Title: Before Wind, there was Creation
Summary: Harry Potter, who ate a test product from Fred and George, ends up going terribly wrong when they conclude that they had added wrong ingredients, which results in the gift of Psychometry for Harry, (the Psychic ability of receiving visions and feelings through objects you touch.) Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, is growing and changing his views and mind in ways both light *and* dark. BUT...Is there a bigger force at work here? Can Harry's ability help Draco get out of the depression he is slowly spiraling into? (HP/DM Yaoi [Boy/boy relationship]. If you don't like it, DON'T READ.)
All of my thanks goes to:::::
Lunaris--Thanks =) Yeah, you were right, though. He was getting whipped. *sniffles*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...then I did the simplest thing in the world.
I leaned down... and kissed him.
And the world cracked open.
-Agnes de Mille, b. 1905-
_______________________________________
Draco looked around at the dull surroundings. Everything was so -- dead here. And what was around him? Something hard -- stone? No -- no, that wasn't it. It was a...
A cage. Draco Malfoy was hanging over twenty feet of poisoned water. Draco looked at the cage beside him; A red head. One of the Weasley twins. He was crouched in the middle of the cage, and his shirt was torn and ripped with blood. His pants were ruffled to the side of him, not occupying his cold legs. Draco looked to the other side. The other Weasley twin was already awake, though hardly; His eyes had dark bags below them, and what Draco *could* see of his eyes, was the lifelessness that dulled and darkened them to a considerable degree. No longer were the twins as light hearted and optimistic about jokes and laughs as they had been before, now that they had seen the 'dark'.
'But why are they here?' Draco asked in confusion. He was the only one to have been taken here -- wasn't he?
Draco started to feel queasy as the memories of what had happened came back to him. 'But I thought that was -- some kind of -- of nightmare!' Draco thought, fear boiling in his starved stomach. He hadn't eaten a thing since he got here; The monster wouldn't let him.
'The monster...' Draco thought darkly. He had tried to warn Harry. Tried so very hard when...
Draco winced as he brushed his shaking fingertips over the long, swollen marks that stained his back. The twins had received the awful marks, also.
"Mal --" Fred stopped to cough. His throat was parched. 'God, I need some water.' "Malfoy, do you -- do you know where we are?" He asked, his split lip stinging as he licked it.
"No, Weasley," Draco replied, noticing his voice sounded just as burned as the twin's had. "Which one are you, anyway?"
"I'm Fred...George is --" Fred stopped as his eyes fell downward to his lap. His twin looked bad. Really bad. George had tried to fight the monster more than he had. He had rebelled against it, all to be beat down.
"Fred, he -- he'll be ok." Draco tried to soothe. They all pretty much had no hope left; Harry probably hadn't heard. He never responded to the strong thought.
Draco noticed his eyes were clouding up. He brushed his dry fingertips over his eyes. 'Are those tears?' He thought, astonished. Surely he was stronger than this! He didn't need Harry! He didn't need Harry to save him! Not again!
"I -- we tried to save him. But he -- they," Fred stopped as a coughing fit interrupted him. "They took us away. I dun'no what happened to Harry." Fred said. He was frowning and glancing at George as he muttered this.
Draco looked down and noticed that his pants were also off of his legs, ruffled to the side of him. His eyebrows drooped in confusion. His right hand went to twist the ring in nervousness, when he noticed it wasn't there.
'Wait -- damnit! The ring's gone! Maybe that's why the thought wasn't finished!' Draco reached into his pants, but felt nothing but lint.
"If only we had something to get out of here..." Fred muttered. He could 'if' all he wanted, but he knew that everything was hopeless. They were going to starve here! He knew it!
"Yeah, and if only I had a mirror to check what my hair looks like." Draco chuckled dryly, but his eyes widened. 'So that's how...!'
"You're so self-centered, Malfoy! Can't you try and *think* for once, instead of just worrying about what you look like?!" Fred erupted. His face was turning the legendary red that every Weasley inherited when they got angry.
Fred looked over toward Draco, and the angry expression disappeared. Why did Malfoy have that look on his face? "What?"
"That's just it! A mirror! I mean -- the mirror! Do you have that horn, Fred?"
"Um -- I might," Fred searched in his idle robes and pulled the golden glinted object out, holding it up to the little light that was left in the large cell.
Draco's eyes lit up, along with Fred's. This was their answer...
"But what about George?" Fred asked. He couldn't leave his twin here!
"He's probably unconscience. Just -- let's try and wake him up." Draco suggested.
"Ok..." Fred confirmed. He yelled his brother's name, but to no avail.
Draco tried about three times, but all he got out of that was a few finger twitches.
"Well, let's try together."
Fred nodded, and yelled along with Draco.
George kept hearing someone calling his name... 'Please let it not be the monster...' He trembled at that thought, and sat up slowly. But when he looked to the two cages beside him, he saw his brother and Malfoy screaming his name over and over.
"What in bloody hell do you want?!" George asked, tears filling his eyes. He had enough to deal with as it was! He had bruises all over himself, and he could feel sticky blood trickling down his chest.
"We have an idea of how to get out of here!" Draco announced, a grin covering his face. 'This might actually work...' Draco thought.
George muttered, "Well, it better be a *good* idea."
"It should be. It worked for Potter, at least."
"Well, what works for Harry doesn't always work for everyone else, *does* it?" George snarled.
'My, he's moody...' Draco felt truly offended for once. He was trying to get them out of here! Didn't they want to get out of this treacherous place?!
"I -- I'm sorry, Malfoy. I know that you're trying to help, for once, but -- I hurt. Really bad. My shoulder bone honestly feels broken." George apologized, closing his eyes in shame.
"Who cares, all right? What we have to do, is get into the same cage so we can go through the mirror." Draco confirmed.
"Yeah...yeah, this might actually work." Fred's lip curled upward at the thought of being back at Hogwarts...warm...cozy, by the Gryffindor fire. He wouldn't even mind being in the dungeons, as long as he was back at Hogwarts!
"Ok, let me see..." Draco muttered. He started tugging and teasing the latch on his cage, but sighed in frustration. "It -- won't --unlock!" He huffed in annoyance, and fell back, making the large cage swing back and forth slowly. Draco looked down and gulped; If the cage's chains broke, he'd be drowning in that water, dying. 'What if there's acid in there?' Draco asked himself, shuddering.
Fred narrowed his eyes in thought. He remembered feeling something stick into the side of his hip while screaming at that...that *thing*...
His wand! It was in his other robe pocket!
"Wait -- Draco, stop! I have my wand!" Fred announced, searching in his pocket eagerly.
"Well, you bloody dolt, why didn't you remember before?" Draco spat. How foolish would a wizard have to be to remember that he actually brought his wand with him?
"I forgot! I'm sure *you've* been in this situation before, haven't you? Where you're wand is an actual survival mechanism?!" Fred spat back in earnest. What the hell was Malfoy's problem, anyway?
"Both of you, stop! This is ridiculous! We have to get through this together! If we don't, then someday, we'll either die from starvation, dehydration, or worse," George looked down, while both Fred and Draco followed suit, also gulping in the spike of fear that went through them. "So stop bantering like school children and get to work with those spells!" George tried to grin, but stopped as his lip split from the lack of water.
Draco glanced toward Fred as he muttered 'Alohamora!', and saw the lock come right off.
"Hold on..." Draco announced, halting both twins eyes on him. "Why are these locks so easy to get off? This should be harder, shouldn't it? After all, even the most simplest things are harder to get than this."
Fred stopped to think about what Draco had just said. He had a point, after all. It shouldn't have been that easy.
"Well," George interrupted both teens train of thought. "Even if this stage is easy, I doubt the rest of it is. I feel that there's more to this than there actually is. You know?" George held an eerie edge in his voice. It brought chills up Draco and Fred's back.
"Just hurry up." Draco started rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. He just wanted to get *out* of here and back to Hogwarts! Even if it *was* to Kato Slytherin's room!
Fred sighed, and unlocked Draco and George's locks. Draco tried to smile, but stopped when he realized he had to climb across to Fred's cage. It would take a *lot* of strength. Strength he felt he didn't have.
Draco groaned as he stood up warily. "Fred, swing your cage over here." Draco ordered.
Fred started shifting his body from side to side, enabling Draco a chance to jump over. When he did, the cage swung even more, knocking into Draco's once habited cage. "George, hurry up! Jump over to my cage, and then over to this one!" Draco yelled, causing George to stand up out of authority. Draco had a way of ordering people around in a messy situation.
George leaped over, but almost slipped. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, gripping the bars tightly. He let out a groan as his bruised ribs rubbed against the metal. He clenched his teeth when he almost fainted from lack of oxygen. His ribs were hurting very badly. "I -- I don't think I can make it!" He gasped, letting one hand hang loosely from one of the bars.
The expression of sudden hopelessness on his brother's face brought a burst of courage and determination through him. 'I have to do this. For him. I can't let them down!' He leaped over to Fred's cage, despite the pain that coursed through his body.
"Ok, hurry up and blow that horn! I want out of this as quickly as possible!" Draco yelled.
Fred blew the horn eagerly, and was delighted by the arrival of the familiar mirror. All of their faces lit up in excitement. 'We're going home!' That thought was the only thing going through all of their minds.
Fred and George went through first, and last, a grinning Draco
The world they arrived in was unlike everything they had expected; All around them was an endless expanse of mirrors!
~*~
Kato had been following Harry throughout most of his journey. He felt that he had to be quiet, though. He didn't really know why. It was one of those gut feelings he had a lot.
Out of thin air, the golden horn he had given to the two red-haired twins landed at his feet. 'What's this?' Kato thought. If the horn returned to him, that meant that--
They had used his mirror while in the spirit world!
'Thank gods this horn has a return mechanism.' Kato thought gratefully. Maybe he *could* help Harry, after all!
"Harry!" Kato crept out from behind the willow he was hiding behind. It was dark. Late night. The stars weren't out since they were supposedly below the heavens, and not above.
"Harry...Oh, Harry!" Kato teased, being careful not to wake up the Centaur beside the sleeping boy. Harry rolled onto his stomach in response, and a lazy smile slithered its way onto his face. Kato smirked mischievously, and plucked a willow leaf off of a dangly branch. He tickled Harry's nose, but Kato grinned as, instead of sneezing or waking up, Harry tried to kiss his hand!
Kato giggled girlishly. He wasn't usually this giddy, but this display would cheer anyone up!
'I wonder what he's dreaming about?' Kato thought curiously.
Harry! Wake up!" Kato whispered near Harry's cheek.
Harry unconsciencely rubbed at his ear. Was there a bug in his ear? Harry sat up in a daze of confusion. He had been having the most *wonderful* dream! He was dreaming that he was with the blonde in a field of flowers, and they had gotten quite...*intimate*. He still didn't know the boy's name, though. They were kissing, and whispering, and groping...
Harry stopped at that thought. 'What if that person is just someone from my imagination?' Harry thought sadly. 'Just my *dream* guy?' Harry asked himself. He sighed inaudibly, and turned around. That same familiar feeling was back. Humidity surrounded him, and he was getting awfully flushed from the high temperature.
Harry jumped in surprise as he saw a familiar ghost floating right near his head. "Who -- who are you?" Harry asked, his eyes widening.
Kato frowned. Harry should know who he is! "Harry I'm -- I'm Kato. Remember?" Kato spoke the last word timidly. Softly.
Harry scanned his thoughts. Kato...Kato...Kato. Where had he heard that name before...?
Harry touched the ghost, who felt quite physical in this realm of the dead. As he felt the black robes Kato had on, he went through many memories that involved him and the ghost meeting. There was a mirror in a lot of the memories. Why a mirror...?
Harry stopped abruptly when the memory flashes stopped. "I -- maybe I do know you." Harry said softly. A smile crept up on Kato's face as he remembered what Harry had done a couple minutes before.
"What were you dreaming about, sleepy head?" He asked, grinning.
Harry flushed. "Oh, um -- nothing. Nothing at all."
"Oh, that's a lie, and you know it!" Kato teased, smiling.
"Well, even if I was, I wouldn't tell you!" Harry exclaimed, letting out a few laughs that were bubbling up in his throat.
Kato smirked, but immediately frowned. "Harry, we have a situation on our hands." Kato said, switching from playful to serious.
'Well, that was fast...' Harry thought bemusedly.
"See this horn? Since I see, by the look on your face, that you *somehow* forgot what this was -- and I'm not going to ask how you forgot -- I'll explain. This horn that summons a mirror leads to a room in Hogwarts that I have, in the past, occupied. Your friends are in here, Harry!" Kato pointed to the horn. "They're trapped. I have a feeling that, after this, they wouldn't be in good shape. They obviously decided to use this in a matter of emergency, and had to take a risk to get through to it.
"Since they aren't in the world of the living anymore, they are stuck inside the world of the mirror that transports them to my room. What we have to do, Harry, is go in there and make sure they're all right. We have to wake Chiron up, and ask for him to hold it for us, for we'll need to eat and drink every once in a while. We can't stay stuck in that mirror world forever." Kato glanced over to the snoring Chiron for a few seconds before staring back into Harry's eyes.
"Ok..." Harry said, his eyes widening a little. Harry pushed Chiron, but all Chiron did was roll on Harry's hand. "Ow!" Harry exclaimed, yanking his hand out from under the large creature. "Wake up, Chiron!" Harry yelled in the Centaur's ear. He had been slowly losing his patience, and injuring his hand had been the last nerve.
"What -- where?" Chiron frantically looked around him in a state of panic as he stood up on his front hooves.
"It's ok, Chiron. Kato and I -- we need your help." Harry said breathlessly. He held the horn out so Chiron could get a good look at it.
"Keep this horn *safe*! Every once in a while, about every two hours, check in on us. Don't go all the way in the mirror, though! Only your head! If the rest of your body enters, you and everyone else will be stuck in this...mirror world Kato keeps rambling on about."
Chiron looked at Harry weirdly. 'I have to trust him...' Chiron thought to himself. He couldn't treat Harry like a child, like he had been doing the first couple of days. His gut told him to go with what Harry was saying.
"Ok. Meanwhile, I'll have to go to Apollo, correct?" Chiron asked. Harry nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah. Well -- I guess this is good-bye, for now. Um -- well. Bye, Chiron." Harry nodded again, eyes cast downward.
"Bye, Harry. I'll see you in about two hours." Chiron smiled wryly, and shook the small boy's hand.
Kato smiled at the nervous exchange.
Harry put his soft lips to the horn, but right when he did so, a painful memory ran through his mind.
***Fred awoke, his bones aching from soreness, looking into red eyes. That's all he thought about at first; Red eyes, and the pain searing through his body. They pierced into his soul, and sucked the life from his body, very slowly.
"Fred...Weasley." It hissed, changing from a bearded man with a serpent entwined staff, to a gross, bony looking creature. The first name that came to Fred before he passed out from fear was...
'Voldemort...' ***
Harry collapsed, but before he hit the ground, Chiron caught him with his strong arms. "Harry, what happened?!" Chiron asked, his eyes frantic with worry.
"Voldemort! He -- Asclepios, they -- they're the same!" Harry exclaimed, his green eyes dazed.
Kato stood by, watching. He had never known -- Voldemort? How in bloody hell did *he* possess a God?! Was he that powerful?!
A shiver of fear ran down everyone's back. Voldemort had possessed Asclepios! So that's why the God had been acting so hostile! If Voldemort was that strong, though...
Harry was now trying to stop shivering from the sudden fear. He had to help his friends! He had a mission!
Harry stood up, his legs wobbling. At first, yes, he had to admit, it surprised him. But the surprise quickly wore off. It was something Voldemort *would* try to do. If there was power, he would try and attain it. Even if it involved possessing a God of the heavens.
Harry hurriedly put the horn to his lips and blew before another memory could rattle his mind. The six foot mirror apparated out of thin air on one of the willow trees.
Harry blew a sigh of relief. Luckily, nothing totally dramatic had happened. "Well -- Are you ready, Kato?" Harry asked.
Kato nodded, and went through the mirror before Harry could. Harry shrugged, and walked through.
What he saw astounded him! Mirrors, all about! It was so beautiful, yet so confusing at the same time. What was weird was they couldn't see their reflection. 'It must be because we're inside the mirror instead of outside it.'
"Harry, look..." Kato whispered, tapping the short boy on the shoulder. Harry turned around abruptly and gasped, eyes widening.
Ahead of him was Fred and George in terrible condition. What made him hold his breath in nervousness was the blonde! Him! The one who had been plaguing his dreams and memories and visions and -- anything else you call that apparates in a hormonal guys teenage mind!
'Wow...' Harry thought. 'He looks so beautiful!' Harry thought, his eyes widening even more. Draco was smudged with dirt, and his hair was a mess. But for some reason, he looked like a work of art to Harry. Like something an artist would paint. The brown colors mixing in with the light and beautiful ones, adding the bit of innocence needed to tease a person to touch it and imagine being in the painting itself.
Harry cautiously walked up to Draco, eyeing him up and down. Draco was on the floor of the mirror world, his pants not in sight. His boxers slid an inch below one of his hips, making him a slight tease. His back was covered in long, thin-red marks. 'So that's what I felt...' Harry thought, piecing it together in his mind. His lips looked rugged without the water needed to keep them soft. His face was paler than what he usually looked liked in Harry's dreams. In his dreams, he was always flushed with amusement or arousal...
Harry automatically became even more nervous. He didn't even know who this person was, and he was checking him out!
Everyone but Kato looked at Harry like he needed to go to St. Mungo's. The way he was looking at Draco was -- utterly wrong. He was eyeing Draco like he was some kind of tasty morsel he could just eat up any second...
Once Harry was nose to nose with Draco, looking deep into those gray eyes he had seen so many times in his dreams after entering the heavens, he leaned forward and kissed him. A jolt of what felt like electricity went through both Harry and Draco's lips. Harry poked his tongue out a little and licked. The boy's lips were rugged and dry, but tasted oddly good. They hadn't tasted like he'd expected, but nevertheless, good. Kind of like the warm apple juice he would sneak from Petunia's kitchen...
Draco leaned into the kiss slightly, but quickly realized the insanity in what he was doing. He quickly pushed Harry away; What was Harry thinking?! Why was Harry kissing him?!
"What in bloody hell are you doing, Potter?!" Draco spat. The expression on Harry's face was one he hadn't expected.
The expression of confusion.
______________________________________________
Chapter Notes::::: ((There's been a change to this chapter. Thanks, Pegasus, for the important suggestion!))
Yesssss! Finally! *Gah!* Yaaaaaaaay! They kissed! I've....been waiting for this day for a long time. *Sniffs* Actually, sorry for making Draco push Harry away. It had to be done, though. You'd have to imagine Draco's confusion, though. You know? Harry forgot mostly everything about their rivalry, and Draco's sitting there suffering, waiting for comfort or water or food, or SOMETHING, and the first thing that happens is he's kissed. That would surely confuse the hell outa me! *blink* Anyway, personally I think I could have wrote this better... *Cringes* Well, leave reviews, please! I need to know if you thought this chapter was crappy or not, so I can fix it. (Make sure you tell me what's crappy, though, ok?)
Summary: Harry Potter, who ate a test product from Fred and George, ends up going terribly wrong when they conclude that they had added wrong ingredients, which results in the gift of Psychometry for Harry, (the Psychic ability of receiving visions and feelings through objects you touch.) Draco Malfoy, on the other hand, is growing and changing his views and mind in ways both light *and* dark. BUT...Is there a bigger force at work here? Can Harry's ability help Draco get out of the depression he is slowly spiraling into? (HP/DM Yaoi [Boy/boy relationship]. If you don't like it, DON'T READ.)
All of my thanks goes to:::::
Lunaris--Thanks =) Yeah, you were right, though. He was getting whipped. *sniffles*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
...then I did the simplest thing in the world.
I leaned down... and kissed him.
And the world cracked open.
-Agnes de Mille, b. 1905-
_______________________________________
Draco looked around at the dull surroundings. Everything was so -- dead here. And what was around him? Something hard -- stone? No -- no, that wasn't it. It was a...
A cage. Draco Malfoy was hanging over twenty feet of poisoned water. Draco looked at the cage beside him; A red head. One of the Weasley twins. He was crouched in the middle of the cage, and his shirt was torn and ripped with blood. His pants were ruffled to the side of him, not occupying his cold legs. Draco looked to the other side. The other Weasley twin was already awake, though hardly; His eyes had dark bags below them, and what Draco *could* see of his eyes, was the lifelessness that dulled and darkened them to a considerable degree. No longer were the twins as light hearted and optimistic about jokes and laughs as they had been before, now that they had seen the 'dark'.
'But why are they here?' Draco asked in confusion. He was the only one to have been taken here -- wasn't he?
Draco started to feel queasy as the memories of what had happened came back to him. 'But I thought that was -- some kind of -- of nightmare!' Draco thought, fear boiling in his starved stomach. He hadn't eaten a thing since he got here; The monster wouldn't let him.
'The monster...' Draco thought darkly. He had tried to warn Harry. Tried so very hard when...
Draco winced as he brushed his shaking fingertips over the long, swollen marks that stained his back. The twins had received the awful marks, also.
"Mal --" Fred stopped to cough. His throat was parched. 'God, I need some water.' "Malfoy, do you -- do you know where we are?" He asked, his split lip stinging as he licked it.
"No, Weasley," Draco replied, noticing his voice sounded just as burned as the twin's had. "Which one are you, anyway?"
"I'm Fred...George is --" Fred stopped as his eyes fell downward to his lap. His twin looked bad. Really bad. George had tried to fight the monster more than he had. He had rebelled against it, all to be beat down.
"Fred, he -- he'll be ok." Draco tried to soothe. They all pretty much had no hope left; Harry probably hadn't heard. He never responded to the strong thought.
Draco noticed his eyes were clouding up. He brushed his dry fingertips over his eyes. 'Are those tears?' He thought, astonished. Surely he was stronger than this! He didn't need Harry! He didn't need Harry to save him! Not again!
"I -- we tried to save him. But he -- they," Fred stopped as a coughing fit interrupted him. "They took us away. I dun'no what happened to Harry." Fred said. He was frowning and glancing at George as he muttered this.
Draco looked down and noticed that his pants were also off of his legs, ruffled to the side of him. His eyebrows drooped in confusion. His right hand went to twist the ring in nervousness, when he noticed it wasn't there.
'Wait -- damnit! The ring's gone! Maybe that's why the thought wasn't finished!' Draco reached into his pants, but felt nothing but lint.
"If only we had something to get out of here..." Fred muttered. He could 'if' all he wanted, but he knew that everything was hopeless. They were going to starve here! He knew it!
"Yeah, and if only I had a mirror to check what my hair looks like." Draco chuckled dryly, but his eyes widened. 'So that's how...!'
"You're so self-centered, Malfoy! Can't you try and *think* for once, instead of just worrying about what you look like?!" Fred erupted. His face was turning the legendary red that every Weasley inherited when they got angry.
Fred looked over toward Draco, and the angry expression disappeared. Why did Malfoy have that look on his face? "What?"
"That's just it! A mirror! I mean -- the mirror! Do you have that horn, Fred?"
"Um -- I might," Fred searched in his idle robes and pulled the golden glinted object out, holding it up to the little light that was left in the large cell.
Draco's eyes lit up, along with Fred's. This was their answer...
"But what about George?" Fred asked. He couldn't leave his twin here!
"He's probably unconscience. Just -- let's try and wake him up." Draco suggested.
"Ok..." Fred confirmed. He yelled his brother's name, but to no avail.
Draco tried about three times, but all he got out of that was a few finger twitches.
"Well, let's try together."
Fred nodded, and yelled along with Draco.
George kept hearing someone calling his name... 'Please let it not be the monster...' He trembled at that thought, and sat up slowly. But when he looked to the two cages beside him, he saw his brother and Malfoy screaming his name over and over.
"What in bloody hell do you want?!" George asked, tears filling his eyes. He had enough to deal with as it was! He had bruises all over himself, and he could feel sticky blood trickling down his chest.
"We have an idea of how to get out of here!" Draco announced, a grin covering his face. 'This might actually work...' Draco thought.
George muttered, "Well, it better be a *good* idea."
"It should be. It worked for Potter, at least."
"Well, what works for Harry doesn't always work for everyone else, *does* it?" George snarled.
'My, he's moody...' Draco felt truly offended for once. He was trying to get them out of here! Didn't they want to get out of this treacherous place?!
"I -- I'm sorry, Malfoy. I know that you're trying to help, for once, but -- I hurt. Really bad. My shoulder bone honestly feels broken." George apologized, closing his eyes in shame.
"Who cares, all right? What we have to do, is get into the same cage so we can go through the mirror." Draco confirmed.
"Yeah...yeah, this might actually work." Fred's lip curled upward at the thought of being back at Hogwarts...warm...cozy, by the Gryffindor fire. He wouldn't even mind being in the dungeons, as long as he was back at Hogwarts!
"Ok, let me see..." Draco muttered. He started tugging and teasing the latch on his cage, but sighed in frustration. "It -- won't --unlock!" He huffed in annoyance, and fell back, making the large cage swing back and forth slowly. Draco looked down and gulped; If the cage's chains broke, he'd be drowning in that water, dying. 'What if there's acid in there?' Draco asked himself, shuddering.
Fred narrowed his eyes in thought. He remembered feeling something stick into the side of his hip while screaming at that...that *thing*...
His wand! It was in his other robe pocket!
"Wait -- Draco, stop! I have my wand!" Fred announced, searching in his pocket eagerly.
"Well, you bloody dolt, why didn't you remember before?" Draco spat. How foolish would a wizard have to be to remember that he actually brought his wand with him?
"I forgot! I'm sure *you've* been in this situation before, haven't you? Where you're wand is an actual survival mechanism?!" Fred spat back in earnest. What the hell was Malfoy's problem, anyway?
"Both of you, stop! This is ridiculous! We have to get through this together! If we don't, then someday, we'll either die from starvation, dehydration, or worse," George looked down, while both Fred and Draco followed suit, also gulping in the spike of fear that went through them. "So stop bantering like school children and get to work with those spells!" George tried to grin, but stopped as his lip split from the lack of water.
Draco glanced toward Fred as he muttered 'Alohamora!', and saw the lock come right off.
"Hold on..." Draco announced, halting both twins eyes on him. "Why are these locks so easy to get off? This should be harder, shouldn't it? After all, even the most simplest things are harder to get than this."
Fred stopped to think about what Draco had just said. He had a point, after all. It shouldn't have been that easy.
"Well," George interrupted both teens train of thought. "Even if this stage is easy, I doubt the rest of it is. I feel that there's more to this than there actually is. You know?" George held an eerie edge in his voice. It brought chills up Draco and Fred's back.
"Just hurry up." Draco started rubbing the bridge of his nose in frustration. He just wanted to get *out* of here and back to Hogwarts! Even if it *was* to Kato Slytherin's room!
Fred sighed, and unlocked Draco and George's locks. Draco tried to smile, but stopped when he realized he had to climb across to Fred's cage. It would take a *lot* of strength. Strength he felt he didn't have.
Draco groaned as he stood up warily. "Fred, swing your cage over here." Draco ordered.
Fred started shifting his body from side to side, enabling Draco a chance to jump over. When he did, the cage swung even more, knocking into Draco's once habited cage. "George, hurry up! Jump over to my cage, and then over to this one!" Draco yelled, causing George to stand up out of authority. Draco had a way of ordering people around in a messy situation.
George leaped over, but almost slipped. "Whoa!" He exclaimed, gripping the bars tightly. He let out a groan as his bruised ribs rubbed against the metal. He clenched his teeth when he almost fainted from lack of oxygen. His ribs were hurting very badly. "I -- I don't think I can make it!" He gasped, letting one hand hang loosely from one of the bars.
The expression of sudden hopelessness on his brother's face brought a burst of courage and determination through him. 'I have to do this. For him. I can't let them down!' He leaped over to Fred's cage, despite the pain that coursed through his body.
"Ok, hurry up and blow that horn! I want out of this as quickly as possible!" Draco yelled.
Fred blew the horn eagerly, and was delighted by the arrival of the familiar mirror. All of their faces lit up in excitement. 'We're going home!' That thought was the only thing going through all of their minds.
Fred and George went through first, and last, a grinning Draco
The world they arrived in was unlike everything they had expected; All around them was an endless expanse of mirrors!
~*~
Kato had been following Harry throughout most of his journey. He felt that he had to be quiet, though. He didn't really know why. It was one of those gut feelings he had a lot.
Out of thin air, the golden horn he had given to the two red-haired twins landed at his feet. 'What's this?' Kato thought. If the horn returned to him, that meant that--
They had used his mirror while in the spirit world!
'Thank gods this horn has a return mechanism.' Kato thought gratefully. Maybe he *could* help Harry, after all!
"Harry!" Kato crept out from behind the willow he was hiding behind. It was dark. Late night. The stars weren't out since they were supposedly below the heavens, and not above.
"Harry...Oh, Harry!" Kato teased, being careful not to wake up the Centaur beside the sleeping boy. Harry rolled onto his stomach in response, and a lazy smile slithered its way onto his face. Kato smirked mischievously, and plucked a willow leaf off of a dangly branch. He tickled Harry's nose, but Kato grinned as, instead of sneezing or waking up, Harry tried to kiss his hand!
Kato giggled girlishly. He wasn't usually this giddy, but this display would cheer anyone up!
'I wonder what he's dreaming about?' Kato thought curiously.
Harry! Wake up!" Kato whispered near Harry's cheek.
Harry unconsciencely rubbed at his ear. Was there a bug in his ear? Harry sat up in a daze of confusion. He had been having the most *wonderful* dream! He was dreaming that he was with the blonde in a field of flowers, and they had gotten quite...*intimate*. He still didn't know the boy's name, though. They were kissing, and whispering, and groping...
Harry stopped at that thought. 'What if that person is just someone from my imagination?' Harry thought sadly. 'Just my *dream* guy?' Harry asked himself. He sighed inaudibly, and turned around. That same familiar feeling was back. Humidity surrounded him, and he was getting awfully flushed from the high temperature.
Harry jumped in surprise as he saw a familiar ghost floating right near his head. "Who -- who are you?" Harry asked, his eyes widening.
Kato frowned. Harry should know who he is! "Harry I'm -- I'm Kato. Remember?" Kato spoke the last word timidly. Softly.
Harry scanned his thoughts. Kato...Kato...Kato. Where had he heard that name before...?
Harry touched the ghost, who felt quite physical in this realm of the dead. As he felt the black robes Kato had on, he went through many memories that involved him and the ghost meeting. There was a mirror in a lot of the memories. Why a mirror...?
Harry stopped abruptly when the memory flashes stopped. "I -- maybe I do know you." Harry said softly. A smile crept up on Kato's face as he remembered what Harry had done a couple minutes before.
"What were you dreaming about, sleepy head?" He asked, grinning.
Harry flushed. "Oh, um -- nothing. Nothing at all."
"Oh, that's a lie, and you know it!" Kato teased, smiling.
"Well, even if I was, I wouldn't tell you!" Harry exclaimed, letting out a few laughs that were bubbling up in his throat.
Kato smirked, but immediately frowned. "Harry, we have a situation on our hands." Kato said, switching from playful to serious.
'Well, that was fast...' Harry thought bemusedly.
"See this horn? Since I see, by the look on your face, that you *somehow* forgot what this was -- and I'm not going to ask how you forgot -- I'll explain. This horn that summons a mirror leads to a room in Hogwarts that I have, in the past, occupied. Your friends are in here, Harry!" Kato pointed to the horn. "They're trapped. I have a feeling that, after this, they wouldn't be in good shape. They obviously decided to use this in a matter of emergency, and had to take a risk to get through to it.
"Since they aren't in the world of the living anymore, they are stuck inside the world of the mirror that transports them to my room. What we have to do, Harry, is go in there and make sure they're all right. We have to wake Chiron up, and ask for him to hold it for us, for we'll need to eat and drink every once in a while. We can't stay stuck in that mirror world forever." Kato glanced over to the snoring Chiron for a few seconds before staring back into Harry's eyes.
"Ok..." Harry said, his eyes widening a little. Harry pushed Chiron, but all Chiron did was roll on Harry's hand. "Ow!" Harry exclaimed, yanking his hand out from under the large creature. "Wake up, Chiron!" Harry yelled in the Centaur's ear. He had been slowly losing his patience, and injuring his hand had been the last nerve.
"What -- where?" Chiron frantically looked around him in a state of panic as he stood up on his front hooves.
"It's ok, Chiron. Kato and I -- we need your help." Harry said breathlessly. He held the horn out so Chiron could get a good look at it.
"Keep this horn *safe*! Every once in a while, about every two hours, check in on us. Don't go all the way in the mirror, though! Only your head! If the rest of your body enters, you and everyone else will be stuck in this...mirror world Kato keeps rambling on about."
Chiron looked at Harry weirdly. 'I have to trust him...' Chiron thought to himself. He couldn't treat Harry like a child, like he had been doing the first couple of days. His gut told him to go with what Harry was saying.
"Ok. Meanwhile, I'll have to go to Apollo, correct?" Chiron asked. Harry nodded in confirmation.
"Yeah. Well -- I guess this is good-bye, for now. Um -- well. Bye, Chiron." Harry nodded again, eyes cast downward.
"Bye, Harry. I'll see you in about two hours." Chiron smiled wryly, and shook the small boy's hand.
Kato smiled at the nervous exchange.
Harry put his soft lips to the horn, but right when he did so, a painful memory ran through his mind.
***Fred awoke, his bones aching from soreness, looking into red eyes. That's all he thought about at first; Red eyes, and the pain searing through his body. They pierced into his soul, and sucked the life from his body, very slowly.
"Fred...Weasley." It hissed, changing from a bearded man with a serpent entwined staff, to a gross, bony looking creature. The first name that came to Fred before he passed out from fear was...
'Voldemort...' ***
Harry collapsed, but before he hit the ground, Chiron caught him with his strong arms. "Harry, what happened?!" Chiron asked, his eyes frantic with worry.
"Voldemort! He -- Asclepios, they -- they're the same!" Harry exclaimed, his green eyes dazed.
Kato stood by, watching. He had never known -- Voldemort? How in bloody hell did *he* possess a God?! Was he that powerful?!
A shiver of fear ran down everyone's back. Voldemort had possessed Asclepios! So that's why the God had been acting so hostile! If Voldemort was that strong, though...
Harry was now trying to stop shivering from the sudden fear. He had to help his friends! He had a mission!
Harry stood up, his legs wobbling. At first, yes, he had to admit, it surprised him. But the surprise quickly wore off. It was something Voldemort *would* try to do. If there was power, he would try and attain it. Even if it involved possessing a God of the heavens.
Harry hurriedly put the horn to his lips and blew before another memory could rattle his mind. The six foot mirror apparated out of thin air on one of the willow trees.
Harry blew a sigh of relief. Luckily, nothing totally dramatic had happened. "Well -- Are you ready, Kato?" Harry asked.
Kato nodded, and went through the mirror before Harry could. Harry shrugged, and walked through.
What he saw astounded him! Mirrors, all about! It was so beautiful, yet so confusing at the same time. What was weird was they couldn't see their reflection. 'It must be because we're inside the mirror instead of outside it.'
"Harry, look..." Kato whispered, tapping the short boy on the shoulder. Harry turned around abruptly and gasped, eyes widening.
Ahead of him was Fred and George in terrible condition. What made him hold his breath in nervousness was the blonde! Him! The one who had been plaguing his dreams and memories and visions and -- anything else you call that apparates in a hormonal guys teenage mind!
'Wow...' Harry thought. 'He looks so beautiful!' Harry thought, his eyes widening even more. Draco was smudged with dirt, and his hair was a mess. But for some reason, he looked like a work of art to Harry. Like something an artist would paint. The brown colors mixing in with the light and beautiful ones, adding the bit of innocence needed to tease a person to touch it and imagine being in the painting itself.
Harry cautiously walked up to Draco, eyeing him up and down. Draco was on the floor of the mirror world, his pants not in sight. His boxers slid an inch below one of his hips, making him a slight tease. His back was covered in long, thin-red marks. 'So that's what I felt...' Harry thought, piecing it together in his mind. His lips looked rugged without the water needed to keep them soft. His face was paler than what he usually looked liked in Harry's dreams. In his dreams, he was always flushed with amusement or arousal...
Harry automatically became even more nervous. He didn't even know who this person was, and he was checking him out!
Everyone but Kato looked at Harry like he needed to go to St. Mungo's. The way he was looking at Draco was -- utterly wrong. He was eyeing Draco like he was some kind of tasty morsel he could just eat up any second...
Once Harry was nose to nose with Draco, looking deep into those gray eyes he had seen so many times in his dreams after entering the heavens, he leaned forward and kissed him. A jolt of what felt like electricity went through both Harry and Draco's lips. Harry poked his tongue out a little and licked. The boy's lips were rugged and dry, but tasted oddly good. They hadn't tasted like he'd expected, but nevertheless, good. Kind of like the warm apple juice he would sneak from Petunia's kitchen...
Draco leaned into the kiss slightly, but quickly realized the insanity in what he was doing. He quickly pushed Harry away; What was Harry thinking?! Why was Harry kissing him?!
"What in bloody hell are you doing, Potter?!" Draco spat. The expression on Harry's face was one he hadn't expected.
The expression of confusion.
______________________________________________
Chapter Notes::::: ((There's been a change to this chapter. Thanks, Pegasus, for the important suggestion!))
Yesssss! Finally! *Gah!* Yaaaaaaaay! They kissed! I've....been waiting for this day for a long time. *Sniffs* Actually, sorry for making Draco push Harry away. It had to be done, though. You'd have to imagine Draco's confusion, though. You know? Harry forgot mostly everything about their rivalry, and Draco's sitting there suffering, waiting for comfort or water or food, or SOMETHING, and the first thing that happens is he's kissed. That would surely confuse the hell outa me! *blink* Anyway, personally I think I could have wrote this better... *Cringes* Well, leave reviews, please! I need to know if you thought this chapter was crappy or not, so I can fix it. (Make sure you tell me what's crappy, though, ok?)