Sorry if this was unedited. Since I Haven't updated the story in soooooo very long I thought an unedited chapter was better than none. I may have to change some things here. So if anything diverges you'll know why.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~)◊(~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~)◊(~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~)◊(~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

It was night by the time the screams had subsided and the more critical patients had been stabilized. I'd since recovered from my attack and felt strong enough at least to go back to work. I'd heard second hand that the fighting had finally ceased while I'd been unconscious. Who had been killed and who had survived was still a mystery but at least the death frenzy had abated.

"Thirty two thousand killed in the united states says spokesman for President Walker as the Anglo-American forces continue their search and rescue operations."

The grim task of tallying the dead had only continued to air morbidly on every station and network. Footage of an endless procession of bodies still being fished out of the wreckage and ruin that were the bombed cities. I had to look away and continue my work, praying.

I was just making my rounds amidst a maze of bloodied beds and mangled patients when I started to feel sick again. I shut out the discomfort with a shake of my head, steeling myself with the resolve to continue treating those in need. A nurse had tried to get me to rest but I waved her off, merely dispensing further pain potions to anyone that needed them. Ignore the pain... ignore it... everything is fine...

"Scorpius... where are you..." I whispered softly to myself.

A few moments later a medical elf came to fetch my tired cousin, who looked at this point like he might collapse at any moment.

"Master Louis... your father is stable and asking for you. You are to come with us immediately."

"Papa! Thank Merlin!"

I could only nod and smile at the boy before he rushed off... leaving me amidst the bog of wounded souls. I was glad uncle Bill had been spared. But... where were my own loved ones? I doubled over again as the pain intensified itself.

Everywhere around me, dark injuries oozed or boiled nastily. I couldn't stop merely because I felt a little queazy. There were victims who'd been cursed blind and others who'd blown out there ears escaping a detonation charm. There were even wizards with legs charred black from fiendyre and witches with acid eaten arms. Some of the cases had proved so serious that even those now stable were being kept inside insulation bubbles for their own safety. It was unfathomable to contend with the ruthlessness that the Purist radicals had resorted to during their assault. It seemed unreal a thing to witness first hand.

"Damn it Albus! They may never see, or walk, or hear again... you cannot succumb to such a minor weakness when they've fought so hard and through so much just to stay alive. Not when you left them to fend for themselves."

I shook my head again and returned to my work.

A wrinkled old woman in healers robes stopped finally to observe me when for the fifteenth time my phone had appeared nervously in my hands. The screen was black... still no new messages or notifications.

"Don't worry my dear little Marquess. I'm sure whoever it is you're waiting to hear from is just fine. Anyone you're likely to know will have been brought here if they'd been injured. The lass is probably helping at one of the other hospitals. She'll contact you soon. I smiled wearily at the woman, thanking her for her kind reassurances. Despite her words... i couldn't help but slide my thumb back and forth over the screen, as if to wipe away some invisible smudge that might have hid the alert.

He may be a terrible shit... but I wanted him to be alright. I needed him to be safe.

"Potter, auror in bed twelve needs something a little stronger."

"I'm on it."

I was in the middle of tilting a container of liquid shock remedy into the mouth of a barely conscious Gawain Robards when a commotion at the ER entrance had caught my attention. I replaced the cool towel across the man's forhead before craning my neck to try and see the disturbance.

"Please tell me there aren't even more injured. They should have diverted any new cases to secondary locations. We are at full capacity already."

Dominique's statement slipped passed me unregistered. I was staring transfixed at the arrivals. A gasp escaped me suddenly as the blood pumped faster in my veins. "Ashera, thank you."

There, standing next to a very tired Minister for Magic, stood a small blond boy dripping crimson surrounded by armored guards in their glittering black and gold regalia.

Every healer and ministry staff member in reach were lining up to shake his hand or pat him on the back, giving him their most earnest congratulations and thanks.

"Well done, little one."

"Outstanding bravery."

"What a bold move."

"Well done boy"

"Excellent work your grace."

"Well done indeed!"

"You saved us all out there."

"Good show my lord."

"I never dreamt' o the day when your ilk would come to our aid. But thank ye lad. Thank ye for everythin."

After Gawain had gotten the bulk of his medicine down I ran as fast as I could manage over to my dad. He wrapped his arm around me, pulling me close out of pure relief.

"Dad, are you ok? Has the situation stabilized?" I asked terrified, subconsciously looking back towards Scor's arm. It hung limp at his side as thick globules of red dripped from his robes to splash onto the floor. Each droplet seemed to echo in slow motion, a sort of morbid trickling sound that set my own arm trembling. There was something about him being injured that frightened me to my very core. I could feel the bile rising at the back of my throat but fought desperately to contain it.

"I'm fine, but I have to see Connor and his mom. Then I'm expected back at the ministry. This is the worst attack in living memory. The gang of eight are convening. We'll be bringing in the Supreme Mugwump for this and the muggle UN. Don't worry. I will sort this out."

"A-Al…" Scor began hesitantly. He was staring nervously, his eyes consumed with fear and worry.

"Draco is absolutely fine. Minor enough injuries for me to have been able to fix them myself." I interrupted, motioning my head towards some curtains behind me. "It was only a strong stunning spell that knocked his arm out of joint and the consciousness from his head."

Just as the boy burst forward towards the bed, I caught his wounded arm firmly.

"I said he's fine, you on the other hand are anything but. Dad, don't worry… I'll take care of him. You go tend to things."

The Minister for Magic as I had taken to calling him, gave me a quick hug and kiss on the forehead, then took his four masked guards with him down a flight of stairs to disappear again from sight.

I merely pulled the brave idiot to a secluded part of the ER that hadn't been completely painted a sanguine mess of gore and blood. His guards had, upon a nod of his head, dispersed. Most likely to add extra security to the hospital.

"Al..."

"Shut up."

I sat him down a little more forcefully than I needed to and made to cut away the blood caked sleeve that covered his arm. He hadn't resisted or even noticed my actions. He'd merely been staring blankly out at the sea of moaning patients, shifting back and forth between them and me.

"Al..."

"I told you to be quiet. I'm trying to think here."

When the thickly matted material was cleared away, I found myself suddenly staring at a twisted piece of shrapnel that was sticking awkwardly out of his forearm.

"Damn it. The EX-12 is a bit problematic right now... so I'm going to have to do this all by hand." There were still visible sparks of magical discharge in the air which meant that subtle surgical spells would still most likely go haywire if attempted. I was contemplating a tray full of instruments and medical supplies when the moron started to move.

I had literally only taken my eyes off of him for a second when his hand had come up towards the foreign body lodged in his other arm.

"Don't be stupid!"

I smacked the hand angrily away, furious at his impatience and recklessness. What did he think he was doing anyway? Fool.

"Sorry..."

"We both know idiocy is not a crime I'd be readily able to accuse you of. So lets not give people a reason to change that perception shall we." I scolded while I mentally mapped out the dimensions of the metal shard in his arm. Despited having missed major vessels, the thing must still have hurt tremendously for me to have felt it through our link. We both winced as my hands probed gently at the site of the wound. The look Scor gave me at my grimace revealed all I needed to know about what he was thinking. I ignored his concern, mentally sealing off our link to numb the pain.

"Drink that..." I ordered, motioning towards a purple syrupy solution in a flask. He used his mouth to unstopper the bottle, spitting the cork into a tray before gulping down the contents with obvious distaste. He'd not even so much as questioned me. "And don't you dare try to touch it again."

Another few minutes passed as I continued to contemplate different options.

"Ok Al... I drank that vile potion... now just take the cursed thing out! You're taking too long."

My eyes narrowed angrily at him, a suture kit and some gauze already in my lap. After a moment of indignation, I merely yanked the twisted metal right from his flesh, pressing the gauze quickly into it's place. The motion had reminded me of an old muggle film call Indiana Jones. A rugged explorer had to balance a counterweighted trap in order to retrieve the golden icon that was his prize. Malfoy's shout had immediately jolted my brain away from its random memories.

"OWE!" The blond thundered loudly in pain. "I thought that was numbing potion you made me drink! What was that purple shite I just swallowed?"

"I have no idea. It looked like sewage to me. I really just wanted to see if you'd drink it when i told you to."

"Fuck you Al." He cursed again, wincing in pain as I pressed the reddening tissue harder into his skin. I had to smile to myself as I searched the table of glass vials, reading each label until I found the muggle painkiller; Lidocane. I plunged a syringe in and quickly calculated the dose to myself. If he'd been more patient I could have done this first.

"Calm down your grace. You were so eager to have the thing out that I figured I'd oblige you. The potion was a concoction of mine for infection, with a little blood-replenishing booster mixed in. This, is for the pain." I shot, jamming the needle firmly into the side of his arm. He grimaced again, examining me intensely. It took five seconds for the medicine to take full effect, which was when I began running the sutures through his skin. I had barely given him any notice at all. I suppose a better healer might have made a better effort to be gentle... but off course I felt no such need to be delicate for his sake.

I nodded satisfactorily when finally his wound was sealed shut and the edges were perfectly evened up. Vicky and aunt Gabrielle would have been proud.

"Good as knew. It wasn't a dark injury so you won't have a scar but just in case we'll be able to top off the process with magic tomorrow."

He merely continued to stare at me with the same unwavering severity as before. I gulped nervously at the sight of him. He wouldn't relent... or shift his gaze away.

After another few moments I finally broke the silence out of awkward gratitude. I honestly couldn't hold it in anymore.

"Well... I... guess... Thank you... Malfoy. I don't think you realize just what you did for us today." Our eyes were locked together as though nothing else existed in all the world but one another.

"Of course I realized what I was doing for you. I doubt I would have risked it otherwise." The correction made my cheeks flush red. "My father got wheeled to hospital, i'd have been better off coming to help him here than endangering myself out there. Your father needed help... and if anything happened to him... you'd be in greater danger for it. That's the only reason I was out there."

He cares so much... This idiot. I surprised even myself when I pulled him into a tight hug. I felt him holding me just as strongly. When we separated it seemed a lifetime away. He was still examining me though. Too closely for comfort.

"So... you're not... going to ask me..."

"Where the bloody hell you were during all of this?" He barked irritably. "I already thought about that myself. A few possible reasons i conjured up for your madness. Mostly speculation. My best guess was that you were sneaking around during the chaos. I thought you might be trying to discover some secret you could only gain access to during a crisis as horrific as this. Although knowing you... I doubt you'd have left your loved ones in danger without a very, very good reason."

"Your second hypothesis?" I asked, not revealing any hint of emotion at his suggestion. I had nearly forgotten how smart he was.

"You were afraid or unable to come to our aid."

"How do you mean?"

"Afraid of losing control. We all know how powerful you are. I also know how explosive you can get when there's so much fear and hate in the air."

"You look like you're not entirely certain about either of those choices."

"Well... i heard that the ministry did something to you over the summer. Some ancient spell designed to mess with your magic. I thought it was only rumor until today when you aunt showed up at the ICW. If you're magic had been limited... well... anyway."

"Your logic is a little off."

"Why, because those reasons aren't mutually exclusive? I know that well enough. It might have just as easily been a combination of all three."

I smiled at his intelligent response. I'd missed how quick he was. He smiled warmly back at me and I had to kick myself for my error.

"Don't you dare mistake…"

"Gratitude for forgiveness? What am I, an idiot? I know they aren't the same thing Al. It would be like mistaking blue for red. You don't have to worry, I don't want anything else from you. At least not right now with all the horror that's just happened. I only thought… you know… that we could shelve this thing between us… at least for an hour or two…"

"Out of respect for the atrocities?"

"Yeah…"

I examined Scor's... Malfoy's face, thinking I owed him at least that for rushing to dads aid. I knew he would heal faster with me near him anyway. A sigh escaped my mouth before I'd even noticed and I realized angrily that it was a sign I'd already made up my mind. Two mistakes already.

"Ok..." I whispered, getting up slowly and moving to sit down in the stool next to him. I lay my head on his shoulder then, looping my arm through his in one swift simple motion. "Don't get too comfortable. I'm still absolutely furious with you Malfoy."

"Ugh... Not now... I know you well enough to know that once the hellfire and gloom of today has worn off, you'll have no trouble remembering just how insanely incensed you were with me. Let's just not talk about it for the moment. Until i've healed. Or at least until the screams have stopped. Please..."

I sighed again listening to the moans and crying. A Gryffindor wouldn't have been so selfish as to fight in the midst of such sadness. It was a Slytherin trait to freely ignore the suffering of strangers, especially if you'd just spent hours tending them already. I just couldn't help it. The longer we sat there, the more the sound of his heartbeat and breathing overtook the horrible noises emanating from the neighboring beds.

I couldn't help being a Slytherin. I reasoned that the selfish impulse to ignore the people around us was only natural. I'd already helped as much as I could. Feeling bad for the injured was only a waste of time. Instead I thought about the dream I'd had of the two of us last night. I remembered him with his arm around me, sitting there half naked as we watched the rain beneath our secret shelter. I wanted nothing more than to kiss him right now like I had then.

"You... you were really brave out there." I whispered softly.

"It was nothing Al."

"Don't call me Al."

"Fine... Potter."

"At least we were lucky enough for the ministry to have confiscated your wand."

"What are you talking about?"

"You'd have blown up the entire prison. Besides I know you. Even without a wand you are more than strong enough to help. Now that I think about it a little more, I'd wager you were sneaking around somewhere before they called you in and you couldn't get away fast enough."

I didn't answer him...

The idiot smiled as though my silence were proof enough that he'd guessed right. I had to restrain myself from smacking him right then and there. Instead I blushed at the words that next left my mouth.

"You said you had a dream about me last night?" I asked suddenly, a little surprised at myself for having brought it up.

Why was I even here. You fixed his arm Albus. NOW GET OFF HIM. HE WILL NEVER BE YOURS. HE'S A CRUEL SHIT. HIS FRIENDSHIP WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH! The voices were shouting angry abuse inside my head. Freak! Monster! Murderer!

"I did. We were on the Hogwarts Express together. Coming from school or going I couldn't tell. Anyway... you and I were the only ones on board and we'd taken to playing all manner of games. It seemed endless fun really... until I noticed that the ride was taking much too long. An eternity had passed and then some. I remarked on the oddity and you agreed to go check the engine. The minute we parted, the car split in two. My compartment tore away as the bridge beneath us collapsed and when you reached down to try and grab me... well it was too late. I plunged downwards into the nothingness, hearing you call my name."

"Fa-sci-na-ting..."

"Well you asked. Ri-di-cu-lous boy."

"I'm not ridiculous at all. Stop accusing me of your own faults."

"Do you know what it's called when you care about someone so much that you can't stop worrying about them."

"Stupidity?"

"Family."

"You aren't my family. You're a cruel boy who manipulates and plays mind games. I don't know you at all."

He stopped at that.

"Liar... You know me better than anyone else in this entire world. Besides I know you're happy I saved your dad."

I took a deep breath then, drawing in the scent of his hair and the smells of battle. I couldn't help it anymore. I reached shyly through his robes to undo a solitary button on his shirt. I slipped my hand through the opening and splayed my fingers outwards over his smooth chest. I did something then that even I knew better than to try. I melded myself blade like into and through his skin... in the way only I could have managed. Angrily I wrapped my fingers around his beating heart, squeezing the organ firmly. Malfoy began choking immediately, struggling to draw in breath.

"A wise slytherin told me once that there was a fine line between bravery and stupidity. I am grateful to you... so much... for saving my dad... but if you ever do something so reckless again... I don't know what i'll do to you. If you had died out there... I'd have died too... maybe not immediately... but my soul would rot... and I'd slowly go insane. Don't... ever... try it... again." I spat, withdrawing my hand from inside of him. He took a massive gulp of air before whipping sideways to examine me, nearly falling from the chair..

"How did you do that? How could you even—"

"I've learned a few things about our soul bond since the last time we met. A friend has elucidated some of the terms of our... condition. I collapsed right here in the hospital when you got injured... So don't fuck yourself up again. Understand?"

"Yes... ok, ok, I understand... "

"Good."

He sat quietly for a moment, recovering from the shock of the magic i'd just performed. The whole room seemed to crackle and spark in response.

"So... it is a soul bond then? You've found out that much at least."

"I'm tired of talking to you. Be quiet so you can heal."

"Fine. If you stop talking too. You're more comfortable a pillow when you're not mumbling nonsense."

I scoffed at that, surprised when his head fell to rest on my shoulder and his fingers slowly intertwined with mine. We were so weird, especially to think id be fighting with him again after this.

Fifteen minutes elapsed like this before I nearly jumped out of my stool, dislodging myself hurriedly from the blond. Marching towards us was my aunt.

"Aunt Mione! You're safe!"

"Leave us boy, I would have words with my nephew."

"You're not going anywhere Moron, you're still hurt and you shouldn't be moving. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of him. Ass though he may be, he's earned his rest."

My aunt gave Scorpius a look so full of hatred and venom that he nearly fell backwards where he stood. In any case her glare had been powerful enough to shift him away from me. I watched him inch sideways, her eyes fixed on his retreating form as though to drive us farther apart.

"I guess i'd better go Al."

"I said not to call me Al! Now fuck off already if you're as weak as that." I barked rolling my eyes, irritated more with Hermione for her behavior than at him. "Now what's so important that you couldn't have waited five more minutes—"

As Scor fled my aunt grabbed me violently by the collar, pulling me suddenly up from my sitting position to stare me right in the face.

"Where were you?"

"What are you on about now? I was helping here, as the alpha alert instructed me to."

"No you weren't. DOMA lost track of you during the chaos, I know you weren't here until afterwards." I worked furiously to conceal my grin at her obvious mistake. I merely watched as she flushed red, releasing me with a soft contemptuous shove.

"Spying on me are we then? I didn't know I was that important."

"Don't you see? You are the most important person in all the world!" She hissed shaking her head. For a moment Hermione's anger dissipated and she let her concern for me show. A gentle hand brushed my hair away from my face before her stern expression reemerged. "You need to be kept safe... or at least if you plan to go galavanting off doing god knows what you might have been better served keeping an eye on the shifty Duke over there. We have duties, you now more than ever. Too much has happened for you not to be an active part of these goings on. Why else do you think you're being trained?"

"I don't have any intention of being your puppet if that's what you intended. And keep an eye on him? Come on Mione. He just saved us all from certain catastrophe. Surely that at least should safeguard him from your wild suspicions. There's absolutely no reason for you to doubt Scorpius."

"He's a pureblood Albus! That he exists at all is reason enough to warrant my suspicion." Her bigoted reply had cut me like a lash to the face, surprising me beyond reason. She'd changed so much in her time down on level nine...

It would take me another year after that to learn that it was in part due to a premonition foretelling her son Hugo's death. That she had been working furiously to prevent her entire family from suffering at the hands of another madman and his followers. Riddles in the dark. Mysteries unspoken. A mind unwoven. The ancient words reflected a strange side effect of running the DoM. Half of the ministers who'd served as Speaker of Mysteries had lost their minds running the department. It hit me then for the first time like a brick to the face, that Hermione wasn't quite well anymore.

"Herpo's Bones... It's not possible. Did you... did you know this was going to happen? Did you let it... in order to bolster support for legislation against the purebloods? The Wizenmoot and Parliament are supposed to vote five days from now on defense spending and wartime executive powers. I heard they were planning on denying your proposals for an Executive consolidation act. But now... now that we are unified in this unholy act of aggression... who could possibly deny the dangers we are in."

She grabbed me again in her anger. There was a wild smirk on her face that frightened me too deeply to explain.

"You don't know anything boy. You have no idea what's going on. I'm trying to save us all. If i told your father the moon were crashing into the earth and that the only way to stop it was to go to war with the bloody pixies. He'd listen to me. Don't forget the threats we are facing. And don't pretend to play at games of which you have not the least understanding."

"You know... I never realized... you are better at chess than all of us... pretending all this time you didn't know how to plau. How could I have ever believed that?"

"I'd destroy you in less than ten moves. So don't ever think to challenge me. You were born twenty years too late to be able to know my mind."

She turned to walk away when i stopped her with a warning.

"At chess maybe... not in a duel i don't think... if it come to it I don't intend to be your pawn... so be careful you don't make me your enemy. Soon i'll be stronger than even my namesake."

The twisted grin she gave me sent a chill down my spine for the second time.

"No amount of real time combat ability could ever outweigh strategy. You would be silly to try it. Remember whose side you're on nephew. And the next time... don't forget it." She barked as her heals clicked on the floor. "Oh... before I forget... for future reference. If my agents lose track of you again... I'll have your parents chain you to a rock on isle avalon."


I have to seriously consider how i'm going to order the upcoming chapters since I want to do as little work as possible on this over the next couple of months. As i've repeated in the past. I have literally fifty pages of material written, which is probably the only thing saving this story at the moment. I just don't want to release it unless its been edited and the gaps have been properly filled in.

The boys won't be fighting for too much longer. Don't worry. It seems hard to understand why they even are but Al's got his reasons. The most epic chapters to look forward to are Carnival of the Moon, and Broceliande they'll be coming up soon. Let me know if you guys are still reading and if there is anything you aren't enjoying.

Again, sorry for the delay