His hands were shaking violently as he scrubbed at his fingers, the water turning a horrible murky brown while the smell of metal filled the air. It was pointless though. His hands weren't the only thing that was covered in their blood. Harry's eyes trailed from his hands, where he was now trying desperately to get every particle out from under his nails and looked up into the mirror- there staring back at him was a man he didn't even recognize anymore. His eyes followed the little trail of blood that was splattered over his cheek, he scrunched his nose when noticing the little reddish-brown flakes that were showering down from his hair when he would move it too quickly. He was a mess- a complete mess.
"Harry!" His name was screamed through the air- he hadn't even heard the pops of apparition as the others arrived- obviously the wards had sensed some sort of magic. "Harry!" his name was shouted again, this time so much closer. He knew they had seen the bodies, he knew that others were down there right now looking at the slaughtered mess of the Dursley's. "Harry.. Oh thank god.. I found him!" Tonks screamed the last part down the stairs as she stumbled forward, her hands reaching out to grip his shoulders- if she felt the wetness of blood that had seeped into his shirt, she didn't say anything. "Harry what happened? Did death eaters attack?! Was it You Know Who?!" She rattled out questions as she shook him.
"Tonks!" The gruff bark came from the doorway, it was obviously Mad Eye - but Harry didn't have the energy to look up. He barely even had the energy to breathe. "Harry my boy.. What happened here?" When had Dumbledore arrived? Harry didn't even know how many people were in the room with him- in the tiny bathroom at the end of the hall. The tiny bathroom that had bloody water dripped all over the sink, the one where if they looked down they would see the bloody footprints leading. "I-" Harry's voice croaked, his throat was so sore, it felt like he had been screaming for years. "I don't remember" finally came the hoarse response. "Obviously the boy is in shock Alistar, perhaps we should get him to headqu-" Dumbledore had started but was interrupted by a smooth drawl "Potter won't be going anywhere, the ministry was alerted of underaged magic being used in the home, imagine our surprise when we show up to find three dead muggles. He will be coming to the Ministry to be questioned, Dumbledore." Luicus Malfoy stated smoothly, nodding at two Aurors that Harry had never met before to come forward and slap magic restraining cuffs onto his wrists before apparating out on the spot.
Harry was questioned alright. He was thrown in a room, shockingly like a muggle interrogation room that he would sometimes see on the TV shows his uncle watched. From there he was questioned by many ministry officials- Amelia Bones, Kingsley, Moody, Dumbledoor, and finally Minister Fudge. "Potter, how is it that you have no idea what happened when you are completely covered in your muggle family's blood?" He asked with an annoyed sigh- they had been at this for hours and due to the boy being practically immune to any truth serum, they had found it pointless to even try. "I am telling you- I do not know what happened. All I remember is being in my bedroom, hearing my uncle get home then I am looking in the bathroom mirror where Tonks found me!" Harry hissed- he was getting irritated. The blood that had dried hours ago was itchy and he stunk, every single move sent the smell of iron and sweat wafting through the room and it was making his stomach roll. "I am surprised you aren't begging for Dumbledore to come save you Potter." The minister spat, eyes sharp and daring the obviously annoyed young man to lash out and give them even more reason to toss him into Azkaban. Harry nearly scoffed at those words, but was able to hold it in. Dumbledore would be the last person he went begging for- no - Harry was not some little pawn for the delusional old man. Harry had found out months ago that he had been nothing more than a chess piece being moved and manipulated into the perfect weapon to defeat Voldemort, he had learned that Dumbledore had wanted the Dursley's to break him down and abuse him, to make him perfectly malleable and starved for attention and love- love that he thought he had with Dumbledore, the Weasleys and even his Godfathers Sirus and Remus- but it was all a lie, all they had wanted from him was to kill their enemy and then they would have gotten rid of him.
Harry was about to respond when the door opened and in walked Lucius Malfoy "Kinsley has the boys wand results, you need to sign off on them Minister, before we move him to a holding cell. Seems that the last six curses he cast were dark, cutting and severing curses to be exact." He stated and Harry swallowed hard, watching in horror as Fudge's eyes filled with glee and he nearly skipped out of the room. "Potter" Lucius hissed to get his attention, slipping a piece of parchment across the table with the word 'Serpent' written across it "Say it in Parseltongue, it will take you to the Manor where our Lord is, now go before they come back!" He said and turned, walking out of the room and shutting the door behind himself. The cuffs and wards would stop apparition, but portkeys- especially ones created in Parseltongue would be able to get through anything.
Harry looked at the paper in his hands and gripped it tight, his eyes squeezing shut and just as the door opened back up he whispered the one word he needed to be free "Serpent" He remembers hearing a shout of somebody yelling for him to stop and the pull around his stomach before he was landing in a heap on the cold, hard marble floor of Malfoy Manor. "Harry!" His name was gasped out and he felt strong arms slide around him, lifting him up just a bit so strong legs could slide under his head "My Lord, I think he is bleeding" He heard somebody say above him as hands began moving over his body "Rabastian! Fetch Severas and Narcissa, tell them we have somebody who needs healing! NOW!" The last word was shouted so loudly it caused Harry to flinch "Harry, do you know where you are? What happened? Lucius flooed in and said you had been arrested but couldn't give us much more information than that." Their Lord asked gently- He was so much different than the light side made him out to be. Sure he was dark, terrifying, oozed with power and would kill anyone who dared stand in his way or betray him- but to those who were loyal, to those in his inner circle who he considered family- he cared for him.
"I killed them" Harry whispered, his fingers gripping onto the emerald robe that his face was brushing against. "Killed who?" The voice above him asked, fingers sliding through his hair, causing him to grimace- he knew how dirty he was, how much blood was probably flaking off on everything and everyone around him. "My relatives.. They.. Vernon.. He.." Harry trailed off, head shaking as he tried to stand, only to wince- the wounds on his back had stopped bleeding while he had been sitting in the Ministry, but his Portkey had obviously opened the gashes back up.
"Don't move brat" Came the harsh voice of his Potions Professor "I am going to run a diagnostic charm on you, it will be faster than asking you to tell me where this blood came from." He stated just moments before Harry felt the light tickle of healing magic wash over his body. Harry had been in the hospital wing enough times to know that the spell would take a moment as everything that had ever been wrong with him shot out on paper from the end of Snape's wand "You really do get into a lot of trouble, don't you, love?" Came the voice above him- the amusement mixed with anger, they all knew where most of that damage had come from. "Alright, you have seven deep lashes on your back that need to be healed, two broken ribs, a broken wrist and your stomach is severely bruised." Snape read off easily- though Harry could hear the frown in his voice.
While Harry was being healed by Narcissa and Snape, he was also being asked questions by Lord Voldemort himself "Now Harry, I know it is difficult but I need to know what happened- otherwise I won't be able to protect you properly" He said softly- even after months of being with the dark side, Harry still wasn't quite used to how they treated him. "Vernon got home from work a couple of hours late. He was mad- so much madder than I had ever seen him before. He was yelling at everybody and when he found out that I didn't have dinner started.. He called me downstairs and shouted at me to get to work. I didn't think anything of it at first, I am always shouted at but.. But then he had a beer, followed by another and then another and by the end of dinner he had had at least six.." Harry trailed off for a moment to take the potion that Snape was holding up to his lips- nose scrunching at the taste. After moving past the weird feeling of his rib rebuilding itself, Harry continued. "He told Aunt Petunia that he was fired from his job that afternoon- she freaked out, nearly sobbing as she asked what they would do and how they would afford their lifestyle that they were so comfortable in-" Here Harry scoffed, their lifestyle was nothing compared to the things he had seen now that he was a regular at Malfoy Manor. "Somehow Dudley got involved in the conversation and he told Vernon that my 'Freakishness' probably rubbed off on him and got him fired… that really set him off.. He exploded and came at me, calling me all the names, beating me harder than he ever has before with his feet, his belt, his hands- everywhere he could reach.. I- I -" Harry trailed off, eyes filling with tears. He could feel the hands that had still been soothing through his hair pull him in a little tighter "It hurt so bad.. I wanted it all to stop.. I hated him more than I ever had at that moment, I hated all of them so much for what they had put me through for so many years… I don't know how it happened but my wand was suddenly in my hand and I was firing off every dark, horrible cutting spell I had learned- watching in some sort of twisted glee as they screamed for once, as their blood was spilt on the kitchen floor instead of mine…"
Harry had stopped talking. The room was silent. They knew how bad it had been in that house, they knew Harry was now on their side and even betrothed to one of their inner circle, but he had made it clear he didn't want to participate in the war, he wasn't a fighter, he wasn't a killer- but these monsters had made him reach his breaking point and it broke all of their hearts that somebody so sweet, so loving, so loyal had to go through so much from the people who were supposed to love him that this was the outcome.
"Come on love, I am going to take you up stairs and get you cleaned up" The voice from above Harry spoke again, breaking the tense angry energy in the room. Gently he scooped Harry up into his arms and stood from the floor where they had been since his precious Raven had landed. "Do not worry about having the elves prepare a room for Harry, he will be staying in my room with me." He then walked off, moving through the manor and up the stairs effortlessly.
Upon reaching his bedroom, he went straight across the room and through another door that led to a private bathroom where he set Harry down on the edge of the large tub, nearly identical in size to the one in the prefect bathrooms at Hogwarts. "You know it isn't your fault right? They were horrible to you" He said, hands moving to help Harry out of the oversized muggle clothes he was forced to wear whenever he was around anyone on the light side. "I don't feel bad about killing them" Harry said after several long moments of silence that his betrothed had used to fill up the tub, adding several different potions that would easily clean his lover. He gave a slow nod and gently took off his own clothes before stepping into the tub and helping Harry in "Neither am I.. they deserved it.. " He said with a shrug, hands moving to brush water and soap along Harry's body.
"Draco.. Do you think my parents would understand?" Harry asked a little while later, after the blood had been completely washed from him and the nasty brown bathwater had been refreshed, clear once again with purple bubbles floating around the room due to the calming lavender potion Draco had added. "No.. I think they would be just as angry, My Raven.. You were betrayed by people who were supposed to love you, that goes far beyond just your relatives.. But the Weasleys, even Dumbledore pretended to be a grandfather to you- they all betrayed you. Your parents would understand that you found people who protect you, who love you, who support you." The blonde said passionately, his arm wrapping just a little tighter around his smaller partner.
"I love you Dragon" Harry whispered, his nose nuzzling against the males neck. Soon enough his eyes were closing and Harry was finally relaxing- safe, loved and warm in the arms of his soulmate. "I love you too Harry.." Draco whispered, his lips pressing into the wet mop of black curls, never more certain that he would make the light pay for what they did to his betrothed.
