This story has noticeably darker elements than the previous entries in this series. While likely not descriptive enough for an M rating, I do forewarn readers. It still is H/Hr and very AU like all the other entries in this drabble series.
Bringing the Light to Draco
Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore was a revered man. Few would argue the point as he had stopped one of the most vile Dark Lords in History, had mastered magics to levels most could scarcely dream of, portrayed himself as wise and sagacious, and taught the youth of the Wizarding World for over 50 years. A world renowned researcher, educator, and politician, he was highly respected. Many disliked him and his views and policies, but they respected him, his power, and what he represented.
But not Harry Potter.
Harry had just left Dumbledore's office. Wandering the corridors, he grumbled to himself. "Bring him 'back to the Light?' What the bloody hell does he mean by that? Draco Malfoy tries to make those around him fear him and gets away with everything. Dumbledore would probably let the twat get away with rape and murder and still claim to be trying to bring the idiot 'back to the Light.'"
As angry as Harry was, he opted to avoid going back to Gryffindor Tower. Donning his invisibility cloak, he made his way up to the Astronomy Tower, hoping the frigid air would calm him down. Feeling the winter air blast his face as he opened the door to the outside, Harry felt his rage immediately begin to dissipate. Looking out into the night sky, he began to muse over the day.
Malfoy had insulted Hermione yet again. While she claimed it no longer bothered her, that Malfoy and his insults were beneath her, Harry wasn't convinced. Harry remembered how she ran to cry after Ron's less than kind words after their first year Charms class. Harry remembered how she slapped Malfoy in third year for his insensitive remarks. Harry remembered the row Hermione and Ron had after the Yule Ball during the Triwizard Tournament in fourth year.
Harry knew words got under her skin. To Hermione, words mattered.
After Malfoy had insulted Hermione, Harry called the ponce out for the insult only to find himself in detention from Snape once again. At Hermione's request, Harry even tried appealing to McGonagall in her capacity as Deputy Headmistress, against his better judgement. That conversation resulted in him losing more of what little respect he had left for her. Hermione then encouraged him to appeal to Dumbledore.
That had proven to be the biggest waste of time Harry could remember. The Headmaster actually had the gall to defend Malfoy's actions and Snape's punishment. When Harry asked how insulting others and telling them they deserved to be tortured, raped, and then slaughtered was a defensible action, he was told "certain allowances must be given in order to allow those straying to find their way back to the 'Light.'"
Harry silently cursed at the memory.
Jumping as he felt a hand on his shoulder, Harry turned about, drawing his wand only to find Hermione giving him a concerned look.
"I take it your appeal didn't go well?" she asked. Harry snorted as a reply. "Well, what did he say? You're obviously upset and you weren't this mad when you came out of Professor McGonagall's office."
Shaking his head, Harry gave her a watered down explanation. "Dumbledore said reprimanding Malfoy would discourage him from seeing the 'Light' whatever that means."
Hermione chewed on her lower lip. "And Snape's detention?"
"Upheld since not punishing me would cause tension among the staff and set a poor example for Malfoy."
Dumbfounded at his response, Hermione just let her mouth hang open as she stared at Harry. She knew Harry could exaggerate things at times, but she knew, even allowing for that, Harry's explanation showed the Headmaster's actions as negligent at best, criminal at worst. Hearing Harry mutter something, she asked him to repeat it.
"I said, 'Light' isn't as great Dumbledore thinks it is."
Not understanding his meaning, Hermione asked Harry to explain.
"Well, sure, 'Light' can represent lots of good things, good people, sunlight, warmth, love, things like that. But it can also mean bad things, since fires can go out of control, the sun can burn, explosions can give off flashes of light. Heck, I remember in primary my teacher talking about the atomic bombs the Americans dropped on Japan in World War II. Apparently you could see the flash of light from miles and miles away." Returning to a grumble, Harry continued. "That's the kind of 'Light' I'd want to introduce Malfoy and Snape to."
Mention of Malfoy made her recall his vitriol, telling her that she was only worthy of providing demented "entertainment" for "Proper Purebloods" which caused Hermione's hackles to raise. Snape agreeing only made it worse, much like the spell that Malfoy cast which made her teeth grown in fourth year which the arrogant man had denied seeing.
"There's a famous quote, Harry. 'Those who fear the dark have no idea what the light can do.' I may be paraphrasing of course, but you get my meaning."
Harry sighed, "It seems even Dumbledore has forgotten that. Shame no one can remind him of that."
A grin split Hermione's face. "Maybe someone can. I have an idea, Harry."
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Hermione isolated herself for weeks. Harry let her borrow Hedwig which resulted in countless books finding their way into Hermione's trunk as she read and studied. No matter how hard Harry tried to convince her, she refused to share what she was working on.
Finally, at the end of a month, as the fall term was drawing to a close, Hermione approached Harry in a corner of the common room.
"Harry, do you have a moment so we can talk?"
Having just finished losing yet again to Ron in chess, Harry quickly made his escape, hoping to learn what his best female human friend had been up to. "Do I finally get to learn what all this secrecy was for?"
Nodding her head, Hermione led Harry to the library, a far back corner table where they were not likely to be disturbed.
"I've been researching light," she started. "I've been researching both magical and non-magical information about light and think I have enough to try something."
Harry prompted her. "Try what?"
"There are rumors in the magical world, that explain the reason why light is representative of love. Supposedly, when two people are really in love, they can emit a soft glow. Various sources claim witnessing such things, but I was suspecting they were little more than fairy tales for children until I found an ancient text that described what was actually happening. Apparently, the same reason that a Patronus glows, a memory of love, can be manifested in other ways, including causing the body to emit a bit of light."
Furrowing his eyebrows, Harry asked, "And what does that have to do with the idea you supposedly had a month ago?" Hermione grinned.
"Simple. Once I figured out that part, I researched instances of people emitting light. Apparently, there were a scant few instances of people being so in love that they can't stop emitting light and it caused other things to happen. In one case, it resulted in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, somehow it constructed them or something of the sort, and in another, the downfall of a tyrannical kingdom. That's what caught my interest."
Harry's eyes widened. "Downfall of a kingdom? What are you talking about?"
"Atlantis." At Harry's once again confused look, she continued. "When the island nation of Atlantis sank into the sea, it was because a man, so in love with a woman who the last king ordered put to death for refusing his advances, destroyed the entire island in a shining explosion that he emitted from his hand like those silly comic book super heroes." Harry looked skeptical.
"Surely something like that would be more common knowledge."
Lowering her head, Hermione mumbled her answer. "When you track down the only copy of the personal diary of the woman that's over two thousand years old it tends to explain why information is so hard to find about it."
"Her diary? Where did you find it?"
Still looking down, "I kind of stole it from a part of the Restricted Section that looked like it hadn't been touched in several hundred years."
Blinking, Harry remained quiet, processing Hermione's admission.
"Well, okay then. As dangerous as that sounds, I can see why that would be restricted. Plus, considering the Ministry's stance on dangerous things, if they knew about it they would have destroyed it." He deliberately avoided mentioning the theft, knowing how Hermione was probably feeling. "I'm still confused though, how does this tie into your idea?"
Seeing Harry wasn't going to cause a fuss over her little criminal act, she relaxed. "Anyway, apparently it was due to him performing some lost ritual which bound the two of them together in love. My idea was that since the mythos still exists even though the ritual was lost, you could use it to scare Snape and Dumbledore into fearing what the 'Light' can do by muggle means."
"How so? And what about Malfoy?" At Hermione's vengeful grin, Harry almost shivered.
"If you can't bring Draco Malfoy to the 'Light' then bring the 'Light' to Draco Malfoy. And hopefully in the process, wipe him off the face of the planet."
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Planning took little time but advancing to the final phase took until the start of the winter exams. Harry and Hermione started putting up a front of "dating" to establish the love part of the mythos. It wasn't long before the entire school was gossiping about Harry and Hermione routinely coming out of broom cupboards with their robes all in disarray and dazed looks, happy smiles.
Months of flirting, sneaking off, ruffled robes and love bites only fueled the gossip mongers' racy stories.
Harry also began subtly taunting Malfoy, hoping to draw the ferret into a confrontation. He hadn't needed to try very hard. The only issue had been keeping Snape out of the picture during the taunting.
At the closing feast, Malfoy found his way over to the Gryffindor table.
"So, Potter, you and the Mudblood? You continually surprise me. It's amazing how far you keep falling."
Harry ignored the Slytherin in favor of cuddling close with Hermione. Malfoy snarled at being ignored.
"The only reason I can see as to why you're sullying yourself with her is because she lets you between her legs."
Whispering things into Hermione's ear which cause a never before heard giggle to escape her lips, Harry continued to ignore the blonde ponce.
"Fine, Potter, ignore me. But as soon as the Dark Lord gets his hands on her, she's going to be a toy for his amusement as he gifts her to his faithful for them to take out their frustrations on."
At that, Harry snapped his head to face Malfoy. "No, he won't." Suddenly, Malfoy couldn't move. A bubble began to form around him and the air inside began to sparkle. As Draco began to panic and hyperventilate, Snape made his way over to intercede.
Just as Snape stepped into the bubble, it burst into a bright light. The heat was so intense that everyone near screamed, fearing for their lives. The light was so blinding that everyone turned away for fear of losing their sight. None of them noticed in the confusion that Harry and Hermione had ducked below the Gryffindor table as soon as the bubble appeared.
As the heat and light slowly faded, everyone started blinking the spots out of their eyes. When they could finally see again, all that was left was a pile of ash where Malfoy and Snape once stood.
~~~oOoOoOo~~~
Questions were asked, inquiries were made, hearings were held. No one could explain the magic that had apparently burned Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape to ash. The 'grieving' father Lucius Malfoy demanded Harry's immediate expulsion and imprisonment. Dumbledore tried to convince Harry to share what he knew but even under truth spells, Harry couldn't admit to using any spells to kill the boy as he actually hadn't. That wasn't an acceptable answer at a school of magic so they kept on digging.
Through it all, rumors spread that Harry had protected Hermione from a threat Draco Malfoy had issued. Comparisons to the mythos of the purifying powers of light were made and the public chose to run with it, despite the Ministry's best efforts to the contrary. In the end, public sentiment made the Ministry drop the matter officially.
With the apparent death of Severus Snape, Potions instruction rapidly improved at Hogwarts. With the apparent death of Draco Malfoy, Slytherins were much more tolerable to the remainder of the school and often befriended those of other houses.
Unfortunately, the Ministry did decide to intervene at Hogwarts again. Dolores Umbridge made her triumphant return to the school the following year hoping to find out what Harry Potter did to the son of a "well respected pillar of the community."
Remembering their fifth year, Hermione turned to her now actual boyfriend. Spending so much time together faking a romance had created a real relationship. The two were inseparable and Harry's marks quickly approached her own with suitable encouragement and rewards.
Hermione's anger flared as she rubbed her thumb over the scars on the back of her boyfriend's hand. Before Christmas last year, he defended her honor. This year, she would do the same.
"I have another idea, Harry. And it looks like someone else needs to see the 'Light'."
PaxHumana had a plot bunny spawned from his dislike of Draco, a dislike I happen to agree with. After telling him I might like to write a drabble using it, he encouraged me, and this was born. It is vastly changed from the original plot bunny but I'm content with the result. There is an explanation for what happened even though it wasn't included. Attempting to include the details felt to me like it detracted from the story, and thus they were omitted. Once again, PaxHumana has beta-ed this like he has the other entries in this series. I hope you enjoyed this little project. Feedback is always appreciated.