Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Harry Potter.
A/N: This is my largest chapter ever! Note that I will probably never write a chappy this long again, but that I have a set number of things that must happen in a chapter, regardless of how long that takes to write. And a ton of stuff had to happen here. Hee. Once again, I have only edited this once, so I'm sorry for any mistakes. This is a big turning point in the plot, so feedback and reviews are begged for! I'm also sorry how long this chapter took, but it IS long, and I am still gettting used to my new workload at school. Oh, and in response to reviews,
Yana5: OMG,i was sooo creeped out when I read you review, i was literally like, HOW DO YOU KNOW! I was just a little bit scared actually. As you've probably guessed, you were right. Or the right-est. Even i'm not completly sure.
And to ASOTA, thankyou very much for your lovely long reviews!
Spirits
Friday morning dawned surprisingly balmy. The wind from the previous days had settled to light breezes and the weather had spun to a gentle warmth. The coolness of the night was quickly banished as the sunlight made its first appearances along the horizon and the morning coos of the wood pigeons began in earnest.
The house, as always, was quiet and unnaturally still. Even in the one room that held any people at all there was a hush of silence, with only half finished thoughts lingering, accompanied with the soft sounds of someone breathing.
Draco was once again ensnared by the motion, the slow rise and fall. He stared down at the young man lying on his lap, curled up on the bed, eyes unblinking and not moving a single inch one way or another. He had been this way for several hours now. Just gazing, not thinking of anything at all, or at least, nothing of any real importance.
He let his tongue languidly slide over his teeth; he could still taste his delightful minuo's blood on his lips. It was something to be savoured after all. Perhaps part of the vampire's blank state of mind had something to do with the disturbing fact that he could have very easily killed Harry last night. Oh, not upsetting that he could, he had done so many times before. No, what was unsettling him was that he held the desire to do the complete opposite when it came to Harry. Not only did Draco not want him dead in any way, but also the green-eyed boy had actually managed to stir some sort of…affection out of him.
And wasn't that a disconcerting thought?
For Draco, it had long gone past the point of curios interest. Somewhere in the past what, two days, he had formed some sort of attachment to him. And that hadn't happened in a very long time indeed. In fact, now that he thought about it, the last person he had come to care for in anyway had been S-
Draco was broken from his internal musings by quite possibly the cutest noise he had ever heard. It had been a sort of breathy cross between a mew and a sigh, which was oddly reminiscent of a napping kitten.
Looking down, Draco discovered the source as Harry shifted slightly in his sleep, having the unforeseen side effect of him sliding down from Draco's chest to his thigh. Considering he didn't wake, it was quite the feat.
Draco, however, wasn't quite as appreciative; Harry's new position had his head dangerously near his hip…. and a little to the left. Normally, of course, the blonde would have been rather happy with this arrangement, but he was also all too aware what Harry would do if he woke in such a pose. While seeing him topple off the bed again would be amusing, Draco also did not harbour any desire to add more accusations on top of what would be sure to follow after the previous night.
Harry let out another minute sound, this time in the form of a groan, his head turning a little.
Twitching only very slightly, Draco allowed his pale hand to come to a rest on his pretty little charmant's head, waiting patiently for him to return to wakefulness.
His mind was in a peaceful fog at the moment, and Harry was most comfortable remaining that way, his entire body felt boneless and heavy; in a very pleasant way too. All thoughts were wonderfully blank and he readily settled down to return to sleeping. However, the more Harry tried to grasp back oblivion, the harder it was to hold onto, it was slipping away from him like water in cupped hands. Giving a whimper of disappointment, he turned and allowed his mind to get back in gear, though he resolutely held his eyes firmly shut; he wouldn't let the rising sun scour away his remaining doziness. The ignorance was far too blissful in Harry's opinion.
Unfortunately, it was not to be. His brain seemed to have deemed this as the time he would wake up. Harry growled slightly in consternation; damn traitorous psyche, wasn't it supposed to be on his side?
Harry's pondering on the loyalties of his errant mind however, were cut short as the details of the night before began to slink to the forefront of his conscious. Images flashed, not being able to sleep, the gardens, the rooms, the plush carpet and patio slabs, hushed words. Then the last memories surged to the forefront, fiery kisses, sharp pain and pleasure. Pearly fangs and deep red blood staining the rug.
Draco.
…
"Oh."
"Oh."
Draco snapped from his gazing as he heard the soft, breathless exclamation of surprise. Looking down, he saw that Harry had finally awoken. From the tumultuous appearance of those verdant eyes, Draco knew he was thinking of last night. He glanced out the window; it was well into the afternoon. Had they really been lying there for that long?
His wandering attention was quickly reclaimed.
Harry rolled off of the vampire and stretched like a cat on the soft bed sheets. While doing so he cast a hidden glance at the blonde man sitting propped against the headboard. He looked so…calm, even now, as if he hadn't done anything just the night before. Harry's palm subconsciously strayed to his neck, half expecting not to find anything at all, and being unpleasantly surprised to find a very sensitive spot that Draco had paid particular attention too; with his uncalled for nipping!
Draco heard the soft hiss and saw the ferocious glare sent his way. It made him chuckle slightly. Which only served to earn him another growl of distaste. He waited patiently for Harry to start speaking, he couldn't really say anything until he knew what the smaller mans thoughts were after all.
"What did you do last night?" came a rather venomous question from the bottom half of the bed. Draco merely raised an eyebrow.
Harry huffed, annoyed at the infuriating, not to mention unsatisfying response. For fuck's sake! The vampire could have bloody killed him! And he still didn't get any proper answers; he could feel all the suppressed emotions from the previous days start to well up in his chest.
Most of Harry's anger at the moment was stemming from his confusion. Never had anyone been that…intimate with him (which was just another part of his so far rather depressing life) and it had made him feel-…warm, so warm. The fact that the blonde had drunk his blood, however, was completely wrong, only superseded by the most frightening aspect of it all, that he had-…liked it. So much. It felt like admitting to a dreadful sin and it all just made him more confused and just set off all the other reactions he had been ignoring.
The fearful dreams, the wearing of his nerves by staying in this house all by himself, that chamber underneath the drawing room, being told about everyone disappearing, the storms in the tower, the remains of Mark Evans, meeting with a real vampire, the fucking numbness!!!
At this point Harry couldn't stop it, he couldn't breathe, it was too much, too much on his body and his mind, too much on everything.
"I…I can't- I can't, do…this. Too much-…it's…all-too much. I…can't," he wheezed as his breath began to hitch distressingly.
Draco watched in alarm as his little charmant managed to work himself into a full blown panic attack, curling his knees up and choking slightly as he began to hyperventilate.
The vampire swiftly moved to cradle the distraught brunette from behind. Draco wasn't actually all that surprised that Harry had finally broken down, he had taken everything a little too well. It seemed as if everything had at last come back to him.
Draco rubbed his back and whispered words of comfort, much like he had done only the day before when he had woken, crying out from his nightmare. He felt a wetness seep into his shirt and looking up, saw crystal tears cascading down Harry's cheeks and dampening the Egyptian cotton bedspread where they fell.
Draco sighed and pulled the younger boy to his chest. If Harry were anyone else at this point, Draco was well aware that he probably would have just left them on the floor and moved on. Of course, any of the proper acquaintances he had wouldn't do this, and the only others that saw him were normally for drinking purposes, so it was really a moot point. Still, it remained that Draco was not the type to do this for just anyone, but then again, Harry was his. And Draco Malfoy took care of the little he ever cared to claim as his own.
Under Draco's ministrations, Harry slowly started to calm, his great lungfuls of air receding to a pathetic hiccupping, and the flow of tears ceasing. His head though, remained where it was, leaning against the older man's chest, soothed by the silence. The rhythmic pulse of the blonde's heart lulling him better than any lullaby ever could.
Should Draco have a heartbeat at all?
Harry was still a bit dazed, so with usual tact, he blurted out the question with a bluntness normally reserved for Ronald Weasley.
"Draco, why do you have a heartbeat?"
Draco gave him a haughty look, "why shouldn't I have one?"
Harry frowned slightly at that. Vampires didn't have any blood; surely that is why they needed to drink it? And so why would their hearts be needed to beat, he knew for a fact that Draco didn't breathe.
"Because…you're a vampire?" asked Harry stated inquisitively.
Draco gave a low chuckle, which due to Harry's position let him feel the vibrations spread through his chest. It was a disturbingly nice feeling.
"You obviously don't know a thing about vampires charmant. I shall have to endeavour to teach you properly at some point." Draco sighed, "for now accept that when a vampire is Turned, it is as if they are…reborn I suppose. The heart stops, but then starts again. And we most certainly have our own blood," he added seemingly as an afterthought.
"Are you reading my mind again?"
Draco gave an elegant snort, "I thought I told you that I did not need to."
They once again lapsed into silence, both very content with their current arrangement. Harry allowed his head to loll onto the vampires shoulder, letting his eyes partly slide closed, starting to fall asleep again. His little breakdown earlier (he cringed internally at the thought of it) had taken quite a lot of energy out of him, and he was still a little drowsy from the blood loss last night. Harry let this fact slide though; he had enjoyed last night's…activities far too much.
Just as Harry was about to drift off back to sleep, his eyes snapped wide as he suddenly remembered.
"Oh shit!" he exclaimed, shooting up from his comfortable position on the bed and crawling over to the edge so he could stand.
"What?" came Draco's rather amused response.
"What day is it?" Harry asked hurriedly, disregarding the vampire's query.
The blonde had a slightly bemused look in his eyes, but answered nevertheless, "It is Friday, the 12th of October. Why?"
"Fuck!"
As Draco appeared no more knowing at his current fast pacing and spewing of profanities about the date, Harry decided to enlighten him.
"It's Friday, and I was supposed to call Hermione, just to make sure I'm: 'ok', how things are going and all that shit. Where the hell is my phone!" he finished with a growl of aggravation.
Draco narrowed his eyes slightly at the mention of the woman's name. "Who is Hermione Harry?"
Harry looked up from fumbling through his pockets in search of his blasted mobile, and blinked owlishly at the enquiry.
"Oh, she's just one of my best friends, who seems to take pleasure in pretending that she's my mother at times," admitted Harry distractedly.
Draco leaned back against the silken headboard, not entirely assured by the smaller man's somewhat vague answer, but removed from further thought by Harry finally retrieving his phone from a pocket Draco had been sure he did not have a moment ago.
Harry's victory was pitifully short lived, however, as when he attempted to call, it had the audacity to screech that 'the number you have dialled is unavailable'. The calm mechanical voice merely served to aggravate his temper further.
"Why won't you work! You stupid, stupid thing!"
All thoughts of meddling mother-friends were driven from Draco's mind as he witnessed the extremely hilarious scene in front of him. His little minuo was not only exceedingly cute while angry, but that delicious flush across his cheeks and that fire in his eyes had returned, causing the vampire to flick his tongue over his teeth delightedly at the sight.
Draco sighed in false exasperation, enjoying the situation immensely and finding it difficult to summon the necessary control not to laugh, "Where are you trying to call to charmant?"
Harry finally redirected his attention to the blonde as he whirled around, his ire rising by the moment.
"Italy, why?" he snapped out.
Not at all perturbed by the tetchy young man glaring at him, Draco merely replied with a light condescending, " Well, have you thought that that may be the problem?"
Harry just looked dumbly at the device in his hand for a moment before exploding with great irritable wrath.
"Stupid, fucking, useless, PAY-AS-YOU-GO!"
And with that, the veritably murderous brunette threw his mobile as hard as he possibly could away from himself in pure raging disgust.
Straight out the window.
Draco watched with shining eyes as Harry blinked, before realising just what he had done; he ran to the sill, only in time to see one of the bushes shudder slightly. Harry collapsed against the glass in despair and stared morosely out towards the shrubbery; his previous anger having disappeared along with his phone out the window.
Harry was disturbed form his mourning as he heard the most pleasant sound. It was light and affectionate, bathing him in warmth as if he had just been dipped into a wonderfully hot bath. He turned around to see the most astounding sight, of Draco having fallen off the bed in complete and utter hysterics.
Harry failed to see what was quite so funny about the situation.
"What are you laughing at?"
Draco quickly recovered enough control to not only stand but also to smirk viciously at him as well. Bastard.
"Sorry lovely, but you are so entirely endearing when you're mad," said Draco with humour still echoing in his voice.
Harry gave a mournful sigh and let his shoulders drop; he was far too tired for anymore of this. And his problem still remained. Luckily for him, Draco just seemed to know absolutely everything that afternoon.
"If you still have to call that Hermione girl," said the vampire, while leaning leisurely against one of the bedposts, "then I'm sure you can use one of the payphones in town. If you have any money that is."
Harry groaned painfully at his. It took at least half an hour to walk into town, let alone find anything. It was far too much effort. Then again, if he didn't, then his bushy-haired friend would be all the worse when he did eventually manage to speak with her.
Harry sighed once more for good measure and glanced out of the luckily open window. He wasn't quite sure what part of the afternoon it was, probably still early as there was plenty of blue sky, but he should probably just get this bloody phone call over and done with. He was startled out of his thoughts by Draco's voice.
"Should we go then?"
Harry looked up at the innocent looking vampire, some of his lost fury rising again.
"We? I am not a child! You do not need to escort me whenever I leave the house!" Harry yelled indignantly.
"How convenient," said Draco lightly, " for I am not escorting you, I am stalking you."
And with a beatific smile, Draco sashayed gracefully out the door.
Harry's stab of irritation was easily swept away as he felt his lips twitch.
Draco watched dispassionately as Harry fiddled with his little stack of coins once again.
"Weren't you born in England charmant?" drawled Draco in a rather ire-inducing manner.
"Yes," Harry spat out through gritted teeth, "but I haven't been back for well over four years. I would be perfectly fine if I had yen, or roubles, or anything else."
The vampire merely raised a disbelieving eyebrow. And watched once more, as there was the clink of metal as Harry managed to drop several of them and had to bend over to catch them. When he finally retrieved them all, he made sure to grip them tightly. And prayed that the blonde would refrain from saying anything else.
"Are you sure you're not just clumsy?" asked Draco indulgently after a short pause.
"No," said Harry tightly as he slammed the coins into the machine with slightly more force than strictly required, " but don't you have anything else to do?"
Harry turned to face the vampire when he remained silent and was rewarded with a pensive look spread across his features. Eventually he spoke,
"Yes, in fact, I do," he glanced at Harry, as if debating something in his mind.
"I'll see you later. Tonight." and with that Draco stepped into the shadow cast by the phone box and just…disappeared.
Harry blinked in shock at the sudden departure. He couldn't help but think, in a very small voice, 'what happened to the stalking?'
The wind that had been missing for most of the day rose up again, lifting tresses of midnight hair and sending a twinge of pain jolting across the scar on his forehead. Rubbing it slightly, and vaguely pondering on the strange chill that seemed to have suddenly appeared, Harry returned his attention to the ringing phone.
He picked up just in time to hear a squeal of "Harry! Are you ok? I was so worried. We were all so worried, why didn't you call yesterday? Or the day before? What happened has something gone wrong? Oh I just knew that something terrible must be going on, I mean what Dumbledore said-oh I just can't believe that I let you stay there! You could have died or worse!"
"…I was supposed to have called yesterday?" asked Harry blankly.
"…Sometimes Harry, you're worse than Ron."
"Hey! I am not that bad, and anyway I can't stay long, I'm using a payphone."
"Why are you using a payphone, where's your mobile?" asked Hermione curiously.
There was a pause.
"I seem to have…misplaced it."
"Harry!" wailed Hermione, " How can you lose a phone?!" There was a rush of static as the girl gave a despondent sigh down the line. Harry decided overall not to be offended; the real circumstances were a lot worse in his opinion, though he did resent the 'Ron' comment, just a little.
"Never mind, what's done is done. Have you at least made any progress yet?"
For a moment Harry really didn't know what on earth she was talking about.
"Huh? Oh! The house, right," he said, still slightly off-kilter, "Um, well…I've been a bit…distracted (Harry winced at the implications) and, er, I'm not quite as-as far…as I'd like to be…but by the time you arrive next week it'll all be sorted out!" as he said this he also realised that those same words could be practically applied to anything.
Including his and Draco's rather inexplicable relationship.
Harry went quite the interesting shade of cherry red at the thought and stifled a small shriek of mortification at his own thoughts treachery.
It was unfortunate that Hermione still managed to hear it.
"Harry? Are you alright!"
"Fine, just…fine," said Harry in a slightly strained voice.
"Well, if your sure, and you have nothing else to tell me…" she trailed off uncertainly, obviously truly worried about him.
"Really, I'm fine."
The call went dead as the line was cut off.
Harry cursed and checked his pockets for change, only to find a few pennies that were useless. He sighed to himself and left the phone box, glancing at the sky. The sky was looking a little cloudy at the moment.
With the wind whipping against him, and hurling dried leaves about him, Harry turned and began the trek back to the house. His conversation with Hermione had been uneventful and brief; leading his mind to ponder what 'things' Draco might have had to attend to.
Grey eyes stared unfocused out the window, and Draco swirled the wineglass between his fingers. Taking a small sip of the dark red liquid within, he allowed himself to drift through his thoughts. His forever-evolving relationship with his precious little minuo was, surprisingly, not the focus of his mind at the moment. He had left the smaller man in order to check over a few things. And they had given him a lot to think about.
Draco gave a small irritated sigh; he had been at rest for a long time, or rather, a lot had happened in that time. He tipped back some more of the wineglass and swallowed quickly. After having the taste of his charmant in his mouth, the blood he usually took was almost unpalatable in comparison.
The vampire curled his brow into a scowl as he continued to stare into the distance. The only good thing was that he had been able to travel to his destinations with speed, something advantageous about being a dark creature of the night, he supposed. He had met with several of his…acquaintances. There was nothing wrong per say…but…it was all the little things, the subtle undertones. Something was moving, whispering a sense of fear, which gave him an undeniable sense of pending.
The worst being it stirred long rested memories that he had hoped, perhaps foolishly, would stay in the past. Draco sighed once more, hopefully the rumours were only that; rumours.
On the upside, his various bank accounts and investments were flourishing quite well. Even after over three hundred years, he still retained the Malfoy financial skills; Draco harboured no desire to become a pauper, dead or no. Perhaps he should take up Harry's suggestion after all, he mused, the manor really would benefit from some renovation. Then again, it had never felt right to do so; the truth being that he just couldn't face the past that still lingered in the very walls of the place.
Draco let a sardonic smirk grace his face. He was overdue his ominous brood sessions.
It was overdue, Harry decided, for a change in attire. Oh, he hadn'tbeen wearing the same thing for 5 days now, but the air had been a bit more humid than he remembered and the slight incline to the manor steeper. Simply put, he smelled disgusting. And some new clothes would be greatly appreciated. A shower would be wonderful, but that would mean sneaking into Draco's rooms, and Harry was far too shy to do such a thing. At least, not quite yet.
As he found a cream shirt that he deigned wearable, Harry let his thoughts trail to a certain blonde vampire. Again. It was all very confusing when it came to him. Harry knew that against all logic, he felt comfortable; almost safe with the man, and that unfortunately he had no true objection to all the …kissing. Hell, even the whole blood thing was easily skimmed over; it had felt so good anyway.
His friends would be horrified.
Harry sighed as he finished changing and set off down the spiral stairs, intending on finding the object of his thoughts.
His search led him to the balcony room, the one that housed the piano. Draco could be seen leaning by the railings, another wineglass in hand. Harry shivered, vividly recalling the first time he saw that glass in his mind and went to join him.
Draco watched with hooded eyes as his little charmant appeared next to him, resolutely staring out over the grounds. He couldn't stifle the smirk that made its way across his face; Harry had sought him out.
"Enjoying the view?" he murmured lowly. He knew Harry had heard him from the slight shudder than ran its course down the smaller man's back.
Harry tried his hardest to resist but inevitably failed and, giving in, glanced at the man beside him from the corner of his eye. The moon was out that night, shining silver, and yet keeping the night dark at the same time. At the present moment it was illuminating the vampires beautiful features in such a magnificent way, that Harry felt his breath hitch traitorously. Harry deftly turned his head.
Staring at the edges of the wilted rose garden, he heard a mournful sigh, but kept his sight fixed to where it was.
"Enough of these games charmant, at least for tonight. I don't believe we have the time required for it."
That turned Harry's head, and he frowned slightly, not understanding.
"Time?"
Draco sighed once again. He wasn't entirely sure what he meant either; only that it was most definitely true. Which was a disquieting thought for the both of them.
Draco turned to face the young, dark haired man, and Harry was struck with the realisation that Draco looked…tired. There were no lines on his face or any slump in his posture to suggest so, but Harry knew he felt weary. It was the eyes, he decided, the stormy grey were far too weighted, and not with age.
Draco had once thought that his minuo was a pretty little thing. He now ascertained that Harry was beautiful instead. Perhaps not physically; he had unsightly glasses and was far too thin to be considered completely healthy, but he was beautiful none the less, especially with those lovely green eyes of his.
Before either of them knew it, lips were meeting under the moonlight. It did not follow like the ones previous however. It was soft and gentle with an odd sort of longing lying beneath it. When they parted, Harry knew that something had just irrevocably changed between them, but what, he could not possibly fathom.
Both silently returned to staring out at the moonlit lawns.
There was something nagging on the edge of his mind, but for the life of him, he could not figure out what. It was like some irritating itch that just wouldn't go away, and it caused his nerves to tense, the urge to do something, anything overwhelming.
"I need to go check over some things," he said softly, making Harry start at the suddenness.
Harry bit his lip, resisting the urge to satisfy his burning curiosity. He probably really didn't want to know anyway, as with those double doors. Not trusting himself to speak, encase he inadvertently blurted out some inane question, Harry just nodded.
Draco, however, appeared satisfied and once again just stepped back into the shadows of the doorway and disappeared from sight.
Harry gave a strangled noise of irritation; he would have to ask the vampire just how he did that.
He turned back to the gardens again, wondering what on earth he was going to do now. He wasn't tired in any way and his only real source of distraction had just vanished through a shade. He sighed and rested his head on his palm, leaning over the railings, gaining a strange satisfaction from feeling the metal dig in just under his ribs. His eyes trailed to a path that twisted past the back of the house; it was similar to the patio he saw in the private gardens the night before.
Feeling a curios desire to see where the path led, Harry walked on silent feet to the front doors, and made his way out onto the grounds. The wind was picking up again and Harry felt a stab of pain dash through the scar on his forehead. He stumbled slightly at the unexpected hurt, but it was gone as swiftly as it had come, and Harry easily shook it off and continued down the dusty path he had found.
Harry halted when he came to the sinister spiked gate. It was nestled in the shadows, causing the dark wrought metal to appear suddenly, like a shadow. Indeed, had it not been for the smatterings of moonlight on the ground, he was sure he would have walked right into it. Luckily the spikes were on the other side, facing in towards the garden. It also looked very heavy. The grooves from where it had been moved were deeper than Harry had thought from the window above.
One side of the gate, however, was left slightly ajar. It was a small space, but it was enough for Harry to nimbly slide through.
As he was in, he cast another surveying glance around the garden. It was stunning to the highest degree. Harry almost couldn't believe that Draco could nurture a garden like this and still not understand the beauty of growing things. He shook his head, even if Draco merely kept them this way for his mother, he was glad he did.
He leisurely made his way down the raised patio, gazing out across the grass to the large oak tree to the side. He could hear the light tinkle of running water, and he curiously made his way round the bend and paused.
There were several pools, with large tumbling rocks artistically arranged into a waterfall. The most inspiring sight was that the water seemed perfectly clear, and glistened in the dark. He just stood there for several minutes, mesmerised by the gentle flow of water, lulled by the graceful movements.
When he eventually snapped himself from his self-induced daze, he followed on down the path, and over it when it bridged the shimmering stream below him.
His steps became hesitant once he crossed though. The turns had led him out of sight from the house, and the air began to become colder, feeling heavy as it pressed against him. Nevertheless he pushed on, round another large tree with thick, crumbling bark. He idly noticed that he had moved onto grass, instead of more stone, and only then realised that he was barefoot. He blushed slightly at the fact he hadn't been aware enough to notice. It wasn't something one usually forgot after all.
He made a final turn and found him self enclosed in a small little grove. The bushes were substantially lush and on one side there were intricate climbing vines. There was not anything worthy of notice, and Harry frowned slightly, wondering why he would come here of all places.
He was just about to turn around to leave when he caught sight of something outside of his peripheral vision.
It was a mask.
And lying quite innocently on the moss, propped against a tree. For some reason, the mere sight of it made his skin tingle unpleasantly, but his insatiable curiosity won out once more and he peered closer.
It was white, and held the slightly powdery texture of porcelain. It was angular, with most of the features smoothed over, and was completed with slanted rectangular eyeholes.
The wind whistled through some of the higher branches above, and the chill of the night deepened further. His anxiety increasing, Harry quickly turned to leave once again, wishing as much distance between that mask and himself as possible. What he saw when he gave it one last glimpse stopped him dead.
The white mask was rising from the ground, as shadows slid from the hollows to begin to craft a figure. Harry watched with growing horror as the form rose taller than himself and the surrounding shades continued to merge together.
He was petrified to the spot. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the scene in front of him. His heart thudded terrified in his chest and lungs refused to inhale. He was only able to muster the strength to look up to see the white mask in the place of the creatures face. The figure seemed to be made up of whirling pieces of darkness and as Harry saw the eyes glow red, his fear broke him from his trance.
He stepped back, stumbled and then fled back the way he had come, feet pounding on the floor, his bare feet creating a slapping noise on the stone.
Across the bridge, he gave into the temptation to look behind and saw that the figure was giving pursuit. Harry let out a stuttering cry of disbelief and vainly tried to run faster.
Slap-slap-slap-slap-
He couldn't breath; his lungs were burning white hot as he tried to get more oxygen through him. His mind and thoughts were in frenzied disarray, the adrenalin disorientating his already hazy mind, causing the world to tilt.
Slap-slap-slap-slap-
Suddenly, he could hear a hissing noise from behind him, he didn't need to see to know what it was, he could already imagine it spewing from the spirit's mouth, spitting its way through the mask. He could feel the severe malicious pressure closing in on him, his heart beating furiously-
Slap-slap-slap-slap-
Where was Draco? Shouldn't he know what was happening? Shouldn't he be here? Why wasn't he here!
Harry skidded round the corner, and continued running, right along the raised patio, the gate up ahead.
He would never make it though, the shadow behind him had nearly caught up, he could feel it closing in on him, the gate was just up ahead, only a few metres, the creature stretched forth a hand to grab him-
And three noises rang through the air.
Draco had known there was something wrong, possibly all evening. After leaving Harry, he had retreated to his study, trying to work out what had put him so on edge. It was a familiar presence, but his perfect memory mind was being stubbornly uncooperative. It was rather frustrating to say the least.
When he had finally dredged up the memory, the vampire could have sworn his heart stopped beating for the second time in his life. He sat there, in his chair, still, for several moments before a desperate cry sounded through the night.
Harry.
He had quickly grabbed what he needed from the top of his desk and melded into the shadows, instantly appearing outside.
Eyes bleeding dangerous silver, Draco had intercepted the spirit, preying on
A double thud echoed through the garden, masking the third. Draco had impaled the creature through the neck to a tree, a silver sword imbedded several inches in the bark.
Draco watched with satisfaction as the figure went limp, the red burn of its eyes dimming to nothingness. Draco turned; wanting to make sure that his little charmant was all right and that any injuries were merely superficial. What he saw made his eyes widen.
Harry was cold. That was the only thing registering in his mind. Other than that, it was utterly blank. He supposed he was a little numb as well, but he had no idea why.
It took him a moment to realise where he was. The shadow, had it got him? No, he could see it pinned to that tree over there. Draco had appeared after all.
So why was he cold? He looked down, feeling as if everything was taking an age to happen, like everything was in slow motion, or he was moving through treacle.
Red. He saw red, seeping through his shirt, and there was something on his chest. He slowly brought his hand up to feel the wetness, and his palm came away red. Now starting to shake, Harry recognised it; it was blood. He was bleeding? Why?
It took him several more seconds to realise what the rough, dark object nestling just under his ribs was.
Harry had impaled him self on the gate.
The spike had rammed straight into him, and he had been moving too fast at the time to stop.
He glanced at his hand again, feeling the wetness get colder.
His voice was small and cracked as he breathed out,
"Oh."
With awareness, the numbness rapidly gave way to pain.
There was a thick, wet, gouging sound as he came away from the barb, his legs crumpling beneath him, making him hit the stone slabs with a smack. He couldn't move, not even to close his eyes.
Draco watched, as Harry collapsed, dark red blood staining the ground from the gaping wound in his chest. This…this couldn't be happening! How…
Harry wasn't supposed to die…
Draco felt his world come to a screeching halt as it began to collapse in on him. Harry…his little charmant…had made him feel…happy. Something that he had long given up on…this couldn't happen.
With that thought came decision. Perhaps Harry would hate him for it, but Draco was a selfish person, no matter how hard he might try, he couldn't let his minuo go, and especially not to this, of all things.
Draco rushed over to the bleeding man, to kneel down beside him and delicately held Harry's head in his lap. The vampire was pained to see that the beautiful green eyes had dulled, and that his pulse was far too faint for a mortal to ever recover from.
Draco let his fangs descend and lengthen before quickly biting down straight onto a vein in the dying man's neck. It didn't take the blonde long, considering most of his lovely minuo's blood lay pooled on the floor around them; Draco winced at the thought.
Praying that it wasn't too late, the vampire viciously bit into his wrist and held it against Harry's mouth, letting his own blood trickle through parted lips.
Despite his attempts, Draco was despondently aware of how likely it was that Harry would ever wake again.
A/N: Oh no, Harry's dead! Shame that. Don't worry, the story ain't ending here. Now, question time! I would really like to know your thoughts on this one, coz this chapter changes a lot of things, and in coming chapters everything is gonna get much more complicated, so I really want to know what you think. Now, a nice question, how do people feel about SBxRL? Please review!!!