.' He thought, for a moment, that he should just throw it away and let the wind carry it, but what if something was wrong? What if they were in trouble? What if they--?
The man named Harry Potter tore the seal off and pulled out the folded letter within. Dropping the envelope to the ground, he unfolded the paper.
Potter—There is no time to explain. Get out of Italy NOW! They're coming for you.
--S.S.
The dragon lies sleeping but will soon be awakened.
'Severus Snape?' Glancing at the code at the bottom of the parchment one last time, Harry dashed into his house and began to pack things swiftly. Once satisfied he got his dearest of possessions he moved into his bedroom and opened the chest that he had been looking through earlier. Digging to the bottom he grasped the long and slender box that was tucked under numerous books. Jerking the lid off, he grasped his wand. Magic flowed through him as his fingers wrapped around the old wood, exciting his own dormant powers that he long forgotten about. It was something that he hadn't felt in years and it called to him to do something—anything—with it.
Shaking his head he put everything into the chest before standing up and, with a wave of his wand, shrunk it till it fit inside his jean pocket. The odd tingling sensation in his body increased as he worked his magic, screaming at him to use his power to—
Ignoring it, he ran back into the living room and opened the small tin box beside the sofa. A tiny United States nickel gleamed back at him. It was a portkey that he had made while he was in the States and would take him to a friend's house in Montana.
But before he could grab it the door flew of its hinges with a loud bang and landed a few feet away from where Harry stood. Shocked, Harry watched as a figure cloaked in vibrant red calmly stepped over his threshold. He could see nothing of the person's face, nor could he tell if it really was human at all.
The cloaked individual boots clunked loudly on the wooden floor as it took two more steps inside before twisting its head sharply to look at Harry.
Suddenly, Harry saw a glow beneath its hood and he couldn't breath. A deathly cold grip tightened around his neck. Dropping the tin box his hands instinctively went to his neck trying to get it off but there wasn't anything there.
"Where did you hide it, Potter?" It hissed at him as it seemed to slither sensuously towards him. The hold on his throat weakened, allowing him to breath somewhat so he could speak. Gasping, Harry frantically looked around for the nickel that he had dropped. "Where is it, Potter?" It brought its hand to Harry's chin, making him looked at the darkness under its mask.
"Where's what?" Harry grunted softly.
The thing hissed loudly at him. Grimacing as he felt little drops of saliva on his face, Harry punched it in the stomach causing it to kneel over. Diving for the coin, Harry heard a disturbing scream of rage come from the creature before he felt the familiar tug at his navel.
Landing knocked the wind out of Harry as he crashed into the hard tile floor. Gasping for breath he rolled onto his back trying to get his beating heart under control.
"AHHHHHH!" A very loud, feminine scream came from his left causing him to jump to his feet and point his wand at her.
"Sam! Sam! Are you all right?" A frantic male voice followed.
The woman was no woman but a small boy around eight years old who was pointing at Harry while the other one held a baseball. Long blond hair was tied back and his black eyes were glaring at him.
"THERE'S THAT GUY FROM THAT PICTURE AND HE CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND HE'S POINTING A STICK AT ME!" The boy, Sam, yelled back.
"Wha—?" A man began as he appeared in the doorway behind Sam, but soon all words died on his lips. The man looked about twenty-five with his slim body, long brown hair that flowed down to his hips and wide green eyes stared at Harry with surprise. "Oh my God! HARRY!" With that he maneuvered quickly around the blond boy and threw himself into Harry's arms.
Harry let himself smile gently as the man squeezed the air he so desperately needed out of his lungs. "Brian…Can't breath."
Letting go and pushing himself away, Brian smiled before his face turned serious. "What happened?"
"It's a long story. Is Adam here?" Harry asked, trying to avoid the topic for the moment. The event was still to fresh for him to think clearly and the previous lack of oxygen had given him a headache.
The brunette gave him a searching look before he stated, "No, not right now. He went to take Shadow-Bell out for a ride. He should be back any moment." Brian's eyes traced his body, looking for any injury before settling on Harry's one good eye. "You best not be in trouble again, kid."
"Brian? Why's that guy from the picture here? Who's he?" The boy asked as he walked up next to Brian.
"A friend. Sam this Harry, Harry this Sam, my sister's stepson." Brian said.
Harry bent down slightly and held out his hand to the boy. "Nice to meet you, Sam."
The boy looked at him critically before turning and walking away. "I love Adam and Brian! Don't take them away." Sam disappeared around the door with one last hateful look.
Blinking in slight confusion, Harry turned to a blushing Brian. "What was that about? I didn't do anything did I?"
"Not now, kid. How about I get you some ice tea and we have a nice long talk about why the hell you are here." Brain said as he turned and hurried into the kitchen.
Smirking slightly, Harry said, "You make it seem like you don't want me here."
Brian poked his head from out of the refrigerator and glared at Harry. "Now listen here. If I didn't want you here you wouldn't have had that portkey to this place would you? And besides this house is always open to you. You, after all, helped build it." He poured a glass of tea for Harry and handed it to him with a kiss on the cheek.
Brian pushed Harry onto a barstool and ordered, "What are you doing here? You said that after you left you would not come back," He paused and took a deep breath. "ever."
Frowning gently, Harry moved his hand to rest on the other's shoulder. Harry could not think of any words to tell his friend, so instead he sat there in silence.
The swish of sliding doors caused both of them to look up. Adam walked in, his boots covered with mud and his cowboy hat crooked on his head. He was a large imposing man that demanded attention with each of the powerful strides he took. He turned and saw Brian first, a smile lighting his lips but as soon as he caught sight of Harry his mouth fell open.
"Harry?" Not even bothering to take off his muddy boots, Adam swiftly walked over to him and stared at him. Harry smiled weakly for a moment at the bigger man. With a tentative hand, Adam brought an arm around him and buried his face in Harry's neck.
Not used to such an intimate embrace, Harry stiffened and patted him on the back. It took a moment for him to realize that Adam was crying, his tears soaking his shirt.
"Adam, it's all right." Harry whispered. That only seemed to break the dam within the other man for he started to bawl, his whole body trembling with the force of his sobs. Brian smiled sadly before wrapping both of them in his long arms and rocking them gently.
In no time, Adam composed himself and stepped away from them both. Leaning forward he gave Brian a kiss before returning his gaze to Harry. "I thought you wouldn't come back."
Harry grimaced at the underlying steal that laced his words. "I was—"
"You weren't thinking, you mother fucker!" Adam growled. Harry's whole body stilled at the extreme mood swings that Adam went through. "You don't even say good-bye! Not even a letter in the four years that you have been gone! Brian told me that you might never come back—" Adam cut himself off in his frustration, his mouth opening and closing but no words leaving his mouth.
"I'm sorry." Harry murmured.
"You damn better be sorry, you ass!" Adam screamed, his voice louder than Harry had ever heard it.
"Adam, stop it." Brian ordered, his face set in anger. "Don't yell at him. You see him for the first time in years and you scold him! He had his reasons, sweets, so leave it be."
"But—"
"'But' nothing, Adam, the kid is back and I have a feeling that something is wrong. So let the kid breath."
Adam took a calming breath and took off his hat and put it on Harry's bowed head. "Sorry, Harry."
The hat was too big for Harry's head, just like it was all those years ago, and it made him smile. "I'm sorry too, Adam."
Brian smirked, "Now that that is over with, tell us what the hell has happened since you have been gone." All three of them settled around the bar in the kitchen while Harry told of how he had lived in Italy and about the attack. Sometime during the middle of it Sam had come in and sat on the floor to listen to his story.
"So that's what happened." Harry sighed, resting his head in his hands. For what seemed like hours they sat in silence. The soft ticking of the clock almost lulled Harry to sleep but Adams deep voice made him look up.
"Are you going to go back?" He asked, his deep blue eyes locked onto Harry. At times, he thought that Adam's eyes could see into him, see what he was thinking, what his heart desired, but he knew that that wasn't possible for a Muggle.
"I don't know." Harry whispered.
"Do you really want to go back to the place where they used you? They left you lying there to die, Harry. The only reason why you are alive today is because Brian saw you in pain all the way in Hartford and went and saved your puny ass!" Adam grumbled.
Brian set a soothing hand on Adam's fist. "They didn't want to leave him out there to die." He said, lightly running his fingers over the other man's wrist.
"Kid, kid! Don't fall asleep! Listen! Focus on my voice! That's right."
"Wha' 'appen…?"
"I dunno, but you're coming with me. Remember, stay awake."
"Where…?"
"The U.S., kid, home."
"Harry?"
Harry blinked, his good eye focusing on the worried face of Brian. "I'm all right." Brian frowned but dropped the subject.
"I think you should go." Brian said, not looking at Adam or Harry, or little Sam who was watching the adults with confusion. "Who knows if that thing is going to come after you again? You don't even know what it is? You don't know what powers it has? You don't know how many of them there are? Nor do you know what they are looking for. It is obvious that your old professor knows something that might be worth knowing, don't you think?" Harry looked at Brian, his good eye narrowing as the other man wouldn't meet his eye.
"You're insane, aren't you?" Adam deadpanned.
"No. It is a perfectly logical thing to do. They know something. They must know a lot of things considering that they found out where you lived. You had wards coming out of your ass at that place, didn't you? They must have worked for weeks trying to worm their way through."
"You know something that I don't know." Harry stated, his eye studying Brian's stiff figure.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Brian huffed as he turned away.
"It's one of those random freaky vision things that you can't share with anyone, eh?" Harry asked, his voice sounding slightly amused.
Brian sighed. "Yeah. You have to go back. You'll have a hard time, kid, but it will be worth it."
"You get these visions, right? You can see the future?"
"Yes, but they're at random. It's not like I can force it to work it just does."
"Have you seen my future, Brian?"
"No."
"Liar."
"All right. I've seen what could be, but I can't talk about it."
"Why not? Is it bad? I die in car accident. Such an anti-climatic end, don't you think?"
"You don't die in a car accident, you idiot."
"You know how I die! Tell me!"
"No. The future is something that I can't talk about. It's forbidden. I can just push you in the right direction."
"Do you think it is set in stone? Our future, I mean."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because I've already changed it the day that I saved you."
Author's Note: Another chapter come and gone. I'm excited! The words just keep flowing. Eight glorious pages! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. I will have the next chapter up as soon as I can. Thanks and don't forget to review!