Title: Bounty Hunter II: Black and White

Author: Snippy of Snippy and Snarky

Pairing: H/D, Hr/SS, implied H/G (but not really)

Disclaimer: HP & Co NOT MINE – don't sue.

Synopsis: Note: Disregard sixth book as the first Bounty Hunter was written before it came out, and does not incorporate its plots and character arcs. The struggle between shades of grey is enough to tear a hero in two. . .

Rating: Mature, R, Adult – rated for language explicit sexual situations and violence – reader discretion is advised.

A/N's: A quick note on the H/G implied – what I mean is there will be situations between them with sexual subtext, dark, disturbing, unrequited and wrong subtext – it's about a power-play and intimidation – there will be no romantic relationship between them – and probably no sexual TEXT – just SUBtext. To be perfectly clear, HARRY IS NOT ATTRACTED TO GINNY! Hope that relieves some fears – hey, guys, just trust me, alright? I won't let you down.

Oh – and still looking for betas. Thanks. Peace, love and a couple of sarcastic snakes!

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Harry cracked his knuckles. "What a pleasure, Lucius. I always wanted to be able to kill you again."

"I'd be careful, Potter. There's a whole new crop of enemies surrounding you now."

"Funny." Harry gestured at Lucius. "Blond, snobby, evil. They look the same to me."

"Even now, your old friends are plotting your imminent demise."

"Hey, when you're stuck in a castle, you have to make your own fun." Harry shrugged.

"They think you're Voldemort, Harry."

Harry just stared blankly at Lucius. "Why would they think that?"

"Because there are two of you." Lucius smirked. "The boys who lived, so to speak."

"Two of me?"

"Sit down, Potter." Lucius sprawled elegantly in one of the armchairs near the fireplace.

"Shouldn't you be stroking some kind of sinister cat?" Harry smirked as he settled onto the leather couch. "So which rock did you slither out from under?"

"I know you're surprised to see me." Lucius rested his cane against his knee. "It's been a long time since you left me for dead covered in poisonous snakes."

"You look good for a dead man, Lucius." Harry's eyes swept the older man. He could see so much of Lucius in Draco. "But then, Malfoy's are always pretty."

Lucius' eyes flashed, and for a second, he looked like he was about to say something to Harry. Then he stopped and started again. "Harry, there is a secret sect – "

"Called Death Eaters, sworn allegiance to the Dark Lord, scary tattoos, blah, blah, blah . . . "

"No. Some of us were members of the top tier of Death Eaters, but Riddle and his insanity are hardly the point. This is a society of power, Harry."

"What are you talking about?" Harry's voice and face were cold as stone, but inside his heart raced. He felt the same way he had the day Hagrid had told him about the Boy Who Lived, like here was another piece of his destiny, something he should have known, but didn't.

"There was supposed to be a fifth house in Hogwarts, Harry. Did you know that?"

Harry shook his head.

"There was a fifth founder, a fifth member of that little group. He was Salazar Slytherin's cousin. A handsome man, charismatic, and powerful. A man so ambitious, so ruthless, that they ultimately refused to let him help found the school. Even Slytherin, his very own cousin, felt he couldn't be trusted, not that Salazar trusted anyone really."

"Why?" Harry cursed the curiosity in his voice. "Was he dangerous?"

"He was . . . I don't have the words." Lucius paused for a moment, admiration in his eyes. Harry had the passing thought that it was the first honest emotion other than anger Lucius had ever expressed in his presence. "He was undefeatable. He fought wars and was the last one standing." Lucius cut Harry a sharp look. "Literally. Often all of his team died, but he survived. He was rumored to have the power to deflect spells – unfortunately, they fell on whoever was closest."

Harry bit his lip to prevent from crying, 'But it wasn't his fault!"

"And maybe that's why they wouldn't let him in. He had so many enemies, so many wizards trying to kill him, that with his deflection powers standing in a six-foot radius of him was inviting death." Lucius shrugged, a cat-got-the-canary grin on his face. "But he was allowed to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts for a few semesters, and developed his own following, students loyal to him and his ideals. An invisible fifth house if you will. And this fifth house is the society I was telling you about."

"What was his name?"

"Pardon?"

"His name."

Lucius smiled. "Bane. Bane Black."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Harry left Dumbledore's office feeling vaguely disconnected and dazed. Voldemort walking around looking like him. Something inside of him whispered that it couldn't be true. But what would that mean? Two Harry's? It didn't matter, of course. He knew what it meant. Either way, the other him was evil and must be killed.

Dumbledore had made it clear that this little secret was to be kept between the two of them for the time being. The Wizarding World was just starting to recover from the War, to wake from a deep shock. They didn't need any more confusion in their lives. Let them rejoice and think it was all over for awhile. They deserved it.

Harry left the castle, heading out across the grounds. He stood by the lake like he used to when he was a student here. The grounds were quiet, but Harry had learned to like being alone.

The area seemed to echo with the exuberant youthful cries of former Hogwart's students. He looked over to the ruins of Hagrid's hut, his eyes pricking painfully, though he hadn't cried in years. These grounds were a graveyard now. Harry sat heavily on the ground, laid his head on his folded arms and wept. SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"So, Potter. Do you understand what I'm asking?"

"I do," Harry nodded.

There was a knock at the outside door. Lucius moved to answer it. A man in a black cloak swept into the room.

"Sir, the cloaking spell is in place. No one will come near here." The cloaked man bowed. "But we're having a little trouble with the prisoner."

"Prisoner?" Harry questioned sharply.

"Well, he always was a troublemaker. What does he want now?"

"Out, not to put too fine a point on it." The cloaked man hesitated, then added, "And we were thinking, since it's the Dark Lord's place to decide what to do with him . . . "

"Dark Lord?" Harry interjected softly.

"That would be you, Potter." Lucius smiled wickedly.

"Well then, let's see this prisoner." Harry sat back in his chair and summoned a bottle of firewhiskey.

Lucius made a gesture and the man disappeared.

"Sit down, Lucius. Have a drink." Harry waited while the blond man complied. "Convince me not to kill you, again."

"You need to put a little more emphasis on your sarcasm, Potter. It's hard to tell when you're joking."

"I wasn't joking." Harry smirked.

There was a loud crash upstairs. "Get your bloody hands the fuck off me!"

Harry smiled deeply. He'd recognize that snarling voice anywhere. Draco.

"You imprisoned your son?"

"Well, I was going to send him to bed without his supper, but the little bastard keeps conjuring his own."

Draco appeared at the base of the stairs, the cloaked man following close behind him. Draco sneered at the man as he reached for the blond's elbow. "Try it and I'll break your arm."

"Play nice, son," Lucius admonished.

"Piss off, Father." Draco scowled. "You're still alive?"

"Takes more than a snake in the grass to kill me." Lucius smiled.

"Apparently. Tell me, if we chop you in half, do we get two of you?"

"You're asking the wrong person." Lucius intimated darkly.

Harry stood. "Leave us."

The cloaked man scrambled to leave the room. Harry turned his stare on Lucius.

"Harry, I'm not sure this is the best idea – "

"I'm sure I didn't ask your opinion. Leave." Harry glared at him.

"I just think – "

"I don't care what you think. I know what you want. I listened to what you had to say. I'm here." Harry folded his arms over his chest. "But at the end of the day, I pretty much think, once a Death Eater, always a Death Eater. I'd as soon kill you as look at you. So get out."

Lucius turned and swept gracefully from the room.

"Nice to see you back from the dead, Father." Draco called to the slamming door.

"So, Potter, what do you intend to do with me?" Draco crossed his arms over his chest. Draco had not been cleaned up by the scary secret sect of Death Eaters.

"I have a list." Harry's eyes flashed. "So did you know about the fifth house?"

Draco just stared at him.

"I see."

Draco shrugged. "I'm the heir to a legacy."

"Sit." Harry gestured to the seat his father had vacated.

Draco perched on the side of the coffee table instead. "Good to see you haven't lost your monosyllabic charm. So are we going to have tea?"

Harry plunked the bottle of firewhiskey that he had been gripping down beside Draco. "What, no truth serum this time?"

"Do I need it?" Harry sprawled back on the couch once more. "I didn't think so."

"What the bloody hell is going on?" Draco pursed his lips. It wasn't like him to engage in an outburst, but he felt seriously close to the end of his rope.

"I find myself . . ." Harry seemed to struggle with his words. "In strange territory."

"What do you want from me, Harry?" Draco stood, pacing in agitation. "In the past few days, I almost killed a girl, got kidnapped, almost got killed, got laid, almost got killed again, helped defeat the Dark Lord and got kidnapped again. I'm too tired to play games."

"You once told me that you would help me make friends with the right sort of wizards."

"I did."

"I'd like to take you up on the offer." Harry held out his hand.

Draco stared at him for a moment, his heart racing for reasons he refused to examine. He put his hand in Harry's, a feeling of fate electrifying the feel of Harry's fingers wrapped around his own. "I can help you there."

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

Ginny found herself standing in the middle of the Chamber of Secrets. Nobody knew that she could still open it, and every now and then she came down to be alone. Or at least that's what she told herself. She was looking for someone, someone who was dead now. Harry had killed him.

A chill wind swept the chamber, and she looked up. "Tom?"

The silence mocked her.

"What's wrong with me?" She whispered. Ginny had been drawn to Tom in a way that had to be unnatural. He had listened to her, talked to her – and it didn't matter that she could feel the darkness emanating from him. And through this young experience, she had picked up an attraction to darkness and power. All of her boyfriends had been too nice for her. She even had to admit that she had been drawn to Harry that day he saved her in the woods, his raw fury, his ruthless attitude. She shivered. It was the first time she had felt anything like that since . . . since Tom.

Ginny tried to push the thoughts away. She knew there was nothing between her and Harry. For one, if her hunch proved correct, she didn't even have the right body parts for Harry to be interested. And more than that, she wasn't attracted to Harry. Just turned on by his darkness.

And what did she do now? There was no bringing people back who were gone. There was no one dark enough to hold her attention. Tom was dead. And she was going to spend the rest of her life alone. She almost turned to leave, but instead, sat down in the place where the ink had pooled long ago. She didn't cry. She didn't speak. And she didn't move for the rest of the night.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

"So there are two of you now?" Draco steepled his hands in front of his face as he tended to do when thinking things over.

"Apparently."

"So what do you intend to do about it?"

"For right now?" Harry grinned, a parody of his boyish expression. "Have a little fun, until they figure it out."

"And then?"

"Well, it's obvious. I have a twin. He's evil. And I must kill him," Harry stated matter of factly.

"I see. And you want me to help you kill . . . you."

"Among other things," Harry's eyes flashed once more.

Draco swallowed. "And you're going to join us, the House of Black?"

"Join you?" Harry smirked. "Oh Draco, you hit your head harder than I thought. Your Father wasn't here to ask me to join you."

"No?" Draco looked at Harry, realization sweeping through him.

"I have decided to lead you." Harry smiled, standing and looking down at Draco, his innate power a cloak around him.

"So, how do we tell you apart from your evil twin? Are you going to wear nametags or something?"

"Wouldn't really help, seeing as how we have the same name."

"Pick a different name."

Harry sat, took a sip from the whiskey bottle and considered. "Not a bad idea. I do feel different, somehow."

Draco sat back, drinking in the picture of Harry sitting across from him, as if they were old school chums, as if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin and they had always been best friends . . . or something else. "So what do I call you now?"

"Already planning on calling out my name?" Harry smirked. Draco returned the expression, not backing down. "Well, I suppose you can call me 'Bane'."