Chapter Five
Draco stared blindly at the book in his hands. It had been a week since he discovered he liked the taste of blood, and he could not find anything about it in the Library. He knew he wasn't a vampire because he never craved blood, never had the cramps from belated feedings, and never was able to bewitch any senses. Draco didn't like not knowing what he was. He flipped the page and continued staring. He had read the book five times and still found nothing in it. It was the most comprehensive book on Vampire's the Library held, even going as far as any hybrids to that blood branch. But he couldn't find anything that covered it. He sighed and tossed the book to the side. Magic caught it and closed it before placing it gently on a shelf.
"Well, that was amusing. What are you searching for in the Vamp section?"
Draco jumped and spun.
"Harry! What are you doing here?" A flick of his fingers sent the other books flying. Harry didn't turn to see where they went. He walked forward and settled into an armchair, his legs tossed over the arms to one side. He glared balefully at his pale haired friend.
"You've been hiding in the Library. I wondered why. So, what's up with the Vampire obsession?"
"Nothing, I was just curious."
Harry flicked a finger and the Great Book of Blood flew towards them. Draco bit the inside of his cheek.
"Thank you Libby." Draco rolled his eyes. Harry would nickname a magical entity that was created for the sole purpose of doling out books like the librarian it was. "Now let's see, Vampy, Vamp-ness in all its glory and apparently intoxicating power. Chapter one, out loud Libby if you will."
There was a pause and then a soft, lisping voice spoke.
"Chapter one of the Great Book of Blood by Killigan Meyer. The Beginnings of Vampirism. Some people believe that vampirism beg-."
"I have odd urges!"
Harry grinned. The Malfoy's all hated Libby's voice.
"Really? Like what?" Libby continued to drone in the background. Draco shivered.
"The day you were hurt, I licked your blood off my fingers. It was so good. I wanted to bask in it. To breathe it in. To just drink it all."
Harry fingered his wand nervously, looking all the nine years he was with that sheepish expression on his face.
"Err… you don't still feel like that do you?"
"Of course I do Harry. It's why I slept in your bed last night and sucked half your body's worth of blood through your nose. Delicious."
Harry twitched.
"Libby! Louder please." And Libby spoke louder.
"Chapter one, subsection two. The Reproduction of Vampires. Many people believe that Vampires are unable to reproduce because they are un-dead. However, Vampires can reproduce much li-."
"Oh, shut up Libby." Draco ground out.
"You are not the original asker therefore your request is invalid."
"Libby, I delight in your accents, can you affect one for me?" Harry smirked widely as the Library continued reading with an Australian accent. The lisp and the accent combined would drive Draco up the wall. "Now, I know that was sarcasm."
"I think it's why I love how you smell."
"That's just because you're odd."
"And it could be the reason I'm so possessive of you."
"Sure it is, again you…are…" Harry trailed off. Draco looked up to see what had distracted him. He belatedly realized that the Library was no longer speaking. His father was on his knees to Harry's side. The blonde haired man was not directly in the line of sight and it was a harsh jolt to Draco to see his father in the place where one begged for forgiveness for something they had no right to.
"Father?"
"I ask your forgiveness for my rash actions Lord Black Potter, warden of the Malfoy name, for what I have done to you was vile. Please forgive me, if even in the slightest way."
Silence filled the Library. Draco bit the inside of his cheek. He saw his father's lips tighten just the slightest. Harry stood and walked away. The Great Book fell to the floor with a dull thump, and then was pulled upwards and back to its place on the shelf. The door slammed shut behind Harry and Lucius fell forward unto his palms. It had taken so much to beg like that and it had been refused. He should have expected it though. He had had a week of odd silence and calculating stares. He knew that Harry was planning something for him, and he half welcomed it with open arms. Unless it was a death. No Malfoy ever welcomes death. Hell, if they could clone themselves and pass on memories they would.
"Libby." Draco winced as he said that ridiculous name. "Bring Father some scotch…or whiskey…anything really." The Library complied. Soon there was a floating tray in front of Lucius. Lucius sat back on his heels and pulled a bottle of whiskey off the tray. He uncorked it and simply drank from the bottle, enjoying the burn of alcohol as it flowed down his throat. Draco walked out quietly. He heard the bottle shatter behind his back as his father cursed fluidly in a different language. Draco headed to his mother's rooms. The door opened as it always did when he drew near.
"Mother?"
"Here."
Draco walked to a door and pushed it open. Sun dazzled his eyes for a second and then his eyes adjusted. He found his mother on her knees in her private garden. She pushed up the brim of her ridiculously floppy hat and peered up at him.
"Father tried to apologize to Harry."
His mother snorted and stood. She pulled off a glove and transfigured it. Draco snorted when a hat matching hers covered his hair. She smiled brightly.
"I take it Harry did not accept."
"He didn't."
Narcissa shrugged a shoulder.
"'Twas Lucius's fault. He should never have raised a hand against the boy." Narcissa levitated flower pots behind her as she strode away. Draco smiled at the bobbing pots as he wound his way after his mother. He found her under her wisteria vines with a patch of moon lilies. She was humming softly and they moved side to side to a faintly hypnotizing way. The flowers glowed with their own light and Narcissa murmured the spell that would bring water to them. She continued on her way after they had gained a soft blue color. He smiled when he found her in the section she had started when she had come to enjoy Harry's presence in their lives. The pots came to rest at her feet as another glove materialized near her head. She slipped it on absentmindedly.
"What are you planting?"
"Fae flowers. He allowed me to use his power to help them grow. I can't help but think they will be marvelous little dancers." Draco knelt next to her and picked up one of the smaller plants. The petals unrolled and a small face stared up at him. He smiled softly at the delicate faerie and it smiled back at him. He watched it sit up, long green hair cascading to its knees and bright blue eyes fixed on his. Ever so slowly, the faerie's hair changed color and its eyes filled with grey. "Would you like to keep that one?"
"Hmm?"
"It's taking your magic to become like you. Do you wish to have that one? Harry kept one as well. It became quite attached to him." Draco stared at the tiny faerie. It cocked its head to the side.
"I shall. They make wonderful companions." The faerie ducked its head in embarrassment. It rolled back into its petals and they curled inwards again. "I'll name you Wist. I hope that's quite okay with you."
"Hand me the others before you steal them from me as well. I want some wild faeries in my garden." Draco handed the pots to his mother one by one; watching a she gently uprooted each flower and set it into its designated hole. They stood back when they were done, staring at the plot of land Narcissa had dedicated to Harry. Unlike theirs, Harry's was wild and overgrown but stunning. Draco brushed a petal of a tiger lily gently and it purred into his hand.
"It's stunning Mother."
Narcissa lightly smacked her son's head.
"You make me sound so old when you refer to me as such." Narcissa threaded her fingers through his and they walked back to her rooms. She pulled open the door and held it for her son. She glanced back over her shoulder, violet eyes searching. She sighed when her eyes saw the roses in Luc's garden had not changed from a mournful gray. She closed the door softly behind her and her hat and gloves vanished. Draco handed her his hat and she flung it away, almost giggling when it burst into light. She turned back to her son and noted the stiffness in his form.
"What is it my Draconic one?"
"A week ago, I enjoyed the taste of Harry's blood. I craved it in that one moment but it has not happened again. I think it may be tied in to my possessiveness, my obsession with him, his smell, everything. I had not felt this before we were taken." Draco looked up at her and the nine year old lips trembled. "Mama, what's happening to me?"
Narcissa studied her child's face and then pulled him close. He dragged in a deep breath, inhaling her scent to calm himself. She smiled softly and hugged him.
"Luc and I were planning to send the two of you to Shadowlands. We were going to ask the Zabini and Longbottom boys to accompany you there."
"Shadowlands?"
"A…school…for the advanced and magical creatures. You and Harry are well above the norm, and Zabini has Siren in him. Longbottom would round you out by being normal and he should keep you grounded." Narcissa's grip tightened. "Would you still go, even with this odd manifestation?"
"If you wish it, I will do as you say." Narcissa's eyes slid shut and she pressed a kiss to her son's head.
"Then I wish you to go. Harry will kill Luc with guilt, and you should be able to find what you are going through. Mistress Devoric should be able to help you."
"What should I expect?"
"You will only attend until your Hogwart's letter comes in, then you will attend our school. But Shadowlands will help you…and Harry. He will need all the help he can get if the Dark Idiot is ever raised."
"How will Shadowlands help?"
"Mistress Devoric's school is not of this plane. Where she is none can reach unless accepted. She is a brilliant woman and constructed her school on fae grounds but used wizard wards. As rent for the land she uses, the fae, the upper class fae, not the type I have in my garden attend her school. The fae are a cold and manipulative people. I thought you and Harry would learn from them. They are the ultimate schemers, the best in cunning, and ruthless with their ambitions."
"And you're sending us there!?"
"They cannot hurt wizard children up to a certain age. Aren't we lucky that you are a wizard child and you do not pass that age until you are twenty? Mistress Devoric hinted that if you do well enough now, when you go to Hogwarts she'd take you back in the summer."
"You have planned this all out already haven't you? You never meant to ask if I wished to go."
"Why would I? Harry knows. And you would follow that boy to the end of the world even if you were dying."
Draco flushed and opened his mouth to retort. He closed it, and then looked at the pot he had brought in from the garden. His fairy was watching him closely.
"Will they be insulted if I bring Wist to school with me?"
"Wist is a lower class fairy. It has no place in that world and will be ignored. It is much like the house elves in that regard."
Draco nodded.
"And when do we go?"
"Mid-January. The Longbottom scion has already agreed. Zabini is the only one we have not gotten yet."
"I will try to influence his decision then." Draco said mildly. He traced a finger over the petal of the flower.
"If I find you turned him away from us Draco, I will let Harry deal with you. He believes that having someone with Siren ancestry is important. Allies are everything in that school. One false step and you could be wounded fatally."
"I thought you said they could not hurt a wizard child?"
"But their pets are not bound to those rules. Neither are their hearts. They can set up traps that would never relate to them and send you to your doom. The fae are ruthless and if they see you as a threat, you will die or thrive."
"And I suppose you think I will thrive?"
"You are the scion of the Malfoy name are you not?" Narcissa ran a gentle hand through his hair and then left her rooms. Draco clenched the pot in his hand angrily. Harry had known before he had and had not seen to telling him. Potter could rot by himself during the Solstice Ball, Draco could find someone knew to befriend. Like that Nott boy his father had introduced him to before. Or the Tilson heir.
Chapter Six
Draco refused to let the sight of Harry and the Longbottom scion giggling undo him. He refused to feel jealous and he refused just refused to let Harry know that he missed him. They had had the worst fight about Shadowlands and neither was inclined to forgive the other. He was pulled from his reverie by a hand on his shoulder.
"The Solstice will soon peak, will you go in angry?" Lucius looked down at his son.
"You have yet o be forgiven, why don't you go beg it Father?" Draco replied snidely. He regretted the words even as they fell from his lips. His father had done all he could to ask forgiveness. The choice lay on Harry's shoulders if he chose to acknowledge it.
"I had not thought I raised you like that."
"You raised me to have a mind of my own Father." Draco shrugged his father's hand off and walked away. He was stopped by a delicate looking girl with mahogany colored hair and deep blue eyes.
"Dray." Draco glared. "Draco. Will you not speak with me anymore?"
"Why should I need to?"
"I know our fathers called off our betrothal, but can we not be friends? Or am I not important to you anymore?"
"Pansy, you were never important to me." There was a sharp crack and Draco clutched his cheek.
"I swore my life to you when I was but four. I promised to stay by your side. And then Potter came. He shared well with me, he never tried to steal you away, but you left me on your own." Her lashes lowered. "I see where your loyalty lies, and where my own follows. But you are a fool to think you can simply cast me aside for him." She spoke deliberately, as if she had memorized her speech. "If you will not care for me as a friend should Draco, I will simply take what you wish to be yours." She spoke coolly, and then spun, her soft blue robes trailing after her as she walked away.
"What did she want?"
"Nothing that she will ever gain." Draco turned to see a boy with auburn hair. "How has your Solstice been?" Draco refused to see where Pansy had gone.
Harry stared at the girl as she approached him. Her bangs shielded her eyes for a second and then she looked up.
"Pansy!" She hugged him. "I have not seen you in a while. Where have you been?"
"Draco told me to stay away. I tried to abide by his wishes." Harry's eyes flashed. Pansy steered the conversation elsewhere. "Your robes are delightful!" Harry smiled at her softly. He trailed a finger over her cheek and then turned to face Neville.
"Nev, this is Pansy Parkinson. Pansy, Neville Longbottom."
Neville frowned.
"I have met you already, but you did not look the same then."
Pansy smiled.
"Ministry function was it? My mother refuses to let anyone see what I really look like at the Ministry. She says all politicians are foul, barring of course, the ones standing in front of me."
Neville snorted and then looked horrified. Harry had no such manners.
"Right. What is it that you want?"
"Can I not want to stay with you Harry? Is that so wrong?" Pansy pouted, Harry twisted the ring she wore. Pansy yelped as her hair turned a limp brown, her eyes a watery blue, and her nose grew. "Harry! Don't do that!"
"I remember meeting you now! You were that awful little brat who spilled punch on me. Gran was so angry with me for ruining that robe."
"Pity." Pansy twisted the ring and the delicate girl reappeared. "I hate that charm and you know it Potter. Why do you like applying it to me?"
"I think it's all in good fun to see you look like the bitch in heat you pretend to be."
"How…crass."
"You know me. Crass and vulgarity make me a dashing specimen of man if I do say so myself."
Neville laughed. Disgruntled adults peered at them. They rather not be reminded they had children in their midst.
"How long til Solstice?"
"A minute and four seconds starting…now." Neville answered off hand. He froze and turned to look at Harry. Harry stared at him.
"Such precise timing Nev. Kind of scary when there isn't a timepiece around."
Neville smiled nervously.
"Who cares? Power here we come!" Pansy raised her face to the ceiling and closed her eyes. Around them, the others were doing the same. Harry closed his eyes and let his head fall back. The room fell silent as they waited. When Solstice peaked, there was an exhalation of power that flooded the room. Some people cried out as the weight of other magic stronger than their own captured them. Harry's eyes fluttered as he opened them. He spun in a circle, laughing softly. Next to him, Neville giggled drunkenly and Pansy twirled prettily in a swirl of soft blue fabric. Some of the adults backed away from the three children. It was always frightening to realize that someone younger than you had more power. Harry grabbed Neville's hand and then spun for Pansy's. The three made their way across the room to Draco. The blond still had his head tilted upwards, but the bright smile on his face told them he had received his blessing as well. Harry tackled him, dragging the other two to the floor with them. Draco yelped in terror when he was suddenly knocked off balance. He opened his eyes to find laughing green staring down at him.
"Draaaacooo! Look at the fools and weaklings!" Harry giggled prettily. "Outdone by children! The wimps!" He giggled again and pressed his forehead to Draco's.
"Get off Potter!"
"Will you hold that silly anger Draaaco?" Harry purred. He rubbed his cheek against Draco's, studiously ignoring the other two children who were trying to get up. Harry brushed his lips against Draco's cheek. "When I have more reason than you to hold a grudge? Pansy told me, you know. And you know we will go to the Shadowlands because we are to go."
"Fine." Draco spat. "Get off me now. I forgive you." Harry let go off the hands he held and then climbed to his feet.
"Had that been sincere I would have found it in me to forgive your father."
"Where is Luc by the way Harry dearest?"
A wicked smile crossed Harry's face.
"I thought he would enjoy Africa…especially near the equator."
Narcissa froze.
"Where?"
"Can't be bothered to remember. If he makes it back I'll forgive him."
Narcissa dropped to her knees in front of Harry.
"Not a Nundu's den?"
"Nope. I've done that already. Chimaera colonies made be a good place to look, as well as Lethifold glades…and oh, that one place with the Manticore pride sightings….or was it with the Erumpents…no I think it was the Tebo's I put him with….hmmm. Oh well." Harry smiled brightly.
Narcissa sucked in a shaky breath.
"What do you wish from me?" Harry's gaze switched to her abruptly. "Bring Luc back. You cannot destroy my family like this. I would accept it on other terms, but not this one."
Harry frowned.
"Fine." He bit out petulantly. "Tebo mating season in Kenya. I thought Lucius could have a spot of fun."
Narcissa went pale.
"Oh no, Luc." She stood and spun, disapparating with a soft crack. Harry left the ballroom angrily. He sat on the balcony and peered into the dark. He sat there for a while, enjoying the power that ran through his veins and contemplating. There was a soft scuff of a shoe on stone and he sighed.
"What is it?" Hands closed around his shoulders and twisted, yanking him from his seat and tossing him. Harry tumbled and came to his feet angrily. "What the hell?" He glared at the brown haired man in front of him. "Are you drunk?" Harry sniffed the air delicately and recoiled from the amount of alcohol that he could smell.
"You're a very pretty boy. Very naughty boy. You took my handsome lord from me. You did, you did."
"Err…oops?" Harry flicked his wrist. His wand fell into his hand.
"Ooops? The little halfblood says oops. You took my most glorious master from me."
"On my behalf, I have to say, he tried to kill me first." Harry blinked when he found himself flying through the air. Maybe it wasn't smart to antagonize much older, much darker wizards. He crashed into a tree and slid, rolling to the side when he caught sight of a sickly yellow light coming towards him. Cursing softly, he shucked off the top layer of his robes. The dark brown material fell to the ground with barely a whisper. Harry murmured a spell and it lifted into the air and moved. Focusing on the robe, he made it look as if a person was running. When a green light hit the robe, he let it fall. Whoever that man was, he wasn't playing. Harry ran. His under robes kept close to his body as he ran from the Manor. It was stupid, but he knew the man expected him to go back. He screamed when a curse hit him. The bone in his arm broke with a snap and he rolled into the under bush. He whimpered as his arm caught and then bit his lip.
"Come here my pretty, pretty little half blood." Harry stilled his body when he smelt alcohol. The man wandered by his bush. Harry closed his eyes and waited. There were soft murmurs as the man searched for his prey. Harry crouched. The muttering took a darker turn when the man couldn't find his prey. With a burst of movement, Harry ran. He made use of his already small body and twisted between obstacles the older man would have problems getting through. Harry ran head long through the Forest surrounding the Manor. It was five minutes before another curse almost caught him.
"Confringo!"
Harry backpedaled as the tree in front of him exploded. He dove to the side and twisted.
"Expulso." The man screamed when the rock he was perched on exploded into shards. Harry ran. The man pursued. Harry ran to the outcropping and jumped over it. Another curse hit him, and he bit his tongue as his knees turned and cracked and spun. He landed in the clearing below and closed his eyes. There was sound that rolled through the clearing, low and sibilant and cruel.
"You have come back boy. I thought I told you not to unless you had a meal for me."
Harry kept his eyes closed. There was a thump from above Harry's head.
"Here, here my pretty little boy. I like how you wait for me, so prettily spread for me." The man leapt from the outcropping and landed beside Harry. Harry listened for the rasp of scales against grass. He heard it and his body stiffened. Harry felt bile gather as the man brushed his hands over his face and down his chest, as the man smelled his hair, as the man touched him. Then the man screamed and rolled to face whoever had attacked him. The last thing he saw was baleful yellow. His heart stopped and he drooped to the ground.
"You may come to see me when you wish little master. For this meal, I owe you. It will be the only time I will be able to eat human flesh. I will enjoy this tonight."
Harry rolled to his stomach. A muffled shriek escaped him. He cradled his broken arm and breathed lightly through his mouth.
"Then I shall see you later."
The snake laughed.
"You will never have the guts to look at me."
"You are right. I do not wish to die. Do you still wish to be transported elsewhere?"
"Bring me to a place with meat."
Harry grunted. He thought the Lethifolds would love to meet the Basilisk.
"Can you help me back? My knees are twisted and cannot support my weight."
Dark laughter erupted from the snake.
"I have never been able to walk in my twenty years of life. Crawl like the worm you are boy."
Harry crawled, slunk and slithered his nine year old butt away from the Basilisk. It was definitely going to the Lethifold glade. Let them duke it out and eat each other. Harry paused, resting his cheek on a cool stone. He opened his eyes and peered around, not recognizing anything from the vantage point he had. He pulled out his wand in all its illegal glory and aimed it towards the sky. A pulse of light erupted. Harry closed his eyes at the bright light. Silvery blue light cascaded through the area he laid in waves. Harry sighed as his world went dark. Hopefully, someone would find him before one of the Malfoy's pets did.
Chapter seven
Draco's head snapped to the west just as a burst of light erupted from the forest.
"Harry…" He stood on the balcony's railing and closed his eyes. Pansy and Neville looked up at him.
"What is it?" Pansy asked softly. Draco ignored her and leapt. Pansy screamed and twisted around. She looked down, expecting to see the lifeless body of the Malfoy heir on the ground. Instead, she saw him vanish into the forest. "Ho-How!?" Neville leapt to the railing and jumped, following the path of the Malfoy child. His deep green outer robe fluttered to the floor next to Pansy. She watched in awe as he too disappeared. She understood why Harry had taken the Longbottom boy in now. She turned to the Ballroom and took a deep breath. Then she screamed. Loudly.
Banshees couldn't be prouder if she was their offspring.
The adults spun to face the shrieking child only to see the pulse of light. They fought with indecision and many turned back to what they were doing, after all, what happened on Malfoy property wasn't their problem. Augusta Longbottom stopped in front of the screaming girl.
"What is it?" She saw the robe at her feet and understood. "He went to the light?"
"Yes ma'am."
Augusta nodded sharply. She gathered her deep purple robes around her and spun on her heel. She disappeared with a crack. Pansy coughed and rubbed her throat. She walked over to her mother and smiled sweetly.
Harry couldn't have done a better job at being nastily insulting, crude and cruel at the same time.
Augusta reappeared at the light and spun around. She put a hand over her eyes and made her way to the child's side. She crouched and pulled the wand from his fingers and the light started to fade. She winced when it burned her fingers but she managed to put it into the wand holder in her sleeve. Her tawny eyes took in the scene and she saw where Harry had come from. She stood and began to walk towards it only for a hand to grasp her ankle.
"Harry child, are you awake?" She flicked her wand and he levitated to her height. "What is it?" She peered at his face only to realize he was still sleeping. Bemused she spun to face the Manor. Just then something crashed through the brush. She almost gaped at the sight of Draco. Dirt smeared his face and his teeth were bared in an all too feral way. He blinked when he caught sight of her. Neville toppled into the clearing after him, breathing harshly.
"Gran?"
"That Parkinson chit screamed. Do you know what's over there Malfoy?" Draco looked to where she pointed and blanched.
"That's where the Basilisk lives. Harry's been trying to move it forever."
Augusta hmmed in response.
"Back to the Manor children. We'll leave this for the Aurors." They made their way back to the Manor. Once there, Augusta summoned the Aurors. They apparated to the grounds quickly and were led back to where Harry was found quickly. They found the dead body of Walden Macnair being slowly devoured by a Basilisk. They didn't know whether to be outrageously proud of Harry Potter's quick thinking, or outrageously angry at the curses that Macnair's wand showed had been used.
One Auror didn't bother with either. Instead, he all but screamed his joy at being able to search the Ministry for more hidden Death Eaters…again…legally. He fairly drooled at the thought of capturing the Malfoy Lord, and that Umbridge hag had to be evil.