Title: Bounty Hunter II: Black and White

Chapter Title: Be Seeing You.

Author: Snippy of Snippy and Snarky

Pairing: H/D, Hr/SS, L/G (other pairings added as story continues)

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. Not intended for underage readers. Also features m/m slash – as always, if you made it to this chapter and are offended by such things, I assume you want to be, and you are most welcome – always happy to oblige!!

A/N's: And then there were three … grin … this chapter introduces one of my favorite character. Is he from Harry Potter? Well, I happen to think he plays a big role in Harry's life, but he's not exactly in the book. Let's just say he's neither original character nor cannon character. You tell me how to classify him …

Peace, love and a couple of sarcastic snakes!

Draco entered the hospital wing, quickly spotting the red-haired mediwitch putting away supplies methodically with a flick of her wand. As Ginny turned, her profile by the darkened windows held a wicked air, and Draco could sense a familiar scent in the air – power and desperation.

"Hello Weasley."

"Draco.'' Ginny didn't turn from what she was doing. "How may I help you?"

"Well, I certainly don't need anything as extensive as what you have previously offered the Malfoy family," he drawled smirking.

"If you'd get to the point, please?"

"We need to talk. I think you have information I need." Draco quickly recounted what he had gleaned from Piper's words, ignoring the way Ginny crinkled up her nose at the mention of the new student. "So, what do you think?"

"I think if she calls me 'little Miss Muffet one more time, I'm going to –"

"Focus, Weasley. What are Death's toys, and how do we find him to ask if he wants them back? And how is this going to help our split personality problem?" Draco paced back and forth, electricity snapping in his agitated movements.

"How should I know?" She seated herself on one of the empty cots, closing her eyes and sighing deeply.

"If I'm not mistaken, you've learned a few new tricks since last we saw each other." The doors to the Hospital Ward banged open. In walked Harry and Bane, dressed identically in black clothing and professor's robes with the Black crest on them, a rearing thestral in the middle of a triangle. The wicked glint in Bane's eyes told her who had spoken.

Bane raised his hand, a crackle of power arcing in green sparkle across his fingers. "I can feel it on you, you know. The dry electricity. I can feel it."

"What are you talking about?" Ginny snapped, crossing her arms over his chest.

"You know what he's talking about, Gin," Harry said softly. "I can feel it, too."

"Do you know what you've gotten yourself into? What you're trying to harness will drag you down, drown you in it." Bane walked past the cot as if he was about to start pacing as well. Draco stepped out of his way, eyes narrowing.

Harry moved to stand in front of Ginny, close enough to her bent knees to stop her from standing up. "I saved your life."

"I know, Harry." Ginny swallowed thickly. Harry wasn't quite the hero she had grown up with, and yet, the sense of guilt and defiance he created in her was choking.

"Do you want to help me? Pay me back for saving your life?"

"Of course." The words were bitter but honest.

"Close your eyes, Gin. Think about what we want. What we need," Bane coaxed, his voice soft and caressing.

Her eyes closed of their own volition. Draco's eyes widened as he realized that Bane and Harry were making sure her intentions were aligned with theirs, so they could draw on her power.

"Breathe …" Harry whispered.

Draco focused on Harry, something in his body language calling to mind a coiled serpent in a hypnotizing sway. Without warning, Harry reached out and grasped Ginny's hands at the same time Bane reached out, setting his hands on either side of her skull. His hands slid into her silky hair, fingers pressing into her temples and something similar to lightning seemed to light the room and there was a loud boom of thunder. Black and purple sparks circled around the three of them and Ginny screamed.

"What the bloody hell –" Draco could feel it to. The dark magic that had sometimes tingled around his father, filling the air. He could feel the vortex drawing power from Ginny and swirling it into the room, and wondered if had looked the same when Harry had drawn power from Draco before killing Voldemort. He remembered his first taste of Harry's unique ability.

"How long have you been able to do that?" Draco stared at him incredulously.

"Exploit others' powers? Since my mother died," Harry answered with a harsh laugh, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Hey, everyone has a talent. Some people can touch their tongue to their nose . . ."

Ginny's eyes flew open and they were a deep purple. She abruptly stopped screaming, and began to speak in a whisper hoarse from the sounds that had been ripped from her throat. "The mirror of desire, the veil. The Hallows. Gather the hallows and stand in front of the mirror, looking into the veil. He will come."

Harry and Bane released her and stepped back. Draco fought for breath as the magic began to clear.

"How the hell did you do that?" Ginny snarled, her voice creaking.

"It's a little talent that I always have possessed." Bane smiled darkly. "We took your desire to know the truth and natural need to quest for knowledge and …"

"Used it to our advantage," Harry finished grimly. Draco's eyes bounced between the two of them. Something was off. Since when did they work so well together? Since when was Harry comfortable being in the same room with his counterpart? What had happened in the past few hours to change all of that?

"Deathly Hallows." Harry frowned. "I was hoping for something more helpful."

"The Deathly Hallows?" Draco frowned, something about what had just happened making him distinctly uncomfortable. "But that's a child's story."

"Just like little Miss Muffet." Bane pronounced with satisfaction. "What are the hallows?"

"Three brothers who found a way to cheat Death, himself." Draco racked his brain for the details of the story. "They each had three gifts – an unbeatable wand, the resurrection stone, and the invisibility cloak capable of hiding you from Death."

"I know where the Resurrection Stone is." Ginny's eyes flashed, and she turned an accusing eye on Draco. "So do you."

"I didn't know it was real," Draco protested defensively.

Harry looked at Bane with questioning eyes.

"It's at Malfoy Manor," the blond confirmed the suspicion he read in the green orbs. He added with a wry tone, "The Devil's playground."

"And the cloak?" Ginny asked, a hand rubbing her head as if it was aching. "Harry, you're descended from the brothers who captured the Hallows."

"I am?" Harry looked intrigued. He had never lost his thirst for knowledge of his own ancestry.

"Yes. Masters of death. You're one of them. I saw it." Ginny dragged breaths into her lungs, waiting for the pain in her nerves to dissipate.

"Mortis vincit omnia," Draco intoned ominously. "I guess we know why you're the new head of the House of Black."

"So the Invisibility Cloak, the one that belonged to your father …"

"Could it be that easy?" Harry questioned. Hermione had told him that Invisibility Cloaks never functioned well or lasted long. He felt the truth of it. "I still have it."

"Which just leaves the wand," Bane stated. "And I know where it is."

Harry raised a brow.

"Dumbledore has it." Bane bared his teeth. "Think he'll give it up?"

"He will." Harry set his jaw. "He owes me. I'll get it."

"Are you sure you should be the one?" Bane searched Harry's eyes, an intense look passing between the two of them..

"I'm sure."

"C'mon then, luv." Bane turned to Draco.

"Are we going somewhere?"

"Yes, it's time we paid a visit to your father." Bane crossed his arms over his chest. Draco avoided looking at Harry, he hadn't been sure that Harry knew of Lucius' survival, but there was no reaction.

"Lovely." Draco looked over at Ginny, who was starting to recover. "What about her?"

"She'll be fine," Harry said dimissively. "Some wounds are temporary."

"Some," Ginny confirmed in a harsh whisper, feeling an inner tremble threaten to take her over.

"Ginny, find the mirror, and take it to the Ministry. You know which room," Harry instructed.

"And how do you expect me to break into the Ministry by myself?"

Bane smirked. "Use some of those new tricks you've learned."

Ginny swallowed, wondering how she could feel so powerful and so used at the same time.

Rebel Bane Black was a smart man, confident in his abilities, and given to talent and power. Clever, wicked, possessed of a roguish charm, his smile made women and men alike melt. With an anarchical understanding of being above the rules, whose ever they may be, his presence seemed to take up all the air in a room. He gave a deliciously dangerous and damaged bad boy aura as dark as his name.

Bane gave a grim shake of his head. The words Rowena had written about him always seemed to stick in his head, just like her nose tended to stick in his business. He loved her, they had been the closest of friends, but the stinging sense of betrayal had carried with him, his only company as he remained concealed in the ironic prison she had cast him into. Now, here he was, centuries later, free and strong again, and her voice still seemed to haunt him.

He stretched lazily, eyes on the thestrals now returning to their home on top of the castle. Bane needed a place to stay, and while the castle called to him – the school he had never seen completed, the dream denied him – he knew instinctively that he would find no friends there.

With a determined set to his jaw, he reached for his magic, searching a likely ally. A familiar flash of red hair crossed his vision and an emotional tug began to pull at him like a homing beacon. He moved forward, walking with his head down and his hands clasped behind his back. He could see where he was going in his mind's eyes. He navigated the woods as if he had created them, his mind focused on his destination and not his journey. The animals in the forest paused to watch him pass, dread and calamity trailing in his wake.

Removing the Resurrection Stone from Lucius' possession had been far easier than Draco would have thought. Bane strolled into Lucius' private chambers as if he owned Malfoy Manor, and for all the resistance Lucius offered, he might as well have.

"Lucius," Bane said, nodding in greeting. A swirl of his wand uncovered a glass case, heavily secured and full of dark objects, behind a portion of bookcase.

"Bane." But for the greeting, Lucius watched silently, not bothering to stop them, though he didn't offer to remove the wards. With a wave of his fingers, Bane had vanished every ward. The stone had practically leapt into Bane's hand, as if it knew that it belonged to him.

Bane stood, holding the stone in the palm of his hand.

"That all you need?" Lucius asked mildly.

"Yes." Bane flashed a feral grin. "Be seeing you." And he left, Draco trailing behind him and ignoring the knowing expression on his father's face. Draco could feel irritation filling his chest, along with some dreadful certainty that something was wrong with the world at this moment.

Draco walked beside Bane through a long corridor in Malfoy Manor. He glanced sideways at the dark haired man as they moved. Draco's skin still tingled with the dark magic that Bane and Harry had drawn through Ginny to get the answers they needed. Draco was fiercely aware of the dark object that Bane carried in his left hand.

"I know you're tempted," Draco said finally.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Bane did not look at him.

"Do you know what happens when a pawn crosses all the way to the other side of the board unchallenged, Black?" Draco asked.

Bane flipped the Resurrection Stone over in his palm, softly running a thumb over the markings on it. His voice was haunted as he spoke. "You can bring back any piece you wish."

"Who are you thinking about bringing back?"

"Resurrection is a little darker than even I can go," Bane said. The statement seemed odd coming from him, but Draco dismissed it. Odd was becoming normal.

"I don't believe that. Not after what you just did to Ginny." Draco crossed his arms over his chest as he walked.

Bane laughed a little. "And what did I do? Nothing that I hadn't already done to you."

"I beg to disagree."

Bane smirked. "Beg all you want, Malfoy."

"You drew power from me. You didn't push dark magic through me." Draco shuddered. The concept seemed to violate in the most exquisitely intimate way.

Bane gave another harsh laugh. "That dark magic didn't come from me." He met Draco's confused eyes, with an almost pitying look. "You didn't know?"

"Know what?"

"It came from her. All of it." Bane's eyes flashed. "Ginny's been a very busy girl."

"You've picked up a few new tricks yourself," Draco drawled.

"And you object?"

"Something like that."

Bane stopped, shoving Draco against the wall of corridor and pushing his forearm into the blonde's throat. "It doesn't really matter to you. I have the power. That's why you're with me."

"You once said that I wanted you because you were a symbol of the light. Still think that's what you are?" Draco gasped out, a wicked gleam in his eye. "Still consider yourself a hero?"

"What would you know about being a hero? Unless spending your whole life trying to stand near them passes for experience," Bane bit out.

"I'm the only one in the world willing to stand next to you," Draco pointed out. Angry at the way Harry ignored him, and Bane taunted him, Draco was more than looking for a fight. "You even scare Dumbledore."

A dark look flashed over Bane's face and his hands dropped from Draco's shoulders. "Go to hell, Malfoy."

"Oh, poor little golden boy, still seeking daddy's approval," Draco snarled. "Too bad, your real father's dead. Though, I suppose there is a way." Draco looked pointedly at the stone in Bane's hand. "Why don't you bring him back and see how he feels about what you've become. Think he'll be afraid of you, too?"

"Like you're one to lecture me on healthy father-son relationships?" Harry growled back. "At least I have an excuse for lacking a positive father figure. My father's dead. For all the attention he pays you, yours might as well be. My mother died for me. Your mother died to get away from you."

Draco nearly gasped at the sharp throb the thought sent through him. His mother's suicide was something he never thought about it, but always felt. "That gives us something in common then, doesn't it? We're both responsible for our mother's death."

"Let's face it, Malfoy. No matter which team you're playing for, you're not part of the light either. Moral ambiguity is in your genes." Bane crossed his arms over his chest. "Survival's all you care about, and that's why you're willing to stand next to me."

"Standing next to you is counterproductive to survival," Draco pointed out. "You haven't made a good decision in so long, both sides are gunning for you."

"Yeah." Bane laughed. "Too bad neither one of them can touch me. But then, like I said, that's why you're trying so hard to stay close to me."

"I thought we were friends," Draco whispered.

"Did you?" Bane stepped forward again, curling his fingers around Draco's neck and feeling his pulse speed up. "I had the impression we were distinctly not friends."

"Why are you so angry that I'm here, Bane? I thought you wanted me here." Draco searched his eyes. There was something off about Bane. His usually silky manner was now harsh and abrupt. He seemed bitter that Draco was with him, when before he had seemed to revel in the triumph over Harry. "What's the matter? Done with me, are you?"

"I'm never done with you," Bane whispered, a hint of despair in his eyes. He leaned close, brushing his lips over Draco's. "I hate you. I despise you, everything you were brought up to be, everything you ever represented. And yet …"

Bane kissed Draco deeply, tangling his free hand in his hair. Draco gasped as Bane pushed up against him. This kiss felt different, felt more rough, more real, and called to mind the sting of steel at his neck. Draco opened his eyes, mind flooding with realization. He broke off and stared at Bane.

"You're not, are you? You're not done with me." Draco panted, a smirk appearing. "And there's something else you're not, too."

Bane settled back on his left heel, cocking his head to the side with a rueful smile. He casually rolled his shoulders. "Well, figured it out, have you?"

Neville finished his report and stood silently in front of Dumbledore's desk. "I don't know where they are now, sir, but I am certain they will be gathering the items in the near future."

"And this concerns you, Neville?" Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"I cannot guarantee that his purposes are benign. Or that they can remain so once in possession of such power." Neville shook his head. "Sir, do you want me to – complete my mission, now?"

"Not yet, Neville. I haven't given up yet." There was a sharp knock at the door. "Enter."

Harry walked in through the door, starting as he realized that the Headmaster had a guest. "Oh, hello, Neville. I didn't realize you were in here. Didn't mean to interrupt anything … important."

"Not at all, Mr. Potter." Dumbledore waved his hand dismissively. "Please come in."

Harry stepped further into the room. "If you're certain."

Dumbledore met Neville's questioning look. "Mr. Potter and I will be a little bit, Neville. Please close the door behind you."

Neville nodded once at Dumbledore and once at Harry, then quit the room. Harry watched him leave before turning to face the Headmaster.

"So, what were you two discussing?" Harry asked, his tone no less dangerous for its softness.

"Nothing of consequence," Dumbledore replied warily. "I know why you're here, Harry."

"Do you?" Harry stood, muscles relaxed, arms loose at his side.

"I do." Dumbeldore stared steadily at him. He tried to read Harry's thoughts, but Harry had become quite adept at occlumency blocking in the past few years. "But the wand is a very powerful object. I feel that it would be best left in my possession until you are ready to relinquish it to its … rightful owner, so to speak."

"I see." Harry angled his head and cracked his neck.

"I am glad it is you, and not your counterpart that came to retrieve it." Dumbledore stepped away from his desk to stare out the window. "I believe the other you is the portion of yourself that does not trust me. I am sorry for giving you reason to feel that way. I hope you know, that I always tried to do what I felt was best, what had to be done."

"I understand the sacrifices necessary in War, sir," Harry said quietly.

"I know you do, Harry. I must apologize for that. The sacrifice has so often been yours. If you only knew how much I wished it could have been me."

"I'm glad you feel that way."

Pain exploded in Dumbledore's head, and before he could register where the attack had come from, he found himself in a full body bind on the floor. When his eyes hazily focused on Harry, the young man already had possession of the Elder Wand.

"That's the problem with Wizards," Harry mused. "They'd rather use magic than get their hands dirty. I don't have that compunction." He seemed to think it over. "I'm not sure I have any compunctions."

"Harry?" Dumbeldore croaked, a note of horror in his voice.

The dark haired man offered him a lethal smile, twirling the wand in his fingers.

"Bane …" Dumbledore realized, too late.

"By the way, thanks for introducing me to occlumency. It's ever so helpful." And he was gone.

"Hello, Harry." Draco stared at him. How had it taken him this long to figure out that Harry and Bane had switched places? That was why there had been that strange tension over who went to get the Elder Wand. They had sent Bane. "When did you switch places? Before you found me and Ginny in the Hospital Wing?"

"Well, aren't you clever?" Harry felt an inner flush. He had justified kissing Draco, figuring that Bane probably did it. Something he would not have allowed himself to do. Touching Draco was too . . . risky. "Miss me?"

"Something like that. Kind of figured you hated me."

"Always have." Harry shook his head. Even now, his body was rigid with tension, with resisting temptation. "Always will."

"There's more between us then that, Potter. You revel in being with me." Draco shook his head to stop Harry's protest. "Like it or not, Bane is you, and you are tempted by me."

"Am I?"

Draco leaned forward, cupped a hand behind Harry's head and kissed him. Harry hissed, heat rising through him. He forcefully shoved Draco away from him, gasping for breath. Draco snarled up at him, "You don't fool me, Potter. You never have."

Harry said nothing.

Draco smiled. "If both halves of you want me, I will have you once you're rejoined. Bet on it."

Harry felt his muscles tighten involuntarily to the husky promise in Draco's voice. Temptation incarnate of every sinful, carnal desire he had ever had beckoned him forward. But Harry knew right from wrong. He could resist. Once he was rejoined with Bane, would Harry still be able to? Would he betray himself?

"I take it that's what you want." Harry swallowed, the promise of surrender blossoming in Draco's grey eyes. It seemed inevitable.

"I want you," Draco said softly, in a low tone that made Harry shiver. "I know what you want from me. At least with me, you feel something."

"Giving in to you might break me," Harry confessed, stunned at his own honesty.

"Hard to break what's already broken," Draco said softly, sadness in his eyes.

"Be that as it is, I'm sure you'll try your best," Harry returned wryly.

"As you wish, Potter," Draco promised. "Let's get you put back together. Then you and I are going to have a talk."

Harry turned and began to walk again, Draco easily keeping pace beside him. "Looking forward to it."

"I'm sure you are." Draco smirked. "So, do you think Bane will give up the Elder Wand?"

Harry stared down at the Resurrection Stone. "We all do what we must."

Harry and Bane stared into the Mirror of Erised, holding the Deathly Hallows. Draco stood mulishly behind them, his face the picture of anxious frustration. Ginny trembled a little beside him. She felt as if she had spent the past week in a drinking binge, a desperate low from the insane high of having Harry and Bane touch her and complete a surge a black magic through her body.

"Harry, you and Bane need to hold the objects together," Ginny instructed.

Staring relentlessly at each other, they arranged the three objects so both their hands touched each. Harry swallowed. Bane, the embodiment of the self he had darkly desired to be, a man without compunction, who gave in to temptation for the lack of reason not to, who had the daring and the audacity to use each of these items – items Harry had to confess, were the hardest things he could imagine having to give up. The cloak, his only tangible link to his father, the stone that could bring back his parents, Sirius, and Ron. The wand that would prevent them from ever being taken from him again. He was going to give them all up, for what? What would he become once he was one person again? The same brand of turmoil churned in Bane's eyes.

"Ready there?" Draco inquired, a certain impatience in his stance. Bane read the nervousness in the posture, and Harry felt Draco's anticipation of their promised talk later. He shivered, swallowed, then removed a flask from under his robes. He took a long swallow of firewhiskey and passed it to his other self. Bane gratefully swallowed.

"Ready," they said together. Draco stepped forward and snatched the flash away from Bane.

"Ready," he said before swallowing a healthy amount.

Ginny nodded and it began. Resolutely they all stood with their backs to the Veil that separated life and death and examined their respective heart's desire with grim understanding. When they had each faced their personal demons, they seemed to come to a silent consensus to focus now on what the group wanted. Without a word, the four joined hands and bowed their heads, power swirling around them. When they looked up, five people were reflected in the mirror.

Ginny, Draco and three men who looked like Harry Potter.

"Great. Now's there three of them." Draco crossed his arms over his chest, not seeing the fear and longing grow in Ginny's eyes. He noticed it when she backed away. He snapped at her, "What?"

"That's not me," Harry and Bane said as one, both pointing at the boy who had appeared soundlessly in their midst.

He wore a black velvet hooded cloak that cupped his angled face like a mother's hand. Unruly black hair framed his face and just under it, a scar flashed as he turned his head. He clutched an ebony wand in his hand. But there was disaster in his eyes, destruction in his easy smile. He looked like Harry Potter. But he was not.

"Hello. Were you looking for me?" This Harry seemed to be about sixteen years old. He tilted his head to one side while he regarded them all calmly.

"Who *are* you?" There was horror in Ginny's question.

"I am Death." The fake Harry threw his hood back and swept a low bow. "And if you have in your little hands what I think you do – I am humbly at your service."

Death straightened and turned to Draco. He bowed his head, mischief sparkling in his smile. "Well, hello Draco. Nice to see you again."

Draco felt like he was suffocating as he looked into Death's eyes. The irises were completely black, indistinguishable from the pupils if they existed. There was catastrophe and inevitability there, swirling with a calm frightening in its depth and permanency. "Hello."

Death smirked, turning back to the two Harry's. "Quite the tangle you've gotten yourself into, Harry."

"Can you – " Harry broke off. His heart was pounding fiercely in his chest, he felt entranced by the power surrounding the cloaked figure in front of him. Occasionally the cloak shifted as if stroked by an ethereal breeze that made no sound. And yet, there was a dark air of temptation that took Harry's breath and reminded him of the dizzying buzz of falling in love. He lost sight and sense of Bane, and was completely transfixed with the figure before him. "Can you fix it?"

"Yes, I can fix you." Death answered, amusement honeying his voice. He stepped forward and cupped Harry's chin in his hands, stroking the tip of his thumb over Harry's lips. Harry could distinctly feel the bone beneath the bloodless flesh, a sensation that made his skin crawl with the absolute certainty that what was touching him was not human, not mortal. "But nothing's free."

Harry swallowed thickly, jerking back out of his grip, idly noting the tick in Draco's clenched jaw as their eyes met for an instant. "I would think you've taken enough from me."

"Oh, Harry, I'm wounded," Death mocked. "You couldn't possibly be holding a grudge against me, could you? I have done nothing to you."

Harry closed his mouth.

"I see. You regret all that pain, loss and violence that first brought us together. I am part of all that," Death said softly, his eyes not unkind, not emotional in any way. "But it's not personal. I am certainty, I am eventuality. I am the end. The Omega. I will come for everyone you love in time." Death stepped closer to Harry, but Harry could back up no further, his back was inches away from the barrier of the Veil. Harry could feel Death's chill breath on his face, but there was no scent. "And I promise you this, my sweet. I will come for you."

Harry shivered, but steadfastly ignored the sensation. He refused to analyze the deep connection he felt to this entity, the strange attachment he couldn't … didn't want to explain. He spoke as if they were alone in the room. "You talk like you know me. Like we're … close."

"I know you, Harry." Death touched Harry's chin, his fingertip brushing Harry's lower lip. "We are close." His hand dropped away. "Forgive me," Death bowed his head slightly, a dark smile on his face. "But I'm somewhat of an admirer of yours. I've walked in your wake dozens of times. You put a raw beauty into ruthless destruction."

Harry started. "You've walked … with me?"

"Face it, Harry. We're old friends now. All of the times I've been able to touch your life, to witness the lethal artistry, the intimacy you bring to killing." Death smirked, hissing out his words. "The times you've invited me to watch …"

Death spoke as someone who existed regardless of time should, slow and easy, like a muddy river speckled with driftwood. "Now, I believe you have something of mine."

Harry looked down at his hands, the items he held. His fingers seemed to catch in the fabric of the Cloak, and he thought of his father. "Yes."

"Give them to me," Death said, his voice coated in insidious demand.

"No." Harry boldly met Death's eyes, ignoring the shiver down his spine, trying not to focus on his own perilous proximity to the Veil. "Not yet."

"Do you think you have the power to keep what's mine?" Death challenged, looking strangely pleased. "I always loved the way you try to defy my will. You're beautiful when you're angry."

Draco found himself agreeing. Therein lay the allure to Harry Potter. The fury in the fight, the exquisiteness of his despair. The way pain and anger lit him up inside, made him shine. The grief that tipped his bitterness, the reckless bite that put a razor edge on his cunning, on his ability, his dogged determination to survive carved him into a sleek predator. His quietly crazed thirst for revenge, his pleasure and satisfaction in vengeance, his hatred of himself for both etched him into a destructive force of nature.

It was impossible for Harry to resist his impulses, to counteract his instincts, to stop his savor of the hunt, the wild revel he felt in the kill – it was his nature. And yet, he so desperately wanted to. What was wrong with Draco that he found such twisted conflict enticing?

"Tell me why this happened to me," Harry demanded. Draco looked up sharply, not realizing that Harry wanted more than to be back to normal. The odd light in Harry's eyes when he looked at Death was deeply disturbing. There was a cloying fascination that scared Draco. He hadn't realized how strong Harry's death wish was.

"Does it really matter?" Death caught Draco's eye and gave him a wink, and the former Prince of Slytherin looked away. "Does it matter when I can so easily undo what was done?"

Harry frowned. "If it doesn't matter to you, then why not tell me?"

Death looked amused and crossed his arms over his chest. "Why should I?"

Ginny had been silent since she realized what exactly had joined them. She too had felt the strange mix of attraction and revulsion Death carried, and it had stolen her breath. Now she managed to find her voice, just wanting his undivided attention once. "He deserves to know."

"Oh, hello, little Red." Death turned his attention on her, the weight of it like falling through the ice in the winter. "Look at you, aren't you all dark and shiny?"

Ginny wet her lips, her mouth instantly dry.

"You smell like power, it's nice." Death approached her and it took everything in her power to remain where she was. She met his eyes, images of Tom, and then Lucius flashing before her eyes. She looked out into the Forbidden Forest, gasping sharply.

Death leaned close to Ginny, his hair brushing her cheek and sending shivers to her bone marrow as his cool lips grazed her ear. "Careful Red, there are wolves in that forest."

"You're a lot friendlier than I thought you would be," Draco commented wryly, not sure why he felt the urge to protect Ginny, but he really wanted Death to step away from her.

"Of course, I love humans," Death confessed. "I've met all of them, you know. Or will." He smirked. "Eventually."

"Are you going to tell us what we want to know or not?" Draco called, wishing the dread he felt in attracting Death's attention wasn't quite so strong.

Death slowly turned away from Ginny, smiling at Draco in a way that made him want to scream, and grit his teeth to keep it in. "As you wish, Draco."

"A long time ago, there were five friends, bent on betrayal and greatness. And three of them decided to imprison Rebel Bane Black in the body of one of his descendants. They made deals with powers, with nightmares to make it happen. They sacrificed one of their own to condemn another."

Death spread his arms in a careless manner. "I suppose I could have stopped them. But I never like Bane very much anyway."

Harry held perfectly still, his brain feeling like the wheels in a clock clicking into place. "It's me. They imprisoned him in me."

"Yes, and when he was released, it split you in two." Death turned his back on Harry to look into the mirror.

When Harry looked up, Death's physical presence had vanished, but his visage was reflected in the mirror as he hovered in the middle of the Veil. "So, will you put me back together?"

"I already have."

For the first time, Harry and Bane realized they were now the same person, and with that realization the sense of duality, of being two people vanished. There stood Harry Potter, one solid being once more, scar resolutely in place on his forehead. And he had been so wrapped up in Death, he hadn't noticed his own completion. "Holy hell."

"I should be going." Death stepped closer to Harry, reaching a hand through the mirror that Harry swore he could feel tickling against his back. "Unless you're still going to ask me for those other things you want."

"I don't know what you mean," Harry said stiffly. Draco and Ginny both gasped. In the mirror appeared a half dozen figures. Ron, Sirius, Remus, James and Lily Potter, Cedric Diggory, Hagrid, Mad Eye Moody. Harry choked. "I've already given you back the stone."

"Bringing them back isn't the only way to be reunited Harry." Death smiled deeply. "You're welcome to come with me now."

"Your offer is …" Harry swallowed. Terrifyingly tempting? "Kind, but I can't do that."

"Regret suits you, Harry. Till we meet again, then." Death smirked, holding in his hands the instruments he had longed to take back for so long. Then he looked over at Draco and winked at him. "Be seeing you …"

And Death was gone.