Life Renovations
Chapter Fifteen
The Hours Are Counting Down...
Draco was sitting in the library with Hermione when he felt Harry go unconscious. He threw his book to the table and started running, leaving no explanation for Hermione.
"Draco? What's wrong?"
Draco ignored her and kept running, and soon found his father where he'd left him.
"We have to go! Harry's been hurt. He's unconscious!" Draco skidded to a halt inside his father's study where Lucius was calmly talking with Voldemort. "Didn't you hear me? Harry and Severus are under attack!"
Lucius stood and bowed to the Dark Lord. "My lord…"
"Yes, yes, Lucius. Go now. Mustn't let Harry and Severus have all the fun…"
"Fun?" Draco croaked, then he reigned in his terror and desperation and began to build his word army for a verbal tirade aimed at the Dark Lord, but Lucius was by his son's side and grabbed Draco by the neck.
"Come, Draco. Let us go and help your lover." Lucius proceeded to drag Draco forcibly from the room. "You cannot go around losing your temper like your little Gryffindor, Draco. It's undignified as well as unhealthy when it comes to doing it around the Dark Lord."
"I am not his follower, Father. In case you missed it, we made an alliance with him and that makes me one third of a partnership. I will bow to no one."
Draco didn't know it, but Lucius had never been so proud of him than he was at that very moment. But maybe Lucius was letting his feelings known by showing it on his face, because Draco's eyes widened in astonishment when he looked up at his father.
Lucius cleared his throat and hurried down the corridor, leaving Draco to follow behind in somewhat of a daze. "Let's find Siri and get to Godric's Hollow."
Sirius was wandering the manor, again, thinking about Lucius, again. Dammit! There was nowhere he could go here that didn't remind him of the blond haired poncy bastard who once saw fit to rip Sirius' heart to shreds, then freeze it, just to smash it and watch it explode into dust particles. What the hell was he doing at Malfoy Manor anyway? Okay, so he loved Harry and wanted to support him, but staying here was killing him and he didn't think he could stay any longer without making a fool of himself in front of Lucius. At least he didn't have to see his bitch cousins. He'd probably try to kill Narcissa…again.
"Sirius!" he turned around from the window he'd been staring out of and cursed under his breath when he saw it was both Malfoys coming towards him.
"What is it?"
Draco ran up to Sirius and immediately Animagus was alert, pushing his thoughts about the elder Malfoy away. Though he wasn't so focused on Draco that he didn't notice the way Lucius' hips swayed as he walked. Nor did he miss the coy look on Luce's face as he gazed back at his onetime Gryffindor lover. That look was always able to sway Sirius in any decision, not to mention making Sirius as horny as hell and Lucius knew this. What the hell was he playing at?
"Harry needs our help now! He's at Godric's Hollow."
"Let's go."
Severus had half a mind to forget to miss Harry the next time he 'accidentally' shot a curse his nephew's way. The nerve of that Gryffindor! Severus' internal rant was interrupted when Moody sent a nasty severing hex his way and Severus countered with Sectumsempra and managed to cut Mad Eye's good leg open. Moody fell onto his side and screamed curses at Severus; missing him each time. Severus moved around Moody until he was back against the wall. Even injured Mad Eye was a force to be reckoned with.
"You bastard, Snape! You and your nephew," Moody spat the last word out like it was a disease, and Severus had a huge urge to cast the killing curse. He would no longer allow anyone to speak about Harry like that. "You and your nephew will be six feet under before the year is out, I guarantee it."
"Don't bet on it, Moody. Tell Dumbledore a new alliance has been made. An alliance that is too powerful for Dumbledore to fight against. His days are ending. You tell him that." Severus then used the shock spell on Moody, and cackled happily as he watched the old geezer thrashing around on the ground while his body was getting hit by continuous shocks of electrical energy, frying his nerves. Moody was able to fight the spell off long enough to shout out another curse.
"Expulso!"
Severus dove out of the way just in time but he heard Harry's surprised cry as the wall exploded out. As Severus fell he shot a painful curse Moody's way, breaking all of the older wizard's ribs into pieces. Coming out the victor in this duel.
"Harry!"
Severus picked himself off and ran into the hall and found Kingsley on his knees in front of the pile of wall where Harry's hands were sticking out from underneath all the damage. "Gods! Gods, Harry!" Severus sunk down beside Kingsley and began to help move the rubble off his nephew. "Harry, can you hear me?"
"I think he's unconscious, Snape."
"I can see that, thank you!" Severus snapped. Kingsley noted the worry from Severus and didn't pay any attention to the attitude he was getting.
"What happened to Moody?"
Severus sneered and continued to work on the rubble. Kingsley got up quickly to check on Alastor. Noting he wasn't dead but would be if he were allowed to just lay there, the Auror grabbed Moody and Apparated him to St. Mungo's, mentally promising to return and help Severus as soon as he saw Moody in the hands of Healers.
Severus worked alone for nearly ten minutes, having to hand lift the particles off Harry's back. He didn't want to use magic in case of doing Harry's back further injury. "Merlin, he's losing too much blood…" Severus murmured when everything was removed from Harry and he could see the floor beneath Harry's head was turning red with the blood he was losing. Kingsley Apparated back in that moment and saw the panic on Severus' face.
"Easy Snape. Let's assess the damage first. Panic later." Severus sneered at Kingsley, but said nothing as the Auror performed the basic diagnostic spell.
"He's alive. Spine's still intact."
"He's lucky for that. Second time he's gotten away with it when he should have come out with his back broken."
"What happened the first time?"
"The man Dumbledore sent Harry to live with in Surrey pushed him down the stairs."
Well now, Kingsley thought. That's information Dumbledore failed to mention at the last Order meeting. It would explain why some of the Order members had looked less than pleased with Albus Dumbledore at the last Order meeting. The pops of Apparition filled the air, making the Auror tense, and a moment later Kingsley heard someone shouting Harry's name.
Severus sighed and pushed Kingsley over towards the wall. "You'll want to make room," he warned the Auror, who gave him a strange look. "Harry's soul mate."
"Ah." Kingsley stood and leaned against the remaining less damaged wall and watched as Draco Malfoy came barreling up the stairs.
"Oh Merlin, oh Merlin, oh Merlin…" Dropping to his knees beside Harry, he lowered his hands to Harry's head, checking the skull for fractures and bumps to heal. He located and healed one very large bump at the back of Harry's head, which Draco thought to be the source of the bleeding and only flinched slightly at the pain he felt when doing so. Then he moved on to Harry's neck, shoulders, arms…and all the way down, and gently rolled Harry over. Five gasps rendered the silence.
"Baby, you're all right… You're all right…. Please be all right." Draco reached out with trembling hands, tears threatening to spill from his eyes and grasped Harry's forehead in his hands, ignoring all the blood painting his hands crimson. It was really hard for Draco to look at the wound because the top front of Harry's head had taken the most force from the blast and had left a wide gaping fracture.
"Draco," his father spoke softly. "Maybe you shouldn't try to heal this. We have no idea what will happen to you with an injury this extensive. We'll take him to St. Mungo's."
"No! No, I can't leave him like this…. I can't."
Draco focused on Harry and didn't notice when Lucius and Sirius took places beside him while Severus knelt behind Draco, leaning forward until his chest was pressed against his godson's back and placing his hands over Draco's to lend the young Slytherin support in his healing. From one side of Harry, Lucius bent forward and covered Severus' hands and looked at his missed lover. Sirius did not hesitate and added his hands to the pile. Draco closed his eyes and started the healing process.
Because of the bond, only Draco could feel the side effects of the healing, which was why he was the only one to start screaming as if a dull knife was trying to cut into his head. The other wizards immediately let go of his hands so that Draco could remove them from Harry's head, but as soon as they did, Draco's anguished cries reached a new level and they hastily put their hands back, reasoning they had been a help after all. After realizing what was happening and seeing how the others were helping Draco heal Harry's head, Kingsley knelt down beside Sirius and added his hands. Draco's screams died down to whimpers, but he continued to tremble and perspire from the remaining pain until after nearly a minute when his grip on Harry slackened and he fell over onto his side, going unconscious from the pain. When Severus looked, the wide open fracture on Harry's head had closed and the bleeding stopped. Still they needed to get Harry to the hospital to make sure there was no internal bleeding and repair brain damage if there was any.
Hermione and Ginny were relaxing in the Malfoy library. Well, Ginny was relaxed as she was currently napping at the table next to Hermione's where the older girl was studiously researching different magical creatures for Harry and Draco. The door opened and Hermione looked up to see who entered and nearly shrieked. Walking towards her at a leisurely pace was the tall thin form of Voldemort, his red eyes gleaming brightly at her beneath his black hood. Hermione slowly closed the book and stood; every part of her body trembling, every nerve screaming at her to panic and at the same time reminding her that being calm would get better results.
"Ginny." She backed away towards the next desk beside hers as Voldemort came to stop at her table and sat in her recently vacated chair, looking down to see what the witch had been reading. "Ginny!" she hissed as she reached for her friend and in her fear, shook Ginny a little too roughly.
"Oi, Hermione! Not so hard! What's wrong with you?" Ginny snapped after picking her head off the desk and wiping the drool off her chin.
"I'm sorry, but…Look!"
"No need to be frightened, Miss Granger," Voldemort spoke in a lazy drawl. Ginny gasped and jumped to her feet while Voldemort continued to speak. He ignored the two wands trembling in the girls' hands. "I've come for a visit. Sit down."
He gestured to the two chairs at the opposite side of his desk. Hermione blinked. Those chairs hadn't been there before, and Voldemort hadn't spoken a spell to conjure or summon them. Not to mention he didn't even have his wand out, thank Merlin!
Ginny was at a loss of what to do. She had her wand out, as did Hermione, but Voldemort's wand was still tucked away. And even if it was out and pointed at them, there really wasn't anything they could do that would stop him. Looking over at Hermione, she saw the bushy haired girl was feeling the same and had no idea how to proceed. Do they go along with it and sit down for a visit and hope for the best? It seemed like the only possible option. Ginny didn't think throwing curses at Voldemort first and then trying to make a run for it would be effective at all. Didn't seem like a very good plan. Ginny made her decision, and instead of letting the hysterical laughter burst out of her mouth, she nodded at Hermione and took a seat. Hermione did the same, slowly.
"You want to sit with a blood traitor and a mudblood?" Hermione asked after digging around inside and finding her cowering Gryffindor courage.
"I am curious about you two. Why are you here where you could be in harm's way?"
"We are here because we want to be."
"That's not exactly true, is it? You are here to support Potter, correct?" Without waiting for an answer, Voldemort nodded and stood, causing both girls enormous fright. "Feel free to relax. I will not hurt you."
"But you hate us!" Ginny yelled; her fear and confusion throwing all caution to the wind. If they were about to die, the least Voldemort could do was be honest and blunt about it. "I'm a blood traitor, for Merlin's sake!"
"And I'm a mudblood. Why aren't you trying to kill us yet?"
"Is it your wish to die by my hands today?" Voldemort asked, his wand suddenly in his hand. "If so, I can accommodate you." He began to raise his wand to Ginny's face.
"No!" the witches yelled together, throwing their hands up in surrender. "We're fine! Sorry. We're happy to be alive!"
"Good." Voldemort tucked his wand away again. "Shall we move on?"
"Yes, please," they murmured. Voldemort walked around and placed a gray hand on Hermione's head. She flinched, remembering all of Harry's reactions to Voldemort's touch, and expected to feel agonizing pain. She was surprised when she only felt the weight of his hand upon her head.
"For a muggleborn, you have much worth." Hermione's lips parted in shock. "I concede, Potter is lucky to have someone such as you at his side. He has you to trust him and he trusts you as well, making it easy for him to gain by listening to your logical advice. I trust only myself, Miss Granger, and Potter has that as an advantage over me." Voldemort quieted and looked at the hand on Hermione's head and suddenly her memories started to flick by in front of her mind's eyes like a slide show. "Potter should listen to you more."
"Er…You-Know…Voldemort?" Hermione wasn't sure what to call him, and she thought insulting him by getting it wrong would be a very bad idea. "If you're not planning on killing us, can I ask you not to mind rape me like that again?"
Ginny couldn't help it. She snorted. But all amusement died away when Voldemort's eyes glowed red for a moment.
"I may have said I do not plan to kill you, but that doesn't mean the plan is permanent." Slowly he walked around the table to take his seat.
"This is tremendously odd," Hermione whispered. Ginny nodded stiffly.
"Yes it is."
"Um…sir?"
"Yes, Miss Granger?" Voldemort was amused. She obviously was unsure how to address him now. And the entire situation rang of hilarity. He actually had no idea why he was speaking with these witches.
"I was only wondering…is it still your intention to eradicate the world of Muggles?"
The library was suddenly filled with a terrible high-pitched laugh. "Is that what Dumbledore has been spewing to his students?"
"It's not just Dumbledore…"
"No, but he started telling people this nonsense and it took hold. But eradicate all Muggles? Even if that were a plan of mine at one point, I know that goal is futile."
"Then what?"
"Miss Weasley, you are a pureblood therefore you know about our society, our ways of life, etc. Correct?"
"Yes of course."
"And do you want our standard of living to be tainted by Muggle traditions?"
"Well, not really."
"Ginny?"
"It's not that, Hermione. I don't mind Muggles, but I can see what he means. When muggleborns come to the Wizarding World, they come without any knowledge of this world, just like Harry did. And instead of being taught our ways, they are allowed to come here and bring in Muggle traditions. This isn't the Muggle world, but eventually it might as well be, because the more muggleborn children who come here and continue to disregard our traditions, the faster the Wizarding World's history will be lost…."
"Why haven't any of the Wizarding schools instilled a mandatory curriculum for muggleborns?" Hermione asked, looking at Voldemort. "I was surprised when I arrived at Hogwarts and there were no classes to integrate us here. It's not our fault we come here not knowing anything and continue to live the only way we know how…. How are we supposed to take pride in the Wizarding World and maintain the traditions of wizards and witches if we don't know anything about it?"
"This is true, Miss. Granger. And you are right. I believe–"
"Ginny!" All three occupants of the library turned towards the door and a moment later Blaise appeared with Pansy just behind him. Ginny smirked at the horrified looks on the Slytherins' faces when they realized whom she and Hermione were sitting with.
"It seems you have visitors." Lord Voldemort stood and nodded at the two Gryffindor witches. "Miss Granger, I encourage you to research the Ukatae. The information you find will be extremely helpful. And I would like to hear more of your ideas later."
Voldemort made his way to the door. Pansy and Blaise jumped out of the doorway and stared at the Dark Lord. In so much shock that they forgot to kneel when he passed them.
"Mr. Zabini, Miss. Parkinson." The Slytherins continued to watch motionless as the Dark Lord glided down the corridor and disappeared around a corner.
Blaise regained his mind first and sprinted to Hermione and Ginny's table. "Are you two all right? What did he do to you?"
"We're fine." Ginny stood up so Blaise could have her chair and then she sat back down in his lap. Hermione remained where she was and watched with narrowed eyes as Pansy sat down across from them.
"Do you think we brainwashed Voldemort as well, Parkinson?" she snapped.
Earlier Draco told Hermione that he'd written Pansy a long letter explaining everything that had happened, and why and how he could be so happy with Harry. Pansy had had no idea Draco had been holding a torch for years for Harry. Draco recited the letter word for word to Hermione to ask her opinion on whether she thought it would help Pansy understand why he had changed so much in regards to Harry and his friends.
Hermione never knew Draco had such a beautiful way with words and by the time he finished explaining his feeling for Harry, she had tears in her eyes. She told Draco the letter should work and help Pansy see reason. But two days had passed and Draco hadn't gotten word back from the Slytherin girl.
"Look, Hermione. It was just hard to take it all in. I received Draco's letter and I read it five consecutive times…" Pansy looked down at her hands and tears started to fall. "I'm really happy for Draco," she sobbed, though her cries were anything but happy. "Harry will be good to him, right?" Pansy asked before lowering her face to her hands.
Hermione jumped from her chair and hurried around to wrap her arm around the trembling Slytherin. "Oh…of course he will. Harry loves Draco and he'll do anything for him. Just like Harry would do anything for any of us."
Pansy turned in her chair so that she could wrap her arms around Hermione, crying against her stomach. "Pansy, what's wrong?"
"I left him! I didn't even try to understand, and then I got his letter and I didn't reply because I was jealous. I was so jealous of him and Harry! When's it my turn?"
Pansy started wailing again and Hermione looked over at Blaise and Ginny for help. Blaise look undisturbed which probably meant he'd been dealing with Pansy's mood all day, while Ginny was nodding her head with Pansy.
"Pansy, I was jealous too. It's hard not to be."
"That's true," Hermione agreed. "But don't worry. You'll find your man soon enough. It's not like we're old and about to die."
Pansy raised her head and sniffed. "Really? Do you think so?"
"Of course. Now why don't we go find Draco so you can put his mind at ease? He's been worried ever since he wrote to you and it didn't help that he and Harry were fighting at the time."
Pansy smirked and stood. "Blaise told me all about that. Would have loved to see their makeup session."
"Yes! That's what I was telling Hermione," Ginny said. Hermione shook her head. Ginny was incorrigible.
Pansy turned back to Hermione and stuck out a hand. "Friends, Hermione? I've already cried all over you, but I figured we'd make this official."
"I think I'd like that, Pansy." Hermione and Pansy shook hands.
"Good, let's go find Draco, let him and Pansy make up, and then plan a spectacular seventeenth surprise birthday party for Harry!" Ginny said exuberantly and jumped off of Blaise's lap, winking at him when Blaise casually slid his hand over her bum as she moved away.
They left the library and headed up to Draco's wing of the manor, only to find his room empty. When they checked Harry's room, it too was empty.
"Well, where are they?"
"Shagging in a closet maybe," Blaise suggested.
"Why would they choose a closet when they have perfectly good beds here?" Ginny asked.
"Oh, well, love… Draco has these fantasies, see? Concerning your Chosen One. He's stocked piled all sorts of unrealized fantasies and knowing Draco, now that he's finally got his hands on Potter, he's going to fulfill them as soon as possible."
Hermione cleared her throat. "I…. that was unnecessary information, Blaise."
The Slytherin only shrugged.
They headed back downstairs and were just crossing the Entrance Hall when Lucius appeared before them. "Harry and Draco have been taken to St. Mungo's. Harry was in a bad accident, Draco tried to heal him, and now they are both unconscious."
"Are they all right?" Blaise asked. Lucius nodded.
"But they will have to stay overnight. You may visit them. I put all your names on the list of allowed visitors."
Ginny huffed. "Can't Harry stay out of trouble for even a moment?"
"He can't honestly help it," Hermione replied, both her and Ginny sharing a fond smile before Ginny turned to Lucius.
"Did you come back here to let us know the boys were hurt?" Lucius nodded.
"Thank you, sir." Hermione said. "That means a lot to us."
"Nonsense. You four are their friends and it's your right to know."
"All the same, you didn't have to."
Lucius frowned in annoyance. "Yes I did. Sirius threatened me." And with that he left again to St. Mungo's.
Hermione snorted. "Lucius is afraid of the big bad dog." Ginny laughed all the way to the Floo Room.
At St. Mungo's the group was shown to Harry and Draco's private room. Amortia Bluemoon was there, talking quietly to Sirius, Severus, and Lucius when the younger generation walked in. They paused to listen to the Healer before going to the beds.
"They'll both be fine by morning. Draco was able to heal most of the extensive damage, but the pain he gained from that and the energy he had to use to heal has taken its toll. And they will both have severe headaches when they wake. But they will wake, so don't you worry about that." She smiled kindly around the room, and then took her leave to check on her regular patients.
"It's still hard for me to believe she's has the Dark Mark," Hermione said.
"She's a Healer, for Merlin's sake!" Ginny exclaimed. "She saves lives not the other way around. Why did she choose to be a Death Eater? She hasn't murdered anyone, has she?" Severus and Lucius refused to answer. "She couldn't have!"
"I assure you, she has," Severus finally said.
"So the whole cheerful, I'm the nicest person on earth attitude is just a ruse then?"
"No, Amortia really is like that," Lucius said.
"Yes, she can be so nice that it sickens me," Severus drawled.
"That doesn't make sense! How can she be so nice and still follow Voldemort?" Hermione asked Severus. He only shrugged, earning himself a glare from the witch. If she knew what that look did to him, Hermione would probably turn tail and run for the hills. As it was, Hermione had no clue that every time she treated him like a man instead of a teacher he wanted to bend her over any available flat surface and make her scream his name. His recent thoughts were starting to worry him.
"She has never murdered an innocent, if that makes you feel any better," Lucius supplied.
"Maybe a little," Hermione murmured.
The teens converged in on Draco and Harry's beds. Blaise began to push the beds together and the girls joined in to help. Once that was done, Blaise then transfigured both beds into one; blanket and sheets included, and only looked up when he was done. Severus was glaring at him.
"Sir?"
"What do you think you're doing?"
"Relax, Professor. They're not about to shag while asleep, are they?"
"Yeah, and besides… they sleep better together," Ginny said while helping Blaise gently move the boys to the center of the bed. Harry and Draco were supposed to be unconscious but once they were brought within reaching distance, they curled in together; wrapping arms and legs together before falling back into a motionless sleep.
Blaise and Ginny sat on Draco's side while Pansy took a seat beside Harry; Hermione climbed up at the foot of the bed, sitting Indian style and watching her boys sleep.
"He's alright, I suppose," Pansy said, looking at Harry. "Always has been. The Gryffindor hero image does work for him—don't tell anyone I said that." Hermione smiled at her new friend, glad to see Pansy was going to give Harry a chance.
"So, about the party…whom do we send invitations to?" Ginny asked, and the four began making plans for the next day, wanting it to be the best birthday Harry had ever had.
Severus, Lucius, and Sirius stood at the back of the room and watched. "All of them are powerful witches and wizards. I feel sorry for Dumbledore," Lucius said suddenly from beside Sirius. Said Gryffindor hadn't realized Lucius had moved and scowled.
"I don't. That bastard deserves to rot in hell!" he barked, inching his way away. "Were you able to get the memories, Snape? Because of Harry I completely forgot about the reason for you going there and then when Kingsley just let me and Lucius walk away like that, all I could think of was getting the boys help."
"Yes, I have them. I retrieved them right before Moody found me."
"Did you kill Moody?"
"No." Severus sounded depressed about that. "But not from lack of trying. Moody would have perished if Kingsley hadn't brought him here immediately. He came back and told me he didn't think Harry would appreciate it if he had to arrest me for the murder of Alastor Moody. He would have had no choice had Moody died then."
"What is Shacklebolt up to then? He should have arrested us all for trespassing. It would have been ridiculous, but legal," Lucius said.
Severus shrugged. "At this point, I'm not going to count our blessings."
In the morning, when Severus returned to bring the boys back to Malfoy Manor, he was surprised by the scene before him. Draco and Harry were still sleeping, wrapped tightly around each other, which wasn't really surprising, but there were other sleeping bodies surrounding the sleeping mates. Severus had gone home with a promise to return, and he assumed the teens would have done the same, but it seems he was mistaken for they were all spread out on the bed.
Zabini and Weasley were curled up together beside Draco, while Parkinson was stretched out next to Harry, her head lying on Hermione's legs. Hermione had chosen to stretch out at the foot of the bed. Someone had come in the night and doubled the size of the bed again to fit all six teens and made sure each of them had a pillow and blanket. Severus was sure it was Bluemoon's doing. Anyone else would have made them all leave for the night, as per the rules of the hospital, but Bluemoon was an HIC and she had no problem pulling strings to get what she wanted; one reason why Voldemort had her recruited.
Severus set down the bundle of clothes he brought for Harry and Draco before silently approaching the bed; eyes only on the sleeping Gryffindor witch at the end of it. She looked at peace with a small smile on her face as she hugged her pillow closer to her face. Slowly, Severus reached out a hand to softly brush his fingers across her chin and along her jaw- his obsidian eyes wide with apprehension. He felt like he was doing something incredibly wrong- and then Hermione moved so that he was cupping her cheek and she sighed softly. Severus' breath caught in his throat and he thought he should pull away, but he couldn't make himself let go. It seemed like the hardest thing to do to stop touching Hermione; so he didn't. A moment passed before he felt eyes on him. Severus looked to find Harry staring at him, his head still nestled on Draco's shoulder. There was a small smile on his face. Severus scowled at him and withdrew his hand.
"It's about time you've woken up!" he snapped.
"Oh yes, because you're so busy standing there staring at my friend…"
"One word about this to anyone, Potter, and I promise you…" Severus shut up when Hermione turned onto her back and broke out into a full body stretch. Severus backed up and quickly looked away.
"Er…did we have a sleep over or something, Uncle Sev?" Harry pushed himself up by the elbows, wincing as the pain in his head made itself known.
"No, you great idiot! You are in St. Mungo's. Moody blasted a wall onto you. Don't you remember?"
Harry frowned and tried to think back to what he did remember. "I remember going to Godric's Hollow with you. I remember rushing into the house because you were fighting Moody and I wanted to make sure you would be alright, and then I was talking to Kingsley…everything is blank after that." He lowered his head back to his pillow.
"After that was when you were hit with the wall, and I dug you out. Draco, Lucius, and Sirius arrived soon after, and Draco began to heal you. You…your head was in an awful state, Harry. Draco really shouldn't have tried to heal a wound of that magnitude, but of course he did try. He mostly succeeded before losing consciousness himself due to the pain and lack of energy."
Harry had already tuned Severus out the moment he'd said Draco had been hurt trying to heal him. Harry was running his fingers over Draco's face, through his hair cursing the blond for taking such a risk.
"That better be Harry's hands in my hair or someone is going to die," Draco muttered darkly against Blaise's back, apparently having woken up sometime during Harry and Severus' exchange. It took a moment before Draco realized Harry was on his other side and couldn't possibly be the person whom he had his face pressed uncomfortably against. Raising his head a fraction he caught sight of dark skin and bright red hair. "What the fuck are you doing in my bed, Blaise?" he yelled and then shoved the offending Slytherin off the bed, and in turn Ginny as well.
Draco's outburst and Blaise's loud cursing was an effective way of waking everyone else up, to Severus' amusement. There was a chorus of groans and movement. While the others were waking, Draco turned over and pulled Harry flush against him, burying his face in the crook of Harry's neck and breathed deeply. Knowing Draco was preparing to go back to sleep, Harry shifted under the covers so no one could see him gently cup Draco's morning erection. But he hadn't counted on Draco's reaction and turned beet red in embarrassment when Draco moaned loudly and thrust his hips up to rub against Harry's hand.
Blaise forgot about his anger and started laughing his ass off on the floor while Hermione scrambled off the bed, her face nearly as red as Harry's. Pansy was sitting beside Harry watching the two mates intently with a blank face, though her cheeks had a bit of pink tinge. And Ginny was standing there grinning. Hearing Blaise's laughter, Draco's eyes popped open, and after realizing what he'd done, quickly pulled the sheet over his head.
I'm going to kill you. And then he heard someone clear a throat and realized his godfather was also in the room. Oh yes. You are going to die.
Not my fault!
"Hey you two? How do you feel?" Hermione finally asked.
"I'm in the mood to kill. Thanks for asking, Hermione. Now if you would all GET OUT! I would like to get dressed," Draco said from underneath the sheet. Beside him, Harry's embarrassment dissolved into amusement but he knew better than to laugh outright at Draco.
Severus dropped their clothes on the bed with a sneer before leaving the room with everyone else. As soon as the door was shut, Draco jumped Harry.
"I'm sorry!" Harry yelled between his laughter. "Draco, stop! I said I'm sorry!" Harry was being tickled in places he didn't know were ticklish, and Draco was taking no prisoners.
"I can't believe you did that."
"I didn't want you to go back to sleep."
Draco ceased his tickling and sat back on Harry's thighs. "And molesting me was your best option?"
"Molesting? Draco, it's not molestation if you liked it, which you clearly did." Harry grinned against his better judgment. "Everyone heard how much you liked it."
"That's it!" Draco dove forward to commence his tickle attack, but Harry jerked his hips, knocking Draco off, and he lurched out of bed; grabbing his clothes, Harry then ran for the bathroom, locking the door just as Draco reached it. "I swear on everything I own and as a Malfoy, I will get you back when you least expect it, and in the worst possible place or situation. And in the mean time, I will take out some of my revenge on you right now." He started banging on the door. "You have to come out of there sometime, Harry!"
"No I don't. Remember? We can Apparate anywhere."
"Harry, no!" Draco said quickly, the pounding on the door intensified. "You were hurt badly yesterday! You don't know what will happen!"
Harry heard the fear in Draco's voice and opened the door. "I'm not going to Apparate. Don't worry."
Draco touched Harry's forehead and his hand started trembling again. Harry felt what Draco had felt when he saw Harry bleeding on the floor. "It was…really bad. You were hurt so badly, Harry…"
"Hey…" Harry pulled Draco into his arms and the blond buried his nose in his hair. Harry rubbed Draco's back soothingly and spoke in a soft tone. "It's okay now. You once promised to never leave me. Now I'm promising. You'll never get rid of me, Draco Malfoy."
"That's good then." They kissed and would have let it go on if Harry hadn't remembered Severus. He pulled back and grinned when Draco tried to follow.
"No. You know what happens when we forget who's around." He pushed Draco out of the bathroom. "Go get dressed. You know Severus will be barging in soon."
It was only because Harry was right that Draco nodded and went back to the bed for his robes. Harry remained in the bathroom to change but kept the door open, which was done on purpose. Harry had every intention of watching Draco undress out of the hospital garb and into his robes, and Draco had similar thoughts, and neither of them planned on making it a secret that they were looking. So by the time they were dressed, both of them realized it was a mistake, because now they had to walk around with uncomfortable erections in their pants.
"Oh, good. I was afraid Severus had taken you before I could give you this." Healer Bluemoon entered, and like Harry remembered before, a silver tray hovered behind her with four potion vials. "Here you are." She handed two to each wizard. "Drink up. There is a potion to regain your strength and a potion for the headaches."
"Thank Merlin!" Harry and Draco drank down their potions without another word, and sighed in relief when the headaches started to retreat.
"Thanks, Healer Bluemoon." Harry handed back the empty vials.
"Please, call me Amortia."
Harry grinned. "Sure."
"You should probably call him Harry as I'm sure you'll be seeing a lot of him, if his record is anything to go by."
Amortia laughed softly. "Yes, I can see that being true."
"Hey!"
"You do have a knack for getting injured," Draco soothed.
"It's not my fault!"
"Okay, Harry."
"I'll see you tonight, then," Amortia said for goodbye. Harry and Draco shared a confused look. "It's Harry's Inheritance and the transformations. You didn't think you were going to be left alone for that, did you?"
"I bloody well did!" Draco cried. "I don't want anyone in the room when we change. There's nothing you can do for the pain anyway. Nothing ever works for Inheritance."
"I know that, Draco. But I will be outside at midnight and I will wait until it has ended. Then I shall attend to you. I hope that is not a problem…" She tilted her head and smiled at him, a dimple appearing at her cheek. "Because that is the way it's going to be."
"Y-yeah, alright." It was then Draco understood how Amortia Bluemoon could actually be a Death Eater. She said it in the nicest way possible, her tone light and friendly; even her eyes were smiling. But under it all was a current running from the woman to Draco, and he got the clear impression something bad would happen if he argued further. It was a brilliant ability and his respect for the Healer skyrocketed. Beside him, Harry was nodding his head in agreement with the Healer and he was in agreement with Draco's thoughts as well.
Harry wanted to see the Pensieve memories the moment they returned to the manor, but Draco convinced Harry to wait until the next day. Hermione told Draco about the party while Harry had been at Godric's Hollow. It was a good idea. Who knew what they were about to go through and he didn't want those memories on his mind on top of everything else. Somehow he was able to get those feelings across to Harry without actually letting on about the party. And to distract both of them from thinking about the memories or about what was going to happen at midnight, Draco dragged Harry out to the Quidditch pitch for a Seekers game. It didn't really take much to persuade Harry and they spent most of the morning outside in the air.
Meanwhile, within the manor, Hermione had made a beeline to the library the moment they returned and she went in search of the Ukatae. She hoped it was something to help with her search for magical creatures because frankly, she was stumped. She had no clue what they could be turning into. All the traits they were displaying didn't match any of the creatures she'd come across, even if she mixed and matched creatures.
Hermione used the point me spell to locate a book on the Ukatae because she was certain she had not come across that name in any of the books she'd read so far, and she thought she had all the books having to do with anything concerning magical creatures. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with Harry and Draco's bond, because the spell pointed her in a completely different direction then where she had been looking; in fact it led her into another part of the library she didn't know existed.
At first she thought the spell was wrong because it led her to a wall, but then she spotted the thin line running up it, and tracing the line with her eyes she saw it was a door. She pressed against it and it easily opened revealing a small book chamber. She didn't have to be the top student to know she was in the Dark Arts book chamber. Hermione found the book and looked at it.
"Ancient Races." Hermione sat down and promptly located the information she needed. It was the first half of the book. She began to read about the Ukatae and as she read on her eyes became the size of saucers. She'd only gotten to the second chapter before she snapped the book closed and rushed out to find Draco and Harry. She searched around the manor before she ran into Blaise, Ginny, and Pansy.
"They're flying. We were just going out to the pitch." Hermione nodded and followed then, the book clutched firmly under her arm.
"What's wrong, Hermione?" asked Blaise.
"I know what they are. Voldemort helped me."
"And?" All three said.
Hermione shook her head. "They should be the first to know," she said firmly.
"But you and Voldemort know!" Ginny exclaimed.
"You know what I mean, Gin. You'll just have to wait."
They sat down on the bleachers and watched the game for a few minutes. Harry and Draco were looking for the Snitch, shouting taunts at each other, showing off, and flying happy and free from everything.
"Do you think they should be flying so soon after what happened yesterday?"
"They're fine, Hermione. Stop worrying."
"We should go to get ready soon," Pansy said, watching Harry shoot off to the opposite direction on his Firebolt, Draco right beside him. Harry turned to him and flashed a grin before shooting straight down, causing Pansy to gasp. A moment later, he swooped back up to the sky with the Snitch caught firmly in his hand. Sirius heard Draco's cursing all the way from where he stood outside at the front of the manor.
After watching another game, this time with Draco winning, Pansy, Blaise, and Ginny left to go get ready for the party, and Hermione lingered in the stands hoping Harry and Draco would come down soon so she could talk to them.
"Harry, you bastard! I had that in my hand!" Hermione looked up to see Harry was flying towards her grinning with the Snitch in his hand again. Draco was hovering in the air glaring at him.
"How could you have it in your hand if I've got it now?" Harry called over his shoulder. He pulled up next to Hermione and dismounted. "Hey Hermione."
"Hello, Harry."
"Listen," Harry started as he sat beside her. "I want to tell you something, even though it's against my best judgment and frankly, the thought kind of leaves me sick …"
"Go on already. What do you want to say?"
"He'd kill me if I told you this, but…." Harry's gaze swept the grounds to make sure they wouldn't be overheard. A look above told him Draco was prepared to sulk for a while. Harry grinned.
"What Harry?"
"I think Severus has a thing for you and since I know you have a thing," Harry shuddered, "for him, I thought you'd like to know." As he spoke he had to look away. It was really embarrassing, and again, he had no idea was he was telling her, because Severus would find out he told somehow and then Harry would be dead and that would be that.
"A thing?" Hermione asked in a peculiar voice. Harry looked at her and she wore a look on her face that he rarely saw. She looked confused.
"Oh, come on, Hermione. You have to know what I'm talking about. A thing! I don't know what to call it. You like him and he seems to like you..."
"Oh."
"Yeah." There was an awkward silence for about a minute before Hermione recovered.
"I've got something to tell you and Draco. Can you get him down?"
"I don't know. He's still pouting. He enjoys it up there." Harry nudged her arm playfully, but stopped joking around when he saw her frown. He told Draco to come down.
When she had both of their attentions, she brought out the book. "I found out what you are." She had two blank faces staring at her. She raised her eyebrows expectantly. "Do you want to know?"
Harry looked at Draco and raised an eyebrow. Draco looked off to the side, his eyes narrowed in thought. "All I want to know is do we become some horrid creatures?"
"Well no, not really. In fact I believe your outward appearance will not change much. You are Dark creatures, however."
"That explains so much," Harry replied. "Concerning the feel of my magic anyway. Dark creature. That would explain it."
Looking over, Draco nodded in agreement before turning back to Hermione. "Okay. I don't want to know any more until tomorrow. As long as I still have my hair I'm fine." He touched his hair to make sure it was still there.
Harry rolled his eyes."Yeah, Hermione. I'm fine with waiting. It's tonight after all."
"Okay, then. I must be off now." She needed to get to her parents house and find the clothes she was thinking of wearing tonight.
"Hold on," Harry said. "We haven't really hung out that much, Mione." Hermione tried not to look guilty. She really didn't want to lie to Harry, but she also didn't want to give away the surprise. She was very grateful when Draco came to the rescue.
"It's okay, Hermione. You go on. We have somewhere to go anyway."
"We do?" Draco nodded and grinned.
It turns out that somewhere happened to be a very high scale muggle shopping center in the middle of London to which they had to walk to from the Leaky Cauldron. Harry looked at Draco incredulously.
"Blaise was the one to bring me here the summer after our fourth year."
"I thought you didn't like muggle clothing." Harry followed Draco into a store that sold semi-formal and formal clothing. He looked around and admitted he liked a lot of the things he was seeing. But he didn't understand why they were there.
Draco headed for the back of the store where there was a section of black pants. "I never said that. I only poor muggle clothing I don't like."
"Doesn't that seem hypocritical to you? We complain about muggles bringing their ways here, shouldn't that include clothes too?"
"Certainly not if it's good clothes. And besides, wizards and muggle share certain industries such as entertainment; because we are still humans and still need to be entertained. You follow me?" Harry nodded. "And these clothes are far more sensible then wearing robes sometimes."
It still seemed a little hypocritical to Harry, but at the same time he understood and agreed to what Draco said, so Harry pushed the rest of his arguments to the back of his mind and watched Draco search out pants. Upon further inspection, Harry was horrified to find they were leather, and Draco started rummaging through the rack muttering about finding just the right size for the stupid Gryffindor.
"I'm not about to wear some tight arse muggle leather pants, Draco!"
"I promise you'll look lovely and I'll love them on you." Draco gave Harry the once over and winked, then went back to finding more than one pair of leather pants. Harry stood there and blushed. Okay, maybe he would just try the pants on, for Draco's sake. Didn't mean he had to take them home.
In the end, not only did they walk away from that store with three good-sized bags, but also an additional five bags from three other stores they visited.
"No more! I'm begging you!" Harry panted as they walked into an alleyway to shrink the bags to be able to fit in their pockets.
"You did grand. And you made me happy by letting me buy you all this stuff."
"Unfortunately your happiness means a lot to me," Harry replied and was rewarded with a smile.
"Good, I'll use that to my advantage from now on."
"Why are we even buying this stuff though? Are we ever going to need it?"
"Don't worry, you'll need it. There's still a lot of stuff about Slytherins that you don't know about."
Harry didn't ask Draco to elaborate, because he knew eventually all would be explained. All he wanted to do now was go home and eat and then maybe take a nap because he knew he wasn't going to sleep at all tonight. He looked at Draco, who happened to be dressed all in black. He was sort of standing in the shadows, but his pale blond hair stood out as if the sun was shining directly on his head. He looked good enough to eat. Draco started smirking and Harry licked his dry lips. Maybe after his nap he might try seducing Draco. He was tired as hell of waiting for the blond to make the move.
Harry was satisfied. The rest of his day was mapped out.
"Let's Apparate. I don't want to walk back to the Leaky."
Draco moved closer and studied Harry. "You tired?"
Harry resisted rolling his eyes. Why did everyone treat him like he was about to break all the time?
Don't get an attitude over it. It was just a question.
"Fine. All right. Yes, I'm tired. Can we go now?"
"Yes. But I'll do it." Harry nodded and stepped into Draco and wrapped his arms around his back.
"Mind your hands, Draco!" Harry's yell was drowned out by the pop of Apparition and Draco's deep chuckle in his ear.
If Harry thought he was actually going to get some rest when he got home, he was sadly mistaken. The moment they were inside the manor, Draco ordered a house elf to bring an early dinner to his room. And then he forced Harry into trying on three outfits before allowing him to eat. Harry did it because he didn't feel like arguing and he wanted food already. Finally, when Harry finished trying on all three outfits, Draco allowed him dinner, and went to put the rest of the outfits away. Draco did not trust Harry to treat his clothes with the proper amount of care.
Harry was busy eating at the desk, but stopped to look when Draco came back with one of the outfits. "Put this on. We're going out in an hour." Harry stared at the clothes dumbly for a second.
"Hold on! Where are we going? Draco?" but the blond had already left the room. Harry grumbled incoherently before returning to his dinner.