10- The Power of Myth
Harry? Harry, are you alright?
The Gryffindor regained his consciousness; reluctantly surfacing above his mind's created layers of a warm and safe feeling. He didn't want to leave the place he had been in. But a voice in his head was persistently nagging him and when he finally cracked his eyes open, he was shocked by the pure white light of his surroundings.
He fled away from it, pushing backwards, afraid to get burnt by the seemingly divine carelessness the light made him feel. The boy somehow felt it was wrong. He could not feel safe yet, he had things to do, to prove, Dark Lords to destroy. He had responsibilities and duties in front of many people. It was not yet time for him to rest in the light. And sure as hell, he didn't want to die, if that was what the light meant.
Harry? Answer me. Is everything fine? Can you answer me, Harry?
The voice was indescribably soothing. It had a light tone to it and calmed him down, making him want always to stay here and listen to it every second of his life. He wanted to fall asleep hearing it, he wanted to wake up because of it like he had only minutes ago.
Harry, look around! Don't you know who you are anymore?
And Harry obeyed; he averted his eyes from the light and looked around.
At first, his brain didn't seem to comprehend, to analyze properly his position in which he was, since was the ground a few meters below him, but he wasn't hanging on anything, instead just floating in midair. And everything around him fell into darkness. The room where he last remembered being now was pitch black. Maybe the lights had been turned off, but maybe it just seemed so to him because he had been gazing into light for too long.
Do you now understand, Harry?
Then he looked in the direction of the light, actually being scared from what he might see there. But there was no light anymore. There was Draco in his ball of liquid, with his wings, looking at him, eyes searching understanding.
Harry…
Draco?
He answered in his mind to the other boy, because he didn't seem to be able to say anything out loud; as if he didn't have any vocal chords any more.
A painful realization hit him and he looked at his own body. He looked at his hands and feet, he was naked, just like Draco's soul was. But unlike the blond, there wasn't light around him, he didn't have wings, and his whole body was lined with darkness. It was like a black aura, hanging around him, no matter what he tried to do, how he tried to move his limbs, it just stuck to him.
What is wrong with me?
Nothing's wrong. They took your body away and you stayed like this. I guess…I…
This is my soul, I don't have a body anymore…
Well, I guess we have always been souls; our bodies were just shells, like machines to operate in order to participate in the material world.
Do you think we're dead?
No, I know my body is still alive. And I heard them talking that you're also still alive. We just… exist… for now…
Do you think this is what it'll be like when we die?
Draco didn't answer, he looked away. His wings trembled for a second and then started wafting around in the glass ball. Draco touched the glass and then tried to break it.
I don't want to stay like this, Harry. I feel weird.
I know, so do I.
The blonde boy seemed to be so far away, Harry wanted to caress his face, bring him a little closer and then try to calm him. But he couldn't. He didn't know how to move the glass ball in which he was placed, and even if he would manage that, they couldn't touch…
Then there was a loud crack of doors being opened and light was let in. Then candles lit up in the room and there was, what looked like an army marching towards them.
Death Eaters… And vampires… Came a growl from Draco, and Harry saw how the white wings stilled in their movements and he curled up in his protective position like the Gryffindor had seen him earlier. He even had a feeling that he should curl up himself, but he was too curious and didn't even want to pretend like he cared about Voldemort's little brainless minions.
After the men clad in black cloaks and frightful masks had settled themselves in a circle around the both boys, Voldemort came in and after him trailed a few of the vampires Harry had met earlier and seen in his dreams.
The noseless freak was walking slowly into the large hall, he was smirking while he inspected Draco's soul, but his face crumpled up in a much bigger sneer as he looked at Harry.
"How does it feel to be defeated?" Voldemort came to stand next to him, but in the end he had to look up, because Harry was far much higher for the monster to even touch him. "You felt so powerful, all the time protected by your friends and lucky coincidences. I imagine you even believed that you could destroy me, because your little friend, Dumbledore, talked it in to you, isn't that right? But well, you see now, how easy it was for me to take care of that old fool. And now where do you stand?" Voldemort stared at Harry, looking over his body and sneered. "Naked and without a body, Potter, now everyone in the Wizarding World will see how pathetic you are really; how weak and helpless."
Draco had now straightened and was looking angrily at Voldemort, his wings were flapping around him as if he wanted to tear free form his confinement and rush over to crack open the Dark Lord's skull with just his teeth.
Voldemort laughed at that and called: "Lucius, come forward and look at this being, so far from human that he even acts like an animal."
Lucius Malfoy did step out of the circle of Death Eaters and as he took his hood down, Harry was shocked to actually see him enjoying himself. He gazed at his own son with malicious glee. He impersonated the saying about revenge being sweet at that moment, but the Gryffindor could not understand what Draco could have possibly done so horrible that his own father would turn on him in such a ruthless manner.
But Draco didn't even seem to care about himself, he held still while nobody was threatening Harry, but as soon as Voldemort amd Lucius advanced a little too close or fast towards the darker boy, he was growling and scratching and hitting the insides of his glass ball.
Draco?
I will kill them, when I get my hands on them, Harry, I swear. Nobody can speak that way of you!
Voldemort and Lucius were just continuing to gaze at the both souls in front of them, looking like two hunters when the season for underage schoolboy merciless killing had begun earlier then either of them had anticipated.
"We actually at first tried to get Miranda to attack you both, but she failed. Our plan was to get Draco changed into a raging vampire or even better- killed by you, and then you would go around the world with a death wish, not being able to bear the truth that also you, the sweet saint of Gryffindor, can be a killer," the elder Malfoy was now gloating and Voldemort was looking at him like a proud father. It was sickening to observe. "But then we have modified the plan due to the fact of you now being mated. And now we will have you two to brighten up this room, we were even thinking of designing it more to suit your needs and transform it into an assembly hall for more informal events like Christmas Balls or Valentine's Masquerades. It is an incredibly brilliant plan."
"For as long as it lasts, of course," Voldemort continued, gazing at Harry. "We have left the both of your bodies at a Muggle hospital. I suppose you have a bit longer time that Draco, since he has already been in coma for about a week, but neither of us wanted to look into the formal procedures of unknown people in coma with no relatives or anything. I seriously doubt that they will keep you alive for a long time."
"But it gets easier with every second. Nobody could have imagined that you both could drop so low as to actually fall in love with one another. And to imagine this was all thanks to the attack that mated you… Isn't it ironic, Potter? You fell into the Dark Lord's trap as you tried to go foolishly after your soul mate and lover," Lucius spat out the last word as if it was something absolutely foreign and indescribably disgusting to him.
Harry heard a loud yell in his head that made him jump and after a few seconds he was gazing directly in Draco's eyes. The blonde had somehow managed to move his cell and had pushed in to Harry's.
The smaller boy looked scared; he was still pressing his palms against the glass from the inside, just where the both balls connected. Harry reached his own hand, forgotten that he could not touch the boy, but their palms connected and Draco to everyone's shock stepped into Harry's confinement ball merging it with his own.
Are you alright? How did you do it?
I don't know, Harry. I just wanted to be with you, no matter what. And… well, I did it.
Harry felt so good to finally be able to touch his soul mate, now in a literal meaning, more than ever. The boy looked into Draco's eyes; he was surprised at how light they looked. They were silver, with a slightly darker lining, but in the middle they glistened almost white. He bent down and kissed the beautiful being, making his body remember the soft feeling of his lips, their warmth and the almost impossible calm he felt when he tasted the other in his mouth.
They drew back to find a room full of Death Eaters, vampires, Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort himself looking flabbergasted, staring with their mouths agape.
Harry wrapped his hand around Draco's waist and pulled him protectively closer. The blonde complied with the touch and put his head contently in the crook between Harry's shoulder and neck, pulling his own arms around him, smirking.
Let's give them the shock of their lives, shall we, Harry?
You lead the way. Harry smiled and kissed the top of Draco's blonde head.
"Actually, and I have never been a great admirer of your strategies, I think that this has been your most stupid plan ever, Voldy," Draco drawled, meanly emphasizing the last word. Harry had almost forgotten what an asshole the blonde could be.
"I bet that by now," Harry continued: "You are starting to get REALLY pissed. You were always a sore looser."
"Silence, imbeciles!" Lucius bellowed and for a minute the persons present believed to have seen even Voldemort flinch at this.
But the Dark Lord recovered quickly: "May I remind you, Potter, that you have not done anything to prove your point. Don't get excited and stop this obnoxious fiddling with each other. Even animals have more decency than you two!"
"Why, Voldy, I never knew you were such a prude," Draco giggled in a manner that only he could make malicious. He then licked down a trail on Harry's neck and collar bone and smiled contently as the other boy leaned into the touch with enthusiasm.
Draco, we have to get out of here. We have to break out. As soon as possible. Harry said using the moment of absolute confusion in the hall as Voldemort tried to find somebody to blame for what had happened.
As if I hadn't thought about it. Enlighten me, genius, how do we do that?
Call upon your protectors.
What?
You have wyverns protecting you, use it. Make them come and get us out of this shit.
You're a strange person; I knew that from the beginning, Potter. Draco smirked into his neck. It felt funny saying the boy's last name without any real malice. Well, maybe not really saying it, but thinking anyway.
Just try to do it. You are in mortal danger; actually, we are not far from dead already, so why should they not help you?
Finally one of the vampires came forth to face Voldemort, whose rage was now directed at everyone, since he was not able to harm the people who had made him angry in the first place. Even the Dark Lord, as vain and self-centered as he was, understood that it was impossible even for him to harm souls; that it was a power beyond him.
"Well, what is happening? Should they be able to talk? Or kiss?!" Voldemort hissed and the vampire cowered into the floor even deeper that he already was.
"Um, my Lord, they are soul mates. And now they are together…"
"I CAN SEE THAT! I am not an idiot! Do you wish to insult me, vampire?" Voldemort brandished his wand and pointed at the lower creature that started to whimper.
"We did warn you, sir, I mean, Master, about them being very powerful. And now… now they can do anything. Two soul mates together don't have to have bodies to be able to do anything...," the vampire seemed to be on the verge of crying.
"What do you mean with any-" Lucius came forward with his own wand drawn, but was interrupted when the whole hall suddenly filled with hot heat and a loud roar broke out in the room.
"What the-" Voldemort whirled around, but froze as he saw a large, red dragon with three heads breathing fire upon the glass ball in which both Harry and Draco were succumbed.
The dragon roared and almost all of the people in the room Disapparated in fear. Voldemort and Lucius were the only ones still standing.
"HEY, VOLDY! YOU'RE A LOOSER!" came a yell and the next thing the Dark Lord noted was a sound of a crack and the glass ball shattered and sticky, lustrous liquid spilled on the floor. Both of boys' souls were nowhere to be seen. They had returned to their bodies.
--
Harry woke up with a start and started coughing. The wires connected to his body tugged at him painfully when his body tried to move and the boy just tore them off of him and sat up in the bed.
He found himself in a Muggle hospital room just like the one Draco had been in.
Draco? Are you fine?
Yeah. Came a sleepy answer. Were are we? What the hell are these things?! Ow!
A Muggle hospital. Now tear off those damned wires and find your clothes, we have to get out of here.
Hey, imagine, they didn't even take our wands from us. Imbeciles! They really were so self-assured that we will be so easy to defeat…
Harry had opened a closet and after putting his clothes on, he checked the pockets of his jeans, happy that nothing seemed to be missing. He was thankful he had also taken Muggle money with him, because he could by no means Apparate in his current state.
My head hurts, Harry… Came a whine in his head. It felt funny to be able to hear the Slytherin, but not see him.
Harry realized that his head hurt, too. It was throbbing and the pulsing was making every sound he heard vibrate through his mind and create a horrible feeling that made him believe that someone was playing Exploding Snap inside his skull.
Now get out of your room and try to find out on which floor you are.
Fifth floor, I'm standing next to the reception. I bet my hair looks ugly. And, ugh, I want to shower. Now!
Wait. Harry emerged from his own room and felt relieved that he was on the same floor. He went through the corridors, trying to avoid the few people that were there at the ungodly hour of morning. Thankfully he found the reception and saw Draco.
He halted and realized how weird it felt now to look at him. He hadn't forgotten anything from the events only seconds ago, but it felt different. He came next to the blonde boy and wrapped his arms around him. Draco, not having seen Harry approaching, started at the embrace, but after he recognized his friend, he relaxed.
"You shouldn't scare people like that, Harry," the boy's voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't used it for a long time. It was, in fact, almost a week.
The Gryffindor answered kissing the back of Draco's long and lean neck, where his blonde hair wasn't long enough to cover it.
"We have to get out," Harry nodded in agreement, but couldn't quite stop kissing his soul mate. "Really, Harry, I mean it. People are starting to look at us funny. And I want to get you alone as soon as possible…"
Harry drew back reluctantly and started looking around for the elevator: "They will most probably come looking for us soon, right? We better not use magic for as long as we can."
They took the elevator to the underground parking lot, much to Draco's reluctance because the boy seemed to feel a bit claustrophobic in small places.
"It will be over, soon…" Draco mumbled, embarrassed. "After all I did spend many days trapped in a glass ball… I will get over it. Some day."
Harry snickered and earned a punch from the blonde.
"Yeah, you may look like an angel, with wings and all, but you are a real bastard."
"Having a seizure of delusions, Potter? What wings?" the blonde furrowed his eyebrows.
"Your soul had wings, Draco. Didn't you notice?"
The blonde had only a few seconds to look shocked and confused because the elevator finally stopped and they could get out.
"Let's steal that car," Draco was looking around the underground parking lot erratically and pointed a finger at the Lexus standing parked in the far corner.
Typical, out of all the cars he just had to pick the most expensive one. Harry thought while they where running.
"Draco, wait, don't do anything to the car before you have silenced the alarms. They make a great noise. And we will need to get really fast away from here as you use your magic, it could be traced."
Draco obeyed and put a mute charm on the automobile before spelling it open. The doors quietly opened and they got in to the car. Harry noticed Draco gazing at him impatiently, as if waiting for him to tell what to do next, and asked: "What?"
"You do know how to drive this thing, do you?" Draco looked at him with his eyes full of uncertainty. Harry felt exactly the same, but wasn't ready to admit it.
"Kind of…"
And Draco lost it: "What?! You have been living in the Muggle world all your childhood and don't know how to drive the most frequently used object of transportation, Potter?!"
"Well, of course not, you are only allowed to have a driving license when you're old enough. And I'm not," Harry started looking around for keys, but to nobody's surprise, they were nowhere to be found. "Can't you move it by magic and I'll just steer?"
"Merlin, fuck," Draco got his wand once again out and tried to think of an appropriate incantation. "Any suggestions? What kind of a spell we are looking for?"
"Well, since we don't have the keys, we need something like a boost to get this thing moving and then I can try to take over."
"Right, well, Animato," Draco said and not only the engine started roaring, but also the radio and all of the lights sprang on. Harry was thankful that the alarm hadn't started at the shock.
"Don't just stare at it, do something! We have to get out of here before they get us!"
Harry with no further hesitation grabbed the steering wheel and put his foot on the gas pedal. He had tried to do this a couple of times, but never before in such haste. He spent a long time looking around for the reverse, not knowing even how it looked, but finally did took a quick glance at Draco who was all the time staring out of all the windows for anyone that was coming after them, scared of what might happen next.
"Draco," he said softy and the other boy turned to face him. "You alright?" A nod. "Ready?" Another nod. "Okey, so let's go."
With that he moved the car out of the parking spot and switched back to normal mode.
"By the way, do you know which way is the exit, Draco?"
The blonde boy showed a direction, since he had gotten a good look at the parking lot, and Harry turned the car and drove.
"Wow, I'm driving a car… This is pretty fucking scary…" Harry mumbled as he drove them out of the parking lot, barely stopping at the street, but thanks to all the mighty forces, there were almost no cars on the street, since it being really early in the night/morning and turned to go down the street.
"Well, let's hope you don't get us both killed," Draco grunted as Harry made a quick brake by the red traffic light.
"Oh yeah, you might want to fasten your seat belt," but the other boy just looked at him as he were suddenly speaking in German or something.
As Harry tried to show his mate what exactly a seat belt was and how to fasten it for security sakes, the green light appeared and they had to drive on.
"Two questions, Harry."
"Hmm?"
"First, can't you drive faster???" Draco appeared to be panicky, all the time looking around the streets and fidgeting in his seat trying to look behind them.
"Well, I don't want to get us killed and also I don't want to get halted over by the traffic warden, since I have no idea what the maximum allowed speed is."
"Well, if you don't know, you can't be sure you will be breaking it? Anyway you are driving a stolen car without a license…" Draco grinned mischievously and lifted an eyebrow at Harry who complied and increased the speed.
"And what was the second question?"
"Where are we going???"
Harry almost put his foot on the breaks. "Errr…"
"Ever the eloquent Gryffindor, I see," Draco just snickered. He seemed to have relaxed by now since he couldn't notice anyone rushing down the pavement after them. "My suggestion is- get us as far away as possible. To the country, would be the best. A farm with a lot of sheep. No, scratch that. Somewhere safe with people we can trust…"
"In that case we just need to find any hotel," Harry smiled sweetly at the boy, looking away from the road and earning a few beeps from the other people driving. "You can pay those people that work there to be reliable."
"That means that anyone can to that! And they can find us if they come looking," the boy hissed. "It's not exactly the type of 'safe' I had in mind!"
"Firstly, it's the only kind of 'safe place with people we can trust' we have right now. And those who come looking for us will have to pay more money that we will bribe those people with and it will have to be a lot to top us. Secondly, they will have to go to all of the hotels to find us. Muggle hotels, Draco. Do you think really they'll do that?"
After a few minutes driving around and looking for any decent looking hotel, Draco finally spoke: "Um, Harry?"
"Yeah, what?"
"How much money do you intend to bribe them with? And were do we get Muggle money? I don't have any with me."
Harry answered distractedly finally seeing one acceptable looking hotel in the city centre they were in, by the looks of it- Edinburgh: "I have some…"
"Some, huh? How much? How do you know it will be enough?" Draco started to panic once again. "If it's not, we will get killed before we even blink!"
"A few thousand pounds…" Harry's answer was once again distracted because he couldn't quite figure out how to pull the car on the side of the street.
"Wow… I didn't quite expect that… Watch it! You almost hit that car!" Draco screamed, but they had finally parked and got out.
"Everything will be okey, don't worry," Harry came next to Draco and kissed him on the lips before they crossed the street and entered the hotel.
Author's note: Well, with today my work has officially restarted, so to say, and now the chapters will be uploaded less frequently (that means, not every day, but in a range of 2-3 days), although we are heading towards the end of this nightmare and I will not bother you any more:) I actually had hoped to finich this story till today, but it has turned a bit longer than I anticipated... I generally write only short stories, my latest (original piece of work, no fanfiction) was only 20,000 words and I already thought it was hell of a long story! (right now I suppose there will be max 14-15 chapters...)
Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I want to finish it and don't forget to review, otherwise- I will come back for you from my grave and haunt you, muahaha...
Till the next time, MercurialLeo:)