It's taken me a really long time to get this up even though it's been 80% finished for months. I was busy with work for a while and then my brain kept developing a Sherlock story that got in the way. When I've tried writing recently nothing seems to be flowing right. It finally seems like it doesn't have any huge holes anymore. I've have two more chapters after this. I hope to have this story finished soon.

Twilight Moon Beams

Taken

o0o

The alarm that Draco rarely had to actually use went off. On a regular day, he would usually wake up well before the time it was set. It was usually there as just a precaution so that he wouldn't be late for work.

Today he definitely needed it.

With a groan, Draco slapped a hand on the button to shut it off. He just laid there and stared at the ceiling. It had taken hours for him to fall asleep. He hadn't had anything to drink the night before but Draco felt like he had.

Images from the night before flashed through his mind. It would be best if he tried to pretend that nothing happened. Draco wouldn't be surprised if he didn't see Potter again for the next month.

Reluctantly he got out of bed. Grabbing a clean set of clothes, Draco changed and walked down the hall to the kitchen. After putting the kettle on to boil, he went to the bathroom to grab a potion. Looking over his collection of medical potions, Draco selected an invigoration potion over some other options. Hopefully, the energy boost would help him wake up so that he could do his job.

Uncorking the vial, Draco swallowed the potion down. He shivered when there was a jolt like a shock, as the potion took effect. He could hear the sound of the kettle going off. Making his way back to the kitchen, he took the kettle off the burner. Flipping the whistle up to shut the noise off.

Lemon-Drop chirped at him. Draco pet the fur ball before filling the pygmy puff's food dish.

Taking the lid off the tea tin, Draco retrieved an earl grey tea bag. Placing the bag in a cup, he poured the hot water on top. The clear liquid immediately started to darken gradually. Picking up the mug, Draco made his way down to the work room. He placed the beverage on the workbench to continue steeping.

Retrieving his notebook, Draco looked over the list he made of all the potions that currently needed brewing. He decided he was going to start with the Ten-Second Pimple Vanisher. Going to the ingredients cupboard, he opened the drawers to start to select the ingredients.

He discovered that the supplies had become severely depleted the day before. So much so, that he was missing a few ingredients completely now. It would be impossible to brew anything with the stock's current state. Only yesterday he had realized and informed George of the problem. Usually, Draco was more on top of keeping track of what supplies he needed more of but he had been so frazzled the past few days.

Selecting the ingredients he did have, Draco organized his workstation the best he could. The only thing he could do was hope that George came back soon. Figuring his tea had steeped long enough anyway, Draco sat down to enjoy his morning tea while he waited.

Before Draco was even halfway through his cup, George entered carrying a large box. "I how those are the supplies I requested," He asked as he put his tea down.

"Yes, they are and just in time it seems," George replied as he placed the box on the table. He noticed the seriously depleted supply cupboard. "I can't believe how well the shop is doing. This is the seventh time I've had to get more ingredients in less than a month."

Walking over to the box, Draco start to help unpack the ingredients. Making sure to put them in the correct drawers. He ended up pushing George out of the way when he started to put something in the wrong place.

George decided to bow out since it seemed that he was only in the way. While George was observing, he noticed something on Malfoy's neck. It couldn't be what he thought it was. He grabbed the collar of the Slytherin's robes to pull him in for a closer look. There was a red bruise on his pale neck. "Is that a hickey?"

"No." Draco tugged himself out of the red heads grip. A deep blush took over his face when he remembered how he got the mark. "I forgot something upstairs." Deciding it would be best to retreat if he didn't want to spill about his and Potter's fervent liaison.

George narrowed his eyes as the blond disappeared upstairs as soon as he started to ask questions. He bet this had something to do with Harry. Every time Malfoy was upset because of something Harry stupidly did, Draco would hide in his room. It had been stressful the past couple days. Something was going on between those two.

George retreated to his office since he had to check something.

.0.

Harry woke to someone knocking loudly at his door. When he had gotten home last night Harry had collapsed on the couch. Getting up to answer the door, the room spun for a second so he had to grab onto the door frame for support. Once again he had a bad hangover.

"I know you're in there!" A familiar voice yelled as they continued to knock on the door.

Harry took a second to collect himself before forcing himself to answer the door. He wondered what George was doing here so early in the morning. With a wave of his wand, Harry undid all the wards to let his irate friend in.

"I know it was you." George accused pointing a finger directly in Harry's face as soon as he opened the door.

"Know what?" Harry asked sleepily. Putting up a hand to cover a yawn.

"You did something to Draco." George accused him as the alleged culprit.

Harry paled at suddenly being confronted for his actions the night before. George pushed past him and entered his house. Knowing he was unlikely going to get rid of George anytime soon Harry closed the door behind him.

George stood in the middle of the parlor tapping his foot. "Well?"

"Can we not have this conversation so early in the morning?" Harry asked, hopeful that he could put it off to another time when he was better prepared, and not suffering from a hangover.

"Early in the morning," George looked at him with disbelief. Walking over to the blackout curtains, he threw them open. The room was flooded with light that burned Harry's eyes. "It's two o'clock in the afternoon."

"Really?" Harry exclaimed with astonishment. The sun had already started to rise by the time he had crawled back home last night. It shouldn't have surprised him that Harry had slept in so late. Then it hit him. "I should have been at the ministry hours ago." Harry sighed with defeat as he collapsed on the chaise.

"Kreacher called Master in sick since he refused to move." The house elf exclaimed as he brought a black coffee with a side of hangover potion. He hoped his master did not make a habit of continuing this reckless behavior. His master took the items off the tray and he retreated back to the refuge of the kitchen.

Harry quickly downed the potion. His nose scrunched up at the awful taste. Taking a few sips of the hot beverage, Harry started to feel better.

"See, problem solved." George sat down across from his troubled friend. "Now let's get back on topic. What happened between you and Draco?"

Since Harry had to tell George something to get rid of him, he decided to stick with the first encounter. "When I came back from training, we ended up getting drunk together. I'm not exactly sure which one of us started it, but I ended up kissing Malfoy." Harry admitted tiredly. He had already confessed this to Ron the evening before.

"That isn't it, something happened last night didn't it?" George took note of Harry's rumpled robes.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked with apprehension. Did Malfoy say something?

"I noticed there was a hickey on Draco's neck this morning," George smirked like he had caught Harry in a trap.

Harry felt like he had been backed into a corner. There was no use trying to hide it anymore. "Fine, you wanna hear what happened. After drinking at the Leaky last night, I drunkenly stumbled to the shop to seek Malfoy out." Harry snapped with agitation. "We ended up making out, and then I freaked out about my sexuality again and left."

"So you purposely went looking for Malfoy and then retreated after you got off?" George shook his head at Harry's callous actions.

"It was a bad idea to go over there after I was drunk," Harry sighed remembering his actions. "If I'm going to be talking about this, I'm going to be needing something stronger than coffee." Harry sighed reluctantly.

Standing up, George patted his shoulder as he passed. "I know where you keep your fire whiskey."

"I know you do." Harry grumbled since he knew he was in for a long talking to.

o0o

Now that he had all the ingredients, the potion was coming along wonderfully. Suddenly Draco felt like someone was staring at him. Looking over his shoulder, he rolled his eyes. "What are you doing here Weasley?"

"What, I can't come and visit my own brother's shop?" Ron said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked around the room. Trying to not attract suspicion for suddenly wanting to drop in

"I'm not stupid," Draco narrowed his eyes. The youngest Weasley son had never liked him. If he was here to visit his brother he wouldn't be in here. Putting a status charm on the potion. He turned around and leaned against the workbench with his whole attention on Weasley. "What do you really want?"

"Fine, I give," Ron dropped his casual pretense. "Had a talk with Harry last night. Thought I'd come and check in on you."

"About what?" Draco asked.

"He told me all about what happened between you," Ron admitted awkwardly.

"What?" Draco stood up straighter in surprise. He thought with a furrowed brow that he could not have heard that right. Did Potter really confess to Weasley, that they had dry humped each other to completion? Because Potter was still in the denial stage of accepting he had gay tendencies, Draco expected him to pretend nothing happened.

"How Harry kissed you a week ago." Ron clarified what he was referring to.

Draco actually sighed in relief. "Oh, that?" So this talk had happened before the visit last night. It was probably what led Potter to drinking so much.

"Did something else happen, other than that?" Ron asked with suspicion. The way Malfoy was acting, there was a lot more to tell.

"That's between me and Potter?" Draco wasn't going to say anything if Potter wasn't ready to admit they did anything more than share a kiss. It was a lot of progress that Potter had even admitted that much to one of his closest friends. He wasn't going to set him back.

"Harry's working through everything. You should expect him to drop by in the next few days." Ron tried to reassure Malfoy about Harry's weird behavior. He hoped Harry hadn't completely blown his chances. Even though Malfoy wasn't his favorite person, Ron knew that Harry really liked him.

"Yes well, Potter already paid me a visit last night," Draco replied as he continued to fiddle with the ingredients.

"And Harry was already smashed when I left him at the Leaky. What did he do?" Ron asked rubbing at his temples. When he opened his eyes, Ron could see there was a red blush spreading across the pale cheeks. "I get it, don't need to know anymore."

"And I don't want to tell." Draco continued to look down at his hands.

"Harry's just going through a rough time," Ron exclaimed with exasperation. "He's usually a really great guy, you can depend on."

"You don't have to talk Potter up to me Weasley." Draco crossed his arms defensively.

"So you like him too?" Ron observed the Slytherin's body language.

"Maybe," Draco admitted, looking at his feet to avoid eye contact. "Yes, if he would ever get his head out of his ass."

"Just be patient with him. Harry's gone through a lot in his life. Of course, he's a little screwed up." Ron patted Malfoy on the shoulder. Never in his life had he imagined he would be comforting Malfoy. "I'll let you get back to work," He said before leaving.

Taking the status charm off the potion, Draco attempted to get back to the work he had been doing before he had been interrupted. There were stomping footsteps approaching the room. "What now?" Draco asked himself in defeat. It seems he was constantly being interrupted lately.

When the curtain was pushed aside there stood Verity, with a face like thunder. Her eyes looked past Draco as they scanned the room looking for something. Luckily she wasn't there for him apparently. "Can I help you with something?"

"Where the hell did George wonder off to," Verity complained, stomping her foot. "I can't find him anywhere."

Draco had his own suspicions. He hadn't seen his boss since he confronted him about his hickey. George was too curious to drop the matter without a proper answer. "I'm pretty sure he is no longer in the building."

"If you see him tell George I'm looking for him," Verity exclaimed before turning on her heel and storming out.

o0o

"This development really doesn't surprise me," George exclaimed as he sat down, after pouring each of them glasses of fire whiskey.

"That's what Ron said," Harry grumbled. "Why is no one surprised?"

"You spend all your waking moments, not at auror training, following Draco Malfoy around," George said like it was a no brainer. "You're obsessed with him now, and you've always been obsessed."

"I have not always been obsessed with Draco Malfoy." Harry denied the accusation. Sure he thought and talked about Draco Malfoy more than he should. So he used to always sit facing him in the great hall at meals and followed him around on the marauders map. Hermine actually accused him of stalking the Slytherin in sixth year.

"You are, but that's ok because he's obsessed with you too," George stated with a roll of his eyes. "There was definitely some mutual stocking going on at school. I think one of the reasons Draco was so awful to you back then, was so that you would pay attention to him."

Harry and Draco had been nemesis since the first day of Hogwarts. They had always rotated around each other. Shared insults and taunting, causing one or the other to retaliate. If one wasn't paying attention to the other, they would make them. Harry knew they had always had the strangest relationship at school.

"You can't keep tugging Draco around," George warned him as he sipped at his fire whiskey. Harry had been his friend for years but Draco had become very important to him over a short amount of time. If Harry hurt him he wouldn't hesitate to get revenge for the Slytherin.

"We're like magnets we can't stay away from each other." Harry sighed as he laid back against the chair cushions. Since the moment he had met the platinum haired boy in a robe shop, Harry hadn't been able to leave him alone.

"I didn't say you had to stay away from him." George rolled his eyes. "You have to choose what type of relationship you want. Do you want to be friends or something more?"

"How do you even know all this? I doubt Malfoy would tell you anything we did together." Harry asked suspiciously.

"You're talking to the inventor of extendable ears." George shrugged sheepishly. Avoiding eye contact.

"Oh my god, you were fucking watching us," Harry exclaimed horrified.

"If you mean, I caught you on the store security cameras I installed in the shop, then yes," George smirked evilly. "No sound, but it has a great picture." After experiencing some trouble of people pocketing some of their smaller products. Hermione had suggested he install some cameras like in muggle store. To catch perps in the act.

"You pervert." Harry wanted to die of mortification. Covering his face to hide his blush.

"Well if you two would just take your private business to the apartment, instead of frolicking in the middle of the store we wouldn't have this problem." George laughed at how red his face had turned.

.

They continued to drink for hours as they discussed. George had lost count of how many times he had refilled his glass. "I think I'm too pissed to make it home," George swore as he tried to stumble towards the fireplace. His hand almost knocked over the bowl of floo powder since his hand-eye coordination was screwed up.

"Just stay here." Harry offered readily. "I have enough rooms for your whole family." He gestured to the large house that had lots of room to spare.

"That sounds like a good idea." George slurred and collapsed face first back onto the coach.

"Idiot. I meant in one of the guest rooms." Harry shook his head standing up to force his friend up to a proper bed. Harry was being a hypocrite since he had slept there last night. Already he could hear the light snores coming from the red head. Rolling his eyes, Harry spread a blanket over the sleeping form before stumbling up to his own room.

Harry collapsed on top of the sheets. Thoughts of gray eyes and blonde hair swimming in his mind.

o0o

The next morning George and Harry headed back to the joke shop. George had gotten Harry to agree to sit down with Draco and sort everything out. As a peace offering, Harry decided to stop and buy some pastries and coffee for the Slytherin.

Since it was Sunday, all the shops opened late except for a café that served breakfast at the other end of the alley. After collecting their orders, they decided to walk back to the shop since it was such a serene morning. The alley was empty since everyone was still asleep or knew there was no point in coming just yet because the majority of the shops weren't open yet.

When the joke shop came into sight George noticed something was off. The door to the shop was gaping open. That's strange George thought he had locked it. Noticing the broken handle George starting to run. He stopped in the doorway with dread at the state of his shop. The door had practically been blown off its hinges

There was glass all over the floor as he stepped in. It crunched under his boots as he glanced around for any clues of what had gone on. The shelves were still fully stocked as far as he could tell. Next George ran over to check the cash register. That was also still full. "That's strange nothing was taken."

Harry placed the coffee and pastries on the counter to be forgotten. "If they weren't after money, what did they want?" He asked out loud in contemplation. The thieves must have come for something very specific then. He knew that George was working on some secret projects for the Ministry. Maybe they were after some of those.

George was a little stumped. Why hadn't Draco tried to contact him about the break in? He should have been here when it happened. The only thing that seemed to be missing… Georges' eyes widened in panic with realization. "Malfoy!" He yelled running towards the stairs at the back of the shop. "Draco you here!"

Harry felt his heart stop. He squeezed his eyes shut in dread. Not everything desired was a material object.

Taking two steps at a time, George ran for the workroom. Pushing the curtain aside for the work room, George froze as he examined the damage. The room looked like it had been ransacked. He gingerly stepped into the room and had his shoes stick to the floor. The cauldron had been tipped on his side, spreading the potion across the floor.

Harry showed up not long after. "What thee hell happened here?" Stepping into the room for any clues. Glass crunching under his feet from the beakers that had been broken.

The empty frame sudenly had an occupant. "Where the fuck were you!" Snape's portrait yelled as soon as he saw the Weasley twin. "I came to get your help, as you instructed, and you weren't there." He had been jumping from frame to frame hoping to see someone who he could report the abduction too.

"I was at Harry's," George responded with quilt. He didn't even think about the system they had agreed upon. It had slipped his mind that Draco was being threatened and that he had promised to keep him safe. George had just got smashed and crashed on a friend's couch to sleep it off.

"If anything happens to Draco I'm holding you personally responsible." Snape berated the idiot. For hours he had been dying of worry. He felt helpless since he couldn't just owl or floo someone for help. It was times like this he wished he was still alive.

"So what I think happened, didn't it?" George asked the potion master, who nodded grimly.

"Hold it! What the fuck are you two talking about?" Harry asked since he was completely lost in the conversation. This development was a complete shock to him. How could they know what happened already?

"Remember how I told you Draco was being kidnapped by two people. Well…" George left him to figure it out himself. Grabbing at his hair, George swore with dread. "Fuck, he's been taken then, and after I promised Draco I wouldn't let anything happen to him."

"Who?" Harry asked to clarify. He had been too upset by Malfoy's mere presence in the Joke shop at first, to even get the details of how it happened in the first place. All he knew is that there was an altercation between Malfoy and some old friends of his father's that George had got him out of.

"Badrik, that fucker?" George spat the name out like it was a curse. "He owns The Sphinxes Puzzle in Knockturn Alley."

"Are you talking about the brothel?" Harry snapped with dread. He had to do enough patrols in Knockturn Alley that he knew all the names and purposes of the shops. The only reason the establishment was able to stay open was because many ministry officials paid it a visit.

"I'm sure that's where they've taken Draco." George paced back and forth. It seemed like it had been years ago when he had come across Malfoy being abducted in the middle of Knockturn Alley. They had grown close over the past few months.

"Why wasn't I informed of this situation?" Harry snapped indignantly.

"You never asked for clarification." George shrugged, as he continued to pace back and forth. His worry was already eating away at him. "Also, Draco asked me not to tell you any details you didn't have to know."

"Why wouldn't he want me to know about this?" Harry asked with confusion.

"Really?" George shot him a disbelieving look as he continued to pace. "You think that Draco Malfoy would want you, Harry Potter, someone who he had seen as a rival; to know that he had been offered a position at a brothel, and had been so low in the dumps that he contemplated taking it, even for a second."

With pursed lips Harry's anger at being left out deflated. "Well I could see why when we first started to interact together, but why didn't he open up to me about it once we started to become friends?" They had become really close in the past few months and had some deep conversations about the war. Malfoy should have known he could trust Harry not to hold this against him like he would have before.

"I think Draco just wanted to start over, forget it even happened." George shrugged, not knowing the true reason. He wasn't a mind reader "It wasn't even an issue until two weeks ago."

"What happened two weeks ago?" Harry realized that was when he was out of town for the week. When he returned Malfoy had been getting drunk on the stairs. It was pretty strange behavior for the cool Slytherin. So there was something that lead up to that.

"When you were away at auror training camp. Badrik paid Draco a visit during shop hours," George explained. "Cornered him alone in the work room and offered him a position in his brothel again. Draco refused of course and I kicked him out of the shop."

"Don't you think I would have wanted to know about that development?" Harry asked indignantly.

"I was going to fill you in when you got back but then you started to avoid the shop for some reason," George said accusingly. Originally he thought they would band together to protect the Slytherin but the Gryffindor had completely disappeared in their time of need.

Harry felt like a complete ass. Here Harry was struggling with his sexuality when Malfoy had bigger problems than sitting around wondering if "Does Harry Potter like me?" in the evenings.

"So we know where Draco was taken already. That's a huge step in the right direction." Harry was already making a rescue plan in his head. His auror training was going to come in handy for this. "We'll get him back. I promise." Harry patted Georges on the back in comfort. Though he needed some too.

…TBC