No Light Without Shadows
by Draeconin
See Chapter One for disclaimer and details.
Chapter Seventeen
The next day Snape called Harry to his office and informed him, with ill grace, that the headmaster had requested that he teach Harry how to Apparate. He handed Harry an old, thin, hardback book that first described the dangers of Apparating, and then the method, with frequent cautions to the reader to keep each and every step firmly in mind in order to avoid one or more of the dangers described earlier in the book from happening to him or her. The most important thing it said the Apparator needed to keep in mind was a very clear awareness of his or her body.
"When you've read and memorised that book, Potter, we shall address the practical aspects of Apparating," Snape said. His attitude claimed that would be quite some time from now.
Once back in his rooms, Harry voiced a concern he had.
"Quite a coincidence," he said to Draco, "that Dumbledore should request Snape to—"
"Professor Snape," Draco interrupted, correcting his husband.
Harry ignored the correction. "That Dumbledore should request Snape to teach me how to Apparate right after the greasy git refused to, don't you think?"
Draco tilted his head a little as he thought. "It is, a bit," he admitted.
"How do you suppose he does it?"
"Dumbledore?" The blond shrugged. "I don't know."
"If he's spying on Snape, don't you think he might be spying on me?"
"Think awfully highly of yourself, don't you?" Draco teased.
Harry shrugged. "He was upset with me when these rooms were made," Harry pointed out. "And considering what he expects of me..."
That gave Draco pause. It was true. And Harry was important to the old man's plans; his husband was supposed to beat Voldemort, after all. A thought occurred to him. His face red, he asked, "You don't think he'd . . . the bedroom?"
Harry's eyes went wide as his own face turned red. "I certainly hope not," he said fervently.
Scathi trilled from the new perch Harry had purchased for him in Hogsmeade.
Harry's face burned brighter. He does, Harry mouthed to Draco.
When Draco would have started cursing the headmaster, Harry – having seen it coming – slapped a hand over his husband's mouth.
"We can use it to our advantage, now we know," he whispered quietly in Draco's ear. But as he remembered some of the things he and Draco had been up to in his rooms, his temper flared and his face turned a fierce red.
Not knowing if Dumbledore had visual as well as listening spells in place, Harry cast a blinding spell on all the walls. With the way his wild magic sometimes acted up, especially when he was angry, it was entirely plausible that it could have disabled a spell or two.
Harry then turned to Scáthfánaí, scolding the phoenix for not informing him of the spy spells before then.
. . .
Draco had his own method of making Harry aware of his body shape. He had Harry strip and close his eyes, and told him to envision his own body – every bit of it.
Harry had a little trouble with that at first, having never paid his own body that much attention. As long as it did what he asked of it, he was pleased. Of course he was more aware of some parts of himself than others: such as the scar that was a reminder of his fight with the basilisk, the one that reminded him of the blood stolen from him to bring Voldemort back, and the scar on the back of his hand admonishing him not to tell lies. All of those scars, along with others, were slowly fading away with repeated draughts of the potions, and the applications of creams and ointments that Draco brewed up for him, combined with specific healing spells that the blond had found in his researches. Indeed, many of the minor scars had already disappeared.
Draco might love Harry, but he'd prefer his husband and lover to be without the marring effects of old scars.
But then Draco went to work, slowly and lightly stroking Harry's skin – his back, buttocks, feet, and so on – telling Harry to feel and remember each and every part of himself that Draco touched. This treatment had the expected results of course, as Harry's cock rose straight and tall. But when Harry would have terminated the exercise and taken Draco to bed, the blond took his husband to task for his lack of concentration. Harry looked at Draco expressionlessly, then picked him up and carried him to the bed, ignoring his husband's protestations.
Once on the bed with the curtains drawn, he cast a bubble of silence around it, then turned his attentions back to the blond under him. Until they could find and disable Dumbledore's spying spell, they'd have to do that from now on.
Draco soon forgot his objections, but was just a little bit peeved when he remembered himself afterward. Harry took the bollocking with good grace, and promised to do better. 'Tonight,' he added in his mind.
By bedtime, Harry was very aware of his own body shape. By morning, a rather rueful Draco felt as though he'd walk bow-legged for the rest of his life, although he'd plumbed Harry's depths as well – at least once.
"Harry!" Blaise greeted him cheerily at breakfast. "So how did it go?"
The fact that Blaise wasn't surprised to see him went a long way towards easing Harry's suspicions about Blaise perhaps being involved in whatever was supposed to have happened at The Three Furies last night. But he ignored his fellow Slytherin's question, and put a cautioning hand on Draco's thigh, trying to still any comments his husband might make.
"Good morning, Blaise," Draco said caustically.
Blaise raised an eyebrow at the blond, but before he could respond, Harry was asking him a question.
"Who told you where that meeting was, anyway?" Harry asked, acting casual.
Blaise was suddenly wearing a tiny, puzzled frown. "Why?" he asked.
"Just curious, really," Harry replied.
Blaise regarded him with a small amount of suspicion. "My mother," he revealed. "As I said yesterday, she asked her boyfriend for me."
Draco snorted scornfully.
"Did you tell her the information was for me?" Harry asked, again trying to wordlessly soothe his husband, stroking the blond's thigh.
"She wouldn't cooperate until I told her why I wanted it," Zabini explained cautiously.
Harry nodded. So either Blaise' mother was a Death Eater or sympathiser, or the board member was.
"I don't believe you've said who her boyfriend is," Harry said, taking a bite of his eggs and acting as though the information wasn't all that important.
"Crandall Trotter," Blaise answered. "Look, Harry," he said with sudden, worried intensity, "did something go wrong last night?"
"Why would you ask that?" Harry inquired after swallowing, his suspicions of Blaise rising again.
"Because I don't believe you'd be asking me those questions if you'd gone and been able to accomplish whatever it was you wanted to accomplish there."
Harry nodded. "You're right," he revealed, his suspicions allayed – for now. "Actually, Snape detained Draco and me, and we found out the board meeting isn't for another two days."
"Oh. But it's at the 'Furies?"
Harry shook his head. "Not even in Aberdeen," he said. Harry was going to keep the actual location secret, just in case Blaise actually was feeding information to Voldemort.
"I thought we were starting to get on," Blaise was muttering to himself, "and the bitch lied to me. Damn it!"
"You're surprised?" Draco muttered.
"Or Trotter lied to her," Harry agreed, while offering an alternative.
Blaise didn't look at all comforted.
After lessons, Harry took Draco back down to Salazar's rooms off the Chamber of Secrets.
"Ah, you brought him this time," the ghost said to Harry.
"Yes, sir," Harry said. "I believe we can do the ritual for your . . . bones, now."
"Boy," Salazar said seriously, "you really need to learn to be less squeamish."
"See?" Draco said smugly, "I told you!"
"You've never said any such thing!" Harry denied.
"Of course I have! Several times, in fact," Draco asserted.
An old memory gave Harry the clue. "Before we got together," he said, showing his understanding.
"Exactly!" Draco said triumphantly.
He was so smugly proud of himself! Harry had a strong temptation to take the blond over his lap and spank him, but resisted. He didn't know if maybe the pressure on his husband's abdomen might hurt the baby.
"If we could get back to my problem?" Salazar said dryly.
With an effort, Harry turned his attention back to the ghost. "Sorry, sir," he said.
Salazar smirked. "You wanted to spank him, didn't you?" he guessed.
Harry smiled back. "How did you know?"
"You wouldn't dare!" Draco said, outraged.
"If you weren't preggers..." Harry replied with a grin that yet told how serious he was.
"Harry!" Draco exclaimed with a horrified expression at his husband having let slip that information, glancing at Salazar's ghost. But . . . having Harry spank him? It was an oddly appealing notion. He'd hex his husband if he tried it of course, but...
"Learn to live with it, boy," Salazar said. "I've known since the first time you set foot in my rooms."
"After you decided to use me for a bed," Harry added.
Draco blushed. "I was tired," he said, trying to excuse his behaviour. "But you told him?" he added reprovingly.
"I didn't," Harry denied. "He guessed."
"No guessing about it, after I checked. But it's not the first time it's happened. My grandson's helpmate got pregnant, too," Salazar informed Draco. "Had a beautiful little girl."
Interested, Draco asked, "Was it a man?"
Salazar bestowed a rather scornful look on him. "Why would I have mentioned it otherwise? It's nothing unusual for women to have babies."
"Excuse me," Harry said, and left the two to talk while he went to get Salazar's bones.
When he returned, Draco and Salazar were deep in discussion about male wizarding pregnancy amongst elemental wizards of demon-derived ability. Salazar hesitated a moment when he saw the box, but determinedly turned from and ignored it to concentrate on educating the blond on what he could expect.
"Of course birthing can be a bit bloody as the birthing canal opens," the ghost said nonchalantly. "You'll want a medical witch or wizard there to make sure everything goes smoothly of course, but usually it's nothing to worry about."
"Er . . . 'Birthing canal'?" Harry repeated. "Where would that be?"
"Between the legs, of course! Wreaks havoc with getting an erection for awhile afterward, but in a couple of weeks it's closed, all healed up, and the equipment's working fine."
Draco unconsciously pressed his legs tighter together.
"And you would know because . . .?" Harry asked.
It looked for all the world as though the ghost was trying to blush, although his colour didn't change. "Er..."
"You wouldn't happen to have been a 'mother' yourself, would you?" Draco asked knowingly.
"Of course not, boy! Just . . . got curious, is all. Asked a lot of questions that I probably hadn't ought." In fact he'd practically driven his grandson's helpmate to distraction with his questions.
"Uh-huh..." Draco said disbelievingly.
Surprisingly, Salazar didn't take him to task, but the ghost had said nothing but the truth.
"Well?" Salazar said impatiently, changing the subject. "Are you two going to sit around all evening, or are you going to give my poor old bones the funeral they deserve?"
Harry carefully laid out Salazar's skeleton in as close an approximation to its arrangement in life as he could. Not being an anatomist though, and not knowing a spell that would do the job, some bones were merely put in little piles, and it was likely that hand and foot bones, as well as at least a few others, were mixed up in the wrong places. It was times like this when Harry missed Hermione's almost encyclopaedic knowledge.
"What sort of flowers do you like?" Harry asked the ghost. Actually flowers weren't a necessary part of the ritual, but he thought they'd be a nice touch.
Salazar looked askance at Harry, but replied, "Columbine, campion . . . Of course the primrose is nice."
Harry willed his wand into his hand, and conjured a circle of the flowers around the bones.
"Damn me, but I wish I could smell them," the ghost said wistfully.
Harry felt for him; the scent was lovely.
Draco drew his wand and took his place at the head of the skeleton, whilst Harry stood near the feet.
Draco nodded, and they began chanting. They were slightly out of synchronisation for a few words, but quickly picked up the rhythm. Three minutes later a white glow started to develop around the bones. Harry felt some resistance from the magic and poured more power into the chant. It took quite a lot, but not quite enough to tax Harry's strength. Thirty seconds later the brilliantly shining light hit its peak, then quickly decreased, and went out. Where the skeleton had been was now just an empty circle of flowers.
"You've done it, boy," Salazar said to Harry with quiet respect. "You broke the curse."
"What curse?" Draco asked sharply.
"The curse that bound me to these rooms, of course!" Salazar replied in kind. And then he was gone – presumably to explore Hogwarts, since even those ghosts who hadn't had a restricting curse on them were still limited to the building and grounds where they died.
Harry and Draco exchanged glances. Harry shrugged, and then he turned and vanished the flowers. Then Harry sat in Draco's chair and Draco sat on Harry's lap.
Draco leaned in and kissed Harry, Harry's hand gently stroking Draco's abdomen, as he'd taken to doing from time to time, lately.
Harry pulled back a bit. "What did Pomfrey say when you saw her yesterday evening?" he asked.
"Very annoying, that woman," Draco said, snuggling into Harry's neck. "Keeps going on about how 'special' I am. Now if it wasn't the baby she was referring to, I'd agree with her."
Harry smirked, and gave the blond a quick, hard hug to show his agreement. "And the baby?" he inquired.
"Doing fine," Draco replied. "Seems it's developing faster than she expected. Wants me back in two weeks. Daft woman must think I'm stupid. Says the same thing every time. You'd think she'd realise I knew that by now." He'd been seeing the medi-witch every two weeks since the stairs incident, although he sometimes had to return several times before finding her without other patients. Even then, though, he insisted on being seen in her private office to make sure nobody walked in on the examination and discovered his secret.
They occupied themselves with cuddling and some light snogging until Salazar returned – although they didn't know he had until he made a throat-clearing noise.
"The old place has changed quite a lot," Salazar observed as Draco got off Harry's lap and perched on the chair's arm.
"Has it, now?" Harry replied. "Well, it has been over a thousand years. I suppose it would have done."
"Indeed," the ghost agreed. "It's quite a lot larger – and the plumbing is so much better! Most of us used to bathe in the lake, you know."
"Even in the winter?" Draco asked in horrified disbelief.
"The girls, too?" Harry asked.
"Oh, aye," the ghost replied. "Warming spells, you know, though girls and boys bathed on different days, of course. Even so, it was difficult to keep them from spying on each other. Clever little buggers, some of them."
There was something about the ghost's expression...
"You discovered the boy's showers, didn't you?" Draco said with a knowing smirk.
"The girl's, actually," Salazar replied haughtily, but Harry thought he detected a bit of sheepishness as well.
"And someone was in there?" Harry asked, delighted with the discovery of this aspect of the Founder's personality.
"A few," the ghost admitted.
"Which House?" Draco inquired, just to have a dig at him.
"They weren't exactly wearing House colours, were they?" Salazar replied with a fair amount of scorn.
Draco scowled slightly.
"I hope it wasn't the Slytherin showers," Harry said. "Not many worth looking at, there." Realising Draco might misinterpret that remark, Harry added, "But male or female, I got the best in the school," giving Draco a hug.
Draco was pleased with the compliment, but he pretended to ignore it, saying, "After a thousand years, I imagine anything would look good."
The ghost sighed. "It's all intellectual for me though, isn't it?"
Although Harry understood, he laughed at the incongruous mental picture of a ghost trying to have sex with a living person. Draco was smirking, although out of politeness he was trying to hide it.
"Yes, it is funny, isn't it?" Salazar said with gruff humour.
"Sorry, sir," Harry said. "But the thought of a ghost and..." Harry trailed off, his expression becoming something of an apologetic smile, realising that to say any more would be rude.
"Quite all right, lad. I understand. But I believe we had a bargain," Salazar said, changing the subject. "Now as a ghost I can't do the spell myself, but I can instruct your helpmate."
"That would be fine, sir," Harry replied.
For the next hour he sat there listening and learning, and later practising the spell alongside his husband. He might be the recipient of the benefits of it this time, but it might come in handy at a future date. Finally Salazar pronounced that they had learnt it, and that further practise would only refine their casting of the spell – it wouldn't make it any more effective.
Harry stood in front of Draco and grinned. "Fire away, love," he said, despite feeling quite nervous
"Now?" Draco asked. He was trying hard to hide how nervous he was, as well.
"You might want to sit, boy," Salazar suggested to Harry. "It might hit you hard."
"Thank you, sir," Harry replied.
Once seated, he looked at Draco. "Now, Draco," he instructed. "I trust you."
Draco cast the spell one more time at a shadow, imagining Scathi was hiding in it. Actually, the bird was moulting. When his feathers re-grew in a couple of days he'd have his flight feathers, and tail plumage as well – according to him. Then Draco faced Harry, and for the first time in months, Harry saw the Malfoy mask erected against him. Harry understood. It was Draco's way of locking up his emotions so he could do what he had to do. But it still made him sad.
Suddenly Draco was tracing the elaborate wand movement Salazar had taught them. "Obex Expello!1" he incanted.
A stream of blue, silver and purple light shot from the end of Draco's wand, and hit Harry directly between the eyes.
Draco dropped his wand. "Harry! Are you all right?" he asked, hurrying to his husband's side.
Harry looked up at his blond lover. "Fine, darling," he said with a smile and a faintly puzzled look, just before everything went black.
Harry woke up. He was lying in a very soft, comfortable bed with Draco cuddled up to him as he usually was of a morning. But turning his head, he saw that they were still in Slytherin's sitting room.
Harry nudged his husband. "Draco," he said quietly.
Draco stirred and snuggled in closer to Harry, then stilled as he again started slipping into a deeper sleep.
"Draco!" Harry called again: still quietly, but with more intensity.
"Hm? Harry? Harry!" Draco exclaimed, sitting up to stare at him. "You're awake! Are you all right?"
Harry laughed quietly. "I seem to be doing quite well, but why are we sleeping in Slytherin's sitting room?"
Draco hit Harry's shoulder, and then cuddled up, remorseful. "You only passed out on me, didn't you?" he softly exclaimed.
Harry was surprised. "I did? Why?"
"It seems that blockage was blocking a bit more than your magic channels, my boy," Salazar said, floating close.
"Oh?" Harry asked, dread expectations colouring the word.
The ghost looked at Draco. "Want to show him, lad?" he suggested.
"Yes, but I'm not about to show you, so if you wouldn't mind?" Draco said meaningfully.
"I'm dead, lad; what's the difference?" Salazar said with a grin, but floated into another room.
Draco quickly slipped out of bed and slipped on his robe, which he'd draped over the foot of it. Harry enjoyed the sight of his husband's almost nude form as he retrieved his robe, then looked around for his own. Spotting it at the foot of the bed as well, he grabbed it and was already slipping it on as he stood up out of bed.
"Dobby!" Draco called out as soon as Harry was decently covered.
A few seconds later . . . *pop!*
"Is Harry Potter's Draco calling for Dobby?" the house elf asked.
Draco's face flushed in anger. "What happened to 'Is Mister Malfoy calling for Dobby'?" Draco demanded.
Dobby stared blankly at the blond, giving the impression that he had no idea what Draco was talking about. But when the blond turned away in disgust, Dobby grinned and winked up at Harry before again assuming a straight face.
It was all Harry could do to not burst out laughing at the house elf's uncharacteristic, but innocent prank.
"Is something wrong, Draco?" Harry asked as soon as he had control of his face.
Draco whirled quickly in place to face his husband. "For the past two days that blasted house elf has been calling me 'Mister Malfoy', but as soon as you wake up..." Draco's sentence trailed off as he noticed a very suspicious twinkle in Harry's eyes.
"Um . . . You wanted to impress me because Dobby was listening to you?" Harry asked, and then couldn't help it as he broke out in a wide grin.
Draco's glare could have lit a fire, it was so hot. "Fine! Make sport of me, then!" he fumed.
But Harry had just become far more sombre as the phrase 'the past two days' finally made an impact on him.
"Two days?" Harry asked, concerned. "We've been down here two days?"
"Yes," Draco said shortly, before turning to the house elf.
"Breakfast, Dobby. Eggs, ham, beans, fried potatoes, fried mushrooms, and fried tomatoes, buttered toast and coffee for Mister Potter: coddled eggs, toast and tea for me," he ordered.
"Hold on, Dobby," Harry said, eyeing his husband.
"Draco, that is nowhere near enough," he remonstrated with the blond. "You need to be eating more."
"It's all I need," Draco replied dismissively.
"Don't make me tell Pomfrey," Harry threatened.
Draco glared at his husband.
"Dobby!" he said sharply, not taking his eyes off Harry. "Add a bowl of fruit to my breakfast."
"Satisfied?" he snarled.
Harry met Draco's glare with equanimity. "No," he replied calmly, "but it will do for now."
Draco turned his temper on Dobby. "Well?" he snarled.
Dobby made a sound something like 'eep', and popped out.
"Don't take your temper out on him when you're angry with me," Harry said sternly.
Draco glared at him again, and then all the fight went out of him. Crossing over to his husband, he cuddled up to Harry and laid his head on Harry's shoulder.
Something felt off. "Um . . . Draco? Have I grown again?" Harry asked.
Draco sighed, and looked up into his husband's eyes. "Among other things, yes," he replied. "About two inches, I think."
"What other things?"
"Your hair has grown, there's a white streak starting to grow in it – just above your scar – and, ah . . . your ears."
"My ears?" Harry repeated, reaching up to feel of them. They felt fine – except there was more to them.
"Draco," Harry said carefully, "are my ears . . . pointed?"
The blond nodded solemnly. "Salazar says that it appears you're part Dark Elf."
"Dark Elf. Right."
"Would you like to see?" Draco asked.
"I think I'd best," Harry replied, too calmly.
Draco had misgivings, but led Harry to a cupboard. The mirrored surface on the other side of the cupboard door wasn't full length, but Harry could see himself from the chest up.
Draco felt Harry's magic levels increasing. "Harry . . . control yourself?" he said hesitantly.
A wind began to blow, and picked up in intensity.
"Harry!" Draco called out as his husband just stood there staring at him, an inscrutable expression on his face.
"Get out in the Chamber, boy!" Salazar yelled as he came into the room, having felt the increased thaumaturgic energy, too. "It's built to take it!"
Draco didn't wait for Harry to react. He grabbed Harry's arm and started dragging him towards the outside corridor, and then towards the Chamber. Once he had his husband well into the huge room, he stood a second to see if his lover had come to his senses yet, and then fled back towards the corridor out of which they'd just come.
Once safely back inside Merlin's mouth, Draco turned and watched fearfully as Harry started shooting off sparks. Then small flashes of lightning shot from him, and then larger and larger bolts of lightning, until it seemed the whole room was filled with lightning. And yet strangely, none of it came within ten metres of the entryway in which Draco stood. And during it all, Salazar's ghost hovered close to Harry, talking to him, instructing him how to control the energy he was wielding, even as bolt after bolt of lightning shot through him.
A trill hit Draco's ears, although he barely heard it over the noise all the lightning was making. He looked around briefly, then looked back to his husband. "Hello, Scathi," he said somewhat absently, not taking his eyes from the tableau in the large room. "Harry really hates to be different," he said. "Before now, his differences couldn't be seen. Now, I'm afraid, some of them can be."
Scathi trilled again.
"I really wish I could understand you," Draco said.
Scathi regarded his master's mate, then searched out the bond link to Draco in Harry's mind. After studying it for a while, he came to the reluctant conclusion that it was unsuitable. He had hoped to 'echo' the meaning of his communications from Harry to the blond.
But Scathi had seen that the energies in his master's mind that had heretofore been penned were now free. He had known Harry wasn't completely human, but now he knew in what way.
Suddenly the lightning blasts stopped. Draco waited a few seconds to see if there would be strays, and then called out. "Harry?"
"A moment, lad," Salazar's ghost called back.
Harry sank slowly to his knees.
It couldn't have been more than thirty seconds later that Salazar called out that it was now safe to approach, but it seemed like ages to Draco. He hurried out to Harry's side.
"Harry?" he said tentatively.
Harry sounded tired as he replied, "Yes, love."
"You're all right, then?"
"Yes."
His anxieties about Harry's well-being satisfied, Draco became angry over the scare Harry had given him, and he clipped his husband around the ear. "What the hell was that, then?" he ranted. "Had yourself a nice ickle temper tantrum, did you? What in Merlin's name did you think you were fucking doing? You stupid arse! You could have fucking well killed yourself! When are you going to learn to control your temper? Huh? You're still a bloody Griffindork! Never thinking of the bleeding consequences! And over what? Pointy fucking ears?"
Harry stared at his husband, eyes wide, mouth open as he listened to Draco going on and on at him, and then the absurdity of it hit him, and he started laughing.
o~~~~~~~~~o~~~~~~~~~o
1: Banish Barriers
Betas: Dawn B., Sheree S., Aayesha Brit picker: Andy